The four men gathered around the kitchen, reading every document and file about the monster that disguised itself as a game. It was discovered that the creature was a spirit and, for some reason, decided to latch itself on a game that could only be played on a previous generation of gaming consoles. Compared to modern systems and games that are far more popular, it was a strange choice for a spirit to choose an almost 8-year-old game.
Spirits are a unique group of Horrifica, a single-soul organism that could do virtually anything. Usually formed from the souls of intelligent creatures like humans or Kits, spirits could either roam freely or latch itself onto an object or building. In rare cases, they could invest an entire area of land. Killing a spirit could be a difficult task or a simple wave of a hand due to spirits will often have their own means of what could or couldn’t kill them. But in the case of the creature Jayden and his team had to deal with, it would be nearly impossible if they didn’t have a plan at the ready.
Jayden dreaded reading the documents, how he had to read through every autopsy report of the 300 victims the creature had brutally murdered and devoured their souls. He was trying to figure out how the creature killed its victims, but all he got was speculations. The notes from the previous team also proved fruitless since they all decided the best option was to commit suicide rather than to die by the spirit when they failed to find a way to kill it.
Gorgie rubbed his tired eyes before he rested his head on his head. ‘I found a few speedrunning videos of people beating the game. The fastest I found was almost 13 minutes on the computer.’
Hank rolled his eyes as he read through the magical readings’ documentation and how the creature was discovered and captured. ‘Well, we don’t have the game on the computer. What is the record on the 360?’
‘Over an hour.’ Gorgie replied with a whimper.
‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ Hank grumbled. ‘Why did we agree to the plan again? Do we have to beat the game to kill the spirit?’
‘Because some spirits are made to be beaten.’ Dameo responded after he slammed the Fallout: New Vegas’ gaming document next to him. ‘Some spirits, like Sprites, could only be slain or defeated if you completed a certain task. From what I understand of the notes and the pile of shit we have to read. We might have to beat the game as quickly as possible before it kills us.’
‘Okay, what about we mod the game and win that way?’ Hank pointed out.
Jayden shrugged as he took a moment to ponder Hank’s question. ‘It is difficult to mod the Xbox 360. It might even put the console at risk and inevitably break it and thus the spirit would jump to a different copy of the game, which will put us back at square one. I don’t even think modding the game could even work in the first place, because if the spirit is haunting the game, it might have total control of the game’s code.’
‘It might even have certain requirements we have to follow.’ Dameo interjected, ‘we might have to complete a certain quest, beat the boss, maybe even side with a certain faction, I don’t know. But regardless of those requirements, we have to do them as quickly as possible. Even if we have to utilise every exploit and speed running strategy.’
Hank raised a brow, ‘okay, so we have to do its bidding. But what if this thing is a mod itself?’
‘Doubt it. From what I can understand, most of the victims are not able to download or even install a mod,’ Jayden explained. ‘It would also imply the spirit hunts or torments humanity online. I really doubt it, and I hope that is not the case.’
‘Then how did they get the game? Did the victims get the haunted version of the game or did their copy of the game become haunted on its own?’ Hank inquired.
Gorgie shook his head. ‘No, from what I’ve read from the last victim, they bought their version of Fallout: New Vegas from a garage sale.’
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
‘A garage sale?’ Hank sighed in disbelief. ‘That sounds like a thing that only happens in shitty early internet horror stories.’
‘That is rich, coming from someone who is part of the Order Horrifica.’ Jayden chuckled at the irony. ‘Besides, I don’t think it matters where the game came from. Only that there seems to be only one of its kind.’
‘Alright, so we got that down. Who would play the game?’ As soon as Hank said that, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him. ‘Jesus, don’t tell me that came as a shock to everyone?’
Dameo rubbed his brow, ‘I thought you might play the game, since, well… you had combat experience.’
Hank stood up and marched over to Dameo with a furious expression. ‘This isn’t something I deal with. I have experience with fighting physical threats that I could kill with my bare hands. Not play a kids’ game! If anything, it will have to be someone else.’
‘That is…’
‘That is how it will work!’ Hank shouted over Dameo. ‘The only game I’ve ever played in the past year is Fallout 4. Besides, someone needs to be ready to kill whatever comes out of that TV. So, no, it has to be someone else to play the game.’
‘I’ll do it,’ everyone turned to look at Gorgie. ‘I used to speedrun Mario 64 when I was a kid. They may be different games, but I understand some of the strategies that are posted on Reddit or Speedrun.com.’
‘You sure you want to do that?’ Jayden asked, unsure if they were serious about taking up a dangerous task or if they only said it to stop Hank from lashing out.
‘I am,’ Gorgie nodded. ‘I agree with Hank that he shouldn’t play the game because we might have to deal with whatever might come out and lash at us.’ Gorgie reached over to Jayden and grabbed a picture of a young girl who was lacerated and had her arm torn off from her body. ‘This isn’t something that could happen normally. Something had to rip these people to shreds. Hank is the only one here with combat experience, and I trust him far more than anyone to kill whatever is in that game if it attacks us.’
Hank stared at Gorgie before we walked over to his spot to sit down. ‘Okay, so what is the plan? We speed through the game and hope for the best?’
Jayden shrugged, ‘we don’t have any other choice. Seems like there is nothing in the files that indicates that the game changes or is any different from what is published.’
‘I am not sure about that,’ Dameo said. ‘In one Facebook message from a victim, they said how the game is buggy and weird.’
Hank shook his head. ‘That is only one comment. Jayden and I also took apart the Xbox, and we found zero damages or detected any magical corruption.’
‘The game is also known to be buggy even upon release. This could be just a comment on the game itself and not so much on the spirit that haunts it.’ Jayden explained, trying his best to rationalise the message and convince himself that the spirit doesn’t have a physical form. ‘But it won’t hurt to be prepared, just in case.’
Hank nodded in agreement. ‘We’ll begin tomorrow, are there any objections?’ He looked around and waited for someone to respond. Instead, they all sat in silence. Jayden could tell no one liked each other, how tense they all were.
Jayden looked through the files again, detailing every gruesome detail about the deaths. He couldn’t understand, but he tried to rationalise how they all died. It terrified him how the human body could contort and split open. He knew Hank was used to grotesque violence. He had to be. Jayden couldn’t understand how a man like him or most people in the newly revived unit could be thrusted into a world of violence and constant death. Jayden knew the world was dangerous, but he never imagined how fragile humanity was compared to the threats it constantly faced.