[color=gray] [CENTER][COLOR=#FF7514][sup]________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/COLOR] [url=https://open.spotify.com/track/2UKgx2oba7CltHLACr3xdT][img]https://i.imgur.com/zHjMnmt.jpeg[/img] [/url][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=#FF7514][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Southern Plateau[/I] - [I]Dundas Island, Pacific Ocean[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=#ff7514][b]Hope In Hell #2.030:[/b][/COLOR] [I]At Doom's Gate[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][COLOR=#FF7514][SUP][sub]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sub][/SUP][/COLOR][INDENT][sub][color=#ff7514][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] [I]N/A[/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=#FF7514][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [color=gray][I]Just A Rat In A Cage[/I][/color][/right][/SUP] [INDENT] Katja tried to pry her eyes away. She knew the fire was surrounding her, that it’d consume her if she didn’t act right then and there. But try as she might, she couldn’t move an inch. She was petrified by what she saw. The secret hidden behind the walls. That which almost made her think about tearing her eyes out so she’d never be able to witness its like ever again. With the flames licking at the large girl’s back, she only vaguely registered that they hadn’t spread under her. The blood that had cascaded out of the hole she’d torn in the concrete seemed to ward off the encroaching inferno. A trick by the simulation, perhaps. Nevertheless, her mind wasn’t concerned with the ifs and hows. It was only focused on that which was right before her. Clad in the dark color of blood that had been spilled long ago and surrounded by the rancid odor of death and decay, Katja beheld a pile of corpses hidden behind the thin veneer of what was supposed to be a wall. Most seemed indistinct, wearing the stained garments of what she could only assume to be the Foundation’s uniform. These corpses were in a late stage of decay, the rot clearly visible on their mangled corpses. Yet there was one, completely exposed to Katja, that was different. It was the corpse of a woman. Her skin was only partially consumed by the necrosis while other parts almost appeared unblemished, with only a sickly blue hue showing it to be dead skin. Her face was gaunt and had one part of her cheek completely rotted off or devoured by the maggots crawling over every inch of it, exposing neat rows of teeth which had yellowed with the passing of time. Her long strands of blonde hair were thin and dry, almost giving the impression of being strings of straw rather than hair. Yet, at the back of her head, there was a large gaping hole. Even though the corpse had obviously been here for a long time, the hole still seemed to be oozing brain matter, as if it had been bashed in only moments before. But the most striking thing were the eyes. All the other surrounding corpses had empty eye sockets, as the eyes had either shriveled up and rotten away, or been taken by whatever animal could take them. But not on this corpse. No, it still had a pair of radiant, ice-like blue eyes. And those very eyes stared right into the similar eyes of Katja, before a soft whisper escaped the corpse’s mouth. [i][color=#000000]“You left us to die”[/color][/i] Katja knew it couldn’t be real. She knew she was in some sort of simulation. That all she witnessed was fake. But her reason was no match for the emotional overload her senses were providing her brain. She had been looking into those exact eyes for 12 years now. Every night when the nightmare returned she’d seen them. And while she might have thought herself to be over it after having found a new family in Blackjack, deep down she knew she had been lying. That voice, those eyes, they brought back memories. Memories of pain, fear, sadness… And hate. So, so much [i]hate[/i]. She was nailed to the floor, unable to move as all those emotions came flooding back, barely cognisant of what was happening above her on the walkway with Rory and Haven, long forgotten by the blonde girl now. She was so stunned in fact that she only realized the movement in front of her when it was too late. The corpse moved. It shook into motion as if animated by some unseen force. Its jerky movements were unnatural, like a movie that was fast being fast forwarded in front of her. There was no time for Katja to respond by the time she registered what had happened. The corpse, her mother’s corpse, had suspended itself above Katja. Its mouth wide agape, the feeble strips of flesh snapping off as its jaw had unhinged itself. Katja looked up, unable to think of what to do. She tried to raise her feet up, but the blackened blood offered too much resistance that even her increased strength couldn’t get her free. She tried to reach for the corpse, but it was just out of reach. Just like it had been all those years ago… As that terrible realization set in Katja looked up and saw the corpse of her mother shudder once. It shuddered twice. And on the third shudder it ejected out a deluge of blood. It was unending and unyielding, the taste of it made Katja vomit on her own. But it mattered little, more poured out over her. Katja felt like she would drown in the seemingly endless outpouring of red ichor. This was it, she thought as she closed her eyes. This was the end of her tale. This was how she would die. She knew it for certain this time. Just as she was certain of it back then. [/INDENT][/INDENT][/color]