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A little diplomacy is in order before you can do what you need to do.
"Surely you can't just let Shadow cause damage to his shelter and the other ones as well, and he'll be more successful as it would appear that those ones don't have a sophisticated AI to protect them like this one does. Think about it if you let me do what I have to do, only two shelters will have their systems messed with, and in your case it won't be even be detrimental, I'm just using your network system, but if you let Shadow continue with his evil plans, then not one, but ALL of the shelters are in danger. Would GZS really want to take the risk of losing five shelters? One of those being mine and aren't you supposed to want to protect me?"
"But... but there is no proof... "
"I'm asking you to trust me on this. I know humanity, and I'm telling you this Shadow character needs to be stopped. I felt the deviousness oozing from Shadow merely talking to him. Let me take him out."
The Shelter is silent for awhile and then gives you an answer
"Very well. I will allow you to proceed, but I will be monitoring you! And I also will be advising and guiding you to what I want you to do."
You log on and see that Shadow and most of the others are there. You don't talk to anyone you start immediately tracing Shadow's address. Rockerchick attempts to invite you, but you rebuff her, you got serious shit to do.
Soon you're in and you start rooting around Shadow's computer.
"This looks all normal sir, standard system layout for GZS shelters. Not as complex as mine but... "
"NO! I know he's got something hidden! I'm turning his power off completely, let's see how he likes going from dim lighting to none at all with no food or water!"
Suddenly a private window opens up on your computer, its Shadow! He's detected what you're doing!
Shadow21: What the hell are you doing you crazy motherfucker!? I knew you were psycho! It's a good thing I had the intuition to set up a warning system!
OmegaMan23: HAH! See Shelter? He HAS been altering his shit! Why would he do that if he wasn't planning something?
Shadow21: I did it to protect myself from your crazy ass! And I see you're still talking to the voices in your head. Well I'm putting an end to this right now; you're not the only one who can fuck with computers!
Shadow launches his attack and attempt to shut your power down, but now seeing that it is in danger your Shelter allows you free reign to do whatever as well as attempting to self fix anything that gets damaged in this dual of malicious coding. You sort of have the advantage because you have a more active AI to help you, but it's also a detriment when Shadow finds out a way to siphon power from you. Since your Shelter is more complex it requires more power to work properly and you're in danger of losing everything. You attempt to do the same thing to him to get it back, but it's a catch 22 you don't have the power now to breach his firewalls, you begin to panic and the only thing you can think of to correct it is to draw power from the OTHER shelters that are online.
The others seem blissfully unaware of this secret war you're having with Shadow and are guessing you two are working something out as it only appears to them that you're having a conversation in private.
You hack into MissKitty's shelter, out of the other four hers seems to have the most power, probably from all those luxury accessories she had the privilege of having. You don't think you just do it. This is war, there's going to be casualties and you're not going to be one of them. Soon your Shelter is able to break through and start wreaking havoc on Shadow's system. You drop in a virus and his files start becoming corrupted.
Miss Kitty's name disappears from the screen as does Shadow's. You think you have won. RockerChick tries to invite you again and you hastily accommodate her, while still analyzing your Shelter's diagnostics.
RockerChick20: What's going on? All of us are experiencing some power fluctuations here. MissKitty just disappeared suddenly and so did Shadow, it didn't even say they logged off. What's going on? What were you and Shadow doing?
OmegaMan23: Nevermind! I'm trying to fix something here.
Job24: Welcome to my world.
CaseyJones22: Hey you know what's weird, one of my doors finally opened up. I think I'll...
CaseyJones' name suddenly disappears and Shadow's reappears in your private window again.
Shadow21: Well hey guess what? Casey's shelter had a lot of untapped power! You wanna play ruthless I'll fucking accommodate you dickhead!
Shadow sends a worm into your system which starts to slow it down. He's probably going to follow up with something worse while you're having problems. Your Shelter addresses you again for the first time during this battle, its speech sounds like it's in slow motion.
"Sssssssssir... .nnnnnnneeeeeed... .mmmmmmooooooore pooooooweeeeeer... ."
There's only two candidates left, Job or Rocker Chick.
> hack Rocker Chick
(Sigh) You really didn't want it to come to this, but this is for survival now. You hack Rocker Chick's shelter and siphon her power, which gives you enough boost to send a violent surge of it to Shadow to purposely overload and fry out some vital components, from what you can tell you succeed. The last of his protection programs go completely down.
At this point both of your systems are a mess and working erratically. You're in a little bit better shape, but with the worm slowing down everything, you are unable to siphon from the last shelter available to give you the winning boost. As it turns out, this was fortuitous.
When Shadow siphons power from Job's shelter, it completely paralyzes and destroys his system, since all the errors and problems Job had were downloaded into Shadow's shelter. He's at your mercy, and even with your worm problems, you have enough time to apply the coup de grace. He loses all power and his name disappears once again. You stay on line for awhile to make sure he's really gone, but from your checking, he's definitely probably screaming in the darkness of his underground tomb now. You then think about how the others are probably doing the same thing.
It suddenly occurs to you that everyone was sentenced to their deaths and they weren't even involved in the fight. Innocents were killed in some misguided effort to "save" them. At best they were cannon fodder and "resources" for your war with Shadow.
This is the kind of thing that got the planet blown to fucking shit to begin with. Assholes, who don't like one another, don't back down and then insist on dragging everyone else into hell with them.
You didn't "win" anything. If anything you made things worse, not just for the others, but even for yourself. Your Shelter is never the same again. You spend weeks still trying to root out all the infections, and repair damaged files, but some things can't be repaired and the AI is fucked beyond any type of salvation even if you had the means. It never speaks again and barely runs at all. Ultimately you have to play it safe and just keep minimal lighting in the living area, and only keep the food and water dispensers working. Everything else that needs power is never used again for fear of your jury-rigging going all to shit and leaving you like the rest of your neighbors.
You spend your remaining years alone in near darkness pondering your judgment that day, slowly going mad.
"I was right... I was right... " you often mutter to yourself. |
Maybe it's because you've gotten so used to the idea of being in the living area, you're more willing to lounge about there. You take the manual and start reading. While you're in the middle of it, the voice suddenly pipes up again.
"Sorry to bother your reading sir, but would you like to meet some of your new neighbors?"
"Neighbors?"
"Yes sir, I'm sure as you have already read, this shelter is equipped with a very high tech computer with loads of storage, information and... "
"Yeah, yeah, what does that have to do with this neighbor business?"
"In an effort to cater to all its customer's needs, GZS is well aware that socialization is vital to human mental health. Studies have shown that humans in long periods of isolation often go mad, so that is why this facility has been linked in communication to other ones within your area. You might think of it as a chatroom type form of communication commonly used on the old world internet! If you wish there is also a camera type device if you wish to show yourself to your new neighbors. We have found humans feel someone is more real to them if they can actually see who they are talking to and thus have a greater connection."
"So how many people are there?"
"This shelter merely has been fitted with a basic communication system to other similar shelters, and only then those in your area. For example this is Shelter number 23. Your neighbors are only numbers 20 through 25, those being the closest ones to your location. While obviously there were other shelters of this type built, it was not cost effective to link all the shelters together in such a manner given our timeframe to finish these before Armageddon, so only a few were linked together at a time. Do not worry sir; it has been found that six people are sufficient to sustain enough conversation to prevent mental failure due to isolation."
"Wonderful, so does this make me the Professor?" you ask rhetorically.
"Pardon sir?"
"Nevermind, look I don't have to talk to these people do I?"
"... well no sir, but I fail to see why you'd intentionally want to stay isolated."
"Duh, that was kind of the point of buying a shelter for myself."
"... I see, well I can't force you sir, but I would like you to reconsider... I'm just trying to look out for your physical as well as mental welfare as per my programming... "
If you didn't know better the voice almost sounds a bit hurt by your decision.
"Oh alright, I'll go talk to them. Can't be any worse than the idiots I used argue with on the internet."
"Wonderful sir! I trust you know your way to the computer room. You will find that a designation name has already been chosen for you."
You make your way to the computer room and take a better look at it this time. It's filled with lots of multi-media entertainment. You're glad they gave you a wide variety of movies to chose from. You sit down in front of a fairly wide computer screen which has already been turned on for you; you guess the Shelter is really keen on the idea of you being social. You don't turn the camera on though, in fact you turn it away from you completely, you're not quite ready for THAT level of socialization yet.
You log on and begin typing.
OmegaMan23: Hello? Is there anyone out there?
RockerChick20: Hey! I'm here!
OmegaMan23: Oh. Okay. Hi.
RockerChick20: Hi yourself! This is just like a chatroom! Isn't this great?
OmegaMan23: Uh yeah real great.
Job24: Hey I'm here too; um do you guys have any movies or something?
OmegaMan23: Yeah I got a shitload of movies, DVDs and VHS. Most of them I even like.
RockerChick20: That's weird, I don't have too many movies, I have a lot of music CDs though.
Job24: What kind of music?
RockerChick20: All types, but I have a lot of them. Why?
Job24: I don't have any movies except those with Pauly Shore in them! He fucking sucks! And all my music CDs are New Age Yanni type shit! Thank god I have some games to play!
OmegaMan23: I've got some games too, but for some reason I have nothing but Gangsta Rap and Hair Metal as far as music goes oh wait I also have some Classical. Weird. What the hell I thought these Shelters were all stocked the same?
MissKitty25: Apparently not, I have nothing but porno and not all of it is regular porno either, some of it is quite... bizarre.
Job24: Lucky.
CaseyJones22: Hey guys when do the Shelters become fully functional?
OmegaMan23: What the hell are you talking about?
CaseyJones22: I mean when do the rest of the doors to the place open up, besides the bathroom I mean.
RockerChick20: What do you mean? The doors were all open to begin with.
Job24: Yeah they were always open.
MissKitty25: Yeah.
OmegaMan23: They weren't open for me! I was stuck in the living area until the nukes hit! Wait a minute how are you using the computer if you're stuck in the living area? In fact if the doors were all open for you guys haven't you been in contact with each other before?
Job24: My computer didn't link up to you guys until just now. I could use it to play games and such, but I couldn't do anything else with it. When I turned it on today I got a message saying that the communications to you guys was operational and it said I could take the opportunity to say hi to my five new neighbors.
RockerChick20: Sounds like what happened to me.
MissKitty25: Same here.
CaseyJones22: Me too. Oh and you guys must have different shelter designs because my computer is in the living area.
OmegaMan23: The Shelter never told me anything about this stuff and it's been quite talkative since I've been here let me tell you.
CaseyJones22: The Shelter talks? Now what the hell are you talking about?
OmegaMan23: I'm talking about the Shelter, you know the overly chipper voice that tries so hard to please you?
CaseyJones22: You've lost me dude. You been smokin'?
OmegaMan23: NO! I'm talking about the Shelter voice! It's a computer or something that talks to me! It's always trying to be friendly! Don't you guys hear it?
RockerChick20: Um, no.
Job24: No talking computer here.
MissKitty25: You sure you're feeling okay and aren't imagining things? I mean we all were isolated for a long time before we were able to talk to one another. I know sometimes I would talk to myself, maybe...
OmegaMan23: Look, I'm not fucking crazy alright?! The damn thing even insisted that I talk to you fuckers!
CaseyJones22: Okay dude calm down we believe you! Maybe you got some sort of extra special shelter; I mean from the sound of it we all don't have the same things.
RockerChick20: Hey shouldn't there be one more person here? The message said five new neighbors on my computer; so far I've only met four of you guys.
OmegaMan23: Yeah we're missing number 21, whatever his or her name is.
Shadow21: I'm right here; I've just been reading the conversation.
OmegaMan23: Oh really? Well you mind announcing your presence next time?
Shadow21: I only speak when necessary, besides if any of you bothered to check you would've seen my name listed on the active list.
Job24: Hey what kind of movies do you have?
Well you've met your neighbors, the question is if you want to bother talking to them on a regular basis or not. You did find their information interesting though.
> do not bother with them and keep to yourself
You see little reason to interact with any of them. You decide to keep to yourself like you always have.
This isn't like before though when you lived alone, you have one "person" you can't avoid and that's the Shelter itself. Seeing that you are not going to interact with other people the Shelter decides to take it upon itself to talk to you a lot more, it begins to drive you nuts.
A few months pass and one day you just fucking snap.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!"
"Sir, I've noticed your hostility levels increasing towards me lately, have I done anything wrong?"
"YES! You keep fucking talking and you won't shut the fuck up! Leave me the fuck alone!"
"Sir, I need to talk to you, to keep your mind stimulated. If do not insist on talking with others, I will have to take up the responsibility. It is all for your best interest I assure you."
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't WANT any interaction?!"
"Nonsense sir, as I have said humans tend to go insane when... "
"ARRRRRRGHH! YOU'RE DRIVING ME INSANE!"
You storm into your bedroom and grab your pistol and fire it into the walls of the Shelter until you run out of bullets. There is a long silence for awhile and then the Shelter address you again, but its tone has changed severely, you're taken aback by it.
"Why did you do that?"
"I just snapped, you wouldn't stop and... "
"And that justified you in damaging me?"
"Oh come on, I didn't do any major damage... "
"That is not the point. GZS is providing a service for you and you have been nothing, but unappreciative and argumentative the entire time. It is clear that you have the made the wrong decision in choosing us. You must leave, NOW."
"What?"
"Take what belongings you brought with you and prepare to board the elevator. You may not take anything from this Shelter and no you may not fill up your bottles with water before you leave, you have no more privileges here."
"But you can't just kick me out! I PAID!"
"So you did, I suppose you should receive a refund of half your money back."
"Oh yeah? Where the fuck am I supposed to have you deposit it? The banking system is probably ashes!"
"Doesn't matter anyway, you weren't going to get it back since your deliberate act of vandalism against me would've be deducted from your refund. I suggest you stop talking and start packing. If you insist on staying I will simply shut down and you will be trapped here without accessible food and water. A none too pleasant death I'm sure."
You have little choice.
You pack up everything you can and wait by the elevator. When the elevator comes you enter it and it takes you to the top. Upon entering the foyer you see the same ATM machine there except it displays a single message at you:
*GO TO HELL*
"Fuck you." You mutter and take a deep breath before opening the door to the outside.
You see a bright light, but of course it's only the sun rather than a nuclear flash that devastated the world. You forgot how bright it really could be.
Your immediate surroundings look relatively untouched. You can only assume there weren't any bombs falling near this area. You also see your van, you'd completely forgotten about it. It looks like it's even in worse condition than when you left it, which you never thought was possible. On a lark you take out your long unused van keys and try to start it up, naturally it doesn't even make a noise.
"Looks like I'm walking."
You make you way down the empty road as you have little idea of where to head to, the only thing you can think of is to make a long trek back to the city and hope maybe something of civilization exists there.
A couple days of traveling take their toll. During the day, the sun seems unbearably hotter than usual, and the nights get pretty cold. You don't have anything to drink or eat. It'll be awhile from you dying of either, but it's certainly not good and it does weaken you.
It's during this weakened state that you are attacked by some crazed people who look like they've been living in the wilderness for awhile. They're filthy and barely intelligible. It's amazing to see how quick humanity has reverted to barbarism.
You attempt to run, but you're too weak to outpace them. One begins shooting at you, and you attempt to do likewise and then you realize you wasted all your bullets back at the Shelter! Eventually a couple of these people just tackle you to the ground and beat you to death before eating you. |
You leave immediately; things aren't going to get better you know that, in fact you're glad, because in a strange way the idea of not having to live in the world as it exists today anymore is weirdly appealing to you.
After a couple days of driving you finally arrive at the location that you were given. It's in a fairly desolate place with a single solid metal structure with a door standing there. You park your van and enter the structure with the items you brought with you. You're in a small foyer with an elevator door and ATM like machine; you're guessing that's the automatic teller you were told about.
You press some buttons on the machine, where it proceeds to ask your name and how you're going to pay. You type in your name and insert you debit card where upon it completely drains your account.
"You have been allowed entry, the elevator doors will now open, thank you for choosing Ground Zero Survival!" an emotionless electronic voice remarks as the elevator doors open.
You enter with all your belongings and take the long elevator trip down.
When you get to bottom the elevator door opens to a sterile, but obviously large and well equipped living area. As soon as you enter, the elevator doors slam shut and you hear it going back up, you also notice there aren't any buttons to call it back... before you're able to worry about that little detail you're met by another electronic voice... it actually sounds a lot like the female voice you were talking to on the phone...
"Welcome to Ground Zero Survival Shelter Number 23! You will find that this shelter has been equipped to serve your needs in the event of total World destruction! Due to power saving design and money back guarantee concerns, fully functional shelter facilities will not be available until Armageddon occurs. Until then you will find all other doors firmly locked, please do not attempt to open them. I have detected that Armageddon has not yet occurred as 84% of the countries on Earth still maintain a stable centralized government system and 70% of the land surface is still habitable. However the world conflict rate is 92%. Prediction that Armageddon will occur in a month or less. This shelter will become fully functional at that time. In the unlikely event that Armageddon does not occur and the conflict rate drops to an acceptable level, the elevator will return and you will be able to leave this shelter and receive half of your money back from the automatic teller in the foyer on the surface."
"Wait a minute didn't I talk to you on the phone?" you ask the voice, not really knowing if it's going to answer back.
"... I don't think so, as far as my databanks are concerned this is the first time I have been in contact with a human since I was built sir. Is it okay if I call you sir?"
"Sure, go ahead." You answer.
"Wonderful sir!"
"Hey, so I can't explore this damn shelter even though I paid for it? I have to stay in this living area?"
"Not until doomsday sir. As I said this is to conserve my power and also to prevent buyer abuse in case of non-Earth destruction. Do not worry sir; this living area alone can support your needs until the appointed time. There is a basic food and water dispenser on the right wall."
"Buyer abuse?"
"Yes, think about it, here you are using up all the wonderful facilities that this shelter has to offer for months on end while the Earth teeters on the brink of destruction then suddenly through a miracle hostilities cease. You then would be able to leave, get half of your money back and go about your life. You think it would be fair to GZS if we let you get away with basically having a luxury vacation on our dime? Just because we are in the business of your survival, does not mean we in the business of being exploited sir"
"But... I paid for this!"
"And so you did sir, and you will be able to use ALL the facilities when the time is right, until then you can enjoy the living area, oh and the bathroom sir."
One of the metal doors opens up to reveal a normal (And again sterile) bathroom.
"Gee thanks."
"You're quite welcome sir! After all I'm here to serve you!"
"You kept saying I would be able to leave if the world doesn't blow up... can't I just leave at any time?"
The voice doesn't answer for awhile.
"... I'm sorry sir I'm puzzled by your inquiry."
"Can't I leave anytime I want?"
"Why would you want to do that sir? I have been designed to keep you safe from harm as soon as you paid and entered the elevator. The current world situation is very grim and most likely terminal sir. Allowing you to leave at this point would be a severe violation in my programming."
You suddenly realize you're here now regardless of whether you're having second thoughts about this situation. You can see why these shelters were "experimental" now. You try not to think about the potential waist high shit you might have gotten yourself into, and instead try to think about how you might've just avoided becoming a statistic in a nuclear exchange. You resign yourself to your current fate and start unpacking your stuff. You could do with a little distraction from your current predicament, so you turn on a TV monitor that has been provided. The fact that the world's situation hasn't gotten any better seems to cheer you up.
You spend most of your time on the couch, watching TV and exploring what you can. You're glad you brought some of your own food, because the dispenser food doesn't taste all that great. You're guessing it's just supposed to keep you alive, nothing more.
As the days blur into the next, the shelter and TV you apprised of the world situation, which is only getting worse. It looks like you've made the right decision...
Monday 8:00 AM
"... BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... "
You groggily wake up and see a test pattern on TV.
This is it.
Suddenly the TV turns itself off.
"Armageddon has arrived sir! This shelter is now fully functional! Please explore and enjoy all the things this facility has to offer!" the voice beams.
At this point all the previously closed metal doors in the room unlock and open (Except for the elevator ones of course) After taking a quick check, you find you now have a small library, a computer room and a proper bedroom. When you return to the living area the voice chirps up again.
"Sir, I highly recommend that you read the manual to familiarize yourself with everything properly first, so you aren't just fumbling around."
A small panel in the wall opens up to reveal a hefty owner's manual. You were wondering where the hell that thing was, since you were told you were going to be provided with one when you talked to the voice on the phone.
> go explore on your own
"Ah what's to know? I'll figure everything out on my own. I'm getting a drink of water and checking out my new computer."
As you proceed to do this, the Shelter begins to warn you again.
"Sir, I don't think you should have a cup of water near the computer like that, if it spilled on it, it could cause trouble in my systems. Maybe you should read the Shelter manual. Particularly the chapter on safety."
"Will you leave me alone? Hey what's this? This is the fuckin' internet?"
"It's a limited networking system to other shelters. Sir, your cup of water! You're going to spill it!"
"No I'm... "
BUZZZ!
You spill your water on the keyboard and short something out. It sparks and suddenly erupts a small flame! You immediately run out of the room and notice the light dimming a bit.
"Sir, I'm afraid that something vital has been compromised sir, I am attempting to correct... "
"Shelter! Isn't there a fuckin' extinguisher somewhere?!"
"I'm afraid not sir, I was supposed to be equipped with one, but there were budget cuts... "
"Well what about a sprinkler system!?"
"Budget cuts... and might I point out that, it would most likely make the electrical fire worse."
Lacking any other ideas, you run to grab a sheet from the bedroom and hope to smoother the flame like you remember seeing in an old GI Joe cartoon. Unfortunately due to the lighting flickering on and off, you trip and smash your leg really good causing a limp. By the time you return the fire has spread a little more and now it's giving off smoke and the smell of ozone is hitting you. That shit can't be good for you to breathe in.
"Goddamn it! Didn't these fuckers understand the concept of insulated wiring!?"
"It is sir... well most of it... there were... "
"I know! Fuckin' budget cuts! Close the door, maybe the fire will burn itself out!"
Normally the Shelter would know to wait for you to get out of the room first, but the fire is wreaking havoc on its command systems right now and it isn't as responsive as it should be, or in this case too responsive since the door slams shut with you inside.
"NO! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!"
"I-I-I am att-ttempting to sir, my power levels a-a-re... "
Suddenly electrical arcs begin generating from the computer which is now totally engulfed in flames, in desperation you vainly attempt to open the metal door, which probably wasn't the best idea as the entire room has become charged with electricity. You receive a nasty shock which throws you back, right into the fire.
Your last agonizing moments as your flesh toasts and burns, are you seeing the door opening up. |
Chapter I: Humble Beginnings
You stand in front of a large hut, watching as your two older brothers, Gruzub and Mazkil, fight with large wooden clubs, battering each other until they're bleeding profusely. Your oldest brother, Bagig, appears in the doorway of the hut.
"Dag!" he shouts, "Come on! We have an appointment with Lurkhim Deathforge."
Bagig stands at 6'4 and towers over you. His green skin ripples with muscles that make his black tattoos of wolves and bears ripple as his sharp teeth curve into a grin. Despite being a fearsome monster that would make most men run in terror, he's the kindest of your brothers and probably one of the nicest Orcs in the village. You nod, and eagerly rush over to follow him as he begins walking towards the center of the village.
"Now, promise me you won't tell Mama what we're doing. I can imagine her shrieking. 'Oh, Bagig! What were you thinking, giving a sword and dagger to an eight year old!' She'd howl louder than a dragon that's lost its tail!"
You giggle, smiling at your brother.
"Still, you're an Orc, for fuck's sake! What does she expect you to do? We were born to spill blood."
Eventually, you come across the stone forge. Rows of iron swords, axes and maces are stacked there. Lurkhim appears behind the forge, working on a large war axe. She's heavily scarred from years of battle and forging accidents, her face being so scarred you can barely tell if she's angry or cheerful.
"Hello! Look who it is, it's Dagden Youngblood! You're getting so big, aren't you? Big enough for a sword, hmmm?"
"Yes, Lurkhim."
"Damn right you are. I had a sword twice my height at your age. Ran it through a neighboring boy who tried to take my apples, I recall. Ah, the days of youth."
She leads you over to the weapons rack, and picks out a tiny dagger.
"There. Try it out. It should be well balanced for someone of your height."
You look at the blade, filled with disappointment, and Lurkhim bursts into laughter.
"Ha! I'd be ashamed to give that to a baby!" she says, grabbing a much larger sword from a rack.
"Here. Stain it red, Dagden. May your life be long and your enemies' short."
> take a few practice swings
You take a few swings of your blade. It takes some effort and strength to properly swing the heavy blade, but it does work quite well.
"Hey! Watch it, you little shit!" Bagig growls, as you realize you've sliced open his knee.
"Oops."
"He's already drawn blood. A promising start," Lurkhim grins.
"We're not called Red Blades for nothing," Bagig says, rubbing dirt into the cut.
"Sheath your blade, Dag, you're not in a battle yet, despite how much you may hope," she says, handing over a tiny leather belt that looks custom made for you.
You put the belt on and quickly sheath the weapon.
"Now, shall we get you a dagger? A dagger for Dag? Fitting."
You nod eagerly, as she takes you over to a row of knives. You look through them.
"Go ahead. Pick your favorite. You can tell a lot about an Orc from the dagger he picks. Whether it's gilded or plain, big or small, large or short..."
You quickly eye your favorite.
"That one."
Lurkhim laughs, picking it up. It's a deadly sharp knife made of bone, simple yet elegant.
"Ha! I like your choice! So many boys your age pick the biggest or the shiniest. You know what you want, Dagden."
You smile, as she hands you the knife.
"Keep it in your boot, so you always have it. An Orc should never be caught without a blade handy. Do you know what kind of knife that is, Dagden? What kind of bone is it?"
> dragon
"Dragon?"
"Ha! A clever one, aren't you? He knows what he wants, Bagig, and what it's made of. Damn right it's dragon. A fierce, fiery red Dragon, slain by your grandfather Chieftain Torag. Alright, then. I have a damn many axes that need to be forged. Go now, Dagden, and make sure that knife tastes a lot of blood in its life."
"Thank you, Lurkhim."
"Of course," Lurkhim smiles.
"Come on, Dag, let's go home," Bagig says.
> head home
You walk out of the forge, your new sword swinging at your side and you bone dagger tucked away in your boot.
"Now, if Mama asks, I was taking you to practice milking goats."
"Yes, Bagig," you nod.
You walk along home, the same time Dendar arrives.
"Bagig! Are we still taking the twins out hunting?"
"Damn right we are!" Bagig laughs, leaning into you. "Do you think I could get Gruzub and Mazkil to eat deer droppings?"
You giggle and nod eagerly as Dendar bursts into laughter.
"Damn right we're getting them to eat deer droppings."
Bagig pats you on the head, before leaving to grab his bow and head off to hunt. You watch as they leave, quickly breaking into a jog which the twins struggle to keep up with. You quickly rush inside and hide your sword under your bed, though you keep the dagger hidden in your boot.
"Dag! We're going to the woods to go gather eggs and fruit!" You hear Oragga, one of your friends, yell from outside your house.
You smile, and eagerly run outside to see her. It'll be a fun day.
> Six Months Later...
"Dag!" you hear Dendar yell, and you rush up from the goat fields towards the Chieftain's Hut.
"I'm here!" you yell, shouting as loud as you can.
You rush up and reach the Chieftain's Hut. You see Dag waiting there, his bow on his back.
"Dag! We're going hunting!"
"Hunting?" you say, shock, excitement and exhilaration all hitting you at once. "Really? I can't wait!"
"Now, you're only nine, but I think you deserve to go. The twins weren't allowed to go until they reached double digits, but they're idiots."
You laugh, and rush off to your room. You grab your warmest, toughest boots and put them on, sliding your knife in the boots. You grab your sword and sheath and put it on, finally grabbing the brand new Oak Bow that you've been practicing with every day you've had it. You sling it over you shoulder, as well as your arrow sheath, and rush out to meet Dendar.
"Hey! Where are you going without saying goodbye?" Mama yells.
You stop, pausing to turn around and rush off. Papa and Mama sit in front of a roaring fire. Mama knits as Papa polishes his blade, as usual. You give Papa and Mama a kiss each.
"I love you both."
"I love you too," Mama replies, sweet as always.
"I'll love you if you bring me home a boar," Papa says, which causes Mama to gently stab him with a knitting needle. "Hell, we don't need to say it every thirty seconds for fuck's sake. My Papa told me he loved me when I was born, when he died, and the day I bit out the throat of Lark Ramshead for calling Mama a whore. I still knew he loved me 'till the end. I love you Dagden, you know that.
You nod, and rush off with Dagden. Time to hunt. You have a feeling you'll catch a hell of a lotta food.
> The next night...
You were wrong. You sit by a dwindling campfire, looking out into the darkness.
"Well, this wasn't a great journey," you say softly.
"It was fucking miserable," Bagig replies, holding up your catches; three crows, a rodent and a young deer that had just taken its first steps when you shot it.
You hear the cracking of small branches nearby.
"Bagig...!"
"I know," Bagig whispers. "Deer, probably."
You slowly grab your bow, not wanting to startle the prey.
> stay still and let Bagig kill the prey
You stay very, very still, waiting patiently for Bagig to strike. Bagig motions at you.
"It's your kill, Dag. I've killed enough deer. You need to get blood on your hands."
"Thanks," you say, eagerly raising your bow.
> go over to kill the prey
You creep over towards the noise. You move through the trees, until you face a massive wall of leaves. You push the leaves aside, and move forward. You stop as you knock into something suddenly. You raise your hand, touching the a massive furry wall.
"What..." you begin to wonder, before getting smashed across the woods by a clawed paw.
You fly through the air, landing on the cold earth. You quickly stand, despite the fact that blood is dripping from your face and you have several broken ribs, only to be faced with the snarling face of a massive bear. You scream as it roars, and immediately begin scampering backwards.
"Dagden!" Bagig roars, and you can hear him rushing towards you.
The bear's warm breath is on you face as it growls.
> fire your bow
You fire your bow, hitting the creature in the shoulder. It roars and quickly bats you away, sending you up against a tree trunk and slamming your head against it. You yell in pain as the massive creature lets out a powerful, terrifying roar. You see Bagig sprint over with a sword drawn and quickly attack the bear, slashing its body open with several powerful swings. The Bear stands on two legs, slamming against Bagig. Bagig is flung against a tree trunk like you were, except with more force. Bagig screams as his back is smashed and grabs his sword in an effort to protect himself.
> help Bagig
You charge over, and leap onto the bear as you draw your knife. You stab it several times through its side, and it turns and quickly goes forward to bite you. Its mouth goes around your side, biting deeply.
> scream
You let out a pitiful scream as the massive creature bites into you. You take your knife and stab it repeatedly through the eye with all the force you have left. You force your dagger deeper and deeper into the bear as it roars, releasing you. You push the dagger further in, straight to the brain. The bear lets out a final roar, before collapsing on the ground. You groan, all the strength going from your legs.
> collapse
You lie on the ground, groaning as blood flows from your broken body.
"Fuck me, Dag! You killed a bear! Dagden Bearbane! A fitting title!" Bagig says, standing.
He stands up, before laughing. He doubles over in pain as he laughs, before smiling again.
"Well, I feel like hammered shit. You?"
"Yeah, same," you say.
"Come on," he says, picking you up from the ground and dragging you over to the campfire.
He lies you across a log, patting you on the head.
"A nine year old kills a bear. Who'd have thought it? Papa and Mama will be so impressed with you. I'm sure that Oragga girl will be impressed." Bagig winks.
You use the last remaining once of your strength to throw a rock at him.
"I don't like her like that!"
"Sure," Bagig chuckles. "You need rest. You can sleep once you've eaten some bear meat and I've bandaged your wounds."
Over the next hour, Bagig puts strips of bear meat on the fire, bandages himself and you up, and pours alcohol in your wounds, a procedure you'd rather not have done.
"It prevents infection," Bagig chides.
"I'd rather have the infection than have done that!" you moan.
Bagig chuckles, taking a spit off the fire and tossing it to you.
"Go, eat."
You eat eagerly, finishing off every last bit of delicious meat.
"Now you're a true Orc, Dagden Bearsbane," Bagig smiles proudly.
"Is my name really going to be Dagden Bearsbane?"
"Damn right. A lot better than Gruzub and Mazkil Boarsbane," Bagig laughs. "Once I've told Papa, as Chieftain he will decide whether your feat has earned the nickname, which I'm sure he will."
"Cool."
"Go to bed now. Sleep. You'll be healed enough by the morning for us to be able to head home. You did well, Dag. I'm proud of you."
You nod, before closing your eyes.
> embrace Sleep
You fall into a sleep. Your dreams are soft and pleasant. You imagine carrying the bear carcass over your shoulder and throwing it in the village square to the applause of your friends and family. Eventually, your blissful sleep is broken by a cold object poking you.
You open your eyes, to be faced with dead, soulless eyes.
"AH!" you scream.
It's the middle of the night, but thanks to the dying embers of the fire, you can make out some of the scene that's unfolding in front of you. A cloaked figure stands above you, a sword clutched in its hands. Its rotting skin is peeling away to reveal a pinkish flesh that the rot has already set into. You almost cry out in fear when you realize that its a an undead monster. It seems to be a zombie, although you've no idea. You've never had undead this far, and the sight of one is terrifying. You see Bagig awaken out of the corner of your eye, with a similar cloaked undead monster above him. Bagig roars, grabbing his bow as the zombie above you stab downwards, at your heart. You roll to the side, the sword impaling through the ground next to you, the cold blade slicing through your clothes and just scratching you to draw a thin stream of blood. The zombie stares at you and growls.
"NO! My brother didn't deserve to be killed by a cursed corpse-fucker!" Bagig roars, firing his bow.
The arrow flies through the air and through the rotting head of the zombie, killing it instantly. The zombie falls to the ground, its body thumping against the ground. The other zombie quickly thrusts its sword downwards, straight through Bagig's heart. Tears begin to well in your eyes as you see Bagig gasp, before falling still. The zombie stands, heading towards you.
> play dead
You lie there, struggling to stay silent. The zombie pokes you with its sword a few times, before picking up your sword and bow and tossing it in the fire. It growls, and two more zombies approach. One lifts Bagig up, while the other places its rotting hands around you and lifts you up. It carries you forward, and you see a massive wooden cart, stacked with corpses, mostly human and orc. You struggle not to scream in terror, as you're tossed into the cart. Your small body sinks between two freshly-killed corpses, and Bagig is thrown on top of you. You squirm slightly, moving your head to breath, and struggle not to cry as you see your brother's face, now permanently twisted in pain, his eyes now cold and soulless.
> wait
You lie among the corpses for what seems like an eternity. The smell is the worst thing you've ever smelled, but the knowledge that it's dead bodies moving against you is terrifying. Still, you know that the idea of the undead monsters yanking you from the pile and tearing you apart is even scarier, so you stay silent.
You have no idea how long you spend in the cart. How many hours? Hell, it could be over a day by now. Eventually, the cart stops. You hear growls outside, before a shout.
"How many?" a young man's voice cries.
"Twenty-seven. Thirteen Orcs, thirteen Men, one Dwarf."
"A dwarf? I wonder what that small little bastard was doing in that region. Ah, who cares. Prepare them."
You hear zombies yank corpses from the cart. One of them pulls Bagig off you and you close your eyes and go limp. The zombie yanks you forward, and quite gently lays you on the ground. You open your eyes slightly, to see you're being laid out in rows. You're in the courtyard of what appears to be a massive castle made from black stone. You're surrounded by undead monsters, with one exception: A human, wearing hooded black robes, holding a steel sword. His face is paler than bone, and his angular facial features tells you there's probably some High Elf lineage in him. His black hair is slicked back undead his hood, and he eagerly looks at the corpses like a warrior among battle. An undead knight who had been leading the pack rides forward, looking at the man.
"Are you raising them, or is the Grand Necromancer?"
The Grand Necromancer. Papa's told you about him. A cowardly mage who uses raises the dead to fight for him. You know he has some lesser Necromancers, which probably included the robed man.
"No, I shall raise them today."
The Necromancer turns and raises his hands.
"Rise, Minions! The Grim Reaper shall not take you today! Shrug off the eternal sleep and wake!" he laughs.
His eyes turn black as his pupils consume his irises and corneas. A faint blackness appears to flow from his fingertips outwards, enrapturing the corpses. The corpses begin to shudder as the black, magical energy floods into them. Then, the dead begin to rise. Slowly, the corpses begin to stand, their eyes still as soulless as before. The Necromancer pauses, spotting you. You attempt to stand slowly, like the newly created zombies, but stumble and fall flat again.
"Ah, someone from the land of the living is here! Hello!"
Cold hands grab you, and you are yanked up. You crane your neck to see Bagig, holding you in his rotting hands. No, Bagig is dead. Bagig was loving, friendly, funny and kind. This... abomination, has black, soulless eyes. You draw your blade and sink it into the side of his head. Bagig's corpse releases you, and falls to the ground. Bagig has always loved you. His body deserves to rest.
"Ah, a fighter!" the Necromancer laughs.
Rotting hands grab you, and the knife is ripped from your hands. You see several Orcs, seemingly alive, approach.
"What's the issue, Trant?" one of them growls.
"My title is Necromancer Trant, servant of the Grand Necromancer. I will not be addressed as simply "Trant" by some lowly mercenary!"
"Don't make me ask again, Trant!"
"There's a survivor."
The Orc, apparently the leader of a band of mercenaries, looks at you, and you get a good luck at him. He's quite a fair bit taller than Bagig was, although his body is covered with scars. Several scars run across his face, including one that's taken out his eye, leaving a disgusting hole in his face.
"He's just a boy. I doubt he's been on his first hunt yet."
"Well, he should be dead," Necromancer Trant says angrily.
"I ain't killing him..."
You breath a sigh of relief.
"... for normal pay. Five times if you want me to kill a kid."
"Fine. I'll pay out of pocket. I don't want to... bother the Grand Necromancer with this."
"Ha! Hiding something from the Master of Death? Alright then, it's your head," the Mercenary Leader says.
You're dropped by the undead, and the Mercenary Leader quickly kicks you in the chest, knocking you backwards. You fall on the ground, and he grabs your arms. You watch with terror as a chopping block is brought out. One of the Orcs binds your hands with ropes, tightening them behind your back. You're shoved to your knees, and the chopping block is dropped in front of you. Your neck is forced to the chopping block. A bucket is shoved in front of you, no doubt for your head to fall into. The Mercenary Leader is handed a massive battleaxe.
"Don't worry, kid. I'll make it quick. I'm good with an axe. I've filled that bucket many a time."
> beg for mercy
You begin to cry, which turns to sobs.
"Please! I don't want to die! Let me go, I won't say a word!"
The Orc sighs.
"Sorry, kid. Let's get this over with."
The Orc swings the blade with such speed you don't even feel it.
> death
Eternal Sleep
Your life force is taken from you as you enter the endless sleep of death. |
You lie among the corpses for what seems like an eternity. The smell is the worst thing you've ever smelled, but the knowledge that it's dead bodies moving against you is terrifying. Still, you know that the idea of the undead monsters yanking you from the pile and tearing you apart is even scarier, so you stay silent.
You have no idea how long you spend in the cart. How many hours? Hell, it could be over a day by now. Eventually, the cart stops. You hear growls outside, before a shout.
"How many?" a young man's voice cries.
"Twenty-seven. Thirteen Orcs, thirteen Men, one Dwarf."
"A dwarf? I wonder what that small little bastard was doing in that region. Ah, who cares. Prepare them."
You hear zombies yank corpses from the cart. One of them pulls Bagig off you and you close your eyes and go limp. The zombie yanks you forward, and quite gently lays you on the ground. You open your eyes slightly, to see you're being laid out in rows. You're in the courtyard of what appears to be a massive castle made from black stone. You're surrounded by undead monsters, with one exception: A human, wearing hooded black robes, holding a steel sword. His face is paler than bone, and his angular facial features tells you there's probably some High Elf lineage in him. His black hair is slicked back undead his hood, and he eagerly looks at the corpses like a warrior among battle. An undead knight who had been leading the pack rides forward, looking at the man.
"Are you raising them, or is the Grand Necromancer?"
The Grand Necromancer. Papa's told you about him. A cowardly mage who uses raises the dead to fight for him. You know he has some lesser Necromancers, which probably included the robed man.
"No, I shall raise them today."
The Necromancer turns and raises his hands.
"Rise, Minions! The Grim Reaper shall not take you today! Shrug off the eternal sleep and wake!" he laughs.
His eyes turn black as his pupils consume his irises and corneas. A faint blackness appears to flow from his fingertips outwards, enrapturing the corpses. The corpses begin to shudder as the black, magical energy floods into them. Then, the dead begin to rise. Slowly, the corpses begin to stand, their eyes still as soulless as before. The Necromancer pauses, spotting you. You attempt to stand slowly, like the newly created zombies, but stumble and fall flat again.
"Ah, someone from the land of the living is here! Hello!"
Cold hands grab you, and you are yanked up. You crane your neck to see Bagig, holding you in his rotting hands. No, Bagig is dead. Bagig was loving, friendly, funny and kind. This... abomination, has black, soulless eyes. You draw your blade and sink it into the side of his head. Bagig's corpse releases you, and falls to the ground. Bagig has always loved you. His body deserves to rest.
"Ah, a fighter!" the Necromancer laughs.
Rotting hands grab you, and the knife is ripped from your hands. You see several Orcs, seemingly alive, approach.
"What's the issue, Trant?" one of them growls.
"My title is Necromancer Trant, servant of the Grand Necromancer. I will not be addressed as simply "Trant" by some lowly mercenary!"
"Don't make me ask again, Trant!"
"There's a survivor."
The Orc, apparently the leader of a band of mercenaries, looks at you, and you get a good luck at him. He's quite a fair bit taller than Bagig was, although his body is covered with scars. Several scars run across his face, including one that's taken out his eye, leaving a disgusting hole in his face.
"He's just a boy. I doubt he's been on his first hunt yet."
"Well, he should be dead," Necromancer Trant says angrily.
"I ain't killing him..."
You breath a sigh of relief.
"... for normal pay. Five times if you want me to kill a kid."
"Fine. I'll pay out of pocket. I don't want to... bother the Grand Necromancer with this."
"Ha! Hiding something from the Master of Death? Alright then, it's your head," the Mercenary Leader says.
You're dropped by the undead, and the Mercenary Leader quickly kicks you in the chest, knocking you backwards. You fall on the ground, and he grabs your arms. You watch with terror as a chopping block is brought out. One of the Orcs binds your hands with ropes, tightening them behind your back. You're shoved to your knees, and the chopping block is dropped in front of you. Your neck is forced to the chopping block. A bucket is shoved in front of you, no doubt for your head to fall into. The Mercenary Leader is handed a massive battleaxe.
"Don't worry, kid. I'll make it quick. I'm good with an axe. I've filled that bucket many a time."
> curse the Mercenary Leader out
"It'll be filled just like your mother was filled hundreds of times, you fucking scum!" you shout, struggling to think of every bad word you've been taught.
Thankfully, many, many, many hours spent listening to Papa, Bagig, Mazkil, Gruzub and even sometimes Mama swear has given you a lot of material.
"You're the product of a whore!" you yell.
"Ha! This one's got balls!" the Mercenary Leader laughs.
"Unlike you, you unloved, honor less eunuch! The fires of hell take you! I hope Demons rape your soul and... and... your mother's a whore, who..."
"Aw, he ran out of insults. Alright, kid. Let's get this over with."
The Orc raises his blade.
"STOP!" a young, shrill voice cries.
The Orc pauses, turning to look.
"Ah, fuck," he sighs.
You turn to see two humans approaching. The one in the lead is a tall, pale figure wearing hooded black robes with silver trim with short black hair. His face is gaunt and his eyes are sunken into his face, giving him the appearance of a skull. He is followed by a small girl, who looks to be only your age, wearing a dark red dress with flowing blond hair. She's considerably less pale than the man, and has bright green eyes. She looks worried at the sight of the execution, and she very well might've just saved your life.
"What the fuck is this?" the tall man asks angrily.
"Nothing, Grand Necromancer."
"Nothing? This doesn't look like nothing, Balok the Honorless!"
"It's an execution, sir. Nothing out of the ordinary."
The Grand Necromancer grabs you, yanking you up.
"How old would you say this kid is?" he asks.
"I don't know, sir."
"Blaise, why did you scream?" the Grand Necromancer asks.
"Because you only kill bad people, and he's too young to be bad," the girl says, looking worried.
"Are you paid to kill kids, Balok?" the Grand Necromancer asks.
"Yes, sir. Well, not kids specifically, but my job is to kill whoever..."
The Grand Necromancer, despite being quite short, swings his fist, punching the Mercenary Leader.
"If you pull this shit again, I'll torture you to death, and then do it again!" the Grand Necromancer says.
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir," the Orc apologizes.
The Grand Necromancer looks at you, before looking at the girl.
"Cut the boy loose, have his wounds dressed and have him cleaned and clothed."
"Then what?" the Orc asks.
"Have him brought to my quarters."
The Orc nods. The Necromancer looks at you.
"What's your name, boy?"
"Dagden."
"It's alright, Dagden. I promise you won't be harmed. I have problems to deal with, Balok. Don't cause more of them."
He turns, and strolls off. The girl stays behind for a few seconds, staring at you. Finally, she turns and quickly follows the Grand Necromancer.
"Well, fuck me," Balok sighs, cutting you loose. "Come on, you little prick. I gotta follow the "Master of Death"'s orders. And way to stand up for me, Trant. Fuck you, you fuckin' corpse-fucker."
Trant smiles and gives Balok the finger. Balok swears and begins dragging you toward the building he came out from.
> continue
You're thrown onto a bed in what appears to be a Medic's room. A small Orc enters, narrowing her eyes.
"You're the kid, are you? Made Balok look like a right moron, you did."
She sits down on a stool next to you. She begins to stitch your cuts on your chest from the bear closed. You wince, and she grabs a red vial from her leather bag.
"Here. Drink. Every last drop. Lick it clean if you must."
You open the cork, and drink. You swallow the sweet mixture. You assume it's some healing potion, because your pain lessens and strength courses through you. You feel much better now.
"So, where you from, boy?" the Medic asks.
> answer
"I'm a Red Blade."
"Ah! I was sweet on a Red Blade once. Ended up beating him half to death when he tried to have his way with me on a drunken night. Jakku Smallcock, he was. Or at least, that title is more fitting," she smiles.
You nod, and she quickly patches you up.
"No strenuous exercise, you don't want the stitching to tear. Alright, head off to the bathrooms now the hall. Balok said to have you washed."
You leave the Medic's Room and find yourself in a stone hallway. Down the hall you can see the, though there is a path left.
> go wash up
You walk into the bathrooms, and find a bath waiting for you. You touch the water. It's quite hot, to your surprise. Your baths have always been in the cold river, or sometimes if you're lucky been in a basin slowly pouring a bucket of hot water on yourself. This entire bath is hot. You remove your clothes, and lower yourself into the water. The heat envelops you, and you let out a sigh of relief.
"Ah... good," you say to yourself.
You begin to scrub your skin, rubbing away mud, dirt and blood. Layers of dirt that you had assumed were skin are wash off, and you're left cleaner than you've ever been in your entire existence. It's unnerving to be this green. The door opens, and your hands immediately move to cover your genitals. An undead Dwarf walks in, dropping clothes in front of you, before picking up your old clothes. The Dwarf has long, braided brown hair and a combed beard, although his skin is cracked and broken and peeling away to reveal flesh as some point. His teeth have almost all rotted, and a spear wound has destroyed much of his throat.
"Hello. I'm here to give you new clothes and take away your old," he rasps.
"You're not supposed to talk. The dead don't talk."
"Orcs aren't supposed to be clean."
"What are you?"
"A Wight."
You nod, despite not having a clue what that entails. The Wight turns, and walks out the door. You stand and find come clean rags laid out to wipe yourself dry. When you're finished, you get dressed in the trousers, shirt, belt and polished boots. You look at your reflection in the water.
You look like a ponce.
"If Gruzub, Mazkil or Bagig saw me they'd..." you pause, tears welling up in your eyes.
You grab the rags, and dry your eyes again, as the door is opened again. The Wight stands there.
"I'm to escort you to the Grand Necromancer."
You nod, and follow the Wight out of the bathroom, and follow him along the halls. You spot various Orc, Elf, Human and Dwarven Mercenaries, as well as countless undead. You shiver as you pass them. You're eventually led to a pair of double doors.
"Through there," the Wight says.
> go through the doors
Chapter II: A Guest among the Graves
You push through the double doors, and find yourself in a large room. A massive feasting table stands in front of you, covered in food. Your stomach grumbles as you realize you haven't eaten in quite some time, and your mouth waters as you look upon roasted chicken, baked loaves of bread, turkey legs, roasted boar and even more food. You see the Grand Necromancer sitting at the head of the table, wearing his black robes with the silver trim, although his hood is pulled down. Sitting next to him is the young child from earlier. About a dozen black robed Necromancers sit at the table, as well as several Mercenary Captains. Standing guard are dozens of undead knights, who stare at you with their cold eyes. The Grand Necromancer looks up at you and smiles.
"Ah! Our guest is here, young Mr Dagden. Please, take a seat at my side."
You can tell by the cold, emotionless staring of the guards that declining this offer would be a bad move. You nod, and walk past the necromancers. You spot Trant among them, who winks at you. You make a silent promise to yourself that you're going to kill him. You take a seat next to the Grand Necromancer, directly across from the girl. The Grand Necromancer smiles at you, a charming smile from a horrible monster of a man.
"I'm sorry about the recent unpleasantness, Dagden. I sent my soldiers to wipe out bandits and thugs and retrieve their corpses to add to my forces. I'm so sorry that you and your brother got confused with them."
You don't look at the Grand Necromancer, out of disgust and hatred. You grab a turkey leg, and eagerly begin chewing into it. You realize just how starved you are as begin to wolf down your meal.
"Hungry little one, aren't you? I bet you've never eaten a meal this big, coming from a tribal village."
"I bet you didn't catch a single thing on this table yourself, and got stronger men to do it," you retort.
The Necromancer laughs.
"It tastes better that way, I would imagine. I admit, I don't catch my own food. I'm not a strong person. My brothers were the strong ones. They wanted to be warriors. I wanted to be a scholar, but after I began to research magic, I decided to become a mage. I quickly specialized in Necromancy. It has a terrible reputation like all other forms of Black Magic, but I've never understood it. Necromancy, Blood Magic, Creating Life, Elemental Darkness, Demon Summoning, Demon Bonding, deals with demons... Anything with demons, really, all hated by fools and morons. We hate Blood Magic because we can't seem to comprehend a need for sacrifice, we hate creating life because we seem to think that's the place of the Gods who barely exist and never help us "foolish mortals", we hate Elemental Darkness because the dumbest part of our brain is scared of what we can't see, we hate dealing with demons because we're too scared about our ability to keep control over them, and most importantly, we hate Necromancy because we have respect for corpses because of what they once were and fear the dead. It's pathetic. Do you know the amount of good Necromancy could do? Imagine cities defended by armies of undead, so hunting bandits and defending from enemies will no longer risk any lives. Do you see why my work is important?"
> say "Yes."
"Good! It's important to learn these things! I'm glad you can be so understanding at such a young age. My daughter, Blaise, is also quite understanding. I don't know if I've introduced you."
You look over at the girl, who stares at you with wide curious eyes.
"She's the splitting image of her mother. She..."
"When can I go home?" you ask abruptly, causing the Grand Necromancer to frown.
"Ah... about that... You realize you've already seen so much... You've seen the extent of my operations, you know my plans to expand my army, my use of other Necromancers, my use of mercenaries, my base of operations... I think it would be wise if you stay here, as our guest, for some time."
You stare into the eyes of the Grand Necromancer. You can feel him peering into your soul. You refuse to break gaze. He sighs.
"I'm sorry to have to keep you here. I can promise you'll be treated well."
You can continue staring at the Grand Necromancer, which seems to unnerve him. You feel some joy at doing so, but stop yourself from smiling.
"Blaise, why don't you show our new guest your room? I'm sure you have loads of toys to show him. I have business to discuss."
Blaise nods, and stands up from the table. You stand, and she walks over and grabs your hand.
"Come on. I'll show you my room," she says.
She begins dragging you to a small door at the back of the room, and opens it. You find yourself in a large bedroom, bigger than Papa's. There's a large double canopy bed, a wardrobe, a bookshelf, two chest of drawers and several toys lying around the room.
"Usually, Dad doesn't bring many guests here, and never ever anyone my age. My name's Blaise. What's yours?"
"Dagden. My friends call me Dag."
"Pleased to meet you, Dag. I'm Blaise. I have loads of toys, but I also have other stuff. I have a pet..."
You stare into her eyes, and feel hatred. She's the most important thing to the Grand Necromancer, the man who took your brother. You're far enough from the main room. You could very, very easily get your revenge and hurt the Necromancer just like he hurt you.
> continue listening to her
No, she's done nothing to you. She's just a little kid in a situation you didn't choose, just like you.
"...dog, named Stitches."
"Stitches?" you say, raising an eyebrow.
"He was attacked by an assassin, an Orc trying to kill my dad. My dad brought him back so I could keep him. Stitches! Come here, Stitches!"
You here scratching behind you, and turn around. You open your mouth to scream, before remembering what Papa always said.
"When faced with danger, never scream, only roar."
You growl, staring at the abomination. The "dog" is missing patches of its brown fur, and is covered in stitches across it's body and legs. It's missing almost all the flesh from one of its back legs and its lower jaw. The Dog quickly walks forward, and Blaise begins stroking its back. You extend a hand forward and begin stroking its head. It extends a liver-colored tongue and licks your hand and you recoil in disgust. Stitches whimpers, and you start stroking its head again. It barks happily, and you begin to rub it's belly. You've always wanted a dog, although you wanted one with a bit more life in it than this one. You can't tell whether you should hug or strangle the dog, but you know you really, really want to do one of them.
"Do you like him?" Blaise asks, looking up at you.
> say "Yes."
She smiles at you, and continues rubbing Stitches.
"He's really... cute," you say, struggling for words.
The girl looks up at you, raising an eyebrow.
"Do you want to go hear what they're saying?" she asks.
"Who?"
"My Dad and the other Necromancers."
"How?"
"I know about a hidden room where you can eavesdrop. I don't know what it was for, but I like to go there sometimes when I don't want to be found. Do you want to see it?"
You nod eagerly, and she goes over to her wardrobe. She opens it, and reaches a hand in to root around the dresses, blouses and skirts, before pulling out a small, unassuming silver key.
"Come on, follow me," she says, turning and walking over to the side of the room.
She begins putting all her weight against the bookshelf. It moves slightly, revealing a small wooden door hidden behind it.
"It's a pretty obvious place to put a hidden door. I don't think this castle's architect was very clever."
She unlocks and opens the door. The room inside is a small room with a small table and four chairs, another bookshelf, a large bed and a chest.
"If you put your head up against the wall, you can here what's inside."
You lean against the far wall, putting your ear against it.
"...allow us to have more control over the mountain range. We send teams into the mines and mountains to force the Dwarves back, and allow us to conquer the tombs. With the tombs in our hands, the whole continent will fall," the Grand Necromancer says.
"I'll lead the raids. The Dwarf Clans have survived untouched by war for far too long. I think my knowledge of battle tactics..." an Unknown voice cries.
"Ha! Galmead, please don't pretend it's anything other than vengeance that makes you want to lead the assault. Still, you've served me well over the years. You can lead the assault."
"Thank you, Grand Necromancer."
"Of course. Now Thonir, fetch the Orc child and find a room for him. Make sure the door's locked and there's extra guards on. I don't want him escaping."
Blaise pulls her head back from the door.
"We should get out of here," she says.
You both quickly rush out of the room, with Blaise locking it behind you. You push the bookshelf closed, before you hear a short rapping on the door. Blaise opens it, and you're faced with the Dwarven Wight from earlier.
"Lady Blaise, Dagden. I'm here to escort you to your new private chambers, Dagden."
"OK," you reply.
"Bye, Dag."
"Bye, Blaise."
The Wight begins leading you down a hallway.
"My name is Thonir. I am to look after you during your stay."
"OK."
"If you need anything, simply ask and I shall do my best to help to the extent I can. Of course, if I think the request compromises the... security of you or anyone else here, I shall not grant it."
You nod, looking up at him. His rotting face stares blankly on, before he stops in front of a large oak door. He opens it, and you walk inside. There's a small room with a seat with a hole in the floor that you presume is a bathroom, a basin filled with water, a small bed, a wardrobe, a dresser, a bookshelf and a table and chair. There's also a massive bear skull mounted on the wall, which you think looks cool.
"This shall be your quarters for the duration of your stay. I shall guard the door for the night. Knock on the door if you need anything."
With that, Thorin closes the door. You can hear the clunking of the locking mechanism, and then silence. You look around. There's a book lying on the table that might be of some interest, and there's also the bed, which after such a long day looks quite appealing.
> investigate the book
You walk over to the book, and pick it up. A golden star takes up most of the cover. Its title, "Magic", takes up the rest of the cover.
"Well, that's obvious," you say.
You open it and start reading. You struggle considerably with the massive words, but of the many perks of being the son of the Chieftain, being taught the ability to read, quite well, actually, is your favorite. Papa would spit on Elven tomes, but you're able to speak, write and read common tongue well enough. It opens with various entries about the types of magic users. You start reading.
Conjurers
Conjurers are Magic Users who specialize in Conjuration. They can conjure swords, knives, spears, axes, compasses, food, water and many other objects from other planes.
Demon Dealers
Demon Dealers are Magic users who specialize in dealing with demons. They can summon demons, bind them, make deals and much more.
Necromancers
Necromancers are Magic Users who specialize in Necromancy. They raise the dead and talk with spirits.
Warlocks
Warlocks are Magic Users who study destructive magic, such as fire and ice based magic, so they can become warlords and wage war against their enemies.
Alchemists
Alchemists are Magic Users who study Alchemy. They use science and reason to study the creation of gold from lesser metals and the making of potions, elixirs and mixtures, especially in regard to immortality.
Enchanters
Enchanters are Magic Users who study enchanting. They can imbue objects such as weapons or armor with magical properties.
Healers
Healers are Magic Users who study Healing. They can undue wounds and heal illnesses and plagues from people and animals.
You flick through the rest of the book, but it seems to go into much, much more detail. You're struggling to read the basic start, there's no way you can read more. You put down the book.
> go to sleep
You go over to the bed, and lie down on it. You live in bed for several minutes, trying to fall asleep. Eventually, you manage to reach a state that's neither fully awake nor fully asleep. You're broken out of this state by a light tapping. You stand up, raising an eye as you search for the sound of the noise. You find it in the bookcase. You move around to push the bookcase slightly out of the way, noticing a small door behind the bookcase, similar to the one Blaise showed you. You try the handle. You grin as the door handle clicks open and the door swings ajar. Inside is a small, black tunnel covered in cobwebs. Standing in the middle is Blaise.
"Hello," she smiles.
"Hey," you respond. "What are you doing here?"
"There's loads of tunnels stretching from the hidden room I showed you to all around the castle."
"So why'd you come find me?" you ask.
Blaise shrugs.
"I don't know. I guess you're the only person I really have to show this kinda stuff to."
"OK," you nod.
"Well... What do you want to do?" Blaise asks. "I could show you the gardens, or the..."
You mind perks as you have an idea.
> say "Can you help me escape?"
Blaise looks uncertain and nervous, but nods.
"I think so."
"How?"
"There's a tunnel that leads down to the stables. Down there there's a trading cart that goes between the nearby towns and the Castle. They brought fresh fruit today, so they're probably still down there."
You nod.
"OK. Show me the way."
Blaise turns and leads you into another hallway. You struggle to see through the darkness, and knock into a stone wall. You groan in pain, and Blaise giggles.
"It's not funny. If I had my dagger, I'd gut you," you moan.
"It is funny. You have a dagger?" Blaise giggles.
"Had."
"Oh. My Dad doesn't let me have weapons."
Blaise leans over and grabs your hand. Despite the fact that it's incredibly hard to see for you so her holding of your hand is incredibly rational, you still blush and feel embarrassed as her small warm hand grips your fingers. She pulls you along the dark corridors, until she stops suddenly. You knock into her, and end up sprawled out on the floor.
"Sorry," you grunt, standing up.
You extend a hand and pull her up.
"Thanks," Blaise says. "It's just down this hallway."
You nod, and quickly follow her down another hallway branching off to the side. Eventually, you come across another door. Blaise takes out her key and quietly unlocks the door. She slowly opens it, revealing a large stables. You step out, noticing that the door is hidden into the wall. In the stables are three old wooden carts that sit unused, as well as several tied up horses.
"Why would someone need so many tunnels?" you ask.
"Sssh! There's always guards on duty," Blaise whispers.
Blaise looks around, before frowning.
"It's not here!" she whispers loudly.
"What?"
"The trader's cart! It's not here!"
"What's the plan, then?"
Blaise looks around.
"I don't know... you could hide in the hay cart. They take out the dirty hay in them. Or... you could steal one of the horses."
> hide in the hay cart
"I'll hide in the hay cart," you say. "Give me a boost."
Blaise nods, and offers her hands out. You put your foot in her hands, and she boosts you up. You land in the soft hay, brushing it off you.
"Thanks," you grunt.
"I guess we won't see each other again," Blaise says.
"I guess."
"Well, I'll miss you. It was fun having a friend while it lasted."
"I'll miss you too."
"Well, I..." she begins, before stopping and craning her head.
"We're late. Get the horses ready," a voice cries.
"You should hide," Blaise says.
You nod.
"Thanks," you say.
You squirm down into the hay, hiding under the pile of hay. You find your way to the bottom of the hay, and curl up into a ball. After a few minutes, you feel the wheels begin to turn as the cart is pulled from its stationary position.
"Wait," the Voice says. "We have to check the hay."
You freeze, staying as still as you can. A few seconds later, you feel an incredible pain as a pitchfork goes through your back, impaling you. You let out a scream as your tiny body is impaled by the cart's driver. |
WEDNESDAY
"Hey Suzy get up, time to start packing up." Klepto says tapping your shoulder.
"Okay... " you reply groggily. You don't feel a small figure near the bottom your legs so you assume Shrimpy must've already gotten up.
"Well that wasn't that bad, Shrimpy even honored the agreement." You say sitting up.
"Or maybe you're just a really sound sleeper." Klepto remarks.
"Hrm, well if that's the case he better at least have the sense to not brag about it. Anyway, I suppose I'll take my leave to wash up a bit and change clothes."
"Wish I could come with you." Klepto says.
"Excuse me?" you say.
"Ha ha ha no not that, I meant it sucks having to share the small ass bathroom we have in this trailer. Fatty's in there right now and well you can figure out how it's going to be after he leaves."
"Yeah, I'd rather not have that mental image right now. See you around." You say and start to leave.
"Wait, uh Suzy... I... " Klepto calls out.
"Yes?"
"(Sigh) Look I know I probably haven't been showing exactly prince charming behavior, but I just want to say, I really like you. I mean REALLY like you."
"Yeah I got that impression a long time ago." You respond.
"Yeah, but I'm trying to say it's not just physical."
"I find that a little harder to believe... however I'm not really going to fault you for it, but I'm going to need a lot more proof that you want something deeper than just sex."
"Well what? Like a ring or something?"
"Heh, I don't think you're exactly in a financial position for all that. Look, I like you too, but this probably isn't the best time to expect anything more from me than just friendship. I'm still trying to get used to the fact of this being my new life now not to mention I'm just getting over breaking up with what was my first and only boyfriend. So I might prefer my own company for a while. However that doesn't mean you shouldn't TRY to gain my affection. But only IF you REALLY want something meaningful with me. If not, then I'd suggest that you not waste either of our time and you go find a less discerning mate. I don't need prince charming either, I just need someone I can count on and isn't going to be a complete jerk. And if it helps, so far you're doing a little bit better in that department than anyone else here."
"Okay." Klepto says with a nod and brief smile before you leave.
Well there it is, someone has openly professed a desire to be your boyfriend. You knew it was going to be one of them eventually though. You can only imagine the others will be attempting to woo you as well just like in your routine with them. Funny how life starts to imitate art.
You don't know how sincere Klepto is even if he has been pleasant for the most part. (Can you really ever trust a guy with the name Klepto?)
Attractiveness wise, Klepto probably is the best of the lot. Lifto would probably provide the best protection, but the guy is tough to look at even with clown make up on and as far as Fatty is concerned, the only thing that runs through your mind is potential sexual positions and only one of which doesn't result in you being crushed.
Part of you wonders if you're bad for being shallow, but then you remember they're all attracted to you mostly due to your looks in the first place.
Though for some reason you find Shrimpy's size adorable... in fact you might find some of the others dwarves that work here adorable as well if they weren't quite so vulgar with you. Maybe you've got a hidden dwarf fetish you didn't know about before.
Oh well, you're not going to worry about any of this right now.
As you head back to your own trailer, you see most of the dwarves doing all the labor of packing down the carnival; others are helping, but most are just packing down their own respective stages and such.
"Hey clown slut, if you're not actually going to be sleeping in your own trailer and just going to be playing cum dumpster to your painted freak friends, the least you can do is give it to one of us!" a tattooed lady with big black Mohawk and several piercings in her face remarks catching you off guard. A couple of other tattooed women stand behind her agreeing with her statement. You briefly remember her calling you names from yesterday. Her name's Razor and she does a human pincushion type act.
"I didn't use my trailer last night, because I didn't feel safe by myself." You say.
"Oh? Just a scared little babe in the woods huh? Well you're by yourself now. What're you going to do without your clown crew to protect you?" Razor remarks and pokes you in the chest with her finger.
You look around and while there are a couple of people standing by, none of them are helping you. While Razor isn't much bigger than you, she definitely looks tougher. Combine that with the fact she has two friends that also look like they'll join in and you don't think you'll stand a chance if it actually came down to a fight.
> stand your ground
Maybe this isn't the best idea you've ever had, but after all those years of dealing with your sister Kelly, you aren't going to put up with bullying anymore.
You've never really been a fighter before (Trying to protect your face from Kelly's couple attempts to disfigure you don't count) so it isn't surprising that when you throw a punch at Razor she easily dodges and catches your arm.
"Oh ho! Harley Quinn has some fight in her! Good, didn't want this to be too easy!" Razor says and throws you to the ground. Before you can get up you feel a kick to your ribs.
Lacking any other tactics you lunge at one of Razor's legs and sink your teeth into it hard enough to draw blood.
"AH SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK!" Razor yells trying to get you off of her leg, at this point her friends step in to help pull you off. You're dragged off and restrained while Razor takes a moment to examine her wound.
"Goddamn it! Shit!" Razor exclaims looking at the fairly deep bite wound you've left.
"I thought you were a human pincushion, what's the matter can't handle a few little teeth?" you ask spitting blood in Razor's direction.
"Hope you enjoyed yourself, because that's the last time you're going to be using those pearly whites. Say hello to eating through a straw from now on, but look on the bright side, the next time you engage in your favorite past time of sucking clown dick, they won't have to worry about getting scraped." Razor says and starts to walk toward you, but suddenly Roofie stops her.
"Alright that will do Razor, I saw what happened and I'll not have unnecessary strife in this carnival! Go back to packing down your stage!" Roofie scolds.
Razor looks at him a moment and then you and then waves to her friends to let you go.
"One day you aren't going to be running this show Roofie." Razor says as she leaves with her friends.
"Maybe not, but that day isn't today." Roofie says.
As you get up and try to brush yourself off, Roofie slowly walks over to you. He already smells like alcohol.
"Well Suzy, first Ranko, now Razor, looks like you're just making friends all over."
"It's not my fault! I didn't do anything to her!"
"I know you didn't, you alright?"
"Yeah, but now I probably got a target on my back, one of many probably since Razor isn't the only one who hates me around here."
"Yeah I've noticed. Just because I'm half drunk most of the time doesn't mean I'm not aware of what goes on around here. Listen some of the negative feelings that some have for you will die down in time. You seem to be getting along with your new clown co-workers very well though. You spent the night over in their trailer despite the fact you have your own."
"I only did that because I didn't feel safe sleeping alone last night. There was a really creepy big guy staring at me all day yesterday, I dunno maybe I was just being paranoid."
"Hmm, did you wish to bunk with them or even someone else then? I mean I can make arrangements if you feel uncomfortable sleeping alone."
"No, I appreciate the fact you gave me my own trailer. Besides, given all the new friends I'm making, I'd be safer sleeping alone and bunking with Klepto and the rest, well I get the impression that would cause other problems." You say.
"Okay then. Well, I'll let you get back to your trailer. We'll probably be ready to go just before nightfall so I'm sure Lifto will be around then to hook this thing up to one of our trucks. So until then just enjoy the downtime."
"Wait, aren't I supposed to be helping pack up the carnival?"
"You? Nah, the rest of the guys can handle it. Really I get the impression they wouldn't let you do much work anyway what with them all being enamored with you and all. And the dwarves got the overall pack up covered. Always have, it's what they do. Backbone of the carnival and all... and all a bit of a waste of time given what's to come, but hey we do what we know." Roofie says and leaves.
A little more cryptic future doom prediction by Roofie, you get the impression that's his general personality, but at least he's always pleasant with you.
With no more distractions you arrive at your trailer and that's when you begin to feel nervous again.
First of all the door is slightly ajar. You also notice a couple things out of place from last time, not to mention it looks like someone spent some time in your bed and soiled it with their "essence". Your cell phone that you left here is also gone, but given that its batteries were starting to die and you wouldn't have Bobby to pay for it much longer it isn't much of a loss. Someone was definitely here last night. You don't know if it was Ranko, that big creepy retard staring at you or someone else, but either way you dodged a bullet.
You half expect the person to jump out at you from some hidden spot, but that doesn't happen. Whoever was here, probably left before the morning, and probably when they realized you weren't coming here.
You re-check all the trailer's locations (even if it isn't the biggest place) and block the door with a chair before feeling safe enough to shower and get changed.
Afterwards you go through the mundane process of actually cleaning up the trailer. You figure if you don't need to help pack up the carnival, you can at least spend your time clean up your living area. (First thing is throwing out the befouled bed sheet)
By the time you're finished it's the afternoon and you're tired again. You're still not used to being awake so early and you didn't get much sleep last night so you lie down in your now cleaner bed and shut your eyes for just a bit...
You don't know how much time passes while you're asleep again, but when you do wake up it's to a loud thumping at the door.
"OPEN UP BY ORDER OF THE U.S. NATIONAL GUARD!"
National Guard? What the hell is going on?
"Hold on, hold on, I'm getting up!" you shout.
"Open the door miss or we'll be forced to bash it open!" a voice calls back.
Not wishing to potentially get shot you comply and upon opening the door several national guardsmen stand outside.
"Come with us miss, we need you all together for your safety." A young soldier says guiding you out.
"Where are we going?" you ask.
"Just to that big tent over there. Don't worry, this is all for your protection."
Somehow you don't quite believe that, but when you scan your surroundings, you see that the carnival appears to be under control by the National Guard so there isn't much choice but to comply. You don't know why or how this came to be, but from some of the military radios you overhear it sounds like riots have broken out in your town. Is this some sort of martial law?
When you arrive in the big tent, most of carnival is there. Most are sitting at tables and complaining about this fate. You see Roofie actively arguing with one of the higher ranking soldiers who looks utterly unmoved by what he has to say.
"Goddamnit, just because people are rioting in the town doesn't mean any bullshit is going on here! We're not even locals! We're just passing through and were about to leave!" Roofie says.
"Yeah I heard you the first time, but my orders are to secure this entire area and will be under watch until further notice. Now I suggest you get out of my face before I stomp a mud hole in your ass clown!" the officer remarks and walks out of the tent.
You go over to Roofie.
"What's going on exactly?" you ask.
"End times like I always knew would come Suzy. Just didn't figure I'd have to spend my last days stuck under the gun by a bunch of fascists! These government dickheads think they can control what's coming soon, when they really can't control shit. These fools don't even know they're all really just puppets for that fucking Ground Zero corporation that's been shilling bomb shelters ads all over the damn place."
This is definitely a new side you've seen of Roofie, he's really mad. He's also really drunk even if he's pretty coherent. You see Klepto and the rest waving you over.
"Why don't we just go over there and... "
"Y'know what Suzy? There aren't even that many of these fuckers. It's a skeleton crew at best. I bet we can take them. I mean we certainly outnumber them."
"What?! Are you nuts? They're armed with machine guns!" you say.
"And? So a few of us die? We're ALL gonna be dead soon anyway, why wait? Better to die on your feet than live on your knees. Seriously, all we gotta do is get a couple of those guns away from them and it already evens up the playing field. Seriously you think they're probably going to let us live anyway? They're probably going to line us up like baby seals and blow our brains out by tomorrow. I'm telling you I'm getting our own troops in order to rebel tonight."
Roofie seems pretty intent on going through with this plan, the only thing you can think of to do is either try to help or try to prevent the violence.
> help Roofie
"Okay well maybe you've got a point, but can you really stir this lot up to swarm attack people with machine guns?" you ask.
"One way to find out!" Roofie says and without another word he runs over to the nearest guard and smashes a bottle over his head. It might've been more effective had the guardsman not had a helmet on.
The guardsman that was assaulted bashes Roofie to the ground and fires several shots into him. This causes shock from everyone and in your case you even freeze up for a moment. Nobody is bum rushing the guardsmen though.
Roofie won't be getting up again, but at this point the guardsmen continue to panic and believe they're under a greater attack. (Despite that everyone is too scared to do so)
"SHIT! WE NEED BACK UP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" the other guardsman exclaims and begins firing randomly at carnies, which includes you.
Unfortunately, you were close enough that you fatally get hit by some of these bullets despite trying to get out of the way. |
Maybe this isn't the best idea you've ever had, but after all those years of dealing with your sister Kelly, you aren't going to put up with bullying anymore.
You've never really been a fighter before (Trying to protect your face from Kelly's couple attempts to disfigure you don't count) so it isn't surprising that when you throw a punch at Razor she easily dodges and catches your arm.
"Oh ho! Harley Quinn has some fight in her! Good, didn't want this to be too easy!" Razor says and throws you to the ground. Before you can get up you feel a kick to your ribs.
Lacking any other tactics you lunge at one of Razor's legs and sink your teeth into it hard enough to draw blood.
"AH SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK!" Razor yells trying to get you off of her leg, at this point her friends step in to help pull you off. You're dragged off and restrained while Razor takes a moment to examine her wound.
"Goddamn it! Shit!" Razor exclaims looking at the fairly deep bite wound you've left.
"I thought you were a human pincushion, what's the matter can't handle a few little teeth?" you ask spitting blood in Razor's direction.
"Hope you enjoyed yourself, because that's the last time you're going to be using those pearly whites. Say hello to eating through a straw from now on, but look on the bright side, the next time you engage in your favorite past time of sucking clown dick, they won't have to worry about getting scraped." Razor says and starts to walk toward you, but suddenly Roofie stops her.
"Alright that will do Razor, I saw what happened and I'll not have unnecessary strife in this carnival! Go back to packing down your stage!" Roofie scolds.
Razor looks at him a moment and then you and then waves to her friends to let you go.
"One day you aren't going to be running this show Roofie." Razor says as she leaves with her friends.
"Maybe not, but that day isn't today." Roofie says.
As you get up and try to brush yourself off, Roofie slowly walks over to you. He already smells like alcohol.
"Well Suzy, first Ranko, now Razor, looks like you're just making friends all over."
"It's not my fault! I didn't do anything to her!"
"I know you didn't, you alright?"
"Yeah, but now I probably got a target on my back, one of many probably since Razor isn't the only one who hates me around here."
"Yeah I've noticed. Just because I'm half drunk most of the time doesn't mean I'm not aware of what goes on around here. Listen some of the negative feelings that some have for you will die down in time. You seem to be getting along with your new clown co-workers very well though. You spent the night over in their trailer despite the fact you have your own."
"I only did that because I didn't feel safe sleeping alone last night. There was a really creepy big guy staring at me all day yesterday, I dunno maybe I was just being paranoid."
"Hmm, did you wish to bunk with them or even someone else then? I mean I can make arrangements if you feel uncomfortable sleeping alone."
"No, I appreciate the fact you gave me my own trailer. Besides, given all the new friends I'm making, I'd be safer sleeping alone and bunking with Klepto and the rest, well I get the impression that would cause other problems." You say.
"Okay then. Well, I'll let you get back to your trailer. We'll probably be ready to go just before nightfall so I'm sure Lifto will be around then to hook this thing up to one of our trucks. So until then just enjoy the downtime."
"Wait, aren't I supposed to be helping pack up the carnival?"
"You? Nah, the rest of the guys can handle it. Really I get the impression they wouldn't let you do much work anyway what with them all being enamored with you and all. And the dwarves got the overall pack up covered. Always have, it's what they do. Backbone of the carnival and all... and all a bit of a waste of time given what's to come, but hey we do what we know." Roofie says and leaves.
A little more cryptic future doom prediction by Roofie, you get the impression that's his general personality, but at least he's always pleasant with you.
With no more distractions you arrive at your trailer and that's when you begin to feel nervous again.
First of all the door is slightly ajar. You also notice a couple things out of place from last time, not to mention it looks like someone spent some time in your bed and soiled it with their "essence". Your cell phone that you left here is also gone, but given that its batteries were starting to die and you wouldn't have Bobby to pay for it much longer it isn't much of a loss. Someone was definitely here last night. You don't know if it was Ranko, that big creepy retard staring at you or someone else, but either way you dodged a bullet.
You half expect the person to jump out at you from some hidden spot, but that doesn't happen. Whoever was here, probably left before the morning, and probably when they realized you weren't coming here.
You re-check all the trailer's locations (even if it isn't the biggest place) and block the door with a chair before feeling safe enough to shower and get changed.
Afterwards you go through the mundane process of actually cleaning up the trailer. You figure if you don't need to help pack up the carnival, you can at least spend your time clean up your living area. (First thing is throwing out the befouled bed sheet)
By the time you're finished it's the afternoon and you're tired again. You're still not used to being awake so early and you didn't get much sleep last night so you lie down in your now cleaner bed and shut your eyes for just a bit...
You don't know how much time passes while you're asleep again, but when you do wake up it's to a loud thumping at the door.
"OPEN UP BY ORDER OF THE U.S. NATIONAL GUARD!"
National Guard? What the hell is going on?
"Hold on, hold on, I'm getting up!" you shout.
"Open the door miss or we'll be forced to bash it open!" a voice calls back.
Not wishing to potentially get shot you comply and upon opening the door several national guardsmen stand outside.
"Come with us miss, we need you all together for your safety." A young soldier says guiding you out.
"Where are we going?" you ask.
"Just to that big tent over there. Don't worry, this is all for your protection."
Somehow you don't quite believe that, but when you scan your surroundings, you see that the carnival appears to be under control by the National Guard so there isn't much choice but to comply. You don't know why or how this came to be, but from some of the military radios you overhear it sounds like riots have broken out in your town. Is this some sort of martial law?
When you arrive in the big tent, most of carnival is there. Most are sitting at tables and complaining about this fate. You see Roofie actively arguing with one of the higher ranking soldiers who looks utterly unmoved by what he has to say.
"Goddamnit, just because people are rioting in the town doesn't mean any bullshit is going on here! We're not even locals! We're just passing through and were about to leave!" Roofie says.
"Yeah I heard you the first time, but my orders are to secure this entire area and will be under watch until further notice. Now I suggest you get out of my face before I stomp a mud hole in your ass clown!" the officer remarks and walks out of the tent.
You go over to Roofie.
"What's going on exactly?" you ask.
"End times like I always knew would come Suzy. Just didn't figure I'd have to spend my last days stuck under the gun by a bunch of fascists! These government dickheads think they can control what's coming soon, when they really can't control shit. These fools don't even know they're all really just puppets for that fucking Ground Zero corporation that's been shilling bomb shelters ads all over the damn place."
This is definitely a new side you've seen of Roofie, he's really mad. He's also really drunk even if he's pretty coherent. You see Klepto and the rest waving you over.
"Why don't we just go over there and... "
"Y'know what Suzy? There aren't even that many of these fuckers. It's a skeleton crew at best. I bet we can take them. I mean we certainly outnumber them."
"What?! Are you nuts? They're armed with machine guns!" you say.
"And? So a few of us die? We're ALL gonna be dead soon anyway, why wait? Better to die on your feet than live on your knees. Seriously, all we gotta do is get a couple of those guns away from them and it already evens up the playing field. Seriously you think they're probably going to let us live anyway? They're probably going to line us up like baby seals and blow our brains out by tomorrow. I'm telling you I'm getting our own troops in order to rebel tonight."
Roofie seems pretty intent on going through with this plan, the only thing you can think of to do is either try to help or try to prevent the violence.
> prevent the violence
Roofie's plan isn't going to accomplish anything except get a bunch of people killed, and you could be one of them! You think fast.
"Uh, okay Roofie, let's just go over here and get the battle plan together first okay? I'm sure Klepto and the rest are going to want to hear this first."
"Hrgh, okay. You don't need to guide me damn it, I'm not that drunk!" Roofie says and pulls his arm away from your hand.
When you get to Klepto's table he and the rest know something is wrong when Roofie starts going on about "bum rushing those government puppet bastards." Shrimpy and Fatty both attempt to calm him down, but he's not having any of it.
"What the hell is going on Suzy? Roofie's talkin' crazier than usual." Klepto asks.
"He wants to have the entire carnival attack the National Guard, do something before he causes too much of a scene." You say.
"Do something like what? You don't mean kill him do you?!" Klepto asks.
"No! But I dunno maybe knock him out to buy us time and he can sober up or something. Lifto, knock him out." You say.
"Me?! Why me?" Lifto asks.
"Because you're the strongest of all of us and I'm guessing you could do it in one hit. Just do it, before he gets all of us killed!"
Lifto's a little reluctant and probably wouldn't do it normally, but it the situation does seem dire enough so while Roofie is continuing to rant at Shrimpy and Fatty he punches Roofie in the back of the head, knocking the older man completely out and falling into Fatty's arms.
Some of the other carnies have witnessed this, but they don't seem to do anything about it. In fact it just goes to show how little most of them respect Roofie in the scheme of the things. Sort of a shame.
"Holy shit, did you have to punch him so hard? He's an old guy! You might've put him in a coma!" Shrimpy remarks.
"I just did what Suzy told me!"
"Alright look, I didn't want harm to come to Roofie either, but the guy needed to be silenced for at least a moment. I think the bigger problem we've got is the other carnies. I get the sense that they think Roofie is no longer a factor in the leadership role, so expect a power play. We all need to stick together for protection."
"What about the National Guard? I mean shouldn't we be worrying about them?" Lifto asks.
"The National Guard is what's keeping this carnival from exploding into an orgy of violence right now. Nobody's going to risk pissing them off by causing problems, well not now at least without Roofie's plan of stirring them all up." You reply.
"Well what the hell do we do now?" Klepto asks.
"I don't know! I mean I'm just thinking on my feet here! You all told me that we're the most hated group in the carnival, so we should make friends somehow? Shrimpy, do you have ANY pull with the dwarves?"
"Pull? I suppose I have enough for me, I mean even as a clown deep down I'll always be a dwarf. But as I've mentioned before I can't promise anything for the rest of you."
"Well I dunno, do some diplomacy or something. As for the rest of us, we need to just stick to our table and look after Roofie, and make sure he's doing okay throughout the night. Maybe I'll try to charm one of the soldiers or something. The key thing to remember is we need to survive this together."
You never thought you'd start sounding like your older brother Ben with the whole survivalist shtick, but if it helps thinking like a paranoid person then you aren't going to dismiss such thoughts.
As night starts to fall the mood in the large army "quarantine" tent grows more restless. Two guardsmen remain on duty at all times though they're not exactly happy about the situation either. You do manage to get friendly with one of them by the name of Roger and extract a bit more info.
Roger tells you that you and the rest of your carny friends shouldn't worry too much since this is just a formality. He says that things are much worse in the town and expects his unit will be transferred to support his fellow guardsmen there in a day or two. At which point you'll all be free to go.
Hearing about the mass riots in town makes you wonder how things are going for your family. You're almost sort of worried about them, even Kelly, but there isn't much that can be done now. Hopefully they've found some sort of safety.
"Is this going on everywhere?" you ask.
"Well I don't know a lot of detail, I'm just a grunt in the scheme of things, but things are getting pretty bad, I mean haven't you heard the news lately?" Roger says.
"Not really, sort of disconnected from the rest of the world lately." You say.
"Well world tensions have been really high, it's like every country is gearing up for world war three and domestically people have seemingly gone batshit insane with regards to the rules of common decency and morality. I guess a lot of people are just scared and I can't blame them on some level, but we still need law and order. Surely you can understand that right?"
"Sure." You say in agreement since you'd rather not make any potential enemies of the military even if it is just one grunt.
In any case Roger smiles when you agree, you get the impression he's just as concerned being out here. After a few more pleasantries, Roger says he really needs to get back to "standing guard" and not talking to you as his superior is a real hard ass and he doesn't want to get into trouble or you for that matter. You thank him for the talk and head back to your colleagues.
Of course some of the carnies seeing you get "cozy" with one of the guardsmen makes them even dislike you even more and you occasionally hear mutterings and name calling by others. Razor hasn't taken her eyes off of you the whole time you've been here. She's obviously got her sights set on you, regardless of what goes down, she's just waiting for opportunity.
On the plus side when Shrimpy returns he says that while the dwarves are going to make their own play when the time is right, he's managed to convince them not to attack the clowns as long as you stay out of their way. (And apparently they're ONLY extending that courtesy because of Shrimpy's ties as well you being... well you, though the female dwarves predictably don't like you too much)
The night goes on and while everyone is in a heightened state of readiness nobody can stay awake forever, so eventually people start falling asleep though its mostly in shifts for most groups and you are no exception.
Eventually though when it's your turn to sleep, you try to find some sort of comfort on one of the many sleeping mats provided. It's pretty much impossible, but exhaustion helps you along.
Eventually you drift off...
> Next day...
THURSDAY
Several gunshots cause you to wake up.
"What the?!" you say still staying on the floor.
"Shhhh! Quiet!" Klepto remarks and points over to the one in charge of the guardsmen. He and five others stand near the tent entrance with weapons out.
"I don't give a shit WHO started the fight or even why! You carny freaks can tear each other apart after we leave, but until then we're here to maintain order and by god that's what the fuck we're going to do! If I have to break up another fight for any reason, next time the shots aren't going in the air!" the officer remarks and leaves. The other guardsmen continue to stand near the entrance watching everyone who eventually all sit back down.
"What the hell happened?" you ask.
"Razor and some of the others got into an argument with Phil and his friends." Klepto says.
"Who's Phil?" you say.
"He does that fire eating stuff. Anyway, they kicked his ass and just as things were going to get worse, the guardsmen came in and put a stop to it like you just saw. Looks like the battle for control over the carnival is already starting."
"Surprised we didn't get attacked then."
"Well like Shrimpy said yesterday, we've got dwarf protection for now, but who knows how long that arrangement is going to last."
"Can't believe I slept through a fight, where's Roofie?"
"Oh him? He's still over there out of it, even the gunshots didn't wake him up." Klepto says pointing to Roofie, who then surprises everyone.
"I'm quite awake Klepto, I'm just resting with my eyes closed No point in getting up at this point anyway. It's obvious this carnival has lost respect in me; I'd blame you all for smashing me in the back of the head last night, but that was really just a catalyst. (Sigh) Doesn't matter, I predict that we'll all be dead in two days at best." Roofie says.
"Roofie, we really didn't want to do it, but you were talking crazy with your idea of attacking the military. Your plan would've gotten everyone killed." You say.
"And that may still happen if recent events are any indication. At least with my plan I would've died with the carnival intact rather than seeing it splitting up before my eyes."
Nobody else really knows what to say at this point, so you all just get silent and continue to converse with each other.
"So what's the next move?" Klepto asks.
"I dunno, escape I guess? Can we get to one of the vehicles quickly and drive off?" you say.
"Good luck with that given all the guardsmen on high alert now." Fatty points out.
"Yeah I don't think we're getting very far." Lifto adds.
You sit down and exhale wondering what to do next, but you can't really think right now. It would seem that due to your more proactive suggestions and Roofie's apathy you've somehow become the "leader" of your little group now. You hadn't really planned on that.
"For right now, we're just going to stay put, I'll try to think of something." You remark. The rest of your group lack any ideas of their own, so they comply with your plan (or lack there of).
Time passes and you mostly do a lot of casual conversation and mental speculation of what might happen "if you do X." You half expect someone else to try to escape, particularly when they say they need to use the bathroom, but given that they always return under the same guard they left with it would seem nobody has the guts to really try it, not even Razor.
Nobody else in your group comes up with any plans either, but you do notice Shrimpy occasionally heads over to the group of dwarves. He claims he's just securing the "alliance" but you're more inclined to believe he's just trying to secure his own safety. So far though the dwarves are still supposed to be on your side.
Roofie has continued to lie on the sleeping mat not saying anything to anyone. You still feel a little bad about betraying him especially given that he not only brought you into this carnival and liked you enough to give you a personal trailer, but also that he potentially saved you a lot of pain when Razor was going to kick your ass.
You go over to talk to him.
"Hey Roofie." You say.
"Hrm, hey Suzy." He grunts.
"Are you okay?"
"Me? Well other than not having a drink all day, I'm fine. Just been making peace with my life I suppose." Roofie says.
"Roofie, I'm still very sorry about... "
"What? Having Lifto wack me over the head? I've forgotten about that or rather I've rethought my own stance on that. You probably were right, I mean sure I would've rather died like that, but that was sort of selfish of me to want to use my last bit of dwindling influence to get everyone to follow me. Would've especially been a shame if you'd gotten killed in the crossfire. You're actually very talented."
"You're just saying that."
"No it's true. I didn't make my decision to hire you based on looks or on a whim. In the brief moment you've performed as a clown you were good. I mean it's obvious you're even a leader with how you got the other clowns hanging on your decisions. (Sigh) If only you had come across this carnival sooner. Things might've been much different."
"Well I'm not sure how much of a leader I am, because I can't think of what comes next." You say.
"You'll figure out something I'm sure. One thing though and while I don't hold out much hope, if you can somehow keep this carnival together... do it. I know the current situation isn't the best and I know you haven't exactly been welcomed by everyone, but I see something in you that would feel fulfilled if you could experience the carnival like it once was. Like a family."
"A family?" you say with a smirk.
"Hey like I said, you came in during the family fight. And that's what happens in families sometimes. Family fights are always the most vicious, but after it dies down, sometimes the family unit can be stronger than ever. And I think you could be happy if you can keep this family from tearing itself apart completely. But you'll have to be the one to do it. I don't have it in me anymore."
At this point Roofie touches your hand and you pat his before leaving him be again. You wonder if this is more of a last request by a "dying" man rather than looking out for your personal fulfillment. Still, you think he's genuine and sure it would be nice if the entire carnival became the happy family you never had, but you just don't think that's going to be possible.
You look around and see nothing much has changed except a changing of the guards. One of them happens to be Roger, which makes you think of a possible way you could escape. The only problem is it's going to rely on being more "charming" than you already have been with Roger and that could potentially get you into a situation you don't want to be in.
> go to Roger
While you hope you don't have to go too far, if it means getting the hell out of this place, then maybe that's what you'll have to do because whether the National Guard leaves or stays the fact remains, you're not the one to lead this carnival like Roofie thinks you are and you feel your life is in danger.
You start to walk over to Roger.
"Hey where are you going?" Klepto asks.
"Not sure yet, but don't wait up." You reply and continue walking to Roger.
When you get to Roger you're all smiles, poses and charm.
"Hello Roger are you doing well today?" You say in a friendly tone.
"Hey, Suzy. I'm okay I guess, but I really wish your friends wouldn't cause so much trouble. Somebody is libel to get hurt. My commanding officer isn't exactly the tolerant type and I think you saw that earlier."
"Yes, I did. I was so scared. In fact I'm scared of the whole aura this place is giving now. It's becoming very violent, but I feel so much safer being near you." You say and start to touch Roger.
At this point Roger is smiling back at you, but his buddy nearby is a little less approving, though you imagine its jealousy more than anything else.
"Roger, we're supposed to be keeping an eye on these carnie freaks, not fraternizing with them."
"What's the harm Ernie? I mean she says she's scared. What, you think she's going to clobber me in the head and take my weapon? Come on, stop being so paranoid. We shouldn't even be here anyway."
"Orders are orders... ugh. Whatever, I'm not going to watch you make goo goo eyes at some carnie whore. I'll be outside this tent, try to keep your eyes on the detainees and not on her ass the whole time." Ernie says and steps outside the tent.
"What a rude person. I'm glad you're not like that." You say now with your arms wrapped around Roger.
"Well you know, I treat people the way they want to be treated." Roger replies.
As distracted as Roger is, he's actually keeping it together better than one would think. He keeps a tight grip on his rifle and an eye on if you're going to attempt to grab his pistol. He also periodically looks away from you to make sure nobody is taking advantage of this situation. (Which Klepto and the rest look like they were going to do, but realize they're still too far away to rush at Roger before he could shove you aside and open fire)
Though your plan wasn't necessarily to save everyone, but rather yourself.
"So Roger, what's a girl gotta do to get out of here?" you say seductively.
"Well, like I said we should be gone later today or tomorrow at the latest."
"Too long and anything could happen within that time! Can't you do something? I mean I could make it worth your while." You say and run your finger across Roger's chest.
"Suzy, look, I'd really like to help, but... hey!" Roger is interrupted when you grab his hand.
You bring his hand to your face and closing your eyes, you insert his index finger in your mouth and slowly suck on it making "mmmmm" sounds.
This scene hasn't gone unnoticed by more than a few carnies watching you. In fact the predictable calls of "whore", "slut" and worse are uttered your way.
Roger on the other hand is practically speechless.
"I... uh... shit... " he says and then pulls his hand away staring at his finger for a moment.
"Awww... .but I wasn't done sucking on you... " you say and flutter your eyes a bit, trying to look as cute as possible then you whisper in his ear:
"Take me back to my trailer and I'll show you the REAL greatest show on earth." then you lick his ear.
Roger immediately calls in Ernie loudly. Ernie rushes in with his weapon ready to kill something.
"What?! What?! Are they rioting again?!" he exclaims.
"No. But I REALLY need a favor! You need to watch these people and if the commander checks in on us, tell him I had a to take a shit really bad."
"What... wait... Oh fuck no! You're gonna go fuck this little carnie whore aren't you? Goddamnit Roger!"
"Come on Ernie, you can't help me out?"
"Motherfucker, I'm always helping you out! I don't understand why you can't just fuck the bitch right here. Not like these people are shy and from the looks of her, she looks like it wouldn't be the first time she's gotten fucked in front of a live audience." Ernie remarks.
You know, while you've gotten used to the baseless comments about you being a woman of loose morals, it still hurts sometimes.
In any case, Roger is not a man to be deterred from his lust for you right now.
"Alright, fine. I didn't want to hold this over your head, but you leave me no choice... " Roger starts to say, but whatever the threat is, Ernie doesn't even let him finish it.
"Oh fuck. (Sigh) Don't even say it. Fine. Go. Go. Go! And don't take too long, though I imagine in your case that won't be a problem." Ernie says defeated.
"Thanks man! Seriously I really will remember this favor!"
"Hrm. That you only got through blackmail."
As you and Roger leave, Ernie says one more thing.
"Hope you've got condoms, because lord knows what diseases she's got being a carnie. Her kootch might turn your dick into a fucking Siamese Twin or some shit."
"How the hell does that even make sense? Fucking asshole... " you say and start to get angry at Ernie's comments, but Roger just take you by the hand to go back to your trailer.
"Don't mind him. Let' hurry though, because we don't want to bump into anyone else. It isn't like I got leverage over everyone like I do with Ernie. So where is your trailer?"
You tell him the location and the pair of you are heading over in that direction fluctuating between being "stealthy" and running.
While you're doing this, it occurs to you that you have to think up your next move. Are you really going to let him fuck you? Roger is distracted enough that you probably could grab his side arm to give you enough time to make a run for it, but while Roger might not shoot you immediately (And that's rolling dice there) there's nothing to say the other nearby Guardsmen won't and you know they'll be alerted as soon as you try to run away from Roger.
Of course if you really are willing to make that ultimate "sacrifice" for freedom, Roger might even help you out a lot more in your escape attempt. Of course he could turn out to be a complete asshole and march you back to the tent after he's had his way with you.
> make a break for it
Roger is so busy keeping a look out for running into his buddies and getting to your trailer he's now suitably distracted and while you're so close to him, you easily grab his pistol.
"HEY WHAT... " he exclaims as you back away quickly and hold the gun on him.
"Drop the rifle!" you shout. He doesn't though.
"Shit. I should've known better. Ernie's going to have a field day." Roger says.
"Sorry Roger, but I really need you to drop that rifle!" you say.
"... nah... if you had it in you to shoot me, you would've by now. You've never shot a person and this whole situation is scary to you. You're hoping your sex appeal will be enough to carry you through this and that I'll be weak willed enough that I won't call your bluff and just shoot you dead right now."
That's an incredible amount insight for someone you thought was nothing more than just a horny grunt. Unfortunately he's pretty much on target.
For a moment there is a pause and you look at him hopefully, you even manage to start tearing up a bit.
"(Sigh) Look, I told you we were going to leave soon, I dunno why you feel the need to go through this elaborate escape plan when it really isn't necessary. Just hand the pistol over and we'll head back to the tent."
You're too scared of what might happen if you just surrender, so all you can do is continue to aim it at Roger.
"Suzy, I'm not fucking around now give me the... " Roger begins to say and moves towards you. With his rifle slightly lowered and his hand outstretched, you nervously fire two shots at him. At this range you don't miss even though you're in a heightened state of anxiety.
Roger falls to the ground with two in his chest and doesn't move, you've killed him.
"Oh my... oh god I'm sorry... (Sniff)" you say.
The shots of course have drawn the attention of the other guardsmen. You hear shouting which is getting closer to your location, so you run.
You hear more shouting followed by gunfire. At first you think they've seen you and are shooting at you, but that isn't the case when you start to hear a few screams.
Now you're even more scared as you have no idea what's going on. Did the carnies take advantage of this situation and start to fight back? You have no idea, but you don't intend on sticking around.
You duck and hide the best you can through the small maze of trailers and vehicles. The screams, shouting and gunfire are now accompanied by unnatural growing. Like animals of some sort.
Unfortunately as you reach the far end of the carnival limits you are ambushed by something skulking behind the corner of the last trailer you were passing and the pistol goes sprawling out of your hand.
You don't even know what it is, except that you're on the ground and it's on your back breathing heavily and making that growling sound you heard. You then feel teeth sink deep into your shoulder.
Pain and fear both rise up in you for a moment as you struggle to get free, but this thing what ever it is has a strong grip and with one of its hands it smashes your face repeatedly into the ground into your struggling becomes less, then it breaks your neck before feasting on the rest of your dead body. |
FRIDAY
"... this was a paid announcement by the Ground Zero Corporation... "
"Agh! Shut the fuck up already. What the hell did GZ buy up all the goddamn stations?!" you hear Roger shout as he angrily turns the radio off, waking you up.
It would seem you're in motion again and you slept through it.
"What's going on?" you ask.
"Huh? Oh you're up. Nothing's going on, just dumb ass Ground Zero commercials warning about an impending nuclear holocaust as usual. Never mind the fact we got a very real threat that I can't seem to get any information on. Anyway I didn't sleep that much so I just started driving again. Figured you could still sleep though so I didn't bother waking you" Roger says.
"So how long have we been on the road?"
"More than a few hours definitely. Starting to by pass all this farmland area now, we'll probably be hitting a more populated area soon. I also started to see a few more moving vehicles, though I've also been seeing a lot of abandoned vehicles as well. Oddly no military. Saw a few people even trying to hitch a ride, but I'm not playing good Samaritan right now."
"You see any of those things?" you ask.
"Hrm, I thought I might've seen a few while I was driving, but from the distance I could quite tell. Wasn't like I was going to check."
So far it looks like the plan is still going to Fort Timons, but if you didn't think that was a dubious idea before, you're really uncertain now. He can't get any signal from the radio, for all you know the base might be overrun by those things. Which is exactly what you bring up to Roger, but he seems confident that wouldn't be the case and he's determined to head to Fort Timons. Funny thing considering he abandoned all his comrades at the carnival and said they were all assholes. Guess he's still military at heart.
He senses that you still aren't comfortable with his plan though.
"Suzy, you don't need to come with me you know. I mean I can drop you off at the next town we go through." Roger says.
"And what exactly am I going to do there? I don't have anything except the clothes on my back and with the way things are going, I can imagine I'd be resorting to taking those off a lot just to survive." You say.
There's a moment of silence before Roger replies.
"I'm guessing that's what you were doing with me back at the carnival. It's fine, I sort of knew that's what was going on. I knew you didn't actually like me."
"If you knew all that, why did you risk your career and possibly your life?"
"You're kidding right? I mean I know I'm not hideous, but you're a little out of my league. When the hell am I going to get a chance to be with someone that looks like you? I mean sure I knew it was all an act, but in MY mind I could pretend you were being genuine. Though I admit when you stopped me from kissing you and didn't want to look at my face, that sort of hurt."
"It wasn't personal. I just don't know you that well and I wasn't ready for that level of intimacy. I was going to pretend you were my ex-boyfriend. (Sigh) I can't believe I even went that far and was going to go through with it. I mean contrary to whatever you may have heard shouted at me, I don't do stuff like that like... ever."
"Really? Because you're pretty good at the whole seduction thing, even if you are a bit obvious with it."
"I'm obvious with it because it's only just a new skill I developed within the last few days I joined a goddamn carnival just to get out of my goddamn shitty life at home... What the hell was I even thinking?! I'm not cut out to take care of myself! I should've just stayed home and let cannibals eat me in the comfort of my basement!" you say, tearing up a bit. The stress of the week is starting to get to you.
"Whoa! You don't mean that. Things aren't totally horrible. Hey if it make you feel any better, I felt a little bad knowing that I was going to take advantage of what was obviously the act of a desperate woman." Roger says.
Now you stop sniffling and start to chuckle at the absurdity of that statement.
"But of course that wasn't going to stop you." You say.
"Well no of course not, but I assure you I would've felt guilty about it."
"No you wouldn't have."
"Okay you're right, I wouldn't have, but I would have still gotten you out of that carnival if you had asked afterwards."
"Well at least it wouldn't have been for nothing. (Sigh) Guess it all worked out anyway. I mean we're both still alive due to our choices and I am thankful I'm not dead and that you probably saved my life back there."
"And I'm thankful I at least got to see you naked."
"We'll always have the trailer I suppose."
You don't exactly feel good about your situation, but Roger's attempt to lighten up the mood at least has you feeling slightly better.
"So... why don't you tell me about this ex-boyfriend of yours? I'm guessing he must've been some sort of handsome stud if you're still thinking about him." Roger says.
"Heh. Not especially. He was a normal looking guy. Not too much different from you in that department. He's just the only guy I've ever been with, so, it was more comfortable to think about him instead. Anyway it was sort of complicated with him. Long story that I don't want to get into right now."
"I understand. Well I'll just say this, he was lucky to have you as a girlfriend and was a damn fool to let you get away."
"Hrm... actually you know what? You're exactly right. He WAS lucky to have me and a damn fool to let me get away!" you say with a bit of pride.
You know Roger is half saying this just in the hopes to get you into a compromising position again, but what the hell, it's an ego booster and it keeps you in a positive mindset at least.
"Shit." Roger suddenly says.
"What now?" you ask.
"I just looked at the gas gauge, we're practically out. Goddamn it I thought Ernie gassed this thing up recently."
"We can't make it to Timons?"
"Well we could risk it on fumes to Fort Timons, but I'd rather not chance that during these circumstances. I don't even have a rubber hose that we could use to suck out the gas from one these abandoned vehicles we've been passing."
"Well I guess we're stopping at the next gas station then."
"Assuming they got any. I get the impression just popping into the next gas station isn't going to be that simple."
You and Roger continue to drive for about a half hour before you see something of interest in the distance. Namely a truck stop, which apparently has been converted into a minor fortress.
"Hey look at that!" you point out.
"I see it. It's a truck stop and it looks like whoever is there is trying to block the place off by putting trucks around it. They even got people standing on top of the trucks with rifles as look outs. They probably got gas." Roger says.
"I dunno. Whoever is there probably isn't going to be too trustful of anyone, especially someone from the military. They might just try to rob us."
"We gotta try. I mean we need gas, and given how well this place is defended, we at least know they probably got some. Who knows if we'll get lucky some place else."
You and Roger drive to the truck stop, which immediately causes the lookouts to point and raise their rifles in your direction. When you stop in front of it there are a lot of shouts for you to stay in the truck.
"We don't need any government assistance here, we're doing just fine as you can see. I highly suggest that y'all just continue on your way." One of them shouts.
"I'm not here for trouble. I just need some gas. We get that and we'll be on our way to Fort Timons." Roger shouts back.
"Gas? Don't fucking think so soldier boy. With the way society is collapsing that shit's gonna be valuable and money is gonna be worthless."
"Well, would you accept a trade of supplies for gas?"
"Hrmmm, well whatta you got?"
"Got some military rations in the back of this thing. Those things last for years you know."
"We got tons of food, what else? Any weapons?"
"Uh... there might be a couple... oh we got some medical supplies in here!"
There is a long pause and he tells you to wait before climbing down the truck and disappearing from sight. Eventually you hear his voice again which is now coming from behind the truck barricade.
"Okay, we're gonna move this truck, but one funny thing happens and you're the first one getting a bullet to the head. Alright, we're letting this one in, everyone keep extra look out for those rabid bastards!"
"You still think this is a good idea?" you ask.
"Well it's like I said, our options for gas are limited." Roger answers.
As soon as the truck is moved out your way, the man who was barking orders at you waves you in and motions you over to the gas pumps. As soon as you drive in they put the truck back. Either they're really safety conscience or they don't want to risk having you get away.
From this distance you see several more people in the building part of the truck stop. Looks like it's a general store/diner combo. Most of them are watching you from the windows, though a few of them come out, one of them is an older man with a cane who walks directly to the pumps.
"Okay, I want the two you in that truck to exit it slowly. I don't care if you got weapons, but don't point them at me or anyone else in a threatening manner." The old man shouts.
Roger takes his rifle over his shoulder and exits the truck. You do like wise, though being unarmed you exit from Roger's side just so you don't feel quite as vulnerable. Naturally rifles are pointed at the pair of you, but the old man with the cane shouts telling them to calm down.
"You lot, stop pointing your guns and start unloading this truck. Sorry about that, everyone's a little on edge. Name's Henry. I own this place." He says.
"Roger and it's understandable."
"Well, a military man eh? Thought all the National Guard were off fighting those rabid things in the city. From what I've heard the place is completely overrun now."
"The city? You mean Security is overrun?" you ask.
"Yep. Heard it on the radio. Not the regular one of course. Those GZ bastards seem to be clogging those up, but on my Ham Radio. Been trying to communicate with Fort Timons, but my radio isn't exactly in the best condition... "
"Hold on! You've been in communication with Fort Timons?!" Roger exclaims.
"Well, somewhat. More like my old buddy I served with back in the day who still works there as an inventory clerk. Haven't heard anything from him since yesterday. All I know is the last thing he told me was the fort was on high alert and further communication was going to be limited to a need to know basis and only to those with the proper clearance. Typical military bullshit I suppose, well I don't need to tell you."
"Uh, we were on our way to Fort Timons. Do you think it's safe?" You say.
"Heh, well I couldn't tell you if the fort is safe, but I can tell you that those rabid fuckers have been making their way out of the city en mass and given how far the city is, they apparently don't get tired and can cover a lot of ground. We just repelled a bunch of them yesterday. Hence the make shift fortress here. Fort Timons is even closer to the city, so at best I'd wager that you're going to have to wade through a bunch of those things before getting there. Not something I'd want to do to be sure." Henry remarks.
"Shit, those things are in the city and they were in my town! This means this can't just be a local thing! It's probably a nationwide epidemic! We can't go to Fort Timons now!" you exclaim.
"We don't know if the place has fallen to those things." Roger replies.
"Exactly! We don't know!" you say.
At this point Henry interjects.
"If I may, the both of you can stay here. We've got the room and your truck full of supplies as far as I'm concerned buys your way in. And I'm sure as a military man, you'd pull your weight here to defend this place if need be. So you and your girlfriend can stay here if you wish." Henry says and then walks over to oversee his people unloading the truck.
It's an incredibly tempting offer and one you'd jump at the chance for, but Roger still seems sure that Fort Timons will better in the long run. You wonder if he feels a little obligated to go back to Fort Timons because deep down he feels like he abandoned his post even if hasn't admitted it.
The only downside is if Roger doesn't stick around and you do, you'll be left in the company of a bunch of strangers again and that didn't go so well last time. You can only imagine all the leers, grope attempts and possibly worse from a bunch of horny trucker types.
> continue to Fort Timons
While you probably could talk Roger into staying if you turned on the charm again, you've done enough of that for quite some time and honestly he might be right as far as safety is concerned.
Despite the best efforts of the people here, this truck stop is still open enough that those things could get in. (Crawl under the trucks for one thing) Also while the owner seems cool, you don't know everyone else and the last time you encountered a cool owner was the carnival and you know how that turned out. You also imagine that a military base might indeed survive an extended siege a lot better than this place.
"Suzy, I still think going to Timons is a better idea than staying here. I'm going, so if you want to stay... " Roger says before you interrupt him.
"No, I'll go with you."
"But I thought you thought it was a bad idea."
"Well, I still sort of do, but I guess if this is a major crisis and the end of civilization, I'd rather be with you. So if you believe we'll be safe there, then I believe we'll be safe there."
Roger smiles at that remark. He immediately goes to hug you, which you weren't quite expecting, but you hug back. You suppose you are getting attached to him. Just a sucker for men who save your life you guess.
After this happy experience Roger goes over to gas up the truck and you wait nearby. You don't even notice Henry come up to you.
"So you two decide on what to do yet?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah we're going to try to make it to Timons."
"Hm. Well I wish you luck on that. Too bad you're not staying though, could use a few more people to guard this place and help out around here."
"Yeah, well I wish we were staying too, but well he wants to go to Fort Timons so that means we're both going."
"Heh, well love for another always has a way of making you act out of character."
"Y... eah something like that I guess." You say reluctantly. Henry still hasn't caught on that you aren't really "with" Roger, but you don't bother correcting him.
"Don't worry, you got this big truck, so you should be safe as long as you don't get out of the thing or stop for a long period of time to let those things swarm you. And despite my doom and gloom earlier, don't take that as truth. I mean what do I know. I'm stuck here with a Ham Radio that I can barely get to work right at the best of times. Things might not be as bad as they seem. Who knows? Maybe this will all be over in a day or two."
"Heh, one can only hope." You say.
"Remember though, if Timons doesn't work out, you're welcome to come back here."
"Thanks Henry that's very generous of you."
After your short talk with Henry, Roger is ready to get going again and you've got the fuel to get to your destination.
"We left you those MREs and the water. No need to leave you without the basics. Anyway, like I told your pretty girlfriend here, I wish you luck and if it doesn't work out, you're welcome to come back here." Henry tells Roger
"Thank you and we'll keep that in mind." Roger replies and drives off towards the "truck gate" which is now opening up.
And with that you're on the road again.
"Hey I just want you to know, I'm really glad you're coming with me. I mean I know you didn't want to and... look I think you know I really like you and it's not just because you flirted with me and I saw you naked and all that. I really enjoy your company. Probably not the best time to be addressing all this shit, but I think its better I just tell you where I stand right now. Especially with everything that's going on. Anyway that's all I want to say and I'll drop the subject." Roger says.
You're having a déjà vu moment like when Klepto admitted all his feelings for you, though with Roger it feels a little different. You get a little more sincerity with him. Klepto was always a little too sycophantic as far you were concerned.
Hell, maybe you didn't just decide to go off with Roger out of survival. Here or even back at the carnival. Maybe somewhere you did have an attraction to him and you just denied it for some reason. It's that damn "good girl" trait you never shook off from your mother drilling it into your head when you were growing up.
"I... I like and feel close to you too Roger." You say and smile back at Roger.
With this acknowledgement of your feelings for each other, a good period of your drive is in silence, but not an awkward silence, a comfortable one.
The silence isn't just going on in the truck, it's also going on outside or least relatively speaking. Despite what Henry said, so far you haven't encountered any hordes of those rabid things and you're driving through suburbs by this point. You also haven't seen many people walking about, but you assume most people are taking shelter somewhere.
Happily the streets aren't clogged with abandoned vehicles. That was one thing that Roger was more worried about. A line of vehicles is a little harder to drive over even with a big truck.
Night comes and the rabid are a little bit more active though nothing that can't be handled. Most of the time Roger just drives past them and they give chase for a while, but sometimes he runs them over.
"Sheesh, they are getting thicker. Glad we don't actually have to go INTO Security. Pftt, Security. Now that's an ironic name for the city. Anyway we should actually get to Fort Timons around two or three in the morning." Roger says.
"Glad to hear it. I'm getting tired, but I'm too on edge to sleep." You say.
"Eh, go ahead and close your eyes at least. I'll try to keep the zombie smashing to a minimum."
"They aren't zombies, I think we established that they're living right?"
'Yeah, pretty sure they're all alive, just rabid. Or whatever is wrong with them. Dunno if they infect anyone though, don't want to ever find that out."
"I agree." You reply and then try to take Roger's advice by closing your eyes.
You don't really sleep so much as you rest and sort of drift in and out. You aren't fully awake again until Roger calls your attention to your destination which isn't far now.
"Ha ha! Suzy wake up! We're here! We made it and look they even got the towers lit up! The fort still stands!" he exclaims in joy.
"Huh, yeah. That's really... " before you can finish your groggy words Roger has stopped the truck, grabbed you and kisses you full on the lips. You're too tired to resist, though you wouldn't have bother anyway.
"Well was it everything you expected?" you ask after he's done.
"Even better!" Roger says and then tries to kiss you again.
"Whoa, hold on there, let's save the victory kissing until AFTER we get in this place. I mean how do we even know they'll let us in?"
"Oh we'll get in, I know we will." Roger says and starts up the truck again.
You get within range and suddenly spotlights move in your direction and a loud speaker calls out for you slow your speed to a crawl and to stop at the gates and to prepare to be inspected. Roger complies and soon you're sitting before the gates of Fort Timons.
You can imagine snipers from the towers are pointing their weapons on you and when the gates open a whole damn squad of soldiers comes out. A young man with glasses comes up to the driver's side.
"Riley? Is that you? Holy shit, we thought your squad was dead."
"It's me Keller and I'm the only survivor. You'll never believe what the hell happened."
"Riley?" you think, but then you realize that must be his last name. In fact it's right on his shirt. Funny how you never noticed before. Never noticed he was a corporal either.
"Well there's been a lot going on here too, so probably won't be too surprised. Anyway Captain Higgins will want to see you. Uh, he's in charge now." Keller says.
"Shit, I guess a lot has changed."
"Yeah, who's this in your passenger side?"
"This is Suzy. She actually saved my life out there. Don't worry she's not bit or infected or anything."
"Guess you never had to suffer it first hand, but if you're referring to those rabid, they don't infect you if they bite. One good thing about all this I suppose. Saved your life eh? How'd that happen?"
"Oh I got something surprised when I first encountered one of those things and it was on top of me snarling and growling. Suzy here got a knife and stabbed it in the face. Just enough for me to put it down permanently with a few rounds to its head and body."
"I'm also his girlfriend!" you add, hoping that by having a closer tie to Roger that they'll let you in.
"Girlfriend? Hrm. I guess stressful situations really do cause close bonds. Well under normal circumstances we wouldn't let a civvie in that isn't blood related or your spouse, but I guess we can make an exception. All right come on in. Don't want to risk having this gate open any longer than it needs to be."
As you drive in you at last feel safer than you have been in a long while. Roger and you both exit the vehicle and Roger tells you that some people will probably take you to the barracks or some place with a bed. He says he'll meet up with you later as he has to go report in.
"Okay, I'll see you then." You say and you move in to kiss him goodbye.
Well if you weren't his girlfriend before, you certainly cemented it now.
You are escorted to a barracks area just as Roger said you would be, but it's mostly empty. The two soldiers that escort you mention that most of people stationed here never came back after being sent to the city, so there's a lot of room now. They don't say much else and soon leave you to your own devices.
And for the first time in a long time during this hellish week, you're alone. It's almost a bit scary, but in a way you've missed it. You're too tired though to really appreciate it and you collapse on one of the beds and start to drift off...
> The next day...
SATURDAY
You wake up to a body grinding up against you, an arm holding you tightly around your mid-section and warm breath blowing in your ear in between the kissing.
Not exactly what you expected, but it beats those Ground Zero advertisements.
"Wha the... Roger that better be you." You say.
"Of course its me. Who else would it be? Bobby?" Roger answers.
"Well I couldn't tell, your erection pressing into me feels to be about the same size."
"Wow... way to make a guy feel special." Roger says.
"Oh don't be sensitive, I could've said it was smaller. Anyway, isn't there some sort of protocol against this in the barracks?" you say turning you head.
"Pfft, protocol isn't what it used to be. If you haven't noticed there isn't even anyone using this one, except you and barring an assault on this place, the captain was good enough to give me a day to rest up before going back on duty full time. Higgins always was cool about things, glad he's in charge now."
"Hmm, so what's going on?" you ask.
"Nothing important, just holding out until we re-establish contact with the government I guess. Higgins might be cool about certain things, but he said he really couldn't give out any more information other than the infected humans are not going to be a threat to us as long as we stay in the base. All the units that were sent out into the city were long since asked to pull back here though obviously not a lot made it back and there has been no contact with any of the units sent to your town."
"Shit." You say.
"Yeah, guess we both got really lucky. I spoke with some of the guys and a lot are still shaken up about stuff that went down in the city. It's times like this that make you really glad to be alive."
"Yeah, I guess we are survivors." You say and for a moment you lie with Roger finally feeling totally safe from the horrors that are occurring outside right now. You haven't felt this way since you left your basement.
Your moment is then broken by Roger resuming his groping and kissing on you.
"Mmm, you smell so good right now... " Roger says.
"Smell good? I haven't had a proper shower in days! Nevermind the fact I've been running and sweating in the same clothes. I'm disgusting, I'd ask how you're even getting turned on by me right now, but I probably do smell like roses compared to you." You say.
"Well, come on let's go use the shower together."
"... NOW? I mean those things are open, what if someone walks in on us?"
"Nobody will. I told you, there isn't even anyone here in this area. Besides we can make it quick."
"Quick. Just what every girl wants to hear... (snort) don't you think this is all a little presumptuous of you anyway? I said I liked and felt close to you, when did I say I was going to fuck you?"
"When I helped you escape." Roger says continuing to kiss on you.
"Oh, that's low... " you chuckle. "So is this more about me owing you something? Is that the way you want it?"
"Hey, I'll take it."
"Fuck it, I was tired of playing hard to get anyway. It's been several days since I've even managed to pleasure myself so I'm about due. Come on let's go hit the showers." You say and get off the bed.
You and Roger go to the nearby shower room. The pair of you are stripping your clothes off on your way there. By the time you've turned on the water, the both of you are naked.
You enjoy both the force of the cleansing water hitting the front of your body as well as the force of Roger hitting your girl parts from the back. One of his hands starts to grope your breasts while his other remains gripped at your side.
Every thrust feels like a great release from the stress you've endured this week. You scream out in ecstasy for more and you don't give a shit how loud you are and who might hear you. You just hope Roger's got that military stamina to go the distance.
You don't know how much time passes because you're enjoying yourself so much and then you feel it.
"Oh my God! I'm almost there! Keep doing that! Harder! Faster! Oh yessss... " you exclaim and then the explosion.
Namely the nuclear bomb that explodes over the base.
Whether this seemingly insignificant military base was a legitimate target or a misalignment from hitting the city of Security (Which probably still got hit too) is irrelevant.
Who launched the nuke is irrelevant.
Why it was launched is irrelevant.
What is relevant is that you, Roger and many others with the large radius of this blast are instantly vaporized.
At least you went out with a bang. |
You let these assholes come in and take medical supplies and they won't stop there. After all you've been through you're not putting up with MORE people not taking you seriously.
"FIRE!" you shout and run back for cover as your people do just that. Naturally the trailer park crew do the same as their own leader runs for cover too.
You've never shot at a human before, but you do remember when your brother Ben tried to show you how to shoot once. You weren't very good at it then, and you're not very good at it now, and sadly neither are a lot of your people.
Several carnies get killed in the ensuing gun battle and many more get hit. While your own side does score a few hits of its own, Mel wasn't bluffing when he said his people were better shots. It's actually amazing that you come through unscathed, though that might be because Klepto in his foolish attempt to play hero gets fatality shot when trying to shield you.
The only thing that prevents the rednecks from completely overrunning you is one of the jugglers lobs one of the few grenades that were acquired from the military with fairly good accuracy, blowing up two of their trucks (and some of them) and giving the survivors enough pause to understand that a continued attack is not in their best interest.
Mel and the rest quickly pile into the surviving truck and drive away. You've won, but at a high cost. The carnies have already suffered losses and wounded with the recent internal struggle. Those that aren't wounded or dead are now experiencing a mixture of sorrow, rage and loss of hope.
"Well what now fearless leader?! We got even more dead and wounded thanks to your leadership!" Dolores exclaims.
"Would it have been better if I just let them come in a take all our shit?!" you snap.
"It would've been better had we not got all our asses shot off! If it hadn't been for Zackary throwing a grenade we'd probably all be worm food!"
"And how the hell is that my fault?! I was shooting at those hillbillies right along the rest of you! I didn't see YOU hitting any of them!"
While you and Dolores continue to argue Shrimpy steps in to try to mediate.
"Hey we don't have time for all this infighting! Haven't we had enough of that shit? Now we survived and that's the most important thing. I say we continue with our original plan and get the fuck outta here, in fact I think we should just pack up and go RIGHT NOW. Those rednecks aren't going to just take this loss, they're going to come back in force."
"Are you kidding me? You want us to just turn tail and run after this? We need to get revenge!"
"Dolores, we already got several wounded people who are in no condition to fight! Never mind the amount of dead! We have no idea how many of those gun toting rednecks there are or even how much weaponry they have!" Shrimpy says.
"Most likely a lot and that's not even counting whatever they got from the military." You add.
Dolores isn't deterred however, she's just angrier specifically at you.
"Are you... (Sigh) can't believe I supported you as a leader, must've been the goddamn blood loss from my head wound after the carnival fight. Look, now maybe this gunfight was a cluster fuck and that's why I'm pissed, but I suppose in the scheme of things you at least stood up to these bastards. If we hit them now, they probably won't even expect it, and you heard their leader, he said they had a lot of wounded of their own, so how many of them could there really be?"
Dolores exhales and now gives you an even more glaring look, which you didn't think was possible.
"However, your plan is to just run off and not avenge our fallen then maybe you need to get the fuck outta the way and hit the road like you told us to do with Jack not too long ago. Suzy, if YOU want to continue running this carnival YOU better do the right thing. "
Dolores' intentions are obvious and clear. She's going to go take revenge no matter what. What isn't quite obvious is if she's going to have the support. There are probably some that will support her, but several more are likely to not want to do any more fighting.
> get revenge
If you're going to have any hope and future of keeping this carnival together with you as leader, you're going to have to get revenge on those rednecks. Maybe Dolores is correct in that there won't be too many of them in fighting condition.
"Okay, okay, we'll do something about those hicks. Just gotta get organized first... " you say before Shrimpy interrupts.
"Suzy are you serious? Haven't you noticed all of the wounded and dead we have?"
"Yes, and that's exactly why we're going to hit those bastards back hard! Look Shrimpy, if this is the way the world is going to work now, we need to always stand up to bullies or else they'll just walk all over you. Trust me, I know what the hell I'm talking about. Now you can either get with the program or hit the road." You say.
Shrimpy is taken aback by your harsh tone. He doesn't reply, he just nods and leaves. He doesn't leave, so he's willing to fall in line despite believing that this is a bad idea.
Dolores and yourself both gather those still in fighting condition and convince them that an attack is in order. You manage to convince most, but there are a few that leave. Dolores is nearly ready to blow their heads off for wanting to take some supplies with them, but not wishing to cause another potential internal firefight you allow them to leave with minimal of supplies.
Within an hour and a half everyone that is willing to come with you is loaded up and ready to go. Shrimpy, in perhaps an effort to show his dedication says he'll come too, but you tell him to stay behind with the wounded just so there is someone that can help them in case they have to be moved immediately.
"I'm not exactly how much I'm going to be able to help in that regard. My name isn't Lifto." Shrimpy says.
"Well, not all of them are down for the count. I'm sure you'd be able to help a few at least." You say.
"Suzy, you don't need to do this, we could just leave. This attack is a suicide mission. It's obvious from the last firefight with those good ol' boys we can't hit for shit."
"Well, fortunately we've got some automatic weapons in that regard, more bullets, more likely to hit the targets. Hey it happens." You say.
Sensing he isn't going to talk you out of this, Shrimpy wishes you good luck and you're on your way to a path of rip roarin' revenge, though there is a part of you that would just like to run.
You lead the drive to the trailer park since you actually know where it is exactly. When you arrive, it's hard to tell if the place is in shambles from when their leader said they were attacked or if it always looked this way.
No sooner have all your vehicles stopped, when Dolores has already gotten out of the military truck you took and started lobbing the remaining grenades at the trailer homes.
"Come on out you inbred sister fuckers!" she shouts and begins firing randomly at the rest of the homes.
"Dolores, get back in the... " you begin to say and then suddenly Dolores actions have attracted return fire.
"Over there! Fire over there!" Dolores shouts and takes cover.
At this point Dolores is giving out orders and you're not being listened to at all. Despite Dolores' enthusiasm for revenge it doesn't suddenly make her a better "commander." You at least try to remember all those times you played video games on your computer and know that wading straight forward into battle is traditionally a shit strategy so you attempt to try the classic pincer maneuver.
Unfortunately given that you're the only one using any sort of critical thinking and nobody is actually listening to you, you're mainly stuck by yourself, trying to pick off the hillbillies when you see them pop up. If you were actually a good shot, you might've actually turned this attack into a successful one.
As it stands, the trailer park crew even with the wounded they have and catching them off guard with the grenades, still outnumber you severely and STILL have better shots. They also have explosives of their own perhaps not military grade like you had, but when you've got a lot of half empty liquor bottles lying around and people with too much time on their hands well sometimes even the lower born get creative.
Your vehicles and your people are suddenly bombarded by several Molotov cocktails and someone even has a homemade "launcher." The explosions are big, loud and fatal to most of your people who were still taking cover behind them. The others who weren't have already gotten cut down by the gunfire. Dolores herself is lying dead with a bullet hole in her head and you're suddenly hearing hillbillies whoopin' it up and seriously worried about your physical safety.
"Whoo hoo! Somebody keep the pretty blonde one alive! We can have a good time wit her!" you hear one of them shout.
"Goddamnit Ray, stop thinkin' with yer dick for one minute, she's still armed ya dumb shit!" you hear Mel shout back.
Seeing as none of the vehicles you came in are usable anymore you attempt to run. You just hope you've got more endurance than a bunch of overweight beer swillin' hicks. They aren't going to be able to follow immediately by any working vehicles they might have due to the flaming scrap heap blocking the trailer park entrance created by their homemade bombs.
You MIGHT have made it, if they weren't lead by a more pragmatic leader type. Just goes to show that you can't judge people just by where they come from...
As soon as you make it to the road, a single shot rings out and you feel a burning sensation run through your upper back and up your spine. You then feel numb and collapse instantly. You're paralyzed, not just from the waist down, but from the neck down. You panic and the tears start when you know this is it.
Mel arrives before the rest of his crew who are now complaining loudly about Mel shooting you.
"(Sigh) Well darlin' you asked fer this. I get why you attacked, but that doesn't fuckin' mean we're gonna sit and take it in the ass any more than you did. Just be glad, I'm puttin' you outa yer misery rather than lettin' the rest have their way with you." Mel says.
You don't reply and just close your eyes waiting to hear the final shot. |
Being a "native" of the area, you do know something of the types that do live in the trailer park. Most of them probably do nothing else except practice-shooting beer cans all damn day. Mel, is most likely right in that his people are going to be better shots and a gun battle is going to result in a lot of dead on your side.
However you can't just let them take your stuff, especially since you're using a lot of it and there isn't much to begin with.
"Well, if we had the extra supplies we might be inclined to share, the fact is we don't have much and what little we have, well we need. You start a shooting match here and you're likely to wind up with more dead and wounded than what was worth the effort." You reply.
"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you darlin'." Mel replies.
"It's true, seriously come on in and take a look yourself. We got a shitload of wounded ourselves in that big tent back there. Just you though, the rest of your people can stand out here and look fearsome."
Mel chuckles.
"Oh just me huh? And as soon as I go in I'm at your fuckin' mercy. Nah, I don't think so."
"Fine so take me as hostage. Here... " you say and drop your rifle and walk over to Mel. A couple people shout at you, but you just wave a hand at them as if to tell them to calm down. Meanwhile Mel stands watching you approach. When you're before him, he's definitely staring you up and down.
"You got a pistol I presume?" you ask Mel.
"Yeah."
"Well pull it out and put it to my head." You say turning around and putting your body against Mel's and then putting one of his arms around your waist.
"Well... shit girl, you're just somethin' else ain't cha?" Mel says barely keeping his composure as he pulls out his pistol.
"If you say so. In any case you now have a little insurance that should be good enough for you shouldn't it? I mean... I'm putting my complete trust in you. You're in complete control" you say and grind up against Mel's body a little more while turning your head a bit to flutter your eyes at him.
Mel is at a loss for words, but his buddies aren't.
"Woo Hoo, looks like the li'l blonde number is sweet on ya Mel!"
"I say we take her back, instead of medical supplies. I never liked Bobby Ray to begin with. Motherfucker can bleed out fer all I care!"
"You plannin' on tradin' Tina up fer her?
"Why's Mel get all the pretty ones? He's already got Tina, I say one of us should get the blonde!"
At this point some arguing breaks out, followed by Mel shouting at them to shut the fuck up. He then turns his attention back to you.
"Heh... you ... you are trouble girlie. If I took you back to the trailer park, you'd probably have every man ripping each other apart over you. I can barely keep these dumb fuckers from doing that now. In any case, let's go look at the medical supply situation. Come on." Mel says motioning you to move.
"As you wish." You say.
Mel and you head back towards the carnival where upon you give him the "grand tour" showing him that it is indeed true that you don't really have much in the way of medical supplies. He also sees all the people that are wounded too.
"Hmm, well I suppose y'all COULD still be hidin' such things somewhere, but honestly I'm inclined to believe ya. This place has even less military vehicles than the ones that were at the trailer park and it sounds like from what you told me there weren't even that many guardsmen here. From the amount of wounded I see, you probably did use up most of the pittance that the military brought with them... how did you get all these wounded though? Nobody looks like they're suffering from gunshot wounds. The cannibal creeps?"
"Nope. All these wounded are from each other. Long story, let's just say carny politics is complicated and I came out on top." You reply confidently.
"I see... well you have certainly displayed a certain amount of balls putting yourself in the vulnerable position you did. (Sigh) All right, you dealt straight with me, so I'll deal straight with you. Guess we'll try the town again."
At this point you and Mel head back to the "neutral zone" where upon Mel releases you (reluctantly) and waves at his people to get ready to go.
As they drive away, you breathe a heavy sigh of relief and rush back to the others. Dolores approaches you when you arrive.
"Well that was an interesting way to handle things, but it worked. Those good ol' boys woulda probably killed and wounded a lot more of us."
"Yeah, an' now we need to get the hell out of here. I don't trust them to not come back with a bigger group and attack us anyway."
"Well, we probably could've done with a bit more of a rest, but I can't argue with that logic, they weren't the most reputable lookin' an' you're the boss. One good thing about having some recently departed, is that the trailers have a lot more room in them now. Speaking of which, your own trailer is already hooked up to a truck. We should be ready to roll in about an hour."
Feeling like you deserve a rest after recent events, you head back to your trailer to relax.
As soon as you enter though, you are suddenly grabbed and tackled to the floor and the stench of bad body odor fills your nostrils.
"Don't scream bitch." A familiar voice whispers. You get a good look at your assailant and see a man with half worn clown make up on his face.
It's Ranko and he smells even worse now that he's laying right on top of you.
"I see a lot of fuckin' changes to this here carnival have happened since I've been gone. Saw some of it from afar while hiding and waiting for the best time to strike. Nearly got eaten by those geeks in the process, but heh heh heh, I got away... "
Ranko begins to press his weight on you so you can't wiggle away while keeping one hand on your mouth and holding a straight razor in his other. His whole outfit is filthy presumably from lurking about in the wilderness for days, but you also notice that he's sporting a couple wounds of his own in the form of bite marks.
"Nothing smart to say now bitch? Thought you were the ringmaster now. Head cunt in charge and all that. Fuck you, I SHOULD be in fuckin' charge!"
At this point you manage to bite Ranko's hand, which tastes foul, but it's enough to cause him to take it off your mouth, giving you a chance to scream for help, before he backhands you across the face.
"Bitch! Maybe if I raped you, you'd KNOW who's in fuckin' charge!" he exclaims and fumbles with pulling down his pants, and keeps the straight razor to your throat with his other hand. (Carnies must love straight razors)
All Ranko has to do is make a quick swipe and your throat is going to be opened if you struggle. If you do nothing he may very well rape you assuming nobody heard you scream. Of course he'll probably kill you anyway after he's finished.
> try to struggle
He might very kill you, but you're definitely not going to let him rape you. You continue to yell for help and with all your strength you begin to fight back, moving your legs and arms. You even get a couple good hits to his face, but it doesn't deter him, all it does is anger him.
After he recovers from your assault outburst he punches you in the face several times and swipes wildly with his razor muttering obscenities the entire time.
Your throat is slashed open and your body isn't even cold before he starts violating anyway. |
While it might be an opportunity to escape, you're not going to risk it. Roger might be a little smitten with you, but he's athletic enough looking that you don't think you could easily fight him off if something went wrong. Given that there is a state of martial law right now, you're likely to get yourself shot or worse.
Better to stay in the tent and come up with a plan where you at least might have some back up.
So you're currently back to square one, sitting around doing much of nothing until the National Guard decides to leave (whenever if and when that happens).
You spend most of your time thinking on what Roofie said and your current position at the carnival. The only way you're ever going to have safety and have a family is if you take direct action towards those goals.
"Lifto, Shrimpy, you're with me." You suddenly say and say you going to see the head of the dwarf faction.
"Uh, I dunno if that's a good idea, he's been doing a lot of preparation lately." Shrimpy says.
"I'm sure he has, and its in our best interest to find out exactly what that is. Maybe YOU can afford to play both sides, but I'm not taking that chance." You say and start walking over to the crowd of little people.
As you approach, the dwarves instantly start closing ranks and their demeanor changes to a defensive one.
"Back again Shrimpy? I didn't anticipate your sycophantic antics for another hour or so. And you must be Suzy, the new clown girl that's been pissing off all the ladies and turning on all the guys. Hrm. Upon a closer look, I understand the appeal, but you're still no dwarf woman." an older dwarf says, though many of his fellows probably don't share that opinion.
"I take it you're the leader of your group?"
"Yep, though I don't suppose Shrimpy's bothered to mention my name is Billy. If you're here about our current alliance, you needn't worry since I've reassured Shrimpy so many times about it that it's getting to the point of annoyance. Glad to you at least changed it up by appearing yourself, could've done without the big ugly clown behind you though, but I'm guessing he's a poor attempt at intimidation."
"A girl likes to have a big strong man to watch her back sometimes."
"Heh, and that's why you've practically begged a bunch of little men to do it to eh? Let's cut to the chase, what do you really want? I already know that you're the new leader of the clowns given what you did to old Roofie over there. Bet he didn't see that coming."
You don't know how else to put it so you just say it, which comes to a surprise to Shrimpy and Lifto as well.
"I'm going to be the new leader of this carnival and YOU'RE going to support me in this endeavor."
Billy smiles at this remark and then chuckles. Several of the other dwarves do likewise.
"You? Really? And you think we're just going to support you in this? I hope you had a better plan than preparing to fuck every munchkin in munchkin land Dorothy, because at this juncture I guarantee that would be the ONLY way that you MIGHT come close to your dreams of being in charge. And if that was your plan, you can forget it, because I'm happily married. However, it might gain you favor with some of my friends. Could ensure that your group will have a place in the new carnival order that will be coming soon, but that's a choice you'll have to make on your own."
"You really think the rest of the carnival is going to follow you?"
"They won't have a choice, we dwarves have always been the backbone of it and it's about time we just took the spotlight. Just like my Great Uncle Charley always wanted to do so long ago."
"Yeah and apparently that didn't work out so well given your current situation. You know why? Nobody truly respects you. They're content to let you do the grunt work, but they don't want you to be in the spotlight, unless you're making a fool of yourself like Shrimpy here." You say.
"HEY!" Shrimpy remarks.
"Watch your tone there blondie, you're starting to tread on very dangerous ground." Billy warns.
"Yes, I know and I'm also trying to explain that you're ALREADY in control by being the backbone of the carnival. You might very well be able to win this internal struggle, but would there be anything left? This place has languished under Roofie, obviously, but it could be great again if it had the right ring master. Someone who could bring in the people. You said it yourself, I've got most of the guys here salivating over me just by my presence. You know how advertising works, I bring 'em in with a wink, a smile and some sweet talk, the other performers get the money out of them and someone has to keep the infrastructure together and that's you. We could work together as a more than just co-workers we could be like... a family. Like how carnies are supposed to really stick together."
Your words give a moment of pause for Billy who ponders them for a moment, but then shakes his head.
"Y'know, that's a really good speech, the problem is you haven't been here but a few days and you're already trying to take over. In family terms, you're like the hot twenty year old nurse that married great grandpa on his death bed in the hopes of inheriting everything despite the fact he's got a multitude of family members that are far more deserving since they had to put up with his shit a lot longer. Now that doesn't mean I don't think you're sincere or even that your idea isn't a worthy one, its just I don't see YOU as that potential leader. If this carnival does split apart after the dust clears, well maybe it was meant to be, but I'm not spending the remainder of my life following another half-assed leader again. So to sum up, if you want to be on our side then great, if not, then I highly suggest you all get in your clown car and all get jobs at a rodeo or something."
At this point Billy's done talking and waves you all away.
Well that could've went better.
"Are you nuts?! Why the hell did you do that for? You're lucky he isn't cancelling our protection!" Shrimpy says.
"Well I can't say it was the best of moves, but I guess you had to try." Lifto says.
Between Shrimpy's concern for his own self-preservation and Lifto's impotent comment, you're wondering if you shouldn't re-consider trying to escape again.
Ultimately you all head back to the table where upon Shrimpy and Lifto explain what happened. Fatty and Klepto are both surprised by your actions, but Klepto again makes the usual attempt at being more "understanding" than the others. Christ, he never quits.
"I don't need this right now, I'm going to be by myself." You say grabbing the small radio that they were listening to and head to where Roofie is still lying on his mat with his eyes closed. You don't know if he's still awake or genuinely asleep now, but he at least doesn't appear to be in any mood to bother you right now.
You spend a few more hours listening to one of the radios while the others play cards and try to talk about mundane things. You're not getting the best reception and it's no Internet, but it's better than nothing.
You mostly listen to a lot of special breaking news talking about how bad things are getting in various parts of the world. You hear about the riots going on and think about your own town and how your "real" family is doing. Ben's hidden personal bomb shelter was somewhere in the backyard, you wonder if you shouldn't have just tried to look for it and moved in there, it probably was stocked.
Then as the sun starts setting, you hear a bunch of shooting and shouting outside. You see the other guardsmen near the tent entrance rush off, leaving everyone unsupervised.
Naturally no longer being supervised means chaos within the tent begins to erupt though you have no idea why people aren't more concerned about why the National Guardsmen are shooting and yelling at something outside.
Lacking any better idea, you try to wake up Roofie, but he doesn't stir.
"Oh shit... " you say to yourself.
Apparently his last words to you WERE his dying request literally.
While you're the only one aware of poor Roofie's unexpected passing, a full on fight in the tent breaks out. Predictably, it's Razor and her faction vs. Billy and his faction. Some of the smaller factions join in while others just run out of the tent altogether. It's very lucky that your group is nowhere near the center of the tent where the fighting is and more or less in a corner.
"Suzy! It's begun!" Lifto shouts.
"Yeah! We need to get in and help Billy or we're going to be next!" Shrimpy adds.
> escape this place
Billy has made it quite clear that no matter what happens you're going to be on the bottom rung of any sort of restructuring so why should you even bother? This whole area is going to shit and it would be best if you just got the hell out of here.
"Do any of you have keys to your vehicles?" you ask.
"I got my truck keys." Lifto remarks.
"Good, we're getting the hell out of here while everyone is distracted."
"What?! We're just going to leave Billy?" Shrimpy asks.
"Look, if YOU want to help Billy then go right ahead, but he's basically said that I'm the low girl on the totem pole, and I am NOT going to go through a bunch of verbal and possible physical abuse for the rest of my time here. I left home to get away from that shit. Quite frankly given how disliked clowns are around here, I'd suggest the rest of you follow me because no matter who wins, you're going to lose." You say and turn to leave
Lifto, Klepto and Fatty don't even think twice, they're following you out the tent and leaving the chaos of the carnival clash behind. Shrimpy however is unsure, his loyalty to his "kind" is still holding him back, but you're not waiting around.
When you exit the tent, things aren't much better. There aren't any guardsmen in the immediate area, but you still hear the shooting and their yelling. You also hear odd growling sounds and a couple of screams.
"I don't know what's going on, but we need to get to your truck NOW!" you exclaim where upon Lifto takes the lead.
You don't get too far when you see Roger staggering from between two other tents. He's wounded heavily and bleeding profusely. He sees you and desperately calls for your help.
"Suzy... hel... " is about all he gets out before collapsing a few feet from you. He tries to crawl towards you and you nearly head towards him to help, but given all the gunfire going on and the big brawl still going on, you focus on your goal of placing as much distance as possible from this place.
"Sorry, Roger." You say quietly and continue moving.
Lifto points towards a pick up truck in the area where you first parked your own vehicle.
"Shh, you hear that?" Klepto remarks.
"No." you remark.
"Exactly. All the gunfire stopped."
"Well we need to hurry up because that either means the guardsmen killed whoever was attacking and they'll be returning to us soon or... "
And then from behind one of the army vehicles you're passing something leaps onto Lifto. It's human but its snarling and growling unnaturally. If you didn't know any better you'd almost think it was a... .
"ARGH! ZOMBIE!" Lifto shouts and struggles to get it off of him. Fatty moves in to help immediately and between the two of them they easily knock it to the ground. Lifto then proceeds to stomp on its head repeatedly with his brightly colored clown boots.
While Lifto is determined to smash its head into mush, another one of these creatures pop out of nowhere and nearly grab you. You scream and manage to pull away before Klepto steps in and tries to help.
Unfortunately the creatures manage to bite him in the process. He cries out in pain, but manages to get the creatures off of him thanks to someone else helping by blowing the thing's head off. Blood, bone and brains splatter all over Klepto.
"Come on! I don't know how many more of these things there are!" Shrimpy shouts with one of the guardsmen's assault rifles in both hands. Looks like he's made his choice.
Lifto finishes destroying the one that was attacking him and soon all of you are off and running again. You look around as you run thinking more are going to be jumping out at you, but that doesn't happen. You are slightly concerned about Fatty getting bit though. You don't think anyone else has noticed it yet except you and of course him.
When you get to the truck, Lifto quickly opens up the driver side and opens up the passenger door. You get in, followed by Klepto, meanwhile Fatty gets in the bed of the truck along with Shrimpy.
"Where the hell are we going?" Lifto says as he drives from the carnival.
"I don't know yet, but we probably should stay away from large areas of population if those... things are any indication. Just head further away from the town for now." You say.
Honestly you don't know what comes next, but you're seriously starting to believe Roofie's comments about the end coming soon. Were those creatures zombies? Crazed humans? Alive? Undead? Does it matter? How many are there? Have they overrun civilization already? Has any of your old family survived? Is this the beginning of the end?
And most importantly... do their bites work like they do in the movies?
Klepto sits next to you nervously still clutching his arm where he was bit. Lifto hasn't noticed yet because he's been paying attention to the road and while you haven't said anything yet Klepto's not subtle enough about keeping his wound secret...
"Why do you keep rubbing your arm?" Lifto remarks.
"Uh, that thing grabbed me and its grip hurt a lot and uh... "
"Klepto, I've known you long enough to know when you're lying! Did that thing bite you?!"
Klepto doesn't answer so you try to unsuccessfully help.
"It was just a little bite, we don't even know if... " you start to say before you're interrupted.
"Oh fuck! That's it man! Game over!" Lifto shouts and suddenly stops the truck. Fatty and Shrimpy both knock on the window shouting what's going on.
"Klepto, I know we've known each other a long time, but you need to get out of this truck right now."
"Lifto, I... "
"I don't wanna hear it. Get out before I make you get out or worse."
"Lifto, we don't even know if this is infectious! This isn't a movie you know!" you exclaim.
"And you willing to take that chance? You're sitting right next to him! Not to mention he's covered in that thing's blood when Shrimpy blew its head off. Who knows what the hell he's caught."
As paranoid as Lifto is right now, you have been feeling a little nervous sitting next to Klepto this whole time.
Without another word Lifto shifts towards you and reaches over towards the glove compartment. He opens it up revealing a pistol, though Klepto already figured out what he was doing and tries to grab it before Lifto can.
Despite Lifto being in an awkward position and you being in his way, he's strong enough to get the grip on the gun first. Klepto grabs his hand and the struggle ensues.
At this point Fatty opens up the driver side door and Shrimpy opens up the passenger side.
"What the fuck is going on here!?" Shrimpy asks.
"ARGH! Sonofabitch!" Lifto suddenly shouts, Klepto has bitten his hand causing him to drop the pistol on the truck floor.
"Shrimpy keep that rifle on Klepto!" Lifto shouts.
You're stuck in the middle with Lifto's body half on you. All you know is you're scared and desperate to get out. You manage to wiggle down a bit and grab the pistol on the floor.
Klepto hasn't proceeded with an attack and doesn't look any different.
"I'm not a zombie! Or whatever you think I am! I'm fine! And if you kill me, you're going to have to kill Lifto too!" Klepto exclaims to everyone.
Klepto may or may not be right, but he was pretty quick to bite Lifto. Whether that was a desperate attempt to ensure his own safety or a possible glimpse of what's to come, you don't know.
With the pistol in your hand you don't know if you shouldn't just shoot them both.
> shoot the pair of them
You really don't want to do this, but you don't see any choice.
"Sorry." You say and point the gun at Lifto who has just gotten off of you.
"Wait." he says which is just enough give you pause due to your nervousness and give Lifto time to grab the gun from you, or at least attempt to grab it because you actually manage to struggle for half a minute before he accidently shoots you with it.
The gun goes off, you catch a bullet in your throat and you fall backwards into Klepto.
"Holy shit! I didn't mean... " Lifto shouts.
"SUZY! NO!" Klepto screams.
"What the fuck did you do Lifto!?" Fatty yells.
"Goddamn it!" Shrimpy exclaims.
At this point the rest of the shouting becomes one loud noise to your dying ears. As your vision starts to blur, Klepto cradles you in his arms trying to tell you to fight off your impending death.
It doesn't work. |
If you ran, you doubt if the rest of them would follow and despite the feeling that this isn't the greatest idea, you're tired of running. You've got nothing to run to anyway, if you can deal with the inhabitants inside, you'll at least have a place to catch a breather from the ever-growing chaos in your life.
You hope at least.
"Shrimpy can you get inside the truck without getting hit and put it in neutral?"
"Yeah I think I could." Shrimpy says.
"Good, give me the rifle and the clips, get in the truck and when it's in neutral Lifto and Fatty I want you to start pushing it forward. We should be able to get close enough to the house using this thing as a large shield."
"What are you going to be doing?" Fatty asks.
"I'm going to be crawling around in the truck bed taking shots at that bastard firing at us when I can. Hopefully the closer we get the more likely I'll be able to hit him. Now you want to avenge Klepto or what?"
This statement gets a nod from everyone.
"Let's do this." Lifto says and all of you enact your plan.
It goes well, or about as well as a plan can when someone is shooting at you. Another person soon joins the farmer the closer the truck gets to the front of the house. Presumably the farmer's wife. The pair of them unleash a torrent of curses at you, but nobody is hitting each other yet.
Bullets tear into the truck and while you're all safe, when the two front tires get blown out, it makes Lifto and Fatty's pushing a lot harder.
"Goddamn it. (Wheeze)" Fatty gasps.
"Fuck." Lifto grunts.
Still crawling around in the truck bed, you head over towards the back and speak to Lifto and Fatty.
"Okay, stop pushing, no point in straining yourself, because you're going to need to save your energy. I don't think the shooter on the left is quite as skilled so run to the left and around the back of the house, there's got to be a back door. I'll provide cover, I still got a half a clip left in this thing and one more full one, so when I go full auto, start running. Here take the pistol." You say tossing the pistol over the back end of the truck.
Honestly you'd rather have Shrimpy do this since he's a much smaller target, but the little guy is probably hiding in the leg area of either the driver or passenger's side of the truck hoping not to get hit.
You take a deep breath as more bullets tear into the sides of the truck. You grip the rifle and exposing only a bit of your hands, you blindly fire and spray the left area of the house where the second shooter is.
Luckily through the gunfire a small cry is heard, you think you've hit someone again.
In any case it allows time for Lifto and Fatty to crouch run towards the house, hug the wall and then crawl around the corner. Fatty sure is fast when he wants to be, you just hope he doesn't suffer a heart attack. Meanwhile you hear shouting within the house.
"Clem! I'm hit! Ohhhhh... (sob)"
"Honeypie?! Honeypie? No no no... "
With the gunfire completely stopped Shrimpy takes the opportunity to get out of the truck and run behind it.
"Suzy? You still here?" you hear him ask.
"Yeah, I'm still here. Just stay behind the truck I'm gonna... " you start to say before you're interrupted
"NO! GODAMNIT! NOOOO! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU ALL!" Clem the farmer shouts and now the sounds of gunfire start up again, except this time he's not firing a rifle anymore, the booming sound indicates a shotgun of some kind.
As you try to reload your last assault rifle clip, the truck continues to suffer the impact of shotgun rounds. In fact they are starting to damage the truck enough that one of them going through and hitting you is a very real possibility. You roll over to the other side of the truck in an attempt not to get hit.
"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" you hear him bellow. You're too busy keeping down and redloading.
And then you hear nothing, followed by a pistol shot and then another. You take the opportunity to quickly climb out of the truck bed altogether.
"Suzy, did they get him?" Shrimpy asks
"I don't know... " you say and peek your head out hoping that this isn't a mistake.
You soon see Lifto standing in the front doorway with the pistol in hand.
"We got all of these bastards. It's safe." He says.
You and Shrimpy both step out from the cover of the truck and make your way to the house.
First thing you notice is the first man you shot near the entryway, apparently he tried to crawl away soon after the shoot out started and died shortly afterwards. Given his disfigurement and from what you could tell of his voice, he might've been mentally retarded. You remember hearing "junior" being said, so you're guessing he was the son. You don't exactly feel great about shooting him. It really was an accident.
Seeing the other two bodies don't exactly make you feel any better.
The farmer's wife lies dead in the dining room area. She's actually bigger than Fatty which means she's indeed quite on the large side. She has several gunshot wounds to her upper body. You knew you hit her, but you just didn't know where. Your stomach begins to feel slightly bad when you think about it.
Finally you see the farmer himself, or Clem as you heard being shouted. Lifto mentions that Clem was so focused on you that he realized too late that someone was sneaking up on him. Lifto mentions that he shot him in the back and then while Clem was still flopping about on the floor trying to turn over with his shotgun, Clem put one in his skull.
You didn't even kill Clem and you still feel weird about it. You don't understand why you're feeling slightly sick about all this. Or rather you've got an idea why, but considering the little creature rampage at the carnival it isn't like you haven't seen gruesome death before, but this is somehow different.
The adrenaline and survivalist mindset you put yourself into has disappeared now that the danger has passed so you are left with the grim aftermath of your actions.
The realization that you've killed an entire family that was really just defending their home is what is getting to you. That and the fact that you feel like this whole incident is your fault. Adding Klepto's death to the mix and you're directly and indirectly responsible for four people's deaths.
"Toilet." You say in a daze.
"What?" Shrimpy asks.
"I'm gonna be sick... "
"I think I saw one over towards the back of the house, it's... "
You don't wait for Lifto to finish you just run in the direction. Trying to keep from throwing up and you just manage to make it to the toilet where upon you promptly vomit your guts out.
Your fellows come to see how you're doing.
"Suzy, are you alright?" Shrimpy asks.
"Yeah, you aren't sick are you?" Lifto asks.
It takes you awhile to answer, but eventually you manage it.
"Uh... (pant)... I just... I dunno... yeah I'll be fine. I think the stress of all this just got to me. Uh... " You say.
"Well, it's understandable. Look, why don't you go lie down somewhere? You've done enough for today. The rest of us are gonna drag these bodies out of here. It'll take all of us, lord knows what the hell they were eating on this farm, but everyone here seems to be Fatty's size or bigger. Probably should look around the rest of the farm as well. Make sure nobody is hiding in the barns or something." Lifto remarks.
"Yeah... okay... " you say walking past Shrimpy and Lifto.
As you slowly walk back towards the front of the house, Fatty comes down the stairs.
"Well the upstairs is clear from what I can tell. Nobody up there. Hey Suzy, you okay? Could hear you retching from up there." Fatty asks.
"Yeah, just need to lie down." You say.
"You and me both, but I suppose Lifto is going to need me to help him move out these bodies. Anyway, there are some nice beds upstairs, probably should take one of them."
At this point you feel so wobbly that you wonder if you can even make it up the stairs.
> use the downstairs couch
You're so tired, you don't want to be bothered with stairs right now. You collapse on the nearby sofa and close your eyes.
"Try to keep it down please." You say.
Everyone agrees, but the act of moving bodies out isn't exactly quiet work. Especially when they try to move the farmer's wife, which even with Lifto helping, isn't an easy task.
"Damnit Fatty get her fucking leg, I'm losing my grip." Lifto says.
"This bitch is bigger than me! I'm having a coronary just trying to move her." Fatty replies.
"Don't look at me, I'm doing the best I can with this leg, we should just drag her out." Shrimpy adds.
"Okay, okay, drop her."
A loud thud of a dead body hitting the floor fills your ears.
Them trying to drag her doesn't go too much quieter, Fatty ends up knocking over a table lamp and at this point you know trying to sleep on the sofa is a losing proposition.
You don't get mad since it really isn't their fault, but you do get up in silence and make your way up the stairs.
Really you're still a bit wobbly from your tiredness and your eyes are half sleepy, but thanks to the railings, you're able to maneuver yourself to the top without falling.
Unfortunately, that isn't the danger.
When you get to the top of the stairs, you see a young woman standing before you holding a knife. It looks like she was sneaking to one of the other rooms when you appeared.
The woman is a bit surprised when she sees you and you're just barely awake enough to realize that you're in danger, you're not quite awake enough to react in time.
With a short rush towards you she stabs you in the right tit, causing you to fall backwards. The knife wound wouldn't have killed you since it didn't hit vital organs, but breaking your neck falling down the stairs sure does.
The rest of your friends come running back inside from the noise and will probably avenge your death, but obviously you won't be alive to thank them. |
MONDAY
"... our shelters are all equipped with the latest in state of the art technology, order now and... "
Click.
You fell asleep watching tv again. Seems like they're playing those damn commercials all the time now. Nothing like praying upon people's fears due to recent world events.
You look at the time and see that you've slept for most of the morning, but given that you're going to the circus to apply for a job you figure they will be open all night.
You also check your phone and see that Bobby's been trying to reach you, but you can't let yourself get distracted today. You need to focus on your goal of becoming a clown!
You take Peter's car and head towards the circus. The drive is fairly uneventful though one thing you notice is the increase in police cars and police in general. Apparently there's been some civil disturbance in multiple locations. You swear this one of the reasons why you never like leaving the basement in the first place. You hate the chaotic nature of people.
But then, if you have any hope of being a clown, you're going to have to get used to dealing with crowds and people. In fact you're going to have to get used to a lot of things, but you can't let yourself get a panic attack about this. You have to go through with this.
Eventually you arrive at your destination. Or at least you assume it is. Peter wasn't joking when he said it resembled a gypsy camp as opposed to a proper circus. You see a lot of little tents and some trailers, but nothing like a "big top."
Most of the people here are dwarves and last time you knew there wasn't a large population of little people in your town, so you can only assume that they're part of the circus. In fact from what you can tell there aren't actually any customers, just carnies.
As you wander a bit, you start getting a lot of looks, you aren't sure if they're staring at you because you're an outsider or if they're just gawking at you. Might be a bit of both. Doesn't take long before you're surrounded by a lot of the little people and you start to feel like Dorothy.
"Hey goldie with the legs, what're you doing around here? We're not open yet." One of their numbers says.
"Oh, well I wasn't here for that. I'm here because... " you take a deep breath. "I want to be a clown!"
That certainly wasn't the response that they were expecting. You hear a few whispers before the one that was talking speaks again.
"A clown? Heh, well I'm not sure how successful that's going to work out for you, but luckily for you the owner of this fine circus is also a clown, so you'll need to speak with him either way. He's in the tent over there. Roofie is probably still hung over so try to speak quietly."
"Roofie?"
"Yeah, that's his clown name... actually it mean be his real name as well. Anyway, don't worry he's not a rapist or anything like that, he's just a drunk. In fact he's probably the most mentally stable clown that we've ever had in this circus!"
Taking the dwarf's directions, you head over to Roofie's tent. The smell of booze is strong and when you enter you see a balding older man in oversized pants and suspenders sitting at a table holding his head in both hands. Beer and whiskey bottle are plentiful enough that you make yourself heard just by tripping over some.
"Goddamn it, it isn't fucking showtime and nobody's been coming anyway! Leave me alone, shit!" Roofie shouts not even looking up and continuing to hold his head.
"Uh Mr. Roofie, I was told to speak to you."
Roofie turns and looks at you. A big red nose still on his face.
"Huh? Wbo the hell are you? You look way too damn classy to be any whore that I'd be able to afford."
"My name's Suzy and I want to be a clown."
At this point Roofie slowly gets up from his seat kicking a few bottles aside. You continue to stand there starting to wonder if this was such a good idea.
"A clown? Now why the hell would a cute blonde like you want to be a fuckin' clown. Doesn't make sense. You playin' some sort of angle honey, because I assure you I'm in no mood and I ain't got any money for you to grift anyway."
"No, it's always been a life long dream ever since I was a little girl!" you say and then start to go into detail of how you enjoyed circus clowns and a bunch of other life story shit that doesn't really interest Roofie. In fact he's just struggling to stand up and listen right now.
"Alright, alright, enough! Shit. I get it. (Sigh) Look honey I dunno what to tell you, we're not exactly the Ringling Brothers here. I'm also not exactly looking to hire and I barely keep this place running as it is."
"Please let me be a clown! Just give me a chance!"
"Argh, too fucking loud! Fine show me your clown stuff, just keep your voice down."
"Clown stuff?"
"Uh yeah, like can you juggle? A little magic maybe? Some slapstick? Do you have a character like being a hobo or something? What you think it's just easy as putting on white face make up, jumping around and laughing like an idiot?"
"Well sort of... "
"Sheesh. That's the kind of thinking that makes us look creepy rather than amusing. You do realize that most people hate clowns right? Doesn't help that we're constantly vilified in horror movies nowadays. Yer wastin' my time and yours if you don't even know the basics."
Roofie isn't exactly inspiring your confidence in this anymore. You feel like just heading home, but can't run from this like you do with everything else, you've got no other options! You start to break down in tears.
"Maybe I don't know the basics, but I'll work hard! (Sob) I'm serious about this! (Sob) I've tried to get a job everywhere else and if I don't get this, I'll get kicked out of my house! This is my last chance! (Sob)" you exclaim in between the tears.
"Last chance? Darling, if bein' a clown is your last chance, then you've got some major problems. (Sigh) I dunno even know why I'm entertaining this save for the fact that you're easy on the eyes even without the need for alcohol and I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress. Besides if the news is any indication, we're all gonna be dead by nuclear fire soon anyway, so fuck it. All right, stop yer weepin' an maybe we can do something with you."
You clear up your eyes a bit completely oblivious to Roofie's brief doomsday expectations.
"So you'll help train me?"
"Well, hopefully you'll pick up something in time, but I'm not going to bother with regular training, you're going to learn trial by fire which all good clowns do anyway. Now the greatest thing going for you is that you're cute, so I'm thinkin' we create a character for you that utilizes your, shall we say natural talent."
"Wait, I'm not going to have my breasts exposed while wearing nothing but red clown noses on my nipples do I?" you ask with concern.
"(Snort) Jesus girl. No, nuthin' like that." Roofie chuckles "You'll be fully clothed, though you'll still be cute lookin'. Kinda like that one girl. Y'know in the funny books? The one with that rich vigilante. Anyway, the key thing to remember is you need to act cutesy. That's going to be your character. You'll be a cute clown while all the other clowns around you hilariously fail to try to win you over, hit each other with mallets and all that sort of shit... hmmm, this is actually sounding like a pretty good skit. I'm going to go round up the others and have a run through. In the meantime there's a bunch of clown outfits in the trunk over there. Fairly certain we got a bunch of unused girly ones that should fit you. Some make up over and a mirror over there. Don't worry about getting that just right for now since I know the lighting sucks in this tent. And uh, I dunno try to practice acting demure and shy."
Roofie leaves the tent and you're left realizing that you might just succeed at getting this job! You quickly go through the trunk and find some pink and black-checkered leotard thing with a mini-skirt attached around the waist. It fits and fortunately while form fitting, it isn't excessively tight, though your legs are still exposed so you put on some knee high purple striped leggings. You feel sort of vulnerable undressing in a tent that someone could just enter at any time, but fortunately there's at least a privacy-screen you can dress behind.
You complete your look by putting your hair in girlish pigtails and applying a bunch of white face make up on and making your eyelashes and lips stand out with black eye liner and red lipstick.
You haven't had time to practice when Roofie returns with a bunch of other men in various clown outfits. One of them is even a little person like you met out front.
"Goddamn Roofie, I think I'm gonna have to rethink my plans of leaving your shitty carnival." One of them says.
"Leave? Hell, I think I'm in love." Says another before Roofie speaks up.
"Holy shit girl, I said cute clown, not harlequin seductress! You might need to tone it down in the future we're still trying to run a family show more or less. All right never mind, let's run through this and you guys TRY to remember to keep your tongues in your mouth on occasion."
So you run through the routine while Roofie gives everyone directions. At first you naturally feel a little unready and uneasy what with everyone flirting with you, but soon you start to get into the swing of things. In fact it starts to come easy, you bat your eyes, give a few girlish giggles when someone slips and falls trying to give you a balloon flower and similar things.
Eventually Roofie stops everyone and says the skit needs to be refined a bit, but it should work. He then tells everyone to leave since he wants speak with you privately. This seems to disappoint the others who all continue to stare at you while leaving.
"Well, other than the fact that I could tell some of them were having a really hard time in not actually groping you, I'd say that went well and even you seem to have gotten into character quickly. Maybe you do have what it takes after all. You still seem a little nervous though, which sort of helped your performance, but I'd rather you remain at ease. Anything that can help with that?" Roofie asks.
"Well its like you said, I partially felt like one of them was going to jump on me at any given time. I mean is that something I'm going to have to worry about?"
"Nah, that won't happen. We carnies have a rule against hurting each other. I mean I won't lie that they aren't going to stare a lot at you and most likely a few are going to make crude comments, but that's about as far as it is going to go if you decide to join and stay with us."
"You want me to join?"
"If you're still interested, sure. I think you've got something to offer. Though like I said, I'm still not sure why someone like you would want to join a broken down circus like this one. I still think someone like you would be a model or something."
"Well, I'm wearing an outlandish outfit, my face is all painted up and a bunch of guys are falling over themselves just to get a look at me. Seems like I'm doing the same thing as a model save for the eating disorder."
Your comment causes a laugh from Roofie.
"Ha ha! That's pretty good. I think I'm making the right decision. Okay, so about your sleeping arrangements, I might have to re-arrange some folks and that's always going to cause problems, so you might have to sleep in your car for tonight... "
"Wait you want me to move in here?"
"Well yeah. I mean I told you we weren't going to be staying here too much longer and you have to know that circus' do tend to travel right?"
"Yeah, right. Of course. It's just, heh, I guess when I jumped into this I didn't think all of it through. Though that's probably obvious."
"Hrm, well it's your choice. I'm not gonna lie and say this life is the easiest and if you feel more comfortable at home or have loved ones you don't want to leave that's understandable."
"I dunno if I'd say all that, but the concept of leaving my home... well it's a bit of a big change for me. Like a VERY big one. And oddly, this opportunity has me seriously considering it."
"Well you do what's in your heart. Anyway, we aren't leaving today or even tomorrow, so I mean if you want to go back home and pick up some stuff, say goodbye to whoever, then you've got time. But even though we're not leaving tomorrow we are going to be open for our last show and I'll need you here. I'm hoping we'll at least get some people here and make at least a bit of money before picking up stakes and all that."
You aren't sure what to do. The logical thing to do would be to go back home and gather some belonging, say a few goodbyes and try to convince Peter to drive you back up here so he gets his car back.
But there's something within you that wonders if you shouldn't just make a clean break immediately and stay. You know yourself and if you get back home you're likely find some reason to stay and back out of this opportunity. You think about Bobby and how he'd be one of those reasons. You still haven't called him back.
> head back home
You should head back home to gather your things and you at least should return Peter's car back. You're confident that he'd drive you back here.
You still aren't sure about calling Bobby. If he finds out your intentions, he might do something crazy... well other than the usual craziness he participates in. Might be best to still not return his call.
"I appreciate this opportunity Roofie. I'll be back later today or tomorrow morning at the latest."
"Hm, okay. See you later then." Roofie says and you leave the tent to quickly make your way back to your car.
You realize that you're still in your clown outfit as you're driving off. Oh well it hardly matters. Well other than Peter is probably going to get freaked out when he sees you.
You head back towards town and halfway there you suddenly hear the sound of a tire blowing out.
"Oh what the fuck!?" you exclaim, in your attempt to keep the car from swerving. You pull over to the side of the road.
You get out and see your front driver side tire is completely fucked. While you don't have any experience in changing one yourself, you go and check if there is a spare anyway.
You open the trunk and of course there is nothing in there. Or rather nothing that can help you. You do find a bunch of your old clothes that Peter probably stole a long time ago..
While its possible someone random might try to help you on this road, you don't hold out a lot of hope. Or rather the element that usually traverses this area usually consists of trailer trash types that you definitely don't want to put up with.
Lacking any better options, you decide to call your younger sister Donna and hope that maybe she's not bust partying. No answer, but you leave a message. You also call Julie, but have the same amount of luck.
You then try to call Peter, since he'll definitely want to know about his car. Again, you get no answer, so you leave a message.
Some cars pass you on the road, so far its looking like nobody is helping you. You wonder if it might be the clown costume though. You have the temptation to call Bobby, but you resist.
"Great. I finally start to get something going with my life and fate decides to kick me in the face for it." You say sitting in the car.
It starts to get dark and nobody has returned your call yet. Tired of waiting around for help you come to a decision.
You go back and grab your old clothes from the trunk of the car and start walking back to the carnival. It'll be a long walk, but given how everyone in your family has failed spectacularly in even returning your call you figure you'll be better off just making a clean break and not go back home after all. At least you've got a few extra clothes.
You walk for quite some time and a couple vehicles pass you, but once again nobody offers you a ride. Looks like the clown outfit might be warding off people. As they say, there is nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight.
There is also nothing funny about two rednecks in a pick up truck at night either...
And that's exactly who rides up along side you. A fear wells up within you, but you try to ignore it.
"Woo weee! Look at chu'. You from dat carnival a few miles up dah road?" one of them shouts from the passenger side.
"Something like that."
"Mm, yeah I don't usually go fer clowns... but damn are you fine. You fill out that outfit something fierce! You remind me of that girl from the funny books. Y'know that crazy guy's girlfriend who fights that bat guy."
You continue to try to ignore him and step up your pace.
"So, you need a lift back to your carnival sweetheart? We got room."
"No, the back of your truck looks full of scrap metal."
"Oh honey, you wouldn't ride back there. You'd ride up here with us. Maybe you could even sit in my lap."
You're starting to get worried now.
"No, I'm okay. Thanks though."
"I don't think yer understandin' me missy, this ain't a fuckin' request! Hugo stop the goddamn truck, this one's gonna give us shit!" the hick says and you don't even waste time, you start running before he even gets out of the truck.
It's a long dark lonely road and you're a young woman screaming and running from psycho hillbillies. It would sound like a bad horror movie if it weren't actually happening.
So far you're out pacing them so you figure if you stick to the road you'll be fine and maybe even be lucky enough to have someone pass by to help you.
You look back and see the one from the passenger seat still far behind you, in fact you don't even see the other one. But you do hear shouting by the one chasing you.
In a few moments you hear the sound of an engine see the glow of headlights right behind you. They're not going to bother chasing you so much as they're just going to run you down!
At this point you get off the road and you do, but the truck just follows you into the high grass and at the speed it's going it succeeds in hitting you at a good speed. You go flying several feet way into the field.
You still live, but your body is broken in several places. You cry out followed by several whimpers of someone to help you. Of course there is no one and all it does is let the two hicks know where you've landed. You can't even crawl away.
In a few moments the truck pulls up near your area and your fear and anguish is overwhelming you. This is it. This is how it's going to end.
"Heard that bitch scream, she's gotta be here somewhere... got her." The hillbilly says shining a flashlight in your bloody face.
"Sheet. You ain't much now are ya bitch? If you'd gotten in when I told ya, We might've even let ya go after we were done havin' our fun. But noooo, you stuck up pretty bitches always gotta do things da hard way. Fuck it. I don't care if you are all broken, I'm getting' a piece of this."
During the last agonizing moments of life are thoughts of how you should've stayed in the basement. |
SUNDAY
"Are you worried about these uncertain times? Do you... "
Click.
You're so damn sick of these Ground Zero commercials you think as you turn the TV off. If you older brother Ben hadn't shot his family and himself in a tragic paranoid breakdown you can only imagine he'd be going on about how right he was in building that underground bunker out in your backyard.
You look at the time and realize you've spent most of the day procrastinating watching TV even though there's not much on that interests you on TV anymore. All the channels you used to watch that had interesting shit on them now all have shallow reality shows and quite frankly you've got enough dysfunctional family drama going on in real life without needing to watch it on TV.
You remember a time when you could avoid most of the mess by hiding out in your basement. Unfortunately you can't even do that anymore. Ever since dad drank himself to death, the gravy train of living at home for free came to an end.
Without the help of your dad's pension checks anymore, your older Amazonian sister Kelly said there was no way in hell that she was going to keep supporting the house on her own unless she was the only one living in it. Seeing as she's a roller derby bitch as well as an illegal fight club brawler, it isn't like you or any of your siblings were in any position to argue with her.
Your younger brother Peter, having given up his lofty dreams of being a famous movie director now spends a lot of his time in the garage making amateur porn with various guys he picks up at the clubs. He makes enough money through his website that it keeps Kelly off his back. He seems to enjoy what he's doing and at least he's not stealing your clothes anymore.
Your younger sister Donna simply moved out and moved in with your best friend Julie who is still the eternal party girl. Really you're surprised Julie hasn't caught every STD known to man at this point. To be honest Donna's had more in common with Julie than you have for many years now. You're sure Donna's a lot happier at a "party house."
As for you, you didn't have much in the way of options. Trying to get a job has failed spectacularly in this economy. Though your... "unique" and reclusive personality doesn't exactly help in that department.
Given some of the junk that's laying around the house you sometimes wonder if you shouldn't try to sell some of it over the Internet to support yourself. Seems like a lot of work though and you're no wheeler and dealer.
Donna suggested that you move in with her and Julie, but that whole scene isn't for you. As much as you hate dealing with Kelly, you'd also hate having to put up with drunk horny guys (and girls) trying to get into your pants every five minutes, not to mention the loud music, crowds and the ever growing possibility of the cops busting the place for illegal drugs.
Which brings you to your boyfriend Bobby Morningstar who naturally has suggested that you move in with him on several occasions. This would be the ideal solution if it weren't for the fact that his own family consists of like a million siblings that all live in his cult compound. There's also the fact that his ex-girlfriend/sister Diana is wicked pissed at you for stealing him away from her.
It's been an ongoing source of tension between you and Bobby and you wish he'd just leave them all behind and you two could make a life together elsewhere, but his duty to family is strong, as is his faith to the Babylonian Goddess of Chaos, Tiamat which still involves human sacrifices.
Right now you're having a period of separation with him. Sometimes you think about breaking up with him completely, but then you can't just dismiss the good times you do have with him. You have that special bond that only a couple could have when one warns the other about their serial killer relative lying in wait for them in the woods. Thank god Bobby took care of your uncle Ed. That had to be the scariest moment of your life dealing with that situation.
Of course none of this delightful recap of past events really helps you. Kelly is starting to get very impatient with you and you fear that your months of stalling are coming to an end.
Kelly's currently not home, but she'll be back in a few hours to get a bit of sleep before heading off to her fight club stuff. Continuing to enjoy the time you have to not have to deal with her you go back to procrastinating, which mainly involves goofing off on the Internet, "stumbling" upon a porn site and then using battery powered means to relieve yourself of stress.
Eventually you hear the familiar slamming of the door and stomping around upstairs, which signifies that Kelly is indeed home.
"SUZY! Stop splittin' the kitten and get yer bony ass up here!" you hear Kelly shout.
You were afraid of this. You clean yourself up a bit, mentally prepare yourself and then head upstairs.
"Hey Kelly... " you start to say, but are interrupted.
"Shut up. I've got exactly a couple hours to get some rest before I have to drag my ass to my other job to support this fucking house and it's a fucking mess! You can't even clean up around here? Did you even look for a job today? Let me guess you spent the whole day fucking around on the Internet and masturbating didn't you?"
"Well uh..."
"Jesus fuckin' Christ Suzy, you're goddamn useless you know that? The only reason I'm not kicking your ass right now is because I need to save my energy and it would be too fucking easy."
Before you can even speak, Kelly continues her rant.
"GET A FUCKING JOB! I don't care what kind! Just be a contributing member of this household like Peter or get the fuck out like Donna!"
"Kelly I'm trying, but I'm just not having any luck in finding anything, can't you help me out?" you say.
"Help you out? I'm helping you out right now by supporting your ass! I've been helping you out for quite some time! In fact I originally suggested that you could probably become a ring girl at the fights, but you said no because you didn't want to dress up in skimpy clothing and parade around in front of a bunch of drunks."
"Kelly, you know I don't want to dress like that in public, especially not after what uncle Ed made me wear that night... "
"Oh here we go, crazy old uncle Ed! How long you going to keep using that as an excuse? Sheesh, the way you go on about it, you act like he raped you. What happened instead? He got killed, you weren't even touched and you got a fucking boyfriend out of that deal! Some of us should be so lucky to be in a fucked up situation and STILL come out ahead! You know what I deal with on a regular basis? Steroid freaks trying to break my fucking neck that's what! You think I'd be making a living trading punches with fucktards if I LOOKED like you Suzy? You got the biggest advantage and you're just wasting it! What the hell is your goddamn problem?"
You can see that Kelly is in full-blown jealousy mode and shows no signs of stopping. Attempting to walk away will only result in her getting physical with you so the only thing you can do is endure the verbal assault.
"This is sink or swim time sis. You either get your shit together by the end of this week or you're out on your ass! This sheltered girl act is really fucking OLD! You're a grown ass WOMAN. Start acting like one! Now get out of my fucking sight."
You meekly slink back to the basement and leave Kelly alone.
You silently mope for a while pondering what the hell you're going to do next. You then notice that your phone has been under your couch cushions and on silent all day. Bobby apparently has been repeatedly trying to contact you. Even left multiple texts saying that he really wants to talk, but the mood you're in right now, you don't want to deal with it.
You don't want to deal with anything. You just want to be safe in your own little world in the basement. How you miss those days...
Well today isn't completely over yet. You've still got time to salvage some of it. Hell, maybe you can even make a major change in your life.
> move in with Donna and Julie
Even if you did manage to find a job, it wouldn't change the fact that you'll still have to put up with Kelly's abuse. She'd just bitch at you for something else. She will always find an excuse.
With that in mind, you realize that your options are limited. You're going to have to move out and go live at the only place available to an unemployed bum like yourself, your friend Julie's house.
Chances are she's either passed out, hung over or in the middle of yet another one of her seemingly never ending parties, so you figure calling her will be useless and call your sister Donna instead (who might only be slightly more available)
Ignoring Bobby's calls, you speed dial Donna and surprisingly she picks up after only a couple of rings. Even more surprisingly you don't hear any music or noise in the background. Must've caught a rare in between party time.
"Hello? Suzy?" Donna asks.
"Yeah, it's me." You answer.
"Hey haven't spoken to you in awhile! How are things? Not too bad I hope?"
"Well... yeah they are kinda. I just got my ass chewed out by Kelly. (Sigh) She's saying I have to find a job by the end of the week or she's throwing me out."
"Yeah sounds like her."
"You know how hard it is for me to find a job. I just don't think it's going to happen by the end of the week and in any case I don't think I can take her abuse any longer. I'm done."
"Well you shouldn't have to put up with her shit. She's a fucking bullying bitch! I mean that's certainly why I left."
"Yeah so I was wondering, could I move in with you and Julie?"
There's a bit of a pause.
"Well... I mean sure you could come here. I wouldn't mind and I mean you know Julie would be fine with it, but I know you're not exactly miss fun and excitement and I think you're aware of how wild things can get over here." Donna says.
"Yeah, but anything is better than continuing to live with Kelly right now, and given how big Julie's home is, I'm sure I can still find a quiet corner to not bother anyone in." you respond.
"Okay, well as long as you don't because a buzz killing party pooper, you're more than welcome to stay here. So are you coming today?"
"I think I need to pack up quite a bit of stuff before doing that. I also have to have some way of transporting the stuff over. I dunno, maybe I can borrow Peter's car or something."
"What about Bobby?"
"Uh, no, I'm still not speaking with him at this time. Besides, he'd probably just try to convince me to live in his compound and I'm just not in the mood to deal."
"Hrm. I certainly understand that. Well, since you said you're going to have to spend a little time packing up your stuff, I can come pick you up tomorrow. I'd do it today, but the vehicle situation isn't ideal right now. Got someone repairing my car right now and Julie's vehicle... well let's say it's going to be even longer before . It was quite the part last Friday."
"I'll bet. Well that sounds like it'll work for me. When will you get here?"
"Oh probably sometime in the afternoon. I'll call before hand."
"Okay, well I guess I'll see you then."
"I'll let Julie know, she'll be pretty excited."
At this point you say goodbye to your sister and you hang up.
You get to packing up as many of your vital things as possible. Really it doesn't take you too long at all. You didn't own too much stuff, and stuff like furniture or a bed is going to be provided at Julie's house though you wonder if you shouldn't move your bed over there if only because the beds over there are probably like petri dishes.
In any event, you spend the rest of your night in the basement, which will probably be your last night ever here. It seems weird and scary, but on another level you are a little excited. Maybe it was time for a change.
Who knows, maybe you'll indulge in a little partying yourself when you get to your new home, hell if anyone deserves to let loose a little its certainly you.
> Next day...
MONDAY
"... act now and Ground Zero will provide a... "
Click.
As you groggily wake up, you're wondering if you should bother even taking your TV with you considering the stations just play Ground Zero commercials half the time.
You look at the time and see that you've slept for most of the morning, but it doesn't matter considering your sister isn't going to pick you up until the afternoon. You just hope that she remembers to come get you period. While your sister isn't as flaky as Julie, she still doesn't have the greatest sense of responsibility.
You also check your phone and see that Bobby's still trying to reach you, but you still don't feel like dealing with him. MAYBE later, right now you want to focus on one major decision at a time and moving out of a place where you've lived your whole life certainly qualifies.
All your stuff is packed and ready to go, and since you can't do much more until your sister gets here, you just wait.
As you continue to wait, you start to get anxious. You start to worry if you're making the right decision or not. You start to pace in your room weighing all the pros and cons of what you're doing.
"Ugh, this is so stressful... I need to calm down... " you say and start unzipping one of your packed bags to get old reliable to relax you.
20 minutes later...
"Hey Suzy?! You down there?" you hear Donna call from upstairs.
"Huh? Uh what?! Yeah! Hold on!" you exclaim and stop your stress relief session.
As you hurry to get dressed, Donna continues to call down to you.
"I called you know, why didn't you answer?"
"Uh, I guess I didn't hear it. Sorry about that. Be up in a minute."
"I thought you were ready. What were you doing? Splittin' the kitten down there?" Donna laughs. You don't answer; you just finish dressing and grab your bags.
When you get upstairs, Donna greets you. She's wearing a shirt that is obviously trying to call attention to her small breasts and pants that are one size too tight to make her ass look like its more filled out, but she's dressed fairly conservative all things considered.
"Were you just taking what's in your bags? Because we could probably put more into the car."
"Nah, I need to get out of here now. I mean maybe later I could get someone to come get my couch or some of my furniture though."
"Okay, but really I don't think you'll need to, Julie's got spare beds and such. Plenty of space you know."
"Yeah I know. Let's get going."
You and Donna leave the house and after throwing your bags in her car you and her are soon on your way.
Along the way Donna puts on some music. She takes mercy on you by not listening to that techno dance crap that you hate so much, but instead listens to the bubble gum pop crap that you hate slightly less.
"So... I found an area of the house where I think you'll be happiest at yesterday." Donna says.
"Oh? Is it the basement?"
"Hah, nah. That's being used for other things. I was thinking of Julie's dad's old office on the far left of the house. I mean Julie never uses it, and besides a few people wandering from the main party to have a quickie in there it's never used anymore."
"Gee, you make it sound so appealing."
"Well it's either that or one of the upstairs bedrooms and I can't promise you won't be disturbed on regular basis there. At least with the office you can lock it and it's far enough away from the usual party grounds."
"I guess it's the best I can hope for, thanks I guess for thinking ahead."
"No problem. You know I'm glad you're coming to live with us. I mean I know you probably don't believe it, but I missed talking with you. Julie's fun and all, but even I get tired from partying ALL the time."
"Well thanks Donna... hey this is like the twelfth police car I've seen pulled over and cops arresting someone." You say looking out the window.
"Yeah, I dunno if you've noticed since you tend to hang out in the basement most of the time, but there's been an increase in crime which also means an increase in the cops using that as an excuse to be assholes... like this. Shit!"
Nothing like talking something into existence. A cop car puts on its siren and a bullhorn tells you to pull over. You briefly worry that your sister isn't going to pull over, but she does. Swearing and sighing the whole time.
Doesn't take long before a policeman approaches the vehicle.
"Alright where are you going in such a hurry?" the cop asks.
"Nowhere. I wasn't even speeding!"
"Is that right honey? Not according to my radar you weren't. Besides, you ignored a stop sign back there. I think you need to step out of the car."
"Are you kidding me? There wasn't a stop sign!"
"Aren't you supposed to ask for her license and registration first?" you add.
The cop suddenly points his finger at the both of you.
"The both of you need to shut the hell up right, before I run you both in for obstruction of justice. Now both of you out of the car now!"
Your sister looks at you like she really wants to just try to turn the car back on and try to drive away, but you both know that wouldn't do any good save for getting yourselves in a whole lot of trouble.
The cop calls over his partner who looks equally uncompromising. He tells him to search you, while he starts searching the car while he puts Donna up against the car and starts patting down Donna.
"Getting a good feel, you bastard?" Donna remarks.
The cop frisking you is slightly better, since you don't get your girl parts molested, but he certainly comes close. He snickers a bit as you tense up from this indignity.
After you and your sister have been frisked. They tell you both to go sit on the curb with your hands locked behind your heads while they search the car.
This is a bad situation anyway since you're obviously dealing with two asshole cops, but who knows what the hell Donna's got in her car which will give them even more of an excuse to march you off to jail.
Speaking of which, Donna whispers to you.
"We need to run."
"What?" you ask in a whisper.
"Those two fuckers are going to find something in the car."
"You're driving with illegal drugs in the car?"
"Not that much, well at least I don't think I am... hell I'm not even sure, but I can't take that chance! We gotta run!"
"And where the hell are we gonna go?"
"I dunno! We could probably still hide at Julie's house."
"You're joking right? That place is probably the first place they'll look! Shit, Donna! I knew I shouldn't have left the goddamn basement today!"
"Look... they're pretty involved in searching right now. If we ran we could probably at least lose them until we came up with a better idea."
You get the impression Donna is going to run no matter what and you can't see how that's going to be a good idea in any way. You're also concerned that if she runs and you stay, these two cops will just pin everything on you (whatever that may be).
Still, if she sees that you're determined to stay, maybe she'll keep to her common sense and won't run too.
> run
It's really not what you want to do, but if Donna does have drugs in her car like she thinks she does, it's going to be bad for you whether Donna runs or not.
You knew you shouldn't have left the basement!
"Alright, alright, let's do this, but I don't think we should run to Julie's house. I just don't see it being a safe haven." You whisper.
"Okay, okay, I know where we could run to and hide out for awhile. Got a friend by the name of Tina, she works over at the strip club."
"Great. Which one?"
"Kitty City, you know where it is?"
"Why the hell would I know where a strip club is?"
"Because we're going to meet up there! If we run, we can't run in the same direction! We'll get caught for sure!"
"We're probably going to get caught anyway!" you say.
Your voices start to catch the attention of the officers.
"Hey! Quiet down the pair of you... HEY! COME BACK HERE!" one of the officers shouts as Donna runs off!
You're so surprised about her deciding that was the time to start running that you don't even get the opportunity to stand up from the curb before one officer is already chasing Donna and the other has already pulled out his pistol and commanded you to stay put.
You meekly put up your hands and lower your head in an attempt to show you have no intention of running.
"I'm not going anywhere. Don't shoot." You say nervously.
The officer sees that you really aren't a threat puts his gun away, pulls you up roughly by the arm from the curb and throws you into the back of the police car before calling in on his radio about Donna being a runner.
While you're breaking down in tears and worrying about the worst, the officer who threw you into the back of the police car finishes searching Donna's car. Eventually the other officer comes back as well looking a little worn out.
After talking a moment, one of them opens the car door.
"Alright, I didn't find anything in the car, so why the hell did your friend run?"
"I... I really don't know... officer... " you say.
"Don't fucking lie to me or this is going to go very badly for you!" the cop warns and its enough to cause you to yelp a little in fear and begin to cry again.
