Valkyrie's Lament

Final day (part IV)

“Silver?” Jasper stepped out from the bright light that blinded Silver’s eyes.

“Well. Well. Well. If it isn’t the pipsqueak.” Ronfonso chuckled. “This is your chance Silver. Our game has just started.”

Silver blinked a couple of times and stood there quietly, thinking over what Ronfonso had just said. “No. He’s one of us. I have others I’ll go after.”

“What? That’s so boring. I would like to get this game underway, you know. You only have less than eight hours before your time is up. Being choosy of who you want is not the best route to go.”

“Look, I decide what I want to do.” Silver stepped forward and faced him straight on. She challenged Ronfonso without backing down. The thought of her guildmates, especially her friends being used as targets to better herself wasn’t something that she wanted to do. It didn’t matter about anyone else, but when it came to her friends, it was a completely different matter.

“Calm down. I understand. He is your member. I see that you still value your people.”

“I protect my friends.”

“That would be your downfall one day.”

“Maybe, but I don’t believe so.” This was the first time Silver stated such words. It just naturally slipped out from her tongue, even surprising her in the process.

“If you say so.” Ronfonso broke their glaring contest and shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t in the mood to challenge her right this moment over something so petty. Instead, he walked forward and placed his hand on her shoulder, lightly speaking towards her that only she could hear. “Then I suggest you leave them behind for now.”

“What is he talking about?” Jasper stepped forward, craning his neck, suspiciously staring at Ronfonso.

Silver understood what Ronfonso was saying. Taking them with her right now, especially when the time was constrained wasn’t something Silver could continually watch over. She needed to split herself away from them and strike out on her own to get her next task complete as soon as possible before the day ended. “Jasper, I need you to stay with the rest. I’ll be leaving with Ronfonso.”

“What? Are you nuts? The game is still going and we haven’t found the path-” Jasper saw the patch on her shoulder and then realized the complete change that she went through. He realized then that she had found what she was looking for. “When?”

“Ronfonso gave it to me. My second test is under way and there is no time to explain.” Silver quickly replied, she turned around, and walked past him without looking back. Her time limit was counting down and she needed six patches.

“Wait!” Jasper was running after her. “You’re going to need my help! It would be faster this way!” Jasper grabbed her arm in the hopes to stop her.

“No, this is my hunt and I’ll be faster by myself. I’ll meet up with you later.” Silver didn’t want her friends to get anymore tangled up in her mess at the moment. Plus, she was faster in moving alone than together right this moment. She pulled away from Jasper with a jerk and went into a run. Glancing at her map, she saw a yellow dot not too far away from her location. Ronfonso sprinted after her, keeping up perfectly with her pace.

“You must steal their tag.” Ronfonso started with glee, a devilish smile was plastered on his face. “I’ll be following you throughout this whole hunt.”

“You’re not going to help?” She curiously asked, she knew that Ronfonso was someone to be reckoned with.

“Possibly. We’ll see.”

Silver sighed. She felt stupid for even asking an ex-GM in the first place. Ronfonso was a fickle character, making it difficult for her to figure out his true personality. One moment, he’s helping her, the next he’s aloof and indifferent about the whole game.

Silver hopped over a fallen lamp post, swiveled through large bits of fallen buildings, and even climbed or ran through others. It didn’t take long for her to arrive where she needed to be. With quiet, but steady steps, she made her way up towards the second floor of the broken building with a large gaping hole on its side. Perching behind a broken wall, she peeked out towards the edge to see who her target was.

It was a young teen with brown colored hair. Her plump face and red lips smacked against each other as she fell into sleep. She was dozing off against the wall with her head partially against her shoulder. Silver felt bad about taking her tag from her, but she steeled her heart and scanned for an opening. There was no one present, but her and Ronfonso in this building. This special ability to see where her targets were gave her quite an advantage.

Slinking back down the stairs, she edged against the wall. Every step was soft and quiet, allowing her to get closer with every step. Her breath was steady and deep, she didn’t hyperventilate as well as allow her heart to quicken until she finally made it to the same wall behind the sleeping young teen.

Silver gently reached out and with the tip of her finger, she grabbed the edge of the girl's tag. The moment she started to peel it off her clothes, the velcro sound started to rip out loud. For a moment, the girl moved, causing Silver to stop. She held her breath and stood absolutely still. The girl smacked her lips, grunted a couple of times before her head flopped to the side.

With steady breath, she let out her breath, she excruciatingly slowly pulled the patch off. Throughout the whole time, her hands were slightly shaking from holding it out in one place without creating any more sound. She had to use her other hand to support her aching arms, before it could collapse onto her side.

