Oh fuck... fucking Samael. These mind games are really getting to me, because now I am afraid that he has done something to the group during Tony's absence. Maybe he is just fucking with him, but I cannot know that for sure. The lever most likely means something horrible happening, maybe to Tony, maybe to the group. I could see this as being part of the thing he has planned for Tom, whose whereabouts are still unknown at the moment. And I cannot risk it. I fear this will kill one of my favourites, but at the same time, Samael is so sadistic that I fear he is going to kill them regardless, or that he is doing something else that will end up putting them at harm. Argh, I really wish I would have decided differently last time. Now I don't know just what he did to Kat. Possibly nothing, but hell fucking damn it, he is just going to claim it regardless of wether or not he actually did it, because of what a bastard he is. All I know is, I cannot quite risk the lever, even if I could see this as a mistake. At the same time, maybe Samael expects Tony to think that this is a bad thing, so he has designed it in a way that pulling the lever is a good thing? Or maybe he expects Tony to think exactly that, so he has designed it to be a bad thing, so that Tony will fuck one of his friends over if he pulls it. Argh, why must these choices be so damn hard? This is literally the hardest in this chapter. And I am literally terrified for my dear, dear group.
Sorry for the long wait, I was meaning to get this out last week but I was extremely busy. Anyway, hope you enjoy and I hope you all had a g… morereat Easter!
Chapter 8: Part 11
March 18th, 2017. 6:56 P.M.
[Follow Samael]
I glanced at the shed that contained all of my friends; hopefully, that is. I wanted to go in there so bad and retrieve at least some happiness from this putrid day. But I thought about it, and I knew that Samael can be up to something bad. When is there not a moment when he’s up to something bad? The man was indeed, as his appearance reflected, a grim reaper.
I was unsure if I wanted him knowing that I was following him. I speculated as he was walking farther and farther away, and decided that I would try sneaking behind him. However, I did not want to make it seem like I was. I was going to walk casually in case he did turn around and catch me, because if he caught me in such an obvious act, who knows what he mi… [view original content]
Sorry for the long wait, I was meaning to get this out last week but I was extremely busy. Anyway, hope you enjoy and I hope you all had a g… morereat Easter!
Chapter 8: Part 11
March 18th, 2017. 6:56 P.M.
[Follow Samael]
I glanced at the shed that contained all of my friends; hopefully, that is. I wanted to go in there so bad and retrieve at least some happiness from this putrid day. But I thought about it, and I knew that Samael can be up to something bad. When is there not a moment when he’s up to something bad? The man was indeed, as his appearance reflected, a grim reaper.
I was unsure if I wanted him knowing that I was following him. I speculated as he was walking farther and farther away, and decided that I would try sneaking behind him. However, I did not want to make it seem like I was. I was going to walk casually in case he did turn around and catch me, because if he caught me in such an obvious act, who knows what he mi… [view original content]
My thought is, if he pulls the lever something happens, which can be good or bad. If he does not pull the lever, things stay as they are, which at least wont make this any worse. I could be so wrong but I hope this is for the better. I would also change my vote if there will be a vote tie but I think either option could lead to either outcome and I cant say what is better here.
Sorry for the long wait, I was meaning to get this out last week but I was extremely busy. Anyway, hope you enjoy and I hope you all had a g… morereat Easter!
Chapter 8: Part 11
March 18th, 2017. 6:56 P.M.
[Follow Samael]
I glanced at the shed that contained all of my friends; hopefully, that is. I wanted to go in there so bad and retrieve at least some happiness from this putrid day. But I thought about it, and I knew that Samael can be up to something bad. When is there not a moment when he’s up to something bad? The man was indeed, as his appearance reflected, a grim reaper.
I was unsure if I wanted him knowing that I was following him. I speculated as he was walking farther and farther away, and decided that I would try sneaking behind him. However, I did not want to make it seem like I was. I was going to walk casually in case he did turn around and catch me, because if he caught me in such an obvious act, who knows what he mi… [view original content]
... what? you want me to explain my choice? It's 50/50 chance of killing someone. Though I have a sneaky suspicion Samael has rigged it so someone dies no matter what, tormenting Tony further. I hope i'm wrong.
Sorry for the long wait, I was meaning to get this out last week but I was extremely busy. Anyway, hope you enjoy and I hope you all had a g… morereat Easter!
Chapter 8: Part 11
March 18th, 2017. 6:56 P.M.
[Follow Samael]
I glanced at the shed that contained all of my friends; hopefully, that is. I wanted to go in there so bad and retrieve at least some happiness from this putrid day. But I thought about it, and I knew that Samael can be up to something bad. When is there not a moment when he’s up to something bad? The man was indeed, as his appearance reflected, a grim reaper.
I was unsure if I wanted him knowing that I was following him. I speculated as he was walking farther and farther away, and decided that I would try sneaking behind him. However, I did not want to make it seem like I was. I was going to walk casually in case he did turn around and catch me, because if he caught me in such an obvious act, who knows what he mi… [view original content]
Well, it's finally here. The next part to A New Life. Nearly seven months have passed with no posts at all, and I will admit that it was not right of me to not post any updates or anything during my absence. I apologize for that, but don't expect a delay like this ever again without warning. As some of you may know, I graduated from high school this past June. I spent most of the summer hanging out with friends before they left, working, and setting up for college and such. Now, since I am finally settled in with how everything is going, I can happily say that I will return to be active here on the forums; of course, barring anything bad happens. There are other things I want to talk about very soon, such as a new story and the current state of the forum (seriously, what the hell is this update?). Anyway, I hope you all understand and forgive me for my incompetence. To be honest, I'd be impressed if five people were still here. It's been so long that many readers have probably been unfollowed or simply forgot. As always, thank you so much for your patience. The wait here was extreme, and it's finally over. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 8: Part 12
March 18th, 2017. 7:14 P.M.