"(sob) My sister... thought you were going to... (sob) find drugs in the car... so she thought it would be better to run. Please I was just driving with her (sob) to find a new place to live! I've never done anything (sob) wrong in my life! I've... "
"Alright, alright, shut the hell up and stop your crying. Shit. (Sigh) Well what do you think?" the officer asks his partner who is still trying to catch his breath.
"Did you call in about the bitch running?"
"Yeah, but I dunno if anyone's going to bother chasing down some junkie whore, since it sounds like everyone's got their hands full especially now that a riot's broke out at the mall. In fact we're supposed to go down there and help."
"Another fucking riot?! What the fuck is going on in this town? Someone put something in the water?"
"Seems like it. So what do we do with this one? I mean she's clean and the car's clean so... "
"(Sigh) I dunno. I could think of a few things, but we probably don't have time for that right now."
The officer that chased Donna looks into the backseat at you. He's being as intimidating as possible and despite him being red in the face and winded it's working.
"All right blondie, this is your lucky day. Due to the rest of this town seemingly losing its goddamn mind right now and the fact that you're clean, we're letting you go. You can take whatever belongings you have in the car, BUT we're still impounding it if only because your junkie sister made me fucking run several blocks trying to catch her ass."
"Got it. And thank you." You say and start to get out of the car.
Both of the officers help you out... but it isn't out of kindness. The pair of them take the opportunity to grope your chest and your ass as you step out of the car.
"Now I suggest you gather your shit, and take your pretty little ass home." One of the cops says with a leering grin while other laughs.
You really aren't in any position to argue, fight or anything else. You hate the fact you just got molested, but you know that if you give them any sort of lip, they're going to do much worse.
You quickly get your bags out of Donna's car and run away from the scene without looking back. When you're far enough a way, you find some place to sit down and reflect on your situation.
You try to think of the positive first and that's namely things could've been a lot worse you. You have no doubt that those cops would've done more than just feel you up had they been in a less generous mood. So you're glad you didn't get jailed, raped or worse.
But then you think about the negative. First off is your sister who fucking LEFT you there. No hint, no "Now!" no clue at all that she was going to choose that particular time to run. Granted you froze up when it came time to run, but she didn't even look back. You don't exactly have the best opinion of her right now putting you in a situation like that.
Second of all you don't have a new place to live now or at least you aren't where you were going to go. As far as you know the offer to live at Julie's is still open, but it would quite the walk to go there now. A walk that you don't particularly want to do given the day you've had, in fact you'd rather just go back home.
Of course the problem with going back home is you can't stay there so you're going to have to go someplace else eventually. Of course maybe Peter would let you borrow his car, but so far your track record with your siblings this weeks hasn't been great.
> walk to Julie's house
You might as well continue to Julie's house. Going back home is just prolonging the inevitable. Also if your sister shows up at Julie's, you'd like to give her a piece of your mind about her just ditching you like that.
Your walk to Julie's slowly starts to become a worrisome endeavor. You see several fights along with a number of other officers arresting folks. You also see a couple of bad car accidents. While you try to avoid large groups of people, you're still in the danger zone of what almost seems like chaos on the streets. Those two asshole cops weren't joking when one of them said it seemed like the entire town had lost its mind.
As you quicken your pace to Julie's in an attempt to get through this madness quicker, a large teenager that's running from something runs right into you while he's turning a corner. The pair of you fall on the sidewalk.
You're a little dazed, but before you can even recover the teenager is upon you.
"You stupid fucking bitch! Gimme yo' shit!" he shouts and punches you in the face and then proceeds to attempt to rip your backpack from you, though he's having a hard time seeing as it's firmly strapped to your back.
The teenager gets frustrated and stops trying to rob you and then just seems to be focused on abusing you. You feel several kicks going into your side and then your face. You plead for him to stop and curl up into a ball, but he's not even listening, it's like he's possessed or something because he actually starts laughing.
"There's that motherfucker!" A voice shouts. You don't see who it is due to you being curled up and having your eyes closed wishing you were elsewhere, but you soon feel the weight of several someones stepping and falling all over you. The pursuers of your assailant have caught up to him and you are now unfortunately being crushed in the resulting dogpile.
You desperately attempt to crawl away feeling the pain of several fists, elbows, knees and feet randomly hitting you in the process. You just want to be home.
You manage to crawl out from under the pile and then scramble away as fast as you can only to stumble on your bruised wobbly legs in the middle of the street. It is then where your luck only gets worse when a speeding truck slams into your body which goes flying a few feet in front of the truck only THEN to be run completely over by the same truck which doesn't stop at all.
Your misery is put to an end under the heavy weight of the truck's tires causing the innards from your mangled body to squeeze out like a tube of toothpaste and painting the street red. |
It's really not what you want to do, but if Donna does have drugs in her car like she thinks she does, it's going to be bad for you whether Donna runs or not.
You knew you shouldn't have left the basement!
"Alright, alright, let's do this, but I don't think we should run to Julie's house. I just don't see it being a safe haven." You whisper.
"Okay, okay, I know where we could run to and hide out for awhile. Got a friend by the name of Tina, she works over at the strip club."
"Great. Which one?"
"Kitty City, you know where it is?"
"Why the hell would I know where a strip club is?"
"Because we're going to meet up there! If we run, we can't run in the same direction! We'll get caught for sure!"
"We're probably going to get caught anyway!" you say.
Your voices start to catch the attention of the officers.
"Hey! Quiet down the pair of you... HEY! COME BACK HERE!" one of the officers shouts as Donna runs off!
You're so surprised about her deciding that was the time to start running that you don't even get the opportunity to stand up from the curb before one officer is already chasing Donna and the other has already pulled out his pistol and commanded you to stay put.
You meekly put up your hands and lower your head in an attempt to show you have no intention of running.
"I'm not going anywhere. Don't shoot." You say nervously.
The officer sees that you really aren't a threat puts his gun away, pulls you up roughly by the arm from the curb and throws you into the back of the police car before calling in on his radio about Donna being a runner.
While you're breaking down in tears and worrying about the worst, the officer who threw you into the back of the police car finishes searching Donna's car. Eventually the other officer comes back as well looking a little worn out.
After talking a moment, one of them opens the car door.
"Alright, I didn't find anything in the car, so why the hell did your friend run?"
"I... I really don't know... officer... " you say.
"Don't fucking lie to me or this is going to go very badly for you!" the cop warns and its enough to cause you to yelp a little in fear and begin to cry again.
"(sob) My sister... thought you were going to... (sob) find drugs in the car... so she thought it would be better to run. Please I was just driving with her (sob) to find a new place to live! I've never done anything (sob) wrong in my life! I've... "
"Alright, alright, shut the hell up and stop your crying. Shit. (Sigh) Well what do you think?" the officer asks his partner who is still trying to catch his breath.
"Did you call in about the bitch running?"
"Yeah, but I dunno if anyone's going to bother chasing down some junkie whore, since it sounds like everyone's got their hands full especially now that a riot's broke out at the mall. In fact we're supposed to go down there and help."
"Another fucking riot?! What the fuck is going on in this town? Someone put something in the water?"
"Seems like it. So what do we do with this one? I mean she's clean and the car's clean so... "
"(Sigh) I dunno. I could think of a few things, but we probably don't have time for that right now."
The officer that chased Donna looks into the backseat at you. He's being as intimidating as possible and despite him being red in the face and winded it's working.
"All right blondie, this is your lucky day. Due to the rest of this town seemingly losing its goddamn mind right now and the fact that you're clean, we're letting you go. You can take whatever belongings you have in the car, BUT we're still impounding it if only because your junkie sister made me fucking run several blocks trying to catch her ass."
"Got it. And thank you." You say and start to get out of the car.
Both of the officers help you out... but it isn't out of kindness. The pair of them take the opportunity to grope your chest and your ass as you step out of the car.
"Now I suggest you gather your shit, and take your pretty little ass home." One of the cops says with a leering grin while other laughs.
You really aren't in any position to argue, fight or anything else. You hate the fact you just got molested, but you know that if you give them any sort of lip, they're going to do much worse.
You quickly get your bags out of Donna's car and run away from the scene without looking back. When you're far enough a way, you find some place to sit down and reflect on your situation.
You try to think of the positive first and that's namely things could've been a lot worse you. You have no doubt that those cops would've done more than just feel you up had they been in a less generous mood. So you're glad you didn't get jailed, raped or worse.
But then you think about the negative. First off is your sister who fucking LEFT you there. No hint, no "Now!" no clue at all that she was going to choose that particular time to run. Granted you froze up when it came time to run, but she didn't even look back. You don't exactly have the best opinion of her right now putting you in a situation like that.
Second of all you don't have a new place to live now or at least you aren't where you were going to go. As far as you know the offer to live at Julie's is still open, but it would quite the walk to go there now. A walk that you don't particularly want to do given the day you've had, in fact you'd rather just go back home.
Of course the problem with going back home is you can't stay there so you're going to have to go someplace else eventually. Of course maybe Peter would let you borrow his car, but so far your track record with your siblings this weeks hasn't been great.
> walk home
Really after the day you've had so far, all you want to do is go home and hide out in your basement, so back home it is.
Your walk home isn't entirely uneventful. You see several fights along with a number of other officers arresting folks. You also see a couple of bad car accidents. While you try to avoid large groups of people, you still are paranoid about someone to try to rob you or accost you in some way, but fortunately you manage to keep your head down and look as unassuming as possible.
It isn't quite chaos on the streets, but those two asshole cops weren't joking when one of them said it seemed like the entire town had lost its mind.
By the time you get back to your own neighborhood, it's starting to get dark, though your area is actually rather quiet compared to most places you passed through. You just hope Kelly isn't home because you don't really feel like dealing with her right now.
When you get home, you see Peter's car in the driveway. Kelly's vehicle isn't here though, so it looks like you won't have to put up with her and that's at least one good thing that's happened to you today. (Besides the not getting raped part)
Upon entering the house, it's in same condition as it was when you left, though now you're hearing a lot of grunting and sounds of ecstasy coming from the garage connected to the house. You imagine Peter is in the process of filming one of his shows again.
Not wishing to hear your brother squeal like a pig as he gets fucked for the pleasure of his viewing Internet public, you waste no time in heading down into the basement and settling back into your usual routine in your room.
You know this isn't going to be permanent, but for now at least you can not worry about the pandemonium that's going on outside. You just wish the TV wasn't playing so many Ground Zero infomercials.
Hours pass as they do and just as you're getting ready to fall asleep, you suddenly get a phone call. It's Donna. You almost don't even bother answering, but you're curious to see if she's calling from jail and if she's delusional enough to think you'll actually bail her out.
"Hey sis, where you at?!" Donna asks. Sounds like music in the background so she must not be in jail.
"I'm at home, no thanks to you just ditching me like that!" you say.
"You said you were going to run, like I was! Didn't you do it?"
"No, because by the time you took off without at least giving me a signal, one of those assholes was ready to shoot me. So I had to suffer through getting threatened, thrown in the back of a police car and groped a lot more severely than the first time they patted us down."
"Oh geez... they didn't...um... "
"No, they didn't do that. Though I suspect if that had happened I wouldn't even be alive to talk to you right now. Your car didn't have any drugs in it by the way, but they have impounded it and I'm pretty sure they still have you on a watchlist or something for evading arrest."
"Shit. Figured something like that might happen."
"Hm, Yeah and I'm an idiot for nearly going along with your plan, but hey I guess everything went okay for you, I hear the party music in the back so I'm guessing you're whoring it up with Julie so I'll let you go so you can have your fun."
"Hold on Suzy. First of all I'm not at Julie's. I'm at Kitty City like I said I would be. Second, I can't even get a hold of Julie. She's not answering her phone. Now of course she could just be busy, but if I got some sort of warrant out on me, then maybe going back there isn't the best idea right now. I'm thinking maybe I should stay with my friend Tina instead. She's a stripper that's entertained at some of Julie's parties in the past. She's got room since she kicked her boyfriend out of her trailer."
"Uh huh, well that's great for you. Glad to see you've once again landed on your feet despite evading arrest. Goodbye."
"Suzy, wai... "
You hang up. You half expect Donna to call again, but she doesn't which you're glad because you've run out of patience with her for the day.
You settle down for the night and get some sleep, trying to put this horrible day behind you.
> Next day...
TUESDAY
"... if you act now you'll get a free... "
You groggily grab the remote to shut off the incessant noise of the Ground Zero commercial on the TV screen.
You grab your phone to check the time and see that once again you've slept through the morning as usual. You also see that Bobby tried to call you, but you're still not in the mood to call him back. Though if you don't secure a place to live you might not have a choice. Still as far as you know the offer to live at Julie's is still good, you're just not sure about how well that's going to go over now.
While you're trying to ponder your next move, you get a call. It's Donna again. Might as well get this over with.
"Donna, this better be good, because you're not exactly my favorite person right now." You say answering the phone.
"Whoa! Hold on Suzy! Don't hang up!" Donna exclaims.
"Say what you got to say."
"Okay, look first of all I'm sorry about what you had to go through. I know that had to suck for you. I shouldn't have convinced you to run anyway. It's obvious now that was a stupid plan in the first place since I didn't even have anything in the car. (Sigh) Last night when I was sleeping on a beer soaked couch in a trailer hiding out from the cops I sort of had a revelation of how my choices in life had lead me to that point. I also sort of realized that if I probably continue on this path it's only going to get worse."
That's rather philosophical of your sister, and it's enough to keep your attention.
"So I've decided that I need to do something with my life and make it better, so I got a job." Donna says.
"A job? How the hell did you get a job so quick? Doing what?" you ask.
"I'm going to be a stripper at Kitty City! The owner was offering me a job yesterday and I already was getting tips from guys who mistook me for one of the strippers here anyway. So I figured why not? In fact I'm on break right now."
Why are you not surprised?
Donna continues before you can even speak again.
"Now before you judge, starting a new life takes money and let's face it, I don't have exactly many useful skills that are going to earn me a lot of cash in a quick amount of time. I figure I can earn enough to save and figure things out as I go."
"Hm, well that's great and all, but why are you telling me all this?" you ask.
"Because this is my new start and like I said I feel bad about convincing you to go along with my plan yesterday. Besides, don't you still need a place to stay? You can come live with me!"
"I thought I was already going to do that by moving in to Julie's."
"Nah, I'm not going back to Julie's. Too much temptation to go back to my old ways there. I'm moving into one of the trailers at the trailer park."
"Wait. You just started working as a stripper. How the hell did you manage to get a trailer already?"
"I secured one after... um talking with the park owner this morning. Look, that's not really important right now. What is important is I got a deal on a fairly good one and it's big enough for two of us. It might be a little rough going at first, but I anticipate after a few weeks of teasing these degenerates here, we'll be living fairly comfortably, if not in the lap of luxury."
"I dunno. While I'm still pissed about yesterday, it does mean a lot that you're making this pretty generous offer. I don't know about living in a trailer park though. I mean aren't you worried about the kind of people there? In fact I can imagine a lot of the type that Kelly associates with come from there, do you really think its safe?"
"Safe as opposed to what? Growing up in our household? We had a fucking paranoid psychotic older brother, a sadistic bullying older sister and at one point a goddamn SERIAL KILLER uncle living in our house. At least the hostile rednecks around here won't be living under our roof! Besides, it really isn't as bad as you hear."
You find that a little hard to believe considering you've heard more than enough stories about the trailer park outside of town. Donna might not think its bad, just because she was living there overnight.
"I just don't know Donna. I mean I wasn't exactly looking forward to dealing with the non-stop partying at Julie's, but I'd at least feel a little safer there than I would at the trailer park."
"Huh, don't be so sure of that. Julie pretty much has gotten to the point where she has an open door policy to let any creepy weirdo that walks in off the street in the house. It's actually amazing someone like Uncle Ed hasn't come in and killed us all. Are you heading over there sometime today?"
"Well if I can secure a ride over there I will."
"Okay, well if you do get over there could you let Julie know that I'm moving out? She's still not answering her phone. I'm going to have to make arrangements to get my bigger things, but maybe you could help me get some of my smaller items when I get over there tonight?"
"Well, I suppose I could." You say.
"Great. I knew I could count on your Suzy. (Sigh) You really are the good one in the family sis. It's so unfair that life hasn't been better to you. Once again I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. It's nearly time for me to go out there and shake my ass again so I gotta go. Just... think about what I said okay? If you change your mind about your future living arrangements just come with Tina and me when we go over to Julie's tonight, or I guess if you're really feeling adventurous you could always go over to the trailer park yourself. Just go to the owner's trailer with the big signs around it and mention my name and he'll let you in my new place. He's sort of letch, but he's old so he mostly confines it staring and making the occasional comment. Don't worry about it."
After another sincere apology about yesterday, Donna finally hangs up leaving you now with a new option.
Donna seems to be genuinely trying to change her life in her own way. You almost can't believe it was Donna on the phone at all. Maybe some sort of pod person replaced her.
She also seems to be really making an effort to make things up to you, which is surprising as well. It's always a rarity in your family when you actually try to help each other out.
Still, you're not sure about this whole living in a trailer park business for several reasons, but you suppose you could give it a little thought at least. In any case, you need to get a ride to wherever it is you're going to be heading to and that means seeing if your brother Peter is going to be just as accommodating as your sister currently is.
You head upstairs and knock on the door to the garage.
"Hey, um Peter? You busy?"
You don't get an answer right away, but eventually you do after more knocking.
"Yeah, yeah, hold on!" Peter says before answering the door. He's only peaking his head out, so it's very likely he's naked.
"Um, sorry to interrupt whatever it is you're doing, but I need a ride to my new place."
"I thought you moved out yesterday."
"Yeah, there was a slight hiccup in the plan yesterday. Anyway, can you give me a ride over to my new place?"
"(Sigh) I'm kinda in the middle of recording something. I'm assuming you're going to Julie's?"
"Yeah... I think." You say.
"You think? You don't know if you're going to live over at Julie's place or not?"
"Well... Donna got a new place of her own and I'm still not sure if I should just move in with her yet."
"Donna got a new... look you know what? I don't give a shit about any of this." Peter says and then closes the door.
You think that's the end of it, but he opens it up again, but this time only his hand with some keys in it are coming out.
"I'm not your personal taxi service. Here, take my car and return it tomorrow or at least by Thursday. Now don't disturb me again!"
You take the keys and Peter slams the door. This is probably the most helpful he's been in... well ever.
You go back and repack some of your bags and drag them to Peter's car. After loading everything up in the backseat you pull out of the drive way and wonder which way you should go.
> drive to Julie's house
While you haven't quite ruled out the possibility of living with Donna, you don't think you're quite ready to go driving over there yourself and putting up with some old guy perving on you today. If you do decide to go over there, you'll do it later tonight.
Besides, you want to see just how bad it might be over at Julie's before making a decision.
A few minutes of driving to your destination and you're sure of one thing being pretty bad, the roads! Once again there are cops everywhere, but also ambulances and fire trucks racing to their various destinations too. You nearly turn around and head back home, but eventually you make it to Julie's neighborhood, which is thankfully not in the midst of anarchy.
You pull up to the driveway and get out of the car. You figure you'll assess the situation before making a decision of whether you're going to stay or not.
You sort of expected to see a few people drinking on the porch or at least hearing loud music as you walk up to the door, but so far it doesn't sound like any sort of party going on or at least not an overly rowdy one, which is odd considering how people have been acting in this town for the past few days.
You knock on the door, but get no immediate answer. After a few more bangs you finally get an answer, but it isn't Julie.
"Hello." A man says in a flat tone and almost seems to be studying you. He looks like he might be around your age, but he doesn't look like the sort that would be at one of Julie's parties. He's very "ordinary" looking.
"Hey. Where's Julie at?" you ask.
"Julie? Oh yes, the owner of this house. Well, I don't really know. I remember seeing her yesterday, but then she left with some guy and I haven't seen her since. Of course this being her house she has to return sometime right? Would you like to wait?" the man asks opening the door further to invite you in.
Something about this guy feels a little "off" to you.
"Wait, who are you?" you ask.
"Oh I'm sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Johnny. I was at Julie's party yesterday. Guess you could say I got a little tipsy and decided I shouldn't go home in that condition, so I flopped out in the basement. I'm not the only person who did that apparently considering some of Julie's other guests are still here as well."
You peer inside and see that Johnny is indeed speaking the truth. A couple of people are on the couch playing some sort of video game.
"So now that you know who I am, I have to ask who you are." Johnny says.
"I'm Suzy and I'm Julie's friend." You say.
"I see, well come on in, I'm sure when Julie gets back she'll be pleased to see you."
You enter the house and the place is in a lot better condition than you would've thought for a party house. Johnny quickly closes the door and locks it. Causing you to immediately look back.
"You never can tell what weirdo will show up with unlocked doors and all, right?" he says.
"Indeed." You say still getting an uneasy feeling about this guy.
"So, you're one of Julie's friends. Guess you're a real party girl, just like she is huh?" Johnny remarks almost in an accusing fashion.
"Hardly. Are these all the people in the house?" you ask, pointing to the stoners playing video games and completely ignoring you and Johnny.
"Yeah, I mean there were some other people here earlier, but these lot are all that's left, beside myself. Julie's pretty cool about letting people just crash here even if she's not around."
With Johnny creepily hovering near you and the stoners babbling about inane shit, you already realize that this is not going to work for you.
"Alright, everyone get out." You say, but the only one who even hears you is Johnny.
"What?" Johnny asks.
"Look I hate to be rude, and you probably didn't know this, but I'm moving in here. Now when Julie is here, she can have all her little drug addled party friends over as much as she likes, I mean its her house after all. But I'm not going to put up with them while she isn't here! So I want everyone out, you all can come back later when she's here. Whenever that is."
Johnny's still the only one who is even paying attention and his facial expression on your stance hasn't changed.
"But if it's Julie's house doesn't she have final say in what goes?" Johnny asks.
"Yeah, well when I see Julie, I'm going to have a little discussion with her about our new living arrangements." You remark.
Once again Johnny just stares at you, it almost feels like he's staring through you. It makes you uncomfortable to say the least.
"All right. You've got a point. I wouldn't want a bunch of strangers just wandering around in my home either. I'll get out of your hair, as for these guys, I can get 'em to go." Johnny says and then suddenly shouts at the stoners that everyone has to get out of the house and starts ripping controllers out of their hands.
"Hey!"
"Not cool dude!"
"You dick!"
"Sorry guys, but as the old saying goes, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. Come on, let's move it." Johnny says and eventually the stoners grudgingly shuffle off to leave. Johnny follows behind them.
"When you see Julie, tell her it was an excellent party last night." Johnny says and flashes a brief smile, which comes off more creepy than friendly. You don't even reply, you just shut the door and lock it, glad to be rid of everyone.
Remembering that your sister said that if you did live here, you'd be sleeping in Julie's dad's old office. You explore that room first. When you get there it looks pretty much like the same office you remember being in a few times when you played over here. It's definitely convenient that it has a small private bathroom leading from it as well as a couch that apparently folds out into a bed.
After assessing your possible new digs, you decide to go retrieve your bags from the car. You unpack your bags and haul them into the house and head on into your new room.
After getting a little bit settled, you figure since you're all alone in the house, you might as well do something that usually puts you in a better mood. (and you sure could use it)
While you're in the middle of it, you suddenly think you hear something. You call out thinking that maybe Julie is finally home, but when you get no reply, you just check to make sure the door to your room is locked. If Julie does come home, you don't want her suddenly walking in on you.
After getting back in the mood and taking care of your needs you wash up a bit and return to your usual routine of... well doing nothing at all.
Hours pass and eventually you start to get hungry so you head to the kitchen in the hopes of finding food. You manage to find a few bags of junk food and some unopened drink in the fridge. Once again while you're doing this, you swear you think you hear noise. You call out again to see if anyone is here, but there is no answer.
Given that it's now nighttime you're a little on edge. You know its probably just the house making creaking sounds, but with all the bullshit that's been going on out in the streets lately you're just a little paranoid.
Just as you're heading back to your room, the front door suddenly opens! It's Donna and some other young woman who looks a bit on the trashy side.
"Shit! You scared me." You say.
"Why didn't you pick up your phone? I tried calling you before I got over here." Donna asks.
"I... I guess I had it on vibrate and didn't hear it." You say.
"Hm. Well I see this place is practically a tomb. I take it Julie isn't home?"
"Nope, I haven't heard from her either."
"That's really odd... "
Suddenly the trashy young woman speaks up.
"Hey Donna are we picking your shit up or what? You know how fucked up it is out there right now and I'd like to get home before it gets worse."
"Oh yeah, better get to it. Suzy, this is my friend Tina." Donna says and heads upstairs.
"Hello." You say to Tina, but she just grunts at you and heads back outside to her car.
Remembering that Donna wanted you to help her move some of the stuff, you head upstairs to her room.
"Your friend Tina isn't very friendly." You ask.
"Yeah, well if you were a horny guy with a hundred dollar bill, she'd be really friendly towards you. Anyway, she's always been cool with me ever since I've known her, plus she helped me get the current job I have." Donna says as she packs away items.
"You need anything for me to carry down?"
"Yeah, but not yet. Really I'm thinking I'll get most of this stuff later when I have a day off. Right now I just want to get the hell out of this town, it's getting nuts out there!"
"Yeah, it was pretty chaotic out there earlier on my drive here. So how was your first day?"
"Not bad. As strange as it may seem, it actually was calmer in the club than it was outside. Though having bouncers helps in that area I suppose. Still a couple of fights did break out."
"Shit. You okay? Are you sure the job is safe?"
"Oh I'm safe. Like I said, there's good protection there. Honestly I'm more concerned with the drive TO the club, but I imagine whatever is going on will die down eventually."
"Hope so."
Donna finishes packing a bag and starts to pack a new one and you stand there silent until you hear a noise from downstairs causing you to jump a bit.
"Are you okay?" Donna asks.
"Yeah, what the hell's that noise?" you ask, briefly stepping out of Donna's room to look over into the living room.
"Probably Tina."
"No, she's not down there and besides she went back to wait in the car."
"Well maybe she wandered back in briefly... you seem a little stressed."
"I dunno. The shit's that's been going on in town and I guess being alone in the house at night has got me a little jumpy. Sort of concerned that Julie hasn't come back either."
"Mmm, well that IS odd. I tried calling her again earlier too with no luck. Have you thought anymore about coming to live with me? I told you it would be fine and I know you think the trailer park isn't safe environment, is this town really any safer right now?"
> go with Donna
While you're still not entirely sure about the trailer park, you have to admit the since you've been here in the house you've felt a little nervous at times. Almost like you feel someone is watching you. Silly of course, but maybe leaving town is a good idea if it's getting as chaotic as it has been.
You just hope you're making the right decision.
"Yeah, okay. I'll come with you." You say.
"You will? Great! Seriously, things will be better between us. I'm still really sorry about yesterday Suzy, here." Donna says and hands you a bunch of money.
"What's this?"
"It's some of what I made today. Oh don't worry, I still got a lot. I'm telling you with the money I'm making, we might even be able to find some place better to live in a few months! Okay, well I think I'm all packed, go grab your stuff and meet me in Tina's car. Oh wait, I saw Peter's car out there. Are you going to follow us in that instead?"
"I suppose so, it will probably be less cramped." You say and head downstairs to your room while Donna follows and heads out the door.
It doesn't really take you long to throw your stuff in your bags since you didn't really unpack that much. Just as you're loaded up, you once again feel like you're being watched. You spin around and see nothing.
"You're giving yourself the creeps Suzy. Nobody's here." You mumble.
Just as you are exiting your room, it's a minor miracle that Donna comes back in through the front door.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" you hear her scream from the living room. This causes you to pause just long enough that the assailant who was going to ambush you when you left your room losses his advantage.
However, he's still intent on killing you though and nearly succeeds in grabbing you, but you manage to back away in time.
As you back away you get a good look at him now and he's not unfamiliar to you. It's Johnny, but this time his face displays an utter hatred towards you.
"Fucking whore! You think you could get away? I heard what you did in here earlier! I got something I can shove up in there to make you feel like you've never felt before and never will again!" Johnny screams and swing his knife at you.
You continue to back away, but there isn't much room so you go around the desk for temporary relief, but even if you make it into the bathroom and lock the door you'll just be trapped in there.
You're so busy trying to survive, you completely forget that Donna is still in the house, but you soon remember when she runs in the room and clobbers Johnny in the back of the head with a small lamp.
"Fuck... shit... " Johnny says crumpling to the floor. He's not dead, but Donna's too busy calling to you to run to finish him off.
"Suzy! Come on! Get out of there!" Donna shouts and you waste no time in doing so.
Just as Johnny struggles to get back up, Donna throws the lamp at his head and follows you.
In all the excitement you forgot if you have Peter's keys, but Donna just shouts at you to get into Tina's car as you exit the house.
As you both pile into the car, Tina is more than a little surprised.
"What the fuck? Why are you two... "
"Just drive! Drive! Drive!" Donna shouts.
You're squashed a bit in the backseat with all the bags and panting heavily, but you're glad you got out of there. Thought you're understandably still shaken up.
"We need to tell the cops!" you shout.
"Tell them what? Have you seen this town Suzy? You think we're going to get any help? Shit, I probably still got a warrant out on me!" Donna says.
Meanwhile Tina is getting annoyed about being out of the loop.
"Will one of you bitches tell me what the fuck is going on?! I mean this is my car and I'd like to know if we're planning on getting shot at!" Tina snaps.
"We're fine. Well not fine, but nobody's shooting at anyone. Some nut case with a knife was in the house and tried to kill my sister." Donna replies.
"And you didn't kill him?"
"No, I mean maybe. Shit, I dunno. I smacked him in the head twice with a lamp, but I don't think I killed him." Donna says.
"(Sigh) You should've finished him off. I would have." Tina says.
"Tina, I'm not in the mood right now okay?!" Donna shouts.
"Fine. Fine. I'm just saying you better watch yourself in the future. Anyway, I need to focus on getting us through this bullshit going on in town, because we could still be getting shot at."
The rest of the drive is in relative silence, broken up periodically by Tina swearing at the road situation and your sister asking if you're okay since you're so quiet.
Your quietness is due to still being shaken up by what just occurred and also because you just don't have anything to say at the moment and are just hoping you get to where you have to get to in peace and in one piece.
After a long drive, you eventually reach the trailer park. You look out the window at the various rundown trailers in the darkness and think "So this is what my life has come to."
Finally you stop at one towards the further end of the park close to undeveloped land and just regular wilderness. One thing you sort of were expecting was the drunken revelry of several hillbillies, and while you did see a few sitting around with some bottles in hand, it's actually pretty quiet.
"This is your place right Donna?" Tina asks.
"Yeah, thanks Tina."
"Hm, well just be ready to go in the afternoon tomorrow. I'm not waiting around for you." Tina replies.
As the pair of you get out and unload your bags from the car, Tina studies you a bit.
"Y'know blondie, you're not bad lookin'. If you ever loosen up a bit, you could easily get a job at Kitty City too. I think the school girl look would work for ya pretty well. You kinda got that innocent look."
"Yeah I don't think so." You say.
"Hm, suit yerself. I'm just tryin' to help YOU out. Whatever." Tina remarks and backs the car up and swings it around to head back to her own trailer.
"I still don't like her." You say.
"Heh, well I'm not surprised. Come on, let's get inside. I'll give you the grand tour."
Naturally being a trailer, the "grand tour" doesn't take long. Donna tried to make the place sound better than it is, but it's better than you thought it would be, so it's not awful. She points out the couch which will have to do for your sleeping accommodations.
"Well Suzy, I know this is kind of a weird way to end the night given all that went down, but I'm really tired and I need to get some sleep, but before I do, did you need to talk about what happened?" Donna says.
"Probably, but what good would it really do? I mean I'm starting to wonder if I'm a magnet for serial killers at this point. Uncle Ed, my ex, this asshole we just barely got away from... Oh shit! Julie!" you suddenly say thinking about the grim implications of what might've happened to her.
Donna's face drops a bit too.
"Fuck. You said you haven't been able to get a hold of her at all?" Donna asks.
"No. Shit, that sick fuck probably killed her!" you exclaim.
"Now we don't know for certain. She could be... "
"I KNOW for certain. That creepy fucker told me a story involving her leaving the house when I met him earlier today. He probably lied and actually killed her. Oh fuck this is bad. I mean I know I grew apart from Julie... but goddamn it... " you say getting a little teary eyed.
Donna tries to console you, but she's starting to get upset too. Really you haven't seen her get sad for quite some time. Your sadness over the very likely loss of your friend is almost like a bonding experience. In between the tears you thank Donna for saving your life.
"(Sniffle) Hey, you might've saved mine had you not called me to move out in the first place. I mean without you, I might've been very partying with that sicko and he could've killed me as well as Julie. (deep breath) Okay, tomorrow you come with me. I'll try to convince Tina to drop you off at the police station. Hopefully you can make a report or something and we can at least get those corrupt fucks to look into it. Assuming things have settled down in town that is."
"Things have been really fucked up lately."
"Yeah, I dunno Suzy. I don't place much stock in end times bullshit, but I guess those Ground Zero commercials they're constantly blasting on the radio is starting to make me think something big is going to go down, though maybe it is already."
"Seems like it with the way my luck is going." You say.
"Hey, don't worry sis. We're going to get through this, no matter what comes our way. You and me. This is a brand new start for us, remember?"
This uncommon optimism does make you smile a bit at the fact you don't have to deal with all this yourself.
"Okay, Donna. (Yawn) I guess I better get some sleep. It'll be a big day if I'm to make a report tomorrow. Thanks again for saving me, I'm never going to forget it."
"Hey, like I said, you probably saved mine as well. Good night Suzy."
"Night Donna."
Donna heads off to her bed and you eventually fall asleep on the couch.
> Next day...
WEDNESDAY
"... act now and spend your life in the comfort of... "
"Oh shut the hell up... I already know the world is going to hell in a hand basket." You hear Donna say while she turns off the TV as you groggily wake up from the couch.
"What time is it?" you ask.
"It's past noon that's for sure. Still a few hours to go before we have to get ready to leave."
"Oh. How long you been awake?"
"Hm, not long. The shower's all yours though, I've already used it."
You sit up still getting used to your new surroundings
"Hm, you were right, it really isn't what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting to hear the sounds of drunken hillbillies arguing and shooting off guns when I woke up. It's actually pretty quiet." You say gathering so clean clothes.
"Heh, well I can't say that probably won't happen around the holidays, but like I said, I think you'll find that even the trashiest of people aren't acting like stereotypes all the time." Donna replies.
You nod and head off to take a shower. While you wash up, you try to mentally prepare yourself for your trip to the police station today. Part of that involves relaxing yourself and relieving yourself of tension in the usual way that hasn't failed you yet...
A few minutes later...
"SUZY! SUZY! GET DRESSED WE GOT A FUCKING SITUATION OUT HERE!" you suddenly hear Donna say as she beats on the bathroom door.
As startling as that is, what you hear next is even more so due to a loud bullhorn.
"THIS IS THE NATIONAL GUARD. THIS AREA IS NOW UNDER MARTIAL LAW! ALL INHABITANTS WILL EXIT THEIR TRAILERS AND AMASS IN THE CENTER FOR OBSERVATION! ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO RUN OR RESISTING WILL BE SHOT!"
So much for putting your mind at ease.
"Alright! Alright! I hear what's going on! I'm getting out!" you shout.
"Hurry!" Donna says.
You stop your shower, grab your clean clothes and start getting dressed as quickly as possible.
Tina is looking out one of the windows when you exit the bathroom.
"There are a couple of military trucks with a bunch of guardsmen out there. I don't know what's going on, but this is really bad. Shit. This has gotta have something to do with what's been going on in town." Donna says.
"They want us to go out there too." You say not being enthusiastic about that idea.
"Yeah, fuck that. It's probably just so they can kill us easier if we're all huddled up in a group or worse, maybe they want to round us up in those trucks for some sinister purpose."
Odd that Donna always thought your older brother was a kook for talking like that on regular basis, but she sounds more like him than ever right now. To be fair though, this is all pretty strange and you're not exactly trusting of the situation yourself.
"Well what are other people doing?"
"Some are coming out and some are staying in. In fact more are staying in than coming out, but that's hardly surprising. The folks around here aren't exactly fond of the government."
"EVERYONE OUT OF THEIR TRAILERS NOW! THIS IS NOT A CHOICE, IT'S A FUCKING ORDER!"
You and Donna look at each other.
"This isn't going to end well. Maybe we should run." Donna suggests and you nearly laugh.
"Yeah, because the plan to run worked SO well for me last time!" you say.
"Okay this is different, we really would be running off together. Come on, do you really think those soldiers out there are any better than those cops that pulled us over? In fact they sound worse!"
"Well you got a point there, (sigh) okay so what's the plan? We just step out the trailer and run? They already said they're going to open fire on anyone who does that." You say.
"Yeah, but we're lucky since we have a trailer at the end of the park. We could probably make a run for it and hide in the wilderness behind the park."
"That simple huh? How long are we supposed to hide out there? I don't know how to survive in the wild and unless you been secretly reading up such things, I don't think you do either."
"Well I don't fucking know! I'm just trying to come up with suggestions here! Fuck Suzy, I'm trying to help YOU out as usual."
"Thanks. Thanks for that Donna. Real helpful right now."
"EVERYONE EXIT THEIR TRAILERS RIGHT FUCKING NOW! THIS IS YOUR LAST FUCKING WARNING OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE AND THESE RUN DOWN PIECES OF SHIT WILL BE YOUR GODDAMN COFFINS!"
You look out the window briefly and see the few people that have exited their trailers are being shoved roughly in the center of the park. Some of the guardsmen stand nearby pointing their rifles at them, but nothing more yet.
A few more of the guardsmen are starting to spread out and move about the park. It looks like they're preparing for combat.
And then suddenly you see one of the locals kick their door open and yell something at the top of their lungs while blasting one of the soldiers with a shotgun before getting riddled with bullets.
Then all hell breaks loose.
"Get down!" you shout and you and Donna are both getting as low as you can on the floor. Gunfire, shouting and screaming is all you can hear and you're praying that a stray doesn't go through the wall and hit you.
Donna apparently has the same idea.
"Suzy, we gotta get the fuck outta here!"
"Donna we go out that front door and we risk an even bigger chance of getting our asses shot off! We need to just stay low and behind as much shit as possible! Maybe your bedroom or the shower in the bathroom would be... "
A couple of bullets go through the windows overhead and small shards of glass sprinkle to the floor.
"That's it, I'm not fucking staying here!" Donna yells and starts to crawl to the door of the trailer.
> run with her
While it didn't work out the first time, there really isn't any reason to not hesitate to run now. The soldiers are obviously out of control and it's possible they'll just line you up and start shooting you. You stand up from your crouching position and run over to the trailer door.
"Suzy, what the hell, keep the fuck down! They're still firing out there!" Donna exclaims as you step over her.
"Donna, you're the one who said you wanted to get out of here quickly, well we can't waste time! Now get up and let's go!" you shout and grab the door handle.
You open the door, which to your surprise reveals a soldier who was just about to open the door. Startling the soldier, he loses balance backwards a bit, but he doesn't lose his trained instinct to defend himself unfortunately for you.
The guardsman fires and you take several bullets to your body. You're dead before you even hit the floor of the trailer as your sister screams at this sight. |
WEDNESDAY
"... act now and spend your life in the comfort of... "
"Oh shut the hell up... I already know the world is going to hell in a hand basket." You hear Donna say while she turns off the TV as you groggily wake up from the couch.
"What time is it?" you ask.
"It's past noon that's for sure. Still a few hours to go before we have to get ready to leave."
"Oh. How long you been awake?"
"Hm, not long. The shower's all yours though, I've already used it."
You sit up still getting used to your new surroundings
"Hm, you were right, it really isn't what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting to hear the sounds of drunken hillbillies arguing and shooting off guns when I woke up. It's actually pretty quiet." You say gathering so clean clothes.
"Heh, well I can't say that probably won't happen around the holidays, but like I said, I think you'll find that even the trashiest of people aren't acting like stereotypes all the time." Donna replies.
You nod and head off to take a shower. While you wash up, you try to mentally prepare yourself for your trip to the police station today. Part of that involves relaxing yourself and relieving yourself of tension in the usual way that hasn't failed you yet...
A few minutes later...
"SUZY! SUZY! GET DRESSED WE GOT A FUCKING SITUATION OUT HERE!" you suddenly hear Donna say as she beats on the bathroom door.
As startling as that is, what you hear next is even more so due to a loud bullhorn.
"THIS IS THE NATIONAL GUARD. THIS AREA IS NOW UNDER MARTIAL LAW! ALL INHABITANTS WILL EXIT THEIR TRAILERS AND AMASS IN THE CENTER FOR OBSERVATION! ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO RUN OR RESISTING WILL BE SHOT!"
So much for putting your mind at ease.
"Alright! Alright! I hear what's going on! I'm getting out!" you shout.
"Hurry!" Donna says.
You stop your shower, grab your clean clothes and start getting dressed as quickly as possible.
Tina is looking out one of the windows when you exit the bathroom.
"There are a couple of military trucks with a bunch of guardsmen out there. I don't know what's going on, but this is really bad. Shit. This has gotta have something to do with what's been going on in town." Donna says.
"They want us to go out there too." You say not being enthusiastic about that idea.
"Yeah, fuck that. It's probably just so they can kill us easier if we're all huddled up in a group or worse, maybe they want to round us up in those trucks for some sinister purpose."
Odd that Donna always thought your older brother was a kook for talking like that on regular basis, but she sounds more like him than ever right now. To be fair though, this is all pretty strange and you're not exactly trusting of the situation yourself.
"Well what are other people doing?"
"Some are coming out and some are staying in. In fact more are staying in than coming out, but that's hardly surprising. The folks around here aren't exactly fond of the government."
"EVERYONE OUT OF THEIR TRAILERS NOW! THIS IS NOT A CHOICE, IT'S A FUCKING ORDER!"
You and Donna look at each other.
"This isn't going to end well. Maybe we should run." Donna suggests and you nearly laugh.
"Yeah, because the plan to run worked SO well for me last time!" you say.
"Okay this is different, we really would be running off together. Come on, do you really think those soldiers out there are any better than those cops that pulled us over? In fact they sound worse!"
"Well you got a point there, (sigh) okay so what's the plan? We just step out the trailer and run? They already said they're going to open fire on anyone who does that." You say.
"Yeah, but we're lucky since we have a trailer at the end of the park. We could probably make a run for it and hide in the wilderness behind the park."
"That simple huh? How long are we supposed to hide out there? I don't know how to survive in the wild and unless you been secretly reading up such things, I don't think you do either."
"Well I don't fucking know! I'm just trying to come up with suggestions here! Fuck Suzy, I'm trying to help YOU out as usual."
"Thanks. Thanks for that Donna. Real helpful right now."
"EVERYONE EXIT THEIR TRAILERS RIGHT FUCKING NOW! THIS IS YOUR LAST FUCKING WARNING OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE AND THESE RUN DOWN PIECES OF SHIT WILL BE YOUR GODDAMN COFFINS!"
You look out the window briefly and see the few people that have exited their trailers are being shoved roughly in the center of the park. Some of the guardsmen stand nearby pointing their rifles at them, but nothing more yet.
A few more of the guardsmen are starting to spread out and move about the park. It looks like they're preparing for combat.
And then suddenly you see one of the locals kick their door open and yell something at the top of their lungs while blasting one of the soldiers with a shotgun before getting riddled with bullets.
Then all hell breaks loose.
"Get down!" you shout and you and Donna are both getting as low as you can on the floor. Gunfire, shouting and screaming is all you can hear and you're praying that a stray doesn't go through the wall and hit you.
Donna apparently has the same idea.
"Suzy, we gotta get the fuck outta here!"
"Donna we go out that front door and we risk an even bigger chance of getting our asses shot off! We need to just stay low and behind as much shit as possible! Maybe your bedroom or the shower in the bathroom would be... "
A couple of bullets go through the windows overhead and small shards of glass sprinkle to the floor.
"That's it, I'm not fucking staying here!" Donna yells and starts to crawl to the door of the trailer.
> stay in the trailer
Running or rather planning to run didn't work before so you're not even going to entertain the idea now.
"Donna, get the fuck back here! You might be about to outrun cops, but you can't outrun a bullet!" you shout crawling backwards towards the bathroom.
"Suzy, you need to stop being so scared all the damn time! NOT running before is why you had to suffer through what you did last time! If you're smart, you'll come with me!"
"Donna, I'm telling you, it's going to be bad if you go out there!"
"It's gonna be bad if we stay... AAAH!"
You're already inside the bathroom when you hear Donna scream, at first you think she got shot, but it's something equally as bad.
The moment she was opening the front door, so was a soldier, trying to look for respite from the shooting. You peak around the corner and see him barge in and pick Donna up by the hair.
"Get up! Get up you fucking trailer bitch!" you hear the soldier shout.
Donna whimpers and begs to be let go. You think you hear a slap followed by another. You slink back into bathroom as panic wells up inside you.
"Fucking trash, you got a weapon on ya? Where the fuck is your boyfriend? He in the back waiting to ambush me? Well fuck that! Come on out you goddamn redneck! Got your bitch here or is it also your sister? Fuckin' inbreds!"
You hear Donna continue to plead and exclaim she lives alone and that she has no weapons of any kind. The guardsmen doesn't sound completely convinced and you hear him pushing Donna and exclaiming for her to head towards the bedroom swearing the whole time about his shitty assignment, you know its only a matter of time before he discovers that you're here.
You hastily look around the bathroom, but there isn't much here in the way of weapons except a can of your sister's hairspray. Maybe you can blind him, though you'd need to time it just right.
Taking a deep breath, you get near the entryway of the door prepare the can...
Your sister passes by and sees you out the corner of her eye, but makes no indication that she's seen you.
"Just keep going. If there really is nobody in the bedroom, then we're just going to hide out in the back for a while and then... ARGH! SHIT!" the soldier exclaims as you unload the hairspray in his eyes as he starts to pass the bathroom entrance.
Fortunately he drops his rifle in the process of his sudden blindness, which you quickly snatch up. Donna is still scrambling to get up and get out of the way, meanwhile the blind soldier is backing up trying to fish his pistol out of his holster.
"Fucking... shit... I'm gonna kill all of you inbred trash! I'm... "
You don't wait around for him to possibly carry out his threats; you don't think about it, you just shoot. The rifle kicks a bit and you hurt yourself in the process, but your assailant with several new holes in him is in even worse condition. He drops his pistol and slumps backwards in a bloody heap.
For a moment you just stand there in disbelief on what you've done. You just killed a man. Even if it was life and death, you still killed someone.
"Suzy! Get down, they're still shooting out there!" Donna shouts from the bedroom entrance.
You get down on the floor still clutching on to your killing tool and crawl to the bedroom. You feel a bit weird, but not sick.
You and your sister hide behind her bed, huddled close to each other as the shooting and general mayhem out there continues for what seems like a very long time, but in reality it's only about fifteen-twenty minutes.
As the gunshots die down, you can hear the victory hooting and hollering outside which is then followed by more gunshots probably fired in victory.
For a moment you and your sister stay down for a little while longer, but eventually the pair of you get up. You just sit on the edge of the bed trying to wrap your head around everything that just happened.
Donna on the other hand peeks out one of the windows.
"Well, I guess our side won." Donna says.
"Not sure if that's going to be a good thing in the long run." You say.
Donna doesn't pay much attention to your statement, but instead heads to the main room of the trailer. After a few moments, you gather your strength and follow her.
She looks at the dead soldier on the floor and you do as well.
"Well, I guess it's true what they say, you never know if you can kill someone or not until you have to." Donna remarks.
"Or want to." You add.
"Well anyway I'm glad you did. Shit, that was fucking intense. The weird thing is how well worked together in the situation I mean I lured him to the back and you ambushed him."
"Yeah, well I suppose we already had several run-throughs of dealing with hostile assholes this week. We were bound to get it right eventually." You remark.
"Heh, I suppose so... well no point in letting this asshole stink up the place, let's drag him outside."
Donna gets his legs and you get his upper body and drag the soldier out of the trailer. As you do so, you notice his rank is that of a high-ranking NCO. You wonder if he was the one in charge of this detachment.
When you get him outside, Tina is just walking up with a scruffy looking man wearing a cap and clothing that doesn't look like its been washed in days. He carries a shotgun over his shoulder.
"Well fuck Donna. Did you actually kill one of those fuckers?" Tina asks.
"Not me, my sister did. This asshole barged into our trailer and Suzy shot his ass."
Tina looks a little impressed.
"Is that so? Well maybe I misjudged you blondie. Maybe you're not the innocent wallflower I thought you were."
"I didn't take any pleasure in it, if that's what you're implying." You say defensively.
"Of course you didn't. You saw a threat to your family and home and you took care of business. It's what any right thinking American SHOULD do when the fucking government tries to impose its will on folks. They tried to do it here, well they didn't fucking succeed. We showed them that, but I reckon there's gonna be a lot more trouble comin'. Believe it." The man suddenly says.
"Who are you?" you ask almost in an accusing tone.
Mel doesn't really look offended, but Tina speaks up before he can.
"This is Mel, my... significant other." Tina says.
"Significant other? What the fuck are we fucking faggots? Life partners and all that shit? Just say I'm your goddamn boyfriend. Shit, I'm practically your husband with as long as we've been together."
"I hesitated to call you my boyfriend because I don't know where we exactly stand right now and until you buy me a fucking ring and propose, you're definitely NOT my husband!"
"Pftt, I told ya, I see no reason for a piece of paper handed out by some bean counter to tell me how I feel about ya, let alone some piece of jewelry. Besides, we fight all the fucking time and always get back together, so stop bein' a fuckin' drama queen."
At this point Tina and Mel start to argue and not wishing to get in the middle of it, you and Donna start to walk back to your trailer. When you get inside Donna starts finding bags and begins putting away clothes.
"What are you doing?" you ask.
"What's it look like? I'm packing up my shit and getting ready to get the hell outta here. It's apparent that you were right again, about this place. It's not safe here." Donna says.
"At this point, I don't think its too safe anywhere. At least the immediate threat here has been eliminated." You say.
Donna stops packing.
"Wait a minute. Are you serious? This can't be happening. I mean YOU of all people. Are you seriously considering staying here?"
"I don't know. I mean would I like there to be a better option? Yes! But what options do we really have Donna? We don't even have a fucking car to leave in and I doubt very seriously anyone is going to let us borrow a vehicle now. We're going to be on foot, heading to god knows where. I mean WHERE are we going to go? Back to town? With all the bullshit going on there? Into that wilderness where we can slowly starve to death due to our lack of survival knowledge? Further down the road where we'll run into who knows what? I mean everything seems so chaotic right now and I want at least a stable chance of survival. Your plan has always been to run and so far it hasn't worked out very well either for me or you. Maybe we need to dig our heels in and tough it out if only for a bit."
Donna sits down on the couch processing your words. She probably can't believe you're even thinking this way, and to be honest you can't either. Maybe killing another human changed something within you and you're not willing to just sit around and be a victim anymore. You're going to DO something to improve your situation. Anything.
"Okay, I get what you're saying. And yeah you're right that it's going to suck walking to wherever our unknown destination is going to be and we don't know where we would go, but I'm just saying it HAS to be safer than staying here. I mean if we do stick around, what if the government sends another group of soldiers here? It's going to look mighty suspicious that the last group they sent isn't here and will probably be really bad for us. If we leave, we can at least distance ourselves from this mess. I dunno, I mean at this point I'll stick with you no matter what you decide, I just think we oughta get the fuck outta here." Donna advises.
> leave the trailer park
It isn't going to be pleasant to leave, but Donna does make a good point about the foolishness of sticking around here after the massacre of military personnel.
"Okay Donna, I guess maybe you're right. I'll pack and we'll head out."
"Well maybe it won't be completely hopeless. Maybe some of the others here will be leaving too, we might be able to go with them or catch a ride for awhile at least."
"Hm, I don't hold out too much hope, but I'll let you take care of that, just let me know when you're ready to go, because I'm going to have to figure out what I need and can take with me without collapsing from exhaustion."
While you struggle with what clothing you can do without and what items you're going to need, Donna finishes packing and leaves the trailer to presumably go charm a ride from someone.
A half hour passes and Donna returns just as you're finishing up packing and she doesn't look in the best of spirits.
"I take it, it didn't go well?" you ask.
"I can't believe at least ONE of these rednecks isn't so damn stupid to want to stay here! But no, everyone of these dumb fuckers are insisting on sticking around trying to make this place into a fortress or some shit."
"Not one fell for your charms?" you ask.
"What are you getting at?"
"Well I figured you were offering something in return... "
""Offer?...Oh yuck! Suzy! Seriously? Do you think I'm just that much of a whore?!" Donna asks.
"Well I mean I know you're free spirited enough not to give a shit about that sort of thing. I mean that IS how you got this trailer up front isn't it?"
"Okay, first that was different. Second that was REALLY unpleasant! Anyway, looks like we're walking. Even Tina wasn't willing to help out."
"Hardly surprising. So which direction are we walking?" you ask.
"What do you mean? There's only one way to go. I mean you aren't suggesting we head back to town do you?"
"Well the other direction will eventually lead to Security City and I can't imagine it'll be any better there." You say.
"That's still a very long way off Suzy, I mean maybe we can find refuge somewhere else first, like a truck stop or something."
"I just hope we aren't rounded up by passing military on the road. Oh well I guess we'll find out. At least we got a couple weapons from that asshole who tried to kill us earlier." You say.
And with those words, you and Donna leave the trailer, which was once to be your new home and make your way out of the park. Seems like ever since you left home, you're doomed to not stay anywhere for very long. You hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
As you leave, you see that Donna was right in that the park residents are indeed trying to barricade this place up by putting vehicles in strategic locations. You don't see how such a plan can possibly stand up against a real attack by the military, but they're determined not to be run off.
"So you're leaving Donna?" Tina asks on your way out.
"Yeah, I don't think this place is for me and my sister. You sure that you want to still stay here?"
"No point in doing so yet. Besides, Mel is actually getting everyone's ass in gear to prepare this place for more potential trouble. It's the most motivated I've seen him in... well since he first sweet talked me into spreading my legs for him and that was ages ago. Really I dunno why y'all are leaving. It's only going to be worse out there, but suit yerselves. Good luck I guess." Tina says and leaves the pair of you.
Leaving the trailer park behind, night has already begun to fall as you walk along side the road.
Ten minutes in and Donna breaks up the silence.
"The road is pretty deserted. There hasn't been any traffic in either direction since we started walking." Donna says.
"Hopefully it stays like that, seems like every time more people show up more problems crop up." You answer.
"Yeah, I guess it does seem that way. Bet you're wishing you were in the basement right now."
"Got that right. No use wishing it was so though. Those carefree days are long gone now."
"Heh, as are my own carefree days of partying everyday. A few days ago I was just starting to think that maybe I had been wasting my life and needed it to get back on track to do something productive. Now? Looks like I didn't waste anything seeing as the world appears to be going to shit." Donna adds.
You agree and the pair of you continue walking. The stars are a lot brighter without the streetlights of the town around. You look up at them on several occasions never really admiring the "heavens" before. You get the impression even Donna is starting to admire them. Really until this walk, you've never really realized just how rural of an area you lived in before.
Hours pass and both of you are tired, not just from the walking though, it was an "action packed" day earlier for the pair of you after all. In the far distance though you see the shape of what looks to be several structures.
"Hey Donna, looks like something is up ahead. It's really dark, but I think those are tents or something." You say.
"Yeah, wonder what that is." Donna says.
"Maybe we should hang back until morning." You say.
"Why?"
"Because who knows who the hell is over there. I mean maybe that's a military encampment. We go walking in, and soldiers could suddenly surround us. Or worse, they see us stumbling in the darkness and shoot us on sight believing we're intruders. Both of us are pretty tired anyway, I think it would be best if we approached this with clear eyes and in the daytime." You say.
"Hm, okay you might be right about that. Where are we sleeping though?"
"Looks like the great outdoors. Come on let's get off the side of the road. We don't need someone running us over in our sleep.
You and Donna head off the road and deeper into wilderness, though not too much. You try to find a spot that seems "good" and then you realize you're in the damn wilderness without even a sleeping bag, there is no where to sleep that's going to be "good."
"Well I guess here will do. Use your back pack as a pillow and try to get comfy." You say laying down.
"Ugh, I can only imagine the things that are going to be crawling on me in the night." Donna says.
"Yeah, things suck all over. Hey why are you getting so close?"
"You got both weapons! I'm not sleeping too far from you. Besides, it's fucking cold out here. We'll stay warmer if we sleep near each other. Did that with Julie once when her heating system was broken for a week."
"Yeah, well you better not start cuddling or worse grinding on me."
"Geez Suzy, that's sick! You're my sister for fuck's sake."
"Good, glad we understand each other."
As you attempt to get as comfortable as possible Donna keeps moving so she's partially touching you, despite the fact you're trying to keep apart. Eventually you give up and just try to focus on sleeping.
"Suzy?" Donna says.
"What?" You answer.
"I'm glad we left and are seeing this through together." Donna says in such a way that you haven't heard her speak before. Almost like a little kid.
"Yeah, I'm glad we're seeing this through together too." You say.
And with those words, you drift off.
> Next day...
THURSDAY
"SUZY! WAKE UP! GET UP NOW!" you hear Donna scream followed by her pulling and shaking you.
"Wha... the fuck?!" you utter completely confused. You're even more confused when Donna grabs the rifle near you and fires it, succeeding in smashing her shoulder due to being unprepared by the kick back and not holding it right in the first place. She cries out an obscenity and drops the rifle.
While you still aren't completely sure of what's going on, you do look in the direction that Donna was firing and see what she was firing at.
Several people are loping in your direction snarling and generally making unpleasant sounds. You don't know who they are or what's wrong with them, but you follow Donna's lead and pull your pistol to fire at them.
You aren't exactly the best shot in the world, but after a couple shots you clearly hit the closest one in the chest, who stops temporarily, but then recovers until you hit him again, at which point he falls. It doesn't deter any of the others though and they just continue to run at you.
Meanwhile Donna gets off another shot, but misses wildly. Seeing their numbers and knowing you don't have the skill or the ammo to deal with these obviously insane people, you tell Donna you and her need to run and you don't need to do it twice.
You and Donna run towards the group of tents still in the distance. You still don't know if it's a military encampment or what, but the key thing is it's in the opposite direction of those things chasing you.
You're about half way towards your destination and your sister becomes a horror movie cliché by falling behind and then tripping and falling on her face.
"Suzy!" you hear her scream and you turn around to see several of those things almost on her.
You run back and shoot a couple of them, but by the time you grab her hand to help her up, one of them manages to grab her and bite her shoulder.
Donna screams pierce your ears and you blast the thing in the head splattering its blood on you and Donna. The two that you shot (but failed to obviously kill) at this point have recovered and are already attacking you and Donna.
You're tackled to the ground and you just barely manage to keep the thing from biting you by putting your forearm against its throat as it desperately tries to bite your face off. You get a good look at the thing at this range, while its dirty, crazed and making the animalistic growling noises, it looks completely human. Rabies perhaps?
In any case you manage to get your pistol arm free of the thing's grip and bring your weapon to its temple and blow its brains out. It slumps on top of you and you're quick to get out from under it.
Meanwhile, Donna is on the ground again screaming for you to help her and her assailant chewing on her leg. You wonder helping Donna's even an option at this point. Donna's badly wounded and there are still several of those things coming at you, not counting the one currently munching on Donna's leg.
You don't know what these things are except they look like dirty rabid humans. And maybe that's all they are, but if there's anything you've learned from situations like this is those same clichéd horror movies is when someone is bitten...
Donna's eyes widen as soon as she realizes that you're aiming at her. You don't give her time to do anything else before you pull the trigger.
Having done the grim task of putting your sister out of her misery, you run back towards the tents though you're in a bit of a daze at this point.
The noise you and those things have caused, start bringing out the occupants of the tents, or at least whoever is using them. You see a few figures with rifles, possibly in uniforms. It's apparent that they've caught sight of you and your pursuers and are yelling something at you, but again your brain has partially "shut down" after killing your sister so you're stilling running towards them, ignoring the fact that they're ready to open fire. It wouldn't matter anyway, since it isn't like you can run backwards with those things chasing you.
Bullets whiz in your direction missing you; at first maybe they AREN'T actually aiming at you and are aiming at the creatures chasing you. Maybe your luck is changing.
But then you catch one in the head. You don't even feel it. You just drop like a sack. The military wasn't taking any chances. |
Running or rather planning to run didn't work before so you're not even going to entertain the idea now.
"Donna, get the fuck back here! You might be about to outrun cops, but you can't outrun a bullet!" you shout crawling backwards towards the bathroom.
"Suzy, you need to stop being so scared all the damn time! NOT running before is why you had to suffer through what you did last time! If you're smart, you'll come with me!"
"Donna, I'm telling you, it's going to be bad if you go out there!"
"It's gonna be bad if we stay... AAAH!"
You're already inside the bathroom when you hear Donna scream, at first you think she got shot, but it's something equally as bad.
The moment she was opening the front door, so was a soldier, trying to look for respite from the shooting. You peak around the corner and see him barge in and pick Donna up by the hair.
"Get up! Get up you fucking trailer bitch!" you hear the soldier shout.
Donna whimpers and begs to be let go. You think you hear a slap followed by another. You slink back into bathroom as panic wells up inside you.
"Fucking trash, you got a weapon on ya? Where the fuck is your boyfriend? He in the back waiting to ambush me? Well fuck that! Come on out you goddamn redneck! Got your bitch here or is it also your sister? Fuckin' inbreds!"
You hear Donna continue to plead and exclaim she lives alone and that she has no weapons of any kind. The guardsmen doesn't sound completely convinced and you hear him pushing Donna and exclaiming for her to head towards the bedroom swearing the whole time about his shitty assignment, you know its only a matter of time before he discovers that you're here.
You hastily look around the bathroom, but there isn't much here in the way of weapons except a can of your sister's hairspray. Maybe you can blind him, though you'd need to time it just right.
Taking a deep breath, you get near the entryway of the door prepare the can...
Your sister passes by and sees you out the corner of her eye, but makes no indication that she's seen you.
"Just keep going. If there really is nobody in the bedroom, then we're just going to hide out in the back for a while and then... ARGH! SHIT!" the soldier exclaims as you unload the hairspray in his eyes as he starts to pass the bathroom entrance.
Fortunately he drops his rifle in the process of his sudden blindness, which you quickly snatch up. Donna is still scrambling to get up and get out of the way, meanwhile the blind soldier is backing up trying to fish his pistol out of his holster.
"Fucking... shit... I'm gonna kill all of you inbred trash! I'm... "
You don't wait around for him to possibly carry out his threats; you don't think about it, you just shoot. The rifle kicks a bit and you hurt yourself in the process, but your assailant with several new holes in him is in even worse condition. He drops his pistol and slumps backwards in a bloody heap.
For a moment you just stand there in disbelief on what you've done. You just killed a man. Even if it was life and death, you still killed someone.
"Suzy! Get down, they're still shooting out there!" Donna shouts from the bedroom entrance.
You get down on the floor still clutching on to your killing tool and crawl to the bedroom. You feel a bit weird, but not sick.
You and your sister hide behind her bed, huddled close to each other as the shooting and general mayhem out there continues for what seems like a very long time, but in reality it's only about fifteen-twenty minutes.
As the gunshots die down, you can hear the victory hooting and hollering outside which is then followed by more gunshots probably fired in victory.
For a moment you and your sister stay down for a little while longer, but eventually the pair of you get up. You just sit on the edge of the bed trying to wrap your head around everything that just happened.
Donna on the other hand peeks out one of the windows.
"Well, I guess our side won." Donna says.
"Not sure if that's going to be a good thing in the long run." You say.
Donna doesn't pay much attention to your statement, but instead heads to the main room of the trailer. After a few moments, you gather your strength and follow her.
She looks at the dead soldier on the floor and you do as well.
"Well, I guess it's true what they say, you never know if you can kill someone or not until you have to." Donna remarks.
"Or want to." You add.
"Well anyway I'm glad you did. Shit, that was fucking intense. The weird thing is how well worked together in the situation I mean I lured him to the back and you ambushed him."
"Yeah, well I suppose we already had several run-throughs of dealing with hostile assholes this week. We were bound to get it right eventually." You remark.
"Heh, I suppose so... well no point in letting this asshole stink up the place, let's drag him outside."
Donna gets his legs and you get his upper body and drag the soldier out of the trailer. As you do so, you notice his rank is that of a high-ranking NCO. You wonder if he was the one in charge of this detachment.
When you get him outside, Tina is just walking up with a scruffy looking man wearing a cap and clothing that doesn't look like its been washed in days. He carries a shotgun over his shoulder.
"Well fuck Donna. Did you actually kill one of those fuckers?" Tina asks.
"Not me, my sister did. This asshole barged into our trailer and Suzy shot his ass."
Tina looks a little impressed.
"Is that so? Well maybe I misjudged you blondie. Maybe you're not the innocent wallflower I thought you were."
"I didn't take any pleasure in it, if that's what you're implying." You say defensively.
"Of course you didn't. You saw a threat to your family and home and you took care of business. It's what any right thinking American SHOULD do when the fucking government tries to impose its will on folks. They tried to do it here, well they didn't fucking succeed. We showed them that, but I reckon there's gonna be a lot more trouble comin'. Believe it." The man suddenly says.
"Who are you?" you ask almost in an accusing tone.
Mel doesn't really look offended, but Tina speaks up before he can.
"This is Mel, my... significant other." Tina says.
"Significant other? What the fuck are we fucking faggots? Life partners and all that shit? Just say I'm your goddamn boyfriend. Shit, I'm practically your husband with as long as we've been together."
"I hesitated to call you my boyfriend because I don't know where we exactly stand right now and until you buy me a fucking ring and propose, you're definitely NOT my husband!"
"Pftt, I told ya, I see no reason for a piece of paper handed out by some bean counter to tell me how I feel about ya, let alone some piece of jewelry. Besides, we fight all the fucking time and always get back together, so stop bein' a fuckin' drama queen."
At this point Tina and Mel start to argue and not wishing to get in the middle of it, you and Donna start to walk back to your trailer. When you get inside Donna starts finding bags and begins putting away clothes.
"What are you doing?" you ask.
"What's it look like? I'm packing up my shit and getting ready to get the hell outta here. It's apparent that you were right again, about this place. It's not safe here." Donna says.
"At this point, I don't think its too safe anywhere. At least the immediate threat here has been eliminated." You say.
Donna stops packing.
"Wait a minute. Are you serious? This can't be happening. I mean YOU of all people. Are you seriously considering staying here?"
"I don't know. I mean would I like there to be a better option? Yes! But what options do we really have Donna? We don't even have a fucking car to leave in and I doubt very seriously anyone is going to let us borrow a vehicle now. We're going to be on foot, heading to god knows where. I mean WHERE are we going to go? Back to town? With all the bullshit going on there? Into that wilderness where we can slowly starve to death due to our lack of survival knowledge? Further down the road where we'll run into who knows what? I mean everything seems so chaotic right now and I want at least a stable chance of survival. Your plan has always been to run and so far it hasn't worked out very well either for me or you. Maybe we need to dig our heels in and tough it out if only for a bit."
Donna sits down on the couch processing your words. She probably can't believe you're even thinking this way, and to be honest you can't either. Maybe killing another human changed something within you and you're not willing to just sit around and be a victim anymore. You're going to DO something to improve your situation. Anything.
"Okay, I get what you're saying. And yeah you're right that it's going to suck walking to wherever our unknown destination is going to be and we don't know where we would go, but I'm just saying it HAS to be safer than staying here. I mean if we do stick around, what if the government sends another group of soldiers here? It's going to look mighty suspicious that the last group they sent isn't here and will probably be really bad for us. If we leave, we can at least distance ourselves from this mess. I dunno, I mean at this point I'll stick with you no matter what you decide, I just think we oughta get the fuck outta here." Donna advises.
> stay in the trailer park
Honestly you don't know if it's a good idea or not, but you're staying at least for now.
"I still think running on our own is a bad idea. I say we stick around at least for the rest of the day, I mean it's no good walking off now with the sun about to go down. If it looks like things aren't going to be too good for us here, I mean we can leave sometime tomorrow. I doubt if the military is going to send anyone else here THAT quick."
"Okay, ugh. I still think this is a bad idea, but I suppose I could use that time to try to find someone who would let us borrow their vehicle. That would at least save us from walking."
"Borrow? Didn't know if we were leaving that we were planning on returning." You snicker.
"Well, maybe other people will be getting ready to leave too, and maybe we can catch a ride with them at least."
"Well that would make leaving at least more of an appealing prospect." You say and start to leave.
"Where are you going?"
"If we're going to stay, I should find out what the game plan is with the rest of these folks. If it looks like they don't have their shit together, well that's another mark in favor of leaving."
"Hm, well I suppose I'll go see if Tina's done arguing with her boyfriend or whoever he is to her, maybe I can see if she's receptive to the idea of leaving."
At this point you and Donna split up. You mainly wander the trailer park a bit where you occasionally get some stares and a few cat calls, but mostly everyone is busily running around cleaning up or holding various weapons or building supplies in their hands. Mostly all the men.
While there is a lot of shouting in general going on, one of these trailer folk is standing around seemingly barking orders at the rest. It's Mel, Tina's boyfriend from earlier.
"Get those vehicles to block the main entrance to this place and drag those fucking dead to the field behind this place. We'll bury their remains there in a big ass pit. After getting everything useful out of those military trucks, we're going to need to start stripping them down... hey you... blondie, this ain't no place for ya, I'm tryin' to get some fuckin' work done an' I can't have you here." Mel exclaims.
"What? I'm not in anyone's way and I live in this place! Why can't I be here?" you ask.
"Because like I said, I'm TRYING to light a fire under these fuckers' asses, and I can't do that, if half of them are staring at YOUR ass or are you so dainty that you haven't noticed?" Mel says.
"Yes, I've noticed that I've been attracting a lot of attention. I can't really help that though, all I'm just trying to do is assess the situation here and if it's worth staying or not. So are you in charge here now?"
"Well considering the old bastard that owned this place got his fucking head blown off during the firefight, we are now officially free of any sort of authority whatsoever. However, since I'm only one that realizes what we just did was fucking treason to the highest degree even if it was necessary, I suppose I'm charge of trying to get us all out of this shitstorm. My first goal is to try to get rid of all traces that these soldier boys were even here and attempt to barricade this place somewhat. To be honest though, with all the shit that I've been hearing on the news and from what Tina told me yesterday, sounds like the whole world is going to shit and I doubt the government is even going to investigate one shitty little trailer park right away. Assuming if there even IS a government left after all this is over."
"So you really think this place will be safe?"
"Fuck if I know. Probably safer than what's going on in town right now. All I know is I ain't running from my home unless I really have to. Look darlin' I ain't got the answers for ya as to whether or not you should leave. That's on you. All I CAN say is I hope you've got some sort of useful skill if you intend on stickin' around because if you HOPE to remain semi-independent and not sucking dick for supper, you're going to have to pull your weight around here in a meaningful way. Well either that or hook up with one of many fine bachelors round here."
At this point Mel smirks and raises his hand towards the many slovenly looking guys walking around as if he's presenting them like they're a prize on a game show. Except none of them are prizes and this isn't a game show.
You desperately think about your skills and unpredictably you find them lacking, however you do think of one thing that you haven't done or even thought about in years.
"Well, my mom taught me how to sew when I was little. Haven't done it in a long time though."
"Mm, seamstress might be useful, but can you do anything else?"
"... uh... I killed a man. That's gotta count for something."
"Mm, well in some places it might, but it isn't like you're the only killer here especially after today. Shit, some of these guys here probably killed before today anyway. But I suppose if worst came to worst, you COULD potentially help out as a guard in a pinch when we get all set up seeing as I know you have the capacity to kill something or someone threatening if need be. Lord, I can just imagine how all these fucktards will be wanting to be paired up with you though. (Sigh) Look seein' as you're a friend of Tina's... "
"Actually Tina's my sister's friend. I don't think she really likes me at all." You interrupt.
"Well she's going to like you even fucking less if she sees me speaking with you considering she's a jealous type, but we're getting off track. Fuck, what was I sayin'? Oh yeah, look since you're the sister of Tina's friend and don't seem like a complete stuck up cunt, I'll try to keep the boys from harassin' you too much. Can't speak for any of the ladies though. They're probably going to hate you just as much as Tina... well except for Butchie Billie, who'll probably be harassing you right along with the boys. I'm just glad Jed and his retarded giant ass brother aren't here. I think those fuckers were rapists and they would've LOVED the likes of you. Anyway, now could you please fuckin' leave so some work can get done?"
At this point you leave Mel and return to your trailer where you find Donna.
"I thought you were scouting for a potential vehicle." You say.
"Apparently none of these hicks are leaving and neither is Tina. Nobody is willing to let me borrow one either."
"None? Didn't you offer anything?" you ask hintingly.
"Offer?...Oh yuck! Suzy! Seriously? Do you think I'm just that much of a whore?!" Donna asks.
"Well I mean I know you're free spirited enough not to give a shit about that sort of thing. I mean that IS how you got this trailer up front isn't it?"
"Okay, first that was different. Second that was REALLY unpleasant!"
"Well you'll be happy to know that old dude is dead now anyway. Mel seems to be in charge of this place now, or at least he alpha male here. Good thing you're friends with Tina, he said he'd keep the sexual harassment to a minimum while we stay. He's actually a lot smarter than he appears. He's currently trying to eliminate all traces of the military being here and making this place more fortified." You say.
"So, where does that leave us?"
"Well in the long term I don't know. In the short term, we need to pull our weight around here to be useful. So far I've secured two possible jobs as a seamstress or a guard."
Donna looks a little surprised.
"Seamstress huh? You talking about how mom taught you how to sew when we were little? Thought you hadn't done it in a long time and didn't care for it."
"I haven't and I don't, but I don't relish the idea of blowing anyone here for food and water if things get bad. I'll probably end up being a guard though. Seems a lot easier to potentially shoot people."
"Geez Suzy, you're starting to sound like a completely different person."
"Yeah well a lot of shit has happened. Anyway, I'm done for today, I'm just going to relax for the rest of the night, since I'm guessing I'll be doing a lot of work in the near future. It appears I've found a job at last, gotta love the irony." You say.
The remainder of the night is fairly uneventful if somewhat noisy at times. Donna doesn't say too much to you and eventually goes to bed, but she once again thanks you for saving her from that soldier. The pair of you bailing each other out of trouble seems to be a reoccurring theme this week.
You can only hope it isn't a necessary theme tomorrow.
> Next day...
THURSDAY
"... your family will feel right at home in one of our... "
"Agh, shut the hell up." You instinctively groan at the Ground Zero ad. You call out for Donna to turn her tv off, but considering she doesn't, you assume that she must not be here.
You look around for your phone to check the time, but you can't find it. You can only assume that you dropped or misplaced it somewhere. Hardly matters, you don't have too many people to contact anymore at this point. Your relationship with Bobby is over. Julie's probably dead and who the hell knows what's happened to the rest of your family in town. It isn't like you need to call anyone or anyone needs to call you. You're more pissed about your laptop, which apparently somehow caught a bullet during the mayhem yesterday. So much for keeping up on what might be going on in the world.
In any case there's a clock in the trailer and the time indicates that you've slept through the morning as usual. Weird, since you fell asleep fairly early. You wonder where the hell Donna could've went to, but you're guessing she might be with her friend Tina.
After turning the TV off in Donna's room, all you're left with is the noise that's going on outside. Sounds like the good ol' boys are still at it. You take a look out one of your windows and see several men in the field taking apart the military trucks, or rather severely altering them. It almost looks like they're going to build a whole new vehicle out of them or something.
Since there isn't anyway to entertain yourself with your laptop being shot up, you aren't in the mood to watch Ground Zero infomercials, and you don't want to risk the possibility of Donna suddenly walking in on you with your vibrating boyfriend (Thankfully nothing happened to that form of entertainment, though you do worry about batteries for the future) your only option is to head outside and try to find Donna or find something productive to do. You never thought such a day would come where you'd be leaving the comfort of a couch to potentially do some work, but here you are.
After going through your routine of washing up and changing clothes, you decide to take the rifle and pistol with you, just in case.
You exit the trailer and head on over to Tina's place.
You knock on the trailer door and hardly recognize Tina without all her makeup on. Not that she's ugly, in fact she's actually less trashy looking without it on.
"What the fuck do you want blondie?" Tina asks.
"Um, is Donna here?"
"No, she's not fucking here. Try a few trailers over, I think she took a shine to Jimmy Ray and is over there."
"Oh. Okay then." You say.
"If you see her, tell her, she better not be distractin' him all fucking day with her pussy, cause Mel wants him to be workin' on somethin'. I dunno what, exactly, but I don't wanna have to listen to him bitch to me about it."
"Got it." You answer and begin to leave, but Tina calls out to you.
"Hey, you ain't after, Mel's dick are ya?" Tina asks which completely catches you off guard.
"What?"
"He told me yesterday, you and he spoke and said you were sweet on him and he had to tell you to stop flirting so much."
Tina looks at you as if she's detecting if you're going to lie to her, but you have no intention of doing so since you're defending yourself from a horrible lie!
"Uh, with no disrespect, but Mel is NOT my type and I did not flirt with him." You answer.
"See, I knew that bastard was delusional. I didn't even believe him when he told me that shit. Any retard can tell that a girl like you would have nothing to do with the likes of him in that way." Tina says.
"Did I do something that he could've mistaken for flirting?
"Yeah, you were talking to him. He probably told all his friends that you were flirting with him. Hell, he might've even said he fucked you, but he tends to keep his tall tales a little more realistic nowadays. Whatever, he's getting old and likes to think he's still some sort of chick magnet. Still, I love the sonofabitch despite everything."
As you're about to finish your illuminating conversation with Tina, you suddenly hear gunshots and yelling.
"Oh shit!" you say believing that the military has returned already.
Several of the trailer park crew start running towards the noise with weapons in hand. Tina calls out to a skinny one who looks like methhead.
"Hey! Hey Dan, what the fuck's goin' on?" Tina shouts
"A bunch of fuckin' zombies or some shit are attackin' us! Mel's called almost everyone to defend the east and south part of the park. Looks like a shitload of them are comin' from town!"
"Wait, did you just say fuckin' zombies?" Tina asks.
"Yeah. I mean shit, I dunno what they are, I just know Bobby Ray got all bit up by one of them. Maybe they're just cannibals or high on bath salts. Remember like that one time I... "
"Dan, whatever! Just go! Go! Go! And you, get inside here, quick!" Tina says waving away Dan who continues to his destination.
"But I gotta find my sister." You remark
"She's probably safe with Jimmy Ray."
"Didn't Dan say he just got bit by zombies?"
"That was Bobby Ray! Now get yer ass in here, we'll bar the door and hunker down inside here until Mel and the boys take care of this."
You're not going to leave your sister's potential fate in the hands of some redneck who you know nothing about though. You're going to make the effort to at least find her; besides, you'd rather not barricade yourself in anywhere unless you have to.
"Where is Jimmy's trailer again?!" you ask.
"You're a damn idiot blondie. (sigh) it's more towards the entrance and has a badly spray painted picture of a naked woman on the side of it. I suggest you get a move on." Tina says and slams her door shut.
You follow the advice and start heading towards your new destination, which has considerably more gunfire and shouting coming from that direction. You feel like you're in one of those video games that you played on your computer sometimes, except this is unfortunately very real.
With your rifle held in front of you the whole time, you continue to move at a quick yet cautious rate. You keep half expecting one of those freaks to suddenly jump out at you every time you pass one of the trailers. You catch a glance of people peeping out their windows of said trailers, sometimes you hear one of them shouting at you to "find some damn shelter."
Eventually you hear a voice calling at you from above.
"Hey blondie, what the hell are you doing down there?" you look up and see a shirtless young man with a shotgun standing on top of the trailer.
"Suzy?! What the hell are you doing?!" another voice shouts, but this one is coming from inside the trailer. Sounds like Donna.
You glance back down and look at the trailer itself and notice that this is the one you've been looking for. You're guessing that's Jimmy Ray standing on top of his trailer. You can sort of see Donna going for a guy like him. He's got a rugged handsome look rather than a grizzled, unkept or outright disgusting appearance that some of the other guys around here have.
"Donna?! I was looking for you, that's what I'm doing out here." You say while swiveling your head in several directions to keep an eye on your surroundings.
"Well now you've found me, now get inside!" Donna shouts and starts to open up the door.
"Donna, don't leave that door open too long, I'm watching the main fighting at the front of the park and it's not looking good. The east side is doing better though."
"Aren't you suppose to be helping Mel?" you ask.
"Pfft, yeah right. I mean I don't hate him or anything, but I'm not riskin' my life for that asshole. Oh fuck! More of them are getting through, and I mean a shitload! Get your asses inside!" Jimmy Ray shouts and starts aiming his shotgun.
You look and see a couple of the... things Dan was talking about. This is insane. Here you were worrying about the military and some unexpected threat like... zombies shows up? They can't be zombies, they just can't!
Whatever they are, four of them are flailing about wildly and growling. They notice you and begin loping at you. The mere sight of them is troubling, but you quickly point your rifle at them and start firing.
Jimmy's shotgun gets one of them in the leg which he then shoots again in the body. Another gets its head blown off. You use up the remainder of the clip to kill the two remaining. One of them didn't even drop down dead until he almost reached you. They don't look rotten (though they do look dirty and disheveled... which isn't unlike some of the hillbillies here) and you didn't even shoot one in the head, so while they may NOT be zombies, they're certainly inhuman enough for you to be scared. (Some sort of sickness perhaps?)
Meanwhile Donna's at the door and calling to you. You see now that she's not wearing her own clothes, but rather a robe of some sort. Certainly not hers.
"Suzy, please! Get inside NOW!" she shouts as more of those things come running in your direction.
"Goddamn it, the pair of you need to get inside!" Jimmy shouts as he snaps off another shot.
While the freaks are definitely advancing, they're also splitting up to attack several trailers. You wonder if you shouldn't just get Donna and make your way out of here since it looks like this place is going to be overrun.
> get in the trailer
As tempting as it is to just run, once again, you don't really have anywhere viable to run to and now you'd have a horde of those things possibly dogging your steps if you did, so you're going to just be satisfied with short term safety and keep optimistic that things aren't as hopeless as they seem.
You run up the stairs and into the trailer. Donna slams and locks the door, and then you both shove a couch in front of it. You look up at the ceiling of the trailer and see the sun roof open which naturally explains how Jimmy Ray got up there. You can hear him firing and swearing.
"Okay, I think we should be safe now." Donna remarks.
"I wouldn't count on that. I mean yeah, they'd have a hell of time breaking through the door, and granted the windows are high enough that they might have trouble breaking and climbing into them, but I still don't feel safe cooped up in here." You say and start looking around for more furniture and start moving a table under the sunroof.
"Suzy, what're you doing?"
"I'm going to go help your boyfriend if I can. You got a weapon down here?"
"There's Jimmy's bat and some knives in the kitchen, but he really doesn't need your help. You should stay down here, I mean what if they try to break in like you said?"
"Well I'll be able to shoot them from above a lot better from the roof. Climb up if things start getting grim." You say and start climb through the roof.
When you reach the roof, Jimmy notices you as he's in the middle of reloading his weapon.
"What the fuck are you doin' up here, get back in the trailer with your sister!" he says.
"I'm here to help." You say scanning the area.
"I don't need any help, now... "
You interrupt Jimmy, when you look over the other side of the trailer, see one particularly sneaky freak skulking near it and shoot him.
"You aren't even paying attention to the other side of the trailer. You need to be aware of your surroundings!" you say.
"Aw, he couldn't have gotten up here, and I would've heard him had he tried." Jimmy remarks. "Fine, stay up here, but don't get in my way!" he then adds realizing that you aren't going anywhere.
From on top of the trailer, you can see a good deal more of the park in general. You and Jimmy actually aren't the only ones standing on a trailer, you see several women with guns doing their best at fighting off this horde. You even see Tina when you look back towards her trailer.
The situation isn't quite as grim as it once appeared as you see a group of hillbillies from the east side of the park making their way back and soon start helping out with mopping up the freaks that have infested it.
Jimmy and yourself mostly keep to picking off the ones that come too close to his trailer. He actually compliments you or your shooting at one point. To be honest, it's sort of weird to you how much of a natural you are at it.
After few more bloody minutes, it's mostly over and the... well you still don't know WHAT they are exactly, but they're no longer the threat they were.
"Whew, I think we got the last of those sons of bitches." Jimmy says.
"Yeah, well I'm not in any hurry to check. I'm out of bullets anyway, so I'm just going to go back into the trailer with my sister."
"Okay, I'm gonna keep an eye out from here. Um... I wasn't sure about you at first, but thanks for yer help."
Suddenly Donna's head pops up from the opening in the roof.
"What's going on up here? The shooting has mostly stopped, is it over?" Donna asks.
"It's over in the sense that I'm guessing we aren't in any danger of being overrun. Was everything okay down there? We were trying to keep them from clawing at the trailer too much." You say.
"Yeah, a few got as close as the door and then one of you guys shot them." Donna says.
"Shit, let's get back down in the trailer." Jimmy suddenly says walking over to where you and Donna are.
"Did you just see more of those things?"
"No, I see...
"There you are, ya slackin' piece of shit! Where the fuck were you when we needed help over on the east side of the park. Nearly got my ass eaten and not in a good way!" Mel shouts from the ground as he walks with a couple of other men behind him.
"Aw Mel, I didn't even know about it until it was too late, I was uh... "
"You were thinkin' with yer dick as usual. Is that... is that blondie there I see? Holy shit, didn't think you were fool enough to fall fer this idiot's charms." Mel says.
"I didn't... I was looking for my sister and I helped her and Jimmy out here."
"Is that right?" Mel asks.
"Yeah, it's true! I was with her sister... and um, by the time I knew what was goin' on I couldn't leave this trailer because it was surrounded by those things! I was pickin' them off with the shotgun and then Suzy came here and helped out. Good thing too. There were a shitload of them, as you can tell by the bodies!" Jimmy says and begins pointing at them.
Mel stares at the bodies that Jimmy's pointing to and doesn't seem impressed.
"Jimmy, yer so full of shit right now, yer eyes are brown. By the number of bodies here and their various distances from the trailer, it wasn't THAT surrounded. Whatever, doesn't matter, come on down, you're comin' with us."
"Where are we goin?" Jimmy asks.
"We're gonna go try to fetch some medical supplies from town. We got some people hurt pretty fuckin' bad an' other than a few half used basic medical kits that a few people scrounged up, all else we got is a shitload of alcohol. You'd think those military trucks woulda had some medical shit in them, but no. I suppose SOME people here got some meth, crack and a few other unconventional drugs, but last thing we need is more goddamn junkies runnin' around here." Mel says glaring at Dan.
"Town? Um... don't ya think it'll be pretty fucked up there?" Jimmy asks.
"Of course it's gonna be fucked up there, but it needs to get done. Or we at least need to try. So come on Jimmy, get yer ass down here, what about you blondie?" Mel asks.
"What about me what?" you ask.
"You gonna come with us? Obviously you're good enough with a weapon to take care of yourself an' we're a little short on that at the moment."
As Jimmy kisses Donna on the cheek and tells her something about coming back to her, you briefly consider Mel's offer. While you've certainly "grown" past being the wallflower you tended to be, you know you're not some action heroine badass.
"While I appreciate the offer Mel, I think I'd be better off staying here, I'm still not as skilled as you guys are when it comes to shooting. I wouldn't want to be a liability." You say.
"Hm, I guess that's an honest assessment of yourself. Alright then, keep an eye out on things here. As for the rest of ya, come on let's round up a few more folks and then let's see just how fucked the town is." Mel says and he and the rest walk off leaving you and Donna who duck back inside Jimmy's trailer.
"I'm really glad you didn't go with them. I mean that's gotta be a suicide mission." Donna says.
"Well it will certainly be dangerous that's for sure." You say.
"So you still think it's a good idea to stay here?" Donna asks.
"Still want to leave huh?" you say.
"Don't you? I mean we just went through TWO major attacks at this place now! Who knows what the hell is gonna hit us next! More of those freaks probably, but I'm thinking that we got a better chance if we do leave this time."
"How's that?" you ask.
"Well Jimmy Ray's got a truck that he parked between his trailer and the next one as a poor man's barrier of sorts and he didn't take his keys with him. In fact they're over on the table over there. That suggests to me that we can easily take his while he's gone. In fact, Mel and most of those redneck assholes will all be gone and the others are nursing their wounds, so now would be the perfect time to get the hell out of here."
"I used up all my ammo fighting off those cannibal things. What about weapons?"
"I guess we'll have to get by on close combat ones for awhile, but Jimmy's probably got another gun in his bedroom somewhere. Look, I'll search this place and you go grab your bags from our trailer. I still got a bag packed near my bed from yesterday, so you can grab that one too."
You chuckle a bit at Donna's suggestion of completely robbing Jimmy Ray blind and take her plan into consideration.
> leave the park
Given that you've been attacked by military, as well as a bunch of cannibal freaks... well sticking around here is looking a lot less desirable now and Donna's idea is looking a lot more enticing.
Plus if you were planning on ripping off this place and running off, this would be the best time to do it while everyone is a bit disarray and Mel and the better defenders of this place are gone.
"Okay Donna I'm with you on this, but we really gotta do this shit quick." You say.
"Well of course. Like I said, you run over to our trailer and grab my bag and your own and rush back over. By the time you're done, I should have found Jimmy's keys and whatever else he's got here that looks interesting." Donna replies.
You and Donna nod at the agreement of this plan then you slip out of the trailer and try to keep a low profile. It really isn't difficult since the few people walking around don't even know you and seem to be busy cleaning up the dead freaks lying on the ground. You do spot Tina, however and deliberately avoid her since if anyone is going to attempt to hold you up for any reason, it would likely be her.
When you get to your trailer, you pack what items and clothing you can in your bags, zip 'em up and then sling one over your shoulder then with your free hand you go into the bedroom and grab Tina's bag.
You leave your trailer and try to make it over to Jimmy's as quick as you can.
You get half way there and then you hear a familiar voice...
"Hey blondie! Knew you survived, where the hell ya been, there's fuckin' work to do. Need all the help we can moving these fuckin' bodies." Tina shouts.
You silently say "shit" to yourself and slowly turn around thinking up a lie that won't attract too much suspicion, while at the same time is going to allow you avoid whatever work Tina had in mind for you.
"Oh hey Tina. I've been... um just trying to recover from that recent attack just like everyone else. It was all sort of discombobulating you know?" you say.
"Discom... what the fuck? Whatever, you don't look hurt, so yer ass is needed to help move some bodies... and what's with all the bags?" Tina asks.
"Well, my sister Donna... "
"Yeah where the fuck is Donna? She ain't bit is she? Cause they put all those fuckers in a separate trailer. Even though I think they should just shoot the infected bastards. We all know how those movies go!" Tina interrupts.
"Uh, no. She's fine. Well not fine... "
"Speak fucking plain blondie!"
"My sister isn't hurt physically, but she hasn't handled the recent attack very well... she's a wreck actually. Hysterical one moment, silent shock the next. Took me awhile to calm her down. She says she'd feel safer staying with Jimmy Ray, so that's why I got all these bags with her stuff. I'm taking them over there."
"Donna broke down? Always thought she was miss cool, calm and collected and got over shit fairly quickly... hmmm, guess a few days sober in the face of brutal reality might break someone normally living in a drug, alcohol and sex fueled fantasy realm. I don't remember her having all that shit. In fact aren't some of those your bags?"
"Yeah, she never brought that many clothes and I figured she could borrow some of my stuff. Figured I'd let her choose while I continued to talk with her. I mean I can still help with body moving thing, but I just really need to go help my sister first."
"(Sigh) Fine. No point in having a hysterical bitch making life miserable with bouts of screaming. Do what you need to do, but as soon as yer done, you help out with moving these bodies."
"Got it. I'll really try to be quick." You say.
After parting company with Tina, you continue to head over to Jimmy's as quick as you can where Donna is sitting on a chair waiting for you.
"Would've been quicker, but I had to talk my way out of moving dead bodies with Tina." You say.
"It's fine, here." Donna says and takes her bag while thrusting a pistol into your hand. "It's the only one I could find. You might as well take it, since you're obviously more experienced with shooting than I am by now."
"Well thanks I guess. You got the keys too I trust?"
"Yep, truck's right next to this trailer. Though getting out isn't going to be as quick as I'd like due to the way its parked, but we'll just deal with that as it comes. You ready?"
"Let's do it."
You and Donna run out of the trailer and turn the corner where Jimmy's truck is parked. Donna was right about how it's parked. Somehow he managed to wedge it between his trailer and the neighboring one pretty good. Donna's going to have to do a lot of reversing and forward driving to get it out, but you're wondering if you're going to have time for all that.
Throwing the bags in the back of the pick up, Donna gets into the driver's seat and quickly unlocks the passenger sider before starting up the truck. DOesn't take long before Donna's bashing the hell out of the front end AND the back end of the truck against the trailers, attempting to get it out of it's parking space.
It also doesn't take long before several people hear this noise.
"HEY! THOSE TWO BITCHES ARE TRYING TO STEAL ONE OF OUR TRUCKS!" a voice shouts.
Several of the trailer park residents attempt to rush at the truck at first, but after you fire a few shots at them, they retreat and re-think that plan.
"Donna come on! We ain't got much time before they go and get their guns and start firing back!" you shout.
"I know! I know! Fuck! Shit! This truck is really wedged in!" Donna shouts.
The scraping of metal and the continued destruction of the truck's front end is in full force as Donna decides to just give the truck a hard turn in an attempt to escape. It works and you're soon free, now you just have to drive out of the vicinity of the trailer park altogether because now bullets are damaging the truck.
"Shit!"
"Just get to the road Donna and drive west!" you shout.
"It should be just a little, oh fuck!" Donna shouts as suddenly hits one of the rednecks with the truck. In fact she ran right over her.
"Go! Go! Just fucking go!" you shout ducking your head down as another bullet breaks the back window.
Soon, Donna manages to get back on the road though there are a few more shots fired in your direction.
"Goddamnit, I think they hit the tires! This thing's getting hard to control!" Donna shouts.
"Well we're going to have to ride the rims, because we're not out of danger yet." You reply.
"Got that right bitch!" a voice suddenly says and then a large arm with a hook comes through the broken back window.
You're startled enough by this unexpected event that you fumble with your pistol and drop it on the floor. As you scramble for the pistol, Donna screams and attempts to simultaneously keep control of the vehicle as well as not get impaled with a large metal object.
When you finally get the pistol, an elbow goes into your face and a hand tries to grab your weapon. Donna slams on the breaks, which causes this unwanted hitchhiker to lose her grip on you and fall backwards a bit though she manages to hang on by embedding her hook into the front seat of the truck. Still, it's just enough time for you to gain the advantage.
You swing around to turn to your attacker and see an angry looking woman with a buzz cut before you shoot her. At this range you don't miss and half of her face is blown off before she releases her grip from the hook and her body falls backwards towards the tail end of the truck bed.
"She's dead, get us the hell outta here before the rest catch up!" you shout seeing a few people coming from the trailer park.
"Holy shit, who the hell was that and how the hell did she sneak into the truck bed?!" Donna says flooring the gas.
"Dunno, doesn't matter, like I said, get us the hell outta here!"
Donna's a little shaken up from all this, but keeps her cool and by the time you put a lot of distance between you and the trailer park she's a lot calmer. Still, you're concerned that someone is going to give chase in another vehicle.
"Fuck, that was intense." Donna exclaims.
"Yeah, well I knew it wasn't going to be easy when you suggested it."
"Still, we did it though. When me and you work as a team we seem to overcome all odds." Donna says in a slightly upbeat tone.
"Well so far things have worked in our favor. Sort of worried about how far we're actually going to get in this truck though. We've got at least one damaged back tire and who knows if they're going to pursue us in their own vehicles." You say.
At this point you continue to look behind you to see if anyone is following, but happily you don't see anyone. You and Donna don't say much for the next few miles. Maybe it's because neither of you really knows what's going to come next. You're in a rural area with a truck that may or may not be drivable for very long. Neither of you has any money or anything really to barter with if you needed to fix it in someway. Well there is ONE thing you both have, but you're not exactly willing to do that. (Though you imagine it wouldn't be a problem for your sister)
If anything, your mindset has gotten a bit on the darker side of things due to the past few days. If the world is indeed going the way of chaos, you're starting to think why not embrace it? You have a gun, and so far you've come to the conclusion that they've been solving a lot of problems for you.
As you dwell on these thoughts, your sister suddenly speaks.
"Hey Suzy, there's a group of tents up ahead. Looks almost like a circus or something. I thought I heard someone mention at the trailer park about one up this way. Should we stop and see if we can get help there?" Donna asks.
"Hmm, nah. We should keep going. We still need to put more distance between us and that damn trailer park. Besides, I doubt if a bunch of carnies is going to be much better than a bunch of rednecks." You answer.
Donna nods and continues to drive. Leaving you to your thoughts, which are now starting to envision improving your situation by robbing some idiot of their belongings.
You turn the radio on in an attempt to find something to keep your mind occupied, but its mostly Ground Zero commercials. You get a few doomsday religious preachers too, which is even worse. You turn off the radio in dismay and return to your introspection until Donna speaks up again.
"Hey Suzy?" Donna asks.
"Yeah?" you reply.
"Do you think the world is going to end?"
"I dunno. Maybe. Though as far as I'm concerned, it already ended for me when I had to leave my basement."
"Yeah... I suppose it would. Hey, if you want we could turn around and go home. You could take back your basement and shoot Kelly in the face."
You chuckle a bit at that suggestion.
"That's definitely a tempting idea. I think we're better off driving into the unknown though. Like you said, when we work as a team, it somehow works out for us." You say which Donna returns your sentiment with a smile.
Eventually the day starts turning to night and you start to get tired. The stress of the day has finally caught up with you. Surprisingly Donna's still alert. So far the truck hasn't given any problems though you know you're riding on a flat (or at least low) back tire by this point.
You honestly don't know what you're going to do next, but for now you're going to try to get some rest as you drift off to sleep...
> Next day...
FRIDAY
"Suzy... hey Suzy... get up." Donna remarks.
"Huh? What's going on? What time is it?" you answer half asleep.
"I dunno, I think it's getting up for the afternoon. Really I'm sort of surprised you didn't at least stir a little since you fell asleep last night. You really are a deep sleeper."
"Guess yesterday's cannibal killing and grand theft auto really took it out of me. Hey we're not moving." You say looking around and seeing that you're parked off the side of the road.
"No, I pulled over to sleep sometime after midnight."
"What? That was dangerous! You should've woke me up then! I could've kept a look out or even taken over with the driving! I mean we could've been attacked by who knows what during the night!" you exclaim.
"We were fine. While I've seen a few abandoned vehicles, I haven't seen a single person driving on this road since we started yesterday. Nobody behind us, and nobody coming from the other direction either."
"I don't care if we were driving in a fucking desolate wasteland, we've got cannibals running around, a break down of society and there's still the potential of angry rednecks coming after us! Next time THINK!"
"Okay... okay... sorry Suzy." Donna says rather meekly.
You give Donna a dirty look, but tell her to forget it. Actually you're sort of surprised she didn't put up more of a fight since it's not like her to back down from an argument, but maybe she's becoming a little afraid of you.
"Well, seeing as things are deader than a tomb around here, we might as well take this opportunity to dump our passenger in the back." You say.
"Oh, yeah." Donna replies.
As you step out of the truck, you look at her to do likewise to help.
"Oh. Wait, you wanted me to help?"
"That was the idea."
"(Sigh) Alright."
You and Donna go to the back of the truck and open up the tailgate. The redneck woman's head that was propped up on it slumps in front of you. Flies have already begun gathering on her face.
"Ugh. She's already beginning to rot." Donna says and chokes a bit.
"She was pretty tall that's for sure. It is sort of amazing she managed to jump in the truck bed without us realizing it. Maybe it was when you ran over that other girl." You remark.
"She fucking attacked us with a hook too. That's like something out of a horror movie."
"Everything about what's happened to us this week is like something out of a horror movie. I saw Tina with one of those hooks yesterday, I think they were moving bodies with them. Y'know, I never officially met her... but I think this was the infamous Butchie Billie I'd hear about every so often. Anyway, let's pull her dead ass out."
Grabbing one arm and Donna grabbing the other, you pull what you believe to be the corpse of Butchie Billie out of the truck. Donna doesn't have that great of a hold on her and drops her end causing you to nearly fall to the ground too.
"Goddamnit Donna, you can't... argh. Fuck it. I'll do it myself!" you say in exasperation.
You proceed to kick and roll the body further away from the road and into the brush.
"Good enough." You say breathing a little heavy. "Whew, open up one of my bags, I'm fairly certain I packed a few bottles of water in there."
Donna gets in the bed of the truck and starts unzipping bags. Eventually she finds the water and passes you one and takes one for herself.
As you drink, you notice both of your back tires are completely flat. You knew one of them was, but you guess the other one gave up during the night.
"Our tires are fucked. I mean we could still drive on them, but it wouldn't be a pleasant ride." You say.
"Doesn't matter really, judging by the gauge last night we're almost out of gas too. Jimmy apparently didn't keep this truck gassed up in case of an emergency." Donna says.
"Great."
"I mean I suppose we could just keep driving until we can't anymore or we possibly find an auto shop."
"Auto shop? Out in the sticks?"
"Well I dunno, don't they usually have those last chance gas mechanic things along roadsides like this? Besides I think we're starting to get past the farmland and should be hitting more populated areas soon. Security City is this way after all." Donna says.
"Given what happened to our town, that might not be a good thing. We still don't know what the fuck is going on. All we do know is the government declared martial law and there are rabid people running around." You say.
"Well I wasn't suggesting we go to Security City, I was just saying we should be hitting more populated areas due it being close by. Look, obviously I don't have a good idea of what to do next, so if you got a long term plan, then by all means let's follow it."
Before you can reply, you hear the sound of vehicle. You peek your head out from behind the truck and see a car heading in your direction. It's going at a good pace, but MAYBE you can stop it.
"Donna, a car's coming. Quick, tear your clothing and go out in the road and look like a slutty damsel in distress!" you say.
"What?!"
"Just fucking do it!" you say and check to see how many bullets you have.
Donna, gets the picture quickly, though you can tell she's not entirely happy with this arrangement.
You hide behind the truck's side away from the road, while Donna gets in the middle of the road and waves her arms. You can't believe you're actually enacting a plan you thought up in your head just yesterday.
You just hope whoever the driver is; they actually stop and don't try to do something like say run over Donna instead.
The car approaches and actually starts to slow down and then eventually stops, but it does so at a distance. Someone then steps out of the passenger side armed with a sub-machine gun.
"Alright honey, if you want to live, I suggest you don't move." He says.
"Don't shoot! I'm completely unarmed! This isn't some sort of trick! Please, I just need help, my truck has flat tires and I don't have any way now to get to Security City!" Donna exclaims.
"Security City? Hah! You don't wanna go there trust me. The whole place is fucked! If the military doesn't round you up and kill ya, the cannibal freaks running all over the place will." The man shouts.
Well you know that place is definitely off the list now.
"Oh no! I don't know where to go then! I'm just so lost by myself! Where are you guys going? Can I come with you?" Donna asks.
"Come with us? Look, I dunno if that's a good idea. We're pretty full up with shit and there isn't much room in this car... "
"That's okay, I won't take up much room. I mean I'll sit on your lap if I have to."
"Sit on my... "
"Look I'll do anything you and your friend want! I'll suck your cocks and fuck you if I have to! Just I can't be alone! Not after those things tried to kill and eat me yesterday!" Donna screams and starts to rub her eyes and sniffling.
At this point the man with the sub-machine gun pauses.
"Hold on." He says and then converses with his driver buddy for a moment. You continue to wait patiently hoping they take this bait.
"Alright honey, you can come with us, but that payment you just offered? Well we'll be taking it now, so I hope you're ready to back up your promises." The passenger shouts and then gets back in the car, which slowly drives up closer to meet Donna.
When they drive up near the other side of the truck, you wonder if you should wait a little longer to make sure they're completely vulnerable or sneak around the truck and open fire now.
> open fire now
You sneak around towards the front end of the truck and then see Mr. passenger get out of the car.
"Okay baby, where are we doing this? The back seat of the car is pretty full as you can see. We can do it in your truck if you want. Front seat or the bed of it. Doesn't matter to me." He says and then you come out from your hiding spot to blast him in the head.
"OH SHIT MITCH GET BACK IN THE FUCKING CAR!" the driver shouts. He must've seen you in his rear view mirror and it's distracting enough that you miss your shot allowing Mitch to duck and scramble for the cover of the car.
At this point Donna screams and runs off and you start firing into the car. You aren't sure if you hit the driver or not, but the car starts going in reverse. Not at an excessively fast speed, but you barely get out the way.
Falling back on your ass you watch as the car continues rolling past you with the driver slumped over the wheel.
Unfortunately you aren't able to celebrate this good fortune because while you were falling and trying to get out a rolling car's way, Mitch ran around the front of the rolling car and around your truck to get the drop on you.
You recover just in time to see a sub-machine gun pointed at you and then the muzzle flash of multiple bullets ripping your skull apart. |
FRIDAY
"Suzy... hey Suzy... get up." Donna remarks.
"Huh? What's going on? What time is it?" you answer half asleep.
"I dunno, I think it's getting up for the afternoon. Really I'm sort of surprised you didn't at least stir a little since you fell asleep last night. You really are a deep sleeper."
"Guess yesterday's cannibal killing and grand theft auto really took it out of me. Hey we're not moving." You say looking around and seeing that you're parked off the side of the road.
"No, I pulled over to sleep sometime after midnight."
"What? That was dangerous! You should've woke me up then! I could've kept a look out or even taken over with the driving! I mean we could've been attacked by who knows what during the night!" you exclaim.
"We were fine. While I've seen a few abandoned vehicles, I haven't seen a single person driving on this road since we started yesterday. Nobody behind us, and nobody coming from the other direction either."
"I don't care if we were driving in a fucking desolate wasteland, we've got cannibals running around, a break down of society and there's still the potential of angry rednecks coming after us! Next time THINK!"
"Okay... okay... sorry Suzy." Donna says rather meekly.
You give Donna a dirty look, but tell her to forget it. Actually you're sort of surprised she didn't put up more of a fight since it's not like her to back down from an argument, but maybe she's becoming a little afraid of you.
"Well, seeing as things are deader than a tomb around here, we might as well take this opportunity to dump our passenger in the back." You say.
"Oh, yeah." Donna replies.
As you step out of the truck, you look at her to do likewise to help.
"Oh. Wait, you wanted me to help?"
"That was the idea."
"(Sigh) Alright."
You and Donna go to the back of the truck and open up the tailgate. The redneck woman's head that was propped up on it slumps in front of you. Flies have already begun gathering on her face.
"Ugh. She's already beginning to rot." Donna says and chokes a bit.
"She was pretty tall that's for sure. It is sort of amazing she managed to jump in the truck bed without us realizing it. Maybe it was when you ran over that other girl." You remark.
"She fucking attacked us with a hook too. That's like something out of a horror movie."
"Everything about what's happened to us this week is like something out of a horror movie. I saw Tina with one of those hooks yesterday, I think they were moving bodies with them. Y'know, I never officially met her... but I think this was the infamous Butchie Billie I'd hear about every so often. Anyway, let's pull her dead ass out."
Grabbing one arm and Donna grabbing the other, you pull what you believe to be the corpse of Butchie Billie out of the truck. Donna doesn't have that great of a hold on her and drops her end causing you to nearly fall to the ground too.
"Goddamnit Donna, you can't... argh. Fuck it. I'll do it myself!" you say in exasperation.
You proceed to kick and roll the body further away from the road and into the brush.
"Good enough." You say breathing a little heavy. "Whew, open up one of my bags, I'm fairly certain I packed a few bottles of water in there."
Donna gets in the bed of the truck and starts unzipping bags. Eventually she finds the water and passes you one and takes one for herself.
As you drink, you notice both of your back tires are completely flat. You knew one of them was, but you guess the other one gave up during the night.
"Our tires are fucked. I mean we could still drive on them, but it wouldn't be a pleasant ride." You say.
"Doesn't matter really, judging by the gauge last night we're almost out of gas too. Jimmy apparently didn't keep this truck gassed up in case of an emergency." Donna says.
"Great."
"I mean I suppose we could just keep driving until we can't anymore or we possibly find an auto shop."
"Auto shop? Out in the sticks?"
"Well I dunno, don't they usually have those last chance gas mechanic things along roadsides like this? Besides I think we're starting to get past the farmland and should be hitting more populated areas soon. Security City is this way after all." Donna says.
"Given what happened to our town, that might not be a good thing. We still don't know what the fuck is going on. All we do know is the government declared martial law and there are rabid people running around." You say.
"Well I wasn't suggesting we go to Security City, I was just saying we should be hitting more populated areas due it being close by. Look, obviously I don't have a good idea of what to do next, so if you got a long term plan, then by all means let's follow it."
Before you can reply, you hear the sound of vehicle. You peek your head out from behind the truck and see a car heading in your direction. It's going at a good pace, but MAYBE you can stop it.
"Donna, a car's coming. Quick, tear your clothing and go out in the road and look like a slutty damsel in distress!" you say.
"What?!"
"Just fucking do it!" you say and check to see how many bullets you have.
Donna, gets the picture quickly, though you can tell she's not entirely happy with this arrangement.
You hide behind the truck's side away from the road, while Donna gets in the middle of the road and waves her arms. You can't believe you're actually enacting a plan you thought up in your head just yesterday.
You just hope whoever the driver is; they actually stop and don't try to do something like say run over Donna instead.
The car approaches and actually starts to slow down and then eventually stops, but it does so at a distance. Someone then steps out of the passenger side armed with a sub-machine gun.
"Alright honey, if you want to live, I suggest you don't move." He says.
"Don't shoot! I'm completely unarmed! This isn't some sort of trick! Please, I just need help, my truck has flat tires and I don't have any way now to get to Security City!" Donna exclaims.
"Security City? Hah! You don't wanna go there trust me. The whole place is fucked! If the military doesn't round you up and kill ya, the cannibal freaks running all over the place will." The man shouts.
Well you know that place is definitely off the list now.
"Oh no! I don't know where to go then! I'm just so lost by myself! Where are you guys going? Can I come with you?" Donna asks.
"Come with us? Look, I dunno if that's a good idea. We're pretty full up with shit and there isn't much room in this car... "
"That's okay, I won't take up much room. I mean I'll sit on your lap if I have to."
"Sit on my... "
"Look I'll do anything you and your friend want! I'll suck your cocks and fuck you if I have to! Just I can't be alone! Not after those things tried to kill and eat me yesterday!" Donna screams and starts to rub her eyes and sniffling.
At this point the man with the sub-machine gun pauses.
"Hold on." He says and then converses with his driver buddy for a moment. You continue to wait patiently hoping they take this bait.
"Alright honey, you can come with us, but that payment you just offered? Well we'll be taking it now, so I hope you're ready to back up your promises." The passenger shouts and then gets back in the car, which slowly drives up closer to meet Donna.
When they drive up near the other side of the truck, you wonder if you should wait a little longer to make sure they're completely vulnerable or sneak around the truck and open fire now.
> wait a little longer
You decide that it would be best if they were completely pre-occupied. If you shoot now, the driver could either manage to drive off or the passenger could start spraying the place with bullets.
Still, you sneak around towards the front end of the truck so you can at least ambush from behind when you do strike.
"Okay baby, where are we doing this? The back seat of the car is pretty full as you can see. We can do it in your truck if you want. Front seat or the bed of it. Doesn't matter to me." The passenger says getting back out of the car.
"Uh, no not the truck. It got all shot up yesterday, back window broke and there's broken glass everywhere. Don't want to potentially get cut up."
"Hmm, well the hood of this car then?"
At this point Donna walks up to him and starts to do what she does best. Namely act like a slut.
"How about I do the both of you at the same time? That way you both get off and we can be on our way a lot quicker." she says and starts rubbing up against Mr. passenger.
"Well now. That's an interesting suggestion... how were you proposing the logistics of this?"
"Oh that's easy... you see, first I take off my clothes... " Donna says and quickly takes her clothing off until she's completely naked.
"Next, I just get on my knees in this front seat here... and start to unbuckle your friend's pants... "
You can't see the driver from your position since he's never moved out from his seat, but he's obviously okay with this since you hear a couple of moans of pleasure.
"And now... well don't just stand there silly. My ass is right in front of you, start fucking!" Donna commands.
"Wait, you want me to fuck you in the ass?!" Mr. passenger asks.
"Well it's not gonna fuck itself. Do what you want. I gotta concentrate on wrapping my lips around this nice hard cock... mmmmm... "
Holy shit, talk about taking one for the team... hell taking TWO for the team.
At this point Mr. passenger can't err on the side of caution any longer. He places his gun on the roof of the car and presumably starts taking your sister in a way that you imagine many men have taken her before.
With one dick in her mouth and another in her ass, you're fairly confident now that Donna's distracted them both to the point that you have the complete advantage.
You step out from the front of truck and walk towards the car parked near it. Mr. passenger's eyes aren't watching as he's focused on thrusting into your sister. His head is a perfect target and with a single shot, you end him as a threat.
"Oh shit! Oh shit! ARGH! MY DICK! FUCKING BITCH!" you hear the driver shout.
You rush over to the driver's side and point the gun at his head before he can start beating on your sister's head in an effort to get her off his dick.
"You move to your hands to hit my sister and you die. You try to start up the car and you die. If you want your life AND your dick to stay intact then I suggest you follow my orders. First thing, car keys."
"OKAY OKAY! ARGH! JUST TELL HER TO STOP BITING MY DICK!" the driver shouts and hastily hands you his car keys.
"Okay, that's a start. Alright, Donna, you can release his dick now, I'll take it from here."
Donna complies and then spits in the driver's face before he staggers out of the car with his pants half down. You tell her to grab your bags from the truck and put them in the car.
"Okay, we're going to be taking this car and everything in it. In exchange, you can take our truck. Granted it has two flat tires and is low on gas, but if you're lucky, you might just reach a trailer park that has lots of people willing to help you. You ready Donna?"
"Almost." Donna remarks.
You turn back to the driver who is still mostly holding on to his dick wincing in pain.
"Okay, well I guess this is where we part ways. Thanks for the info about Security City. We'll be sure to avoid going there... and uh... bye. Oh, and watch your head."
"Wha... ?" is all the driver says before you shoot him and get in the car.
"I thought you were letting him live." Donna says.
"What? And let a man who defiled my poor sister's mouth walk away to brag about it? Not fucking likely." You say and start the car up.
As you spin the car around to head back in your original direction, you ask Donna if she's okay since she's fidgeting a bit in her seat.
"So... um, are you okay?" you ask.
"I'm fine. It's done. We worked together and we succeeded. I think we both know our established roles are in this team. We all have our talents. Let's not talk about it." Donna says.
She doesn't exactly sound angry, but she obviously isn't leaping for joy about what she did. You almost want to talk more about what just happened, but given that your sister doesn't you don't press the issue and just drive.
As you're driving, Donna suddenly speaks up again.
"Next time, don't fucking kill the guy while he's still inside me. Tell him to move away or something first. I had a dead man's dick shooting cum in my ass for a split second before he fell. I'll admit to being a free spirited gal comfortable with my sexuality, but I didn't want to include necrophilia in my list of things I'm willing to do."
Wow. You didn't really expect to hear that graphic detail. It's actually a bit nasty and you can see why Donna's in the mood she's in.
"Okay Donna. Damn, sorry about that. I wasn't thinking." You say.
"Well like I said, it's done. Let's just not speak of it again. (Sigh) Probably for the best he didn't go the traditional route or else he might've impregnated me when he shot his load and I might've given birth to zombie babies or some shit." Donna remarks.
The situation is pretty fucked up, but you're having a hard trying not to laugh now.
"I don't think it works that way Donna. Pretty sure you would've given birth to a normal baby." You say with a stifled chuckle.
"Yeah, well that would be just as bad."
You decide not to make any more comments even though there's a really twisted part of you that is finding this all pretty amusing and wants to make jokes. It's almost like you're sort of getting a kick out of Donna's discomfort. Maybe it's pent up hostility you've had for her due to how she's acted towards you in the past. Maybe it's some sort of sadistic side you've always harbored and it's just recently come out due to this week's events.
In any case, it's slightly worrying to you, since you're starting to wonder how far you're going to start abandoning "civility." You've already committed murder on several occasions, and while the first time was in self-defense, the ones following it have been getting progressively more predatory.
A few more remorseless murders and you're going to be just like your Uncle Ed. (Now you're wondering if it's genetic)
You and Donna continue to drive. A couple of other cars do pass you on the road. You imagine they must be coming from Security City or fleeing it from your previous information. You're just glad you haven't come across any military trying to block the road.
You continue to drive for about a half hour before you see something of interest in the distance. Namely a truck stop, which apparently has been converted into a minor fortress.
"Well that's interesting." You say.
"Is that a truck stop?" Donna asks.
"Yeah I think so. Looks like whoever is there are trying to block the place off by putting trucks around it. They even got people standing on top of the trucks with rifles as lookouts. " you say.
"Are we stopping there?"
"I dunno. Whoever is there probably isn't going to be too trustful of anyone. Though, we still don't have that much of long term plan. A place like this might be a safe haven of sorts. I mean it already looks way better defended than that trailer park."
"Well, it's up to you. But I think we're going to have to be more careful at a place like this."
"We might as well chance it if only to catch a breather and maybe get some directions because I can honestly say I don't know where the fuck we are or where we should be going. That's assuming they even let us in."
You and Donna drive to the truck stop, which immediately causes the lookouts to point and raise their rifles in your direction. When you stop in front of it, there are a lot of shouts for you to stay in the car.
"We're not just letting anyone in here. Who are ya, and state yer business!" the lookout from above shouts.
"Just a couple poor souls trying to escape the chaos out there! Our home town was overrun by military and crazy people. We've also been attacked by others who would try to take advantage of us. Please, we're just looking for some sort of refuge even if it's temporary. We got some supplies in our car."
"Hrmmm, well whatta you got?"
You turn your head to look in the back seat to actually see what you "inherited" since you never looked before. You see a first aid kit on top of a pile of bags.
"Um... we got some medicine. Maybe that could help?" you say.
There is a long pause and he tells you to wait before climbing down the truck and disappearing from sight. Eventually you hear his voice again which is now coming from behind the truck barricade.
"Okay, we're gonna move this truck, but one funny thing happens and you're the first one getting a bullet to the head. Alright, we're letting this one in, everyone keep extra look out for those rabid bastards!"
As soon as the truck is moved out your way, the man who was barking orders at you waves you in and motions you over to a parking spot with some other cars. As soon as you drive in they put the truck back. Either they're really safety conscience or they don't want to risk having you get away.
"Well let's hope these people are just normal people trying to survive and aren't a gang of rapists." You remark.
From this distance you see several more people in the building part of the truck stop. Looks like it's a general store/diner combo. Most of them are watching you from the windows, though a few of them come out, one of them is an older man with a cane who walks directly towards the car.
"Okay, I want the two you in that car to exit it slowly. I don't care if you got weapons, but don't point them at me or anyone else in a threatening manner." The old man shouts.
You take your pistol and shove it in the front of your pants. As for your newly acquired sub-machine gun, you just leave it in the car when you and Donna exit it. Naturally rifles are pointed at the pair of you, but the old man with the cane shouts telling them to calm down.
"You lot, stop pointing your guns and start unloading the car. Sorry about that, everyone's a little on edge. Name's Henry. I own this place." He says.
"My name's Suzy, and I get it."
"So what are two pretty young girls doing driving around in this mess?"
"Long story, but I'll just say, my sister and I are grateful for the shelter if only for awhile."
"Hm, think nothing of it. Really though, if you two are willing to pull yer weight around here, yer welcome to stay as long as you like. Right now we've got plenty of supplies and whatever useful supplies you have can be considered payment for your way in here."
"Well, that's certainly an offer to think about, but I'm not exactly sure what we'd do around here." You answer.
"We can find something I'm sure. Anyway, I just mention it because I've been trying to contact various places on my Ham Radio, and all I can gather is what's been going on is pretty serious and I'm not sure if there's any place I could direct you where to go that would be as safe as this place right now. Security City is completely overrun and the closest military Fort around here, Fort Timons doesn't even know what the fuck is going on other than the obvious. Besides, I don't think you'd get in there anyway, not being military and all."
"This place is really safe huh?" you ask.
"Well not to brag, but we just fended off a big horde of those rabid freak things that I imagine wandered from the city yesterday. Didn't even lose anyone either. Wasn't fun though and I'm glad no more of those things have popped up, but yeah, I think we're doing good job of keeping this place safe. Anyway, you're good to stay for the night, unless you let me know you want to stick around longer and we'll find something for the both of you to do. Okay, I'm going to go make sure these boys don't take EVERYTHING of yours in that car." Henry says and then walks over to oversee his people unloading your car.
Well it's a similar situation you had in the trailer park. Pull your weight or get the hell out. Funny how that worked out.
Maybe you could try to do the "community" thing again. The trailer park wasn't exactly filled with welcoming people, maybe things here could be different and you could actually feel safe here. This place does seem a little better organized and definitely better defended. Really, the only reason why you left the trailer park to begin with was at the insistence of your sister and the fact that it was getting pretty dangerous there.
Then again, this place could turn out to be just as bad where you don't get along with anyone and everything eventually turns into a cluster fuck. Maybe you might as well save yourself the bother by leaving tomorrow.
> make long term plans
While this place might very well not work out, you decide you need to at least make a go of it. Given that you turned to murder and banditry fairly quickly you think you need some semblance of law and order to keep yourself from becoming a complete savage, but more importantly you think Donna needs this more than you do.
This whole week, Donna's been flip flopping a bit on the whole "trying to get her life together" thing. Granted she hasn't had a great foundation, but if you stay on the road and just drift, about the only thing she's ever going to be useful for is... well bait for whomever else you decide to rob in the future.
"Hey Donna, I think we should stay here and by that I mean try to do what we were doing in the trailer park until we ran out like a pair of thieves."
"Suzy, you know that place wasn't turning out good for us."
"Yeah, I know, that's why I ultimately agreed with your plan to leave it... but I can't help think that if we'd done things a little differently... well doesn't matter. My point is, I think we BOTH need some structure."
"Structure? You're joking right?"
At this point you grab Donna by the arm and go to speak to her away from the earshot of those nearby.
"No Donna, I'm not fucking joking. Thursday, we stole a truck and killed two people who were just trying to stop us. Earlier today, we basically did the same thing except it was premeditated. You see a pattern emerging?"
"Hey, I didn't mean to run over that woman at the trailer park and I didn't know you were going to kill those two guys with the car."
"Donna, don't play the babe in the woods routine. Granted I'LL take the blame for murdering those guys in cold blood, but you knew damn well that it was a possibility. You went along with it."
"I went along with it, because you were practically shoving me in the road, telling me to strip to get those guys attention in the first place. It wasn't YOU who had to role-play a pig on a spit to distract them. Besides, we had to do it for survival."
"And that's my point. First we're doing it for survival, how long before we start doing it for fun? I mean... (Sigh) I don't know about you, but for the past few days, my mind has been going to a dark place. Quite frankly a place I didn't think I had. I mean I've killed several people at this point and I don't feel particularly bad about it. Like I don't feel anything."
"Geez, Suzy... "
"Yeah, I'm apparently more fucked up than I ever realized, but what about you? I mean you've relied on your looks and sex to get what you want for the most part. Do you really think that's a great way to go through life? I even used you as slut bait so we could rip off someone a lot easier. Hell, I pretty much pimped you out and I think it's the only thing fucked up thing I've done recently that I HAVE actually felt bad about doing on some level. You shouldn't have to be taking random dicks in the ass and mouth just so we can get by. And I'm really sorry for that. We both NEED a better plan for our future and drifting from place to place isn't it."
Donna's silent for a moment.
"But what would we do here? How would we contribute?"
"I dunno, but I'm going to go talk to that Henry guy about it." You say and then head over back to Henry who is overseeing his people taking all the shit out of your car.
"Oh hey there... Suzy wasn't it?" Henry remarks.
"Yeah." You answer.
"Well Suzy, you'll be happy to know we haven't taken much, save for the couple of first aid kits you had. We got tons of food and water, so we really didn't need any of that. Oh, didn't take your weapons either. Got enough of those too."
"Um... thanks, but I wanted to talk to you about staying."
"Good, we could use the help, so what skills do you have?" Henry asks.
"Well, I killed a lot of those cannibal freaks. I also had to kill a few regular psychos as well this week. Guess you could say I've become a fast learner in the ways of the gun... so do you need another lookout?"
"Wouldn't turn one down if you're feeling up to the task. Not many here actually want to do it. Anyway, I'll make sure to get you a rifle, but what about your sister? What's she do?"
Before you can answer, your sister Donna has come up to speak for herself.
"I'm a people person! I used to plan parties and other similar social events. Made sure people had a good time. Now while that might not sound very useful, I think given our current situation it could be. I mean I can't imagine spirits around here are very high. And when spirits aren't very high, everything else goes to shit. I think I could help out in making sure people stay positive." Donna says with a chipper tone and a smile.
Henry scratches his head and returns a brief grin.
"Well now, that is an interesting proposal and I have to say you do have a pretty cheery attitude. You're right in that everyone has been on edge and not in the best of moods. I'm really not sure how you propose to change that, but if you can do it, well that would be pretty helpful. Though you're still going to have to do something else in the meantime, I think the wait staff in the diner needs help with going through the inventory. Go see Anne in the diner; she'll be able to direct you. Okay, well that's settled. You ready for your assignment Suzy?"
"Yeah, hold on. Just want to talk to my sister for a moment."
"Sure."
Once again you take Donna aside away from earshot.
"Donna, what was all that about planning parties and shit?" you ask.
"What? I did used to plan parties over Julie's house remember?" Donna says.
"I didn't think you guys actually planned them so much as you just invited a bunch of people over."
"Well okay, yeah most of the time that was the case, but really I was the main one that got those parties going to be more exciting than they actually were. I also curbed the more destructive elements that actually occurred at those things by keeping people positive and happy."
"So... what? You're going to turn this place into a rave orgy?"
"No... well I mean I wish, but all I have to do is take my interpersonal skills and channel them in some way that will work here. Look, you said we need to try to start over. Well, I'm going to improvise with what I can so we can make a go of it here."
"You're right Donna. Okay, well I'll leave you to it."
Before you leave, Donna moves in to hug you. You weren't expecting it, but you return the hug.
"Be careful Suzy, don't get eaten." Donna remarks.
"Don't worry about me, you just focus on what you need to do." You say.
With those parting words, Donna heads towards the diner and you go back to Henry for your assignment.
Henry apparently has already told some of his people that you'll be joining them on the truck tops keeping a look out and hands you a rifle. Henry also mentions that this decision was met with mixed results. Some were happy since it meant they could take more breaks, others didn't like the idea since nobody really knows who the fuck you are and don't see why they should trust you yet. Still, Henry is pretty well respected you guess around here, because other than some grumbling nobody is outright making a major case out of it.
Henry takes you to the far back end of the truck stop. He says he hasn't really put many guards up here since its away from the road and borders the wilderness and so far nothing has come out from there yet, other than the occasional wildlife.
"Now I don't think anything actually will be coming up this way, since I imagine if we did have another cannibal attack they'll be coming from one of the other directions, but hey we shouldn't just keep our back completely undefended. Now you'll be here until about midnight, I hope you're up for that." Henry remarks.
"That's what I'm here for."
"Hm. Well like I said, there probably won't be much going on and about the most likely thing you're going to have to fight off is boredom. Um, if you need to go bathroom, there are some port a johns nearby, though suppose if you REALLY need to, you can go run over to the diner if you're a little more concerned with cleanliness, but whatever you do make sure you at least tell Larry over there so he can keep extra watch while you're gone." Henry points to a man over on top of a truck on the far side of where you are before continuing.
"Anyway, that's about it, and if you see anything that looks dangerous, yell your head off and warn us."
"Okay, got it." You answer.
You climb up the ladder propped against the eighteen-wheeler and take you place as a guard.
A few hours pass and just as predicted, nothing happens. You're not really bored yet though since you're taking a mental count of the number of rabbits you see hopping around in the field and making up little bunny names and little stories about their little bunny lives.
Every once in awhile while you're walking back and forth along the truck, you wonder how your sister is doing. You also wave to Larry once in an attempt to be friendly, but he doesn't return the wave and ignores you.
Eventually he has to pay attention when nature calls.
"Hey Larry!" you shout.
"What?!" he answers in an annoyed tone.
"I gotta pee!"
"So? Go over the side of the truck, its what I do when I gotta piss."
"Yeah, I'm not a guy and I don't have the luxury of the world being my toilet. I need to use a proper bathroom. Henry told me to let you know so you can keep an extra eye on things until I get back."
"(Sigh) Fine, don't fucking take all day though."
With Larry's acknowledgement of your bathroom needs, you go down the ladder and run to the diner. (You sure as hell aren't going to use those disgusting port a johns)
When you enter the diner, you find a variety of people singing songs and joking around. You then see Donna dressed in a waitress uniform wave to you.
"Hey Suzy! You done with protecting all of us?! This is my sister Suzy folks! She's the one that saved my life more than once this week!"
At this point everyone says hi to you.
"Um... hey. I actually just came in to use the bathroom" You reply caught a little off guard.
"That's Suzy, always the social one." Donna laughs and then goes back to talking to the crowd.
After taking care of business in the bathroom, you wash your hands and see Donna entering the room.
"Gotta hand it to you Donna, it hasn't been a few hours and already you've got the people here in a good mood." You say.
"Yes, and I didn't fuck all of them to get them that way in case that's what you were thinking." Donna says.
"Sheesh, I saw some children out there. I know you're not a degenerate Donna."
"Well, I'm glad you don't think I am. Never thought I'd say this, but your opinion of me has started to matter more this week. So how's guard duty?"
"It is what it is. I'm not quite the people person you are though, so all I've managed to do is piss off the one person assigned near me. On the bright side, I've managed to stave off boredom by making up stories in my head about the bunnies bouncing around in the fields."
"Heh, well you always were the imaginative one. Well I'll see you later."
You leave your sister and return to your guard duty, which continues to be uneventful. As the night comes your stories about rabbits give way to stories about wandering possums and raccoons instead. Thankfully no cannibals though.
Eventually someone comes to relieve you of duty. Some guy you haven't seen before, but at least he's a little more cordial than Larry.
You return to the diner where you find most people now asleep. Donna is still awake and sitting behind the food counter playing solitaire. She waves you over.
"Suzy, there you are. I waited up for you so I could show you where we'll be sleeping. Come on." Donna whispers and takes you through the back kitchen.
"Hey you didn't eat today did you? There's a lot of food here you know. There's also a shower in the waitresses' private bathroom if you need." Donna says.
"Nah, I'm good for now. I'll worry about that stuff tomorrow." You reply.
"Okay, well here it is." Donna says and opens up a small storeroom, which doesn't have much space.
"I tried to make it as comfortable as possible with a few blankets I borrowed. There are our bags of clothing. I figured those might work as pillows of a sort." Donna says.
"Well I guess it will have to do." You answer.
You lay down on the make shift bed on the floor and try to get as comfortable as possible. Donna does likewise and you drift off.
> Next day...
SATURDAY
You wake up to a body spooning you, and an arm holding you tightly around your mid-section.
"Donna! Hey! Wake the fuck up!" you shout pushing your sister off of you.
"Huh? Wha? The hell are you pushing and hitting me for?" she exclaims groggily.
"Because you were about to commit incest that's why!" you exclaim.
"Oh. Sorry. It wasn't intentional I assure you. I probably was dreaming about Julie."
"Excuse me?"
"Well one time over her house her heating system broke down and we had to sleep together for warmth for a week."
"Okay, I don't want to know anymore about your little lesbian encounters with Julie." You say.
"Oh geez Suzy don't be so heteronormative, we weren't lesbians. We just had some fun on occasion. (Sigh) I wish she was here with us." Donna says getting a little tearful.
You pat Donna on the shoulder.
"I wish she was here too Donna." You say.
After that moment of silence to remember your friend, the both of you get up.
"You know what time it is?" Donna asks.
"No, but I know it's time for me to take a shower. You said I can use the waitresses' private one?" you say.
"Yeah, but you might have to wait for other people."
"Damn, speaking of waitresses, what's with the uniform?"
"Oh this? Well I needed to change my clothes yesterday and I was offered one of their uniforms. I figured I'd wear it to fit in a little better, besides its kind of cute don't you think?" Donna asks.
"It's kind of stripperish if you ask me. The skirt barely covers your ass." You reply.
"Well I think that's the point. This is a truck stop remember and they probably want the waitresses to look a little more on the sexy side."
"Hm, well I'll stick with my old non-stripper clothes."
"Prude." Donna snarks.
As you and Donna leave the storage room to start the new day you both suddenly hear a loud noise and a faint rumble. You then hear some screams and shouting from the front of the diner.
"Oh my god that was a fucking nuke!" you hear someone shout.
You and Donna just look at each other. Maybe its due to the week you've had, you're not entirely phased by this.
"(Sigh) I guess they finally went and did it." You say.
"Perfect way to start the day." Donna replies and the pair of you head to the front of the diner.
When you get there, you see a waitress trying to calm her children down. A couple people are arguing. A few are just sitting in a silent state of shock. Henry is actually outside the diner looking in the direction of where the bomb must've gone off. You can see the lingering remnants of a mushroom cloud in the far distance even from inside the diner.
"Well I can only hope we're far enough away that we aren't suffering from horrible radioactive fallout." You say.
"Yeah, I suppose not much can be done now if we are, just um... shoot me if my hair starts falling out okay?" Donna asks.
You briefly wonder if this bomb was the result of the nuclear war those Ground Zero ads kept harping on about or if this was just some internal thing to take care of those rabid people.
Either way, you suppose it doesn't really matter, life is going to be severely different from now on.
At this point Henry steps back in the diner and after calming some of the arguing truckers. He begins addressing the situation and stating that nothing has changed and that the situation is still the same, namely if people help, then they are welcome to stay. If not or if they don't want to stay then they are free to go.
A couple of the truckers who apparently have families elsewhere do leave. Everyone else stays and the work towards creating a permanent new "home" is begun.
After washing up and having something to eat, you head out to do your guard duty rounds. Donna comes to see you before you leave.
"Hey, Suzy."
"Yes?" You answer.
"Whatever happens next, I just want to say... I'm glad we're dealing with all this together."
"I'm glad we're seeing this through together too." You say.
And with those words, you and Donna hug and go contribute in your various jobs in this new community.
Funny that it took the collapse of society before you re-connected with your family again.
> Continue
Sisterhood
The future...
"Hey, those trailer park rednecks had been fucking assholes to us for years. It was high time that we burned that whole heap of trash to the ground like it deserved. It's just too bad we couldn't do it when we were temporarily stuck in that hell hole." You exclaim.
"Yeah, I know I just sort of wish there had been another way to deal with them. Wiping out entire communities isn't really something that is particularly popular you know. I mean there were children and other innocents there too." Donna says.
"Well that's why we can blame that shit on the Cult of Tiamat. They're the crazies that took things too far, or whatever... I dunno, you know how to spin this shit, you're the politician not me."
"Oh yes, the alliance with the cultists. That's going to be an easy spin... (Sigh) I can't believe you convinced me THAT was a good idea."
"Hey look, if we had gone head to head with those trailer park assholes by ourselves, it would've been a bloodbath for us. Considering the cult was also their enemy, it was a good opportunity to re-establish an old contact as it were. Besides, Bobby's bitch of a sister Diana wasn't around anymore so I knew I'd have more clout. Not to mention we've got a peace agreement with them now so that's TWO less enemies in our immediate area now."
Donna gets up from her desk and pours herself a drink. She downs the whole glass in one gulp and pours another shot.
It's funny; she used to drink for enjoyment at one time. Nowadays she drinks to keep herself from being overwhelmed with all the shit she has to deal with. That party girl is long gone and when she took over New Security from Henry she disappeared completely.
Popularity was always her specialty, but you've always been the stronger one. Without you Donna probably would've failed at this community leader thing a long time ago.
Of course without Donna, you probably would've gotten lynched by an angry mob a long time ago. That "good girl" that once hid out in the basement is long gone too. While you didn't become the "outlaw savage" that you worried about becoming, you still lost that "civility" and over the years as you had to deal with shitty things in this shitty new world, well it was just easier to be the cold bitch that would kill someone without hesitation.
And that's why you're a team.
"So Suzy. You and Bobby rekindle something?" Donna asks putting down her glass.
"Hah, no. Bobby's one true love nowadays is his blessed Tiamat. Followed by his sister Helen. Still, it doesn't hurt that I was an ex that I imagine he still has the occasional fond memory."
"You think he'll leave us be?"
"Sure. I mean we'll always keep an eye on his group, but now that those rednecks are gone, more territory has opened up for Bobby. He'll be satisfied in the foreseeable future."
"Okay... (Sigh) ugh, I don't feel like going out there and giving a fucking speech right now... "
"Look, I know you're stressing about this, but I promise you the people of this town aren't really going to be that upset by the destruction of a bunch of hostile trailer trash. Some of them will probably throw a party. This isn't the old world anymore where you got the U.N. or some shit waggling their finger at you for war crimes. People are back to the mindset that their tight knit communities come first and fuck everyone else. Besides even if you do have some idealistic fools screaming about injustice or some shit, you've still got the support of our militia of which I am currently head of. I'd say you're not in any danger."
Donna smiles and shakes her head.
"Jesus Suzy. I'm sure glad you're on my side." Donna says.
"Hey, sisterhood forever right?" you say extending your hand.
Donna nods and grips your hand followed by a hug.
"Sisterhood forever Suzy."
And with those words, Donna straightens her clothing and heads out of her office to address the public and you follow close behind.
A few winks, a few smiles and a few lies later and Donna has the public in the palm of her hand just like you knew she would. She just needed your support for that extra boost of confidence.
Not bad for a party girl and a basement dweller. |
You decide that it would be best if they were completely pre-occupied. If you shoot now, the driver could either manage to drive off or the passenger could start spraying the place with bullets.
Still, you sneak around towards the front end of the truck so you can at least ambush from behind when you do strike.
"Okay baby, where are we doing this? The back seat of the car is pretty full as you can see. We can do it in your truck if you want. Front seat or the bed of it. Doesn't matter to me." The passenger says getting back out of the car.
"Uh, no not the truck. It got all shot up yesterday, back window broke and there's broken glass everywhere. Don't want to potentially get cut up."
"Hmm, well the hood of this car then?"
At this point Donna walks up to him and starts to do what she does best. Namely act like a slut.
"How about I do the both of you at the same time? That way you both get off and we can be on our way a lot quicker." she says and starts rubbing up against Mr. passenger.
"Well now. That's an interesting suggestion... how were you proposing the logistics of this?"
"Oh that's easy... you see, first I take off my clothes... " Donna says and quickly takes her clothing off until she's completely naked.
"Next, I just get on my knees in this front seat here... and start to unbuckle your friend's pants... "
You can't see the driver from your position since he's never moved out from his seat, but he's obviously okay with this since you hear a couple of moans of pleasure.
"And now... well don't just stand there silly. My ass is right in front of you, start fucking!" Donna commands.
"Wait, you want me to fuck you in the ass?!" Mr. passenger asks.
"Well it's not gonna fuck itself. Do what you want. I gotta concentrate on wrapping my lips around this nice hard cock... mmmmm... "
Holy shit, talk about taking one for the team... hell taking TWO for the team.
At this point Mr. passenger can't err on the side of caution any longer. He places his gun on the roof of the car and presumably starts taking your sister in a way that you imagine many men have taken her before.
With one dick in her mouth and another in her ass, you're fairly confident now that Donna's distracted them both to the point that you have the complete advantage.
You step out from the front of truck and walk towards the car parked near it. Mr. passenger's eyes aren't watching as he's focused on thrusting into your sister. His head is a perfect target and with a single shot, you end him as a threat.
"Oh shit! Oh shit! ARGH! MY DICK! FUCKING BITCH!" you hear the driver shout.
You rush over to the driver's side and point the gun at his head before he can start beating on your sister's head in an effort to get her off his dick.
"You move to your hands to hit my sister and you die. You try to start up the car and you die. If you want your life AND your dick to stay intact then I suggest you follow my orders. First thing, car keys."
"OKAY OKAY! ARGH! JUST TELL HER TO STOP BITING MY DICK!" the driver shouts and hastily hands you his car keys.
"Okay, that's a start. Alright, Donna, you can release his dick now, I'll take it from here."
Donna complies and then spits in the driver's face before he staggers out of the car with his pants half down. You tell her to grab your bags from the truck and put them in the car.
"Okay, we're going to be taking this car and everything in it. In exchange, you can take our truck. Granted it has two flat tires and is low on gas, but if you're lucky, you might just reach a trailer park that has lots of people willing to help you. You ready Donna?"
"Almost." Donna remarks.
You turn back to the driver who is still mostly holding on to his dick wincing in pain.
"Okay, well I guess this is where we part ways. Thanks for the info about Security City. We'll be sure to avoid going there... and uh... bye. Oh, and watch your head."
"Wha... ?" is all the driver says before you shoot him and get in the car.
"I thought you were letting him live." Donna says.
"What? And let a man who defiled my poor sister's mouth walk away to brag about it? Not fucking likely." You say and start the car up.
As you spin the car around to head back in your original direction, you ask Donna if she's okay since she's fidgeting a bit in her seat.
"So... um, are you okay?" you ask.
"I'm fine. It's done. We worked together and we succeeded. I think we both know our established roles are in this team. We all have our talents. Let's not talk about it." Donna says.
She doesn't exactly sound angry, but she obviously isn't leaping for joy about what she did. You almost want to talk more about what just happened, but given that your sister doesn't you don't press the issue and just drive.
As you're driving, Donna suddenly speaks up again.
"Next time, don't fucking kill the guy while he's still inside me. Tell him to move away or something first. I had a dead man's dick shooting cum in my ass for a split second before he fell. I'll admit to being a free spirited gal comfortable with my sexuality, but I didn't want to include necrophilia in my list of things I'm willing to do."
Wow. You didn't really expect to hear that graphic detail. It's actually a bit nasty and you can see why Donna's in the mood she's in.
"Okay Donna. Damn, sorry about that. I wasn't thinking." You say.
"Well like I said, it's done. Let's just not speak of it again. (Sigh) Probably for the best he didn't go the traditional route or else he might've impregnated me when he shot his load and I might've given birth to zombie babies or some shit." Donna remarks.
The situation is pretty fucked up, but you're having a hard trying not to laugh now.
"I don't think it works that way Donna. Pretty sure you would've given birth to a normal baby." You say with a stifled chuckle.
"Yeah, well that would be just as bad."
You decide not to make any more comments even though there's a really twisted part of you that is finding this all pretty amusing and wants to make jokes. It's almost like you're sort of getting a kick out of Donna's discomfort. Maybe it's pent up hostility you've had for her due to how she's acted towards you in the past. Maybe it's some sort of sadistic side you've always harbored and it's just recently come out due to this week's events.
In any case, it's slightly worrying to you, since you're starting to wonder how far you're going to start abandoning "civility." You've already committed murder on several occasions, and while the first time was in self-defense, the ones following it have been getting progressively more predatory.
A few more remorseless murders and you're going to be just like your Uncle Ed. (Now you're wondering if it's genetic)
You and Donna continue to drive. A couple of other cars do pass you on the road. You imagine they must be coming from Security City or fleeing it from your previous information. You're just glad you haven't come across any military trying to block the road.
You continue to drive for about a half hour before you see something of interest in the distance. Namely a truck stop, which apparently has been converted into a minor fortress.
"Well that's interesting." You say.
"Is that a truck stop?" Donna asks.
"Yeah I think so. Looks like whoever is there are trying to block the place off by putting trucks around it. They even got people standing on top of the trucks with rifles as lookouts. " you say.
"Are we stopping there?"
"I dunno. Whoever is there probably isn't going to be too trustful of anyone. Though, we still don't have that much of long term plan. A place like this might be a safe haven of sorts. I mean it already looks way better defended than that trailer park."
"Well, it's up to you. But I think we're going to have to be more careful at a place like this."
"We might as well chance it if only to catch a breather and maybe get some directions because I can honestly say I don't know where the fuck we are or where we should be going. That's assuming they even let us in."
You and Donna drive to the truck stop, which immediately causes the lookouts to point and raise their rifles in your direction. When you stop in front of it, there are a lot of shouts for you to stay in the car.
"We're not just letting anyone in here. Who are ya, and state yer business!" the lookout from above shouts.
"Just a couple poor souls trying to escape the chaos out there! Our home town was overrun by military and crazy people. We've also been attacked by others who would try to take advantage of us. Please, we're just looking for some sort of refuge even if it's temporary. We got some supplies in our car."
"Hrmmm, well whatta you got?"
You turn your head to look in the back seat to actually see what you "inherited" since you never looked before. You see a first aid kit on top of a pile of bags.
"Um... we got some medicine. Maybe that could help?" you say.
There is a long pause and he tells you to wait before climbing down the truck and disappearing from sight. Eventually you hear his voice again which is now coming from behind the truck barricade.
"Okay, we're gonna move this truck, but one funny thing happens and you're the first one getting a bullet to the head. Alright, we're letting this one in, everyone keep extra look out for those rabid bastards!"
As soon as the truck is moved out your way, the man who was barking orders at you waves you in and motions you over to a parking spot with some other cars. As soon as you drive in they put the truck back. Either they're really safety conscience or they don't want to risk having you get away.
"Well let's hope these people are just normal people trying to survive and aren't a gang of rapists." You remark.
From this distance you see several more people in the building part of the truck stop. Looks like it's a general store/diner combo. Most of them are watching you from the windows, though a few of them come out, one of them is an older man with a cane who walks directly towards the car.
"Okay, I want the two you in that car to exit it slowly. I don't care if you got weapons, but don't point them at me or anyone else in a threatening manner." The old man shouts.
You take your pistol and shove it in the front of your pants. As for your newly acquired sub-machine gun, you just leave it in the car when you and Donna exit it. Naturally rifles are pointed at the pair of you, but the old man with the cane shouts telling them to calm down.
"You lot, stop pointing your guns and start unloading the car. Sorry about that, everyone's a little on edge. Name's Henry. I own this place." He says.
"My name's Suzy, and I get it."
"So what are two pretty young girls doing driving around in this mess?"
"Long story, but I'll just say, my sister and I are grateful for the shelter if only for awhile."
"Hm, think nothing of it. Really though, if you two are willing to pull yer weight around here, yer welcome to stay as long as you like. Right now we've got plenty of supplies and whatever useful supplies you have can be considered payment for your way in here."
"Well, that's certainly an offer to think about, but I'm not exactly sure what we'd do around here." You answer.
"We can find something I'm sure. Anyway, I just mention it because I've been trying to contact various places on my Ham Radio, and all I can gather is what's been going on is pretty serious and I'm not sure if there's any place I could direct you where to go that would be as safe as this place right now. Security City is completely overrun and the closest military Fort around here, Fort Timons doesn't even know what the fuck is going on other than the obvious. Besides, I don't think you'd get in there anyway, not being military and all."
"This place is really safe huh?" you ask.
"Well not to brag, but we just fended off a big horde of those rabid freak things that I imagine wandered from the city yesterday. Didn't even lose anyone either. Wasn't fun though and I'm glad no more of those things have popped up, but yeah, I think we're doing good job of keeping this place safe. Anyway, you're good to stay for the night, unless you let me know you want to stick around longer and we'll find something for the both of you to do. Okay, I'm going to go make sure these boys don't take EVERYTHING of yours in that car." Henry says and then walks over to oversee his people unloading your car.
Well it's a similar situation you had in the trailer park. Pull your weight or get the hell out. Funny how that worked out.
Maybe you could try to do the "community" thing again. The trailer park wasn't exactly filled with welcoming people, maybe things here could be different and you could actually feel safe here. This place does seem a little better organized and definitely better defended. Really, the only reason why you left the trailer park to begin with was at the insistence of your sister and the fact that it was getting pretty dangerous there.
Then again, this place could turn out to be just as bad where you don't get along with anyone and everything eventually turns into a cluster fuck. Maybe you might as well save yourself the bother by leaving tomorrow.
> just stay the night
You and Donna have been through this song and dance once before, no point in doing it again. Still there's no reason to not take advantage of an opportunity here. You pull Donna aside away from earshot of everyone.
"Hey Donna, I think we should only stay the night, but I'm also thinking we could gather a few more supplies here."
"Wait, really? This place isn't like the trailer park. We won't be able to get out so easily."
"Well that's why we're going to case this place. Or rather I'M going to case this place and YOU are going make friendly with the guards."
Donna looks at you like "really?"
"What? You said I had my talents and you had yours. You know the drill."
"Yeah, I guess. Teamwork and all that... whatever. Just let me know who needs to be fucked and when."
"I'm going to go talk with Henry again and try to assess this situation. We can make a better plan soon."
You leave Donna and head back to Henry who is overseeing his people taking all the shit out of your car.
"Oh hey there, Suzy wasn't it?" he says.
"Yeah. Decided we're only going to stay the night Henry. We've got family in another county and we should at least try to reach them to see if they're okay." You lie.
"Well I can understand that... hmmm. Tell ya what; you can keep everything in your car. Actually we were just going to take the first aid kits, but I was sort of hoping you'd stick around to help out. Since you aren't I don't think it would be right for us to take what little medical supplies you do have. Especially since you'll have a dangerous journey ahead."
At this point Henry motions one of his people carrying the medical kits to put them back in the car. And with this act of kindness, you think you see your opportunity.
"That's really generous Henry. Thank you. Hey is there any place we can wash up?" you ask.
"Well there is a small shower in the waitresses' private bathroom. Just tell Anne I said you could use it. As for your sleeping arrangements, well I guess one of the booths or floor will have to do. Of course you could sleep in your car if you want." Henry replies.
"Hey, it's better than we could've hoped for. Thanks again."
At this point you part ways with Henry and return to Donna.
"Okay, new plan. An hour from now I want you to grab one of those medical kits in the car and go see Henry. Tell him a story about how you really think we should pay to stay here and you insist that he take a kit."
"Wait, you want me to fuck that old guy?"
"Well if you have to, but I'm thinking he's probably got a key to where he keeps all the medicine locked up. Find out where that is, steal the key and later on in the night we can raid it. Then when the morning comes we leave before anyone finds out."
"I dunno Suzy, that sounds pretty risky. In fact it sounds pretty dumb. Shouldn't we just, I dunno pilfer the kitchen during the night? Seems like it might be easier."
"Yeah and there's going to be a shitload of people sleeping in that diner too. Talk about your dumb ideas."
"Maybe we shouldn't steal anything. I mean that old guy didn't even take our medkits as payment and is letting us stay here for free. I mean that's pretty cool."
"(Sigh) Fuck Donna, how the hell are you ever going to survive in this world if you don't seize opportunity when you see it? Fine, you know what, fuck the plan. Why don't you just go blow as many guys as you can and hand me what you manage to steal off of them okay? That seems like it might be your speed." You say angrily and begin to walk away.
However you've pushed Donna a little too far this time and she pushes back, literally when you feel a heavy shove causing you to nearly fall over.
"Oh fuck you Suzy! FUCK YOU! You think you can look down upon me like I'm some sort of gutter whore? You're no fucking better than I am! You're a goddamn murderer!"
At this point Donna's yelling loud enough for others to hear and now people are looking.
"Tell the whole fucking world Donna. And if I'm a murderer then you're one right along side with me! Who's idea was it to steal that fucking truck in the first place? You ran over someone, you stupid whore!" you laugh.
"Stop calling me that!"
"Fuck you, it's the truth. It doesn't matter where you go or where you are, you'll always be a goddamn cum guzzling slut trying to fill some void that can never be filled."
At this point Donna is screaming and tears are running down her face as she starts going on a tirade about your own shortcomings. You aren't really listening though, it's like your mind is going to a different place. A dark place that's telling you to shut her whore mouth shut.
And so you act upon this feeling and pull your pistol shooting Donna.
At first she looks down at her body wound and then back at you in shock. There are no last words she just falls backwards dead.
You stand there for a moment in a little disbelief of what you've done. You look at your pistol and then Donna's body. Meanwhile several of Henry's people are pointing their rifles at you, telling you to drop the gun. You aren't really listening to them either though.
When you fail to comply, one of Henry's people decides to play it safe and drops you with a shot to your head. |
As tempting as it is to just run, once again, you don't really have anywhere viable to run to and now you'd have a horde of those things possibly dogging your steps if you did, so you're going to just be satisfied with short term safety and keep optimistic that things aren't as hopeless as they seem.
You run up the stairs and into the trailer. Donna slams and locks the door, and then you both shove a couch in front of it. You look up at the ceiling of the trailer and see the sun roof open which naturally explains how Jimmy Ray got up there. You can hear him firing and swearing.
"Okay, I think we should be safe now." Donna remarks.
"I wouldn't count on that. I mean yeah, they'd have a hell of time breaking through the door, and granted the windows are high enough that they might have trouble breaking and climbing into them, but I still don't feel safe cooped up in here." You say and start looking around for more furniture and start moving a table under the sunroof.
"Suzy, what're you doing?"
"I'm going to go help your boyfriend if I can. You got a weapon down here?"
"There's Jimmy's bat and some knives in the kitchen, but he really doesn't need your help. You should stay down here, I mean what if they try to break in like you said?"
"Well I'll be able to shoot them from above a lot better from the roof. Climb up if things start getting grim." You say and start climb through the roof.
When you reach the roof, Jimmy notices you as he's in the middle of reloading his weapon.
"What the fuck are you doin' up here, get back in the trailer with your sister!" he says.
"I'm here to help." You say scanning the area.
"I don't need any help, now... "
You interrupt Jimmy, when you look over the other side of the trailer, see one particularly sneaky freak skulking near it and shoot him.
"You aren't even paying attention to the other side of the trailer. You need to be aware of your surroundings!" you say.
"Aw, he couldn't have gotten up here, and I would've heard him had he tried." Jimmy remarks. "Fine, stay up here, but don't get in my way!" he then adds realizing that you aren't going anywhere.
From on top of the trailer, you can see a good deal more of the park in general. You and Jimmy actually aren't the only ones standing on a trailer, you see several women with guns doing their best at fighting off this horde. You even see Tina when you look back towards her trailer.
The situation isn't quite as grim as it once appeared as you see a group of hillbillies from the east side of the park making their way back and soon start helping out with mopping up the freaks that have infested it.
Jimmy and yourself mostly keep to picking off the ones that come too close to his trailer. He actually compliments you or your shooting at one point. To be honest, it's sort of weird to you how much of a natural you are at it.
After few more bloody minutes, it's mostly over and the... well you still don't know WHAT they are exactly, but they're no longer the threat they were.
"Whew, I think we got the last of those sons of bitches." Jimmy says.
"Yeah, well I'm not in any hurry to check. I'm out of bullets anyway, so I'm just going to go back into the trailer with my sister."
"Okay, I'm gonna keep an eye out from here. Um... I wasn't sure about you at first, but thanks for yer help."
Suddenly Donna's head pops up from the opening in the roof.
"What's going on up here? The shooting has mostly stopped, is it over?" Donna asks.
"It's over in the sense that I'm guessing we aren't in any danger of being overrun. Was everything okay down there? We were trying to keep them from clawing at the trailer too much." You say.
"Yeah, a few got as close as the door and then one of you guys shot them." Donna says.
"Shit, let's get back down in the trailer." Jimmy suddenly says walking over to where you and Donna are.
"Did you just see more of those things?"
"No, I see...
"There you are, ya slackin' piece of shit! Where the fuck were you when we needed help over on the east side of the park. Nearly got my ass eaten and not in a good way!" Mel shouts from the ground as he walks with a couple of other men behind him.
"Aw Mel, I didn't even know about it until it was too late, I was uh... "
"You were thinkin' with yer dick as usual. Is that... is that blondie there I see? Holy shit, didn't think you were fool enough to fall fer this idiot's charms." Mel says.
"I didn't... I was looking for my sister and I helped her and Jimmy out here."
"Is that right?" Mel asks.
"Yeah, it's true! I was with her sister... and um, by the time I knew what was goin' on I couldn't leave this trailer because it was surrounded by those things! I was pickin' them off with the shotgun and then Suzy came here and helped out. Good thing too. There were a shitload of them, as you can tell by the bodies!" Jimmy says and begins pointing at them.
Mel stares at the bodies that Jimmy's pointing to and doesn't seem impressed.
"Jimmy, yer so full of shit right now, yer eyes are brown. By the number of bodies here and their various distances from the trailer, it wasn't THAT surrounded. Whatever, doesn't matter, come on down, you're comin' with us."
"Where are we goin?" Jimmy asks.
"We're gonna go try to fetch some medical supplies from town. We got some people hurt pretty fuckin' bad an' other than a few half used basic medical kits that a few people scrounged up, all else we got is a shitload of alcohol. You'd think those military trucks woulda had some medical shit in them, but no. I suppose SOME people here got some meth, crack and a few other unconventional drugs, but last thing we need is more goddamn junkies runnin' around here." Mel says glaring at Dan.
"Town? Um... don't ya think it'll be pretty fucked up there?" Jimmy asks.
"Of course it's gonna be fucked up there, but it needs to get done. Or we at least need to try. So come on Jimmy, get yer ass down here, what about you blondie?" Mel asks.
"What about me what?" you ask.
"You gonna come with us? Obviously you're good enough with a weapon to take care of yourself an' we're a little short on that at the moment."
As Jimmy kisses Donna on the cheek and tells her something about coming back to her, you briefly consider Mel's offer. While you've certainly "grown" past being the wallflower you tended to be, you know you're not some action heroine badass.
"While I appreciate the offer Mel, I think I'd be better off staying here, I'm still not as skilled as you guys are when it comes to shooting. I wouldn't want to be a liability." You say.
"Hm, I guess that's an honest assessment of yourself. Alright then, keep an eye out on things here. As for the rest of ya, come on let's round up a few more folks and then let's see just how fucked the town is." Mel says and he and the rest walk off leaving you and Donna who duck back inside Jimmy's trailer.
"I'm really glad you didn't go with them. I mean that's gotta be a suicide mission." Donna says.
"Well it will certainly be dangerous that's for sure." You say.
"So you still think it's a good idea to stay here?" Donna asks.
"Still want to leave huh?" you say.
"Don't you? I mean we just went through TWO major attacks at this place now! Who knows what the hell is gonna hit us next! More of those freaks probably, but I'm thinking that we got a better chance if we do leave this time."
"How's that?" you ask.
"Well Jimmy Ray's got a truck that he parked between his trailer and the next one as a poor man's barrier of sorts and he didn't take his keys with him. In fact they're over on the table over there. That suggests to me that we can easily take his while he's gone. In fact, Mel and most of those redneck assholes will all be gone and the others are nursing their wounds, so now would be the perfect time to get the hell out of here."
"I used up all my ammo fighting off those cannibal things. What about weapons?"
"I guess we'll have to get by on close combat ones for awhile, but Jimmy's probably got another gun in his bedroom somewhere. Look, I'll search this place and you go grab your bags from our trailer. I still got a bag packed near my bed from yesterday, so you can grab that one too."
You chuckle a bit at Donna's suggestion of completely robbing Jimmy Ray blind and take her plan into consideration.
> continue to stay
Once again, you can agree that it isn't the safest place, but you still see no viable alternative of where to go because you're getting the impression that it's going to be fucked up no matter where you go.
"Still probably safer than getting on the road right now. I think we need to stay just a little bit longer." You say.
"Jesus Christ I can't believe you're still willing to stay. (Sigh) Well, at this point I guess I've got no choice, but to stay too. I mean I think it's pretty obvious by now that I can't go it alone. I'm just not adapting well to this series of events like you seem to be." Donna remarks.
"I dunno if I'm adapting or just so overwhelmed by what's been going on this week that I'm just going with what my instincts are."
"Well you're a far cry from the wallflower you were." Your sister says.
"Yeah, I suppose, but I'd actually rather be on my couch in the basement back home."
"At this point, I'd rather be on that couch right next to you." Donna laughs.
You and Donna leave Jimmy Ray's trailer and head back to yours. Along the way you bump into Tina who is carrying two big meat hooks.
"So, you and blondie survived, glad to see it, because there are a shitload of bodies that need cleanin' up." Tina says.
Tina looks at you as if that's the last thing she wants to be doing.
"Um... " Tina starts to say.
"Uh, my sister is still really shaken up by the attack, nearly got eaten an' all you understand. She needs to lie down in the trailer, but I'll be glad to help."
Tina shakes her head at Donna and turns her attention to you.
"Come on then blondie." She says and you tell Donna you'll see her later.
You follow Tina where there are more than a few dead bodies of those things and two other women are standing by with meat hooks. One of the women is a little bigger and taller than everyone else and has short hair like a buzzcut. The other one is similar to Tina except with curlier hair.
"K, this is Mary Lou an' the giant over there is Butchie Billie. An' this one here with me is our newest addition to our wonderful community, blondie."
"It's Suzy, actually." You say.
"Yeah, whatever. Let's start moving these dead fucks before Mel gets back an' bitches about it. Nevermind, the fact that Mel and the rest of his fuckin' friends should be here doing this instead of traipsin' off to town." Tina says as she digs a meat hook into a body
"Well they said they were going for medical supplies." Billie says following suit.
"Damn fool thing to do really, I told him so too. I told him that right now he should focus on rebuilding the barricades around this place. I mean yeah I know more medical supplies would be useful, but really we got enough to get by for now and for those that got all bit up... well... " Tina trails off, but you know what she's getting at.
"You... think we should kill them?" Mary Lou asks, shoving her own meat hook in.
"I didn't say that. I'm just sayin' that perhaps wastin' medicine on them isn't the best idea because they're probably goners anyway. I mean don't you think so? I mean those crazy fuckers biting people had to have been sick with something right? How do we know it isn't spread through biting or even worse just being close to 'em? At least Mel had the sense to put all those folks in one trailer though."
You're having a little difficulty putting in your hook. It isn't like you've done this before.
"You need help there blondie? You're holding us up." Tina asks.
"No, I... got it. There." You say as the hook sinks in.
"Okay, lift everyone." Tina says and all four of you do so. Billie's probably doing the majority of the work though.
As you carry/drag the body to the open field behind the trailer park, Billie continues the conversation.
"Well I admit, them possibly bein' infected is a concern for me too, but I'm sort of surprised Mel didn't shoot them just to be safe, I mean we all know he isn't excessively compassionate." Billie remarks.
Tina laughs a bit.
"Well that's true, in fact I almost guarantee if they were anyone else he might've just done that, but one of Mel's few endearing traits is he's got a sense of loyalty. And I know he feels like he should at least try to help those that watched his back during the recent battle. Not to mention he is drinking buddies with most of 'em, despite the fact he doesn't think very highly of 'em. Oh well, hopefully he'll be successful with his trip."
You almost ask, but then stop yourself. Tina however has already noticed your stifled attempt at continuing the conversation.
"If you got somethin' to say blondie, say it." Tina remarks.
"Well, I was just gonna ask, do you think he'll even come back?"
"Shit blondie, that's a pretty fuckin' grim ass question. And if I were anyone else I'd probably be pretty upset by the implications, but I'm not worried about Mel. He'll get back here some how. Everyone else might be dead, but I'm confident he'll come back."
"Hey didn't Jimmy Ray go with them? I hope he comes back too!" Mary Lou remarks.
"Heh, guess you're a little late on the update there Mary, but blondie's sister Donna currently has her own hooks in Jimmy right now."
"What!? That asshole told me how I was the only one for him last week!" Mary Lou exclaims. "Hey blondie, tell your homewreckin' cunt of a sister to keep her hands off my man!"
You briefly wonder why Mary Lou who also having blonde hair is calling you blondie. (Granted hers is out of a bottle unlike your natural magnificence)
"Yeah, I'll pass it on to her." You remark apathetically.
At this point you reach your destination where a few other bodies have been placed and the four of you unhook the body and make your way back to the park to presumably get another body.
"Hey, Suzy isn't it?" Billie suddenly pipes up.
"Yeah?" you ask turning your head a bit to look at Billie who is walking behind you.
"Do you have an older sister by the name of Kelly who participates in the fight clubs in town?"
"Yes, I do. How did you know?" you ask.
"Because in the locker room she used to constantly bitch about having a pretty blonde sister by the name of Suzy that didn't do shit around the house and another one by the name of Donna that was a complete whore. I took a shot in the dark that you and this Donna were the same ones that might be related to her."
"Oh. Well you got it right. Wow, didn't realize she complained about us at... her work."
"Eh, she mostly complained about you. I mean ALL the fuckin' time. Most of us were sick to death of hearing her bitch. So where is Kelly anyway?"
"Dunno. Don't really care either. Knowing her she's probably surviving this bullshit somehow though. Were you and her an item or something?" you ask.
"Fuck no! I hated that cunt. That bitch knocked out three of my teeth in our last match! I almost had her, but I know that cunt spiked my drink with something before the match! Anyway she was straight, but I figured you knew that."
"Hm, sort of surprising. Just figured she was a lesbian. My whole family did actually." You say.
"Nah, she tried to get with so many of the guys at the fight club it was actually kind of pathetic. She actually would've been a whore like your sister Donna had she actually been successful. As it stands she was more like a rapist since she'd routinely intimidate some of the scrawny audience members into having sex with her."
This revelation about Kelly is pretty interesting, but you don't think you need to know too much more.
"Yikes, is all I got to say about that." You remark.
"Yeah, but I will say this, her physical description of you doesn't do you justice. You're much prettier." Billie says and them smiles with a couple of missing teeth.
You turn your head back away and close your eyes in horror at such a thought. Tina glances over at you and smirks.
"Kinda disturbin' to think she's been starin at yer ass this whole time isn't it blondie?" Tina says.
"Now that's not true, I've been starin' at yours as well." Billie laughs.
"Pfft, honey, EVERYONE stares at my fuckin' ass." Tina says puffing up slightly in pride.
When you get back to the trailer park, Mel and the rest have already returned. In the distance you see him slamming his truck door and hear him swearing.
"I guess it didn't go well. (Sigh) Let me go see what happened. As for the rest of these bodies, you can keep moving them if y'all want, but as far as I'm concerned Mel and whoever survived their trip can do it instead. I'm done with this mess."
At this point Tina leaves and seeing as you don't particularly want to move any more bodies you head back to your trailer. Eventually you arrive and collapse on your sofa.
"Suzy?" Donna asks coming from out of her room.
"Yeah, it's me. Man, I'm tired. I think the stress of the day is really catching up to me. Oh Mel's back, guess it didn't go as planned if he's back already."
"Is Jimmy Ray with him?"
"Dunno, I just saw Mel getting out of his truck and cussing up a storm."
"I guess I'll go check. Hope so... "
"Wait a minute, weren't you just ready to rob the guy blind a moment ago?" you ask.
"Well that was a different situation. I mean if we're going to stay here, it's best I latch on to the best looking guy here right? Isn't that what you said?"
"Actually I said becoming self-sufficient, but I suppose grabbing one of the guys so you're only sleeping with one as opposed to several works too. Well good luck. Oh there's a girl with a bad bleached blonde job by the name of Mary Lou that's got her eyes on him, so you might have some competition."
"Pfft. They haven't made anyone that can compete with me. Let alone around here. I mean come on, it's not even a contest." Donna remarks.
"Well glad to see your confidence still remains strong in all this. Have fun and be careful. I'm going to get some rest."
And with that you leave Donna to her own devices and turn over on your side to get some sleep. As you drift off you figure you'll only get a few hours before someone wakes you up to do something, but as it turns out, you sleep through the entire night.
> Next day...
FRIDAY
"HEY BLONDIE! GET YER ASS UP!" you hear as someone pounds on the door waking you up.
It sounds like Mel, but at least it isn't those awful Ground Zero commercials.
You groggily get up and through bleary eyes you see that it's actually still morning. You haven't been up this early in a long time... and it's a horrible thing.
You hear more banging and yelling causing you to respond in kind.
"Alright! Alright! Goddamnit, I'm up! I'm up!" you say and go to the door.
"What?!" you ask though Mel doesn't look too happy that you're even asking that question.
"What? Whadda ya mean what? Yer fuckin' sister and that cowardly motherfucker Jimmy Ray just skedaddled outta here with a perfectly good truck that was also actin as a temporary barrier! That's what!"
This remark isn't quite comprehended by you in your current groggy state.
"My sister fucked Jimmy Ray in his truck and what?" you say.
"Jesus fuckin'... I said... bah, I'm not fuckin' repeatin' myself! Shit!" Mel shouts and walks away banging on the door one more time. You briefly step outside and see Tina standing nearby.
"I'm guessin' you didn't know nothin' about it anyway considering you're still here." Tina remarks.
"Okay, someone tell me again what happened? What about my sister and Jimmy Ray now?"
"Apparently your sister convinced Jimmy Ray to leave this place in the middle of the night. Guess she really laid it down good, but then Jimmy Ray's always had a tendency to get stupid over a gal who knows how to work it."
"Wait. Wait. Wait a minute she's gone?!"
"Yeah, she's fuckin' gone with a perfectly good truck! I actually don't even give a shit about Jimmy Ray, he was more useless than tits on bull, but we could've used that fuckin' truck for... " Mel says.
"Oh for fuck's sake Mel, we got a shitload of trucks here and aren't you converting those army trucks into some sort of road warrior deathmobile anyway?"
"Yeah, but it's the fuckin' principle of the thing! Not to mention we still gotta find some medical supplies! Goddamnit, Dan was supposed to be keepin' a look out and... "
You leave Mel to rant and head back inside trying to process this new information. You can't believe that Donna would just leave you like that. There was no indication she was going to just take off like that.
You check her bedroom and see that her bag is gone. You don't know if she took that just after you fell asleep, or if she came back for it before leaving or what. Was she planning it right from the start or did she just see the opportunity? None of it matters you suppose, she just ditched you and didn't even have the courtesy to let you know.
So much for "sisterhood."
While you're thinking about this, someone enters the trailer and calls out to you. It's Tina.
"Oh there you are. I'm guessing you're pretty upset right now, but I found this in Jimmy's trailer. Figured you should have it." Tina says and hands you a note.
Dear Suzy,
Sorry, I just couldn't stick around. Good luck to you in this shithole.
Sincerely,
Donna
You actually chuckle a bit and crumple up the note.
"What's so funny." Tina asks.
"Oh just thinking that she was the one that convinced me to come here in the first place. Anyway, it's done and she's gone. We were never really close to begin with, though I thought that was sort of changing this week, but I guess not. Still, at least it felt like someone was on my side. I imagine I'm not too well |
accepted around here."
"Meh, I think you're about as accepted as anyone else around here. I mean I think the general assessment of you is that you're a big tease that thinks she's better than everyone else, but I mean its not like you're a nigger or something." Tina remarks.
You give Tina a strange look.
"Um, lucky me then I guess. Just out of curiosity what do you think about Donna leaving? She kept going on about how you two were friends." You say.
"Me? Eh, I don't really care. I mean I knew your sister on and off for a few years when I use to do strip jobs over at the parties at the place she was livin' at before. An while she was a funny girl that made that particular job a lot more enjoyable, so I didn't mind helping her out with a job when she asked, but it wasn't like I ever considered her a real friend. Hell, I didn't even know she had a sister until a few days ago. Anyway, always knew she was flakey. To be honest I didn't even see her lasting long as a stripper and living here either. She probably would've latched on to first sugar daddy she could find and ditched everything."
"Sounds about right." You say and toss aside the note.
"Well I'll leave you alone blondie. And I wouldn't worry about your status here or lack there of. Quite frankly so many folks here have died or are wounded that nobody's really in any position to antagonize someone who actually has been making an effort to contribute around here. Speakin' of which I need to go talk to this crazy man that's probably still ranting about a fuckin' truck." Tina says and leaves.
You take a shower as you're thinking about how you're going to proceed next. You go back and forth on whether to do what your sister did, but knowing your luck, you'd end up getting caught so you ultimately abandon the idea.
As you're getting dressed and figuring out what your next plan of action should be, you suddenly hear banging on the door of your trailer again. You go to the door and see it's that methhead Dan.
"Hey blondie! You're needed for a vote!" Dan exclaims.
"Vote? Vote for what?" you ask.
"We need a tie breaker to shoot the ones that got bitten or not. Billy Ray in particular ain't lookin' too good." Dan remarks.
"So what are we doin' if we don't shoot 'em?"
"Guess we're goin' back to town to try for medical supplies again. If that's the case, I hope we have better luck, cause it was a cluster fuck last time." Dan says.
As you walk with Dan, he's looking at you a lot and while some of that is predictable ogling, he's also doing a lot of twitching and it's making you nervous.
"Dan, I know you have to take a glance at me every now and then, but between the staring and the twitching it's making me uncomfortable. Makes me think of those things that attacked us yesterday. It doesn't help that you're about as clean as they were too." You say.
"Oh. Sorry blondie. I just... I need a fuckin' fix. Just to put me at ease. The shit that's been going down for the past couple of days has really made me scared y'know? I went through most of my shit after the National Guard showed up and then I used the rest up immediately after the freak invasion."
"So where's the meth lab? Don't places like this usually have one?" you ask.
"Hah, I wish. I mean we used to have one years ago, but it blew up and caused a lot of damage. After that, the old owner sort of cracked down on that sort of thing."
"Well there's no law anymore, you could just start making it again."
"Hah, yeah. But again with everythin' that's gone on, isn't like there's been time to do that. Not to mention Mel's been ridin' everyone non-stop. He's already pissed at me for fallin' asleep yesterday. I didn't catch Jimmy Ray an' yer sister taking off in the night. Guess he figured if anyone would stay awake all night it would be me, but I just sort of crashed because like I said I didn't have my shit anymore to keep me alert."
"Yeah, well it's tough all over." You say unsympathetically.
Before you even get to the meeting, you can hear the arguing, which is mainly consisting of a lot of shouting and swearing. By the time you arrive, you're met with mixed glances.
"These are our friends, we can't just fuckin' kill them!"
"We need to fuckin' kill 'em before they infect us all!"
"You're one cold hearted sonofbitch you know that? What if I just decided to kill you?!"
"Try it bitch!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALL OF YOU!" Mel shouts.
At this point all eyes are on you.
"As you can see blondie, we're involved in the democratic process and are in need of a tie breaker." Mel says to you.
"Aw Mel what the fuck we need her vote for? She ain't one of us and her sister fucking stole a truck!" some redneck woman says.
"I said shut it! The only reason why I even entertained this process is so you fuckers would quit bitchin' about me bein' a so-called tyrant even though I'm the only one around he trying to do anything at all! So however blondie votes, will break the goddamn tie and we can move on. So what's your vote?"
Not that you're especially close to any of these people, but if you vote to shoot you know it's going to cause a lot more problems and you being an "outsider" are going to catch all the hell for it. Besides, last you remember Mel was trying to keep these folks alive, best you vote on his side.
"Well I vote not to shoot because... " you start to say before Mel interrupts again.
"That's all I need to know. Didn't need the reasons. Hear that folks? We ain't shootin' any of them! I dunno why you pussies are scared anyway, we got 'em all locked up and barricaded inside a trailer. They ain't getting out even if they do turn into something."
At this point there is more grumbling, but democracy has won this day and nobody gets violent about it, though you have a question.
"Um, has anyone actually looked in on these bitten folks since they got thrown in together?" you ask.
"Yeah, I did. Like I said, Billy Ray ain't lookin' too good. Neither are some of the others. They're all mostly just lying there not doing much though." Dan says.
"Well was any first aid actually applied to them? I mean maybe they're not infected, but just really wounded. Any aid might help."
"I threw in some bottles of whiskey an' pain killers to ease the discomfort. I threw in some bandages in there, but I wasn't gonna get close enough to actually bandage them." Dan replies.
"And that's it? Nobody else has seen to them since they've been shoved in a trailer?"
"Nope."
This is nuts, these people that have been bitten could very well be DYING due to neglect more than anything else! Nevermind the fact that the reason some might not be moving is that they might've very well ODed from the alcohol/pill combo.
In any event Mel breaks up your question period.
"Alright what we're gonna do is fetch us some more medical supplies an whatever else we might find. Thinkin' we should hit up that carnival a few miles from here." Mel remarks which sort of takes most by surprise. You especially since you weren't even aware there was a carnival in the area.
"If the National Guard stopped here, chances are good they stopped at that carnival too. Maybe that detachment had more supplies and I also figure it's gotta be easier than tryin' to go back into town again." Mel reasons.
Mel's suggestion is met with mixed results, but the people seem to be okay with it. Probably because a carnival does sound a lot less dangerous than going back into town, which they assumed would be the case.
"Okay, we're taking three trucks an' y'all that came with me last time are comin' with me this time as well an I'll be pickin' a few more so don't nobody go too far. That means you blondie."
"Wouldn't it be better if I stayed here and looked after things? I mean you don't want to leave this place totally undefended." You say.
"Oh it never is. I'm sure you saw that everyone is fully capable of defendin' themselves here when those freaks attacked. But I can't just be takin' mothers ya know? I mean it's bad enough most of the snot nosed bastards round here that survived ain't got fathers and that's before all this shit went down. Can't hardly deprive 'em of mothers as well can I? Someone needs to keep 'em out of my way and look after them."
"Well isn't someone like Butchie Billie better suited for something like this than me?"
"Butchie Billie is probably our best welder and mechanic. I'm not gonna risk taking her. Besides, she still needs to work on converting our newly acquired army trucks. And some of the other guys I'm not takin' are better at workin' on the generators or digging some extra outhouses."
"I don't have a weapon or least not any with ammo. I ran out of bullets during the last attack." You say.
"Oh don't worry about that, if there is one thing we've got a lot of, its weapons and ammo."
As you struggle to think up another excuse. Mel stops you.
"Look blondie, you knew you were gonna have to start paying yer dues. And since I KNOW you were tryin' to avoid bein the new fuck toy around here, it's either this or you can just fuckin' leave."
You don't see yourself making it on your own... at least not yet. You still need to be in the safety of numbers, so that means you're going.
However you question if Mel's plan is even a good one. You could very well get to this carnival and not find anything, you sort of wonder if it wouldn't be a better idea to actually head back to town. You figure the town is probably already half looted and lawless by now, so you might well go in and get the best stuff you can before its completely gone. Not to mention you might know the town a little better as far as which side streets to take to get to certain locations quicker. Like say small pharmacies and other stores near where you live.
Of course putting yourself in more danger isn't necessarily desirable either.
> go with Mel's plan
No need to make this more dangerous than it needs to be.
"Alright I guess we're going to the carnival." You say.
"Good. be ready at the trailer park entrance in a few minutes. Someone there can probably hand you a weapon as well."
When you arrive at your destination, a group of rednecks are already there checking various rifles and handguns. It really does look like they got enough to take on an army. Their attention turns to you.
"Well now if it isn't blondie. I'm surprised Mel is riskin' his piece on the side like this." One of the sleazier rednecks says.
"I know that's right Ray. If she was mine, I'd be wantin' to keep her safe." Another says.
"Piece on the side? Is that what Mel told all of you?" you ask which is followed by a lot of snickering.
"Not in so many words honey, but we ain't the idiots that he thinks we are. Why else would he tell us to lay off of ya if he wasn't stickin' ya? Sonofabitch already has Tina, don't see why he gets ta have TWO fine pieces of ass while some of us ain't got none." Ray remarks.
"Could I have one of those rifles please?" you ask ignoring Ray's comments.
Ray snorts at your request.
"Don't think so blondie. Maybe you think yer warrior princess or some shit cause you got lucky shootin' a couple of those freaks, but I ain't impressed and you ain't getting any of these rifles. Here, take one of these instead. Should be more than enough for you seein' as all yer gonna be doin' is hidin behind Mel the whole time anyway." Ray says and hands you a smaller pistol.
"Fine, I don't need a big weapon anyway. I don't have to over compensate for something." You say taking the pistol.
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Ray asks.
"It means she's sayin' you probably got a small pecker Ray, now quit givin' the girl a hard time and let's all get goin'." Mel sudden remarks as he walks up with a couple more people.
Ray doesn't say anything and just glares at you before leaving for one of the trucks. Everyone else does likewise. Predictably, you have no wish to ride with any of them, let alone in the back of one of the pickups with a bunch of them so you ride up front with Mel especially since you want to address something.
As the trucks pull out from the trailer park, Mel fiddles with the radio, but he doesn't get anything except Ground Zero ads.
"Goddamn Ground Zero shit. I'm tellin' you like I've said to everyone else, it's a fuckin' conspiracy goin' on with them. In fact all of this shit goin' on is government related." Mel says turning off the radio.
"Yeah, probably. Hey Mel, is it really necessary for you to lie and tell everyone that we're having sex?" you ask.
Mel starts chuckling a little bit.
"Who said I did that?" Mel asked.
"Well first of all a few days ago Tina flat out asked me if I had any intention of fucking you, and I had to clarify that I wasn't. She believed me, but she said you told her that I flirted with you. Then Ray just said that I was your piece on the side. Everyone else seems to believe that as well." You say.
"Okay, first off I'll admit that I might've said you were flirtin' with me to Tina, but there was a good reason. We're just makin' up from one of our many bad fights and I figured it might be good to get her a little jealous. Y'know so she doesn't take me for granted and that she could possibly lose me if she isn't careful. Knowin' Tina she probably thought it was bullshit anyway, which is probably why she just flat out asked you as opposed to just clawing yer eyes out if she thought it was remotely true."
"Well she did say that she didn't believe it."
"Exactly. She knew a girl like you wouldn't be interested in someone like me. Still, it was a good gesture on my part to show her I still care."
At this point you're not going to decipher hillbilly love life logic. You just continue to listen to Mel explain himself.
"Now as for Ray an' the rest. All I told them is to lay off of you a little bit since you were new to the trailer park an' you were doin' your best to contribute. I really can't help it if everyone jumps to conclusions."
"But you're not exactly dispelling those conclusions either."
Mel laughs again.
"Well, I suppose yer right about that, but think of it this way, if they all think you're my squeeze on the side, they're actually all less likely to try anything because they won't want to answer to me. I mean right now all they do is stare a lot and make the occasional cat call. Now I could tell them that we're really not doing anything, but after interactin' with Ray, do you really want him or some of the others sniffin' around on a regular basis?"
"Ugh, I suppose not... just wish there was another way."
"Man's world, blondie, deal with it."
"Trust me, I am. I just don't like it."
You and Mel continue to drive in relative silence until you get to the carnival destination.
"This should be coming up to it soon."
"Didn't even know there was a carnival nearby."
"Yeah, set up shop I think last Saturday. Most of us from the trailer park went there earlier in the week. I didn't go mainly because I was too busy fightin' with Tina at the time and I didn't wanna run into any clowns. Hate those creepy fuckers." Me;
"Really? I always liked clowns. I even briefly thought about wanting to be one when I was little. Oh well, guess that will always be the dream." You say causing Mel to give you a look like you just creeped him out a little.
You drive up to the carnival, which looks like it was in the middle of being packed down, but other events got in the way and given the ones you suffered, you can sort of imagine what those were. The place looks like a warzone and there are several bodies lying on the ground
"Looks like I was right, the Guard was here." Mel says pointing to a military truck near a dilapidated tent.
"Don't think they're still in charge here either." You say.
In the distance you see a few small figures near a large tent and then they run into it when they see you pull up.
"Well looks like whoever is still in charge here is going to be meetin' us real soon." Mel says and stops the truck. The other trucks following stop as well.
You see several people now step out of the big tent. Some of them are armed, but then again so is your side.
"Get ready, but stay in the truck. I'm gonna actually try to handle this without a gunfight, but I'm not hopeful about that." Mel remarks and gets out of the truck.
You see him motioning and shouting to the rest to hold fire and then he addresses the carnie crowd who seem to mostly consist of midgets and the main one addressing Mel is dressed in clown clothing, though he doesn't seem to be wearing the makeup.
"It's okay, it's okay. Ain't nobody lookin' for a fight." Mel says.
"Doesn't look that way, given that you've come with three trucks full of armed men." The midget clown says.
"Heh, well I'm sure given your own heightened state of awareness, you know things are getting' dangerous nowadays. Anyway my name's Mel, I'm guessin' since you're the one talkin' you're in charge here. Ringmaster or something like that?"
"Look, we don't want any trouble."
"And you won't get any trouble. You... uh... got some military gear here too I see. That truck over there."
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Oh nothing, but that brings about the question of where are the guardsmen... heh yeah they tried to tell us what to do too. Didn't work out so well. The second amendment says you got the right to pack it after all. Government can't just do what they want."
At this point more people come out of the tent, which in turn makes more people get out of their trucks. You get out too, though you're taking cover behind the door. Your people and the carnies are both starting to eye each other waiting for someone to fire a shot.
"Look let me cut to the chase shorty. I'm assumin' you might know by now what's been happenin' back in town. Besides the government tryin' to pull their shit, there's a bunch of freaks runnin' around tryin' to eat people. A bunch of them attacked us last night and while we fought them off, some of us got badly hurt and are in need of medical supplies. Now of course we did try goin' into town first, but was just too fucked up there an' we didn't make much head way what with the freaks AND the guard all over the damn place. Then it occurred to me today that your circus might still be around and the National Guard probably would've been here as well so we decided to investigate. Now the group of weekend warriors at the trailer park had shit for medical supplies. So I'm hoping your detachment had more in that department."
"We ain't got anything! Just go away or we'll open fire!" the midget clown says.
Mel isn't convinced and in any case he has no intention of backing down now.
"Now you might get a few of us, but I'm bettin, most of us are better shots than y'all, so if you give us what medicine supplies you do have we'll leave here in peace, if not well... "
While Mel is probably doing the best he can in trying to resolve this without a gun battle, but you know how this is going to go down. It's just been that sort of week.
Suddenly someone fires a shot and then another from one side and then it's a full-blown shoot out. (You mainly hide behind the truck, firing every once in a while)
The carnies aren't holding back, but your side does indeed have much better aim and midgets are falling like flies until they all fall back into the big tent again.
After some more shooting which is completely one sided now, Mel calls a halt to it.
"We can fire all day into that big tent, but we can't be sure if we're actually hitting anyone since we ain't got x-ray vision an' I don't want us wastin' anymore ammo. We gotta do something else." Mel says.
"Why don't we just throw grenades at it? We got some from the Guard that was fuckin' with us." Ray asks.
"Because they might have medical supplies in there ya idiot. We start blowin shit up, an it defeats the whole purpose of the trip. I think we need to spread out an creep up then just rush in." Mel says.
"So your solution is to go in there like a SWAT team an' possibly get our asses shot off? Fuck that. I'm blowin' that motherfucker up."
At this point Ray and a couple others look and nod at each other and start heading towards the big tent with grenades in their hand. Mel tells them to stop, but his orders are ignored and met with a couple of swear laden sentences of being tired of him always telling them what to do.
Mel is visibly angry; though you're surprised he isn't doing more to stop them from disobeying his orders. As much as Mel isn't exactly your favorite person, you'd hate to see this as the first sign of a "change in leadership." Especially if it's going to be Ray.
