Vincent grinned at the man as he realized the other man was bluffing him. He looked over at his companion and the bluffing man followed his gaze. Vincent’s left arm shot upward diagonally, hitting the elbow holding the switchblade, shifting it away from his neck before his other hand punched him in the neck. The man dropped his switchblade and grasped his own throat and bent over coughing violently. Vincent followed up the two attacks with a knee strike to the temple before squatting down next to the now prone man on the ground.
The woman fled in panic after seeing her companion beaten down so efficiently and rapidly. She never turned back once as she ran in fear and Vincent didn’t bother with her. He only glanced at her briefly before picking up the switchblade and stabbed it into the other man’s neck, along the arteries with the practiced precision of someone with a medical background.
Vincent stood up afterward and watched in satisfaction as the man’s life drained away. He smiled, began humming to himself and walked towards the office building in the distance, passing by a hardware store along the way to snatch a long blade. He ran his finger along the dull side and sighed in dissatisfaction. It was merely a spare part replacement for an industrial lawnmower as every other blade available were merely utility knives with shorter reaches. While effective, he was becoming tired of putting himself within arm’s reach of every victim.
His walk to the office building was oddly quiet and left him with enough time to start thinking about the experiment again. His only job within the experiment was to push the lab rats along in the game, but it was very vague as to what that meant. He was also given no directions on how to leave or if his actions would have any consequences in the real world after it ended. Given those conditions, he decided to simply play to his heart’s content and blame everything on the circumstances afterward.
Stepping into the office building, he found Nick tied down to a chair in the lobby and another group of non-humans speaking to each other. It was obvious from Nick’s confused expression that he didn’t understand them and it made Vincent grin internally. This meant that he could get rid of Nick for any reason he could think of and he couldn’t plead his case to the other group as only Vincent could understand what he was saying. He laughed on the inside while presenting a serious, furious face to the outside as he confronted Nick.
The duo spoke only a few sentences back and forth before Vincent killed Nick in front of the other group. Then he wiped his lawnmower blade on Nick’s clothes and turned to face the other side. A complicated expression formed on his face as he scanned the others.
“Thank you for not intervening on his behalf. He drove my sister to suicide and ran into this building while I was distracted. I followed him in here and lost myself when I saw him tied down. I should have said something to all of you before just cutting him down.”
Vincent stated with some lingering emotions on his face; his acting on the same level as any Oscar award winner. His blade wielding arm trembled slightly in a show of nervousness and threatened to fall from his hand if the other party did not acknowledge his words. A slight sweat appeared on his forehead and from all outer appearances, he was a man coming down from an adrenaline rush after finally catching his sister’s killer.
“We understand. We were hiding out on the upper floors from a strange monster that had been pursuing anyone on the street. The bikers caused so much noise when they came in and then attacked us that we hoped to get rid of them and then leave as soon as possible. With them dead, it may slow down the monster.”
The leader of the group spoke out as he motioned for his group mates to check the streets while his eyes never left Vincent. He may have been using a polite tone to speak to him, but he wasn’t so naive as to believe a stranger’s words on their face. His grip on his own paper cutter blade tightened slightly out of true nervousness as the stranger had only shown his walking pace, not his true speed and weird monsters had already shown up in this world. It was unknown whether the other man was also one of the weird monsters in disguise or a crazy killing machine like the bikers that were so loudly causing trouble outside and inside.
“A monster? I didn’t see anything like that on the way here. The streets were all very quiet.”
Vincent retorted in confusion and took a wary look around his surroundings while shifting his weight onto his back foot. His grip on his own blade tightened, rather than softening as he rolled the idea of an unknown monster around in his head. Depending on its characteristics, he could definitely use it to his own advantage in combat or an interesting toy to add to his growing collection of memories.
The two sides stopped speaking while both considered the other. The leader’s group checked the streets and reported no sign of the monster in a whisper by the leader’s side. He nodded in affirmation and the group began to retreat to the office entrance. Vincent, meanwhile, remained in place and simply watched the group while still lost in his own thoughts.
***
In the Morpheus Labs’ experiment room, a few assistants and Dr. Evans surrounded three patients with varying symptoms. The first patient, Natasha, was convulsing heavily all over such as seen in a seizure, but her medical readings were normal. It was a fascinating show for the audience members, whose fingers danced on their transparent tablets as they recorded thee results of Natasha’s infection by the worms within the virtual city of Miro. Dr. Evans was especially fascinated by her body’s reaction as it indicated her mind’s battle against the invasive worm. The experiment tested numerous parts of the human brain and the body at the same time and its reaction to external simulation through intense mental stimulation such as acute emotional trauma. After the group checked over Natasha, they moved onto the next patient.
Sarah’s heart rate was abnormally high for laying down. According to her experimental logs, she was being suppressed by the dolls within the virtual city. It was quite fascinating that the supernatural virtual souls of the dolls only caused an abnormal heart rate and no other medical anomalies. The assistants recorded the results and discussed in hushed tones as Dr. Evans moved on to the next and last patient for the day.
Nick’s heart rate was completely normal and his body didn’t convulse like Natasha, instead his brain showed extremely low brain activity. It was barely above the borderline for brain death, according to the medical requirement. Nick’s case was the most interesting of all three current patients as he was the only one directly killed in the city. The other two patients were technically still alive as their bodily functions were operating normally within the virtual city; only their consciousnesses were suppressed. Dr. Evans requested reports from her assistants before heading back to her office to watch the remaining patients activity through her own virtual reality helmet, using her administrative account.
