As me and Immo crested over the top of the exit ramp, I side eyed Siyas silent and serene face lying on the giant wolf, pondering a minor, yet somewhat critical detail.

I don't recall carrying her onto Immo's back..in fact,

I itched the inside of my nose with my thumb thoughtfully.

….Ah.

“So, sleeping beauty, was it after the prince charming healer boy or have you just been pretending to sleep since we exited the tunnel in order to get a free ride?”

There were a few more seconds of silence as Immo padded along with her mouth slightly open, breathing deep and slow; Immo struggled to keep her four eyes straight forward.

She didn’t last long and finally buckled with a snort which then triggered a stifled trilling laugh to emerge from her back; I stared at two crescent moon eyes peeling open, as Siya’s face bloomed into a massive giggly smile.

#Team#

Siya: Mya taught me that men lower their guard for disarmed females. Especially poor, wounded, defenceless, small girls..

I stifled a snort and raised my eyebrows. My ego was slightly bruised that she didn't think to let me know she was okay straight as soon as possible.

Siya: Well...It was shortly after you sat down with crimson-beard. And indeed that boy was so kind, but you could smell that he was on heat..I will have to thank him one day though..

I kept my eyebrow raised, causing her to fluster. She deserves a little bit of teasing.

Siya: I am Sorry! I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation and I was still quite tired and I thought it best to pretend in case I needed to act!...I realise now that I could have at least told you I was aware..

Her happy face drained, and she started to glance around, genuinely worried that I was actually angry, which did make me feel horribly mean, so I put her at ease with a reassuring smile and waved it off; continuing the walk but giving more attention to my surroundings.

It would not do to start growing complacent in the almost literal last mile, THAT would be a real kicker falling to an ambush or something after all this time..

"It's alright Siya, I'm just glad you're alright. But do me a favour and let me know next time..Well, hopefully there won't be a next time.. but still." I frowned at my own words. No more tunnels. No more near death beatings..

Her face lit back up, returning to full beaming brightly back, and she started scratching Immo’s ears.

Siya: Understood! I will tell you next time. Although admittedly I did tell Immo..Speaking of which, thank you Immo. You are most kind and so soft. I shall walk on my own from here. I am feeling happy and I feel our bond has grown stronger.

Immo: You are most welcome dear Siya, your repayment of ear scratches for my silent cooperation has been fulfilled. I’ll take my leave now if that’s okay..I have a bone to chew with a certain Daemon.

Siya gracefully hopped off Immo’s back and landed with a light thump. Her black cloak sprouted out as she arched her back and curved into a sky reaching stretch, letting out a pleasure filled trilling sigh as she did so.

Siya: Mmmm-ahhhhh..So satisfying. Good stretch. Bye Immo.

Immo gave me the requisite look so I nodded for her to proceed and side smiled my thanks as she exploded into a white and blue cloud that slammed into my skin.

#Siya# Immo..she told me what happened, Godu. Thank you for coming back for me. You risked everything to do that, even being so close to home..

I gave her a ‘oh come now’ look and chuckled softly.

“Don’t you even mention it, you’re a good egg Siya, I’m glad to have you as a friend. Besides, we’ve had each others backs since the beginning and look how far we’ve come..” I gestured around us. All the greenery was well on its way to becoming heavily overgrown, but the roads didn’t have much damage on them, just little patches of grass and weeds that stubbornly found places to grow on the asphalt.

Siya bashfully looked down and clicked her clawed finger tips together, and I noted it was a surprisingly accurate human body language expression to do; she had never done it before..

She sheepishly looked up and nodded with a smile.

#Siya# Yes. True. We'll always look out for each other. But thank you once again. For everything. Ever since that first time you found me and didn't let me die, I knew you were a 'good egg' too. Although I'm not sure what an aviary's menstruation component has to do with either side of the ethical spectrum.

I laughed and gave her a thumbs up. Nobody does Siya. Nobody does..

We walked on in companionable, yet slightly traumatised silence; thinking back on the torrential pain, fear and confusion we both experienced that first night-

#Siya# So..These are your homelands then..wow. It’s a bit colder than I like, but it is, nice. Earthy. More humid. More..Refreshing.

Yes it is a bit earthy! I never really could put a word on it before!

