Yuki spread her hands like a magician ready to surprise the audience.
"So, my dear friends! Let's start our new game! The rules are simple: We will play and have fun". She smiled mysteriously, making my heart clench with foreboding.
And, as if with a snap of his fingers, the old horror receded a little, leaving room for... a semblance of normality. It's strange how quickly people can adapt to even the most unbearable conditions.
"Hana, my dear, you're the first!" Yuki turned to the trembling girl. "What is the most important thing in our state?"
Hana whispered something unintelligible.
"To love... the state..."
"Well done! One point to Hana's piggy bank!"
"Carmen, it's your turn!" Yuki turned to the bullying girl. – "Which animal is the most dangerous for humans?"
Carmen, trying to maintain her former enthusiasm, shouted with a joking intonation: "The boss's wife!"
Several people giggled. Even I couldn't help but smile faintly.
"Interesting... but no! The attempt is not counted!"
"Minato, you're next!" Yuki winked at the bully. "What should we do with those who don't like our state?"
Minato hesitated, blushed, and began to stumble.
"We... we have to... punish... them... um..."
Miku nudged him, encouraging him: "Come on, Minato! You can!"
"Punish them! Right! One more point!"
Tori didn't seem to be present at all. Her eyes were empty, as if they were looking into an endless abyss. She wasn't paying attention to the game, to Yuki, to all of us. Completely detached.
"Tori, darling, are you with us?" Yuki leaned towards her, looking into her eyes. "Why is our state better than all the others?"
Tori replied in an indifferent voice, "Because it's necessary."
"Great! The perfect answer! Bravo!"
Patrick, though pale as a sheet, tried to smile and respond with enthusiasm.
"What should I do with cartoon characters? Yuki asked.
"They need to be destroyed! They are evil! Stop it!" he shouted, trying to cover the tremor in his voice.
"great! One more point!"
Asagi... she continued to bite her nails without taking her eyes off the floor. It was as if she had fallen out of reality, existing in some kind of her own, nightmarish world. She didn't even seem to hear Yuki's questions.
I felt like I was being torn apart from the inside. I wanted to join in this kind of fun, I wanted to distract myself from the nightmare, but I couldn't. The memories of blood, fear, and death were too fresh.
"Okay, Kyo, it's your turn! Why does our state decide who to love and who to hate?"
I tried to answer. I tried to give the correct answer. But the words got confused, the thoughts scattered.
"Well... it's... so that... everyone is... the same... so that... there are no enemies..."
"Wrong!" Yuki exclaimed, laughing. "You only need to love the state, and hate everyone it says!"
Several people laughed. Even Carmen seemed to relax a little. Only Asagi and Tori remained impassive.
The Wolf Girl… She was standing by the window, facing away from us all. She was staring at something behind the glass, as if trying to find answers to her questions there.
"What is the most important thing for our state?"
"Freedom!" She answered deliberately incorrectly, giving Yuki a look full of hatred.
And next to Yuki was a classmate. His eyes were red from crying, but he was silent. Yuki gently stroked his head.
"And you, my good one, what do you say? Did I do the right thing when I burned your Mickey Mouse?"
My classmate froze, as if paralyzed. He was silent, not knowing what to say. His face contorted in pain. There were tears in her eyes. The Mickey Mouse of his tortured childhood was like the last piece of his soul.
In this strange, creepy game, I realized that all those who did not enjoy all the fun had lost. Without exception.
"Yes... you did the right thing..."
Yuki's smile suddenly became innocent, even kind. A spark of delight danced in her eyes, like a puppy anticipating a new toy. These sudden mood swings were frightening to the point of trembling, but for a moment it seemed to me that everything was fine. How easy it is to please her — just listen, do what she says, but do it from the very beginning so as not to anger her. For people like her, it's trivial, but maybe that's the key to our salvation. Obey, wait for the end of the "live broadcast", and then... Go ahead. Risking everything to get us out of here.
Shot.
