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sudoka · 28 days ago

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Outpacing the Dawn (Chapter 2)

Word count: 6,674

Warnings: Lots and lots of blood

Washington Lodge.

Finding your way back to the lodge proved to be easier than you thought and now your shoes were slapping against wood and not the soft crunch of snow. It was time. You pushed past the oak doors, the axe still firmly gripped in your hands. You didn’t know what to expect, but you knew things would draw to a close.

Strange markings and balloons filled the lodge, all pointing to the basement. You gulped. You had never been down there before, and weren’t familiar with its layout. Nevertheless, you continued on, descending below the familiarity of the lodge.

It was dark, stray drops of an unknown liquid plunking against the cement. You walked quietly, carefully. The Psycho could be anywhere, but given all of the strange decor upstairs, this is what he wanted. He was luring someone down here. Your stomach lurched at the thought. Sam was the only one left in the lodge.

Your heart rate quickened. Where was everyone? If Ashley and Chris saw the markings and came down here, why hadn’t you come across anyone by now? Without a flashlight, it was hard to make anything out, but not impossible. You passed odd shapes, a rocking horse, a dollhouse. None of it made any sense.

A sudden glint on the tip of the axe caught your attention. Light bounced off of the edge, shining it almost directly into your eyes. You squinted, aiming the axe away and to the source. There was an open doorway, a strange blue hue coming from within.

You crept closer to the doorway, your foot movements slow and calculated. You licked a bead of sweat that had slipped down onto your lip, the basement unbearably hot and stuffy compared to the cold above.

As you poked your head around the corner, a sigh of relief left you. It was empty. But strange, covered wall to wall in screens, all displaying different parts of the mountain. Inside the lodge. Your blood surged red hot again. Not only was the Psycho torturing you all, he had been keeping tabs. No wonder it was as if he knew the mountain like the back of his hand.

You stepped closer to the screens, looking for movement. Maybe you could see where everyone else was, Psycho included. Or maybe there was some kind of backlog where you could track the movements. Despite this guy being absolutely crazy, it was impressive. A system like this made you wonder how different things could’ve been if it was here when Hannah and Beth went missing.

Just then, a blur passed over one of the screens. It was smudged and impossibly fast. What was that?

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

Your heartbeat surged in your ears at the familiar modulated voice. It was him. You whirled around, coming face to face with the Psycho standing a mere twenty feet away. His mask was that of a messed up skull, garish teeth protruding from its base.

Your hands tightened around the axe, your knuckles whitening from just how hard you held it. The Psycho tilted his head at you, almost as if he was… observing you.

His eyes stopped. You followed his gaze right to the letterman jacket you donned and the giant stitched on M. It was almost as if you could read his thoughts as he looked at you. You were a bewildered mess, the glow of the screens giving your hair a blue halo in your peripheral. Time slowed, an incessant ticking in your head as you gathered your bearings and stepped forward.

You swung hard right in the Psycho’s direction. He stepped to the side, the axe catching onto a pipe in the nearby wall. It clanked, steam hissing and releasing into the air as you pulled the axe from the pipe.

This was the man who had taken your everything from you. And he was treating you as if you were nothing more than a minor inconvenience, even with the weapon in your hand. Your blood surged, drowning out any other words he could possibly try to say.

“You fucker,” you cursed.

He appeared from the steam, the mask taunting you as he attempted to close the distance between you two.

“Don’t blame me for your decision.” He was mocking you, he had to be.

“How?!” Your words were laced with irritation. You swung again, aiming right for his chest. He stepped to the side.

“You just don’t get it. You show up here, in another man’s jacket, and pretend that you didn’t want him gone.”

Another swing. Another sidestep. Determined, you kept talking. “The blood on this jacket is all I have left.” Desperation and anger swirled in your voice. “And you’re wrong. I would’ve chosen Josh.”

Your blood surged in your ears. Everything felt hot and red. You swung again. The Psycho paused. And then he took a step back.

You stepped forward. “You took everything from me.” A dangerous glint entered your eyes. He was retreating. The Psycho was shaking his head.

“This isn’t how this was supposed to go.” His mutter was drowned out by a frantic grunt as you swung harder than before. You were going to make him pay.

“Why not me? You should’ve taken me instead,” you exclaimed, stepping closer with the Psycho. It was as if you were both caught in a dance, he took a step back and you took a step forward. The axe was heavy in your hand, but you were a ball of pure adrenaline, the heartbreak only fueling your need to end him. Righteousness burned hot within you, searing you with every movement you took.

“Shit,” he muttered, dodging your next swing. A small smile twitched at the corner of your mouth- Until he began to speak words that made your blood boil even hotter. “Not everything is about you. The Washingtons needed to suffer, just like how I killed pretty little Hannah and Beth.”

And then the axe made contact. Just barely, the sharp metal catching on the edge of his overalls as you cried out. The Psycho froze, looking down at how it just barely caught onto the front piece of denim. Your silver ring dug into your flesh from how tightly you were gripping the axe. He was pinned right where you wanted him.

Before you could push harder, his hand caught the wooden hilt of the axe. His head tilted with a perverse satisfaction. He yanked, your feet falling from under you as he pulled you right into him. This was it. It was over.

He tutted, his hands grabbing you. You began to thrash and kick. Wood and metal clanked against the ground as the axe fell.

The Psycho’s grip tightened on you, one hand moving to grapple for something behind him. “Did I strike a nerve? It’s your fault they’re all gone.” His cold, pompous demeanor returned.

“You don’t know anything about me.” You struggled harder. But it was no use. His hand moved close to your face and you moved to bite him, desperately. You wanted to tear his flesh out, even if it was with your bare teeth. “About any of us. It’s your fault.”

But then something cold was on your face, halting your vicious attempt at causing pain.

“Liars never prosper,” the Psycho whispered. And then the world went dark.

Washington Lodge Basement? 6 hours Until Dawn

The world was spinning. Everything was warm and hazy. You were at the lodge. You were at the lodge and you were with Josh. Everything was warm like the fire you sat in front of. The flickers danced off of his honey colored skin, illuminating his eyes in just the right way.

“Josh…” The words left your lips as you came to. You sat up, blinking yourself awake. There was no fire, there was no Josh. It was just you.

You straightened up, the memories of what had happened suddenly entering your head. There was the cold feeling on your face, the Psycho and then… nothing until now.

Your skin was cold, but your insides were warm. You leaned over and wretched, barely registering the feeling of the bile snaking its way up your throat. Your skin was cold? You looked down, your arms now bare. Matt’s jacket was gone, leaving you in your own clothes and bare arms, the faint traces of blood making your right arm sticky.

The room stopped spinning, everything coming into focus. Silver crescent balloons, streamers, sparkling string lights. Your stomach curdled at the familiar decorations. These were the decorations of senior year prom.

Senior Year Prom. A year and a half ago.

“I can’t believe graduation is two weeks away.” Sam stood next to you, pushing away a silver star balloon that had drifted too close to you both on the wall.

“I know, it all passed so fast.” You turned towards her, watching as the balloon spiraled away.

“Are you sure you can’t make it to the trip?” She crossed her arms, her eyebrows furrowing.

