I brace for impact but never cower. Instead, I snarl, kicking and clawing at the mechanical, human-looking monster effortlessly choking me. But no matter what I do, her grip is unflinching and hard as steel. The lack of oxygen must be getting to my brain already because I swear, I can almost hear the familiar whisper of my brother’s voice in my ear, "You can't give up!" I can almost hear him say, "Please get up! I need you!" 

And I am a simple woman, one never able to refuse my cute little brother, even an imagery one my brain is conjuring to motivate my survival instincts. Clenching my jaw, I force myself to stay conscious, lifting myself fully off the ground to unbalance the robot lady even as she takes a swing of her own at me. It’s an attack that I know is meant to kill me in one hit. I unbalanced her slightly, so I won’t be fatal most likely, but it’s not enough to doge completely.

‘Fuck this is going to hurt—!’

“EVERYONE STOP!”

The effect of the words is immediate, the robot lady stutters, actual sparks coming from her as she halts. All the sound in the rest of the room comes to a grinding halt as well. I freeze as well despite screaming at my body to use this opportunity to escape, I’m held captive in place, a weird itching feeling skating over my skin.

“We all need to—!” whoever is shouting coughs loud, a wet and painful sound. I can just see the speaker out of the corner of my eye, a tall woman with a messy bun, fairy wings fluttering behind her, wearing an apron with a name tag and covered in paint and glitter. She looks like a preschool teacher and can’t be much older than me, most likely fresh out of college, holding a hand to her mouth where a tiny trickle of red blood escapes the corner of her lips.

“I can’t—" she coughs again, more blood stains her hands, but she takes a shaky breath and keeps talking. “I can’t hold this for long, so we all need to calm down and work together,” She reasons, and I might agree with her if I could choose to listen to her, but having had the option robbed from me I just snarl, and its strange how I’m able to actually make the noise, it's quiet but loud enough that a few nearby people turn to look.

‘But if I’m able to do this much—’ I force my hands to curl just to prove I can and its weird how my body reacts a second later than my thought. But my hands do tighten if only a little, ‘I can move! I can fight back and—!’

[Player’s background [□□□□□□□□□] blocks all effects of charms spells] and the screen glitches blurring out the word that is supposed to be there before a new window appears. [Spell effect nullified]

‘What?’ I think as the weird itching suddenly vanishes, it's jarring how quickly my body is completely back under my control.

‘Well, that is good to know, but a charm effect…?’ I think glancing over at the robot lady who’s firmly staring to the side at the woman who is still shouting over the crowd. I dig my fingers into the machine’s grip trying to get her to let go, but she doesn’t react outside of an eye twitch and the flickering of the unnatural light in her eyes. Seems whatever the preschool teacher did it affected even the hunk of metal, but me being immune isn’t helping me not get choked.

The teacher coughs again but puts on a brave face towards the frozen crowd. I’m mildly impressed she’s holding on so well let alone even being stupidly brave enough to stand up in the first place. I would be even more begrudgingly in awe of her abilities if her magic wasn’t hindering my own survival and her good-natured selflessness reminded me vividly of how I still haven’t found my brother. “I’m going to release the magic,” she announces and I ready myself, “so let’s all try to figure this out together—"

The words suddenly cut off, but I don’t look, keeping my eyes locked on the robot for the moment the magic breaks and I can wrench myself out of the grip, but the machine’s eyes widen slightly, the first true emotion besides confusion I’ve seen on her face as dozens of gasps and shrieks of shock echo around the cave.

Sensing that something is very wrong, I risk a glance and feel my own breath halt.

The preschool teacher is still standing on the ramshackle pile of rubble she was on before, but she’s not alone, seems I wasn’t the only one immune. Behind her is a man, dressed like some Wall Street businessman with a 3 piece suit, slicked back black hair, and a pair of designer sunglasses. The way he’s caught the preschooler teacher around the waist would be a scene right off the cover of a Hallmark movie if not for the fact he’s also holding the sword that is now impaling her stomach.

“Sorry miss,” the businessman says, but despite his words his tone is far from apologetic more bored and annoyed. At least his actions match his tone as he drops her body without even looking at her. “But I can’t have you go making peace before I’ve had my fun.”

