Fateless

In a game of survival, lives those who manages to get to the end. And None managed just that with a little help from a little boy named Fate.

A screaming comes across the sky. Unwillingly I lift my head up and gaze through the fiery sky. There are no stars. There‘s nothing except that huge setting star. The night is coming. The night is coming... I hear another scream. This time I try to get up, but my arms and legs feel so cold that I can‘t feel them properly so my effort goes to naught. Along with another scream I hear loud laughter which makes my spine go numb and shiver in fright.

“Get up! Get up! Get up!” I mumbled to myself.

I knew all along that this kind of game will end up being twisted and not amusing at all so why then in my right mind did I join it? Was it the excitement which I wanted? Or was it some stupid whim to have done something more than just simply living? Ah, I can’t think straight right now. I have to get up and get to someplace safe. I have to survive this stupid game. No matter what…

I stopped breathing when the grass near the creek rustled. My body became tense. I could hear my heart beating loudly in panic of thought that I might die right here right now. I just closed my eyes and I guess I was prepared for whatever might come.

The rustling stopped near my head. I could sense someone’s heat emitting from their body. “Please let me live. Please let me live…” I continuously repeated this chant in my head.

“Aren’t ya cold?” I heard a warm low voice.

When I slowly opened my eyes I saw a boy. One really strange boy. He was no taller than I was but had the aura of a giant. His arms and legs were thin, but muscular. I did not believe that such fair skinned creature could be a boy. I could swear he looked more like a girl with that tiny nose, red red lips and long lashes which framed bloody red eyes. So, why I knew this person was a boy? No, it was not because of his short unruly blonde hair. He was half naked. Yes. In this freezing cold he strutted around half naked covering only his waist and lower parts that I really did not want to see.

He then leaned closer to me and repeated the same question. I turned my face away so not to see something under that cloth.

“Yes. I am cold,” finally answered.

“Then why are ya lying here?”

“I cannot get up…”

“Hahaha!” He laughed. “Yer stupid.”

Well, thank you. I did not know that myself… I just wonder if he was here to kill me or to help me. I really wished for another day alive and out of this game.

“What’s yer name?” Boy asked while staring at me.

“None.”

“My name’s Fate. ‘S nice to meet ya.”

He was the first person to actually not to mingle any further in the reasons why my name was so strange and this gave him a huge plus from me. For me though, the name was a story of my life. Quite funny but truly hurtful life story…

“Yer playing da game?”

I nodded then tried to sit up, but failed. My fingers were stiff as if they were turned to ice. I coughed and then for some reason warm essence flowed out of my mouth. I got scared.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Blood.”

With another scream in the air my eyes became wide as a sky. Why the hell am I coughing blood? What happened? Oh, right… I was knocked out by my friend because the rules of the game stated the addition of another bonus points is possible if you discard your teammates and defeat them. Isn’t this funny?

“Need help?” Fate asked.

“Can you just kill me?” I groaned in emotional pain.

“Nope. Only have one arrow. Need that for the one ’m after.”

“Strangle me.”

“Too much bother.”

“Then drown me.”

“Don’t wanna,” he then turned to creek filled his palms with water and made me drink it. Then repeated the act couple of times.

“Ah, thank you. Death by freezing to death would be good, too,” I said.

“Ya stupid?”

He looked a bit angry. After that he did something I could have never thought of him to do. He ripped my shirt apart and threw it away. After that he backed away and fixed his stare at my chest.

“…”

“Surprised?”

He said nothing just came closer and squatted beside me.

“A girl?”

“Yes, a girl. Is that something unusual?”

“This no place for a girl.”

I laughed in pain. “Yes, I know.”

“Then I help ya.”

“You will kill me now?”

“No.”

He sounded offended and with a little effort helped me get up. While leaning on him I walked by the creek to where he led.

Just now I noticed how beautiful the scenery was. The trees which were so little of them looked blazing in the setting sun. The creek got wider and wider and the grass became thicker and taller the further we walked. I could hear faint sound of birds and those screams that kept echoing. I guess it all looked better in the flaring sunset.