[Don’t pull the lever]
“No, I’m not doing it.” I spat at them. Probably wasn’t the best idea, but I couldn’t help myself. “I’m not falling for one of your mind games.”
The man’s face seemed disappointed at first, but he composed himself with a steady smile. His face was creepy as hell. “Great choice. You will find out the consequences…. Soon.”
I knew that no matter what I picked, they would mess with my mind and lead me on to believe anything. But I wasn’t falling for it. Maybe I actually did make the wrong choice, but I know just because they’re making it seem as if I chose poorly doesn’t mean I actually did. In fact, maybe they’re mad that I picked the correct choice and they’re covering up by trying to scare me. Or worst case scenario, my choice didn’t even matter at all and someone was going to die.
“Now get the fuck out of here.” He commanded, aggressively.
I narrowed my eyes out of frustration. “Where am I supposed to go?”
“I don’t know, somewhere that isn’t here.” He turned away from me at this point. “Leave now before I kill you.”
As hard as it was to hold my anger in, I calmly approached the door from which I entered. I didn’t even bother to look back as I opened it and left. I felt like anything I did pissed him off for no reason.
I was outside now. It was starting to get dark, but there was still a decent amount of sun left. The weather was perfect. Not too warm, not too cold; along with a slight breeze. I must say, the sky actually looked beautiful. There was not one cloud in the sky. The orange sun shone its light behind all of the trees, creating a clear, captivating backdrop. It was another one of those moments that made me feel like I wasn’t even living in an apocalypse. Life felt normal, just for this moment.
Trying not to take too much in, I gathered myself and attempted to process what had just happened. Samael was nowhere in sight.
Did I make a mistake by not pulling that lever? It just seemed way too risky to do something like that whilst under Samael’s control. Maybe he knew I would realize that, and made it that not pulling it would actually be bad. Or maybe he didn’t take any of that into consideration at all, and made the choice completely random. Either way, I was filled with anxiety and not the good kind. There was still so much shit going on. Tom was missing. Mark was in bad condition. Adam and Mina, who the fuck knows if they were still in the cellar. Miyako and Emi were probably with Samael right now, who knows what can possibly be going on with them.
It was all too much. The guy in the room didn’t give me any clear instructions, so I might as well go back to the shed. What rule would I be breaking? I was doing exactly what the guy told me: go somewhere that isn’t that room. So I felt comfortable going back to my group.
As I began to make my way there, a concerning thought loomed over my head. What if when I return to the shed, I am treated to something catastrophic? You never know in sick place like this. I wanted to run there as fast as I could, but that would look way too suspicious. I had to walk at a slightly faster pace, one that wasn’t noticeable enough for anyone to catch.
The sound of my footsteps was the only sound that present. It was a pretty eerie feeling, it felt like anyone an ambush me at any moment since I was alone. Walking through a dead amusement park run by psychos was frightening. It was literally out of a horror movie. Just the past of this place was disturbing enough. So many people have died here by the hand of Samael, including John.
I was so tired. Not just physically, mentally too. I just wanted to be in my bed in my home. I wanted to speak to my family. I was never too close or fond of them, but they were still family. I had already come to the self conclusion that they were dead. That killed me, no matter how isolated I may have been from them. All of my childhood friends, the kids I grew up with in high school. The fact that so many people who I have interacted with and had quite a good time too, were probably gone.
But I knew I couldn’t keep thinking like that. It would only make my depressed and mentally unstable. There was no time for that under any circumstances. Maybe I would feel a little better if we were all in a safe place with full supplies. Honestly, I can’t recall the last time I felt legitimately content with our situation. Gericke’s was the closest to that, but that was just temporary. The last time I felt that way was all the way back in Braxton’s cabin. Even Ashton’s community seemed like heaven compared to this. At least I remember having the tiniest amount of fun at the cafeteria there.
I finally reached the fence. I scanned my surroundings one last time before I hopped over, just to make sure nothing was coming. Nope. I climbed the fence and quickly made my way to the shed, which was not a far distance at all.
As I got closer, I made sure to be real quiet to see if I could hear any conversation. I had the biggest sigh of relief when the muffled sounds of arguing confirmed that my group was still in there. At least, I hoped it was my group. Who knows what could have happened when I was gone?
I approached the front door and knocked before entering so that I didn’t startle them. “It’s me, Tony.” I spoke before opening the door, revealing my group was indeed in there.
But not all of it.
I immediately noticed a bunch of missing people. Kelsi, Alessandra, Haya, Santiago, Deryck, Dylan, and Katrina all were not present.
“Tony!” Tina jumped up and hugged me. She was one of the few people there, along with Fiona, Ryan, Dom, Dan, and Eric. “What happened? Where is everybody?”
“Thank Jesus.” Eric sighed in relief. “You’re alright.”
“Where is my brother?” Dom asked with no hesitation.
Everyone had a similar reaction. But I wasn’t really focused on that. I was looking for the answer to the same exact question they were asking me. Where was everybody?
I shook my head before I uttered my first word. “John is dead.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Dom banged his fist against the wall. “You aren’t serious, man. One of our most useful guys too.”
“What the fuck happened?” Ryan asked nervously.
I began to explain everything. “When Samael took me, Tom, Mina, Adam, and John out of here, he put us all into this cellar. It was like a big hallway. It was pitch black, and tons of dead bodies and walkers. It was awful.”
“The worst part, there were walkers attached to the walls. The were locked into chains. Just as we finished exploring the entire place, Samael came down out of nowhere and took Tom. I still have no idea where he is right now.”
Dom immediately shook his head and closed his eyes. “Fuck…. Fuck….. FUCK!!!!”
