The Dark Project

Jerry runs for his life, his hunter only feet behind him. His eyes water and his vision blurs, Jerry can't see where to run next, so he keeps running straight ahead, praying that he'll soon be safe. He bumps into something, someone. Behind him, his hunter shouts, but Jerry can't hear his words, nor any other words. The one he bumped into is now embracing him, soft and caring. Jerry imagines that it's his mother, and that he's home again.1

"Damned, the kid was fast"
"Well, we've got him now"2

Jerry feels an intense pain in his gut, as a sharp something is rammed into him. The something carves him open, and his blood and intestines slowly leaves his body along with his life. Jerry tries to scream, but his throat has been slit by a razor-sharp object. He tries to speak out, but his words are lost in his throat, coming out as gushes of blood instead. He feels someone pull his head back, as the razor-like object approaches his throat again. As Jerrys tears dry, he can see his body fall to the ground, covered in blood, headless, before everything goes bright like snow. Jerry likes the snow, always has.3

*4

Ben never really wanted to be a priest, his faith never actually too strong. His parents had made him what he was now, molded him like clay from their own vision. Now, in his final hour, Ben cursed them for doing it, and cursed himself for being too afraid to change anything about it. He wished he had gone with his dream and become a carpenter. Ben was good with building things, using his hands... But he wasn't too good with words or comfort, so his current job came very hard to him. Also, if he had just been a carpenter, he'd never have met his boyfriend, and he probably wouldn't be where he was now. God, he had never been so afraid.5

"Where the fuck did the fruit go?"
"Who?"
"The priest"6

Ben heard people talking right outside his hideout, but he could barely make out their voices, let alone what they were saying. All he knew was that these were the people he was trying to avoid.7

"He was here a while ago, probably ran inside"
"Then why the fuck are we just standing here, let's go"8

As he heard footsteps coming close to his hideout, Ben prayed sincerely for the first time in his life. He prayed that he'd get out of this alive, that he wouldn't end up like that kid, and that he'd see Peter again.9

"There are five boxes in this otherwise empty warehouse, and only one is shivering. I wonder where the priest can be"
"Shoot him"10

The last thing Ben saw in his minds eye was Peter, telling him that everything would be okey. In that same instant, his head was filled with hundreds of small metal fragments, originating from a shotgun-shell. Blood poured out of the box he was hiding in, and he stopped shivering in fear. He was peaceful now, for once.11

*12

George was tired, he had been running around avoiding these guys all night. One of them had shot him in the shoulder. Luckily, it wasn't the man with the shotgun, and luckily, the bullet had gone straight through. But it hurt like hell.13

"So, the other four, any clue as to where they are?"
"No idea, but they must be around here somewhere"14

Yeah, they did have to be here somewhere. The place, about a kilometer in each direction out from the center, was fenced up with electrical fences. George had seen one of the other captives touch the fence, shake like hell, and then fall over with boiling blood coming out of his ears and his mouth... It was not a pretty sight. He hadn't seen the Priest, the prostitute or the doctor in a while, but he had seen the boy, or what was left of him anyway. George guessed that the boy had to be around twelve years old or something close to that. Gutted now, headless in a pool of his own blood.15

"Let's find Gary, he's probably tracking one of them"16

The conversation between the two hunters took an unexpected turn. Up to this point, George had guessed that there were only two of them, but there was another one, one who could be right behind him. He turned around, but there was no one there. He was relieved not to see a man with a shotgun pointed at him, smiling, waiting to see the look on his face before he pulled the trigger. No, there was no man. George turned back to watch the two hunters, but they had left. He'd better start moving, in case they were coming his way.17

*18

Lisa stopped walking, the wounds on her wrists aching with pain again. A tear rolled down her face, and the doctor, Marcus, noticed.19

"Let me have a look at those wounds Lisa" He said, "if not for your own sake, then for mine... if you stop again, they might catch up with us"20

Lisa nodded, but didn't like it one bit. She wasn't afraid to share her body with anyone, but she was afraid to share anything else, because sharing had only got her hurt in the past. And what a dark past it had been, not one to share with strangers.21

"How old are the wounds? How long have they been like this?" Asked the bearded older gentleman, Marcus.
"Oh, a year or so" Lisa answered, more tears emerging, not because of physical pain this time.
"They're infected these wounds, and might just end up killing you after all" he said.
"If we make it out of this at all" she answered.22

Then, suddenly, the doctor stopped breathing. He held a finger to his mouth, signalling for Lisa to keep quiet. Footsteps. Lisa started shaking with fear, her long black hair making tiny noises as it bounced off her leather suit. The doctor embraced her, maybe because he wanted her to stop shaking, or because he knew they were both going to die. Either way, the embrace was welcomed and re-payed.23

"Shit"24

A man walked into their view, disappointed by something, probably by not finding them. He was alone, a modern bow in his hand, arrows in a quiver on his back. Lisa knew that he couldn't see them from where he were, and that if they had had any weapons, this would have been the perfect moment to take him out. Marcus obviously also saw this.25

