Chương 45: Chapter 42: Someone Gets Their Ass Kicked

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"The fuck is that?" Liam demanded as Plaxx's glittery getup caught the amber parking lot lights and sparkled.

"Plaxx," Tre said tiredly.

"Demonic wannabe game show host." The imp's wiry black hair sat perfectly styled between his horns. He looked genuinely pleased. Plaxx's excitement made me seethe.

"Zone One: Suburban Slasher concludes with our players bloodied and battered but breathing. Mostly." His voice boomed across the parking lot, echoing off the cars. He did that stupid fucking microphone twirl, looking directly at me.

"And what a fantastic Run it's been! Good golly, darling, you're magnificent. One of the strongest players we've seen in a long, long time." Plaxx snapped, and we could move again. I felt my weight sag between Liam and Isabel. The demon attempted to sound empathetic.

"Look, I get it. This is all a lot." He allowed that to land for half a second before proudly smiling at me.

"But I cannot oversell how marvelous it was to watch you in action. A rookie hasn't performed like that since… I don't even know."

"That boss fight alone!" Plaxx made a 'chef's kiss' gesture.

"But don't take my word for it. The numbers don't lie!" He snapped his fingers. A massive display materialized in the air. It wasn't in my HUD. The thing literally floated before us, filled with glowing numbers and text, impossible to miss.

"Fuck me. It is a game," Liam said to himself in awe. ZONE ONE COMPLETE - FINAL REPORT TIME SURVIVED: 18: 23: 47 FEAR AVERAGE: 61% RESOURCES USED: 87% COMPANIONS SAVED: 2/2 PERFECT ENCOUNTERS: 3 ARCHITECT'S SATISFACTION: Abundantly Fed (And highly entertained)"Eighteen hours? That felt like fucking days." Isabel slumped over.

"Years," Tre added. I'd spent literal years taking care of Mom until all the days blurred together into one endless, exhausted present. Years that went by like pages ripping off a calendar in a cheesy movie montage. It felt as if time stopped mattering entirely. But these last eighteen hours somehow felt longer than all of that combined. FINAL STATUS: NORA PRICE HEALTH: 8% (Critical) FEAR: 34% (Nervous) LUCIDITY: 78% (Stable) STAMINA: 2/6 Yeah… that all felt right to me.

The Fear number especially so, despite everything I felt… calm wasn't the right word. Neither was fearless. I was… less panicked than when this all started. It was nothing to celebrate, and I didn't. Instead, I chastised myself for the lack of heals and my low health. I really needed to manage my resources better.

"Geez, you're hanging on by a thread," Plaxx noted.

"I know I said I wouldn't help anymore, but we can't have our winning Final Girl barely able to cross the finish line." A Healing Salve appeared in my hand. I twisted off the top and drank it down.

"Bottom's up," Plaxx said, holding his hand to his mouth pretending to drink. My health jumped up to 33%. Good enough.

"Where were we? Oh yes, the party!" The obnoxious imp fluttered his wings as more text appeared. PARTY STATUS TRE CARTER HEALTH: 48% (Burned) (Wounded) FEAR: 41% (Nervous) LOYALTY: 100% (Unshakeable) Goddamn right. We're unshakeable. Always have been. ISABEL HOYOS HEALTH: 63% (Injured) FEAR: 52% (Anxious) LOYALTY: 87% (Devoted) The word "Devoted" hung in the air, and my eyes found Isabel. I offered her a soft, genuine smile. She responded with a single nod.

"We're ride or die now, bitch."

"Adorable." Plaxx clapped his hands together.

"And no—""Hang on," I cut him off.

"What the fuck was that shit in the woods?! You didn't tell me there was another player!"

"You didn't ask," the imp giggled.

"And if you had, I would have lied."

"Well, that's not really fair," Tre said.

"Is she going to be trying to kill me the whole game?" Plaxx lifted his palms slowly, shoulder-height, like he was surrendering to a question he had no intention of answering.

"No spoilers."

"What the fuc—""And NOW!" he boomed over me.

