Chapter 8 Status Effect Bleeding
Status Effect: Bleeding
The stranger’s eyes widened as Levi raised the bear spray, his flawless features shifting from curiosity to surprise. Levi’s thumb depressed the trigger before his courage could fail him. The canister erupted with a violent hiss, releasing a cloud of capsaicin into the stranger’s face.
A sound—half scream, half laugh—tore from the stranger’s throat as he staggered backward. His hands flew to his eyes, clawing at the burning sensation. Levi stood frozen, shocked that the spray had actually worked. The stranger’s composure shattered as he doubled over, gasping and spitting.
It hurt him. He can be hurt.
For one glorious moment, power surged through Levi’s veins. His chest expanded with wild, desperate hope.
“You—” the stranger choked, blinking through streaming eyes. His voice rasped with pain, but underneath lay something else—a note of delight, as if this unexpected resistance was entertaining.
Levi didn’t wait to hear more. He pivoted and ran, crashing through the underbrush. Branches whipped his face, leaving stinging welts across his cheeks. His feet pounded against the forest floor, every step deliberate and loud.
Away from camp. Away from Zoe. Make him follow me.
Behind him, he could hear the stranger recovering, his low chuckle echoing through the trees, followed by the sound of pursuit. Not running, but walking with deliberate, unhurried steps. Like a predator who knew his prey was already cornered.
Moonlight filtered through the canopy in scattered patches, barely illuminating the ground ahead as Levi scrambled up a steep incline, loose rocks sliding beneath his feet.
His thighs burned with the effort. The forest thinned as the terrain grew rockier.
His foot caught on an exposed root, sending him sprawling onto his hands and knees.
Pain shot through his palms as they scraped against the rough ground.
Get up. Keep moving.
He pushed himself upright, ignoring the warm trickle of blood from his skinned knees. The ground sloped upward more sharply, his shoes slipped on loose scree as he climbed higher, lungs burning with each desperate breath.
The glint of metal caught his eye—something man-made amid the natural landscape. Rusty machinery loomed ahead, the skeletal remains of an old mining operation. A wooden structure marked the entrance to what must be a shaft, its timbers weathered and cracked with age.
Levi stumbled toward it, one hand fumbling in his pocket for the satellite phone. The screen illuminated with a weak blue glow as he thumbed the power button. His unsteady fingers could barely navigate the unfamiliar interface.
The phone searched for a signal, bars flickering weakly before disappearing entirely.
The metal scaffolding of the old mine operation rose around him like a cage, its steel framework apparently creating interference patterns that scattered the satellite signals.
He raised the phone higher, turning in a desperate circle, but the surrounding metal structures blocked any clear view of the sky.
“No signal?”
Levi whirled around. The stranger stood ten feet away, his eyes still red and swollen but now fixed intently on Levi.
“I’ve been watching you for quite some time, you know,” the stranger said, taking a single step forward.
“During dinner preparations. The meteor shower. That sweet moment when Elliot put his jacket around your shoulders.” His voice carried a hint of something that might have been jealousy. “You looked so comfortable with him.
Levi backed toward the mine shaft entrance, each step measured. The rusted metal frame of the abandoned operation provided a barrier between himself and the advancing stranger. “What do you want from me?”
“I like you.” His voice held an intimacy that made Levi’s skin crawl. “You’re... different from the others.”
“How?” Levi’s voice cracked.
“You learn. You adapt. You surprise me.” The stranger’s tone grew warmer, almost affectionate. “Most of them just scream and run in circles. But you—you came prepared tonight.”
Levi’s fingers shook as he reached into his waistband and withdrew Jasper’s revolver. The metal felt foreign in his hands, heavier than he’d expected. His index finger hovered near the trigger, not quite touching it.
“Stay back,” he commanded, voice cracking on the second word.
The stranger paused, his expression shifting to one of delighted surprise. “You brought a gun,” he observed, sounding genuinely impressed. “Good boy. Very clever.”
“I said stay back!”
The stranger took another step forward, his movements fluid and unhurried. “You won’t shoot me.”
“I will.” Levi’s finger moved to the trigger, pressing against it. Nothing happened. His stomach dropped as realization dawned—the safety was still on.
Of course. Even in my power fantasy, I can’t work a safety.
The stranger’s lips curved into a knowing smile. “Having trouble?”
Panic surged through Levi’s chest as his thumb fumbled for the safety. His eyes darted between the mechanism and the approaching figure, losing precious seconds of focus.
Cold fingers clamped around Levi’s wrist, twisting sharply. Pain shot up his arm as the gun clattered to the rocky ground and the stranger casually kicked it out of reach.
“No—” Levi gasped, struggling against the iron grip. The stranger slammed him back against a rusted ore cart. Metal edges bit into Levi’s spine as he was pinned against the ancient mining equipment.
“Much better,” the stranger murmured, his face inches from Levi’s. “I prefer this, don’t you?”
Levi turned his face away, breath coming in shallow pants. The stranger’s free hand gripped his jaw, forcing him to make eye contact. Those mismatched eyes seemed to see straight through him.
“What’s your name?” the stranger asked, studying Levi’s features with intense fascination. His thumb traced Levi’s cheekbone with disturbing tenderness. “I want to know you properly.
“L-Levi.”
The stranger’s grip loosened. “Levi,” he repeated, rolling the name around his mouth like he was tasting something exquisite. “I like that. It suits you.”
“What do you want from me?” Levi whispered.
