(1)Northern Cardinal- It's the name of the military base in Red Light District of Iron-Heights, which Alex Mercer is in charge of.
(2) The Iron-heights- the Iron-heights is a city in Russia. It is closed off from the rest of the world by 30-meter tall wall that surrounds the whole city, which is why when the world came to the end, it became one of the Human sanctuaries.
'(3) Final hour '– the Final Hour is a ritual of sorts, where the person that is diagnosed with the virus, gets honorable treatment before they die. The purpose of this ritual is to make a person's last remaining moments on earth peaceful and happy.
(xxx)-(xxx)- Translation
' xxx '- thoughts
xxx- flashback or important detail.
"xxx"- speaking
"xxx" – oftentimes used to describe something negative ( thoughts, infected screeching, howl, etc..)
Dead Planter Retribution(WN one-shot ):
The Grim Reaper
How long has it been, since she lived a normal life with her family?
The exhaustion has long since taken the toll, her body screamed for her to stop, to take a breath even for a second...
How long has it been, since all she could care about was, how much time she could spent with her friends?
She felt drained, fatigue was eating her from inside out...
'Run, fast. Behind Me..! '
-But no matter what, She couldn't-CAN'T stop!
How long ago was it, when she lived a life of a normal teenager and not of the prey on the run from its predator?
If only she could just catch her breath, just a little bit, maybe than...
How long Ago was It, since she lived like a human being for the last time?
The sound of her heart beating faster and faster was making her deaf, but even then she could make out muffled, hysterical cries of the small child in her arms.
What did she do to deserve this...?
She couldn't feel her legs anymore, but even without her command, they kept moving, Using the very survival instinct that drove her to the edge of sanity, as their fuel.
What did they do to deserve this...?
The horrendous screams behind her, the very humanly impossible howls, screeches and sounds of stomped snow, branches, followed not so far from behind.
What would she not give to Just. Wake. Up!
Her jaw in the moment of pure adrenaline tensed, putting more pressure on the already clenched teeth. Goosebumps danced across her back wildly, her arms tightened around the child as the fear and terror possessed her being as a whole.
'Don't want to die. They Are Coming. Can't Stop or we will die- '
' -Somebody...! Anybody-! '
Wake up from this nightmare...
" KReE-hEeHhEEARAAA!!!! ''
That damn screech, the ear-piercing, once human vocal made howls that blemished her very soul every time she heard it. The inhumanity, the savagery, the promise of death, the feeling of despair, terror, dread, all of it in one damn sound that hunted her in both nightmares and reality alike.
"K-rishta!! I-it's Mo- ''
''-Don't look! ''
"RuRu-UN!nN-KRi-GsTaAAhAA!'
The abominable sounds that promised hers and her little brother's slow, pain-filled, horrendous deaths...
She wanted to cry, her body trembled with the pain of reaching its limit against its fight with the fatigue. Her vision that she was so depended on in this crucial moment was getting blurry from tiredness and emotional shock. The arms that carried and kept her little brother close to her body, were begging for rest even just for a little bit. Her body was reaching its limit and her mind kept playing tricks on her. Everything she saw, speed up, but her movements kept slowing down. The sense of anxiety she kept realizing, her failure was impending if she couldn't move quickly enough, the liminality between the realization of her death and her desperation for life- swallowed her mind as a whole. It took so much strength to not give up. To just not stop this pointless running and scream out altogether in an unknown emotional mixture of Fear, rage, terror, and sadness at that abomination, for using her dear mother's voice, tainted by their sickening inhumanity, to lure her into their gras-
"...!"
The sharp stabbing feeling in her left ankle made it self known to her. Her eyes instinctively fell, searching for the source. The sudden alien pain in her leg cleared up her vision and granted her mind the chance to fully realize that she was running down on steep unbalanced terrain of the forest.
'' ... Ah..!? "
The split-second confused gasp of her little brother, at the sudden change of gravity, fueled her own fears.
'No...-! '
She had twisted her ankle in between wet rocks, and now they were falling on the hill at the full momentum of her previous sprint.
As the fear suddenly changed its source, the howls suddenly become quiet.
" AHH-HGAA-!!''
The last thing she heard and felt was the child's whimper as she fell on him. Everything else turned into a blur for the coming next couple of seconds-
"...!"
-And when she opened her eyes, she was already on the ground.
The heat was all she could feel. The adrenaline was still high in activity, so she couldn't tell what has had happened to her just yet. When she tried to get up, only then she could finally feel the subtle pain in her left shoulder. The sight of her arm in that unnatural position still had not fully registered in her mind, once she saw it. She blinked in confusion and stared at it curiously. The silent thoughts of unable to remember seeing her arm like that before clouded her mind.