You took a small breath. The trip to the lodge felt like a last hoorah for the group, and if you were honest, that thought split your heart right in two. Sam was intuitive, her gaze unwavering as she looked at you expectantly.

“I’m sure. I mean, my family wants to go somewhere else for the holidays, and I’ve tried changing their minds, but I can’t.” The trip was several months away, and sure there was still plenty of time to convince them, but you both knew that wasn’t happening.

“Well, you know Josh will always be more than happy to accommodate you,” she said, a faint smile growing on her lips.

Before you could respond, someone cut in. “What are we talking about? How hopelessly in love with each other they are?” Beth strolled over, a devious glint in her eyes. “And how you-,” She pointed her finger at you, ”-would rather eat lead paint than fess up?”

“I-” You started, but Beth threw her hands up.

“I’m just saying. Sam, back me up here.”

“You two do spend a lot of time together,” Sam responded sheepishly.

“Because you guys always chicken out at the scary parts of the movies is not my fault,” you said in rebuttal, crossing your arms.

Beth laughed, her pink dress shimmering in the lights from the movement. “Well, if you’re not going on the trip, the least you can do is get yourself a dance. Even Hannah is trying.”

The three of you glanced over at Hannah in her form fitting black dress, preening as she drifted closer to Mike who was enraptured in conversation with Matt, probably drinking real liquor if you had to guess. Emily was nowhere in the vicinity, off dancing with Jess. The rest of you knew Emily would have her head for something like that.

You found your eyes scanning the crowd for Josh, thinking of Beth’s words. What if you were to dance with him tonight? Things had long ended between you and Matt, who was more interested in showing off for the football team than date night nowadays.

And Sam and Beth were right, you usually ended up hanging out with him when they skimped on the horror movies, or video games, which you quite enjoyed. You two could talk for hours about theories and special effects. And soon college would start. What if it all stopped? Your throat went dry at the thought.

And then you caught sight of him. It was like the world stopped as you spotted him. He was dressed in a simple black tux, but his bow was navy blue, the same color as your dress. Both of your faces had heated up when you noticed the matching colors. But you climbed wordlessly into the shared limo, ignoring the sounds of pleased murmurs from the others.

Josh was engrossed in conversation with Chris and Ashley, shaking his head about something. And then Chris was nudging him and their eyes all wandered to the corner you were in with Beth and Sam. You averted your gaze quickly, not wanting to get caught staring.

You could see Josh making his way over in your periphery. Flustered, you turned to Beth and Sam to ask for help, but Beth had her own plans.

“Oh, I love this song! Let’s go dance!” She exclaimed, looping her arm in Sam's just as Josh reached you all.

“Good choice, sis!” Josh cupped his hands over his mouth as the other two girls departed, laughing.

“I didn’t know you liked the Police that much,” you said coyly as Every Breath You Take began to pour out of the speakers.

“I can’t argue with classics,” He responded, a grin stretching out onto his face. God, he was so gorgeous.

You gulped, feeling your face heat up under the warmth of his gaze. His eyes looked at you innocently and it killed you inside. “Shouldn’t you be off, whisking the prom queen off of her feet?” You asked, your arms still crossed from your conversation with Beth and Sam.

He creased his eyebrows, the smile never leaving his face for a second. “Yeah, because I have girls fawning all over me,” he said mockingly.

“Are you crazy? Yes, you do.” You scoffed. You had no idea how he could claim something like that when his flirty and genuine personality kept him surrounded by people.

He shrugged, his tone turning somber as he leaned onto the wall next to you. “It’s all meaningless anyways. I mean, when it comes down to it, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I prefer being alone. No one really cares for the kind of stuff that I’m into.” A sigh escaped his lips. “No one except a weirdo like you anyways.” And then his smile returned.

A small smile crept onto your own face. “Rude, I may be your level of crazy, but I totally could’ve been prom queen if I wanted,” you retorted, flipping your hand over your shoulder dramatically. “Remember that the next time you suddenly need someone to hang out with. I was just telling Beth earlier, it’s not my fault they always ditch us.”

You froze, realizing what your words implied. His eyebrows shot up immediately. “I mean, I don’t even know why they always let you pick the movie when it ends up just being me and you,” You winced internally at your words as you tried to pivot, not letting him linger on the fact that you let it slip you were talking about him. “Just the two weirdos,” you added.

He let out a gentle laugh. “You got me there, but for the record you’d make a killer prom queen. Too bad at this point, you’re over so much you’re an honorary Washington.”

“Aren’t I?” You asked, flashing the silver Washington heirloom ring at him. You never went a day without it adorning your fingers, even tonight.

He chuckled, his eyes catching on the ring. “I guess so.”

Silence settled between you both. Soft lights danced off of both of your faces, and you swallowed nervously. It was now or nothing.

“Do you-?”

“I-”

You both started to speak at once. As if perfectly in sync, you both laughed.

“Sorry, you first,” He said, a light smile playing on his lips.

“I was just going to say I kind of want to dance,” you said, pushing your shoulders back and standing up off of the wall.

Josh’s smile widened dazzlingly. “Well, that’s perfect, because I was going to ask you if you wanted to dance.” He offered his hand out. Despite your previous words, you hesitated. A small nervousness crept into your stomach and heart, tying you into knots.

But the nervousness puttered out the second your hand slipped into his. His touch was warm, sending ripples of a tingling sensation down your spine. The dance started out goofily, both of you clumsily shuffling towards the dance floor as he guided you by your elbow.

A small smile played at your lips as you both swayed to the beat. A tangible distance between your bodies as you tried to keep it more casual. Friends dance together at prom, that’s normal, you told yourself. That distance was further kept by holding his forearms in your grip, the swaying led by both of your arms alternating back and forth.

His gaze stayed on you, his own creeping back onto his face. Giddy with nerves, you started to mouth the lyrics. Josh chuckled, and began to mouth the words back. It was a beautiful, ludicrous bubble, where nothing existed but you and him. None of your fears or worries mattered, all of it melting away.

And then the song switched. You could tell it was the slow song of the night as the energy of the room switched. Couples were closely entangled, and the conversations petered out.

Josh cocked his head at you as the opening note of ‘Hungry Heart’ by Bruce Springsteen filled the room. Something shifted between you too, a silent question lingered in his eyes. Your gaze deepened, and you wordlessly laid your arms over his shoulders, your hands dangling behind the nape of his neck.

His arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you in closer. That safety net of the distance between you two was gone and you could hear your heart thundering in your chest as you drifted close to him.

“Are you-?” You started to say.

“Yes, I’m sure,” He interrupted, his arms tightening around your waist. “Of course I want to dance at prom with my best friend, don’t you dare finish that question.”

You closed your mouth at his sudden change in tone, your throat tightening. He had never called you his best friend before and you found yourself at a loss for coming up with your usual witty response.

“Sorry, I’m just thinking about everything coming up,” you said sheepishly, your eyes never wavering from his. There was so much on your mind- graduation, college, missing out on the last trip the friend group had, the future.

“Don’t,” he said, a silent plea in his eyes. And you could see that same fear reflected in his eyes. Understanding flowed between you both and you nodded. “Nothing is going to change between us,” he continued, gently taking your hand in his. “Nothing.”

