Chapter 6 It’s a Feature, Not a Bug
It’s a Feature, Not a Bug
Levi’s eyes snapped open to blinding sunlight. The scent of pine needles and fresh earth filled his nostrils. His throat ached with the phantom sensation of fingers crushing his windpipe lingered like a bruise that wouldn’t fade.
Tall grass swayed around his legs. Birds chirped overhead. The same meadow from before.
No. No no no no.
The forest edge loomed just as it had when he’d first arrived. The same cluster of pines to the north. The same rocky outcropping to the east. Every blade of grass, every fallen branch, exactly as before.
“This isn’t possible,” he whispered. “I d-died. I fucking died.”
His fingers flew to his neck, searching for bruises and tenderness from the stranger’s grip, for any trace of what had happened. The skin felt smooth, unmarked.
But he remembered. He remembered everything.
The headset. I need to take off the headset.
Levi clawed at his forehead, fingers scrabbling for the edges of a VR unit that wasn’t there. His nails raked across his scalp, digging in with increasing panic. Something warm trickled down his temple.
Blood. Real blood from his own desperate scratching.
“End simulation!” he screamed, his voice echoing across the meadow with a pronounced stutter breaking through. “Exit g-game! Pause! Fucking STOP!”
Nothing changed. The birds continued singing. The breeze kept blowing.
“System override! Emergency shutdown! H-HELP ME!”
Levi dropped to his knees, pressing his palms against his eyes until bursts of color exploded in the darkness. When he opened them again, the meadow remained, pristine and unchanged and terrifyingly real.
He lurched back to his feet, spinning wildly, searching for any hint of digital artifice. A texture glitch. A rendering error. A seam in reality where he could pry his way out.
“This isn’t real,” he panted, dizzy from turning. “This can’t be real.”
He slapped his face hard, once, twice, three times. The stinging pain felt viscerally authentic, sending shock waves through his nervous system. Every sensation was flawless.
I can’t be back. I can’t.
Images of Zoe’s mutilated body flashed through his mind. The stranger’s face studying him with predatory interest. The absolute certainty of death as consciousness fled.
“Safe word!” Levi shouted, his voice breaking with stuttered consonants. “Ab-abort! Red! Mayday! F-fucking anything!”
The silence that followed his outburst seemed to mock him. The world remained stubbornly, horrifically real.
Blood from his self-inflicted scalp wounds trickled down his forehead. Levi wiped it away with a shaking hand, staring at the red smear across his palm.
I died. I know I died.
He stumbled forward, legs weak, mind fracturing with possibilities too terrible to fully comprehend. If death just reset the simulation... if there was no way out...
“Levi! There you are, man!”
The voice froze Levi in place. He turned slowly, dread pooling in his stomach.
Jasper stood at the edge of the meadow, beanie pulled low, the same rumpled clothes, the same easy smile. He raised a hand in greeting, as if nothing happened.
“Yo, Levi! We’ve been looking for you, man. Thought you wandered off and got eaten by a bear or something.” Jasper laughed, approaching with the same loping gait, the same inflection in his voice. “You okay, dude? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Something broke inside Levi’s mind. He lunged forward, grabbing Jasper by the shoulders, fingers digging into the fabric of his hoodie.
“This isn’t real!” Levi’s voice cracked, high-pitched and desperate, stutters fragmenting his words. “N-none of this is real! We’re in a g-game, Jasper! A fucking horror game! There’s someone in the woods—he k-killed Zoe, he killed me—we’re going to die again!”
Jasper’s bloodshot eyes widened, confusion and concern replacing his usual laid-back expression. “Whoa, whoa! Easy, man.” He tried to step back, but Levi’s grip tightened.
“You don’t understand! We’re in a game! You say the same things, do the same things—there’s someone watching us from the trees!”
“Levi, what the hell?” Owen’s voice came from behind him. Levi whirled around, still clutching Jasper, to see Owen and Elliot approaching from the tree line, concern etched across their faces.
“He’s having some kind of episode,” Elliot said, exchanging a glance with Owen. “Probably altitude sickness or dehydration.”
“It’s not—” Levi released Jasper and spun in a circle, scanning the dense forest surrounding them. There—a shadow moving between trees. A flash of something pale. Watching. “He’s there! The killer is right there!”
Elliot stepped forward, placing a patronizing hand on Levi’s shoulder. “Look, why don’t we get you back to camp? You should probably lie down. Maybe the sun got to you.”
“Don’t touch me!” Levi knocked the hand away, the contact sending panic shooting through his system. “I know what I saw! I know what happened!”
