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Artistic Slashing Ch.4
🕑 Added 2023-07-10 08:32:14 +0000 UTCChapter Four
You made me do this. II
She moved slowly as she went back, eyes peeled for anything of use. A commotion from the counselor’s cabins drew her attention to the area. Betty arrived just in time to see SerialSam getting dragged from his cabin and beaten by the other boys as the girls cheered. A grim smile played on Betty’s face. After a few minutes of this, they backed away. A sniveling and bloody SerialSam crawled away before dashing off into the forest. Betty gagged when one of the boys quietly slid Bossy’s underwear into his pocket.
Betty followed after Sammy. Her plan had worked a lot faster than she expected. Bossy had obviously noticed her room had been disturbed.
The wounded teen scrambled away from the cabins and passed through the woods. Sitting on a rock by the spear range, he swiped at his eyes and grumbled under his breath. Betty was creeping forward, getting into position to Step behind him. Her senses were so locked on her target that she almost missed the approaching girl. Betty blinked in surprise as Bossy strode confidently into the clearing. SerialSam cried out in shock, but Bossy called to him before he could run away.
He walked slowly towards her as Bossy opened her arms wide. Betty couldn’t believe Bossy was going to hug the creep after what Betty had framed him for.
Once SerialSam was in range, he stood there as Bossy kept her arms open. She said something, and the boy flinched before nodding. Bossy’s smile was cruel as she slowly raised her top, shaking her assets in the boy’s face. Another curt command and the boy dropped to his knees. Bossy placed one hoof on his chest and pushed him back onto the floor. Standing over him, she bent low, once more flashing her assets.
After a pause, she posed over the boy, taking a selfy as he cried. She walked off without a backward glance as SerialSam cried.
Betty sat with her mouth hanging open. What the actual fuck was that? Bossy was one mean bitch, she thought, as she watched the shamed and crying creeper.
The boy screamed in frustration and got up, stomping off into the forest. Betty followed, still looking for somewhere to kill the bastard, even if she felt more empathy for him now.
The empathy didn’t last long. The creeper had his own little hideaway. He had circled away from the spear range and back towards the showers. As Betty watched, the still-weeping SerialSam crawled into a series of shrubs that she realized were not a natural formation. They had been placed there carefully. As the scandalized slasher watched, the creep dropped his pants and began to… stimulate himself while he looked through some device. Craning her neck, Betty saw the female camp counselors sunbathing beside the showers.
Gross.
The boy was blind and deaf to the world as he got closer to his satisfaction. Betty snuck up behind him, readying her axe in one hand with the spear ready in the other. She hesitated for a second. Then, as the teen shook and grunted, she swung the axe as hard as she could.
It parted the back of his head like butter.
Blood spurted back at Betty as she Stepped away. Once the twitching had stopped and the blood had pooled, the chime in her head sounded again.
Level Up!
1 point left to assign…
The recommended assignment is… Body.
Betty grinned as she accepted, enjoying the cramping sensation this time. It was more like needing a good stretch than an electric shock this time. She wondered why she only got a single level for this creep. Staring down at the corpse, her Senses focused on the form; Betty heard a chime.
Skill Unlocked!
Analyze -
Obtain basic information about a sentient, animal, or object.
Holding her breath, Betty focused on the corpse again.
Bovinian Male lvl 9
Class: None
Corpse
“Holy shit!” Betty gasped. She knew what to call the locals now! Bovinians. Did that mean they were some kind of divergent evolution? Wait… Bovinian, like bovine? Were they cow-people? They didn’t look like minotaurs. Betty shook her head. This was something to consider later.
Of immediate interest was what lay next to the body. The box-like object Sammy had been looking through. A quick check confirmed what she had suspected. They were a magnifier, like binoculars, but a single large window instead. Tucking them in with her supplies, Betty turned back to the body. Flipping him over, Betty quickly grabbed a stick and poked the…extremity back into his pants with a shudder. Gagging at the stains on the wall of the hide, Betty shoved him inside before pulling the whole thing down on top of the corpse. She spent a few minutes kicking a few leaves over any bloodstains before resuming her trek back to the mineshaft.
The rest of the trip passed peacefully, and Betty arrived back at her temporary home by late afternoon. She had run most of the way here, enjoying her new speed.
