Hi everyone, I'm back! If you were wondering why it's been so long, it's because, well... I was banned. I don't wanna go all into it, as I k… morenow talking about bans on the forums is against the rules. However, I am back and it is all thanks to @LiquidChicagoTed. Without his help I don't know if I would have ever been unbanned. I appreciate everyone's concerns and I am so glad to be back. So, with that being said... please enjoy!
And on a side note, can someone please tell me where the edit button is? With the new forum update I don't know how to edit threads, lmao.
Chapter 7: Part 7
March 18th, 2017. 12:42 P.M.
John was speed walking through the woods, making it hard for all of us to keep track of where he was going.
“Can you slow it down there buddy?” Mark called up front. “Not all of us can keep up.”
I heard Joe’s voice from behind. “Don’t worry about me. Just keep going.” It was clear that Mark was talking about him.
“… [view original content]
I'm back... again! I hate that there has been another big delay, and how slow the story is progressing. But I promise that that will no longer be the case. I am making sure that I continue writing this story like I used to be as this school year for me isn't anywhere near as bad as last year. There has been an annoying bug for me on the forum the past few weeks, where I couldn't post from my laptop and was only able to post from my phone. But, I tried today and it randomly decided to work. So I hope you enjoy, and I am sure that this is the beginning of consistent writing to come.
Chapter 7: Part 8
March 18th, 2017. 1:06 P.M.
[Leave Joe]
“I don’t want to do this, Joe.” I shook my head. “I can’t kill you.”
“Leave me. Might as well save the bullet.” Joe insisted.
Mark turned to the rest of the group, and commanded everyone to wait outside. Mark was very close to Joe, and it was obvious. He wanted his original group to say their last goodbyes, which consisted of Tina, Kelsi, Fiona, and himself. However, he let me stay as Joe insisted I made the final call. Despite this though, I decided to back up and let them say it personally. I had only met Joe a few days ago, and while I had gotten to know him a bit and he seemed like a great guy, he was basically a family member to them.
They exited one by one, tears noticeable forming in their eyes. Mark was the most devastated as I thought. That left me and Joe alone in the room. The room that was in the building where my group was captured and possibly murdered. I approached Joe who was very visibly sick from the bite. The old man’s head had slowly been drooping down, and his back was slumped towards the wall. As I got closer, he managed to use the last bit of his energy to look up at me. Right in the eyes. His eyes looked so dead… this was the first time I had seen someone die from a walker bite, and it was heartbreaking. It pained me to see him in this condition, but I knew that every bullet counted and I’d need all of it to find my group.
I nodded to Joe, and spoke. “Thank you so much. Rest easy, Joe.” He cracked a bleak smile, and I exited the building.
I reunited with everyone just outside the back side of the building, where everyone was visibly upset. Tina’s arm was around Mark as he looked towards the ground. Kelsi and Fiona stood awkwardly as they managed to compose themselves the best of their ability. Out of all people, Tina was the one who was keeping herself calm and collected the most. She was obviously sad, but she knew that dwelling over it was not the right thing to do in this case.
It was silent for a few moments, before it was broken by Yoshiro. “I’m sorry for your loss, guys. But we have to go. One second can make a difference when we find them and we can’t waste any. Joe didn’t die for nothing.”
I expected Mark to throw a fit, but he was surprisingly silent. Yoshiro was right, and I was willing to stand by his statement. This wasn’t just a group of people who I didn’t know that we were talking about, this was my second family. The people I’ve been with throughout the entire outbreak. My girlfriend. My best friend. My family.
“Does anyone, uh… have any idea where to go?” I asked awkwardly. “Just follow these footprints, right?”
Ryan was the first to respond, as he was the one who had the most information. “Seems like the obvious best option… hopefully they’ll be able to stay in tact.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” I said. Everyone followed in my command, as I lead the way. It was really awkward, as no one was talking and everyone was aware of the sorrow that some of us were going through. The only noise that seemed to be present was the wind and the trees swaying in the breeze, and the sound of our footsteps and some heavy breathing.
As we turned around the corner of a building, we could see the bloody footsteps leading into the woods; and not the side from where we came from. This lead to a completely new part of the woods, and we hesitated before we entered. “We’re going in.” I reassured everyone.
“Indeed we are.” John sided with me. “Let’s go on.”
Nobody responded, so I assumed no one had a problem with it. I stepped into the woods and didn’t look back. My eyes remained on the footsteps the entire time. It was a bit harder to see though, as the dirt had absorbed the blood more than the concrete did. This part of the woods were pretty deep, as there wasn’t as much space to walk as before. The footsteps got more and more difficult to see, to the point where they had pretty much disappeared completely.
I stopped in my tracks. We were now standing in the middle of the woods with no direction and surrounded by nothing but trees. “What is it Tony?” John asked.
“I can’t see the footsteps anymore. I don’t know where to go.” I sighed in response.
John approached me and stood by my side, and kneeled to examine the last remaining somewhat noticeable footstep. “It seems to be pointing slightly to the left. Might as well go that way, it’s the best option we have.”
He was right. I didn’t really see any reason to go in a different direction than where the footstep was facing. My main worry is if the captor made a turn at some point towards his destination. But, there wasn’t much else to do other than that. So I continued walking.
March 18th, 2017. 1:37 P.M.
The rays of the sun that beamed into our eyes seemed almost as if we were in the woods without sunlight for months. The trees finally gave way as we exited the woods and onto a road that seemed like it was once busy, but also empty at the same time. There was mostly no stores or buildings alongside the road, but there were some. What caught my eye first was a big, bright statue of a lumberjack with an orange beard holding an axe in his hands. This road seemed to be surrounded by woods, so it wasn’t too unusual.
“Light! Sweet light!” Fiona cried as she ran outside first. We followed her and stood in front of the road. It was so long, as if it seemed never-ending. It just kept going straight. We were so lost, the worries for my group only got worse.
“Fuck!” I shouted in anger. “Why can’t anything go right!?” I pegged a water bottle towards the ground, so hard that it caused it to break and the water splattered all over the place.
“Calm down Tony, what the fuck!” Mark gave me a shove as he picked up the water bottle, revealing only about a quarter of water left. “You just wasted fresh water. These aren’t as easy to obtain as they used to be jackass.”
“Shut the fuck up, Mark.” I shoved him hard in defense. I was not in the mood to be pushed around. “I know that. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Mark looked at me and seemed as if he was about to charge, but stopped himself. I turned back to the road as I thought he had calmed down, but I was wrong. Mark came out of nowhere and hit me in the face with wrist. I didn’t know if he tried to punch me or not, because his fist missed completely. I lost my balance but remained on my feet, refusing to fall down. I shoved him as hard as I could, and he flew to the ground. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“Fuck you!” He shouted. “First you leave one of my best friends to die, you waste fresh water, and you attack me!”
“You attacked me first.” I defended myself.
“Yeah, because I got mad at you for treating water as if it can be found everywhere.” He stated. “Those are extremely valuable! And our supposed leader is doing things like that?”
“Stop, guys.” Kelsi spoke as she approached Mark and talked and aided him at the same time. Tina walked up to me and spoke in a low tone. “He’s just mad. The fact that Joe isn’t here with us only made things worse. I assume you already know that.”
I nodded in response. “I do. I’m just mad too… why can’t I just find my group? The people I love. You guys are great, specifically you Tina. I’d probably be dead if you hadn’t taken me in that night, and I can’t thank you enough. But these people… my group… I’ve been with them for so long and through so much, and I even have a girlfriend there…”
“I understand completely. It hasn’t been that easy for us either… I’m so hurt about Joe too. But I just know I can’t dwell on it or else it’ll lead to negative things… just like it has for Mark. I have to get him to forget about it for now until we find your group. We don’t want him making things worse.”
I was about to speak but was interrupted by Kazuhiko. “Alright, we leaving or what? Can we stop screwing around?”
“There’s things going on right now. You can wait.” Emi responded.
“Yeah, I guess we can take a quick break… a quick break…” I trailed off uncertainly.
“A quick break?” Ryan chimed in. “We don’t have time for breaks. One of our group members can be due to be killed in thirty minutes and we can find them in thirty five minutes because of a break.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” Kazuhiko sided with Ryan.
“Let Mark calm down.” Emi said. “You aren’t the boss of us.”
Kazuhiko sneered in response. He came up to me and whispered in my ear. Why he said it to me, I’ll never know. “I hate her so much.”
I gave him a puzzled look. “Didn’t you imply that you liked her yesterday?”
“I do. But I hate her at the same time. I love her and I hate her. She’s so cute but so annoying.” He replied.
“That’s… weird.” I didn’t really have anything else to say. That was when I noticed Alessandra looking at something.
“Alessandra, what are you looking at?” I asked and walked up to her.
“You see that?” She pointed at something that barely reached above the treeline. I couldn’t see it too great, but it looked like a steel hump that leaped over the woods. But I realized that it was a roller coaster.
“That’s…. that’s….” I began to get a bit excited. “I know where we are.”
“Huh?” I caught Ryan’s attention. “What?”
“I know where we are!” I stated. “That’s Enchanted Forest. It’s an amusement park that I’ve been to, actually. Just not too often. But I know this general area. I haven’t been on this road before, though.”
I caught everybody’s attention after I said that. “Is it big? Would people be there?” Kelsi asked.
“I have no idea. I just think-” I was about to say but Alessandra cut me off. She had not taken her eyes off of the roller coaster.
“Look!” She called out. I turned to look at the roller coaster, only the top of it which was visible over the treeline. I saw something that shocked me, as well as everyone else. The train to the roller coaster had went over the hump, and the coaster roared over the woods. It wasn’t too loud, in fact, it was pretty hard to notice because of the wind and because it was a good distance away through the woods. But… what in the hell? That means that there was someone in the park, someone was operating the roller coaster. I didn’t know how that was possible, as I thought most electricity had been cut off. I always wondered how roller coasters functioned, but I guess they’re all hooked up to themselves at times. I really didn’t know what to make of that.
“Is there someone there?” Yoshiro asked.
“There has to be.” I answered. “How else would the roller coaster be operating.”
“Maybe our group is there?” John speculated.
“Who knows… I really don’t know.” I answered once more. The footsteps had been completely gone at this point, so we had no direction of any idea where to go.
“Do you think they would be taken there?” I turned to Ryan, hoping for an answer.
“I have no idea… I just know they would be somewhere that would make good for captivity.” He responded.
“Should we… check it out?” I asked.
No one seemed to have a clear answer. I didn’t know if it would be a complete waste of time or if my group was actually there. Each decision was a big risk, and I had to think…
Once more, welcome back! I am so glad that it finally worked out and that you managed to post this part. Hopefully, this means the next part will be out soon, because the suspense is terrific at the time.
As for the part itself, man, you know how to build up the suspension! After the last part, I thought I have never been that afraid for the group, but now that we still don't know where they are and if they are still alive, it's getting worse and worse. By now, I am almost convinced not all of them will reunite with Tony and I just hope that Kat won't be among the dead. At least one group member is injured and I hope that won't be her either. At the same time, I don't want any of them to be injured or dead, even though I fear the worst. Now, the choice:
[Go to the amusement park]
They literally don't have any other lead right now. Checking it out could be a waste of time, but stumbling through the woods without any idea on where to start, that sounds even worse. I am a bit unsure if this group of creepy people would hide in an amusement park of all things, but their hideout has to be relatively close to the house where the group has been captured, or else they would have transported them by car and wouldn't have left any blood. So, considering that Tony and the others have been able to reach this amusement park after half an hour on foot, I'd say it would fit into this criteria. Also, such a functioning rollercoaster is a very noticeable thing, so whomever is operating it either drew the attention of the creepy kidnappers already, is currently drawing their attention, or is a part of them.
God, I just hope they will find Kat and the others quickly, alive and in a good condition, although the longer this goes, the more anxious I get. Argh, I really hope I haven't chose wrong here
I'm back... again! I hate that there has been another big delay, and how slow the story is progressing. But I promise that that will no long… moreer be the case. I am making sure that I continue writing this story like I used to be as this school year for me isn't anywhere near as bad as last year. There has been an annoying bug for me on the forum the past few weeks, where I couldn't post from my laptop and was only able to post from my phone. But, I tried today and it randomly decided to work. So I hope you enjoy, and I am sure that this is the beginning of consistent writing to come.
Chapter 7: Part 8
March 18th, 2017. 1:06 P.M.
[Leave Joe]
“I don’t want to do this, Joe.” I shook my head. “I can’t kill you.”
“Leave me. Might as well save the bullet.” Joe insisted.
Mark turned to the rest of the group, and commanded everyone to wait outside. Mark was very close to Joe, and it was obvious. He wanted his original group to say t… [view original content]
I'm back... again! I hate that there has been another big delay, and how slow the story is progressing. But I promise that that will no long… moreer be the case. I am making sure that I continue writing this story like I used to be as this school year for me isn't anywhere near as bad as last year. There has been an annoying bug for me on the forum the past few weeks, where I couldn't post from my laptop and was only able to post from my phone. But, I tried today and it randomly decided to work. So I hope you enjoy, and I am sure that this is the beginning of consistent writing to come.
Chapter 7: Part 8
March 18th, 2017. 1:06 P.M.
[Leave Joe]
“I don’t want to do this, Joe.” I shook my head. “I can’t kill you.”
“Leave me. Might as well save the bullet.” Joe insisted.
Mark turned to the rest of the group, and commanded everyone to wait outside. Mark was very close to Joe, and it was obvious. He wanted his original group to say t… [view original content]
I'm back... again! I hate that there has been another big delay, and how slow the story is progressing. But I promise that that will no long… moreer be the case. I am making sure that I continue writing this story like I used to be as this school year for me isn't anywhere near as bad as last year. There has been an annoying bug for me on the forum the past few weeks, where I couldn't post from my laptop and was only able to post from my phone. But, I tried today and it randomly decided to work. So I hope you enjoy, and I am sure that this is the beginning of consistent writing to come.
Chapter 7: Part 8
March 18th, 2017. 1:06 P.M.
[Leave Joe]
“I don’t want to do this, Joe.” I shook my head. “I can’t kill you.”
“Leave me. Might as well save the bullet.” Joe insisted.
Mark turned to the rest of the group, and commanded everyone to wait outside. Mark was very close to Joe, and it was obvious. He wanted his original group to say t… [view original content]
It is so great that you are back! I hope you wont have these problems again and I am happy about the new part.
[Go to the amusement park]
Liquid is right, the group has no other lead. They can search the area without a clear path and rely on their luck or they can check this here out. Im getting really concerned for the group now.
I'm back... again! I hate that there has been another big delay, and how slow the story is progressing. But I promise that that will no long… moreer be the case. I am making sure that I continue writing this story like I used to be as this school year for me isn't anywhere near as bad as last year. There has been an annoying bug for me on the forum the past few weeks, where I couldn't post from my laptop and was only able to post from my phone. But, I tried today and it randomly decided to work. So I hope you enjoy, and I am sure that this is the beginning of consistent writing to come.
Chapter 7: Part 8
March 18th, 2017. 1:06 P.M.
[Leave Joe]
“I don’t want to do this, Joe.” I shook my head. “I can’t kill you.”
“Leave me. Might as well save the bullet.” Joe insisted.
Mark turned to the rest of the group, and commanded everyone to wait outside. Mark was very close to Joe, and it was obvious. He wanted his original group to say t… [view original content]
Hi again I'm sorry that all this stuff is happening for you, but hopefully it's done with and this amazing story can continue to be amazing.
[Go to the amusement park]
Ok, at this point, the group should take any sort of lead that it can since there's literally nothing else pointing out the group's location. Of course, it could be dangerous there, but there's not a lot of options.
I'm back... again! I hate that there has been another big delay, and how slow the story is progressing. But I promise that that will no long… moreer be the case. I am making sure that I continue writing this story like I used to be as this school year for me isn't anywhere near as bad as last year. There has been an annoying bug for me on the forum the past few weeks, where I couldn't post from my laptop and was only able to post from my phone. But, I tried today and it randomly decided to work. So I hope you enjoy, and I am sure that this is the beginning of consistent writing to come.
Chapter 7: Part 8
March 18th, 2017. 1:06 P.M.
[Leave Joe]
“I don’t want to do this, Joe.” I shook my head. “I can’t kill you.”
“Leave me. Might as well save the bullet.” Joe insisted.
Mark turned to the rest of the group, and commanded everyone to wait outside. Mark was very close to Joe, and it was obvious. He wanted his original group to say t… [view original content]
“We might as well.” I answered my own question. No one seemed to have a problem with it. “You guys are ready to go, right?”
“Yeah.” Kelsi replied, indicating that Mark was taken care of. He was the only concern in my eyes.
“No, we aren’t. Shut up Kelsi.” Mark retorted. “I need… to just cool down. Gimme ten minutes.”
Kelsi shook her head in response and they both went and sat on the side of the road. I hated having to waste any time, but I didn’t want a grumpy Mark nagging us the entire way there and slowing us down. The park seemed a bit far. I didn’t know how long it’d take to get there.
Everyone else seemed to separate a bit, looking around the area while we waited patiently for Mark’s confirmation to leave. As I mentioned before, there were a few buildings and stores around here. So, I decided to check ‘em out. What was the worst that can happen? I highly doubted any walkers would be roaming around, and if they were, I was armed with a gun. Unless there was some freak hiding out here, I felt safe.
There was a very small shopping plaza near the lumberjack statue, so I decided to explore there first. I called out, “I’m gonna go and check these buildings!”
I approached the first store of the plaza, which was a pizzeria. The sign that stood above the store was badly damaged and dirty, and I couldn’t make it what the place was called exactly. But I did manage to make out the word: PIZZA. I pulled out my handgun and kept it close as I opened the doors to the mostly empty restaurant. It looked like your typical pizzeria, but pretty small. It was decently lit, as the sun from the outside brightened the place completely.
I approached the front counter and searched the kitchen. Nothing. It was completely ridden of anything useful. Surprisingly, the place still smelled like a pizzeria. It smelled good. It felt nice to feel like I was living a normal life again.
Since there was nothing in there, I exited the pizzeria and went to the next store. It was a jewelry store, and just like the pizzeria, nothing to be found. It was small and didn’t even have a nice scent; just abandoned typical apocalypse-like setting. Unlike the pizzeria though, the sign was perfectly in tact. It read: Alaco Jewelry - Call 215-386-1964.
Last but not least, there was a laundromat. Yeah, there were only three stores. Better than nothing I guess. This didn’t seem like a very busy area anyway. I entered the laundromat to make a disturbing discovery.
There was a dead body of a woman, spread across the floor. Blood was very present, as she was laying in a pool of her own blood. The most disturbing part was that… her eyes were wide open, bright blue, staring at me as soon as I walked in. When I looked at her, our eyes met. That sent shivers down my spine.
“Fu-!” I only managed to let out before taking a quick step back from the scene from shock, almost tripping myself.
She had blonde hair and was wearing a grey shirt with blue jeans. Well, her shirt used to be grey. It was now almost entirely red from blood. Her skin looked… alive. I couldn’t find another word to describe it, she looked like she had died recently. However, she didn’t look like she would come back as a walker. I couldn’t find any apparently head wounds, nor did I bother to look for one. I ran out of the laundromat without bothering to check anything else and met up with everyone.
“What’s going on Tony?” Tina asked. “Are you alright?”
“No…” I let out while gasping for some air. “That laundromat over there.” I pointed to it. “Someone died in there. I ran into a fucking dead body laying on the ground. A woman. Blood everywhere. I don’t wanna go back…”
“Wait, what?” Fiona asked with concern. “Was she young? Did she look… rotten?”
“No, that’s what was even spookier.” I explain. “She was staring right at me. Her body was. I made eye contact with her dead body. Fuck, I’m scarred.” That genuinely scared the shit out of me. Considering the past things I’ve been through since all of this started, I don’t know why I reacted to strongly to this. Just the shock of seeing that when I entered, and the fact that she was staring me down, as if she knew I was going to find her. That image will never leave my mind.