You sighed heavily, feeling your body de-tense at his words. His hand was soft and warm, fitting into yours perfectly. Your free hand drifted to hold his shoulder, both of you still swaying to the music.

His fingers drifted over yours, finding the ring and rubbing it softly. The cool metal slid against your finger as he sought comfort in it. Being this close to him made it hard to think, although it was hard to feel much of anything lately except the overwhelming fear of losing what you had.

In this moment, it was just you and Josh. Months of laughter, dorky inside jokes, accidental sleepovers, and playful jests laid between you. His presence was soothing, like a comforting balm made just for you.

As the song reached an instrumental; break he silently spun you around a few times, causing the bottom of your dress to flare out before he secured you in his arms again. The arm that snaked around your back pulled you both closer together. He had never been this clingy before, always hiding behind his playful gait. Electricity charged between you two, the moment vulnerable and tender as he held you.

His fingers still danced on your skin, fiddling with the ring. He looked nervous and you eyed him curiously.

“You should come,” he whispered, and you immediately knew what he was talking about. The trip.

“I want to, but…” You trailed off hesitantly.

Josh sighed. “I know, I know, you already have plans with your family. You’re always welcome at the lodge. Hannah and Beth love you. And…” He sucked in a breath as if preparing himself for something.

“I want you there.”

Your breath hitched and everything seemed to halt. His words carried a new level of intimacy he had never shown you before. He looked at you earnestly for a response.

“I wish I could, but I really can’t.” His face fell at your words.

“I can uninvite him,” Josh offered, his hands tightening around your waist.

“Who?” You furrowed your brows for a moment. Josh stared back at you with trepidation. The realization dawned on you. “It’s not like that, I’m over him, you know that.”

You were dismayed at Josh’s insinuation. He thought you were missing the vacation for Matt? Granted, the breakup had hit you pretty rough. But enough tubs of ice cream and time with your actual friends, Josh included, had soothed that. Besides, you only had eyes for Josh now. He had to know that by now.

Except, unfortunately for you, your eyes betrayed you as you looked for Matt. Did he find someone to dance with already? Was he just as over you as you had convinced yourself you were?

Your eyes found their target. Matt was dancing with someone you didn’t know. Your gut curdled at the sight. When you turned back to Josh he was looking at you with his eyebrows raised, not in surprise, but in smugness. Before you could say anything, he made a noise at the back of his throat.

“Okay, I’m a little burned still, but I have no feelings for him okay?” You pulled yourself closer to Josh, your breath hovering dangerously close to his face. “I will try to come to Blackwood, okay? Just for you.”

“That’s all I could ask for.” Josh’s eyes met yours and you both continued to dance, the twinkling notes of the music taking both your mind and bodies over, the heat intangible.

Washington Lodge. Present.

The memories of senior prom hit you like a freight train. You and Josh had danced together, and you had wasted all of your previous time with him being a naive, coy teenager. You shared a tenderness you would never feel from him again. Not after what happened on the mountains last year. He wasn’t capable of it, and you didn’t really blame him. You couldn’t.

But right when you felt like you were finally building a close relationship with him again, it had been cruelly stomped out.

Just for this sicko to recreate your senior prom with everyone. You pushed yourself up, your limbs heavy. You were tired of being hit by memory after memory, and you were sure your body was having an adverse reaction to the stress and strain of constantly being knocked out.

You were tired, praying the Psycho would stop toying with you. But you knew he wasn’t done with you just yet, not with the perfect recreation of one of your last good memories with Josh. How would he have even gotten the details this down pat? It must be from all of the photos of the Washingtons scattered around the lodge.

While the room had the decorations of prom, it was considerably smaller. It had to be one of the lodge’s rooms, but it was almost unrecognizable with all of the decor vomited onto it.

The far side opposite you held a makeshift stage, donned with a silver balloon arch and microphone. It was honestly sickening how much this guy knew and how far he was willing to go to make a point. But what would that point even be?

You shakily stood to your feet, wobbling as if you were a newborn deer finding their legs. Everything compounded in your head, from the memories to the pain and anguish, and the persistent dull ache in your head threatened its presence for what you knew would be a long long time.

Out of the corner of your eye, something sparkled. It was almost blinding paired with the way your head felt like it was threatening to split open. You looked over to the source of the blinding annoyance and almost audibly gasped.

Your mouth laid agape as you stared on in horror. There on a chair laid a perfect replica of your prom dress, and a sash. Your hands ran over the dress as you approached it. The sequins, and detailing exact, even down to the last seam. The navy blue fabric seemed to swim in your hands as you raised it up, shimmering and glistening in cascades as it spilled to the floor.

“Sorry for the constant gas, but you don’t exactly make it easy.”

Your blood ran cold as the Psycho spoke again. He was the reason they were all gone- Beth, Hannah, and Josh.

“Fuck you,” you gritted to the empty room. “What the hell do you want, huh? To snatch every valuable memory I have?”

“Put them on.”

You stopped, looking down at the dress for a moment and then let it slip from your hands and onto the floor. “No. I’m not doing this anymore. I’m not going to pretend I’m your pretty little doll.” You refused to let this go any further. He’d have to show his face again if he wanted to hurt you. Even with the loss of the axe, you had a good feeling you knew how to handle him now.

“Put it on, or I hurt them again.”

Before you could respond, cries echoed throughout the room. It was barely discernible, but your stomach churned at the noise. Ashley’s higher pitched cry stuck out over the ruckus.

“And it’s live.” The cold voice of the Psycho boomed over the screams.

Reluctantly, you picked up the dress. “Fine, just make it stop.”

As promised, the screaming stopped, replaced by the sounds of weak crying, probably Ashley. Fuck. It was eerily perfect timing, too perfect to be a recording. With the way the Psycho had this entire place rigged, you didn’t doubt that it was a live feed.

You glared up at whatever invisible cameras were there as you slid your clothes off, your skin vulnerable to the air for a brief moment. You were sure he was relishing in this, seeing your bare skin. Your hands fumbled with the zipper numbly as you shimmied the dress on, and it snagged in just the same place it did on prom night. Last time, you had Beth to help you zip the dress up. The ghost of her hands followed you as you finished getting dressed, every memory aching.

When wearing the dress greeted you with silence, you huffed. The sash that lay on the chair was crude and looked almost homemade, as if it were just for you. You picked it up, the silver flaking onto your fingers almost immediately. The words ‘Prom Queen’ were inscribed on the sash. You wrinkled your nose and slipped it over your head.

“To the stage.” The command was brief, but unmistakable.

You looked up through your eyebrows, your scorn only growing. But you obliged. You wouldn’t give him an excuse to hurt more people, he could take it out on you all he wanted. But you would never give him the satisfaction of a cowering victim.

You made your way to the stage, brushing past balloons and chairs- it was as if you were going to have an audience. The stage was small, a setup of wood and stairs. You stood on the platform, covering your face with your hands to shield from the string lights. They couldn’t have been that bright, but every single sensation sent a new wave of splitting pain through your head.

“Look forward, and don’t move.”

Your gaze fixed on a nearby chair, your head held high as you looked out. He was not going to break you, no matter what he threw at you.

