After going through the portal, I emerged from the light into the same wasteland as before, exiting out of the giant Pac Land arcade machine. I was somewhat surprised to see a large crowd of people standing around outside, maybe a few dozen of them, most standing alone, a few in small groups. All eyes went to me as I stood by the arcade machine. I made eye contact with a few of the closest players, most of whom seemed shaken up by their experience in the Trial, and I wondered if they’d had the same Trial as I had.

“Hey,” I said, nodding at some guy about my age.

The guy I nodded at looked like he'd been through the wringer. He was about my height, with a mop of disheveled brown hair and a face pale with exhaustion. His jeans and t-shirt were torn and dirty, evidence of whatever ordeal he'd just endured. What stood out was the garish neon windbreaker he wore—a relic of 80s fashion that seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy.

"Hey," he replied, his voice hoarse. "You just finish too?"

I nodded, taking in the rest of the crowd. "Yeah. Helluva ride, huh?"

The guy let out a humorless chuckle. "You can say that again. I feel like I just went ten rounds with a rabid arcade machine." He tugged at his windbreaker. "At least this thing came in handy. Deflects projectiles or some shit."

"Nice," I said, gesturing to my own denim jacket. "This bad boy's acid and explosion resistant. Name's Kade, by the way."

"Cooper," he replied, extending a hand. As we shook, I noticed his knuckles were bruised and bloody.

"So," I ventured, "your trial involve any homicidal school staff, by any chance?"

Cooper's eyes widened. "School staff? Man, I wish. I just spent what felt like eternity trying to escape a giant, murderous Pac-Man in a neon maze. Kept having to eat these pills that made me see weird shit. You're telling me you had to deal with killer teachers?"

I let out a low whistle. "Yeah, a whole Breakfast Club's worth. Sounds like we all got different flavors of 80s hell."

"No kidding," Cooper said, shaking his head. "What kind of sick game is this?"

"The kind we've got no choice but to play," I replied grimly. "But hey, we made it through the First Trial, right?"

Cooper nodded, a determined look crossing his face. "Yeah, we did. Question is, what fresh hell are they gonna throw at us next?"

“I’m trying not to think about that.”

“Yeah, me too. After all that running, I need a rest. My legs are burning, man.”

“Lotta running in this damn place for sure. Have you leveled up much?”

“Level 3. You?”

“Level 4.”

“Damn, you’re doing good, bro.”

“I wouldn’t say that. I just bulldoze through whatever obstacles are in front of me. It’s that or die, right.”

“Yeah, I don’t wanna end up an NPC in this hellhole forever. I’m gonna do what it takes to survive this fucked up game.”

I nodded, sharing his sentiments. “So, are you alone in this, or have you teamed up with anyone yet?”

“Team up?” He frowned. “I thought it was every dog for himself here.”

“It is, kinda,” I said. “But it doesn’t hurt to work as a party, least in between Trials.”

“I dunno, man. I’m not sure I trust anyone here to be teaming up and shit. On the way here, I watched some psycho cave another player’s head in with a rock because he thought the other guy was gonna beat him to the Trial first. Crazy shit, man.”

I nodded, unsurprised. “Things weren’t exactly civil on Earth. They aren’t gonna be civil here, either. Far from it.”

“You can say that again.” He paused to stare at me. “You seem okay, though. You’re the first person I’ve really spoken to since ending up here. First player, anyway.”

“I’m just trying to survive, bro. But that’s not to say we can’t be civil to each other.”

A few feet away, some brute of a man scoffed at my words. He was a mountain of muscle and scar tissue, his weathered face locked in a permanent scowl. The guy was covered in blood, like he'd just walked out of a slaughterhouse, and wore a torn half-cut biker jacket that strained against his bulk.

"Civil?" he spat, his voice a gravelly growl. "With a pussy attitude like that, you've got no chance in this place, boy."

Cooper and I exchanged glances as the man stomped over, leaving crimson footprints in his wake. He loomed over us, reeking of sweat and violence.

"Listen up, you little shits," he snarled, jabbing a meaty finger at us. "This ain't no summer camp. It's kill or be killed. You start making friends, you're just setting yourself up for a knife in the back."

He flexed his blood-crusted knuckles, a nasty grin spreading across his face. "Me? I just ripped apart some kind of demon bear with my bare hands. Felt good, too. That's what you gotta do to survive here. No mercy, no hesitation. You see an opportunity, you take it. Screw everyone else."

The man's eyes gleamed with a manic light. "Teaming up? That's for the weak. Friends are just baggage, slowing you down when you should be focused on one thing—staying alive. You boys better learn that quick, or you'll end up as some monster's chew toy."

He leaned in closer, his breath hot and rancid. "So what's it gonna be? You gonna man up and do what needs to be done, or are you gonna keep playing nice until this place eats you alive?"

I clenched my fists, fighting the urge to introduce this asshole's face to my chain-wrapped knuckles. But before I could respond, Cooper spoke up, his face flushing with anger. "Man, fuck you and your survival of the fittest bullshit," he spat. "We're all stuck in this hellhole together. Maybe a little humanity is exactly what we need."

