The sound of thunder. Flash of lightning. Searing pain. Darkness.
Another round has started, another round of excitement, adventure, fear, and torture. A countdown has begun, players are frantically scattering from where they awake, each one hoping to avoid misfortune. The numbers are growing smaller every second; 7.3 seconds, 5.6 seconds, 2.5 seconds, 0.8 seconds. A loud crack is heard throughout the map as lightning races down looking for its next target. One poor soul looks up, only to catch a glimpse of blinding light before death.
At first nothing, then the changes occur. A poor dinosaur player's skin is set ablaze and burned in an instant, his eyes vaporize and turn to dust. His hair singed away with the incredible force. Muscles are torn and peeled off his bones before drying up and shriveling into nothingness. Blood evaporates from the mouth, nose, and any other open area. All that remains of a once cheerful player is nothing but his skeleton, charred black as dark as a night sky without its moon. Slight scorch marks are left on the ground.
Such is the game of Death Tag, a rather barbaric game where players that choose to play are forced to see one skeletal figure after another tear skin and muscle off of the living in order to saturate their own hunger for flesh. If lucky, a player will only suffer for a few seconds before the final player is left standing alone in victory before everyone is returned to the overworld with restored bodies. If unlucky they could suffer for a few short minutes, a seeming eternity of intense hunger and irrational anger, seeking nothing but blood and flesh. Some players stay solo to keep from forging bonds with others, fearful of putting a newfound friend through the hell of being devoured by a fresh ally. Still some others forge small groups in hopes their alliance will last until no one else is left, praying to ease the pain of a friend with only a moment of death before the end. A small monetary reward is offered to those who play.
Back to our tragedy at hand, a new game has begun, fresh blood to be spilled. The map chosen at random is a small island formed in a crescent moon shape with a few docks located around the edges of the beach. Two ships can be seen from afar, each with a set of masts reaching skyward. Near the center of the island a large hill can be seen, topped off with a windmill and a small crane holding a platform covered in hay. The windmill has four leaves each with white cloth pulled loosely to catch a small breeze. Down below are a large clock tower that never ticks, and a tall watchtower to monitor the grounds below. Beside this, a few smaller buildings, a church, a barn for storage, and several trees can be spotted scattered around the island.
The charred skeleton sits motionless from shock, before finally rising to its feet and taking hold of an axe lying near by. It scans the horizon looking for a living morsel to devour for a first meal. Looking off to the right inside of the barn, a small rustle is heard. The beast slowly trudges over to a stack of hay, dragging its axe along the ground with a small trail of sparks from metal grinding against the stone. Looking behind one set of hay it spots a young man, no more than seventeen years old. The boy himself wore what looked like an ice cream sandwich suit; the bread if one could call it that was a dark brown color covering everything up to his face. The sleeves and legs looked like pure white vanilla ice cream, cold to the touch but never melting.
Some players have such a strong feeling of either compassion or fear for their fellow humans, wishing not to harm them at any costs. If said feelings are strong enough then even when killed they may retain some sanity and avoid attacking others, or at least friends. This one wasn't such a gracious one, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "Flesh" it said with a deep, agonizing voice. The boy merely looked up, one word coming readily to mind.
"Shit…"
With lightning quick reflexes the skeleton swung its axe sideways hoping to remove his victim's head with a clean cut before he could escape. The boy leaped backwards and shot a quick arrow into its eye socket hoping to slow it down. The axe swung and missed, crashing into the wall with a loud cracking sound as the wood split wide open. Just as suddenly it forced its axe out of the wall and prepared for another swing, charging at the cornered boy. He was in a panic, 'Please, not this soon. Not again.' He thought to himself. The axe came down as he ran for the ladder at the end of the barn, but not before he suffered a deep slash through his chest and part of his lower arm. A loud scream could be heard across the island, signaling the start of a slaughter.
He turned and ran for the ladder as the skeleton jerked an arrow free from his socket and once more pursued his target. The boy frantically climbed the ladder as he heard the axe coming down once more. Swinging off to the left he managed to dodge a fatal blow, but suffered another gash through his right leg. The axe was stopped inside the wall, the black deadly figure thrashing its axe violently in an attempt to free its weapon before a delicious meal got away. The boy just managed to escape through the roof exit and quickly took off across the roof, running across another crane and over to an adjacent building. The demon roared with anger and it pulled itself out of the building and looked around for its prey.