*26

Marcus dragged one of the high heels off the young woman by his side, Lisa. The heel of that particular shoe had partially broken moments ago, yet she had insisted on keeping the knee-high shoe-boots on. He could see why now, as she was heavily bruised down there, probably being beat by someone who knew where to beat women without making it too visible. But there was no protest from her now, as he took the shoe in his hand and walked slowly towards the man with the bow who was hunting them. As he was roughly a feet or two behind the man, the man turned and just barely had the time to look surprised, before Marcus rammed the halfway-broken heel of the shoe into the hunters head. It hit him just between the eyes, and went in deep, sharp as it was. Dark blood seeped into the hunters eyes and into his mouth, and he just stood there for a moment, tasting it, before he lost his bow and fell to the ground.27

Marcus picked up the bow and the quiver, even though he had no knowledge of how to use such a weapon. But any weapon was better than none.28

*29

George had been running for a few minutes before he reached a large warehouse. He was quiet and careful, as he suspected the building to be the hunters headquarters. But upon peeking through one of the few windows the building possessed, he saw that it was almost empty. He entered it to see if he could find any tools, but all he found was a couple of crates. As he thought of breaking them all to check for contents, he saw that one of the crates was colored. But wait, not colored, bloody. He knocked it over with his feet, and found the priest inside. The priests head was just a bloody mush, but the clothes clearly gave him away.30

George just wanted to leave this place now, he wanted to go back to the cell, go back to his remaining five years of loneliness. The hell he had been though ten years ago was nothing compared to this. His crime was nothing compared to the crimes of the two, no, three, hunters.31

He left the corpse of the priest alone, but took the crucifix that was in his clenched hand. He needed all the help he could get, and Divine intervention was not a thing to shun. But alas, no such thing happened. George barely heard the two hunters behind him before it was too late. He felt a bullet pierce his back, the handgun again, the same one who had shot him in the shoulder. He turned around and faced the two men. The man who had fired, the one with the handgun, was smiling. Then another shot boomed through the air, and entered Georges gut. If he knew being shot was this painful, he wouldn't have shot his cheating wife all those years ago, he'd rather have bashed her head in. He'd still have shot her lover though, those shots were all supposed to hurt. 32

The strange thoughts that entered his mind gave George new strength, and he walked towards the hunters. Another shot hit him, in his chest this time. He coughed blood. George was in fine physical shape, and the bullets did little to hinder him from approaching the hunters, especially the one that was shooting him. He sprinted towards him. Both the hunters seemed shocked, they both thought he was a dead man by now. But George had practically been dead for ten years now, and he longed for the rest that actual death would bring him. He pulled the handgun from the hand of the hunter, turned it towards him, and then felt his last life punched out of him as he was shot by the man with the shotgun. A large hole in his chest signalled that he'd be dead in less than a second. He used his time to squeeze the trigger of the handgun, shooting the unarmed hunter in his throat. Then he fell over, blood pouring out of his mouth and countless bulletholes.33

"Oh my holy fucking... Joe... Joe?"34

The hunter he had shot fell down by his side, blood flowing out of his wounded throat. He was just as dead as George was now. George was pleased.35

*36

Lisa heard someone shouting, coming towards them, fast. It was another of the hunters, one with a shotgun.37

"The bow, Marcus, use the bow!" she cried out to the doctor.38

*39

Marcus took out the bow on Lisas request, without actually having seen any of the hunters. But he heard him shouting, and that was enough for him to suddenly feel like a marksman, even though he had never used a bow before. As he turned and saw the hunter, shotgun in hand, he fired an arrow towards him. Marcus and Lisa were both surprised, as the arrow went straight through the calf of the hunter, the tip barely visible on the other side, dripping with blood.40

"Fuckers"41

The hunter fired his shotgun, and Marcus fell to the ground, his vision fading away. The last thing he saw was Lisa being shot also, falling next to him, screaming, but dead before she hit the ground.42


Game Over - Hunters Win43

*44

"Whoah, that was fucking intense" Marcus 'The Doctor' said as he removed the game-goggles from his head.45

"I'll say" Lisa 'The Prostitute' agreed, also taking off her goggles.46

"It's supposed to be, and it's rated M for mature" Gary 'The third hunter' reminded them.47

"But if you don't want an AO, Adults Only, on your hand here, you shouldn't make any character a child" Jerry 'The Kid' said, being the tester supposed to verify the rating.48

"Of course not, we just wanted to mess with you" Joe 'The second hunter' said jokingly to Jerry.49

"And you had to make my character a gay priest?" Ben 'The Priest' laughed.50

"Sorry about that pal" said Gregory 'The first hunter', to his longtime friend as he punched him jokingly in the shoulder.51

"Well, I must say, I really loved it" George 'The Inmate' said, his goggles still on his head, a look of surprise and satisfaction on his face.52

"No wonder, you got the good part" Ben moaned as a joke. All of them laughed in reply, as they shook hands with eachother, thanking the developers, Joe, George and Gregory, for the opportunity to test the very anticipated game.53

"And don't forget guys, it hits the shelves next month!" Gregory reminded them all, as Lisa, Ben, George, Marcus and Jerry left.54

*55

"Want to have another go guys?" Jim asked the two other developers.56

"Only three of us? Then we can't have more than one hunter" George said, allready putting his goggles on.57

"I call shotgun!" Gregory shouted, running for his goggles.58

"Oh no, you were shotgun last time!" Jim complained, trying to get the 'first hunter' goggles before Gregory could.59


New Game - 3 Players - 1 Hunter
Good Luck playing:
The Dark Project - Hunters Game
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