Approving of her observations enthusiastically, I turned to give her a nod, but I watched as her smile faded and she slowed her pace. She wore a complicated look off to the side. Concern, worry and..fear? Is there danger??

“Hmm? What’s up Siya?” My guard started to raise and I gave her a puzzled look, wondering why the sudden change of attitude. She snapped out of it and skipped a few steps to catch up, flashing me a reassuring smile.

#Siya#: Ah it is nothing. Just..Hmm. Yeah nevermind. Inconsequential thoughts, although I will be forthright and say that, although I’m very happy and excited we managed to get you back home there is..it is hard to describe. It does not feel..as joyous as it should be? I feel irrational fear about reaching our end destination, now that it is so close? Does that make sense?

I mulled it over for a moment before chuckling.

“Ha. Yeah, I think the word you are looking for is ‘anticlimatic’ and yeah, I’m scared as well. It’s weird but I’m sure there’s a term or a reason for it-” I blew out a puff of air and shoved down all the demon voices whispering their wicked prophecies. To give them substance would be to invite them to existence

“-I’m sure it will all be fine. Let’s pick up the pace..”

We picked up speed quickly and raced down the overgrown A-road.

It was lined with thick trees and squeezed in by overgrown brush, grass and weeds, all of which had started to creep further onto the asphalt, giving the appearance of a road that had been deserted for years rather than months. It was impossible to see through the trees, but the road itself showed signs of battle activity and of extremely large and heavy footed monsters having passed over the roads and through the dirt, leaving behind huge footprints the length of cars. That looks like a fucking T-rex footprint? It better not be a fucking T-rex footprint!

I felt a wave of nausea swirl inside me at the memory of my own Jurassic encounter in the arena, but I forced it back down and buried the memories. It was pure luck that I survived that. I shouldn’t have survived any of that..but i fucking did, so well done me.

More terrible images flashed in my mind. Of what I had to do to survive that shit hole arena..

Within 15 minutes we had already reached the hospital and my body started to slightly shiver from a rush of adrenaline at its sight.

The hospital where it all began..

“That’s it there Siya. That’s where we were when all this shittery began..but also where my wonderful boy was born.”

#Siya# Hm. Yes. Well, it smells like a place of death and sadness and it looks run down..a terrible place for having young.

She certainly doesn’t mince her words.

“Ha-yeah, you’re right. It certainly has gone down the shitter recently but before that the whole health system was under huge strain and the corrupt bastard politians and budget cuts..Ha. What am I saying..doesn’t really matter now.”

As we sped past on down the road parallel to the hospital outskirts, I spotted the giant head of a stickman peering around a tall building and instinctively snarled at its gormless huge face, and its disgusting saggy neck and cheek skin, which flapped about as it snapped its head left and right; I remembered it was completely reliant on hearing and that the giant white eyes were blind and useless.

“Ugly dickhead..I fucking dare you..” I muttered under my breath; gaining a puzzled look from Siya.

It was weird seeing one again and feeling, not utter fear, but a burning violent rage as it locked on in our direction, clearly hearing my challenge. But as much as I mildly hoped it fucking would, just to have a moral excuse to unload a violent beat down, it didn’t move a single step towards us and after a few more seconds, the overgrown greenery buried it from view.

We slowed to a walk as we reached the pumphouse and the buildings around us had seen further heavy abuse with most places reduced to piles of rubble or sharded ruins. But I looked solemnly at the horrible dungeon that had turned into Tanners final resting place and vowed to come get his remains and to give him a proper burial once I finished profusely apologising to Marri and Lone, if there’s anything left of him to bury that is..

“I owe you that much mate.” I muttered under my breath and carried on walking, explaining to Siya who’s tomb that had become.

We’d spoken many times about my life, mainly on the most recent events and she’d always listened with great keenness so she was extremely fascinated seeing everything I had described in person.

And then a random thought occurred to me as we walked the final decaying street and it was puzzling enough to make me pause for a step.

..What the bloody hell happened to my car after we abandoned it? I left it here next to the pumphouse after the stickman chase..But I never saw it again..Maybe someone or something stole it.

Something probably ate it..

The dark blue clear sky was rapidly gaining light, creating a golden ribbon glow on the horizon and signalling the end to another cold dark night to this patch of the world; we were definitely in the warmer summer months as it must have only been 4 or 5am and yet it was getting quite mild.