"The moment you've all been waiting for… NEW ACHIEVEMENTS!" I turned away from him, pissed off at being ignored, and the first achievement blazed to life in my vision, searing itself over my view of the burning camp. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! PYROMANIAC Unlocks: HEAVEN'S ON FIRE"Let the motherfucker burn. Burn, motherfucker, burn." SKILL GAINED! HEAVEN'S ON FIRE (Passive) Effect: +15% fire damage permanently"Last one out of Liberty City: Burn it to the ground."

My mind flashed to the cabin going up in flames and the screams from inside. Six made it out. Maybe eight. I had no idea how many were still inside.

"I burned people alive, and you're celebrating it," I said, the words tasting like ash.

"You solved problems!" Plaxx beamed.

"Efficiently! Dramatically! The Boss LOVED the cabin scenes. Some of our best fear-harvesting numbers of the decade!" Isabel's face darkened.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"I'd never joke around about harvest numbers," Plaxx said somberly before breaking into a big grin.

"That's the most important part!" Tre's shoulders slumped.

"This whole thing is a joke, Plaxx." Is this who I had to be to survive this game? Someone who lit buildings on fire while people were still inside? The alternative was letting the Mother get inside to kill them all anyway. That's what I'd have to tell myself to sleep at night. If I ever slept again. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! PARTY LEADER Unlocks: TRACY FLICK MEMORIAL LEADERSHIP BONUS"You kept all companions alive for this zone!" SKILL GAINED!

TRACY FLICK MEMORIAL LEADERSHIP BONUS (Passive) Effect: +5% loyalty bonus to all party members"Ambitious. Relentless. Completely insufferable. The ideal leader."

"Who the hell is Tracy Flick?" Isabel asked.

"Reese Witherspoon," Tre said. Liam blinked.

"Who?" My friends were traumatized, but alive, and that was a massive relief. They were alive. For the first time, the smallest, most fragile sliver of pride made me feel all warm inside. It was probably unearned, but I enjoyed the feeling just the same. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! BOSS SLAYER Unlocks: FEAR NO REAPER"Your first Zone Boss. Impressive."

Remnants of the encounter littered my thoughts: the Naked Mother rushing toward the kids, pounding on that door, the cabin exploding, the Bald Mother pinned by the Civic, the wood from the broken skateboard digging into my hand, the feeling of bringing it down again and again and again until the creature's awful twitching stopped. Hey. Tre's voice reached out through the Mindbleed. You still in there? His words brought me back, but I couldn't look him in the eye. SKILL GAINED!

FEAR NO REAPER (Passive) Effect: +5 Resolve permanently"Cowbell not included." As the Resolve increase took hold, my darker thoughts receded. The screaming on the other side of the cabin wall that had been echoing in my mind was there and then just… wasn't anymore. A functional calm replaced all the heaviness weighing me down moments before. I should have fallen apart, but I didn't because the alternative was to just hide in a Safe Area until they came in and dragged me out. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!

EXPLOSIVE IDEA Unlocks: IMPROVISED ARSENAL II This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there." Creative use of environmental hazards." My lips pursed as I glared at Plaxx.

"Yeah. I'm real creative." SKILL GAINED! IMPROVISED ARSENAL II (Passive) Effect: All improvised weapons deal +15% damage"Still violent. Still enjoying it." ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! JUST ONE MORE THING... Unlocks: INVESTIGATION RANK I" You're a regular Harriett Bosch!"

"Bro just called you a little kid with a notebook," Liam said to me. Tre hung his head.

"Rest in Peace to a legend."

"Oh, right," Isabel said.

"I forgot she died. That's sad." Huh. Something about that landed differently than I expected. Isabel knew about a real actress who died recently; there was no reason or need for Maltheris to have given her that knowledge. It was something current and specific and genuinely sad to her. Her real memories were in there somewhere, tangled up with everything Maltheris had layered on top. I didn't know what that meant yet. But I noticed it. SKILL GAINED!

INVESTIGATION RANK 1 (Passive) Effect: Investigation skills +10%"The equivalent of a magnifying glass."

"What does any of this matter?" Frustration simmered beneath my words.

"People died because of my choices."

"People died because that's the game, darling." He spread his hands, a gesture of magnanimous finality.

