Huh, I really thought Green-Eyed Hero was the secret Adumbrae. Purple Banshee did a good job melting into the background despite being an obnoxious noisy bitch.

  Why did she act like a scaredy cat? She could’ve taken a different role, like being the know-it-all or maybe the dumbass liability of the group. She didn’t have to pick that one part that fit my appearance. I was going to make her pay later, and that’d be part of the script.

  For now, I had to see how things would go and plan my dramatic reveal.

  Another bang. Frizzy Detective fired his gun with no hesitation or any stupid questions for Purple Banshee. Such a trigger-happy guy. No-nonsense too. A refreshing character in a survival monster movie. Too bad he wasn’t going to survive long.

  There was a metallic ping after the gunshot. The power of Purple Banshee?

  Purple Banshee laughed in a grating high pitch. “I actually felt that, you piece of shit. You’re a good shot, aren’t you? If I didn’t meld in time, you would’ve damaged my beautiful face.”

  Several more shots. Several more pings.

  Then the empty clicking of the gun.

  A thud followed. Frizzy Detective must’ve thrown his gun to the ground. No footsteps. He didn’t bother to run away.

  “That’s it for me,” he said, chuckling. Accepting his fate with no drama. He was a side character who’d somehow have a cult following years after the movie’s release.

  “Don’t be like that,” said Purple Banshee in a condescending tone. “You’ll live longer if you entertain me. Mother Core knows I didn’t have any fun because—whoops. Am I still allowed to say ‘Mother Core’ now that I’m an Adumbrae? No? Anyway, I was saying that I didn’t get to have fun because the others were too quick at killing you guys.”

  “A bummer of a problem,” Frizzy Detective sarcastically replied. “Now, kill me too so you can rejoin your monster friends. Don’t drag this out, you murderous monster.”

  “Why are you so quick to ask for death? Don’t you want to live? You were first to run when danger appeared.”

  “I want to live; that’s a normal human desire. But if cornered, with no way out, the least I can do is not give you the satisfaction of toying with me.”

  “What if I tell you there’s a way for you to survive?”

  Heavy footsteps. Was this Purple Banshee? Did she turn into something heavy and hard that was impervious to bullets? I had my eyes closed as I fell—I wasn’t sure if I could pull off eyes open dead look—so I couldn’t see what was going on.

  “What way?” Frizzy Detective asked. “Becoming one of you? No, thank you. I’ll die a human and that’s it.”

  “Still acting tough, I see,” said Purple Banshee. “Or you’re not acting. How about we start things fresh and go from there? Elaiza Mae Cayden is my real name. What fake name did I give you guys? I can’t recall.”

  “Cayden as in the Cayden family that manufactures cars?”

  “Ugh, no. That’s my uncle and his whore of a wife. Why is it always them that people think of? We’re the Caydens with the restaurants. I’m too miffed to explain more about me. But how about telling me who you really are, Francis? I promise that I’ll let you join the next round.”

  “Are you referring to the next round of your despicable hunting game? All I get is to live a bit longer. That’s not incentive enough for me to join your little interview.”

  “If you get another chance, you might find a way to escape. You don’t want that?” Sounds of Purple Banshee cumbersome walking. She was probably pacing around Frizzy Detective. No other footsteps. Frizzy Detective stood still. Purple Banshee continued, “The moment you wake up in your cell, you already know what’s going on. Rally your group. Survive through the jungle and stuff like that. With your brains, you just might make it with a second chance.”

  “You’re peddling the illusion of escape,” Frizzy Detective scoffed. “We’ll just prolong our agony. This is an island. We’re not going anywhere.”

  Purple Banshee stopped walking. “How did you know this is an island?”

  “I’m right?” Frizzy Detective laughed. “It just makes sense for this place to be an island. Easy to secure and hard to escape from. If this was connected to the mainland, random people might accidentally stumble here.”

  That was good logic, I thought. Earlier, he told me there could be a ‘wild hope’ we’d find civilization over the mountains. Turns out he was just trying to keep my spirits up. He already knew then that we were trapped. He wasn’t that bad a guy.