“What exactly did you see, Levi?” Owen asked, adjusting his glasses with the same precise motion as before.
“Zoe—dead. M-mutilated. And then someone attacked me, strangled me, and I woke up here again. Like it reset.”
The three exchanged worried glances.
“Zoe’s at camp,” Owen said slowly, using the same careful tone. “She’s fine. Everyone’s fine.”
“For now,” Levi whispered, eyes darting back to the tree line. Something moved again—or did it? The shadows seemed to shift and breathe with malevolent awareness.
Back at camp, Tyler paced around the fire pit while the others huddled together, shooting concerned glances at Levi. He sat alone on a log, hands shaking, watching them whisper about him with the same gestures, the same expressions of worry.
“We should take shifts watching him,” Tyler murmured, not quite quietly enough. “Make sure he doesn’t wander off again.”
“I’m not crazy,” Levi called out, his voice hoarse. “This has all happened before.”
Zoe approached, medical kit in hand. Her face—alive, unharmed, beautiful—sent a shock through Levi’s system. Just hours ago, he’d seen her torn apart, her organs arranged in ritualistic patterns. Now she knelt before him, whole and concerned.
“Your forehead’s bleeding,” she said gently, opening the kit. “Let me clean that up.”
Levi flinched as she dabbed antiseptic on the scratches he made. Her touch was so real, so warm. The antiseptic stung with authentic intensity, sending sharp pain through his scalp.
How can this feel so real if it’s not?
“Here.” Maddie appeared at his side, offering a flask with a mischievous smile. “This’ll take the edge off whatever you’re going through.”
Levi grabbed it without hesitation, gulping the burning liquid. It scorched his throat—a sensation that seemed too impossible to be simulated. The alcohol hit his bloodstream, creating that warm flush through his chest.
“Easy there, tiger,” Maddie laughed.
The alcohol hit his system quickly. Levi watched through increasingly unfocused eyes as the group continued setting up camp. Tyler arranging the tents. Owen organizing supplies. Elliot complaining about cell service.
Levi took another swig, desperate to numb the terror clawing at his mind. He tipped the flask upside down, watching amber liquid continue to pour out in an endless stream.
It should be empty by now.
He screwed the cap back on, waited a moment, then reopened it. Full again. The liquid glowed golden in the firelight, never diminishing, no matter how much he poured out.
Great. Even in hell, the alcohol has respawn mechanics.
The absurdity of it should have been reassuring, proof that this was artificial, that reality had rules this world ignored. Instead, it only deepened his terror. If the rules didn’t apply, if physics could be bent, then what else was possible? What other horrors awaited?
Darkness crept across the campsite as the sun disappeared behind the mountain ridge. Levi watched the others build the fire, placing kindling in the same pattern, Tyler striking matches with identical motions, the flames catching at precisely the same spot as before.
The campfire blazed, casting recurring shadows across recurring faces. Jasper passed around joints with the same lazy grin. Owen recited the same facts about the Perseids. Tyler told the stupid joke about shooting stars being alien spaceships.
Levi’s skin crawled. They were automatons, flawless simulations repeating their programming with mechanical precision.
“You okay there, Levi?” Zoe’s voice cut through his spiral. “You’ve barely said a word.”
Her face glowed in the firelight—alive, unmarked, unsuspecting. In hours, she would slip away to use the bathroom. In hours, the stranger would rip her apart.
“I’m fine,” he managed, voice thick with alcohol. “Just... enjoying the night.”
The group tilted their heads back as the first meteors streaked overhead. Gasps and exclamations echoed around the campfire. The same wonder, the same timing, the same words of amazement.
“Make a wish,” Maddie said, nudging Levi’s shoulder with the same gentle pressure.
I wish to wake up. I wish this was just a game I could turn off.
The night progressed with excruciating predictability. One by one, they retreated to their tents. Jasper invited Levi with the same, “Don’t wait up too long, dude” before disappearing into their shared tent.
Levi remained by the dying embers, eyes fixed on Zoe’s tent. His mind raced with desperate possibilities.
What if I can change it? What if I can break the pattern?
Movement caught his eye—Zoe’s tent zipper sliding down. She emerged, toilet paper roll in hand.
Panic surged through Levi’s system. He lunged forward, scrambling across the campsite, nearly falling into the fire before grabbing her arm.
“D-don’t go into the woods!” The words burst from him, desperate and raw, stutters fracturing his speech. “You’ll die! He’ll kill you! He’s out there waiting!”
Zoe froze, eyes widening. The toilet paper roll tumbled from her fingers.
“Levi, what the—”