Fiona was the first to go to his side and put her hand on his back. “It’s okay, it’s okay…”
Dom angrily swatted her hand away. “No it’s not fucking okay! My brother is dead! He’s gonna be dead!” He yelled.
“Dom, I understand you’re upset but this is what Samael wants. You can’t act like this right now.” Eric warned him.
Dom surprisingly did not yell in response. He just sat down against the wall put his arms around his head and began to sob. This was the first time I have seen Dom completely break down. He really cared for his brother. Despite being swatted away before, Fiona sat down beside him and rubbed his back in hopes of comforting him.
I tried my best to ignore the scene and continue on. “Throughout the hallway there were multiple rooms on the side, all enclosed by wooden pillars. Most of them just had dead bodies, but one of them… Yoshiro was in there. He was alive, but beaten up badly. He revealed to us that Kazu, Emi, and Miyako were also taken by Samael.”
“After he took Tom, the walkers somehow got detached from the chains and started roaming the hallway. Yoshiro and Adam helped destroy a piece of the wood to his room, and they all managed to get in. Since I was on the other side of the hallway at the time, there was no clear path for me to get into the room without getting bitten. So John volunteered to distract them and let me in. It worked, but…”
“He got bit in the ankle. He managed to crawl back into the room but he was bitten. We had nothing to use to cut off his foot, either. I had to stab him in the head and kill him.”
In response, Dan kicked the wall with a strong force. “This is my fucking fault. I just had to create a scene for no fucking reason.”
“Stop blaming yourself. Samael is a psycho and nothing will change that. Everything that has happened so far was gonna happen eventually.”
Dan shook his head. “Whatever you say, Tony. I still feel guilty for Mark and his hand.”
I couldn’t think of a response. Yes, Dan did cause Mark to injure his hand and who knows if he would be in his current condition had he not did what he did. But it was in the past and it was time to forget about it. Not for me, though. I had to keep explaining.
“Samael came down into the cellar and brought me out. Adam, Mina, and Yoshiro might still be down there… he took me to the funhouse. He forced me to go through it, and when I reached the second level, Mark was there. Again, in bad shape. Samael forced a choice upon me… cut off his foot, or his hand. Mark and agreed, albeit reluctantly, his foot….. It was awful. His condition right now, I have no idea…”
Before Dan got really angry, I reiterated myself. “Don’t blame yourself again. This would have happened no matter what. Samael was gonna take Mark either way.” I didn’t know if that was entirely true, but the last thing I needed right now was Dan freaking out.
“After that, he ended up taking me to this weird control room. Emi and Miyako were there, tied up. Samael untied them for some reason, and then left the room for who knows what. I was stuck in there with one of his men. He presented me to a lever and gave me a choice: pull it, or don’t pull it. It was basically a 50/50 choice, and I didn’t pull it. Just way too risky.”
“After I made my choice, the man in the room told me to leave. He didn’t give me any clear direction, so I decided to come here. I was hoping I would see everyone, but…”
“A random guy took them.” Tina revealed. “No idea where they are.”
My friends. Katrina, Santiago; who was a child, all of them. Currently unknown in this hell. I heart dropped when I really realized the reality of the situation. Where could they be? Just…. Where?
“Okay.” I cleared my mind and decided to lay everything out. “Adam, Mina, Yoshiro, Miyako, and Emi were all last seen alive in good to decent condition. Knowing Samael’s effectuation with Miyako and Emi, I don’t think he would displeasure them by killing Yoshiro. Or maybe he would, knowing the suck fuck he is. Kazu is the only person whose status is completely unknown, none of us have any idea where he is. But I would think he would receive the same logic as Yoshiro.”
“I guess we can also add Tom to that list, too… but he’s been missing for three hours at least. Mark is, who even knows. The guy can be fucking dead…” My stomach dropped again. I couldn’t believe this was all happening.
“And lastly…. Everyone here…..” I trailed off.
Dom was still crying, Fiona still comforting him. I didn’t even know if he was paying attention. I know Fiona was.
“I don’t think that was fucking necessary.” Dan growled. “I know, everyone is probably dead. You didn’t have to put salt in the wound.”
“I was just trying to get a grip on everything… so that we aren’t clueless.” I responded.
He didn’t reply, but Eric did. “We have no choice but to think of the ones we care about. I don’t know if I’ve ever been as concerned for somebody’s life since this all started as I am right now.”
“Samael didn’t take us for a reason. Maybe he doesn’t care about us, or he just has something worse planned.” Fiona chimed in, not sugarcoating anything.
“Somebody will probably come and do something.” Ryan muttered. “I’m scared shitless.”
I had nothing more to say. I sat down on the left side of the shed and just sat there. I was in such a bad state that I didn’t even know what to think. Usually I would try and rationalize, but there was nothing to rationalize here. My friends were in serious, serious danger. And there was nothing any of us could do about it. It was eating me up inside.
I sat there, and waited. I was just waiting for something to happen. What else could we do? Talk about how our loved ones were probably dead? No. I would still like to think they were somehow alive and okay, with the ounce of hope that I still had left. There was nothing to talk about, but so much to think about. It was safe to say that while the shed was silent, everyone had thoughts running through their heads. This was easily the worst moment of my life. The worst time. And I had no choice but to soak it all in.
