Sitting down at the cafeteria table, the two ordered their food and started digging into their meals. They sat in silence for a while, thinking about their traps.

I don’t think Adrian will be able to last long. Maybe I shouldn’t have had him drunk for this? No. What he did wasn’t right. He should have helped that guy, but he didn’t. I don’t know if it would have stopped fate from deeming him a sinner, but he would have mostly redeemed himself in my book.

Besides, he managed to make it back home despite being drunk the entire way. Other than the accident with the kid, the file didn’t mention anything about any other damages, so as long as he is careful, he should be able to make it out of this alive. Only then can he start to redeem himself.

Looking across at Zara, Ed noticed that she’s being a lot quieter than usual. “What’s on your mind?”

“Huh?” Having been pulled from her thoughts, she was momentarily confused. “Oh, I’m just thinking about my project today.”

“Do you want to talk about it? What did they do?” Ed asked.

"She was torturing animals for years. Several of which died by her hands. I mean, how can someone even do something like that?”

That’s definitely bad. I hate to agree with what the company is doing, but I can see why fate considers her to be a sinner. “Well, abusing animals is a clear indicator of serious mental problems. If I remember correctly, people who abuse animals are three times more likely to commit other crimes. I can see why she would be a sinner. If left unchecked she might do something even worse. Now, how are you going to make her redeem herself?” Ed said.

“That’s what I’m trying to think about. I don’t think she deserves redemption, so she’s really going to have to prove herself to me before I will let her go.”

“What do you mean by that?’ Ed asked, a bit confused. You’ve already designed the trap, it’s already out of our hands.

“Your projects will be finished shortly, please return to your desks.” Buddie announced.

The two quickly finished up their meal before standing up.

“You’ll see what I mean soon. Let’s just say that I took inspiration from one of your projects and decided to stretch this one out.” She said as she walked to the door.

The two made it back to their seats in time to watch Adrian stumble out of the bar.

"How long do you think it’ll take him to unlock the car?” Zara asked.

“I don’t know.” Ed shrugged as they watch Adrian fumble around with his keys.

“Fucking piece a shit.” Eventually, he got the car started and looked back to pull out, but instead drove over the curb.

Seeing this, Ed facepalmed. This isn’t going to go well, is it?

His question was immediately answered by the constant dinging of the car telling Adrian to put the seatbelt on. Watching him narrowly avoid getting hit by the other cars, Ed leaned back in his chair, waiting for it all to be over. On the other hand, Zara leaned forward excitedly trying to guess which car will run him off the road.

She was disappointed when she saw him slow down and pull over. “That’s no fun.”

“Good evening, Adrian. This route might be starting to feel familiar to you now. This is the same route you took the night you drove through that teenage boy. In fact, I’ve gone to the liberty of making everything identical to that night.... After all, you didn’t stop on that night. Good luck.”

They watched his car shoot forward, almost colliding head on with another car. As the night went on, they watched as both Adrian and his car got more and more banged up. But somehow, he managed to stay on the road.

With their being no exciting or violent crashes, Zara’s excitement diminished slightly, leaning back to join Ed in a more relaxed position. “How much longer until this ends? Nothing exciting has happened.”

Do you just want to see him crash in a fiery ball of death? Remembering back to the creation process, he compared it with the footage he’s just seen, deducing that the car had almost made it to the scene of the incident. “It shouldn’t be too long now. He’s only a street or two away from where he hit the teenager. If he can make it past that, he should be safe.” He’s made it further than I thought he would.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

As he thought this, the bumper flies off the car, Leaving Adrian with a massive gash across his forehead. The situation became perilous as he was blinded by his own blood, but he managed to get it all under control by the time he turned onto the old, abandoned street.

Here’s the moment of truth. And it was just that. A moment. It all happened too quickly, unable to do anything, the car ploughed straight through the person, and Adrian was flung out of the car.

“You have failed to make it home safely, Adrian. Not only that, but you have also once again run over that poor child. But this time, you have suffered the consequences of your actions. Enjoy Hell Adrian, Goodbye.”

Ed’s screen faded to black, with the last thing they saw being Adrian left in a bloody mess on the road.

“That was awesome...” Zara rambled on about how great the final crash was, with Ed not being able to get a word in at all. She only stopped when her screen lit up.

