UFSW Survivor/Issue 10

This is the tenth issue of UFSW Survivor. This issue was written by Maxwestt.

Issue 10
Life was once again getting back into its normal swing. The deaths of Joel and Peter did not help much with the spirit, but everyone was doing as best they could to enjoy themselves. Joel had been a valuable member to the green team, but the absence of Peter, who never really said anything, was still missed in the Red team. They had both lost a member, in a ridiculous way.

The image of Peter hanging from his noose still made the stomachs of the Red Team into a knot. Bobby had managed to find squirrel in a nearby tree the day before, but nobody was really waiting to eat it. They all tried to cheer each other up, but all knew it was not going to work either.

Over in the Green warehouse, Jay had distanced himself from the girls. The loss of Joel, needing time to settle in, had taken a toll on him. He didn’t eat or sleep anymore. Joel had been his best friend in this madness, and he had to eat him. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the bloody madness in the library. He decided to not close his eyes anymore. The girls left Jay alone. They understood what had happened to him. Joel had been a father-figure for the group, so the loss hit them hard. But they had been able to keep going, where Jay had not. They were making weapons for hunting. Hope had found an old hunting knife in some boxes, now trying to sharpen it. Liza and Maria were working on nooses made of rope. Jay walked up to the girls. “Hi.”

Maria looked up from her noose. “Hey. What’s up?”

Jay shrugged. “About as good as I can get. Can I see that knife?”

Hope also looked up. “Why? It’s not as sharp as it can get yet. What do you need it for?”

“Killing the Host.”

The girls were silent. “You know that that is a fucking stupid idea, right? He’ll just kill you.”

Jay didn’t respond. He only said, “Give me the knife. Now. I’ll kill him tomorrow.”

The note had come a few hours ago. “Meet me by the well near the town square. It’s near the tower. Tomorrow, midday. Bring something to keep you cool.”

Hope couldn’t give him the knife. “No. You’ll just get killed.”

“I don’t care, I just want to take that motherfucking murderer down.”

In the few seconds Hope tried to give an answer, Jay snatched the knife from her hand. He then walked away, leaving the girls looking at each other.

Even after the horrifying experience of first having to duel and later having to eat Joel, Gwen was still as good as she could be. She was still alive, even if she did see some crazy things. She was now the one leading her team, as the other were not in the mood. Bobby and Ken kept hunting every day, and Yuri made herself useful too, but the group wouldn’t get anything done without her. “Hey, Gwen.”

Gwen looked up from her tasks to see Yuri before her. “Hey. What’s up?”

Yuri sighed, before getting straight to the point. “I think you should chill out a little.”

Gwen narrowed her eyes. “Chill out, you say?”

“Yes.”

This time it was Gwen who sighed. “Chilling out. Right, ‘cause that’s the best strategy right now. We’re dealing with a bat-shit crazy killer, who makes us kill and eat people. We’re starving, we don’t know who died a few days ago, we can’t leave this fucking city, and now we need to chill? Fuck off, please.”

Yuri stood her ground. “Yes. I agree with you. We’re in a fucking shitty place, with some chingada madre trying to kill us all for his entertainment. But that doesn’t mean you have to overwork yourself. Look at you, I can count your ribs, the bangs under your eyes are deeper than a submarine and you’re suffering from it. Please, chill.”

Gwen stood up. “You don’t get it, do you? What will happen when I will chill? What good would that do? We’re only sitting on our asses here, waiting to be murdered. We’re like cows. So the best thing we can do, is get off our lazy asses, and actually try and fight back. Joel tried it, you know. He tried to fight back. I was going to shoot him, but he tried to shoot that motherfucker. He died for it, because he was unprepared. But I won’t be. I will kill him. I hope you will help me. If you don’t, stay the fuck out of my way.”

With that, Gwen opened the door to the warehouse, and stepped out into the sun.

Once again, the teams arrived at the site at the same moment. There was a well in the middle of the square, covered with big sheets. From it came 8 ropes, all tied to a pole about 30 feet away from it. In front of the well stood The Host, his smile once again present.

“Welcome, all. Today, we’re going to do something I think you all will enjoy very much, I don’t think I will, but hey, you never know what will happen. First of all, everyone, go pick a pole. We’re doing individual today, no teaming. Come on come on, the longer you wait, the longer we’re here.”

Everyone spread out and picked a pole in the half-circle. Everyone picked a pole, except Jay, who stood a little form Host.

Host kept smiling. “Is there something wrong, Jay?”

Jay took a step towards Host. “Yes, yes there is. There’s one big problem.”

Host smiled, taking a step towards Jay as well. “Oh? What might that be?’

“You know fucking well what I’m talking about.” Jay took another step.

“Oh no, sorry, I do not. Please, enlighten me.” Still smiling, Host took a second step, now in range of Jay.

“Don’t fucking play with me like I’m a child. You know goddamn well what we’re doing here. You tried to kill us all, and for what? Your own fucking amusement. I will stop that, right now.” Jay took out the hunting knife, and pointed it towards Host. “You’re going to die, now.”

Host gave a little chuckle. “Oh, ay, you are a funny man.” A stared in his eyes. “Try it.”

Jay tried.

The knife went right for the heart. Hope gasped, Yuri stared, Bobby shouted and Gwen yelled, but it was to no avail. The knife went on.

The knife deflected.

Jay stared his eyes out. The place he tried to stab, only a small hole could be seen in the shirt of Host. Behind that, a dark colour loomed.

