Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A total drama x disventure camp apocalypse/ infection AU that I’m dedicating all my time to for some reason

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Check out my TikTok: @murderous._.pineapple and my Twitter: @TheWackyKlown for official art and lore for this AU

New chapter every Wednesday and Saturday - Also, any comment that predicts a future plot or character death will be deleted, so if I delete your comment you’ll know why <3

That’s it ;-; 

Also, if either of you are reading this (you know who you are), go to the chapter titled ‘please don’t read this bro’, and never look at this fanfiction again.

Chapter Text

The warm light of the spring afternoon bathed the cafe in beautiful rays of brown and gold, the warmth of the sun seeping onto Aiden’s skin, bathing him in light, filling every crack in his body and soul with pure warmth. It made him feel whole again, like he was made purely of the light. It was peaceful.

But peace never lasts when you have angry customers to serve.

He was torn from his tranquility as they poured in while the afternoon progressed, it was a Saturday in the springtime after all, so hordes of people were to be expected. Aiden was spending each second counting orders, and dealing with customers while his coworker, Tess, made all of the drinks. Despite how busy it always was it was just them two since their manager, Karol, had fired every other employee each time one of them even mildly displeased her, and now she dedicated her hours to desperately searching for anyone to hire, leaving Aiden and Tess completely on their own. It wasn’t a pleasant job for either of them. From the espresso machine that seemed to always break whenever it got busy, dealing with entitled customers who demanded everything be done their way, the unimpressive pay, and being hit on constantly, neither Tess nor Aiden kept the job for any reason other than free drinks and food as well as the lack of job openings anywhere else nearby.

The two wasted away the afternoon until it was 4:30, things had died down, and it was just five customers now, four of which sat at chairs in the cafe, working, chatting, and the such. He had finished taking an order from the fifth when Tess let out a frustrated groan.

”God dammit, not again!”

He turned around.
“What’s broken this time?”
“This stupid espresso machine! Why can’t Karol just get a new one?!”
Aiden rolled his eyes, he hated that stupid machine and the amount of times it had broken, he still had faint marks on his hand and wrists from back when he made the drinks and would constantly get burnt while fixing it back when he was the one making drinks. Before Karol made him and Tess switch positions out of both annoyance at the amount of times Aiden burnt himself, and an apparent soft spot for the quiet boy that he never really understood. The memory made Aiden put a hand to his wrist, rubbing the faint marks gently.
Aiden stared at the espresso machine for a moment, then back at Tess.

“I guess you’re just gonna need to fix it.”
His coworker only scoffed, brushing a strand of her dark hair away from her eye.
“After all the times you’ve burned yourself doing it? No way! Not unless I got something to protect my hands with.”
Aiden leaned his back against the counter.
“Well, figure it out.”
He knew he sounded like Karol but he didn’t care, he was way too tired to deal with this right now.

Tess sighed, with a roll of her eyes she worked on the machine, Aiden leaned his head back, his body against the counter and arms perched on it. An exhausted sigh escaped his lips. He closed his eyes and opened them again, looking around the cafe as the light of the late afternoon illuminated every object in the cafe.
Every object made of metal turned from dull silvers and bronze to a glowing orange, the light creating a golden halo around each metal straw, spoon, and machine in the cafe. On any other day he’d avert his eyes and grumble in annoyance. Today he appreciated the beauty of it all. He looked up at the ceiling as the light seeping through the window landed on him, bathing him in the same warm light from earlier.
He closed his eyes once more, taking it all in as the light warmed him, it felt like every worry in him was gently plucked away into thin air, he felt weightless, an overwhelming sense of affection washing over his mind. Not affection for anything specific, just, everything.
For the warm light that soothed him, the smell of vanilla and cinnamon and coffee beans, for the clicking of a keyboard and indistinct chatter, and even the frustrated mumbling of his friend tinkering away at that god damn espresso machine. (Did I mention he fucking hates the espresso machine? Yeah, that’s gonna be a reoccurring thing.)
A deep breath escaped his mouth as he continued to bathe himself in the comforting light. It felt like a warm hug.
It felt like his mother.
He could practically feel her gentle hands wrapping around his shoulders from behind like she always did when he was little, her long hair tickling his skin, her warm perfume, a scent he could never quite decipher; and her voice. In his mind it was indistinct gibberish, her voice was soft but he barely remembered exactly to what extent, or if it was even very soft at all. He could hear her tone, and it was soothing. He imagined her resting her head on his shoulder, whispering in his ear everything would be okay, that he didn’t need to worry anymore.
He could practically feel it, feel her.

“Ow- motherfucker!”

His eyes shot open, the feeling of his mother disappeared as he looked at Tess, who had just burned her palm on the espresso machine. She grumbled various curses under her breath as she clutched her right hand. Reluctantly, Aiden stood up straight and stepped toward her, he held out his hand.

“Let me see it.”
Tess did not. She continued holding her right hand, still grumbling from the pain, shooting Aiden a glare. He rolled his eyes in annoyance.
“I used to always take care of my little sister when she got hurt, I know what I’m doing.”
Tess gave a sigh, she finally extended her hand, and Aiden gently took it. He looked at her right palm for a few seconds, the burn wasn’t bad at all, a red mark that would probably only be there a few days, still, it’d be better to treat it than leave it alone. Aiden let go of her hand.
“It’s not bad. Let me get the first aid kit from the back real quick.”

Tess gave a nod and put her palm in her hand again as Aiden stepped into the back room. He wasted no time grabbing the first aid kit from a drawer, he had no time to take another step when the sound of a man screaming filled his ears.
He froze, his mind went back to that night, the night he had been woken up to the screams and grief filled crying of his father, the wailing of his younger sisters, and the agonizing silence of his mother.
He went to the door immediately, first aid kit in hand as the screams grew from one person to two, then three, then four, then five.
He gripped the doorknob, his mind going to the night he’d threw open his door ran from his bed down the hallway, to his parent’s room, how the door was wide open when he saw his father crying, a phone pressed to his ear as he called an ambulance, his younger sister at the side of the bed, grabbing their mother’s arm and screaming with everything in her as tears streamed down her face, and his mother lying in the bed; peacefully sleeping. He remembered how his own cries joined that of his family when he noticed she didn’t breathe, how he rushed to her side and shook her only to be met by cold dead skin.

Not asleep.
Not asleep.
Not asleep.

He threw open the door and came back to his senses when he heard Tess scream’s join the others. The scent of blood filled his nose as he stood frozen in horror. The customers ran out of the cafe as a man bit down on the corpse of another, a mix blood and organs stained the walls and floors. Tess stood against the wall behind the counter, wide eyed and silent aside from the horrified whimpers that escaped her lips every now and then.
The first aid kit fell from Aiden’s hand as he covered his mouth to keep himself from gagging, he felt tears sting his eyes as he watched, his body shook and his breath quickened. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t look away, he watched as the man continued to bite at and consume parts of the corpse on the floor, wide eyed and limp as he lay dead in a bed of his own intestines.

Only, something about this man seemed.. wrong.

The man was bleeding, but his blood was such a discolored red it seemed almost black, branches, roots, veins, and mushrooms protruding from almost every hole on his body. His left eye socket was empty, except for those black veins that had taken over his flesh. His body was far too long and far too thin for any human, you could see each of his bones, he looked like some kind of monster from a horror movie as he bit at the corpse beneath him.

This couldn’t be real.
This wasn’t fucking real.

He would have stood there frozen forever if it weren’t for the feeling of a hand grabbing his arm pulling him to reality, he didn’t respond as he felt Tess drag him out of the cafe and into the street, sprinting. The two ran a while before Tess stopped and turned to look at him. They panted and stared at one another, sharing in silent horror at what they’d just seen. Tess’ brows furrowed slightly, mouth agape, breathing heavily. Aiden was only able to move or speak when he saw Tess lean against the wall, throwing up all over the ground. He watched helpless and as she gagged and spat onto the concrete beneath them.

“What the fuck was that…?”
The words escaped Aiden’s mouth as barely a whisper, his voice was shaky as felt a tear forming in his eyes. Tess stood up straight, she wiped her mouth, leaning against the wall.

“Do you have your phone on you?”
Aiden nodded.
“Call the cops.”

She seemed even more in shock than Aiden, her eyes wide and voice low. Aiden gave a small nod and took out his phone from his pocket, he dialed the number and put the phone to his ear.
Nothing.
He tried again, each call went ignored. He swore under his breath, he was about to try again when he noticed his roommate and good friend, Kai, spamming his phone with news articles.
He was annoyed, expecting it to be the link to some article to do with climate change or the destruction of nature when he noticed.. they weren’t.
They were all about some ‘virus’, some disease. The words ‘infected’ and ‘cannibal’ caught his attention.

He clicked on one of the links, his blood ran cold as he skimmed the article which detailed some virus that infected people’s minds and bodies. His confusion and horror grew as the article detailed what happened to the infected so far, how a person’s body mutated and contorted with branches, mushrooms, and roots. How their minds rotted away while their bodies experienced the excruciating pain of it’s organs and flesh being skewered by these roots, how they’d began to attack anything that moved and seemed hellbent to destroy their own bodies too, but anything regarding later stages of this virus seemed to be unknown if the lack of information was anything to go off of.
Aiden felt sick, it was more like reading the summary of a horror movie than reading about any real life disease.

How could something like this even exist?
He texted Kai.

Aiden: ‘I think it’s real, I was at work today and some guy attacked someone, started eating him alive on the floor.’
Kai responded immediately.
Kai: ‘Come home, it’s prob safer there. I’m trying to find Maggie. I’ll bring her back once I do.’
Aiden was in the middle of typing his next message when Kai texted again.
Kai: ‘Doesn’t your family live nearby? Are they safe? It’s chaos right now where I am.’
Aiden’s face dropped, his heart sank.
His family, his dad and younger sister, they lived near where the news had said it was worse in the city, there was no way they were safe. He gripped his phone tighter.
Aiden: ‘I’ll find them, I’ll come home if I can but idk. Tell me if you find Maggie.’
Kai: ‘Be careful, come home if you can.’
Kai: ‘I love you bro.’

Aiden showed the articles to Tess, she seemed scared too. She didn’t have a family, but she still had friends and people to worry about. The two hugged, a tight embrace before they parted ways.

It was the last time Aiden would ever see her alive.

He bolted to his car, he didn’t bother buckling in, his hands gripped tight around the steering wheel as he sped down the street, barely avoiding other cars, God knows how many laws he broke in only twenty minutes.

He called his father.
No answer.
Then his sister.
No answer.

He called and texted them each repeatedly, over and over, spamming their phones with calls and messages only to be met with no response. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel like he was holding on for dear life, he may as well have been. Everything in Aiden’s mind and body told him to turn back, to go home to the apartment where Kai and Maggie would be waiting for him to figure out what to do, but he didn’t.
Kai had been right, it was blood and chaos out here, but that wasn’t important right now, Aiden needed to find his family.

When he got there he stepped out of his car and approached the home he’d grew up in, the body of a teenage girl sprawled halfway out the open door told him all he needed to know.

There she was, his younger sister, laid halfway out the door, silent, asleep on the ground. He would have liked to believe that over the reality of the situation. This was worse than the night his mother fell asleep and never awoke. Worse than the night he’d been thrusted away from the comfort of a deep sleep by the grief filled cries of a man who’d just lost his wife and little girl who’d just lost her mother, worse than the night that at only twelve he’d watched his sister wailing with everything in her, begging for their mother to wake up.
No.
This was so, so, much worse.
He could barely force himself to move, but he had to. He ran for the door, falling to his knees before his sister, her face showed no trace of emotion she looked asleep.

Not asleep.
Not asleep.
Not fucking asleep.

Her body shook, he’d realized it was his hands shaking violently on her shoulder and head as he try to stop the bleeding of an already dead girl. The pool of blood on the ground beneath them mixed with tears, his tears. He couldn’t bring himself to look inside the house, the scent of blood and the familiar smell of death had confirmed all that he had feared be true.

“No..”
“No.”
“No!”
“NO!”

He couldn’t tell if the words came out as screams or whispers, it didn’t matter. Everything in him ached as he gripped the cold dead hand of a girl taken too young, and clung to her body, sobbing with everything in him. Screaming until his eyes were sore with tears, his throat burned, and voice and lungs grew hoarse from the effort. He didn’t care, his body still found the strength to scream and cry and throw up and shake as he lay for god knows how many hours, clinging onto her, gripping her hand as tight as he could manage.

Even as he felt her blood seep through his clothes, staining his skin and hair he clung to her.

He was alone now.
No longer a son.
No longer a brother.
First his mother, now his father sister.

His screaming must have attracted attention, he barely looked up when he felt a sharp pain at his shoulder. It was one of them, one of those ‘infected’ from the news. Aiden felt its hand dig into his shoulder, stabbing him, the physical pain much worse than any injury he’d had before.

He knew in no more than five seconds he’d be dead for sure, he couldn’t bring himself to give a shit. He just lay there, bracing for the pain, bracing for death.

It wasn’t until blood that was not his own or his sister’s seeped onto his skin that he looked up fully. A different figure stood above him now. A pale girl with shoulder length blonde hair, grey eyes, a blue sweater, black skirt, and a rather odd flower hair clip that contrasted the rest of her outfit. She seemed young, no older than his now dead sister, the faint traces of girlhood still present on her round features, even despite the discolored blood that splattered her sweater and how she looked over Aiden with an expression he couldn’t quite place, she was a mere child.

She said something to him, but he couldn’t register her voice, he barely reacted as She looked over her shoulder, panicked, and shouted down at him. It was only when she grabbed his shoulder’s and dragged him to his feet, prying him away from his sister that he reacted. He barely had enough energy to slap the girl, and barely enough to crawl back to his sister, picking up her limp body and cradling her in his arms.

Just as he had when she was first born, when he held a sleeping little baby and promised to his parents that he would always protect her. That promise was broken now, she was broken. Her body stilll making a light crunching noice when he took her in her arms, her bones in pieces in some areas.

Aiden was too focused on her to pay mind to the blonde girl, who held her cheek in wide eyed shock, she must not have gotten slapped many times before if her reaction was anything to go off of.

Aiden’s chest hurt almost too much to breathe as he held his sister. The bright eyed girl who had always charmed everyone around her despite, or perhaps because of, her loud and occasionally obnoxious behavior, who’d look at him with admiration in her eyes, who had followed him wherever he went and who had always made a point to speak her mind regardless of who was or was not listening.
That sunny little girl.
She didn’t deserve this.
She didn’t deserve to die.
It should have been someone else.
Should have been Aiden.

When the blonde haired girl had dragged him away again, he didn’t have the energy to resist anymore, he leaned against her and stumbled as she kept on asking him random questions, her voice was muffled, the world was muffled. And he was tired. He was so tired.

He couldn’t register her voice even as she dragged him into a building and guided him against a wall.
He didn’t register her voice as she knelt next to him on the ground and shook his shoulders, shouting in concern when he collapsed to the floor from a mix of despair, exhaustion, and his injured shoulder.
He closed his eyes.
Not dying.
But at this point, he wished he was.
The world faded to black, the sounds of voices and his pain faded away as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Aiden wasn’t sure how Lake tolerated him.
As the months flew by and the virus only got worse, from failed quarantines, increased crime rates, and so many deaths, society basically fell apart. Yet, through it all, his one constant was Lake.
Aiden had learned that was her name the first of many times she would ramble to him about her own life, random things, and ask him questions. Through it all, he didn’t say a single word to her, he never even told her his name. Occasionally, she felt brave, asking a question regarding his family or what had happened the day she’d met him, it usually only took one sharp glare to shut her up and get an apology out of her.

Through it all, she somehow never gave up on him, practically forcing him to live. She forced him to walk when they needed to go somewhere, didn’t shut up until he ate and drank when he was supposed to, and never once took her eyes off of him. It was infuriating for Aiden, that a random teenage girl was dragging him around and acting like some sort of parent to him, he wished she would just go away and let him die, but she didn’t. They certainly weren’t doing a job job surviving, spending most of their time hiding in buildings to avoid the infected, or just wandering to look for food, they were in constant exhaustion and on the brink of starvation most of the time, but they were alive for what that was worth.

It wasn’t until three months had gone by, and the two were huddled over a small fire in some abandoned building that Aiden finally found it in him to say something.

“Why?”
It was a simple question really. Aiden watched Lake’s eyes widen in surprise, he’d never said a word to her up until this point. She opened her mouth, and closed it again, unsure how to respond.
“Why.. what?”
“Why did you save me? I don’t even know you, but you saved me, and now you’re just dragging me everywhere you go. I haven’t said anything to you since we met, I never help when you get us food or make fires for us, all I do is follow you around, I’ve been nothing but rude and a burden, so why haven’t you just ditched me yet?”
Aiden’s brows furrowed, his tone growing more aggressive and filled with annoyance as he spoke. It was infuriating, why was she doing all this? Why wouldn’t she just let him die?

Lake averted her eyes for a moment, seemingly not having an actual response.
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“I couldn’t just leave you behind to die, I had to help you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Lake looked back up at him, seeming a bit defeated, sure, she’d finally gotten him to say something to her, but he seemed even more angry with her than usual.
She sighed, looking at the floor.
“I’m sorry.”
Aiden began to feel guilty, his glare faded, he turned his head to stare at the wall. Sure, he didn’t ask her to save him, but she’d been nothing but kind and patient up until now, he had no right to be this cruel to her.

“My name is Aiden.”
He turned to look back at her with an expression Lake couldn’t quite place. She smiled.
“That’s a nice name.” 

Chapter Text

Hey ya’ll, sorry this chapter came out a bit late, my mother is making me take antidepressants and the side effects are really fucking me up tbh, anyway, I made an animatic about this chapter on my TikTok so go watch it or I’ll eat your hair. Also, GUESS WHO’S FIFTEEN NOW!!!!! (I decided to put this in the chapter instead of the notes because no one actually reads those.)

“Mom..?”
Hunter’s hand shook as he opened the door slightly, she’d locked herself in her bedroom for weeks now, ever since this whole virus started she’d been inside in her room. What was supposed to be a week long visit turned into almost three months now, given how unsafe it was to go out. He’d only left the house to get food and supplies, trying to be as quiet and nimble as he could manage to avoid the infected, so far he was doing good all things considered.

Still, it was worrying how his mother acted, she’d appeared sickly when this all began, but insisted it to only be a flu, she didn’t seem to have any visible symptoms, no discolored blood or plants growing out of her body so Hunter didn’t question her about it.
How stupid he was for that.

It was recently when things grew extremely concerning, around a month and a half ago she’d began to throw up anything she ate, she’d gotten thin, and seemed to be completely out of it most of the time. Then three weeks before now, she’d locked herself in her room, only answering the door for food and water but now not even that, after a week and a half she screamed at Hunter when he even tried knocking, and for the past five days she didn’t answer the door at all, the only noise coming from her room being pained groans and panting.

Hunter had to use a hammer to get the door open, dread overcame his senses as he opened it slowly. He called out again.

“Mom? Are you alright…?”
He froze when he saw what awaited him inside.

Oh, that’s why.

That was why she locked herself up in her room, why she had became so frail and sickly, why she screamed at Hunter to stay away any time he had tried to even come near her.
She was infected.

There she was, crouched on her bed in a pool of her own blood, next to her was a small knife and.. roots? The floor near her bed was littered with them too, cut out roots, open pill bottles, bandages, rubbing alcohol.. she was trying to cure herself? Clearly, it wasn’t working, given there was a large chunk of black wood and fungus growing out of her forehead and back, her eyes and mouth bled, the same blackish red that the news had talked about.

This couldn’t be happening.

The two made eye contact, she just stared at him with wide, empty eyes; her mouth hung open to the point Hunter wondered if her lower jaw may fall off its hinges, her flesh loose, exposing what was left of her teeth and gums to the point she looked more like a puppet than an actual person

He barely had time to react when she lunged at him, screaming. He stumbled onto the floor as she tackled him.
“Mom?! What the fuck is happening t-“
He was cut off by his own screams when she dug her nails into his skin, and slashed his face. He was barely able to kick her off of him, her animalistic shrieks filling the house as he slammed her bedroom door shut and locked it. Hunter stumbled back onto the floor, clutching his face. It was only when her screaming subsided that he realized through his own panting and gasps he was hyperventilating, tears of fear, pain, and confusion stung his eyes; clinging to his eyelashes and blurring his vision.

But, there was no time to cry, he had to cure her, somehow. It took some time barricading her bedroom door with as much furniture as he could manage, making sure she wouldn’t escape, and even longer to attempt to take care of his wound, he looked like a freak. The gash cut into his face exposed his gums and teeth in a frankly grotesque display that made him look like some sort of horror movie character or internet creepypasta, but once the bleeding stopped and the wound disinfected, he called it a day.

She had failed to cure herself, but from what it seemed, painful as her methods were, She had been able to subdue to effects of the virus for a short while. Hunter would cure her. He’d find a way to somehow save her.
Somehow.

When all of this had started, Tess didn’t exactly expect that she’d get a boyfriend out of it, but she sure wasn’t going to complain. Hunter was the first one she had met, three months into the apocalypse when she was out looking for some decent food. It was when she had failed to find any and accepted the fact she’d go hungry for the day, opting to go back to her hideout when she met Hunter.

The sound of screams had become familiar, both that of the infected and their victims, it had became seared into her mind that first day when she and Aiden had watched a man be eaten alive, the memory never really left her. Still though, if she allowed some poor man to be eaten alive without at least trying to help him, she would never forgive herself. So, against her better judgement, she followed the screaming.

There, out in the street, was a man and an infected, the man pinned down as trying desperately to kick the infected ‘person’ off of him, to no avail.

Shit.

She looked around, she had no weapons, something caught her eye, a metal pole, around five feet long. She wasted no time, sprinting to it and picking it up, it was heavy, but manageable. She rushed over to the man and the infected, who had no time to react before she attacked it from behind, hitting it in the side of its head with all her force.

It let out a surprised scream, the man backed up immediately, scurrying behind Tess, a few feet away from the infected person, who lay holding its head on the floor. Only, something was.. off.

Brown skin, short dark hair, green eyes, tacky ripped up clothing, was that..? No, it couldn’t be. Tess didn’t want to believe it, but what she saw was undeniable, it was Karol. She was infected. Tess’ old boss before all this started who, although stern and a bit of a Karen, wasn’t outright cruel to her and Aiden. A fair woman, even kind when she felt like it, and whose advice usually didn’t fail Tess in her times of need. Although, to be fair, Tess and Aiden were arguably some of if not the only people Karol ever really went out of her way to show kindness to.

Still though, she didn’t deserve this. It was an ironic fate, really. A woman who loved nature and who had a practically telepathic relationship with animals, to be infected with a virus that overtook her body with plants. She must have been in so much pain. Tess stared at Karol for a few moments in disbelief before the man spoke.

“What are you waiting for?! Kill it!”
He cower behind Tess clutching his scratched arm, his face bearing a grotesque wound over his mouth that exposed his teeth and gums in areas they shouldn’t be visible, a wound that nearly made Tess wretch up just by looking at it.

“W- she’s my boss! I can’t kill her!”
She looked over her shoulder to argue with the man, who scowled.
“If you don’t, we’ll both die!”
Tess opened her mouth to respond, only to be tackled to the ground before she could. Her back slammed against the concrete beneath her, she let out a sharp gasp as the wind was knocked out of her, she nearly dropped her pipe. Karol raised her arm to strike Tess, the sensation of her blood dripping down onto Tess’ face sent a chill down her spine.

Tess raised the metal pipe, blocking Karol’s attack. She felt her nails stabbing into her shoulders, causing her to let out a pained scream. Karol opened her mouth, about to bite into Tess, who in response, raised the metal pipe again, thrusting it into Karol’s mouth, (not like that) who dug her teeth into the pipe, glaring down at Tess with a wild and, frankly, animalistic expression.

(Haha, demon slayer reference)

“Karol, what are you doing?! Snap out of it! You can fight it! You have to fight it! Come on!”
Tess shrieked when she felt Karol dig her hand deeper into Tess’ shoulders, tears of pain escaped her eyes as she stared up at a woman she once considered almost a motherly figure. Almost.
“Karol! Please!”
She pleaded the hurt in her voice being evident. A shift in Karol’s expression caught her eye. From a twisted glare to something close to.. guilt? But just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

The sensation of Karol’s hands thrusting out of her (not like that) caused another scream to escape Tess’s lips, overcome by both pain and the relief of Karol’s weight being removed from on top of her.
She looked up, the same man whom she had just saved stood over her defensively, a wooden board in his hands. He panted before swinging at Karol again, quickly hitting her twice in the head and once in the abdomen before she finally ran off, leaving a trail of sickening black blood behind her. The man looked over his shoulder at Tess, swiftly discarding the wooden board and rushing to her side.

“Are you okay?!”
She clutched each of her shoulders respectively, her teeth clenched, pained groans were all that she managed to let out in response.
“Shit!”
The man looked around, before grabbing Tess by the waist and helping her up.
“There’s a pharmacy not far from here that I was planning to loot, there’s probably some medical supplies there for us.”

Tess nodded, the two hurriedly limped towards the pharmacy just two blocks away, leaning on one another as they navigated through the debris, dead bodies, and black vines that littered the sidewalks and street. When they arrived at the pharmacy, there was a pile of bricks and broken chunks of concrete in front of the entrance, the doors completely gone. The pair helped each other over the bricks and stepped inside. The sight of the rotting cashier’s body still behind the counter caused Tess to grimace, as the two walked down the aisles they tried not to look at the corpses that lined the floor. Tess gasped softly when she felt her ankle brush against the hand of one of the bodies, her new companion whipped his head toward her direction.

“What is it?”
His expression and tone conveyed genuine worry, Tess shivered at the sensation that still lingered on her skin.
“Nothing- it’s fine.”
He man furrowed his brows but he didn’t say anything. He’d found a few chairs near the back and made quick work of it, leaving briefly to get any medical supplies that hadn’t already been stolen. When he’d came back he had a few first aid kits, an old towel, and a bottle of water.

“So.. what’s your name?”
The man had attempted to remedy the awkward silence with small talk, glancing up at Tess as he opened one of the first aid kits. Deciding to humor him, she replied after a few moments.

“Tess, and you?”
“Hunter, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.”

The awkward silence returned almost immediately, Tess’ eyes shifted to a body on the ground, limp and with it’s skin melting onto the ground as black roots planted what was once a person into the Earth, an infected who’d at some point been killed and now was turning into a tree or bush just like the rest of them did at one point or another. The sight seemed upsetting to Hunter, who averted his eyes back to the first aid kit, which he handed to Tess.

“Are you sure we should be using these?”
She put some rubbing alcohol onto a rag, she felt her face scrunch up and a pained hiss leave her mouth as she brought it to her right shoulder, the sensation like someone had lit a fire on her. Hunter gave only a shrug, seeming either fully oblivious towards or willfully ignorant of Tess’ pain, opening another one for himself.

“It’s either ours or someone else will just take it.”
This was a good enough answer, Tess supposed, she couldn’t help but stare at the horrible wound on his mouth, her curiosity overcoming common sense.
“What happened to your face?”
Hunter furrowed his brows at the question, an angered look that told a lifetime’s worth of frustration. Just as Tess was about to apologize he answered.
“It was my mother.”
There was a pause, the tension grew in the air.
“If it’s okay to ask.. what happened?”
“She….”
Hunter paused for a moment, he opened his mouth then closed it again. They both knew what he would say next, a fact that undeniably would break him to admit.
“You don’t have to answer if it makes you-“
“She’s infected, and attacked me today, I was just checking on her to see if she was okay since she’s been locking herself up in her room for a while now, and this,”
He raised a hand to point at the wound on his face.
“Is what she had to say about it.”
He put his hand down.
“It seemed like she’d been trying to cure herself.”
Tess raised an eyebrow.
“She’s.. trying to cure herself?”
Hunter nodded, his expression turned slightly softer as he said his next words.
“She’s been removing the plant stuff from her body, and taking pills, and using bandages and-“
“You know that’s not gonna work, right?”
“You don’t get it though, she-“
“If trained medical professionals, the best of the best with endless resources at their disposal, failed at making a cure, failed to contain the virus, there’s no way some woman can possibly fix it with just bandages and pills-“
Hunter raised his voice just short of a yell, his expression turning into an angered glare that told Tess she definitely should have thought before she spoke.
“You don’t know that!”

There was a long silence as he turned his head away from her, the regret she felt almost made her forget how much her shoulders felt like they were on fire, almost. She wished she could snatch the words from the air before she’d said them and just shove them back down her throat like it had never happened. But, she could not. She let out a defeated sigh.
“I’m sorry..”

The silence was deafening, interrupted only by the squeak of a rat running past the two. She glanced up at Hunter, who did not look back at her, Tess picked up sone bandages, wrapping them over her wounds before an idea crossed her mind.

“When was she first infected? How bad is it?”
Hunter paused before answering, he still seemed angry, like he’d get up and storm off at any moment, but they both knew he wouldn’t. After all, even if he was offended by what she’d said, it was uncommon to find other survivors these days, even rarer to find friendly ones, it wouldn’t be worth risking returning to dull loneliness over one rude comment. So, he remained, still not looking at her as he answered.
“It was hard to tell, but she’s been sick since this whole thing began… but she didn’t have many plants on her, her face was all contorted and shit though..”
“If she’s been sick since this whole thing began, that probably means she’s been infected since the start, but….. she doesn’t sound nearly as bad as other infected I’ve seen before. All the ones I’ve encountered who were infected as long as her were a lot more grotesque looking than what your describing.”
Hunter finally looked up at her.
“Do you think what she’s doing is actually working..?”
“Well,”
Tess felt a twinge of guilt at the hope in his eyes, which she was undoubtedly going to crush with her next statement.
“I didn’t say all that.”
The small glimmer in Hunter’s eye faded just as soon as it appeared, it would have been comical in almost any other situation.
“But I think she has been.. delaying the effects of the infection, I think maybe.. I should see her?”
Hunter raised an eyebrow.
“Come see her? What good would that do?”
Tess finished bandaging her wounds, she shrugged, wincing as pain shot up her arms from the movement.
“I just wanted to see for myself before we decide what to do next about this.”

We. The word hung in the air, the two contemplating the implications of what she had just said. They would decide together what to do next? They were companions now? Tess looked up to see Hunter standing in front of her, extending an arm, her suggestion seemed to please him.

“Let’s go then.”
She took his hand, leaning on him as he helped her up.
“Follow me.”

Chapter Text

Shit. Shit. Shit!

Those were the only words going through Rosa’s head, as she wandered searching for her daughter. She looked the other way for five god damn seconds and now her kid was god knows where, but what else could be expected from a girl so young? Sofia knew better of course, especially now when Rosa dare not let go if her hand for even a moment and never stopped reminding Sofia of the dangers of the world and of the infected, but Sofia was young and curious. So it should have been anticipated she would sneak off the moment the opportunity presented itself.

“Sofia! Sofia!”
She called out her daughter’s name through the abandoned department store she and Sofia had been looting for new clothes and supplies, the two had barely managed to even get in through the pile of rubble that surrounded the building, the only reason everything inside hadn’t been stolen already. Five months now, if Rosa’s estimations were anything to go off of, but estimations weren’t always reliable. But she had much bigger concerns at the moment than how long it had been since the world ‘ended’ as they say.

The sounds of voices in the distance caught her attention.

There are other people here?

The voices were to her left, it sounded like two people at most, a man and a woman but she couldn’t be sure. A third voice caught her attention as she walked in the direction of the two. Sofia. There was no doubt about it. Her walking turned into sprinting now, when she reached them, she hid behind a mannequin, waiting to see what would happen next, her hand reaching down for her box cutter, the closest thing she’s had to a weapon for the last five months. Her breath hitched as a man knelt in front of Sofia to be on eye level, taking notice of his strange hair, one side brown and the other blonde.

“Hey, uh.. little girl. Are you here by yourself? Where are your parents?”
“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”
Sofia responded immediately, her voice showed small bits of hesitation, but it was the response Rosa had taught her she must always use in situations like this, she would have smiled and been proud if she wasn’t so overcome by worry.

“Strangers..”
The woman spoke up, who Rosa now noticed wasn’t even a woman at all, but a teenage girl, tall and blonde with round features and an odd flower hair clip. No older than fifteen or sixteen. But why was she with this man? Half of his own hair was blonde like hers, both shared pale skin and light eyes, maybe they were siblings? But the girl’s thick accent, and her companion’s lack of one made Rosa consider otherwise.
“Well, I’m Lake,”
She gestured to herself.
“And this is Aiden.”
She gestured down to the man, Aiden, who smiled at Sofia.
“See? We’re not strangers anymore, so why don’t you tell us your name?”
Seeing Sofia’s hesitation, he softened his tone, leaning slightly forward.
“Don’t worry, we’re nice, we only want to help. So please, tell us your name?”
Her daughter answered immediately, all of her caution and hesitation gone in a moment.
“Sofia.”

Damn, this guy was good with kids.

“That’s a very pretty name!”
The girl, Lake, chimed in.
“Now, Sofia, are you here alone? Where are your parents?”
Lake’s smile faltered as she asked the question.
“I’m here with my mama.. but I’m not really sure where she is.”
Aiden spoke again.
“So, your lost?”
Sofia nodded, Lake and Aiden looked at one another, like they were having an entire conversation by just looking at each other. A few moments passed, a beat of silence filling the store, until both nodded, seeming to come to a decision. Aiden stood up with a sigh.
“Come on then,”
He took a hold of Sofia’s hand, an overwhelming feeling of dread curled in Rosa’s stomach, she took a firm hold of her box cutter.
“Let’s go f-“
He couldn’t get another word out before Rosa tackled him to the ground, Sofia stumbled back in surprise.

“Aiden!”
Lake shouted, her tone filled with concern for her.. friend? Brother? He shouted up at Rosa, attempting to shove her off of him.
“What the fu-“
He fell silent immediately when Rosa brought the box cutter to his neck, everyone went silent, Aiden’s fearful expression meeting Rosa’s furious glare. The threat of her slitting his throat at the slightest sign of resistance, although not stated aloud, was made clear to everyone. Aiden dare not move, Lake seeming both furious and terrified, like she wanted to attack Rosa, but knew she couldn’t.

“I will ask you both this once and only once.”
Rosa’s voice was laced with venom.
“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING WITH MY DAUGHTER?!”
The silence was deafening, the only noises being Rosa’s angry panting, and Aiden’s shaky breath. Lake was the first to speak, coming to the defense of both her and Aiden.
“We weren’t doing anything!”
“Bullshit!”
Rosa whipped her head toward Lake.
“I saw him grab her hand and tell her ‘Let’s go.’ You were going to kidnap her!”
“What?! No!”
The voice came from underneath Rosa, Aiden was angrily shouting now.
“She said she was lost so we were going to help her find you! If we wanted to kidnap her we would have just taken her and ran right away!”
Rosa considered this, looking between Lake and Aiden, it made sense she supposed. Her response came when the blade of her box cutter slid back and she put it in her pocket. Aiden let out a relieved breath when she climbed off of him. She rushed to her daughter, cupping her face as she knelt before her.
“Are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?”
Sofia shook her head, a sigh of relief escaping Rosa as she hug her child tightly. She could hear Lake asking similar questions to Aiden behind her, she felt a twinge of guilt, turning around to face them.
“I’m sorry.. I just…. needed to make sure you weren’t trying to take her, it’s happened before and especially these days you can’t really trust other people. You know?”
“No! No! It’s okay, we totally understand! Aiden and I would have done the same thing you did if one of us was being taken.”
Rosa’s gaze shifted from Lake to Aiden, the scowl on his face told her she wasn’t quite forgiven, but he did nod, giving a sigh.
“Yeah, it’s fine I guess.”
His tone of voice made it clear he would definitely be holding at least a bit of a grudge, but he was at least being civil right now for what that was worth. There was a beat of silence, no one dare speak, least of all Rosa. Until Lake broke the silence, this would be a pattern, Rosa could already tell.

“So.. what are you here for? We came to get new clothes and some supplies.”
Rosa snorted.
“Here for just about the same reason as you, you can already tell but nothing we’re wearing,”
She gestured to herself, who wore jeans and a green crop top, then to Sofia, who wore simply shorts and a t shirt.
“Is suited for the kind of stuff going on right now.”
“Well,”
Aiden began, his words directed at Rosa but his dry smirk at Lake.
“You aren’t the one who’s been wearing a skirt for the last five months.”
“Only because all of the clothing stores we checked so far have been completely empty until now, besides, you’re the one who still has those ridiculous earrings!”
She gestured to the large silver crosses that hang from each of Aiden’s ears, he put his hand up to one, his tone defensive but in a way that made it clear he was joking too, and not genuinely offended.
“The earrings are stylish and you know it!”
“Their emo is what they are.”
Lake grinned, raising an eyebrow.
“You shut up!”
Aiden laughed, planting his hand on top of Lake’s head and turning it, her hair doing an almost complete 360, startling Rosa and Sofia before they realized she was wearing a wig. Lake gave a loud laugh, taking it off to reveal very short fiery red hair was underneath, grown to the length of a pixie cut and slightly curly. Quickly it was lost when she put her wig back on, a dull blonde color now covering the vibrant red, to the disappointment of Sofia, who scrunched up her features in displeasure at the far more interesting color that had been lost.

Rosa couldn’t help but smile to herself at the two bickering like siblings, their banter was something she could already tell she would become fond of.
“I just realized,”
The other two turned to Rosa.
“I forgot to introduce myself.”
She laughed softly, from mild embarrassment mostly.
“I’m Rosa Maria, and you already know my daughter.”
Lake and Aiden smiled.
“I’d prefer to call you knife girl, but, Rosa works.”
Aiden said this with a rye grin. He let out a soft chuckle when Lake elbowed him, muttering at him that it wasn’t funny, as quite frankly it wasn’t, but at least he wasn’t too angry with Rosa to be making jokes, and jokes were almost always a good sign wether or not they were actually funny.
“It was a box cutter, I’ll have you know.”
Rosa turned slightly red from embarrassment, trying her best to stay humorous despite her genuine guilt.
“Sorry for that.. by the way.”
Aiden rolled his eyes.
“Oh, a box cutter.”
He said the latter half of his sentence in a mocking tone.
“Forgive me for getting it wrong.”
“I’m serious! I shouldn’t have-“
A hand on her shoulder made Rosa pause, Aiden chuckled.
“Dude, it’s fine, you had your reasons. I know I would have done the same for Lake if I thought someone was trying to kidnap her.”
Rosa glanced over Aiden’s shoulder at Lake, whose face showed genuine flattery at his words, smiling to herself like an idiot. Aiden turned his head to look at her, seeming to notice this.
“Oh come on, you know I would. I’d kill every last one of those infected to protect you and you know it.”
His tone remained playful, but it had an air of sincerity to it that Rosa knew, in the way all mothers knew, that these two were siblings to each other, even if not by blood.
“And I would do the same for you.”
Aiden gave a satisfied smile at this, he stood up, and so did Lake, who extended her hand to Rosa.
“We’ll be here for a while to get new clothes and supplies, you two could come with us if you’d like.”
Sofia looked up at her mother her with signature ‘Can we mom? Please?’ Smile. Her eyes glimmered in a way Rosa could never say no to. Besides, two new friends didn’t sound like a bad offer at all.
So, she took Lake’s hand.
“I’d love that.”

(Btw, they all got redesigns since they just looted the store for new clothes and all, I’m not going to go into detail about them in this chapter aside from a bit of Aiden’s, but they’ll be on my TikTok later this week, it’ll also give a bit of extra context for the story so yeah, be on the lookout for that whenever I post them)

Rosa wasn’t lying, so far Lake and Aiden were a delight, the three shared banter, Sofia had grown attached to the two quickly, never shutting up with questions for them, and they in turn seemed quite fond of her too. She hadn’t expected in the same day the people she’d threatened at knife point would be her new companions, but she wasn’t about to complain about it. What she didn’t like was hiding in book shelves from an infected while it hunted them down in an abandoned library. It had seemed like a genius hiding spot, after all, libraries offered not only shelter and protection, but knowledge, knowledge was power after all, and especially now reading up on surviving without things like running water and electricity were an essential. Plus, who the fuck thinks to loot a library of all places? It seemed they were the first given it was in mostly good condition.

What they hadn’t accounted for was the librarian still being there, which wouldn’t have been an issue if the librarian wasn’t infected, and wasn’t so far along in the infection. It was much worse than anything Rosa had seen so far, she couldn’t tell at this point if it was a man or woman, plants came out of every hole in this thing’s body, sharp claws made clicking noises, both of it’s eyes were gone, and it’d lower jaw missing. Still though, it was tall, and thin, and dangerous.

Everyone dropped their bags to the floor silently, they’d have a better chance of killing this thing without the weight holding them back, when it turned away and went off through another set of shelves for a few moments, the group let out a unanimous sigh of relief, until Sofia took this as a sign to run to the next row of shelves like they had been for the last twenty minutes in an effort to make it to the back area, which likely held office supplies that they would potentially use as weapons. Rosa gasped as her daughter left her embrace, reaching to grab her by her arm, but it was too late, Sofia only made it a few steps into the open area when Aiden jumped forward and yanked her by her arm, retreating back behind the book shelf. Aiden held Sofia tightly to him, a hand on the back of her head as she wrapped her arms around his body, burying her face in his stomach. Relief washed over Rosa, but it left just as quickly as it came when she saw the terrified expression on Aiden’s face as he brought his free hand to his mouth to silence his breathing. There was clicking against the tile floor of the library, Rosa realized the infected had either heard them or somehow seem then. Maybe it smelled them? But it’s nose was gone right with its jaw, so that wasn’t possible.

Rosa was torn from her thoughts when Aiden shouted.
“HOLY SHIT!”
“WATCH OUT!”
Lake yanked Aiden, and by proxy Sofia to the floor. All four of them, stumbled back as the infected, tore through the bookshelf with it’s arm, undoubtedly it would have taken Aiden’s head clean off if Lake had acted even a second too late. Sofia shrieked as splinters from the wooden bookshelf, broken books, and torn pages showered onto them. They scrambled to sprint away, the infected followed close behind. Rosa picked up a now crying Sofia, holding her with one hand and leading Lake with the other, assuming Lake and Aiden were running hand in hand like she and Lake were, not noticing his absence. The sounds of panting, shrieking, and the infected’s noises filled her ears, they sprinted through the library, running through every aisle and in every direction they could think of until..

‘Fuck.’
They were cornered. Rosa whipped her head around before leading them underneath a table, they crouched down in silence until something got her attention.
“Wait, where’s Aiden?”
Lake looked around, before gasping.
“Do you think he..?”
She trailed off, tears forming in her eyes, before Rosa could answer she was alerted by the sight of the infected running in their direction, shoving Sofia into Lake’s arms and going in front of the two defensively, readying her box cutter.

Just as she braced for an attack, squeezing her eyes shut in anticipation, nothing happened? She opened her eyes, gasping when she was met face to face not with an attack, but a slender piece of wood, the end sharp and splintered, a chair leg that had been forcefully removed, it went straight through the infected’s neck. The infected slumped down, before it was flung to the side, lying limp on the floor now. Standing over them now, panting, was Aiden. There was a few beats of silence as he caught his breath.

“Are you three okay..?”
The chair leg fell with a clatter as Lake tackled Aiden into a hug, the two sitting on the floor now as Lake sobbed into his shoulder.
“I thought you were dead! What the hell?!”
Aiden hugged her back tightly, Rosa shielded her daughter’s eyes as they walked past the infected and went up to Lake and Aiden, the two quickly hugging him as well the moment Lake let go, seeing this she laughed and promptly hugged him again, this time from behind. Not stopping until Aiden complained about not being able to breathe.
“I don’t understand, how did it not hear you?”
Rosa questioned, having to pry Sofia off of Aiden, the little girl crying profusely. Aiden grinned.
“I told you they were a good idea.”
He gestured down to the roller skates he now wore, black ones that had detachable wheels and doubled as both roller skates and as boots. Which Lake had said were Impractical, but Aiden had argued made him both faster and quieter. His point now proven given how he’d just saved their lives.
Aiden helped Lake up as Rosa and Sofia stood.
“Consider it a thank you for when you saved my life the first day we met.”
Rosa raised an eyebrow, not exactly knowing what they were talking about, but she smiled when the sentiment made Lake pull Aiden back into another tight hug.

“Once we leave this library we seriously need to loot a weapons store or something.”
Rosa said this with light sarcasm as she picked Sofia up, her new companions nodding in agreement.

Within only five months Lake, Aiden, and Rosa had all lost their families and then gained a whole new one, funny how things happen, isn’t it?

Chapter Text

Ok, so good news and bad news.

Good news:
I'm not in trouble anymore
Bad news:
My leg got crushed by a fucking car.

So yeah, on Saturday I got in an accident and my leg was crushed by a fucking car. As I write this I'm in the hospital, I have multiple broken bones, internal bleeding, and a lot of trauma for very obvious reasons, so needless to say the next chapter won't be out for a while and neither will the redesigns. Sorry I guess?