After a while we reached a deep valley. It was all rocky and dark but somehow the feeling of safety seeped into me even if I was still scared to death. Fate walked us to the little hole that was carved into the rock. It appears it was a cave. Being fairly short I still needed to duck to be able to enter the cave through that hole. The inside of this rock was warm and comforting. On the ground there was skinned fur of various animals and a flaming fire to warm the place.

Fate put me down on one of the furs and left again. I did not ask him where he was going, I just wanted to sleep.

“Hey, girl, wake up,” I heard in my sleep.

I opened my eyes to see that fairy-looking boy in front of me. In his hand he had a piece of cloth.

“Wear this.”

“Thank you,” I said as I took the dress.

“Why?”

It was the only question that I had no answer to right now. I really do not know. What was I thinking when I said yes to this game? Was I high? No way, I don’t do drugs…

“Wanna finish it?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Da game. Wanna finish it and leave alive?”

“Is there any difference? It does not matter what I want, I cannot do it.”

“I help ya. Fate good at hunting.”

“You sound like a toddler. How old are you?”

“Old? What’s old?”

“How long ago were you born?”

“Born? 1728 hours.”

“Ok, I get it. You do not want me to know more about you. I’ll just stop asking.”

“So, ya wanna leave or not?”

“Hah, yes, I want to leave this game and go back… home,” I said reluctantly.

“Good. I help ya. I just need to kill That and ya free.”

“That?”

“Bad guy of da game.”

It was all messed up. Fate was talking about the things that I have never heard of. What bad guy? What kill? Oh, yes, kill… the screams that I can still hear even from the inside of this cave. So maybe he means that if we kill that bad guy who keeps killing others, we can leave the game. That would be good, I think. Though, there is no one waiting for me outside, I have no place to return to… Still, the outer world is better than this overly realistic game.

I put on the dress and tried to get up. This time I had the strength to do it alone. The pit of my stomach still ached but I managed to ignore the pain. I learned through the years. Fate carried a bow and a single arrow so I assumed that we had only one chance to make it happen.

The morning sun hurt my eyes when we left the cave, but it was still uncommonly cold. My skin got rough and painful with every step I took while walking next to him.

“Do I need one?”

“What?”

“A weapon.”

“No. I do it.”

So, I do not get anything to protect myself with. Well, I guess I can always use my fists and kicks. Actually, I do not feel very confident in my fighting skills because I had Devon to protect me until the beginning of this game. He was the one who practically forced me to enter the game and then betrayed me like that for a mere 500 point bonus.

Screaming continued while we were darting through the valley and the deep forest in the area I had not yet seen.

“Know anythin’ ‘bout da rules?”

“Hah? Rules? This game has rules?”

“’Es.”

“What kind of rules?”

He clicked his tongue making me irritated. It was not my fault that I did not know the rules. Devon and others knew them and assured me that they were very simple and not worth mentioning.

“Hmm, ya can only win da game when kill That. To leave da game ya need to kill Ang73.”

“What is Ang73?”

“Him.”

Fate pointed his tiny finger to the white robed man with long white hair who just sliced another player in half. Then I noticed a group of other players who were trying to get close to the white man to kill him but none of them succeeded. Finally, I found the source of those screams which kept making me shiver.

“Wait… Wait. Wait! Fate, I cannot even think about killing him, how am I supposed to do that?”

“Not ya. Me.”

“No, no, no, Fate. Do not do that for me. I…”

He leaped off into the middle of the group of people and made them withdraw making some space for him to move. I was still standing there like a doll with no muscles and fretting over some kid that I just met. Anyway, I did not want him to end up dead instead of me.

He was nuts. Fate jumped in the fight with armed enemy barehanded. Boy looked like a shrimp next to that man. The angel of death, I think that was the best way to call him, swung his sword in attempt to cut Fate open, but his tiny body was too agile and fast for the man to hit. Fate had a look of satisfaction on his face. He now looked like a little devil fighting with an angel… Wait… Ang73… what if 7 and 3 stands for ‘el’ if reversed? That would make sense. Then, if Ang73 is the one that grants the pass to leave the game, who is the ‘Bad guy’ of the game?