The boy stood on another roof briefly catching his breath when another person quickly ran up to him. "Hey Bruno, you look a little hurt, how about I help you out a little?" A blonde haired boy grinned as he pulled out an axe and swung at the now named Bruno. "Dodge you ice cream freak dodge!" He gleefully shouted as he tried to knock Bruno off into the skeleton below him. "What's the matter? Tired already or can't you fight back, stupid archer?" Bruno getting mad that he chose archer knowing such an evil traitor had joined the game not two rounds ago.
"How about you go get fried by lightning jerk." Bruno replied to the boy dodging another swing of his axe. Bruno strafed to the right and tried to make his get away, but the blonde caught him by his ankle and pulled him to his knees. "Too bad wimp" the blonde said as he raised his axe high into the air, ready to bring it down on Bruno's head. "Farwell you fail…GUH!"
Bruno opened his eyes, a shiny iron piece of metal protruding from the traitor's chest. A loud snap was heard, but it wasn't his head that rolled, no it was the other's spine that broke. The undead had been tired of waiting and decided to climb up and settle it itself. Bruno quickly rolled off the roof and mad his way to a nearby tree with a ladder hanging off the side of one of its branches. A few girly screams were heard from the little boy before he lost consciousness, flesh and muscle being torn from his body.
Bruno leapt from one tree to another, then a third before turning around and checking to see if he was followed. He saw both undead now ascending the ladder in hopes to claim the second meal of the round. Bruno reached back, grabbing his bow and another arrow, placing it on the string and pulling back as far as it would go. Aiming right on the edge of the second tree, waiting. The charred skeleton leapt and Bruno released it. The arrow went flying through the air and landed in its chest knocking it to the ground. Once more pulling back the bow with a new arrow, he shot the now mangled corpse of the traitor knocking him too, to the ground below.
"That will teach you to attack me again." Bruno said under his breath as he sat down to catch his breath and recover from his previous wounds. "They'll be back, they always come back, and always with many more." He said quietly before another blood-curdling scream was heard. He silently wondered how long he could last, wishing one day to be able to stand above every other player. Wishing to one day be at the top.
He closed his eyes trying to imagine being able to outrun anyone with ease, never having to worry about death again. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sounds of several footsteps running at his tree. He opened his eyes and found six corpses climbing into the trees to rip the ice cream right off of him. He pulled his bow back and prepared an onslaught of arrows. "Two other players beside me, I can do this." He thought to himself. One, two, three, more and more arrows were shot but they kept trying to get him, not intending to give up this time.
The sound of a younger girl screaming was heard, sharply piercing his ears. "Another one down, just one left." He began to pray for his survival. Even if Bruno died he would only be in agony for a few seconds, or about four hours from his past experiences. The undead had a terrible sense of time even when retaining human emotions and memories. One after another, he sent them flying to the ground below with countless arrows. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough to stop this next skeleton. A quick swing and Bruno was knocked out of his own tree and onto the ground below. "Damn it" He moaned as he violently hit the stone pathway.
Several corpses charged at him ready to dine when suddenly… the sound of thunder. Bruno closed his eyes, one way or another the game was ending. The undead took too long to finish another player and lightning was to intervene and take another life. An old man croaked and was burnt just as the first was only a few minutes ago. "Better him than me, he'll be fine." Bruno smiled to himself, another win added to his record.
After a few fireworks subsided Bruno started to gradually fade away from the map, one by one the skeletons soon followed. First their bodies became pixelated, then the pixels peeled off their bodies and vanished leaving a series of pale blue lines outlining their bodies. The lines gently flickered a few times before disappearing all together. When the players came to they were in the game lobby waiting for the next round to start.