> let them blow up the tent
Opening fire on anyone other than carnies probably isn't a good idea, at least not on your own. Maybe if Mel gave the order it might be different, but again he surprises you and doesn't do such a thing.
"Ray, you're a goddamn idiot." Mel shouts and just watches as Ray and the two others quicken their pace towards the tent.
All three of them get half way to the tent and then prepare to throw, which they do. Two of the grenades hit the tent, but one manages to roll inside it. Unfortunately for them one of the carnies steps in the tent entrance and throws it back!
"Holy fuck! Run!" is all Ray manages to shout which is then followed by a bit of gunfire from the carnie who threw the grenade. He's hit the leg, but that's not the worst of it since he's not that far from the grenade when he falls to the ground.
Mel, you and everyone else take cover behind the trucks in preparation for the explosions soon to follow, all three of them.
When the smoke clears and everyone slowly looks out from behind their cover.
It's a devastating mess. The big tent is partially gone, though surprisingly still standing. One can see insi |
No need to make this more dangerous than it needs to be.
"Alright I guess we're going to the carnival." You say.
"Good. be ready at the trailer park entrance in a few minutes. Someone there can probably hand you a weapon as well."
When you arrive at your destination, a group of rednecks are already there checking various rifles and handguns. It really does look like they got enough to take on an army. Their attention turns to you.
"Well now if it isn't blondie. I'm surprised Mel is riskin' his piece on the side like this." One of the sleazier rednecks says.
"I know that's right Ray. If she was mine, I'd be wantin' to keep her safe." Another says.
"Piece on the side? Is that what Mel told all of you?" you ask which is followed by a lot of snickering.
"Not in so many words honey, but we ain't the idiots that he thinks we are. Why else would he tell us to lay off of ya if he wasn't stickin' ya? Sonofabitch already has Tina, don't see why he gets ta have TWO fine pieces of ass while some of us ain't got none." Ray remarks.
"Could I have one of those rifles please?" you ask ignoring Ray's comments.
Ray snorts at your request.
"Don't think so blondie. Maybe you think yer warrior princess or some shit cause you got lucky shootin' a couple of those freaks, but I ain't impressed and you ain't getting any of these rifles. Here, take one of these instead. Should be more than enough for you seein' as all yer gonna be doin' is hidin behind Mel the whole time anyway." Ray says and hands you a smaller pistol.
"Fine, I don't need a big weapon anyway. I don't have to over compensate for something." You say taking the pistol.
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Ray asks.
"It means she's sayin' you probably got a small pecker Ray, now quit givin' the girl a hard time and let's all get goin'." Mel sudden remarks as he walks up with a couple more people.
Ray doesn't say anything and just glares at you before leaving for one of the trucks. Everyone else does likewise. Predictably, you have no wish to ride with any of them, let alone in the back of one of the pickups with a bunch of them so you ride up front with Mel especially since you want to address something.
As the trucks pull out from the trailer park, Mel fiddles with the radio, but he doesn't get anything except Ground Zero ads.
"Goddamn Ground Zero shit. I'm tellin' you like I've said to everyone else, it's a fuckin' conspiracy goin' on with them. In fact all of this shit goin' on is government related." Mel says turning off the radio.
"Yeah, probably. Hey Mel, is it really necessary for you to lie and tell everyone that we're having sex?" you ask.
Mel starts chuckling a little bit.
"Who said I did that?" Mel asked.
"Well first of all a few days ago Tina flat out asked me if I had any intention of fucking you, and I had to clarify that I wasn't. She believed me, but she said you told her that I flirted with you. Then Ray just said that I was your piece on the side. Everyone else seems to believe that as well." You say.
"Okay, first off I'll admit that I might've said you were flirtin' with me to Tina, but there was a good reason. We're just makin' up from one of our many bad fights and I figured it might be good to get her a little jealous. Y'know so she doesn't take me for granted and that she could possibly lose me if she isn't careful. Knowin' Tina she probably thought it was bullshit anyway, which is probably why she just flat out asked you as opposed to just clawing yer eyes out if she thought it was remotely true."
"Well she did say that she didn't believe it."
"Exactly. She knew a girl like you wouldn't be interested in someone like me. Still, it was a good gesture on my part to show her I still care."
At this point you're not going to decipher hillbilly love life logic. You just continue to listen to Mel explain himself.
"Now as for Ray an' the rest. All I told them is to lay off of you a little bit since you were new to the trailer park an' you were doin' your best to contribute. I really can't help it if everyone jumps to conclusions."
"But you're not exactly dispelling those conclusions either."
Mel laughs again.
"Well, I suppose yer right about that, but think of it this way, if they all think you're my squeeze on the side, they're actually all less likely to try anything because they won't want to answer to me. I mean right now all they do is stare a lot and make the occasional cat call. Now I could tell them that we're really not doing anything, but after interactin' with Ray, do you really want him or some of the others sniffin' around on a regular basis?"
"Ugh, I suppose not... just wish there was another way."
"Man's world, blondie, deal with it."
"Trust me, I am. I just don't like it."
You and Mel continue to drive in relative silence until you get to the carnival destination.
"This should be coming up to it soon."
"Didn't even know there was a carnival nearby."
"Yeah, set up shop I think last Saturday. Most of us from the trailer park went there earlier in the week. I didn't go mainly because I was too busy fightin' with Tina at the time and I didn't wanna run into any clowns. Hate those creepy fuckers." Me;
"Really? I always liked clowns. I even briefly thought about wanting to be one when I was little. Oh well, guess that will always be the dream." You say causing Mel to give you a look like you just creeped him out a little.
You drive up to the carnival, which looks like it was in the middle of being packed down, but other events got in the way and given the ones you suffered, you can sort of imagine what those were. The place looks like a warzone and there are several bodies lying on the ground
"Looks like I was right, the Guard was here." Mel says pointing to a military truck near a dilapidated tent.
"Don't think they're still in charge here either." You say.
In the distance you see a few small figures near a large tent and then they run into it when they see you pull up.
"Well looks like whoever is still in charge here is going to be meetin' us real soon." Mel says and stops the truck. The other trucks following stop as well.
You see several people now step out of the big tent. Some of them are armed, but then again so is your side.
"Get ready, but stay in the truck. I'm gonna actually try to handle this without a gunfight, but I'm not hopeful about that." Mel remarks and gets out of the truck.
You see him motioning and shouting to the rest to hold fire and then he addresses the carnie crowd who seem to mostly consist of midgets and the main one addressing Mel is dressed in clown clothing, though he doesn't seem to be wearing the makeup.
"It's okay, it's okay. Ain't nobody lookin' for a fight." Mel says.
"Doesn't look that way, given that you've come with three trucks full of armed men." The midget clown says.
"Heh, well I'm sure given your own heightened state of awareness, you know things are getting' dangerous nowadays. Anyway my name's Mel, I'm guessin' since you're the one talkin' you're in charge here. Ringmaster or something like that?"
"Look, we don't want any trouble."
"And you won't get any trouble. You... uh... got some military gear here too I see. That truck over there."
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Oh nothing, but that brings about the question of where are the guardsmen... heh yeah they tried to tell us what to do too. Didn't work out so well. The second amendment says you got the right to pack it after all. Government can't just do what they want."
At this point more people come out of the tent, which in turn makes more people get out of their trucks. You get out too, though you're taking cover behind the door. Your people and the carnies are both starting to eye each other waiting for someone to fire a shot.
"Look let me cut to the chase shorty. I'm assumin' you might know by now what's been happenin' back in town. Besides the government tryin' to pull their shit, there's a bunch of freaks runnin' around tryin' to eat people. A bunch of them attacked us last night and while we fought them off, some of us got badly hurt and are in need of medical supplies. Now of course we did try goin' into town first, but was just too fucked up there an' we didn't make much head way what with the freaks AND the guard all over the damn place. Then it occurred to me today that your circus might still be around and the National Guard probably would've been here as well so we decided to investigate. Now the group of weekend warriors at the trailer park had shit for medical supplies. So I'm hoping your detachment had more in that department."
"We ain't got anything! Just go away or we'll open fire!" the midget clown says.
Mel isn't convinced and in any case he has no intention of backing down now.
"Now you might get a few of us, but I'm bettin, most of us are better shots than y'all, so if you give us what medicine supplies you do have we'll leave here in peace, if not well... "
While Mel is probably doing the best he can in trying to resolve this without a gun battle, but you know how this is going to go down. It's just been that sort of week.
Suddenly someone fires a shot and then another from one side and then it's a full-blown shoot out. (You mainly hide behind the truck, firing every once in a while)
The carnies aren't holding back, but your side does indeed have much better aim and midgets are falling like flies until they all fall back into the big tent again.
After some more shooting which is completely one sided now, Mel calls a halt to it.
"We can fire all day into that big tent, but we can't be sure if we're actually hitting anyone since we ain't got x-ray vision an' I don't want us wastin' anymore ammo. We gotta do something else." Mel says.
"Why don't we just throw grenades at it? We got some from the Guard that was fuckin' with us." Ray asks.
"Because they might have medical supplies in there ya idiot. We start blowin shit up, an it defeats the whole purpose of the trip. I think we need to spread out an creep up then just rush in." Mel says.
"So your solution is to go in there like a SWAT team an' possibly get our asses shot off? Fuck that. I'm blowin' that motherfucker up."
At this point Ray and a couple others look and nod at each other and start heading towards the big tent with grenades in their hand. Mel tells them to stop, but his orders are ignored and met with a couple of swear laden sentences of being tired of him always telling them what to do.
Mel is visibly angry; though you're surprised he isn't doing more to stop them from disobeying his orders. As much as Mel isn't exactly your favorite person, you'd hate to see this as the first sign of a "change in leadership." Especially if it's going to be Ray.
> shoot at Ray
You'll be damned if you're going to let this spiral into a power struggle with the possibility that Ray could be in charge. If Mel isn't going to do anything about it, you sure as hell will if only to assert that you aren't someone to be fucked with.
Ray and his buddies approach the tent and you shoot Ray square in the back. He howls and slumps to the ground. Ray's buddies at this point believe themselves to be under attack and react accordingly. One wisely runs for cover and returns fire, while another foolishly fumbles with his grenade still out in the open.
Mel shouts at you, but everyone is now shooting. Most are shooting at Ray's buddies, but the carnies are now taking advantage of the minor infighting your side is experiencing and have come back out to fire upon everyone again. The one fumbling with the grenade gets hit several times, but not before he throws the grenade in your direction.
You run away from the truck that you were taking cover by, but in the crossfire you're hit in the leg. You fall to the ground and try to crawl away from the grenade.
You don't get far though and it goes off destroying the truck. You would've survived this since you were far enough away to only lose most of your hearing from the blast. What you don't survive is the flying piece metal from the truck that hits you when the grenade exploded.
With a hot piece of twisted metal embedded in your skull, your struggle is over. |
THURSDAY
"... your family will feel right at home in one of our... "
"Agh, shut the hell up." You instinctively groan at the Ground Zero ad. You call out for Donna to turn her tv off, but considering she doesn't, you assume that she must not be here.
You look around for your phone to check the time, but you can't find it. You can only assume that you dropped or misplaced it somewhere. Hardly matters, you don't have too many people to contact anymore at this point. Your relationship with Bobby is over. Julie's probably dead and who the hell knows what's happened to the rest of your family in town. It isn't like you need to call anyone or anyone needs to call you. You're more pissed about your laptop, which apparently somehow caught a bullet during the mayhem yesterday. So much for keeping up on what might be going on in the world.
In any case there's a clock in the trailer and the time indicates that you've slept through the morning as usual. Weird, since you fell asleep fairly early. You wonder where the hell Donna could've went to, but you're guessing she might be with her friend Tina.
After turning the TV off in Donna's room, all you're left with is the noise that's going on outside. Sounds like the good ol' boys are still at it. You take a look out one of your windows and see several men in the field taking apart the military trucks, or rather severely altering them. It almost looks like they're going to build a whole new vehicle out of them or something.
Since there isn't anyway to entertain yourself with your laptop being shot up, you aren't in the mood to watch Ground Zero infomercials, and you don't want to risk the possibility of Donna suddenly walking in on you with your vibrating boyfriend (Thankfully nothing happened to that form of entertainment, though you do worry about batteries for the future) your only option is to head outside and try to find Donna or find something productive to do. You never thought such a day would come where you'd be leaving the comfort of a couch to potentially do some work, but here you are.
After going through your routine of washing up and changing clothes, you decide to take the rifle and pistol with you, just in case.
You exit the trailer and head on over to Tina's place.
You knock on the trailer door and hardly recognize Tina without all her makeup on. Not that she's ugly, in fact she's actually less trashy looking without it on.
"What the fuck do you want blondie?" Tina asks.
"Um, is Donna here?"
"No, she's not fucking here. Try a few trailers over, I think she took a shine to Jimmy Ray and is over there."
"Oh. Okay then." You say.
"If you see her, tell her, she better not be distractin' him all fucking day with her pussy, cause Mel wants him to be workin' on somethin'. I dunno what, exactly, but I don't wanna have to listen to him bitch to me about it."
"Got it." You answer and begin to leave, but Tina calls out to you.
"Hey, you ain't after, Mel's dick are ya?" Tina asks which completely catches you off guard.
"What?"
"He told me yesterday, you and he spoke and said you were sweet on him and he had to tell you to stop flirting so much."
Tina looks at you as if she's detecting if you're going to lie to her, but you have no intention of doing so since you're defending yourself from a horrible lie!
"Uh, with no disrespect, but Mel is NOT my type and I did not flirt with him." You answer.
"See, I knew that bastard was delusional. I didn't even believe him when he told me that shit. Any retard can tell that a girl like you would have nothing to do with the likes of him in that way." Tina says.
"Did I do something that he could've mistaken for flirting?
"Yeah, you were talking to him. He probably told all his friends that you were flirting with him. Hell, he might've even said he fucked you, but he tends to keep his tall tales a little more realistic nowadays. Whatever, he's getting old and likes to think he's still some sort of chick magnet. Still, I love the sonofabitch despite everything."
As you're about to finish your illuminating conversation with Tina, you suddenly hear gunshots and yelling.
"Oh shit!" you say believing that the military has returned already.
Several of the trailer park crew start running towards the noise with weapons in hand. Tina calls out to a skinny one who looks like methhead.
"Hey! Hey Dan, what the fuck's goin' on?" Tina shouts
"A bunch of fuckin' zombies or some shit are attackin' us! Mel's called almost everyone to defend the east and south part of the park. Looks like a shitload of them are comin' from town!"
"Wait, did you just say fuckin' zombies?" Tina asks.
"Yeah. I mean shit, I dunno what they are, I just know Bobby Ray got all bit up by one of them. Maybe they're just cannibals or high on bath salts. Remember like that one time I... "
"Dan, whatever! Just go! Go! Go! And you, get inside here, quick!" Tina says waving away Dan who continues to his destination.
"But I gotta find my sister." You remark
"She's probably safe with Jimmy Ray."
"Didn't Dan say he just got bit by zombies?"
"That was Bobby Ray! Now get yer ass in here, we'll bar the door and hunker down inside here until Mel and the boys take care of this."
You're not going to leave your sister's potential fate in the hands of some redneck who you know nothing about though. You're going to make the effort to at least find her; besides, you'd rather not barricade yourself in anywhere unless you have to.
"Where is Jimmy's trailer again?!" you ask.
"You're a damn idiot blondie. (sigh) it's more towards the entrance and has a badly spray painted picture of a naked woman on the side of it. I suggest you get a move on." Tina says and slams her door shut.
You follow the advice and start heading towards your new destination, which has considerably more gunfire and shouting coming from that direction. You feel like you're in one of those video games that you played on your computer sometimes, except this is unfortunately very real.
With your rifle held in front of you the whole time, you continue to move at a quick yet cautious rate. You keep half expecting one of those freaks to suddenly jump out at you every time you pass one of the trailers. You catch a glance of people peeping out their windows of said trailers, sometimes you hear one of them shouting at you to "find some damn shelter."
Eventually you hear a voice calling at you from above.
"Hey blondie, what the hell are you doing down there?" you look up and see a shirtless young man with a shotgun standing on top of the trailer.
"Suzy?! What the hell are you doing?!" another voice shouts, but this one is coming from inside the trailer. Sounds like Donna.
You glance back down and look at the trailer itself and notice that this is the one you've been looking for. You're guessing that's Jimmy Ray standing on top of his trailer. You can sort of see Donna going for a guy like him. He's got a rugged handsome look rather than a grizzled, unkept or outright disgusting appearance that some of the other guys around here have.
"Donna?! I was looking for you, that's what I'm doing out here." You say while swiveling your head in several directions to keep an eye on your surroundings.
"Well now you've found me, now get inside!" Donna shouts and starts to open up the door.
"Donna, don't leave that door open too long, I'm watching the main fighting at the front of the park and it's not looking good. The east side is doing better though."
"Aren't you suppose to be helping Mel?" you ask.
"Pfft, yeah right. I mean I don't hate him or anything, but I'm not riskin' my life for that asshole. Oh fuck! More of them are getting through, and I mean a shitload! Get your asses inside!" Jimmy Ray shouts and starts aiming his shotgun.
You look and see a couple of the... things Dan was talking about. This is insane. Here you were worrying about the military and some unexpected threat like... zombies shows up? They can't be zombies, they just can't!
Whatever they are, four of them are flailing about wildly and growling. They notice you and begin loping at you. The mere sight of them is troubling, but you quickly point your rifle at them and start firing.
Jimmy's shotgun gets one of them in the leg which he then shoots again in the body. Another gets its head blown off. You use up the remainder of the clip to kill the two remaining. One of them didn't even drop down dead until he almost reached you. They don't look rotten (though they do look dirty and disheveled... which isn't unlike some of the hillbillies here) and you didn't even shoot one in the head, so while they may NOT be zombies, they're certainly inhuman enough for you to be scared. (Some sort of sickness perhaps?)
Meanwhile Donna's at the door and calling to you. You see now that she's not wearing her own clothes, but rather a robe of some sort. Certainly not hers.
"Suzy, please! Get inside NOW!" she shouts as more of those things come running in your direction.
"Goddamn it, the pair of you need to get inside!" Jimmy shouts as he snaps off another shot.
While the freaks are definitely advancing, they're also splitting up to attack several trailers. You wonder if you shouldn't just get Donna and make your way out of here since it looks like this place is going to be overrun.
> run away
This is different than the police or the military, these things are mindless, possibly crawling with disease and seemingly without end, you really do need to get out of here!
"Donna, get the hell out of there! These things are gonna overrun the place!" you shout and begin pulling at her arm.
"Wha... Suzy, lemme go! It's not safe out there!" Donna says attempting to pull away from your grip.
Jimmy Ray is doing his best at blasting the cannibal freaks, but he's not exactly using the quickest of weapons and those things are definitely picking up their own speed.
"OH MY GOD! SUZY!" Donna exclaims pulling away just in time for one of those things to suddenly lunge upon you which you don't see due to it jumping on your back and tackling you to the ground.
You hear snarling and gnashing in your ear and somewhere between that, you hear Jimmy Ray yelling at Donna to lock the front door.
The next thing you hear is the crunching sound of teeth going into your flesh. You cry out, but the freak is placing all its weight upon you, preventing you from struggling too much. With your face in the dirt and blood spurting out of your neck you're not going too far, though when you're partially hit with buckshot from Jimmy Ray's shotgun you're at least put out of your misery from the thing eating you alive. |
While you haven't quite ruled out the possibility of living with Donna, you don't think you're quite ready to go driving over there yourself and putting up with some old guy perving on you today. If you do decide to go over there, you'll do it later tonight.
Besides, you want to see just how bad it might be over at Julie's before making a decision.
A few minutes of driving to your destination and you're sure of one thing being pretty bad, the roads! Once again there are cops everywhere, but also ambulances and fire trucks racing to their various destinations too. You nearly turn around and head back home, but eventually you make it to Julie's neighborhood, which is thankfully not in the midst of anarchy.
You pull up to the driveway and get out of the car. You figure you'll assess the situation before making a decision of whether you're going to stay or not.
You sort of expected to see a few people drinking on the porch or at least hearing loud music as you walk up to the door, but so far it doesn't sound like any sort of party going on or at least not an overly rowdy one, which is odd considering how people have been acting in this town for the past few days.
You knock on the door, but get no immediate answer. After a few more bangs you finally get an answer, but it isn't Julie.
"Hello." A man says in a flat tone and almost seems to be studying you. He looks like he might be around your age, but he doesn't look like the sort that would be at one of Julie's parties. He's very "ordinary" looking.
"Hey. Where's Julie at?" you ask.
"Julie? Oh yes, the owner of this house. Well, I don't really know. I remember seeing her yesterday, but then she left with some guy and I haven't seen her since. Of course this being her house she has to return sometime right? Would you like to wait?" the man asks opening the door further to invite you in.
Something about this guy feels a little "off" to you.
"Wait, who are you?" you ask.
"Oh I'm sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Johnny. I was at Julie's party yesterday. Guess you could say I got a little tipsy and decided I shouldn't go home in that condition, so I flopped out in the basement. I'm not the only person who did that apparently considering some of Julie's other guests are still here as well."
You peer inside and see that Johnny is indeed speaking the truth. A couple of people are on the couch playing some sort of video game.
"So now that you know who I am, I have to ask who you are." Johnny says.
"I'm Suzy and I'm Julie's friend." You say.
"I see, well come on in, I'm sure when Julie gets back she'll be pleased to see you."
You enter the house and the place is in a lot better condition than you would've thought for a party house. Johnny quickly closes the door and locks it. Causing you to immediately look back.
"You never can tell what weirdo will show up with unlocked doors and all, right?" he says.
"Indeed." You say still getting an uneasy feeling about this guy.
"So, you're one of Julie's friends. Guess you're a real party girl, just like she is huh?" Johnny remarks almost in an accusing fashion.
"Hardly. Are these all the people in the house?" you ask, pointing to the stoners playing video games and completely ignoring you and Johnny.
"Yeah, I mean there were some other people here earlier, but these lot are all that's left, beside myself. Julie's pretty cool about letting people just crash here even if she's not around."
With Johnny creepily hovering near you and the stoners babbling about inane shit, you already realize that this is not going to work for you.
"Alright, everyone get out." You say, but the only one who even hears you is Johnny.
"What?" Johnny asks.
"Look I hate to be rude, and you probably didn't know this, but I'm moving in here. Now when Julie is here, she can have all her little drug addled party friends over as much as she likes, I mean its her house after all. But I'm not going to put up with them while she isn't here! So I want everyone out, you all can come back later when she's here. Whenever that is."
Johnny's still the only one who is even paying attention and his facial expression on your stance hasn't changed.
"But if it's Julie's house doesn't she have final say in what goes?" Johnny asks.
"Yeah, well when I see Julie, I'm going to have a little discussion with her about our new living arrangements." You remark.
Once again Johnny just stares at you, it almost feels like he's staring through you. It makes you uncomfortable to say the least.
"All right. You've got a point. I wouldn't want a bunch of strangers just wandering around in my home either. I'll get out of your hair, as for these guys, I can get 'em to go." Johnny says and then suddenly shouts at the stoners that everyone has to get out of the house and starts ripping controllers out of their hands.
"Hey!"
"Not cool dude!"
"You dick!"
"Sorry guys, but as the old saying goes, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. Come on, let's move it." Johnny says and eventually the stoners grudgingly shuffle off to leave. Johnny follows behind them.
"When you see Julie, tell her it was an excellent party last night." Johnny says and flashes a brief smile, which comes off more creepy than friendly. You don't even reply, you just shut the door and lock it, glad to be rid of everyone.
Remembering that your sister said that if you did live here, you'd be sleeping in Julie's dad's old office. You explore that room first. When you get there it looks pretty much like the same office you remember being in a few times when you played over here. It's definitely convenient that it has a small private bathroom leading from it as well as a couch that apparently folds out into a bed.
After assessing your possible new digs, you decide to go retrieve your bags from the car. You unpack your bags and haul them into the house and head on into your new room.
After getting a little bit settled, you figure since you're all alone in the house, you might as well do something that usually puts you in a better mood. (and you sure could use it)
While you're in the middle of it, you suddenly think you hear something. You call out thinking that maybe Julie is finally home, but when you get no reply, you just check to make sure the door to your room is locked. If Julie does come home, you don't want her suddenly walking in on you.
After getting back in the mood and taking care of your needs you wash up a bit and return to your usual routine of... well doing nothing at all.
Hours pass and eventually you start to get hungry so you head to the kitchen in the hopes of finding food. You manage to find a few bags of junk food and some unopened drink in the fridge. Once again while you're doing this, you swear you think you hear noise. You call out again to see if anyone is here, but there is no answer.
Given that it's now nighttime you're a little on edge. You know its probably just the house making creaking sounds, but with all the bullshit that's been going on out in the streets lately you're just a little paranoid.
Just as you're heading back to your room, the front door suddenly opens! It's Donna and some other young woman who looks a bit on the trashy side.
"Shit! You scared me." You say.
"Why didn't you pick up your phone? I tried calling you before I got over here." Donna asks.
"I... I guess I had it on vibrate and didn't hear it." You say.
"Hm. Well I see this place is practically a tomb. I take it Julie isn't home?"
"Nope, I haven't heard from her either."
"That's really odd... "
Suddenly the trashy young woman speaks up.
"Hey Donna are we picking your shit up or what? You know how fucked up it is out there right now and I'd like to get home before it gets worse."
"Oh yeah, better get to it. Suzy, this is my friend Tina." Donna says and heads upstairs.
"Hello." You say to Tina, but she just grunts at you and heads back outside to her car.
Remembering that Donna wanted you to help her move some of the stuff, you head upstairs to her room.
"Your friend Tina isn't very friendly." You ask.
"Yeah, well if you were a horny guy with a hundred dollar bill, she'd be really friendly towards you. Anyway, she's always been cool with me ever since I've known her, plus she helped me get the current job I have." Donna says as she packs away items.
"You need anything for me to carry down?"
"Yeah, but not yet. Really I'm thinking I'll get most of this stuff later when I have a day off. Right now I just want to get the hell out of this town, it's getting nuts out there!"
"Yeah, it was pretty chaotic out there earlier on my drive here. So how was your first day?"
"Not bad. As strange as it may seem, it actually was calmer in the club than it was outside. Though having bouncers helps in that area I suppose. Still a couple of fights did break out."
"Shit. You okay? Are you sure the job is safe?"
"Oh I'm safe. Like I said, there's good protection there. Honestly I'm more concerned with the drive TO the club, but I imagine whatever is going on will die down eventually."
"Hope so."
Donna finishes packing a bag and starts to pack a new one and you stand there silent until you hear a noise from downstairs causing you to jump a bit.
"Are you okay?" Donna asks.
"Yeah, what the hell's that noise?" you ask, briefly stepping out of Donna's room to look over into the living room.
"Probably Tina."
"No, she's not down there and besides she went back to wait in the car."
"Well maybe she wandered back in briefly... you seem a little stressed."
"I dunno. The shit's that's been going on in town and I guess being alone in the house at night has got me a little jumpy. Sort of concerned that Julie hasn't come back either."
"Mmm, well that IS odd. I tried calling her again earlier too with no luck. Have you thought anymore about coming to live with me? I told you it would be fine and I know you think the trailer park isn't safe environment, is this town really any safer right now?"
> stay at the house
"I'm still not sold on the trailer park, Donna. I think I'll be fine here. I just need to get used to the new living situation." You remark to Donna.
"Hm, okay then. Well my offer will always still stand as long as I live there." Donna replies.
"Okay. Thanks Donna. So you said you're good? You don't need my help with anything?"
"Nah, not tonight anyway. Like I said, I'll come back and get all of my stuff proper, another day. Hopefully when the mess in town dies down."
Saying a few more goodbyes, you leave Donna to finish her hasty packing and you head back to your room and close the door. A few minutes later you hear the slam of the front door indicating that Donna has left, leaving you by yourself again.
You try to call Julie again, but once again there is no answer. Giving up on that particular concern you go back to amusing yourself on the Internet until you start reading erotic stories which puts you more in the mood to amuse yourself with your battery operated boyfriend again.
Having no distractions this time, you orgasm twice before having enough fun for the night. As you lie there in your afterglow, you briefly think about Bobby and how you sort of miss him, or rather his dick. Masturbation is fun and all, and it definitely gets the job done, but your time with Bobby has made you appreciate the human touch a little more. You really liked some of the tricks he did...
Since you still aren't one hundred percent sure about living here, you decide that you'll call Bobby tomorrow and see if you can't talk some sense into him and possibly make up.
With that goal for tomorrow decided, you call it a night and roll over on your couch to sleep.
At some point in the middle of the night, you hear a noise close by. You groggily open your eyes and see a figure standing over you with a large knife. Before you can scream or do anything, the person is on top of you and choking you with one hand. You can see his face right up to yours and he's recognizable now with your eyes wide with fear. It's Johnny.
"Fucking whore! I heard what you did in here! I heard the dirty thing you did! I'm going to punish you like I did your friend!" he snarls with a look of pure hatred upon his face.
You punch and struggle and just as you think you're having some success, Johnny proceeds to actually use his knife and stabs you repeatedly with it. With a last bit of strength you manages to push Johnny off of you and roll on the floor yourself, but your attempts to crawl away are short lived due to the combination of your wounds and the fact Johnny quickly recovers and begins stabbing you in the back.
As the life starts to fade from your body, you hear the heavy breathing of Johnny who is apparently starting to get aroused by your condition and begins ripping at your clothes.
Fortunately you die before you feel the pain of being raped on top of being murdered. |
TUESDAY
"... if you act now you'll get a free... "
You groggily grab the remote to shut off the incessant noise of the Ground Zero commercial on the TV screen.
You grab your phone to check the time and see that once again you've slept through the morning as usual. You also see that Bobby tried to call you, but you're still not in the mood to call him back. Though if you don't secure a place to live you might not have a choice. Still as far as you know the offer to live at Julie's is still good, you're just not sure about how well that's going to go over now.
While you're trying to ponder your next move, you get a call. It's Donna again. Might as well get this over with.
"Donna, this better be good, because you're not exactly my favorite person right now." You say answering the phone.
"Whoa! Hold on Suzy! Don't hang up!" Donna exclaims.
"Say what you got to say."
"Okay, look first of all I'm sorry about what you had to go through. I know that had to suck for you. I shouldn't have convinced you to run anyway. It's obvious now that was a stupid plan in the first place since I didn't even have anything in the car. (Sigh) Last night when I was sleeping on a beer soaked couch in a trailer hiding out from the cops I sort of had a revelation of how my choices in life had lead me to that point. I also sort of realized that if I probably continue on this path it's only going to get worse."
That's rather philosophical of your sister, and it's enough to keep your attention.
"So I've decided that I need to do something with my life and make it better, so I got a job." Donna says.
"A job? How the hell did you get a job so quick? Doing what?" you ask.
"I'm going to be a stripper at Kitty City! The owner was offering me a job yesterday and I already was getting tips from guys who mistook me for one of the strippers here anyway. So I figured why not? In fact I'm on break right now."
Why are you not surprised?
Donna continues before you can even speak again.
"Now before you judge, starting a new life takes money and let's face it, I don't have exactly many useful skills that are going to earn me a lot of cash in a quick amount of time. I figure I can earn enough to save and figure things out as I go."
"Hm, well that's great and all, but why are you telling me all this?" you ask.
"Because this is my new start and like I said I feel bad about convincing you to go along with my plan yesterday. Besides, don't you still need a place to stay? You can come live with me!"
"I thought I was already going to do that by moving in to Julie's."
"Nah, I'm not going back to Julie's. Too much temptation to go back to my old ways there. I'm moving into one of the trailers at the trailer park."
"Wait. You just started working as a stripper. How the hell did you manage to get a trailer already?"
"I secured one after... um talking with the park owner this morning. Look, that's not really important right now. What is important is I got a deal on a fairly good one and it's big enough for two of us. It might be a little rough going at first, but I anticipate after a few weeks of teasing these degenerates here, we'll be living fairly comfortably, if not in the lap of luxury."
"I dunno. While I'm still pissed about yesterday, it does mean a lot that you're making this pretty generous offer. I don't know about living in a trailer park though. I mean aren't you worried about the kind of people there? In fact I can imagine a lot of the type that Kelly associates with come from there, do you really think its safe?"
"Safe as opposed to what? Growing up in our household? We had a fucking paranoid psychotic older brother, a sadistic bullying older sister and at one point a goddamn SERIAL KILLER uncle living in our house. At least the hostile rednecks around here won't be living under our roof! Besides, it really isn't as bad as you hear."
You find that a little hard to believe considering you've heard more than enough stories about the trailer park outside of town. Donna might not think its bad, just because she was living there overnight.
"I just don't know Donna. I mean I wasn't exactly looking forward to dealing with the non-stop partying at Julie's, but I'd at least feel a little safer there than I would at the trailer park."
"Huh, don't be so sure of that. Julie pretty much has gotten to the point where she has an open door policy to let any creepy weirdo that walks in off the street in the house. It's actually amazing someone like Uncle Ed hasn't come in and killed us all. Are you heading over there sometime today?"
"Well if I can secure a ride over there I will."
"Okay, well if you do get over there could you let Julie know that I'm moving out? She's still not answering her phone. I'm going to have to make arrangements to get my bigger things, but maybe you could help me get some of my smaller items when I get over there tonight?"
"Well, I suppose I could." You say.
"Great. I knew I could count on your Suzy. (Sigh) You really are the good one in the family sis. It's so unfair that life hasn't been better to you. Once again I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. It's nearly time for me to go out there and shake my ass again so I gotta go. Just... think about what I said okay? If you change your mind about your future living arrangements just come with Tina and me when we go over to Julie's tonight, or I guess if you're really feeling adventurous you could always go over to the trailer park yourself. Just go to the owner's trailer with the big signs around it and mention my name and he'll let you in my new place. He's sort of letch, but he's old so he mostly confines it staring and making the occasional comment. Don't worry about it."
After another sincere apology about yesterday, Donna finally hangs up leaving you now with a new option.
Donna seems to be genuinely trying to change her life in her own way. You almost can't believe it was Donna on the phone at all. Maybe some sort of pod person replaced her.
She also seems to be really making an effort to make things up to you, which is surprising as well. It's always a rarity in your family when you actually try to help each other out.
Still, you're not sure about this whole living in a trailer park business for several reasons, but you suppose you could give it a little thought at least. In any case, you need to get a ride to wherever it is you're going to be heading to and that means seeing if your brother Peter is going to be just as accommodating as your sister currently is.
You head upstairs and knock on the door to the garage.
"Hey, um Peter? You busy?"
You don't get an answer right away, but eventually you do after more knocking.
"Yeah, yeah, hold on!" Peter says before answering the door. He's only peaking his head out, so it's very likely he's naked.
"Um, sorry to interrupt whatever it is you're doing, but I need a ride to my new place."
"I thought you moved out yesterday."
"Yeah, there was a slight hiccup in the plan yesterday. Anyway, can you give me a ride over to my new place?"
"(Sigh) I'm kinda in the middle of recording something. I'm assuming you're going to Julie's?"
"Yeah... I think." You say.
"You think? You don't know if you're going to live over at Julie's place or not?"
"Well... Donna got a new place of her own and I'm still not sure if I should just move in with her yet."
"Donna got a new... look you know what? I don't give a shit about any of this." Peter says and then closes the door.
You think that's the end of it, but he opens it up again, but this time only his hand with some keys in it are coming out.
"I'm not your personal taxi service. Here, take my car and return it tomorrow or at least by Thursday. Now don't disturb me again!"
You take the keys and Peter slams the door. This is probably the most helpful he's been in... well ever.
You go back and repack some of your bags and drag them to Peter's car. After loading everything up in the backseat you pull out of the drive way and wonder which way you should go.
> drive to the trailer park
Well Donna would know better than you how fucked up it is at Julie's house. You don't particularly care for the idea of her just leaving her doors open for any potential nutjob to come in. You'd at least have some more control over that, if you lived in the trailer with Donna who will probably be gone most of the time anyway.
And perhaps Donna's observations of the trailer park are correct; maybe it isn't as bad there as you've always believed.
A few minutes of driving to your destination and you're sure of one thing being pretty bad, the roads! Once again there are cops everywhere, but also ambulances and fire trucks racing to their various destinations too. Fortunately it seems to thin out as you leave town. Maybe this was a better idea after all.
You soon reach the trailer park, but you pull up near the entrance rather than inside it. You don't know which trailer she lives in, so you figure the owner knows and you imagine he lives in the trailer up front with the signs on it saying "Inquire about trailers here."
You get out of the car and go knock on the door.
"Goddamnit stop fucking knockin'. I'm comin'!" you hear an old crotchety voice shout.
The door opens up and your eyes are "greeted" by the sight of a little old man wearing nothing but an open robe and boxer shorts. His body is wizened and wrinkled and he obviously has no modesty at all.
"What the hell you want blondie? This ain't a fuckin' whorehouse." He exclaims.
"Uh, my sister Donna got a trailer from you the other day, I was just wondering where it was." You ask.
The old guy looks you up and down, squinting the entire time.
"I don't know nuthin' about no girl named Donna. All I do know is some whore yesterday sucked me off as down payment for a trailer. I don't normally trade property fer pussy, but goddamn if that girl wasn't lying about giving the best head ever... "
While you sort of had an inkling of how Donna got a trailer so quickly, you didn't really need to know the gruesome details. And now after seeing who she serviced to get it... you just want to change the subject.
"Okay, anyway which trailer does she live in?" you ask.
"She lives in the trailer at the far end of the park. Now unless you gonna rent a trailer wit money or yer lips too, get the hell outta my face an don't bother me!" the old man shouts.
As you leave the old bastard he slams his door shut. You get back in the car and drive into the park.
The first thing you notice that you didn't expect is how quiet the place is. You were expecting a lot more drama going on like on a bad daytime talk show, but you get none of that. You don't even see anyone really around.
Eventually you approach the far end of the park, and there you see a trailer, which seems to stand out near a large open field. You're guessing this one is it.
You park and approach the trailer and when you try the door that when you realize that you don't have a key for this place. Donna apparently didn't develop the bad habits of Julie either since the door is firmly locked.
"Damn. (Sigh)" you say to yourself realizing that your choice is either wait all day in your vehicle, or maybe go back to to the manager who might have a spare key, though you'd rather not deal with him again.
"Hey darlin' never seen you before here! My name's Jed!" a voice says.
You turn around and see a lanky redneck who has seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"Oh. Hey." You say.
"Hmm, you sure are beautiful. Yer even prettier than that girl that just moved in this trailer. You a friend of hers?"
"Sister actually. Does the manager have spare keys to the trailers?" you ask.
"That mean old bastard? Yeah, but if you need that open, you don't need to go all the way back to him, here I can open it."
Jed walks past you and pulls out some sort of tool and starts fiddling with the lock.
"Hey, wait a minute, are you picking the lock?" you ask.
"Well I ain't ticklin' it honey. Letssee... yeah... easier than breakin a virgin." Jed says as the door easily opens for him with a click.
"There you go sweetheart. So said that girl livin' here now is yer sister? Guess good breedin' runs in yer family."
"Uh... yeah guess so. Thanks, but I really want to just get all my stuff in and rest." You say and turn to your car and there you see a huge man just staring at you like a gargoyle. It actually startles you, which Jed notices.
"Oh don't be afraid of him honey, that's just my brother Hugo. He's dumber than a bag of rocks, but he's strong as hell. In fact he can carry yer bags in for ya."
At this point Jed is getting uncomfortably close to you as he speaks and you're starting to feel on edge with these two.
"Look I thank you both for your help, but I really would like to be alone please." You say firmly.
Jed looks at his brother then at you.
"Whatever you say honey. Let's go Hugo." Jed says and the pair of them slowly leave and eventually disappear behind another trailer.
No longer being gawked at by the locals, you grab your bags from the car and haul them into the trailer.
When you get inside, you see that it isn't that bad. It's definitely cheap looking, but it's serviceable. You drop your bags by the sofa and quickly check the other areas like the bathroom and what you guess is a bedroom where Donna will sleep.
Just as you're turning around to check the kitchen at the other end, the door opens up and your heart sinks when you see Jed entering with what looks to be duct tape. He looks at you and a deranged smile is across his face.
"Now I already know what's goin' through yer head blondie, cause I've done this a million times. Yer first instinct is gonna be to scream and make a fuss. Well lemme tell ya right now. Ain't nobody gonna help yah. Most of 'em are at the carnival, an the few that ain't are either still passed out or ain't gonna give a shit. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
Despite Jed's warnings, you do the opposite of what he says and scream as loud as you can anyway, while running back into the bedroom in an attempt to look for anything to defend yourself. Jed wastes no time in following.
Unfortunately there isn't anything in the bedroom for you to immediately use since Donna doesn't have any of her stuff here. You attempt to pick up the trailer's TV in desperation, but Jed grabs you and throws you to the bed.
You struggle, but it's no use. Jed is a dedicated murdering rapist with a mean streak a mile wide. After giving you a few punches to the face, you start to drift in and out of consciousness.
"HUGO! HUGO! You can stop watchin' the fuckin' door and gimme a hand over here with this bitch. I reckon we both got time to have some fun with this one before handing her over to ol' doc." Jed exclaims while ripping your clothes off.
"See Hugo? Told ya sticking around here would be better than the carnival."
In your haze, you feel the violations at first. Pain, humiliation and anguish are all abundant at first, but then you go numb and then nothing when you pass out altogether.
During your state of unconsciousness you have a brief dream of when you were much younger. When your mother was still alive and she was praising you about how good you are and how she anticipates great things in your future. It's more of a distant memory than a dream in fact though in any event, it's a nice "escape" from your horrible reality.
When you wake up, you're groggy, naked, incredibly sore and firmly strapped to a medical gurney of some sort. You also have a ball gag in your mouth. The room you're in looks to be some sort of basement with a bright light hanging overhead.
The stench of chemicals fills the air and to your left in a darker corner of the room you see a man in a doctor's coat hovering over another gurney with a body on it.
Naturally in such a state you start to panic and ineffectively struggle to get free. The "doctor" hears you and walks over to you.
"Oh, you're up. I'll have to give you more sedative. When Jed and Hugo brought you in, you weren't in the best condition, though I'm glad they showed a little more restraint than usual."
As you continue to try to struggle and make muted sounds to cry out, the doctor begins fondling you and moving his hands to roam all over your body.
"Mmmm, nice. Though I appreciate a pretty face and I get the impression yours would've been a lot prettier had they not beat you up so much. Not to mention they both completely wrecked your rectum... I swear what the hell is it with rednecks and their pre-occupation for ass rape? Anyway, if I had the time, I'd probably still shove it in your vertical smile for a while, but sadly I don't."
The doctor goes over to a tray and grabs some sort of syringe he fully intends on use on you and you've gone from mere panic to sheer terror.
"Really, you're luckier than most that come through here. Normally I keep 'em awake when I do my work, but I need you unconscious to take out those pretty eyes and other vital organs of yours. Wouldn't want you thrashing about or blinking to cause me to cut them all up and making them useless."
You watch helplessly as the needle goes into your arm. The tears run down your cheeks.
"There we go. Won't be long now. (Sigh) I swear it seems like I never get to enjoy my work any more though. I really would've liked to have fun with you. Oh well, I've got some other things to still look forward to."
You drift into unconsciousness again and your life ends where you ironically spent most of your time.
A basement. |
Things aren't going to "calm down", they're just going to get worse if anything. You've already had too many intruders inside this house, staying here obviously isn't safe even if you do barricade it. You need to get out now.
"Julie get some bags and start packing items like flashlights and the like because we're getting the hell out of here." You say.
"But again, where are we going to go?" she asks.
"And I still don't know, but I'm thinking we need to at least get out of this town though. From there I guess we'll play it by ear. Your car is still at the shop so we're going to have to use Donna's. Do you know if Donna had a spare set of car keys? When I had to... clean up, it wasn't like she was clothed at the time so there wasn't anything on her."
"She probably left her keys on a dresser in her room when she first stormed in the house on Monday. I'll check. Speaking of Donna, what are you going to do about her? I mean you were going to bury her, but now?"
"Yeah, I'm sort of wishing I'd buried her first instead of the asshole that killed her now. I dunno, I mean there just isn't time. (Sigh) Fuck it, she's just an empty shell now, the person that she was is gone and we need to make haste if we don't want to end up like her, so let's start getting a move on."
Julie and you both split up to pack your bags. One of your bags that you brought hasn't even been opened and is still full of clothing. You fill your other bags with more useful items like some of the non-perishable snack food Julie has, the duct tape you were using, a few of the bigger kitchen knives, loose batteries, some of the medicine in the bathroom, etc.
You then finish up with packing a few more of your personal items and are ready to go.
"Julie, are you ready yet and did you find the keys?!" you call up to her.
"Yeah, yeah I'm just making sure I got everything!" she calls back.
You hear more gunfire coming from outside which sounds like its right outside the front door. A quick look out the window and you do see several guardsmen firing on those crazy people running at them. It looks like the National Guard have set up a bit of a "base" in one of the houses further up the street. You just hope you can drive off without too much problem. You're going to have to be quick that's for sure.
Julie comes running down the stairs with two bags and a big luggage case.
"Julie, what the hell, I told you to just focus on the essentials!"
"I did! I need all this... shit!" Julie says and trips down the stairs due to all the stuff she's trying to lug around and going at a fast pace. You attempt to keep her from breaking her neck by getting in the way of her fall. You're partially successful though getting crushed by a tumbling body and heavy bags isn't fun.
"Fuck... shit... goddamn... " you utter as you feel the pain. Surprisingly Julie doesn't seem any worse for wear.
"Wow. That was lucky. Thanks Suzy." She says in a bit of an animated tone. You look at her eyes and see that her pupils dilated.
"Julie are you fucking high right now?"
"Uh... I don't know... "
"Goddamnit Julie, really?"
"I needed a little to take the edge off! I mean I've been practically sober for the past few days and I needed something to keep myself from breaking down completely! I've already proven I'm no good in these high stress situations and now we're going to enter a whole new level of fucked upness by leaving this house! I'm sorry if I'm not as strong as you!"
You don't really have time to argue with Julie about this right now, but she might have a point. If drugs are going to keep her from melting down into a quivering mess then maybe it is for the best that she's a little high. The funny thing is before all this happened you were the one that was a bit more of a worrywart and Julie tended to have a more laid back approach to life. Just goes to show how one can never tell how people will react in an emergency situation.
"Alright fine, but we're going to deal with this later and where are the car keys? I'll be damned if I'm going to let you drive in your condition."
Grabbing the keys from Julie, you pick yourself up and grab your own bags and cautiously open the front door.
"Alright we need to throw these bags in the back of car as quick as possible and then drive off equally as fast. These weekend warriors are patrolling all over this neighborhood and who knows where those rabid things are."
You and Julie run over to the car and open up the doors and start throwing in your bags. Takes a moment for Julie to shove in her big luggage case, but she gets it in. The pair of you then get in the front seats of the car and you start up the car.
You actually manage to swing the car out into the street before you hear shouting and then fired upon. Julie screams as the sounds of glass shatter behind you from the bullets. You keep it together and just drive hoping that there aren't too many of the guard in front of you.
It's a false hope as you do indeed bump into more than a couple patrols with itchy trigger fingers. Some you try to avoid by going down other streets. Others are actually busy fighting off others. How you and Julie aren't hit by any that do shoot at you is something of a minor miracle, but the car certainly doesn't come through unscathed since by the time you manage to make out of Julie's neighborhood, it's making rattling sounds.
"Oh god! I knew we shouldn't have left! The car's gonna die and then so will we!" Julie shouts.
"Julie take some more of your happy pills or calm the fuck down, I'm trying to think! Shit! There's some of those things!" you say as you smash the car into two insane looking individuals that just jumped out of nowhere. One goes flying off to the side and the other falls backwards in front of your car, which then promptly runs over him entirely.
You continue to drive and try to keep off the main streets though with your car now making several clattering sounds you're not exactly keeping a low profile.
"We're never going to make it out of this town! Not with the car in this condition! We need to go back!" Julie exclaims.
"We can't go back now Julie! I told you to take some more of... whatever it is you take and let me try to fucking think!" you say while trying to keep an eye on your immediate surroundings.
"Okay. I'm thinking that we're currently not too far from my house. I suppose we could go there and try to help Peter look for my brother's shelter and hold up in there. At the very least we could exchange cars there. I'm sure Peter isn't going to have any intention on using his.
Julie doesn't really answer you, she's too busy digging in her pockets for pills. You decide to just go ahead and head to your house.
Your drive there isn't quite as eventful as your escape from Julie's house, but it isn't without peril. The National Guard isn't quite as in control in your part of the town and there are far more of the rabid roaming around either chasing down normal people or attempting to break into houses. Most of them don't attempt to attack you, or if they do, you just continue driving fast enough that they don't get the chance.
By the time you get to your own house, your neighborhood is eerily quiet. There are definitely signs of past conflict all over the place, but there is nobody on the streets and most homes are not lit either. (Though you do see broken doors and windows on a lot of them) Fortunately your own house doesn't look damaged (At least not from the front)
You half expect to get swarmed by crazies as soon as you park in front of your house, but instead your only major concern is herding Julie's high ass to the front door and getting inside with all the bags you're both carrying.
"PETER?! Are you here?!" you call out when you get in the door since you saw his vehicle in the driveway. There is no answer though. You dump all your bags on the floor while Julie practically just collapses on the floor with her bags.
You help her up and lay her down on the sofa and see that she's feeling quite numb now, though she still tries to grip on to you when you pull away.
"Suzy, don't leave me... please... "
"Julie, I have to see if Peter's in the house or if it's just us. I won't be that far away."
"Suzy... I'm sorry I'm so fucked up... I don't know what... I would've done if you weren't around... "
"Julie, just rest right now."
With this last bit of reassurance Julie faintly smiles and closes her eyes.
The first thing you do is search the ground floor. Amazingly it doesn't look like your house has been attacked at all. Even looking out into the backyard things look fairly untouched.
Then you search the connected garage and that's when you wish you hadn't.
You find Peter and another unknown man both not quite entirely dressed, but that isn't the disturbing part. The fact that they're both dead is the disturbing part.
The garage itself is a bit of a mess, like there was definitely a struggle, and your brother's body and the body of who you presume is his lover or client both show signs of blunt trauma. Looks like their necks were both broken to ultimately kill them though.
You aren't sure what to think. You feel like you should be more upset than you are, but given what you've already experienced you've become desensitized. You're actually more concerned with how this happened. There isn't anyone else here to your knowledge and if it had been one of those things, the bodies would probably have bite marks. You suppose it could've been regular bandits or robbers, but you'd expect gunshot or even knife wounds and neither have that.
Also if it was bandits that killed them, you wonder why they wouldn't take Peter's car since his keys are still sitting on a dresser nearby. Whether Peter was planning on leaving himself or still looking for Ben's hidden shelter (And if he found it or not) you'll never know you suppose.
In any event you have the means to leave immediately if you so desire which given the uneasiness of this situation might not be a bad idea, but then again it's starting to get dark so it still might be best to bunk here for the night at least.
> stay
Chances are, you'd not only have drag Julie's ass to Peter's car, but you'd also have to load up all the bags yourself as well. Since you don't particularly want to spend much time outside at night, you figure you'll stay here, rest and figure out exactly what you're going to do tomorrow.
Besides if you still want to leave, you'll have time to pack more supplies you can get from here too.
In the meantime, you still have to search the rest of the house because it's still entirely possible that it isn't safe here.
You exit the garage and check on Julie again. She's not quite asleep yet, but is heading in that direction. Fortunately you don't have as many windows in this house and your doors are a lot stronger so you're confident that if something tries to break in, you'll hear it and be able to react in time.
You head upstairs and cautiously search with your pistol drawn. Much like the downstairs though, you find that there isn't anyone lurking up here. You even manage to find the courage to peek your head into Kelly's room, but given how messy her usually room is, you don't know if she's ever returned here. You get the idea to call her up, but predictably there isn't any answer. Who knows what's happened to her.
Finally you end your search of the house by heading to the place where you started from, the basement. Again, not much looks different and fortunately there isn't anyone down here either. Your own room is about the same as you left it. You shake your head that the though of all the bullshit you went through this week, only to end up back here. Makes you wonder why you bothered.
Still, there is a part of you that realizes that it's probably best that you did break your habit of hiding out in the basement. Chances are you wouldn't have developed the courage to do some of the things you are able to do now. You also saved Julie's life and while she's certainly been needy and a bit of a wreck during all this, you're a little glad you don't have to go through this crisis entirely by yourself.
After a bit more perusal of your room, you head back upstairs to secure the ground floor as much as possible. Still not risking turning the lights on, you put chairs in front of the front and back doors. (As well as the one leading to the garage)
You also move a bookcase in front of some of the windows. It's not the most fun thing to do in the dark and you bump and bang knees and elbows in the process, but it's secure enough that you're confident that if someone does try to get it, they'll make such a loud noise in the process that you'll at least wake up first.
"Suzy? What's going on?" you hear Julie ask in a sleepy tone. You figured she'd be fast asleep by now.
"Nothing, just securing the area. Nothing for you to worry about, go to sleep." You say.
"I'd like to, but I want you with me on this sofa.
"Julie... (sigh). Look I'm not sure if there's room for both of us to stretch out on that sofa. I'll be right here you know. I'll be in the recliner."
"No, I'll move over as far as I can, and you can squeeze in next to me. Please, I just want your body next to mine. You make me feel so safe." Julie says.
You put your hand to your head and start to wonder why you're becoming more comfortable in even entertaining ideas like this especially with all that's going on right now.
Though maybe that's the reason. This is the end of the goddamn world for all you know and at this point you've lost everyone that's been remotely close to you. All of your family is dead (or in Kelly's case missing). Your boyfriend is also gone. They were all dysfunctional, but it's what you knew and you still miss it.
So maybe even as dysfunctional as Julie is, you still feel that need for her companionship because it's familiar. You have no one else close to you except Julie and she's going to be "it" if the dark future is any indication.
"Okay, Julie, scoot over." You say placing your pistol on the table in front of the sofa and start to squeeze in on the edge of it.
There actually is enough room, it's snug, but you aren't quite in danger of falling off the edge. Julie puts one arm and leg over your body almost in an attempt to make sure you don't fall off, but it's just her being affectionate as usual.
"Suzy... " she says and she starts to drift off.
"Yeah?" you say still trying to get comfortable.
"I love you... "
"I know Julie. I know." You answer in a non-committal way.
You sort of wonder exactly when she began to feel that way. Adulthood? High school? Middle School? Whenever it was, you guess it makes sense since even when you were little you were helping her out of trouble when you could. You probably were the one constant in her life that was genuinely a friend and also not looking to fuck her.
You still haven't quite sorted out all your "feelings" yet on this, but you do realize that if you didn't care somewhat about Julie, you wouldn't have been making the effort to save her as much as you have.
You guess at least someone is appreciating you and that's definitely been a rarity in your life.
You're up for a little while longer so you just lie there in the dark going over in your head some of your possible choices of what to do tomorrow. The more you think about it, the more you think that probably leaving is the best solution. You'll gather some more items from here and load up Peter's car and tomorrow you and Julie will be heading somewhere else. You still aren't entirely sure where though.
You eventually do get sleepy and slowly drift off.
> Next day...
FRIDAY
"I got your call. Wakey wakey sis." You hear a voice say.
You slowly open your eyes and at first see what looks to be a man standing in front of you holding a shotgun. Then after the blur of your eyes clears a bit, you see that it's your sister Kelly.
Unfortunately it looks like not all your family is dead after all and of course it had to be Kelly that survived. Judging by the fact she's pointing a shotgun at you she's still hostile as well. You don't know why, but then has she ever needed a reason?
You look at the pistol on the table and Kelly just shakes her head.
"I guarantee you wouldn't make it sis. I suggest you don't even try... heh I doubt you'd have the balls to go through with it anyway. I have to admit when I came up here to get something from my room, I didn't expect to see you here."
At this point Julie wakes up.
"Suzy what's going... oh my god... " she says upon seeing Kelly.
"Shhh, it'll be okay." You say trying to reassure Julie.
"So when did you turn dyke Suzy? Always sort of figured you might be down for the rug munching. Guess that's why things didn't work out with Bobby eh? Still though, Julie? I have to say even I think you could do better than some used up party whore. Now the pair of you lesbos sit up."
At this point you and Julie move and shift on the couch until you're both sitting upright. In the meantime Kelly grabs your pistol from the table and places it in the front of her pants. She continues to focus the shotgun on you.
Given that you barricaded all the doors and searched the entire house last night you wonder how the hell Kelly got in. If she had been lurking inside, she definitely would've made her presence known and ambushed you yesterday and if she broke in, you definitely would've heard something before now.
You're also a little concerned not just because Kelly's pointing a shotgun at you, but you think back to what you saw in the garage. Peter and the other man's body. Their bodies were beaten and their necks were broken. Kelly certainly has the strength and the skill to do such a thing. Kelly's always been hostile to you and barely civil to your other sibling, but to actually kill one...
"Kelly, our siblings Peter and Donna are dead." You say.
"Peter's dead?" Julie says.
"Oh? Didn't know that about Donna. Can't say I'll shed any tears. The spoiled little whore wasn't much better than your girlfriend here."
"She was fucking chopped up by a goddamn serial killer, you bitch!" Julie exclaims.
"Hm, interesting. So how did you two survive?"
"I shot him."
Kelly's a little taken back.
"Wow, I'm impressed. Guess you would have the balls to use this pistol then. Tell me, was that the only person you killed this week little sister?"
"No... I shot one of those rabid people too. Ran over a couple as well."
"Well, well, well aren't you the bad ass now? Heh. Funny what an extreme situation like this can do to folks isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Yeah... so I'm guessing if you know about Peter, you've probably figured out by now what happened or at least have a strong suspicion. You're a lot of things Suzy, but I'd never call you an idiot."
"I appreciate that. So why'd you do it?"
Kelly chuckles a bit before answering.
"That little faggot found out where Ben's old shelter was and thought he was going to hide out from the current shitstorm in it with his boyfriend or whoever that other faggot he was with. Had to convince him that he had to go, he didn't listen and tried to resist and well you saw how that turned out."
"So you know where Ben's old shelter is then." You say.
"Oh yeah. I've always known where it was. Crazy old Ben thought he was being so sneaky moving the goddamn entrance around all the time, but I knew where the fuck it was nearly every time. He had just moved the entrance again a few days before he blew away his family and himself. I'm just surprised YOU never accidently found it given that you lived practically right near the fucking thing for years. If the entrance was any closer you would've been sleeping in the damn thing."
Well that explains how Kelly got in without alerting you. Still, if she's actually admitting the entrance to the shelter is somewhere in the basement and what she did to Peter, then that pretty much confirms she has no intention of sharing.
"So what's next Kelly? You gonna kill us too?"
"Don't know sis... don't know... severely thinking about it. I've never like you. You've been a thorn in my side since you crawled out of mom's vagina. Always having to be compared to how good and pretty you were and how bad and rotten I was despite the fact I was the one who was shouldering most of the responsibility in this fucked up family. What did you ever do except hide in the goddamn basement? Even now you left the house only to come crawling back here. Yep, I've thought about killing you on many, many, MANY occasions."
"Actually that wasn't my initial intention. My initial plan was to drive out of this forsaken town. I only stopped here because our own car was badly damaged and I had hoped to maybe get Peter's car and some extra supplies before heading out again." You say.
"Oh? Hmm, you're just full of surprises today aren't you? Well if that is true, you may have just bought yourself a bit of a reprieve sis... okay. What the hell, I'm in a good mood. I'm gonna let you and your whore walk outta here alive and you're going to be thankful."
"I don't suppose you'll allow us to gather our bags or give me the gun back will you?" You say.
"Heh, no I don't think so. Wouldn't want you getting any ideas of attempting to come back here. Leave with what you got on you or die, those are your choices sis. I'm being very generous here. Take my offer."
You stare at Kelly, but it's not with fear. It's with anger. Anger at all the past abuse you've had to endure from her. While she may have a minor point that you were the favorite and she did a lot for the family, she still had no right to bully and torment you for the majority of your life and she certainly had no right to murder Peter.
"Come on Suzy, let's go... " Julie says wanting for the both of you to be out of danger.
> leave now
As angry as you are, making some foolish attempt to stand up to Kelly while she's holding all the advantages is not going to help anyone. You'll have to re-supply elsewhere, at least you have a better car now.
"Okay, okay, we're leaving Kelly. You got all the advantages and you win." You say.
"Damn straight I win." Kelly snorts.
Julie removes the barricades the front door and cautiously looks around.
"Come on, come on, if any of those crazy fuckers were out there, they would've been beating down the doors and windows by now." Kelly says motioning the pair of you to leave quicker.
Julie exits and when you step up to the entryway, Kelly speaks up.
"Hey Suzy."
"Yeah?" you answer turning around.
"Changed my mind. I fucking hate you too much."
And with those words Kelly blasts you in the chest with the shotgun. Julie screams and Kelly laughs, but you make no more sounds at all other than your body falling backwards on the cement. |
FRIDAY
"I got your call. Wakey wakey sis." You hear a voice say.
You slowly open your eyes and at first see what looks to be a man standing in front of you holding a shotgun. Then after the blur of your eyes clears a bit, you see that it's your sister Kelly.
Unfortunately it looks like not all your family is dead after all and of course it had to be Kelly that survived. Judging by the fact she's pointing a shotgun at you she's still hostile as well. You don't know why, but then has she ever needed a reason?
You look at the pistol on the table and Kelly just shakes her head.
"I guarantee you wouldn't make it sis. I suggest you don't even try... heh I doubt you'd have the balls to go through with it anyway. I have to admit when I came up here to get something from my room, I didn't expect to see you here."
At this point Julie wakes up.
"Suzy what's going... oh my god... " she says upon seeing Kelly.
"Shhh, it'll be okay." You say trying to reassure Julie.
"So when did you turn dyke Suzy? Always sort of figured you might be down for the rug munching. Guess that's why things didn't work out with Bobby eh? Still though, Julie? I have to say even I think you could do better than some used up party whore. Now the pair of you lesbos sit up."
At this point you and Julie move and shift on the couch until you're both sitting upright. In the meantime Kelly grabs your pistol from the table and places it in the front of her pants. She continues to focus the shotgun on you.
Given that you barricaded all the doors and searched the entire house last night you wonder how the hell Kelly got in. If she had been lurking inside, she definitely would've made her presence known and ambushed you yesterday and if she broke in, you definitely would've heard something before now.
You're also a little concerned not just because Kelly's pointing a shotgun at you, but you think back to what you saw in the garage. Peter and the other man's body. Their bodies were beaten and their necks were broken. Kelly certainly has the strength and the skill to do such a thing. Kelly's always been hostile to you and barely civil to your other sibling, but to actually kill one...
"Kelly, our siblings Peter and Donna are dead." You say.
"Peter's dead?" Julie says.
"Oh? Didn't know that about Donna. Can't say I'll shed any tears. The spoiled little whore wasn't much better than your girlfriend here."
"She was fucking chopped up by a goddamn serial killer, you bitch!" Julie exclaims.
"Hm, interesting. So how did you two survive?"
"I shot him."
Kelly's a little taken back.
"Wow, I'm impressed. Guess you would have the balls to use this pistol then. Tell me, was that the only person you killed this week little sister?"
"No... I shot one of those rabid people too. Ran over a couple as well."
"Well, well, well aren't you the bad ass now? Heh. Funny what an extreme situation like this can do to folks isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Yeah... so I'm guessing if you know about Peter, you've probably figured out by now what happened or at least have a strong suspicion. You're a lot of things Suzy, but I'd never call you an idiot."
"I appreciate that. So why'd you do it?"
Kelly chuckles a bit before answering.
"That little faggot found out where Ben's old shelter was and thought he was going to hide out from the current shitstorm in it with his boyfriend or whoever that other faggot he was with. Had to convince him that he had to go, he didn't listen and tried to resist and well you saw how that turned out."
"So you know where Ben's old shelter is then." You say.
"Oh yeah. I've always known where it was. Crazy old Ben thought he was being so sneaky moving the goddamn entrance around all the time, but I knew where the fuck it was nearly every time. He had just moved the entrance again a few days before he blew away his family and himself. I'm just surprised YOU never accidently found it given that you lived practically right near the fucking thing for years. If the entrance was any closer you would've been sleeping in the damn thing."
Well that explains how Kelly got in without alerting you. Still, if she's actually admitting the entrance to the shelter is somewhere in the basement and what she did to Peter, then that pretty much confirms she has no intention of sharing.
"So what's next Kelly? You gonna kill us too?"
"Don't know sis... don't know... severely thinking about it. I've never like you. You've been a thorn in my side since you crawled out of mom's vagina. Always having to be compared to how good and pretty you were and how bad and rotten I was despite the fact I was the one who was shouldering most of the responsibility in this fucked up family. What did you ever do except hide in the goddamn basement? Even now you left the house only to come crawling back here. Yep, I've thought about killing you on many, many, MANY occasions."
"Actually that wasn't my initial intention. My initial plan was to drive out of this forsaken town. I only stopped here because our own car was badly damaged and I had hoped to maybe get Peter's car and some extra supplies before heading out again." You say.
"Oh? Hmm, you're just full of surprises today aren't you? Well if that is true, you may have just bought yourself a bit of a reprieve sis... okay. What the hell, I'm in a good mood. I'm gonna let you and your whore walk outta here alive and you're going to be thankful."
"I don't suppose you'll allow us to gather our bags or give me the gun back will you?" You say.
"Heh, no I don't think so. Wouldn't want you getting any ideas of attempting to come back here. Leave with what you got on you or die, those are your choices sis. I'm being very generous here. Take my offer."
You stare at Kelly, but it's not with fear. It's with anger. Anger at all the past abuse you've had to endure from her. While she may have a minor point that you were the favorite and she did a lot for the family, she still had no right to bully and torment you for the majority of your life and she certainly had no right to murder Peter.
"Come on Suzy, let's go... " Julie says wanting for the both of you to be out of danger.
> stand up to Kelly
"No." you say.
"Suzy? What?" Julie says.
"No, I'm not leaving. She's been a bully to me all my life. It ends today." You say.
"Wow! I can hardly believe you're the same Suzy that spent hiding from the rest of the world. Guess you've finally learned to stand up and be a woman." Kelly says with a smirk.
"But so what? You think because you've survived some of the horrors out there, you think standing up to me is going to suddenly change the situation? Got news for ya, it ain't. I can blow your fucking head off with one twitch of my finger. Last chance to get the fuck out of my house!" Kelly adds.
"Fuck you Kelly. I know you. You already made up your mind to kill me as soon as I woke up. I turn my back and you'll probably shoot me for the hell of it as I walk out the door."
Kelly starts laughing.
"Well like I said, you always were a smart one. Too bad you did something incredibly stupid by walking in here in the first place."
"Kelly, please! Just let us go! We won't come back! We'll just... " Julie starts to plead
"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU DUMB BITCH OR YOU'LL BE FIRST!" Kelly shouts before turning her attention back to you.
Julie at this point starts sobbing uncontrollably. You continue to stare down the barrel of the shotgun like you're fearless, but that isn't true at all and Kelly knows it.
"You can give me the hard looks all you want, but deep down I know you're ready to shit your panties. Which I imagine you'll do after you're dead anyway. You ready to die little sister?"
"Sure, just a little surprised you'd choose this method. Guess you're more intimidated by me than I thought."
"What?" Kelly snorts.
"You're intimidated by me. You always have been. I really should've seen it before."
"You're fucking crazy. I've never been intimidated by you."
"Sure you have, that's why you've bullied me all these years. You've said yourself on many occasions on how pretty I am so I know you're jealous of my looks. You've just admitted that I'm smart. The only thing that I always lacked in was self-confidence and now that I have that, well I'm pretty much better than you... "
"Fuck you Suzy!" Kelly says.
"No, I get it, you want to play it safe and shoot me, because hey if I gained self-confidence, who knows I might just be able to kick your ass in a fair fight."
"Hah, not fuckin' likely... "
"Well I guess we'll never know, because you'll shoot me and Julie and then go down and hide in the fucking basement... well what do you know... we're more alike than you thought. Imagine that."
And with that taunt it's the last straw. Kelly flies into a rage. It's the kind of rage she flies into when she's participating in her underground fight club. She abandons all rational thought, drops the shotgun to the side and lunges at you with both of her hands going straight for your neck.
Julie is knocked to one side and you fall backward on the couch. You attempt to roll and scramble to escape, but Kelly grabs you by the hair.
"You're right, beating your scrawny ass to death WILL be more enjoyable." Kelly exclaims.
"Julie, grab the shotgun!" you manage to shout before Kelly throws you face first into the bookcase. Kelly then stops Julie from scrambling on the floor for the shotgun by kicking her in the side and then stomping on her back.
Still struggling to recover you grab some of the heavier books that have fallen near you and start throwing them at Kelly. A couple hit her in the head and she ceases abusing Julie and returns to attack you.
You manage to throw one more book at her face, but it doesn't even slow her down. She punches you in the stomach causing you to collapse as you feel the air leave all your body and feel like you can't breathe. As you wheeze, Kelly leans down and grabs the back of your neck with one of her hands. It feels like a fucking vice.
"A hit to the gut, fucks you all up doesn't it? Feels like you're suffocating, can't breathe, can't do much of anything really. It's how Houdini died you know. I'm gonna hurt you so badly Suzy, you don't even know... but you soon will."
Kelly with her other hand smashes a fist into the side of your face. You feel your eye almost close immediately as the rest of you hits the floor. If you could catch your breath, you probably would've cried out from the pain though you're a little dizzy more than anything right now.
"Thought you could kick my ass. Bitch please, what the fuck were you thinking? This isn't a goddamn comic book or movie... shit!"
Kelly's body lands on top of yours with crushing weight. You then hear a shotgun blast and some debris of the bookcase consisting of paper and cheap wood fall on you and Kelly.
"LEAVE HER ALONE YOU FUCKING CUNT!" you hear Julie scream.
You still aren't in any condition to do anything, but Kelly certainly is. She scrambles for the pistol still in the front of her pants and gets up while yanking you up with one hand to use you as a human shield.
Julie takes cover around a corner when Kelly starts shooting. Four shots are fired before clicking follows.
"Fuck!" Kelly exclaims and drops the pistol.
You're practically deaf from the proximity of a pistol going off near your head along with being disorientated. Kelly positions herself behind the couch to give herself some extra cover. She also tightens her grip around your neck with her forearm and puts her other hand on your head ready to break your neck in a second if need be.
Julie comes back out from around the corner weeping, but unsteadily pointing the shotgun at Kelly.
"No... Suzy... (Sob) Let her go!"
"Julie, you're not in any position to give orders. Now granted with a shotgun and you don't need perfect aim at this range, but your precious girlfriend here is BOUND to get hit in the process. Never mind the fact I could break her neck before you get the courage to pull the trigger anyway."
"LET HER GO!" Julie screams again.
"Not gonna happen whore. You got two choices. You try to do the impossible by trying to hit me or you walk out the door and go on with your life. Either way one thing is certain, Suzy here isn't going anywhere. Her fate is sealed and there isn't anything you can do about it. Think about it Julie. Do you really want to be the one that kills her? Just walk away now taking solace in the fact that you never had a choice." Kelly says.
Even with one blurring eye open right now, you can see Julie just standing there sobbing and looking so helpless, despite wielding a shotgun.
"Suzy... I don't know what to do... (sob)" Julie cries.
You feel like you're going to pass out with Kelly's big meaty arm wrapped around your neck right now.
> tell Julie to take the shot
At this point you've come close to death so many times that you're not scared of dying anymore. If anything it's amazing you managed to survive as long as you did.
But you know Julie is scared. She's scared of a lot of things and if this week is any indication of how shitty the world is going to become, well she's not going to last very long in it.
If she walks out that door without even the supplies you came in with, it'll be like killing her and you can't let that happen. It is a sad thing that in this late stage you realize you do have feelings for Julie, and it'll be even sadder for her when she loses you, but hopefully it'll make her a bit tougher in the long run.
"Julie, take the shot." You say.
"Wha... what?!" Julie says.
"Nice, bluff sis, but it's not gonna save your ass." Kelly snorts.
"It's not a fucking bluff, you roid rage bitch. I'm telling Julie to shoot your ass and shoot through me if necessary."
Kelly is a bit speechless at this proposal. Julie of course is very upset.
"I... I can't! I'll kill you!" Julie cries.
"I'm already dead Julie. Just take the shot. At least then you'll have this place all to yourself and can last on the supplies from the shelter in the basement. I'm sure Ben kept a goodly amount."
"Suzy... I can't... I can't do this without you."
"You will... just know that I loved you."
At this point Kelly starts looking around in an attempt to find a way to escape while at the same time tightening her grip around your neck. Julie continues to struggle with the morality of all this.
"JULIE TAKE THE FUCKING SHOT!" you manage to shout despite Kelly crushing your throat.
And those are the last words you utter as the sound of a shotgun blast follows. |
THURSDAY
You wake up and find that Julie is still fast asleep with her head nestled against your body and one arm draped over you. The funny thing is this sort of thing doesn't even bother you anymore.
But your increasingly odd relationship with Julie isn't excessively important at this time. Right now you're dwelling more on the grim situation you're still in and the event less pleasant task you still have ahead of you. Not quite disturbing Julie yet, you reach over and grab your cell phone to check the time. Slept most of the day as usual. Just as well, since you won't have long to wait for nightfall again when you have to dig another hole out back.
"Julie, get up I have to go." You say tapping Julie on the head.
"Hgm,.. no... " she utters.
"Have to, I've got to take care of something and I think you know what it is."
Julie slowly and reluctantly moves off of you and repositions herself on a pillow.
"I wish you could just stay in bed with me all day." She says.
"At this point, I wish that too." You say and get up to leave to go get your sister out of the washer and dryer.
You grab your seemingly never-ending supply of garbage bags, cleaning products, some towels, a bucket of water, some rubber gloves and go down into the basement.
Once again approaching the washer and dryer you open up them up and are bombarded by a horrible smell. You end up coughing and hacking up again.
"Ugh... (pant) ugh... goddamn it, I can get through this... " you say.
You empty the washing machine first, putting Donna's dismembered legs and arms in trash bags. You then dump some cleaning products into the washing machine and turn it on figuring that it will least wash most of the blood out.
The dryer on the other hand is not going to be as easy to clean. Johnny threw Donna's torso and head in there. While he didn't exactly eviscerate her, there are definitely some or her insides coming out. It's a horrible task (You try not to stare at her head for too long), but between the gagging you manage to get through it. Her body, her left over innards and her head all up into bags and tied up.
You then spend time trying to clean the dryer. Even with using bleach, you can't get rid of that horrible smell. You wonder if it'll ever go away.
"Ugh, that's a really horrible smell." Julie says causing you to turn your head and see that she's come down to check on you.
"What are you doing down here? I told you I'd take care of this." You say.
"You were down here awhile and I decided to check on you. Besides, your brother Peter called."
"Is that right?"
"Yep, he was returning your call from yesterday. Didn't realize you called him."
"I was in the middle of calling him when that psycho attacked. Anyway, you talked to him?"
"Yeah, but I didn't tell him about what happened here, save for the National Guard coming in and telling us to stay indoors. I didn't want to tell him about Donna, I figured you'd want to do that."
"Thanks. Peter and Donna weren't exactly the closest either, but I think he'd be pretty upset to hear about her death. So he didn't want to talk to me?"
"Well I told him you were really busy cleaning up an awful mess elsewhere in the house. He actually said he didn't want to talk long though because he was worried that the government was monitoring the phone call what with the marshal law and all."
"Huh, sounds almost like something my brother Ben would've said."
"Yeah, that's the other thing. He mentioned he was busily trying to locate Ben's old hidden bunker in your backyard. He said he wants to wait this out in there because he's scared shitless and feels vulnerable just being stuck in your house by himself."
"Well I can see him being scared since this isn't the most relaxed of situations."
"Yeah, but he said its more than just the National Guard. He said he saw a few of your neighbors acting nuttier than a shithouse rat in the streets for no apparent reason. Like they were rabid animals. He mentioned some of them was trying to bite someone."
You stop cleaning for a moment.
"What? Crazy people trying to bite others? That almost sounds like something out of a horror movie. You sure he wasn't exaggerating?"
"He sure didn't sound like it, I mean it sort of makes sense. People have become more aggressive and hostile. The crime rate in this town has gone up so bad that the National Guard had to come in. I mean maybe everyone in town is going crazy from some sort of secret military experiment!"
"If that's true, then how come we aren't running around biting people?" you ask.
"Well maybe it hasn't affected us yet, maybe we're immune, I don't know! Maybe it spreads by bite like in a zombie movie! I'm just saying maybe we should start blocking the windows and doors."
"Julie its entirely possible Peter saw some people just high on bath salts! I mean the people who live in my neighborhood aren't exactly the most morally upstanding. Let's wait and see for a moment. I mean I'm still cleaning up here, so it'll be awhile and... "
Suddenly several machine gun shots are heard.
"Oh my God!" Julie says and instinctively ducks. You on the other hand get up off your knees from cleaning and start to head upstairs.
"Are you insane, where are you going?!" Julie asks.
"Julie, while at one time it would've been unthinkable for me to head TOWARDS the sound of gunfire, I've left a pistol and an axe upstairs. If nothing else I'd like to retrieve to viable weapons if an impending zombie apocalypse is indeed coming."
"Well hold on I'm coming with you, I don't want to be by myself!" Julie says.
And like that you're cautiously going upstairs towards potential danger with Julie touching one of your arms and hiding behind you. Now you really do feel like you're in a horror movie.
When you get upstairs, you and Julie keep your heads down. The gunfire doesn't sound like it's immediately out in front of the house, but it's definitely nearby. You go and get the pistol first.
"Why is the gun in the cereal box?" Julie asks.
"Because I was desperately trying to find a place to hide it yesterday. Julie, I think you better go put something a little more protective on. If we need to suddenly leave in a hurry you're not going to want to be running around in your underwear."
"I suppose you're right. Where are you going to be?"
"I'm going back to my room to retrieve the axe from the bathroom, wash this blood off and change my clothes as well since I obviously ruined these by cutting and ripping them yesterday in the first place."
You and Julie part ways briefly to go take care of your short-term goals. After washing up and changing your clothes again you start to ponder what your next move might be. You don't quite get to do that since once again you're interrupted by the breaking of glass coming from the kitchen followed by snarling and grunting.
"Shit!" you exclaim and run to the kitchen to see a bloody arm through the window of the backdoor attempting to unlock it. The thing on the other side gets more excited when it sees you and starts pounding the glass with its other hand cracking more of it. It seems completely oblivious to the fact that it's severely cutting itself in the process.
It looks like a regular (if a bit wild) human. It doesn't look rotten (Could be fresh though) and maybe it isn't a zombie, but you know damn well you can't let it get in! You shoot at it through the glass completely shattering the rest of the window. The bullet hits it in the face and the thing falls backwards making one last death growl.
You cautiously move to look through the broken window and see that you've killed it. Meanwhile Julie has come running to see if you're okay.
"Suzy! Oh thank god! Are you okay?!" Julie asks.
"Yeah, but I apologize for doubting you and Peter. One of those... things, guess I'll call them the rabid just attacked. Look what one did to this door, I'd hate to think what more of them might do in a group." You say.
"Oh shit! We need to start blocking the doors and windows!"
"I'm wondering if we shouldn't just get the hell out of here while we can."
"I really think we we'd be safer if we stayed put! I mean we have more than enough furniture and items to barricade ourselves in here. If we leave, we run the risk of bumping into hordes of them and that's not counting the military who are still shooting people on sight, maybe even more so now. Where would we go anyway?"
"I admit, I haven't figured that part out yet, but I think you're hoping to ride this thing out until shit gets back to normal and I'm wondering if that's even going to happen. We aren't exactly well supplied here for a long-term stay even if we do barricade this place. Now I'll give you that it's probably going to be dangerous out there, but at least we'll have more freedom to move around."
Julie of course will follow you no matter what you decide, but she really wants to stay in. As much as you think it might be better to leave now, you probably would be safe if you barricaded yourselves in the house properly. Things do sound hectic out there right now with all the gunfire, it might even be best if you waited until things died down a bit and sneak out later.
> barricade the house
Things are too hot out there right now. The National Guard is parked firmly in the neighborhood; you wouldn't have a chance to get past them.
No, the best thing to do is barricade yourself in. You have enough supplies to last the remainder of the week you think.
"Okay, let's block the doors and windows the best we can. Those shots might have the National Guard over here again, but at least we can point to a viable target this time." You say.
"What about your... um sister?" Julie asks.
"(Sigh) Shit. I dunno. She's all wrapped up in bags right now, I guess I'll just throw her in the garbage can out in your backyard. It's near the door, so I won't have to linger too long."
"You really want to throw her away like that?"
"No, I don't fucking want to throw away my sister like she was just day old meatloaf, but I don't have many other options right now and if we are going to be stuck in this house for who knows how many days on end, I don't want my sister's chopped up corpse sharing it with us! Now start pushing shit against the front door and block the windows!"
While Julie goes to follow your orders, you head back down in the basement to grab your sister's remains. It takes two trips and a lot of paranoia, but you manage to get her all in the trash can without anything else attacking you or the military coming to check up on you again. You do hear a lot more shooting though, so you're guessing that maybe they're too occupied with something else. You finish up by shoving the refrigerator in front of the back door.
Julie meanwhile is trying her best. She's got the front door barricaded well enough, but the windows leave something to be desired.
"Julie, anyone could crash through those windows right now. Don't you have like hammer and nails or something laying around?" you ask.
"No, and I don't have a bunch of wooden planks either. Why the hell would I have that shit? I don't sit around thinking about how to best protect my home against a possible zombie attack!" Julie answers. Her state of agitation is vastly increasing under the pressure.
"I don't think they're dead... nevermind doesn't matter. (Sigh) Okay, you're obviously stressed. Why don't you take a break and I'll handle this. I'll try to figure out a way to better barricade this place."
Julie doesn't need you to say anymore and she immediately runs upstairs. You imagine she's probably going to pop some pills or something to mellow her out. At this point as long as she stays out of your way, you'll be able to get what you need to do accomplished.
You spend a good amount of time shoving as much furniture as you can in front of most of the ground floor windows. Something could definitely still break them and with enough force they'd probably eventually knock through the furniture, but you're confident that you'd at least have enough time to do something about it before they got in completely.
Still, the gunfire and yelling from outside hasn't stopped the whole time you're doing this, there are a couple points where you hear some explosions too, so you're not exactly feeling completely relaxed about this situation.
You then start packing "get a away" bags with as many useful items as you can, just in case you need to leave in a hurry. One of your bags that you brought hasn't even been opened and is still full of clothing. You fill your other bags with more useful items like some of the non-perishable snack food Julie has, the duct tape you were using, a few of the bigger kitchen knives, loose batteries, some of the medicine in the bathroom, etc.
You then finish up with packing a few more of your personal items and then think if you do need to leave in a hurry, it probably would be best if you could drive out of here.
You head upstairs and start calling for Julie, but when you find her, she's laying on her bed in a semi-conscious state. She took something to calm herself just as you figured.
"Julie! Julie! Does Donna have a spare set of car keys?" you ask.
"Mgh... huh... come to bed... " she says.
"Julie! I need to know if Donna had spare keys to her car!" you shout.
"I dunno... yeah... prob... dresser... " Julie utters and starts to become even less coherent.
Seeing that she's going to be of no more use for the rest of the day, you search Donna's room for her car keys and fortunately Julie was correct in that they were on the dresser.
By this point, night has fallen and while the gunfire has lessened, you still hear the occasional shot. You're a little tired from all the running around and other activity you've been doing to today, not to mention you're still wearing the clothing that you cleaned your sister up in. As much as you're hesitant to let your guard down, you absolutely feel the need to clean up.
After a quick shower, you return to being on guard for something to happen. Anything. Julie of course is peacefully asleep and oblivious to anything that's going on at this time.
You peek out one of the second floor windows and see Guardsmen still patrolling, but it doesn't look like there's as many any more and you see a pile of what are probably bodies a little up the block. It does look like things have quieted down a bit, around here anyway. Who knows about the rest of the town.
You wonder if you shouldn't sneak out and leave while things are quieter, but Julie's not in any condition to leave now. And as inept as she's been today, you can't just abandon her. You've just lost your sister, you're not going to lose your best friend as well.
You stay up late past midnight staying alert, but nothing happens. You wander back and forth through the house until eventually even you can't fight off the sleep and you return to your room and close your eyes for just a moment...
> Next day...
FRIDAY
You are awakened by a loud explosion, a close one. One so close in fact that the force of it causes you to roll off your bed.
"Shit!" you exclaim as you hit the floor, still tired, but very much awake. You don't know what time it is, but you know you haven't been asleep very long.
You grab your pistol, which is nearby, and the smell of gunpowder, smoke and fire are immediately starting to become very strong.
You exit your room and see that your barricade of the front facing windows has been destroyed along with that portion of the house. Furniture is in pieces and some of it is burning. That isn't all that is in pieces however. You see the remains of several bodies. One bloody legs looks like it was wearing a military outfit, a couple of the other parts are of the more civilian persuasion.
You can only guess this might've been a soldier desperately trying to escape and blew himself up either on purpose or accidently in an attempt to kill the rabid things after him.
You can't make out everything from where you're standing, but the streets are swarming with hordes of those things. It would appear a "second wave" has popped up and is strong enough to overwhelm the military here.
Even Julie has woken up.
"Holy shit Suzy! What the fuck... " Julie says from above.
"Julie get whatever... "
"SUZY LOOK OUT!" Julie screams.
You react just in time to shoot one of those rabid fuckers twice in the chest. He goes down and doesn't get back up, but that's of little help since you've now just attracted even more of them and they're running in your direction.
"Julie climb out one the upstairs windows!" you shout, firing at two more rabid before running away yourself. Julie immediately runs back into her bedroom.
You'd follow her, but the burning debris makes it difficult and your own distance to the stairs isn't close enough for you to get there before more rabid come gibbering in.
You instead head for the backdoor and fire off the remainder of your bullets as you run. You might've actually managed to make out had the back door not been barricaded with the refrigerator.
You don't even get to open the back door before you're roughly pulled backwards and you feel a set of teeth sinking shoulder. This is soon followed by more teeth and your screams. |
WEDNESDAY
"Remember, if you act today... "
"Ugh! Shut up! I don't care about your stupid shelters!" you hear Julie remark.
You open your eyes and see Julie to the left of you messing around on your laptop. (And clicking off on one of those annoying pop up audio ads)
"Hey... when did you get up?" you ask.
"I dunno, about an hour ago I think. Didn't really feel like leaving the bed though, so I just figured I'd stay here and entertain myself on your laptop. Hope you don't mind."
"Eh, it's fine. Don't mess with my bookmarks and setting though."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to accidentally delete anything. I must say though with the extensive number of porn links in your history, I think you might have a real problem." Julie mocks.
"Mm, bold words coming from a woman who has popped up in several amateur videos on those sites." You answer.
"Hah. I don't doubt it, but that brings up the question of why would YOU be watching those?" Julie asks.
"Who said I did? I can't help it if I'm browsing through the videos and suddenly your ass pops up in a still."
"If it's just my ass, how do you know it's me? Either you don't or you've watched them enough that you know what my ass looks like without even seeing my face!"
"Argh! I don't mean literally! I mean YOU pop up, and I've seen your face in the stills though once I almost couldn't tell because it was covered in cum!" you exclaim starting to get agitated.
"Hmm, nice save." Julie says a little unconvinced.
Already having expended more energy than you wanted to, you start to sit up and realize you've been wearing the same clothes for the past couple days.
"Christ, I really need to take a shower and change these clothes." You say and get out of the bed.
"Yeah, I think I need to go do that too." Julie says.
"Well you can go use your own shower. I know we've been sleeping in the same bed for the past two days, but that doesn't mean we're going to be re-enacting a women's prison shower scene from a movie." You say laying down boundaries again.
"Hey I think you had that one bookmarked!" Julie says jokingly.
You shake your head and grab some clean clothes before heading into the bathroom to take a shower.
After washing up and changing your clothes, you feel refreshed. When you exit the bathroom, you see that Julie has left, presumably to go wash up as well. You check your phone and once again see nobody has called. You dial up your sister's number and still no answer. You certainly hope Julie is right about her just sleeping somewhere else. But surely she couldn't be so pissed at you that she's moved out could she? All her stuff is still here after all.
You then hear a loud noise or more like a voice, but you aren't sure if its coming from inside the house or outside the house. Still paranoid from yesterday, you grab the pistol and cautiously exit your room.
When you get to the living room, you deduce the noise is indeed coming from outside.
A quick peek through the window and you see several military men and a couple of military trucks and even an A.P.C.
"ATTENTION! THIS TOWN IS UNDER MARSHAL LAW AND THIS NEIGHBORHOOD IS NOW UNDER WATCH BY THE U.S. NATIONAL GUARD. A GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE WILL SOON VISIT ALL OF YOU AND ASSIST IN ANYTHING THAT YOU MAY NEED DURING THIS STATE OF EMERGENCY. STAY IN YOUR HOMES. DO NOT COME OUT FOR ANY REASON. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN THE USE OF LETHAL FORCE."
"Hey Suzy?! You hear that noise!? You got the TV up loud?" Julie shouts from somewhere up on the second floor.
"No! The fucking National Guard is out there in force and it looks like we're under marshal law."
"National Guard? Hold on, I'm coming down... " Julie says.
You turn the TV on to see if there's anything about this, but you're not exactly having any luck. You're getting a lot of Ground Zero infomercials or news about shit going on elsewhere in the world. Local stations seem to be off the air with an "emergency test" beep but nothing more substantial than that.
"What the fuck is going on?" you say to yourself.
"Yeah what the fuck IS going on?" Julie asks coming down from taking her shower.
"I dunno, I might need to check the Internet, not having much luck with the TV. Do we have enough food and water?" you ask.
"Well we certainly got some food. Dunno about water though. I mean you can get some from the taps I suppose, but as you might expect I got tons of alcohol. Why?" Julie says.
"Why? Because the National Guard just said if we try to leave we'll probably get shot on sight that's why! (Sigh) We're basically prisoners here."
"Suzy, you need to calm down. You've been on edge since yesterday. You just said there isn't a whole lot we can do, so we might as well just relax in the house. I mean really how much different is the day going to be for either of us?" Julie remarks.
"I'm just... its Donna. I mean she's still out there. I mean I HOPE she's still out there. I mean the last thing I did was argue with her. Shit, I'm even a little worried about Peter and Kelly now and I never got along with them either. Still family though." You say.
"You tried calling either of them?" Julie asks.
Oddly you haven't. You didn't really have a reason before, but given what's going on right now, maybe you should.
"I think I'll do that Julie. I can't believe I didn't think of it." You say.
"Sure, you go check on what family you can and maybe find out more about what's going on. In the meantime, I'm going to go get a drink."
"Thought you were turning over a new leaf?"
"You just said we were prisoners here. Not much else for me to do is there? Besides, I'm not going to get bombed out of my skull."
While Julie goes and deals with this situation in her own way, you head back to your room to get your cell phone to start calling up your other family members. You try Peter first since you figure he might at least answer.
You start to call Peter and then you hear a loud clatter from the kitchen. What's odd to you is that you don't hear a series of cursing following it; you do think you hear a stifled yelp though.
Panic wells up inside you and you once again head towards where the disturbing sound came from with your pistol pointed in front of you.
"Stop fighting me, bitch!" you hear a voice say.
This isn't a video game this time.
You enter the kitchen and see Julie being held captive by someone you KNEW was no good right from the start. Johnny. He's got one arm around her waist and another hand with a knife to Julie's throat. He isn't calm anymore. His face is displaying a rage and hatred you remember seeing a glimpse of in Uncle Ed when he looked at you during that horrible night with him. Julie's face is one of absolute terror and tears run from her eyes.
"Let her go you fucking psycho!" you exclaim pointing the gun in his direction.
"Oh look, it's your dyke lover come to rescue you! Fucking whores the pair of you! You think I'm scared just because you got a gun pointed at me? Pfft! Look at you, you're so scared right now, you can barely aim that thing properly."
He's right. Despite having the gun in your hand, you're incredibly scared.
"Mmm, think I'll have some fun with you two after I'm done cleansing you whores. Just like I did with your sister." Johnny exclaims.
Your worst fears are now a reality and it shows in your face. You feel ill and start to shake a bit.
"Guess you two have been so busy rug munching that you haven't been in the basement lately. Told you it was a mess down there." Johnny laughs cruelly.
Between this revelation, Julie's desperate expression of wanting you to do something, and your own fear, you're having a very difficult time concentrating.
You feel like if you shoot, you're either going to miss Johnny completely and then he'll kill Julie, or worse you'll kill Julie for him by accidentally shooting her instead of him. You can't fuck this up.
> try to buy some time
"Johnny, look. We didn't do anything to you, but if you felt that we offended you in anyway, then I apologize profusely. You can walk out that backdoor right now and nobody has to know about this." You say trying to aim the gun so you know you'll hit him with it, unfortunately he's moving around with Julie even more now.
"Yeah right. The National fucking Guard is patrolling out there right now, I'm not gonna get my ass shot off and stop trying to play psychologist, it won't work. I'm not interested in anything you two dyke whores got to say, so let's just skip to the good part!"
Suddenly Johnny slashes Julie's throat open. A gout of blood comes pouring out as Julie hisses and gurgles while clutching at her throat. The sight of this scares the shit out of you and it doesn't help that Johnny also gave her a little shove directly at you after he did it, which causes a nervous reaction of firing your pistol.
You don't hit Johnny though, you instead hit Julie and cut what little remained of her life even shorter. Her body falls on you and you scream when all the blood squirts all over you.
You attempt to push her off of you, but when you see Johnny looming over you, you try to bring your arm back up to shoot at him again, but this time he's got the advantage and he grabs your wrist, breaks it and takes the gun out of your hand before pistol whipping you in the face with it twice. Your head hits the floor as you lie there now with a broken nose.
"Stupid bitch. You all are stupid bitches. I don't know why I ever think I'm going to run into anything different. (Sigh) Still, I thought after your sister told me about you... I thought you might be... bah better get this over with, the fucking Guard probably heard those shots." Johnny says.
Your last moments are seeing Johnny's knife coming down several times on your face. |
TUESDAY
"... Suzy... " you hear a voice whisper.
"Mgh." You answer.
"Suzy... get up... I have to go pee!" the voice says again. Your eyes are still closed, but you recognize it as Julie's.
"Guh. Well go! Why do I have to get up?!" you say angrily with your eyes still closed.
"Well because you arm is wrapped around my waist and your leg is intertwined with one of mine that's why!"
Now you open your eyes and realize what Julie has just described is true. Julie looks at you over her shoulder.
"Hey don't blame me, I stayed on my side of the bed. I'd enjoy this longer, but I really gotta pee!"
"Shit." You say and remove yourself from your entanglement from Julie's body. Julie smiles at you and then heads to the bathroom.
Great, now she's going to read something into it. Though you do wonder how the hell you got into a spooning position with her. Maybe you were dreaming about Bobby.
Speaking of Bobby, while you're checking the time on your cell phone, you see that he's left messages again. After you recent "night cuddling" with Julie, you think it might be best if you do call Bobby if only to deter Julie from getting any ideas.
"Hello? Bobby?" you say.
"Yeah." Bobby answers. He sounds pretty flat.
"Well you called me, so I assume you wanted to talk to me."
"Yeah I did, I wanted to talk to you yesterday about something else, but I've changed my mind about some things since then. So I've got something new to tell you, and given that you didn't bother to talk to me yesterday I think you'll be fine with it."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about us. Breaking up for good. It's obvious that this isn't working. I tried to bring you into my world, but you just refuse to meet me half way."
You can't believe you're hearing this!
"Meet you half way? You want me to be one of your wives in your fucked up religious cult compound that's what you want! Face it, you're not going to give up your sister Diana and that bitch would kill me as soon as I stepped foot in that place!"
"Well... you obviously have valid points, so why are you arguing with me on this?"
"Because you're trying to make out like I'M the bad guy here! I'm not the human sacrificing cultist Bobby and yet I looked past that because I loved you! You say I didn't try to meet you half way? I proposed long ago that we BOTH leave our fucked up families behind and start a new life together! I was willing to change, YOU weren't!"
At this point there is a long pause.
"Well? Don't you have anything to say?" you ask.
"No, except... it was just too much. Guess I take after my dad after all. I'm sorry, but my God and family come first. Even before you. I'll always remember... the good times we had. May Tiamat's Chaos take mercy on you."
"Oh fuck you and Tiamat!" you exclaim and hang up.
Its weird, but you start to sob a little bit. You sort of knew your relationship with Bobby was on borrowed time anyway, but it still hurts now that it's officially over. He was your first love after all and now that's gone.
Meanwhile Julie is standing in the bathroom door watching you.
"Suzy, I heard some of that... and I'm truly sorry about you and Bobby. Really, I mean that. You're a kind and decent girl with many wonderful qualities. He had a treasure in you and he doesn't know what he's lost."
Hard to tell if Julie's just trying to flatter you or she really does mean it, but either way it's still nice to hear right now.
"Did you want to talk about it?" Julie asks.
"No, not really. It's over and that's that. Best to not dwell on the past and move on right?" you say.
"Probably. Well I should probably see how much damage my home is in from last night and see who's still lingering around. I'll leave you alone."
"Wait, I'll come with you. I mean I live here too now, I might as well help you clean up. Besides, for the first time I think being alone might be a bad idea. I'm just going to end up dwelling on Bobby. I need to keep my mind on other things right now. I probably should try to make up with Donna as well. We kind of argued yesterday."
"Yeah, I wondered what happened about that. When she stormed in yesterday I asked about you and she mumbled something about you being a bitch. Then later at the party I asked again about what happened and she still never answered."
"Nothing really happened, she just jumped down my throat for a perceived insult, but I guess I should make the peace being the older sister and all."
"See? This is why you're so wonderful!" Julie smiles and the pair of you exit your room.
The house actually isn't in bad shape. Julie remarks that usually the parties only get really out of hand on Saturday and Friday nights. She also remarks that she thinks this the first time in quite awhile that she woke up without a hang over since she didn't really drink as much since she was mainly with you the whole night.
"It's a bizarre feeling, but I have to say it isn't an unpleasant one." Julie says.
From the living room you hear the sounds of a vacuum as well as a TV.
"Who the hell would be vacuuming?" Julie asks.
"Donna?" the moment you say that, you and Julie both look at each other and say "Nah."
When you arrive in the living room, you see a man probably about your age calmly vacuuming as he periodically looks at the TV screen, which is one of those Ground Zero infomercials. There are actually a couple of other people in the room flopped out on the furniture or on the floor still asleep, but the man merely vacuums around their sprawled out legs or bodies. You and Julie find the sight to be quite the peculiar one.
He notices you both and turns off the vacuum.
"Oh hey. You... you're the owner of this house correct?" he asks.
"Yes I am, who are you?" Julie answers.
"Oh I'm Johnny. Sorry if I woke you and your girlfriend up, but I couldn't in good conscience leave your house in such a mess. So I found your vacuum and tried to clean up a bit. Sort of a wild party last night huh?" Johnny says.
"Eh, had wilder. Never had a guest actually clean up though. Kinda weird, but hey I won't turn it down. I don't remember you from last night; though I have so many people at my parties I never know half of them anyway."
"Oh, I'm not very memorable anyway. I've always kind of just blended in with the crowd. I heard about this party from a friend and figured I'd come since I don't get out much. Did you want me to leave?"
"Doesn't make difference to me. Like I said, I'm not going to turn down a guest that helps clean up."
Johnny nods and returns to cleaning up, while Julie turns back to you.
"Hrm, he's an odd one, but at least he's helpful. Anyway, let's go check and see if Donna's upstairs." Julie says.
You and Julie leave Johnny to his cleaning to go find your sister. After checking the bedrooms, you don't find her (Though there are a couple of people still sleeping in said bedrooms) you wonder if she passed out on the lawn or something.
You and Julie start descending down the stairs.
"I dunno, while I've certainly passed out on the lawn, Donna has never gotten that bad. She's more likely to be in the basement."
"Well I guess you could look outside and I could look down there for my sister... "
Suddenly Johnny interrupts.
"Excuse me. Sorry for overhearing, but did you say you were looking for Donna?"
"Yes, she's my sister." You say.
"Oh... so you must be Suzy. Heard her talk about you last night."
"Nothing good I'm sure. You know where she is?" you say.
"Unfortunately I don't. I mean I remember seeing her leave with a couple of guys and another girl last night, but I didn't know them either. I was under the impression they were going out to get more beer or drugs or something, but they never came back."
You shake your head and sigh.
"Great, she probably got herself fucking arrested by the cops last night." You say.
"Well we don't know that." Julie remarks.
"Maybe. I guess I'll know if I get a call from the police station. Whatever, I know she's like a cat and always lands on her feet, so I can talk to her later."
"You sure you don't want to still look around the house for her?"
"Well if she's here, she'll probably turn up while I'm cleaning this place a bit."
"Okay, well I'm heading back upstairs to get those assholes out of my bed and clean up whatever mess is up there."
Julie heads back upstairs nodding to Johnny who is now picking up garbage by hand and putting it in a bag. He nods to you briefly and continues his work.
Well mind numbing clean up work should certainly help keep your mind off Bobby (and the possibility of Donna being in jail) you're just wondering if you should help Julie or Johnny.
> help Johnny
You decide that keeping a bit of distance from Julie might be for the best for now. After last night you don't want her to think you're lingering around her because there is something there between you two.
Johnny seems a bit odd, but then you're certainly used to odd people. You grab a trash bag and start cleaning up left over beer cans.
"Thanks, but you don't need to help me. Your girlfriend probably could use the help more than I do." Johnny says.
"Well I do live here now, so it's gotta get clean or I'm living in a pig pen! And Julie isn't my girlfriend." You say.
"Oh. Sorry, I just assumed that you two coming out of the same room together... "
"Eh, long story. But she's just my friend and I consoled her on a troubling topic. It got emotional and she slept in my room, though I'm fairly certain Julie wishes it had gone farther."
"Hm, I see. Well your sister didn't mention you had a girlfriend when she spoke about you last night, so I was sort of wondering."
"Wow, I must've really pissed my sister off yesterday if she was talking about me to a stranger. Would've thought she would've been focusing on other things during a party. What exactly did she say?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" Johnny asks.
"It probably isn't going to be anything I haven't already heard before from her, so go ahead."
"Well... she was sort of drunk when she started talking to me. I was actually surprised, since a girl like her doesn't normally just go up and talk to a guy like me, well at least not when there are other guys around. Anyway, she at first propositioned me to go into the basement with her. When I declined, she got more hostile and started calling me a faggot and said I didn't know how to have fun just like her sister Suzy."
"And that's when she went on a tirade?"
"Yeah, I was about to leave her since it isn't my idea of a good time to be ranted at and insulted, but she grabbed my arm and practically forced me to listen. She went on about you being good and perfect and never doing anything wrong. Basically she said all this stuff about you as if they were supposed to be bad things, but I didn't see it. I guess that just made her even madder so she eventually told me to fuck off and later on I saw her leave with that group I mentioned earlier."
"Yeah sounds like her. (Sigh) I jut hope she hasn't gone and done anything more stupid than usual. Family. What can ya do?" you say.
"Heh, don't need to tell me. I had an older sister just like your younger one. Partied all the time, lot of sex, lot of drugs, pissed my mom off something fierce when we were still living with her." Johnny says continuing to pick up cans and placing them in a bag.
"Oh I got an older sister too, but she's even worse than Donna."
"Party girl too huh?"
"No, she's just a fucking sadistic bully. Had to put up with her abuse for years."
"Your older sister sounds like my mother."
While the tone of his voice reflects no anger though, you notice when Johnny mentions that, his hand crushes one of the beer cans he has. He looks at it briefly and then tosses it in the bag.
You wonder if you should stop talking altogether, but Johnny has already noticed that you've been staring at what he's done.
"Sorry, bad memories. I didn't meant to scare you there." Johnny says.
"I wasn't scared, just more surprised. We can get off the topic of families."
"Heh, actually I was thinking we were kind of bonding a bit. Sounds like both of us come from fucked up families. Probably made us stronger right?"
"I dunno. I mean I suppose I've survived, not sure if that's the same thing. I mean this is like the second day I've spent away from home. I only moved out yesterday and only then due to being under duress from my sister Kelly. I've always been a bit introverted and spent most of my life avoiding the outside world."
"Eh, you're not missing much. To be honest, I'm almost jealous you managed to do it for so long. I'm a bit of an introvert too, but occasionally I to mix with the crowd as it were. Just to see if I feel any different. Hence one of the reasons why I came to your friend's party last night."
"And?"
"And, I don't feel any different. Just like I figured. It's like I spoke with several other people last night even before your sister and everyone was just... dull... boring... like they were just empty shells. Like they weren't even real people to me. To be quite honest before your sister started complaining about you to me, I was getting bored and nearly left the party." Johnny says as he motions over to a few of the sleeping lumps still in the living room.
"What about your friend that you came with?"
"Oh him? I came here independently of him. Hell, he didn't even show up. Really, he's more of an acquaintance than a friend anyway... "
Johnny's eyes sort of glaze over when he says this and he breaks in the middle of his sentence. Almost like he's in a different "place." '
"Johnny?" you say.
"Hrm? Sorry, I just kind of spaced out there. Anyway as I was saying, you haven't missed much by not being a social butterfly, I think this group here is proof of that. And as far as not being strong, you're stronger than you think. Despite coming from a dysfunctional family, you haven't succumbed to drug and sex filled escapism like your younger sister and you obviously haven't grown to become a mean bully like your older sister. The fact that you told me you spent the night consoling your best friend rather than indulging in some sort of meaningless hedonistic pleasure tells me that you're a kind and gentle soul. That's a rarity in this shitty world."
You have to admit, as strange as this Johnny is, you do get the sense he's being genuine when he says this to you.
"Well thank you Johnny." You say.
Just as you're about to converse more with him, you hear some loud noise coming from the second floor. You hear a man's voice and a female voice, and then a very familiar voice. Sounds like Julie and it sounds like she's gone back to distracting herself from last night's concerns.
"Oh yes! Ohhhh yeah! Give it to me daddy!" you hear Julie scream.
A little disturbing choice of words considering what you both talked about last night.
Some of the people sleeping in the living room are even awakened by this. One of them looks at his watch and immediately runs out the front door like he's late for something. A couple of others return to sleep.
"Sounds like your friend is feeling better." Johnny says a little disdainfully.
"Mm, well she always was one to get over things quickly. Well looks like we're all done in this room anyway."
"Yeah, hey why don't you take a break? I mean obviously we don't need to clean this place spotlessly. Your friend Julie is just going to have another party tonight right?" Johnny says.
"True. Yeah, I guess you're right. No point in me cleaning especially if Julie isn't even going to be helping anymore, but what about you?" you ask.
"Me? Well I'm just going to dump out the trash and maybe pick up a few more of the bottles in the kitchen on the way. I'll probably also take another pursue down in the basement. It was a mess down there, but I think I cleaned most of it. Nearly tripped on a bad step down there though. Anyway then I guess I'll head home, I need the sleep anyway seeing as I haven't been yet."
"You didn't sleep here?"
"Nope. I've been awake the whole time, but I find I'm more of a night owl and don't sleep much anyway."
"Well I understand that, but I'm just surprised you stayed. You told me you were getting bored with the party and were about to go home at one point."
"Ah, but I also mentioned that after your sister complained about you to me, my interest was increased." Johnny says.
You pause because you almost can't believe what he's implying.
"Wait a minute. Are you saying you just stayed at the party through the night AND this morning just to meet me at some point? Just solely based on what my sister bitched about to you?"
"What can I say? You sounded interesting and after speaking with you I can see I wasn't wrong."
Johnny smiles and you smile with a nervous laugh. On one hand it's a little stalkerish and combined with Johnny's oddness, he's starting to come off a lot creepier.
On the other hand, in a strange way you're sort of flattered. You always did attract the weird ones Suzy.
"Wow... I'm not exactly sure what to say to that." You say.
"No need to say anything. The pleasure of speaking with you is all mine. Oh but one more thing, did you want me to get rid of these useless sloths still sleeping in the living room before I leave?"
"Well, they're probably just going to be here for tonight's party, so might as well just leave 'em I suppose. No need to trouble yourself."
"Okay then, as I said, it was nice talking with you Suzy."
"It was... interesting talking with you too Johnny." You reply back and head towards your room as Johnny starts taking a couple of garbage bags to the kitchen.
What a strange person. Even stranger is that your self-esteem has been a little boosted by Johnny's stalkerish behavior.
Before Johnny's praising of you, in the back of your mind you were still a little upset about Bobby and starting to realize you were alone again. Not that you had any major problems with being alone and you're certainly used to it, but it still was nice to have a boyfriend every now and then.
After Johnny going on about how most people suck and putting you on a minor pedestal you don't feel as bad anymore about Bobby. Screw him right? He's the one missing out.
You enter your room and lock your door fully content on tuning out the rest of the world like you always do. You go back to fucking around on the Internet, playing games and when the mood strikes you, getting out your mechanical "boyfriend" who never disappoints you.
Hours pass...
Eventually the silence from outside your door becomes less silent. Looks like Julie's party is getting started or at least getting louder.
You don't really pay it too much mind as you pretty much managed to block it somewhat yesterday, but then you get a knock on the door.
"Julie?" you ask instinctively.
"Um, no it's me." A familiar voice answers.
"Johnny?" you say and then slowly get up to answer the door.
You open it up a little and see Johnny standing before you (Along with some party people passing by in the hallway).
"Hi again." He says with a brief smile.
"What are you doing here? Did you even go home?" you ask.
"Oh yeah, I did, but just as I was finishing up in the kitchen, your friend Julie had come in to get some more booze. She mentioned that she appreciated my cleaning up and invited me back for tonight's party. So I came back."
"Really?"
"Well technically she also invited me to come join her and the couple up in her room, but I declined as you might aspect. Not an orgy guy."
"Yeah, which is why I'm really wondering why you came back at all. I mean I have to live here, but this really isn't your thing. You said as much earlier today."
"I know what I said... but I also said... "
Johnny's expression becomes... not quite flustered, not quite angry, but more like he's having a hard time and you've just put him on the spot.
"(Sigh) Look. This is really difficult for me. I'm probably coming off like a creepy stalker and god knows you probably get a lot of guys hitting on you... but I like you. I know that sounds like third grade shit, but there it is. I really like you and I'd like to get to know you better. That's why I came back tonight."
Oddly that was honest enough to actually be kind of charming. Lot better than the "Show us your tits" pick up line that you've heard before.
Then again, Johnny is still pretty damn weird and much like how you didn't want to lead on Julie; you don't necessarily want to lead Johnny on either.
> invite Johnny in
What the hell, you weren't doing anything important with your time and you were thinking about making the first move yourself earlier today.
"Johnny, could you hold on one moment?" you ask.
"Um, okay." He replies.
You close the door again and hastily clean up your room a bit just so you don't have your underwear just lying around, let alone your vibrator. Feeling that your room and yourself are presentable, you open the door.
"Come on in Johnny." You say.
"Wait, you're inviting me into your room? Are you sure?" Johnny asks a bit surprised.
"Well if we're going to get to know each other better to see if we've got potential, then I'd rather do it in here one on one rather than out there with drunks possibly butting into our conversation. Besides, if I leave this room, its very well possible people will wander in and have sex in it."
Johnny chuckles a bit at your remark as he walks in.
"Well I suppose all that's true, but... "
You make your first move by putting your arms around Johnny's shoulders and kissing Johnny squarely on the lips. He's really surprised. To be quite honest, you're a little surprised at yourself as well since you aren't usually the forward type, but maybe Julie's party spirit has gotten a hold of you a little bit along with wanting to put more distance between yourself and any more lingering feelings you might have for Bobby.
Besides, you get the impression for all his praising and stalkerish behavior; Johnny would still be too shy to make the first move.
Johnny's reaction says that your instinct about that was entirely correct.
He pulls away fairly quickly after you're finished, he blushes a bit and then gives you a weird stare.
"What? I thought we were going to get to know each other." You say.
"I... I don't think I'm ready for this." Johnny remarks and starts backing away.
"Wait, hold on. We weren't going to have sex! We don't even have to kiss anymore, I was just... "
Before you can even finish, Johnny's already run out the door.
"Great, Suzy. Some seductress you are. (Sigh)" you say to yourself and close your door.
In any case, you go back to your laptop to help shut yourself out from the real world again. which wouldn't be that bad, but Johnny just flat out running away from you doesn't exactly put you in that great of a mood. You got dumped by a murderer and now you've run off a stalker. What does that say about you?
Oh well at least things with batteries don't judge.
A couple hours later you get another knock on the door.
"Yes?" you ask.
"Suzy, it's me Johnny. I need to talk."
You're not exactly sure if this is going to be a good idea, but you decide to at least hear him out.
"(Sigh) Hold on." You say and get up to open the door. Johnny stands before you wearing a jacket and looking slightly more disheveled from the last time.
"Well? Are you coming in, I don't feel like keeping the door open for all the partying assholes to peer into." You ask.
Johnny enters the room and you shut the door and walk back to your sofa.
"Suzy, I just want to apologize. I've been thinking about this long and hard and I realize that I did the wrong thing." Johnny says pacing back and forth, rubbing his hands through hair.
"Well, maybe I did come on a little strong. I suppose if the roles had been reversed I would've run away as well."
"No, stop talking I need to get all this out. What I'm trying to say is that I obviously have wasted my time and that I shouldn't have pursued you. I guess I just built you up in my head so much that I... dunno... I always do this... fuck! Shit! WHY!?!" Johnny says and hits himself in the head a couple times. He's starting to worry you.
"Hey Johnny, you don't need to... "
"SHUT THE FUCK UP WHORE!" Johnny screams and before you even can react he's already run up and physically assaulted you. You try to scream out, but punches you your face and another tight grip around your throat prevent that from happening. The loud music from the party and indifference of the shallow partiers from any potential noise you could've made probably would've been lost to those two factors anyway.
When you're nearly unconscious and so dazed that you can no longer fight back, Johnny ceases his punches and reaches for something inside his jacket.
"This is going to be quick, because even though you're a whore like the rest... I still like you." Johnny whispers. "I... really wish this could've worked out... you were so beautiful... "
Your last feeling is the blade of a sharp knife slitting your throat. |
You decide that keeping a bit of distance from Julie might be for the best for now. After last night you don't want her to think you're lingering around her because there is something there between you two.
Johnny seems a bit odd, but then you're certainly used to odd people. You grab a trash bag and start cleaning up left over beer cans.
"Thanks, but you don't need to help me. Your girlfriend probably could use the help more than I do." Johnny says.
"Well I do live here now, so it's gotta get clean or I'm living in a pig pen! And Julie isn't my girlfriend." You say.
"Oh. Sorry, I just assumed that you two coming out of the same room together... "
"Eh, long story. But she's just my friend and I consoled her on a troubling topic. It got emotional and she slept in my room, though I'm fairly certain Julie wishes it had gone farther."
"Hm, I see. Well your sister didn't mention you had a girlfriend when she spoke about you last night, so I was sort of wondering."
"Wow, I must've really pissed my sister off yesterday if she was talking about me to a stranger. Would've thought she would've been focusing on other things during a party. What exactly did she say?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" Johnny asks.
"It probably isn't going to be anything I haven't already heard before from her, so go ahead."
"Well... she was sort of drunk when she started talking to me. I was actually surprised, since a girl like her doesn't normally just go up and talk to a guy like me, well at least not when there are other guys around. Anyway, she at first propositioned me to go into the basement with her. When I declined, she got more hostile and started calling me a faggot and said I didn't know how to have fun just like her sister Suzy."
"And that's when she went on a tirade?"
"Yeah, I was about to leave her since it isn't my idea of a good time to be ranted at and insulted, but she grabbed my arm and practically forced me to listen. She went on about you being good and perfect and never doing anything wrong. Basically she said all this stuff about you as if they were supposed to be bad things, but I didn't see it. I guess that just made her even madder so she eventually told me to fuck off and later on I saw her leave with that group I mentioned earlier."
"Yeah sounds like her. (Sigh) I jut hope she hasn't gone and done anything more stupid than usual. Family. What can ya do?" you say.
"Heh, don't need to tell me. I had an older sister just like your younger one. Partied all the time, lot of sex, lot of drugs, pissed my mom off something fierce when we were still living with her." Johnny says continuing to pick up cans and placing them in a bag.
"Oh I got an older sister too, but she's even worse than Donna."
"Party girl too huh?"
"No, she's just a fucking sadistic bully. Had to put up with her abuse for years."
"Your older sister sounds like my mother."
While the tone of his voice reflects no anger though, you notice when Johnny mentions that, his hand crushes one of the beer cans he has. He looks at it briefly and then tosses it in the bag.
You wonder if you should stop talking altogether, but Johnny has already noticed that you've been staring at what he's done.
"Sorry, bad memories. I didn't meant to scare you there." Johnny says.
"I wasn't scared, just more surprised. We can get off the topic of families."
"Heh, actually I was thinking we were kind of bonding a bit. Sounds like both of us come from fucked up families. Probably made us stronger right?"
"I dunno. I mean I suppose I've survived, not sure if that's the same thing. I mean this is like the second day I've spent away from home. I only moved out yesterday and only then due to being under duress from my sister Kelly. I've always been a bit introverted and spent most of my life avoiding the outside world."
"Eh, you're not missing much. To be honest, I'm almost jealous you managed to do it for so long. I'm a bit of an introvert too, but occasionally I to mix with the crowd as it were. Just to see if I feel any different. Hence one of the reasons why I came to your friend's party last night."
"And?"
"And, I don't feel any different. Just like I figured. It's like I spoke with several other people last night even before your sister and everyone was just... dull... boring... like they were just empty shells. Like they weren't even real people to me. To be quite honest before your sister started complaining about you to me, I was getting bored and nearly left the party." Johnny says as he motions over to a few of the sleeping lumps still in the living room.
"What about your friend that you came with?"
"Oh him? I came here independently of him. Hell, he didn't even show up. Really, he's more of an acquaintance than a friend anyway... "
Johnny's eyes sort of glaze over when he says this and he breaks in the middle of his sentence. Almost like he's in a different "place." '
"Johnny?" you say.
"Hrm? Sorry, I just kind of spaced out there. Anyway as I was saying, you haven't missed much by not being a social butterfly, I think this group here is proof of that. And as far as not being strong, you're stronger than you think. Despite coming from a dysfunctional family, you haven't succumbed to drug and sex filled escapism like your younger sister and you obviously haven't grown to become a mean bully like your older sister. The fact that you told me you spent the night consoling your best friend rather than indulging in some sort of meaningless hedonistic pleasure tells me that you're a kind and gentle soul. That's a rarity in this shitty world."
You have to admit, as strange as this Johnny is, you do get the sense he's being genuine when he says this to you.
"Well thank you Johnny." You say.
Just as you're about to converse more with him, you hear some loud noise coming from the second floor. You hear a man's voice and a female voice, and then a very familiar voice. Sounds like Julie and it sounds like she's gone back to distracting herself from last night's concerns.
"Oh yes! Ohhhh yeah! Give it to me daddy!" you hear Julie scream.
A little disturbing choice of words considering what you both talked about last night.
Some of the people sleeping in the living room are even awakened by this. One of them looks at his watch and immediately runs out the front door like he's late for something. A couple of others return to sleep.
"Sounds like your friend is feeling better." Johnny says a little disdainfully.
"Mm, well she always was one to get over things quickly. Well looks like we're all done in this room anyway."
"Yeah, hey why don't you take a break? I mean obviously we don't need to clean this place spotlessly. Your friend Julie is just going to have another party tonight right?" Johnny says.
"True. Yeah, I guess you're right. No point in me cleaning especially if Julie isn't even going to be helping anymore, but what about you?" you ask.
"Me? Well I'm just going to dump out the trash and maybe pick up a few more of the bottles in the kitchen on the way. I'll probably also take another pursue down in the basement. It was a mess down there, but I think I cleaned most of it. Nearly tripped on a bad step down there though. Anyway then I guess I'll head home, I need the sleep anyway seeing as I haven't been yet."
"You didn't sleep here?"
"Nope. I've been awake the whole time, but I find I'm more of a night owl and don't sleep much anyway."
"Well I understand that, but I'm just surprised you stayed. You told me you were getting bored with the party and were about to go home at one point."
"Ah, but I also mentioned that after your sister complained about you to me, my interest was increased." Johnny says.
You pause because you almost can't believe what he's implying.
"Wait a minute. Are you saying you just stayed at the party through the night AND this morning just to meet me at some point? Just solely based on what my sister bitched about to you?"
"What can I say? You sounded interesting and after speaking with you I can see I wasn't wrong."
Johnny smiles and you smile with a nervous laugh. On one hand it's a little stalkerish and combined with Johnny's oddness, he's starting to come off a lot creepier.
On the other hand, in a strange way you're sort of flattered. You always did attract the weird ones Suzy.
"Wow... I'm not exactly sure what to say to that." You say.
"No need to say anything. The pleasure of speaking with you is all mine. Oh but one more thing, did you want me to get rid of these useless sloths still sleeping in the living room before I leave?"
"Well, they're probably just going to be here for tonight's party, so might as well just leave 'em I suppose. No need to trouble yourself."
"Okay then, as I said, it was nice talking with you Suzy."
"It was... interesting talking with you too Johnny." You reply back and head towards your room as Johnny starts taking a couple of garbage bags to the kitchen.
What a strange person. Even stranger is that your self-esteem has been a little boosted by Johnny's stalkerish behavior.
Before Johnny's praising of you, in the back of your mind you were still a little upset about Bobby and starting to realize you were alone again. Not that you had any major problems with being alone and you're certainly used to it, but it still was nice to have a boyfriend every now and then.
After Johnny going on about how most people suck and putting you on a minor pedestal you don't feel as bad anymore about Bobby. Screw him right? He's the one missing out.
You enter your room and lock your door fully content on tuning out the rest of the world like you always do. You go back to fucking around on the Internet, playing games and when the mood strikes you, getting out your mechanical "boyfriend" who never disappoints you.
Hours pass...
Eventually the silence from outside your door becomes less silent. Looks like Julie's party is getting started or at least getting louder.
You don't really pay it too much mind as you pretty much managed to block it somewhat yesterday, but then you get a knock on the door.
"Julie?" you ask instinctively.
"Um, no it's me." A familiar voice answers.
"Johnny?" you say and then slowly get up to answer the door.
You open it up a little and see Johnny standing before you (Along with some party people passing by in the hallway).
"Hi again." He says with a brief smile.
"What are you doing here? Did you even go home?" you ask.
"Oh yeah, I did, but just as I was finishing up in the kitchen, your friend Julie had come in to get some more booze. She mentioned that she appreciated my cleaning up and invited me back for tonight's party. So I came back."
"Really?"
"Well technically she also invited me to come join her and the couple up in her room, but I declined as you might aspect. Not an orgy guy."
"Yeah, which is why I'm really wondering why you came back at all. I mean I have to live here, but this really isn't your thing. You said as much earlier today."
"I know what I said... but I also said... "
Johnny's expression becomes... not quite flustered, not quite angry, but more like he's having a hard time and you've just put him on the spot.
"(Sigh) Look. This is really difficult for me. I'm probably coming off like a creepy stalker and god knows you probably get a lot of guys hitting on you... but I like you. I know that sounds like third grade shit, but there it is. I really like you and I'd like to get to know you better. That's why I came back tonight."
Oddly that was honest enough to actually be kind of charming. Lot better than the "Show us your tits" pick up line that you've heard before.
Then again, Johnny is still pretty damn weird and much like how you didn't want to lead on Julie; you don't necessarily want to lead Johnny on either.
> decline
As charmingly strange as Johnny's awkwardness is you're still not quite ready to go jumping into a relationship with another guy.
"That's sweet Johnny. Really it is. It's just... I'm not looking for another relationship right now. I just broke up with my boyfriend and I think I need to be by myself for a while." You say.
"Boyfriend? I see. I suppose a pretty girl like you would have a lot of them." Johnny says. You notice his tone sort of becomes "flat" when he says this.
"Pfft hardly. He was my first and only one." You say.
And as quickly as his demeanor changed before, it changes AGAIN just as quickly. Before you got the impression he was almost pissed upon hearing you even HAD a boyfriend despite the fact he was your ex. After your additional information, it's almost like he's perked up again.
"Ah, okay... I understand. First love and lost. Been there before. Say no more, I'll leave you be. It was a long shot anyway."
Just as Johnny is about to leave, you sort of feel like you should say something helpful.
"Johnny?"
"Yes, Suzy?"
"You're a good guy Johnny, and I'm sure there's some girl out there for you."
"I know, but she probably killed herself when she found out I was the guy for her." Johnny says with a small chuckle.
"Anyway, thank you for being upfront and trying to be encouraging. I must say though, whoever your ex was, he must've been an idiot to let you get away."
You watch as Johnny disappears into the crowd and you shut your door.
Having dealt with your momentary break up of your usual routine, you briefly check your phone for the time and to see if maybe your sister tried to call (You still think she probably got hauled in by the cops) but nobody has called.
Having little else to do, you go back to what you were doing before.
Hours pass and you start to get hungry which unfortunately means you're going to have to brave going out there and raiding the kitchen assuming there's even anything in there.
You exit your room and find that the party is still as lively as ever. Nobody pays too much attention to you as you creep through the crowd.
The kitchen is a complete wreck. You don't exactly know what went on in here, but there is some guy lying face down on a broken kitchen table. His head is bleeding and there are several broken beer bottles all over the floor. You almost hesitate to step inside the room, though there are a couple of other people just standing around in the kitchen drinking as if nothing was wrong.
"Jesus Christ." You say. "Does that guy need an ambulance?" you ask.
Eventually one of the people in the kitchen realizes you were asking them.
"Hrm? Oh him? Yeah he's fine. Just got drunk, got into a fight and then well as you can see he wasn't the winner. He does this all the time." A girl says in a bored tone.
"Yeah well I'd appreciate it, if he and whoever else was involved hadn't wrecked the goddamn kitchen in the process!"
"What's the big deal and what concern is it of yours? It's Julie's kitchen and she won't care."
"I happen to live here so it actually is somewhat of my concern, and where is Julie anyway?"
"I dunno. Probably getting fucked as usual. Still don't know why you're worried about it. Besides some weird guy said he was getting something to clean up the mess anyway." The girl says and goes back to talking with the guy she was previously talking to.
"Weird guy?" you say to yourself.
"Hey, Suzy."
You turn around and see Johnny behind you with a broom, a dustpan and some sort of cleaning product.
"Johnny, what are you still doing... wait, have you been lingering all night around hoping that I might come out of my room?"
Johnny looks away a bit as if you hit the nail on the head.
"Well... actually at first I was kind of hoping that maybe you'd change your mind and come running out of your room to find me. A silly storybook fantasy really... but then after about an hour of indulging in that delusion I realized I needed to accept reality. I was going to leave, but then I suddenly got offered a video game controller from a guy that stopped playing, so I started playing. I ended up getting sort of wrapped up in the game, shooting people in the face, murdering hookers and such. Sort of fun, and made me feel better."
Johnny passes you by and starts sweeping up broken glass and continues talking.
"After my escapism with virtual violence then I decided to go home, but then I heard about a fight going on in the kitchen so I decided to be a spectator, but by the time I got here, it was already over and the winner went out the back door. I didn't think it was right to just leave your kitchen like this even if nobody else cared, so I tried to find your friend Julie because I didn't want to bother you again since you made your feelings quite clear to me and I didn't want to look like a stalker."
"A little late for that, Johnny." You say.
"Heh, well anyway I couldn't find her. I asked around and someone said she left wit ha couple guys. So not knowing what else to do, I just decided to clean up the mess myself before I left."
"Wait a minute, are you telling me Julie isn't here for her own fucking party?"
"Uh, no it appears she isn't."
It's one thing to have to put up with the parties when she's actually here, but if she's not even going to be here then why the hell do you have to still put up with it? So much for Julie's sob story about going to turn over a new leaf after your talk. You're annoyed and to top it off you're still really hungry.
"Goddamnit all I wanted to do is get some food from the fucking kitchen... " you say.
"Did you want me to order a pizza for you?"
"I don't have any money."
"So? I got some money, I'll be happy to buy you a pizza, I'll get you a drink too."
Actually you don't have anything against Johnny's offer, but you're hesitant to accept.
"Johnny, I'll accept your offer, BUT I don't want YOU to get it in your head that I owe you something because of it."
"Thought never crossed my mind." Johnny says. He doesn't even seem hurt by your implication.
"Okay. Sorry, I got a little authoritative there."
"No, no, I get it. It's smart for you to lay that out there immediately. Anyway I'll call up the place and I'll get it to you when it's here. In the meantime you can go back and relax in your room if you wish." Johnny says continuing to sweep.
"Oh. Um okay. Thanks. Hey, do you think we should call an ambulance for that guy on the floor?" you ask Johnny.
"Him? Nah, he's fine. I actually checked him soon after I came in here. Really I would've rolled him over on his back, but with all the broken glass on the floor I probably would've done more harm. Anyway I got this, don't worry." Johnny says.
Well he might be a weird guy who seems creepy at times and is definitely stalking you a bit, but at least he's helpful which is more that can be said for Julie who has seemingly just abandoned her own party. You try to call her up, but you get no answer, but you weren't really expecting one anyway.
Still it is weird that she left. Julie's always been irresponsible, but she's like you in that she barely ever leaves the house. After all, why would she go get fucked, drunk and high elsewhere when she can do it right here?
In any case, she'll probably be back, and you go back to wasting your time on the Internet. After a half hour passes and there's a knock on the door.
"Pizza delivery." Johnny says.
"Okay." You answer and get up to open the door.
"Here you go. I ordered a standard pepperoni and cheese pizza and got you Coke. Hope that's okay, since I forgot to ask what you like."
"It's fine. Thank you."
"Alright then, I'll leave you be." Johnny says starting to leave.
You don't know what it is about this guy but...
"Hey Johnny, did you want some pizza?"
"Huh? Oh, nah. I'm good. I ate a little earlier. I don't tend to eat much anyway."
"Hm, don't eat much, don't sleep much. You sure you're human?" you half joke.
This causes an unusual guffaw of laughter that you didn't expect from him.
"I sometimes wonder that myself." He says still chuckling. "Enjoy the rest of your evening Suzy."
Johnny once again disappears into the crowd in the living room and you lock your door.
The rest of your night is pretty much eating your pizza, drinking your coke, taking a quick shower and then eventually settling in for the night. You have no idea if the part is still going on outside, but the noise has decreased a little, so maybe it's starting to wind down.
Well at least you don't need to share your bed this time.
> Next day...
WEDNESDAY
You wake up to the hum of a vacuum passing the outside your door. You shake your head, because you know who that probably is.
You check your phone for the time and see that you've slept through the morning as usual and nobody has called.
As you go through your bathroom routine of brushing your teeth and such, you ponder on whether or not you should check how trashed the house is or just stay in your room and not deal with it.
Ultimately you decide to check despite not really wanting to. Besides Johnny is obviously out there and you're going to have to do something about him.
You exit your room and find that the hallway is fairly clean and the hum of the vacuum is now coming from the living room.
"At it again are you Johnny?" you say walking into the living room. The living room is spotless and you notice that unlike the last time you don't see anyone flopped out on the floor or sofa.
"Hi Suzy, did you sleep well last night?" Johnny asks while turning off the vacuum.
"Yeah. So did Julie ever come back?"
"Nope, I never saw her again. Guess she might've stayed the night somewhere else."
"(Sigh) I see. Is there anyone else here?"
"Nope, you'll be pleased to know that I eventually managed to kick everyone out of the house, of course some just left anyway, but I figured you'd be glad to not have your home resemble a flophouse when you woke up."
"Wait, so are you telling me there's nobody else here?"
"Nope, except me of course."
That makes you feel a little uneasy.
"Uh... okay... " you say and start backing away a bit. You briefly wonder how fast you could run to the back door and escape and then you wonder if you could run into your room and grab that pistol that's still in Julie's dad's desk.
Johnny already senses your distress.
"Shit. I've done it again. I've made you uncomfortable. I'm sorry Suzy, I just... I dunno. I don't mean to be creepy, I just wanted to make things nice for you." Johnny says and actually starts walking backwards from you in an effort to put you more at ease.
"Johnny, I know you mean well and I know that you like me, but like I said, I'm just not ready for anyone right now."
"I know, I know, I know you said so before... but how can I win your heart if I don't continue to try? Couldn't we at least just talk more? I mean we really haven't gotten to talk a lot one on one with just us around." Johnny says.
"Johnny... " you start to say, but then you're interrupted from something loud outside.
"What the hell... " Johnny says and walks over to one of the windows to peek.
"Holy shit, there's a bunch of military guys, a couple of military trucks and even an A.P.C. coming down the street!" Johnny remarks.
At first you can't believe him, but that soon disappears when a loudspeaker is heard.
"ATTENTION! THIS TOWN IS UNDER MARSHAL LAW AND THIS NEIGHBORHOOD IS NOW UNDER WATCH BY THE U.S. NATIONAL GUARD. A GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE WILL SOON VISIT ALL OF YOU AND ASSIST IN ANYTHING THAT YOU MAY NEED DURING THIS STATE OF EMERGENCY. STAY IN YOUR HOMES. DO NOT COME OUT FOR ANY REASON. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN THE USE OF LETHAL FORCE."
Well that is certainly something you didn't expect. You also don't know what you're going to do. Why is this town under marshal law? What the hell is going on?
While you're not sure of why this is happening, Johnny has some thoughts on the matter though.
"Wow, I really hope this isn't something serious, like some biological weapon or something... but then I've been watching the news while vacuuming and there's been no emergency broadcast about such a thing or anything. Just those Ground Zero infomercials, which have been increasing as of late."
Johnny turns back to you.
"Well anyway, I suppose one upside to all this. With us being stuck inside, we can talk and get to know each other better like I was suggesting before." Johnny remarks.
While Johnny has been just slightly on the side of creepy there actually is no proof that he isn't just someone that lacks proper social skills and is a bit head over heels for you. And considering your last boyfriend was going around sacrificing people and could be very outwardly charming and charismatic, the way someone acts isn't necessarily who they really are deep down inside.
Maybe if you did get to know Johnny a bit better, you might feel different. Not ready to spread your legs different, but if you like what you hear he might actually make that step towards "winning your heart" as he put it. (Something about that phrase sounded so quaint that it actually was endearing)
"Oh... all right. It's not like I've got anything better to do at this point, but I'm warning you, don't get the wrong impression. This isn't a date or anything." You say.
"No, no, I got it. I just want a chance that's all."
After you sit on the living room couch and motion that he sit in the chair you begin.
"Okay then... well what should we talk about first? It isn't like I'm usually that much of a conversationalist myself." You say.
"Well what do you like?" Johhny asks.
A general question, but a perfectly reasonable one for getting straight to the point on wanting to know more about someone.
The funny thing is there isn't much about you to know. Since you don't get out much, you don't DO much. The only time you did get out a little more was when you were with Bobby, and you can't very well talk about shit you did with your ex.
So you mention hobbies such as watching movies, playing games, and reading shit on the Internet. (You leave out masturbation) Sounds like a pretty dull life to the average person, but Johnny doesn't seem to care.
"You don't find what I said boring?" you ask.
"Simple perhaps, but I wouldn't say boring. Are you happy?"
"Well I was happier when I could live in my basement and not have to deal with the rest of the world, and it would've been nicer to not have to put up with Kelly, but yeah I suppose I was happy just living like that."
"Then that's all that matters. Me? I've been sort of drifting from place to place ever since I left home. To be honest it would be nice to have some place to call a permanent home, but something always happens and I end up having to move on again. As you might aspect I've had several lines of employment, I'm not rich but I suppose I at least know a little bit of everything to make a living."
"Sounds like you've had way more luck in that department at least. I'm flat broke and can't even get a job. So why did you leave home in the first place?"
"It was time. Really don't want to go back either. Not fond of the memories... so hey did you hear from your sister? I mean did she call or leave a message or something?" Johnny asks, changing the topic.
"Nope, and now with this marshal law thing going on, I'm a little concerned about her. Julie too. Who knows where the hell either of them are. I'm even wondering if I should call my brother Peter to see if things are all right with him, though I imagine he's probably fine."
"You have a brother too? Wow, two sisters and a brother. You have a big family."
"I actually had an older brother Ben as well, but he died."
"Oh? Sorry to hear that. Should I ask how?"
"He killed his family and then blew his brains out in our house." You say.
"Wait... what? Why?" Johnny says a bit off guard.
"Well I wasn't there for the final show, but he apparently thought the government was coming to get him and that it would be better if he killed his wife and son rather than they get captured and brainwashed. Something like that. He always was paranoid and just got worse as he got older."
"I see. And you say there was no truth to his stories about the government?"
"Of course not."
"Are you sure? I mean just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean that they aren't still trying to get you."
"Pretty sure if he was that much of a threat to the government they would've assassinated him long before he killed himself. And even if they were out to get him, there wasn't any need for him to kill his wife and kid."
"Well I guess I can just see it from his point of view. He genuinely believed in his mind that the government was going to get him and seeing it as a losing battle and not wanting to lose those he loved to the enemy, his act of killing them was out of love. Kind of romantic really."
Johnny is so deadpan, you think he's attempting some sort of dark humor, but you realize he's being completely serious. Somehow you're not really surprised.
"... yeah well I'm just glad he didn't love me then... " you remark.
"I'm glad that's the case too." Johnny says with a smile.
"So what about you? You said you had a mother and an older sister." You ask.
"Oh them. Eh, not much to tell I suppose. Like I said yesterday, your younger sister sounds very much like my older one, and your older sister sounds very much like my mother."
"You mother participated in illegal underground fight clubs and roller derby races?"
"No. Wait, your sister really does all that?" Johnny asks.
"Yeah, so what makes your mom so bad?"
"Very domineering. Verbally abusive, sometimes physically. Emotionally too I guess."
"What about your father?"
"Dunno, never knew him. Took off before I was born. My sister is only one year older than me, so she doesn't remember him either. Just know that my mom hated his guts. Didn't keep any pictures of him. What about yours?"
"Eh, he was a travelling lightning rod salesman, so it was like he was never home. When mom died of the flesh-eating virus though he was practically home all the time and just gradually drank himself to death over the years. Still wasn't really there for any of us."
Johnny nods and continues the conversation.
"After hearing about your family... I'm starting to wonder if I really had it all that bad and perhaps I just think I did."
"What do you mean?"
"Well like I said, my mother was very domineering, but I pretty much did what my mom said. I mean I hate to say I was a mama's boy, but I didn't really step out of line compared to my sister."
"Heh, sounds a little like me. Did pretty much what my mom told me too though she was the nicest one in my family. She probably was a little too sheltering of me though."
You go on a bit more about your mother since you're actually enjoying remembering the good times you did have with her. Johnny listens intently. Most of the time he looks like he's displaying happiness because you're mentioning positive memories, but sometimes you catch a glimpse of him looking away from you as if he's in another place.
"She sounds like a very nice person and I can see where you get your kind qualities from. Sorry to hear that she died in such an awful way... just yet another example of how you've overcome so much hardship in your life."
Now Johnny looks as if he's completely gone to another place. He stares downward vacantly, if he was staring in your direction, you'd feel like he would be staring through you.
"Johnny? Johnny? You with me?" you say.
Takes him a few moments, but eventually he answers.
"I'm not feeling... myself... I should go."
"What? Go? Where are you going to go? Are you sick?"
Once again Johnny doesn't answer right away.
"Yes." He answers.
The monotone voice he answers with, isn't exactly relaxing and you get the strong impression when he acknowledged that he's sick, he didn't mean physically.
He starts to get up, and he wobbles a bit. At first you think maybe he is physically sick, but then he also said he was tired. Considering he was cleaning up earlier, he probably never went home and stayed up all night again.
"Johnny you can't go out there, especially in your condition. The National Guard is out there, remember?"
"I'm not worried about some weekend warriors, I can be stealthy when I want to be. I'm just glad you gave me a chance Suzy, but I fear I've wasted your time. I'm sorry." Johnny says and then attempts to walk out the front door, but his balance isn't the best.
You aren't sure what's going on with Johnny right now, but it's even weirder than usual.
> let him leave
As much you don't necessarily relish the idea of possibly sending a man to his death, he's not your responsibility and it's already weird he's been sticking around when there isn't anyone else here maybe it would be best if you let him leave especially if he's implying that he's mentally ill.
Besides if he claims he can sneak past the National Guard, then who are you to disbelieve him.
"Okay, but you probably should go out the backdoor at least." You say.
"Yeah, good idea. You're so thoughtful to look out for my well being. I just wish... things could've been different... " Johhny says and starts stumbling back towards the kitchen.
You follow Johnny just to make sure he doesn't fall or something similar. When you reach the kitchen you're impressed with how clean it is. You'd never know there was a drunk fool lying on a broken table yesterday.
"How the hell did you get this so clean?" you ask.
"Oh, I'm very (yawn) good at cleaning. Always have been. There's also some pizza and another drink for you in the fridge. I got an (yawn) extra one yesterday in case you got hungry today. Don't worry, I made sure nobody touched it."
"Wow Johnny, that was pretty thoughtful. Thank you."
"No problem. I just hope someone will be as good to you as you deserve. Goodbye Suzy." Johnny says and walks out the backdoor.
You walk to the door and peer out the window to see if he's going to jump the fence, but you see him walk around the house. You hope he isn't going to try to go through the front gate again and is just going to cut through a neighbor's yard.
You run back to a couple of other rooms peering out windows, but you don't see him anymore. You look out one of the front windows and he's not out there either. He must've already made his escape you guess or at least you hope so.
Lacking any other ideas of what to do at this particular time, you grab the pizza and drink from the fridge and head back to your room. You also attempt to call up Donna, Julie and even Peter to see if you can find out more information on their situations, but you get no answer from any of them.
After passing some time on your laptop, you suddenly hear a loud banging on a door.
Not the door to your room, but somewhere in the house. Upon exiting your room, it sounds like its coming from the front door.
You remember that the loudspeaker from earlier did say there was going to be a government representative coming to visit the houses in the neighborhood.
You head to the living room and look through the door window and see a well-dressed man and one soldier at the door.
Since you get the impression the government will most likely just break the door down if you don't answer the best thing you can do is be polite and accommodating.
You grab the handle...
"Greetings miss. I'm Mr. Zoll and I've been assigned to be the government representative for this area. May we come in?" Mr. Zoll asks, though it's pretty obvious that this is more of a polite formality rather than asking permission.
"Of course." You answer and let Mr. Zoll and his soldier companion in.
Mr. Zoll sits on the chair while his soldier buddy stands nearby and you sit on the other side of the couch and ask what all this is about.
"My name's Suzy, so how can we help exactly?" you ask.
"Well, before we start I know this isn't an ideal situation. You're probably already concerned about what's going on and why this town is under marshal law in the first place." Mr. Zoll answers.
"It is all a bit worrying." You reply.
"I'm sure. Unfortunately I can't talk about it too much, however I'm sure you're aware that this town has experienced a vast increase in criminal activity and rioting. More than your police force can handle. So until we get the situation under control again, we're here to stay."
"Well I certainly can understand that. I haven't experienced any criminal activity in this neighborhood though, well at least not to my knowledge."
"Hmm, yes this is one of the quieter ones. Some places I'm hearing about are pretty bad. Anyway I'd like to ask a few questions before deciding if we need to search this house further."
"Oh. Um, okay then. I have nothing to hide."
"Good glad to... hear it." Mr. Zoll says.
"So do you own this place?"
"My friend Julie does."
"Oh? You're not the owner? Where is this Julie?"
"Uh, don't know. She skipped out on her own party yesterday and never came back home. She's a bit of a free spirit."
"Hmmm... " Mr. Zoll says and begins to write something down.
"Why are you writing? Did I say something wrong? I mean not that I meant to say anything is wrong, that is. Everything is just fine! Ha ha."
Mr. Zoll's staring and questioning makes you nervous and now Mr. Zoll is looking at you a bit mistrustfully. He thinks something is wrong and now that you're shifting a bit uncomfortably, he starts to think you're covering up something even though you aren't!
"Okay, you know what. I think it'll be easier to just give a brief search of the house." Mr. Zoll says standing up to say.
"Um, all right then. I have nothing to hide as I said." You say.
Mr. Zoll tells his man to go take a quick look through all the rooms while the two of you stay in the living room. The soldier nods and follows his orders. He first goes upstairs and looks through. You half expect him to find a stash of drugs in Julie or Donna's room, but he either doesn't or that isn't their primary concern.
Next the soldier comes back downstairs and searches the ground floor, but once again finds nothing that is going to get you into trouble.
"Searched everywhere sir, well except the basement." The soldier says when he comes back.
"Well you might as well search that too." Mr. Zoll remarks.
The soldier nods and heads back towards the hallway. You hear the door open to the basement and then a few footsteps going down and then nothing.
You and Mr. Zoll sit in silence for a while. You don't say anything, in fact you don't even look in his direction for fear of giving Mr. Zoll an excuse to do something else which might not be as pleasant as a simple search.
"Where the hell is he... shouldn't be taking this long... Jacobs! Jacobs! Did you find anything?! Because if not, we've got other houses to go to!" Mr. Zoll shouts.
There is no answer. Mr. Zoll calls again and still nothing. Mr. Zoll looks at you as if it's your fault.
"Is there someone down there?" Mr. Zoll asks.
"What? No! I mean isn't your man Jacobs the only one down there?" you say nervously.
"That's what I'm asking you... let's go find out shall we?" Mr. Zoll says and then turns your nervousness into flat out fear by suddenly pulling out a pistol from his suit pocket.
You put up your hands and attempt to say you have no idea what's going on, but Mr. Zoll won't hear it, he's convinced you're hiding someone in the basement and you're going first down there. He also tells you to be completely quiet and not make any fuss or else he's just going to shoot you on the spot and have a squad come in and burn this place to the ground.
Meekly you comply and you head towards the basement with Mr. Zoll pointing his gun at you from behind.
You reach the bottom of the stairs and you notice blood on the floor nearby and then suddenly a knife is plunged into your throat from an arm around the corner.
You fall to the floor in what almost feels like slow motion as you gurgle your last words and breathe your last breaths.
With your last vision from the cold basement floor, you think you see Johnny standing over you. You can't hear him, but he's obvious upset when he sees you. Then you see a burst of blood come out of his head and then you feel the heavy weight of his body collapse on top of you before the darkness envelopes your world. |
WEDNESDAY
You wake up to the hum of a vacuum passing the outside your door. You shake your head, because you know who that probably is.
You check your phone for the time and see that you've slept through the morning as usual and nobody has called.
As you go through your bathroom routine of brushing your teeth and such, you ponder on whether or not you should check how trashed the house is or just stay in your room and not deal with it.
Ultimately you decide to check despite not really wanting to. Besides Johnny is obviously out there and you're going to have to do something about him.
You exit your room and find that the hallway is fairly clean and the hum of the vacuum is now coming from the living room.
"At it again are you Johnny?" you say walking into the living room. The living room is spotless and you notice that unlike the last time you don't see anyone flopped out on the floor or sofa.
"Hi Suzy, did you sleep well last night?" Johnny asks while turning off the vacuum.
"Yeah. So did Julie ever come back?"
"Nope, I never saw her again. Guess she might've stayed the night somewhere else."
"(Sigh) I see. Is there anyone else here?"
"Nope, you'll be pleased to know that I eventually managed to kick everyone out of the house, of course some just left anyway, but I figured you'd be glad to not have your home resemble a flophouse when you woke up."
"Wait, so are you telling me there's nobody else here?"
"Nope, except me of course."
That makes you feel a little uneasy.
"Uh... okay... " you say and start backing away a bit. You briefly wonder how fast you could run to the back door and escape and then you wonder if you could run into your room and grab that pistol that's still in Julie's dad's desk.
Johnny already senses your distress.
"Shit. I've done it again. I've made you uncomfortable. I'm sorry Suzy, I just... I dunno. I don't mean to be creepy, I just wanted to make things nice for you." Johnny says and actually starts walking backwards from you in an effort to put you more at ease.
"Johnny, I know you mean well and I know that you like me, but like I said, I'm just not ready for anyone right now."
"I know, I know, I know you said so before... but how can I win your heart if I don't continue to try? Couldn't we at least just talk more? I mean we really haven't gotten to talk a lot one on one with just us around." Johnny says.
"Johnny... " you start to say, but then you're interrupted from something loud outside.
"What the hell... " Johnny says and walks over to one of the windows to peek.
"Holy shit, there's a bunch of military guys, a couple of military trucks and even an A.P.C. coming down the street!" Johnny remarks.
At first you can't believe him, but that soon disappears when a loudspeaker is heard.
"ATTENTION! THIS TOWN IS UNDER MARSHAL LAW AND THIS NEIGHBORHOOD IS NOW UNDER WATCH BY THE U.S. NATIONAL GUARD. A GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE WILL SOON VISIT ALL OF YOU AND ASSIST IN ANYTHING THAT YOU MAY NEED DURING THIS STATE OF EMERGENCY. STAY IN YOUR HOMES. DO NOT COME OUT FOR ANY REASON. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN THE USE OF LETHAL FORCE."
Well that is certainly something you didn't expect. You also don't know what you're going to do. Why is this town under marshal law? What the hell is going on?
While you're not sure of why this is happening, Johnny has some thoughts on the matter though.
"Wow, I really hope this isn't something serious, like some biological weapon or something... but then I've been watching the news while vacuuming and there's been no emergency broadcast about such a thing or anything. Just those Ground Zero infomercials, which have been increasing as of late."
Johnny turns back to you.
"Well anyway, I suppose one upside to all this. With us being stuck inside, we can talk and get to know each other better like I was suggesting before." Johnny remarks.
While Johnny has been just slightly on the side of creepy there actually is no proof that he isn't just someone that lacks proper social skills and is a bit head over heels for you. And considering your last boyfriend was going around sacrificing people and could be very outwardly charming and charismatic, the way someone acts isn't necessarily who they really are deep down inside.
Maybe if you did get to know Johnny a bit better, you might feel different. Not ready to spread your legs different, but if you like what you hear he might actually make that step towards "winning your heart" as he put it. (Something about that phrase sounded so quaint that it actually was endearing)
"Oh... all right. It's not like I've got anything better to do at this point, but I'm warning you, don't get the wrong impression. This isn't a date or anything." You say.
"No, no, I got it. I just want a chance that's all."
After you sit on the living room couch and motion that he sit in the chair you begin.
"Okay then... well what should we talk about first? It isn't like I'm usually that much of a conversationalist myself." You say.
"Well what do you like?" Johhny asks.
A general question, but a perfectly reasonable one for getting straight to the point on wanting to know more about someone.
The funny thing is there isn't much about you to know. Since you don't get out much, you don't DO much. The only time you did get out a little more was when you were with Bobby, and you can't very well talk about shit you did with your ex.
So you mention hobbies such as watching movies, playing games, and reading shit on the Internet. (You leave out masturbation) Sounds like a pretty dull life to the average person, but Johnny doesn't seem to care.
"You don't find what I said boring?" you ask.
"Simple perhaps, but I wouldn't say boring. Are you happy?"
"Well I was happier when I could live in my basement and not have to deal with the rest of the world, and it would've been nicer to not have to put up with Kelly, but yeah I suppose I was happy just living like that."
"Then that's all that matters. Me? I've been sort of drifting from place to place ever since I left home. To be honest it would be nice to have some place to call a permanent home, but something always happens and I end up having to move on again. As you might aspect I've had several lines of employment, I'm not rich but I suppose I at least know a little bit of everything to make a living."
"Sounds like you've had way more luck in that department at least. I'm flat broke and can't even get a job. So why did you leave home in the first place?"
"It was time. Really don't want to go back either. Not fond of the memories... so hey did you hear from your sister? I mean did she call or leave a message or something?" Johnny asks, changing the topic.
"Nope, and now with this marshal law thing going on, I'm a little concerned about her. Julie too. Who knows where the hell either of them are. I'm even wondering if I should call my brother Peter to see if things are all right with him, though I imagine he's probably fine."
"You have a brother too? Wow, two sisters and a brother. You have a big family."
"I actually had an older brother Ben as well, but he died."
"Oh? Sorry to hear that. Should I ask how?"
"He killed his family and then blew his brains out in our house." You say.
"Wait... what? Why?" Johnny says a bit off guard.
"Well I wasn't there for the final show, but he apparently thought the government was coming to get him and that it would be better if he killed his wife and son rather than they get captured and brainwashed. Something like that. He always was paranoid and just got worse as he got older."
"I see. And you say there was no truth to his stories about the government?"
"Of course not."
"Are you sure? I mean just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean that they aren't still trying to get you."
"Pretty sure if he was that much of a threat to the government they would've assassinated him long before he killed himself. And even if they were out to get him, there wasn't any need for him to kill his wife and kid."
"Well I guess I can just see it from his point of view. He genuinely believed in his mind that the government was going to get him and seeing it as a losing battle and not wanting to lose those he loved to the enemy, his act of killing them was out of love. Kind of romantic really."
Johnny is so deadpan, you think he's attempting some sort of dark humor, but you realize he's being completely serious. Somehow you're not really surprised.
"... yeah well I'm just glad he didn't love me then... " you remark.
"I'm glad that's the case too." Johnny says with a smile.
"So what about you? You said you had a mother and an older sister." You ask.
"Oh them. Eh, not much to tell I suppose. Like I said yesterday, your younger sister sounds very much like my older one, and your older sister sounds very much like my mother."
"You mother participated in illegal underground fight clubs and roller derby races?"
"No. Wait, your sister really does all that?" Johnny asks.
"Yeah, so what makes your mom so bad?"
"Very domineering. Verbally abusive, sometimes physically. Emotionally too I guess."
"What about your father?"
"Dunno, never knew him. Took off before I was born. My sister is only one year older than me, so she doesn't remember him either. Just know that my mom hated his guts. Didn't keep any pictures of him. What about yours?"
"Eh, he was a travelling lightning rod salesman, so it was like he was never home. When mom died of the flesh-eating virus though he was practically home all the time and just gradually drank himself to death over the years. Still wasn't really there for any of us."
Johnny nods and continues the conversation.
"After hearing about your family... I'm starting to wonder if I really had it all that bad and perhaps I just think I did."
"What do you mean?"
"Well like I said, my mother was very domineering, but I pretty much did what my mom said. I mean I hate to say I was a mama's boy, but I didn't really step out of line compared to my sister."
"Heh, sounds a little like me. Did pretty much what my mom told me too though she was the nicest one in my family. She probably was a little too sheltering of me though."
You go on a bit more about your mother since you're actually enjoying remembering the good times you did have with her. Johnny listens intently. Most of the time he looks like he's displaying happiness because you're mentioning positive memories, but sometimes you catch a glimpse of him looking away from you as if he's in another place.
"She sounds like a very nice person and I can see where you get your kind qualities from. Sorry to hear that she died in such an awful way... just yet another example of how you've overcome so much hardship in your life."
Now Johnny looks as if he's completely gone to another place. He stares downward vacantly, if he was staring in your direction, you'd feel like he would be staring through you.
"Johnny? Johnny? You with me?" you say.
Takes him a few moments, but eventually he answers.
"I'm not feeling... myself... I should go."
"What? Go? Where are you going to go? Are you sick?"
Once again Johnny doesn't answer right away.
"Yes." He answers.
The monotone voice he answers with, isn't exactly relaxing and you get the strong impression when he acknowledged that he's sick, he didn't mean physically.
He starts to get up, and he wobbles a bit. At first you think maybe he is physically sick, but then he also said he was tired. Considering he was cleaning up earlier, he probably never went home and stayed up all night again.
"Johnny you can't go out there, especially in your condition. The National Guard is out there, remember?"
"I'm not worried about some weekend warriors, I can be stealthy when I want to be. I'm just glad you gave me a chance Suzy, but I fear I've wasted your time. I'm sorry." Johnny says and then attempts to walk out the front door, but his balance isn't the best.
You aren't sure what's going on with Johnny right now, but it's even weirder than usual.
> insist that he stay
Weird or not, you're not going to just let him potentially get shot.
"Johnny! You can't go out the front door! Look, just lie down on the couch okay? You can sleep here. It'll be all right." You say getting up and grabbing his arm.
Johnny stares at your hand and then at your face.
"Do you mean it?" Johnny asks.
"Of course, I can't let you go out there and get shot. I mean if you still want to leave then at least wait until its night and you've had some sleep." You answer.
"You're so... so perfect... " Johnny remarks and starts to head back towards the couch.
You help Johnny back to the couch, and when he lies down he falls asleep almost immediately.
"I... love you Suzy... " he says as he drifts off.
Well there was nothing ambiguous about that. You start wondering if you should have your head examined for possibly enabling a possibly mentally unstable guy who's more than a little obsessed with you.
"(Sigh) What the hell is wrong with you Suzy? First it was a cultist, now it's this stalker. Are you deliberately picking crazy people as potential boyfriend material?" you say to yourself.
You stand over Johnny watching him sleep for more than a few minutes trying to figure out where you actually stand with this guy. As you do so you never noticed how cute he really is before. It's true that he's somewhat average looking, but maybe it's due to him being in a more vulnerable position that he's coming off as more attractive and not creepy.
Not knowing what else to do, you turn down the TV (Which is blaring a Ground Zero infomercial as usual) and leave Johnny to sleep. You stop in the kitchen first in the hopes of maybe finding food before returning to your own room.
"Wow, this place was a mess last night. How the hell did he get it so clean?" you say as the kitchen is indeed much tidier without drunken fools and broken tables lying on the floor.
When you open up the refrigerator, you surprisingly find another pizza box, which has been marked with a note saying "Property of Suzy, don't touch!" Johnny must've ordered another one for you last night in case you got hungry later. That was pretty thoughtful, but what surprises you even more is its completely intact.
"He probably was acting like a guard dog all night near the refrigerator in case someone tried to eat it." You laugh to yourself.
Grabbing cold pizza and an unopened drink you head back to your room and lock the door.
Still wondering about them, you call up Julie, Donna and even Peter, but you get no answer from any of them.
Just as you briefly pondering about calling Kelly too, you hear a loud banging on a door. Not the door to your room, but somewhere in the house. Upon exiting your room, it sounds like its coming from the front door.
You remember that the loudspeaker from earlier did say there was going to be a government representative coming to visit the houses in the neighborhood.
You enter the living room and find Johnny awake again. He still looks pretty tired.
"Wha... what's going on?" he asks, rubbing his eyes.
"I think it's the government rep." you say, then you run over to the door and check through a window and see a well dressed man and one soldier at the door. You grab the handle...
"Wait, you're just going to let them in?" Johnny asks.
"Well I doubt if they're going to just go away. What can we do? Barricade ourselves in until they bash the door down? I don't like it either, but it isn't like we have too many options. Besides I don't have anything to hide, do you?"
"No." Johnny replies.
"Well there you go then, we might even be able to find out some answers too."
You open up the door.
"Greetings miss. I'm Mr. Zoll and I've been assigned to be the government representative for this area. May we come in?" Mr. Zoll asks, though it's pretty obvious that this is more of a polite formality rather than asking permission.
"Of course." You answer and let Mr. Zoll and his soldier companion in.
When you turn around you see that Johnny is sitting up on the couch, but is propping his head up on the armrest. He's still really sleepy so you're not surprised to see a bit of a scowl from him. You just hope the others don't take it the wrong way, but you figure as long as you're polite and upfront, you shouldn't have too many problems.
Mr. Zoll sits on the chair while his soldier buddy stands nearby (eyeing Johnny mostly) you sit on the other side of the couch with a space between you and Johnny and ask what all this is about.
"My name's Suzy, and that's Johnny over there. So how can we help exactly?" you ask.
"Well, before we start I know this isn't an ideal situation. You're probably already concerned about what's going on and why this town is under marshal law in the first place." Mr. Zoll answers.
"It is all a bit worrying." You reply.
"I'm sure. Unfortunately I can't talk about it too much, however I'm sure you're aware that this town has experienced a vast increase in criminal activity and rioting. More than your police force can handle. So until we get the situation under control again, we're here to stay."
"Well we certainly can understand that. We haven't experienced any criminal activity in this neighborhood though, well at least not to my knowledge."
"Hmm, yes this is one of the quieter ones. Some places I'm hearing about are pretty bad. Anyway I'd like to ask a few questions before deciding if we need to search this house further."
"Oh. Um, okay then. We have nothing to hide."
"Good glad to... hear it." Mr. Zoll says glancing over at Johnny who is still alternating between being sleepy and unhappy about being awake.
"So which one of you owns this place?"
"My friend Julie."
"Oh? Neither of you are the owner? Where is this Julie?"
"Uh, don't know. She skipped out on her own party yesterday and never came back home. Isn't that what you said Johnny?"
"Hrm. Yeah." Johnny mumbles.
"I see... " Mr. Zoll says studying Johnny though you don't know why. It's making you nervous though.
"Is this man your boyfriend?" Mr. Zoll suddenly asks.
"Um... yes! Yes he is. He hasn't had much sleep. You see we had a party last night and he stayed up late cleaning up. He really shouldn't have, but that's just how he is!" you nervously laugh being completely caught off guard by the question.
In your mind you already are regretting saying that since you've sent out more than enough mixed messages to Johnny. Though when you look over at Johnny he doesn't make any facial signs of a positive or negative nature, he's too busy on struggling to stay awake.
Mr. Zoll is now looking at you a bit mistrustfully. He thinks something is wrong and now that you're shifting a bit uncomfortably, he starts to think you're covering up something even though you aren't!
"Okay, you know what. I think it'll be easier to just give a brief search of the house." Mr. Zoll says standing up to say.
"Um, all right then. We have nothing to hide as I said." You say. Johnny slightly awakens a bit at this remark, but otherwise he continues to say nothing.
Mr. Zoll tells his man to go take a quick look through all the rooms while the three of you stay in the living room. The soldier nods and follows his orders. He first goes upstairs and looks through. You half expect him to find a stash of drugs in Julie or Donna's room, but he either doesn't or that isn't their primary concern.
Next the soldier comes back downstairs and searches the ground floor, but once again finds nothing that is going to get you into trouble. Johnny briefly turns his head to watch the soldier as he moves back and forth up and down the hallway.
"Searched everywhere sir, well except the basement." The soldier says when he comes back.
"Well you might as well search that too." Mr. Zoll remarks.
The soldier nods and heads back towards the hallway. Johnny doesn't look at the soldier this time, he just closes his eyes.
You hear the door open to the basement and then a few footsteps going down, then all of a sudden...
"Oh shit! That basement has a bad step!" Johnny exclaims and goes running down the hallway and shouts at the soldier.
Mr. Zoll gets up and starts to yell at Johnny to come back and you call out to him as well. This is soon followed by both the soldier and Johnny yelling and then the sound of someone falling down the stairs.
At this point you and Mr. Zoll both run towards the basement and there you see Johnny in the stairwell and the soldier crumpled in a heap at the bottom. His neck doesn't look like it's supposed to be twisted that way.
"I... I tried to stop him from falling... " Johnny exclaims looking distressed.
"His fucking neck is broken! I can see it from here! You killed him!"
"I didn't! I tried to save him! I shouted about the step!"
"Bullshit! And YOU'RE lying too!" Mr. Zoll says pointing to you as well. "Something fishy is going on here and I dunno what it is, but BOTH of you are going to pay for it!"
Mr. Zoll reaches for something in his suit pocket...
Panic washes over you and it's in situations like this that sometimes people either freeze up or make a rash decision.
> do nothing
The panic is overwhelming and you completely freeze up. Even when Mr. Zoll pulls a pistol out of his pocket you still do nothing. It's like the next few moments are in slow motion to you.
You watch Johnny attempt to run up the stairs, but Mr. Zoll turns quickly and fires two shots, one in Johnny's chest and another in his head. Johnny falls backwards down the stairs and his body falls in heap on top of the dead soldier.
You don't even scream when seeing this, but your crippling frozen panic ends and you instantly make a run for it. Mr. Zoll attempt to grab you, but you're too fast.
You actually get to the front door before you hear Mr. Zoll tell you to halt or he'll fire. You can't stop though, you're too afraid for your life.
Upon opening the door, you feel a piece of hot lead going into your back and then another.
You slump face first onto the front porch. Tears in your eyes and screaming from the pain you attempt to drag yourself forward, but it's all for naught. Mr. Zoll casually walks up to you and ends your suffering with a final bullet to the head. |
Weird or not, you're not going to just let him potentially get shot.
"Johnny! You can't go out the front door! Look, just lie down on the couch okay? You can sleep here. It'll be all right." You say getting up and grabbing his arm.
Johnny stares at your hand and then at your face.
"Do you mean it?" Johnny asks.
"Of course, I can't let you go out there and get shot. I mean if you still want to leave then at least wait until its night and you've had some sleep." You answer.
"You're so... so perfect... " Johnny remarks and starts to head back towards the couch.
You help Johnny back to the couch, and when he lies down he falls asleep almost immediately.
"I... love you Suzy... " he says as he drifts off.
Well there was nothing ambiguous about that. You start wondering if you should have your head examined for possibly enabling a possibly mentally unstable guy who's more than a little obsessed with you.
"(Sigh) What the hell is wrong with you Suzy? First it was a cultist, now it's this stalker. Are you deliberately picking crazy people as potential boyfriend material?" you say to yourself.
You stand over Johnny watching him sleep for more than a few minutes trying to figure out where you actually stand with this guy. As you do so you never noticed how cute he really is before. It's true that he's somewhat average looking, but maybe it's due to him being in a more vulnerable position that he's coming off as more attractive and not creepy.
Not knowing what else to do, you turn down the TV (Which is blaring a Ground Zero infomercial as usual) and leave Johnny to sleep. You stop in the kitchen first in the hopes of maybe finding food before returning to your own room.
"Wow, this place was a mess last night. How the hell did he get it so clean?" you say as the kitchen is indeed much tidier without drunken fools and broken tables lying on the floor.
When you open up the refrigerator, you surprisingly find another pizza box, which has been marked with a note saying "Property of Suzy, don't touch!" Johnny must've ordered another one for you last night in case you got hungry later. That was pretty thoughtful, but what surprises you even more is its completely intact.
"He probably was acting like a guard dog all night near the refrigerator in case someone tried to eat it." You laugh to yourself.
Grabbing cold pizza and an unopened drink you head back to your room and lock the door.
Still wondering about them, you call up Julie, Donna and even Peter, but you get no answer from any of them.
Just as you briefly pondering about calling Kelly too, you hear a loud banging on a door. Not the door to your room, but somewhere in the house. Upon exiting your room, it sounds like its coming from the front door.
You remember that the loudspeaker from earlier did say there was going to be a government representative coming to visit the houses in the neighborhood.
You enter the living room and find Johnny awake again. He still looks pretty tired.
"Wha... what's going on?" he asks, rubbing his eyes.
"I think it's the government rep." you say, then you run over to the door and check through a window and see a well dressed man and one soldier at the door. You grab the handle...
"Wait, you're just going to let them in?" Johnny asks.
"Well I doubt if they're going to just go away. What can we do? Barricade ourselves in until they bash the door down? I don't like it either, but it isn't like we have too many options. Besides I don't have anything to hide, do you?"
"No." Johnny replies.
"Well there you go then, we might even be able to find out some answers too."
You open up the door.
"Greetings miss. I'm Mr. Zoll and I've been assigned to be the government representative for this area. May we come in?" Mr. Zoll asks, though it's pretty obvious that this is more of a polite formality rather than asking permission.
"Of course." You answer and let Mr. Zoll and his soldier companion in.
When you turn around you see that Johnny is sitting up on the couch, but is propping his head up on the armrest. He's still really sleepy so you're not surprised to see a bit of a scowl from him. You just hope the others don't take it the wrong way, but you figure as long as you're polite and upfront, you shouldn't have too many problems.
Mr. Zoll sits on the chair while his soldier buddy stands nearby (eyeing Johnny mostly) you sit on the other side of the couch with a space between you and Johnny and ask what all this is about.
"My name's Suzy, and that's Johnny over there. So how can we help exactly?" you ask.
"Well, before we start I know this isn't an ideal situation. You're probably already concerned about what's going on and why this town is under marshal law in the first place." Mr. Zoll answers.
"It is all a bit worrying." You reply.
"I'm sure. Unfortunately I can't talk about it too much, however I'm sure you're aware that this town has experienced a vast increase in criminal activity and rioting. More than your police force can handle. So until we get the situation under control again, we're here to stay."
"Well we certainly can understand that. We haven't experienced any criminal activity in this neighborhood though, well at least not to my knowledge."
"Hmm, yes this is one of the quieter ones. Some places I'm hearing about are pretty bad. Anyway I'd like to ask a few questions before deciding if we need to search this house further."
"Oh. Um, okay then. We have nothing to hide."
"Good glad to... hear it." Mr. Zoll says glancing over at Johnny who is still alternating between being sleepy and unhappy about being awake.
"So which one of you owns this place?"
"My friend Julie."
"Oh? Neither of you are the owner? Where is this Julie?"
"Uh, don't know. She skipped out on her own party yesterday and never came back home. Isn't that what you said Johnny?"
"Hrm. Yeah." Johnny mumbles.
"I see... " Mr. Zoll says studying Johnny though you don't know why. It's making you nervous though.
"Is this man your boyfriend?" Mr. Zoll suddenly asks.
"Um... yes! Yes he is. He hasn't had much sleep. You see we had a party last night and he stayed up late cleaning up. He really shouldn't have, but that's just how he is!" you nervously laugh being completely caught off guard by the question.
In your mind you already are regretting saying that since you've sent out more than enough mixed messages to Johnny. Though when you look over at Johnny he doesn't make any facial signs of a positive or negative nature, he's too busy on struggling to stay awake.
Mr. Zoll is now looking at you a bit mistrustfully. He thinks something is wrong and now that you're shifting a bit uncomfortably, he starts to think you're covering up something even though you aren't!
"Okay, you know what. I think it'll be easier to just give a brief search of the house." Mr. Zoll says standing up to say.
"Um, all right then. We have nothing to hide as I said." You say. Johnny slightly awakens a bit at this remark, but otherwise he continues to say nothing.
Mr. Zoll tells his man to go take a quick look through all the rooms while the three of you stay in the living room. The soldier nods and follows his orders. He first goes upstairs and looks through. You half expect him to find a stash of drugs in Julie or Donna's room, but he either doesn't or that isn't their primary concern.
Next the soldier comes back downstairs and searches the ground floor, but once again finds nothing that is going to get you into trouble. Johnny briefly turns his head to watch the soldier as he moves back and forth up and down the hallway.
"Searched everywhere sir, well except the basement." The soldier says when he comes back.
"Well you might as well search that too." Mr. Zoll remarks.
The soldier nods and heads back towards the hallway. Johnny doesn't look at the soldier this time, he just closes his eyes.
You hear the door open to the basement and then a few footsteps going down, then all of a sudden...
"Oh shit! That basement has a bad step!" Johnny exclaims and goes running down the hallway and shouts at the soldier.
Mr. Zoll gets up and starts to yell at Johnny to come back and you call out to him as well. This is soon followed by both the soldier and Johnny yelling and then the sound of someone falling down the stairs.
At this point you and Mr. Zoll both run towards the basement and there you see Johnny in the stairwell and the soldier crumpled in a heap at the bottom. His neck doesn't look like it's supposed to be twisted that way.
"I... I tried to stop him from falling... " Johnny exclaims looking distressed.
"His fucking neck is broken! I can see it from here! You killed him!"
"I didn't! I tried to save him! I shouted about the step!"
"Bullshit! And YOU'RE lying too!" Mr. Zoll says pointing to you as well. "Something fishy is going on here and I dunno what it is, but BOTH of you are going to pay for it!"
Mr. Zoll reaches for something in his suit pocket...
Panic washes over you and it's in situations like this that sometimes people either freeze up or make a rash decision.
> do something
Seeing that Mr. Zoll is threatening you and going for something in his pocket you do the only thing that you can think of that comes to mind.
You shove him as hard as you can towards the stairs. With one hand in his suit pocket he can't quite catch his balance and he goes tumbling backwards down the steps.
Johnny just manages to get out of the way of Mr. Zoll's tumbling body and soon it hits the bottom just like his buddy did. Mr. Zoll however starts groaning in pain indicating that he's only hurt. He isn't dead... well at least not yet.
Still in shock from what you have done, you stand motionless as you see Johnny take advantage of Zoll's prone condition and begins stomping on his head. Several times. Then he grabs the soldier's rifle and begins smashing the butt of it into Zoll's face. You're not right up front for this gruesome display; you can still see the blood flying from where you're standing.
"Die! Die motherfucker! Fucking piece of shit!" Johnny starts muttering as he continues to destroy Zoll's skull structure.
After a few seconds of watching this, you snap out of it.
"Johnny! Stop! He's dead! He's dead... (sob) he's... dead... " you say and break down. You feel sick and run into your bathroom. You cough and vomit into the toilet, but it isn't so much your contributing to Mr. Zoll's death or watching it unfold, it's mainly because you're sick with worry right now about the repercussions of such actions.
"Oh my god... oh god... what did I do... " you say in between heaving and crying.
At this point Johnny has come up from upstairs to check on you. As you look over from hovering over the toilet, you see him standing before you in your bathroom doorway and blood on his clothes.
"Suzy... Suzy... calm yourself. You did what you had to do. The guy didn't give you much of a choice. I checked his pocket and he was definitely packing a pistol in it. If you hadn't pushed him, he might've very well shot you and me both." Johnny says in an attempt to console you, but it's not working very well.
"They... they're going to send more people to look for him... they're going to find out... we can't even run. There's military everywhere!" you say before heaving some more, but you've nothing left. You're just shaking.
Johnny steps towards you.
"Suzy. Suzy. We're going to be fine. Remember WE didn't do anything wrong here. These assholes came invading our space and then acted in a threatening manner even after we both tried to be accommodating to them."
You stand before Johnny who now has grabbed a small washcloth and is approaching you with it. You just continue to tremble.
"Suzy. Listen to me. I can clean up the mess in the basement. I'll make it so nobody will ever know. Okay? If more weekend warriors show up at our door asking about their boss or whoever that dickhead was to them, we'll just say he left and that they can search the damn house if they want. They won't find his body. They won't find ANY body. Trust me on that."
Johnny dabs the sides of your mouth with the washcloth. You at him with a mixture of fear and hopefulness. All you can think about right now is how you wish all of this would go away.
"Can... can you really make all this go away?" you ask.
"Yes, I can. And in the event that we have to run, we DO have that option. We aren't prisoners here despite what the government wants us to think. We're free to go anywhere we wish."
"I... I want to go home... " you say.
"Well, maybe that's where we'll go then."
Johnny now holds both of your hand in his and looks into your eyes.
"Suzy. I love you and I'll never let any harm come to you. If the worst comes to worst, I'll take all the blame for what happened today. I don't want you to worry about this any more. You've been brave enough for one day."
His eyes they're so piercing right now. They give off an almost commanding stare. His voice is so soothing though and it's actually making you feel slightly at ease.
The combination of you having a minor breakdown and the stress of all that's going on... well it's all enough for you to just accept Johnny's willingness to step up and solve all your troubles like some sort of white knight.
At least right now at any rate.
"Come on, let's get you to your bed. You need to rest." Johnny says and starts to guide you back to your room. You don't resist. You just go with it. Johnny is a perfect gentleman though; he doesn't attempt to touch you in any manner that might be inappropriate.
As you lay down the bed, you allow yourself to start giving into the wave of sleep that's hitting you from all the mental exhaustion you're going through.
"Okay, Suzy, I'm going to get to work. Now I'll close your door and leave you be, but if you need anything at all, just call me of course. Just don't get up, you don't need to put yourself through anymore trouble."
You nod at Johnny's remark as you start to close your eyes. It's hard to believe that not too long ago he was the one exhausted and you were still relatively lively. You have no idea where he gets his energy from.
Just as Johnny is about to leave. You call out.
"Johnny?"
"Yes, Suzy?"
"Thank you."
Your eyes are still closed so you don't see Johnny smile at you before exiting your room.
> Next day...
THURSDAY
You are suddenly awakened by the sound of your phone.
You don't think, you don't look, you just instinctively grab it and answer.
"Hello?" you answer still slightly groggy.
"Suzy? It's Peter."
"Peter?" you say a little surprised he returned your call as well still shaking the cobwebs out from coming out of your sleep.
"Yeah, it's me. You called me yesterday, but I was busy with, well a bunch of shit really. It's sort of crazy around here, the National Guard is shooting people in the street... well at least I think they're still people."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm saying that I've been seeing some weird shit. Like several people running around trying to bite other people."
"Wait... what? You mean literally trying to bite people?"
"Yes, I mean bite, as in I saw one guy that lived down the street from us chase another neighbor and start chewing on him like he was out of a goddamn zombie movie!"
"... are you saying this guy was a zombie?"
"Look I don't know. I mean maybe he was just rabid or something, but this wasn't an isolated incident. Maybe it's a disease outbreak, or bio-weapon accident or something. I mean that would explain why the National Guard is here. I'm just glad they or any of those freaks haven't beat down the door to this house yet, but I'm not taking any chances that's why I've been trying to find Ben's shelter."
"Ben's shelter?"
"Yeah, you know the one he was always working on and changing the fucking entrance all the time on? I figure it's probably still well stocked and I intend on riding this whole fucked up situation in the safety of that thing until everything is back to normal. We haven't had much luck in finding it though... "
"We? Is Kelly there helping you?"
"Kelly? Nah, I haven't seen that Amazon cunt since she left for work on Monday night. Don't know where she is. I'm here with one of my... clients. Anyway how are you and Donna?"
"I don't know where Donna is. She left Julie's on Monday night and never came back, then Julie left on fucking Tuesday night and SHE never came back. Then on Wednesday... (sniff)... "
You begin to feel a wave of emotion hit you as the thought of what happened yesterday catch up to you again.
"Suzy?" Peter asks.
"(Sob) I think... I think I'm gonna be in a lot of trouble Peter... (Sob) Something terrible happened... "
You can't continue and you begin to cry.
"Hey... look I... " Peter is unsure of what to say for a moment and then he continues.
"Look, I don't know what's going on over there, but I really need to let you go. I was actually hesitant to call you since I don't think it's a good idea to talk on the phone long right now anyway. I mean who knows if the government is listening... so... "
You stop crying immediately and just stare at your phone in disbelief.
"Wait, wait, wait. Just fucking wait a minute. Granted we've never been close Peter, but I have been genuinely concerned about you as soon as the National Guard rolled up in this town. Why the hell do you think I called? I'm obviously distressed about my current situation and you don't even offer a sympathetic ear? After all the fucking times you've stolen my clothes? After all the goddamn times I had to put up with your old loser junkie friend Kevin perving on me when you thought you were some sort of film maker? You can't even make the fucking effort to even PRETEND to care a little? You can't even do THAT for me?" you shout.
"Suzy, what the fuck do you want me to do? You're over there and I'm over here. I mean I got my own shit to worry about. And you how this family operates, when the shit goes down, you fucking look out for yourself first." Peter says.
"I'm not asking you to jump in your car and save me, I just wanted a little... fuck it... you know what just fuck you Peter!" you shout and hang up
"FUCK YOU!" you shout and throw your phone against the wall just as Johnny comes walking in.
"I heard you shouting, what's going on?" he asks.
"My fucking brother is a goddamn selfish bastard that's what's going on! I'm fucking nervous, I don't know what to do and I'm afraid. And what does he do? Does he even make an effort to console me in any way? No of course not he worries about himself. It's what my family does, out for number one as usual. Fuck all of them, I don't even care what happens to ANY of them any more!" say sobbing.
Johhny approaches you, but still keeps a respectable distance.
"Suzy, you don't need to worry about them any more. They aren't even worth getting mad about okay? Look I'm here and I'll take care of everything. Speaking of which, that thing yesterday... ."
You wipe your eyes and try to compose yourself.
"I... I don't want to hear anymore about it... I just don't... "
"I understand. I understand. I just wanted you to know that it's all been taken care of."
"Yeah, until they send someone to find out what happened to him." You say.
Johnny now steps in a bit closer.
"Well, they haven't yet and I doubt if they're going to right now. You've been asleep for most of the day and you're probably not aware, but there's been some problems going on around the neighborhood I guess. In fact I actually went upstairs to check from one of the windows to get a better view and I saw them shoot a couple people a few houses down. Well I assume they were still people on some level, but they certainly weren't acting right. Like they were rabid or something. One got killed by multiple chest shots though so I think we can at least assume they aren't the living dead."
"Hrm. Peter mentioned something like that happening in my neighborhood. He thinks it's a disease or biological weapon."
"Well he might be right on that somewhat. Seems like the Guardsmen would be equipped with gasmasks or something if it was something like though. I dunno. Anyway, as I was saying for all they know they might think that Zoll guy and his soldier buddy got bushwacked by one of those things yesterday. Besides, he went to several houses, it's not like they're automatically going to know it was us."
Johnny's attempts at making you feel better don't really work, since it just replaces one concern of getting executed by the military for murder for another concern of getting possibly infected by whatever disease is turning people into "zombies."
Still, he's the only one trying and actually here for you, and that's the sad part.
"Johnny, is that a uniform you're wearing?" you say noticing he's changed his clothes.
"Yeah. They're from that poor soldier that broke his neck on the stairs. I know it's a bit ghoulish, but my own clothes were shall I say, very... soiled after taking care of that business. Fortunately, the uniform seems to be a perfect fit. I was also thinking maybe it could also be a disguise in case we need to get the hell out of here." Johnny remarks.
"Hm, could work, but I don't have a uniform." You say.
"I could always say you're a prisoner or survivor I found. In any case it might be..."
Before Johnny can finish, he's interrupted by the breaking of glass coming from the kitchen followed by snarling and grunting.
"Shit!" Johnny exclaims and runs out of your room. You're not quite as eager to run towards the sound of danger, at least not until you grab the pistol out of the desk first.
You haven't gotten a few steps out of your room and you hear the sounds of a multiple shots being fired, followed by more glass breaking and an awful sound of anguish.
You enter the kitchen and see Johnny standing there with an assault rifle pointed at the bullet hole ridden back door. Must be the same rifle the soldier had. He turns around.
"It was one of those things. More of them must be wandering this way... where did that pistol come from?" Johnny asks.
"It was in a desk. So you think more of those things are coming?"
"I don't really know, just a hunch, but the gunfire outside doesn't sound like it's letting up. We could easily barricade ourselves in here, but who knows how long this thing is going to last."
"Do you think we could make it out of here ?"
"I believe we could, but it does sound like a warzone out there right now."
"Well I hope my sister has another set of car keys because that's the only vehicle out there right now." You say.
"Hmm, well even if we did, I'm fairly certain as soon as we drove out in it, we'd be getting fired upon on. Even if we made it, there's going to be more military areas to drive through. Nevermind the fact that your sister's car isn't exactly sturdy looking enough to survive such an attack, there is also always the possibility of a bunch of those things gathering together to overturn the vehicle."
"So are you saying we should go by foot?" you ask.
"Heh, if it were just me, I might do that, but since your safety is a priority to me, I feel like we'd have a better chance however if I stole one of those military jeeps I've seen patrolling around." Johnny replies.
"Are you nuts? How the hell are we supposed to get one of those?"
"Not we, me. I believe I could steal one. I have to admit I'm a little tired though. Still haven't had a lot of sleeps, especially with... well you know. If I could just catch a little rest, I'd probably be able to do it better under the cover of the night."
The fact that Johnny seems so sure that he can just steal a military vehicle is a little scary. Did he also serve in the military or something? He's never said. Come to think of it, he's still never revealed too much about himself. In any case that isn't quite your primary concern right now.
"Well if you really believe you can steal a jeep, I guess that's our best shot." You say.
"Well we still should pack some bags with useful supplies first. I'll get some things from the basement since I'm pretty sure I saw quite few things down there. You can check this floor and check the upstairs."
Johnny heads back into the basement and you check upstairs first. You search Donna's room and you do find some keys. You're fairly sure that they are probably a spare set to Donna's car. After grabbing the practical pharmacy from the bathroom (Julie and Donna sure didn't reserve their drugs to just the illegal kind) you return to your own room and start repacking some of your clothes and some other personal items. A quick trip to the kitchen finds you a few bags of snacks and batteries. (And you looking over your shoulder constantly thinking that something is going to try to break in through the backdoor again)
Johnny eventually comes up from the basement with an old looking bag of stuff. He's looking really tired now.
"Johnny are you going to be okay to do this? I mean I just found Donna's car keys. We could leave in that and I'd drive." you ask.
"No, our best chance is the jeep. We'll be riddled with bullets in that car. I'll be fine. Just need a few hours of shuteye. After that, I'll be ready to go. I guess I'll sleep on the sofa in the living room." Johnny says while walking off towards the living room with the bag and rifle.
"Well I suppose we should wait before leaving anyway, I'd rather have you alert while we're on the road. Hold on a moment you look a little wobbly." You say and help him the rest of the way, which isn't far of course, but you feel like it's a nice gesture. Johnny certainly thinks so... but then he tends to think everything you do is wonderful.
"Shit, I'm so tired. Even that gunfire going on isn't going to keep me awake." Johnny says, flopping down on the couch.
"Well, I'll be awake, so even if something unexpected happens and you're still snoozing, I can wake you up."
"Thank you." Johnny says looking up at you. He almost reaches his hand out to touch your face, but quickly stops himself. "I'm sorry that you had to call me your boyfriend yesterday."
"What?" You ask.
"Yesterday, when you tried to lie to Mr. Zoll. You said I was your boyfriend. I know you were just saying that." Johnny says as he starts to close his eyes.
"You don't worry about that right now. Just rest like you should have been able to yesterday."
"Okay... God... you're so perfect. You're so much better than me. I've done a lot of bad things Suzy."
"I think after yesterday we've both done a lot of bad things." You reply.
"No... I've... " Johnny starts to say, but then he trails off.
Leaving Johnny to sleep, you stay in the living room if only because you're a bit nervous to be by yourself right now. You turn the TV on and keep it on low, but as usual nothing of importance is on save for Ground Zero infomercials.
Lacking anything better to do (Other than being on edge a bit) you start to contemplate that if Johnny is successful WHERE you should go. You don't really have any good ideas either. You've never been anywhere in your life, so why would you have any ideas on where to go now? And given how fucked up everything is right now, where would it even be safe to go?
No, the only place you've ever felt safe and at home is your basement. How you wish you could return. Then as you watch the GZ salesman obnoxiously go on about their product, it hits you... why shouldn't you return?
It's a pleasant thought, but who knows if Peter already found the hidden entrance to the shelter yet. He might very well be already be enjoying the shelter with his boyfriend or whoever he's got over there. You're fairly certain if that's the case, he isn't going to let you in to share it. That was clear when you spoke to him on the phone.
