Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary!

Chapter 788: Plague [1]

Geneva was waiting near the hospital entrance when I arrived.

She spotted me before I reached the doors and immediately stepped forward. Her face was pale, and she was holding her phone so tightly that her fingers had started to whiten.

“How is he?”

Her lips parted, but she didn’t answer immediately. She glanced towards the entrance before looking back at me.

“…Come. I’ll take you to him.”

I nodded and followed her inside. She walked quickly, occasionally looking over her shoulder to make sure I was still there. When we reached the elevator, she pressed the button twice before noticing that it was already lit.

I looked at her hand. It was trembling.

“Geneva.”

“Yes?”

I had wanted to ask her about the message, but the moment she turned towards me, I found myself pausing.

“…Nothing. Let’s go up first.”

The elevator doors opened shortly after. Neither of us said anything on the way up.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I could hear the machine before we reached the ward.

The sound came in quick succession, interrupted by a sharper alarm as Geneva pushed the door open. A nurse was standing beside the bed, while a doctor watched the monitor with a rather grim expression.

“Keep watching it.”

The nurse nodded and reached towards the equipment beside him.

I stepped inside, only to stop when I saw the child sitting on the bed.

His hands were resting on his knees. His back was straight, and there was a large smile on his face as he stared ahead with his eyes wide open.

For a moment, I remained near the doorway.

“…This is normal, right?”

Geneva nodded.

I looked at him again.

His lips were stretched far enough to show his teeth, with a little saliva collecting near the corner of his mouth. There was a damp cloth beside the pillow. The nurse picked it up and wiped his chin before returning her attention to the monitor.

He kept smiling.

Even when she gently lifted his wrist to check him, his expression didn’t change. The moment she let go, his hand settled back onto his knee.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I glanced towards the screen.

The numbers changed as the nurse adjusted something beside the bed. For a short while, the beeping slowed, and the doctor leaned closer to watch. Then it started speeding up again.

“…Again.”

He reached for the chart, his expression growing worse.

I moved out of the way as another member of staff came in. Looking back at the bed, I noticed that tears had started gathering beneath the child’s eyes.

He wasn’t crying. His eyes had simply remained open for too long. One of the tears slipped down his cheek, passing beside the smile before disappearing beneath his chin.

I felt rather uncomfortable looking at him.

“What happened?”

Geneva stood beside me, her attention fixed on her brother.

“He was like normal… I mean, the usual normal. I wasn’t even in the hospital when it happened. I just got a call.”

“From the doctor?”

“…Yes.”

She rubbed her hands together.

“I was told about the situation by him.”

I turned towards her.

“What did he say?”

“That he kept saying, ‘It’s my turn’ over and over again.”

“…My turn?”

She nodded, swallowing before continuing.

“I asked him what he meant, but that’s when I heard a scream in the background.”

Her voice grew quieter.

“Even as I arrived, he didn’t stop. He continued to scream as I kept calling his name, but he just kept screaming. It was only when I messaged you that he calmed down.”

I looked towards the bed.

“And then?”

“Nothing. This…”

Geneva pressed her lips together.

“Just like that. He sat down, put his hands on his knees, and started smiling. He hasn’t said anything since.”

“…..”

I studied his face for another moment.

The smile hadn’t moved at all while she spoke. There wasn’t even a small change when Geneva went closer and called to him. His eyes remained fixed ahead, and his fingers stayed spread against his knees.

I wasn’t sure whether he could hear us. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what he was seeing, either.

“We should give them some room.”

Geneva hesitated before giving more space for the nurses and doctors to work.

Behind us, the beeping continued.

“Have you been told about his condition?”

A doctor had entered the ward with a folder beneath his arm. He stopped beside us, waiting until I lowered my gaze from the monitor.

“Only a little.”

He nodded.

“His heart rate is still dangerously high. We’ve managed to bring it down for short periods, but it keeps rising again.”

Geneva stood close beside me, her eyes following a nurse as she moved around the bed.

I spoke to the doctor.

“What’s causing it?”

“We haven’t been able to establish that yet.”

“And the smile?”

The doctor briefly glanced towards the child.

“He hasn’t responded to our questions. We’re continuing to monitor him, but at the moment, keeping him stable is our priority.”

Stable.

I looked at the monitor again. It didn’t seem as though they were having much success with that.

“How long can he stay like this?”

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure it doesn’t continue.”

He spoke calmly, his gaze settling on my face.

“For now, you can leave his care to us.”

“…Right.”

I nodded, although I couldn’t say his explanation made me feel any better.

He shifted the folder beneath his arm and moved past me. I watched the nurse wipe the child’s chin again, her hand briefly stopping when the alarm sounded.

The doctor by the bed immediately looked up. Nobody seemed to have the time to sit down.

“Seth.”

Geneva’s voice drew my attention back towards her. She was looking at me now.

“You haven’t given up on the investigation, right?”

I opened my mouth.

Her fingers had closed around the edge of her sleeve, pulling the fabric tight. She waited without saying anything else, her eyes searching my face.

For some reason, I found it difficult to answer immediately.

I glanced towards her brother.

He was still smiling.

Slowly, I shook my head.

“No.”

I looked back at her.

“…I have not.”

This anomaly…

I couldn’t give it up.

I had to find something.

***

The air outside felt cool against my face. I took a slow breath as the hospital doors closed behind me, then remained near the entrance for a little while. Geneva had stayed upstairs with her brother.

I was alone.

“…VILE-1048.”

I rubbed the side of my face.

Where was I supposed to start?

I had gone over the information I had more than once, but I still couldn’t find anything that would tell me where to look. Now Geneva’s brother was sitting in a hospital bed, smiling while his heart seemed to be on the verge of giving out.

‘He’s next.’

Next for what?

I lowered my hand and took out the compass. I had checked it inside the hospital as well. It hadn’t given me anything useful then, and looking at it again wasn’t changing that.

“…Really.”

There had to be something I was missing.

I put the compass away and looked back towards the entrance. For a moment, I considered going upstairs again, although I wasn’t sure what I expected to find that I hadn’t already seen.

It was just as I was about to move that something vibrated inside my pocket.

I paused.

Then, reaching inside, I took out the radio.

Krrr⎯

Static came through the speaker.

I held it closer, my fingers stopping near the dial as the sound grew louder.

Krrr!

And then⎯

BANG!

Another banging sound came through the radio.

Before I could do anything, a familiar voice followed.

“…I object.”

One that I was all too familiar with.

That…

It was my voice.

My grip on the radio tightened slightly.