Aiden walked at the front of their group now. Not because he wanted to—but because he no longer trusted anyone else to. Not after Leo.
Lila stayed close behind, her eyes flickering between the trees. "Do you think he's alive?"
Aiden didn't answer.
"He was just scared," she said gently. "Maybe he thought you'd abandon him."
"He didn't even say goodbye," Aiden muttered.
"Maybe he thought you'd chase him."
"I should have."
---
By midday, the group found a derelict supply station—likely dropped by an old drone. It was mostly looted, but Takumi scavenged a flare gun. Lila uncovered a medpatch buried under leaves. Rena found something far more dangerous: a Terminal Node.
It pulsed like a heart in the dirt. A rusted console hooked to a standing pillar, screen flickering with static text.
>> BLACK MARKET NODE BOOTED
>> Access cost: 10 Trust Points
>> Warning: Surveillance activated upon access.
Aiden stepped forward. "What is it?"
"Black market system," Rena replied. "You trade points for gear, information… maybe immunity."
"And in return?"
Rena shrugged. "The system watches. Records. Tags you."
Aiden stared at it, then backed away.
"Not worth it."
Rena smirked. "That's what most people think. Until they get desperate."
---
They left the Node behind. It blinked slowly in the shade, like an eye waiting to open.
Later, while setting up a new camp near the riverbank, they met another team—three players moving together, foreign, lean, focused.
The leader introduced herself as Zara, a Nigerian software engineer before the game. She didn't smile when she spoke.
"We lost a fourth yesterday," she said. "He got greedy with a Trust trade. Overdrew his account."
"What happened?" Lila asked.
Zara just pointed to the back of her neck, where a thin scar ran below the hairline.
"12-hour kill implant," she said. "If your points hit zero… it injects."
Lila's face went pale.
Aiden clenched his jaw. He had seven points left. He'd used eight total: five to help Leo. Three Leo stole.
The system didn't punish betrayal.
It punished mercy.
---
That night, Aiden couldn't sleep again. He sat by the fire, watching the flames reflect in his wristband screen. 7 TP. Like a countdown he couldn't stop.
"I would've helped him again," he whispered to Lila, who sat beside him.
"I know," she said softly.
"I just wish it didn't cost so much to care."
Lila smiled faintly. "That's the whole point of this game, isn't it? See who still tries to be human… when being human kills you."
---
The next morning, Zara's team was gone.
All they left behind was a single wristband—its screen flashing red:
> 0 TP. Terminated.
---