Darkraven

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

Erm... What's with the

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Predator

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Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

Posted! It seems awfully quiet lately. Hope I can help alleviate that with this throng of rockers:

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

November 3rd, 8:49pm, Abandoned Apartment Complex, Southwest Missouri

Valentina kept running without stopping, her path a zig zag as she had trouble running straight. She could not see right, and everything was a blur, as if the darkness itself was not enough. The biters were not the only things plaguing her. The witch was on her mind ever since she left her. Her face was plastered inside her head, in a different light: that of a guardian angel, something close to a mother. She saw her face in her mind again, surrounded by bright, white light, her lips moving, but silent. She was fair, clean, beautiful. Then she was gone, as if an angel returning to heaven. It kept Valentina confused - everything was a conflux of uncertainties, chaos.

Running down flights of stairs down the apartment building, Valentina descended quickly, her ears peeled for any sound of the dead at all, since her eyes and mind were giving out, but she had trouble even hearing right. She couldn't see... Couldn't see... And slipped on a step, tumbling down a flight of stairs, crying in pain, the pain coming in bursts every time her small frame hits the jagged edge of the steps. Her head had felt tender, so she shielded it first and foremost.

Valentina came to a rest at the foot of the stairs, groaning in pain, clutching her knees as she felt sharp pain in the both of them. Remembering that she wasn't in a safe sleep spot, she soon got up and took a second to check herself, realising that by some miracle, perhaps the protection of the witch, that she wasn't hurt... badly. She could feel bruises forming and skin cut, but that was all she felt.

Moaning was coming from a short distance away, from the floor she had fallen from. She had made too much noise, Valentina knew that. A figure appeared at the head of the stairs she had descended painfully, and as if following her example, took a step down, missed and came tumbling down, a heap of broken and rotten flesh. The young girl ran before it came crashing into her, coming to rely more on the railings of the stairs, having learnt the hard way to do so.

Floor by floor, the scared, confused little girl managed to make it down to the ground floor safe, but that was where her luck ended, or perhaps when her guardian angel left for heaven. There were more of them than there were above, and as soon as she stepped out of the stairwell door, she was greeted by several of them, which shambled towards her, forming a wall of death. Looking around desperately for an exit, she saw the green exit sign, just barely - but the exit was blocked by the biters. One of them began to walk faster, breaking into a jog, and Valentina ran in the same direction, hoping to find more exits.

She found one at the end of the corridor, but it was locked or blocked, Valentina could not think with her head throbbing so horribly, and she did not have time to. The fast biter had broken into a run. Desperate, Valentina tried every door near her - apartment room doors. Most of them locked, just like in every other apartment buildings, until her guardian angel smiled down on her again, and she found a door that was hanging open.

Rushing in, Valentina tried to lock the door, but before she could slam it shut entirely, a pair of hands shot out from the rapidly closing gap, blocking the door. Behind the scuffle to get the door closed, she could hear more feet shuffling towards her. Soon, Valentina knew, she would be surrounded by the biters. But it wasn't the first time, and she knew what to do. Letting go of the door, the blocking biter suddenly found itself free to fall forward, and when it had cleared the door frame, Valentina shut and locked the door quickly, trapping herself with the running biter - though it was better than it sounds. Valentina had to choose between getting trapped with one rather than many, and she chose the former.

Before she could turn back to check on the running biter, she could already hear it getting up... And lunging at her, but Valentina managed to get out of the way, running into a wall in panic. What little she could glimpse of her enemy, she saw that he was huge, and all covered up. He had a helmet, and pads like those used for rollerblading. Pulling out her flashlight in a hurry, she began looking for a way out, or something that could help her overcome the armoured biter, and the only thing she could find was another dead body... But alongside it was a pipe, which Valentina grabbed as the biter was recovering from crashing into the door.

As it came closer, Valentina swung the pipe at its knee, as hard as she possibly could. There was a crunch, and the biter fell. Wasting no time, the girl began pummelling its head over and over, without stopping. Sometimes her pipe would bounce harmlessly off its helmet, but the blows directed to its face eventually killed it.

When it finally stopped moving, Valentina stopped, and took a few steps back as she eyed the creature, worried that it might get up again. But as the blobs that she could see did not even stir once more, she dropped her pipe and sat down, leaning against a wall, her knees to her chest. Clutching the back of her head, she realised that her hair was very wet, and when she withdrew her hand to see what it was, she saw that her hand was covered entirely with blood. The lower half of her blonde hair was dyed red with blood. Similarly, she could feel blood trickling down her forehead. Her memories of recent events were hazy, but she knew that they were the result of her falls in the store back with the woman. She remembered hitting her head on something sharp around the first time, and cutting herself on a loose tile the second time.

Valentina could not tell how long she'd been there. As she was deciding what to do, she could feel moments of time being lost of darkness in between, slowing her down. She considered finishing what she set out to do, but by now, without the woman to guide her and help her, it seemed impossible. After another black out or two (Valentina could not tell), she decided that she would rather go back to Dominic's Gas An' Go'. By now, she could not longer care about earning anything but her life, and any consequence for abandoning the mission seemed much more desirable than what was in store for her if she tried to do as the woman had asked of her.