Also heres some pictures of me in the hospital just because

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLdhU3j2/

Chapter Text

Ok, so I know this isn’t the Alec and Fiore chapter you were expecting, but, there’s a good reason. I’m considering changing the chapter schedule from every Saturday or Sunday to every Wednesday and Saturday, meaning two chapters each week, this week will test that, today will be this chapter, then on Saturday it’ll be the one about Alec and Fiore. This chapter is heavily inspired by the mlp fan fiction ‘the cough’ which you should probably keep in mind before reading. Also, stick around for the end, you get to choose a decision that becomes VERY important to the later events of the fic 🤭

Moonlight seeped through the crack beneath the closet’s only door, contrasting the otherwise complete darkness within, lines of soft blues and purples danced along the floors and walls. Ashley stared in silence at the ceiling above her, huddled next to Jake in a corner, the firm wood and plaster embracing them not only from their backs, but also from their sides, giving the duo the illusion of protection.

Groups were supposed to mean protection, but the four who sat huddled in the cramped closet of this abandoned school, which was surrounded by infected trying their best to find them, had none at all. No weapons, no way out, just a singular flashlight, and each other. For whatever that was worth..

They had narrowly avoided death, just barely escaping the infected who chase them inside, the same couldn’t be said for Miriam. Even in the darkness, Ashley could tell Jake was still trembling, still crying, his face likely still morphed in the same horror from earlier when they watched those things tear Miriam apart. The sounds of her screams, the crunch of bones, and the sickening wet noises of flesh and muscle being torn still fresh in Ashley’s mind, each moment playing on repeat like a broken record. Maybe it was by instinct she extended her hand to Jake who took it, intertwining their fingers in a tight hold, giving her a slight feeling of comfort as the two friends shared in their terror, in their despair, if only it got to last even just a moment longer. Using her free hand, she ran a finger over her lips, so dry and chapped they felt like they were on fire, she then scratched a particularly itchy area on her scalp, shifting uncomfortably as her hair made contact with her skin, it was tangled, matted, and greasy, outgrown bangs blending in with the longer parts of her haircut. She flinched when she felt a sharp pain, looking down at her finger, there was a small wet and warm substance on it, likely blood. She’d been so itchy she scratched part of her own skin off. She sighed, wiping the liquid on her pants and returning her gaze to the void above her, she couldn’t wait to leave this place, to find a river or any body of water to bathe in. Silence reigned as she was absorbed into her own fantasies of cleanliness.

In the silence, there was a cough.

Ashley was blinded momentarily as Grett tuned the flashlight on, seeming to forget in that moment all about the infected that surrounded them. She looked down when the flashlight’s aim switched from the wall to the floor, her heart stopped when she saw it. On the floor, was a small splotch of blood. Blood colored black.

Ashley turned to see Jake staring wide eyed at the stain, as was the rest of the group.

“Who was it?!”

Ashley was blinded again when Grett pointed the flashlight on her face, then in Jake’s, then in Dan’s, then back to the blood on the floor. Colors danced in her vision as she blinked rapidly in an attempt to return her eyes to normal.

“Who’s infected?!”

Grett glared between each member of the group.

“Keep it down!”

A harsh whisper came from the side of the closet opposite to Jake and Ashley, where Dan sat giving Grett a pointed look.

“They’ll hear us.”

Grett scrunched her face into a hateful glare, but lowered her voice.

“Who was it, which one of you is infected?”

Silence. A long, horrible silence that spanned for what felt like eternity, the group looked between one another, the question lingered in the air: who was it?

“Well?”

Grett’s demanding tone returned everyone’s gaze to her.

“Which one of you is infecte-“

“Which one of us?”

Grett was cut off by Jake, who crossed his arms.

“Pointing fingers like that is suspicious, you know, how do we know it isn’t you?”

“I’m not infected!”

Grett dismissed.

“We don’t know that for sure, it could be any one of us..”

Ashley flinched when everyone turned to look at her.

“Well… what do we do then?”

Jake spoke up again, giving Ashley momentary relief when the attention fell away from her.

“Well, obviously, figure out who it is.”

“How? All we have to go off of is a cough and that pool of blood, that doesn’t tell us anything. We can’t identify someone by the sound of their cough.”

Everyone’s attention returned to, Ashley a second time, she raised a good point, there really wasn’t evidence pointing towards any one person.

“Well..”

Jake began, shooting a glare in Grett’s direction.

“It’s a bit odd how the first one to point fingers was Grett, that she’s been accusing everyone but herself.”

“What are you implying?!”

“I’m just saying, it’s suspicious how you’re trying to pin this on us, like you’re trying to get attention off of yourself.”

“Shut up, Jake! Your only acting like this because you still can’t get over what happened to Miriam-“

“What did you say?!”

“Guys, quiet!”

Ashley grabbed Jake’s arm, who opened his mouth to yell again, stopping when the sound of footsteps could be heard outside. The room was enveloped in darkness as Grett turned off the flashlight again, there were only footsteps for a few seconds, but no one moved for what felt like eternity. Finally, light returned to the room.

“We need to be quiet.”

Ashley whispered, earning a nod from Jake, and a guilty look from Grett. The silence was interrupted by a noise from the other side of the closet, everyone whipped their head towards Dan, who coughed violently into his elbow, trying his best to hide it, but it was too late. Black blood shot out from his mouth as he coughed, staining his shirt sleeve, a few drops falling to the floor, his silence beforehand made sense now.

It was Dan, he was infected.

Everyone stared at him in wide eyed silence.

“Well- well, what now..?”

Jake asked the question lingering in everyone’s mind, what would happen to Dan?

“We have a choice to make.”

As expected, Grett spoke up, her words aimed at everyone, but her head turned to stare Dan in the eye.

“Either we let the infected kill him, or one of us does it.”

“Hold on, what?! You’re seriously resorting to.. to that?!”

Dan looked to Jake and Ashley, hoping one of them would come to his defense.

“You guys seriously aren’t going to just kill me, right?!”

No one said anything, Dan’s face dropped, his next word came out a terrified whimper.

“R-right…?”

Silence, a long agonizing silence.

“One of us, it needs to be one of us.”

Everyone turned to Jake.

“If we leave him to the infected, he’ll be torn apart, like.. like Miriam. It needs to be one of us, it’ll be quicker that way.”

Ashley’s stomach dropped when Jake turned to her.

“It needs to be you.”

“Me? Wha.. why me?!”

“You’re the strongest one in our group, if you do it, maybe…. maybe it won’t be as slow or painful that way, Dan deserves that, at least..”

Jake trailed, his expression turning to one of pure guilt.

“But.. with what? We have no weapons, and-“

Ashley cut herself off when Grett handed her the flashlight. She turned to face Dan, who was standing now, staring at her with pure terror.

“Dan.. I’m so sorry.”

“Ashley..?”

Tears pricked her eyes as she clicked the flashlight off, no one would have to see this that way.

“ASHLEY!”

Dan screamed as she rushed toward him, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and pinning him to the wall.

“I’M SORRY!”

She sobbed out, raising the flashlight above her head.

“We’re sorry, Dan, but this is for the best.”

Grett’s voice rang through the darkness, with an air of sympathy that wasn’t like her.

“Just be strong, it’ll be over soon..”

Jake sniffled, his voice trembling.

“No! Please, please, please, please! Stop! Stop!”

Ashley struggled to keep Dan pinned the wall as he thrashed beneath her, she raised the flashlight above her head, and brought it down with all her force. Jake yelped when Dan screamed at the top of his lungs. She raised the flashlight above her head once more, years of chopping firewood with an axe on her farm in her had honed her muscles, as if in preparation for this very moment, she brought her hand back down, earning an even louder scream from Dan, accompanied by a wet crunch that made Ashley want to vomit.

“JUST DO IT ALREADY!”

Grett screamed into the void, Ashley could see her silhouette in her peripheral vision, noticing that she was covering her ears. Ashley brought her hand up again, then down again, for countless minutes, as Dan’s screams turned to pained whimpers, then small groans, then silence, even as silence reigned, she still brought the flashlight down upon the poor man continuously, only stepping away when her entire arm was drenched in warm liquid, in blood. Dan’s body slumped to the floor with a light thud, the flashlight falling from Ashley’s hand, flickering to life when it made contact with the floor, exposing her sins in a ray of red and gold, caused by the staining of blood on the flash light’s lens.

Dan’s head had been completely crushed in on itself, remnant of bone, teeth, and eyeballs splattered the floor and wall, the tissue of his face completely exposed in a sickening visage of soft reds, whites, and pink.

“Oh god..”

Jake sounded like he could barely bring himself to speak, Grett hunched over, and vomited all over the floor in front of her and onto Ashley’s legs. Ashley didn’t even register it, too deep in shock to do anything but stare, she couldn’t even cry as she panted, drenched in the blood of the innocent man who lay before her. Dan didn’t deserve to die like this, to die at all.

Then there was another sound, and moonlight poured in as the closet’s door was torn off it’s hinges, Ashley barely had time to turn to face the door when she felt something. Pain. A sharp, and overwhelming pain. They had been too loud, the infected found them. She looked down, her mouth hanging open in shock, she couldn’t barely register the sharp limb blooming from her stomach, Grett and Jake’s terrified screams, and the tears that finally fell from her eyes as it all came to her. She had been stabbed, she was going to die.

It was all for nothing.

The pain intensified when the infected yanked its arm out of her stomach, she fell to the ground with a small, pained moan, everything fading into darkness as Jake rushed to her side, sobbing.

In the span of a single night, they went from a group of five, to one lone survivor.

Who that survivor will be, is up to you. Jake or Grett?

Chapter Text

Alec wasn’t sure how long they walked for before they finally reached it, a small deserted town out there in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t anything spectacular, a few businesses, a couple of homes, a playground consisting only of a rusted swing set, and metal slide, and a gas station, hardly even a town at all, it barely looked like it could hold twenty people. (Yeah, towns like that actually exist, I lived in one just like this for a while) How anyone could have lived up there in basically complete isolation puzzled him, what was even more confusing was the fact it was all in basically perfect condition, not a single corpse, the gas station and homes seemingly hadn’t been looted, it was rusty and all looked old as fuck, sure, littered with rats and bugs, but it was as if nothing had happened. Like the whole town collectively decided to just run off to god knows where and take nothing with them.

His attention went to a few old dolls discarded next to the swing set, he grimaced slightly as his mind wandered what could have possibly happened to the little girls who owned the dolls to cause them to abandon their prized toys next to an old playground and never come back to them. He didn’t realize he had instinctively held Fiore closer to him until he felt her shift slightly, glancing over his shoulder to see her looking around, her lips pressed into a thin line, her face scrunched up in confusion. They were clearly wondering the same thing, where everyone had gone.

His attention then went to the horizon. The sun was setting, it would be night time soon. His gaze shifted back to Fiore, then to the street. Two options, a random house, or the gas station. Alec chose the ladder, putting Fiore down once they stepped inside. The place reeked of rotting food, and was littered with both rats and spiders, Alec had just barely begun to get used to that even after so long. Still though, it was fully stocked, not a single item out of place, he could make quick work of it. The first thing he did was give Fiore some water while he try to find something they could have for dinner, he wasn’t expecting good food, but anything was better than going hungry. Anything with fruits, vegetables, or meat had gone bad months ago if the bugs and the smell was any indicator, but he would figure something else out.

Silence was awkward with Fiore. Like, really fucking awkward.

Usually Alec was fond of silence, it allowed him some time to his own thoughts, relaxation, and a break from the annoyingness of others. But silence with Fiore just felt.. weird. Maybe it was the fact she was so adult like that made it feel off, the fact she never played, never cried, cackled instead of laughed or giggled, grinned instead of smiled or beamed, and always made a point to insult everyone and everything around her, looking upon the most gruesome horrors the virus caused with an expression void of empathy, of compassion. And through it all she never even bothered trying to hide the fact she was using Alec for survival, to be fair though, Alec never bothered trying to hide the fact he took care of her only out of moral obligation, so at the very least they were on the same page.

Still though, as they sat in that abandoned gas station, once they were done eating they sat in silence, it was apparent that unless they were working towards some common goal there wasn’t really anything for them to connect over, maybe he was treating Fiore too much like a child but.. how else was he supposed to treat her? A small yawn tore him from his thoughts, he glanced over to Fiore, who rubbed her eyes.

“Tired?”

A childish glare was met with a raised eyebrow.

“No!”

Alec couldn’t help but smirk as Fiore covered her mouth to silence another yawn, her body in complete disagreement with what she had just said. Of course it was to be expected she’d be exhausted, after all they’d been walking almost nonstop for days and for the first time in a while she’d finally been fed enough to actually be full for once, so of course she would be sleepy. Alec zipped up their backpack, now filled to the brim with food, water bottles, batteries, medicine, and other supplies they’d stolen tonight. Rising to his feet he tossed Fiore a small flashlight.

“We can sleep in one of the houses, come on.”

Fiore yawned again, leaning against the shelf behind her stand up, he put a hand on her back as she leaned against his leg. The air was still warm despite the fact it was nighttime, but that much was to be expected for august. Alec made a beeline for one of the homes, small, and dirty, but not too bad. Just as he put his hand around the doorknob a voice stopped him.

“You really think this is a good idea?”

He looked down, his eyes meeting with Fiore’s.

“What if there are bodies in there? Or an infected or something?”

Alec pondered for a moment, she raised a good point. It was entirely possible, but still..

“If there’s any bodies we’ll go somewhere else, and if there’s an infected I’ll protect you.”

Alec removed his hand from Fiore’s back, wrapping it around his baseball bat. He opened the door, and stepped inside.

Fiore wasn’t sure what to be more scared about, the rotting corpses of a woman on the floor, or the infected that sat near her with its back turned to them. All infected were grotesque, but this one was in ways she hadn’t seen in the months before. It was small in size, but had three arms, four legs, each limb in parts of the body it shouldn’t have been in, knotted hair cascaded down its back, one side thick black curls, the other thin and blonde, it wore torn pajamas, and rather oddly, every limb Fiore could see weren’t the same color, some a pale peachy color, others a light brown. What was strangest was the sounds it made, incoherent mumbles, sniffling, and shallow sobs. She flinched slightly when Alec tightly grabbed her arm, she looked up to see his free hand was wrapped around his baseball bat, a bead of sweat on his brow, perhaps from the heat, but likely from stress.

They didn’t dare to move, infected usually had very precise hearing, or at least the ones they’d met so far. Alec took a step back, it didn’t notice their movement. They took another step back, collectively, hoping to inch out of the doorway, out of the house, and to safety. In the worst possible moment however, Alec’s elbow hid the wooden doorframe, sending a light thud through the room.

“Shit.”

He grumbled, as the infected turned around to face them, Fiore’s stomach dropped when she saw its most prominent features now. It had two heads, and now it made sense, limbs being too numerous, all of said limbs having differing skin tones, the different hair types and hair colors on a singular body, it was clear now. Somehow, two people were infected, and conjoined together in a grotesque jumble of exposed organs, plants, and sharp, narrow limbs.

They could mutate? Since when?! How was that even possible?!

Fiore glanced to Alec momentarily, seeing he was clearly wondering the same thing, her gaze fell back to the creature before them, who stared vacantly, occasionally letting out more incoherent mumbles. Then, without warning, it let out an unearthly shriek as it lunged forward towards them.

“SHIT!”

Fiore had no time to react as she was roughly yanked by her arm out of the house, and suddenly released, stumbling back and falling to the ground, just to her side, Alec smacked the infected in the head with his baseball bat, using all his force, knocking it to the ground momentarily before it lunged back towards him, the two engaging in a deadly dance. Alec turned his head towards her.

“Fiore! Go, now!”

Fiore’s head spun. On one hand, she could run away to safety, if Alec made it out alive he’d reunite with her and everything would be fine, but on the other hand, he could just as very well die. But what did she care if he died? Why did it matter to her? Her eyes darted to her side, next to the doorway, as an old, chipped red brick, decorated with cobwebs. It took all of Fiore’s strength to pick it up, and even more to run forward and throw it. There was a loud, wet crunch as it connected with the back of the infected’s neck, she felt an overwhelming feeling of dread as it whipped its heads towards he, all of her previous courage washing away in an instant.

“FIORE! I SAID RUN!”

“But I can’t leave you here-“

“NOW!”

His voice was demanding, the rage painted on his features telling her it wasn’t up for debate, she watched for another second as Alec tried to fight off the infected, before turning around and sprinting in the opposite direction. Her mind raced as she ran away.

Why did she care so much?

She never gave a fuck about anyone before this, what made Alec different?

She was torn from her thoughts by a sharp pain in her ankle that caused her to trip and fall, letting out a loud shriek. She whipped her head to look over her shoulder, the infected looming over her, it had scratched her ankle, and badly. Her heart stopped, and blood ran cold as she stared at it. For the first time in as long as she could remember, pure terror took over her mind. It raised one of its arms.

This was it, at only six years old, Fiore would die.

There was a loud crunch as Alec’s baseball bat made contact with the side of its head, knocking it to the ground. Once it was down, he waisted no time, smashing in every bone he could think to hit, torso, face, neck, arms, crunch after crunch, after scream after scream. She scooted away, shaking as she watched the scene in front of her, Alec raised his baseball bat to deliver a final blow when it said something. A small mumble Fiore couldn’t make out, and Alec paused, eyes widening and expression shifting to something unreadable, but only for a moment, he let out a low growl as he brought the baseball bat down a final time, crushing it’s skull in, ending it for good. There was silence, only interrupted by the sounds of panting and of grass blowing in the soft breeze. Fiore flinched when Alec turned towards her, ragged and labored breathes escaping him, his face filled with a rage she had never seen from him before. He dropped the baseball bat to the ground with a dull and loud thud, storming towards Fiore, who rushed to get to her feet.

“Why didn’t you run?”

Alec demanded, now staring down at her with a glare. Fiore didn’t dare to say a word.

“I told you to run, why didn’t you run?!”

Alec repeated, gritting his teeth, hands clenched into angered fists. It caught Fiore off guard how angry he was.

“I.. I couldn’t leave you-“

“Do you realize what you did?! If I wasn’t there to help you, you would have died! You did almost die!”

“But-“

Fiore cut herself off when Alec kneeled in front of her, the two finally meeting eye to eye, and roughly grabbed her by her shoulders, pulling her towards him.

“WHEN I SAY TO RUN, YOU RUN! YOU RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN AND YOU KEEP ON RUNNING AND IF I DON’T FOLLOW YOU, YOU GO ON WITHOUT ME! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!”

Fiore’s mouth hung open, eyes wide in surprise at just how angry she’d made him, no words came out.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!”

He repeated louder this time, pulling her even closer to him, practically screaming in her face. Then she felt something, a warm and wet sensation that ran down her cheek. Fiore was crying? But.. this was different, these tears were real. Not the same fake tears she’d forced to gain sympathy from others, to manipulate adults, or to get what she wanted. For the first time in her life Fiore cried real, genuine tears. Against her will, it all poured out, and she cried. She cried for her life before that had been destroyed by this infection, for her parents, the two people who had called her a demon all her life and hated her, yet they were the same two people who died to protect her, and she cried for the fact she’d made Alec so angry with her. Her vision blurred with tears, and she let out a wail as she sobbed, for the first time in as long as she could remember she was acting like what she truly was, just a child.

Alec’s anger dissipated in an instant, turning to surprise, then guilt. Now it was his turn to be at a loss for words, as Fiore just sobbed. His grip around her arms loosened, and he took a breath.

“Fiore..”

He sighed, his voice gentle and ridden with guilt, but still firm and stern. He pulled her close to him, into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her back, Fiore’s own arms hung limply at her sides, not returning the affectionate gesture.

“I’m sorry, I- I already lost my wife, I lost my son… I’m not losing you too.”

Alec didn’t sleep at all that night.

Fiore’s wound had been easy to take care of, they didn’t dare enter one of the other abandoned homes, opting to sleep in the gas station. Alec sitting against one of the walls, Fiore sleeping around a foot away from him, keeping her distance, clearly out of anger. He stared at the ceiling all night long. When day came, there was a noise, too loud to be caused merely by an animal, but infected were almost exclusively nocturnal. Against his better judgement, he picked up his baseball bat, and walked outside. Surprised when he saw a group of three people standing over the corpse of the dead infected, inspecting it and murmuring to one another. One of them, a young woman with brown hair pulled into a high ponytail, glasses, and wide blue eyes noticed Alec, a smile immediately grew on her features, she stood up straight, having formerly been bent over with her hands resting on her knees, and waved Alec over invitingly, practically beaming at him. Alec stared apprehensively, the other two on the group noticing him, staring at him. A voice caught his attention.

“Alec, what’s going on..?”

He looked down to see Fiore, who had just woken up, rubbing her eyes tiredly and watching the group, who seemed surprised by her sudden presence. Alec didn’t say anything, gently taking a hold of her hand, and walking towards the group with her at his side. The only man in the trio, who was tall with black hair and a mask covering the lower half on his face, was the first to speak up.

“You did this?”

He gestured to the dead infected on the floor, Alec nodded. The man stared at him and Fiore, eyes darting at each detail, sizing them up.

“You two hungry?”

The third woman spoke up, she had short choppy black hair, and wore a tank top with an orange sweater tied around her waist. Alec and Fiore looked at each other, considering the offer, before Alec turned back to the woman, giving a nod. The woman nodded in return.

“I’m Tess, this is Hunter,”

She gestured to herself, then to the man, then to the brown haired woman, who was still smiling warmly at Alec and Fiore

“And this is Ally.”

“Alec, and this is Fiore.”

He gave the short and plain answer, stepping closer to the three, the brown haired woman, Ally, looked down to Fiore.

“Is her leg okay?”

Her smile faded to a look of concern at the bandage wrapped around Fiore’s ankle.

“She’s fine, she just got scratched, but we took care of it.”

Ally’s smile returned, she stepped towards Fiore, reaching into her bag, while Fiore stared up at her with annoyance.

“Your daughter’s adorable, how old is she?”

Sh turned to look at Alec, pulling a few granola bars from her bag.

“He’s not my dad.”

Fiore answered instantly, brows furrowing, Ally’s smile faded again, an awkward silence reigning for a few moments.

“Oh.. sorry.”

“Alec.. right?”

Hunter spoke up again, Alec nodded.

“Can we talk for a second?”

Alec and Fiore shared a look, Alec turned to back at him.

“Sure.”

Hunter nodded, turning his gaze to Ally.

“Ally, can you stay with Fiore?”

Ally nodded, Hunter turned back to Alec before gesturing for Alec to follow him, Tess remained at his side, the two went out of earshot of Ally and Fiore, before turning back to face him.

“What is it?”

Tess and Hunter shared a glance, nodding to each other, Tess spoke up.

“Me, Hunter, and Ally are on our way to find a survivor group we heard about, supposedly it’s in the ruins of some city in that direction.”

She gestured with her shoulder down the road.

“From what we’ve heard, there’s a few dozen people, it’s basically a whole town, food, water, shelter, everyone looks out for each other. That’s where we’re headed, and we want you to come with us.”

Alec’s eyes widened slightly, his heart practically leaped out of his chest, instantly filling with excitement at the offer, before he thought deeper about it.

“What’s the catch..?”

Hunter spoke now.

“The kid, ditch her.”

“I- what?!”

Hunter sighed, taking off his mask and stuffing it in his pocket, revealing a gash on his mouth that, although healed, exposed his teeth and gums in areas they shouldn’t have been visible, even when his mouth was closed, catching Alec off guard.

“Look, the three of us could use another person to help out, if you come with us you’ll have food, water, and protection. But we aren’t taking that girl with us.”

“You can’t be serious-“

“I’d understand if she was your daughter, but she said so herself that she isn’t. She’s nothing but a burden, we saw what happened to you last night, she nearly got you killed.”

“Wait, you..”

Alec trailed, taking his words in, immediately becoming enraged.

“You saw what happened last night and you didn’t help?!”

“She nearly got you killed.”

Hunter repeated.

“She’s just weighing you down, can’t you see that?”

“You can’t seriously be asking me to just leave her behind to starve out here?!”

“If you don’t, that kid is just going to get you killed, she’s not even yours!”

“I know, but-“

“Do you even actually love that girl, or are you just projecting the image of someone you lost onto her?” (The first part of that sentence is referencing the love a parent has for their child, not romantic love, which I hate that I need to specify that) 

“I-“

“Because all that’s going to do is get you killed.”

Hunter spat, Alec considered his words for a few moments, he turned to look at Fiore, who sat next to Ally against a wall, stating at him intently, he turned back to Hunter, taking a breath.

“My answer is no.”

There was a long, tense silence that spanned for a few moments. Finally, Hunter put his mask back on.

“Ally!”

Tess called, putting a hand to her cheek.

“Let’s go!”

Ally looked up, giving Fiore one last smile, before jogging swiftly to Hunter and Tess, waving Alec goodbye as the trio walked off.

And that was that.

Alec watched for a few minutes as the three became smaller and smaller in the distance, and then not visible at all. Alec turned around, a bit surprised to see Fiore standing at his side now, she looked up, the two locking eyes.

“They wanted you to leave me behind, didn’t they?”

Alec gave an exhausted sigh.

“Yeah..”

“And you said no?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Alec had no answer for her, his gaze falling back to dead infected, then to the rusted swing set, without a word, he walked over to it, bending down and picking up one of the old dolls, inspecting it, dirtied and worn with time, but still in relatively good condition, like whoever owned it previously took good care of it before it had been left behind. He walked back to the dead body, holding the doll. He kneeled down in front of the corpse, inspecting the grotesque remains of what were once just two little girls, then back to the doll in his hand, a reminder of what may very well happen to Fiore if Alec didn’t take good enough care for her. He lifted the limp hand of the infected, and slid the doll underneath it, returning it to it’s past owners, before he stood up and looked back towards Fiore, who stared with brows furrowed in confusion.

Alec walked to her, putting a hand on her back.

“I think we should go now.”

Fiore nodded, and with that, they continued walking.

Chapter Text

Hey guys! So, recently, Charlie (aka, nosuchthingasdeadlanguages) got into a car accident, and since my chapters focused around Lake and Aiden have been their favorite so far, I wrote this chapter as a get well present specially for them! Thank you for your support so far pookie, you better get well soon, or else.
<3

Lake was torn from the comfort of a dreamless sleep by the sound of footsteps, with a groan she lled over to investigate the source of the noise. Adjusting her eyes in the darkness, she blinked in confusion as she watched Aiden walk away from the group, and to the balcony just ahead. Sitting down with his legs dangling over the abyss. Lake looked over her shoulder, on the apartment’s only bed, she lay with Rosa and Sofia, both of whom were fast asleep, with the young girl curled up in her mother’s arms. It hadn’t been unusual that Aiden was awake right now, it was his turn to be on lookout while the others slept, him and Rosa usually took turns with one sleeping through the first half of a night, and the other the ladder half, with Lake occasionally filling in when one couldn’t. What was strange was that he was walking away, and now sitting on the balcony. She rubbed her eyes, sitting up, careful not to disturb Rosa and Sofia, or to alert Aiden of the fact she had woken up.  Her ears perked up when she saw Aiden lower his head, his shoulders tremble, and purposefully low sobs escaping him, along with the occasional sniffle.

She wasted no time crawling out of the bed, making a beeline in Aiden’s direction. When she got to the balcony, she realized the railing had been completely torn off, a detail she’d failed to notice earlier, to her left, Aiden’s axe, which they had stolen from a random barn two weeks ago, lie next to him, unused. Her gaze returned to Aiden, who sat with his back turned to her, onlooking the empty street of the town below, still letting out quiet sobs. She took a step forward, flinching when Aiden whipped his head in her direction, eyes wide and puffy, with his face stained by tears.

“Did I wake you?”

He asked, hurriedly wiping away his tears, both the guilt and surprise in his voice evident. Lake shook her head quietly, closing the door that separated the room and the balcony gently so Rosa and Sofia wouldn’t be woken, and sitting down next to Aiden, letting her legs hanging over the ledge.

“You alright?”

Aiden sniffed, wiping away another tear.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you aren’t. Your crying.”

She put a hand on Aiden’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong?”

She cooed, her voice gentle, careful to keep her tone sympathetic rather than condescending. Aiden sniffed again, not meeting Lake’s eyes.

“I was just.. thinking.”

“About what?”

Aiden opened his mouth, then closed it again before answering.

“My family.”

He finally squeaked out, his voice cracking, and his eyes filling with more tears.

“Oh..”

Lake trailed, recalling the two dead bodies she’d found Aiden crying over all those months ago, his family. She moved her hand from Aiden’s shoulder, and ran it gently up and down his back.

“You miss them, don’t you?”

Aiden nodded his head, squinting his eyes as they released more tears.

“I miss them a lot.”

His voice cracked again, he reached his hand up, wiping away even more tears, which proved a futile effort when more continued to pour out against his will. There was a few beats of silence, interrupted only by Aiden’s quiet sobs, Lake glanced away from her friend to the empty street bellow them, then taking a breath, looked back to Aiden.

“What were they like?”

Aiden sniffed, attempting to take a breath, but all that came out were high pitched whines as he struggled to breathe through sobs, finally, he answered.

“My sister, her name was Lynette, she was.. around your age. She was a lot like you, she had blonde hair like you, but her eyes were brown, and she was so sweet, and she always had this smile..”

Aiden trailed, another high pitched sob escaping him, he raised his arm again, wiping away more tears.

“I think you two.. could have been friends if- if this never happened.”

Lake though for a few moments, continuing to rub Aiden’s back to comfort him, she scooted closer to him, leaning his body against her own.

“And.. your parents?”

There was more silence, another sob, and another sniffle. After taking yet another shaky breath, Aiden spoke.

“I was always close with my dad.. after my mom died things got.. hard. He had to work all the time to support us, and I basically raised my sister when I was a teenager, but.. he always tried his best. He always cared about me, and accepted me, and he always tried to spend time with us when he could.”

Aiden wiped away more tears, leaning more onto Lake’s shoulder.

“I miss them, Lake, I miss them so fucking much!”

“It’s okay.. it’s okay.”

She leaned in, pulling Aiden into her arms, raking her hand through his hair gently as he wrapped his arms tightly around her back, sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder, dampening her shirt with tears.

“It’s okay.”

Lake flinched slightly when Aiden wrapped his arms even tighter, and let out a particularly loud sob. his shoulders trembling, and chest rising and falling rapidly.

“You’ll be okay..”

  ————————————————————————————————————————————————

“You think it’ll be cold?”

Aiden tossed his boot to the side where everyone else’s bags and shoes were, joining the rest of the group on one of the large stones on the river’s bank, giving a loud sigh as he found his place between Lake and Rosa.

“Probably, but honestly, I really don’t care, it’s way too hot to be out in the sun all day like this!“

Rosa raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smirk growing on her features.

“You really don’t care if it’s cold?”

Aiden scoffed.

“No, I feel like my skin is frying off of my body!”

Lake felt slightly confused when Rosa stepped closer to Aiden, her smirk widening.

“In that case, you go first.”

Rosa planted a hand on Aiden’s back, prompting him to look over his shoulder at her in confusion.

“Wait, what-“

Without warning, Rosa shoved Aiden into the water, there was a loud yelp for a split second, which was immediately replaced by a loud splash. Lake stepped back, covering her face as cold drops of water sprayed onto her, she lowered her arms to see Aiden standing shoulder deep in the water, hugging himself, with teeth clattering slightly, and a sharp glare pointed in Rosa’s direction.

“Putain de merde- what was that for?!”

Lake giggled.

“You look like a wet cat!”

“Shut up!”

Aiden barked, with no real hostility behind his words, he shivered again.

“It’s cold..”

He grumbled, clearly struggling not to swear again in front of Sofia, the way his jaw was clenched showed Lake he would definitely being saying some very unsavory things to Rosa if not for the presence of her daughter.

“Swim around a bit, it’ll get warmer.”

Rosa teased, letting out a small giggle.

“Fine.”

Aiden bopped his head under the surface, disappearing from the clear blue waters and underneath the shadow of the large rock, prompting Rosa to lean forward slightly. Right on cue, a hand jumped out from the water, taking a grasp of Rosa’s ankle, the young woman letting out a shriek before being dragged into the water, landing face first into the river. Aiden rose back to the surface, laughing triumphantly as Rosa shivered profusely, earning uncontrollable fits of giggles from, both Rosa and Sofia, who stood at the edge of the rock, watching on in amusement.

“What was that for?!”

“Payback!”

Aiden grinned wildly, extending a hand and splashing some water onto Rosa’s face, adding insult to injury. Rosa opened her mouth to say something, only to turn to Sofia, who leaned against Lake’s leg, hunched over in laughter, a hand to her stomach. Rosa grinned, extending her arms towards her daughter.

“Oh, that does it!”

Rosa laughed, putting a hand on the rock’s edge and hoisting herself up, extending her free hand towards her daughter, Sofia giggled, burying her face in Lake’s leg, letting out whiny protests.

“Noo!”

Just as Rosa was about to grab her, Lake lifted Sofia up by her under arms, carrying her and stepping back, just out of Rosa’s reach.

“Sorry, the girl said no.”

“Lake, come on!”

“Nope, no can do!”

Lake closed her eyes and raised her chin high in mock superiority, walking off of the rocks and making it to the river’s bank, taking off her wig and setting it down by everyone’s bags, she smiled to herself as the girl in her arms marveled at the display of fiery red curls that had revealed themselves, the summer sun making her hair practically glow in the light like a halo. She stepped into the water, still carrying Sofia, once she was waist deep, she handed her to her mother.

“You were right..”

She mumbled to Aiden.

“It is way colder in here than I expected.”

Aiden gave only a shrug.

“Beats shriveling up into raisins under the sun.”

“I guess.”

Lake ran her hand through the clear, crystal blue water, smiling at the soft ripples in the surface that had been caused by the movement. It all felt so nice, so peaceful, the hot sun warming her body, the cold water on her skin, the the feeling of every rock and pebble shifting beneath her feet as she moved, the singing of birds and the gorgeous leaves on each tree that practically glowed green beneath the sun’s light, the sound of Rosa and Sofia splashing and giggling in the distance, and Aiden’s annoyed grumbles as he picked small leaves from his now tangled hair. It was all so perfect.

Lake wasn’t exactly sure how long they’d been swimming before Rosa gave an annoyed sigh.

“My skin is getting pruned, I’m getting out of the water, Any of you want to come with?”

“I guess I will.”

Lake said, looking down and frowning at the wrinkles now present on her fingertips.

“But I don’t wanna get out yet!”

Sofia whined, still in her mother’s arms, Aiden came over to the two.

“You two go ahead and get out of the water, I can stay in and play with her for a bit longer.”

“Are you sure?”

Aiden nodded, and Rosa gave an appreciative smile as she handed Sofia to him, gesturing with her chin for Lake to follow her, she got out of the water and towards one of the bags, pulling out the singular hairbrush the entire group shared, she sat on one of the large rocks and began combing the tangles from her hair, smiling fondly at Lake as she sat down next to her. She smiled back, turning away from Rosa and watching on as Aiden and Sofia played together in the shallow waters, Aiden chasing her around, arms raised above his head as he let out roaring noises, while the young girl ran from him, letting out excited shrieks and giggles. Lake didn’t realize how wide her smile was until she heard a chuckle from her side.

“He means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”

Rosa was grinning ear to ear, her head tilted slightly to the side as she struggled with a knot in her hair. Lake gave a sheepish grin.

“He does, he’s like a brother to me-“

She paused for a moment, contemplating her next words.

“He is a brother to me.”

Lake glanced to Rosa, who stared intently at her, clearly waiting for her to elaborate, Lake took a breath.

“Before this whole.. virus.. started, my parents controlled every aspect of my life, even when I came here to study abroad they still monitored me so closely, but after me and Aiden began bonding, it’s like all that stress disappeared. I used to be completely bald from how anxious I was all the time, hence my wig, but since being around Aiden, being around all of you, my hairs began to grow back for the first time in years, I feel genuinely happy now, you know? Don’t get me wrong, the state the world is in right now is terrible, but for me, personally, I’ve never been happier in my life.”

Lake turned back to face Rosa, fully expecting judgement, only to be met by Rosa’s signature warm, motherly, smile that never failed to make Lake feel better.

“I’m happy for you, Lake, I mean that. You’ve found true happiness in this situation, that’s more than most people can say, you, Aiden, and Sofia, are like the world to me, it feels like a family, I think of you two like my siblings.”

Rosa looked away, staring at her reflection in the water, giving a chuckle.

“I know that sounds stupid, but-“

“It doesn’t.”

Lake cut her off before she could even think about it.

“I feel the same way about you, and so does Aiden. Your like an older sister, I consider you my older sister. I consider all three of you my siblings if I’m being honest..”

Lake glanced back up at Rosa, who stared at her for a moment, before putting down the brush, and practically tackling her into a tight hug, which Lake quickly reciprocated, wrapping her arms around Rosa, the two embracing each other in comforting silence for a long time before someone spoke.

“Are we.. interrupting something?”

Lake and Rosa both looked up in unison, to see Aiden standing above them, holding Sofia in his arms, water dripping off of both of them. Rosa chucked sheepishly, flicking a happy tear from the corner of her eye, pulling away from Lake as she shook her head.

“No, no, not at all.”

Aiden grinned, handing Sofia to Rosa, who pulled the girl onto her lap, smiling down at her as she rambled on about the games she and Aiden had played in the water. Aiden, for his part, plopped down next to Lake, letting out an exhausted breath before leaning on her shoulder.

“Tired?”

“Extremely.”

Lake giggled, picking stray twigs and leaves from Aiden’s knotted hair.

“Your hair is a disaster.”

“I know.”

Aiden sat up straight, Lake moving behind him, picking up the brush that lay next to Rosa, and began combing out his hair.

“Once you’re done, let us use it, Sofia’s hair is a mess.”

Lake glanced over to Rosa and Sofia, seeing the girl’s hair just as knotted as Aiden’s, it too being littered with small twigs and leaves.

“What happened?”

Lake asked, frowning as she struggled with a particularly big knot in Aiden’s hair.

“This one decided to run through a bush by the shore during tag.”

Aiden pointed a finger in Sofia’s direction, who averted her gaze to the ground, muttering a single,

“Sorry..”

“Apology accepted.”

Aiden said, passing the brush to Rosa once Lake was finished, Rosa taking a gentle hold of her child’s hair and combing it out, next to her lay a pile of leaves, twigs, and a dead bee, presumably, all having been trapped in Sofia’s hair.

“Once we’re all dry, we should get going, forests are a hotspot for infected during the night time, so we should try to leave as soon as possible.”

Aiden have a shrug in response to Rosa’s warning.

“It may take a bit since we all swam in our regular clothes, but it’s only the early afternoon, getting out of here shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.”

Rosa nodded, putting down the brush and using her hand to ring water out from Sofia’s hair.

“Let’s just relax a bit more before we go, we shouldn’t have to worry about the infected 24/7.”

Aiden and Rosa both seemed to agree, Aiden leaning his head on Lake’s shoulder again, in return, she rested her head on his.

“About last night,”

Aiden began, making Lake wince slightly at the memory of how he sobbed in her arms.

“Despite everything that’s happened, this virus, my family, everything, I want you to know I’m glad I met you.”

Lake looked down at Aiden in surprise.

“Really?”

Aiden smiled up at her.

“Yeah….”

“You three are family to me.”

Chapter Text

Hi darlings! So, this chapter is a bit short since I dedicated most of my time to making it’s art, which is posted to both my TikTok and Deviantart, both of which will be linked here, although.. I do encourage you to look after reading the full chapter, feedback and opinion regarding the art itself would be much appreciated since it is technically the first visible representation of the infection/ virus itself, and I want your opinions on it, and suggestions for how to improve the horror aspects of the fic itself, as it isn’t executed as well as I’d like, and the horror factor kind of depends on the art and not the writing for impact.

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@murderous._.pineapple/photo/7351221037180128555?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7352049857476347434

Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/wackyklownn/art/Infection-AU-Karol-1036545065

                ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The warm sunlight reigned down on Gabby, warming her body as she walked through the forest’s path, in her hands, the last sapling she needed to plant. She looked up, her long dark hair blowing behind her in the gentle breeze, contrasting the bright greens of the forest that surrounded her. The leaves of each tree glowing a brilliant shade of emerald under the sun’s rays. Singing birds, the smell of the forest after rain, and the light croaking of both frogs and crickets alike, all so tranquil, all so perfect. She turned her head back to the path in front of her, searching for the perfect spot, she found it, a clearing near the side of the path, a good size, and mostly empty. She left the path, leaves and grass crunching softly beneath her feet with each step she took. Kneeling down, she retrieved a small shovel from her bag and dug a shallow hole, beginning to plant the sapling, each motion quick and efficient from a routine that had become so engrained in her mind.

“I’ve never seen a plant like that before..”

A voice caught her attention, Gabby looked up, standing over her was a middle aged woman, with brown skin, teal eyes, and short dark hair.

“What is it?”

Gabby paused, startled by the sudden appearance of this woman, fumbling her words, she rushed to answer her.

“It’s- uh.. it’s just a tree sapling.”

The woman kneeled in front of Gabby, looking at the plant quizzically.

“Why is it black? I don’t think trees aren’t supposed to be that color.”

“It’s.. artificially made, I’m a scientist, the lab I work in created a new species of tree and their having me plant it in the wild to see if it adapts well and doesn’t harm other plants.”

The woman raised an eyebrow at Gabby but did not challenge her claim, Gabby felt heat rise to her cheeks as mild embarrassment set in, it was a bad lie, sure, but if she was truthful, if she had told the woman what this plant really was and who had given it to her, she’d be called insane.

She got called insane often, she really did not want to have to deal with it today.

The woman lifted one of the small leaves with her hand, Gabby noted a paper cut on the woman’s index finger.

“It’s beautiful.”

Gabby smiled, just as she looked up again to say ‘Thank you’, the woman was gone. Gabby blinked, whipping her head around in confusion. She blinked again, and it was night time. She stood up, now terrified and confused, looking in each direction of the dimly lit forest.

“It hurts.…”

“What?”

Gabby turned around, wanting to throw up when she saw it. It was the woman, but she was different now. Her neck was abnormally long and bendy, same with her limbs, one of her eyes was completely gone, the other bloodied and sunken in. She was bald in some spots, and protruding from her mouth, nose, and back were twisting black branches and leaves, red and pink flesh exposed in many areas, but blood stained black, a shining void dripping from every wound. The woman’s jaw was completely gone, but somehow she still spoke.

“It hurts, why did you do this to me?”

Gabby took a step back, eyes wide, and a twig crunching beneath her foot as she stepped away from this creature, she was far too terrified to utter a single word.

“I thought it was safe…. I THOUGHT I’D BE OKAY! I WOULDN’T HAVE TOUCHED THAT THING IF I KNEW IT’D DO THIS TO ME! YOU LIAR, YOU BITCH, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!”

Gabby opened her mouth, then closed it, tears of horror and guilt pricked her eyes, blurring her vision.

“WHAT DID I EVER DO YOU YOU, HONESTLY?! I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YOU, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME, TO ANYONE?!”

The woman, the thing, screamed, slowly but furiously crawling on all fours towards Gabby, each step clearly painful and laborious, light crunches echoing with each movement she took, drawing more blood from her wounds.

“I- I didn’t know, I’m sorry!”

Gabby sobbed out, the tears finally escaping her eyes, the woman stopped, staring blankly for a moment, before letting out an unearthly howl, and charging towards Gabby, who didn’t have time to react before being tackled to the ground, and pinned beneath the woman.

“I’M SORRY!”

She screamed at the top of her lungs, her pleading made no difference, the woman raised her hand, and brought it down. Gabby squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself. But, in the moment she should have felt pain from the attack, she felt none.

“Gabby!

A different voice range out, a man’s voice. She blinked her eyes open in confusion, now she was in some sort of a lab, or maybe a hospital room? White walls and tile floors surrounded her, she wore a lab coat and gloves, with her hair tied up in a loose bun, she looked around, she was hiding under a desk? Her stomach dropped as the voice called out her name, smoke was stinging her eyes, making them water, she had no clue who this man was, but half of her felt heartbroken by his mere presence, and the other half wanted to run as fast as she could.

“Come on out!”

Loud footsteps came down a hallway, then stopped abruptly, replaced by an angered growl.

“ARRÊTEZ DE VOUS CACHER, PUTAIN!”

There was a loud noise, and more smoke began to fill the building. Gabby clamped her hands over her ears, letting out a broken and terrified sob, smoke filling her nose and throat.

“YOU DID THIS, YOU DID! YOU CANT HIDE FROM ME FOREVER!”

Gabby curled up into a ball, squeezing her eyes shut as the footsteps grew closer.

”DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA THE EXTENT OF WHAT YOU’VE DONE?! HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DEAD NOW BECAUSE OF YOU?! HOW MANY MORE ARE SUFFERING?! WHAT ALL THESE YEARS OF WATCHING EVERYONE I’VE EVER LOVED DIE HAS DONE TO ME?!”

Then, abruptly, as if they were never there, the footsteps stopped, Gabby opened her eyes again, pure dread curled in her stomach when she saw them. Two gorgeous yet devilish emerald eyes shone in the darkness before her, eyes that belonged to the face of a person so familiar yet so foreign. The next words she heard were a harsh whisper.

”I found you.”

And then, with a sharp gasp, she opened her eyes again.

The cool air hit her like a train as she jolted awake, sweating and shaking. She whipped her head in every direction, next to her, Ellie stirred, rolling over and staring up at her with tired eyes.

“Gabs? You okay?”

Gabby stared vacantly at the wall, processing what she’d just seen, blinking, a singular tear escaped her eye.

“Yeah, just- just had a nightmare..”

Ellie made a sympathetic noise, pulling Gabby so she laid back down, and wrapping her arms around her, nestling her head in the area between Gabby’s shoulders and chest.

