I watched as Meg arrived back at the hub. She casually brushed herself off, stretching her back. As usual, the teenage former athlete seemed invigorated as if she had just run a marathon. "Well, that was an interesting match."
"What?" I asked, from where I sat comfortably by the eternal fire.
"I wasn't talking to you, Jeff," she said in her usual standoffish tone. She paused for a moment, allowing a smile to form across her mean-girl face. "On second thought, I think you're going to like the new killer. She kind of reminds me of you."
"She?" I nervously scratched the side of my neck, just under my thick facial hair. "Not very often we get a new female monster added to the roster."
"How interesting," said a familiar voice. Claudette sat next to me with her sky-blue glasses and hair pulled back in braids, she gave off an aura of kindness, and empathy. She rested her head on my shoulder. And then, perhaps sensing my impending panic attack, she held my hand. The dark skin of her small gentle hands was a stark contrast to mine. I was a bearded sasquatch with no combat skills, while she was a healer, a friend.
A third human player took a seat. Feng, the Hong Kong born gamer girl with her neon punk fashion style. "I heard the new killer has a tragic background."
Claudette sighed. "Actually, all the female monsters seem to have tragic backgrounds." Her voice, her French-Canadian accent was like a ray of light in the darkness. "
"Except for Susie," Meg muttered under her breath. She was speaking in a mocking, sing-song manner.
Claudette shook her head. "Really, we're going to go there?" Susie was a former classmate of mine; an innocent goth girl with an affinity for knives.
"What? It's true. The creepy Japanese ghost, the southern zombie, the biblical plague goddess; they all came to be because they were victims, Susie not so much." Meg paused for a moment, placing her finger to her lips, as if in deep thought. "I guess there's Amanda, she kind of came here of her own free will."
The Amanda monster, also known as 'the Pig' was like a leveled-up version of Susie; someone who was essentially nothing more than a human in a costume running around with a melee weapon. Except unlike Susie, Amanda was not a former high school classmate who took personal pleasure in tormenting me. That was so much more terrifying; people who chose to become monsters just for the thrill of it. There was so much evil in this world without people treating murder like an extreme sports competition.
Claudette raised her hand, politely changing the conversation. "Back to the new girl; I heard she was a freedom fighter from some South American country who got executed for her beliefs."
"And don't forget, she controls an army of demonic ghost crows," Feng added. "To see them conjured into existence, right in the area, it's one hell of an experience."
"Demonic crows?" I needed to know more. "Did she arrive with a new human player?"
"Yeah, I think he's some kind of secret agent from her home country," Feng said casually. This was what our lives had come to; nothing was special, or even remotely remarkable. "He's been talking to Jane and the other Spanish-speaking players."
"Spanish speaking?" My heart sank. There was no easy way for me to learn more without attempting to communicate via a translator.
Meg stuck out her tongue, pulling down her lower eye lid as if mocking tears. "Oh? The giant white Canadian doesn't speak Spanish? What a surprise."
I could have responded; I was twice her age, having lived all over the country. I went to art school and worked in what would be considered a dream job. Just because she was young, and strong, that didn't make her better than me. (Or maybe it did.) My set of skills didn't mean a whole lot in this hellish survival game.
I was going to have to wait for the inevitable; the chance to meet this new monster face to face. The moon glowed and darkness fell. 'What arena would it be this time?'
I awoke standing in the cold, shallow snow. 'Ormond, Alberta.' Of course, it was. This was the arena inspired by my own demons. In the distance, I saw a figure. She was a tall female, with long black hair, pale skin, wearing only a torn floor-length red dress.
I watched as she went after a human player. David, the British-born former professional fighter, easily outmaneuvered her. He was stronger, faster, and even with the monster's abnormally long arms, flailing like melee weapons, she was no match for his athleticism.
She stopped, lifting her hand into a fist. this caused a ghostly image of a giant crow's head to appear. the creature was the size of a horse head, making for a stunning, impactful visual. She did this maneuver three more times before motioning for the crow heads to launch.
David ran away, (like any sane person would.) Moving in sharp turns, he managed to make his way to a shelter, forcing the crow to give up chase. I could have done the same; but I found myself walking towards the strange creatures.
The crows were not even looking at me. This false sense of safety left me with a strange level of inner peace. It was a feeling I had not known since I arrived in Hell. I reached out my hand attempting to touch the apparition. I expected it to feel cold, but instead the creature burned with an unseen fire. This caused me to flinch. but instead of attacking, the crow looked at me, tilting its head in confusion before vanishing in a puff of smoke. In its place stood the mystery woman. She was nearly as tall as I was, with long black bird-like arms. No, that was incorrect.
On closer inspection, I could see that someone had cut off her hands and replaced them with black vine-like tree branches, and these branches were now part of her. They could move, shifting in shape and size. The young woman was staring at me with her dark eyes, tears the color of ink dripping down her cheeks.
"I'm not going to run," I said as clearly as possible, while miming the hand motions of 'no' and 'run,' like I was speaking to a small child.
