Thanks to Becky, David’s player count now skyrocketed to one hundred people. This increased his Fear by nine point five bringing his accumulated fear up to seventy five. He watched on as the players after being attacked by Betsy were rescued by other survivors. David paid close attention to Becky who was adapting well to Twisted world. She had easily achieved an advanced clear on the starting quest. Lots of the other players went to her for advice as she had a few more days experience at the game than them. 

She had taken a quest from one of the survivors in the safe zone to craft some flimsy barricades. They would take her several pieces of wood and some nails. The nails and wood would need to acquired by herself. This made her take a trip to loot the nearby hardware store. This is where she met her first Hopeless, the Hopeless were like normal humans except they had several major differences. The first difference was that the Hopeless had light grey skin. The second difference was that their eyes glowed a bright purple.

The third and most distinctive difference was the several severe purple crystal growths on their bodies. Most Hopeless had four major crystals growths. One on their left shoulders that covered it entirely. The second was on either leg and usually hung off the calf or thigh. The third was always located on the head of a Hopeless and usually covered a good portion of the face. The fourth usually encompassed their right hand up to the elbow. This growth usually far extended past the hand and formed a kind of crystal blade. 

Becky had entered the store and was crouching around the shelves scavenging when she heard the door open. She laid there silently as she caught a glimpse of the creatures feet. She heard sniffing and then the creature stumbling forward. Becky got up and crouched behind the corner of one of the shelves. She prepared her baton and took a shallow breath the creature groaned as it drew closer. She took one deep breath before leaping out and smacking her baton into the creatures head. The baton clubbed the creature in the right part of its head that was unprotected by the crystal growths. 

As the Hopeless crumpled onto the floor, Becky began a savage assault. The baton was coated in a black tar like substance similar to the substance from the Watcher. Becky now loomed over the corpse of the monster, the corpse was heavily mutilated with a large portion of its head being turned into smush. Becky took a deep breath and retrieved her rucksack before leaving. 

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“Run for it!” screamed one man in a military uniform as he ran with three other men in the same uniform. They were being chased by something big and deadly. “Eat this bitch!” the lead man cried as he spun round and unloaded an entire magazine of ammunition of his assault rifle into the chaser. The group tried to check their mini maps but all that was shown was grey static. 

“Shit this bitch can run fast” cried an African American with his brown hair buzz cut and brown eyes as he soon overtook the leading player. They noticed a large dilapidated building with a giant sign on it. Happy Homes Orphanage was what the sign read and the players entered its grounds preparing to hide. But as they entered the grounds the creature following them stopped just short of the gates. The original lead player saw this and stuck his middle finger up at their pursuer. 

“What’s the matter Betsy is an orphanage too scary for you?” The man laughed like an idiot. 

“Dude if that thing isn’t entering this area there must be a good reason for it” the African American said with caution. He took a quick glance at Betsey and back at the two others. One was Caucasian with brown eyes and a brown mohawk. The other was another African American with blue eyes and black dreadlocks.

“Why did we ever agree to play this game with you Alex?” The Caucasian told the lead player. The lead player was white with blonde hair and brown eyes.

“We did three tours in Iraq but this is much bloody worse Michael” said the African American with dreadlocks to the other African American. 

“Yeah it’s hard to believe this is a game it feels so real Brandon”.

“Shut up the pair of you this was James fault for watching that dumb streamer” Alex spoke as he watched Betsy leave. The group looked at the orphanage and decided to enter it as there might be loot inside. Alex lead with James and Michael following and Brandon brought up the rear. They only had one flashlight that they found in a gas station before being attacked by Betsy. The orphanage was obviously abandoned and most of the hallway was damaged.

They heard crying coming from behind a door they passed. “Hello is anyone out there please help me the door is locked” the group heard the voice of a small child. Alex checked the door and tried to open it, the handle barely moved an inch. 

“The door is definitely locked, little girl please get far away from the door I’m going to kick it down.” Alex waited for a reply and received a weak “okay” from the girl. Alex braced himself as he kicked the area near the lock. The door creaked as Alex kicked it again and again until finally it flew open. A small girl with long black ratty hair that dragged on the floor huddled in a corner. A pair of pale green eyes stared at them through the mess of hair. James rushed in and checked the girl, she was extremely skinny almost to the bone even. 

“Little girl what’s your name?” James asked with concern.

“Annabelle my name is Annabelle” she croaked as James lifted her up.

“Okay Annabelle can you tell us what happened here?” Annabelle shook her head.

“All I remember is screams and the adults trapping all of us in our rooms”.

“Are there more children?” Annabelle nodded and James looked at the group. “This child needs immediate medical attention” the group nodded.

“Okay we’ll see how many children are left in this place and escort them to the safe zone” Alex said as James exited the room with Annabelle. The group had one final look in the room a cheap metal bed frame rusted in the right corner without a mattress. A tiny little light was on the ceiling with the switch on the outside. The walls were painted a god awful mouldy green. The group quickly started searching for other children but all they found were corpses. 

Alex slammed his fist into a nearby wall “god damn it!” Even if it was a game the group all agreed that the orphanage staff were evil. They found a picture of the orphanage with its staff and children outside near the sign. The picture was dated 2001 and the players recognised a certain someone at the front of the group. Annabelle was standing in the front and she looked exactly like she did now. James looked at Annabelle in horror but tried to not show it. 

“What’s wrong?” Annabelle asked innocently as she looked at James with wide eyes. James began to look frantically at the rest of the group. 

“Nothing sweetie we’re just trying to find the other children.” James kept his cool as they found their way to an office. The office door had the name of Doctor William Berkley on it in black lettering. Annabelle seemed to cower when they neared the door.

“No, no please don’t take me to the bad man’s office!” Annabelle coward in James arms. 

“Annabelle we aren’t taking you into this office” James tried to reassure her. “You guys enter, I’ll keep an eye on Annabelle” the rest of the group nodded and James put Annabelle down for a moment. It took a few minutes but the group returned with worried expressions and pointed their guns at Annabelle. “Guys what the fuck are you doing!?” his friends just kept their guns pointed at Annabelle.

“Get the fuck away from her James!” Alex shouted at James but it was too late Annabelle began to cry.

The three friends began to open fire but James jumped in front of Annabelle and was tore apart by the bullets. Annabelle kept crying “why, why are all adults so mean and heartless!” She wept as she began to glow a ghostly white. 

“Die monster!” Screamed Brandon as the group watched in horror as the objects near them began to float in the air. The group could only watch as their bullets flew through Annabelle.

“Why, Why, Why!” Annabelle screamed as a broken table leg flew and impaled Brandon through the chest. A fire extinguisher caved Alex’s head in and a piece of ripe choked Michael to death. Annabelle now floated there with glowing red eyes. She peered over to the corpse of James “why are adults so mean yet you were so nice”.