Feeling a little better from resting, Valentina tried to stand up, but could only barely do so. But she could hear and see better. Pointing her flashlight at the biter she had just killed, she realised from its label, badge and colour that it was once a police officer, but dressed like a soldier. Spotting some things on the former-policeman she covets, Valentina walked over to it, her knees nearly giving way, but did anyway when she tried to bend down. Undeterred, she grabbed the handle of a gun that looked like a cross between a rifle and a pistol and pulled, but it was stuck to the biter because of a sling. It took her a while, but eventually she managed to get it off. An MP5K, Valentina found the weight to be manageable, unlike the rifles that she tried to use before.

'Guns are like people, darling.' Lieutenant Hugh had said, 'We all have arms and legs, a head, two eyes, a mouth. Guns all had the same things too. You see this? Every gun has a place to put a bullet in.' Valentina remembered him kissing her like a loving father, except he was not her father. 'Just like how we all have cheeks for people to kiss.' Valentina pressed a button on the submachinegun and pulled the magazine out. It was nearly full. Checking the chamber, she found that the gun was already charged and ready to shoot.

Checking the pockets on the biter, Valentina had found three more magazines for it, one of them empty, the other two full. Before she could continue, Valentina could not resist being reminded of her late soldier friend because of how much the former-policeman reminded her of him. As she became trapped once again in her memories, watching over and over again how Lieutenant Hugh had died in just an instant, blood pouring down the back of his head, Valentina ceased searching the body, and even when she recovered from the mental whirlpool, didn't want to search it any further. Instead, she took a blanket from a nearby couch and laid it over the corpse of the policeman, feeling sad for both men.

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

3rd Collab between Darkraven and AnriuSB, part 1

The crisp winter air tugged at her bones, the former blizzard conditions had settled into a strong snowfall. A menacing chill had penetrated her outer wear and crept beneath it into the sanctuary her bare skin resided. She dawned her hood and reached into her pocket out of habit. A few moments afterwards a pack of ciggarette's appeared from within her hands. She popped the flap and frowned slightly. "Fuck," she cursed under her breath as she retrieved the last ciggarette within the pack. She stuffed the empty pack back in her pocket and retrieved a single match from behind her ear.

The woman took a long puff and blew the smoke into the air infront of her, drawing it out so that it almost seemed theatrical. Resting the smoke between her lips, she continued trudging ever onward. Beside her was a small child, looking to be nine to eleven years of age. The girl held a dead look in her eyes, following the woman in an almost mechanical fashion. The woman glance at her briefly, the girl wore a black winter jacket, given to her moments before leaving as nothing more then a passing thought. She then turned her head back to the dark expanse that greeted them.

Neither spoke, for there was no conversation to be had.

Neither smiled, for the situation held no joy.

Neither rested, for fear of the dead that roamed the night.

that was, until, the woman finished her last cigarette. The moment the used butt fell too the ground she began to whistle. It was a simple children's tune known as 'Row your boat', but to the woman it had great meaning, and held memories of happier times.

Valentina trailed behind the witch, and upon hearing her whistling, became confused, unsure whether to be afraid or... She knew not how else to feel. The tune to which she whistled sounded familiar, but the past had become a blur between what had transpired in the year, the miserable conditions in which she lived day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and the ravages of time itself. Valentina was always looking at the woman's legs, like a servant waiting on instructions. She couldn't help but to steal a look or two at the woman as she whistled. The tune was buried somewhere deep in Valentina's memories, six feet under, and it could only dig up inch by inch.

The young girl held her new pistol nervously, waiting for the witch to set her loose again, albeit to do her bidding. She wondered what would be in store for her; she vaguely remembered the woman telling her that most of the biters had wandered away, but the girl knew that it meant more people prowling in the night, looking to snatch her away and... do things to her.

A few minutes past without incident, nothing changed, nothing happened.

and then..

The woman stopped whistling.

Her hand shot infront of the child, stopping her in her tracks. "Wait a moment.." The woman spoke in a low voice, surveying the area around them. (response?) (if any.)

Valentina could not help but to suspect that everything wrong that could happen would happen. Backing away slightly, she bent a little low, afraid that someone might shoot at them, or that the woman might murder her in the middle of the dark nowhere. Shivering in the cold despite the black jacket the witch had deigned to give her, she waited for something to happen, and knew that she would have to dart away if something big happened. The pistol the woman gave did not contain bullets, and their silent, dreadful walk out, she had given her only one, which the child deftly fixed into the small pistol's chamber as a shortcut. It was a neat little magic trick Lieutenant Hugh taught her - it was something the soldier had learnt in a place he called West Point.

An eerie quiet fell over the pair as the older woman's keen eyes scanned the edges of discernible landscape. Had it been a whistle in the wind? The gravel under her foot? The sound of her own tune?

No, she had heard it.

It had been distinct, a shuffling of stiff feet, quick, but awkward.

All she was greeted with now was silence however, that was, until she heard it. A dull moan, followed by a shrill cry. "Fuck"

She turned to the child.

"Run."

And then she took off into the night, expecting the younger woman to follow.