Fate was amazing. He proved me wrong. He could kill the white man even barehanded. But the person who made me doubt this was Devon. He was aiming at Fate with his crossbow. Ignoring pain and cold I sprinted down there and knocked the b*****d down, pinned him to the ground and shoved his nose deep in. My knuckles were bleeding and it hurt like I just hit a brick wall.

“What are you doing?” I shouted in Devon’s face while trying to get out of other’s hands which have dragged me away.

“What do you mean? I’m tryin’ to win the game.”

What? After I looked around I saw many others trying to take Fate down. To win the game you need to kill the bad guy… To leave the game Ang73 must be slain. No way…

“Fate is a program?”

“Fate? Who the hell’s Fate? None, get lost. You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Well, sorry, I did not die.”

Devon tossed me aside and advanced again towards Fate and the android coded Ang73. It struck me painfully, but now all that Fate said made sense. His age and strange perception of the world, behavior with girls and other things that he did differently.

Ang73 aimed for Fate. Boy evaded and landed on the massive sword, then used the opportunity to make the final blow to the android’s head and kill it. White robed man stopped moving and ejected a little card. I think that was the pass. Fairy-looking boy waved the card and gave me a wide smile.

He managed to evade other players and get to me. He passed me the card and said the line that I never wanted to hear again.

“Now da bad guy.”

“She has the pass!” Devon screamed and everyone turned to me.

“Run.”

Fate pushed me and I began to run. I wanted to look behind, look at Fate, but could not. I ran back to the forest and tried to look for a place to hide. God, why am I so slow? I could hear others shouting agitated to get me or Fate.

I was useless. Devon found me too soon. He probably set me as his goal. He was always like that. Quick to decide what to do and what to make a priority. Killing me was his goal now. It did not take too long for him to get to me. He flipped me over in air and wrapped his fingers around my neck while pinning me down with his body weight. I was chocking, tears seeped out of my eyes. The thing I was crying about was not my sorry life, but Fate.

At the last moment, Fate shoved Devon away from me and gave me some time to catch my breath. Devon was strong. Maybe the strongest in our neighborhood. He reigned over us like some overlord. If he wins the game, the lives of people in our district won’t be good anymore. He was born in prison and then raised in an institution for those kinds of kids, just like me. So he is a criminal by blood.

When Devon rammed into me again I managed to stay on my feet and push him away. Then Fate tossed me his arrow after shouting my name. I grabbed it firmly and stabbed it straight into the heart.

“Say, what’s with da name?” Fate asked while gripping my hand with the arrow.

Indescribable pain pinched my chest and I felt numb.

“I got it by mistake. The officer that brought me to the institution, when asked what my name was, replied ‘none’ and the lady wrote it down,” I started to cry. “I am sorry, Fate. Thank you.”

I smiled for him as he slowly evaporated into thin air.

Devon tried to get to me, but the game officials were already here to congratulate me of the winning. They were surprised that a girl won the game, but they complied with the rules and rewarded me with the prize money and possibility to leave the game while others will have to wait for the game to resume again.

I won the game. I left the game. I knew that the creators of the game will only need couple of weeks to recreate the androids and the main ‘Bad guy’, but there will not be another Fate. There won’t be another one like him. That made the biggest impact to my life out.

After the events of that dreadful game I decided to go back to the institution which brought me up and help the ladies to take care of the kids. I made good use of that little prize money from winning to provide essentials for the children and make their life better. My life was saved by a program of 72 days age and I decided to make up for that. After all, they all reminded me of him. Some of them were fragile, weak, others innocent and curious, some were strong and daring just like Fate was with all of his conscious being…

After a while I settled in at the institution and became one of those ladies. Children seemed to like me and there was one particular boy that reminded me of Fate the most. He was short, not taller than me and had dark brown eyes that seemed red in setting sun. He had fair tender skin and red smiling lips.

The night was only starting when Fin snuck into my room and got into my bed; he had a nightmare. I tucked him under my blanket and looked into the painfully setting sun. Light falls through the window, falls onto me, into me. Moments. All gathering towards this one. “Thank you…” I whisper into the blazing sky.

Author's Note

reviews and comments are highly appreciated.