Cole Blooded

by Blaise Corvin

  He’d loved his job, but hated it at the same time.

  Efrem had never joined him. If his “friend” had been there by his side, playing as Coleslaw rather than focusing on fighting, and girls, and his game testing job, Jin might not have felt so alone. The fact that Efrem had never been able to give him a meaningful answer, explaining why he always refused to stream, had frustrated Jin to no end. Even years after their friendship, it had...hurt Jin. Efrem had been one of the very few people he’d known in his life that he’d thought really understood him.

  Apparently not.

  Years had passed, then out of nowhere, his parents told him Holly had reached out, inviting Jin on their college trip. Efrem would be there. Jin had agreed but only if he could buy his own tickets. It wasn't like he was hurting for money with the streaming revenues, and he hadn’t wanted to owe anyone for anything.

  More than anything...perhaps he’d been curious. Would Efrem finally explain why he’d never agreed to stream with him?

  By the time the tsunami came, Jin and Coleslaw had spoken a few times. Things were better, but honestly? Jin still felt betrayed. Coleslaw had still chosen the normalfag life over gaming. He’d prioritized his social life over gaming and loyalty to the friend he’d grown up with. Jin still couldn’t be mad at Holly--Holly was Holly. But Efrem? Efrem had talent! He’d wasted it!

  In his final moments of certain death while facing the tsunami, Jin's mind had still been muddled, conflicted. Should he forgive Efrem or not? He’d hated that uncertainty. Then they’d all been transported to a game, with Dolos, the GM, giving them their ruleset. A game. He understood games.

  When they’d reached the first supply drop, he’d let go, stopped being Jin Yamamoto, and had completely become Kiddy Whale. This whole setup was a battle arena. There could only be one winner, and he refused to place at the bottom.

  Kiddy had felt like a weight was lifted from him. He didn't have to feel, only think. This was familiar territory; he was in his element.

  Now, with Coleslaw leading a squad to trap him on the opposite flank from Javier, Kiddy's heart raced faster than ever. One group had more people, but were not killers...yet. The other group only had two people, but one was a psychopath with a dangerous ability, and one was completely unknown, but acting fearless.

  In the heat of the moment, Jin felt closer to Efrem than he had in years, like the old days. Maybe, if Dolos would grant Jin a wish after he won, he might let Coleslaw live to play the next game. Maybe this place was actually heaven, a place to play games for eternity, endless opportunities to compete against his friend. Valhalla.

  If so, he might be okay with that.

  His jungle fight was still fun, and he felt alive. This was like playing a high-stakes game, but with none of the pressure he got with thousands of people watching.

  Javier was starting to make him nervous, especially with the way Ricardo’s black cloud slowly moved toward him, inevitable as fate. Kiddy decided to create some distance, and head closer to the other group. His idea was to buzz by Coleslaw’s little team, and hopefully tempt the two sides into fighting each other.

  After flanking to one side, he knew he had everyone’s attention. They were more or less following him. Jin used his power to jump across a ravine, and felt smug. Fast and agile or not, Javier is going to have a hard time getting across that, he thought. Once he was across, he began expertly guiding himself through the tropical trees with bursts of his power. He turned his head to look back, trying to catch sight of Javier and Ricardo.

  Suddenly, Kiddy slammed into a tree branch and fell on his back. Stupid. He hadn't been focused on the game! Feelings only got you distractions and setbacks. Hadn’t he even just been thinking about multitasking? Now the wind was knocked out of him, and he struggled to catch his breath while searching for his glasses. He found them with his fingers, his vision all but useless until he’d put them back on.

  Crap, he thought.

  Standing before him was Coleslaw's exhausted-looking group. Cole held his machete in a neutral position at his side, ready to be used but not overtly threatening. Jarret and Nadia were not trying to hide their fangs, though. Jarret held a big stick sharpened like a spear, ready to throw. Probably most worrying was how Nadia had a hand on the ground, and a nearby tree. Her unblinking eyes were locked on Jin.

  How the hell did they catch me so fast? Kiddy felt a smile tug at his lips. He shook his head and coughed. "I'm impressed, Coleslaw. Your positioning skills are still top notch."