The sound snapped me out of my thoughts like a blade out of a scabbard. I saw my classmate flinch, and his eyes widened in horror. He didn't have time to understand anything. Blood sprayed out like a fountain, turning the wall and the TV purple. He fell to the floor as if knocked down, and his head jerked unnaturally.
Yuki threw away the gun and, looking at her classmate covered in blood, sighed with mock sadness. That she had a spare gun in her pocket all this time?
"Poor thing... Did you really think that the state would forgive people like you? Such... Ungrateful?" her voice dripped with venom.
"What are you doing? You promised you wouldn't touch any of us! That we are special children!"
I've never seen Hana so angry!
"Yes, you are special - you have the best results, but that idiot violated the law, He was like those antichrists, worshipped those creatures. But you're not like that, are you?"
"I don't believe you anymore, let us go!"
Screams rang out in the room. The hysterical, horrified screams of children who witnessed the brutal massacre. Asagi... Suddenly, she seemed to wake up. She came out of her trance and, not understanding what was happening, began to listen to the screams of the others, and her own crying mixed with the general chorus of despair.
I froze, unable to move. The wolf gently covered my eyes with her hand.
"Don't look," she whispered. I felt her body tremble slightly.
Despite her attempts to shield me from this nightmare, I felt it with every cell of my body. Helplessness, horror, despair… And the realization that we are all just pawns in someone's cruel game.
I saw Hana clinging to Carmen, seeking solace in her proximity. But Carmen, as if stunned, did not take her eyes off the bloody body of her classmate. She was shaking him, begging him to wake up.
"Get up! We need to watch the broadcast! We're all going to die because of you!"
There was desperation in her voice, not sympathy. She didn't care about Hana, who clung to her like a lost child seeking protection in this madness. Carmen continued to coax the dead body to stop pretending, not noticing that her hands were covered in blood and brain fragments. She seemed to be in a trance and was pushing Hana away from her, who was desperately asking her to stay by her side.
Carmen and Hana were inseparable. Carmen is a prankster and a bully, almost like Minato, but most of the time Hana got hurt, albeit kindly. Hana was a shy, quiet girl who followed Carmen everywhere like a shadow. Their friendship seemed strange, but it lasted until the moment when death burst into our lives and covered everything with blood. I never understood what Hana saw in Carmen, but then I realized that their connection was something special, something that I would never be able to comprehend. It reminded me of my friendship with Asagi–we were both weirdos, but we always supported each other and stood up for each other.
It's amazing how one moment can turn two close people into strangers, crossing out everything that connected them. At the beginning of this nightmare, they held hands, and Carmen tightened her grip on Hana's hand, as if she was afraid of losing it. And now... It was as if there was no friendship.
"Get up, I say, you're crazy! I'm not going to die because of your stupidity!"
"Carmen! Carmen!" Hana was shaking her, trying to bring her to her senses.
"Let him go. He's dead."
Suddenly, Carmen's gaze cleared. Awareness. But only for a moment. The next moment, she pounced on Hana, beating her and pulling out clumps of hair.
"Shut up! We're all going to die because of you! You don't know how to keep your mouth shut!"
I watched it, paralyzed by horror. What do they turn into? What are these adults turning them into? Wild animals, ready to bite each other's throats for a piece of meat, just to survive.
Hana screamed and called for help, but no one came. Everyone was consumed by their own horror. Minato, our main bully, sobbed the loudest, burying his face in Miku's face, who hugged him so tightly, as if she wanted to protect him from all dangers. Miku held back her tears and wouldn't let go of him for a second. She tried to be strong to give him the support that Carmen couldn't give Hana. She gently stroked his hair, whispering that it was just a stupid dream and he would wake up soon. It was as if she wanted to believe those words herself. Patrick... He lost consciousness. I just couldn't stand this nightmare. No one paid any attention to him either. As if no one needed him.
And Tori just sat there, cowering, as if distancing herself from the others. And she covered her face with her hands, as if she didn't want to show her emotions.
My gaze met Yuki's eyes.
"What a funny girl. She set up the Hunger Games here," she said with a grin. As if it's just child's play. Her behavior was monstrous, frightening.
