Haha You Messed Up

A nettle vine comes out of nowhere and the thorns latch onto my cheek, drawing blood. Even with Basic Prescience, it's impossible to traverse the forest without hitting something. I'm closing in on Yin, she must be struggling in the rain with her lower level. Every now and again I can see branches springing into position. Traces of her passage. She's close!

"Wait!" My shout pierces the rain. "Just wait!" I crash through the undergrowth without a care, just wanting to reach her side. Somewhere inside, a terrible feeling of danger is welling. Perhaps it a side-effect of Basic Prescience, but I know if I don't get to her now, something awful is going to happen. "Damnit, stupid girl! Why won't you just let me explain!"

"AHHHHH!" Her scream is cut off by a peal of thunder and I stumble as I hear it.

No!

I dart forwards, using my palm and the handle of my cleaver to push aside branches. They hold me back as if trying to prevent me from seeing what's happening.

"Yin! I'm coming!" However, I don't hear an answer. A cold hand grasps my heart as I think about what that might mean. She probably just fell. That's it. She just tripped. And I need to help her up. That's it. Just a fall. "Yin? You okay?"

Still nothing. She wasn't that far ahead. Where is she? Suddenly, I hear a snarl. It sounds oh so familiar. Then the baying of wolves sounds rips through my calm and I see red.

"You pieces of trash!" I rush through into the clearing to see the infected pack crowded around a prone figure on the ground. "No! GODDAMIT WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST WAIT FOR ME! WHY ARE ALL YOU BASTARDS HERE ALREADY?!"

This time I scream alone. For Yin is no longer here with me. She has her replica katana out. As if that would have done something. It's not sharpened. A wolf lies beside her, gasping its last breath. Its windpipe has been crushed. Even without me, she took one down with her. But the others…oh god the others…I want to look away. I…I don't want to see what they're doing to her. I can't stand it, the blood, the torn flesh, they're almost like zombies the way they tear away pieces of her and smack their lips as they swallow.

"NOOOOOOO!" I'm not sure who I'm talking to anymore. All I know is that there are two living things still left in the clearing. One of them is me, the other is these wolves. "I'll be damned if I let you live…over my dead body!" I don't think, I just charge in and start swinging. There is no strategy. I don't intend to survive this. I have nothing to protect. I just need to satisfy my rage, my frustration. "I HATE YOU!"

"AWOOO-" A wolf is cut off mid-howl. Another yips as I kick it in the ribs with the strength of Lvl. 5 hunter. It stumbles back painfully sprawling in the mud. More surround me, always more, an entire pack. That's how many were feasting on Yin. Just seconds, mere seconds and they had already…done…done…THAT to her!

"GODDAMIT I LEVELED ALL THIS WAY FOR NOTHING! I KILLED THEM FOR NOTHING!" My screams terrify even the infected and the wolves try to back away. But I am the Black Butcher right now. No one is leaving here alive. Not them, not me. When it is over, I'm covered in scratches, but not a single one bit me. I'm not infected. Blood leaks out of my hand. It's their blood, not mine. I chuckle emptily at the sky, a bleak smile on my face. "I didn't make any mistakes. But she wouldn't listen to me. Goddamit, why didn't she just wait?"

I stumble over to her broken body and my smile turns ugly. She has her mouth open, like she's trying to say something to me. But I know she's already dead and gone. For a few minutes, I just stand there, staring at the blood and guts. Wondering where I went wrong. How I could have prevented this. The rain falls even heavier, washing away her blood until all that remains is her pale skin and blank eyes. In death, she is still beautiful. Just…I don't want to see it. The way she is right now, all twisted, all wrong. It makes my insides twist. It makes me feel all wrong. I'm losing it. Then the worst thing happens.

"Huuurk!" At first, I think she's still alive. Maybe she's going to wake up and I can help her or something. Then I realize what's really happening.

"You bastards. You goddamn bastards!" I sweep my gaze over the dead wolves. Their severed heads gaze back at me with tongues wagging, as if mocking me for not seeing this coming. The final gift of the pack. Yin's sightless eyes swivel, snapping onto me as she begins to crawl to her elbows and knees.

"M-Moooonster…" She croons. The virus from their bites has infected her. Though she is so torn and ragged, her brain is still intact. She's reanimating before me eyes.

"I…I don't want to do this, Yin." I remember how she begged not to have to kill me in the past. Oh how the tables have turned. "Really, I don't!"

"Come here…!" The beautiful, broken body lunges at me and I reach out and grab her neck. Feel her slim fingers, still warm with fresh blood, scrabble to reach me. She snarls like a wolf, angrily lusting after my flesh and I cry tears as my trembling hand holds her away. Muddy fingernails scrape at the skin on my arms. I don't want to do this. But I can't leave her like this. It'd be wrong.

"I'm sorry." I say. Then I fling her back to the ground and bury my cleaver into her throat. It's fast. She barely has time to react, the fingers reflexively grab at her throat for just an instant before the neurons stop firing. Then she's gone. And I'm alone. Again.

"Screw this." I whisper to the sky. Thunder explodes overhead, shaking the clearing. I can't tell whether my eyes are blurry from real tears or rain. Does it matter? "This wasn't how it was supposed to end."

Scrubbing my eyes with the back of my wet hand, I lay down beside Yin's corpse. I stare her in the eyes, her beautiful eyes as I raise my cleaver up high, just above my neck. It's an awkward shot. One I can't afford to miss. But with Basic Combat unlocked I don't think I will.

"I'm done playing this game."

Then I let the cleaver fall.

*Shing!*

The voice is always there at the end. It seems to understand when I'm going to die. It doesn't want to go.

"Hahaha…you messed up!"

#

"Hah…"

The world is tilted. I thought it would be darker, black. Dying should be like that. Instead, everything is…gray. So very gray.

No…no…this isn't right!