Oh yes, hell yes, you are back! Welcome and I am so happy to see the new part
And oh, how I missed the story. One thing I did not miss however, but which is back regardless and in full force is being super afraid for the group And you even begin this part by placing pretty much giving half of them, including Kat, an unknown status, damn it! This is making me really anxious once anew, I hoped to finally see them all reunited for longer. Alas, I have all kinds of bad thoughts about what Samael has in mind for them. However, perhaps the most logical option is actually that he is putting them through the same situation he is putting the people currently with Tony through. Separating them from their loved ones, making them think they have died, probably psychologically breaking them. From what we have seen so far, he seems to be far more into mind games than ordinary physical torture. Else he probably would have just done that from the very beginning. The fact that he is separating the group could also have practical reasons, because only together can they have a shot at escaping. But ah, I cannot deny that I am terrified for Kat and what this might mean for my dear. Maybe Samael realized how badass she is? He kinda took most of the badass members of the group, like Deryck and Dylan as well, so I assume he indeed means to separate them to have better control. Further evidence to that is that he left some badass people, such as Dom, Dan and Tony himself. From Terminus, we know how it ends when a large group of badass people is imprisoned in the same spot, so if this is indeed his plan, I probably should give Samael more credit than I gave him so far, he might be the single most insane and evil guy they could ever encounter, but he might also not be totally stupid, as deranged as he is.
But argh, that is nonetheless terrifying. Please don't leave this cliffhanger for another seven months I can only hope many of the others will be here as well, because this part showed once more why the story deserves every reader it can get
Well, it's finally here. The next part to A New Life. Nearly seven months have passed with no posts at all, and I will admit that it was not… more right of me to not post any updates or anything during my absence. I apologize for that, but don't expect a delay like this ever again without warning. As some of you may know, I graduated from high school this past June. I spent most of the summer hanging out with friends before they left, working, and setting up for college and such. Now, since I am finally settled in with how everything is going, I can happily say that I will return to be active here on the forums; of course, barring anything bad happens. There are other things I want to talk about very soon, such as a new story and the current state of the forum (seriously, what the hell is this update?). Anyway, I hope you all understand and forgive me for my incompetence. To be honest, I'd be impressed if five people were still here. It's been so l… [view original content]
Omg am I seeing things!? I can't believe it's been that long since you added to this story! It's great that you're back dude
I've missed all these characters so much. I know a good number of them are unknown right now but i'm sure we'll know in the next part. I'd almost forgotten how sadistic and scary Samael can be
Anyway, I tentatively look forward to the next part. Here's to some more great story from you my friend
Well, it's finally here. The next part to A New Life. Nearly seven months have passed with no posts at all, and I will admit that it was not… more right of me to not post any updates or anything during my absence. I apologize for that, but don't expect a delay like this ever again without warning. As some of you may know, I graduated from high school this past June. I spent most of the summer hanging out with friends before they left, working, and setting up for college and such. Now, since I am finally settled in with how everything is going, I can happily say that I will return to be active here on the forums; of course, barring anything bad happens. There are other things I want to talk about very soon, such as a new story and the current state of the forum (seriously, what the hell is this update?). Anyway, I hope you all understand and forgive me for my incompetence. To be honest, I'd be impressed if five people were still here. It's been so l… [view original content]
I'm a little late but this new update has been very hard to adjust to, anyway, it's great that you're back! This was a great part and I can't wait to see where the story goes from here!
Well, it's finally here. The next part to A New Life. Nearly seven months have passed with no posts at all, and I will admit that it was not… more right of me to not post any updates or anything during my absence. I apologize for that, but don't expect a delay like this ever again without warning. As some of you may know, I graduated from high school this past June. I spent most of the summer hanging out with friends before they left, working, and setting up for college and such. Now, since I am finally settled in with how everything is going, I can happily say that I will return to be active here on the forums; of course, barring anything bad happens. There are other things I want to talk about very soon, such as a new story and the current state of the forum (seriously, what the hell is this update?). Anyway, I hope you all understand and forgive me for my incompetence. To be honest, I'd be impressed if five people were still here. It's been so l… [view original content]
Hey, welcome! While I cannot reply for Partition, the author, I think I can answer right away, not knowing when he'll be able to. As far as I know, he has every intention of continuing and eventually finishing this story. Due to real life stuff, he hasn't been all that active on here, but I know he hopes to get back into the writing, so I have high hopes for the story in 2018. I've been in contact with him while he was more inactive here and I know he is not the type to just abandon the story even if his pace of writing might have grown a bit slow compared to the early days.
As for where you can see it, new parts are published right here in the thread, where you can also read the entire story so far. You can follow this thread and receive notifications whenever someone comments here (which is usually when a new part gets released) and you do that by going to the very top of this page, where, to the right of the thread title, you find a small white star. If you click on it, it becomes a golden star and you are now following this thread. You can find your followed threads (once you have any) under this link: https://telltale.com/community/discussions/bookmarked
Once that happened, you will be notified when a new part is released, meaning you won't miss any updates. I hope that helped, but if there's any problems with that, feel free to ask and I might be able to help
Hey guys, self-advertisement here. Sorry haha. I've just started a Hunger Games fanfic, an everybody's participation would be great! There's still plenty of character submission slots open!
It's finally here, the final part to Chapter 8. Yes, I know I posted the last part in November. That is completely embarrassing. I'm going to stop promising things now, because it seems like every time I do, things always happen and it's unfair to you guys. Truth is, my life has completely changed since the day I started this story. However, that isn't a bad thing. I think I can confidently say that I will be able to post parts a lot more consistently now, but I'm not gonna put too much stress on it. I'm just gonna do what I have to do, school, work, girlfriend, friends, and write. Since most of my friends are off to college and school starting up again, I am going to have so much more free time to write. Like I said, I don't want to promise anything, but needless to say, I am EXTREMELY excited to write again and be active on here. I really miss it, and I'm really sorry for how long it took for Chapter 8 to progress. I've actually re-read the entire story, as I have forgotten a good amount of things and details myself. I know this part won't have the effect is should have because of the long hiatus, but I don't think that will be an issue anymore. Hopefully this new forum format doesn't affect anything, I don't think it will but I really prefer the old one. I've also added a new element at the end that I have been contemplating for a while now, and I really can't wait to expand on it. Don't worry, it won't get overused and used unnecessarily I was originally going to end this on a choice, but I know most of my readers have either quit the forum or are just uninterested now. That won't stop be now, and I hope you guys are excited and I can't wait to talk to everyone here again. Thank you!