The brute's eyes narrowed dangerously, his massive frame tensing like a coiled spring. "What did you say to me, you little prick?" he growled, taking a menacing step toward Cooper.

I quickly stepped between them, my hand raised in a placating gesture. "Whoa, let's all calm down here," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "We've all just been through hell. No need to start a fight now."

Although if it’s a fight you want…

The man's gaze locked onto me, his eyes blazing with barely contained rage. For a moment, I thought he was going to take a swing at me. I could feel the tension radiating off him, his muscles twitching with the urge to lash out.

But then, unexpectedly, his face split into a maniacal grin. He took a step back, shaking his head and chuckling darkly. "You two are fucking adorable," he sneered. "Playing nice, making friends. It'd be cute if it wasn't so goddamn pathetic." He started backing away, that unsettling grin still plastered on his face. "I'll see you two pussies later. Probably scattered in bits across this wasteland. That is, if there's anything left of you to find."

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With one last contemptuous look, he turned and strode off, leaving Cooper and me standing there, the weight of his words hanging in the air between us.

"Jesus," Cooper muttered, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. "What a psycho."

I nodded, my eyes still following the retreating figure of the blood-covered brute. "Yeah," I said quietly. "And the scary thing is, he might not be wrong. You gotta have a bit of psycho in you to make it here.”

Cooper nodded solemnly. He struck me as an easy going kind of guy, the kind of guy who’d probably never even been in a fight before landing in Infernum. Now he would have to become someone else in order to survive here. Everyone would have to tap into that primal side of themselves, with some having to dig deeper than others. Those who couldn’t simply wouldn’t make it.

"I should probably get moving,” Cooper said. “Try to figure out what's next."

"Alright," I replied. "Maybe I'll see you around, Cooper. Stay alive out there."

He nodded, but the look in his eyes told me he wasn't convinced. As he turned and walked away, merging into the crowd of shell-shocked survivors, I couldn't help but wonder how many of us would make it to the next trial, and what kind of people we'd be when we got there.

Out of interest, I brought up the player numbers on my screen—2861 players remained.

Damn. Lost a few hundred in the First Trial, I guess.

That made me think about Annalise and Snuggles, neither of whom had emerged from the arcade machine yet. My stomach knotted in worry as I stood around staring at the light-filled exit, watching as more players stumbled out, most looking shellshocked and bloodied.

Then Annalise finally came walking out, and I hurried over to her. “Annalise,” I said, relieved to see her face. “You made it.”

“Course I did,” she said, showing no signs of trauma or injury. “You think I’d be dumb enough to stumble at the first hurdle?”

“Plenty did.”

“I’m glad you didn’t, anyway.” She gave me the once over. “You look hurt.”

“I took a few knocks in there. Which reminds me, I still haven’t used my Health Potion.”

“Maybe you should then.”

Selecting the Health Potion from the Quick Access slot in my inventory, I took the whole thing, and whatever injuries I had were almost instantly fixed. “Jesus. I could’ve used this stuff back on Earth. It’s a goddamn miracle cure.”

“Yep,” she said. “Like Jesus Himself laid his hands on you.”

I snorted. “As if JC would come anywhere near this place.”

“Really? After everything we’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if He came riding up on a Harley looking like Cobra.”

“You know that movie?”

“Of course. I grew up in the eighties.”

“Great movie.”

“It was okay. I was more of a Tango and Cash kinda girl. Kurt Russell, you know what I mean?”

I shook my head, laughing. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” I looked past her, my smile disappearing. “No sign of Snuggles yet. You think he’s all right?”

Annalise took a bottle of water from her inventory and started drinking it. “He seems like a survivor. I think he’ll make it.”

“Let’s hope so.” Seeing Annalise drinking made me thirsty, so I produced my own bottle of water. “I forget I even have this stuff.”

“You should get more familiar with your inventory items and skills,” Annalise said. “That’s the game, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. Did you level up in there?”

“Level 4 now.”

“Same here.”

“I guess that makes us bad asses then.”

“Yeah, right. We’re still fledglings. What was your Trial about? I had to fight the cast from the Breakfast Club.”

"No shit? Mine was... different. I had to survive a twisted version of an 80s high school prom. It was like Carrie meets The Terminator in there."

"Sounds rough," I said, noticing the fresh cuts and bruises on her arms.

"You have no idea," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. "The place was crawling with these robotic students in neon outfits. They were like androids, but with big hair and shoulder pads. And there was this... thing. It called itself the Prom Queen from Hell."

I whistled low. "Damn. How'd you make it out?"

Annalise's eyes hardened. "I had to get creative. Used everything I could find - punch bowl as a weapon, streamers to trip them up. In the end, I short-circuited that Prom Queen by dumping her in the school's pool during the after-party." She shuddered. "It was brutal, Kade. I had to do things in there... things I never thought I was capable of."

"I get it," I said softly. "Sounds like these Trials are designed to push us to our limits."

"And beyond," Annalise added grimly. "I just hope I can hold onto some part of myself through all this."

