Happy New Year everyone! 

---

As Katie’s blue eyes turned to him, Kyle could feel his back covered in sweat. This time, he was truly out of options. He was completely unarmed, not that weapons would do much to save his life against the monster that was Katie. 

Back in Masonville Hotel, he had tried to turn Katie to his cause, but as far as he knew, that failed miserably. Plus, everything that he did for the past few days had completely alienated Katie. Expecting mercy from her had a smaller chance of success than expecting mercy from Mr. Isaac himself. 

He glanced at several boys in the classroom. They were the boys under his payroll, but even they simply turned away at his pleading gaze. Take on Katie Lockwood for some cash? They had to be as crazy as Katie herself to do something like that!

However, while those boys didn't stand up for Kyle, someone else did. Someone unexpected. Katie watched as Eric slowly stood up and, despite shaking in fear, raised his voice. 

“Please, Katie!” He exclaimed, trying to contain his fear. “We are already down to 17 students! If we want to escape this game, we will need every man we have!”

Katie stared into his eyes. Something was going on between Kyle and Eric. It was the same thing that forced Eric to sit back and watch as Kyle took power, and it was the same thing that prompted Eric to speak up against her at Kyle’s command. Maybe Eric was blackmailed? Maybe his family or something was kidnapped? Perhaps, but she didn't care about any of those things. 

All she knew was she really needed to hurt someone, and Kyle was the prime target. If Eric wanted to take his place, she would gladly make the accommodations. 

Katie never said a word. All she did was stare coldly at the boy, and that was enough to make Eric's knees buckle and his lips tremble. Katie had the power, the will, and the motive to break every bone in his body, literally. Finally, overcame with fear, Eric lowered his head and backed off, dooming Kyle’s last chance of survival. 

And just like that, Kyle knew his end was at hand. He didn't bother with begging for mercy as Aaron did. Instead, all he did, and all he could do, was talk. 

“You win, Katie!” He declared loudly, standing his ground against the encroaching Katie. “Guess what? I placed my bets on the wrong side, and now I shall pay the price for it! So go on! Kill me if you want!”

Katie scoffed. What is it with these people? Do they really think they can just die and escape all this hell? Did she look that merciful? She didn't answer. Instead, all she did was grab onto Kyle’s left forearm and twist it back by 90 degrees. 

Her bare biceps shined under the classroom lights. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was holding onto the twisted limb of a screaming man, she actually looked kind of hot. 

Under the eyes of the rest of the class, Kyle screamed. Yet, all that accomplished was to make Katie even more excited. The suffering of others distracted her from the terrible dilemma she was facing and threw her into the torture session with even more ferocity than before. 

Kyle’s right arm soon suffered the same fate. Katie twisted it way beyond its natural position. She would’ve just torn the limb off, but she has tortured enough victims to know blood loss could easily end this session way too quickly. Instead, she settled with...less violent methods. Sort of… 

Kyle was still gasping for breath as waves of blinding pain overwhelmed him, but slowly, his screams turned into words, and he started yelling at his torturer even as she worked on him. 

“Look at you!” Kyle cried out as he fought back the agony. Once again, a hint of darkness was in his eyes, influencing his thoughts and decisions. “Do you really think you’re any better than I am? I am just a criminal, but you...you are an animal!”

Katie grabbed onto one of his fingers and snapped it. The sickening smile has never left her face, but even that didn't stop Kyle. 

“You claim that you value your humanity, Katie! And you tell yourself you only torture those who deserve it! That you don't want to be enslaved by your urges! But guess what, Katie? I bet you don’t even believe in that crap yourself!” 

Katie snapped another limb. This time, it was Kyle’s left knee. A little more difficult than his arms, but just a little. 

All the while, Kyle never stopped. 

“Face it, Katie! You enjoy it! You enjoy torturing the evil, just like you enjoy torturing the good! You rejoice in causing pain! You rejoice in feeling pain! And in the end, even the guilt you feel! The fear you feel! You enjoy those as well, don’t you!” 

Katie maimed Kyle’s last functional limb. As she looked back into Kyle’s twisted eyes, Kyle’s tone suddenly changed.

