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16: Sword Fight

**WARNING** Not sure what is too graphic for some and not others, so this is a warning that this chapter is bloody, and gruesome. Read at your own risk.

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Chilled's POV

The morning after the storm was unnervingly calm. The sun was out, it looked nice and peaceful. I crawled from under the little house that Jordan, or CaptainSparklez, had made the night before. It was obvious now to me from the various traps laid about that he had been living here permanently. It was a little house made of wood and leaves, and there were snares and a running water supply nearby. He had a weapon, and now it occurred to me that his only plan had been to survive until he couldn't survive anymore and had to fight. I had ruined that. I took one more look at the place I had rested, feeling lucky that I had avoided his snares in the storm and feeling sick as I stared at the blood that still hadn't washed away for some reason. Then, I turned and wandered off.

My brain was still in panic mode, and the world seemed to wander by in a haze as I walked through the trees that were merely a blur of green. I was more than scared of myself for killing another person the night prior, but I knew that I had to, for Ze. I felt better, as I recalled Ze simply dying in my arms as he had. This thought tightened my throat, and I ignored it, pushing through. I would be okay, I decided, if I kept moving and kept focusing on winning for Ze.

I made my way out of the forest to a sort of beach looking area. There was a small bluff, one that reached down no more than 8 or 9 feet, and I walked along the ridge, wondering what I should do. I hoped that everyone was out of the simulation and safe, and hopefully waiting on my return as well. With the thought of them waiting, it gave me a bit of courage, and I walked a little faster. Maybe all the other players could run into one another and kill each other off so I could go home faster.

Suddenly, I followed the ridge around a corner and ran into another person. Before he or I could properly react, I lunged out with the knife at my side, catching the man in the throat as he stumbled backwards. He had a mask on, the bottom now stained red as he fell on his backside, choking with a hand around his throat. I gasped, realizing what I had done. His appearance had startled me, sending my heart racing and pounding against my chest and in my own throat as I took account of my actions. He sat there, staring at me from behind his mask and looking up in pure surprise. Before I could move forward to apologize or check on him, he lunged forward with a knife of his own and stabbed me in the calf, sending me leaping backwards in pain and falling on my ass, clenching my teeth in agony and forcing myself not to make a noise. I leaned back, panting at the sheer amount of pain racing up my leg from my leg. It hurt even resting there, but my muscles clenched as I sat up, slowly, looking at the wound. The blade was sunk into my leg all the way down to the hilt, and I could only gasp, and stare at it. I looked up at a cannon firing, and saw the masked man on his back, facing the sky with a hand on his throat still. Even after he faded, his blood still colored the ground.

I focused my attention back to my leg, watching as blood began pooling through my pant leg and onto the ground. As if I wasn't already uncomfortable with the thought of a knife stuck in my leg, but now my jeans were soaked with blood, which was like jeans soaked with water but worse. I gritted my teeth, wrapping my fingers around the tip of the hilt and preparing myself to rip the blade from my calf. With the angle I was pulling from, I didn't have the best leverage on a handle slick with blood, and only managed to remove it part of the way, making me hiss through my teeth. The pair seared up my leg, and I could feel sweat already accumulating on my body and forehead as I focused on the blade. My leg was going numb nearly with the amount of pain I felt, and my teeth ached for being pressed together so roughly for such a long period of time. I only crushed them further together as I pulled a second time, and I was sure they would shatter under the pressure as I finally removed the knife. Panting, I tossed it away from me, collapsing back onto the ground to take a break from the injury and the pain that seemed to throb through my leg muscles.