He was just about to leave when her voice stopped him.
"Kade…"
He froze in the doorway. He didn't turn around.
"…Be careful," she said. Her voice was soft. Fragile. But too clear for someone who could barely sit up.
He didn't want to see her eyes. Not like that. Not so steady. Not so full of hope she couldn't afford.
So he simply nodded and walked out the door.
That's the last thing he remembered.
Or at least, the last thing he thought was real.
He woke on cold metal.
No smell. No dirt. No sky. Just silence.
Kade opened his eyes slowly. He was lying on his back, staring up at… nothing. Some kind of smooth, endless ceiling that hummed quietly, like a machine just waiting for permission to kill.
The air tasted like chemicals.
Around him: people. A lot of them.
He sat up. Roughly 150 of them. Mixed ages. Some standing, most disoriented. No one was talking. Just a soft rustle of clothes, shifting feet, breathing—the kind of quiet before a storm—or a riot.
Then—
A flicker. Something stood at the front.
Not a person. Not exactly. Tall. Dressed in something between a suit and a royal costume. A silver crown coiled like wire around his head. His face was covered by a reflective mask that caught the light in all the wrong places.
He stood on a platform none of them had noticed before.
Silence.
Then, he spoke.
"Welcome."
Just one word. Flat. Amused.
"My little sheep," he added, grinning under the mask. You could hear it in his voice—like someone trying not to laugh at his own joke.
"You've been chosen. Not for greatness. Not for glory." A beat. "You've been chosen… to die."
He said it sweetly, as if he were offering candy.
"Soon, you'll see a little screen pop up in your heads. Don't worry, even you idiots can handle it. If not… well. That's natural selection, isn't it?" He chuckled. "Kia-kia."
Kade blinked.
This guy's on something, he thought.
But before he could think further, a sharp jolt hit his skull.
Like a thought that didn't belong to him.
A screen lit up—not in the room, but in his mind. Bright. Cold. Unmistakable.
[SYSTEM FILE OPENED]
PLAYER NAME: KADE THORN
AGE: 17
OCCUPATION: ORGAN RUNNER
STATUS: HUNGRY, DISPOSABLE SPECIAL ABILITY: GLUTTONY – YOU CAN FEED OFF THE DEAD. RESTRICTIONS: ???
Kade blinked. Once. Twice.
He stared at the words as if someone had just told him he'd grown a third arm—only this one wanted to eat corpses.
"…What?" It slipped out, barely louder than a breath.
Feed. On the dead. He forced himself to follow the thought, and his stomach twisted—not in disgust, but with something he didn't want to name. He'd seen plenty of bodies. Opened them. Closed them. But… this?
"'Gluttony,' huh?" he muttered.
He looked around. One guy was already flexing his arms—skin turning metallic.
"Idiot," Kade muttered under his breath. "Great time to advertise."
The man with the crown—Crownface, let's call him—spoke again. Louder now. Sharper.
"You'll follow the missions. Or you won't. Either way, you'll die interestingly."
He turned around, took a few steps, then stopped.
His voice lightened, almost delighted:
"Let the Hunger begin."
He didn't wait for applause. He just vanished.
Then it happened.
The room shook. Loud grinding noises tore through the floor. Panels opened beneath their feet—swallowing groups of people whole.
Kade didn't have time to react. He didn't scream. He didn't move.
Darkness pulled him under.
pgsql
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
GAME ONE
────────────────────────────
KILL UNTIL ONLY 100 REMAIN.
TIME LIMIT: NONE.
REWARDS FOR EFFICIENCY MAY APPLY.
────────────────────────────
He hit dirt.
Hard.
Leaves. Roots. The kind of silence only a forest could make—where everything's alive and watching.
Branches clawed at his arms as he rolled. He landed on something sharp, feeling a rip along his ribs—reopening the cut from the night before.
Of course.
Because the universe has jokes.
Kade pushed himself up slowly, wincing. Breathing in smoke and damp leaves. Not like the Slums. There, even the air had weight—oily, metallic, familiar.
This? This smelled like nothing he'd ever known. Clean. Cold. Wild.
Around him, others landed hard. Some screamed. Some didn't get up.
He didn't recognize anyone. Not that it mattered.
He hadn't exactly had friends in his old life. Organ courier wasn't a very social gig.
A flash of light nearby. A sound like metal breaking bone.
The first kill.
Already?
Kade sighed.
"Great. Forest murder royale. Just what I needed today."
He crouched down, scanning the trees. No weapons. No instructions. Just instincts.
Well.
That, and whatever the hell "Gluttony" was supposed to mean.