“...Okay, we’re leaving right now,” Kazuhiko demanded. “Everyone, get the fuck to the amusement park. I’m not staying here.”
“Is Mark ready?” Yoshiro asked.
“I don’t give a fuck. Something strange is going on here that we don’t know about and that scares me. There can be people spying on us behind some trees or through a window as we speak, waiting to kill us.” Kazuhiko fired back.
I got more shivers down my spine after he finished the last sentence. I remembered when we got to Saylorsburg and everything looked so nice, but later found out it was a death trap that we narrowly escaped. From the roller coaster to the dead body, to the natural creepy and isolated feeling of this area, everything just felt worse and sketchier.
“Mark! Kelsi!” Kazuhiko called out to him. “We’re leaving! Get over here! Hurry!”
Kelsi and Mark stood up and began walking to us. Kelsi hurried over while Mark seemed to drag himself over. “It hasn’t been ten minutes yet, as it?
“Forget about that.” Ryan spoke, on our side. “We have a leave. Tony ran into a dead body just in the store over there. Place seems too sketchy.”
Mark nodded slowly and sighed at the same time. “Okay, okay. Let's leave.”
I smiled quickly out of excitement. I didn't expect him to be that easy, but I'm glad he was. “On our way to the park we go.”
March 16th, 2017. 2:11 P.M.
It had only been somewhat ten minutes since we re-entered the woods. The coaster hasn't run again, which was weird. At first, I began to question my decision a bit. Everything seemed to sketchy and I felt like we could be shot at or killed at any moment. But then I snapped out of it and realized I was doing this for my group. My friends. Some I’d even call family at this point. I didn’t care what was ahead of us, if there was a chance of them being at this park, I wasn’t going to stop.
I couldn’t see too well above all of the trees, but I could tell that we were getting closer to the park. We had only been walking for about ten minutes. However, we were walking pretty fast. Faster than an average walking speed, as I wanted no where near that area and I felt we lost valuable time while waiting for Mark. “I… I think we’re almost there.”
“Ya think?” John responded from behind me. “Just a few more minutes and I bet ya we can see the park in view.”
We walked for a couple of more minutes, and he was right. I began to see that there was a fence that could only be surrounding the park.
“Guys! I can see!” I called back excitedly. “Just keep walk-”
BANG! A shot was fired out of nowhere, and I heard the scream of Fiona. She fell to the ground as I reacted quickly and leaped to the side where the trees and bushes were more clustered. “Get over here!”
Fiona was still on the ground, clenching her left leg. I could see the blood already soaked in the dirt and in her jeans. Tina and Yoshiro began to take her to safety without getting shot. We were all hiding behind trees and bushes now.
“What was that?” Kelsi asked in a panic.
“I don’t know!” I replied, also in somewhat of a panic. I was still shaken from before, and I was nearly killed. Fiona was shot. “Is Fiona okay?”
“My leg…” I heard her mutter as Tina, Yoshiro, Emi, and Mark surrounded her.
“This isn’t good for her.” Kelsi told me as the rest went to pay attention to Fiona. “You know about those hallucinations.”
She reminded me of that, and before I can even think about it, another shot was fired. This time, in the bushes where we were hiding.
We all reacted to it and began to scramble in random directions in a panic. Did anyone else get shot? Who was shooting at us?
We all went a bit deeper into the trees and bushes, but we were still visible. “Is everyone okay?”
I turned to see everyone nod in response. The second shot did not hit anyone.
“They’re going to keep shooting at us.” John told me. “We have to do something.”
I shook my head and did something very risky. I stood up to face behind us to see if anyone was there. No one. Then I turned to face the fence that was blocking off the amusement park. Just as I turned, they fired again. I could feel the air from the bullet whizzing right past my left cheek. I dove to the ground immediately, and took a deep breath. “Holy shit…”
“Are you okay Tony? Are you hit?” John called out.
“I’m fine… just stay here everyone! Try to get as hidden as possible!” I told them. I began to crawl through the bushes and trees as I attempted to make my way to the wooden fence. I had to see what was going on and try to stop it, or else they were going to keep shooting at us.
Surprisingly, no more shots were fired after the third one. I reached the fence safely. And quickly peeked my head over. I saw one person who had a rifle standing on top of an elevated platform, which looked like it was the entrance to a light brown roller coaster. He wasn't looking at me, as he was scanning the bushes and past the trees, assumingly looking for me.
I ducked behind the fence before he could turn to me, and stayed kneeling down for a bit. What should I do? This person was clearly trying to kill us. He was guarding the park, which meant that something had to be in there. As Ryan described.back in that town, this captor seemed like he would capture people and use them for who knows what. An amusement park though, that's definitely an odd choice. But who knows in this crazy world anymore, I wouldn't even be surprised if that was the case. There was one thing I knew for sure though, that man was guarding something in the park.
I heard another shot being fired by the man, causing a scream to be heard from my group. I heard them panic now, as the once quiet scene became a fright fest. I had to do something now. I looked at my handgun, and observed the distance between me and the man. He was about thirty to forty yards behind the fence, and the elevated platform he was standing on stood about two stories high. I wanted to shoot, but I only had a handgun. I didn't want to misfire and give away my position, and even worse, let him know that I was attacking him.
I came up with another idea. I thought of going along the fence a bit to my left, and quietly hopping over it and enter the park. I could try sneak attacking the man, but I didn't know if there were any other men or guards patrolling the place. I also didn't want to take too long, as he can shoot and kill anyone at any time. I thought about going back to my group, but I didn't see how that would help considering that he would keep firing until we left. And in Fiona’s condition, and possibly someone else judging off of the scream that came after the fourth shot, that didn't seem likely. I had to think of something.
[Shoot at the man][Hop the fence and sneak in][Go back to the group]
Chapter 7: Part 9
March 18th, 2017. 1:50 P.M.
[Go to the amusement park]
“We might as well.” I answered my own question. No one see… moremed to have a problem with it. “You guys are ready to go, right?”
“Yeah.” Kelsi replied, indicating that Mark was taken care of. He was the only concern in my eyes.
“No, we aren’t. Shut up Kelsi.” Mark retorted. “I need… to just cool down. Gimme ten minutes.”
Kelsi shook her head in response and they both went and sat on the side of the road. I hated having to waste any time, but I didn’t want a grumpy Mark nagging us the entire way there and slowing us down. The park seemed a bit far. I didn’t know how long it’d take to get there.
Everyone else seemed to separate a bit, looking around the area while we waited patiently for Mark’s confirmation to leave. As I mentioned before, there were a few buildings and stores around here. So, I decided to check ‘em out. What was the worst that can happen? … [view original content]
This is getting hot. Something is not right at this park and I think it sounds very logical now that this creepy group is actually there. I doubt the area is big enough for two highly aggressive groups of bastards, so while the amusement park might be an odd choice for a hideout, it now sounds very well in the realms of possible. But man, this is making me more anxious than ever. I've thought of a thousand ways this could end badly and just this once, I hope I'm seriously wrong.
On another note, Mark is officially the worst now. I was kinda digging his "asshole, but cares for friends" personality, but seriously? He wasted ten minutes for nothing, while the group, Tony's girlfriend, best friend and the rest he considers family gets dragged to some creepy lair of evil, with at least one of them seriously wounded already and we still don't know what the bad guys are planning to do with them. And Mark seriously has the nerve to demand a break and to whine when they leave before his ten minutes are over? I can understand he's feeling down after Joe, but after that display of bitchy selfishness, I honestly don't give a fuck about his feelings anymore. These ten minutes could be what screws up the chance for a happy reunion between Tony and his group. Ugh, it seems Mark tries his best to become the new Billy, even if Billy is eternally going to be the absolute worst character of course. One thing is for sure already, Mark is to blame for whatever happens to the group in these ten minutes. And that could literally be everything.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
Okay, I have never actually shot a gun in my life, but isn't thirty to forty feet a serious distance? While Tony is not a bad shot, I've never seen him as the best shot in the group either. Because of that, shooting at him is not guaranteed to succeed. He probably only has one try before the guy gets to the nearest cover and if he misses, the other guys in there will know of his position as well. Meanwhile, sneaking in gives him a chance to get a better shot at the guy, or even better, to kill him silently.
Chapter 7: Part 9
March 18th, 2017. 1:50 P.M.
[Go to the amusement park]
“We might as well.” I answered my own question. No one see… moremed to have a problem with it. “You guys are ready to go, right?”
“Yeah.” Kelsi replied, indicating that Mark was taken care of. He was the only concern in my eyes.
“No, we aren’t. Shut up Kelsi.” Mark retorted. “I need… to just cool down. Gimme ten minutes.”
Kelsi shook her head in response and they both went and sat on the side of the road. I hated having to waste any time, but I didn’t want a grumpy Mark nagging us the entire way there and slowing us down. The park seemed a bit far. I didn’t know how long it’d take to get there.
Everyone else seemed to separate a bit, looking around the area while we waited patiently for Mark’s confirmation to leave. As I mentioned before, there were a few buildings and stores around here. So, I decided to check ‘em out. What was the worst that can happen? … [view original content]
I have the same concerns as Liquid about shooting. Tony can miss and then he has lost a chance to enter the park without causing the alarm. Maybe he can free his group without having to fight the entire group who captured them. But this is getting so good! I fear for the group and really want that Tony can save them.
Chapter 7: Part 9
March 18th, 2017. 1:50 P.M.
[Go to the amusement park]
“We might as well.” I answered my own question. No one see… moremed to have a problem with it. “You guys are ready to go, right?”
“Yeah.” Kelsi replied, indicating that Mark was taken care of. He was the only concern in my eyes.
“No, we aren’t. Shut up Kelsi.” Mark retorted. “I need… to just cool down. Gimme ten minutes.”
Kelsi shook her head in response and they both went and sat on the side of the road. I hated having to waste any time, but I didn’t want a grumpy Mark nagging us the entire way there and slowing us down. The park seemed a bit far. I didn’t know how long it’d take to get there.
Everyone else seemed to separate a bit, looking around the area while we waited patiently for Mark’s confirmation to leave. As I mentioned before, there were a few buildings and stores around here. So, I decided to check ‘em out. What was the worst that can happen? … [view original content]
There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is where the group is. I also feel that they may have walked into a large encampment and an extremely secure one at that. Must be pretty secure to have that rollercoaster going... unless someone intentionally turned it on. Maybe one of the group to alert John to their location?
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I'm not exactly sure how good of a shot Tony is at this point, but maybe it's safer to go stealth. That way, he doesn't give away his position and if he deals with this dude, he may be able to hide his position and get a better idea of what they're up against. Though, I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be a little too much for them to handle at this moment.
I knew this was the best option. I was quite a good distance away from the man, and I couldn’t risk missing and giving away my position. I gingerly hugged the fence as I made my way towards the left. I peeked above the fence to see if I can see anyone. Nope.
I quietly climbed over and was now inside of the park. I was in a pretty open area, so I made my way over to nearby lockers and hid behind them. I could see which ride I was near; it was The Great Freight Train. It was a roller coaster, but not an extreme one. It was more of a family ride, as it didn’t even reach one hundred feet high. The tracks were a dark orange color. Part of it went over a small lake that was located inside of the park.
I was across from the area where the entrance to the ride is. I peeked once again, and didn’t see anybody nearby. I took a deep breath, and sprinted light on my feet across the open area and near the entrance. The entrance was pretty secluded, as it was in an area that also lead to cable cars but that’s it. Other than the way to get here, it was pretty much a dead end.
I carefully climbed through the bars in the queue line, as walking past all of them would take way too much time. I began climbing the stairs, with my handgun now out and ready to fire. As I climbed the stairs, I was now in view of the man. He was facing the opposite direction, still searching for my group. I aimed my handgun at him, and I noticed him starting to turn. My heart began racing, and I fired. As soon as I did, I hurried my way down the stairs before he could even see me. I heard him scream out of pain, and he called out a name. I couldn’t make out what it was.
I sprinted as fast as I can, and climbed over the fence as fast as I could. I had no idea what was going on in the park, and I made my way back to my group safely.
“What happened? What was that?” John asked.
“I shot the guy.” I told them, out of breath. “Didn’t even see me. He called out someone’s name, I don’t know who. I heard him say someone’s name, but I couldn’t make it out. Must be some sort of camp… I don’t want to be in another one of those.”
“Are they in there? Our group?” Ryan asked.
“No idea… I have no i-” I began to say until I heard someone shout, “I SEE YOU!”
We all froze, and looked at each other. We didn’t know what to do.
“I said, I see you! Show yourselves or suffer the consequences!” He shouted again. “Don’t try to run! I have you at gunpoint!”
Still frozen, we had no idea what to do. “Don’t move.” I whispered.
“Alright, I’m gonna say it one more time. I have you guys at gunpoint! Come out now, I’m not gonna shoot!” He shouted, in a rather friendly tone. Then it changed to a menacing one. “Unless you try to run…”
There was no other option. We all nodded towards each other and made ourselves clear that we had to go out. We all crawled to the open, and stood up. I voluntarily stepped in front of everybody else. I could see him. He had already hopped the fence to face us. He was very tall, and had brown-graying hair with a bushy beard. He was wearing long, black robes along with it. He seemed to be in his late forties, and was aiming a rifle right at me. But what really caught my eye was that he looked almost exactly like… the Grim Reaper.
“Tony!” Ryan whispered from behind me. “That’s him! That’s the guy who took our group!”
My stomach dropped as he said that, and I didn’t want to respond and give the Grim Reaper any signs of a possible escape.
“Who are you? What do you want?” I wanted to sound like I wasn’t scared, but it came out as almost a whimper. I could tell that he noticed this, as he smiled right after I said it.
“I am the Grim Reaper, if you cannot tell. I am Satan’s incarnation to Earth.” He spoke clearly for the first time. His voice was… creepy. I couldn’t even describe it, it was just creepy.
“You aren’t the Grim Reaper.” Mark stated the obvious from behind. I wanted him to just shut his mouth, as I knew he was capable of saying stupid things at stupid times.
The Grim Reaper slowly turned his head towards Mark, and his smile faded away. He began to approach him, who was standing a few people to my left. He still had his rifle aimed at us. “Don’t do any anything dumb. I can see you.” He said very bluntly. “Are you sure about that?” He faced Mark.
“No shit.” He responded.
He got closer to Mark, and I noticed a large machete tied to his back. He placed his arm around the machete, as if he was about to pull it out.
“What else do you have to say?” The Grim Reaper asked.
I turned to Mark and shook my head with my eyes wide open, hoping to get his attention without the Grim Reaper noticing.
Mark’s eyes met mine for a split second, and then faced the Grim Reaper. “Uh-nothing…” He put his head down.
The Grim Reaper smiled again and pulled his hand away from the machete. “Good.” He walked back to where he was standing before. “I was about to say, I’m sure you didn’t want to be fed to my pets.”
I had no idea what freakish shit he was talking about, but I wisely chose to ignore everything he said and make no comments.
“Now that I have introduced myself, I would like to say welcome. Welcome!” I raised his arms, with his rifle still in his hand. He put his arms down. “I am so happy that you all have stumbled upon my cult. Now that you are here, there is no way of leaving.” His smile became extreme disturbing. That statement made my stomach drop even more.
“Now, that is pretty much it. Any questions? Comments? Concerns?” He asked.
Silence.
The Grim Reaper cleared his throat. “I said, any questions, comments, or concerns?” He raised his voice much louder than before.
More silence. I didn’t want to say anything, I was scared shitless of what this guy would do.
He started to walk towards me. I gulped. He now stood only about five feet away from me, with his rifle still ready.
“Do you have any questions, comments, or concerns, young man?” He asked, still smiling.
I shook my head.
“Come on, I’m sure you do.” He chuckled. “Want me to kill you?”
I sighed with my eyes wide open, and spoke. “Actually, yes…”
The Grim Reaper nodded, and seemed to be happy. “Go ahead, let me hear it!”
I wanted to say “Go fuck yourself” so badly, but I knew that would be the worst thing ever. Instead, I asked him a question I genuinely wanted the answer of.
“Do you have… other people…” I trailed off.
The Grim Reaper raised his eyebrows, and took a tiny step back. “Oh, of course. Why do you ask?”
“Just wanted to know…” I trailed off again. I was so excited yet so scared and nervous when he said that. Our group had to be in there.
“Well, be more specific. Dead or alive? Because if it’s alive, you may not be so pleased.” He spoke in a creepy tone.
My stomach dropped even harder than it did the past two times. Tears began to build up, but I fought hard to hold them back. Please, don’t be dead…
“A-ali-alive……..” I stuttered badly. I faced downwards a little bit as I said it. My heart was racing more than it has in my entire life.
The Grim Reaper smacked his lips in response. “Heh, there’s some. Some are waiting to be sacrificed.”
I didn’t even know how to respond. “Wha-what?”
“Alright, allow me to explain.” He took a few steps back. “People I find, I make use out of them. I put them to tons of use. That’s why I attract so many people. I need them. So why not settle in a large amusement park? Run the roller coasters, for more reasons than to just ride them. Much, much more reasons…”
“.....And?” I asked, panicking inside.
“And!” He shouted. “And… we must find multiple ways to feed and sacrifice. The more we feed the Devil, the more we please him. All of this, these animals roaming around, my pets, as I call them… this is the Satan’s punishment. To all fuckers like you who don’t believe!”
I got angry now, and I’m sure most of my group did too. But we knew the wisest option would be to just stay silent. It was at this moment, however, when The Grim Reaper noticed Ryan.
“You… you are still alive?” He chuckled. “Heh, that’s even better. It’s always better when the food is fresh.”
No one responded, as usual. This guy genuinely scared me. More than Ashton and Fredrik did, and I didn’t think that was possible.
“Now!.... Follow me. Or I will not hesitate to kill you, and feed you to the Devil. I’m sure you wouldn’t want that.” The Grim Reaper laughed. “At least, not now…”
He began to walk around the fence, assumingly leading us to the entrance. We both looked at each other puzzled, and ultimately decided it was just best to follow him. I knew he would shoot us and kill us if we didn’t.
The entrance wasn’t far, but when we made it there, it was hellish. Each gate was guarded by chained walkers, and alongside the perimeter of the entrance were cages… cages filled with human limbs and body parts. Each cage had puddles of blood all around them. I wanted to throw up.
“Don’t be scared, they don’t bite.” The Grim Reaper announced. “Only if I allow them too. But for now, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
When we got past all of the walker-guarded gates, we made it to the final entrance. Beside each one was a man wearing the same black robes The Grim Reaper was wearing.
“Good evening, Samael.” Each one of them stated in unison.
“Good evening.” The Grim Reaper replied. Was his real name Samael?
“Who are these people? New welcomers?” One of them asked.
“Yes. Allow us to enter.” The Grim Reaper said as we walked through into the park.
He took us to the center of the park, where a fountain was located. He stopped us here and spoke. “Now, if you couldn’t catch on just before, my name is Samael Bradshaw. Do not let that take away from the fact that I am The Grim Reaper. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let me take you somewhere to stay for now.”
We went north of the fountain, where there isn’t too much located. There is another lake, which is much larger than the one near The Great Freight Train. Behind this lake is nothing but woods. This was where Samael was taking us…
Once we looped around the lake, there was a large cabin-like structure in the middle of the woods. It wasn’t house-like, it was more of a square wooden structure with a roof on top with only one room. It looked run down and almost as if it were about to fall apart.
“Enter there. Now. I will be back soon.” Samael ordered as he aimed his rifle at us.
Was this where my group was? Were they in here? Please be in here…
I opened the door.
I met eyes with a few strangers. But then, they shifted over to Dom. Then to Eric. Then Adam. Deryck. Santiago. Dylan. Tom. Dan. Mina. And lastly, Katrina. They were all alive and were filled with shock when we noticed each other. The rest followed behind. All of the terrible, horrible, hellish thoughts I had in my mind and that I knew were about to come all vanished. I was filled with so much excitement. It was the most bittersweet moment of my life. However, this was disrupted when Samael began to shout.