Valentina was suddenly unsure of what to do. For a moment she contemplated running away, back to Dominic's Gas An' Go', to catch the man in there by surprise to steal back her things, and in another moment she thought about shooting the witch in the back, yet she was afraid of doing that, afraid of going back without the woman - the man seemed just as capable of killing her just like how the woman promised if she misbehaved. For another moment she was overwhelmed with the submission to just do as the witch told her to do. Plagued by decisions that she never had to make, Valentina did as she was told. It was the easiest thing to do, following what the adults said. It was just like school, and once again Valentina succumbed to it.

Valentina ran, following the witch, able to easily keep pace with her, as running was something she had been doing for months, other than hiding, stealing and killing. The biters screamed in their feeble but menacing way - even after so many months of dealing with them Valentina was still terrified of them, as she remembered very clearly of how her father was slowly, very slowly devoured by a sea of biters as he struggled hard against it. She remembered seeing people time and again slowly devoured in that way, and thought that biters were bad, more than bad, that they were evil, something that even the all-loving God would hate.

Even in the haze of panic, Valentina was still able to come around enough to switch the safety on her new pistol off, believing that she would need to shoot a biter or... someone soon.

The two reached a small building, Gary's Fi--ing St-p was all that could be made out of the worn sign on the door. Ivy pulled it open, finding it unlocked. She gestured for the child to enter. As she did she scanned the distance, 7, 9, 13, ...21, a fucking lot Where had they come from? and why so suddenly? Ivy cleared her mind and formulated a plan. Directly next to this building was an apartment complex. She scanned the wall briefly, hoping to find some way of scaling it, but the curb of the shop roof blocked her vision. She cursed and stepped into the pitch black store confines, closing the door behind her.

She flung her bag over her shoulder and opened it. It took her a few extra minutes to find it in the dark, but soon her hands had wrapped around her prize, a small flashlight. She flicked it on for a moment, the light shining directly in the younger woman's face.

Valentina looked away from the light, shielding her face - the light was glaring, and she knew that it would take away her ability to see in the dark. It felt strange, running with another person again, almost working together. The young girl wasn't used to it anymore. She wondered what to do next, but couldn't figure it out. Instead, Valentina returned to doing things her own way. Hiding behind the closest store shelf, she began sneaking her way to the other side of the store, hoping to find a door that would allow her to leave the biters behind and escape. Yet at the same time she was more hesitant than usual, as things were no longer the same anymore. After taking a few steps, she looked back at the witch, half-expecting her to punish her for disobedience or give her instructions.

The moment their gaze's locked, The woman began spouting orders. "You, find a way onto the roof. This shop doesn't have a back door, and even if it did, I wouldn't trust it at this time of night. I'll work on blockading the entrance. She then went to work on one of the shelves, it barely moved with the strength she was capable of mustering up and she cursed at her weakness. "Fuck this," she announced, bringing her leg up and kicking the shelf slightly above its center. The thing rocked slightly, and that gave the woman an idea. She readjusted her postion and pushed the shelf from it's upper half with her shoulder, putting the whole of her weight into the movement.

After a few moments of stifled grunts, and determined pushing, the shelf toppled over on its side. It landed on the top of the shelf counter, successfully blocking the door with its weight. No sooner than it had fallen into place, did the sounds of fists beating from the other side began to ring throughout the small shop.

Successful in her own mission, the woman stepped to the back of the store to check on how the girl was doing only to find her missing.

In the meantime, Valentina did as she was told again. Quickly, afraid of both what was outside and what was inside, Valentina searched for a way up. When it became clear that her night vision was all but lost due to the witch's mistake, Valentina took out her own flashlight and started swinging it around the room, looking desperately for a way up as fists began pounding on doors and window. The store wasn't that big, so it didn't take too long before some stairs hiding behind the cashier counter caught her attention. Glad to find a way out, Valentina ran to it, and at the same time, could not help but to contemplate abandoning the woman behind out of fear, and decided that she would finally do it - Valentina was afraid that the woman would begin to really hurt her, as the others did. For months she avoided others for this reason, and Valentina wanted to do it again. Thoughts of whatever food and supplies she had scrounged up that the witch had forced her to leave at Dominic's Gas An' Go' were lost to impulse and her flight away from what seemed to be certain death at the hands of the witch.

Darting to the stairs, she looked back, afraid that the woman might be chasing her, but was relieved to find nothing. The cashier counter stood in the way, and the swivel door was locked, so she climbed over it quickly, her prepubescent muscles easily able to support her from months of threats to her life, and landed on the other side before ascending the steps, smiling, actually smiling that she would soon be free again from everything - the biters, the witch, only for the smile to fade, and her blood to run cold when she was greeted by a locked door, and the feeling of a hand on her shoulder.

"Good work, Dumbass..."

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

Lol weekend's 30 minutes away from being over for me.

Anyway, some of you might think of me and Anriu's children character concepts as outlandish, but I had even more outlandish characters that I actually considered using and might even use in the future, and these includes:

-Astronauts/Cosmonauts/Taikonauts who, faced with a communications blackout and a mission that they went ahead to complete anyway, decided to make a reentry, and upon landing, finds out that things seemed to have gone wrong. Very, very wrong...