" ..K-Kr-Khishta...?"
Her eyes widened in surprise at hearing someone calling out her name, and then suddenly, the moment of confusion and surprise quickly went away as the reality of the situation finally once again, made it self-clear to her. Her eyes quickly darted the way the voice came from, only to be widened in pure horror.
The child that she carried in her arms a little while ago was just a few meters away from her, kneeling, drenched in dirt and snow, silently looking back at her. He was missing his front teeth, but unlike her, his arms were alright. Seeing his deformed childish face was already breaking her mind but what did hit the nail on the coffin, was seeing the blood flowing out of his forehead like a newborn river escaping the white mountains in the spring.
The worst part was His eyes. The way he was looking at her, silently with confusion....
Dread once again gripped her heart.
"Jimmy...!"
Before she knew it, she was already on her one feet.
Her mind raced back in time when her parents told her about his conceive. The joy she felt at hearing she would be the big sister in the house, the happiness that overtook them all when he was finally born. Her sweet little brother, The sun's shine of her family, beautiful and sweet even amongst other children. Her mom always used to say he would grow up into a handsome young boy.
And now...
Tears build up in her eyes
-She wondered how mortified her mother expression would have been at the sight of his face. The heat in her mind strengthened, the inside of her body felt like one giant whirlpool of hot lava. She shut her eyes tight and took in one giant breath of cold air, and then she felt something cool enter her brain.
'I-It's okay! Everything will be fine! We can fix this-...! '
Her body trembled once again, going against her wishes, but she paid no heed to its screams of disapproval, she long has since stopped caring about it needs altogether. Smiling softly, she struggled up on her feet and stumbled forward towards her baby brother in a new optimistic light.
"W-we can fix-everything...!" she reached out her bloodied, still good hand, shakingly towards him.
'-...And live happily again...! ' her heart, beat up with new optimism and hope for the future, The happy smile fully morphed on her face, finally after so many years!
And then she saw her father's twisted face behind the child's head...
" RuHEhHeRAAA-! "
It happened fast, faster than one could blink but she could see all of the events unfold in slow motion. One second she could see her brother's blooded, confused face, and in another, the pair of teeth sinking into his face. Her heart stopped at the sight of the creature throwing his little body behind itself, before lunging at the helpless boy in midair before he could even get to chance to hit the ground.
She stood motionless as the creature fully positioned itself on top of him. It's wicked, messed up body, covered up the most of what was happening to Jimmy. All she could make out from the blurry picture was the white snow getting more and more crimson and the creature on top of Jimmy, twisting its head around like crocodile.
" –G!Grhaa..! ''
Whether it was her imagination or not, she could hear soft, small, weak choking sounds coming out of nowhere. It could have been her brother's but she wasn't sure since all she could hear was sound of loud pulse in her ears. The blur in her eyes slowly dissolved, and before she knew it, her mother and uncle were there as well.
"...Heh, hehe.."
the absurdly of the situation was so disbelievingly fucked up that, it came out of her mind in the form of disordered, humorless, twisted giggling. The small body of a 4-year-old child was now fully hidden behind the creatures, whilst ignoring the poor girl, who's sanity was slowly breaking down at the whole sight, every passing moment.
She stood up.
Jimmy... Her sweet little boy, she must save him...
Her body turned around.
He used to laugh so sweetly when she tickled him...
" RHAghaHHH" sound of flesh tearing and bones cracking filled her whole mind.
"Heheh..." her body readied its self for another sprint, but once she took another step, the sharp pain stabbed her feet again and before she knew it, she was already on the ground once again, only this time she laid down on her back, as the sight of the mid-morning sky, unfolded in front of her eyes.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
In the fictions, there were a dozen telltales of how the world would come to the end, and in each every one of them, it was always humans and animals that changed, no matter what the setting was, Mother Nature and the earth itself always stayed the same.
When the world really came to the end, one of the things that scared her most was how the earth itself changed along the way. She slowly relaxed as she stared up at the group of the smooth, somewhat reddish clouds, creating a one giant grey-reddish cyclone in the middle of the dark blue sky, occasionally shining in red and purple light. Her heartbeat slowly calmed down, the pain she so desperately ignored this entire time, slowly crawled back in. the soft grunts and growls of the monsters came in as muffled and disordered behind her, attesting to the fact that she fell a long way down.
She simply stared up at the giant mess of the clouds as the Silence took over.
"...W-hy...?"