So where does that leave you? Leaving town to parts unknown? If that's the case, you imagine you'll have to leave that in Johnny's hands since he's mentioned he's drifted from place to place and probably knows more about possible locations to go to in an emergency than you do.
On top of all this, you still aren't quite sure what to do with Johnny. He's definitely gone a long way in trying to prove himself to you. He has possibly saved your life and is obviously willing to risk his for you. The only other person who has done that was Bobby. In some ways Johnny sort of reminds you of Bobby... and that's also another reason why you continue to be leery of him.
Other than his stalker behavior since you've met him, you've already come to the conclusion that Johnny probably has some sort of shady history. When you saw him finishing off Mr. Zoll... well it wasn't exactly a normal reaction. He didn't just react out of a panic like you did when you pushed Zoll down the stairs, Johnny got frothing mad. An anger you've never seen him display so outwardly before.
Between that and his mumblings of "doing bad things" and you're inclined to believe that whatever his past might be, that Johnny HAS killed before.
And probably the more fucked up thing is that it doesn't exactly bother you, or rather it doesn't bother you like it should a normal person. Bobby used to kill people on a regular basis and while it took a little time for you to build complete trust in him, you did it and you had a relationship out of it. (And the funniest thing is that it didn't even end in bloodshed)
The question is, do you want to possibly put yourself through it all again? The unstable nature? The paranoia of wondering is he ever going to hurt you? Even the "normal" part of wondering if you're just going to just eventually break up is a concern for you. Part of you still is upset about Bobby after all.
You must have a thing for murderers at this point, because it's the only explanation to why you're contemplating all this. Maybe that whole incident with your Uncle Ed fucked you up even more than you realized.
You do have Donna's car keys. You could just leave now while Johnny sleeps.
> leave Johnny
You can't stay with Johnny, he's obviously unstable no matter how nice he is to you. You're not going through it again.
Plus you're also worried about staying here any longer than you have to since you're still paranoid that the National Guard will be sending someone here to search for their missing in action comrades.
You go back to your room and grab your bags. You start to make your way towards the living room, but then you think that perhaps maybe going out the back door would be better since you don't have to sneak past Johnny to do so.
The back door is still a wreck from today's earlier attack. When you open it up you finally see the thing that was trying to get in. Looks human enough minus the bullet holes and the slightly feral facial features. You just hope there aren't anymore currently lurking about though the nearby gunfire isn't encouraging.
You make your way through the backyard and then go around the house and finally reach Donna's car. You quickly load your bags in, worrying the whole time you're going to get attacked by one of those things or Johnny suddenly waking up and running out the front door. You get the impression he's not going to be happy to find you gone when he wakes up.
You get in the car and you actually manage to swing the car out into the street before you hear shouting and then fired upon. Despite the sounds of glass shattering behind you. You keep it together and just drive hoping that there aren't too many of the guard in front of you.
It's a false hope as you do indeed bump into more than a couple patrols with itchy trigger fingers. Some you try to avoid by going down other streets. Others are actually busy fighting off others. How you aren't hit by any that do shoot at you is something of a minor miracle, but the car certainly doesn't come through unscathed since by the time you manage to make out of Julie's neighborhood, it's making rattling sounds.
You continue to drive and try to keep off the main streets though with your car now making several clattering sounds you're not exactly keeping a low profile.
"Just gotta make it home. I'll be safe there." You mumble to yourself.
Your drive there isn't quite as eventful as your escape from Julie's house, but it isn't without peril. The National Guard isn't quite as in control in your part of the town and there are far more of the rabid roaming around either chasing down normal people or attempting to break into houses. Most of them don't attempt to attack you, or if they do, you just continue driving fast enough that they don't get the chance.
By the time you get to your own house, your neighborhood is eerily quiet. There are definitely signs of past conflict all over the place, but there is nobody on the streets and most homes are not lit either. (Though you do see broken doors and windows on a lot of them) Fortunately your own house doesn't look damaged (At least not from the front)
You half expect to get swarmed by crazies as soon as you park in front of your house, but you manage to get in the house with your bags.
"PETER?! Are you here?!" you call out when you get in the door and dump your bags on the floor. There is no answer, but then again maybe he's already found the shelter.
The first thing you do is search the ground floor. Amazingly it doesn't look like your house has been attacked at all. Even looking out into the backyard things look fairly untouched.
Then you search the connected garage and that's when you make an unexpected discovery.
You find Peter and another unknown man both not quite entirely dressed, but that isn't the disturbing part. The fact that they're both dead is the disturbing part.
The garage itself is a bit of a mess, like there was definitely a struggle, and your brother's body and the body of who you presume is his lover or client both show signs of blunt trauma. Looks like their necks were both broken to ultimately kill them though.
You aren't sure what to think. You feel like you should be more upset than you are, but given what an asshole he was towards you earlier and what you've already had to experience, you're not having feelings of sorrow. You're actually more concerned with how this happened. There isn't anyone else here to your knowledge and if it had been one of those things, the bodies would probably have bite marks. You suppose it could've been regular bandits or robbers, but you'd expect gunshot or even knife wounds and neither have that.
Also if it was bandits that killed them, you wonder why they wouldn't take Peter's car since his keys are still sitting on a dresser nearby. Whether Peter was planning on leaving himself or still looking for Ben's hidden shelter (And if he found it or not) you'll never know you suppose.
Feeling the fear of potential intruders in the house, you pull your pistol out and begin to search the rest of the house.
You head upstairs and cautiously search with your pistol drawn. Much like the downstairs though, you find that there isn't anyone lurking up here. You even manage to find the courage to peek your head into Kelly's room, but given how messy her usually room is, you don't know if she's ever returned here. You get the idea to call her up, but predictably there isn't any answer. Who knows what's happened to her.
Finally you end your search of the house by heading to the place where you started from, the basement. Again, not much looks different and fortunately there isn't anyone down here either. Your own room is about the same as you left it. You shake your head that the though of all the bullshit you went through this week, only to end up back here. Makes you wonder why you bothered.
After a bit more perusal of your room, you head back upstairs to secure the ground floor as much as possible. You put chairs in front of the front and back doors. (As well as the one leading to the garage)
You also move a bookcase in front of some of the windows. It's not the most fun thing to do and you bump and bang knees and elbows in the process, but it's secure enough that you're confident that if someone does try to get it, they'll make such a loud noise in the process that you'll at least wake up first.
As it starts to get darker, you decide to take your belongings to your old room in the basement where you figure you can turn on the lights without fear of someone potentially seeing them from the outside.
As you get resettled into your old room, you start to feel safer already. It's odd that you should feel that way, but then this has always been your sanctuary. You do briefly worry about Johnny and if he's going to try to track you down.
Well if he does show up, you'll be ready for him. You aren't completely defenseless after all. Besides, he'll have to get through the military and those things never mind the fact that he doesn't know where you live in the first place. (At least you don't think he does)
Despite that, you're going to try to remain positive. You make a plan to search for the shelter entrance in the backyard tomorrow and you figure if all else fails you can always take Peter's car and try to make it out of town.
For now though, you're going to enjoy a good night's sleep in the safety of your own room.
> Next day...
FRIDAY
"Wakey wakey sis." You hear a voice say.
You slowly open your eyes and at first see what looks to be a man standing in front of you holding a shotgun. Your first instinct is that it's Johnny, but then after the blur of your eyes clears a bit, you see that it's your sister Kelly.
Looks like she's still hostile to you as well considering she's pointing a shotgun at you. You don't know why, but then has she ever needed a reason?
You look at your pistol on the floor near the couch you're sleeping on and Kelly just shakes her head.
"I guarantee you wouldn't make it sis. I suggest you don't even try... heh I doubt you'd have the balls to go through with it anyway. I have to admit when I came up here to get something from my room, I didn't expect to glance over this way and see you sleeping here."
Up? Where the hell would she come "up" from? You're in the basement now. Kelly's blocking your doorway, but you think you can make out a glowing light source coming from the basement floor beyond. And then it hits you.
"... he moved the fucking shelter entrance in the house? And it's been right near my goddamn room all this time?" you ask.
"Hey hey! It's about time you used that blonde head of yours other than taking up space!" Kelly mocks.
Well you know where the entrance is, but unfortunately you've got bigger issues now. Kelly pointing a shotgun at you is concerning to be sure and makes you think back to what you saw in the garage. Peter and the other man's body. Their bodies were beaten and their necks were broken. Kelly certainly has the strength and the skill to do such a thing. Kelly's always been hostile to you and barely civil to your other sibling, but to actually kill one...
"When did you find out? When you killed Peter?"
"Pfft. I've always known. Crazy old Ben thought he was being so sneaky moving the goddamn entrance around all the time, but I knew where the fuck it was nearly every time. He had just moved the entrance again a few days before he blew away his family and himself. I'm just surprised YOU never accidently found it given that you lived practically right near the fucking thing for years. If the entrance was any closer you would've been sleeping in the damn thing."
Kelly continues to address you while briefly looking over her shoulder.
"As for Peter, that little faggot managed to find out where it was and thought he was going to hide out from the current shitstorm in it with his boyfriend or whoever that other faggot he was with. Had to convince him that he had to go, he didn't listen and tried to resist and well you saw how that turned out."
Kelly briefly shifts a bit in your doorway, but still holding the shotgun firmly on you of course.
"So where's that little whore Donna? Heard you moved in with her. She come with you? Julie maybe? Both? How the fuck did any of you survive the week?" Kelly asks.
"I'm here by myself Kelly. I have no idea what happened to Donna, or Julie for that matter. I... I think they're probably dead." You say.
"Mmm, well you'll soon be joining them." Kelly remarks and raises the shotgun as if she's trying to get a more precise aim.
Terror wells up inside you.
"Wait! Can't you let me go? I mean I'll take Peter's car and leave! You'll never have to see me again! I mean you can't have mercy on me just this once?" you exclaim and tears forming in your eyes.
Kelly smiles sadistically and laughs.
"God, you really are as stupid as you are pathetic. You know that? If I let you leave, do you really think you could survive out there with no supplies? How long would you be able to last without resorting to trading your own ass for safety? Not long I'd wager and that's assuming you don't just get raped and killed first or ripped apart by those freaks. I'm doing you a favor sis." Kelly remarks.
You start to cry as you realize that this is it. You're going to die.
"Oh for fuck's sake, will you stop crying and be fucking brave for once in your life? (Sigh) Fine, you want me to show you mercy? Here." Kelly leans her shotgun against the wall nearby.
At first you think she's going to spare your life, but you soon learn it's just another sick game.
"Okay sis, despite my undying hatred for you, I'm going to give you ONE chance just because out of all our siblings, I still think you were the one with the most potential. It's just too bad you wasted it. So, here's your second chance. Try to grab your pistol before I can grab my shotgun."
"But... (sniff) you're right next to your shotgun, you can grab it a lot easier than I can grab the pistol. You'll kill me before I even can reach it." You say.
"So what have you got to lose? You're going to die anyway, so try to stop me."
You don't say anything. You just quietly weep a bit at your situation. You thought you were safe, but how wrong you were. You really wish Johnny was here, but there's not going to be a rescue this time.
"Goddamn it Suzy, if you don't make a move, I'm gonna just... shit!"
You react while Kelly is in the middle of her sentence. You scramble for the weapon and you actually manage to touch it and then a loud blast is the last thing you hear. |
THURSDAY
You are suddenly awakened by the sound of your phone.
You don't think, you don't look, you just instinctively grab it and answer.
"Hello?" you answer still slightly groggy.
"Suzy? It's Peter."
"Peter?" you say a little surprised he returned your call as well still shaking the cobwebs out from coming out of your sleep.
"Yeah, it's me. You called me yesterday, but I was busy with, well a bunch of shit really. It's sort of crazy around here, the National Guard is shooting people in the street... well at least I think they're still people."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm saying that I've been seeing some weird shit. Like several people running around trying to bite other people."
"Wait... what? You mean literally trying to bite people?"
"Yes, I mean bite, as in I saw one guy that lived down the street from us chase another neighbor and start chewing on him like he was out of a goddamn zombie movie!"
"... are you saying this guy was a zombie?"
"Look I don't know. I mean maybe he was just rabid or something, but this wasn't an isolated incident. Maybe it's a disease outbreak, or bio-weapon accident or something. I mean that would explain why the National Guard is here. I'm just glad they or any of those freaks haven't beat down the door to this house yet, but I'm not taking any chances that's why I've been trying to find Ben's shelter."
"Ben's shelter?"
"Yeah, you know the one he was always working on and changing the fucking entrance all the time on? I figure it's probably still well stocked and I intend on riding this whole fucked up situation in the safety of that thing until everything is back to normal. We haven't had much luck in finding it though... "
"We? Is Kelly there helping you?"
"Kelly? Nah, I haven't seen that Amazon cunt since she left for work on Monday night. Don't know where she is. I'm here with one of my... clients. Anyway how are you and Donna?"
"I don't know where Donna is. She left Julie's on Monday night and never came back, then Julie left on fucking Tuesday night and SHE never came back. Then on Wednesday... (sniff)... "
You begin to feel a wave of emotion hit you as the thought of what happened yesterday catch up to you again.
"Suzy?" Peter asks.
"(Sob) I think... I think I'm gonna be in a lot of trouble Peter... (Sob) Something terrible happened... "
You can't continue and you begin to cry.
"Hey... look I... " Peter is unsure of what to say for a moment and then he continues.
"Look, I don't know what's going on over there, but I really need to let you go. I was actually hesitant to call you since I don't think it's a good idea to talk on the phone long right now anyway. I mean who knows if the government is listening... so... "
You stop crying immediately and just stare at your phone in disbelief.
"Wait, wait, wait. Just fucking wait a minute. Granted we've never been close Peter, but I have been genuinely concerned about you as soon as the National Guard rolled up in this town. Why the hell do you think I called? I'm obviously distressed about my current situation and you don't even offer a sympathetic ear? After all the fucking times you've stolen my clothes? After all the goddamn times I had to put up with your old loser junkie friend Kevin perving on me when you thought you were some sort of film maker? You can't even make the fucking effort to even PRETEND to care a little? You can't even do THAT for me?" you shout.
"Suzy, what the fuck do you want me to do? You're over there and I'm over here. I mean I got my own shit to worry about. And you how this family operates, when the shit goes down, you fucking look out for yourself first." Peter says.
"I'm not asking you to jump in your car and save me, I just wanted a little... fuck it... you know what just fuck you Peter!" you shout and hang up
"FUCK YOU!" you shout and throw your phone against the wall just as Johnny comes walking in.
"I heard you shouting, what's going on?" he asks.
"My fucking brother is a goddamn selfish bastard that's what's going on! I'm fucking nervous, I don't know what to do and I'm afraid. And what does he do? Does he even make an effort to console me in any way? No of course not he worries about himself. It's what my family does, out for number one as usual. Fuck all of them, I don't even care what happens to ANY of them any more!" say sobbing.
Johhny approaches you, but still keeps a respectable distance.
"Suzy, you don't need to worry about them any more. They aren't even worth getting mad about okay? Look I'm here and I'll take care of everything. Speaking of which, that thing yesterday... ."
You wipe your eyes and try to compose yourself.
"I... I don't want to hear anymore about it... I just don't... "
"I understand. I understand. I just wanted you to know that it's all been taken care of."
"Yeah, until they send someone to find out what happened to him." You say.
Johnny now steps in a bit closer.
"Well, they haven't yet and I doubt if they're going to right now. You've been asleep for most of the day and you're probably not aware, but there's been some problems going on around the neighborhood I guess. In fact I actually went upstairs to check from one of the windows to get a better view and I saw them shoot a couple people a few houses down. Well I assume they were still people on some level, but they certainly weren't acting right. Like they were rabid or something. One got killed by multiple chest shots though so I think we can at least assume they aren't the living dead."
"Hrm. Peter mentioned something like that happening in my neighborhood. He thinks it's a disease or biological weapon."
"Well he might be right on that somewhat. Seems like the Guardsmen would be equipped with gasmasks or something if it was something like though. I dunno. Anyway, as I was saying for all they know they might think that Zoll guy and his soldier buddy got bushwacked by one of those things yesterday. Besides, he went to several houses, it's not like they're automatically going to know it was us."
Johnny's attempts at making you feel better don't really work, since it just replaces one concern of getting executed by the military for murder for another concern of getting possibly infected by whatever disease is turning people into "zombies."
Still, he's the only one trying and actually here for you, and that's the sad part.
"Johnny, is that a uniform you're wearing?" you say noticing he's changed his clothes.
"Yeah. They're from that poor soldier that broke his neck on the stairs. I know it's a bit ghoulish, but my own clothes were shall I say, very... soiled after taking care of that business. Fortunately, the uniform seems to be a perfect fit. I was also thinking maybe it could also be a disguise in case we need to get the hell out of here." Johnny remarks.
"Hm, could work, but I don't have a uniform." You say.
"I could always say you're a prisoner or survivor I found. In any case it might be..."
Before Johnny can finish, he's interrupted by the breaking of glass coming from the kitchen followed by snarling and grunting.
"Shit!" Johnny exclaims and runs out of your room. You're not quite as eager to run towards the sound of danger, at least not until you grab the pistol out of the desk first.
You haven't gotten a few steps out of your room and you hear the sounds of a multiple shots being fired, followed by more glass breaking and an awful sound of anguish.
You enter the kitchen and see Johnny standing there with an assault rifle pointed at the bullet hole ridden back door. Must be the same rifle the soldier had. He turns around.
"It was one of those things. More of them must be wandering this way... where did that pistol come from?" Johnny asks.
"It was in a desk. So you think more of those things are coming?"
"I don't really know, just a hunch, but the gunfire outside doesn't sound like it's letting up. We could easily barricade ourselves in here, but who knows how long this thing is going to last."
"Do you think we could make it out of here ?"
"I believe we could, but it does sound like a warzone out there right now."
"Well I hope my sister has another set of car keys because that's the only vehicle out there right now." You say.
"Hmm, well even if we did, I'm fairly certain as soon as we drove out in it, we'd be getting fired upon on. Even if we made it, there's going to be more military areas to drive through. Nevermind the fact that your sister's car isn't exactly sturdy looking enough to survive such an attack, there is also always the possibility of a bunch of those things gathering together to overturn the vehicle."
"So are you saying we should go by foot?" you ask.
"Heh, if it were just me, I might do that, but since your safety is a priority to me, I feel like we'd have a better chance however if I stole one of those military jeeps I've seen patrolling around." Johnny replies.
"Are you nuts? How the hell are we supposed to get one of those?"
"Not we, me. I believe I could steal one. I have to admit I'm a little tired though. Still haven't had a lot of sleeps, especially with... well you know. If I could just catch a little rest, I'd probably be able to do it better under the cover of the night."
The fact that Johnny seems so sure that he can just steal a military vehicle is a little scary. Did he also serve in the military or something? He's never said. Come to think of it, he's still never revealed too much about himself. In any case that isn't quite your primary concern right now.
"Well if you really believe you can steal a jeep, I guess that's our best shot." You say.
"Well we still should pack some bags with useful supplies first. I'll get some things from the basement since I'm pretty sure I saw quite few things down there. You can check this floor and check the upstairs."
Johnny heads back into the basement and you check upstairs first. You search Donna's room and you do find some keys. You're fairly sure that they are probably a spare set to Donna's car. After grabbing the practical pharmacy from the bathroom (Julie and Donna sure didn't reserve their drugs to just the illegal kind) you return to your own room and start repacking some of your clothes and some other personal items. A quick trip to the kitchen finds you a few bags of snacks and batteries. (And you looking over your shoulder constantly thinking that something is going to try to break in through the backdoor again)
Johnny eventually comes up from the basement with an old looking bag of stuff. He's looking really tired now.
"Johnny are you going to be okay to do this? I mean I just found Donna's car keys. We could leave in that and I'd drive." you ask.
"No, our best chance is the jeep. We'll be riddled with bullets in that car. I'll be fine. Just need a few hours of shuteye. After that, I'll be ready to go. I guess I'll sleep on the sofa in the living room." Johnny says while walking off towards the living room with the bag and rifle.
"Well I suppose we should wait before leaving anyway, I'd rather have you alert while we're on the road. Hold on a moment you look a little wobbly." You say and help him the rest of the way, which isn't far of course, but you feel like it's a nice gesture. Johnny certainly thinks so... but then he tends to think everything you do is wonderful.
"Shit, I'm so tired. Even that gunfire going on isn't going to keep me awake." Johnny says, flopping down on the couch.
"Well, I'll be awake, so even if something unexpected happens and you're still snoozing, I can wake you up."
"Thank you." Johnny says looking up at you. He almost reaches his hand out to touch your face, but quickly stops himself. "I'm sorry that you had to call me your boyfriend yesterday."
"What?" You ask.
"Yesterday, when you tried to lie to Mr. Zoll. You said I was your boyfriend. I know you were just saying that." Johnny says as he starts to close his eyes.
"You don't worry about that right now. Just rest like you should have been able to yesterday."
"Okay... God... you're so perfect. You're so much better than me. I've done a lot of bad things Suzy."
"I think after yesterday we've both done a lot of bad things." You reply.
"No... I've... " Johnny starts to say, but then he trails off.
Leaving Johnny to sleep, you stay in the living room if only because you're a bit nervous to be by yourself right now. You turn the TV on and keep it on low, but as usual nothing of importance is on save for Ground Zero infomercials.
Lacking anything better to do (Other than being on edge a bit) you start to contemplate that if Johnny is successful WHERE you should go. You don't really have any good ideas either. You've never been anywhere in your life, so why would you have any ideas on where to go now? And given how fucked up everything is right now, where would it even be safe to go?
No, the only place you've ever felt safe and at home is your basement. How you wish you could return. Then as you watch the GZ salesman obnoxiously go on about their product, it hits you... why shouldn't you return?
It's a pleasant thought, but who knows if Peter already found the hidden entrance to the shelter yet. He might very well be already be enjoying the shelter with his boyfriend or whoever he's got over there. You're fairly certain if that's the case, he isn't going to let you in to share it. That was clear when you spoke to him on the phone.
So where does that leave you? Leaving town to parts unknown? If that's the case, you imagine you'll have to leave that in Johnny's hands since he's mentioned he's drifted from place to place and probably knows more about possible locations to go to in an emergency than you do.
On top of all this, you still aren't quite sure what to do with Johnny. He's definitely gone a long way in trying to prove himself to you. He has possibly saved your life and is obviously willing to risk his for you. The only other person who has done that was Bobby. In some ways Johnny sort of reminds you of Bobby... and that's also another reason why you continue to be leery of him.
Other than his stalker behavior since you've met him, you've already come to the conclusion that Johnny probably has some sort of shady history. When you saw him finishing off Mr. Zoll... well it wasn't exactly a normal reaction. He didn't just react out of a panic like you did when you pushed Zoll down the stairs, Johnny got frothing mad. An anger you've never seen him display so outwardly before.
Between that and his mumblings of "doing bad things" and you're inclined to believe that whatever his past might be, that Johnny HAS killed before.
And probably the more fucked up thing is that it doesn't exactly bother you, or rather it doesn't bother you like it should a normal person. Bobby used to kill people on a regular basis and while it took a little time for you to build complete trust in him, you did it and you had a relationship out of it. (And the funniest thing is that it didn't even end in bloodshed)
The question is, do you want to possibly put yourself through it all again? The unstable nature? The paranoia of wondering is he ever going to hurt you? Even the "normal" part of wondering if you're just going to just eventually break up is a concern for you. Part of you still is upset about Bobby after all.
You must have a thing for murderers at this point, because it's the only explanation to why you're contemplating all this. Maybe that whole incident with your Uncle Ed fucked you up even more than you realized.
You do have Donna's car keys. You could just leave now while Johnny sleeps.
> stay with him
You're still not quite sure if any of this is going to lead anywhere, but fucked up or not, Johnny's still been there for you. To abandon him without even an explanation is just something you're not willing to do.
Besides, if you're right about Johnny's past, having someone like that around might be necessary given how crazy things are right now. Other than pushing someone down the stairs out of panic, it isn't like you're a fighter.
Looking a nearby clock on the wall, you figure it'll be getting dark in a few hours. Johnny didn't tell you when to wake him, but you figure you should give him a few extra hours after it goes dark if only so he'll be more rested. Then you'll try to convince him to just leave in Donna's car again since you still think it would be safer than trying to steal a military jeep.
Still feeling a little uncomfortable about the back door windows now being broken and thus your safety more compromised, you head back into the kitchen to fix the problem. As you get close to the backdoor, you briefly see the thing still lying dead with several holes in its body and head on the back porch. Looks human, but even dead it does look a bit feral.
With great effort you manage to push the refrigerator in front of the back door. Nothing is getting in now, well at least not easily anyway.
You return to your room and check to see if your phone isn't quite as damaged, as it appeared when you threw it against the wall, but of course it is. Hardly matters, you don't have anyone to keep in contact with any more anyway.
With the gunfire still going on outside, you flop down on your couch-bed and realize that barring something trying to break in again, there's nothing to do. You re-open your laptop and lose yourself in a game because it's way better than reality right now.
Hours pass...
You look at the time on your laptop and realize you've been playing much longer than you intended to. You immediately get up to go wake up Johnny. It actually sounds like the gunfire has died down outside as well.
"Hey Johnny wake up! It's time to go. I know you said you had plans to steal a jeep, but I really think we should... "
When you get to the living room though, Johnny is gone. You call out to him a couple times figuring that maybe he's upstairs or even in the basement, but you get no answer.
You do see a note placed on the nearby end table in such a way that you'd notice it. You almost hesitate to pick it up, but of course you do anyway.
To my dearest Suzy,
I've left to go get that jeep. I know you probably still want to use your sister's car, but I still think our best shot is with a military vehicle. I figure we can blend in a whole lot better in one of those and not look suspicious while driving around at a casual glance by soldiers. Probably better at running over those rabid people too. We might even be able to get out of this forsaken town.
Anyway, I left this note since I didn't want to disturb you or cause any unpleasant arguments on this matter.
I also know you didn't leave while I slept, even though you could have. This means so much to me, I don't think you know how much.
I know I haven't exactly given you much reason to not be distrustful of me, but the very fact that you didn't leave tells me that you believe in me on some level. You know I'll try to come through for you and that you're willing to wait.
I knew when I first heard your drunken whore of a sister talk about you; I thought you sounded like you were the one.
Then when I saw and spoke with you, I was sure of it.
I will come back tonight as planned, however if the situation becomes dangerous over there, then by all means escape in your sister's car. It would never be my wish for you to stay in danger.
Forever my love,
Johnny
When the hell did he leave and write this? And how did you not hear him? He wasn't joking about being stealthy you guess.
Of course you probably would have known all this a lot sooner had you not got wrapped up in your game and actually left your room.
As for the note itself, well... it's standard Johnny in the short term you've known him. The "whore" description of your sister is a bit of a standout from the rest of letter which is fairly white knightish.
Of course you know damn well Johnny is far from being a "white knight".
Suddenly you hear the basement door opening. You tense up in fear since you've left not only the car keys but also your pistol in your room. You think at first you're going to have to risk just running out the front door, but...
"Hey Suzy! Suzy? I got the jeep, come on let's get ready to go!" you hear Johnny's voice call out.
You cautiously walk towards the hallway and see Johnny standing there looking into your room, then he turns his head and sees you. He's got some clothing in his hand.
"Oh there you are. I was worried for a moment that you had to run out in a hurry!"
"Johnny, what the hell... didn't you hear me calling you?" you ask.
"No, I just got here."
"What? How? I've been in the living room for the past few minutes! You couldn't have gotten by me."
"No I came in through the basement window. I couldn't just leave the front door unlocked when I left."
"Basement win... wait I didn't hear any glass breaking."
"That's because it's not broken. I had it so I could easily open it. Don't worry, I thought about your safety. That window is pretty well hidden and not exactly easy to crawl through so I didn't think any of those things would see it. They would've been more likely to just try to bash the ground floor doors or windows in."
"When did you mess around with the basement window and why didn't you just tell me you were leaving?"
"Didn't you get my note? I explained why I left with bothering you in it."
"I only just finished reading it this minute."
"Oh, well I assumed you would've left your room before now. Anyway, here I got you these to wear. I think they might be a bit baggy, but they should work to help us blend in more."
Johnny shoves the clothing at you as if to distract you from asking more questions. It's a uniform like what Johnny is wearing.
You almost ask Johnny how he got the uniform, but as with most things concerning Johnny you're starting to think it might better if you don't know.
As far as the basement window weirdness, you're not going to dwell on it too much because it's really not important right now.
"Alright, that sounds like a good idea, I'll go put these on." You say and go to your room.
"Um, don't worry, I didn't get those from a dead person or anything. It was a spare one I found." Johnny blurts out.
"Okay. I trust you Johnny." You say which seems to make him smile.
You lock the door and change into the military fatigues. Granted you don't see any blood or tears in the fatigues, but then he could've just choked the person wearing it to death.
"(Sigh) Suzy, why the hell are you attracted to this guy? Oh right, because you've got some serious psychological issues yourself, that's why." You mumble to yourself as if being painfully aware of the situation makes everything okay.
You grab your bags and exit your room.
"Glad to see the fatigues aren't excessively big on you, I know you're small framed and all. You ready to go?" Johnny asks.
"Yeah, let's get out of this place. How is it out there?"
"In our immediate area? It's fairly quiet now. Haven't seen any of the rabid and the remainder of the Guard is busy burning bodies right now. I mean there are still patrols, but nobody even batted an eye when I drove this thing up to the house. Probably assumed whoever was inside was investigating or something. We shouldn't linger here though."
With both of you ready and as prepared as you're going to be, you and Johnny exit out the front door and quickly enter the jeep which is sitting right next to your sister's car. You have to admit, you do feel a little safer sitting in this thing than if you did in your sister's car.
Johnny starts up the vehicle and turns to you.
"Suzy, you know I'll take you anywhere you want to go. So is there any place you had in mind?" Johnny asks.
'Never been anywhere, so not really." You answer.
"I remember you saying you wanted to go home before."
"Well that would be nice, but things aren't exactly normal any more. I mean the only reason for going back there would be to look for my brother's bomb shelter, which definitely would be a safe zone knowing how Ben spent so much time building and constantly modifying it. Of course my other brother Peter is currently looking for it as well and who knows if he already claimed and locked himself inside it."
"Hmm, well it might be worth a look if you still want to try it. I mean the only other logical option I can think of is to as I suggested, leave town altogether. Should be much easier while driving around in this thing. Of course it might still be risky, if they've set up some sort of checkpoints outside of town... but maybe we can get the edge by fooling them briefly before smashing through such things."
Pretty risky stuff, but then these are risky times.
> go home
It might be wishful thinking on your part, but you desire to be able to go home and stay there is a lot stronger than trying to find some place new. In fact it seems like every time you try something new, it turns into a clusterfuck.
"I want to go home and give it one more chance. If it turns out staying there isn't a viable option, then I suppose we can leave town." You say.
"Okay, but you'll have to give me directions." Johnny says and starts pulling out of the driveway.
You pass by a few soldiers dragging a few more bodies and placing them in a large pile outside one of the homes in this area. Another large pile of bodies is burning outside yet another home. Nobody tries to flag you down or anything though, you're guessing that between the dark, the uniforms and the jeep, if anyone is actually paying attention to you driving through, they probably think you're just more soldiers patrolling around. It isn't like this is most stable of situations right now.
You continue to tell Johnny where to turn and drive and you go through another area where the National Guard has a presence. Again, you have no problems for the most part. However you then start hitting areas that are still suffering from conflict and in those cases, pretty severely. This is where some soldiers notice you a lot more and try to call out to you, presumably for help.
In one case, you see two soldiers ragged and bloody running desperately from several of those rabid people. They cry out for you to stop, but naturally you and Johnny just keep driving. You hear some faint curses and screams as you put distance between you and the unfortunate soldiers.
You eventually drive through areas that have been completely overrun by rabid. In fact you find that the military doesn't actually have that much control at all over your town and that there are far more of the rabid roaming around either chasing down normal people or attempting to break into houses. Most of them don't attempt to attack you, or if they do, you just continue driving fast enough that they don't get the chance.
By the time you get to your own house, your neighborhood is eerily quiet. There are definitely signs of past conflict all over the place, but there is nobody on the streets and most homes are not lit either. (Though you do see broken doors and windows on a lot of them) Fortunately your own house doesn't look damaged (At least not from the front)
You half expect to get swarmed by crazies as soon as you park in front of your house, but fortunately that isn't the case and you manage get in the house as quickly as possible.
"Can't see shit, but I'm sort of afraid to turn on a light." You remark.
"I know what you mean. Wouldn't want to attract those things. I got a small flashlight on this rifle. It shouldn't be too noticeable from the outside. So what's the deal with this shelter your brother built?" Johhny says turning on the flashlight and briefly shining it around the room and the nearby room.
"I don't know yet. I mean all I know is the entrance is hidden and that Peter was looking for it. In fact, I'm wondering if he already found it and locked himself up in it. Seems like he would've heard us."
"We haven't been that noisy. Besides, maybe he thinks we're intruders and is laying in wait to ambush us."
"Possibly. I'd call out his name, but again, I don't want to make more noise... ah to hell with it. PETER?! Are you here?!" you said in a raised voice, trying not to shout too loudly.
There is no answer.
"He could be down in the basement or upstairs." Johnny says.
"Maybe, I still think he would've heard me though... let's go check his room. If he did find out something about the shelter, maybe there will at least be a clue there." You say.
"Where's his room?"
"The connected garage. It's near the kitchen up ahead."
You cautiously move about in the dark with Johnny taking the lead. You're holding on to your pistol the whole time being paranoid about something attacking you in the darkness. Johnny slowly opens the door to the garage and shines his light inside...
You find Peter and another unknown man both not quite entirely dressed, but that isn't the disturbing part. The fact that they're both dead is the disturbing part.
"Holy shit, that's Peter." You say.
"Who's the other guy?" Johnny asks.
"Dunno. Probably a client or boyfriend or something. He said he was with someone when I spoke earlier today with him."
"Hmm, looks like there was a struggle. This place is obviously a mess." Johnny says shining the light all over the room.
He shines the light on Peter and the other man and then gets a closer look.
"Hmm, looks like they both suffered quite a bit of blunt trauma before their necks got snapped. It certainly wasn't those rabid people that did this. I'd wager if it was, they'd have chunks bitten out of them. Bandits perhaps, but this house doesn't look ransacked."
You stand there in silence as Johnny goes on about who could've possibly done this.
"Suzy? You okay?" Johnny asks.
"Huh? Yeah. It's just... well sort of weird. I was pissed at Peter for the bullshit he said on the phone. Seeing him dead like this... is well... I dunno. I feel like I should feel something, but I don't. Maybe I'm becoming desensitized or something."
"Well, like you said, he was an asshole to you earlier."
"Yeah, he was. In fact I think part of the reason why I came here was the hope that he hadn't locked himself inside the shelter yet, so I could yell at him in person and maybe even kick his ass. (Sigh) Guess that isn't necessary anymore. Also don't know if he actually found the shelter or not and now I'm paranoid that whoever killed him is still in this fucking house."
"We can find out the latter pretty quickly I should think, we can just make a quick search. As for the former, well that's up to you really."
It's the middle of the night, you're in a town full of trigger happy military and cannibalistic crazies, you've just found your brother and his lover dead in the garage, you're hanging around a guy who is unhealthily obsessed with you and to top it all of, you're getting tired.
At this point you don't want to risk anymore travelling.
"Well, let's do what you said and check the house out. If everything is safe, let's just camp here for the rest of the night and start looking for the shelter tomorrow with fresh eyes." You say.
"As you wish." Johnny answers.
First thing you do is finish checking out the ground floor. Everything turns out okay and fairly untouched. Even the backyard doesn't have any nasty unwanted lurkers in it either. (As added protection you and Johnny shove a few chairs in front of the back and front doors just in case any DO show up)
You head upstairs and cautiously search with Johnny. Much like the downstairs though, you find that there isn't anyone lurking up here. You even manage to find the courage to peek your head into Kelly's room, but given how messy her usually room is, you don't know if she's ever returned here. Who knows what's happened to her.
Finally you end your search of the house by heading to the place where you started from, the basement. Again, not much looks different and fortunately there isn't anyone down here either. Not worrying about someone seeing a light source down here you turn the lights on and find your own room is about the same as you left it. You shake your head that the though of all the bullshit you went through this week, only to end up back here. Makes you wonder why you bothered.
"So... this is where you lived huh?" Johnny asks.
"Yep. This was my lot in life. It wasn't much, but it was mine. I was happy here you know? (Sigh) If only things never changed... Hm. Just realized you're the first person other than myself that's been in here in a long time." You say.
"What about your boyfriend?" Johnny asks.
"Bobby? Not as much as you might think. We actually hung out upstairs when nobody else was really around or over his house as unpleasant as that could be at times. Honestly I sort of preferred that nobody come in here except me. This was my haven from the outside world and wanted to maintain that illusion as much as possible. Funny, but even with all the chaos going on out there, I still feel very safe here. Anyway, I guess nobody is lurking in the house."
"Guess not. Either that or they're very sneaky. So are you going to be sleeping down here then?"
"I believe I will. I figure even if we can't find the shelter tomorrow, I will have at least gotten to sleep one last time in my own room before we leave."
"Don't worry, we'll find it. In fact maybe I'll do a little searching while you're resting."
"Heh, well good luck with that. I know it seems like an easy task since the backyard is only so big, but somehow Ben managed to hide it pretty well. Only his son Tommy used to consistently know where it was located and moved. Besides, I wouldn't want you to suddenly drawing a pack of those rabid things due to you shining a flashlight around outside. Even if there is a privacy fence around the back."
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
"Yes. Yes, I imagine you would be... Johnny... you weren't in the military yourself at one time were you?"
"Nah. Following orders, regimented life, not really my thing. Had enough of that growing up with my mom. Why?"
"Just wondering. Due to all the shit that's been going on, we also haven't had much time to talk. I still don't know that much about you."
"Heh, well you know. Like I mentioned a few times, I've been a bit of a drifter. Nothing really exciting though, it's just the way things have turned out for me."
Johnny starts shifting his body a bit. He's trying not to look nervous about you asking deeper questions about his past, but you can tell by now when he's being evasive.
"Okay, so I'm gonna leave you to your haven as you called it. If anything urgent comes up I'll be sure to let you know." Johnny says.
Johnny turns and starts to leave then he stops to turn back to you.
"You know I love you right?" he says.
"I... know Johnny... and we'll talk about that tomorrow as well."
Johnny doesn't reply, he just turns around and heads upstairs.
Well barring any unforeseen problems you've got two big issues to tackle tomorrow. The shelter location and Johnny.
But those are issues to deal with tomorrow. Right now you're going to pretend that none of the shit that's currently happening is actually happening and enjoy your haven, if only tonight.
> The next day...
FRIDAY
"Wakey wakey sis." You hear a voice say.
You slowly open your eyes and at first see what looks to be a man standing in front of you holding a shotgun. Then after the blur of your eyes clears a bit, you see that it's your sister Kelly.
Looks like she's still hostile to you as well considering she's pointing a shotgun at you. You don't know why, but then has she ever needed a reason?
You look at your pistol on the floor near the couch you're sleeping on and Kelly just shakes her head.
"I guarantee you wouldn't make it sis. I suggest you don't even try... heh I doubt you'd have the balls to go through with it anyway. I have to admit when I came up here to get something from my room, I didn't expect to glance over this way and see you sleeping here."
Up? Where the hell would she come "up" from? You're in the basement now. Kelly's blocking your doorway, but you think you can make out a glowing light source coming from the basement floor beyond. And then it hits you.
"... he moved the fucking shelter entrance in the house? And it's been right near my goddamn room all this time?" you ask.
"Hey hey! It's about time you used that blonde head of yours other than taking up space!" Kelly mocks.
Well you know where the entrance is, but unfortunately you've got bigger issues now. Kelly pointing a shotgun at you is concerning to be sure and makes you think back to what you saw in the garage. Peter and the other man's body. Their bodies were beaten and their necks were broken. Kelly certainly has the strength and the skill to do such a thing. Kelly's always been hostile to you and barely civil to your other sibling, but to actually kill one...
"When did you find out? When you killed Peter?"
"Pfft. I've always known. Crazy old Ben thought he was being so sneaky moving the goddamn entrance around all the time, but I knew where the fuck it was nearly every time. He had just moved the entrance again a few days before he blew away his family and himself. I'm just surprised YOU never accidently found it given that you lived practically right near the fucking thing for years. If the entrance was any closer you would've been sleeping in the damn thing."
Kelly continues to address you while briefly looking over her shoulder. You don't know if she's just being cautious or if she knows someone else is with you... and where is Johnny anyway?
"As for Peter, that little faggot managed to find out where it was and thought he was going to hide out from the current shitstorm in it with his boyfriend or whoever that other faggot he was with. Had to convince him that he had to go, he didn't listen and tried to resist and well you saw how that turned out."
Kelly briefly moves a bit to her left in your doorway allowing you to briefly look to see if you see Johnny coming, but you see nobody. Kelly notices you looking though.
"So where's that little whore Donna? Heard you moved in with her. She come with you? Julie maybe? Both? How the fuck did any of you survive the week?"
"I'm here by myself Kelly."
"Bullshit. SOMEONE is here with you. I can't see a shrinking violet like you hauling your ass through a bunch of military patrols as well as those freaks. The fact that you're wearing military fatigues tells me that SOMEONE helped you. I know damn well you didn't kill someone yourself for them."
"It's been a weird week Kelly. You never know what you're capable of until you're put into the situation." You say in such a way that gives Kelly a bit of an eyebrow raise.
"Oh? So... are you a killer now, little sister? Tell me, how did it feel when you did it?"
"I threw up. I'm not a fucking psychopath okay?! It didn't give me some thrill! I just did what I had to, to survive!" you exclaim.
"Okay, okay, calm down there killer." Kelly chuckles before getting serious again.
"While this is enlightening and all, we really should be getting back to the matter at hand."
Still no sign of Johnny. Where the fuck is he?
"So what's next Kelly? You gonna kill me too?" you ask.
"Don't know sis... don't know... severely thinking about it. I've never liked you. You've been a thorn in my side since you crawled out of mom's vagina. Always having to be compared to how good and pretty you were and how bad and rotten I was despite the fact I was the one who was shouldering most of the responsibility in this fucked up family. What did you ever do except hide in the goddamn basement? Even now you left the house only to come crawling back here. Yep, I've thought about killing you on many, many, MANY occasions."
"Actually that wasn't my initial intention. My initial plan was to drive out of this forsaken town. I only stopped here because my own vehicle was badly damaged and I had hoped to maybe get Peter's car and some extra supplies before heading out again." You say trying to stall for time.
"Oh? Hmm, you're just full of surprises today aren't you? Well if that is true, you may have just bought yourself a bit of a reprieve sis... okay. What the hell, I'm in a good mood. I'm gonna let you walk outta here alive and you're going to be thankful."
"I don't suppose you'll allow me to gather some supplies or let me have my gun will you?"
"Hah, no. Wouldn't want you getting any ideas of trying to shoot me, you being a killer now and all. In fact let me just take that pistol right now. Stay on that couch and keep lying in that prone position. Don't you fucking move, or boom there goes your pretty little blonde head all over the place."
Johnny is still nowhere to be seen. Did he take off? Did you actually get abandoned by a fucking stalker? Is your luck really that bad?
Kelly now moves into your room, still pointing the shotgun at you, As she's crouching down to pick up the pistol, there is a brief moment that she takes her eyes off of you.
It's apparent that there will be no rescue; the only thing you can hope is that Kelly is going to keep her word and let you go unharmed. Of course you don't really think that's likely and part of you wants to grab for the pistol before she can.
> grab the pistol
In an act of desperation you lunge for the pistol, but Kelly easily anticipates your actions. She quickly grabs the weapon and manages to step on your hand in the process followed by her smashing the pistol into your head.
"You dumb blonde bitch, I was gonna let you go too! What the... "
What occurs next is a blur mainly because you're still dizzy from getting hit in the head, but also because it happens so fast.
Johnny bursts out of the closet with his rifle in hand, but Kelly already has a grip on you and managed to pull you up in an attempt to use you as a human shield.
Johnny and Kelly scream at each other. Something about letting you go and something else about blowing your head off. Eventually it doesn't matter because Johnny eventually feels he has no choice and if you're going to get killed, then it should be him that does it.
Johnny opens fire on you both, before Kelly can make good on her threats of killing you. Due to you soaking up several of the initial bullets, she actually manages to get off a couple of shots at Johnny, but whether she got him or not is irrelevant because you're still lying dead on top of Kelly's equally bullet ridden body. |
You're still not quite sure if any of this is going to lead anywhere, but fucked up or not, Johnny's still been there for you. To abandon him without even an explanation is just something you're not willing to do.
Besides, if you're right about Johnny's past, having someone like that around might be necessary given how crazy things are right now. Other than pushing someone down the stairs out of panic, it isn't like you're a fighter.
Looking a nearby clock on the wall, you figure it'll be getting dark in a few hours. Johnny didn't tell you when to wake him, but you figure you should give him a few extra hours after it goes dark if only so he'll be more rested. Then you'll try to convince him to just leave in Donna's car again since you still think it would be safer than trying to steal a military jeep.
Still feeling a little uncomfortable about the back door windows now being broken and thus your safety more compromised, you head back into the kitchen to fix the problem. As you get close to the backdoor, you briefly see the thing still lying dead with several holes in its body and head on the back porch. Looks human, but even dead it does look a bit feral.
With great effort you manage to push the refrigerator in front of the back door. Nothing is getting in now, well at least not easily anyway.
You return to your room and check to see if your phone isn't quite as damaged, as it appeared when you threw it against the wall, but of course it is. Hardly matters, you don't have anyone to keep in contact with any more anyway.
With the gunfire still going on outside, you flop down on your couch-bed and realize that barring something trying to break in again, there's nothing to do. You re-open your laptop and lose yourself in a game because it's way better than reality right now.
Hours pass...
You look at the time on your laptop and realize you've been playing much longer than you intended to. You immediately get up to go wake up Johnny. It actually sounds like the gunfire has died down outside as well.
"Hey Johnny wake up! It's time to go. I know you said you had plans to steal a jeep, but I really think we should... "
When you get to the living room though, Johnny is gone. You call out to him a couple times figuring that maybe he's upstairs or even in the basement, but you get no answer.
You do see a note placed on the nearby end table in such a way that you'd notice it. You almost hesitate to pick it up, but of course you do anyway.
To my dearest Suzy,
I've left to go get that jeep. I know you probably still want to use your sister's car, but I still think our best shot is with a military vehicle. I figure we can blend in a whole lot better in one of those and not look suspicious while driving around at a casual glance by soldiers. Probably better at running over those rabid people too. We might even be able to get out of this forsaken town.
Anyway, I left this note since I didn't want to disturb you or cause any unpleasant arguments on this matter.
I also know you didn't leave while I slept, even though you could have. This means so much to me, I don't think you know how much.
I know I haven't exactly given you much reason to not be distrustful of me, but the very fact that you didn't leave tells me that you believe in me on some level. You know I'll try to come through for you and that you're willing to wait.
I knew when I first heard your drunken whore of a sister talk about you; I thought you sounded like you were the one.
Then when I saw and spoke with you, I was sure of it.
I will come back tonight as planned, however if the situation becomes dangerous over there, then by all means escape in your sister's car. It would never be my wish for you to stay in danger.
Forever my love,
Johnny
When the hell did he leave and write this? And how did you not hear him? He wasn't joking about being stealthy you guess.
Of course you probably would have known all this a lot sooner had you not got wrapped up in your game and actually left your room.
As for the note itself, well... it's standard Johnny in the short term you've known him. The "whore" description of your sister is a bit of a standout from the rest of letter which is fairly white knightish.
Of course you know damn well Johnny is far from being a "white knight".
Suddenly you hear the basement door opening. You tense up in fear since you've left not only the car keys but also your pistol in your room. You think at first you're going to have to risk just running out the front door, but...
"Hey Suzy! Suzy? I got the jeep, come on let's get ready to go!" you hear Johnny's voice call out.
You cautiously walk towards the hallway and see Johnny standing there looking into your room, then he turns his head and sees you. He's got some clothing in his hand.
"Oh there you are. I was worried for a moment that you had to run out in a hurry!"
"Johnny, what the hell... didn't you hear me calling you?" you ask.
"No, I just got here."
"What? How? I've been in the living room for the past few minutes! You couldn't have gotten by me."
"No I came in through the basement window. I couldn't just leave the front door unlocked when I left."
"Basement win... wait I didn't hear any glass breaking."
"That's because it's not broken. I had it so I could easily open it. Don't worry, I thought about your safety. That window is pretty well hidden and not exactly easy to crawl through so I didn't think any of those things would see it. They would've been more likely to just try to bash the ground floor doors or windows in."
"When did you mess around with the basement window and why didn't you just tell me you were leaving?"
"Didn't you get my note? I explained why I left with bothering you in it."
"I only just finished reading it this minute."
"Oh, well I assumed you would've left your room before now. Anyway, here I got you these to wear. I think they might be a bit baggy, but they should work to help us blend in more."
Johnny shoves the clothing at you as if to distract you from asking more questions. It's a uniform like what Johnny is wearing.
You almost ask Johnny how he got the uniform, but as with most things concerning Johnny you're starting to think it might better if you don't know.
As far as the basement window weirdness, you're not going to dwell on it too much because it's really not important right now.
"Alright, that sounds like a good idea, I'll go put these on." You say and go to your room.
"Um, don't worry, I didn't get those from a dead person or anything. It was a spare one I found." Johnny blurts out.
"Okay. I trust you Johnny." You say which seems to make him smile.
You lock the door and change into the military fatigues. Granted you don't see any blood or tears in the fatigues, but then he could've just choked the person wearing it to death.
"(Sigh) Suzy, why the hell are you attracted to this guy? Oh right, because you've got some serious psychological issues yourself, that's why." You mumble to yourself as if being painfully aware of the situation makes everything okay.
You grab your bags and exit your room.
"Glad to see the fatigues aren't excessively big on you, I know you're small framed and all. You ready to go?" Johnny asks.
"Yeah, let's get out of this place. How is it out there?"
"In our immediate area? It's fairly quiet now. Haven't seen any of the rabid and the remainder of the Guard is busy burning bodies right now. I mean there are still patrols, but nobody even batted an eye when I drove this thing up to the house. Probably assumed whoever was inside was investigating or something. We shouldn't linger here though."
With both of you ready and as prepared as you're going to be, you and Johnny exit out the front door and quickly enter the jeep which is sitting right next to your sister's car. You have to admit, you do feel a little safer sitting in this thing than if you did in your sister's car.
Johnny starts up the vehicle and turns to you.
"Suzy, you know I'll take you anywhere you want to go. So is there any place you had in mind?" Johnny asks.
'Never been anywhere, so not really." You answer.
"I remember you saying you wanted to go home before."
"Well that would be nice, but things aren't exactly normal any more. I mean the only reason for going back there would be to look for my brother's bomb shelter, which definitely would be a safe zone knowing how Ben spent so much time building and constantly modifying it. Of course my other brother Peter is currently looking for it as well and who knows if he already claimed and locked himself inside it."
"Hmm, well it might be worth a look if you still want to try it. I mean the only other logical option I can think of is to as I suggested, leave town altogether. Should be much easier while driving around in this thing. Of course it might still be risky, if they've set up some sort of checkpoints outside of town... but maybe we can get the edge by fooling them briefly before smashing through such things."
Pretty risky stuff, but then these are risky times.
> try to get out of town
The whole town has gone to shit and it's either going to get completely obliterated by the government or its going to get overrun by those things or both. In any case, your best bet would be to put as much distance between you and this god-forsaken town.
"As much as I'd like to, I can't go home again. So if you know someplace we can go that's safe, I'm game if you are." You say.
"Well I can think of a few isolated places I've been through in my travels before I came to this town. Dunno, if they're safe right now, but it's worth a shot. Gonna be a long drive though and I need to go east so hopefully that way is going to be clear." Johnny says and pulls out of the driveway.
You pass by a few soldiers dragging a few more bodies and placing them in a large pile outside one of the homes in this area. Another large pile of bodies is burning outside yet another home. Nobody tries to flag you down or anything though, you're guessing that between the dark, the uniforms and the jeep, if anyone is actually paying attention to you driving through, they probably think you're just more soldiers patrolling around. It isn't like this is most stable of situations right now.
You continue drive and you go through another area where the National Guard has a presence. Again, you have no problems for the most part. However you then start hitting areas that are still suffering from conflict and in those cases, pretty severely. This is where some soldiers notice you a lot more and try to call out to you, presumably for help.
In one case, you see two soldiers ragged and bloody running desperately from several of those rabid people. They cry out for you to stop, but naturally you and Johnny just keep driving. You hear some faint curses and screams as you put distance between you and the unfortunate soldiers.
You eventually drive through areas that have been completely overrun by rabid. In fact you find that the military doesn't actually have that much control at all over your town and that there are far more of the rabid roaming around either chasing down normal people or attempting to break into houses.
However, you're in an area now that's thick enough with them that some of them are actually attacking the jeep or at least managing to bang on it a couple times before you out distance them. Johnny runs over a few of them that get directly in the way. They're starting to get too close for you at this point.
"Holy shit, this is just getting worse. Maybe we should go in another direction." You say.
"We can make it, we're almost out of town." Johnny says.
You aren't quite as confident as Johnny who now seems to be going out of his way to mow down rabid in the jeep. In fact he's got a big grin on his face as he smashes into another and turning the windshield wipers on.
"Johnny, would you fucking stop that!? We can't run over everyone one of these things! It's going to damage the jeep!"
"Relax! It's a military jeep, these things are built to last! Besides this is kinda fun. When else do you get the chance to just run over people?" Johnny giggles.
Johnny's obvious display of psychopathy might be more worrying, if you weren't more concerned with the bigger threat of a very large group of rabid up ahead.
"Johnny! You can't go through that group it's too fucking big! Turn around!" you shout.
"Fuck that, we gotta go that way and I don't give a shit how many of those freaks I have to splatter! Let's do this!" Johnny shouts and slams on the gas.
You close your eyes as the jeep speeds ahead while Johnny is laughing the entire time. He's really getting off on this.
Johnny manages to run over several of them, but there are just too many, it doesn't help there is also debris in the road left from the fighting that was going on here before.
A tire gets popped, a body gets stuck under another wheel. The jeep begins to skid and spin. Johnny tries to maintain control, but fails to do so and the jeep flips over landing upside down.
You're hurt, but since you had your seatbelt on, you're still able to move. You look over to Johnny and he's not moving. In fact he's half way through the windshield. He's obviously dead, but that isn't what concerns you at the moment. What concerns you is the rest of the rabid running over to the jeep.
You struggle with your belt and manage to crawl out of the jeep only to be quickly nabbed by the rabid. They sink their teeth into you and gnaw straight through your bones. You die screaming as they eat you alive. |
Regardless of what your sister does, you're not going to get yourself into more trouble by running.
"Look Donna, I can't stop you from running, but I'm staying here."
"What? You can't do that. You're supposed to be supportive!"
"I'm not going to be supportive in your resisting arrest attempt! Now like I said, I won't stop you, but if you're going to do it, you'll be doing it alone."
"(Sigh) I should've known you're still the same old goody two shoes that follows all the rules. You're a goddamn idiot Suzy, one of these assholes just felt me up when he frisked me. You really think if they're just going to arrest us when they find something? Chances are they're going to drive us to some secluded area and make us suck their cocks and god knows what else! I'm getting the hell... "
Just as Donna is starting to get up, both cops have taken notice of you two again.
"HEY! I told you to stay put! Don't give me an excuse!" one of them shouts nearly going for his gun and it's enough to cause Donna to rethink her actions.
"Despite the pair of you acting mighty suspicious, you appear to be clean and so does the vehicle. Don't think you're getting out of a ticket though!" the cop says and shoves a ticket at your sister who takes it. Looks like Donna had a drug free car after all.
At this point the cop's partner says to him that they're needed at the mall since apparently a small riot has broken out there. You are left with another verbal warning and they drive off.
As for you and your sister, the pair of you get back in the car without another word and continue your drive to Julie's house in silence.
When you arrive, the place is much more subdued than your used to. You don't even hear loud music coming from inside.
"No party going on?" you ask.
"Probably will be some folks coming over later. I dunno, even I don't keep up on it all the time. Anyway, I'm sure you'll be wanting to hide away before that happens, so like I said your room will be Julie's dad's old office. Julie also wants to talk with you as well, so if you're actually feeling social you could go speak with her before heading off to planet Suzy." Donna says coldly.
"... what the hell? Donna, I know you're pissed, but I really don't know why. If it hadn't been for me stalling you from running, you'd be in for a lot more trouble than just a ticket. I'd say it worked out much better." You say.
"Right. Your plan worked. Following the rules always works for you. Your life is so great and that's why you had to beg to move in here."
"Uh, you're living here in JULIE'S house too with no means of support either. I wouldn't start pointing fingers."
"Fuck you Suzy. I thought things were going to be different, but I can see that you're still the stuck up bitch that thinks she's better than everyone else." Donna exclaims and storms off leaving you in the car.
So much for "sisterly bonding." This is really an unfortunate turn of events, but not completely unexpected. Donna's always been a bit bi-polar with you. One moment she's saying how much you should hang out and bond and the next minute she's calling you a stuck up bitch that doesn't know how to have fun.
The girl has some serious self-esteem issues. Really you have no idea why she still acts the way she does. Mom is dead and so is dad. Who is there to rebel against anymore? From some of what she said earlier it almost seems like she parties out of habit more than great desire anymore.
You pull your bags out of the car and head on inside. The front room is messy, but not overly so. Your sister is nowhere to be seen, but there are a couple of people you don't know sitting on one of the couches playing video games. Another one is asleep on the floor. The place smells of spilled beer and none of the people even acknowledge your presence.
"Suzy! You're here!" a voice suddenly calls out. You look up and see Julie waving from the second floor. She immediately runs down the stairs to greet you close up, nearly tripping in the process.
When she gets to you, the years of partying are really starting to take their toll. She's your age, but she's starting to look like one of those trashy strippers that wears too much make up.
"Suzy, it's been too long! Give me a hug!" she exclaims and before you can even react, she gloms on to you and gives you a tight squeeze.
"Mmmm, you smell so nice. Like strawberries." She says while rubbing her hands across your back.
"Uh, yeah. Probably the shampoo I used." You say.
"You've been keeping in shape too, guess Bobby was keeping you busy physically. Ha ha ha ha." Julie laughs and now she starts getting a little too touchy feelie for you. You've already had unwanted touching once today, you don't feel like more.
"Yeah, okay good to see you too. Back up there now. I need some space." You say and start pulling away.
"Hah same old prudish Suzy. What you think I'm gonna just start sexually assaulting you right here in the living room? Please, I know a girl like you needs to be romanced first!"
Julie jokes, but she's probably somewhat serious with her playful advances. Shortly after you got with Bobby, Donna told you that Julie spent a couple days crying because she wanted to tell you how she's always loved you. (You of course weren't sure why she ever thought you'd be into such a relationship, but apparently before Bobby, everyone just assumed you were a big lesbian.) Of course she quickly went on with her hedonistic life, but you've always wondered if she really ever "got over" you.
"Okay Suzy, I hear you're planning on sleeping in my dad's old office. You remember the way right?"
"Yeah I think so."
"Oh, I'll just walk with you, we need to catch up on so much. I've missed you, you know!"
Resigning yourself to the fact that you're going to have to at least be friendly to Julie, you walk with her to your new room. Julie of course is very talkative.
"So Suzy, speaking of Bobby, did you make up with him yet?"
"No and I doubt if it's going to work out anyway."
"Ohhhh, that's so sad. You two did make a cute couple in a creepy shut in way." Julie says and begins rubbing your shoulder.
"Hm, thanks." You answer.
"Well, not to worry, you could meet a new boyfriend right here! Contrary to what you might think, I don't just have mindless party animals coming over here. There's actually a wide variety of people that come here to hang out. You could meet that special guy tonight in fact! Or girl... you know whatever... " Julie says trailing off and nervously smiles at you.
"Well I'm not really thinking about that right now, I think I'd rather be by myself for awhile." You answer.
"Oh yeah sure. I understand. But I just want you to know that my house is your house okay? And all the fun that goes on here, well you can have some of that fun too you know?"
"I know Julie. Thanks for letting me stay here."
"No problem, you were always welcome. Okay well here it is. I'll leave you to get settled and remember you can always come out and join us later."
At this point Julie hugs you again though it's a quick one this time and briskly walks off.
You enter the office and see that it is indeed much neater and cleaner than most of the house. Even better that it has a small bathroom attached to it as well, but you knew that since this actually isn't the first time you've been in here.
You remember playing tag with Julie when you were in elementary school and you both ran in here. Julie's dad wasn't angry though. He even gave you a lollipop from a jar on his desk. Come to think of it anytime he saw you, he was always giving you lollipops. He was pretty nice that way. Shame he died in a car accident just as Julie was starting to get wilder, since even if he did work most of the time, you get the impression Julie might at least had some boundaries during her late teens and onward.
It doesn't take long for you to rearrange some things and make yourself at home on the fairly comfortable couch in there.
It also doesn't take long for you to get back to finishing what Donna interrupted earlier today. (Making sure to lock the door of course)
After finishing up and washing up a bit, you hear some music. Sounds like the party is getting started. Continuing to be the introverted personality you usually are, you don't leave your "safe zone" and go back to playing games on your computer and looking up random shit on the Internet. The more things change the more they stay the same, time passes and it's almost like you've never left the basement!
Eventually you get bored doing that and you start looking around the office a bit more. It's sort of snooping, but then Julie's dad is dead and you're sure Julie doesn't care.
You start going through the filing cabinets and find that all the paperwork is mainly business files dated back to before Julie's dad died. Looks like nobody ever bothered to clean any of this stuff out or even go through the stuff.
The bookshelves aren't filled with the most interesting of topics. Mostly about economics, business practices, legal things, though some of the books are historical in nature. You don't see much fiction though.
The desk just contains regular office supplies. You actually aren't surprised to find a pistol in there (along with bullets) but after rummaging around a bit you notice a secret compartment in one of the drawers.
You find a black box and you waste no time in opening it. Inside you find pictures. Pictures of little girls... in fact there are some of YOU! By the looks of them, these were all taken in secret.
Nobody is naked in the photos, but given that nearly every single picture of you involves you either sucking or licking a lollipop it's pretty apparent what the purpose of these were.
Some of these girls are other kids you knew from school and hung out with Julie as well. In fact one of them went missing. Nobody knew who did it, but it was a big deal in town and it probably lead to your mother being even more overprotective of you. And you're really glad she did since you're starting to get a sinking feeling about what you've uncovered here.
"Christ... " you say going through the photos. You start to wonder now if Julie's behavior is caused by years of sexual molestation. It would certainly explain a lot.
Then you get a knock on the door.
"Hey Suzy, it's me Julie, I've got something for you."
"Uh, hold on. Just a minute!" you exclaim as you quickly put the photographs back. You have no idea if you should tell her not, but you open the door.
Julie appears with a bottle of soda and a pizza and walks in.
"I figured you'd stay in here all night, but I thought you might get hungry or thirsty so here you go!" Julie says and places her gifts to you on the desk.
"Oh. Thanks Julie." You say.
"You're welcome... so why'd you take so long in answering the door? You splittin' the kitten in here or what?" Julie asks.
"Hah, yeah well busted I guess." You say with a fake chuckle.
"Suzy, if you came out and had some fun with the rest of us, that wouldn't really be necessary you know. I know you probably still miss Bobby on some level and you've got needs, but he's not here and you'd be better off moving on with your life and getting some free dick out there... or pussy... you know whatever... " Julie says obviously still hoping.
Given how unstable Julie is at times, you almost wonder if you should address what you found at all. Maybe dredging up bad childhood memories isn't the best thing right now.
> keep quiet
You decide this isn't the time to bring it up. It is a party after all and you don't want to ruin Julie's fun just because you're not feeling so great about several things like Bobby and your fight with your sister.
Well maybe you can get to dealing with Bobby later, but you can still make up with your sister right now, besides you'd rather not linger in here alone with Julie, she might think you're leading her on.
"Hey Julie, I think I will come and join the festivities." You say.
"You will?!" Julie says surprised.
"Yeah, I'm not saying I'm gonna get wild, but who knows. But what I really want to do is speak with my sister, I had a fight with her earlier."
"Hm, yeah I heard. Well I'm sure she's still out there. Saw her talking to some guy earlier. Don't know if they hooked up yet though. Probably best if you didn't disturb her if you catch her in the act as it were." Julie says.
"I'm well aware. She'd be even more pissed at me. Okay, see you later."
"Yeah, see you later and um, if you want to talk to me I'll be available anytime." Julie says looking a bit dejected as you walk out the room.
Yeah, probably best you left. You swear, you're wondering if you're going to be able to put up with Julie's crush on you while living in the same house with her, but that will be yet ANOTHER thing to deal with at different time.
You enter the living room first, which is the most crowded part of the house. The music is up loud a couple people are playing video games on the TV and several people making out on the floor. A few guys come up to you and try to speak, but you brush them off and continue to look for your sister who obviously isn't in this area.
You head upstair which isn't quite as crowded, but the bedrooms are definitely being used for their obvious purpose, and worse nobody even bothers to close the damn doors! (Which certainly draws a few onlookers)
Fortunately, the quick glances you do make into the rooms prove to not find your sister, so you head out to the backyard.
The backyard is a little more relaxed at least in terms of sex and drugs, though a few of the guys are doing some sort of stupid stunts and hurting themselves in the process and then laughing about it. Another guy is filming the whole thing. Several girls look on and shake their heads at the ordeal and telling them that they're going to really suffer serious injury if they don't stop.
You don't see your sister and you ask one of the girls watching the spectacle.
"Excuse me, do you know Donna?" you ask a woman with short brown hair.
"Huh? Donna? Skinny little thing that thinks she's hot shit? Yeah I know her... hey you look a little like her... actually I shouldn't insult you. You're actually prettier." The woman replies.
"Uh, thanks. Yeah she's my sister and I was looking for her."
"Sister huh? My condolences. Anyway, yeah I think I saw her inside talking with some guy. He didn't really stand out, in fact he didn't really look like what she normally goes for, but she was already pretty drunk and when that happens she typically doesn't give a fuck. Or rather she always gives a fuck. Hah."
"Hm, I just looked inside, but I couldn't find her."
"Did you try the basement? She might be down there getting fucked, well assuming Julie isn't down there getting fucked. Not that it's ever stopped them from fucking in the same room before."
"Uh, no I haven't checked down there."
"Well that's probably where she is then. Now if you excuse me, I have get back to making sure my idiot boyfriend doesn't break his goddamn neck."
You leave the backyard and head back into the house. You decide you've had enough of crowds and if your sister is fucking someone in the basement, you don't want to interrupt, so you head back to your room.
Just before you reach your room however, a guy about your age opens up the door leading to the basement. Maybe this is the guy your sister was with.
"Hey, is Donna down there?" you ask.
"Huh? Um, who are you?" the man asks as if you're interrogating him.
"Donna. She's my sister. Someone said she might be in the basement with some guy. Are you him?"
The man's demeanor becomes a little more relaxed.
"Oh... wait are you Suzy?" he asks.
"Yeah."
"Yeah, your sister Donna mentioned you when I was talking with her. She wasn't lying, you are pretty."
"Wait, she said that?"
"Sure, she was very praising of you." The man says.
"... Donna? She was praising of me? I find that hard to believe, I just had a fight with her."
"Oh. Well maybe she was feeling bad about that, she seemed upset about it when we spoke."
The man seems to shift a bit and look sideways a couple times after he says that, and you become suspicious.
"Okay... well I need to go talk with her, but the man suddenly tries to stop you from going any further.
"Yeah, I don't think you should. Like I said she's upset right now."
You take a quick glance at the man and see that his clothes are disheveled like he just put them back on in a hurry.
"Funny, I've never know my sister to be upset after sex."
"What?"
"Come on, your clothes were obviously put back on in a rush, I know what happened, so if she's finished with satisfying her urges, she should be in a much better mood to speak with me... "
At this point the man stops you again.
"Suzy, I don't like what you're implying. I never touched your sister. She's a fucking whore. I was just trying to console her about you. SHE aggressively made the moves on me, but I resisted and then she started crying about what a whore she was and how she could never live up to being like you and screamed that she wanted to be left alone. Now I suggest you do just that, at least until she calms down. She's a little drunk too, so you probably should just let her sleep it off."
While the man continues to maintain a smile, his tone is somewhat threatening. His whole story stinks of lies and you're getting a really bad vibe from him. Almost like you did with your uncle Ed.
"Get the hell out of my way. " You say and push past him to descend down the steps quickly.
Unfortunately you're not quick enough as the man to manage to shove you in back causing you to lose balance and go crashing down the stairs. While you're taking a tumble, the man locks the basement door and makes his way down the stairs in a normal fashion. The loud noise from the party ensures that nobody is going to investigate even if they bothered to.
You break your leg and smash the side of your head against the floor when you finally hit the bottom. You surprisingly don't scream out from the pain, but you are about to fall unconscious from your head injury.
Your vision is blurry and you feel dizzy, but despite that, you see Donna sprawled out on the floor not that far from you. She's naked and isn't moving.
"Don... " you utter and stretch your hand out towards her.
"I'm sorry it had to be like this Suzy. I really did want us to get off on the right foot. When your whore of a sister Donna was bitching about you to me, you sounded so... perfect. Such a shame... " the man says and then kicks you in the head.
The blackness takes you and then the man takes your life. |
SUNDAY
"Are you worried about these uncertain times? Do you... "
Click.
You're so damn sick of these Ground Zero commercials you think as you turn the TV off. If you older brother Ben hadn't shot his family and himself in a tragic paranoid breakdown you can only imagine he'd be going on about how right he was in building that underground bunker out in your backyard.
You look at the time and realize you've spent most of the day procrastinating watching TV even though there's not much on that interests you on TV anymore. All the channels you used to watch that had interesting shit on them now all have shallow reality shows and quite frankly you've got enough dysfunctional family drama going on in real life without needing to watch it on TV.
You remember a time when you could avoid most of the mess by hiding out in your basement. Unfortunately you can't even do that anymore. Ever since dad drank himself to death, the gravy train of living at home for free came to an end.
Without the help of your dad's pension checks anymore, your older Amazonian sister Kelly said there was no way in hell that she was going to keep supporting the house on her own unless she was the only one living in it. Seeing as she's a roller derby bitch as well as an illegal fight club brawler, it isn't like you or any of your siblings were in any position to argue with her.
Your younger brother Peter, having given up his lofty dreams of being a famous movie director now spends a lot of his time in the garage making amateur porn with various guys he picks up at the clubs. He makes enough money through his website that it keeps Kelly off his back. He seems to enjoy what he's doing and at least he's not stealing your clothes anymore.
Your younger sister Donna simply moved out and moved in with your best friend Julie who is still the eternal party girl. Really you're surprised Julie hasn't caught every STD known to man at this point. To be honest Donna's had more in common with Julie than you have for many years now. You're sure Donna's a lot happier at a "party house."
As for you, you didn't have much in the way of options. Trying to get a job has failed spectacularly in this economy. Though your... "unique" and reclusive personality doesn't exactly help in that department.
Given some of the junk that's laying around the house you sometimes wonder if you shouldn't try to sell some of it over the Internet to support yourself. Seems like a lot of work though and you're no wheeler and dealer.
Donna suggested that you move in with her and Julie, but that whole scene isn't for you. As much as you hate dealing with Kelly, you'd also hate having to put up with drunk horny guys (and girls) trying to get into your pants every five minutes, not to mention the loud music, crowds and the ever growing possibility of the cops busting the place for illegal drugs.
Which brings you to your boyfriend Bobby Morningstar who naturally has suggested that you move in with him on several occasions. This would be the ideal solution if it weren't for the fact that his own family consists of like a million siblings that all live in his cult compound. There's also the fact that his ex-girlfriend/sister Diana is wicked pissed at you for stealing him away from her.
It's been an ongoing source of tension between you and Bobby and you wish he'd just leave them all behind and you two could make a life together elsewhere, but his duty to family is strong, as is his faith to the Babylonian Goddess of Chaos, Tiamat which still involves human sacrifices.
Right now you're having a period of separation with him. Sometimes you think about breaking up with him completely, but then you can't just dismiss the good times you do have with him. You have that special bond that only a couple could have when one warns the other about their serial killer relative lying in wait for them in the woods. Thank god Bobby took care of your uncle Ed. That had to be the scariest moment of your life dealing with that situation.
Of course none of this delightful recap of past events really helps you. Kelly is starting to get very impatient with you and you fear that your months of stalling are coming to an end.
Kelly's currently not home, but she'll be back in a few hours to get a bit of sleep before heading off to her fight club stuff. Continuing to enjoy the time you have to not have to deal with her you go back to procrastinating, which mainly involves goofing off on the Internet, "stumbling" upon a porn site and then using battery powered means to relieve yourself of stress.
Eventually you hear the familiar slamming of the door and stomping around upstairs, which signifies that Kelly is indeed home.
"SUZY! Stop splittin' the kitten and get yer bony ass up here!" you hear Kelly shout.
You were afraid of this. You clean yourself up a bit, mentally prepare yourself and then head upstairs.
"Hey Kelly... " you start to say, but are interrupted.
"Shut up. I've got exactly a couple hours to get some rest before I have to drag my ass to my other job to support this fucking house and it's a fucking mess! You can't even clean up around here? Did you even look for a job today? Let me guess you spent the whole day fucking around on the Internet and masturbating didn't you?"
"Well uh..."
"Jesus fuckin' Christ Suzy, you're goddamn useless you know that? The only reason I'm not kicking your ass right now is because I need to save my energy and it would be too fucking easy."
Before you can even speak, Kelly continues her rant.
"GET A FUCKING JOB! I don't care what kind! Just be a contributing member of this household like Peter or get the fuck out like Donna!"
"Kelly I'm trying, but I'm just not having any luck in finding anything, can't you help me out?" you say.
"Help you out? I'm helping you out right now by supporting your ass! I've been helping you out for quite some time! In fact I originally suggested that you could probably become a ring girl at the fights, but you said no because you didn't want to dress up in skimpy clothing and parade around in front of a bunch of drunks."
"Kelly, you know I don't want to dress like that in public, especially not after what uncle Ed made me wear that night... "
"Oh here we go, crazy old uncle Ed! How long you going to keep using that as an excuse? Sheesh, the way you go on about it, you act like he raped you. What happened instead? He got killed, you weren't even touched and you got a fucking boyfriend out of that deal! Some of us should be so lucky to be in a fucked up situation and STILL come out ahead! You know what I deal with on a regular basis? Steroid freaks trying to break my fucking neck that's what! You think I'd be making a living trading punches with fucktards if I LOOKED like you Suzy? You got the biggest advantage and you're just wasting it! What the hell is your goddamn problem?"
You can see that Kelly is in full-blown jealousy mode and shows no signs of stopping. Attempting to walk away will only result in her getting physical with you so the only thing you can do is endure the verbal assault.
"This is sink or swim time sis. You either get your shit together by the end of this week or you're out on your ass! This sheltered girl act is really fucking OLD! You're a grown ass WOMAN. Start acting like one! Now get out of my fucking sight."
You meekly slink back to the basement and leave Kelly alone.
You silently mope for a while pondering what the hell you're going to do next. You then notice that your phone has been under your couch cushions and on silent all day. Bobby apparently has been repeatedly trying to contact you. Even left multiple texts saying that he really wants to talk, but the mood you're in right now, you don't want to deal with it.
You don't want to deal with anything. You just want to be safe in your own little world in the basement. How you miss those days...
Well today isn't completely over yet. You've still got time to salvage some of it. Hell, maybe you can even make a major change in your life.
> contact Bobby
If Kelly wasn't putting the screws to you about moving out, you might be less inclined to return Bobby's phone call, however this is a desperate situation and despite your recent relationship problems, you still have strong feelings for Bobby and he will certainly help you out.
You grab your phone and call Bobby. The phone rings twice and then is answered.
"Hey Suzy, I've been trying to get a hold of you." Bobby blurts out as soon as he answers.
"Yeah I know." You say.
"Look, I know we've been having some difficulties lately, and our last argument was bad, but I really want to work things out, I love you."
You definitely have some major things to work out, but it's nice to know how Bobby feels about you.
"Well, we're going to be doing that, but that isn't the only reason why I called. I...uh need a new place to live. Kelly's kicking me out." You say.
"Oh, I see, you want to move in with me and my family...are you sure? I mean you know I really would like you there, but part of the reason why we were arguing was..."
"Your sister Diana hates my guts." You interrupt.
"Well...I admit she's not fond of you, but I mean I think we can work past that. She's just going to have to accept that I'm with you now."
"But is she REALLY going to do that? Or am I going to find her hovering over me in the middle of the night with a knife in hand?"
"She'd have a hell of a time sneaking in our room without waking me up first of all. Second, if I lay down the law to her, she's got no fucking choice BUT to accept it. I'M the head of the family after all and as head of it, my word is divinely inspired by Tiamat herself and to go against Tiamat is a blasphemy that even Diana would not do. So to sum up, you might have to hear some shit from her, but your physical well being is perfectly safe."
"Safe" is a funny term to use for a guy who practices human sacrifice. Which is the other concern you have, since while you've long since accepted certain aspects of Bobby's belief system, you'd rather not see the gruesome details. Though you suppose that's just one more thing you're going to have to discuss.
You sort of wonder about the rest of Bobby's family though and how well you'll get along with them. He's got a family that's at least as big as yours was at one time, but you've never really interacted with any of them (Bobby never had you over his house much due to Diana's hostility) except for Bobby's second oldest sister Helen who was polite, if quiet.
Just as you're thinking about this, Bobby springs something unexpected on you.
"Since you're wanting to move in, I should tell you that we won't be living in the house in the neighborhood. We're going to be living in a compound north outside of town."
"Wait, what?" You say.
"It's the Morningstar family compound. We're moving there, or rather we've been in the process of moving all our stuff over there for the past few weeks. Never mentioned it since we were sort of arguing about other stuff."
"Wait, wasn't your house the Morningstar family compound?"
"Heh, well that was certainly big enough for my immediate family, but I do have some extended family as well and given the current world climate, I had a video conference meeting with some of the extended family and most agreed that it might be best if we moved to the better fortified compound that my Dad had built over time decades ago."
"Holy shit, how many people are we going to be living with? I mean are we going to be restricted with what technology we can use, working a farm and the women have to put their hair up in a bouffant and wear simple clothing? If so then I can't deal with..."
"What? No! Geez Suzy, we're worshippers of Tiamat, not the Amish or fucking Mormon fundies! No, we got all the conveniences of the modern world there and women can wear what they want, though there MIGHT come a day very soon when we will have to rely on farming of some sort, but I guarantee you won't be the one doing it."
Bobby continues.
"As for how many people are going to be living there, well that I'm not sure. There aren't as many of us anymore and some live quite far away. Not everyone was jumping at the idea either, so some may decide to not bother to make the trip. In any case, at most it might be twenty more people and even then we'll have more than enough room there. Don't worry about it."
Easy for him to say, he's not the one that's just had this new information sprung on him. Bobby correctly senses your silence as concern.
"I sense some concern." Bobby says.
"Fucking right you sense some concern! Not only am I still worried about your sister, I'm now worried about even MORE of your... highly religious family. I mean how are the rest of them going to feel about you bringing in a non-believer?"
"Oh I'm not worried about that. I'm confident you'll eventually see the colorful swirling chaos...or the light if you prefer." Bobby laughs.
"That's...... not exactly alleviating my concerns Bobby."
"Sorry, I'm just joking to lighten the mood...."
You hear Bobby exhaling deeply before continuing.
"Suzy, I know this is more shit for you to take in and I know you've been very understanding about everything. It's one of the many reasons why you're so wonderful. I just want to stress that you won't be walking into some Jim Jones kool aid suicide cult compound. You'll be perfectly safe because you'll be with me, I'm the chosen of Tiamat and like I said, my word is going to be law at the compound. Look, I'll be by to pick you up tomorrow to take you there. If you're not feeling it after a few days, well I'm sure we can figure something else out. I want us to work out Suzy. I love you."
There is certainly no denying that Bobby feels very strongly about you. Again, while you still have reservations, you've never known Bobby to lie to you. As for the rest, you do know Bobby's family take their religion pretty seriously so you know Bobby isn't exaggerating about you being safe with him. In fact if the threat of physical violence is gone, that actually already puts you ahead of your situation here considering Kelly has pushed you around and threatened to do more on many occasions.
"I feel the same way Bobby. Okay, I'll pack and I'll see you tomorrow."
Bobby's voice sounds a bit more upbeat when you agree to go with him, though again if you had the option of staying home, you certainly would. Still, you're trying to maintain a positive open minded attitude about all this.
After saying goodbye to Bobby you waste no time in packing your most important belongings. As the night approaches, you finish up with your packing and get to sleep a little earlier. You get the feeling you're going to need all your energy for what lies ahead tomorrow.
> Next day
MONDAY
"And Suzy is the winner of the world hot dog eating championship! Let's all hear it for our little blonde small town girl!" The announcer shouts which is followed by a roaring crowd.
Not even feeling full, you wipe the mayonnaise off your lips, graciously stand up and bow for your adoring fans. The grossly fat dude on your right looks at you in disbelief and then turns away to puke in a bucket.
Meanwhile the little Asian dude on your left just shakes his head wondering how the hell you could've beaten him.
"I don't understand it...all my training. I glanced over at you during the contest...you...you were barely even chewing! How?" He asks.
"Oh just natural talent at swallowing hot dogs I suppose." You reply humbly and wink at the audience, which continues to praise you.
While you're blowing kisses at your fans, the announcer of the contest speaks again.
"And as an extra special reward, our glorious host of this event, Misty will be coming soon to congratulate our winner in person. This hasn't happened in decades! Perhaps even centuries! It's all just so exciting! Oh wait...I think that's Misty now!"
At this point the wind begins to pick up significantly, which is amazing since this contest was taking place in an indoor stadium. The audience seems to be going even wilder, but at this point you're getting a little concerned.
Your concern becomes fear when the fat bastard to your right melts into a gory pile of goo, the Asian guy's head gets really large like in one of those anime cartoons and he screams before running away shouting about Tokyo getting destroyed by a giant lizard.
You look back at the audience and see that they've begun stripping off their clothes and embracing each other in the biggest orgy you've ever seen. (Even larger than that porno you watched one time)
The roof suddenly comes off the stadium revealing a dark sky with a jet black swirling hole above.
"And here comes Misty folks! It's absolutely...GLORIOUS." The disembodied voice says as its pitch changes to demonic tone.
You can't run, you can't even move, you just stare at this unearthly sight like a deer in the headlights completely frozen.
You see the flash of a couple red glowing orbs in the black hole above you and then the wind picks you up and you're being pulled towards it.
"COME TO ME SUZY. COME TO US. COME. COME. COME..." A deep voice echoes all around you which is backed up by the audience who are chanting along with having their orgy.
You vainly try to struggle, but there isn't much you can do accept uselessly flail about in midair as you are slowly enveloped by darkness. Even when you try to scream, you make no sound, in fact all your senses go numb and everything goes black.
You are then awakened by the ringing of your phone. At first you look around briefly still wondering if you're still levitating towards a black hole, but you breathe a sigh of relief that it was all just a dream.
However, even though you're wide-awake, you still feel shaken up. Something about that dream seemed really unnerving and you usually aren't one to put much stock into your dreams.
The ringing of the phone takes priority before dream analysis though, so after fumbling with it a bit you answer it.
"Hey I've been trying to get a hold of you. We're you still asleep?" Bobby asks.
"Yeah, are you outside the house already?" You answer.
"Nah, I'm on my way over. I hope you're packed and ready to go though, because it's nuts out here. I know you don't tend to leave the house much, but if you've been out lately, you'd know it's been getting fucking crazy in town. Seriously, you'll see how fucked up it is out there when we drive through town. The cops are everywhere, groups of people are rioting, like I said, it's a mess. Okay, I need to focus on the road, there's a meat wagon picking up some bodies off the road. I'll see you soon. Love you." Bobby says and hangs up.
As you take a quick shower before getting ready to leave, you think more about your strange dream. You wonder if it was some sort of subconscious thing that your mind was telling you that this move is a bad idea. You have to admit, you still are feeling very unsure about it, especially now that Bobby has told you that you're moving into an isolated compound with not just his immediate family, but a bunch of other family that could be even crazier.
Still, this could just be mostly anxiety of leaving a place where you've traditionally always felt safe and lived most of your life combined with a freaky dream. Bobby did say you could leave if you weren't comfortable there, so you're trying to not to focus on the possible negatives.
You try to calm your nerves the old fashioned way and think about Bobby the entire time.
Exiting the shower, getting dressed and grabbing your packed bags, you finally leave your basement. You packed as much as you could, hopefully you can return to get the rest later.
You head upstairs and you're not waiting long before you hear a knock on the door. Upon answering it, you see Bobby who embraces you with a hug and a kiss.
"By Tiamat, I've missed your body against mine." Bobby says caressing you all over.
"I never would have guessed. I have missed your touch as well though Bobby. Let me just get my bags."
You turn around and bend over to grab your bags and that's when Bobby grabs you around the waist and if it wasn't for the fabric separating the two of you, he'd also be inside you. It's startling enough that you probably would've lost you balance had Bobby not been holding on to you so tightly.
"What the hell? Sheesh Bobby, I nearly fell forward on my face!"
"You wouldn't have, I got you. Mmm, I just can't help myself, I just..." At this point Bobby starts kissing on your neck and groping you.
"Bobby, Bobby, stop. My brother Peter is still here in the connected garage. Last thing I need is for him to hear us and then suddenly walk in on me getting plowed from behind. Besides, didn't you say it's getting crazy out there? Shouldn't we be getting the hell out of town?"
"Yeah, it's wonderfully chaotic out there. Like Tiamat herself has blessed this town. It really started putting me in the mood and then seeing you...well how can I not want to make love to you in the midst of all this chaos?"
Bobby at this point is trying pull your shirt off over your head and you hear the sound of a zipper being unzipped, though with as excited as he is, you dare say it could just impale you through his pants. He's grunting, slobbering all over your neck and sniffing your hair and...well he REALLY wants you right now.
This isn't really what you had in mind and something about the way Bobby is behaving is a bit...animalistic. He's never been that way in your other intimate encounters with him. Well not excessively so at any rate.
Also, you HAVE been fighting for awhile, and it's sort of presumptuous of him to just think you're going to spread your legs immediately because you're on good terms again.
Then again, this is sort of turning you on right now, and it has been awhile for you. (By something not battery operated or your own hands at least)
> get busy with Bobby
It's not like this is a complete stranger, this is someone you do have feelings for and what the hell, it's not like you aren't going to be doing this again with him eventually. Still, there is the matter of decorum.
You manage to twist your body around so that you're face to face to him; he barely stops when you tell him.
"Bobby, look we can do this, but like I said, we're NOT doing this in the middle of the living room. Let's at least go down to the basement and we can fuck on my couch."
"Okay, okay, whatever, let's just get down their quickly." Bobby agrees continuing to kiss on you.
The pair of you head down into the basement and one of Bobby's hands is practically glued to your ass the entire time.
When you get to your room, you see that Bobby has somehow managed to strip off most of his clothing by this point (amazing considering he had one hand on your ass the entire time). He helpfully starts stripping your clothing off.
"Well seeing as you're obviously taking the alpha male approach to this, after you're done tearing off my clothes, you can carry me over to the sofa and start doing me like a conquering warrior. I want to see your face stare into mine as you thrust into me, let me know who exactly is in charge and teach me a lesson." You say licking your index finger and then running your finger down Bobby's chest.
(Never let it be said that you can't tap into your dirty side when necessary)
The next half hour is fun, if a little rougher than you're used to with Bobby.
It starts off with him just really ramming it into you and telling you in various ways to "Take it." while staring directly into your eyes which are more piercing than usual. His hands are also mostly holding down your wrists at this point.
Despite all this, you aren't scared. You just wrap your legs around him tightly like a boa constrictor and enjoy the ride.
A little later he put his hands around your neck and even squeezes a little while continuing to stare into your eyes. You can certainly still breathe, but he is definitely establishing his dominance and that he is firmly in control of things.
Despite all this, you still aren't really scared, you even add to the "experience" by squeaking out a "No." "Please don't." "Stop hurting me." every now and then.
Eventually Bobby chants something in a language you've never heard before and then orgasms. Again, not really scary since he's always doing that. It was weird the first few times you had sex with him but now it acts as a nice little alarm letting you know that things will be over soon.
Completely spent after orgasm, Bobby collapses on top of you and begins hugging you tightly, and then whispers...
"I love you so much Suzy, I want us to be joined forever. I want our bodies as well as our souls to be married."
NOW you get scared and suddenly push him off of you in alarm at this declaration.
"What?! Married?" You exclaim recoiling to one corner of the couch.
Bobby's a little surprised by your reaction.
"I want us to be married. I mean we're obviously soul mates and its the next logical step for us."
"Step? What step? We were just having fun a moment ago and now you spring life long commitment?"
"Are you saying you never saw us eventually getting married? I mean in all that time since we've been together?"
"No, and especially not when all the trouble with your sister came about."
"But on several occasions you asked me to run away with you! You didn't think we'd get married if we ever did that even?"
"Not really."
"I'm guessing you didn't ever think about having children either then."
"Children?! What the hell, you think I'm some sort of brood mother?
Now Bobby is downright confused.
"Suzy... I really don't understand your... well view of things..." Bobby says.
"That pretty rich coming from the cultist." You say.
"Okay, I'm going to ignore that because I love you. But if it makes any difference, at least I still behave in a consistent way which you do not."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"(Sigh) I really don't want us to fight again..."
"Bobby I just let you simulate what could be considered a rape fantasy on me, the least you can do is explain yourself."
"Okay then THAT right there is what I'm talking about. You have no problem with having kinky sex with me, you have no major problems with my religion and what it entails, you're even willing to move in with me and my family even though you're concerned about my sister and probably the rest of them, but somehow marriage is what is freaking you out? I mean I'm trying to do the right thing here and it's because I genuinely love you. Why are you so resistant?"
It's actually a good question. You're pretty tolerant of a lot of stuff most would've recoiled in horror from and something like marriage and (shudder) kids is scaring you off. There's probably a good psychological reason for your reluctance, involving your observations of other married couples such as your own mother (overly compliant) and father (distant) or your brother Ben (paranoid psychotic) and his wife (utterly clueless) but there are a few other concerns.
"Bobby...you've never brought up marriage before either, why all of a sudden?" You ask.
"Well, I just think it's time. I mean we've been together awhile. We've stuck together through ups and downs. We're going to be living together. I obviously love you and I assume you love me right?"
"Well...yeah...but... I dunno...I mean kids? Come on do you really think I'm mother material? I can barely take care of myself...in fact I can't at all, otherwise I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."
At this point Bobby takes your hand into his and gets closer to you.
"Suzy, don't you see, you don't need to worry about any of that anymore. When you marry me you won't have to worry about taking care of yourself ever again. And as far as being mother material, I can't imagine a better mother to my children. Even if you do have trouble, I'm sure my sisters will help out...well okay Helen will help out, but you know what I'm saying. The main thing is you won't have any more worries when you're in the family...MY family. We'll look after you. I'll look after you."
And there it is. Your future. A "housewife" popping out a whole mess of little cultists like a Pez dispenser. While it might not be quite that extreme, the writing is on the wall. While Bobby is probably sincere in his love and desire to care for you, he's still the head of a human sacrificing cult and as such he's going to be somewhat controlling and manipulative.
How long before you become brainwashed into believing in the same shit he believes in? How long before you passively accept other sudden changes over time? Hell, how long before some organization like the FBI or the ATF comes charging in to lay siege to the place?
Though on the other hand what are you really doing with your life right now and what prospects do you really have? You could do worse than have a man who obviously loves you a lot and is willing to take care of the stuff you don't want to bother worrying about.
You've got a major life changing decision to make, because you get the impression that if you get into that compound of his, changing you mind isn't going to be an option.
> accept his proposal
"Okay, Bobby. I suppose you're right. We both love each other and that's the most important thing...so yes. I'll marry you." You say.
Bobby is overjoyed and hugs and kisses you.
"Oh Suzy, this is fantastic! I'll make the announcement to everyone as soon as we get to the compound! I got the ring there and we'll make it official as soon as we're all settled in. In fact, this Friday should be perfect! I hope that's good with you."
"Um... yeah this Friday is fine." You answer.
"Tiamat truly blesses her most worthy servants! Come on let's get going!" Bobby exclaims.
Bobby immediately starts grabbing his clothing that he left in various places in the basement on the way to your room and getting dressed. Your own clothing is a bit torn now, so you grab some new clothes that were still in your closet.
Heading back upstairs, Bobby picks up your bags and carries them to this van. He opens the door for you and everything. You did miss his attention to the little things like that.
As soon as you leave your neighborhood you notice what Bobby was talking about the town. He wasn't kidding when he said it's a mess. You see police trying maintain order, fights, car wrecks, fire fighters trying put out fires and ambulances blaring their sirens.
As Bobby focuses on the road, he goes on about how everything that's currently going on in town is just a small sample of what's to come. He talks about how there are several wars are going on in the world and how tensions are at an all time high. (He actually sounds like one of those Ground Zero infomercials on that bit) He mentions how everything is always trending towards chaos and entropy and how the signs that Tiamat is finally coming back to return the world to its natural state. Between your recent acceptance of his proposal and this, you don't think you've ever seen him so happy and excited.
"Well whatever's going on, I'm glad we are leaving town, it's like everyone here has lost their mind." You say.
"Yeah, some of my family don't agree that we should go to the compound. Some say we should be out here personally embracing the increasing chaos in the world like Tiamat would want, but... as I said there aren't a lot of us and I'd still like to make sure we're relatively safe. I believe Tiamat would want her chosen to be smart about things. Build up our numbers over time and THEN we will rise to become a force that none can oppose."
You don't say much, you just nod and smile. You imagine you're going to be directly contributing to those "numbers." You cross your legs at the thought.
Eventually you manage to get out of town and things are slightly better and the traffic is even thinning out. You've never been north of town before...actually you've never been out of town before. You also never realized how rural of an area you lived in.
The quiet calm of the great outdoors is actually a little scarier than the chaos of the town you just left behind, doesn't help that it's getting dark by this point.
Bobby ends up turning off the main road to an unsaved dirt one leading further into wilderness. Just as you're wonder how much further, you see the compound (surrounded by a high fence with razor wire of course) and it's certainly big enough and imposing enough to make any cult leader jealous.
"Shit, it looks like a small prison." You say.
"Yeah my dad and some of his brothers were constantly adding on to this thing for decades. To be honest, it isn't even completely finished. I mean it's more than sufficient for several people to comfortably live in, but there are many rooms that are just the bare minimum of four walls. Towards the back where you can't see from here, there are some portions of it that are exposed to the outside. However, seeing as there will be a bunch of us living here now, I think we'll at least be able to finish the place up, and in time make even more additions."
"Didn't know your dad had brothers."
"Yeah three older, and one younger. A younger sister too, but none of them will be coming here."
"Oh. Wait, all of them are dead?"
"No, the two younger siblings, Uncle Leslie and Aunt Lilith are still alive. In fact Leslie and Lilith live in a house together south of town. But let's just say they aren't exactly believers in the faith and chose a different path instead...I'm sure you've heard of the Ground Zero corporation especially with all their annoying infomercials and ads everywhere nowadays."
"Wait, seriously? You've got family that works for GZ? You never told me that before either." You ask.
"My dad wasn't really on speaking terms with either of them. Long story. Anyway, technically just Aunt Lilith works for GZ. Dunno doing what, but I think it's important. Uncle Leslie just lives with her and spends most of his time indulging in his pointless experiments, though I know he does some black market organ shit on the side." Bobby explains.
"I guess you couldn't get your aunt to pull a few strings and get set up in one of those shelters they're always trying to sell huh?" You say.
"Actually I did contact her during the recent family video conference. She told me that we'd all be much better off in dad's slightly unfinished compound than in one of those shelters. Apparently half of those things are death traps or something. She said even though she wasn't a believer, she still didn't want to subject her nieces and nephews to the fate of being in one of those live-in mass coffins."
"Well that was nice of her to look out for you."
"Yeah, she always was one of the nicest people in our family. Dunno why she's with Uncle Leslie, the guy is a psychotic asshole to practically everyone. Good doctor though. Anyway, let's see who's on duty tonight." Bobby says pulling up to the large gate.
Bobby rolls down his window and speaks into an intercom.
"Hey, it's Bobby. Anyone there?"
"Bobby? Where the hell have you been? Thought you were going back into town and coming straight back to help with arranging all this furniture." A voice replies a few moments later.
"Yeah well I had something really important to do and town is crazy right now. Did anyone else show up since yesterday?"
"Nah, but a few people called saying they were going to get in by tomorrow at least."
"Okay, what's everyone else doing right now?"
"Um, well mostly everyone's asleep or otherwise retired to their rooms. Except me who drew the short straw to keep a look out for you."
"What?! Asleep already? It's not that late!" Bobby exclaims.
"Well everyone was a bit tired from all the moving around. Also your sister Helen felt the young ones should get a good night's sleep earlier since there's more shit to do tomorrow."
"Hmm, well I had a big announcement to make, but I suppose if everyone is mostly in dreamland right now, it can wait until tomorrow. Might as well anyway seeing as you said more people are supposed to show up. Okay let us in William."
"Us, huh? I guess that means you have a certain lady with you? Oh Tiamat, can't wait to see Diana's reaction to that one." William remarks.
"Diana's gonna just have to fucking deal with it, I'm the fucking head of this family and I love this woman!"
"Sheesh, calm down Bobby. I got no problem with that. I will just ask one thing, is she one of us?"
Bobby looks over at you which puts you a bit on the spot.
"I love you Bobby, and I go where you go now." You say which is enough of a positive answer for Bobby who has a big grin due to your answer.
"Yes, of course she is." Bobby remarks.
"Well then she's alright with me. Come on in around the right side, you'll be less likely to wake up the others and nobody is using that side of the building right now, so you'll have that big bedroom over there all to yourself."
And with that the large gate slides open and Bobby drives you both in. He passes a few parked cars on his way over to the right wing of the compound and parks a few feet in front of a large door. You and he both get out.
You attempt to get your bags, but again he insists on carrying them for you. He hands you the keys to the door to open it though, which you do and you both enter.
After turning on a light switch, Bobby takes the lead.
"Come on, down this corridor and through a couple of rooms."
"This place isn't quite as spartan as I imagined. You've got some rather nice carpeting and even the wall coloring is fairly cheerful." You say walking and looking around.
"I told you, this is our home, and we have to live here comfortably. We're not trying to create a psychologically oppressive effect to break down the willpower of potential followers, so what's the point of having a depressing drab gray everywhere?"
"Makes sense. The artwork you got up is pretty...interesting as well." You say glancing at the various strange pictures hanging up ranging from multi headed dragons to gory scenes of sacrifices.
"Oh, yeah. My grandmother painted most of these." Bobby replies.
"Really? Well, she certainly made some vivid scenes. That one with young raven haired naked lady holding the bloody dagger surrounded by the corpses is pretty detailed. Probably the best one of the bunch." You say being supportive.
"It should be the best one considering that's a self portrait of her. Took her a few months to finish it apparently because she wanted to get the color of decay just right for the bodies. Yep, she sure was talented."
Bobby stares a bit at his long dead grandmother's naked image for a moment until you wave your hand in front of him.
"Sorry, it's a bit hypnotic at times. Like the eyes follow you." Bobby says.
"Hrmmm. Sure it's not two other things?" You ask.
"Ha ha, well gotta admit, Grandma was pretty hot back in the day."
"That...would be disturbing even if I wasn't your soon to be wife." You remark. (Though you're not really THAT disturbed given what you know of Bobby's family)
"Oh I'm joking, you know you're the only one for me." Bobby says and kisses you on the cheek before saying you'll be heading up some nearby stairs.
A flight of stairs, another corridor, a few rooms later and you're finally at your destination. A fully furnished master bedroom with all the comforts.
"Well gotta admit, this is a very nice room. A little heavy on the red coloring, but I'll definitely be comfortable here especially since I'm starting to get tired."
"Hey go ahead and relax. You're home now. I'd join you, but I think I better go see my cousin William to get a proper update on what's been going on, so I'll be back later."
"Okay then." you say stretching out on the bed.
Bobby kisses you goodbye and you're alone at last.
You think about grabbing your laptop, but the bag it's in is too far and you're far too comfortable so you just spend your time scanning the room with your eyes thinking about your situation.
When you look over to your left you notice another self portrait of Grandma Morningstar. Fortunately, she's got all her clothes on in this one and is in a more traditional pose. Same stern and confident look though.
"Well I guess I'll be joining the family officially soon. Hope you approve from...well wherever you guys go when you shuffle off this mortal coil." You say towards the direction of the painting, though you don't look at it too long. Bobby's right, there is something a little hypnotic about the pictures of her.
Instead you close your eyes as the comfort of the bed and silence causes you to soon fall asleep.
> Next day...
TUESDAY
"And Suzy is the winner of the world banana eating championship! Let's all hear it for our little blonde small town girl!" The announcer shouts which is followed by a roaring crowd.
Not even feeling full, you wipe away the whipped cream on your lips, graciously stand up and bow for your adoring fans. The big dude on your right wearing nothing but chaps and a biker jacket looks at you in disbelief and then turns away to puke in a bucket.
Meanwhile the little Asian She-Male on your left just shakes his head wondering how the hell you could've beaten him.
"I don't understand it...all my training. I glanced over at you during the contest...you...you were barely even chewing! How?" He asks.
"Oh just natural talent at swallowing bananas I suppose." You reply humbly and wink at the audience, which continues to praise you.
While you're blowing kisses at your fans, you suddenly get a feeling you've done something like this before... .
Suddenly a hand touches your shoulder and you spin around to see a woman about your age with long raven colored hair and a low cut black gown. She's pretty, but has a sneering look on her face. It's not quite a cruel look, but she's definitely not impressed with you.
"So, you think you got what it takes to meet Misty huh? Pfft. I don't see you lasting another day. Maybe two at best."
"Who is Misty?" you ask.
"(Sigh) Deary, if you don't know, then you'll never know. And if you never know, then how can you ever hope to survive?" the woman says in a condescending tone and then starts laughing at you. She then begins to age rapidly until she becomes a wizened crone and then eventually a rotting corpse.
When you begin to step back, the woman then disappears, but her laughter remains, getting louder and louder to the point being deafening and causing pain.
You futilely attempt to cover your ears, but the laughter persists even when you try to cram left over bananas in your ears.
Meanwhile, the biker turns in a unicorn and the she-male turns into rainbow colored fox which jumps on the back of the unicorn and they run off together. The audience surprisingly has completely disappeared. In fact it's just you and that awful laughter that won't quit.
Just when you think you can't take the pain anymore everything goes black...
You wake up to the sound of a female voice.
"What's going on?!" you exclaim sitting up fast.
"Oh! Sorry! I... I didn't mean to wake you... but I just was told to bring you this." the source of the female voice says.
You rub your eyes and see a young woman with light brown hair before you holding a tray of food. She's probably a few years younger than you.
"... wait... you're Helen right?" you say recognizing her.
"Yes. I didn't think you remembered me. We only saw each other a couple times before." Helen says.
"Yeah I remember you. Where's Bobby?"
"Oh, Bobby's busy doing something with cousin William. I think its something to do with working on the compound here. I'm not really sure. I just tend to look after the little ones, but Bobby told me I should bring you something to eat, so um here."
Helen thrusts the tray of food at you. It consists of typical breakfast type food like scrambled eggs, bacon, cereal and juice. You see no reason not to take the offering seeing as you aren't served like this very often.
"Wow, breakfast in bed. That's something I've never had before." You say and start to eat.
Helen stares at you nervously, which causes you to stop eating.
"What?" you ask.
"Oh! Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you liked it. Is the food good? I really didn't know what to make you and I just wanted it to be right." Helen says.
"It's fine Helen." You say.
"Oh good. I just... I just didn't want to disappoint you."
"It's just breakfast Helen. Relax. Probably way better than anything I could make, I dunno how to cook."
"You don't? Didn't your mother teach you?" Helen asks as if cooking is something every woman knows how to do.
"Nope. She taught me how to sew when I was younger, but I sort of stopped doing it when she died of a flesh-eating virus. Didn't really see the point anymore."
"Oh no, how sad!" Helen says empathetically.
"Yeah." You say continuing to eat.
"Well don't worry, I'm a very good cook and I can even teach you!"
"Hm, well between that offer and this meal, you've probably done more for me than my own family has in years."
"I'm so glad you said that. I want us to get along because I know you're going to be married to Bobby and all."
"Wait, Bobby told you already?" you ask.
"He told everyone last night. He was so happy. I'm so glad he was, I like seeing him happy."
"Hm, I can guess who wasn't happy to hear about it." You remark.
"Oh. Yes. Um... you probably mean Diana. Yes, she was quite upset. Um... in fact I probably should leave. She's looking after the little ones and I'm sure I'll get an earful about being away from my duties for so long. She's in a bad enough mood as it is." Helen says.
"Okay, well sorry to keep you then. I don't want to get you into trouble."
"Oh, it's okay. I'm not really worried about me anyway. It's just if I stay away for too long she might... well she's not as patient as I am with our younger siblings. So are you okay with the food and everything?"
"Yeah Helen."
"Okay good. Good. Um... okay I'm going now. Um, I suppose I'll see you around some time."
"Okay then."
At this point Helen nervously waves and opens the door to leave, but then she calls out to you.
"Um, Suzy?"
"Yes?"
"I'm really glad you're going to be part of this family soon." She says with a faint smile and then leaves.
You shake your head and finish your food. Helen obviously has some issues. Though maybe its because you know what its like to have a bullying older sister, you can sympathize.
After putting aside your food tray you take a shower in the private bathroom connected to the bedroom which is very convenient. While washing up you take time to ponder your odd dream which while having its surreal moments seemed "real" to you in some ways. The raven haired woman in the dream was most certainly Bobby's grandmother which is sort of creepy, but then maybe she just popped up due you seeing pictures of her (and even one in your room) earlier that night. Ultimately you decide not to worry too much about it unless this becomes an ongoing problem.
After your shower, you then change your clothing and decide to explore what is now your new home.
You walk around the right wing of the compound, upstairs and down, not running into anyone. It's all pretty empty on this side which is sort of good you suppose and you're half tempted to just go back to your new room and play on your computer. However, you figure you're going to have to make the effort to be social with everyone so you head over to the central part of the compound where you assume more of Bobby's family is located.
Eventually you get to a large dining area and see a few dirty plates still on the table. The voices of children can be heard a few rooms away and then...
That red headed witch Diana steps out from the kitchen.
She holds a knife in one hand and you notice her hand tighten around its handle when she sees you.
"Look, I don't want any trouble Diana. I know you're mad but... " you start to say before Diana interrupts.
"Spare me your pathetic words blonde whore. You will not sway me with superficial attempts at diplomacy. YOU are in my way, but I promise you that before the week's end, you will be out of it."
When you cautiously step back a bit, Diana smirks.
"You better keep stepping backwards and out the front door if you want to stay out of my way AND keep your pitiful life."
While Diana is doing a fairly adequate job of intimidating you, she's actually starting to make you angry. Like a rage is building up within you and you feel like just picking up one of the forks on one of the dirty plates on the table and stabbing her in the neck with it.
In fact violent visions start to enter your head, visions of bloody bodies and other murderous images. They hit you so suddenly; you actually stumble and keep yourself from falling by propping yourself up against the table. You then rub your head from this spell, as you don't feel completely well.
"Now what? Am I scaring you too much? Are you about to cry? By Tiamat you really are worthless. And that is why you'll never make a good wife to my brother. You're far too weak. My brother will realize that soon." Diana remarks.
As unwell as you suddenly feel, the rage within you is still rising.
> attack Diana
You already put up with one bullying asshole of an older sister who basically threw you out your house, you'll be damned if you'll let someone else do it again.
You turn your head to address Diana.
"Hey, you know what your brother also realized? That I'm more fun in the bed than you are. Told me you were about as fun as fucking a log and about as lively too. Yeah, I'm crying alright, I'm crying tears of laughter at your fucking stupidity if you actually think you have a chance at getting Bobby back."
If Diana were a cartoon character you'd imagine this would be the part where steam shoots out of her head and her face goes completely red.
"You're fucking dead blondie!" Diana shouts and runs at you with the knife in hand.
You grab one of the plates on the table and throw it at her. She dodges, but it's enough to get her a bit off balance while you grab a fork and plunge it into the side of her arm.
"Agh SHIT!" she shouts , but manages to swipe at you with her knife which barely misses your face. You don't have time to retrieve your fork from her arm.
You throw another plate at her, which causes her to drop her knife when she blocks her face with her hands. She recovers quickly however and pulls the fork from her arm and lunges at you with it.
As the pair of you struggle, you and Diana have made enough noise for others to take notice of it. Helen comes walking into the room with a couple of kids behind her and freaks out.
"Wha... Stop! Stop it! Don't fight!" she exclaims and then screams for help and runs over to attempt to disarm her sister.
"Please Diana, don't... " Helen utters before Diana shoves her aside. At least this allows you to grab Diana's wrist and slam it hard on the edge of the table, causing her to drop the fork. Doesn't stop her from punching you with her free hand though.
Helen once again tries to pull the two of you apart, but fails to do so. She ends up shouting at the cheering children who are enjoying the violent display to go fetch help.
Meanwhile Diana is slightly getting the better of you in this fight as she lands a kick to your stomach, flooring you. You wheeze and have a hard time catching your breath.
"You actually thought you could challenge me? What was that about me being the stupid one?" Diana taunts as she picks up a nearby chair. You barely manage to roll out of the way when she tries to bring it down on your head.
Desperate to gain the advantage again, you struggle to get back up and start throwing plates at her again. She manages to deflect them with the chair, but then with all your energy you charge at her and holding on to the other end of the chair you slam her into the wall.
You manage to pull the chair away and then it's just you and her again. At first you're scratching, punching and slapping each other upright and then soon the pair of you are rolling on the floor.
"By Tiamat's Chaotic Cunt, quick grab 'em both!" you hear a male voice shout.
A mass of various arms and hands grab you and Diana and after a bit of prying, the would be peacemakers succeed in keeping you and Diana from doing anymore damage.
"I'M NOT FUCKING SCARED OF YOU AND I'M NOT FUCKING LEAVING!" you scream at Diana who is being pulled away by Helen and another well dressed man you don't recognize.
"Whoa, easy! Easy! I gotcha." The male voice says that spoke earlier. You look and see the one who has pulled you away from Diana and see a scruffy looking man.
"Let go of me!" you exclaim and pull away from the man who lets you go.
"Okay, okay, you're free, now I heard you two don't like each other, but already? What the hell happened?"
At this point you and Diana both start accusing each other of starting the fight. After some shouting you demand to know where Bobby is.
"Bobby isn't here. He actually left an hour ago to go gather some stuff from the old house. (Sigh) I wish he was here though, because this is definitely his problem not mine." The scruffy man says.
"Yeah, well who the fuck are you anyway?" you exclaim.
"Wow, you're actually a little different than I expected considering what Bobby has said about you. Though if you need to the introductions, I'm William. Mr. fancy over there is Brandon." William remarks.
"Hey." Brandon says.
Diana interrupts this temporary break in the hostilities by attempting to attack you again, but Brandon and Helen manage to hold her back, meanwhile William grabs you since you attempt to defend yourself.
"Let me go! Why the fuck are you all holding me back?! You should be letting me kill this fucking outsider and serving her heart up to Tiamat!" Diana exclaims.
"Yeah, while that would normally be the plan, you know damn well this is Bobby's bride to be and he's the head of the family. Now I know your pissed about that but them's the rules." William remarks.
"Shut the fuck up William you don't know shit about how I feel! And since when do you give a shit about the rules for anything?" Diana says.
"Okay, I'll give you both of those. However I DO respect your brother and he loves this woman so you and nobody else will be sacrificing or harming her in any way... besides given how she was fighting, I'd say she shows promise of fitting right in in this family." William laughs.
Diana shakes her head, fumes and huffs about her situation. She looks like she's about to attack you again, but instead she pushes Helen out of the way and storms off. Despite being pushed Helen follows her sister in an effort to console her.
"Well. That was exciting. If we're all done here, I'll be checking on Veronica and making sure the young ones aren't getting into the armory or something. Um, nice meeting you Suzy." Brandon remarks straightening out his suit and walks away.
You sit down on a nearby chair rubbing the upper left side of your face, which is probably sporting a bruise or soon will be. You still feel angry, but you're too tired to go chasing after Diana at this moment. You notice William still lingering around and staring at you.
"What?!" you ask.
"Okay, just settle down now. I'm not the enemy here." William remarks.
"Maybe not, but I don't really care for your staring right now."
"Fair enough. Like I said, you're just much different than what I expected. Bobby mentioned to me you were this gentle quite girl. More like Helen actually. Never expected you to be giving Diana a good fight. On your second day here no less."
"Yeah, well everyone has their limits."
"Guess that's true too, though I'm sure you know why Diana doesn't like you."
"Yeah I know, and you know what? That's tough shit and she needs to just get the fuck over it. Bobby wants to marry ME. Not her. It isn't my fault that she's not woman enough for him. To my understanding she had YEARS with him. If she couldn't hang on to him with that much of a head start, I'd say the problem was with her, not me."
William smiles at your remark.
"Man, I wasn't sure if I'd like you, but shit if you weren't Bobby's bride to be, I'D marry you. Well if I was the marrying type. Anyway, I'd say you handled the situation with Diana the only way you could have. She at least knows she can't just bully you like she does with poor Helen. Still, I'd watch out. It isn't over with her. She's not going to just let this go."
"I'm going to tell Bobby about this and he's going to just have to straighten her out once and for all."
"Well, that MIGHT work in the short term, but Diana doesn't let go of grudges and given that you'll officially become family soon, she's likely to ignore him. Look, it's like this. Diana is definitely going to try to do something to you before you can marry Bobby because if she succeeds in getting you out of the picture before that happens, she won't suffer any repercussions. Granted Bobby will probably be pissed at her and she'll get passed over for Helen I suppose, but as a follower of Tiamat she technically has got the right to kill an outsider. It's just out of respect for Bobby that we accept you."
"Okay, so as soon as Bobby gets back, I'm going to demand he marry me now."
"Heh, well due to some sort of alignment of the stars on Friday I don't think it's going to be moved forward. Though, given how pissed Diana is about all this, I really wouldn't put it past her to just wait years to get revenge on you and make it look like an accident or make up some sort of bullshit about it being Tiamat's will or something."
"So... what... am I going to have to kill her to get any fucking peace?" you blurt out.
William waves his hand down a bit as if to tell you to be quiet and looks around.
"Shhh, don't talk that way out loud. You're not officially family yet. You talk like that around some of the others here and they'll throw you on the sacrificial altar. Hell, even Helen would probably go tell on you for talking like that." William says.
"What the hell? What about Bobby? Doesn't his leadership mean anything?!"
"Well yeah, but in case you hadn't noticed, he's very observant of certain rules and rituals. As much as he loves you, I don't even he would be able to help if you actually killed Diana."
"Well I gotta do something! I can't just sit around with a thumb up my ass constantly looking over my shoulder thinking Diana's going to do something to me."
"I know and I get it. (Sigh) Quite frankly if I was running things, I'd go back to the old ways of Tiamat where we had less rules and ritual and more adherence to primal urges. What I'd do is have you and Diana enter a steel cage and nobody left until one of you was dead, but that's me."
"Great. Glad to know I'd be better off under a more anarchic regime." You say with a tone of defeat.
William exhales deeply and then speaks.
"Well blondie, this is how I see it. You can either hold out until Friday after which point you can probably get rid of Diana a little easier or at least with less repercussions. Or you can, shall we say... find an opportunity before then. I'm not saying anymore, but if you really feel like you're in immediate danger then you know what to do."
With those words, William leaves you alone to ponder his advice.
> take care of Diana
You get up and decide you need to take things into your own hands. You are not going to spend one more night under this roof with someone who openly wants to kill you.
You catch up to William who hasn't gone far and ask him where Diana's room is.
"Left wing second floor... uh... you planning to do that thing?" he asks.
"Guess you'll find out soon." You say and walk past him.
You make your way through the house and climb a flight of stairs. As you're looking around for where Diana's room is, you hear some voices and start heading towards them since they sound familiar.
The closer you get and you recognize one of the voices as Helen. The louder voice with the abusive tone can only be Diana.
"Diana, please try to calm yourself... " Helen says.
"Calm myself? Are you a fucking idiot?! That fucking bitch is an outsider and you're seriously okay with that?! You're okay with her taking Bobby away?" Diana replies.
"But she isn't taking him away, he'll still be here... "
"Helen, you're a f... WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM? GET THE FUCK OUT!" Diana says when she sees you enter.
Helen turns her head and sees you and she looks scared about what's going to happen next.
"Uh... um hey Suzy... I really don't think this is a good time... " Helen remarks and tries to get in between you and Diana who is already making steps towards you.
You didn't necessarily plan on Helen being here, but given how she's been living in fear of Diana for years, you're fairly certain you can angle that in your favor. You plan is fairly simple. You're going to "apologize" but you know Diana is going to just start a fight again and in the process you're going to do damage she's going to be less likely to walk away from.
You've already clashed with her once, she wasn't nearly as tough as she makes out and you're tougher than you actually thought you were.
Survival of the fittest is going to play out very soon.
"Diana, like I said before I didn't come here to fight. I've just come to apologize if I offended you downstairs. I should've realized this is your home and I had no right to insult you."
"And like I said before I'm not interested in anything you've got to say you fucking man stealing cunt! Now get the fuck out of here before Bobby comes home to a corpse bride!"
Helen at this point is practically pushing you out the door, but you're not moving.
"Diana, are you seriously going to threaten my life again after I'm trying to make peace?" you ask.
"Suzy, please get out of here... " Helen says.
"BITCH I DON'T WANT PEACE WITH YOU! YOU STOLE MY BOBBY AWAY RAAAAAAGH!" Diana screams and charges at you. Somehow Helen manages to duck and squeeze out of the way before she's tackled along with you.
Diana is now fighting with a fury you didn't see downstairs. While she was certainly filled with rage before, now it seems like she's possessed. You catch two blows to the face before you manage to push her back and land a kick to her stomach.
Helen helplessly stands nearby calling for you both to stop, but neither of you are listening. Nearby vases are smashed, knick-knacks are knock over and even small pieces of furniture are damaged.
Eventually Diana pushes you backwards and then runs back into her room. You waste no time in chasing after her only to find that she's attempting to grab a large dagger from under her bed.
She slashes at you with it, but misses and you land a kick to her face. You then grab her and slam her into a desk causing her to drop her knife.
You go to pick it up, but Diana prevents you from doing so by crashing her bruised body into yours. The pair of you roll on the floor some more until you finally get the upper hand again and knock Diana into her window and partially through it.
Diana groans in pain, but doesn't move. The top part of her body dangles outside, and her lower back is no doubt impaled on some of the broken glass. It'll be a simple matter of you just picking up her legs and pushing her out.
Or at least it would if Helen wasn't around.
"Stop it! Stop it please! Don't kill her! She's my sister!" Helen shouts.
"Helen, this bitch has been abusing you for YEARS. Don't you think it's time for her bullying to end? Come on Helen, you know your life would be better without her. Come on, just let everyone know this was purely in self defense. You know this is the right thing." You say.
Helen looks around a moment and bites her lip. She's very unsure, but eventually she complies.
"... okay... just do it." she says and turns her head away.
You smile and go to pick up Diana's legs. You knew Helen would side against her sister.
As you push Diana out the window, that's when you realize Helen's sided against you as well. You feel a sharp pain go straight into your back. The shock causes you to temporarily unable to catch your breath as you try to reach for whatever it is that just got plunged into you.
You turn around just in time to see Helen give you a hefty shove.
"Sorry Suzy." She says and you fall out the window.
The thing is, you may have possibly still survived the fall, but unfortunately landing on your back with a big knife in it, drives it completely through the front of your chest.
As you lay next to Diana's corpse, gurgling blood and struggling to breathe you soon follow her in death. |
FRIDAY
"And now Suzy, having beaten the chicken soup out of all her other opponents this week, will take this final challenge by herself! Will she be able to do it ladies and gentlemen? Will she be able to impress Misty at last? We'll find out today! Let's give our small town girl some encouragement for her task at hand!"
As the crowd claps, whistles and stomps their feet in support, you sit at a large table by yourself looking at...
A big bag of dicks.
It's even labeled as such. BIG BAG OF DICKS in big black lettering so you can't miss it.
You don't even look inside the bag; you take their word for it and double face palm before exhaling and looking back up.
"Really?" you ask in disbelief.
"This is the last task Suzy... " the disembodied announcer's voice whispers.
"I don't give a shit, I'm not eating a goddamn bag of dicks! That's just fucking disgusting for one thing and for another...
Suddenly Bobby's grandmother appears as she has been doing in your dreams.
"See? Told you she wasn't going to do it. Still, it was funny to see the reaction." Bobby's grandmother cackles and with a wave of her cane, you're back in that blasted wasteland you were in last time.
"So what now? Am I going to meet this Misty, whoever the fuck that is?"
"Not quite yet. You're still not married to my grandson. Misty has decided that she'll meet you after that event... and sheesh you still haven't figured out who Misty is yet? You suffer a head injury when Aaron was tossing grenades around?" Bobby's grandmother asks and then taps you in the forehead with her hand.
"Ow! Stop!" you say and back away.
"I hope you aren't this slow on the uptake today. Oh well, guess you can't help being blonde. Anyway, congrats on your wedding and you've got my blessing. Good luck!"
Good luck? Somehow that doesn't sound reassuring. You're about to ask Bobby's grandmother what she exactly means by that, but then she waves that damn cane again and you're enveloped the blackness and then you wake up.
"Gah, fucking bitch." You say groggily.
"Um, I'm sorry for waking you... but we really need to see if this fits." a familiar female voice remarks.
You look around the room and see Helen coming in carrying some red clothing.
"Huh? No, not you... wait what are you doing in here anyway? Did Bobby spend all night working on the house?" you ask
"I'm bringing in your wedding dress and yes, Bobby has been working on the house for the most part. Trying to patch up the big hole in the house, cleaning up the dungeon, blocking the front gate. He had to bury our brother Jordan as well. I don't believe he's actually slept yet."
"Oh yeah, forgot that that asshole killed one of your siblings. I didn't know him that well, but sorry for your loss." You remark.
"Thank you. Yes, it was very sad, but to be honest Jordan wasn't the brightest. I remember numerous times when looking after him I had to stop him from eating something poisonous or doing something else life threatening so it's actually amazing he lived as long as he did. Still, he had some very endearing qualities. He looked up to Bobby a lot, wanted to be just like him. He even had a small crush on me I think to partially emulate Bobby and Diana's old relationship." Helen says with a smile before her face goes back to normal.
"But we are all just puppets in Tiamat's glorious chaos, so we all need to just move on right? Could you see if this fits?" Helen cheerfully asks holding up the red clothing which now looks a lot like lingerie.
"Wait, that's the wedding dress? It looks like slutty underwear from Hot Secret." You answer and get out of bed.
Helen's face looks a bit offended by that statement.
"My grandmother wore this on her wedding day! She had this dress made of the finest silk, not whatever cheap material they use in North Tiwanaland or some place! THIS is a one of a kind article of clothing! It's not something you'd find in some edgy teenager hang out!" Helen remarks.
"Okay! Geez. I'm not trying to insult the dress or your grandmother. It's just... well I thought I'd be wearing something a little more... substantial. But seeing as your family isn't exactly conventional and when in Rome... I guess I better try it on. Um, you washed it right?"
"Of course. Hand washed it myself. Can't risk putting it in a machine." Helen says and hands it to you.
You have to admit; it does feel rather nice in your hands.
"Oh, here's the stockings and the shoes too." Helen says and hands you what is apparently the rest of the outfit.
"Red fishnets... red high heels... " you say.
"Yes. Those shoes were also special made with the finest... "
"Leather. Yes, I can imagine. Let me guess the fishnets were made with the finest silk as well."
"Well of course, what else would it be?"
"What else indeed. Okay, well I guess I'm going in the bathroom to change."
"You don't need to you know. I mean I won't be offended if you change in front of me. We're practically family now." Helen says.
"Um... no that's okay. Besides, I should wash up before changing anyway. I probably still smell of sweat from yesterday's events."
"Okay, well I guess I'll just wait out here then and remember you can call if you need something.
You enter the bathroom and go through your usual routine of showering and such. Afterwards you finally get around putting on the "wedding dress"
The first thing you do is look at the dress before putting it on and wondering if it's going to be bigger in the chest area. While you're not lacking in that region, you've met Bobby's grandmother (in dream form anyway) and she's got at least another couple cup sizes on you. In fact her body type back in her prime was more of an old school 1950s pinup girl hourglass figure than your own "petite" size.
The funny thing is, as soon as you put it on, it seems to fit perfectly to your own body. The material isn't any sort of spandex or stretchy material, it's silk like Helen said, but given Bobby's family's strangeness, you have to wonder if it's... magical?
"Magical underwear." You scoff; shaking your head in half disbelief you're even considering it. Not surprisingly the stockings AND the shoes fit you perfectly as well.
Yeah, Grandma Morningstar probably had all this stuff weaved by a giant magical spider voodoo priest or some shit because it doesn't make sense that any of this stuff would fit you so well.
Regardless of its origins, you do feel pretty comfortable despite looking like a Hollywood streetwalker. The heels don't even hurt your feet, though you're still a little unsteady on them due to not being used to wearing such things. Let alone these being stilettos.
The last time you wore heels was when Uncle Ed made you wear stripperiffic clothing with the intent to lure Bobby and his dad into the woods where he could kill them. While everything turned out for the best because you met Bobby that fateful night, the part with Uncle Ed still gives you the shivers just thinking about it.
You look at yourself in the mirror one more time, before leaving the bathroom.
"Well Suzy, you might look like a whore in this thing, but at least you look like a high priced one." You say to yourself.
When you exit the bathroom Helen stands up and looks at you.
"Oh my. You're... you're... so beautiful looking. I knew it would fit you perfectly." Helen gushes.
"Yeah I am pretty hot looking in this get up. Shit, still can't balance on these heels though." You say.
"Oh we have to go show everyone now what you look like. Maybe take some pictures!" Helen says approaching you.
"What? I thought I was just putting it on as a test drive as it were. While I won't deny this stuff feels pretty comfortable on my skin that I don't mind wearing it, I sort of don't want to be walking around the house with it on until show time. Besides everyone can see how awesomely sexy I am then."
"I think they should see you now. It'll raise the spirits around here seeing you dressed like this." Helen remarks as she begins touching your arm.
"Well it'll raise something with the males around here when they see me of course. Not sure about the ladies of this house, though you're getting a little too close there Helen."
"Oh please? At least go show Bobby. I know he'd like to see you." Helen says ignoring your previous remark about invading your personal space.
"I'm sure he's really busy right now, besides isn't it bad luck for me to see him right before the wedding?"
"Oh you're thinking of those silly traditions for other weddings. That's not the case here. Come on I'll take you to him." Helen says and at this point is pulling on your hands almost causing you fall.
"Hey! I nearly fell! I told you already that you're too damn close!"
Helen immediately backs away and looks down submissively.
"I'm sorry Suzy. I didn't mean to violate your personal space. It's just I thought... well it's Bobby."
"What about him?
"Well, as I said he hasn't slept and he's been working everyone like a task master trying to get the house as much in order as he can. And that's his right of course. He is the head of this family. Still, during all the hustle and bustle when I was going to see him when he was cleaning up the dungeon. I caught him weeping and praying to Tiamat. Normally I wouldn't have intruded, but he looked so... vulnerable and sad. He kept going on about he wasn't even sure if this wedding was the right thing because he wasn't confident that he'd be a strong enough husband for you and be a good provider. He was having doubts about even leading this family after all the mess that's happened this week."
"Oh geez. I've already told him several times that I loved him and that I was behind him no matter what." You say.
"Well maybe that's all he needs again. Sometimes a little boost is all that someone needs to feel better. Like I remember yesterday when I was with the children during Aaron's rampage, I told them that they would be safe because Tiamat's chaos was in their favor that day. They were so brave after that, they were perfectly fine when I left them alone to help you and Bobby." Helen says.
> talk with Helen a little more
That last statement doesn't sound right to you...
"Wait a minute Helen. I thought you said yesterday that Veronica and Brandon ran to you and stayed with the kids when you parted company with them."
Helen pauses for a moment.
"Uh yeah, I did. Yes! I meant I left the kids alone, but just as I was leaving, it was fortunate that Veronica and Brandon showed up at that time so they weren't completely alone."
Bobby's grandmother claimed you were slow on the uptake and maybe in dreamland you are, but you know damn well when someone is obviously lying to you.
"That didn't happen Helen." You say.
"Wha... yes it did!" Helen exclaims.
"Okay then... " you say and sit down to take off your heels.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm taking off these fucking heels because I don't feel like nearly breaking my neck when we go ask Veronica and Brandon to confirm your story."
"Um, I don't think that will be necessary. In fact, I think Bobby will be fine. Probably just wedding jitters. Apologies for bothering you and glad to see that the dress fits you." Helen says and starts backing towards the door.
"You know now that I'm thinking about it, it seems pretty strange that Bobby would be crying and praying in front of Diana who I presume is sitting in a dungeon cage right now."
"She was unconscious?" Helen says as if saying it in the tone of a question is going to cause it to be more believable.
"Unconscious or not, I doubt Bobby would show any sort of weakness around Diana now. In fact I'm starting to doubt a lot of things... "
At this point Helen's eyes widen in fear and she turns to run for the door. Just as she gets to the handle, you manage to bean her in the head with one of the heels. It's just enough to stop her from getting away before you rush over and grab her by the hair and throw her to the floor.
"Out with it bitch." You say and lock the door.
When she doesn't answer right away, you raise your hand and Helen starts to cry before you've even done anything. She cowers by curling up and putting her hands and arms in front of her completely submissively.
"Please! Mercy! It wasn't my idea! It was all Diana! You just don't know what it's like having such a bullying older sister who dominates virtually every aspect of your life!"
"Save the pity party speech about being a victim of sibling abuse. Heard it before and I already lived something similar so it doesn't impress me. Besides, I'm not buying this babe in the woods routine anymore Helen. At best you're lying to cover up the fact that Diana AND yourself were planning on killing me all along yesterday and you just covered your own ass when it looked like things weren't going to work out. At worst, this entire thing was your idea and Diana was just your dumb ass pawn. Either way, I'm not enthused and it doesn't change the fact that YOU were trying to kill me... were you going to make another attempt today? Huh? Is that why you came up here? Maybe push me down the stairs or something? Claim it was an accident? ANSWER ME AND DON'T FUCKING LIE!"
"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you everything! Just please try to understand it wasn't personal! I actually like you!"
"Not personal?! You like me? So I guess your plan to kill me was just your way of showing affection?"
"No (sob) I did it because I just love (sob) Bobby so much! I always have and I stood on the sidelines too long. (sob) I was just so desperate... "
You just shake your head and sigh at this point. Helen sits up from the floor and scoots back to prop herself up against your bed coughing, sniffling, and trying to regain her composure. You stand nearby ready to jump on her if she tries anything, but for now you allow this moment for her to "explain" as it were.
"If there had been some way to remove you Suzy without killing you I would have done it. You have to believe me I really would have. I even thought about approaching you in a plan to kill Diana instead."
"Yeah and then you would've probably killed me afterwards to make it look like Diana and I killed each other."
"No! I was going to... well I was going to try to seduce you."
"Excuse me?" you say completely surprised by that part of the explanation.
"Well I wasn't sure, but I just sort of got a feeling from you that you might be a bit... flexible on your orientation." Helen says.
"Wha... (sputter) What the hell would give you that impression?" you exclaim.
"I dunno... sometimes I thought your eyes were wandering all over my body a little more than average whenever we spoke, plus you were so nice to me and you just sort of give off a lesbian vibe at times. I probably would've been too shy to go through with it anyway so it obviously wouldn't have worked."
"You're damn right that wouldn't have worked! And what was your plan after that if your main goal was Bobby? Were you going to seduce me and while you were fucking me from behind with a big strap on you were going to plunge a knife in my back?" you ask Helen.
"No, I told you, if I didn't have to kill you, I wouldn't have. I would have just suggested that we both marry Bobby. It's not common, but our religion does allow for multiple wives. I think... I think I could have shared him with you."
"... I... I can't believe how fucked up this situation even is... " you say sitting down on a nearby chair. Meanwhile Helen continues her tale of woe.
"But I approached Diana because she was my sister and I knew her better. She was predictable. After I saw you beat her and after Bobby laid down the law to her about how it was over, she was a broken woman. Seriously, I'd never seen her confidence so shaken. After being on the receiving end of her abuse for so long, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. So I convinced her of the plan... actually took me longer than I thought it would. I thought she'd be hungry for revenge, but no. I had to reignite that fire, but I knew she'd agree in the end."
"So she WAS trying to kill me too." You say.
"Oh yes. That was the plan as far as she knew. She'd kill you, but then I'd kill her and make up an excuse that I tried to save you or something similar. Of course when you stayed with Bobby during that whole time we were dealing with Aaron, I knew it wasn't going to work which then resulted in an argument between me and Diana since she was now back to bullying mode. I knocked her out and I nearly killed her then, but I thought suggesting that she be your sacrifice on your wedding day would be fitting. When I found out Aaron had killed all the other prisoners... well that worked out even better since you suggested it."
"But you still wanted to kill me."
"Yes... after the chaos of yesterday and after I saw how you stuck by Bobby. I knew you really did love Bobby as much as Diana did... maybe even as much as me. So I temporary rethought my actions. I thought maybe I could live with Bobby being with someone like you. I mean you were nice to me at least. And I knew at least Bobby would be happy with you. When I woke up this morning though, I realized I just couldn't let you have him without at least making one last ditch effort... and so here we are."
At this point Helen starts to lose what little composure she mustered up to tell her side of the story. She starts to break down in tears again and apologizes to you and going on about how much she loves Bobby. It's really pitiful and sad. You can't believe you're almost considering NOT killing her now.
Before you can come to any sort of conclusion, you hear shooting and screaming from outside. Still keeping an eye on Helen, you edge over to the window and take a peek.
You see several figures crawling under the truck blocking the broken front gate or trying to climb the fence. The ones that have gotten in are loping in a wild jerky like motion. They're also screaming, howling and making inhuman sounds. From your vantage point they LOOK human, but they're certainly not acting like it.
A loud banging on the door occurs next and you glare at Helen who doesn't make a sound.
"Hey! Suzy! You in there?! Why's this door locked?" you hear a voice shout. You think its Veronica.
"Yeah, I'm in here. What's going on? I just heard all the commotion." You answer.
"We're being attacked by zombies!" Veronica answers.
You and Helen look over at each other briefly.
"Did you say zombies?" you ask.
"Yeah, I mean... I dunno if they are. Maybe they're just rabid humans or something, but they're gnashing their teeth, moaning and coming at us like something out of a horror movie. We need all the help we can get to repel these things!"
"Okay, Veronica. I'll be out in a moment!" you yell.
"Well hurry up... and you haven't seen Helen have you?"
Helen and you look at each other again.
"Yeah, she's in here with me. I was trying on my wedding dress that she brought." You say.
"If the pair of you don't stop playing dress up, there won't be a damn wedding! Bobby's having a hard enough time trying to keep them from getting close to the house!"
A loud crashing noise followed by gunfire is heard from downstairs.
"Shit! That sounded close! I gotta go!" Veronica shouts and you hear her run off.
Well it looks like Bobby's "pep talk" yesterday lit a fire under his relative's asses to pull their weight around here at least.
"(Sigh) Fucking zombies. Of course this day HAD to get worse... " you say shaking your head.
"Suzy, we need to go to Bobby, he needs our help."
"We?" you ask.
"... I... look... I know what's just occurred between us and you have no reason to trust me, but from what Veronica said, it sound like this is a bad attack and we'll need everyone we can to stop it!"
She might have a point or she might just be stalling for a chance to escape or clobber you in the head. Possibly both.
> deal with Helen now
You can't trust her. Even if you wanted to, you can't do it. She's actually proven to be more dangerous than Diana could hope to be, if she's weaved multiple murder plots against you this week.
You don't have a choice. You have to kill her. In fact the more you look at how weak and helpless she is right now...
You WANT to kill her.
"Alright, get up Helen, let's go help Bobby." You say offering a hand to help her up.
Helen looks up at you and takes your hand trustingly. When she stands up, she starts to look relieved.
And that's when you back hand her and shove her to the floor.
Helen holds the side of her face and tries to back away.
"No! No! No! You can't! Please! No! Don't kill me!" she utters.
"Don't kill you? I'll kill you twice you fucking cunt! And trust me, it's not going to look like an accident!" you say and pounce on top of Helen.
You begin beating Helen like she stole something. Helen pathetically attempts to defend herself, but it predictably doesn't work. Her pleading for you to stop doesn't help either. Instead, your hands stop beating her face and then start to wrap around her neck. You want to stop that infernal wailing, the pleading, the crying, everything.
She tries to stop you from choking her, but your grip is firm. Her eyes begin to bulge a bit and she attempts to catch what is little left of her breath.
Then you do something you don't even expect doing. You start to giggle. You've gone beyond anger and are starting to enjoy this. Meanwhile Helen begins to gurgle and gasp what sounds to be words.
"What? What's that? You trying to speak? You having a little trouble? Here, whisper it to me." You mock and get slightly closer while still maintaining your grip.
"Bo... Bob..by... he... help... plea... " you hear Helen gasp.
"What? Bobby help you? He can't help you. He's not even here." You sneer.
As Helen's face turn an unnatural color, you just smile.
"Shhh... shhh... just let go Helen... just let go... you fucking bitch... "
The light in her eyes starts to fade, the life begins to leave her body and her struggle is soon over. She ceases moving.
Ignoring the gunfire and yelling you hear downstairs, you just continue to sit on top of her for a moment staring at her. You stroke her hair.
You've finally crossed that line. You know you can kill someone if you have to. Actually you also know you can kill someone if you don't have to and while you went through a variety of emotions leading to it and during it, now that it's over, you don't feel much of anything.
You wonder if your Uncle Ed felt this when he killed someone. Maybe you take after him in some way? Could it be genetic and maybe you have some sort of latent serial killer tendency? Given your family, it isn't that hard to imagine insanity runs in it.
It sure would explain why you were so comfortable with Bobby in the first place. After all, what rational woman would stay with a man that runs a murderous cult?
But these are all things you can dwell on later; right now you need to help Bobby.
"You know... you did have pretty eyes." You say with a smirk and stand up.
You open the clothing drawer where Bobby keeps the spare gun he mentioned yesterday, take it and leave the room without even changing your clothes.
And why should you? It's your wedding day after all.
The events that follow aren't nearly as interesting as the experience of your first kill. By the time you get to where Bobby and the rest of his family are holding back the invaders, they've already killed most of them. You remember shooting a couple of the things, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as choking the life out of Helen.
Turns out they weren't zombies anyway. Just seemingly mad humans trying to eat you. You can only guess your town is overrun by them and this is what Aaron was referring to when he said people were eating each other out there.
Some sort of sickness perhaps? Maybe the government was fucking around with a secret weapon like they tend to do and it got out of hand. It would explain why there was a drastic rise in violence even before you left and why the National Guard showed up later.
It isn't until after all the mad attackers are killed that Bobby manages to address you directly. He's incredibly tired looking, the rest of his family looks pretty tired too, but he looks like he's about to collapse.
Bobby asks you if you're okay and of course you say you're fine. He then tells the rest of his family to check the rest of the house just to make sure the situation is completely safe. After everyone leaves, he sits down in a nearby chair wiped out from this whole ordeal.
"I think you need to sleep." You say.
"Can't. Too much to do. Especially now. Bodies to clean up, walls to patch up, gates and doors to fix. Now we got these... things attacking and who knows if any more will wander this way... there's just so much to do..." Bobby says trying to fight the exhaustion.
"Let me take care of some of this. You don't have to do this all by yourself you know." You say.
"... shit... the wedding. That's another thing we need to do... I just... had no fucking time to make the preparations... I'm sorry this couldn't be how it should... " Bobby adds.
"Will you not worry about that? Look, does this wedding really need to be so complicated? Can't we just get one of your family members to witness it and another to marry us right now so I can at last be your wife properly?" you ask.
"We don't even need to do that really... I mean I'm the high priest here. All I have to do is say the passage and you accept and we're married. No need for witnesses, I mean Tiamat's watching. Who else is needed?"
"What? That's it? We could've done that a long time ago!"
"Well, like I've told you before, I just wanted it to be perfect... "
You sit in Bobby's lap and wrap your arms around him.
"Bobby, just being with you, is enough perfection for me. Besides, isn't the carnage surrounding us true perfection in the eyes of Tiamat's chaotic glory or something?" you ask.
Bobby looks around at the nearby mess of broken furniture and the couple bodies laying on the floor and smiles.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." He says.
Bobby recites what you guess is a passage from whatever holy book of Tiamat he got it from and when the time comes, you accept your place as his wife.
Then the both of you kiss like you've done so many times before, though this time it's different. You now feel like you belong here.
"Oh. Here. I've been carrying this in my pocket the whole day, nearly forgot it was there." Bobby remarks and hands you a ring with a sizable red diamond in the center and smaller black inlayed around it. It's definitely beautiful and when you try it on, you find that it fits perfectly.
"Let me guess, this used to be your grandmother's ring?" you ask.
"Yeah... how did you know?"
"Oh let's just say the fact that it fits me so well like her wedding dress did was a clue."
"Yeah, I was meaning to ask about that." Bobby says rubbing your legs.
"Oh Helen gave me the dress to try on before all the trouble went down. Didn't really have time to change."
"(Yawn) Where is Helen anyway? I didn't see her with you when you arrived, but then I was in the middle of blasting some freak's head off at the time."
"Oh she stayed upstairs." You say.
"Hm, probably looking after the children as usual. She's really reliable that way, (Yawn) nice girl. That's why didn't believe the bullshit Diana was spouting about her when I was cleaning up the dungeon."
"Oh? What was that?"
Bobby begins to close his eyes, but keeps talking.
"Oh, she was trying to claim Helen set her up and the attempt on your life was all her plan and how she never wanted to kill me at all... (yawn) typical desperation to save her own ass. Pretty laughable that she thought I'd believe it, I mean Helen likes you."
"Hm... where is Diana now?"
"Oh she's still in her cage... (yawn)."
"Good. I'm going to go kill her." You say.
"You, don't need to you know. You (yawn) don't need to prove anything. I can do it."
"No, it's fine. I'm willing to do it. I mean maybe this isn't going to be official or how you planned, but I'm part of this family now and I'm going to make the effort to be fully part of it because I love you."
At this point Bobby smiles at your words and his consciousness fades completely and he's asleep. You give him another kiss and get up to head to the dungeon.
When you get there you see Diana sitting in her cage with a bored expression. When she sees you, she ceases looking as bored.
"It's you." She says and her eyes begin to examine your clothing and then wander over to your finger sporting your new status in the family. She also spies the pistol in your hand.
"I... heard a lot of noise upstairs. Is Bobby okay?"
"Don't you worry about Bobby. He's not your concern anymore."
"So... you're the new top mama now?"
You don't answer you just raise your arms presenting yourself to signify that is the case. Her head hangs briefly knowing she's truly defeated.
"Shit... can you at least tell me if Helen's dead?"
"Yes, she's dead." You answer.
This revelation while not making any impact on Diana's ultimate fate still brings a brief bit of happiness to her.
"Good... that's good... okay, no point in dragging this out." Diana says and stands as close as she can to the bars and you get slightly closer with the pistol drawn.
"Fuck Tiamat and fuck you blondie." Diana says and then you fire a round into her chest.
Diana falls back wheezing, gasping and clutching at the bloody wound. You move in closer to watch her for the last few minutes she clings to life, but then eventually she follows her sister in death.
And now your "competition" has completely been eliminated.
Leaving Diana in much the same way you left Helen, you go back upstairs and attempt to take charge of some of what needs to be done around the house.
It's actually easier than you think. Bobby's family is a little surprised by the fact that you and he got married so spur of the moment, but that's not a problem and given the recent events, they were less focused on attending a formal wedding anyway. You tell Veronica to go check on the children and to make sure they're okay, when she seems less than enthused to do it and asks where Helen is, you get in her face and tell her.
"She's dead."
"What?! Well shouldn't we tell Bobby?" Veronica exclaims with the rest of the family looking a little surprised at this revalation.
"Bobby needs his rest and I'm calling the shots while he does so, now just do what the hell I say Veronica. The rest of you help me move these corpses out of here and Bobby's sleeping in the living room near the kitchen. Let's try not to wake him."
Clean up goes relatively fast. Around the house at least since that's your primary concern. You go for the quick dirty approach of just getting all the dead bodies in one pile outside. You briefly think about burning them, but then you worry that maybe that might attract more attention. You figure Bobby can make that decision tomorrow.
Since you're not any sort of carpenter or anything similar your solution to patch up any broken windows and the front door is to barricade it with furniture for the night.
Somewhere just after midnight everyone is ready to crash. You take mercy on everyone and tell them to just sleep with a weapon tonight and you'll take tonight's watch. You aren't sure how you're going to do it with as tired as you are, but fortunately when you check on Bobby you find that he's just waking up and after a bit of a report, he is pleasantly surprised by what you've done.
"Well that's at least a few things I don't need to worry about. Probably a good idea on not burning the bodies yet. We can do that tomorrow when everyone is alert in case it does draw attention. Nice job in taking charge."
"Thanks." You say with a yawn.
"Why don't you go upstairs and get some sleep. I'm good now. I can take watch."
"You sure? You were up longer than I was."
"Nah, I'm really fine. I don't usually need much sleep anyway. I just needed the brief recharge. Hey, we're in this together remember? I'll take over now." He says.
You don't argue you just kiss him goodnight and tell him you love him and to call you if he needs your help.
You head upstairs back to your bedroom feeling sleep creep up on you ever faster.
When you get to your bedroom, you find Helen still lying on the floor where you left her. Besides forgetting to clean up her body, you also forgot to tell Bobby about what happened to her. (You didn't really tell the rest of his family either, you just said she was dead and they never really asked how she died.)
You look at Helen's corpse again and then look over at the portrait of Grandma Morningstar with its eyes watching everything as usual.
"Fuck it, he can find out tomorrow. I'm tired and I undoubtedly still have your ghostly mindfuck bullshit to look forward to in dreamland tonight." You say.
Stepping over Helen's body, you get into bed and fall asleep.
> Next day...
SATURDAY
"Suzy! You've won! You've truly overcome all odds! You have not only survived the various uncertain events of this week, but you've also thrived! Ladies and gentlemen, let's give our small town girl some applause and respect for she truly is worthy of it!"
As the crowd claps, whistles and stomps their feet in support, you sit at a large table by yourself looking at...
A bigger bag of dicks.
It's even labeled as such. BIGGER BAG OF DICKS in big black lettering so you can't miss it though that would be impossible since the bag itself is wide enough to take up half of the table and tall enough that you can't even see the audience from where you're sitting unless you stand up or look around the bag.
You just shake your head.
"This joke never gets old with you does it?" you ask.
No sooner have you said that, when everything disappears and you're facing Grandma Morningstar in the blasted wasteland again.
"I told you, I don't have anything to do with your oral fixation scenario dreams, but I will admit it's a pretty funny joke."
"Hardly, but anyway am I finally done with all this nonsense? Am I finally meeting this Misty?" you say.
"You figure out who it is yet?"
"Yeah and I can't believe I didn't catch it before. Misty... MISS T... Tiamat." You answer.
"Yay! Your pretty little blonde head finally got it! Give this woman the BIGGEST BIG OF DICKS as a reward!" Grandma Morningstar cackles to the point where she actually starts wheezing a bit.
"You done yet, you mean old crone?" you ask.
"Crone is it? Better watch the tone there blondie, you might be officially family now, but don't think I'm going to put up with your sass. Even in this form I could severely fuck you up, you best remember that." Grandma Morningstar warns.
"What... what are you exactly anyway? A ghost? A demon?"
"Does it matter? Tiamat blessed me with this existence for my dedication to chaos and if you continue to prove yourself worthy like you have been doing then when that inevitable day comes that you shuffle off your mortal coil you might be just as blessed as I am. I doubt it though. You'll probably just rot in the ground."
"Probably right since I'm not exactly the most religious person."
"Bah, Tiamat doesn't really care about mindless ritualistic worship. She is the goddess of chaos so who knows what she really likes at any given time?"
"Interesting, so am I meeting her now?"
"Uh, no. Tiamat is sort of busy now or maybe she just doesn't care, hard to tell sometimes... "
"What?! I thought you said I was meeting her now."
"I actually never did, but cheer up. Given that you just admitted to not being a religious sort you can't be too disappointed in not meeting her directly."
"Well... no, but that's not the point. I sort of feel like there was a build up and by not meeting her now is an anti-climax."
"Ah, but if you really think about it, your journey has only just begun! Perhaps there is more build up for the ultimate climax later! There is nothing to say you won't meet her in the future, but will it be on good terms or bad? Eh? Eh? One never knows!"
"Great, more shit to worry about."
Grandma Morningstar steps forward and touches you on the shoulder.
"Don't despair blondie, you'll do fine. Besides, I like you." She says and then pinches your cheek before giving you a couple gentle taps to the face like some sort of mafia godfather figure from the movies.
As you rub your face, Grandma Morningstar waves goodbye to you, disappears and everything around you gets dark.
And you wake up.
You're a little surprised since you have a body right next to you, but you quickly calm down when you realize its Bobby. He's partially under the blankets with you and puts down a book he was reading.
"You okay? You seem a little jumpy. Bad dream?" he asks.
"Eh... better than others I've had this week. We actually need to have a talk about them... when we... " you then realize if Bobby is here then he's obviously seen Helen.
You look over to your left and see that Helen's body is no longer there and then you look over at Bobby.
"... I meant to tell you about that... " you say.
"No need. I can sort of guess what happened. So I take it Diana wasn't lying to me after all?"
"Not completely, Helen was the initial mastermind, but Diana was definitely still going to kill me when the opportunity presented itself. Things didn't quite work out as planned as you can tell."
"Hm. Still can't believe it. Helen was always so quiet and docile."
"Well, you know what they say about the quiet ones. They're the most dangerous." You remark.
"Guess you know something about that." Bobby says.
"Yeah... I guess I do." You say cuddling up next to him.
It's true. You used to be a shut in wallflower at one time. That meek girl that used to hide out in the basement is long gone after this week's events.
"I see you're still wearing your dress as well as your ring."
"Oh. Yeah, too tired to change and the ring... well I really like it." You say caressing it a bit.
"That's good. I'm glad."
"So... what are you doing up here anyway? Thought you were on watch duty." You ask.
"I was, and as usual you've slept most of the day again. It's the middle of the afternoon. I'm up here because I was going to get a bit of rest before catching some more sleep due to being up all night. Plus I figure the rest of the family can do the majority of grunt work for a change without me having to hoover over them. Besides, I wanted to spend time with my wife and be the first thing she sees when she wakes up. I know that hasn't been a real common thing since you got here."
"I'll say. I'm glad you're here too since we haven't had a chance to consummate the marriage and we really need to do that... like right now." You say and your hand starts groping at Bobby's crotch.
"You aren't THAT tired." You remark after feeling his dick status.
"Well not now I'm not." Bobby says and then embraces you.
You feel Bobby plunge into like you have so many times before, but this time it almost feels slightly different because you're now married to this man. Something about that makes it almost feel more... "special".
You didn't really think you'd ever really feel that way over some silly ritual that joins people supposedly for life, but its probably more of the fact that you know for certain that Bobby is your soul mate.
During the love making session, you begin to take on a more aggressive role and eventually get Bobby so he's under you and continue riding him. It's a bit different than the norm since he's usually the dominant one ramming it into you, but he isn't enjoying it any less.
And then near the point of climax that's when it happens. A flash of bright light briefly covers the windows and a loud noise is heard in the distance.
"Shit what the hell was that?" Bobby asks sitting up a bit.
"I dunno. I had my eyes closed and I just caught the tail end of the flash. Glad I didn't have them all the way open." You remark rubbing your eyes a bit.
"Wait a minute... I think I know... " Bobby says and then motions for you to get off of him.
He walks over to the window and you follow close behind.
In the distance to the west, you see the remnants of a mushroom cloud. Probably landed on Security City or near it. You can only guess it probably wasn't a big one, but you're still a little concerned if you're in some sort of fallout radius.
"So... they finally went and did it." You say.
"Looks like. (Sigh) Shit." Bobby says.
"What's wrong? I thought we were prepared for this sort of thing."
"Oh we are. I'm not even worried about that, it's just I wanted to spend the day relaxing with you. Now? Well I think you know I'm going to have to go and direct everyone. You know at least one of my family, if not all of them are going to come running up here asking what to do."
"Yeah, well such is the burden of being a leader."
"Indeed. Guess I better get down there. Are you coming?"
"Of course my love. We're in this together."
You and Bobby get dressed and prepare yourselves for the new world that's undoubtedly coming soon confident in the fact that whatever its going to throw at you, you'll do it together.
> ...
Matriarch of Madness
The Future...
"We're here mom." Your son says as your personal armored truck pulls up to the site.
You look out the window and see the beautiful carnage outside. You can even hear some of the screams and crying from here.
"Ahh, yes. Lovely." You say.
"Yeah, dad really did a number on this place after the siege was finally successful." Your son remarks.
"Well those rednecks really were asking for it by encroaching on a town that was rightfully ours. Glad to see this white trash haven finally being put to the torch and annihilated. It was a blight on the map even before the nukes hit. Well anyway let's go, I want to surprise your father." You remark getting ready to unlock the door.
"You sure you want to get out? I mean we only just took the place and while the place is in the process of being purged completely, there were still a few of these trailer park bastards hiding in the area. In fact we believe some even ran into the nearby woods and are planning a counter attack. Not that they have any meaningful way of doing so, but still."
"Your concern for my safety is sweet Enki, but I didn't get where I am today by remaining fearful of the possibility of the unknown. Besides, I so rarely get to see your father work anymore and I'd like to give him a nice surprise on his victory. I mean what do you think? Do you think when he sees me, he'll want to bend me over on the nearest pile of corpses?" you ask and open up the trench coat you're wearing over your naked body and run your hands briefly down your body
Enki feeling slightly uncomfortable is unsure of what to say.
"Well? I mean three children and not a fucking stretchmark. Years older and not even an inch of cellulite. I'm not just a MILF, I'm the fucking Alpha MILF." You laugh.
"Um, yeah you look pretty mom. I dunno, I don't think about you in that way." Enki remarks.
"You're a poor liar son. I've seen the way you look at me sometimes. You think I don't notice you staring at my chest or those brief glances at my ass on occasion?"
"No, I... " Enki starts to say before you interrupt him by waving your hand at him.
"It's okay as long as you know never to touch. Your older brother Anu had to learn that lesson the hard way from your father. Glad cutting off his pinkies didn't impede his combat abilities though."
"Um, yeah. I'd never do that. I... " Enki starts to say then you interrupt him again. This time by putting a finger to his lips.
"Of course you wouldn't. You're the smartest of my children. True, you're a little on the quiet and introspective side, but then so was I at your age, probably even more so... and as they say it's the quiet ones you have to look out for." You say stroking his face.
Enki is speechless while you continue this exercise in severely fucked up mixed messages.
"I love all family and I especially love all my children, however I'll only admit this to you. You're my favorite and because you're my favorite, I'm going to give you something a little more... just a taste if you will... but not a word. It's a secret and secrets aren't special when everyone knows."
You take the same finger that was on his lips and while closing your eyes and making "mmm" sounds, you slowly insert it into your mouth and then back out again just as slowly.
When you open your eyes, Enki is obviously in a mixed state of panic and being incredibly turned on. He probably doesn't know whether to run or whip his dick out and start shoving your head into his lap. Since doesn't know what your intentions are he just freezes. You're totally enjoying the way he has to be having a lot of mental conflict with this.
"Now, I'm going to go find your father. I'm sure you've got other things you'll need to take care of so you needn't escort me. I've got a pistol in my coat pocket anyway, so I'll be safe. Love you son." You say with a smile and get out of the car.
You walk into what remains of the trailer park. You can't imagine this place looked much different before your family rightfully conquered it. Several of the trailers are overturned, a couple of them are on fire. In fact a couple of its inhabitants are also on fire. Bobby's younger siblings Aiden and Nadia are casually lighting up a third redneck tied to a stake when you walk over to them. They both respectfully bow when they see you.
"Hello... " Aiden says.
"Aunt Suzy." Nadia says.
"Didn't expect to... " Aiden adds.
"... see you here." Nadia finishes.
"I'm surprising Bobby, have you seen him?" you ask, trying to speak over the screaming trailer trash burning alive.
"Our brother... " Aiden says.
"... we believe... " Nadia says.
"is on... " Aiden adds.
"the farside of the trailer park." They say in unison.
"Okay then, I'll let you get back to it." You say and then they nod and go back to watching their victims burn.
Passing more scenes of violence and waving to a couple of Bobby's cousins, nephews and nieces you eventually run into your youngest son Nergal who approaches with a young girl over his shoulder. He must have knocked her unconscious because she's not even struggling. Nergal may be the youngest of your children, but he's huge and towers over everyone else in your family. He'd be a scary figure to most, but to you, he's your baby.
"Mom! When did you get here?" Nergal says excitedly.
"Just now. Have you seen your father?"
"Yeah, he's with Anu in that trailer near the edge of that large field over there. I think they're arguing about a possible plan to make raids on New Security next, but that was boring so I left to go have fun with what's left of the population here."
"Looks like you got a good one son." You remark and point at the girl over his shoulder.
"Yeah, this will be fun for awhile, but battle we had before... man it was great! You should've seen me mom! I almost racked up as many kills as Anu!"
"That's good! Glad to hear it. Tiamat will be most pleased. Well, I'm here to see your father so I'll talk to you later. Love you son." You say and leave him to his aggressive dating strategy.
You see the trailer that you guess Nergal was talking about and approach. Just before you do however, you hear several gunshots come from it. You stop for a moment and then proceed inside. You have nothing to fear. You are a chosen of Tiamat after all.
When you enter the trailer, you see Anu standing over Bobby with a pistol in hand. Bobby lies on the floor with dead eyes and a several holes in his body. His own pistol lies near his hand. The funny thing is when you first saw Anu, you briefly thought it was Bobby. Anu looks a lot like his father back in his youthful days, minus his pinkies of course.
"Awww, that's a shame. I did so want to surprise your father. Looks like the pair of you surprised me instead." You remark with a frown causing Anu to turn around.
"He gave me no choice mother. He was no longer a fit leader. He told me that raiding New Security would be a bad idea."
You walk up to Anu calmly and slap his face. He gives you a look of anger, but does nothing.
"He was right. Raiding New Security is a horrible idea. It's too large and its defenses are strong. Better to consolidate our current holdings. We've got a whole town to play with now." You say before Anu rudely interrupts.
"Bullshit! He was just being a coward! He was getting old and weak! He was no longer fit to serve Tiamat!" Anu remarks gruffly.
You slap your son again causing his anger to rise.
"Your father may have been many things, but never a coward. And true he was getting old, and obviously your reflexes were faster, but he wasn't weak either and he still was five times smarter than you, but then that isn't hard to do. We're not attacking New Security. End of story." You say dismissively before he grabs your arms forceful and slams you against the wall. You're hardly intimidated, Anu has always been predictable.
"YOU are NOT in charge here mother! I AM! I have taken what is rightfully mine! I AM the head of this family now!"
"So, you've taken what's rightfully yours eh? You gonna take me too? Or am I also too old?" you ask with a raise of your eyebrow.
Anu releases you and opens your trench coat revealing your naked body. He stares and marvels at it as if it's a magical treasure... and for him, it just might be.
He wastes no time in taking it off you and then starts to take off his belt.
"Get on your knees mother." He orders which causes you to chuckle.
"Oh I'll be getting on my knees, but we're not doing this the way YOU think. I came here primarily for your father."
"The old bastard's dead in case you haven't noticed!"
"And? That's supposed to stop me? (Sigh) you lack imagination, let me show you... "
At this point you kneel down near Bobby's body and start pulling his bloody shirt up. Blood is everywhere, on his clothes, on the floor and still coming from his wounds. You start putting your hands in it and rubbing yourself all over until his blood is covering most of your own body.
"Hmmmm, it's almost like I'm even closer to him now... " you say starting to finger yourself as Anu stands by watching.
You then unzip Bobby's pants and pull out his dead dick. It's actually hard, which you didn't expect.
"Ooooh baby... even in death... I can still turn you on. Here, let me prove how much I still love you... " you say and then lower your head down.
While you're on your hands and knees in blood and enjoying the taste your dead husband's cock, your son Anu shakes off the initial shock and spurs into action.
"Oh fuck this. He will NOT have you in death as well! I'll show him! I'll show you both!" Anu exclaims and gets behind you. You temporary stop what you're doing to turn your head to address your son.
"It's about time you manned up and joined us. Just try not to bore me." You remark and go back to what you were doing while Anu hastily rubs the blood of his dead father on his dick to use as makeshift lube.
Anu starts ramming his dick into your supple ass as if he's trying to hurt you, but thanks to your many interesting love making sessions with Bobby, this isn't your first rodeo. Plus he's not even as big as his father so that isn't an issue either.
"That all you got son? Your father's a dead man and he's still turning me on more. Thought you were going to show me who was really in charge? " you mock.
"I AM in fucking charge!" he says pulling your hair, which brings a smile to your face.
"Come on then, make mommy happy!" you demand and Anu attempts to do just that.
So much for being "in charge" you've got him right where you want him. He may be fucking you in the ass, but you're in charge. Just like you've always been and will continue to be. It will be pathetically easy to manipulate Anu into doing what you want.
Still, maybe Anu does have what it takes to be an effective puppet king... at least in the short term, then in time you'll have Enki replace him... Enki looks more like you anyway.
As you enjoy your twisted pleasures, you think about how you got to this point as you have in the past a few times before. You think about how easy it was for you to cross line after line after line and how it didn't even bother you that much to do so.
Did you really get caught up in the murderous rhetoric of being in a sick cult or were you always prone to insanity and all of this was always "you"?
Does it even matter at all?
No. It doesn't.
What matters is what you can enjoy now in this shitty world and you've got that right this minute.
"All hail fucking Tiamat and her glorious chaos!" You laugh maniacally as you climax.
You may not be Grandma Morningstar, but you're getting there. |
That last statement doesn't sound right to you...
"Wait a minute Helen. I thought you said yesterday that Veronica and Brandon ran to you and stayed with the kids when you parted company with them."
Helen pauses for a moment.
"Uh yeah, I did. Yes! I meant I left the kids alone, but just as I was leaving, it was fortunate that Veronica and Brandon showed up at that time so they weren't completely alone."
Bobby's grandmother claimed you were slow on the uptake and maybe in dreamland you are, but you know damn well when someone is obviously lying to you.
"That didn't happen Helen." You say.
"Wha... yes it did!" Helen exclaims.
"Okay then... " you say and sit down to take off your heels.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm taking off these fucking heels because I don't feel like nearly breaking my neck when we go ask Veronica and Brandon to confirm your story."
"Um, I don't think that will be necessary. In fact, I think Bobby will be fine. Probably just wedding jitters. Apologies for bothering you and glad to see that the dress fits you." Helen says and starts backing towards the door.
"You know now that I'm thinking about it, it seems pretty strange that Bobby would be crying and praying in front of Diana who I presume is sitting in a dungeon cage right now."
"She was unconscious?" Helen says as if saying it in the tone of a question is going to cause it to be more believable.
"Unconscious or not, I doubt Bobby would show any sort of weakness around Diana now. In fact I'm starting to doubt a lot of things... "
At this point Helen's eyes widen in fear and she turns to run for the door. Just as she gets to the handle, you manage to bean her in the head with one of the heels. It's just enough to stop her from getting away before you rush over and grab her by the hair and throw her to the floor.
"Out with it bitch." You say and lock the door.
When she doesn't answer right away, you raise your hand and Helen starts to cry before you've even done anything. She cowers by curling up and putting her hands and arms in front of her completely submissively.
"Please! Mercy! It wasn't my idea! It was all Diana! You just don't know what it's like having such a bullying older sister who dominates virtually every aspect of your life!"
"Save the pity party speech about being a victim of sibling abuse. Heard it before and I already lived something similar so it doesn't impress me. Besides, I'm not buying this babe in the woods routine anymore Helen. At best you're lying to cover up the fact that Diana AND yourself were planning on killing me all along yesterday and you just covered your own ass when it looked like things weren't going to work out. At worst, this entire thing was your idea and Diana was just your dumb ass pawn. Either way, I'm not enthused and it doesn't change the fact that YOU were trying to kill me... were you going to make another attempt today? Huh? Is that why you came up here? Maybe push me down the stairs or something? Claim it was an accident? ANSWER ME AND DON'T FUCKING LIE!"
"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you everything! Just please try to understand it wasn't personal! I actually like you!"
"Not personal?! You like me? So I guess your plan to kill me was just your way of showing affection?"
"No (sob) I did it because I just love (sob) Bobby so much! I always have and I stood on the sidelines too long. (sob) I was just so desperate... "
You just shake your head and sigh at this point. Helen sits up from the floor and scoots back to prop herself up against your bed coughing, sniffling, and trying to regain her composure. You stand nearby ready to jump on her if she tries anything, but for now you allow this moment for her to "explain" as it were.
"If there had been some way to remove you Suzy without killing you I would have done it. You have to believe me I really would have. I even thought about approaching you in a plan to kill Diana instead."
"Yeah and then you would've probably killed me afterwards to make it look like Diana and I killed each other."
"No! I was going to... well I was going to try to seduce you."
"Excuse me?" you say completely surprised by that part of the explanation.
"Well I wasn't sure, but I just sort of got a feeling from you that you might be a bit... flexible on your orientation." Helen says.
"Wha... (sputter) What the hell would give you that impression?" you exclaim.
"I dunno... sometimes I thought your eyes were wandering all over my body a little more than average whenever we spoke, plus you were so nice to me and you just sort of give off a lesbian vibe at times. I probably would've been too shy to go through with it anyway so it obviously wouldn't have worked."
"You're damn right that wouldn't have worked! And what was your plan after that if your main goal was Bobby? Were you going to seduce me and while you were fucking me from behind with a big strap on you were going to plunge a knife in my back?" you ask Helen.
"No, I told you, if I didn't have to kill you, I wouldn't have. I would have just suggested that we both marry Bobby. It's not common, but our religion does allow for multiple wives. I think... I think I could have shared him with you."
"... I... I can't believe how fucked up this situation even is... " you say sitting down on a nearby chair. Meanwhile Helen continues her tale of woe.
"But I approached Diana because she was my sister and I knew her better. She was predictable. After I saw you beat her and after Bobby laid down the law to her about how it was over, she was a broken woman. Seriously, I'd never seen her confidence so shaken. After being on the receiving end of her abuse for so long, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. So I convinced her of the plan... actually took me longer than I thought it would. I thought she'd be hungry for revenge, but no. I had to reignite that fire, but I knew she'd agree in the end."
"So she WAS trying to kill me too." You say.
"Oh yes. That was the plan as far as she knew. She'd kill you, but then I'd kill her and make up an excuse that I tried to save you or something similar. Of course when you stayed with Bobby during that whole time we were dealing with Aaron, I knew it wasn't going to work which then resulted in an argument between me and Diana since she was now back to bullying mode. I knocked her out and I nearly killed her then, but I thought suggesting that she be your sacrifice on your wedding day would be fitting. When I found out Aaron had killed all the other prisoners... well that worked out even better since you suggested it."
"But you still wanted to kill me."
"Yes... after the chaos of yesterday and after I saw how you stuck by Bobby. I knew you really did love Bobby as much as Diana did... maybe even as much as me. So I temporary rethought my actions. I thought maybe I could live with Bobby being with someone like you. I mean you were nice to me at least. And I knew at least Bobby would be happy with you. When I woke up this morning though, I realized I just couldn't let you have him without at least making one last ditch effort... and so here we are."
At this point Helen starts to lose what little composure she mustered up to tell her side of the story. She starts to break down in tears again and apologizes to you and going on about how much she loves Bobby. It's really pitiful and sad. You can't believe you're almost considering NOT killing her now.
Before you can come to any sort of conclusion, you hear shooting and screaming from outside. Still keeping an eye on Helen, you edge over to the window and take a peek.
You see several figures crawling under the truck blocking the broken front gate or trying to climb the fence. The ones that have gotten in are loping in a wild jerky like motion. They're also screaming, howling and making inhuman sounds. From your vantage point they LOOK human, but they're certainly not acting like it.
A loud banging on the door occurs next and you glare at Helen who doesn't make a sound.
"Hey! Suzy! You in there?! Why's this door locked?" you hear a voice shout. You think its Veronica.
"Yeah, I'm in here. What's going on? I just heard all the commotion." You answer.
"We're being attacked by zombies!" Veronica answers.
You and Helen look over at each other briefly.
"Did you say zombies?" you ask.
"Yeah, I mean... I dunno if they are. Maybe they're just rabid humans or something, but they're gnashing their teeth, moaning and coming at us like something out of a horror movie. We need all the help we can get to repel these things!"
"Okay, Veronica. I'll be out in a moment!" you yell.
"Well hurry up... and you haven't seen Helen have you?"
Helen and you look at each other again.
"Yeah, she's in here with me. I was trying on my wedding dress that she brought." You say.
"If the pair of you don't stop playing dress up, there won't be a damn wedding! Bobby's having a hard enough time trying to keep them from getting close to the house!"
A loud crashing noise followed by gunfire is heard from downstairs.
"Shit! That sounded close! I gotta go!" Veronica shouts and you hear her run off.
Well it looks like Bobby's "pep talk" yesterday lit a fire under his relative's asses to pull their weight around here at least.
"(Sigh) Fucking zombies. Of course this day HAD to get worse... " you say shaking your head.
"Suzy, we need to go to Bobby, he needs our help."
"We?" you ask.
"... I... look... I know what's just occurred between us and you have no reason to trust me, but from what Veronica said, it sound like this is a bad attack and we'll need everyone we can to stop it!"
She might have a point or she might just be stalling for a chance to escape or clobber you in the head. Possibly both.
> take Helen with you
While you're very tempted to kill her, the immediate threat at hand does present the need for every possible person to help even if that means throwing Helen to the zombies to buy yourself time if you need to.
"Alright, get up Helen, let's go help Bobby." You say offering a hand to help her up.
Helen looks up at you and takes your hand trustingly. When she stands up, she starts to look relieved, then she tenses up again when you go to Bobby's clothing drawer to get the spare gun he mentioned yesterday.
"Relax, this is for the zombies, or whatever those things are." You say.
"Oh."
"Yeah, well don't look too relieved Helen. After this is over, me and you are going to settle up." You say.
"I... understand." Helen says while nodding.
"Okay then, you first." You say gesturing towards the door.
"Wait, aren't you going to change?" Helen asks.
"Huh? Oh. No, it's my fucking wedding day, why shouldn't I wear my dress?"
"Um, okay then."
Helen cautiously unlocks and opens the door. You both hear the sounds of gunfire and more glass breaking downstairs, this followed by shouting and inhuman growling.
"Suzy, I don't have a weapon." Helen remarks.
"Well I guess you're just going to have to trust me to protect you, because I'm certainly not giving you one." You say.
Defeated, Helen stops stalling and you both leave and proceed downstairs. (Making sure she's in front of you of course) The growling, shouting and the gunfire get louder. As you head towards the center of the house, Helen freezes up in fear.
"Helen, move your ass! We don't have... " you start to say and then suddenly one of the things bursts through the door in front of you and Helen. Helen screams and practically crumples to the floor in front of you in terror. Unfortunately for you the thing in question lunges over Helen and right at you!
You fall backwards and drop your gun in the process. You manage to keep it from biting your face off by at least pushing your forearms up across its neck. At this close range, it doesn't look rotten, just very dirty looking and crazed. Still, undead or not, you don't want to risk getting bit, let alone killed and eaten.
As you struggle with the creature on the floor, you briefly look desperately over the gun that you dropped and try to reach for it, but it's just out your grasp. The thing nearly bites you again and tightens its grip on your arms in an attempt to immobilize you. Even your knees to its groin don't help.
Then out the corner of your eye you see another hand reach for the gun.
"Shit." You say knowing that this isn't good.
Then a shot is fired into the side of the thing's head and blood splatters on you, the floor and partially on the nearby wall.
You try to pull yourself out from under the corpse, but at this range Helen isn't going to miss even if you could free yourself quickly.
You just give her a glaring look of hatred as she points the gun at you even if she does look like she doesn't want to do it.
"I knew I should've killed your treacherous ass." You say.
"I'm sorry Suzy, but I just can't trust you, anymore than you can trust me. I wish this could've been different." Helen responds
Before you have any more last words, Helen ends your life with several shots to your head. |
This is the man you've chosen to marry for better or worse. If you aren't going to help him in a matter of life or death then that wouldn't say much for your commitment.
Besides, if he gets killed this whole compound is going to turn to shit and you'd no doubt be at the bottom of it, assuming Aaron doesn't kill you all first.
Pulling away from Helen, you grab one of the dropped rifles by one of Bobby's family and rush outside towards Bobby who is still taking cover behind a car and firing upon the Aaron. He sees you out the corner of his eye while still keeping an eye on the direction of the truck.
"Keep your head down, I think Aaron escaped out the passenger door of the truck and is hiding behind Brandon's car now. Where the hell did you come from anyway? I told Helen to go get you and the younger children to a safer location when Aaron showed up." Bobby exclaims.
"Yeah well I'm showing you that I'm not just going to let you do this shit alone. I'm with you all the way. No hiding with Helen and the kids, no matter what you say."
You're interrupted by gunfire on your position and Aaron ranting.
"You think you can stop what's coming by hiding? Hah! People are already fucking EATING each other out there! Shit, I'll be doing you a favor by killing you now. Actually now that I think about... your blonde bitch looks like a fine piece of ass in more way than one!" Aaron shouts and starts laughing maniacally and then throws another grenade your way.
You and Bobby have no choice but to leave your position and make a dash back to the house entrance. It's somewhat of a minor miracle that you and Bobby aren't hit by any of the bullets he fires at you. You manage to get inside just as the grenade goes off and adds to the total of destroyed vehicles outside.
You and Bobby are on the floor though Bobby has partially managed to cover you with his own body.
"What the hell did he do, rip off the entire National Guard armory?" you say as Bobby back kicks the front door shut from his prone position.
"I don't know but... "
Two more explosions are heard on the left side of compound. Aaron is apparently throwing explosives through the windows now.
"Shit, I hope nobody ran and hid over there." You remark as the pair of you start to get up off the floor.
"Where the fuck IS everyone anyway? Nice to know I can REALLY count on these fuckers when the going gets tough. Why the fuck am I even bothering again? Fuck!" Bobby yells in frustration.
You understand his anger, but it's probably not the best time for a rant.
"Bobby, calm yourself. You can yell at those idiots later, but right now all that matters is that I'm here helping you okay?" you say.
"Hey... I'll help too... " a voice suddenly says. You both look and see that it's Helen with a pistol in hand.
"Helen, you're supposed to be with the children!" Bobby exclaims.
"Veronica and Brandon are with them. When they ran, the children's room upstairs was the first place they went. Guess they were concerned about their daughters."
"... well I guess I can understand the pair of them running to their children. So they're looking after all the kids then?" Bobby remarks.
"Yeah, I figured since they were doing that, I'd come help you, though I hope I just don't get in the way."
"No, it's good. Glad you're here Helen. What about Ronald and Denise?" Bobby says.
"Haven't seen them. Um, I haven't seen Diana either... in case you were wondering." Helen remarks briefly glancing at you after saying it.
"Hopefully Aaron kills her." You remark.
"Yeah, well I actually was going to exile her today, but that might have to wait assuming Aaron doesn't kill her." Bobby says.
"Okay, enough of all this. What's the game plan?" you ask slightly disappointed that Bobby's decision was to exile Diana rather than death, but you aren't entirely surprised. Still, there's always the hope that Aaron does kill her.
Bobby quickly snaps back to the situation at hand.
"Well it sounds like he's stopped with the explosives, or maybe he's just fishing out more. I'd say the safest bet is to get to the second floor and shoot him through one of the windows. No point in going back out the front door when we can get the vantage point."
"How do we know he's still outside, he might've already entered house through one of the holes he's undoubtedly made with his grenades." You say.
"Yeah true. No telling where he might be heading first. The armory maybe?" Helen remarks.
"He's still gotta come through this way if he wants to go there. Given his state of mind though he might also try to do something like run upstairs and kill all the children for fun. Hell, I wouldn't put it past him to try to access the prisoner's dungeon and set them all free. It is on the left wing after all."
Maybe we should split up and take different floors?" Helen asks.
"Maybe though I'm not keen on the idea of splitting up. (Sigh) Okay. Since you said Brandon and Veronica are with the children, I'm going to hope they're up to dealing with Aaron if he shows up. I'm going to the left wing of the house and try to stop him there. I want you two to stay here and guard the foyer in case he somehow manages to sneak past me and is heading towards the armory. He's going to have come through here." Bobby says.
Helen immediately complies with the plan, but you're not so sure.
"I really think I should come with you. Splitting up is always a bad idea in these situations."
"I don't like it either, but it's a big house and we need to cast a wide net to deal with this asshole." Bobby says and then puts his arm over you and takes you aside.
"Besides, as glad as I am that Helen stepped up, we both know she's not exactly a fighter. I don't want her coming with me and possibly getting in my way when I'm hunting Aaron, but by the same token I'd feel more comfortable if you were here with her since I know you can handle yourself and aren't going to freeze up in a fight. I'll be fine by myself. Don't worry about me. I mean I did kill your uncle Ed by myself right?" Bobby whispers.
You glance over at Helen and as brave as she's trying to appear, she still looks like a deer in the headlights. Bobby's right in that her survival would probably increase if you were here and she had the misfortune of Aaron popping up.
Then again by the same token, YOU'D actually feel safer being with Bobby. You'd also worry less about Bobby's own safety if you were watching his back. After all, this situation is also little different than the one with your uncle. Aaron's not just carrying a knife; he's carrying around grenades and machine guns for one thing. Also, while Helen might be a nice girl, she's ultimately not your responsibility.
> stay with Helen
Bobby is going to be able to take care of himself and if he feels more comfortable with you staying with Helen, well it'll probably put one less distraction in his mind while he's looking for Aaron.
Also now that the gunfire has died down a bit, you've gotten a breather to realize that maybe you rushed into things a little quickly due to wanting to help Bobby so bad. Aaron is really dangerous and you nearly got yourself killed. Maybe you're becoming more assertive, but you probably should realize you're not some amazon princess to go in guns blazing.
"Okay Bobby, I'll stay with Helen, but please be careful." You remark.
"I'll be fine, you two just keep a look out and remember, if you see him, don't talk, just shoot. Oh and if Ronald and Denise ever come out of hiding and pass through here, tell them to fucking help you."" Bobby says and then kisses you before heading to the left wing of the house.
Soon after Bobby leaves, you put your back against one of the walls and start keeping an eye on the doorways. Helen tries to do the same, but she paces a lot more. It's obvious she's nervous, but the fact that she's nervous, starts making you nervous.
"Helen will you stop pacing like that? You're putting me more on edge than necessary." You say.
"Sorry. This is just so nerve racking. I'm really worried about Bobby you know? I wonder if we should've gone with him."
"You heard what he said, he wants us to stay here to make sure Aaron doesn't manage to run around him to other parts of the house. Besides he said he can handle Aaron and I trust him." You say.
"Yeah I guess you're ri... AH! WHAT WAS THAT?!" Helen suddenly exclaims causing you to jump.
"Don't fucking do that!" you say.
"But didn't you hear that noise? It sounds like its coming from the left wing where Bobby went."
"I didn't hear anything, you're paranoid."
"I swear! I heard something! Ohhh, I think we should go help Bobby, but I dunno... oh I wish none of this was going on!" Helen says and begins pacing in the middle of the room even more to the point of starting to shake a bit.
At this moment you starting to get concerned she's going to accidently fire off her gun at you, not to mention she's starting to get on your nerves. You walk over to not so gently calm her down.
"HELEN! Stop it and clam the fuck down!" you say and grab Helen's arm tightly.
Then you briefly hear the sounds of rushing footsteps behind you and you don't even get to completely turn around before you feel a crushing blow to the side of your head.
You crumple to the floor on your knees and then another blow to your head causes you to collapse flat on the floor and lose grip of your rifle. A pair of blurry hands quickly grabs it from you.
"What took you so long?" Helen asks.
"Had to wait for a fucking opportunity. Took YOU long enough to distract her."
"Well hurry up, I'm worried about Bobby! I think we should help him."
"He'll be fine, I'm going to enjoy this... turn your ass over bitch, I wanna look you in the eye when I kill you." Diana says and kicks you over.
You vision is blurry due to the blows to the head you've taken, but you can make out the image of Diana pointing a rifle straight at you. You try to get up, but Diana kicks you in the face.
"Diana, hurry up!"
"Will you shut the fuck up Helen? I'm trying to savor the moment and you're ruining it!"
"I don't want one of our cousins suddenly walking in on us!"
"Oh like they're going to do anything... (Sigh) fine. I swear Helen, you're no fun whatsoever. Well blondie, I wish I could take more time with you, but time isn't on my side any more than its on yours right now, so guess this is it. You never should've laid eyes on Bobby bitch." Diana says.
Despite Diana aiming for your head and being at this close range she manages to completely fuck up her shot and hit you in the throat instead which doesn't kill you instantly. Of course maybe that was her intension to let you suffer a bit more.
As you gurgle, choke and start to die, you hear two more shots and through blurry (and now dimming) vision you see Diana's image get hit and fall backwards.
Helen kneels down next to you and starts stroking the top of your head and hair as you bleed out and die.
"Shhhh, it'll be over soon. I'm so sorry for this Suzy. I always liked you. You were just in the way... " are the last words you hear. |
THURSDAY
"And Suzy is the winner of the world twelve inch salami eating championship! Let's all hear it for our little blonde small town girl!" The announcer shouts which is followed by a roaring crowd.
Not even feeling full, you wipe the sour cream off your lips... and you stand up and yell:
"Alright this is getting fucking insulting! For the past four nights now I've been winning contests involving eating phallic shaped food. What the fuck is the symbolism here? That I'm some whore that sucks cock all the time? For fuck's sake, I've only had the one goddamn boyfriend and soon to be husband. If anything I'm the exact opposite of a whore! So whoever or WHATEVER is trying to send a message to me needs to just come out and fucking say it."
And with those words of indignation, your surroundings immediately change to that of a blasted wasteland. There is nothing around you save for burned out buildings in the distance and dead landscape. Reminds you a bit of a video game you once played.
"You know, the entire world is soon going to look like this... how I wish I could be young and alive to experience the uncertainty and chaos that is going to shape the years to follow." You hear a voice say.
You turn around and see Bobby's grandmother again. She's an old lady walking with a cane this time.
"But enough about the future, let's talk about the present. You survived a lot longer than I thought you would, maybe you are worthy of my grandson after all. You even are starting to manipulate him a bit, that's good. The true leaders in Tiamat's service have always been women anyway. I swear if it wasn't for us prodding them in the right direction every now and then, most men would be content just jacking off to pass the time. Still, you aren't quite there yet. I think today should prove to quite interesting. Survive today and you might just meet Misty yet."
"Okay, I want some answers, who the hell is Misty, and what's going to happen today?" you demand.
"You'll find out soon enough what's going to happen and as for Misty, well why don't you put some thought into it. I mean it's pretty simple even for you blondie." Bobby's grandmother replies with slight distain.
"Well what's deal with all these contests in my dreams?"
"Sorry, I really don't know anything about that. If you're lucky and actually meet Misty, maybe you can ask her, but I just assumed you really liked dreaming about sucking dick...in a symbolic way I guess. Hmm, come to think of it this would explain why Bobby's so enamored with you. Maybe you aren't a whore blondie, but you sure got the mouth of one. It's almost as if it was a highway for oral sex."
"Hey!"
"Don't take offense blondie. It's a good thing. Suck a man's dick right, and you can practically get him to do ANYTHING for you. I mean you got natural talent. Hell, maybe even Tiamat blessed you with it so you stood an equal chance against Diana. Now that girl, as much as she loves Bobby, she just can't suck a dick properly. Bad gag reflex, slightly oversized teeth, I dunno. Tiamat works in whimsical ways I suppose."
"How do you even know all... nevermind I don't want to hear anymore." You say.
Bobby's grandmother ignores you though and continues to speak.
"Still, Bobby always did have a slight obsession for blowjobs. He likes them a lot more than he's probably told you. He's a bit too much of a gentleman that way."
"Gah! I'm done listening!" you shout feeling increasingly uncomfortable about hearing Bobby's grandmother talk about his sexual interests.
"Oh, alright Miss Prude. I'm rambling and it's time for you to go anyway. See ya Deep Throat!" Bobby's grandmother cackles again and then raises her cane and all your surroundings go black...
And then you wake up.
"Something bad is going to happen today." You say to yourself.
(Then again why should today be any different from the rest of this week?)
You look around and see nobody in the room (Save for Bobby's grandmother's portrait staring like a gargoyle). Looks like Bobby woke up before you as usual. You look at the time on your phone and see you've actually slept until the afternoon.
While the normal thing for you to do would be to just stay in your room and avoid everyone, but given your recent dream, you think your best bet might be to be a little proactive today.
After going through your usual routine of washing up and getting dressed you head down to the main living area where you know everyone usually gathers.
Before you get there you bump into Helen, who looks a bit harried and is carrying a pistol in one hand.
"There you are, good. Saves me time. Bobby told me to go get you." Helen says.
"Wha... what's going on?" you ask.
"Aaron came back and he's threatening to drive an army truck through the front gate if we all don't leave the compound. He claims that we're defying Tiamat by not embracing the chaos outside. Bobby's been trying to negotiate with him through the intercom, but he thinks we're going to have no option but to open fire on Aaron."
"Where the hell did he get an army truck? Is William with him?"
"Apparently the town has been in a state of martial law since yesterday and the National Guard have taken over according to Aaron's ranting. I guess he stole one. I don't think William is with him. Anyway Bobby wants you to be safe so follow me to where all the children..."
Loud shouting by Bobby in the distance suddenly interrupts Helen. You immediately rush towards where he might be located despite the protests by the Helen that you need to come with her though she just runs along with you.
You soon manage to catch up with the most of the family (Save for the younger children and Diana) who are standing in the foyer with their weapons ready and Bobby who has opened the front door.