Chapter 8: Part 13
March 18th, 2017. 8:57 P.M.
It has been at least an hour since I re-entered the shed. Nothing was happening, and no one was talking. The atmosphere could not be any more grim. Dom was in full belief that his brother had been murdered. Dan couldn’t stop blaming himself and felt extremely guilty. Eric wasn’t bright at all. Fiona was trying her best to comfort, but it was to no avail. Ryan and Tina showed no emotion. None of these personalities were surprising. I couldn’t even begin to explain what I was feeling. Knowing that the ones you care for are dead is incredible heartbreak and for the most part is unmatched. But what’s even worse is having no idea what happened to them. Left only to assume and try to deny to yourself that the worst possible outcome has unfolded. But you know in your head, especially in a situation like this, that’s near impossible.
“We need to figure out a way to get out of here. There’s no way we can stay here for any longer. It can’t happen” Dan stated. “I’m fucking serious. If we don’t go all out and do something to escape we’re all gonna die.”
“What are we gonna do? What can we do?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know, just fucking something!” Dan raised his voice.
Fiona shook her head. “We know we have to get out. Do you want us to walk out right now and try to run? You think that’s a good idea?”
“Better than being sitting ducks waiting for our deaths.” He retorted. “If we’re gonna die, we might as well die tryin’.”
I also found myself shaking my head. “I hate that you have a point. I just hope there’s some miracle that happens and we can make it out alive and unscathed.”
“Well, that’s impossible.” Dom scoffed. “If that satanic fuck did anything to my brother, I’m killing him and I don’t care what it takes.”
Ryan shrugged. “I really don’t know, Tony. Honestly there really isn’t anything we can do besides sit back and take whatever he throws at us.”
“But…” I trailed off.
“What exactly is stopping us from running out right now?” Eric asked.
“Samael claims that he has cameras and snipers and men watching every ounce of this park.” Tina answered.
This caused Dan to chuckle. “That was his explanation? Do you really think he has that many guys keeping their eyes open at all times watching every little thing that happens? Let alone having that many guys on his team in general.”
“Well you wanna go and find out?” Fiona responded, annoyed. “Is it worth risking your life?”
“We’re gonna die anyway. How many times do I have to reinforce it?” He replied.
Ryan shrugged once more. “I don’t know man, do you really wanna risk it? You don’t think that there’s any chance of us getting out of her otherwise?”
“Hell no.” Dom stated. “That son of a bitch won’t let us go anytime soon. If I didn’t have a brother that I cared so much about and a few good friends, I’d try and escape.”
This seemed to stump Dan a bit. “I don’t have anyone, so.” He said in a more glum tone. “I don’t want to die either. But since I have no confidence that we’re getting out of here, I might as well risk it.”
“We care about you, Dan.” Tina managed to smile as she spoke.
“Yeah man, you have us.” I chimed in.
Dan didn’t move or speak in response. He just sat there, not really doing anything. “I still can’t get over the fact that I probably got Mark killed.”
“You reacted in the moment, it’s okay. No one saw it coming.” Fiona spoke up. “You can’t think in hindsight in situations like these.”
“Well how can I not? It’s not like we’re living it up at a party where no one gives a fuck. This is a depressing ass, life killing setting. We’re all broken. Samael is fucking with us and playing with our heads to make us go mentally insane. He has us not knowing if our friends are dead or not, and he has us not knowing what’s going to happen to us. I can’t fucking take it.” He began to rant.
The room fell silent. Dan was right and everyone knew it, nobody wanted to admit it. I tried my best to somehow lighten up the situation, but I just couldn’t. There was absolutely zero good to think of right now. I almost wanted to cry just at the thought of living my normal life.
“That’s it. There’s so solution… I might as well get up and run for it.” Dan broke the silence with a chilling statement.
“No man, don’t just-” Ryan tried to stop him but was cut off.
“Shut up, I’ve made my choice. I don’t want to deal with this shit. I might as well try than stay getting tortured and being forced to think ‘what if…’” He raised his voice.
Right as he stood up to make his way to the door, the doorknob started fidgeting. Someone from the other side was coming in.
Dan quickly stumbled back into his original sitting position, as the door flew open. Speak of the devil, literally. Samael.
“I love you guys.” He spoke in his usual, creepy tone. A very wide grin formed on his face, and sent chills down my spine. “You guys are so much fun.”
“Shut the fuck up, man.” Dom growled. “Fuck you.”
Samael bursted out in laughter. “I love how you have a strong dislike for me. It makes all of our rituals much more satisfying. You, Sir, just manage to allow me to spice up what I have planned for us with your attitude. I love it!”
No one responded this time. I could tell how much we all just wanted to pounce on him and beat him to death with our own fists.
“You know what? Speaking of that plan I had, that was actually my reason for stopping by. But I want a show for this one, I would like every single one of you to accompany me for this one. The devil will be so pleased…!”
No movement, no words spoken.
Samael turn his back towards us, and made a slow stride away from the door. “Come on now, what’s the hold up? You guys should be thrilled!”
“We aren’t going.” Dan finally answered him.
This caused him to turn around. He pulled out a crossbow from underneath his robes and pointed it at us. “I will shoot you in your chest and feed you to the devil just like that. Not that I’m not going to later, but you might as well value the time you have left, right?”
I can feel my blood boiling on the inside. God, I never wanted to kill somebody in cold blood more than Samael. He had absolutely no morals. None at all. Not an ounce.