“It’ll be okay, just come back to sleep. We have a lot of walking to do tomorrow.”

Gabby leaned into the comforting touch, Ellie’s warmth reminding her that even in the end of the world, in an apocalypse she caused, she was not alone. Even if Ellie didn’t know she was to blame.

“Your right.. I love you.”

“I love you too, Gabs.”

Gabby closed her eyes, drifting back to sleep, the rest of the night went on without any more nightmares.

Gabby’s second nightmare may (or may not) be very important near the end of the story, can you guess who it was about?

Chapter Text

Lake wasn’t sure approximately how long it had been since it all started, since meeting Aiden, then Rosa and Sofia, but she had counted since then at least two winters, two years or so. She was taller now, her round features had faded ever so slightly, the same could be said for Sofia, but to a much lesser extent. But now that would make Lake… eighteen? It felt wrong in a way, she was eighteen, a full grown woman now, but even despite that she still felt just as unsafe and vulnerable as ever. Maybe it was the virus, maybe it was the remnants of her parent’s control. Right now, both were irrelevant, right now, they had to focus on getting more supplies.

“You seriously think no one’s thought to rob this place before, it’s literally a mall!”

Aiden said, raising his axe, and in one swift motion, using its hilt to smash open a window.

“The doors are all blocked by rubble anyway, so getting in would be difficult, plus, most people probably saw this place and assumed it was already looted, and didn’t even go through the effort.”

Lake turned to Rosa, who lifted Sofia up carefully through the empty window, and set her on the ground, before climbing in herself, Lake followed, then soon Aiden.

The place reeked of mold and rotting food cobwebs covering many surfaces, something all four were used to by now, but that didn’t stop them from scrunching up their noses in disgust, Sofia raising a hand to cover her’s.

“You think there are any infected in here?”

Lake whispered to Aiden, her own axe brandished in her hand. Aiden looked over his shoulder, to the blocked off door just behind.

“Maybe at some point, but it’s probably long gone now, I can’t think of any other reason the door would be in such bad condition.”

Lake considered, this, turning to Rosa in a silent request for her input, the older woman chiming in.

“To cause damage like that, it would have had to have been big, or there were multiple, so we should still keep a lookout.”

“Maybe there was just an earthquake or something? I don’t see any dead bodies, and look at the floor.”

Lake suggested with a shrug of her shoulder, pointing with her axe to large cracks in the tile and piles of debris that littered a few places.

“That’s probably more likely, but we should still be careful anyways, just in case.”

Lake and Aiden nodded in agreement, before Aiden plopped down on an empty bench, careful to avoid a thick web on the side opposite to him. He reached into his bag, pulling something out, and attaching them to the bottom of his shoes, Rosa groaned.

“Again with the roller skates?”

“They’re cool, and they’re the fancy ones too, the wheels come on and off so they double as skates and as boots!”

“We know, you’ve told us, many times. Why are you so attached to those things?”

“Because their cool, and their fast, and I look good in them!”

Aiden lifted his head in pride, beginning to go back towards the group quickly, before one of his wheels went over a piece of debris on the ground, causing Aiden to fall right on his face. Earning loud fits of laughter from Sofia, that quickly spread to Lake and Rosa, Aiden glared up at the three, his cheeks a deep crimson from embarrassment.

“Trous d'âne.”

He grumbled, rising unsteadily to his feet.

“I think it’s time you get rid of those.”

Lake chuckled softly, putting a soft hand on Aiden’s shoulder, who crossed his arms in return.

“Seriously? But the-“

“Aiden, no one likes the roller skates except for you, every time you put them on you face plant and I have to take care of you, they’re really not practical.”

Aiden glared between the two, before storming back to the bench, removing the wheels, and tossing them into a nearby garbage can, now walking next to Lake, the group continuing on.

“If it makes you feel any better, the boots look better without them.”

Aiden rolled his eyes.

“I feel so much better, thank you.”

“Any time!”

Lake smirked down at him, raising a hand, and grabbing Aiden’s beanie, shoving it down over his eyes.

“Hey!”

Aiden pulled it back up, glaring at Lake, who was already running, off, laughing at him over her shoulder.

“Get back here!”

He yelled chasing after her, Rosa rolling her eyes, a smirk on her face, she looked down to Sofia abd gave a nod, the little girl chasing after immediately.

It took a while for Aiden to catch up with Lake, the first thing he did was grab her arm, the two tumbling down, Aiden reached to pull off Lake’s hair clip for revenge, Lake reaching for Aiden’s beanie again, both to little avail, the two wrestling on the ground like children. Sofia, for her part, chose to assist Aiden, trying her best to pry Lake away from him, barely making her move an inch.

“Get her, Sofia, get her!”

Aiden encouraged through laughs, the little girl continuing to try to pry Lake off of him, only to be sent tumbling to the floor when the older girl shrugged her off. Aiden took this opportunity, pushing Lake off of him, and reach out to snatch the hair clip from her, before someone from behind pulled his beanie off of his head again, it was Rosa.

“Hey!”

Aiden quickly rose to his feet, charging towards Rosa, only to be stopped when she lifted Sofia up and held her in front of her like a shield, the little girl giggling in delight at the game.

“That isn’t fair!”

“Sorry!”

Rosa said, raising Sofia up higher, both of their laughter echoing through the empty mall.

“First you take my roller skates, then my beanie?! Come on?!”

“Fine.”

Rosa scoffed, putting Sofia down, then tossing the beanie back to him.

“If you must guilt me, then here.”

“Thank you!”

Aiden barked, but without real aggression or anger behind it, putting his beanie back on, and adjusting it.

“I seriously need to cut my hair again.”

Aiden mumbled, walking over to a cracked mirror, and trying his best to make the beanie look good.

“We all do.”

Rosa said with a roll of her eyes.

“I don’t.”

“Because you wear a wig, those don’t grow.”

Aiden deadpanned, craning his neck to look over his shoulder at Lake.

“No way, I never realized.”

Lake said, her voice dripping with sarcasm she’d only recently adopted, clearly having been caused by Aiden’s influence, but it was better than the forced politeness of her parents, made her feel less stiff. She crossed her arms, looking around.

“It looks like most of the valuable stuff has already been stolen.”

She noted.

“No harm in checking anyways, might as well since we went through all the trouble smashing a window to get in.”

Rosa said, flicking a small bug off of her arm.

“Even if supplies are gone, we can get other stuff, new earrings wouldn’t hurt.”

Aiden gestured to the pair of silver crosses that hung from each ear, now rusted and dirty, hardly even silver anymore.

“Right, because that’s such a necessity.”

“Oh, come on!”

Aiden grinned, giving Lake a playful shove.

“There’s a hot topic right there, it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Isn’t that the emo store?”

“Nah, Spencers is way more emo, hot topic is kind of just nerd stuff.”

Aiden explained, motioning with his hand as he spoke.

“You’ve been in a Spencers? Wow, I never thought you the type.”

Rosa said, with a rye grin.

“Shut up, I never went for any of that stuff, just pins and earrings.”

“I’d hope so, I don’t want those images in my head.”

Lake looked between the two with a raised eyebrow.

“What did they sell?”

“Nothing you should be seeing at your age, or ever.”

Aiden said, furrowing his brows slightly, his tone being that of trademark ‘older brother protectiveness’ before his features furrowed in realization.

“Wait, how do you know even know that?”

Rosa shrugged.

“I saw it on social media before all this happened and went to one to see if it was true.”

“Can one of you just tell me what place sold, instead of talking like it’s some big, horrible secret?”

Rosa crossed her arms.

“If you really want to know, at the back of the stores they used to have-“

“Well, look where we are.”

Aiden interrupted immediately, just outside of the entrance to hot topic. (Writing that line made me want to kill my self)

“Rosa was right, this place is emo.”

“Shut up and help me find some earrings.”

Aiden rolled his eyes, taking out his rusted silver earrings and throwing them to the floor as he walked in, the store was dusty and filled with spiders like the rest, all the clothing was gone but no one had taken anything like jewelry. Lake looked around, already bored out of her mind as Aiden fawned over the many black, red, and white, earrings.

“Maybe I should get a necklace too?”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

“Come on Rosa, let him have his fun.”

“Yeah, Rosa, let me have fun!”

“Fine, fine, do whatever you want.”

“Can I get something, mama?”

“Later, but not from here.”

“Why not?”

Aiden asked on Sofia’s behalf.

“I don’t want you turning my daughter emo.”

Rosa rolled her eyes, before Aiden pulled something from a shelf.

“Ooh! These ones, these ones are perfect!”

Aiden said worth glee, holding out his hand to show a piece of tacky red cardboard with two pairs of dusted earrings attached, one was silver, and one was a glittery black, both pairs were in the shape of crosses. Lake squinted in confusion.

“These- these are literally the same as your last pair.”

Aiden shrugged.

“Why fix perfection? Besides, they aren’t both the same as my old ones, this pair is black.”

He clarified, tossing the earrings in his bag.

“Right, that makes such a difference.”

Aiden ignored the comment, tossing a random crystal necklace in his bag and heading for the door, Lake and the others following at his side.

“Where to next?”

Aiden asked, looking over to Rosa, who shrugged.

“Anywhere, we have time to spare.”

At this, Aiden, Sofia, and Lake, all exchanged excited looks as they continued out of the store.

Lake walked beside them, but came to a halt, stopping at a dusty mirror in one of the clothing stores, examining her reflection. Slowly, her hand wandered up to her head, and she pulled her wig off, short locks of fiery red hair revealing themselves, she stared for a long few moments, removing her wig’s hair lip, and putting it on her natural hair. It felt freeing, it felt perfect.

“Lake, come on!”

Aiden’s voice called, she looked down between him and her wig, before tossing the wig into a trash can.

“Coming!”

She yelled back, running to catch up with the group, running to her new family, her real family, and leaving her old one behind, for good.

“What kind of tree is that?”

Aiden looked up at the gorgeous leaves above them, hanging in clumps.

“A weeping willow, I think.”

A weeping willow, in a way the name did fit, leaves that resembles tears, tears from a tree that weep for the poor family, the poor fools who stood bellow it, who had no clue what was to come.

“What kind of a name for a tree is that?”

“You think you could come up with anything better?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Really? List three kinds of trees.”

“Uh, okay, there’s oak trees.. and birch trees… and.. uh…  baise, man I don’t know!”

“My point proven.”

“Do you two ever stop bickering?”

Rosa interrupted, crossing her arms in mock annoyance.

“I’d sooner die.”

Aiden said, sitting in a patch of soft beneath the tree’s looming shadow.

“Me too.”

Lake agreed, sitting down against the trees trunk, Rosa following suit, sitting against the trunk on the side opposite to Lake. Sofia, wasted no time kicking off both her socks and her shoes, and taking her hair out of it’s ponytail, wild locks of purple blowing in the wind as the little girl excitedly ran barefoot through the soft grass and flowers, rolling down hills, before climbing back up them, just to roll down again. (If you’ve never done this before you didn’t have a real childhood). The group watched on in a mix of soft laughter and smiles.

Aiden took a deep breath, absorbing the soft breeze, the smell of the air and the flowers, the ruffling of leaves, cool shade on his skin, the buzzing of bees, and Sofia’s laughter as she ran through the grass. He breathed out, looking to Lake and Rosa, then back to Sofia, affection filling his mind and soul. Affection, not for anything specific, but just everything and everyone around him, his family, his sisters. He soon snapped out of it when his beanie was yanked off of his head again, and someone yanked on his hair.

“OW-“

He yelled, looking over his shoulder, only to see Sofia holding his hair, giggling as she attempted to braid it.

“Sofia, I don’t think my hair is long enough to- OW- Rosa, get your kid!”

“She’s just having fun.”

Rosa hummed, closing her eyes leisurely and laying back against the trunk of the tree.

“But she’s- Augh!”

Aiden winced, the child ruthlessly tugging his hair again, then suddenly let go, relief pooling into Aiden’s senses, until Sofia walked around to be face to face with him, grabbing a lock of hair next to his cheek and making a small, but thick braid with it, less painfully this time.

“Perfect!”

She said, clapping her hands gleefully. Aiden ran his hand over the small braid, doing his best to ignore the stinging that lingered on his scalp.

“Yeah, it is.”

He smiled warmly at the girl, reaching up and ruffling her hair. The child gave a toothy grin, before running up to Lake, taking a moment to marvel at her fiery red hair, before grabbing her arms, and tugging her to her feet, demanding they play together. Aiden chuckled softly to himself, standing up, and walking to Rosa, sitting next to her against the tree’s trunk.

“She’s lucky, you know.”

“What?”

“Sofia, she’s lucky.”

“Why?”

“To have a mother like you.”

Aiden looked down at Rosa, who smiled appreciatively at him, a twinge of sadness present in her features.

“Have you been doing okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“Over these last two years, you’ve become a lot less relaxed than you used to be, your temper is a bit shorter, you worry a little more, you just seem… stressed. Is everything alright?”

Rosa sighed, looking from Aiden to Lake and Sofia, who run in the grass, chasing after beetles and butterflies, what looked like a small black vine coming from the ground caught Aiden’s attention, before being blocked by Sofia’s figure, their shared laughter echoing through the hills.

“How can I not be stressed? There’s more infected everywhere we go, more dangerous ones, Sofia is just a kid, this is no way for her to have to live! And you and Lake..”

Rosa trailed, sighing, lowering her head.

“I just need to protect you guys, I worry because I can’t stand the thought of ever losing any of you…”

There was silence for a few moments, the breeze running gently through Aiden’s hair as he looked on at the two girls playing in the grass.

“You won’t. The world may have gone to shit, but look at us. We’re still here, we’re together, and we’re happy. We’re family, Rosa, you three are my sisters, nothing will ever happen to any of us.”

Aiden turned to look her in the eye.

“I promise.”

Rosa opened her mouth to speak, interrupted by the two panting girls walking towards them. Lake plopped down onto the grass, leaning on Rosa’s shoulder, Sofia laying her head in Aiden’s lap.

“Tired?”

Rosa asked with a grin.

“No!”

Sofia said with a pout, but the young girl’s panting, paired with a small yawn, said otherwise.

“Maybe you should take a nap?”

“But I’m not tired!”

“Would you go to sleep is I sang you a song again?”

Aiden asked, smiling to himself when Sofia’s face lit up.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!”

“Okay, but you need to be mellow.”

Sofia nodded enthusiastically, leaning her face into Aiden’s lap, smiling up at him, Alden chuckled softly to himself, running gentle fingers through her hair, leaning his head on Rosa’s shoulder. He closed his eyes, and began singing a lullaby.

Sofia was the first to fall asleep, then Lake, and then Rosa. Aiden opened his eyes, still singing despite no one else being awake to hear, as the breeze flow through his hair, he smiled, his body warmed by the three sleeping girls around him, his sisters. He closed his eyes, then he too fell asleep.

It was the last good day.

Chapter Text

“Krystal?”

A familiar voice called out, putting down her brush, Krystal turned to look at Derek, who looked a complete mess. Hair tangled and knotted, with clothes stained by both dirt and specks of blood. Krystal could immediately tell that whatever he was about to bother her for wasn’t going to be pretty.

“What do you want?”

“Remember how Trevor went out a few weeks ago to track down those three runaways?”

“Yes, what of it?”

“We..”

Derek looked over his shoulder, and swallowed hard.

“We never found the runaways, but.. we found Trevor.”

Krystal could already tell where this was going, stealing a glance down to her left arm, still wrapped in bandages and in terrible pain, a near constant for Krystal. She looked back up, and sighed.

“How bad is it?”

“Bad.”

Krystal rolled her eyes and stood up.

“Bring him in.”

Derek nodded, and walked out, a few moments passed, and he came back in, at his side were Emily, Oliver, and Marcus. Emily glanced at Krystal, then to the wall, her expression creased in boredom, Marcus, for his part, was helping Derek carry in an injured Trevor, Oliver standing behind the three, a large grey bag in his hands. Krystal looked to Trevor, he was in awful condition. His eyes muddied by both shame and sorrow, head hung low, and arms wrapped around Derek and Marcus for support. His left eye was squinted shut, it took Krystal a moment to realize the reason, black fungi growing from the empty socket, his face and clothes stained in black liquid, in his blood.

Trevor was infected.

“Will you.. be able to help him?”

Derek spoke up, his voice unusually shaky, beads of sweat trickling down his face. Krystal considered the five, looking between Trevor, and her bandaged limbs, so many injuries, so much blood already wasted. And in an instant, her mind was made up.

“No.”

“What?!”

Each of the four immediately became surprised, Emily’s expression turning from bored apathy, to wide eyed shock, Derek’s face became filled with both horror and rage.

“What do you mean no?!”

“He’s too far into the infection, there’s nothing I can do.”

“What do you mean he’s too far in?!”

Derek shouted, pushing Trevor into Marcus’ arms and storming towards Krystal.

“I’ve seen you cure people in much worse condition than him! It’ll only take a bit of blood, why won’t you just do it?!”

“This is different,”

Krystal lied, turning her head in the direction of Trever, Marcus, Oliver and Emily.

“I’ve healed him before when he’s gotten infected, my blood will have been useless by now, his body has gotten used to it.”

“That doesn’t make any god damn sense!”

Derek shouted, stepping closer. Krystal glared back at him, and stepped forward in return, making him recoil.

“I didn’t quite catch that, could you say that again please?”

Derek’s jaw worked, but no words came out, Krystal took another step in his direction, and he stepped even further from her, in fear, something Krystal would never get tired of seeing others do.

“I told you to repeat yourself.”

She took another step forward.

“Now! What did you say to me?!”

“Nothing!”

Derek spoke up, flinching when she raised her voice, almost making Krystal grin.

“I said nothing.”

“That’s what I thought.”

She turned away from Derek to Trever, whose face creased with worry.

“What’s.. going to happen to me?”

“Well,”

Krystal began, looking between each person in the room.

“I can’t heal you, and you’re infected now, you’re a danger to each person in our settlement. I do wish it could be any other way, but it’s better to lose one person than to risk losing everyone.”

“What?!”

Trevor’s eye widened, and he froze.

“Krystal, please!”

Derek pleaded, reaching out and grabbing her arm, sharp pain shooting up the limb, only serving to further motivate her decision.

“Isn’t there any other way? Please!”

Tears formed in Derek’s eyes.

“It’s okay, Derek.”

Trevor spoke up, paying him a weak smile.

“I was reckless and got infected, this is my own fault, and now I need to face the consequences. I couldn’t live with myself if I put any of you in danger, it’s.. it’s better this way.”

Trevor swallowed hard, trying his best to appear confident to the man he loved, but the shaking in his legs showed his fear.

“No…”

Tears fell from Derek’s eyes, he released Krystal’s arm, making his way towards Trevor.

“Marcus, you know what to do, make sure it’s quick and that his ashes be buried someplace nice.”

Marcus gave a weak nod, and began dragging Trevor out.

“WAIT, WAIT, STOP!”

Derek chased after, leaving Krystal, Oliver, and Emily alone in the tent. Emily’s expression sorrowful, and Oliver’s pure disgust.

“What is wrong with you?! You could have easily healed him and we all know it, and now you’re just letting him die?! He’s your friend, why would you do that?! How could you do that?!”

“My arms are sore.”

Krystal said plainly.

“These wounds need to heal, y’know. Unless you want your cure bleeding out on the floor somewhere?”

Oliver threw his bag down, glaring at her, Emily watched the two, not daring utter a single word.

“Are you serious?! You let him die because ‘your arms hurt’?!”

“Yes.”

Krystal turned away from him, sitting back down.

“Your selfish, your a monster! This is exactly the kind of thing your father would have-“

Before he could finish, Krystal grabbed her hair brush, and raised it above her head, rising to her feet once more.

“SHUT UP!”

She screamed, throwing the hair brush as hard as she could at him. It connected, and Oliver stumbled back, blood beginning to drip down his forehead.

“GET OUT, NOW!”

Krystal screamed again, and Oliver scurried past Emily, not bothering to retrieve his bag.

A few beats of silence passed, and Emily raised her hand to wipe a splotch of sticky red blood from her shoulder.

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Emily picked up the hair brush  from off the ground, flicking off Oliver’s blood, and walking to Krystal, setting the it down on her vanity. A worn down and scratched up thing, stolen from a random house, traces of its previous owner’s blood still present in some places on the faded white wood.

“He’s just some idiot who got lucky and now thinks he knows what’s right.”

Emily looked up at Krystal, raising a hand and cupping her cheek, her warm palm running over Krystal’s scars.

“Don’t listen to a word he says.”

Krystal couldn’t help but smile, leaning into the touch, and tucking a strand of hair behind Emily’s ear.

“We both know I never have. You and Marcus are the only people here whose opinions matters to me.”

Emily chuckled lightly, and put her free hand on Krystal’s upper shoulder, the only part of her arm not wounded and covered in bandages. Be it a calculated decision or a simple sign of affection, or perhaps both, Krystal didn’t know. She appreciated the gesture all the same. Krystal was a monster, she knew it, she couldn’t live with that, but she had Emily, and she had Marcus, and she cared about them. Maybe that somehow proved she had a bit of her humanity left, even if just a trace of it.

WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO:

Okay, so I FINALLY finished a few of the character redesigns and information about Krystal’s cult. Please look at both slideshows as they are very important to the story. Feedback regarding the character designs would also be much appreciated so please leave your thoughts in the comments

Redesigns: https://www.tiktok.com/@murderous._.pineapple/photo/7354244531539234090?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7354893872794224171

Cult stuff: https://www.tiktok.com/@murderous._.pineapple/photo/7354887061293255979?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7354893872794224171

Chapter Text

Before you read, just wanna say reading this while listening to ‘party favor’ by Billie Eilish is kind of a vibe, just putting it out there (you’ll understand why at the end) 

“Is everyone okay?”

Aiden’s voice echoed through the empty warehouse, only labored pants followed the question for a few moments, before nods were shared between each person in the group. Sofia buried her face in her mother’s chest, relishing in the warmth provided, leaning into Rosa’s touch when she wrapped her arms gently around her back.

“You think we’ll be safe in here?”

Lake whispered, huddling closer to Rosa and Sofia, Aiden joining them, shivering slightly in the cold.

“If we stay quiet.”

Sofia looked up as her mother whispered back, the sound of heavy rain falling upon the metal roof filling the long silence that followed. Sofia glanced momentarily to the door in front of them, wondering if what was outside had any chance of getting in. But the door was a sturdy metal, and the lock, although rusted, would probably suffice. They were safe, but.. it didn’t feel like it.

A loud crack came from outside, thunder no doubt, and Sofia couldn’t help but let out a small squeak at the noise, leaning even more into her mother’s hold.

“Shhhh..”

Rosa cooed, running gentle fingers through Sofia’s hair, a slight comfort to go against the danger right outside that door. Then there was a lump in Sofia’s throat, a familiar pain in her chest, and she began to cough again. She’d been sick for a few weeks now, a fever presumably, but she was coughing much more violently tonight than she had before.

“Sofia, are you alright?”

Sofia tried to reply, but she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t hardly even breathe, tears pricked her eyes from the pain, her throat felt like it was on fire.

“Sofia?”

Aiden spoke up, kneeling in front of her and Rosa.

“Is she choking?”

Lake asked, hurriedly whipping her head between her and Aiden. Rosa planted a firm hand on Sofia’s upper shoulder.

“Sofia!”

That’s when she threw up. It tasted metallic, her nose filled with the burning stench similar to a rusted coin, it was a thick, warm liquid. Hot tears flowed down her face as something else came up her throat, it felt jagged, and like it tore her throat open. When it finally came out, she squeezed her eyes shut, gasping desperately for air, relieved she could finally breath again. There were light gasps, never a good sign, she opened her eyes. Bellow her, was a small black puddle, like a liquid void, sitting in the puddle, barely visible through the liquid, was a small, bright blue blossom. She scooped it up in her hands, it was beautiful, had this really come out of her? She was close to becoming excited before the pain returned, and her throat felt like it was burning again, and more liquid made its way up her throat and trickled out of her mouth. All eyes were on her, every face painted with horror and dread. More tears escaped Sofia’s eyes, and she dropped the blossom.

“It hurts..”

She managed to croak out, before coughing again.

“Cela ne peut pas être réel….”

Aiden mumbled, his voice shaky, vouched barely above a whisper.

“Lieber Gott.. how is this even possible, how did this even happen?!”

Lake asked Aiden, tears already filling her eyes as she grabbed onto her older brother’s arm.

“I think.. it was a few weeks ago now when she was playing under that tree, she had no shoes on, maybe she stepped on an infected plant, maybe it cut her foot or something?”

Aiden mumbled again, not looking away from Sofia, Rosa just stared in silence, eyes wide and mouth agape. It was too much for Sofia, the pain, everyone’s fear, it was all so terrifying.

“Mama….”

She took a breath, the effort making her let out a whine, more tears escaping her from the pain it caused.

“Will I be okay?”

“Oh, my baby!”

Rosa sobbed out, her voice an unusually high pitch. She squeezed her eyes shut, and clamped a hand over her mouth, shoulders rising and falling rapidly as she sobbed. Silence reigned on the group, until after a few moments, Rosa finally pulled her hand away from her face, and looked up.

“….Yes.”

Rosa leaned forward, wrapping her arms gently around her daughter, Sofia shook, burying her face in her mother’s coat.

“You’ll be just fine.”

Rosa slipped a gentle hand on Sofia’s cheek, and another on the back on her head, rubbing her hair softly. Through the corner of her eye, Sofia could see Aiden grab Lake, and pull her towards him, making her face away from them, and burying his head in her shoulders, eyes squeezed shut as tears streamed down his face.

“Don’t look!”

He whispered harshly to Lake, confusion filled Sofia’s mind, before her mother spoke again.

“I love you, I’m so sorry..…”

Sofia was about to ask her mother what she meant, before Rosa’s grip tightened. There was a jolt of pain for a split second, then everything went black.

There was a loud, hollow crunch as Rosa snapped her daughter’s neck, a small gasp escaping the young girl, before she went limp. Lake let out a yelp, burying her face into Aiden’s shoulder, and sobbing. And in an instant, Sofia was dead.

Her arms fell from her mother’s back to her sides, breathing halted, and body gone slack, she lay there limp like a rag doll in her mother’s arms, her embrace the one thing keeping her from falling to the ground, falling to the abyss. Rosa only held her tighter at this, clinging desperately to her deceased child, a child who, although spared from the horrible fate of becoming an infected, of being mutated and disfigured, didn’t deserve death. Sofia was dead, never to grow up, to be married, have a family, live a life, she didn’t even have a chance. She loved her family dearly, and they loved her just as much, that, she never once doubted. But now she was gone and there was no undoing it.

There was silence, and then there was sobbing.

It took two long weeks for Lake and Aiden to pry Rosa from her daughter’s corpse. Aiden took the bloodied flower with him.

WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO:

I made a little animatic about this chapter’s events and the events of chapter two over on TikTok, go watch them or I’ll eat your hair.

Chapter two: https://www.tiktok.com/@murderous._.pineapple/video/7331832863576313131?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7356130289130915374

This chapter: https://www.tiktok.com/@murderous._.pineapple/video/7356104783947697439?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7356130289130915374

before anyone asks, no the scream isn’t cannon, it was just for dramatic effect, anyway, feedback and opinions would be much appreciated!!

Chapter Text

I wrote this while listening to rainbow factory, and it shows.

Aiden stared nervously at the small yet looming figure of the factory up ahead, dull grays and blacks mixing well with the foggy night. He shivered slightly, a small cloud appearing in front of him as he released a breath. He hugged his arms, the cold of the night piercing his skin like tiny needles, he wouldn’t be surprised if it began to snow. He glanced to his side, Rosa, as per usual since Sofia’s death, had her head hung low in silence, Lake having a gentle hand on the older woman’s shoulder, holding her close. Aiden’s attention returned to the factory. It wouldn’t be warm, or comfortable, but any shelter was good enough. It hadn’t took much effort to hop the fence, and sneak inside through some back door, and so, they were in.

It was dusty, and much smaller and cheap looking than they had expected. It seemed to have once been some kind of a meat factory. Assembly lines littered with pungent stains from different cutlery long gone by now, devoured by mice and bugs ages ago. Aiden cringed, raising a hand over his mouth and nose.

“God, this is nasty..”

Rosa whined, covering her face as well.

“We should find so, replace to rest.”

Lake’s voice rang out.

“Yeah.. we probably should.”

There was a light, echoing thud with each step the group took, empty hallways that seemed to stretch on forever being all that surrounded. Aiden glanced up at the ceiling above, littered with thick cobwebs and large spiders, drawing a disgusted shiver from the young man.

“Jesus Christ!”

Aiden paused, looking down at Rosa, who cringed at the ground before her, where the rotted corpse of a factory worker lay, maggots and flies eating away at what little remained of the person’s flesh.

“God.. that’s disgusting.”

Aiden mumbled, putting a hand over his nose and mouth, walking around the body and continuing down the dark corridor, pulling out a lighter from her bag, a faint clicking noise filled the silence a few times, before dim light took over as Lake lit a kerosene lantern, one they’d stolen from the department store the day they met all those years ago. Aiden looked around, nothing else too peculiar resided in the hallway.

“Where do you think this leads to?”

Lake’s whisper echoed, why she was making an effort to be quiet was a wonder to Aiden, there wasn’t even anything there to hear them, still, keeping volume down just in case was a wise choice.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been in a factory before.”

Aiden whispered back, as if someone or something had heeded Lake’s question, just a few yards up ahead, Aiden could see the outline of a door.

“Should… should we go in?”

Aiden’s question lingered in the darkness for a few moments before Rosa stepped forward.

“Might as well.”

With that, she swung the rusted, metal door oven, and took a step inside. Lake reached the lantern out, what little the light revealed showed vast metal machines with assembly lines adjacent to them, likely for shredding up meat.

“Jesus Christ- nothings even been made in this factory in years, what the hell is that stench?!”

Rosa complained, scrunching up her face, simultaneously covering her nose and mouth with her hands.

“Maybe some kind of chemicals? I dunno..”

Lake trailed, using her free hand to raise the top of her shirt over her nose.

“Why the fuck would a meat factory need chemicals?!”

“Maybe to sanitize the products or something? I mean, companies put chemicals in everything they made, who knows what this is.”

Aiden shuddered.

“Whatever it is, it smells horrible, let’s go back!”

The others nodded, they began to walk back to the door they’d just came from before a loud thud stopped Aiden in his tracks.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That- shh!”

Aiden’s ears perked up, the thud repeated.

“We should seriously get out of here..”

Rosa whispered, staring over her shoulder, there was another thud, this time louder and much closer. Lake whipped the lantern in every direction she could think,to, the light jerking and shifting sporadically,  there in the darkness, hunched over and staring wide-eyed was an infected.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!”

“Run!”

Everyone broke into a sprint, rushing back to the corridor. Rosa a few steps behind the other two, slamming the metal door shut and locking it. Everyone stared as the infected bang against the door, Rosa stepped back.

“Do you think it’ll get in?”

Lake asked, stepping closer to Aiden nervously.

“It’s metal.. but, the hinges are rusted, see?”

Rosa pointed.

“I think it’s safe, but we should keep going.”

Everyone nodded, and continued on, after only a few seconds, a loud band echoed through the corridor, accompanied by a wet crunch, and an ear piercing shriek that seemed to stretch on forever. Aiden’s blood ran cold.

“HELP ME! HELP, PLEASE!”

It Rosa screaming, Aiden whipped his head around to see Rosa laying on the floor, on top of her right leg, crushing it, was the door.

“HELP, IT HURTS AIDEN, LAKE, HELP ME! PLEASE!”

Rosa shrieked, reaching out her hand, the other two members of the group rushed forward, they only made it a few steps before the infected ran up to Rosa. It lifted its arm, and brought it down, blood sprayed onto the wall, and Rosa fell completely silent.

Aiden’s mouth went dry as he stared in wide eyed silence as he stared at Rosa. His companion, his best friend, his sister.

“AIDEN, WATCH OUT!”

Lake’s voice drew him back to reality as Lake screamed, he looked up to see the infected lundge forward, right on cue, Lake grabbed the back of his hoodie and practically threw him towards her, Aiden stumbled to the floor, writhing in pain. He looked down to see the infected had slashed his leg, and badly, warm blood running down his skin and seeping through his pants. He barely had time to react before Lake grabbed him again and broke into a sprint, running down the corridor.

“Lake, what are you doing?! Rosa, we can’t leave her behind! Lake!”

Warm tears streamed down his face, blurring his vision, Lake didn’t respond, only continuing to sprint down the corridor back into another room, loud sobs escaping her occasionally.

Beneath his foot, something shifted, and Aiden fell. He didn’t realize how long he was falling for, before he hit the ground, dull pain overwhelmed his senses.

“AIDEN! OH GOD, NO PLEASE, AIDEN!”

He could hear Lake screaming after him, but it sounded distant. His vision faded, and the world went dark.

“Ew, why does it look like that?!”

Adriana recoiled away, flinching when her mother swatted her hand.

“Don’t say that, she’s your little sister!”

“She looks like a potato!”

“She kind of does…”

Adriana couldn’t help but grin to herself as dad murmured in agreement.

“See!”

“You’re not helping! And she doesn’t look like a potato, she’s a baby!”

“She’s a very ugly baby.”

Adriana crossed her arms, glaring down at her sister, who looked more like a wrinkly bag of flesh wrapped tightly in a blanket.

“She’s a newborn, all newborns are ugly.”

“She’s not ugly!”

Mom snapped at dad, who only chuckled.

“Look, it’s our first day back from the hospital, just try to relax.”

“I’m very relaxed, thank you! I just don’t appreciate you encouraging Adriana to call her sister ugly!”

“Alright, alright, we take it back!”

Dad laughed heartily, planting a hand on top of Adriana’s head, the child leaning into the touch, and putting his other hand on his wife’s shoulder.

“Now, let’s get to bed, I’m sure we all need it.”

Mom sighed, leaning on dad’s shoulder.

“I am thoroughly exhausted.”

“Let’s put the baby to bed, then tuck Adriana in.”

“I’m not a baby! I don’t need to be tucked i -“

“Shush.”

Mom rolled her eyes, taking Adriana’s hand and leading her to the nursery.

“I’m too tired for your complaining.”

Adriana pouted, but didn’t dare object, following her parents down the hallway into where her new sister would be sleeping. She peered over her crib, resting a hand on the cool wood, running a finger over it’s curves and cracks.

“Do I still get to pick her name?”

“If you give her a real name and not suggest something from one of your silly cartoons, then yes.”

Adriana thought for a moment, staring long and hard at her new sister.

“Lynette!”

“Lynette?”

“Yeah!”

Mom hummed.

“Alright, that’s a good one, Lynette it is. Now let’s get you to bed.”

Aiden paid one last glance to her sister, who she still thought was quite ugly, then walked to her room, crawling into bed. Mom took a seat on the edge, dad standing at her side, watching.

“Comfy?”

Mom asked, pulling the blanket over Adriana, who nodded.

“Good.”

Mom kissed her on her forehead, leaving a warm sensation on Adriana’s skin.

“Good night love.”

“Get some rest!”

“Good night!”

Adriana yelled after her parents as they turned off her light, and left the room, after a while of tossing and turning, she finally closed her eyes, drifting off into sleep.

As Aiden jolted awake, the first thing that came to him was pain, an overwhelming, thudding pain that echoed through his whole body. He groaned, he couldn’t move, everything hurt so much.

“Rosa! Lake! Lake! Help!”

He screamed up, hearing no reply. His mind racing, he forced his body to move. He sat up and looked around, his head spinning. He’d fallen through the floor to a lower level of the factory, it smelled just as horrible as everywhere else did, bones he assumed one’s belonged to pigs hung from equipment lining the walls, a dusty air conditioner that had fallen from the ceiling lay in a crumpled heap next to Aiden. He looked down, suddenly grateful for his heavy backpack, which had broken his fall, saving his head from damage. He slipped it off his arms and opened it up, simultaneously taking his axe that was slung on his back from its holder and examining it, nothing had been too damaged, luckily, aside from some cracks on the axe’s head, and a broken flashlight. He tossed the flashlight aside and looked around, then to his leg, still badly cut. Taking the first aid kit from his bag, he disinfected the wound, and bandaged it up. Putting his axe and bag back on, he limped over the a metal pole that had been discarded on the floor, using it as a crutch, he explored his new environment. It didn’t take very long at all for him to find a staircase, climbing up with moderate difficulty, he considered the possibility Lake or the infected were still there, but an emergency exit being wide open, covered in scratch marks told him otherwise, it was likely she escaped, and it followed her out. He explored many rooms, searching for Rosa, before finally finding the room they’d initially entered, and the corridor they went down the night before.

He struggled, leaning his body against the pole, and making his way down the empty hall, he wished he could run, but the moment he put pressure on his injured leg, sharp pain coursed through his body, warning him not to follow through with those desires. Gritting his teeth, he carried on. He had hoped, despite how stupid the thought was, that Rosa was still alive somehow, hanging on for life, injured, sure, but they’d get through it as they always had, he’d patch her up, they’d go find Lake hiding somewhere, and they’d all be safe. His heart practically jumped out of his chest when he saw her, Rosa, she was right there on the floor.

“Rosa, oh thank god!”

He limped towards her, frowning at the metal door still crushing his leg, he knelt down.

“Oh god.. this is bad.”

He put his hand on her shoulder, than wrapped his arms around her body.

“It’s okay, I’ll pull you out! On a count of three! One.. two… three!”

He pulled, not registering the loud crack and flow of blood as Rosa’s right leg was ripped off of her body.

“There, that wasn’t so bad, now, let’s get you patched up, I’m going to disinfect the wound, so it may hurt a bit, but you’ll be okay.”

Rosa didn’t respond, she was probably just unconscious. Aiden sighed, talking to no one in particular as he pulled off his backpack and retrieved his first aid kit.

“We need to be quick, I think Lake escaped but that infected followed her, we need to make sure she’s okay, I’m going to check if your hurt anywhere else real quick, just in case.”

He turned her over onto her back, laying her down on his lap, she was limp and cold to the touch, her eyes were open but not particularly widely, a silvery white color washed over them, mouth slightly agape with blood trickling from it’s side, and on her neck, was.. a hole? Large, and bloody, going clean through her neck, right through her pulse, caused by the infected no doubt, a wound that should’ve been fatal.

But that was impossible, Rosa was fine, she was right here in Aiden’s arms, wounded sure but just unconscious. Why was her body still so cold? That’s not normal. Where was her leg?

Aiden looked back to the door and found his answer, the limb sticking out beneath the metal, detached from her body.

Okay, this is bad, but it’s only one leg! She’s not dead or anything! I just need to bandage her up and find Lake!

He looked back down at Rosa, who stared unblinking back up in return.

“Rosa? Come on, wake up, we need to find Lake.”

No response came, and Aiden grew frustrated.

“Come on, this is serious, wake up!”

He shook her slightly, nothing happened.

“Look, I know you like playing pranks and all, but this seriously isn’t funny, we need to go help Lake, come on, get up!”

He shook her more, panic began to set in.

“ROSA, COME ON, GET UP, THIS ISN’T FUNNY ANYMORE!”

He got angrier, shaking her violently.

“COME ON, GET UP! THIS ISN’T FUCKING FUNNY! ROSA! ROSA MARIA, GET UP RIGHT FUCKING NOW!”

There was a loud, echoing clatter as Aiden shook her, he looked down to see her box cutter had fallen out of her pocket, that same weapon she’d threatened him with the first day they met, all those years ago. He picked it up, tears pricking his eyes as he looked between it and it’s owner who lay dead in his lap.

Dead.

“Rosa? Rosa, please get up.”

Aiden whispered, holding her close to him, hugging her tightly to him, hot tears flowing down his face.

“Please wake up. Please, I need you, come on!”

Rosa didn’t wake up, she didn’t hug him back, she didn’t move, or breath, or stir even a little bit. She just laid there in his arms.

“Please, don’t go..”

His voice cracked, and he buried his face in her hair, sobbing.

“Please!”

He hadn’t wanted to let go of her body, to leave Rosa there, but he had to, he had to go find Lake. Reluctantly, he took the box cutter in his hand, and hobbled out of the factory, leaving Rosa’s corpse alone to rot inside, just another death among millions since this all began. He walked outside into the warm sunlight, for hours he screamed Lake’s name, he searched the streets, every building, everywhere he could think to look, the girl was nowhere to be found.

Standing alone in an empty street, it finally dawned on Aiden that for the first time in his life, he was completely alone.

Chapter Text

Hi everyone! 

Sorry there hasn't been a new chapter in a while, a lot has happened in my personal life. Basically I've been ditching school with my friends for a while and I just got caught, my parents are PISSED and put me into homeschooling as punishment and to keep me away from my friends. Also, may or may not be sent to a mental hospital sometime this month. Anyway, yeah, I'm grounded for a really long time, in a huge amount if trouble, but it's alright I guess. I'll try to start releasing chapters on regular schedule again. 

I guess I slayed too hard 

Chapter Text

Hey!! Ik this is late as hell, but to make it up to you, I decided to make a chapter that finally explains the virus a bit! <3

Alec stared down at the desk in front of him, at it’s contents. A stack of papers, medical files in a dusty, yellow folder, and next to it a small device, one he couldn’t remember the name of, but he recognized its purpose, recording and playing audio. He went to the folder first, opening it, and reading the first page of it’s contents.

“March 2nd, 2022:

The following is a log of audio tapes maintained by myself, Dr Emilia Brown, in regards to a patient that has, thus far, had a very unique case. On February 24th, the patient visited her primary doctor regarding a strange illness. The patient, Lill Richards, reported experiencing the following symptoms:

-extreme thirst

-intense pain in the throat and chest

-nausea

-difficulty breathing

-extreme paranoia

-loss of sleep

-chest pain

-Itchiness of skin, particularly the hands and area beneath the eyes

According to the patient, she had been experiencing those symptoms for roughly two weeks before seeking a medical professional. Her primary doctor urged her to visit a hospital or emergency room immediately. After she had been admitted the following morning, her condition only grew worse. The patient began having panic attacks and difficulty consuming solid foods. I haven’t been a doctor for very long, only four years now, but this case is particularly unusual to me. From this day forward, I will be logging the patient’s condition regularly, and monitoring her closely.”

Alec’s interest piqued, he turned away from the papers, and to the small and dated black box next to them, pressing a button on it’s top, he jumped in surprise when actual audio came out.

“March 3rd, seventh day of hospital visit:

Currently, it is 9:30 in the morning, I am standing outside of the patients room and I am about to enter for an interview with her, which will be recorded on here, I am now going to enter the room.”

Alec’s eyebrow raised, the creaking of a door, and light footsteps echoing in the thick static.

“Good morning, Miss Richards.”

“Oh, please, just call me Lill!”

“Right, my apologies, Lill.”

The doctor let out a deep breath, the sounds of papers shuffling was audible.

“So, Lill, for the sake of this interview, would you mind telling me again when and why these symptoms began?”

“Oh, of course.”

The woman, Lill, cleared her throat.

“So, a few weeks ago, I was walking through a forest, trying to get my mind off things. I was just walking down the path when I tripped over something, it was some vines that had blossoms growing on them, but they were.. strange. The vines were dark, completely black. And the blossoms were this bright blue color, I’d never seen anything like it. When I fell, one of the thorns on the vines scratched up my arm a bit.”

“The patient is gesturing to a wound on her right arm, which is currently covered by bandages.”

“Do you.. need to say everything I do out loud?”

“Well, these are audio logs, not video recordings, every detail needs to be as clear as possible, for future analysis.”

“But.. who’s going to be analyzing this?”

There were a few bests of silence, and there was light scratching as someone jotted something down on a sheet of paper.

“Can you…… tell me more about this wound?”

“It was strange, that’s for sure. The pain from the cut wasn’t normal, usually when I get a cut like that it stings a bit but it isn’t that alarming. But, with this one.. the pain was terrible, excruciating, then I got all these symptoms, and it…. Oh, it was just awful.”

“I see, and, are the medication we’ve given you helping with these symptoms at all?”

“A bit, but it still hurts, hard to breathe too.”

There was more scratching as the doctor wrote something else down.

“And on a scale of one to ten, how bad would you say the pain is?”

“I’d put it at a-“

There was loud coughing, almost blending in with the static crackling of the low quality recording, be it caused by time or just by whatever product this woman used being trash.

“At-“

There was shuffling, and the coughing grew louder, almost violent now.

“Lill? Lill, are you alright?”

There was a wet splat through the coughing, earning a sharp gasp from the doctor.

“What the hell is… Shit! Shit! Lill?!”

There was loud beeping, and more shuffling, then, with a loud bang, the noise grew slightly more distant, the device likely having fell to the floor, then there were footsteps, and the audio cut for a moment. Rather than it continuing with the familiar voice of Lill or her doctor, the distant sound of various people mumbling to one another could be heard.

“Dear god..”

“What even is that?!”

“It tested as blood, but..”

“That can’t be blood, why is it black?!  Nothing like this ever happened before, and what she threw up.. a flower! How does that even happen?! This makes no sense!”

“We don’t know, okay! We have to do more tests, what do the scans say?”

There was shuffling, then another gasp.

“Jesus Christ.…”

“What- what are those?! We need to tell someone about this, this isn’t normal! This could be some mutation, some disease, higher ups need to be informed!”

“I know, and they will be, but-“

There was a pause.

“Hey, are you recording this?”

“I-“

“You can’t record something like this, give me that!”

“Wait, wait, wait!”