“To know you. Really know you.” The stranger’s voice dropped to an intimate murmur. “Do you have siblings, Levi? Family who will miss you when you don’t come home?”
The question sent ice through Levi’s veins. The mention of family, of people who cared about him, felt like a violation. “That’s none of your business.
“I disagree.” The stranger’s fingers briefly closed around Levi’s throat. “Everything about you is my business now.”
His touch began to wander—fingers tracing the line of Levi’s jaw, sliding down to his collarbone, mapping the territory of his fear with methodical precision. Each contact felt like a brand, marking Levi as something owned.
“Stop it,” Levi’s voice wavered, his skin crawling from the unwanted intimacy.
The stranger’s hand moved to cup Levi’s cheek, thumb brushing across his lower lip. “Such beautiful fear in those eyes,” he whispered. “I want to preserve it.”
Something inside Levi snapped. All strategic thinking evaporated, replaced by primal terror and revulsion. He thrashed, head whipping side to side, teeth snapping at the fingers near his mouth.
“Don’t touch me!” he shouted. His knee jerked upward, connecting with the stranger’s thigh as his fingernails clawed at the man’s face, leaving thin red lines across those flawless features.
The stranger’s expression transformed from fascination to cold rage. He stepped back, retrieving something from the shadows—Jasper’s revolver, glinting in the moonlight.
“You’re being very rude, Levi,” he said, his voice ice-cold. “And after I was being so gentle with you. I thought we were making a real connection.”
“Please,” Levi sobbed, scrambling backward against the ore cart. “I just want to go home.”
The stranger’s expression darkened with disappointment. “You don’t appreciate what I’m offering you.” He raised the gun, examining it with the same interest he showed Levi’s face. “Jasper never did get the safety off, did he? Careless of him.”
The gunshot echoed through the mine shaft. White-hot agony exploded in Levi’s kneecap as he collapsed, a scream tearing from his throat. The pain was beyond anything he had ever experienced—bone fragments grinding against each other, cartilage shredded, blood pooling beneath him.
“Now you can’t run away from me anymore,” the stranger said with satisfaction.
The stranger looked down at the revolver, his elegant fingers working the cylinder open.
“Five left,” he mumbled. “I should be more conservative. We have so much more to explore together.”
Levi’s existed only in the agony radiating from his shattered kneecap. Each heartbeat sent fresh waves of anguish surging through his leg. Blood soaked his jeans, spreading in a dark stain across the rocky ground beneath him.
The stranger crouched beside him and prodded the ragged hole in Levi’s knee, sending lightning bolts of pain up his spine.
“Stop!”
“You were getting quite cozy with Elliot back at camp,” he said, pressing deeper into the wound. The way he looked at you during the meteor shower...” He twisted his finger, digging into torn flesh and exposed bone. “So protective. So tender.”
Levi screamed, back arching off the ground. His fingernails scraped against stone as he clawed for purchase, anything to escape the intrusion.
“What’s between you two?” The stranger’s voice remained light, curious, as if he were discussing the weather rather than torturing someone. “He seemed quite taken with you. Special friends, perhaps?”
“N-nothing,” Levi gasped, struggling to form words through the waves of pain. “We j-just met today.”
The stranger gave him a skeptical expression. “Really? The way he leaned into you, shared his jacket, guided your hands with that axe...” His finger withdrew from the wound. “I watched it all, you know. From the trees. Every intimate moment.”
Levi’s stomach churned with revulsion as the stranger wiped the blood on Levi’s hoodie, leaving crimson streaks across the fabric. The stranger’s hands moved to the hem, lifting it to expose a strip of pale skin.
“You’re hiding something beautiful under these baggy clothes,” he whispered. “I can tell. Your friend Elliot certainly seemed interested in finding out what.”
Terror eclipsed even the pain in his knee as the stranger’s cold fingers brushed against Levi’s exposed skin. He tried to squirm away, but any movement sent fresh agony through his shattered leg.
“Please don’t,” Levi whimpered, tears streaming down his face.
The stranger paused, studying Levi’s expression with genuine fascination. Something shifted in his gaze, like a decision being made, possibilities being weighed.
“Beautiful things never last,” he said softly, raising the revolver. “They wither. They decay. They disappoint you when you get to know them too well.” He pressed the barrel against Levi’s chest, directly over his heart. “Better to preserve the moment, don’t you think?”
Levi stared into the stranger’s eyes, searching for mercy and finding none. Yet there was something else there; a profound sadness, as if the stranger truly regretted what he was about to do.
The stranger’s free hand brushed a strand of hair from Levi’s forehead, the touch incongruously tender. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, and for one bewildering moment, Levi believed the sincerity in his voice.
The gunshot echoed across the abandoned mine. Pain flared briefly in Levi’s chest—sharp, then surprisingly distant as shock set in. A strange numbness spread outward from the wound. His vision tunneled, darkness creeping in from the edges. The stars above blurred and multiplied.
The stranger gathered Levi into his arms, cradling him. Blood bubbled from Levi’s lips as he struggled for breath that wouldn’t come. Through dimming vision, he saw the stranger’s face hovering above him, beautiful and terrible.
This isn’t right. He’s holding me like...
The realization struck with horrifying clarity—the stranger’s expression wasn’t triumph or satisfaction, but something closer to regret. Almost like he was memorizing Levi’s features, preserving this moment of intimacy between them.
He’s not just killing me. He’s...