Blood Hands
After the encounter with the Crystalline Crawler, we've travelled with Krim's group for about three days. We've been counting days using the implant in our brains that tells us how much time has passed; every time it passes a certain time in the real world - or so we assume - it pipes up and tells us "you have survived four days" and so on. We really have no count on time in here. We're not sure if one day is really 'one day', if it's longer or shorter.
And in this time, they've taught me a lot about this place.
First, Krim, who's already killed a few people, has told me about a system in the microchips - a 'points system'. So far, he's killed two people - and each time it triggered the voice, telling him he'd gained points. The first time he'd gained six, and the second fourteen.
"You get points for killing people?"
"You also replace their number," he had added. "Dread was number 156 before, but then he killed someone higher ranked than him and moved up into 092."
"How did that guy even climb up anyway?" Dread had said, grinning. "He was abnormally weak."
Points, huh. Just like a game. You get points for a kill, except it's very real. Some twisted, evil game.
Second, the random crazy shifting thing hasn't happened again, but knowing this place and assuming the worst, it's probably at unset intervals.
I have lots on my mind, even as we keep slowly ploughing on through the caves, with no clear goal. I'm hungry. I want to go home. Will I die tomorrow? Will I die today? What happened to Artee, Ronin, Mist and Kino? Will Neo's leg heal soon? When's the next time we'll find freshwater? Food? Shelter? Sleep? Animals? Are Krim's group going to turn on us and attack us? Can we really trust them…?
Ah, I'm thinking too much again. Sometimes it does happen to me. I just tend to drift off into these thoughts nowadays. It's funny. A couple weeks ago the most I had to worry about was failing an exam, and that felt like the end of the world to me, like I wouldn't be able to live if I didn't pass, like my life would be ruined if I didn't study. Now, every second, every step I take could be by last. A Rock Scorpion could fall out of the roof and poison me, or I could get bitten on the neck by a venomous spider the size of upper body. Or maybe some crazy fucker will come out of the dark and slash me to bits.
Any second, I could fall out of the world, and that terrifies me. I'm sure I would be going insane any moment now, but breathing this high-chrona-concentration air seems to clear my mind and calm my nerves. I should be grateful for it, I suppose, but I can't shake this unnerving, twisting feeling that it's not for my own good. Like a curse, I have to do this knowing full well what I'm doing.
Talking and interacting with the others is what saves me, I suppose.
"Hey, Sword," Krim is saying. "Does it not make you uncomfortable, y'know…"
"Huh?"
"Talking to a murderer."
I pause. Didn't think he'd ask that.
"…no," I say. "Cuz you're not a bad guy. I'm sure you had your circumstances-"
No wait, stop, stop, just stop. What am I saying? We all have the same circumstances.
"…no, nevermind," I dismiss. "We all need to survive, right?"
Right. We do. That's what the Facility wants, testing whether our bodies or minds break first, while we just try and cling on to life, trying to not die. I'm scared. Again, I'm scared, terrified and afraid that death will find me. Anyone who's said they don't fear death has never looked it in the eye.
After that I killed a man.
***
We've been moving aimlessly these last few days, sticking with Krim's group and scrounging for resources. Making DIY stone weapons and tools, killing edible creatures for food, and either fighting or running away from the ones that wanna kill us. We've encountered giant carnivorous worms, spiders as big as me, and other ridiculous creatures with thousands of tentacles or fifteen faces that only appear in my textbooks and nightmares.
We've mostly just been trying to find Artee's group, whose whereabouts and status are currently completely unknown, but we've seen no people. That hope didn't last. We've just evaded a swarm of bats the size of my head, and come out into a small network of tunnels, with the light much dimmer than outside in the main huge cavern. We're assuming that we've somehow managed to get into the lower levels - yeah, the cavern is split into over ten levels overlaying one another in a huge expanse larger than most big cities.
"Never want to see another one of those again," Luc mutters, examining a bleeding gash in his shoulder.
