CHAPTER 6

“Hahaha, did you see that guy with his head off? What a dumbass, hahaha!” Allen Reen was such an asshole at a very young age. Gardon couldn’t believe his cynicism.

They were inside some kind of warehouse, deciding what to do next.

“We need to find that woman.” Nova said, trying to ignore the kid.

“My name is Gardon, what is yours?”

“I’m Allen, dude.”

“I didn’t ask you.”

“Nova. I’m a police officer, but I guess that doesn’t matter now.”

“It does matter. We need someone like you to bring order to this place.”

Eyes were staring at them from the dark.

“The law is useless when you’re in a deserted city, with a few strangers, and a device that tells you to kill each other.”

“Don’t lose hope.” Gardon smiled.

“I refuse to do that. I won’t kill anybody. We are all in the same situation here.”

“Yes, we need to cooperate.”

“That’s right.”

“You deny your contract then?” A wicked, malicious, snake-like voice inquired.

As quickly as possible, Nova retreated to a corner at Gardon’s right side. She pointed the gun between some giant boxes, where the shadowy figure was lurking.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” Gardon imposed.

Allen got to his left, scared to death.

The creature slowly came out from the darkness and showed itself. It was a horrible abomination of blackness, a complete shadow with a human body, no hair, no skin, and no lines whatsoever to describe even his bones. He only had a wicked stitched smile in silver color and two radiant eyes that couldn’t resemble anything else of this world. But the most notorious feature of his body, were those bloodstained and large claws he had for fingers.

Allen pissed on his pants. His eyes wide open, his mouth also wide open, and tears sliding down his cheeks.

“Kids are no fun.” Mordoll -the shadow- said, licking his claw-like fingers. Gardon took a fighting stance, showing his fists to the creature.

“You’re a monster…”

Nova’s legs froze; she couldn’t move at all.

“Wrong, you karate freak! I am ME, Mordoll, the Deliverer of Death!”

Right before they could get a reaction, Mordoll slipped rapidly towards Allen and grabbed him by the throat, raising him from the ground and nailing him against the wall. He approached his face, slowly, terrifying.

“Do you want to kill somebody, my child?”

Allen babbled incoherent stuff and couldn’t form a single word. He was crying, sweating like a pig, and feeling how his nerves were trembling in fear.

“Your stench…” The creature continued, examining the kid’s face. “You mock others yet you cowardly hide behind them when you face danger. You cannot kill anybody.”

“D-Don’t kill me, please! PLEASE! PLEASE!”

“L-Leave him!” Nova pleaded, pointing the gun at Mordoll.

“Don’t kill me! I wanna’ live, I’m sorry, I wanna’ live! I WANT TO LIVE!”

Those were his last words. Mordoll crushed his throat; a river of blood came out of the boy’s mouth, his cheeks went purple, his face went pale and his eyes looked grotesquely revolting. Tears of blood now came out of the eye sockets with extreme pressure, until Mordoll’s claws sank deeply into the kid’s skin. He then tore it apart, slashed right through it and took out the trachea. Afterwards, the shadow tossed the body to its right and received two gun shots at close range, in his chest. Nova had fired the gun, sweating, panting very nervous. Nothing happened.

“W-What… What are you? I shot… I shot you…”

“My dear slutty princess…” He ate the trachea in a mouthful. “…You must have some very delicious insides, I presume.”

“Stay away from me!”

“Run.” Gardon, determined to stop the creature, ordered her. He wouldn’t take his eyes off of him.

“What?” Nova, panting, shouldering a great amount of fear, couldn’t believe what she was hearing; she was supposed to say that, to protect him, not the other way around. She was supposed to protect the kid, yet she failed to do so. She was supposed to protect Minato, yet she did nothing to prevent it. And now, another civilian was going to die because of her.

“I won’t run.” She claimed, pointing the gun at Mordoll.

“It matters not.” The shadow replied back. “You refuse to follow the instructions of this little charade. You will not extinguish the life of those you pretend to care for, to save your own soul. You are beautifully hypocrite, my dear dyke…”

“Shut up!” She shot again. Nothing happened. “I will kill you and get out of here, you’ll see!”

“Ah. Exactly what I wanted to hear.”

“Leave her alone!” Gardon, enraged, moved against him. He tried to punch, kick and whatnot, but all to no avail; Mordoll evaded graciously all of his attacks. And the bullets coming out of Nova’s gun did nothing but to disappear inside his body, inside his darkness.

“No…” She realized it was useless. “We can’t hurt him…”

“I will destroy you!” Gardon’s final words echoed through the entire warehouse as Mordoll ducked the direct punch from the giant man, and penetrated his chest with his five claws.

Gardon’s eyes widened. He also frowned. Nova was speechless, staring like a frozen idiot at the man’s demise. Blood stained Gardon’s garment as he fell down backwards when Mordoll took out his claws.