  “Why are you so interested in me?” said Frizzy Detective. A couple of lighter steps. He must’ve approached Purple Banshee in defiance. “Kill me now.”

  But Purple Banshee wasn’t easily provoked. “Are you a cop? Did you serve time in the military? Or are you an undercover BID agent? I’ve heard rumors that the BID is trying to find this place.”

  The BID? I had to remind myself a corpse couldn’t raise a brow.

  Was this why Purple Banshee was interested in Frizzy Detective? Such an interesting tidbit that the BID was aware of Red Island. I should’ve deduced that. The government wasn’t dumb—they found the underground arena of Eve and trashed it. The operations of Red Island were massive. A lot of criminal organizations were involved. Add in a buttload of rich and powerful people as clientele. Not every one of them could be trusted to keep a secret. Also, the Red Island required a lot of kidnapped people to fuel not only its experiments but also these hunting games.

  Somewhere in that web of connections, the BID was bound to learn of Red Island. But was Frizzy Detective one of them?

  “I wish I were a BID agent,” he said with a snort. “But I’m just a regular guy who joined the local gun club. There you go. Are you going to let me join the next round?”

  Purple Banshee tutted. “You’re not telling me the truth. Some of it, I guess. But not the juicy parts. If you’re that adamant about dying, then fine. At least I’ll reward you for entertaining me for like five minutes or so. Go on, I’ll give you a head start of five minutes in return.”

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  “I’m staying here,” said Frizzy Detective. “I’ll have some dignity in my last moments and not be your toy. I should’ve kept a bullet for myself. Kill me already.”

  “I won’t kill you… But I will hurt you. I assure you that it’s going to be incentive enough for you to run. That’s the word you used, right? Incentive?”

  It’s show time! I wanted to startle them with laughing, but that was what Tattered Tuxedo who eventually became Suitless Serpent did. Instead, I loudly said, “You guys are so loud, and I’m trying to rest here.”

  Fucking corny, dammit. I sucked at one-liners.

  Opening my eyes, I saw that Purple Banshee’s skin had turned into a rough, glowing, silver material as if she had backlight inside of her. Frizzy Detective wasn’t that shocked seeing me still alive. Rather, he was confused by the reaction of Purple Banshee.

  She yelped in surprise when she saw me sit up. She swung her arm at me. It extended into a whip.

  I rolled out of the way. The whip slashed across the ground, creating a shallow groove in the earth. Weighty and strong yet so bendy.

  Frizzy Detective took the opportunity to run. He didn’t understand why Purple Banshee attacked me, supposedly a fellow Adumbrae, and he wasn’t interested in finding out.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Purple Banshee said, whipping at Frizzy with her other arm which also became a giant spaghetti strand.

  It snapped across Frizzy Detective’s back, tearing his clothes and cutting a bright red wound in a blink. The force of the strike sent him flying to a tree. There was an unpleasant crunch as he hit the trunk. He fell to the ground and didn’t move.

  Purple Banshee gasped. “Whoops, did I kill him?” She turned to me, jolted as if I materialized out of nowhere, and covered her mouth with hands that had returned to their normal shape. “Oh, my gosh! I’m so sorry for attacking you.”

  I blinked. She’s apologizing to me?

  “I swear no one told me you were here too,” she said. “There are supposed to be only four of us for this afternoon. Did you join in late?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  I internally smirked. She thought I was one of them. What else would she assume? Also, what was that about the afternoon? We arrived at Red Island before sunrise. Not much time had passed since then. The teleportation also messes with time and not just location.

  “I can’t believe they placed both of us in the same group! They could’ve at least told me. This isn’t fun at all.”

  What to do here? I could play along and try to gain information about the various islands. Or I could reveal my enemy Adumbrae infiltrator face and torture information out of Purple Banshee. Her screams would be annoying, I just knew it. But the second option seemed too abrupt. Go with the first. Right now, I was an infiltrator continuing infiltration. However, I didn’t forget that Purple Banshee had to pay for taking my role.

