Chapter 9 Achievement Unlocked Running Water #2
A wave of triumph surged through him. He found it—the next objective, the next level. Pushing himself to his feet, Levi started downstream, following the river’s path toward the distant lights.
I’m learning how to play. I can beat this game.
But as twigs snapped somewhere in the darkness behind him, Levi couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t the only one getting better at playing.
Levi straightened from the riverbank, wiping water droplets from his chin. As he turned toward the distant lights of Riverbend, his body collided with something solid that hadn’t been there seconds before.
“Found you,” a soft voice said.
Levi stumbled backward, heart seizing in his chest. The stranger stood before him, his perfect features splattered with fresh blood.
Moonlight caught the crimson streaks across his cheekbones, his throat, his hands.
In his right hand, he clutched an axe, its blade dripping steadily onto the rocky shore.
The stranger’s chest heaved with exertion, his eyes wild.
“You weren’t at camp,” the stranger said, voice unnervingly calm despite his disheveled appearance. “I looked for you. I waited.” His head tilted, studying Levi with that familiar, terrible intensity. “The others didn’t know where you’d gone.”
The others. Levi’s stomach twisted. The blood on the blade—on the stranger’s hands. Fresh blood.
“What did you do to them?”
“What I wanted to do to you.” The stranger took a step forward, moonlight illuminating the flecks of gore on his otherwise immaculate face. “But it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t... satisfying.”
The admission sent ice through Levi’s veins. The stranger killed them, looking for him. Specifically for him.
Levi’s fingers moved to the hoodie tied around his waist. With deliberate slowness, he untied the knot, calculating the distance to the tree line. If he could just get enough of a head start...
“Taking that off?” The stranger’s eyes tracked Levi’s movements with predatory focus. “You look different without those baggy clothes.” His gaze traveled down Levi’s arms, exposed by the t-shirt. “I like it. I can see more of you.”
The intimate observation made Levi’s skin crawl. He let the hoodie fall to the ground, muscles tensing to sprint.
“I wonder what else you’re hiding,” the stranger said, then swung the axe.
Levi braced for pain in his head or neck, but agony exploded through Levi’s foot as the blade buried itself in flesh and bone, pinning him to the ground. His scream echoed across the water as he collapsed, hands scrabbling uselessly at his ankle.
“Now you’ll stay,” the stranger said, crouching beside him. “Now we can finish what we started.”
Levi curled forward, gripping his leg as blood poured from the mangled flesh, soaking into the rocky shore. It’s not real. It’s just a game. The pain isn’t real.
But the agony consuming his foot felt utterly authentic. The splintered bone jutting through his skin looked solid. The stranger’s breath against his ear felt moist and alive as he leaned closer.
“We have all night now,” he whispered. “Just you and me.”
“Does it hurt?” he asked, voice soft with genuine curiosity as he knelt beside Levi. “Your face is so expressive. I can see everything you’re feeling.”
Levi bit down hard on his lower lip, tasting copper. He wouldn’t give the stranger the satisfaction of an answer.
“I don’t want you dead yet,” the stranger continued, leaning closer. His fingers brushed Levi’s cheek, wiping away a tear Levi hadn’t realized had fallen. “Not when we’re just getting to know each other properly.”
The touch lingered, thumb tracing the curve of Levi’s cheekbone. The stranger’s hand was cool against his feverish skin, almost comforting in its gentleness.
“I could help you,” the stranger offered, gesturing toward the mangled foot. “Bandage it. Stop the bleeding.” His lips curved into a smile that didn’t reach those impossible eyes. “For a price.”
“What price?” he managed.
The stranger’s fingers traced Levi’s jawline, tilting his face upward. “A kiss.”
Before Levi could respond—before he could process the request—the stranger’s mouth was on his.
The kiss was gentle, almost sweet, nothing like the violence Levi came to expect.
The stranger’s lips moved against his gently, his hot tongue darting out to lick along the seam of his lips as one hand cradled the back of Levi’s head.
For one terrible moment, Levi’s pain-addled mind couldn’t process what was happening. The gentleness was so unexpected, so at odds with everything else, that he began to part his lips—
Levi jerked back, disgust and self-loathing surging through his chest. He spat to the side, trying to erase the taste of the stranger from his mouth.
“Don’t touch me,” he snapped.
The stranger sat back on his heels, studying Levi’s face. Something like hurt flickered across his perfect features—so convincing it might have been real.
“You almost kissed me back,” he said quietly. “For a moment, you stopped fighting.”
Shame burned hotter than the pain in Levi’s foot. “I was in shock. I was—”
“You were responding.” The stranger’s voice held no mockery, just quiet certainty. He turned to gaze at the river flowing beside them, moonlight dancing across its surface. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The water.”
Levi followed his gaze, disoriented by the shift in conversation. The river glimmered like black silk, rippling with silver highlights where moonbeams touched its surface.
“Drowning is peaceful, they say.” The stranger’s voice took on a dreamy quality. “After the initial panic. After you stop fighting.” He turned back to Levi, eyes soft with something almost like compassion. “The body eventually surrenders. Accepts its fate.”
“No—”
The stranger moved with frightening speed, hands gripping Levi’s shoulders.
One powerful shove sent him backward into the frigid current.
Water closed over Levi’s head, shocking his system with its icy grip.
He thrashed, fighting to surface, but the stranger was already there, hands pressing down on his shoulders, keeping him submerged.
Levi’s good foot kicked uselessly against the riverbed. His fingers clawed at the stranger’s wrists. Through the rippling water, he could see the stranger’s face—serene, almost tender as he watched Levi struggle.
One of the stranger’s hands moved from Levi’s shoulder to his back, rubbing gentle circles between his shoulder blades. The gesture was horrifyingly tender, like comforting a child, soothing them through a difficult moment.
Levi’s lungs burned. His vision darkened at the edges. The stranger’s hand continued its gentle motion on his back, even as his other hand maintained its deadly pressure.
He’s comforting me while he kills me.
The juxtaposition was more terrifying than any violence. This wasn’t rage or bloodlust—this was affection. Twisted, perverse affection.
As consciousness began to slip away, a terrible clarity broke through Levi’s panic. Each death brought the stranger closer. Each loop made their encounters more intimate. First the chase, then the conversation, then the touch, now the kiss.
What comes next? What happens when he gets bored with just killing me?
The implications crashed through his drowning mind with horrifying clarity. The stranger wasn’t just learning how to catch him—he was learning how to possess him. Each loop brought new violations, new intimacies.
Next time will be worse. So much worse.
Water filled Levi’s lungs as his body finally surrendered. The last thing he felt was the stranger’s hand, still rubbing gentle circles on his back as darkness claimed him, accompanied by a sound that chilled him more than the river—the stranger humming softly to him as he died.