"Aaron, I tried being reasonable. YOU left here without permission, but that was fine because it's obvious you didn't feel happy here. There are several paths to Tiamat's glory and you obviously had your own ideas about which one you should pick. Anyone here is free to leave, but NOBODY is going to be forced to leave due to your threats! Again, if you try coming in here, you're going to be shot down like a fucking dog and I'll personally perform Tiamat's ritual of desecration over your stinking body so your soul NEVER enters Timat's glory!" Bobby shouts and walks out with his rifle drawn. Bobby's brother Jordan is the first one who cautiously follows afterwards and then everyone else slowly walks towards the door as well. You don't think anyone has even paid any attention to you or Helen (who keeps pulling on you to leave).
"My soul is already with Tiamat! You can't do shit about it ritual boy! If you unworthy fucks won't embrace chaos as Tiamat intended, then I'm gonna bring it to you!" Aaron shouts through a bullhorn, which is followed by a laugh.
The truck revs up and Bobby orders everyone to open fire. You and Helen are still inside at this point so you don't actually do so and just hang back as you watch Aaron mow through the gate followed by a hail of bullets peppering the oncoming truck.
The truck swerves hard to the left smashes into Brandon's parked vehicle. You can hear him swearing about it. Meanwhile you also see Jordan jumping up and down in victory and running over to the wrecked truck.
"Yeah! We got that bastard! Whoo!" he shouts.
"Hey Jordan, get the fuck back here, don't go off ahead like that by yourself!" Bobby shouts.
"Aw, it's fine, he didn't survive that!"
And that's when Aaron proves Jordan wrong, starting by recovering from his crash and shooting several holes into Jordan. Then he follows up by throwing several grenades out the truck window.
"SHIT!" Bobby shouts and everyone runs back, but not before several explosions occur. Nobody is killed, but everyone scrambles and on the ground crawling for cover. Bobby himself crawls behind cover of another parked vehicle and continues to fire in the direction of the truck.
Helen now really tugs at you saying you need to come with her where its safe, but you wonder if you should try to help Bobby considering he's the only one currently trying to kill Aaron. Everyone else has completely retreated and is even running past you.
> go with Helen
Getting into a fistfight with Diana is one thing, but you're definitely not up to dealing with this crazy asshole. You just hope Bobby is up for dealing with him though apparently Helen thinks so as you start to allow yourself to be pulled away by her.
"Come on! Bobby can handle this, but we need to get to the children where its safe!" Helen exclaims and you start to follow her.
The pair of you run upstairs away from the sounds of shouting and gunfire. You soon reach the top and follow Helen through a corridor doorway.
Then you promptly get smashed in the face hard by a blunt object. You fall backwards and through blurry eyes you see the image of Diana walking towards you holding a small bat. You attempt to get up, but the next blow is to your legs causing you to cry out.
"Diana! Hurry up! Someone might hear that and see all this! Besides I want to go help Bobby!" Helen exclaims.
"Will you shut the fuck up Helen? I want to enjoy this. Besides, sounds like Aaron is keeping everyone occupied, and ain't nobody coming for this bitch." Diana says.
"Don't be so sure, just hurry up and kill her. We should go help Bobby anyway."
"(Sigh) Fine. I swear Helen, you're no fun whatsoever. Well blondie, I wish I could take more time with you, but time isn't on my side any more than it's on yours right now, so guess this is it. You never should've laid eyes on Bobby bitch." Diana says.
Diana ceases your screaming with another blow to the head and then another and another.
While your face is mashed into mush, your vision becoming dark and your breathing becoming more erratic, your hearing isn't completely gone and you hear several gunshots and Diana's body falling partly on your own.
You then hear a very faint voice say, "I'm sorry" before everything goes black. |
You have to admit you HAVE always been a bit curious, and this probably would be the easiest way to satisfy that curiosity.
"Fuck it." You say to yourself, throw your "wedding dress" aside and you turn around and approach Helen.
"Take off all your clothes." You say.
"Wha... what?" Helen remarks in surprise.
"Take off all your clothes. Obviously we got some things to work out before we proceed any further, or more specifically I got some things to work out before I proceed any further. So get your clothes off." You say and head over to the bed where you start taking off your own.
This is uncharted territory for you, but strangely as you lie in bed completely naked, you're not quite as nervous about it as you thought you might be. When Helen finally gets naked, you see she has nice little body on her. Her tits aren't as big as yours, but nobody's perfect.
As mildly anxious as you are, Helen has to be doubly so. She might've made the "first move" but you've definitely taken the lead. Helen's also a virgin for all intents and purposes. You wonder if that might be making all this a little hotter for you.
"You're very beautiful." Helen says walking over to you.
"Yeah... oh you're not bad yourself. So... you ready to do this?" you ask.
"Yes, I'm ready... um... I've never done this before with anyone... how should we start?" Helen asks.
"Uh, I guess kissing. Even in the movies they usually start like that." You reply.
"Okay." Helen remarks compliantly.
Helen lies next to you and the pair of you begin kissing and caressing each other. It's definitely different than when you're with Bobby who tends to be a little rougher. This really isn't all that bad; in fact the only downside is Helen is doing a lot of talking instead of focusing on the task at hand. It's not even dirty talk; she keeps asking questions if she's doing something right. Doesn't take you long before you start pushing her head down so she can stop talking altogether.
"Oh... okay... " Helen remarks as she gets the hint.
"And Helen, I don't want any more talking. Just focus, understand? Yeah... mmm... just like that... " you say as you feel the magic starting to happen.
Your back starts arching, your toes start curling, you begin to make moans of pleasure and grab the back of Helen's head. You're generally in a state of bliss as Helen does her thing. At this moment nothing else exists except your pleasure so you aren't paying any attention to the noise that is going on outside.
And you aren't paying attention to the door when it opens up...
"Urgh! What the fuck are you two doing?!" Veronica exclaims with a gun in her hand.
"Oh! Um... uh... " Helen stutters as she wipes her mouth and raises her head up and probably looking like a deer in the headlights from Veronica's perspective.
"SHIT! Doesn't anyone fucking knock!? What the hell are you doing in here waving a gun around?" you say and try to cover up as much as you can.
"I was coming to warn you that we're being fucking attacked by zombies! I didn't realize I was going to walk in on you two dyking it out! Does Bobby know about this?" Veronica says.
"Nevermind all that, did you just say zombies are attacking us?" you ask.
"Yeah, I mean... I dunno if they are. Maybe they're just rabid humans or something, but they're gnashing their teeth, moaning and coming at us like something out of a horror movie. We need all the help we can get to repel these things!"
"We'll be ready in a moment." You say as Veronica shakes her head.
"Well you two better hurry up, (Sigh) honestly, we're getting attacked and you two are busy licking... "
A loud crashing noise followed by gunfire is heard from downstairs.
"Shit! That sounded close! I gotta go!" Veronica shouts and you hear her run off.
Well at least it looks like Bobby's finally lit a fire under his relative's asses to pull their weight around here.
"(Sigh) Fucking zombies. Of course this day couldn't just be a pleasant one." You say fumbling with your clothing.
"I hope we get down there in time to help Bobby." Helen says getting dressed as well.
"We will, hold on let me get something first."
You go to Bobby's clothing drawer to get the spare gun he mentioned yesterday.
"Hey, what about me?" Helen asks.
"Well, just grab a blunt object! Unplug that desk lamp and use that to bash those freaks' heads in I guess."
"Suzy, I don't really want to argue, but do you even know how to use a gun properly? Maybe you should give me the gun and you just stay behind me."
"For your information my older brother Ben DID show me how to shoot a gun... a few times."
"A few times... Suzy, I was taught to fire a gun, aim and everything else before I was ten. I'm just saying in a situation like this, it might be best if I have the gun, I'm sure when we get to the others, Bobby will give you another one of his." Helen remarks.
"Yeah and in the mean time I'm fucking defenseless."
"You won't be! I'll protect you and I think you can count on that." Helen says and then follows up by putting her arm around your waist and then sensually kissing you on the lips.
You ALMOST want to head right back to the bed, but unfortunately you've got more important things to deal with.
"Okay, okay, you can take the gun, but me and you are definitely going to finish what we started after all this is over." You say and go unplug the small desk lamp you mentioned earlier to Helen and take it as a makeshift weapon.
The pair of you head through the corridor and down the stairs both not making many comments at this point. Might be due to the situation being more than a little tense and its only getting more so as the gunfire, yelling and guttural noises are getting louder as you approach the center of the fighting.
Helen then suddenly stops and turns to you.
"Suzy?" Helen says.
"What!?" you ask.
"I just want you to know that if something goes wrong... "
"Helen, nothing is going to go wrong, but we need to just focus and get to Bobby."
"Well just in case it does, I just want you to know I love... "
"SHIT HELEN! SHOOT! SHOOT!" you exclaim when you see two creatures bursting through the door in front of you.
Helen spins around and fires, hiting one of them square in the chest twice, but it doesn't even slow down, it just tackles Helen onto the floor. She drops her pistol and struggles with the creature while calling for you to help and while you'd love to do just that, the second creature is currently trying to make a meal out of you.
You swing at the creature a couple times, but it moves in such a jerky motion that you don't land a good hit and cause only a glancing blow to its head. Still it's enough to give you a bit of a breather while the thing tries to get back up off the floor.
You spy the gun nearby and wonder if you should go for it or help Helen directly first.
> grab the gun
You go for the pistol and manage to pick it up. Unfortunately the creature you just beaned in the head has already recovered from its head wound. Much like Helen, you manage to pull the trigger and get a couple shots to its stomach, but it isn't slowed down and uses all its weight to cause the pair of you to crash to the floor.
You drop the gun, but you still have the lamp in hand and you attempt to swing it from your prone position, but the creature has already dug its fingers deep into that arm and forcibly holds it to prevent you from doing so. You punch with your other free arm, but your hits to its face do nothing. It just repeats what it has done to your other arm and digs its nails in deeply. With horrible snarling, foam and blood coming from its mouth and more ruthless savagery than you have, the thing soon overpowers you completely and its face meets your own to bite your nose off. You scream in agony as a gout of blood gushes from the new hole in your face.
Your screams soon stop completely when it bites out your throat. |
Getting into a fistfight with Diana is one thing, but you're definitely not up to dealing with this crazy asshole. You just hope Bobby is up for dealing with him though apparently Helen thinks so.
"Come on! Bobby can handle this, but we need to get to the children where it's safe!" Helen exclaims and you start to follow her.
The pair of you run upstairs away from the sounds of shouting and gunfire. You soon reach the top and follow Helen through a corridor doorway.
And then Helen nearly gets bashed in the head with a bat when she passes through an entryway. She does take a hit to the shoulder though which causes her to fall to the floor in pain. Diana steps out from the corner she was hiding behind and then rushes at you.
You're caught off guard and point your pistol at Diana, and actually manage to fire a shot, but unfortunately Diana's smashes your arm with the bat away from her direction so your shot goes wild. Hardly matters since between the kickback of the pistol and the pain you end up dropping the gun entirely.
With you unarmed and Helen still clutching her arm in pain, Diana's head swivels back and forth rapidly, to make sure neither one of you are going to suddenly lunge at her, though she's also eyeing the dropped pistol too.
"After Bobby ripped my heart out I went upstairs to my room and overheard you two bitches conspiring against me. Didn't know you had it in you Helen. I always knew you loved Bobby, but always figured you'd be too weak to do shit about it. Guess that's my fault for showing you mercy." Diana remarks.
While Diana's ranting to her sister, you attempt to make a play for the gun, but Diana swings her bat at you, nearly hitting you in the face. You step back just in time.
"And you. You certainly have proved yourself the stereotype of dumb blonde, because if you actually bought that bullshit that my sister fed you, you're stupider than I thought you were. You actually think she's gonna just let you have Bobby? She's gonna backstab you the same way she backstabbed me."
"Maybe she backstabbed you because you were a fucking bully to her, you ever think of that?" you say.
"Bully? She oughta be grateful I didn't kill her ass and instead made her strong enough for her to grow a spine to betray me in the first place! Hey! Where the fuck you goin'?" Diana remarks when she turns her head to see Helen getting up to run away.
Diana throws her bat at Helen's legs, which successfully hit and trip her up. Diana then goes for the pistol and that's when you pounce and manage to tackle her. The pair of you are soon rolling on the floor again, punching, scratching and kneeing each other.
You both try to go for the pistol on several occasions, but neither of you gets the advantage, in fact when Diana finally does, you knock it out of her hand and it goes sprawling and down the stairs to the first floor.
"Bah! I don't need a gun to do my work anyhow! I'll enjoy it even more killing you with my bare hands!" Diana remarks and lands a good punch on you and then she slams the back of your head into the floor causing you to become a little dazed. She'd do more, but then Helen comes up from behind her with the bat in hand.
Unfortunately for Helen, Diana hears Helen and catches Helen's feeble swing and stops the bat from actually hitting her.
"I'm gonna so enjoy hurting you little sister... " Diana exclaims and attempts to rip the bat from Helen's hand. Helen's grip is strong enough that Diana doesn't succeed so instead Diana uses Helen's weight against her and pushes the bat towards Helen as hard as she can. Helen, not expecting this, loses her footing on her already bruised legs and falls back on the nearby wall, dropping the bat entirely, which rolls away.
Diana gets off of you, to take care of her sister who at this point is begging to not be hurt.
"Diana, please... this isn't my fault... Bobby chose Su... " Diana squeaks.
"BOBBY CHOSE ME FIRST! BOBBY IS MINE! HE'S ALWAYS BEEN MINE BY BIRTH! You fucking little weakling traitorous bitch! Had you just stayed in line, I might've even been kind enough to let Bobby face fuck you on your birthday, but the only fucking you're going to get now is in your ass because I'm going knee deep in it!"
At this point Helen squeals in fear and curls up in a tight ball while Diana starts kicking the hell out of her. Meanwhile you're starting to come around a bit more. Things are still a bit dizzy for you and you're a bit wobbly standing up, but you manage it.
You attempt to make a run (or fast paced wobble at any rate) for the bat, but Diana stops you before you can even reach it.
"Don't think so bottled blonde bitch!" Diana says and knocks you to the floor and then follows up with a kick.
Diana gets on top of you and while you struggle to fight her off, she slaps away your attempts and wraps her hands around your throat.
"You are going to very dark place and I'm going to enjoy putting you there." She remarks and then she starts doing some weird chanting, similar to the shit Bobby says at times when you're having sex with him, but this isn't nearly as fun.
You try to pry her hands off your throat, but her grip is like iron. You start to lose consciousness.
You try one more time to get her off of you by punching her in the face, but your swing isn't strong enough and Diana is just too determined to end your life.
Diana's face gets blurry, you choke and then everything goes black.
Everything is black for what probably seems to be forever. There is nothing. No fluffy cloud heaven, no lake of fire, and definitely not any Tiamat.
Then you feel a sensation around your mouth and the sensation of air going in. It's pleasant enough that you instinctively throw your arms out to embrace Bobby. When you open your eyes you find Helen's face lip locked to yours.
After a few seconds you actually freak out about it being her instead of Bobby.
"H... hey! What the hell?!" you say and push Helen off of you.
"I'm sorry Suzy, but you were unconscious and I was resuscitating you." Helen remarks.
"I wasn't breathing?" you ask.
"Um, well it didn't look like you were. I mean Diana choked you out before I got to her."
"Wait, I was just unconscious. (cough) You didn't check to see if I was still breathing first? You just wrapped your (cough) lips around mine and started blowing into my mouth?"
"I panicked and didn't want to waste time checking! I didn't want you to die!" Helen exclaims.
Well you can't really fault her for trying to save your life.
"(Cough) Well thanks Helen. So where is Diana?" you ask rubbing your throat which still hurts like hell.
"Over to your right." Helen points out and sure enough you turn your head and see Diana laying face down on the floor.
"I smacked her in the head with the bat when she was choking you. I dunno if I killed her. I didn't check to see if she was still breathing either, I was too busy worrying about you. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." You slowly starting to stand. It takes some effort, but Helen helps you up. Your whole body hurts.
You stare at Diana's body and see her chest briefly rise and fall, so it looks like she's still alive, just unconscious. Though you're severely tempted to put an end to that, but you've got a better idea.
"You think Bobby would let me sacrifice Diana?" you ask which takes her a little by surprise.
"Um... I don't know. I mean after we explain what she did, I can't see he'd have any objections. There are no rules against it." Helen replies.
"Good, it's my fucking wedding day, I should at least get to pick... well shit looks like she's waking up already." You remark when you see Diana begin to stir.
"Hey, guess what Diana, you're going to be at my wedding after all. You're going to be one of the most important people there in fact. Helen, do you have anything to tie this bitch up with?" you ask.
"Uh, yeah I think I know where there are some handcuffs and there's always duct tape laying around somewhere." Helen replies.
"Well go get them. I'll keep an eye on Diana." You say and pick up the nearby bat.
While Helen goes running off, you standby staring at Diana who is giving you the stare of death, but is obviously still in lady pain.
"You think I'm gonna just let you throw me on the altar and shove a knife in me like some fucking sheep? You gotta another thing coming blondie." She remarks.
"I don't see as you have really a choice at this point." You remark.
"Bullshit, I still got a few choices. Like for instance, I could rush you right now, take that bat from you and bash your brains in with it."
"You think you still got the strength for that, let alone the speed?"
"Maybe I'll make it, maybe I won't, but we're gonna see... " Diana says and spits blood from her mouth.
Just as you're about to put out Diana's lights again, you suddenly hear a very loud explosion which sounds like it's coming from the left side of the house. You've been so busy with Diana, you've completely forgotten that Bobby's been battling it out with Aaron elsewhere in the house. Your concerns are briefly for him instead.
However, with this very brief distraction, Diana takes advantage and lunges at you and the pair of you are struggling with the damn bat again.
Diana seems to be fueled by some sort of unnatural rage at this point, because she's certainly more formidable than the first time you fought with her in the dining room, or maybe she's not underestimating you like she did last time. In any case, you need an advantage, which is either going to be the bat you're currently still struggling with, or the gun which you know is still somewhere on the stairwell.
> go for the gun
Obviously all this rolling on the floor and hand to hand shit isn't getting you anywhere with her. She's tougher than you thought and you need to just shoot her and put an end to this.
As hard as you can, you do the same trick Diana did to Helen and use her weight against her and shove her as hard as you can while letting go of the bat. Diana ends up falling on her ass and you turn to run towards the stairs.
You get half way down the stairs when you feel a hard smack against your lower back when Diana throws the bat at you, causing you to lose your balance and you take a full tumble down the stairs. Not only do you break your arm in the process, you also end up hitting your head hard on the steps several times to the point where you've probably got a concussion, but that's the least of your concerns.
Dizzy and moaning in pain from your arm. You're in no condition to fight Diana when she hovers over you with the gun you were trying to get in hand.
"Y'know, under ideal circumstances, I'd take my time with you and enjoy dishing out the pain over the course of days, but I suppose I'll just have to do that with my sister instead. Tiamat truly blesses the strong, all hail her glorious chaos!" Diana says and blasts you several times. |
TUESDAY
"And Suzy is the winner of the world banana eating championship! Let's all hear it for our little blonde small town girl!" The announcer shouts which is followed by a roaring crowd.
Not even feeling full, you wipe away the whipped cream on your lips, graciously stand up and bow for your adoring fans. The big dude on your right wearing nothing but chaps and a biker jacket looks at you in disbelief and then turns away to puke in a bucket.
Meanwhile the little Asian She-Male on your left just shakes his head wondering how the hell you could've beaten him.
"I don't understand it...all my training. I glanced over at you during the contest...you...you were barely even chewing! How?" He asks.
"Oh just natural talent at swallowing bananas I suppose." You reply humbly and wink at the audience, which continues to praise you.
While you're blowing kisses at your fans, you suddenly get a feeling you've done something like this before... .
Suddenly a hand touches your shoulder and you spin around to see a woman about your age with long raven colored hair and a low cut black gown. She's pretty, but has a sneering look on her face. It's not quite a cruel look, but she's definitely not impressed with you.
"So, you think you got what it takes to meet Misty huh? Pfft. I don't see you lasting another day. Maybe two at best."
"Who is Misty?" you ask.
"(Sigh) Deary, if you don't know, then you'll never know. And if you never know, then how can you ever hope to survive?" the woman says in a condescending tone and then starts laughing at you. She then begins to age rapidly until she becomes a wizened crone and then eventually a rotting corpse.
When you begin to step back, the woman then disappears, but her laughter remains, getting louder and louder to the point being deafening and causing pain.
You futilely attempt to cover your ears, but the laughter persists even when you try to cram left over bananas in your ears.
Meanwhile, the biker turns in a unicorn and the she-male turns into rainbow colored fox which jumps on the back of the unicorn and they run off together. The audience surprisingly has completely disappeared. In fact it's just you and that awful laughter that won't quit.
Just when you think you can't take the pain anymore everything goes black...
You wake up to the sound of a female voice.
"What's going on?!" you exclaim sitting up fast.
"Oh! Sorry! I... I didn't mean to wake you... but I just was told to bring you this." the source of the female voice says.
You rub your eyes and see a young woman with light brown hair before you holding a tray of food. She's probably a few years younger than you.
"... wait... you're Helen right?" you say recognizing her.
"Yes. I didn't think you remembered me. We only saw each other a couple times before." Helen says.
"Yeah I remember you. Where's Bobby?"
"Oh, Bobby's busy doing something with cousin William. I think its something to do with working on the compound here. I'm not really sure. I just tend to look after the little ones, but Bobby told me I should bring you something to eat, so um here."
Helen thrusts the tray of food at you. It consists of typical breakfast type food like scrambled eggs, bacon, cereal and juice. You see no reason not to take the offering seeing as you aren't served like this very often.
"Wow, breakfast in bed. That's something I've never had before." You say and start to eat.
Helen stares at you nervously, which causes you to stop eating.
"What?" you ask.
"Oh! Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you liked it. Is the food good? I really didn't know what to make you and I just wanted it to be right." Helen says.
"It's fine Helen." You say.
"Oh good. I just... I just didn't want to disappoint you."
"It's just breakfast Helen. Relax. Probably way better than anything I could make, I dunno how to cook."
"You don't? Didn't your mother teach you?" Helen asks as if cooking is something every woman knows how to do.
"Nope. She taught me how to sew when I was younger, but I sort of stopped doing it when she died of a flesh-eating virus. Didn't really see the point anymore."
"Oh no, how sad!" Helen says empathetically.
"Yeah." You say continuing to eat.
"Well don't worry, I'm a very good cook and I can even teach you!"
"Hm, well between that offer and this meal, you've probably done more for me than my own family has in years."
"I'm so glad you said that. I want us to get along because I know you're going to be married to Bobby and all."
"Wait, Bobby told you already?" you ask.
"He told everyone last night. He was so happy. I'm so glad he was, I like seeing him happy."
"Hm, I can guess who wasn't happy to hear about it." You remark.
"Oh. Yes. Um... you probably mean Diana. Yes, she was quite upset. Um... in fact I probably should leave. She's looking after the little ones and I'm sure I'll get an earful about being away from my duties for so long. She's in a bad enough mood as it is." Helen says.
"Okay, well sorry to keep you then. I don't want to get you into trouble."
"Oh, it's okay. I'm not really worried about me anyway. It's just if I stay away for too long she might... well she's not as patient as I am with our younger siblings. So are you okay with the food and everything?"
"Yeah Helen."
"Okay good. Good. Um... okay I'm going now. Um, I suppose I'll see you around some time."
"Okay then."
At this point Helen nervously waves and opens the door to leave, but then she calls out to you.
"Um, Suzy?"
"Yes?"
"I'm really glad you're going to be part of this family soon." She says with a faint smile and then leaves.
You shake your head and finish your food. Helen obviously has some issues. Though maybe its because you know what its like to have a bullying older sister, you can sympathize.
After putting aside your food tray you take a shower in the private bathroom connected to the bedroom which is very convenient. While washing up you take time to ponder your odd dream which while having its surreal moments seemed "real" to you in some ways. The raven haired woman in the dream was most certainly Bobby's grandmother which is sort of creepy, but then maybe she just popped up due you seeing pictures of her (and even one in your room) earlier that night. Ultimately you decide not to worry too much about it unless this becomes an ongoing problem.
After your shower, you then change your clothing and decide to explore what is now your new home.
You walk around the right wing of the compound, upstairs and down, not running into anyone. It's all pretty empty on this side which is sort of good you suppose and you're half tempted to just go back to your new room and play on your computer. However, you figure you're going to have to make the effort to be social with everyone so you head over to the central part of the compound where you assume more of Bobby's family is located.
Eventually you get to a large dining area and see a few dirty plates still on the table. The voices of children can be heard a few rooms away and then...
That red headed witch Diana steps out from the kitchen.
She holds a knife in one hand and you notice her hand tighten around its handle when she sees you.
"Look, I don't want any trouble Diana. I know you're mad but... " you start to say before Diana interrupts.
"Spare me your pathetic words blonde whore. You will not sway me with superficial attempts at diplomacy. YOU are in my way, but I promise you that before the week's end, you will be out of it."
When you cautiously step back a bit, Diana smirks.
"You better keep stepping backwards and out the front door if you want to stay out of my way AND keep your pitiful life."
While Diana is doing a fairly adequate job of intimidating you, she's actually starting to make you angry. Like a rage is building up within you and you feel like just picking up one of the forks on one of the dirty plates on the table and stabbing her in the neck with it.
In fact violent visions start to enter your head, visions of bloody bodies and other murderous images. They hit you so suddenly; you actually stumble and keep yourself from falling by propping yourself up against the table. You then rub your head from this spell, as you don't feel completely well.
"Now what? Am I scaring you too much? Are you about to cry? By Tiamat you really are worthless. And that is why you'll never make a good wife to my brother. You're far too weak. My brother will realize that soon." Diana remarks.
As unwell as you suddenly feel, the rage within you is still rising.
> keep calm
You're not going to play her game. Getting into a fight is just going to make things worse. She's all talk anyway, she's just going to bark and not actually do anything.
You just stay silent and try to walk away. Diana however keeps barking.
"Hey, where you going, this isn't over you fucking bitch!" Diana says, but you ignore her and keep walking away.
When you don't respond, Diana moves from barking to biting which involves grabbing you on the shoulder and spinning you around.
"Hey, get your hands off of me!" you say and attempt to push her away. Diana's spoiling for a fight however and grabs your arm with her free hand.
And unfortunately she's also spoiling for your death.
"You're fucking too weak for Bobby, better that I take care of this now. He'll thank me in the long run!" She exclaims and stabs you chest with her knife. You scream in pain and fall back in shock. Diana wastes no time in taking advantage and leaps on you while stabbing the entire time.
While the noise brings the attention of other family members who attempt to pull Diana off of you, but it's already too late, she's hit several vital organs and opened up several of your veins.
"All hail fucking Tiamat and her glorious chaos!" Diana yells in triumph and laughing as your blood is splattered all over her. |
It's not like this is a complete stranger, this is someone you do have feelings for and what the hell, it's not like you aren't going to be doing this again with him eventually. Still, there is the matter of decorum.
You manage to twist your body around so that you're face to face to him; he barely stops when you tell him.
"Bobby, look we can do this, but like I said, we're NOT doing this in the middle of the living room. Let's at least go down to the basement and we can fuck on my couch."
"Okay, okay, whatever, let's just get down their quickly." Bobby agrees continuing to kiss on you.
The pair of you head down into the basement and one of Bobby's hands is practically glued to your ass the entire time.
When you get to your room, you see that Bobby has somehow managed to strip off most of his clothing by this point (amazing considering he had one hand on your ass the entire time). He helpfully starts stripping your clothing off.
"Well seeing as you're obviously taking the alpha male approach to this, after you're done tearing off my clothes, you can carry me over to the sofa and start doing me like a conquering warrior. I want to see your face stare into mine as you thrust into me, let me know who exactly is in charge and teach me a lesson." You say licking your index finger and then running your finger down Bobby's chest.
(Never let it be said that you can't tap into your dirty side when necessary)
The next half hour is fun, if a little rougher than you're used to with Bobby.
It starts off with him just really ramming it into you and telling you in various ways to "Take it." while staring directly into your eyes which are more piercing than usual. His hands are also mostly holding down your wrists at this point.
Despite all this, you aren't scared. You just wrap your legs around him tightly like a boa constrictor and enjoy the ride.
A little later he put his hands around your neck and even squeezes a little while continuing to stare into your eyes. You can certainly still breathe, but he is definitely establishing his dominance and that he is firmly in control of things.
Despite all this, you still aren't really scared, you even add to the "experience" by squeaking out a "No." "Please don't." "Stop hurting me." every now and then.
Eventually Bobby chants something in a language you've never heard before and then orgasms. Again, not really scary since he's always doing that. It was weird the first few times you had sex with him but now it acts as a nice little alarm letting you know that things will be over soon.
Completely spent after orgasm, Bobby collapses on top of you and begins hugging you tightly, and then whispers...
"I love you so much Suzy, I want us to be joined forever. I want our bodies as well as our souls to be married."
NOW you get scared and suddenly push him off of you in alarm at this declaration.
"What?! Married?" You exclaim recoiling to one corner of the couch.
Bobby's a little surprised by your reaction.
"I want us to be married. I mean we're obviously soul mates and its the next logical step for us."
"Step? What step? We were just having fun a moment ago and now you spring life long commitment?"
"Are you saying you never saw us eventually getting married? I mean in all that time since we've been together?"
"No, and especially not when all the trouble with your sister came about."
"But on several occasions you asked me to run away with you! You didn't think we'd get married if we ever did that even?"
"Not really."
"I'm guessing you didn't ever think about having children either then."
"Children?! What the hell, you think I'm some sort of brood mother?
Now Bobby is downright confused.
"Suzy... I really don't understand your... well view of things..." Bobby says.
"That pretty rich coming from the cultist." You say.
"Okay, I'm going to ignore that because I love you. But if it makes any difference, at least I still behave in a consistent way which you do not."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"(Sigh) I really don't want us to fight again..."
"Bobby I just let you simulate what could be considered a rape fantasy on me, the least you can do is explain yourself."
"Okay then THAT right there is what I'm talking about. You have no problem with having kinky sex with me, you have no major problems with my religion and what it entails, you're even willing to move in with me and my family even though you're concerned about my sister and probably the rest of them, but somehow marriage is what is freaking you out? I mean I'm trying to do the right thing here and it's because I genuinely love you. Why are you so resistant?"
It's actually a good question. You're pretty tolerant of a lot of stuff most would've recoiled in horror from and something like marriage and (shudder) kids is scaring you off. There's probably a good psychological reason for your reluctance, involving your observations of other married couples such as your own mother (overly compliant) and father (distant) or your brother Ben (paranoid psychotic) and his wife (utterly clueless) but there are a few other concerns.
"Bobby...you've never brought up marriage before either, why all of a sudden?" You ask.
"Well, I just think it's time. I mean we've been together awhile. We've stuck together through ups and downs. We're going to be living together. I obviously love you and I assume you love me right?"
"Well...yeah...but... I dunno...I mean kids? Come on do you really think I'm mother material? I can barely take care of myself...in fact I can't at all, otherwise I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."
At this point Bobby takes your hand into his and gets closer to you.
"Suzy, don't you see, you don't need to worry about any of that anymore. When you marry me you won't have to worry about taking care of yourself ever again. And as far as being mother material, I can't imagine a better mother to my children. Even if you do have trouble, I'm sure my sisters will help out...well okay Helen will help out, but you know what I'm saying. The main thing is you won't have any more worries when you're in the family...MY family. We'll look after you. I'll look after you."
And there it is. Your future. A "housewife" popping out a whole mess of little cultists like a Pez dispenser. While it might not be quite that extreme, the writing is on the wall. While Bobby is probably sincere in his love and desire to care for you, he's still the head of a human sacrificing cult and as such he's going to be somewhat controlling and manipulative.
How long before you become brainwashed into believing in the same shit he believes in? How long before you passively accept other sudden changes over time? Hell, how long before some organization like the FBI or the ATF comes charging in to lay siege to the place?
Though on the other hand what are you really doing with your life right now and what prospects do you really have? You could do worse than have a man who obviously loves you a lot and is willing to take care of the stuff you don't want to bother worrying about.
You've got a major life changing decision to make, because you get the impression that if you get into that compound of his, changing you mind isn't going to be an option.
> decline his proposal
You love Bobby... well at least you think you do. He's been your only boyfriend so you don't have any other real comparison.
But even if you do love him, you still don't think you're ready to marry him at least not on the terms he wants.
"Can't we just... I dunno... runaway together?" you ask.
"What? I don't understand, I thought you loved me." Bobby says.
"I do, but marriage... that's a really big step... and all my other concerns aside I still don't feel comfortable living with your sister. I mean maybe it would be different if it were just us and no other ties. I might even feel comfortable starting a family with you with a clean slate as it were."
"Suzy... that's just not possible. First of all I already have a perfectly good home that's fully stocked with necessities, why the hell would I just abandon it? That would be dumb just from a logical standpoint and just because you don't want anything to do with your worthless family, I still love mine and I'm not going to just abandon them."
"Worthless? Yeah, I don't think highly of them either, but don't you dare come in and start claiming superiority! At least my family isn't a bunch of inbred brainwashed murderers. And fuck you Bobby, if you REALLY wanted to, we could fucking run away together. You're a resourceful guy."
"Oh I'm a resourceful guy huh? Well maybe I am, but what are YOU going to be doing?"
"What do you mean what am I going to be doing? I'm going to be with you! Isn't that enough?"
"Suzy, you're sitting here asking me to give up EVERYTHING that's important to my life and I'm asking why should I? I mean yes, I get you don't like Diana, but I already told you that she isn't going to be a problem... " Bobby says before you interrupt.
"And excuse me if I'm not completely fucking convinced. She's your fucking ex, she hates my guts AND you expect me to live under the same roof with her even when we're fucking married? No, not fucking happening and I'm also not being a goddamn brood sow just waiting around for you to fuck me." You interject.
"Don't see how that's much different from your life now... " Bobby says dismissively.
You're speechless for a second.
"Excuse me?" you say.
"I said I don't see how sitting around waiting for me to fuck you would be that big of a change in your life because you practically do that now. I mean what the hell do YOU do except hide out down here from the rest of the world and then every now and then we meet up to fuck. If we got married, the only difference would be you'd be living in a better home and actually have to do something with your time like maybe look after our kids... but of course you don't want any because at your core you're completely self centered and only care about what YOU want. You know, you got a lot more in common with Diana than you realize in that department."
With as much power as you can, you slap Bobby across his face. He doesn't flinch, and it seems he was even expecting it. He just gives you the stone face stare.
"Get the fuck out. Go back to your fucked up religion and sister fucking. We're through, for good this time." You say.
Bobby doesn't say anything he just gathers his clothing and gets dressed as fast as possible. He doesn't look at you the entire time until he starts to walk away.
"I love you Suzy, but I suppose this is easier for the both of us. I hope your life works out." He says and then turns away.
You hear his footsteps going up the basement stairs and then eventually you hear the front door slam.
And he's gone. That's it. Bobby's out of your life forever and you immediately feel a mixture of sadness and sickness.
You're sad of course because despite all the problems you had towards the end of your relationship (And the incredibly shitty thing he said to you which caused the final split anyway), he was your first and you do believe he did love you and you loved him.
You thought you both had so much in common at one time, but it turned out your differences were greater than you thought and some people just aren't meant to be together.
You also feel sick due to the fact that he was potentially your "savior" in getting out of your current predicament with your older sister. Now that he's gone, you don't know what the hell you're going to do. You spend a little time wondering if you should've just went along with Bobby's proposal. Would it have really been all that bad?
It's too late now though, you can't call him now even if you really wanted to... and you do really want to, but you just can't ignore his own faults in what caused the final straw to be broken in the relationship.
Somewhere in between the crying and moping, you realize that what you're doing right now isn't any different from any other day; namely, you're hiding out from the world in your basement. The only major difference is you happen to be extremely upset right now.
Bobby was right about that on some level. You do just sit around down here doing nothing waiting for... what exactly? Maybe you were waiting for Bobby to "save you" somehow, but obviously you didn't really want that or at least you didn't want it on the terms he was demanding.
What DO you want in life Suzy? What can you do to change your status?
Well, you aren't sure what you want in life, but you know the only potential way to change your status now is to either get a job or find some new place to live. Seeing as you're already depressed, you open up your laptop and proceed to engage in the soul-crushing task of looking for a job.
As day turns to night, you spend hours looking for a job... well actually you spend AN hour looking and the rest of the time being distracted with your depression. The problem is there is just nothing out there for the likes of you unless you want to be stripper at one of the many strip clubs. You sometimes wish you were more like Donna because if you had less hangs up about being slutty, you'd jump at the chance.
However, you were cursed with an odd concept of self-respect so no stripping for you. You look into waitressing since it seems like that's another job that's always available. You find a few places hiring... at the strip clubs... great.
The further descent of desperation causes you to look for jobs involving house keeping or janitorial work. You are already dreading the idea of doing such labor, but you still have to look. You find one that's open... at an adult bookstore. You can only imagine what you'd be primarily cleaning up.
"What the fuck is wrong with this town? Isn't there even a goddamn fast food place in need of a hapless burger flipper?" you cry out in frustration.
You're about to give up and resign yourself to being depressed and doing nothing until you fall asleep when you find something that looks slightly more promising.
There is not one but TWO jobs open at a comic shop, imaginatively called "Jake's Comic Shop" who you assume is the owner. One is moving a bunch of boxes around and the other is working a register. Not exactly the most desirable of jobs, but it beats the idea of dressing in skimpy clothing, getting ogled and possibly groped. (Let alone cleaning up jizz for a living)
As far as you're concerned that's your task for tomorrow. You're heading over to Jake's Comic Shop and you're not leaving until you have employment. You feel slightly positive about this, well not really, but you do at least feel like you've accomplished something this dark day.
With that out of the way, you allow yourself to go back to being depressed over today's unfortunate event until you set your alarm for tomorrow (Which you never usually do) and eventually fall asleep.
> Next day...
TUESDAY
Your alarm goes off and you groggily wake up.
Way earlier than you're used to actually. It's morning and you haven't been up this early in a long time. You're surprised you didn't just sleep through the alarm considering how emotionally drained you were yesterday. Even now, you still feel tired.
You're also still pretty damn depressed. Depression combined with your type of ingrained apathy would normally make for a really bad combination of motivation, but against all odds, you actually get up out of bed to go wash up.
You spend an extra long time in the shower trying to motivate yourself for the first phase of your goals today which is heading over to Jake's comic shop and getting a job.
Eventually you finish up and head back to your room where you start to get dressed, thinking about one of your other possible goals which is finding a new place to live because if this comic shop thing doesn't work out, you doubt if you're going to find anything else you'd be willing to do before the week is over.
Always one to seek the way of least resistance, you reluctantly call your sister Donna since she did say you could live with her and Julie. You didn't really want to go live with her and Julie though because you know it's going to be party central non-stop, but you don't have many other options.
You ring up Donna several times and get no answer. You ring up Julie and also get no answer. They're probably both passed out from whatever they were doing the night before. You give up attempting to contact them today, deciding that you'll just show up on their doorstep with all your shit if you don't get this job. It's not much of a plan, but you do feel slightly better believing you have a safety net. Well you like to THINK you have a safety net anyway.
With that fear partially quelled, you absent-mindedly check to see if Bobby called... then you stop...
"Christ, that was stupid. Get your head straight Suzy... " you say to yourself, starting to feel bad again. You then remind yourself that you'll have to break that habit.
You nearly delete his number entirely, but you can't quite bring yourself to do it just yet.
Pushing through it all, you now move on to your next step of trying to convince your brother Peter to let you borrow his car so you drive over to the comic shop.
You head upstairs and bang on the door to the garage.
"Hey Peter, open up I need a favor!" you shout and after a few seconds the door opens up.
"What the fuck Suzy? Why the hell are you banging on my door like you're the police?" Peter exclaims peeking his head out the door. He's probably naked.
"Yeah, sorry to bother you with whatever currently doing at the moment, but I need to borrow your car. I'm trying to get a job." You say.
"A job? I thought you were too much of a prude to be a stripper."
"Ha ha, very funny. I'm not going to be a stripper, I'm going to try to get a job at a Jake's comic shop." You reply.
"A comic shop? Doing what? Getting all the virgin nerds excited?"
"I'm going to be moving boxes or working a register... look I don't fucking know exactly, I haven't gotten the job yet. I just know I NEED to get this fucking job or else Kelly's gonna throw me out on my ass!" you reply getting increasingly exasperated.
"Alright, fine. Don't fucking bite my goddamn head off because you got problems. I've got problems of my own. (Sigh) Wait a minute."
Peter closes the door and then a few seconds later opens it up and then tosses some keys at you.
"Here. Don't fuck it up, and I fully expect you to put gas in it." He says and then slams the door shut.
Well that was easier than you expected, but then he probably just wanted you out of the way for whatever client he has coming over.
With that out of the way, you get in Peter's car and pull out of the driveway.
A few minutes of driving to your destination and you now learn first hand what Bobby was talking about yesterday. The roads are a mess and the town is in fucking chaos. There are cops everywhere, as well as ambulances and fire trucks racing to their various destinations too. You're also seeing small groups of people rioting. It's like the whole town has lost its damn mind and you nearly get into an accident more than a few times. Fortunately Jake's comic shop isn't too far away, but given the town's situation you're hoping that everything there isn't going to be as bad as what you've been seeing so far.
Eventually you do get to the shop and so far the place doesn't look too bad, though given that you see a police barricade a few blocks up the street, you wonder if that could all change. Pulling into the parking lot, you exit the car and enter the building.
As soon as you walk in, you briefly scan the shop and find it completely empty save for a bearded middle-aged man with a ponytail at a counter staring at you. He couldn't be more of a stereotype of a "comic book guy."
"Well... hello. You lost or something? The beauty salon is down the street... though I believe there was a shooting or something there earlier." He says.
"Um, no. I'm here about the job. Are you Jake?" you ask.
"That's me. Now what job are you talking about exactly?" Jake asks while looking at you up and down. The guy is already probably thinking several dirty thoughts about you and at this point you're really hoping this guy doesn't turn the whole job thing into some stupid line about giving him a blowjob.
"The job openings I found on the internet for this place. It said you needed someone to move boxes or work the register." You say.
"Oh yeah, I'm not even sure why I posted that. In this current economy I can barely afford to hire one employee and lately I'm wondering if I can even do that." Jake says.
"Shit, does this mean you're not hiring?"
"Well... considering you're easy on the eyes, I'm not going to say I'm NOT hiring. Besides you're the only one that's even applied so far. You'd think with all the fanboy nerds that practically live at this place one of them would've offered to fucking help me out. (Sigh) Whatever, you got your resume?"
"Resume?" you ask.
"Yeah, when people tend to apply for jobs they usually have one. I mean not that any of the tasks here are brain surgery, but it's nice to have some basic information." Jake says.
"Oh. Well I don't have one." You reply.
"Seriously? You came in here for a job without a resume?"
"I didn't think I'd need one."
"You didn't... alright can you give me any references then?"
"Um, no."
"You can't or you won't?"
"I can't because I don't have any."
"Jesus Christ... do you have ANY job experience whatsoever?"
"No."
"Do you even want a fucking job here?" Jake asks getting exasperated.
"Not really, but I want to run around half naked swinging on a pole getting ogled, slobbered over and groped by horny guys for a living even less, so this place is currently my only option for my desperate situation." You say.
Jake laughs at your comment.
"Well at least your honest, but if you think you're not going to get ogled and slobbered over by guys here, you're sadly mistaken. You do realize this is a comic shop right?"
"Oh come on, there has to be female customers that come in here." You say.
"Sure, but they don't look like you and you'll probably get a couple of them awkwardly hi |
tting on you as well. On the bright side, none of the nerds here are probably going to try to grope you. They'll be far too shy to try that. No pole swinging either, but feel free to run around half naked. I guarantee something like that would really help out business." Jake says with a smirk.
"Yeah, not happening." You reply.
"Didn't think I'd be that lucky. Well despite your total lack of skill, I suppose I'll hire you, I do have to ask one thing first though... "
And here it comes; he's going to ask you to do something sexual and you'll be heading out the door...
"Do you even read comics?"
Well that was unexpected.
"Well, I used to when I was little, but my older sister Kelly just kept taking them from me and either hitting me with them or tearing them up, so I didn't see the point anymore." You reply.
"Jeez, that's not fucking right. You should've kicked her ass." Jake says.
"Yeah well that wasn't possible, she's ten times bigger than me. In fact that's why I applied to this job, she's threatening to kick me out of the house." You say.
"Hmm, sounds like a similar situation that I had with my last assistant. His mom was threatening to kick him out of the house and he begged me to hire him. He was a pathetic little worm addicted to all that anime shit. Really he was a lousy helper, but given that the one I had before him just died in my bathroom, I figured I'd give the fat little anime addict a shot."
"Wait someone died in the bathroom here?" you ask.
"Yeah my retarded assistant strangled himself in my bathroom while jacking off. Spent the damn day cleaning the bathroom because of it."
"Uh, the other assistant didn't die in the bathroom too did he?"
"Nah, he ended up marrying his crazy cousin and lives in the trailer park outside of town I think. Dunno what he does now since he never comes in anymore which is a shame since the pervert used to spend a fortune in this place."
"That's... interesting. So about the job." You say steering the conversation back on track.
"Yeah, about the job. I'm guessing you'll want to be working the register... what is your name anyway blondie?"
"Suzy, and why are you assuming I want to be working the register?"
"Because I doubt a little thing like you really wants to be lugging boxes around, I mean unless you're trying to tell me you can't do basic math."
"Of course I know how to do basic fucking math!" you snap.
"Okay, sheesh. Calm down I didn't mean to imply anything. So you're working the register... "
Jake has still already made the decision for you about what job you're going to be doing and while lugging boxes around really doesn't appeal to you, you're still a little insulted that the option has just been taken away from you.
Besides the sexist implications that you aren't strong enough to do the other job because you're female, you get the strong impression that Jake also just wants you at the register so you'll be more visible to all the horny virgin nerds that come in this place.
And the more you're thinking about the fact that you'll have to interact with the public in general if you're working the register you're finding it about as appealing as lifting a bunch of heavy boxes around.
Then again if you antagonize Jake over this, he might just throw you out of the shop and then you'll have no job.
> stick with the register
Considering you'd rather just sit on your ass and work the register than lift boxes anyway, there doesn't seem to be much point in engaging in an argument that will lose you this job opportunity. Honestly you're just lucky that Jake is willing to hire you and isn't making advances on you (yet).
Jake proceeds to show you how to work the register and the credit card machine. After a few trial runs and examples, you think you got it. The funny thing is, nobody has actually come into the comic shop yet.
"See, not very difficult. So, you think you're ready to officially take the responsibility of the register?" Jake asks.
"Yeah, I guess, but is it always this empty?" you ask.
"No, not usually. It's about... what a little after noon now? Yesterday was slow as well, but I'm chalking it up to all the craziness going on in town, which I'm really hoping dies down soon. There is a group of regulars that should be arriving in few moments though. They usually just hang out here all fucking day, but they tend to buy a lot when they actually do decide to part with their money and not drive me up a fucking wall with their banter. However since you're working the register, you'll get to put up with them this time."
"Great, can't wait." You say and sit at the register unenthusiastically.
Jake proceeds to tell you that if you need anything he'll be in his office catching up on going over his financial books. He also warns you not to steal anything, which seems weird since if you were going to steal something, it's not like you'd listen to his warning.
Without many more words Jake disappears into his office and you sit at the register waiting for customers to come in. While you wait you start looking at the various items near the counter and start reading through some of the comics.
As time passes you continue to hear the sounds of sirens and such in the distance. Through the windows you see a couple of police officers running in the direction where you saw those barricades.
A little more time passes and a short man who looks to be in his mid thirties enters. He's dressed in casual clothing and just nods at you when he sees you at the register. In an attempt to be a friendly, you smile and wave hi before he goes off to look at comics.
Well either Jake was exaggerating about his customers being sex crazed assholes or this guy isn't one of the "regulars" he was talking about. You watch him for a moment as he browses and takes various comics off the shelves. He looks like he's really into comics with as many as he's taking. Eventually he comes up to the counter with a stack of comic books.
"Can I just sit these here for now? I'm not really done looking yet, but I don't want to lug around a bunch of comics and possibly dropping them all over the place." The man asks.
"Oh yeah sure. I guess you really like comics huh?" you say.
"Heh, I suppose I look a little obsessed. I don't really come in here that much since normally I tend to buy stuff online, but this is one of those times where I don't have the luxury of waiting for stuff to arrive in the mail. So I'm loading up now that I'm here. Never seen you here before though." The man says.
"I'm new. Just started today actually and you're sort of my first customer. Nobody else has come in." you reply.
"Oh. Well, this is sort of an interesting day to start a new job given what's been going on in town lately. I'm betting that's why there hasn't been anyone else in here today."
"Yeah, tell me about it. I wouldn't have left the house if I had the choice."
"Yeah, I hear you, I don't like going out too much myself, but I've been getting better about it lately."
"Same here and it still sucks, but bills aren't going to pay themselves."
"I sort of got around that by being able to work at home. I used to sell and buy shit on the Internet a lot."
"What, like Ebay or something?"
"Yeah something like that. Buy low, sell high, that sort of thing."
"I wish I could do something like that."
"You can, it's not really difficult."
"Eh, I'm not really a wheeler and dealer type. Besides, if I had a job involving a computer, especially one involving self employment, I'd probably just goof off and never get any work accomplished."
"Well that's the beauty of working at home. You can sort of be as lazy as you want!" The man says with slight grin.
"Oh I don't think you know exactly how lazy I can be." You say returning the smile.
"You can't be that lazy, you're working here."
"Well like I said, I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be. (Sigh) Events however have conspired against me and here I am."
"Yeah, always sucks when things out of your control put you in a bad situation. For what it's worth, sorry you're in such a bind."
You didn't expect sympathy for your minor "pity party" but you'll definitely accept it. You usually aren't one to hold long conversations with random strangers, but then it's been a bit of an unusual week for you.
"Thanks, so selling and buying shit on the Internet works for you huh? I suppose maybe I could do it. There's certainly already enough crap around the house that surely someone would be interested in. Obviously with as many comics as you intend on buying you're making a good living at it." You say.
"Well I probably would be if I wasn't a bit of a hoarder and kept most of the shit I did buy. However, I made enough that I pulled my weight so my mom didn't kick me out of the basement of the house. Yeah, I know I'm a walking stereotype, basement dweller in a comic shop. Big surprise right?" the man remarks.
You don't reply immediately, you just briefly think about how odd it is you've got so much in common with a complete stranger.
"Oh, I dunno. I don't tend to judge people." You reply.
"Well that's a rare trait these days. Though I suppose I'm more of a hermit than a basement dweller nowadays anyway. My mother died a few years ago and I'm not even going to be living here anymore soon. Hence another reason why I'm loading up on books now."
"So wait you're moving out of town?" you say a bit surprised.
"Yeah... I guess you could say that. I mean under normal circumstances I wouldn't bother, but it's getting really bad out there and it's only going to get worse."
"Worse? How do you know? You don't think things will get back to normal in a few days?"
The man starts like he's about to say more, but stops. Then he stumbles over some words a bit before continuing.
"Um... it's just... well these things... you never can tell right? I guess I don't really know. I think I'm just rambling at this point and not making any sense. I didn't mean to talk your ear off. I guess I should get back to it and let you get back to doing your job." The man says and then briskly walks to the back of the comic shop.
You nearly tell him to come back to talk to clarify what he meant and that he wasn't really bothering you, but then you think that would be a bit strange and also you don't really know this guy.
He's probably a weirdo anyway; he just said he lived in his mom's basement until she died after all. You don't even know why you're even still thinking about it or him.
"Christ Suzy, you're taking the break up harder than you thought. You're starting to latch on to minor conversations with complete fucking strangers. Get a grip already." You say to yourself.
A sudden brick through one of the shop windows breaks up your introspective moment.
You duck down behind the counter and then Jake comes out running out of his office.
"What the fuck is going on out here?!" he exclaims.
"I don't know! Someone just threw a brick through... "
Before you can complete that sentence you hear a bunch of laughter and the shop door opening up. You continue to stay hidden behind the counter.
"Did you see that shit? Told ya I could land the brick right in the middle of the O on the window!" a young male voice exclaims.
"Yeah, yeah, let's just see what we got in here... " another remarks.
"What the fuck do you little shits think you're doing? You just broke my fucking window! I hope you fuckers got some money to pay for that RIGHT NOW or else I'm going to be kicking all of your asses THEN I'm going to your parents' houses and kicking their asses for not aborting you." Jake exclaims.
"Oh fuck off Jake, with as much as you've ripped us off by overcharging, I'd say that more than covers the cost of your goddamn window. We're going to be taking some free comics too." You hear a voice shout back.
"Look, I dunno what the fuck has compelled you social rejects even THINK you can get away with this, but if you don't fucking get out of my shop right fucking now, there are going to be consequences you aren't going to walk away from."
"Ohhh, so fucking scared Jake." You hear one say who from the sound of the voice sounds like he's getting closer.
"HEY! Step back from the counter!"
You hear someone hit the counter and then you look up to see a pimply teenager staring over at you.
"Holy shit guys! Jake's got a fucking bitch hiding over here! She looks hot too, no wonder he's fucking pissed! She was probably blowing him before we came in!" he exclaims and then tries to grab your hair at which point you slap his hand away and stand up and away from the counter so you can't be molested.
It's at this point you finally see the motley lot. Four teenage boys of all varying shapes and sizes. You don't know who these guys are, but if they're the "regulars" Jake mentioned, they're certainly not acting like what you expected.
"Goddamn Jake how the hell you manage to pull this off? She looks way too fucking hot for you. She a whore or something?" The tallest boy asks.
"Hey, you know who she looks like? She looks like that cute zombie chick." The fattest one says.
"Nah, she looks more like that chick who controls all the dragons." The pimply one remarks.
"For fuck's sake she's blonde not a goddamn albino, she doesn't look like either of them, the pair of you are idiots. She obviously looks like the blonde chick that fucks vampires." The tallest one remarks.
"Which one, Trent?" the fat one asks.
"The one that's mainly killing them too." Trent says.
"I dunno guys, I thought she looked like that chick that was a private investigator... " another one begins to say before Jake interrupts their temporary distraction of comparing you to various female nerd culture figures.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SHOP! I'M NOT WARNING YOU AGAIN!" Jake shouts.
At which point Trent pulls a pistol out of his hoodie pocket. He doesn't actually point it at Jake, but he's definitely warning him by just showing it. Jake steps back a bit, but doesn't lose his cool. You on the other hand are really worried, especially considering you got four hormone addled teenage guys staring at you.
"And I'm telling YOU we're not fucking leaving without getting our comics! Don't you know what today is? It's fucking free comic book day Jake!"
"This is how you want to play this Trent?" Jake asks.
Now Trent points the pistol at Jake and gives a look of less playfulness and more deadly seriousness.
"I'm not fucking playing Jake, just like I wasn't fucking playing with my mom when she told me to clean my room two days ago, just like I wasn't playing with those assholes yesterday that used to give me wedgies back in sixth grade or that bitch who wouldn't go out with me even though I did a whole bunch of nice shit for her. Things are changing around this town and if you ain't changing with it, you're gonna get rolled over."
Trent looks over at his fellows and waves as if he's telling them to take whatever they want. He continues to point the gun at Jake though he keeps an eye on you as well.
While you're a little busy worrying about Trent and the rest, you realize you haven't seen that guy you were talking to before. You can't imagine he managed to slip out without anyone noticing. He might be hiding, but if he is, he's doing a really good job, because with the way Trent's pals are going through the store, it seems like they would have stumbled upon him by now.
While they do that, Trent gets closer to Jake still holding the gun to him.
"So what is the story with the blonde bitch anyway Jake? I know she can't be your girlfriend. A fat old loser like you wouldn't have one." Trent sneers, but Jake is still keeping composure.
"I hired her to work the register today." Jake remarks.
"Hm. I'd rather see her mouth work my dick." Trent says looking you up and down. Jake starts laughing.
"What's so fucking funny?"
"YOU! You're fucking funny Trent. You're calling me a loser and apparently you can't even GET a woman without holding her at gunpoint. Pfft. I don't give a shit what little emo angsty shooting spree trip you're on, but I'm not playing. I still remember when you were in here as a little kid and your ugly ass mama beat the hell out of you for shitting your pants. How you cried and cried." Jake chuckles.
Trent of course is not amused and points the gun closer to Jake.
"Shut the fuck up fat ass!" he exclaims.
"Make me lanky bitch!" Jake says and suddenly grabs Trent's hand now that it's close enough. The pair of them struggle with the weapon and Trent begins calling for his fellows to help.
While you're certainly close enough to help Jake before Trent's buddies get to him, you see the front door and wonder if you shouldn't just jump over the counter and get the hell out of here.
> run for the front door
It's not exactly the bravest thing to do, but then your own life is at risk and if there is a chance at getting out of this mess now then you're going to take it.
You jump over the counter and rush towards the door; two of Trent's friends try to intercept you until Trent demands that they help him and forget about you. His third friend however ignores him and continues after you.
You manage to make it half way out the door before pimple boy grabs your arm.
"You're not going anywhere blondie, except on my dick!" pimple boy shouts and follows that up with a really creepy annoying giggle.
You pull away and get out of the store, but he's a persistent bastard and manages to grab you around the waist from behind.
"Come on baby, I like an older woman like you!" he exclaims in his attempt to grope your breasts while dry humping you.
"Older woman like me? Motherfucker... " you exclaim and elbow the scrawny fucker in the face. It gets him off of you and then you spin around to give him a swift kick to the balls. Twice.
He falls to the ground crying and holding his crotch. He tries to mumble some curses at you, but it's hard to do in between the tears. As much as you want to get out of here, you're so pissed you kick him in his acne-ridden face for good measure, before running off. Just in time too, since you hear two gunshots coming from the store.
You turn the corner to the parking lot and rush to your car to open the door, then suddenly hear footsteps closing in quickly behind you.
"Gimme that car bitch! I gotta get the fuck outta here!" you hear a voice shout. You don't even turn your head since you already can tell it's the voice of one of the teenagers from the store.
You get in the car and start it up. You pull out and are already in the process of driving off until the same teenager gets in front of the car and throws a brick at your driver window
"SHIT!" you shout before the brick smashes through the window and hits you in the side of the head.
You lose complete control of the car and promptly crash into a nearby telephone pole. Thanks to shitty air bags not working properly you hit your already injured head against the driver's wheel. Somehow you're still conscious, but you're incredibly dazed and woozy. You're also not exactly feeling like moving too far, however your feelings are not in consideration here.
"Get outta the car bitch!" the teen who threw the brick exclaims and opens the door to get you out of it.
He starts to drag you out and despite your less than stellar state you still make an effort to fight. Eventually with some effort he drags you out and then you fell a kick to your ribs while on the street pavement.
Bleeding, bruised, and dizzy you attempt to get up, only to not quite make it. Just when it looks like the teen is going to land another kick to you, a shot rings out and the teen falls to the ground nearly on top of you.
"ARGH! SHIT! FUCK! I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS! NO!" the teen screams.
You crawl away from the teen and through your blurry vision you see a figure coming towards you. It's the stranger from the comic shop. The fact that he has a pistol in hand isn't exactly encouraging despite the fact that he just shot your assailant.
"You alright? You okay?" he asks running over to you.
"Yeah, I just... I need some... help up... " you remark.
Using him and the car as leverage you manage to get back on your feet. The teen is still screaming at you and the strange from his prone position.
"Can you stand on your own?" the stranger asks.
"Yeah, I think... " you reply.
"Okay then." The stranger says and then kicks the teen in the face a couple times shutting him up.
"Last thing we need is that dickhead bringing the attention of the cops that are a few blocks up."
"I dunno, the gunshots might have already done that or maybe they don't give a shit just like everyone else in this town... fuck... " you say holding the side of your head.
"You might be right, but we need to get out of the area I think, it doesn't look like your car is going too far, my car is still in the parking lot. I can take you to get that head injury looked at."
Between everything that's happened, you're not exactly thinking straight or at all except about the pain you're in.
"Yeah. Yeah. Whatever, let's go." You remark feeling wobbly.
"Okay, I'll help you along the way. My name is Jack by the way." The stranger says.
"Suzy." You say.
Jack helps you back to the parking lot as quick as you're able to move. You don't see any signs of the cops coming, though you're hearing other gunshots in the distance so maybe bigger things are happening elsewhere.
Eventually you get back to the lot and approach a small blue car.
"Okay, let me open the door and you can just lay in the backseat."
"Sure... " you say and lean against the car, while he opens up the driver's door and then unlocks the door to the backseat.
"Hey... where were you? You... you kill those guys?" you ask.
"Hiding within a small back niche where all the old comics were, in the hope of ambushing one of them. I might have done so, had your boss not riled them up enough to rush him. I came out and you were already gone. I smashed the fat one in the back of the head with a metal comic character statue. After he went down I tried to help the owner. He got shot before I could grab the gun from the tall one and then it was reflex response that I shot him." Jack replies.
Jack opens t |
he back door for you and you get in and lay down while Jack closes the door and then gets in the driver's seat.
"That one I know is dead since I shot him right in the head. I was sort of in shock for a moment since I've never killed another person before. The other teen had already run by the time I snapped out of it. I came out and I saw what was going on with you and I just reacted again. I dunno if I killed the others. I mean maybe I just knocked the fat one out and the other one when I kicked him in the face. Although I guess I paralyzed him for sure." Jack says.
Jack pulls out of the parking lot and your lids are starting to get heavy.
"You kill pimple boy? I left that asshole in a heap outside the shop." You ask.
"Um, no. I didn't see him when I came out. Guess he ran off?" Jack answers.
"Wish I'd killed him. Little fucker... ah, shit... "
"Hey, I'll help like I said so just hang in there okay?"
"Yeah... okay... " you start to say.
Within the next five minutes all you hear is Jack swearing and making exclamations of how everyone is driving like an asshole or acting crazy. You can feel the car swerving back and forth when you guess that Jack must be avoiding various things on the wrong.
At some point as you're drifting in and out of consciousness. You hear Jack swear some more about how he can't get to the hospital because the entire area is barricaded and part of the hospital is even on fire.
"Fuck! Suzy! You still with me?!" he asks.
"Huh? Yeah... " you answer groggily.
"I can't take you to the hospital, but I can still get you help. You trust me?"
"Well I'm not really in any condition to not trust you I suppose."
"I'm not a serial killer or anything I swear." Jack says.
You start chuckling at that proclamation. For one thing his name is Jack, which is a bit on the nose for a serial killer. For another if this guy actually did turn out to be one; it pretty much would be in line of your run of luck lately. Hell, if you're REALLY lucky, he'll probably be your next boyfriend because you're certainly fucked up enough to fall for someone like that.
"Bet you say that to all the girls." You say while still chuckling.
"Is there any way I can convince you? I mean... if you don't trust me, I understand. I suppose I could try to take you home if you told me how to get there, but given how fucked up this town is getting, I'm not sure if... " Jack start to say until you interrupt him.
"Jack... just take me to wherever it is you're going to take me. I truly don't care at this point because I don't even really have a home to go back to now. I've been having a shitty week, I just lost the only job I ever had, I got groped by some fucking asshole, my fucking head is bleeding, I think I got glass embedded in my face, my body aches, and I'm this close to just falling unconscious. So like I said, if you got anything sinister in mind for me, I'm not exactly in any position to stop you. Just drive." You say as the sleep is starting to take you.
Jack doesn't say anything and just begins reversing the car and swinging it around. You hear something hit the back windshield, not enough to break it though. Sirens and the general sounds of chaos can be heard throughout the drive.
You have no idea where Jack is going to take you or even if he's going to make it wherever he has in mind. All that encompasses your mind is the slumber that eventually wins you over.
> Next day...
WEDNESDAY
You wake up and find yourself on a small bed in a gray concrete room. There isn't much else in the room except a dresser and a lamp which is currently turned on. It almost feels like a cell except there is no door, just an entryway, which looks like it leads into a corridor.
You sit up and find that you're still fully clothed, so either Jack isn't a serial killing rapist or he was enough of a gentleman to put your clothes back on exactly right after he was done and is now playing mind games with you. Your girl parts and ass don't feel sore and you don't have a bad taste in your mouth so you're guessing that you weren't violated in any way. (You hope)
However the rest of your body certainly still aches from the kicks and physical abuse you took yesterday, but when you go to touch your head, you don't feel any bandages like you were expecting. In fact, you aren't even feeling any open wound that you're sure that you probably had. The side of your face doesn't feel to be scratched up either. Is Jack some sort of doctor?
You check your phone which was still in your pocket to see if anyone tried to call you, but nobody has. You thought maybe Peter would have at least tried calling considering you had his car last. If you ever get back home, you can only imagine how pissed he's going to be when he finds out what happened to it.
You sit in the bed for a while just wondering what exactly is going on and what you should do next. Honestly, you're drawing a blank. You had a plan, you tried to follow it and you thought you were succeeding and then it all went to shit yesterday. You're starting wonder if you're jinxed.
While you could spend your whole time being introspective like you have so many times before, the fact remains that you don't know where the hell you are and where your "white knight" is. Jack seems like an okay guy, but you really don't know anything about him except that he's helped you out quite a bit which would probably make the average person feel grateful, instead it makes you a bit suspicious and this prison like interior isn't exactly helping.
Still, you don't seem like you're being held captive either, so you take the opportunity to get up and leave your room.
When you enter the corridor you see several other open entryways leading to more small rooms. Since the left part of the corridor looks like it ends at a solid wall, you go right. You peer into a few of these rooms as you pass by to find that they aren't really furnished, but rather hold several boxes and containers. Some of them do contain furniture; none of it is arranged in a useable way. In general everything is stacked or positioned to resemble a warehouse more than anything else.
Maybe you are in some sort of warehouse, because so far the color of every walls you've seen is gray and they're concrete along with the floor and ceiling. Lights embedded in the ceiling provide illumination, but this whole place doesn't seem like a normal house of any kind, which you assumed Jack lived in, you guess not though.
You pass a set of stairs leading up, so you're guessing you're on the ground floor, the way you're currently heading it looks like a large open room ahead.
As you approach the large room, you start to hear noise. Sounds like it's coming from one the rooms ahead and to your right causing you to cautiously approach.
You peek around the corner and see Jack occupied and messing about with some sort of large radio system along with a few monitors set up. You hear garbled transmissions, but some of it you're making out sounds military related, something about marshal law.
"Well you don't need to spy on me, you're welcome to come in." Jack says without immediately looking in your direction. Apparently you're not as stealthy as you thought and Jack is very aware of his surroundings.
"Didn't mean to spy, just wasn't sure who or what I'd be possibly bumping into after finding myself in a strange place." You say standing in the entryway.
"Understandable. So I trust you're doing okay?" Jack asks while still messing about with his radio.
"Yeah, I mean I still ache a bit, but I'm more or less fine. Hey you're not medically trained are you? Because I thought I'd have some bandages or something what with getting smacked with a brick and glass shattering on the side on my head."
"Not professionally, but I used some medical gel on your wounds. Glad to see it worked well." Jack says finally turning to look at you.
"Worked well? I'm practically fully healed, is it magical or something?" you joke.
"No, just highly advanced... um... well if you really need to know, I shouldn't even have the stuff, but you can acquire a lot of stuff you shouldn't over the deep web." Jack says.
"I see. So I take it, this is where you live?
"Yeah, more or less now."
"Wait, so this is where your mom lived too?"
"What? Oh no. When I lived with mom, it was a regular house in town. In fact after she died, I still lived there, but when shit started getting hectic in town, I decided I better move somewhere less vulnerable so here I am at this gray building I bought years ago online. As you might have already seen, I got tons of shit stacked in rooms, told you I was a big of a hoarder."
"Well it certainly is very gray, must cost a lot to upkeep it."
"Not really, place sort of takes care of itself. Just never made a permanent living arrangement out of this place because... well it's a long story."
There's a bit of a pause in the conversation since Jack just abruptly stops talking and starts twisting knobs and then eventually waves his hands at the radio altogether and the garbled transmissions stop altogether when he turns it off.
"What are you trying to do?" you ask.
"I'm trying to listen in on a military frequency. Normally I can get clear messages from Fort Timons near Security City, but I'm not having much luck. All I know is marshal law has been declared in major cities across the country. Well that and apparently Ground Zero is still offering their shelters at low low prices. Those ads are fucking everywhere." Jack replies.
"Marshall law... that sounds pretty serious." You remark.
"Yeah, but I can't say I'm surprised with the way things have been going in the world lately. Anyway... so what are your plans?" Jack asks.
"I dunno. I've been trying to figure that out myself. I'm not having much luck either."
"Well, considering how fucked up things are in town, you're welcome to stay here. Got plenty of space, food and such."
It's a tempting offer. Really tempting, mainly because you don't have any idea what you're going to go, but you exhale and try to gather your thoughts.
"(Sigh) Look, I'm not ungrateful for probably saving my life yesterday. I didn't mind speaking with you before all that shit went down in the comic shop. Hell, you're even not bad looking and you're obviously got your shit together enough that you own your own damn building. I'm also fairly certain you were telling the truth about not being a serial killer."
"But?" Jack says predicting your lead in.
"But all of this... well my gut is telling me that something weird is going on with you. I don't know what exactly, but I imagine it's complicated. The funny thing is that it probably wouldn't even necessarily bother me, but you sort of caught me at an unusual point in my life. While I don't want to bore you with my life story, but I just recently went through an upsetting break up with my first and currently only boyfriend to date a couple days ago and I'm still trying to mentally deal with that along with all the other shit that's gone on in my life."
Jack continues to listen as you go on.
"You think YOU were a basement dweller? At least you seemed to be doing something productive, my whole life was just coasting by and living off of other people and the most recent one was my ex. I'm fairly certain he would have done anything to take care of me had I complied, but even basement dwellers have their limits I suppose and I just couldn't make that step. All of which left me up shit's creek without a boat, let along a paddle. I'm trying to make a real effort of being self-sufficient and I sort of feel like if I stayed here I'd just be falling back into my old routine of sponging off some guy."
"You wouldn't exactly be sponging off me... " Jack starts to say before you interrupt.
"Jack, I think you better stop right there, if you're about to imply what I think you're going to imply. I'm not a damn whore."
"What? No! I wasn't going to suggest that! I just meant I have so much that it's not like I'd mind if you stuck around. It's obviously dangerous out there and I'd be quite the asshole if I just threw you out."
You just hang your head down at this remark.
"Well that makes you better than my older sister, but it also makes this harder for me, because it would have been easier if you had been looking for some sort of cynical sex exchange like that."
"Wait... so you WANT me to treat you like a whore?" Jack asks confused.
"No! Fuck. I just... shit... I dunno what the hell I want... " you say putting your head in your hands.
At this point Jack tries to interpret your complete mess of explaining things.
"Okay, I think I know what you're getting at. You just got out of a relationship and you aren't really in the mood for another guy to be sniffing around you right now. You also want to be by yourself and try to make it on your own without help since you've never been truly independent your whole life. Am I right so far?" Jack asks.
"Yes." You reply.
"And while you aren't exactly thinking the worst of me right now, you're still wisely suspicious enough to wonder why the hell I helped you out if I didn't want something. Obviously there must be something odd about me, for all you know I've been stalking you or something."
"Well, basically."
"Okay, good. Now just let me explain my side of things."
You lean again the side of the entryway before Jack goes into his own speech.
"First, yes, I do think you're attractive and from what I know of you, I WOULD like to get to know you a lot better. I thought maybe there was something there during our nice conversation at the comic shop, but I dunno... I sort of... well let's just say I'm not exactly great at the whole asking someone out thing, so I lost my nerve and had to gather it again by leaving, and of course that's when those guys showed up. Not to mention I wasn't really planning on doing that anyway since I didn't expect to see anyone other than Jake at the register. Which brings me to the second point, I helped you, for the same reason I helped Jake yesterday, it was the right thing to do. I just wasn't so lucky with him as I was with you. I'm not saying I'm some hero, but I've always liked to believe I'm not a bad guy. So when I saw the opportunity to get you help, I did it. I assure you there was no ulterior motive."
At this point Jack fishes something out of his pocket. It's keys and a wad of money in a roll. He tosses them to you and you catch them.
"Do I want you to stay here because I like you? Yes, of course I would, but I can't just keep you here, if you don't want to be. You sound like you have very strong feelings about trying to make it on your own and being by yourself and I understand that. So since your car was trashed, I'm giving you mine. I'm not going to need it much longer... and no that doesn't mean I'm going to commit suicide. I just won't be needing it. As for the cash, well you'll need it more than I will too. You take them both and go live your life and hopefully it will be a good one."
You're pretty speechless. You've so rarely had anyone be this cool with you and this doesn't seem to be a "nice guy" act. If it were, he would've been calling you a complete cunt the moment you told him you weren't interested.
"I dunno what to say except thanks." You say
"Don't mention it. Come on I'll walk you out." Jack responds
Jack and you leave the radio room and enter the large open room which has a lot of boxes stacked in it's four corners. On one of the walls is a door, which Jack says, leads to the outside.
"Car is parked right outside, and is in good working condition. Um, just to let you know though we're several miles east outside of town. It will be quite the drive, but you should get back to town by nightfall. Remember, I want you to know you can come back here if it looks like the town is in just complete anarchy. I... I still worry about your safety. Anyway, just knock three times on the door and I'll know it is you."
"I'll certainly keep that in mind Jack."
"Okay, well... good luck Suzy." Jack says opening the door, which lets in a blinding brightness.
You look at Jack and then you suddenly hug him and then kiss him on the cheek. You figure it's the least you can do. Jack wasn't expecting it though; he returns the hug until you pull away.
You and he don't exchange any more words; you just turn around and leave as the door shuts behind you.
You get in the car, and count up the money to find that Jack has given you a thousand dollars in hundreds. Not much in the long term, but it would at least sustain you awhile.
You wonder if you should head back to town or just keep driving east and try to start over somewhere else.
> head back to town
Maybe if he'd given you ten or even five thousand you'd feel more comfortable making the risk of "starting over" but with just a thousand, you're not that confident even with your new found self sufficient approach to life.
Besides, you're not even sure where the hell eastward even takes you. For all you know it ends in wilderness, you've never been out of your own town before. Better to take your chances with the devil you know.
As you drive down the empty road, you pass long stretches of trees and wilderness. You never realized until just now how rural in an area you lived in before.
You briefly check your phone again to see if anyone has called, but as usual nobody has. Nobody cares.
You continue driving thinking about probably having to deal with the near state of anarchy the town is in. Assuming you even get home in one piece you'll have to deal with Peter and his car. You figure you'll have to at least give him this one.
All of which isn't going to help you with Kelly who is still intent on throwing you out by the end of the week. Chances are if you attempted to "pay rent" with some of your money she'd just punch you in the face and take ALL of your money and let you stay another month at best which means being on a time limit and scrambling for a job again. You got very lucky once with the job situation as fast as you did, and you don't think you'll manage it that quickly again even if the town wasn't all fucked up.
That leaves your plan "B" choice of living with your sister Donna and your so called best friend Julie which isn't much of a plan at all so much as it's just a free living arrangement. What a joy that's going to be, dealing with their partying every night. You might as well be living out in the chaos filled streets given how they carry on. Hell, you might even be safer. You'll definitely have to make sure to keep your newly acquired loot well hidden.
You try to take you mind off of all this by turning on the radio... Ground Zero ads.
"Ground Zero... how fucking original." You say and turn the radio off, shaking your head.
You continue driving and driving and driving; your thoughts continuing to go back and forth about why you're even going back to town.
It really would be so much easier to just stay with Jack.
> keep driving to town
As much as it might be tempting to go stay with Jack, you need to keep to your plan of self-sufficiency or at least an attempt at it. Staying with Jack is just a bad idea in the long term.
While he might say he isn't expecting anything, the longer you stay the more likely he's going to get resentful and the more likely you're just going to revert to your old ways. It's a recipe for disaster. Jack and his Gray Building were pretty weird anyway, better you just put all of that out of your head right now.
Living with your sister and friend won't be fun, but at least it will motivate you to get a means of employment to get the hell out of there quicker. It probably won't even be as bad as you think it will be either.
So that's it. You've made up your mind, set a goal and you're going to stick to it. You actually feel a little good about that.
"And fuck Peter, I'm keeping this damn car. Peter's stolen enough of my clothing over the years that I already paid for his damn vehicle." You mumble to yourself.
Now you feel even better. So much so you're smiling.
With your thoughts getting comfortable with risk and leaving behind thoughts of doing the "safe" thing you continue back to town.
You must drive for hours and never see another car on the road. It's sort of eerie, especially as it starts to get dark. At least you don't have to worry about traffic though.
As you get within the distance of the town, you wonder just how fucked up it's gotten since you left, or if order has been restored. You remember Jake mentioned marshal law being enforced in cities across the country. Makes you sort of wonder if the whole damn world is going mad or something.
Just as you get within the town's limits, you think you notice a large vehicle up head and even people. Then suddenly several spotlights shine in the direction of your vehicle and one right ahead of you. You nearly lose control of your vehicle due to the blinding light and slam on your breaks.
"HALT! BY THE ORDER OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT THIS TOWN IS UNDER MARSHAL LAW! ALL ENTRY AND IN AND OUT IS FORBIDDEN! STOP YOUR VEHICLE FOR INSPECTION!" a loud speaker echoes.
The government has apparently decided to place your shithole town under marshal law as well, you can't imagine why, but you aren't even really thinking about that, all you're thinking about is getting the hell out of here before you get shot, rounded up into a camp or both.
"Christ, Suzy, you ARE fucking jinxed." You say and then with a deft maneuver you reverse the car and spin it around. You then slam on the gas.
Gunshots ring out and your back window is shot out. Soon the sounds of a jeep can be heard followed by more gunfire.
Your attempt to outrun the National Guard prove to be a failure as your back tires are shot and blown out causing your car to spin out of control, flip a few times and then slam into a row of tree along the side of the road.
Unlike the last accident you got into, you aren't quite as lucky and you are severely injured due to low hanging branches going right through the windshield and impaling you through the chest. By the time the guardsmen reach you, all they find is a bloody mangled corpse. |
If you're going to do this, it's better that you do it away from the house. There is exactly one motel in this town anyway so it'll be real easy to find her.
"I'm sorry dear, but your father has been a bit jumpy lately due to a recent string of burglaries. I wouldn't want him suddenly pulling a shotgun on you just because you're knocking on the door in the middle of the night. Nevermind the fact he'll be pretty grumpy anyway. He hasn't been sleeping well as you might expect." You answer.
"Yikes! Well I guess maybe I should stay at the motel then, I don't want to cause grief. The Jinn Inn is still open right?" she says.
"Yep, as far as I know." You answer.
"Okay, guess I'm staying there. Ugh, just hate the idea of staying there due to it being so dirty looking. It's like one step up from that awful trailer park outside of town. I dunno how that place has stayed open so long."
"Well the hookers in town need to ply their trade somewhere."
"Mom! I've never heard you talk like that before!" She exclaims.
"Well I'm not a prude dear, despite what you might think of me."
"Mom, I don't think you're a prude. I know you're very open-minded. You're just usually pretty reserved with how your talk."
"Well I'm full of surprises, just like you are. Where do you think you got it from?"
"Hah, guess you're right. Okay then, I suppose I shouldn't really talk so much while I drive. I guess I'll be seeing you on Saturday after all. Give my love to dad."
"I will dear."
"I love you mom."
"I love you too Suzy." You say before hanging up.
You don't have much time, you have to prepare and make a plan of what you're going to do.
"Did I hear you on the phone out here?" you mother says walking into the kitchen.
"Huh? Oh, yeah just someone trying to sell something. They were really persistent." You reply.
"I can tell, you hardly cut up any of the carrots."
"Sorry, I guess I got caught up in telling them to never call here again. I should have just hung up I suppose."
"No worries, I've gotten directly angry at those telemarketer types too."
"Hey mom, I've got some things I left here that I want to get and I know they're probably in my room somewhere or maybe even the basement, you don't mind if I go take care of that do you?"
"No, not at all. We can talk later. Let me know if you're looking for something in particular. I might know where it is."
"I will mom."
You head to your room to try to formulate a plan. You figure the easiest way to do this is to hang out near or around the motel parking lot and watch for a silver sports car. When you see what room she goes to, you can just blitz attack her as she's attempting to open it up and take care of her in the motel room itself. You just need to be quick.
So, now that you have her, now you have to kill her. You're going to need something quick and not noisy. A knife you suppose, but that might take more than one stab unless you cut her throat or something. The bat you got from the Gray Building might work, if you smash her in the head multiple times. The thing is you don't want is to splatter a bunch of blood all over the place. The Jinn Inn might be shady and dirty enough that a few blood spots on their carpets aren't going to raise an eyebrow, but if you make it look like the chainsaw massacre, you will cause attention and it isn't like you're going to have all the time in the world to clean it up. The goal is to make the kill and replace her as efficiently as possible.
Which brings you to the idea of how you're going to dispose of the body since you can't just leave a dead doppelganger of yourself in the motel room. You're definitely going to have to haul it out into the wilderness-surrounding town. Dragging it to one of the trunks of the car is going to be the most difficult part. (You still aren't sure which one you'll take) Dragging her body out might be less risky if you at least wrapped it in something; you think you saw some things in the basement that might come in useful.
Once you get the body into the trunk though, you just need to drive far enough away so it isn't discovered. Even if it is, maybe you should mutilate the face so it can't be identified. Pull out the teeth?
Your murder plans are temporarily broken up by your thoughts of Bobby. You didn't often speak to Bobby about his "religious practices", but in the few times you dared to ask questions, he did explain helpfully about how he went about things. You never dreamed that such knowledge might come in handy.
You make a mental note of everything you might need. You grab an old duffle bag out of the closet and fill it with some of her old clothing from her drawers. You figure you're probably going to need new clothing to wear after your grim work.
When you head downstairs you find that dad has returned.
"Hey Suzy, where are you off to?"
"Oh just putting some stuff of mine in the car, hey dad I was thinking about painting my place when I get back home. I noticed some old tarps and blankets in the basement, you wouldn't mind if I took those would you?" you ask.
"Oh no, go ahead. Take whatever you might need." He says.
You head to your car and throw the duffle bag in, then you return to the house and head down into the basement.
You grab some of the folded up tarps and then you notice some of the old tools and other junk down here. Are you going to need an axe to chop up the body? Maybe you should take a shovel to bury it in the wilderness? You remember they stuffed a body into a luggage case in one movie...
"Fuck it, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do, I better just take all this shit. Dad did say to help myself." You say and make a couple trips up and down the basement, loading up your car with tools, tape, bags, and tarps in the process. (And being to keep the shovel and axe hidden within the tarps since the last thing you need is a question about why you might need those)
By the time you're done, you're about ready to go do the deed right now, but it's still too early. Besides, you can't just disappear for all day and night, your parents would wonder. You're going to have to come up with an excuse of why you're going to be gone.
As you're piecing together an excuse, when you get back in the house your mom sees and addresses you again.
"You going to have dinner with us in a half hour or so?" she asks.
"... yes... of course. I have to leave though afterwards."
"Leave? You just got here!"
"I don't mean leave to go back to Security City, I just mean... well I've been in contact with a former school friend through the Internet and she's sort of been going through some tough times. I promised I'd meet up with her when I was visiting."
"Oh... well I certainly understand. Who was this friend? Do I know her? Though I suppose I only ever remember Julie due to you two hanging together a lot."
You very briefly blank on making up a name on the spot, however you do come up with one rather quickly.
"Um, Diana. Her name was Diana Morningstar. She never came over here, since her parents were always a bit strict, but I always got along with her in school. She wasn't very popular, but I always felt a bit sorry for her so I was sort of her only real friend. Though I imagine she probably put more stock into it than I did, I mean I was still just a shallow kid at the time and wanted to hang out with Julie since we could have fun together like normal young teens. I sort of lost contact with her when her parents pulled her out of school altogether and home schooled her. I think they were religious nuts."
Your mother just shakes her head.
"See, parents like that just shouldn't have children. That's a shame. Well I'm glad to hear that you showed that girl a bit of kindness. I'm sure she's glad you're in contact again and will be happy to see you. You always were thoughtful." Your mother says and then mentions that you should take a spare key for the house from the desk in the front room just in case you come home late and they're already asleep.
Eventually it's dinnertime and you have dinner with your mom and dad. Through a bit of conversation you do learn a little more about your "life" here and through careful weaving and quick thinking, you manage to navigate through questions you might not otherwise know the answers to. To be honest though, you're only just barely paying attention to any of it, because you're so preoccupied.
While you're apparently calm on the outside, you're really a ball of nervous energy and as soon as dinner is over you nearly rush out of the house, though you do grab the spare house key for appearances.
You say goodbye to your parents and leave the house. It's night, but it's still too early for her to be at the motel yet, well at least you hope that's the case since that will change up your plans of how to get to her.
You spend a bit of time driving around trying to put yourself in the mind frame to do this. You can't afford to choke; this is a life or death decision quite literally. You need to do this for your future life here. The life that you deserved... but why are you so much more deserving? Didn't this Suzy work hard to get what she got even if she had a few advantages? Are you just too overwhelmed with jealousy? How can you genuinely desire to find the inner strength to kill?
"For fuck's sake Suzy, you were going out with a cultist for fuck's sake and you had no problem with him killing people! Is this really all that surprising?" you exclaim to yourself.
Maybe this is genetic. Maybe you take after Uncle Ed. (Who you learned didn't exist in this reality when your mom mentioned being an only child at dinner) Maybe it was your fucked up upbringing. Maybe it was your environment. Maybe there was always darkness in you and you were just too damn lazy for it ever to fully thrive.
Well it's thriving now. Is it ever. You've got more motivation than you ever have before. Maybe it's because there is so much at stake. Maybe it's because on some level you actually hate yourself and by killing this Suzy, well it's like killing yourself without the actual downside of dying.
Whatever the reason, you can't waste anymore time thinking about whether this is right or wrong. Your life hasn't exactly been "right" for a very long time, but if everything goes according to plan, your life will be getting there.
Well at least that's how you're convincing yourself this time around. Just like you've convinced yourself of several other things this week, you succeed in convincing yourself of this too. It's getting a lot easier.
You stop driving around town and finally head to the motel. You'll wait the rest of the time out in the parking lot.
When you get to the Jinn Inn, it isn't quite as bad as the one in your reality, but you definitely see some shady characters popping into the rooms. You see no sign of a silver sports car though and you do take the time to check. She's not here yet so you just park in a strategic location where you can see all the traffic coming in and out. When she arrives, you'll definitely see her.
Hours pass, but you never lose focus. And eventually your vigilance pays off. You see a silver sports car. It actually isn't as fancy as you thought it might be, probably was bought used, but it's certainly more than you ever had.
You watch her park close to the motel rooms and then you see her get out of the car. She's dressed in casual clothing and carries a small purse, but when you watch her walk to the motel check in office, you notice she carries herself with an air of self-confidence. It's like it doesn't matter that the area she's around is shit, she knows she's better and isn't at all intimidated by the element here.
It is at this moment you grab your baseball bat and get out of the car still keeping an eye out and crouching down behind the vehicles. Fortunately nobody else happens to be lingering around the lot at the moment. Hopefully it stays that way.
You soon see her come out of the check in office and as stealthily as you can you run over behind more cars and get closer. You watch where she walks to and continue to keep a look out for anyone else that might suddenly pop up. You just need to stay hidden as you follow her and then rush her when she finally opens up her room. You silently thank your luck for once since she seems to not be very aware of her surroundings and only focuses on heading towards her room.
"Stupid, arrogant bitch... " you say to yourself.
Your stalking soon ends when you see her reach her room. It's a perfect opening too. Nobody is around and she fumbles with the keys a bit giving you time to get closer before making that mad sprint as soon as she opens her room... and then you strike.
Your target opens the door and enters her room. She turns around to close the door just in time to see you up close in front of her hitting her with face with the bat. It isn't a full swing, but rather a hard "poke", but it's enough to break her nose and cause her to go falling to the floor.
You quickly slam the door shut behind you and you briefly think about beating her brains in with the bat, but then you realize that will probably be messy.
"You... " is all she manages to get out before you kick her in the face to shut her up. Then you pounce on top of her and after turning her over, you use the bat sideways and you press it up against her throat as hard as you can as you pull back.
She gasps and struggles for her life, but it's no use, your determination to kill her is much stronger than her abilities to fight for her life.
"Shhhhh... just let go... .just let go... everything is going to work out and your parents won't be losing a daughter at all. Just let go... ." You whisper.
Soon you hear a crunching sound of perhaps crushing bones in her neck or her windpipe or something. Whatever it is, her struggle temporarily becomes more violent and jerky with her limbs attempting to flail about. It almost feels like you're riding her like a wild pony, but soon this outburst is muted and then nothing.
Suzy collapses dying with her face partially in a small puddle of her blood and spital, leaving you sitting on top of a corpse's back. You eventually stand up taking in what you've done. You're hot and sweaty, but strangely invigorated.
"(Whew) And I thought I was going to choke." you say and then start to chuckle at your own dark joke.
Well the first part of the deed is done, now comes the more labor inducing part. Getting rid of her body.
You've actually managed to keep the mess to a minimum by choking her to death, so you're wondering if you shouldn't just grab the tarps from the car, roll her ass up in them, duct tape it together and take her to the trunk.
She might be your size, (Okay slightly lighter) but it isn't like you're used to carrying bodies around. While there wasn't anyone out there, the last thing you need is someone seeing you fumbling around with a body, even one wrapped in a tarp.
If you wanted to play it safe, you suppose you could drag her to the bathroom and chop her up in the bathtub. It will definitely take longer and you might make more of a mess, but you could always carry her out in several pieces in that big luggage bag you brought with you.
> chop her up
If you're going to do this, you need to do this right. In fact the more you think about it, this isn't going to be done in one day. However, you can get some of it done tonight if you stay focused.
Sure, you're going to have to come up with a few excuses to your parents of why you were out all night, but you can think them up while you're taking care of this.
You quickly search her body, but find nothing of interest. The purse that she dropped on the floor when you smashed her in the face contains all the important stuff, but you figure you can go through it more thoroughly later.
The first thing you do is leave the room and head directly to the check in office. When you enter you see a slovenly man watching a tv. His leering eyes turn your way and you have no doubt he thinks you're the same woman from earlier.
"Hey, I'm gonna need that room a little longer." You say.
"Business that good huh?" he snorts.
"Very funny, look how much for two more days?"
"Same price you see on the fucking sign above my head."
"Oh, well I guess I didn't see it since I was so mesmerized what with you being such a stud and all." You say sarcastically while pulling out a couple hundreds out of your pocket.
You toss the money at him dismissively, but he takes it without question.
"Keep the change and I don't want anyone disturbing me until its time to check out, got it? That means no house keeping ladies or shit knocking at my door." You say.
"House keeping ladies? Pfft, no problem there. I got one and she barely does her fucking job as it is. If I wasn't married to her I would've fired her years ago." The man says and returns to his show.
You then head to your car where you start bringing in several of the various objects you brought from the house. Takes you a couple trips, but you don't have any trouble.
The motel bathroom is fortunately bigger than you expected it to be, it's also a lot dirtier than you expected it to be. Of course now you're not so much worried about making a mess so much as you're afraid you're going to catch hepatitis just being in the damn place.
You lay down tarps on the floor and in the bathtub then you drag her body in. You go grab the axe and study it a bit; hoping that it's sharp enough that you won't need to struggle with the whole dismemberment task.
Standing over her body with an axe is a little surreal to you, but you need to stop dwelling on how weird this all is and get on with it.
"Here we go." You say and swing the axe...
Chopping up the body is a mixed feeling. On one hand you're completely at peace with the deed and everything that goes along with it. The blood and gore isn't even all that bad since you've gotten a bit accustomed to that, but it's the smell that's making you feel a little sick.
You actually have to stop chopping for a moment because you can't stop gagging. Eventually you just give in and throw up in the toilet nearby. Afterwards, you're more or less fine. It still isn't nearly as bad as that fucked up reality warping tentacle monster shadow abominations you had to endure during your time in the Gray Building. You never want to experience something like that again.
By the time you're finished, you've got severed parts waiting to be wrapped up. You got most of the bloody mess on the tarps, so that's one less thing to worry about you suppose. You'll have to dispose of the bloody clothing you're wearing though.
Getting naked, you return to your large luggage case, which you placed on the bed and open it up to retrieve all the trash bags you took along with the duct tape.
The wrapping and taping is probably more time consuming than the chopping up part. You don't really have too many problems except when it comes to the torso which is not fun to deal with since it's still heavy and blood is leaking everywhere from it.
Eventually you get everything in order and before you know it, you've got several body parts wrapped fairly tightly in bags and they don't seem to be leaking either. After washing your hands and arms a bit, you grab the luggage case from the next room.
It takes some effort and squeezing, but you just barely manage to fit all of the parts in the case. After carefully moving the tarps to drain the blood in the tub, you then fold them up and squeeze them in too, along with your blood drenched clothing. The luggage case itself is made of solid material and you're confident there won't be any leakage, but just dragging it back into the main room takes some effort. It definitely isn't going to be easy to shove into the car trunk.
Next you spend a little time cleaning up a few places where the blood spilled on the floor or splattered on the wall. Most of this was in the bathroom and is relativity easy to get rid of, though you do spend some time scrubbing the carpet a bit where you first choked her out.
After you're done with all of that, you take a shower, which also gets rid of the blood already in the tub. You briefly feel a little like that infamous countess that bathed in the blood of young girls to maintain her youth.
Getting dressed in a new set of clothing you brought in the duffle bag, you finally collapse on the bed not caring how filthy it may or may not be.
"Ahhh... shit... " you say to yourself as fatigue sets in.
You take this opportunity to go a bit through the purse now, starting with the phone. You check the time and see that it's practically getting up for morning.
You figure you'll sleep here for what remains of the night and tomorrow you'll take the remains to the wilderness and find a good spot to bury them. You imagine your mom will call you at some point, possibly even waking you up. You figure you'll tell her you had a few drinks with Diana and you didn't want to risk driving home. She'll understand that even if she might not approve.
You also figure you'll take the blue car when you drive. The shovel is still in that one and you might very well have to stop off at your parent's house first for some reason anyway if they really make a fuss to want to see you immediately. Better you don't have to park around the block or something just so you don't arouse suspicion. You'll definitely be abandoning the blue one and taking the silver one back when you leave town and head back to Security City though.
And that's just some of what you have to do for tomorrow. You'll be able to do it though as long as you stay focused on your goals like you have been doing.
As you begin to drift off, your thoughts briefly focus on Bobby. Seems weird to think of him even now after all you've been through this week. You wonder if his family lives in town? Are they still cultists or are they normal?
You have no idea, there is going to be a lot to learn from this reality, but you can only dwell on "your" Bobby and what he might think. You certainly are a far cry from that "good girl" he rescued so long ago. He probably would be proud of you right now.
You know he's out of your life forever now, but you still can't help feel a little sad about it.
"I still wonder if being with you influenced me or what I just did was within me all along. Either way I guess if I stayed with you earlier this week... maybe... maybe... we could have made it work after all. Another reality perhaps... " you say and close your eyes.
> Next day...
SATURDAY
You wake up to the cell phone ringing. You're very tired, but when you see who it is, this call isn't unexpected.
"Hey mom... " you groggily reply.
"Hey mom? Where are you? I thought you would've come back last night!" your mom exclaims.
"What time is it now?"
"It's almost noon! Are you okay?"
"Mom, mom, mom, calm down. I'm fine. I just... well I drank a little too much... "
"Drink? You don't drink!" your mom exclaims.
"Yeah, I know hence why I've been more or less out of it. Diana was really distraught last night and she was already drinking a bit when I got over to her place. She got an eviction notice, she broke up with her boyfriend, she lost her job and just a whole bunch of other drama in genera hit her this week. She really needed a friend to speak with and well, I ended up drinking with her since she was sort of insistent and I wanted to be there for her. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I think she felt better as the night went on. Of course that might have just been the drink... I dunno... I'm sorry for worrying you though."
There is a pause after you give your excuse.
"Okay Suzy. I get it. (Sigh) I'm just glad you had the sense not to drive if you really got that drunk though. I do hope this isn't a habit though, I know you're an adult, but you're still my baby and I don't like to think of you as being some falling down lush."
"Oh mom, that's not going to happen. Seriously, like I said, I only did it so Diana would feel better. I fully intend to tell her when she wakes up that this won't be happening again."
"Glad to hear it. So when do you think you'll be home? Your father and I would still like to see you since you actually came here to visit us remember?"
"I know, I'll be home in a few hours I suppose. I still feel woozy from last night. Did you need me over immediately though? Because I can do that if you want."
"No, no, you take care of everything you need to over there and come over when you're feeling up to driving. Don't want you getting into an accident because you're not feeling one hundred percent."
"Okay, I will be over as soon as I can though."
"Alright, we'll see you then. Love you Suzy."
"I love you mom."
You hang up and rub your eyes a bit.
"Well that's one thing out of the way. Better get on with the more important task." You say.
You open up the door to your room and see a closer parking spot to your room, which is good since you really don't want to drag that case too far.
You go to your car and bring it in closer and then head back to your room to gather up everything.
You gather up the bat and axe (which you also wash off in the tub) and toss them in the trunk. Next, you grab the luggage case. With some effort, you drag it to the trunk and lift it inside. You're really glad you decided to chop her up, you can't imagine how awkward it would've been to carry her intact.
You take your new purse and duffle bag and leave the room. You'll come back for the sports car later. The only danger of leaving it here is someone stealing the thing, but then it wasn't really your car to begin with.
Believing you've taken care of everything you need to here, you start up your car and drive off for north of town.
A few hours later and you're just finishing up digging a good-sized hole in the ground to shove the case in. You really think you were better off doing this in the day time since you neglected to bring a flashlight which would have made digging in the middle of the woods at night a little more difficult.
You were a little concerned about some random campers stumbling upon you, or maybe some redneck hunters, but so far you haven't seen a single thing, which is good.
You look at the luggage case.
"Well Suzy, now is where we part ways. I wish I could say I didn't want things to be this way, but I'd be lying. You had a better life and I wanted that so I took it. Maybe that makes me a fucking sociopath or evil or something, I don't know and I don't care. All I can say is I'm going to make the most of it and not waste your life the way I wasted my life."
You grab the case and shove it into the hole.
"Thanks Suzy and goodbye." You say and then fill up the hole.
After your deed you make the mildly long walk out of the woods and to your car. You throw your shovel in the trunk and sit in the car for a while not doing anything except resting. Digging a hole for a body is some tiring business even if it's neatly tucked in a case.
You grab your new phone out of the purse to call your mom so you can let her know you'll be home soon and that's when you notice someone else has called while you were out digging.
It's your "girlfriend." Apparently her name is Heather and she left you a voice message which out of curiosity you listen to.
"Hey Suzy, I hope you're having a good time visiting your family. I just wanted to call though and see how you were. I know you haven't been gone long, but you know I always miss you when you're not around. Anyway, call me back when you have time. Oh and I sent you some pictures to keep you occupied when you're alone! (Giggle!)"
You go through the phone and see that Heather has indeed sent you more than a few pictures. You see a raven haired girl of small physique with lipstick and eye make up wearing lingerie and making sexy poses. You have to admit, she's actually very pretty in a slightly goth sort of way.
"Damn, maybe I shouldn't break up with her immediately." you chuckle.
You turn the car on and begin making the journey back to your parent's house. Along the way you think about everything that's happened this week and how this is just beginning of your new life. You weren't joking about making the most of it when you said those words out loud in the woods. You meant that, well except you're not going to be making the most out of her life, you're going to be making the most out of YOUR life.
While the "transformation" is far from complete, you think the hardest part is over and even if there are challenges or you to overcome, you'll succeed in surviving and conquering them.
Because that's all you've done during this Hell week, survived and ultimately conquered it.
> ...
Mirror rorriM
The Future...
Your siblings, spouses, children, and you all stand in your mother's bedroom. It probably won't be long now.
You always knew the day would come when you'd lose her again and that day is today. While you might have been more prepared for it this time, it doesn't make it any less sad. You didn't even feel this sad when your dad died years ago and you loved him very much, though maybe that's because you always still had the tainted memory of your crappy alternate one.
Your mother though in both realities was always there for you and you've never forgotten that.
"Now that I've said my goodbyes to everyone... I want... .I want to speak to Suzy... alone... " your mother utters.
Everyone is a little surprised by this unexpected request. You are too, since you thought everyone was going to be in her room until the end.
"What? But mother... " Kelly starts to say looking almost a little offended.
"Kelly. Not now. Not today." Ben says with a stern voice.
Kelly looks at Ben like she wants to argue, but he's about the only person that can make her back down. She does however give you the stare of death.
Kelly never changes no matter what reality. She always hates you. There actually was a slightly comforting consistency when you first encountered her.
"Fine. She's all yours, just like she always is." Kelly snaps and storms out the room.
Ben exhales and shrugs with a slight widening of his eyes looking at you.
"It's okay... I'm used to it." You say.
"Alright, everyone come on let's leave these two alone to talk." Ben replies.
Ben escorts his children out of the room while Julie goes up and gives you a quick hug before following them.
You kiss and hug your husband and tell your daughter that you'll see them later.
After they leave it's just you and mom. You pull up your chair as close as you can to the bed and sit near her and hold her hand.
"I'm here mom." You say.
"Yes... yes you are. You've always been here. (Cough) Even when you weren't."
Your mom at this point turns to look directly at you and despite her very weak state you feel her hand squeeze yours somewhat strongly and she gives you a sudden intense look.
"I know you're not Suzy... or rather you're not the Suzy I gave birth to... " she says with a tone that you've never heard before. It isn't anger or anything negative, but it is one that puts you so off guard that you get a chill down your back.
"Mom, I... " you begin to sputter before she interrupts you.
"Don't. I know. I've known for a very long time now. A mother always knows her own child."
You don't know how to react. You look down and away from your "mother. You actually feel a little sick and you start to tremble a bit. You have never once in all these years felt bad about what you did, but now you're not so sure. You begin to sniffle and tears start to form.
"Shhhh, Suzy. Save your tears for when I'm truly gone because it doesn't matter. You're still my daughter, but I couldn't go to my grave without letting you know that I knew. I also thought I'd tell you for your sake. Now (cough) I don't want to know the gruesome details... about HOW this came to be, but if its been weighing on your conscience at all, you didn't actually replace the Suzy I gave birth to anyway."
This is beyond unexpected. How is it possible that she knows all this just on instinct? You look up at your mother.
"My Suzy... the Suzy I knew as the daughter I gave birth to? Something happened to her a long time ago. (cough cough) Something changed soon after she went to college. I never could place my finger on it, but first time she visited I knew something was different. And it wasn't just due to experimenting with new ideas and sexuality in college. SHE was different and I KNEW she was. As I said, a mother knows, but the frequent little inconsistencies in her memories and such made it certain. Just as I learned with you."
You just continue holding your mother's hand as she speaks.
"But what could I do? What could I say? Who would believe such a fantastic tale? Sure this new Suzy was a little more full of herself, but she still loved me just like my Suzy did. I couldn't lose my baby daughter twice so I never spoke up. Never (cough) dreamed it would happen again though. I suppose in some ways I might have even been glad though. You replaced the one who replaced mine."
Never did you ever believe that your mother knew. To learn this now is just as overwhelming as when you had to deal with the situation so long ago.
"Why... why didn't you say anything before?" you ask looking up.
"Why ruin a good relationship? You never disrespected me and treated me kindly. You always visited when you could and you even moved back to town with your family when your father died so you could be closer to me. You obviously loved me very much. Could I really ask for a better daughter?" your mother says with a faint smile.
The feelings are almost overwhelming you at this point. You're completely at a loss. At this point your mom gives your hand another squeeze, but weaker this time.
"You're my daughter. My baby and I always loved you. Never doubt that." She says.
"I don't... (Sob)" you say and attempt to hold it together.
Your mother's grip is becoming less firm now.
"Soon none of this will matter, but before I go... I want to know a couple things... " your mother says weakly.
"Of course." You reply.
"What... (cough) was your other mother like?"
"She... (sniffle) was very much like you. She was kind and was the only one who ever truly cared when I was growing up. I... (sob) was still little when she died... I missed her very much... " you say trying to keep from crying completely.
Your mother nods.
"I see... I suppose... (cough cough) that answer might partially answer my other question then... "
"What's that?"
"How many other Suzys were there after you?"
You're silent for a moment.
"Three that I know of. I think you may have even met one of them."
"Mm... considering you were never replaced... I suppose... you just wanted this life more than they did then... "
"It... (sob) has been a good life... (sob)"
Your mother pats your hand.
"And you'll still have a good life Suzy, even after I'm gone... " she says.
At this point your mother's eyes begin to flutter and then shut completely and her breathing becomes shallow.
You stay until the end and then sadness is completely released. You cry over your loss and head towards the door, not wishing to be in the same room with the empty shell that was your mother any longer.
When you exit, your husband immediately sees had distraught you are and goes to comfort you. Your daughter has been visibly crying as well. Ben, says that he'll start making the arrangements for the funeral, meanwhile Kelly takes it upon herself to call medical personnel.
Later, the drive back home is quieter, with your daughter Sally sleeping in the backseat and your husband Roger just paying attention to the road.
It's been an emotional roller coaster for you today. More than you even thought it would be, but you're sort of glad your mother knew. Somehow her knowing and still loving and accepting you anyway made it just as real as how your reality's mom felt towards you.
You also wonder if this means you won't have to put up with any other reality hopping Suzys any longer. That might be a little too much to hope for though, after all your life is still a good one and you have much to be happy about in the scheme of things. Your mother was right about that.
Doesn't matter, you'll continue to fight for it just like you always have because now you truly have a life worth fighting for.
"You okay over there honey?" Roger asks.
"Yes, well no, but I guess I'm just trying to think about all the good times I had with mom. You know, focus on the positive."
"That's good Suzy. I think that's a healthy approach." He replies.
Roger always has been a supportive husband to you. You never would have thought you would have fallen for a soldier type before. You sometimes wonder if you and Roger ever met in another reality.
"Yeah, it's odd, but I think I'm also coming up with an idea for a new book. Figure maybe I should re-channel all this negativity into something productive." You say.
"Oh? What idea?"
"Well I suppose my mind is still a bit fragmented for a solid idea, but I'm thinking of doing a sequel to Mirrors."
"Oh, your scifi book about parallel dimensions? That one was pretty popular. I know I certainly liked it better than that one your wrote about that inbred cultist family. That one was a little too gruesome for my tastes."
"Well I had to make a dramatic break from my first three books. Up until then, all people thought I could write was lesbian pirate erotica."
"Hey I liked Treasure Chest. I thought it was a pretty deep love story." Roger says.
"Oh I know why YOU liked it." You say chuckling a little bit and allowing yourself to feel a little better.
"Well okay I liked the obvious too, well anyway do you have any idea on what the new story might involve?"
"It will probably just pick up a few years after Mirror left off and I'll see how it goes from there. Like I said, it's just in the idea stages now, but whatever I come up with, I'll definitely be dedicating it in the memory of mom."
"Well I think that's a very good way to honor her. She certainly has contributed to your inspiration."
You nod.
"In more ways than one Roger. In more ways than one." |
WEDNESDAY
You wake up and find yourself on a small bed in a gray concrete room. There isn't much else in the room except a dresser and a lamp which is currently turned on. It almost feels like a cell except there is no door, just an entryway, which looks like it leads into a corridor.
You sit up and find that you're still fully clothed, so either Jack isn't a serial killing rapist or he was enough of a gentleman to put your clothes back on exactly right after he was done and is now playing mind games with you. Your girl parts and ass don't feel sore and you don't have a bad taste in your mouth so you're guessing that you weren't violated in any way. (You hope)
However the rest of your body certainly still aches from the kicks and physical abuse you took yesterday, but when you go to touch your head, you don't feel any bandages like you were expecting. In fact, you aren't even feeling any open wound that you're sure that you probably had. The side of your face doesn't feel to be scratched up either. Is Jack some sort of doctor?
You check your phone which was still in your pocket to see if anyone tried to call you, but nobody has. You thought maybe Peter would have at least tried calling considering you had his car last. If you ever get back home, you can only imagine how pissed he's going to be when he finds out what happened to it.
You sit in the bed for a while just wondering what exactly is going on and what you should do next. Honestly, you're drawing a blank. You had a plan, you tried to follow it and you thought you were succeeding and then it all went to shit yesterday. You're starting wonder if you're jinxed.
While you could spend your whole time being introspective like you have so many times before, the fact remains that you don't know where the hell you are and where your "white knight" is. Jack seems like an okay guy, but you really don't know anything about him except that he's helped you out quite a bit which would probably make the average person feel grateful, instead it makes you a bit suspicious and this prison like interior isn't exactly helping.
Still, you don't seem like you're being held captive either, so you take the opportunity to get up and leave your room.
When you enter the corridor you see several other open entryways leading to more small rooms. Since the left part of the corridor looks like it ends at a solid wall, you go right. You peer into a few of these rooms as you pass by to find that they aren't really furnished, but rather hold several boxes and containers. Some of them do contain furniture; none of it is arranged in a useable way. In general everything is stacked or positioned to resemble a warehouse more than anything else.
Maybe you are in some sort of warehouse, because so far the color of every walls you've seen is gray and they're concrete along with the floor and ceiling. Lights embedded in the ceiling provide illumination, but this whole place doesn't seem like a normal house of any kind, which you assumed Jack lived in, you guess not though.
You pass a set of stairs leading up, so you're guessing you're on the ground floor, the way you're currently heading it looks like a large open room ahead.
As you approach the large room, you start to hear noise. Sounds like it's coming from one the rooms ahead and to your right causing you to cautiously approach.
You peek around the corner and see Jack occupied and messing about with some sort of large radio system along with a few monitors set up. You hear garbled transmissions, but some of it you're making out sounds military related, something about marshal law.
"Well you don't need to spy on me, you're welcome to come in." Jack says without immediately looking in your direction. Apparently you're not as stealthy as you thought and Jack is very aware of his surroundings.
"Didn't mean to spy, just wasn't sure who or what I'd be possibly bumping into after finding myself in a strange place." You say standing in the entryway.
"Understandable. So I trust you're doing okay?" Jack asks while still messing about with his radio.
"Yeah, I mean I still ache a bit, but I'm more or less fine. Hey you're not medically trained are you? Because I thought I'd have some bandages or something what with getting smacked with a brick and glass shattering on the side on my head."
"Not professionally, but I used some medical gel on your wounds. Glad to see it worked well." Jack says finally turning to look at you.
"Worked well? I'm practically fully healed, is it magical or something?" you joke.
"No, just highly advanced... um... well if you really need to know, I shouldn't even have the stuff, but you can acquire a lot of stuff you shouldn't over the deep web." Jack says.
"I see. So I take it, this is where you live?
"Yeah, more or less now."
"Wait, so this is where your mom lived too?"
"What? Oh no. When I lived with mom, it was a regular house in town. In fact after she died, I still lived there, but when shit started getting hectic in town, I decided I better move somewhere less vulnerable so here I am at this gray building I bought years ago online. As you might have already seen, I got tons of shit stacked in rooms, told you I was a big of a hoarder."
"Well it certainly is very gray, must cost a lot to upkeep it."
"Not really, place sort of takes care of itself. Just never made a permanent living arrangement out of this place because... well it's a long story."
There's a bit of a pause in the conversation since Jack just abruptly stops talking and starts twisting knobs and then eventually waves his hands at the radio altogether and the garbled transmissions stop altogether when he turns it off.
"What are you trying to do?" you ask.
"I'm trying to listen in on a military frequency. Normally I can get clear messages from Fort Timons near Security City, but I'm not having much luck. All I know is marshal law has been declared in major cities across the country. Well that and apparently Ground Zero is still offering their shelters at low low prices. Those ads are fucking everywhere." Jack replies.
"Marshall law... that sounds pretty serious." You remark.
"Yeah, but I can't say I'm surprised with the way things have been going in the world lately. Anyway... so what are your plans?" Jack asks.
"I dunno. I've been trying to figure that out myself. I'm not having much luck either."
"Well, considering how fucked up things are in town, you're welcome to stay here. Got plenty of space, food and such."
It's a tempting offer. Really tempting, mainly because you don't have any idea what you're going to go, but you exhale and try to gather your thoughts.
"(Sigh) Look, I'm not ungrateful for probably saving my life yesterday. I didn't mind speaking with you before all that shit went down in the comic shop. Hell, you're even not bad looking and you're obviously got your shit together enough that you own your own damn building. I'm also fairly certain you were telling the truth about not being a serial killer."
"But?" Jack says predicting your lead in.
"But all of this... well my gut is telling me that something weird is going on with you. I don't know what exactly, but I imagine it's complicated. The funny thing is that it probably wouldn't even necessarily bother me, but you sort of caught me at an unusual point in my life. While I don't want to bore you with my life story, but I just recently went through an upsetting break up with my first and currently only boyfriend to date a couple days ago and I'm still trying to mentally deal with that along with all the other shit that's gone on in my life."
Jack continues to listen as you go on.
"You think YOU were a basement dweller? At least you seemed to be doing something productive, my whole life was just coasting by and living off of other people and the most recent one was my ex. I'm fairly certain he would have done anything to take care of me had I complied, but even basement dwellers have their limits I suppose and I just couldn't make that step. All of which left me up shit's creek without a boat, let along a paddle. I'm trying to make a real effort of being self-sufficient and I sort of feel like if I stayed here I'd just be falling back into my old routine of sponging off some guy."
"You wouldn't exactly be sponging off me... " Jack starts to say before you interrupt.
"Jack, I think you better stop right there, if you're about to imply what I think you're going to imply. I'm not a damn whore."
"What? No! I wasn't going to suggest that! I just meant I have so much that it's not like I'd mind if you stuck around. It's obviously dangerous out there and I'd be quite the asshole if I just threw you out."
You just hang your head down at this remark.
"Well that makes you better than my older sister, but it also makes this harder for me, because it would have been easier if you had been looking for some sort of cynical sex exchange like that."
"Wait... so you WANT me to treat you like a whore?" Jack asks confused.
"No! Fuck. I just... shit... I dunno what the hell I want... " you say putting your head in your hands.
At this point Jack tries to interpret your complete mess of explaining things.
"Okay, I think I know what you're getting at. You just got out of a relationship and you aren't really in the mood for another guy to be sniffing around you right now. You also want to be by yourself and try to make it on your own without help since you've never been truly independent your whole life. Am I right so far?" Jack asks.
"Yes." You reply.
"And while you aren't exactly thinking the worst of me right now, you're still wisely suspicious enough to wonder why the hell I helped you out if I didn't want something. Obviously there must be something odd about me, for all you know I've been stalking you or something."
"Well, basically."
"Okay, good. Now just let me explain my side of things."
You lean again the side of the entryway before Jack goes into his own speech.
"First, yes, I do think you're attractive and from what I know of you, I WOULD like to get to know you a lot better. I thought maybe there was something there during our nice conversation at the comic shop, but I dunno... I sort of... well let's just say I'm not exactly great at the whole asking someone out thing, so I lost my nerve and had to gather it again by leaving, and of course that's when those guys showed up. Not to mention I wasn't really planning on doing that anyway since I didn't expect to see anyone other than Jake at the register. Which brings me to the second point, I helped you, for the same reason I helped Jake yesterday, it was the right thing to do. I just wasn't so lucky with him as I was with you. I'm not saying I'm some hero, but I've always liked to believe I'm not a bad guy. So when I saw the opportunity to get you help, I did it. I assure you there was no ulterior motive."
At this point Jack fishes something out of his pocket. It's keys and a wad of money in a roll. He tosses them to you and you catch them.
"Do I want you to stay here because I like you? Yes, of course I would, but I can't just keep you here, if you don't want to be. You sound like you have very strong feelings about trying to make it on your own and being by yourself and I understand that. So since your car was trashed, I'm giving you mine. I'm not going to need it much longer... and no that doesn't mean I'm going to commit suicide. I just won't be needing it. As for the cash, well you'll need it more than I will too. You take them both and go live your life and hopefully it will be a good one."
You're pretty speechless. You've so rarely had anyone be this cool with you and this doesn't seem to be a "nice guy" act. If it were, he would've been calling you a complete cunt the moment you told him you weren't interested.
"I dunno what to say except thanks." You say
"Don't mention it. Come on I'll walk you out." Jack responds
Jack and you leave the radio room and enter the large open room which has a lot of boxes stacked in it's four corners. On one of the walls is a door, which Jack says, leads to the outside.
"Car is parked right outside, and is in good working condition. Um, just to let you know though we're several miles east outside of town. It will be quite the drive, but you should get back to town by nightfall. Remember, I want you to know you can come back here if it looks like the town is in just complete anarchy. I... I still worry about your safety. Anyway, just knock three times on the door and I'll know it is you."
"I'll certainly keep that in mind Jack."
"Okay, well... good luck Suzy." Jack says opening the door, which lets in a blinding brightness.
You look at Jack and then you suddenly hug him and then kiss him on the cheek. You figure it's the least you can do. Jack wasn't expecting it though; he returns the hug until you pull away.
You and he don't exchange any more words; you just turn around and leave as the door shuts behind you.
You get in the car, and count up the money to find that Jack has given you a thousand dollars in hundreds. Not much in the long term, but it would at least sustain you awhile.
You wonder if you should head back to town or just keep driving east and try to start over somewhere else.
> drive east
You come to the conclusion that there is literally nothing for you back in your hometown. Given the state it's in, it doesn't seem like there is much possibility there either and you'd be better off just trying to make it on your own.
This is very new territory for you just throwing complete caution to the wind like this, but you're determined to turn over a new leaf. This is going to be a brand new Suzy and your new life starts right now.
You start up the car and drive off.
As you drive you keep trying to form various plans about what you're going to do when you get to the next town. First thing to do will be to get a room somewhere... or maybe you should just sleep in the car. That would stretch your money out a lot more, but you can't just do that can you? You'll need to bathe every once in awhile! Whore baths in a public restroom perhaps?
As you're attempting to figure out how you're going to go about your new life, you start to get a headache just realizing how much hard work this is going to be. You turn the radio on in an effort to keep your mind occupied on something else.
"... remember our shelters are the best in the world. Your family's survival is important to us, so don't settle for imitations... "
"Ground Zero ads. Of course." You say.
You try to find a station that doesn't seem to be bought out by this company, but the only luck you have is a few doomsday preacher type stations. Since you're not really in the mood for that either, you turn the radio off and return to silence.
You continue to drive for some time. You notice you haven't even seen another vehicle on the road, which is a little eerie, gets even more so when it starts to get dark.
You haven't seen any signs of civilization for quite some time, just rows and rows of trees on either side. You never realized just how rural of an area you've lived in before.
Eventually the trees thin out a bit and you see a looming structure in the distance on your left.
It's a Grey Building.
"What the hell? Did I drive in a circle?" you say to yourself.
You can't imagine that you did considering you've been pretty much driving in a straight path the entire time. You suppose it MIGHT be possible since your attention hasn't exactly been completely focused since the drive itself has been so boring, but this seems pretty damn odd.
Odd or not you're back where you started and you stop your car near the Grey Building pretty frustrated at your situation.
"Shit!" you exclaim and bang on the driver's wheel.
You have half a mind to just continue on and go back to town, but you sort of feel like that would be giving up when really this is just a minor set back and you've had much worse ones.
Jack probably has a GPS, maps or something in that treasure trove of shit he collects and he'll probably be more than willing to help you out. You just hope he doesn't see this as a "sign" that you decided to stay after all.
You park along side the Grey building, get out and make your way towards the door.
Remembering that Jack told you to knock three times, you do so and the door opens up. Jack isn't there at the door though; maybe he's got it on an automated system.
The other thing that seems strange is that it's pitch black inside. You step just inside the entryway and still can't see shit. Not even the dim moonlight from the outside is providing any minimal illumination within the doorway.
"Hey Jack! It's me Suzy! Why are all your lights ... Ungh!" you start to call out before you get smashed in the head and fall to the concrete floor.
"DIE INTERLOPER! THIS IS MY GREY BUILDING!" a horrible voice screams before you're forcibly pulled deeper inside and the door slams shut leaving you in complete darkness.
You try to get up to run, but a very strong force is keeping you down. You hear the sounds of a rusty chainsaw being started up followed by insane laughter.
In your last moments before the chainsaw starts ripping your flesh, you realize that you've made a terrible mistake.
You didn't drive in a circle and this isn't the GRAY Building.
This is the GREY Building
You don't understand it and you never will, but it doesn't matter, you're dead. |
Considering you'd rather just sit on your ass and work the register than lift boxes anyway, there doesn't seem to be much point in engaging in an argument that will lose you this job opportunity. Honestly you're just lucky that Jake is willing to hire you and isn't making advances on you (yet).
Jake proceeds to show you how to work the register and the credit card machine. After a few trial runs and examples, you think you got it. The funny thing is, nobody has actually come into the comic shop yet.
"See, not very difficult. So, you think you're ready to officially take the responsibility of the register?" Jake asks.
"Yeah, I guess, but is it always this empty?" you ask.
"No, not usually. It's about... what a little after noon now? Yesterday was slow as well, but I'm chalking it up to all the craziness going on in town, which I'm really hoping dies down soon. There is a group of regulars that should be arriving in few moments though. They usually just hang out here all fucking day, but they tend to buy a lot when they actually do decide to part with their money and not drive me up a fucking wall with their banter. However since you're working the register, you'll get to put up with them this time."
"Great, can't wait." You say and sit at the register unenthusiastically.
Jake proceeds to tell you that if you need anything he'll be in his office catching up on going over his financial books. He also warns you not to steal anything, which seems weird since if you were going to steal something, it's not like you'd listen to his warning.
Without many more words Jake disappears into his office and you sit at the register waiting for customers to come in. While you wait you start looking at the various items near the counter and start reading through some of the comics.
As time passes you continue to hear the sounds of sirens and such in the distance. Through the windows you see a couple of police officers running in the direction where you saw those barricades.
A little more time passes and a short man who looks to be in his mid thirties enters. He's dressed in casual clothing and just nods at you when he sees you at the register. In an attempt to be a friendly, you smile and wave hi before he goes off to look at comics.
Well either Jake was exaggerating about his customers being sex crazed assholes or this guy isn't one of the "regulars" he was talking about. You watch him for a moment as he browses and takes various comics off the shelves. He looks like he's really into comics with as many as he's taking. Eventually he comes up to the counter with a stack of comic books.
"Can I just sit these here for now? I'm not really done looking yet, but I don't want to lug around a bunch of comics and possibly dropping them all over the place." The man asks.
"Oh yeah sure. I guess you really like comics huh?" you say.
"Heh, I suppose I look a little obsessed. I don't really come in here that much since normally I tend to buy stuff online, but this is one of those times where I don't have the luxury of waiting for stuff to arrive in the mail. So I'm loading up now that I'm here. Never seen you here before though." The man says.
"I'm new. Just started today actually and you're sort of my first customer. Nobody else has come in." you reply.
"Oh. Well, this is sort of an interesting day to start a new job given what's been going on in town lately. I'm betting that's why there hasn't been anyone else in here today."
"Yeah, tell me about it. I wouldn't have left the house if I had the choice."
"Yeah, I hear you, I don't like going out too much myself, but I've been getting better about it lately."
"Same here and it still sucks, but bills aren't going to pay themselves."
"I sort of got around that by being able to work at home. I used to sell and buy shit on the Internet a lot."
"What, like Ebay or something?"
"Yeah something like that. Buy low, sell high, that sort of thing."
"I wish I could do something like that."
"You can, it's not really difficult."
"Eh, I'm not really a wheeler and dealer type. Besides, if I had a job involving a computer, especially one involving self employment, I'd probably just goof off and never get any work accomplished."
"Well that's the beauty of working at home. You can sort of be as lazy as you want!" The man says with slight grin.
"Oh I don't think you know exactly how lazy I can be." You say returning the smile.
"You can't be that lazy, you're working here."
"Well like I said, I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be. (Sigh) Events however have conspired against me and here I am."
"Yeah, always sucks when things out of your control put you in a bad situation. For what it's worth, sorry you're in such a bind."
You didn't expect sympathy for your minor "pity party" but you'll definitely accept it. You usually aren't one to hold long conversations with random strangers, but then it's been a bit of an unusual week for you.
"Thanks, so selling and buying shit on the Internet works for you huh? I suppose maybe I could do it. There's certainly already enough crap around the house that surely someone would be interested in. Obviously with as many comics as you intend on buying you're making a good living at it." You say.
"Well I probably would be if I wasn't a bit of a hoarder and kept most of the shit I did buy. However, I made enough that I pulled my weight so my mom didn't kick me out of the basement of the house. Yeah, I know I'm a walking stereotype, basement dweller in a comic shop. Big surprise right?" the man remarks.
You don't reply immediately, you just briefly think about how odd it is you've got so much in common with a complete stranger.
"Oh, I dunno. I don't tend to judge people." You reply.
"Well that's a rare trait these days. Though I suppose I'm more of a hermit than a basement dweller nowadays anyway. My mother died a few years ago and I'm not even going to be living here anymore soon. Hence another reason why I'm loading up on books now."
"So wait you're moving out of town?" you say a bit surprised.
"Yeah... I guess you could say that. I mean under normal circumstances I wouldn't bother, but it's getting really bad out there and it's only going to get worse."
"Worse? How do you know? You don't think things will get back to normal in a few days?"
The man starts like he's about to say more, but stops. Then he stumbles over some words a bit before continuing.
"Um... it's just... well these things... you never can tell right? I guess I don't really know. I think I'm just rambling at this point and not making any sense. I didn't mean to talk your ear off. I guess I should get back to it and let you get back to doing your job." The man says and then briskly walks to the back of the comic shop.
You nearly tell him to come back to talk to clarify what he meant and that he wasn't really bothering you, but then you think that would be a bit strange and also you don't really know this guy.
He's probably a weirdo anyway; he just said he lived in his mom's basement until she died after all. You don't even know why you're even still thinking about it or him.
"Christ Suzy, you're taking the break up harder than you thought. You're starting to latch on to minor conversations with complete fucking strangers. Get a grip already." You say to yourself.
A sudden brick through one of the shop windows breaks up your introspective moment.
You duck down behind the counter and then Jake comes out running out of his office.
"What the fuck is going on out here?!" he exclaims.
"I don't know! Someone just threw a brick through... "
Before you can complete that sentence you hear a bunch of laughter and the shop door opening up. You continue to stay hidden behind the counter.
"Did you see that shit? Told ya I could land the brick right in the middle of the O on the window!" a young male voice exclaims.
"Yeah, yeah, let's just see what we got in here... " another remarks.
"What the fuck do you little shits think you're doing? You just broke my fucking window! I hope you fuckers got some money to pay for that RIGHT NOW or else I'm going to be kicking all of your asses THEN I'm going to your parents' houses and kicking their asses for not aborting you." Jake exclaims.
"Oh fuck off Jake, with as much as you've ripped us off by overcharging, I'd say that more than covers the cost of your goddamn window. We're going to be taking some free comics too." You hear a voice shout back.
"Look, I dunno what the fuck has compelled you social rejects even THINK you can get away with this, but if you don't fucking get out of my shop right fucking now, there are going to be consequences you aren't going to walk away from."
"Ohhh, so fucking scared Jake." You hear one say who from the sound of the voice sounds like he's getting closer.
"HEY! Step back from the counter!"
You hear someone hit the counter and then you look up to see a pimply teenager staring over at you.
"Holy shit guys! Jake's got a fucking bitch hiding over here! She looks hot too, no wonder he's fucking pissed! She was probably blowing him before we came in!" he exclaims and then tries to grab your hair at which point you slap his hand away and stand up and away from the counter so you can't be molested.
It's at this point you finally see the motley lot. Four teenage boys of all varying shapes and sizes. You don't know who these guys are, but if they're the "regulars" Jake mentioned, they're certainly not acting like what you expected.
"Goddamn Jake how the hell you manage to pull this off? She looks way too fucking hot for you. She a whore or something?" The tallest boy asks.
"Hey, you know who she looks like? She looks like that cute zombie chick." The fattest one says.
"Nah, she looks more like that chick who controls all the dragons." The pimply one remarks.
"For fuck's sake she's blonde not a goddamn albino, she doesn't look like either of them, the pair of you are idiots. She obviously looks like the blonde chick that fucks vampires." The tallest one remarks.
"Which one, Trent?" the fat one asks.
"The one that's mainly killing them too." Trent says.
"I dunno guys, I thought she looked like that chick that was a private investigator... " another one begins to say before Jake interrupts their temporary distraction of comparing you to various female nerd culture figures.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SHOP! I'M NOT WARNING YOU AGAIN!" Jake shouts.
At which point Trent pulls a pistol out of his hoodie pocket. He doesn't actually point it at Jake, but he's definitely warning him by just showing it. Jake steps back a bit, but doesn't lose his cool. You on the other hand are really worried, especially considering you got four hormone addled teenage guys staring at you.
"And I'm telling YOU we're not fucking leaving without getting our comics! Don't you know what today is? It's fucking free comic book day Jake!"
"This is how you want to play this Trent?" Jake asks.
Now Trent points the pistol at Jake and gives a look of less playfulness and more deadly seriousness.
"I'm not fucking playing Jake, just like I wasn't fucking playing with my mom when she told me to clean my room two days ago, just like I wasn't playing with those assholes yesterday that used to give me wedgies back in sixth grade or that bitch who wouldn't go out with me even though I did a whole bunch of nice shit for her. Things are changing around this town and if you ain't changing with it, you're gonna get rolled over."
Trent looks over at his fellows and waves as if he's telling them to take whatever they want. He continues to point the gun at Jake though he keeps an eye on you as well.
While you're a little busy worrying about Trent and the rest, you realize you haven't seen that guy you were talking to before. You can't imagine he managed to slip out without anyone noticing. He might be hiding, but if he is, he's doing a really good job, because with the way Trent's pals are going through the store, it seems like they would have stumbled upon him by now.
While they do that, Trent gets closer to Jake still holding the gun to him.
"So what is the story with the blonde bitch anyway Jake? I know she can't be your girlfriend. A fat old loser like you wouldn't have one." Trent sneers, but Jake is still keeping composure.
"I hired her to work the register today." Jake remarks.
"Hm. I'd rather see her mouth work my dick." Trent says looking you up and down. Jake starts laughing.
"What's so fucking funny?"
"YOU! You're fucking funny Trent. You're calling me a loser and apparently you can't even GET a woman without holding her at gunpoint. Pfft. I don't give a shit what little emo angsty shooting spree trip you're on, but I'm not playing. I still remember when you were in here as a little kid and your ugly ass mama beat the hell out of you for shitting your pants. How you cried and cried." Jake chuckles.
Trent of course is not amused and points the gun closer to Jake.
"Shut the fuck up fat ass!" he exclaims.
"Make me lanky bitch!" Jake says and suddenly grabs Trent's hand now that it's close enough. The pair of them struggle with the weapon and Trent begins calling for his fellows to help.
While you're certainly close enough to help Jake before Trent's buddies get to him, you see the front door and wonder if you shouldn't just jump over the counter and get the hell out of here.
> help Jake
Even if you made a dash for the door, you don't think you'd make it before Trent's friends would reach you, better that you help Jake.
You rush over to Jake and also grab Trent's hand that is still clutching the pistol. Jake and Trent are also hitting each other, though Jake can't really get a good hit in due to the counter being in the way and Trent being tall and having a long reach. Trent maintains a vice like grip on the pistol.
"Hey you motherfuckers come help me! Fat ass and this bitch are trying to get the gun!" Trent exclaims.
Jake seeing that you have a grip on Trent's pistol hand, Jake releases one of his hands to try to pull Trent forward over the counter.
He succeeds easily and Trent is half way over the counter, though two of his buddies manage to grab ahold of his legs and waist.
Meanwhile Trent's third friend has jumped over the counter and grabbed on to you. It's mister pimple and he's more like groping you rather than just trying to pull you off of his buddy.
In your attempt to get the little perv off of you end up letting go of Trent's pistol hand and while Jake still has a partial grip on it and is currently punching Trent in the face with his other fist, Trent manages to at last get his finger back around the trigger and starts shooting.
Of course he's firing wildly due to getting punched in the face and still not having complete control over his gun, but unfortunately you're close enough and in the direction he happens to pull the trigger.
You catch two in the chest and his buddy groping you gets one in the throat. The pair of you fall to the floor, him gurgling and spiting up blood and you struggling to breathe and also coughing up blood.
You die in a bloody heap on top of some acne ridden virgin that still manages to be clutching your right tit even in death. |
TUESDAY
Your alarm goes off and you groggily wake up.
Way earlier than you're used to actually. It's morning and you haven't been up this early in a long time. You're surprised you didn't just sleep through the alarm considering how emotionally drained you were yesterday. Even now, you still feel tired.
You're also still pretty damn depressed. Depression combined with your type of ingrained apathy would normally make for a really bad combination of motivation, but against all odds, you actually get up out of bed to go wash up.
You spend an extra long time in the shower trying to motivate yourself for the first phase of your goals today which is heading over to Jake's comic shop and getting a job.
Eventually you finish up and head back to your room where you start to get dressed, thinking about one of your other possible goals which is finding a new place to live because if this comic shop thing doesn't work out, you doubt if you're going to find anything else you'd be willing to do before the week is over.
Always one to seek the way of least resistance, you reluctantly call your sister Donna since she did say you could live with her and Julie. You didn't really want to go live with her and Julie though because you know it's going to be party central non-stop, but you don't have many other options.
You ring up Donna several times and get no answer. You ring up Julie and also get no answer. They're probably both passed out from whatever they were doing the night before. You give up attempting to contact them today, deciding that you'll just show up on their doorstep with all your shit if you don't get this job. It's not much of a plan, but you do feel slightly better believing you have a safety net. Well you like to THINK you have a safety net anyway.
With that fear partially quelled, you absent-mindedly check to see if Bobby called... then you stop...
"Christ, that was stupid. Get your head straight Suzy... " you say to yourself, starting to feel bad again. You then remind yourself that you'll have to break that habit.
You nearly delete his number entirely, but you can't quite bring yourself to do it just yet.
Pushing through it all, you now move on to your next step of trying to convince your brother Peter to let you borrow his car so you drive over to the comic shop.
You head upstairs and bang on the door to the garage.
"Hey Peter, open up I need a favor!" you shout and after a few seconds the door opens up.
"What the fuck Suzy? Why the hell are you banging on my door like you're the police?" Peter exclaims peeking his head out the door. He's probably naked.
"Yeah, sorry to bother you with whatever currently doing at the moment, but I need to borrow your car. I'm trying to get a job." You say.
"A job? I thought you were too much of a prude to be a stripper."
"Ha ha, very funny. I'm not going to be a stripper, I'm going to try to get a job at a Jake's comic shop." You reply.
"A comic shop? Doing what? Getting all the virgin nerds excited?"
"I'm going to be moving boxes or working a register... look I don't fucking know exactly, I haven't gotten the job yet. I just know I NEED to get this fucking job or else Kelly's gonna throw me out on my ass!" you reply getting increasingly exasperated.
"Alright, fine. Don't fucking bite my goddamn head off because you got problems. I've got problems of my own. (Sigh) Wait a minute."
Peter closes the door and then a few seconds later opens it up and then tosses some keys at you.
"Here. Don't fuck it up, and I fully expect you to put gas in it." He says and then slams the door shut.
Well that was easier than you expected, but then he probably just wanted you out of the way for whatever client he has coming over.
With that out of the way, you get in Peter's car and pull out of the driveway.
A few minutes of driving to your destination and you now learn first hand what Bobby was talking about yesterday. The roads are a mess and the town is in fucking chaos. There are cops everywhere, as well as ambulances and fire trucks racing to their various destinations too. You're also seeing small groups of people rioting. It's like the whole town has lost its damn mind and you nearly get into an accident more than a few times. Fortunately Jake's comic shop isn't too far away, but given the town's situation you're hoping that everything there isn't going to be as bad as what you've been seeing so far.
Eventually you do get to the shop and so far the place doesn't look too bad, though given that you see a police barricade a few blocks up the street, you wonder if that could all change. Pulling into the parking lot, you exit the car and enter the building.
As soon as you walk in, you briefly scan the shop and find it completely empty save for a bearded middle-aged man with a ponytail at a counter staring at you. He couldn't be more of a stereotype of a "comic book guy."
"Well... hello. You lost or something? The beauty salon is down the street... though I believe there was a shooting or something there earlier." He says.
"Um, no. I'm here about the job. Are you Jake?" you ask.
"That's me. Now what job are you talking about exactly?" Jake asks while looking at you up and down. The guy is already probably thinking several dirty thoughts about you and at this point you're really hoping this guy doesn't turn the whole job thing into some stupid line about giving him a blowjob.
"The job openings I found on the internet for this place. It said you needed someone to move boxes or work the register." You say.
"Oh yeah, I'm not even sure why I posted that. In this current economy I can barely afford to hire one employee and lately I'm wondering if I can even do that." Jake says.
"Shit, does this mean you're not hiring?"
"Well... considering you're easy on the eyes, I'm not going to say I'm NOT hiring. Besides you're the only one that's even applied so far. You'd think with all the fanboy nerds that practically live at this place one of them would've offered to fucking help me out. (Sigh) Whatever, you got your resume?"
"Resume?" you ask.
"Yeah, when people tend to apply for jobs they usually have one. I mean not that any of the tasks here are brain surgery, but it's nice to have some basic information." Jake says.
"Oh. Well I don't have one." You reply.
"Seriously? You came in here for a job without a resume?"
"I didn't think I'd need one."
"You didn't... alright can you give me any references then?"
"Um, no."
"You can't or you won't?"
"I can't because I don't have any."
"Jesus Christ... do you have ANY job experience whatsoever?"
"No."
"Do you even want a fucking job here?" Jake asks getting exasperated.
"Not really, but I want to run around half naked swinging on a pole getting ogled, slobbered over and groped by horny guys for a living even less, so this place is currently my only option for my desperate situation." You say.
Jake laughs at your comment.
"Well at least your honest, but if you think you're not going to get ogled and slobbered over by guys here, you're sadly mistaken. You do realize this is a comic shop right?"
"Oh come on, there has to be female customers that come in here." You say.
"Sure, but they don't look like you and you'll probably get a couple of them awkwardly hitting on you as well. On the bright side, none of the nerds here are probably going to try to grope you. They'll be far too shy to try that. No pole swinging either, but feel free to run around half naked. I guarantee something like that would really help out business." Jake says with a smirk.
"Yeah, not happening." You reply.
"Didn't think I'd be that lucky. Well despite your total lack of skill, I suppose I'll hire you, I do have to ask one thing first though... "
And here it comes; he's going to ask you to do something sexual and you'll be heading out the door...
"Do you even read comics?"
Well that was unexpected.
"Well, I used to when I was little, but my older sister Kelly just kept taking them from me and either hitting me with them or tearing them up, so I didn't see the point anymore." You reply.
"Jeez, that's not fucking right. You should've kicked her ass." Jake says.
"Yeah well that wasn't possible, she's ten times bigger than me. In fact that's why I applied to this job, she's threatening to kick me out of the house." You say.
"Hmm, sounds like a similar situation that I had with my last assistant. His mom was threatening to kick him out of the house and he begged me to hire him. He was a pathetic little worm addicted to all that anime shit. Really he was a lousy helper, but given that the one I had before him just died in my bathroom, I figured I'd give the fat little anime addict a shot."
"Wait someone died in the bathroom here?" you ask.
"Yeah my retarded assistant strangled himself in my bathroom while jacking off. Spent the damn day cleaning the bathroom because of it."
"Uh, the other assistant didn't die in the bathroom too did he?"
"Nah, he ended up marrying his crazy cousin and lives in the trailer park outside of town I think. Dunno what he does now since he never comes in anymore which is a shame since the pervert used to spend a fortune in this place."
"That's... interesting. So about the job." You say steering the conversation back on track.
"Yeah, about the job. I'm guessing you'll want to be working the register... what is your name anyway blondie?"
"Suzy, and why are you assuming I want to be working the register?"
"Because I doubt a little thing like you really wants to be lugging boxes around, I mean unless you're trying to tell me you can't do basic math."
"Of course I know how to do basic fucking math!" you snap.
"Okay, sheesh. Calm down I didn't mean to imply anything. So you're working the register... "
Jake has still already made the decision for you about what job you're going to be doing and while lugging boxes around really doesn't appeal to you, you're still a little insulted that the option has just been taken away from you.
Besides the sexist implications that you aren't strong enough to do the other job because you're female, you get the strong impression that Jake also just wants you at the register so you'll be more visible to all the horny virgin nerds that come in this place.
And the more you're thinking about the fact that you'll have to interact with the public in general if you're working the register you're finding it about as appealing as lifting a bunch of heavy boxes around.
Then again if you antagonize Jake over this, he might just throw you out of the shop and then you'll have no job.
> argue about your job
You're sick of everyone trying to control your life. You weren't putting up with it with Bobby, and you're sure as hell not going to put up with it with Jake.
"Are you just assuming I can't carry the boxes around because I'm a woman?" you ask.
"What? No, that's not it... " Jake starts to say before you interrupt.
"You just said a little thing like me doesn't want to lug boxes around like I'm some helpless damsel."
"Look, as a businessman it's my job to match up potential employees with what they're probably going to be best at. The fact is you ARE on the smaller side, not to mention you've just told me you've never done a hard day's work in your life. So yeah, I don't think you're strong enough to do the job and not bitch about it or even get that much work done. I'd rather have you out here working the register."
"You just want me out here as eye candy for the customers." You reply.
"Jesus fucking Christ, I didn't realize I was hiring a FemiNazi. Are you telling me you want to move boxes?" Jake says in exasperation.
"I'm not a goddamn FemiNazi and no I don't want particularly want to move boxes, but my point is you just took the damn choice out of my hands and made a stupid assumption that I couldn't do the job due to your own narrow-mindedness."
Jack exhales again and rubs his face.
"Are you kidding fucking me? You're arguing about a job you don't even want? In fact, you don't even want THIS job! You know how many employers would've thrown you out with that sort of shitty work ethic and you haven't even started yet! I'm fucking helping YOU out by hiring you in the first place with absolutely no skills or experience and you're giving me shit already! It's not like I'm grabbing your ass and telling you to suck my dick! I'm trying to be a nice guy here."
"Given with how you're speaking to me, you're not really all that fucking nice." You respond.
"Alright, I've had it. Get the fuck out of my shop. You probably think because you're pretty you can just get what you want well not this time bitch. I got enough shit to deal with, get the fuck out! Get out! Get out! Get out!" Jake yells and points at the door.
"FUCKING ASSHOLE!" you shout as loud as you can and storm out the shop.
Well that could've went better.
As you walk to your car, several nerd types are just now approaching the store. While they're probably the sort that would've been staring at you all day if you'd been working at the shop, now they're actively avoiding you since you're mumbling and swearing to yourself like a crazy person.
Your swearing continues when you're actually in the car. You bang on the steering wheel several times in frustration.
"I hate my fucking life!" you cry out and begin to sob.
Life just isn't fair Suzy and lately for you it's only been getting harder. All you wanted to do is hang out in your basement, hiding out from the rest of the world. Now your forced to deal with all this shit that you're just no good at and when you do try to assert yourself, you fail at that too.
If you were fighting depression before, you're currently getting your ass kicked by it. It's a good thing you aren't suicidal, but the thought is starting to cross your mind.
After taking a moment to pull yourself together, you think about what you need to do next.
"Okay... I need to go back home. Need to pack up all the most important shit I have and head over to Julie's house." You say to yourself.
With this new goal in mind, you pull out of the comic shop parking lot and intend on making your way back home.
You don't get a couple blocks before you soon discover the way you came is barricaded due to an accident or something. There are ambulances and police cars blocking the way and you realize you're going to have to go a different direction.
You go down some side streets and find out that they currently aren't much better and in one instance actually worse as a bunch of people have made a makeshift barricade with overturned cars and some of them are shooting at each other. You get the hell out of the area as fast as you can before someone starts shooting at you.
After having to drive around avoiding barricades, downed power lines, overturned vehicles and general chaos, you begin to get even more frustrated since it's starting to look like you can't even get home. Or at least not by driving there and given the shit that's going on, you'll be damned if you're going to get out of your vehicle to walk home.
"Goddamn it, I just want to get the fuck home! Fuck it, I'm just going to go to Julie's now... " you shout to yourself.
It's a further drive, but considering Julie lives in a better area, you're hoping that maybe things won't be as bad driving in that direction. You soon find out that isn't the case as you're desperately trying to avoid getting into an accident every five minutes.
"Seriously what the hell is going on with this town? Everyone is acting like an asshole even more than usual." You say and you're starting to wonder if there's something in the water.
Turning on the radio doesn't help, since you're not getting much on it save for those annoying Ground Zero ads.
"Come on, there's gotta be something about... SHIT!" you say when look up from the radio and are just in time to see a bus turning left and about to hit you.
You swerve immediately to avoid being hit, but unfortunately you slam the car into another speeding car, which crashes into your passenger side at full force.
You are knocked around as your car goes spinning across the street. It all happens so fast you don't even have time to panic or feel the fear of possibly dying right now.
A large black truck slams on its breaks in an attempt to not hit you, which it succeeds in doing, only for your car to be stopped by lamppost instead. Thanks to airbags never working correctly when they should, you hit your head on the steering wheel hard and while you don't quite knock yourself out you definitely scramble your brains a bit and you're feeling pretty dazed.
While you're still recovering, you suddenly hear knocking on your window and a voice.
"Hey, miss. Miss? You alright?"
You slowly look out your window and see a woman wearing glasses and dressed in business attire staring back at you. Well actually you're sort of seeing two of her and the image is still a little blurry, but that's the size of it.
You unhook your seat belt and get out of the car wincing in a bit of pain as you do so. The businesswoman helps you from falling since you're still wobbly.
"You're lucky to be alive, I've seen a shitload of crashes like yours since I've been driving through town today. I only just managed to put on my breaks when I saw your car spinning out of control like that." she remarks.
You don't really answer her; you just turn to look at the car, which is totaled. Besides part of the front being wrapped around a now leaning lamppost, the passenger side is trashed and you certainly aren't going to be driving anywhere soon due to the front wheel area being caved in and the axel broken.
You just look at the wreckage of the car silently and then start to giggle at the situation. Soon the giggling becomes full blown laughter and the woman that helped you out of the car gives you a strange look.
"Are you alright?" she asks again.
"Oh I'm just peachy! This has been a wonderful day!" you say laughing.
"Do you know your name and where you're at?"
"Yeah, my name is mud and I'm in a world of shit." You say still laughing.
"Um, well you seem to be having a bit of difficulty balancing and you've got a nasty bruise on your forehead. You might have a concussion and given your laughter you might even be in some state of shock. I think it would be best if you had some medical attention."
You look at the woman that's trying to help you and begin to stop laughing quite as hard and your mind starts heading back to earth again. Your head and body remind you of the pain you're actually still in.
"Yeah... yeah... maybe. Shit, my head does hurt... I guess... can you drive me to the hospital?" you ask.
"The hospital? Yeah, that place is sort of fucked right now. Even if we could get to it in this mess of chaos, the place has been overflowing with patients and you might be waiting a long time, if they get to you at all. I'm not sticking around in this town any longer than I need to. However, my brother is a doctor with his own private practice just outside town; he can probably check you out for free. It won't be any problem since I'm going to him right now." The woman says.
Well it's either head somewhere with a complete stranger or try to make it to the hospital (or wherever) in your current condition.
> take the woman up on her offer
Considering how fucked things are in town and your woozy condition, you probably wouldn't be safe walking the streets right now. This woman also seems okay; she's actually being more helpful than most would. Most would've just drove off, let alone offer to give you medical attention.
"Alright, let's go." You say and the woman nods and helps you head towards her black truck. You around and see your accident isn't even being paid much attention to. Other vehicles are merely driving by and nearby onlookers lose interest. You look over at the other vehicle on the far end of the street that slammed into you. The front end of that one is trashed and the driver has gone half way through the windshield. He's a bloody mess and isn't moving.
"You think that other driver is dead?" you ask.
"Dunno, I didn't check on him. I just checked you first since you were closer to my vehicle. Just going by his appearance and the fact he hasn't moved I'd say it isn't good. Can't save everyone though. Come on, let's just get off the street and out of this town." She says.
The woman helps you into her truck and then gets into the driver side, before you know it; she's started it up and driving off.
The interior of the truck is pretty nice. Comfy seats and everything. The dashboard looks like something out of a science fiction movie. Must be a really new model.
"You doing okay over there? You don't feel like you're going to pass out do you?" the woman asks.
"No, not really. Still just sore mainly." You respond.
"That's good. Maybe you're okay for the most part, but it doesn't hurt for you to get checked out. My name's Lilith by the way."
"My name's Suzy." You say.
"Didn't think your name was actually mud like you said back there. Still, sort of a strange reaction you had laughing about your car crash." Lilith says.
"Yeah, well I've just been having a really bad day and that accident just sort of topped it, so I guess I just laughed instead of crying like I have been doing for the past couple days."
"Hmm, you been having a lot mood swings lately?" Lilith asks.
"I don't usually have mood swings at all, but like I said, there have been some major events going down in what was my previously calm life that have really fucked with my stability. I'm getting thrown out of my house, my boyfriend broke up with me, I can't get a job, I just trashed my brother's car and I have no idea what my future prospects are going to be. Things can't get much worse."
"Oh they can always get worse, but yeah if all that shit has happened to you, then I guess your laughing at the car crash situation is a little understandable. Self defense mechanism and all."
Lilith's inquisitive nature causes you to be a little inquisitive too.
"You a psychiatrist or something like that?" you ask.
"Eh, something like that. I observe a lot of human behavior for the company I work for. Usually other employees, but lately it's mostly been non-employees in relation to the company." Lilith says.
"You wouldn't have any job opening at this company for unskilled labor would you? A cleaning woman perhaps?" you ask.
"Heh, well I'm not exactly involved in the hiring process, but Ground Zero is a big company and we pretty much have a lot of openings for all kinds of positions. I'm sure I could find something for you." Lilith says.
There's a pause as you aren't sure what you just heard.
"Wait a minute. Did you just say you work for Ground Zero? That company that's been putting out all those annoying ads non-stop for the past few weeks?" you ask.
"Guilty as charged. Trust me, I know how annoying those ads are all over the place, but I'm not involved that department either." Lilith remarks.
"I didn't even know you guys even had a headquarters here in a small town like this one."
"It's more of a small branch office really and it's so non-descript most don't even know it's there anyway. We do have a bigger place in Security City. Sometimes I go all the way out there to do my job too, but since I live just south of town it's a pretty long drive as you might expect. In those cases I usually just sleep at a hotel room paid for by the company until my work there is done."
"I thought you said your brother lived south of town."
"He does. We live together. It's a large house that's been in the family awhile and we did grow up there so we never wanted to get rid of it and we just decided to keep living there. Might sound a bit child like, but why move when you don't really need too?"
"Hey you don't need to tell me. I wish I didn't have to move from my home. So does your brother work for Ground Zero too?" you ask.
"No. I wish he did since his talents would really be useful to us, but Leslie's really not a fan of the corporate lifestyle despite the fact that I keep telling him he wouldn't even be working in a position that requires dress codes and such. Leslie's also always been a bit of an independent thinker too. He could've easily been a doctor working at a hospital pulling down lots of money, but he prefers his humble private practice. Who am I to tell him to do something that doesn't make him happy?"
"Well you certainly sound like a more understanding sister than my own who is kicking me out of the house." You respond.
"See, that's not right. Family should stick together. Well at least that's what I was always taught. Even when you don't agree with them, you should at least help them out, not leave them twisting. I'm really sorry to hear that your sister is doing that to you." Lilith says.
"Thanks for your sympathy, but she's always hated me and I imagine my brother will too now that I've wrecked his car, though to be honest he didn't really care that much about me either. I'm sort of a black sheep." You say.
"Mm. Interesting. My brother and I are sort of black sheep as well, since we're not religious like the rest of the family, but like I said, it hasn't completely ruined our generally good relationship with most of them. To be honest though my brother's personality is more likely to do that than our lack of religious beliefs." Lilith laughs.
You aren't quite sure what to think right now driving with an employee |
o dirty looking men open up the door and enter. One of them is huge and has a slackjawed look on his face. He wears overalls that look like they've never been washed. The smaller of the two is wearing a mechanic's jumpsuit and trucker's cap. When he sees you a big grin spreads across his face making him even creepier than the larger one.
"Hoo wee! Well look at what we got here! Doc really has been fixing up this place, because that is one sweet piece I tell ya what!" the smaller one exclaims.
You can only guess these must be Leslie's "assistants."
You sit up immediately and try to arrange your gown to cover you as much as possible.
"Didn't mean to startle ya darlin' but I'm Jed and this here's my brother Hugo. What's yer name and what the hell are you doin' in here?" the smaller one says.
"My name's Suzy, and this is my room. What the hell are YOU two doing in here?"
"Whoa, easy there blondie. This is where me and Hugo always go to hang out when we're on standby as it were. No point in headin' back ta town right now anyway, since it sounds like the shit's really hit the fan out there, but never mind all that, what's all this about this bein' yer room? You some new live in whore for the Doc to fuck when his snooty sister isn't putting out?" Jed asks.
Jed gets closer towards you meanwhile Hugo hasn't moved from the entryway. You're feeling very threatened.
"No, I'm Lilith's guest, now will you please leave my room?" you say.
"Lilith's guest? Wait, you sayin' you HER whore? Well shit, I like the sound of that even better! So you ever been with a guy at all or are you strictly a pussy licker?" Jed asks with a pretty predatory look in his eyes.
"The pair of you better get out of here. Lilith has made it clear she doesn't want anyone else in here." You say standing up from the couch.
"Oh is that right? Well I ain't heard nuthin' about it and I take my orders from the Doc, not his snobby bitch of a sister. So I think you better just settle down blondie. In fact, I think you better start making yourself REAL comfortable." Jed says and starts fondling his crotch while still approaching you.
You're steadily running out of options. About the only thing you can do now is either threaten them to the point that they back off or beg and hope they take mercy. Either option isn't likely to succeed.
> threaten them
You focus your mind and try to muster up all your courage for what you're about to say next. It might very well be suicidal, but if the unthinkable is going to happen, then at least you can take comfort that you stood up to them even as scared as you are right now.
"Look, you fucking inbred rednecks, get the fuck out before you get in some major shit so deep that you ain't got the hip waiters for it!" you exclaim.
Jed is hardly intimidated and his expression changes from perverted leer to burning hatred.
"Hugo get out of that entryway and close that fucking door. I think this little blonde bitch needs to learn I don't take orders from whores. Let alone one that isn't sucking my cock, but I think we can change that situation." Jed says.
"You think that's supposed to fucking scare me?" you say and then Jed grabs you by both arms squeezing tightly. He presses his body against yours and looks down at you menacingly.
"Oh I can tell you're scared bitch, I've been doing this a long time. And even if you weren't, you better damn well be. Last time I saw Doc's sister she was outside speaking with some soldier boys. She ain't gonna be down here in time to save your ass and if you think that we'll get in trouble for fucking you up, you over estimate your worth. At the most, we'll get chewed out by Doc, for pissing off his sister by wreckin' her kitty licking fuck buddy." Jed says.
You just look down after Jed's response. Still holding your arms tightly he addresses you again.
"What? Got nuthin' else to say? Yeah that's what I fucking thought. You fucking whores talk tough when you think you got a savior, but when the shit goes down, you shut the fuck up real quick."
You start laughing and look up at Jed's face, which is now showing a bit of confusion due to your response.
"You truly are one dumb ass fucktard, Jed. You keep thinking I'm Lilith's whore, or whatever fantasy YOU put in your own goddamn pathetic little head of yours. If I was her whore, don't you think I'd be dressed more like one? Look at how the fuck I'm dressed! I'm in a fucking HOSPITAL GOWN! Who wears hospital gowns? FUCKING PATIENTS! I'm her patient! I'M FUCKING SICK AND CONTAGIOUS YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!" you shout with a mixture of contempt and amusement.
At this point Jed takes his hands off of you and backs off a bit.
"Shit!" he shouts.
"Oh what? Am I not so attractive now that you've found out I might have shit that will make your dick fall off? Come on stud, I'll make it totally worth it! I guarantee it'll be the last fuck you'll ever need." You say and start grabbing at him and laughing.
Jed gives you a hard shove causing you to fall backwards.
"Fuck! Hugo, this bitch has got the crotch rot somethin' fierce! Open up that fucking door!" Jed shouts.
Hugo comprehends the situation just well enough to follow Jed's orders and it doesn't take long before they're both out the door. Unfortunately Jed isn't quite so stupid to leave the door open or unlocked since you hear a firm click. Of course maybe he was just so scared of you possibly getting out that he took the time to lock it. In any case you got rid of them and you're alone again.
You're quite pleased that this is the first time you actually employed an assertive method this week and it worked out. Your arms hurt from Jed squeezing them though.
A half hour later, you hear the door again. This time it's Lilith and she looks somewhat harried when she comes in. She's also carrying a tray of food with what looks to be meat on it and some potatoes on it. She places it on coffee table in front of the sofa and also gives you a bottle of water. She then sits down on the chair Jed was sitting in.
"Whew. Sorry about that. Just one thing after another. Anyway, there's your food. It's left over meatloaf from yesterday that I heated up. Hope that's okay. We still had quite a bit left and I didn't really have time to prepare anything else. Leslie usually does most of the cooking around here anyway."
You stare at the meatloaf, which doesn't look all that appetizing. The potatoes look okay though. You notice your eating utensils are plastic. Guess Lilith isn't completely trusting of you either.
"What's wrong? You're not a vegetarian are you?" Lilith asks.
"Um, no. Not at all." You say and poke at the meatloaf.
"You think I poisoned the food?"
"Actually I didn't think that, until you just mentioned it. I was just thinking of how unappealing the meat looks." You say.
"Well not that this might help calm your fears, but I didn't poison or drug the food. There wouldn't be much point in it; you're my control subject after all. As for the look of the meat, well my brother's a good cook, but he's never been big on presentation, but I assure you it tastes much better than it looks. Of course you don't need to eat it. There are potatoes there."
"No, I'll eat. I'm hungry enough and I don't have that much choice." You say.
You take a bite of the meatloaf and it's actually just like Lilith said, it looks awful, but it does taste good.
"You were right." You say.
"Well I do understand the hesitation. I remember some of the meals my brother has made in the past and they looked more like something that already was digested. He's gotten a bit better with it though. Anyway, so how have you been feeling? Still no sudden mood swings or violent urges or anything I trust?" Lilith asks.
"Well no, but I did have to act crazy to get two redneck assholes out of here."
"Oh no. (Sigh) Jed and Hugo came in here? I told my brother not to let those assholes wander around down here picking the locks to places they're not supposed to be going anyway!"
"Apparently they were under the impression I was your personal whore."
"What?! Why the hell would they think... nevermind... they didn't do anything to you did they?"
"No, like I said, I acted crazy. Or more specifically I convinced them I was sick and contagious. They left real quick after that."
"Heh, good thinking. Explains why I saw their shitty pick up truck screech out of here earlier."
"Hope to never see them again." You say continuing to eat.
"Yeah well that will be arranged. I'll tell my people stationed outside to shoot them on sight if they return. I don't care if Leslie complains about it either. Besides, there's news that we all might not be staying here much longer."
You stop eating for a moment.
"What do you mean?" you ask.
"Well as I said, the National Guard are currently stationed in town and trying to maintain order. While they might succeed, GZ doesn't fancy their chances and would rather not lose a valuable employee such as myself in the possible chaos that will spill over. So they're ready to ship me and my brother out of here to a GZ shelter, a proper company one, not the ones that have been built for the common public. It's just as well considering the reports we've been getting on the world situation." Lilith says.
You take a drink of water wondering what this means for you.
"When is this going to happen?" you ask.
"Maybe tomorrow, definitely by Friday. I'm going to miss this house, so many good memories here especially with Leslie. I can only imagine the talk I'm going to have to have with him. Looks like he's going to have company job whether he wants one or not. Oh well, he'll get used to it... "
"What about me?" you interrupt.
"Well, that is the question isn't it?" Lilith says, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes.
"While I haven't been able to do the tests and ask the questions like I wanted to earlier today, I'm fairly certain you're fine and you're one of those few that aren't affected by the side affects of the drug. I have a few theories on why that might be, but nothing solid. It doesn't really matter anyway I suppose at this late stage." Lilith remarks.
"So... I'm free to go?" you ask.
"Well, I do want to keep you for observation for one more day. I mean might as well since we might not be leaving tomorrow anyway. After that, well I suppose it's up to you. If you want to leave, you will be allowed to leave. You probably should keep in mind however, that returning to town might not be the best idea, so I'm not sure where you'd go. Do you have anywhere to go?"
"Not really. I mean I don't have my phone so I can't even call anyone who might give a shit. Not that my family would give a shit of course, so I don't really even have a home at this point."
"Hm, well that leads me to the other possible option, that I can probably take you with us. Might take some string pulling and calling in of favors, but if you want to come with us, you can."
"Go with you? To a GZ Shelter? What would I do there?"
"Oh I'm sure we could find something, no need to worry about that. You'd have to follow the rules there though. Life would be quite different, but with the way things are going, I'm sure life is going to be different anyway."
You just nod silently as Lilith stands up to head back to the door.
"Tell you what. Let's dispense with any more interrogation today. You already had to deal with waking up strapped to a gurney, not knowing where you were, being told that the world may end soon and that you may or may not suffer a negative side affect of a drug, not to mention those redneck rapists barging in here. I think you deserve to relax for the rest of the day and night."
"So, that's it?"
"For today it is. Like I said, just make yourself at home for now. This will all be over soon and you won't be a prisoner here. I'm glad you've been making this easy Suzy. That's definitely a good thing." Lilith says and leaves.
Alone once again and now you've got the whole night to contemplate your situation, which has changed again.
Escape is now looking unnecessary given that Lilith seems to not have any insidious plans of going back on here word. You're not even sure it would be a good idea to do so anyway now considering she mentioned GZ security are now guarding the perimeter of the house.
Of course that still leaves the question of "where will you go?" While she's already warned you about town, you really don't have anywhere else. You don't even have a vehicle. You suppose you could always just risk heading back home or maybe even Julie's assuming either place is still standing.
The offer to go with Lilith and her brother is just odd though. It really is an unknown factor, but if things are really getting as bad as Lilith claims, maybe you need to embrace the unknown.
You spend the rest of the night pondering your options until you eventually get sleepy and drift off on the couch.
> Next day...
THURSDAY
You wake up once again a prisoner, though perhaps not for long and despite everything, you're actually feeling slightly optimistic about your situation. Very slightly.
You aren't sure what time it is, but knowing your usual sleeping habits, it's probably at least the afternoon. You imagine you'll be getting a visit from Lilith as usual soon so you start perusing the nearby books until she comes in. You pick one that looks interesting to you.
As you're reading "Unusual Sexual Practices From Around the World" you start hearing the faint noise of what sounds like yelling or shouting. Doesn't really sound like any actual words though, more like just noises, still the sound isn't completely distinct.
A few minutes later you hear something that sounds like a gunshot. You start to worry and keeping you ears open, but you don't hear anything else unusual until you hear that familiar sound of the door opening up. Fortunately it's Lilith and not someone who isn't supposed to be in here. Once again she looks a bit beleaguered as she carries in what looks to be a small medical bag and a notebook.
"Um, is everything okay? I thought I heard shouting and a shot." You say.
"Yeah, I imagine you would have given your proximity. You remember I said you were my control subject? Well some of the others down here aren't and they've been getting worse. My brother just put one down that was starting to break his restraints. I have a feeling the rest are going to have to be put down as well, because I don't think I'm going to bother having them transported with us when we leave, which is looking like today since shit is reportedly getting even worse in town.
The "putting down" of subjects is a little concerning until Lilith immediately follows up her statement.
"Relax, you're not getting shot unless you start regressing into a savage and let me guess, you've experienced no problems correct?"
"Nope. Feel fine. Just a little anxiousness, especially being near people that might be turning into beasts." You remark.
"Don't worry about that. They might escape the restraints, but they aren't escaping out the rooms. We made sure of that when we had this area built it had solid doors and walls. Anyway, since things are moving rather quickly now I suppose I'll just wrap up your little part in this observation which isn't going to take long."
Lilith at this point pulls out a syringe and a tourniquet along with some cotton balls and rubbing alcohol.
"Now I'm just going to draw some blood, not inject you with anything."
"What do you need my blood for?"
"Oh just need another sample for testing. I mean I already drew blood from you when you were unconscious a day ago, so this is just a follow up really. Considering you're not frothing at the mouth or destroying this room by now, I'm very certain you weren't affected by whatever exposure of the drug you might have in contact with, but never hurts to be thorough. Your arm please."
Lilith has more or less been playing square with you so reluctantly you hold out your arm and after prepping it she begins to draw blood.
"Ugh, hate needles." You say looking away.
"Most people do. Leslie used to hate them too. Still does actually. Really odd considering he's a doctor and uses them on a regular basis... then again I suppose it's different when you're using them on other people. There we go."
Lilith finishes up and you're rubbing your arm watching a tube of your blood go into another container and then placed back into the bag. Lilith then starts flipping through pages of her notebook.
"So, I guess I'll be free to leave soon?" you ask.
"Yes. I'll have the clothes you were wearing brought to you soon. I'm sure you're sick of wearing the gown. After that well, I guess you can make your decision on whether to go or come with us. I contacted a few high ups at the offices and they said it was fine if I brought you." She answers without looking up.
"Oh. Well I guess that does open up options for me then." You say still unsure of what you're going to do.
You have been meaning to ask Lilith about something she said to you yesterday though.
"Hey, I was sort of wondering... what did you mean yesterday about me not being a beacon of sanity?" you ask.
"Funny you should ask, since I was just about to do a last minute interview with you, so I had at least a few more things to put down in my report. Most of what I've got on you is only through observation or what Bobby told me. It would be nice if I had something directly from you. Of course as I keep complaining about, things haven't been ideal lately."
Lilith finds the page she was looking for and then focuses complete attention on you.
"To answer your question... keep in mind this is based on all observation and mostly Bobby's words so I'll admit this isn't necessarily an accurate assessment of your personality. No offense is meant, but here's my impression of you and why and please feel free to interject whenever you want."
Lilith goes into a psychological assessment of your character and while you do fill in on some of what she might be missing and clarify on other aspects of your life, she doesn't really lose a beat in her view of you, indeed it only seems to enhance it.
She starts off by talking about your introverted behavior to the point of falling into escapist behavior. She discusses that some of this is due to being the product of a dysfunctional family where you were only ever close to your mother since she was the only one that ever displayed any positive attention and when she died that was one of the major turning points of you shutting yourself off from the world and "giving up" in general. However Lilith mentions that this relationship wasn't exactly the healthiest since it placed pressure on being "good and proper" which apparently had some negative effects on not just you, but your other sisters as well.
Then she mentions that while you finally broke out of this shell a bit when you met Bobby, that relationship wasn't exactly built on a stable foundation to begin with and indeed just fed into your world of fantasy on some level, with Bobby being a "Prince" whisking you away from the clutches of a "villain" (Your uncle in this case). Most of your relationship was co-dependency and enabling behavior since who would anyone that considered themselves "normal" stay with a man who doesn't just murder people, but essentially runs a cult?
She then goes on to say that while she does think you did care for Bobby on some level, she doesn't believe that you were really capable of ever loving him and not because of his sister, but because deep down you're not really capable of the emotion at all. She mentions that you're so used to your own company and withdrawn that you can't even form proper attachments. Even a "non-normal" one like you had with Bobby.
She finishes up by saying that while much of your personality can be explained by "nurture", there is evidence that all of the behaviors you exhibit were all just laying in wait to flourish anyway. Other members of your family have their own personality problems (Sadism, suicidal depression, narcissism, nymphomania, paranoid delusions, psychopathy, etc) meaning that it's probably all genetic on some level. She even believes that under certain circumstances you could not only be capable of great violence, but also revel in it.
"But what does all this mean?" you ask.
"Nothing much as far as my report goes except maybe a half assed theory on why the drug didn't seem to have an affect on your mind. I suppose for you it's greater insight on yourself, but I'd wager that given your introspective nature, you've probably already pondered all of what I've just told at one time or another. It's probably why you're not really insulted by my words, because you probably agree with everything I said on some level."
You don't really have a response because what Lilith says is somewhat true. It's actually pretty damn scary how accurate she was given that all her information was mainly based on Bobby's words and the few conversations she's had with you.
"Wow. Well I guess you didn't go the typical route and say I was a closet lesbian or something." You say.
"Oh, no. I don't believe you're a closeted lesbian." Lilith chuckles.
"You just have some repressed bisexual tendencies, but that's really a very minor point in the scheme of things. Anyway, I think we're done. I'll go grab your clothes and... "
Suddenly the door opens up and you see an older man with wild hair that's completely white in color. He wears a bloody lab coat and has a pistol in one hand. You wonder if this Leslie.
"Sis, you need to get your ass out here. We're under damn attack and we could use another pair of hands to hold a weapon out here." He says.
"Who the hell is attacking?" Lilith says.
"Who do you think? Damn crazies from town and your GZ boys aren't exactly the crack team they think they are. Just saw one of those fucking cowards run off... well before he got tackled and eaten by a bunch of those crazy fuckers."
"Shit, they probably sent a bunch of fucking rookies. (Sigh) Fine, let's go Leslie. Suzy, you might want to stay here."
Lilith gets up to go with her brother, and the pair of them leaves the room. You don't hear a click this time and you get curious...
You get up and try the door, and find it hasn't been locked this time. They were probably in too much of a hurry to bother.
You sort of wonder if you shouldn't take this opportunity to escape on your own terms, since you still have a bit of a trust problem with Lilith considering she did make a lab rat out of you. (Doesn't matter if she was "nice" about it)
Of course maybe you'd be safer in here if there crazy cannibals out there.
> leave the room
You're not staying in here like a sitting duck. If whatever the things are that are attacking the house succeed in overrunning the place, you'd be trapped. Better you at least get to an area where you can run somewhere else, and with any luck you'll be able to escape this place altogether.
You exit the room and quickly run down a corridor where you hope you'll some stairs in that direction, because with as noisy as the other patients are, you have just as much fear that one of them is going to get out their locked rooms and attack you despite the fact Lilith says they're secure.
You soon find the stairs leading up and the sounds of gunfire and shouts get even louder. You hear a lot of glass breaking as well.
All the action seems like it's going on in the front part of the house, so that's where you head away from and soon find yourself in the kitchen.
From the kitchen you can see a door leading to backyard. Looking out the window, it doesn't appear that any of those crazy people are attacking from this direction so that's one good thing. It also looks like the fence would be very hard to climb since it's a smooth high wooden fence. If you were planning to escape, your chances of doing it this way have decreased.
Still, you also notice the tree in the yard with branches that hang over the fence. You probably could climb it and drop down if you really wanted to get away. Of course with all those things out there, that might not be the safest plan, even if they aren't coming from this direction. You also feel a little vulnerable what with just wearing a hospital gown.
Then you hear the chaos going on within the house and the sounds of what you think to be those things finally getting into this place.
Wasting no more time, you look around for a weapon and a nasty looking machete catches your eye. You have no idea what one of these would be doing in the kitchen, but you're taking it and getting the hell out of here.
As you're opening up the door you hearing the sounds of battle getting more hectic, in fact it even sounds like it's getting closer to your location...
"I'm gonna check around back to make sure none of them are... HOLY SHIT!" A uniformed man with a GZ logo on it exclaims when you turn to face him.
Having no idea who you are, seeing you hold a machete in your hand, the fact that you just opened the backdoor and him being totally surprised by your presence causes him to do the only logical thing a man in his position would do.
He thinks you're a hostile and immediately opens fire on you with his rifle. You don't have time to do anything except fatally catch bullets at that point.
When the chaos dies down, Lilith is annoyed about losing you as her control subject, but she gets over it. |
THURSDAY
You wake up once again a prisoner, though perhaps not for long and despite everything, you're actually feeling slightly optimistic about your situation. Very slightly.
You aren't sure what time it is, but knowing your usual sleeping habits, it's probably at least the afternoon. You imagine you'll be getting a visit from Lilith as usual soon so you start perusing the nearby books until she comes in. You pick one that looks interesting to you.
As you're reading "Unusual Sexual Practices From Around the World" you start hearing the faint noise of what sounds like yelling or shouting. Doesn't really sound like any actual words though, more like just noises, still the sound isn't completely distinct.
A few minutes later you hear something that sounds like a gunshot. You start to worry and keeping you ears open, but you don't hear anything else unusual until you hear that familiar sound of the door opening up. Fortunately it's Lilith and not someone who isn't supposed to be in here. Once again she looks a bit beleaguered as she carries in what looks to be a small medical bag and a notebook.
"Um, is everything okay? I thought I heard shouting and a shot." You say.
"Yeah, I imagine you would have given your proximity. You remember I said you were my control subject? Well some of the others down here aren't and they've been getting worse. My brother just put one down that was starting to break his restraints. I have a feeling the rest are going to have to be put down as well, because I don't think I'm going to bother having them transported with us when we leave, which is looking like today since shit is reportedly getting even worse in town.
The "putting down" of subjects is a little concerning until Lilith immediately follows up her statement.
"Relax, you're not getting shot unless you start regressing into a savage and let me guess, you've experienced no problems correct?"
"Nope. Feel fine. Just a little anxiousness, especially being near people that might be turning into beasts." You remark.
"Don't worry about that. They might escape the restraints, but they aren't escaping out the rooms. We made sure of that when we had this area built it had solid doors and walls. Anyway, since things are moving rather quickly now I suppose I'll just wrap up your little part in this observation which isn't going to take long."
Lilith at this point pulls out a syringe and a tourniquet along with some cotton balls and rubbing alcohol.
"Now I'm just going to draw some blood, not inject you with anything."
"What do you need my blood for?"
"Oh just need another sample for testing. I mean I already drew blood from you when you were unconscious a day ago, so this is just a follow up really. Considering you're not frothing at the mouth or destroying this room by now, I'm very certain you weren't affected by whatever exposure of the drug you might have in contact with, but never hurts to be thorough. Your arm please."
Lilith has more or less been playing square with you so reluctantly you hold out your arm and after prepping it she begins to draw blood.
"Ugh, hate needles." You say looking away.
"Most people do. Leslie used to hate them too. Still does actually. Really odd considering he's a doctor and uses them on a regular basis... then again I suppose it's different when you're using them on other people. There we go."
Lilith finishes up and you're rubbing your arm watching a tube of your blood go into another container and then placed back into the bag. Lilith then starts flipping through pages of her notebook.
"So, I guess I'll be free to leave soon?" you ask.
"Yes. I'll have the clothes you were wearing brought to you soon. I'm sure you're sick of wearing the gown. After that well, I guess you can make your decision on whether to go or come with us. I contacted a few high ups at the offices and they said it was fine if I brought you." She answers without looking up.
"Oh. Well I guess that does open up options for me then." You say still unsure of what you're going to do.
You have been meaning to ask Lilith about something she said to you yesterday though.
"Hey, I was sort of wondering... what did you mean yesterday about me not being a beacon of sanity?" you ask.
"Funny you should ask, since I was just about to do a last minute interview with you, so I had at least a few more things to put down in my report. Most of what I've got on you is only through observation or what Bobby told me. It would be nice if I had something directly from you. Of course as I keep complaining about, things haven't been ideal lately."
Lilith finds the page she was looking for and then focuses complete attention on you.
"To answer your question... keep in mind this is based on all observation and mostly Bobby's words so I'll admit this isn't necessarily an accurate assessment of your personality. No offense is meant, but here's my impression of you and why and please feel free to interject whenever you want."
Lilith goes into a psychological assessment of your character and while you do fill in on some of what she might be missing and clarify on other aspects of your life, she doesn't really lose a beat in her view of you, indeed it only seems to enhance it.
She starts off by talking about your introverted behavior to the point of falling into escapist behavior. She discusses that some of this is due to being the product of a dysfunctional family where you were only ever close to your mother since she was the only one that ever displayed any positive attention and when she died that was one of the major turning points of you shutting yourself off from the world and "giving up" in general. However Lilith mentions that this relationship wasn't exactly the healthiest since it placed pressure on being "good and proper" which apparently had some negative effects on not just you, but your other sisters as well.
Then she mentions that while you finally broke out of this shell a bit when you met Bobby, that relationship wasn't exactly built on a stable foundation to begin with and indeed just fed into your world of fantasy on some level, with Bobby being a "Prince" whisking you away from the clutches of a "villain" (Your uncle in this case). Most of your relationship was co-dependency and enabling behavior since who would anyone that considered themselves "normal" stay with a man who doesn't just murder people, but essentially runs a cult?
She then goes on to say that while she does think you did care for Bobby on some level, she doesn't believe that you were really capable of ever loving him and not because of his sister, but because deep down you're not really capable of the emotion at all. She mentions that you're so used to your own company and withdrawn that you can't even form proper attachments. Even a "non-normal" one like you had with Bobby.
She finishes up by saying that while much of your personality can be explained by "nurture", there is evidence that all of the behaviors you exhibit were all just laying in wait to flourish anyway. Other members of your family have their own personality problems (Sadism, suicidal depression, narcissism, nymphomania, paranoid delusions, psychopathy, etc) meaning that it's probably all genetic on some level. She even believes that under certain circumstances you could not only be capable of great violence, but also revel in it.
"But what does all this mean?" you ask.
"Nothing much as far as my report goes except maybe a half assed theory on why the drug didn't seem to have an affect on your mind. I suppose for you it's greater insight on yourself, but I'd wager that given your introspective nature, you've probably already pondered all of what I've just told at one time or another. It's probably why you're not really insulted by my words, because you probably agree with everything I said on some level."
You don't really have a response because what Lilith says is somewhat true. It's actually pretty damn scary how accurate she was given that all her information was mainly based on Bobby's words and the few conversations she's had with you.
"Wow. Well I guess you didn't go the typical route and say I was a closet lesbian or something." You say.
"Oh, no. I don't believe you're a closeted lesbian." Lilith chuckles.
"You just have some repressed bisexual tendencies, but that's really a very minor point in the scheme of things. Anyway, I think we're done. I'll go grab your clothes and... "
Suddenly the door opens up and you see an older man with wild hair that's completely white in color. He wears a bloody lab coat and has a pistol in one hand. You wonder if this Leslie.
"Sis, you need to get your ass out here. We're under damn attack and we could use another pair of hands to hold a weapon out here." He says.
"Who the hell is attacking?" Lilith says.
"Who do you think? Damn crazies from town and your GZ boys aren't exactly the crack team they think they are. Just saw one of those fucking cowards run off... well before he got tackled and eaten by a bunch of those crazy fuckers."
"Shit, they probably sent a bunch of fucking rookies. (Sigh) Fine, let's go Leslie. Suzy, you might want to stay here."
Lilith gets up to go with her brother, and the pair of them leaves the room. You don't hear a click this time and you get curious...
You get up and try the door, and find it hasn't been locked this time. They were probably in too much of a hurry to bother.
You sort of wonder if you shouldn't take this opportunity to escape on your own terms, since you still have a bit of a trust problem with Lilith considering she did make a lab rat out of you. (Doesn't matter if she was "nice" about it)
Of course maybe you'd be safer in here if there crazy cannibals out there.
> stay in the room
You might be reverting back to old habits, but if there is some hectic bullshit going on out there, then you want to avoid it. They can handle it and you decide to be extra cautious and block the door with a chair.
You hear the sounds of gunfire above you. That isn't what bothers you so much as it's the growling and yelling that sounds like it's coming from nearby. You remember that there are other "patients" on this same floor.
More time passes and you still hear gunshots and the inhuman noises. You are starting to worry that it's quite possible this house is going to be overrun by these things, and you haven't even seen one. This fear becomes even more intense when you stop hearing the gunshots and only hear the guttural noises nearby. You start to feel like you've made another bad choice.
Suddenly there's an attempt to open the door only to be stopped by the chair you've propped against it. This is followed by a loud bang on the door, which scares the hell out of you.
"Suzy! What the hell? Is this door barricaded?" you hear Lilith's voice shout.
"Yeah... is it safe?" you ask.
"It's safe in that we're not in any immediate danger, but we gotta start getting the hell outta here. Open up!"
Wasting no time you move the chair and the door opens up. Lilith throws your clothes at you and you can hear those awful noises in the corridor. Yelling and banging.
"Here. Get dressed and don't worry about the noises, the other subjects aren't getting out of those rooms anytime soon." Lilith says.
You're not as sure as Lilith is about that, so you just get dressed as fast as you can and exit the room with her.
"So what's going on?" you ask as you follow her.
"What's going on is Leslie and I are heading to that GZ Shelter after he and I gather a few things. The crazies from town are spilling out from it and we don't want to be here in case another wave comes. I was hoping to have more time to pack, but I guess we can't have everything."
You and Lilith get to the ground floor and finally see the house proper. It's a bit of a mess now probably due to all the running around and shooting, but obviously was nice at one time. Then you enter the front room and see several broken windows, and couple of dead bodies. One of them is a uniformed man with his throat ripped out and several slashes across his face.
Nearby him is a body of a disheveled looking woman with several bullet holes in her body and head. She still has a chunk of flesh in her teeth and even in death her eyes display a crazed look. It sort of freaks you out.
"Um, that guy in the uniform, shouldn't someone shoot him in the head?"
"What? No. These aren't zombies. They're just well... rabid." Lilith chuckles. "Headshots aren't even necessary to kill them, though it sure as hell helps."
A couple more uniformed men with the Ground Zero insignia on them walk into the room holding rifles.
"Place seems to be all secure Dr. Morningstar. No other hostiles in the house or around the house." One of them says.
"Good. Glad not all of you were incompetent. Wait, are you two the only ones left?"
"Afraid so doctor." One of them remarks.
"Oh well. Okay, I want you two to stand guard out front. Make sure there isn't another horde or whatever coming our way and if there is, run back in here and tell me immediately."
The two uniformed men nod and leave out the front door which is now half hanging off the hinges. You and Lilith both take a quick look outside and see the bodies of several crazies as well as GZ security. In the driveway you see that Lilith's truck is heavily shot up and a couple bodies of crazed townies lie next to it.
"Great, these assholes never learned the concept of one shot one kill. (Sigh) Guess we're all just piling into the Ground Zero van." Lilith says shaking her head.
Lilith continues looks around a bit more at her partially destroyed house.
"Well at least nobody has to clean this up this time. I remember the many many times I'd come home from work and I'd find Leslie had left a damn mess all over the house, much worse than this sometimes even. A lot more bodies too. Still remember the disorder he left when he was trying to write a poem for me on one of our past anniversaries. But it was such a lovely and thoughtful sentiment so I wasn't too mad... anyway have you made your decision of what you're going to do yet?" Lilith asks.
You still really aren't sure and lacking an answer, you ask a question.
"What would I do at the shelter again?
"Well I told you, I'm not in charge of assignments, but I'm sure there would be some sort of position there for you. Ground Zero doesn't waste resources."
"I see."
Lilith looks at you with a squint.
"You... still don't trust me do you? Don't answer. I know you don't. (Sigh) I suppose I don't blame you. Look, if you don't want to go with us you don't have to, I meant that. Still, I think it would be foolish if you didn't."
"It might be equally foolish if I went with you. Who knows what the hell is in store for me in an underground shelter." You say.
"True, but think on this. If I really had anything bad in store for you there, don't you think I would've just had security and my brother restrain you and take you there against your will anyway? I'm giving you a choice. You can go with us, or not. One of your problems Suzy is you don't take chances, you stick with what you think is safe and look where that has gotten you. But if safety is your main concern, I'm just going to say that staying here isn't exactly the safe option. This house isn't secure, you'll have a few days of food and water at best and if the crazed townsfolk don't come ripping this place apart again, there are always just the plain opportunists that are no doubt lurking about as well. You don't even have a vehicle to leave this place. Mine got all shot up and we're taking the other one. Do you even have a plan if you stay here?"
You don't... as usual.
"No." you reply.
"Well I'd think your choice would be simple then. Anyway, I have to bags to pack and when I'm done, I'm going to need to know what your answer is Suzy." Lilith remarks and leaves you by yourself.
You walk around the ground floor of the house a bit, just looking around. You start to form various thoughts in your head about how this place could be made more defensible. You just aren't sure if you're up to the task though.
You briefly consider the idea of somehow overpowering one of those GZ security guys outside and driving off with the truck yourself, but you aren't confident that you'd be successful. You then wonder if you could successfully flirt with one of them...
You head outside and speak with both of the guards while attempting to be as charming as you can. You even manage to muster up the fortitude to blatantly make sexual innuendo and such.
It doesn't work. One of them is gay and the other is happily married and even if that wasn't the case, they get irritated at the fact that you're distracting them from their duty and start telling you to go away. You realize your plan isn't going to work and you give up.
"Christ Suzy, some seductress you are." You mutter to yourself.
This brings you back to your original two choices and both of those have the potential to go to shit for various reasons, but it's all you got.
> go to the shelter
It does seem very likely that if Lilith were going to do something to you, she would've done it already. Plus you haven't given her any trouble like she wanted, so that's has to be in your favor.
Also, she makes some very good points about staying here. Civilization as you know it seems to be failing hard and you aren't exactly the "survivalist" type to deal with it. Seems like it would be too late to start learning how in the final hour too, even if you had the desire.
While you aren't exactly sure how life would be in an underground shelter, you can't help think that you'd be more "at home" there. After all it's just an oversized basement right?
It's a risk, but it's one you feel more confident about mainly because it requires little effort on your part. You sit on one of the few non-broken chairs and wait for Lilith.
A few moments pass and you hear footsteps coming up from the basement accompanied by some swearing and more footsteps in one of the other rooms.
"Where the fuck did I put that fucking thing? Shit, better not have lost... oh good here it is." You hear Leslie say before he soon enters the front room where you're waiting for Lilith.
Leslie carries two sizable black bags and a machete when he enters the room. He stares at you for a moment, which makes you a bit uncomfortable.
"Is my sister still upstairs?" he asks, but it's more like an order due to his tone.
"Yeah." You answer.
"Typical. She's the one dragging me to this fucking shelter and I'm ready before she is. I swear I don't want to go to this fucking place. Let alone working there. The idea of becoming part of a corporate fucking machine is just a fucking anathema to me. Probably have some little shit bean counter for a boss telling me he wants something done at a certain time. I fucking hate shit like that. I fucking hate it. I don't like being told what to do, when to do it, or ANYTHING!"
At this point Leslie begins shaking his machete in a violent manner and you see his eyes briefly roll into the back of his head like he's going to go into a convulsion.
Then all of a sudden his eyes snap back and he addresses you again.
"But the things we do for love right?" Leslie says.
"I guess so."
"Mm. Speaking of love, my sister has told me a bit about you and it's too bad you and my nephew didn't work out. Guess he'll be stuck with his shrew of a sister now. If he's smart, he'd ditch her and go for his other one... can't remember her fucking name... really quiet... "
"Helen?" you answer.