Host’s smile was gone. He grabbed Jay’s hand, and twisted it. A snapping sound could be heard before Jay screamed out in pain. “You think you’re so fucking smart, don’t you? You think you’re too good for my rules, do you? Well, let’s fix that. Get on the well. Now.” Host took the sheet form the well. On the well, a large cage with a wooden floor was installed.

In the cage, a young man sat on his knees. Blinded by the sunlight.

Host grabbed a key from his pocket, opened the door, and threw the young man out. In his place, he grabbed Jay by the neck and threw him in. He locked the door again.

“You think you’re a hero? Well, let’s find out. You take the place of this young man. Good luck. Fucker.”

He turned to the others. He threw each a small pocket knife he got from his pockets. “Here. You’re going to hold this on your arm for as long as possible. Winner gets a prize. You drop the knife, you cut your rope. If you don’t cut your rope, I will not hesitate to throw you in too.”

He bent over himself. The last rope, the one Jay should have picked, he sliced with a single swipe. One of the planks on the floor of the cage fell down. Jay could, in between screams, see trough the hole. The well was dark, and the bottom could not be seen.

“Start.”

Fifteen minutes had passed when Liza felt the urge to sneeze. She tried very had to keep it down, but after a minute she still sneezed, and she dropped her knife.

Host called over. “Cut the rope, Liza. Now.”

Liza bent over, looked apologetically to Jay, and cut her rope.

Both Yuri and Gwen quickly followed, leaving 4 planks on the well. Jay now had to make a split of sorts to keep his balance. Two planks remained on the right and two on the left of the well.

Ken was starting to get an ache in his arm. He looked over to Maria, also visibly struggling, and then to Hope and Bobby, both standing rock solid on the ground with their arms stretched out. He saw there was no way he was going to win this. Just when he was about to flex his arm to keep going, he dropped the knife. Having seen Ken drop his knife, Hope got a surge of strength in her arm. She was used to these sort of things, but still they were hard. But seeing she was in the final three, she kept going. Maria could not hold it anymore. The sun was baking on her head, she was getting dizzy and had to pee very badly. She looked to Jay. “Jay, sorry, but, I… I can’t go on. Sorry.”

Jay was screaming for her to keep on going, but then he heard her knife drop to the tiles of the square. He was going to ask her not to cut the rope when the plank connected to her rope. He was now standing on the leftmost plank, and there was one other left almost at the far right.

Bobby and Hope were left. They looked at each other, seeing the determination in their faces.

“Well, I guess this is as good of a time as any to mention the prize, isn’t it?”

Host spoke up, and Hope almost dropped her knife. The eternal silence that had hung over the square had been gone in an instant. She kept it together and held on.

“The prize is this lovely young gentleman over here. The winner will get to take him home. He’ll be a part of your team.” He looked at Jay. “I WAS going to let everyone live today. But it seems some people just can’t play by the rules. So, we’ll see what happens.”

Nobody dared to say a thing.

Another hour had passed. Both Bobby and Hope were now getting impatient. Their arms started hurting. They were both so close to quitting, had there not been someone on the well cheering them on. “Come on guys, come on! I don’t want to die!”

Another half hour passed. Bobby was jumping from foot to foot, Hope was trying not to fall over. Jay kept shouting, Host stood still as always. Then, a knife fell to the tiles.

Jay looked up and looked at Hope, who was still holding her knife in her arm. He looked over at Ken, and saw him duck down for the knife and rope.

He had to make a decision now. Would he stay on his plank, or jump? Either could kill him. He could make the jump, he was sure, but by the time the rope was cut he would be too late.

He jumped.

The plank under his feet fell away.

He landed on the other plank.

A cheer went up from everyone on the square, except for Host. Hope was crying of joy, having dropped her knife, Bobby looked very relieved and all the other were slapping on each other’s backs and giving high-fives. Jay almost felt like crying too. He couldn’t even feel his broken wrist.

“Well, that’s a good job for you all.”

Host still had a smile on his face. “But, there’s only one problem. We’ve got someone excess.”

The cheering contestants looked over at each other, not understanding. “What do you mean?” Gwen asked.

Host’s smile faded again. “Hope, take your prize. After that, cut your rope.”

A silince fell, and only the wind could be heard rustling the leaves of the nearby trees. “…what? That’s not-“

“It is what I said. I said that if you drop the knife, you cut your rope. You dropped your knife, now cut your rope.”

Yuri was the next to speak up. “B-but, what about-“

“He’ll die.”

Hope shook her head. “No.”

Host stared at her. “What did you say?”

I said no.”

“You said no?”

““Yes. I said no.”

“Fine.” Host produced a gun from his pants. “Cut it. Or die.”

Hope was still in tears. She had to make the choice between killing someone, or dying.

She bent over to the rope.

Jay screamed.

Hope hesitated.

Host shot.

A moment later, a crack could be heard from the well. Next, a shout. After that, nothing.

Hope stood up, crying.

Host walked away.

Hope was caught by the young man.

“What’s your name, boy?”

The boy swallowed. “M-Miles.”

Author's Note
Hey guys, Max again, Now, with the unfortunate leave of Warfare from this wiki, Kaffe and I decided what to do, and this seemed the best solution to us. We already had plans to make a 14st survivor appear somwhere along the way, but found no good point for it. We had that now. Nothing much will change. You may not vote to Kaffe anymore, all votes must go to me (Max). PM, group chat, e-mail, whatever. So long, and thank you for reading.