Onwards To Dusk Crest
In the apocalyptic world aside from fighting, betrayal, scavenging, and reaching insanity are the core attributes of living. Aside from those things you really can't pass the time, unless you're like me and snagged a PlayStation then you're bound to get bored. Others tried farming, if that's your shtick there's handicraft your very own zombie-killing weapon. But I heard whispers of our next destination, the city of Dusk Crest was rumored to have a bundle of cult fanatics
"P-please let me go! I didn't mean to steal I have a child, please just let me go I'll make it to you?" A woman was tied in a circle of robed people whilst they chant an Aldrich-like incantation in the dead of night
"Akumbah melathea, goddess bless us dearly! Akumbah riskou oh Lord save us! Akumbah Pesoultelia, have mercy almighty!!!"
As the chant repeats a different hooded hoodlum walks in a blizzard manner as the people encircling her made way. They knelt in its presence and raises their arm and their chant goes louder and louder and the person unsheathes a knife from its pocket. The robe men grew silent and they could be weeping women in front of what may be speculated as their leader
"Please... my son is waiting for me. I don't want this, im sorry please forgive me–"
The robed person taps her lips with their finger and said. "Shush, the sinner is unworthy... but you can be saved. The goddess does not discriminate nor does she hate or resent. You shall be free,"
The woman smiled before it fully disappears once she felt her stomach torn apart by the blade of the knife. "B-but y-you said I was free..."
The robed person stabbed again and again and the other worshipers chant intensity with every stab. "You are now free, free from suffering, free from despair, and free from this hell... Akumbah melathea, goddess bless us dearly! Akumbah riskou oh Lord save us! Akumbah Pesoultelia, have mercy almighty! Dear goddess, we offer you another follower!!!"
As their chant persist they raised their bloodied hands to the moon and their ritual continued till morning comes
...
Outskirts of Dusk Crest
"Okay, the camera's working as intended, Rick are you ready for test #14 on your ability?" Eleanor began filming their daily test on his mysterious ability after it piqued her interest in the mysteries it contains
'L said something along the lines of his ability concerning energy, he wasn't wrong but he doesn't have full control. It's a waste if I prolong this exercise, he said I could do the unthinkable when I hit my limit. Sorry, Rick, today's test is a whole lot different from the other ones so far,'
"Hey Ellie so what am I gonna– Is that a frag grenade!!?"
He quickly caught on to her thoughts but he was slow, the handle was taken off and any second her hand would explode. Instead of doing nothing, his body moved on its own with the adrenalin rushing from his veins taking the frag and throwing it to the ground. The worst part was their range was too close from its range and when his fear reaches its limit his ability appeared
"Ahhh!! Hold on... why didn't it explode?"
His ability appeared to shield every corner of their body and Stein takes her note and wrote what she found. "Test subject Rick has yet to fully understand the activation of his ability, fortunately, his ability remains active. Test #14 shows great results after scaring him with a fake grenade that triggered his ability by the arrival of fear– Waah, Waaah, waah, stop shaking me, Rick! I need to write it down– Whoa..."
"Write it down!!? I thought were gonna die for real, you call this freaking a test? I was this close to having a fucking heart attack," Rick angrily replied and continued shaking her in his fit of rage
"Rick you're the stupid one here thinking I'll kill myself with a grenade. This and many other reasons why you're the dumbest out of the three of us. And stop shaking me! I did this test because you left me with no choice and because L told me to,"
"L told you to? Then it's fine you should've opened with that, I was this close on punching you. It's the first thing in the morning I haven't had breakfast and you triggered my ability? Didn't he tell you something that my side effect is hunger? I get all hungry for some reason," He left after she gave him a past and he ran to their cars bunker to feast on their rations
'Hungry...? Now that's a clue. Now where were we, I completely forgot. The blades I controlled didn't go through. What's more, they've been propelled by a large amount of force. This is just my accusation but that shield of his sooner or later can become a spear. Speaking of L where is that zombified freak? He's been gone all morning and the metal spikes I laid down weren't triggered,'
"Looking for me?" He suddenly appears on her back along with his jar where he stores the bundle of mutation orbs he found
"We're you hunting all night? I thought you said you could sleep, what happened to that?"
"I can sleep and dream but I don't want to starve like Ricky Adams over there... you already know what will happen if I went into a state of desperation. What's worse I might trigger a frenzy if I took a long time. Even if I can eat like a normal person food like that won't compare to these orbs that can quench my hunger with five with eight as its maximum," He downs a few orbs, and soon his condition stabilizes and he loses the urge of eating her flesh
'I had a lot of chances to run and he didn't even stop me at all, how much of a jerk is he...? I'm a talented person how can he act all high and mighty when he can't even beat me in chess? But I can't deny that his very reasonable, never have I once been mistreated, and he sees me the same as Rick. Food with benefits, as long as I help he won't eat me, it may sound worst but I wouldn't pass on studying an unusual zombie,'
After hunting some animals and killing some zombies along with fortifying their defenses morning passed and soon came noon. Everyone was stoked on arriving at Dusk Crest an urban city and the only place close to Leo's hometown. Rick was too hesitant to leave after reuniting with their new and improved Geavan just to be left rotten in the forest
"Rick, can you stop that? That car isn't sturdy enough to get us to Dusk Crest, sorry pal but we have to walk. Blame the earthquake for messing with the fucking road. It's heartbreaking when you realize an SUV has more chances than a million-dollar sports car,"
Rick rises from the ground after he imprinted his mug in the trunk and cried a fountain in their separation. "I'm sorry that it has to be this way... you brought me lots of emotions in our limited time, you really do! I felt a connection between us, but I gotta go, im sorry to say this but I value my brother more than a fucking sports car,"
He never looked back since he knew it'll be harder to forget. The twelve-year-old prodigy and the undead teenager could handle the immensity of that cringe. These trio traveled far and walked miles away from their destination and everyone agreed to forget what occurred. It was both heartbreaking and embarrassing when they remember the fact that Rick broke up with a car
"Are you sure about this? I heard some freaky rumors from the peeps we saw leaving Dusk Crest. They said the cities had been overrun by a group of cult fanatics or something. Are they Demonists? I don't wanna get cursed!! Just thinking about it sends shivers down my throat,"
Ellie was more annoyed than frightened and replied. "Rick don't be stupid. If such a thing like that exists then it would've already been proven as a fact. Talking about demons, you should be more afraid of what's real, take zombies for example,"
The two of them kept bickering and bickering and Leo never stopped them once since his occupied with the clues he collected...
'The fresh spray paint the people spread on my hometown never once mentioned Delanier and all of them had one thing in common. 'Dusk Crest is safe' that's what they always wrote, I can't do anything but risk it all, who knows she might be here. I need to find her and confess to her and maybe move on with my life... that's the promise I made, I told myself if I ever get another chance I'll live my life, a life without regrets,'