Not that modern nightmares give a fuck, they lurk in the dark and they lurk in the light.

We rounded the final corner and my heart was pounding in my chest...I had almost covered my eyes, terrified to see an abandoned estate but after seeing the state of the front gates and tall fence, my heart stopped and my soul froze.

It was completely shredded.

The fence was still standing in some places but in others it was as if giant bullets had blasted through it and the gate was crumpled; thick metal torn as if it was tin foil. The visible houses exteriors had scorch marks and cracked bricks, with a few roofs and entire structures completely burned down to a crips.

I’m too late.

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My body was frozen in shock and my mind was spinning. I felt numb. Nothing felt real..Until I saw a Grinners face slowly peering around from behind a fence panel.

Rage.

“RARGH!” I bellowed out and splifolded into the extremely shocked and panicked looking face of the mag level 9 Grinner.

“FUUUCKING!-GODS!!-DAMNIT!!-FUCK!-FUCK-FUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCK!!!” Everything was hazy as I caved the poor monsters face in with the first blow but did not stop punching, even after I was pounding mush into dirt.

I wanted a graphic distraction. Something to stop the terrible thoughts that would make this all real. I needed a violent hobby. Anything to just delay having to go in and finding remains or something somehow even worse, circumstantial evidence to loosely suggest that-

#Siya# H-hey!

I felt a hand on my back and froze, slowly turning to look at her pain filled face.

Filthy, treacherous whispers infected my mind; my eyes burned with fury.

If SHE hadn’t been unconscious! WE would have got here last NIGHT! IT’S HER…

I shut my eyes and looked away.

No no no no. Don’t you fucking dare try and put the blame on anyone else..This is on you..and all the bullshit inbetween.

I took a deep breath and quickly regained control of myself with a sigh.

Besides, all this doesn’t look like a recent event.

There was not a single wisp of smoke or smouldering ash; all the signs pointed to the walls falling days ago, possibly even weeks. Debris had foliage growing over it, the process of nature's reclamation well under way..No. This has been deserted for weeks at least.

Siya fidgeted and trilled a deflated sigh.

#Siya# Come. We should..look around. Okay?

I silently nodded, wiped my bloodied guantlets on the grass and stood up and started walking to the house.

“She’s strong, Siya…and smart. If anyone would have made it..it’s Marri.” It was all I could cling onto right now, and yet it felt weak and feeble, even if there was plenty of truth to it. She nodded firmly back, as if to say 'and you had any doubts?'..

But where would she have gone? We never made plans to ever separate. Especially for months!!

..

Maybe home in bracknell?

No. It would be pointless, way too far and in the wrong direction. We bet so many times on how fucked up London would be due to how dense the population is and so we would avoid going towards it..okay so definitely not there.

..

She would have stayed close to this area or travelled to somewhere she KNEW would be safe for them both in the longer term.

I couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly at what her mental conversation would have sounded like as she left.

“That mister is in bloody titting trouble when I see him!..He better come and find us or I’ll murder him..I’m CERTAINLY not going to sit around here and wait for his disappearing ass..”

Yeah. She sure as shit wouldn’t have moped about fretting about me returning–she would have just got her head down and got on with it.

There was debris and battle marks everywhere.

Next to the emergency escape tunnel I spotted a building that had a perfect orb shape cut out of it, likened to if someone had simply deleted the space using a metaphysical photoshop cutout tool, and there was another house where half of which was melted like it was made of plastic and not brick. I spotted movement in some of the buildings carcass-like remains, but Siya shook her head when I asked if there were any humans around.

#Siya# There are no other human scents nearby..Only scavengers..I’m so sorry Godu..

The road leading up to the house had by far seen the most destruction, and any small shred of hope was dashed she was still holed up there, as the entire front of the house had been completely ripped off, exposing the innards of the abode like a dissected frog in a science lesson. Bedding, fabrics and furniture were scattered around in pieces, most of which were in dirty, previously soggy but now dried out piles.

“Jesus fucking christ..” I just stood there in silence as a strong wind whistled through gaps and cracks.