"You sure seemed to be enjoying yourself when you were punching 'em to death," Neo scoffs, and Cinder laughs.
"Hey guys," 024 Jora calls, tapping Krim on the shoulder. "What's that?"
"What's what?" Leon asks, but follows her finger and sees it. "Oh…"
We head down the tunnel and are met with a stout wooden door, hewn flat into the rock wall.
"Uh, what is this?"
"A door."
"Yeah dipshit I can see that. I mean what's behind it?"
"Dunno. Open it, and we'll find out," Luc grins, drawing back a fist.
"Wait!" Jora stops him. "We have no idea what's behind here. It could be-"
"A nest of blood-sucking, man-eating, head-sized venomous spiders?" Neo offers.
"001 Airo?" Cinder shivers.
"A pit of hungry pale vipers?"
"The darkness of Death and the abyss beyo-"
"Literally shut up."
"Well," I say, coming up beside Luc. "What if it's the place where we got these weapons from?"
I hold up the battered wood-handled stone knife Krim's given me. A primitive, monkey weapon that I wouldn't even dream of seeing at home, but here it's my only lifeline.
"Food," Luc suddenly says. "I can smell from beyond the door."
"I smell metal," Jora sniffs.
"That's the smell of blood!" Leon says, holding up a charm tied around his neck, the first time I've noticed. "Anastasia, protect us…"
Isn't he a devout one.
"Stop that," I snap. "There's no Goddess down here."
Leon looks at me, then holds up his charm again.
"Yeah, you are right."
"Isn't that blasphemy."
"Oh Anastasia," he says. "Help me find the fucking key to the door, please."
"Hallelujah," Kite mutters.
Then Luc punches the door with full force and it explodes off its hinges in a shower of rocks, dust and splinters.
"Found the key," he snorts, and plods inside.
Kite follows, whapping Leon on the head as he goes, and we all head into the mysterious room beyond.
"Damn," Krim says, wide-eyed. "This place is…"
"H…heaven…?"
"Praise Anastasia, Hallelujah," Kite mocks.
We stare at the huge stockpile before us.
"We've struck gold," I say.
It's a very small room, but inside is a rack covered with weapons - the same kind of crappy weapons as we have right now, but fresh, brand new weapons. Stone knives, sharpened wooden swords, rusty knuckledusters, and even a bow and arrow.
"How do I use this?" Jora asks, picking it up.
"Isn't that something from thousands of years ago?" I ask.
"Let me try," he says.
Picking it up, he finds a grip, notches an arrow, draws back the string and releases it. The arrow shoots through the air and barely misses Leon's head.
"What the fuck!?" he demands. "You almost scored a headshot on me!"
"Woah, you know how to use this?" Cinder asks, gathering around Elemental, who lowers the bow.
"Ah… yeah."
"You sure are good at the most random things," I grin.
Not that I'm ungrateful for it though. It's just, martial arts, myths and legends, and now this basic archery from ancient times, all from this one guy.
We keep rummaging through the small storage space, this depot of sorts. Three small crates of rock-hard bread, several flasks of water, a couple changes of clothes in the form grey chronafabric T-shirts and thin black combat pants (we are incredibly grateful for that), and a bunch of knapsacks and pouches.
"This is a godsend," Kite grins, shovelling bread in his mouth.
"Woah, slow down!" Cinder protests. "Yer gonna eat it all!"
He jumps on Kite and suddenly they're scuffling on the floor, Kite's mouth still full. Jora's asking Elemental to teach her to shoot the bow and arrow, Neo's examining knives, and flips one expertly.
"You have a thing for knives?"
"Yeah," he grins at me. "You bet I can do well with this one."
He shows me a wicked, ten-inch flint knife with a crude, jagged edge.
"Damn," I marvel. "You gonna kill someone with that?"
His face darkens.
"Probably."
He looks away from me slightly.
"I've been putting it off for a while. But I'm sure sooner or later it's going to happen."
