Everything was stained red with blood; the woman and her clothes, the metal pole, the wall behind her and the carpeting below. None of the blood was shiny, like it would have been if it was wet and the air in the room was filled with the scent of iron. How long had she been here like this? Even the pole had stopped dripping and looked almost flaky with the dark liquid. It looked like something out of a horror movie; except, in the movie, they'd probably be dead. How had she not vanished already? It seemed unlikely that someone would survive being impaled by a fist-sized metal pole. Demi and I stood with our mouths open, stunned at the scene but another cry for help broke us out of our stupor and we started to frantically search for ways to help. The pole had been bent about a foot past where she had been impaled, so we couldn't simply slide her off; plus it made me feel woozy just thinking about it.

"Okay, okay," Demi said, "we need to stay calm. What's your name?"

"Anne," breathed the woman on the wall. Her hands stayed on the pole, either trying to maintain her balance so she wouldn't spin and hang upside down, or simply because it was extremely painful and probably the most logical reaction that her brain could manage. "Get me down! Please!"

"We're gonna get you down," Demi assured. She was very calm and spoke gently but quickly. "Xander, stay with her. I'm going to find out what's on the other side of this wall." She left through the door we had entered from and I turned to face Anne, unsure of what to do.

I had never been in this type of situation before. Trying not to panic or faint, I closed my eyes and tried to remember if Saris had ever talked about what to do when someone gets severely injured. The thing that came to mind was not advice from Saris, but the first time I had gotten stitches. When I was a kid, maybe six or seven, I had gotten into an argument with one of the other students while we were in the stairwell. I got pushed and hit the corner of the stair pretty hard with my head. Within the next hour, I had been taken to the emergency room, where I was put in a small, cold room and a doctor, wearing a face mask, sewed me up with fifteen stitches. My mom was in the room with me when I was getting stitched up. She talked with me and it got my mind off of what the doctor was doing and it helped me get through the strange and frightening event.

I couldn't think of much else that would be useful, especially since I was in pretty poor condition myself, so I opened my eyes and gave Anne a weak smile. "I'm Xander," I announced lamely. I cleared my throat, "I know it's a poor time for introductions, but maybe taking this, " I circled my hand in the direction of her abdomen, "off your mind will help a little. Sorry I can't do much more right now."

"Alright. But I can't talk," Anne hissed with pain.

"I'll talk enough for the both of us." My mind raced. What do I say? I probably shouldn't mention the game or anything about this cycle; I'm sure she'd rather not think about it right now. Slowly, I moved further into the room, considering options for conversation topics while looking for a place to get more comfortable. I considered the desk, but that seemed rude since she was literally hanging on the wall. Unfortunately, the closer I got to the bloodstains, the less comfortable I felt. Anne made a noise and it made me jump. I had been so distracted with where to sit that her small sound scared the sense out of me and I blurted the last thing that had entered my mind before she had startled me, "I like video games." She gave me a strange look. "Umm...yeah. Zelda is my favorite. It's actually why I use a sword and shield here. Nerdy, huh?" I started to tell her my experiences with the game franchise and how I had gotten into it. I didn't get very far when Demi opened the door.

"No good," she said. "I found the other side of the wall. The pole there is also bent and I can't find the tools we need to cut it off."

I felt a sudden, strange sensation. It was like a counter just lit up in my brain. I could feel a sense of urgency, like in a video game when you're fighting the last boss or in a sports game when you only have seconds left on the clock. I could feel that we were close to the end of the cycle and I suspected that Zack and his archer had found and taken out more people. Judging from the look Demi gave me, we might be the last ones left.

Demi looked at Anne, then back to me. She didn't know what to do. Even if I felt strong enough to try to cut the pole to slide her out, the vibrations of my hitting the metal would probably cause more harm than good for Anne. We couldn't just leave her there, hanging. I looked around and got an idea.

"Demi," I said, "help me push the desk."

Demi and I moved the office desk under Anne and she stood on her toes, relieving some of the pressure from her abdomen. I'm sure it did very little to ease her pain but at least it was some kind of improvement while we figured this out. Maybe I could find something to cut the pole. Demi said she didn't find anything, but there's got to be something here we can use.

"Thanks," Anne said sadly, "I don't think I'm going to get out of this."

"Don't say that," Demi said. "We can figure something out. Maybe I missed something. I'll double-check."