The lobby was a small floating island in the middle of nowhere, a few clouds surrounding the edges. In the center was a square platform made of stone slightly raised off the ground with an extended wall on the corners. To the left a stream of water could be seen surrounding a small house with some trees growing nearby. Both ends of the stream trailed off the edge of the island creating small waterfalls. There was a small fenced in area under one of the trees, probably used for pets or animals before it was abandoned. On the other side of the stream was a small drop off with a cave system below, entrance wasn't possible due to the cave-in a few years ago. All that was left of the mining expedition was a short mine cart railway leading out of the cave. On the opposite side of the island where a few small stumps with a pond in the middle; some players were seen swimming to cool down from their previous game.
Bruno quickly stood up and decided to stretch before starting the next round. His previous run wasn't so glorious, being caught in the barn, attacked by a vicious traitor, then falling to his near doom only to be saved with seconds to spare. "If I really want to be the best I need to stop having close calls like that." He said to himself. He noticed that only a few seconds remained before the start of the next round, he thought to himself 'I choose Traitor Kit' and a small iron axe with a wooden handle appeared in his inventory. He looked at the platform just in time to see another player appear before shouting "There you are!"
The round began, Bruno found himself spawning on a bookshelf in front of a white action figure. The map was a young boy's bedroom, except that it was several times larger than any of the other players. Straight ahead he could see a stuffed Creeper with a tear in its head letting some of the stuffing fall out onto the carpet. To the left was a bed with a dumbbell and some weights resting on the top. Near the foot of the bed was a giant jukebox with a glass of water on the top. To the right of the Creeper toy was a desk with a laptop placed in the center and two more glasses of water on either side of it. A large window was seen near the head of the bed, a small counter with a glass of water below it. The door to the room was shut tightly and a vacuum cleaner was in front of the door, a spilled water glass near its base. There were flickering lights and overgrown moss dangling from all corners of the room from the bookshelves to the Television, over to the Clock and ending atop the window and framed picture.
Bruno dashed to his right, running along an extension cord belonging to the large vacuum. He leapt to the edge of the door and grabbed hold of some light strings and pulled himself to the top of the picture. Across the room he could see and hear a rather loud conversation. The boy that had joined just seconds before the round started seemed to be angry at a young girl.
The boy was wearing an red-orange suit with a black belt and shoes. His head completely hidden behind a white mask and dark glasses except for some red hair that stuck out behind his mask. The girl below him was wearing a light gray outfit and had bunny ears hanging over the back of her head. She was kneeling down in front of him with an emotionless face.
Loud as it was, Bruno had a hard time making out what he was saying, something along the lines of 'Next time you go out on your own when I'm not around you won't be so lucky. Follow.' Bruno watched as she got up and followed him up another string of lights up to the bookshelves and then onto the top of the window. Without warning, the boy turned around and smashed the top of his axe into her stomach, causing her to double over and nearly fall off. Seeing this greatly angered Bruno and he decided he'd do something about it. He started to make his way over to where they were standing. As he got closer he heard the orange boy speaking, "Next time you do this I'll make you regret it." "I'm sorry master, it will never happen again. I swear!" The girl replied.
"Ahem!" Bruno cleared his throat as he reached the other two. "What seems to be the problem here?" The other boy glared at him, "Nothing, mind your own business Ice Cream." Bruno studied him closer, he sounded like he was around seventeen years old as well, but maybe a little older than himself. The girl looked to be around sixteen years of age, but seemed to be suffering at the suited boy's hands. "The name's Bruno. I noticed you were yelling at her earlier and just saw you beat her. That doesn't sit well with me."
"Orlando," the boy replied. "What I do isn't any of your concern. My servant here has done me wrong once again and she's just getting punished." Bruno looked at him for a second then nodded his head. "Yes, sorry. I understand, please forgive my rudeness." He said before turning and walking a few paces. Orlando turned back and began to open his mouth before a searing pain shot through his head. Bruno had taken him by surprise and landed a blow to Orlando's head with his axe. Orlando fell off the curtains just managing to land on the windowsill below with a few life points remaining.
"Hey, are you ok?" Bruno asked the girl. She just looked up at him with an emotionless face; no she wasn't even looking at him. She just stared right through him like he didn't exist. He heard a groan below as Orlando pulled himself up to his feet before shouting up, "Janice! Kill him!" For the first time since Orlando was knocked off, she seemed to finally acknowledge his existence. "Wait… what?" Bruno said before catching a glimpse of her axe swinging at his head.