I stare at him. No, not again.
"Neo, at times like this, please just shut your mouth."
Elemental comes over, face completely serious.
"Did he say something again?"
"Yes."
"What do you guys mean?" Neo demands.
"First with the leeches, and then with the Crawler, you-"
"Guys," Dread says, backing up to us. "Someone's coming. Shut up, shut up."
"Who-" Leon starts, but Krim claps a hand to his mouth, and suddenly we're completely silent.
There's a shuffling and low mumbling outside the entrance.
Neo. Please, shut up and never talk again.
"He's jinxed it again," I hiss, and Elemental nods fervently.
There are people coming. Other people. I swallow. Who? What are they gonna do…? The voices stop. My heart thumps in my chest. The silence is heavy, Jora swallows and backs up a little behind me. Cinder gets up slowly from fighting with Kite and moves to shield her, Kite goes forwards alongside Krim and Luc at the front.
Then a gruff, low voice breaks the silence from the shadows outside the broken door.
"We know you're in there," it barks. "Come out!"
We hurl glances at each other. Krim catches my eye and nods, Neo touches my shoulder and I touch his back reassuringly. Then, as one, we head out the door, fingers tightening around weapons.
There are about ten people standing in a rough semicircle around us, all of them with weapons, and one standing right in front of us, seemingly the leader. He's tall, with thick arms and the beginnings of stubble on his chin, but nowhere near as chiselled as Luc.
"What do you want?" Krim demands, taking the lead.
"Not much," the other guy says in his gruff voice. "Just leave the loot behind."
"Loot?" Jora asks.
The other guy unhooks a stone hatchet from his belt, and Krim backs up, eyes narrowing.
"Nothing personal," he says. "But while you're at it, leave behind your heads too. We all need to live right? So we'll decrease the headcount and… end this shitty game!"
His voice is rising dangerously, and my heart leaps into my throat when I realize that we're about to fight. The people around us all have bloodthirst oozing in their eyes, but some of them look afraid, others look apprehensive. I can see myself in their eyes. They're just innocent people pulled into this game.
"DIE!" the first guy yells hoarsely, desperation in his voice, and lunges for Krim with the hatchet.
"Krim!" I yell, going forwards, but Elemental holds me back. "What're you…"
"There's no need," he says.
"What?"
"That guy, Krim," he tells me. "From the beginning I… from the beginning, you can tell. That he's strong."
The hatchet guy lunges with frightening speed, another elixir-boosted bastard. Krim doesn't even flinch. Instead, he draws backwards and shifts his balance onto his back leg. The hatchet brings the weapon down towards his head. At the last second, Krim pivots against the stone on his toes, whirls around and in a flash of movement slams his foot into the underside of the enemy's jaw. His feet leave the ground and suddenly he's airborne, arcs through the air and crashes to the ground, blood pouring from his nose and lips. Krim lowers his leg.
"Come on then," he says. "We're fighting."
The ten others close in on us.
I don't actually remember who moves first. One moment, everything's still, then the world explodes.
Screams, footsteps pounding on the rock, metal scraping. Someone yells something but its drowned in the cacophony. My eyes dart wildly in their sockets. I'm panicking. Someone's coming for me. He makes a wild swing, but I duck it and ram my shoulder into his chest. He stumbles backwards, and I pull out my chosen weapons - two 1.5 feet wooden shortswords and ram their hilts into his ribs.
"Ugh!" he grunts.
He grabs my arm with his hand, trying to wrench me close, his breath stinking of blood and fear.
"Go away!" I shriek, and shove him backwards just in time for Leon to jump past and split his head open with a hatchet.
My eyes widen as his head opens and blood splatters on my face. He's dead. He's really dead.
"Sword, snap out of it!" Neo yells, voice quavering. "You already saw Kino and all the other die to the bat guy! LOCK IN!!!!!"
Right. As I said before, this. Is. Nothing. Compared to that shit.
