White was dead.

The panic started almost instantly.

People screamed.

Others froze.

Questions filled the room faster than anyone could answer them.

Who killed him?

When?

How?

And most importantly...

Was the killer still... Among Us?

———

Every crew member began looking at everyone else differently.

Nobody trusted anyone anymore.

Nobody except you.

Because what they didn't know was that there were actually multiple killers walking among them.

One of them was Orange.

The other was you.

The difference was that Orange wasn't human.

You were.

Orange accidentally became your ally.

You still remembered the moment it happened.

You had been moving through one of the quieter maintenance corridors when you witnessed Orange killing someone.

One moment a crew member was standing there.

The next, Orange's body had practically exploded apart as a mass of pink flesh and tendrils emerged from beneath her orange suit.

The unfortunate victim barely had time to scream.

And Orange?

Orange hadn't even checked whether anyone was watching.

She simply stood there afterward looking strangely satisfied.

Then she turned around.

And saw you.

———

Working alongside Orange was one of the most exhausting experiences imaginable.

She was terrible at this.

Absolutely terrible.

You planned murders.

Orange committed impulses.

You studied situations.

Orange saw a target and acted.

More than once she'd killed somebody in circumstances so obvious that you were certain everyone would immediately figure it out.

Yet somehow the crew never managed to connect the dots.

Which meant you constantly found yourself defending her.

"No, Orange couldn't have done it."

"We were doing tasks together."

"She was with me."

Every lie became another layer protecting both of you.

Because if Orange got ejected...

There was no guarantee she wouldn't reveal something about you before she went.

And if you got ejected...

Orange would probably survive for less than twenty minutes before accidentally murdering somebody in front of the entire crew again.

So the partnership continued.

Against all logic.

Against all reason.

Against your better judgment.

And right now, it was continuing once again.

———

Now, as you walked the corridor alone, your mind was already turning over the next possibility. Which crewmate would be easiest to isolate. Which hallway had the weakest surveillance. Which excuse would sound the most believable if you and Orange needed to stand side by side and swear innocence once more. Your thoughts were already buried in strategy, in timing, in the careful architecture of a future murder.

Then a voice cut through the hum of the ship.

"Ah, there you are."

You stopped.

Orange stood a few steps away, one hand holding her clipboard, the other resting against it with the practiced confidence of someone arriving to inspect the state of a workplace she believed belonged to her. Her orange suit gleamed under the corridor lights.

"Hello." she said, her tone smooth, polite, and far too casual for the truth you shared.

For a fraction of a second, you could not decide what irritated you more: the fact that she was acting normal in a place where normal no longer existed, or the fact that there was no one nearby to justify the performance. No witnesses. No cameras in sight. Just the two of you, the soft buzz of the Skeld, and the weight of everything unsaid between you.

Orange must have sensed the direction of your thoughts, because her posture shifted just slightly. Her voice softened, still calm but with a strange undercurrent of impatience. "You are thinking too much again." Orange tilted her head. "Tell me," she said quietly, almost conversationally. "which of them do you think will disappear first?"