Footsteps, then the audio cut again, silence interrupted by a deep sigh.

“March tenth, fourteenth day of hospital visit:

“This morning, the patient went under surgery to have the organisms growing in her body both removed and tested. The doctors found many vine like objects wrapping themselves around the patient’s organs, the organs have maintained their regular appearance for some reason but the blood and the plants within her body were all black. Bright blue blossoms were also found growing on these objects inside of her.… how that’s even possible is unknown to us. Higher ups were told, they informed government personal, but, we haven’t heard anything back.”

There was another deep sigh.

“God help us.”

“March fourteenth, eighteenth day of hospital visit:

“Lill, how are you feeling after the surgery?”

There were a few beats of silence, then a shuffle.

“How am I feeling? How am I feeling?! How do you think I feel?! It hurts, everything in my body hurts! I can hardly even breathe, and I keep throwing up those horrible flowers! What is wrong with me?!”

“We are trying to figure that out, but we don’t know, your case is quite… unique, we’ve never seen one like it before-“

“This is a HOSPITAL! For Christ’s sake, you should know these things! YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO FIX ME!”

“Lill, I need you to calm down-“

“CALM?! How can I possibly be calm?! Look at me! Look at what I’m turning into!”

“The patient is extending her hand, gesturing to small vines growing from beneath her fingernails.…This is.. extremely abnormal, may I?”

“Fine, but make it quick! You better know how to deal with this!”

“I am holding the patient’s hand within my own, her fingernails themselves seem normal, but on her ring and index fingers, small black vines are growing from beneath the fingernails, causing the fingertips to look very irritated. The vines are a bit hard to see, almost resembling string or yarn. They are delicate to the touch, and smooth. This.. how is this even possible?”

“You’re the doctor, shouldn’t you know that?!”

There was a long, tense silence.

“I need to call someone.”

The audio cut again, there was no date being stated this time, however, just creaking and pained moans.

“Lill? Lill, are you in there?”

A man asked, knocking on a door.

“Lill, we know you barricaded your door, we know you’re scared, but you’ll be alright, we’re here to help you, just let us in.”

Silence.

“We’re coming in now!”

The man called out, there was a brief struggle to open the door, then, there were screams, and a loud thud echoed.

“Holy shit, what is that?!”

“Get it off of me, get it-“

The man’s words were cut of by an agonized shriek, paired with a wet crunch.

“OH GOD, OH GOD, GET HER BACK IN HER ROOM, GET HER BACK IN!”

There was more shrieking, footsteps, and a loud struggle, the audio cut again.

There was a long silence, interrupted by a light sob.

“Lill, she.. that wasn’t her, that couldn’t have possibly….”

She trailed, and sniffling could be heard.

“He’s dead, doctor Ramirez, he’s dead now, she tore his stomach open and.. tried to eat his organs..”

Her voice cracked, another sob escaping her.

“She was different, her body was covered in these vines, and blossoms, and her eyes, Jesus Christ, her eyes!”

The doctor took a shaky breath, there was shuffling, and a small thud.

“I mean, she was acting weird before, she was polite at first but as time went on she just got so angry and aggressive, but it was never anything as bad as this… I know what I need to do. Her room is sealed off, barricaded, it even has caution tape! She’s being isolated but.. I have to check on her. I can’t just leave her in there.”

The audio cut.

There were hollow crunches, and pained moans as a door creaked open, silence spanned a few moments.

“Lill….?”

A hollow groan came in response, before a prayer was mumbled.

“Our… f-father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done-“

There was a loud, unearthly shriek from inside the room, earning another loud sob from the doctor.

“On Earth as it is in heaven! Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our-“

There was another shriek, this time from the doctor, loud footsteps approached, and the audio cut again.

“I expected her to be in bad condition, I expected her to maybe even be dead, but.. I didn’t expect.. THIS!”

There was a shaky breath, and then a tired groan.

“It was her in there, but she was.. different. So much different. Her eyes were gone, just vines and blossoms growing from the empty sockets, from everywhere on her body! Her hands were just enveloped, everything bellow her elbow looked like a bush! Her hair was gone, there were blossoms everywhere in the room, and her blood…. it was black, it was jet black, like a liquid void just there on the floor, I could barely even see her because she was just covered in so much of that blood!”

A weak sob echoed through the static.

“We informed the government, they know about this, they know about all of this, they’ve seen pictures of the patient, and they know she infected some of the hospital staff, they know this is a full on virus! They paid us.. they paid us all to keep quiet. They took Lill away, cleaned up her room, and paid us not to breathe a word about the situation. Their covering it up, this is a dangerous and deadly disease and we have no cure, anyone who’s been in contact with hospital staff or released patients may be infected, but they want to keep it secret! And maybe I just wanted to forget what’s happened, maybe I just wanted to go back to my normal life, but.. I took the money, okay? I accepted it. And.. maybe I could have moved on with my life if….. this morning, I had a coughing fit while I was getting ready for work, and I threw up, I threw up blood! Black blood! It stained everything! Stained my wall, my mirror, my sink, and at the end of it.. in the sink, there was a little blue blossom sitting in the liquid.”

The sobbing grew louder, desperate and uncontrollable.

“Dear god, what have we done to deserve this?!”

The audio cut again, nothing played from the device again.

Alec frowned, and picked up the folder, a voice interrupted him before he could take a look at it’s contents.

“What’s all that?”

Alec looked down to see Fiore peering down at the desk’s contents, eyes focusing between the recording device, and the yellow folder.

“Some very useful information…”

Alec trailed, only half focused on the girl as he looked back down at the folder.

“Wow, that’s real specific.”

Fiore said with a roll of her eyes, before her gaze shifted to the folder as well, expression turning from annoyance to curiosity.

“What’s in there?”

“We’re about to find out.”

With that, Alec tossed the folder open, inside were medical files upon medical files, as well as a few photos held together by a plastic blue paper clip. His eyes grazed over each word with impressive speed, flipping from page to page too quickly for Fiore to fully make out what they said.

“Slow down, Jesus, I want to look too!”

Fiore complained, giving Alec a pointed look.

“Sorry..”

He muttered, handing the stack of papers to Fiore while he examined the photographs, flipping through each one.

“This… this changes everything, Fiore!”

Alec exclaimed with enthusiasm, looking down to the girl, who raised an eyebrow.

“How so? It’s just some hospital files.”

“Yes, but of all the places we visited before, this recording of a person becoming infected is the oldest, so far the oldest information we’ve come across dates to late February and early March of 2022 so far, that must be when the virus itself originated!”

“You didn’t already notice that? It was really obvious.”

“Well- of course I noticed, but I tried not to assume, but the evidence is just overwhelming at this point!”

“Fair enough.. I guess.”

Fiore shrugged, tossing her backpack on the table, before taking a seat on it herself, pulling out an old notebook they’d stolen to keep track of information for the last two or so years.

“I’m assuming you want to go over everything again, maybe add some notes?”

Alec, nodded, and with a sigh, Fiore opened the notebook to its most recent page, reading aloud.

“Found a-“

“Wait, go back to the pages about the virus, it’s side effects, I want to be sure there’s nothing we missed or got wrong now that we have this new information.”

“Do we seriously STILL need to do that every time?”

“Yes, we do. Now go back.”

Fiore groaned in dissatisfaction, but obeyed.

“Fine!”

“First page:

First variant of infection: ‘abstract trees’. This variant is the most common out of all known variants thus far, symptoms have so far shown to be:

-black blood

-thirst

-nausea and vomiting

-itchiness and delicacy of skin

-enhanced hearing

-bleeding from eyes nose and mouth

-rapid weight and hair loss.

Typically, infected individuals of the ‘abstract tree variant’ experience growth of black branches accompanied by blue leaves coming out of their bodies, most commonly the stomach, mouth, nose, or eyes. Infected of the ‘abstract tree variant have also, thus far, been the tallest and thinnest out of all variations, with enhanced speed, strength, and hearing, but loss of eyesight and coordination.

Second variant of infection: ‘imperfect blooms’

Thus far, this variant had been shown to be extremely common among children or the elderly, young to middle aged adults rarely falling victim to this specific variant, but the reason as to why is something we are yet to discover. Symptoms so far have been shown to be:

-black blood

-high fever

-difficulty breathing and/or speaking

-pain in the lungs

-coughing fits

-intense sore throat

-vomiting of blue flowers

This variant is strikingly similar to the fictional ‘Hanahaki disease’ with infected individuals coughing up flowers much like ‘Hanahaki disease’. Infected individuals show extreme body change, entire limbs sometimes being so engulfed in flowers and vines, they themselves resemble entire trees or bushes. This variant has been noted to be uniquely painful, whereas the the first variant simply tears growth straight out of one’s skin, this variant shows thorned vines wrapping themselves around organs, slowly crushing them from the inside, causing extreme internal bleeding. They have also been noted to have the most agility, bring the fastest and most coordinated, out of each known variant.

Third variant of the infection: ‘glowing fungi’

Thus far, this variant is the most rare of the three, being the one spotted the least over these last two years. Symptoms have been shown to be:

-loss of energy

-hallucinations

-vomiting

-emotional outbursts

-tiredness

This variant of the infection, due to it’s rarity, has little known about it. However, what little we have seen of this variant shows it to be the most gruesome of the three, while proper study on the workings of this variant have not been performed, it is the most visually disturbing, the flesh of infected individuals seeming to decay and fall from their bodies, large black and blue fungi grows from body parts of infected individuals in sizable chunks, often exposing organs and bone.”

“Okay, there, I read it! Happy now?!”

“The next page.”

“Ugh! This is bullshit!”

“Just do it.”

Fiore rolled her eyes, but picked up the notebook again.

“Additional notes:

-infected people, although extremely rarely, are able to mutate in various ways, be it multiple bodies merging into one, or someone possessing features from different variants of the infection, an example being a woman sighed with a form of the first variant that included fungi growing on her wooden parts

-It has been seen there are many ways a person can become infected, be it an open wound caused by an infected going untreated, ingesting or being wounded by an infected plant, or any transfer of bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, or reproductive substances

-one trait that is constant within every variant of the infection is that the final stage ends the same, with the infected person mutates into the organism corresponding with the variant they possess

-Infected are almost entirely nocturnal, why is unknown

-Infection, in some cases, can be stopped, if infected through a wound of a limb, cleaning the wound within at least twenty four hours of infection should fix the issue, if this is not done, ampupating the infected limb should get rid of the issue entirely if it is removed in time

-Animals, strangely, are unable to become infected, they have been observed being wounded by infected people and consuming infected plants, yet they remain in good health.”

Fiore threw the notebook down

“There! I’m not reading any more than that.”

“That’s fine, I just needed to make sure there were no discrepancies.”

“But why did I have to read it?”

“Well, I wouldn’t want you becoming illiterate, even if we don’t need reading and writing now as much as we did before the virus began, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make a habit if keeping it a part of our lives.”

“I’m not stupid Alec! I’m not gonna forget how to read!”

“I’m just being safe is all.”

Fiore rolled her eyes, glancing over at Alec, who continued to shuffle between photos and papers, brows furrowed.

“What is it? I thought you’d be happy finding more information.”

“I am, but..”

Alec sighed, plopping down into a dusty chair.

“Look, Fiore. I want to know how this started, I want to find a cure, that’s our goal here, but this,”

Alec gestured to the papers scattered before him.

“Just isn’t enough. We need more than stalking infected, more than dissecting corpses, and stealing files from abandoned facilities.”

“You’re not suggesting…?”

Fiore trailed, her tone dripping with judgement.

“We know hardly anything about the virus beyond the initial infection and the final stage, we have no idea of its origins, of anything! We need to be more up close, we need living, breathing specimen, a proper lab, we need, to take a more hands on role here if we want to bring an end to all this.”

“Seriously? And just how on Earth would we accomplish something like that? We aren’t scientists, we aren’t anything close to that! And even if we were, it wouldn’t make a difference, if the top minds of the world couldn’t find a cure what are our chances, anyway? Not to mention, it’d take forever to find a lab and put it in the right condition for experimenting, but medicines will be useless, and how would we even get specimens? Capture infected? How would we possibly do that? Be rational here, Alec.”

“I am being rational! If we want to find a cure we need to take these risks. Maybe the only reason they couldn’t develop a cure is because they didn’t know enough. It only took a month, maybe two for things to collapse, we know much more now than they did back then!”

“Still though, what makes you think it’s possible? Society has collapsed entirely, and-“

“Not entirely.”

Fiore raised an eyebrow, deciding to humor Alec.

“Go on.”

“I’ve heard rumors going around, that a few nations are still standing strong, as strong as they could be, anyway. But I heard that Russia and Korea have been an intense quarantine the last two years, they aren’t doing well, but they haven’t fallen apart, and they are looking for a cure. If there’s hope for them, there’s hope for us.”

“And your just believing this? Where’s the evidence? Even if it’s true, how does that help our situation, it only proves me right! If entire nations are barely keeping from collapse, just how well do we fare? Just us two. There’s too many possibilities, Alec, don’t you see that?”

There was a few beats of silence.

“Fiore…”

Alec began, standing with a sigh.

“We need to at least try. I need to try. I don’t want you growing up in a world like this any longer than you have to! You’re a kid! You should be playing in a schoolyard, not fighting for your life every day!”

Alec stepped forward, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Let me do this, if not for the world, then at least for you?”

Fiore was silent for a few moments, considering his words.

“When this idea gets us killed, I’m blaming you.”

Alec smiled.

“I knew you’d come around.”

“Shut up.”

Chapter Text

“Look, if you’re still and quiet, it won’t hurt as much… After your medicine we’re going to put you in a room with one of them, but we’ll have someone in there to protect you, you won’t be in any danger.”

“In a room with.. why?! That’s insane! No way! I am not doing that!”

“It isn’t a request. You know what the consequences are when you don’t cooperate. Stop being so selfish, and just do it!”

“There is no way in hell that I’ll-“

Jake was cut off when she grabbed him, dragging him back to his bed, and strapping him in.

“Let go! Stop it, please!”

Jake squirmed, but it was no use, his now frail body was no match for the cold leather straps that wrapped tightly around his forearms. Looking up, short fiery red hair danced brilliantly with each motion, a sight Jake would have appreciated in not for the woman these gorgeous locks belonged to.

“I told you, if you shut up and stay still it won’t be as painful! This is for you’re own good and you know it, you should be thanking me!”

“My own good?! I never agreed to this! This is torture, this is-“

Jake paused for a moment, flinching at the sharp pain on a needle being inserted into his arm, veins turning cold momentarily, his mouth tasted like metal, then pain set in, sharp and merciless, spreading up his arm and his whole body, setting every nerve on fire. Jake screamed, just as he always did, squeezing his eyes shut as tightly as he could manage, as if it would alleviate the pain.

“I told you not to move, you moron!”

Jake didn’t respond to the shout, barely audible through his agonized screams, which took minutes to subside. There was an annoyed sigh.

“I’ll let you rest for a bit, let the pain wear off, but then we need to do the experiment, we’ll leave you alone after that.”

The tone of the woman above him turned to one of slight guilt, relief seeping into Jake’s senses as the straps around him were unbuckled, then removed entirely, leaving red marks in their wake.

“I think Æ̸̨̨̨̭̗̞̩̙̹͇̠̅̏͆̇̈́͌́͗͒͛̌̄́͆̚̚̕͘͜ͅͅl̷̢̡̰̬̦̳̙͈̩͕͍͍̰̓̋̅̀͝ẹ̴̢̭͖̭͔͕̝̲̲̞̰̞͖͈̈͋̈̓̈́͑̉̇̏͋͂̓͘̕͝c̸̢̨̛͎̯͍̤̼͈̼͕͖̱̟̖̞̞̩͎͗͊͛͆̌̎͐̋̈́̓͘͘͜ said he found some old books while on a supply run, so you won’t be too bored for a while.”

She stood up, looking down at Jake pitifully.

“We don’t want to be hurting you like this, but it’s you’re obligation to help us find this solution, if you just comply it won’t be nearly as hard!”

Jake looked up, already exhausted. He glared, but gave no response.

“You sure this is a good idea?”

“Well, they don’t attack Ģ̴̢̬̻̗̜͈̱͖͈̙̩̠̭̗̖͖̙̹͉̳̜͍̤̮̞̠̦͍̓̔̇̈́̈́̓͌̅̔̑̿̃̄͂̈́́̾͐̌̿̈́͗̉̒̚͘̚ͅæ̶̛̛̹̹̝̙͐́̊̌̐̋̑̃̍̐̌͑̎͂̏͑̽̓́̚b̸̡̨͖̲͚̥̥̜̩͍͙͎̣̬͔͕̯̗͔̦̪̯̦̐̑̍̔̈̀̎̏͊̕͘͝ͅb̸̨̨̡̢͔̤̹̖͓̘̬̰͖̩͍̞̘̭̝͔̠͙̠̪̰̖̟̲̰̪̅̆̒͛̇̔́̃̂́͋̏̌͐̑͘͠͝y̴̢̧̡͚̺͎̳̦͕͍̭̦̤̣̖̥͎̖̜̪̼͎͔̝̥̣̔͝, it might be the same case for him?”

“Just because he’s immune?”

“Well, so is she.”

“But that’s different, they can’t attack her, who knows if they’ll react the same to him.”

“Don’t worry, it’s in an earlier stage, not all there as far as the conscious goes, but not much of a danger on a physical level, and we’ll have someone in there to keep things from escalating, he’ll be just fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“…Fine then, do what you must. Only what you must.”

”Yes, yes, I know how guilty you are about him, but it’ll be fine.”

Jake heard one of the voices fade, accompanied by hollow footsteps, as he made his way down the familiar corridor, eyes glued to the ground, he contemplated making a run for it again, but shot the idea down immediately. He was desperate, but not illogical, not yet anyway.

“This is where you’ll be, we’ll bring an infected in, but it’ll be on a rope, and I’ll be in there with you, we’re only testing wether it reacts to you’re presence the same way they react to hers.”

Jake nodded, before finally looking up, before him was a door leading to a large white room, one of the walls being partially made out of glass, in front of it stood four familiar faces, all staring right at him, all in those stupid pretentious lab coats, as if any of them were actual scientists. He entered the room, walking to the left wall, and leaning on it.

“Wait here for a few minutes, I’ll bring it in a little bit.”

Jake nodded, only half paying attention, staring off into space, his eyes analyzing every speck of dust in the air as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Then the door opened again, being dragged in on an old rope was an infected, a woman seeming to have been of middle age, she thrashed and struggled, chunks of Fungi falling from her body onto the floor. Jake watched as the door was slammed shut, and the woman was forced in Jake’s direction. She paused for a moment, staring at with an almost quizzical expression, taking a small step forward, before lunging, easily restrained by the other man in the room. Jake cowered against the wall, eyes darting from the infected to the group who watch him. A few moments passed before one raised a hand.

“That’s enough, get it out of there, take them back to their cells, and clean this up, thoroughly.”

The man nodded, dragging out the infected, then coming back for Jake. And just like that, he was alone in his boring, white room. He stared at the ceiling for a while, not touching his new books, hardly entertaining the thought. It was quite a lonely existence.

He hated it.

Jake awoke with a sharp gasp, practically shooting up at a perfect right angle, panting and gasping. For air, beads of sweat forming on his skin.

“Jake! What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

Jake looked to his side, Tom stared down at him with concern. Jake panted, chest rising and falling as memories repeated, of the wet sounds of skin tearing open, of needles injected into flesh, of cruel experiments, the same nightmares he’d had for weeks now. He took a shaky breath.

“It’s fine, I’m fine. Just another nightmare.”

“Are you sure?”

Jake nodded.

“Alright, if you say so…”

Tom sighed, putting a gentle hand on Jake’s back, the other man leaning into the touch, resting his head on his lover’s shoulder. Silence spanned for a while.

“Tom?”

“Yes?”

“Can you.. can you keep a secret?”

Tom let out a strained chuckle.

“Jake, I was literally a spy, my entire job was keeping secrets.”

“Just answer me.”

“Okay, okay, I can keep a secret for you. What did you want to say?”

“It’s about the scar on my arm, the one I got hiding in that school a while back, before we met.”

“What about it? I’ve seen it plenty of times.”

“I mean.. how I got it.”

“You were attacked by an animal.”

“That was a lie.”

“..Go on.”

“I’m….. immune.”

“Immune? Y-you don’t mean..?”

“I got this scar when an infected attacked me that night, it bit my arm, I couldn’t treat it as soon as I needed to, I though I would die, but I didn’t. It healed like any normal wound. I tested it out, ate one of those blue and black flowers, nothing happened. The virus, I’m immune to it.”

Tom pulled away in shock, Jake didn’t dare meet his lover’s gaze.

“Why.. didn’t you tell me?”

“I just.. I’ve had nightmares for a while, where these people discovered I’m immune, and they.. experimented on me, I could feel every needle, every scratch, taste the food, water, feel the texture of each object I held, it felt so real, and it made me afraid. I know it’s irrational, but it’s the truth. I’m…. Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I was just…….. scared.”

“Jake, I- this is-  do you realize the implications of this?! Of you being immune?! This is huge! This could mean a cure-“

“That’s exactly what I’m scared of, don’t you understand? If people find out I’m immune, imagine what they might do to me! The things from my dreams just might happen!”

“I promise you, they won’t.”

“You don’t know that!”

Jake finally looked up, Tom displaying an expression Jake couldn’t quite decipher.

“I.. I’m sorry. I was just afraid.”

Jake gave a guilty sigh, looking away again before a warm hand cupped his cheek.

“Don’t apologize.”

Tom gave a weak smile.

“I understand, Jake. It’s alright to be afraid. But I promise you have nothing to be afraid about, I’m here, I’ll keep your secret if that’s what you want, no one will ever hurt you.”

“How do you know that?”

There was a long pause.

“I don’t. But.. you remember earlier tonight? You and I were looking at the stars, talking about planets, galaxies, the universe, all that stuff.”

Jake nodded recalling the time they’d spent together on the roof of an old building, staring up at the night sky, painted with silver stars and constellations.

“I do, why?”

“Remember what I was talking about then? About our galaxy’s distance to the one closest to it?”

“Yeah, the Andromeda galaxy I think, you said it was.. 2.5 million light years away, right?”

Tom nodded.

“You remember what I told you about how long it would take to get there?”

“Two million years, or something like that?”

“And you know what’s in between?”

“What?”

“Nothing Two million years of pure emptiness, just a black void. And that’s to the galaxy closest to us. And outside of that, the whole universe, a lot of it is the same, just vast emptiness.”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

“Well, think about it, the world fell apart, but that whole term ‘the world’ it implies we are the only significant planet out there, the world. But we aren’t. That storm on Jupiter, it’s bigger than the entire Earth, our sun is considered tiny compared to most other stars, we’re just a little speck in the universe, we don’t matter nearly as much as we think we do, none of this matters if you think it over.”

“That doesn’t answer my question though, all this is doing is giving me an existential crisis.”

“Look, the point is, we’re just two people among millions, on a planet, in a solar system, in a galaxy, among millions just like it, that stretch on forever and ever. So really, really, if our existence as a whole is so insignificant, does the fact your immune matter much either? Does this secret have as much significance as you think it does? After all, I’ll be here to protect you with my life, to keep this secret to my grave, so do you need to worry about it as much as you are?”

Jake chuckled.

“That was a really long winded way of saying not to worry about it.”

Tom made a noise of amusement, wrapping his hand around Jake’s waist and pulling him close,

“Well- it sounds more deep and meaningful if I talk about the universe and stuff instead of just saying it outright.”

“Oh, a philosopher now, are we?”

Jake leaned into Tom’s warmth.

“Even in the end of the world, you never fail to impress me.”

“It’s not philosophy, I just kept rereading that astronomy book we found a few months back and it made me think, y’know?”

Jake shushed him, laying down, and resting his head in Tom’s lap, smiling softly when gentle fingers ran through his hair.

“It’s hotter if you let me believe it’s because you’re smart.”

“Oh- uhm.. r-right!”

Jake’s smile grew bigger, he didn’t have to even look up to know Tom was blushing and getting flustered just as he always did.

Poor Jake, poor, stupid Jake. If only he heeded the warnings delivered to him things would have turned out better. But we both know that won’t happen, I’m not a fan of happy endings.

Chapter Text

(Ok, I know most of you probably stopped reading chapter warning a long time ago because their basically the same every time, but this chapter’s events may be a bit more triggering to certain readers than simple death or swearing. That said, I encourage you to actually read the warnings this time if you haven’t already, I’ll add author’s notes at both the beginning and end of that part of the chapter for anyone who may want to skip. Stay safe!)

Everything hurt.

Aiden’s entire body ached of starvation, countless days of searching, lungs hoarse and sore from shouting Lake’s name into the abyss, throat stinging from going so long with little to nothing to drink. He honestly wasn’t all too sure what drove him to continue his search, his pathetic, fruitless pursuit for a girl who’d either long since moved on, or perished that night out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe it was the fleeting hope she was still living, that she searched for him just as vigorously as he did her. Or maybe his mind just needed a distraction from the grief, from the images of the dead bodies of a mother and her child he’d come to know and love as family, visions that came to him every time he dared blink, momentary void replaced instead by blood and cold flesh.

But, his body wasn’t as easily distracted from its pain as he’d trained his mind to be. He wasn’t sure how many days it had been since that night in the factory, when he lost it all, but he hadn’t eaten so much as a crumb since then, and his body was sore from days of walking, he yearned for sleep, for rest, for some kind of a break, for anything at all. But yet, he still searched, because Lake mattered more than all of that, plain and simple.

A cold fog bathed down on Aiden that late afternoon, on a tired shell of a man, hobbling aimlessly against a metal pole, his sad excuse for a crutch. Light crunches of pavement beneath his shoes echoing as he walked, in search for shelter, just to be safe from infected. He winced at a particularly bad ache from his stomach, glancing to his side, at rats and insects feeding off the body of a dead bird. It wouldn’t be hard to kill a rat, he’d killed much bigger, much faster things before, he almost took a step forward before the prospect of the various diseases the little devils may possess crossed his mind, and he backed off instantly, not humoring for even a moment the idea of resorting to the insects that accompanied the rats. He glanced up vacantly at the tall buildings of the city’s vast and empty roads, abandoned cars, bikes, and trucks, lining each and every street, some still barring the bloody remnants of the poor souls who’d once driven those vehicles.

Maybe that school bus over there would make a good hiding place…? No, there’s probably a bunch of bodies in there.

In all fairness, there were less bodies than Aiden had expected for a city, although, most people likely fled this place back when this began, then died someplace else. Aiden began considering other hiding places when a dim orange light caught his eye from inside an empty liquor store. Maybe a camp fire or a lamp of some kind? That must have meant other people there, maybe someone who could help him? In his subconscious, part of him was aware it was a horrible idea, but the prospect of food, water, and perhaps a few friendly faces, overtook his common sense in that moment. His mind raced with possibilities as he hobbled down the empty road, maybe Lake was there? Maybe she’d found someone to help her and she was perfectly safe, and they’d be reunited? He even felt a part of him become excited. It trickled away as soon as he’d entered the store.

Empty?

Not a person in sight. There were two backpacks and a lit kerosene lamp, the items put hastily side by side, as though the owners had somewhere else to be and simply tossed the bags off to the side, intending to return to them later. Aiden looked around, examining the area with scrutiny, no one else was there, in the building or the street adjacent to it. He looked down again, and before he could stop himself, knelt down, zipping open one of the bags, searching hastily for anything of value. Hurrying as to not get caught, God knows what would happen to him then, as if he was doing anything wrong. After all, these people had more than enough supplies on them, more than they needed, what did it matter if Aiden took a few of their things? At least, that’s how Aiden’s hunger and thirst ridden mind attempted to justify this. Just as he reached into the bag, grabbing for a bottle of water, there was a shout.

“Hey, hey you! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

He looked up, to see two men standing in the doorway, expressions contorted with fury. Aiden froze up, dread curling in his stomach. One of the men stepped towards him, he was tall, with dirty blonde hair.

“I asked you a que-“

Before he could finish, Aiden grabbed his metal pole, and swung it towards the man, it connected, and hr stumbled to the ground with a pained grunt.

“Troy!”

The other man rushed towards his companion, Troy, who clutched just now bleeding nose, glaring hatefully at Aiden. He wasted no time, leaning against the pole and limping away as fast as he could manage, his pace although intended a sprint was more akin to a light jog thanks to his injury. He didn’t get far, yelping in surprise when somebody tackled him from behind, and both his backpack and his weapon were torn off of his back. He looked up, dazed, seeing the metal pole had fallen a few feet away, laying useless on the ground. He rose to his hand and knees, reaching for it so he could flee, before a sharp pain from his scalp overwhelmed his senses. His beanie fell to the ground as he was yanked up by his hair, stumbling before someone grabbed him from behind.

(Okay, here’s where things get non consensual, it’s not as explicit as it was in earlier drafts of the story and not nearly as graphic but some readers may find it uncomfortable regardless.)

“Let go of me- fucking let go!”

Aiden flailed, trying his best to free himself from his attacker, before there was another sharp pain, he screamed as one of the men gave a hard kick to the wound on his leg, he gritted his teeth, legs going completely slack from the pain, leaving him vulnerable. Another pained sound escaped him as the person behind him gripped tightly onto both of his arms, pulling and twisting his left arm behind his back, with just barely enough restraint to keep from snapping his wrist, but still enough force to bring immense pain. His body ached now not only from starvation and tiredness, but from his new injuries. The man behind him cackled.

“Jesus Christ- you scream like a woman!”

The man in front of him, tall like the blonde, but dark haired, laughed alongside him. (This isn’t any cannon character unlike Troy, btw, this is just some rando I made up for the plot, he doesn’t get a name)

“I think it is, look!”

Aiden flinched as the dark haired man grabbed his face, and forced his head to the side, so he looked over his shoulder at Troy, who was grinning sadistically, blood still staining his face. Aiden was filled with rage at the comment but couldn’t utter a word as his face was yanked again, this time back in the direction of the dark haired man.

“You’re a pretty one! What are you doing stealing like this?”

He mocked, leaning down towards Aiden, who opened his mouth to give a curt response, before crying out again as the grip on his arm tightened. He gritted his teeth, and squeezed his eyes shut.

“I didn’t mean to cause trouble, look, I haven’t eaten anything in days, I’m tired, and hungry, and I’m just trying to find my friend; just let me go! Please!”

The dark haired man smirked.

“Aw, that’s so sad, Troy, we should help him!”

He suggested disingenuously, moving his hand so it rested beneath Aiden’s chin, rubbing his thumb gently over Aiden’s bottom lip. He flinched when the grip around his arm loosened slightly, and his right arm was released for a moment, before Troy’s grip returned, now on Aiden’s hip.

“You’re right, just look at him, injured and starving, he’ll die out here for sure!”

He laughed, squeezing slightly.

“Why don’t you stay with us for a bit, huh? You certainly don’t fare better out there on your own, we help you out, you help us out. Favors for favors..”

Tre tailed, moving his hand to grip Aiden’s inner thigh, too far up for comfort. His blood ran cold realizing what these men intended on doing to him was much worse than being robbed or beaten like he’d initially expected.

“Let go of me.. let go! Let go! Fucking let go of me!”

He thrashed kicking his good leg in every direction he could think to, panting from the futile effort. Swinging his free arm back, his elbow connected with Troy’s stomach, causing him to stumble backwards. Aiden’s freedom was short lived, his body colliding with the hard and unforgiving brick wall behind him as the dark haired man pushed him against it. Aiden shouted, tight hands wrapping mercilessly around his throat, and squeezing. His mouth went dry as he gasped desperately for air that just wouldn’t come, like a freshly caught fish, then, the hands around his neck went from two, to only one, Aiden gasped in slight relief, inhaling sharp breaths, chest rising and falling rapidly from the effort. He gritted his teeth, his relief dissipating immediately as his attacker’s free hand beg an to tug at Aiden’s pants, in some attempt to pull them down.

“Stop it!”

Aiden demanded, raising his good leg, and kicking his attacker in the knee as hard as he could manage, drawing an angered grunt from him.

“Fucking bitch!”

Aiden yelped, his body being yanked forward, then shoved back against the wall like a rag doll, dull pain overwhelming him as his head collided, the second hand returned around his throat, now squeezing as tight as his attacker could manage. Aiden struggled uselessly for air, colors dancing in his vision, it didn’t take long for his eyes to become heavy as he suffocated, on the brink of falling unconscious, his fate would be sealed then. After all, he’d be completely vulnerable if he was unconscious, he’d either he raped, killed, or both. He attempted to speak, to let out a demand, a plea, anything, all that came out were more sharp gasps as his body began to go limp, his grip around the arms of his attacker loosening almost completely.

(Alright, for anyone who skipped after seeing the author’s note, you can come back now, things are mostly back to normal now, as normal as this fic gets anyway.)

“Aiden?!”

A voice joined that of the two men, he barely registered it, not like he could respond anyway. Without warning, the hands around his neck suddenly released, and Aiden fell to the ground, gasping for air, his mind barely registering shouting and the sound of a struggle, blurs of pink and green dancing in his vision, before loud footsteps came and went.

“Aiden, is- is that..?”

A man’s voice was audible through the ringing in Aiden’s ear, cool and raspy.

“His hair, and the earrings- oh my gods! It is him!”

A woman’s voice rang out now, soft with a slightly high pitch. Aiden blinked, the ringing in his ears receding slightly, he hoped for a moment it was Lake’s voice he heard, but that wasn’t possible, this woman lacked the thick German accent Lake was easily recognizable from.

“Holy shit, Aiden!”

The man spoke up again, slight laughter leaving him as he pulled Aiden into a tight hug. Confusion raced through his mind as he wondered who the hell these two even were. He blinked a few times, vision finally becoming clear when the man pulled away. Aiden recognized him immediately, dark green hair put into a ponytail, brown skin, tired eyes, it was unmistakable who this was.

“Kai…?”

His former roommate, his old best friend, they hadn’t spoken since that first day, and here he was, alive and well.

“Kai, is that…?”

Aiden trailed looking up, a muscular woman with long ginger hair and freckles grinned excitedly down at him.

“Maggie? Holy shit! It- it’s you! I thought you both were dead!”

A smile tugged at the edges of Aiden’s lips, with an exasperated laugh he pulled Kai back into a tight hug, burying his face in his best friend’s shoulder.

“I thought.. oh god, it’s so great to finally see you again!”

Aiden gave Kai one last squeeze, before pulling away, smiling between Kai and Maggie.

“Still going strong I see?”

Kai chuckled and nodded, a small blush forming on Maggie’s cheeks.

“Yeah, we’ve been doing good, don’t think I can say the same for you…”

Kai trailed, frowning down at Aiden’s bloody clothing, injured leg, and now bruised neck.

“Gods.. well, I’m glad we got here when we did, were you being robbed or something?”

Kai asked with a raised eyebrow, Aiden’s smile faded, he looked down at his injured leg, then to his thigh, Maggie’s expression shifted immediately to one of realization.

“Wait- were they going to..?”

She didn’t finish the question, eyes glued to the marks on Aiden’s neck.

“Yeah.”

He mumbled, looking away.

“Oh shit..”

Kai muttered, he sighed, pulling Aiden back into a hug, softer this time, more comforting.

“I’m.. so sorry. I wish we got here sooner, you- you shouldn’t have had to deal with something like that. Did they-”

“No. They- they tried, but I didn’t let them, although, if you guys didn’t show up when you did…”

He sighed.

“The point is, I’m fine.”

“Good.”

Kai pulled away, his smile returning.

“Are you on your own?”

Aiden paused, feeling a twinge of pain as he thought of Rosa and Sofia, then of Lake.

“It’s.. a long story, but pretty much, yeah. I’m looking for my friend, but I think she’s long gone by now.”

“Do you want to come with us?”

Maggie chimed in, kneeling next to Kai, who was sitting with Aiden.

“We’ve been living in a settlement nearby for a while, we were actually out on a supply run just now, but it’s a good place. Plenty of people, good food, clean water, rules are a bit strict and you’ll have to contribute of course, but it’s much better than being out here alone, especially all injured like this, you should come with us, their always open to new people.”

Aiden considered the offer for a few moments, on one hand finding Lake was his top priority, on the other, he was injured and starving, he needed somewhere to stay, especially with two people he trusted. With a sigh, he nodded his head.

It was a long walk, but at least Aiden didn’t have to carry his stuff on his own, Maggie had volunteered to do it for him, and Kai was more than happy to let Aiden lean on him as they walked. The settlement was far more impressive than Aiden had expected, it was a few miles put away from the city, on what once seemed to have once been some kind of a farm. A large barn with warm yellow light seeping from it’s windows was at the center of it all, next to it was a shed and what looked like a water silo. To the right camping tents were packed neatly in rows, and small fires with makeshift chairs set up around them, adjacent to the tents and fires was piles upon piles of small logs, and baskets filled with objects Aiden couldn’t quite identify. To the left were large buckets and some kind of a rope attached to two tents, clothes hanging to dry from it, and a few large and important looking tents just right in front of a vast forest. As Aiden got closer, however, he could see it wasn’t a forest, but rows upon rows of apple trees, lit kerosene lamps hanging from a few of them, now that he noticed the lamps on the trees, there were lamps and candles almost everywhere.

“This used to be an old apple orchard.”

Kai began gesturing with his chin.

“They chose it as a location because it was close to the city, pretty large, and of course, all these apples as a constant food source. Plus, just a few more miles out is a big forest, so getting water and hunting animals isn’t too hard, all the candles and lamps are to keep infected away, they don’t like light much around here, but we aren’t quite sure why. This is where everyone sleeps, eats, all that stuff, everything is in different areas. Over in the far left corner is where things like laundry, medical stuff, and bathing get done, over by the tents is where we chop wood for fires, everyone has different jobs depending on what their good at. Chores like laundry and cooking are mostly for people on the younger or less skilled side, anyone with any form of medical experience is basically a doctor, most people are put in charge of maintaining the apple trees, going on supply runs, hunting for food, and chopping firewood, the strongest of us stay up at nights watching out for any infected, especially any that might be hiding in the apple trees.”

Kai explained, as they got closer, the indistinct chatter of each person walking around and doing tasks grew louder.

“You need to be approved before you’re welcomed in, just go along with what we say and you’ll be good.”

Maggie said, smiling down at Aiden. When they came to a stop, Kai left the pair, going up to a man, and beginning a conversation, the two glancing occasionally at Aiden, the man took one final look at Aiden before walking away, after a few moments, an important looking woman with long brown hair replaced him, speaking with Kai, before he went back up to Aiden and Maggie.

“Come on.”

He waved his hand for them to follow him, walking up to the woman, who looked Aiden up and down, frowning judgmentally.

“He’s injured, and…. absolutely filthy. You’re positive he isn’t infected? You said he told you he’s had that wound for a few days now.”

Kai nodded, and the woman sighed.

“Alright then, clean him up, get him some new clothes, and we can figure out what to do with him tomorrow.”

With that, the woman walked away, and Kai turned back to Aiden with a sheepish smile.

“That’s Emily, she’s… not the nicest, to say the least.”

Aiden shrugged as he was led down to one of the tents.

“This is the medical tent, I know you said you took care of the wound when you got it, but it still doesn’t look too good.”

Aiden looked down at his wound, which still stung from being kicked, and cringed.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. So is this- like- an actual doctor, or…?”

“Livestock vet, but he’s pretty much the closest thing we’ve got to one. He’s good at what he does though.”

“I guess it’s better than nothing..”

Aiden trailed before hobbling into the medical tent, where his wound was rather painfully disinfected, then stitched up neatly. Not long after, Kai and Maggie ushered him into another tent, where there was a large metal washtub, filled with water, not exactly comfortable to bathe in, but it got the job done, and for the first time in weeks, he got to enjoy the feeling of soft, clean skin, and silky smooth hair, and the new clothes he was given, although a bit big, were comfortable enough and served their purpose well. He was almost able to push the horrible events of the day to the back of his mind, especially when he was welcomed with open arms and friendly greetings by many of the other residents.

“Listen..”

Maggie began, giving a nervous glance between Aiden and Kai, whose expression matched her own. Aiden looked up from his food, swallowing before he inquired.

“What is it?”

“There are some.. rules you’re going to need to follow if you want to stay here. A lot of the things people do and say around here may seem.. strange, but the important thing is not to question it, alright?”

“Okay?”

Aiden raised an eyebrow, every eye on him suddenly seeming malicious, whereas he thought it may have just been from people’s curiosity and excitement at a new person arriving, each look someone gave him now felt more scrutinizing than anything else. Kai spoke up.

“Just- whatever you do, don’t leave without permission, if you do, they’ll assume you ran away, and they’ll go looking for you. Nothing you say, truth or not, can help you if you’re found.”

“What happens if you’re found?”

There was a long silence, interrupted only by the crackle of burning wood.

“Just.. don’t leave without permission, don’t run away, and don’t get caught. Those are the most important rules, we’ll explain the rest to you tomorrow.”

“Kai, you’re starting to freak me out with all this.. ominous stuff.”

“Aiden.”

Kai said firmly, he rarely ever spoke in such a manner.

“Even though I haven’t seen you in a long time, I still consider you my best friend, I care about you. Everything I’m telling you is for your own good, so just listen, okay?”

Aiden didn’t respond for some time, gaze averting to the soft grass beneath him, he was beginning to get a bad feeling about this place.

“Alright…”

Chapter Text

The sweet scent of apples was carried through the soft breeze, Kai breathed in, taking in the crisp aromas of the delectable fruit, looking to his side, through the leaves turned bright green by the sun’s rays shining through them, Kai watched as his best friend and his beloved collected the red treats. The taller of the two plucking them from their branches with ease and tossing them down to the shorter, who did his best to catch each one in his basket, cursing under his breath each time one ended up falling to the floor, landing on the soft grass and dry leaves with a light crunch each time, an auditory taunt at Aiden’s catching abilities.

“Quit throwing them so far to the left, I can’t catch that!”

“I’m trying, I don’t have good aim!”

“Nah, Aiden just can’t catch anything to save his life.”

At that remark, Aiden frowned, cheeks turning slightly pink.

“You shut up!”

Kai chuckled. He’d missed this, bickering with Aiden, wasting days off away talking about random things, teasing him, and making him try newer more interesting things than he usually would. It was always a wonder to others around them how the two had even became so close, let alone best friends, when one was so calm and sociable, and the other short tempered and more reserved, all they seemed to do was argue, and yet their bond was still strong as ever, even now after two years of being separated, it was as if nothing had changed.

Or, perhaps not.

Aiden was a bit different, in subtle ways, ones Maggie did not notice, but Kai did. The way Aiden smiled was much more labored than it used to be, his laugh wasn’t as vibrant, and although Kai would never point it out aloud, the shine in Aiden’s eye was ever so slightly dimmer. Or perhaps it was only a trick of the light?

“It’s great here and all,”

Aiden began as the three walked through a row of apple trees, Kai and Maggie going at a purposefully slow pace to stay in sync with Aiden, who still limped slightly due to his injured leg.

“But once my leg fully heals, I do need to get going, I need to find Lake again.”

Kai frowned.

“Didn’t you say you searched for days, that she was chased out? Wherever she is now, she’s probably assumed you’re dead, I don’t think there’s any finding her. If she’s even still…”

Kai trailed, not quite wanting to finish the sentence, he never liked having to be the one to suggest such horrible things.

“No, Lake is strong. She’s survived much worse before, one random infected isn’t going to be able to kill her.”

Kai was silent at this, tempted to bring up Aiden’s other friend, the one he’d told them was killed that same night, but such a thing would no doubt anger him, it took only one glance over at Maggie to be able to tell she was thinking the exact same thing.

“Besides,”

Aiden continued, taking an apple from his basket, and biting into it.

“If I do find her, maybe I could bring her here and we can both stay? I think you guys would get along great with her, and she’d probably be pretty happy here.”

Aiden suggested through a mouthful of apple, neither Kai nor Maggie dare to call out how unrealistic of an idea that was.

“Yeah, maybe..”

Maggie trailed, avoiding eye contact.

Hours flew by as the three wasted away the afternoon in the orchard, picking apples, talking, and at one point napping at the base of one of the trees, a thick fog now blocking the sunlight and blanketing over them. It was then, when Kai and Aiden had just woken up, Maggie still sleeping soundly, that Aiden spoke again.

“You know, it’s kind of funny. I fully believed you were dead, I never thought I’d see you again, but… I still got you this.”

Kai raised an eyebrow as Aiden reached into his pocket.

“That day I mentioned, when I looted that mall, I decided to take earrings from a store and while I was there, and I saw something that reminded me of you.”

Kai looked down, as Aiden pulled out a cheap looking necklace, what was supposed to be amethyst, but was likely just stained glass or resin.

“I know it’s probably fake, but I remembered how much you like crystals, and I just… here.”

He extended his hand to Kai, a soft smile playing on his features.

“I saved it for you, I guess part of me just knew you were still alive, that I’d be giving it to you someday, and.. here we are.”

Kai smiled back, taking the necklace, and putting it on, the cold metal of the necklace’s chain touching the back of his neck sending a slight shiver down his spine.

“Yeah, this- this is fake.”

Kai looked back up at Aiden and grinned.

“But, I love it, I do.”

Aiden smiled bashfully. Silence lingered for a few moments, a cold fog bathing the apple trees and the three friends sitting beneath them. Kai glanced down for a moment, seeing a tear in Aiden’s sleeve, and chuckling.

“You’ve only had this shirt for a week and you’re destroying it already?”

