Chapter 528

The grey concrete of Buenos Aires felt colder that morning. It had been a bad dream. Just a fucking nightmare brought on by too many late nights watching shit television, a chemical romance induced by cheap wine and discount whiskey.

Except, it wasn't. The card was still there. Still an ugly off-white thing that did not fit in with her aesthetic. The woman, 26 years old and just trying to get by, grabbed the thing, then held it between two fingers.

"This isn't happening," Valeria said to no one. Her dog, usually demanding morning food by now, was in the corner, head cocked as it just watched her, as if it was waiting for something.

Anything. She hated it. She needed something more, something solid. News blared nonsense, but under it, she heard her neighbor yell. Something about the cards, that she got a shit card.

That she would sue, but it wasn't exactly anything newsworthy. Not from Rosa. She's had issues with other neighbors. Always has to yell.

Always has to create unnecessary tension. Valeria needed answers. Maybe if she just ignored this, if she burned the thing right now, things would turn out fine.

It was not fine, she thought as she dropped the thing and walked away. She got two feet away, and a burning sensation marked her wrist.

Valeria turned, saw the card in the same position on her desk, almost waiting, mocking her. What is going on here? God, this has to stop.

More yelling outside. Louder this time. Something about someone winning a duel. A cheer, like someone had just scored at La Bombonera, only more desperate.

This has to stop, this is madness. Valeria picked up the card, maybe for the last time. Maybe things would just become clearer that way.

On one side, an uninspired design. Nothing really. Nothing good. This has to stop right now. But on the other side. "Life's Blood," she read aloud.

"One-star. Activate on use?" What the fuck does that even mean? This time she put it into her pocket. And there it stayed. All fucking day.

The woman turned on the television. Valeria's phone never stopped ringing. Why now, she wondered. Now, when shit's completely messed up.

Her newsfeed, too, showed a world gone mad. Battles, they called them. Fights with stakes that she found ludicrous. It just didn't add up.

Her brother, however, loved this. "Valeria, you should see me. It's a game. Come on over and let me show you, you can do this," he said on the phone.

"Play. Fight." What in the world? "No," she responded. Why did her little brother, always such a mama's boy, suddenly turn into a lunatic?

Is everyone a lunatic now, or just some people, or am I the lunatic? God. The next week was filled with increasingly worse news.

Murders became something more sinister, now just normal news. The President was nowhere to be found, but everyone was armed. The new God was chaos now.

Her brother wanted to show off. It would be fun. Nothing would go wrong. Why now? Is the world that messed up now?

The news did show more about what had happened. The woman was intrigued, but in a macabre way. They were now living through something dark, something twisted that just made everything bleak.

People were disappearing now. Just going missing, or sometimes they'd show up, a mess of themselves, unable to do much anymore. Just another day, she thought.

Valeria was almost used to it. Her brother had the solution. All she had to do was to touch his card. All she had to do, he said, was to get through the ritual to join.

Why? She did not trust that, however. She did not trust anything in her life, so this was no exception. He had just changed.

Turned into something new, a twisted sense of humor was a trait for him now. This was insane. Her parents told her, by text, of a sanctuary, one of the many ones they were creating to stop the carnage.

A safe haven in all of this. It might be time, the woman thought. There was not much to live for now, and even dogs were acting off.

The dog stayed in her shadow as she made the trek out. Her apartment door now covered with graffiti, not because she lived there, but because a duel happened out front the night before, she guessed.

Or something along that vein of stupidity. What is this place? Her trip showed her how bad this all was, though. The cards were everywhere, she was finding them on every corner.

Most looked generic, bland, or just straight up ridiculous, but everyone around here now had some kind of deck with them. Insane. On the trip she learned what the deal was, people got those.

Then you battle. She also noticed her phone being bombarded with requests to make bets and things like that, she declined all. Then to watch battles.

No, she hated all of this, so why indulge in it. You win. Or you lose. Losers, most times, end up hurt or dead, depending on what the winning player feels like.

It just sounds like pure shit, she was in utter disbelief. Why here? Why now? Valeria kept seeing more cards on the street. Each one different, all calling out something dark inside of whoever had these in their possession.

Something rotten. No one even tried to talk to her. They knew that those who touched the first one, are hooked, others have a choice. She saw another duel happening right in front of her.

Two people she assumed used to be friends were facing off, now using abilities to hit the other. To just hit them again and again and again. Valeria was horrified by this.

Why would anyone watch this for entertainment? But she did just see that happen right in front of her, the abilities activated, that made it look easy for the attacker.

A fireball, really, and a win, followed by screams, she had enough, but how do you stop something like this, even in a big city. And the world is now completely enthralled with this madness.

She made it to the metro station, at least. She would need to go to her parent's place. Far away, she had her own issues going there, but they did not matter now.

She needed an exit. One train ride. It felt like ages. A normal hour, perhaps. On the train, even more madness as someone just activated an ability.

That same dog was with her, as if something bigger was going on, that this creature was some kind of watcher. Insanity, just pure, utter, insanity. There was not a single face not staring directly into their own personal screens.

She knew this, even before this mess began, but at least now there was some weird justification for the whole ordeal. That same watcher was behind her, at all times.

What does it mean? Once the train stopped, people shuffled out. More cards on the floor. Nobody would risk anything. Not unless their lives were on the line, or unless something else happened that they really didn't have a say in.