-United Nations/Foreign Peacekeeping Force soldiers who are stranded after they were decimated just like everyone else. Still loyal to the cause, they seek consistently to help those in need.

-Survivalists who'd been stuck in a fallout shelter for as long as the apocalypse'd been going on, and as a result are a bit unhinged and oblivious.

-Historical reenactors who found out in the apocalypse that what used to be art has become the very tool for their survival.

-Similar to the United Nations/Foreign Peacekeeping Force soldiers, except that these guys are Japanese infantry deployed just before the fall of governments around the world who had been specially kitted to kill zombies - with both rifle and swords in hand.

Heh :D

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

(2nd Collab between Darkraven and AnriuSB Part 1)

November 3rd, 2017, 7:54pm, Waynesville, Southwest Missouri

"Dad..." Valentina mumbled in her sleep even as the door into her room opened, and in came something that had become almost unheard of. Home-cooked food. The real kind. Living in a biohazard disaster zone had a way of making even the sleepiest infants insomniacs, and Valentina was one of them. The smell of the sweet nectar that was a bowl of hot, steaming soup tickled her nose, but even her subconscious knew that it was too good to be true.

In her daily nightmare, she was still trying to nurse the graze wound on her left shoulder when darkness relieved her once again, pulling her out of the horrid past. Her eyes fluttered open, and sight returned, but only to her left eye, each moment of awakening a reminder of her loss. The first thing she saw was a pair of legs, dangerously close. The shocking sight made Valentina jump into a sitting position with her knees to her chest, her revolver and knife tumbling out, both of which she quickly secured in panic.

The woman snickered at the small girl as she jumped upright. Her arms stuck to her waist in a commanding position the moment the girl became alert. "Good morning sleepy head! Well, I guess I should say goodnight.." Ivy shook her head, her brown hair now tied up in a ponytail, and a white apron laying loosely over her other clothing. "Either way, dinner is served Dumb Ass, hurry up and hop to it. We got a schedule to keep." With that the woman turned to leave the girl, one hand resting on the door nob before stopping momentarily in preparation for the girls' possible retort.

Valentina kept quiet as the bowl of soup captivated her senses. Had it not been there, she would have been unhappy with the woman's new nickname for her. Yet, the girl could not help but to be afraid of even going near it, fearing that something would happen if she even dared to try it. She kept her one good eye on the witch, who stood at the door, watching her every movement for any signs of danger, the grip on her weapons tightening.

Ivy glanced back momentarily, her eyes locking with the child. She could sense the hesitation and turned away without a word. Moments before closing the door however. "Oh, and I almost forgot! Eat up all of your soup, or I'll steal your soul or something" She announced and shut the door behind her gracefully. Dylan's judgmental gaze met her own as she exited the room.

"Dumbass huh?" He shook his head, "seems like you two sure hit it off.." He chuckled absently at his own joke as he took a swig of his fresh coffee. "Who knows? Maybe I'll have better luck with her."

Ivy smiled at him, her eyes showing her true emotions regarding the child. "Who knows.. Maybe you will.." The Woman then set about the task of prepping her own gear. Tonight would be a long night, and hopefully it would be worth it..

The bowl of soup was smoking, the tendril of aroma beckoning Valentina to come closer. As the witch disappeared, the young girl put away her weapons and came closer to the mysterious, wondrous thing. Memories returned to her about the world before, how Mom would cook the best dishes in the world that not even the Russian restaurants Daddy would bring her to could ever beat. Yet, the nightmare she had before was doggedly haunting her, forcing her to remember. The last time this happened, a woman and man wanted to make love to her, but Valentina could not resist the bowl of soup any longer. Lifting it up, she started drinking the soup from the rim, ignoring the spoon by the bowl, deciding that she could drink the soup and deal with whatever consequences later. With the witch, it was a tough one, as she was too strong, but Valentina thought the soup she made was good.

The soup was drained within minutes.

Ivy finished prepping the needed gear as Dylan sat across from her, cleaning his rifle. "Looks like I'll be the one on guard duty tonight huh?" he chuckled to himself as he cleaned the barrel of his rifle carefully. He checked the barrel and then shot a thumbs up in Ivy's direction. "All good here kiddo, what about your end."

Ivy smiled, this was the first time she had really felt anything aside from frustration and anger in quite a while, despite this child's distrust, she was having an untold affect on them both. Perhaps happiness would be possible in this empty waste.. perhaps, even, a family would be born. Ivy fastened her rifle to her shoulder and shot Dylan a single look, that was all he needed to be certain, she was revved up. "What do you think chief?" she asked, doing a three hundred and sixty degree spin infront of him.

"Hell, if we could kill those damned zed with looks alone.." He laughed throatily and nodded, "your one magazine short of a mobile arsenal Kiddo, give em' hell."

"I will sir." She replied, turning to knock on the Child's door. "Get out here kid, it's your lucky day, you get too meet the chief."

When Valentina heard the witch calling for her to leave the room, she was reluctant, afraid of what might come next. The game she talked about might just be a way to get her to stay after all, just like how she was lead to believe that things would be better, that she would be safe and that she would make new friends, just like how Marilyn lead her to believe... Yet the girl knew that when the witch calls, she had to answer. Resigned to her fate, she gets off her cot and skitters across the room, her palms sweaty as she got ready mentally to draw her revolver quickly. Opening the door slightly to peer through the crack, Valentina saw not just the woman, but a man as well, which confirms her suspicion. Yet she knew that she had to play their game - they had guns, and she had a single bullet for the three of them.