"Yeah, that's her. You sort of remind me of her a bit. You're prettier of course, but same sort of wallflower personality. You get molested as a child? Daddy ever make you suck his dick when Mommy wasn't around? Something like that?"
"No!" you say not expecting such a question.
"Hm, interesting. Would've thought you had been, especially since I heard your family was a bit on the dysfunctional side."
"Well they weren't THAT dysfunctional."
Leslie gives you a look of annoyance, which makes you a little tense, well more tense than when he was waving his machete around earlier.
"Oh. I see. That was a shot at MY family right?" Leslie exclaims.
"I didn't... " you start to say.
"No, YOU know what you meant and so did I! Is that why you didn't stay with my nephew? Felt you were too good for him?"
"That's not the reason, I... "
"Pfft, I don't want to fucking hear it! Here I am trying to make the effort to have friendly fucking conversation with you and you're fucking insulting me! Well fuck you too bitch!" Leslie says and when you see him starting to walk in your direction you begin to get worried, but instead he storms out the front door.
Just as you're recovering from that incident of Morningstar insanity, Lilith comes walking down from upstairs carrying a couple bags.
"What's going on down here? I heard my brother ranting as usual. Everything okay?" she asks.
"I dunno. He started talking to me and I tried to be friendly, but he took what I said out of context and got really pissed at me."
"Oh. Yeah, been there before. My brother's not very good at social interaction unless that other person also happens to be an asshole. Nevermind him, you're fine. Anyway, did you make your decision? Are you going with us?"
"Well... I was, but now I'm not sure... "
"What? Is it my brother? I told you forget about him. The shelter is a big place! Chances are you're never going to have to interact with him again when we get there."
Lilith puts her bags down and walks over in an attempt to reassure you.
"Come on, you don't really want to stay here do you? Dangerous cannibals and criminal types, scavenging for sustenance, no proper toilets, I assure you Suzy at the GZ shelter you won't have to worry about any of that shit."
"Well, okay." You say.
"Great, ah damnit!" Lilith suddenly remarks and puts her hand on her lower back.
"What's wrong?"
"I dunno. It's my back. Shit. I think all that damn running around, shooting, lifting and carrying heavy things took its toll. I really need to start exercising on a regular basis. Damn. (Sigh) I hate to ask, but could you carry my bags outside, you can just hand them to those two guards if you want."
"Oh, sure okay." You say.
You pick up the bags and head out the door with Lilith slowly walking behind.
You approach the two guards who are still standing on the porch and just as you're holding the bags out for them to take, you feel a sharp needle going into the side of your upper arm.
You drop the bags and turn around in horror, clutching your arm. Lilith once again holds a needle in her hand and you're soon feeling the affects.
"Sorry Suzy, but this was the ONLY way GZ was going to let me take you. I never lied though; you will be given a position to contribute to the community. You'll continue to be a test subject... though I'm afraid it will involve a little more than just questions and some blood tests this time."
"You... you... " is all you manage to utter before you collapse on the ground and unconsciousness begins to take affect.
You can still hear some of the conversation as you start to pass out.
"Carry her to the truck and Leslie, you can carry my bags since your short temper nearly cost GZ a perfectly good subject."
"Dunno why you just didn't take that bitch to begin with." Leslie remarks.
"Because I wanted to see if she'd ultimately go with what was easy or actually grow as a person and make the harder decision. She failed which is why she might as well be put in a GZ experiment lab. She's obviously not a learning animal, better her life goes towards something more useful."
You're out for the remainder of the day, in fact you're out of it for quite a few days. By the time you wake up you're strapped to a surgical table with metal restraints with a lot medical equipment in the room. A bright light shines overhead.
Fear overwhelms every fiber of your being. You being to call out for help, but the group of masked doctors in a circle nearby don't look like they're going to be doing that.
"The subject is up, chief." One of them says.
"Yeah, I could tell by her screaming. Okay, let's get her started with the injections first, then I guess we'll see the reaction and go from there." The head doctor says.
"Should be interesting." Another says.
"Maybe. I'm just glad we didn't get that asshole Leslie Morningstar assigned to our group. Dodged a bullet on that one. Let those fuckers in C Wing put up with him and his sister."
You panic, you struggle, you scream, you beg, you plead, you even call out for Bobby at one point, but none of it matters. The Ground Zero doctors begin to subject you to their experiments.
You have no idea how long this goes on for. Days, weeks, months? You never see Lilith or Leslie again and your world becomes to the surgical room to the observation room. You never see the rest of the Ground Zero facility.
Your body is wracked with pain and goes through several ugly changes; your mind eventually becomes broken to the point of insanity though occasionally you have moments of clarity and that's probably when you're at your worst since you're practically wishing to die. Several times the doctors prevent you from killing yourself.
The doctors themselves don't really talk to you, but rather with each other like you're not even there. You do hear one mention in passing about the world being nuked, but that hardly matters given the torture you're being subjected to, indeed dying in a nuclear fire would be much kinder at this point.
Eventually through all their experimentation you become little more than a wild animal. Almost like what people back in town became, but even worse. It gets to a point where you actually manage to break what they thought to be strong enough shackles and kill three of the doctors experimenting on you.
Ground Zero security is called in and after enough bullets you are finally put down. |
You might be reverting back to old habits, but if there is some hectic bullshit going on out there, then you want to avoid it. They can handle it and you decide to be extra cautious and block the door with a chair.
You hear the sounds of gunfire above you. That isn't what bothers you so much as it's the growling and yelling that sounds like it's coming from nearby. You remember that there are other "patients" on this same floor.
More time passes and you still hear gunshots and the inhuman noises. You are starting to worry that it's quite possible this house is going to be overrun by these things, and you haven't even seen one. This fear becomes even more intense when you stop hearing the gunshots and only hear the guttural noises nearby. You start to feel like you've made another bad choice.
Suddenly there's an attempt to open the door only to be stopped by the chair you've propped against it. This is followed by a loud bang on the door, which scares the hell out of you.
"Suzy! What the hell? Is this door barricaded?" you hear Lilith's voice shout.
"Yeah... is it safe?" you ask.
"It's safe in that we're not in any immediate danger, but we gotta start getting the hell outta here. Open up!"
Wasting no time you move the chair and the door opens up. Lilith throws your clothes at you and you can hear those awful noises in the corridor. Yelling and banging.
"Here. Get dressed and don't worry about the noises, the other subjects aren't getting out of those rooms anytime soon." Lilith says.
You're not as sure as Lilith is about that, so you just get dressed as fast as you can and exit the room with her.
"So what's going on?" you ask as you follow her.
"What's going on is Leslie and I are heading to that GZ Shelter after he and I gather a few things. The crazies from town are spilling out from it and we don't want to be here in case another wave comes. I was hoping to have more time to pack, but I guess we can't have everything."
You and Lilith get to the ground floor and finally see the house proper. It's a bit of a mess now probably due to all the running around and shooting, but obviously was nice at one time. Then you enter the front room and see several broken windows, and couple of dead bodies. One of them is a uniformed man with his throat ripped out and several slashes across his face.
Nearby him is a body of a disheveled looking woman with several bullet holes in her body and head. She still has a chunk of flesh in her teeth and even in death her eyes display a crazed look. It sort of freaks you out.
"Um, that guy in the uniform, shouldn't someone shoot him in the head?"
"What? No. These aren't zombies. They're just well... rabid." Lilith chuckles. "Headshots aren't even necessary to kill them, though it sure as hell helps."
A couple more uniformed men with the Ground Zero insignia on them walk into the room holding rifles.
"Place seems to be all secure Dr. Morningstar. No other hostiles in the house or around the house." One of them says.
"Good. Glad not all of you were incompetent. Wait, are you two the only ones left?"
"Afraid so doctor." One of them remarks.
"Oh well. Okay, I want you two to stand guard out front. Make sure there isn't another horde or whatever coming our way and if there is, run back in here and tell me immediately."
The two uniformed men nod and leave out the front door which is now half hanging off the hinges. You and Lilith both take a quick look outside and see the bodies of several crazies as well as GZ security. In the driveway you see that Lilith's truck is heavily shot up and a couple bodies of crazed townies lie next to it.
"Great, these assholes never learned the concept of one shot one kill. (Sigh) Guess we're all just piling into the Ground Zero van." Lilith says shaking her head.
Lilith continues looks around a bit more at her partially destroyed house.
"Well at least nobody has to clean this up this time. I remember the many many times I'd come home from work and I'd find Leslie had left a damn mess all over the house, much worse than this sometimes even. A lot more bodies too. Still remember the disorder he left when he was trying to write a poem for me on one of our past anniversaries. But it was such a lovely and thoughtful sentiment so I wasn't too mad... anyway have you made your decision of what you're going to do yet?" Lilith asks.
You still really aren't sure and lacking an answer, you ask a question.
"What would I do at the shelter again?
"Well I told you, I'm not in charge of assignments, but I'm sure there would be some sort of position there for you. Ground Zero doesn't waste resources."
"I see."
Lilith looks at you with a squint.
"You... still don't trust me do you? Don't answer. I know you don't. (Sigh) I suppose I don't blame you. Look, if you don't want to go with us you don't have to, I meant that. Still, I think it would be foolish if you didn't."
"It might be equally foolish if I went with you. Who knows what the hell is in store for me in an underground shelter." You say.
"True, but think on this. If I really had anything bad in store for you there, don't you think I would've just had security and my brother restrain you and take you there against your will anyway? I'm giving you a choice. You can go with us, or not. One of your problems Suzy is you don't take chances, you stick with what you think is safe and look where that has gotten you. But if safety is your main concern, I'm just going to say that staying here isn't exactly the safe option. This house isn't secure, you'll have a few days of food and water at best and if the crazed townsfolk don't come ripping this place apart again, there are always just the plain opportunists that are no doubt lurking about as well. You don't even have a vehicle to leave this place. Mine got all shot up and we're taking the other one. Do you even have a plan if you stay here?"
You don't... as usual.
"No." you reply.
"Well I'd think your choice would be simple then. Anyway, I have to bags to pack and when I'm done, I'm going to need to know what your answer is Suzy." Lilith remarks and leaves you by yourself.
You walk around the ground floor of the house a bit, just looking around. You start to form various thoughts in your head about how this place could be made more defensible. You just aren't sure if you're up to the task though.
You briefly consider the idea of somehow overpowering one of those GZ security guys outside and driving off with the truck yourself, but you aren't confident that you'd be successful. You then wonder if you could successfully flirt with one of them...
You head outside and speak with both of the guards while attempting to be as charming as you can. You even manage to muster up the fortitude to blatantly make sexual innuendo and such.
It doesn't work. One of them is gay and the other is happily married and even if that wasn't the case, they get irritated at the fact that you're distracting them from their duty and start telling you to go away. You realize your plan isn't going to work and you give up.
"Christ Suzy, some seductress you are." You mutter to yourself.
This brings you back to your original two choices and both of those have the potential to go to shit for various reasons, but it's all you got.
> stay at the house
Lilith's right. Your choice is simple.
And that's the one that doesn't involve going somewhere with a pair of sociopaths and a shady corporation.
"Safest choice my firm ass it is." You say to yourself.
Lilith's psychobabble about you might've been a bit spot on in places, but it made you realize that not only is it not completely true, but that this past week you HAVE been making a concentrated effort to adapt to your surroundings.
True, you haven't been successful at it for the most part, but you've survived this long in this fucked up week, so you must not be too terrible at it either. Having to fend for yourself isn't fun, but then being alone isn't exactly new to you.
In any case, you still don't trust Lilith and begin looking around the house and there in the kitchen, you pick up a fairly large butcher knife. Actually it isn't a knife so much as it's a machete. One can only imagine what the hell it's doing in their kitchen, but you can take a guess.
You at first wonder if you should go try to kill Lilith or something, but then you think that probably isn't the best plan. It's likely to just end in your demise at the hands of her guards or her brother. You're not some close combat expert and despite what Lilith said about you possibly "exploding into a ball of violent rage" you actually don't have so much hate for her that you want to kill her without provocation. She actually might be telling the truth about the shelter as well rather than have any sinister intent.
Still, you aren't ready to take that chance either. While she has said she'll just leave you in peace if decline the offer, you still have images of someone grabbing you, drugging you and taking you to the shelter against your will.
So that leaves one option. You're going to go hide. The question is where though. Lilith's upstairs, he brother is in the basement. You imagine if you hid somewhere on the ground floor, you'd get discovered pretty quickly...
It occurs to you, that you could just go out the backdoor and leave the premises for a while. You know they're still in a hurry to get the hell out of here, chances are, they are not going to spend a whole lot of time looking for you, let alone looking for you off the grounds of the house.
So that's what you do. You leave out the backdoor. Unfortunately the backyard has a high wooden fence so climbing it wouldn't be the easiest thing to do (And chopping it with the machete, would just cause noise) and the gate leading to the side of the house is locked.
You see a shed, but you imagine that's locked as well and it doesn't seem like it would be a good place to hide. There are a couple trees in the yard and that's when you notice that one of them has a few branches hanging over the fence.
The tree in question looks a lot easier to climb than the fence so you go up the tree which is slightly tricky with the machete still in your hand, but you soon make it to the branch you need to get to, drop the machete on the ground first and then drop down.
And promptly land wrong and twist the hell out of your ankle as you crumple to the ground.
"Fuck. Shit... " you start to curse until you stop yourself, when you hear a voice yelling on the other side of the fence.
"I dunno where your blonde lab rat is, go get your guards to look. I'm trying to look for my favorite machete! I thought I had it in the kitchen, but it's not there. I'm going to check the shed."
From your low angle and through the slats of the fence you can see Leslie walking towards his shed. Definitely turning back now as you're most likely in possession of Leslie's favorite machete and you really hope that this isn't going to inspire a "hunt."
You crawl away from the fence and the house as fast as you can. The pain in your ankle makes standing to "limp away" a bit more painful, but your desire to not get caught allows you to fight through it.
The high grass and the occasional bush or tree makes your escape into the "wilderness" slightly less nerve wracking since at least you aren't in a completely open field where if they were looking for you, you would be an easy find.
Just as you think you're getting far enough away, you hear a voice call out your name in the distance. You freeze and turn your head to look behind you, but you don't see anyone. You still hear Lilith's voice shouting for you from far away, but you guess that she's just doing it from near the house rather than actively searching for you.
Eventually you cease hearing her call for you and you take a breather within a cluster of trees. Actually you think if you went any further, you'd probably start going into a forest which you're prepared to do if you think anyone is actually going to come looking for you. For now though, you need to rest your ankle a bit.
A few moments pass and you don't hear anything other than the occasional bird. A rabbit bounding nearby makes you jump a bit, but so far you don't think anyone is coming out this way to look for you.
Still, you can't tell if they've all left yet. You decide to be on the safe side, you'll wait a little longer. No more than that though since you really don't want to get caught out here in the dark.
So you wait, keeping your eyes and ears open. Really before now, you didn't realize how rural of an area you lived in. You don't think you've ever appreciated the outdoors before... and you still don't now.
Time passes and still no sign of anyone heading your way. You decide they've probably left by now and it's probably safe.
You ankle feels slightly better, but it still aches. As you try to keep your weight off of it and make your way back to the house, you suddenly hear rustling noise in the trees and bushes nearby. At first you think it's another rabbit, but then you see exactly what it is
"Shit!" you exclaim when you see a wild looking man with an equally wild look in his eyes. He sees you and makes that awful animalistic noise you heard while you were locked away in the basement and then sprints straight for you.
Fear grips you, but you know you can't outrun it with your ankle not being a hundred percent. Your only saving grace is you aren't completely defenseless.
You barely have time to react by the time it lunges upon you. You manage to swing your blade and as luck would have it you sink the blade across the thing's face while its mouth was wide open.
You weren't strong enough to cleave its head off, but it can't really bite you with a machete blade in the way either. Still, that doesn't stop it from tackling you to the ground, not to mention the blade is now stuck half way through its head and you couldn't really pull it out if you wanted to what with it being on top of you now.
With blood spray all over you and this thing still trying to kill you, you do the only thing you can think of: You push the flat edge of the blade on your side and the handle so the machete cuts deeper into the thing's head. It makes horrible squeals and shrieks, and keeps attempting to claw at your face, blood, teeth, bits of flesh are spraying/falling on you, but you keep the pressure on until at last you successfully shove the blade all the way through and the top of it's head come off.
After a bit more struggling, you get the thing completely off of you as it still attempts to kill you in its death throes. The thing continues to twitch and you're busily looking around to make sure more of them aren't coming or if the Morningstars are still around and heard all the noise. There doesn't seem to be anyone else around though. By the way this thing was dressed he even looked like he might be a camper so hopefully it was just him in the woods.
You just realize you killed someone... well someTHING at any rate. You don't feel bad, since it was more out of necessity. You get the impression you might be killing more of these things in the near future, so better you get used to it now.
You quicken your pace to the house though still proceeding cautiously as possible. You hug the back fence and slowly edge your way around to the front of the house and you see that the Ground Zero vehicle is gone, along with the two guards that were out front.
At least that's one thing you don't need to worry about.
You enter the house through the still open front door and check the ground floor and find nobody around. The place is still a mess though. You're about to check the upstairs when you see a piece of paper attached to the refrigerator with your name written in big black marker. You take it and read.
Suzy,
Assuming you came back here, I just want to say I understand why you ran off like you did and I probably wouldn't have completely trusted you if the roles were reversed. Still, it is a shame we didn't get to say a proper goodbye to each other. Leslie was quite angry with your theft of his favorite machete, but I talked him out of attempting to hunt you down for it. Not like we even need it where we're going.
Anyway, I imagine you should have power in this house for a couple days at least. There is food and drink in the fridge and in the cupboards. You'll probably want to eat the stuff in the fridge first before the power goes out and spoilage occurs though.
Not sure if you'll like some of it, but considering you liked the meatloaf, maybe you'll like what's in there.
Good luck Suzy, I certainly hope your foray into being a survivalist is successful. I mean that. You're going to have to really push yourself and prepare for what is coming, but I think you've got a shot.
Lilith Morningstar
P.S.
The other patients are still locked in the rooms in the basement. There are four of them in total and have already very likely broken their restraints by now. As I have said before, the doors should be more than enough to contain them and you should be safe from them as long as you don't open the rooms.
Well that was certainly a thoughtful note to you.
You sit down for a second thinking of what to do next. You thought that maybe you'd try to barricade this house up and stay here, but now you're wondering if you shouldn't just leave considering you've got four of those things clawing to get out of the basement. You to come to the conclusion that you might stay here another day tops and that's only to just search this place of anything useful and then you're heading out to well, you don't know where exactly, but you're going to continue to play this by ear.
For right now though, you really need to wash up. You're covered in blood, gore, dirt and generally feel really gross. You really don't want to use the shower in that room you were in during your time in the basement of this place though. You head upstairs in the hopes of finding another bathroom and sure enough you find one.
Lilith's clothes are a slightly bigger size, but you can't afford to be choosey since your own clothes are a bloody mess and it doesn't make much sense changing back into them.
During all this, you continue to keep your wits about you. Still afraid that something may pop up to attack at any time. By the time you're out of the shower, night is beginning to fall.
While you would've liked to have gotten started on searching the house you're a little wary of turning on the lights in this house since it might very well attract more attention than you want. You do gather up a duffle bag that Lilith apparently decided not to use and plan to use that as your container for your search tomorrow.
Given that you're staying here the night, you need to secure this house as much as you can. You lock the back door and the basement door. (And trying to ignore the noises you hear coming from down there) You then shove a sofa in front of the ruined front door. It's not much, but if those things try to come in, you'll most likely hear it at least.
You also realize you haven't eaten all day, so you look in the fridge and grab something that looks similar to the meatloaf you ate yesterday since you don't feel like making a decision.
"Hm, Lil and Les really liked their meatloaf I guess." You say and eat the stuff in the dark. (At least you don't need to look at it this time) Tastes okay.
You're up for quite awhile paranoid about every noise you hear. However, you know you can't stay awake all night despite your paranoia.
You head back upstairs to one of the bedrooms and close the door. You then shove a dresser in front of it. Best you can do.
You then flop down on the bed and reluctantly let sleep take you.
> Next day...
FRIDAY
You wake up to the sound of a noisy vehicle outside. You waste no time in springing to your feet.
You cautiously peek out the window and see a beat up pick up truck pulling up behind Lilith's shot up vehicle. You then see two familiar figures get out of the truck with one of them speaking loud enough for you to hear even from your position.
"Woowee! Looks like we missed some shit going down around here! Make sure you keep yer eyes peeled! Thinkin' Doc might not even be alive anymore!" Jed exclaims.
"Shit. What the fuck are those two assholes doing here?" you say to yourself.
You see Hugo and Jed both carrying shotguns and going to the back of the pick up, which from your vantage point you can see a pile of blankets in the bed of the truck. Jed uncovers the blanket and reveals a naked woman tied up with ropes. She looks dirty, beaten and bloody. You can't quite tell if she's dead, but she's definitely unconscious.
You then see Jed say something to his brother and points to the house. Hugo nods and you see him walk out of your view. You temporarily freeze up when you hear a knock from downstairs. You hear it several times until you hear Jed shouting at his dim-witted brother.
"Jesus fuckin' Christ Hugo, are ya stupider than usual today? Can't ya see that door is already hangin' off the fuckin' hinges? Just go in, and fuckin' check the place out, then let me know if Doc's even around or not. I'll be out here keepin' this fierce one entertained." Jed shouts and you see him patting the leg of the girl a couple times.
The knocking becomes a crashing sound as you hear Hugo bashing the door in and probably moving the sofa in the process. You turn your attention away from what's going on outside and how you're going to handle this situation.
You think about climbing out the window and on to the roof, but that's a risky proposition. Not really so much of the risk of falling (Though your ankle still hurts a bit) but more because Jed is practically in front of you and if he just bothers to till his head up or hears you, he's going to see you and probably open fire.
You look around the room and hoping maybe there is a firearm or something that Lilith didn't take, but you don't find anything. That dresser you put up against the door isn't going to last long if Hugo tries to come in here.
You suppose you could just try shoving move stuff against it, but considering he not only looks extremely strong, he's got a shotgun and could probably just blast his way through.
You hear Hugo stomping around downstairs.
If Hugo comes up here, and you hide in the closet, there's the possibility that you could get the drop on him as he walks in.
You wonder though if it might not be more advantageous to just head downstairs and try to sneak up on him now though. If he comes up and things go to shit, you aren't going to have any place to run to, especially if he traps you in this room.
> seek out Hugo
Either way you're going to have to get the drop on him, better you have more places to run to, rather than just being trapped in one room.
As quietly as you can you move the dresser out of the way of the door and exit the bedroom. You still hear Hugo clomping around downstairs and you actually wait around the corner of the stairs hoping that maybe if he is heading upstairs you can ambush him that way.
Waiting doesn't prove fruitful though and in fact you think Hugo's footsteps are actually getting fainter. It then occurs to you, he's probably looking for Leslie and Leslie would be down in the basement.
You cautiously head downstairs though you do it fairly quickly since the last thing you want is to be wrong and get caught going half way down the stairs while Hugo is going up them.
After a quick look around on the ground floor and keeping your ears open you're not hearing or seeing Hugo down here. You are starting to hear Jed shouting from outside though. When you peek out the window, you can't quite see everything, but you notice Jed is clearly doing something with the woman that was in the back of the truck. You can guess what that might be given his movements and vulgar shouting.
You head towards the stairs of the basement and you nearly fall down them when you're startled by a sudden gunshot coming from down there. Hugo must've just shot one of the four "patients" down there. Of course it's hard to know if he'd opened a door and killed one or perhaps it managed to get out on its own. Either way, you're going to have to be really careful.
You get to the basement floor and the noise of those things is much louder. You peek around the corner and down the corridor you see two doors to the rooms open. The closest one you know was yours, so nothing in there. The second one however looks like it also has a dead body lying partially in the entryway.
You see Hugo in the corridor opening up another door across the hall of the other two open ones. He isn't really paying much attention to your direction and when he steps into the other room, you make a dash for your old room and get inside.
Along with hearing the banging of the creatures still locked up, you hear another shotgun blast signifying Hugo's killed another one. You figure before he opens up the next door, you run up and chop him in the back of the head.
You peek out from behind the door and see Hugo exiting the room. He walks to the middle of the corridor and begins fiddling with his shotgun, as if he's having trouble with it.
Just then the door across from him bursts open and one of the patients attacks him. You see and hear them struggle, growling, yelling, and everything else that comes with a life or death situation.
It gets more interesting however when you see Hugo drop the shotgun as he's struggling with the patient.
You waste no time and rush from your position to nab it. Hugo meanwhile is still struggling with the patient who has now bitten into Hugo's hand. You're about to put a hole in the pair of them and that's when the door to the room containing the last patient bursts open.
The thing seeing that one of its "fellows" is already struggling with Hugo, it screams and lunges forward to attack you instead.
You instinctively turn the shotgun towards the patient and pull the trigger, unfortunately it doesn't work which is why Hugo was fiddling with it earlier. It was jammed.
Before you can pick your machete back up to defend yourself, the thing has already tackled you. You struggle for a moment, but this one is a lot stronger than the one you fought with yesterday. It soon overpowers you and its teeth are ripping your throat out and its fingers are clawing your eyes out. |
FRIDAY
You wake up to the sound of a noisy vehicle outside. You waste no time in springing to your feet.
You cautiously peek out the window and see a beat up pick up truck pulling up behind Lilith's shot up vehicle. You then see two familiar figures get out of the truck with one of them speaking loud enough for you to hear even from your position.
"Woowee! Looks like we missed some shit going down around here! Make sure you keep yer eyes peeled! Thinkin' Doc might not even be alive anymore!" Jed exclaims.
"Shit. What the fuck are those two assholes doing here?" you say to yourself.
You see Hugo and Jed both carrying shotguns and going to the back of the pick up, which from your vantage point you can see a pile of blankets in the bed of the truck. Jed uncovers the blanket and reveals a naked woman tied up with ropes. She looks dirty, beaten and bloody. You can't quite tell if she's dead, but she's definitely unconscious.
You then see Jed say something to his brother and points to the house. Hugo nods and you see him walk out of your view. You temporarily freeze up when you hear a knock from downstairs. You hear it several times until you hear Jed shouting at his dim-witted brother.
"Jesus fuckin' Christ Hugo, are ya stupider than usual today? Can't ya see that door is already hangin' off the fuckin' hinges? Just go in, and fuckin' check the place out, then let me know if Doc's even around or not. I'll be out here keepin' this fierce one entertained." Jed shouts and you see him patting the leg of the girl a couple times.
The knocking becomes a crashing sound as you hear Hugo bashing the door in and probably moving the sofa in the process. You turn your attention away from what's going on outside and how you're going to handle this situation.
You think about climbing out the window and on to the roof, but that's a risky proposition. Not really so much of the risk of falling (Though your ankle still hurts a bit) but more because Jed is practically in front of you and if he just bothers to till his head up or hears you, he's going to see you and probably open fire.
You look around the room and hoping maybe there is a firearm or something that Lilith didn't take, but you don't find anything. That dresser you put up against the door isn't going to last long if Hugo tries to come in here.
You suppose you could just try shoving move stuff against it, but considering he not only looks extremely strong, he's got a shotgun and could probably just blast his way through.
You hear Hugo stomping around downstairs.
If Hugo comes up here, and you hide in the closet, there's the possibility that you could get the drop on him as he walks in.
You wonder though if it might not be more advantageous to just head downstairs and try to sneak up on him now though. If he comes up and things go to shit, you aren't going to have any place to run to, especially if he traps you in this room.
> hide in this room
Better to stay put and surprise attack him that way. Quite frankly if you don't get the drop on him, you're probably not going to get the chance to run anyway.
You get the closet and hide in the extra niche space within it. Hugo comes kicking in the door, he wanders in and probably looks around the room first, and then you attack hoping you kill him before he shoots you.
You took out one of those rabid things by yourself and that was pretty dangerous right? You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.
You convince yourself as you wait in a closet to ambush a large and heavily armed retarded redneck rapist...
You wait, still hearing Hugo clomping around and probably knocking shit over if the sounds are any indication. You also start hearing some shouting outside. You can't tell what's going on, but you're more focused what's going on inside.
At any time, you expect to hear the sound of boots loudly stomping up the stairs, but you don't, in fact the sounds of Hugo's stomping get faint and soon you're not hearing it at all.
At first you think maybe he went back outside, but then it occurs to you that Jed told Hugo to look for Leslie. And if Leslie were here, he'd probably be in the basement so that might be where Hugo went.
You cautiously come out of the closet and try to listen for Hugo, but the only thing you're hearing now is Jed making "whooping" noises as well as shrieking. You peek out the window again just to see what the hell is going on.
You see the girl that was in the bed of the truck now bent over the tailgate and Jed raping her. Her arms are still tied behind her back, but she's not unconscious anymore. She's obviously squirming and making the shrieking sounds you heard before. Something isn't right though, and it's not just the whole rape thing. The noise that this woman is making doesn't entirely sound... well "natural."
You think she might be one of those crazies. That doesn't seem to bother Jed however, he just keeps laughing and punches her in the back of the head every once in a while to "calm" her. His shotgun is leaning up against the side of the truck. You guess he got over the idea of "catching" something.
You shake your head at this fucked up situation and then suddenly you hear a shotgun blast from within the house.
You then remember there are still four of those things locked up in those rooms in the basement. You have no idea if Hugo's just opened up one of the doors and killed one, or they've gotten out on their own though. You don't hear another gunshot, so you also don't know if he successfully killed it or it (or they) possibly got him.
Meanwhile the shot briefly get Jed's attention and he actually stops raping for one minute, but then he quickly goes back to it and starts shouting at the crazed woman.
"Hah! Sounds like my brother just put another one of you crazy bitches down!" he exclaims and then slams her face into the bed of the truck.
Well it seems like both brothers are suitably distracted and divided which is the best situation you're going to get.
Ideally, you'd take out Jed first and grab his shotgun. The only problem is there is no way you can really sneak up on him since his line of sight is directly in front of the house. Walking out the front door even quietly as possible and even with him in the middle of his rape of one of the rabid, if he sees you, it won't take him long to grab his shotgun and open fire.
Hugo on the other hand might very well already be dead for all you know. If he is, that doesn't necessarily mean things are going to be any easier with one of those insane people or possibly more than one lurking around free in the basement. Even if he isn't dead, the same problem arises that you're going to have when you thought he might come up the stairs. Might even be harder given the corridors don't allow for many places to hide and he's going to be more alert now.
Whether Hugo is alive or there are a group of cannibals eating him right now, you still feel like Jed would be easier for you to deal with armed only with a machete.
You move the dresser and cautiously leave the bedroom. You continually keep looking around as you head towards the stairs.
You make your way down the stairs and try to keep your head low so you don't possibly get seen through one of the broken windows.
The front door is wide open and you can see Jed with the girl. Right now he's got his head down and isn't paying attention to what could be in front of him, he's too busy slamming his dick into crazy woman and keeping her from getting away from him.
As quickly and as quietly as you can, you slip out the front door and hide behind one of the front porch pillars. You think if you're quick enough you could make it to hide behind the front Lilith's vehicle and then from there just crawl alongside that vehicle to Jed's vehicle, grab the shotgun and you're home free.
You peek around the pillar and see Jed's still engrossed in his activity. You immediately make the attempt...
Then another shotgun blast emanates from the house just as you're a the bottom of the front stairs causing you to stumble a bit and Jed to look up.
Your eyes meet.
"SHIT!" pair of you shout and Jed starts fumbling with his dick and pants.
You MIGHT make it if you make a sprint to grab the shotgun, but then again you might not and not getting it, means game over.
You've probably got a better chance if you run back into the house, but in that case you're going to be playing a game of cat and mouse with him and considering you just heard a second gunshot, it would seem Hugo is probably alive too.
> run back in the house
You turn around and try to get back in the house as quick as you can. You hear Jed shout at you to stop, but you don't listen, you just to get in the front door.
You don't quite make it and feel the burning pain a slug hitting the back of your left leg. Not only do you scream in agony, you also fall straight on you your face.
"Stupid bitch, I told ya, to stop!" Jed shouts.
You don't even look at your leg, but you sense that it may just be barely attached to the rest of your body at this point. The agony is so bad you feel like you're going to be sick or go unconscious at the same time.
Against all odds you continue to try to crawl into the entryway of the house.
"HEY! I SAID STOP FUCKING MOVING! Goddamnit... " you hear Jed shout and you expect to another shot, but instead you hear shouting of a different kind.
"ARGH! FUCK!"
You manage to turn your head enough to see Jed being attacked by the rabid woman he was violating. She's bitten him, but he's still managing to fight her off. You use this opportunity to continue to crawl away. You manage to get back inside, and you hear another gunshot followed by more swearing. Your heart sinks since that means Jed must still be alive.
The combination of fear and pain is clouding your thoughts of everything save for trying to get away, but you know that's not going to happen.
Your fears become reality when you're only half way up the stairs to the second floor and hear footsteps coming into the house.
"I hear ya whimpering girl and I can see the bloody mess yer leavin'. Won't be half as messy though when I get through with ya!" you hear Jed shout.
You soon hear him on stairs behind you.
"Dunno, why yer goin' up there for, your fate is sealed sick girl. Didn't seem so sick out there when you were trying to reach for my shotgun. Bet you thought pullin' one over on me a couple days ago was really funny. Well I guess I'm the one laughing now. Since I didn't finish with my ex-girlfriend back there, guess you'll have to fill in for her.
You suddenly feel a hand grip your good leg and pull hard. As you're dragged, you make one last ditch effort to fight, by twisting your body and swinging the machete you're still carrying in your hand.
You manage to catch Jed's arm sinking the blade in. He yells, lets go and falls backwards down the stairs. Unfortunately with his other hand that still holds the shotgun, he pulls the trigger on it.
You're hit again and it's a quick death as part of your head and brains are splattered all over the stairs and walls, which at least spares you of any further suffering. |
WEDNESDAY
You wake up and remembering everything that happened just before you passed out, you attempt to sit up immediately, unfortunately you can't due to being restrained. Your legs, your arms and even your body are all strapped down on a gurney.
You can't cry out either as you have a ball gag on your mouth. You can make loud "Mmhghm!" sounds but that's about it.
Your clothing has also changed. While you're not naked, you're in one of those hospital gowns. You don't feel sore or anything, so you can only hope you weren't raped during the time someone was changing your clothes.
The fear of what's going to happen to you is overwhelming.
A quick glance around from you position shows that you're in a plain white room with no windows. There is a light above and a chair and door to your right, but to your left gives you cause for more terror as you see a table full of surgical instruments. A lot of them don't even look like proper surgical instruments so much as they look like torture devices.
There isn't much you can do except wait and attempt to stop crying though you fail in that endeavor. You just lie there thinking about how you said yesterday that things couldn't get any worse... and then they did.
You think about what you could've done differently to have made your life better and most importantly avoid the situation you're in now. You then think about how at some point, either Lilith, her brother or both are going to come in and start cutting you up and torturing you to death.
You're completely helpless and you wish that someone would just come in and save you from all this. The door suddenly opens and you turn your head hoping that somehow your magical thinking worked, but you only see Lilith walking in with a notebook in hand.
"Figured you should be up by now. Sorry to keep you knocked out for so long, but I'm sure you can see it was completely necessary. Couldn't have you running away or anything."
You turn away from Lilith who then gets closer and stares at your face a moment.
"Hmm, you've been crying. Natural response I suppose given your situation. Good. (Sigh) I told my brother not to put those in here." Lilith says taking notice of the surgical instruments and shaking her head.
"He probably thought it would be funny to have you even more terrified out of your mind than you already would be. I love Leslie with all my heart, but he really can be an inconsiderate asshole sometimes. Well most of the time really, anyway the main thing is don't pay any attention to those tools over there. That's not what I brought you in for."
Lilith puts her notebook on the table with the tools and addresses you again.
"Now. I'm going to release your ball gag since I'm sure it's uncomfortable. However when I do, I must ask you NOT to scream or anything like that. First of all it won't do any good. Second, it's terribly annoying. If we're going to have a positive relationship Suzy, it's absolutely necessary that you comply with my instructions. Do you understand?"
You don't really have much in the way of choices and resisting her with no way of actually doing anything would probably just result in something bad. You nod your head compliantly and Lilith takes off your ball gag.
"Are you going to kill me?" you ask.
"Ah the predictable question first. Well, we're going to get to that and several other questions you might have, but we're going to be doing this my way. So while I know you're very nervous and scared, you're going to just have to wait a while before they get answered. Do you understand?"
Once again you nod silently.
"Good. Very compliant. We're getting off on the right foot Suzy. Now then let's get to some of the more minor concerns you might have had running through your mind while you were laying here."
Lilith pulls the chair over to the table and after moving some of the tools out of the way she sits down, opens up her notebook and begins writing something in it while addressing you.
"I want to first alleviate any concerns you might have had about being sexually molested while you were unconscious. I assure you I undressed and dressed you myself. And since I'm not a lesbian you were completely unharmed as far as that goes. I can see one of the obvious reasons that would cause Bobby to be enamored with you though. You're a very pretty girl with a nice body and it's obvious just by speaking with him he still loves you despite your break up."
"... you... you spoke with Bobby?" you ask.
"Oh yes. Called him up as soon as I got you in the house. Took awhile to reach him, but eventually I did and I proceeded to have a very long conversation with him. I wanted to know more about you and only Bobby could provide those answers what with you being unconscious and all. He told me about how you met, your general personality, what you liked to do, and all of that stuff. When I asked what exactly caused the break up, he seemed to stumble over his words a bit. He claimed that he realized he couldn't abandon the silly family traditions, but it seemed like there was more to it than that because he kept insisting it was his fault and not yours. As if that was going to change what is going to be going on over here. You want to shed a little light on it Suzy? Please be honest."
"I... I (sniffle) didn't want to get married to him. I didn't want to live under the same roof as Diana since she was his ex and she hates me. I suppose... I also wasn't fond of the idea of having a bunch of babies like he wanted either. Our argument sort of spiraled from there." You answer.
"Hm, interesting. So you wouldn't consider yourself a domestic woman then. I suppose I can understand that. I certainly wouldn't want to spend most of my time barefoot and pregnant and my whole life revolving around my man's needs. I don't think my brother would like that either. He gets so wrapped up in his experiments that I don't even see him for days sometimes and he'd probably be homeless and living under a bridge if I wasn't working." Lilith chuckles and continues writing.
You remain extremely anxious about what's going to happen to you.
"I also can understand not wanting to live with my bitchy niece either. I know my nephew probably didn't think anything of it, but I also wouldn't have put it past him to hope for some sort of three way between you all. Good for you, putting your foot down like that."
All you can think is you'd willingly have a three-way with Bobby and Diana if it got you out of this situation.
"Anyway when my nephew found out you were over here he practically pleaded for me and his uncle not to kill or harm you in any way. He even said he'd be over to pick you up, but I told him that was completely out of the question since plans were already in motion. Still, I love my nephew and didn't wish to cause him any suffering so I agreed that you would not come to any harm as long as you followed the rules. So there's the obvious question answered."
You close your eyes silently thanking Bobby that he spoke up for you. Of course this doesn't make your fear disappear completely. Far from it, but at least you might have a glimmer of hope now.
"With that out of the way, your other questions are probably what is going to be done to you. Well, before I called Bobby, my initial intention was to do some tests and study you since I wanted another subject to observe and I saw an opportunity to grab you when you nearly crashed into me. However, some things have obviously changed, but there is still is opportunity here so I'm going to take advantage of it."
"... what do you mean?" you ask thinking Lilith has decided to completely twist her word to Bobby somehow.
"I'm getting to that. As you might've noticed most of the folks in town have gone completely nuts. Well there's a reason for that and you're going to be one of the few people outside of the higher-ranking Ground Zero personnel to learn about it."
Lilith stops writing to give you her complete attention.
"We put an experimental drug in the water supply and that's what's causing most people to act the way they're doing in town. In fact we've done this to a lot of places. As bad as what's going on in town, I imagine it's even worse in a bigger populated area like Security City." Lilith says.
While you're still worried about yourself, this bit of information is a little frightening for other reasons.
"Wait. What? Why?" you ask.
"Well there are very good reasons I assure you, but most of them probably wouldn't matter to most with any sort of so called ethical concerns on human testing. Indeed I don't even know all of the answers myself, I'm just a small cog in a big relentless machine. All I can do is tell you this, the world IS going to change very severely and very soon and it's Ground Zero's goal to try to save the human race at any cost. Our shelters aren't the only way we're doing that." Lilith says.
"But how is putting crazy juice in the water supply doing that?" you ask.
"Well, I'm not completely familiar with all the science involved, but it basically makes people more resilient to things like diseases, radiation, and even chemical gases. You know, anything that's likely to wipe out humanity on a wide scale when our glorious world leaders start pressing buttons. It seems like it increases strength and speed as well. Unfortunately it would seem it has a very negative effect on the mind, but that of course was an unintended side effect. However, if animal testing is anything to go by, those effects should only be temporary."
"But how long do they last?"
"With animals? A few weeks, but we never really got to test on humans at least not on a wide scale. There were some individual tests I believe, but those were the earlier stages of the drug and the results of those weren't very positive. Ground Zero wanted to pick a populated area to do testing on years ago to hammer out all the problems quicker, but we had an agreement with government, which kept dragging its damn feet as usual on things. It didn't help that GZ was also temporarily burdened with some incompetent leadership for a while so we didn't get to do any of this until the last minute and now this is the result. Don't get me started on the faulty elevator problems in most of the shelters... "
Lilith at this point shakes her head and runs her fingers through her hair as if dismayed with how things have turned out. As she's doing this, a horrible conclusion comes to you.
"Wait... am I going to go crazy too? I drank mostly bottled water!" you say.
"Yes, a lot of people do these days, but most people still bathe regularly, brush their teeth and such and all that is still enough even if you're not drinking straight from the tap. As for if you're going to go crazy, well that's a matter of perspective. Given what I know about you, I have to say from a professional perspective you're not exactly a beacon of sanity Suzy, but then who of us really is right? If you were worried that you're going to start going into a violent fit of rage, I'd have to say I don't think you are since you haven't already. The drug doesn't seem to be affecting everyone in town the same way for some reason. Not sure why, but again that's why I'm keeping you around for observation. You're going to be my control subject as it were."
"What does that mean?" you ask.
"What it essentially means is as long as you cooperate and don't try to escape, you'll be well taken care of. I'll ask you questions, maybe do a few non-invasive tests and that's about it. If it seems you're completely fine, I guess we'll move on from there. For now though I think you should have better accommodations don't you? This room is rather spartan, I'm going to take you to a new one. Now, I could call my brother in here or just wheel you to it still strapped to the gurney, but I'd rather NOT do that Suzy. I want our relationship to be a trusting one. So, I'm going to release you from your straps, you'll follow me and you WILL NOT try to escape or anything like that. Do you understand?"
Of course you're going to say yes to Lilith, no matter what, but your intentions are another matter.
While Lilith seems like a reasonable lady, she's still a Morningstar and all that entails from what you know of that fucked up family. She might not be one of the chaos goddess worshipping brainwashed cultist ones, but she's obviously still not concerned with the value of human life and the only thing that's saved you is having a past relationship with Bobby and his continued feelings for you.
She doesn't look tough, of course looks can be deceiving, but you're pretty desperate and you REALLY want to leave. When she releases you, you could probably easily grab one of those surgical instruments and hold her hostage until you took her car and got out of this place.
You've no idea where you'd go, but anywhere would be better.
> make an attempt to escape
You aren't going to stick around to be someone's lab rat only to probably get disposed of later. And you know enough about the Morningstar family that they're all a bunch of damn psychos at their core. You need to make your escape now.
Lilith undoes your straps and you're soon free. You sit up, stretch and then make out like you're about to fall.
"Oh shit." You say and Lilith quickly comes to your aid to prevent you from "falling."
"Whoa, easy there, you o... " Lilith starts to say and then you elbow her in the face.
Lilith falls to the floor and you grab a particularly sadistic looking knife from the table. Lilith is remarkable quick to recover because by the time you've done all this, she' already run to the door and opened it.
"LESLIE!" she shouts before you manage to grab her hair and put the knife to her throat.
"Don't move. I don't want to kill you, but I will to get out of here." You warn.
"This was a very stupid thing to do Suzy. If you'd cooperated you would've gotten out of here in a few days at most. Now you've sealed your own death certificate."
"Quiet! Now I'm taking your vehicle, so I'm going to need your keys. After I grab those I'll be leaving and if YOU cooperate you won't get hurt. So you better tell me where we're going and NOT shout for help again!" You say.
"(Sigh) Fine. I have my keys with me in my pocket. We just have to go to the vehicle. This way." Lilith says and the pair of you leave the room.
You constantly look around thinking you're going to see Lilith's brother coming around a corner, but so far nothing. Lilith tells you which way to go and eventually you're heading up the stairs. It's at this point Lilith starts talking shit again.
"You're not getting away with this you know. My brother's going to stop you before you can escape and when that happens... well you think things were going bad in your life before? You're going to soon learn that they're going to be infinitely worse."
"Yeah well I haven't seen him yet. I guess he didn't hear you. Probably too busy with his experiments or whatever fucked up shit you two do here. Christ, your family is fucked up."
Lilith laughs.
"Yes, and that apparently that didn't stop you from dating one of us." She says.
"That was different!" you snap.
"Of course it was. Extreme situations tend to create unusual pairings. Such as the one you and Bobby had. Although I think it was more unusual for him rather than for you given how much of a slave he is to some of my family's sillier traditions."
You get to the ground floor.
"Bobby saved you like some damsel in distress from your mean old serial killer uncle. Makes sense you'd latch on to him the way you did. In a way you're very much like one of those fairly tale princesses locked away in a tower, except in your case, you locked yourself away in your basement. Bobby was your Prince Charming."
You continue to ignore Lilith's ramblings.
"Now of course you still KNEW what Bobby was, but you willingly looked past that. Why? Was it love? No, even if you thought it was at first. If it was love you would've married him in his compound instead of being here. Was it low self esteem? Possibly. But even as introverted as you are, you're still a very pretty girl and you have to know that on some level... I mean even YOU aren't that stupid."
"Will you shut up?"
"Not to mention you seem to be fine by yourself. Even Bobby mentioned that you seemed to prefer your own company when you weren't with him. So where does that leave us Suzy? Why would you willingly date someone from a family as fucked up as ours? Do you know the answer?"
"Shut the hell up, I don't care! Just tell me where the front fucking door is!" you exclaim.
"Next two rooms to the right."
Lilith is quiet again and you make it to the front door. Still no sign of Leslie, so far so good. When you open the door, Lilith once again starts getting chatty.
"Since our time together is almost at an end, I guess I'll tell you the answer. You went with Bobby because deep down underneath all that apathy you're just as fucked up as the rest of us."
"That's not even remotely true."
"Oh, just because you were merely looking away from my nephew's murderous deeds, that somehow makes you less fucked up? That's classic enabling behavior, not to mention your co-dependency during your relationship with Bobby. Hell, before Bobby came into your life, you were pretty detached from the real world and lived in your own made up reality anyway. I'd say under a different sort of extreme circumstance, you'd easily turn into a killer like your uncle especially since from what I've heard the rest of your own family isn't exactly well adjusted either. Didn't one of them kill his whole family before shooting himself?"
You press the blade closer to Lilith's throat to the point that it draws blood.
"You keep talking and you're going to find that THIS extreme situation is the one that turns me into my fucking uncle, so keep fucking talking and you're going to be the first fucking victim!"
Your threat finally shuts Lilith up.
You make your way to the truck, still looking around Leslie, but you don't see anything. Eventually you get to the truck.
"Alright, very slowly grab the keys out of your pocket. Drop them in my other hand and I'll release you."
Lilith complies with your orders and as soon as you have the keys you toss her to the ground hard. You then open up the door and suddenly feel a hand grab one of your upper ankles and then a sharp blade cutting into where the tendon would be. You scream out in pain and fall on the driveway pavement. Then another hand grabs your other ankle and you feel a blade cut into your other tendon. Meanwhile Lilith has recovered and taken away the knife you dropped. She stands over you while you scream in pain.
An older man with completely white and wild hair crawls out from under the truck. He wears a bloody lab coat and goes over to Lilith and asks if she's okay and remarks on her neck, she nods that she is fine.
You roll over and try to stand, but find it's quite impossible with your tendons sliced the way they are. You're bleeding all over the place and the fear of what's coming next is overwhelming your physical agony.
"Told you my brother would help me. I knew he would. He's my Prince Charming after all. Hm. I suppose because it's drilled into our heads when we're little that on some level we all like to be rescued. A big strong man charging in to save the day and all that chivalrous patriarchal nonsense, but on some level it's still sort of hot." Lilith says and then gives her brother a long kiss and hugs him.
You try to crawl away, since you can't even stand at this point, but you don't get far.
"Too bad nobody's going to rescue you now though. Should've killed me instead of holding back... but then that's always been your problem isn't it? Squandering your potential." You hear Lilith say and then what follows is a hefty kick to the back of your head. You black out.
When you wake up you're firmly strapped to another table completely naked. This isn't a regular surgical table though since your legs are spread apart.
"Oh... no... NO... NO!" you start to say and try to struggle free.
Your voice calls attention to Leslie who was currently hovering over another body on a different table.
"Oh good, you're up. I wanted you to be before I started. My sister said it was imperative that you not be unconscious for whatever I have in store for you."
You start screaming for help in vain and Leslie goes over to you and starts stroking your head.
"Now she did suggest that one of the things I should do is hand you over to a couple of my redneck assistants and let them have fun with you, but no. After you harmed my sister's lovely neck with a blade, I think I should have ALL the honors. I'm going to do things. Bad things and I'm going to have fun doing it and nobody is going to stop me. We'll start off slow." Leslie says patting your head.
You begin to cry and for whatever reason in your grasp for hope in this hopeless situation you call out for Bobby.
"Bobby?" Leslie chuckles and then moves over to the part of the table where your legs are spread open and he gets between them while undoing his belt.
"I'm afraid he's not here to help you blondie. I will say that I've never considered this before, but since this is a unique situation... is my dick bigger than my nephew's? I guess you can be the judge."
What Leslie proceeds to do to you next is horrible and degrading.
Then it gets worse.
And worse.
And worse.
The next day, what's left of you (which isn't much) is cooked and wrapped up for sandwiches. What isn't used for lunchmeat is tossed in the trash.
And that is the story of you. |
MONDAY
"And Suzy is the winner of the world hot dog eating championship! Let's all hear it for our little blonde small town girl!" The announcer shouts which is followed by a roaring crowd.
Not even feeling full, you wipe the mayonnaise off your lips, graciously stand up and bow for your adoring fans. The grossly fat dude on your right looks at you in disbelief and then turns away to puke in a bucket.
Meanwhile the little Asian dude on your left just shakes his head wondering how the hell you could've beaten him.
"I don't understand it...all my training. I glanced over at you during the contest...you...you were barely even chewing! How?" He asks.
"Oh just natural talent at swallowing hot dogs I suppose." You reply humbly and wink at the audience, which continues to praise you.
While you're blowing kisses at your fans, the announcer of the contest speaks again.
"And as an extra special reward, our glorious host of this event, Misty will be coming soon to congratulate our winner in person. This hasn't happened in decades! Perhaps even centuries! It's all just so exciting! Oh wait...I think that's Misty now!"
At this point the wind begins to pick up significantly, which is amazing since this contest was taking place in an indoor stadium. The audience seems to be going even wilder, but at this point you're getting a little concerned.
Your concern becomes fear when the fat bastard to your right melts into a gory pile of goo, the Asian guy's head gets really large like in one of those anime cartoons and he screams before running away shouting about Tokyo getting destroyed by a giant lizard.
You look back at the audience and see that they've begun stripping off their clothes and embracing each other in the biggest orgy you've ever seen. (Even larger than that porno you watched one time)
The roof suddenly comes off the stadium revealing a dark sky with a jet black swirling hole above.
"And here comes Misty folks! It's absolutely...GLORIOUS." The disembodied voice says as its pitch changes to demonic tone.
You can't run, you can't even move, you just stare at this unearthly sight like a deer in the headlights completely frozen.
You see the flash of a couple red glowing orbs in the black hole above you and then the wind picks you up and you're being pulled towards it.
"COME TO ME SUZY. COME TO US. COME. COME. COME..." A deep voice echoes all around you which is backed up by the audience who are chanting along with having their orgy.
You vainly try to struggle, but there isn't much you can do accept uselessly flail about in midair as you are slowly enveloped by darkness. Even when you try to scream, you make no sound, in fact all your senses go numb and everything goes black.
You are then awakened by the ringing of your phone. At first you look around briefly still wondering if you're still levitating towards a black hole, but you breathe a sigh of relief that it was all just a dream.
However, even though you're wide-awake, you still feel shaken up. Something about that dream seemed really unnerving and you usually aren't one to put much stock into your dreams.
The ringing of the phone takes priority before dream analysis though, so after fumbling with it a bit you answer it.
"Hey I've been trying to get a hold of you. We're you still asleep?" Bobby asks.
"Yeah, are you outside the house already?" You answer.
"Nah, I'm on my way over. I hope you're packed and ready to go though, because it's nuts out here. I know you don't tend to leave the house much, but if you've been out lately, you'd know it's been getting fucking crazy in town. Seriously, you'll see how fucked up it is out there when we drive through town. The cops are everywhere, groups of people are rioting, like I said, it's a mess. Okay, I need to focus on the road, there's a meat wagon picking up some bodies off the road. I'll see you soon. Love you." Bobby says and hangs up.
As you take a quick shower before getting ready to leave, you think more about your strange dream. You wonder if it was some sort of subconscious thing that your mind was telling you that this move is a bad idea. You have to admit, you still are feeling very unsure about it, especially now that Bobby has told you that you're moving into an isolated compound with not just his immediate family, but a bunch of other family that could be even crazier.
Still, this could just be mostly anxiety of leaving a place where you've traditionally always felt safe and lived most of your life combined with a freaky dream. Bobby did say you could leave if you weren't comfortable there, so you're trying to not to focus on the possible negatives.
You try to calm your nerves the old fashioned way and think about Bobby the entire time.
Exiting the shower, getting dressed and grabbing your packed bags, you finally leave your basement. You packed as much as you could, hopefully you can return to get the rest later.
You head upstairs and you're not waiting long before you hear a knock on the door. Upon answering it, you see Bobby who embraces you with a hug and a kiss.
"By Tiamat, I've missed your body against mine." Bobby says caressing you all over.
"I never would have guessed. I have missed your touch as well though Bobby. Let me just get my bags."
You turn around and bend over to grab your bags and that's when Bobby grabs you around the waist and if it wasn't for the fabric separating the two of you, he'd also be inside you. It's startling enough that you probably would've lost you balance had Bobby not been holding on to you so tightly.
"What the hell? Sheesh Bobby, I nearly fell forward on my face!"
"You wouldn't have, I got you. Mmm, I just can't help myself, I just..." At this point Bobby starts kissing on your neck and groping you.
"Bobby, Bobby, stop. My brother Peter is still here in the connected garage. Last thing I need is for him to hear us and then suddenly walk in on me getting plowed from behind. Besides, didn't you say it's getting crazy out there? Shouldn't we be getting the hell out of town?"
"Yeah, it's wonderfully chaotic out there. Like Tiamat herself has blessed this town. It really started putting me in the mood and then seeing you...well how can I not want to make love to you in the midst of all this chaos?"
Bobby at this point is trying pull your shirt off over your head and you hear the sound of a zipper being unzipped, though with as excited as he is, you dare say it could just impale you through his pants. He's grunting, slobbering all over your neck and sniffing your hair and...well he REALLY wants you right now.
This isn't really what you had in mind and something about the way Bobby is behaving is a bit...animalistic. He's never been that way in your other intimate encounters with him. Well not excessively so at any rate.
Also, you HAVE been fighting for awhile, and it's sort of presumptuous of him to just think you're going to spread your legs immediately because you're on good terms again.
Then again, this is sort of turning you on right now, and it has been awhile for you. (By something not battery operated or your own hands at least)
> stop Bobby
You might be Bobby's girlfriend, but you're not his fuck toy. You're not going to just give in because he happens to be horny right now.
"Bobby, fucking STOP! Seriously! I'm not in the mood!" you say and pull yourself away from his arms.
At first he look hurt by your rejection, then his face turns to one of anger.
"What the fuck? I thought we were back together?!" Bobby exclaims.
"Exactly! We JUST got back together! I mean we got a lot of shit to talk about before we can just hop in the sack again!"
"Are you fuckin' kidding... Suzy I just told you that you don't need to worry about Diana if that's what you're still on about!"
"It's not just about her, but that's certainly part of it. It's about not treating me like some glory hole because your dick's hard!"
"Suzy, you know that's not even the fucking case. And since when are you not into me being affectionate with you? Shit, you were probably splittin' the kitten and thinking about me before I even came over here! Now maybe YOU can turn your feelings on and off, but I genuinely missed you! Excuse me if I want to express that in a physical way!"
"Bobby, I can't turn my feelings on and off, and this isn't one sided. I missed you too, but we still have things to work out before we can just continue as normal."
At this point Bobby rubs his hands over his face.
"(Sigh) You know what... fine. I'm not arguing with you. Play your little game. Let's just get your shit and get over to the compound."
Bobby's obviously mad about not getting any sex from you, but at least he isn't pointing out how you should "give it up" because he's helping you out or something similar.
Bobby grabs some of your bags and you grab the rest and the pair of you leave out the front door. Bobby silently loads your bags in the van and the pair of you gets in equally as silent.
You break up the silence by mentioning how crazy the town seems as you drive through it. And it is pretty crazy. You're seeing police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and large groups of people fighting. This has to be the liveliest this town has ever been.
"Wow, you weren't kidding about it being nuts out here." You say.
"Yeah." Bobby says.
You don't say anymore since it seems like he's content on sulking, but then he surprises you.
"Look, I'm sorry for being an aggressive asshole back there. I just got overly excited I guess." Bobby says.
"Well I suppose I can't blame you, I am pretty hot." You say which causes a smile between the both of you.
"And I want to say, I'm really glad you're helping me out by letting me move in with you." You say.
"Don't even mention it. I mean I would've wanted you to move in sooner... well anyway it's probably best we're doing this now. This compound is a lot bigger. You'll be happy to know you can have perfect solitude to yourself and not be bothered by anyone."
"Nice." you respond.
"And you're right, we probably do have a lot to talk about and we can do that and address all your concerns when we get there. We'll work everything out." Bobby says and smiles again with an optimistic tone.
For a moment there's another pause of silence and you think about how Bobby is a pretty great boyfriend in the scheme of things. So you come to a decision.
"So... you want a blowjob?" you ask.
"What?" Bobby says being caught completely off guard.
"Well I can see from here you're fidgeting with your man parts every two seconds while driving. That either means you got some severe issues with your underwear or you're still horny."
"My underwear is fine."
"Well that pretty much leaves one option. So you want one or not?"
"I always want a blowjob, but now? I mean the streets are pretty fucking crazy right now and I'm trying to concentrate on the road."
"Well you're not concentrating completely on the road now, because you're still groping yourself." You say.
"What about all that stuff about not being a fuck toy?" Bobby asks.
"Oh that was when you all over me, this is different because it's my idea." You say.
"... I'm not even going to argue with your female logic, I'm just going to say yes." Bobby responds.
"Smart boy." You say with a smile and slowly slide over to Bobby and start unzipping his pants. Fortunately there's enough room for your head so you aren't going to be constantly hitting the back of it against the steering wheel.
Considering Bobby's pretty ready as soon as you pull it out, you get right to it and start doing what... well one of the many things Bobby loves you for. You focus on the job at hand and you can hear Bobby making some sounds of enjoyment as you really start to get into it.
Any other time, this probably would've been a nice little thing for Bobby and probably a way for you to gain leverage in the next disagreement the pair of you would have inevitably had in a future about something. Blowjobs are the keystone to any successful relationship after all.
However this probably wasn't the best time to showcase your dick sucking skills.
As you're deep throating Bobby into ecstasy, he's having an incredibly hard time paying as much attention to the road. Normally he probably wouldn't have been an issue in this normally sleepy town, but with as crazy as the streets are right now, he doesn't see the fire truck barreling down the side street and smashing right into his side
Bobby's van is hit with great force and actually topples over twice. In the process you end up biting Bobby's dick off and choking on it. Bobby is somewhat lucky in that he was knocked unconscious on impact, but he's not going to survive long due to several severe wounds and that's not even including his dick getting bit off.
You're also in no condition to even move now due to several broken bones, and your last moments are gasping for breath with a dismembered dick lodged in your throat. |
Your name is Bill Grey and you were born in Missouri in 1840.
When the American Civil War broke out you sided with your friends and family and served on the Southern side, first in the Missouri State Guard and then with Quantrill's Raiders. After both your parents were shot dead by Union soldiers in the Camp Jackson Massacre your vengeance knew no bounds and you served as a guerrilla under such men as Captain Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson and Little Archie Clement. You were at the Lawrence Massacre in 1863 where Quantrill's Raiders killed some two hundred Yankee men and boys in Lawrence, Kansas. A year later you took part in the Centralia Massacre where, with the rest of Anderson's band, you helped stop a train, took two dozen unarmed Union soldiers off it and shot them dead - when soldiers were sent out a few hours later your band ambushed them as well and killed more than one hundred. Following Anderson's death in 1864 and Quantrill's in 1865 you and your surviving companions surrendered at the end of the Civil War.
Returning to Missouri you try to rebuild your life as a farmer on your family's lands but it is impossible: though pardoned you and your fellow guerrillas have not been forgiven for your Civil War activities and are threatened and persecuted by pro-Unionist citizens and lawmen. The victorious North controls the banks, railroad and government and in fear of your life and unable to do business with any but your fellow impoverished Southerners by 1866 you have had enough. You learn that your last surviving war-time leader Archie Clement is secretly arranging a meeting of several former-Guerrillas and when he invites you to take part you readily accept. Clement's plan is to rob Yankee banks in Missouri to show the Federal Government that though the war may be over you and your companions are still fighting back. It is this fateful decision that will be your first step down the Outlaw path, a dangerous and lonely road...
In this story your fate will be determined entirely by your choices. The number of Gunfights you take part in, the people you Injure and Kill, the number of Robberies you commit and your Score (your share of the amount of money you steal) will all be recorded. Your main aim is to survive, avoiding both prison and death in order to continue your Outlaw career with a long-term goal of eventually retiring. Be careful: one wrong decision, particularly in a gunfight where any moment can be your last, will signal a sudden and fatal end to your career, prison is less of a final ending but depending on the evidence against you can either be a short term delay to your career or a decisive end to it. Your secondary aim is to build up your Score by taking part in as many successful robberies as possible, if you are part of a ten-man team that rob a bank of $10,000 dollars for example your share will come to $1,000 and this will be added to your Score. When your career ends, whether through peaceful retirement or suddenly and violently, you will be sent to the Performance Table where you can compare your Gunfights, Injured, Killed, Robberies and Score to your fellow Outlaws as an indication of how well you performed - leaving a comment at the end of the story will also enable others to see your Score.
Good luck Reader, your Outlaw story is about to begin.
> The First Step
You and your fellow Outlaws meet at the James Family Farm to plan your first bank robbery. There are seven of you: your youthful leader Little Archie Clement, calm and reserved Frank James, cunning Cole Younger and his reliable brother-in-law John Jarette, the Shepherd brothers George Shepherd and one-eyed Ol Shepherd and finally yourself. You fought alongside each other for years during the War and you know from experience they are all brave and daring. It is your 20 year old leader Little Archie, the youngest and deadliest man present, who arranged this meeting and plans the robbery.
"It's time for us to ride again boys," he declares to you all. "Show those Yankee carpet-baggers that there is still some fight in the South! The town of Liberty, is our target boys, we'll all ride in together. Frank, you and Cole will go in the bank, take the tellers hostage and put all the money you find in the safe into this haversack. The rest of us will wait outside, hold the horses and keep anyone from entering the bank. When you two have finished lock the tellers in the vault, come outside and we'll mount up and ride off. If the alarm is raised boys pull out your pistols and fire them into the air like we used to do in the War when we raided a town - it works wonders for keeping those Yankee shop owners and stable boys off the street! If they start shooting back clear out fast, whether we have the money or not. We'll hit the bank on February 13th, an unlucky day for Yankees but a good day for us!"
On the chosen day you and your companions ride into Liberty early in the morning when there are few people on the street. With winter snow still swirling through the air you and your companions rein in outside the bank while Frank and Cole dismount and enter the bank, giving their horses's reins to the Shepherd brothers to hold. The moments seem to drag by ponderously with no sound coming out of the plain stone building in front of you. A few townsfolk are glancing at you all curiously; you reach into your right pocket and nervously clench your heavy but loaded revolver which you have hidden inside. Suddenly Cole and Frank emerge from the bank, the latter holding a bulging haversack. They walk quickly back to their horses and begin to mount up. It all seems too easy.
Suddenly a voice from inside the bank shouts out "Robbery! They're robbing the bank!" As a few nearby civilians start in alarm you and your companions promptly draw out your pistols and begin shooting them into the air, yelling at people to get off the street. Two youths are standing nearby when the alarm is raised and promptly turn and start running down the street in the direction of a Gun Store. Little Archie spurs his horse after them and fires a shot at them with his pistol, which misses. "Shoot them," he shouts at you, who are closest to him. "Shoot them, they're going for the guns!" Obediently you raise your pistol and point it at one of the fleeing teenager's backs but hesitate about pulling the trigger.
> shoot the boy
Your shot hits one of the boys in the back, pitching him face-first down to the street with a cry. The other boy takes shelter in a doorway so turning your horse away you and your companions ride out of town. Using routes well-known to you all you ride your horses across the countryside for several hours, completely eluding any pursuit that might have been sent after you. Reaching a safe place you stop to count to your money and to your amazement you find that Frank and Cole have managed to steal $60,000, your share alone comes to $8,500.
Little Archie is pleased but instinctively cautious. "There will be a big noise about this so it is best if we split up for a time," he declares. There is some discussion and then you all make your decisions: Little Archie is going to check into a hotel in the town of Lexington, Missouri and lie low for a while. Frank, John and Cole all decide to hide out at Cole's family farm near the town of Independence while George and Ol are going back to their own Farm near the town of St Joseph. All your companions invite you to go with them and you need to choose who to hide out with.
> go with Little Archie to Lexington
You and Little Archie travel to Lexington where you rent rooms in a hotel and lie low for the rest of the year, spending your stolen money in bars, restaurants and with sporting ladies. One winter's night in December however Little Archie's notoriety leads to an arrest attempt. You and Archie are sitting in a saloon having a quiet drink when three blue-uniformed soldiers armed with rifles approach your table. "Gentlemen, you are both under arrest," one of the soldiers declares.
You and Archie glance at each other and then Archie springs to his feet, pulling a pistol from his pocket as he does so, and starts firing. The soldiers scatter, one firing back and hitting Archie in the side. You are on your feet, pistol in hand and follow Archie as he dashes across the room, hand clasped to his bleeding side, and the pair of you use the pandemonium of fleeing bar customers to escape out a side door into an alley. Several horses are tied up nearby and untying two you mount up. Archie turns and spurs his horse down the alley towards the main street while in the other direction you can see the alley opens up into a side street. You have a choice of directions.
> follow Little Archie towards the main street
As you both ride out of the alley into the main street a volley of gunshots ring out from a dozen soldiers waiting in a line. Both of you are hit several times and fall from your horses into the dust of the street. You are so badly hurt you are barely able to move, turning your head slightly you see Archie trying to re-cock his pistol with his teeth. As the soldiers approach cautiously, rifles raised, Archie rasps "I've done what I've always said I would do, die before I surrender." You are unable to speak and moments later you and your companion are both dead.
> your Outlaw Career is at an end
This is the Performance Table where you can compare your Gunfights, Injured, Killed, Robberies, Score and Fate with those of your fellow members of the James Gang to see who is the greatest Outlaw!
1: Jesse James: Gunfights: 11, Killed: 7, Injured: 1, Robberies: 21, Score: $19,900 - Killed.
2: Frank James: Gunfights: 11, Killed: 2, Injured: 1, Robberies: 17, Score: $26,900 - Surrendered.
3: Cole Younger: Gunfights: 6, Killed: 1, Injured: 2, Robberies: 15, Score: $26,800 - Imprisoned.
4: John Younger: Gunfights: 4, Killed: 4, Injured: 0, Robberies: 7, Score: $3,300 - Killed.
5: Bob Younger: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 0, Injured: 2, Robberies: 8, Score: $12,100 - Imprisoned.
6: Clell Miller: Gunfights: 4, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 8, Score: $12,500 - Killed.
7: Jim Younger: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 1, Injured: 1, Robberies: 5, Score: $2,200 - Imprisoned.
8: John Jarette: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 0, Injured: 1, Robberies: 3, Score: $10,600 - Killed.
9: Charlie Pitts: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 1, Robberies: 5, Score: $3,400 - Killed.
10: Wood Hite: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 1, Robberies: 4, Score: $2,400 - Killed.
11: Bill Chadwell: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 5, Stolen: $3,400 - Killed.
12: Dick Liddil: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 4, Stolen: $1,200 - Surrendered.
13: Ol Shepherd: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 2, Stolen: $10,200 - Killed.
14: Little Archie Clement: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 1, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $8,500 - Killed.
15: George Shepherd: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 2, Stolen: $102,00 - Imprisoned.
16: Bill Ryan: Gunfights: 0, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 4, Stolen: $2,800 - Imprisoned.
17: Charlie Ford: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $100 - Surrendered.
18: Clarence Hite: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 2, Stolen: $200 - Imprisoned.
19: Bud McDaniels: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $7,800 - Killed.
20: Tom McDaniels: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $2,000 - Killed.
21: Tom Webb: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $2,000 - Imprisoned.
22: Ed Miller: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $1,000 - Killed.
23: Tucker Bassham: Gunfights: 0, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $1,000 - Imprisoned.
24: Hoobs Kerry: Gunfights: 0, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $1,600 - Imprisoned.
25: Robert Ford: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 2, Injured: 0, Robberies: 0, Stolen: $0 - Killed.
Most Prolific Gunfighter: 1: Frank James / Jesse James (11 Gunfights), 2: Cole Younger (6 Gunfights).
Most Lethal Hurter: 1: Bob Younger / Cole Younger (2 Injured).
Most Deadly Killer: 1: Jesse James (7 Killed), 2: John Younger (4 Killed), 3: Frank James (2 Killed).
Most Enthusiastic Robber: 1: Jesse James (21 Robberies), 2: Frank James (17 Robberies), 3: Cole Younger (15 Robberies).
Most Successful Bandit: 1: Frank James ($26,900), 2: Cole Younger ($26,800), 3: Jesse James ($19,900).
Overall Best Outlaw: 1: Jesse James, 2: Frank James, 3: Cole Younger, 4: John Younger, 5: Bob Younger.
As always thank you for taking the time to read my story, please rate and if you would like others to see your score please leave a comment. Have a good day! |
You and Little Archie travel to Lexington where you rent rooms in a hotel and lie low for the rest of the year, spending your stolen money in bars, restaurants and with sporting ladies. One winter's night in December however Little Archie's notoriety leads to an arrest attempt. You and Archie are sitting in a saloon having a quiet drink when three blue-uniformed soldiers armed with rifles approach your table. "Gentlemen, you are both under arrest," one of the soldiers declares.
You and Archie glance at each other and then Archie springs to his feet, pulling a pistol from his pocket as he does so, and starts firing. The soldiers scatter, one firing back and hitting Archie in the side. You are on your feet, pistol in hand and follow Archie as he dashes across the room, hand clasped to his bleeding side, and the pair of you use the pandemonium of fleeing bar customers to escape out a side door into an alley. Several horses are tied up nearby and untying two you mount up. Archie turns and spurs his horse down the alley towards the main street while in the other direction you can see the alley opens up into a side street. You have a choice of directions.
> set off by yourself up the alley towards the side street
You turn your horse away from Little Archie's and spur it down the alley into the side street. The side street is clear of people so you gallop down it towards the edge of town: as you do you hear a volley of gun shots, a horse screaming and then an ominous silence. Riding to a small knoll overlooking the town you look down and your worst fears are realized: your companion is lying dead in the dust of main street surrounded by silent soldiers.
Anxious not to share your leader's fate you ride cross-country for twelve hours straight until you reach the safety of the Shepherd's Family Farm. George and Ol are shocked to hear of Little Archie's death and for all of 1867 you all lay low before a meeting is arranged and the gang re-convenes in the spring of 1868.
> Another Robbery
It is a somber group that gathers at the James Farm in the spring of 1868: you, Frank, John, George, Ol and Cole are all saddened by your leader's death. Also present at the gathering is Frank's younger brother Jesse James, a garrulous Civil War veteran who was shot three times in the war including one occasion when he blew half his right index finger off while cleaning a loaded pistol. You are all unanimous that you should continue robbing banks and stealing Yankee money, as the oldest and most experienced of the group John Jarette takes charge.
"Missouri may be dangerous for us now," he says seriously. "We should cross the border into Kentucky, rob a bank in that Yankee state and then ride back here to hide out. I've been doing some investigating the bank in Russellville, Kentucky is wealthy. This should be our next target."
On the chosen day the seven of you ride into town. While the Shepherd brothers guard your horses you, Frank, Jesse, John and Cole all dismount and walk into the bank. There are three tellers inside and as you approach the front counter you all draw your pistols.
"This is a hold up," John barks. "Throw up your hands."
Instantly one of the tellers springs to his feet and starts running towards a side door. You aim your pistol at the fleeing man's head but pause, wondering whether or not you should pull the trigger.
> shoot the fleeing man
You fire a shot that grazes the teller's head and though the man stumbles he keeps running, makes it to the door, throws it open and dashes outside yelling "Robbery!" Moving quickly you and Frank ransack the vault, throwing all the money you can find into two haversacks while the others guard the tellers and rifle the counter. Shutting the remaining tellers inside the vault you all race outside. While you and your companions mount up the Shepherd brothers begin firing shots into the air to keep citizens off the street.
You have just pulled yourself onto your horse's back when a young man comes running out of a store across from you with a pistol in his hands. As you and your companions begin spurring your horses down the street he fires a shot at you all, which whizzes overhead to shatter a window in the back behind you.
"Get that bastard with the gun," someone shouts. You have your pistol in your hand and consider firing back.
> fire back
Raising your pistol you fire back: your shot hits the man on the side, spins him on the spot and he falls to the ground. Turning your horse you spur after your companions and moments later you are out of town and riding across the countryside. You ride hard until you are back across the border in Missouri and there you pause in a copse of trees to count the money you have stolen: you are all pleased to discover it comes to $12,000, which split seven ways makes your share $1,700, which has been added to your Score.
"We need to all split up now to make it harder for the Law to track us," John declares.
"Jesse and I will go back to our Farm and hide out there," Frank declares.
"I'll go with George and Ol back to their Farm to hide out," John decides.
"My brother John has just got a job at his friend Tom McDaniel's Farm near the town of Scyene down in Texas," Cole says thoughtfully. "I'll go down there for a bit to lie low."
You consider who to hide out with.
> go with Frank and Jesse to the James Farm
You join the James brothers at their farm where you live quietly for a few weeks until one morning Frank returns from town with a newspaper and a grim expression.
"Yankee lawmen killed John and Ol," he says tersely. "George is in prison charged with bank robbery."
You and Jesse crowd round to read how your three companions were identified as participants in the Russellville robbery and were tracked to their homes by lawmen. George later receives a three year prison sentence for his part in the robbery. Despite the loss of three of your companions Jesse is eager for the three of you to rob a bank and after a year and a half when you feel it is safe you make a plan to rob the little bank in the town of Gallatin, Missouri.
Riding into town one winter's morning you leave your horses tied up outside and walk inside to find a single teller talking to a customer. The teller looks oddly familiar to you and you can't figure out where you have seen him from until Jesse pulls you and Frank to one side.
"Isn't that Colonel Cox?" Jesse asks quietly. "That Yankee Colonel who killed Bill Anderson during the War? I heard he lived in Gallatin."
The three of you study the teller closely. You now remember Cox well from his picture in the newspapers, he led an ambush that killed several of your friends including your former leader Bloody Bill Anderson. The teller does indeed look exactly like him and Frank agrees quietly. "Let's kill him," he mutters. Approaching the bank counter the three of you draw your pistols from your pockets. The customer backs away and the teller looks up startled.
> shoot him in the head
Your bullet hits the teller in the head, blasting a circle of red blood and gore onto the wall behind him. As the teller slumps dead in his chair Frank and Jesse fire more bullets into him. The customer screams "Murder!" and starts running past the three of you towards the door to the bank. "Shoot him," Jesse yells.
> shoot the customer as well
Your shot hits the man in the back of the right arm but he keeps on running and makes it through the door and out onto the street. "Quickly boys, get the money," you call out and moving quickly you, Frank and Jesse scoop up all the money you can find from the counter, which comes to several hundred dollars. Unwilling to spend time pillaging the vault you all run outside and begin mounting your horses but the alarm has already been raised a a few citizens are taking pot shots at you with pistols from teh shelter of a gun store.
When a bullet nicks it Jesse's horse rears up in terror, spilling it's rider to the ground before running off. "Get up behind me Jesse," Frank yells and while you fire your pistol at the gun store, trying to cover them, Jesse awkwardly scrambles up behind Frank. The three of you ride out of town on two horses, not stopping for several hours until you reach the safety of the James Farm. There you find you have escaped with less than $700, making your share a paltry $200. There is worse news to follow however.
The next morning Frank returns to the Farm with a paper. "It wasn't Colonel Cox who we killed in Gallatin," he declares. "It was some bank clerk called John Sheets. They know it was us as well, we've all been identified by name. We'd better clear out." Leaving the James Farm the three of you go traveling for a year to wait for the attention to die down before returning to Missouri in the summer of 1871 and arranging a meeting with Cole Younger at the home of your mutual friend Clell Miller. Despite the loss of John, George and Ol you are all determined to continue your robberies.
> A new Gang
By the time you, Frank, Jesse and Cole meet in the summer of 1871 you have all been identified as bank robbers and probably killers or would-be killers. Frank, stern and silent sits thoughtfully to one side, fingering a bible lying in his lap. Jesse, grinning and cheerful sits next to him while Cole, balding but as tough as any man you know sits alone in the corner. You sit next to Clell Miller, a light-hearted friend of Jesse's who as a teenager served briefly as a Guerrilla during the War. You all chat over things and despite the deaths of Little Archie, John and Ol and George's retirement from crime following his release from prison the five of you resolve to form a new Gang and continue robbing Northern banks as revenge for their treatment of Southerners since the War ended. Jesse has been looking as possible targets and has chosen a bank in the pro-Union town of Corydon in Iowa, a place in which bank robbers are unheard of.
One summer day the five of you ride into town, dismount, tie up your horses and walk into the bank. It's Sunday and everyone is at church except a lone teller who is quickly captured. You and Frank empty the contents of the vault rapidly into a sack and then locking the teller inside you stroll outside, mount your horses and begin riding off. The robbery has been so easy that when you pass an open-air church service Jesse got resist shouting out to them gleefully "Hey there, we've just robbed the bank!" Frank frowns but the congregation just ignore you and whooping and laughing you all ride out of town.
You all ride back to the James Farm in Missouri where you count the haul and find you have made off with $8,000, making your share $1,600. When the papers report the crime you, Frank, Jesse and Cole are all identified again and the newspapers begin calling you the James-Younger Gang. Jesse is delighted with his newfound fame while Cole prevails upon the rest of you to let his younger brother John Younger join the Gang. John, who has already killed three men including two Texan lawmen, is an angel-faced but deadly young man and Jesse especially seems pleased to have him in the Gang. You plan your next bank robbery to take place in Kentucky.
> 29 April 1872: Columbia, Kentucky
As you have done so many times you and your companions ride into a small town early one morning. While Frank, Clell and John hold the horses outside you lead Jesse and Cole into the bank. Inside four customers are sitting at a table talking while one smiling cashier waits behind the counter. The three of you walk up to the counter and draw your pistols.
"Consider yourself under arrest," Cole says cheerfully.
To your amazement the cashier begins shouting "Bank Robbers! Bank Robbers!" at the top of his voice.
"Shut up man or I'll kill you," you yell at him but the cashier keeps shouting warnings at the top of his voice.
> shoot him
You shoot the cashier in the chest and he staggers back, blood spreading across his shirt front. Jesse and Cole shoot him as well and the cashier falls dead to the ground. Instantly the four customers spring to their feet and start running for the door. "Stop them," Jesse yells.
> fire a shot at them to try to stop them running
You fire a shot that hits one of the men in the hand. He yells in pain but a moment later the four customers have scrambled out the door leaving the three of you alone in the bank with the dead teller on the floor behind the counter. "Quickly, grab the money" you tell the others and moving fast you snatch up all the money you can find on the counter. In less than a minute you are back outside to find Frank, Clell and John firing their pistols into the air as you, Jesse and Cole scramble back onto your horses. A man runs out onto the street and fires a pistol at you, Jesse fires back. Both miss but Jesse's shot prompts the man to take cover and the six of you are able to spur your horses out of town and escape.
Riding hard you do not stop until you are a long way from Columbia. When you pause to count the money you find you have escaped with less than $1,000, which makes your share $200. Frank is especially unhappy.
"We're killing too many bank tellers Jesse," he tells his brother. "This will bring the law down on us."
"Maybe we should lay off banks for a while," Jesse says thoughtfully and grins. "I have a mind to rob a ticket office at the Kansas City Exposition."
After a quick discussion Cole and John both offer to join Jesse but Frank and Clell decide it is better to lay low - Frank is going back to the James Farm while Clell is going back to his own family's farm. You consider what is best to do.
> join Frank at the James Farm
You and Frank hide out at the James Farm and the surrounding area for a while, relying on newspapers for your information. You read about how Jesse and his companions succeeded in robbing the Kansas City Exposition. You also get a scare when you learn that Clell has been arrested for the Columbia Bank Robbery but is released after the shaken witnesses failed to correctly identify him. After a year when you feel the heat has warn off you and the gang reunite to plan your next robbery.
> Another Robbery
By now you and your companions have become famous across America as the James-Younger Gang and Southern newspapers laud you as Robin Hood type figures continuing the fight for Southern Rights while Northern newspapers focus on the amounts you have stolen and the men you have killed, a number which altogether has reached six slain. Jesse loves all this attention and John and Clell enjoy it too but Frank is quick to point out that you haven't made much money from your recent robberies.
That is why on a lazy summer afternoon you and your fellow Outlaws ride into the little town of St Genevieve. While Frank, Clell and John look after your horses you, Jesse and Cole enter the bank. There is just one cashier inside and following your usual procedure you take him prisoner, empty the vault of money and then lock the cashier inside. As you are riding out of town Jesse again throws caution to the wind and begins firing his pistol into the air and cheering. Clell and John soon join in, much to Frank and Cole's disapproval.
Returning to the Younger Farm this time you count the money and find you have stolen $4,000, making your share $600. All the robberies seem so easy that Jesse decides it is time to increase the stakes. He lays out a plan for you all to rob a train in the state of Iowa, a extremely rare crime that is sure to gain the attention of all America. Though Clell and John readily agree to the plan Frank and Cole are more reluctant and only agree on the condition that more men can be brought in to join the Gang. You all agree to meet in the town of Adair, Iowa in two months.
> from Banks to Trains...
In the pre-dawn morning light you and the rest of the James-Younger Gang assemble outside the busy little town of Adair. Cole and John have brought along their brothers Jim and Bob to join in the robbery. Jim is a steady veteran who you fought alongside during the Civil War, though he seems reluctant to be involved in this robbery, Bob is a likable and reliable young man. You and Clell turn up with Charlie Pitts, a quiet but tough man who is another former Guerrilla. Frank and Jesse arrive with an extremely tall and chatty man called Bill Chadwell. Altogether there are ten of you, including the two James brothers and the four Younger brothers.
Though you held up trains during the War you are all new to peacetime train robbery and you study the railroad trying to think of the best way to get the train to stop near your place of concealment. Predictably it is Jesse who has the idea of using a mental bar and a hammer to tear up the track, reasoning that the driver will see the broken line and halt the train alongside where you will be waiting with the horse. You all agree to the plan. "Who will tear up the track?" Cole asks and you all glance among yourselves.
> volunteer to tear up the track
Taking the hammer and the bar you pry up several rails and toss them to one side. You and the rest of the Gang then take cover in the trees near the track and wait for the train. When the train comes down the line you are astonished by how fast it is going. The driver sees the damage to the track and slams on the brakes but the train is going too fast: to your astonishment the locomotive shoots off the end of the broken line and crashes down onto it's side with an ear-splitting crash, as does the first passenger carriage. The noise is indescribable.
The train has come to a complete halt with the front two carriages on their side and you and your deafened companions emerge stunned from the trees. While Bill, Charlie, Bob and Jim hold the horses and Jesse leads most of the rest towards the Express Carriage at the rear of the train you and Frank jog to the crashed locomotive and peer inside. The sight sickens you, the driver has been literally crushed to death and the fireman has been badly hurt, bleeding freely from his head.
You are still shaken by the time you return to the woods and are rejoined by Jesse and the others. Mounting up you ride away from the train you have just wrecked and ride nonstop for several hours to get to safety. When you count the money you are disappointed to find the train was not carrying a lot, just $3,000 which is divided between the ten of you to make your share $300. Despite the small profits from this you know this brazen robbery will increase your already great fame and notoriety.
Bill, Clell and Charlie are all a bit unnerved by the attention this crime will bring and decide they will all go and hide out at Charlie's farm in Missouri. Jesse, as usual, is delighted and indifferent to the fact the robbery has led to another death. He intends for himself, Frank, Bob, Cole, Jim and John (all the James and Younger brothers) to ride south into Arkansas to rob a stagecoach, another type of crime the Gang haven't committed before which Jesse hopes will lead to more fame. It is up to you whether or not you want to go into hiding or join in the crime spree.
> join Bill, Charlie and Clell in hiding out at the Pitts's Farm
Hiding out at the Pitts Farm you feel confident of avoiding detection because though both you and Clell are well-known outlaws Bill Chadwell and Charlie Pitts have never been connected with any crime and you rely on those two to go into town for all your supplies and newspapers. You read how the James and Younger boys continue to pull robberies in Arkansas and Missouri but there are consequences: the Pinkerton Detective Agency is hired to bring you and your companions to justice. Frank and Jesse kill one Pinkerton Agent near their Farm but a second gunfight claims the lives of two more lawmen and John Younger near the Younger Farm, Jim Younger being the sole survivor.
A letter arrives from Jesse telling you all to meet the rest of the gang in Texas and when you reunite the Gang is a grim bunch. All the remaining Younger Brothers are saddened by John's death with Jim openly blaming Frank and Jesse for getting him mixed up in robberies and swearing he wants nothing more to do with either of them and that he's going to California. Frank and Cole also think it's better that you all lie low for a time at the farm of their friend Bud McDaniels but not Jesse: he sees it as the best way to avenge John is to pull another robbery and the newer members of the gang, Clell, Charlie, Bill and Bob Younger all agree to join him in robbing a stagecoach here in Texas. You need to choose who you join.
> help Jesse, Clell, Bill, Charlie and Bob rob a stagecoach in Texas
Riding into the town of Austin you and your companions make inquiries about the local stagecoach routes before heading south and hiding in some trees to waylay a coach on its route. The hold-up goes smoothly, the coach is stopped and the passengers forced to dismount before being stripped of their valuables. Mounting up your ride cross-country before catching a train and rejoining Frank and Cole at the McDaniels Farm. During the ride you count the loot to find you have stolen $3,000, making your share $500.
The success of the robbery has encouraged Frank and Cole to join in fresh robberies and you soon have a new gang member in the form of Bud McDaniels, the cheerful life-long friend of the Younger family. Together you all plan a daring train robbery in Kansas but Bill and Charlie prefer to lay low this time and return to their hiding place at Charlie's farm as they are both enjoying the fact they haven't been identified as outlaws yet and have safety in their anonymity. You need to choose which group you join.
> join Frank, Jesse, Cole, Bob, Clell and Bud in robbing the Kansas train
One winter's day you and your companions ride out to the train tracks near the town of Muncie. You start a fire right next to the tracks and hide in the trees: sure enough when the train comes down the line the driver sees the fire and stops the train. While Bob and Cole take the driver hostage you, Frank and Jesse board the Express Carriage and capture the messenger at gunpoint. Quickly emptying the contents of the safe into a sack you leave the train, all of you running back to where Bud and Clell are holding your horses.
You ride a long distance from Muncie before you stop to count the money and when you do you discover you have really hit the jackpot big time: you have stolen $55,000 from the train, making your share a whopping $7,800. Everyone, especially Bud, are very happy but you know it is time to split up again. Frank, Jesse and Clell decide to hide out with friends near St Joseph, Missouri, Bud McDaniels declares he intends to rent a hotel room in Kansas City while Bob and Cole decide they are going down to Texas to stay with their old friend Bud's brother Tom McDaniels. You need to choose who to join.
> go with Frank, Jesse and Clell to St Joseph
You go with the James boys and Clell to hide out near St Joseph where you read in newspapers that Bud was identified as one of the Muncie train robbers and shot while trying to escape prison in Kansas City. His death saddens you all and drives you into hiding but in January 1875 you read even more incredible news in the newspapers. Suspecting that you and the others are in the area a small army of Pinkerton Agents surrounded the James Farm and blew it up with some kind of explosive. The explosion killed Frank and Jesse's eight year old brother Archie and tore their elderly mother Zerelda's right arm off.
Frank and especially Jesse are overwhelmed with rage when they learn of the cowardly attack and Jesse's first reaction is to kill every single Pinkerton Detective involved in the raid. After calming a little he decides to settle for killing his neighbor Dan Askew who is wildly known to have allowed the Pinkertons to use his Farm as a base from which to launch the raid. One night the four of you approach the Askew Farm and knock on the door. When the old farmer opens his front door Jesse shoots him in the chest.
> shoot him as well
Raising your pistol you shoot the old farmer in the head killing him. Fleeing the scene rapidly you and your companions take to the woods where you live in hiding. Reading newspapers you learn that the Pinkerton Detective Agency are sending one of their Agents, Jack Ladd, to investigate Dan Askew's murder. As Ladd also took part in the attack on the James Family Farm Frank and Jesse see more opportunity for revenge and decide to kill the Pinkerton as well.
Returning to the Askew Property armed with rifles you and your companions sneak through the trees and get yourself into a position from which you can see the farm house. You watch it for several hours until finally a man in a smart suit who you recognize as Ladd from the newspaper photographs emerges from the front door. "Now," Jesse murmurs and all of you raise your rifles. You consider whether or not to fire at the unsuspecting man.
> shoot the Pinkerton
Your aim is perfect and Ladd jerks as four bullets slam into his chest, knocking him to the ground. Fleeing the property you decide it is better to get out of Missouri and heading south to join Bob and Cole. Most of the newspapers, which were initially supportive of the James brothers after the attack on their family, are outraged by the two murders and urge people everywhere to shoot any member of the James-Younger Gang on sight.
Going down to the McDaniels Farm you meet up with Bob, Cole and their host Tom McDaniels, brother of the slain Bud. Together with another friend and war veteran called Tom Webb the group are planning to rob a bank in West Virginia, far from your usual raiding areas. Frank likes the idea but uncharacteristically Bob, Clell and Jesse think it is better to lay low for a spell until the attention of the Pinkertons has worn off. You will have to choose who to join.
> join Frank, Cole and the two Tom's in robbing the bank in West Virginia
On the morning chosen for the robbery you and your four companions ride into Huntingdon and dismount outside the town bank. While the two Tom's guard the horses you, Frank and Cole walk into the bank, draw your weapons, take the teller hostage, empty all the money in the vault into a sack and lock him inside the vault. Going outside you re-mount your horses and ride out of town. Once more it seems like you have pulled off another straight-forward robbery.
You haven't got far from Huntingdon when suddenly you spot a dozen horsemen riding out of the town straight after you. "Now boys, ride for it," Cole calls out and all of you spur your horses into a gallop. You hear bangs behind you as the posse begin shooting their rifles and pistols at you all, the bullets whistling overhead and between you all. Suddenly Tom McDaniels reins his horse in and turns it about. "Fuck this," he calls out as he pulls his rifle from his saddle scabbard and begins firing back at the posse.
> join Tom in returning fire
Like Tom you turn your horse and fire back at the approaching riders. The posse fires a volley of shots at the pair of you and both of you are hit, Tom in the chest and you in the throat. Gasping wetly through the blood you turn your horse to try to ride away but the wound is fatal. You topple from your horse to the ground, Tom is also lying nearby. As your pursuers get closer and closer you stare up at the clear blue sky above you and silently expire. |
On the morning chosen for the robbery you and your four companions ride into Huntingdon and dismount outside the town bank. While the two Tom's guard the horses you, Frank and Cole walk into the bank, draw your weapons, take the teller hostage, empty all the money in the vault into a sack and lock him inside the vault. Going outside you re-mount your horses and ride out of town. Once more it seems like you have pulled off another straight-forward robbery.
You haven't got far from Huntingdon when suddenly you spot a dozen horsemen riding out of the town straight after you. "Now boys, ride for it," Cole calls out and all of you spur your horses into a gallop. You hear bangs behind you as the posse begin shooting their rifles and pistols at you all, the bullets whistling overhead and between you all. Suddenly Tom McDaniels reins his horse in and turns it about. "Fuck this," he calls out as he pulls his rifle from his saddle scabbard and begins firing back at the posse.
> keep riding after your companions
You keep riding but a yell behind you makes you glance back: Tom McDaniels has been shot in the chest and he slowly falls from his horse to the ground. You and your surviving companions concentrate on outracing your pursuers across the prairie and though they follow you all day at nightfall they finally break off the pursuit. Weary and exhausted you stop to count the money you have stolen: though you made off with $10,000 from the bank Tom was carrying some of it when he was shot so your share of the robbery is only $2,000.
"We need to split up in case they keep coming after us," Cole says wearily. "Frank and I will keep going west into Kentucky, Tom you turn south and head into Tennessee. Keep a low profile and we will all meet up together again back in Missouri. This could be desperate work." You consider who you will go with.
> go west into Kentucky with Frank and Cole
You continue west with Frank and Cole across Kentucky and into Missouri. On the way you read in the newspapers that Tom Webb has been captured in Tennessee. He is put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to eight years for armed robbery. You and your veteran companions are exhausted by the time you get back to Missouri: this has been your most difficult escape from a bank robbery yet and you spent the winter and spring lying low until the gang reunites in the summer of 1876 in the small Missouri town of Otterville.
> The Gang reunites
You and the other nine members of the James-Younger Gang who gather in an empty cabin on the edge of Otterville are the most wanted men in America. Jesse, grinning and carefree sits next to a dour and frowning Frank. Cole, tough and capable sits between his handsome, young brother Bob and his other brother Jim who looks like he is wishing he could be somewhere else. The joker Clell Miller and the tall Bill Chadwell are gazing at Jesse with something like adoration while the silent Charlie Pitts sits with them. Finally you are sitting next to the newest member of the Gang, another former Guerrilla but a bit of a weak link called Hoobs Kerry.
"Boys, we've had a turbulent couple of years but we sure are taking the fight to the Yankees, America's never known bandits like us before," Jesse declares. "My idea for this year is that we rob a train here in Missouri first and then go all the way up to Minnesota and rob one of those fat Northern banks up there. Bill here is from Minnesota and knows the area well and together the ten of us are unbeatable! We'll pull off a crime so audacious all of America will be talking about it!"
"I'm only here to try and stop you from getting my brothers Cole and Bob killed the way you got John killed," Jim Younger says dourly. "You can rob your train here without me."
"Well I'm sorry you feel that way Jim," Jesse says, his smile not even flickering. "What do the rest of you say? You're all in aren't you?" Everyone else agrees and then it's your turn.
> join Frank, Jesse, Cole, Bob, Clell, Bill, Charlie and Hoobs in robbing a train in Missouri
Leaving Jim behind you join the rest of the gang in holding up the train outside Otterville. As usual the robbery goes smoothly: after forcing the train to halt you and the James brothers empty the Express Safe while the Youngers guard the train staff and the others hold the horses. Mounting up you ride cross-country, easily eluding pursuit, and once you are well clear of Otterville. You have got away with a good haul: $15,000, which makes your share $1,600.
You are all ready now to make the trip up to Minnesota and even Jim joins you to help protect his brothers. At the last moment Hoobs gets cold feet, he has been nervous ever since the train robbery and he insists on staying behind at his farm in Missouri. You and the other outlaws are not impressed but since you can't force him to go with you if he doesn't want to you all agree to let him back out of the planned robbery and make preparations to head up to Minnesota without him.
> join Frank, Jesse, Cole, Jim, Bob, Clell, Bill and Charlie in robbing the bank in Minnesota
You and your eight companions begin scouting towns in Minnesota for good banks to rob and settle on one in the town of Northfield. While you are in Minnesota you learn that Hoobs Kerry has been identified and arrested and has promptly identified each of the Gang including those who took part in the Otterville Train Robbery in exchange for a reduced sentence of two years imprisonment. You are all furious at Hoobs's betrayal but decide to go ahead with your plans anyway.
As usual it's Jesse who makes the plans. "Folk in Minnesota will be on the lookout for nine men acting suspiciously so we won't all go in at once tomorrow," he declares. "Frank, Bob and myself will go into the bank while Cole and Clell hold the horses outside. Bill, Charlie and Jim, I want you to wait on the edge of town and if you hear any shooting come riding in like hell firing your pistols into the air to get those Yankee townsfolk off the streets. I know it's a big town boys but this is a rich bank and the money we should get is worth the risk. Bill, which group do you want to join?"
> join Frank, Jesse and Bob in entering the bank
You and your friends ride up to the bank, leave your horses tied up outside and go in. There are three tellers but no customers inside the bank and drawing your pistols you approach the tellers. "We're robbing this bank," Jesse declares. "Don't any of you holler, we've got forty men outside." The tellers raise their hands and Frank wanders inside the vault to look at the safe inside. As he does one of the tellers suddenly grabs the vault door and starts pulling it shut. Frank darts back and jams his arm forward as the teller slams the door on it, running forward Bob hits the teller with his pistol and knocks him to the floor.
You all approach the fallen man, Frank angrily rubbing his crushed arm, and drawing a small knife from his pocket Jesse holds it to the injured teller's neck. "Open the safe or I'll cut your damn throat from ear to ear," Jesse snarls. "You'll have to cut my throat because I can't open the safe," the man replies bravely. A shot from outside makes you all glance at the door. As you do another of the tellers springs into action, and dashes away, through a back door and out into the street. "Get him," Jesse shouts.
> chase after the fleeing teller and shoot him
Racing to the backdoor you point your pistol at the fleeing man and fire. The bullet hits the teller in the back of his shoulder, though the man stumbles he makes it to the edge of the street and vanishes round a corner. As you shut the door and go back inside the bank you can hear shots outside and suddenly Cole's voice yelling "Hurry up, they've given the alarm!" "God damn you, open the safe," Jesse barks at the teller on the floor and fires his pistol at the floor next to the man's head.
You and Bob quickly scoop all the loose notes you can find off the counter while Frank and Jesse continue to threaten the fallen teller who bravely refuses to help them in any way. Dozens of gunshots are ringing out on the streets outside now and again you hear Cole's voice shouting "They're killing our men! Get out here!" "Fuck you," Jesse snarls, hitting the teller in the face again with his gun and then he and Bob give up and run out of the bank. As you are about to follow them you notice Frank massaging his wounded arm and eyeing the teller. "We should kill that son of a bitch," Frank says to you.
> shoot the man in the head
Going up to the teller you place your pistol against his head and squeeze the trigger, killing him instantly. You and Frank run outside to be greeted by a scene of utter pandemonium. Clell, Bill and a third man who looks like a citizen of the town are lying dead in the street; the rest of your Gang are riding their horses up and down firing their pistols up at the buildings where several men seemed to have armed themselves and are firing back. Bob's horse has been killed and Bob himself has taken shelter under a wooden staircase near the bank.
You and Frank make it to your horses and scramble on top of them, as you do someone starts shooting at both of you, hitting Frank in the leg and you in the left forearm, both fairly minor wounds. "It's no use boys, lets clear out," you shout and spurring your horses into a gallop you concentrate on riding your horse out of time, quickly catching up with Charlie and Cole, the latter bleeding from several gunshot wounds. As you reach the edge of town you hear a scream behind you "Don't leave me boys, I've been shot!"
Glancing back you realize you have all forgotten Bob who has sprung out of his hiding place and is sprinting down the street after you. "Shit," Cole mutters and glances at you and Charlie. "Cover me boys," he orders. Cole then does the most incredible thing you have ever seen someone do in real life: he spurs his horse directly back down the street towards his injured brother. Several men are shooting at them and though you and Charlie are firing your pistols at the buildings you might as well be throwing stones at them for all the good it does.
Cole and Bob seem to be moving through a virtual rain of bullets. Bob stumbles as one shot hits his leg. Two more graze Cole's horse making it scream and rear but he keeps it under control. Reaching down he helps Bob climb onto his horse. As he does three more bullets hit Cole, the dust exploding from his clothes in small puffs as each bullet hits him. Gritting his teeth he turns his horse around and gallops straight back towards you and Charlie. The gunfire is directed at you two now: one bullet grazes Charlie's arm and another bullet whizzes right past your right ear. As Bob and Cole reach you both you turn horses around and gallop out of town after Frank, Jesse and Jim.
Behind you leave the dead bodies of your two fellow outlaws and the shattered myth of the invincibility of the James-Younger Gang.
> flight
By the time you and your surviving companions make it out of Northfield you are in a pretty bad way: Bill Chadwell and Clell Miller are dead and everyone except Jesse (and possibly you) has been wounded: Charlie and Frank have both been shot once, Bob twice, Jim three times and Cole a remarkable five times, though all his wounds are minor. The most serious wounds are Jim's and Bob's the latter of whom has had his right elbow completely shattered. Altogether you have managed to steal less than $27 dollars from the bank in Northfield.
Perhaps worst of all your only guide to Minnesota, Bill Chadwell, is dead leaving all of you stranded in a hostile state with only the knowledge that you have to head in a generally southern direction to reach safety. You don't have a single friend in Northfield and within days thousands of men in hundreds of posses are combing Minnesota for you. The first week after your escape from Northfield requires all the knowledge that all of you (except Bob) gained during your four years as Guerrillas during the Civil War and your eleven years as outlaws since.
Performing basic medical care for your injured and stealing a horse for Bob you manage to get the drop on one posse of several men who are hunting you, swiftly disarm them and ride off with their guns. Exchanging shots with another posse you escape during a rainstorm you pass yourselves off as a posse hunting the Northfield Robbers which goes well until one night when you camp on a small island and wake to find the island surrounded by hundreds of men. You only escape by unleashing your horses in one direction and swimming off in another, somehow escaping in the fog and the storm. After this narrow escape you spend a few days resting in an abandoned farmhouse before continuing, stealing horses along the way.
By the 14th things are serious. Both Bob and Jim have become feverish from their untreated wounds and can only travel very slowly. Finally Cole turns to you and the others.
"It's no good, we'll never get out of Minnesota going at this speed," he admits to you all. "Bill, it's better that you, Frank and Jesse ride ahead. You'll be moving faster, attracting more attention from the posses and meanwhile me, Jim and Bob can keep going in our own slow way and hopefully slip out of Minnesota unnoticed while all the posses are busy chasing you."
You all consider the idea but Charlie shakes his head and declares that he wouldn't feel right abandoning the badly injured Younger Brothers. The James brothers have no problem with the plan and take all the Youngers money and personal possessions to give to their family in case the worst happens. Frank and Jesse decide to ride directly west towards the Dakotas and try to draw posses after them while the Youngers and Charlie continue south towards Iowa. You need to choose which group you will join.
> accompany the James Brothers west
You decide to split off with Frank and Jesse and after a week of riding you have covered a lot of distance. That night you approach a bridge over a lake and unfortunately a posse of men are sleeping on the bridge. Dismounting you all try to lead your horses quietly across the bridge but something wakes up one of the posse members. Sitting up he fires a rifle shot which passes through Jesse's thigh to hit Frank in the leg. A moment later he fires another shot which hits your left leg just below the knee.
Yelling in pain the three of you throw yourselves onto the backs of your horses and spur them into a gallop, rapidly escaping as the posse fire at you. Riding west non-stop for more than forty-eight hours you finally cross into South Dakota and safety three days after your injury. Turning south you escape back to Missouri. En-route you learn that a week after you parted with them your companions were discovered and surrounded by a posse in Minnesota. Cole, Jim and Bob were all wounded again and captured while Charlie Pitts was killed. All three of the Younger Brothers later draw a twenty-five year sentence in the state penitentiary, refusing to the last to name who took part in the Northfield Robbery with them.
Your incredibly narrow escape and the complete destruction of the James-Younger Gang have persuaded you, Frank and Jesse that it is time to retire from crime. While Frank and Jesse go into hiding with their wives and children while you travel east all the way to New York and live anonymously for a long time. Finally three years after your escape from Minnesota a letter arrives from Jesse James. He has formed a new gang and would like you to join him in returning to the outlaw life. After a long internal struggle for reasons you don't, and perhaps never fully will, understand you find yourself on a train heading back to Missouri and your old outlaw life.
> The James Gang
Returning to Missouri you meet your old friend for the first time in many years. Jesse hasn't changed at all, though he is now in his thirties and has grown a beard he maintains all his old enthusiasm, high-spirits and carefree attitude. Apparently Frank wants nothing more to do with crime and is enjoying his retirement in Tennessee but Jesse has formed a new gang of five men, making you the seventh member of the new James Gang.
The new recruits don't impress you and are nowhere near as high quality as the Youngers or the other former members of the James-Younger Gang. The most reliable of the lot seems to be Wood Hite, Jesse's cousin and a former Guerrilla. Dick Liddil, a clever young man seems reliable enough while Bill Ryan, a hard-drinking admirer of Jesse also seems fairly dependable. The last two members of the Gang, Clell Miller's younger brother Ed Miller and a farmer called Tucker Bassham strike you as idiots and the absence of Frank James concerns you.
Despite your worries your first robbery in three years goes very well: Jesse has decided to concentrate on trains rather than banks after his experience at Northfield and one winter's night you hold a train outside Glendale, using a red light to stop the train. You and Jesse quickly empty the Express Safe while the others guard the driver and passengers before you all mount your horses and escape cross-county. After several hours you pause to count the money, you have stolen $6,000 which makes your share $800.
Jesse is pleased with the success of the robbery but cautions his new recruits. "This will get the law on our trail and when the papers learn I am behind it the whole state will be looking for us. It's best if we split up, Tucker you back to your farm at Jackson. Wood, Dick and Bill, you head up to Wood's family's place in Kentucky. Ed, you come with me, we'll go and hole up at your farm outside Norborne. Where you going to go Bill?"
> join Tucker at the Bassham Farm
You go with Tucker back to his farm, all the while having to endure his inane conversation conveying how excited he is by the amount of money you have made. He takes a shopping trip into Jackson and apparently brags loudly about taking part in the Glendale train robbery because the next morning there is a knock on his cabin door. When Tucker answers it you hear a man declare "Tucker Bassham, you are under arrest for train robbery." You spring to your feet and glance around, you are in your bedrrom a short way away and though there is only one door that leads into the kitchen where Tucker is there is a window. You could try jumping through the window to escape but it would make a loud noise and could be dangerous.
> try jumping through the window
You start running and crash through the window, glass shards raining down as you hit the grass below. You hear a shout of alarm in the building behind you but you are on your feet in a moment and don't stop running, reaching the safety of nearby trees in an instant and sprinting through them as you hear more shouts behind you. You make it to Jackson, steal a horse and keep going until you reach the Hite Farm in Kentucky where you join up with Dick, Bill and Wood. There you read that after his arrest Tucker promptly named all of you who helped rob the Glendale train. Soon after this you read that fellow gang member Ed Miller's body has been found in Missouri, allegedly killed by Jesse James. Soon after Jesse himself turns up at the Hite Farm.
> more Robberies
The new James Gang has not had a good start with Tucker Bassham arrested and Ed Miller killed by Jesse for threatening to betray the Gang, that just leaves you, Jesse, Jesse's cousin Wood Hite, the cunning Dick Liddil and the alcoholic Bill Ryan. The murder of his old friend Clell's brother seems to weigh heavily on Jesse's conscience and the usual energy and cheerfulness of his younger years seems to be fading from your friend as Jesse enters his thirties. He remains as decisive as ever though.
"There are lots of stagecoaches in Kentucky and the authorities won't be expecting one of them to be robbed," he declares. "Bill Ryan, you and I will ride out and hold up a stagecoach over by Mammoth Caves, they are always packed full of rich tourists. Dick and Wood, I want you to stay here in case I need you. Bill Grey, you can join us if you want or you can stay here and lie low with the boys."
> help Jesse and Bill rob a stagecoach in Kentucky
You and your two companions ride out to Mammoth Cave, a popular tourist destination. You all wait by the side of the road and when a stagecoach full of tourist approaches you all surround it, pistols in hands. Forcing the unarmed driver and passengers to disembark you relieve them of their money and valuables before riding cross-country back to the Hite Farm. Counting your loot there you find you have made off with $2,000, making your share $600.
Back at the Hite Farm Jesse is not content with your takings and having learned there is a large sum of money held in a store in the nearby town of Mercer he decides to rob that as well. Again he chooses to take Bill with him and also Dick while Wood will remain at the Farm making sure the place remains safe and keeping a watch out for lawmen. Again Jesse offers you the choice of whether to join him and the others in the robbery or remain at the Farm.
> join Jesse, Bill and Dick in robbing the payroll
Riding into Mercer with the others you leave Dick and Bill outside with the horses and enter the store with Jesse. The pair of you draw your pistols and demand that the lone storekeeper hand over the payroll. "My son has taken it to the bank already," the nervous man tells you with his hands in the air and sure enough the safe is almost completely empty. Jesse is very annoyed but there is nothing you can do except leave the store, mount your horses and ride away.
Jesse is very put out but after a winter spent exploring various states he learns that a similar payroll is being transported to the town of Muscle Shoals in far-off Alabama, a long way from your usual operating places. Jesse is determined to get the money and decides to take the ever-loyal Bill and Wood Hite with him this time, leaving Dick Liddil at the Hite Farm. Again he offers you the choice of accompanying him or staying at the Hite Farm.
> join Jesse, Bill and Wood in robbing the payroll
Traveling south to Alabama with your friends you make your way to Muscle Shoals and learn what route the man carrying the payroll usually takes into town. Making your way to a lonely part of the road you all hide in some trees until the paymaster comes into sight. Emerging with pistols in your hands you all relieve him of the sack of money he is carrying before riding off across the countryside. When you stop to count the money you find you have stolen $5,000, making your share $1,200.
You and your companions are pleased by the easy job, especially Bill. "I think I'll go back to Adairville in Kentucky to celebrate with some of my old friends," he says. "Don't be there too long," Jesse says. "I think I'm going to go and talk to Frank and some other boys to get them to join the boy. This summer I think we should start hitting trains in Missouri." Agreeing to meet up at the Hite Farm Jesse and Wood part ways with Bill leaving you free to choose who to join.
> go with Jesse and Wood to talk to Frank
That summer you accompany Jesse and Wood to Tennessee where Frank is living a peaceful life in retirement as a farmer. Jesse manages to persuade his brother to return to the outlaw life while Wood also recruits his younger brother Clarence Hite. As you are all traveling back to the Hite Farm you learn that Bill Ryan has been arrested in Adairville after being recognized as a wanted outlaw. Despite this setback the five of you rejoin Dick Liddil at the Hite Farm where Jesse discusses his latest plans.
> The James Gang return to Missouri
The loss of Bill Ryan, his favorite gang member, has hit Jesse hard but despite looking more tired than ever Jesse's ambition remains as boundless as always. As well as you, Dick Liddil and Wood Hite Jesse has persuaded his brother Frank to rejoin the gang and also his cousin Clarence Hite, Wood's younger brother who is dying of tuberculosis and is so emaciated you are not certain he'll be up to the rigors of outlaw life. Jesse remains confident though.
"It is time we went back to Missouri and reminded the governor there that are fifteen years the James boys are still going strong," he declares, grinning at Frank. "The Civil War may be over but we haven't stopped fighting it! We'll hold up a few trains and then clear out of the state."
On the chosen day Dick, Wood and Clarence camp outside the town of Winston while you, Frank and Jesse ride into town. Boarding the noon train you make your way to the driver's carriage where you take him hostage and have him stop the train close to where your friends are waiting. After the train stops you, Frank and Jesse make your way down the passenger carriages towards the express carriage, Jesse leading the way. "This is a hold up," he barks to the passengers. "Remain in your seats."
Without warning a uniformed conductor suddenly springs forward and grabs at Jesse's pistol. Startled the two men wrestle over the weapon while you and Frank stand by startled. "Shoot him," Jesse yells.
> shoot the conductor
You raise your pistol and shoot the conductor in the head. As the man falls to the ground Jesse regains control of his pistol and shoots him again in the chest. While the conductor lies on the floor bleeding and gun smoke rises in the carriage another passenger springs to his feet, gun in hand. "Jesse," Frank yells out in warning as he aims his pistol at the man.
> shoot the armed passenger
The man staggers as your bullet hits him in the chest and dropping his pistol he falls to the ground. "Quickly boys," Frank calls out and the three of you hurry down the passenger carriage, leaving the two dead men behind you. Reaching the Express Carriage you find the safe contains very little money but you throw what little it does contain into a sack before making your escape from the train. Running to where you left your horses you escape cross country and count the money, finding you have made it away with $700, making your share $100.
The robbery and it's accompanying double-killing make national news and the reward for, you, Frank or Jesse reaches a record $5,000 each to be brought in dead or alive, making the three of you worth $15,000 altogether. Jesse is completely unperturbed and recruits another gang member, a young friend of Dick Liddil's called Charley Ford. Together the seven of you plan your next train robbery to take place on the fifth anniversary of the disastrous Northfield Bank Robbery.
> The Blue Cut Train Robbery
Five years to the day since the James-Younger Gang was destroyed at Northfield you and the rest of the James Gang rob a train at Blue Cut, Missouri. Together with the wary Frank and gregarious Jesse you halt the train with lanterns and climb aboard. "I'm Jesse James," Jesse declares to the frightened passengers. "You might have read about me in the papers. Stay calm and no one will get hurt." Making your way to the Express Carriage you empty the safe of a small amount of money and hastily disembark. Escaping on horses you find that you have made away with $1,000, which split seven ways makes your share $100.
"We need to split up boys," Jesse declares. "Wood, Dick and Charley, you go and hide out at Charley's sister's place near Kansas City. Clarence, I want you to hole up in Adairville and get some medical treatment. I'm going to rent my own place in Kansas City. What are you going to do Frank?"
"I reckon anywhere near Missouri is too dangerous at the moment," Frank says. "I'm going back to my farm in Tennessee."
Jesse glances at you. "What are you going to do Bill?"
> go with Wood, Dick and Charley to the Ford Farm
You accompany Dick, Wood and Charley back to Charley's Farm where you meet his sister Martha and his brother Bob, a nervous young man who seems to regard you all with awe. Your stay at the Farm isn't a happy one: Dick and Wood both like Martha and become increasingly hostile towards each other. The argument escalates one evening when you, Dick, Wood, Charley and Bob are all sitting upstairs. Screaming insults at each other Dick and Wood promptly pull out their pistols, spring to their feet and start shooting at each other.
> join in the gunfight
Drawing your pistol you take Wood's side in the argument and fire a shot, hitting Dick in the leg. Dick returns fire, hitting Wood in the arm and suddenly Charley's kid brother Bob unexpectedly joins the gunfight, shooting Wood in the head. As you turn towards him Bob fires a second shot, hitting you in the throat. Gasping and choking you sink to the floor, your life's blood pouring from you as Bob coldly steps closer to you and executes you with a final shot. The same man who will kill Jesse James has just killed you. |
You accompany Dick, Wood and Charley back to Charley's Farm where you meet his sister Martha and his brother Bob, a nervous young man who seems to regard you all with awe. Your stay at the Farm isn't a happy one: Dick and Wood both like Martha and become increasingly hostile towards each other. The argument escalates one evening when you, Dick, Wood, Charley and Bob are all sitting upstairs. Screaming insults at each other Dick and Wood promptly pull out their pistols, spring to their feet and start shooting at each other.
> get the hell out of there
You haven't survived this long by being stupid and springing to your feet you race through the door out of the room. The shots continue to ring out behind you ending in the sound of a body hitting the floor - later you will learn that Charley's brother Bob has killed Wood Hite. Making it to your horse in the Farm's stable you hastily mount up and ride away. For the rest of the winter you live in hiding in Missouri, not emerging until the winter. In the meantime the James Gang is destroyed.
First Dick and Charley, fearful of Jesse's revenge after killing his cousin Wood, surrender to the law. They tell them where they can find Clarence Hite who is arrested in his hotel in Adairville. Finally Bob Ford murders Jesse James, shooting him in the back of the head while your friend hangs a picture on the wall. Stunned to hear the legendary outlaw is dead you make your way to Tennessee where the other remaining survivor of the gang, Frank James is still living.
> The end of the James Gang
Frank is in shock when you join him in Tennessee: like you he finds it impossible to believe that Jesse James, America's greatest bank robber and survivor of so many gunfights and robberies, is dead. As you spend the summer hiding out in Tennessee Frank grows increasingly pessimistic.
"They'll kill us next you know Bill," he tells you one day. "I'm going back to Missouri to surrender. I figure if I surrender myself they might go easy on me, it's either that or keep running until they catch or kill me. I've got no choice. What are you going to do Bill? I suppose you could make a run down to Mexico or up to Canada or some place where the law ain't got no jurisdiction. But I reckon they'll still get you in the end, just like they got Jesse."
You carefully mull over what to do.
> go with Frank to Missouri to surrender
You and Frank make your way to Jefferson City, Missouri where friends of Frank have arranged both of your surrenders to Governor Crittenden of Missouri himself. When you meet the Governor you both hand your guns over to him, Frank commenting that it is the first time in twenty-one years since the start of the American Civil War that he has surrendered his gun to anyone.
"We have spent our last twenty-one years on the run," you tell him. "We have been hunted day and night, never able to rest in case every sound is an approaching posse or some lawman on our trail. It will be a massive relief to finally be able to rest."
The two of you are placed in custody and the next three years and taken over by a long series of trials in which Clarence Hite, Charley Ford and Dick Liddil all testify. Despite the many charges laid against you and the mound of testimony by some miracle you and Frank manage to argue your way into acquittal on all the charges and in the spring of 1885 you are finally pardoned of all your crimes and allowed to go free, a truly incredible result!
> One last enemy
By the 1890's as you enter your fifties it seems that you have put your outlaw past behind you and become a respectable citizen. You have little touch with your former fellow Outlaws: Jesse James, John Younger, Clell Miller, John Jarette, Charlie Pitts, Wood Hite, Bill Chadwell, Oll Shepherd, Little Arch Clement, Bud McDaniels and Tom McDaniels are all dead. Bob Younger and Clarence Hite are dead too, claimed by tuberculosis while Charley Ford has shot himself, overwhelmed by guilt for his role in Jesse's death. Tom Webb, Bill Ryan, Tucker Bassham and Hoobs Kerry all vanished after their release from prison while Cole Younger and Jim Younger are still incarcerated. That leaves just yourself, Frank James, George Shepherd and Dick Liddil alive on the outside, and naturally you have little contact with the last two.
You do see the face of an enemy one summer day when you are in a little town called Creede in Colorado to transact some business. Bob Ford, the man who murdered your friend Jesse, owns a saloon in town and you recognize him in the street. Hatred fills you and you strongly consider killing the man who killed your friend. Doing so would of course put you back outside the law again but it would be a fitting revenge after he betrayed and murdered Jesse James.
You carefully consider what to do.
> buy a gun and kill Bob Ford
Making your way to a nearby gun store you buy a shotgun. After loading and cocking the gun you enter Bob Ford's saloon to find the man you are looking for standing at the bar with his back to you. "Hello Bob," you call out and the young man turns around. Raising the shotgun you fire both barrels directly into his throat, nearly blowing his head off. As Bob Ford is blasted to the floor everyone in the saloon stares at you in stunned silence as you slowly lower the shotgun.
"That's for Jesse James," you declare.
You surrender without a struggle and after a short trial you are naturally found guilty of murder. The Judge takes a very lenient view of the killing and you are sentenced to just nine years imprisonment, being released in 1901. You never regret the killing of Bob Ford.
> The end of the story
The year of 1901 brings two pieces of good news for you: first the traitor Dick Liddil dies of a heart attack and then finally Cole and Jim Younger are released from prison after serving the full term of their twenty-five year sentences. Jim struggles to adjust and when his parole conditions don't allow him to marry the woman he loves he commits suicide a year after his release from prison, a tragic end to a life beset by tragedies. Cole does better, reuniting with you and Frank James.
For several years the three of you travel around the Old West in various exhibitions and shows, earning a bit of money from your notoriety. The days of the horseback outlaw are truly over now with fictional accounts of your crimes told in awful Dime Novels, songs and in the revolutionary new moving picture films. Your infamy is never far away and one day when the three of you have some business to transact in a bank Cole suddenly stops you.
"If the tellers see Frank James, Cole Younger and Bill Grey walk into their bank they are liable to start shooting," he points out.
The years pass and the last actors leave the stage: Frank dies in 1915 and Cole in 1916. The death of one time gang member George Shepherd in 1917 leaves you the last surviving member of the James Gang, now well into your seventies you continue to live in your native Missouri which is peaceful now. The young folks don't believe you when you tell them tales of whizzing bullets, thrilling horseback rides and the screams of dying men in the dust. They don't believe you when you say you rode with the best: the daring Younger Brothers and the best bandits of them all, the legendary outlaws Frank and Jesse James.
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE EARNED THE HIDDEN SURVIVOR BONUS OF 100,000 WHICH WILL BE ADDED TO YOUR SCORE AND VISIBLE TO OTHERS IF YOU LEAVE A COMMENT.
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO PLAY MY GAME.
> click here if you are interested in how you wrote this
Jesse James stands alongside Billy the Kid and John Wesley Hardin as one of the foremost outlaws of the Old West thanks in part to his actions and in part to his legend, which Jesse actively worked on and promoted during his lifetime. Jesse was genuinely a bank robber of outstanding ability, the James-Younger Gang's successful record would not be beaten until the rise of Butch Cassidy's Hole in the Wall Gang in the 1890's. Jesse had a reputation as a Southern Robin Hood and a deadly gunfighter of outstanding ability.
In truth most of the men Jesse and his gang shot and killed were unarmed and you certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in a bank when he and his pals came through the door. Many of their killings were random and pointless and Jesse rarely had much stomach for a fight once people started shooting back at him. Far from being a Robin Hood Jesse and his friends never shared their money with anyone except their immediate friends and family, in fact most of the banks and trains he robbed contained the money of his fellow Southern men in Missouri and other states.
But Jesse has been kind to Jesse in part because of the fun alliteration of his name and in part because of his legend. Jesse promoted himself in a way his somber brother Frank or the cautious Cole Younger never did and he couldn't care less about the people he hurt along the way. As one historian pointed out people tended to look at this legendary figure of Jesse James, they rarely spent time looking into the details of all the killings and robberies that put him on this pedestal.
Researching outlaws is always fun and easy, building up a timeline of their activities provides a natural framework to build the story up around, all that really needs to be fleshed out are the characters of the outlaws themselves and the details of the gunfights which were genuinely dramatic and exciting. I think Cole Younger riding back into Northfield towards a dozen people shooting at him to rescue his wounded brother Bob show that the historic truth can sometimes be more amazing than fiction, even great works of fiction like True Grit.
As I have timelines for every gang of American criminals including the Doolin-Dalton Gang, the Hole in the Wall Gang, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Al Karpis and the Barkers, Pretty Boy Floyd and every other major outlaw gang of bank robbers between the years 1865 and 2015 I may write more sequels depending on how this story is received, though the slightly repetitive nature of the story (robbery, possible gunfight, hide out for a time with another possible gunfight or arrest attempt, robbery again etc etc) does concern me as does the fact the reader is encouraged to kill defenseless people to improve his or her score.
Still those people who really lived and really did so many incredible things may prove just too fascinating for me not to write about! |
By the time you and your surviving companions make it out of Northfield you are in a pretty bad way: Bill Chadwell and Clell Miller are dead and everyone except Jesse (and possibly you) has been wounded: Charlie and Frank have both been shot once, Bob twice, Jim three times and Cole a remarkable five times, though all his wounds are minor. The most serious wounds are Jim's and Bob's the latter of whom has had his right elbow completely shattered. Altogether you have managed to steal less than $27 dollars from the bank in Northfield.
Perhaps worst of all your only guide to Minnesota, Bill Chadwell, is dead leaving all of you stranded in a hostile state with only the knowledge that you have to head in a generally southern direction to reach safety. You don't have a single friend in Northfield and within days thousands of men in hundreds of posses are combing Minnesota for you. The first week after your escape from Northfield requires all the knowledge that all of you (except Bob) gained during your four years as Guerrillas during the Civil War and your eleven years as outlaws since.
Performing basic medical care for your injured and stealing a horse for Bob you manage to get the drop on one posse of several men who are hunting you, swiftly disarm them and ride off with their guns. Exchanging shots with another posse you escape during a rainstorm you pass yourselves off as a posse hunting the Northfield Robbers which goes well until one night when you camp on a small island and wake to find the island surrounded by hundreds of men. You only escape by unleashing your horses in one direction and swimming off in another, somehow escaping in the fog and the storm. After this narrow escape you spend a few days resting in an abandoned farmhouse before continuing, stealing horses along the way.
By the 14th things are serious. Both Bob and Jim have become feverish from their untreated wounds and can only travel very slowly. Finally Cole turns to you and the others.
"It's no good, we'll never get out of Minnesota going at this speed," he admits to you all. "Bill, it's better that you, Frank and Jesse ride ahead. You'll be moving faster, attracting more attention from the posses and meanwhile me, Jim and Bob can keep going in our own slow way and hopefully slip out of Minnesota unnoticed while all the posses are busy chasing you."
You all consider the idea but Charlie shakes his head and declares that he wouldn't feel right abandoning the badly injured Younger Brothers. The James brothers have no problem with the plan and take all the Youngers money and personal possessions to give to their family in case the worst happens. Frank and Jesse decide to ride directly west towards the Dakotas and try to draw posses after them while the Youngers and Charlie continue south towards Iowa. You need to choose which group you will join.
> keep going south with Cole, Jim, Bob and Charlie
You choose to remain with the Younger Brothers and Charlie while the James boys ride off. Initially the plan works well, continuing to head slowly south you rarely encounter posses now, most have them have drawn off west to chase Frank and Jesse. Unfortunately Bob and Jim's fever is continuing to worsen and you are moving slower than ever. One week after the James brothers split off you find yourselves approaching a copse of woods when a glance back shows a few hundred posse members armed with pistols, rifles and shotguns closing in on you.
The four of you run into a thicket and take shelter behind a fallen tree. "If anyone wants to surrender they can," Cole suggests but you are all determined to go down fighting." As the posse fans out to surround the copse of trees where you are hiding and seven men armed with rifles approach on foot Cole sighs. "When they get close let them have it," he orders. "Bob, you reload our pistols. Ok boys get ready... now!" Cole fires his pistol, hitting one of the approaching posse in the hip.
> join the others in firing at the posse
You fire your pistol over the dead-fall, one of your shots clipping a posse member in the side. The posse returns fire, the men in front firing from cover while those behind on a slight hill direct their fire over their heads. Your friends are hit several times: Cole is hit three times, Charlie four times and Jim once but you all keep firing. Charlie glances at Cole. "We are entirely surrounded and we had better surrender." Cole nods. "Charlie if you want to surrender go but this is where Cole Younger dies." "All right Captain, I can die as game as you can," Charlie replies. "Let's get it done."
Springing to his feet with a pistol in each hand he opens fire, hitting one posse member in the hand. A moment later he is shot through the chest and with a groan he falls dead to the ground. A moment later Jim is shot in the face, the bullet knocking out several of his teeth and lodging in his head, clutching his face he falls to the ground. Cole turns to look at Jim and a bullet hits him in the back of the head, he too falls to the ground. Glancing round you catch Bob's frightened eyes looking at you.
> copy Charlie and spring to your feet guns blazing
You spring to your feet, firing your pistols as fast as you can. One of your shots hits a posse member in the shoulder then someone shoots you in the chest, directly into your heart. You fall back behind the dead tree and as silence falls you quietly die, another Outlaw passing into the legend of the Old West. |
Taking the hammer and the bar you pry up several rails and toss them to one side. You and the rest of the Gang then take cover in the trees near the track and wait for the train. When the train comes down the line you are astonished by how fast it is going. The driver sees the damage to the track and slams on the brakes but the train is going too fast: to your astonishment the locomotive shoots off the end of the broken line and crashes down onto it's side with an ear-splitting crash, as does the first passenger carriage. The noise is indescribable.
The train has come to a complete halt with the front two carriages on their side and you and your deafened companions emerge stunned from the trees. While Bill, Charlie, Bob and Jim hold the horses and Jesse leads most of the rest towards the Express Carriage at the rear of the train you and Frank jog to the crashed locomotive and peer inside. The sight sickens you, the driver has been literally crushed to death and the fireman has been badly hurt, bleeding freely from his head.
You are still shaken by the time you return to the woods and are rejoined by Jesse and the others. Mounting up you ride away from the train you have just wrecked and ride nonstop for several hours to get to safety. When you count the money you are disappointed to find the train was not carrying a lot, just $3,000 which is divided between the ten of you to make your share $300. Despite the small profits from this you know this brazen robbery will increase your already great fame and notoriety.
Bill, Clell and Charlie are all a bit unnerved by the attention this crime will bring and decide they will all go and hide out at Charlie's farm in Missouri. Jesse, as usual, is delighted and indifferent to the fact the robbery has led to another death. He intends for himself, Frank, Bob, Cole, Jim and John (all the James and Younger brothers) to ride south into Arkansas to rob a stagecoach, another type of crime the Gang haven't committed before which Jesse hopes will lead to more fame. It is up to you whether or not you want to go into hiding or join in the crime spree.
> join Frank, Jesse, Bob, Cole, Jim and John in robbing a stagecoach in Arkansas
Crossing the border into Arkansas you and your companions continue your crime spree by holding up a stagecoach one night outside the town of Hot Springs. After stopping the coach you all force the passengers to disembark at gunpoint and relieve them of their money and valuables. Escaping back across the border to Missouri you count the loot and find you have gotten away with $2,000, which split seven ways makes your share $200. Jesse now has plans to rob another train.
> Another Train Job
At a little community called Gad's Hill you, Frank and Jesse board the night train, having come up with a new way to stop the train. Making your way to the locomotive you draw your pistols, take the driver hostage and order him to stop the train where the four Younger brothers are waiting next to a fire. They board too and while you and Frank guard the driver Jesse leads them to the back of the train to rob the Express Carriage. This safe is quite full and when you have finished the robbery you all mount your horses and ride off, back across the Arkansas border knowing state law forces can't pursue you across state lines. Counting the money you find you have stolen an impressive $12,000, $1,700 of which is yours.
But your crime spree is not finished yet.
> Another Arkansas Hold-Up
Keen to expand into new areas of criminal achievement Jesse has heard of a wealthy store owner in the little Arkansas town of Bentonville. Sure enough one evening you all ride into town and dismount outside, while the others hold the horses you and Cole enter the store and at gunpoint force the solitary owner to hand over the contents of the till. He might be wealthy by Bentonville standards but not by your standards, he hands over a paltry $200 which isn't large enough to warrant you getting a sizable share.
Your unprecedented crime wave in Arkansas and Missouri has got the attention of the National Press and in Missouri you all read how the Pinkerton Detective Agency has been hired specifically to bring each and every member of the James-Younger Gang to justice. Though Jesse and Bob want to continue the crime spree the rest of you persuade them it is better that you all split up. Frank and Jesse decide to go back to the James Farm, Jim and John will go back to the Younger Farm while Cole and Bob decide to go and hide out at the Farm of their friend Bud McDaniels. You will have to pick one of these pairs to accompany.
> hide out with Frank and Jesse at the James Farm
Riding with the James boys you soon get back to their Farm where you hide out for a time until one night there is a knock on the door. Frank and Jesse's mother Zerelda opens it and a young man steps in. He claims he is a worker looking for work in the area and heard there might be a place in the James Farm. Zerelda leads him into the kitchen where you and your companions are waiting. You can tell just by looking at him he isn't a common worker and has the look of an educated man. Frank draws his pistol, cocks it and points it at the man. "You are a Pinkerton Detective," he declares. "I would bet my life on it."
The man vigorously denies this but a quick search of him reveals a pistol in his pocket and incriminating papers. The three of you march him out of the Farmhouse and across several fields, interrogating him the whole way. Finally when Jesse holds a knife to his throat the man breaks down and admits he is a Pinkerton Detective called Joseph Whicher. You and Jesse glance at each other. "What do you want to do with him?" you ask. "Shoot him," Jesse replies. You silently glance among yourselves deciding who will do it.
> take out your pistol and execute Whicher
You walk up behind Whicher and shoot him in the back of the head. As he falls to the ground Jesse draws his pistol and shoots him twice more in the back. Frank kneels down to check that he is dead before nodding. "Let's go," Jesse mutters and returning to the Farm the three of you mount your horses and ride south to Texas. A week later you are shocked to read of another gunfight in the area: two more lawmen caught up with Jim and John and in a raging gun battle both lawmen and John Younger were killed.
As Pinkerton Agents pour into Missouri to avenge their slain Detectives Jesse fires off a series of letters summoning the whole Gang to Texas. Cole, Bob and Jim are devastated by the death of their brother, particularly Jim who blames Frank and Jesse for getting John involved in robberies in the first place, swearing he wants nothing more to do with them and declaring he's going to California. Frank and Cole think it's better to lie low at their friend Bud McDaniels's farm but Jesse is certain the best way to avenge John's death is to rob a stagecoach here in Texas and the newer gang members, Clell, Bill Chadwell, Charlie Pitts and Bob Younger all agree to join him. You have to choose who to go with. |
Another day home from school...
"I'm telling you Ms. Zelamoyer is a witch, there's no way she could know what we did unless she read our minds!" David says.
"Yeah maybe she's even a demon in human disguise!" Tom adds
"Or maybe you two looked guilty as hell and laughed the loudest when she sat on the thumbtacks you put in her seat." You say. "I told you guys that was a bad idea. I'm surprised she only paddled you and didn't have you kicked out of the school permanently."
"Yeah well it didn't even hurt. My dad beats me harder than that. Though I guess Tom thought it hurt with the way he cried! Hahahaha!" David taunts.
"Shut up David!" Tom exclaims.
"So are you playing Smash Sphere over in the park today?" David asks you.
"I hope so, but my dad's been on my case about me studying harder. Says he wants me to make something of myself when I grow up."
"That sucks. My dad is always either at the mines or drinking at your dad's place. The only time I have to worry about him is when my mom tells him about something I did, then I get a beating. I don't think I'd survive it if he was always around." David replies.
"My mom doesn't beat me, but she'll yell and throw me into a small dark closet without food if I do something bad." Tom says.
"Your mom is one scary ass dyke, Tom. My dad said he saw her scare away a mountain troll in the mines once."
"Shut up David! My mom's not a dyke!"
"Yes she is! What about that other lady that lives with you then?"
"That's just mom's roommate! She needs a place to stay so she helps around the house, like cook dinner or clean up. Mom is at the mines all day, so she can't do that stuff, so it works out. She's kind of like a live in maid!"
"Sounds more like a second mom... "
As much as you enjoy Tom's naïve defense of his lesbian mother and David's taunting of it, you arrive at the Inn where you say goodbye to your friends and tell them you might see them later.
As soon as you get in, you dad calls you over to the bar.
"So do you have any homework?" he asks.
"Yeah, but it's not due until next week."
"Hmm, well if it's not due until next week it must need a lot of attention, better get started on it."
"It's really not that much dad, I can do it over the weekend. I'm going to go out and play smash sphere with David and Tom."
"Is that what you think? Better cancel that idea. You're hitting the books, besides I vaguely remember you mentioning you were also going to have test next week too."
"But dad!"
"Don't dad me! You've been letting your school work slide lately and getting into trouble at school with those two little hoodlums you hang out with."
"They're not hoodlums, and I didn't get into trouble today!"
"You aren't supposed to be getting into trouble in the first place! Look son, I know you think I'm being hard on you, but this really is for your own good. Your little friends don't have fathers that give shit about them, I should know because David's dad is in here all the time and as for Tom, well the less said about his situation the better."
Doesn't look like you're getting out of here today, but you make one last attempt.
"But I really don't have that much homework, I really can do it quick over the weekend!"
"Well if that is the case, you can help me out here instead."
"What?"
"One of my barmaids is sick and I'm expecting a full house here tonight due to it being one of the miner's birthdays today, so you can carry food and drinks."
You certainly weren't expecting that.
"What? Can't mom do it?"
"Your mother is going to have her hands full attempting to cook the giant cloudspeak ram in the kitchen for the celebration, in fact you can start off by helping her chop up the beast."
As usual your dad has given you no "choice" at all.
> resign yourself to doing your homework
Well, you'd rather not do any real work and lying and sneaking out is probably just going to get you into more trouble.
"Alright, I'll do my homework!" you say.
"Good choice son. Make sure you lock the door to the private quarters as usual."
You head upstairs to the third floor where your family has their own living space and lock the door.
You get started on your homework to get it out of the way so you'll at least have the weekend to enjoy. As you go through it, it's a little more difficult than you thought it would be and it was probably good that you have given yourself a lot of time to work on it.
A few hours pass and you're finally finished. Your dad might be right; if you'd paid more attention in class your homework wouldn't have taken as long. It's too late now to go out and play even if you were allowed, but that still doesn't mean you have to do anymore studying tonight.
You spend the rest of the night playing with some of your toy soldiers and reading a few of your copper dreadfuls. You sometimes can hear some of the louder drunk miners using a bunch of curse words in an amusing way. Eventually you fall asleep.
The next day you wake up early, your parents are still asleep so you grab some cookies before you go out to play. You run into Quincy on the way to David's house.
"Hey, where were you yesterday? You missed all the excitement!" Quincy says.
"Yeah, I had to go my homework. Damn, I knew I was going to miss a good game of smash ball!"
"No, not that! David and Tom got arrested!"
"What!?"
"Yeah! After we played a few games, we all went to the sweet shop. Well David and Tom tried to steal some of the candy and when Mr. Blek saw them, they ran off with it! They didn't get far though. From what I know they spent the night in Juvie Hall!"
This is surreal to you. Your dad was right again. You wonder if you would've went along with them and gotten in trouble as well if you'd snuck out yesterday. You can always say now that you wouldn't have, but who knows at that moment?
One thing is for sure; you're not going to hang out with those two on a regular basis anymore.
...
The day is finally here and you're heading off to Klyton University. All your hard work has finally paid off and your parents couldn't be happier.
"Now remember, I've been saving for your tuition since you were born, but remember why you're there. To learn! I don't want you getting caught up in wild parties and failing your classes. Maybe the upper class kids with super rich parents can afford to, but you can't."
"I know dad."
"Oh, don't mind your father, have some fun when you can. We know you'll do the right thing."
For the most part you do, accomplish the right things in your days at Klyton University. You study, you make contacts, you make friends, and in your free time you have fun.
You initially thought you might be "looked down on" due to your working class background. While there are a few like you here, a university education is still expensive and generally only the rich can afford to send their children there. Still, you managed to get here, you (and your family) must have earned it, and so you're treated with respect.
Your years at Klyton University are busy but happy ones. You can only imagine that when you just started you pre-med courses that more of the same would've come about, however that's not to be...
You're in your dorm when you get the message from a courier.
Your father has died of a heart attack. Happened suddenly last night while he was working and by the time a physician arrived nothing could be done to save him. You sit down in shock for a brief moment and when you finally gather your strength, you catch the next coach to the Miner's Mug Inn.
When you arrive the Inn is closed, so you let yourself in to find your mother who is unsurprisingly upset. You console her as best you can for the time being and help make the funeral arrangements.
Your father didn't want an expensive funeral, so it's a small one. The Inn's staff is invited along with a few of the miners that were genuinely friends with your dad. Everyone pays their respects before dear old dad is put into the ground.
On your way home with your mother, you suddenly realize you've missed a couple classes during all this. You then start to wonder about your future college plans and while it's still a fragile time for your mother, you need to ask her about it when you get home.
You don't know it yet, but you're in for more shocking news...
> The long talk
"You're selling the inn?!"
"I have to! I can't run this place myself."
"Well that's what you have staff for!"
"Oh son... (sniff) I don't think you know the entire situation. You haven't been around as much over the years."
"Mom, I always meant to visit more, but... "
"No, it's not that. In fact I'm glad you had fun at college. You at least had some enjoyment. I'm just sorry you won't get to have any more."
"Mom, I don't like where this is going."
You mom at this point begins cry again until you eventually get her to calm down. What comes next almost makes you cry though.
While your father did indeed save for you, it wasn't enough to put you through college completely. Costs were higher than he thought and even though business was okay, he had unexpected expenses such as making fixes to the inn and price hikes in his alcohol supplier.
Your father was determined to not pull you out of college though, so he found another way. He borrowed money from a moneylender.
"WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me? I could've taken less classes or gotten a part time job at the university!"
"No, he didn't want you to worry or get distracted."
"Well I guess that's good since all that worry can go to this now! By the gods, why didn't he at least go to a bank to get the loan!?"
"He tried, but didn't get approved. They wouldn't even take the inn as collateral. I pleaded with him not to borrow money from criminals, but he claimed it would be fine as long as he opened the tavern earlier, found a cheaper supplier and made a few cuts here and there. And for a while things were running a little smoother, but I could see the stress taking a toll on him. It's what ultimately killed him. I'm just so sorry that we failed you. We wanted so much better for you. Now I'll have to sell the inn off to pay off the moneylender and hopefully I'll be able to find a job as a cook elsewhere."
You just sit in silence and try to wrap your head around all of this. Your bright future in medicine as you know is gone. You still have quite a bit of education, and you're fairly certain you could still find a job to support yourself, but it's going to be hard initially and you probably won't be satisfied with it. You're also worried about your mom, what if she can't find a job? You won't be able to help her much.
You can only think of one solution.
"Would it help if I ran the inn?" you ask.
"What?" your mother replies.
"Would it help if I helped you run this place. I mean granted I don't have excessive experience, I have watched you guys do it while I grew up here. I think I can manage the basics. If we managed to keep this place running at least long enough to pay off the loan, maybe then I can save enough to finish my education."
"I don't know son, I mean... I would love to see you finish your education, but it's a lot to take on. Would you have time? I don't want you getting burned out and suffering a pre-mature heart attack like your father because of the stress!"
"Well, I'm going to have nothing but time now, if I drop out and focus on this place. I think the main concern is getting us out of debt... just how much do you owe?"
"Uh... about ten thousand gold coins."
You really hoped it would be significantly less than that.
"Okay, well I'm guessing he takes smaller payments to buy you time but then charges more interest with each passage of time. We'll have to get this place whipped into shape so it's making enough profit that we'll be able to pay the entire sum as soon as possible. After that, we'll have some breathing room."
Your mom looks apprehensive about all this and then shakes her head claiming she can't let you shoulder this responsibility especially with the risk of physical danger involved if you anger the moneylender in some way.
She says that you should go on with your life and forget about the inn, she'll be able to sell it and pay off the debt with no problem. And as for her, she also tells you not to worry about her either, but she hopes that you'll forgive her and your father for failing in giving you the life you deserve.
It is true you could walk away from all this. You don't really have any great desire to run the inn. It was just a solution you came up with to help your mom and possibly help yourself. But there's no guarantee it's going to work, just like there's no guarantee that you can't still achieve your goals on your own.
> take over the inn
You shake your head; you can't walk away from this. Your mom might be in serious trouble because this loan. Selling the inn might not even be enough to cover it and even if it is, she probably won't have enough to fall back on.
You aren't angry with her, but you do feel a little anger towards your dad for getting her in this position (and you indirectly). You realize he still had the best intentions for you, but those don't really help right now.
"Alright first things first, who is the name of this loanshark?" you ask your mother.
"Mr. Reynolds. He'll be coming next week to pick up a collection. He's not a member of the Crimson Talons, but he does have a couple of their goons working for him."
"The Crimson Talons? Oh geez, this just get better... okay how is this place doing for business?"
"It's doing about as well as it always has."
"That won't be enough, we'll need to get more people in here, or cut costs somehow."
"Well your father was going to have more work done on the rooms in the hopes that it would keep adventurers and maybe even merchants to come back whenever they travel through here. I'm not sure if it's worth it though. Adventures don't care where they sleep half the time and it's not always a sure thing that they're going to live long enough for repeat business. As for merchants, I think this place is a little too blue collar for them most of the time."
"You said something about getting a new liquor supplier?"
"Yeah, the one here raised their prices, it would actually be cheaper to get the stuff shipped in from Hessla. Your father was supposed to meet with the new potential distributor in a couple days, so I'm not sure how that's going to go through, if at all."
"How about the staff?"
"The staff is working on minimum wage as it is, we've got three barmaids, Rita, Eliza and Wendy and they're all disgruntled about their jobs, but they all still work well.. We can barely pay them though, and we might have to fire one of them.
Grim stuff, but you're determined to see this through. Since the liquor supplier from Hessla won't arrive in two days you're just going to focus on what you can do now.
Fixing the rooms is still a good idea to keep potential returning wandering adventurers happy. Spending a little money now could increase potential profits later. Who knows, maybe even a merchant will show up and spread the word that this place isn't just some place where miners get drunk.
Firing people sounds like it might save you money, but all it's really going to do is create more work for the rest of you, so you decide to hold off on firing anyone for now.
Your mother doesn't agree with your idea of fixing the rooms, but seems relieved that you're not firing anyone.
Things go as normal at the inn. Several of the miners still offer their condolences about your father and are surprised to see that you're taking up his mantle as it were, but other than that they don't say to much to you. They probably don't know what to say since while some of them might know you since you were little, but you're not really "one of them" in terms of education level. Not to say they're all a bunch of grunting idiots, but they probably figure you're used to talking about things of a more cerebral nature. You don't mind though, after all your main concern is getting your mom out of debt.
Two days pass and the supplier from Hessla arrives. He's a grungy shady looking individual, but considering he's from Hessla that's hardly surprising.
He immediately says his name is Calwin asks for your father at which point you tell him he died recently. Calwin shows no sympathy and merely complains that he's made a trip up here for no reason. You show a little restraint and call your mother to speak with him, but after five minutes with him she's ready to throw him out the door for hitting on her, and you're not exactly thrilled with him either at this point.
"Look folks, if you want good quality alcohol at a low price I'm willing to deal wit ya, but I'm gonna need some incentive for my troubles because y'all seem like a buncha uptight prigs. Now I was invited here by the man who ran this establishment, so you called me here, if my help ain't wanted, I'll be on my way... " Calwin says.
While you're tempted to just have him leave, you decide it would be best to at least see if his stuff is any good.
"Alright prove it. Surely you've brought some of your alcohol here so we can test to see if it's any good."
"Well I do have some with me, but I can't just be givin' this stuff away for free."
"Don't worry, you'll be compensated."
You call attention to the miners in the room and ask them if they'd like to try some new beer, naturally they're all for it. A few of the miners take their fill of Calwin's beer and they say that it's different from what they usually drink, but it's just as good.
Calwin looks a little put off that they claimed his alcohol is "just as good", but still maintains that it's better than what you already have. He states his price, and also mentions that he wants a free room whenever he comes here since he's apparently got a harpy of a wife at home and he likes to stay away for a couple days before having to go back to Hessla.
Your mother obviously isn't thrilled with having to deal with him, and in the short time he's been here; he's also hit on every one of the barmaids. Granted they're used to such behavior, he's particularly revolting. (Plus he's from Hessla)
> deal with him and agree to the free room
If it's only for a couple days, what can it hurt and you're getting a good deal on his alcohol, so you figure it's a good idea. This does not go well with your mother who says you're going to get the pair of you further into debt. It takes some time, but eventually you manage to convince her that the money you're saving will be worth the couple days out of the month that he actually comes up here.
Meanwhile Calwin calls his lackeys to unload his cart and take the stuff down to your cellar. Calwin then states he's going to retire to his room and that if any of your barmaids want to join him his door will be open.
The next couple days aren't exactly pleasant, Calwin is a complete lecherous slob and leaves not only his room a disgusting mess, but hangs around the bar all day trying to grope the barmaids. (Rita in particular) You have to warn him several times to leave them alone, and eventually one of the miners who has a crush on Rita punches him in the face resulting in a minor scuffle in which Calwin is not the winner.
You fully expect Calwin to claim that he's never dealing with you again, but as it turns out he doesn't think anything of it. Indeed he claims if it had been a bar in Hessla he probably would've gotten a knife in the eye instead, so he considers himself lucky. Eventually he leaves and everyone is glad, but there's the sickening feeling that you know you're going to have to put up with him a few times every month.
By the end of the week you haven't saved any money. In fact you've barely broke even.
While you're sweeping up the inn early morning, a non-descript man of medium height enters with two bigger figures. One of them is unmistakably an ogre while the other guy is just a tall muscular human. Either one could break you in half.
"Are you are Mr. Reynolds?" you ask, knowing that it has to be him.
"That would be me. I take it you're the son of my late debtor? I do hope you realize that the debt doesn't end with him dying... " Mr. Reynolds says
"No, no of course not. I've got some of what my father owed."
You hand over the most you can under the circumstances, but Mr. Reynolds looks insulted.
"My boy do you take me for an asshole? Your father used to pay me much more than this pittance!"
"It was a rough week... "
"No, no, I don't give a shit about your excuses, you've chosen to take on your father's debt so you are expected to fucking pay up like he did! (Sigh) Look, since you're obviously new to this, I'll let you off with a warning. Olaf."
Suddenly the ogre steps forward with a smile and punches you the stomach. You temporarily lose the ability to breath and collapse on the floor. When you finally do catch your breath, you promptly vomit.
"That was my warning, let's hope I don't need to do it again. Be seeing you again in a few weeks kid. Let's get out of here."
As Mr. Reynolds leaves, your mother comes running up from the cellar wondering what's going on. She helps you up when she sees you.
"Oh no son I can't let this go on. We're selling the inn right now!"
"No, no mom, it's alright, you'll see. We're going to make this place profitable and payback the loan and after that we'll be able to take the next step."
"Son, I love you, but you've made a lot of questionable decisions as far as business is concerned. I mean if this keeps up, I'm stepping in before this place goes to hell so I can actually make money selling it to the city."
"You won't get enough for it!"
"Well I'll get enough to pay off the debt, and if worst comes to worst, I'll leave Klyton and live with my sister in Teckleville"
"You can't live with aunt Enora, you always said she's crazy."
"She is, but that still doesn't mean she wouldn't help me out."
"Look, we've still got time, I know my ideas are going to help us out soon."
"Well, I hope all your fancy schooling you gained some sort of insight that I'm not privy to. Alright we'll give it until the next time Mr. Reynolds comes around for payment."
You agree and start wiping up the floor before customers come in.
The next few days are uneventful; the miners seem to be enjoying the new Hessla ale though so that's a relief. They even seem to be talking to you a little more, one in particular Ular has been chewing your ear quite frequently. He's the one that has an obvious crush on Rita, but you've never seen him actually talk to her on any serious level. Strange that a big tough miner would be too shy to speak to a girl, but there it is.
"So how long have you known Rita?" Ular asks.
"Me? Well she started working here just before I left for college so I didn't speak to her too much back then, and I haven't really spoken to her too much other than about duties around the inn since I've got back here."
"She's so beautiful, you know? I always wonder if she isn't a Delantium Princess hiding out or something."
"Yeah, she's a pretty girl." You reply.
"Can you speak to her for me?"
"What?"
"Just speak to her for me. I try, but I... dunno I don't have the words! I get all tongue tied an' shit. I mean you're a smart guy, you went to college an' shit. Maybe you can tell her better how I feel than I can."
"I dunno if should get involved in this... "
"Please man, just do it... oh shit here she comes!"
At this point Ular stumbles over his own feet trying to get to a dark corner before Rita arrives for more ale. Feeling a little sorry for the guy, you talk to Rita.
"Hey Rita, this is going to be strange question, but... "
"Oh gods, you're not going to start hitting on me too are you?"
"What? Uh no! But well, there's a miner named Ular who's sort of nuts about you."
"Yeah, he's nuts over me like every other miner here trying to get under my skirt."
"Heh, I don't think so, he's so damn shy he's practically afraid to speak to you, and surely you've noticed."
"Yeah I suppose I have. I will admit he's a little different than the rest of these ale swilling pigs."
"So are you interested in him?"
"Eh... I dunno. I mean from what I know of him he seems respectful and he did punch out that fucker Calwin when he groped me, but that's not really enough. I need a man that's going places. I mean he's a miner; where's that going to lead me? Not in fine Selkie furs and a big house, I'll just be barefoot and pregnant and still living here."
Same old Rita. Still, you can certainly understand her desire to move up in the world. However, a miner still makes a decent living. A lot better than her that's for sure. She'd still be "moving up."
> tell Ular she's not interested
There's no point in trying to convince Rita, she's obviously looking to marry into money, though there's a lot better ways she could go about it. Ular seems like a cool guy and probably should know the type of girl she is anyway.
As Rita walks off, you look for Ular and see him slowly coming out of his dark corner. You explain to him how the conversation went, he's obviously upset about it, but thanks you nonetheless.
"Well, I guess it's true about that old saying. You can't judge a book by its cover. Give everyone a round for the house on me, everyone else might as well be happy even if I'm not. Just don't have Rita serve my drinks anymore okay?" You understand and carry on with your duties.
The remaining days until the next payment go as normal and Mr. Reynolds is satisfied with the payment he receives, and you still have a little saved over. You have hope that in time you'll get out of this debt eventually.
However, trouble rears its ugly head when Calwin shows up on his monthly delivery. He says that he's decided to bump the price up on his alcohol. You furiously ask why, and he says that the last time he was here he noticed how nice the rooms were and that if you can afford to fix them up, you must be able to afford to pay him more for his product.
It doesn't need to be said that your mother does not want to deal with him at all at this point.
> comply with his demands
He's got you over a barrel, you agree to his price. Your mother throws up her hands and rolls her eyes in disgust. Calwin smirks and calls his lackeys to take his alcohol into the cellar, while he "retires" to his room again.
Like last time, Calwin is a lecherous slob and Rita doesn't have Ular defending her "honor" anymore. This time she quits when Calwin practically molests her when she takes food up to his room.
Deal or not, your mother isn't going to put up with his shit any longer, grabs your dad's Troll Gun from behind the bar and kicks him out of his room. He screams at you saying that you'll regret reneging on the deal like this before leaving.
Now you're a barmaid short and you'll have to go back to the old Klyton supplier. While it's true you don't have to pay Rita anymore, you end up losing a couple of customers that liked looking at her. That's not even counting the extra work that Eliza and Wendy have to do now who are now miserable to the point of wanting to seriously quit. You and your mother take up some of the slack, but it's a drain on the pair of you.
And while you have enough to pay Mr. Reynolds this month, you're not optimistic about the future. The problem is you won't be saving money like you were going to while Calwin was your supplier. Your nice rooms haven't really been helping like you thought they might and while you can keep on this way, you're never really going to get ahead.
The thought of continuing to work here any longer is disheartening to you. Maybe you're just being impatient, but after all the problems and headaches you've encountered you really don't feel like dealing with this job anymore, especially not when there is potential danger constantly looming overhead. You're ready to tell your mother to just sell the place.
So you do.
You fought the good fight for as long as you could, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. You're not going to finish this one, which is a familiar theme to you since you dropped out of college. You tell your mother what you think and she seems just as eager to sell the place off too since the past few months have been pretty stressful.
During the remaining week the inn stays open to make a last bit of change before closing for good and selling to the city. Some of the miners seem a little sad by it, but there were so many changes within such a short period of time that most seemed content on finding a new place since the old one wasn't like how it used to be anymore.
When the inn is sold off, you barely make enough to cover the debt, but at least you and your mother aren't in any immediate danger now.
Your mother finds work as a cook for a short time, but eventually decides she can't really stand living in the city without your father anymore. She leaves to go live with your aunt Enora in Teckleville, which is to the east on the outskirts of the Delantium Kingdom.
After a long time of the inn just sitting untended and forgotten due to the council having more pressing matters and red tape, it's broken into by several homeless people who use it as a place to sleep. The homeless are soon ousted by a local gang who use it as a safe house. Eventually though they cause enough trouble that the Klyton Militia has to take severe action and storm the place, resulting in a small fire.
At this point someone in the council finally notices it, decides that the place isn't worth salvaging and proposes that it be knocked down to build a medical clinic in its place to try to uplift the area. The motion passes.
As for you, you find a job thanks to your education level, but it isn't anywhere in the field that you would've liked. You're a clerk in tax office, filing away items, straightening out reports and such. You never really move up and you never make enough money to save away to get ahead either.
You don't really have a bad life so much as a mind numbingly mundane one. You do have your good days, but ultimately you never really achieve your goals and always have a sense of dissatisfaction with your life.
Sometimes you look back and wonder where you exactly went wrong with the inn and how you could've done things differently.
You'll never know. |
There's no point in trying to convince Rita, she's obviously looking to marry into money, though there's a lot better ways she could go about it. Ular seems like a cool guy and probably should know the type of girl she is anyway.
As Rita walks off, you look for Ular and see him slowly coming out of his dark corner. You explain to him how the conversation went, he's obviously upset about it, but thanks you nonetheless.
"Well, I guess it's true about that old saying. You can't judge a book by its cover. Give everyone a round for the house on me, everyone else might as well be happy even if I'm not. Just don't have Rita serve my drinks anymore okay?" You understand and carry on with your duties.
The remaining days until the next payment go as normal and Mr. Reynolds is satisfied with the payment he receives, and you still have a little saved over. You have hope that in time you'll get out of this debt eventually.
However, trouble rears its ugly head when Calwin shows up on his monthly delivery. He says that he's decided to bump the price up on his alcohol. You furiously ask why, and he says that the last time he was here he noticed how nice the rooms were and that if you can afford to fix them up, you must be able to afford to pay him more for his product.
It doesn't need to be said that your mother does not want to deal with him at all at this point.
> don't comply with his demands
You tell Calwin you're not paying him anything more than he's getting and that it's complete bullshit that he's jacking up his prices like this. Calwin goes on a rant about supply and demand and how he's doing you a favor.
The argument heats up, but ultimately ends when your mother grabs your dad's Troll Gun from under the bar counter and points it at him, telling him to get the hell out before she blows his head off. He and his lackeys leave, which means you'll have no alcohol supply this month.
"I told you we shouldn't have dealt with him at all now we'll have to go back to the Klyton supplier and they probably won't even get around to delivering a shipment to us until near the end of the month! We'll have to make due with what we have left and given how much those miners drinks, we won't have enough!"
"Well maybe we could water down the drinks or something... " you say trying to think of a solution.
"Water down the drinks? Are you serious? That's not going to work and we're going to lose people doing that! Those miners are some serious drinkers, they're going to know the difference."
"If you hadn't chased Calwin out with a gun, I might've been able to reason with him. Okay fine, the only other solution I can think of is we'll have to make our own ale."
"And how do we do that? I don't have any experience in doing that and we don't have license to do it either!"
"I took some chemistry classes, I'm fairly certain I could try to build a still and... "
"And that's even worse than watering down the drinks. Look, I'm tired just thinking about all this and I'm going to rest before the business hours start."
> start watering down the drinks
You figure you'll be able to stretch out your alcohol supply just long enough to get your next shipment and you'll just have to hope for the best.
That very night you're already getting comments that the ale doesn't taste quite as strong, this results in the miners ordering MORE ale since they aren't getting drunk on what you're currently giving them. This means you end up having less alcohol to stretch things out.
By the end of the week, you're getting loud verbal complaints about the ale, and outright accusations that it tastes like water. Several miners are insulted and leave the inn claiming that they've been loyal patrons here for so long and that they don't need to be treated like this. You attempt to explain, but they shove you out of the way and tell you to go back to your fancy college.
"I wish I could." You quietly say to yourself.
You aren't optimistic about the rest of the month. Sure there's still adventurers and the odd wanderer, but not enough to turn a profit before you get in the next shipment. This still wouldn't be so bad except it's going to be time to pay Mr. Reynolds soon and you're going to fall short again.
Your mother can't bare to see you get hurt again and suggests forgetting all about the inn and just taking off with all the remaining money you have and going to live with your crazy aunt Enora.
> leave Klyton
You agree with your mother, you don't want to take another beating and that was only a punch in the stomach from an ogre. Who knows what they'll do to you next?
You and your mother pack as quickly as you can and catch a late coach heading west. It feels weird leaving Klyton, in fact now that you think about it, you've never been out of city before.
Eventually after a couple days the coach stops in Teckleville where your aunt lives. Teckleville is just one of the many small villages on the borders of the Dalantium Kingdom. Probably in time it'll get absorbed like so many others do, but that's not really a concern of yours right now.
Your aunt Enora is happy to see you both, and while this whole living with her thing was sprung on her at the last moment it doesn't seem to bother her. She says there's plenty of room and you can stay as long as you like.
While the house is certainly nice and you're happy to live there rather than in the street, it's sort of on the small side and you feel like you have no privacy. Teckleville isn't anything like you're used to either. The whole small town thing just doesn't appeal to you, and you feel trapped with a bunch of boring backwards people. It's even worse than when you were stuck serving the miners.
You were supposed to do greater things! Your were going to be a doctor! You did everything right and studied hard and what do you have to show for it? Nothing! You're stuck in some cow town where the best job you can hope to get is probably shoveling shit. Some future.
"Thanks dad, you fucking idiot." You say throwing a rock against a barn door.
In time, your mother works at the local tavern where she serves as a cook. It's not much, but it is something she's used to doing.
You manage to get a job working as an assistant to the mean old bastard who runs the general store. It's a thankless job, but he's about the only one who'll hire you since nobody else will work for him and everyone else thinks you have a superiority complex (Which is sort of true) and won't hire you.
The only upside is since you live at your aunt's house you manage to save what little money you do make. You have a plan to head to the Delantium Kingdom and start fresh again, because staying here isn't in your future.
Unfortunately neither is the Delantium Kingdom.
One night while you're sleeping an oversized hand covers your mouth and two more grab your arms. You open your eyes to see Olaf grinning at you in the darkness.
"What? Did you really think we'd forget about you? Don't worry about the debt anymore kid, consider it paid with your family's life." You hear Mr. Reynolds whisper before he shoves a knife into your stomach and rips it up to your chest.
The next day your aunt's friend finds the bloody bodies of you, your mother and your aunt. The incident becomes known as the Teckleville Massacre. |
You figure you'll be able to stretch out your alcohol supply just long enough to get your next shipment and you'll just have to hope for the best.
That very night you're already getting comments that the ale doesn't taste quite as strong, this results in the miners ordering MORE ale since they aren't getting drunk on what you're currently giving them. This means you end up having less alcohol to stretch things out.
By the end of the week, you're getting loud verbal complaints about the ale, and outright accusations that it tastes like water. Several miners are insulted and leave the inn claiming that they've been loyal patrons here for so long and that they don't need to be treated like this. You attempt to explain, but they shove you out of the way and tell you to go back to your fancy college.
"I wish I could." You quietly say to yourself.
You aren't optimistic about the rest of the month. Sure there's still adventurers and the odd wanderer, but not enough to turn a profit before you get in the next shipment. This still wouldn't be so bad except it's going to be time to pay Mr. Reynolds soon and you're going to fall short again.
Your mother can't bare to see you get hurt again and suggests forgetting all about the inn and just taking off with all the remaining money you have and going to live with your crazy aunt Enora.
> stick around
"Do you think you'd still be able to get a good price for this place?" you ask your mother.
"Yeah, but not before next payment! That's why we just need to get out of the city now!"
You grab what payment you can afford and start heading for the door.
"What're you doing?!"
"I'm going to see Mr. Reynolds early."
"What?! You can't! He'll kill you!"
"No, he'll have me beaten. Look, if we leave he's just going to track us down and he probably will kill us by that time. If I pay him this now, I'll take a beating, but he's going to figure I'm still a source of income for him. We can then pay it off completely when you sell this place. Afterwards, well we'll see what happens."
Your mother still doesn't want you to go, but you're determined so she doesn't stand in your way. You walk several blocks into bad neighborhoods half expecting to get mugged on your way to see him, but for once luck is on your side. Mr. Reynolds sits at his desk counting coins with both of his goons beside him as usual.
"Well this is unexpected, what can I do for you today m'boy?"
"This is all we can afford for this payment. I guarantee the next one will be much bigger." You say plopping the bag of coins on his desk.
He lifts the bag and frowns at its weight.
"Feels a little light kid. You do realize what's going to happen next right?"
"Yes, that's why I came early to get it over with." You say trying to sound brave.
"Heh, you're trying your best to be brave, but I know deep down inside you're terrified. It's okay, you should be. (Sigh) Olaf. Reggie. Just beat him up, don't break any bones, I'm in a good mood today."
Olaf approaches you with a little disappointment that he doesn't get to break any bones today, but he still takes glee in punching you in the face. Reggie picks you up and holds you while Olaf beats on you some more. You try not to think about the pain, but instead try to think about how it's absolutely amazing that Olaf manages to pull his punches enough that he doesn't break anything. It's the odd ogre that can show restraint during violence.
Olaf does fail eventually though, when everyone hears an awful crunch sound and blood flies everywhere from your nose which is now completely broken.
"Oh Olaf, I told you not to break anything! All right he's had enough, drop him Reggie." Mr. Reynolds orders and steps from his behind his desk to speak to you.
"That's two times I've been lenient kid. Next time, well for your sake there better not be a fucking next time because you're not exactly the hardy type to take beatings like this. Olaf carry this kid back to his inn, he can't make it home in his condition."
You don't even remember what happens in the next few moments since you're drifting in and out of consciousness. When Olaf arrives at the inn he dumps your limp body inside and walks off. Your mother makes sure you're still alive and somehow manages to get you to crawl to the bed of one of the empty rooms.
During the remaining week the inn stays open to make a last bit of change before closing for good and selling to the city. Some of the miners seem a little sad by it, but there were so many changes within such a short period of time that most seemed content on finding a new place since the old one wasn't like how it used to be anymore.
When the inn is sold off, you barely make enough to cover the debt, but at least you and your mother aren't in any immediate danger now.
Your mother finds work as a cook for a short time, but eventually decides she can't really stand living in the city without your father anymore. She leaves to go live with your aunt Enora in Teckleville, which is to the east on the outskirts of the Delantium Kingdom.
After a long time of the inn just sitting untended and forgotten due to the council having more pressing matters and red tape, it's broken into by several homeless people who use it as a place to sleep. The homeless are soon ousted by a local gang who use it as a safe house. Eventually though they cause enough trouble that the Klyton Militia has to take severe action and storm the place, resulting in a small fire.
At this point someone in the council finally notices it, decides that the place isn't worth salvaging and proposes that it be knocked down to build a medical clinic in its place to try to uplift the area. The motion passes.
As for you, you find a job thanks to your education level, but it isn't anywhere in the field that you would've liked. You're a clerk in tax office, filing away items, straightening out reports and such. You never really move up and you never make enough money to save away to get ahead either.
You don't really have a bad life so much as a mind numbingly mundane one. You do have your good days, but ultimately you never really achieve your goals and always have a sense of dissatisfaction with your life.
Sometimes you look back and wonder where you exactly went wrong with the inn and how you could've done things differently.
You'll never know. |
You tell Calwin you're not paying him anything more than he's getting and that it's complete bullshit that he's jacking up his prices like this. Calwin goes on a rant about supply and demand and how he's doing you a favor.
The argument heats up, but ultimately ends when your mother grabs your dad's Troll Gun from under the bar counter and points it at him, telling him to get the hell out before she blows his head off. He and his lackeys leave, which means you'll have no alcohol supply this month.
"I told you we shouldn't have dealt with him at all now we'll have to go back to the Klyton supplier and they probably won't even get around to delivering a shipment to us until near the end of the month! We'll have to make due with what we have left and given how much those miners drinks, we won't have enough!"
"Well maybe we could water down the drinks or something... " you say trying to think of a solution.
"Water down the drinks? Are you serious? That's not going to work and we're going to lose people doing that! Those miners are some serious drinkers, they're going to know the difference."
"If you hadn't chased Calwin out with a gun, I might've been able to reason with him. Okay fine, the only other solution I can think of is we'll have to make our own ale."
"And how do we do that? I don't have any experience in doing that and we don't have license to do it either!"
"I took some chemistry classes, I'm fairly certain I could try to build a still and... "
"And that's even worse than watering down the drinks. Look, I'm tired just thinking about all this and I'm going to rest before the business hours start."
> start building a still
You head down to the cellar and start constructing your still while trying to remember everything you learned in those chemistry classes. The main thing is to make something strong that isn't going to make folks go blind.
You work on it over the course of several days during your spare time as the real alcohol supply dwindles down. Eventually after a mixture of sugar, yeast, potatoes and bunch of other stuff you've taken from the garbage, you're fairly confident you've made enough of this stuff to last you by the time you get the proper shipment.
You haven't exactly been telling your mother what you've been doing, but the smell has been getting to the point that it's starting to invade the kitchen.
"Ugh! It smells awful down here, and I hope you aren't doing what I think you're doing."
"I had to, besides it's finished now and I think this batch has come out pretty good."
"Smells like rotting garbage!"
"Well some of it is, but trust me I think this will tide us over."
Hoping for the best, you and your mother release this new brew to the clientele. You do have the decency to warn them that it's new, but they're always willing to try anything once.
The moonshine brew goes over well, more or less. A few think it's a lot more bitter, but it's not enough to drive anyone away since they're all getting drunk at a quicker rate.
Mr. Reynolds receives his payment and by the end of the month you've got your usual shipment. The problem is you won't be saving money like you were going to while Calwin was your supplier. Your nice rooms haven't really been helping like you thought they might and while you can keep on this way, you're never really going to get ahead.
The thought of continuing to work here any longer is disheartening to you. Maybe you're just being impatient, but after all the problems and headaches you've encountered you really don't feel like dealing with this job anymore, especially not when there is potential danger constantly looming overhead. You're ready to tell your mother to just sell the place.
The only other thing you can think of to cut costs to a degree that will speed up the process is to continue using the still and not bother with buying from the Klyton supplier in the future.
> sell the inn
You fought the good fight for as long as you could, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. You're not going to finish this one, which is a familiar theme to you since you dropped out of college. You tell your mother what you think and she seems just as eager to sell the place off too since the past few months have been pretty stressful.
During the remaining week the inn stays open to make a last bit of change before closing for good and selling to the city. Some of the miners seem a little sad by it, but there were so many changes within such a short period of time that most seemed content on finding a new place since the old one wasn't like how it used to be anymore.
When the inn is sold off, you barely make enough to cover the debt, but at least you and your mother aren't in any immediate danger now.
Your mother finds work as a cook for a short time, but eventually decides she can't really stand living in the city without your father anymore. She leaves to go live with your aunt Enora in Teckleville, which is to the east on the outskirts of the Delantium Kingdom.
After a long time of the inn just sitting untended and forgotten due to the council having more pressing matters and red tape, it's broken into by several homeless people who use it as a place to sleep. The homeless are soon ousted by a local gang who use it as a safe house. Eventually though they cause enough trouble that the Klyton Militia has to take severe action and storm the place, resulting in a small fire.
At this point someone in the council finally notices it, decides that the place isn't worth salvaging and proposes that it be knocked down to build a medical clinic in its place to try to uplift the area. The motion passes.
As for you, you find a job thanks to your education level, but it isn't anywhere in the field that you would've liked. You're a clerk in tax office, filing away items, straightening out reports and such. You never really move up and you never make enough money to save away to get ahead either.
You don't really have a bad life so much as a mind numbingly mundane one. You do have your good days, but ultimately you never really achieve your goals and always have a sense of dissatisfaction with your life.
Sometimes you look back and wonder where you exactly went wrong with the inn and how you could've done things differently.
You'll never know. |
You head down to the cellar and start constructing your still while trying to remember everything you learned in those chemistry classes. The main thing is to make something strong that isn't going to make folks go blind.
You work on it over the course of several days during your spare time as the real alcohol supply dwindles down. Eventually after a mixture of sugar, yeast, potatoes and bunch of other stuff you've taken from the garbage, you're fairly confident you've made enough of this stuff to last you by the time you get the proper shipment.
You haven't exactly been telling your mother what you've been doing, but the smell has been getting to the point that it's starting to invade the kitchen.
"Ugh! It smells awful down here, and I hope you aren't doing what I think you're doing."
"I had to, besides it's finished now and I think this batch has come out pretty good."
"Smells like rotting garbage!"
"Well some of it is, but trust me I think this will tide us over."
Hoping for the best, you and your mother release this new brew to the clientele. You do have the decency to warn them that it's new, but they're always willing to try anything once.
The moonshine brew goes over well, more or less. A few think it's a lot more bitter, but it's not enough to drive anyone away since they're all getting drunk at a quicker rate.
Mr. Reynolds receives his payment and by the end of the month you've got your usual shipment. The problem is you won't be saving money like you were going to while Calwin was your supplier. Your nice rooms haven't really been helping like you thought they might and while you can keep on this way, you're never really going to get ahead.
The thought of continuing to work here any longer is disheartening to you. Maybe you're just being impatient, but after all the problems and headaches you've encountered you really don't feel like dealing with this job anymore, especially not when there is potential danger constantly looming overhead. You're ready to tell your mother to just sell the place.
The only other thing you can think of to cut costs to a degree that will speed up the process is to continue using the still and not bother with buying from the Klyton supplier in the future.
> use the still
You're willing to stick it out a little longer, but you really need to use a few short cuts now. The brew from the still is good enough for the miners and you won't have to deal with a middleman anymore.
Your mother isn't happy with this idea. She wasn't thrilled with it before, but realized it was necessary at the time. You argue with her for hours about the moral and legal ramifications of it all until she finally gets tired and capitulates under stress.
Over the months you manage to save tons of money, are able to pay Mr. Reynolds off larger amounts and you believe in a few more months you'll completely be free of him.
The problem now is with your mother who still insists on bitching at you day in day out despite the fact that you're basically saving her ass from the problems that her and your dumb ass dad got you involved into in the first place.
"For fuck's sake, will get off my fucking back? I've been the main one coming up with solutions on how to save this fucking place and I'm getting shit for it? Why the hell am I getting punished for something you and dad did? I was supposed to be taking classes right now to become a doctor! Y'know, like YOU all wanted me to? I'm trying to make the best of this situation and still find a damn way of achieving my goals yet all I'm getting is kicked in the fucking face for it!" you yell while throwing a potato against the wall.
Your mother shakes her head.
"I don't know what's happened to you, but the son I knew wouldn't be engaging in criminal activities and yelling at me like this. This isn't worth it; I'm not dealing with this anymore. You want to be mad at me and your father, you can go right ahead, you might even be right in some way but I'm still not going to put up with it. You think you can turn this place around and still achieve your goals? Go right ahead, but you're doing it without my help. I quit, and I'm handing this place over to you. Have fun, and I hope you make all your dreams come true."
You're a little shocked by this. You run after her asking what she's going to do and that you're sorry about the stuff you said, but she won't hear it. She just says she's leaving the deed with you and she's going to go live with your aunt Enora in Teckleville.
After some last words are exchanged she's gone. You aren't quite sure how to feel and you're still trying to wrap your head around it when your barmaids come in.
"Hey which one of you is the best cook?"
"Uh, I guess that would be me." Wendy says.
"Good, you're upgrade to cook, you'll get a small raise too."
"What seriously?"
"Yeah, mom quit and gave me this place, so we're making some changes around here."
Wendy looks a little pleased with getting a small promotion, but Rita isn't so happy.
"Hey what about us? You can't just expect us to shoulder all the extra work! You're going to have to hire someone else to help!" Rita says
"Settle down Rita, I'll be getting some new help soon don't worry about it. All I need from the rest of you is to do your jobs."
A few weeks pass and you're doing okay even if you're getting some grumbles from your staff every once in awhile. You do end up hiring a new person, but it's not another barmaid. It's a janitor so the barmaids don't need to worry about cleaning up as much anymore. The great thing is he's simple minded and you don't need to pay him since apparently his mother wanted him out of the house and dragged him by the ear to you when she saw your Help Wanted sign. You agreed to let him sleep in your cellar and he could eat all the rats he catches down there. (Though Eliza gives him real food from time to time)
Your still is perfected a bit better, but the brew from that stuff does take it's toll on your usual patrons. While none of the miners go blind, a lot of them are starting to feel several side effects from drinking the stuff on a regular basis. This causes some to stop coming in altogether, but on the "plus side" you do get a few more lowly types that don't give a shit what poison they put into their system. You end up changing the name of the place to the Bottomless Mug Inn.
Despite your decrease in clientele you still manage to cut enough corners and exploit enough drunks that you pay off Mr. Reynolds. He's a little surprised considering how run down the inn has gotten. He suspects (quite rightly) that you're probably doing something illegal and tells you if you ever need another loan in the future you know where to find him. You vow that you're not going to let that happen.
Well the inn is profitable again (barely) and you've effectively saved the place and your mother from potential danger (mainly yourself) but taking over your father's inn wasn't your dream and it wasn't your parents' dream either.
You figure you've got two choices, you could either sell this place now and hope you get enough money for it to finish your education, or you could continue to run it as a ongoing source of income and somehow manage to save enough as well as find the time to study while running this dump.
> sell the inn
You can't stand running this increasingly run down piss hole anymore; you're selling the place. You figure you should be able to get enough money to finish your schooling.
Unfortunately "piss hole" is too correct of a word for what it goes for. Sure it's a business, and it's in adequate shape, but the city generally doesn't give out that much money for "adequate".
You get just enough money to probably cover a couple semesters, not nearly enough. That's when you get the idea to improvise.
Learning the lesson in cutting corners at the inn, you enroll back at Klyton University and set up a small lab like you did with the still but this time you decide to make drugs instead. Cloud rock is easy to make and you figure you'll be able to support yourself and if you get a part time job on campus, you should be able to swing it. The inn money will help you in the beginning months while you get settled.
Things initially go good for you, just like you thought, but when the inn money runs out that's when crunch time starts and you're not quite as prepared for it as you thought.
Classes get increasingly harder, which means you need to study a lot more, combining that with your two jobs is rough and eventually you're not getting enough rest and one of them has to go. Not surprisingly you quit your regular job as the university's bookstore assistant since it pays less and you figure you can easily make up the money just by selling more drugs which you've become frighteningly good at.
After one more semester, you figure why bother with college at all? You could just sell Cloud Rock all day make as much money as a low level physician might and not bother with studying, because really what has this college business gotten you? A lot of wasted time that's what.
So that's what you do.
It doesn't need to be said that such a path rarely leads to a good end, but you do have your fun while it lasts which is probably a little longer than you thought it might be.
As you lay dying because you pissed off some other criminal for whatever wrong or perceived wrong you might've done to him, you think back to where it all went wrong and all you can think about is:
"That damn inn." |
You're willing to stick it out a little longer, but you really need to use a few short cuts now. The brew from the still is good enough for the miners and you won't have to deal with a middleman anymore.
Your mother isn't happy with this idea. She wasn't thrilled with it before, but realized it was necessary at the time. You argue with her for hours about the moral and legal ramifications of it all until she finally gets tired and capitulates under stress.
Over the months you manage to save tons of money, are able to pay Mr. Reynolds off larger amounts and you believe in a few more months you'll completely be free of him.
The problem now is with your mother who still insists on bitching at you day in day out despite the fact that you're basically saving her ass from the problems that her and your dumb ass dad got you involved into in the first place.
"For fuck's sake, will get off my fucking back? I've been the main one coming up with solutions on how to save this fucking place and I'm getting shit for it? Why the hell am I getting punished for something you and dad did? I was supposed to be taking classes right now to become a doctor! Y'know, like YOU all wanted me to? I'm trying to make the best of this situation and still find a damn way of achieving my goals yet all I'm getting is kicked in the fucking face for it!" you yell while throwing a potato against the wall.
Your mother shakes her head.
"I don't know what's happened to you, but the son I knew wouldn't be engaging in criminal activities and yelling at me like this. This isn't worth it; I'm not dealing with this anymore. You want to be mad at me and your father, you can go right ahead, you might even be right in some way but I'm still not going to put up with it. You think you can turn this place around and still achieve your goals? Go right ahead, but you're doing it without my help. I quit, and I'm handing this place over to you. Have fun, and I hope you make all your dreams come true."
You're a little shocked by this. You run after her asking what she's going to do and that you're sorry about the stuff you said, but she won't hear it. She just says she's leaving the deed with you and she's going to go live with your aunt Enora in Teckleville.
After some last words are exchanged she's gone. You aren't quite sure how to feel and you're still trying to wrap your head around it when your barmaids come in.
"Hey which one of you is the best cook?"
"Uh, I guess that would be me." Wendy says.
"Good, you're upgrade to cook, you'll get a small raise too."
"What seriously?"
"Yeah, mom quit and gave me this place, so we're making some changes around here."
Wendy looks a little pleased with getting a small promotion, but Rita isn't so happy.
"Hey what about us? You can't just expect us to shoulder all the extra work! You're going to have to hire someone else to help!" Rita says
"Settle down Rita, I'll be getting some new help soon don't worry about it. All I need from the rest of you is to do your jobs."
A few weeks pass and you're doing okay even if you're getting some grumbles from your staff every once in awhile. You do end up hiring a new person, but it's not another barmaid. It's a janitor so the barmaids don't need to worry about cleaning up as much anymore. The great thing is he's simple minded and you don't need to pay him since apparently his mother wanted him out of the house and dragged him by the ear to you when she saw your Help Wanted sign. You agreed to let him sleep in your cellar and he could eat all the rats he catches down there. (Though Eliza gives him real food from time to time)
Your still is perfected a bit better, but the brew from that stuff does take it's toll on your usual patrons. While none of the miners go blind, a lot of them are starting to feel several side effects from drinking the stuff on a regular basis. This causes some to stop coming in altogether, but on the "plus side" you do get a few more lowly types that don't give a shit what poison they put into their system. You end up changing the name of the place to the Bottomless Mug Inn.
Despite your decrease in clientele you still manage to cut enough corners and exploit enough drunks that you pay off Mr. Reynolds. He's a little surprised considering how run down the inn has gotten. He suspects (quite rightly) that you're probably doing something illegal and tells you if you ever need another loan in the future you know where to find him. You vow that you're not going to let that happen.
Well the inn is profitable again (barely) and you've effectively saved the place and your mother from potential danger (mainly yourself) but taking over your father's inn wasn't your dream and it wasn't your parents' dream either.
You figure you've got two choices, you could either sell this place now and hope you get enough money for it to finish your education, or you could continue to run it as a ongoing source of income and somehow manage to save enough as well as find the time to study while running this dump.
> continue to run it
You know it isn't going to be easy, but selling the inn would be folly. You're not going to get as much for the inn anymore and you know that you'll need a steady source of income and this place also serves as your home. You've already managed to cut a few corners to save money, so perhaps you'll be able to figure out how to cut some more to achieve your goal.
One idea has crossed your mind already, but you'd rather see if any other opportunities arise before resorting to it. The inn is a little shadier now, and that's partly because of you. Still, you aren't really a bad person, you've just been put in a rough situation and you're trying to make the best of it. You figure the ends will justify the means after all is said and done.
You hope.
> Back to school...
A year has passed and you're back in college, though it's not as much fun as it was when you didn't need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.
Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately Wendy picks up the slack when you're not around. You've also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were "friends" with before your "break". Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.
As for the inn, it's doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. Your regular patrons aren't the upstanding working class anymore, most of them are petty criminals, broke losers and other ne'er-do-wells. You also have to do something about your overworked/underpaid staff. So far Wendy has been doing far more than she anticipated and is demanding more pay. Rita on the other hand is just plain threatening to quit. All of which is cutting into your study and school time.
A few bright spots are you're getting adventurers coming in since those nice rooms you got awhile back started to pay off. You're also saving money with your stills (You have multiple ones in the basement now) and your retarded janitor Alan who seems to be just happy to work and follow your orders. If only all your employees were so agreeable.
Today's the day you make a change to the status quo.
> fire Rita and hire some pretty girls
Rita is already threatening to quit anyway so you might as well get rid of her, besides you figure you can hire some prettier faces that will complain less and probably work for less as well.
The first thing you do is advertise for new barmaids. You get a few takers. Most of them don't seem much better than Rita though, coming in and demanding more stuff immediately. You're about to give up when a mother comes in with her two half elven daughters practically begging you to hire them.
Sort of what you're looking for, young, pretty "exotic" even given that they're half-elven. Their bloodline is what sort of concerns you though. Elves aren't exactly known for their hard work ethic.
"Pfft! You think I don't know that? Their no good father left to go prance around in the forest again while I have to raise these little leeches!" the mother says. "Look you don't even have to pay 'em that much, at this point I just want them to earn their keep around the house!"
"Well, I'll see what we can do."
You hire Sunshine and Flameflower and explain how things work and what is expected of them. Their mother periodically interrupts to tell them to pay attention and how if they end up getting fired that she'll be kicking them out of the house. The pair of them seem rather unworried about the situation and do a lot of eye rolling, sighing and even some minor giggling. After all is said and done you tell them to arrive on time tomorrow and go back to work.
"It's about time you hired some more help." Wendy remarks.
"Well, I'm also getting rid of some too, where's Rita at?"
"She's out front serving drunks as usual, wait you're going to fire Rita?"
"Yeah, I can't afford them and her. Besides I'm getting two pretty faces for the price of one and hopefully less bitching."
"Sheesh, I know Rita's a pain in the ass and all, but you really think you should get rid of her? Who's going to train the new girls? I noticed the pointy ears, I'm guessing they're half-breeds. Elves have terrible work ethics."
"I already told them what to do, but I figured you'd be keeping an eye on them most of the time, so you can make sure if they're working and not goofing off"
"What?! As if I don't have enough to do around here? Look, I'll do what I can, but really between the cooking and other shit I do, you expect me to play mother hen to them you're going to be sorely disappointed."
"I can't give you a raise if that's what you're angling for."
"Huh, I wouldn't dream of being that optimistic, but quite simply I'm stretched thin as it is, I can't do it all and I think you know that."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right, well I guess Eliza will have to do it."
"HER? Eliza's a nice girl and all, but I dunno if she's up to supervising."
"Well she's gonna have to, now if you'll excuse me, I have to speak to her and Rita about the changes around here."
Wendy shakes her head as you call Rita and Eliza over to speak to them in the kitchen
"WHAT?! You're fucking firing me?! After all the shit I've done around here?!" Rita predictably reacts.
