To say the new girl was pissed off was an understatement. Even so, I didn't know why I felt that was my problem. I needed a drink or maybe a smoke but all I could do was settle for relishing in the anguish of others. Of course, that was just the bitter German side of me.
"Felix!" shouted my friend Elodie. "Come here and meet our new teammate!" The kindhearted Afro-European beauty and I were friends from childhood. and we were the only ones who knew why we were really here. Or where 'here' even was. She was the one person I couldn't say no to.
Each one of the twenty or so survivors had disappeared into darkness only to arrive at a single campfire in the middle of a nondescript forest. This was our cage. Every 'night' (difficult to tell when the sky never changed,) when we went to sleep certain people would be selected to awaken in a hellish arena. The locations were limited to a dozen or so (from a meat packing facility, to an abandoned circus, etc), each more terrifying than the last. I mustn't forget the best part; the selected humans would be forced to run around without weapons, acting as mice to a selected cat (who was, of course, armed.)
Even in death the human sacrifice simply awakened back in the unescapable forest hub. It was a never-ending process. I was one of the later ones to arrive, but even then, I felt like I'd been trapped in the game for years. I'd almost forgotten my previous life, until the day Elodie appeared. I knew she had been actively hunting the entrance to this alternate realm for the majority of her adult life. (I think she still held out hope of finding her long-dead parents.) "Felix, this is Yun-Jin. She's a record producer from Seoul, Korea. and Yun-Jin, this is Felix he's a high-profile architect, and absolute star in his field."
I laughed politely at her attempt at humor. Elodie was such a sweetheart. After surviving the cult that took our families, we remained friends, through high school, before going our separate ways. With the advent of social media, I knew all about Elodie's passion for investigating the paranormal and she knew all about my degree and job prospects. In reality I was just a man in his late thirties who never made any real impact on the world.
Yun-Jin was visibly unimpressed. The posh Asian woman crossed her arms (and not-so-discreetly) rolled her eyes. She somehow arrived wearing a faux fur jacket over a lavender shirt and a skirt that appeared to be denim or suede. "So, how did a star like you end up here?"
"My father," I answered in monotone. "I followed his ghost off a cliff." That was the abridged version. "You?"
"I survived a massacre," she replied with a sarcastic smile. Her tone was one of annoyance rather than fear.
I wanted to point out that, clearly, she did not 'survive' if she was here, in Hell. Thankfully I caught myself before committing such a rude accusation. "The attacker was someone you knew; your ex-husband, a jealous boyfriend, or perhaps a family member?"
Yun-Jin shot me a look of disgust. "No, absolutely not." She shook her head, gripping her temples. "I mean, yes, I knew him but not like that."
I didn't want to force her to elaborate. We would have ample opportunity for small talk over the ensuing years. Instead, I presented a condescending smile, accompanied by a patronizing nod.
"He was someone I trusted, someone I believed in."
I couldn't help but notice she stopped short of calling this person a friend. I assumed it was a client or employee.
"So," Yun-Jin said with a sigh. "How does this work? I know we sit around like lab rats waiting for trials, but how are we chosen?"
Elodie replied with the compassion of a primary school teacher. "It's pretty random and they only seem to take up to four people at a time."
"So far, anyway," I muttered.
Elodie glared. "Felix, be polite. It's hard enough to be stuck here, we shouldn't be trying to bring each other down." She turned to Yun-Jin. "Do you have any other questions?"
Yun-Jin pursed her lips, with a look of contemplation. "Can we choose our opponent?"
Elodie seemed confused. "The monster?"
Yun-Jin immediately shook her head, realizing the absurdity of her question. "Never mind. I guess I'll just wait and find out."
Now it was time to sleep and pray to not awaken.
'Verdammt.'
The next trial soon started. I found myself in the snow-covered arena modeled off an abandoned ski lodge. I already knew this was going to be a bad time.
As usual, I started to look around for clues as to which monster we were facing (and who else was suffering alongside me.) If Elodie was there we often stood a better chance at solving the puzzle to open the exit door.
That did not seem to be the case. So, as the other human contestants started on the generators. I attempted to get to higher ground to see where everyone was. My efforts resulted in me coming face to face with the chainsaw wielding monster. The abnormally angry creature quickly forced me off the side of the roof.
