Sinner's Run Ch. 06

"That's good!" Fidget tried with all her might to lift her hand for a high-five, but couldn't manage it. "Rats. I'll high-five you back in the Atrium! I promise."

Noah began to say "I'll hold you to that," but only got through half of it before a Hacksaw shot sounded and everything went black.

Mister Welkin is beginning to improve. Plus his feline adversary's anger towards him has been mollified somewhat. An interesting development.

But Administrator, what about the message? Shall we let it be delivered?

...We shall.

Noah jerked awake on the floor of the Atrium, staring up at the lights. He groaned, realizing what had happened. Nala had lost to Larka, and that had eliminated him as well, which meant that Larka and Fidget had won. Oh well.

Nala stepped into his field of view, looming above him. Noah braced himself for an caustic remark about letting himself get shot in the face by Larka. But Nala merely knelt down and offered him a hand. "Good try, Killer."

He took it and let her help him up. "Thanks. How'd she get you?"

"Same as you, Hacksaw to the mouth. Despite how big she is Larka can be really slippery."

As if summoned by the mention of her name, the big fraskarian ambled over to them and put her arms around their shoulders. "A good fight, my friends."

"High five!" Fidget said, injecting herself into things. Noah followed through on his earlier promise, and Nala gave the mechanic a half-hearted high-five. "Yes! Score!"

"Don't get too ahead of yourself," Nala said, elbowing Larka in the ribs. "I'll get you next time."

"Perhaps," Larka said. "Or perhaps it will be Noah that brings me down next time we are on opposite ends of the battle."

"I think you're giving me too much credit," Noah said.

"Hey, I saw you hit her a couple times," Nala said. "Now you just have to hit her a few more, get it?"

"Sure, give me another few months in the range," Noah snorted.

Nala cocked her head, a mysterious smile on her muzzle. "It'll go quicker if you have a tutor. Every day, after the Game. Be there Killer." WIth that, she ducked out of Larka's embrace and strolled off towards her quarters.

"Ooo she's so aloof and badass," Fidget squealed. "At least she's not gonna try to murder your face off every Game now!"

"Yeah. SIlver linings."

Larka swatted him on the ass. "Come, finyan. I shall make amends for filling you with as much buckshot as I did."

Noah started to turn to follow her, until a wiry hand closed around his wrist. He turned to find himself eye to eye with Experiment 32. "I need to talk to you," she said. Something in her eyes impressed the urgency of the conversation. "Now."

He looked between 32 and Larka, then slowly released his grip on the latter's paw. "I'll be there in a bit, Larka." She dipped her muzzle and strode away. "What's up?" he said to 32.

"Not here." 32 dragged him by the wrist into one of the branching hallways off the Atrium, going about halfway down before stopping. She looked much less composed than she normally did, her hair in disarray with a pale pallor to her skin.

"What happened?" Noah asked. "Did you get eliminated early?"

"Yeah, I did," 32 said. She lifted one of her hands and waved it in front of her face. "I felt different ever since I got up this morning. I didn't think anything of it until I got to the Run. Archangel was my partner. The moment we started fighting I felt slower, like I was running and shooting through water. None of my powers worked as fast as they used to, and when they did they didn't have the same punch."

Noah reached up and felt her forehead. "Are you sick or something?" he asked.

"I don't know," 32 said, gently pushing his palm off her skin. "I thought being turned into a blood-bending freak of nature made it impossible to get sick. Guess not."

"Is that all you had to tell me?"

She shook her head. "No. I think someone finally got the message."

A cold jolt sparked throughout Noah, blooming outward from his chest and flowing all the way to his fingertips. "What?"

32 inclined her head. "Come on."

They moved down the hall to 32's room, the door opening up to admit them. "After we were eliminated from the game I came back here to rest, thinking I just was having an off day. Then I realized this was here."

She picked up an ordinary looking piece of paper from the table in the center of her room. Under normal circumstances, Noah wouldn't have thought anything of it - it was just paper. But in the high-tech future galaxy of Sinner's Run, everything was done digitally. He hadn't seen a piece of paper in weeks, which was one of those things that hadn't struck him as odd until he thought about it. "Who's it from?" Noah asked.

32 held it out to him. "See for yourself."

Noah took it from her, trying and failing to keep his hands from shaking. The paper was folded in half lengthwise, and he opened it up to read the message written there.

This message is for Noah, aka Funki55, from Vivian Peters. I am a programmer at Mechantix on the Sinner's Run team, and was contacted by Edwin "Garthex" Bernadotte. If you're receiving this message, follow the instructions below.

There was more written below, but Noah kept reading those three sentences over and over. He'd expected an answer as to what was going on would boost his morale, fill him with purpose. But all he could think of were more questions. How am I in the game? How did I get here? Is time moving at a different pace here than outside?

How do I get out? Oh God, how the fuck do I get out?

32 put a hand on his shoulder. "Breathe."

Noah realized he'd been forcibly holding his breath and sucked air into his lungs. It felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "Sorry. Busy trying to, y'know, sort all this out."

"This means you were right, doesn't it?" 32 asked. "That all of this isn't real. That me - that all of the people here besides you - were created." Her face darkened. "That someone designed me to have gone through what I did."

Noah nodded once, slowly. 32's mouth worked back and forth. "Alright then." She dipped her head, nodding over and over again. The movements grew more forceful, until her lips pulled back from her teeth. With a cry of rage, 32 picked up the table and hurled it against the wall. "Fuck!" she screamed.

Something occurred to Noah, but he decided to keep his mouth shut because it would do 32 no good to hear what he had figured out. At least until she looked up, noticed his face, and pointed a finger at him. "Tell me what you're thinking, Welkin, or I swear to-"

"I know what's going on with you," Noah said quickly. "But you're probably not going to like it."

"Just tell me!"

Noah held up the paper. "If this is real, and isn't someone fucking with us, then we're inside the game. The developers of the game, well, they change things sometimes. Including things like the map, the guns, and the Primes. They can change movement speed, ability timers, and damage numbers."

32 frowned. "I don't understand."

Noah bit his lip. "Well, to put it simply...they nerfed you."

32 stared at him for a long time. Noah made ready to jump out of the way of any more thrown furniture. After a long while, 32 spoke.

"I have no idea what that means."