The soft, warm tears came down running on her frozen face. Her eyes shut down tightly, the muscles on her face all tensed up, as the-
" ..W-WH-HYYYYYYYYY....?!?! "
-Long-awaited, desperate, pain-filled cry left her body. She screamed more as the tears came rushing, dissolving the cold snow under her head. She cried and cried until her eyes swelled up in red and She couldn't cry anymore. Instead, she kept screaming, screaming at unfairness, screaming in rage at those Ghouls, screaming in sadness and anguish at the loss of her family. It continued on for few more minutes to come until she couldn't scream anymore either. Her breath came as a rasp, the hysterical moment she lived through, took all of her remaining energy and her whole body felt numb.
Slowly, she calmed down once again, the blur came back in her eyes, as her mind slowly shifted, welcoming the silence in, before drifting away to sleepiness as she followed it's advice of peaceful rest. Closing her eyes, she finally let herself rest, damning the fate that awaited her afterwards, But as she slowly give in to her body's wish,
She heard the pair of footsteps.
Once again she tasted the fear in her mind, as her body shook pathetically in reaction. This whole experience messed up her mind to the point where she didn't even know what to feel as her inevitable death slowly came over.
The footsteps became louder, as they came closer, she slowly opened her eyes and looked over, ready to face the creature that would gift her slow, torturous death, as they did to her brother. She could see the dark blur coming closer, and once her vision cleared up, her eyes widened in surprise at the sight.
In this forest, filled with abnormally twisted trees and plants, in this forest where the white color dominated the eye, he stood there, distinguishable from everything and anything.
The dark color dominated his clothe from feet to the head. His face unseeable, hidden in the dark shadow cast by the hood he wore. He stood in front of her, like Grim Reaper looking down at her broken body as if waiting for her to breathe in for the final gasp and take her soul. At one point, she started to perceive him as the previously mentioned, supernatural being. That was, before he finally spoke.
"...So, it was a survivor after all. "
the voice sounded distorted, almost mechanical, belonging to neither male nor female, but his body was undoubtedly that of male's. He kneeled, coming closer to her, no doubt to examine her body. Once he was close enough, only then she could clearly make out his appearance. He was definitely wearing some sort of Mask under that hood; it had line-markings coming from the chin, all the way up to the dark lenses of the said mask. She could see these dark Lenses reflecting a picture of the snow and her blooded body. Pair of two twin swords, rested on his back, at one point she thought he had claws, but then she realized he was wearing some sort of gauntlets, and these metallic claws on his fingers were part of it. Another tired sigh left her lips before she finally rested her head on the ground and seemingly relaxed.
She was saved... but all she could feel was a void.
" Heheh.." she giggled
"Hm, by the naked eye, you do not seem to be bitten, but I cannot be sure where all these injuries, came from..." He paused in mid-sentence as if thinking to himself before sighing tiredly and getting up onto his feet, if she wasn't sure before, now she knew there was this alien accent dripping down from his words, the one she hadn't heard before
" –Nevertheless, I Shall take you back with me, then we will see what these psychos say- oh! "
She heard a loud sound of something falling dow-
"-..w-WiIlL-HhOlLeD!-L..OoFff!!!
"-KR-!RISTAaAAaA...! "
"...!!" She looked up instantly fearing the worst, and it was as she feared, all of them were there! Those creatures fallowed her! They-
Her mind froze, at the sight of them being covered in blood.
Jimmy's blood.
Her face twisted in grief, and just as it did, her body fell on the ground again. The soft defeated whimper left her lips, before turning into a small smile, the cool she felt in her mind, returned once again.
"Abnormals, Huh? I have not seen them in while, they must be newly turned. "
She looked up at the stranger, he was rubbing the lower part of his mask as he gazed at these monsters calmly, before he suddenly looked down at her.
"These must be the ones following you, are they not? " he questioned. She whimpered in response, she had seen enough deaths, she wanted to tell him to run away, but she was so damn tired, even keeping her eyes open was so damn difficult.
"-R..un...!"
"-You stay here, I will take care of them " she looked at him in horror when he walked over her, to these creatures, as they were running towards him! She closed her eyes unable to watch, just how many times does she needs to see people die over and over for her? Why can't she ju-
" Grakh-...!! " One of their Screeches suddenly came to sharp silence, and then there was loud thud close to her.
"One down..." She heard him say, the fear was still there but the newfound curiosity took over. She opened her eyes and disbelief was all she could muster at the sight.
These monsters that have been hunting her, ever since the beginning, the ones who took everything she cherished away from her, the ones who ate her family in front of her, were covered in multiple slashes all around their bodies, even missing limbs! Screeching in pain, they kept rushing at the stranger widely, only to be slashed all over across again. The blood they were covered in now, was not Jimmy's but their own, And he... Her eyes landed on her savior. He was wielding those long thin swords, on each hand, swinging them with such strength and subtle movements, she didn't know one could do with such a thin sword. But, as subtle as these movements were, it was not the swords that swallowed her attention but him.
