Zone B -- Forest

[Enel]

Killing that old man – I refuse to call him a God, at this point – allayed some small part of my anger. But I’ve been awake for nearly two days and I think I’m starting to see things.

For one, in that fight, I swear I saw Hendy get speared through the gut. I wasn’t paying total attention, I admit – between sleep deprivation and … well, checking up on the Dataverse, to make sure we have all the latest up-to-date information … I dunno what I saw.

But I need to get some sleep, yo.

I sit and wait on the ground, a nice soft layer of wood and dirt, and lay down to let Hendy catch up. God it’s nice and warm … and wet, like … like a womb. I let my mind drift off to better things. The supplicatory laughter of my female servants. The helpless look in Odin’s eyes as I sent a million volts down my staff and into his tender trachea.

Something brushes my arm. Something cold and alien.

I look up and there’s something there. A shadowy figure, and I can’t see its face. I balk, pulling my arm away, and jump backwards, smacking into a tree.

“You alright boss?” asks Hendy. “We need to keep moving.”

I don’t say anything. My throat is caught in my mouth. So instead I just glare, nod and set ahead.

Fuck, man. I’m losing it.

Or maybe I’m not.

I pull out my Dataverse device, whisper into it: “search for Victor Hendy”.

I secretly trawl through the results, but … there’s almost nothing to see. He’s a Prime (obviously – he wouldn’t be here otherwise). He registered in the city of Coruscant, then …. nothing. I’m guessing he’s either truly a blue-collar worker, or what he does doesn’t get reported on news websites.

Am I being paranoid?

No. I shake my head. I don’t get paranoid. I get hunches.

Enel and Hendy moving from B9 to B10.