Quinn’s head felt like someone was beating Morse code into her brain with a hammer. She moaned and tried to raise a hand to rub her temple, but her arms refused to move. Groggily, she opened her eyes.

  Her blurry surroundings seemed to be swimming, which was an odd thing for surroundings to do. A warm breeze gently brushed loose strands of hair across her face. Blinking, she shook her head and tried to focus.

  She was in a vast, open space. In front of her stretched a curved, sandy floor ringed by tiered stone seating. It looked like a massive outdoor stadium, empty as far as she could see.

  She tried to stand, but her legs wouldn’t budge. Glancing down, she saw coarse ropes knotted firmly around her, securing her to a wooden chair. Rolling her wrists, she could feel the rough bite of bindings there too.

  A notification abruptly popped up, but she waved it away impatiently.

  To her left sat the cowboy. He was lounging in a throne-like chair, his boots propped casually on the stone railing in front of him. A thin stick stuck out of his mouth, and his hat was pulled low over his eyes like he might be napping. His level was 4, which was odd. Quinn was still level 1 and had no idea how he’d leveled up so quickly. Killing rats didn’t give much experience.

  A couple of boys sat along the tiered seating nearby. Quinn recognized one of them from the attack at the house. Vermin was there too, the bright sun making his blistered skin look like raw meat left under a heat lamp.

  One of the boys nudged the cowboy’s shoulder and nodded toward Quinn.

  He turned, a wide grin spreading across his face as he caught her glaring at him. “Well good mornin’, missy! Just in time.”

  “Who the fuck are you?” she spat.

  “Name’s Crow,” he said easily, tipping the brim of his hat. “Pleasure to finally meet you.”

  “What kind of a name is that? Guess Vermin was already taken—”

  Vermin shot out of his chair with a snarl. Quinn smiled sweetly back at him, showing her teeth.

  “Easy there, partner,” Crow drawled. “Don’t you worry. She’ll pay.”

  “You settle hard, cowboy,” Quinn said loudly, twisting against her bonds. “Your boyfriend looks like gum someone stuck under a table.”

  Crow threw his head back and let out a harsh bark of laughter while Vermin flushed a deep maroon, his hands balled into shaking fists.

  “You’ve got grit, I reckon. You weren’t lyin’ about this one, partner. She’ll make for one hell of a show.”

  “What are you, some kind of bottom-shelf villain?” Quinn sneered. “Trying to prove something to mommy and daddy?”

  This time, Crow didn’t laugh. He addressed one of the boys over his shoulder without turning.

  “Gag her.”

  A grimy rag was shoved harshly into her mouth and tied behind her head before she could spit it out. She glared savagely at them, struggling uselessly against her bonds.

  Crow stood and walked over unhurriedly. He drew back his hand and slapped her hard across the face. Quinn’s head snapped to the side, her health dipping slightly.

  “I can see you’re the ignorant sort,” he said dispassionately, turning his back on her. “So let me help you out. This is Eterna, case you hadn’t noticed. A game show. If you want to survive, you gotta be entertaining and popular. The only ones who make it here understand that. And you, missy, most certainly do not.”

  He threw an arm over Vermin, who had a glazed look in his eyes and seemed to not be listening to Crow.

  “We’re here to help our friends bond a god and get the hell outta this place. But before that, we’re gonna have some fun and give the viewers a good show. Ain’t that right, partner?”

  Vermin nodded automatically, a drunk smile plastered across his face. Quinn had wondered if the NPCs knew they were in a game or what they’d do if she told them. Apparently, they couldn’t absorb the information.

  Crow released Vermin and flopped back into his bulky chair, turning to one of the boys. “Pull up the screen. Everyone got their bets in?”

  “Sid don’t,” the boy replied.

  A large holo display bloomed into view in front of them. It looked like a live Eterna broadcast, columns of names along the side ticking up and down. Onscreen, a girl completely obscured by feathers vaulted into the air and cleaved a giant goat’s head clean off its shoulders as it charged at her. Vermin didn’t react and seemed not to see the holo at all.