A bit of Slasher’s Step practice on the way had shown she could do it about six times before suddenly becoming exhausted. The wave of dizziness made her feel heavy and listless for a few minutes until it passed. Stepping again too soon brought it back, yet if she gave it an hour, she was back up to six before she got the exhaustion again.
A visit to her toilet tree followed a quick lunch, and she was ready to start. Among her gathered supplies was an acidic-smelling bottle with a fizzy orange liquid. She used that and one of Pudgy’s clean pairs of underwear to rub the axe clean of rust and dirt. Next, she used oil to bring a nice shine to the axehead. She was sure it was dangerous for it to be shiny like that, but it looked good. That was what mattered. With a smile, she got to work with the white and red leather, wrapping the length of the handle in cross-hatched and interwoven lines. It looked fantastic. A colorful series of ribbons added a lovely braided strap to the bottom.
Holding the axe up in front of her; it was missing something. Squinting slightly, she considered her options. Finally, she had it. A small tin of white paint and a brush came out of the supplies. Betty painted a wide smile full of fangs onto the axe head using the white color. It was split evenly across the two sides of the blade. A white flash slid over the item, making Betty scream in shock and drop it. A second later, Analyze kicked in.
‘Hacky’
Weapon - Axe
Soulbound.
Self Repairing.
Betty laughed with absolute joy for the first time since coming here. She moved on to the spear immediately, wanting another flash of light. It got the same treatment as the axe; she wrapped a handle for the spear up near the head. It was the same white and red pattern as the axe. The braided ribbon went around the base of the tip and led to the bottom so she could sling it over her shoulder.
No flash of light followed. Frowning at the spear in frustration, Betty grabbed the long body of the thing and twisted. The pole snapped off just under the handle. Betty stared. Just how strong was she now? The metal was cleanly sheared off, almost like it had been cut with a saw. The sling was no longer necessary, so Betty tied the other end around the base of the blade as well. Now she had a short-handled knife with a long cord loop to carry it. The light flashed again, and she smiled.
‘Stabby’
Weapon - Dagger
Soulbound.
Self Repairing.
Betty laughed again. Her weapons had names! For some reason, this was the most hilarious thing about this whole situation. The laughter turned to tears, but she shook herself. There was no point mourning any longer. She was committed. A manic giggle escaped from her as Betty realized she probably should be committed.
Clutching her new weapons, she curled up and dropped into a fitful sleep.
Betty tossed and turned for a few hours, waiting for the total darkness of night. When she gave up, she did a few stretching exercises and grabbed a snack while she waited. Her thoughts turned to her new skill, Analyze, as she munched on a bag of crisp-like sticks. According to what she had seen from the corpse of SerialSam, these creatures were something called Bovinians. Back on Earth, she would assume they had developed from cows, but how? They didn’t look anything like the portrayals of minotaurs she had seen. Also, their horns were not even vaguely cow-like.
Ultimately, she knew almost nothing about the people of this world. So far, she had learned that the weeks were ten days long and that they were called Bovinians. Not exactly a massive amount.
Frowning and concentrating, Betty realized she could infer more than that. They took selfies and had kitchens and summer camps. They had a yellow flying camp bus. One of them sketched, and another was a creeper. That suggested that the society was superficially similar to the one back on Earth.
Betty smiled, feeling like an archeologist studying a lost culture. Only this culture wasn’t lost; it was alive and thriving. She needed to know so much to survive in this world, but how?
First things first. A way to learn the language and a basic understanding of the level of technology on this planet. Plus, more information on whatever it was that made her a slasher.
That was enough to worry about on its own while trying to survive. It was nice to have plans to do more than murder teens in the woods ahead of her. That made Betty stop for a second as she looked at her weapons, missing the fun of creation that art gave her in her old life.
Then she had a brilliant idea… killing was what she did now, but could she do it with flair and creativity? Creative Killing, Flaying with Flair, maybe be a bit artistic?
Artistic Slashing, she liked the sound of that…
Betty stood with a new determination. She was forced to be a killer, that was true. But she did not have to be all boring and gloomy about it. She could hold on to part of herself. A somewhat creepy laugh, cracked and shaking, came from her. Betty froze in shock; that was probably not a good sign.
She laughed again, leaning into it. She set out into the forest with a broad and slightly deranged grin. It was time for a bit of revenge.
