Chilled's POV
I was silent, listening. There were no noises around me save for the birds overhead, and I didn't think that I would be able to catch one of them with nothing but a sword. Either way, I couldn't hear any rabbits, or other small game in the area, and I hadn't seen any. Stepping lightly, I moved forward in silence as to keep the animals in the unknown that I was on my way to kill them.
It had been at least a couple of hours, and Ze and I had both kept in contact. A couple claps here, a couple there, and from the sounds of something wailing, he had caught something in his snare already. I was determined to prove that I was helpful too, and I wanted to catch something to make sure I was. The animals were quick, and nearly as quiet as I was, and so I honed in all of my concentration on the woods and the noises around me. Hopefully I would hear footsteps as well should another player try to sneak up on me, and with my straining to hear even the tiniest noises, I was sure that I would be fine.
The woods were warm, and the trees locked the heat underneath them. My vest was off, leaving me in my black shirt and pants as I slowly moved forward. The bag was weighing on my shoulders, but I didn't mind. I'd rather have taken it then make Ze do it, and I knew that I would be fine with it anyway. I could still move, it just hindered my ability to crouch for long periods of time. Even so, I knew that it would be okay. It was a good workout anyhow, and I could carry any food back inside it.
I thought I heard something snap to my right, and I whipped around, my eyes narrowed as I watched. The trees and the leaves on the bushes swayed in the wind, but otherwise all remained calm. Something must have been moved, despite the wind being rather light today. I leaned against a tree to give myself some water. The days seemed to be getting hotter with each one passing, and I was getting a headache. I hoped that I didn't pass out from heat stroke, and the cold water felt marvelous slipping down my throat. I needed this today, I decided. It was going to be a long day without food and the sun overhead, but Ze was cheerfully optimistic, and I would be too.
I heard two claps from farther away, and I stiffened. He was getting quite far away from me, but I could still hear him, and him me, and so I returned the two. When I got no response, I knew he had heard me and I moved along, knowing that I had also scared everything in the area around me. Once more, I silently thanked Ze for setting up the snares as I did every time that he clapped and I was reminded of it, and then put my water back into the back so that I didn't have to carry it.
I began moving again, walking forward and listening. I wondered if Ze was having more luck than I was, and that made me think back to GaLm and Smarty. Why did I let GaLm go after him? That was such a stupid idea. If we all had gone, then the bear wouldn't have separated us. The pair wouldn't have died, and we wouldn't have lost everything. We wouldn't have almost drowned in a river, and we could still be here, working together as the Derp Crew was meant to. We could crack jokes at Smarty, and sit around a fire telling stories and making promises that we wouldn't keep, or talking about how Tom was missing out on all the fun.
It was still hard to remind myself every time that we woke up that this was a game, a simulation, nothing more than pixels and coding. Everything felt so real, and the injuries we obtained felt too realistic. They faded away as a normal injury would, scratches and bruises staying longer, and the soreness from sleeping and moving making my muscles ache when I moved around. The heat from the sun struck through my clothes, and it felt like I was melting on the inside. The bag, although made entirely of pixels as well, weighed on me, and I could feel everything inside of it. This was one hell of an interactive environment, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. I could only imagine other games being played in here, like a life-sized Monopoly game, that would fun. I considered a game of Town of Salem here, and realized that such a game would also require a lot of death, and instead dismissed it. Games that were more or less harmless, those would be okay. Anything that required death, shooting, fighting, that would be hell to have to go through.
As if this wasn't hell enough.
We didn't even know if people on got back out once we died. Sam said that they did, but there was no real proof. For all I knew, GaLm and Smarty were gone. As soon as I'd thought this, my brain snapped back to reality, practically slapping me in the face as a reminder not to think this way. Ze said it himself, we had to be positive throughout the games, keep a level head. I decided to do just that, and focus on my hunting.
Luckily, I honed my sense back in right on time as a rabbit came into view only a few paces in front of me. I crouched slowly, hardly daring to breathe as it nibbled on a small leaf. It was thin, fur matted and eyes darting around. The last thing that I wanted to do was kill a rabbit, but I knew that Ze and I could die if I chose not to. I jumped forward with as much speed as I could muster, bringing my sword down on it and claiming my prize. It was the first thing I had caught, and I nearly chopped its head off. Feeling rather sick with myself, I wrapped it up in a bunch of nearby leaves and put it in a pocket on the bag. I was proud, but also a little disturbed by what I had just done. This game was going to turn me into a monster.
After putting it away, I hiked my bag over my shoulder and pulled my water bottle back out. Before opening it, I clapped twice with a smile, picking up my bottle to drink it as I waited. Even with the thought of death hanging over me, the place was rather nice, and it felt real. More or less like a hiking trip in the woods with a friend, the sun dappling through the trees and leaving spots on the forest floor as we explored... and killed rabbits apparently. I didn't hear a response form Ze, and so I clapped a little louder, wondering if I had been too quiet for him to pick up. I put my water bottle back, and cleaning my sword off. By the time I had finished that, I still heard no response from Ze, and I felt panic welling up in my throat. I walked back at a swift pace towards the direction I had last heard him respond to me. I clapped twice, loudly, and did this a few more times as I walked back. Had we wandered out of hearing range? I hoped so, because that would be better than something actually happening to him.
I listened almost desperately for some form of clapping, noise, response. I needed something to tell me that he was okay, and I continued to clap. I stopped walking in case I wandered too far away, and stood, simply waiting. I tried to fight the panic rising in me, my chest contracting and feeling like it was being pushed upon. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and my throat was closing as I heard nothing. I didn't notice that my hands were shaking until I tried to clap again and nearly missed my own hand. Where was Ze? Then, I heard something, but not the response that I wanted. It was a loud shout, one of pain and panic.