In frustration, Dan was the first to approach him. He dragged his feet across the floor and was putting no effort into his footsteps. The rest of us were forced to do the same and follow Samael to wherever the hell he was leading us to.
Meanwhile, Samael was humming some sort of tune. I have not heard him do this before, but I disregarded it since it wasn’t something far fetched of him to do at all. I began to think, what would happen if I bolted away right now? Would Samael chase me, would I get shot? I had no idea. But that wasn’t something I was willing to risk just yet, not without knowing the status of the people I love and possibly putting them in grief. It wasn’t worth it.
It was nighttime now, the only lighting being the lights from the park. There wasn’t much though, so there were many dark spots. The exception being the main path which used to guide thousands of guests everyday.
“Where are you taking us?” Eric asked in an annoyed tone.
Samael didn’t answer, he only began to hum in a deeper tone than he already was.
“Did you hear me dickhead?” Eric asked once more.
“You’ll see, I can’t wait to see the look on your faces.” Samael stopped humming to finally speak. He did not seemed phased at all by Eric’s comment, in fact he actually seemed pleased. That’s exactly what he wants: us to be at an unhealthy state of mind.
We finally entered the actual park, and I took this opportunity to actually do a thorough scan of the area as we walked. I wanted to see if there really were snipers monitoring us at all times.
I glanced up at attractions, buildings, everything I possibly can. I didn’t see any cameras, as I expected. They can be easily hidden. However, I did not see one gunman. This made me skeptical. Of course, they can easily be hiding themselves as well. And how good of a shot were these supposed snipers? Something just told me we weren’t as held down as we thought we were.
Our silent walk finally reached its end at a familiar location: the wooden roller coaster, the one near that faculty room I was in just nearly two hours ago. The one where I had the decision to pull the lever or not.
“You see… this, this is a beloved method of preparing our meals for the devil.” Samael announced as he spread his arms towards the roller coaster. “I am so, so lucky to have found settlement in such a convenient area. This park is so much fun, and it’s perfect for us.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Dan growled.
“Hehe….. Hehehe…..” Samael let out a creepy giggle as he slowly moved his right arm from the roller coaster, and pointed at me. “You friend, he made an extremely important decision earlier.”
My heart dropped, as he was obviously talking about the lever. It was all adding up. My decision has somehow resulted in whatever is going to happen now. Someone was going to die. I tried my best to hold back tears, and my heart was pounding.
“What the fuck did you do?” Dom sneered at me.
I shook my head. “I…. I-” I couldn’t even speak. I knew Dom was blindsided by the thought of his brother possibly being dead, so I didn’t take his anger towards me personal. But I was still shitting bricks.
“That lever you were given the choice to pull, Tony.” He smiled menacingly. “If you had pulled it, you would have powered on this roller coaster. But you didn’t.”
I didn’t know how to answer. Was that good? Was it bad? What the fuck was going to happen?
“I guess when we talk about it now, that was a good decision Tony. Come, take a look.” He spoke in an even creepier tone than usual.
He climbed up on the wooden studs of the roller coaster. The way this roller coaster was designed was very complex. To the right of where Samael was climbing, there was an underpass to allow a path to go underneath. This path led to a different area of the park. But since the roller coaster made a sharp left turn to the right of the path, it allowed plenty of wooden construction to be easily accessed. There were large pieces of wood lying all over the ground, as is expected since no one has tended to the ride in such a long time. It was decaying.
Samael reached the tracks of the roller coaster, and hollered us over. We anxiously and nervously approached the end of the wood.
“Tony, come up here. You can as well… Dom.” He snickered.
Dom let out a loud groan of anger, and without thinking rationally, immediately began climbing the wood. This whole situation just did not sound good.
I followed him, and the rest of our group began to back up towards the construction underneath the underpass.
We both reached the tracks, where Samael was standing proudly with the same grin he had before. Dom and I noticed immediately that Tom was weakly tied to the tracks with his mouth taped and badly bruised. His eyes were wide open, and he squirmed with all his might and screaming through the tape as he saw the three of us.
Samael gave him a hard kick on the side, which shut him up. “Welcome.”
“What the FUCK did you do to him? What are you going to do? ANSWER ME NOW!” Dom yelled and spat in his face. “UNTIE HIM!”
“You should be happy. If Tony had decided differently, your brother would be in three different pieces right now!” He laughed.
Dom was tearing up and didn’t have anything to say. We were both too shocked and unaware of what was going to happen to even react.
“Like I said Tony, it was a good decision when we talked about it before. You made it boring! If you don’t want to have fun, then I might as well do what you couldn’t do and then some. If you had just pulled on the lever, the devil would have been pleased enough for the night. But your refusal made him more hungry.” Samael’s tone went from giggly to serious. “It’ll take a lot more than this bitch to satisfy him.”
Upon finishing that sentence, I heard the roller coaster start up. A single train began to ascend the hill to the top. Tom was tied to the bottom of the first drop.
“NO! NO! NO!” Dom screamed at the top of his lungs, and lost it. He punched Samael in the face, and managed to have the strength to push him off of the roller coaster with ease. “GET THE FUCK DOWN!”
I was frozen in panic. So much was happening at one time. “What the fuck are you doing?!” Dom yelled at me, and then pulled me down to duck with him. I noticed Samael’s crossbow had fallen onto the tracks as well, and I retrieved it.
Dom was frantically trying to untie Tom from the tracks. I ripped the tape off of his mouth.
“Dom! Tony! Please save me! Please!!!” He begged as his face was completely saturated in his own tears.
Then, blades and arrows began to fly towards the roller coaster. I called down to my group. “Find cover! Fuck!” There were no gunshots. Just blades and arrows, a shit ton, began flying above our heads.