"No," Anne argued, halting Demi's exit. "It's over. I just don't want to be up here anymore."

"How did you get there?" I asked.

Anne teared up again. "May and I were attacked by a team," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "One of them was pretty fast and had these claw things." I nodded, remembering the Wolverine wannabe that we fought earlier. "We escaped and went into the graveyard. I healed her. But when we left, they were waiting for us. They had this really big guy and he did this to us." She looked to the other pole in the wall. "I couldn't keep us both alive."

"Why didn't they just kill you?" Demi asked.

"I have healing power," Anne explained. "They said that they'd need it after their next fight. Something about making a run for it after killing off the last team. They were afraid of someone else. I think they were afraid of someone they were working with."

"Zack," Demi said.

"Yeah. I remember they said something about him. Like they were following his plan or something," Anne managed.

Demi scoffed. "Zack betrays us and his team betrays him. What comes around, goes around."

"Not anymore," I pointed out. "Saris is gone, but so are the claw guy and the big axe guy. All that's left is the archer."

"And Zack," Demi added. She turned back to Anne, "I want to help you."

"You did." Anne took a careful breath, "I was kidding myself if I thought I would survive this. I should never have healed myself. I should have let myself die with May." She looked at the empty pole next to her. "I need you to kill me."

"What?!" I spluttered.

Demi slowly nodded, then straightened, "alright," she answered, summoning her spear.

"What!?" I rounded on Demi but she gave me a determined look.

"At this point, it's a mercy," she pointed to Anne, "we can't get her down and she's in pain."

"Yeah, but killing her?"

"Don't forget where we are and what we're here to do," she said. "Saving her would ultimately be delaying her death or risking our lives."

"You're new, aren't you?" Anne asked me. "It's okay. It really is. If I'm lucky, we'll meet again in better circumstances. Maybe even as allies."

I didn't know what to do. My brain knew that they were right, but my heart knew this whole thing was wrong. Killing people was wrong. It didn't matter if they'd come back, it was wrong. It took me until now to realize just how sick and twisted this thing was. I knew it was wrong from the start, but it was different when I was defending myself. Even then, I never finished the job, so they were never truly my kills in the first place. But killing someone who wasn't trying to cause us harm, killing someone that needed our help, didn't sit right with me.

"Are you ready?" Demi asked.

"Wait," Anne said. She pulled her hand from the pole, she couldn't keep it from shaking. A soft glow began to emit from her fingers and the hole in my shoulder began to itch and tingle. The skin formed back to the way it should be and the pain left. The few scratches I had, from the arrow exploding, also went away. Then Anne's hand moved to Demi and her wounds were healed within seconds. "Consider this me paying you back for your kindness. You," she looked at me. "I'm sorry, I've already forgotten your name, but you need to do this. You haven't killed anyone yet, have you?" My silence answered her question. "You cannot hesitate, and if you save your first kill for them, you will. So kill me."

I looked at Demi, the blood draining from my face. She clenched her jaw as she met my gaze, her eyes looking sad and darker than usual. She gave me a single small nod. She knew Anne was right. Deep down, I did too. After all this time, after making it all this way, to the end of the game, I had yet to take a life. But now, with my life not even being threatened, I was forced to make the decision. Would I become a killer and have a chance to survive the game? Or would I choose to die after coming so far? There was no middle ground, it was one or the other. I felt the counter in my head go down. Zack must have killed another.

I had made up my mind long before today. I had decided before we went to the graveyard or even before I met Demi. A part of me knew that I had decided to become a killer the moment I went with Saris, after he saved my life from a man who could stop time. I just hadn't accepted it until now. I got on top of the desk and summoned my sword and shield, then raised the sword high and looked at Anne. She was smiling. She was right, I had hesitated. Water filled my vision as I struck and I saw her vanish before my eyes.

For a moment, I just stood there staring at the wall where she had been. The blood had vanished with the body. For several minutes my mind would not think. It was trying to convince me that no one had been there to begin with. Then, all of a sudden, it all came flooding in. My throat tightened and my vision became blurry. I dropped my weapons and kept trying to see Anne in the space she had just occupied, but she was gone. I closed my eyes, trying to force myself to stop thinking. That only made it worse and I broke down and cried. Demi came to me and put her arms around me. She didn't say anything. She knew this wasn't alright. She knew all too well what I was going through but I don't think anyone can come up with words to ease the pain and guilt of crossing the line and becoming a murderer.