  "Jin," Cole said cautiously, looking at him with that annoying, concerned look, like Kiddy was crazy. "People are dying. I'm Efrem White. You are Jin Yamamoto. Please, come back to us and we can take down Javier and Ricardo. They are all that's left."

  Kiddy felt like a stone sank in his gut. How could Coleslaw still not accept the truth? He snarled, "I know you like to play by your own rules, Coleslaw, but you're not a tester in this situation. You're not going to find ways to bend the rules. Only one can win, only one of us can survive!"

  Coleslaw opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked over his shoulder, and hesitantly admitted, "You might be right."

  Kiddy paused. He hadn’t been expecting that answer. "I know I am," he said.

  Coleslaw let out an exhausted breath. "I'm still going to try to talk Dolos into letting the rest of us live, but if he doesn't, we've voted. You remember Gary-Wayne's kid, the girl?"

  Kiddy frowned. "The one he burned away with his powers?"

  Jarret looked like he was about to speak, but Nadia held him back, shaking her head. Holly, oddly enough, didn't seem the least bit concerned. In the past, she’d always seemed low-key worried unless she was studying, nose in a book or dissecting an animal or something.

  Coleslaw said, "She's alive. We don't have time to explain everything, but she is. If we get to the end and only one of us can truly live, we all voted for her to go since she's the youngest. Her name is Isla."

  "If she burns through her power at the rate she already has, she'll be older than us by the time we get there,” Holly interjected.

  Jin cocked his head, narrowing his eyes. Aging from our powers, he thought and suppressed a shiver. Also, what had been in Holly’s tone? Complaint? Something about what she’d said seemed wrong, but Jin couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Since the other side still had him in checkmate, he kept his mouth shut, but raised an eyebrow.

  Coleslaw explained, "Look, man. We were all supposed to die in that tsunami. Things changed with Dolos, obviously. If there is no other way, and we are all going to...truly die anyway, then we can all do something good as our final act. If the last thing I do is let an innocent keep her life, well, I’d be at peace with that. Isla is a kid, Jin. If you join with us, agree to this...pact, I guess we could call it, you can do real good."

  The pastor's daughter is still alive? Jin blinked. A thousand questions rushed to mind, casting doubt on Coleslaw’s words. He shook his head, looking at the ground. No, his real name, the name Jin first knew him by, was Efrem. He looked up again, taking the measure of his former friend and realized he knew that Efrem wasn't lying. Figures. Thinking back, the only time Jin could remember Efrem actually lying had been when Jin and Holly had gotten in trouble when they’d all been kids...and their friend had taken the blame.

  Things had changed, though. They were all adults now, and they were all playing a death game. Caught in the middle of his tangled emotions, Jin grimly noted that nobody had mentioned or asked about the people he’d killed, but that was probably part of the delicate balance involved in this...bloody olive branch. He thought he might understand. Truces were part of games, and life.

  Efrem had offered him a chance to save a life. Jin’s own life mattered to him; self-preservation had been a powerful motivator so far, but this was different. He knew he could be selfish, even coarse, logic over emotions, but he wasn’t evil. Normalfags were evil, with their judgment, and phony words. He’d promised himself a long time ago not to ever be like them. H
is heart slowed and a rush of both excitement and fear through his body made him slump. He could barely breathe.

  "I--" Jin began. The words came out in a broken whisper before he could understand what he was saying, tears streaming down his cheeks. "The game, Efrem. The world is gone. This is all I have left."

  "Wrong. You have us," Efrem said, slowly walking toward him.

  Jin jerkily got to his feet, and held out a hand. He shook his head. “Why didn’t you stream with me, Efrem? Why did you stop gaming with me?”

  Efrem’s eyes widened and he made a confused look. “What are you talking about? Streaming?”

  Jin felt all mixed up inside, but he managed to speak with his voice strong, unbroken even through his tears. “Yes. I invited you. Before our fight.”

  “Um, wasn’t that just to be polite? You were always so much better than me, I would have just held you back. In fact, when I told you no back then, you just said fine and never asked again.”