No one moves. Fear so potent you can almost feel it. Even my breaths are coming a tad faster, heart rate kicking up without my control. I know what fear feels like, know it like an old friend, haunting my steps and every foster home me and Zeke were shoved into as children not being enough to defend ourselves. But this is more than fear, this is pure unfiltered terror. Radiating an aura that’s unnaturally haunting. The shadows behind him writhe and expand, clawed fingers reaching across the walls and ground, like living nightmares.

“Now that the meddlesome one has been dealt with…,” the man’s gaze snaps up to scan the room, “shall we get back to the real fun?”

“God, help us,” someone says in the quiet, their voice carrying over the still crowd.

The man turns lazily to face the voice eyes locked on someone nearby the little rock mound he dethroned the preschool teacher from, who is still at his feet gasping and bleeding out slowly. “God can’t help you here,” he promises, shaking out his sword, causing specks of blood to splash on the still-frozen people below him. “Now we rule on power. Surely, you’ve heard the law of the jungle? The strongest are the ones who get to wear the crown.” He smirks and points his sword at whoever just spoke, “Unless of course you want to challenge me as king?”

‘He’s an asshole,’ I think, but I am annoyingly impressed, the businessman at least has a good scheme going, really selling the evil mastermind vibes.

“Another anomaly confirmed,” the robot lady repeats, blue eyes locked on the businessman. I ponder acting now to gain an upper hand, but I really don’t want to attract the attention of whatever the fuck that guy is. Considering how the machine isn’t moving either despite its newfound freedom, seems we agree that our fight should be put on hold in the presence of a bigger and more deadly predator.

The man frowns when no one rises to his bait, “It’s no fun if all of you just roll over and take it,” he complains, lowering his sword, “none of you have an ounce of self-respect or ambition?”

I feel the snarl bubbling in my throat before I’m fully aware of it. Is it a stupid idea? Yeah, I can admit that much, but I’ve never been much of a planner or the brains of a scheme, that has always Zeke’s job. So, I might be a tad impulsive at the best of times, hasn’t gotten me into anything I couldn’t get myself out of yet.

But before I can do anything—

[Don’t]

I startle at the new window, it's not the same pastel blue as the past ones. Instead, this one is a crisp almost blinding white. The stranger thing though is the single word. I don’t know why but I get the sudden feeling I’m being chastised.

Annoyingly it was probably a good idea it startled me and stopped me from saying anything. But I still grind my teeth at the man’s insult, even as something in my hindbrain screams at me to not rise to the bait, that whatever he is can and will kill me easily.

The bloody businessman sighs in disappointment, brushing a hand through his hair and giving himself a slightly more manic edge as he slicks back his hair with blood. His shadows writhe and stretch along the back wall, unnaturally getting larger. a few people back up a step and he grins, sharp and pleased at the reaction, “There you guys go~” and he almost sings it, as he points his sword at the crowd.

“Run,” He orders, kicking the now dead preschool teacher off the platform, her body stiff and lifeless, blood painting the stone below her, “I love it when my prey squirms.”

The fear becomes an almost oppressive weight, oppressive and thick as everyone thinks the same thing, ‘if we move, we’re dead’. Even I can feel the knowledge settle over me, and I don’t need the white text window flashing in my face again to still my tongue.

I’m not sure who moves first, but it’s like a chain reaction, as soon as the first person backs up an inch, the room explodes into chaos, people scrambling and shoving just to get a bit farther.

“That’s it!” he laughs, jumping down off the makeshift platform and looming over an older woman who had been knocked down in the panic, “Let me show all you rats who’s king!”

I pull my gaze away sharply. I’m not squeamish by any means but I still don’t want to watch an insane man murder an old lady.

“Reassessing threat and priority target,” the robot says next to me, eyes fixed on what I assume is the bloody scene of the man continuing his serial killing. “New target player is not correctly bound to the system, future errors may occur, but gathered data suggests anomaly will be rendered harmless to system in approximately 23 hours and 45 minutes. Conclusion, there is no need to interfere or terminate—"

After being given such a wonderful opportunity why wouldn’t I attack when the robot is distracted?

I kick out, forcing the machine to destabilize, it’s just enough that my feet fully touch the ground.

“Got you robot bitch!” and I springboard up, lunging forward.

We crash to the ground in a pile of limbs and blood that belongs to neither of us, but when the scuffle for control ends, this time it’s my hands around her throat.

“Looks like….,” I smile down at her red blinking eyes, hands bruising her neck and causing the blue wires under her skin to static, “it’s me who is going to terminate you.”