“Fuck-ing hell…”

I ended up asking Siya to scope around in the air to look for any signs of people while I continued to check every single house, knocking on what little doors remained and even though I was quietly confident that I was a pretty tough customer, I resisted the urge to yell out at the top of my lungs whilst I searched; it would only attract the worst of the horrors and I knew Marri wouldn’t have stuck around here for long.

There was not a single soul to be found and whether it was by chance or subconsciously, I ended up at the front of Steves house as the final building to check. The windows were reinforced with what looked like some kind of Majik borne shutters that were still intact and the dark ashy brown brickwork was stained heavily with dried blood splatter marks, with an iconic three clawed gouge completing the display next to his thrashed door; the brickwork and roofing was also intact.

“...Hello?” I knocked on the door. Then stared flatly as the door opened, squeaked, then handed its resignation and fell down onto the floor with a crash.

“Steve? Hello? Anyone here?..” I called out to any ghosts, mainly out of courtesy, but also just in case someone had decided to use this place as a temporary shelter; his house was in surprisingly good condition.

“If there is anyone here, I’m coming in, it’s Godu!..” More silence.

I took a step in and walked upstairs.

My eyes adjusted to the gloom as I reached the landing and I saw that each room had numerous beddings and military cots set up, suggesting that Steve had taken in quite a few room mates.

I bet you loved that mate didn’t you.

He didn’t. He always called himself a voluntary social outcast.

‘There are too many NPCs and bots out there Godu. I prefer to skip their dialogue and save my conversation for playable characters like yourself, driven by actual humans…’

I hope you’re okay Steve.

His room had been emptied of a lot of his survival stuff, which gave me a tremendous boost to my morale and I sighed out some of the twisted knots from my stomach.

He would have died before leaving without this stuff. So if he had the time to take this then it meant there definitely was time to prepare his escape.

And he would have died before leaving Sylvie or Lyra..or Marri and Lone..

There were papers of Lyra's art pieces and piles of empty food tins and packaging, but no notes or anything else to give me a clue as to what happened.

Before I left, I checked his kitchen, and found a couple of healing tonics stashed away that had the words "HP Pots" written on them in black marker and also an entire four pack of snickers; I tucked them all away safely in my backpack.

Siya gracefully dropped down and nervously updated me that there was not a single soul in sight in the estate or surrounding areas. I gave her a gentle hug and thanked her for helping me get back and gave her the somewhat positive news about my findings. Her face brightened and she suggested she expand her search in the skies to look for signs of potential places they might have gone to nearby, to which I gratefully agreed and watched as she slipped into the sky and zoomed away.

Inside my mind, I was in a weird superposition state of being. On one side I was a hair's breadth away from having a total mental breakdown and then on the other I was fanatically hopeful, to the point that I was utterly convinced Marri was out there, safe..with Lone.

..

The morning passed quickly as I spent some more time collecting a few things, including my thoughts, and carefully planned out my next steps. There was no time to waste as the world was still full of horrific nightmares so the same rules as always applied, but it was important to stay focused and organised.

Find a safe homebase to rest and recover. Find a few meals and a safe water supply. Find medical supplies. Search for Marri’s trail.

I felt good about things, even after the shitty homecoming, as all was not lost, and there were already a few locations that sprung to mind such as the local shops, the hospital, of all fucking places, the town center and maybe even some places in the industrial area like the brewery–that military group that ambushed the cager-demon may have set up shop around there and took people in..yeah I could see that happening!

But first, there was also something that I needed to make right.

Bury Tanner. The poor bloke deserves better than to rot away in that shithole..

His poor wife and kids had been absolutely devastated, but so had plenty of the families who had lost loved ones. There had been no argument when everyone had agreed NOT to open up the pumphouse to retrieve the bodies for fear of allowing the corrupted to escape, and I dreaded to think that perhaps they were the reason for the safe zones' downfall.

Maybe not even from the pumphouse. Maybe the corrupted finally started to roam around here and found the place? Although that’s a bit of a stretch since they seem to prefer heavily populated areas..

Anyways. It’s time to send Tanner off.

I let Siya know what I was going to do and she acknowledged and relented when I said I needed to do it by myself. She said she’d stay close by in case anything went bad so I thanked her without even bothering to ask if she had seen any people nearby.

The answer would have been no anyways.