They just wanted to be, at this point. They all have a dead stare about them, but this all is what it is, pure hell, but with technology, which isn't all that bad. The safe space was full of people.

Too full, perhaps. A converted warehouse turned makeshift shelter for the foolish few who had opted out, all older people now. What would her life turn into?

Why was this happening? "At least you are safe," her dad said. Not to her face, though, but over the phone. He just would not stop being on it.

At least not yet. He still had his ways, but the phone could do many things now. He would text, use social media. Not like back then.

"Come and visit," her mother wrote. Valeria hated that. She wanted them in person. She wanted something solid in all of this, but even when her brother called again, the whole world is against her now.

And they knew all about it. Why now, she kept thinking. A day, and the phone stopped working. At first, everyone thought they would not work anymore.

Her brother, however, insisted it meant she had a duel. That she needed to battle or end up a mess, with nothing there anymore, it had to happen right then, at least for some, it didn't even seem that bad to him.

No. Nononono. Valeria backed away from the wall. Away from everyone, trying to block them from coming to her, but people wanted to stop it.

Valeria tried, she was able to evade it. For now. They wanted her safe, which is hard for most to do in a city filled with millions. No, no more fucking battles, no more fucking cards.

She had to leave. It wasn't her parents calling this time, they knew how much she wanted this, at least her dad, she thinks, did. How do they always know what to do?

She never felt safe with that. She looked around, seeing the fence separating the normal world from those inside. Valeria ran, not away from her people, but toward the open world.

If it was a battle, she might win. She just had to find this out herself. How could they think anything would turn out right, and why do so many follow?

A voice came from behind her, from someone. Some loser who only wanted a new life in this shitshow. It wasn't bad, her own parents felt better, she thought.

Now. So why didn't they talk to her then, is what she wanted to find out. But that required effort, she might end up with an error. "Valeria," he said.

Young, too. Too young. He looked maybe 17 or 18. But then again, that is how most seemed in the world, before, so she couldn't exactly make out an accurate guess here.

"You do not need to run anymore." This world was shit. "And who the fuck are you?" she asked. What could she possibly lose if she talked back?

If she actually showed some emotion now? No. The watcher stayed still, not following her as closely. That is weird. That dog has something.

What is it? She wished she knew now. He held a card in one hand. Ready to go, it seemed. That meant little. Everyone did that.

Everyone here. Except her. Maybe this would all make sense soon, somehow. She wanted an answer. Some solution. Why can't people make it normal?

Why did she get an answer? Why can't it go back, just even a little? "They call me The Kid. You do not need that," he answered, his own way, never dropping it.

This will all just turn into something else. Something more awful. But now. Something big will just happen right there. How did she get that so fast?

It is just pure chance or just utter luck, and what in the world made it all seem worse is how calm everyone took to all this. Valeria knew then.

Why it was so quiet. Why no one followed her, her own parents being an exception, for no real good reason that they said, even through their texts. And her brother did not matter at all in any of this.

Why are there so many that seem normal now, this isn't that horrible. Her life flashed before her. Not great memories, really. Nothing stood out.

Just regular old days that now seemed much more special, but that meant little now. The dog turned around. The kid threw his card.

Valeria grabbed hers. What could go right? It isn't that bad now. Why would it have to end? The kid said something corny.

Some catchphrase taken right out of a stupid American action flick. So that's how things ended. But that couldn't possibly be right. All she knew is that what would happen next had to change.

But how is this any way to exist at all, she wondered. This all isn't that bad. Valeria threw her card just a little late. Life's Blood made little sense to her.

Nothing made much sense in all this, anyway, this would be much different, her brother felt, he insisted on this. How does this make anything different now?

What do the battles offer, she thought. She could see the attack heading straight for her heart. And that's when she saw it work, the ability take effect, for once.

And it all went wrong, just from there, everything turned out wrong from there. It all has to change somehow. Just anything. The dog looked again, her mother would write, trying to reach her one last time.

Her brother could probably care less, and her dad did nothing but call the other shelters, it isn't bad there at all, at least to them, not to Valeria. Valeria was still alive.

She could feel it, even, a sharp pain but nothing terrible, no fatal strike, somehow. The kid looked as confused, and why do the older people never come outside anymore, maybe they had the idea first, is something she really has to look into.

What if everything's been bad the whole time? She couldn't understand it. Why didn't the dog protect her from any of this, if it did really have anything to protect.

What has it done in the world now, or did it ever care? She thought about all of this at this point in time. Then she saw why.

She felt fine. Not injured, not feeling so much anymore, even. But behind her, a body. Someone had to fall, or something like that.

Someone, everyone knew this part now, at least according to what Valeria knew, and her mother insisted it on text. The world had some explaining, in that point in time.

Why does anything do something at all? Valeria couldn't tell. But she knew this person. She just talked to him, by text, really.

A face she hadn't seen in at least two decades. His name, really, isn't any use to say it, Valeria did not need a repeat. Her father held a card of his own, which did nothing.

Why couldn't anything be easier? Nothing about it felt right. Valeria has seen enough. The old man stood there, silent.

Unable to speak now. Unable to cry or reach for her, unable to look at the sky. His purpose, the dog just took her old man's existence now.

He is the watcher, she figured. Why now, and where are her parents. Her mother was old. What if it happened there?

What happens at the end of any of this, and would anyone, or would everyone really want to watch now, if any of it would change in the long run. What could this dog have done that is at all important, she asked, in this hellscape.

She watched her father take his last breath.