Him, Fearless before them, turning and twisting his body in such ingenious acrobatic ways, it was leaving the impression that he was dancing mid-set of the battle. Yes, dancing, there was no other way to describe those moves; he was dancing while wielding those swords in his battle against the flesh-eating monsters. As if mocking and taunting them, telling them that they were nothing compared to him, and as a testament to that fact, in the ending seconds of this wild dance, both of her Father's and Uncle's heads were rolling down in the snow.
She was unable to copperhead her thoughts, all she could do was just to stare at the stranger...
The cool in her head spread across her whole mind.
It was so easy...
He made it so easy...
" Hehehehe..."
"K-Kri..!"
She looked towards where the whimper was coming from. There, not so far away from her, laid the head of one of the decapitated Inhumans. Its face was missing flesh around the right side of its mouth, so whatever it was howling was coming out as rasp.
"KrisTaAA-"
But, as deformed as it was, she still knew who it once was
" –UuN...Kri- "
"-Sta! Listen! " her mind quickly came back to reality, she looked up at the woman who was staring at her intensely, She had a child in her arms, who was crying softly.
" You have to take Jimmy and run away! Now!"
" W-w-wHat!? What about you and Dad!?"
" Listen to me! James can't hold that door much longer! We are already sick! I will help James hold the door and buy the time fo-"
" No, No no no! I just can't-"
" LISTEN TO ME!" the woman shouted on top of her lungs, the child cried even more in fear.
" O-oh! Jimmy! I'm so sorry! Mommy's playing silly! " she kissed him on top of his head, before turning towards her
" Krista, Listen! You and Jimmy have to survive no matter what! I know you are scared! But you can't lose your focus now! "
" M-Mom...! " She can't do it, she can't do it! She can't just leave them behind! The woman looked like she wanted to say something-
" I CAN'T H-HOLD THEM, MUCH LONGER! HURRY " But the man's voice from another room cut in followed by the screeching and howls. The woman's body shook, no doubt from fear, she handed Jimmy to Krista in her arms and kissed her on the forehead
" You have to run, no matter what! Promise me! "
" I j-"
"Promise!"
" i-I P-Promise! "
"Good..!" she got up and opened the window next to them
" Come on! " Krista got up with Jimmy in her arms and climbed over the window. Once she landed on the ground she looked up at her mother, who was looking down at her with a tearful smile.
" Now, run Krista! Run!"
" UuUn..KRiStAaaA...! RuUun...! "
"...."
The stranger cleared his swords from stretches of the infected blood, before sheathing them behind his back. He looked at the decapitated bodies that were twisting on the ground and then at the heads.
" Gh...."
Unable to move, all the bodiless heads could do was howl softly.
"...I miss the times when the decapitation actually killed them "
Taping the command on the screen device in his left gauntlet, he then pressed the button on his earpiece through his face armor, establishing the connection with his District's Base.
[Mercer to the '(1)Northern Cardinal ', do you copy?]
[: Copy loud and clear boss, what's the situation?]
[South-East: patrolling zone Sector 3. Came in contact with Abnormals. Found solo survivor in need of medical attention]
[: Survivor? There? ]
[Yes, It seems they were heading towards '(2)the Iron-Heights ', but got ambushed on their way by the infected. The girl is in critical condition, she has multiple injuries on her body, as well as a dislocated limb. I do not know if she is infected, so do make sure to prepare the Medical stuff accordingly. Also, if the Situation takes a turn for worse, start the preparation for The '(3)Final hour ' as well.]
[: Copy, the team will meet you at the gates, sir]
Mercer stared at the, now kneeling girl and then at the headless, shaking bodies before slowly fallowing the bloody Footprints up on the hill.
[One more thing I shall need to request, send in a Recon team with three combat medics to my location, I want the whole forest searched for the survivors, and find a psychiatrist. If the girl is not infected, she will be in need of mental treatment alongside the physical one.]
"..Heheheheh..."
A soft giggling cut in his thoughts. He glanced at the girl, she was smiling down softly at something. He followed her sight and noticed one of the infected heads, it must have belonged to the first Abnormal he cut down. The girl was smiling at the head with something akin of fondness, tears were softly and silently falling on her face as she stroked the deformed head lovingly.
Mercer remained silent as he slowly observed and studied her odd behavior, before He finally moved closer to Krista, knelt in front of her, and grasped the wrist of the hand she was stroking the head with, firmly.