"Thanks Leon," I say, and keep going.
Krim's moving like lightning, a flurry of kicks and elbows, beating back two people at once, and drops one with a side-kick to the temple. Elemental slashes another apart with his dual-wield of hatchet and shortsword, and the guy falls in a puddle of blood. Luc's laughing again, and punches a guy once in the head. His whole body jerks back, and he crumples, unmoving.
"WEAK!" Luc bellows, still laughing his head off.
To my left, Jora dances circles around another guy, knives flashing in out and drawing a spurt of blood every time. Cinder's nearby, trading heavy punches with a guy a head taller than him, both their knuckles bleeding.
"Don't back off, Cinder!" Jora calls.
"Wasn't planning to!"
He rolls in and lands a heavy hit to the nose, and follows in. Kite lunges past them, flint knife gleaming, followed by Neo, and the two of them tear a man apart. I watch Neo's desperate eyes harden as he sinks the blade into a human's neck, and he collapses, blood gurgling.
Dread grabs someone around the waist and slams them to the ground, pounces on the them and hits at their head. Cinder is struck in the forehead with a brutal, cracking elbow, and falls. Jora finishes up with hers and moves in to help him.
And then someone comes for me.
He's older than me, eyes hollow, carrying a wooden sword. He's shouting something - word's I can't hear - and he lunges and swings. I parry him, and it jars my arm. For a second, I see it. He's just a person, his hands are shaking, he is scared. So am I.
Then he brings his weapon down again and my instincts take over. I twist aside and bring my left sword up in an arc, slashing a gash in his shoulder, and his blood flicks against my face. He yells and I hit again. Neck, chest, arm - I don't even know, There's splashes of blood everywhere and suddenly his blade falls, arm still attached. He's screaming, and his eyes are full of fear and pain, bloodshot and terrified, begging me, crying. I hesitate.
"SWORD!" Elemental yells. "KILL HIM, KILL HIM NOW!"
His hand is in his belt, drawing a knife. It rushes towards me. I find my arm moving before I can stop it and suddenly the tip of one of my sword enters his throat.
He staggers backward, eyes wide and eyeballs trembling, gurgling and coughing. His hands claw at his throat then reach out towards me.
"Ple-ase," he rasps, staring at me in fear.
Then he drops to the ground and stops moving.
I stare at him. My hands are trembling and my chest's heaving. I've just killed a man. I've ju-
Someone slams into me from the side and I always get bowled over, but I just stumble a little and regain balance. It jars me back to my senses. We're still fighting!
Elemental wrenches him off my with a kick that sends him sprawling, and Luc pounces on him, bashing his head with a brutal crunching and wet splat.
"You good?" 004 asks.
"Yes," I breathe, even though I'm not.
Krim finishes off the last one, and then it's over. Silence falls again, except for the sound of dripping water in the background.
The enemy is gone, all of them.
Cinder's limping slightly, clutching his bleeding head, and Leon's got a gash in his cheek. Jora's cleaning her knives. Luc stretches his shoulders and grins.
"Well, that was easy."
Elemental looks at me.
"Sword."
I look down. The dead man at my feet hasn't moved. The cave smells like iron and mud. For a second, it doesn't feel real. My hands hurt, and my throat's closing.
"I…" I can't finish the sentence.
I don't feel anything. Suddenly I don't feel afraid, or disgusted, or regretful. I feel like I've just lost a part of myself.
"Hey," Neo says. "You did what you have to do."
"Are you alright?" Elemental asks, concerned. "You-"
"No, no," I say. "I'm fine. I'm… I'm fine."
"Well, that's that," Kite says, laying a hand on my shoulder. "We've all gone somewhere that we can't come back from now… so…"
"Let's keep moving," Krim says, nodding to me.
"Right."
We leave behind the corpses in the tunnel. From now on… things will start to change. People are arming themselves, people are forming factions. People are killing each other. People will try to kill me. And I'm gonna kill people.