Opening the door fully, the girl came out, her eyes on the floor as she was afraid to look at them or meet their gaze, as she was afraid that they might do things to her...

"You." Dylan's gruff voice called out too the child. "What manner of dress is this?" Dylan stared directly at the child with stony eyes, studying every orifice. The scars, the eyepatch, the worn clothing, the poorly concealed weapons. The way she pitifully averted her eyes from them both. "This won't do..." He sighed and set his rifle at the side of his chair, standing up and approaching the child. He took but three single steps, barely closing the distance between them. "You sure this is the girl you told me about Kiddo? She seems pretty pathetic too me. Unless that is, there is more too her than meets the eye.

The girl still had not looked up too him. "You! Look at me when I speak!" His voice boomed, echoing throughout the store like the roar of a lion, all of his energy was targeted at the girl, he willed her to look at him.

Valentina seemed to shrink even smaller when the man spoke in his rough and rude manner. Nervous, she balled her hands and shivered, and jumped when the man shouted at her, commanding her to look at him. After a moment's hesitation, Valentina peered upwards, meeting the twin eyes of the bad man with her single, lonely, solitary eye, which was already beginning to water, her lips turning downwards in misery, the scar on her cheek emphasizing it.

The moment the girl's eye locked with his own, the man's gruff face underwent a change. His eyes softened, and a warm, welcoming smile came from his lips. "Now, now young one, there is no need to fear me." His voice poured like liquid honey from a fountain of gold. "You know," He said softly. "Long ago, it was said that a warrior's worth was judged by the scars they held proudly on their faces. You my dear have gained a powerful weapon, one that a scarless man like myself cannot hope to face. The face of a warrior my child, it is a weapon more powerful than any rifle in the land." The old man smiled, Dylan was hitting fifty six soon, but he still showed the strength of his youth, all he lacked from that time was arrogance, in its stead was a kindness that knew no bounds. A kindness that aimed to fix this world so shrouded in darkness...

Valentina could not meet the man's gaze for very long, and she had to look away every once in a while, as if her only working eye would go blind if she didn't do what she did. As the man spoke, gradually becoming less fierce but more and more eerily kind, uncannily resembling something from back before the dead started standing up and walking, Valentina found it hard to understand what he was trying to say, as she never had the need to listen to long talks ever since Marilyn and Manson, which was months ago - which in the land of the dead might as well be centuries, as every second would seem like a minute. When the man stopped, and things went silent again, Valentina recalled that it meant that she had to reply, yet she wasn't sure how to do it anymore.

After some difficulty, Valentina managed to pull something from the distant past, unsure if it was even correct or appropriate. "Y-yes, mister." Valentina said, forcing herself to meet his gaze again, remembering that it was something polite a kid should do when talking to an adult.

Dylan smiled at the girl and walked back to his chair. "She's a good girl Kiddo," He shot a look at Ivy "you treat her right ya hear?"

Ivy smiled, and turned to the girl, her gaze immediately turning back too stone. "Alright Dumbass" She announced unraveling a map that had, up until now, rested at the edge of the store counter.

"Here's the plan."

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

New post up. For some reason I had to fight the urge to vomit the very dinner I was eating while writing the post. Hope you guys... like it.

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

November 3rd, 2017, 1:33pm, Waynesville, Southwest Missouri

Valentina could not sleep. She had tried for what felt like forever, and she couldn't even close her eyes - but in truth, she didn't dare. She remembered stories about witches. Hansel and Gretel. She felt like Gretel, except she had no Hansel for company. Or rather, her Hansel had died a long time ago. The snub-nosed revolver and knife sitting between her stomach and lap weighed heavily on her, as if calling out to her to be used.

Back in one of her sleep spots in an apartment building, she had cans of beer to help her with such a problem. Valentina remembered what her father had said about beer, but he was no longer around. She furrowed her brows. The thought of Daddy brought her back to the time of his slow demise, when he held back a whole ocean of the dead with the help of only a few soldiers. Valentina loved him, so, so much, yet she couldn't help but to hate him for leaving her, and yet she felt so confused about herself, about how it was possible to love and hate her own father at the same time when all she knew before was to either love or hate. Valentina's Daddy would have slapped her for it, but her cans of beer was helpful when it comes to sleeping.

In truth, it had only been 20 minutes, and by the half hour mark, Valentina fell asleep regardless, against all odds. In the faint thoughts that followed before sweet, sweet darkness came, Valentina wondered how it was possible that she could feel sleepy around the witch outside the door, especially one who could kill her no matter how much she struggled and screamed and kicked...

"What's making love?" Valentina asked, the words she had just heard did not make sense at all. There were too many questions, and no answers: How could love be made? How do you make love? Valentina thought the woman and her friend, who had just returned from somewhere, were just kidding. Valentina had not heard a joke ever since... he died, but she could not bring herself to laugh at all, as both curiosity and wariness was filling her mind.