Music started to creep into the room. The notes were quiet at first and your ears strained as you listened to it. It got louder and louder, the words of Hungry Heart floating out to you.

As if on command, the door to the room swung open violently. And the Psycho stood there. His posture was still, and unmoving, the eyes of the mask trained on you.

Fate was cruel, and you knew you were a sight to behold against the glistening background. The memories of the past and present were stitched onto you, offering a harrowing vision. Arm covered in dried blood, worn out prom dress, beat up sneakers, silver ring, and the prom queen regalia.

Your heart rate spiked as you looked at him. He had your remaining friends captive, and you had no defense. Just the pathetic sight of you as he began to creep closer and closer.

Each step he took made your heart beat louder and louder in your chest. Thoughts of what his angle could be whirled through your head. But logic evaded you, your musings turning to mush as he came closer.

If you bolted, he’d catch and hurt you and everyone else. If you stayed, you could buy precious time. Just play the game, you told yourself.

The Psycho stood before you now, and it was the first time you were taking in his full appearance. The mask was still just as hideous, the atmospheric lights dancing in the black soulless pits of the eyes mockingly. His overalls were torn where you had caught him with the axe, his stomach puffed in almost an uncanny way. But oddly enough, there was a blood stain on his shoulder, one you didn’t cause or notice before.

His hand moved and you flinched, bracing for more pain. Instead, there was nothing. You opened your eyes, just barely catching what was in his hands as you felt something settle against your head softly.

You reached up, feeling the sharp outline of what could only be a crown. Your eyes widened as you watched the Psycho step back, his empty hands gesturing to the mic in front of you. He didn’t voice any commands anymore, just watching you. It was honestly creepier than when he had something to say.

Similarly, you felt as if there was nothing you could say into the mic that stood in front of you. What the hell was he expecting?

Hungry Heart’s lyrics registered in your head again, and you hesitated. Now wasn’t the time to reminisce on slow dancing with Josh, but you couldn’t help it. The Psycho had already read your diary, had already confirmed his opinion on how he felt about every single Washington. Now was just the final nail in the coffin.

Josh… you wracked your brain at the memories. At losing him forever. It physically hurt being in a recreation of a space you two would never occupy again. At least as the same people.

Standing up straighter, you leaned down into the mic.

“I’m no prom queen. I’m not even sure I deserved to go to prom. But there were people who made it worth it. People who are now gone.” Your voice cracked as you spoke. Guilt hung on your head like a heavy cloud. “People who I couldn’t be there for.” You took a deep breath and tried to steady yourself as you began to feel emboldened from the confession. In some sick, twisted way, it felt good to get it off of your chest. After all, the guy in front of you had much worse to be guilty of.

“It’s true. I’m selfish. I dreamed of being prom queen instead of what was right in front of me. And now, I suffer the consequences.” You stared directly as the Psycho as you spoke, your gaze cold and hollow. If he wanted a show, you’d give it to him.

The Psycho stared at you as you ended your speech. The mask was unblinking, unnerving. A gloved hand became outstretched to you.

You blinked in surprise, almost recoiling from the movement. But you kept your head steady, not moving an inch. He was offering you a dance.

His breathing was shallow in the mask and you narrowed your eyes. It was more labored, the blood seeping into his shoulder must’ve been from a nasty incident. He seemed insistent.

“We don’t both get what we want. No redos.” Your lip twitched in satisfaction as the Psycho recoiled from your answer. The game was over. You won and he wasn’t getting another rise out of you.

You murmured under your breath, “Checkmate-”

The entire world went dark red. An agonizing warmth doused you, leeching onto your skin and vision. The vicious heat felt like it was everywhere, over your skin, in your ears, creeping down to your chest.

You swiped at your eyes. Your hands were coated in a thick, gooey red ooze, but the motion cleared your vision. It wasn’t a result of your headache. It was blood. Through the haze of crimson, you saw the Psycho standing still.

For a moment, your body couldn’t move. You felt like you were choking on the blood. Guilt, pain, anguish, horror all flashed through you. A curtain of red kept creeping into your vision and your hands kept wiping them.

A pervasive coppery smell filled your nostrils. Fighting back another wave of nausea, you stepped back.

There was a strange glow behind you, causing you to halt. Turning, you saw the curtain behind you entrenched in fire. The flames reached up, licking towards the ceiling. Blood dripped from your fingertips as the fire crackled behind you.

You stood there on your pedestal. You were immortalized, clean. Holy. Just for him.

You were going to haunt him. He was going to haunt you.

You felt inextricably bound to him. Blood. Heat. Fire. Passion. Passion that gnawed at you and him. He wasn’t going to ever let you forget about Josh, or him. About the guilt that consumed you, the same guilt that encapsulated you in slick red. Guilt that made your heart beat with the same ferocity of the flames.

Eternity stretched out between you both. The Psycho didn’t move. He was watching. Waiting. He didn’t move and neither did you. The Psycho’s eye holes seemed illuminated by the blaze as his eyes raked over you. You creased your eyebrows at him, silently pleading for something, anything. You were tired, so tired. The fire seemingly danced across your skin, the heat seeping against your skin from your back. It sizzled and cracked, but you knew the heat wouldn’t hurt you.

Everything felt eerily calm. You thought about Josh. About how his warmth felt, his affection. This heat was all you had left. This searing, agonizingly orchestrated heat. But you didn’t want anything organized. You didn’t want to be admired, you wanted vindication. This isn’t what you wanted. With that thought in your heart, you made your verdict.

The door was open, all you had to do was make it to the door. Without a second thought, you ripped the bloody crown from your head and threw it at him, hoping to distract him. You were not his prom queen, and you never would be.

“Nowhere to go.” You heard his voice as you ran. Your dress was drenched, blood splattering on the concrete and nearby wall as you ran. The thick hot liquid dripped down to your legs, and you prayed it didn’t get down to your shoes.

As you exited the room, you tore the sash off. For a split second you debated using it to tie the door closed or to discard it and keep running. You decided to drop it, knowing the Psycho could burst through the door with his bare strength.

The running was dizzying and you kept wiping your face viciously to keep the remaining blood from obscuring your sight again. He was close behind you, his every step thundering through the corridors. Streaks of red followed your body. The basement was a complete maze, but you kept pushing forward.

You could do this. You could escape him, and rejoin everyone and get off of this cursed mountain. You kept repeating those thoughts as you ran. Hiding places popped out as you ran, but you ignored them, knowing that the hot blood was marking your trail. He followed the outline hungrily, his demeanor now angry as his footsteps grew harsher and louder.

He hadn’t caught up to you yet, his injury probably slowing him. The dress was constricting, but you pushed on, not caring about your legs rubbing themselves raw on the fabric.

You just had to keep going. The blood started to dry as you ran, the velocity of your running congealing the substance onto you. And then as if to answer your prayers, you got to a door. An axe was rammed into the handles, most likely to keep people away from the atrocities you were experiencing. It was probably the same axe you had tried to fight him with before. He was meticulous, knowing this place like the back of his hand. The thought troubled you.

You grabbed the axe, pulling it out and holding it in your hands. You could confront him again, or you could keep going. Sucking in a sharp breath, you pushed the door open and continued into the dark lodge.