“The option to leave is there. All you have to do is hope I don’t catch you on my 24/7 monitored cameras established here from the park. See you soon.” He slammed the door shut, and I heard him walking away.
As soon as he left, I hugged Katrina along with everyone else. We were ecstatic, but made sure to keep calm about it.
“I met all of these guys after we escaped Trevor and all of them… Tina here was the one who decided to take me in.” I explained to everyone. “I probably would be dead if it wasn’t for her.”
Everyone seemed thankful.
“I’m so glad you’re back.” Katrina smiled with the biggest smile I’ve seen on her since I met her.
“Same thing here bro.” Eric grinned. The rest of the group reacted the same way.
I turned to see my new group, and they were all smiling as well, even Mark. He patted me on the back. “I’m glad you found your group buddy.” The moment seemed to change him a bit.
I introduced everyone to each other and we sat back, soaking in the excitement. But then, the looming realization of the fact that we were being held hostage by a sickish cult who planned to ‘feed us to the Devil’ settled in.
But whatever happened, it was gonna happen with all of us. Old group and new group, we were now one big group trying to surviving Samael. Trying to survive the Grim Reaper. Only God knows what we had ahead of us……….
[END OF CHAPTER 7]
Chapter 7 has finally ended! After writing began in March, it has taken seven months to finish which I am not happy about, especially for the shortest chapter since Chapter 1. But as promised before, regular writing is finally back and with a new chapter ahead, it's only gonna get better.
Because of the longevity of this chapter and the fact that there has been two several delays, I am not going to post the regular questions after a chapter. However, there are two things I want to know specifically:
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group?
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters?
If you want to leave any other thoughts, feel free as always. Thanks for sticking along and I can't wait to begin Chapter 8
Oh god, oh my god This is... oh man, I don't know if this is good or bad, but it is at least far better than having the entire group dead! Tony and Kat are reunited and it warms my heart. But they are captured by some evil, deranged, hellishly creepy son of a bitch and I am already as afraid of him as I hate him. Argh, Chapter 8 is going to be one butt-clenching horror show, but I have no doubt that I am going to be just as amazed as I am afraid. But for now, I am just so relieved that Tony managed to find his group again that they are all alive for now, even if I am afraid that this might change in the next chapter.
Now to the questions:
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group?
I won't focus on the old group too much here, as their involvement in this chapter has been minimal, even with John and Ryan, who had slightly more to do. From the new group, my favourite character was Joe, surprisingly. I do feel a bit bad for leaving him to die, because I see that he has been a great guy. It was just, there was little chance to save him without endangering the group, so I had to keep my priorities straight. My favourite living character would be Emi, who is certainly cool. She made a good impression.
My least favourite is clearly Mark. God, has he been a jerk. I mean, yeah, being a jerk is not too bad. Dom has been a huge jerk in the very beginning, Eric struck me as a bit of a jerk, Dan was one for sure and hell, even Kat has been a jerk in the very beginning before she warmed up to Tony (like, a lot ). Mark meanwhile... well, he has arguably been by far the biggest jerk in the entire story so far that still managed not to be an antagonist. What really made me dislike him was his behaviour in the penultimate part. I mean, he knows Tony is looking for his group and even if he doesn't like Tony, he knows these people are in mortal danger, yet he still basically forces them to waste ten minutes. In this situation, it didn't change a lot, but man, that could have theoretically decided about life or death. Only time will tell if he can get any better. Of course, the Grim Reaper is just as bad, but since he is the antagonist, I think that is to be expected. He certainly is the most deranged of the antagonists (aside from Billy, who is still worse) and right now, I certainly miss Dexter and Ashton. I am really afraid for what this guy is going to do in Chapter 8
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters?
I must confess, I was a bit sceptical in the beginning. A chapter without pretty much 90% of the main cast, focussing entirely on completely new people? I was really unsure if this would work out, but must admit, you convinced me. My feelings for the old group still outshine my feelings for the new group, but now that they are one big group, I am really happy. You did good work with developing these people and I am curious for how they are going to interact with the old group. New friendships could be formed, new rivalries, but right now, they have a more urgent goal.
Anyways, this was a great chapter. Of course, the breaks weren't so good, but they were mostly beyond your control, so there's no point in criticizing them. I'm loving that the story is so active now and I can't wait for future chapters!
Chapter 7: Part 10
March 18th, 2017. 2:34 P.M.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I knew this was the best option. I was quite a good dis… moretance away from the man, and I couldn’t risk missing and giving away my position. I gingerly hugged the fence as I made my way towards the left. I peeked above the fence to see if I can see anyone. Nope.
I quietly climbed over and was now inside of the park. I was in a pretty open area, so I made my way over to nearby lockers and hid behind them. I could see which ride I was near; it was The Great Freight Train. It was a roller coaster, but not an extreme one. It was more of a family ride, as it didn’t even reach one hundred feet high. The tracks were a dark orange color. Part of it went over a small lake that was located inside of the park.
I was across from the area where the entrance to the ride is. I peeked once again, and didn’t see anybody nearby. I took a deep breath, and sprinted light on my… [view original content]
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group? Emi is pretty cool, in overall this asian group is interesting and contain of different personalities and would like to learn more about them.
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters? It's always nice to see new faces appear, new blood is always good.
Chapter 7: Part 10
March 18th, 2017. 2:34 P.M.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I knew this was the best option. I was quite a good dis… moretance away from the man, and I couldn’t risk missing and giving away my position. I gingerly hugged the fence as I made my way towards the left. I peeked above the fence to see if I can see anyone. Nope.
I quietly climbed over and was now inside of the park. I was in a pretty open area, so I made my way over to nearby lockers and hid behind them. I could see which ride I was near; it was The Great Freight Train. It was a roller coaster, but not an extreme one. It was more of a family ride, as it didn’t even reach one hundred feet high. The tracks were a dark orange color. Part of it went over a small lake that was located inside of the park.
I was across from the area where the entrance to the ride is. I peeked once again, and didn’t see anybody nearby. I took a deep breath, and sprinted light on my… [view original content]
Didn't show me that any new chapters were posted, but man they were good! My favorite character at the moment is probably Emi, she's a pretty cool character. It's been interesting meeting new people and trying to find the old group. I can't wait to see where the story goes from here!
Chapter 7: Part 10
March 18th, 2017. 2:34 P.M.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I knew this was the best option. I was quite a good dis… moretance away from the man, and I couldn’t risk missing and giving away my position. I gingerly hugged the fence as I made my way towards the left. I peeked above the fence to see if I can see anyone. Nope.
I quietly climbed over and was now inside of the park. I was in a pretty open area, so I made my way over to nearby lockers and hid behind them. I could see which ride I was near; it was The Great Freight Train. It was a roller coaster, but not an extreme one. It was more of a family ride, as it didn’t even reach one hundred feet high. The tracks were a dark orange color. Part of it went over a small lake that was located inside of the park.
I was across from the area where the entrance to the ride is. I peeked once again, and didn’t see anybody nearby. I took a deep breath, and sprinted light on my… [view original content]
Thank god the group is still alive Of course I did not expect all of them to be dead but I was worried. The next chapter sounds like it will be very cool, I hope it starts soon!
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group?
Favorite character of the new group: I like Tina, she helped Tony the most and he would have never found his group without her help because she convinced her group to help. He owes her very much for this.
Least favorite character of the new group: Does the Grim Reaper count? He is not a member of the group but he is my least favorite and I hope he does not kill my favorite characters. If the question is limited to the group, it is Mark. But I feel he finally warmed up to Tony in the final part, even if this does not excuse his behavior before this but he is on the right way now.
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters?
It was nice! I have missed the old group but I enjoyd seeing the new faces and I am looking forward how they will interact with the old group and how they will all work to escape from the Grim Reaper.
Chapter 7: Part 10
March 18th, 2017. 2:34 P.M.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I knew this was the best option. I was quite a good dis… moretance away from the man, and I couldn’t risk missing and giving away my position. I gingerly hugged the fence as I made my way towards the left. I peeked above the fence to see if I can see anyone. Nope.
I quietly climbed over and was now inside of the park. I was in a pretty open area, so I made my way over to nearby lockers and hid behind them. I could see which ride I was near; it was The Great Freight Train. It was a roller coaster, but not an extreme one. It was more of a family ride, as it didn’t even reach one hundred feet high. The tracks were a dark orange color. Part of it went over a small lake that was located inside of the park.
I was across from the area where the entrance to the ride is. I peeked once again, and didn’t see anybody nearby. I took a deep breath, and sprinted light on my… [view original content]
Oh man... they're together again which is good, but at the same time, they're not in a good place right now. Not at all. This Grim Reaper dude is scary as fuck and you have done a really good job getting across just how intimidating this guy is. Also, the cult vibe that i'm getting just adds to the creepy factor. This may not be as simple as shooting their way out like they've have done previously and they may be in for a world of hurt before they even get close to getting out.
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group?
At the risk of being different, I kinda liked Mark. Obviously I was a bit annoyed at how he seemed to put himself and the rest of his group before even thinking about trusting or helping anyone else, but from his perspective, he owes very little to these people. His group has probably gone through similar things to the original group and he probably does not want anything bad to happen to the rest of them so he has become overprotective. He's quite similar to Dom personality wise and quite similar to Dylan in how protective he is of his own people. As for the others, i'm not quite sure yet, but Joe was a really decent guy and it was a shame that he went the way he did.
This Grim Reaper guy may turn out to be one that I hate in the future, but for now, he's just an intimidating figure rather than an abhorrent scumbag like Dexter, Ashton, etc.
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters?
I must agree with @LiquidChicagoTed that without the main cast, I could not see it being as gripping. Not because of the quality of the story, but because there were so many new characters introduced in such a short space of time, so there was little opportunity to delve deep enough into their characters. Some were fleshed out really well, like Mark, Kelsi and Emi, but the others just sunk into the background. Obviously there might be time to get to know the others a bit more but... just something to think about. Overall, the chapter was decent, kept a good pace and built tension and suspense excellently.
I am still left, as ever with this story, in anticipation of what might happen next, good or bad and that is one thing that has never changed since I stumbled across this story. Keep it up!
Chapter 7: Part 10
March 18th, 2017. 2:34 P.M.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I knew this was the best option. I was quite a good dis… moretance away from the man, and I couldn’t risk missing and giving away my position. I gingerly hugged the fence as I made my way towards the left. I peeked above the fence to see if I can see anyone. Nope.
I quietly climbed over and was now inside of the park. I was in a pretty open area, so I made my way over to nearby lockers and hid behind them. I could see which ride I was near; it was The Great Freight Train. It was a roller coaster, but not an extreme one. It was more of a family ride, as it didn’t even reach one hundred feet high. The tracks were a dark orange color. Part of it went over a small lake that was located inside of the park.
I was across from the area where the entrance to the ride is. I peeked once again, and didn’t see anybody nearby. I took a deep breath, and sprinted light on my… [view original content]
Alright then, I have a couple of questions to the alternative choices, as always This time, they aren't that many, but they are still numerous enough.
First of all, the elephant in the room. I remember what you said after the last chapter ended. There could have been a way for the worst character that ever existed to survive the last chapter. Namely, there was this quote:
In result of this, none of the characters would have actually died; in fact, the entire group would live on to Chapter 7. Of course, if you still would have wished for Billy to be dead, Chapter 7 would have played out completely different than what I have planned, and there would have been an option or two to off him when you can. However, this would put the entire group on bad terms. I won't go too much into it - this is Chapter 6 we are talking about, isn't it? XD
So, of course I would have still wished for the worst character that ever existed to be dead and I would have pushed for it very heavily. I also remember you told me you would go into more detail after this chapter and I am now very curious about what a wonderful chance we missed to end the beyond useless existence of that thoroughly terrible character. Can you elaborate now? I'm also curious why such a good deed could ever put anyone into trouble.
So, other alternative choices I am curious about. There is the very first choice in this chapter, where we had the chance to search the woods, or Darenton, or the roads around Darenton. We chose the woods. Would it have changed anything if we would have chosen differently there?
Second, the Joe choice. What would have happened if we would have cut off Joe's leg instead of leaving him?
And finally, what would have happened if we would have searched elsewhere instead of the amusement park, in the penultimate choice of this chapter?
So... only four questions this time, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions in the next chapter. I can't wait for it
Sorry for being so late on this, I've had a busy week and couldn't find any free time. But, I was able to get on today and finally answer.
So, of course I would have still wished for the worst character that ever existed to be dead and I would have pushed for it very heavily. I also remember you told me you would go into more detail after this chapter and I am now very curious about what a wonderful chance we missed to end the beyond useless existence of that thoroughly terrible character. Can you elaborate now? I'm also curious why such a good deed could ever put anyone into trouble.
Well, this goes back to the choice of choosing to hunt with Billy or not. If he were to live to Chapter 7, (which is what would have happened if it was chosen to go hunting with him), this would obviously mean that the walker escape would be much easier which would lead to the entire group staying in tact, with Trevor, Billy, and Samantha surviving. This would mean that the new group would not be introduced until some time later, as the current group would remain as the old one plus Billy, Karen, and Trevor. That group would go on the road like what happened in Chaptre 7 and then go on to be captured by Samael. In Chapter 7, more events would have happened to kill him. But doing so would put Karen and Billy on bad terms with the group, as well as other members of the old group such as Samantha. Of course, Billy could be kept alive and survive to Chapter 8, and since Chapter 8 has not started yet I cannot say what could have happened.
So, other alternative choices I am curious about. There is the very first choice in this chapter, where we had the chance to search the woods, or Darenton, or the roads around Darenton. We chose the woods. Would it have changed anything if we would have chosen differently there?
Yes, this would have changed things. Actually, it wouldn't really change anything besides the introduction of different characters. If the group searched Darenton, they would have came across a different small group of survivors rather than Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, Emi, and Alessandra. This different group would go on to continue the story with the group without any major changes to the main storyline.
Second, the Joe choice. What would have happened if we would have cut off Joe's leg instead of leaving him?
If Joe's leg was cut off, he would have definitely slowed the group down and would be in constant excruciating pain throughout the way. Safe to say, the better choice was chosen in terms of Joe's health and the timetable for searching for the group, as Joe would have went out peacefully and without much pain. However, a positive from this choice would be that Mark would become a nicer person to Tony for the rest of the chapter and in the future.
And finally, what would have happened if we would have searched elsewhere instead of the amusement park, in the penultimate choice of this chapter?
Obviously, this was a big choice. This would have been disastrous for the state of the old group, as Chapter 8 would be more searching and meeting new characters. During this time, it is no secret that members of the old group would be killed by Samael. Throughout more future choices, Tony and the new group would eventually run into Samael and his old group, but with a good amount of them killed off. Those I will not say, as they may provide potential spoilers.
Alright then, I have a couple of questions to the alternative choices, as always This time, they aren't that many, but they are still numer… moreous enough.
First of all, the elephant in the room. I remember what you said after the last chapter ended. There could have been a way for the worst character that ever existed to survive the last chapter. Namely, there was this quote:
In result of this, none of the characters would have actually died; in fact, the entire group would live on to Chapter 7. Of course, if you still would have wished for Billy to be dead, Chapter 7 would have played out completely different than what I have planned, and there would have been an option or two to off him when you can. However, this would put the entire group on bad terms. I won't go too much into it - this is Chapter 6 we are talking about, isn't it? XD
So, of course I would have still wished for the worst character that ever existed to be dead… [view original content]
Well, this goes back to the choice of choosing to hunt with Billy or not. If he were to live to Chapter 7, (which is what would have happened if it was chosen to go hunting with him), this would obviously mean that the walker escape would be much easier which would lead to the entire group staying in tact, with Trevor, Billy, and Samantha surviving. This would mean that the new group would not be introduced until some time later, as the current group would remain as the old one plus Billy, Karen, and Trevor. That group would go on the road like what happened in Chaptre 7 and then go on to be captured by Samael. In Chapter 7, more events would have happened to kill him. But doing so would put Karen and Billy on bad terms with the group, as well as other members of the old group such as Samantha. Of course, Billy could be kept alive and survive to Chapter 8, and since Chapter 8 has not started yet I cannot say what could have happened.
Hm, can you specify? How would he have died in particular in these scenes? I mean, I am happy that his right-hand man Trevor is gone as well and that Karen is hopefully never going to return, but still, I am curious how he would have died there. And ugh, dragging his worthless ass to Chapter 8 sounds terrible. If that thing would have died offscreen in Chapter 1 together with everyone even remotely related to it, then that would have still been too late. And would anyone other than Samantha (whom I suddenly like a lot less after this revelation) actually object to killing him? God, I still can't put into words how much pure hatred I still have towards Billy. Second question, probably related, does he have any close family still alive?
If Joe's leg was cut off, he would have definitely slowed the group down and would be in constant excruciating pain throughout the way. Safe to say, the better choice was chosen in terms of Joe's health and the timetable for searching for the group, as Joe would have went out peacefully and without much pain. However, a positive from this choice would be that Mark would become a nicer person to Tony for the rest of the chapter and in the future.
It is strange that this choice, which I considered to be the worst for Joe, actually ended up as the best for him. So does that mean that he would have died if we would have cut off his leg as well, just on more pain? With Mark, well, he was an aggravating piece of shit, but at least he seemed to become slightly more positive at the end of this chapter, so it really seems we chose the overall best of the three choices, as weird as it sounds. This is quite the opposite of what I previously thought, where I thought we chose the best for the group, but the worst for Joe, but well, I am quite happy that things are different there. The old man did not deserve a painful death.
Obviously, this was a big choice. This would have been disastrous for the state of the old group, as Chapter 8 would be more searching and meeting new characters. During this time, it is no secret that members of the old group would be killed by Samael. Throughout more future choices, Tony and the new group would eventually run into Samael and his old group, but with a good amount of them killed off. Those I will not say, as they may provide potential spoilers.
Ugh, this is quite a scary thought To think that it all came down to a single choice in the end... But these dead characters are they going to be the ones that are going to die or possibly die in the version of Chapter 8 we're going to get, or are there characters whom we outright saved with our decision to go to the amusement park? But ah, safe to say that we chose the correct option for my stressed nerves
Sorry for being so late on this, I've had a busy week and couldn't find any free time. But, I was able to get on today and finally answer.
… more So, of course I would have still wished for the worst character that ever existed to be dead and I would have pushed for it very heavily. I also remember you told me you would go into more detail after this chapter and I am now very curious about what a wonderful chance we missed to end the beyond useless existence of that thoroughly terrible character. Can you elaborate now? I'm also curious why such a good deed could ever put anyone into trouble.
Well, this goes back to the choice of choosing to hunt with Billy or not. If he were to live to Chapter 7, (which is what would have happened if it was chosen to go hunting with him), this would obviously mean that the walker escape would be much easier which would lead to the entire group staying in tact, with Trevor, Billy, and Samantha surviving… [view original content]
“What happened? After all of that with Karen and Trevor?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, how the hell did you get outta that?” Dom asked as well. “And what happened to Karen?”
“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Adam smirked.
I shook my head and began to explain the entire thing. “I have no idea what happened to Karen. I watched Billy get devoured and I tried to bring Karen along, but she wouldn’t stop crying on the ground. The walkers were closing in, so I just ran.”
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
I nodded to Katrina and resumed explaining. “I had to leave her. I feel terrible about it but I had to. I tried to look for you guys, and, well… I couldn’t find any of you. I was stranded in the woods and it began to rain, I thought I was gonna die from those walkers. But as I said before, I ran into Tina and she took me in and I met Mark, Kelsi, and Fiona. There was also someone else, but…”
I decided to not finish that sentence as I’m sure everyone knew what I was about to say. “I stayed with them for the night and I learned that they were headed to Ohio. Kelsi’s dad has a military base there, and since I arrived searching for you guys we decided to leave and find all of you before we took off. We ended up meeting Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, and Emi here along the way. They were looking for one of their friends too, Miyako.”