"That's what she said before." The woman, who said her name was Marilyn, said light-heartedly to her friend, throwing her arms comically as she smiled. Valentina thought her smile was a little... scary for some reason, but she thought she was just tired - it had been a long day, trying to find food and then finding little. All she had found were more biters and bad-looking people. Marilyn and her friend were the first people who weren't trying to hurt her after spotting her. Instead, when Marilyn was alone, she had invited Valentina into the house even when she had tried to break into it.

"Is that so?" The man, who said his name was Manson, said. There was a look on his face that Valentina could not understand. It looked like he was smiling and happy, but at the same time he didn't, "How about we show you? It's a fun little something, you know."

"O...Okay..." Valentina stammered, suddenly afraid, like when she knew that a practical joke was going to be played on her by a boy and was still going to fall for it anyway. The smiles that her two new friends were wearing unnerved her a little. After agreeing to what she thought would be a fun game, or something like what a family would do, Manson lead her into a room where there was a huge bed, something that Valentina remembered her father would call 'Emperor-sized' jokingly. There, Manson carried her by the waist and laid her down on her back, "What am I supposed to do?" Looking up, she saw that the woman was behind Manson, smiling in a not-so-smiling way.

"Just lie down, baby and... Close your eyes." Marilyn said, thrilled at getting to play the 'game'. Valentina felt confused, but did as she was told, closing her eyes and waiting for the practical joke. On the other hand, she thought that they were about to give her a surprise. For a crazy moment, she thought that they were friends with Lieutenant Hugh, or her father, and was about to bring either one of them into the room for a surprise. Valentina held onto that thought, hoping that it would come true. For the first time in a long while, the young girl actually smiled. Marilyn seemed to like that very much: "Good girl! You'll do more than smiling next, sugar."

As Valentina waited, she could feel something heavy climbing into bed next to her, and that heavy thing coming, lying down on top of her, pressing down on her. The young girl could hardly breathe, yet she could smell that it was Manson - she could smell sweat, and something else that she could not name. In fact, both Marilyn and Manson smelt that way. As Manson slipped his arms around Valentina's back, the girl thought that it was just a family tradition that they had to do for her to be accepted into the family. She remembered about family traditions - every family had one. It was what Daddy told her. Valentina had all kinds of festivals and celebrations in the family that few other families had, and they would always visit Russia... 'Maybe this is their family tradition...' Valentina thought.

Valentina liked it. She had never been hugged before, not for a long time. She felt warmth and love, and thought this was what they meant by making love. The girl hugged back, and liked it... Until she could feel something moist and disgusting down her neck before feeling it shoved on her lips. Opening her eyes, she saw Manson, up close... Kissing her in the lips. Wide-eyed from surprise, Valentina was beginning to doubt herself and everything, and when she could feel the man's fingers digging into her back, and saw his face withdrawing and pressing itself against her chest, she began to shiver, and feel fear. Her back was beginning to flare with pain.

"Ow! You're hurting me!" Valentina protested, but it was as if Manson was deaf. Instead, the man was lifting her shirt up. Looking around at Marilyn, hoping to find help in her, all she saw was the woman putting a finger on her lips and then coming closer, and closer, looming over her. Marilyn was taking off her belt for some reason and Valentina could not understand, but more so, the fear in her was becoming terror. The man on top of her continued to pull at her shirt, managing to lift it up to her chest even when Valentina was trying to pull it back down, "No!"

"C'mon, you lil' cunt, give me some sugar!" The man said, and all of a sudden, Valentina found that she hated him, "You wanted it, remember baby?" He became rough, and soon Valentina could hear something ripping, and found that it was her shirt. Somewhere and somehow along the line, her pirate eyepatch had disappeared.

Valentina screamed as her shirt was torn down the middle...

Valentina screamed as she could feel the man on her bare chest...

She screamed as she remembered what to do, and started groping...

She screamed as she groped against the barrier of no hope...

As the man was trying to undo her belt...

Valentina screamed, but as she found the solid handle of Lieutenant Hugh's combat knife, her lighthouse in a sea of hopelessness, she unsheathed her weapon and brought it sideways into Manson's tickle zone desperately. It went all the way in, sinking down to the guard. Manson's scream was far louder than anything Valentina could muster. "Son of a bitch!!!" He cried as he writhed in pain. Valentina stabbed and stabbed again, the blood flowing in huge amounts onto her jeans and the 'Emperor-sized' bed. Into the lung, into his stomach, until Manson, in his effort to get away, accidentally fell off the bed.

Marilyn was staring, just staring, as it all happened, her own jeans loose as her belt was off and the zippers were undone. As soon as the woman made a move for her pistol, Valentina did the same thing with her revolver. Gunshots rang out, two almost in unison. Both of them froze, gun in hand, both believing themselves to have won... Before the woman whom Valentina thought was a friend fell over, coughing out blood from both her mouth and a hole in her throat.

Valentina cried, cried hard as she tried to sit up, and barely could not as she could feel pain all over her body - It wasn't long before she realised that she had been shot as well, and it was a long, nasty-looking thing on her shoulder - a graze wound. Had the woman fired her pistol a little more to her left, she would have been lying down next to her and Manson.