Aiden looked down, seeing the tear, before his cheeks turned pink in embarrassment.

“Shut up!”

Aiden grumbled, looking away, with another soft chuckle, Kai reached into his bag, an old and beaten up tote bag he’d had since before the whole apocalypse, and pulled out a needle and thread, which he always had for these types of situations.

“You know how to sew?”

Aiden shook his head, and Kai gently grabbed Aiden’s arm, holding it up as he prepared his needle and thread.

“Here, I’ll show you.”

Aiden looked down at his arm, as Kai put the thread through the needle, and then put the needle up to the fabric of his sleeve, making swift but skillful movements as he sewed the tear back up, careful to not poke his friend with the needle. Calming silence reigned over the two friends, leaves glided in the air as they worked, carried by the soft breeze. After a little while, Aiden became relaxed, leaning back and closing his eyes, beginning to hum, his voice soft and smooth, the melody calming and warm like a lullaby. Kai smiled, not looking away from the task at hand, his mind going back to old memories, from before this all began. When the two would be cleaning their apartment, the melody of Aiden’s singing filling gaps of silence as they worked, making the tedium of it all much more bearable.

“You’ve always been a great singer, I think you’ve gotten even better since I last heard you.”

Aiden gave a sheepish smile.

“Well, I’ve sung a lot more in the last two years than I did before, no one else in the group was very good at it, so singing Sofia lullabies was always my job, and whenever anyone was sad, or injured, I’d sing for them and it usually helped at least a little bit.”

Aiden chuckled softly.

“I remember how excited Sofia would get when I’d sing her songs, it was one of the only ways to get that kid to stop talking and just behave for once. I remember, actually, the four of us were sitting under a tree, just like we are now, and I started singing a lullaby for Sofia, and everyone ended up falling asleep, she was so excited, it was…”

Aiden paused, his smile faded completely, and the calming silence was replaced by one of both awkwardness and sorrow. With a sigh, Aiden shook his head softly.

“Never mind.”

Awkward silence spanned for a while as Kai finished gingerly the sleeve back together.

“You.. know anything about Greek mythology?”

Aiden raised an eyebrow.

“Not really, why?”

“You kind of remind me of someone I read about in a mythology book.”

“Who?”

“Achilles.”

“The guy with the heel?”

“Yeah, you know how the story goes, a hero who invincible, never able to be killed, I mean, except for his heel.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Well, from what you’ve told us, you’ve gone through some really heavy shit, but despite all of it you somehow still survived, you just can’t seem to die?”

Aiden chuckled.

“Seriously, dude?”

He arched an eyebrow, grinning at Kai. He’d missed when Aiden looked at him like that. (Interpret that how you will)

“I know, it’s stupid, but it just popped into my mind, y’know?”

“Really, okay then, what’s my weak spot, my Achilles heel? Is it.. my hand? My back? My eye?”

Aiden put a finger to his bottom right eyelid, pulling slightly, drawing a snicker from his friend.

“Oh yeah, you’d be a pirate then, we’d have to get you an eyepatch and everything.”

“God no, I’d look like an idiot if I wore an eyepatch.”

“No you wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, I would-“

Aiden was cut off by a yawn, looking up, Kai could see Maggie had finally awoken.

“You’ve been asleep a while.”

Kai greeted her with a smile.

“Rest well?”

Maggie nodded, leaning down and giving Kai a kiss on the cheek, earning a mocking laugh from Aiden.

“What is it?”

Maggie asked, her large cyan eyes shining with her usual insecurity.

“Oh, nothing, nothing. You two are just a cute couple is all.”

Aiden quickly brushed off her concerns, inspecting his sewn up sleeve.

“Oh, thanks..”

Maggie looked away, her cheeks going pink at the compliment, earning a soft smile from Kai. Maggie was rarely given sincere compliments, she never knew how to react, always getting flustered, something Kai couldn’t tell if it was cute, or just kind of sad.

“Oh, do you mind settling a debate for us?”

“Sure..?”

“Me and Kai were talking about whether or not I’d look stupid with an eyepatch, I said I would but he insisted otherwise. What do you think?”

Maggie contemplated the question, staring long and hard at Aiden.

“Yeah, I have to side with Aiden on that one.”

Maggie mumbled, looking away, drawing a laugh of victory from Aiden, and a look of mock betrayal from Kai.

“How cou-“

Just then, a low growl emanated from deeper in the trees, cutting him off.

“Did you hear that?”

Aiden whispered cautiously, Kai and Maggie both nodded, Kai gesturing with his chin for them to go and investigate the noise. The group stood, walking slowly and carefully towards the noise, leaving their baskets of apples behind on the ground. They came to a halt, hiding behind a particularly large apple tree, and staring a few yards ahead, where an infected stood, faced away from the group. It was disgusting, branches protruding from it’s stomach, the skin was torn open, leaving intestines exposed, dangling from the body of the infected, and being devoured by maggots and insects, which crawled and bit at the intestines with audible squishes of fluid.

“Oh Gods..”

Kai mumbled, covering his mouth and nose to keep away the putrid stench, Aiden cringed.

“Jesus Christ- that thing is ugly.”

“Don’t say that!”

Maggie whispered harshly, pinching her nose.

“That thing is near death, I don’t think it cares.”

“Still!”

Aiden rolled his eyes dismissively.

“Alright, alright. Do either of you have any weapons? We need to kill it.”

Kai and Maggie both shook their heads.

“I think if I’m quiet enough, I can sneak up behind it and snap its neck?”

“What if it wounds you? You could get infected.”

Aiden furrowed his brows, looking between Kai and Maggie, surprised at Kai’s relaxation toward the ridiculous suggestion.

“It’s okay, she’s done this before and never got hurt too bad, if she gets infected we’ll just have Krystal take care of it.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow before sighing.

“Alright, just.. be careful.”

Maggie took a step forward, before Aiden grabbed her wrist, whispering.

“Do you think you could kill it some other way? Snapping it’s neck just.. reminds me of Sofia.”

Aiden’s tone grew sorrowful, Kai and Maggie both stared with pity, but eventually, Maggie nodded, and snuck forward towards the infected. The struggle was brief, and she was able to tear off its head relatively quickly. Kai and Aiden stepped towards Maggie and the now dead infected, cringing.

“What do we do with it now? If we leave the body here it’ll rot into the ground and infect the apples, and we’ll all go hungry, but.. where are we supposed to put it?”

Aiden asked, looking between Kai and Maggie.

“Oh, that’s Marcus and Derek’s job, disposing of dead infected.”

Kai explained.

“Haven’t you ever wondered why there’s sometimes smoke coming from the top of that hill near the edge of the orchard? Where all the old withered trees are?”

“I never really noticed it..”

“Well, it’s a fire. Where they burn bad meat, dead infected, trash, all those things. They do it away from everything else so they don’t accidentally light something else on fire too. Point is, I’ll just go get Marcus, you two stay here, and he’ll take care of it.”

Maggie and Aiden nodded, and Kai walked off, there was a few bests of silence before Aiden looked up at Maggie.

“He’s different.”

“Huh?”

Maggie looked down deep cyan eyes staring with curiosity.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s just.. different than when I last saw him, y’know? I don’t know how to describe it, but…”

Aiden sighed.

“You.. get what I’m saying, right?”

Maggie merely shrugged.

“I guess so, I think we’ve all changed. Kai’s more serious, I’ve gotten more confident, with everything going on in the world, it makes sense we’re different than how we used to be, we had to change to survive.”

Aiden considered her response for a few moments.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“You.. wanted to see me?”

Emily called out as she stood at the entrance of Krystal’s tent, eyes grazing over each detail of her beloved’s bloody figure as she clutched her cut up arm.

“Would you mind taking care of this?”

“Of course not.”

Emily stepped inside, closing the tent flap behind her, and walking to Krystal’s vanity where she sat, beneath it was a large box, filled with heavy medical supplies, picking it up with slight difficulty and setting it down on the scratched up wood. She took out some bandages and a jar of grounded up turmeric, which they’d used to heal her wounds in the place of medical chemicals for some time now. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at Krystal when she extended her hand towards her, Emily took it, and began to treat the cut, just as she almost always did.

“I still don’t get why you never just see the doctor for your cuts.”

Emily said with a chuckle, earning a scoff from Krystal.

“Like I’d trust some livestock vet to be treating my wounds, you and Marcus are the only ones I trust with that.”

Emily rolled her eyes, but couldn’t suppress her smile. It didn’t take long to take care of the wound, and put away the box of supplies.

“Is that all you called me here for?”

Emily asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It doesn’t seem either of us are busy right now, I was hoping maybe we could do something together? Talk, go for a walk, cuddle, just anything really. I’ve missed being around you, Krystal, you’re always so busy.”

Krystal smiled, raising her hand up to her veil, and removing it, showing her face, which only Marcus and Emily ever got to see. Emily’s eyes examined Krystal’s face with admiration, no matter what Krystal said, how she despised her scars and her disfigurements, Emily couldn’t help but find Krystal gorgeous despite them. Her eyes ran over each line, each scar, each ‘flaw’ that made Krystal feel a need to wear a veil, one Emily wore as well not as a sign of insecurity, but of love and devotion to Krystal. Smiling back at her, Emily put a gentle hand on Krystal’s left cheek, running her thumb on her scars, and with her free hand, removing her own veil.

“Actually..”

Krystal began, standing to her feet.

“I did have something I wanted to discuss with you.”

Emily watched with curiosity as Krystal walked to a large box of random items, pulling out a thick heavy looking binder, and a notebook.

“What’s all that?”

“Research, you could say.”

Krystal answered vaguely, setting the notebook down on a desk a few feet away from her much smaller vanity.

“I haven’t shown this to anyone, not even Marcus, it’s something I’ve been doing in private, but I was hoping to involve you both in it.”

Emily walked up to Krystal, peering over her shoulder at both the notebook and the binder.

“I’m listening.”

Krystal took a breath, opening the binder, and flipping to a recent page, on it was a drawing that depicted a humanoid creature, tall and thin, with bulging eyes, it looked like a regular infected, but lacked any plant features. Scribbled on the side of the page opposite to the drawing were various notes.

Emily arched a brow at the incoherent writing, and at the drawing.

“What.. exactly is this?”

Krystal did not say anything for a while.

“The answer.”

“To what?”

Silence reigned for countless minutes.

“Ask Derek and Marcus to fetch Oliver for me?”

Aiden’s axe went clean through the wooden log, splitting it into two, with a heavy sigh, he tossed the pieces off to the side with the rest of the firewood, piles upon piles of cut up logs covered by a large grey tarp, to keep the wood from getting wet, they would be completely unusable then. Aiden hated chopping firewood, it was tiring, and very tedious, a chore that seemed to last forever, and one he could rarely get out of doing. Still though, he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, and so, he continued chopping. Until he heard a commotion, looking over his shoulder, at one of the big tents, he recognized two figures arguing either one another, Krystal and Oliver.

Aiden stood still for a few moments, axe in hand, debating whether or not to follow them and eavesdrop, or continue on with his boring chores. After what must have been five minutes or so, he chose the former, propping his axe up against the wooden logs, and following sneakily after the two, branches of apple trees enveloped by thick and winding tendrils of cold fog, threatening to grab Aiden and drag him into the cold abyss. Still, he followed for what seemed like forever, until he reached the edge of the orchard where the old withered trees lie, then to the final tree, he looked out, on the top of a hill some yards away was a clearing, in it a large fire and each of the still arguing friends, Krystal clutching an old bag to her chest, undoubtedly glaring beneath her veil as Oliver shouted at her. Aiden hid behind one of the larger trees peeking his head out just barely far enough to watch the scene in front of him.

“This is insane, Krystal! You have to see that!”

“Shut up! I don’t want to do this but I have to!”

“No, you don’t! This isn’t right, these are just dreams, delusions, none of these things are real! Whatever you think you’ve been told isn’t true! Krystal please, we’re worried about you, we care about you, stop this, it’s self destructive! Please!”

Silence reigned.

“You were.. one of my dearest friends Oliver, even if I never acted like it, I’m sorry.”

Krystal’s voice broke slightly, she almost seemed as if she was choking back a sob. She reached into her bag, grabbing a notebook and a kitchen knife, before tossing the gag to the ground.

“Krystal…?”

Oliver took a step back, face morphed with pure terror.

“If you stay still, I can make it quick. I’m sorry.”

“Krystal?!”

She charged towards him, knife raised.

“KRYSTAL!”

Aiden’s stomach curled at the wet slice of the knife embedding itself hilt deep into Oliver’s chest, a loud peircing scream echoed through the clearing, eventually Oliver fell limp and lifeless onto the grass beneath him, just in front of the fire. It all made sense now, Kai and Maggie’s mentioning of  strange rules, the weird clothing Krystal, Derek, Emily, and Marcus wore, the unwavering faith the other people seemed to have in her, talks of a ‘savior’, of a ‘cure’, it was all so clear now.

This wasn’t a settlement, this was a cult.

Aiden wasted no time, turning around and sprinting away as fast as his body would carry him, ignoring the burning pain in his wounded leg, and the branches of apple trees that scratched and grabbed at him as he sprinted through the endless rows, cold wind and fog blowing against him, the sharp chill almost distracting enough to keep him from thinking of his leg, and of Oliver. He had only three things in mind; find Kai and Maggie, tell them what he saw, and flee as far away from this place as humanly possible. And so, he ran with everything in him, as if carried by some invisible force, until he reached the other end of the orchard, back into the settlement, only broken out of his racing thoughts by the sensation of bumping into someone hard, two people to be accurate. Aiden fell to the ground, panting heavily, clenching a fistful of grass as someone groaned in annoyance.

“Hey! Can’t you watch where you’re going?!”

“Riya, don’t be like that, he didn’t mean to.”

Aiden looked up, to see a middle aged man with pale tattooed skin and grey hair, next to him, a dark skinned woman with a high ponytail, who glared down at Aiden.

“Hey, you alright?”

The man asked, extending a hand to help Aiden up, his gold tooth catching the light.

“Yeah, I am… s-sorry about that.”

Aiden muttered, taking his hand and rising to his feet.

“You sure you’re alright kid? You look like you saw something.”

The older man looked down at him with concern, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, Aiden blinked a few times before shaking his head softly.

“No, I was just in a hurry is all.”

Aiden looked around anxiously.

“Do you, uhm.. know where Kai is?”

“He’s the one with the green hair, right?”

Aiden nodded.

“I think I saw him by your tent, you two are friends right?”

Aiden nodded dismissively.

“Yeah, uh, good friends, really close, I just needed to find him is all.”

The man frowned, but put his hand back at his side.

“Alright, I’m Connor by the way, and this is Riya, you’re.. Aiden, right?”

Aiden nodded.

“Well, it was nice meeting you.”

“Uh huh, nice meeting you too.”

Aiden dismissed with a small wave before speed walking to his tent, the one he shared with Kai and Maggie, struggling to ignore the screaming pain in his leg. When he reached their tent, he rushed in, relieved to see Kai was indeed there.

“We need to get out of here, right now!”

“Why? What happened?”

Kai sat up straight, arching a brow as Aiden knelt in front of him so they were on eye level.

“This place, it’s a cult, it’s dangerous! They killed Oliver, I saw it! Maybe others before him! We have to escape!”

Kai’s expression was unreadable.

“You.. just realized?”

“You knew…? And- and you just stayed here anyway?!”

Kai sighed, speaking in hushed tones.

“Kind of.. look, we had a plan to go soon, but after finding you, we decided to wait until your leg was healed to do it.”

Aiden glanced down.

“It’s mostly okay, hurts to run, but it isn’t too bad.”

Kai nodded.

“In that case, let’s go find Maggie. I have a plan.”

WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO:

I finally made the redesigns for Alec, Emily, and Fiore, as well as an illustration of Krystal’s notes.

redesigns plus notes: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@murderous._.pineapple/photo/7364237258473344298?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7364314409612690987

Chapter Text

“Has anyone been able to escape before?”

Kai nodded, him, Aiden, and Maggie, were deep in the apple orchard, speaking carefully in hushed tones despite being the only ones out picking apples at that moment.

“A few months ago, a group of three escaped, two women, and one man. They’d been here about a year or so before they ran off, Krystal sent some people after them, but they were never caught. There have been a few others too, but those three were the only ones successful at escaping in an entire group.”

“What happened to the groups who were caught?”

“They were k-killed.. all of them. Everyone who’s been caught trying to escape or been found after escaping has been dragged back and.. died. The only exceptions to this rule are children.”

Maggie stammered, looking around nervously through the trees, checking for anyone who may be spying on the trio.

“So, what’s the plan then? If we leave all at the same time then we’ll be found for sure. But if we all leave on separate days that’ll be difficult too, after the first person goes everyone will be looking for them, everyone will be on guard for anyone else trying to escape, it’d be near impossible for the other two.”

Kai gave a heavy sigh, leaning against the trunk of one of the trees.

“Well, escaping through the orchard isn’t an option, someone already did that and now Krystal usually has at least a few people at the edges, watching for anybody trying to escape. Hypothetically, we could escape during a supply run, just leave and not come back, but it’s a complete gamble when the next time we’ll be assigned to go on one is, and I think I speak for all of us when I say we’d rather not have to wait and stay here any longer.”

“So essentially, we’re fucked?”

Aiden grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Well, everyone usually leaves during the night, that’s when everyone is most on guard, maybe if we just left in broad daylight we’d have a better chance?”

Maggie suggested.

“But where would we go? The forest would be brimming with infected once it becomes nighttime, the city nearby is obvious, everyone would look for us there, there’s people watching the orchard, and pretty much all of the exits! Where could we possibly go to escape, and where would we even escape to?”

Aiden argued, making Maggie flinch.

“In that case,”

Kai began, his voice more calm compared to Aiden and Maggie, strangely calm.

“Our best bet is to just wait it out until we get assigned for a supply run, then get as far away as we can once we do.”

“But that could potentially be weeks or even months from now, maybe longer! We have no way of knowing when the next time us three specifically get assigned for one!”

Maggie countered, voice dripping with both worry and skepticism.

“It’s our safest option.”

Kai repeated firmly.

“So long as we’re patient, don’t give anyone any reason to think we might be planning to escape, we’ll be just fine.”

“If you say so..”

Maggie trailed, glancing through the trees once more, Aiden gave an annoyed sigh, but didn’t object, no matter how much he already despised this place, and how he yearned for nothing more than to just get out.

Once again, like clockwork, Aiden’s axe cut clean through the chunk of wood like butter, his arms were sore from hacking away for hours, and he counted each second with bated breath until the sun would finally set, and he could finish his work. Of all the things he had to do daily, chopping wood sucked the most, a chore he’d resign himself to during the last hours of each day, spoiling anything pleasant to come before with the awareness of what was to come itching at the back of his mind constantly. Today was different however, he had someone to assist him, the middle aged man he’d met the day prior, Connor. He hadn’t expected a man of his age to be able to do such a laboring task so well, but Aiden couldn’t find it in him to care enough to question it.

“You’re holding it wrong.”

“Huh?”

Aiden looked up, to see Connor had put his own axe down and was now standing next to Aiden.

“Your doing good and all, but your holding it wrong, your hands are too low.”

Aiden arched an eyebrow, but brought his hands up higher on the smooth wood before Connor gave a nod, walking back to where he had been chopping wood earlier.

“Thanks.”

Aiden mumbled, going back to the task at hand, stiff silence spanned for a while before Connor spoke again.

“So.. your friends with Kai? I’m guessing you two are close?”

Aiden nodded.

“Yeah, we were best friends for a while before all of this happened, still are.”

Connor made a noise of acknowledgment.

“Yeah, he’s a good guy, he mentioned you pretty often whenever we talked with each other, he was really worried.”

“Was he?”

“Yeah.”

Connor chuckled.

“Honestly, the way he talked about you made it seem like he had a..”

Connor paused, blinking a few times.

“Actually.. nevermind. Just- forget I said anything.”

More awkward silence stretched on, Aiden glanced up, looking over his shoulder to see Kai talking with Derek at one of the large tents before going inside.

What was that all about?

Aiden was torn from the comfort of a dreamless sleep, by shouting. Rubbing his eyes and sitting up, he squinted, turning his head to look over at Kai and Maggie. Both should have been sound asleep, both should have been in the tent with Aiden, but they weren’t. They were gone. Confused thoughts raced through him as he left his tent, and walked out into the open field, cold air peircing his skin like hundreds of microscopic needles, cold fog obscured his vision, but blurs of orange light from lanterns shone through the thick moisture that hung low in the air. Looking to his left, he could identify the sound of shouting, following the noise, the argument grew more clear, as did the figures before him, Emily was yelling at someone, who was restrained by Marcus, Derek, and two others Aiden did not recognize, stepping closer, he realized with horror that the person being restrained was none other Maggie.

“What’s going on? Let go of her!”

Aiden demanded, taking a step forward to help his friend, the arguing halted completely for a moment, before Emily turned to Maggie.

“He was involved too, wasn’t he?!”

Maggie’s mouth worked, but no words came forth.

“Answer me!”

Emily shouted in a flash of rage.

“He was involved your plan, wasn’t he?!”

“No! H-he wasn’t! It was just us two!”

Maggie shouted back, voice cracking.

“What’s going on here?! W-where’s Kai?!”

Aiden shouted in confusion, rushing forward to help Maggie, before someone grabbed his arm, and yanked him back into place, he looked up to see it was Connor.

“What’s going on..?”

Connor stared down at Aiden with an expression close to pity.

“Kai is gone, he ran away. He and Maggie were going to leave together, but they got caught and he left her behind. He left both of you behind.”

The words hit Aiden like a freight train, and his mind went completely blank.

“He.. what?”

He blinked a few times.

“No, your- you lying! That isn’t what happened! Where is he?!”

Connor hardly reacted to the outburst, the older man seemingly filled with infinite patience for those around him. Emily kept on yelling at Maggie.

“You were both escaping, he was close with you both, what reason do I have to think he wasn’t involved too?!”

Maggie stared at Aiden, neither dared to speak a word.

“Derek, go get Aiden’s axe.”

“His axe- why? I have a knife right here, what do we need his axe for?”

“Derek. Do. It. NOW! I won’t ask again!”

In a flash, Derek scurried off to retrieve Aiden’s axe, returning just as quickly,. Aiden’s mind raced with confused thoughts as Emily turned to him.

“I have an offer for you.”

“An.. offer?”

“You were involved, I know that for fact, Maggie is a shit liar, it was easy to figure out. Rules say all three of you should die, but since you’ve only been here a few days and may not know the rules about leaving, I’ll be merciful. You have two options, you both die right here and now,”

Emily gestured to the axe in Derek’s hands.

“Or, you can take that axe and do away with her yourself, and you’ll be spared, only one of you will have to die. It’s up to you.”

Aiden’s mouth went dry as she spoke.

“You.. can’t be serious-“

“I’m not in the mood for this tonight, with Krystal and Oliver going missing my patience is running thin, you can either accept my offer and kill her, or turn it down and both die. Twenty seconds.”

“Wha.. I- I won’t-“

“Do it!”

Maggie shouted.

“It’s better for one of us to make it out than neither of us!”

“You can’t actually be-“

“Just do it!”

“Times running out.”

Emily interjected in a singsong voice.

Tears pricking his eyes, and pure survival instinct kicking in, Aiden snatched the axe from Derek.

“Fine!”

Feeling his arm finally be released from Connor’s iron grip, Aiden’s fists wrapped tightly around his weapon.

“J'accepte.”

“Great, now get it over with, I’m not in the mood for any of your drama, just do it and go back to your tent.”

Looking back over at Maggie, who was being held down now, staring with wide cyan eyes marred by tears, Aiden’s voice cracked.

“I’m so sorry..”

“It’s okay, I forgive you… Just, if you’re ever able to, find Kai, tell him I love him. I know he didn’t leave us behind, it just isn’t possible.”

“I will, I promise.”

Aiden raised his axe above his head, taking careful aim, his vision obscured by his own tears.

“No, beheading her is too easy, anyone could do that. You want to be spared, then put in an effort. Don’t make it so painless.”

Aiden stared at Emily, dumbfounded for a moment, before turning back to Maggie, whose body now shook violently with fear.

“Aiden…?”

“I’M SORRY!”

And with a shout of effort, he brought the axe down. It connected at the center of Maggie’s head, and she let out an unending piercing scream. His own screams join her’s as he raised the axe once more, them brought it down, as fast and as hard as he could to end her suffering as soon as possible, he could feet his arms become drenched in sticky red blood, yet he kept hacking away, still screaming even when Maggie did not. That was, until he tasted something.

Warm, metallic, blood. Maggie’s blood. He opened his eyes, the corpse of his former friend was unrecognizable, just a bloody mess of flesh and tissue. Aiden was drenched in her blood, it coated his face, clothes, and hair, and most importantly, his mouth. That’s what he got for screaming so much, he supposed. He yanked the axe violently out of her remains with a wet noise, and threw it down on the blood soaked grass before him. Taking a step back, he stared slack jawed at his friend, his friend who he had just murdered.

Murdered.

Aiden had taken the life of another human, he was now a murderer. It wasn’t the same as killing infected, infected weren’t people anymore they were violent monsters, but Maggie was not, she was kind, and gentle, and shy, and generous, she was a good person, she was a human. And she was Aiden’s friend.

He wanted to run, to hide from what he’d done. He wanted to run away, to go home, back to Lake, Rosa, and Sofia, back to his father and sister, to hug them, feel their warm embrace and hear them say that everything would be okay, that none of this had really happened. More than anything else, Aiden wanted his mother.

Aiden just wanted his mother, to hug her tightly and cry in her arms like a child, he wanted so desperately to run. And so, he ran, he turned around and ran, but he didn’t get far. He only took one step before he collapsed to the ground, the bitter taste of acid overwhelming him as he vomited onto the grass, his mind still screaming as he spat bile out once he was done, yet the metallic taste of blood and sickly sweet taste of apples still lingered on his tongue. It was one thing to watch the people you love die, but it was another to kill them with your own to hands. He screamed, he screamed, and sobbed, burying his face into his hands and collapsing into a ball on the ground, and he screamed, and screamed, and screamed. A warm hand rested gently on his shoulder, then pulled him into a hug.

“I know.. it’s always difficult the first time.”

Connor murmured sympathetically, as Aiden continued to just scream and sob, his body shaking like a leaf.

He could still taste her blood.

Aiden was moved to Connor and Riya’s tent after that. When he’d gone to his old one to get his things, two objects in particular stood out, a stray hair band lying uselessly on the floor, Maggie’s no doubt. But more oddly, next to Aiden’s pillow, placed carefully was a cheap crystal necklace, the one he’d given to Kai, now returned back to him. He took only one of those items with him when he moved tents.

WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO:

I made some art of Aiden that kinda foreshadows his character arc, a lot of the elements in his design hint at future events in the story!

Aiden art: https://www.tiktok.com/@murderous._.pineapple/photo/7365338875423640874?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7364314409612690987

I’d like to hear if any of you have any guesses on what will happen to him based on the drawing in the third and fourth slide, also feedback on the art and the redesign itself would be appreciated! 

Chapter Text

When James had woken up this morning, he hadn’t anticipated this was how his day would go. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t an axe at his throat. But, here he was, running for his life, all because Yul seemed to lack this little thing called common sense. Just James’ luck.

“You’re an idiot, you’re a fucking idiot!”

James shouted at Yul, dry leaves crunching beneath their feet as they sprinted through the city’s vast and empty streets.

“Says the one who dropped his weapon!”

Yul yelled back, struggling to cock his crossbow as he ran. (Yeah, that’s actually the terminology for putting an arrow into a crossbow, believe it or not)

“I wouldn’t have dropped it if I wasn’t busy saving your dumb ass, who thought it would be a grand idea to steal from a fucking cult! What the hell were you even thinking?!”

“It’s not my fault I got caught! I was in a hurry!”

Yul deflecting, still struggling with his weapon.

“Bullshit! It was a stupid idea, and you know it! Now I lost my weapon, and our only defense is that crossbow! And you barely even know how to use it!”

“I’m trying, okay?! At least one of us is!”

“Shut up! Now we’re going to die, and it’s all your fault!”

“Are you seriously blaming this on me?!”

“Yeah, I am! Because it’s your fucking fault! I told you not to try it, but you just wouldn’t listen!”

James continued his onslaught of insults as he and Yul rounded a corner between two tall buildings, to a narrow street.

“Whatever! I didn’t know they were part of that shit! I thought they were just three random people!”

“Even so, going against three people all by yourself was idiotic! This is why I don’t trust you with-“

James was cut off as someone tackled him from behind, falling forward onto the hard, unforgiving pavement. James thrashed, and without much effort knocked the person off of him and rise to his feet. Turning around, he had little time to react before an axe was pointed right at his throat, he froze up, not daring to make a single sound.

“Hey! Hey! Get away from him!”

James and the man wielding the axe both turned to look at Yul, who was pointing his crossbow right at the man, he felt slight relief, until the axe was pressed further towards him, the cold metal pressed lightly against his skin, sending a shiver down his spine.

“Shoot, and I slit his throat open.”

The man threatened plainly, Yul glared for a few moments, before lowering his crossbow slowly.

“Take out the arrow.”

Yule’s glare deepened but he obeyed, removing it from his crossbow and tossing it aside so it lay uselessly at the man’s feet.

“Asshole.”

Yul grumbled, James felt overwhelming gratitude seeing the man seemed to not hear the insult, or just didn’t really care. If he had, James was sure he’d be killed. Now at a standstill James simply stared at the man, who seemed to be debating in his head what to do with him and Yul, he was admittedly pretty cute, James probably would have blushed at being close to such a man if not for the fact he was pointing an axe right at his throat with potentially murderous intent. After what felt like eternity of the man looking between Yul and James, the sound of loud footsteps seemed to grab his attention. He sighed, lowering his axe, before kicking Yul’s arrow in his direction.

“It’s not worth it, just- just go..”

James breathed deeply in relief, the man whispering as he stepped back, and the footsteps grew louder.

“Seriously, run!”

Yul certainly didn’t need to be told twice, grabbing James’ wrist and dragging them off, leaving the man standing alone in the street, watching after them. When they were at a safe distance, Yul spoke up again.

“I told you we’d be fine.”

“We got lucky.”

Yul shrugged.

“Maybe, but I was right. That’s the important part.”

There was a beat of silence, interrupted only by the sound of Yul fiddling with his crossbow.

“Why do you think he let us go?”

“Well Yul, there’s this little thing called basic human decency-”

“Oh fuck off, that isn’t a real answer!”

“..You think that guy’s okay? I mean, that cult thing is crazy, they kill people over any little thing. You think they’ll realize he let us go and that we didn’t just escape?”

Yul shrugged.

“Eh, he’s probably fucked, but… better him than us.”

“Jesus Christ Yul- can you go one minute without being a complete dick?”

“Can you?”

James gave an exasperated sigh.

“Look- I’m just saying, it feels wrong just walking away from the situation, y’know?”

“Then don’t think about it, problem solved. You’re welcome.”

“Can you ju-“

James was cut off by the sudden sound of a man screaming, stopping dead in his tracks, dread curling in his stomach.

“I think I was right..”

Aiden watched the two men quickly scurry off, overwhelmed with what he could only describe as mixed feelings. On one hand, a couple of stolen supplies wasn’t worth harming someone over, but on the other hand, if either Connor or Riya realized Aiden had just let them go, the consequences would be dire. Turning around, he felt unease when he saw Riya rounding the corner and approaching him, weapon in hand, a shovel, the edges of which had been sanded down into a sharp and triangular shape, turning the farming tool into what was basically an oversized spear.

“Did you see where they went?”

Aiden shook his head.

“No, I was checking here to see if they were hiding, but so far no luck.”

Rita thought for a moment.

“Hey, can I see your bag? I need some water and my bottle is empty.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Aiden took his backpack off, passing it to Riya, who set it down next to her on the pavement.

“Do you think we should look-“

Aiden was cut off when, without warning, Riya raised her shovel, and in a flash, brought it down upon Aiden’s face. His axe clattered onto the ground, as he brought his hand over the right side of his face, over his eye. Warm blood ran over his face and hands, a sharp pain overwhelming his senses. He shrieked in agony, stumbling back and falling onto his hands and knees, heaving in pain, staring up at Riya in a mix of confusion and terror.

“Riya, what the fuck are you doing?!”

Aiden screamed at her, but she didn’t respond, instead, raising her weapon again, this time bringing it down on Aiden’s back, methodically dragging the sharp blade over the flesh, ignoring Aiden’s continued screaming, putting her foot on top of the back of his head, stomping down firmly to keep him from getting up.

“Riya, what the fuck?!”

Aiden screamed again, barely able to even speak as he coughed up his own blood, overwhelmed not only by the pain of his wounds, but of his head being crushed between a dirty boot and bloodied pavement.

“You let those two go! I heard you tell them to run! First you tried running away, now you let those two go after they steal from us?!”

Aiden gritted his teeth, squinting his good eye open, he saw his axe laying uselessly nearby, and reached for it, only for Riya to stab clean through his palm, earning even more agonized screams.

“Riya- what the hell are you doing?!”

“CONNOR, HELP ME!”

Aiden pleaded through bloody choking. The dull aching his head being alleviated when Connor dragged Riya off of him.

“Riya, what the fuck are you doing?!”

“He let those two go! I heard it! He betra-“

Aiden wasted no time, crawling forward and grasping his axe, in one swift motion, he swung it as high as he could manage, and with a wet squelch it connected, embedding deep into Riya’s waist, Aiden’s screaming now being replaced by those of his attacker.

“RIYA?! RIYA! OH SHIT!”

Aiden pulled the axe out of Riya’s abdomen and let it drop to the pavement with a loud clatter, too weak and in pain to be able to carry the weapon for any longer. His vision grew hazy, but he could see in the blurs of Riya and Connor’s figures fade into the distance as Connor carry her away. Aiden’s breaths grew labored, and eye heavy.

‘Is this really it? Am I seriously about to die saving two random men?’

No, Aiden couldn’t die now. He needed to find Lake, he needed to make sure she was alive, to reunite with her. This couldn’t be it, he needed Lake, he needed someone, anyone to stop this pain. This sharp, overwhelming pain that made Aiden feel as if his entire body was set ablaze. He wanted it to end, for the pain to end, as he lay there choking on his own blood, he just wanted to go home again. He wanted to be laying in a warm bed with soft blankets and fluffy pillows as his father kisses him good night, to be sitting beneath a weeping willow on a warm day singing lullabies to Lake, Rosa, and Sofia, he wanted to be smiling down at his baby sister as they caught snails and play tag on a rainy day, to be standing in front of a bathroom mirror giggling as his father did his best attempt at giving Aiden a ‘boy’s haircut’ the night that he came out as trans, to be singing as the lead in a musical in his senior year pouring his heart out to an adoring crowd, hearing compliments of people swearing up and down that he would one day be a star.

More than anything, more than all of that, more than each of those sweet memories, Aiden wanted his mother. He always wanted his mother whenever terrible things happened, he wanted her to take away his pain, to hold him in her arms and sing to him.

Aiden wanted his mother, he wanted his mother so, so badly.

He was torn from his thoughts by even more footsteps.

“Shit- he’s really hurt!”

“Is he even alive?”

“Yeah, he’s breathing, see? He’s losing a lot of blood though, we need to be quick!”

“What?! James, come on, he’s going to die either way, let’s just leave him here!”

“Mama..?”

Aiden tried to turn his head up to look at one of the figures.

“Holy shit! His eye! His eye! Quick, help me get him up!”

“There’s no helping this guy! Let’s just go!”

“He risked his life for us! We are not just leaving him here!”

“That was his own mistake! Let’s just go!”

“Mama.”

Aiden squeezed his eye shut, mumbling.

“Wait, hold on! What’d you say?”

“Mama... ça fait très mal…”

“He’s just babbling nonsense, come on!”

The person kneeling beside Aiden ignored his companion, attempting to carry Aiden bridal style, unintentionally touching the massive gash on his back, making Aiden shriek, coughing even more blood onto the man’s shirt, the man quickly changed his approach, gently picking Aiden up and carrying him on his back instead, like a piggy back ride. (Haha, episode 6 reference)

“You get his stuff!”

“James, he’s gonna die either way, what’s the point-“

“NOW!”

Aiden’s vision began to fade, he felt his body go limp, and eye fall shut.

“Mama, aide-moi.. aidez-moi s'il vous plaît….”

Chapter Text

Fire. Red, hot, raging fire.

Everywhere Alec looked there were flames, they engulfed his home, the neighborhood he lived in, everything as far as the eye could see was burning to the ground, turning what would have been a cool, serene night into an absolute hellscape. But the fire wasn’t Alec’s priority, or his wife’s priority, it was their son. Although.. Alec could hardly focus on him, on anything really. It was all a blur.

“It’s okay baby, it’s okay! Mama’s here! Mama’s here! Just hold on!”

The ringing in Alec’s ears didn’t subside a bit.

“Alec, help me! We need to get him to a hospital!”

He didn’t register her screaming.

“Alec!”

Not until she grabbed him, and he finally snapped back to reality. He was covered in dirt and soot, just sitting on the ground, he didn’t know what else to do. Looking down, he could see what his wife was screaming about, it was their son.. some version of their son. He barely even recognized the boy, not when he’d been mauled so severely, most of his organs spilling out of his stomach.

It was the first time in Alec’s entire adult life that he cried.

“I have to admit..”

Ellie began, looking up and down the old, long abandoned house, a home that had been in the middle of the forest, and was adjacent to a small shack.

“As great as it is to have cover, you sure you wanna be staying here? This place is creepy, just imagine it during night.”

Gabby sighed, opening the door.

“I don’t like it either, but we have to.”

Ellie nodded.

“You’re right, and at least it’s hidden we won’t have to worry about being attacked by any raiders or slavers or whatever, those bastards are insane, but not stupid enough to go hunting for people out in the middle of nowhere.”

Gabby paused, before walking inside.

“I hope this is the right place.”

Ellie blinked as they walked into the abandoned home, or rather, abandoned house. She found it odd there was no mailbox, no driveway, no path leaving the inhabitants to civilization, but inside was even more strange. It was empty.

No furniture, save for cheap looking curtains with a floral pattern, no proper floor, literally just the forest’s dirt and overgrowth, and there weren’t any halls or stairs or anything. It was just one large, empty box, disguised as a house.

“What the fuck…?”

Ellie mumbled, looking around, trying to reason with herself any possibility for why this’ house’ was just a glorified cube with a door and windows. Perhaps it was abandoned during construction? But, that didn’t make sense, the windows had glass and curtains. Why would they bother putting curtains before actual rooms? Ellie was torn from her thoughts as she heard strained groans of effort. Looking to her side, she could see Gabby tearing at weeds and overgrowth, clawing them out of the dirt with her hands.

“What are you doing, Gabs?”

Gabby gave no response, but Ellie could see the outline of something wooden beneath the torn plants and the Earth that clung to them. Was it a basement? Curious, Ellie walked up, and kneeled down, taking out the machete she and Gabby shared as a weapon, and sliding through the overgrowth like butter.

“Probably could have done this quicker if you just asked to borrow it.”

Gabby looked away bashfully, the two staring at wooden trap door before them.

“Think there’s anything useful down there?”

Gabby shrugged, pulling a kerosene lamp from her bag, and lighting it, opening the trap door that led to a set of metal stairs, descending down first, Ellie following close after. They were in a corridor, the walls made of metal, as was the floor and ceiling, at the end of this metal rectangle, however, was a large door that looked like the entrance to some kind of a vault. It was made of smooth metal, and hung wide open. Lying in the doorway and on the floor were corpses, rotting corpses, all had seemingly been fleeing from this bunker and to the stairs, none had made it. She turned to look at Gabby, who clamped a hand over her mouth, letting out a pathetic and muffled scream. The sight was bad enough, but the stench was unbearable, Ellie’s eyes and nose stung, and confusion ebbed into her as Gabby continued on.

“This is the right place.”

She mumbled.

“Gabs..? What is this?”

Ellie prodded, following closely behind.

Gabby sighed, walking over the corpses, and into the large metal door, the bunker inside barely illuminated by a their lamp.

“Back when the outbreak was still new, governments reused the bunkers they had lying around in case of nuclear war, and used them to be safe havens, away from the infected. Some are different than others, some were last minute, and they just ushered every person they saw inside, but this one was one of the special ones. This bunker was inhabited by scientists, and they were down here experimenting on captured infected, trying to find a cure. But…”

Gabby trailed, looking over her shoulder at the corpses and cringing before she continued.

“It didn’t end well..”

Ellie arched a brow suspiciously.

“Gabs.. how do you know all this?”

Gabby gave no response.

“Gabs!”

Ellie put a hand on Gabby’s shoulder, halting her, before she froze, hearing a low growl. Gabby set the lamp down on a table next to her, and looked around the darkness

“Shit…!”

Ellie whisper shouted, pulling out her machete.

“The infected.. they never left, they killed all of the people down here, that’s what the corpses were! They tried to get out! Oh, what do we do? What do we do?”

Ellie fell even deeper into panic, seeing the stress of the situation was triggering Gabby.

“Quiet, we have to be-“

Ellie was cut off an an infected ran towards her, it was large, monstrous, even, it wasn’t hard to believe this thing had killed so many people. Ellie raised her machete in defense.

“Gabby! Run!”

She swung when it was close enough, she slashed it’s face pretty deep, but the creature was undeterred. Shrieking, Ellie’s head ached with dull pain as she was thrown harshly down onto the floor like a rag doll. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for an attack, for pain, anything.

But it did not come.

She opened her eyes again after a few moments, to see Gabby standing protectively in front of her, wielding a machete, and having a stand off with the infected, which, for whatever reason, did not attack her. After a few moments of tense silence, Gabby lunged forward, but the infected remained still, just glaring at her. She raised the machete, hacking through the amalgamation until it was a bloody heap lying on the floor.

“Gabby.. why didn’t it attack you?”

Once again, Ellie received no answer, she stood up, and stormed towards Gabby.

“Gabby! Answer me!”

“I- I don’t know..”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Gabby! I’m starting to get really sick of you constantly lying to me about everything! You know more than you’re telling me!”

“What do you-“

“You led us out to the middle of nowhere knowing what this place was when there wasn’t any logical reason for you to know, infected have never attacked you before, what is going on?! Just tell me the god damn truth!”

“You don’t want to know! You’d- you’d hate me if you knew!”

“Gabby, nothing you say will ever make me hate you! I love you! And I would have thought you loved me enough to tell the truth! Why won’t you just tell me the truth?!  What could possibly be so bad you think I’d hate you?! WHAT AREN’T YOU TELLING ME?!”

“I was the one who caused the virus!”

That was the last thing Ellie had expected to hear.

“What….?

Gabby choked back a guilty sob.

“I’m the one who caused the virus. That’s why infected never attack me, how I know about places like this, it’s because I’m the one who started it.”

Ellie’s mind reeled in shock and horror, she felt as of the Earth beneath her would crumble into nothing, releasing her into the void. That fate would have been preferable over what she was being told right now.

“It was an accident! It was! If I’d known what would happen I never would have done what I did! I’m sorry Ellie! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for this to happen! Please don’t hate me! Please don’t go! I’m sorry! I am!”

Ellie couldn’t bring herself to speak, this was too much for her to process. Gabby, the woman she’d known for years, the woman she loved more than anything, the woman she planned to make her wife one day was the cause of the virus? Gabby, her perfect, sweet Gabby, she was the one who caused the outbreak? The end of the world? The deaths of millions of innocent people as well as the complete collapse of civilization, most of it anyway, it was all HER fault?

“Y- you…. This- this is…. Your lying! There’s no way! It’s not true! Gabby, tell me it’s not true!”

Gabby said nothing, just stared at Ellie with guilt and sorrow. Ellie could feel tears pricking her eyes and blurring her vision.

“Oh God…”

And at the worst moment possible, the worst moment in Ellie’s entire life, another infected revealed itself from the shadow. If there really was a God, he was laughing in her face right now, no doubt about it. Before she could shout a warning to Gabby, futile as doing so would have been given the fact infected couldn’t attack her, someone else had gotten to it first. At the dull thud of someone hitting the infected, Gabby turned around, the pair watching as a man with glasses beat the infected’s skull in with a metal baseball bat. Before they could get a word out, a second figure scurried towards the man, holding a flashlight, Ellie’s confusion peaked when she saw it was a little girl.

“Is that the last one?”

The man nodded to the girl.

“I think so.”

He turned to look at Ellie and Gabby, who stated in shock.

“Sorry for interrupting your, uh… private conversation.”

Ellie’s confusion took over again, she had no clue who these two were, or why they were here, the child especially, but more than that, he’d heard everything.

Alec and Fiore, those were their names. The four had made quick work of the bunker, astonished that after a few hours of tinkering they were able to restore electricity, which, according to Gabby, every one of these bunkers had. According to her, they were all connected, which made some sense. More shocking than that, running water that was actually drinkable, which Ellie had assumed came from some kind of purifier, but she wasn’t exactly sure, she was far from an expert on these things. It had taken hours for the adults to clear out corpses, rotting food, and other junk, in the meantime they left Fiore to the cleaning, and the child had done a decent job, even going through the hassle of finding every potentially useful item or snippets on information, and setting them on the tables in the bunker’s cafeteria to be sorted through later, everything else was stuffed and organized into random drawers just in case they would somehow, someday, be of use. Gabby and Ellie didn’t speak a word to each other throughout, and Alec didn’t particularly care to break the awkward silence, so for the hours that they worked, no words were exchanged. Not until they’d finished all they could in a single day, now they sat on a table in the bunker’s cafeteria, combing through items and information.