He was stronger, faster, and had already gained the upper hand on you. After all of the knockout gas and fighting and blood, your body had grown tired and weary. Cutting him down would have to be a last resort. That and you knew you couldn’t hurt him.

You crashed into the next room, the sight before you causing you to halt in your tracks. With a loud squelching squeak, you tripped and stumbled onto the floor. Your grip on the axe only tightened as you fell forward onto coarse flooring.

Your body narrowly avoided hitting the sharp blade of the axe as two familiar voices called out your name.

Before you were Chris and Ashley, both strapped to chairs in front of a table. As you groaned and sat up you saw a table between them, and a gun in Chris’ hand. A giant saw hovered in the air above them, lowering closer and closer.

Determined to free them from their restraints, you attempted to get up. It was painstakingly slow, your shoes smearing red everywhere as you got up.

“Oh my god, oh my god no,” Ashley’s voice pierced through the air.

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the FUCK,” Chris muttered to himself, the gun in his hand.

“Hold on, I’m going to get you both out of here.” You finally hobbled to your feet, the axe shaking in your hands.

“Hurry, it’s almost here!”

“Save Ash first, please!”

Just as you got to Ashley, the buzzing of the saw halted. Your hairs stood up on end as heavy footsteps entered the room.

Whirling around, you clenched the axe tightly. “Don’t you take another step.” The Psycho stood in the doorway, his posture tense. Your eyes darted down to his hands, the crown and sash in his grip.

He disregarded your words, lumbering forward still. Gunfire sounded in your ears, and you saw him stumble back. Your eyes widened and a strangled cry left your throat. Your feet were rooted in place, you were unable to move as the shock rippled through you.

And then the Psycho was muttering, looking down at his body. “Oh Chris. Chris Chris Chris Chris. Haven’t you heard of blanks before?”

The Psycho circled the table like a shark, frenzied and hungry for the scent of blood. He stopped right in front of you. He slipped the sash and crown back over your head.

You looked at the mask, the axe frozen in your hands. Everything stood still.

“What are you doing? Get him!” Ashley’s voice filled your ears, but you didn’t answer.

Another flash of light shone over the room, illuminating the Psycho’s frame further. He looked at you and you looked at him.

Your gaze hardened.

“What are you waiting for?” Chris’ dismayed voice reached your ears.

You finally responded. “Yeah, what am I waiting for? Josh?”

#josh until dawn #josh washington #josh washington x reader #until dawn

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canmom · 1 year ago

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Last season's anime: Frieren episode 7-10

Shit I guess I'm full on liveblogging this one now.

This time we have episode 7 dir. Naoto Uchida (known for work on Mob Psycho 100), episode 8 dir. Tomoya Kitagawa (who also directed ep. 2), episode 9 dir. Kōki Fujimoto (key animator on a whole buncha stuff, this is his debut as an episode director), and episode 10 dir. Nobihide Kariya (who debuted not so long before as an episode director on Bocchi).

So at the end of the last post about Frieren, I commented that I found the demons underwhelming as antagonists, and hoped they would have their motivations fleshed out some more beyond 'ontologically evil baddies'. Well.

lmao.

So Frieren and the gang are travelling. We get a lot more on the Great Mage Flamme, who is Frieren's mentor figure. At this rate... she's probably gonna turn out to still be alive or some shit.

They roll up in another ridiculously picturesque town. The backgrounds in this show are apparently based heavily on the concept art paintings of Seiko Yoshioka, who gets credited under various roles including 'layout designer' and even 'worldview illustrator'. She did a crazy amount of work to design all the different settings, giving them distinctive cultural motifs and architectures and colour palettes and so on.

Since this town covers a whole four-episode arc, we get a number of different views of it. There's definitely a reasonable amount of historical care put into the design of those city walls - even sketchy and in the distance you can spot the hoardings and appropriately narrow crenellations, as well as the machicolations on the tops of the towers. (Though unfortunatelly some of those details seem to get forgotten in the later episodes.)

The streets in the town seem kinda wide and clean but it fits the austere vibe. The main thing I'm wondering is what exactly they eat in this town - it's triple-walled in hostile territory without much in the way of farmland in sight, or indeed roads that aren't tiny.

I'm pretty sure they built a model of at least parts of this town in 3D, because as well as certain 3D tracking shots (unfortunately hampered by the lack of any parallax mapping on the floor)...

...we also get shots like this one, which feature a crazy 3-point perspective:

I wouldn't say it's impossible to draw this, but it would be a hell of a lot easier to block it out roughly in 3D and then paint in the details.

Mind you, that's not even the wildest perspective we get in this episode. Check this out:

Absolutely bananas. I love it.

But tbh the praise I have for this arc is pretty limited to this kind of technical stuff. Let's get into the story. (Though you can be sure I'll have more to say about the animation!)

At this point the story shifts gears from this fairly low-key exploration of grief and the passing of time, into more standard action anime territory.

Shortly after arriving in this town, our heroes discover that it has been infiltrated by demons in the guise of peace emissaries. Frieren attempts to attack immediately, but she allows herself to be subdued rather than harm the guards, so off she goes to jail.

Luckily, wizard jail still has pretty generous visiting hours, so she's able to explain the deal with demons to the gang. Frieren declares that demons always lie to gain an advantage over humans, illustrated through a flashback in which a young girl demon begged for mercy, only to betray the townspeople a bit later. Having been proven right, Frieren summarily executes the girl.

I think it's worth comparing this storyline to a couple of other similar storylines in other works of fiction.

First of all, in NieR Replicant/Gestalt, there is the story 'The Little Mermaid', which was adapted into a segment in the game in the remake. A postman takes pity on a girl on a shipwreck, not realising that she is a terribly powerful monster who is struggling to maintain her human appearance. The girl starts killing people to try to maintain her connection with the postman. Eventually, the player shows up and discovers what's been going on. Their intervention provokes the girl to revert to monster state and there's a big boss fight. However, at stake in the fight is the girl's identity. Depending on how you play the boss fight, there are two possible endings, and both of them make overt parallels between the monster girl and your party member Kainé, and one portrays the grief of the postman who cannot let go of his affection for the monster.

Secondly, the second episode of last year's Tengoku Daimakyou features a woman who is trying to protect a monster which she believed to have taken on the consciousness of her son after it ate him. The monster has been curiously non-hostile to the woman - she persuades our protagonists to back off, and they agree. Then it abruptly kills her! Oh shit. Fight scene, they kill the monster, etc.

But as they depart, the protagonists are left discussing whether the monster could really have had the son affecting its actions, whether it was just drawn to prey etc. The monster's motivations are left distinctly unclear, and the protagonists conclude there's no way to know the truth. Throughout the rest of the season, the exact nature of the monsters remains an open question.

In both cases, we either know or it is strongly implied that the monsters are fundamentally human, or derived from humans somehow. A certain amount of effort is spared to try and at least raise the question of the monster's subjectivity, and even if a monster has to die, they play it for tragedy.

So, let's return to Frieren. We're introduced to the demon girl. She ate a kid, but she staves off execution by pleading for her mother.

The villagers decide to give her a chance to atone. Before long, she kills the village chief who took pity on her. Frieren's party show up and she does small Shaft head tilt...