  “My money’s on the blonde girl,” one of the boys was saying. “Gotta mean look ‘bout her.”

  “Sure ‘bout that one, Sid?” Crow asked. “I reckon that dog don’t hunt.”

  “You’ll be eatin’ them words. Just watch.”

  “Alrighty then,” Crow chuckled. “Your money. Got him down, Ricky? Good.”

  Crow threw back his head and let out an ear-splitting caw like a rooster. Answering calls echoed from all around, but Quinn couldn’t see anyone. They sounded like they were coming from beneath the stadium itself.

  “Whoo-wee, boys!” Crow hollered, pounding on the railing with his fist. “Let’s go!”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Part of the sand directly in front of them gave way, collapsing downward as if the ground itself had been pulled out from underneath it. A hole opened, and through it rose several people Quinn had never seen before.

  They were huddled together, their eyes darting wildly around the stadium. Quinn counted twenty of them, all players.

  Another platform rose from beneath the sand at the center of the pit, this one laden with weapons of every kind. Quinn’s stomach twisted uneasily.

  “Bring out the hog!” Crow bellowed.

  There was a deep grinding sound as a section of floor vanished on the far side of the pit. A pair of heavy horns slowly rose from the ground, followed by a thick, bearded face the dull, earthen color of old graves. The creature slowly emerged, its muscular form draped in lengths of chain that clinked softly as it moved. Quinn examined it as it rolled its shoulders back.

  Its name was Orcus—a level 40 Roman god of the dead.

  This wasn’t a stadium. It was an arena.

  Orcus threw back his head and roared. The sound tore through the air, vibrating the stone under Quinn’s feet. One of the players in the sand collapsed sideways. Her friend grabbed her shoulders, shaking her frantically in a futile attempt to get her up.

  Quinn’s heart hammered in her ears. She opened her inventory and reached for her utility knife but couldn’t equip it. Her inventory was locked out.

  She thrashed against her bonds, choking on the filthy gag as she tried to yell a useless warning. A trickle of warm blood slid slowly down her wrist.

  Crow put two fingers to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle.

  Orcus charged.

  The players scattered, screams tearing loose from their throats as they ran. Orcus bounded across the arena in only a few strides, his chains rattling as he hurled one massive arm toward the woman who had collapsed.

  The chains shot through the air, snaking around her body. Orcus snapped his arm back, ripping her off the ground. He pivoted and flung her straight into the path of a man sprinting for the weapons.

  They collided. The impact sent them hurtling into the stone wall with a sickening crunch. They hit the ground in a tangled heap and did not move again.

  “Come on now, get the weapons!” Crow shouted.

  “Top twenty,” said Sid, his eyes glued to the holo screen.

  A man in a suit sprinted for the center of the arena and snatched up a sword. He turned to flee back the way he had come, but Orcus snapped his chains forward. His head flew off his body in a spray of blood and rolled away.

  Six others reached the platform, one of them vaulting over the headless body as it collapsed. They grabbed what they could and scattered in every direction.

  A spear went hurtling through the air, spinning toward the back of Orcus’s skull. A dark, milky portal appeared directly in the spear’s path at the last possible moment. It flew into the portal and vanished.

  It instantly reappeared behind the thin, young girl who had thrown it. The spear drove through the back of her head, the shaft jutting out from her eye socket. She pitched forward into the sand, blood pooling beneath her. Quinn was frozen in her chair, her eyes wide with horror.

  Orcus lifted a hand toward her. The girl twitched. Then rose.

  With a wet, squelching sound, she wrenched the spear free from her skull. Blood streamed down her face as she turned and hurled it into a player sprinting past her. The spear punched clean through his chest, and he collapsed mid-step.

  “Rank twelve now,” Sid said, not looking away from the holo. “Views are going up.”