“So…”

Gabby began, her eyes glued intently to the floor, as if the dusty tile held the secrets of the universe.

“What are you two doing down here?”

“Same thing as you two, trying to find a cure.”

Alec answered, not looking away from the old files lying on the table before him.

“But.. how did you know about this place?”

“For the past few months Fiore and I have been finding whatever information we could, going through hospitals and government buildings and the such, we found some files regarding the different bunkers and followed the coordinated to this one, hoping to find people down here still working and researching, but we were only met with corpses. I think we only got here a few hours before you two. I must say, convenient timing.”

“That can’t be right, there was too many roots and dirt on the trap door in the house for someone to have used it today, it looked like it hadn’t been open in years.”

“There was a trap door on the house? We checked and all we found was dirt and weeds.”

“If you didn’t come in through the house, then how’d you two get in?”

“Through the shack.”

‘Multiple entrances, huh?’

Ellie thought, chin resting in her hand, still being the only one of the four who hadn’t spoken yet.

“So, you mentioned being the ‘cause’ of the virus. Care to elaborate?”

“You both are… much calmer about this than I expected you to be?”

Alec gave a sigh.

“While the virus has caused both of us suffering and was the reason we lost our loved ones,”

Gabby flinched slightly at this, but Alec continued on, undeterred.

“It wouldn’t do us any good to be aggressive towards for it, considering it was accidental. And we are trying to find a cure, or at least find out more about the virus. We have a potential answer to all of our questions right in front of us, it wouldn’t be wise to throw that away over our own anger. So, mind explaining how you caused the virus?”

Gabby was silent a few moments.

“It was accidental, it really was. You see, I’ve always loved nature, more than anything.”

Gabby glanced over at Ellie, who did not meet her gaze.

“Well, except for her.”

She paused, taking a breath.

“But, things were going bad. So much pollution, the extinction and endangerment of all sorts of species, overpopulation, and no one else seemed to care in the slightest! I just.. I couldn’t stand around and humans destroy everything. So, I tried fixing it.. myself.”

Alec raised an eyebrow.

“Go on.”

Gabby sighed.

“Well, I uhm.. summoned something. I know it sounds far fetched, but it’s true. I summuned something so that it could help me in my goal, protecting nature from humans, stopping all of the pollution and death that we cause. In a sense.. I got what I asked for, but not in the way I wanted. It gave me some things to plant, these black seeds, mushrooms, and saplings. I think those are what started the infection. I don’t really know what I summoned, but it still talks to me, it tells me stuff. It told me about this place, and what it was for.”

She fiddled with her braids, sighing.

“I know you probably don’t believe me, I wouldn’t either, but it’s the truth! I didn’t mean for this to happen, I never would have done it if I knew what it would lead to, I swear!”

Alec and Fiore considered her at length, Fiore opened her mouth, likely to say something bratty or rude, but it only took a sharp stare from Alec to stop her, and she remained silent.

“Well, you said infected can’t attack you? I’m assuming that’s because you caused the virus, does that also make you immune?”

Gabby nodded.

“I tested that out myself, I ate one of those black mushrooms and nothing happened.”

“I’m sorry, you what?!”

All eyes turned to Ellie.

“Why on Earth would you-”

“Let’s stay focused.”

Alec interjected, still strangely calm.

“Well, since infected can’t attack you, that means you could capture them without risk? Perhaps then we could bring them down here and use them to try and find a cure?”

“How do we know that would work?”

“Well, we have plenty of supplies down here, these files could have useful information, a safe way to get infected inside, and much more knowledge on the virus now than these scientists did. Judging by the amount of overgrowth you described on the trap door I’m guessing they went down here at the beginning of the virus and stayed isolated for months, perhaps even longer. They didn’t know the first thing about it given how new it was, but we have much more information to go off of now than they did back then.”

Gabby thought for a few moments.

“Ellie? What do you think?”

Ellie just glared, prompting Gabby to decide for her.

“Alright, let’s get to planning then.”

WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO:

The redesigns for Yul, Ellie, and Gabby are done! Not sure when James, Jake, and Tom’s redesigns will be done though.

Yul, Ellie, and Gabby: https://www.tiktok.com/@murderous._.pineapple/photo/7369410703091862827?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7369039071823775263

Feedback and opinions would be much appreciated! <3

Chapter Text

Okay, so…. I kind of need some advice right now regarding the story for discolored blood.

Essentially, I have all the major plot points planned out already; character arcs, deaths, ships, and both the good ending and the bad ending. Everything major is already set in stone, however, here’s the problem:

The things in between these major events, how characters get from point A to point B, different locations, and world building are being worked on. The problem is, I’m running out of characters to use. Out of all the characters from both seasons I’ve killed off around half of them, with more deaths to come, and the ones who will live for the fic’s foreseeable future already have character arcs that are set in stone, so they can’t really be involved in certain plot lines I need more characters for.
Essentially, I’m running out of cannon characters to do things with, and certain world building aspects I plan to explore, the bunkers, raiders, different groups fighting, people trying to rebuild society, the conflicts between groups, those searching for a cure, how the virus spread so much over so little time, how people reacted when the outbreak first happened, those are things I really want to explore, but I just don’t have enough characters.

Now, the easiest solution would be to make ocs, but it would just feel.. weird. People don’t read discolored blood for ocs, they read discolored blood to watch characters they already know and love adapt to an apocalyptic situation. Now, these ocs wouldn’t really be more than minor characters, tools to give cannon characters certain reasons to do certain things, but it would still just feel weird, if that makes any sense.

I value the opinions of my readers very much, even though I don’t respond to most comments, I read every single one of them and take each into consideration when writing the story. I write this fic and make art for it not just because it’s fun, but I want to make a story that people in this fandom can genuinely enjoy, but I worry that making original characters, even if just as minor parts of the story, would just take the readers out of it.

I know this is just me rambling but, advice would be extremely helpful.

Chapter Text

Neither alive, nor dead.

That was truly, the only way Karol would describe herself. A monstrous thing existing in the grey area between life and death. An alien creature, truly, it was a wonder how something so unsightly was once human.

Was this what objects felt like? What puppets and toys expirience? To be fully conscious in a form not your own, thrown around and forced into motions you don’t want to do by some higher being?

Was this the way it always was? Had Karol’s existence been as this grotesque thing been the way she was from the start, and her life before this, as a human.. had she just made it all up in her head to cope? To come to terms with the fact that she had always been such an ungodly creature? Whether or not that was the case didn’t matter much, she was trapped after all. Her pain was constant, pulsing through each nerve and each muscle relentlessly, she could feel the hard branches protruding from her mouth and back, the way they wrapped awkwardly around her organs and stuck out of her body was excruciating.

What was worse than that, worse than the pain, was the hunger, it overtook her, eating was hard enough with the branches coming out of her body and filling her mouth, but because of eating so little for so long, the plants growing inside her began to feed on her organs and flesh. The stench of her decaying from the inside out was vile, all of this was, it was vile and disgusting, and so very painful.

Her hunger was all that drove her at this point, it was why she trudged around through streets, and desert, and now a dense forest. She needed something to eat. But whenever she caught a person, she couldn’t force any of their flesh into her mouth, she could technically drink the blood, but the roots overflowing her mouth and stretching out her jaw did not allow for eating. She wanted desperately to cry for help, to raise her head and scream at the top of her lungs, but no sound could escape her lodged throat.

However, if Karol had to rank one single aspect of her new existence as the worst, she couldn’t really tell you. She couldn’t do much of anything. Her consciousness was trapped inside this body, she felt every sensation, but her actions were not her own, it was like playing a video game, only you did not control the actions of your character, you merely sat in their body as they went through the motions, all while you watched, unable to change anything. Only difference was that, unlike a video game, Karol could not log off, she couldn’t opt out, she was stuck like this until her body physically couldn’t handle it anymore. She wanted death to take her, so badly she yearned to just die. But she was not afforded that luxury.

Not yet.

“Oh God!”

A female voice rang out, and footsteps approached. This was odd, most people ran away upon seeing Karol. She tilted her head up, as far up as it could go anyway, she couldn’t really move, her body was melting into the Earth, she could feel it, the sensation was sickening. She watched, as a young woman sprinted towards her, and kneeled down. She was.. beautiful, with dark brown skin, plump lips, and long braids that fell down her back in a loose ponytail. Karol just stared at this woman, perplexed.

‘Why isn’t she running away?’

The woman examined Karol, before giving a gasp, her expression something akin to guilt.

“I’m sorry! Oh God, I’m so sorry!”

The woman took Karol’s face in her hands, and scooting forward, placed Karol’s head in her lap, raking gentle fingers through what little was left of her hair.

“I’m so sorry! This wasn’t supposed to happen!”

Karol blinked as a broken sob escaped the woman.

“You must be in so much pain!”

Pain..

Yes, Karol was in pain. She was in unimaginable amounts of pain.

She leaned into the woman’s warm touch as much as she could manage, relishing in having finally found someone who understood her suffering and sympathized with her instead of being afraid, and attacking her or running from her.

‘Is this some kind of Angel? Is this god? Is this… death?’

Karol contemplated to herself, completely stumped on how one person could be both so infinitely beautiful and kind, that they could see something so unsightly, something that had taken so many lives, and cry for it, cradle it like a mother to her child, and stay with it as it dies.

“I’m so, so sorry..”

In that moment, it was as if all of Karol’s agony had been simply plucked out of her, and the only sensation that remained was the warmth of this angelic being. She wanted to reassure the woman it was not her fault, to wipe her tears, but her body did not move, and no words came forth. All her anger was gone in that moment, all that remained was peace. She was resolved to die, and resolved to do so in the warm arms of this kind woman.

Karol glanced back up at the sobbing beauty before her one last time.

What a nice girl.

Chapter Text

You know, I was starting to think my life is finally gonna be peaceful again. Got my grades up, healed from my accident, things have been going good.

So anyway, my mom tried to kill herself tonight.
Yeah, no more chapters for a while. I would apologize but, like, my mom nearly killed herself, so I can’t say I’m sorry for taking a break from writing after that. Shit was traumatizing. Anyways, by for a week or two, I guess?

Chapter Text

I broke a promise I made to myself and downloaded twitter. That aside.. I may or may not be working on an animatic right now.. sooo expect to see some sneak peaks of that on my twitter. Also I post art there unrelated to discolored blood. 
so.. yeah, here’s the link to my account: 

https://x.com/TheWackyklown

Chapter Text

(Hello darlings! Break time is officially over! Anyhow, quick life update before the chapter, basically my mom is going to a facility for somewhere between one to three months for intensive care, not sure on the details, but yeah. Anyway, this is where total drama starts to be incorporated into the story, so… hope it’s not a choice I’ll end up regretting. Anyways, enjoy the chapter, and leave your thoughts! <3)

Aiden’s eyes were heavy. Come to think of it, his entire body felt heavy. And the pain was overwhelming, to put it lightly.

If this had happened earlier on, say, a month or two into the virus’ beginning, he could have used stolen medicine to ease the burning in his muscles, but now, that luxury was long gone.

The pain was the first thing to register in Aiden’s mind, it overwhelmed him, making his head pound and ears ring. Squeezing his eye shut, he gritted his teeth, colors dancing in his vision whenever he would open his eyes again.

“Is he finally awake?”

“He’s been in and out… I can’t be sure.”

“I don’t see why you’re wasting supplies on this guy, he’s going to die, James!”

Aiden tried to say something, wincing at the flare of pain as he attempted to raise his head up.

“No, he won’t. He bled a lot, but nothing got infected. I think the biggest issue is his eye.”

“James- this guy was going to kill us!”

“But he didn’t, that’s the important part! He spared us, and now he’s severely injured because of it!”

“That was his own mistake! I don’t see how it’s our problem to deal with! How do we know he won’t attack us again after realizing he’s probably half blind now because of us?!”

“Yul, you’re being irrational-“

“Me?! I’m not the one wasting all of our supplies on some random….”

The voice of the two men faded into nothing, as they infinite weight of Aiden’s eyelids finally won, and he drifted back into sleep

“I get to pick the name though, right? Adriana picked mine when I was born, it’s only fair!”

Lynette whined incessantly to their father, her voice echoing down the hallway and into the bathroom, where their mother struggled with the never ending tangles in Adriana’s hair. Adriana rolled her eyes at her sister’s bratty attitude, before wincing dramatically as her mother pulled on a particularly difficult knot.

“Ow!”

“Hold still!”

Mom yelled impatiently, struggling to bring the brush through the child’s locks.

“For the love of- how did it even get this bad?! When was the last time you brushed your hair?!”

Adriana merely shrugged, flinching slightly as her mother tugged at another knot.

“There’s so many tangles- at this point I may as well just cut it all off!”

Adriana thought for a moment. She certainly wasn’t opposed to having short hair. She hated having long hair, it was heavy, and dry, and tangled, and always frizzy. She wanted nothing more than to get rid of it.

“Think I’d look good with short hair?”

Mom sighed heavily, but have no response.

Raking her fingers through her now smooth and combed out hair, Adriana couldn’t help but eye the scissors on the kitchen counter.

“Remember, it’s a boy, so give him a boy’s name.”

Mom explained slowly to the small girl, barely past being a toddler herself, everything needed to be explained clear and simplistic ways.

“Hm….”

Lynette thought long and hard, at least, as much as a girl her age was able to, before she finally came to a decision.

“Aiden!”

Adriana’s expression changed from one of curiosity to bewilderment. Mom seemed to catch her expression, and singsonged.

“That’s.. just a boy version of your sister’s name.”

“I like Adriana’s name though. And it’s only fair you let me choose the name just like Adriana chose mine!”

Adriana raised an eyebrow, wondering to herself why her family even had such a bizarre tradition to begin with.

“Alright, alright. Aiden it is.”

Dad chuckled, ruffling Lynette’s hair. Adriana couldn’t help but grin pridefully at the fact she was getting a person named after her, even despite the fact she thought it was still a very weird tradition.

“What’s the baby gonna look like?”

“Hopefully not like you, you were a very ugly baby.”

“Adriana!”

“I mean.. she isn’t entirely wrong.”

“You two quit calling Lynette ugly!”

“Hey now, I’m not calling her ugly!”

“I am.”

Mom burried her face in her hand.

“For the love of God..”

She chuckled, even despite her annoyance.

“You two will be the death of me.”

When Aiden woke up again, he was still in immense pain, but it wasn’t as disorienting as it had been before. Blinking, he could see warm light emanating from a small kerosene lamp sitting on a night stand, next to it, leaning against a wall, a man sat, staring off into the uncertain distance, seeming not to notice Aiden was now awake. Looking around, he could see two backpacks, he recognized one as his own, his axe laying directly next to it. As he came to, he could feel a heavy but soft mass covering his body, bellow him was a firm but smooth surface, and his face was pressed against a pillow. He was… in a bed? He sat up, the blanket clinging onto him by his shoulders, he could see he was in the room of a house, it was dusty, and filled with random trinkets and framed photos showing a young couple and their infant, judging by the dull colors, he was in the bedroom of this child’s parents. The man sitting on the floor near him seemed to notice Aiden was moving, and looked up at him. He was a handsome, muscular man. Having dark skin, a bit of facial hair, golden eyes, a nose ring, and dreads tied up into a ponytail, two left out framing either side of his face respectively. He blinked, before standing up, his movements slow and cautious, as if approaching a wounded animal.

“Are you.. doing alright?”

He asked awkwardly, not seeming to know how he should speak to Aiden. Aiden opened his mouth to respond, before wincing in pain, reaching up, he could feel bandaged wrapped around the right side of his face where Riya had struck him, the bandages covering his eye. He could feel bandaged on his right hand, and wrapped tightly around his chest as well. He blinked, memories flooding back to him. Looking up, he recognized the man standing over him as one of the two he had spared.

“How… where the hell am I?”

Aiden looked around again, sitting up, and leaning against the pillows and headboard of the bed.

“Just.. some house that we found.”

The man rubbed the back of his neck.

“How are you feeling?”

Aiden furrowed his brow at the ridiculous question.

“Very lovely.”

He grumbled, feeling around the bandage over his eye. The man glance away again, not seeming to know what to say.

“You’ve.. been in and out of sleep for the past week, just… wasn’t sure you’d make it.”

Aiden blinked. It had been a week since Riya had attacked him? It didn’t feel nearly as long as that, but he had been asleep first most of the time, so perhaps that was why.

“I disinfected your wounds, but I didn’t stitch them up or anything. I didn’t have enough supplies and I’m not a doctor so I guess we should keep you in bandages for a while, uhm.. got you a new shirt since your clothes were covered in blood. I figured you’d rather change your pants yourself so I just left those on for whenever you woke up, there’s some clothes in the closet so you could take something from there, I guess..”

The man gestured to the closet. Aiden blinked, considering for a moment the fact that this man had bandaged his chest, had he seen Aiden’s scars? He felt tempted to ask, but held his tongue. Long, awkward silence stretched on. Tension so thick you could cut through it with a knife, according to the saying, but here it was different. You’d need at least a running chainsaw.

At least.

“Weren’t there two of you?”

The man paused for a moment.

“Oh, right. Uhm.. he’s out trying to find food. I’m James by the way, and the other guy who was with me is Yul.”

“I’m Aiden.”

Another stretch of silence.

“I’ll.. leave you to it. I guess..”

With that, James walked out, closing the door behind him. Aiden watched him go, blinking once, then looking around. The room was of medium size, white walls and furniture, drawers and boxes open, clear indicators that his rescuers had stripped the place of anything valuable. Glancing up, he could see picture frames covered in dust and spider webs, displayed in the glass and wooden frame were various depictions of families of vacation, Christmas mornings, and the such. It was just as dull and monotonous as one would expect.

Now alone, Aiden had some time to dwell on recent events. There were a great many, in the last month alone so many things had happened, none of which he wanted to think about.

The deaths of Rosa and Sofia, being separated from Lake, nearly being assaulted, being abandoned by his own best friend and forced to kill the other, and now potentially losing an eye. Aiden grimaced, his mind being bombarded with the gruesome images of death, the pain of loss, and starvation as well as injury.

‘̶̻̩̰̝͚̔M̵͇͍͚̠̼͈̓̽̓̊͆͂̇ą̴̝̙̺̯̣̭͚̎́͛̀̅͂͂́m̴̛͇̰͓͚̲̦͐̿͋̉̊͊̽ą̵̹̦̠́,̸̨̌ ̴͙̠̟͚̰͕̓͗̏w̸͚̤̭̫̘̰̻͛̂̇̍̋̏i̶͍̬̘̝͎̬̩̮̣̣̍͌͆̕l̵̦͔͍̰̆̒̽̕l̴͙̓̄̔̊ ̵̡̤̺̦̮͂̈́͊̀̄̓͝͝͝I̴̮͓̩̓̾̃ ̸͔̲̓̔̉̿̍̂͂̈́͛b̸̧̢̬̱̝̥̏̓̍̓̈́̍͝͝ě̶̞͔͇̞̻̘̥̪͈̣̾̒̿̀͘ ̸̘̜̔̇͋̌ỏ̵͇̘͎͇̻͓̞̼̖̪k̵̨̛̳̖̣͈̲͔̜̤̿̅͛̏̔̚͠ä̴̮̗́͝y̷̡̳̣͔̫͇̗̪̺͋…̷̛̹̪̯̣̣͖̭͎̮̯.̸͓̩̟͇̝̘͋͑̈̓̾̇̚͜?̴̟͙̲̫͖̘̘̐͑̒͆͊̚͜ͅ

Aiden gripped the blanket set on his lap.

‘̵̢͍̠̱̝̦͙͊̋͆̄̋͜͝H̵̛̪̺̫̼̦͒̾̿͌̍̇̆̈́̆E̶̡̖͓̟̥̒̈̒͝L̶̮̲̟̰̥͖̖̿̈́̈́̈̊́P̶̛̭̯̤͚̼̩̫̗̙̲̓͒͗́̄͂͛,̴̛̰̼̼̖͉̞̀̈́̈́̓̆̊̽̀ ̸͍̙̪͉̦̱̼̋̉̈́̈́͜I̵̧̞̙̹̠͇͕͊̇̎̀͂͆̏̇́͜͝T̶̡͚͇̞̘͎̞̑͊̾̾̌͘͝ ̵͍̝͕̟̝͇͙͇̍̌̾̔̅́̇̌͘Ḧ̸̠̻̱̣̭͙͌́̉̚Ű̶̧̧̜̗̮̥͇̝̞̎̍̐̕R̴̢̗̲̟̝̪͓͓͈̾̊̈́Ț̶̨͍͎̣̣̫͉̬͒̿͊̾͛́Ś̸̢͚͓͚̯̤͒̏̏̑̇̕ ̶̨͔̰͚͎͍̯̈͑̽̏̏̔͝Ȧ̸̛͈̻̥͔̖͔̬̿̑̽̈̓̇͘̚İ̸̢̢̛̺̠̘̼͎͓̘̃͊̂́͊̕͘͝D̶͚̣̓̔̑̐Ě̸̥͉̠̻̹̪̏͗̽N̵̡̙͈̖̊͛̈̋̈́͋͒͒͘̕,̶̡̲̹̱̲̼͕̠̝̯͛͛̆ ̸̬̩͚̩̣̮̒̂̂͘L̴̞̪̤̅̀͜ͅĄ̵̛̛̫̦͙̤͖̠̗̘͒̄͋̊̈̚Ķ̷̯͙̦͉͔̪͙̈́E̴͓͚̦̪̘̠͔̔̔̒̎̀͂͝͝͝͝,̷̨͍̱̦̤͖̪͋͐́ ̶͈͈̱̟̹̥̅͆̍̒͆͗̌̄̕͝Ȟ̵̻̳͖͚̦̮͑̿̀͒͌̃̕̕É̷̖͙̅͂̐͋͂̉̅͝L̶̙͇̩͖͔̫̞̩̊͆̇̍͗̚Ṕ̴̭̖͉̼̯̞͎̼̼͐̈́̇̌̉ ̷̻̻͉͚͖͔̩͕̗͗̈́͗͒͂̕M̸̤̗̰̤̱̤͗Ẹ̸̛̪̣̄̃̍́̽̚̚!̵̬̹͒ͅ ̶̩̲͈̽͑͐͊̈́͆̑̄̚P̵͔̱̀̈́́̔̌͠ͅĹ̴̤̮̘ͅḚ̷̙̠͔̟̫͈͈̰̜̑̎̎̏͐͘Ä̴̧̢̝͔̗̩̹́̃̆̈̈́͠S̸̻͇̖̺̞͚̞̞̃̀͛͊̓̇ͅĚ̴͉̟͈̬̘̺͚̗͙͓̎́͊̅̐!̷̺̙̑̈́’̸͔͉͕̝̭̪̹͔̖̽͂̒͑̊̍̇͝

Aiden gripped tighter, but the feeling of free falling did not fade.

Ẇ̷̩h̵͖̺̪̠͓̿̆̑͋͋̽͘ỵ̷̰̜̥͌͊̅͛ ̸͈̼̠͚̬̩̭̒̀̐̑d̴̝̳̃o̴̺̝̮͖̝̹͗ņ̶̗̟̬͎͕͉̈́̔̏̆̇̈́̿’̴̜͕̊́̑ͅt̴̪̘̖͊̽̍̈̕ ̶̡͓͍͚̭̇̚ÿ̴̢͍͉ǫ̶̝̙̈̄̆̽̄̑̾ṷ̶͖̓̏̒̆́ ̸̠̳̦͂̌̊̄s̸̱͊͐̈́͜ͅt̷̲̪͆̐a̸͔͉̤̠̘̓͑̇͊̅y̶̛̘͔͗́ͅ ̸̧̦͎̰͈̭̅͗͝w̷̘̪̃̅͋͠í̶̘̘̃͑́͗t̷͉͍̗̲̫͛̔͝ͅẖ̵̥̞͌͑̃͌̕ ̴͉̺͖͈͙̞̄͋̈́͐̍̈́͜ũ̸̧̺̱̣̻͗͠š̸̘̮̹͖̫̮ ̴̠̝̉̑͐̈́f̷͍̽̂͒̀̀̓o̶̜̐̓̔̈́͘͝͝r̸̡̧̫̝̜͂́͐͝ ̷̣̗͙̖͋̚͘̕a̶͇͍̠̜̬͉͛̈́̓̿̀͠ ̷̢̲̲̹̱̑̓b̶̧̫̖̘̯̉͛̎̔̈͝i̶̢̡͔̊ţ̸̠̩̗̯̱̻̿͛͗͒̈̆́,̵̛̛͈̜̙̺̝͉̉͐̓̉̕ ̶̲͎͖̠̐ḧ̶̖̼̏̾ǘ̸̢͖̱̦́́h̷̦̊̄̚?̴͕̯̱̻̹̥̺̌͛̐̀̓͝ ̷̲͇̭̥̓ͅY̴̳̓̓̒͐̌͘͘ờ̶͕̰̝̻̯̥͛̿ṵ̶̢̢̱̤͕̮͛̊̊͂̂ ̴͓͕̱̲̻͕͗͂͗̇̈́̕c̶̫̀͆̄ě̴̥̼̜͖̈́͐͋́r̸̻̘̞͖̿̏͂t̵̢̩̠͒a̵͓͉͗ȉ̷͚͓̟̃n̴͍̭̭̯̭̳̺̉̽͝l̷͉̭͐̏͂́̕ỹ̵̯̊̋̋͊̚ ̸͇̙̝̥̐͜͠d̸̦̐̿̕̕o̴̞̪̾͆̐̅n̶̮͉̰̺͖͛̋͑͘’̶̒͊ͅt̷̰̩̬̉͋͠ ̶͙̝̯͋͆͛f̸̨͔͔͇̌̇̔͆̕͝a̴̝̜̜͍̰͇͗͊͝r̴̨̰̖͙͊͐̓͊e̸͔̳̮͍͍͉͛̕ ̴̖͈̦̓̃̀̃̑͑͝ͅḃ̸̖̣͍̾͘e̵̻͗̈́̀͠ť̸̡́̐́ẗ̴̨̛̈́e̷̳͂̉r̵̗̽͌͜ ̵̢̮̜̖̯̘̳͐̽͝o̴̡͎͔̣͉̻͎͛͗̋ǘ̷̦̭̬̑͊̾̅t̸͓̎̉̇ ̶̜̞̤͘ṯ̷̨͍̅̎́̑̎h̸̟̗̞̟͇̕͜ě̷̪͇̼͕r̸̘̺͖̟̃̒͆̿̆̔͠ͅe̵̙̥̝̍̈́ ̸̧̰͐́̔͠o̷̺̯̅̔̀̾̽̀͘ṅ̵̜͙̳̼̥͎͑̒̿͂̕͠ ̸̮͔̟͈͆̀̃̾ÿ̸̞̤́̏̅ó̸̪̮̟̙̣̽̓͠ư̶̖͉̓̏̃̈́̈́̆r̷̨̲͎̼̻̠̽ ̵̥̝̟͕͋̐͐͛̐ò̵̢̈̈͂̐̕w̷̱̔̀̐͋n̵̛͇͎̋͑̈̈́̀,̸̢̰̠̘̣̮̲͊̀ ̷̳͕̓̏͛̅͌̚̚w̵̨̦͖̤̓̈́̊̄̂̀e̴͇͇͋ ̴̣͎̟̤͔̈́̽̍ĥ̸̛̺̩̗̺̍̑ĕ̸̝͍͔͙̥͜ͅļ̴̲̣̗̮̏͂p̶̘̙̈́͌ ̴̹̗̟̼̹̙͉̾y̷̳̯̠̘͓͊ö̸͔͎͉̺̟̣ủ̸̦̜̲͒͐̆͐̇ ̵̜̩̝̺͚̓̋̕͠ǫ̸̨̤̩͒̔͂̔͋͑u̸̧̹̤̣̜͖̐̃̾͗͜͝͝͠t̵̢̤̣̣̉̽ͅͅ,̷̛̱͒̐̊͛̕ ̴̠͎̜̝͎̊y̵̹̼͇̫̑͆͜ö̴̧́͝u̴̙̼̹̫͈̓͊͠ͅ ̷̬͕̦͈͛̄͋̿̆̿h̸̞̆̓̽̔̈́̿e̶̼̳̟͉̓͗̽͗̇l̷̛̬̂͂̃̆͝p̸̥̩̙͈̩̦̐̔̀͗̽̏̐ ̵͇̤̦͖̗̬͕̅̀̄̄̎̚ṳ̷̳̮͉̹͙̈͋̂͋̈͜ś̶̛̮̲̹͉̠̖͒ ̵̞̣̳̹̫͊͂́̑̋õ̶͖̟̳͉͓͎̂͜ů̵̞͉̖̼͍̿͐̈́̕͜t̶̢̯̪̭̉.̵̬͔̙͇͗̈ ̶̡͔̩͖̙͖͂̒͊̈́̃͑F̷̡̥̰̥̆͋͘̚a̸̳̝̥̔̓̽̈v̷̨̙̺͇̘̬̋̂̀͛͋̑o̶͎̮͇͛̆̽̿͗ŗ̶̙͚͖̟̪̟͋̇͂͝s̷̨̈͑̀̐̂̄ ̶̹̘͕̬̤̫͗͐f̵̟̑o̴͈͖̞̓͑̎r̴͉̫̘͉̼̊̚ ̴̡͔̞̹̼̑̌̅͆̾f̵̳͐̇̽̀a̵͉̬̱͌̀̌̋̕v̸̨̩̼͂̔̄̏̂̇̚o̸̻̦͌̌̏͋̏r̷̆̆͒͂̃͜͜ś̵̢͔̣͎̥̱̱̍̿͆.̴̘͓͐̂́̆͒͝’̶̠̒̏̉̈́

Aiden squeezed his eyes shut, but he could still feel hands roaming his body against his will, mocking promises of assault being echoed through a dirty alleyway.

K̷̥̆̏â̵̡̗̚i̸̢̖̪̰̿̽͜ ̷̡̡̡̙̜͙̋̿̃̄̑̋i̴̟̹̫͉̜͂̑͝s̵̹̏ ̵͎̭͛̓̆̀̈́͊͠g̵͖̪̦̥̗̤͛̊͘o̶̧̯̦͉͔̗͚̔͑̚n̷̨̖͆̒̈́̅̇ȩ̸͍͔̬̟̮̥̀́,̵̜̤̄͒̿̒̚ ̴̟̝̞̪̺̙̄́h̵̡̢̪̮̭̳͔̉̒͝͝ȩ̴̦̾͆̆̚͠ ̷̡͖̖̪̼̜̼̆͒̈́̏̋r̵̢̫̱̠̙̙͑͊̏̈́͋͋a̷͔̯̅̌̋̀̓̄̈ǹ̴̼̒̆̾̀͝ ̶̦̼̗̯́̽̆͗̒̒͒ą̷͔̹̭̲̲̝̃̂̀͘͝ẘ̵̛̲̈́́̆̕a̸̢̯͕̜̗̿̂̕͠y̴̢̛̫̗̖̜̌̄̇̇͝ͅ.̸̠̝̬̩̑̓̀͘͘͘ ̵̹̯̝̺͕̜̌̈͆̽͌͝Ḩ̸̞͓̞̻̮̳̏͊̇e̴̹̜̻̕ ̵̩̹͈̯̖̼̃̋̓à̵̧̡̙̠̩̻͗ń̶̻̹̄͆͌̐ď̶̟̆̿̇̓̚ ̴̨͎̈́̚͜Ṁ̶̡̭̩͓̳̟̕a̶̡̧̢̯̲̰̞͐̈̌̉͒g̸̯̬͑̉̃̎ǵ̶̞̙͓̪̗̮͗͋̈́͌̚̚͜ḯ̸̢̖̰̖͙ͅȩ̸̩̤̑̄̄̓̓ ̵̘̠͔̲͉̒̏̒w̷̘̲̳̠͚̪͋e̶̪̭̬̼͊̇͜r̷̡̡̦̼̻̿͒͝ë̷͚́̀͘ ̷̳̏̿́̇͂g̴̼͋̊̐̀o̴̧͉̝̩̜͗̐͜í̶̱͊̅́́̔̀n̶̳̽̂g̴̱͔̍̎̄́ ̸̤̘͎̉͌̾͋̊̒̚ṭ̶̛͍̺̱́̑̆o̸͎̣͖͉͂̄͛̄ ̵̢̛̹̘͚͕̘̌̐͑̈́̄̈͜l̸̩̠̆͗͒̾̓͘͜e̵̺̦͚͒̎ă̸͉͆́̈́̀v̶͖̬̟͔̻͂͛͌́e̸̛̮͇̲̯̦͕͐́͂̌ ̶̨̡̗̲̲̒̇̌͂t̸̖̫̤̄̔͗̒̃͆o̶͕̩̼͛͌͗̚͜͠ģ̷͚̯̱͉̦͊̕͜͝ȩ̶̗̰̱͕̿t̵͇̹͍͍̫̐͗̈́h̴̛͔̺͕̦ę̴̮̎̎ͅͅṛ̶͚̣̦͔̺̇̆́̉̏͠,̸̲̟͉̲̹̣̉̑͛̌̾̿͝ ̶͍̮͈͒̀̾̀b̵̺̂̿͋͗͑̚͜͠u̸̟̟͙̲͉̚̚t̸̠̪̻͗̔͗̄̋̚͜ ̸̧͉͔̼͔̘̳̄͒͝t̶̙̮͙̑h̴̘̙̘̎̽̃è̴̫̙̖̖͇̻ͅỷ̶̻̫̺̀̈́̈̓ ̶̮̭̥̓̓̎ǵ̴̡̢̟͚͎́ͅǒ̸͍̰͍̣͆̊̆̉͠ͅt̴͓̠̐ͅ ̷̡̝̥̥͕̄͑̈́͘͜͝͠͠c̷͚̍́̆̀͋͜á̸̝͚̲̖̀̔̅͝u̸̼̒̃̇̈́̂g̵͕̐̌̔̃̀͂ĥ̶̛͕̤͓̫̎́̾͘ṭ̴͈̫̼̈́̈́̂ ̸̢̭̞̐̎̕͝a̸͔̮̫̘̖̠̳̓n̸͖̞̮̹͓̞̑́̽͐͜͝d̴̨̧̫̫̏͠ ̵̛̺͚̱̟̝͈͋̔͗̾̀͐h̸̢̖͖̦̮͕̣̃̃̈́̂̔͝e̷̪̙͆̽́̌̔͝ ̸̳̲͓͎̮͋͐̎̏̀̎̋l̸̥̫̭͉͈̑̇̊̕é̶̛̼͖̻̉͝f̶̦̠͗̂̀̍̓͗̚t̷̲̫̘̙̅͊͋ ̸̧͙̅h̷̡̻͙́͋̔̋̿͊e̴͈̼̘͌̈̐̌̓͆͝r̶̞̰͊̔̊̌̽̐̽ ̴̯̱̰̬̃̌̓̕b̴̢̨̬̦͓̝̥̔̌̆̍̔͘e̴͎̞̳̔̐ḧ̷̨͔́͝i̷̘̹̹̮̘͍͕̇̓ń̴̠̂̍̂̉͝d̸̢̼̻̀̐̈́̔̕.̷̗̥̺̄͆͛̿͋͝ͅ ̵̼͓̈́̈́̔͛͠H̶̡͎͚͆̇͒̄è̶̺̯͇͚͉͜ ̷͕͌̋l̷̩̫̰̈́̀͝͝e̷̻̣̬̠̭͛̂̔͗͗͝ͅf̸̢̬͆̔͠t̴͖̦͕̜͐͗́ ̴̙̗̈́͠b̴̠̝̻̃̈́̀͊̿̕͘o̴̺͕̥̦͉͊̔̽ẗ̷̖̭̭́͐͒̑̉͐h̴̻͔̠̍̌̑̐̈͜ͅ ̵̯̇͜o̸̠̩͖̺̬̐͐̀̐f̵͔̦̲͚̲̼͆̈́̀̂̕͠ ̵̯̹͇̣̗̝̞̍̽̐͝͝y̶̹̣̥͚̥͑o̵̙̤̭͖̐̔̈́͋̇̅͒u̴͓̥̝̪͉͊ ̷̪͚͎̲̞̩̈́̔̉͐͂b̴̈́̏́͠ͅe̶̡͔̗̝͓͂͊̽̅͒h̷̘͍͉̱͚̓͋̋̍̚į̶͔̲͋̾͂͘n̷̛̰̘̘͑̎̔̕͝ͅd̴͕͕̯̬̀̿.̵̠͍̼̙̫̏̄͌͂̕̕’̶̛̯̯̝̓͌͂̒͝

Aiden clenched his jaw, but the taste of hot blood and sickly sweet apples refused to leave him.

It wasn’t fair, Aiden did not deserve all of the suffering he had been made to endure, and neither had those whom he cherished. He may not have been the same man he was before the outbreak, he’d stolen and killed, but it was only because of the circumstance he was in, he never enjoyed a moment of committing those acts. Sofia didn’t deserve to die, she was only a child. Rosa shouldn’t have been forced to kill her own daughter to spare her a fate worse than death. Maggie shouldn’t have been abandoned by the man she loved, and murdered by a friend she trusted. His father and sister didn’t deserve to die confused and afraid, not knowing if Aiden was okay or not. Most of all, Aiden did not deserve to lose them, the ones he held so dear to his heart. When had the world become this cruel?

Aiden opened his eyes again, feeling tears pricking at them, obscuring his vision in his untouched eye, and making the other even more uncomfortable with the new sensation. He whimpered, the young man curling up into a ball within his blanket and sobbing openly, his body trembling with grief, sadness, rage, and hurt. His cries and pathetic sobs echoed through the house, and there was no doubt James heard every last noise. Through his weeping, he checked his pocket, received Rosa’s box cutter was still tucked inside. He held it close to his chest, and began sobbing even harder, wailing like a scared child.

He certainly felt like one.

Leaves and branches crunched beneath Aiden’s feet as he and his new companions made their way through the bright forest.

He, James, and Yul had been walking for some time now in no specific direction, with only the vague goal of finding Lake, something the other two men only joined him for simply because they had nothing better to do, or.. anything to do for that matter. But, it was.. something to keep them occupied, even if they had no idea what they were doing or how they would do it, that was something they’d figure out later. They were walking at a painfully slow pace thanks to Aiden’s injuries, a setback James was only mildly annoyed by, while Yul on the other hand refused to shut up about. The first thing Aiden learned about the two men is that they bickered, a lot. Almost every minute they were arguing about some small thing, or laughing together over some immature joke Yul had made, and dear god was it insufferable. Aiden was almost tempted to go find Riya, and request that she finish the job and lodge her shovel straight through his skull to spare his ears of Yul’s annoying voice, although.. given the fact he’d nearly cut the woman straight in half, he’d be surprised if she was even still alive. And if she was, she certainly wasn’t in any condition for some homicide.

What a bummer.

“I mean, there’s no concrete proof I pushed her down the escalator! Those accusations came out of nowhere!”

“Weren’t there security cameras or something?”

“That was cgi! It was faked! I lost so many fans over some fake video made by haters! It wasn’t real, if it were, that old hag probably would have knocked someone over on her way down and gotten them injured.”

James rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you say, man.”

Suddenly the idea of a nice shovel to the skull from an annoying, spoiled, failed actress seemed very appealing. Aiden zoned out for a while as Yul and James rambled to each other about.. god knows what, until they suddenly stopped both their conversation and their walking, just staring to the left. Following their gaze, Aiden could see a black haired man sitting in the grass, covered in blood and surrounded by flies, to his right, a slaughtered infected, in his arms, two women lay, corpses littered with injuries invaded by maggots and rot.

“Damn.”

Yul mumbled with a bored expression.

“Should we, like… help him?”

James mumbled to Yul.

“Fuck no!”

He whisper shouted.

“Why not? I mean look at him, it’s just.. sad.”

“Oh, so we’re just gonna bring random people with us because they look sad? James, thats fucking stupid.”

“Yeah, but it would be shitty to just leave him behind.”

“Do you think….”

Aiden rolled his unbandaged eye as the two argued in hushed tones, but they weren’t fooling anybody, they were plenty loud. The man however, didn’t look up, he just stared blankly at the two bodies he clung to himself, looking closer, Aiden could see it was two women, one with brunette hair and cracked glasses, the other with short black hair, and….

“Tess?”

Aiden stepped forward, he recognized the orange sweater wrapped around that woman’s waist, James and Yul paused their bickering to watch. Upon hearing the name, the man finally looked up, locking eyes with Aiden, who slowly walked up to him.

“Tess, is that…?”

Aiden inspected the body, the face sustained little damage, it was her torso that had been heavily wounded, the hair, sweater, and features lined up perfectly with that of his old friend. That paired with the announcement of her name being the only thing that made the man acknowledge their presence, the answer was clear. Kneeling down in front of the trio, he stared at the lifeless body of his former friend.

“Tess.. I- what happened to her?”

The man gave no response, just staring blankly at Aiden.

“You know these people?”

James asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Her.”

Aiden pointed.

“Her name’s Tess, we were good friends before the outbreak.”

Turning back to them, Aiden reached a hand out to his old friend, before the man yanked her away from him, holding both bodies even closer to his chest, his neutral expression turning into a hateful glare. With a heavy sigh Aiden stood up, and turned to James.

“Hand me my axe.”

“Why?”

“Just let me see it.”

Reluctantly, James handed the weapon to Aiden, he’d been holding Aiden’s things for him to avoid further injuring his already wounded back. Aiden looked down at it, not a shovel, but it would do. Walking a few feet away from the man on the ground, he found a loose patch of dirt, angling his axe so it was flat against the earth, before he pushed down, then up again, beginning to dig.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Yul demanded.

“Burying my friend.”

“Aiden, come on, we don’t have time for this.”

“You’re free to go.”

He said, not averting his eyes from his handiwork for even a moment.

“I’m not forcing you to stay here. You can just give me my stuff back and be on your way if you don’t feel like waiting.”

Yul huffed, and took a step forward.

“Let’s go-“

“We have time to spare.”

Yul looked at James like he grew a second head.

“Your kidding?”

“It’s still morning, we can wait a bit for him to bury them, then go.”

“James, you can’t be serious, this is a waste of time…”

Aiden tuned them out as he continued on, digging a wide, shallow grave just barely big enough to fit both women. Turning back to the back haired man, he gestured to the hole. Without a word, the man picked up the brunette and placed her inside, followed by Tess, watching with a blank expression as Aiden buried the two. His muscles ached by the end of it, but that didn’t bother him too much, he hadn’t been able to give any of his loved ones a proper burial until now, Rosa’s grip on Sofia was too tight to bury the child, Aiden had been to busy running for his life, then subsequently searching for Lake to bury Rosa, and he hadn’t even entertained the idea of doing so for Maggie, Emily wouldn’t have let him. But, at the very least, he could give Tess’ body more respect than rotting in abandoned locations or being burned in a fire.

Silently, the man grabbed a metal pole from the ground, and drove it through the earth, tying an orange sweater to it, then setting a pair of glasses next to it, a tombstone of sorts. They stared for a while, in silence, before Aiden turned to the man, and offered him his hand, and after a few moments, he took it.

Two days had gone by, and the man still hadn’t said a word, they didn’t even know his name. James and Aiden simply referred to the man as ‘him’ or ‘you’, but Yul, being who he was, opted to calling him ‘#4’ given he was the sort of ‘fourth member’ of this group. He wasn’t exactly a burden, he helped gather food and water, defend from infected, things of the sort, but his silence was.. eerie, and the fact he wore a mask made it worse in a way, aside from his piercing blue eyes, they had no clue what he really looked like beyond the surface level things.

The terrain they were in now was vast and rocky, not necessarily a desert, but there wasn’t much to look at. Not to many plants, nor trees, but there were train tracks for what that was worth, tracks always lead to some sort of civilization, so the four opted to follow them in search of some abandoned city they could rest in.

The town stood out like a sore thumb. Where there was nothing but barren land, there was suddenly a collection of tents, buildings, pens, and plant life. As they approached, Aiden could see what he previously assumed to be buildings were.. train carts. Large train carts used formerly for transporting goods, were being used as homes and businesses, large holes cut out into the steel with the removed sheets being used as doors. How anyone could have moved such things was a mystery, but he had seen more unbelievable things before. Along with the train carts, there were large tents, wooden shacks, and brick walls with metal sheets covered in leaves as roofs, probably meant to be houses. There were many of these structures, not far from them was a massive barn with warm light seeping from inside, adjacent to the bar was rows upon rows of farm land, a garden, a few fruit trees, a chicken coop, and small pens for other animals. Aiden was starting to notice a pattern with the only communities he would find having something to do with farming.

“Should we.. try to see if they’ll let us in?”

“Why would they?”

“Maybe they’re friendly.”

“And if they aren’t?”

“We may as well try.”

Yul looked to Aiden and their new companion for backup, Aiden merely shrugged, while the other man remained frustratingly stoic as usual.

“It’s worth a shot.”

“That’s fucking stupid, James.”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“Yeah, keep going!”

“Yul, Aiden still needs his wounds treated, I’m no professional so I doubt what I did was adequate, we’re short on food, and it could be a good change for bartering and trading the stuff we took from that house.”

“It’s a fucking stupid idea!”

“And why is that?”