”That felt really good...didn't it? Hearing my bones crack? Hearing my screams echo through the room? Seeing the look of fear on everyone else's face? But...but is that enough to satiate your urges? How about...how about the others?” He glanced around and gestured for the rest of the class. “You’ve killed two of us already. Why not kill everyone else while you're at it? Imagine how fun it would be...and finally, your little girlfriend. Wouldn’t you just love to hear her scream?” 

Katie’s eyes flickered. Once again, as she thought of that image, she couldn’t help but feel herself getting aroused beyond control. This made her feel guilty, which, coincidentally, was another form of discomfort. Discomfort that fueled her most basic instincts. 

Distinctly, Katie sent Caitlin a glance before stopping herself. She forced herself to turn back to Kyle, who clearly looked disappointed at her lack of action.

“You talk too much.” She declared simply before grabbing onto Kyle’s lower jaw with her bloody hand and forcing his mouth to open. Two branches extended out of her hands and forced their way into Kyle’s mouth. They grabbed onto Kyle’s tongue and yanked it out...into Katie’s Knife.

With one swift strike, Katie severed Kyle’s tongue, ensuring the boy would never speak again.

As Kyle was finally silenced, the darkness in his eyes completely disappeared, having achieved what it was inside him for in the first place. As if his strength was gone, Kyle collapsed on the ground and started rolling across a pool of his own blood, screaming in a muffled voice. Katie smirked at the horrifying sight before standing back up. 

She had no intention of finishing the kill. Why would she bother with ending his suffering quickly when his death could be slow and painful?

The girl scanned the classroom, and everyone looked away in fear. With a final victorious smirk, she turned back to Caitlin and left the room with her. 

Yes. There were other traitors. People like Eric. People like Terry. But she has had enough fun for the day. Plus, why would she rescue these students from the tragic end Mr. Isaac already had in mind for them? Now that she thought about it, she was being way too merciful with Aaron too. Should've just left him to die slowly...

As they left, the rest of the class looked at each other before leaving the room one by one. Eric was the last one to leave. He paused in front of Kyle, wanting to say something, but in the end, he simply stood up and left. 

Soon, all that was left in the room were a few dead bodies, along with a screaming Kyle. That was when Mr. Isaac appeared in the room once again. He looked down on Kyle before waving his hand, teleporting the boy, still alive, out of the room. 

“1 down.” He said to himself. “29 more to go.” 

---

In one of the houses not far away from Riverside High School, Eric walked into his bedroom and collapsed on his bed. 

It was over. It was all over. He was doomed. 

Distinctly, as Eric laid still, he could see several pieces of white paper nailed to the wall. Last night, after he was rescued from the games, Eric rejoiced. While most students partied with not a care in the world, Eric spent most of the afternoon and the night going over his plans for the future. 

Yes, the games have taken a heavy toll on him, but they were over now, and Eric was ready to move on. Before Mr. Isaac took the dive, he had a bright future in front of him. According to how his parents laid things out, he should participate in multiple internships and competitions in high school, receive a perfect SAT score, and go on to join one of the Ivy League Universities. 

His future should be in one of the top international corporations. Perhaps he would even take his father’s position one day. 

But now, as Eric looked at the pieces of paper that held all his plannings and aspirations, he knew none of that would happen anymore. No, he would never get into a university. No, he would never get a high paying job, and he would never make his parents proud. His future...it was sealed by forces of horror beyond his slightest control. 

The man slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. With a few clicks, he navigated his way to an email application. He opened one particular email, which started playing a video. 

In the video, Eric and two boys were fleeing down a hallway. They all had assault rifles and bulletproof vests, but none of them stopped and attempted to fight. Bloody hands were reaching out of the walls all around them, reaching for the three boys with the illest of intentions. 

The camera pulled back as the boys kept on running forward, but soon, it became clear that the hands were too many in number for the boys to escape. They formed a forest in front of their victims, practically blocking the entire hallway. The boys opened fire with their assault rifles, achieving next to nothing. 

Eric bit his lips as the video continued, fully aware of what would happen next. 

In the video, as the two other boys tried to make a run for it, Eric suddenly reached forward. With little hesitation, he shoved the two boys into the forest of hands with the element of surprise. The two boys screamed in disbelief as the hands grabbed onto their clothes, skin, and flesh and started yanking them into the walls. 

Even as they were pulled into their own deaths, they were still cursing Eric at the top of their lungs. 