She's no longer pretending and talks in a much more level voice. She explains that she wanted to give a replacement daughter to the family of the girl she ate, by removing the village chief, for the sake of living in peace. This goes down about how you'd expect. Frieren goes ahead and kills her. As she's dying, Frieren asks why she called for her mother when demons don't raise kids. The answer she gets:

She is surprisingly forthcoming on this front, and honestly, self-preservation is something like an understandable motivation. The impression you get from this flashback sequence is a being that is amoral, and encountering humans as something alien and, honestly, kinda threatening. Why she killed the girl in the first place is an open question - they explicitly say that the demons don't have to eat humans. Even if she kinda felt like it, you'd think she'd be able to figure out it would be an unwise move.

But as far as the show is concerned, the point of this flashback is to establish one thing: demons are lying liars who lie. Frieren is the only one who knows the truth, which is that you must shoot them on sight.

You might think the show would leave some doubt about whether Frieren is justified in having such a severe attitude towards the demons - is she just prejudiced? But nah we go pretty much straight into the demons saying 'Frieren is right about everything, now let'ss discuss our evil plan'.

Props to this guy (he has some longish German name I can't remember) for making this random bench feel like a throne though. Like on some level he's just soft-voiced evil anime aristocrat guy but he does pull it off.

Anyway, one thing definitely doesn't seem to add up. Frieren says that demons are solitary creatures who speak in a human voice only to deceive, but the demons seem to be pretty happy to natter away to each other when no humans are around and express all sorts of thoughts and even express (fairly reserved) emotions. The boy is arrogant, the girl is protective of her boss, etc. The guy is a smooth liar and manages to wriggle out of being killed by the earl by playing the 'we're the same, let's put an end to this' card. But we're constantly reminded it's fake, he's a lying liar who's ontologically evil.

I think the super-deceptive adversary with no qualms about telling any lie is something that can be done well to create an incredibly paranoid scenario. I can't believe I'm mentioning ratfic again in the space of two posts, but this is something Worth The Candle performed very effectively. Though honestly the fantasy of the perfect manipulator who plays everyone like a fiddle is a recurring device in fantasy.

Here... the acting is strong on our main sussy demon dude. But as a worthy adversary, he's not super convincing. He lets his underling run off and get killed, and his response when the jig is up is to reveal that he's super OP and kill everyone nearby, except the governor, who he tortures. So the manipulation angle seems questionably motivated, like he wants the earl to lower the barrier so the demon army can come in... but you're kind of left wondering why he didn't already just go and kill everyone in the city since nobody who isn't Fern or Frieren can touch him. I guess he's trying to get that low chaos route.

I won't continue the beat-by-beat summary. There is a cool fight scene in Frieren's jail cell though, which has some well-integrated 3D. Frieren totally no-sells the boy's attack and cuts his arms off. Lotta dismemberment in these episodes! The main demon guy has some tasty blood-based powers, lots of monofilament whip slicing imagery (also a thing in Tengoku Daimakyou oddly enough). In general the action scenes in this show continue to be super tight. There is a pretty cute bit where Stark is trying to free the earl and can't cut through the rope holding him to a chair, the earl is going 'leave me', and I was sitting there going like 'why not destroy the chair', and then Stark does. So props for that.

Towards the end of ep 8, we learn that Frieren is actually a suuuuper scary battle mage. She was the one who researched the demon killing spell. OOooooohhh.

Seems our demon guy hasn't changed his style in 80 years lol.

And she did not think it too many.

So we already knew that Frieren was part of the party that killed the demon king, the last living person who knew Flamme, etc. etc., so it's not exactly surprising to see once again that she's kind of a big deal. What we seem to be setting up here - or at least maybe I'm just hoping for something more than 'only our hero is wise enough to know coexistence is impossible and a war of annihilation is the only option' - is to suggest a parallel between Frieren and the demons. They're incredibly long-lived, they love to obsessively study magic, they both have a very cold affect, they're calm under fire. If it turned out that Frieren is a demon that would be a fun angle, but I don't think it really tracks. Rather, the framing is suggesting that, when confronted with demons, Frieren is not so different...

We get a title drop in any case - turns out the anime title is an in-story title for its main character. In Japanese: 葬送のフリーレン Sousou no Frieren. 葬送 is translated by jisho.org as

attending a funeral procession; seeing off the deceased; burial of someone's remains; observing a burial

The fansub I'm watching translate it (when used for the character) as 'Frieren the Elegy', which has about the right vibe! In the context for the show title, they translate the same phrase as Frieren: An Ageless Elegy which involves a little more interpolation, but I think it works. The official English title is Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, which is very direct but not a bad subtitle at all. Then again, maybe the bar is in the floor since 'Delicious in Dungeon'.

Anyway, after all that setup, we finally get the big fight episode. Because you see, in contrast to the earlier story which skipped over decades in a montage, this arc spans a whole four episodes. It's not badly done, but it's definitely feeling much more like a standard fight-driven show at this point.

We also meet Aura, one of the demon generals. She looks like a youngish girl and has a habit of doing the sanpaku eye smirk.

Her schtick is that she has magic scales that let her dominate people. Then she cuts their heads off and walks their corpses around. This is represented by a big army of suits of armour, mostly rendered in CG. They've done some kind of filter to make the linework less even, but the difference in shading style is quite noticeable.

From there it's a lot of 'my gambit vs your gambit' and 'who has more mana'. The fights are, without doubt very nicely animated, although the CG castle set used for the big camera moves feels a bit... lacking in detail compared to the gorgeous painted backgrounds. Anyway, Stark wins his fight by the power of GUTS and DETERMINATION, and Fern wins her fight by being a fast analytical type who can stay cool under fire and also knows Frieren's special demonbuster spell. Though a lot of Fern's fight is just kind of both participants standing still with impassive expressions shooting either blood or big laser beams at each other or zipping all around the castle.

Of course, the major turning points in the fight hinge on flashbacks to moments with mentor figures. This is an anime, and more specifically, it's Frieren.

One thing that is interesting is that the 'point of view' indicated by internal monologue often moves from Fern to the demon guy. We get to see him try to think through how to beat her, unsuccessfully. By contrast Stark's fight takes Stark's POV. I don't think we're expected to sympathise with the demon exactly, it's a way of underlining just how badass Fern has now become thanks to Frieren's levelling up regime.

I admit Frieren has lost me a bit by this point. It's not that it's bad at being a fight anime, it hits us with a whole series of stylishly composed and strongly animated cuts. Not novel necessarily, but absolutely well-executed. But it's not a very interesting direction to take the story! I don't care about this town, we'll be leaving it in an episode or two anyway, and the only named character in it is the earl. I wanna know more about the demons but what we get is kinda just a succession of Guys With Powers. He can make his blood fly around and stab people. She can copy anyone's moveset. He has a monofilament wire. She has a magic scale that mind controls you if she has more mana.

So how does Frieren beat the magic scales? ez. It's kind of spelled out as soon as they introduce the scales, but they spend a whole episode explaining how she's been using a relentless mana retention regimen for the last thousand years to hide her power level so that demons underestimate her. It kinda belabours the point lol. Like it kinda has to because if it doesn't try to make a big deal out of the mana hiding thing, you're just left with 'Frieren wins because her number is bigger'. But... Frieren wins because her number is bigger.