The shovel was starting to sound really nice. Aiden glanced over to their new.. friend? How seemed equally annoyed with the two as Aiden, bright blue eyes met seaweed green, and they just stared at each other as Yul and James bickered like children. He wasn’t sure how much time passed before Yul and James began walking, and they had to follow.

This could either go really great, or really horrible for them.

The second major thing Aiden learned about James was that he was charismatic, really charismatic. It made sense, a charming and handsome man like him, he could talk his way into just about anything, but of course, charisma is only half the battle. Another key component is strategy. Aiden couldn’t help but feel perplexed as James scanned the area, staring long and hard at each person who was outside, some tended to plants and animals, others rushed in and out of the buildings. And James seemed so oddly fascinated by each and every individual he saw, looking them up and down, at their features, body language, facial expressions, like he was staring into the mind and soul of every person he saw. This went on for a while, before James finally came to a decision.

“That one, right there, in the green sweater.”

Aiden followed James’ gaze to a middle aged woman watering plants.

“Why?”

“Simple, look at her movements, she’s very gentle with the plants, and so far she’s smiled at every person who’s walked by, wether they acknowledged her or not, and she doesn’t have anything on her that she could use as a weapon, she’s perfectly relaxed. She seems the most friendly, so we’re going to approach her.”

Aiden blinked, he had just read this complete stranger like a book, he looked to Yul, but he didn’t even seem phased.

“Just follow my lead.”

With that, the four made their way towards the woman.

“Excuse me, do you have a minute?”

The woman looked up.

“Hmm? Oh, sure.”

“My friends and I, we’ve been looking for a place to stay,”

James gestured to Aiden speaking with a voice as smooth as silk.

“He’s injured, you see, and we’re running short on supplies. We were hoping we could find somewhere that would welcome us for a little while, we’re willing to earn it, of course, we’d hate to be a burden. But he does really need medical assistance, do you think there’s any way we can get some help here?”

The woman stood up, and looked to Aiden with an expression of pity.

“Poor thing..”

She gave a sigh, looking back to James.

“Well, it isn’t my choice to make, but.. I suppose I’ll see what I can do, come with me.”

The group exchanged glances, but not seeing any better options, they followed the woman, who led them to a train cart excluded from the others. The door was a metal sheet, ropes tied between holes in both the door and wall acting as hinges, and a doorknob secured in by a few nails. The thing didn’t even have a lock. The woman knocked three times, and was met by a ‘Come in!’ Turning to the four men as she opened the door.

“Wait out here for a sec.”

With that, she stepped inside, and after a few minutes, ushered the group in. Which is how they ended up negotiating with an abnormally tall Australian woman, and her not so tall… husband? Boyfriend? Lover, or something along those lines.

The room they were in was dimly lit, but cozy in a way. With a sofa, a desk, a few chairs, random trinkets strung from the ceiling and hanging on the wall as decorations, and various office cabinets used for storage.

“Well,”

Jasmine, the tall Australian began, paying Aiden a glance.

“Your friend here isn’t in very good condition, we could patch him up for you, give you guys a place to stay for a while, but you’ve got to earn it.”

“Earn it how?”

Yul prodded with a raised eyebrow.

“Well.. we need some supplies. Food, water, things like that. We’re going through a pretty rough drought in this area, and it isn’t looking good. Somewhere around here is a bunker, there should be some useful things in there. We’ve sent people out before, but they didn’t find it. If you can find it, bring back anything worthwhile, you can stay here. And if you can’t find it.. we’ll just give you something else to do, I guess.”

“This is fucking stupid.”

“We heard you the first time.”

“And I’ll say it again, because it’s fucking stupid!”

Aiden felt hid hands clench into aggravated fists. God, Yul’s voice was annoying. The moment he’s fully healed, he’s ditching those two and going to find Lake.. and, he supposed, their new companion could tag along as well, he certainly wasn’t enjoying himself either. They had been walking for hours, searching for this ‘bunker’ with barely any instructions. It was clear by how she talked about it that Jasmine probably wasn’t completely sure the thing actually existed, and didn’t want to deal with the issue herself. So hey, let the new guys handle it, right? A half blind axe murderer, an angsty mute, a spoiled brat, and an out of touch influencer, surely the most competent people for the job. At least she sent them off with some supplies to help, and by supplies, she just gave each of them a bag along with a singular rusted red racer wagon to make transporting things easier.

How thoughtful.

Watching Yul drag the pitiful wagon was pretty amusing given though, it clearly pissed him off, the thing was probably older than he was, or Aiden assumed, he hadn’t asked for James and Yul’s ages, but he guessed neither could be more than a few years older than he was. Yul opened his mouth to complain again, before he tripped on something, falling face first into the dirt, drawing amused chuckles from James. Yul scowled up at him, rising to his feet, before something stopped him from taking another step, his foot was caught in something.

“The fuck…?”

“What is it?”

Yul stepped away from the thing, and bent down.

“It looks like a handle.”

The others peered over Yul’s shoulder.

“Well, that’s convenient.”

James said with a smirk. Pushing aside the wagon, James and Yul pulled on the handle, while Aiden cut away and the dry earth and overgrowth that kept it sealed. Eventually, after another half hour, they got the thing open, surprised to be met with blue, artificial light emanating from inside.

“You think there’s someone in there?”

James merely shrugged.

“Fuck it.”

Aiden muttered, grabbing his bag, and descending down the ladder down to a tunnel, which led to a large vault like door, wide open.

“Looks like whoever was in here before is long gone now.”

Yul observed.

“Alright, here’s the plan.”

James began, looking between each of the men.

“Yul, you go try to find any medical supplies, I’ll look for weapons, Aiden try to find food and water, and you try to find anything else that could be useful, miscellaneous stuff, rope, batteries, lighters, candles, anything that can be helpful. When we’ve gotten everything we can carry, we meet up here then head back, if it’s already nighttime by the time we’re done we’ll just sleep in here so we don’t get lost or attacked by an infected trying to find our way back.”

Aiden, Yul, and their new companion nodded, and went their separate ways.

The place was eerie, dusty, damp, and empty. The lights above flickered, the only noise provided being Aiden’s quiet footsteps, and the light plip of water droplets falling from the ceiling, and onto the dingy tile floor. The place smelled perpetually of wet towels, bunched into a pile, thrown in a corner, and forgotten about. Which is to say it smelled moldy, gross, and generally very unpleasant. As Aiden navigated the winding halls, he stumbled across a few doors, the first was a janitor’s closet, then a bathroom, then a small office with a monitor, various office supplies and drawers, and even a coffee table with sugar packets, undoubtedly expired cream cups that smelled absolutely terrible, and an espresso machine, which Aiden promptly smashed into tiny pieces upon seeing it. The room at the end of this hall however, was quite promising, a large pantry filled with shelves upon shelves of canned goods. Aiden couldn’t help but grin to himself at his luck, walking inside, he took basically everything he could fit in his bag, beans, soup, fruits, vegetables, meats, among others. What surprised him was cans of water, and tins with candy. (Yeah, canned water is actually a thing believe it or not, an uncle of mine had his pantry filled with them for some reason)

Aiden however, wasn’t in the mood to be questioning things, so he took those as well, there was way more left in the pantry than he was able to pack, he supposed they would have to return sometime. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he headed for the entrance where they had agreed to meet up. Luck was with him again, as everybody was there, bags filled to the brim.. except for James.

“I found a room filled with food and shit, but there was way too much for me to fit in here, so we’re probably gonna have to come back sometime.”

“Yeah, it was pretty much the same case for all of us.. except me. I couldn’t find the armory. I’m gonna look one more time for it though, okay?”

Everyone nodded, and James walked off.

“Oh shit.”

“What?”

“I got all the canned stuff, but I forgot to get any of the can openers.”

“Can’t you just use a spoon?”

“That only works for cans with tabs- look, I’ll be right back, just stay here!”

Aiden dropped his bag, and scurried down the hallway, Yul gave an agitated sigh. Aiden quickly ran back to the janitor’s closet and retrieved a trash bag, small, only big enough for one of those small office trash cans, and headed back for the pantry, filling the small bag with several can openers. As he tied the bag shut, he thought for a moment, James would be busy looking for weapons.. a bit of exploring couldn’t hurt, right? No, he decided, it would not.

And so, he made his way through the long, twisting corridors of the bunker, scraping his axe along the wall and leaving a marked trail in his wake to avoid getting lost when he needed to make his way back to the others. He ended up letting his mind wander as he walked, so much so that he barely noticed when his axe began scraping against a new surface, looking to his left, he could see it was glass. A glass window to be exact, which displayed a containment room holding a dead infected. Aiden cringed, continuing down the hallway, and seeing many more rooms like this, each with the corpse of an infected. Whoever was here before must have been experimenting on them before leaving, or rather.. who was here now.

The sound of humming was.. startling to say the least. That meant there was still someone down here, someone had stayed behind. Curiosity overtook Aiden, and against his better judgement, he followed the noise to a room opposite to the containment ones, the door slightly ajar. Aiden peaked, seeing a woman sitting at a desk, squinting into a microscope, before writing something on a note pad. He blinked, and leaned slightly forward, the bag of can openers colliding gently with the door, and making a noise, which the woman quickly noticed. Aiden cursed to himself as the woman looked up, and stared directly at him.

‘Oh, fuck me.’

She blinked a few times, startled, before tilting her head.

“You know I can see you, right? You’re not hiding very well.”

‘I am so fucked. God, I am screwed.’

Just what he needed, to be severely injured, and alone with a potentially dangerous woman as he ransacked her home. Christ almighty, Aiden was fucked.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that! Come in, come in! I’m friendly, I can assure you. It’s been a while since I’ve had any visitors, please come in!”

Aiden’s confusion skyrocketed when the woman smiled, and waved her hand to usher him inside. He took a step back.

“No! No! Please don’t go, don’t be scared! It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone else down here with me, just please come inside!”

Her voice grew frantic, and Aiden began to feel bad.

“Fuck me..”

He sighed, and opened the door, against his better judgement, he stepped inside.

“Oh my gosh! What happened to your eye?!”

Aiden didn’t respond.

“Oh.. touchy subject, huh? Well, that’s alright, I won’t pry. Please, take a seat, make yourself right at home! Are you hungry at all? I can go fetch you a snack if you want, or some water?”

Aiden approached her slowly, and sat at the chair across from her.

“No need.”

There was an awkward pause.

“I’m.. sorry for intruding. I saw the door wide open, and assumed the place was empty before I saw you.”

“Oh, there’s no need for that! It’s fine, perfectly fine. I don’t mind at all. In fact, I’m quite glad you decided to stop by! I’ve kind of been on my own for a while, since all of my assistants left, I suppose they found better things to do, in any case, it’s gotten just a tinsy bit lonely down here, a new person to talk to is always a nice change of pace! So, what’s your name?”

“Aiden.. you?”

The woman paused.

“My name.. I, uh.. h-hold on, uhm… Something with an ‘s’.. Sarah..? No, no. Uhm.. Sam? No that was the blonde, uhm.. Scar..? Scar..? Scarlett! Scarlett! Yes, yes! That’s it! My name is Scarlett. It’s nice to meet you.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow, confused how anyone could just forget their own name, but.. he’d seem stranger things. Scarlett was.. unusually dirty for someone in a bunker equipt with electricity and running water. With dusty glasses, a lab coat and gloves, and fiery red hair tied up in a bun so tight it made Aiden’s scalp sting. He couldn’t help but be reminded of Lake by her hair, and those eyes..

“So, what are you doing down here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m working on the disease, curing it, to be precise! And so far, I’ve made incredible progress. Here, come look!”

She slid a note pad towards Aiden, the writing was incoherent, random words bunched together hastily, now that he noticed it, nothing in her lab looked quite right. Counters showed vials of dirty looking liquids he couldn’t identify, stains and mold everywhere, and random equipment and items scattered on the floor. The place was a complete mess, hardly even a lab.

“I see..”

He muttered.

“And how long have you been down here?”

“How long? Uhm.. uh.. I’ll have to get back to you on that one, but not long, I’m sure! You see, I had to come down here to develop a cure, me and my assistants, everyone was counting on us! And down here is much safer than up there.. speaking of, how.. how is everything right now? Is everything okay? I can’t imagine things are going too well given the state you’re in, but.. have things gotten better, or…. worse?”

Aiden paused, glancing to the side.

“Certainly not good..”

“Go on.”

“Uh.. well, society is kind of.. collapsed. No government, no nothing. The infection has gone completely out of control, it’s hard to go anywhere without encountering one, people aren’t much better, there’s been a cult, raider groups, and a lot of people have died.”

Scarlett stared at him for a long while, before leaning forward in her chair.

“Well, that’s not good. I suppose once I finish the cure I’ll have to work on fixing that. But no matter, I can bring things back to normal, I’m sure! That’s what I’m good at, you see.”

“Out of curiosity.. why specifically are you looking for a cure?”

There was another pause.

“Well, I- hold on, I know this.. uhm, let’s see..”

She looked down, and began to fiddle with a loose strand of hair.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“No, no! I’ve got this, I just need to think, so just, be quiet for a little bit.”

Clumps of hair began to go loose from her bun, her expression grew almost frantic.

“Are you.. okay?”

“Yes! I’m fine! Just shut up for a moment, I need to think!”

She was practically tugging at the loose bits of hair.

“Scar-“

“I said shut the fuck up!”

With that, she rose to her feet, slamming both fists on the table, her bun came loose, and long firmly locks cascaded down her back, reaching to her waist. They curled at the ends in a way that made her look almost devilish, her furious expression didn’t help either. Aiden blinked in surprise at the sudden outburst, but just as quickly as her anger came, it left. And she sat back down, clearing her throat.

“Sorry about that.”

She gave an awkward chuckle, putting her hair back up.

“I just needed some quiet, and you just wouldn’t stop talking, so I had to make you stop. Now let’s see.. where was I? Oh yes, why I’m working on a cure! You see, early on a person I knew got sick with the disease, I remember we were close, or at least.. I think people said we should have been.. shortly after that some important people asked me to work on a cure and of course, to save that person I knew, I took them up on the offer, and now I’m down here! I’ve made incredible progress, and soon, in no time, the sure will be ready, and I can help my-“

She cut herself off, her smile fading.

“My… was it.. was he my friend? No, we- we lived together. Uhm.. a boyfriend- no, no.. relative.. brother! Yes, yes! Brother! I’m developing a cure to save my brother! Because of course, he’s my brother and I love him! I think.. no! No! That’s just ridiculous! How could I even think that, of course I loved- love my brother! I love him dearly! I mean,”

She gave a frantic chuckle.

“Everyone who has a brother loves their brother! You for instance, do you have a brother?”

Aiden considered the question, no brothers, but he did have Lynette, or rather.. he had her. He also had Lake, Rosa, and Sofia. They weren’t related by blood, but he considered them just as much just sisters as Lynette was, he loved all four so dearly, they were all his little sisters.

“No, four younger sisters.”

“Oh, sisters, of course! How could I forget sisters? Regardless, you love them?”

“More than anything.”

Scarlett nodded.

“Mhm! And that’s just how it is, everyone who has a sibling loves them dearly, adores them! The way you cherish your little sisters, and I cherish.. cherish.. huh, I.. can’t remember my brother’s name.”

Her smile faded once more, Aiden was starting to wonder how many more times this woman was going to forget key details of her own life before she realized how much this whole self isolation thing was seriously taking a toll on her. She blinked twice, then shook her head softly, her smile then returned.

“Well, that’s alright! I’ll see him soon, and cure him, and things will be back to normal!”

She outstretched her arms, gesturing to the entirety of her lab.

“You, my friend, are one lucky man! You’re about to witness history once I’ve finished my latest attempt at the cure, and this one will work for sure! And you’ll be here to see it! We’ll go down in history, you and I!”

“Right.. so what’s with those dead infected in the hallway?”

Scarlett raised an eyebrow.

“Dead infected? In the hallway? Show me.”

Aiden rose to his feet, and gestured for Scarlett to follow him, leading her out of the room, and to the corridor with the containment rooms. Scarlett’s eyes flicked over the windows, and blanched.

“My.. my specimens! Oh god, what happened?!”

She rushed to one of the windows, putting her hand against it, and staring wide eyed and mouth agape at the dead creature within.

“Did I…? Did my…?”

She blinked.

“Oh god.. what have I been doing..? I’m a scientist god dammit! How could I have allowed this to happen?! It’s this.. was this why my assistants left? Did..”

She looked back to her laboratory, the door was wide open, she stared long and hard at the mess within, random liquids in vials, equipment on the floor, mold, stains, and notebooks filled with gibberish.

“What have I been doing..? Did I kill them..? Am I the reasons my specimens died, my assistants lost hope? Have I been doing nothing this whole time..?”

She slumped to the floor, expression blank, body leaned against the wall.

“Dear god…”

Aiden stepped forward, unsure of what to do, he reached to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, only for her to slap it away.

“Don’t touch me! I don’t want your damn pity!”

She lowered her head again, murmuring.

“What have I been doing..? I’m a scientist god damnit! Everyone is counting on me.. I.. oh what have I been doing? What am I going to do?”

Her voice cracked, and her body began to tremble. Aiden glanced away, contemplating just leaving her behind, but.. that would just be plain cruel. Not to mention, he couldn’t help but see just a bit of Lake as he stared at her, maybe it was the pale skin, or the fiery hair.. regardless, he’d be a real piece of shit if he just abandoned her.

“I think we should go.”

Aiden reached his hand out towards her, Scarlett looked up, eyes wide and uncomprehending.

“Go?”

Aiden nodded.

“There’s nothing for you down here.”

She blinked, contemplating the offer. After five long minutes, she took his hand.

“Jesus Christ, what took you so long?!”

Yul shouted the moment Aiden came into view, they had all been waiting for him, James was now holding a machete in his free hand, but his bag was still empty, it seemed he still couldn’t find the armory, and just took whatever he could from wherever he had gone. Just as Yul opened his mouth to chastise Aiden once more, he paused, seeing Scarlett standing behind him, eyes downcast and silent. Everyone else noticed too, and James frowned.

“Who is she?”

“Scarlett, she’s.. been alone down here for a while. She wanted to come with us.”

Catching Yul’s expression, he added.

“I’m not saying we need to take her in or anything like that, we can leave her to be Shawn and Jasmine’s problem, but I don’t think we should just let her stay in here to rot.”

James glanced over to the pitiful scientist, and sighed.

“Fine.”

He grumbled, climbing up the ladder and opening the trap door, and climbed up, taking each of the bags, and loading them into the wagon. Surprisingly, it was still daytime by the time they were done, but the sun did seem like it would set soon. One by one, each person climbed out, before it was just Aiden and Scarlett. Giving her a reassuring smile, he went up the ladder and stepped outside, offering his hand when she too had finished ascending the ladder. Immediately, she yelped, stumbling back and putting her arm over her eyes, it struck Aiden that she probably hadn’t seen actual sunlight in years. Putting a hand on each shoulder to help steady her, Aiden watched as James grabbed a large tree branch from the ground, and lodged it into the dirt just in front of the trap door.

“What are you doing?”

“The door isn’t obvious, the branch us so we remember where it is when we come back.”

“Come back..?”

Scarlett raised an eyebrow, but received no proper answer. Aiden sighed.

“Come on, this place is depressing.”

Heavens bless whoever invented painkillers, because Aiden was popping the things like candies.

He was fully expecting getting his wounds disinfected and stitched up to hurt like hell, but the mountain of medicines and pills Yul was able to steal made it at least mildly bearable, albeit Aiden was taking so many of the things he wasn’t entirely sure if he was high or not, or if getting high off painkillers was even possible. If it was though, he wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out he was stoned out of his mind. He usually avoided such things, back when he and Kai were roommates seeing how he was always high as a kite on the most random things he could find, along with the generally unpleasant smell of weed and crushed up pills, he decided not to mess with that shit, ever.  Especially after a certain incident involving Aiden bringing a guy home on a night he assumed Kai would be at Maggie’s place, only to find his friend sprawled out on the kitchen floor high off his ass, needless to say Aiden unfortunately did not get laid that night, and it was the most awkward experience of his life. He had been bitter about the whole ordeal for a long time, but now it wasn’t something he cared too much for, he had other things about Kai to be pissed off about, such as the whole being left behind in a cult and forced to kill his friend because Kai decided to be a pussy. Aiden certainly wasn’t going to let that one go anytime soon.

But now as he stared at the ceiling in the infirmary, wondering why he could taste the color purple, he couldn’t help but feel lonely. He could almost imagine Lake, Rosa, and Sofia sitting next to his bed, comforting him through the pain of losing an eye, but.. they were not.

He was all alone.

He sighed, rolling over, and gasping at the pain it brought, he reached for more painkillers, but seeing rainbow dash from my little pony standing in the corner of the infirmary made him realize he most certainly was getting high off of these, and should definitely put them down before anything unpleasant happened. Pulling his blanket over his body, he couldn’t shake away this overwhelming emptiness, what he would give to just have someone sitting by his bed, to have Lake put a gentle hand on his shoulder, he would kill just to see her face again. He curled in on himself slightly, like a scared child, he wanted to cry, but nothing came out, which only served to make him feel worse.

God, his life sucked.

“You think you’re finally ready?”

Aiden sighed, staring in the cracked mirror at his bandaged face.

“May as well.”

The nurse nodded, and began to carefully remove his bandages, careful not to accidentally snag on any bits of hair. Aiden was scared to look, and when he did, he felt sick to his stomach. The scar wasn’t what worried him, he expected to have scars from the incident, but what was troublesome was his right eye, it wasn’t green anymore, but a milky grayish white color. He blinked, putting a hand to his right cheek, and gently touching the large gash.

“My eye, I can’t.. I can’t see out of it..”

He blinked again, as if expecting vision in his right eye to just miraculously return, but it did not.

“That bitch!”

Aiden didn’t even need to ask to be able to tell James was guilty, it was written on his face the moment he saw Aiden’s.

“Hey..”

“Hi.”

James inched towards Aiden’s bed, before sitting awkwardly on the edge.

“Is this a bad time?”

Aiden shrugged, setting the hand mirror down onto his lap.

“Not really.”

He lied, meeting James’ sorrowful gaze.

“I.. wanted to apologize.”

“What for?”

Aiden asked rhetorically, knowing full well what the next words that would come out of James’s mouth would be.

“For running away. After you helped Yul and I, we just.. left you there. I- I’m sorry. I just- you got so hurt because we ran off, and.. you did it for us, for two people you didn’t even know, and we just left you there to deal with the consequences! I can’t..”

He looked away, and sighed deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

Silence stretched on for what felt like eternity, the infirmary was empty at this moment, there was no one else injured or sick aside from Aiden, and the nurse who had been tending to him had decided a few hours ago to give him some alone time, it was just him and James. Aiden sighed, placing the mirror on the nightstand, giving James his full attention.

“Yeah, I’m pretty pissed about it too.”

Catching James’ expression, he continued.

“Not at either of you, just at the bitch who attacked me. Don’t.. don’t feel guilty for initially running away, I told you to, after all. You came back to help me, that’s the important part. I’d probably be dead if you hadn’t. Thank you for that.”

James’ guilty look softened slightly, but he still seemed melancholic, Aiden could tell intuitively that James certainly wasn’t going to stop feeling bad anytime soon.

“The guys and I are going to take a look around, get some trading done, stuff like that.”

James’ eyes locked with Aiden for the first time in the entire conversation.

“Do.. you want to join us?”

Aiden thought for a moment, he didn’t have anything better to do, and he wasn’t seeing spots in his vision anymore, so he was pretty sure he was no longer high. Glancing back to James, he could tell it would probably make his new.. friend? Feel better if he accepted. And with a small sigh, he caved.

“Sure.”

WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO:

I made a bunch of drawing of characters.. so yeah, here u go.

Dawn’s potential designs: https://x.com/TheWackyklown/status/1799292499628003531

Ashley sketch: https://x.com/TheWackyklown/status/1797535853503484370

Random sketches: https://x.com/TheWackyklown/status/1794290755319836681 

Feedback and opinions would be much appreciated! <3

Chapter Text

Emily’s eyes scanned over Krystal’s body, and blanched.

What in god’s name was that? What in god’s name was she? Emily blinked once, then blinked again, half expecting that doing so would magically erase the horrors her eyes beheld, which of course, did not work.

Horrific.

The sight she beheld, was pure horror. Emily whimpered, her stomach curling with the unfamiliar feeling of pure terror, a feeling she hadn’t known in years. She fumbled for a few moments, her mouth just wouldn’t allow a single noise to come out. She took a step back, swallowing hard, before letting out a shriek Loyd enough to wake the dead, it made her own throat sting, and ears throb. Krystal, however, didn’t respond, she just continued her labored groans and breathing. This is where she had been the last two weeks, her and Oliver both. Emily trembled, when Krystal finally begin to move.

“Oh, Krystal…”

She took a step back.

“What.. are you?”

https://www.tiktok.com/@ murderous._.pineapple/video/7380993209834442014?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7369039071823775263

Chapter Text

Not a plot relevant chapter, but I needed to establish total drama’s existence to be cannon in this fic.

Lyndsay stared out the passenger’s side window at the cool night surrounding them, at the colorful glows of street lamps and stop lights. The comfortable silence in the car only interrupted by the gentle plip of the occasional raindrop.

It was a light sprinkle outside of her four wheeled sanctuary, which was cruzing leisurely down the road, through highways, and towns, all for one very special event.

Lyndsay glanced over to her husband, Tyler, who was driving with a bored expression. Neither of them enjoyed long drives very much, it bored them, and they found it difficult to keep still an occupied for such long periods. Regardless, tonight was a special exception, a night they would suck it up and continue on, because it was a special occasion.

The Total Drama reunion party.

Ah yes, a get together of all 84 contestants, including the cast of the Ridonculous Race, a spin-off Lyndsay never got around to watching; hosted by a few of the friendlier cast members from the first season. The best part aside from meeting old friends is that none of the hosts were invited, or even made aware of the reunion. So Chris McLean and his entourage wouldn’t be there to ruin the fun. She was excited to catch up with some old friends, she followed a few on social media and had text conversation every now and then, but none of them were particularly close to her anymore, except Beth and Tyler, of course. She and her husband had changed a lot since then, everyone had, they’d grown and matured but they were still far from being the sharpest tools in the shed, and were still clueless and clumsy, of course to a much lesser degree.

Growing up and starting a family tends to do that to someone, oddly enough.

Oh right, the kids. There were two of them, both girls Catherine, and Bethany, the ladder named after her godmother, Beth, who was to this day, Lindsay’s dearest friend. Lindsay and Tyler both adored them, Tyler especially.

He had initially hoped for a boy, but the moment he held his eldest daughter, his disappointment vanished, and he was enamored, when they found out their second was another girl, he was even more ecstatic and the idea that Catherine would have a playmate. Lindsay’s heart melted seeing him play with their girls, teaching Catherine different sports, playing ‘princesses’ with Bethany, and chasing them through the halls in games of ‘tag’ and ‘hide and go seek’. More than anything else, he spoiled his girls rotten, if they ever went out for errands, groceries, or any other excursion, their daughters never returned home without a belly full of sweets, or a hand filled by a new toy or trinket. The girls themselves were a delight too, they energetic, filled to the brim with joy and curiosity, but they were polite and respectful for their ages, and Lindsay loved the ocean of compliments she received for teaching her girls such good behavior.

Not to mention the two were attached at the hip, they did everything together, Bethany would make Catherine sit down for stuffed animal tea parties, and Catherine made Bethany play goalie in games of soccer, they watched Disney films together, played with stuffed animals, and would ‘slumber parties’ in the living room by building forts from pillows and blankets, and sleeping inside them.

Lindsay had the ideal family, the ideal husband and kids, she was truly living her dream life. And she couldn’t wait to tell everyone, to tell them how she’d changed, and hear how they had in turn, her mind was already buzzing with questions to ask her old friends (and foes, should they choose to show up)

Just as Lindsay was about to turn to Tyler and ask him how long it would be until they arrived, he cursed to himself under his breath.

“What is it?”

“My phone just died, I forgot to charge it. Can you let me use yours for the map?”

Lindsay nodded, and reached into her purse, only to realize she’d forgotten to bring her phone. They always forgot something. Lindsay sighed, and turned back to her husband.

“I think I left it on the counter.”

Tyler gave a heavy sigh, and parked the car on the side of the road. They were in a small neighborhood, dead sikence surrounding them as families slept away in their warm beds. Tyler turned to her, brows furrowed ever so slightly.

“Do you think we can make it the rest of the way there?”

Lindsay paused, contemplating this. They hadn’t memorized the address of the reunion, and had relied on google maps to get them there, but without it they’d just be going based on memory and hope for the best. They’d learned their lesson not to do this again when Tyler’s phone died on the way to one of Catherine’s soccer tournaments, Tyler insisted on taking them there the rest of the way without a map, and the family somehow wound up not at a soccer field, but the Mexican border.

Those were just the wonders of the couple’s pure stupidity.

“I think it’s safer if we just head home..”

Lindsay replied solemnly, she’d been excited for this night, and was looking forward to seeing her old friends again, and catching up with them in a rare break from her joyous, but albeit monotonous life, to be around other adults, drink together, and laugh about old stories. But, it just wasn’t worth the risk of getting lost in the middle of nowhere. And so, they resigned to head back home to the girls.

That was, until something caught Lindsay’s attention. She raised an eyebrow at the peculiar sight, a little girl, five or six maybe, standing alone on the sidewalk, just.. staring at the. Tyler saw her too, and exchanged glances. After all, what could a girl so young possibly be doing out alone at this hour? Lindsay saw the look in Tyler’s eye, and could tell he would say something avoid how ‘these things always happen in horror movies, and it never ends well’ so, Lindsay volunteered, and stepped outside, approaching the girl cautiously.

“Hey, little girl..”

She leaned down closer to her level.

“Why are you outside so late?”

Lindsay glanced around.

“Where are your pa-“

Without warning, the girl lunged towards Lindsay, and grabbed her wrist, digging her nails into the flesh until she drew blood.

“Hey! Let- let go!”

Lindsay pushed the girl gently but firmly away, and took a step back, clutching her wrist, which was scratched and bled ever so slightly. The girl gave an intense expression, but maintained her silence, Lindsay shivered, a feeling of dread creeping up on her, until a woman came rushing towards them.

“Jesus- why are you out here?!”

The woman grabbed the girl by her shoulder, then looked to Lindsay, then at her wrist, before scowling at the girl.

“You are going to get it when we return home!”

She sighed, and turned to Lindsay.

“I’m sorry if I caused trouble or anything, I just saw her out here alone, and got worried-“

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

The woman reassured, putting her hand up.

“I’m so sorry about her, she’s just been acting so strange lately, I don’t know what’s going on.”

She sighed, and picked the girl up.

“Have a good night.”

She mumbled as they walked off, and went into one of the houses. Lindsay blinked at the bizarre interaction.

“You too…”

She muttered, before getting back inside the car, still clutching her wrist.

“What happened?”

Lindsay merely shrugged.

“Maybe she was sleep walking, I dunno.”

She wiped the few droplets of blood away, and continued the uneventful drive back home, and equally uneventful night that followed which consisted of paying the babysitter, telling the girls goodnight, and flopping into bed disappointed, the mood soured by their major inconvenience.

The next day didn’t seem like anything special at first, she’d gotten the girls ready for school, did some work from home, took a nap, nothing was remotely out of the ordinary. Until.. that evening, the mark on her wrist became irritated, it stung, and itched, like a particularly bad mosquito bite. Was that normal?

It was two days after the reunion was meant to have happened when Lindsay and Tyler were in the kitchen, making lunch for themselves and the girls, who were sitting in front of the TV, flipping through the channels as usual, until Catherine spoke up.

“Are those the friends you were going to see?”

“Huh?”

Lindsay and Tyler both looked up at the television, which was playing the news. A reporter was standing outside of the building that had been rented for the reunion, on the screen next to her, were a few photos of past contestants. Lindsay raised an eyebrow as the reporter talked about an attack of some kind, the screen cut to an interview with a contestant she recognized to be a guy named Shawn from one of the later seasons.

“It just.. it was a person, but they looked wrong! I think it was a man, but I’m not sure. He just.. barged in and started to attack people, he tackled some lady, Beth, I think. And.. I don’t know how but.. he just took a bite right out of her face, there was blood everywhere, everyone was screaming.. he just tore her apart!”

Lindsay’s eyes widened, and she could feel the bowl of food she’d made for herself and Tyler slip from her grasp, and shatter on the floor. Tears already began to form in her eyes at the revelation that her best friend had been killed so brutally. Tyler put a hand on her shoulder, steadying her as the reporter continued on, but Lindsay wasn’t processing any of what she was saying, her mind was screaming with a million thoughts a second as she struggled to process what she had just heard. They went into their room after that, the girls exchanging nervous glances as they heard their mother crying down the hall. The itching and pain in her cut only got worse.

“Both the urine and blood tests turned out negative, so it isn’t pregnancy.”

The doctor murmured, as his eyes scanned the words on his page.

“I’ve been saying that from the start, there’s no way.”

The doctor merely sighed.

“Well, we had to be sure. And, with all due respect, if your time on Total Drama is anything to go by, we need to take your words with a grain of salt.”

There it was, she just knew he was going to bring that up at some point. Everybody did, from doctors, to employers, you name it, they use it as an excuse to not take her seriously.

“Sir, I was a teenager back then, I’ve grown and matured a lot since the-“

“Oh, I’m sure you have, it’s been years since then, but as a medical professional I do need to have caution. Just in case.”

“Of course.”

Lindsay felt her eye twitch. On her time in that god damn reality show she was used, bullied, had countless jokes made at her expense, and was displayed on international television is a dumb, incompetent blonde. Even now after all these years it was still a reputation she couldn’t get away from.

“Alright then, what do you think it is?”

“Probably just stress, I hardly think your symptoms are related to that cut on your wrist, it’s probably just a regular infection, you can easily take care of it on your own.”

“Are you sure? These symptoms didn’t even begin until I got it.”

“Yes, but you told me that was only a day or two before the passing of your friend, I’m sure the grief and stress is what’s causing your symptoms and the cut itself is just a regular infection from neglecting the wound after immediately getting it, they just happened to have occurred in the same short time frame.”

Lindsay considered him at length, before sighing, and standing up, grabbing her purse.

“Thank you, have a good day.”

That was all she felt like saying before she walked out, examining her wrist. If the doctors couldn’t fix her she’d have to do it herself, after all, she was no expert, but she was sure black veins and pustules forming around such a small cut was not normal.

Something happened in Toronto, Lindsay heard about it on the news. Some incident similar to what happened at the reunion, people attacking and cannibalizing one another, all with symptoms of black blood. Lindsay glanced at her injured wrist, increasingly getting worried. It was only getting worse, there were small bumps and pustules around the cut, which oozed a black substance. She visited the emergency room, and was just given a few brands of soothing creams that may help, she sighed, looking up. She and the girls were at the park, and the two were running in the grass with other kids in a game of freeze tag. Any other day it’d be a sight she would smile and laugh at, but she didn’t have the capacity for anything of that sort right now. She was too worried about this cut.

This was NOT normal.

Lindsay had been right, of course she was right. What the doctors told her was bullshit, absolute bullshit. This wasn’t a regular infection, the nausea, migraines, itchiness, the weight loss, a clump of hair even fell out as she was brushing it! This was NOT normal, it was NOT okay! The coughing fits.. the blood.. something was wrong. Tyler knew it too, he kept calling doctors and hospitals, doing everything he could think to do.

But the visits didn’t improve anything.

Lindsay wasn’t fit to be around other people anymore, she knew that now. She was on the phone with Beth’s mother, the two mourning the loss together. It was after she hung up that she went downstairs that she realized how hungry she was, the girls were sitting on the couch watching a cartoon together, Bethany was right there, in arm’s reach…

She hadn’t realized she’d dragged her off the couch by her hair until Tyler screamed at her demanding to know what the hell she was about to do. Lindsay felt sick to her stomach, she was hurting her own child, she didn’t know why! It wasn’t her fault! It wasn’t her goddamn fault!

She was…. She was just hungry. No matter how much she ate she was still so hungry..

Tyler had been banging on the door for what felt like hours now, he was begging her to open it, but no! She couldn’t! No matter how much she wanted to run into the sanctuary of her husband’s loving embrace she couldn’t risk it! What if she hurt him too..?

What if she did worse?

It was the police who busted down the door and dragged her out of the bathroom, she kicked and thrashed, pleading to them.

She was too dangerous to be around other humans! She was too ugly to be seen by anyone, she was a monster! She had harmed her own child, and she was a monster for it!

Lindsay. Was. Not. Fit. To. Be. Around. Anyone!

But the police didn’t listen, and off to the hospital she went. Her condition must have gotten worse, it certainly felt like it.

She got out after a few days, she needed to get home. They tried to stop her of course, but she was so hungry. God, she was hungry. She just needed something to eat, something, anything at all.

Getting into the house wasn’t an issue, Tyler, being who he was, put the key under the doormat, so Lindsay had easy access.

She could feel herself deteriorate, but she was just so hungry.. even a little food would help. She stumbled into the kitchen pantry, she needed more than this. She needed more than just fucking bread! That wouldn’t be enough. She needed meat.

She walked right past the refrigerator and ascended the stairs.

She needed food.

Catherine awoke at the creaking of her door being opened.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Lindsay watched as she examined her room, wondering why her door was open. There she was, her daughter, her little girl. Her hair braided like it always was, she even braided it before bed. Her precious child.

Catherine saw her mother at the foot of her bed, and froze. Lindsay could feel the tears flowing down her face as she stared at her child, as she felt the last bits of control drip away like her tears dripped onto the wood floor. The primal instinct to eat was taking her autonomy away, her humanity away. Part of her mind was begging for her to stop, the other was fixated on how hungry she was.

Catherine barely had time to scream.

The rest of her family didn’t fare much better.

WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO:

Sketches n stuff, I guess?

https://x.com/TheWackyklown/status/1814597872807236088

https://x.com/TheWackyklown/status/1816406834774978707

https://x.com/TheWackyklown/status/1818852198769737831

https://x.com/TheWackyklown/status/1818853032739979348

https://x.com/TheWackyklown/status/1818853919063417239

My art style has become painfully inconsistent and I personally blame Sad-ist and the entirety of demon slayer 

anyway, feedback and opinions are much appreciated

Chapter Text

You nosey assholes are the reason I had to rewrite this authors note, just go away. Please. 

Chapter Text

Aiden was much less angry than James had expected him to be all things considered.

He expected to be yelled at or ignored, or something else along those lines, but aside from a dismissive attitude and occasional glares, Aiden was mostly civil towards him and Yul. He wasn’t nice persay, but he wasn’t mean either, which, to James at least, was a win. And he humored James’ request to take a look around with him and the others, much to his relief. As the four of them walked through the makeshift town, familiarizing themselves, James couldn’t help but sneak the occasional glance. What odd hair, half brown, half blonde, so muted of a blonde it was almost white, large eyes, a milky grey and a gorgeous emerald. His appearance was.. unique to say the least, even with the scar he was really pretty.

“So,”

Aiden began as James led him and the others to one of the train car buildings.

“I’m kinda.. out of the loop. How much of what we found did Shawn and Jasmine take? And, how are we going to go about trading? It’s been a long time since I’ve had to do any.”

Before James could answer, Yul reached into his bag with a smirk James knew all too well.

“While we’re on the subject, I may have kept a thing or two that we found for us. I think we earned it, after all.”

With that, Yul pulled something from his bag that made everyone’s eyes go wide.

“No way..”

A grin crept up on Aiden’s features as he stared at the treasure in Yul’s hand, a portable water purifier.

“That’s not all! Also got a few lighters, first aid kits, medicine, all the good shit. Without them noticing too.”

He turned back to the group.

“Impressive, huh?”

Yul, seeming awfully proud of himself continued to gloat, earning an eye roll from James, who turned back to Aiden.

“Anyway, while you were in the infirmary, I got a good look around. And there’s a store nearby.”

Aiden blinked.

“A store? Money doesn’t mean anything anymore, how would that work?”

“Bartering.”

“Oh. Right..”

He glanced away in embarrassment.

“Anyways, I figured a quick detour wouldn’t hurt, so that we could visit a certain someone.”

Aiden blinked, thinking for a few moments.

“Oh! You mean Scarlet?”

“Yeah, it’s been a few days but I figured you’d want to see her, she’s doing a bit better now.”

Aiden nodded with a solemn expression as they neared the train car, James couldn’t be sure whether it was of sympathy or some type of guilt. James knocked on the makeshift door, met with no reply, he knocked again, harder now.

“We’re out here!”

A voice called from behind the train car, mildly embarrassed, James lowered his hand and went around the train car, Aiden, Yul, and their new companion following close behind. In a patch of grass, was Shawn and Jasmine inspecting what looked like some kind of an animal tooth, sitting in a chair, Scarlet listened intently as a blonde woman rambled to her about different insects and butterflies, one of the beautiful creatures perched on her index finger. Jasmine turned to the four, and gave a smile.

“Glad to see you up and walking.”

Her gaze turned to Aiden as she addressed him.

“Nice scar.”

She complimented with a small wave, earning only a small ‘Thanks.’ From the younger man, who seemed distracted. James followed his gaze to look at Scarlet, who locked eyes with Aiden. She certainly looked better than when they had found her, she was clean now, and dressed in new clothes, with her hair still up in its signature bun. Regardless, she looked solemn as ever. The blonde noticed the four, and gave a warm smile, either completely oblivious or willfully ignorant of Aiden and Scarlett’s shared melancholy.

“Oh, hello! My name is Dawn, and who might you be?”

James paused for a moment, the woman, Dawn was very beautiful, long golden hair that flowed freely, deep blue eyes, a slender frame, and soft features. She was dressed in a green sweater, dark grey skirt that reached to her knees, and tattered boots. She looked like she could be an actress, if she were, she seemed like she’d play ethereal characters, her appearance certainly gave her that sort of vibe, she seemed almost like a gentle spirit. James finally caught his voice after a few moments, and answered.

“James, this is Aiden, Yul, and..”

He trailed, hoping his masked friend would finish for him, and just his luck, he didn’t. Because of course he didn’t. There was a short, awkward silence, before Shawn clicked his tongue.

“Well anyway, nice to see you four again.”

James nodded, and the group engaged in some small talk, but James couldn’t help but notice the same guilty expression in Aiden’s eye.

James had to admit, he would never get bored of the impressed looks Aiden and their masked companion had exchanged while James bartered away the last of what they’d found in the house, Yul had put the role of doing the talking on James a while ago, which made sense given Yul had about the same charisma as a cactus, and James agreed it was for the better that such matters be put in his hands. Regardless, his sense of pride at how even now his looks and smooth talking could get him anything he desired was yet to waver even the tiniest bit.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

James questioned, knowing damn well what he meant.

“That! You just- you can just talk anyone into doing practically anything you want.”

James shrugged.

“A magician never shares his secrets.”

Aiden rolled his eyes.

“Very helpful, thanks.”

James was about to continue, but stopped himself. Raising his head at the sound of footsteps to see Shawn, who had a rather sheepish expression.

“Mind doing one last chore for us..?”

As always, Yul was complaining, it had to be the only thing he was ever good at.

“I mean, we already got them plenty of supplies! Why the hell do they want us to go over to this place?”

“Probably don’t trust them, and figured since we’ve already proven we’re fine with earning our place here they want to make us do all the shit they don’t feel like doing.”

Aiden answered with a shrug.

“I can see why they wouldn’t want to do this themselves.”

James chimed in, still trying not to snicker at the red racer wagon Yul dragged behind him.

“I mean, a constant supply of meat that they trade with people no strings attached? It seems suspicious..”

Yul raised an eyebrow.

“Suspicious how exactly?”

“I mean..”

James sighed.

“I don’t know, it’s just a gut feeling, you know? Like we’re going someplace we shouldn’t.”

Yul shrugged.

“Why don’t we just sit around for a few hours to act like we really went and then come back?”

“They’d be suspicious if we come back empty handed and without a story. And making one up sounds like more effort than just checking this place out, doing some trading, and leaving. I just want to get this over with and take a nap.”

The look on Aiden’s face made it clear he wanted to say more, but was stopping himself for some reason.

James raised an eyebrow, but maintained his silence, as did their masked companion. James looked over to the pale man who, as always, stood next to Aiden, looming over him like a kind of bodyguard. Aiden had been the first of the three to show him kindness, so James supposed it made sense he was the first one he got attached to, or.. even cared about at all for that matter.

The four had departed early in the morning, going mostly off of directions from Shawn and Jasmine, who insisted it was alright if they couldn’t find the place since they had already gotten a lot of food from Scarlett’s bunker, so they weren’t under any pressure persay, which made the situation feel a bit better.

They reached the barn in the afternoon.

It stood out like a sore thumb, it was a dark, foreboding thing, with a horrible stench. Large too. One massive barn, surrounded by tents and a shed. The barn itself looked old, with chipped paint, boarded up windows, and visible spots of mold. Aiden stiffened the moment they saw the building, why exactly, James wasn’t sure, but he looked… disturbed. Perhaps he’d been here before?

“Is something wrong?”

James asked quietly, hoping to satiate his curiosity.

“No, it just…”

Aiden paused.

“Reminds me of a not so fun place…”

James nodded, that was all he needed to hear. He assumed Aiden was referring to the cult he’d betrayed for them, but he couldn’t be sure. Looking back to the barn, he took note of what surrounded it. Camp fires, tents, the shed, and a few people walking around, one of which, spotted them and started towards the men. It was a woman, of average height and dressed in a hoodie, jeans, black gloves, and an apron stained with blood. She looked like a butcher.

