Why running?

Gus took off, and I ran to follow. Not everyone has the athleticism of triathlon athletes. Not including this past week, I couldn’t have told you the last time I ran.

It didn’t take me long to catch up to him. By the time I reached him, he was already exiting the room I unlocked earlier.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’ll know when you go in there.”

I passed on blindly entering the room he chose to flee out of.

In the room was a silver object I couldn’t quite make out that used a pair of miniature wings to fly through the room. On the surface, at the end of its flight path, was a red laser point. The type cats love to chase. The dot moved every time the object changed its direction.

Well, here goes nothing.

I entered the room.

Bang!

I left the room.

It was a gun. A flying gun. No thanks.

“Well, let’s find a different path.”

“Look closer.”

Gus dragged me over a few feet. There was something else in the room. A dead pi- human. It’s a human. Not a pig. And it was bleeding from more spots than its - his - missing couple of fingers.

Beyond the human, was another open doorway with four blurry blobs behind it.

“Alan is in that group.”

“You can see that far?”

The rooms were spacious, making it not an easy distance to make out who was one room apart.

“I can also see that your friend has strangle marks around his neck, so at least one of their group is healthy.”

The effects of the curse should have hit him by now. He still hasn’t said anything.

“Well, let’s go then.”

I couldn’t very well tell Gus “tough luck”. This event required us to make contact with others regardless.

Assuming Alan joined our side, three on three wasn’t bad odds. Alan and I hold off the weaker ones, while Gus takes everyone out.

We could have connected to them via their starting room as it was likely opposite to where mine connected to Gus’. The issue was…

The gun. Would they obtain it if they cleared the room while we made our way around?

I stepped into the room and was greeted with a gunshot. Thankfully, the red-scope and subsequent bullet were not on my side of the room.

I’d rather test my luck against a random firing gun than one aimed at me.

After another second the gun fired again. Then, the red laser along with its trajectory changed directions. The bullets disintegrated upon contact with the room. It was made more apparent by the lack of ricochet noises.

My ears hurt. Though, it was not as bad as the blasting, tasteless music from before.

Watching the laser point, it wasn’t difficult to avoid the gun. All I had to do was avoid the laser until it flew close enough to grab it. Not that I was confident in my ability to do that.

Nothing good came easy.

Joining me in the room the rag-tag group of four ran at me. They didn’t want me gaining the gun either.

By my side was Gus.

“My deepest condolences, Iron Devil. Our pact has come to an end.”

How Alan wasn’t killed for being chuunibyou was a mystery to me.

Alan took the arm of the thug closest to him and flipped him like a pancake. The thud was muted by a gunshot.

What the hell?

Gus lunged and took out the leftmost thug with a square hit to the face.

Simultaneously, from the center of the group, a rhinoceros charged at me. I mean it was probably a human, but his gray clothes, linebacker build, and pointed nose were not doing him any favors of clearing my doubts.

Unlike my friends, I didn’t have the strength to attack, let alone the agility to dodge. So, I coughed at him.

He stopped his charge.

My arms were guarding my face. I only half expected it to work. He didn’t know I was healthy, and I figured he was also healthy because he seemed like the leader.

That confirmed my suspicion.

There was still no need for him to stop. It was a reflex caused by the tense situation and knowing subconsciously the point of this game is to not be infected. He wouldn’t make the mistake again, not that I would give him time to.

“Gus! Take him out!” I punched the air.

My trusty sidekick gave me a blank look.

“Alan, help!”

The rhino finished surveying what happened to his subordinates. He was about to charge again.

“I do not know this Alan you speak of. I am The Dark Prince of the New Moon.”

I thought you were a lord!

I sprinted away. The rhino was on my tail.

“Gus! Help me! Please!” No reaction. “I said please!”

The laser point moved to a few paces ahead of me.

Shit!

I dodged to the side. The rhino stopped himself. We both avoided the subsequent two shots, then the dot moved across the room.

“Useless bastards. Couldn’t even handle a couple of kids.”

I scrambled to my feet and ran back in their direction.

“Shouldn’t we help him?”

