{New Mission Alert: Kill the Beast Entity – 0/1}
The message flashed across the remaining players' HUDs.
As if that was the real problem now.
Everyone had stepped out from their hiding spots. The silence screamed louder than any shout. No one said a word but fear… fear was loud. You could hear it in every breath, every heartbeat.
Zane moved cautiously toward Kara. She was still lying there, her body twisted in unnatural ways but her chest… it rose and fell. She was breathing.
But her body wasn't the same.
Her arms had lengthened, her fingers mutated into long, clawed extensions. Her lips had turned black. And those claws razor-sharp, monstrous. That's what made Zane freeze.
"What are you doing, Zane?" Juno's voice came from behind, low and tight with worry.
Zane didn't answer immediately. He just stared. "She might still be in there," he whispered.
He looked at Rika. She was half-hidden behind a tree, her face unreadable. No judgment in her eyes but he couldn't tell if it was sorrow, shock, or fear.
Juno moved toward Player 15's corpse, grabbing the blood-stained metal rod still strapped to the fallen avatar's back. His face turned pale as he touched it.
The others stood scattered across the clearing, tense, ready to bolt if it came to that. None of them caused this but everyone knew the rules now. If it turned ugly, they'd have to run.
"Hey," Juno called to Player 9. "Herald. Quietly pass this to Player One."
Herald said nothing. He just nodded, took the rod in his teeth, and crawled low like a soldier through a battlefield. When he reached Zane, he handed it over.
Zane nodded, his fingers curling around the cold iron. He took a step forward, raising the rod and ready for defense… or a fatal strike. He stood just three feet from Kara now.
Her eyes were half-lidded. Unmoving and surprising empty.
He poked her side with the rod.
Nothing.
Again, he poked…harder this time.
Still nothing.
Zane glanced back at the others, unsure. Juno's eyes met his, wide and tense.
Zane turned again. Took another step.
Lowered the rod toward her throat.
Her hand snapped up and grabbed the metal.
Zane flinched back.
Kara's head turned slowly. Her eyes,black and glassy, locked onto his. Her mouth opened, revealing longer, sharper teeth.
"Zane…" she rasped. Her voice grated like broken metal.
"She spoke!" Rika gasped, pointing at Kara, as if to prove she wasn't imagining it.
"Back away," Juno warned.
"No," Zane murmured. "She's still in there. I know she is."
Kara's hand moved again. Not attacking. Just twitching. Just enough to show… she wasn't gone.
"Help… me, Player One," she whispered. Her eyes locked on the number on Zane's tag.
He lowered the rod slightly. "Kara… can you hear me?"
"Something is inside…" she croaked.
"You need to tell us something…anything we can use. Come on."
She opened her mouth but shut it quickly again. Then, she pointed behind them, toward where they had run from earlier.
"It's… it's… coming back."
Everyone froze.
Then, slowly, they heard it, the low, guttural growl. A hulking figure stepped into view at the edge of the clearing.
{New Protocol Engagement:
Time Survival – Aborted}
Eliminate Player 009 – Level: Mutated
Incoming Threat: Eliminate the Wolf Beast}
Zane stumbled back, falling as he clutched the steel rod. His eyes went wide with terror. Kara's potential threat vanished from everyone's mind.
The beast's slow gait shifted into a hunter's sprint.
"RUN!" Juno shouted.
They didn't need telling twice.
The players scattered into the trees like frightened birds.
Zane scrambled up. Behind him, Kara's body twisted and cracked, changing. Her scream echoed, raw and inhuman.
"ZANE!" Rika's voice called through the chaos.
He ran.
The pounding of claws behind him was vivid. Real.
He didn't dare look back.
The forest swallowed him whole, branches tearing at his clothes. Kara's scream followed him like a curse.
They ran until the forest quieted. Some collapsed to their knees. Others just stood, pale and breathless.
Zane leaned against a tree, gasping. His hands trembled.
"You okay?" Juno asked, walking over.
Zane nodded but said nothing.
Then Mason—Player 4, always quiet, always up front…suddenly dropped to the ground.
"I didn't sign up for this," he muttered. Anger and fear warred on his face.