  A slow chuckle began in Jin’s chest, and it began to burble out. His friend was an idiot, always had been. How had he forgotten back then? Maybe everything had just been a misunderstanding all along.

  Jin coughed into his wrist and swallowed, trying to figure out what to do. He opened his mouth to speak, to talk more with his friend, when suddenly Javier sprang out from behind a tree, throwing all his weight on Efrem. It all happened so fast, but seemed deliberate, almost like slow motion as Jin watched. Javier's hands found Efrem’s face, and the area started to grow sickly green.

  The entire world seemed silent, and Jin felt like he was moving through water as he launched himself forward. His body had moved before his brain could catch up. The second he reached his struggling friend, he placed his hand on Efrem's chest, releasing a burst of energy.

  At the end of Jin’s telekinetic power, Coleslaw was thrown back into his group, knocking over Holly and Jarret.

  Sound came rushing back to Jin’s ears, including the roar of the approaching ring setting the jungle on fire. His heartbeat picked up again, excitement flooding his veins, and focus returned in the presence of an enemy. The muddled feelings he’d felt earlier were all fading.

  Jin's mind was clear now; he was Kiddy Whale again. Javier snarled savagely, leaping at Jin with his outstretched hands, his veins glowing a sickly green. Jin moved back but stumbled over a root. He managed to push away from the ground with his tactile-telekinesis right before he landed on his ass. The power he’d used had been less than intended, and he only managed to flip himself upright with a little extra breathing room.

  After the use of power, he suddenly felt weak. His stomach was noticeably empty, too. Shit. He’d overestimated his control over his own abilities and had burned through the last of his food reserves.

  Javier clawed at Kiddy wildly, fingers curled like claws. The man had feral glee in his eyes. His touch was obviously dangerous, but Kiddy didn’t have any weapons at hand. He’d dropped his last few rocks when he’d been shook earlier by Coleslaw’s Talk no Jutsu. Keeping his distance from his attacker was the focus of his world now, but he couldn’t waste any energy.

  Kiddy used familiar adrenaline he'd only ever felt in battles against other pro streamers to dodge, staying alive, while the other half of his brain thought through this new challenge.

  He’d known before that Javier was immune to poison since he’d complained about it to Ricardo, sometimes in English. Kiddy had suspected that man had either evolved his ability or had been hiding something, and he’d been right. Javier could obviously release poison through touch, too. This was why Cole was writhing on the ground, blindly stumbling, trying to find his feet.

  While Coleslaw struggled through his pain, Holly had bent over her boyfriend, pressing her hands on his face. She was probably healing him. Meanwhile, without hesitation, Jarret grabbed Nadia's hand and they vanished.

  Even though he obviously couldn’t see, and probably couldn’t breathe very well, Coleslaw barked orders. "Nadia and Jarret, take that duffel, then go find Isla and Annie! Make sure they're far ahead of the ring. If Ricardo downed Sheriff, then you'll be their only defense!”

  Kiddy heard the orders and cursed his lack of situational awareness. Being distracted and emotional was no excuse; he’d lost track of Ricardo and Sheriff. Sounds echoed weirdly through the jungle canopy, but he thought he heard the sounds of combat in the distance that supported this.

  Javier snarled as he leapt forward, eyes wild, and Kiddy was barely able to dodge. After two more wild evasions, he was farther away from Cole’s group.

  This was the worst fight for Kiddy since he’d gotten his powers, mainly because his energy reserves were so low. If he had the martial art skills that Coleslaw had, Kiddy might have attempted to channel his power differently, maybe through his feet directly, but he knew he wasn't coordinated enough to pull it off. Luckily, Javier didn’t have Cole’s skills either, or else Kiddy might already be poisoned or dead.

  The situation was looking grim. As Javier closed again, Kiddy fought panic. He knew he didn’t have a choice now; he needed to use his ability further, go deeper than he ever had before to feed it.

  Kiddy's breathing became labored, and he could actually feel himself growing older as his power sucked up his life force. Time felt like it slowed and he could feel the time being ripped from him. First he lost a few seconds, then after another floating burst of speed to evade another one of Javier's relentless attacks, Kiddy was certain at least a few months had gone by. If he’d been an amateur or even middling gamer, he might have been tempted to burn through his life force, go on the attack to take down Javier.