Bruno quickly ducked before jumping backwards to put some distance between the two of them. "Hey, what are you…" Bruno was once again cut off as he dodged a downward strike of her axe. "Master has ordered me. That's all." She replied without a hint of emotion on her face. Bruno took a step forward but was met with a harsh kick to the chest that sent him backwards. He looked up to see her running the opposite direction before he heard the sound of something moving through the air.
Bruno rolled to the left just in time to miss another axe, this time belonging to one of the undead chasers. His eyes widened as he leapt up and took a few steps back. One in front of him and three more coming from the chicken frame, all freshly killed. Bruno quickly rushed forward and ducked between the chaser's legs and turned around. The chaser had been led to the edge of the curtains; Bruno gave it a strong kick to the back sending it falling to its death. A loud snap could be heard around the bedroom as the chaser spawned in a new location.
He charged to the edge just in time to send another chaser flying through the air before it came crashing down to earth. The second chaser leapt toward Bruno in an attempt to pin him to the ground. Bruno simply ducked and swept the chaser off the curtains after it landed. The final one took more caution and started with a sideways chop to Bruno's arm to separate him from his axe. He jumped over the chaser's axe and gave it a quick kick to the head. As Bruno landed he raised his axe and sent it crashing down through the corpse's shoulder and several ribs, breaking all of them off in the process. Bruno seeing his wonderfully clean cut quickly flipped his axe around and brought it back up with surprising speed. The undead's head rolled and sent it backwards off the ledge.
Bruno smiled briefly at his accomplishment as he turned around; in time to see another axe headed for his face. There wasn't anything he could do with such little time to react. The axe made contact and sent him off the very same edge into the batch of undead he had just defeated. Before he hit the ground they all grabbed him and ripped the flesh off his body leaving him nothing more than a cleaned white pile of bones.
"What happened? Where am I? Oh, that's right I was killed again." Bruno thought to himself. "If I hadn't saved her, this wouldn't have happened. I could still be alive. No, I shouldn't think that." Bruno scolded himself. "She needed help, I just should've ran when I saw the chasers coming. Heh, I didn't even get her name. What was it again, something like Jenny? It hurts. It's so cold. I- I need… flesh." Bruno's form snapped its eyes open, ready to search for a meal.
He looked around for a moment, seeing the skeletons chasing after Orlando as he climbed up the Television set. "Flesh" Bruno said as he started running to the bed to cut Orlando off. As he made his way to the bed he saw movement behind the small (compared to the rest of the bedroom) toy car positioned under the bed. He rushed forward ready to kill. As he rounded the corner he found her, the very same person that could be considered responsible for his gruesome death. "Flesh!" He said nearly shouting as he approached slowly.
He turned to his left as he heard another voice shouting at her. "Die for me, now!" Orland shouted as he ran across a checkerboard with several skeletons following closely in pursuit. Bruno looked back to her with a smile across his face, raising his axe to strike. The girl simply knelt down and bowed her head. "Do it." She quietly said. Bruno stalled for a second, for some reason he thought about what she had just said. "Kill her!" Orlando shouted at him from a distance. Bruno swung his axe down. A loud crash was heard.
The girl looked to her right at the axe that was firmly wedged in-between the floorboards. The skeleton in front of her sat down. "I'm…Bru…no" He struggled to say. She looked up at him quizzically for a second before replying. "I'm Janice." Bruno looked her over for a second before smiling slightly. 'She looks about my age, maybe a year younger, and she's kind of pretty.' He thought to himself.
His thoughts were interrupted with a loud shout as Orlando was mangled with several axes in his back and head. Janice had just won the game, against her master's wishes. "We're leaving. Now." Orlando angrily growled at her from across the room. Bruno looked back at Janice for just a second. She raised her left arm and trailed her first two fingers down her right arm and whispered, 'French fry bow tie."
Everyone began fading away once more. Bruno felt sudden relief as his body was healed once more. He opened his eyes and found himself in the lobby where everyone waited for the next game to begin. He scanned the area, Orlando, but more importantly Janice where nowhere to be seen.