I Want To Play A Game

Jack Li's fingers whitened around the metal handle as the floor disintegrated into dust with a thunderous roar. Nine bodies swung like macabre pendulums above the yawning chasm, the stench of industrial lubricant mixing with Tony's coppery blood dripping onto the concrete ten meters below.

"Hold tight!" Barrett roared, his tattooed arm bulging as he anchored Tony's sagging form. The writer's labored breaths echoed through the shaft, each gasp sending fresh crimson rivulets snaking down the harpoon shaft embedded in his shoulder.

Taylor's scream pierced the din as her injured hand slipped. Jack Li lunged, his grip closing around her wrist just as gravity claimed its due. Her bones felt like fragile bird wings beneath his fingers.

"Not... today..." he ground out through clenched teeth, hauling her upward until she regained purchase. The surgical mask she'd been clutching fluttered downward, swallowed by shadows.

A new sound cut through the chaos - hissing laughter.

"Welcome to the finale, survivors." The serpent-headed figure emerged from swirling dust, emerald scales glinting under emergency lights. "Three questions. Yes or no. Choose wisely."

Emma's voice trembled. "Will you save us?"

"No." The hiss carried finality.

Barrett's curse ricocheted off metal walls. "Bloody hell, woman! Wasted our—"

"Silence." Jack Li's command sliced through the panic. His mind raced through permutations - Boolean algebra etched across the inside of his eyelids. When he spoke, the words carried the weight of revelation: "If my next question were 'Will you pull the lever,' would your answer match this one?"

The serpent mask tilted. For three heartbeats, the only sound was Tony's ragged breathing. Then - laughter, cold and reptilian.

"Clever vermin." A gloved hand slammed the emergency release.

Hydraulics whined as their makeshift scaffold descended. Barrett collapsed onto solid ground, massaging his shredded palms. "Explain. Now."

"Classic paradox." Taylor wiped blood from her eyes. "A 'yes' binds him to saving us. A 'no' creates logical inconsistency. Either way..."

The serpent-man gestured toward oozing steel doors. "Enter your reward."

The stench hit them first - decay layered upon decay, the olfactory equivalent of a mass grave left to fester for decades. Jack Li's combat boots squelched through viscous residue coating the corridor floor. Emergency lights flickered, illuminating walls papered with... something organic.

Barrett retched. "Christ's sake... those aren't tiles."

Tony's remaining color drained. The "wallpaper" undulated faintly - thousands of preserved snake skins, each bearing identical geometric patterns.

"The old world's dead." The serpent-man's voice echoed from unseen speakers. "Here, we shed our skins. Become more."

Jack Li's hand closed around the switchblade in his pocket. Somewhere beyond the reeking corridor, a woman's laughter echoed - familiar, haunting, gone before he could place it.

The games were over.

The real nightmare was just beginning.

The air hung thick with the stench of charred plastic and decaying meat as Jack Li's group staggered through the ruins. Their shoes stuck to the pavement with each step, pulling free from the blackened sludge coating the streets.

"Christ Almighty," Barrett gagged, covering his nose with a bloodstained sleeve. "Smells like a slaughterhouse crossed with a sewage plant."

Taylor's surgical mask did little to filter the miasma. "These stains..." She crouched to examine the viscous puddles glinting under the rust-colored sky. "They're fresh. Whatever made this was here recently."

A metallic clang echoed through the skeletal remains of the convenience store. Officer Liu emerged clutching a warped first-aid kit, his police-issue boots leaving crimson prints. "Found supplies. Let's move before—"

The words died in his throat. Across the street, the bull-headed sentinel had turned. Its obsidian horns caught the sickly light as the creature raised one gloved hand, pointing directly at Tony.

"Run." Jack Li's command cut through the paralysis.

They scattered like startled quail, Dr. Lee half-dragging Tony toward an alley choked with mutated ivy. The bull-masked figure didn't pursue. Instead, it pressed a clawed finger to where lips should be beneath the bovine skull.

**Shhhhh.**

The psychic wave hit like a sledgehammer. Taylor collapsed against a dumpster, blood trickling from her nose. Barrett's tattoos seemed to writhe beneath his skin as he vomited bile onto the cracked asphalt.

Through the pain, Jack Li's gaze locked onto the restaurant behind their tormentor. Through grime-caked windows, shadows moved - humanoid shapes wearing masks of stitched-together flesh. They raised champagne flutes filled with viscous black fluid in mock salute.

"Welcome to the banquet," the bull-headed creature intoned. Its voice vibrated at a frequency that made their teeth ache. "The feast never ends here. You'll learn to love the taste."

A wet crunch echoed from the convenience store. The warped first-aid kit Officer Liu had dropped began... pulsing. Leather straps slithered like tentacles, the metal hinges sprouting needle-like teeth.

"Dao..." Jack Li clutched the golden orbs in his pocket. Their warmth contradicted the nightmare unfolding. "We need more. Now."

As the possessed medical kit lunged, its maw stretching impossibly wide, the survivors finally understood - this derelict city wasn't their prison.

It was the serving platter.