“Help him, and you fight me.”

“But…” Alan’s protest was met with a threatening stare from Gus.

Alan responded with a look of confusion. After a shrug, he joined Gus in walking out the room to spectate.

Despite the rhino pressing in on me, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

It was easy to get caught up in survival, but what am I doing here?

I don’t want to doom this guy to his death. Even if he does evil acts in his spare time, I don’t fancy myself a hero of justice.

Not that I knew anything about him. It was all hypothetical. If survival is all there is to this place, then why did I come here?

I remembered back to the final moments with Bruno on the roof before I passed out.

I’ll keep going a bit longer.

Distracted by my thoughts, I tripped over the leg of the person Alan knocked out. I went with my fall and laid beside him.

He was motionless, most likely unconscious. A flip like earlier wouldn’t kill him.

The rhino jumped over us.

I didn’t have much to go on for who was infected. All I knew was Gus left the room after taking down his opponent. Based on what I knew of Gus, he would leave only after transferring his curse. I saw Alan walk away from the body immediately after flipping him. I don’t think he did anything extra, but that still left the possibility they were all uninfected.

I took my pocket square and whipped it over the man’s bleeding nose, careful not to touch my skin on its whip back.

I slid it lightly across a few scales by my gut making a thin layer. The shades blended together.

Without turning around to see the rhino, I jumped up, dropping my pocket square and barely dodging a kick. He followed it up with a jab at my head.

I raised my arms to block it, taking the hit. I held up my guard, familiar to a few days ago, taking blows. Sweet nostalgia. I watched where his fists flew and where the red dot slid.

Finally, he moved in closer and gave a hit to my gut. I leaned into it, causing him to hit the bloodied spot.

I fell with the hit and used all fours to make some distance between us doing my best to ignore the pain.

1, 2, 3.

I ran towards the red dot, making sure I wasn’t in its direct line of fire. The walls did me no favors for running away, so I tried to make the red dot in between us so I could turn.

I counted the bullets.

14, 15, 16.

The gun alternated between descending and ascending. What made its altitude vary was its speed.

28, 29, 30.

While it ascended, it turned the direction it would face, instead of the straight line descents.

43, 44, 45.

If I followed the laser point on the ceiling, I would have a better ability in terms of placing myself in its descent path.

52, 53, 54.

The man grabbed ahold my shawl, trying to pull me in. I slipped out to escape, left stripped to my underwear. I felt faster.

56, 57.

The gun’s ascended. I followed its trajectory, losing all the ground I gained with my shawl trick. By the end, I was in its future line of fire; I turned to face it and the rhino.

58.

I was in its future line of fire! The rhino, slightly askew to my position, smirked seeing the red dot on my chest. I pivoted in front of the rhino, placing my right arm in front of him while my left arm trailed behind to balance me. Bang!

59.

I lost my ring finger. Stupid karma. My left arm flew back.

The rhino pressed into my hand, ready to start a tackle, when his whole body shook. He involuntarily grabbed at his mouth and his legs buckled.

I twirled. Following the momentum of my left arm flying back, my right arm pushed forward.

60.

The bullet passed through the rhino’s chest. He went down. I had killed an endangered animal.

Trust me, this hurts me more than it hurts you. Don’t judge my coping mechanisms. Don’t trust me on that either.

I picked up my finger and booked it out of the room.

On my way, I saw the unconscious body. It had gained a bullet hole to the leg I already noted during my chase. The second I passed by him, the red dot landed on his head.

Shoot.

Plan B involved catching the gun. It was a much sloppier plan I could throw a few tricks into at best. My stamina and remaining out of his grasp long enough would have been a much greater concern.

I started by counting the first bullet after he should’ve been infected, meaning the infection would hit him right before the last bullet. Yes, I had a hobby when I was younger where I would try to count as precisely as possible. And as someone who had that hobby, I can say it’s much harder to do when exercising. Plan A would have been precarious if the gunfire wasn’t as precise.

I took deep breaths once I joined Alan and the traitor Gus. My hands were on my knees.

“Are” Gasping for air. “You.” More air. “Happy?”