I couldn’t see them from my position, but I was confident they heard me. I had no idea where Samael was, and the train was three quarters up the hill. I began to help untie Tom as fast as I could. Never in my life have I ever been so nervous to complete a task.
“I freed his legs! Get his arms!” Dom yelled out amidst the chaos. The arrows were still being fired, and the sound of them hitting the wood above us was loud and caused wood chips to fall and float everywhere.
The train made it up the hill. It was making the turn before the drop. We had no more than ten seconds.
Dom’s face was as red as ever, as we both managed to untie him completely from the tracks.
“JUMP!” Dom pushed me off of the tracks, and Dom followed while holding the injured Tom in his arms. Just as we hit the ground, the train descended the hill and zoomed past right where we were three seconds ago.
I turned around and saw my group barricading themselves in the construction area next to the path. Dom and I sprinted over there as fast as we could, where there was more protection than I thought.
“What the fuck happened?” Tina asked.
“Tom was tied to the tracks, Samael turned on the roller coaster and planned on killing him but Dom went berserk.” I explained as I gasped for air.
“You’re all good bro, I got you!” Dom sat Tom down behind the wood and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Where the hell is Samael?” Ryan looked around.
“No fucking clue.” I replied.
More arrows began to whizz past us and hit the wood. “These are the snipers he was talking about? People armed with fucking crossbows?” Dan almost chuckled. “We can make a run for it!”
“I don’t know, they seem like good shots.” Fiona observed. Blades and knives were also being thrown, and a good amount of them landed directly next to us.
Then, we all started to hear voices of Samael’s men getting closer. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!!” Dom snatched the crossbow from me and peered his head out. “There’s a ton of them coming! They all got crossbows!”
Dom peered out once more, and fired an arrow. “Got one! But there’s too many!”
We all looked at each other, certain that our lives were going to end. But the unexpected happened.
From the direction where Samael led us from originally, I could see figures also armed with crossbows firing arrows towards where the men were. I could hear the grunts and yells from the men coming towards us.
One of them, a woman, made her way closer towards us as she sprinted across extremely swiftly, and dove underneath the roller coaster. I could finally make out who it was, it was Miyako.
She kept firing and firing, and would occasionally pull out a blade from her pocket and throw it. She crawled towards us and reached us with seemingly no problem.
“Miyako? What the fuck?” I exclaimed.
“Don’t ask, I’ll explain later! There’s not much men left!” She crouched beside Dom as they were both firing from behind the wood but in a very safe manner. “Emi is still back there backing us up!”
“How did you-” I began to ask, but Miyako turned towards us and cut me off. “We have to run! Go NOW!”
Miyako sprinted completely away from the roller coaster in the direction of the fence. “Come on!!”
We all looked at each other once more, and got up and began to run towards Miyako. I noticed Emi flanking completely, hiding behind anything she could come across and using them as cover.
I noticed Dom, Ryan, and Tina collect a few knives before taking off. Luckily, the area we were running in was kind of remote, and since the huge roller coaster was behind us, it was difficult for them to hit us with their crossbows.
However, some were catching up. We kept running in irregular patterns until we reached more little buildings. We had to stop and pick them off again.
“Fuck! We can’t die! We gotta run!” Tom cried.
“No shit, we can’t without those fuckers chasing us!” Dom reminded him.
Miyako was an extremely good shot with her crossbow. She hit almost every shot she fired. Even the blades she threw were accurate and hit their target in one way or another.
I was throwing a few knives as well as the rest of my group, but none of them hit. We weren’t skilled with blades like Miyako and Emi were.
Speaking of Emi, she looped around the entire roller coaster and right side of the park completely. She met up with us behind the building without being seen at all since all of the focus were on us, and the nighttime certainly helped.
We were running out of knives and arrows. “We gotta move!” Miyako commanded once more.
We all started to run, with Dom and Tom being the last to get up. I turned around to see an armed man come up right next to Tom, but was shot in the head by Dom. Dom pulled Tom up and they both followed.
We were so close to the exit. It was right there. “AHHHH!” A scream filled the air from behind us.
I turned around to see Tom on the ground, with an arrow in the back of his left shoulder. “Fuck!” Dom yelled and quickly lifted Tom above his right shoulder. I had no idea how he still had all of this strength. He has, without a doubt, been the most beaten and injured member since the beginning. But he was still determined to keep his brother alive at all costs.
There were three men left on our tail, and unsurprisingly at the point, Emi threw three knives, all hitting the three different men. We were there, at the fence. Out of the park. Out from the hell.
We kept moving a bit away from the park, and eventually settled down somewhere in the woods. It was very dark, but we could still make each other out.
“Are you gonna be okay?” Fiona asked, looking at Tom.
“I… I don’t know….” Tom stuttered, still crying. “It hurts so bad.”
“Shut up, you’re fine. I’m not letting you die. It’s just deep in your shoulder.” Dom comforted his brother.
“Miyako… how?” Tina asked, bewildered.
“That dumbass Samael’s obsession over us backfired.” She chuckled. “He left us completely alone in a room and didn’t restrain us.” She referred to herself and Emi. “We heard and saw the chaos going on, and I knew he wouldn't let us die no matter what. It was the perfect chance for us to help, and it was worth the risk.”
“He has knives and crossbows everywhere, that seems to be the main weapon choice of this cult.” Emi chimed in.
“Yeah, I’ve only seen Samael use a gun once.” I responded. “That was in the cellar.”
Then it hit me. All of the adrenaline made me forget that more than half of our group was still in there. “...We have to go back.”
“What?” Dan was understandably confused. “Go back? That’s death! There were still so many men!”
“Our group… they’re still in there. We can’t go on without them! Katrina…” I choked up.