As soon as I finished the sentence, one of the few strangers in the room began to speak. She was a woman. I could tell that she was Muslim, as she was wearing a hijab. She was pretty slim and her facial features were sharp.
“Miyako?” She stated.
“Yeah, do you know her?” Yoshiro’s face lit up.
“Yes! She was here a few days ago, but was taken by Samael and I haven’t seen her since.” She informed them.
Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, and Emi all cheered and shared a quick hug. But Yoshiro was the first to ask a very important question. “She’s here…. But is she alive……..?”
“If she’s dead, I’m gonna find this Grim Reaper fucker myself and slice him up into pieces.” Kazuhiko growled.
“I have no idea.” The woman responded. “But I’d assume that messing with him is a very bad idea.”
There was a quick pause. “So, uh…” I tried to started a conversation with the woman. I snapped my fingers to signal her to tell me her name.
“Oh, I’m Haya.” She informed me.
“Haya.” I stated bluntly. “Do you know anything about this place?”
“I don’t know much.” She shrugged. “I was only taken here a few days ago. As well as the rest of us.” She stuck her arm out towards two other people, a man and a woman. Haya and them were the only other strangers in the room.
“We’ve been in here since Samael took us.” Tom jittered. “I don’t know what he’s gonna do. He’s gonna kill us.”
“Come on, if he tries to take us out we’ll kill him. Fuck the guards, we can run away right after we do it.” Deryck suggested.
“Yeah, the dumbass didn’t even take our weapons.” Kazuhiko snickered. “I don’t see a problem with that.”
“You can’t be that stupid.” Dom hissed. “I want to kill him as much as the next guy, but this place is protected to hell. I’m sure they have ten snipers locked onto this cabin right now just in case any of us leave.”
“Still doesn’t explain why he let us keep our weapons.” Kazuhiko retorted. “But hey, I’m not complaining.”
“We should take advantage of that.” Deryck stood up eagerly, as he seemed very excited to present one of his plans that was probably really stupid. All of Deryck’s plans are dumb, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
“Is anyone here willing to die? Anyone?” He asked.
It was silent for about five seconds before Mark replied. “Why the fuck would we want to die?”
“Dammit.” Deryck made a fist out of failure. “I was thinking someone could isolate themselves from the group and kill Samael himself. That way, all of the guards would immediately lock onto him and kill him while the rest of us escape!”
“I’m assuming you didn’t hear what I just said dumbass.” Dom sneered. “Even if we did that, I guarantee you every part of this park will be locked down with protection. We’d all die either way.”
Deryck didn’t respond and sat down in defeat. “I’m sure you can do something, right Emi?” Kazuhiko asked.
“Like what?” She replied with a question.
“I know you’re a good stealthy person, and you can throw those knives good.” Kazuhiko responded.
“Oh my God.” Dom said under his breath in frustration.
“What are you huffing and puffing about?” Kazuhiko faced Dom. “I’m trying to find solutions on how to get out of this shit hole.”
“You’re gonna get us all killed.” Dom retorted.
Kazuhiko waved off Dom in response and didn’t say anything. The room fell silent for a bit, before I decided to speak up again. “Anyway” I continued to explain. “After that, we decided to leave to search for you guys. We ran into John out of nowhere, and we stopped by the building you were staying at. We stumbled upon Ryan who seemed in really bad shape.”
“Yeah, I was faking my death. Didn’t want that Grim Reaper fucker killing me.” Ryan added.
“Ryan gave me a brief explanation of what happened, and we set out. We eventually came across the amusement park and the rest is self explanatory.”
“Holy shit.” Dan remarked. “Good shit John, who knows what would have happened had you not found them.”
“Yeah, I owe you lots John.” I told him.
“You don’t owe me anything.” He smiled in response. “I’m just glad we finally got reunited.”
“So…. what did you guys do while I was gone?” I asked very curiously. “Like I said before, Ryan gave me a brief explanation. But I’m still curious.”
“Well.” Mina decided to take action and explain. “We waited for a long time for you to get back. But as you said before, it started to rain and it got late and we needed shelter. We fled back to Darenton at first but realized it wasn’t a good place to stay. So in the middle of the night we fled again and settled in that building where you found Ryan.”
“That night was the worst.” Tom shook his head. “I really thought we weren’t gonna see you ever again Tony. All of us did. We were all so scared and worried.”
“Not all of us were scared.” Dom snickered and joked with his little brother. “I know you’re a tough son of a bitch Tony. I had no doubt in my mind that you were gonna be fine.”
“Well, uh… I appreciate that.” I grinned. “I was just so afraid that I’d never run into you guys nor see you again. Thank God I got here when I did, I have no idea what the Grim Reaper has up his sleeve. But I know we’ll be fine.” To be honest, I knew we weren’t fine. This guy was awful. Escaping this place will not be easy at all, and if we don’t do it soon I know he’s gonna kill my friends. My family.
“So… what do we do now?” Fiona asked in concern.
“We don’t do anything.” Haya answered. “We wait for Samael.”
“We wait for him to do what?” I was quick to ask.
Haya shrugged in response. “We wait for him to get here and do whatever he wants. This place is hell, I’m telling you. My friend Celeste was taken by him as well. I don't know where she is. The amount of terrible things I’ve seen in my short time here… it’s revolting. Distasteful.”
“What do you mean?” Santiago asked with shakiness in his voice.
Haya glanced down at the young boy as a sympathetic expression formed on her face. “Nothing, honey. I’m just saying that I feel like my time is up here on Earth. You guys just got here, so maybe there’s hope for you guys. There probably is.”
I could tell she was obviously lying. I appreciated her trying to not scare Santiago, but I hoped that no one else was believing her. She was correct, the only thing we could really do is wait.
We stood and sat in the small cabin without much talking for a few minutes. My heart was racing, as I thought more about what the Grim Reaper could do to us. I had no solution, and unlike with Ashton and Fredrik, I felt as if we could legitimately be killed at any time for no reason. No reason at all.
All of a sudden, a loud thump was repeatedly heard on the door. It was clearly someone knocking, and they were knocking hard without patience. “Open the goddamn door!” It was Samael’s voice.
We all looked at each other without saying anything, as Haya motioned me to open the door since I was the closest. I slowly clutched the barely functioning doorknob and twisted it delicately. I struggled to open the door at first, but once I successfully opened it, the Grim Reaper stood in front me me, towering over all of us. He had a guard with him as well. He aimed his gun at us as soon as we opened the door.
He took a step back, and began speaking. “Ah, the newest one. Taking one for the team by opening that door. You got some balls.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t feel comfortable to respond to anything he said.
“Listen, I can see nearly twenty of you in there. But I don’t know ninety percent of your names. We’ll get to that later, but I want all of you to step out. Now.”
I didn’t hesitate and took two quick steps out of the cabin, as everyone else did. We were all by the side of the cabin, facing the Grim Reaper.
“Good, good.” Samael smiled and put his fingers on his chin through his bushy beard, as if he was trying to think of something. He then removed his chin and looked towards Haya and the other two men that I didn’t know. “Hmmm… you two. You’re the oldies here. Come here.”
The two men obeyed and approached Samael. “Take him to the warehouse.” The guard listened and dragged the man away, as the man struggled heavily in attempt to escape his grip. I watched him fail, as they went out of sight through the woods towards the amusement park.
“Now…” Samael snickered. He grabbed the other man by his shirt, and pulled him closer to himself. The man was middle aged, and had black hair with some light stubble. He seemed to be slightly overweight, but not too much. He was wearing a black shirt with orange horizontal stripes and light blue jeans. I could see the amount of fear in his face.
“You’ve been doing absolutely nothing for long enough. You’ve had your chances and your time is up.” He spoke to the man as well as to us. “Since you have so much balls, mister, I’d appreciate it if you helped me with this.” He was talking to me.
Oh God, no. What did he want?
Samael cleared his throat. “Excuse me, I said that I’d appreciate your help. And when I say that, you are helping no matter what. You see, my arms are a bit tired and I’m a bit sore from so many people struggling to feed the Devil. Sometimes they struggle so much, I have to practically cut or shoot their arms off.”
Silence.
“Anyway, I am going to be nice as I want to give you a good first impression. I’m going to give you a choice. Now, don’t ever expect a choice. I already gave you my reasons for doing this, so no stupid questions.” He continued. “So please, come here.”
I shook my head as my stomach dropped and my heart kept racing faster than ever. I reluctantly approached Samael and the man he was still grasping by his shirt. “The rest of you, please resume your resting. Enter and don’t come out again until I say so.”
I didn’t bother to turn around, but I could hear everyone entering the cabin again. That left me with only Samael and the man. “Look at me and listen closely. No is not an answer. I will end your life and all of your other friends in there if you do otherwise. I’m sure you don’t want that.” Samael spoke in a hushed tone. “Do you?”
“No.” I replied very quietly.
“Very good.” Samael nodded. “Now, this man must be sacrificed. How do you wish to do it? As I said before, I am too sore and unable to perform the sacrifice. But you can, mister hot shot. You can see a large lake just over there. If you didn’t know, that lake is where all of the bodies are sacrificed. You can drown him, as his body will simply sink to the bottom of the lake. Very simple. Or, you can take this cleaver and cut him up into pieces and throw each piece separately. I don’t know how the Devil’s stomach is holding up right now, so I’m not sure if he would prefer a full meal or one by one. So it’s your choice.”
“Please don’t do this…” The man weeped, as he sniffled and tears ran down his face. “My family is out there somewhere. They’re looking for me.”
“Don’t worry about them, you are providing a much better cause. You will be a hero. That’s what your family wants, right?” Samael grinned menacingly.
“No… just please let me go. I’m begging you.” He continued to cry.
“I’m letting you free to the Devil. Stop bitching.” Samael’s grin went away. “Go ahead, he’s all yours. I will be watching.”
The man looked at me with a devastated face, and Samael snapped his fingers. “Excuse me, don’t take too long. The Devil is waiting.”
I shook my head even more and felt tears forming. This may have been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, and my heart felt like it was going to explode at my chest. “I’m sorry….. what would…. you…... rather want….”
Samael covered his mouth with his robes and faced me, becoming angry. “Stop with the bullshit, choose now or things are gonna get ugly!”
Hm, can you specify? How would he have died in particular in these scenes?
Well, there would be two opportunities that happen through certain choices where Tony is alone with Billy and Tony is given the chance to shoot him and kill him. More choices would lead to telling the truth or lying to cover the act up. Another would have been more unique, as it would have involved walkers and him potentially being devoured. However, if he did survive to Chapter 8, the amount of things that are possible are things that I cannot say due to spoilers.
And would anyone other than Samantha (whom I suddenly like a lot less after this revelation) actually object to killing him?
At the point of the beginning of Chapter 7, the only people who would object would be Samantha, Trevor, and Karen, which is quite obvious. As the chapter went on and depending on choices some minds may be changed but the general core of those people would not change.
Second question, probably related, does he have any close family still alive?
Hmmm, according to the submission, he did have family but he/she did not specify if the remaining of it was still alive. So, I'm assuming that they weren't.
It is strange that this choice, which I considered to be the worst for Joe, actually ended up as the best for him.
Yes, well, obviously with this logic the best choice would have been to kill Joe and make sure he doesn't return, but it is still much better than cutting off his leg and putting him through terrible pain.
But these dead characters are they going to be the ones that are going to die or possibly die in the version of Chapter 8 we're going to get, or are there characters whom we outright saved with our decision to go to the amusement park?
Well, no, not specifically. I try my best to not have the same set of characters die no matter what without reader's votes' influence unless it is absolutely necessary. But yes, characters were indirectly saved by choosing to go to the amusement park.
Well, this goes back to the choice of choosing to hunt with Billy or not. If he were to live to Chapter 7, (which is what would have happene… mored if it was chosen to go hunting with him), this would obviously mean that the walker escape would be much easier which would lead to the entire group staying in tact, with Trevor, Billy, and Samantha surviving. This would mean that the new group would not be introduced until some time later, as the current group would remain as the old one plus Billy, Karen, and Trevor. That group would go on the road like what happened in Chaptre 7 and then go on to be captured by Samael. In Chapter 7, more events would have happened to kill him. But doing so would put Karen and Billy on bad terms with the group, as well as other members of the old group such as Samantha. Of course, Billy could be kept alive and survive to Chapter 8, and since Chapter 8 has not started yet I cannot say what could have happened.
… [view original content]
Chapter 8: Part 1
March 18th, 2017. 2:58 P.M.
“What happened? After all of that with Karen and Trevor?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, how the … morehell did you get outta that?” Dom asked as well. “And what happened to Karen?”
“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Adam smirked.
I shook my head and began to explain the entire thing. “I have no idea what happened to Karen. I watched Billy get devoured and I tried to bring Karen along, but she wouldn’t stop crying on the ground. The walkers were closing in, so I just ran.”
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
I nodded to Katrina and resumed explaining. “I had to leave her. I feel terrible about it but I had to. I tried to look for you guys, and, well… I couldn’t find any of you. I was stranded in the woods and it began to rain, I thought I was gonna die from those walkers. But as I said before, … [view original content]
Chapter 8: Part 1
March 18th, 2017. 2:58 P.M.
“What happened? After all of that with Karen and Trevor?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, how the … morehell did you get outta that?” Dom asked as well. “And what happened to Karen?”
“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Adam smirked.
I shook my head and began to explain the entire thing. “I have no idea what happened to Karen. I watched Billy get devoured and I tried to bring Karen along, but she wouldn’t stop crying on the ground. The walkers were closing in, so I just ran.”
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
I nodded to Katrina and resumed explaining. “I had to leave her. I feel terrible about it but I had to. I tried to look for you guys, and, well… I couldn’t find any of you. I was stranded in the woods and it began to rain, I thought I was gonna die from those walkers. But as I said before, … [view original content]
Well, there would be two opportunities that happen through certain choices where Tony is alone with Billy and Tony is given the chance to shoot him and kill him. More choices would lead to telling the truth or lying to cover the act up. Another would have been more unique, as it would have involved walkers and him potentially being devoured. However, if he did survive to Chapter 8, the amount of things that are possible are things that I cannot say due to spoilers.
Hm, having him devoured by walkers sounds sweet, though the option for Tony to shoot him would have sound more like a punishment than something that just happened. Unless someone would deliberately push him into the walkers to take vengeance, I probably would have preferred to shoot him, even if that would have been way too fast and painless for him. At least then, his death would be a direct consequence of him murdering Nick.
At the point of the beginning of Chapter 7, the only people who would object would be Samantha, Trevor, and Karen, which is quite obvious. As the chapter went on and depending on choices some minds may be changed but the general core of those people would not change.
Ah yes, Trevor and Karen. I honestly don't think they have ever been a part of the group and frankly, their opinion never mattered anyway. At least the important people would have remained on board with doing the right thing. As for Samantha, she really would have earned my hatred in Chapter 7, as it seems.
Hmmm, according to the submission, he did have family but he/she did not specify if the remaining of it was still alive. So, I'm assuming that they weren't.
Good, good, this is very good. At least that means that his entire rotten family is dead as they deserve, while the family of the man he murdered continues to exist, in spite of everything he tried to do to change this. The next step would be to kill all of his friends, followed by everyone who has an even remotely positive memory about him, so that in the end, everyone will see his life as the worthless pile of garbage it truly was, a life in which he never did a single good thing. I guess that means only Karen still has to die for my vengeance to be complete, because I doubt that monstrously evil inbred swine had any friends before the apocalypse. God, I hope that bitch already died screaming, but I have the bad feeling that she is going to return and it'll be horrible. Please just kill her offscreen.
Yes, well, obviously with this logic the best choice would have been to kill Joe and make sure he doesn't return, but it is still much better than cutting off his leg and putting him through terrible pain.
Hm, I'm not too sure about this. I mean, from the show, we know that it can take hours until someone dies from the infection and that has been Jim, who was bitten in the stomach. Joe meanwhile was only bitten in the leg, so I guess he had a lot more time, time he could use to peacefully relive his most happy memories, before quietly drifting off. That sounds better than killing him immediately. That said, I would have liked to prevent him from turning, but well, I think now at least his death was better.
Well, no, not specifically. I try my best to not have the same set of characters die no matter what without reader's votes' influence unless it is absolutely necessary. But yes, characters were indirectly saved by choosing to go to the amusement park.
I see. This is interesting, as well as concerning. I'll probably ask who would have died in the other route at the end of the chapter once again, if that's okay
Hm, can you specify? How would he have died in particular in these scenes?
Well, there would be two opportunities that happen throug… moreh certain choices where Tony is alone with Billy and Tony is given the chance to shoot him and kill him. More choices would lead to telling the truth or lying to cover the act up. Another would have been more unique, as it would have involved walkers and him potentially being devoured. However, if he did survive to Chapter 8, the amount of things that are possible are things that I cannot say due to spoilers.
And would anyone other than Samantha (whom I suddenly like a lot less after this revelation) actually object to killing him?
At the point of the beginning of Chapter 7, the only people who would object would be Samantha, Trevor, and Karen, which is quite obvious. As the chapter went on and depending on choices some minds may be changed but the general core of those people would not chan… [view original content]
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
Call it murder, Kat, for that's what it was. Killing would imply it was accidental, which this wasn't. But yeah, I can't deny a grim satisfaction that Billy will be forever remembered as a stained pile of shit and nothing else. I just wish it wouldn't have been this pathetic whoreson who ended up murdering Nick. But still, Kat is alive, which makes me happy.
[Drown the man]
That choice... oh man, that choice is messed up. Samael is already the second most horrible character they ever encountered. I have absolutely no idea how the group is going to escape from there and for the very first time, things seem truly hopeless. But they escaped from Ashton's, they escaped from Fredrik's, so I am sure there will be an opportunity later on. But well, for now all they can do is to play along until this opportunity comes up. And I agree with Mathea on this, this seems like the less brutal option. I mean, both are pretty brutal and drowning is one hell of a shitty death, but cutting him up, probably while he is still alive? That's the fate I would have wished for Billy, not for some random guy whose name we don't even know. As far as I'm concerned, in direct comparison it is less brutal and cruel to drown him and this guy does not seem like the kind of person who deserves a cruel death.
Chapter 8: Part 1
March 18th, 2017. 2:58 P.M.
“What happened? After all of that with Karen and Trevor?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, how the … morehell did you get outta that?” Dom asked as well. “And what happened to Karen?”
“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Adam smirked.
I shook my head and began to explain the entire thing. “I have no idea what happened to Karen. I watched Billy get devoured and I tried to bring Karen along, but she wouldn’t stop crying on the ground. The walkers were closing in, so I just ran.”
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
I nodded to Katrina and resumed explaining. “I had to leave her. I feel terrible about it but I had to. I tried to look for you guys, and, well… I couldn’t find any of you. I was stranded in the woods and it began to rain, I thought I was gonna die from those walkers. But as I said before, … [view original content]
[Drown the man] I never thought I would say that but drowning is the more merciful choice.
I already hate Samael. He sounds like the worst villain they met so far because all the others just wanted to force them to work for them but he is the first who just wants to kill them all. I hope my favorite characters make it all out but he is not going to make it easy I am afraid.
Chapter 8: Part 1
March 18th, 2017. 2:58 P.M.
“What happened? After all of that with Karen and Trevor?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, how the … morehell did you get outta that?” Dom asked as well. “And what happened to Karen?”
“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Adam smirked.
I shook my head and began to explain the entire thing. “I have no idea what happened to Karen. I watched Billy get devoured and I tried to bring Karen along, but she wouldn’t stop crying on the ground. The walkers were closing in, so I just ran.”
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
I nodded to Katrina and resumed explaining. “I had to leave her. I feel terrible about it but I had to. I tried to look for you guys, and, well… I couldn’t find any of you. I was stranded in the woods and it began to rain, I thought I was gonna die from those walkers. But as I said before, … [view original content]
Chapter 8: Part 1
March 18th, 2017. 2:58 P.M.