The ground passed under her feet in a blur. Any rough areas were bypassed with the judicious use of her Slasher Step. With her senses running at full power, the night was like day. Everything was washed of color, giving a pleasingly retro look to the world that she immensely enjoyed. Firelight played through the trees ahead as she returned to the bonfire.
The party was in full swing; they were all at least half drunk already. Weird music was playing from an oval device sitting on a log. It was heavy on drumbeats and something like pan pipes. It would have been quite pleasant if not for something caterwauling over the whole thing.
The collected counselors, meanwhile, were dancing in a square. It was bizarre. It was funny. It was annoying because they were all together. How was a girl supposed to get any slashing done?
Betty settled down and watched. Waiting for an opportunity to strike gave her ample time to study the teens. One thing she did notice was that the females seemed to be much more aggressive than the males. It was like watching a gender-flipped movie scene. The girls rough-housed and made comments at the males, who blushed or smiled. The males also tended to mill around until one of the girls came over and pulled them away to dance or chat. Afterward, the males would often strut around a bit, full of themselves.
As the night went on, Betty grew exceedingly bored. She had never once, in all of those slasher movies she watched, thought about how much time went into slashing. It was pretty time intensive. She had to shake herself a few times to stop from falling asleep.
Just as she was dozing off again, a movement caught her eyes. One of the female Bovinians was leading a male away from the others. With a silent cheer, Betty moved off after the two. Twinsy Two led one of the Trash Mob away from the clearing. They had moved a few hundred meters deeper into the forest before they stopped at a tiny glade. It was kind of pretty, with a sizeable flat-topped boulder that was suspiciously clear of moss. Betty grinned.
Nature provided.
As Twinsy turned and beckoned the boy, Betty Slasher Stepped off to the side where she could approach unnoticed by the pair. Her eyes locked on her targets, blood singing in her ears; Betty watched the couple. They made out for a while. Betty knew what came next. She smiled as the girl pushed the boy to his knees. That was a refreshing flip of the usual. Crouched in a bush, she waited for the opportunity to strike. Twinsy Two had her eyes closed most of the time, but a single poorly timed glance would catch Betty if she moved closer over open ground.
The boy seemed to want to move the situation along, but Twinsy Two was having none of that. After a few minutes, she shook and patted the boy on the head. He rose with a smile, only to look disappointed as Twinsy Two readjusted her clothes and walked away. The Trash Mob followed, grumbling.
Betty sighed. She never got the chance for a safe kill.
As frustrated as the Trash Mob, Betty stalked back to the bonfire. It was infuriating. No one else separated from the group; it was almost a wasted night. Almost.
The music suddenly cut off just before dawn.
The teens cried out when it did, and three were dispatched to the Cafeteria. They went to a small shed-like building in the trees just behind the Cafeteria, Checking those pebble things constantly and shaking their heads until they finished fiddling with something inside. Then, finally, it seemed to work as Betty’s Senses picked up the faint sound of music again. Once the three Counselors left, one raising the pebble in front of her and talking into it, Betty moved into the shed.
A machine like the baby of a computer and a generator sat in the shed. Glowing crystals set into a tower-like object coming out of a series of tanks and wires.
A wide smile spread over Betty’s face. The music cut off when this stopped working, and everyone acted like those pebble-like things they took pictures with stopped working. Plus, she had seen one of them talking into it once they got it working again. If those pebble things were this world's version of mobile phones, complete with selfy camera… Then this was the system that let them call and access the outside world.
It would be terrible if something happened to this when they started dying.
They would be cut off, alone. In the woods.
Far from help.
Unable to call for help.
While they died.
The poor things…
Betty stalked back through the woods. Night one was a bust in terms of kills, but.
She had just figured out how to solve her biggest problem. Once she destroyed that thing, the little fucks could not call for help.
Betty returned to her mine and settled in against the far wall, staring at the entrance. It was possible.
In her mind, she went over the various Camp Counselors. The night might have been boring, but it had crystalized the social structure of the teens in her mind. The girls were certainly running the show. That could be a society-wide thing in this world or just the result of Bossy.
That girl had been sitting center stage all night, beckoning and sending the males away as she pleased. Jock had stood around pouting and refusing the other girls’ attempts to get his attention.
The boys had all pretty much followed the girls around.
When it came time to fix the thing in the shed, Betty called it the Signal Relay for now; Captain Emo and Glasses had fixed it.