I had to refrain from laughing when she said that. Hold on to some part of ourselves? In this place? But then I thought that maybe she had a point. Maybe that was the true way to survive here, by maintaining that core of ourselves. Maybe that’s where our true strength came from. Time would certainly tell.

Just then, Snuggles came stumbling out of the arcade exit, looking very much the worse for wear. Half of his left arm was missing for a start, and I was slightly horrified to see bone and meat there instead of stuffing. The rest of his blue fur was stained heavily with crimson blood.

"Jesus, Snuggles," I said, crouching down to his level. "What the hell happened to you in there?"

Snuggles looked up at me, his button eyes somehow managing to convey his exhaustion and barely contained fury. "What fucking happened? I'll tell you what fucking happened, you overgrown meat popsicle. I got thrown into some psychedelic nightmare version of Sesame Street on crack!"

He spat out what looked disturbingly like a tooth. "Big Bird? More like Big Bastard. That yellow feathered freak tried to use me as a goddamn chew toy. And don't even get me started on Oscar the Grouch. That trash-dwelling asshole nearly turned me into confetti with a rusty chainsaw."

Snuggles gestured wildly with his remaining arm. "And you know what the cherry on top of this shit sundae was? The Count. That number-obsessed vampire wannabe kept trying to count how many pieces he could slice me into. I lost count after the first dozen cuts."

He looked down at his mangled body. "But you know what? I gave as good as I got. You should see what's left of Elmo after I shoved a live grenade down his throat. Let's see him do that annoying laugh now, the red furry fuck."

Snuggles shook his head, a manic grin spreading across his face. "In the end, I had to blow up the whole damn street just to get out. So yeah, that's what happened."

I stared at him, momentarily speechless. Finally, I managed to say, "Damn, Snuggles. Sounds like you've been through the wringer. But at least you made it. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you would.”

“Yeah, well, folks are always underestimating me.”

“I wonder why,” Annalise said with a smirk.

“Screw you, ninja girl.”

“Ninjas are Japanese. I’m Chinese.”

Snuggles stared up at her. “Forgive me for not getting your origins right when half my damn arm is missing. I’m like fucking Captain Hook with no hook over here.”

I sniggered at that. “What are you going to do about that? Will it… grow back?”

“It’s already growing back,” Snuggles said. “I used the Heal Spell we all start with.”

“We have a Heal Spell?”

“Yes, you big dummy. It will take a little time for my arm to grow back. Thank Christ. This place is hard enough without trying to compete with one arm.”

I stared at him a moment longer, trying to work out what was different about him. “Is it me, or have you grown some?”

“Well spotted eagle eye. I grow every time I level up. Most pets here do.”

“So you’ll get bigger and stronger? Nice. Soon I won’t have to carry you.”

“It’s a slow process, so don’t get your hopes up. I’ll keep grinding, though.”

We moved away from the arcade machine as more players emerged from it, the three of us staying together. “So listen,” I said. “I’ve been thinking—”

“Oh Jesus, here we go,” Snuggles said in that gruff voice of his. “Didn’t anyone tell you it’s dangerous to think too much in this place, Kade? Besides, you don’t exactly strike me as the thinking type, anyway.”

I glared at him. “Do you wanna lose your other arm as well? Keep it up, and you will.”

“Good to see violence is your first response now, Kade. You’re really settling in here. You should be proud.”

Shaking my head, I carried on. “So I was thinking we should become a party. The three of us.”

"A party?" Annalise said the words like they left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Come on, don't say it like that. You know we stand a better chance if we stick together."

"Well, I'm already your pet, Kade, so we're together anyway. But if I wasn't, I'd still say it's a good idea. Loners usually don't last in this place. I've seen it a million times. Some guy thinks he's gonna be the lone wolf, survive on his own.” He shook his head. "Let me tell you how it goes down. Mr. Tough Guy heads out solo, thinks he's got it all figured out. Maybe he even makes it through a Trial or two. But then?" Snuggles made a popping sound with his mouth. "Bam! He runs into something he can't handle alone. Could be a mob of nightmares, could be a puzzle that needs more than one brain to solve. Whatever. This place? It's designed to break you. And it's a hell of a lot easier to break one stick than it is to break a bundle. You need people to watch your blind spots, to pull you back when you're about to do something stupid, to pick you up when you fall."

Snuggles' voice grew quieter, almost introspective. "Plus, and I can't believe I'm saying this sappy shit, but having others around? It helps keep you human. Or whatever the hell I am. Point is, it gives you something to fight for beyond just yourself. And trust me, you're gonna need that motivation when things get really ugly."

He looked up at Annalise, his tone growing serious. "So yeah, a party might not be your style, ninja girl. But out here? It might just be what keeps you alive."

Annalise stared at me for a long moment, but before she could say anything, an announcement beat her to it.

“Contestants! Congratulations to those of you who completed your first Trial! For those that didn’t make it, Infernum welcomes you as an NPC.” The AI announcer actually chuckled, the evil shit. “Anyway, onto business. By completing your Trial, you have just unlocked your first Quest. Oh, aren’t you all lucky. Quests are optional, but recommended. You want the good loot? Maybe even the good weapons? Then quests are the way to get them. Check your notifications for details.”