  One of the remaining players slammed a palm to the ground. Stone erupted upward in a jagged wall, creating a thick barrier between himself and Orcus. A few of the others noticed and scrambled behind it for cover. A blonde-haired woman spun her hands in tight circles, drawing up a roiling sandstorm that obscured them from view behind the barricade.

  A tan young man with a ponytail picked up an axe from the weapons pile. With a roar, he swung it behind his head and vaulted into the air, vanishing mid-leap. He instantly reappeared behind Orcus, bellowing as he fell, the ax slicing downward.

  Orcus casually flicked his chain and swatted him out of the air. The ax clattered to the ground as he flew across the arena.

  There weren’t many people left now. Quinn’s heart pounded against her chest as she saw a small, wiry girl no older than fourteen flit down the arena. Dirt smeared her face. Her hair was dyed blue and hacked short in jagged tuffs. She ran along the edge, her eyes darting between everyone else.

  A man sprinted past her, summoning shimmering blades that orbited his body like a shield. The girl darted in close and kicked sand straight into his face as she passed.

  He cried out, stumbling as he frantically rubbed at his eyes.

  Behind him, the reanimated girl stepped forward. She reached into the orbit of blades, ignoring them as they sliced across her arm and plucked one free. With a vicious flick, she tore open his throat.

  He gurgled, clawing uselessly at his neck. Blood gushed between his fingers. His face drained of color and he collapsed, the sand turning a deep red beneath him.

  “Why y’all hiding?” Crow hollered. “Form up, come on!”

  The wiry girl kept running. She cut wide, skidding to a halt just beyond the stone barricade where the remaining players had gathered. Someone shouted at her to get back, but she ignored them.

  She scooped up a small stone and hurled it at Orcus’s back. It clattered harmlessly short, rolling to a stop by his feet.

  Orcus turned. He locked eyes with her and snarled, charging forward.

  She bolted, sprinting straight into the sandstorm behind the barricade. Just as Orcus reached it, she burst out the other side and ran clear.

  Orcus hit the stone wall like a battering ram. Rock and dust exploded outward, sending massive chunks of stone hurtling through the air. Shouts erupted from inside the sandstorm as Orcus and what remained of the barricade vanished into it.

  The shouts quickly turned into blood-curdling screams. They echoed around the arena, cutting off one by one. Lights flashed wildly inside the haze like a storm. A massive stomp shook the ground, followed by the wet, unmistakable sound of bones being crushed.

  With a final, sickening snap, the last scream cut off.

  Silence fell. Quinn could feel her heart pounding in her ears. Slowly, the dust began to settle, revealing the most gruesome scene Quinn had ever seen.

  The barricade was gone. Chunks lay blasted outward in the sand with bodies and entrails strewn across them, blood dripping from fingertips. Nothing moved—except Orcus.

  He walked calmly back to the platform that had lifted him into the arena. Gore dripped from his beard onto his chains, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  Only one person had survived. The blue-haired young girl stood alone in the open arena, cackling madly.

  “Well, I’ll be,” Crow mused. “Ricky, who had the bean?”

  “Nick did, I think.”

  “Nick’s gonna have himself a good night, I reckon! Where’d we land on the board?”

  “Almost got there,” Sid said, snapping off the holo with a wave of his hand. “Fourth spot in the rankings. With the audience tomorrow, we’ll be spotlight for sure.”

  “Hell yeah, brother,” Crow said, stretching. He threw back his head and let out another ear-splitting crow.

  Once again, his boys gave an answering call. Two of them rushed into the arena and grabbed the girl, who continued laughing as they hauled her away. Orcus descended back into the ground, looking blankly ahead.

  “Well, missy,” Crow said, turning to Quinn. He leaned down and pulled the gag from her mouth. “What’d ya think?”

  She spat on his boots. “You’re the sickest fuck I’ve ever met,” she snarled.

  Crow barked a sharp laugh. “Good.”

  Sid and Ricky hauled her to her feet and began dragging her away.

  “You best sleep well,” Crow said, turning his back on her. “Your turn’s tomorrow.”