"You can't save everyone. You weren't meant to." I knew that. Of course, I knew that. But hearing it said out loud, from Plaxx's shit-eating grin, ignited a seething rage I didn't know I had in me. The way he casually confirmed that the deaths were part of the design, that the system was built on a foundation of acceptable losses, made my entire body tense up.

"And last but certainly not least, the moment everyone's been waiting for…" A drumroll sounded from nowhere and everywhere.

"Your first Zone rating!" Letters appeared in the sky, in ten-foot-tall flames: ZONE ONE FINAL GRADE: A- Plaxx pumped his fist.

"Hey! That's not too shabby! The last person to get an 'A' in the Zone One made it all the way to the twelfth Zone!" He paused, his expression curling into pure malice.

"Of course, she was brutally torn apart by a scorpion the size of a skyscraper, but don't let that discourage you from trying to beat her record. The giant scorpion has since retired to a quiet corner of Hell." That red thing in the back of my skull stirred. The wave was rising.

"How many died?"

"Hmm?" He cupped his ear theatrically. The wave climbed higher, and pressure built at the base of my skull.

"How. Many. People. Died."

"Oh!" He pretended to check an invisible list.

"My rough estimate is about thirty-nine. Though technically, only the ones you witnessed count toward your performance metrics. The ones in the cabin, who burned to death as the fire spread, don't count… but still! Thirty-nine confirmed dead. Spectacular!" Everything inside me ratcheted taut, ready to break. The wave crested.

"Thirty-nine."

"I know," Plaxx replied, a hint of regret in his voice.

"Sixty-nine would have been a much funnier number, right?" The wave crashed. Red water flooded through me. Hot, violent, unstoppable. It drowned everything. Pain. Exhaustion. Fear. All of it was swept away in the current. Only rage remained, and it was a fucking tsunami. I lunged before I even knew I was moving, ignoring the overwhelming agony in my right leg. My hand wrapped around Plaxx's throat.

"You piece of shit!" I punched him. My skeletal knuckles connected with his cheek. The impact sent a jarring vibration up my radius, but thanks to my new Skeletal Finesse skill, I felt no pain—only the cold, hard satisfaction of bone meeting demon flesh." They were people!" I hit him again. His nose crunched. Green blood spurted, coating my white finger-bones." PEOPLE!" The flood roared in my ears. I was drowning in it, holding him under with me.

"Thirty-nine." Punch.

"Fucking people!" Another punch. And another. And another.

"You're handing out letter grades?!" He tried to squirm free, but I held on.

"You sick FUCK!" The rest came out as incoherent screams of rage and grief. We went down in a tangle. I pinned him and drove my elbow into his face. Felt his teeth shatter. The current was too strong; I couldn't stop, didn't want to stop.

"I'll fucking kill you!" I screamed it in his face, as I clasped my hands together, making a hammer with my fists. Ready to cave his face in." ENOUGH." A voice like thunder and grinding stone boomed from the sky. The word was spoken with the weight of the bass note that plays right before the rapture. Beneath it was the buzzing of a million flies swarming a corpse. And below the buzz… a distant chorus of screams. An invisible hand curled around my body and squeezed.

That's not a clever metaphor; it's literally what happened. Something closed around me, compressing my ribs, forcing the air out of my lungs. My eyes felt like they were being pushed out of their sockets from the inside. I ground my teeth, bracing for my entire head to pop like a water balloon. Around me, my friends were going down. Tre curled into himself, and Liam was on his knees, making sounds I hoped never to hear again, but knew I'd never forget." YOUR POINT HAS BEEN MADE. YOUR FURY NOTED, NORA PRICE."

Maltheris." DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER." Then it stopped. The pressure released all at once, and I hit the ground hands-first, sucking in air in ragged, clawing gasps. My lungs burned, forcing me to stay down, just breathing, internally checking for broken bones. Plaxx sat up, despite being bloodied and beaten. His torn suit and disheveled-for-the-first-time hair should have been satisfying, but his palpable fear unsettled me more. He produced a purple handkerchief from his jacket and dabbed at his bleeding nose.

