Hacker Candidates in the Mist

After realizing the straight-haired brunette knew he was straight, had details about his life, and was currently kidnapping him, Kline pulled away at full force, ignoring her fingernails.

Her nails dug into his throat, and thick crimson streaks clashed against the white mist before they abruptly stopped, and he turned around.

"Kline…." The innocent-sounding brunette said with wide eyes, "Your neck… it's bleeding. Like, a lot... Even for you, this is problematic. Are you okay?"

Kline looked down at the rivers of blood flowing down his chest and then back up at the blurry figure with a mocking smile that said—

Yeah, I know. I have super healing and ungodly pain tolerance, you stalking cunt. Did you really think your petty nails and half-baked kidnapping would work on me?

—However, while he won the petty battle, his lack of situational awareness and general incompetence made him lose the war. After all, he forgot what he was doing.

"Whoa! What the hell happened, Kline!?" Bell cried, looking at the blood that had exploded everywhere, "Who did this to you!? Tell me right now!"

The wound had healed, but the blood pattern was unmistakable. The cute brunette had seen it before—when she was ten years old! His jugular vein was cut!

Bell checked his neck multiple times, obsessively confirming that it had healed while she waited for him to snitch on the attacker. However, she found his answer unnecessary when she turned and casually saw the petite kidnapper standing in the same location.

"Hey, floozy!" Bell snapped aggressively, "Unless you want to get promoted to [dead floozy], I suggest you tell me what you did to Kline!"

All the excited chatter in the mist ceased, and people listened after hearing the ominous statement.

"I tried protecting him from the woman who's worried about his neck wound but is currently choking him in a fit of rage." The woman replied in a calm voice.

Bell looked back and confirmed she was indeed still holding Kline's neck and wringing him around like a rag doll in anger. Worse—

"What did you do to Kline!?" Rebecca cried, "Stop choking him!"

The brunette looked down at her hands and found them covered in blood. "I'm not choking him.

Slampig here cut his throat, so I was checking his neck, okay? Now hurry and detain her; I need to get Kline to the nurse's office and look after him."

"Oh, hell no!" Rebecca snapped, "Your bloody finger marks are on his neck, and you want me to arrest some other woman while you take him away!?"

Kline's eyes glazed over when he saw where things were going. It was about to turn into a blood bath, and he was too conspicuous to slink away randomly.

But that wouldn't stop him from trying!

"Look at the blood splatter—it squirted from his artery rupturing." Bell scoffed, "If I did this from the front, I'd have blood all over me. If I did it from the back, I'd look like hozey over there!"

She pointed at the small woman who hid her slightly-bloodied hand.

"Don't accuse me of harming Kline." The petite woman said in annoyance, "You've been stalking him and causing him trouble since he got here."

"Oh yeah?" Bell smiled viciously, "I helped protect Kline after his injuries the minute he arrived, so I've been around him. Legitimate. Tell me, Violet, why do you even know about that?"

Violet blushed slightly, fighting against her calm expression. "Everyone knows you stayed with Kline after he got injured. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about you sneaking around, watching his room last night. Anyone going to the bathroom could see that."

"Bathroom you say?" Bell mused with a sinister smile, "That's funny. I would've sworn there wasn't a bathroom anywhere near Kline's room."

The petite woman tensed up.

"Putting aside how you knew where Kline's room was." Rebecca prefaced aggressively, "Why the hell were either of you in the men's ward last night!?"

Both women froze for a moment before they recovered.

"I protected Kline from two employees—like you—who tried to assault him in his sleep." Bell replied caustically, "I have video evidence.

Did you expect I'd let him walk around this predatory flooze cruise—injured—without verifying his safety? Are you mad?"

"That's rich." Violet said coolly, "Does [confirming his safety] require that—"

"Hey, guys…." A hesitant yet confident voice called out in the mist, "We verified Kline's fine, right?

Since you're just arguing, can we pick this up later when all the women aren't freaked out?"

Rebecca and Violet smiled wryly, looking at Kline, who was sending a thankful smile to the sky. However, when he saw the redhead who materialized, the deja vu returned aggressively.

