She got back to her room and brought up her channel's dashboard. Her video on the disappearance of Chase Corbin had a decent number of views already. She even had some comments, mostly generic stuff like "First" and "SOOO creepy." She reported one that said she should do her videos topless and said "thank you" to another who said they looked forward to her videos every week. She navigated away from her dashboard to Reddit and did a search for Rusted Blood. She also brought up the game in the Steam store.
The cover was cool. It showed what looked like an abandoned amusement park, its rides and concessions dilapidated and broken down. Those used to be the hot trend on the Internet. Urban explorers, amateur and professional alike, trekked through the wreckage of special places from their childhoods and filmed it for all the world to see.
Six characters stood in various poses against the backdrop on the cover image. Their expressions ranged from fierce and angry to frightened and tense. Front and center was a woman around Tanya's age. More emphasis seemed to be placed on her with starker facial details and better lighting. Russell's words echoed in Tanya's mind (I think her name is Vanessa or something).
Red-eyed rats crawled around the cracked pavement at the feet of the characters, baring their teeth. A figure in a red hood lurked between an ice cream shop and a ticket booth.
The game had come out about three months before, and reviews were split. People praised the game's unpredictability, gore, and overall aesthetic. Critics pointed out the villain's flimsy motivation and the way certain characters' fates were foreshadowed. Some of the reviews had clips of the gameplay in which characters squared off against hooded baddies, navigated dark halls full of dried-up corpses, and climbed the rusty frame of a roller coaster to escape rats.
Nowhere on Steam did anyone mention that Vanessa girl or what Russell said she claimed. Thinking of the first guy to kiss her in almost two years, Tanya realized how restless she was. Her leg was shaking. Her shoulders were tight.
"Goddamn it," she said. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her leg. Slightly more comfortable, she switched to Reddit. "Here we go."
The top post was titled "Rusted Blood is more F—d up than you know…" The author used the handle DanaDanger97 and made the post a few weeks after the game was released. The post itself only linked to an Instagram page. Tanya clicked through to a profile for a woman who called herself @VV_in_Recovery. Tanya scrolled through a mosaic of around two dozen or so selfies, text posts, photos of a dog, and some nature shots. She found the oldest photo and clicked on it.
It showed a woman who Tanya had to admit looked a lot like the one standing in the center of the Rusted Blood cover. She clicked back and forth from the selfie to the game's image. The character was hand-drawn with certain features on her face accentuated by shading or the appearance of makeup. The woman in the selfie wore no makeup. She wore her hair down, but it had an unwashed look to it. Her eyes seemed tired and bore crow's feet too pronounced for someone who appeared otherwise so young. The caption read:
Hi. My name is VV. I've started this Insta to chronicle my road to mental wellness after experiencing serious trauma. VV is not my real name, but it's the name I'll use here to protect my privacy and that of my family.
This past summer, I was kidnapped, along with five others, and nearly killed. I don't want to go into too much detail yet. Maybe not ever because I don't want to trigger my followers. Also? The way I remember things will seem kind of far-fetched.
Time will tell if I decide differently, but long story short, I escaped.
The others weren't so lucky.
Now I'm trying to rebuild. I've got a great therapist who's encouraged me to use this page to tell my story. Today, I go home from the hospital, so here's a selfie.
Thanks for reading. I hope you'll stay awhile.
That closing line sent a chill through Tanya's body. Sure, it wasn't too uncommon a statement, but given that she'd just entered this rabbit hole, it seemed too perfect a sync for this VV to say what Tanya said in all her videos.
She closed the photo and chose another at random. This one showed a chocolate Labrador, panting and looking bright-eyed at the camera. The fur on the dog's muzzle had started to go white, but he'd lost none of his spirit.
Hey, y'all. This is Simon. He's a rescue. Seven years old and so sweet. I think being around him will help. I really appreciate all my followers and the nice comments. They mean a lot, and I wish I had time to reply to them all. Much love!
Tanya navigated through more photos. One showed an apartment door with the number blocked with a black bar. It was VV's first new home since her recovery. Another showed her in a Starbucks uniform, standing outside one of the coffeeshops. Back to work, the caption said. So many new beginnings. Thanks for all your support. It's been so helpful. You have no idea! The fifth photo Tanya clicked on showed the logo for a company called SilberLab. The caption had a completely different tone than the others.
Seriously, FUCK this company! These are the most manipulative, dangerous people on the planet. They are abusive and manipulative and have their fingers in so many aspects of our lives it's not even funny. They are a death cult masquerading as a tech company.
Call me a tinfoil hat chick if you want, but I need to speak my truth. They are directly responsible for what happened to me, and if I could take them down, I would. Raising awareness is the next best thing. Don't buy any of their shit, seriously.
Sorry for the rage post, but I hate seeing how much influence they have.
Tanya opened another tab and did a search for SilberLab. Their website looked like any other corporate site, complete with smiling executives and extremely broad mission statements. When she clicked on the Products page, a satisfying spark ignited in her brain, the sort that only came from drawing a connection. Listed on the Products page, under the section titled "Games," was the cover for Rusted Blood.
She clicked back to Instagram and scrolled through VV's photos. She found a recent, dimly lit selfie where Vanessa sat on a sofa, wearing a somber expression.
I found something on Steam tonight, and I'm at a loss for words. Basically, there's a new game out called Rusted Blood, and it's based on something that happened to me, something that I've spent the past six months trying to convince myself didn't happen the way I remember it.
DO YOUR RESEARCH! The people who went through this with me, people who STILL haven't been found, look exactly like the other people on the cover for this awful game. I'M on the cover of the fucking game.
I'm tired of being gaslighted and lied to. I'm tired of feeling like reality is broken. I'm so fucking tired. This game was produced and released without my permission. Unfollow me if you support this exploitative shit.
Oh, and of course it was put out by SilberLab.
The comments on this post were disheartening. While some were supportive, a great deal of them were less so. People called her names like fake bitch or accused her of doing all this for attention. Tanya was half-tempted to chime in and call these people out for being dicks, but she restrained herself. Instead, she clicked on the Message button. She flexed her fingers and thought of what she should say.
Hey, she began, I'm a content creator. You can check out my channel here. She pasted a link.
I'm reaching out because I'm …
She highlighted her message and prepared to delete it, but she leaned back to reconsider. She flexed her fingers again and chewed the inside of her cheek. The profile pic of VV stared back at her, eyes wide and vulnerable and deep. Would reaching out help or hurt? It might help her channel, but would it help this young woman who had clearly been through something traumatic? Tanya checked VV's follower count. It wasn't even a third of Tanya's channel. Covering this strange case, especially if she did more research and had VV as a primary source, could give this poor woman a platform she might not otherwise obtain.
Tanya continued typing her message, outlining most of what she'd worked out in her head as good reasons for reaching out. With a deep breath, she pressed SEND.
Exhaustion settled into her limbs. Her head felt heavy, and her eyelids wouldn't stay open. She closed her laptop and pushed away from her desk. Before shuffling off to bed, she grabbed her phone and opened her conversation with Athena.
She typed, Tell Russell thanks for the tip on Rusted Blood. I think it'd make a cool video.
A reply came through just as her head met the pillow. She fumbled in the dark and swiped her phone from the nightstand. Athena's message woke her right the fuck up.
Who? What are you talking about? Everything okay?