Taking things while they were sleeping without creating too much of a sound was not an easy task to do, but this didn’t stop her from continuing. With the last of her throbbing shoulder, she peeled the patch off. A smile erupted out of the corner of Silver’s mouth as she slowly slinked backwards away from the girl. Her fingers eagerly clasped around her prize as she disappeared back into the night.

Silver tried to put away the patch into her storage, but it wouldn’t allow her too. So instead, she placed it next to her other patch underneath it. She was elated that her first steal was easy, her steps became more confident as she searched for her next prey. The second was another lone player, sitting inside a closed room. The two way in was the front door that was blocked by a chair and the half opened window. The man had his back against the wall next to the window, allowing Silver to sneak in her hand to the side to reach in for his patch.

This scraggly looking man with partial beard was completely knocked out and sleeping. Staying awake for most people in this long nerve wracking game made anyone and everyone tired. A rare few could stay awake at least for two to three days. After four and fifth day….humans body tire out much quickly, making it difficult for them to function. With that being the case, without having anyone watching one’s back made it that much difficult for them to stay awake and even hvac a wink of sleep.

Silver’s hands meticulously took the patch that was on his sleeves and left just as quietly as she arrived. Her second steal was a success and she continued onwards. The third and forth was also an easy steal, allowing her to walk away undetected. What she also noticed was that every time she took the patch from her target, her map range increased by two folds. She now had half the city map with as many moving dots in her vicinity.

So far every time she moved, she would come across a group of three or twos and rarely a single player by herself. The time passed quickly and she was down to two hours. She needed to hurry and get her last two before the time ran out. She took the chance and went towards the closest two green dots on her map, hoping that her next target would be easy. Throughout the whole time, Ronfonso didn’t speak a word and quietly, but cheerfully, followed behind her.

The sun was rising, and the cover of the night was slowly disappearing. Now stealing had become three times more difficult than normal, making Silver rush over and duck behind a car to see who was coming out of the building.

“For crying out loud. I would like my beauty to sleep.” Rose whined. “I mean one hour isn’t enough!” She threw up her hands.

“Quit your bitching. I hardly had any wink to myself.” Tyler growled. Both of them look completely sleep deprived and it was showing on their faces and body. “You should know better that we need to constantly move or our enemies will spot us.”

“I hate this game!” Rose screamed, throwing up her hand in tantrum. Her eyes were half crazed because of sleep deprivation.

Tyler snapped forward and moved his hand over her mouth in alarm. “Are you completely crazy? You want them to find us?” He hissed. “Why don’t you just sound the freaking alarm and tell them we’re right here. I don’t know about you, but I want to stay ALIVE.”

Rose peeled off Tyler’s hand and glowered. Her foot kicked the broken small rubble off the ground as it whizzed into the car in front of her. The alarm went off, causing Tyler to become infuriated.

“Great!” Tyler yelled angrily, he was pissed off at Rose’s action.

Both Tyler and Rose bolted away in the hopes to not be around to bring trouble. .

Silver and Ronfonso followed behind. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, following them. She wasn’t going to steal Tyler’s or Rose’s patch, but she had a feeling that trouble was going to follow the two. It wasn’t until both Tyler and Rose stumbled upon another group of two other players that her intuition was correct.

One of the two that they ran into was a large buff man that resembled an ape. He almost bulldozed into Tyler, when they came out from their blindspot from the corner of the building.

“Shit!?” The man yelled, halting himself before he completely ran over Tyler. Tyler stopped just in time before he could completely bulldoze into the man.

The second to come behind the buff man was a shorter elderly man with a bald head. One could tell that he was gasping for breath, trying to match the other man’s speed. He stopped and leaned forward, trying to catch his breath.

“Who the hell are you?” Tyler burst out loud, catching the other two by surprise.

“No time to explain! We need to leave from here now!”

“Why?”

The two ran past him in a hurry, when Tyler turned his head towards the right, he saw a male tagged player running towards them at full speed. Behind him were dozens of cat people, running alongside him.

“Shit!” Tyler realized instantly what was happening before them.

Both Tyler and Rose bolted right behind the two men that were running away. Silver ran after the four, watching the whole thing play out before her. She realized that the tagged person wasn’t from someone she stole, honestly she didn’t like condemning people to their death, but right now, she didn’t have any choice.

“Grab them!” The tagged player shouted, pointing his hand towards the four.