In the end, as the hands were busy with their two victims, Eric took the chance and ran down the hallway until he finally made it to the safety of the Presidential Suite. When the others asked, he buried that dark secret and didn't tell anyone what really happened back there.

Except this secret wouldn’t stay hidden for too long. Not long after, Kyle came to him, and he showed Eric the video. Honestly, Eric had no idea how Kyle was able to record that, not that it would matter. Eric was smart enough to know if the rest of the class saw this video, he would be finished. 

The evidence of him sabotaging fellow classmates to survive the games would ensure that no other classmate would even think of working with him again. If anything, when it came to games like the Telephone Game, his fellow classmates might gladly take him out just for the kick of it. 

This made Eric accept Kyle’s demands. In exchange for Kyle keeping this footage a secret, Eric would do all of his biddings. In fact, for the past few days, Eric was forced to transfer almost all of his money to Kyle. He was also forced to turn against Katie for the same reason. 

Yes, he did consider straight-up killing Kyle, but Kyle has thought of this as well. Kyle hired someone outside of the class and send him the video. If Kyle didn't text a specific code to that person at a certain time, that person would send this video to everyone in the class, sealing Eric's fate.

This was what made Eric stand up and try to defend Kyle, except he failed. Kyle was maimed and likely dead, and even if he saved the crippled Kyle from that classroom, would Kyle, with his last dying breath, do a final act of charity? Or would he gladly bring Eric down to hell with him? 

As he laid still, Eric felt the phone slipping out of his hand, but he made no effort to catch it. This video would be sent to everyone in the class by tomorrow at the latest. In other words, everyone would see his moment of weakness. His moment of fear and irrationality, and they would turn against him. 

Distinctly, Eric knew this might not necessarily be his end, but the man just didn't care anymore.

He has tried so hard to win these games. He tried being assertive and confident to rally the support of the class around himself. He tried making allies with individuals with potentials like Caitlin, Vivian, Terry, and Katie. When his life was at stake, he acted decisively, sacrificing his own men to save himself. 

In a sense, he did everything right. He acted as nicely as an ordinary human being could in his situation. After all, he wasn’t Katie Lockwood. He had fear and despair, and he couldn’t be dismembered and still return with nothing but a pair of cheeks reddened with excitement. Still, he did all he could. 

But in the end, the decks were completely stacked against him. He tried so hard, and he got so far, but in the end, it just didn't matter. All his struggles, all his suffering...they were merely satiating the thirst of laughing gods. 

At this point, there was only one thing he could do. 

Slowly, Eric sat up. He made his way to the counter beside the bed and picked up a handgun. Slowly and concisely, he checked its rounds before pressing the weapon to his temple, aiming right at his brain. 

The next second, he pulled the trigger.

The bullet exited the chamber and punched right through Eric’s brain, killing him. 

Almost at the moment of Eric’s death, Mr. Isaac appeared right beside him.

“Damn it!” 

He swore as Eric’s body hit the ground and his soul exited his body. Eric was one of the final 30 students he wanted to sacrifice alive! He had so much potential and he would be worth so much! But...in the end, he underestimated Eric’s despair, and instead of a valuable person to be sacrificed alive to the Will of the Chaos Domain, all he got was a soul!

Swearing, the teacher grabbed onto Eric’s soul. He was about to leave the house when he turned his attention downstairs, where Eric’s parents had just arrived home. 

A bloody grin appeared on his face.

Much like Katie, whenever he was having a bad day, he would like a good old slaughter session to lighten it up. Except unlike Katie, he wasn’t restricted by something as foolish as guilt...

---

Author's Note:

Well, after hours upon hours of work, the good news is that I have finally saved up enough chapters to put them on my Patreon!

Right now, for as little as $1, you can get access to three more quality chapters, each with over 2K words! For $5, you can get 10 chapters. For anything above that, you will get access to every chapter that I have finished! Oh...and the benefits aren't limited to early chapters! If we reach my earnings goal of $300 a month, I will be able to find contractors for patron-exclusive content, including artwork and, if we do really well, maybe animations? In other words, do you wanna see Katie Lockwood in action outside of the chapters? If so, check out my Patreon!

And if we somehow reach $1,000 a month, which is next to impossible for the moment, I will publish a chapter on public platforms every day! It's a high bar but I have my hopes up!

So...that's it! What are you still waiting for? Click the link above and make my day!