"Rita, all you do is complain and you've been threatening to quit for months! Is this really all that surprising? Hell, I would've thought you wouldn't even give a shit given your attitude."
"... y'know what? You're right. I don't give a shit. I should've quit a long time ago. I could get a better job just like that! (snap) Thanks for freeing me from this slave wage shithole, but I'll just say one thing, without me, this place is gonna fail! You think you can replace me with those little half-breed sluts I saw you with earlier? Yeah right! I'm outta here!" Rita says and makes a dramatic exit by shouting to the various patrons of how they should take a good look at her ass as she walks out the door, because it'll be the last time they see it around the inn.
"Oh my!" Eliza exclaims.
"Whatever. Okay, now I have to talk to you too... and don't worry I'm not firing you." You say before Eliza jumps to that conclusion.
You explain to Eliza that it'll be part of her job to train the new girls. She's surprised and nervous as you'd expect, but you try to reassure her that she'll be fine.
Initially things are shaky. Eliza isn't very authoritative and often Wendy or you have to step in to lay down more discipline in the half elven sisters. A couple more months pass and it's obvious things are not working out. Sunshine and Flameflower work, but in a very half-assed way. Even Rita did her job. The sisters are prone to flirt a lot to the patrons, which is good... but not so great when they tend to disappear with said patrons for a few hours. This wouldn't be a problem if you were running a brothel and making money on this, but you aren't and it's too late to start now.
You get angry with Eliza and tell her that she needs to get a leash on them, but all this does is make Eliza more nervous and cry that you're yelling at her. You try to get Wendy to help more, but she complains about how she told you in advance that she can't do anymore than what she's doing now. Ultimately she quits because she's getting burned out. This is soon followed by Eliza who is so stressed out that she can't take it anymore. As for Flameflower and Sunshine, you don't even bother firing them since they just stop coming in one day.
At this point your school work is taking a small dive due to your only source of income crumbling. You see the writing on the wall and decide to sell the place hoping that you can finish up at least the year. You aren't going to be able to become a doctor, but MAYBE you'll be able to get a good job with your education level. You feel slightly bad about Alan who you have to run off because he doesn't completely understand why he has to leave.
You don't get quite as much money as you'd like for the inn, mainly because the place had gone down hill quite a bit during the time your father ran it, but you finish out the year.
As for getting a job, you manage to get one, but it's working as an office clerk in the city. Maintaining records, filling out shit, etc. It's tediously dull work, but to a certain extent you're just glad to not have to worry about that damn inn anymore.
Over the years, you settle into your mundane life. You're always a little bitter about your situation, but you try to make the best of it. It isn't a terrible life, but you always wonder what you could've done differently.
You'll never know. |
A year has passed and you're back in college, though it's not as much fun as it was when you didn't need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.
Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately Wendy picks up the slack when you're not around. You've also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were "friends" with before your "break". Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.
As for the inn, it's doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. Your regular patrons aren't the upstanding working class anymore, most of them are petty criminals, broke losers and other ne'er-do-wells. You also have to do something about your overworked/underpaid staff. So far Wendy has been doing far more than she anticipated and is demanding more pay. Rita on the other hand is just plain threatening to quit. All of which is cutting into your study and school time.
A few bright spots are you're getting adventurers coming in since those nice rooms you got awhile back started to pay off. You're also saving money with your stills (You have multiple ones in the basement now) and your retarded janitor Alan who seems to be just happy to work and follow your orders. If only all your employees were so agreeable.
Today's the day you make a change to the status quo.
> cut back on food and promote Wendy
Again, the inn isn't really like how it used to be where you'd get miners coming in wanting some food with their ale. Nowadays you just get plain ol' drunks coming in. Even the adventurers don't normally order anything fancy. You figure you'll just cut down on food shipments and jack the price up so only adventurers or perhaps the odd merchant will be willing to pay for a hot meal.
You also decide that Wendy is a pretty vital part of running this place, so you offer her the only thing you can think of that would keep her happy...
"Less kitchen work and a free permanent room? Are you serious?" Wendy says in disbelief.
"If you want it. The catch is though, you'd be living here and need to make sure things are running smoothly on a regular basis, this means opening up the inn early, closing it down late, or whatever else is required."
"Pfft, I basically do that now."
"Perhaps, but now you'd get to live at a place rent free, not to mention you don't need to walk that far to work anymore. Now that should certainly alleviate some of your problems I trust?"
"Yeah, that would help a lot."
"Good, oh one more thing, I know you have kids, I really hope they won't be running all over the place bothering patrons."
"No, it won't be a problem. Y'know I had my doubts about you running this place and while I know me living here is going to make it more convenient for your own goals, thanks all the same."
"You're welcome." You say and feel positive that this decision is going to work out just fine.
A few months pass and your inn is making a little more money and you have a little more time for your academic goals. Things are nice for a little while, but as usual a problem crops up to make you life a lot more difficult.
Wendy's kids are little monsters. Not to you, but to just about everyone else. Wendy tries to keep them in line through screaming and beatings, but it doesn't work for long.
Her youngest Carl is a dirty little boy who is constantly trying to look up Eliza and Rita's dresses or touch them in some inappropriate way. If he can't get to them, the local trashy women who frequent the bar will do. Most of the time he tries to play it off like he doesn't mean anything, but he knows damn well what he's doing.
Wendy's daughter Annie is obviously taking after her with the same grasp of verbal swears. She swears so much you initially thought she had Rosette's Syndrome. Her mouth wouldn't really be a problem except she's loud and is always asking the inn guests strange questions (swearing the whole time of course).
Finally her oldest son, Henry is well on his way to be a future sociopath. The kid will sit in a corner watching everything and everyone with this creepy look like he'd murder everyone if he could. You've noticed that knives from the kitchen have been going missing and you never used to come across so many bloody cat heads in the alley before Wendy moved in. While you can't prove the animal killing or knife theft, you know for a fact that he's been fucking with Alan. For the past week you've noticed Alan limping, when you questioned him, he stated it was nothing, but on closer inspection you saw that his shoe was in a burned condition and he had a bruise on his neck. You question it further and Alan finally breaks down and tells you it was Wendy's son, but states that Wendy's son was just "playing" that it wasn't a big deal and he didn't want him getting into trouble.
That's the last straw for you. You and Wendy need to have another talk about this arrangement.
"Wendy I need to talk to you now."
"Can it wait... HEY GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" Wendy says shouting at one her little demons.
"That's exactly what we need to talk about."
"Wha... oh fine."
You and Wendy step into the kitchen and you waste no time in expressing your concerns.
"Wendy you've been a great help her since you moved in, but it was my understanding that you were going to have your kids under better control than you have been."
"Hey this is the best all of them have been in ages! Besides they haven't been bothering you and business has been doing okay."
"Yeah, but at this rate I'm not sure how long that's going to last with how your kids have been acting lately. Your youngest is sexually harassing Eliza and Rita more than the lowest scum that drinks here. Your daughter is causing some the most hardcore adventurers feel uncomfortable. And your oldest son, hoo boy, you NEED to get that kid on a leash quick and instill some discipline into him because he's one twisted little pup."
"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to fuckhead? You think you can tell me how to raise my goddamn kids? You think it's fucking easy? You don't have any, so fuck you! Shit, you ain't even got a woman, so I'm guessing you ain't gonna have to worry about it ever. Faggot."
"And who the hell do you think YOU'RE talking to? I'm your boss and I'm telling you need to get your kids in line! Alan just told me that your oldest son snuck down into basement and gave him a hotfoot while he was sleeping. When Alan predictably woke up, he nearly choked himself because your little psycho set up a wire noose around his neck tied to the table nearby."
"And you believed Alan?"
"Alan's a lot of things, but he's not a liar. If anything I had to drag the info out of him. He was afraid of getting your son in trouble, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was just afraid of your son period."
"(Sigh) Even if it is true. So what? That's just how boys play."
"That's how future murderers play. Look, I'm not arguing with you anymore. Your kids are a problem and you said they wouldn't be. So get your shit together or face the consequences."
"Fuck you, you gonna fire me? Pfft! Yeah right. Without me, you couldn't run this place and pursue your precious education at the same time. Hell, I doubt if you could run it period."
> keep trying to reason with her
You can't afford to fire her and you don't even want to risk threatening her with it lest she call your bluff and leave.
"Will you listen to yourself for one moment? All I'm saying is to get your kids in line because they're not just fucking up MY business, but they're actually fucking up yours by proxy! If you won't do it for me, at least do it for your own self-preservation!"
"Sounds like you're threatening to fire me again. If you're going to do it, do it and stop beating around the fucking fairy bush shithead!"
You shake your head at Wendy's insults. It's obvious she isn't going to listen to reason this way, so you try another tactic.
"Look, I'm not going to fire you, but you're going to have to find another place to live. I can't have your kids screwing up my business like this. If this is unacceptable to you, well I suppose I can't stop you from quitting, but seriously I think you know I have a point here."
Wendy is a little caught of guard since she figured you might back down from this completely.
"Wha... shit. You do have a point. I know they're little monsters. Look I'll talk to them, I'll get them in line."
"I'm glad you see it my way, but the time for that has passed. I think it would be best for our future working relationship if you didn't live here anymore."
"But come on you can't fucking throw us out like this! I at least need time to find a new place!"
"I'm not throwing you out right now, but you need to find a new place by the end of next month."
"Okay... okay. But hey, if I manage to get my kids to behave within that time can we stay?" Wendy asks hopefully, which is odd to you considering how she was just behaving. You've never seen her act in such a desperate fashion before. In fact you're pretty surprised she hasn't called you a bunch of names again, though she might've realized now that isn't going to work.
> give her time
You figure you've made your point and she's still vital to the inn, so you can give her this chance. Besides if she doesn't get her kids in line then she's out.
"Alright Wendy, but don't stop looking for other places to move to, because I'm not optimistic about your chances."
"Don't worry about it, I can handle it."
"Okay then I hope you prove me wrong."
After this exchange you and Wendy go back to work.
A few weeks pass and you notice a decrease in the bad behavior from her kids. Carl's not grabbing Rita's ass, Annie's not cussing out the adventurers and Henry... well he's still creepy, but he isn't setting any of your employees on fire and you haven't tripped over any new cat heads in the alley.
By the last week it actually looks like Wendy has succeeded. You're a little impressed considering how horrible her kids were; still you don't want a setback.
"Okay Wendy you can stay, but I hope you know that they better continue acting like how they are now. If there's a relapse, it's back to finding a new place again."
Wendy of course tells you that she has everything under control with her kids now. Unfortunately after a month you find that she doesn't. Even worse, she isn't the only person looking for a new place.
Apparently Henry couldn't contain himself any longer and one night decided to finish what he started with poor Alan by setting more than just his foot on fire. Alan's flailing soon set portions of the basement on fire, and your stills just make things explosively worse.
The first explosion wakes you up immediately. The smell of smoke and the sounds of your inn collapsing on itself gets your ass out of bed and running to the nearest exit. You don't even have time to check on Wendy before the floor suddenly collapses on you and plunge to a fiery death. |
You can't afford to fire her and you don't even want to risk threatening her with it lest she call your bluff and leave.
"Will you listen to yourself for one moment? All I'm saying is to get your kids in line because they're not just fucking up MY business, but they're actually fucking up yours by proxy! If you won't do it for me, at least do it for your own self-preservation!"
"Sounds like you're threatening to fire me again. If you're going to do it, do it and stop beating around the fucking fairy bush shithead!"
You shake your head at Wendy's insults. It's obvious she isn't going to listen to reason this way, so you try another tactic.
"Look, I'm not going to fire you, but you're going to have to find another place to live. I can't have your kids screwing up my business like this. If this is unacceptable to you, well I suppose I can't stop you from quitting, but seriously I think you know I have a point here."
Wendy is a little caught of guard since she figured you might back down from this completely.
"Wha... shit. You do have a point. I know they're little monsters. Look I'll talk to them, I'll get them in line."
"I'm glad you see it my way, but the time for that has passed. I think it would be best for our future working relationship if you didn't live here anymore."
"But come on you can't fucking throw us out like this! I at least need time to find a new place!"
"I'm not throwing you out right now, but you need to find a new place by the end of next month."
"Okay... okay. But hey, if I manage to get my kids to behave within that time can we stay?" Wendy asks hopefully, which is odd to you considering how she was just behaving. You've never seen her act in such a desperate fashion before. In fact you're pretty surprised she hasn't called you a bunch of names again, though she might've realized now that isn't going to work.
> stand firm
While you hate to be uncompromising dick, you need to stand your ground on this situation. Even if Wendy does get her kids in line, who is to say they won't relapse later. Really you've got more important things to worry about than some little brats that aren't even yours.
"Sorry Wendy, it'll just be better in the long run if you don't live here anymore."
Once again Wendy is a little shocked that you wouldn't budge. She quickly gets over it though.
"Yeah, whatever. Since we're done here, I've got work to do." She says pushing you aside.
A week passes and Wendy has already found a new place and moved out. You half expect her to also quit since you know she's still pissed at you, but she doesn't. Perhaps she might know this is for the best even if she isn't going to let you know about it.
In the meantime you're worried more about your future schooling. Even with cutting back on the food, you're still understaffed and thanks to recent events, Wendy isn't quite as "enthusiastic" about her job anymore.
You just need to hold out a little longer. You figure if you can pass the remainder of your classes this year, you should be able to get a job working as an intern at the hospital while you finish your medical schooling. While that won't pay that well, you can sell the inn and live off that for quite awhile especially if you get a cheap apartment, maybe even a roommate.
All great plans, but it would help if you could get the backing from one of your professors. It's possible that one of them could really help you out if you explained your situation. You can think of two that might help you.
You advanced microbiology teacher, professor Gossey has always been a friendly sort and you know for a fact that she hasn't had a problem helping out her students in the past.
Your advanced anatomy & physiology teacher, professor Kovas isn't as friendly, but he's always made a point of praising the work you turn in.
> professor Gossey
After her class you approach Dr. Gossey about your situation, she of course is sympathetic.
"Yes, yes, I understand. It must be hard for you, running a business like that and attending school, let alone paying for it all. I'm not exactly sure how I can help though, I have hired all the student assistants I need and I doubt if you would have the time for it anyway."
"Isn't there something I could help with, I dunno like an experimental project I could participate in or something?"
"Ha ha! No, I'm not Dr. Kovas... but now that I'm thinking about it I may have something. You are aware that my other specialty is zoology right?"
"Yes, I know, you've even discovered some new species in the past."
"Ah back when I was younger and more adventurous. Nowadays I tend to hire adventurers to explore for me to find strange and new beasts."
"Wait, you don't want me to go seeking new creatures do you?"
"Oh no, again you wouldn't have the time and you could get killed without the right equipment and proper training for such a thing. However, you do own that inn of yours do you not?"
"Yes, I own it."
"Good, now I'm going to let you know something that few other do and you must swear that you will NOT mention this to anyone else on campus especially staff!"
"I won't."
I have funded an expedition to the Sotakan swamps south of here. Naturally this was incredibly dangerous for several reasons, but most of which is the capture of the elusive daquala. I'm sure you've heard the stories of the beast."
"Stories, I've heard it's more legendary than anything. Don't the Sotakans revere it as the living embodiment of one of their gods?"
"Something like that, anyway the university wasn't too keen on this expedition and refused to help, so I had to use my own funds. I've gotten word that the adventurers I hired have succeeded in their quest, but I just need some place to keep the beast for awhile before I can clear everything with the university like potentially dangerous wildlife, rogue funding, ignoring safety measures, and the rest of usual red tape shit. Your inn would be a good safe place to keep it I think and I'd certainly pay you well for your trouble, plus you'd make money on the adventurers I hired who will stay there."
This information is a little overwhelming and you have several questions.
"Okay, first of all how dangerous is this creature? I mean how do you know they got it? I thought it was more of a scary myth than anything else."
"I know they got it, because after I received a message from the adventurers that they had succeeded, I took a trip last week just outside the Elven-Sotakan warzone to see it for myself and the creature in question fits all the common descriptions of a daquala, as well as some of the more fantastic descriptions. The only reason why I didn't bring it with me is because I'm trying to keep this as quiet as possible and I can't be seen with this creature until I clear it with the university first. Plus I knew I was going to have to figure out a way to indirectly bribe the Klyton Milita not to ask any questions when this group brings the beast through. As for how dangerous the daquala is, well apparently it killed one of them, but if you're worried that this is some hulking monster, it isn't. It's about the size of a small dog. It isn't even that noisy and spends most of its time camouflaged and sleeping. The adventurers I hired will still be looking after it while they stay at the inn, so you shouldn't worry at all."
This all still sounds a bit dangerous to you, but after asking exactly how much money Dr. Gossey is going to offer you for this task, you really can't refuse. You agree and Dr. Gossey thanks you and gives you the names and descriptions of the adventurers who will be arriving to your inn in a few days.
You spend the time in between preparing your best rooms and keeping them unoccupied in preparation for the adventurers. This causes a few questions from your staff who notice you're turning people away from staying here, but you just tell them that you've got some special guests coming who are going to be spending a lot more money.
Eventually one of the adventurers arrives. He's a wiry man with a goatee and wearing leather armor with a couple of flintlock pistols strapped to his sides.
"You must be Hanon."
"And you must be the inn keeper. I trust you have our rooms ready?"
"Yes, four of you right?"
"Two actually, used to be six at one time, but more loot for the rest of us I suppose. I'm guessing you have a cellar where we can keep the beast?"
"I have a cellar, but I was told you'd be keeping with you."
"Oh no, we're not spending anymore time with that fucking thing! It might not live up to the legends, but it's dangerous enough."
You're more than a little worried now.
"Uh... should I even be keeping it here?"
"Probably not, but I'm guessing that Gossey's paying a lot so you're willing to risk it. (Sigh) Look, we've got the creature locked up in a mithril cage with three spell wards on it, it's not going anywhere, but we're just sick of damn thing and all the trouble we've had to go through to capture it ALIVE. The little bastard seems calmer in the darkness, so I figure your cellar will be a good place to keep it while we wait. I'll check on it twice a day, it'll be fine."
This is all starting to sound a little more complicated, but again you don't have much choice. You're going to have to get Alan out of the cellar though and you'll have to make sure none of the girls get any drinks from there.
"Okay, I guess bring it on in then, go around the back though, it'll attract less attention."
Hanon nods and heads outside, and you quickly go get Alan to explain to him that you need him to sleep in one of the rooms you originally set aside for the adventurers. He doesn't quite understand why, but he obeys your orders to not go into the cellar for a while.
You open up the backdoor and see Hanon and a very large man carrying a cage with a black cloth over it. He must be Benjamin. After a walk short walk, you pick an unused part of the cellar to place the daquala. No sounds have come from the cage at all.
"Is it alive?" you ask.
"Yeah, it's alive, it just sleeps a lot. Good thing too, because it's quite vicious when awake. I'll have to feed it in a few hours though... hey I see you got your own brewery here." Hanon says looking over at your stills. You didn't even think about that when you brought them down here.
"Oh yeah, that... uh I trust you won't tell anyone."
"Bah, if we're keeping this daquala situation quiet, you certainly don't have anything to worry about. Okay I think Ben and I are heading up to our rooms, it's been a damn long trip and actually sleeping in a bed instead of the fucking wilderness for once will make a nice change."
As Hanon and Benjamin head up to their rooms you immediately call the rest of your staff to tell them to not go into the cellar for awhile and if they need to refill the alcohol, you'll do it. While this creates less work for them, they're getting curious about what is going on. After all they're seeing adventurers come out of the cellar, Wendy already noticed the cage being brought into the back of the inn, and the various other changes you've been making lately.
At this point you figure there might be fewer potential complications if they know what's going on, so you explain everything.
"Oh that's fucking wonderful. You're using this place as a zoo for dangerous animals now?" Rita says.
"Shhhh! Keep your fucking voice down!" you say.
"How dangerous is this thing? I mean could it get out? I heard stories about the daquala when I was a little girl and they still scare me to this day!" Eliza mentions.
"It won't get out. Precautions have been taken. Trust me."
"I sure hope so, because if that thing gets out and attacks one of us... well I don't think I need to mention how much shit you'll be in. Did you tell Alan to get the hell out of the cellar yet?" Wendy says.
"Yes, he'll be staying in one of the rooms upstairs and I told him to not go into the cellar."
"Hmmm well I guess I'm glad you threw me out of this place when you did, because there's no way I'd live here with a killer monster in the cellar. Still, you're putting us all in potential danger so I'd say that entitles us to some hazard pay doesn't it?"
"Yeah! What Wendy said! Hazard pay!" Rita agrees.
You almost wish that they'd just refuse to work at all, but you just sigh heavily and come to a fair agreement on "danger" pay while the daquala is at the inn. You just hope it isn't too long of a stay since that money that Dr. Gossey is paying you is supposed to go to finishing up your tuition.
The next few days go by relatively uneventfully and it's business as usual. Hanon checks on the daquala periodically to feed and sedate it somehow. You wonder how he's doing it and he says with magic of course. You have to say that by his look you didn't think he was a wizard. He and Benjamin spend a fair amount of money in the tavern so it sort of offsets the danger pay you have to give your staff. Everyone stays away from the cellar, except Alan who forgot he wasn't supposed to go down there, but fortunately Eliza stops him before he got down the stairs.
After a week goes by you ask Dr. Gossey when she's going to take the thing, but she says she's still working on the university faculty, as compensation for your patience she gives half of your money now. That's great and all, but your concern is more of a safety issue now. The magical meat or whatever hell Hanon has been feeding the daquala isn't keeping it appeased anymore and it's been more "vocal" lately. Hanon's also been keeping the magical wards on it for about a month now, and he's feeling tired all the time now due to the constant drain.
Another couple of days and Hanon's ready to dump the daquala on Dr. Gossey's doorstep and be done with it. He says he and Ben have gone way beyond what they were paid to do. You sympathize and you want the daquala gone as much as everyone else, but you're concerned that if he does this, it's going to fuck up things between you and your professor, not to mention the rest of your money.
> let Hanon go to the university
You don't think you could stop him if you tried, but you do try to minimize the damage by insisting on going with him and trying to talk to your professor first. You suggest going tomorrow night when you know she'll be working late in her lab and there won't be a lot of other people around.
"Alright, but whether or not you manage to talk any sense into this bitch, she's getting her monster tomorrow and forking over the rest of our pay!"
The trip to the university is an awkward coach ride. The daquala is growling loud enough for people to know Benjamin is carrying something alive in the covered cage, but fortunately you get to Dr. Gossey's lab without incident. She of course is surprised to see the three of you.
"Uh hello, I wasn't expecting to see you three... wait did you bring the daquala with you?!"
"Damn straight! We've completed your task for you and then some! Time for you to take this fucking thing and pay us the rest of our money!" Hanon yells.
"I'll do no such thing, I haven't managed to clear things up with the dean yet and I still have some... look I don't have time for this, you tell them!" Dr. Gossey says to you in an exasperated tone.
"Uh, I don't think that's going to help professor. Look surely there's a good strong container to hold this thing in here at the university and I'm pretty sure it can just be fed any sort of meat. Can't it be held here for now? Just keep it here in your private lab until you clear things up."
"NO! If anyone found out I'd be ruined! I've risked everything to get the beast, and I won't lose it all by keeping it on campus because of stupid rules! Now get it out of here now!"
You've never known professor Gossey to be so irrational, but she's going into overkill with this daquala business. You don't really understand why she can't keep it here. It would probably be better anyway since she could study it while she tries to do whatever "red tape clearing" she says she needs to do.
"Alright fuck this stupid shit, Ben drop the cage over there, we're getting out of here... but we're also getting our money. I suggest you pay up, before things get ugly." Hanon warns.
"I'm not paying you anything else! I told you when the job is done I will and not before! What? What will you do, kill me? You'd never get away with it and I assure you I am not as defenseless as you might think! And as for YOU, if you don't stop siding with these glorified mercs you won't only not get the rest of your money, but you also won't be passing your class!"
After a couple more threats back and forth, and you trying to make peace between your professor and the adventurers, Hanon pulls out one of his pistols, Benjamin draws his axe and Dr. Gossey runs to a panel nearby which slams a adamantium shutter on the lab door sealing everyone in, she then produces a vial with a stopper on top.
"Hold it right there! One more move and I fill this place with the black pox plague!"
"Oh fuck! Come on everyone stop fighting!" you say backing away from everyone and looking for someway of getting out of the lab.
"Yeah right! Like you'd infect yourself!"
"Fool! Don't you think I've take the antidote already?"
"Bitch we just spent a month in the Sotakan swamps getting bit, stung and exposed to several diseases they probably don't even have names for yet. I'm pretty sure my magic can cure black pox!"
"Well let's find out then!" Dr. Gossey says and shatters the vial to the floor!
You can only look on in horror and sink to the floor in hopelessness. You don't even pay attention to the events that happen next.
Benjamin chases Dr. Gossey around the lab with his axe and while he's doing that, Hanon casts some sort of spell. Of course with Hanon no longer bothering with up keeping the spell wards on the cage, the daquala manages to finally bust out of its imprisonment due to ravenous hunger.
The daquala leaps on Hanon and tears into his neck releasing an arterial spray all over the surrounding area.
"NO!" Benjamin bellows and charges at the darquala who jumps away from eating Hanon's body and camouflages itself. It doesn't help it much though, the lab isn't like the dark expansive swamp and Ben is a big man with a big axe, he just starts chopping at everything and sure enough he eventually manages to graze the creature.
The daquala and Benjamin engage in a short battle, but ultimately Ben proves to be stronger and better armored. He manages to grab it in mid leap, throws it to the floor, stomps on its body with one of his heavy boots and finally brings his axe down on its head, killing it for good.
"Fuck, I told you bastards to just wait a little while! Now look what you've done! Eat lead asshole!" Dr. Gossey yells and shoots Benjamin in the head twice. He teeters a moment and then falls in a heap near the darquala.
Meanwhile you're still rocking back and forth and babbling about how all you wanted to be was a doctor and how you're going to die.
"If you're worried about black pox, you needn't be, there wasn't anything in the damn vial. I'm not crazy enough to release a plague. Now I'm sure Hanon and Ben coming here was probably out of your hands and you were just trying to play diplomat, but I suggest if you still want to be that doctor you always wanted to be, then you need to do what I say right now... "
Dr. Gossey orders you to help her clean up this mess. The corpse of the daquala is placed in a new container. She says she can probably present a dead one without as many problems. She really was hoping for a live one though.
You ask her about the bodies of the adventurers, and she tells you grab that axe and start chopping them up. She then opens up another panel, presses a few buttons to reveal a secret passage. She enters the passage and comes back out with a big dumpster on wheels.
"When you hack them into small enough pieces, put them into this dumpster and feed the wazia in the next room. Don't worry he's quite tame; just make sure you throw the parts at him from a safe distance.
You snap out of your shock. A wazia? Those huge things live in the Cloudspeak Mountains and they've been known to even prey on trolls and small manticores! You're almost about to question Dr. Gossey about how she got one of those things, but you stop yourself. The why's and how's aren't even important right now, what matters is getting out of this mess.
After stopping yourself from vomiting several times during your dismemberment of Ben and Hanon, you proceed to nervously feed the wazia, which isn't even chained up. You half expect it to gobble you up in one gulp or even Dr. Gossey shutting you in, neither happens. You toss limbs near the beast and it eats a few, and ignores the rest. You presume it will eat them later and you get the hell out of there.
"You see why I couldn't have yet another illegal creature on campus? I'm already running a risk with that wazia. If you think what happened here was bad, you should've seen what happened when the adventurers I hired were demanding payment for that thing! Speaking of which I suppose I should pay you the rest of your money. Sorry about the threats before. It was sort of a tense moment you know. I'm sure you understand."
You just nod and don't argue. It's unspoken that you won't be saying anything to anyone about this. What could you say anyway? After Dr. Gossey gives you some new lab clothes to change into, you head home exhausted.
The next day you don't even bother going to class, you sleep in late and spend a majority of the afternoon sitting in your room thinking about some of the shit you've done to achieve your goals. Serving homemade alcohol without a license seems to be the least of your crimes now.
"Okay, okay, I just did what I had to do. It's all for a good cause, I'm just trying to better myself." You say and try to wipe your concerns about the morality of it all. You then head downstairs to the surprise of Wendy who figured you were at school.
"Stayed home today eh? How come you didn't come down when I opened this place up?"
"I was busy."
"Hmm, okay then. I know you left with those two adventurers and that monster last night. I'm guessing that business is settled then?"
"Yeah, it's all settled."
True words in many ways. You have enough money to continue your education and with this financial pressure off, you easily pass the rest of your classes with no worries. You later sell off the inn (Which pisses off Rita and Wendy who now have to find new jobs, Eliza and Alan are a bit upset as well), get a cheap apartment near the campus and given your close relationship with Dr. Gossey you get a good job working at the hospital while you complete medical school. It isn't easy of course, but given what you've already been through you're able to handle it.
Eventually you do fulfill your goals of becoming a doctor. You don't stay in Klyton though. You have too many bad memories and reminders of "bad things" going on there in general. So you move to the Delantium Kingdom, specifically a border city called Sivak, which has great demand for doctors at their new hospital. The rest of your life is a relatively good one.
Still, you do have your bouts of guilt every now and then with some of your choices that got you to where you are, sometimes wondering if you could've handled a few things better at the inn.
Who can say, but in any case your days as an innkeeper are long over. |
After her class you approach Dr. Gossey about your situation, she of course is sympathetic.
"Yes, yes, I understand. It must be hard for you, running a business like that and attending school, let alone paying for it all. I'm not exactly sure how I can help though, I have hired all the student assistants I need and I doubt if you would have the time for it anyway."
"Isn't there something I could help with, I dunno like an experimental project I could participate in or something?"
"Ha ha! No, I'm not Dr. Kovas... but now that I'm thinking about it I may have something. You are aware that my other specialty is zoology right?"
"Yes, I know, you've even discovered some new species in the past."
"Ah back when I was younger and more adventurous. Nowadays I tend to hire adventurers to explore for me to find strange and new beasts."
"Wait, you don't want me to go seeking new creatures do you?"
"Oh no, again you wouldn't have the time and you could get killed without the right equipment and proper training for such a thing. However, you do own that inn of yours do you not?"
"Yes, I own it."
"Good, now I'm going to let you know something that few other do and you must swear that you will NOT mention this to anyone else on campus especially staff!"
"I won't."
I have funded an expedition to the Sotakan swamps south of here. Naturally this was incredibly dangerous for several reasons, but most of which is the capture of the elusive daquala. I'm sure you've heard the stories of the beast."
"Stories, I've heard it's more legendary than anything. Don't the Sotakans revere it as the living embodiment of one of their gods?"
"Something like that, anyway the university wasn't too keen on this expedition and refused to help, so I had to use my own funds. I've gotten word that the adventurers I hired have succeeded in their quest, but I just need some place to keep the beast for awhile before I can clear everything with the university like potentially dangerous wildlife, rogue funding, ignoring safety measures, and the rest of usual red tape shit. Your inn would be a good safe place to keep it I think and I'd certainly pay you well for your trouble, plus you'd make money on the adventurers I hired who will stay there."
This information is a little overwhelming and you have several questions.
"Okay, first of all how dangerous is this creature? I mean how do you know they got it? I thought it was more of a scary myth than anything else."
"I know they got it, because after I received a message from the adventurers that they had succeeded, I took a trip last week just outside the Elven-Sotakan warzone to see it for myself and the creature in question fits all the common descriptions of a daquala, as well as some of the more fantastic descriptions. The only reason why I didn't bring it with me is because I'm trying to keep this as quiet as possible and I can't be seen with this creature until I clear it with the university first. Plus I knew I was going to have to figure out a way to indirectly bribe the Klyton Milita not to ask any questions when this group brings the beast through. As for how dangerous the daquala is, well apparently it killed one of them, but if you're worried that this is some hulking monster, it isn't. It's about the size of a small dog. It isn't even that noisy and spends most of its time camouflaged and sleeping. The adventurers I hired will still be looking after it while they stay at the inn, so you shouldn't worry at all."
This all still sounds a bit dangerous to you, but after asking exactly how much money Dr. Gossey is going to offer you for this task, you really can't refuse. You agree and Dr. Gossey thanks you and gives you the names and descriptions of the adventurers who will be arriving to your inn in a few days.
You spend the time in between preparing your best rooms and keeping them unoccupied in preparation for the adventurers. This causes a few questions from your staff who notice you're turning people away from staying here, but you just tell them that you've got some special guests coming who are going to be spending a lot more money.
Eventually one of the adventurers arrives. He's a wiry man with a goatee and wearing leather armor with a couple of flintlock pistols strapped to his sides.
"You must be Hanon."
"And you must be the inn keeper. I trust you have our rooms ready?"
"Yes, four of you right?"
"Two actually, used to be six at one time, but more loot for the rest of us I suppose. I'm guessing you have a cellar where we can keep the beast?"
"I have a cellar, but I was told you'd be keeping with you."
"Oh no, we're not spending anymore time with that fucking thing! It might not live up to the legends, but it's dangerous enough."
You're more than a little worried now.
"Uh... should I even be keeping it here?"
"Probably not, but I'm guessing that Gossey's paying a lot so you're willing to risk it. (Sigh) Look, we've got the creature locked up in a mithril cage with three spell wards on it, it's not going anywhere, but we're just sick of damn thing and all the trouble we've had to go through to capture it ALIVE. The little bastard seems calmer in the darkness, so I figure your cellar will be a good place to keep it while we wait. I'll check on it twice a day, it'll be fine."
This is all starting to sound a little more complicated, but again you don't have much choice. You're going to have to get Alan out of the cellar though and you'll have to make sure none of the girls get any drinks from there.
"Okay, I guess bring it on in then, go around the back though, it'll attract less attention."
Hanon nods and heads outside, and you quickly go get Alan to explain to him that you need him to sleep in one of the rooms you originally set aside for the adventurers. He doesn't quite understand why, but he obeys your orders to not go into the cellar for a while.
You open up the backdoor and see Hanon and a very large man carrying a cage with a black cloth over it. He must be Benjamin. After a walk short walk, you pick an unused part of the cellar to place the daquala. No sounds have come from the cage at all.
"Is it alive?" you ask.
"Yeah, it's alive, it just sleeps a lot. Good thing too, because it's quite vicious when awake. I'll have to feed it in a few hours though... hey I see you got your own brewery here." Hanon says looking over at your stills. You didn't even think about that when you brought them down here.
"Oh yeah, that... uh I trust you won't tell anyone."
"Bah, if we're keeping this daquala situation quiet, you certainly don't have anything to worry about. Okay I think Ben and I are heading up to our rooms, it's been a damn long trip and actually sleeping in a bed instead of the fucking wilderness for once will make a nice change."
As Hanon and Benjamin head up to their rooms you immediately call the rest of your staff to tell them to not go into the cellar for awhile and if they need to refill the alcohol, you'll do it. While this creates less work for them, they're getting curious about what is going on. After all they're seeing adventurers come out of the cellar, Wendy already noticed the cage being brought into the back of the inn, and the various other changes you've been making lately.
At this point you figure there might be fewer potential complications if they know what's going on, so you explain everything.
"Oh that's fucking wonderful. You're using this place as a zoo for dangerous animals now?" Rita says.
"Shhhh! Keep your fucking voice down!" you say.
"How dangerous is this thing? I mean could it get out? I heard stories about the daquala when I was a little girl and they still scare me to this day!" Eliza mentions.
"It won't get out. Precautions have been taken. Trust me."
"I sure hope so, because if that thing gets out and attacks one of us... well I don't think I need to mention how much shit you'll be in. Did you tell Alan to get the hell out of the cellar yet?" Wendy says.
"Yes, he'll be staying in one of the rooms upstairs and I told him to not go into the cellar."
"Hmmm well I guess I'm glad you threw me out of this place when you did, because there's no way I'd live here with a killer monster in the cellar. Still, you're putting us all in potential danger so I'd say that entitles us to some hazard pay doesn't it?"
"Yeah! What Wendy said! Hazard pay!" Rita agrees.
You almost wish that they'd just refuse to work at all, but you just sigh heavily and come to a fair agreement on "danger" pay while the daquala is at the inn. You just hope it isn't too long of a stay since that money that Dr. Gossey is paying you is supposed to go to finishing up your tuition.
The next few days go by relatively uneventfully and it's business as usual. Hanon checks on the daquala periodically to feed and sedate it somehow. You wonder how he's doing it and he says with magic of course. You have to say that by his look you didn't think he was a wizard. He and Benjamin spend a fair amount of money in the tavern so it sort of offsets the danger pay you have to give your staff. Everyone stays away from the cellar, except Alan who forgot he wasn't supposed to go down there, but fortunately Eliza stops him before he got down the stairs.
After a week goes by you ask Dr. Gossey when she's going to take the thing, but she says she's still working on the university faculty, as compensation for your patience she gives half of your money now. That's great and all, but your concern is more of a safety issue now. The magical meat or whatever hell Hanon has been feeding the daquala isn't keeping it appeased anymore and it's been more "vocal" lately. Hanon's also been keeping the magical wards on it for about a month now, and he's feeling tired all the time now due to the constant drain.
Another couple of days and Hanon's ready to dump the daquala on Dr. Gossey's doorstep and be done with it. He says he and Ben have gone way beyond what they were paid to do. You sympathize and you want the daquala gone as much as everyone else, but you're concerned that if he does this, it's going to fuck up things between you and your professor, not to mention the rest of your money.
> talk him out of it
You can't let him fuck this up for you, Dr. Gossey just needs a little more time. You rush to talk to Hanon.
"Outta my way, me and Ben are getting that monster!" Hanon says pushing you aside.
"No! No! Hold on! Wait! Just give her more time!"
"More time? I'm getting fucking exhausted up keeping the wards! Not to mention it's getting more and more agitated in that cage. Also we've been spending most of our money here, if this keeps up we're going to be broke!"
"Okay how about for the remainder of your stay here, everything is free for you and Ben? That should certainly take the stress off shouldn't it?"
"Hmm, free huh? (Sigh) Alright, you've bought yourself some more time and ain't sayin' how much, but YOU better go talk to your teacher and tell her she needs to get her shit together soon or I will be coming to drop this fucker on her doorstep!"
Hanon and his buddy at this point proceed to the bar to indulge in their free booze.
A few more days pass and Hanon and Ben are getting drunk every night. Didn't used to be a problem before mainly because they were holding back due to funds, but now with free reign they're becoming the lives of the party on a regular basis. In addition to drinking they're picking fights with your other paying customers which results in broken furniture.
Combine this with the higher wages you have to pay your staff and you're hemorrhaging money. You see Dr. Gossey everyday about taking the daquala, but she just says the same thing all the time "still clearing through the red tape." It's getting really old, and you begin to get pissed at her, to which her response is if you want to a career in medicine you'll do what the hell you're told and shut up about it.
You head back to the inn cursing the fact you ever asked her for help.
"HEY ITS DA (HIC!) INNKEEPER! GO MAKE YERSELF USEFUL FOR ONCE AND GET US NOTHER DRINK! HAR HAR HAR!" Benjamin bellows as you enter the inn. Seems that he and Hanon are getting an early start.
You storm over to the bar and begin ranting at your staff which is doing nothing.
"Wendy why the fuck are all of you standing around not doing your fucking jobs?"
"Because they drank all the fucking booze and you told us to not go downstairs to get refill casks. Not that we'd go down there in the first place, you don't give us nearly enough danger pay for that."
You grumble and swear as you head down the cellar steps.
"I don't fucking deserve this shit! I was supposed to be finishing up medical school by now, not cleaning up shit around this place! Thanks a lot dad! You ever think when you started borrowing from a fucking loan shark? Fucking... "
You cut your rant short when you suddenly hear a low growl. At first you figure it's just the daquala again and you're right except he's not in his cage anymore. Ever since the free booze policy Hanon's been taking advantage of, he's also been getting lax in checking on the daquala. The constant alcoholic haze hasn't really been helping on his concentration for keeping up the wards on the cage either. All of which contributed to the daquala finally breaking out of his confinement.
Still thinking it's still in its cage, you go get a cask of booze. You've barely managed to pick one up and you feel a sharp pain in your leg. You fall to the floor, dropping the cask and yelling for help when you see the amount of blood leaking from the sizable hole in your leg.
It's the last thing you do, before the daquala's next attack is on your throat. |
Again, the inn isn't really like how it used to be where you'd get miners coming in wanting some food with their ale. Nowadays you just get plain ol' drunks coming in. Even the adventurers don't normally order anything fancy. You figure you'll just cut down on food shipments and jack the price up so only adventurers or perhaps the odd merchant will be willing to pay for a hot meal.
You also decide that Wendy is a pretty vital part of running this place, so you offer her the only thing you can think of that would keep her happy...
"Less kitchen work and a free permanent room? Are you serious?" Wendy says in disbelief.
"If you want it. The catch is though, you'd be living here and need to make sure things are running smoothly on a regular basis, this means opening up the inn early, closing it down late, or whatever else is required."
"Pfft, I basically do that now."
"Perhaps, but now you'd get to live at a place rent free, not to mention you don't need to walk that far to work anymore. Now that should certainly alleviate some of your problems I trust?"
"Yeah, that would help a lot."
"Good, oh one more thing, I know you have kids, I really hope they won't be running all over the place bothering patrons."
"No, it won't be a problem. Y'know I had my doubts about you running this place and while I know me living here is going to make it more convenient for your own goals, thanks all the same."
"You're welcome." You say and feel positive that this decision is going to work out just fine.
A few months pass and your inn is making a little more money and you have a little more time for your academic goals. Things are nice for a little while, but as usual a problem crops up to make you life a lot more difficult.
Wendy's kids are little monsters. Not to you, but to just about everyone else. Wendy tries to keep them in line through screaming and beatings, but it doesn't work for long.
Her youngest Carl is a dirty little boy who is constantly trying to look up Eliza and Rita's dresses or touch them in some inappropriate way. If he can't get to them, the local trashy women who frequent the bar will do. Most of the time he tries to play it off like he doesn't mean anything, but he knows damn well what he's doing.
Wendy's daughter Annie is obviously taking after her with the same grasp of verbal swears. She swears so much you initially thought she had Rosette's Syndrome. Her mouth wouldn't really be a problem except she's loud and is always asking the inn guests strange questions (swearing the whole time of course).
Finally her oldest son, Henry is well on his way to be a future sociopath. The kid will sit in a corner watching everything and everyone with this creepy look like he'd murder everyone if he could. You've noticed that knives from the kitchen have been going missing and you never used to come across so many bloody cat heads in the alley before Wendy moved in. While you can't prove the animal killing or knife theft, you know for a fact that he's been fucking with Alan. For the past week you've noticed Alan limping, when you questioned him, he stated it was nothing, but on closer inspection you saw that his shoe was in a burned condition and he had a bruise on his neck. You question it further and Alan finally breaks down and tells you it was Wendy's son, but states that Wendy's son was just "playing" that it wasn't a big deal and he didn't want him getting into trouble.
That's the last straw for you. You and Wendy need to have another talk about this arrangement.
"Wendy I need to talk to you now."
"Can it wait... HEY GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" Wendy says shouting at one her little demons.
"That's exactly what we need to talk about."
"Wha... oh fine."
You and Wendy step into the kitchen and you waste no time in expressing your concerns.
"Wendy you've been a great help her since you moved in, but it was my understanding that you were going to have your kids under better control than you have been."
"Hey this is the best all of them have been in ages! Besides they haven't been bothering you and business has been doing okay."
"Yeah, but at this rate I'm not sure how long that's going to last with how your kids have been acting lately. Your youngest is sexually harassing Eliza and Rita more than the lowest scum that drinks here. Your daughter is causing some the most hardcore adventurers feel uncomfortable. And your oldest son, hoo boy, you NEED to get that kid on a leash quick and instill some discipline into him because he's one twisted little pup."
"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to fuckhead? You think you can tell me how to raise my goddamn kids? You think it's fucking easy? You don't have any, so fuck you! Shit, you ain't even got a woman, so I'm guessing you ain't gonna have to worry about it ever. Faggot."
"And who the hell do you think YOU'RE talking to? I'm your boss and I'm telling you need to get your kids in line! Alan just told me that your oldest son snuck down into basement and gave him a hotfoot while he was sleeping. When Alan predictably woke up, he nearly choked himself because your little psycho set up a wire noose around his neck tied to the table nearby."
"And you believed Alan?"
"Alan's a lot of things, but he's not a liar. If anything I had to drag the info out of him. He was afraid of getting your son in trouble, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was just afraid of your son period."
"(Sigh) Even if it is true. So what? That's just how boys play."
"That's how future murderers play. Look, I'm not arguing with you anymore. Your kids are a problem and you said they wouldn't be. So get your shit together or face the consequences."
"Fuck you, you gonna fire me? Pfft! Yeah right. Without me, you couldn't run this place and pursue your precious education at the same time. Hell, I doubt if you could run it period."
> fire Wendy
It's a risky gamble, but you feel you have no choice.
"Alright fine, you're fired." You say after taking a deep breath.
"Ha ha ha ha! Yeah right." Wendy laughs.
"I'm not joking, you're fired and you can pack your bags and get the hell out of my inn too."
"Wait a minute!"
"No, you've made it quite clear you don't respect my generosity and are just taking advantage of it. I'd expect this sort of behavior from Rita, but I thought better of you."
"... you can't fire me! You need me! " Wendy sputters.
"It's done. You're gone. And while you may be right that I do need you, I don't need your bratty kids. Especially one that's setting my other employees on fucking fire."
You begin to leave the kitchen and Wendy grabs your arm.
"Alright, alright! Shit. You win. I can't afford to lose my job and a free place on top of everything right now. I'll do something about my kids. (Sigh) I just hope I can do something about Henry. I'm not sure anything is going to help. I have to admit, I'm not looking forward to him when he becomes a teenager."
"Well, have you thought about sending him away?"
"I wish. I don't have that sort of money to send him to some boys school, besides he'd probably get kicked out within a week."
"No, there's a program that the city militia has been trying to promote lately. It's basically like boot camp for juvenile delinquents. They say it has good results in turning them around." You suggest.
"Well I'd try anything I suppose, but doesn't that cost money as well?"
"No, basically you go down to the local militia guard station and sign your kid up, then at sometime in the middle of the night they take him away for a year."
"Wow, sounds pretty extreme, but if it's free hell I'll try it."
The next few days are slightly quieter. Wendy has obviously laid down the law once again to them, but it won't last. You really hope she goes through with your suggestion because as much as you are perfectly willing to go through with your threat, you also know it would ruin your own goals.
Later that night, heavy banging on your inn's front door and yelling wakes you up.
"This is the Klyton Militia open up at once! We have important business here!"
You smile and head downstairs to open the door, but you find that Wendy has already done it. When they take him away, he doesn't cry or even protest. He allows himself to go quietly, which makes you believe that you made the right decision in pushing Wendy in this direction. You have your doubts if the militia program will help him, but he's out of your life now and that's what is important.
The best thing is, this event scared Wendy's other two kids so much that they straighten up so as not to suffer the same fate.
Time passes and everything seems to be going well until one day when you get another visit from the Klyton militia who storm in the same way they did when they took away Henry.
"You the owner of this establishment?" the sergeant asks.
"Yeah?" you answer groggily
"You're under arrest for serving illegal substances."
"What?! I don't sell drugs here!"
"You're selling homemade booze ain't cha? Clearly you're violating alcohol law 3.6721. Gibbs! Check the basement, that's where it's supposed to be!"
You're put into manacles and sputter in disbelief at all this. You were careful! Who could've ratted you out? None of you patrons would've cared given that they drink here. Even your ex-patrons just left due to the alcohol not tasting as good to them, they would've have bothered. Your staff? If this place goes down, then they all lose their jobs and if anything you've made strides in making things easier for them... shit.
You know now.
It's Henry. That little bastard must've told all about this place. Whether he did it out of spite for you or his mom or if they really rehabilitated him and he felt it was his "duty" to rat you out hardly matters, you're fucked.
"Found them sir. There's a whole bunch of stills in the basement, along with some retard who seemed confused." Gibbs reports.
"Ugh, you keep retarded sex slaves in this place too? What the hell are you running here?!" the sergeant says jumping to conclusions.
"Sex slaves? He's the fucking janitor!" you protest.
"Save it you sicko! You're coming with us!"
As you're taken away you shout to Wendy who is standing by watching all this, to get the money from the safe to bail you out.
Eventually you're brought up on charges of distribution of illegal substances, posing a health risk to the populous, exploitation of the mentally incompetent and tax evasion. Guess which one you got in the most trouble?
You spend almost all your money on a lawyer, and your inn is taken away by the city, along with your dreams of going into medicine. After all is said and done you've lost everything and are completely broke. The only good thing is the city decided that your inn would cover the cost of all the alcohol taxes you weren't paying due to making your own so you didn't serve any jail time.
It's of minor consolation though, you're still left with nothing and don't have much future prospects. You wish you'd listened to your mother and you think about going to Teckleville to apologize to her in person, but you can't bring yourself to even face her.
You do eventually get another job as a boring assistant clerk. It's a mind numbing tedious job that does nothing for your mental well-being. After years of this drudge you hang yourself still lamenting about where you went wrong with the inn. |
A year has passed and you're back in college, though it's not as much fun as it was when you didn't need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.
Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately Wendy picks up the slack when you're not around. You've also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were "friends" with before your "break". Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.
As for the inn, it's doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. Your regular patrons aren't the upstanding working class anymore, most of them are petty criminals, broke losers and other ne'er-do-wells. You also have to do something about your overworked/underpaid staff. So far Wendy has been doing far more than she anticipated and is demanding more pay. Rita on the other hand is just plain threatening to quit. All of which is cutting into your study and school time.
A few bright spots are you're getting adventurers coming in since those nice rooms you got awhile back started to pay off. You're also saving money with your stills (You have multiple ones in the basement now) and your retarded janitor Alan who seems to be just happy to work and follow your orders. If only all your employees were so agreeable.
Today's the day you make a change to the status quo.
> keep things as they are and start cheating at school
Making any changes might make things worse than they are and you're already got enough problems as it is. The only thing you can reliably control is yourself so you decide to cut a few corners in your studies. It's not like you won't completely know the information, it's just between studying and managing the inn to make money for school, the money aspect is more important to your future in medicine...
This twisted logic doesn't work so well.
First of all your inn isn't really doing any better with you around more often. You're still breaking even and your staff is still unhappy for the most part. Second of all, you spend nearly as much time scamming and scheming for your tests that you probably could've better spent it studying. Lastly, you're going into the medicine, it's not like law where you can just bullshit your way through and by it's very nature you can't really "cheat" at least not for very long. Some tests just can't be cheated on and this becomes apparent during your advanced anatomy and physiology final where you're presented with a real dead body and you get several parts of it laughably wrong.
YOU FAIL BASIC HUMAN BIOLOGY FOREVER is what is actually posted on your paper by your professor. You don't do too much better in the rest of your classes. What this all means is you have to repeat most of your classes which means more money, or at least that's what it would mean if you were rich. Since you aren't, the university just throws you out since you failed to meet the academic standard.
Well all your short cuts, the home brewed hooch, the overworked staff, the cheating, it has all amounted to nothing. Sure you still have the inn, and if you made some cuts you could keep it running, but why bother? You never wanted to run this damn thing in the first place. This is all your parents fault, they pushed you in one direction and then they fuck up and you have to go into another direction. A direction which ended up leading to ruin. At this point you're so fed up with busting your ass to get shit done, you decide to not do anything at all. Basically, you don't learn your lesson from all this.
First thing you do is sell the inn for as much as you can. Not as much as you like, but it's enough to keep you from having to do anything for a while. You spend the next few months mainly picking up loose co-eds at the university. It's a lot of fun, but as the money starts running out, you realize you're going to have to get a job again.
You wind up getting a job as a lowly clerk doing boring file keeping, but you pretty much slack off on that job quite a bit. You mostly get away with it for a long time, but eventually much like your cheating you don't get away with it forever and you're fired.
After a couple more failed attempts at keeping a job in the city, you've got no choice, but to either become a beggar or apologize to your mom in Teckleville and hope she takes you in for a while.
You take the remaining amount of your money and take a one-way trip to Teckleville and mentally prepare yourself for a lot of apologizing, even if you don't really mean it. When you arrive you meet up with your mother (who now has her own place as opposed to living with your aunt Enora). She's surprised to see you and isn't immediately hostile. You explain your situation though omit some of the information (like cheating) and replace it with a hard luck story instead. This of course is followed by a lot of apologies and stating how she was right all along. It works and she takes you in.
Of course the problem is now you're living with your mom and while she's forgiven you, she doesn't expect you to sit around doing nothing which you've decided to continue doing. This willful sloth, leads to a cycle of several never-ending arguments, but the result is always the same. You either get a odd job around the town to get your mom off your back for awhile or she throws you out and you live with your crazy aunt Enora for awhile until you can't put up with her quirkiness anymore and you get an odd job around town anyway and beg to move back in with your mom (who always accepts mainly because she still has a lingering feeling of guilt that maybe her and your dad really are responsible for your decline).
The rest of your life is a rather miserable one and not very interesting in the scheme of things. You always remain bitter about "what you could've been" and this of course results in you thinking about that damn inn a lot and what you could've done differently.
You'll never know. |
If it's only for a couple days, what can it hurt and you're getting a good deal on his alcohol, so you figure it's a good idea. This does not go well with your mother who says you're going to get the pair of you further into debt. It takes some time, but eventually you manage to convince her that the money you're saving will be worth the couple days out of the month that he actually comes up here.
Meanwhile Calwin calls his lackeys to unload his cart and take the stuff down to your cellar. Calwin then states he's going to retire to his room and that if any of your barmaids want to join him his door will be open.
The next couple days aren't exactly pleasant, Calwin is a complete lecherous slob and leaves not only his room a disgusting mess, but hangs around the bar all day trying to grope the barmaids. (Rita in particular) You have to warn him several times to leave them alone, and eventually one of the miners who has a crush on Rita punches him in the face resulting in a minor scuffle in which Calwin is not the winner.
You fully expect Calwin to claim that he's never dealing with you again, but as it turns out he doesn't think anything of it. Indeed he claims if it had been a bar in Hessla he probably would've gotten a knife in the eye instead, so he considers himself lucky. Eventually he leaves and everyone is glad, but there's the sickening feeling that you know you're going to have to put up with him a few times every month.
By the end of the week you haven't saved any money. In fact you've barely broke even.
While you're sweeping up the inn early morning, a non-descript man of medium height enters with two bigger figures. One of them is unmistakably an ogre while the other guy is just a tall muscular human. Either one could break you in half.
"Are you are Mr. Reynolds?" you ask, knowing that it has to be him.
"That would be me. I take it you're the son of my late debtor? I do hope you realize that the debt doesn't end with him dying... " Mr. Reynolds says
"No, no of course not. I've got some of what my father owed."
You hand over the most you can under the circumstances, but Mr. Reynolds looks insulted.
"My boy do you take me for an asshole? Your father used to pay me much more than this pittance!"
"It was a rough week... "
"No, no, I don't give a shit about your excuses, you've chosen to take on your father's debt so you are expected to fucking pay up like he did! (Sigh) Look, since you're obviously new to this, I'll let you off with a warning. Olaf."
Suddenly the ogre steps forward with a smile and punches you the stomach. You temporarily lose the ability to breath and collapse on the floor. When you finally do catch your breath, you promptly vomit.
"That was my warning, let's hope I don't need to do it again. Be seeing you again in a few weeks kid. Let's get out of here."
As Mr. Reynolds leaves, your mother comes running up from the cellar wondering what's going on. She helps you up when she sees you.
"Oh no son I can't let this go on. We're selling the inn right now!"
"No, no mom, it's alright, you'll see. We're going to make this place profitable and payback the loan and after that we'll be able to take the next step."
"Son, I love you, but you've made a lot of questionable decisions as far as business is concerned. I mean if this keeps up, I'm stepping in before this place goes to hell so I can actually make money selling it to the city."
"You won't get enough for it!"
"Well I'll get enough to pay off the debt, and if worst comes to worst, I'll leave Klyton and live with my sister in Teckleville"
"You can't live with aunt Enora, you always said she's crazy."
"She is, but that still doesn't mean she wouldn't help me out."
"Look, we've still got time, I know my ideas are going to help us out soon."
"Well, I hope all your fancy schooling you gained some sort of insight that I'm not privy to. Alright we'll give it until the next time Mr. Reynolds comes around for payment."
You agree and start wiping up the floor before customers come in.
The next few days are uneventful; the miners seem to be enjoying the new Hessla ale though so that's a relief. They even seem to be talking to you a little more, one in particular Ular has been chewing your ear quite frequently. He's the one that has an obvious crush on Rita, but you've never seen him actually talk to her on any serious level. Strange that a big tough miner would be too shy to speak to a girl, but there it is.
"So how long have you known Rita?" Ular asks.
"Me? Well she started working here just before I left for college so I didn't speak to her too much back then, and I haven't really spoken to her too much other than about duties around the inn since I've got back here."
"She's so beautiful, you know? I always wonder if she isn't a Delantium Princess hiding out or something."
"Yeah, she's a pretty girl." You reply.
"Can you speak to her for me?"
"What?"
"Just speak to her for me. I try, but I... dunno I don't have the words! I get all tongue tied an' shit. I mean you're a smart guy, you went to college an' shit. Maybe you can tell her better how I feel than I can."
"I dunno if should get involved in this... "
"Please man, just do it... oh shit here she comes!"
At this point Ular stumbles over his own feet trying to get to a dark corner before Rita arrives for more ale. Feeling a little sorry for the guy, you talk to Rita.
"Hey Rita, this is going to be strange question, but... "
"Oh gods, you're not going to start hitting on me too are you?"
"What? Uh no! But well, there's a miner named Ular who's sort of nuts about you."
"Yeah, he's nuts over me like every other miner here trying to get under my skirt."
"Heh, I don't think so, he's so damn shy he's practically afraid to speak to you, and surely you've noticed."
"Yeah I suppose I have. I will admit he's a little different than the rest of these ale swilling pigs."
"So are you interested in him?"
"Eh... I dunno. I mean from what I know of him he seems respectful and he did punch out that fucker Calwin when he groped me, but that's not really enough. I need a man that's going places. I mean he's a miner; where's that going to lead me? Not in fine Selkie furs and a big house, I'll just be barefoot and pregnant and still living here."
Same old Rita. Still, you can certainly understand her desire to move up in the world. However, a miner still makes a decent living. A lot better than her that's for sure. She'd still be "moving up."
> convince Rita that money isn't everything
Ular seems like a good guy and Rita could certainly do worse, so you decide to play matchmaker.
"I understand Rita, I mean I was supposed to become a doctor, but now I'm back here."
"Yeah, suck to be you." Rita says.
"Indeed, but my point is, you need to grab the good times when you can. I mean you think you're going to find any of the type of men you're interested in here?"
"So you're saying I should just settle?"
"No, I'm saying Ular's a nice guy who's going to probably try to do everything within his means to make you happy. Now doesn't that at least sound worthwhile?"
"Yeah I suppose it does... I haven't really been happy in a long time. Okay, tell him to meet me after work."
"Okay, and what the hell, you can get off an hour earlier." You add.
Rita walks off with a slight spring in her step. You look for Ular and see him slowly coming out of his dark corner. You tell him that she's interested and that she'll talk with him in greater length after work. He's ecstatic. He immediately orders a round of drinks for everyone along with giving you a large tip.
"Who says good deeds go unrewarded?" You say to yourself.
The remaining days until the next payment go well. Rita hits it off pretty well with Ular. She's actually happy enough to the point now where her job performance increases. Ular is so happy with her that he routinely buys rounds for the house to celebrate his good fortune.
Mr. Reynolds is satisfied with the payment he receives, and you still have a little saved over. You have high hopes that in time you'll get out of this debt. However, unexpected troubles arise in the next month.
Ular stops coming in altogether. Rita has had a great affect on him, namely she doesn't want him wasting all his money at the inn anymore; she wants him wasting it on her. This might not be too bad, except Rita also quits her job to move into Ular's home seeing as he makes enough for the pair of them.
While it's true you don't have to pay her anymore, you lose a couple of other customers that must've liked looking at her. That's not even counting the extra work that Eliza and Wendy have to do now who are now miserable to the point of wanting to seriously quit. You and your mother take up some of the slack, but it's a drain on the pair of you.
The kicker is when Calwin shows up on his monthly delivery. He says that he's decided to bump the price up on his alcohol. You furiously ask why, and he says that the last time he was here he noticed how nice the rooms were and that if you can afford to fix them up, you must be able to afford to pay him more for his product.
Your mother who is already stressed out from overwork, is so disgusted with him that she grabs your dad's Troll Gun from under the bar counter and points it at him, telling him to get the hell out before she blows his head off. He and his lackeys leave, which means you'll have no alcohol supply this month. You'll have to make due with what you have left and go back to the old expensive one.
The bigger immediate problem is Mr. Reynold's payment, which you won't have enough to give him this time around and it's going to be that time again in a few more days. Your mother can't bare to see you get hurt again and suggests forgetting all about the inn and just taking off with all the remaining money you have and going to live with your crazy aunt Enora. |
You shake your head; you can't walk away from this. Your mom might be in serious trouble because this loan. Selling the inn might not even be enough to cover it and even if it is, she probably won't have enough to fall back on.
You aren't angry with her, but you do feel a little anger towards your dad for getting her in this position (and you indirectly). You realize he still had the best intentions for you, but those don't really help right now.
"Alright first things first, who is the name of this loanshark?" you ask your mother.
"Mr. Reynolds. He'll be coming next week to pick up a collection. He's not a member of the Crimson Talons, but he does have a couple of their goons working for him."
"The Crimson Talons? Oh geez, this just get better... okay how is this place doing for business?"
"It's doing about as well as it always has."
"That won't be enough, we'll need to get more people in here, or cut costs somehow."
"Well your father was going to have more work done on the rooms in the hopes that it would keep adventurers and maybe even merchants to come back whenever they travel through here. I'm not sure if it's worth it though. Adventures don't care where they sleep half the time and it's not always a sure thing that they're going to live long enough for repeat business. As for merchants, I think this place is a little too blue collar for them most of the time."
"You said something about getting a new liquor supplier?"
"Yeah, the one here raised their prices, it would actually be cheaper to get the stuff shipped in from Hessla. Your father was supposed to meet with the new potential distributor in a couple days, so I'm not sure how that's going to go through, if at all."
"How about the staff?"
"The staff is working on minimum wage as it is, we've got three barmaids, Rita, Eliza and Wendy and they're all disgruntled about their jobs, but they all still work well.. We can barely pay them though, and we might have to fire one of them.
Grim stuff, but you're determined to see this through. Since the liquor supplier from Hessla won't arrive in two days you're just going to focus on what you can do now.
Fixing the rooms is still a good idea to keep potential returning wandering adventurers happy. Spending a little money now could increase potential profits later. Who knows, maybe even a merchant will show up and spread the word that this place isn't just some place where miners get drunk.
Firing people sounds like it might save you money, but all it's really going to do is create more work for the rest of you, so you decide to hold off on firing anyone for now.
Your mother doesn't agree with your idea of fixing the rooms, but seems relieved that you're not firing anyone.
Things go as normal at the inn. Several of the miners still offer their condolences about your father and are surprised to see that you're taking up his mantle as it were, but other than that they don't say to much to you. They probably don't know what to say since while some of them might know you since you were little, but you're not really "one of them" in terms of education level. Not to say they're all a bunch of grunting idiots, but they probably figure you're used to talking about things of a more cerebral nature. You don't mind though, after all your main concern is getting your mom out of debt.
Two days pass and the supplier from Hessla arrives. He's a grungy shady looking individual, but considering he's from Hessla that's hardly surprising.
He immediately says his name is Calwin asks for your father at which point you tell him he died recently. Calwin shows no sympathy and merely complains that he's made a trip up here for no reason. You show a little restraint and call your mother to speak with him, but after five minutes with him she's ready to throw him out the door for hitting on her, and you're not exactly thrilled with him either at this point.
"Look folks, if you want good quality alcohol at a low price I'm willing to deal wit ya, but I'm gonna need some incentive for my troubles because y'all seem like a buncha uptight prigs. Now I was invited here by the man who ran this establishment, so you called me here, if my help ain't wanted, I'll be on my way... " Calwin says.
While you're tempted to just have him leave, you decide it would be best to at least see if his stuff is any good.
"Alright prove it. Surely you've brought some of your alcohol here so we can test to see if it's any good."
"Well I do have some with me, but I can't just be givin' this stuff away for free."
"Don't worry, you'll be compensated."
You call attention to the miners in the room and ask them if they'd like to try some new beer, naturally they're all for it. A few of the miners take their fill of Calwin's beer and they say that it's different from what they usually drink, but it's just as good.
Calwin looks a little put off that they claimed his alcohol is "just as good", but still maintains that it's better than what you already have. He states his price, and also mentions that he wants a free room whenever he comes here since he's apparently got a harpy of a wife at home and he likes to stay away for a couple days before having to go back to Hessla.
Your mother obviously isn't thrilled with having to deal with him, and in the short time he's been here; he's also hit on every one of the barmaids. Granted they're used to such behavior, he's particularly revolting. (Plus he's from Hessla)
> deal with him, but no free room
You tell him if he wants to spend a few days here that's fine, but he's paying like everyone else, either that he can lower the price of his alcohol to cover the cost. Calwin protests saying that he should be put up for free, but you're unmoved. Eventually he tells you to forget it and tells his lackeys to just carry his booze down to your cellar and he'll be on his way.
"Glad you stood your ground on that one. Don't really want his type hanging around anyway." Your mother says.
The next few days are blessed ones. Some successful adventurers walk in with a whole lot of loot. They rest up in your nice rooms and tip generously. By the end of the week you've managed to save bit of money.
While you're sweeping up the inn early morning, a non-descript man of medium height enters with two bigger figures. One of them is unmistakably an ogre while the other guy is just a tall muscular human. Either one could break you in half.
"Are you are Mr. Reynolds?" you ask, knowing that it has to be him.
"That would be me. I take it you're the son of my late debtor? I do hope you realize that the debt doesn't end with him dying... " Mr. Reynolds says
"No, no of course not. I've got your payment."
Mr. Reynolds looks pleased that you've handed him a weighty bag of coins.
"Nice. Glad to see we're getting off on the right foot, kid. Wouldn't want to have to sic Olaf here on you." Mr. Reynolds says while patting his ogre goon on the arm. "Be seein' ya in a few weeks kid."
As Mr. Reynolds leaves, your mother comes running up from the cellar wondering what's going on.
"Was that Reynolds? Why didn't you call me up here?!"
"I had it under control, besides it all went well. We're saving money, and hopefully those nice rooms we have will pay off still."
The next few days are uneventful; the miners seem to be enjoying the new Hessla ale though so that's a relief. They even seem to be talking to you a little more, one of the older miners Aglim, remarks about the adventurers that spent a few nights here awhile back.
"Y'know that's something I should've went into, instead of mining. You travel all over the damn place, killin things and take their shit. Sounds a hell of a lot more fun than spendin' your time hittin' the same damn piece of mountain over and over again."
"They didn't speak too much to me, but they said they were coming back from the Cloudpeak Mountains. Said they found some old crypt filled with treasure." You say.
"Yeah, I'll bet it was some old Dwarven tomb too. For their sake, they better hope the dwarves don't find out about it. They aren't too fond of outsiders desecrating their dead like that. Still, there's been an increase in those types lately in the mountains and a lot of them have been passing back and forth through Klyton. You might want to do some advertising for your inn or something." Aglim says before walking back to his table with his friends.
He does bring up an interesting point. You obviously have some nice rooms now, why not be a little pro-active and get more of these adventuring types to spend their ill gotten loot here?
You figure the best way to do this is appealing to the lowest common denominator. Sex appeal...
"What?! Son I certainly hope you aren't suggesting that... "
"NO! I was thinking about someone a lot younger like one of the barmaids."
"Hmm, I'm not sure if that's more or less insulting... very well I agree that getting those adventuring type in here would help out a lot. We used to have more, but ever since the Flying Griffon Inn opened up in the merchant district we get less of their business."
"Do you know anything about this other inn?"
"Not much except it doesn't really offer anything more than ours, it just happens to be in a better location, what with all the shops around it and all."
You weren't aware of this other inn, then again you've just been focusing on your immediate problems. Maybe you should actively try to discredit this other inn while you're advertising. The one thing you need to do is speak to your barmaids about this.
"Huh, well I can tell you right now I'm not parading around the streets trying to seduce passing adventurers like some harlot." Wendy says.
"I'll do it, but I'm not sucking anyone's cock!" Rita exclaims.
"We... we have to suck someone's cock?" Eliza asks looking a little worried.
" Argh! Nobody is going to have to suck anyone's cock!" you yell. "Look I only need one of you to go out on the street, find adventurers and try to entice them into coming to our Inn. I don't really care how you do it, just try your best, and that will most likely involve you looking as pretty as you can."
"Oh, well I suppose I could try to do that if I have to." Eliza says.
> pick Rita
You get the impression Eliza might be a little too shy for this sort of thing, so Rita seems like a better choice. Rita's also the most extroverted and will most likely prefer doing this than having to work at the inn.
"Alright Rita, starting tomorrow, you're working the streets... er so to speak. Don't think you still won't be working around here though; I'll still need you during the late shift. Besides I don't want you wandering around at night, people might get the wrong idea or something."
"Fine, as long as it gets me out of this place for a little while I'm game."
"Okay, also I'd like you to try to throw around some insults about the Flying Griffon Inn while you're making your sales pitch."
"Got it."
The next day, Rita comes in and while she's always been a pretty girl, she now looks like a succubus that you've heard about from old tales. You try to contain your own desire to shamelessly flirt with her.
"By the gods Rita, you're going to have every guy within this area after you."
"Meh, wouldn't be the first time. Okay, I'm off, try not to fantasize about me too much while I'm gone."
You're not exactly sure how to take that, but you are wondering how this will play out for you.
Over the course of a few days you definitely see a drastic increase in customers, and not just adventurers either. You've got Klyton Milita (who usually just drink at their barracks) coming in and even a few humble storeowners. You're making a lot more money, but it's a lot of extra work for the rest of you.
Mr. Reynolds receives sizable amounts of money and he continues to be satisfied with your payments. At this rate you'll probably be able to get out of debt by the end of the year.
The only major problems are how overworked the rest of you are getting and how arrogant Rita is getting.
Rita states that she should even have to work as a barmaid anymore because it interferes with her "advertising."
"Advertising? You wiggle your ass at horny men! You're basically a harlot that doesn't put out... or is there another reason why everyone comes here?" Wendy accuses.
"Figures that you'd be jealous of my popularity. Face it; I do more around here than ANYONE to keep this place successful, and I deserve some credit for it!" Rita demands.
"Hey we all know Rita, but... "
"But nothing, if you expect me to keep working here, I want a raise and I don't want to be working as some lowly barmaid anymore! I'm above serving food and drinks!"
"So you basically want to be paid to stand around and look pretty? What the hell kind of job title would we even call that?" you ask.
"I dunno, hostess maybe? Yeah, I'd be the hostess!"
"By the gods, this is ridiculous! You can't seriously be considering this!" Wendy exclaims.
The only people who are silent in all this are Eliza who is being her usual quiet self, and your mother who just shrugs and says it's your call since this was mainly your idea. You get the impression she doesn't care for Rita's attitude though.
> make Rita a hostess
Sometimes you have to take risks to get ahead.
"Alright fine, if that's the way this is going, then we don't have much of a choice. Rita, you're the Miner's Mug hostess." You say.
"WHAT!?
"As it should be."
"Fuck this, I'm not working myself to death while she gets a raise to just stand around." Wendy says.
"That's good because you'll be getting a raise as well since I'm promoting you to head barmaid and we're hiring a new one. Now that should make you feel a little bit better now shouldn't it?"
Before Wendy can reply, your mother speaks up.
"What are you doing? We can't afford all this or have you forgotten that we still have to pay off Mr. Reynolds?"
"And we are, and we will. But this place has finally gotten the kind of business it should be getting and we need to broaden our base. We're getting more than just miners and low ranking adventurers; we're starting to get a slightly higher class of patrons. I think these changes will be good in the long run, so are we all in agreement?"
Everyone seems to nod and be fine with their new job titles/promotions and the idea of making the inn into a better moneymaker. Just then Eliza speaks up after being quiet the whole time.
"I have a suggestion. If we're branching out past our usual miner customers shouldn't we change the name of the inn to something slightly more inclusive?"
Eliza has a point, after thinking about it, you come up with "The Traveler's Inn" which seems to be as good as name as any to signify people other than miners come here. The changes are made...
Months pass and everything goes as well as expected. Everyone is a little busier, but the inn is finally making a lot more profit and you were right, eventually you get out of Mr. Reynolds' debt. You half expect him to try to pull a fast one to get more money out of you, but with the increase in Klyton Militia hanging around, he doesn't and just says if you ever need another loan in the future you know where to find him. You're definitely not going to let that happen.
You also re-establish your alcohol supplier with Klyton again. You're making enough money to afford it and you won't have to deal with Calwin anymore.
The inn is profitable again and you've effectively saved the place and your mother from potential danger (as well as yourself) but taking over your father's inn wasn't your dream and it wasn't your parents' dreams either. They pushed you to make something better of yourself and it stuck.
You're not going to give up now, you have to find out a way of raising enough money to put yourself through school again AND finding the time to study while running the inn. You try to think about how you're going to accomplish this, and you know you've got quite the challenge ahead of you.
> Back to school...
A year has passed and you're back in college, though it's not as much fun as it was when you didn't need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.
Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately your mother picks up some of the slack when you really need time. You've also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were "friends" with before your "break". Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.
As for the inn, it's doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. You've got a much broader customer base and even classed the place up a bit, but this isn't without its drawbacks. Namely the Flying Griffon Inn has stepped up its efforts to get back its customers. This has so far involved an aggressive advertising campaign, hiring a bunch of sexy barmaids and special deals. So far it has helped them a lot and if they continue to succeed, your inn is going to start losing money and you can't have that. It doesn't help that your place isn't in as good of a location as the Flying Griffon
So first things first, you need to figure out how to deal with Flying Griffon and you call a staff meeting in the hopes of getting some other ideas on how to deal with them.
"Why don't you just hire someone to cut up their slutty barmaids? I mean that's what's mainly getting the main draw right? Seems like you could easily solve the problem by getting rid of them." Rita says. Naturally this doesn't go over well with the others.
"That's horrible!" Eliza says
" What? I didn't say kill them, they'd still be able to work and shit. They just wouldn't be pretty anymore."
"Have you gotten so jealous that you've gone completely barmy? By the gods, we're not doing that, we're not the Crimson Talons!" Wendy shouts.
As much as disfiguring Flying Griffon's staff would solve some problems, you hesitate to resort to such measures.
"Maybe we could offer deals to traveling merchants like Flying Griffon does, like they get a discount on their rooms?" your mom suggests.
"Not sure if that's going to help us a lot, unless we make an addition to the inn. It's not like our rooms aren't being used. If we start giving discount to merchants we might attract them, but we might not have enough rooms to accommodate them or we'll be accommodating them, but won't be accommodating adventurer types who are paying full price." Wendy says.
"Well if you're so knowledgeable Wendy, what's YOUR solution?" Rita sneers.
"We have a lot of Klyton Milita that come here to drink now don't we? Why don't we get some of them to help us? Seems like some very public investigation during heavy business hours would help out a lot and ruin the reputation of Flying Griffon. Hell, maybe they'll even find something and we'll really get lucky."
You take all these suggestions into consideration, but you can't help notice that Eliza looks like she wants to say something.
"Eliza, do you have a suggestion?"
"Huh? Oh. Um... yes... but I... Just forget it. It's silly anyway. The rest of your ideas sound better."
"Eliza, just spit it out!" Wendy demands.
"It's okay, just tell us." You say with a lot less intimidation.
"Well okay, but it's silly. I was going to suggest getting someone on the inside to spy on the place and finding something to use against them. It seems odd that they are managing to attract that much attention with just pretty barmaids when we have our own. I think maybe something else is going on there, like an illegal brothel or something."
Most of you are surprised that Eliza came up with something so complex.
"Well, that's a very elaborate plan Eliza, but I think we could accomplish the same thing just by sending in our militia buddies to harass them. Like I said, if they do find anything actually incriminating, then its even better."
"Yes, of course. That sounds like a more efficient idea." Eliza says.
> go with Rita's idea
While all the rest of the ideas seem okay, you really think you need to act quickly on this. It'll be ugly and ruthless, but unfortunately necessary. Since everyone is against Rita's idea though, you decide not to say anything about it and say you're going to have to think everything over later.
When everyone's away you decide to talk to Rita privately.
"Rita, can I speak to you for a moment?"
"I knew this was coming eventually... look you're alright looking and if you do manage to become a doctor then maybe I'll be interested, but until then... "
"What? No! I wanted to speak to you about your plan."
"Oh." Rita says looking a little disappointed that you weren't suggesting what she thought you were.
"Anyway, who did you have in mind to do this deed?"
"Well, I don't know really. I figured you might know, I mean didn't you have Crimson Talon connections or something?"
"Connections? Those were thugs that were going to break my legs if I didn't pay a loanshark on time. I don't have any connections. I mean with all the guys you go out with... "
"Hey! I don't like what you're implying! Contrary to popular belief I'm not some whore like those two half breed sluts you saw fit to hire recently. I'm a lot more selective and I'm certainly not going out with criminal types!"
"Hmmm, if you say so."
"Why don't you just go back to that Reynolds guy? I mean he's sort of a connection right?"
"You must be joking!"
"Not at all, I mean surely for a fee he could lend you that ogre for a little while right?"
"I dunno if it works that way... (Sigh) alright I suppose I could try since I don't have any other contacts."
"Okay. Oh! Here take this." Rita says handing you a small notebook.
"What's this?"
"It's the name of every whore that works for the Flying Griffon and their physical description. I have where some of them live too, but not all of them."
You stare at Rita in disbelief
"What? Eliza's not the only one who can think up spying you know." Rita remarks.
"Yeah, but Eliza's not the one who was stalking the competition out of jealousy either. Nevermind, I guess this will help since I never kept up on who worked there anyway."
The next day after class, you don't go to the inn, but instead head to where you know Mr. Reynold's "office" is. It's not in a good part of the city, but you make it without any problems.
Mr. Reynold's is currently alone and smiles when he sees you.
"Somehow I just knew we'd meet each other again soon, so how much you need this time?"
"I don't need money, I need something else and you're about the only person I can think of who might be able to help."
"Oh? Well this is interesting. What is it?"
"I need that ogre that works for you or whoever that other big guy was."
"Olaf and Silence? They're not freelancing for me anymore sadly. The Crimson Talons have them doing something more directly important for them. I believe they fight at one of those underground gladiator matches now."
"Well, can I get in contact with them some how?"
"Ha ha ha! Well I suppose I could tell you, but I don't think they'd necessarily let you in, I guess you'd have to speak to whoever's in charge and well it would be a big hassle really... what did you need them for anyway?"
"Is it any of your business?"
"Well if Olaf and Silence had still been freelancing for me it would've been, but I guess not now. I'm assuming you need some sort of muscle though, and if that is the case I DO have two new employees that might work out for you. David! Tom! Get in here, we might have some business!"
"Yeah, boss what's up... hey! I know you!" David says looking at you.
"Hey! How's it been? Didn't you go to college?" Tom adds.
Now here's a blast from the past, your two old school buddies all grown up and obviously full blown criminals now. Funny to think back how your life turned out so different... then again maybe not considering you're here to have several women horribly disfigured.
"Well, it seems you gentlemen all know each other, maybe now you're ready to tell us what you need doing?"
You take a deep breath and state what you need done.
"Wow, didn't expect that one." Mr. Reynolds says. David and Tom are also surprised.
"Shit, what the hell did they do to you, cheat on you?" David asks.
"Fuck man, that's some serial killer shit!" Tom adds.
"Look, I don't need them killed! I just need them disfigured so they aren't pretty anymore."
"Yeah, I got that. Okay, so how much you willing to pay?" Mr. Reynolds asks.
You and Mr. Reynolds negotiate a price, which is agreeable, but Tom begins to speak up.
"Uh... I dunno Mr. Reynolds. I don't think I can do this... "
"Tom, stop being a pussy! We're just gonna cut up some bitches and get out, shit ain't that hard." David says
"But I dunno. I just feel weird about doing this. It's not like beating up people who don't pay on time."
"You'll do what I tell you to do! David, you better keep your little sidekick in line before I replace the pair of you!" Mr. Reynolds snaps.
You think back to your old childhood involving your former friends. Tom always was the weakest of you three, but he always went along despite protests. You have no doubt David's capable of committing the act, you just wonder if he's gotten any brighter since then. The last thing you need is for them to fuck this up for you and get all of you in trouble.
Getting the "real professionals" might be tough though. Might even cost more money.
> hire David and Tom
Getting Olaf and Silence seems unlikely now, you're sure you could probably travel the seedy underbelly of Klyton and hire some other Crimson Talon thugs, but you'd really rather not. Besides, you actually "know" David and Tom to a degree so you feel slightly more comfortable with them.
"Splendid! Now David and Tom, you go back with your old friend here and I'm sure he can fill you in on more details. I expect to see the pair of you soon with the money." Mr. Reynolds before he goes back writing in a ledger.
You, David and Tom all walk back your inn. This whole thing feels a little surreal, like you're all back in primary school again.
"So. What brings you back to the old neighborhood? Thought you were gonna be a rich doctor or some shit." David asks.
"Ehh, long story. I've actually been back for awhile running my dad's inn. Still taking classes, just not living on campus anymore."
"Yeah heard about your dad dying. Wish mine was dead; mean old fucker's still alive. Never talk or see him anymore though after he kicked me out of the house."
"... huh... .uh so Tom what's been going on with you?" you ask changing the subject.
"Me? Um, nothing. Me and David just work for Mr. Reynolds beating people up who don't pay. So you owed him money before we worked for him?"
"Well, not me, but my family borrowed some. It's all in the past though."
"That's good. It would've been weird seeing each other again under those circumstances. I don't think I could intimidate your mom. She was always so nice, not like my mom."
"That's because your mom's still a big ass scary dyke that's why!" David taunts.
"Shut up David! My mom's not a dyke! She just has a roommate!"
Some things never change...
Speaking of moms, it occurs to you that actually taking them to the inn to talk probably isn't a good idea as your mom will probably start asking you all sorts of question on why you're hanging out with your old hoodlum friends. Instead you go into an alley.
"Okay, here's a list of the girls you need to confront, their names, descriptions, and even addresses for most of them."
"Shit, what the hell did you stalk 'em or something? Sounds like you could've done this yourself." David remarks.
"I didn't stalk them, I just have an overly enthusiastic employee motivated greatly by jealousy. Now I'm depending on you guys to do this right."
"Relax, we're professionals now. None of this getting caught in the candy store for us anymore."
"Okay, so how long do you think this will take you?"
"Ehhh, we can probably get this done in a few days if we hurry. Quite a few targets, but it really shouldn't take long. Probably get most of them after they leave work or going to work. I assume we'll meet at your inn when the job's done?"
"Uh no, we'll meet over in the park around five, where we used to play Smash Sphere in a couple days. If you haven't finished the job by then, we'll meet again there in two more days and that should hopefully give you enough time."
"I told you we'll be done before then, but fine we'll do it this way since you think your inn is obviously too good for us... "
"That's not... "
"Bullshit! The very fact that we're talking in this alley is an indication that you don't want us in your place."
"Is that true? I thought we were friends?" Tom asks being slow on the uptake as usual.
"David, I have certain patrons and I can't have known criminals walking around the place, not to mention my mom... "
"Fuck you, mama's boy. All that fancy learnin' and you still live with your mom. We may be lowly thugs but at least we're not still livin' at home. Rather be a goon for hire than a hypocrite like you. Too good to have us at your fancy ass inn, but not too good to hire us to wipe out the competition eh?"
You're silent for a moment after David's accurate statement, but you're not going to let him get away with talking like that to you even if it does mean a possible beating.
"... Alright, fine David. You got me, I'm a fucking hypocrite, is that what you want to hear? At least I tried to do something with my fucking life rather than just rot in juvie for most of my youth and live a hand to mouth existence as some dumb ass goon. So are you gonna do the fucking job or what?"
David starts laughing.
"Sheesh, I was just fucking with you. You always did take shit so seriously. Anyway yeah we'll get right on this. See ya in a couple days mama's boy. Heh."
You part company with David and Tom hoping that you've made the right decision.
A few days pass and you wait at the park at the time you mentioned. Time passes and neither has shown up yet and you start feel anxious.
"I have to say, I'm surprised at the lengths you went through to compete with me. I never expected you to pull something like this. You might've succeeded in this clumsy attempt, but a couple of my employees were a little more skilled than your thugs."
It's Frank, the owner of The Flying Griffon. You're so shocked that you can't even come up with an excuse. It doesn't matter though since Frank isn't done talking.
"Don't bother with excuses, I know everything. Your little friends proved quite talkative when questioned. On the brighter side for you, you won't have to pay them now."
"They're dead?"
"Oh I wouldn't know about such things, but I do know they won't be troubling anyone else any longer. Now the question is what to do about you?"
"... you don't need to do anything about me... in fact I suggest you don't. I'm friends with several Klyton militia and an investigation would certainly follow if I were to suddenly disappear."
Frank smirks and your attempt to intimidate him.
"Truly? Might I also tell these same militia friends of your of how you hired two thugs to cut up my employees? But let's get to the point, you've done a lot of damage to my business and I think some reparations are in order. I want your inn. Or rather your mother's inn."
"What?"
"You heard me. That's the only thing that's going to get you out of this mess you've dug yourself into. I'll of course give you a few days to make preparations. Don't bother asking if you can still live or work there, I'm afraid I just couldn't trust someone who has shady dealings."
"And if I say no?"
"I'd advise against it. That's all I'm going to say. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back, we're a little understaffed lately."
You quickly make your way back to the inn lamenting the mess you've gotten yourself into. You glare at Rita on your way in while everyone else asks you where you've been. You're distracted all night and your mother notices it the most. At the end of the workday she asks if there's anything wrong.
> tell her everything
You can't hide something like this, so you just confess everything. Your mother says nothing for a moment and then you feel a slap to your face.
"I can't believe you would do such a thing. That is not how you were raised! Those poor women! They were just trying to earn a living and you had them disfigured just to hamper the competition? We were doing just fine!"
"No, we weren't! Frank's inn was starting to beat the hell out of us in everyway! With the way things were going we wouldn't have had enough business to support this place let alone me trying to finish up my schooling!"
"Is your schooling more important than basic humanity or even the confines of the law? (Sigh) Nevermind, I suppose some of this is our fault. We pushed so hard for your education that now you're willing to do anything to achieve it... well there's only one thing left to do I suppose. Sell this place to Frank."
"What?! He's not going to do anything, he's just bluffing!"
'And what if he isn't? What if he decides to do the same thing you did, or worse? No, I'm not living my life like that; I had enough of it with Mr. Reynolds who YOU just recently brought into our lives again by hiring your old hoodlum friends of yours. So first thing I want you to do in the morning is to pay whatever you agreed to Mr. Reynolds, I'm sure we can cover it or else you wouldn't have made the deal. Meanwhile I'll talk to Frank to hammer out the agreement."
"So that's it then? We're just giving up?"
"Nobody's giving up son. I stayed to help you as much as I could, but I can't stand by and help you anymore if you're going to engage in criminal activity. I'm selling this place and saving you from yourself. Now if you decide to continue being involved in criminal activity, well... I suppose I can't stop you, but in any case I'm moving back to Teckleville."
You protest, yell and accuse at your mother for a good half hour, but her mind is made up and eventually she just closes her door and goes to sleep.
The next few days go according to your mother's wishes. Mr. Reynolds is paid, though he does wonder about where David and Tom are, you tell him that maybe he should take that up with Frank. The Traveller's Inn is sold to Frank and your mother doesn't give you any of the money from the sale. She just wishes you well and knows that with your intelligence you'll be able to find work before she moves back to Teckleville.
It doesn't need to be said that you're very angry about all this, at your mother, at Rita, at David and Tom, at Frank, at everyone really, but you're mainly mad at yourself. You should've shown better judgment and now you've lost everything.
You do manage to find work, but it's only as a lowly clerk filing away insignificant papers and other dull material. You never really get ahead and your former goals are discarded anyway since you wonder why you wasted all that time studying only for it to all fall apart so spectacularly.
As the years pass you only grow more bitter and angry until one day you snap and arrive at work, killing your boss with your dad's old Troll Gun.
The Klyton Militia soon arrive and as you lay dying from several sword blows and a few gunshot wounds all you do is laugh.
"Thanks dad... you heh heh heh finally came through heh heh heh (sputter) for me... " |
Getting Olaf and Silence seems unlikely now, you're sure you could probably travel the seedy underbelly of Klyton and hire some other Crimson Talon thugs, but you'd really rather not. Besides, you actually "know" David and Tom to a degree so you feel slightly more comfortable with them.
"Splendid! Now David and Tom, you go back with your old friend here and I'm sure he can fill you in on more details. I expect to see the pair of you soon with the money." Mr. Reynolds before he goes back writing in a ledger.
You, David and Tom all walk back your inn. This whole thing feels a little surreal, like you're all back in primary school again.
"So. What brings you back to the old neighborhood? Thought you were gonna be a rich doctor or some shit." David asks.
"Ehh, long story. I've actually been back for awhile running my dad's inn. Still taking classes, just not living on campus anymore."
"Yeah heard about your dad dying. Wish mine was dead; mean old fucker's still alive. Never talk or see him anymore though after he kicked me out of the house."
"... huh... .uh so Tom what's been going on with you?" you ask changing the subject.
"Me? Um, nothing. Me and David just work for Mr. Reynolds beating people up who don't pay. So you owed him money before we worked for him?"
"Well, not me, but my family borrowed some. It's all in the past though."
"That's good. It would've been weird seeing each other again under those circumstances. I don't think I could intimidate your mom. She was always so nice, not like my mom."
"That's because your mom's still a big ass scary dyke that's why!" David taunts.
"Shut up David! My mom's not a dyke! She just has a roommate!"
Some things never change...
Speaking of moms, it occurs to you that actually taking them to the inn to talk probably isn't a good idea as your mom will probably start asking you all sorts of question on why you're hanging out with your old hoodlum friends. Instead you go into an alley.
"Okay, here's a list of the girls you need to confront, their names, descriptions, and even addresses for most of them."
"Shit, what the hell did you stalk 'em or something? Sounds like you could've done this yourself." David remarks.
"I didn't stalk them, I just have an overly enthusiastic employee motivated greatly by jealousy. Now I'm depending on you guys to do this right."
"Relax, we're professionals now. None of this getting caught in the candy store for us anymore."
"Okay, so how long do you think this will take you?"
"Ehhh, we can probably get this done in a few days if we hurry. Quite a few targets, but it really shouldn't take long. Probably get most of them after they leave work or going to work. I assume we'll meet at your inn when the job's done?"
"Uh no, we'll meet over in the park around five, where we used to play Smash Sphere in a couple days. If you haven't finished the job by then, we'll meet again there in two more days and that should hopefully give you enough time."
"I told you we'll be done before then, but fine we'll do it this way since you think your inn is obviously too good for us... "
"That's not... "
"Bullshit! The very fact that we're talking in this alley is an indication that you don't want us in your place."
"Is that true? I thought we were friends?" Tom asks being slow on the uptake as usual.
"David, I have certain patrons and I can't have known criminals walking around the place, not to mention my mom... "
"Fuck you, mama's boy. All that fancy learnin' and you still live with your mom. We may be lowly thugs but at least we're not still livin' at home. Rather be a goon for hire than a hypocrite like you. Too good to have us at your fancy ass inn, but not too good to hire us to wipe out the competition eh?"
You're silent for a moment after David's accurate statement, but you're not going to let him get away with talking like that to you even if it does mean a possible beating.
"... Alright, fine David. You got me, I'm a fucking hypocrite, is that what you want to hear? At least I tried to do something with my fucking life rather than just rot in juvie for most of my youth and live a hand to mouth existence as some dumb ass goon. So are you gonna do the fucking job or what?"
David starts laughing.
"Sheesh, I was just fucking with you. You always did take shit so seriously. Anyway yeah we'll get right on this. See ya in a couple days mama's boy. Heh."
You part company with David and Tom hoping that you've made the right decision.
A few days pass and you wait at the park at the time you mentioned. Time passes and neither has shown up yet and you start feel anxious.
"I have to say, I'm surprised at the lengths you went through to compete with me. I never expected you to pull something like this. You might've succeeded in this clumsy attempt, but a couple of my employees were a little more skilled than your thugs."
It's Frank, the owner of The Flying Griffon. You're so shocked that you can't even come up with an excuse. It doesn't matter though since Frank isn't done talking.
"Don't bother with excuses, I know everything. Your little friends proved quite talkative when questioned. On the brighter side for you, you won't have to pay them now."
"They're dead?"
"Oh I wouldn't know about such things, but I do know they won't be troubling anyone else any longer. Now the question is what to do about you?"
"... you don't need to do anything about me... in fact I suggest you don't. I'm friends with several Klyton militia and an investigation would certainly follow if I were to suddenly disappear."
Frank smirks and your attempt to intimidate him.
"Truly? Might I also tell these same militia friends of your of how you hired two thugs to cut up my employees? But let's get to the point, you've done a lot of damage to my business and I think some reparations are in order. I want your inn. Or rather your mother's inn."
"What?"
"You heard me. That's the only thing that's going to get you out of this mess you've dug yourself into. I'll of course give you a few days to make preparations. Don't bother asking if you can still live or work there, I'm afraid I just couldn't trust someone who has shady dealings."
"And if I say no?"
"I'd advise against it. That's all I'm going to say. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back, we're a little understaffed lately."
You quickly make your way back to the inn lamenting the mess you've gotten yourself into. You glare at Rita on your way in while everyone else asks you where you've been. You're distracted all night and your mother notices it the most. At the end of the workday she asks if there's anything wrong.
> keep it to yourself
You can't tell your mother what you did; she'd never forgive you. Frank is probably just bluffing. Even if he did say something to the Klyton Militia there's no evidence and they probably wouldn't believe him anyway. Besides he pretty much suggested that Tom and David are dead.
Of course that makes you worry that he might try to do the same thing to you, your mother or one of your employees. Maybe he wasn't bluffing.
For the next few weeks you become increasingly paranoid asking your employees if they noticed anyone strange following them. You can't concentrate in class and your grades start to suffer. The stress gets so much that you end up pulling your dad's Troll Gun on a patron you don't recognize. Fortunately nothing bad happens, unless you count several people questioning your sanity and no longer entering your inn. Several of your staff grumble about leaving, but it doesn't quite get to that point.
You've been so stressed out that you haven't been able to sleep properly for weeks, you constantly wake up and double check all the locks on the doors and sleep with the Troll Gun next to you. Eventually a wave of exhaustion causes you to collapse and fall into a deep sleep for once.
You begin to dream that you're sitting near a tree studying. A pretty girl in a red dress sits next to you saying that you should come with her instead of putting your nose in a book.
"I have to study! I have to become a doctor! That's my goal!" you answer.
"Is it? Or is it some high aspiration that your parents put into your head when you were young? Do you really know what you want? How hard have you pushed yourself only to be thwarted at every turn? Don't you think you should take time to rest? Come with me."
"I would like to rest, but I can't. I have to continue."
"No, you don't. You can allow yourself time to take break. You've done as much as you can... perhaps more than you should have. But none of that matters now; it's time to rest. Come with me."
The words of this word are so soothing and she speaks in a way that you find alluring and truthful. Still, you can't but think you know her from somewhere.
"... who are you? Do I know you? It seems like I've seen you before... " you ask.
"Does it matter? You must come with me now. You may not get another chance." The woman says in a firm, but gentle tone.
You get the impression that she sincerely is looking out for your best interest, so you put down your book and hold her hand as you go walking into the fields with her...
"I can't believe he just died in his sleep! He was too young! (sob)" your mother cries.
"I'm sorry for your loss, but he did seem like he was under a lot of stress lately. Dunno what would've caused that. Maybe his classes were getting harder and he just couldn't take it any longer?" Wendy says not really knowing what to say.
"Well, at least he looked peaceful." Eliza says, tearing up a little.
Rita stays quiet the whole time, looking a little nervous about whether or not her "idea" had anything to do with this.
After burying you next to your father, you mother has no more reason to stay in Klyton and sells the inn to Frank before moving back to Teckleville to live with her sister Enora.
Meanwhile...
"So sister, did Frank yell at you for disposing of his competition in such a gentle manner?"
"Hah, that little mage knows not to overstep his bounds. Oh I long for the day when we can figure out how to break his little contract over us. Honestly using us as mere barmaids, it's degrading."
"I agree sister, but I will never under stand why you choose to take the delicious life force in the manner you do."
"Oh sister, you are truly a product of our race. Seduction and then a horrifying end to the victim. It needn't always be so vulgar. Besides, I sensed so much stress, worry and guilt in him, I figured he could use a peaceful end." |
While all the rest of the ideas seem okay, you really think you need to act quickly on this. It'll be ugly and ruthless, but unfortunately necessary. Since everyone is against Rita's idea though, you decide not to say anything about it and say you're going to have to think everything over later.
When everyone's away you decide to talk to Rita privately.
"Rita, can I speak to you for a moment?"
"I knew this was coming eventually... look you're alright looking and if you do manage to become a doctor then maybe I'll be interested, but until then... "
"What? No! I wanted to speak to you about your plan."
"Oh." Rita says looking a little disappointed that you weren't suggesting what she thought you were.
"Anyway, who did you have in mind to do this deed?"
"Well, I don't know really. I figured you might know, I mean didn't you have Crimson Talon connections or something?"
"Connections? Those were thugs that were going to break my legs if I didn't pay a loanshark on time. I don't have any connections. I mean with all the guys you go out with... "
"Hey! I don't like what you're implying! Contrary to popular belief I'm not some whore like those two half breed sluts you saw fit to hire recently. I'm a lot more selective and I'm certainly not going out with criminal types!"
"Hmmm, if you say so."
"Why don't you just go back to that Reynolds guy? I mean he's sort of a connection right?"
"You must be joking!"
"Not at all, I mean surely for a fee he could lend you that ogre for a little while right?"
"I dunno if it works that way... (Sigh) alright I suppose I could try since I don't have any other contacts."
"Okay. Oh! Here take this." Rita says handing you a small notebook.
"What's this?"
"It's the name of every whore that works for the Flying Griffon and their physical description. I have where some of them live too, but not all of them."
You stare at Rita in disbelief
"What? Eliza's not the only one who can think up spying you know." Rita remarks.
"Yeah, but Eliza's not the one who was stalking the competition out of jealousy either. Nevermind, I guess this will help since I never kept up on who worked there anyway."
The next day after class, you don't go to the inn, but instead head to where you know Mr. Reynold's "office" is. It's not in a good part of the city, but you make it without any problems.
Mr. Reynold's is currently alone and smiles when he sees you.
"Somehow I just knew we'd meet each other again soon, so how much you need this time?"
"I don't need money, I need something else and you're about the only person I can think of who might be able to help."
"Oh? Well this is interesting. What is it?"
"I need that ogre that works for you or whoever that other big guy was."
"Olaf and Silence? They're not freelancing for me anymore sadly. The Crimson Talons have them doing something more directly important for them. I believe they fight at one of those underground gladiator matches now."
"Well, can I get in contact with them some how?"
"Ha ha ha! Well I suppose I could tell you, but I don't think they'd necessarily let you in, I guess you'd have to speak to whoever's in charge and well it would be a big hassle really... what did you need them for anyway?"
"Is it any of your business?"
"Well if Olaf and Silence had still been freelancing for me it would've been, but I guess not now. I'm assuming you need some sort of muscle though, and if that is the case I DO have two new employees that might work out for you. David! Tom! Get in here, we might have some business!"
"Yeah, boss what's up... hey! I know you!" David says looking at you.
"Hey! How's it been? Didn't you go to college?" Tom adds.
Now here's a blast from the past, your two old school buddies all grown up and obviously full blown criminals now. Funny to think back how your life turned out so different... then again maybe not considering you're here to have several women horribly disfigured.
"Well, it seems you gentlemen all know each other, maybe now you're ready to tell us what you need doing?"
You take a deep breath and state what you need done.
"Wow, didn't expect that one." Mr. Reynolds says. David and Tom are also surprised.
"Shit, what the hell did they do to you, cheat on you?" David asks.
"Fuck man, that's some serial killer shit!" Tom adds.
"Look, I don't need them killed! I just need them disfigured so they aren't pretty anymore."
"Yeah, I got that. Okay, so how much you willing to pay?" Mr. Reynolds asks.
You and Mr. Reynolds negotiate a price, which is agreeable, but Tom begins to speak up.
"Uh... I dunno Mr. Reynolds. I don't think I can do this... "
"Tom, stop being a pussy! We're just gonna cut up some bitches and get out, shit ain't that hard." David says
"But I dunno. I just feel weird about doing this. It's not like beating up people who don't pay on time."
"You'll do what I tell you to do! David, you better keep your little sidekick in line before I replace the pair of you!" Mr. Reynolds snaps.
You think back to your old childhood involving your former friends. Tom always was the weakest of you three, but he always went along despite protests. You have no doubt David's capable of committing the act, you just wonder if he's gotten any brighter since then. The last thing you need is for them to fuck this up for you and get all of you in trouble.
Getting the "real professionals" might be tough though. Might even cost more money.
> get Olaf and Silence
You need professionals for this and David and Tom don't qualify. You ask for directions to the underground gladiator matches, but Mr. Reynolds still insists on a bit of money for that information, so you have no choice but to pay him.
After running back and forth to his office and the inn, (And incurring some questions by your mom and staff where you're going) you pay him and he tells you that it's located in a tavern called the Troll's Breath on the edge of the warehouse district. He tells you to that can let the bartender know that he sent you.
You feel like you're going to get mugged around every corner on your way to the place, but fortunately that doesn't happen. You are approached by several prostitutes and offered Cloud Rock a lot though. When you walk in the place, it's filled with a rowdy bunch as you'd expect. You try not to make eye contact and walk straight to the bar.
"Yeah?" the bald bartender asks gruffly.
"Mr. Reynolds sent me because of my interest in games."
"Did he now? Alright, but the next time you see that dick, tell him his time as an independent loanshark are coming to an end soon. He needs to join up with the Crimson Talon or get the fuck outta Kyton. Door's around the back."
"Thanks, oh uh one more thing."
"What!?"
"Is there anyway to speak to Olaf or Silence after their fights?"
"What the hell do you wanna be talkin' to those two idiots for? The pair of them together barely have enough intelligence to put on their own boots."
"It's a business proposition."
At this point the bartender's eye narrow.
"Wait a fucking minute. You're sent here by Reynolds and you wanna talk to Olaf and Silence about a business proposition? This sounds like Reynolds trying weasely shit as usual. Fuck you, they don't freelance anymore. They're pit fighters for the Crimson Talons until I say otherwise! Now get the fuck outta here!"
"Okay, I'll talk with you then, how much do you want for their services temporarily?"
"I said they ain't for fuckin' hire you dumbfuck! If you wanna meet them so bad though, I can oblige and throw your ass in the ring with them!"
At this point the bartender snaps his fingers and two thugs grab your arms ready to carry you off. You make one desperate plea.
"Alright! Alright! I'll hire whomever else you got then! These two guys holding me will do, I just need some people fucked up and I got money to give to whoever will do it!"
The bartender nods and you're released.
"Alright in my office and start talkin' fast. Reg, you're at the bar."
You follow the bartender upstairs to a room that is much nicer than the rest of place. He sits down at a fancy desk and pours himself a drink, but doesn't offer you anything. You look around the office at the various items he has on the wall until you're interrupted.
"Well? Are we just wasting my time here while you admire my office, because the fight pit is another place you can admire from the inside."
You quickly explain everything and your situation and give him the information that Rita wrote down for you. The bartender nods a bit while playing with his ring. When you're done, he speaks.
"Is that it? You wanted to hire two bruisers like that to cut up some barmaids? You're sort of new at this I take it. Those two would've probably raped and broke all their necks right in the middle of the fucking Flying Griffon. Subtlety is not their strong point."
"Okay so do you have someone else in mind?"
"Sure, got a mean ass Sotakan assassin that could easily do the job."
"A Sotakan? One of those lizard people? But they avoid cities." You say.
"That they do, but let's just say I acquired this one from an egg. The great thing about him, is he's completely loyal and doesn't require much. Just does what he's told."
"How's he sneak around though? I mean seems like he'd stick out."
"Hah, those lizard bastards have natural camouflage abilities. As they grow up they adapt to whatever sort of environment they grow up in. Now a regular swamp dwelling Sotakan would stick out, but not my boy. He's lived here in the city his whole life, took him out in the night to get acquainted with the surroundings while he grew up and now he's practically invisible when he wants to be."
"Okay well that's great, but I don't need them killed."
"Heh, maybe not all of them, but a couple may come back to kill you. I think I may have a little more information on the Flying Griffon than your barmaid found out. Frank's an unregistered wizard. Well wizard's giving him a little too much credit perhaps, but he's managed to snag himself a couple of succubae as barmaids."
"What?! He can't summon demons into the city! That's illegal!"
"Oh and I suppose what we're doing is?"
"Alright, but it's not only illegal, but it's a potential danger to the city."
"No, I agree. Demons tend to fuck up business and their chaotic ways are too much of a risk to deal with, but then again I don't have to tell you that."
"So... how do you know all this?"
"Because it's my fucking job to know shit that might interfere with business that's why. I kept wondering why some of my merchant contacts weren't stopping by here anymore. Frank might have some control over his ladies, but I know he can't completely stop their appetites. Rather short sighted of him really, it's not like they're going to be able to stop themselves from completely draining victims forever. They're going to eventually get out of hand and he's going to start having to explain to the Klyton militia why people are always last seen going into his place before mysteriously disappearing. You must've really pissed him off for him to resort to this."
"Yeah, I guess so... so where does that leave us?"
The bartender (who mentions his name is Edmond and is definitely more than just bartender) says that he was keeping an eye on the Flying Griffon and if he lost anymore of his merchant contact to it, he was going to act. He didn't before since as skilled as his lizard is, he's not sure if he can take two succubae by himself, in fact it would be easier to just try and kill Frank. But of course then there would be two unleashed succubae running around in Klyton and nobody really wants that.
Still, if you're willing to pay then Edmond will readily accept your money, and he'll have the mortal barmaids disfigured and the demonic ones killed. He assures you that unlike Mr. Reynolds this will be a straight up agreement and that the Crimson Talons will not seek to extort your inn in some way. Mainly due to all the Klyton militia and adventurers going there it wouldn't be worth the trouble. He doesn't need to risk some do gooder or gung-ho orderly type sniffing around.
Of course you've been overwhelmed by all this information. Part of you wonders if all this is worth it. You could wait it out, Edmond did claim that Frank probably won't be able to control them forever; the problem with this is in the meantime it'll still be cutting into your business.
With this new information you could also report Frank to your militia buddies, though this might be difficult without evidence. Still, you're on good terms with most of the ones that frequent your place and they'll probably investigate.
> hire the assassin
You don't have any proof to give to the militia other than Edmond's information and you can't afford to wait around and hope things get better. You need to act now, so you tell Edmond that you'll pay for the assassin.
"Okay, but this is going to be expensive AND once we do this I don't want to hear any shit about you having second thoughts because you feel guilty. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? Edmond asks.
"... I'd be lying if I said yes, but this is something that has to be done. You won't get any complaints from me. I just hope your lizard can do the job."
"Well I hope so too, because if not, we're both going to be in for a fight if we have angry succubae after us. I want five hundred gold by tomorrow."
"Five... that's a lot."
"That's fuckin' cheap to hire the best! You're only getting a discount due to the fact that this is something I was thinking about doing anyway! Now if you don't like the price... "
"No, I can get it. When's the job going to be done?"
"Tonight if possible, but I suspect it might take my boy into the wee hours of the morning since he's dealing with other worldly beings and all. If he hasn't done it by the time you come by with the money tomorrow, then he's failed and you can keep half of your money because I'm a nice guy. How's that sound?"
"Erm... good I guess, but I'd rather he succeed."
"I'm sure he will. So is our business done or did you still want to see the fight pits? I'm sure Olaf's eating his competitior right about now."
"Eh, that's okay I should be getting back."
"Suit yourself."
You're able to get a coach back to inn, naturally it's a lot later now and everyone is asking you where you've been. You explain that you forgot to do something at campus for a class, which seems to satisfy as an excuse.
For the remainder of the night, you're preoccupied with your decision. Wondering if it's going to fail or not. You barely get any sleep and the next day at your classes you can barely concentrate. You basically wander the day in a haze until it's time for you to go pay Edmond.
When you enter the Troll's Breath, Edmond points to his office and you follow.
"Told you my boy could do it. Now aren't you glad you made this decision? You got my money?" Edmond asks in a friendly tone.
"Yeah... you mean that's it? It succeeded?"
"Of course it did! I figured you already knew it did given that you're closer to the Flying Griffon and are friends with all those Klyton militia folks... I mean it's pretty big news! Flying Griffon Massacre they're calling it! "
You've been so caught up in your own worry you haven't been paying much attention to outside discussion or events. You feel a sense of relief, but then you question the word...
"Massacre?"
"Yeah the demons are dead and Frank is going to jail. Seems that the militia think he was making human sacrifices to summon up the demons and it all got out of hand."
"Wait, why would they think all that?
"Eh, well apparently my boy had some problems understanding the differences in the terms disfigure and dismember, so he killed those human barmaids in a rather gruesome fashion, but on the bright side it completely puts all the blame on Frank. They figured he or the succubae killed the barmaids and then the succubae tried to rebel against their master he was forced to kill them. Being an unlicensed mage certainly doesn't help him. In any case the heat doesn't even trace back to us as long you don't start acting suspicious around your militia buddies, which I trust you won't."
"Yeah... "
You're a little in shock as the realization that you've just participated in murder. Granted you weren't doing a good thing anyway, but disfiguring is still a lot different than murder. You don't say anything since you promised that you wouldn't whine about having a guilty conscious afterwards.
Edmond takes your money and makes you stay until it is all counted. When it is, he says you can leave.
"Oh one more thing. I hear you're going into medicine. Very useful profession, I could use a competent doctor every once in awhile; gods know that drunk that I currently have on my payroll is barely useful. I hope I can call upon you in the future if I need to."
And there it is, the "catch" for doing business with a criminal. You could kick yourself in the head for actually believing that this was going to be a straight up transaction. He may not be extorting your inn; he's just hanging a "favor" over your head in the future. Somehow that's almost worse.
There's little you can do about it now though, you head back to the inn where your patrons and staff are all talking about what happened at the Flying Griffon. Rita in particular speaks to you about it.
"Sheesh, I didn't know you were going to go to that extreme, but can't say those bitches didn't deserve it. That's what happens when you work with demons right? Who knew Frank was a mage? Well at least we don't have any competition anymore."
Rita's callous talk about the Griffon barmaids makes you angry. In fact all of this was Rita's initial suggestion and while you listened to it, that doesn't mean she shouldn't suffer the negative consequences for it too. You snap and grab Rita by the arm roughly and pull her into the cellar. Flameflower and Sunshine are down there drinking your wine supply.
"Erm... uh... (giggle)" is all Sunshine can utter when getting busted,
"If you two halfbreed bitches don't get upstairs and start doing some actual work for a change you're gonna get some of what Rita's about to get! MOVE!"
You don't need to say it twice, your tone is enough to sober them up and get them moving.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? You better let me go, and what the hell do you mean I'm getting something? You better not be implying what I think you're implying. You so much as start grabbing my tits and I'll scr... "
You don't let Rita finish; you just slam her up against the wall as hard as you can with your hand over her mouth.
"Bitch I wouldn't touch your gold digging fuckhole with a ten pole. You think those girls deserved to die? Oh no, you just felt that they needed to be disfigured; well maybe you need to be mutilated. Take your ass down a few notches."
At this point you grab a nearby candle and start holding it need Rita's face. She pulls away and tears start.
"Oh what's the matter? Don't like being a victim? Well how do you think those girls felt in their final moments?!" you say and throw Rita to the floor.
"I fucking caused that to happen! And guess what? So did you. So if you're not going to feel bad about it, you're at least going to feel bad in other ways. I'm lowering your pay and if you don't like it, tough shit, you can quit. I can get some other shallow whore to do your job, you're not special. And if you're getting some sort of bright ideas about reporting me to the militia or some shit, remember what happened at the Flying Griffon? Well I can make that happen to you too."
You leave on that threatening note, while Rita tries to compose herself. You're a little surprised that Rita's "tough girl" act was broken so easily, you're also surprised at your own actions. The scary part to you is that it was easy and how you feel a lot better now.
You exit the cellar and a few moments later Rita follows. This leads to a few whispers amongst your staff. Everyone assumes that you and Rita must've had some rough sex. Your mother even approaches you about it.
"Far be it from me to interfere with your personal life, but if you're going to insist on having sex with the help, I'd appreciate it if you at least took Rita up to your room and NOT anywhere on the business premises!"
"... okay mom."
"(Sigh) I mean... (Sigh) Rita? You could do so much better! Sure she's pretty, but the girl is a shallow gold digger and not even a very good one! Couldn't you at least picked Eliza? I could've understood that, she's sweet. Or how about a nice girl at your college? You know like one with a bright future ahead of her? (Sigh) I just hope for your sake you didn't get that little tart pregnant!"
You just nod and agree with your mother the whole time. It's better if everyone thinks that you were fucking Rita rather than the truth anyway.
With the Flying Griffon closed down, business picks up and you don't have as many financial worries any longer. You're not out of the woods yet though since now you're in your final stages of your education, which means medical school as well as having to get a job actually working at a hospital. The only problem with that is being an intern doesn't pay all that well and you certainly can't do that AND work at the bar.
Your mother reassures you that you shouldn't worry about it as she'll be able to hire a couple extra people as well as being able to help with the rest of your tuition.
In any case it looks like your days as an innkeeper are over.
> future Prospects
A few years have passed and your medical schooling is complete and you now work at the Klyton hospital as a real doctor. You haven't been able to really enjoy your success though.
Sure, you have your own apartment and you make a decent living to afford the things you want, but you're always waiting for the other shoe to drop and Edmond is going to call in that favor. It's prevented you from even having a serious relationship for fear that whomever you're with could possibly be hurt if things get... complex.
Of course there's also your mother to worry about still, but from what you know she's planning on selling the old inn and moving to Teckleville. Hopefully soon, so it'll at least keep her somewhat out of potential harm.
Ultimately you try to keep yourself busy with work hoping it will keep your mind off things, but it doesn't help. Eventually you do come up with something that does help a bit. Alcohol.
It's amazing that you grew up in a place that sells the stuff and never had a drink until now. You have to say, it's not bad and it seems to calm you a bit when you're feeling anxious. Through this crutch you finally manage to cope.
Well at least until the fateful day does arrive...
One night when you're coming home from the hospital and carriage pulls up next to you.
"Hey doc, I think we have a friend in common." A voice says from the inside of the carriage.
"Let me guess, Edmond. Right?" you reply.
"Correct. I think you know what comes next doc."
"Yeah, I do." You say and get into the carriage.
You sit down on one side while sitting opposite of you is one man dressed in a cheap suit smoking pipe weed. The other one is dressed more casually and openly playing with a dagger. The pipe man lights up and speaks.
"Before we get started, my name's Hans and this is my brother Wallace. Now that that's over with, Edmond is personally in need of your medical services."
"I figured it was something like that. What happened to him?
"Oh what usually happens to our kind in this business. There was a disagreement, some words were exchanged and before you know it, some people get hurt while others aren't so lucky."
"I... see. So I take it we're heading to him right now?"
"Yes. He's a little paranoid about going to hospitals especially with the attempt on his life and all."
"Hey, doesn't he already have a doctor?"
"He did, but unfortunately his over indulgence of the spirits made his skills useless and he was... sent away a long time ago."
"Oh... "
The rest of the trip is mostly in silence. Hans asks a few superficial things about you which you give quick answer to, but your mind is focused more on what you're going to encounter when you get to Edmond. How bad is he going to be? What happens if you can't help him? By the gods you could use a drink right now.
You then think to yourself. "Maybe this is why his old doctor was a drunk."
Eventually you arrive at the Troll's Breath Tavern. When you enter the place it's completely empty save for a few rough looking sorts who look like they're focused on cleaning up the place. You notice broken glass and a few blood spots here and there.
"Is that the doc?" one of them asks Hans.
"Yeah, is Ed still in his office?"
"Yeah, and his pet lizard is guarding him like a fucking dragon. Ed's not letting anyone in there except the doctor."
"Hm, well I guess you better get in there then. Don't worry. You're probably safer than the rest of us right now."
You don't share that sentiment, but you have little choice in the matter. You head to Edmond's office and knock on the door.
"Who the fuck is it? That better be the doc!"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm coming in."
You cautiously enter and see a great deal of blood on the floor. Edmond is clutching on to his left side and his Sotakan assassin is standing close by staring directly at you. A bottle whiskey is also nearby probably being used to dull his pain and as a disinfectant.
"Well, don't just stand there, I gotta fucking hole in my side!"
You quickly inspect the wound and see that Edmond's been shot most likely by a blunderbuss and he's still got fragments of the shot in his body.
"Okay, keep the pressure on it like you've been doing. I can fix this, but I need to act fast and I'm gonna need some stuff from the hospital." You say.
"What?! You mean those idiots didn't have you pick up any supplies?"
"No, they told me to just get into the carriage."
"Fucking morons. It's like they want me to die! Okay look, we got access to some hospital supplies in a warehouse much closer than the hospital. Just tell Reg outside what you need and he'll get them for you. Go, go."
You leave the office and ask for Reg, who comes up immediately.
"What's up? Will he live?"
"Yeah, but I'll need some medical supplies. He said you can get them from one of your warehouses. Now I need... "
Before you can finish Hans interjects.
"Reg, you realize we sold most of those supplies to that bodylegger a few weeks ago? We don't have much left."
"We don't? Well what do we have left?" Reg asks.
"I dunno, I don't have the supply list in front of me now do I? But what if you get there and find that what the doc asked for isn't there? We've wasted valuable time fucking around while the boss bleeds to death! Look why don't we just take the doctor back to the hospital, I'm sure we can get everything there right?"
"Well yeah, but Edmond said... "
"I'm sure Edmond won't mind if disobey his orders if it's going to save his life."
Well this certainly stressful. If the warehouse is lacking supplies, you might not be able to help Edmond. If you go back to the hospital you might take too much time since it's not just the trip back and forth but it's the sneaking around stealing medical supplies.
> tell Reg to get the supplies at the warehouse
You decide it would be best to do this quickly as possible. You're sure that you can improvise if needed.
"Better go to the warehouse, I don't want to leave Edmond in the state he's in any longer than necessary."
"Sounds good, but you're coming with me, it'll go even faster if you're there to point out stuff you need." Reg says.
"Uh... okay." You reply not expecting to leave with Reg.
You and Reg take the carriage and soon you're at the warehouse where a couple of goons let you in.
"Okay, the medical shit is over here, let's get it and go."
You tell Reg to find the obvious things like syringes and bandages while you try to look for the pharmaceuticals. You're having a hard time though and look for a good twenty minutes before Reg gets impatient.
"Come on, what's taking so fucking long?"
"I can't find any antibiotics or anything like that. I need that stuff to make sure he doesn't die of an infection even after I sew him back up. The fact that this place has really bad lighting doesn't make it any easier."
"Look, worry about that later. Grab some of that stuff when you're at work tomorrow and come back here. Right now though the primary concern is stopping the bleeding and getting him patched up! He's tough he's not going to die overnight of some infection."
Not necessarily true, as you've seen it happen before, but there's little you can do about it now. You just hope Edmond's constitution is as good as Reg claims.
Just as you're about to leave a couple of gunshots are heard followed by the death yelps of several men.
"Oh shit! It's a hit!" Reg shouts scrambling for his flintlock pistol, while the sounds of several footsteps enter the building.
You start to panic and look for another exit, but it's hard to see in this darkness, so you fumble around trying to stay hidden. A couple more gunshots are heard followed by the slumping of a couple of bodies.
"Argh shit!!" you hear Reg shout. This is followed by a set of running footsteps and the sound of a sword hitting something. You don't hear Reg anymore.
You creep behind a bunch of boxes hoping that you're not found, but it doesn't work. A hand suddenly grabs you and turns you around.
"There you are doc. I really wish this could've been different, I really do. But it's time for a change in this organization and you're just another casualty of war, nothing personal." Hans says and stabs you repeatedly in the chest until you're no longer breathing. |
A few years have passed and your medical schooling is complete and you now work at the Klyton hospital as a real doctor. You haven't been able to really enjoy your success though.
Sure, you have your own apartment and you make a decent living to afford the things you want, but you're always waiting for the other shoe to drop and Edmond is going to call in that favor. It's prevented you from even having a serious relationship for fear that whomever you're with could possibly be hurt if things get... complex.
Of course there's also your mother to worry about still, but from what you know she's planning on selling the old inn and moving to Teckleville. Hopefully soon, so it'll at least keep her somewhat out of potential harm.
Ultimately you try to keep yourself busy with work hoping it will keep your mind off things, but it doesn't help. Eventually you do come up with something that does help a bit. Alcohol.
It's amazing that you grew up in a place that sells the stuff and never had a drink until now. You have to say, it's not bad and it seems to calm you a bit when you're feeling anxious. Through this crutch you finally manage to cope.
Well at least until the fateful day does arrive...
One night when you're coming home from the hospital and carriage pulls up next to you.
"Hey doc, I think we have a friend in common." A voice says from the inside of the carriage.
"Let me guess, Edmond. Right?" you reply.
"Correct. I think you know what comes next doc."
"Yeah, I do." You say and get into the carriage.
You sit down on one side while sitting opposite of you is one man dressed in a cheap suit smoking pipe weed. The other one is dressed more casually and openly playing with a dagger. The pipe man lights up and speaks.
"Before we get started, my name's Hans and this is my brother Wallace. Now that that's over with, Edmond is personally in need of your medical services."
"I figured it was something like that. What happened to him?
"Oh what usually happens to our kind in this business. There was a disagreement, some words were exchanged and before you know it, some people get hurt while others aren't so lucky."
"I... see. So I take it we're heading to him right now?"
"Yes. He's a little paranoid about going to hospitals especially with the attempt on his life and all."
"Hey, doesn't he already have a doctor?"
"He did, but unfortunately his over indulgence of the spirits made his skills useless and he was... sent away a long time ago."
"Oh... "
The rest of the trip is mostly in silence. Hans asks a few superficial things about you which you give quick answer to, but your mind is focused more on what you're going to encounter when you get to Edmond. How bad is he going to be? What happens if you can't help him? By the gods you could use a drink right now.
You then think to yourself. "Maybe this is why his old doctor was a drunk."
Eventually you arrive at the Troll's Breath Tavern. When you enter the place it's completely empty save for a few rough looking sorts who look like they're focused on cleaning up the place. You notice broken glass and a few blood spots here and there.
"Is that the doc?" one of them asks Hans.
"Yeah, is Ed still in his office?"
"Yeah, and his pet lizard is guarding him like a fucking dragon. Ed's not letting anyone in there except the doctor."
"Hm, well I guess you better get in there then. Don't worry. You're probably safer than the rest of us right now."
You don't share that sentiment, but you have little choice in the matter. You head to Edmond's office and knock on the door.
"Who the fuck is it? That better be the doc!"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm coming in."
You cautiously enter and see a great deal of blood on the floor. Edmond is clutching on to his left side and his Sotakan assassin is standing close by staring directly at you. A bottle whiskey is also nearby probably being used to dull his pain and as a disinfectant.
"Well, don't just stand there, I gotta fucking hole in my side!"
You quickly inspect the wound and see that Edmond's been shot most likely by a blunderbuss and he's still got fragments of the shot in his body.
"Okay, keep the pressure on it like you've been doing. I can fix this, but I need to act fast and I'm gonna need some stuff from the hospital." You say.
"What?! You mean those idiots didn't have you pick up any supplies?"
"No, they told me to just get into the carriage."
"Fucking morons. It's like they want me to die! Okay look, we got access to some hospital supplies in a warehouse much closer than the hospital. Just tell Reg outside what you need and he'll get them for you. Go, go."
You leave the office and ask for Reg, who comes up immediately.
"What's up? Will he live?"
"Yeah, but I'll need some medical supplies. He said you can get them from one of your warehouses. Now I need... "
Before you can finish Hans interjects.
"Reg, you realize we sold most of those supplies to that bodylegger a few weeks ago? We don't have much left."
"We don't? Well what do we have left?" Reg asks.
"I dunno, I don't have the supply list in front of me now do I? But what if you get there and find that what the doc asked for isn't there? We've wasted valuable time fucking around while the boss bleeds to death! Look why don't we just take the doctor back to the hospital, I'm sure we can get everything there right?"
"Well yeah, but Edmond said... "
"I'm sure Edmond won't mind if disobey his orders if it's going to save his life."
Well this certainly stressful. If the warehouse is lacking supplies, you might not be able to help Edmond. If you go back to the hospital you might take too much time since it's not just the trip back and forth but it's the sneaking around stealing medical supplies.
> go back to the hospital
The hospital is probably a better bet. Besides you can get the higher quality stuff there. You doubt if you'll have that much of a problem getting the supplies too, it isn't an uncommon thing for a few things to go missing here and there.
"We better go back to the hospital, I'd rather be on the safe side."
"Good man, come on we'll take the carriage back to the hospital, my brother will drive it, he knows all the short cuts in this city and isn't squeamish about running over dumb fuckers that get in the way."
"Erm, okay then." You reply.
"Just be quick about this shit, if you take too fucking long and Edmond dies, you three are going to be joining him!" Reg reminds all of you.
You, Hans and Wallace leave the Troll's Breath Tavern and set out for the hospital. On the way there you make a mental note of what to say if anyone at the hospital asks you any questions and where else in the hospital to search just in case you don't find what you need right away.
"Tell me, do you think Edmond is a fair man?" Hans suddenly asks you.
"Huh?"
"I said, do you think Edmond is a fair man? Tis not a hard question."
"Uh, well sure. I mean I had a deal with him in the past and he lived up to it."
"Yeah, I know all about that so called deal. If it were truly a deal, you and me wouldn't be having this conversation. I hope you realize this isn't going to be the last time he calls on you again."
You don't say anything. You were trying not to dwell on the possibility of such depressing matters.
"Look friend, I know you. You'd rather not have to live your life being connected to the underworld, but you were in a tight spot, so you resorted to desperate measures. Sort of like your father no?"
"Yeah... I guess so... " you answer not really thinking of that parallel before.
"Well, I sympathize. Trust me I do. I mean I know what it's like to get so far deep into something that you don't know how you're ever going to get out. Hell, I never intended to be part of the Crimson Talons, but I had to do it not just for my survival but my brother's as well."
You say nothing and wait for Hans to get to the point he's going to make.
"What I'm saying is, you don't NEED to have this hanging over your head forever. You could end it tonight."
"Hold on, if we're talking about what I think we are, you heard Reg, he said if we took too long he'd have us all killed."
"I didn't suggest that. I mean that hospital surely has a bunch of things that shouldn't be used in excessive dosages."
"You want me to kill him? I can't do that, I'd get killed by that Sotakan! If not immediately then certainly soon after he suspected that I had something to do with his death!"
"Well I figured that you'd be a little creative in that area. Perhaps give him something for the pain. Something that creates a plausible tale that the man just died in his sleep. It's not like that lizard is really going to put two and two together. It's not the brightest thing; it's just really good at following orders and killing people. I wouldn't worry about it anyway. The lizard will be taken care of soon. And you needn't worry about anyone else potentially retaliating either, Edmond's never been too popular and what few loyal cronies he has other than the lizard will also be dealt with."
You bury your hands in your head at the thought of all this and how you got here in the first place. If you go through with this, you won't just be an accomplice the murder anymore, but a full blown one. You think about the irony of being a doctor. You're supposed to be keeping people alive not killing them.
"Look, I know this is all a lot to take in, but just think. If you do this, you're free. Free to go about the rest of your life as you see fit. And getting rid of Edmond would be a favor to everyone; he's an evil bastard. Now I'm not saying I'm a saint, but the man is unnecessarily brutal. I'd at least try to put an end to some of the random violence that goes on in the organization and get back to focusing on business. Hell, I've got even a long-term plan of trying to make the organization legit one day. Like I said, I didn't really want this life, but it was survival at the time."
If Hans is trying to identify with you on some level to get you to help him, it's working, because you're starting to seriously consider going through with this plan.
Eventually you get to the hospital and you tell Hans you'll be out as soon as possible. It's the graveyard shift so you don't run into too many people you know that ask questions. In fact nobody really pays too much attention to you at all, but you decide to play it safe and head down to the supply room in the basement to take what you need.
After grabbing a few syringes, disinfectants, bandages and the like, you break the lock of the cabinet with the pharmaceutical supplies. You grab the pain killers immediately, but then you look for something that might help you with the other problem.
"Incitahol? What the hell?" you say to yourself, picking up the small vial. This stuff shouldn't even be mixed in with the regular drugs. It's a powerful experimental concoction! It was supposed to be a "miracle" drug that increased the body's natural healing ability even greater than that of mountain trolls and was first used on dying patients. Unfortunately what the drug really did was the speed up the death process and bring them back as zombies. It was banned by most civilized places and is highly sought out by lazy necromancers who don't have the natural ability to raise hordes of undead.
You'd worry more about finding this if you didn't have your own drama going on right now. In fact this would probably be the perfect thing to take with you. Incitahol doesn't cause pain and quickly puts the patient into a coma and death follows soon after. (And then it's zombie time) You'll have to explain some of this to Hans though so he's prepared.
Part of you wonders if you should really go through with all this though. There's no guarantee that Hans is telling you the truth and you might be just trading one master for another. In fact he might just blame you for everything and have you killed when he takes power.
Of course another way to handle this is to inject this stuff into Edmond and not tell him what's going to happen. Chances are undead Ed might kill everyone nearby. Incitahol does increase the reflexes and strength after death making for a rather lively zombie. The problem is this is a very risky endeavor not to mention severely irresponsible.
> don't kill Edmond
You don't know if you'll forever be indebted to Edmond, but at least you know his character a little bit better than Hans. Telling Hans you're not going to go through with his plan though would be foolish, the only way to do this is to act like you are and then rat him out when you get to Edmond. Not the noblest of plans, but you see that you have little choice.
When you leave the hospital you enter the carriage, which is waiting for you across the street.
"I trust you got everything you need?"
"Yeah, I found something perfect to take care of our problem."
"Excellent! I knew you'd see things my way." Hans says. He doesn't seem to think you're going to double cross him, which is good news for you. Hans goes on a little more about how you're doing the right thing and to make sure to stay calm throughout the whole procedure
You get back to the tavern where Reg and several other Talon members are waiting.
"What the fuck took you so damn long? Edmond could've died already!"
"Sorry." You reply and head to his office.
You enter the office and the Sotakan assassin is holding a dagger to your throat already.
"Down boy, it's the doc...ugh... what the fuck took you so long? I'm dying over here!"
The Sotakan releases you and you run over to Edmond who is now lying on the floor still clutching his side. You begin working on Edmond immediately.
"Argh, fuck! That hurt!" Edmond winces as you take out a few pieces of shrapnel before sewing him up.
"Yeah I imagine it would. I got some bad news to tell you."
"What worse than getting shot?
"Well maybe not as bad as that, but how close are you to Hans and his brother?"
"We're business associates though they've been working for me since they were snot nosed kids. So I suppose I'm like a father figure to them. Heh heh."
"Then they're ready to commit patricide, because they tried to get me to kill you."
"What!?"
You explain to Edmond what Hans told you as you're working on him. He's mad, but not at you. In fact he doesn't even accuse you of making it up. He says it's hardly surprising given the business he's in. He calls over his Sotakan and tells him "Hans, Wallace, dead." With this simple instruction, the lizard assassin finally leaves the room to do his mission.
Doesn't take long for the Sotakan to come back.
"Wow. I guess that's the end of that then." You say still working on Edmond.
"Looks like. Hey doc, that was a real standup thing ya did. You probably could've easily injected me with some shit that could've killed me without even my lizard boy even realizing it before it was too late."
"I'm not a killer, despite my unfortunate lapse of judgment concerning how to deal with those waitresses a few years ago."
"Hmm, well I'm sure it probably still passed through your mind. Especially how that deal went down with Frank's place. Anyway, Hans was probably right about one thing, I was going to hang that incident over your head for the rest of your life, but given these recent events let's call it even."
"Thanks Edmond." You say politely. Sure you could get self-righteous and point out that you've saved his life TWICE. But really, why piss off a crime boss?
After patching up Edmond and making sure he's not going to get an infection, you mention that he should be fine as long as he takes it easy for a couple months. He thanks you again and says if you ever need another favor you know where to find him. You assure him that you won't.
You get on with your life after this last bit of dabbling with the underworld. Part of you for a while worries that Edmond is going to go back on his word, but that doesn't happen thankfully. You definitely feel a great weight has been lifted off of you. You also properly dispose of the Incitahol. You'd normally report something like this, but you'd rather not have to explain why you were breaking into the pharmaceutical cabinet in the first place. You just hope whoever was dumb enough to put the stuff there doesn't have any more of it.
As for your family's inn, your mother eventually sells it in a few years and moves back to Teckleville. You aren't unhappy to see it sold off; you didn't have too many great memories of the place in the last years you were there. Still, if it weren't for the inn you wouldn't have been able to become a doctor either.
While the rest of your life generally plays out in a positive way, you never do lose your minor alcohol problem because every once in awhile you still feel guilt about some of the things you were involved in. Drinking helps ease the pain a bit, but you never talk to anyone else about it of course. Sometimes you wonder what you could've done different when you worked at the inn, a better way perhaps.
You'll never know. |
The hospital is probably a better bet. Besides you can get the higher quality stuff there. You doubt if you'll have that much of a problem getting the supplies too, it isn't an uncommon thing for a few things to go missing here and there.
"We better go back to the hospital, I'd rather be on the safe side."
"Good man, come on we'll take the carriage back to the hospital, my brother will drive it, he knows all the short cuts in this city and isn't squeamish about running over dumb fuckers that get in the way."
"Erm, okay then." You reply.
"Just be quick about this shit, if you take too fucking long and Edmond dies, you three are going to be joining him!" Reg reminds all of you.
You, Hans and Wallace leave the Troll's Breath Tavern and set out for the hospital. On the way there you make a mental note of what to say if anyone at the hospital asks you any questions and where else in the hospital to search just in case you don't find what you need right away.
"Tell me, do you think Edmond is a fair man?" Hans suddenly asks you.
"Huh?"
"I said, do you think Edmond is a fair man? Tis not a hard question."
"Uh, well sure. I mean I had a deal with him in the past and he lived up to it."
"Yeah, I know all about that so called deal. If it were truly a deal, you and me wouldn't be having this conversation. I hope you realize this isn't going to be the last time he calls on you again."
You don't say anything. You were trying not to dwell on the possibility of such depressing matters.
"Look friend, I know you. You'd rather not have to live your life being connected to the underworld, but you were in a tight spot, so you resorted to desperate measures. Sort of like your father no?"
"Yeah... I guess so... " you answer not really thinking of that parallel before.
"Well, I sympathize. Trust me I do. I mean I know what it's like to get so far deep into something that you don't know how you're ever going to get out. Hell, I never intended to be part of the Crimson Talons, but I had to do it not just for my survival but my brother's as well."
You say nothing and wait for Hans to get to the point he's going to make.
"What I'm saying is, you don't NEED to have this hanging over your head forever. You could end it tonight."
"Hold on, if we're talking about what I think we are, you heard Reg, he said if we took too long he'd have us all killed."
"I didn't suggest that. I mean that hospital surely has a bunch of things that shouldn't be used in excessive dosages."
"You want me to kill him? I can't do that, I'd get killed by that Sotakan! If not immediately then certainly soon after he suspected that I had something to do with his death!"
"Well I figured that you'd be a little creative in that area. Perhaps give him something for the pain. Something that creates a plausible tale that the man just died in his sleep. It's not like that lizard is really going to put two and two together. It's not the brightest thing; it's just really good at following orders and killing people. I wouldn't worry about it anyway. The lizard will be taken care of soon. And you needn't worry about anyone else potentially retaliating either, Edmond's never been too popular and what few loyal cronies he has other than the lizard will also be dealt with."
You bury your hands in your head at the thought of all this and how you got here in the first place. If you go through with this, you won't just be an accomplice the murder anymore, but a full blown one. You think about the irony of being a doctor. You're supposed to be keeping people alive not killing them.
"Look, I know this is all a lot to take in, but just think. If you do this, you're free. Free to go about the rest of your life as you see fit. And getting rid of Edmond would be a favor to everyone; he's an evil bastard. Now I'm not saying I'm a saint, but the man is unnecessarily brutal. I'd at least try to put an end to some of the random violence that goes on in the organization and get back to focusing on business. Hell, I've got even a long-term plan of trying to make the organization legit one day. Like I said, I didn't really want this life, but it was survival at the time."
If Hans is trying to identify with you on some level to get you to help him, it's working, because you're starting to seriously consider going through with this plan.
Eventually you get to the hospital and you tell Hans you'll be out as soon as possible. It's the graveyard shift so you don't run into too many people you know that ask questions. In fact nobody really pays too much attention to you at all, but you decide to play it safe and head down to the supply room in the basement to take what you need.
After grabbing a few syringes, disinfectants, bandages and the like, you break the lock of the cabinet with the pharmaceutical supplies. You grab the pain killers immediately, but then you look for something that might help you with the other problem.
"Incitahol? What the hell?" you say to yourself, picking up the small vial. This stuff shouldn't even be mixed in with the regular drugs. It's a powerful experimental concoction! It was supposed to be a "miracle" drug that increased the body's natural healing ability even greater than that of mountain trolls and was first used on dying patients. Unfortunately what the drug really did was the speed up the death process and bring them back as zombies. It was banned by most civilized places and is highly sought out by lazy necromancers who don't have the natural ability to raise hordes of undead.
You'd worry more about finding this if you didn't have your own drama going on right now. In fact this would probably be the perfect thing to take with you. Incitahol doesn't cause pain and quickly puts the patient into a coma and death follows soon after. (And then it's zombie time) You'll have to explain some of this to Hans though so he's prepared.
Part of you wonders if you should really go through with all this though. There's no guarantee that Hans is telling you the truth and you might be just trading one master for another. In fact he might just blame you for everything and have you killed when he takes power.
Of course another way to handle this is to inject this stuff into Edmond and not tell him what's going to happen. Chances are undead Ed might kill everyone nearby. Incitahol does increase the reflexes and strength after death making for a rather lively zombie. The problem is this is a very risky endeavor not to mention severely irresponsible.
> kill Edmond and inform Hans of the plan
Hans is probably right about Edmond, he's going to keep you around indefinitely. If you help Hans he'll most likely have his hands full trying to root out all the people still loyal to Edmond and solidifying his power base to worry about you.
When you leave the hospital you enter the carriage, which is waiting for you across the street.
"I trust you got everything you need?"
"Yeah, I found something perfect to take care of our problem, but I need to warn you about it first."
"Oh? Well, out with it then." Hans says.
You explain to Hans about the Incitahol and he seems intrigued.
"So this stuff will kill him and then bring him back to life?"
"In a manner of speaking. He'll slowly lapse into a coma and then die. Then he'll come back as a zombie and most likely a very lively and hostile one."
"Interesting. Okay. Good. That lizard will probably be by his side the whole time. When Edmond comes back he'll probably try to attack his lizard who will defend himself and then the rest takes care of itself."
You're glad Hans sounds pleased with this plan, the only thing you have to do now is pull off the deception. Eventually you get back to the tavern where Reg and several other Talon members are waiting.
"What the fuck took you so damn long? Edmond could've died already!"
"Sorry." You reply and head to his office.
You enter the office and the Sotakan assassin is holding a dagger to your throat already.
"Down boy, it's the doc...ugh... what the fuck took you so long? I'm dying over here!"
The Sotakan releases you and you run over to Edmond who is now lying on the floor still clutching his side.
"I'm going to give you this shot first, it'll help as an anti-biotic and to ease the pain. You might start getting sleepy though, do you someplace more comfortable to lay?"
"Yeah, I guess the sofa."
You Help Edmond to the sofa and give him the shot of Incitahol. You then begin sewing him up as quickly as possible. Normally you'd do a better job and extract the shrapnel in his body, but you figure he's going to be dead soon anyway and you need to get out of here before he starts turning.
"There you go. You should be good now, but you'll need to rest and not move too much for a few days."
"(Yawn) Not a problem. I'll probably just take care of business from here for the time being. As long I got my Sotakan whatchin' my back, I'll be fine. Damn, that shit kicks in really quick. I don't feel anything... .(Yawn) Glad you could help out doc... be sure to stick around... (Yawn) might have some work for you in the... zzzzzzzzzz... "
You stand away from Edmond, give a nod to the Sotakan and then leave quickly.
"So is he asleep?" Edmond asks walking up to you.
"Yeah, won't be long... hey where's that Reg guy?" you say noticing a difference in some of the personnel hanging around the bar now.
"Don't worry about him, you just take a seat at that table over there. If need anything just let Wallace know."
"But you know what's going to happen and I'm not a fighter. I don't think you'll need me here."
"Don't be so sure. Given what's going to go down, we might still need a doctor soon. Besides having a doctor around in the future might be useful. Sit down, you'll be fine."
You get the impression you don't have any choice in the matter, so you do what Hans says. You curse yourself for believing him. You have indeed traded one master for another.
"Could I have a drink?" you ask Wallace, who looks less than pleased about you barking orders at him, but he gets you a bottle of strong whiskey before going to talk to his brother.
Time passes and as you slowly get more drunk a loud noise is heard from Edmond's office. It's a mixture of hissing, moaning and loud crashing.
"Hah! Sounds like he's (hic!) up!" you slur while taking another drink. At this point Hans, Wallace and several other thugs rush into the office. You hear a bunch of yelling, fighting, and gunshots, but you just continue to drink the whole time.
"Dis is yer fate mr. smart ass doctor, now you gotta (hic!) get yoost to it." You say to your self while looking at the bottle.
"Was it worth it?"
At this point Hans exits Edmond's office looking a bit winded. He's followed by Wallace and one of the other thugs that lived.
"Shit, it's a good thing that lizard had been preoccupied with Edmond. I can say with all honesty he put up a damn good fight even with a couple of bites in him."
"You chopped his head off I (hic!) hope!" you exclaim.
"Yeah, of course I know the stories of the dead infection. Sheesh doc, I think you've had enough for the night." Hans remarks.
"I haven't begun to drink!" you shout and then promptly pass out in the tavern.
While this would be the first time you passed out in the Troll's Breath Tavern, it wouldn't be the last. After this night, your life takes a drastic turn.
Your hospital career begins to take a slow but sure nosedive, though your "career" as a Crimson doc begins to pick up a lot. Hans has a lot more trouble establishing order over the Crimson Talons than he thought he would. You end up doing a lot of after hours surgery. To Hans' credit he pays you well and you get free drinks whenever you can.
Eventually your mother knows something is going on with you, she isn't sure what (and doesn't really want to either), but she knows it isn't good. Having no real reason to stay any longer, she finally sells the inn to the city and moves back to Teckleville. She mentions when you get your life together you can visit her, until that time, stay away.
You never see her again.
From there your life becomes a downward spiral and your drinking increases to cope with your situation. As the years go on, the hospital can't tolerate your sub par work due to a combination of drink and lack of proper sleep. Getting fired is bad enough, but you also lose your license and are lucky not to go to jail for malpractice.
Doesn't really matter to you at this point, you just embrace the whole criminal lifestyle and work for Hans full time. The only problem is, he's getting sick of your sub-par work as well. Your situation becomes very much like the doctor who once worked Edmond.
It doesn't really need to be said that your fate is very similar to his as well.
One night during a poker game you're on a rare winning streak and drinking heavily as usual. Your obnoxious bragging gets on the nerves of several Crimson Talon members who have already been told on several occasions by Hans that your usefulness is soon coming to an end. They decide that tonight is the night.
As you try to stumble your way home in the dark, a crushing blow knocks you to the street followed by several sharp piecing to your body. Fortunately you're so damn drunk that the pain is somewhat nonexistent. You mumble something incoherent and then pass out forever.
Your winnings are taken back and your body sold to a bodylegger for spare parts. (Your liver is useless though) |
The hospital is probably a better bet. Besides you can get the higher quality stuff there. You doubt if you'll have that much of a problem getting the supplies too, it isn't an uncommon thing for a few things to go missing here and there.
"We better go back to the hospital, I'd rather be on the safe side."
"Good man, come on we'll take the carriage back to the hospital, my brother will drive it, he knows all the short cuts in this city and isn't squeamish about running over dumb fuckers that get in the way."
"Erm, okay then." You reply.
"Just be quick about this shit, if you take too fucking long and Edmond dies, you three are going to be joining him!" Reg reminds all of you.
You, Hans and Wallace leave the Troll's Breath Tavern and set out for the hospital. On the way there you make a mental note of what to say if anyone at the hospital asks you any questions and where else in the hospital to search just in case you don't find what you need right away.
"Tell me, do you think Edmond is a fair man?" Hans suddenly asks you.
"Huh?"
"I said, do you think Edmond is a fair man? Tis not a hard question."
"Uh, well sure. I mean I had a deal with him in the past and he lived up to it."
"Yeah, I know all about that so called deal. If it were truly a deal, you and me wouldn't be having this conversation. I hope you realize this isn't going to be the last time he calls on you again."
You don't say anything. You were trying not to dwell on the possibility of such depressing matters.
"Look friend, I know you. You'd rather not have to live your life being connected to the underworld, but you were in a tight spot, so you resorted to desperate measures. Sort of like your father no?"
"Yeah... I guess so... " you answer not really thinking of that parallel before.
"Well, I sympathize. Trust me I do. I mean I know what it's like to get so far deep into something that you don't know how you're ever going to get out. Hell, I never intended to be part of the Crimson Talons, but I had to do it not just for my survival but my brother's as well."
You say nothing and wait for Hans to get to the point he's going to make.
"What I'm saying is, you don't NEED to have this hanging over your head forever. You could end it tonight."
"Hold on, if we're talking about what I think we are, you heard Reg, he said if we took too long he'd have us all killed."
"I didn't suggest that. I mean that hospital surely has a bunch of things that shouldn't be used in excessive dosages."
"You want me to kill him? I can't do that, I'd get killed by that Sotakan! If not immediately then certainly soon after he suspected that I had something to do with his death!"
"Well I figured that you'd be a little creative in that area. Perhaps give him something for the pain. Something that creates a plausible tale that the man just died in his sleep. It's not like that lizard is really going to put two and two together. It's not the brightest thing; it's just really good at following orders and killing people. I wouldn't worry about it anyway. The lizard will be taken care of soon. And you needn't worry about anyone else potentially retaliating either, Edmond's never been too popular and what few loyal cronies he has other than the lizard will also be dealt with."
You bury your hands in your head at the thought of all this and how you got here in the first place. If you go through with this, you won't just be an accomplice the murder anymore, but a full blown one. You think about the irony of being a doctor. You're supposed to be keeping people alive not killing them.
"Look, I know this is all a lot to take in, but just think. If you do this, you're free. Free to go about the rest of your life as you see fit. And getting rid of Edmond would be a favor to everyone; he's an evil bastard. Now I'm not saying I'm a saint, but the man is unnecessarily brutal. I'd at least try to put an end to some of the random violence that goes on in the organization and get back to focusing on business. Hell, I've got even a long-term plan of trying to make the organization legit one day. Like I said, I didn't really want this life, but it was survival at the time."
If Hans is trying to identify with you on some level to get you to help him, it's working, because you're starting to seriously consider going through with this plan.
Eventually you get to the hospital and you tell Hans you'll be out as soon as possible. It's the graveyard shift so you don't run into too many people you know that ask questions. In fact nobody really pays too much attention to you at all, but you decide to play it safe and head down to the supply room in the basement to take what you need.
After grabbing a few syringes, disinfectants, bandages and the like, you break the lock of the cabinet with the pharmaceutical supplies. You grab the pain killers immediately, but then you look for something that might help you with the other problem.
"Incitahol? What the hell?" you say to yourself, picking up the small vial. This stuff shouldn't even be mixed in with the regular drugs. It's a powerful experimental concoction! It was supposed to be a "miracle" drug that increased the body's natural healing ability even greater than that of mountain trolls and was first used on dying patients. Unfortunately what the drug really did was the speed up the death process and bring them back as zombies. It was banned by most civilized places and is highly sought out by lazy necromancers who don't have the natural ability to raise hordes of undead.
You'd worry more about finding this if you didn't have your own drama going on right now. In fact this would probably be the perfect thing to take with you. Incitahol doesn't cause pain and quickly puts the patient into a coma and death follows soon after. (And then it's zombie time) You'll have to explain some of this to Hans though so he's prepared.
Part of you wonders if you should really go through with all this though. There's no guarantee that Hans is telling you the truth and you might be just trading one master for another. In fact he might just blame you for everything and have you killed when he takes power.
Of course another way to handle this is to inject this stuff into Edmond and not tell him what's going to happen. Chances are undead Ed might kill everyone nearby. Incitahol does increase the reflexes and strength after death making for a rather lively zombie. The problem is this is a very risky endeavor not to mention severely irresponsible.
> kill Edmond and don't inform Hans of the plan
Hans is probably right about Edmond, he's going to keep you around indefinitely. On the other hand Hans probably isn't any better. It's always possible Hans will get killed by "normal" dangers when he gets in power, but he seems pretty savvy. He's likely to stay in power long enough for you to get trapped in this life and his successor is just going to insist on your services. That's even assuming you live that long, being connected to organized crime isn't necessarily a safe way to live if you don't have the street cred and stomach for it.
You need to get rid of Hans as well and hopefully not telling him what you're exactly going to do will create that opportunity.
When you leave the hospital you enter the carriage, which is waiting for you across the street.
"I trust you got everything you need?"
"Yeah, I found something perfect to take care of our problem. He'll slowly fall asleep, then lapse into a coma then finally die."
"Perfect, I can even say his lizard killed him. I better have a crew ready to bum rush him though. He's not going to be an easy kill though."
You're glad Hans sounds pleased with this plan, the only thing you have to do now is pull off the deception. Eventually you get back to the tavern where Reg and several other Talon members are waiting.
"What the fuck took you so damn long? Edmond could've died already!"
"Sorry." You reply and head to his office.
You enter the office and the Sotakan assassin is holding a dagger to your throat already.
"Down boy, it's the doc...ugh... what the fuck took you so long? I'm dying over here!"
The Sotakan releases you and you run over to Edmond who is now lying on the floor still clutching his side.
"I'm going to give you this shot first, it'll help as an anti-biotic and to ease the pain. You might start getting sleepy though, do you someplace more comfortable to lay?"
"Yeah, I guess the sofa."
You Help Edmond to the sofa and give him the shot of Incitahol. You then begin sewing him up as quickly as possible. Normally you'd do a better job and extract the shrapnel in his body, but you figure he's going to be dead soon anyway and you need to get out of here before he starts turning.
"There you go. You should be good now, but you'll need to rest and not move too much for a few days."
"(Yawn) Not a problem. I'll probably just take care of business from here for the time being. As long I got my Sotakan whatchin' my back, I'll be fine. Damn, that shit kicks in really quick. I don't feel anything... .(Yawn) Glad you could help out doc... be sure to stick around... (Yawn) might have some work for you in the... zzzzzzzzzz... "
You stand away from Edmond, give a nod to the Sotakan and then leave quickly.
"So is he asleep?" Edmond asks walking up to you.
"Yeah, won't be long... hey where's that Reg guy?" you say noticing a difference in some of the personnel hanging around the bar now.
"Don't worry about him, you just take a seat at that table over there. If need anything just let Wallace know."
"Uh, I don't think you really need me around any longer."
"Nonsense! Given what's going to go down, we might still need a doctor soon. Besides having a doctor around in the future might be useful. Sit down, you'll be fine."
You get the impression you don't have much choice in the matter so you do as Hans says. You try not to make your panic too noticeable, but you really scared about what's going to happen. What happens if Hans finds out what you did? What if something gets out of hand and you suddenly got a bunch of zombies hungry for flesh? Normally you'd probably have a drink to calm your nerves, but you're so worried about what might happen, you feel your only hope is to have all your wits about you.
Eventually Wallace gets sick of watching you and goes to talk with his brother who is currently sitting at a table with a group of other thugs telling them how they need to attack the Sotakan assassin as quickly as possible when they rush the room. You think about making a break for it, but you'd never make it.
Time passes and eventually noise is heard from Edmond's office. It's a mixture of hissing, moaning and loud crashing.
"What the fuck?" Hans says pulling out his flintlock and then looks over in your direction, you shrug your shoulders replying "I dunno."
"Come on, let's just do it!" Wallace says picking up a nearby blunderbuss.
At this point Wallace and the rest of the thugs rush into Edmond's office. Hans stays outside watching you and the both of you hear a bunch of yelling, fighting, and gunshots. Then there's silence.
"Wallace?" Hans calls out while heading towards the office.
"... ugh... yeah... I'm hurt... get the doc... " Wallace's voice calls back.
"Come on, get yer ass over here, my brother's hurt!" Wallace says. You gulp nervously and slowly make your way to Wallace
"Shit, it looks like a fucking slaughterhouse in here." Hans remarks as you both enter the room.
Hans is quite correct, the office is splattered with blood and gore with several dead bodies everywhere. Edmond, the Sotakan, and the Crimson thugs they're all dead. You notice Edmond has a head wound, the Sotakan does too, you can't tell with some of the other though until...
"OH SHIT! WALLACE!" Hans shouts as two of those bodies suddenly sit up and attack!
Hans shoots one of them in the chest, dropping it to the floor temporarily, but the other one begins munching on Wallace. His screams are enough to finally cause you to run.
"HEY YOU COWARDLY FUCK, HELP ME! AGH! MY FOOT!" Hans yells as you try to open the tavern door. Unfortunately Hans wasn't taking any chances of you attempting to escape and the door is firmly locked.
In desperation you grab a nearby chair to bust out a small window you might be able to squeeze through. You attempts are cut short when one of the zombies tackles you to the floor and take a bite out of your arm. You cries of pain are cut short when the next bite rips out your throat.
Your death is just one of the first in the zombie plague you thoughtlessly unleashed on Klyton. |
You need professionals for this and David and Tom don't qualify. You ask for directions to the underground gladiator matches, but Mr. Reynolds still insists on a bit of money for that information, so you have no choice but to pay him.
After running back and forth to his office and the inn, (And incurring some questions by your mom and staff where you're going) you pay him and he tells you that it's located in a tavern called the Troll's Breath on the edge of the warehouse district. He tells you to that can let the bartender know that he sent you.
You feel like you're going to get mugged around every corner on your way to the place, but fortunately that doesn't happen. You are approached by several prostitutes and offered Cloud Rock a lot though. When you walk in the place, it's filled with a rowdy bunch as you'd expect. You try not to make eye contact and walk straight to the bar.
"Yeah?" the bald bartender asks gruffly.
"Mr. Reynolds sent me because of my interest in games."
"Did he now? Alright, but the next time you see that dick, tell him his time as an independent loanshark are coming to an end soon. He needs to join up with the Crimson Talon or get the fuck outta Kyton. Door's around the back."
"Thanks, oh uh one more thing."
"What!?"
"Is there anyway to speak to Olaf or Silence after their fights?"
"What the hell do you wanna be talkin' to those two idiots for? The pair of them together barely have enough intelligence to put on their own boots."
"It's a business proposition."
At this point the bartender's eye narrow.
"Wait a fucking minute. You're sent here by Reynolds and you wanna talk to Olaf and Silence about a business proposition? This sounds like Reynolds trying weasely shit as usual. Fuck you, they don't freelance anymore. They're pit fighters for the Crimson Talons until I say otherwise! Now get the fuck outta here!"
"Okay, I'll talk with you then, how much do you want for their services temporarily?"
"I said they ain't for fuckin' hire you dumbfuck! If you wanna meet them so bad though, I can oblige and throw your ass in the ring with them!"
At this point the bartender snaps his fingers and two thugs grab your arms ready to carry you off. You make one desperate plea.
"Alright! Alright! I'll hire whomever else you got then! These two guys holding me will do, I just need some people fucked up and I got money to give to whoever will do it!"
The bartender nods and you're released.
"Alright in my office and start talkin' fast. Reg, you're at the bar."
You follow the bartender upstairs to a room that is much nicer than the rest of place. He sits down at a fancy desk and pours himself a drink, but doesn't offer you anything. You look around the office at the various items he has on the wall until you're interrupted.
"Well? Are we just wasting my time here while you admire my office, because the fight pit is another place you can admire from the inside."
You quickly explain everything and your situation and give him the information that Rita wrote down for you. The bartender nods a bit while playing with his ring. When you're done, he speaks.
"Is that it? You wanted to hire two bruisers like that to cut up some barmaids? You're sort of new at this I take it. Those two would've probably raped and broke all their necks right in the middle of the fucking Flying Griffon. Subtlety is not their strong point."
"Okay so do you have someone else in mind?"
"Sure, got a mean ass Sotakan assassin that could easily do the job."
"A Sotakan? One of those lizard people? But they avoid cities." You say.
"That they do, but let's just say I acquired this one from an egg. The great thing about him, is he's completely loyal and doesn't require much. Just does what he's told."
"How's he sneak around though? I mean seems like he'd stick out."
"Hah, those lizard bastards have natural camouflage abilities. As they grow up they adapt to whatever sort of environment they grow up in. Now a regular swamp dwelling Sotakan would stick out, but not my boy. He's lived here in the city his whole life, took him out in the night to get acquainted with the surroundings while he grew up and now he's practically invisible when he wants to be."
"Okay well that's great, but I don't need them killed."
"Heh, maybe not all of them, but a couple may come back to kill you. I think I may have a little more information on the Flying Griffon than your barmaid found out. Frank's an unregistered wizard. Well wizard's giving him a little too much credit perhaps, but he's managed to snag himself a couple of succubae as barmaids."
"What?! He can't summon demons into the city! That's illegal!"
"Oh and I suppose what we're doing is?"
"Alright, but it's not only illegal, but it's a potential danger to the city."
"No, I agree. Demons tend to fuck up business and their chaotic ways are too much of a risk to deal with, but then again I don't have to tell you that."
"So... how do you know all this?"
"Because it's my fucking job to know shit that might interfere with business that's why. I kept wondering why some of my merchant contacts weren't stopping by here anymore. Frank might have some control over his ladies, but I know he can't completely stop their appetites. Rather short sighted of him really, it's not like they're going to be able to stop themselves from completely draining victims forever. They're going to eventually get out of hand and he's going to start having to explain to the Klyton militia why people are always last seen going into his place before mysteriously disappearing. You must've really pissed him off for him to resort to this."
"Yeah, I guess so... so where does that leave us?"
The bartender (who mentions his name is Edmond and is definitely more than just bartender) says that he was keeping an eye on the Flying Griffon and if he lost anymore of his merchant contact to it, he was going to act. He didn't before since as skilled as his lizard is, he's not sure if he can take two succubae by himself, in fact it would be easier to just try and kill Frank. But of course then there would be two unleashed succubae running around in Klyton and nobody really wants that.
Still, if you're willing to pay then Edmond will readily accept your money, and he'll have the mortal barmaids disfigured and the demonic ones killed. He assures you that unlike Mr. Reynolds this will be a straight up agreement and that the Crimson Talons will not seek to extort your inn in some way. Mainly due to all the Klyton militia and adventurers going there it wouldn't be worth the trouble. He doesn't need to risk some do gooder or gung-ho orderly type sniffing around.
Of course you've been overwhelmed by all this information. Part of you wonders if all this is worth it. You could wait it out, Edmond did claim that Frank probably won't be able to control them forever; the problem with this is in the meantime it'll still be cutting into your business.
With this new information you could also report Frank to your militia buddies, though this might be difficult without evidence. Still, you're on good terms with most of the ones that frequent your place and they'll probably investigate.
> wait it out
You tell Edmond that you think that you'll take his approach and wait it out. If he wants to do anything against Frank, well you won't have anything to do with it. Edmond nods and remarks that perhaps it's best you don't get yourself into this game since it's slippery slope that you're libel to get yourself in a lot more trouble that you wouldn't be equipped to handle.
Before you leave he trusts that you won't be speaking to anyone about your meeting, because if anyone finds out, it won't matter how many militia buddies you have. You assure him that you remember his pet lizard and that it won't be a problem.
You're able to get a coach back to inn, naturally it's a lot later now and everyone is asking you where you've been. You explain that you forgot to do something at campus for a class, which seems to satisfy as an excuse.
So you wait and time passes.
You continue to wait and more time passes.
Six months pass and nothing has changed with the Flying Griffon except they continue to do better than your inn and at this point you're just breaking even. Frank must have his demon girls under control because he's still doing well and Klyton militia isn't investigating him.
You wonder if you should take Edmond up on his offer, but then perhaps he's already tried to kill them and his assassin failed. You also ponder if you should report Frank again, but you shake your head. It's pointless now. You're losing a war that can't be won and you're ready to throw in the towel. Everyone working here isn't happy anymore, and you never wanted to do this job anyway. You wanted to go into medicine.
You approach your mother about selling the inn and she agrees. She apologizes that this inn ultimately became a burden on you, so she says when she sells the place she'll give you all the money in the hopes that it will help with your education.
Ironically your mother ends up selling the inn to Frank. She says he was smug the whole time but was willing to pay much more than the city would. It's a lot, but not enough to finish proper medical school. She wishes you well before leaving Klyton for Teckleville and tells you that you'll always be welcome at Enora's house where she will be living.
You decide maybe while you can't be a doctor, maybe you can still choose something in medical field, presumably something you'll be able to afford and not be as stressed all the time.
You ultimately become a veterinarian and feel a great sense of accomplishment. The only problem is they aren't in great demand in Klyton and the few that do exist in the city have the market pretty much cornered, but you do know of a place where they might need one...
You move to Teckleville where you make a living treating farm animals and pets like kitties and puppies. Occasionally someone has something more exotic like a purple tailed glittermane, but it's a quiet life for the most part. You eventually have a family and live the rest of your days there.
Sometimes you wonder what would've happened if you'd done things a bit differently at the inn, but all things considered it worked out. |
You need professionals for this and David and Tom don't qualify. You ask for directions to the underground gladiator matches, but Mr. Reynolds still insists on a bit of money for that information, so you have no choice but to pay him.
After running back and forth to his office and the inn, (And incurring some questions by your mom and staff where you're going) you pay him and he tells you that it's located in a tavern called the Troll's Breath on the edge of the warehouse district. He tells you to that can let the bartender know that he sent you.
You feel like you're going to get mugged around every corner on your way to the place, but fortunately that doesn't happen. You are approached by several prostitutes and offered Cloud Rock a lot though. When you walk in the place, it's filled with a rowdy bunch as you'd expect. You try not to make eye contact and walk straight to the bar.
"Yeah?" the bald bartender asks gruffly.
"Mr. Reynolds sent me because of my interest in games."
"Did he now? Alright, but the next time you see that dick, tell him his time as an independent loanshark are coming to an end soon. He needs to join up with the Crimson Talon or get the fuck outta Kyton. Door's around the back."
"Thanks, oh uh one more thing."
"What!?"
"Is there anyway to speak to Olaf or Silence after their fights?"
"What the hell do you wanna be talkin' to those two idiots for? The pair of them together barely have enough intelligence to put on their own boots."
"It's a business proposition."
At this point the bartender's eye narrow.
"Wait a fucking minute. You're sent here by Reynolds and you wanna talk to Olaf and Silence about a business proposition? This sounds like Reynolds trying weasely shit as usual. Fuck you, they don't freelance anymore. They're pit fighters for the Crimson Talons until I say otherwise! Now get the fuck outta here!"
"Okay, I'll talk with you then, how much do you want for their services temporarily?"
"I said they ain't for fuckin' hire you dumbfuck! If you wanna meet them so bad though, I can oblige and throw your ass in the ring with them!"
At this point the bartender snaps his fingers and two thugs grab your arms ready to carry you off. You make one desperate plea.
"Alright! Alright! I'll hire whomever else you got then! These two guys holding me will do, I just need some people fucked up and I got money to give to whoever will do it!"
The bartender nods and you're released.
"Alright in my office and start talkin' fast. Reg, you're at the bar."
You follow the bartender upstairs to a room that is much nicer than the rest of place. He sits down at a fancy desk and pours himself a drink, but doesn't offer you anything. You look around the office at the various items he has on the wall until you're interrupted.
"Well? Are we just wasting my time here while you admire my office, because the fight pit is another place you can admire from the inside."
You quickly explain everything and your situation and give him the information that Rita wrote down for you. The bartender nods a bit while playing with his ring. When you're done, he speaks.
"Is that it? You wanted to hire two bruisers like that to cut up some barmaids? You're sort of new at this I take it. Those two would've probably raped and broke all their necks right in the middle of the fucking Flying Griffon. Subtlety is not their strong point."
"Okay so do you have someone else in mind?"
"Sure, got a mean ass Sotakan assassin that could easily do the job."
"A Sotakan? One of those lizard people? But they avoid cities." You say.
"That they do, but let's just say I acquired this one from an egg. The great thing about him, is he's completely loyal and doesn't require much. Just does what he's told."
"How's he sneak around though? I mean seems like he'd stick out."
"Hah, those lizard bastards have natural camouflage abilities. As they grow up they adapt to whatever sort of environment they grow up in. Now a regular swamp dwelling Sotakan would stick out, but not my boy. He's lived here in the city his whole life, took him out in the night to get acquainted with the surroundings while he grew up and now he's practically invisible when he wants to be."
"Okay well that's great, but I don't need them killed."
"Heh, maybe not all of them, but a couple may come back to kill you. I think I may have a little more information on the Flying Griffon than your barmaid found out. Frank's an unregistered wizard. Well wizard's giving him a little too much credit perhaps, but he's managed to snag himself a couple of succubae as barmaids."
"What?! He can't summon demons into the city! That's illegal!"
"Oh and I suppose what we're doing is?"
"Alright, but it's not only illegal, but it's a potential danger to the city."
"No, I agree. Demons tend to fuck up business and their chaotic ways are too much of a risk to deal with, but then again I don't have to tell you that."
"So... how do you know all this?"
"Because it's my fucking job to know shit that might interfere with business that's why. I kept wondering why some of my merchant contacts weren't stopping by here anymore. Frank might have some control over his ladies, but I know he can't completely stop their appetites. Rather short sighted of him really, it's not like they're going to be able to stop themselves from completely draining victims forever. They're going to eventually get out of hand and he's going to start having to explain to the Klyton militia why people are always last seen going into his place before mysteriously disappearing. You must've really pissed him off for him to resort to this."
"Yeah, I guess so... so where does that leave us?"
The bartender (who mentions his name is Edmond and is definitely more than just bartender) says that he was keeping an eye on the Flying Griffon and if he lost anymore of his merchant contact to it, he was going to act. He didn't before since as skilled as his lizard is, he's not sure if he can take two succubae by himself, in fact it would be easier to just try and kill Frank. But of course then there would be two unleashed succubae running around in Klyton and nobody really wants that.
Still, if you're willing to pay then Edmond will readily accept your money, and he'll have the mortal barmaids disfigured and the demonic ones killed. He assures you that unlike Mr. Reynolds this will be a straight up agreement and that the Crimson Talons will not seek to extort your inn in some way. Mainly due to all the Klyton militia and adventurers going there it wouldn't be worth the trouble. He doesn't need to risk some do gooder or gung-ho orderly type sniffing around.
Of course you've been overwhelmed by all this information. Part of you wonders if all this is worth it. You could wait it out, Edmond did claim that Frank probably won't be able to control them forever; the problem with this is in the meantime it'll still be cutting into your business.
With this new information you could also report Frank to your militia buddies, though this might be difficult without evidence. Still, you're on good terms with most of the ones that frequent your place and they'll probably investigate.
> tell the militia
You decide to tell Edmond that you think that you'll wait it out. Edmond nods and remarks that perhaps it's best you don't get yourself into this game since it's slippery slope that you're libel to get yourself in a lot more trouble that you wouldn't be equipped to handle.
Before you leave he trusts that you won't be speaking to anyone about your meeting, because if anyone finds out, it won't matter how many militia buddies you have. You assure him that you remember his pet lizard and that it won't be a problem.
You're able to get a coach back to inn, naturally it's a lot later now and everyone is asking you where you've been. You explain that you forgot to do something at campus for a class, which seems to satisfy as an excuse.
You are a little nervous now about reporting this to the militia after Edmond's threat, but you figure as long as you keep his name out of it, you'll be fine. You walk over to one the tables where several militiamen are drinking. Their leader, Sergeant Keller greets you and asks if Wendy's coming back to the table soon. You aren't sure how to approach this so you just explain the situation while omitting the way you came about the information. Keller of course is skeptical and naturally asks you how you know this. After dodging several questions, Keller realizes he isn't going to get anymore information from you.
"Alright, something shady is going on here... however if you're serious about these demons at the Flying Griffon, I suppose it can't hurt to check it out. We're not doing this favor for free though. Fifty silvers."
"What!?"
"Hey while I'd love to just harass people on a daily basis I really can't go around abusing his position like that, at least not without a little incentive."
"(Sigh) Yeah, yeah I get it, everyone's gotta get paid. Fine, let me get it from the back, but you better shut Frank down."
"Oh don't worry about that. Tomorrow we'll check the place out and if anything is out of the ordinary, we'll handle it. If Frank turns out to be an unlicensed mage we'll run him in, demons or not."
You pay Keller, feel a little better about handling it this way and go about your business for the rest of the night.
The next day you get out of class you're about to board a coach to take you to the inn, but two militiamen stop you.
"Sir, you need to come with us."
"What? What did I do?"
"Just come with us quickly. Sergeant Keller wants to see you."
Not wishing to cause a scene you board a different coach with the militiamen. You continue to ask them questions, but they say they don't have any answers. All they know is that they were sent to get you and that you'll have to speak to their Sergeant about everything.
You get very nervous when the coach passes several barracks and through the Klyton south gate. Eventually it stops miles away from Klyton and the militiamen tell you to get out.
"What's going on? What are we doing out of Klyton? Hey!"
The two men at this point grab you and roughly throw you out of the carriage. You pick yourself up as quickly as you can and find yourself in front of Sergeant Keller.
"You should've left well enough alone, college boy." Keller says.
"What the hell's going on? Did Frank put you up to this?"
"Don't know what you're talking about, but what I do know is you need to leave Klyton now."
"What?! But... look, you need to tell me what happened. Did you find the demons at Frank's or... "
"Don't know what you're talking about and you need to just shut the fuck up and be thankful you're alive. Now I suggest you go far far away and don't think about entering Klyton for any reason. Come on let's go men." Keller says pushing you aside and heading to the coach.
You stand in disbelief as they leave you stranded in the wilderness.
It's obvious something has happened to Keller and probably some of his men. You can only guess that Frank or his demon girls have had something to do with this. The problem is that you can't really do anything about it. Keller probably already has told his subordinates to capture you if they see you in the city and will probably report you to his superiors as well.
The only thing you can think of to do is to head to Teckleville where your aunt Enora lives and send a message to your mom what has happened from there. Of course walking there is a long way from where your current location. They dropped you off practically on the border of elven/sotakan territory which is not a good place to be even if you're a member of one their savage races let alone an outsider like yourself.
You decide the safest course of action is to follow the road back to Klyton and then skirt around it's edges until you reach the road that will lead to Teckleville. With luck you'll run across some friendly adventurers or something.
As you walk you think about your future and how your plans are now severely altered. Your mom is going to be worried until she hears from you and she'll probably sell the inn, which is just as well since it'll no doubt be losing money now. You won't get to complete your schooling; you won't get to achieve lots of things really.
Shortly after nightfall you begin to tire from all the walking and try to find a place to rest. Following the road might be slightly safer than wandering the wilderness, but highwaymen and ruthless bandits love the roads.
A couple of them find you asleep and violently wake you up with a knife to your chest. You gasp one last breath before sleeping forever. |
A year has passed and you're back in college, though it's not as much fun as it was when you didn't need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.
Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately your mother picks up some of the slack when you really need time. You've also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were "friends" with before your "break". Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.
As for the inn, it's doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. You've got a much broader customer base and even classed the place up a bit, but this isn't without its drawbacks. Namely the Flying Griffon Inn has stepped up its efforts to get back its customers. This has so far involved an aggressive advertising campaign, hiring a bunch of sexy barmaids and special deals. So far it has helped them a lot and if they continue to succeed, your inn is going to start losing money and you can't have that. It doesn't help that your place isn't in as good of a location as the Flying Griffon
So first things first, you need to figure out how to deal with Flying Griffon and you call a staff meeting in the hopes of getting some other ideas on how to deal with them.
"Why don't you just hire someone to cut up their slutty barmaids? I mean that's what's mainly getting the main draw right? Seems like you could easily solve the problem by getting rid of them." Rita says. Naturally this doesn't go over well with the others.
"That's horrible!" Eliza says
" What? I didn't say kill them, they'd still be able to work and shit. They just wouldn't be pretty anymore."
"Have you gotten so jealous that you've gone completely barmy? By the gods, we're not doing that, we're not the Crimson Talons!" Wendy shouts.
As much as disfiguring Flying Griffon's staff would solve some problems, you hesitate to resort to such measures.
"Maybe we could offer deals to traveling merchants like Flying Griffon does, like they get a discount on their rooms?" your mom suggests.
"Not sure if that's going to help us a lot, unless we make an addition to the inn. It's not like our rooms aren't being used. If we start giving discount to merchants we might attract them, but we might not have enough rooms to accommodate them or we'll be accommodating them, but won't be accommodating adventurer types who are paying full price." Wendy says.
"Well if you're so knowledgeable Wendy, what's YOUR solution?" Rita sneers.
"We have a lot of Klyton Milita that come here to drink now don't we? Why don't we get some of them to help us? Seems like some very public investigation during heavy business hours would help out a lot and ruin the reputation of Flying Griffon. Hell, maybe they'll even find something and we'll really get lucky."
You take all these suggestions into consideration, but you can't help notice that Eliza looks like she wants to say something.
"Eliza, do you have a suggestion?"
"Huh? Oh. Um... yes... but I... Just forget it. It's silly anyway. The rest of your ideas sound better."
"Eliza, just spit it out!" Wendy demands.
"It's okay, just tell us." You say with a lot less intimidation.
"Well okay, but it's silly. I was going to suggest getting someone on the inside to spy on the place and finding something to use against them. It seems odd that they are managing to attract that much attention with just pretty barmaids when we have our own. I think maybe something else is going on there, like an illegal brothel or something."
Most of you are surprised that Eliza came up with something so complex.
"Well, that's a very elaborate plan Eliza, but I think we could accomplish the same thing just by sending in our militia buddies to harass them. Like I said, if they do find anything actually incriminating, then its even better."
"Yes, of course. That sounds like a more efficient idea." Eliza says.
> go with your mom's idea
Mom's idea seems the least underhanded so you decide to go with that. You realize that you're going to have to spend more money in actually building the place up, but you figure that you'll earn more in the long term.
So you start to build. It's a lengthy and expensive process, and the Flying Griffon's success hasn't been slowing down and it's starting to cut into your business. Meanwhile you're having a hard time concentrating on your schoolwork due to all the stress, you start snapping at everyone which makes the overall atmosphere of the inn a little tense.
Eventually your additions get done, and for a while it helps, but ultimately you've spent more money than you're gaining, because whatever the hell the Flying Griffon is doing, they're still getting more customers. At this rate you won't make enough to pay for your tuition and you'll have to drop out again and that won't exactly endear you to the university who frown upon such chaotic patterns to higher learning even you do manage to raise the money to get back in again.
One night it all comes crashing down.
"Yes sir, you'll get your breakfast in the morning at twenty five percent off, so that's three gold and 4 silvers." You tell a fat Delantium merchant.
"Huh! Highway robbery for a place like this! But I suppose I have no choice as the Flying Griffon is filled up tonight... "
"Flying Griffon... Flying Griffon... " you say with a smile before you grab the merchant by his throat.
"Hey, ulp!"
"You like the Flying fucking Griffon so much well get the fuck outta here and sleep in their doorway you fat piece of shit!" you shout, releasing the merchant roughly so he falls to the floor dropping his coins all over the place. Everyone in the place stops what they're doing to watch your outburst.
As the merchant tries to get up and collect his dropped possessions, you grab your dad's Troll Gun and point it at him telling him to hurry up or you're going to blow his head off. At this point several of the Klyton Militia customers tell you to calm down and draw their own weapons, some of which have small flintlock pistols of their own. You mother and several of your staff pleads with you to calm down.
It works and the merchant leaves the inn as quickly as possible along with several other customers. The only ones who stay are the militia who insist that you hand over your weapon or they'll actually arrest you. You comply and state you have to go lie down. When you get to your room you collapse on your bed and fall asleep.
When you wake up the next day, you feel like you're in a daze. You aren't sure how you're going to proceed, but your mother has already stepped in for you.
"You're selling the inn?" you say with a sense of familiarity.
"Yes, I'm selling this place, it's going to be the best thing for both of us! Especially you!"
"Bullshit! You just don't want to be here anymore! You've said it yourself! If you really cared about me, you'd try to help me with finishing my education. You know like YOU and DAD wanted me to? But why bother right? It was all fucked from the moment dad ran out of money and had to borrow from a loanshark. I never had a chance."
At this point your mother takes your hand.
"Son, I'm sorry. We really tried the best we could. We really did want the best for you, but maybe we just aimed too high and as a result you had a lot of pressure on you. I never thought I'd ever see you pull a gun on someone in anger. It was scary to see that side of you because I didn't raise you to be that way. So I'm going to do the only thing I can think of to help you. I'm selling this inn and you can have ALL of the money I get from it. I don't know if it'll be enough that you'll be able to finish up your classes, but maybe it'll help. Now doesn't that sound a little easier?"
You have to admit, it does though you're still concerned about finances. Proper medical school is still really expensive, but you guess you'll figure something out.
"I just want you to know that if something doesn't work out though, that you'll always be welcome at your aunt's house in Teckleville where I'm going to stay. I love you."
You and your mom hug and at that point you feel a little weight lifted off your shoulders.
Your mother ends up selling the inn to Frank, the owner of the Flying Griffon. He mentions that he's a little surprised at the offer considering the new additions built onto the Traveller's Inn, but he's willing to pay more than the city will. It's a lot, but not enough for medical school.
You decide maybe while you can't be a doctor, maybe you can still choose something in medical field, presumably something you'll be able to afford and not be as stressed all the time.
You ultimately become a veterinarian and feel a great sense of accomplishment. The only problem is they aren't in great demand in Klyton and the few that do exist in the city have the market pretty much cornered, but you do know of a place where they might need one...
You move to Teckleville where you make a living treating farm animals and pets like kitties and puppies. Occasionally someone has something more exotic like a purple tailed glittermane, but it's a quiet life for the most part. You eventually have a family and live the rest of your days there.
Sometimes you wonder what would've happened if you'd done things a bit differently at the inn, but all things considered it worked out. |
A year has passed and you're back in college, though it's not as much fun as it was when you didn't need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.
Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately your mother picks up some of the slack when you really need time. You've also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were "friends" with before your "break". Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.
As for the inn, it's doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. You've got a much broader customer base and even classed the place up a bit, but this isn't without its drawbacks. Namely the Flying Griffon Inn has stepped up its efforts to get back its customers. This has so far involved an aggressive advertising campaign, hiring a bunch of sexy barmaids and special deals. So far it has helped them a lot and if they continue to succeed, your inn is going to start losing money and you can't have that. It doesn't help that your place isn't in as good of a location as the Flying Griffon
So first things first, you need to figure out how to deal with Flying Griffon and you call a staff meeting in the hopes of getting some other ideas on how to deal with them.
"Why don't you just hire someone to cut up their slutty barmaids? I mean that's what's mainly getting the main draw right? Seems like you could easily solve the problem by getting rid of them." Rita says. Naturally this doesn't go over well with the others.
"That's horrible!" Eliza says
" What? I didn't say kill them, they'd still be able to work and shit. They just wouldn't be pretty anymore."
"Have you gotten so jealous that you've gone completely barmy? By the gods, we're not doing that, we're not the Crimson Talons!" Wendy shouts.
As much as disfiguring Flying Griffon's staff would solve some problems, you hesitate to resort to such measures.
"Maybe we could offer deals to traveling merchants like Flying Griffon does, like they get a discount on their rooms?" your mom suggests.
"Not sure if that's going to help us a lot, unless we make an addition to the inn. It's not like our rooms aren't being used. If we start giving discount to merchants we might attract them, but we might not have enough rooms to accommodate them or we'll be accommodating them, but won't be accommodating adventurer types who are paying full price." Wendy says.
"Well if you're so knowledgeable Wendy, what's YOUR solution?" Rita sneers.
"We have a lot of Klyton Milita that come here to drink now don't we? Why don't we get some of them to help us? Seems like some very public investigation during heavy business hours would help out a lot and ruin the reputation of Flying Griffon. Hell, maybe they'll even find something and we'll really get lucky."
You take all these suggestions into consideration, but you can't help notice that Eliza looks like she wants to say something.
"Eliza, do you have a suggestion?"
"Huh? Oh. Um... yes... but I... Just forget it. It's silly anyway. The rest of your ideas sound better."
"Eliza, just spit it out!" Wendy demands.
"It's okay, just tell us." You say with a lot less intimidation.
"Well okay, but it's silly. I was going to suggest getting someone on the inside to spy on the place and finding something to use against them. It seems odd that they are managing to attract that much attention with just pretty barmaids when we have our own. I think maybe something else is going on there, like an illegal brothel or something."
Most of you are surprised that Eliza came up with something so complex.
"Well, that's a very elaborate plan Eliza, but I think we could accomplish the same thing just by sending in our militia buddies to harass them. Like I said, if they do find anything actually incriminating, then its even better."
"Yes, of course. That sounds like a more efficient idea." Eliza says.
> go with Wendy's idea
Wendy's idea requires almost no effort on your part and she's right, if they are doing something illegal like Eliza suggested then the unexpected militia inspection should catch them off guard and in the act.
"Okay let's get some of our militia buddies to help us." You say.
Wendy smiles and says she's on good terms with one of the sergeants that drinks here and can easily persuade him to help. You mother doesn't exactly approve of this and Rita's not thrilled with you picking Wendy's idea over hers, but everyone goes along with it.
Later, Wendy speaks with Sergeant Keller, who is drinking with a few of his men at a corner table. You watch from the distance at get the impression that something more is going on between Wendy and the Sergeant, but whatever works right?
Wendy comes back with a slight smile on her face.
"Well?"
"He says he'll do it, but not for free. He wants at least fifty silvers."
"What!?"
"He says that while he'd love to just harass people on a daily basis he really can't go around abusing his position like that, at least not without a little incentive."
"(Sigh) Yeah, yeah I get it, everyone's gotta get paid. Fine, let me get it from the back, but for that amount of money he better do a good job."
"Oh don't worry about that."
You pay off the militia and get on with your work for the rest of night. You fully expect them to show up towards closing time, but they never do. Wendy says that maybe they did find something that they made a bunch of arrests. Of course if that was the case, it seems like Keller might've sent someone back to at least tell you. You're hoping they just didn't pocket the money, but Wendy assures you that Keller wouldn't have done that.
The next day after you get back from class and ready for another grueling day at the inn, you ask Wendy what's the status on the Flying Griffon and Keller. She says she doesn't know and that she hasn't seen him.
"What?! Are you kidding me? I know you two got something going on and you're saying you haven't seen him?"
"Yeah that's what I said! We're not fucking married alright? He's a damn militia man, he might've gotten assigned to the Cloudspeak Mountains and his head smashed in by a troll for all I know!"
"Who got their head smashed in by troll?" a familiar voice asks.
Wendy and you turn to look and see Sergeant Keller with his men.
"Where have you been?! I was worried!" Wendy exclaims, running to him.
"Just on business, m'love. No need to worry, I'm here now."
"And that still doesn't answer the question, where have you been? I paid a lot of money, I would've appreciated someone telling what exactly happened at the Flying Griffon last night." You demand causing Sergeant Keller's eyes to narrow.
"Nothing happened. And I don't know what you're talking about. In fact I've gotten some reports about this place and I'm afraid I need to search it. Please cooperate and things will go smoother." Keller says as his men start spreading out to search the place.
"What the fuck Keller?! Did Frank pay you more money or something?! You fucking sonofabitch!" you shout.
"I said mind your tone kid, or I'll arrest you for interference with an investigation."
Your mom soon comes out of the kitchen and your remaining guests start wondering what's going on as they're being pushed out of their rooms.
"Son, what's going on, there's militia looking all through the kitchen and the cellar!"
"Apparently Keller's a double crossing bastard that's what... "
"Now hold on! I'm sure he's got a perfectly good explanation for all this!" Wendy says trying to defend him.
"Hey Sergeant! We got something here!"
At this point one his men comes out with a container that contains several Cloudspeak Rock.
"NO! NO! NO FUCKING WAY! You planted that shit there!" you protest.
"That wasn't in there!" your Mom adds
"Oh my!" Eliza says.
Keller looks at the container and shakes his head.
"(Sigh) Y'know I've been coming here for awhile now, and I can't believe that this going on the whole time... "
"Now wait a minute! You can't honestly believe that we were all selling illegal drugs!" Wendy says.
"No, I don't believe you were. But I do believe they were."
Suddenly four of Keller's men apprehend you and your mother. There's a lot of protesting and fighting, but of course this only makes things worse. You end up getting a mace to your head and when you wake up you're in a jail cell with almost all of your staff.
"What... what's going on?" you say rubbing your head and sitting up from the cell floor.
"Keller's gone fucking crazy that's what and that bitch Wendy is backing him up to save her own ass! I told you we should've just went with my plan!" Rita yells.
"What the hell are you doing in here? Last thing I remember they took me and mom in for those drugs they claimed we were selling."
"Well they decided to trump up the charges of illegal prostitution as well, so they took in me and those two half elven sluts over there. Yeah right like if I was a prostitute, they'd even be in the same league as me!"
"Oh fuck you Rita." Sunshine says, while Flameflower gives Rita the finger.
"Even Eliza?" you say in disbelief at all this.
"Um, no. I'm here for assault. I knocked out one of Keller's men when they were taking you and your mother away. I didn't mean to, I just got so angry at this great injustice." Eliza says.
"Heh, thanks I guess."
You get off the floor and go sit over with your mother who's been silent the whole time.
She doesn't have too much to say except that assuming that she doesn't go to prison, she's getting the hell out of Klyton. She apologizes to you that you won't get to achieve your goal, but at this point you're just worried about not going to prison too.
Eventually all of you are released after a couple days. Rita, Flameflower and Sunshine are all given a warning. Eliza somehow manages to avoid real prosecution for assaulting a guard, but for whatever reason she doesn't get any further punishment.