  But he was Kiddy Whale, and he didn't think just about skirmishes. Only the end game mattered, and surviving long enough to get there. He’d finally gotten a new supply of rocks, but using most of his precious power to attack would be foolish. A miss would be a waste of energy, and in order to get a reliable, mortal strike, he’d need to be close enough to Javier to reach him, too. Kiddy gritted his teeth and stuck to his original plan, trying to limit his power expenditure. Javier was acting like a mad beast, but he'd eventually tire out.

  Suddenly, something smacked into the back of Kiddy's ankle, and he tumbled head over heels backward into a tree. His glasses were still on, but the jungle around him spun. Damn, not again, he thought. His thoughts moved slowly, like they were climbing through tar. After making the same mistake more than once, he felt deep frustration and loathing for himself.

  Maybe he’d end up using one of the rocks in his hand after all. If Javier killed him, he wasn’t going alone.

  Javier reached him but must have sensed the danger, because he circled Kiddy like a vulture over a dying wildebeest, flitting behind the cover of trees, obviously shielding himself from Kiddy’s abilities and waiting for an opening.

  Kiddy drew in a shaking breath where he sat on the ground and pushed his weak legs up. He really should have listened to his parents and done some kind of exercise outside of gaming. Regardless of how fit strangers had thought he looked, he’d always had a problem with prolonged physical activity. After he shakily got to his feet, he held a stick in his hands, preparing to fight Javier, or maybe use a last burst of power to kill him with a rock.

  The man sneered and cackled in his thick Costa Rican accent, "Run out of energy, did you?"

  Kiddy side-stepped Javier's next lunge with the smallest flex of power he could, but he still felt himself lose some of his life to do it. He rode the movement, rolling backwards to his feet next to a tree, and scurried around to use it as cover. His makeshift weapon, the stick, stayed pointed at Javier. The hand he hid behind the tree held a number of rocks.

  If he kept running, he’d just use up the last of his energy. This was a good place to make a stand.

  Javier’s wild eyes pulsed and he began to chuckle. The sickly green on his arms spread to his shoulders, neck, and finally his head. Kiddy snorted at the overuse of power. The effects of going HAM were already visible--Javier's hair was begin
ning to thin, some of it falling to the jungle floor.

  Kiddy said, "Looks like you're going through two months a second, Javier. You're gonna die."

  Javier grinned menacingly, "Don't care. I was already going to die with the tsunami. Ricardo said Dolos will take away this stupid fucking power. I know he'll kill me, but at least I can die high as a kite. If I have to keep hurting like this, nothing matters."

  Kiddy frowned; none of that made any sense. He hated kamikaze players. They were super annoying, willing to dish out all the damage they could without caring about their own life. He'd been frustrated in plenty of matches around the mid-game point because of stupid noobs like that.

  Javier stalked forward slowly, oblivious to the fact that behind him, a blonde figure stepped out from behind a tree, her fingers to her lips in a shushing motion. At the moment, Holly was barely recognizable to Kiddy.

  The Holly he knew was sweet, studious, and usually tough as hell except in the face of real danger. Jin had always respected her. In their biology classes in high school, her bubbly persona would vanish, replaced by a cool, emotionless demeanor while studying something interesting. Jin and Efrem had leaned heavily on her in that class, benefitting from her meticulous notes.

  She wore that same aura now as she silently stalked the approaching Javier. If anything, her expression seemed more alien, dispassionate than anything Jin had ever seen. Holly's gaze was fixed on Javier like he was a bug, no, an experiment.

  Then like a striking serpent, her hands shot forward to grab Javier’s head. The man gasped, arched his back, and weakly struggled, but couldn’t seem to take another step.

  From where she’d made contact with the guide, Holly's hands began to turn sickly green, just like Javier’s skin, but she bared her teeth, shaking as if she was lifting a weight or exerting great effort. Javier still couldn’t seem to move, but he began to scream. Holly briefly put a hand over his mouth, and what came out a few seconds later wasn’t much more than gurgles. At the same time, the green began fading from both of their skin, but Javier started turning red instead.