"You're just full of surprises," he growled. Fear, wearing an angry mask, replaced his usual forced smile. Was he afraid of Maltheris or me? I didn't know what caused the tangible fear behind his smiley façade, but it sent a jolt of excitement through me. The imp registered the look on my face and turned away, straightening his suit. He made a weak attempt at fixing his hair, then patted his nose once more. When he spoke again, his voice was a lot less playful.

"As I was saying…" Plaxx paused for effect.

"Your rating stands at A-. That's a great place to be going into Zone Two."

"What happens to the survivors when we move to the next place?" Isabel asked.

"Like the people in town and the kids that ran away." Plaxx brightened, slipping back into the performance.

"Oh. NPCs are recycled and reused in different zones. We give'em new roles; sometimes they're entirely new people. Sometimes we turn'em into monsters. It's all very efficient! There are billions of people on your planet. We have an overabundance of cannon fodder."

"Will they remember all the stuff from Whisperwood?" Liam wondered.

"Would you want to remember?" Plaxx asked sincerely. Liam didn't respond.

"It's not all bad, buddy," the imp's voice dripped in condescension.

"If you manage to beat The Grindhouse, everyone still alive on Earth wakes up relatively unharmed." Liam looked at me.

"Relatively?" Plaxx forged ahead with his spiel before I could answer.

"Let's talk about Zone Two: The Boargore's Gore Bore!" He left a ton of air for the title to land in typical overdramatic fashion.

"Is that like a pun or something?" Isabel asked. The rest of us nosold him. If any of that bothered him, he didn't let it show.

"You'll get a few new mechanics," he continued, "Some new monsters too. It's a much different flavor than the Suburban Slasher." I deadpanned.

"Can't wait."

"You'll be in a facility. Think: industrial, claustrophobic, very atmospheric." His tone had that game-show brightness again, though a little frayed around the edges. Tre snorted.

"Sounds delightful."

"Oh, it is! Well, for Maltheris anyway." Plaxx spun his microphone.

"Also, this particular setup is brand new. Never been done before in the history of The Grindhouse." He snapped his fingers, and a doorway appeared beside him; a literal door, nestled in a frame that now stood in the middle of the parking lot. The imp reached over and twisted the knob. Warm light spilled from the open door. The smell of woodsmoke and bread, and either coffee or cinnamon. Maybe both. It was actually inviting. I didn't trust it for a second.

"Eight hours," Plaxx explained.

"You've got eight hours to recover and prepare for the next Zone. The Safe Area within has beds, supplies… even a bathroom. Everything you need."

"I thought we didn't need to go to the bathroom," Tre said.

"You don't! It's there for aesthetics."

"What's the point of eight hours if we only sleep for an hour?" I asked.

"Rest and sleep are different. Maltheris likes to provide time between Zones to allow your nervous systems to regulate."

"How nice of him."

"Yes, Small Soldier, it is generous of him. But it's not just for rest. You're all covered in filth, so there are facilities available to get cleaned up. Your clothes too." Tre scrunched up his face.

"So, he doesn't want to watch us eat, sleep, or shit, but he's cool with us doing laundry?"

"Our research has shown that mundane tasks are unpleasant for the majority of humans. It's not a 'comfortable and chill' area," Plaxx teased in an annoyed, condescending tone.

"You'll also have time to strategize and make a plan." His disdainful smirk returned.

"Those always seem to work out smoothly for you all."

"Fuck you," I spat. He stepped back, scanning over our group.

"I suggest you make the most of the prep time." Then he snapped and was gone in a puff of smoke. Liam and Isabel pulled me upright, my arms around each of them.

"You just beat up a demon," Tre said. I replied through gritted teeth.

"Didn't help, though."

"Was it a little satisfying?" Liam asked.

"…little bit."" Cool," Liam said under his breath. Isabel shouldered my weight, helping me stay upright.

"You okay?"

"No." Tre looked up at me.

"That was him, right? Maltheris? His voice."

"I think so," I answered.

"Do I even want to know who that is?" Liam asked, voice rising with concern. Tre shook his head.

"We'll fill you in later." We took a moment to consider the newly appeared magical portal, emitting appealing smells and a golden, warming light.

"Let's go. I need to rest." I sighed heavily.

"Maybe my fingers will grow back."