Those two had moved up to the top of the kill list. She needed to take out the power players first.
Her current top five were Emo, Glasses, Bossy, Jock, and Punky. Punky hadn’t actually done anything to earn her spot. It was just that she was giving off some Final Girl vibes.
Briefly, Betty wondered if this world would have a Final Boy instead.
Betty ignored that possibility for now and focused instead on kill sites. Planning was of prime importance to efficient slashing. Tonight had proved that. A lack of proper planning left her more of a scavenger than a predator; that would not happen again.
When the sun set today, she would get those kills. Or sooner. Betty shrugged and reviewed the layout of the camp in her head. The docks, the spear range, and the kitchen were obvious places. The make-out rock was good, and the campers’ cabins were nice and secluded… she drifted off to sleep as visions of murder danced in her head.
Betty woke with a snort, wiping a line of drool from her mouth. Her shoulder muscles were a bit stiff, so she rolled her shoulders and did a few press-ups and stretches. Betty contemplated her targets while jogging on the spot and doing star jumps before a few deep bends. She found she was looking forward to the night ahead.
Betty stepped out into the forest with Hacky in one hand and Stabby as a rather fetching neckless.
She arrived at the Camp Counselors’ cabins and saw they were mostly still asleep. Or in the cabins, at least. She counted, finding there were three of them missing. With a fierce grin, she set out to find them.
Punky was at the make-out rock with one of the Trash Mob. He was enthusiastically writhing on top of the girl while she pulled him against her. It was clear they were enjoying themselves immensely. A third life sign caught her attention on the far side of the clearing. Some creepy bugger was peeping at them. Betty grinned to herself as she skirted around the clearing, approaching the third life sign from behind.
Captain Emo was leaning around a large treetrunk and peering through the branches. Betty hoped she was wrong about them being related.
Ewwwww.
Betty hoped she was wrong about them being related.
She shivered as the boy panted excitedly, grateful she could see both his hands.
Betty wanted to come up with something special, some showy kill. It was time to start her new artistic career…
Her eyes flickered nervously back and forth between the rutting teens and the watching boy as she crept forward; he was almost close enough to touch now.
Was she strong enough?
Before hesitation could seize her again, she Slasher Stepped. Appearing behind the boy as he peered eagerly through the branches, Betty clamped a hand around his mouth and pressed him against the tree with her full strength. He struggled, but it was no good.
Reaching past him with her free hand and grabbing a branch, she snapped it off halfway along. The noise seemed lost on the other two teens, who were too focused on their activity.
Now that she had a nice sharp point to work with, Betty lifted the struggling body and pushed his head against the sharp stump of the branch. The tip pushed into his ear, and he screamed into her hand as it pierced his brain. His body twitched as she got the stump halfway into the skull. She gently released the body and watched it hang limply from the branch.
Perfect.
With one hand on the top of his head and great care, Betty lined up the half she snapped off and pushed it into his other ear. A hard shove pierced the skull, and it sunk into the brain matter. Blood dripped gently down from each ear as she stepped back to admire her work.
Captain Emo hung from the branch that appeared to have pierced all the way through his head, miraculously leaving the outer length unmarred with blood. His hooves swung gently back and forth a mere inch off the floor.
Realizing the panting and groaning in the clearing had stopped, she looked past the corpse, its eyes still focused on the clearing. The Trash Mob left quickly as Punky pulled her clothes on. Once dressed, Punky sauntered into the middle of the clearing and winked at Captain Emo's hiding spot. Her hands ran over herself before she blew a kiss into the forest and turned back towards the cabins.
Eeeeeeew.
A second later, the clearing was empty. Betty stood next to the dead Captain Emo as it swayed gently in a breeze. His slight elevation had put him just a head shorter than Betty. She patted him companionably on the shoulder, “It’s better this way; incest is never going to end well.”
Giving her first piece of slasher art a last look, she nodded happily and Stepped away.
Once she was tucked safely into the forest again, Betty allowed the chime to take her attention.
Level Up!
Level Up!
2 points to assign
The recommendation is… Mind 1 and Body 1
High from the kill, Betty ignored the recommendation and dropped both points into her Body Stat. The pain of the tingle as it passed over her was gone. It was more like a gentle massage. She grinned and moved off after the Trash Mob.
One good kill deserved another.