I switched to lying down.

“Barely passing. You let a healthy person die, meaning we’ll be in a time crunch to find someone for Alan. You lost a finger. You look like a flasher who just escaped the police. And if the gun's final trajectory was out of range, you would have been too exhausted for whatever other plan you had.”

I collected more oxygen. Was the flasher comment necessary?

“I used my shawl to shake him off at the center of the room, and I followed the dot even before the ascent. It was likely to be in my range. Plus, based on the area of the room versus number of shots, it was unlucky the unconscious guy took a vital hit.”

“Rely on too many factors, no matter how likely they are, and you’re bound to be unlucky in one of them sometimes.”

“There’s no such thing as guaranteed victory. Especially when you’re as weak as me.”

“There are ways to leave risk in your own hands over the situations.”

“My hands are more risky. Plus my decisions are my hands. Kinda.”

“Silence!” Alan shouted in an attempt of a commanding voice, drawing an invisible line with his arm. “Enemies surround us on all sides. We must rally together.”

Delivery aside, he was successful in making a moment of silence.

“Gus, get the gun.” I moaned and waved at the air, still lying on my back.

Another argument erupted.

After a few minutes, Gus had the gun. It had already been pointed at me a few times. I was back in my goldfish shawl. Alan performed chuuni prayers for each fallen body.

Apparently, Alan had started the event as the only one in his room uninfected. In exchange for the leader’s protection, he had to take his curse. Alan likely demonstrated some strength during the challenges his room faced, which made the group question double-crossing him.

Alan was also a level 2. Unlike Gus, he seemed smart. I never expected he used his level to successfully enroll. Also unlike Gus, I had no clue how he would’ve leveled up. Or rather, I had too many theories and too little evidence.

Another door opened after Gus obtained the gun. We continued opening doors.

I designated myself publicly as the door opener. Privately, I deemed myself the leader. Who would open the doors if not the leader?

[(Add-on Notify): Defeat battle wasps and autonomous dolls. Here’s a shovel.]

From the ceiling dropped a children’s plastic shovel.

What were battle wasps? They were giant hornets that carried knives 10 times their size. The dolls were mannequins that moved about as well as I did. There were 9 of each.

It was a valiant fight. Gus shot the mannequins with the gun. It never ran out of bullets but did have a one-second reload. Alan used my shovel to cover him and take care of the hornets. While I stood outside the room shouting words of encouragement.

Hey, I would’ve helped if I could, but I was already useless enough in a fight with all my fingers intact. They didn’t want me there. I assumed.

After we cleared that room, together, as a team, we moved on to the next. Although one of my teammates wasn’t in the mood to talk to me anymore.

[(Add-on Notify): Solve the riddles on the wall. Stand on the marks corresponding to each answer.]

Easy. Next.

[(Add-on Notify): Endure the coming typhoon. Catch the golden fish under the water. Doors lock in one minute.]

Go Gus go! Man was not made for water. Leave it to the fishes and those who waste time on swimming classes. I won’t learn how.

While the pain from my lost finger was intense, over time it was Alan looking worse for wear. Dark bags formed under his eyes. His movements began to seem sluggish.

“Shall we head back and open the door to someone else’s starting area?”

They might have even been connected to a partially used exit. Although, that presented the problem of the healthy people leaving and only the sick remaining. Time was of the essence to find other healthy people before they left, however, it wasn’t my decision to make.

Alan shook his head. “Let’s leave it in Lady Luck’s hands one more time.”

Okay, one more door.

I touched the sensor, my gory hand not quite matching the outline due to my missing finger. The door had a counter emerge from within it. Walls made from the same brick as The Wall of Absorption boxed me in.

[(Add-on Notify): Here are two cards. Each image on them corresponds to a prize. One, a trapdoor that will exit you from the event area. The other, a cure that neutralizes the curse. First, place facedown the card to give out. Second, the one to keep.]

[(Add-on Notify): Waiting for player 2…]

Emerging from within the counter were a card depicting a ritual chalice filled with a green liquid, and a card of a wooden trapdoor.