Welcome to Hell. Why did you choose this?

[KamiKaze]

A game Winter had been playing before… this was called KillSwitch.

The game Killswitch, not to be confused with the creepypasta of the same name, was a controversial CR survival horror game that was released the year before. You play as yourself, but you were kidnapped by this mad doctor who does experiments on people. Basically a lot of medical body horror with some psychological horror elements, right? Your goal was to figure out how to escape his underground lair while encountering various monsters that he made. Some were people he medically altered, others were genetically made creatures.

And Killswitch was fun. But it was controversial for a reason.

Let’s go back to the topic of ego shooters. So, people did want to experiment with what CR was capable of, right? And that meant that they wanted to create unique horror experiences, like what the devs of Killswitch wanted.

So, the game was procedurally generated, meaning that it would give you a unique map each time. Someone could run into something different than what their buddy would at the same point in the game. There was also a gimmick where the game would give you a ‘psych profile’, where an early scene had you get a Tarot read from another kidnappee, and how you responded to their questions would affect aspects of gameplay, like what scares came up. So, no two playthroughs would be exactly alike. It was even alleged that the game would keep track of vitals like your heart and breathing rate and react accordingly, but there wasn’t official proof of this.

It was also gory. Very, very gory. And extremely difficult and punishing in places, so you’ll die a lot, especially when you’re just starting. And most people who played through it agreed it was an intense experience. Which meant that with just a few changes it could have run afoul of ego shooter regulations.

Needless to say, it got toned down before release. Some animations and models were changed so they were less realistic. No gore could happen to your Avatar beyond the ‘covered in blood’ mechanic, and the game overs only implied gory things were happening to you rather than showing them outright. A few bits of concept art posted on the devs’ blog showed more intense medical horror.

There were a few other things, too. Like the checkpoint mechanic. Basically, each time you completed a ‘chapter’, usually right after you accomplish certain things, the game would not let you continue for a few hours. The intent of this was to encourage the player to log off, rest, and remember that they were playing a game and nothing in it was real. It doubled as an anti-poopsocking measure, so that way you wouldn’t spend hours on it neglecting your physical needs. You also have to sign off on a disclaimer before playing, which helped to advertise it as ‘scary’ in the same way handing out barf bags at Terrifier 2 screenings did. There were a few goofy Easter Eggs, too, and Winter definitely encountered one earlier in her playthrough.

It was still intense, though. And, of course, with intense things people liked to joke about them. It had quickly developed a meme culture of its own.

One of its memes involved its true ending. For context, when you’re setting up the game before playing it’ll ask you if it can access your friends’ list. The true ending has a scene where you find a computer after escaping where all your friends talk about having also been kidnapped by the doctor and being brainwashed before they snapped out of it and escaped, with the implication they had gory body horror adventures of their own. Although you succeeded at killing the doctor, it is uncertain if he’ll stay dead, given the abilities he’d shown previously. Your friends then hint at vowing to hunt him down if he does come back.

Obviously, this was a sequel hint.

Now, if you didn’t allow the game to access your friendslist, it’ll use NPCs to represent your friends. But if you did… then the friends during this convo would be your actual friends, just with chat messages attributed to them. Some people found this spooky, having your friends and family talk about being experimented on and brainwashed. However, this sometimes runs into errors, like having a dog– not someone’s dog CR Avatar, but an actual image of an adorable German Shepherd puppy– talk about ‘shooting the bastard before he comes back.’ This could defuse tension for obvious reasons.

Nature played out, and people memed about it to the point where everyone recognized the true ending chatlog before they played the actual game. It became a copypasta, of course, and people posted screenshots of the weirder outcomes, like the aforementioned German Shepherd puppy scenario.

Anyways–



The thing about Killswitch is that it can’t properly emulate the feeling of seeing a scene straight out of it– your friend with a bloody machete in a pool of blood, or seeing that friend desperately claw at the ground as you bark into a walkie-talkie or seeing your teacher get his brains blown out– it can’t emulate it in actual time. It just can’t!

But instead, she peered around, deep breath. And she offered her own input.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, frowning.