"We're just stepping through a magical demon door?" Isabel shifted her weight.

"What if the other side opens into a pit of lava?"

"Is that a thing, Tre?"

"No. I mean… maybe? I don't know. But dropping us into lava would be counterproductive to harvesting our fear. We're worth more alive and scared than dead." Liam's head snapped up.

"Harvesting what?"

"Short version," Tre said, "demon feeds on fear. We're the buffet."

"No cap?"

"Zero caps."

"We can't stay here anyway," I said.

"What happens if we do?" Isabel asked. We looked at each other. The burning camp crackled behind us. Somewhere in the distance, a cabin roof caved in with an exhausted groan.

"Even if we could stay," Tre said finally, "what's the point? We survived Zone One to advance to the next Zone. That's the whole thing. Are we trying to save the world or not?"

"I'm trying to save myself," Isabel stated.

"Sure," I said.

"But if we win, Maltheris releases everyone. Every person on Earth goes back to their real life. That's worth a fight, isn't it?" Isabel considered it for a moment. Then, reluctantly nodded.

"What about Liam?" Tre glanced up.

"What about him?"

"We can't just leave him here." Liam's head turned slowly toward us.

"That was an option?"

"Technically, you're still an NPC," I said.

"I think."

"But he saw health bars," Isabel argued.

"He knows about the game, just like I did." Liam stood there, covered in mud and blood, head moving between us and the portal.

"It's your choice, man," I said.

"But it's gonna be more of this. Monsters. Danger. Probably worse every time."

"I mean… You got all the weed." He paused.

"Plus, I got shit else to do." Tre made a half-hearted laugh. Isabel's mouth curved despite herself. I chuckled too. But Liam's eyes unfocused, staring into the middle distance. The smile stayed on his face a half-second longer, then slowly deflated. Something caught in his throat, not exactly a word, but also not a cry. His eyes went glassy.

"Fuck." The word came out small.

"Evan's dead." He said it and looked around at us, as if seeking confirmation.

"I… we saw it. I just… I just stood there and watched, and I didn't—" He put a fist against his mouth.

"That's fucked up, man. That's really fucked." His eyes swept the parking lot. The cabins.

"And none of this is even real?" He lowered his voice, more uncertain.

"Like… the town? My house? My parents." He squeezed his eyes shut.

"I said goodbye to them before school. But…" He trailed off.

"I can't remember their faces now."

"The town's not real, but you are…" Tre said.

"Or, rather, some version of you is."" Some version." Liam bitterly laughed.

"What the hell am I then? What's the version of me outside here?"

"We don't know." Isabel reached out, but Liam pulled back. Liam shook his head, his grief hardening into something angrier. His jaw tightened.

"Summer said she's a player."

"Yeah," I said.

"She did."

"Like you are," he replied.

"Liam—" Tre started.

"She murdered him. Blew his fuckin' head off like it was nothing. Like he was nothing." Liam's eyes met mine.

"We need to find her."

"We don't know if we'll ever see her again," I replied carefully.

"And each Zone gets worse," Isabel added.

"Probably a lot worse."

"I just watched my best friend get executed by his girlfriend," Liam said.

"What's worse than that?"

"Don't." Tre's voice came out loud. Harsh.

"Don't ask that. For fuck's sake, it's like none of you have ever seen a horror movie." Liam deserved to be here as much as Isabel. We were all broken, barely holding on.

"The more the merrier," I said grimly. NEW COMPANION ADDED: LIAM BECKER"He's already so frightened." AWAKENED COMPANION: LIAM BECKER Form: Human Role: Awakened NPC – Bound Fear: 68% Loyalty: 55% ABILITIES: PROTECTIVE INSTINCT (Passive) Effect: Liam gains +10% Damage Resistance when between an ally and a threat. Liam blinked as the "Awakened" status took hold. He looked at his own hands, then at the glowing doorway. He could see the UI now: the floating numbers, the countdown, the mechanics of his own misery.

"Welcome to the party," Tre grumbled.

"Try not to die." Then he entered the portal first. Isabel and Liam hesitated for a moment before carrying me through the magical doorway into whatever fresh hell awaited in Zone Two.