Curious, Ed turned to look at the screen. I wonder what she’s done... His thoughts trailed off as he saw the woman locked up in an uncomfortably small cage. A sinking feeling of dread formed in the depths of his stomach. What has she done?

“Ow.” Trying to stand up, the woman slammed the back of her head into the roof of the cage. He watched as the woman looked around in fear, sympathising with her. I already have a bad feeling about this.

“Hello! Can anybody hear me? Hello?” She shouted in vain, as no one bothered to answer her. And no matter how hard she tried; she was unable to escape from the cage at all.

“Good morning, Phoebe. It is useless for you to struggle in such a way. You have no chance of breaking that lock...”

“I’ve got to go!” Unexpectedly, Zara jumped out of her chair beside him, shouting back before disappearing through the door. Where is she going? Ed looked back at the door, trying to figure out what’s going on, all the while Buddie continued to speak in the background.

“... You have done many horrible things to animals, and now it’s time for you to experience what those poor creatures did when under your care. However, unlike those creatures, you have a chance to escape-”

“Ooh, ooh! Let me handle this. Please!” Zara bursts through the door, interrupting Buddie’s speech.

Hearing her voice come from behind him, Ed was surprised for a moment, but turned around to see Zara on the screen in front of him. What is she doing in there? Alarmed, Ed tried to wrap his head around what was happening. His mind firmly latched onto something. We can actively participate in the trap. With this revelation, Ed sits there in shock for a moment. Why did I never think of this? If I can participate, maybe I would be able to secretly help someone out. This could be what I’m looking for.

Excited by the possibilities, he ignored what was happening on screen, only being brought out of his thoughts when he heard Zara speak.

“You know, ever since I was a little girl, I’d always wanted a pet, but my parents kept saying no. So, when I heard about what you were doing to those animals, I was heartbroken. How could someone be so cruel?”

Seeing her almost in tears, Ed felt for Zara. I should stop her before she does anything crazy.

“Cruel? Do you not see the irony here you crazy bit-”

BANG!

“Shut up!” Zara said as she slammed her fist on the cage, causing Phoebe to flinch back in fear. “As I was saying, I found your actions to be absolutely evil and abhorrent. Only a monster could treat those precious little animals that way. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.”

“Wh-what are you going to do?” Phoebe asked shakily.

“I’m going to treat you the way you deserve to be treated. The exact same way you treated those animals. And I’m going to have so much fun doing so.” She started laughing, the facade now completely gone.

Looks like I might be too late this time. She did say she was going to stretch this one out, maybe I’ll be able to help them both over the course of the next few days. The situation may be very different from what my teachers said, but this was the kind of thing I was studying for. I might really be able to do some good here.

Ed felt terrible as he watched Phoebe grovelling at Zara’s feet. Just hold on. I’ll try my best to help you. He flinched as he heard the sickening crunch of Phoebe’s hand being stomped into the ground.

As Zara repeatedly tormented and degraded Phoebe, Ed forced himself to watch all of it happen. I need all of the information I can get.

“Don’t worry! I’ll be back soon.” As she stepped out the door, the lights turned off, shrouding Phoebe in darkness.

A few seconds later Zara comes back into the room, sitting down in the chair with a cathartic sigh. “I really needed that.” The screen continued to play for a little while longer, showing Phoebe using her hands to scoop up the rest of the water before the footage finally cut off.

“Why that little bitch- I told her to use her tongue. Does she think just because I’m not in the room she can do whatever she wants? I’m going to kill her.” She jumped out of her chair, furious at the blatant disrespect shown towards her.

As she ran for the door, Ed grabbed onto her arm, speaking in a gentle and soothing voice. “Calm down, Zara. There’s no need to go that far. She didn’t mean anything by it.” He pulled her in close. “Just ignore her for now. How about we go to my room, I’ll show you that book I was talking about. How does that sound?”

Being held in his arms, all her anger dissipated. “That sounds nice.”

Letting her go, he waited for Buddie to send them on their way.

“Now that you have both completed your projects, you are free to spend the rest of your day doing whatever you want. You have each been paid ten credits for your traps. As I said before for Ed’s previous project, due to the extended nature of your project Zara, if any changes occur, it will be properly reflected in your account when the change happens.” Buddie said.

Nodding, Ed made his way to the door with Zara following closely behind.