It didn’t look like it, too much. More red than green. Winter remembered Kenton went to that effort, she’d applaud him if it weren’t for his clawing.

Y’know what, though? She was with Xtra. She supported his decision, she just needed to know the reason why.

[FlockOfHens]

Honestly, it was strange. The more he looked at Ray's dead body, the more realistic it felt. His shocked face, the giant gash on his neck, the pool of blood, it was starting to be too real. And the weird part? Rikario knew that he should feel bad about the death of his friend, but deep down, he no longer cared what happened to him. Besides, Ray basically forgot about their friendship and didn't even bother to try and talk with him. Ray probably treated Rikario like he was invisible. He became so obsessed with his problems that he didn't even see that Rikario was already suffering through his own.

Maybe if he met Ray sooner, things would've turned out better, and they would've helped each other through this game. But at least he was helpful at the end; he helped fill in Zeph's quota so that everyone didn't get their brains fried. Oh, and he did kill Drea yesterday, so Kenton & Amy might've done everyone a favor by killing a murderer.

"Rikario, go keep an eye on Amy."

Xtra called out a demand to Rikario, telling him to check on Amy. Resurfacing from his thoughts, Rikario slowly looked over to Xtra, who was focused on Kenton. If she looked back at him, she would've seen his tired, dead-like eyes gaze back at her.

"...please."

...well, at least she said please.

Rikario quietly walked to the door, his footsteps echoing around the room. He placed his hand on the door's handle, preparing to leave and find Amy.

...

All he had to do was open the door, and he'd be off to find her...

...

...fuck it.

Rikario hastily walks over to Ray's corpse and stomps at the center of his chest. He swore that he heard a bone break as small blood drops stained his clothes. Rikario pushes the body back with his foot and takes a few steps back.

"H-h-he... H-he fucking deserved it...
whiny bitch..."

He quickly leaves the classroom, ignoring everyone else's reaction.

[Ahab9]

Somehow, despite the bile and numbness coursing through her body, she reached the art room. It was a mess, just as its only occupant, which tried and failed to find an intact chair. She made it three steps inside before her stomach screamed in disapproval.
Her body locked up. Her mind was blank. She retched, but her stomach was empty.

[+] ERROR

Hey, that sounds familiar!

Her coughing fits filled the chamber. Her sheath was swaying wildly on her hips, now free of its weight. Her sight was blurred and her fingers shook as she fell on her knees. Her throat calmed down, slightly, as did her body. It was enough for her to stand back up, her cough replaced now by raspy groaning, and let her think again about what to do now.

She had to talk to Spooks, eventually. She knew, from the moment she saw him brandishing that machete, what was gonna happen, and her attempts to stop him amounted to nothing. Ray was dead, after he choke on his own blood and then died in Meatspace, his brain likely struggling to receive oxygen from absent blood. Or worse, with his blood vessels all ruptured and-

-She felt sick again, but an open window and a mouthful of fresh air let her continue-

-And now both her and Spooks had to deal with the consequences of it. Zeph would revel in her misery, she was sure of it with how much of a bastard he's been, and Spooks didn't sound half as apologetic as she felt. What was he thinking, to kill like this?

[+] DELETED MESSAGE

In general? Or this soon, without a reason?

She doesn't know, but she will once she return and talk to the others. They'd have a right to be wary now that she was a murderer, but once she'd give them an explanation things would turn out ok. Her worries from before were unfounded, after all, and she was still their friend.

Perhaps, if she keeps saying it, she might actually believe it, but this it's for later. Right now, with the worst in her passed, she had to-

-Her mouth let out a vile burp, tasting of acid and rotten eggs-

-Recover or adapt, whichever comes first.

[Deblod100]

Kenton didn't say anything. Xtra was instructing Rikario to check up on Amy, while her and Hare were listening in on what Kenton had to say for himself. Spooks wanted to say something towards Xtra, but then Rikario suddenly marched towards Raymond's corpse.

"Rikario, what are you-"

Rikario suddenly stomped at Raymond's chest once, before muttering under his breath, calling Ray a whiny bitch. Jesus, did Raymond shit into Rikario's cereal back at school?

