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Artistic Slashing Ch.5
🕑 Added 2023-07-10 08:34:08 +0000 UTCChapter Five
That’s what Trash Mobs are for
Betty followed in the forest as the Trash Mob boy moved through the camp. He left the counselors’ area behind and went into the Cafeteria briefly. Coming back out with a bottle of drink and some weird green chips that tasted like grass to Betty.
He moved on through the campgrounds as she followed behind, waiting for her chance.
She almost grabbed him and dragged him into the campers’ cabins just out of pure impatience, going as far as to Slasher Step between cabins in case he came close enough. Finally, they arrived back at the docks. The jetties were quiet as he arrived.
Her quarry settled himself cross-legged on the end of the Jetty and munched on his crisps, staring out into the lake. Staring at him from the edge of the forest, Betty tapped one finger against her lips as she thought. Her first kill of the day had been fun and stylish. This one had to be as well. She considered drowning him in the lake. Lots of splashing and struggling. It would make a great scene in a movie. But was it enough?
As the boy raised the bottle to his lips, Betty smiled. That was perfect. A Slasher Step later, and she loomed over the boy. His eyes opened very wide as she leaned down and grabbed the bottle. Forcing it into his mouth and holding it there, Betty smiled at him as he tried to breathe.
Plopping herself down behind him, she pulled the boy backward, careful not to snap his neck. Strapping her legs around his chest, she squeezed, trapping his arms as he stared at her in terror. His nostrils flared as he tried to avoid inhaling the liquid in the bottle.
“You really should have been kinder to my friend, Paula,” Betty said as she used her free hand to hold his nose closed. The boy thrashed uselessly in her hold. His eyes rolled as he ran out of air. In desperation, he tried to breathe around the bottle she held in his mouth. The liquid flowed into his lungs, and he bucked and twisted. Betty grinned at him. “It’s almost over now, kid.” She stayed there until the chime in her head told Betty he was dead. She rolled him over and stared down at the boy, propping his head on his hands as if he were looking out over the lake again. She patted him gently on the head.
Good corpse… Stay!
Level Up!
1 point left to assign…
The recommendation is… Mind.
“Why?” Betty moaned. It was much more fun getting stronger and faster.
Mind sub stat Perception linked to skill -
Slasher’s Senses.
“Sub stat?” Betty asked, confused.
Main Stat - MInd 4
Intelligence 20
Perception 20
Main Stat - Spirit 5
Wisdom 25
Luck 25
Main Stat - Body 11
Constitution 55
Strength 55
Agility 55
Mana: 200, Stamina: 550
“Holy shit,” Betty gasped. It was like an RPG system. That was even more nuts. “Do I need to understand all that to be a slasher?”
No.
Recommendations are provided.
“Okay, let's go with Mind then.” Betty shrugged as she Slasher Stepped into the woods. She giggled at the tickling sensation of the level-up. She could immediately feel the difference. Everything seemed to move slower. She had more time to process everything. When she ran now, the world didn’t go all blurry.
Her Slasher’s Senses seemed to have more range as well.
A quick tour of the campgrounds showed no one else was moving around. Punky was back in her cabin. But they should all be up and about soon. Once they were, she could not have them going running around without a care in the world. Betty couldn’t have them finding the bodies too soon.
The best option would be to take out that relay. If she did, they would immediately know there was a problem. It was too soon for that. She wanted at least one more night of fun before they figured everything out. They might be able to fight back, after all.
While she waited, Betty took a shower. It was amazing how much she missed this modern convenience. That gave her an idea… could she improve her mine shaft? A bed would be a good start, and maybe a table as well. A shower was probably a dream too far, but a girl had to have a few luxuries in life.
On the other hand, would she be here much longer? I mean, once they found however many of these people she managed to kill, they would be more serious about their search.
She would need to be far from here by then.
The wind was picking up when she came out of the showers. Dark clouds were roiling above the camp. She hung her head. She was going to either have to call it a night or get soaked. She was not a fan of either option.
Five minutes later, a grumpy, thoroughly soaked Betty watched the cabins. The counselors were staying indoors. One of them occasionally dashed from one to the other. Glasses made trips to two of the boys about an hour apart.
Betty felt a bit jealous. As far as she knew, she was the only one of her kind on this planet. No bed hopping for her. Betty waited, muttering that she hoped Glasses got some Bovinian version of the clap. She was seriously considering finding somewhere to wait out the storm when one of the cabins opened. It was Twinsy One. She looked out into the storm and focused on her pebble thing for a bit. She talked into it for a while. Then another cabin opened. Punky stuck her head out, and they shouted at each other for a bit. Punky gave a shrug and went back inside. Before Twinsy One went inside, the female Trash Mob came out and yelled. They talked for a bit. Twinsy One looked irritated and just waved the other girl away. She pointed toward the docks and ducked back inside. At a guess, it seemed that Twinsy was expecting Captain Emo, and Punky didn’t seem worried he hadn’t turned up. The Trash Mob girl was looking wistfully out towards the docks. Guess she had a thing for the Trash Mob guy. Betty wondered if she knew the guy was banging Punky.