I don't hate fight-driven anime. They can be a ton of fun. But honestly, after the emotional impact of the first few episodes, taking it this way seems like it's wasting the early show's strengths. But, I hear episode 11 sees the return of Keiichirō Saitō as enshutsu, and it's said to be one of the best episodes in the show, so I'm not gonna drop it! It's certainly more than pretty enough to be worth watching through to the end.

There is a good amount of nice stuff in this last episode. The pseudo-Roman town is a cool depiction of a different material culture a thousand years prior to the main story. The 'field of flowers' magic is called back as a specific invention of Flamme - Frieren's whole deal is to kind of go around doing things to commemorate dead people and it turns out the flowers thing lets her do it twice over! We get to set up some parallels - Frieren could intuit that Flamme was a super OP mage, and Himmel could do the same for her.

We also get some worldbuilding stuff about the demons: they have to constantly display their power level to determine their place in the demon pecking order bc they're soooo individualistic. This seems a little dubious to me - like are the demons really so dumb? Is 'hide your power level' such an incomprehensible concept? It seems like it would lead to some kind of Diplomacy-like situation where other demons would team up to take you down.

Honestly, I think what bothers me about all this is like... I don't like the concept of an ontologically evil monster at the best of times, but the demons are obviously not mindlessly malevolent with no inner lives. They talk and scheme and feel things (such as 'proud of their magic'). They have an honour system. But the narrative doesn't quite seem to be able to acknowledge that this is what it's doing. Besides levelling up their magic, we have no idea what the demons want, still, except that it seems to involve killing humans sometimes.

Anyway! kvin has an article about this section, so if you'd like to read about who did which bit and how they worked together resourcefully and where the storyboard creates imagery of separation and so on, there ya go! It sounds from this article like the manga gets a better handle on what it's trying to do with the demons later on, so I'll hold out hope.

#anime #sousou no frieren

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ashiemochi · 2 years ago

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anubussy - x

✠ Anubussy ↳ sorry, i don't want your touch ↳↳ it's not that i don't want you

➶ pairing: OC x Leon S(exy) Kennedy. ➶ genre: fluff, more angst, gore, longer smut/suggestive themes ➶ word count: no

NOTE: ✠ = time skip ✠✠ = switching povs/characters

prev -> next

Moving through the building reminded her of her family’s facility when she had first arrived – lost and confused. Back then, she’d make turns and depend on suicide notes to tell her where to go.

This building didn’t have a map layout or anyone who wrote a note before passing – So Ah was just following her captain and shooting any of Arias’ minions along the way. She resisted the need to pick her phone up and call Leon. As far as the situation goes, he might be too busy fighting for his life to answer her.

“Why doesn’t this place have any map lying around?” She muttered under her breath, annoyed at the sense of being lost.

“Why don’t we ask Arias when we bring his ass down?” Chris muttered back, almost sharply at the hatred he had towards him.

So Ah looked at him from the corner of her eyes, “Think he’d tell us?”

Chris huffed lightly, his hawk eyes scanning the long corridors. These villains seriously needed to add more life to their hideouts or underground facilities. They all looked the goddamn same.

A voice came over the PA, “Nice to see you again, Mr Redfield – and I see you brought a guest with you.”

So Ah blinked at this, hiding next to Chris behind the wall who whispered to her confused self, “Arias.”

“Thanks to Professor Chambers, we made the virus much stronger.” Arias continued, “If you could stick around for, oh, another twenty minutes, you’ll see how strong.”

Chris shared a look of shock with her, realizing what Arias had done to his friend, and he knelt down to set the timer on his watch. While he was doing that, So Ah kept her eyes out in case any enemy pops out from around the corner.

“I can’t wait for you to meet the new and improved Rebecca. The question is…” Arias seemed pleased with himself before his voice dropped an octave, “Do you have it in you to kill her?”

So Ah picked up on Chris’ nod and went after him down the corridor, panting faintly as she stayed caught up with his quick and long strides.

“My army of the dead will change the world for the better. It will correct the imbalance caused by recent wars.” His voice echoed all over the building, making the soldier and the agent grow more and more on edge, “Maybe if you can stay alive long enough, you can watch me as my B.O.Ws bring down the most powerful nations… One by one.”

Chris growled under his breath, “You belong in a nuthouse, asshole.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not crazy.” Arias assured, something heavy in his tone, “I want revenge. I’m sure you understand that, Miss Han So Ah.”

So Ah slowed down at that, eyes widening as she breathed heavily, and looked up at the security camera. How could he have known – wait, the H-Virus. Chris stopped in the distance, looking over at her with furrowed brows.

“I must say, it’s an honour to have a member of the Hans here, it really is a pleasure.” Arias mused, a slight smirk on his lips, “I apologise for the mess. I wish we could've met in a different circumstance – maybe if you get out of here alive, I’d be happy to give you a tour.”

Every single scream and shout of pain echoed in her head, reminding her of all the people she had taken. Their lives hung on her shoulders, looming over her like a long shadow. She didn’t want to relate to a psycho like Glenn Arias.

She refused to.

Chris gave her a knowing look, silently telling her not to listen to him. She shook her head, shutting her eyes for a moment to ignore the buzzing of the chip and she joined up with Chris.

“It’d be a grand tour just looking for you.” She mumbled.

Rounding the corner, they skidded to a stop at the horde of zombies rushing and stumbling towards them.

In an instant, Chris started shooting them and So Ah did as such, aiming at the furthest ones with precision. Sure, the Matilda could only do so much, but she was landing headshots perfectly. Sometimes she’d aim for the legs to drop them down.

Adrenaline filled her veins as Chris bee-lined through the corridor, following him as he went. By the end of the hallway, it was split in two with the walking dead on both sides.

So Ah hitched her yelp, dodging a swiping hand before shooting the zombie. There were more than she could count but she stayed close to Chris. If push comes to shove, she’d yank the incendiary grenade from her belt – that she definitely did not steal from the Osprey and just borrowed it – to set shit on fire.

She heard a clatter of an empty magazine behind her, catching her attention. She was extremely surprised to see Chris casually suplex a zombie and her eyes located his rifle in one of the infecteds’ hands.

Hastily, So Ah holstered her gun and then yanked the weapon out of its hands and the sharp blade at the end glinted under the pale lights. Oh, she should’ve gotten one of these instead.

She sliced the zombie’s neck, making it stumble back just as Chris stood up. He gave her a grateful nod, taking it back to reload it and shoot the last few ones.

So Ah returned to her gun to help him clear them out, unaware of the ones closing in from behind. A waft of hot breath brushed the top of her head, sending unwanted shivers down her spine and she nearly got a whiplash turning around.

She stumbled back with a gasp, “Shit!”

A sound of a motorbike entering the hallway was the last thing she’d expect in his situation – but it was also the one she needed the most. It meant one thing, and one thing only.

The last two zombies dropped to the ground, bullet wounds on the back of their heads, and the bike halted to a stop next to the wall.

So Ah visibly lit up at the sight of Leon showing up unscathed and she ran up to him with relief in her big eyes.