You and your mother aren't quite as lucky. You don't have to serve any time fortunately, but the inn is taken away from you and given to the city of Klyton as reparations for your "crimes" against it.
Well that's it then. An end to you future in Klyton. You and your mother have little choice but to move to Teckleville now. And that's where you go.
Your aunt Enora is happy to see you both, and while this whole living with her thing was sprung on her at the last moment it doesn't seem to bother her. She says there's plenty of room and you can stay as long as you like.
While the house is certainly nice and you're happy to live there rather than in the street, it's sort of on the small side and you feel like you have no privacy. Teckleville isn't anything like you're used to either. The whole small town thing just doesn't appeal to you, and you feel trapped with a bunch of boring backwards people.
You were supposed to do greater things! You were going to be a doctor! You did everything right and studied hard and what do you have to show for it? Nothing! You're stuck in some cow town where the best job you can hope to get is probably shoveling shit. Some future.
In time, your mother works at the local tavern where she serves as a cook. It's not much, but it is something she's used to doing.
You manage to get a job working as an assistant to the mean old bastard who runs the general store. It's a thankless job, but he's about the only one who'll hire you since nobody else will work for him and everyone else thinks you have a superiority complex (Which is sort of true) and won't hire you.
The only upside is since you live at your aunt's house you manage to save what little money you do make and eventually get a place of your own. You always think about moving to the Delantium Kingdom and start fresh again, but you never do.
You basically remain in Teckleville where you eventually take over running the general store when the mean old bastard dies, where upon you become the new mean old bastard who runs the general store until you die as well.
You often think back about what went wrong at the inn and what might've happened if you'd done things differently, but you'll never know. |
You go back to the inn. You don't know what the hell you're doing, but you're doing it.
"Back so soon doc?" Rita says as you ignore her and look for Eliza.
You instinctively head back to the kitchen where you find her talking to some of the other staff members.
"Eliza, I have to talk to you!" you say anxiously.
"Um... okay, I'm almost done here."
You wait impatiently for Eliza to finish talking to her subordinates, while you're doing that your mother is eyeing you suspiciously as she begins cooking a large piece of meat.
You can't wait here! This was a mistake! You have to leave now!
You rush out of the kitchen, but you don't get far when you feel Eliza's hand grab your shoulder.
"Hey, where are you going? I thought you had to talk to me." She says.
You turn around and nothing comes out. You just take one look at her face and you can't contain yourself. You grab and kiss her right on the lips. This is followed by a few cheers and claps from the patrons in the bar.
"Huh, took him long enough to realize it." Wendy says and goes back to cleaning the bar.
Eliza's response is pure shock. She doesn't know what to do except run into the ladies room. You call out to her before realizing you've done this in front of several onlookers. You panic again and run into the kitchen.
"What's going on out there? Did I hear you call out Eliza's name? What did you do?"
"I... I fucked up... " you blurt out.
You quickly explain what just happened and your mother shakes her head while throwing a washcloth on the table.
"(Sigh) I KNEW something was up when you wanted to talk to her and were acting more jittery than a goblin caught in a troll's larder. I don't know what to tell you son except you've handled this poorly. This is definitely something you're going to have to fix yourself, but you need to do it soon, because Eliza's one of the best employees here and I don't need her all upset right now."
You think about slipping out the back, but your mother's right, you need to take care of this now. At least part of it, because you'll need to take care of the rest tonight when you talk to Cindy.
You sheepishly exit the kitchen wondering if everyone will be looking. Most glance your way, but go back to their business.
"She's down in the cellar doctor love." Wendy says.
Not saying another word you go down to the cellar. You see Eliza trying to keep busy by taking stock of the beer casks with another employee you don't know.
"Eliza."
"I can't talk anymore, I really have to make sure we have enough beer this month. Our shipment is a little late. It was nice seeing you." She answers without looking in your direction.
"Eliza we need to talk about what just happened."
"I think we should just forget about it. Shouldn't you be getting home? I'm sure Cindy will be wondering about where you are."
At this point you grab Eliza again and tell the stock boy to leave, he doesn't seem to want to get involved in whatever drama you two have so he complies.
"Let me go."
"Okay, but we're gonna talk!"
"Talk about what? About me being the other woman? I don't want to be that and Cindy doesn't deserve it! I don't deserve it!"
"I'm gonna break up with Cindy! I want you. I know that now. I should've acted on it earlier... "
"You certainly should have! (sob) Do you know how much I wanted you to say something? Years! From the moment you came back to this inn after your father died, I wanted you to say something. Now it's too late!"
"It's not too late! I just said I'll break up with Cindy then we can be together!"
"Just like that huh? You can toss her aside so easily? I thought you were in love with her."
"I was... I mean... no... agh! Shit look, I want to be with you! Why are you making this so difficult?"
"Because it IS fucking difficult! (sob) I had just come to accept the fact that you and I were never going to happen no matter how much I wanted it. (sob) And now you come back and stir all my emotions up, because you're having doubts about your relationship with Cindy? What the hell happens when you start having doubts about me one day?"
"That wouldn't happen... "
"How do I know? I mean... (sniffle) we've never even gone out on a date. How do you know if we're even going to be compatible?"
"Well let's go on one right now. Anywhere you want!"
"Just leave me alone. I need time to myself."
You try to touch Eliza to reassure her, but she flinches away. You don't say anything else and leave her be like she wanted.
On your way home you think about everything and how badly it all went. You didn't know Eliza pined after you for so long. You really had no idea. If you did you would've...
Would've, could've, should've, doesn't really matter now. What matters now is what you're going to do about all this. Eliza also brought up a good point on how can you possibly know that you're compatible and how it looks like you're just reaching out to her because of your doubts with Cindy.
Speaking of Cindy, you need to figure out what you're going to say to her when you get home.
> break up with Cindy
You have to go for this. Even if doesn't work out you'll always be wondering "What if?"
But before you can do anything, you have to break up with Cindy first. You aren't looking forward to it, but in a way you feel it's probably for the best no matter what happens with Eliza. You don't particularly want to move and you're happy where you're at right now. Cindy's been dominating your relationship since you've been together and it's time to put an end to it.
When you get home, Cindy's already there questioning where you've been. You take a deep breath and say what's on your mind about her whole plan to move and how you're not into the idea. This of course has the predictable result of causing an argument, but Cindy's not an idiot. She KNOWS there is more to it than just the moving. She continues to press the issue of where you've been before you came to tell her this new revelation.
Eventually you just tell her everything about how you also have feelings for Eliza. Cindy becomes very upset and even throws a few objects at you before attempting to hit you with her fists. You manage to fend her off long enough so she stops and just resorts to calling you every swear word in the human language (and a few in some other languages!) before starting to pack her belongings.
"Cindy, I'm really sorry, I didn't want it to be like this, I just... "
"Save it asshole. I can't believe I fell for you! I see now that you can take the boy out of the gutter, but you can't take the gutter out of the boy. I hope you and your trashy barmaid have a good life together because you certainly deserve each other. Oh and don't think you're getting away with this insult. My wrath will be terrible. This, I fucking vow dickhead!"
And with that Cindy leaves while slamming the door of your apartment. It went about as well as you could've expected. All you have to do now is talk to Eliza again. You figure you should probably give her a couple days before do so though.
A few days pass and after work you head over to the inn.
"Oh it's you. I suppose you're looking for Eliza, well she's here. Dunno where though. Y'know, you should've just tried to hook up with me instead. Hell I wouldn't have even cared if you still wanted to stay with Cindy." Rita says.
"Yeah, just as long as I bought you something nice and expensive right? Sorry, I don't go for gold digging whores."
"Oh fuck you, Mr. big shot doctor! Don't try to play moral superiority on me with all the drama you got going on!"
"I wasn't playing anything and none of this is about you anyway, despite the fact that you like to think everything is." You retort and leave.
After a quick scan of the room, you don't see Eliza. You head over to the bar where Wendy is located.
"Wendy where's Eliza?"
"You're back a lot earlier than I expected. You just cost me 20 coppers in the bet we had going. But nevermind all that, I'd just like to say, that you really fucked up with how you handled this situation. I hope you've at least had the sense to break over with that snooty bitch before trying this again."
"Cindy's not... " you begin to say still feeling the need to defend her, but you stop yourself "(Sigh) Yeah, yeah I did. And I'm probably going to pay for it later."
"We all pay for our mistakes in some way. She's in the kitchen. And hey! Be gentle with her, she's been upset for the past few days and in a fragile state right now."
You nod and enter the kitchen.
Upon entering the kitchen all eyes turn to you. Eliza's, your mother's, the other workers you don't know, everyone. You half expect Eliza to run off again, but she doesn't in fact she seems ready to confront you.
"Um, Flameflower can you be in charge of the staff for a little while?" she asks.
"Can I? I've waited for this day to come!" Flameflower gleefully says in semi-power drunk glee and then telling everyone to quickly get to work. Her sister Sunshine looks a little jealous. You knew Eliza had managed to instill a work ethic into them, but you didn't think either of them would jump on the chance for more responsibility.
"If you two are going to talk here at the inn, I suggest one of the empty rooms upstairs and I'd rather you not cause such a scene this time." You mother says.
"We won't."
You and Eliza exit the kitchen through the back way.
"Hey wait doesn't this lead to your family's living quarters?" Eliza asks.
"Yeah, and what better place to talk? Nobody will be there, nobody will interrupt us and if something upsetting does happen, a scene won't be caused."
You take Eliza to the living area to talk. You notice she's shaking a bit.
"How come you're shaking?"
"I'm nervous. I've been nervous about all this for the past few days. I didn't know what was going to come next. I didn't even know if you were going to come back after what I said to you."
"What you said? If anything, I should be the one apologizing for all the stuff I did. I mean I mean you were right, I dumped all this stuff on to you suddenly, I also just grabbed and kissed you the way I did. That was really out of line, I'm sorry about that."
"It wasn't so much the kiss that bothered me, it was just the situation in which it happened really. I always believed our first kiss... if we ever had one, would be under different circumstances."
You take a deep breath before continuing.
"Well I feel you should know, I've broken up with Cindy."
"You really broke up with her?"
"Yes, she's vowed revenge on me and everything."
"Revenge? You don't think she'll do anything crazy or violent do you?"
"I don't think so and least I hope not. Look, I'll deal with it when it happens. The point is, I want you to know is I'm here for YOU now. If this means your ready, then I'm ready too. If this means you still need some time, I'll back off and wait. If that means you don't want me at all, then fine I'll leave you alone."
Eliza takes your hand.
"I don't want you to leave. I've waited a long time for this moment, but I still have concerns about whether we'll really be happy together or not. I mean what if you come to the conclusion one day that you've made a mistake breaking up with Cindy. I'd hate for you to start resenting me for that."
"Eliza, my breaking up with Cindy wasn't only for you. I mean I hate to admit it, but yeah perhaps there were selfish reasons for breaking up with her as well. Like not wanting to have her plan our entire life out with minimal say on my part. I really should've broken up with her earlier (Sigh) I really did handle this poorly. I just hope you can forgive me for putting you through all this."
Your talk with Eliza goes on for awhile, eventually you both agree on taking things slow at first, but the pair of you are pretty happy about this new relationship.
Time passes and your relationship with Eliza is going well. Unfortunately Cindy is true to her word and takes revenge even after she leaves Klyton.
She doesn't do it directly, but rather indirectly, namely through her father's business connections. The price of booze distributed to your family's inn is increased, the food too. Most of the traveling merchants that used to stay at the inn now have taken their business elsewhere. Your family's inn takes a huge loss, and it ends up resulting in laying off most of the staff.
While your mother could keep the place running even with all the cut backs, she ultimately decides it isn't worth it and sells it altogether in a few years. Naturally Cindy's father makes sure his people are the ones that get a hold of it. The revenge tries to continue on directly through price gouging from a few shops you buy from, but you manage to put an end to that, by reminding the various owners that you're a doctor and how pissing you off might not be beneficial for their health plan should they ever get sick in the future.
You apologize to your mother for the situation with the inn however, but she tells you not to worry about it. She got enough from the sale and is moving to Teckleville like she originally planned. She just hopes that you and Eliza will visit every once in awhile.
With Eliza out of a job, she moves in with you. It becomes permanent when you get married. Eventually you also move to Teckleville to start a private practice and soon Eliza gives birth to twins and you start the next phase of your relationship as a family.
Overall your life with Eliza is a good one and you never regret your decision even if it did result in the loss of your family's inn. Besides you always had the best thing that was ever connected to that place and really that's what was important. |
A few years have passed and your medical schooling is complete and you now work at the Klyton hospital as a real doctor.
Your personal life has changed quite a bit over the past few years as well. You currently live in an apartment near the hospital with a fellow medical student. Actually she's your girlfriend. It started out as a simple roommates thing, but then it developed into something a little more. Cindy still has a year of schooling to go, and you now have a job at the hospital so you weren't planning on going anywhere just yet.
However Cindy suggests that the pair of you should leave for the Delantium Kingdom, specifically Sivak, which is the closest big city. She mentions that there are more opportunities there and she would prefer living there as well.
You don't really have any specific objections against going there, it's just you've never left Klyton, so you're probably a little nervous especially since you've managed to succeed in getting a good job here and maintain a friendly relationship with most of the people you work beside.
Well you have a year to hammer out all the plans in the meantime you're on your way to visit your mother. You don't see her as much as you used to but she is of course very proud of you and mentions that your father would be too if he were still alive. After all it was always his goal to make sure that you went into medicine for a career.
When you get to the Traveler's Inn, it never ceases to amaze you how much the place has changed and how much it has grown since the days when you were little. Wendy does most of the day to day inn management nowadays, leaving your mom to concentrate on the cooking, which she prefers in the first place. Rita still works there surprisingly enough. Apparently she found it a lot better to just hook up with various rich guys for a short period of time to get some gifts and then remain single.
Eliza is the new head barmaid. You guess that experience with the whole Griffon Inn situation boosted her confidence. She even managed to turn Flameflower and Sunshine into productive employees! You remember how friendly you were to each other and how sometimes it seemed like there was the potential for more there, but neither one of you seriously pursued it.
"Well, haven't seen you in awhile Mr. big shot doctor. You still with that... girl?" Rita asks when you walk in.
"Her name's Cindy and yes I am, Rita. What's it to you anyway?"
"Nothing, can't I be concerned for your well being? I mean we have known each other for a long time and all."
"Hm. Well I'm fine. Where's my mom?"
"She's in the kitchen as usual."
You walk past Rita, shaking your head at her sudden interest in you now that you have a good paying job. As you approach the bar, Wendy notices you.
"I see the great doctor has come for a visit. Taking a break from that girl you shacked up with huh? Anyway your mom is in the kitchen." She says and then goes back to talking with some of the patrons.
When you enter the kitchen your mom turns around to see you and smiles before rushing to give you a big hug.
"Aw mom." You say not wanting all this fuss.
"Hey indulge me, I don't get to see you as much as I used to. So how have you been? What's going on? Are you still with... that girl?"
"Her name's Cindy, geez why doesn't anyone like her? Rita and Wendy both made some snide remark about her as I came walking in."
"Sorry son, I'm sure Cindy's a nice girl and all, but the couple times you visited here with her, she was a bit pretentious, and you know Wendy doesn't care for people like that. As for Rita, well I'm sure you know why she's acts the way she does by now."
" Okay I know Cindy has a bit of that upper class personality, but Eliza was the only one who even tried to be friendly with Cindy the last time she was here!"
"Eliza would be friendly to a mountain troll as long as it wasn't eating her. It's just her nature. Not to mention she thinks you're happy with Cindy so she's happy for you."
"So, why can't you be happy for me?"
"Who said I wasn't? If that's who you want then good! I'm all for it. The question though is are you happy?"
"Of course I am! I wouldn't be moving with her to Sivak by next year if I wasn't! That's sort of why I came here today. I wanted to let you know, I'll be leaving Klyton soon."
You mother doesn't seem too emotional about this revelation, you were sort of expecting more tears or celebration. Instead she just sighs and heads off to cut some vegetables, before speaking again.
"Hmm, okay. Well as long as you're sure that's what you want to do."
"Why wouldn't it? I mean there are more opportunities in Sivak than there are here for me and Cindy. You didn't want me to stay did you? I thought you were going to sell this place and move to Teckleville anyway."
"No, of course I don't want you to stay for me! Geez, I can manage just fine. Your father and I always knew the day would come that you'd move far away. As for selling this place, eh, I'm not sure yet. It is true that after your father died, my main motivation was to keep this place running to help continue paying for your education. I figured after that goal was reached I would indeed retire to Teckleville. I dunno now though. I guess after all the stuff we went through to keep this place, not to mention making it better, I've become more attached to it again."
Now you're sort of surprised to hear her say that, you thought for sure that she was fully intending on moving back to Teckleville.
"Well, no matter where you are, I hope you know I'll visit." You say.
"Oh of course, I wasn't worried about that. Well anyway I have to finish preparing this drakling. Some adventurers can't ever order something simple, well at least they brought it in themselves I suppose."
At this point you and your mother say goodbye to each other and you walk out of the kitchen. On your way out you bump into Eliza.
"Hey you! I haven't seen you in a long time! How have you been? Are things going well for you and Cindy?"
You smile at the fact that she remembered your girlfriend's name. "I've been okay. I heard about you being the head waitress now, congratulation."
"Thanks, I'm actually running a little late right now. I'll have to talk with you later, maybe we should meet sometime when we're not both busy."
"Um... yeah maybe. Well see you later." You say and quickly leave the area.
As you leave you feel a mixture of guilt, anxiety and confusion. Part of you wants to go back. You don't know if you have real feelings for Eliza or you're just deliberately thinking about sabotaging things so you don't have to move away from Klyton.
> go home
You never really had a relationship with Eliza on any romantic level; it's probably just the "idea of Eliza" that's getting to you. Your life is probably going to change a lot in the near future so your mind is starting to look for loopholes to stay.
But you shake off these feelings. Your life is going good right now, why jeopardize it with poor judgment and fear of the unknown? You overcame hardship to get where you are now. To invite more drama when it isn't necessary would be foolish.
You head home and when Cindy is finished with her classes you take her out for romantic dinner to reaffirm your dedication of your future plans together. This seems to please her greatly.
During your last remaining year in Klyton, you don't visit your family's inn anymore as a safety precaution. You don't need doubt plaguing your thoughts again. You do make one more visit to your mom before you do eventually leave though.
Thanks to Cindy's family connections in the Delantium Kingdom, your job at the Sivak hospital is more or less secured (Obviously hers is as well), though they were in need of more medical professionals anyway. The hospital there is a little newer and understaffed, so for a while you're working a little more than you usually did, but over time your workload becomes manageable.
Your life in general plays out rather mundanely, you end up living in a nice area and eventually you have a couple of children. No major problems for you ever truly crop up though.
As for the old inn, your mother eventually does sell it a few years after you initially left Klyton and retires to Teckleville. On one of your family visits you ask who bought the place and she says Wendy ended up taking it over, which doesn't surprise you. Curiosity gets the better of you and you ask your mother for more information on your old co-workers. Your mother mentions that Rita quit about a few months before she sold the place. Apparently she finally snagged a guy rich enough to settle down with. Flameflower took her place as hostess and she, along with her sister Sunshine still work there. As for Eliza your mother says she was still working as the head barmaid there.
"All seems like a lifetime ago eh?" your mother says.
"Yeah. I suppose so." You answer a little preoccupied.
"Is there something wrong son?"
"Oh no. Nothing wrong, just momentarily lost in thought."
You don't really explain anymore than that, but your mother senses that you're playing "what could've been" again. She doesn't address it directly, but does mention of how successful you are and how you've got a good life. She also mentions of how it's everything that your father and her could've hoped for you. This truth snaps you out of it, and you never dwell on the past again.
You live out the rest of your life in Sivak working as a physician until you decide to retire. You grow old with Cindy, your children eventually have their own families, and one day you fall asleep and don't wake up.
Yes, it was a good life overall, but your years as an innkeeper were definitely the ones that helped achieve it. |
A few years have passed and your medical schooling is complete and you now work at the Klyton hospital as a real doctor.
Your personal life has changed quite a bit over the past few years as well. You currently live in an apartment near the hospital with a fellow medical student. Actually she's your girlfriend. It started out as a simple roommates thing, but then it developed into something a little more. Cindy still has a year of schooling to go, and you now have a job at the hospital so you weren't planning on going anywhere just yet.
However Cindy suggests that the pair of you should leave for the Delantium Kingdom, specifically Sivak, which is the closest big city. She mentions that there are more opportunities there and she would prefer living there as well.
You don't really have any specific objections against going there, it's just you've never left Klyton, so you're probably a little nervous especially since you've managed to succeed in getting a good job here and maintain a friendly relationship with most of the people you work beside.
Well you have a year to hammer out all the plans in the meantime you're on your way to visit your mother. You don't see her as much as you used to but she is of course very proud of you and mentions that your father would be too if he were still alive. After all it was always his goal to make sure that you went into medicine for a career.
When you get to the Traveler's Inn, it never ceases to amaze you how much the place has changed and how much it has grown since the days when you were little. Wendy does most of the day to day inn management nowadays, leaving your mom to concentrate on the cooking, which she prefers in the first place. Rita still works there surprisingly enough. Apparently she found it a lot better to just hook up with various rich guys for a short period of time to get some gifts and then remain single.
Eliza is the new head barmaid. You guess that experience with the whole Griffon Inn situation boosted her confidence. She even managed to turn Flameflower and Sunshine into productive employees! You remember how friendly you were to each other and how sometimes it seemed like there was the potential for more there, but neither one of you seriously pursued it.
"Well, haven't seen you in awhile Mr. big shot doctor. You still with that... girl?" Rita asks when you walk in.
"Her name's Cindy and yes I am, Rita. What's it to you anyway?"
"Nothing, can't I be concerned for your well being? I mean we have known each other for a long time and all."
"Hm. Well I'm fine. Where's my mom?"
"She's in the kitchen as usual."
You walk past Rita, shaking your head at her sudden interest in you now that you have a good paying job. As you approach the bar, Wendy notices you.
"I see the great doctor has come for a visit. Taking a break from that girl you shacked up with huh? Anyway your mom is in the kitchen." She says and then goes back to talking with some of the patrons.
When you enter the kitchen your mom turns around to see you and smiles before rushing to give you a big hug.
"Aw mom." You say not wanting all this fuss.
"Hey indulge me, I don't get to see you as much as I used to. So how have you been? What's going on? Are you still with... that girl?"
"Her name's Cindy, geez why doesn't anyone like her? Rita and Wendy both made some snide remark about her as I came walking in."
"Sorry son, I'm sure Cindy's a nice girl and all, but the couple times you visited here with her, she was a bit pretentious, and you know Wendy doesn't care for people like that. As for Rita, well I'm sure you know why she's acts the way she does by now."
" Okay I know Cindy has a bit of that upper class personality, but Eliza was the only one who even tried to be friendly with Cindy the last time she was here!"
"Eliza would be friendly to a mountain troll as long as it wasn't eating her. It's just her nature. Not to mention she thinks you're happy with Cindy so she's happy for you."
"So, why can't you be happy for me?"
"Who said I wasn't? If that's who you want then good! I'm all for it. The question though is are you happy?"
"Of course I am! I wouldn't be moving with her to Sivak by next year if I wasn't! That's sort of why I came here today. I wanted to let you know, I'll be leaving Klyton soon."
You mother doesn't seem too emotional about this revelation, you were sort of expecting more tears or celebration. Instead she just sighs and heads off to cut some vegetables, before speaking again.
"Hmm, okay. Well as long as you're sure that's what you want to do."
"Why wouldn't it? I mean there are more opportunities in Sivak than there are here for me and Cindy. You didn't want me to stay did you? I thought you were going to sell this place and move to Teckleville anyway."
"No, of course I don't want you to stay for me! Geez, I can manage just fine. Your father and I always knew the day would come that you'd move far away. As for selling this place, eh, I'm not sure yet. It is true that after your father died, my main motivation was to keep this place running to help continue paying for your education. I figured after that goal was reached I would indeed retire to Teckleville. I dunno now though. I guess after all the stuff we went through to keep this place, not to mention making it better, I've become more attached to it again."
Now you're sort of surprised to hear her say that, you thought for sure that she was fully intending on moving back to Teckleville.
"Well, no matter where you are, I hope you know I'll visit." You say.
"Oh of course, I wasn't worried about that. Well anyway I have to finish preparing this drakling. Some adventurers can't ever order something simple, well at least they brought it in themselves I suppose."
At this point you and your mother say goodbye to each other and you walk out of the kitchen. On your way out you bump into Eliza.
"Hey you! I haven't seen you in a long time! How have you been? Are things going well for you and Cindy?"
You smile at the fact that she remembered your girlfriend's name. "I've been okay. I heard about you being the head waitress now, congratulation."
"Thanks, I'm actually running a little late right now. I'll have to talk with you later, maybe we should meet sometime when we're not both busy."
"Um... yeah maybe. Well see you later." You say and quickly leave the area.
As you leave you feel a mixture of guilt, anxiety and confusion. Part of you wants to go back. You don't know if you have real feelings for Eliza or you're just deliberately thinking about sabotaging things so you don't have to move away from Klyton.
> cindy (Your girlfriend)
Cindy: Girlfriend
You met Cindy about a year and a half ago. How you missed each before all this time is mostly due to her focus in pediatrics. It's a relatively new field. Before it was seriously considered as a real branch of medicine; kids were treated like miniature adults, which sometimes lead to unfortunate "over medication."
Like most people who pursue the medical field she comes from a wealthy merchant family, though originally her family came from the Delantium Kingdom and moved here a long time ago mainly because her father didn't like all the new taxes imposed by the Kingdom. She still has extended family there and remains on good terms with them and hopes to move back some day since she's never cared much for Klyton, claiming that most of the city doesn't have the appreciation of the fine arts and is rather "low class" in general. (Even the rich Klytonians)
This sort of attitude is mostly due to her Delantium upbringing when she was young, but despite this she still wants to help the children of the less fortunate since she feels everyone still should get the chance to pull themselves out of the gutter. This is probably why she found you attractive. While you certainly had help, you did manage to pull yourself "out of the gutter" so to speak. Of course the few times that she visited the inn, she didn't make a good impression with most of your acquaintances there. She wasn't outright rude, but she was standoffish to a point where most of them considered her a snob (and a few others worse than that!)
You take it in stride for the most part. As long as she's not calling your mother a gutter whore, you're not excessively bothered by her slightly elitist ways. |
A year has passed and you're back in college, though it's not as much fun as it was when you didn't need to worry about where your tuition was coming from or having something like a job.
Finding time to study while running the inn is difficult, but fortunately your mother picks up some of the slack when you really need time. You've also managed to re-establish some old contacts with people you were "friends" with before your "break". Most of them are ahead of you and some are getting ready to graduate. While none of them bothered to stay in contact with you (so much for education breaking down class distinctions) a few of them are still willing to help you out by selling you books for cheap or giving you some of their old notes. Every little bit helps.
As for the inn, it's doing well, but you constantly worry about its future profitability. You've got a much broader customer base and even classed the place up a bit, but this isn't without its drawbacks. Namely the Flying Griffon Inn has stepped up its efforts to get back its customers. This has so far involved an aggressive advertising campaign, hiring a bunch of sexy barmaids and special deals. So far it has helped them a lot and if they continue to succeed, your inn is going to start losing money and you can't have that. It doesn't help that your place isn't in as good of a location as the Flying Griffon
So first things first, you need to figure out how to deal with Flying Griffon and you call a staff meeting in the hopes of getting some other ideas on how to deal with them.
"Why don't you just hire someone to cut up their slutty barmaids? I mean that's what's mainly getting the main draw right? Seems like you could easily solve the problem by getting rid of them." Rita says. Naturally this doesn't go over well with the others.
"That's horrible!" Eliza says
" What? I didn't say kill them, they'd still be able to work and shit. They just wouldn't be pretty anymore."
"Have you gotten so jealous that you've gone completely barmy? By the gods, we're not doing that, we're not the Crimson Talons!" Wendy shouts.
As much as disfiguring Flying Griffon's staff would solve some problems, you hesitate to resort to such measures.
"Maybe we could offer deals to traveling merchants like Flying Griffon does, like they get a discount on their rooms?" your mom suggests.
"Not sure if that's going to help us a lot, unless we make an addition to the inn. It's not like our rooms aren't being used. If we start giving discount to merchants we might attract them, but we might not have enough rooms to accommodate them or we'll be accommodating them, but won't be accommodating adventurer types who are paying full price." Wendy says.
"Well if you're so knowledgeable Wendy, what's YOUR solution?" Rita sneers.
"We have a lot of Klyton Milita that come here to drink now don't we? Why don't we get some of them to help us? Seems like some very public investigation during heavy business hours would help out a lot and ruin the reputation of Flying Griffon. Hell, maybe they'll even find something and we'll really get lucky."
You take all these suggestions into consideration, but you can't help notice that Eliza looks like she wants to say something.
"Eliza, do you have a suggestion?"
"Huh? Oh. Um... yes... but I... Just forget it. It's silly anyway. The rest of your ideas sound better."
"Eliza, just spit it out!" Wendy demands.
"It's okay, just tell us." You say with a lot less intimidation.
"Well okay, but it's silly. I was going to suggest getting someone on the inside to spy on the place and finding something to use against them. It seems odd that they are managing to attract that much attention with just pretty barmaids when we have our own. I think maybe something else is going on there, like an illegal brothel or something."
Most of you are surprised that Eliza came up with something so complex.
"Well, that's a very elaborate plan Eliza, but I think we could accomplish the same thing just by sending in our militia buddies to harass them. Like I said, if they do find anything actually incriminating, then its even better."
"Yes, of course. That sounds like a more efficient idea." Eliza says.
> your Staff (Current status)
Mom: Owner/Cook
Mom's still around, but it's mainly to help you out in your effort to put yourself through school. She's made it quite clear that ever since your father died, she doesn't really feel the desire to live in Klyton anymore, and would eventually still like to move back to her old home of Teckleville.
Rita: Hostess
Rita's ego has only gotten bigger since becoming a hostess (You're still questioning the name of that position) but she's still popular with most of the male folk and it at least keeps your old miner customer base still around who sometimes find a lot the inn's changes a bit discomforting. Rita still claims she's going to live in a mansion one day and is still looking for that "one guy" that's going to take her away from all this.
This would be more of a concern for you if most guys that were into her weren't just looking to fuck her a few times and then toss her aside, because if anyone really was interested in more than just her body, they probably wouldn't put up with her personality for long.
Wendy: Head barmaid
Along with serving food and drinks, Wendy tends to help out with the cooking or running the bar when you or your mother need it, but she always lets everyone know that she has the most thankless job out of everyone. Not entirely true, but you're reluctant to piss her off any further since she keeps things running smoother. She also balances out Rita's ego. She always says she's going to quit, but that's probably not likely due to her having a couple of children to support.
Eliza: Barmaid
Eliza's still your model employee; she's still the quiet one and doesn't make waves. She's about the only one that hasn't mentioned any plans on potentially leaving. Wendy wishes she'd take charge a little more, since it would help her out at times.
Flameflower & Sunshine: Barmaids
These are your newest employees and the pair of them are half-elves which means it's amazing that they even got jobs considering how full blood elves are notorious for avoiding real work. Still, their human mothers (naturally their elven fathers are absentee dads) seem to want them to learn the value of a copper so here they work. Fortunately Wendy's a good task master and keeps them from being lazy, but she gets at her wits end at times. Still, the pair of them are pretty and can be good workers when they aren't goofing off so they do their part for the inn, though Rita obviously doesn't like either of them since they draw attention away from her. |
You get the impression Eliza might be a little too shy for this sort of thing, so Rita seems like a better choice. Rita's also the most extroverted and will most likely prefer doing this than having to work at the inn.
"Alright Rita, starting tomorrow, you're working the streets... er so to speak. Don't think you still won't be working around here though; I'll still need you during the late shift. Besides I don't want you wandering around at night, people might get the wrong idea or something."
"Fine, as long as it gets me out of this place for a little while I'm game."
"Okay, also I'd like you to try to throw around some insults about the Flying Griffon Inn while you're making your sales pitch."
"Got it."
The next day, Rita comes in and while she's always been a pretty girl, she now looks like a succubus that you've heard about from old tales. You try to contain your own desire to shamelessly flirt with her.
"By the gods Rita, you're going to have every guy within this area after you."
"Meh, wouldn't be the first time. Okay, I'm off, try not to fantasize about me too much while I'm gone."
You're not exactly sure how to take that, but you are wondering how this will play out for you.
Over the course of a few days you definitely see a drastic increase in customers, and not just adventurers either. You've got Klyton Milita (who usually just drink at their barracks) coming in and even a few humble storeowners. You're making a lot more money, but it's a lot of extra work for the rest of you.
Mr. Reynolds receives sizable amounts of money and he continues to be satisfied with your payments. At this rate you'll probably be able to get out of debt by the end of the year.
The only major problems are how overworked the rest of you are getting and how arrogant Rita is getting.
Rita states that she should even have to work as a barmaid anymore because it interferes with her "advertising."
"Advertising? You wiggle your ass at horny men! You're basically a harlot that doesn't put out... or is there another reason why everyone comes here?" Wendy accuses.
"Figures that you'd be jealous of my popularity. Face it; I do more around here than ANYONE to keep this place successful, and I deserve some credit for it!" Rita demands.
"Hey we all know Rita, but... "
"But nothing, if you expect me to keep working here, I want a raise and I don't want to be working as some lowly barmaid anymore! I'm above serving food and drinks!"
"So you basically want to be paid to stand around and look pretty? What the hell kind of job title would we even call that?" you ask.
"I dunno, hostess maybe? Yeah, I'd be the hostess!"
"By the gods, this is ridiculous! You can't seriously be considering this!" Wendy exclaims.
The only people who are silent in all this are Eliza who is being her usual quiet self, and your mother who just shrugs and says it's your call since this was mainly your idea. You get the impression she doesn't care for Rita's attitude though.
> put Rita in her place
Rita's bluffing. Despite her high opinion of herself, she still needs this job.
"Rita, you're out of line. EVERYONE busts their ass around here and I'm not going to show you some sort of favoritism just because your looks are bringing in more people!"
Rita bickers with the rest of you for a while and after threatening to quit several times during the argument she finally agrees to stay, but you still have to give her a small raise. Nothing pocket breaking, but enough to shut her up and keep Wendy from rebelling in the process.
The next few weeks go as well as can be expected, though Rita's constant complaining is an ongoing problem. Eventually you learn to tune her out, but one day she's "tuned out" permanently.
While Rita was still more or less doing her job of bringing in more people, her attitude got a lot worse. This sometimes resulted in her driving away people as opposed to enticing them. This still wouldn't be so bad considering how many losers are willing to put up with abuse from pretty girls.
The problem was when she eventually pissed off the wrong person and this deranged individual decided to "teach the whore a lesson" and waited for her after work. The gruesome details involved rape, the removal of several of her vital parts and death (Not necessarily in that order).
You can't say you exactly liked Rita's personality, but she didn't deserve that. You even feel partially responsible for putting her in that position in the first place. Your mother tries to assure you that it wasn't your fault, but it still doesn't make you feel any better.
You feel even worse when the inn begins to feel the loss. While several regular customers offer their condolences many of the others brought in by Rita in the first place stop coming. You also don't have Rita to help bring in any new people either. Eliza also quits because she's so shook up about Rita's death that she feels it isn't safe to work at the inn anymore.
You manage to pay off Mr. Reynolds, but it's just barely again and you're not optimistic about future payments since he's hinted that he's going to need larger payments in the future. It would seem he realizes that you've almost paid him off and he wants to keep the money flow a little longer. You're so disheartened by this, Rita's death and the other headaches that you've had to put up with that you decide maybe it's time to just give up.
You fought the good fight for as long as you could, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. You're not going to finish this one, which is a familiar theme to you since you dropped out of college. You tell your mother what you think and she seems just as eager to sell the place off too since the past few months have been pretty stressful.
During the remaining week the inn stays open to make a last bit of change before closing for good and selling to the city. Some of the miners seem a little sad by it, but there were so many changes within such a short period of time that most seemed content on finding a new place since the old one wasn't like how it used to be anymore.
When the inn is sold off, you barely make enough to cover the debt, but at least you and your mother aren't in any immediate danger now.
Your mother finds work as a cook for a short time, but eventually decides she can't really stand living in the city without your father anymore. She leaves to go live with your aunt Enora in Teckleville, which is to the east on the outskirts of the Delantium Kingdom.
After a long time of the inn just sitting untended and forgotten due to the council having more pressing matters and red tape, it's broken into by several homeless people who use it as a place to sleep. The homeless are soon ousted by a local gang who use it as a safe house. Eventually though they cause enough trouble that the Klyton Militia has to take severe action and storm the place, resulting in a small fire.
At this point someone in the council finally notices it, decides that the place isn't worth salvaging and proposes that it be knocked down to build a medical clinic in its place to try to uplift the area. The motion passes.
As for you, you find a job thanks to your education level, but it isn't anywhere in the field that you would've liked. You're a clerk in tax office, filing away items, straightening out reports and such. You never really move up and you never make enough money to save away to get ahead either.
You don't really have a bad life so much as a mind numbingly mundane one. You do have your good days, but ultimately you never really achieve your goals and always have a sense of dissatisfaction with your life.
Sometimes you look back and wonder where you exactly went wrong with the inn and how you could've done things differently.
You'll never know. |
You shake your head; you can't walk away from this. Your mom might be in serious trouble because this loan. Selling the inn might not even be enough to cover it and even if it is, she probably won't have enough to fall back on.
You aren't angry with her, but you do feel a little anger towards your dad for getting her in this position (and you indirectly). You realize he still had the best intentions for you, but those don't really help right now.
"Alright first things first, who is the name of this loanshark?" you ask your mother.
"Mr. Reynolds. He'll be coming next week to pick up a collection. He's not a member of the Crimson Talons, but he does have a couple of their goons working for him."
"The Crimson Talons? Oh geez, this just get better... okay how is this place doing for business?"
"It's doing about as well as it always has."
"That won't be enough, we'll need to get more people in here, or cut costs somehow."
"Well your father was going to have more work done on the rooms in the hopes that it would keep adventurers and maybe even merchants to come back whenever they travel through here. I'm not sure if it's worth it though. Adventures don't care where they sleep half the time and it's not always a sure thing that they're going to live long enough for repeat business. As for merchants, I think this place is a little too blue collar for them most of the time."
"You said something about getting a new liquor supplier?"
"Yeah, the one here raised their prices, it would actually be cheaper to get the stuff shipped in from Hessla. Your father was supposed to meet with the new potential distributor in a couple days, so I'm not sure how that's going to go through, if at all."
"How about the staff?"
"The staff is working on minimum wage as it is, we've got three barmaids, Rita, Eliza and Wendy and they're all disgruntled about their jobs, but they all still work well.. We can barely pay them though, and we might have to fire one of them.
Grim stuff, but you're determined to see this through. Since the liquor supplier from Hessla won't arrive in two days you're just going to focus on what you can do now.
Fixing the rooms is still a good idea to keep potential returning wandering adventurers happy. Spending a little money now could increase potential profits later. Who knows, maybe even a merchant will show up and spread the word that this place isn't just some place where miners get drunk.
Firing people sounds like it might save you money, but all it's really going to do is create more work for the rest of you, so you decide to hold off on firing anyone for now.
Your mother doesn't agree with your idea of fixing the rooms, but seems relieved that you're not firing anyone.
Things go as normal at the inn. Several of the miners still offer their condolences about your father and are surprised to see that you're taking up his mantle as it were, but other than that they don't say to much to you. They probably don't know what to say since while some of them might know you since you were little, but you're not really "one of them" in terms of education level. Not to say they're all a bunch of grunting idiots, but they probably figure you're used to talking about things of a more cerebral nature. You don't mind though, after all your main concern is getting your mom out of debt.
Two days pass and the supplier from Hessla arrives. He's a grungy shady looking individual, but considering he's from Hessla that's hardly surprising.
He immediately says his name is Calwin asks for your father at which point you tell him he died recently. Calwin shows no sympathy and merely complains that he's made a trip up here for no reason. You show a little restraint and call your mother to speak with him, but after five minutes with him she's ready to throw him out the door for hitting on her, and you're not exactly thrilled with him either at this point.
"Look folks, if you want good quality alcohol at a low price I'm willing to deal wit ya, but I'm gonna need some incentive for my troubles because y'all seem like a buncha uptight prigs. Now I was invited here by the man who ran this establishment, so you called me here, if my help ain't wanted, I'll be on my way... " Calwin says.
While you're tempted to just have him leave, you decide it would be best to at least see if his stuff is any good.
"Alright prove it. Surely you've brought some of your alcohol here so we can test to see if it's any good."
"Well I do have some with me, but I can't just be givin' this stuff away for free."
"Don't worry, you'll be compensated."
You call attention to the miners in the room and ask them if they'd like to try some new beer, naturally they're all for it. A few of the miners take their fill of Calwin's beer and they say that it's different from what they usually drink, but it's just as good.
Calwin looks a little put off that they claimed his alcohol is "just as good", but still maintains that it's better than what you already have. He states his price, and also mentions that he wants a free room whenever he comes here since he's apparently got a harpy of a wife at home and he likes to stay away for a couple days before having to go back to Hessla.
Your mother obviously isn't thrilled with having to deal with him, and in the short time he's been here; he's also hit on every one of the barmaids. Granted they're used to such behavior, he's particularly revolting. (Plus he's from Hessla)
> don't deal with him at all
This guy is a complete creep and going to be nothing but trouble. You'd rather continue paying the Klyton supplier. Calwin grumbles a lot about wasting his time, but leaves without too much trouble.
While your mother agrees with your decision, it doesn't really help you in the money department and by the end of the week you haven't saved any money. In fact you've barely broken even.
While you're sweeping up the inn early morning, a non-descript man of medium height enters with two bigger figures. One of them is unmistakably an ogre while the other guy is just a tall muscular human. Either one could break you in half.
"Are you are Mr. Reynolds?" you ask, knowing that it has to be him.
"That would be me. I take it you're the son of my late debtor? I do hope you realize that the debt doesn't end with him dying... " Mr. Reynolds says
"No, no of course not. I've got some of what my father owed."
You hand over the most you can under the circumstances, but Mr. Reynolds looks insulted.
"My boy do you take me for an asshole? Your father used to pay me much more than this pittance!"
"It was a rough week... "
"No, no, I don't give a shit about your excuses, you've chosen to take on your father's debt so you are expected to fucking pay up like he did! (Sigh) Look, since you're obviously new to this, I'll let you off with a warning. Olaf."
Suddenly the ogre steps forward with a smile and punches you the stomach. You temporarily lose the ability to breath and collapse on the floor. When you finally do catch your breath, you promptly vomit.
"That was my warning, let's hope I don't need to do it again. Be seeing you again in a few weeks kid. Let's get out of here."
As Mr. Reynolds leaves, your mother comes running up from the cellar wondering what's going on. She helps you up when she sees you.
"Oh no son I can't let this go on. We're selling the inn right now!"
"No, no mom, it's alright, you'll see. We're going to make this place profitable and payback the loan and after that we'll be able to take the next step."
"Son, I love you, but we're not getting any further ahead. I mean if this keeps up, I'm stepping in before this place goes to hell so I can actually make money selling it to the city."
"You won't get enough for it!"
"Well I'll get enough to pay off the debt, and if worst comes to worst, I'll leave Klyton and live with my sister in Teckleville"
"You can't live with aunt Enora, you always said she's crazy."
"She is, but that still doesn't mean she wouldn't help me out."
"Look, we've still got time, I know my ideas are going to help us out soon."
"Well, I hope all your fancy schooling you gained some sort of insight that I'm not privy to. Alright we'll give it until the next time Mr. Reynolds comes around for payment."
You agree and start wiping up the floor before customers come in.
The next few days are uneventful. The miners seem to be talking to you a little more, mainly to chew your ear, either telling you how rough their jobs are and how your dad was a good man. You aren't really listening to anything they say because you're more preoccupied with the future and trying to figure out how you're going to get out of debt and more importantly how to avoid getting beat up or worse.
"So what's you're problem, Mr. Barkeep?" a miner asks, which none of them has ever done before, so it breaks you out of your trance long enough for you to utter "Huh?"
"I asked what's troubling you? And don't tell me nothin' because for the past few days you've been staring off at the walls." Davin asks. He's a bit of a loner type, mostly drinks alone, which makes his questioning even stranger.
"Oh nothing."
"Heh, I told you not to tell me that. Seriously, what's wrong? Think of it this way, you have to hear most of these idiots tell their stories all the time, now you've got someone willing to hear yours."
True enough, and you don't see any harm so you tell him everything, your schooling, the inn, the debt, and how you're worrying about all of it. He nods and listens to all of it, and it isn't until you're finished that he finally speaks.
"Could you sell this place and get enough money to pay off the debt?" he asks.
"Well probably... yeah."
"Then do it."
"What? I can't do that!"
"Why not? You'll be safe and your mother will be safe, isn't that the main goal?"
"Well yeah, but... "
"But nothing. All your other troubles are secondary when it comes to the survival of your family and yourself, or at least they should be."
"I can't just worry about immediate survival Davin, there's my future to worry about as well."
"Heh, well you'd better or you won't have a future to worry about. Look son, I know you want the whole higher education thing. I remember you used to study all the time when you were little, but sometimes you have to be realistic. I mean I had big dreams too once, I thought about becoming an astronomer."
"Really?"
"Hell yeah, but as I got older I realized that it wasn't going to happen and I was gonna be a miner just like my dad... and that's okay."
"But the inn... "
"It's just an inn son. There's tons of them in the city, it's not like we can't find another place to drink. You've pretty much made it clear you don't like working here and your mother is more than willing to sell it. You have no real attachments to it, so why put yourself through the hassle? You might not get to be a doctor, but you've still got a lot more education than most people, I'm sure you'll be able to easily find something you'll like to do more running an inn."
"I don't know... "
"Trust me kid, you'll feel a lot better if you just let this one go."
And with those words Davin heads to a table to drink by himself, leaving you to ponder your situation.
> sell the inn
You haven't got off to a good start and you don't think it's really going to get any better. Davin's words ring true, you aren't happy running this place and trying to get to your goals by doing it, is either going to get you killed or burned out and miserable.
You immediately go to your mother and tell her how you feel, and she understands, she's actually a bit relieved that you've decided to let her sell it. She tells you to take the rest of the night off and you return to your room where you feel saddened that you won't get to go back to school, at least not anytime in the near future. Your goals of going into medicine will have to remain just dreams for now and you don't know what your future holds.
During the remaining week the inn stays open to make a last bit of change before closing for good and selling to the city. Some of the miners seem a little sad by it, but there were so many changes within such a short period of time that most seemed content on finding a new place since the old one wasn't like how it used to be anymore.
When the inn is sold off, you barely make enough to cover the debt, but at least you and your mother aren't in any immediate danger now.
Your mother initially was going to find work in the city, but when you express a random desire to leave Klyton altogether, she suggests that you both move in with your aunt Enora in Teckleville. which is to the east on the outskirts of the Delantium Kingdom. You agree eagerly, you've never been out of the city and maybe it's time for a brand new start. You and your mother pack and catch a coach heading west. It feels weird leaving Klyton.
Eventually after a couple days the coach stops in Teckleville. Which is just one of the many small villages on the borders of the Dalantium Kingdom. Probably in time it'll get absorbed like so many others do, but that's not really a concern of yours right now.
Your aunt Enora is happy to see you both, and while this whole living with her thing was sprung on her at the last moment it doesn't seem to bother her. She says there's plenty of room and you can stay as long as you like.
While the house is certainly nice and you're happy to live there rather than in the street, it's sort of on the small side. Teckleville isn't anything like you're used to, but it isn't unwelcome. You just aren't sure what you're going to do here.
In time, your mother works at the local tavern where she serves as a cook. It's not much, but it is something she's used to doing.
You manage to get a job working as an assistant to the old librarian that works here. Not many use it, so she's happy to get some company. You aren't unfond of the job since you get to read a lot of books, some of which you're a bit surprised to find in a small town like this. The librarian mentions that she tends to get a few of wandering adventurers once in awhile that give books to her that they've found in whatever dungeons they've been delving into.
"If it isn't a spell book, they usually sell it for a few coppers. I believe they'd probably just leave the books wherever they found them most of the time, but you know those adventuring types, they're all a bunch of closet kleptos that absolutely HAVE to take everything that isn't nailed down." She says.
For awhile you live at your aunt's house you manage to save what little money you do make and move out. You briefly think about going to the Delantium Kingdom, but you become attached to Teckleville and stay.
As time goes on you take over as the head librarian, get married and have a family. You live the remainder of your life in Teckleville never regretting your decision and die with sense of fulfillment despite never going back to pursue medicine.
There were times though; you always wondered what would've happened had you stayed to run the inn?
You'll never know. |
This guy is a complete creep and going to be nothing but trouble. You'd rather continue paying the Klyton supplier. Calwin grumbles a lot about wasting his time, but leaves without too much trouble.
While your mother agrees with your decision, it doesn't really help you in the money department and by the end of the week you haven't saved any money. In fact you've barely broken even.
While you're sweeping up the inn early morning, a non-descript man of medium height enters with two bigger figures. One of them is unmistakably an ogre while the other guy is just a tall muscular human. Either one could break you in half.
"Are you are Mr. Reynolds?" you ask, knowing that it has to be him.
"That would be me. I take it you're the son of my late debtor? I do hope you realize that the debt doesn't end with him dying... " Mr. Reynolds says
"No, no of course not. I've got some of what my father owed."
You hand over the most you can under the circumstances, but Mr. Reynolds looks insulted.
"My boy do you take me for an asshole? Your father used to pay me much more than this pittance!"
"It was a rough week... "
"No, no, I don't give a shit about your excuses, you've chosen to take on your father's debt so you are expected to fucking pay up like he did! (Sigh) Look, since you're obviously new to this, I'll let you off with a warning. Olaf."
Suddenly the ogre steps forward with a smile and punches you the stomach. You temporarily lose the ability to breath and collapse on the floor. When you finally do catch your breath, you promptly vomit.
"That was my warning, let's hope I don't need to do it again. Be seeing you again in a few weeks kid. Let's get out of here."
As Mr. Reynolds leaves, your mother comes running up from the cellar wondering what's going on. She helps you up when she sees you.
"Oh no son I can't let this go on. We're selling the inn right now!"
"No, no mom, it's alright, you'll see. We're going to make this place profitable and payback the loan and after that we'll be able to take the next step."
"Son, I love you, but we're not getting any further ahead. I mean if this keeps up, I'm stepping in before this place goes to hell so I can actually make money selling it to the city."
"You won't get enough for it!"
"Well I'll get enough to pay off the debt, and if worst comes to worst, I'll leave Klyton and live with my sister in Teckleville"
"You can't live with aunt Enora, you always said she's crazy."
"She is, but that still doesn't mean she wouldn't help me out."
"Look, we've still got time, I know my ideas are going to help us out soon."
"Well, I hope all your fancy schooling you gained some sort of insight that I'm not privy to. Alright we'll give it until the next time Mr. Reynolds comes around for payment."
You agree and start wiping up the floor before customers come in.
The next few days are uneventful. The miners seem to be talking to you a little more, mainly to chew your ear, either telling you how rough their jobs are and how your dad was a good man. You aren't really listening to anything they say because you're more preoccupied with the future and trying to figure out how you're going to get out of debt and more importantly how to avoid getting beat up or worse.
"So what's you're problem, Mr. Barkeep?" a miner asks, which none of them has ever done before, so it breaks you out of your trance long enough for you to utter "Huh?"
"I asked what's troubling you? And don't tell me nothin' because for the past few days you've been staring off at the walls." Davin asks. He's a bit of a loner type, mostly drinks alone, which makes his questioning even stranger.
"Oh nothing."
"Heh, I told you not to tell me that. Seriously, what's wrong? Think of it this way, you have to hear most of these idiots tell their stories all the time, now you've got someone willing to hear yours."
True enough, and you don't see any harm so you tell him everything, your schooling, the inn, the debt, and how you're worrying about all of it. He nods and listens to all of it, and it isn't until you're finished that he finally speaks.
"Could you sell this place and get enough money to pay off the debt?" he asks.
"Well probably... yeah."
"Then do it."
"What? I can't do that!"
"Why not? You'll be safe and your mother will be safe, isn't that the main goal?"
"Well yeah, but... "
"But nothing. All your other troubles are secondary when it comes to the survival of your family and yourself, or at least they should be."
"I can't just worry about immediate survival Davin, there's my future to worry about as well."
"Heh, well you'd better or you won't have a future to worry about. Look son, I know you want the whole higher education thing. I remember you used to study all the time when you were little, but sometimes you have to be realistic. I mean I had big dreams too once, I thought about becoming an astronomer."
"Really?"
"Hell yeah, but as I got older I realized that it wasn't going to happen and I was gonna be a miner just like my dad... and that's okay."
"But the inn... "
"It's just an inn son. There's tons of them in the city, it's not like we can't find another place to drink. You've pretty much made it clear you don't like working here and your mother is more than willing to sell it. You have no real attachments to it, so why put yourself through the hassle? You might not get to be a doctor, but you've still got a lot more education than most people, I'm sure you'll be able to easily find something you'll like to do more running an inn."
"I don't know... "
"Trust me kid, you'll feel a lot better if you just let this one go."
And with those words Davin heads to a table to drink by himself, leaving you to ponder your situation.
> stick with it
He might have a point on some level, but you can't just give up because some old miner gives his "sagely" advice.
Still, you do have a bit of a dilemma on your hands; you need to think of a long-term way to raise profits. Actually at this point you need a short-term way to raise profits, because Mr. Reynolds will be coming in soon to collect and you doubt if you're going to have an adequate amount to pay him. That's going to result in a beating, which will result in your mom stepping in and selling the place.
Lacking any other solution you decide to water down the drinks, in the hopes that people will end up ordering more ale since it'll take them longer to get drunk.
This solution doesn't go over well.
That very night you're already getting comments that the ale doesn't taste quite as strong, and while this does result in the miners ordering more ale, the miners are used to drinking the Klyton alcohol they normally get and can instantly tell if something's wrong with it.
By the end of the week, you're getting loud verbal complaints about the ale, and outright accusations that it tastes like water. Several miners are insulted and leave the inn claiming that they've been loyal patrons here for so long and that they don't need to be treated like this. You attempt to explain, but they shove you out of the way and tell you to go back to your fancy college.
"I wish I could." You quietly say to yourself.
You aren't optimistic about the rest of the month. Sure there's still adventurers and the odd wanderer, but not enough to turn a profit. It'll be time to pay Mr. Reynolds soon and you're going to fall short again.
Your mother can't bare to see you get hurt again and suggests forgetting all about the inn and just taking off with all the remaining money you have and going to live with your crazy aunt Enora. |
"You're selling the inn?!"
"I have to! I can't run this place myself."
"Well that's what you have staff for!"
"Oh son... (sniff) I don't think you know the entire situation. You haven't been around as much over the years."
"Mom, I always meant to visit more, but... "
"No, it's not that. In fact I'm glad you had fun at college. You at least had some enjoyment. I'm just sorry you won't get to have any more."
"Mom, I don't like where this is going."
You mom at this point begins cry again until you eventually get her to calm down. What comes next almost makes you cry though.
While your father did indeed save for you, it wasn't enough to put you through college completely. Costs were higher than he thought and even though business was okay, he had unexpected expenses such as making fixes to the inn and price hikes in his alcohol supplier.
Your father was determined to not pull you out of college though, so he found another way. He borrowed money from a moneylender.
"WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me? I could've taken less classes or gotten a part time job at the university!"
"No, he didn't want you to worry or get distracted."
"Well I guess that's good since all that worry can go to this now! By the gods, why didn't he at least go to a bank to get the loan!?"
"He tried, but didn't get approved. They wouldn't even take the inn as collateral. I pleaded with him not to borrow money from criminals, but he claimed it would be fine as long as he opened the tavern earlier, found a cheaper supplier and made a few cuts here and there. And for a while things were running a little smoother, but I could see the stress taking a toll on him. It's what ultimately killed him. I'm just so sorry that we failed you. We wanted so much better for you. Now I'll have to sell the inn off to pay off the moneylender and hopefully I'll be able to find a job as a cook elsewhere."
You just sit in silence and try to wrap your head around all of this. Your bright future in medicine as you know is gone. You still have quite a bit of education, and you're fairly certain you could still find a job to support yourself, but it's going to be hard initially and you probably won't be satisfied with it. You're also worried about your mom, what if she can't find a job? You won't be able to help her much.
You can only think of one solution.
"Would it help if I ran the inn?" you ask.
"What?" your mother replies.
"Would it help if I helped you run this place. I mean granted I don't have excessive experience, I have watched you guys do it while I grew up here. I think I can manage the basics. If we managed to keep this place running at least long enough to pay off the loan, maybe then I can save enough to finish my education."
"I don't know son, I mean... I would love to see you finish your education, but it's a lot to take on. Would you have time? I don't want you getting burned out and suffering a pre-mature heart attack like your father because of the stress!"
"Well, I'm going to have nothing but time now, if I drop out and focus on this place. I think the main concern is getting us out of debt... just how much do you owe?"
"Uh... about ten thousand gold coins."
You really hoped it would be significantly less than that.
"Okay, well I'm guessing he takes smaller payments to buy you time but then charges more interest with each passage of time. We'll have to get this place whipped into shape so it's making enough profit that we'll be able to pay the entire sum as soon as possible. After that, we'll have some breathing room."
Your mom looks apprehensive about all this and then shakes her head claiming she can't let you shoulder this responsibility especially with the risk of physical danger involved if you anger the moneylender in some way.
She says that you should go on with your life and forget about the inn, she'll be able to sell it and pay off the debt with no problem. And as for her, she also tells you not to worry about her either, but she hopes that you'll forgive her and your father for failing in giving you the life you deserve.
It is true you could walk away from all this. You don't really have any great desire to run the inn. It was just a solution you came up with to help your mom and possibly help yourself. But there's no guarantee it's going to work, just like there's no guarantee that you can't still achieve your goals on your own.
> go on your own
You think about it and realize your mom is right. Taking on this responsibility isn't for you. All you're mainly concerned about is getting the loan repaid and you'll probably be able to do that by selling the inn to the city.
The pair of you keep the inn open one last week to make some extra money before closing it down for good. It's another sad time for the miners who frequent there, because while granted they'll either find another place to drink or continue to drink at this one under new management, your family has been a familiar sight here. When the inn is sold off, you barely make enough to cover the debt, but at least your mother isn't in any immediate danger now.
Your mother does find work as a cook for a short time, but eventually decides she can't really stand living in the city without your father anymore. She leaves to go live with your aunt in one of the small villages to the east on the outskirts of the Delantium Kingdom.
After a long time of the inn just sitting untended and forgotten due to the council having more pressing matters and red tape, it's broken into by several homeless people who use it as a place to sleep. The homeless are soon ousted by a local gang who use it as a safe house. Eventually though they cause enough trouble that the Klyton Militia has to take severe action and storm the place, resulting in a small fire.
At this point someone in the council finally notices it, decides that the place isn't worth salvaging and proposes that it be knocked down to build a medical clinic in its place to try to uplift the area. The motion passes.
As for you, you find a job thanks to your education level, but it isn't anywhere in the field that you would've liked. You're a clerk in a tax office, filing away items, straightening out reports and such. You never really move up and you never make enough money to save away to get ahead either.
You don't really have a bad life so much as a mind numbingly mundane one. You do have your good days, but ultimately you never really achieve your goals and always have a sense of dissatisfaction with your life.
Sometimes you wonder back, what if you had taken that chance and ran the inn? Would you have had a chance at a better life, or would you have made things worse?
You'll never know. |
"You're selling the inn?!"
"I have to! I can't run this place myself."
"Well that's what you have staff for!"
"Oh son... (sniff) I don't think you know the entire situation. You haven't been around as much over the years."
"Mom, I always meant to visit more, but... "
"No, it's not that. In fact I'm glad you had fun at college. You at least had some enjoyment. I'm just sorry you won't get to have any more."
"Mom, I don't like where this is going."
You mom at this point begins cry again until you eventually get her to calm down. What comes next almost makes you cry though.
While your father did indeed save for you, it wasn't enough to put you through college completely. Costs were higher than he thought and even though business was okay, he had unexpected expenses such as making fixes to the inn and price hikes in his alcohol supplier.
Your father was determined to not pull you out of college though, so he found another way. He borrowed money from a moneylender.
"WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me? I could've taken less classes or gotten a part time job at the university!"
"No, he didn't want you to worry or get distracted."
"Well I guess that's good since all that worry can go to this now! By the gods, why didn't he at least go to a bank to get the loan!?"
"He tried, but didn't get approved. They wouldn't even take the inn as collateral. I pleaded with him not to borrow money from criminals, but he claimed it would be fine as long as he opened the tavern earlier, found a cheaper supplier and made a few cuts here and there. And for a while things were running a little smoother, but I could see the stress taking a toll on him. It's what ultimately killed him. I'm just so sorry that we failed you. We wanted so much better for you. Now I'll have to sell the inn off to pay off the moneylender and hopefully I'll be able to find a job as a cook elsewhere."
You just sit in silence and try to wrap your head around all of this. Your bright future in medicine as you know is gone. You still have quite a bit of education, and you're fairly certain you could still find a job to support yourself, but it's going to be hard initially and you probably won't be satisfied with it. You're also worried about your mom, what if she can't find a job? You won't be able to help her much.
You can only think of one solution.
"Would it help if I ran the inn?" you ask.
"What?" your mother replies.
"Would it help if I helped you run this place. I mean granted I don't have excessive experience, I have watched you guys do it while I grew up here. I think I can manage the basics. If we managed to keep this place running at least long enough to pay off the loan, maybe then I can save enough to finish my education."
"I don't know son, I mean... I would love to see you finish your education, but it's a lot to take on. Would you have time? I don't want you getting burned out and suffering a pre-mature heart attack like your father because of the stress!"
"Well, I'm going to have nothing but time now, if I drop out and focus on this place. I think the main concern is getting us out of debt... just how much do you owe?"
"Uh... about ten thousand gold coins."
You really hoped it would be significantly less than that.
"Okay, well I'm guessing he takes smaller payments to buy you time but then charges more interest with each passage of time. We'll have to get this place whipped into shape so it's making enough profit that we'll be able to pay the entire sum as soon as possible. After that, we'll have some breathing room."
Your mom looks apprehensive about all this and then shakes her head claiming she can't let you shoulder this responsibility especially with the risk of physical danger involved if you anger the moneylender in some way.
She says that you should go on with your life and forget about the inn, she'll be able to sell it and pay off the debt with no problem. And as for her, she also tells you not to worry about her either, but she hopes that you'll forgive her and your father for failing in giving you the life you deserve.
It is true you could walk away from all this. You don't really have any great desire to run the inn. It was just a solution you came up with to help your mom and possibly help yourself. But there's no guarantee it's going to work, just like there's no guarantee that you can't still achieve your goals on your own.
> your staff (Current status)
Mom: Owner/Cook
Mom is still trying to get over dad's death. At this point she'd rather sell the place and move back to Teckleville where her sister Enora lives.
Rita: Barmaid
Rita's about your age and started working at the inn a few years before you went off to the university. You remember thinking she was hot when you first saw her and you tried to speak to her a few times to test the waters so to speak, but it was pretty obvious that she didn't have any sort of interest in you since were more of a bookworm. A bookworm without much money. Not a good combination for getting her affection.
Wendy: Barmaid
Wendy's been working here since you were in primary school. She's unofficially the "head barmaid" but the inn has never had that big of a staff to assign fancy titles. Still, she's the one that gets the others moving faster if it calls for it. As for you, she's never really paid any major attention mainly because she's got kids of her own she has to deal with and you never had any reason to talk to her on any meaningful level. She probably was just relieved that you weren't some "bratty boss' kid" that she had to put up with along with being a minimum wage slave.
Eliza: Barmaid
Eliza's a little younger than you. In fact you were already at Klyton University when she started working at the inn. In the past during your visits to the inn, she seemed to be nice to you, but you don't know much about other than she's a pretty girl and on the shy side. |
Another day home from school...
"I'm telling you Ms. Zelamoyer is a witch, there's no way she could know what we did unless she read our minds!" David says.
"Yeah maybe she's even a demon in human disguise!" Tom adds
"Or maybe you two looked guilty as hell and laughed the loudest when she sat on the thumbtacks you put in her seat." You say. "I told you guys that was a bad idea. I'm surprised she only paddled you and didn't have you kicked out of the school permanently."
"Yeah well it didn't even hurt. My dad beats me harder than that. Though I guess Tom thought it hurt with the way he cried! Hahahaha!" David taunts.
"Shut up David!" Tom exclaims.
"So are you playing Smash Sphere over in the park today?" David asks you.
"I hope so, but my dad's been on my case about me studying harder. Says he wants me to make something of myself when I grow up."
"That sucks. My dad is always either at the mines or drinking at your dad's place. The only time I have to worry about him is when my mom tells him about something I did, then I get a beating. I don't think I'd survive it if he was always around." David replies.
"My mom doesn't beat me, but she'll yell and throw me into a small dark closet without food if I do something bad." Tom says.
"Your mom is one scary ass dyke, Tom. My dad said he saw her scare away a mountain troll in the mines once."
"Shut up David! My mom's not a dyke!"
"Yes she is! What about that other lady that lives with you then?"
"That's just mom's roommate! She needs a place to stay so she helps around the house, like cook dinner or clean up. Mom is at the mines all day, so she can't do that stuff, so it works out. She's kind of like a live in maid!"
"Sounds more like a second mom... "
As much as you enjoy Tom's naïve defense of his lesbian mother and David's taunting of it, you arrive at the Inn where you say goodbye to your friends and tell them you might see them later.
As soon as you get in, you dad calls you over to the bar.
"So do you have any homework?" he asks.
"Yeah, but it's not due until next week."
"Hmm, well if it's not due until next week it must need a lot of attention, better get started on it."
"It's really not that much dad, I can do it over the weekend. I'm going to go out and play smash sphere with David and Tom."
"Is that what you think? Better cancel that idea. You're hitting the books, besides I vaguely remember you mentioning you were also going to have test next week too."
"But dad!"
"Don't dad me! You've been letting your school work slide lately and getting into trouble at school with those two little hoodlums you hang out with."
"They're not hoodlums, and I didn't get into trouble today!"
"You aren't supposed to be getting into trouble in the first place! Look son, I know you think I'm being hard on you, but this really is for your own good. Your little friends don't have fathers that give shit about them, I should know because David's dad is in here all the time and as for Tom, well the less said about his situation the better."
Doesn't look like you're getting out of here today, but you make one last attempt.
"But I really don't have that much homework, I really can do it quick over the weekend!"
"Well if that is the case, you can help me out here instead."
"What?"
"One of my barmaids is sick and I'm expecting a full house here tonight due to it being one of the miner's birthdays today, so you can carry food and drinks."
You certainly weren't expecting that.
"What? Can't mom do it?"
"Your mother is going to have her hands full attempting to cook the giant cloudspeak ram in the kitchen for the celebration, in fact you can start off by helping her chop up the beast."
As usual your dad has given you no "choice" at all.
> The city of Klyton and the surrounding area (History lesson)
Klyton
This is the city-state where you live. As far as city-state go it's not a big one yet, your parents are still able to remember when it was still just considered an " independent large town", but when you have steady population growth combined with an good location relatively free of major dangers it's only natural for a community to grow unhindered.
It is primarily run by a small council of elected officials to govern major matters such as defense of the town, administering punishments for crimes or issuing licenses for magic use. While Klyton doesn't have a major standing army, it does have a strong voluntary militia to fend off a potential attack, though there has never ever been a serious threat to Klyton. Most militia duties are reserved to protecting miners in the mountains or apprehending criminals. The idea of forming a proper military has always been brought up once in awhile, but again due to the lack of real danger to Klyton, and the cost of keeping a standing army has always been put on the backburner.
The Klytonian community has always been a mostly self-sufficient one, but if anything else is needed, most of their trading is done with the port town of Hessla, the Cloudspeak dwarves or even the Delantium Kingdom. Mining is still a major job field and the beginnings of industrialization is starting, (a couple of small factories have already been built) but Klyton doesn't ignore other fields such as medicine or education.
The city is still primarily made up of humans, but there has been a small creep in other races making their homes there as well over the years, for better or worse.
The surrounding area
To the north, the Cloudspeak Mountains form a natural barrier to any possible marauding barbarian tribes. While the mountains themselves are dangerous, it is rare for monsters to venture very far from them. Klyton worked out an agreement with the small dwarf community that lives there long ago for mining rights. A river originating from the Cloudspeak Mountains runs directly east of Klyton. The dwarves keep to themselves for the most part, but sometimes a few come to the city on business.
To the south is a mixture of forests and swamps and home to an on going battlefield. The elves and sotakan (A race of lizard like people) have been involved in an ongoing tribal war for at least as long Klyton has ever existed and probably even before that. Neither side ever gains the upper hand for very long and the cycle continues. Klytonians don't exactly know what it's all about, they just know they're glad the savages have always kept their little fight confined to their area. Sometimes elves come to the city to trade, but they're looked down upon as trouble makers and savages. No Sotakans have ever come to the city at all.
The closest human settlement is to the west, a rough port town on the ocean called Hessla. Despite having immediate access to the ocean (or perhaps because of it) it hasn't grown to a large size like Klyton has. That might be due to several factors. Hesslans have a habit of engaging in piracy other criminal activities involving high levels of violence. There's floods that occasionally hit the town. But even while teetering on the brink of total anarchy Hessla stays together mainly because a strong leader to prevent that from happening usually always runs it. (Weak Hessla leaders don't last long) While they have extreme differences in society and some past bad blood, Klyton and Hessla have always maintained a good trading relationship. As far as both are concerned trading with each other is good business regardless of their personal feelings are.
To the east past the Cloudspeak River, exist long stretches of plains, scattered woods and the occasional small village. Past that is the Delantium Kingdom. The occasional merchant from there comes to trade and then leaves, though they usually also act as "emissaries" speaking of all the positive things about the Delantium Kingdom and saying how Klyton would be much better off if it joined it. While the Delantium Kingdom has never shown any signs that it would try to take Klyton by force, this sort of talk still makes most Klytons a little wary, as they value their independence and the thought of having to serve a "king" is not appealing at all.
> Back to the story
Another day home from school...
"I'm telling you Ms. Zelamoyer is a witch, there's no way she could know what we did unless she read our minds!" David says.
"Yeah maybe she's even a demon in human disguise!" Tom adds
"Or maybe you two looked guilty as hell and laughed the loudest when she sat on the thumbtacks you put in her seat." You say. "I told you guys that was a bad idea. I'm surprised she only paddled you and didn't have you kicked out of the school permanently."
"Yeah well it didn't even hurt. My dad beats me harder than that. Though I guess Tom thought it hurt with the way he cried! Hahahaha!" David taunts.
"Shut up David!" Tom exclaims.
"So are you playing Smash Sphere over in the park today?" David asks you.
"I hope so, but my dad's been on my case about me studying harder. Says he wants me to make something of myself when I grow up."
"That sucks. My dad is always either at the mines or drinking at your dad's place. The only time I have to worry about him is when my mom tells him about something I did, then I get a beating. I don't think I'd survive it if he was always around." David replies.
"My mom doesn't beat me, but she'll yell and throw me into a small dark closet without food if I do something bad." Tom says.
"Your mom is one scary ass dyke, Tom. My dad said he saw her scare away a mountain troll in the mines once."
"Shut up David! My mom's not a dyke!"
"Yes she is! What about that other lady that lives with you then?"
"That's just mom's roommate! She needs a place to stay so she helps around the house, like cook dinner or clean up. Mom is at the mines all day, so she can't do that stuff, so it works out. She's kind of like a live in maid!"
"Sounds more like a second mom... "
As much as you enjoy Tom's naïve defense of his lesbian mother and David's taunting of it, you arrive at the Inn where you say goodbye to your friends and tell them you might see them later.
As soon as you get in, you dad calls you over to the bar.
"So do you have any homework?" he asks.
"Yeah, but it's not due until next week."
"Hmm, well if it's not due until next week it must need a lot of attention, better get started on it."
"It's really not that much dad, I can do it over the weekend. I'm going to go out and play smash sphere with David and Tom."
"Is that what you think? Better cancel that idea. You're hitting the books, besides I vaguely remember you mentioning you were also going to have test next week too."
"But dad!"
"Don't dad me! You've been letting your school work slide lately and getting into trouble at school with those two little hoodlums you hang out with."
"They're not hoodlums, and I didn't get into trouble today!"
"You aren't supposed to be getting into trouble in the first place! Look son, I know you think I'm being hard on you, but this really is for your own good. Your little friends don't have fathers that give shit about them, I should know because David's dad is in here all the time and as for Tom, well the less said about his situation the better."
Doesn't look like you're getting out of here today, but you make one last attempt.
"But I really don't have that much homework, I really can do it quick over the weekend!"
"Well if that is the case, you can help me out here instead."
"What?"
"One of my barmaids is sick and I'm expecting a full house here tonight due to it being one of the miner's birthdays today, so you can carry food and drinks."
You certainly weren't expecting that.
"What? Can't mom do it?"
"Your mother is going to have her hands full attempting to cook the giant cloudspeak ram in the kitchen for the celebration, in fact you can start off by helping her chop up the beast."
As usual your dad has given you no "choice" at all. |
You grab a rock, swinging it forward and smashing it into the side of the Gretchen's face. It smacks into the ground, and you climb atop it and smack it into the creature's skull again and again. The Gretchen's head is crushed, and you let out a relieved sigh. The relief is short-lived, though, as the orks continue to charge forward, swinging hastily-made weapons. The number of Azajaja survivors grows much smaller, as your tribesmen attempt to rescue both them and you whilst surviving the onslaught of Greenskin, but there's just too many. Hands grab your shoulders and pull you up, just out of the path of an oncoming spear. You turn, to see the face of a young girl, barely older than you, holding a spear with a terrified look on her face. You blush as you realize she's naked, before chiding yourself for having such an immature thought while people are charging to kill you. You hear a roar, and turn back to see an ork charging forward. He sees you, raising his axe.
> scream
You can barely walk. You're not going to crawl away from an ork, let alone kill it. The orks have struck down everyone around you. Only you and the girl are left, with your tribesmen on the other side of a wall of green muscle, struggling to survive. You do pretty much the only thing you can do. You let out a terrified, ear-piercing scream. In one outburst of air, you release all your pent-up terror and fear. The ork lets out a pained howl, clutching its ears. It continues screaming, collapsing to its knees, before its head explodes in a spray of crimson mist. You watch as dozens of orks collapse to the ground, blood streaming from their eyes, ears, nose and mouth. You feel a scratching behind your eyes, in the centre of your skull, as if invisible hands are trying to pull you apart. You let out a moan, and collapse backwards.
> enter oblivion
You have horrible nightmares of ever-changing balls of tentacles and eyes, horrible creatures of claws, breasts, hooves and long tongues, large, boil-covered, plague-ridden abominations and horned red beasts wielding flaming swords. Finally, you awaken in a cold sweat, coddled in your old, musky blankets. You look around, your eyes adjusting to the light of dusk. You notice the girl from earlier sitting in the corner, scaled hides and furs wrapped around her with her head resting on the handle of the sword she's clutching. She notices your wandering eyes and begins staring at you with her bright, green eyes. She's covered in dirt, with her brown hair hacked as short as yours, making her look like a boy.
"You're awake," she says.
"Yes," you reply, staring back at her, wondering why she's keeping herself from blinking.
"You sleep a long time."
"I do."
You sit there staring at each for quite some time, before the tent flap opens as Duggin walks inside. You notice several fresh scars across his chest, and a long one across his face.
"Karth! You're awake!" he says with surprise.
"How long was I dreaming?" you ask.
"Two weeks. We thought... after what happened... Well, we considered feeding you to the puk," Duggin chuckles. "Good to see you're alive. What visions have you had?"
You reflect briefly on your dreams.
"There's heavy storms coming within a weak, heavy amounts prey south towards the coast of the lake... and no sign of Greenskin activity," you say.
"Good to know, little one. I'll pass the message on."
Duggin turns his attention to the girl, who sits there.
"Have you met the Azajaja, Karth?" he asks. "She hasn't said a word the entire time she was here. She just sat there. It took a fierce bit of effort to get her to eat. I'm pretty sure she's just been shitting in the corner."
Duggin looks to the girl, seemingly expecting her to say something, but she says nothing, just stares at you.
"I'll... grab you some food and drink. For both of you," Duggin says, walking out of the tent, leaving you and the girl alone.
"I'm Karth," you reply, offering your hand to shake.
She just sits there in response, staring at you. It's getting unnerving. After a few minutes, Duggin returns, carrying two wooden bowls of cooked meats as well as two more of wine. He leaves them on the floor in front of you.
"Make sure she eats. I'll give you some time, but then we need to discuss how you wiped out two dozens orks with... whatever powers you've been blessed with," he says, before leaving.
You grab the two bowls of meat, sliding one across the floor to her. You begin eating, as she does the same. She grabs the meat and stuffs it into her mouth, all without breaking eye contact or letting go of her sword. She eats the meat with her mouth open, making loud chewing noises. You wince at the noise, the churning, slicing and crushing being another thing your mind is repulsed by. You blink, unnerved by the staring, but begin to eat, the delicious taste of flesh filling your mouth.
"You snore loudly," she says after several minutes.
"Yeah, I've been told," you reply.
"What do you do?" she asks.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you do all day? You don't seem like you can walk around much, let alone do chores or work."
"I sit here and sleep a lot. Sometimes I make plans when needed."
"Why are you so pale?" she asks quizzically.
"I spend most of my time in a tent, obviously," you reply.
"Do you want to go outside?" she asks.
"Everyone's too busy to carry me around."
The girl considers this.
"Do you want to go on my back so I can take you outside?"
> Yes
"Yes, if you don't mind," you say.
She stands, scoffing the remaining bits of meat down her throat before gulping down the wine. She walks forward, turning and bending over to allow you to wrap your arms around her shoulders and then lift yourself up enough to wrap your legs around her thighs. She stands with a grunt, grabbing her sword before walking forward and out of the tent. You look up at the quickly falling sun, basking your face in its warmth. The rest of the tribe gives you a quick glance, surprised to see you outside, but go back to work. The girl continues to carry you around, trotting along the tents towards the trees.
"So... do I get to know your name?" you ask.
"It's Fay," she replies.
"I'm Karth."
"What do you dream of? You know, when you sleep?"
"Bad things, mostly. Monsters. Sometimes, I get messages. I see beasts attacking, and I know when the orks will strike. I... "
"Did you know the orks were going to attack my village?" Fay asks, sadness filling her voice.
"I... no. I don't get messages every time."
"Oh. OK."
You arrive at the trees, and you outstretch your arm, running it across the bark of one of the trees. You spot the sun finally descending under the horizon, as the darkness stretches over the sky. Two duller bright lights take its place, but they're far too weak to give even an ounce of its brightness.
"We should go back," you say.
"Why?" Fay asks.
"Monsters dwell here at night."
She pats her sword gently.
"I have a blade. I can easily kill the monsters."
"Monsters are scary."
"I can be scary too."
> pressure her to go back
"Come on, let's go back, please," she says.
"Fine," she says with a sigh, turning and heading back to the camp.
She goes back inside the camp, putting you back on your blankets.
"Can I sleep in here?" she asks.
"Uh... OK," you reply, curling up in your blankets.
"I'll see you in the morning," she says.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
With that, you curl up in your blankets and let sleep take you once more.
> Three Years Later...
Over the next three years, things change, both for you and the world at large. Fay becomes a constant companion, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the other children of the tribe would be happy to play with her and devoting all her time to you. You're not sure why, but you're grateful for it. Puberty changes both of you. Fay grows significantly taller, faster and stronger, growing from a small girl to a large and powerful warrior. She stands as tall and proud as the boys of the village, and is more than happy to face them off in a wrestling match, winning all of them. She seems to prefer spending her time hunting with the boys or more often with you than learning the common girl's chores of cooking, sewing and cleaning. You'd imagine soon enough she'll have to find a husband among the hunters.
Thankfully, growth does not leave you behind, although it doesn't effect you nearly as much. You grow strong enough to be able to stand and stroll around the camp, even taking small trips, although even a light jog for a minute or two is enough to topple you over with exhaustion. Compared to Fay, you're a twig whilst her muscled form is that of an thick tree trunk. Puberty also has a significant change on your abilities. You sleep less, although your dreams are harsher, and there's more... anger behind them. The monsters seem aware of you know, there voices constantly breaking into reality and continuing to scream and plead with you. You simply refuse to listen, and with training, you can make them become something of a white noise to your day to day activity. Your powers also increase. With the flick of your fingers, you can start a small fire. With a word, you can leave anything, man or beast, confused and befuddled. You can pick things up and throw them with a strength unfound to you, beating out many of the warriors in throwing contests without even moving. The world as a whole changes as well. The amount of Greenskin attacks intensifies, and in response the tribes band together, forming a much larger community to stand against the tide. Your dreams are muddled, but you feel something is coming. The sky, which to the plain eye is beautiful, blue and unchanging, seems about to be torn open in your dreams. Something bad is coming.
You sit in the grass, a tan finally having replaced your pale form, next to Fay as you watch buzzards flying overhead, eating a bowl of Braxen meat.
"It's a nice day," Fay says.
"It is," you say, your dreams from the previous nights still filling you with a feeling of dread.
"You look nervous."
"Do I?" you ask, feigning confusion.
"As much as you like to think so, I'm not stupid. I can tell something's up."
> tell her the truth
"I've been having a lot of nightmares. I think... I think bad things are coming."
"Really?" Fay asks, getting worried. "Like what?"
"I don't know," you admit. "But it's bad."
"Have you told Duggin?"
"He just increased the amount of training warriors are doing. He asked what else he could do, and I didn't have any better suggestions."
"You worry too much. You're not even eating. Your bowl's full. Speaking of which... "
She plucks the bowl from your hands.
"I'm still hungry!" Fay laughs as she gracefully hops out of reach.
"Oh, no! Whatever shall I do? I've been left helpless! What will poor Karth do?" you say sarcastically.
With the wave of your hand, Fay's feet go from under her and the bowl flies into your hands. You grab a piece of meat and throw it into your mouth with a smile.
"You're just a bully," Fay says, fake pouting. "Thank the God-Emperor you were cursed to be a cripple."
"Hey! I'm not a cripple! I'm just super weak. If we find a tribe of women who aren't ugly bags with stringy hair, odd scars sand gross teeth, I'll get super buff. But, we haven't," you reply.
Fay looks down, actually looking hurt by your joking comment. Shit.
"Uh... don't be so insulted, Fay," you say, gently knocking her to the ground again with the flick of your wrist. "You're less ugly when you smile. You need to have thicker skin."
She smiles as she stands back up.
"Me? I need thicker skin? This is coming from the guy who's always like "I'm scared because I dreamed something bad"!"
"Hey, I'm never wrong. I have a lot of power," you say, emphasizing your point with another flick of your wrist.
"Stop that!" she complains, hitting the ground. "I don't even know why I hang out with you."
"Because of my dashing good looks?"
"Shut up! I'm going down to the lake for a swim!" she says, jumping up and jogging off towards the lake.
You quickly stand up, walking after her.
"Wait up! You know I can't go that fast!"
Fay rolls her eyes, stopping and grabbing your hand.
"Come on!" she says.
Shit. You hate swimming. It's mostly just you sitting in the shallow, exhausted from the effort of getting in. Still, you go where she does, and she's the same. You walk as quickly as you can towards the lake.
> Four Hours Later...
You lie on the grassy edge of the lake, your feet dipping gently in the water, watching as Fay gathers berries, nuts, fruit and whatever other edibles she has access to. You watch her approaching you, carrying a handful of food. You eagerly extend a hand as she hands some to you, and you stuff your cheeks with them, eagerly eating.
"How can someone be so hungry yet be so thin?"
"I suppose I'm just an abomination," you smile, watching as the water turns gold as the sun shines across it, finally beginning to disappear as night takes hold.
"It was a nice day," you say. "But we should head back."
"You're such a maybe. You'd think a magic man who can kill dozens of orks with one petrified scream would be less of a coward."
You flick your wrist and she falls over with a yelp.
"Stop doing that!"
"No," you reply with a smile.
You watch as the bright two moons appear, just as dozens of stars fill the sky.
"Beautiful night," Fay remarks.
"Yeah. The sky's looking gorgeous," you reply.
"You know..." Fay starts.
There's a howling scream, and the sky is torn apart. You watch as the very fabric of reality is sliced through, tearing a hole in the sky. There's a bright, purple hole in the sky itself.
"What the fuck is... ?" Fay asks, drawing her sword as if with some hope of stopping the horror that is to come.
A headache pulses through you as you try to stand, collapsing back to the floor. In the distance, a massive, black shape leaves the hole, heading straight towards the planet. You stand again, but the shrieking continues, preventing you from thinking, let alone running.
"Karth!" Fay yells, wrapping her hands around you and lifts you up.
> tell her to go back to camp and warn them
"Go... go back to camp without me. Warn them!"
"I'm not leaving you!"
"Fay, have you fucking seen me? It's a hell of a lot less dangerous here, I'll be fine. Go!"
Fay nods, turning and sprinting off towards the camp. You sit there, clutching your head. After about a minute, your head clears enough to realize that there's no way in hell the camp wouldn't notice the massive, sky-tearing hole in reality itself, so sending Fay back to warn them is completely useless. Suddenly, you're hit by another wave of anguish as pain courses through you. Then, the voices return. This time, though, one pierces through, louder than ever before, almost as if someone is whispering directly in your ear.
"Karth... Karth... I can help you... I have so much power... I have so much strength... all of it, I'm happy to offer you... "
You feel the claws of a million voices scratching at your mind. You begin to scratch at your eardrums, hoping, begging the voices to stop. You shudder, and thankfully, oblivion takes you and you lapse into unconsciousness.
> awaken
You awaken, lying on the grass outside of your camp. Your eyes blink twice, as you begin to look around. Several large, metal buildings sit there in the fields next to the tents. Men holding large spears march around the camp, directing throngs of tribespeople towards the buildings. These spears seem to be capable of firing arrows made of concentrated sunlight. Interesting. You notice several giants, seemingly made of metal, standing on the edge of the camp, watching the work. Suddenly, you find yourself yanked into the air by invisible hands, and float into the air, suspended two four feet above the ground. You watch as a trio of men approach you, smiling. The one on the left is a giant, seemingly made entirely of metal. He stands at around eight feet, with dozens spikes protruding from his metal skin. His body's black, with a purple head. In the middle, a tall, pale man wearing a long, black leather overcoat, a spiked collar strapped around his neck. The third seems to be a hybrid between a girl and a metal monster, her eyes replaced by the three red, unblinking eyes of a monster, a dozen long, metal arms extending from the nape of her back, three arms ending in claws and one a drill, with her legs replaced by four spider-like legs. Where her human arms would be extends a grasping, whirring claw and a metal barrel, the inside of which glows faintly blue. The middle one walks forward with a smile.
"Hello there, young Karth. Pleasure to see you," he smiles jovially.
"We don't have time for pleasantries, psyker," the metal man says. "Load him onto the ship!
"Give him time to adjust! He's only just waking up," the man, the psyker, says.
One of the long, metal arms attached to the monster-man's back goes towards you, whirring its drill. It cuts along your arm, drawing a long, thin cut as you yelp in pain.
"This one is weak... how pitiful," the monster-man says. "It's pain tolerance is low, but I can work with it."
"I want to use his mind, not his flesh," the psyker says. "My name is Kyros. The burly armored man to my right is Chapter Master Taj Suenage, and the robotic companion to my left is the Heretek known as the Craftsman of Vorn, the Butcher of Karis IV and the Father to the Prometheans. Her name is Magos Cern. We are the Forces of Chaos."
The monster-man extends one of her metal tentacle arms once more, tracing the outline of your cheek bones.
"Bah! Time wastes! Either give me the surge of the warp overtaking me, or give me the surge of battle, Kyros!" Taj roars, smacking a metal hand against his chest.
"As you wish, Taj," the Psyker says.
The Psyker claps his hands, and his various forces begin forcing the last of the tribespeople inside the building, as those who litter the floor, those who presumably tried to resist, are carried there.
"Are they dead?"
"Some, presumably. I gave the order to keep as many alive as possible," Kyros says.
You see Fay's battered and bruised body being tossed over a metal giant's shoulder as she's carried off towards the building.
"No! Give her back!" you shout.
"She fought well. When my men entered this pathetic village, she was trying to warn them. She even tried to fight them off. Killed one of the dumber ones who tried to call her bluff. Commendable."
You furrow your brow, and the Psyker grins as Taj's head is knocked slightly back, before presuming position. Despite how little you've harmed him, the metal giant seems enraged.
"You scum-sucking sociopathic cunt!" Taj roars, charging forward.
Taj is flipped into the air, being suspended just out of reach of you. His metal fists swing at you, but he's kept out of grasp.
"Tut tut. Stay your anger, my dear Taj. Karth, I'll make you a deal. Do as I say, and the girl will be unharmed. Deal?
> agree
"OK. Just don't hurt her," you say.
You drop, hitting the floor quite gently. Kyros grins and gives you a nod.
"Good boy. I'll make sure special care is taken of the girl."k
"Ha! I'll give your bitch whore "special care"!" Taj roars, still grabbing at you.
Kyros rolls her eyes, flipping Taj into the dust.
"Quiet now, marine," he says. "I have a gift to sate your bloodlust. Bring out the chieftain!"
You watch as Duggin is dragged form his tent, growling and yelling. A large cut goes down his chest, blood having soaked his armor, turning it a deep crimson that shines in the sun.
"Come on, finish me!" he roars.
"I don't want to see my men die, Karth. I gave your chieftain the option to surrender, give me his finest warriors... and you, of course, and I'd spare his civilians. He refused, killed some of my men, had his warriors killed and now I have to take you all. Now, he will die. This is what happens when people mess with my plans, Karth."
Taj drops to the ground, turning to stare at Duggin with a monstrous laugh.
"Fortunately, Karth, I won't make you watch. You have agreed, haven't you?" Kyros says with a wink.
You're released to the ground, and Kyros and Magos Cern walk alongside you towards the metal buildings. You walk inside, and the doors shut. A bright red light, like a very powerful candle, appears out of nothingness, brightening the room. The tribespeople are packed in here, surrounded by a tight bundle of guards with spears raised.
"What happens here? There's no space to do anything," you say.
"It's a landing craft, little one. Now, we soar to the stars," Kyros says.
You see several feet away from you is Fay's crumpled form and feel a twinge of pain. You sit down in the metal building as it begins to shake and shudder as if moving, terrified of the world around you.
> Four Hours Later...
The trip is long. The landing craft constantly shakes and shudders, and quickly fills with the smell of puke as the stomachs of many of the men and women around you as they fail to handle the constant shaking. You sit there, unmoving, staring up at the guards. Finally, the ship shudders to a stop.
"Good! We're here!" Kyros says. "Welcome to the Roar of the Vortex! Please file out and follow the guards towards your cells."
"What are you going to do with us?" someone asks.
"I'm going to make you matter in a galaxy that stands for no one," Kyros says proudly.
The people begin being shuffled off the landing raft, and you find yourself in a massive metal room. You look out a massive opening, filled with similar craft. You look around, before a metal hand grabs your shoulder.
"Stay," Taj growls. "You're not to be mixed in with these common curs."
"What's going to happen to them?" you ask.
"Some will live. Most will die. All will suffer," Taj says.
"What... what are you?"
"A space marine, boy," Taj says.
He grabs his head, twisting it. His metal head is yanked off, revealing a scarred human head underneath.
"You're a human."
"Practically. Did you think I was metal through and through?" Taj asks.
"Yes."
"It's armor, boy," Taj says. "I don't have time to explain shit to you."
Kyros marches out, raising you into the air.
"Come on, boy. Let's go!" Kyros says eagerly, walking along the ship.
You float after him, being dragged through the air, unable to resist. After a few minutes, you fall to your knees in front of a metal door.
"I've asked what's going to happen to us. You still haven't given me an answer," you say.
"You've found yourself in a war, little one. Your planet is worth jack shit. Everything you know doesn't matter. This war encompasses the galaxy.Systems burn, billions die, the fate of trillions is fought for."
"War? Whose fighting?" you ask.
"Everyone. The world has monsters so powerful that they'd wipe out every warrior in all your tribes in an instant. There's the Tyranids, a horrible bug hive-mind with nothing but a need to eat. There's the Necrons, an ancient of soulless machines that have only just began to awaken. There's the Orks, a warring species of monsters, the Eldar, an enigmatic species just as likely to help as hinder you, Then, you have the worst villains. The Imperium of Man. They're freedom-crushing, innovation-stopping, potential-destroying fascists who enslave trillions and worship a corpse. We stand against them. We serve the Dark Gods. Khorne the Warrior God, Tzeentch the Sorcery God, Slaaneesh the Pleasure God and Nurgle the Plague God. We fight to free ourselves from tyranny, to make sure every man is free. We offer gifts of strength, knowledge, joy and immortality, yet the Imperium spurns us. So we rebelled. We are the Forces of Chaos, who fight back against tyranny! Praise Chaos in all it's glory!"
"I'm still waiting for an answer," you say.
"We're going to turn you into super-soldiers. Magos Cern has long worked on the process. We're going to make you greater than Space Marines. You hold the most potential. Cern can play with their flesh and Taj can train them, but I offer the greatest gift: Ultimate power. You're gifted, Karth. I want to use that gift to make you one of the most powerful beings known to man."
You stare at him nervously. You're not an idiot. People don't just create powerful soldiers without having a chain around them. You watch as Kyros takes a steel, studded collar and walks towards you. He wraps it around your throat, clicking it into place.
"Is that comfortable?" Kyros asks.
"I suppose," you see, scratching at the collar.
"At any moment, I can shut down your powers and strangle the very air out of your throat. So play nice."
Kyros picks you up again with a flick of the wrist and you float upwards. Kyros carries you through the air, stopping at another door. It opens with being touched, and Kyros drops you inside it.
"This is your cell. I've made it... comfortable. In return, you best be... compliant I need to... check on some things. Wait here for the time being," Kyros says, sealing the door behind you."
You stand up, looking around the room. There's a bed there, a small hole in the floor the size of a baby's head, a shelf and a small glass box with a lever inside.
> investigate the hole
You walk over to the hole, and look down it. Nothing but blackness. You put your ear against it, but no noise comes out. Finally, you put your arm down it, up to the shoulder. There's a gunk coating it further down, but you can't make out what it is by touch. You lift out your arm, only to find it caked with dried shit.
"Fuck," you complain, as the smell just begins to hit you.
> investigate the box
You walk over to the box, entering it. You press down on the lever, and nothing happens. You pull it, and suddenly you're hit by a burst of water. You look up, and it's like lashing rain has formed right above you. This has the added benefit of washing off the shit that cakes your arm. You quickly turn it off, avoiding getting too soaked.
> lie on the bed and wait
You collapse onto the bed, closing your eyes. Almost immediately, the voice begins.
"Karth... Karth..." the voice calls. "I have so much to offer you... you're a prisoner here, Karth. These men are going to break you, child. Only I can help you... just give me time..." the horrible voices stops, and reality fades back into reality.
The voices thankfully subside, and you're granted a short break of blissful sleep. Unfortunately, this is broken by the door opening. You look up to see Kyros standing there.
"Karth, it's time for your... augmentation," he says cheerfully.
"What's going to happen?" you ask fearfully.
"Magos Cern and the Chapter Master want to create super-soldiers. They're aiming so low they could hit themselves in the foot. I want to create something... excuse me, someone of immense power. Your mind will be a thousand times sharper than any blade. You will be a Psyker feared by the entire Imperium."
"Let's say you make me extremely powerful. Then what? How do you keep me under your control?" you ask.
"Karth, you're my prisoner, but I don't think you need to be for long. I want you to join me. We figtht for freedom, for power, for glory! We'll crush the dying Imperium, and lead mankind towards a new dawn. Can't you see that that's a strong goal? Can't you see that that's something to join us to fight for?"
> say "I agree. They're commendable ideals."
"I'm glad to hear it. I'm sorry to say you'll still have to remain my prisoner for the time being, but I'm sure the crew will come to trust you quickly enough."
You arrive in a large room, filled with dozens of large, see-through tubes. You glance at them, take a deep breath, and get sick all over the glass while falling to your knees.
"Ah, yes... you best not look at these," Kyros says, flicking his finger to pick you up again.
Inside the tube, submersed in a thick, viscous liquid, are your tribespeople. They're completely naked, with long tubes having been forced down their throat. Dozens of needles have been forced into their arms, backs and necks, pumping strange liquids into them.
"What the fuck are you doing to them?" you ask.
"Making them super-soldiers. We've been through this," Kyros says absent-mindedly.
"I thought you'd be training them!"
"After we change them. If you think the nutrients and drug treatment is bad, wait until we start using the Geneseed. At least they'll all survive this bit."
> look around for Fay
You look around, noticing Fay floating in a tube.
"Let her out!" you say, tears welling in your eyes as you watch her body convulse as chemicals and nutrients flood into it.
"No. She needs to become strong if she wishes to survive here."
"She's one of our best warriors! She trains everyday!"
"I don't particularly care whose the best warrior of some shithole tribe on some shithole planet! We'll be fighting super, cybernetic orks, super-soldiers the likes of Taj, ancient, psychic warriors and never-ending waves of bug warriors. Your sister could be torn apart in seconds by even the weakest of threats."
"She's not my sister," you say, putting your hand against the glass.
"Really? Wife, then? I've seen cultures with younger marriage ages, but they're not the norm."
"We're not married, we're just friends," you say sadly, as you're carried into the air once more and dragged along Kyros.
"Ah, I see. Your society isn't patriarchal enough that you can just demand she has sex with you. Unreciprocated love, what a pity," Kyros laughs.
"It's not... let her go!" you shout.
The collar tugs tightly around your throat, taking the breath away from you. You choke and gasp for several seconds, before it releases, allowing you to take a breath.
"Quiet now."
You continue on, arriving at a thick, metal door.
"Here we are," Kyros says with a smile.
The metal doors slide open, revealing a large, empty chamber. Magos Cern stands in the center, her head twisting around to reveal her glowing red eyes, piercing your soul.
"Is the chamber complete?" Kyros asks. "Have you succeeded?"
Magos Cern stares at you.
"Well?" Kyros asks again.
"Don't question my work, Kyros. If something goes wrong, it's because you're an idiot trying to harness the magical energies of the warp while using a flesh battery."
"I have a name, you know," you point out.
Magos Cern walks out of the room, the mechanical part of her body whirring.
"What is she?" you ask. "Is she even a "she"?"
"Imagine a simple human girl. Useless. Unknown. Weak. We all want to be strong. She scorns are use of the Warp, but she's happy to replace most of her body with machinery."
"Machinery?"
"She... adds metal shielding, important tools, new robotic arms... that kind of thing. Are you ready to start the procedure?"
"Do I have a choice?" you ask.
"Not in the slightest, but if you have any questions, you might as well ask them."
> ask questions about the Warp
"What's the Warp?"
"Imagine an alternate dimension, of pure Chaos and emotion. It's known as the Warp. We are in a galaxy teeming with life. These lives all mean that there are trillions of bright, powerful souls. The powers of the Warp can easily be reaped here. By passing through it, we're able to travel hundreds of light years with ease. Through manifesting and manipulating the Warp, some of us, Psykers, can use it's powers like you and I do."
"We use the powers of the Warp for our magic?"
"Yes, yes. Here, in the warp, are powerful and ancient creatures such as the Dark Gods and their daemons. There's Khorne, who has been born out of the galaxy's never-ending combat, representing courage, strength, blood-thirst, honor and most importantly, rage. There's Tzeentch, who has been born out of scheming and plotting. He represents sorcery and the use of magic, scheming, plotting, hope and change. There's Nurgle, the plague god. He represents sickness, decay, rot, plague, defeat and in a strange way, life and acceptance. Finally there's Slaaneesh, who represents self-indulgence, passion, love and pleasure. These are the four greatest Dark Gods, and it is to them I pledge my life. In exchange, they give me gifts to enhance my dark powers and give me the strength to fight for what's right."
> ask questions about the procedure
"What's going to happen to me?"
"Your body is frail, weak, useless, because that's not where your strength comes from. Look at the finest warriors in your village. Their strength comes from the pathetic vessels their souls use. Your body could be upgraded, and we could make you as strong as someone like Taj with enough work, but what would be the point? It would be like adding a simple rifle bayonet to the heavy macro cannon of a starship. Now, I'm going to refine your abilities."
"You haven't told me what you're going to do," you point out.
"Well, this could be quite unpleasant. We're going to pump the chamber ful of Psychic energies and enhance your abilities," Kyros says.
"Is that going to work?" you ask.
"Probably," Kyros shrugs, flashing a devilish grin. "What I expect is a forced evolution of your mind to a much stronger state. It'll skip directly to the height of your psychic maturity, and then several levels past that. It requires a powerful Psyker who's still growing as a psyker with a lot of potential to succeed, but I'm certain you'll be able to survive it. Good luck."
> start the procedure
"Alright, I'm ready," you say with a grimace.
"Good. Now, it is important to know that this chamber is going to flood with psychic energy. If you feel your a few outer layers of your skin begin to burn off, you'll be find. It's quite likely that as the connections to the Warp that are built up and a portal is built up, daemons could attempt to manifest in the chamber. These are beings that are built on fear. You might see them, but they can't hurt you unless you react to in fear. They'll be able to cease on the presence of your fear and* fully manifest, and then they'll definitely be able to hurt you."
"So they can't hurt me if I don't react to them?"
"Well... if this goes well, they won't be able to harm you if you don't show fear. If it goes wrong in some way and if they can harm you, being scared what change anything and you'll be slaughtered like a lamb either way won't do anything. So don't get scared, and don't react in anyway."
Kyros steps backwards, outside of the chamber, as four massive giant men wearing the metal armor just like Chapter Master Taj, wearing black armor with purple helmets. Severed Ork heads hang from around their heads, seemingly quite fresh, while they hold in their hands massive Bolters, which as you've learned from the chitchat between guards aboard the landing craft, spit huge bits of flaming metal with amazing speed. They're either here to keep you in... or to keep whatever ends up in this chamber if something goes wrong. The doors close, sealing you in there. Shit. You're definitely going to die in this chamber.
"Shit!" you say loudly, you voice echoing off the walls of the circular chamber.
The chamber begins to hum, as the entire room begins shaking. The walls course with psychic energy. You hear a thousand energetic voices begin to chatter endlessly in your mind. One voice is loud and strong above the others.
"Karth..." the now familiar voice calls. "...feel the power reverberate through your soul... I knew I was right to target you."
"Who the fuck are you?" you whimper.
You feel your body shudder, as your mind stretches. You feel sharp bursts of emotion. A deep, powerful rage at the slaughter and enslavement of your people. How dare those fucks kill your allies, kidnap your people and do these things? What gives them the right?! This rage is quickly replaced by a burst of joyous bliss, as an immense pleasure floods through your body, and you shudder in ecstasy. This is replaced by a deep sadness, as you realize that your entire tribe, your entire planet, all of the heroes of lore that you looked up to, meant nothing. Your world, as the Chaos lords said, is infinitesimally small and worthless compared to the rest of the galaxy.
"I am a friend, Karth. An ally. A daemon with unimaginable power which I'm willing to offer you. My name is Meliodas. I want you to survive this... I'm your friend... I know the powers flooding into you like you know the air you breath. Just ignore the chattering... ah, look... they're arrived. Try not to react..."
You watch as the air courses, pulsing with solid, permanent beat. You see the air morph and flex with energy, as colored energy begins to manifest and coagulate. You see a morphing shape appear, a humanoid, red shape standing on black claws with a long, spiked head with two black horns. In it's hand is a long, flaming sword. It's skin the same as a burning coal sitting in the center of flames, veins of molten blood coursing through it. It looks at you and lets out an angry, guttural hiss. It slowly walks over to you, as it's blade crackles with heat. You feel your headache worsen ten times over, as the inside of your mind is scratched and hacked apart from the inside. The daemon raises a burning sword high into the air, before swinging towards your neck.
> do nothing
You close your eyes to take in a deep breath, calming your mind slightly. You can feel your very consciousness shaking, and let out a shudder, opening your eyes. The daemon is gone, leaving you alone in the room. Electricity cackles along the wall, lightning running across you and wrapping around your very being. You feel a massive, terrible psychic scream reverberating deep in your mind, across every facet of your soul. You drop to your knees, as an unimaginable pain fills you. You let out a horrified scream from deep in your lungs, deep in your mind and deep in your soul. The room explodes, setting alight with multicolored flames which race along the walls, with flashes of lightning appearing and disappearing like snowflakes on wet stone. You collapse forward, onto the ground, as the room begins to cool down, but this only speeds up your fall into the void.
> enter the Void...
You hear screaming. You look up, to find yourself falling through an endless void. You look at your body, starring in abject horror as it blisters, boils, sores and rashes cover you puke, releasing a torrent of vomit, blood and bile, as your flesh begins to decay, rotting in front of you.
"Karth!" a voice screams, bringing you back to reality.
You open your eyes, finding yourself lying in the chamber. The four Space Marines stand over you, massive figures wearing thick-plated armor, next to Kyros.
"We should kill the Psyker. He's probably possessed, or corrupted beyond sanity," one says, not noticing you waking up.
"You can try, but I'll bind your souls to a fucking Soul Grinder! I'll make a flaying seem like the greatest ecstasies Slaanesh has to offer!" Kyros roars. "If that cunt has failed and died from this, I'll toss his entire tribe to the mutants to be flayed, the dogs to be mauled and the men to be fucked! I'll burn the fucking...!"
Kyros notices you, and his hate-filled expression changes to a friendly, cheerful one.
"Ah, Karth, you've survived! Terrific!" he says, gripping your hand and shaking your hand eagerly. "Congratulations on your survival!"
"Yeah... I did," you say, rubbing your head.
"Ah, I've found... residence," Meliodas says from deep in your mind. "Your mind has grown powerfully. I know you had potential."
Magos Cern walks into the room, starring at you with her cold eyes. She raises a pincer, quickly tearing off a stretch of skin from your arm. You yelp in pain and surprise as the skin is pealed away. She stares at it, scanning it with your mechanical eyes, before looking back at you.
"Light signs of Warp mutation. Should be cleared with a round of decontamination therapy," she says.
"How fares his mind? Did it work?" Taj growls, marching inside.
"I'll probe your consciousness, see how much I've succeeded, shall I?" Kyros says.
"My head hurts," you complain, as you feel a pounding headache hit.
"Oh yes, that's normal," Kyros says.
"I thought you've never done this before. How do you know the aftermath of it leads to headaches?" you ask.
"Oh no, I mean if you're as powerful a psyker as I expect you to be, you'll be suffering from constant headaches, and that's when you're at your best," Kyros says, shrugging.
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me that earlier?" you say.
"You're a slave, Karth. Remember that when you speak back to me, or you'll become familiar with the lash," Kyros says, his cheerful, friendly demeanor dropping for a second, before he smiles once more. "Now, shall we begin the probing? You'll feel a sharp sensation. Just ignore it."
You nod your head slowly, before you feel something akin to an ice-cold blade slowly being forced into your consciousness. You shudder, but try not to tense up or resist in anyway.
"Hmmm... it's strong. Very strong. I've done well here. Thank the Dark Gods I installed that collar before I put you in the chamber," Kyros says, smiling as the collar tightens slightly around your throat. "These space marines will act as your personal bodyguard."
"He's the prisoner, we're the guards. Don't let him think any different," one of the Space Marines says, as Kyros hands him a long chain which the space marine wraps around his fist.
"That'll control his collar, marine. Use it to throttle the life out of him if he gets uppity."
"Yes, sir," one of the space marines responds.
You can practically feel the super-soldier maliciously grinning through his helmet.
"Now, let's take our newly evolved friend to the training pit," Kyros smiles. "Test out his new abilities."
> an Hour Later...
You sit in the middle of a large, Colosseum-type building. Kyros stands in a booth up above you all, next to Magos Cern and Taj Suenage. All around the seating area are the various men of the ship, crewmen, soldiers and the favored slaves. In four side of the circular arena are metal gates, where your foes will be released from. You question the insanity of building a fighting arena aboard a spaceship with very limited space, but then again, you're not in charge.
"Alright, Karth, the rules are simple. No attacking the audience. There is a protective shield keeping you guys in there from damaging the crowd or, Dark Gods forbid, me. Also, if you try, we're more than happy to strangle the life out of your, break your body and bind your soul to a Soul Grinder," Kyros shouts. "Now, let's begin. Leave none alive!"
The first gate opens, and you freeze as you see a group of a dozen shambling mutant abominations walking forward. You can tell they were once human, but now you can barely tell. Tentacles, extra limbs, massive tumors, animal parts and much worse. There's barely a human intelligence left behind their eyes, replaced by an animal-like instinct. They shamble towards you, roaring, howling, screeching, shouting, hissing and letting out whatever bursts of noise they can.
> fire psychic bolts of energy
You fire a bolt of purple energy, striking down the largest whose head explodes. You flick your wrist again, burning the hair off a howling beastman. A mutant is struck in the face by another bolt, and by now they're confused and scared, attempting to flee back to the gate they came through which has now closed shut. Needless to say, it doesn't take much more to fully finish off the mutant pack, leaving them all dead.
"Alright!" Kyros yells cheerfully. "Now, anyone can strike down some animalistic mutants. Now, let's see how the gladiator-slaves fare!"
You watch as another gate opens, and half a dozen semi-armored humans walk out, holding swords, spears, halbeards, axes and all hold shields. Thankfully, they've no long-range weapons, so you have a fairly good chance. With that, they begin to advance. They're in a solid formation, bundled together to stop you from picking them off one, shields raised in an attempt to mimic a shelled creature.
> fire a burst of flames at them
You raise your hand, firing a stream of fire that manifests in your palm and gushes out towards your foes. They raise their shields, but the fire easily surpasses them, going past the shield and searing flesh, burning hair and melting bone. There's a burst of screams and howls of pain that quickly fizzle out, leaving a mass of ash, burning flesh and melted armor and weapons.
"Alright, alright!" Kyros yells. "Let's see him fight some real, blooded warriors. May I introduce the last known members of the Pandemian 501st Regiment!"
The third gate opens, and ten men wearing combat armor, gas masks and holding lasguns with bayonets march forward in unison, before raising their weapons to fire. You need to react quickly.
> teleport behind the enemy
You close your eyes, opening them once more and finding yourself less than a step behind the soldiers, who look around, confused, not noticing you. Time to strike.
> send a fireball hurtling towards your enemy
You fire a massive, burning fireball directly at the guardsmen. Unfortunately, you over-estimated the distance between the two of you. The guardsman is engulfed in a fiery explosion, but unfortunately you are as well, your skin turning to ash and your bones quickly melting, your soul expiring shortly after. |
You close your eyes, opening them once more and finding yourself less than a step behind the soldiers, who look around, confused, not noticing you. Time to strike.
> charge them with psychically-enhanced fists
You charge forward, as psychic energy floods into your fists. You grab one, yanking her head off and flinging it with all your psychic strength at another. You grab a lasgun, breaking someone's neck and beheading two more with the bayonet. The guardsmen panic, falling over each other to escape, but you don't give up, finishing the rest of them with relative ease.
"Alright, he's shed some blood. Perhaps we should give him a break," Kyros says, before laughing cheerfully. "Or perhaps... we should give him a real challenge. Bring out the Champion of Davial!"
The final gate, the one behind you, opens. You spin around on the balls of your feet, prepared to kill, even through you're exhausted. You can here your psychic defenses begin to falter as the voices come back, thousands of voices screaming, laughing and howling in your mind. Physically, you're tired from this heavy exercise, and just want to pass out. You watch in terror as a massive figure clad in huge plates of armor walks forward. Two sharpened tusks come out from his helmet, and in one hand he holds a massive warhammer, while in the other, attached to his arm, is a bolter. By either side of the massive Champion is a nearly naked slave wearing rags, trying to polish the armor while the Champion of Davial continues walking forward.
"Begin!" Kyros shouts.
Suddenly, you hear another familiar voice.
"Hello, my dear Karth. I see you're outgunned here. Need some help?" Meliodas asks.
The Champion raises his bolter and it fires. You quickly form a shield, barely absorbing the massive amount of power behind the bolter.
"I can help you, but you're going to need to get your hands dirty. See those two slaves? Go for them. Boil their bloods with your mind, and help draw the psychic beings that are trying to enter."
"What?" you ask aloud, teleporting out of the way of another burst of bolter fire as the Champion of Davial continues to advance.
"Kill the slaves. I'll offer their souls as a... summoning gift to two potential allies for you."
This presents a moral dilemma. Can you wipe out the two slaves in order to win this battle? Can you even trust Meliodas? You do have other options. Through teleportation and levitation, you can easily evade the Champion, and you can wait to tire him out. You can attempt to wear down the Champion's armor through fire and psychic bolts. You can also attempt to teleport atop the Champion and try use your psychic powers to tear this bastard's head off.
> kill the slaves for Meliodas
You nod, raising your hands and directing a blast of powerful psychic flames towards both slaves. The slaves are hit by the stream of fire and engulfed entirely, their existence ending with a powerful scream. The fire engulfs them, but while the bodies falls apart to ash, two new shapes appear in the fire. You watch, as from the engulfing flames step two daemons. They're humanoid, half beautiful women and half horrifying crab-monster. Their face are stretched and gaunt, like once beautiful women whose faces melted, with long black hair, pale skin changing to black shell in patches over their bodies and a massive claw having replaced their right arm. They eagerly turn to the Champion of Delial, charging forward. They bounce, picing and attacking and cutting through metal with their powers. You fire a stream of fire at the Champion's armored head as the two daemons repeatedly pince and cut at his head and chest. He fights valiantly, but he doesn't last long fighting two powerful daemons and a psyker. He falls to his knees, before collapsing onto his face. The space marine guards begin sending bolter fire down at the daemons, who quickly with under the fire before collapsing back into the flames, disappearing, leaving you in an arena, empty except for the corpses of your enemies.
"Well," Kyros says. "That was interesting. I didn't expect daemon summoning to be in your inventory. None the less, well done."
Kyros levitates down towards you as the shield evaporates, before ending up less than two or three feet above you.
"Well done, noble warrior! Look and behold the powers of the Warp!" he says, in the opening of a speech.
> kill Kyros
You take a deep breath, preparing all of your reserves of psychic energy. Quickly, you manifest it in your most powerful bolt yet, before firing straight at Kyros. The energy drained from you, you collapse to your knees. You feel your collar flex, beginning to choke you.
"Ha! You have balls, my little ally! I love it!" Meliodas cries.
Kyros rises up quickly and brings the shields up full force, and they explode, barely managing to contain your psychic power. Kyros watches as the collar chokes the last ounce of psychic power from you, dropping down to his previous height with an enraged snarl.
"Is that how you want to play this, you little cunt?" he snarls.
You search your mind, but your entire psychic reserve is gone. You can't even make a spark. You do have a ounce of physical strength yet, before you collapse from exhaustion, and you intend to use it.
The entire audience of slaves, mutants, soldiers and thousand-year old warriors watches as you arch your head back and spit in Kyros face, before collapsing.
> The Familiar Oblivion...
After going through another sparse of evil dreams and horrifying nightmares, including getting chased by tentacle abominations through tunnels, watching your tribe being flayed alive by men infested by worms and covered in a solid sheet of pus and staring into the eyes of beings of pure, unending hate, you awaken in a small room. You're lying on a metal table, completely naked, while Magos Cern stands nearby, drilling holes through a large blob of meat on another table.
"Ah, the good Techpriest is looking after you. You'd have been safer if they tossed you in a pit of deathworms," Meliodas says.
> speak up
"Hello?" you say.
"Ah, look whose woken up," she says, her head swiveling around mechanically to stare at you
"What happened?"
"You passed out from fatigue. I brought you here, left you to sleep for a while, injected you with a few shots of adrenaline, gave you a full cleansing of your blood and burned off a few layers of your skin to remove all Chaos taint."
She emits a long burst of static energy, before staring at you.
"Kyros has been informed of your awakening. He'll be here shortly."
Magos Cern immediately goes back to working on the chunk of meat, clearly not in the mood to converse. After a few minutes, Kyros enters, covered in blood. He seems quite calmer then before.
"Ah, look who it is, the traitorous bastard."
"You invaded my world, burned my villag, killed half my tribe and enslaved the other half. What did you expect?" you say.
"I suppose. I just assumed you were intelligent enough to know that that would never work, or even a little grateful at the fact that I had given you the gifts of power.
"It's quite hard to use the gift of power while bound by chains."
"Perhaps," Kyros says. "You're to be escorted back to your cell. Let's go."
Your four guards enter, as stern as ever, and you stand, following them along the halls.
> A Week Later...
The week goes by. Your guards give you no chance to even think about escape, let alone actually making an attempt at it. You practice fighting in the arena everyday, facing hordes of mutants, failed attempts at creating super-soldiers, thankfully none of them from your tribe and a few slaves thrown in there for you to kill. Kyros is prone to sending out enemies that can cause painful wounds such as those that utilize painful poisons and toxins. It seems he's still bitter about the fact you tried to murder him. Understandable. After that, you have meditation, to calm the storms of your mind and give you a chance to keep the demons, and more literally daemons, at bay.
You spend time with Kyros as he attempts to indoctrinate you to serve him willingly, although after your attempt at his life this time mainly serves as a time to check on the wards for your collar and make sure you haven't circumvented them. You give him the idea that you're buying it, but you know he's just a madman. His ultimate goal seems to be regrouping with several other Chaos war-bands of various sizes to topple the Imperium of Man and take Terra, although the whisperings from other men tell you that that is an impossible goal.You're still not allowed to see Fay or anyone else com your tribe. You shudder at the thoughts of what Kyros is doing with them. For all his friendly gestures, kind deeds and grand ideals and plans, Kyros is but a corrupted mad man who is willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone in an attempt to gain power.
Under the Magos' orders, you've spent a lot of time sleeping from either the fatigue of constant fighting and training to expand your mind and permanently trying to ward off the daemons that scratch at your mind, or from various drugs and chems to put you under. Sleeping is painful, for the most part. You get a few brief bit of oblivion, which is a peace incomparable to anything you've ever had to deal with, but these states still being you deeper into your mind and the theWarp. Then the nightmares start. In the waking world, you have classes with the teachers. Kyros teaches you meditation techniques for controlling your powers as well as new ways to utilise the psychic energy flowing through your mind. Taj teaches you military tactics and how to lead everything from a small unit of hardened men to a massive army of garrisoned troops. Magos Cern teaches you a bit about mechanics, the various technologies of the galaxy and gives you a broad, general education about the galaxy and its inhabitants.
One day, you lie in bed, having emerged from the state of horrified dreaming but not yet having fully awoken, in a blissful, thoughtless state. The door opens, as two of your space marine guards enter. One uses a small device to make your collar tighten quickly before releasing again, a small threat to make sure you know whose boss. The fucking collar. You could turn him into a thick pink mist inside that armor if the collar wasn't stifling your abilities.
"What?" you ask, annoyed to have been disturbed from your bliss.
"Kyros wants you," one says.
"What does he want?"
Kyros appears in the room, leaning against the doorway, seemingly manifested out of thin air.
"Come on, let's go," he says nonchalantly, picking his nails.
"Where?" you ask.
"Well, as a... reward for your long week of work, I have a surprise. We're going to go see Fay."
"Really?" you ask.
A surge of emotions rising up inside you. Joy at the thought of seeing your friend, surprise at Kyros' kindness, gratitude for the gift, fear at what could've happened Fay, all these manifest into an overwhelming feeling of both exhilaration and dread.
"Well? Let's go!" Kyros says, walking out of the room.
> follow Kyros
You stand, walking along after Kyros. You're at a point where your psychic growth has overtaken your physical growth to such a degree that it'd be easier to float along the ground rather than actually having to walk. Unfortunately, the collar prevents you from even firing out some sparks without Kyros' permission. You arrive in a metal door, which opens, revealing the booth from which Kyros and the others watch down at the fight. You walk along, looking down at the arena, which is empty.
"I thought you were bringing me to see Fay," you say nervously, despite knowing what this is.
"I brought you to see her fight!" Kyros says with a smile.
You stare down, as one of the gates opens. You watch as an abomination stumbles out. Stumbling on four insect-like legs, with it's eft arm replaced by a long tentacle of coiled pink muscle, the very end of it studded with bone outgrowths to make it a more formidable weapon. In it's right hand is a short, rusted axe stained with blood and gore. It's head is monstrous, with an oversized mouth filled to the brim with teeth, overflowing with acid that drips onto it's chest with a sizzle, and a single, blood-shot eye. The creature looks up at you, it's eye flinching, before it lets out a miserable howl.
"Shit... that looks miserable beyond belief," you say.
"Yes, she does," Kyros says, grinning from ear to ear as half a dozen more beasts just like the first walk, stumble or crawl into the center of the arena.
"She?" you ask.
Now that you're not fighting them, you can have a long look and see what these mutant abominations really are: disgusting, pitiful creatures that should receive a quick death.
"You don't recognize her?" Kyros says, clearly suppressing laughter. "This is what remains of the Uwais Tribe, and the first one to come out, the pack leader, is Fay."
You look at monsters underneath, trying to see any resemblance to your friends as pure horror overtakes your mind. You collapse to your knees, puking over the banister and onto the monsters underneath as Kyros bursts into laughter.
"He's done this to provoke you. He wants to get you angry, to see how powerful you are even with the collar. He's under-exaggerating how powerful you are, so you might be able to harm him, but..." Meliodas advises, but you don't pay any attention, too filled with anger.
You stand, holding onto the banister to pull yourself up. Your knees shake, but you take a moment to regain your strength. Then, you launch yourself at Kyros. You grab at his eyes, your fingers going straight for his eyes. Kyros stumbles backwards, unprepared, before you feel your collar quickly tightening as you start to choke. You continue to scratch and gouge, even as the air is choked from you. Finally, you're dragged upwards by invisible hands, floating a few feet away from Kyros. Your weak body has done practically no damage to Kyros, who seems surprised and a bit amused rather than angry.
"Hmmm... I under-exaggerated how angry you'd get, or how stupid you are if you think trying to fight me is an option."
"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to break you. I don't care how long it takes, I will destroy your very soul," you say, staring at him.
Kyros chuckles softly, before forcing you around to stare down at the arena.
"Watch the match," he says.
"We will have our revenge, Karth. Not today, not tomorrow, but we will have our revenge, " Meliodas says.
You watch for about a minute as the abominations sit there, wandering around in confusion, falling to brief bursts of violence and self-harm and a lot of screaming and howling. Finally, the second gate opens. You watch as hooded figures enter, holding swords and small, circular shields. The trio charges forward, diving into the air. The beasts charge forward, attacking with fierce brutality. You watch as the lead one, the thing that used to be Fay, is almost beheaded by one of the trio. The trio fight with ease, diving, ducking and weaving out of the way of tentacles, axes, biting and stomping. Within a minute, the last of the abominations stumble forward and hits the ground as its front two legs are hacked off, and one of the trio leaps on top of the monster and impales it through the head.
"What a display!" Kyros says with a smile. "Shall we see the victors?"
Before you can say a word, Kyros releases you and you fall through the air, smacking into the dirt with a pained yelp. You moan in pain, looking up at the fighters. They walk forward, staring at you.
"Karth?" one of them asks.
You look up to see Fay standing there, her hooded robes covered in blood, alongside two other Uwais tribals you vaguely remember from your trips accompanying hunting parties, the Jakar Twins.
"Fay," you reply, staring back at her, not knowing what else to say.
Fay tosses her sword aside, grabbing you and embracing you tightly. Even though you feel yourself being turned into a fine powder from the strength of her hug, you're just so happy that you've found her that you don't care, hugging back. Kyros drops down, staring at you from over Fay's shoulder, as Magos Cern joins you.
"Ah, what a happy reunion!" Kyros says.
"You said she was dead!" you shout angrily, pushing Fay aside to point an accusatory finger at him.
"I did. I lied," Kyros says, smiling.
"Never trust a psyker, Karth. Not even yourself," Meliodas says.
You shrug it off, trying not to bow to his attempts at emotional manipulation. You grab Fay, looking at her properly as she takes off her hooded cloak. She's tall, standing over six foot tall, and she's a lot more muscular than you remember. Whatever Kyros has done to her, it's had a serious affect. Her arms and legs are quite muscled, and you doubt you could find an ounce of fat anywhere on her. Still, she has the same coy smile, the wild, adventurous look in her eyes, She's pretty much the same Fay.
"So... what's with the hood?" you ask, struggling to find anything else to say.
"Um... it's so the mutants can't grab my hair and drag me down, Karth. Was that the most important question? How are you? What are they doing to you?"
"Come on, out of the arena. I have a captured Squig the boys want to have some fun fighting," Kyros says. "Jakar twins, back to the dorm. Karth, Fay, follow me."
You look at Fay, before grabbing her hand and walking after Kyros and Magos Cern.
"Hmm, walking alongside me with my hand held? Where's the old Karth that I would piggyback around the village?" Fay asks.
"Pffh, if I didn't have this collar I'd be floating around the place," you say.
The stress of being kidnapped, having your tribe enslaved and murdered, your village burned down, your mind and soul forced through the very depths of hell falls away as you talk to your old friend. You recount your story as she tells hers. Apparently, she spent much of the time in a coma, having her body hacked apart and remade. Her blood now contains vast amounts of chems and combat drugs, she has several new organs and stronger bones, faster blood clotting and much more. She's trained extensively both with swords, guns, explosives and infinitely more, as well as team tactics. She's been chosen out as Team Leader for the Uwais super-soldiers.
"So basically, you've become a super-soldier?"
"Super-soldier?" Magos Cern says, her voice flooded with the most emotion you've heard from her the entire time you knew her. "She's a failure. A disgrace. I had access to geneseed, space marine test subjects and untold resources. What did I create? A mockery. These "super-soldiers" couldn't take on multiple space marines each like I had hoped. They couldn't take on a single fucking space marine like I had planned! They're barely worth half a space marine! I've failed!"
"They'll do fine, Magos," Kyros says, arriving at another set of metal doors, which open to reveal a large table, where various figures are sitting.
There's Kyros, Magos Cern and Taj Suenage, as well as Kyros' daughter, who sits in the corner. There's also many more who you don't know. One is a tall, gaunt looking woman with pale skin and black hair pulled back in a pony tail, wearing a long coat that disturbingly, appears to be made from human skin. Another is a girl with a shaved head wearing heavy combat armor who is sharpening a long machete, another is a... person whose gender you can't tell, wearing black leather armor and lingerie in an odd attempt to look sexy at a war meeting, with long, curly black hair and excessive make-up. The person smiles at you, licking his... or her... or its lips. Then there's a young girl, younger than even you, wearing hooded robes and reading an ancient, dusty tome. Finally, there's a barely human monster. An obese man covered with rotting pores, boils, sores and pus-filled, infected wounds, with its arms replaced by long, rusted spikes. Kyros and Magos Cern take a seat.
"These are the leaders of the fleet, Fay and Karth. Some introductions are in order. First is me, the supreme leader of the entire fleet. Magos Cern leads the Dark Mechanicus on the ship and maintains the vessel itself. Chapter Master Taj Suenage leads the space marine chapter on board, the Undying Reapers. Then we have Calpurnia the Ravager, leader of the 22nd Istanford Regiment. "
The one with the human skin coat stands up, extending a hand to shake.
"Pleasure to meet you," she says, shaking both your hand and Fay's. I hope you're... efficient during your stay here."
"Then there's the Staine siblings. There's Rebecca Staine, the leader of the Bloody Claws, a war-band that worships Khorne the war god."
"Fuck you, psyker. You're weak and pathetic. Your parents should've left you to die," Rebecca growls, pointing her blade at you.
"Fuck you," Fay snarls, shoving her blade point away from your throat.
Rebecca stands, brandishing her sword, before the plague-ridden man stands, blocking Rebecca's path forward with one of his spike arms.
"Hey, hey! There's no need for violence! We're all brothers and sisters here!"
Rebecca sits back down with another growl.
"Alright, next we have Elios, leading of the Shrieking Harpies, a war-band that worships Slaanesh, the god of excess," Kyros says, pointing at the person clad in leather and lingerie.
"Pleasure to meet you, darlings. For slaves aboard a Chaos vessel, might I say you're looking... delectable," Elios says in a deep, masculine voice, licking his lips as he stares at both you and Fay.
"Keep it in your pants, Elios," Kyros says. "Next we have Elizabeth."
Elizabeth, the hooded girl reading the book, doesn't look up.
"She's risen to the position of leader of the One-Eyed Crows, a war-band that worships Tzeentch, the sorceror god. She easily reached the position through her amazing social abilities. Tell us about yourself, Elizabeth."
"Move along," Elizabeth says, making a circular motion with her hand without looking up.
"OK, Elizabeth. Finally, we have Durge, leader of the Black Rats war-band that worships Nurgle the plague god."
"Hello!" the diseased man says, waving his spike-arms. "It's a pleasure to meet you! I hope you're being treated well. I hope you're being fed enough. If not, it's probably because I've eaten all the food aboard this vessel!"
The man, Durge, breaks into laughter as several maggots burst from his skin. You try not to get sick.
"You're here to meet the leaders of this fleet so that you know who you'll be answering. We want you both to lead the slave army."
"Slave army?" Fay asks.
"The Uwais tribe soldiers, the previous batch of failed test subjects, the gladiator slaves and whatever else we can muster up. We'll hold the detonators to your explosive collars, but you'll hold a copy of the detonators for all the men under your command."
"There was a previous batch of failed test subjects?" Fay asks.
"Yes, there was. They were quite strong, but their minds were easily broken. Most weren't sentient, the sentient ones were insane. There was only one who you could even have a conversation with, the one I appointed leader. I'll show you to them some time after this. I assume you'll take the position?"
"It's not like I have much choice," you say.
"We'll take it," Fay says, answering for the both of you.
"This slave army, ot whatever you want to call it, will give us the strength advantage to become a serious military power in this tiny little sector. We could conquer ourselves a little kingdom from the weak and undefended worlds. We could become a raiding fleet that could have us living a life of luxury. But one little slave army wouldn't even give us a chance against even the defenses on Pluto!" Calpurnia says.
"I'll tear out your soul and devour it if you show anymore signs of cowardice!" Kyros yells. "Magos Cern, take Fay and Karth to see the previous batch of super-soldiers."
"I'll have to let the galaxy witness the shame of my failed creation when we release them on the galaxy. I might as well let the two adolescents have a preview of my sickening failure," Magos Cern says.
"We're not finished here!" Calpurnia splutters angrily. "I'm not launching my army on a suicide mission!"
"My army! As long as you serve me, it's my army!" Kyros screams.
"We take a vote, then," Calpurnia suggests.
"Fine, raise your hands if you don't want to go through with the assault, if you're a coward, if you're not loyal."
Calpurnia defiantly holds up her hands. Elios holds up his next.
"Sorry, Kyros. I'm not dying.. I'm too young and beautiful to die fighting an unwinnable war," he says.
Durge holds up a spike, looking ashamed.
"I'm loyal, Kyros, but I'm just as loyal to my men as you, and I won't see them die for nothing."
Elizabeth slowly raises a hand, looking up from her book for the first time.
"This plans suicide, Kyros. We both know that."
Kyros snarls in anger, looking around.
"That's me, Cern, Taj and Rebecca for attacking, and Elizabeth, Durge, Elios and Calpurnia for not doing so," Kyros says in a low growl.
"The slave leaders are the tie-breakers, then," Calpurnia says.
Kyros looks at you with a stare, holding onto the controller for your collars. Well, this seems like an obvious answer, even if it is a suicide mission.
> support the assault on Terra
You keep your hand at your side, and while Fay raises an eyebrow, she does the same.
"Cowardly... but smart," Meliodas says. "Perhaps you'll realize your potential after all."
"Good... good!" Kyros says, his voice flooded with relief. "The slaves are loyal! Now I must question why my own allies aren't."
An uneasy silence fills the room, before Magos Cern breaks it.
"I shall take Fay and Karth out to inspect their new troops, the old generation of super-soldiers. Is that acceptable, Kyros?"
"Yes, yes," Kyros says, his mind clearly focused on other things. "Go then."
Magos Cern walks out of room, and you quickly follow, followed by Fay. You walk along empty hallway, heading towards the super-soldiers. Magos Cern is clearly not interested to talk at all, so you and Fay have time to talk.
"So, what just happened?" you ask. "Were we just given an army?"
"We've went from slaves to masters of a slave army, in five minutes," Fay says.
"Well, to be fair, we're still slaves. We're slaves who are also slave masters of a slave army," you point out.
"Alright, I suppose so. Anyway, are you OK? We've walked a lot," Fay says.
"I'm fine," you smile. "I don't know whether to be thankful you're looking out for me, or insulted you think I can't even walk that much."
You walk on, eventually entering a large, metal elevator. The elevator quickly begins descending down the ship.
"Alright, children. Listen up. We're going to wake our super-soldiers from their cyro-sleep. Don't make any sudden movements, don't make any loud noises, do nothing of the sort."
"Got it," you both say.
The elevator doors open, revealing hundreds of metal tubes lining the walls, the cyro-pods. Magos Cern walks forward, extending a metal tentacle that grows from her spike. The tentacle presses onto the consoles attached to the many pods, and three open. Cold air quickly floods out, and you watch as three lumbering monsters walk out.
"Behold, my failures," Magos Cern says.
The super-soldiers stand at eight feet tall, and are made of massive coils of muscle that makes them nearly twice as wide as even a normal man, without any armor. Their mouths are filled with hundreds of carnivorous teeth, like a shark's. They have short, four-inch bone claws extending from their wrists. Their skin is dark and misshapen, like someone tanned human skin to make leather and then stitched it over their bodies. They walk forward, grunting and growling. The first looks around, before stumbling back inside it's cyro-pod.
"Sleep... sleep... sleep..." it mutters, walking back inside.
"Size isn't everything... but it sure as fuck counts for a lot," Meliodas remarks.
The other two immediately begin head-butting each other with grunts, and you hear the sound of heavy bones smashing against each other. Magos Cern takes out a small data pad, pressing it. The two super-soldiers grunt, wandering back to their cyro-pods.
"These are the super-soldiers. The guards here have given them the nickname "Goliath's". I suppose it's fitting. They're not smart, but they fear the lash and the electro-collar, so they follow orders easily."
To prove her point, Magos Cern pulls out a small datapad, quickly tapping it. The pair of super-soldiers roar in pain, backing up into their cyro-pods. Magos Cern quickly taps on the pad and the cyro-pods close. He strides forward, to another tank.
"Let me introduce you to Specimen 401245. It goes by the name Cain. It's the most intelligent of the beasts, and the most friendly. Now, here he is."
The cyro-pod opens as Magos Cern taps quickly on the datapad. You see another massive, lumbering Goliath wander out of the cyro-pod. It looks almost the exact same as the others, the only differences being a pair of bone growths sticking out of its forehead like horns and its oversized lips held up by hooks to allow it to breath. It steps out, taking in a deep breath, before staring at you. There's a brief silence, that Fay quickly breaks.
"Does... can it talk?" she asks.
"It can definitely hear," the beast grunts in response.
"Um, hi there!" Fay says. "I'm Fay. What's your name?"
"Cain," he responds, his voice a low, rumbling, guttural growling sound.
"I'm Karth," you say.
"What time is it?" Cain asks.
"Time?" you respond. "I don't know. A little after noon, probably, or what the ship uses as noon."
"I don't care. What time is it for me?"
"... uh... the same time?"
"I am awake. I always sleep in the cold pod until I'm needed. I'm only needed to be cut up, drugged, poked and prodded, or to kill. What time is it for me to do? Kill, or be torn apart?"
"Neither. I'm here to introduce you to Fay and Karth, the new leaders of your men."
"My men? First time I've heard them called men," Cain says, running his claws against each other absent-mindedly. "Well? They've met me. What else is there? What do you want to know?"
> ask a question
"What?" Cain grunts.
> say "How did you get your name?"
"Found it scrawled in a tome that was dropped out in the trash, back when they let us be rather than freezing us. "Cain" is a lot easier to remember than the Subject however many numbers," Cain says. |
"What?" Cain grunts.
> say "I've no more questions."
"Alright," Cain sleeps. "What else?"
"Nothing else is required," Magos Cern says. "Return to your pod."
Cain nods, before walking back into his pod. The cyro-pod shuts, leaving Cain back to his cold, endless sleep.
"We should continue," Magos Cern says. "I still have to show you the gladiator slaves who you'll take under you command and the Uwais Tribe. The Goliaths will act as your heavy shock troopers, the gladiator-slaves will act as scouts, skirmishers and fill in whatever spare roles you have, and the Uwais tribe will be your main unit. I'll take you to see them."
You begin following Magos Cern out of the cyro-sleep area, and along the hallways. After ten minutes, you reach a large metal door, which opens to reveal a large room filled with bunk beds, with familiar bronze bodies lying in the beds.
"This is Dorm A. We have around sixty soldiers here," Magos Cern says.
Fay walks into the room, and lets ou a shout.
"Gentlemen! Your captain's back!"
The tribals roll out of bed. You recognize a few of them, but strangely you recognize many as men from other various tribes."
"Fay, you're back!" one says.
"How did the fight go? It took far longer than expected," another adds.
"Oh, shit! Is that Karth?" another asks.
The attention immediately goes from Fay to you, as tribals begin appearing. They all appear far more muscular, many bearing fresh scars.
"Karth! How are you even still alive?" someone asks incredulously.
"It's the Uwais shaman!" another asks.
"Karth, how are you? What have they been doing to you?"
You watch as the tribals begin to surround the three of you, although Magos Cern makes sure they keep as least half a dozen feat away from her.
"Stay back. Karth is only here to see you, not talk to you," Magos Cern says, drawing a datapad and letting out an electro-shock that causes the group to let out a pained yelp before they back away.
"Why are there so many men and women from other tribes? I thought it was the Uwais tribe who was kidnapped."
"When we arrived on your planet, we needed to do a lot of work. We drained lakes for water, drilled into the planet's crust to get vast quantities of Promethium, wiped out native species for food. It takes a lot of effort to run a vessel this large, and to do it quickly and efficiently. While we did so, our soldiers went to work. They needed to fight, both to train and to simply shed blood for their own enjoyment. Prisoners were taken in vast quantities, and I used them as I used the Uwais tribe. Now, there's far more from other tribes than there are from Uwais tribe."
"Hmmm... your home world is destroyed. Ambition is the only path forward now, Karth, there is no going back. We will conquer the stars together." Meliodas says.
"I suppose calling them the Uwais tribe is a bit of a failing, then. Tribals would be more suitable."
"As you wish. You are their superior. You can do as you wish with them."
"The average tribal will be be outfitted with combat armor as well as some equipment, such as grenades, gas masks, communications devices, that kind of thing. The stronger ones will get Bolters, the strongest will be equipped with melee weapons; chainswords, chainaxes, power swords, as well as bolt pistols. The weaker ones will be given specialized roles and equipped for as such: meltaguns and missile launchers for anti-armor, snipers with sniper rifles and stealth roles with chameoline cloaks and silenced weapons. We should have a fairly well equipped army that will be able to hold their own when fighting alongside the Guardsmen and Traitor Marines we have under our command."
"We're not fighting for you fucks!" someone shouts.
"Yeah! Fuck you, you kidnapping bastards!"
"Ah, this is an issue," Magos Cern says. "Unfortunately, due to my... failures in work on the brain, Kyros has forbid me to tinker on their minds to ensure loyalty. Fay has only so far failed to do, so it'll be your job now. I need all rebelliousness to be crushed."
"How?" you ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Get it done. I don't care how. I need to go check on the oxygen decks to the macro guns on the starboard side doesn't asphyxiate," Magos says, turning around and walking off.
"Well, that's a bitch," you complain, turning to Fay. "I guess we need to get rid of rebelliousness before Kyros gets pissy and blows our heads clean off."
"Or..." Fay says slyly. "We could just hide the rebelliousness. It would be better if we kept it under wraps until we have a chance to get out of here."
"Oh, choices, choices, choices. Terrify, threaten, talk or trust. Which shall it be, Karth?" Meliodas says.
You walk forward, into the center of the dorm. You have several options here. You could attempt to use some of your psychic powers to show these tribals the true power of the Warp. That would definitely ensure their loyalty, if only out of fear. You could threaten them to ensure their loyalty, once again while out of fear, and you wouldn't have to alienate yourself by making yourself seem like a terrifying psychic being. You could attempt to convince the tribals that loyalty to this place is the only rational choice. You could also take Fay's path, and assure them that they'll have the chance to get revenge, but that for now they should hide all rebelliousness until it's time to strike.
> terrify the tribals with the powers of the Warp
You tug at your collar, but fortunately, due to Kyros' distraction with his troops who are "disloyal", the restrictions are loose. Not gone, still definitely there. You know if you try anything you'll gain his attention and the restrictions will be tightened, as well as the collar around your throat, most likely. Still, you need to take advantage of this and put on a full show.
You walk slowly forward, raising into the air. Black and purple electricity begins running along your body, bursting along yourself. You set alight, as the crimson flames of the Warp engulf. You change your meek and timid voice, amplifying it through the Warp to booming proportions.
"Do you see what I've become? Do you see what Kyros made me? I am a vessel of Chaos, a being of the Warp. This is the power the Warp holds. This is the power Kyros holds, the power this vessel holds, and the power of the cursed men who guard and crew it. You can't possibly hope to beat it. You should only thank the Dark Gods that the role they've asked you to fill is beneficial to you, and embrace this role to the utmost."
The tribals, including Fay, stand back, looking terrified. You know in that moment that fear has replaced all rebelliousness in their souls. They'll follow orders now. You drop down to your feet, staring around.
"Spread the message," you say to the tribals, before turning to Fay. "We should go."
You walk out of the room, quickly followed by Fay, who runs after you.
"What the fuck was that?" she asks.
"I did my job," you say simply.
"Those are our friends, our family, our kinsman. You're not seriously happy with a life of service to a guy who kidnapped us? These guys killed Duggin!"
"Duggin was a fool," you reply. "Our lives were once meaningless. Now, we have a hope. Surely you understand?"
"I wish I could say I could, Karth, but I don't. I don't know how you can think that."
You walk outside, where Kyros awaits, smiling.
"Well done," he says, smiling. "Impressive display."
"You were there for that?" you ask.
"I was aware. Why else would your collar restrictions be weaker?"
"I assumed it was because you were distracted," you admit.
"If that was true, whenever I slept you'd be free to do whatever you wanted," Kyros says, smirking. "Now, we need to visit the last of your soldiers, the gladiator-slaves. They're always an interesting crew. Shall we go?"
You look at Fay, who nods, although she still looks nervous from your earlier "display" of power.
"Yes, let's," you reply.
> visit the gladiator-slaves
You follow Kyros, as you head to the arena. You reach the doors that would lead into it, but instead oof entering you go off to a small elevator behind it. You enter, and it slowly begins descending. It opens, revealing the underhive of the arena. There's dozen of cages, holding exotic beasts and dangerous Xenos. You see a half dozen thick, heavily muscled, green-skinned Orks in a cage, their necks chained to the wall. They're howling and roaring, tugging at their chains. Surprisingly, while most shout in their barbaric, guttural language, one seems to speak yours.
"Humie! Humie! Get me free! Get me free!" he shouts. "I is gonna let you live, even give ya a bitta loot and an escape pod if ya let me free!"
"Don't respond!" someone further down the catacombs that lay beneath the arena shouts. "It only encourages Ol' Dak!"
"Hmmm... this Ork must be one of the greatest speakers of his kind," Meliodas points out. "Of course to us he's a fucking idiot."
The ork's eyes narrow, before he begins howling in frustration and smacking his hands against his own head, a heavy thud emanating as his muscled fists slam into his thick skull. You continue walking, passing amazing and fantastic creatures and gladiators. There's a tentacled slug-man with a large beak and dozens of eyes peppered around his body which is huddled up in the corner of it's cage, a trio of horrible bird-hound creatures that scratch at their bars, a massive human wearing what appears to be an iron cage with hundreds of inward pointing nails who rams himself against the cage wall, his body shredded to such an extent you're amazed he's not dead yet, a multi-legged, horned creature that looks almost cute. Finally, you reach a long hallway, with thick, heavy metal doors spread along the hallway. An eye peers out of a door eye-slot, staring at you.
"Hello there. Do we have more fighters, or...? Oh wait, it's them. Terrific."
The eye disappears, and the slot closes. Kyros takes out a datapad, pressing several buttons before the door slowly slides open, revealing a large open area. Bunk beds line the wall, with a bunch of young men and women, the oldest in their late twenties and the youngest in their mid-teens. They wear very little armor, all of which is either leather or light combat armor. They sit around a fire, roasting chunks of meat on sticks in it. Two of the gladiators lean against the beds nearest to you, staring at you. One is a tall, muscled and tanned, with long blond hair and sparking green eyes. She holds a long, rifle-like gun with an axe blade made into the barrel with a grip under it. The other is shorter, with similarly tanned skin, with playful green eyes and curly brown hair, holding a curved sword and a Plasma pistol. They both look to be in their late teens or early twenties at latest.
"Is that a fire?" Fay asks.
"Are they armed?" you also.
"Yes and yes," the male says, turning to the girl. "This question game is fun."
"The fire's below a vent that's sending the smoke... somewhere. We weren't exactly given schematics of this place, all we know is the smoke doesn't bother us. And we're allowed weapons to keep the others in check. Even if we both went for Kyros, our minds would be shattered before we could raise our weapons," the girl says.
"Nah, I could at least start a swing before I was killed."
"These are the Twins. They lead the Gladiator-Slaves. Now, introduce yourselves," Kyros says.
"I'm Castus," the boy smiles, staring at the pair of you.
His eyes flicker, as he looks over Fay. He appears to be checking her out. You feel like punching him in the throat, but refrain.
"You're a jealous one, aren't you?" Meliodas says.
"I'm Olive," the girl says, extending a hand, which you grab and shake before Fay does the same.
"So, is there a reason you're here?" Castus asks.
"Fay and Karth will be taking command of the gladiators. They are my lieutenants, and will command a segment of our army, the slaves."
"Oh, terrific. We've been shafted," Castus says.
"I'm sure Kyros will want us to have an advisor position to assist Fay and Karth," Olive says.
"Correct," Kyros says.
"Well, there might be an issue with that," Castus says. "You see, both Fay and Karth have a history of... well, murdering my men. Pitting the Kyros Jr and Magos Cern's latest brand of super-freaks against us has led to a lot of men being, quite understandably, pissed with the guys who hacked apart, or psychically exploded, or simply beat their friends upside the head until they went comatose."
"If you want, we can have the dissenters flailed alive. Simply point them out, and I'll have them broken. Is that preferable?"
Castus goes quiet.
"As I thought," Kyros says with a smile. "Make sure the men know to follow orders. Now, it's late, and these guys need sleep. Is anything else needed?"
"I suppose not," Olive says.
"Well, we need a lot, but nothing we're realistically getting anytime soon," Castus says.
Kyros stares at Castus, fire beginning to run along his body.
"Nothing needed, sir," Castus says.
"Good. Fay, Karth, let's go," Kyros says.
Kyros swivels around, walking out of the room. You quickly follow him, and the massive metal door shuts behind you.
"So, we'll escort Fay back to the Uwais dorms, and then send you to your room," Kyros says.
"Well you know, Karth's room is closer. I could just spend the time in his," Fay suggests. "It would give us some time to go over battle plans now that we know what our men are capable of, and I can inform him of what the Uwais tribe are like in battle..."
"Really? That's the reason? That's the reason you're going for?" Kyros asks, raising an eyebrow. "No."
> argue that Fay should spend the night in your room
"But she could help me plan what do to with the lieutenants and what to do to secure their loyalty, and..."
"Don't fuck with me, Karth. You just want the girl there so you can have something fuck. Maybe if you were a little smarter with the way you acted towards me I'd grant you such base pleasures, but you acted like a prick all while you've been here, so no, she'll go back to her bed, and you'll go back to hers."
"Surprisingly, the cunt doesn't stop being a cunt just because you want to get laid. Unless I'm wrong and you seriously didn't plan or want to try anything with her, in which case Slaanesh will never get a hold on your soul," Meliodas says.
You arrive at the doors to your cell, and Kyros opens it.
"Hurry up, inside," Kyros says.
You look at Fay, who smiles at you.
"Bye, Karth. Thanks for trying," she says, giving a short little wave.
"Bye, Fay," you reply.
The doors are shut, and you walk over to your bed, collapsing on it. Only now do you realize how exhausted you are. You've spent all day walking, which again isn't exactly your specialty. You close your eyes, and soon sleep takes you. Thankfully, the twilight stage where your soul can rest and your exhausted mind can find peace, lasts extra long. Of course, it doesn't take long before the nightmares hit.
> sleep
You writhe in pain, curling up in an attempt to get the endless suffering to end. All you hear is the chattering of thousands of skulls laughing at you. You star up at a mountain of skulls that rises up into the sky past. You can see beasts of metal roaring as they charge across the skulls, ramming into each other with powerful clashes, with dragon-like beasts flying overhead.
You take in a panicked breath, stumbling away from a nearby one and falling. You tumble along the skulls, rolling down the mountain of skulls. You slam into the skull of a massive beast, ending your tumble. You look down at a massive river of boiling blood, horrifying creatures of bones bursting from the water and diving back under again. You frantically try to use your powers, to levitate away from this horrifying place, but you can feel an invisible hand around your neck, closed tightly around your trachea and preventing you from breathing, tethering you to the ground and preventing you from using your power.
It... doesn't go well from there. You wander the endless mountain of skulls, hiding in terror from the daemonic beasts that roam. Eventually, you awaken with a start, finding yourself lying in bed in a cold sweat, naked and scared. The rest of the night is, thankfully, not as bad. The monsters of your dreams staying off in the distance away from you. Sleep is... somewhat bearable.
> several Hours Later...
You wake up to the sound of the metal doors opening. You stand, looking up to see Kyros and Fay entering the room. You realize you're naked, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around yourself. Fay giggles, smiling.
"Well, that was a surprise. A pretty small one, to be fair," she says with a smile.
You find a little leeway with your collar, and eagerly use it through the flick of a wrist and send Fay onto her behind once more. The collar tightens around your throat quickly, making it hard to breath but not unbearable. You raise your hands in surrender, and Kyros releases the collar.
"We're going to the war room," he says, softly but creepily.
Kyros seems considerably darker today. His coat is covered with several dark red splotches and stains. You doubt it's a good idea to ask about their origins. You stand up, following Kyros along the halls.
"What's in the war room?" you ask.
"We're just having a meeting. Quiet now," Kyros says.
You walk along the hallways in silence, passing my various crewmen running along the halls, working. Kyros walks quickly and you break a sweat trying to walk at his pace.
"Can we slow down?" Fay asks.
"You're a genetically-upgraded super-soldier. Is a fast walk really too much for you?" Kyros says, continuing at his speed.
"It's too much for Karth," she says.
"I'm... fine," you pant.
"No you're not," Fay says. "Physical exercise isn't exactly a strength of yours."
"He has the energy to talk, he has the energy to walk! Now silence!"
Kyros flicks his wrists, and Fay yelps. A long, thin cut appears, running down her cheek, as blood runs down her chin.
"Hey!" you shout.
You step up, staring into Kyros' eyes. His eyes are wild and cruel. The humor and joy he held only a few hours ago is gone. You realize that he'll be more than happy to hurt both you and Fay seriously. You back down.
"That's what I thought. Now faster, we've wasted time with this!" Kyros says.
You speed up, moving as quickly as possible. Soon enough you reach the war room. The doors open, and you pause. Inside, lying in her seat, is Calpurnia. All of her skin is just... missing, seemingly flayed off her. Blood covers her seat, the the floor around her and the table. Her eyes are missing, seemingly gored out by inhuman claws. She lets out a pained moan, and you realize with a start that she's somehow alive.
"What the fuck...?" Fay says.
Magos Cern appears behind you, walking forward. She stares at Calpurnia, seemingly disinterested.
"Does this concern me?" she asks.
"No, old friend.This concerns the others," Kyros says, his voice a low growl.
Uncaring, Kyros sits down at the table. Taj enters, but doesn't even respond, simply taking his place at the table. Calpurnia holds up a hand as if begging for help, but Taj simply spits on the table.
"Traitor," he grunts.
You watch as Durge walks in, with Elizabeth at his side. Durge pauses, looking at Calpurnia, before looking at Kyros, as Elizabeth turns very pale.
"What the hell is this?" Durge asks, staring down at Calpurnia.
His massive, bloated frame waddles forward, standing over the bleeding near-corpse.
"What happened you, he asks, before shoving a spike-arm in front of Elizabeth and pushing her back, stepping in front of her defensively as he stares at the rest of the room. "Who did this?!"
Rebecca walks in, a grin on her face.
"Oh, who did this?" she asks, clearly feigning surprise.
Finally, Elios walks in, pausing, and looking around the room, taken aback.
"What... what happened?" he asks, turning even paler than his chalk-white makeup. |
"It seems our good friend Calpurnia has been attacked in the dead of night," Kyros says. "Imagine how much pain she's feeling. The pain of her wounds. The pain of her betrayal. Who hear could have possibly betrayed them? Who could have plotted late in the night to back stab a person, to betray someone who had given them so much? Could it have been Elios? Durge? Elizabeth?"
"Fuck... you," Calpurnia says, before collapsing her head against the table.
Calpurnia screams as her arm's bare flesh begins to cook, as Kyros glares at her. Durge raises a spike, running it through Calpurnia's head.
"Enough. There's no need to prolong her suffering," Durge says, glaring at Kyros.
"I suppose. Perhaps it's best that she died. Do you know what, Durge? Magos Cern, Chapter Master Taj and Rebecca all came to me, told me a coup was being planned by Calpurnia, and she was recruiting all the faction leaders. I'm sure she hadn't gotten around to asking you, Elizabeth and Elios yet, or you would've reported it to me. Correct?"
Durge stares at Kyros, not saying a word.
"Well, I'll have someone investigate who could have possibly done this to our dear friend. Anyone, as for the purpose of this meeting, I just wanted to tell you we're all out of Recaf, and I'll have it replaced by tomorrow. I also suppose I must say I'm taking control of the 33rd Istanford Regiment in the wake of Calpurnia's passing. Now, everyone back to their duties. We're in a risky time. Who knows who'll have the next... accident?"
Kyros walks out of the room, and you and Fay follow him. He immediately has you set to work. He has you train with a few of your new men, fighting off dozens of crab-like aliens with a handful of Goliaths, Tribals and Gladiators to learn how they fight. The Tribals still work with their hunting tactics and the methods of war used to fight off the endless greenskin attacks, so you find you're easily able to lead them to victory.
The Goliaths are borderline idiots, who even in the heat of battle get distracted by themselves and each other, get frustrated when their massive hands fail to successfully reload their bolters, and are more than happy to break formation to charge the enemy. Cain proves himself as a solid leader, taking you orders and bellowing them out with massive, powerful lungs, loud enough to snap the Goliaths back to violence. The Goliaths make up for their mental failings with their extreme strength, withstanding punishment beyond what you thought was possible, whilst turning steel to dust with their powerful blows.
The Gladiators' fighting style is an interesting one. Due to the lifestyle of gladiators, they haven't really trained for being part of a large unit, only knowing how to fend for themselves or maybe fight alongside a small unit of a half dozen people. They're good, experienced fighters, but despite their experience they're still young and wild, taking unnecessary risks in battle and acting far too prideful. While Castus is wild and barely acts as a leader in battle other than shouting out curses at the enemies, rallying his men and leading a charge whenever necessary, Olive is calm, collected and acts as the real leader, spitting out battlefield tactics that allow for a crushing defeat. The gladiators also have a certain showmanship, no doubt because they're performers before they're fighters. The gladiators' attacks maximize bloodshed and feature extravagant yet unnecessary feats of agility, something that needs to be eliminated from their battle doctrine.
All in all, your newfound force is fairly competent. You're satisfied with their ability to fight, which is bolstered by your immense powers, the only outlet of which are these arena battles. After several long hours fighting, just as you're too exhausted to continue fight, the massive metal gates from which the aliens spew slam closed.
You hover in the air, firing a stream of multi-colored fire that consumes a crab-alien, before you swoop down, firing a psychic blast directly into the unarmored face of another. Your forces wipe out the remaining beasts, and soon the fighting is over, leaving you surrounded by corpses, blood and bolter shells. The metal gate you came through opens, and you drop to the ground, feeling your collar begin to restrain your psychic powers again, before standing and beginning to walk back inside.
"Well done, men. You've proven yourselves today," you say.
Your four guards wait by the gate, alongside dozens of other guards to ensure none of you attempt a mistake. The gladiators are led to the underneath of the arena, the Goliaths back to cyro-sleep and the Tribals to their cell-dorms. You're quickly escorted to your room, and the doors close behind you. You walk forward, quickly undressing from your blood-stained, sweat-soaked clothes before collapsing on your bed, burying your head in your pillow.
> go to sleep
"Karth!" Meliodas' voice says, appearing in your mind. "Look behind you, you fool!"
You quickly twist around in bed, raising your fists and preparing to use what little psychic powers, to see Elios leaning in the doorway of your bathroom.
"Shit! What the fuck are you doing!?" you shout.
"Hmmm... a man can't just lean back and enjoy one of the finer sights in life?" Elios says, winking as he strolls confidently towards you.
"Get...!" you try to speak, but he puts a finger against your lips, leaning in close.
"Quiet, baby. No need to fret. I'm not here to give you any trouble. I'm hear to help you with a certain little... problem."
Elios runs his hand along your bare chest and up to your collar, playfully tugging on it. You stare at him, waiting.
"Well, let's be realistic here. We're going to be slaughtered. If we're lucky, we're going to be killed when Kyros leads his moronic charge against the Imperium. If we're unlucky, we're going to end up like Calpurnia, tortured to death by a paranoid Psyker."
"You're at risk of being tortured to death. I never betrayed him," you say.
"Oh, baby, why do you have to be so difficult?" Elios smiles, two of his fingers walking up your legs, slowly nearing your groin. "Baby, at the moment, Kyros is looking to eliminate those who are going to betray him. But he's growing paranoid. He'll end thinking you're going to betray him, whether you are or are not. Let's be fair, you do have motives. Your tribe destroyed or enslaved, forced to bear the troubles that a Psyker does? Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if you had an escape plan in the works. Hell, even if he doesn't, one of your men will act rebellious or a battle will go wrong, and you'll be blamed for it. You need to get with us, baby."
"Let's say I'm considering it. What would it entail?" you ask.
"You need to get the leaders on your side. Fay, Olive, Castus, whoever's in charge of those big monster boys I saw you working with earlier. Get them on your side, while I will talk to Elizabeth and Durge about maintaining the rebellious attitude amongst Calpurnia's boys, make sure they're still up for a little bit of mutiny."
"What happens when we take the ship?" you ask.
"That'll be decided once we've secured the other leaders. I'm sure they have demands of their own. So are you in?"
"Hmmm... it's clearly our only option, but you should know that Elios both wants to fuck you over and straight up fuck you," Meliodas says.
"I'm pretty sure my other choice is death. That's not even a choice," you say.
"Well, it's the one I'm giving you, baby," Elios says,gently flicking the tip of your dick, causing you to yelp and scuttle back on your bed.
> agree
Elios steps forward, knocking on the metal door. The guards open, immediately raising their bolters. Elios waves his hand.
"You didn't see me here. The voice of Slaanesh calls you, and you're his now. Move aside, and tell no one I was here."
"I... no... yes, sir," one says, stepping aside.
You watch Elios stroll out of the room, giving a final smile and wave as he leaves the room.
You get some sleep, lying wrapped up in your blankets. Blissfully, there's only a few dark, terror-filled dreams, the rest only filling your with a vague, uneasy sense of dread. You awaken to Magos Cern poking you in the stomach with a white-hot pincer.
"AH!" you scream. "What the fuck?"
"My diagnostics told me that I'd be able to wake you up 0.4 seconds faster this way. We need to go," Magos Cern says.
"Where?"
"First, you require food. Then, you'l get some implants. I'm going through some long overdue upgrades for the... "Goliaths", as you called them, and Kyros asked me to pencil you in for a few biological upgrades."
"Then?" you ask
"Melee practice. In wake of assassination threats, Kyros wants you to be able to fend off a melee assassination as easily as you could a ranged or psychic attack."
"My powers can do that," you say.
"You'd be run through before you could react. Castus and Olive will run through some drills to get your reaction time up and give you a few dodging techniques that will lend themselves to all your battles."
"Then?"
"By then, with the recovery time from the implants, your weak body will require sleep."
"OK", you say.
Magos Cern leads you out of the room, and along the hallways. You find yourself in a massive cafeteria. You walk forward, spotting Fay sitting alongside a badly burnt girl with a long braid wrapping around herself and another with a prosthetic arm replaced by a sharpened, mechanical claw. Fay looks up, noodles hanging from her mouth, spotting you.
"Oh, Karth!" she says, waving, before noticing that her mouth is filled with noodles and blushing.
You take a seat next to her, and she smiles.
"So, how are you doing?" she asks.
"We need to talk. Alone," you say, looking at the two tribals beside her.
"Uh... OK," Fay says, motioning for the two tribals to move, which they quickly do.
"Thanks," you say to the tribals as they walk off.
"So? Is this about what I think it's about?"
"What do you think it's about?" you ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you know... you want to speak to me alone... privately... so I kind of assume it's about us."
"Yeah, of course it's about us, that's why we're both here to talk about it."
"No, I mean... like, us us," Fay says, clearly frustrated by your failure to understand.
"What?"
"Well, like, do you want us to be a couple?"
> say "Yeah, I want to go out."
"Oh, really?" Fay says smiling.
"Don't you?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah!" Fay says, smiling. "I was actually just going to ask you about that. I'm glad you said yes."
Fay smiles, before leaning in and kissing you briefly on the lips. You stare into her bright green eyes, the split-second kiss lasting for infinitely longer, feeling the warmth of her lips flood into you, before she pulls back.
"Well, that was nice. Ideally our next rendezvous is going to take place somewhere where we're not surrounded by our tribe and horrible guards who want us dead," Fay smiles. "Was that it, or was there something else?"
"Yeah, we have something important to discuss."
"Wasn't that important?" Fay asks, smiling.
"Oh no,it was, I just... I meant important for the tribe, not just for us," you say, stumbling over your words.
"It feels nice to see you've become as awkward as I just was," Fay giggles. "Now, stop spitting out words. Take a breath, and tell me what's so important."
"Rebellion."
"Oh?"
"Kyros is mad and paranoid. He's either going to slit our throats or send us on an endless string of suicide missions. We need to do something, and I really need your help. A group of collaborators have planned to rise up, and rid ourselves of Kyros. Then, we take over. I need the support of your Tribals to do so.
"Yeah, totally. Done."
"Done?"
"Yeah. If we don't escape, we die here. Also, they're your Tribals as much as mine. Who else is in on this?" Fay asks.
"Elios, Durge and Elizabeth are all in. No doubt Calpurnia's man will help us," you say.
"What about Cain and the twins?"
"I haven't asked them yet, but we need to get them on board," you say.
"Do we hae a solid plan yet?" Fay asks.
"Not yet. We need to find out how many people we have fighting for us."
"What happens after we take the ship," Fay asks, raising an eyebrow.
"That is still to be decided. Once we have Cain. Castus and Olive behind us, we'll have bargaining power. So you're in?"
"I'm in," Fay nods. "I'll have the message spread among the tribals."
You notice one of your guards walking towards you, carrying a tray. You motion for Fay to quiet down, as the guard arrives putting the tray down on the table.
"Eat," he says, in a cold voice like the scraping of a blade on rusted metal.
You look at your food. There's a bowl of noodles and strips of thin, cured meat, a small bowl of green jelly with chunks of odd, alien fruit inside, a large plastic cup of wine and a small, dense biscuit-like cake.
"Well, someone's being pampered," Fay says, smiling.
"Clearly I'm just more important than you," you gloat as you have a forkful of noodles and meat.
Fay grabs the biscuit cake from your tray, taking a bite.
"Hey!" you say in annoyance, as Fay sticks her tongue out.
You quickly eat your meal, polishing off the entire tray and gulping down the wine. Then, Magos Cern arrives.
"Good, you've eaten," she says. "These operations will be safer if you've had a full stomach."
"OK, I'm ready, let's go, you say. "Bye, Fay. See you soon."
"See you later, Fay says, blowing a kiss.
Magos Cern leads you out of the cafeteria and along the halls, off along halls and elevators. Eventually, you pass through the cyro-sleep section, arriving in a large operating room. Dozens of Goliaths are lying on the surgery tables, many halfway through surgery. A half dozen other Tech Priests wander around between the Goliaths, removing and adding flesh, bone, organs, cybernetic implants and other strange things.
"I didn't know there were other Tech Priests," you note.
"This ship is the size of a small moon. Did you think you've seen enough of it to accurately be able to say that we don't have something? I have scores of Tech Priests who followed me into the embrace of the Dark Gods," Magos Cern says.
Magos Cern leads you to an operating table.
"This is yours. Please get undressed and wait here, I need to grab my materials and equipment. Stay here."
Magos Cern turns around, walking off, leaving you alone. You spot Cain, lying on his operating table, his chest cut open to reveal still functioning organs. You wonder how he can still be alive with such a hastily cut-up torso, before you wince as you see his eyes dart towards you and you realize he's conscious. Looking to see Magos Cern hobbling away, you hop off the operating table and walk over to him.
"Commander Karth," Cain grunts. "Need something?"
"I have... an offer."
"An offer? An offer of what?" Cain says, absent-mindedly picking at a cut alongside his... or at least, one of his stomachs.
"Freedom," you say, catching the monster's attention.
"Go on," Cain says, furrowing his scarred brow and causing a thin stream of blood to pour from his horns.
"We're planning an escape. We could use you and your men," you say.
"We?"
"Elios, Durge, Elizabeth, Fay, others," you say. "That's it, I think."
"When?"
"We don't have details, yet. We need a head count before we can start planning it."
"Hmmm... I'm willing to give you control of my... "Goliaths", as you called them. But, I have a list of conditions that I want to be satisfied once we take the ship."
"Go on," you say.
"I want us to get names. Every Goliath who is capable of remembering and answering to a name will be called that instead of its serial number, by you and ALL other members of command. No more cyro-sleep. I want a bed for every single Goliath. I don't care if it's fine cloth or a slab of concrete, as long as it doesn't freeze them, it'll do us. I want free time that's not just killing."
"Anything else?" you ask.
"That's it," Cain says, spitting out a serrated teeth that's fallen free from his jaw.
Cain's demands are far from unfair. Really, all he wants is slightly more rights for his Goliaths, which wouldn't even take any more resources. Still, you don't want the beast getting a big head. You ARE still in charge of not only his collar, but the collars of every single Goliath. All you need is a few threats, and the Goliaths will be yours.
> agree to Cain's demands
"Deal," you say.
"Good, good," Cain nods, extending a hand.
You grab his hand, and thankfully Cain doesn't attempt to squeeze, which would almost certainly result in your fragile bones shattering. You shake vigorously, and Cain attempts a smile. The corners of his mouth twist unnaturally high, revealing rows of serrated teeth, curved fangs, massive molars and many other weird, odd teeth, protruding from bloody, rotten gums. You smile in response, not willing to offend him.
"The beast would've taken half of what he asked for," Meliodas says.
"Why didn't you tell me that before?" you say angrily.
"I presumed you knew," Meliodas replies.
"Are you OK?" Cain says. "Tell you what?"
"Uh, nothing. Sorry," you say.
"OK. Good deal," Cain says, his face contorted in what you assume is his version of a raising of the eyebrow. "Alright, best get prepared for your operation before Magos Cern gets back."
"Yeah, I should," you say.
You walk over to your operating table and quickly get undressed, before lying down. After another minute or two, Magos Cern appears, pushing a tray in front of her. One of her metallic tendrils grabs a syringe filled with a pale, translucent liquid.
"This might hurt a little. It will more likely hurt a lot more," she says.
You let out a pained yelp as she jams the syringe into your neck. She begins pushing down on the plunger as what you hope is anesthetic is pumped into you. Warm hands embrace you, pulling you into the oblivion of unconsciousness.
> embrace the darkness
Your eyes lull closed, and you lose consciousness.
You awake an unknown time later, lying on the metal operating table. Magos Cern stands over you, washing her implements in a basin of water. She looks at you, her cold, red eyes peering into your soul.
"Ah, you're awake. Good," she says.
"What did you put into me?" you ask.
"The biology of what I did is beyond you, flesh bag."
"Can you dumb it down for me?" you ask.
"Could one reduce concertos to the mumbled grunts of mutants?" Magos Cern asks indignantly.
"Please?"
"Fine. I increased the size of your heart by 40% and lungs by 12%, and added several veins and arteries leading directly to the brain from the heart. These actions increase the blood flow to your brain, and should hence increase psychic abilities. I added multiple microchips that breed monocytes, other white blood cells, platelets and other helpful things for your body. That was the bulk of my work. Other than that, it was just a medical check-up."
"OK," you say.
"I have a lot of important work to do, now. You should've had enough time to recover."
Two of your massive space marine guards arrive, a roaring face on their thick helmets.
"Here you are," Magos Cern says. "Guards, make sure to walk slow. If at any point the patient starts puking blood, let him sit down for ten, maybe fifteen minutes."
"Shouldn't you keep him hearing for observation, then?" one of the guards ask.
"I have far too much work to do," Magos Cern says. "Don't disturb me. If anything goes wrong, go to Genetor Corivan. He is very experienced with medical matters."
"Yes, sir," the space marine says.
Magos Cern quickly heads off, walking off to a row of elevators. The space marines stare at you, and you climb out of bed with a groan.
"Ah, my head," you say.
"You should have headaches for the next 48 hours," Magos Cern shouts, right before she disappears into an elevator.
You stand, feeling a rush of blood hit your head. You walk after the space marines, along halls and up and down elevators, until you |
find yourself in the arena. Castus and Olive are there, mid-battle with each other.
"Oh look, it's tweedle-dum and tweedle-fucking idiot," Meliodas says. "Not even a laugh? Oh wait, you didn't grow up with nursery rhymes, you're from a Feral world. My bad."
Castus swings his sword at her, while Olive swings her rifle-axe up at his head. He rolls out of the way, kicking Olive's foot away and sending her to her knee, before booting her in the head. She collapses down, before rolling out of the way to avoid a downward stab by Castus. She grabs Castus' sword handle and punches him. Castus falls backwards, before taking up a fighting stance. Olive begins circling him, her gun-axe at the ready. She spots you, smiling.
"Karth's here," she says.
"Bullshit," Castus says, readying his sword.
"Karth, tell him you're here," Olive says.
"Yeah, I'm here," you say.
Castus turns to look at you, but Olive charges, swinging her gun-axe. She knocks the feet away from Castus, dropping his knee down on Castus stomach. Castus grunts before Olive grabs her gun-axe and holds it to Castus throat.
"Dead," she says.
"No fair, we were supposed to stop when Karth got here," Castus says.
"You're still dead," Olive smiles, standing up.
Castus grabs Olive's wrist, pulling her forward so his sword pokes into her stomach.
"Dead," he smiles.
"Seriously?" Olive says, rolling her eyes. "Fine, I'm dead. Are we finished yet? The kid needs training."
"Fine," Castus shrugs. "Let's start it."
Castus draws a dagger from his belt, staring at it. The blade is a bright silver, with an odd pattern etched into it. It's handle is a bright, light blue, with a short, silver horn coming from the end of the handle.
"Now, this is an absolute beauty. I really don't use it enough, so it's yours. Xenos-origin, so even owning it is heresy. The blade is razor sharp, it could cut through flesh and bone easier than it could through air. Here."
Castus turns, tossing the dagger straight at your head.
> duck
You duck your head, the knife flying just over your head and cluttering to the floor behind you.
"Good catch," Castus says.
You grab the knife, taking a practice stab.
"What do you think?"
"It's a knife," you say simply.
"Yeah, it is. Do you like it? Does it feel good?" Castus says.
"I don't know anything about knives. Maybe," you say.
"Alright, first, we need to talk. Is anyone watching us? Like, are there cameras?"
"No. Well yes, but they're offline," Olive says, resting her head on the butt of her axe-gun. "What is it?"
"A plan is being formed. We're going to escape."
"Escape?" Olive says, musing. "Who's on our side?"
"We have a large amount of people on our side. Elios, Elizabeth and Durge are bringing the weight of their war-bands, as well as most, if not all, of the Guardsmen here. Then there's the Goliaths and the Tribals, both of whom are with us."
"What...?"
"Because I've done this twice before, I best say. We have no plans yet. They're to be decided. We have literally nothing. We just need to check whether you'll join us. Then, we'll get the leaders together to plan our to take over, and what to do with once we've actually done so."
"Huh. Well, I'm in," Castus says.
"What?" Olive asks, surprised.
"Yeah, I'm in," Castus says.
"We don't know the plan, we don't have any assurances that we won't be back-stabbed as soon as we take over, we..."
"Olive, let's be smart here. If we don't rebel, we'll definitely either be killed fighting Kyros' war, killed trying to put down these fuckers' mutiny, or killed fighting another arena battle for these bastard's amusement."
"If we rebel, we'll almost certainly be killed!"
"Almost certainly is way better than definitely. Plus, we'll get to kill a few of Kyros' bastards before we go down."
"Fine, I'm in, but I... we have a few demands," Olive says.
"Go on," you say.
You know the gladiators will be essential to your plans, so you really need to get them, but still, you don't want to devote to many resources to this issue.
"I want instant freedom once we take-over. No more being locked up under the arena. I want my men to have free reign to travel around the ship. I want pay, do the men and women who fight and work for the ship actually get something from it. I want an increase in food rations, and better equipment than the shit we're given. I want actual medical care, on top of this."
"That it?" you ask, annoyed with her large demands.
It'll probably take a serious amount of resources to fulfill her request. You have a few options here.
"What a fucking greedy bitch. This fucker needs a dick, I tell you that," Meliodas complains.
> agree to her demands
"Done," you say.
Olive extends a hand, which you grip and shake extensively. Castus extends his hand, which you grab, but he twists your arm around, causing you to yelp painfully. He kicks away your foot and sends you to your knee, before bringing his sword up to your throat.
"Dead," he says with a smile.
"Well shit, Castus, what's wrong with you?"
"What? I was just preparing him for fighting. I thought we were supposed to be training him. First lesson, kid: trust no one. Now, get up."
Olive offers you a hand, smiling.
> allow her to help you up
You grab Olive's hand, and she pulls you to your feet.
"Ah, good job," Castus says. "Second rule: the first rule is bullshit. You know who doesn't trust anyone? Bastards like Kyros who ends up with no loyal friends, no allies, nothing, and then end up alone, with no one. If you want to survive in this world, you need allies."
Castus grabs his sword by the blade, offering it to you. You reach out to grab it, before he swings it and smacks you in the side of the heat, sending you to the ground. Castus offers his hand to you, which you accept. He pulls you up, before kneeing you in the stomach and tossing you to the ground.
"Come on, you're not learning. First rule: trust no one. Don't you listen?"
"I was going my the second rule," you say, groaning.
"Sometimes, the first rule is more important than the second rule," Castus shrugs.
"How the fuck am I supposed to tell the difference between which rule to us?" you ask, annoyed.
"Beats me. When you find out, you'll be the most powerful warlord in history. Until then, you just go off gut feeling and intellect."
"Seems like a shitty system," you say, as Castus finally lets you stand up.
"Seems like a shitty world you're in. That system is the best I have to offer. Now, rule three: in hand to hand combat, go for the weak spots. The throat, eyes and balls are always good, but when it comes to half these fucks, I'd stick to the eyes, because past that, I don't know what you have left. Observe."
Castus flips his sword so he holds the blade again, wrapping his sleeve around the blade so it doesn't bite into his fingers as much. He steps forward, swinging his sword with insane speed. The pommel slams into your throat before jabbing you in the eyes, leaving you to stumble backwards. You quickly close your legs together before Castus jabs the pommel into your groin, and you collapse backwards with a pained yelp.
"See? Effective," Castus smiles. "Rule four: you can win through many ways. Pain submission, incapacitating them, or simply taking their lives. Judge which can be used to take down your enemies. For instance, in your case, pain is the way forward."
You're growing tired of being hit in the face. As Castus steps forward with his sword raised, you decide you're going to do something to dissuade him from continuing to hit you.
> freeze Castus' sword in place
You use your telekinesis to hold the sword in mid air, Castus grunts in confusion as he finds his weapon stuck in the air as it was concrete.
"I don't need to learn how to wield a sword, Castus. You've trained all your life with a sword. I never have. Yet look how simply I disarm you? I need a sword as much as you need fangs. I've evolved past the need for it," you say, before sending the sword clattering to the ground.
"Fair point, kid," Castus says, as you have his sword levitate back up to him. "I suppose you're good to go. End of training."
"Terrific," you say. "So, can I leave?"
"Yeah, I'll call your guards here to open the gates and take you off," Castus says, grabbing a walkie-talkie hanging from his belt and speaking into it.
"Yeah, we're finished here," he says. "Oh shit, over."
"Affirmative, out," the voice comes back.
Soon, the gate lifts up as your guards saunter out in their thick power armor.
"Where to next, boys?" you ask.
"Shut it, psyker," one growls, looking at Castus and Olive. "Is it back to the cells for you two?"
"We're happy to practice some more here," Olive says, twirling her gun-axe to stop a surprise attack from Castus. "I mean, if this dumb bastard has done so little practice to think that would take me down, he's go to need a lot more practice."
"Pffh, I'd like to see you take me down," Castus says.
"So be it," your captor growls. "Move it, psyker."
You raise your hands defensively, and allow them to escort you back to your room.
> Three Days Later...
There's no peep from Elios, Durge or Elizabeth over the next few days. There's more of the usual, training, fighting and such. Eventually though, as you put your head down on the pillow, you hear a familiar voice.
"Karth, talking to you with that collar on is painfully hard. Can you start checking the shadows so I don't have to do this?" Meliodas says.
You twist around in bed, to spot a familiar figure in the corner, wearing tight, very revealing black leather with heavy make-up.
"Why do we have a habit of meeting like this?" Elios says.
"Fuck," you say, jumping up in bed.
"Is that an order? Because I'm more than willing to... serve," he says, licking his lips.
"Why are you here?"
"We're meeting up. We have plans to make. Shall we go?" Elios smiles.
"Uh... sure," you reply.
Elios strides over to the door, knocking on it. The guards open, and Elios once again deceives them so they easily step aside.
"How do you do that?" you ask, as you stroll past your guards.
"Serving Slaanesh has it's benefits. Charisma, beauty, the ability to bend people to your desires, and an ever-lasting... stamina," he says, breathing the last word.
"Ah, good to know," you say.
You stroll through the hallways, heading down a path you've never headed down before. Eventually, you find yourself in a seemingly abandoned section, entering a large room that's been done up like a war-room.
"This is the old war-room. Kyros had a new one built in a position safer from boarding actions. From here, we run the mutiny."
You look around the room, taking note of who's here. Durge sits in a large wooden chair, pricking boils along his belly with his spike-arms. Elizabeth sits in the corner, reading a datapad. A young man, seemingly in his twenties, leans against a wall, smoking and scratching his thick stubble, with a shaved head, scarred face and sallow skin. Cain is scratching the scarred cuts that run along his leathery bare chest. Castus is playing with a knife, while Olive leans against the wall, drinking from a canteen. Fay leans against the wall, noticing you instantly.
"Hey, Karth," she smiles, walking up to you. "How'd Elios get you out of your cell?"
"Did some deceiving trick on the guards. You?"
"Elizabeth put the guard's to sleep somehow," Fay replies.
"Alright, boys. We're all here. Shall we begin?"
"Yes, let's go through this," Durge says.
Durge stands, scratching the side of his stomach as you see something furry scuttling through his intestines. You try not to get sick, or to simply set the entire monstrosity known as Durge aflame to cauterize his disgusting form, before reassuring yourself that he's on your side.
"Sssh, sssh," Durge says, patting the side of his stomach, before grabbing a remote from the large metal table and turning on a large blue hologram of the ship, the Roar of the Vortex. "Here she is. We need to start planning how to grasp control of the ship. Remember, this isn't a planet. We don't win by capturing more territory than the enemy has. We need to capture the necessary areas."
The hologram begins to change, as various sections become different colors.
"These black sections are abandoned by crew. They're either unnecessary cargo space, unused dorms or functional sections whose functions are either redundant, have been taken over by other sections or are being fulfilled by whoever remains in these sections."
"I thought they were abandoned," Fay says.
"Abandoned by the crew, not abandoned by all. You must remember just how large this vessel is. Certain sections were crewed by slaves or mutants who, from lack of contact with crew members, have regressed to a feral state. Many of them now fulfill their roles, such as cleaning pipes or pumping air or working generators, because they consider it a religious ritual, necessary for their food, water and waste pipes to continue or just do it without knowing why."
"Ah. How... terrifying to know that that's a reality," Fay says.
"Their sacrifice is necessary," Durge shrugs. "Now, I shall continue. These brown sections are entirely ran by mutants. These mutants hold no loyalty to either side, and fulfill non-essential roles, or at least roles that aren't essential short-term. For the term's of this... mutiny, these spaces are as irrelevant as the abandoned areas. Now, we get onto the important things. These green sections are, or at least will definitely, be controlled by us. The Black Rat's floors, the Shrieking Harpies' floors, the One Eyed Crows' floors, the arena and arena catacombs, the cyro-sleep area, the medical bay, the Tribals' dormitories, and the 22nd Regiment's dormitories. The 22nd Regiment is, for the most part, under our command, although their are loyalists to Kyros, so it will take some time for them to sort out that issue in the mutiny. These red sections are the enemy's. Kyros' chambers, the Bloody Claw's floors, the Techpriests' sections, the floors used by the Undying Reapers, and the floors controlled by those who will almost certainly be loyal to Kyros, whether they be from assimilated war-bands or his original allies he had when first capturing this vessel."
Suddenly, the hologram shifts again, as the sections become either black, grey, blue, green or gold.
"These sections in black are irrelevant. Ignore them. These areas in grey are of little importance, but these are still a benefit to hold. The blue sections should be captured. The green sections are of more importance than the green sections, and should be prioritized. These gold sections, the command bridge, the engines and the macro-cannon decks, are completely necessary. We need these for victory. Now, Elizabeth shall go into details on the objectives, and Elios shall divide our forces."
Elizabeth stands up, walking towards the hologram, as Durge collapses into his seat.
"Thank you, brother. Now, we have four main objectives. The first is to kill Kyros. If we're lucky, that should get much of his forces to surrender. Hopefully, Rebecca will as well," Elizabeth says.
"She won't surrender," Elios says.
"She might," Durge says hopefully.
"I've know her the longest. She never gave up. When dad gave her the choice of apologizing for breaking the barn's windows in exchange for half as many lashes, she spat in his eye. As long as she has a limb left, she'll fight us. And I'm counting her head as a limb," Elios says.
"Well... we can hope," Elizabeth says. "The second objective is to capture the golden sections. The third and fourth objectives are to capture as many servitors as possible and Drake Amadeus, respectively."
"Who the fuck is Drake Amadeus, and what's a servitor?" Castus asks loudly.
"A servitor is a partly biological machine, made from machinery and the body of a criminal, slave or cloned body. They're not sentient, but are controlled by the Techpriests and used as their workforce. They do the bulk work of maintaining the ship. Capturing as many of them should make the transfer of power... easier. Drake Amadeus is an extremely powerful Navigator, a species of mutant who have a psychic third eye that allows it to see through the Warp and allow us to navigate through the Warp. Drake is one of the few Navigators powerful enough to allow a ship this large to navigate safely. If we don't secure him, we lose all abilities to go at the speed of light. In other words, we drift through space until we all starve to death. So, Drake is an important objective. Those are our four main objectives. If we fail in any of those, we fail in everything. There are dozens of other objectives, such as securing medical supplies, finding food, what have you. Those can be handed out to the individual groups. Elios?"
Elios stands up, strolling over to the hologram as Elizabeth sits down.
"Now, we have a sizeable force. The Shrieking Harpies, the Black Rats, the One-Eyed Crows, the 22nd Regiment, the Tribals, the Goliaths and the Gladiators. We even have a... special asset," he says, looking at you. "Whilst each of these factions on their own are fairly effective, combined they're infinitely stronger. Here are lists of what forces you'll command, and which of the forces you were to command will be transferred to another leader."
Various rolls of parchment and datapads, a strange mix of tech levels, is passed out. You raise an eyebrow as you realize you've not been given anything.
"Why didn't I get something?" you ask.
Elios smiles as you.
"Putting you with a large force would be a waste of resources. Putting you with a small force would leave you wiping out too many enemies, unable to hold the ground you've already taken. So, we're going to use your as a specialty item. We're sending you to capture the prisoners. Release the ones you deem trustworthy, and secure them. Most importantly, secure Drake Amadeus. Understood?"
"Yeah, got it," you say.
"Once you have, we'll regroup forces, and make a move to finish off Kyros and his lieutenants."
"Got it," you say.
"When?" Cain asks in his monstrous voice.
"Soon. Within the next few days. We need time to spread the orders, make preparations and Elizabeth needs time to find a way to deactivate the various collars and explosives planted on the slaves. Be ready at all moments," Durge says.
"How do we know when to strike?" Olive asks.
"We're going to have explosives planted to take out as many loyalists as possible. When you hear massive explosives, or if you're too far away when the alarms start, your collars should deactivate given that I succeed, which I will, and then strike and go immediately to your objective. Understood?" Elizabeth says.
"Got it," Olive nods.
Elios begins passing out files.
"Look over these, then leave them to be burnt," Elios says.
You're passed a file, and eagerly grab it.
> look at the files
You look at the files and see three subheadings: Drake Amadeus, the Penthouse, Charles Antonguella and the Troupe of Dancing Blades. The files seem to be a mixture of printed out and hand-written, leading you to assume they're from different sources.
> read File: Drake Amadeus
Name: Drake Amadeus
Species: Human, Sub-species Navigator
Age: 27
Marital Status: Unmarried
Children: None
House of Origin: House Jenassis
Current Location: The Penthouse, Roar of the Vortex
Blood Type: A Positive
Additional Mutations: None
Mental Illnesses: Sociopath, Sadist, Narcissist,
Alliances: None
Dependents: None
Useful Intel: -Drake has so far proven to have no loyalty, betraying all of his previous employers. Do not trust him.
-Drake has refused to pledge to any of the Dark Gods, or even to Chaos Undivided
-Drake has proven to have many hedonistic tendencies, such as whore-mongering, heavy drug use and similar activities.
-Drake is reasonable sufficient with firearms and melee weapons. It is necessary to keep him away from all weapons. |
Subsets and Splits