"None of us did," Juno replied sharply. "But if we ever want to get out of here alive… we have to kill that thing. The system's made that very clear."
"But how?" Mason asked. "We couldn't even defend ourselves."
"Wait," Rika interrupted softly. "Kara… she spoke. Didn't she?"
Everyone turned to look at her.
"What?" Herald asked.
"She spoke… and the beast hasn't caught up with us. Don't you think that's... strange?"
"Strange?" Mason snapped. "The only thing strange is that our lives are on the line for some goddamn test!"
"Wait," Zane cut in, pushing off the tree. "Rika has a point."
He held up his hand, signaling silence. Then listened.
"I hear screams…" he whispered. Eyes wide.
"What are you talking about?"
"Rika, Juno..i need you two to come with me. Herald, Mason… stay with the others."
Zane sprinted back into the woods, the other two on his heels.
They slowed as they approached a large boulder, one they'd hidden behind earlier. The screaming was clearer now. Agonizing.
Zane peeked over the rock. His eyes widened. He ducked back down, heart pounding.
"What did you see?" Juno demanded.
"K–Kara… she's fighting the beast."
"What?!"
They peeked over the boulder and there she was.
Kara alone battling the beast, as they pounce on each other.
"Holy sh—"
They dropped back behind cover.
Zane's fists clenched. "We shouldn't have left her. I told you… she was still in there."
Suddenly, the boulder cracked as Kara's body slammed into it. Her arm clung to the edge, claws inches from Zane's face.
She turned, sensing them. Her half-mutated face and darkened eyes locked onto his.
"Oh, boy…" Juno muttered. "We're screwed."
"You came… back?" Kara's voice rumbled. Her body had grown bigger, malformed but she was still resisting full mutation.
The beast charged again, biting into her mutated arm. It hurled her into the air like a toy. She crashed against trees and stones, her body taking hit after brutal hit.
Zane's eyes followed it, scanning. Searching.
There has to be a weak point.
Come on… come on…
"What are you doing, Zane? Get down!"
Zane turned back, lifting the rod where everyone could see.
"Listen. A four-legged beast as such has five main weak points; eyes, stomach, neck, joints, behind the shoulders. If you guys can distract it…"
He paused, looking each of them in the eyes.
"I'll stab the neck with everything I've got."
"Are you crazy? That thing's a tank!"
"If this is a simulation… it might work," Rika said, her voice low but sure.
Zane nodded.
"Who's the bait?" Herald asked.
"I will," Rika said instantly.
"No…you're a girl," Juno protested. "I'll do it."
"I've already been a burden to my father. He cast me here. What's one more burden… to a beast?"
Suddenly, Kara roared, slamming the beast with its own chain. It crashed into a tree, momentarily stunned.
"Hey!" Rika shouted, leaping high to get its attention. "You ugly malformed—" She froze as its snarling eyes locked onto hers.
She ran.
The beast gave chase.
Behind it… Kara followed.
But the clearing ended in a cliff.
Rika stopped at the edge.
Just as the beast lunged, Kara snatched it back, choking it with the chain. The monster thrashed, its tail smashing everything in its path.
Zane charged, breath heavy, until he spotted the boulder. An idea.
He climbed, then leapt, the rod raised. It gleamed in the sunlight.
With all his might, he drove it deep into the beast's neck.
CRACK.
The spine shifted. The beast wailed in agony. Zane tumbled into the brush.
Its tail pierced Kara repeatedly but she held on.
Finally… life drained from its limbs.
And it dropped. Dead.
Kara, bleeding and broken, dragged herself toward a tree, then slumped against it.
The others slowly emerged. No one hid their emotions.
Zane approached, holding his side, likely with a cracked rib. He knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder without fear.
"You did good, Kara…" His voice cracked. "Thank you for not giving up."
She smiled weakly. Her gaze swept over the group. Then… she stopped breathing.
{Player 009 Eliminated Successfully
System Purged}
The girls covered their mouths to keep from screaming.
Her body shimmered then burst into particles of light, along with the beast.
{Mission Accomplished: Wolf Beast Defeated 1/1}
{Initializing Safety Protocol
All Players Have Unlocked INVENTORY}
{Returning All Players to Testpods}
And then,
Blank.