The pumphouse took seconds to reach at a jog and I smiled fondly to myself as I thought back to when me and Tanner had struggled so much as we ran for our lives from the giant Stickman whilst carrying Sylvie. A strange fucking thing to smile fondly about but it’s pretty easy to laugh at the past. I reached the thick door and snorted at the plates and chains that had been fitted to reinforce the door. How the heck the corrupted didn’t break through these I’ll never know..all the ones I’ve seen could have farted this down.

My only theory was that the corrupted were like cancers and so if you starved them early on, they would just wither away..but if you let them feed..I shook my head and got to work.

I used my shields to sever the chains, as well as all the reinforcements, and then ripped the door off using a combination of all my strength and my shields to pry it open. Shit-okay! Whoever seated this door deserves a friggin medal. It's like a goddamned vault!

Stepping inside was an experience I'd probably never forget. The stench was bad but once my eyes adjusted to the gloom, it was the sight of scattered remains, decomposed and melting into the ground that really stuck in my mind.

It was pieces of the corrupted and they were most definitely dead, but it looked like they, or something else had ripped each other apart some time ago.

Label: Corrupted

MAGN: ??

HP: ??

Notes: The remains of a corrupted human.

Upon a morbid closer inspection, I noticed that there was several piles that had undergone EXP calcification, with the nasty looking sickly-black crystal at the peak of the pile, sitting neatly on a column of fossilized meat. I bared my teeth in disgust, not really interested in whatever shit those things were selling, and headed towards the corner where we originally stacked a few boxes and crates way back when. Something had smashed through some of it and as I got close to the debris, I saw tanner's boot sticking out. For some reason I was incredibly anxious or nervous, but I swallowed it down and easily lifted the broken crates off his body and tossed them out the way.

His corpse was exactly the same condition as I remembered leaving it, with no decomposition or even mould. His intestines were still out and he still has the knife in his chest and he was still slumped against the wall.

Even the blood was still wet.

"Ok..What the fuck is going on.." I muttered to myself, frowning as a strong sense of déjà vu washed over me.

Prodding his face, it was stone cold. Glad I didn’t get my hopes up..I know we have Majik and shit but..

I analysed his body.

Label: Tanner (???????)

MAGN: 9.999

HP: 0/199

Notes: A Bysr.kyr class human. One of the very good ones. Though they are clearly dead, something isn't quite right..

"Expected as much..Shit..But bloody hell, only 199 HP! How the hell did we survive back then eh?!.." My voice echoed like I was in some dungeon or cave and I just stood there in silence, staring, waiting for an answer but Tanner's glazed eyes stayed down, staring at the filthy concrete floor.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, I shook my head and sighed.

"Shitting hell mate. Listen to me. Talking to you about only having 199HP. Easy for me to say since I'm still alive eh?...You should be proud though mate. We got Sylvie out on less didn’t we? We fought that tall stick motherfucker on less!.." more silence.

My jovial enthusiasm faded and I looked around me at this miserable place of death, increasingly aware of how much I was procrastinating.

It may have only been for a few days but you were a damned good friend.

"Fuck sakes I don't know what to say, I'm not a priest.." I shrugged heavy shoulders. "l-..I'm sorry this happened to you man. And I'm sorry you were just left like this. Let's just get you out of here and somewhere a bit more comfortable and..earthy. I may not be a priest but I can at least dig a hole…"

It was pretty easy to drag him out of the building. And it was actually surprisingly easy to push his guts back in..kinda.

It was easy to carry him back to the estate. And it was very easy to kill a couple of Notpidgys that tried to peck at his corpse. Fuckers.

Then it was easy to grab the spade from Steve's shed and dig the hole. And it was equally as easy to grab some sheets and start to wrap him in them. Fresh sheets bud. I’m sure you’d have plenty of potty mouth jokes to say about that.

But when it came to pull the knife out, I hesitated. Maybe he'd want to take this with him..ha it sounds like something he'd actually like. As if he could show off having a knife in his heart to others in the afterlife..Ha..

..

Naahh.

With a sharp breath in and in one fluid motion, I gripped the handle and slid the knife out of his chest, grimacing as I felt the blade grate against his heart tissue and fat layers as it ripped free.

And then I screamed.

Tanner successfully awakened from [Anabiosis] exiting the dormant state and gaining 1HP.

Because Tanner screamed.

…

..

.