“Do you still refuse to kill somebody, my little butterfly?”

Nova shouted with passion; screamed with all her inner fears exploding in an instant. She dropped the gun and ran out of the warehouse, only to find herself surrounded by the ghostly creatures with long black hair and wicked smiles. Astonished, cowered and totally stressed out, Nova looked around, screaming again, and again, and again… All it took to finish her off was a bunch of those white ladies, grabbing her, dismembering her, crushing her head with their bare and pale hands. They first took her left arm, ripping it off, seeing how blood, veins and bones alike were left hanging horribly from the distorted shoulder. Then they destroyed her right leg, tossed it to the bloodstained ground and continued to rip everything they could off of her. As a final act, they all gathered around her until she could not be seen any longer, suffocating between brumes of blood and her agonizing screams.

“As usual.” Mordoll said, upon staring at the spectacle from atop the warehouse. “Nobody survives and everybody dies.”

CHAPTER 7

Atop the brown roof of a deserted house, lone as many others, and its structure as overviewing as a dojo, Giselle felt the gentle breeze caressing her clothes and hair while looking at the alleys near the lake. A port could be spotted northwest and, in the opposite direction, a tennis shoes factory populated only by machines working as if their masters were still alive, managing them. 
The woman held the shimmering blade pointing down with right hand and the handle with the other hand, this while the breeze started fading away. The way it divorced her skin of such beauty and melancholic abyss, seemed painful enough to make the air tremble in another direction. Now she, torn apart by the abandon of her hope, welcoming the unexisting wounds against her soul, felt alive... one more time. 
And now that the silence began its government throughout the whole city again, the girl knew she had an opportunity to erase the madman and its shadowing shape off this saddened lands. So she sheathed the katana, carefully not to make any noise whatsoever while she saw the shadow near the factory going through those empty streets surrounding some lost buildings. This that was going to happen next, she knew she could not stop...

Just like always, Mordoll had killed the participants who refused to follow the game’s structure. Argento, on the other hand, had been a marvelous surprise; in previous games, nobody had dared to kill another stranger, and the ghosts, and Mordoll too, destroyed everybody. It seemed like forever and ever, Mordoll and Giselle were destined to be the only survivors. But now, it was different. Saguchi had tried to kill Jaqueline. For the first time in many games before, one person went mad, insane, and evil, wicked and disturbed enough to understand the situation better than anyone.  And yet another guest, Argento, had dared to commit to the game’s rules. Finally, there was Grace, someone who also wanted to follow the idea. This was fantastic! So long had passed since the fervent desire to murder was as alive as tonight! Mordoll knew he had to focus on this green-jacket woman who, just like that other preposterous heroine Giselle, managed superbly a powerful blade.

Giselle, however, had only one thing in mind, one mission, and could not fail this time. Not like before. Not anymore. She had to succeed or else…

Along came the shadows, evolving into one single piece, and gathering around like grand theft fouls. “Afternoon Delight” from Starland Vocal Band, was sounding in the cellphone.

-Act 1- 
The shadow enters the alleyway and spies the victim that felt safe. It is a she, and she is looking at nowhere, listening to that song, and thinking about her next course of action. The shadow watches. The shadow stands still. 
-Act 2- 
The woman goes away and the shadow chases after her but she does not realize the danger of this predator, looking fiercely after its prey. She goes away and the shadow chases her. ‘Tis slow, slow enough to portray silence, not revealing its position, never letting its victims aware. 
-Act 3- 
The woman enters a dead end, she seems trapped, and the shadow feels safe. The blood around his claws let single drops fall down to the murderous ground, the hunger revolts its insides and allows the shadow to smile once again. Shivers down her spine for she turns around and sees the assassin, those luminous eyes, that perverted smile, the blood around the shadowy claws. 
-Act 4- 
The shadow watches, the shadow stands still. This middle aged woman, brown hair, secretary type, is the victim and she feels the claws growing closer to her stand. The shadow slashes her away, he tears apart its prey and mutilation begins. The shadow, he, his laughter is heard around the place, his cynic behavior only reflects yet another shadow towards the walls as if feeding itself with the violence and blood, then it stops to contemplate.
-Act 5- 
The shadow, satisfied once again, simply gets out of the dead end, going back to the street, vanishing away. An awful, massacred cadaver is shown at the end of the street, engulfed by darkness, destroyed, disfigured, deformed and distorted. And a cellphone completely intact, receiving no reply at all to all the messages that it had sent hours ago, still playing Afternoon Delight.

“I hate that song.” Grace said when she arrived a few seconds later. But seeing how cynical and ironic was the fact that the song kept sounding as the background music for that horrendous bloodshed, put an evil smile to her face. When the song ended, she crushed the cellphone with her right foot.

“Stupid fucking bitch. I hope you enjoy your afternoon delight in hell.”

She then started laughing and left the place as if nothing ever happened.