[𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆! 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻!]

HAV0C stares at the notification, snorting. His shirt has become soaked in his own blood as it pools under him. "No shit."

Eclipse stares at the sight, the sounds of Catnip's yells to 'Put pressure on it' becoming muffled, as if she was under water. Her hands subconsciously shake, her mind replacing HAV0C with the beheaded boy. She looks away and when she glances again she let's out a breath of relief.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘏𝘈𝘝0𝘊. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧-𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵!?

𝘍𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴.

She clenches her fists. Takes a deep breath.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱.

She walks over to him, her white shoes causing ripples in the puddles of blood slowly expanding from under him. He looks up at her and tries to smile. "Heya, Mom-"

"Try not to speak, okay?" Her voice comes out harsher she intends as she lifts up his hand to fully see his injury. She immediately wishes she hadn't.

Four angry red lines stretching out across his midsection, blood pumping out in tune with his heartbeat, which is becoming so faint she can barely pick it up when she presses her fingers against his wrist.

𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"We need to slow down the bleeding-"

"Oh really?" Catnip snaps, anger flaring in his eyes. "I didn't fucking know-"

"Guys...." The two look down at the boy infront of them. "It's okay."

"What?"

"You need to stop trying so hard to save me."

Eclipse and Catnip freeze. ".....What did you just say-?"

HAV0C doesn't fully know what's going on. He doesn't know why they're here, how they're here, and the true goal of all this. But there's one thing he's certain about. This is a game of survival. Some sick battle royale. And in a battle royale, there's always going to be sacrifices. Teammates are going to die, one way or another. He....just happens to be that unlucky teammate today.

He grins, his body trembling. The air seems to be getting colder and colder. "You guys need to survive this fucked up game and win. Besides, with the bounty I have on my head-"

"I have a bounty too!" Catnip steps forward in defiance.

"And that's all the more reason we should split. It will be harder for them to catch us that way."

"No." Eclipse speaks quietly. "Not for you. You'll be a sitting duck."

HAV0C lowers his gaze to the floor, staring at his red reflection. "That's just the way things are, I guess."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Like FUCK it is!" Catnip's face is turning red in anger. "Why are you so calm about this!? How can you accept your death that easily!?"

The question makes him think.

𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘩, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵...𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳....𝘥𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦....

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵....

His vision darkens as he struggles to breathe. His head relaxes as his eyes slowly shut. Catnip and Eclipse are at his side, clamping their hands around his wound, yelling at him to stay awake.

...𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

The two stop yelling, throats sore, a bottomless pit of despair swallowing them whole. Their hands are sticky with his blood.

Eclipse remains where she is as Catnip shakily gets to his feet, a few choice swear words firing from his mouth. She keeps her head down, unable to take her eyes off of him.

"He's dead. He's actually-what are we going to do-?"

"We're going to win. That's what we're going to do." HAV0C's words ring in her head. A battle royale? If that's so....then they've been surviving against incredible odds. And now with the bounty...

𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰.

Eclipse slowly reaches out to shift HAV0C's body into a comfortable position. Leaving him sprawled on the floor just feels wrong.

𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘯-

The faintest of twitches catches her attention. Eclipse freezes and stares. Was she just imagining things, or did HAV0C just-?

She grabs a piece of glass and holds it to HAV0C's face, heart thudding against her rib-cage. It begins to fog up and she almost cries.

"HAV0C, you stubborn son of a...."

𝘏𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦.

𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦-

A notification appears in-front of her. "Huh?"

[𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝟬𝗖?]

𝘈 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭....?

She stares at the notification for a moment longer, before nodding. No more time to think.

"Yes."

She instinctively places her hands on HAV0C's still leaking wound.

[𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹!]

A golden glow begins to emanate from her hands as they rest on the claw marks. Somehow she knows her eyes are glowing as well, if the gob-smacked expression of Catnip isn't a good enough testament. She closes her eyes, feeling something flow through her, as if she's part of a channel. Going through her, down her arms and fingertips, and into HAV0C's wound. She distantly notes the fact that they are standing in front of a window, sunlight beaming down on them.

[𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩!]

She doesn't know how long the process takes. What could be minutes feels like hours. But she continues, holding the channel open as sweats runs down her face. Catnip lightly dabs at her forehead with a bit of torn cloth. She murmurs out her thanks.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦.....?

The channel stops on its own, the last dredges flowing into the wound. She opens her eyes and removes her hands, which feel tingly and warm. She wipes her face with the back of her hand.

"Catnip, can I have the cloth-?"

She looks over at Catnip, who's staring at HAV0C with wide eyes. She follows his gaze, finally noticing her handiwork. Her mouth opens with shock.

The vicious claw marks from before are completely healed, now just four long lines going down his torso. The scars run pretty deep, as Eclipse notes as she gently brushes over it with her hand, but the bleeding has completely stopped.

𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

𝘐 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺...!

HAV0C's eyes twitches a little, before slowly opening. A notification has appeared in front of his face.

[𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗱! 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱.]

Then another:

[𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝. 𝘼𝙘𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨: [𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙤𝙧] 𝙖𝙣𝙙 [𝘿𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙩!]]

"What the fuck-?"

Catnip latches unto him, a wide grin on his face. HAV0C notices there's a wetness in his eyes.

"Don't even think about dying early, you dumb fuck-"

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺, "𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦-"

HAV0C looks down at his new scar, then back up at Eclipse, who's moved a bit back and looking at the floor. "You...healed me?"

She nods, not meeting his gaze.

"Even after I told you guys to run, you still stayed...."

He shuffles over and wraps Eclipse in a hug.

"Thank you. Thank you for not giving up on me."

Eclipse stiffens in surprise. Then she slowly hugs him back, tears brimming in her eyes.

"You're welcome."