My Nihilism Got Me Laid?!

The streets are vibrant with life as sakura petals rain down, showering this sunny day with its natural confetti.

Turning to Dissiri, I nod. "Thanks for helping me get the supplies."

"I would say no worries, but... why do you know how to make a pipe bomb? We learned how to make IEDs on my first tour, but yours was surprisingly well made."

"Its amazing what you can learn on the internet."

Noctiva locks her arm with mine, leading me left and right with a excited giggle. "Graves, get me... that thing! Ooh and that!"

Walking through the various decorated store fronts, families happily roam the busy festival streets.

Food vendors cook up various Japanese foods, the kids gleefully play the prize games, and the sounds of happiness fill the air.

The smiles...

the laughter...

It makes me sick.

How can they make a spectacle out of a future massacre?

In a booth, a man stands, shouting as he hands out tickets. "Place your bets! Number five five seven is the crowd favorite, the odds for number forty seven is one in seventy-two. Change your life with a few dollars."

I want to tear it down, to destroy this horrid spectacle they have made of hard earned lives. But I can't, not only as a foreigner, I have not the lives to spend on a community, I have already sworn today's to one.

Noctiva gleefully clings to me as she swings me back and forth, leading me to every stall. "Look, the Django!"

I'm too distracted to correct her. There's somewhere else I need to be.

Pulling Noctiva's arm from my own, I begin to back track away.

"I'm sorry, your majesty, I have to go."

Noctiva smirks, raising an eyebrow. "Hmm? Ditching us to spend the evening with another girl?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing."

"...eh?! That's not your line!" Noctiva points with a wide eyed expression. "You're supposed to say you don't feel worthy of spending your time with us!"

Yet, Dissiri looks at me with a vexing expression, as though she didn't want me to, yet she understood my choice.

****

Standing outside the entrance of the bio dome, families surround me, they hug, wishing their sons and daughters luck. Lovers kiss as they motivate them with lifting words.

"Graves." Like a lighthouse in the night fog, I hear Riven's voice break through the crowd's chatter.

"Riven."

"You actually came." She looks at me with only desperation.

"No place I would rather be."

"Well, it means a lot."

"Dont worry about proving yourself. Survival comes before all else." I jump before her. "Now,tell me, who is the most worthless person?"

She pokes me with a giggle. "Hehe, you!"

"Hurts to hear, but that's what I want to hear! And who's going to win today?"

"Me!"

Such a cheesy thing to do, but it at least shook that fear that comes with inactive anticipation.

"Can you stay with me until we go in?"

It hurts to see her like this,

Grabbing her hand, I smile.

"You've got this. Just think of all the things we are going to do once you graduate."

With a watery eyed smile, she nods. "Hmm."

So, we stood there, for another five minutes, with every second that passed, her grip on my hand tightened, the smile fading, and the fear consuming her.

A yellow instructor walks up before the group. "Line up! We're going in!"

Riven's eyes widen as her breath hastens. The rest of the group begins to march into the bio dome. Yet she clenches my hand, holding it until the very last moment she could, as though every second together was a gift.

Forced inside the dome, the metal gate slides closed, trapping them within.

Through the metal bars, she gives me one last look, the look of a ghost...

"I already bought the tickets for the water park and they don't offer refunds! So you'd better win!" I shout.

With a tearful giggle she wipes her eyes, and that's the last thing I saw before the second door shut.

A nail in a coffin.

******

Returning back to the others, we are situated in a suite like building. It was separated from the rest of the spectators. We had fancy cushioned seats, and an array of food lined across the window looking over the field.

Riven was right about the Staying up with the times as we stand over the bio dome like structure, around us is filled with countless monitors showing live footage of the cameras scattered around the field.

The field is an enclosed biome, a miniature environment, with various sections, a bamboo forest, another section is jungle, a woodland, a bog.

Flocks of people sit in the bleachers around the artificial biome.

They begin whispering. "I fear the shogun has gone ill in the head."

"After he lost his wife, he's changed."

"I'm just glad my son graduated before he started these new tests."

Thats a little unnerving. While he may seem like a terrible father, being related surely gives Riven a leg up. No matter how awful, he won't do anything drastic or impossible against his daughter.

"For today's challenge, the test will be..."

This is the most important part. I promised I would save her, but I have no clue what the challenge is. Realistically, if it's something like a nerve gas, there's would be nothing I could do.

The orange costumed instructor throws out his hand with a cackling grin. "適者生存"

Turning my head to Mercury, I question with concern. "What does that mean?"

Mercury turns to me, he pauses before he speaks, but I can hear the smile under that stupid mask.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!" I shout.

He throws out his hands. "Welcome to... Survival of the Fittest!"

At that moment, I hear a roar bellow through numerous screens.

Whipping my head to look, it's a bear.

But something is off...

Its pupils dilate and constrict violently, some of its fur has been ripped off, revealing the torn, tattered flesh underneath. Its mouth foams as the creature thrashes its head around. It begins biting at the metal cage it's enclosed in, disregarding the teeth being chipped in the processes.

Gleefully hopping around the orange announcer ninja dances. "You will have to simply survive for twenty minutes. You don't have to be the fastest, you just have to be faster than the guy next to you."

The gray suited students are people who have been trained their entire life to kill, to be void of emotions, to become truly invisible.

But that doesnt change the fact that most of them are only 20, 21 at the oldest. When face with death, their daily regiment, their training became void.

The participants begin running from the areas holding the caged animals, running up trees, or hiding.

Most of them begin crying

He ends his monologue with a devious grin. "Good luck..."

A stop light flips from red, to yellow, to green. It's followed by an air raid siren.

With a rattle, the gates of the various cages slam open.

There's a pause as the gray costumed contestants desperately scan their surroundings.

With a roar, the bear comes barreling out of the cage. Lunging at one of the students, it tackles them down to the ground.

The air is filled with screams and pleas.

"AHHH! Stoooop! Please!"

Their please go unanswered as the bear begins digging into their chest. The razor sharp claws tear through their flesh like butter, spraying the air in a bloody mist.

The bear doesn't even eat the corpse, it simply moves onto its next target.

But its not just the bear; other screams bellow from around the dome, in the jungle a boy is getting his face ripped apart by a swarm of monkeys as they hysterically howl.

Over by the bayou a hippo has a girl within its jaws. Yet she barley manages to hold pry its jaw open, crouching within its mouth she attempts to push her way out.

But with the obese mammal having a bite force of 1,800 psi, it wasn't a matter of strength, it was a matter when.

Her legs shake as tears stream down her face. "SOMEBODY, PLEASE! HELP M-"

With a squish, the hippo's mouth slams against her, immediately crushing her body into a bloody explosion. Like a waffle maker that was overfilled, blood seeps out of its mouth.

Noctiva watches in horror, covering her mouth she begins crying. Even Dissiri looks disturbed as she sits there with a wide eyed expression.

Turning my scared second hand anger, I look to mercury. "What the hell is wrong with these things?! Why are they acting so predatory?"

Mercury's movements are slow, and carefree as he shifts. "...Lyssavirus rabies." He taps his head. "It attacks the central nervous system, causing inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Once symptoms appear, rabies is nearly always fatal."

Leaning forward, I can see his maniacal wide eyes through the mask.

"So, let me ask you, what's scarier than a creature that knows it's going to die?"