“Your the ones from that town with the train carts?”

She asked, looking the four men up and down.

“Yeah, we’re here to trade.”

The woman nodded.

“Right this way.”

She turned on her heel and led them towards the tent area in silence.

“How.. how many people live here?”

“Around nine of us, we trade with passersby, that there barn is where we keep our.. stock.”

She smirked slightly with the last word, making the group exchange glances.

“Anyhow, let’s give you a look around. Over here is our tents,”

She pointed at each tent respectively as she spoke.

“This is for supplies, storage, those and those are where we sleep. The shed is for storing meat and the such. Everything we don’t need to feed ourselves, we trade.”

She explained, sitting down on a lawn chair that was set up in front of one of the tents.

“Now, let’s get to it. Show me what you got.”

Yul stepped forward, still dragging the old red racer wagon behind him. On it was a bag, he pushed the cart towards James. With a sigh, he opened the bag up. He instantly knew he shouldn’t have trusted Yul to choose what they would be trading off to these people. A few old necklaces, pocket knives, a variety of other junk, and of all things a fucking Girl Scout tee shirt. James looked up at Yul in bewilderment, the Korean only giving a shrug in response.

“What, cat got your tongue? Get on with it!”

James snapped out of his confused state and cleared his throat, reaching into the bag.

As expected, the woman rejected nearly everything the group had offered her, the only exceptions being the knives, a lighter, box of matches, and for god knows what reason the Girl Scout tee shirt. But hey, who was he to judge?

“Well, I think that’d get you folks.. a pound or two.”

“What kind of meat do you trade anyway?”

The woman was silent for a moment.

“Just cattle.”

“Cattle..?”

Yul raised an eyebrow.

“Yes sir.”

“In a barn…?”

“Keeps ‘em from running away, we haven’t set up pens for them yet.“ (this physically pained me to write since my dad and the other farmers in his area don’t’ do that with their cows and I genuinely didn’t know people actually put cattle in barns before writing this, but whatever)

“Anyway,”

The woman stood up.

“I need to talk to some folks real quick, and then I’ll give you what you earned and you can be on your way.”

With that, she walked off, and so did Yul, heading for the barn.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Looking around.”

“Are you fucking stupid?”

“Oh come on, it won’t take long.”

“We need to-“

Aide groaned, following after Yul.

“Get back here!”

This left James and their masked friend on their own, the two looked at each other in silence.

“So, what was your name anyway?”

As always, he didn’t answer, and an awkward silence reigned for a few moments before he began to walk towards the barn after Aiden and Yul. He paused however, and looked over to the shed, furrowing his brows. He approached it, opening the door.

He immediately stumbled backwards, a hand over his already masked mouth, a look of horror was present on what little showed of his face.

“What is it?!”

James rushed over immediately, helping him up before looking inside himself, immediately feeling sick to his stomach.

The stench hit him like a freight train, and then it was the sight.

In the shed was a narrow table, a few buckets, and various tools. On the table was slabs of meat, in the buckets blood, fingers, and unusable parts, hanging from the wall, naked and butchered was a man, who both looked and smelled like he’d been dead for ages.

Cannibals.

These people were fucking cannibals.

James’ mind was reeling as he processed the revelation. That’s how they had a constant supply of meat, and why the woman was dressed like a butcher, she was a butcher in a sense, and she was giving her goods to unsuspecting travelers. She and her comrades were feeding people human meat. James looked to his companion, who seemed to be thinking all the same things, he turned his head away, taking off his mask, and vomiting all over the dead grass next to him. James was still frozen in terror when he heard a laugh from behind him.

“Well, look here! We got some folks snooping around!”

Fuck.

The barn was large and narrow, consisting of two stories when Aiden ran in after Yul, he was staring at the second story in bewilderment. Aiden followed his gaze, seeing next to stacks of hay people sat or lay on the platform. All bound and gagged. The stench was horrible, Aiden looked to one of the pens, snd immediately found out why.

“Holy fucking shit!”

He shouted, stumbling back, Yul whipped his head in the direction Aiden was looking, following his gaze. His eyes widened in disgust, his voice dropping to a whisper when he realized their shouting may draw the attention of these new enemies.

“Eugh! We need to get the fuck out of here!”

Aiden looked up.

“What about them?”

“We’re out numbered, we can’t help them. Let them be eaten or have someone from the town save their asses, I don’t care. It isn’t our problem, let’s go.”

“Dude- we aren’t just leaving innocent people to get butchered!”

The two were having a whisper argument now.

“I know you just love to play hero and all, but let’s save it for when the situation isn’t life or death!”

Aiden scoffed.

“I don’t play hero, jackass! I’m just a decent person!”

“I don’t give a fuck! The point is, we are going now!”

“No! We’re gonna help these people, and then go!”

“Do you have so sense of self preservation?!”

“Do you have no sense of humanity?”

“Okay, you listen to me, you fucking Oreo haired fa-“

“Hey! You two! Fuck you think you’re doing?!”

Aiden and Yul paused, seeing two of these butcher people stand at the entrance of the barn, both armed with axes.

“God dammit.”

Aiden drew his axe, and Yul his crossbow, the two stepping back and raising their weapons, pausing again when two more of the butchers appeared at the back door of the barn, trapping them.

“Oh, we’re so fucked.”

Yul murmured, as the four grew nearer, Aiden hated to agree with him, but he knew he was absolutely correct.

James immediately drew his machetes, and his friend drew his weapon as well, a metal pole with a sharpened tip of all things. There were two of them, the woman from earlier, and a man with a nasty burn scar, both wielded axes, similar to Aiden’s.

“What the hell is this?”

James demanded, taking a step back. He received no verbal response, instead, the man with the scar shrugged.

“Now, now. Let’s not get all confrontational ‘bout this. You came here for food, and we have it. Put your weapons down and we’ll do the same. Unless you want your little friends over in the barn getting hurt?”

God fucking dammit.

“Okay, what the fuck is this?!”

Yul demanded, whipping his head between each of the four who trapped him and Aiden, who was still absolutely horrified and furious simultaneously.

“Look now, we don’t want any violence. You folks put your weapons away and we can sort this out like adults.”

Yul scoffed.

“Yeah, or what?”

“Or your friends outside are boutta end up like the folks in here.”

Shit.

Aiden weighed his options, he and Yul could put their weapons down and avoid a fight, but he doubted that these people were genuine in their promise that they wouldn’t attack. But they were outnumbered four to two, not to mention James and the other guy were presumably in a similar position. He glanced to the corpses in the pen, then to the people tied up just above him. He certainly wasn’t enthusiastic when it came to murder, but he didn’t feel particularly ‘live and let live’ about a situation regarding cannibals. Not to mention there were others actively in danger not including themselves. Aiden and Yul locked eyes, having a silent debate over what to do next.

But really, what was there to do? On one hand, these people were insane cannibals who were actively hurting people, on the other, they were outnumbered, both them and their friends, and what help would they be to the people tied up people as corpses? Slowly but surely, they lowered their weapons in unison.

James looked up as Yul and Aiden were pushed to the ground next to him, just like him and their mute companion, their weapons and all other items had been confiscated, put in one of the tents.

“Ya’ll stay here and play nice While we decide what to do with ya.”

The woman from earlier said with a smirk, before walking off, leaving them guarded by a tall, lean man wielding an axe, he looked down at the four, brown eyes narrow as he analyzed each member of the group, eyes falling on Aiden.

“That’s a pretty scar you got there, how’d you get it?”

Aiden furrowed his brows.

“And that’s your business because…?”

The man shrugged.

“It ain’t, but a conversation is better than this awkward silence ya’ll seem so keen on. You boys don’t need to be on edge, I ain’t gonna do nothing to ya.”

Yul scoffed.

“Uh huh, totally. Just a friendly neighborhood cannibal, nothing to worry about here guys.”

Yul’s voice was practically dripping with sarcasm, James felt tempted to strangle the dumb fuck for being so bold around a murderous and deranged clan of cannibals, him and Aiden both.

“I mean it, I ain’t gonna lay a finger on you, not unless you do something that requires me to.”

He crossed his arms.

“Would you feel safer if I told you my name?”

James raised an eyebrow, wondering why he would care.

“Sure, go right ahead.”

Yul answered with a roll of his eyes. The man sighed, crossing his arms.

“My name is Caleb. Now I’d like to know yours.”

“Why?”

He sighed again, getting visibly annoyed.

“I don’t want y’all being so scared of me, I ain’t gonna do nothing to you. I’m only here to make sure you don’t pull anything.”

“Right, because a cannibal is just so very trustworthy!”

He glared, before turning away.

“Fine, go ahead and be like that. But don’t you expect any help if they decide they don’t want you around then.”

James couldn’t help but glare at Yul for his stupidity, how he’d thrown away their chance at help from the one person here who seemed at least somewhat close to half decent.

“I’m James,”

He began, hoping to salvage the situation.

“That was Yul, this is Aiden, and… we don’t really know his name yet.”

He muttered that last part, slightly embarrassed. The man, Caleb, turned back to the group, expression having softened from a glare to a frown.

“Why don’t you know his name?”

“He hasn’t told us, he.. hasn’t spoken to any of us.”

“Is he mute or something?

“We.. don’t really know. We haven’t asked, it’d be rude to just assume something like that.”

There was an awkward silence for a few moments, before Aiden spoke up.

“Why are you being so nice to us?”

Caleb shrugged.

“I don’t like people being afraid of me. I don’t want you thinking I’m gonna hurt you for no reason, I’m not.”

Yul raised an eyebrow.

“You’re a cannibal?”

“I’m aware.”

He shifted from one foot to the other, turning to the four.

“I ain’t like the other people here, you know. I didn’t join these people because I’m some sadist. I had a pregnant wife and a daughter who needed shelter and food, I wasn’t about to turn down that offer.”

“You had other options though, there’s a town just nearby!”

Aiden pointed out.

“Last I checked the folks there were starving, my wife needed food, and so did my little girl.”

James considered this, Jasmine and Shawn’s town hadn’t exactly been doing very well before they brought the food from the bunker, and this man had no way of knowing about that new development.

“But.. you still could have-“

“No, I couldn’t.”

Caleb cut him off, his tone was firm, a line being drawn in the sand.

“I couldn’t turn this down and you gotta understand that. I did what I had to for my family.

We all got women in our lives. Mothers, daughters, wives, sisters and friends; and when push comes to shove you gotta do what you have to to protect them. My wife was pregnant, and my daughter was just a little girl, they needed food, shelter, and protection, all of which this place was willing to provide for them. I did what I needed to for their sakes, despite how bad it was. You gotta understand that.”

James considered him and his words at length, what he was doing was horrific by all means, but.. would he do the same in the situation? What if it was his own mother and sister? He’d do anything in his power to protect them, so.. horrible as it was, would he really say no to this…?

James felt sick for even considering it, looking between his friends, he could see the same conflicted expression on Aiden’s face, and that of their mute friend. Clearly, Caleb did as well, turning to Aiden and James.

“I can tell you understand where I’m coming from. Like it or not, you both know you’d do the same in my situation. You both got mothers, maybe a sister? Tell me, and be honest, would you really put your own morals before them?”

There was silence, as James and Aiden both thought about his words.

“I have… four younger sisters.”

Aiden began, eyes downcast.

“And you’d make the same decision I did for them, wouldn’t you?”

Aiden was silent for a few moments.

“You had other options..”

He insisted, voice barely louder than a mumble.

“And that there is how I know you would.”

James thought for a few moments, he hasn’t seen any children while they were here.

“Where are they?”

He asked, slightly regretting the question when he saw Caleb’s eyes darken.

“A few months ago, we got some folks here to trade who weren’t as understanding as you. In a little act of heroism..”

He said that last word with cold, bitter mockery.

“They went on a rampage, killed four of us, including my wife and my….”

He paused, swallowing hard.

“And my little girl..”

He finished, eyes filled with both rage and grief, a look James was familiar with by now. No one dared speak as he turned back to Aiden.

“I wasn’t like you boy, I was you. I didn’t do all this for fun, I did this to protect my family. And so would you.”

“But you don’t have to keep doing this, you can just leave!”

“These people are all I’ve got left, I’ve made my commitment to this community, and I ain’t gonna just leave it.”

He sighed.

“You four have two options,”

He began, putting up two fingers.

“You can either join this community.”

He put one finger down.

“Or you can provide for it..”

He put the other down, his words earning a scoff from Yul.

“And by provide for it you mean get butchered?”

“Yep. And judging by the fact that one survived an injury like that,”

He pointed at Aiden.

“I can tell you four are strong, we could use that.”

He turned away.

“But that’s up to you.”

James looked between each member of his group, wondering if any of them were genuinely considering this. He locked eyes with Aiden, who was slowly and silently pulling something out of his pocket, standing up. James was confused, opening his mouth to tell Aiden making a run for it was a horrible idea, before he stopped himself as Aiden pulled a box cutter from his pocket, and slid the blade out. Swiftly, and without warning, he put the blade firmly against Caleb’s neck, the older instantly freezing.

“Put your weapon down.”

“You’re seriously doing this-”

“Now.”

Aiden out the blade closer to his neck.

“I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

Reluctantly, Caleb obeyed putting his axe down. Aiden turned to James.

“Go get our stuff.”

He ordered, James quickly rose to his feet, looking through each of the tents, before retrieving their weapons, and handing them to each member of the group, making a point to take Caleb’s axe off the ground, and holding onto it to keep him from getting it back. Yul put an arrow into his crossbow, and put the weapon to Caleb’s back. Aiden moved out of the way, putting the box cutter away, and picking up his own axe.

“We aren’t going to kill you, but we need to help these people. We don’t want to hurt you, but we have to make sure you won’t try to interfere.”

As if at the worst moment possible, the two butchers from earlier returned, immediately drawing their axes.

“You let go of him!”

The man with the burn scar ordered, stepping forward.

“Put your weapons down and no one has to get hurt!”

Aiden insisted.

“We only want to help the people in the barn, we don’t want to resort to violence!”

They didn’t listen, charging forward towards Aiden and Yul. James froze, his mind screaming in conflict, he had never killed another person before and never wanted to, but at the same time these were violent cannibals, they’d done unspeakable things.

His body acted before his mind made a decision, charging forward in return, he slit the woman’s throat using Caleb’s own axe, their mute friend, in turn attacked the man, who was going for Aiden, stabbing him straight through the neck. He could hear Caleb scream in protest at the death of his companions, but it sounded distant.

James watched the woman drop to the ground, clutching her throat as she struggled to breathe, he stared in wide eyed horror at his handiwork, until she went limp.

Dead.

“Holy shit! Oh god! Oh my fucking god!”

James screamed, dropping the axe and stepping away from the corpse as the reality set in that he had just killed another human being.

“What the fuck have I just done?! What did I do?!”

He took another step back, hands trembling as he felt nausea set in.

“She’s dead.. holy shit she’s dead! I- I killed her, OH FUCK, I ACTUALLY KILLED HER!”

He put a hand over his mouth to keep himself from throwing up on the spot, tears stinging his eyes.

“Fuck I’m sorry.. I’m so sorry!”

He wasn’t sure whether he was begging forgiveness from Caleb or the corpse, but he felt sick all the same. Silence reigned over the group as James sobbed in quiet horror and guilt. He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up to see his masked friend.

“You did what you had to, it isn’t your fault.”

The men, aside from Caleb, were collectively shocked at hearing him speak. James blinked away tears, mouth agape in surprise.

“I killed her..”

James repeated, his voice a mere whisper.

“You had to. You did the right thing.”

He reassured, removing his free hand from James’ shoulder and using it to remove his mask, revealing his face. The most striking feature was a wound near his mouth, that while clearly healed, left an open hole in the skin, showing his teeth and gums where they shouldn’t be visible. James blinked, staring at him. He’d broken his silence and revealed a part of himself he’d hid since he met them, such a vulnerable part of himself, all for the sake of bringing James comfort when he needed it most. James realized in that moment, silent and mysterious as he may be, this man was truly his friend. Silence continued on for a few moments before Aiden spoke.

“We can come to terms with this later, but right now the people in the barn need our help.”

Everyone turned to look at him.

“We need to rescue them before anything else.”

James let out a shaky breath, wiping away tears.

“You’re right, you’re right…”

He took a deep breath, steadying himself as best he could.

“Let’s keep going.”

The men began towards the barn, forcing Caleb along with them. James glanced over his shoulder at the corpse of the woman, before following after, hands trembling, the trauma visible on his features. Aiden noticed, giving James a look of knowing sympathy.

“It’s never easy the first time. You did the right thing. I promise you.”

James tried his hardest to believe his friend’s words, but he couldn’t get the image of her struggling for life out of his head.

She had a name, loved ones, family and friends who would miss her, and James just cut her down without considering any of it.

Cannibal or not, he had murdered another human.

They met another butcher by the barn, which Aiden took care of, while Yul forced Caleb along, clearly enjoying the power trip of having an arrow to someone’s back. When they finally reached the barn from the back door there were three waiting at the front door, all welding axes.

James was in a daze, too deep in his own shock to register most of what was going on, until the sounds of fighting and death was interrupted by loud footsteps. He looked up to see Aiden rushing up the ladder to the barn’s second story, being pursued quickly by one of the butchers, who grabbed him by the ankle, trying to drag him back down. On instinct, James charged forward to his friend’s rescue, with a swift slice of his machete, killing yet another butcher. The familiar regret and disgust returned to him, trying to distract himself, he followed Aiden up the ladder, wondering why he seemed so frantic to get there. James received his answer when he saw three women and a little girl, all bound and gagged.

In the corner was the young girl, trembling and crying after witnessing such violence, James felt the nausea in his stomach intensify at the marks that covered the child’s limbs, and the blood that trickled down her legs and thighs. He looked over to Aiden, who stared with a visceral fury in his eyes at both the mere sight, and each realization that came along with it.

He wasted no time, rushing to the child and using his box cutter to cut the zip ties on her limbs, and tearing off the shirt used as a makeshift gag. James snapped back to reality as the girl’s guttural cries became clearer as Aiden took her into his arms, doing his best to comfort her as she wailed and trembled, screaming for her mother. James turned to the other two women, undoing their restraints.

“Are you… okay?”

He asked, knowing damn well they definitely weren’t. One of the women, cute and with dark skin and silky looking black hair gave a tired smile.

“Well, we just got rescued by two handsome men so I’d say we’re doing just fine.”

She turned to the other woman, pale and a bit chubby with similar hair to hers.

“I told you we’d be okay.”

The other woman rolled her eyes, the two standing up, wobbling after being in the same position for so long.

“I’m not the one who nearly pissed herself.”

“I’m not the one who cried.”

The two bickered with each other like teenage girls in a clear effort to distract themselves, clearly very good friends. James glanced over to Aiden, who still held the girl in his arms, her wailing now soft sniffling and sobs, next to him, the third woman just stared silently at the wall, like she was completely oblivious to what was going on. James approached her slowly, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder as he removed the shirt used to gag her.

“Hey, we’re here to help you. Let’s go.”

The woman looked up, seeming a bit startled, she looked around, seeing the dead bodies of her captors and her fellow prisoners now unbound.

“Oh.. oh!”

She smiled.

“I was starting to get a bit worried.”

She looked back up at James.

“We can’t leave yet though, my husband, he just left the barn. He’ll be back very soon though, we need to wait for him before we go.”

“Do you know where he is? Did he escape or something?”

James was thinking, if he had escaped he’d easily find the town, surely he’d alert them of these people to save his wife, and knowing Shawn and Jasmine they’d burn this place to the ground if they knew the truth about it.

“Oh, no. They dragged him out but he said he would get okay and he never lies. He’ll be very back soon.”

James knew this man definitely was dead, but he needed to get her out of here.

“Come on, we’ll go look for him.”

He offered, helping her up. Everyone descended that latter, returning to the others, who watched on in silence, Caleb visibly flinched when he saw the little girl, looking away. James staggered back a bit when Aiden shoved the girl into his arms and stormed towards Caleb, delivering a hard punch to the throat that sent him to the ground, gasping for air.

“YOU TWO FACED FUCKING SON OF A BITCH! HOW THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO ACT ALL RICOUS AND JUSTIFIED FOR BEING A PART OF THIS GROUP WHEN YOU SEE SHIT LIKE THIS AND JUST LET IT HAPPEN?!”

He gestured to the girl, who began crying again.

“I never laid a hand on that child!”

He shouted in an attempt to defend himself, his words only serving to pour gasoline over the already raging fire that was Aiden’s anger.

“And just how the fuck does that make this any better?! You see people getting raped and murdered and tortured and you just let it happen?! What the actual fuck is wrong with you?! How sick in the head do you have to be to just let that happen and still think you’re a good person?!”

“My wife needed food, my daughter needed food! She was a fucking child, she needed to-“

“La ferme! Just…”

Aiden took in a shaky breath.

“Just shut the fuck up..”

He looked away, inhaling deeply, before turning to the rest of the group.

“Let’s keep going, there might be more.”

No one dared to oppose as they followed him out of the barn, looking for survivors. The woman had mentioned around nine butchers, of which they had killed six, leaving three to go if they included Caleb, which, judging by Aiden’s current state, he could tell the younger was considering it. The walk around the barn and through the other buildings was a tense and silent one, save for the soft crying of the young girl, who Aiden was carrying again. James drowned in his thoughts as he shuffled through the gravel and dead grass, looking between some of the people they’d saved, his eye catching the two women who seemed to be friends talking in murmured tones. They noticed James staring and giggled to each other quietly. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing for a while, until the silence became too awkward for him.

“So..”

He began, looking between the two.

“What are your names?”

“Oh, well I’m Sadie.”

The shorter of the two began, before gesturing to her friend.

“And this is Katie.”

“I’m James. That’s Yul and Aiden, and we don’t really know his name.”

He pointed to each of his friends.

“How did you two get here?”

“Well,”

Katie began.

“We’ve only been here a few days, two or three, right?”

Sadie nodded, and her friend continued.

“Yeah, two or three days, and we were just here to trade like you guys, but we found a body in the shed, so… we tried to help the people in here but that didn’t do much since were were outnumbered, like, nine to two.”

“Yeah, it didn’t end very well for us to say the least. But we put up a good fight.”

“Yeah,”

Katie agreed.

“They even had to tie us up.”

James almost brought up the fact the cannibals had done that to everyone, but he held his tongue.

“Yeah, it sucked.”

“Absolutely terrible.”

Katie smiled softly.

“But we got three handsome guys helping us, so I’d say we’re good now.”

James glanced over to his masked friend, and could tell he was mildly offended at not being included on that list, even if for obvious reasons. James paused as they made their way to a few of the tents, meeting two more butchers, which their masked companion quickly disposed of. Inside the tent was a man, his body trembling, he whimpered in pain, eyes fixed on his mangled and broken leg, the bone protruding out of the limb, making James feel nauseous. He turned to the woman.

“Is this your husband?”

She shook her head.

“No, we need to keep looking.”

Yul rolled his eyes as Katie and Sadie helped the man up.

“Don’t think you exactly have one anymore-“

“Yul!”

Aiden glared, a silent warning to shut the fuck up, which, Yul thankfully understood wonderfully. James looked back to Katie and Sadie, taking the man from them, picking him up as they did their best to calm him down and stop the bleeding. Katie looked to the rest of the group after some time.

“I’m going to go look for our things. They were confiscated as soon as we found out.”

She stood up straight.

“I’ll be right back.”

“I don’t think that’s the smartest idea..”

“I’ll be fine, promise!”

And off she went. Wonderful.

James sighed, turning to the rest of the group as he and Safie kept tending to the injured man.

“What should we…”

James gestured to Caleb..

“Do with him?”

“Is that a serious question?”

Caleb spat.

“You shut up.”

Aiden snapped.

“Really, though, is it a serious question?

Yul raised an eyebrow.

“We killed all the other cannibals, why wouldn’t we do the same to him? Because we heard his sob story?”

“He’s right.”

Sadie agreed with a nod.

“I wasn’t here for much, but even if he didn’t participate in the worst of what these people did, he still allowed it to happen right in front of him. He’s just as guilty as everyone else who participated, so I say we give him the same treatment.”

Aiden was visibly conflicted, on one hand, furious of what Caleb had allowed to happen here, but his story has clearly struck a nerve. The two locked eyes for a few long moments, before Aiden sighed, and put the little girl into Sadie’s arms, drawing his axe, and lifting it above his head with a cold glare.

By the time Katie came back with everyone’s things, the group was ready to leave. The day had certainly not gone according to plan, and it would be a very long, very unpleasant story to explain to Shawn and Jasmine. For one thing, James was now thuroughly traumatized, for another, they came back not with food and supplies, but four random and even more traumatized people, including a child.

When they arrived, Shawn stared between each person, bewildered and concerned.

“What the fuck happened to you?!”

It really would be long story to explain, and James wanted no part of it.

Aiden wasn’t sure what time of night it was when he slipped out of bed. Well, their sad excuse for one. It was just a dingy mattress he shared with James in a train cart, filled with other mattresses with other people lying asleep. His hair was free from his beanie, he was in new clothes now, just a simple sweater and sweatpants to sleep in. His bloodied clothes had been washed thuroughly, and set to dry.

He stood up, maneuvering around the maze of beds and sleeping bodies until he reached the door, carefully exiting. He went around to the side of the train cart, he stood in silent rage for a few moments, before punching the wall of the cart.

“FUCK!”

He pulled his now bleeding fist away, and sat down, still seething.

“Dad..”

He muttered.

“I need to calm down.”

He felt himself practically panting in anger.

“Help me calm down.”

His body tensed, and he reached a hand up to tug on his hair.

“You were always so patient..”

He recalled his father, who hardly ever yelled, he was always the most calm out of their family.

“Help me calm down. I need to fucking calm down.”

He burried his face in his hands, trembling with rage as he struggled to control his breathing. He paused when he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up to see their masked companion.

“Deep breaths.”

He ordered gently, removing his mask and sitting down next to Aiden.

“Did I wake you?”

“Deep breaths.”

He repeated.

“Calm down.”

Aiden reluctantiy obeyed, still frustrated. Once his breathing was steady, he repeated his question.

“Did I wake you?”

He shook his head.

“I wasn’t able to sleep after everything that happened.”

Aiden scoffed.

“You’re telling me, I just ripped a bunch of cannibals apart.”

“I saw.”

He reminded.

“What’s your name anyway?”

There was a few beats of silence.

“Hunter.”

He finally answered, taking in a deep breath as he looked up.

“How.. how… did you know Tess?”

Aiden raised an eyebrow at the question which was a bit random, but answered.

“We worked at the same coffee place together, we were friends.”

Hunter nodded.

“I think she mentioned you a few times.”

“How did you know her?”

“Her, Ally and I were together. Like, romantically.”

“I see.”

Aiden looked away, assuming Ally was the other girl with the two when he’d found them. An awkward silence reigned over the two for a while.

“What got you so angry? I mean, more than the rest of us were? You were understanding to him at first, you said you didn’t want violence, but after the barn you seemed more than okay with going on a killing spree.”

Aiden thought about the question, it was a multitude of things. He was reminded of Sofia when he saw that little girl, when he saw how she’d been brutally mistreated. He supposed he saw every one of them in the girl and the women up there, Lake, Rosa, Sofia, and Lynette. He saw all of his sisters in that little girl and in those women.

And he supposed, having once been a woman himself, he understood deeper than any of his new friends could the pain that came with it, and the visceral anger he felt at seeing them targeted and hurt for being ‘weaker’, the same way he’d been targeted both before and even after transitioning. He sighed, looking away.

“She reminded me of my sisters. And the fact someone would let that kind of thing happen but still insist they’re a good person… it made me angry.”

He gave the simplest answer he could, one he was certain Hunter would understand.

“Are we worse than him for what we did?”

Hunter asked, putting his chin in his arms.

“We just.. went on a massacre, and.. we’re still trying to say we’re good. Does that make us like him?”

Aiden thought for a few moments, then shook his head.

“No, he stood by and let a child be raped, widowed a woman, mutilated a man’s leg, and killed and ate innocent people. We may have killed too, but it was to save people who needed our help.”

Hunter nodded, the two men sharing a collective silence.

“It just scares me that.. on a certain level I understand it. If Ally or Tess was pregnant like he said his wife was, I’m not sure I’d turn down the offer they gave him.”

He curled a bit in on himself.

“Does that make me a bad person?”

Aiden considered him at length, what if it was Rosa? Or what if Lake or Sofia got sick? He sighed.

“Not sure.”

That’s all he could say at this point.

“I think we’re beyond bad people by now.”

“You’re probably right..”

The two friend shared silence for a while longer, before they heard footsteps, looking up to see Shawn.

“I take it you couldn’t sleep?”

The two nodded, earning a sigh from the older.

“Tell you what, let’s go get some drinks, get your mind off things?”

Hunter and Aiden shared a look. It wasn’t like they had anything better to do, and they needed a distraction. Hunter put his mask back on and the two stood.

“Lead the way.”

Of all the things this makeshift town could have, Aiden didn’t expect a bar to be one of them. It was yet another train cart, filled with warm, yellow light from candles and kerosene lamps. There were tables where people played cards and drank together, wooden boxes behind the bar table filled with bottles of various liquor yet to be used, and a radio playing music.

Aiden raised an eyebrow as he walked inside, the place only occupied by a few people, two of which he recognized to be Katie and Sadie, who ushered him, Hunter, and Shawn over to where they sat. It wasn’t particularly impressive, the bar itself consisted of a foldable table and a collection of foldable chairs and stools, every other table in this bar was about the same, lawn chairs, foldable chairs, old wooden ones, in the corner was even a torn up couch used as a makeshift booth.

Still though, the whole thing was.. rather odd, just the fact that of all things this place chose to build, they felt a bar was absolutely necessary.

Glancing to Hunter, Aiden sat down with the two women, who seemed in a decent mood despite the day’s events.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

Aiden shook his head, making Sadie sigh.

“Yeah, same here. Today was.. fucked up.”

“Sounded like it.”

Shawn murmured, eyes fixed on the radio in the corner.

“I’m.. sorry we dragged you four into that. If we’d known that’s what was going on we would’ve taken care of it ourselves.”

“It’s fine I guess.”

“You sure?”

Katie raised an eyebrow.

“Your friend, James I think? He looked really messed up about the whole thing.”

“Yeah, like, really traumatized.”

Sadie agreed.

“I think it was his first time.. you know… killing.”

“Oh shit.”

Shawn’s eyed widened a bit.

“Yeah..”

There was a long silence shared between the five before Sadie spoke up again.

“Well, I’m just glad to be out of there.”

“Yeah, not to mention that cute friend of yours, y’know, the feisty one!”

“Please tell me you don’t mean Yul..”

“So.. that’s his name?”

Katie looked to her friend, the two giggling to each other.

“Trust me, you can do better.”

Hunter nodded in agreement as Aiden continued.

“The first time we met was when I saved him and James. I lost an eye for that douche bag and he insisted on leaving me for dead.”

“Oh, he just has a tough exterior! I’m sure he’s not all bad!”

Katie insisted.

“Just.. put in a good word for me, will ya? I think I could have a chance.”

“And why is that?”

“That James guy is traumatized right now, it’d be pretty insensitive to flirt when he’s doing so bad, you…”

She turned to Hunter, her face contorting as she tried her best to be polite.

“Are a bit.. too quiet for me.”

She turned back to Aiden.

“And as for you, you’re really handsome don’t get me wrong, but you don’t strike me as the type to be interested in women… no offense.”

“None taken, and yeah.. not into ladies.”

Aiden shrugged.

“You’re pretty blunt, you know that?”

Shawn raised an eyebrow, no real hostility meant behind his words.

“Yeah, we hear that a lot.”

Sadie said with a chuckle.

“But yeah, put in a good word for me?”

“Will do.”

Aiden glanced over to Hunter, who seemed offended that the two considered all his friends handsome but struggled to compliment him. His attention then went to the radio as the song playing faded out, and a man’s voice came, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Well folks, for once we’ve got nothing but good news tonight! Earlier today, a group of cannibals got their asses handed to them by a few good samaritans and their captives all rescued and safe and sound in a nearby town. Like I’ve said, you reap what you sow, and those assholes are all six feet under now. Good riddance I say! In other news, a hoard of infected over by the New York City ruins got taken down, around thirty or so with only one loss to the group hunting them. Rest in peace, Tatsu. And to top it all off my assistant found me a box of Legos, so I won’t be bored while watching surveillance footage anymore!
Now for the survival tip of the day: the virus is spread through open wounds in lifted by infected as well as contact with infected plants, but also through contact with an infected’s bodily fluids, including reproductive fluids! So, for those of you on the kinkier side, I’d advise you to control yourselves, otherwise you’ll have one hell of an std to deal with! Now, back to all the same songs you’ve gotten sick of months ago! Thank y’all for tuning in, and have a good night or day depending on what region you’re in! I’ll see you with more tomorrow!”

With that, the voice left, and a new song began to play. As Aiden was processing everything he just tears, Shawn grinned ear to ear.

“Hey, you guys made in on the news!”

“Who the fuck was that, and how did he know about all that stuff..?”

“Have you been living under a rock?”

Sadie asked with a raised eyebrow. For all intents purposes, Aiden certainly had been living under a rock for the past two years. He, Rosa, Lake, and Sofia were rather vulnerable as a group compared to others. Him and Rosa were barely adults, Lake and Sofia were still children, none of them were ground breakingingly strong, and they were all female aside from Aiden, to call them vulnerable would actually be an understatement. And they knew this, they’d avoided others like the plague, especially men and large groups of people.

“Kind of..”

He admitted.

“But seriously, who was that and how the hell did he know what we did today?”

“That’s the thing, we aren’t exactly sure who he is or how he knows all that stuff, he kind of just.. does. Everyone has their own theories about him, but the general consensus is that he worked for some government agency or something, and has access to cameras and surveillance basically everywhere, even out in the middle of nowhere. There’s even rumors his subordinates actually put cameras in places without them so he can monitor everything. He watches what happens, and relays it through the radios.”

“That’s the most popular theory, but we don’t actually know anything know for sure.”

“How the hell does that even work?”

“Like we said, no one really knows. I mean, him and his whole team are pretty secretive about the nature of what they’re doing. The guy’s got a lot of enemies.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow.

“How come?”

“There’s lots of bad groups out there who aren’t too happy about their actions being made known.”

Shawn answered with a shrug.

“I guess that makes sense..”

Aiden murmured before sighing.

“As if I haven’t had enough to deal with already, now I gotta think about the fact I’m being watched on cameras and shit.”

“Pretty sure the government was already doing that before this started.”

Katie said with a shrug before Shawn scoffed.

“Pretty sure? Of course they were! We’re always being watched by someone!”

“No one wants to hear your conspiracy theories right now.”

“Whatever- I’m getting something to drink, you guys want anything?”

“I don’t drink.”

Aiden muttered.

“Why not?”

“Because alcohol tastes horrible. I’ve never been able to stomach the taste long enough to actually get drunk.”

“Come on man, you’ve been through a lot today, you need something to get your mind off of it!”

Aiden thought for a few moments, then gave a sigh of resignation.

“Fuck it, I’ve already done this much.”

“That’s the spirit. I’ll be right back with some good stuff.”

Aiden watched as Shawn stood and walked off towards the bar.

“Fuck my life..”

Chapter Text

It’s come to my attention there’s a reboot character named Caleb. I didn’t know this because I never watched the reboot and had no plans to. So… yeah, just wanna say the guy from the last chapter was a throw away oc, not the reboot character. I couldn’t think of any total drama characters who would become cannibals, so I made an oc. Kind of the reason every oc in this fic exists is because the wild shit they do is out of character for any total drama and dc character in cannon

I repeat, Caleb was an OC, I had zero clue there was a total drama character of the same name. Kinda explains why I got less interaction on this chapter compared to others since people probably thought I turned I normal teenager into a cannibal who turns a blind eye to sa and torture.

I did not.

I genuinley had no clue there was a reboot character named Caleb, so sorry if anyone who loves him felt insulted or weirded out. Consider this an official apology chapter. I genuinely didn’t know and I feel so fucking stupid and embarrassed right now. 

Unrelated but a friend on discord (not you Charlie) asked if I’s integrate reality resort characters or characters from any other tdi inspired show on YouTube. I probably won’t. Unless I run out of characters to use and you guys get sick of ocs.

In conclusion, Caleb from the last chapter was an oc, not the reboot character. 

Chapter Text

Anne Maria wasn’t quite sure how she acquired such a pathetic girl.

She’d never been a fan of children, they were loud, destructive things that would suck your wallet dry like chubby cheeked little vampires. So when she found is freakishly tall teenage girl knocked out cold on the cliff side, she was more than tempted to just leave her there and return to the girls like nothing happened. Had it not been for Zoey’s annoying voice ringing her ears, yelling at her to do the right thing, she would have done exactly that. Yet, thanks to that annoying redhead, here she was rescuing another.

She sighed, signaling the German shepherd at the precipice of the steep, rocky slope to stay out, before carefully climbing her way down.

This girl looked nothing short of filthy, like she’d bathed in mud and gore then rolled around in motor oil for good measure. Not far from her, in the mess of trees the actual cliff led to was a dead infected that must have chased her to this area.

Anne Maria winced at the sight of the thing, a tree branch having stabbed right through its skull, then looked back at the girl. She had a great many injuries, her left leg alone was bent in a way that it shouldn’t be. She approached the girl, and put two fingers to her neck, not sure whether the subsequent sigh she released was one of relief or annoyance. Reluctantly, she tossed the girl’s backpack and weapon over her shoulder and picked her up.

For somebody so tall, she was surprisingly light, Anne Maria inspected her a bit more closely. She had very pale skin, fiery short red hair, plump lips, rosy cheeks, and a very round face that made her look younger than she probably was. She looked to be a mere teenager, just a girl. Carrying her bridal style, she signaled her trusted companion to follow her as they made their way back to the house.

Lake cringed at the delighted, high pitched gasp the first of the four gave upon seeing her finally wake up.

“She’s adorable!”

A blonde exclaimed with an excited squee.

“Just look at her! She’s an absolute beauty!”

The Second Lady, a redhead with pigtails, agreed with equal enthusiasm, swarming the teenage girl as she sat up, dazed and confused.

“Okay, calm down, seriously.”

A third woman, another blonde with a nasty burn scar grumbled, walking to the two with her arms crossed.

“What on Earth...?“

She mumbled to herself, looking around in confusion at the four women that surrounded her. She blinked, then looked down at the bandages on her injuries as memories of what had just transpired came flooding back to her. The factory, the infected, Rosa, Aiden…

Her heart sank, and without a second thought she threw the blankets off of her body, and rose to her feet. Only to fall right back down with a resounding thud, and a burst of pain. Lake looked down to see.. bandages? Her left leg was wrapped tightly with one, a short but narrow piece of wood attached, a makeshift cast. As soon as she noticed the injury on her leg, her body burst with pain. As if someone set off celebratory fireworks right inside of her body, the fiery sensation set in. She kept examining her body, she found bandage after bandage everywhere. Her legs, her shoulder, her arm.. everywhere. Even if an area wasn’t wrapped in bandage, it had a smaller wound covered by one.

“Woah there!”

“Hey, hey! Easy! Easy!”

Lake didn’t respond as the four women swarmed her, kneeling beside her, saying things she couldn’t register. She didn’t respond until one of them, the muscular blonde, scooped her up into her arms with ease, aiming to put her back onto the bed. Lake snapped, and with a screech she pushed herself out of the woman’s arms, only slightly wincing at the explosion in her muscles as she fell. As quickly as she could manage she rose to her feet again, grabbed a peice of ply wood off the ground and dashed as far and as fast as she could, ignoring the shouts of the four as they prepared to chase her.

She sprinted out of the house they’d held her in, not paying mind to them or the massive dog in the living room that she’d accidentally kicked in her haste to get out.

Throwing the door open, she ran down the road. Perhaps it was by sheer instinct that she knew where she was going, perhaps it was just dumb luck. It didn’t matter much either way how she got there.

After an eternity of running, ignoring the overwhelming pain in her left leg, one of the women caught up to her, grabbing Lake and forcing her to halt, it was the blonde who’d woken her up, who she now noticed was heavily pregnant.

This didn’t matter to Lake however, who, without hesitation, punched her square in the face with everything she had in her, sending her to the ground. She didn’t look back, and continued to run. Her mind raced, and she didn’t even notice she was crying until she tasted something salty in her mouth as she struggled for breath.

Tears.

Blinking rapidly, she continued towards the factory. Towards Aiden and Rosa, towards her hug brother and sister, towards all she had left in the world. They could be trapped, injured, dead… what was she without them? What was she in this world without her family? She had already lost Sofia, she couldn’t lose Aiden and Rosa too.

She wouldn’t.

The memories flashed in her mind over and over on a loop, the sight of Rosa clutching her dead child’s corpse so tightly it had taken them weeks to pry her away from it, Rosa screaming for help as the infected loomed over her crumpled body, Aiden falling through a weak patch of the floor down into the abyss.. her mind was a broken record. It wouldn’t forget, things would never be as they were before and her mind would not let her forget that. No, it would allow her no safety from the nightmare her life had so quickly turned into.

As the factory grew nearer, she could already tell what she’d find in there would do her no good. She would never get any of it back. Aiden’s gentle lullabies sending her to a blissful slumber, Sofia’s laughter as they ran and played together, Rosa’s loving embrace and motherly demeanor, it was being torn from her just like that. She felt like a child, a pathetic, helpless child, and she hated it.

She checked the hole in the floor first, she wasn’t sure wether to be relieved or horrified at the fact Aiden wasn’t there, but the trail of blood indicated he had escaped, injured but alive nonetheless. Then there was the hallway. She stared down the entrance of the corridor where she’d last seen Rosa, looking on in silent dread for what felt like an eternity.

And then she ran for it.

She knew already what she would find, but she prayed that she was wrong, that somehow by some miracle Rosa would still be alive. Her prayers, however, were not answered. She was unable to breathe, unable to think, unable to move. Rosa was dead. Rosa Maria, her big sister, her role model, her entire world was fucking dead. Lake stared long and hard at the corpse on the ground. She could tell Aiden had gotten to her first, she wasn’t under the door anymore, and one of her legs was gone. Her lip quivered violently as tears returned to her eyes. Her chest heaved, and she felt herself begin to scream.

Everything afterwards was a blur.

If Anne Maria hadn’t regretted saving this brat earlier, she certainly did now. As she ran into that factory behind the others, stringing along the symphony of curses sge would scream at the girl the moment she saw her, she paused, as did the others. They exchanged confused and concerned looks with one another at the sound of guttural screams that reverberated through the factory. Zoey, being who she was, rushed to go look, as did Bridgette.

Anne Maria sighed, taking Jo’s hand and leading her behind them as they searched the many halls and corridors of the factory. An old, cheap building that must have been left to rot decades before the outbreak even began if the rust and horrid stench was anything to go by. It wasn’t long before the four women finally found the source of the screams. There, in the corridor was the girl, who clung to the corpse of a woman in complete hysterics.

Anne Maria froze, her rage turning into understanding as she watched her scream loud enough to wake the dead, sobbing and trembling with an uncontrollable despair. There was a long, uncomfortable silence as they watched the girl, observing her pitiful state.

“Oh god..”

Zoey muttered, taking a few cautious steps toward the girl before Anne Maria put her arm out to block her path, keeping her from going any further.

“What are you doing?”

Zoey asked with a bewildered expression.

“Don’t interfere she needs to let it out.”

Bridgette and Zoey exchanged hesitant looks, but neither spoke up. Jo, for her part, was more confused than anything else, but she didn’t ask anyone to explain to her what was going on, she was too proud for that.

There was an eternity longer of relentless sobs before Anne Maria sighed, deciding that this had gone on long enough. Lowering her arm, she gave the other women a nod, and stepped forward.

“Kid..”

Anne Maria began awkwardly, reaching out a hand to grab the corpse.

“You hurt, we need to-“

“Don’t touch her!”

The girl screeched, slapping her hand away and holding the dead body closer to herself.

“Kid.. we need to take you back with us, your injuries need to be treated more.”

Zoey approached from behind, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“No! Stay away from me!”

The girl demanded through sobs as Bridgette and Zoey got to restraining her, and Jo and Anne to taking away the corpse. The girl flailed, kicking and screaming like an animal caught in a trap, the two women struggling to hold her back.

“GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK NOW!”

The girl was shrieking now, swinging her arms and legs in every possible direction she could manage.

“DON’T TAKE HER! DON’T YOU DARE TAKE HER, GIVE HER BACK!”

It didn’t take her long to realize her efforts were futile as the body was taken away from her, and Anne Maria began to walk away with it. Her chest heaved violently, turning from violent to desperate in the blink of an eye.

“No.. No. No! NO! DON’T TAKE HER, I’M BEGGING YOU DON’T TAKE HER FROM ME! PLEASE DON’T TAKE MY BIG SISTER FROM ME, I’M BEGGING YOU!”

The girl continued to flail, trying her best to escape, reaching out a hand to take the corpse back.

“DON’T GO! ROSA! ROSA, DON’T GO!”

She begged the corpse through tears.

“STAY WITH ME!”

Her chest heaved as she screamed.

“ROSA!”

Lake couldn’t help but recoil a bit as the wet, soaking rag was brought against her face again. She couldn’t help it, the thing was cold as ice.

“Hey- stay still!”