Chapter 1 - Vera
The chat exploded the moment Vera's stream went live.
> "VERA'S BACKKKKKK!!!"
"LET'S GOOOOO"
"QUEEN OF HORROR!"
"DID YOU FINALLY FINISH YOUR PIZZA STASH??"
Vera leaned back in her gaming chair, one hand casually flipping open the familiar greasy pizza box next to her mouse pad.
The other hand? Already booting up her monster PC — a beast custom-built to survive everything from 8K jump-scare simulators to demonically possessed indie games.
"Sup, nerds," Vera said, her voice lazy and smooth as butter. "Today, your horror queen returns."
She took a huge bite of pizza, chewed, and pointed a greasy finger toward the camera.
"And yes, the stash lives on. You think I'd betray my true love?" She wiped her hand on a napkin without looking.
(She missed and wiped it on her pants instead. Classic Vera.)
The viewers roared. Donations started rolling in.
> "$10 - GET THIS WOMAN A NEW PAIR OF PANTS"
"$5 - I would die for Vera's pizza"
"$50 - PLAY THE NEW 'Dead House' GAME, PLEASEEEEEE!!"
"Dead House, huh?" Vera raised an eyebrow.
She leaned in, clicked open the game store, and with a bossy flick of her wrist, started downloading the newest, hottest horror game. "Fine. But only because I feel generous today."
The pizza slice disappeared with one final savage bite.
Vera chatted with her audience while the game installed, roasting bad horror clichés, answering a few dumb questions with mock seriousness, and occasionally doing dramatic readings of chat comments.
"'Will you marry me, Vera?'" she read one out loud, deadpan. "Yeah, sure. Bring pizza to the wedding, or it's off."
The viewers spammed laughing emojis and marriage proposals anyway.
Finally, the game loaded.
Screams, blood, monsters... it was delicious.
Vera played like a queen in her natural kingdom — laughing when the monsters jumped out, trolling the NPCs, and managing to stay completely unbothered even during the most brutal chase scenes.
Hours passed in a flash.
When she finally defeated the final boss — a bloated corpse-thing that threw its own limbs at her — Vera stood up, stretched with a satisfied groan, and saluted her audience.
"Alright, folks. Queen Vera out. Go touch some grass or something."
She ended the stream.
The room fell into silence.
Just as she was about to shut down her PC, her phone buzzed sharply.
Ting.
Vera glanced over lazily.
Unknown sender. One new message.
"Huh," she muttered. She scooped up the phone, one hand still casually grabbing another slice of now-cold pizza.
One message.
No subject.
Just a line, burned into the screen in screaming, jagged CAPS LOCK:
> "YOU LIKE HORROR GAMES, RIGHT? PLAY MY GAME."
(Link included.)
Vera stared at it.
"...well, that's not suspicious at all," she said flatly.
Another bite of pizza.
Another second of thought.
"Screw it," she shrugged, mouth full. "What's the worst that could happen?"
She tapped the link.
The download started.
Somewhere in the dark, something smiled.
(End of Chapter 1.)