Her eyes were large and deep set, with a serious, almost worried expression in them. It was clear that she was careful and cautious in her movements. It was clear she was likely to be an intriguing target.
He watched her a bit longer. Yes, she would do. She was an interesting choice. This girl was different. He couldn’t see the details of her character, since it hadn’t been upgraded, but he could see that her avatar had a flair for fashion and was very good looking.
He moved in closer to her. He wasn’t sure if she was aware of him or not, but she didn’t seem to be. He was fascinated by the way she moved.
He stayed focused on her, walking on her right, as he pretended to be busy looking at the fruit and vegetables in the stalls. He didn’t act immediately. He watched her as she moved through the crowd. He waited until she was almost at the end of the lane, near to being out of sight.
He liked her name. BeachBaby.
Styx looked to see if he could learn anything more about this new target. He would need to check her account settings, to find out where she was based.He was looking for local players. That alone took a lot of narrowing down. But he’d already learned one of the secrets that could identify that quickly.
If she was local, which he would soon know, that would work perfectly. He would enjoy the drive. And in the more outlying areas, finding her would be easier.
Of course, living alone was also essential, and this was one point where a lot of the victims were ruled out when he did his real-life reconnaissance. He wanted single women. A boyfriend he could deal with, but a family made things too complicated. Plus, family women didn’t get the time to play enough, and he needed to know that they would be absorbed in the game when he reached them for the final kill.
BeachBaby was the name a single girl would choose. Perhaps she lived in a house by the shore. She was very new to the game as well, he saw. That was good too. It meant she would be investing a lot of time in it. She was an enthusiastic new player and he liked those.
He was excited about her.
He made his way back to her, following her through the crowd.
It gave him a thrill to know that it was happening, that he was about to put the final stage in place before he revealed himself to her in real life.
He saw her avatar, now, at the end of the row, making her way out of the market. And at that moment, she came into clearer focus. She’d upgraded. She was now an integral person in the game and that meant he would know what he needed to.
And then, he let out a breath of disappointment as her character vanished from the screen. She’d gone, she’d left the game, and done so before he’d had a chance to get all the information he needed.
That was a bitter disappointment, but the ups and downs were all part of the experience.
Turning back to his screen, Styx forgot about this victim as he put BeachBaby out of his mind.
And he went hunting anew.