Twinsy One seemed to know, judging from her dismissive attitude. Pulling a hood up over her head, the Trash Mob girl set out into the rain. Thanking the Gods of Slashing for young love, Betty tracked her.
The girl went down towards the docks, seeing the Trash Mob boy sitting on the end of the jetty. She stood at the other end and shouted to him. Betty got ready. She wanted to give the Bovinian time to see the boy was dead.
That moment, when some character touched a corpse, and it fell back, startling them, was a favorite of Betty’s. She was eager to have one in her own story.
The girl stripped off her clothes in the rain and walked slowly forward, yelling at the boy.
The corpse, unsurprisingly, didn’t react. The girl stopped next to the body and posed seductively. The rain was really heavy. Even with her Slasher’s Senses, Betty had to get closer.
This girl was certainly dedicated to getting what she wanted…
She Stepped over to the boat shed, peering around the corner. The girl posed, then called again, then stamped her hoof in irritation. She ran back along the dock, crying as she gathered her clothes.
Betty could not believe it. Was the girl blind? She must have been nervous; she had certainly looked it. Even so, how did the girl not notice the guy was dead?
Shaking her head, Betty followed the fleeing girl. Instead of returning to the Counselors’ area, she moved to one of the campers’ dorms. Dashing inside and slamming the door.
Betty was in a pickle. She really wanted to kill the girl. Any kill in an empty cabin had real pedigree. It just had to be on the new slasher’s top ten must-kill list. The problem was that damn pebble phone. If the Trash Mob saw her, the girl could activate a speed dial or something.
Betty watched the cabin for a moment. Grinning, she sprinted back down to the dock and grabbed the corpse. It was a little stiff but not smelling as yet. She pulled the bottle out of his mouth and dragged him along behind her, heading for the cabins. Holding tightly to the body, she propped it up in front of her as she knocked loudly on the cabin door. She used her Slasher Step to get to the roof, her first time using it to climb a building, and watched the body fall down the stairs, crumpling at the bottom.
The Trash Mob girl came to the door and stared around; when she looked down and saw the body, she fumbled with her pebble.
“Thanks,” Betty said as she Slasher Stepped down next to her and grabbed the phone from her hand. She threw the pebble over her shoulder and grabbed the girl around the throat as she marched them into the cabin. Betty kicked the door closed; it was time for a little chat.
The Bovinian scrabbled at the fingers around her neck. It was no use. The girl tried to scream, but Betty squeezed threateningly. A squeak came from the girl before she let up. Throwing her to the floor, Betty crouched down to talk to her. The girl was only just under five feet tall; she was tiny. The girl tried to scramble away, and Betty dragged her back. The girl tried to run, only to find Betty waiting where ever she turned. Dragging the girl back into the middle of the room again, Betty threw her down once more.
“Can you understand me?” Betty tried. The girl just shook as she stared at her. Betty pointed at the girl and then at the floor. The girl nodded.
Now what? Betty Analyzed the girl.
Bovinian Female lvl 10
Class: None
That wasn’t much help. She wondered what the Bovinian saw when she examined Betty. Her gaze was unnerving the Trash Mob girl, who began to gabble away. None of it made sense.
Frustrated, Betty growled. The girl Froze.
“Mrs. Peters.” Betty said, “Please, don’t… Stop.” Each word she said made the girl's eyes open wider. She began to shake her head and cry. Betty’s blood ran cold. That settled it. Paula was alive when they found her. “Betty,” she tried, and the girl paled again. Fuck. Paula had called for her.
“Betty,” she said again, pointing to herself. The girl began to shake her head and beg even more. She pointed at the girl again and at the floor. The girl nodded quickly.
Betty got up and went to the door; she Stepped down to the ground, grabbing the phone. Coming back inside and finding the girl trying to climb out the window. Betty laughed, and the girl squeaked in terror. Dragging her back into the room and slamming the window, she threw the Trash Mob down on the floor. Harder this time.
“Mrs. Peters,” Betty said and imitated their pose when taking pictures with the body. Then she pointed at the girl. The girl nodded eagerly and reached for the phone pebble. Betty slapped her hand away. That settled it. The girl had posed for pictures with the body.
She smiled at the girl, who looked hopeful. “I want you to know; this is one of the top ten kills for a slasher like me,” Betty said happily.
The girl smiled back.