The girl tried to get off the bed, and tumbled down instead, finding it hard to move as her body felt used and bruised, as pain was all over her, not to mention her jeans had dropped as she tried to slip off the tall bed. Getting up, she found that she could barely stand up, much less bend down to pull her pants up. She had stopped crying, but couldn't help but to start again. "Dad..." She cried, suddenly missing him, really, really missing him, wishing that he was with her, wishing for his huge, powerful arms to be around her, only to feel the cold air of night and darkness, of two new ghosts watching her.

"Dad..." Valentina mumbled in her sleep as newly produced tears slipped out of her closed eyelids, wetting her pillow.

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

Collab between Darkraven and AnriuSB Part 2

Valentina continued screaming unintelligibly at the woman, but eventually, when the anger ran it's course, she began to realise the reality of the situation, that she had lost her fight for survival, and was helpless, at the mercy of the evil witch sitting before her, taunting her with her cigarette. Her anger diminished, and in its place, helplessness and fear returned, and Valentina began weeping again.

"The eyepatch doesn't suit you." Ivy simply stated. "You got this whole 'badass little girl' thing going for you, and the pirate element just throws it off." She took another puff from her cigarette and then crushed the butt on the counter beside her. "Today is a special day, did you know that?" Ivy looked the girl in the eyes, waiting for an answer.

Valentina remained silent and continued weeping uncontrollably, struggling fruitlessly against her well-crafted restraints, first incapacitated by her fragile emotions, though her lack of social contact in the last few months had ensured that conversations and talking had become a difficult thing. In a world dominated by the senseless dead and even senseless living, there was no use for words.

When she didn't get one Ivy simply laughed. "Of course you wouldn't know, even before everything went to shit no one knew about today's importance. Well, no one except me that is." Ivy stretched a little before leaning into her chair comfortably. "Long story short; today is the day something very special happens, you might even call it a 'grand opening'." Ivy chuckled at her own joke before continuing. "Anyways, before you decided to go crazy on me earlier I asked you a question. That stuff you took, you gunna pay for it?" Ivy, who had, up until this point, been glancing carelessly above the girl shot a questioning gaze to her.

As the woman talked, Valentina was able to calm down a little, if only because she had ran out of tears. As she was sniffling, she listened, a little, to what had been said to her, and had difficulty comprehending it all. Months of isolation did not benefit her. In general though, Valentina more or less understood the meaning of the words related to her. Sensing no way out the usual way, Valentina shifted her glance at Ivy before regretting it and staring at the woman's legs again, "I- I don't... know." Valentina finally mustered the will to say, forced out of her comfort zone by this sudden change of circumstances.

In the little thinking Valentina could do in her grief, she remembered something. Twisting her fingers a little, Valentina tried to reach for an opening cut into the waist of her jeans. Barely able to pull the feat off, she was able to fish out the shiv that Lieutenant Hugh had taught her how to make - it was her first and only, the result of a little homework her late soldier friend gave her in a relatively peaceful evening. With it, she started cutting the ropes binding her hands.

Ivy secretly smiled at the girls' shyness, despite the street rat look she had adopted, the childs behavior was quite cute. What she wanted to do was take this young girl into her arms and hug her pain away, but Ivy knew better. This kid was dangerous, and would need some srious rehabilitation before she was even somewhat trustworthy. Ivy made sure to look the girl in the eyes the whole time, speaking in a clear and calm tone. "First things first, I just want to make it clear that you can leave at any time. Just return what you took from the shelf and go on your way, I could care less either way. Second, if you want to earn the supplies you took, than you can. I happen to be in need of a favor. If you happen to be able to complete this task, you can take the supplies, plus extra, and run. Who knows, I am a person who happens to have a lot of work that needs to be done, stick around and you may just get even more supplies. Either way I want to make one thing clear. Jump me again and you are dead, I have my eye on you now, and that little surprise tactic of yours won't be working twice on me." Ivy finished and stared the girl right in the eye's. The girl's life could go three ways from here. Death, Back down the same road she had come from, or into a life with a family, in the end it would all depend on what she did in the next few moments.

"What do you want me to do?" After some difficulty, Valentina managed to think of how to reply. It was tough for the little girl, digging through a mountain for bad memories existing ever since her 10th birthday on Valentine's day and reaching for her acting classes before groping around for the best words before and after the reawakening. And even as she feigned interest, Valentina continued sawing at her restraint. Yet... The thought of having more supplies than what she gathered was a big treat, and when the witch before her threatened her with death, it became all the more enticing. Gradually, the girl began losing interest in cutting the ropes, as she really feared what the woman could do. After all, it wasn't the first time Valentina had tried to kill living people, and she was far more successful previously.

Ivy smirked at the child. "Oh nothing, just a simple retrieval mission. Start at point A, go to point B, get the package, back to A. There are some rules however. Firstly.." Ivy stood up and walked accross the store, retrieving a black sweater and sweat pants, both of which were sized for a child. "You have to where these. Hell, you can even keep them if you want. Second, you go at night, this is all about stealth. The area is full of infected. Third, and this is the important one, you leave your bag with me. I don't want you running off with the package or anything like that."