“What happened? After all of that with Karen and Trevor?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, how the … morehell did you get outta that?” Dom asked as well. “And what happened to Karen?”
“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Adam smirked.
I shook my head and began to explain the entire thing. “I have no idea what happened to Karen. I watched Billy get devoured and I tried to bring Karen along, but she wouldn’t stop crying on the ground. The walkers were closing in, so I just ran.”
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
I nodded to Katrina and resumed explaining. “I had to leave her. I feel terrible about it but I had to. I tried to look for you guys, and, well… I couldn’t find any of you. I was stranded in the woods and it began to rain, I thought I was gonna die from those walkers. But as I said before, … [view original content]
Well, I've been on the forums for a while (around 4 months, I think) but I've only just recently started reading the fan-fictions.
So yea… moreh, I'm new here. And this is actually my first time voting for a choice. It's strange, but awesome at the same time.
Should be out tomorrow! I apologize for no parts this week, we had the week off and I've barely had any time on my laptop since I was busy doing other important things non-school related.
Chapter 8: Part 1
March 18th, 2017. 2:58 P.M.
“What happened? After all of that with Karen and Trevor?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, how the … morehell did you get outta that?” Dom asked as well. “And what happened to Karen?”
“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Adam smirked.
I shook my head and began to explain the entire thing. “I have no idea what happened to Karen. I watched Billy get devoured and I tried to bring Karen along, but she wouldn’t stop crying on the ground. The walkers were closing in, so I just ran.”
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
I nodded to Katrina and resumed explaining. “I had to leave her. I feel terrible about it but I had to. I tried to look for you guys, and, well… I couldn’t find any of you. I was stranded in the woods and it began to rain, I thought I was gonna die from those walkers. But as I said before, … [view original content]
I didn’t give a verbal reply to Samael. I just raised my arm slowly, trembling slightly, and pointed to the lake. Samael smiled and nodded. “Very well. I see you want the Devil to have a full course meal today. I like your generosity.”
He pushed the man to me, and he fell helplessly into my chest. It was almost as if he was a little kid running up to hug his or her parents after not seeing them in a long time. It broke my heart knowing that it was now my job to murder this man. For no reason at all.
“Go on now.” Samael stated bluntly, and I reluctantly approached the lake. I was so unstable that I nearly tripped over tiny branches that lay on the ground.
I reached the bank of the lake, where it started off shallow but the dropoff to the deeper portions of the lake were very close. The lake was really dirty too. It was dark and murky. I turned around to see Samael staring at me with a straight face, his arms crossed. I knew it had to be done.
I held the man in front of me, and we faced each other. I looked into his eyes and he looked into mine. “I’m so sorry.” I told him.
The man had the most emotionless and dead facial expression I have ever seen. “Just do it. Get it done quick.” He barely managed to get out.
“I’m so sorry.” I repeated as I kneeled to the side of the lake where the deeper area met with the bank, and turned around to Samael one more time. He was still in the same exact position as before, but this time he motioned me to complete the task that he assigned.
I turned back to the man, and closed my eyes as I shoved him into the water face first. He struggled and kicked mightily, trying to escape. Water was splashing everywhere, and I was beginning to get soaked. I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes to the horrific sight. After about forty five seconds that felt like forty five minutes, the kicking and splashing stopped completely. He was dead.
I forced myself to open my eyes to confirm that he was dead and no longer suffering. He was floating lifelessly underneath the water. I let go of him and he began to stay afloat without moving too much. Tears began to fall down my cheeks as I watched his lifeless body in the water.
Samael began clapping and started to approach me. “Very good. Very, very good. Don’t worry, he’ll sink eventually. That’s when the Devil takes him in. Since he is hungry, it’ll happen in no time.”
“I can’t believe you just made me do that.” I whimpered. I tried to show him that I wasn’t fazed by what I had just did, but I failed terribly. I sounded like a child who had just been yelled at by their parents.
“I can’t believe you just made me do that!” Samael mocked me. “You should be happy for treating the Devil kindly. You see, if you continue to show displeasure to the Devil, then you can kiss your life goodbye. The Devil does not like non-believers. So you either suck it up and do what I say, or you’re gonna be just like that man floating in that lake. Now, I expect zero complications with future sacrifices. Got it?”
“.....Got it……..” I mumbled. I refused to look at his face.
He snapped his fingers. “Look at me. Lift your head up.”
I slowly turned my head to face him. I was staring directly at his face, I can see the evil in his eyes. “I said, I expect zero complications with future sacrifices. Got it?” He repeated.
I nodded and spoke. “Got it.” It killed me inside saying that. I knew that everything was only going to get worse.
“Very well.” Samael spoke in a rather louder tone. “Your job for now is done. Go back inside with the others and don’t do anything else. I should be back shortly.”
With that, he walked away and made his way towards the amusement park. I stood alone on the side of the lake, facing the cabin. I turned around one last time to the man in the lake, and shook my head in disbelief and made my way back to the cabin.
March 18th, 2016. 3:22 P.M.
“I think he’s still there.” I finished explaining to everyone in the room what Samael had just made me do. “I hope he isn’t. I just want all of that erased from my brain.”
“I’m sorry Tony.” Katrina tried to comfort me, as well as some others.
“This guy is a psycho.” Haya spoke. “All I know is that he took more people. Who knows what happened to them… including your friend.” She faced Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, and Emi.
“Oh… fuck! Fuck!” Kazuhiko slammed his fist on the barely stable cabin walls, which caused the entire thing to rattle.
“Calm the fuck down!” Dom warned him. I could tell that he and Kazuhiko would probably never get along.
“Why should I? For all I know, this fucker can be EATING Miyako right now! I don’t fucking know what he can be doing!” Kazuhiko fired back.
“I don’t think he’d do that.” I informed him. “He only sacrifices people to the Devil. Or so he says he does.”
“Oh, that makes me feel SO much better!” He was about to punch the wall again, but stopped himself this time.
“Settle down, Kazu… I’m sure she’s fine.” Yoshiro placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I doubt she is!” He seemed like he was about to yell. “That girl is like a sister to me.”
“You’re not helping.” Emi finally decided to speak. “Our best thing to do right now is to try and stay positive.”
Kazuhiko sighed and didn’t respond. As soon as the arguing stopped, Samael barged in out of nowhere.
“Man, you guys are a mess!” He exclaimed. “You guys call yourself a nice big group but all I can hear is people yelling at each other.”
“It’s not all of our faults that some people can’t keep their cool.” Dom hissed back.
“Oh, I understand that.” Samael replied quickly. “I hear you guys are upset about someone named Miyako?”
“I couldn’t care less.” Dom kept talking. I saw Kazuhiko give him a death stare before Samael interrupted.
“Don’t worry about her, she’s fine and dandy. She’s been a real nice girl, ya know. And she’s quite fragile, so I don’t think she would be good for the Devil unless there are extreme circumstances.”
No one responded.
“Jesus, I just confirmed that she’s fine and after all of that arguing, nothing at all? I expected there would be some sort of excitement.” He continued.
Still, no response.
“Hmmm…” Samael began scratching his beard. “I know. You guys don’t believe me. Now, I can understand that. We just met, some of us got on the wrong foot, and there’s some lack of trust. How about we go and see her? That’s fair, I don’t see a problem with it.”
We all looked at each other, and Kazuhiko was about to say something, but Yoshiro stopped him. “Yes, please.”
“Alrighty then.” Samael grinned. “Anybody else wanna come? The more, the merrier!”
Only Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, and Emi were going to follow him outside to meet Miyako. No one else moved.
“Alrighty then, your choice. Just follow me and you guys can see her.” He began to walk away. The asians started to walk out the door but I managed to stop Emi.
“What is it?” She asked.
“Are you sure about this? This seems fishy. What if he’s planning on doing something horrible?” I warned her.
“I know, I know… I don’t feel comfortable either. But there’s no way Kazuhiko is going to pass up on this, you know he isn’t the brightest. And Yoshiro follows him wherever he goes. I can’t abandon them Tony, they’re like family.”
“I understand, but…”
“Maybe we can even see Miyako. She might be there… you’re welcome to come if you want. Anyone. Just in case something does happen…….” She spoke.
“Since I know who she is too, I might as well go,” Haya volunteered.
“Come on, what are ya waiting for?” Samael called back for Emi.
“I gotta go. Your choice Tony.” She broke away and went outside with Haya. I looked at everyone else and they looked back at me.
“I feel like I should go… they might get killed, who knows. Maybe I can stop something.” I told them.
“I don’t want anything happening to you.” Katrina showed some concern.
“Yeah man, don’t risk it.” Eric agreed.
I shook my head. What if it was safe and they were just going to see Miyako? I was just concerned that Samael may do something, and it worried me.
[Go with Samael to see Miyako][Stay put in the cabin]
Chapter 8: Part 2
March 18th, 2017. 3:16 P.M.
[Drown the man]
I didn’t give a verbal reply to Samael. I just raised my arm slowly, … moretrembling slightly, and pointed to the lake. Samael smiled and nodded. “Very well. I see you want the Devil to have a full course meal today. I like your generosity.”
He pushed the man to me, and he fell helplessly into my chest. It was almost as if he was a little kid running up to hug his or her parents after not seeing them in a long time. It broke my heart knowing that it was now my job to murder this man. For no reason at all.
“Go on now.” Samael stated bluntly, and I reluctantly approached the lake. I was so unstable that I nearly tripped over tiny branches that lay on the ground.
I reached the bank of the lake, where it started off shallow but the dropoff to the deeper portions of the lake were very close. The lake was really dirty too. It was dark and murky. I turned around to see Samael … [view original content]
“Jesus, I just confirmed that she’s fine and after all of that arguing, nothing at all? I expected there would be some sort of excitement.” He continued.
Careful, Sammy, you're using the J word, I'm sure the devil won't approve
Anyways, great part! This is so freaking creepy, like, I'm terrified for every single member of the group, because that is by far the most dangerous situation they have ever been in.
[Go with Samael to see Miyako]
You know, I am really concerned that Samael is doing something nasty to the rest of the group while Tony is gone, but then I had to think, why would he do that only if Tony leaves? No, I think he has something planned with the asians and Miyako. This is probably some sort of trap and I could see something bad having happened to Miyako. My early guess would be that she has gotten brainwashed to join the cult, or maybe just tricked Samael into thinking that. But whatever it is, Tony's presence could very well change things there. And of course, my conscience forbids me to leave Mathea waiting for Miyako any longer
Chapter 8: Part 2
March 18th, 2017. 3:16 P.M.
[Drown the man]
I didn’t give a verbal reply to Samael. I just raised my arm slowly, … moretrembling slightly, and pointed to the lake. Samael smiled and nodded. “Very well. I see you want the Devil to have a full course meal today. I like your generosity.”
He pushed the man to me, and he fell helplessly into my chest. It was almost as if he was a little kid running up to hug his or her parents after not seeing them in a long time. It broke my heart knowing that it was now my job to murder this man. For no reason at all.
“Go on now.” Samael stated bluntly, and I reluctantly approached the lake. I was so unstable that I nearly tripped over tiny branches that lay on the ground.
I reached the bank of the lake, where it started off shallow but the dropoff to the deeper portions of the lake were very close. The lake was really dirty too. It was dark and murky. I turned around to see Samael … [view original content]
Comments
[Leave Joe]
Welcome back! Good to see you.
So, do you know when the new part will be finished? It has been almost a month since the last part was posted and I need something new to read
I'm back... again! I hate that there has been another big delay, and how slow the story is progressing. But I promise that that will no longer be the case. I am making sure that I continue writing this story like I used to be as this school year for me isn't anywhere near as bad as last year. There has been an annoying bug for me on the forum the past few weeks, where I couldn't post from my laptop and was only able to post from my phone. But, I tried today and it randomly decided to work. So I hope you enjoy, and I am sure that this is the beginning of consistent writing to come.
Chapter 7: Part 8
March 18th, 2017. 1:06 P.M.
[Leave Joe]
“I don’t want to do this, Joe.” I shook my head. “I can’t kill you.”
“Leave me. Might as well save the bullet.” Joe insisted.
Mark turned to the rest of the group, and commanded everyone to wait outside. Mark was very close to Joe, and it was obvious. He wanted his original group to say their last goodbyes, which consisted of Tina, Kelsi, Fiona, and himself. However, he let me stay as Joe insisted I made the final call. Despite this though, I decided to back up and let them say it personally. I had only met Joe a few days ago, and while I had gotten to know him a bit and he seemed like a great guy, he was basically a family member to them.
They exited one by one, tears noticeable forming in their eyes. Mark was the most devastated as I thought. That left me and Joe alone in the room. The room that was in the building where my group was captured and possibly murdered. I approached Joe who was very visibly sick from the bite. The old man’s head had slowly been drooping down, and his back was slumped towards the wall. As I got closer, he managed to use the last bit of his energy to look up at me. Right in the eyes. His eyes looked so dead… this was the first time I had seen someone die from a walker bite, and it was heartbreaking. It pained me to see him in this condition, but I knew that every bullet counted and I’d need all of it to find my group.
I nodded to Joe, and spoke. “Thank you so much. Rest easy, Joe.” He cracked a bleak smile, and I exited the building.
I reunited with everyone just outside the back side of the building, where everyone was visibly upset. Tina’s arm was around Mark as he looked towards the ground. Kelsi and Fiona stood awkwardly as they managed to compose themselves the best of their ability. Out of all people, Tina was the one who was keeping herself calm and collected the most. She was obviously sad, but she knew that dwelling over it was not the right thing to do in this case.
It was silent for a few moments, before it was broken by Yoshiro. “I’m sorry for your loss, guys. But we have to go. One second can make a difference when we find them and we can’t waste any. Joe didn’t die for nothing.”
I expected Mark to throw a fit, but he was surprisingly silent. Yoshiro was right, and I was willing to stand by his statement. This wasn’t just a group of people who I didn’t know that we were talking about, this was my second family. The people I’ve been with throughout the entire outbreak. My girlfriend. My best friend. My family.
“Does anyone, uh… have any idea where to go?” I asked awkwardly. “Just follow these footprints, right?”
Ryan was the first to respond, as he was the one who had the most information. “Seems like the obvious best option… hopefully they’ll be able to stay in tact.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” I said. Everyone followed in my command, as I lead the way. It was really awkward, as no one was talking and everyone was aware of the sorrow that some of us were going through. The only noise that seemed to be present was the wind and the trees swaying in the breeze, and the sound of our footsteps and some heavy breathing.
As we turned around the corner of a building, we could see the bloody footsteps leading into the woods; and not the side from where we came from. This lead to a completely new part of the woods, and we hesitated before we entered. “We’re going in.” I reassured everyone.
“Indeed we are.” John sided with me. “Let’s go on.”
Nobody responded, so I assumed no one had a problem with it. I stepped into the woods and didn’t look back. My eyes remained on the footsteps the entire time. It was a bit harder to see though, as the dirt had absorbed the blood more than the concrete did. This part of the woods were pretty deep, as there wasn’t as much space to walk as before. The footsteps got more and more difficult to see, to the point where they had pretty much disappeared completely.
I stopped in my tracks. We were now standing in the middle of the woods with no direction and surrounded by nothing but trees. “What is it Tony?” John asked.
“I can’t see the footsteps anymore. I don’t know where to go.” I sighed in response.
John approached me and stood by my side, and kneeled to examine the last remaining somewhat noticeable footstep. “It seems to be pointing slightly to the left. Might as well go that way, it’s the best option we have.”
He was right. I didn’t really see any reason to go in a different direction than where the footstep was facing. My main worry is if the captor made a turn at some point towards his destination. But, there wasn’t much else to do other than that. So I continued walking.
March 18th, 2017. 1:37 P.M.
The rays of the sun that beamed into our eyes seemed almost as if we were in the woods without sunlight for months. The trees finally gave way as we exited the woods and onto a road that seemed like it was once busy, but also empty at the same time. There was mostly no stores or buildings alongside the road, but there were some. What caught my eye first was a big, bright statue of a lumberjack with an orange beard holding an axe in his hands. This road seemed to be surrounded by woods, so it wasn’t too unusual.
“Light! Sweet light!” Fiona cried as she ran outside first. We followed her and stood in front of the road. It was so long, as if it seemed never-ending. It just kept going straight. We were so lost, the worries for my group only got worse.
“Fuck!” I shouted in anger. “Why can’t anything go right!?” I pegged a water bottle towards the ground, so hard that it caused it to break and the water splattered all over the place.
“Calm down Tony, what the fuck!” Mark gave me a shove as he picked up the water bottle, revealing only about a quarter of water left. “You just wasted fresh water. These aren’t as easy to obtain as they used to be jackass.”
“Shut the fuck up, Mark.” I shoved him hard in defense. I was not in the mood to be pushed around. “I know that. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Mark looked at me and seemed as if he was about to charge, but stopped himself. I turned back to the road as I thought he had calmed down, but I was wrong. Mark came out of nowhere and hit me in the face with wrist. I didn’t know if he tried to punch me or not, because his fist missed completely. I lost my balance but remained on my feet, refusing to fall down. I shoved him as hard as I could, and he flew to the ground. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“Fuck you!” He shouted. “First you leave one of my best friends to die, you waste fresh water, and you attack me!”
“You attacked me first.” I defended myself.
“Yeah, because I got mad at you for treating water as if it can be found everywhere.” He stated. “Those are extremely valuable! And our supposed leader is doing things like that?”
“Stop, guys.” Kelsi spoke as she approached Mark and talked and aided him at the same time. Tina walked up to me and spoke in a low tone. “He’s just mad. The fact that Joe isn’t here with us only made things worse. I assume you already know that.”
I nodded in response. “I do. I’m just mad too… why can’t I just find my group? The people I love. You guys are great, specifically you Tina. I’d probably be dead if you hadn’t taken me in that night, and I can’t thank you enough. But these people… my group… I’ve been with them for so long and through so much, and I even have a girlfriend there…”
“I understand completely. It hasn’t been that easy for us either… I’m so hurt about Joe too. But I just know I can’t dwell on it or else it’ll lead to negative things… just like it has for Mark. I have to get him to forget about it for now until we find your group. We don’t want him making things worse.”
I was about to speak but was interrupted by Kazuhiko. “Alright, we leaving or what? Can we stop screwing around?”
“There’s things going on right now. You can wait.” Emi responded.
“Yeah, I guess we can take a quick break… a quick break…” I trailed off uncertainly.
“A quick break?” Ryan chimed in. “We don’t have time for breaks. One of our group members can be due to be killed in thirty minutes and we can find them in thirty five minutes because of a break.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” Kazuhiko sided with Ryan.
“Let Mark calm down.” Emi said. “You aren’t the boss of us.”
Kazuhiko sneered in response. He came up to me and whispered in my ear. Why he said it to me, I’ll never know. “I hate her so much.”
I gave him a puzzled look. “Didn’t you imply that you liked her yesterday?”
“I do. But I hate her at the same time. I love her and I hate her. She’s so cute but so annoying.” He replied.
“That’s… weird.” I didn’t really have anything else to say. That was when I noticed Alessandra looking at something.
“Alessandra, what are you looking at?” I asked and walked up to her.
“You see that?” She pointed at something that barely reached above the treeline. I couldn’t see it too great, but it looked like a steel hump that leaped over the woods. But I realized that it was a roller coaster.
“That’s…. that’s….” I began to get a bit excited. “I know where we are.”
“Huh?” I caught Ryan’s attention. “What?”
“I know where we are!” I stated. “That’s Enchanted Forest. It’s an amusement park that I’ve been to, actually. Just not too often. But I know this general area. I haven’t been on this road before, though.”
I caught everybody’s attention after I said that. “Is it big? Would people be there?” Kelsi asked.
“I have no idea. I just think-” I was about to say but Alessandra cut me off. She had not taken her eyes off of the roller coaster.
