Whispers in the Dark

The Flesh Game

Before Kol and Luke stood the final test.

"I'm Obi," the creepy kid had introduced himself, leading them to a butcher shop. All sorts of alarm bells started going off in their heads. If simple things like mirror mazes could be made lethal in this place, a butchery would just about be the most unpleasant experience there is.

The room wasn't big, and it definitely wasn't clean. The walls were covered in mold. There was a leaking pipe. A rat was huddled in the corner. The light from outside barely penetrated the dusty windows.

There were two boxes in front of them. Grinning, Obi gestured toward the one on his left. Kol went to check it out, and found two cleavers inside. Bad.

Luke opened the other, inside of which was a scale with a bowl attached to it.

"We're supposed to fill it..?" Luke guessed, still not ready to venture into the darkest corners of his imagination.

Kol had no such issue. "Not with animal meat."

Obi giggled, then held up his hand. "You keep filling it til' the key appears. That's what you'll be cutting." He pointed toward one of the walls on the side. There was a giant dart board, covered with pictures instead of numbers.

"Are those... organs?" asked Luke, and the boy nodded.

"What you hit is what you chop."

The big guy gulped. "Where are the darts?"

One immediately materialized in his hand.

"Guess you'll be first," Obi declared, clapping excitedly, as though he was about to watch a cartoon instead of this horror show."

Luke turned to Kol, scared out of his mind.

"Aim for stuff that doesn't seem vital."

Nodding, Luke aimed at one of the corners, which had an image of a finger on it. Crap. Would he really be able to cut off his finger? Is that what the game required?

He threw the dart, but since his hand was trembling so much, he missed.

Obi cackled like a maniac at that. "You lost a turn! You lost a turn!"

Luke frowned. "How many do we have?"

"Three each."

"You could've mentioned that before!"

The kid shrugged - an act that was quickly becoming the main habit of Half-Dead Wonderland's game masters. "Fill it 'nuff in three turns, or your head goes chop chop chop!"

A dart appeared in the air before Kol. He took it and aimed. The arrow hit something dark and wavy. "What is it?"

Obi laughed again. "A lock of hair! You won't fill it at all!"

Kol took the cleaver, then removed a small piece of his bangs, knowing the amount wouldn't matter. Hair likely wasn't heavy enough to get them where they wanna go.

Luke was next. His dart disappeared from the wall next to he board, and reappeared in his hand. Grasping it, he aimed a little bit more toward the center.

"Careful," Kol told him. "A lot of those look like organs. You don't wanna end up having to cut yourself open."

Nodding, Luke threw. The dart hit the image of a hand, and he felt his stomach beginning to turn.

He looked at Kol, expecting some comfort, but the other was, for once, too nervous to react.

"You gotta chop it off!" Obi cheered. "You gotta chop it off!"