“Move, move, move!”

Steven roared at the young man a few meters away from him as he stood at the entrance to a narrow alley while their other companions continued running forward. His sweat covered back spoke to the high intensity chase he had been engaged in for several hours already. His legs threatened to buckle just from standing there and he was forced to bend them slightly to rest, even if only for a few seconds.

He turned back to his other companions to check on them when he heard the whistling sound from the opposite side. Turning back, he saw the young man with his right arm reaching out for help with a mix of despair and pain plastered on his face. The light in his eyes quickly dimmed as his body shuffled forward a few steps before toppling forward with a still trembling arrow protruding from his back. Cackling laughter like hyenas on the hunt followed soon after as Steven gritted his teeth and sprinted after his remaining companions.

His two companions, Whitney and Kevin, had made it to the end of the alley already while panting hard and leaning against the wall for stability. Steven caught up to them in a matter of seconds that seemed to drag on for hours as his ears focused on the noises behind him. His heartbeat raced as he strained to hear anything; footsteps, the whistle of arrows, or the hooting of their hunters, but there was nothing. The silence was far more chilling after he realized there was only the loud thumping of his own heartbeat.

Whitney, in her tattered long red dress, peeled herself off the wall and shot a look behind Steven. Her questioning eyes and fear displayed perfectly on her once beautiful face. Her small mouth turned upside down slightly when Steven shook his head wordlessly.

Beside her, Kevin gave a slight nod in understanding before turning to look at the open street next to him. Not a single truck, sedan or even coupe could be seen on the three-lane road. Despair washed over him as he took in a heavy breath in and out to suppress his increasing blood pressure. With so much open space and no cover, someone would need to be the scout if put politely and the bait if put bluntly.

Steven caught up in that short moment and nearly collapsed when he saw the same scene. The trio had been lucky before and managed to find thinner streets with abandoned vehicles, allowing plenty of cover from the threat of arrows. Shaking his head, he pushed his body beyond its limits and continued sprinting tot he next alley with Whitney and Kevin following more than a few steps behind. Anxiety filled the trio when nothing happened to them as they crossed the road in peace.

Steven cautiously turned back to look and scanned the rooftops for movement. Seeing nothing, he pushed himself deeper into the alley before allowing himself to slide down the brick alley wall to the dry cement. His legs felt like they were on fire from being on the move for so long, even though it shouldn’t be possible to feel tiredness in this world. Kevin and Whitney fell into a kneeling and sitting position respectively on either side of Steven. Their bodies were equally exhausted and their minds felt as if they would dissolve at any time.

Steven’s mind wandered as the trio caught a short break, drifting back to several days ago. He had signed up at the local community college for a special project hosted by a new medical company that seemed to have sprouted up from nothing to a multi-million-dollar company in a matter of a few short weeks. He had signed up on a passing whim when the beautiful doctor in glasses asked if he wanted to volunteer. Her stereotypical white lab coat did little to hide the busty and petite body beneath it. He can still picture the blissful smile on her face when he gave her back the completed form and clipboard; now wondering if it had been one of mockery instead.

Later in the week, he was called by the same doctor and invited to join her team alongside others to participate in an experimental virtual reality game. The basis of the experiment sounded very impressive at the time as she threw out words that he barely understood as explanation on why he needed an IV and to not worry about the liability waivers. She assured him as he signed off that all of the paperwork was merely legal formalities and the experiment was perfectly safe. Steven never realized how much he would regret his decision to follow his whims.

Steven was shaken from his memories as humanoid shadows appeared around the trio from above. He stood up quickly and fell forward even faster as his muscles protested and contracted in pain. His hands shot forward and he caught himself before his face could kiss the pavement. Kevin slid up the wall in fear while pulling on Whitney’s arm. His thoughts a scattered mess as he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to throw her to the wolves for his own survival or place himself in danger to protect her as his morals dictated. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he never got to make the decision as a noose dropped from the sky overhead and wrapped around Whitney’s neck dragging her upward before he could move. Her flailing arm slipped from his grasp as he watched her shoot up like a rocket to the rooftop where death was guaranteed.

However, he didn’t have time to be stunned for long as grinning silhouettes with compound bows released a flurry of arrows. Kevin shoved Steven in the opposite direction as he rolled away from the deadly rain. The sounds of wood and metal scraping pavement rang out next to their ears as both men rolled towards the trash lining the alley.

Meanwhile, Whitney dug her fingers between her neck and the noose as her lungs began to burn from lack of air rather than exhaustion. Soon she came face to face with a man with a single eye and a long knife and a woman with long scars covering half of her face. Their eerie grins made her shiver deeply even as she clawed at the rope binding her neck. Her consciousness was fading quickly as the man opened his mouth and gave out several commands that she couldn’t understand in her weakened mental state. Darkness overtook her before she could figure out what was happening to her as more ropes bound her body.

On the alley floor, Steven and Kevin saw Whitney’s body lowered to the rooftop gravel while still breathing shallowly. The duo looked at each other and took off in opposite directions, registering that she was dead already, even if her breath of life was still there. No one caught by the hunting pack ever survived the ordeal for long and the arrow shower already proved that they were not valued by them.

The rooftop silhouettes, seven in total excluding Whitney, split into two directions to run down their prey. Kevin’s loud screams soon followed and Steven felt his back turn colder as cold sweat flowed profusely. He dug out his remaining potential as he sprinted forward at a speed that even he did not realize he could achieve.

A few minutes of sprinting and straining his ears caused a lack of concentration that caused him to stumble and trip on his own feet. The whizzing noise of arrows soon followed as his pursuers capitalized on his newfound despair to multiply it further. Pain soon lanced from his thighs as shafts buried themselves deeply in both. Laughs and the muffled sound of footsteps followed up as he struggled to crawl away from his impending death.

A low squishing noise came from in front of him as something red and meaty landed in front of him. His eyes went wide like saucers when he realized the mass of meat was the young man who had taken an arrow in front of his eyes less than an hour ago. He was barely recognizable now as the bloodied meat no longer resembled a human being.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

A melodic, though hoarse, voice rang from his back as the figure of the scarred woman walked in front of Steven. She bent down and ran her fingers along the corpse and licked her lips.

“He was a brave one, a true man. Quite unlike you, a coward who runs away while his companions fall into enemy hands one by one.”

A hard kick to the gut came from Steven’s right side as the one-eyed man walked into view. His grating voice clear in the silence of the empty road, judging the actions of a desperate man” He squatted next to Steven and looked him in the eye before opening his mouth again.

“Do you know why you were hunted? Why you were always the prey even when you tried to be the hunter? It is because you are weak, both in body and mind. You don’t have the resolve to adapt and embrace your circumstances. It is as simple as that, little rabbit. Now then, I’ve said my peace so I’ll say goodbye to you here.”

The one-eyed man patted Steven’s cheek before standing and taking the scarred woman’s hand before walking away. Steven watched another in their group carrying Whitney over his shoulder, bound up with ropes and unconscious. Then a sharp object penetrated his skull and everything faded to black for one last time.