“Look!” She called out. I turned to look at the roller coaster, only the top of it which was visible over the treeline. I saw something that shocked me, as well as everyone else. The train to the roller coaster had went over the hump, and the coaster roared over the woods. It wasn’t too loud, in fact, it was pretty hard to notice because of the wind and because it was a good distance away through the woods. But… what in the hell? That means that there was someone in the park, someone was operating the roller coaster. I didn’t know how that was possible, as I thought most electricity had been cut off. I always wondered how roller coasters functioned, but I guess they’re all hooked up to themselves at times. I really didn’t know what to make of that.
“Is there someone there?” Yoshiro asked.
“There has to be.” I answered. “How else would the roller coaster be operating.”
“Maybe our group is there?” John speculated.
“Who knows… I really don’t know.” I answered once more. The footsteps had been completely gone at this point, so we had no direction of any idea where to go.
“Do you think they would be taken there?” I turned to Ryan, hoping for an answer.
“I have no idea… I just know they would be somewhere that would make good for captivity.” He responded.
“Should we… check it out?” I asked.
No one seemed to have a clear answer. I didn’t know if it would be a complete waste of time or if my group was actually there. Each decision was a big risk, and I had to think…
[Go to the amusement park] [Search elsewhere]
Once more, welcome back! I am so glad that it finally worked out and that you managed to post this part. Hopefully, this means the next part will be out soon, because the suspense is terrific at the time.
As for the part itself, man, you know how to build up the suspension! After the last part, I thought I have never been that afraid for the group, but now that we still don't know where they are and if they are still alive, it's getting worse and worse. By now, I am almost convinced not all of them will reunite with Tony and I just hope that Kat won't be among the dead. At least one group member is injured and I hope that won't be her either. At the same time, I don't want any of them to be injured or dead, even though I fear the worst. Now, the choice:
[Go to the amusement park]
They literally don't have any other lead right now. Checking it out could be a waste of time, but stumbling through the woods without any idea on where to start, that sounds even worse. I am a bit unsure if this group of creepy people would hide in an amusement park of all things, but their hideout has to be relatively close to the house where the group has been captured, or else they would have transported them by car and wouldn't have left any blood. So, considering that Tony and the others have been able to reach this amusement park after half an hour on foot, I'd say it would fit into this criteria. Also, such a functioning rollercoaster is a very noticeable thing, so whomever is operating it either drew the attention of the creepy kidnappers already, is currently drawing their attention, or is a part of them.
God, I just hope they will find Kat and the others quickly, alive and in a good condition, although the longer this goes, the more anxious I get. Argh, I really hope I haven't chose wrong here
[Go to the amusement park]
It's great to have another part!
[Go to the amusement park]
It is so great that you are back! I hope you wont have these problems again and I am happy about the new part.
[Go to the amusement park]
Liquid is right, the group has no other lead. They can search the area without a clear path and rely on their luck or they can check this here out. Im getting really concerned for the group now.
Hi again
I'm sorry that all this stuff is happening for you, but hopefully it's done with and this amazing story can continue to be amazing.
[Go to the amusement park]
Ok, at this point, the group should take any sort of lead that it can since there's literally nothing else pointing out the group's location. Of course, it could be dangerous there, but there's not a lot of options.
Chapter 7: Part 9
March 18th, 2017. 1:50 P.M.
[Go to the amusement park]
“We might as well.” I answered my own question. No one seemed to have a problem with it. “You guys are ready to go, right?”
“Yeah.” Kelsi replied, indicating that Mark was taken care of. He was the only concern in my eyes.
“No, we aren’t. Shut up Kelsi.” Mark retorted. “I need… to just cool down. Gimme ten minutes.”
Kelsi shook her head in response and they both went and sat on the side of the road. I hated having to waste any time, but I didn’t want a grumpy Mark nagging us the entire way there and slowing us down. The park seemed a bit far. I didn’t know how long it’d take to get there.
Everyone else seemed to separate a bit, looking around the area while we waited patiently for Mark’s confirmation to leave. As I mentioned before, there were a few buildings and stores around here. So, I decided to check ‘em out. What was the worst that can happen? I highly doubted any walkers would be roaming around, and if they were, I was armed with a gun. Unless there was some freak hiding out here, I felt safe.
There was a very small shopping plaza near the lumberjack statue, so I decided to explore there first. I called out, “I’m gonna go and check these buildings!”
I approached the first store of the plaza, which was a pizzeria. The sign that stood above the store was badly damaged and dirty, and I couldn’t make it what the place was called exactly. But I did manage to make out the word: PIZZA. I pulled out my handgun and kept it close as I opened the doors to the mostly empty restaurant. It looked like your typical pizzeria, but pretty small. It was decently lit, as the sun from the outside brightened the place completely.
I approached the front counter and searched the kitchen. Nothing. It was completely ridden of anything useful. Surprisingly, the place still smelled like a pizzeria. It smelled good. It felt nice to feel like I was living a normal life again.
Since there was nothing in there, I exited the pizzeria and went to the next store. It was a jewelry store, and just like the pizzeria, nothing to be found. It was small and didn’t even have a nice scent; just abandoned typical apocalypse-like setting. Unlike the pizzeria though, the sign was perfectly in tact. It read: Alaco Jewelry - Call 215-386-1964.
Last but not least, there was a laundromat. Yeah, there were only three stores. Better than nothing I guess. This didn’t seem like a very busy area anyway. I entered the laundromat to make a disturbing discovery.
There was a dead body of a woman, spread across the floor. Blood was very present, as she was laying in a pool of her own blood. The most disturbing part was that… her eyes were wide open, bright blue, staring at me as soon as I walked in. When I looked at her, our eyes met. That sent shivers down my spine.
“Fu-!” I only managed to let out before taking a quick step back from the scene from shock, almost tripping myself.
She had blonde hair and was wearing a grey shirt with blue jeans. Well, her shirt used to be grey. It was now almost entirely red from blood. Her skin looked… alive. I couldn’t find another word to describe it, she looked like she had died recently. However, she didn’t look like she would come back as a walker. I couldn’t find any apparently head wounds, nor did I bother to look for one. I ran out of the laundromat without bothering to check anything else and met up with everyone.
“What’s going on Tony?” Tina asked. “Are you alright?”
“No…” I let out while gasping for some air. “That laundromat over there.” I pointed to it. “Someone died in there. I ran into a fucking dead body laying on the ground. A woman. Blood everywhere. I don’t wanna go back…”
“Wait, what?” Fiona asked with concern. “Was she young? Did she look… rotten?”
“No, that’s what was even spookier.” I explain. “She was staring right at me. Her body was. I made eye contact with her dead body. Fuck, I’m scarred.” That genuinely scared the shit out of me. Considering the past things I’ve been through since all of this started, I don’t know why I reacted to strongly to this. Just the shock of seeing that when I entered, and the fact that she was staring me down, as if she knew I was going to find her. That image will never leave my mind.
“...Okay, we’re leaving right now,” Kazuhiko demanded. “Everyone, get the fuck to the amusement park. I’m not staying here.”
“Is Mark ready?” Yoshiro asked.
“I don’t give a fuck. Something strange is going on here that we don’t know about and that scares me. There can be people spying on us behind some trees or through a window as we speak, waiting to kill us.” Kazuhiko fired back.
I got more shivers down my spine after he finished the last sentence. I remembered when we got to Saylorsburg and everything looked so nice, but later found out it was a death trap that we narrowly escaped. From the roller coaster to the dead body, to the natural creepy and isolated feeling of this area, everything just felt worse and sketchier.
“Mark! Kelsi!” Kazuhiko called out to him. “We’re leaving! Get over here! Hurry!”
Kelsi and Mark stood up and began walking to us. Kelsi hurried over while Mark seemed to drag himself over. “It hasn’t been ten minutes yet, as it?
“Forget about that.” Ryan spoke, on our side. “We have a leave. Tony ran into a dead body just in the store over there. Place seems too sketchy.”
Mark nodded slowly and sighed at the same time. “Okay, okay. Let's leave.”
I smiled quickly out of excitement. I didn't expect him to be that easy, but I'm glad he was. “On our way to the park we go.”
March 16th, 2017. 2:11 P.M.
It had only been somewhat ten minutes since we re-entered the woods. The coaster hasn't run again, which was weird. At first, I began to question my decision a bit. Everything seemed to sketchy and I felt like we could be shot at or killed at any moment. But then I snapped out of it and realized I was doing this for my group. My friends. Some I’d even call family at this point. I didn’t care what was ahead of us, if there was a chance of them being at this park, I wasn’t going to stop.
I couldn’t see too well above all of the trees, but I could tell that we were getting closer to the park. We had only been walking for about ten minutes. However, we were walking pretty fast. Faster than an average walking speed, as I wanted no where near that area and I felt we lost valuable time while waiting for Mark. “I… I think we’re almost there.”
“Ya think?” John responded from behind me. “Just a few more minutes and I bet ya we can see the park in view.”
We walked for a couple of more minutes, and he was right. I began to see that there was a fence that could only be surrounding the park.
“Guys! I can see!” I called back excitedly. “Just keep walk-”
BANG! A shot was fired out of nowhere, and I heard the scream of Fiona. She fell to the ground as I reacted quickly and leaped to the side where the trees and bushes were more clustered. “Get over here!”
Fiona was still on the ground, clenching her left leg. I could see the blood already soaked in the dirt and in her jeans. Tina and Yoshiro began to take her to safety without getting shot. We were all hiding behind trees and bushes now.
“What was that?” Kelsi asked in a panic.
“I don’t know!” I replied, also in somewhat of a panic. I was still shaken from before, and I was nearly killed. Fiona was shot. “Is Fiona okay?”
“My leg…” I heard her mutter as Tina, Yoshiro, Emi, and Mark surrounded her.
“This isn’t good for her.” Kelsi told me as the rest went to pay attention to Fiona. “You know about those hallucinations.”
She reminded me of that, and before I can even think about it, another shot was fired. This time, in the bushes where we were hiding.
We all reacted to it and began to scramble in random directions in a panic. Did anyone else get shot? Who was shooting at us?
We all went a bit deeper into the trees and bushes, but we were still visible. “Is everyone okay?”
I turned to see everyone nod in response. The second shot did not hit anyone.
“They’re going to keep shooting at us.” John told me. “We have to do something.”
I shook my head and did something very risky. I stood up to face behind us to see if anyone was there. No one. Then I turned to face the fence that was blocking off the amusement park. Just as I turned, they fired again. I could feel the air from the bullet whizzing right past my left cheek. I dove to the ground immediately, and took a deep breath. “Holy shit…”
“Are you okay Tony? Are you hit?” John called out.
“I’m fine… just stay here everyone! Try to get as hidden as possible!” I told them. I began to crawl through the bushes and trees as I attempted to make my way to the wooden fence. I had to see what was going on and try to stop it, or else they were going to keep shooting at us.
Surprisingly, no more shots were fired after the third one. I reached the fence safely. And quickly peeked my head over. I saw one person who had a rifle standing on top of an elevated platform, which looked like it was the entrance to a light brown roller coaster. He wasn't looking at me, as he was scanning the bushes and past the trees, assumingly looking for me.
I ducked behind the fence before he could turn to me, and stayed kneeling down for a bit. What should I do? This person was clearly trying to kill us. He was guarding the park, which meant that something had to be in there. As Ryan described.back in that town, this captor seemed like he would capture people and use them for who knows what. An amusement park though, that's definitely an odd choice. But who knows in this crazy world anymore, I wouldn't even be surprised if that was the case. There was one thing I knew for sure though, that man was guarding something in the park.
I heard another shot being fired by the man, causing a scream to be heard from my group. I heard them panic now, as the once quiet scene became a fright fest. I had to do something now. I looked at my handgun, and observed the distance between me and the man. He was about thirty to forty yards behind the fence, and the elevated platform he was standing on stood about two stories high. I wanted to shoot, but I only had a handgun. I didn't want to misfire and give away my position, and even worse, let him know that I was attacking him.
I came up with another idea. I thought of going along the fence a bit to my left, and quietly hopping over it and enter the park. I could try sneak attacking the man, but I didn't know if there were any other men or guards patrolling the place. I also didn't want to take too long, as he can shoot and kill anyone at any time. I thought about going back to my group, but I didn't see how that would help considering that he would keep firing until we left. And in Fiona’s condition, and possibly someone else judging off of the scream that came after the fourth shot, that didn't seem likely. I had to think of something.
[Shoot at the man] [Hop the fence and sneak in] [Go back to the group]
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
This is getting hot. Something is not right at this park and I think it sounds very logical now that this creepy group is actually there. I doubt the area is big enough for two highly aggressive groups of bastards, so while the amusement park might be an odd choice for a hideout, it now sounds very well in the realms of possible. But man, this is making me more anxious than ever. I've thought of a thousand ways this could end badly and just this once, I hope I'm seriously wrong.
On another note, Mark is officially the worst now. I was kinda digging his "asshole, but cares for friends" personality, but seriously? He wasted ten minutes for nothing, while the group, Tony's girlfriend, best friend and the rest he considers family gets dragged to some creepy lair of evil, with at least one of them seriously wounded already and we still don't know what the bad guys are planning to do with them. And Mark seriously has the nerve to demand a break and to whine when they leave before his ten minutes are over? I can understand he's feeling down after Joe, but after that display of bitchy selfishness, I honestly don't give a fuck about his feelings anymore. These ten minutes could be what screws up the chance for a happy reunion between Tony and his group. Ugh, it seems Mark tries his best to become the new Billy, even if Billy is eternally going to be the absolute worst character of course. One thing is for sure already, Mark is to blame for whatever happens to the group in these ten minutes. And that could literally be everything.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
Okay, I have never actually shot a gun in my life, but isn't thirty to forty feet a serious distance? While Tony is not a bad shot, I've never seen him as the best shot in the group either. Because of that, shooting at him is not guaranteed to succeed. He probably only has one try before the guy gets to the nearest cover and if he misses, the other guys in there will know of his position as well. Meanwhile, sneaking in gives him a chance to get a better shot at the guy, or even better, to kill him silently.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I have the same concerns as Liquid about shooting. Tony can miss and then he has lost a chance to enter the park without causing the alarm. Maybe he can free his group without having to fight the entire group who captured them. But this is getting so good! I fear for the group and really want that Tony can save them.
There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is where the group is. I also feel that they may have walked into a large encampment and an extremely secure one at that. Must be pretty secure to have that rollercoaster going... unless someone intentionally turned it on. Maybe one of the group to alert John to their location?
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I'm not exactly sure how good of a shot Tony is at this point, but maybe it's safer to go stealth. That way, he doesn't give away his position and if he deals with this dude, he may be able to hide his position and get a better idea of what they're up against. Though, I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be a little too much for them to handle at this moment.
Chapter 7: Part 10
March 18th, 2017. 2:34 P.M.
[Hop the fence and sneak in]
I knew this was the best option. I was quite a good distance away from the man, and I couldn’t risk missing and giving away my position. I gingerly hugged the fence as I made my way towards the left. I peeked above the fence to see if I can see anyone. Nope.
I quietly climbed over and was now inside of the park. I was in a pretty open area, so I made my way over to nearby lockers and hid behind them. I could see which ride I was near; it was The Great Freight Train. It was a roller coaster, but not an extreme one. It was more of a family ride, as it didn’t even reach one hundred feet high. The tracks were a dark orange color. Part of it went over a small lake that was located inside of the park.
I was across from the area where the entrance to the ride is. I peeked once again, and didn’t see anybody nearby. I took a deep breath, and sprinted light on my feet across the open area and near the entrance. The entrance was pretty secluded, as it was in an area that also lead to cable cars but that’s it. Other than the way to get here, it was pretty much a dead end.
I carefully climbed through the bars in the queue line, as walking past all of them would take way too much time. I began climbing the stairs, with my handgun now out and ready to fire. As I climbed the stairs, I was now in view of the man. He was facing the opposite direction, still searching for my group. I aimed my handgun at him, and I noticed him starting to turn. My heart began racing, and I fired. As soon as I did, I hurried my way down the stairs before he could even see me. I heard him scream out of pain, and he called out a name. I couldn’t make out what it was.
I sprinted as fast as I can, and climbed over the fence as fast as I could. I had no idea what was going on in the park, and I made my way back to my group safely.
“What happened? What was that?” John asked.
“I shot the guy.” I told them, out of breath. “Didn’t even see me. He called out someone’s name, I don’t know who. I heard him say someone’s name, but I couldn’t make it out. Must be some sort of camp… I don’t want to be in another one of those.”
“Are they in there? Our group?” Ryan asked.
“No idea… I have no i-” I began to say until I heard someone shout, “I SEE YOU!”
We all froze, and looked at each other. We didn’t know what to do.
“I said, I see you! Show yourselves or suffer the consequences!” He shouted again. “Don’t try to run! I have you at gunpoint!”
Still frozen, we had no idea what to do. “Don’t move.” I whispered.
“Alright, I’m gonna say it one more time. I have you guys at gunpoint! Come out now, I’m not gonna shoot!” He shouted, in a rather friendly tone. Then it changed to a menacing one. “Unless you try to run…”
There was no other option. We all nodded towards each other and made ourselves clear that we had to go out. We all crawled to the open, and stood up. I voluntarily stepped in front of everybody else. I could see him. He had already hopped the fence to face us. He was very tall, and had brown-graying hair with a bushy beard. He was wearing long, black robes along with it. He seemed to be in his late forties, and was aiming a rifle right at me. But what really caught my eye was that he looked almost exactly like… the Grim Reaper.
“Tony!” Ryan whispered from behind me. “That’s him! That’s the guy who took our group!”
My stomach dropped as he said that, and I didn’t want to respond and give the Grim Reaper any signs of a possible escape.
“Who are you? What do you want?” I wanted to sound like I wasn’t scared, but it came out as almost a whimper. I could tell that he noticed this, as he smiled right after I said it.
“I am the Grim Reaper, if you cannot tell. I am Satan’s incarnation to Earth.” He spoke clearly for the first time. His voice was… creepy. I couldn’t even describe it, it was just creepy.
“You aren’t the Grim Reaper.” Mark stated the obvious from behind. I wanted him to just shut his mouth, as I knew he was capable of saying stupid things at stupid times.
The Grim Reaper slowly turned his head towards Mark, and his smile faded away. He began to approach him, who was standing a few people to my left. He still had his rifle aimed at us. “Don’t do any anything dumb. I can see you.” He said very bluntly. “Are you sure about that?” He faced Mark.
“No shit.” He responded.
He got closer to Mark, and I noticed a large machete tied to his back. He placed his arm around the machete, as if he was about to pull it out.
“What else do you have to say?” The Grim Reaper asked.
I turned to Mark and shook my head with my eyes wide open, hoping to get his attention without the Grim Reaper noticing.
Mark’s eyes met mine for a split second, and then faced the Grim Reaper. “Uh-nothing…” He put his head down.
The Grim Reaper smiled again and pulled his hand away from the machete. “Good.” He walked back to where he was standing before. “I was about to say, I’m sure you didn’t want to be fed to my pets.”
I had no idea what freakish shit he was talking about, but I wisely chose to ignore everything he said and make no comments.
“Now that I have introduced myself, I would like to say welcome. Welcome!” I raised his arms, with his rifle still in his hand. He put his arms down. “I am so happy that you all have stumbled upon my cult. Now that you are here, there is no way of leaving.” His smile became extreme disturbing. That statement made my stomach drop even more.
“Now, that is pretty much it. Any questions? Comments? Concerns?” He asked.
Silence.
The Grim Reaper cleared his throat. “I said, any questions, comments, or concerns?” He raised his voice much louder than before.
More silence. I didn’t want to say anything, I was scared shitless of what this guy would do.
He started to walk towards me. I gulped. He now stood only about five feet away from me, with his rifle still ready.
“Do you have any questions, comments, or concerns, young man?” He asked, still smiling.
I shook my head.