If I had been mentally focused, I would have known to jump in a way that would grant me some distance from his attack. For whatever reason my mind slowed to a halt until the moment I was forcibly pushed via a strike to my hip.
Rounding a corner, I knew my leg was broken. The adrenaline gave me just enough of a boost to get out of range of the monster (or more likely, he spotted a closer target.) The pain shot to my chest, sending me to the ground. Somehow, the chainsaw wielding creature managed to hit me on the upper leg, cutting deep into my thigh. There was an uncomfortable amount of blood, but that was nothing new.
Finding a place to sit, I allowed myself a moment of peace and tranquility. My mind drifted to thoughts of my partner, my fiancée (or at least she would have been: I had already purchased the ring.) Would she have said yes? She'd been pregnant, but that didn't mean she even wanted to be with me. Perhaps she would have had the baby and moved across the world to keep my child away from me.
Maybe falling into the game was a blessing in disguise. I forced myself to take a breath when I heard the sound of the exit opening; it was time for the trial to end. How the hell did that happen? How long had I been stuck wallowing in my own pain? I knew all I had to do was crawl to the gate or one of many possible hatches before the timer ran out. I would be pulled back to the hub to wait for the next torturous game, but at least my leg would be healed (back to default settings.) 'What was that noise?'
The window was over. "Jesus Christ." This could not get any worse. I'd always known this could happen, but I had never been distracted enough to allow it to happen to me. If I wasn't torn apart by the monster, I would be taken by the root system that laced through every trial stage.
Assuming that would be a less painful way to go, I reclined on the icy cold ground. The sensation was akin to being buried alive, as I soon found out. I blinked back tears of pain as my mind blacked out. In the darkness I could hear a deep echoing voice, "Felix Richter, your suffering is...delicious."
I awoke in the hub, looking up at the familiar dark purple sky. Placing weight on my arms I was able to sit up, seeing the campfire in the distance and the crowd of shocked, horrified survivors.
Elodie covered her mouth, crying. "Oh, dear God."
It took me a second to realize why: my, now, severely disfigured leg was bleeding profusely. The wound appeared to have torn open, to the point where I could see bone fragments. In the hub world, this was bad. We had no medical kits or even weapons; our access was limited to the forest, fire, dirt, and trees.
"What the?" Elodie's hands were trembling. "This isn't possible. We can't die."
Although many had tried; we could not inflict harm on ourselves or each other while in the hub world. I'd assumed this was because that would give the contestants an unfair way out. "I know," I replied in a whisper. my voice was quivering with pain and fear. "But we can suffer." This was a fate worse than death; to exist with this level of agony for all eternity.
Elodie rushed to my side. She put her arms around me, holding my head to her chest like a mother. Her chest quivered as she struggled for air. It was clear she wanted to speak, to say something of comfort, but no words came.
The moment seemed familiar. This was just like when we lost our parents. We shared an ambulance on the way to the hospital, with ten-year-old Elodie holding me in her arms. I was smaller than her, weaker but she refused to let go. At that moment my heart ached for my mother, and all I had lost.
Now, despite the fact that I had an audience, gawking at my misery, I sobbed uncontrollably. "Elle, please help me."
Elodie took a few calming breaths, reaching her composure. "I need to find a way to splint your leg."
That was when the audience started to voice their concerns. "Oh, Hell no!" shouted Dwight. The thin, unintimidating former office manager always seemed to consider himself to be a leader. "What you need to do is get him out of here! Think about it; the entity never left any of us this injured while in the hub. This is a trap!"
Elodie shook her head in disgust. "A trap?"
"Yes," Dwight replied with a genuine confidence. "Felix is clearly transforming in to... something."
Elodie's jaw dropped, she was left dumbstruck on behalf of both of us. "You can't be serious." She looked around, desperate for an ally among the crowd of onlookers. "If anything, this is a test. Our captors want to gauge what level of humanity we have left."
I could hear whispers, murmurs, and the possibility of people believing Elodie's words. This seemed to be enough to offend Dwight.
"Ok, let's put it to a vote," Dwight stood up with a truly disgusting level of authority. "All in favor of moving Felix to someplace isolated?"