The rabbits were all dazed eyed as they jumped forward, running at top speed. Out of the four groups, the elderly man was running a bit too slow. He was the first one to be caught and pinned down effortlessly without much fight.

“No! No! No!” The elderly man yelled hysterically, his hand was pinned down on both sides. The tagged player ran up to the side and ripped the patch off his shoulder with a satisfied grin.

He pulled himself up as he placed the patch to his shoulder. He then walked past the elderly man, without looking back, and spoke with a hint of pleased tone of voice. “Kill him.”

The elderly man froze, when he heard the man’s voice. “Please! God, no! Please! Let me-”

All the rabbits converged together, their hands and feet were viciously beating down at the elderly man like crazed rabbits. Blood splattered, bones were broken, and eventually, his head was bashed in with a sickening thud as he died.

“Come on! Don’t dilly dally! Get the others!” The man replied, annoyed that the rabbits took too long to kill the elderly.

Like a zombie, the rabbits turned their blood covered face and body towards the three that ran away. Their eyes turned blood red and feral, their body bulked up as if they were on steroids. With one burst of strength, the rabbits bolted forward. Wind and dust picked up behind them, the group of rabbits split into two.

The first swerved towards the bald man in a matter of seconds, he was suddenly pushed roughly forward, and the buff man caught himself before he could fall.

“Damn rabbits!” He twirled around, and struck with his fist at the closest rabbit’s face.

A sickening thud of nose breaking could be heard as the rabbit fell backwards in pain. The other four surrounded him like a pack of wolves. A feral growl could be heard, deep in the rabbit's throat that shook a primal instinct of fear in the bald man.

“I said get back!” He raised up his hand and got ready to fight.

All of them jumped forward, fighting him ruthlessly. A swing came from the side, knocking him by the face as blood spurted out from his mouth. Another hand strike forward, punching him in the stomach as he reeled forward. An elbow strike came from above, hitting the bald man in his spine. His spine snapped as his body fell splat onto the ground sprawled on his stomach.

The tagged player walked forward, the rabbits spread apart, letting him through. He squatted down on his leg and patted the man on his face. “Well, it seems my hunt was simple. These rabbits are quite useful, you know.”

The bald man finally found his voice as he coughed a couple of times. “Gus, you bastard. How could you go around killing people? I’m your friend!”

“Quite simple really.” Gus got up as he straightened his back. He stretched as he yawned bored. “I didn’t do the killing. They did.” He pointed over his shoulder towards the rabbits that stood still like soldiers in an army.

The bald man snorted, his hand turning into a fist, but he couldn’t get up. “Bull, you ordered them. The blood is still on your hands!”

Gus shrugged his shoulders. “Not my problem.” He motioned the rabbits with his fingers to come forward. The bald man froze, fear laced in his eyes and his body as he saw his impending doom.

“Kill him, and make it quickly.” Gus turned his back on the bald man that was once called his friend. His vest, ear, and tail started to shift into a bloody red color, telling everyone that he had accomplished whatever goal that he had finished.

A horrible ear piercing scream could be heard, followed by silence. The rabbits pulled away, and trailed behind Gus as if they were lost puppy dogs. Silver watched the whole scene from behind a building not too far away from Gus. She was quite impressed by how he handled the rabbits, but at the same time, she wasn’t surprised at the ruthless nature of the man named Gus. There were many instances in the game where humans turned against one another for selfish reasons. She was one of them, and she couldn’t sugar coat what she had done.

Even still, she gave her prey a chance to come chase after her to gain back their badge. Maybe she was getting too soft from allowing the people to live for a bit longer, or maybe she was just sick in the head and allowed them to survive their last remaining minutes of their lives in depression, she didn’t know, but she knew that they were a chance to survive.

She hardened her heart, and she knew what she needed to do. Get the last two patches from Gus to survive this game. With quiet steps, she stalked Gus without letting any of her intent be shown.

Gus walked leisurely down the streets as if he owned the night life himself. The rabbits around him started to stream out from the buildings, becoming a small zombie-like swarm, becoming bigger and bigger.

Silver wasn’t sure how Gus was able to build a small army, while she didn’t have such a skill in her arsenal.

“Are you going to take your chance and go steal the patches?” Ronfonso asked, looking at her with an amused expression. Silver could see a hint of mischief in his eyes that she didn’t like.

“I’m not sure.”

“You should, before your window of opportunity becomes zero.”

“I know.”

“Well,” Ronfonso pouted, he didn’t like how she was just carefully hiding without doing anything. He then came up from behind her and pushed her out in the open.