“Come on, I’m sure you do.” He chuckled. “Want me to kill you?”
I sighed with my eyes wide open, and spoke. “Actually, yes…”
The Grim Reaper nodded, and seemed to be happy. “Go ahead, let me hear it!”
I wanted to say “Go fuck yourself” so badly, but I knew that would be the worst thing ever. Instead, I asked him a question I genuinely wanted the answer of.
“Do you have… other people…” I trailed off.
The Grim Reaper raised his eyebrows, and took a tiny step back. “Oh, of course. Why do you ask?”
“Just wanted to know…” I trailed off again. I was so excited yet so scared and nervous when he said that. Our group had to be in there.
“Well, be more specific. Dead or alive? Because if it’s alive, you may not be so pleased.” He spoke in a creepy tone.
My stomach dropped even harder than it did the past two times. Tears began to build up, but I fought hard to hold them back. Please, don’t be dead…
“A-ali-alive……..” I stuttered badly. I faced downwards a little bit as I said it. My heart was racing more than it has in my entire life.
The Grim Reaper smacked his lips in response. “Heh, there’s some. Some are waiting to be sacrificed.”
I didn’t even know how to respond. “Wha-what?”
“Alright, allow me to explain.” He took a few steps back. “People I find, I make use out of them. I put them to tons of use. That’s why I attract so many people. I need them. So why not settle in a large amusement park? Run the roller coasters, for more reasons than to just ride them. Much, much more reasons…”
“.....And?” I asked, panicking inside.
“And!” He shouted. “And… we must find multiple ways to feed and sacrifice. The more we feed the Devil, the more we please him. All of this, these animals roaming around, my pets, as I call them… this is the Satan’s punishment. To all fuckers like you who don’t believe!”
I got angry now, and I’m sure most of my group did too. But we knew the wisest option would be to just stay silent. It was at this moment, however, when The Grim Reaper noticed Ryan.
“You… you are still alive?” He chuckled. “Heh, that’s even better. It’s always better when the food is fresh.”
No one responded, as usual. This guy genuinely scared me. More than Ashton and Fredrik did, and I didn’t think that was possible.
“Now!.... Follow me. Or I will not hesitate to kill you, and feed you to the Devil. I’m sure you wouldn’t want that.” The Grim Reaper laughed. “At least, not now…”
He began to walk around the fence, assumingly leading us to the entrance. We both looked at each other puzzled, and ultimately decided it was just best to follow him. I knew he would shoot us and kill us if we didn’t.
The entrance wasn’t far, but when we made it there, it was hellish. Each gate was guarded by chained walkers, and alongside the perimeter of the entrance were cages… cages filled with human limbs and body parts. Each cage had puddles of blood all around them. I wanted to throw up.
“Don’t be scared, they don’t bite.” The Grim Reaper announced. “Only if I allow them too. But for now, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
When we got past all of the walker-guarded gates, we made it to the final entrance. Beside each one was a man wearing the same black robes The Grim Reaper was wearing.
“Good evening, Samael.” Each one of them stated in unison.
“Good evening.” The Grim Reaper replied. Was his real name Samael?
“Who are these people? New welcomers?” One of them asked.
“Yes. Allow us to enter.” The Grim Reaper said as we walked through into the park.
He took us to the center of the park, where a fountain was located. He stopped us here and spoke. “Now, if you couldn’t catch on just before, my name is Samael Bradshaw. Do not let that take away from the fact that I am The Grim Reaper. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let me take you somewhere to stay for now.”
We went north of the fountain, where there isn’t too much located. There is another lake, which is much larger than the one near The Great Freight Train. Behind this lake is nothing but woods. This was where Samael was taking us…
Once we looped around the lake, there was a large cabin-like structure in the middle of the woods. It wasn’t house-like, it was more of a square wooden structure with a roof on top with only one room. It looked run down and almost as if it were about to fall apart.
“Enter there. Now. I will be back soon.” Samael ordered as he aimed his rifle at us.
Was this where my group was? Were they in here? Please be in here…
I opened the door.
I met eyes with a few strangers. But then, they shifted over to Dom. Then to Eric. Then Adam. Deryck. Santiago. Dylan. Tom. Dan. Mina. And lastly, Katrina. They were all alive and were filled with shock when we noticed each other. The rest followed behind. All of the terrible, horrible, hellish thoughts I had in my mind and that I knew were about to come all vanished. I was filled with so much excitement. It was the most bittersweet moment of my life. However, this was disrupted when Samael began to shout.
“The option to leave is there. All you have to do is hope I don’t catch you on my 24/7 monitored cameras established here from the park. See you soon.” He slammed the door shut, and I heard him walking away.
As soon as he left, I hugged Katrina along with everyone else. We were ecstatic, but made sure to keep calm about it.
“I met all of these guys after we escaped Trevor and all of them… Tina here was the one who decided to take me in.” I explained to everyone. “I probably would be dead if it wasn’t for her.”
Everyone seemed thankful.
“I’m so glad you’re back.” Katrina smiled with the biggest smile I’ve seen on her since I met her.
“Same thing here bro.” Eric grinned. The rest of the group reacted the same way.
I turned to see my new group, and they were all smiling as well, even Mark. He patted me on the back. “I’m glad you found your group buddy.” The moment seemed to change him a bit.
I introduced everyone to each other and we sat back, soaking in the excitement. But then, the looming realization of the fact that we were being held hostage by a sickish cult who planned to ‘feed us to the Devil’ settled in.
But whatever happened, it was gonna happen with all of us. Old group and new group, we were now one big group trying to surviving Samael. Trying to survive the Grim Reaper. Only God knows what we had ahead of us……….
[END OF CHAPTER 7]
Chapter 7 has finally ended! After writing began in March, it has taken seven months to finish which I am not happy about, especially for the shortest chapter since Chapter 1. But as promised before, regular writing is finally back and with a new chapter ahead, it's only gonna get better.
Because of the longevity of this chapter and the fact that there has been two several delays, I am not going to post the regular questions after a chapter. However, there are two things I want to know specifically:
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group?
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters?
If you want to leave any other thoughts, feel free as always. Thanks for sticking along and I can't wait to begin Chapter 8
Oh god, oh my god
This is... oh man, I don't know if this is good or bad, but it is at least far better than having the entire group dead! Tony and Kat are reunited and it warms my heart. But they are captured by some evil, deranged, hellishly creepy son of a bitch and I am already as afraid of him as I hate him. Argh, Chapter 8 is going to be one butt-clenching horror show, but I have no doubt that I am going to be just as amazed as I am afraid. But for now, I am just so relieved that Tony managed to find his group again that they are all alive for now, even if I am afraid that this might change in the next chapter.
Now to the questions:
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group?
I won't focus on the old group too much here, as their involvement in this chapter has been minimal, even with John and Ryan, who had slightly more to do. From the new group, my favourite character was Joe, surprisingly. I do feel a bit bad for leaving him to die, because I see that he has been a great guy. It was just, there was little chance to save him without endangering the group, so I had to keep my priorities straight. My favourite living character would be Emi, who is certainly cool. She made a good impression.
). Mark meanwhile... well, he has arguably been by far the biggest jerk in the entire story so far that still managed not to be an antagonist. What really made me dislike him was his behaviour in the penultimate part. I mean, he knows Tony is looking for his group and even if he doesn't like Tony, he knows these people are in mortal danger, yet he still basically forces them to waste ten minutes. In this situation, it didn't change a lot, but man, that could have theoretically decided about life or death. Only time will tell if he can get any better. Of course, the Grim Reaper is just as bad, but since he is the antagonist, I think that is to be expected. He certainly is the most deranged of the antagonists (aside from Billy, who is still worse) and right now, I certainly miss Dexter and Ashton. I am really afraid for what this guy is going to do in Chapter 8 
My least favourite is clearly Mark. God, has he been a jerk. I mean, yeah, being a jerk is not too bad. Dom has been a huge jerk in the very beginning, Eric struck me as a bit of a jerk, Dan was one for sure and hell, even Kat has been a jerk in the very beginning before she warmed up to Tony (like, a lot
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters?
I must confess, I was a bit sceptical in the beginning. A chapter without pretty much 90% of the main cast, focussing entirely on completely new people? I was really unsure if this would work out, but must admit, you convinced me. My feelings for the old group still outshine my feelings for the new group, but now that they are one big group, I am really happy. You did good work with developing these people and I am curious for how they are going to interact with the old group. New friendships could be formed, new rivalries, but right now, they have a more urgent goal.
Anyways, this was a great chapter. Of course, the breaks weren't so good, but they were mostly beyond your control, so there's no point in criticizing them. I'm loving that the story is so active now and I can't wait for future chapters!
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group? Emi is pretty cool, in overall this asian group is interesting and contain of different personalities and would like to learn more about them.
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters? It's always nice to see new faces appear, new blood is always good.
Didn't show me that any new chapters were posted, but man they were good! My favorite character at the moment is probably Emi, she's a pretty cool character. It's been interesting meeting new people and trying to find the old group. I can't wait to see where the story goes from here!
Thank god the group is still alive
Of course I did not expect all of them to be dead but I was worried. The next chapter sounds like it will be very cool, I hope it starts soon!
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group?
Favorite character of the new group: I like Tina, she helped Tony the most and he would have never found his group without her help because she convinced her group to help. He owes her very much for this.
Least favorite character of the new group: Does the Grim Reaper count? He is not a member of the group but he is my least favorite and I hope he does not kill my favorite characters. If the question is limited to the group, it is Mark. But I feel he finally warmed up to Tony in the final part, even if this does not excuse his behavior before this but he is on the right way now.
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters?
It was nice! I have missed the old group but I enjoyd seeing the new faces and I am looking forward how they will interact with the old group and how they will all work to escape from the Grim Reaper.
Oh man... they're together again which is good, but at the same time, they're not in a good place right now. Not at all. This Grim Reaper dude is scary as fuck and you have done a really good job getting across just how intimidating this guy is. Also, the cult vibe that i'm getting just adds to the creepy factor. This may not be as simple as shooting their way out like they've have done previously and they may be in for a world of hurt before they even get close to getting out.
Who are your favorite and least favorite characters of the new group?
At the risk of being different, I kinda liked Mark. Obviously I was a bit annoyed at how he seemed to put himself and the rest of his group before even thinking about trusting or helping anyone else, but from his perspective, he owes very little to these people. His group has probably gone through similar things to the original group and he probably does not want anything bad to happen to the rest of them so he has become overprotective. He's quite similar to Dom personality wise and quite similar to Dylan in how protective he is of his own people. As for the others, i'm not quite sure yet, but Joe was a really decent guy and it was a shame that he went the way he did.
This Grim Reaper guy may turn out to be one that I hate in the future, but for now, he's just an intimidating figure rather than an abhorrent scumbag like Dexter, Ashton, etc.
What were your overall thoughts on the chapter with the new characters?
I must agree with @LiquidChicagoTed that without the main cast, I could not see it being as gripping. Not because of the quality of the story, but because there were so many new characters introduced in such a short space of time, so there was little opportunity to delve deep enough into their characters. Some were fleshed out really well, like Mark, Kelsi and Emi, but the others just sunk into the background. Obviously there might be time to get to know the others a bit more but... just something to think about. Overall, the chapter was decent, kept a good pace and built tension and suspense excellently.
I am still left, as ever with this story, in anticipation of what might happen next, good or bad and that is one thing that has never changed since I stumbled across this story. Keep it up!
Edit: I must say, I hate double posts
Alright then, I have a couple of questions to the alternative choices, as always
This time, they aren't that many, but they are still numerous enough.
First of all, the elephant in the room. I remember what you said after the last chapter ended. There could have been a way for the worst character that ever existed to survive the last chapter. Namely, there was this quote:
So, of course I would have still wished for the worst character that ever existed to be dead and I would have pushed for it very heavily. I also remember you told me you would go into more detail after this chapter and I am now very curious about what a wonderful chance we missed to end the beyond useless existence of that thoroughly terrible character. Can you elaborate now? I'm also curious why such a good deed could ever put anyone into trouble.
So, other alternative choices I am curious about. There is the very first choice in this chapter, where we had the chance to search the woods, or Darenton, or the roads around Darenton. We chose the woods. Would it have changed anything if we would have chosen differently there?
Second, the Joe choice. What would have happened if we would have cut off Joe's leg instead of leaving him?
And finally, what would have happened if we would have searched elsewhere instead of the amusement park, in the penultimate choice of this chapter?
So... only four questions this time, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions in the next chapter. I can't wait for it
Sorry for being so late on this, I've had a busy week and couldn't find any free time. But, I was able to get on today and finally answer.
Well, this goes back to the choice of choosing to hunt with Billy or not. If he were to live to Chapter 7, (which is what would have happened if it was chosen to go hunting with him), this would obviously mean that the walker escape would be much easier which would lead to the entire group staying in tact, with Trevor, Billy, and Samantha surviving. This would mean that the new group would not be introduced until some time later, as the current group would remain as the old one plus Billy, Karen, and Trevor. That group would go on the road like what happened in Chaptre 7 and then go on to be captured by Samael. In Chapter 7, more events would have happened to kill him. But doing so would put Karen and Billy on bad terms with the group, as well as other members of the old group such as Samantha. Of course, Billy could be kept alive and survive to Chapter 8, and since Chapter 8 has not started yet I cannot say what could have happened.
Yes, this would have changed things. Actually, it wouldn't really change anything besides the introduction of different characters. If the group searched Darenton, they would have came across a different small group of survivors rather than Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, Emi, and Alessandra. This different group would go on to continue the story with the group without any major changes to the main storyline.
If Joe's leg was cut off, he would have definitely slowed the group down and would be in constant excruciating pain throughout the way. Safe to say, the better choice was chosen in terms of Joe's health and the timetable for searching for the group, as Joe would have went out peacefully and without much pain. However, a positive from this choice would be that Mark would become a nicer person to Tony for the rest of the chapter and in the future.
Obviously, this was a big choice. This would have been disastrous for the state of the old group, as Chapter 8 would be more searching and meeting new characters. During this time, it is no secret that members of the old group would be killed by Samael. Throughout more future choices, Tony and the new group would eventually run into Samael and his old group, but with a good amount of them killed off. Those I will not say, as they may provide potential spoilers.
Hm, can you specify? How would he have died in particular in these scenes? I mean, I am happy that his right-hand man Trevor is gone as well and that Karen is hopefully never going to return, but still, I am curious how he would have died there. And ugh, dragging his worthless ass to Chapter 8 sounds terrible. If that thing would have died offscreen in Chapter 1 together with everyone even remotely related to it, then that would have still been too late. And would anyone other than Samantha (whom I suddenly like a lot less after this revelation) actually object to killing him? God, I still can't put into words how much pure hatred I still have towards Billy. Second question, probably related, does he have any close family still alive?
It is strange that this choice, which I considered to be the worst for Joe, actually ended up as the best for him. So does that mean that he would have died if we would have cut off his leg as well, just on more pain? With Mark, well, he was an aggravating piece of shit, but at least he seemed to become slightly more positive at the end of this chapter, so it really seems we chose the overall best of the three choices, as weird as it sounds. This is quite the opposite of what I previously thought, where I thought we chose the best for the group, but the worst for Joe, but well, I am quite happy that things are different there. The old man did not deserve a painful death.
Ugh, this is quite a scary thought
To think that it all came down to a single choice in the end... But these dead characters are they going to be the ones that are going to die or possibly die in the version of Chapter 8 we're going to get, or are there characters whom we outright saved with our decision to go to the amusement park? But ah, safe to say that we chose the correct option for my stressed nerves 
Chapter 8: Part 1
March 18th, 2017. 2:58 P.M.
“What happened? After all of that with Karen and Trevor?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, how the hell did you get outta that?” Dom asked as well. “And what happened to Karen?”
“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Adam smirked.
I shook my head and began to explain the entire thing. “I have no idea what happened to Karen. I watched Billy get devoured and I tried to bring Karen along, but she wouldn’t stop crying on the ground. The walkers were closing in, so I just ran.”
“Billy died?” Katrina seemed to be amused by these news. “That just made my day, Tony. I’ll never forgive him for killing my brother.”
I nodded to Katrina and resumed explaining. “I had to leave her. I feel terrible about it but I had to. I tried to look for you guys, and, well… I couldn’t find any of you. I was stranded in the woods and it began to rain, I thought I was gonna die from those walkers. But as I said before, I ran into Tina and she took me in and I met Mark, Kelsi, and Fiona. There was also someone else, but…”
I decided to not finish that sentence as I’m sure everyone knew what I was about to say. “I stayed with them for the night and I learned that they were headed to Ohio. Kelsi’s dad has a military base there, and since I arrived searching for you guys we decided to leave and find all of you before we took off. We ended up meeting Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, and Emi here along the way. They were looking for one of their friends too, Miyako.”
As soon as I finished the sentence, one of the few strangers in the room began to speak. She was a woman. I could tell that she was Muslim, as she was wearing a hijab. She was pretty slim and her facial features were sharp.
“Miyako?” She stated.
“Yeah, do you know her?” Yoshiro’s face lit up.
“Yes! She was here a few days ago, but was taken by Samael and I haven’t seen her since.” She informed them.
Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, and Emi all cheered and shared a quick hug. But Yoshiro was the first to ask a very important question. “She’s here…. But is she alive……..?”
“If she’s dead, I’m gonna find this Grim Reaper fucker myself and slice him up into pieces.” Kazuhiko growled.
“I have no idea.” The woman responded. “But I’d assume that messing with him is a very bad idea.”
There was a quick pause. “So, uh…” I tried to started a conversation with the woman. I snapped my fingers to signal her to tell me her name.
“Oh, I’m Haya.” She informed me.
“Haya.” I stated bluntly. “Do you know anything about this place?”
“I don’t know much.” She shrugged. “I was only taken here a few days ago. As well as the rest of us.” She stuck her arm out towards two other people, a man and a woman. Haya and them were the only other strangers in the room.
“We’ve been in here since Samael took us.” Tom jittered. “I don’t know what he’s gonna do. He’s gonna kill us.”
“Come on, if he tries to take us out we’ll kill him. Fuck the guards, we can run away right after we do it.” Deryck suggested.
“Yeah, the dumbass didn’t even take our weapons.” Kazuhiko snickered. “I don’t see a problem with that.”
“You can’t be that stupid.” Dom hissed. “I want to kill him as much as the next guy, but this place is protected to hell. I’m sure they have ten snipers locked onto this cabin right now just in case any of us leave.”
“Still doesn’t explain why he let us keep our weapons.” Kazuhiko retorted. “But hey, I’m not complaining.”
“We should take advantage of that.” Deryck stood up eagerly, as he seemed very excited to present one of his plans that was probably really stupid. All of Deryck’s plans are dumb, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
“Is anyone here willing to die? Anyone?” He asked.
It was silent for about five seconds before Mark replied. “Why the fuck would we want to die?”
“Dammit.” Deryck made a fist out of failure. “I was thinking someone could isolate themselves from the group and kill Samael himself. That way, all of the guards would immediately lock onto him and kill him while the rest of us escape!”
“I’m assuming you didn’t hear what I just said dumbass.” Dom sneered. “Even if we did that, I guarantee you every part of this park will be locked down with protection. We’d all die either way.”
Deryck didn’t respond and sat down in defeat. “I’m sure you can do something, right Emi?” Kazuhiko asked.
“Like what?” She replied with a question.
“I know you’re a good stealthy person, and you can throw those knives good.” Kazuhiko responded.
“Oh my God.” Dom said under his breath in frustration.
“What are you huffing and puffing about?” Kazuhiko faced Dom. “I’m trying to find solutions on how to get out of this shit hole.”
“You’re gonna get us all killed.” Dom retorted.
Kazuhiko waved off Dom in response and didn’t say anything. The room fell silent for a bit, before I decided to speak up again. “Anyway” I continued to explain. “After that, we decided to leave to search for you guys. We ran into John out of nowhere, and we stopped by the building you were staying at. We stumbled upon Ryan who seemed in really bad shape.”