He turned to Bell, someone who supposedly knew him, for confirmation—and got it. She was exuding a suffocating level of bloodlust as she glared daggers at the woman.

There was definitely history between them.

"I'll take that as a yes." The redhead giggled, offering Kline a towel, "Here's a towel to clean up.

You don't want to emerge from the fog looking like the only survivor of Bell's killing spree, do you?"

Kline chuckled nervously, accepting it and cleaning himself while keeping tabs on the cute brunette whose twitching eyes were frightening him.

"Tell me, Mindy." Bell requested maliciously, "Why is there [more] steam here than before?"

The redhead's smile almost cracked before she recovered smoothly.

"When I heard Violet cut Kline's throat, I figured it would harm his rep… I mean, I figured it would scare others." Mindy explained, "So I adjusted the steam to cover it up."

"Hold up!" Rebecca snapped, "Why do you know where the thermostat is? It's in a utility room!"

Kline opened his mouth dumbly, turning his head to the redhead with the fluidity of a rusty cog. He looked at her awkwardly smiling face with a crazed expression.

Was he worried about her stalking him in the mist, then leaving his bleeding corpse to turn up the steam instead of checking on him? No!

He wanted to know something far more important to him—

'Was it you!?' He yelled internally, looking at her with unstable eyes, 'Were you the cockblocking banshee that ruined my rite-to-passage bathing session with your sketchy steam!?'

—the person who ruined his time with Rebecca and the redhead knew where the controls were!

Mindy giggled nervously, looking at his crazed look before turning to Rebecca. "I went to get Kline an extra towel to clean his body.

When I entered the locker room, I saw the door to the utility room open. Inside I found the thermostat, increased the steam, then ran back with the towel.

It's not a grand conspiracy. Well, that's assuming someone didn't adjust the steam to cover up an attempted murder."

Violet puffed out her cheeks when she saw the snide smile the redhead gave her. "Don't cover up your sketchy actions with a conspiracy!"

"I'm still confused why you thought it was okay to change the spa's heat settings." Rebecca scoffed, "This temperature is against regulations!"

"You don't say?" Bell smiled ominously, making the brunette shutter.

"You're all crazy." Kline laughed awkwardly, muttering to himself while looking at the strange women around him. All of them fit the mold of the hacker profile! That was horrifying!

Luckily, he realized something profound. He was clean! He wiped his body a dozen times to cope with the disjointing awkwardness. Now, he was clear of issues!

Therefore, all he had to do was….

Kline silently stepped back, taking small, light steps, slowly disappearing in the fog.

… Escape.

If he could just get out of their sight, he could walk out the door! He couldn't see naked women, there wasn't blood on him, and no one was hurt. It was absurd that he was making such a big deal out of the situation! The crazy women were doing that. But Kline? Kline was a cold, rational man!

He slinked away, silently walking on the far side of the wall, avoiding the women in the bath who were listening to the dramafest. No one saw him or heard him. Perfect!

Just as he could see the light from the thinning mist—

"Kline!" Bell screamed reflexively, surprised to see him gone.

"We need to find Kline!" Rebecca cried, "We can't let him leave this place!"

"Calm down. You're making him sound like a fugitive." Violet said bitingly, "Stop causing issues for him, both of you."

Kline's heart began pounding when he heard them searching for him. However, he was right there! Ten more feet, he'd be out of the mist and could walk out the door!

Unfortunately, Suburu, the god of misfortune, frowned upon him, blessing him with the worst possible timing imaginable. Just as he stepped out of the mist—

"I'm causing issues for him?" Rebecca laughed awkwardly, "Do you want to explain how a person's throat got cut open?"

—an explosion of anxiety washed over the area as Rebecca declared that someone's throat got slit, and the person they were looking for was none other than Kline Noble.

Now, he stood before a dozen incredibly cute first-year college students who gasped in shock, looking at his hands.

Following their eyes, he looked down, and that's when he realized—

"Fuck me." Kline laughed, staring at the towel Mindy gave him, which now looked like a prop from a Wes Craven film.

—he fucked up.