The task the woman was giving Valentina sounded vaguely like... A game to the girl, but not one that seemed fun with the biters. Then there were the rules that Valentina, in the pit of her stomach, felt wrong somehow, "But..." Valentina could not translate her thoughts well, especially considering that they were more complex than a yes-or-no answer. It felt like a game, a game in which she had no chance of winning because the rules were made up by the other player. Scrounging up memories of a time when she still had a family and a school to go to, she remembered games like that, "What if- What if- My bag-" Valentina struggled with her words, before finally finding the good ones, "How do I know you'll keep your promise?" She remembered the Matryoska dolls she had kept in her bag, made by her father - what remained of her father.

Ivy laughed at the girls' question. "You don't kiddo, for all you know I could be just using you to get something I want, with intentions of throwing you out when you return." Ivy then pointed her finger to the ceiling "How-ev-er" she annunciated each syllable, "Taking on this job is entirely up too you, and that risk comes with it my dear. So what do you say, you up to the task? Or will you simply choose to walk away?"

Valentina considered the woman's words, finding it less and less convincing, at least until she turned to look at where the woman was at before she leapt at her. There were heaps of food, and a mountain of guns. A CAN OPENER. As if on cue, the little girl's stomach rumbled, and her thoughts returned to her own stockpiles, where great numbers of canned goods were hidden, but as if some demon was playing tricks on her, Valentina could never find any can openers, "Okay..." There was more that Valentina wanted to say, but she felt exhausted from all the talking they had been doing. In the end, she gave up trying.

"There's an extra cot in the back, go get some shut eye. I will wake you when it is time and go over the details." Ivy then untied the child, noticing that the bindings were partway cut through. 'Impressive' she thought to herself before finishing and pointing her to the door behind the counter.

When the woman came close, Valentina shrunk a little, afraid that she might try to hurt her, afraid that the woman was just lying to her, making fun of her by giving false hopes. Yet, the woman untied her. It was a surprise, one that was pleasant, yet Valentina was afraid of any kind of surprises. She became afraid that the woman was really playing with her, but the girl felt that she had no choice but to follow her instructions - she remembered how she was easily overpowered when she tried to kill her.

Reluctantly, Valentina stood up after the ropes on her were taken off. Rubbing her wrists, she walked towards the room before realising that her eyepatch had come off. Ever since losing her sight on her right eye, the milky iris had become something of a taboo to the young girl, something to be covered, something that was worse than nakedness if seen. Quickly, she went to pick the eyepatch up only to find that it was gone. Valentina gasped, looking everywhere for it as she covered her right eye, afraid that the woman would see it again, but it felt hopeless.

Ivy watched the girl, a little amused by her frantic search. "Looking for this?" She asked, producing the eyepatch from one of her pockets.

"Give it back!!!" Valentina shouted, the rage in her returning as the very thought of her blind eye and the eyepatch had brought her back to the day she lost the sight in her right eye.

"I already told you kid, it throws off your whole look. You can have it if you want..." Ivy then lazily tossed the patch to the child, "but you should really consider ditching it. Besides, that right eye of yours, it is surprisingly stunning." Ivy then turned from the girl, still keeping an eye on her, and began to do her catalogging again. "Now off to bed with you!" She announced loudly. "You're gunna need the rest!"

Upon catching the eyepatch, Valentina quickly put it on, wasting no time at all, as if it was her helmet in space. In the space of seconds, the girl decided that she hated the woman for looking at her blind eye, for calling it 'surprisingly stunning'. Painful memories were returning. Painful memories of the gas station explosion, of the glass shard that flew into her right eye, the pain, the unbearable pain that made everything else seem trivial...

Begrudgingly, Valentina headed into the room the woman had dictated her to sleep in, taking slow, painful steps, afraid of what would come next. Lying down on the cot inside, Valentina instinctively curled up, her only good eye facing the door, afraid that the woman would come marching in to hurt her, to beat her up. Pulling her revolver and combat knife out, she stored them between her stomach and lap, confident that she would need them.

Then there was a click, and Valentina realised that the door was locked. Valentina felt like Rapunzel. Imprisoned. Trapped. And there was no way out, except through the witch's instructions.

Surviving: The End (character-centric; modern zombie survival)

My condolences to your health. It really depends on your constitution and the strength of your immunity.

I consider myself to be quite resistant, and history has proven it thus far. I recover from fevers within half a day up to a day. I once suffered sun stroke/heat exhaustion from running 17.5km under the hot sun, and it took me half a day to recover enough such that I wasn't miserable from being uncomfortable (this one's really funny because I went to uni and attended a lecture feeling miserable and suicidal from the suffering and while I was on the way home, I got better on the train ride home and was suddenly smiling and playing Plants VS Zombies 2 and buying all kinds of food for dinner after. There was even a moment I could remember that I stopped feeling awful and started feeling good. I was like recovering on the go! In computer game terms it's like regenerating health XD XD XD).

As for flu though, it's oddly hard to recover from for such an inconsequential disease (at least for me. flu hard affects me). It took me normally 1-2 weeks to recover from it.

Anyway, if things get difficult for you to write and post something, you could always get it up on the collab page and get people to help (such as fixing typos and grammar errors). I would be willing to help.