  “I’m just new here so I don’t know much about anything,” I said. “I think there’s been a mix-up. We should complain to someone. Make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

  “You’re right,” said Purple Banshee, whose real name I already forgot. “Were you listening in on us the entire time?”

  “Just towards the end.” I nervously chuckled. “The bullet knocked me out a bit. I should’ve been more careful. That could’ve been the end of me.”

  She offered me her right hand. “What’s your name?”

  Asking for my name instead of waiting for me to introduce myself? I nonetheless shook her hand. I gripped it tight to make her feel the crystalline and metallic growths on my palm that had expanded to cover it. I was stronger than her, no surprise. She flinched and tried to pull away.

  “Should we head back now?” I asked, letting go of her hand. “The round must be over by now. Good thing I ran into you because I’m super lost.”

  Purple Banshee tilted her head and looked at me for a few seconds before replying, “Uh, we’re going to different places though. Go to the teleportation zone of your sector to return to your unit. You know that… right?”

  “That’s the problem,” I said, walking towards her. “I don’t know the way back. Maybe I can go with you until we meet someone who can point me the right way? If you’ll leave me on my own, I’ll get even more lost.”

  “Is that so…?” The eyes of Purple Banshee darted back and forth. I looked up at her with puppy dog eyes. She reached into her pocket. “If that’s the case, let’s just call for help. You should’ve done that when—”

  I leaped up and punched her head. She wasn’t good at keeping a poker face. She tumbled a few feet away from Frizzy Detective’s dead body.

  Or not so dead body.

  “You’re still alive?” Walking up to them, I spotted Frizzy Detective crawling away through the tall grass as his back wound bled.

  He wasn’t as hurt as I thought he was. The tree he hit was mostly hollowed out by fungus or something, and the crunching noises earlier were the bark. He should’ve left much earlier. He was probably concerned we’d notice or was hoping we’d leave instead.

  As for Purple Banshee, her jaw got torn off one end. Her muscles had started to stitch themselves. She was unconscious but still breathing.

  “Francis, right?” I asked Frizzy Detective. “If you’re thinking of surviving, I’m your best chance.”

  He looked back at me with a grimace. “Helen. Who… are you?”

  “You do know I’m just going to give you a fake name?”

  “Wha-what are you?”

  “That’s the correct question—I’m an Adumbrae that’s not connected to all of this game whatever.” I gestured to our surroundings. “I just randomly dropped in and want to fight other Adumbrae. Congratulations, you’re a human. You’re not my target. If you help me, I won’t kill you. Just hang around near me until I find a way out of here. Sounds good?”

  “An enemy of my enemy thing kind of arrangement? Do you want us to work together?”

  I nodded. “If you prove yourself useful, I’ll protect you. I’ve heard that you want to live.”

  “I accept.”

  Half an hour later, the three of us were in a cave. Wasn’t too long until we found a hiding spot. Frizzy Detective was quite good at this hiking-in-the-jungle thing. Purple Banshee woke up a few times on the way, so I had to put her back to sleep since I had nothing to restrain her with.

  “You’re still not telling me your real backstory,” I told Frizzy Detective.

  He winced as he placed crushed leaves on his wound. He had to do some contortionist shit to reach his back. I could’ve helped him but didn’t. That’d be like a romantic scene. Gross.

  “You’re not telling me your true story either,” he said. ‘What makes you think I’ll tell mine? And why do you care so much about it? I’m just a normal human.”

  “Not so normal it seems,” I said. “That’s what I’m interested in. All this survival stuff. You also have good aim.”

  “I’m not an undercover BID agent if that’s what you think. I wish I were so I can call for backup. That being said, the backup for this Cayden woman would come soon. They’re going to search for her. They'd know they have intruders once they find her phone that we threw away. Why are we staying here?”

  “We can’t interrogate her out in the open. A little too obvious, don’t you think? This cave could hopefully muffle her screams.”

  Frizzy Detective stopped reaching for his back. “Are you going to torture her?”

  “Perhaps. Are you going to apply your human morality to me?”

  He shook his head. “You monsters have your own set of rules. I’m interested only in my own survival. Look, she’s waking up. We don’t have much time to tarry in this area. Get started.”