"Do not touch it. You may get its blood in your injuries."
Krista looked up Mercer numbly before her confused face changed into a smile again.
"Hehehe..."
The soft, soulless giggle was her only response to him. Through his face armor's dark lenses, Mercer's eyes stared at her numb ones. Hers were driven off the color. Those were the eyes of the being that was broken inside, spiritually. Something he was oddly familiar with...He knew what was coming next.
The only question that remained unasked was: Would she be able to handle the stress?
"Hehehe..." the girl's head fell, as she yanked her hand away from his grasp.
"HahaHaHA..." her laughter slowly got louder as she gripped her head with her hands. The tears came down running on her face once again as Krista's smile stretched wide on her face and the cool in her head spread around her whole body.
"HaHah!!" The grip on her head got tighter as she started to pull her hair.
' Take care of Jimmy, Krista! '
"HahahaAHAHA-"
' Kri-Shta...'
"-Sorr-REHaEhe-! "
'Run Krista! '
"I-l'm-m-HRAG-!"
' they are eating me, Krista, it hurts..'
'Why did you not save me?'
'It hurts...'
'I wanted to live to...'
'' I-"
'It hurts...!'
' DaDdY is eAtInG Me!'
'IT HURTS! '
Her ears felt like they were bleeding, the sound of the pulse was so loud, the freezing feeling in her guts was making her grit her teeth
'MoMmY'S RiPpInG mY tUmMY!'
'IT HURTS! IT HURTS!'
Jimmy was looking at her with such a sad face; He was crying as Dad, Mom and Uncle ripped his arms, jaws, and flesh off.
'WhY aRe YoU WaTcHiNg, KRiSta? HELP!'
They were eating his guts; bathing is his blood, sticking the flesh between their teeth.
But, Jimmy was looking at her.
"-EHR-AHRAEH...!"
' HelP KrISTa! IT hURtS!'
'IT HURTS! '
'IT HURTS KRISTA! HELP! HELP! IT HURTS!'
'HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! HURTS! '
And then there was a sound of something clicking in her head.
"RAhA-! AHRAHAAHAHAHHAHHH!!!!!" She Laughed at the top of her lungs, screaming and laughing altogether, her face was bleeding from the torn off hair, her body was shaking in overreaction, her feet and hands filled with locks of her hair kept hitting the ground all the while she kept shaking her head and laughing maniacally-
"RAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH-!!"
Mercer remained silent in front of her, observing her dive deeper and deeper into the bottomless sea of insanity. Sadly, the experience she lived through was too much for her young mind. He needed no doctor to see what was wrong with her.
She was already a lost cause.
No treatment would save her, no pills would cure her. She would be forever hunted by her own nightmares, the rest of her life. He knows, he was there.
He knows because he is still there.
If he took this broken mess of a girl back to Iron Heights, the only fate that awaited her, was that of...-
The poor girl's attention snapped back at him instantly as Mercer suddenly grabbed her by the neck. The distorted choked noises escaped past her lips at the absence of the oxygen in her lungs. In poor Instinct and anger, she gripped his arm in response and started lunging at him like a wild dog, but Mercer's grip was strong enough to hold her in place.
He rested his hand on her forehead, as Krista Kept struggling and lashing out at him, and before she knew it, the silent-
(Snikt)
-Echoed, between the two.
Mercer gently rested her body on the ground, and slowly pulled out his hidden wrist blade and sheathed it back into his gantlet. Her eyes were still open; he gently stroked down his hand on her face and closed her eyes before getting up on his feet. He looked down at the girl, his expression hidden by the hood and the armor underneath. Finally, he turned around and reestablished his contraction with the base.
[Mercer to the Northern Cardinal]
[: Sir?]
[Ignore my previous orders. There is no need for the Recon team or psychiatrist any longer. The survivor is dead]
[: ...What? What happened? ]
[Just do as I say, I will tell the details and write an official report later]
[: Yes, sir. What about the forest search?]
[I shall search the forest myself]
[Understood]
Cutting the contact, Mercer reached down into one of his Vape Pouch Bags, taking out a small metallic bottle. Mercer took off its head and poured the liquid within all over Krista's corpse, before lighting it all on fire with the lighter. Mercer stared at the young girl's corpse as the bright abnormal blaze slowly eat her away.
"...I am sorry for not being there when you needed it the most. ღმერთმა ნათელში ამყოფოს შენი და შენი ოჯახის სული (May God have mercy on your and your family's souls)''
And with that, he turned and walked away, continuing his patrol deep down into the dark forest.
The cold winter wind blew silently, as the mid-set of giant dark forest's Entrance, The Red blaze shone brightly...