“Yeah, I was faking my death. Didn’t want that Grim Reaper fucker killing me.” Ryan added.
“Ryan gave me a brief explanation of what happened, and we set out. We eventually came across the amusement park and the rest is self explanatory.”
“Holy shit.” Dan remarked. “Good shit John, who knows what would have happened had you not found them.”
“Yeah, I owe you lots John.” I told him.
“You don’t owe me anything.” He smiled in response. “I’m just glad we finally got reunited.”
“So…. what did you guys do while I was gone?” I asked very curiously. “Like I said before, Ryan gave me a brief explanation. But I’m still curious.”
“Well.” Mina decided to take action and explain. “We waited for a long time for you to get back. But as you said before, it started to rain and it got late and we needed shelter. We fled back to Darenton at first but realized it wasn’t a good place to stay. So in the middle of the night we fled again and settled in that building where you found Ryan.”
“That night was the worst.” Tom shook his head. “I really thought we weren’t gonna see you ever again Tony. All of us did. We were all so scared and worried.”
“Not all of us were scared.” Dom snickered and joked with his little brother. “I know you’re a tough son of a bitch Tony. I had no doubt in my mind that you were gonna be fine.”
“Well, uh… I appreciate that.” I grinned. “I was just so afraid that I’d never run into you guys nor see you again. Thank God I got here when I did, I have no idea what the Grim Reaper has up his sleeve. But I know we’ll be fine.” To be honest, I knew we weren’t fine. This guy was awful. Escaping this place will not be easy at all, and if we don’t do it soon I know he’s gonna kill my friends. My family.
“So… what do we do now?” Fiona asked in concern.
“We don’t do anything.” Haya answered. “We wait for Samael.”
“We wait for him to do what?” I was quick to ask.
Haya shrugged in response. “We wait for him to get here and do whatever he wants. This place is hell, I’m telling you. My friend Celeste was taken by him as well. I don't know where she is. The amount of terrible things I’ve seen in my short time here… it’s revolting. Distasteful.”
“What do you mean?” Santiago asked with shakiness in his voice.
Haya glanced down at the young boy as a sympathetic expression formed on her face. “Nothing, honey. I’m just saying that I feel like my time is up here on Earth. You guys just got here, so maybe there’s hope for you guys. There probably is.”
I could tell she was obviously lying. I appreciated her trying to not scare Santiago, but I hoped that no one else was believing her. She was correct, the only thing we could really do is wait.
We stood and sat in the small cabin without much talking for a few minutes. My heart was racing, as I thought more about what the Grim Reaper could do to us. I had no solution, and unlike with Ashton and Fredrik, I felt as if we could legitimately be killed at any time for no reason. No reason at all.
All of a sudden, a loud thump was repeatedly heard on the door. It was clearly someone knocking, and they were knocking hard without patience. “Open the goddamn door!” It was Samael’s voice.
We all looked at each other without saying anything, as Haya motioned me to open the door since I was the closest. I slowly clutched the barely functioning doorknob and twisted it delicately. I struggled to open the door at first, but once I successfully opened it, the Grim Reaper stood in front me me, towering over all of us. He had a guard with him as well. He aimed his gun at us as soon as we opened the door.
He took a step back, and began speaking. “Ah, the newest one. Taking one for the team by opening that door. You got some balls.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t feel comfortable to respond to anything he said.
“Listen, I can see nearly twenty of you in there. But I don’t know ninety percent of your names. We’ll get to that later, but I want all of you to step out. Now.”
I didn’t hesitate and took two quick steps out of the cabin, as everyone else did. We were all by the side of the cabin, facing the Grim Reaper.
“Good, good.” Samael smiled and put his fingers on his chin through his bushy beard, as if he was trying to think of something. He then removed his chin and looked towards Haya and the other two men that I didn’t know. “Hmmm… you two. You’re the oldies here. Come here.”
The two men obeyed and approached Samael. “Take him to the warehouse.” The guard listened and dragged the man away, as the man struggled heavily in attempt to escape his grip. I watched him fail, as they went out of sight through the woods towards the amusement park.
“Now…” Samael snickered. He grabbed the other man by his shirt, and pulled him closer to himself. The man was middle aged, and had black hair with some light stubble. He seemed to be slightly overweight, but not too much. He was wearing a black shirt with orange horizontal stripes and light blue jeans. I could see the amount of fear in his face.
“You’ve been doing absolutely nothing for long enough. You’ve had your chances and your time is up.” He spoke to the man as well as to us. “Since you have so much balls, mister, I’d appreciate it if you helped me with this.” He was talking to me.
Oh God, no. What did he want?
Samael cleared his throat. “Excuse me, I said that I’d appreciate your help. And when I say that, you are helping no matter what. You see, my arms are a bit tired and I’m a bit sore from so many people struggling to feed the Devil. Sometimes they struggle so much, I have to practically cut or shoot their arms off.”
Silence.
“Anyway, I am going to be nice as I want to give you a good first impression. I’m going to give you a choice. Now, don’t ever expect a choice. I already gave you my reasons for doing this, so no stupid questions.” He continued. “So please, come here.”
I shook my head as my stomach dropped and my heart kept racing faster than ever. I reluctantly approached Samael and the man he was still grasping by his shirt. “The rest of you, please resume your resting. Enter and don’t come out again until I say so.”
I didn’t bother to turn around, but I could hear everyone entering the cabin again. That left me with only Samael and the man. “Look at me and listen closely. No is not an answer. I will end your life and all of your other friends in there if you do otherwise. I’m sure you don’t want that.” Samael spoke in a hushed tone. “Do you?”
“No.” I replied very quietly.
“Very good.” Samael nodded. “Now, this man must be sacrificed. How do you wish to do it? As I said before, I am too sore and unable to perform the sacrifice. But you can, mister hot shot. You can see a large lake just over there. If you didn’t know, that lake is where all of the bodies are sacrificed. You can drown him, as his body will simply sink to the bottom of the lake. Very simple. Or, you can take this cleaver and cut him up into pieces and throw each piece separately. I don’t know how the Devil’s stomach is holding up right now, so I’m not sure if he would prefer a full meal or one by one. So it’s your choice.”
“Please don’t do this…” The man weeped, as he sniffled and tears ran down his face. “My family is out there somewhere. They’re looking for me.”
“Don’t worry about them, you are providing a much better cause. You will be a hero. That’s what your family wants, right?” Samael grinned menacingly.
“No… just please let me go. I’m begging you.” He continued to cry.
“I’m letting you free to the Devil. Stop bitching.” Samael’s grin went away. “Go ahead, he’s all yours. I will be watching.”
The man looked at me with a devastated face, and Samael snapped his fingers. “Excuse me, don’t take too long. The Devil is waiting.”
I shook my head even more and felt tears forming. This may have been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, and my heart felt like it was going to explode at my chest. “I’m sorry….. what would…. you…... rather want….”
Samael covered his mouth with his robes and faced me, becoming angry. “Stop with the bullshit, choose now or things are gonna get ugly!”
[Drown the man] [Cut him up]
Well, there would be two opportunities that happen through certain choices where Tony is alone with Billy and Tony is given the chance to shoot him and kill him. More choices would lead to telling the truth or lying to cover the act up. Another would have been more unique, as it would have involved walkers and him potentially being devoured. However, if he did survive to Chapter 8, the amount of things that are possible are things that I cannot say due to spoilers.
At the point of the beginning of Chapter 7, the only people who would object would be Samantha, Trevor, and Karen, which is quite obvious. As the chapter went on and depending on choices some minds may be changed but the general core of those people would not change.
Hmmm, according to the submission, he did have family but he/she did not specify if the remaining of it was still alive. So, I'm assuming that they weren't.
Yes, well, obviously with this logic the best choice would have been to kill Joe and make sure he doesn't return, but it is still much better than cutting off his leg and putting him through terrible pain.
Well, no, not specifically. I try my best to not have the same set of characters die no matter what without reader's votes' influence unless it is absolutely necessary. But yes, characters were indirectly saved by choosing to go to the amusement park.
[Drown the man]
I think this will be less brutal to do... and damn, this Negan vibe.
Miyako seems to be uncatchable. Hope we will meet her soon and Asian Team can be reunited like Tony's.
[Cut him up]
Hm, having him devoured by walkers sounds sweet, though the option for Tony to shoot him would have sound more like a punishment than something that just happened. Unless someone would deliberately push him into the walkers to take vengeance, I probably would have preferred to shoot him, even if that would have been way too fast and painless for him. At least then, his death would be a direct consequence of him murdering Nick.
Ah yes, Trevor and Karen. I honestly don't think they have ever been a part of the group and frankly, their opinion never mattered anyway. At least the important people would have remained on board with doing the right thing. As for Samantha, she really would have earned my hatred in Chapter 7, as it seems.
Good, good, this is very good. At least that means that his entire rotten family is dead as they deserve, while the family of the man he murdered continues to exist, in spite of everything he tried to do to change this. The next step would be to kill all of his friends, followed by everyone who has an even remotely positive memory about him, so that in the end, everyone will see his life as the worthless pile of garbage it truly was, a life in which he never did a single good thing. I guess that means only Karen still has to die for my vengeance to be complete, because I doubt that monstrously evil inbred swine had any friends before the apocalypse. God, I hope that bitch already died screaming, but I have the bad feeling that she is going to return and it'll be horrible. Please just kill her offscreen.
Hm, I'm not too sure about this. I mean, from the show, we know that it can take hours until someone dies from the infection and that has been Jim, who was bitten in the stomach. Joe meanwhile was only bitten in the leg, so I guess he had a lot more time, time he could use to peacefully relive his most happy memories, before quietly drifting off. That sounds better than killing him immediately. That said, I would have liked to prevent him from turning, but well, I think now at least his death was better.
I see. This is interesting, as well as concerning. I'll probably ask who would have died in the other route at the end of the chapter once again, if that's okay
Call it murder, Kat, for that's what it was. Killing would imply it was accidental, which this wasn't. But yeah, I can't deny a grim satisfaction that Billy will be forever remembered as a stained pile of shit and nothing else. I just wish it wouldn't have been this pathetic whoreson who ended up murdering Nick. But still, Kat is alive, which makes me happy.
[Drown the man]
That choice... oh man, that choice is messed up. Samael is already the second most horrible character they ever encountered. I have absolutely no idea how the group is going to escape from there and for the very first time, things seem truly hopeless. But they escaped from Ashton's, they escaped from Fredrik's, so I am sure there will be an opportunity later on. But well, for now all they can do is to play along until this opportunity comes up. And I agree with Mathea on this, this seems like the less brutal option. I mean, both are pretty brutal and drowning is one hell of a shitty death, but cutting him up, probably while he is still alive? That's the fate I would have wished for Billy, not for some random guy whose name we don't even know. As far as I'm concerned, in direct comparison it is less brutal and cruel to drown him and this guy does not seem like the kind of person who deserves a cruel death.
[Drown the man] I never thought I would say that but drowning is the more merciful choice.
I already hate Samael. He sounds like the worst villain they met so far because all the others just wanted to force them to work for them but he is the first who just wants to kill them all. I hope my favorite characters make it all out but he is not going to make it easy I am afraid.
[Drown the man]
That's a hard choice, but like others have said, it seems to be the worst out of the two.
By the way, great chapter!
Thank you! Since I have never seen your username on this story before, I am assuming you are new?
Well, I've been on the forums for a while (around 4 months, I think) but I've only just recently started reading the fan-fictions.
So yeah, I'm new here. And this is actually my first time voting for a choice. It's strange, but awesome at the same time.
Ah, well welcome to the story! I am glad to have you around now. I appreciate the support and hope you enjoy!
When the new part?
Should be out tomorrow! I apologize for no parts this week, we had the week off and I've barely had any time on my laptop since I was busy doing other important things non-school related.
This choice... Oh damn.
[Drown the man]
Ugh, this is such a messed up choice. I can't wait for whenever the group gets an opportunity to escape. Samael is such an evil bastard...
Chapter 8: Part 2
March 18th, 2017. 3:16 P.M.
[Drown the man]
I didn’t give a verbal reply to Samael. I just raised my arm slowly, trembling slightly, and pointed to the lake. Samael smiled and nodded. “Very well. I see you want the Devil to have a full course meal today. I like your generosity.”
He pushed the man to me, and he fell helplessly into my chest. It was almost as if he was a little kid running up to hug his or her parents after not seeing them in a long time. It broke my heart knowing that it was now my job to murder this man. For no reason at all.
“Go on now.” Samael stated bluntly, and I reluctantly approached the lake. I was so unstable that I nearly tripped over tiny branches that lay on the ground.
I reached the bank of the lake, where it started off shallow but the dropoff to the deeper portions of the lake were very close. The lake was really dirty too. It was dark and murky. I turned around to see Samael staring at me with a straight face, his arms crossed. I knew it had to be done.
I held the man in front of me, and we faced each other. I looked into his eyes and he looked into mine. “I’m so sorry.” I told him.
The man had the most emotionless and dead facial expression I have ever seen. “Just do it. Get it done quick.” He barely managed to get out.
“I’m so sorry.” I repeated as I kneeled to the side of the lake where the deeper area met with the bank, and turned around to Samael one more time. He was still in the same exact position as before, but this time he motioned me to complete the task that he assigned.
I turned back to the man, and closed my eyes as I shoved him into the water face first. He struggled and kicked mightily, trying to escape. Water was splashing everywhere, and I was beginning to get soaked. I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes to the horrific sight. After about forty five seconds that felt like forty five minutes, the kicking and splashing stopped completely. He was dead.
I forced myself to open my eyes to confirm that he was dead and no longer suffering. He was floating lifelessly underneath the water. I let go of him and he began to stay afloat without moving too much. Tears began to fall down my cheeks as I watched his lifeless body in the water.
Samael began clapping and started to approach me. “Very good. Very, very good. Don’t worry, he’ll sink eventually. That’s when the Devil takes him in. Since he is hungry, it’ll happen in no time.”
“I can’t believe you just made me do that.” I whimpered. I tried to show him that I wasn’t fazed by what I had just did, but I failed terribly. I sounded like a child who had just been yelled at by their parents.
“I can’t believe you just made me do that!” Samael mocked me. “You should be happy for treating the Devil kindly. You see, if you continue to show displeasure to the Devil, then you can kiss your life goodbye. The Devil does not like non-believers. So you either suck it up and do what I say, or you’re gonna be just like that man floating in that lake. Now, I expect zero complications with future sacrifices. Got it?”
“.....Got it……..” I mumbled. I refused to look at his face.
He snapped his fingers. “Look at me. Lift your head up.”
I slowly turned my head to face him. I was staring directly at his face, I can see the evil in his eyes. “I said, I expect zero complications with future sacrifices. Got it?” He repeated.
I nodded and spoke. “Got it.” It killed me inside saying that. I knew that everything was only going to get worse.
“Very well.” Samael spoke in a rather louder tone. “Your job for now is done. Go back inside with the others and don’t do anything else. I should be back shortly.”
With that, he walked away and made his way towards the amusement park. I stood alone on the side of the lake, facing the cabin. I turned around one last time to the man in the lake, and shook my head in disbelief and made my way back to the cabin.
March 18th, 2016. 3:22 P.M.
“I think he’s still there.” I finished explaining to everyone in the room what Samael had just made me do. “I hope he isn’t. I just want all of that erased from my brain.”
“I’m sorry Tony.” Katrina tried to comfort me, as well as some others.
“This guy is a psycho.” Haya spoke. “All I know is that he took more people. Who knows what happened to them… including your friend.” She faced Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, and Emi.
“Oh… fuck! Fuck!” Kazuhiko slammed his fist on the barely stable cabin walls, which caused the entire thing to rattle.
“Calm the fuck down!” Dom warned him. I could tell that he and Kazuhiko would probably never get along.
“Why should I? For all I know, this fucker can be EATING Miyako right now! I don’t fucking know what he can be doing!” Kazuhiko fired back.
“I don’t think he’d do that.” I informed him. “He only sacrifices people to the Devil. Or so he says he does.”
“Oh, that makes me feel SO much better!” He was about to punch the wall again, but stopped himself this time.
“Settle down, Kazu… I’m sure she’s fine.” Yoshiro placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I doubt she is!” He seemed like he was about to yell. “That girl is like a sister to me.”
“You’re not helping.” Emi finally decided to speak. “Our best thing to do right now is to try and stay positive.”
Kazuhiko sighed and didn’t respond. As soon as the arguing stopped, Samael barged in out of nowhere.
“Man, you guys are a mess!” He exclaimed. “You guys call yourself a nice big group but all I can hear is people yelling at each other.”
“It’s not all of our faults that some people can’t keep their cool.” Dom hissed back.
“Oh, I understand that.” Samael replied quickly. “I hear you guys are upset about someone named Miyako?”
“I couldn’t care less.” Dom kept talking. I saw Kazuhiko give him a death stare before Samael interrupted.
“Don’t worry about her, she’s fine and dandy. She’s been a real nice girl, ya know. And she’s quite fragile, so I don’t think she would be good for the Devil unless there are extreme circumstances.”
No one responded.
“Jesus, I just confirmed that she’s fine and after all of that arguing, nothing at all? I expected there would be some sort of excitement.” He continued.
Still, no response.
“Hmmm…” Samael began scratching his beard. “I know. You guys don’t believe me. Now, I can understand that. We just met, some of us got on the wrong foot, and there’s some lack of trust. How about we go and see her? That’s fair, I don’t see a problem with it.”
We all looked at each other, and Kazuhiko was about to say something, but Yoshiro stopped him. “Yes, please.”
“Alrighty then.” Samael grinned. “Anybody else wanna come? The more, the merrier!”
Only Yoshiro, Kazuhiko, and Emi were going to follow him outside to meet Miyako. No one else moved.
“Alrighty then, your choice. Just follow me and you guys can see her.” He began to walk away. The asians started to walk out the door but I managed to stop Emi.
“What is it?” She asked.
“Are you sure about this? This seems fishy. What if he’s planning on doing something horrible?” I warned her.
“I know, I know… I don’t feel comfortable either. But there’s no way Kazuhiko is going to pass up on this, you know he isn’t the brightest. And Yoshiro follows him wherever he goes. I can’t abandon them Tony, they’re like family.”
“I understand, but…”
“Maybe we can even see Miyako. She might be there… you’re welcome to come if you want. Anyone. Just in case something does happen…….” She spoke.
“Since I know who she is too, I might as well go,” Haya volunteered.
“Come on, what are ya waiting for?” Samael called back for Emi.
“I gotta go. Your choice Tony.” She broke away and went outside with Haya. I looked at everyone else and they looked back at me.
“I feel like I should go… they might get killed, who knows. Maybe I can stop something.” I told them.
“I don’t want anything happening to you.” Katrina showed some concern.
“Yeah man, don’t risk it.” Eric agreed.
I shook my head. What if it was safe and they were just going to see Miyako? I was just concerned that Samael may do something, and it worried me.
[Go with Samael to see Miyako] [Stay put in the cabin]
[Go with Samael to see Miyako]
Ba, of course I want to finally see Miyako :-))) I think on the other hand that its better to go with bigger group.
Careful, Sammy, you're using the J word, I'm sure the devil won't approve
Anyways, great part! This is so freaking creepy, like, I'm terrified for every single member of the group, because that is by far the most dangerous situation they have ever been in.
[Go with Samael to see Miyako]
You know, I am really concerned that Samael is doing something nasty to the rest of the group while Tony is gone, but then I had to think, why would he do that only if Tony leaves? No, I think he has something planned with the asians and Miyako. This is probably some sort of trap and I could see something bad having happened to Miyako. My early guess would be that she has gotten brainwashed to join the cult, or maybe just tricked Samael into thinking that. But whatever it is, Tony's presence could very well change things there. And of course, my conscience forbids me to leave Mathea waiting for Miyako any longer