Silver was startled at the sudden push, her feet stumbled before her as she caught herself before she could fall face first into the ground. She knew then and there that she felt a piercing gaze from the rabbits around her.

Damn, rabbit! Silver cursed in her mind. She should’ve been careful when she saw the hint of mischief in his eyes and all their sick personalities that come with it. Her feet pushed off from the ground and went into a sprint. There was no stopping her now as she ran forward, she dashed in between the rabbits, majority of them didn’t see her run through.

She was like the shadow that skirted in and out without a presence. Her attention was on one thing, the patches, and she ran as fast and nimble as she could. When her hands reached forward, she snatched both of them off Gus’ sleeves. A loud ripping loud sound followed after, she pulled back and darted back into the crowd.

“What the hell?!” Gus yelled out completely confused, he glanced towards his shoulder, and realized that two of his patches were gone. His head twirled around, trying to find the culprit who stole the patches from him.

Gus saw Silver, running through the rabbits without getting caught. “Stop her!” He yelled angrily, furious that his patches were easily stolen. “Shit!” With an angry stomp, he threw his arm in front of him as he threw a tantrum.

Silver heard him cursing, and angrily shouting from behind her. She didn’t look back and continued to run, she knew that possibly thirty to forty feral rabbits were chasing her from behind. Stopping now would only get her killed, Ronfonso sprinted next to her with a large smirk on his face.

“Congratulations. You have succeeded on your second test.” He replied, satisfied at look. “I knew you could’ve stolen it without much trouble.”

“You pushed me when I wasn’t ready!” She hissed. Even still, she was running away, trying not to get caught with her life hanging in the balance of a thin thread. She knew from seeing how powerful these feral rabbits were that one hit could break a couple of bones.

“What are you talking about? You did fantastic.”

“Shut it Ronfonso. Next time you do that, I’ll kill you.” Silver let out a full blown bloodlust that she doesn't usually show.

Ronfonso frowned, his lips twitched and his eyes became slits. Even his body tensed from the full blown bloodlust that Silver had given off, bringing with him a tinge of fear that he never knew a human could shake his very soul until now. He had felt bloodlust from many people before, especially human and so far the level of blood lust that they have given didn’t compare to what she had given off. It was almost suffocating.

“Okay. Okay.” He raised up his hand to show his regret in what he had done, but Silver didn’t feel like he really meant what he said.

“Tell me what’s the third task?” She asked, her eyes darted around as she cut and swerved through a couple of buildings from the side.

“The last mission is really simple. Stay alive until the end of the hour, but…” His voice trailed off.

“What is it now?” She took another sharp turn, this time losing all of the rabbits that chased after her. Diving into the open window, she rolled onto her feet, and crouched silent against the wall. Ronfonoso followed behind her effortlessly without a single problem.

Silver steady her breath as quickly as possible, taking in small but deep breaths. Her voice wasn’t as raggedly as before, but it allowed her to catch her weary breath and relax for the split moment that she needed. The pitter patter of the other rabbits feet could be heard as she saw them pass her. With a tired breath, she slipped down onto the floor with a groan. Her feet were brought up to her body, her head flopped onto her knee as she brought her hands around her legs.

“So? Are you ready for the next three hours?”

“No.” Silver groaned. She really wanted to take a nap right this moment, she was running out of energy way too quickly, especially the last hour.

“Well. Well. Well.” A sweet angelic voice could be heard from outside. Silver knew instantly who that voice was: it was Kushiel.

“I believe we still have a good handful of survivors left,” her voice was loud and uplifting. “With that being said, our last three hours will be more exciting per say. It seems the guild leader of Valhalla had stolen the lives and hope of many people. The final task has been issued. Hunt down the guild leader of Valhalla, Silver, and kill her. If she dies, five high level Orange Crystals, kill one of her guild members and you receive one Orange Crystals.”

Silver lips became a thin line, hearing what came out of Kushiel’s mouth. For an angel, she gave a wicked task to humanity, pitting them against each other so they would die much faster.

“The guild has their own task as well. Stay alive for three hours, and not one of you die then all of you will receive One high level Orange Crystals with an extra reward at the end. If all of Valhalla members are killed the winners of the round will gain an extra Orange Crystals. Oh, and one last thing Silver, you are only allowed to fill up your guild to twenty, but the more guild members you have the worse the last hour will be. Remember every four new joins, a high level boss type monster will be unleashed into the city.” With a satisfied laugh, Kushiel disappeared into thin air, leaving behind her earth chilling laugh.