Kenton could only look at him, when he finally left the classroom. That just happened...

Xtra and Hare focused their attention back at Kenton. Hare was asking if Spooks got himself hurt, but he shook his head. Ray did give him a kick against the wall, but that was something that Kenton can easily walk off.

What Kenton noted that was Xtra didn't need to know why him and Amy killed Raymond. She supported his decision. She validated Kenton's involvement in Ray's murder.

Kenton didn't say anything at first. He went to lean against the wall where Ray was trying to pin him. He was still gripping at his machete, looking at the blood that was still on it.

Where is he going to begin?

"I found Raymond in one of the classrooms close by. He was ranting directly at Zeph. The two weren't sharing a conversation, but Ray was trying to talk to him. He was bitching and moaning, because Ray got his shit stolen by both Marnie and Ripley. Don't know when Ray got robbed, but it could be after he shot Andrea. Raymond did somehow manage to get himself an ally with that frilly fuck, Ilya. While I was talking with Ray, Amy showed up while I was trying to more information. She must have tailed me when I was out of the anime club."

Kenton glanced briefly at the two, before he continued, slipping his machete back at his holster.

"After Amy arrives, Ray keeps complaining. He said he originally blamed us at first, especially you, Hare." Kenton nodded towards her. "Then, he mentions having seen Angel. He's alive, but he claims that he threw Gillian off the roof and robbed her with a gun. He mentioned Ilya having a grenade launcher and then went to reach into his bag. I assumed he was still armed, so I threatened to stab him. It didn't work, since that caused him to act more erratic. That must have caused you guys to show up, since he yelled that Andrea was supposed to keep her mouth shut. I thought Ray was going to pull out a gun, but he had that at his hand."

Kenton pointed at the pink hand mirror on the floor that was now covered in Ray's blood.

"I swung the blade at him, but asshole got me pinned against the wall. Amy was still there, so I tried to get her to get Ray off of me, but I yelled out to take him out instead..."

Kenton paused. His fist with his bandaged fingers began to clench. "I don't even know if it was me that killed him. Amy went for his neck. Lots of blood came out, like a fountain."

There was a lingering awkward feeling for Kenton. Xtra sounded like she was ok with what Kenton did. Rikario straight up stomped at Ray's body.

"That boisterous dumbass got himself killed. Ilya must have left him to die, if I found him alone like this." Kenton looked at the door, wondering if Amy was going to return, but he doubted it. "She's going to still hate me in the morning. She didn't need to get involved with this mess."

[MurderWeasel]

"Unfortunate," Xtra said.

So, it had been a misunderstanding, then. She was slightly surprised, but she also believed it, or at least believed that was the story Spook was telling himself at this moment. She and Hare had given him no reason to lie, so any deception would be for his own benefit.

There were other mysteries still, of course. Whatever had motivated Rikario, his action had been sudden, uncharacteristic. It reminded Xtra that she didn't really know him, and certainly didn't understand the tangle of his social life. He'd been scared and erratic when they first met, and some of that persisted. Right now, it wasn't aimed at the Squad, but would that hold?

It was a problem for later. Right now, there were more pressing concerns.

"The question now," she continued, "is: what next?"

She turned, casting a glance down the hallway. It was empty, simulated fluorescent light reflecting off simulated tiles, rows of lockers broken up by holographic poetry flickering in little nooks. There was nobody else in sight just now, Rikario hopefully following her instructions, Amy hopefully somewhere safe, and no interlopers there to disrupt what passed for a moment of tranquility.

"If Ilya does have a grenade launcher, and was working with Ray, we probably don't want to be here when he gets back," Xtra observed. "If you need anything here, take it. Then we should rejoin Amy."

That was only the immediate what next. In the long run, things remained rather uncomfortably in flux. What had happened here was roughly in keeping with Vee's original plan. Did that mean they intended to follow through on it? If so, well, Xtra could chart worse trajectories. But she was worried that this was something less, just a mistake void of intent that would nonetheless dominate their course from here out.

"And don't worry about the blood," she added. "None of it's real anyways."