I reached for the wolf girl. I don't know why, but I was drawn into her fluffy embrace. I buried my face in her fur and cried, feeling like the only one who had kept her sanity. But I was helpless. Too weak to help.
At that moment, I didn't feel alive, as if my skin had been peeled off and all the nerve endings had been torn out of my body so that I would stop feeling pain.
I felt like I had broken down, and what I saw only finished me off. How can we survive in this world? How are we going to get out of here? This is no longer possible, it remains only to accept his death.
"You came to help us, right? So know that you've only brought trouble upon us! What's the use of you if you don't do anything? What's so special about you? Don't you have the strength? Don't have the strength to protect us?"
It looked like I wanted to pour out all my pain to her, but surprisingly, she didn't push me away from her, but only held me closer to her.
I saw her face change. There was more pain in it than when she was beaten by the guards.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. She apologized for not being able to make a decision in time. Suddenly, she got up, walked over to Hana and Carmen, who were fighting, and hugged them while they were shouting and fighting among themselves. She was shielding them, as if trying to protect them from each other. I didn't understand this gesture - why try to fix something if I had already done something wrong, but after a few seconds they were already clinging to the wolf girl, sobbing and hugging her tightly. And then I realized that she was doing everything in her power, just like I did when I tried to help her. We both couldn't really protect what we loved. Then how am I better than her? What right do I have to condemn her?
Yuki leaned towards me and whispered: "She always ruins all the fun. But never mind, I'll give it back to you."
Then she started shooting at the ceiling. The sounds were deafening, the most disgusting and terrifying I've ever heard. My body wouldn't listen to me. I covered my ears and screamed along with the others in frustration and pain.
The sound was so loud that it felt like my eardrums were about to burst. It seemed to me that I was not there, that my soul had left my body, and I was watching us all from afar, as if I were at a play in a theater.
We were all screaming. Everyone has their own way - someone loudly, not afraid to show their fear to Yuki, and someone quietly, as if avoiding punishment like fire. Only Patrick, who had lost consciousness, lay motionless, as if inanimate.
"When will you all shut up and start enjoying playing with me? Tired of yelling! Why can you not shut up? Is it that hard?"
She started shooting at vases and glass objects, and we screamed even louder, which only provoked her. The room was quickly covered with shards. I saw the wolf girl stand up, shielding my classmates, including Patrick, with her body. All the fragments flew at her, causing pain and agony, but she did not show it. She was like a hinged doll that doesn't feel pain. But her eyes... they showed all her pain.
"You're a monster! Why You Can't Be Human?"
"It's funny to hear this from someone who can't fight back. Did those herbs affect you after all?"
The wolf girl growled, to which Yuki laughed.
"It's all not what you're capable of right now"
I looked at Asagi-she was covered in ashes and didn't seem to notice that blood was still flowing from her wounds. She looked like a vegetable- she didn't understand anything. I had completely forgotten about her because of this nightmare, but she didn't seem to understand anything. To some extent, I was happy for her. And I hoped she hadn't seen the terrible footage we had to see, or at least hadn't realized it.
The same thing happened to the others.
It seemed that they were not alive.
The wolf girl comforted them as best she could, but they no longer had the awareness of support. Their inner world seemed to collapse, and their consciousness was erased, as if those cheerful living people were no longer in front of me - now they were dead. The living dead.
We were surrounded by inhumans, monsters who wanted to make us like them.
Although, even monsters are far from like them.
Meanwhile, Yuki got bored - she just watched us trying to come to our senses, picking up the pieces of our consciousness one by one. It seems that at this moment, each of us wanted to preserve a piece of humanity in our own way, although each time it became more difficult.
My head was buzzing, and my consciousness continued to sink into darkness. I tried to focus my eyes, forcing myself to come to my senses. The horror in the room weighed on me, but I had to hold on. I had to do something.
Suddenly I saw her. Tori. She moved like a shadow towards the exit of the room. How did she manage to escape from those straps? I didn't understand. But it didn't matter now.
So she has a plan! I need to ask her more about it!