Chapter 4~ Trust

I look down at my bleeding hands. I'm too embarrassed to look at him.

He pauses, looking over me again before he continues, "You came in here. That says something about you. You must have been through a lot of hard things in life to think coming here was a good idea. Don't worry, I won't give you false hope and say something like 'you can be happy now', but if you endure this and survive then maybe you can be happy."

I look up at him to see him smiling at me, "Believe me, it gets better. You still think you want to die?"

I look down at the grass again and let out a sob as tears fill my eyes, I watch as they fall and get soaked up into the ground. "I... I..."

I think back to everything that's happened, 'just like a drowning kitten' 'an orphan bitch should know her place' 'I just hope she gets hit by a car or something'.

"...I wanna live." The tears are streaming down my face now but for once I let them.

He grins at me before placing a hand on my head, "Alright, now then, before we win this game, how about we survive this game of hell, Miss Idris Young."

He holds my starter card between two fingers and gives me his other had to help me up. I smile slightly at the gesture.

I will survive. No matter what I will survive.

***

I follow mystery guy through an old church, we've been walking for about ten minutes and I still have no idea where we're going. He said something about a neutral zone but that's not a real explanation.

Mystery guy turns to me as we walk, "It'll take about another thirty minutes and we're there."

"I see," I say as I try to keep up with his fast pace.

"If you have any questions just ask me." He says as I stare at the lightning staff on his shoulder, I have no idea how it could work.

I hesitate between asking his name and asking how the staff works, I decide to ask his name since calling him mystery guy is a bit weird, "Umm... can I ask you what's your name? And why did you come here? You don't seem very...." I can't seem to say the word suicidal.

"What? Suicidal? I guess because I was sick of the shit in my life, not my actual life, there is a difference. For my name call me Zack, Zack Morningstar. And as for why I'm here, hmmm how do I put this, you received a strange email and a card, didn't you?" I nod and Zack smiles, "Well I go the same email and just as it says, we're playing a game. Think of it as a video game, you can make it through levels, the NPCs decide the tasks of the game and in the end, only those who clear all of the games can meet the operator. And when they tell the operator how they want their life to be rebuilt, the game probably ends."

I feel my stomach sink slightly as I listen to Zack's explanation, "And... and what happens to the people who don't clear the game?"

Somehow I already know the answer before the words come from Zack's mouth, "They die, probably."

I glance at Zack's face, his electric blue eyes hold no pity in them, nothing like the time he saved me. "Die?!"

Some small part of me is screaming at me not to trust him but right now I have nothing else to do, so, for now, I can only try to silence that voice, after all, why would he help me if he wasn't at least an okay person?

I hear something behind us but I push it out of my mind, probably just my imagination. Zack stops and turns so that he's standing in front of me, "Hmm... Look, Miss Idris Young, it seems like you don't understand what's going on here. Didn't you read the line in the email that said you'd be risking your life?

"The moment you stepped in this place after you received that email," Zack throws his lightning bar into something behind me with such speed that I barely see it coming before it's flashed past my neck and shoved deep into another one of the monsters from earlier. I don't even flinch as the air whooshes past my neck and hair flies back, Maya and her gang taught me better than to flinch.

"You really should've been prepared for that." Zack finishes with and draws back the pole and just like the first monster, this one falls to the ground in a heap of charred meat. The smell is horrible.

Zack turns and starts walking again, the staff slung on one shoulder, I jog to catch up. "Oh, and a word of advice," Zack says as I catch up, "Try not to trust anyone here, you could get stabbed in the back by the person you trusted the most."

I make a mental note, I have to be ready for anything and any information I can get will be great.

I frown slightly at his words, why would he help me then? "Then why are you helping me out?"

Zack turns to me and grins, his staff hums slightly, "Because I'm not trying to win this game in the first place."

I narrow my eyes ever so slightly, you wouldn't be here if you weren't in it to win. The voice telling me not to trust Zack seems to only grow louder by the second.

"If I can just live quietly here and survive," Zack says as he turns to start walking again. "That's enough for me."

I watch him as he walks, I'm seriously starting to wonder if I should even be trusting Zack here. But either way, I follow him, so far he's my only guide around this place.

"Alright let's keep going," Zack says before he stumbles forward, doubling over and falling onto his knees.

I rush over to his side, "Are you okay?"

Zack laughs slightly and I note that his face hasn't paled or reddened. Is he really hurt?

"Oh no," Zack says as he leans on his staff for support. "I must've exerted too much energy..... My stamina is running out..... Ugh, we were so close to the neutral zone too....."

Zack topples over his staff and I lean down to support him. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I'm slightly shocked to see a wolfish grin cross his face before disappearing and if I hadn't seen it I would have thought I was imagining it. Zack starts to get up easily, as if he was never in pain, to begin with, "Hmm, well... There actually is something you can do for me...."

Zack stands up to his full height, not even using his staff for support. I have an overwhelming feeling that whatever he's going to say next won't be in my best interest.

"Well then, if you don't mind, how about we Pair up."