The one signal that meant the the other was in trouble.
I sprinted towards the noise faster than I had run for anything in my life. I jumped over a fallen log, bypassing trees roots and slippery moss, focusing on the noise and nothing else. The shout came again, and that only furthered my worry, making me run even faster. Something in my mind screamed to throw the bag down, but it had supplies I could use to heal if necessary, and so I kept it despite its dead weight holding me back. My muscles strained and were begging me to stop and take a break, my lungs doing no better as I panted. I don't think I ran from that bear a couple days ago as fast as I ran now.
I sprinted around a tree into a sort of clearing, and there he was.
Ze was on his back, facing the sky and a hand over his chest. I could see the blood pooling around him, and he shouted again, reminding me that I shouldn't be frozen in horror just staring at him, but trying to help him. I ran to his side, dropping to my knees and skidding next to him as he coughed. He looked at me, eyes wild and bright with fear, and he seemed to calm as he grabbed my arm, laying his head back down and sighing. There was a large cut on his chest, reaching from one shoulder to his waist, and he panted, having difficultly breathing.
"Oh, Ze. What the fuck happened?" I demanded, not waiting for his response as I dug into the bag to look for something to stitch him up with. Ze grabbed my arm, hard, getting my attention and I turned to look at him. His breath was ragged, hair framing his face as he sweat due to the pain.
"Don't," he managed to choke out. "Don't.. waste anything. I'm.. not going to make it."
"Don't fucking talk like that, I can help you. I can help you!" I shouted, turning back to the pack, but Ze had a firm grip that he only tightened when I turned. I looked back at him, and his eyes were pleading as I met his gaze. The last thing that I was going to do was accept his death, but he seemed ready to, and that only scared me even more. "Ze, no."
"Chilled, Anthony, listen." Ze coughed, and I leaned forward on his wound to try and stop his bleeding. "I'm not going to be here.. much longer, but.. but here, take this." Ze coughed again, moving despite my wanting him to remain as still as he could. He removed Smarty's jacket so that it wasn't taken with him, and pushed it into my arms. I looked down at it, biting my lip to keep from sobbing completely.
"If you're leaving this world, I'm not far behind." I told him, and his gaze fluttered to me. He shook his head. "Who did this to you?" I whispered. "At least give me that. I can avenge you. I have to!" Ze shook his head, choking and taking a deep breath.
"It was.. Yamimash, but don't... try to.. avenge," he said, and I frowned. "Listen, keep... your head low. Survive. Remember.. that its just a game," he breathed, and I felt my heart stop as he closed his eyes with a small sigh, breathing out his last breath.
"No." I whispered, horrified. "Ze, no! NO!" My voice worked its way up to a shout, and I pulled at my hair. "Not you, too. Not you, too!" I wrapped my arms around his figure as it stayed completely still, and the cannon that fired above me started off my crying. He was gone. He really was gone, he had died in my arms, in front of me, and I couldn't do anything about it. My chest seemed to sink in on itself as pain filled me, and I didn't bother hide my screaming and crying as the noises erupted from me. I felt like I was also dying, and I opened my eyes at a glowing yellow light. What was once him slowly turned to nothing but bright pixels that swirled around me before floating into the air, leaving me in the cold ground with nothing but Smarty's jacket in my arms. I sobbed harder, I could have done better, I know it.
I stared at Smarty's jacket, then at the bag, then at the blood that was still on the ground where Ze had died. I felt utterly alone, the kind of alone that chokes you and renders your lungs useless. I felt like my entire world had been ripped right out of my arms, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I stared at my hands, covered in Ze's blood and clenched my fists, my teeth grinding together. I looked up at the sky, blinking tears from my eyes as I glared.
"Ze, if you can hear me, I want you to know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I wasn't fast enough, I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help you sooner, and I'm sorry that we separated with the group not once but twice, and I got everyone killed. Because of this, I also want you to know that I will avenge you. I will find Mark's group and I will end them. I won't let you, or Smarty or GaLm die in vain. If I die, I'll go out swinging this sword in the name of the Derp Crew. I promise."
~~~
?'s POV
I had been following the British man for some time, and he seemed intent on running away. He stumbled through the trees, and from what I could see he looked injured, which was odd considering that he didn't do any of the fighting. He limped away, running in a direction that unfortunately for him I had already been in. I knew what lay about a minute away from this area, and it was a set of steep cliffs that dropped off the edge of the arena into a dark abyss filled with who knows what. I followed him, and when I caught up, he had collapsed on the edge of them, breathless and unable to move out of exhaustion. He had run away from the fight out of fear, and I felt this was a good place to get rid of such a coward. He was injured, I could see blood as I moved closer, and I wondered why he would be injured. I had heard another cannon go off behind me earlier, and frowned. He must have run into someone. It didn't matter anyway.
I strode from the woods, right up to where he sat, and he whipped around eyes wide as he took in my person. He was still panting, and attempted to stand up, falling backwards even closer to the edge. My tomahawk slid into view and I grinned. He gaped at me, and then looked as if he realized something.
"Its you," he whispered, and I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but it didn't matter. They all say the same thing when dropped off a cliff.
Nothing.
~~~
Yami dead? Ze gone?! Do any of you even have hearts left?
Anyway, I hope you guys have a frantastic weekend, and I'll see you all on Tuesday!
PS: I'm so sorry
~Jay