“Leon, you’re okay.” She voiced her happiness.

Leon exhaled roughly as he got off the motorcycle, feeling the care oozing from her as he gave her a light-hearted judgemental look, “Missed me already?”

Her cheeks turned red at this and he looked over at Chris, walking up to him, “Sorry I’m late. Had to take the stairs.”

A giant question mark appeared on top of her head.

How in the hell did he use the stairs with that giant ass bike?

The elevator dinged at the end of the corridor and a horde of zombies stumbled out.

Another giant question mark appeared.

How in the hell did they use the elevator?

Leon glanced down at her standing next to him, seeing her eyeing the infected. She looked up at him, nodding as she tightened her grip on her gun. Leon returned the nod, unbeknownst to her, feeling nostalgic fighting by her side.

He ticked his head to the charged zombies as if going ‘after you’ to Chris.

God, was this day ever going to end?

The zombies snarled as they charged at the trio. One zipped in between Chris and the couple, separating them. Chris was forced to be in the opposite corridor, leaving them in the other.

As Leon was taking care of the one in front of him, gunshots were heard behind him. Each bullet he shot was to the head or the neck, and by throwing his eyes over his shoulder for a moment, he could see his wife was mimicking him.

It felt strangely good having her around again; it gave him a reason to push through this mission.

A hand gripped his ankle and Leon twisted it around, going on a deep kneel and shooting the zombie in the head. The muzzle of his Sentinel Nine was tinted red at every shot he took, he was never so focused before.

Meanwhile on the other end, So Ah had her hands full. These zombies; they reminded her of the ones she had seen at the H-Outbreak but the ones they were dealing with were more animalistic. They were attempting to grab her and sometimes they’d latch their gross hands around her ankle which she’d shoot and back away to place some space between her and them.

Subconsciously, Leon and So Ah stuck to each other, helping the other kill the horde. At some point, Leon went flat to the ground as she shot the one behind him and he did the same to her; from between her legs.

Was it silly? Probably – but whatever to stay alive.

An inevitable click came from the Matilda, urging her to reload it. As Leon kept the creatures at bay, So Ah hurriedly took out her last magazine to slam it into the gun but a zombie gripped her wrist, emitting a hitched gasp as she was yanked.

Leon’s ears instantly perked up to her, eyes snapping to the girl – he fully assumed that rotten teeth would’ve sunk into her flesh by now, but she was still fighting. Her lips formed a snarl, releasing her gun to let it clatter to the ground only to reach underneath her jacket.

Then his heart skipped a beat at the sight of the handcrafted dagger he had gifted her years ago.

So Ah pressed her arm against the zombie’s neck, not allowing him to bite into her other arm. From behind, she kicked back the walking dead, putting her whole strength and focus on their knee. A loud audible crack emitted from the one at the front, making him fall with a groan and the others nearby stumbled and toppled over.

She switched her attention back to the first one, having had enough of his snarling; he was also the last one in her part of the corridor. Gunshots from Leon’s side and guttural groans from hers, she was vaguely aware he had killed the ones on the ground.

The dagger glinted for a second before she sunk it down into the zombie’s head, deeply. The blood splattered onto her cheek when she yanked it out, letting him drop to the floor.

Her chest heaved at the adrenaline, unaware of how tight she was holding the magazine in the other. Her quick eyes searched for her gun through the basically a rug of deaddead bodies.

Chris’ rifle slid to her side and he picked it up, standing with the other two. He had blood drops all over his attire, similar to Leon and So Ah. Her once soft-coloured knitted jacket looked like it needed a twenty-four-hour wash to get rid of the grime.

“Rebecca’s running out of time!” Chris shouted, panting heavily.

Leon threw him a quick glance from the side, “Then let’s split up!”

“You go!” So Ah urged Chris, gripping the handle of her dagger tightly, “We got it here!”

Chris gave them a curt nod and went off, shooting the zombies out of the way. So Ah huffed under her breath, finding her gun next to a zombie on the ground. It was growling and waving its arms around from under the heavy bodies on top of it.

She twirled the knife to a correct grip and she brought it down, flinching to herself at the burning sensation at the back of her neck.

That was when Leon caught a glimpse of something shining on her finger; the ring. It sent an electric shock to his own, setting his veins on fire at the feeling. It threw him back to their wedding and that angelic appearance she had when they were exchanging rings.

When their highly respected friend said; “You may kiss the bride”, So Ah practically bounced in giddy, kissing Leon with her hands cradling his cheeks. He couldn’t help but chuckle, pulling her close by the waist.

That day was one of the many memorable events and possibly, one of the few happy memorable events. Every night for over two-hundred-and-thirteen days, the memory repeated around his head like a carousel.

It was unfair.

It was so goddamn unfair.

Growling in audible frustration at the whole situation, Leon took down the rest of the zombies from his side. When the last body dropped, So Ah stood up, taking her dagger out and looking over at Leon. The silence was so loud it was deafening.

His back was facing hers, his chest visibly heaving and his hands were clenching by his side – of course, his finger was off the trigger. He wouldn’t look at her when she slowly made her way towards him, worried he might’ve gotten hurt or even worse, bitten.

“Leon?” She asked gently, almost nervously.

His sharpsharp ices were glaring harshly at the ground. She still wore her ring. She never took it off. How could she?

After all she had done, she still cherishes something so broken?

So neglected?

How dare she make him think that the chemistry was still alive and more than ever between them?

More growls emitted at the end of the hallway, finding yet another horde sauntering from the stairs. Her hand hovered over his arm, stepping back with a dreadful feeling crawling up her back.

“Le–”

“Go find Chris,” Leon ordered lowly, reloading his gun and turning partially to look over at the zombies, “I’ll finish up around here.”

“What – no–” Her eyes widened, shaking her head, “I can help.”

“Now’s not the time for you to be stubborn, So Ah.” Leon snapped, staring at her darkly, “Go. Now.”

So Ah went quiet under his eyes. The conflict was more than evident along with something else she couldn’t put her finger on. Hesitantly, she looked over her shoulder at the zombies.

Instead of listening to him just yet, she hurriedly grabbed his hand to set her dagger on his open palm. Leon blinked at her action, brows forming a deep crease in the centre.

“What–”

“Just so you’d have a reason to come back,” So Ah said, pushing his fingers to curl around the handle, “To return it to me.”

His hand twitched under her touch and she held his hand for a moment.

“Be safe.”

It was evident she didn’t want to go and leave him to deal with those feral creatures alone. With this line of work, death was looming from every corner, forcing you to treat every day like it might be the last.

So Ah stood on her tiptoes, planting a faint peck on his cheek, her cinnamons softsoft and utterly worried as she whispered, “Please.”

Leon watched her step away from him before jogging past him, picking up her gun from the ground as she turned the corner. Her footsteps gradually grew distant. The sound of the snarls took his attention away from the heat rushing up the sides of his neck and to his ears at the lingering kiss on his cheek.

Leon holstered her knife into his belt with a faint scoff – a chuckle. Ticking his head to the side at the charging zombies, he held his gun, aiming it at them. A newfound determination and hope within him.

“Better make this quick.” Leon quipped wittily, “I got something to return.”

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