Betty grabbed her around the throat and dragged her over to one of the bunks. The girl squealed and covered her crotch as Betty slammed her into one. That made Betty chuckle as she grabbed a metal pole the campers used to prop the window open. Holding the girl down, she reached underneath the bed and forced the bar up through the bed and the girl's throat. She grinned as the tip pushed against the skin of the throat, stretching it before it tore and the bar lodged in place.
Betty sat on the edge of the bed and watched the girl gurgle and twitch as she drowned in her own blood. A satisfied smile came from her as she stood. A chime sounded in her head.
It’s a Spree!
Kill three sentients in a single day.
+1 Main Stats.
“Whooa,” Betty waivered as the stat boost hit. It was a rush, almost drug-like. She admired the scene for a while. Once she had locked it in her memory, Betty moved outside and grabbed the body of the boy. She slid him into a bed next to the girl. She pulled the blankets up over their heads, still smiling happily. Smashing the lights in the room as she left with Hacky, Betty congratulated herself on a job well done.
====================
The storm got worse over the next hour. The wind howled, and the trees bent in the wind. Betty forged on, her stats making the storm nothing more than a summer breeze.
Okay, that was a massive exaggeration. But still, it was not an impediment to her as she moved around. She Stepped away as one of the countless trees lost the fight with the storm. A couple more had come down in the area. That was what had given her the idea.
The shed looked quite sturdy; it was obviously well-braced. A couple of strong kicks snapped the thick wooden braces like twigs. There was a lovely big pine tree just behind the shack. Perfect.
Bracing herself against the tree and pushing with her feet, the thing went over with a grinding crack. The shack smashed like paper. The relay was broken and scattered across the floor, crystals glinting as the light inside them faded. Betty grabbed a random selection of them and erased the prints from her shoes with a bunch of branches. She Stepped away and back towards the Couselors’ Cabins. By the time she arrived, most counselors were shouting back and forth in their doorways. Bossy was shouting loudest, a look of irritation on her face. She pointed at Punky and yelled a bit. Punky just gave her a look and went back into her cabin, slamming the door.
Now shaking with fury, Bossy snapped at Jock, who shrugged and grabbed the nearest two Bovinians and stomped off through the rain. Betty really wanted to watch Bossy lose her temper, but she had to know how they reacted to the damage. She followed the three as they made their way through the storm. Jock didn’t seem to be having too much trouble, and Betty made a point of analyzing him.
Bovinian Male lvl 14
Class: Sportsman
So Jock’s class was Jock? That was too good to be true. Still, she noticed the relative ease of his movement. It was not as good as hers, but it was close. Betty kept her distance, wishing she could get a look at his stats.
They arrived at the shed, or rather what was left of it. The three of them poked around a little, not seeming to see anything strange about what happened. They talked for a bit, and then Jock dragged one of them back, leaving the other one alone. Following the two others back, Betty watched Jock report to Bossy. She was too far away to get an Analyze off on Bossy at the moment.
It was fun to see the girl look frustrated and angry, though. Throwing her hands up into the air and storming into her cabin with Jock following. The others went back into their cabins, and the place settled down. Jock came back out and collected the last of the Counselors from the ‘accident’ site. He growled at the smashed relay and gave it a kick as he went past, dragging the sodden boy behind him.
Betty stood in the rain and smiled. They didn’t try and fix it. They didn’t use their pebble phones. And they didn’t look worried at all.
It had worked!
She did a sodden little dance of joy.
Returning to the campers’ cabin where she had stashed the two bodies was quick work. A small problem had occurred to her as she watched the Jock stride away up the hill. His hooves had left tracks in the mud.
Looking down at the floor of the cabin confirmed her fears. Footprints in mud on the way into and all around the room. Ducking back outside, Betty Slasher Stepped up onto the roof and punched down. Her first passed through the wooden roof easily. Pulling a bit of roof back, she looked inside. The water poured in. She put two more holes in the roof before she stepped away. Back inside, she shuffled around with a blanket under her feet. The water would take care of the rest of the evidence.
With a longing look over toward the showers, Betty admitted there was no point. The rain would just soak her again on the way to her hideout. It was a grumpy and miserable trek back to the mineshaft. When she got there, Betty kicked off her mud-cacked shoes and stripped out of her bloodstained and muddy clothes.
With a shrug, she walked back out into the rain and had a very cold shower. It was not soothing, but it was effective.
Pulling on clean clothes as she crawled over to her sleeping corner, Betty missed a warm bed and clothes that fit.
She lay on her back and chewed some of her leftover rations. It was not a satisfying meal. She missed burgers, hotdogs, steaks, and bacon! She pulled the alien clothes into a slightly more comfortable arrangement. She needed to find a way to wash her old clothes. But what about when they wore out? What about when her shoes wore out? It was not like she could take more from the Bovinians. They didn’t even have feet!
Betty rolled over and faced the wall. It was a lot more difficult being a homicidal monster than she would have expected.
Grumbling, she dropped off to sleep.
