I hated him instantly.
To my right now sat two humans, two men about my age. Both of them were Asian. Their ragged, bewildered look pegged them as fellow crawlers. One of them noticed us and pointed, talking quickly to his companion. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it seemed like they recognized us. I waved, and they waved back, both of them bowing rapidly.
They turned and also waved at the empty chairs to their right. There was someone there, but we couldn’t see who it was.
“So we have six guests today. Two stupid, lame guests. Two VIP surprise guests, and then two more surprise guests for our VIPs. Our VIPs today are so hot, we are—for the very first time—coming to you live! That is how hard I am working for you. We’ll start with the lame guests. Watch this shit, piglets.”
A screen appeared in front of us. It showed a party of four crawlers running from a group of ten troglodyte bashers. The lizard monsters were armed with spiked clubs. The crawler group consisted of the two guys sitting next to us, a woman, and a third male. Only the male who wasn’t here appeared to be armed. He held a long, odd sword with teeth on it like a saw. None of them wore any sort of armor. They turned the corner and stopped dead.
I felt sick to my stomach, seeing what they faced. Just around the bend was a familiar sight. Five grub pupae sat, blocking their retreat. The middle sac was in the midst of ripping open. A massive hornet burst forth and buzzed into the air. The only resemblance it bore to the brindle grub was the top half of its bug face. The monster consisted of a huge, hornet-like body with a pair of arms with grasping, clawed fingers. It looked at the four crawlers and spat. A glob of white goo shot out and hit the male with the sword. It splattered directly on the man’s face. He screamed, falling to the ground, dropping the sword. The glob was like acid. It sizzled and crackled. His pain-filled screeches continued as the troglodytes stopped at the corner, boxing them all in. The other pupae started to pulsate and tear as four more hornets appeared. The woman reached down to pick up the sword. The world on the screen froze.
At first I thought they’d simply paused the scene, but then the two men disappeared. When they vanished, there was a puff of air, and the sword blew a foot away, clattering loudly. Everything else, including the mobs remained frozen.
The crowd burst into a mix of applause and jeers. The two men next us were now visible to the audience.
“You know what time it is, piglets?” the Maestro shouted.
“Death watch! Death watch!” the crowd screamed.
“Okay, so we got two crawlers here. Their full names are quite the snout full, and does it really matter?” Laughter followed. “The fellow with the acne scars is Li Jun and the bald fucker we’ll just call Zhang. Say hello, meat.”
It took the two men a moment to realize the Maestro was talking to them.
“Hello,” Li Jun said. “I don’t understand what is happening.”
“Okay, so let me catch you up since you’re too stupid to figure it out. You’re on Death Watch, a segment of my show. That means we just plucked you away from certain death. You’re welcome. Before, your plight was hopeless. Now you have a chance to survive. But we’ll get to that in a second.”
The Maestro waved up at the screen. “You all have been hit with a Time Freeze spell, and it will run out just as this episode ends. We have a little game we’d like you to play, to give you the opportunity to live past the next few seconds. Yeah?”
“Okay,” Li Jun said, exchanging a look with his companion. “What do we need to do?”
“Death watch! Death watch!” the crowd chanted.
“We’re going to show you a series of scenes, and you have to guess if the crawler survives or not. But before we begin, I want to know a little about you guys.” The Maestro waved his hand, the stats of the two men appeared floating over both them. Both were level seven. They each had a single bronze star over their heads. Both had a strength of eight, meaning they’d received some sort of enhancement. Also of note was Zhang’s constitution, which was at 15, making it one point higher than my own.
“Li Jun,” the Maestro said. “Did you know your three companions before the game started?”
The poor man seemed terrified and bewildered. “Yes. Yes, sir. We all work together in a warehouse. All except my sister, Li Na.”
“So that doll up on the screen there, the one reaching for the sword. She’s your sister?”
“Yes, sir.”
The orc nodded thoughtfully. “Would you do anything to save her?”
“Death watch! Death watch!” the crowd screamed.
“What do you mean?” the man asked.
The Maestro ignored him. He turned to Zhang. “And you, Zhang. What do you think about Li Na?”
“What do I think about her? She’s my best friend’s sister. She’s like my own sister.”
“And what about your fourth companion? The guy who just got his face spooged on by that Brindled Vespa? He’s your friend too?”
“Yes,” Zhang said after a moment. The bald man’s eyes were fixed on the frozen scene. “He’s our manager.”
“The big boss man, huh?” the Maestro said. “So, if you were forced to choose between saving him and saving Li Na, you’d pick the girl, right?”
Zhang just looked at the orc, refusing to answer.
“That’s okay buddy, you might not have to choose. We’re going to play a game. This is how it works. We’re going to show you four scenes, and we want you to guess if the crawler is going to live or die through the encounter. If you guess correctly, you will receive a teleport point. When we’re done, for every point you have, you can spend it to save yourselves or one of your companions. The recipient of each teleport point will be immediately transferred to the closest safe room. If you decide to throw a point at ol’ spooge-face, he will be healed, so don’t worry about that. Ready? Good, let’s go.”
The scene showed a woman running from a giant beaver thing holding a battle axe.
“Fuck this,” I said, and I stood from my chair.
“Carl, where are you going?” Donut asked.
“Come on, Donut. This is beyond the pale. Fuck this guy.” The table was blocking my exit. I climbed up on it, feeling forward for where the real table ended. I reached it, and hopped down, my legs piercing through the illusion.
A moment later the lights of the chamber snapped back on, and the holo dispersed. Mexx-55 emerged, floating down from her spot on the ceiling. But when she spoke, the voice was different. This was a gruff, male voice. Also an orc if I had to guess.
“Get back in your seat, Crawler,” the voice said. “You’re scheduled to be on screen after this segment. This show is being tunneled live. We do not have time for tantrums.”
“Go fuck yourself,” I said.
“Carl, you’re going to get us in trouble,” Donut said.
“You are ordered to sit,” the voice said. “We have paid the appearance fee, and you will participate in the program. If you refuse, we are authorized to drop you into this ocean, drowning you both.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “You’re not Borant, and you’re not the Syndicate. There’s no way they’d authorize that. We are not participating in this cruelty.”
Nothing happened for several moments. Donut jumped up to my shoulder. “You’re gonna get us in trouble,” she said again, this time more quietly.
“Crawler Carl, this is Administrator Mukta,” a new voice said. “You are required to take your seat, or there will be consequences.”
“I’ll go on as many shows as you want, but we’re not doing this one,” I said.
“Carl, we will discuss this when you are done. If you do not participate, we will accelerate you. There are plenty of other crawlers to show on our program. This is not a bluff.”