“He’s right man, what the fuck are we gonna do?” Eric agreed with me.
Silence filled the area for a good ten seconds, until it was broken by Miyako. “I’m really sorry… but unless you wanna die, we aren’t going back.” She began to cry. “My friends are still in there, too.”
“I can’t go back, I’m sorry.” Dom coughed. “No way in hell I’m leaving my brother like this. We’re dead men walking if we go back, Samael probably has so many more people.”
“Did you see Samael after we were all taking cover?” I asked Miyako and Emi.
“Yeah, he was limping away somewhere. No idea where, but he just let his men do the work.” Miyako answered.
The trees rustling in the wind was the only noise that can be heard. We were all gonna die if we went back. This was most likely our only chance of escaping. The reason why we made it out the way we did was because of the situation we happened to be in, which I doubt we would ever be in again. I was just so worried, I knew no one was gonna go back. It was death. Might as well write our friends off as dead at this point… I had small hope for Katrina, because it seemed like Samael had a preference for women. But everyone else… I really had no idea. Dom was in bad shape, Tom was in even worse. I knew Tina and Fiona weren’t too close with anyone besides Mark and Kelsi, and it wasn’t worth it for them. If Miyako and Emi insist that it was too dangerous to back despite their loved ones being there as well, it was a lost cause.
We relaxed as much as we could by sitting and leaning against the trees. Miyako and Emi were on the lookout, and I knew they would do a good job at protecting us. There was only thing for me to do. For us to do, it was to pray that everything would somehow get better. Just somehow.
Katrina Coulson
March 18th, 2017. 10:04 P.M.
I remain trapped inside of a mysterious building, which seems like some sort of operation room. Kelsi sat with her hand on her head, while Alessandra was observing her surroundings. We’ve been in here for a few hours with nothing to do, not knowing what’s going to happen.
Out of nowhere, the door slammed open. Samael entered and closed the door, and had a noticeable limp on his right leg. He wasn’t smiling nor showing any emotion. What was stopping me from beating him to a pulp right now? Honestly, what was?
I was actually highly considering it, but before I can thoroughly process my thoughts, he spoke. “Boy, do I have news for you.”
END OF CHAPTER 8
I hope you guys enjoyed! I decided to exclude the usual end of chapter questions because the intervals have been so long, but if you still want to leave feedback as such then you can.
Ah, welcome back! This is quite the occasion, I am so glad the story finally gets the continuation it deserves. You know that already, but I am definitely still excited for this story, especially as you started with quite a huge and great part here
But let me start at the beginning, this was thrilling and amazing and I have so many thoughts about it. First of all, I am really excited to see Kat as a PoV there. Sure, it is only a short one, but the fact that we're apparently going to see the events at Samael's camp through her eyes make me truly hyped for things to come. At the same time, not going to lie, I am terrified. Samael is pissed and she is his prisoner. Kelsi is there with her, as is Alessandra and there's others we haven't gotten an update on either, so I suppose they are with them as well. But the fact that it is mentioned as an operation room, that is what terrifies me. See, ever since Kat got captured, I had this terrible fear that whatever Samael is going to do to her will end up so bad that all Tony can do is to give her a mercy kill if they ever get reunited. However, I must admit this fear has gotten marginally less lately, because the way Samael is, he does have a special obsession with both, women and these leader types such as Tony, which I think Kat is going to be for the remaining group. So, what I fear is that he is going to put her through the same situations he did with Tony, where he wants to suffer her through the loss of her friends, only that this time, I bet he'll make it especially gruesome and basically impossible to escape. But no, I refuse to believe that this is where she'll die. I mean, I just had to think of how much she survived. There were Ashton and Dexter, the latter of which tried to outright rape her. She got shot and survived, she lost her brother and survived, she survived Samael so far. Tony himself seems somewhat confident she has a chance and yes, I believe she can do it. She can survive what this guy is throwing at her. There's few characters who have constantly pulled off feats as badass as she did on a regular basis. Samael has the most dangerous member of the group cornered there and he likely underestimates her as just another pretty girl without survival skills, which might be what saves her life. But at the same time, I am legitimately terrified what he is going to try to do to her and the others. God damn it, you knew just how you could make me hyped for the next chapter, eh? From the very beginning, Katrina has been the one I wanted to see through this the most and she has arguably been through worse shit than the absolute majority of the cast. The only group member who went through a similar amount of pain is Dom and he at least still has his brother. So, that really makes me determined to do my best to see her through this new shitty situation as well. She hasn't been through worse than that yet, but she has been through plenty and it hardened her to the point where she should be able to survive this. But yeah, I am hyped, terrified and anxious, so please don't keep me on the edge for too long
However, while I greatly enjoyed the way Tony and co. escaped from Samael's camp, I must admit, his thoughts after escaping have made me lose every bit of respect and sympathy for him. Literally, what the fuck is wrong with him? He escaped, good for him, but he had to leave half of his group, including, you know, the girl he supposedly loves. I know they haven't been together for long and haven't gotten much of a chance to explore their relationship yet, so it does seem more like mutual feelings than truly deep love, but still, the way he just left her is cold and honestly, borderline unforgivable. He escaped, Kat didn't, so he just writes her off as dead. Sure, he hopes she's got a chance and honestly, I actually think if she acts decisive and does the smart thing, she can outwit Samael. He is not particularly smart and he is letting his emotions get the better of him more than once, so if she uses that against him, she can survive. However, that won't be thanks to Tony. In fact, I fear he just made things harder for her by pissing the bad guy off and leaving her behind to pay for his actions. I can already barely forgive him for leaving them, but whatever happens to Kat, to the rest of the group, that is 100% on him. Don't get me wrong, I do love Kat, I used to like Tony and want to do so again and I definitely still love their relationship, so I greatly hope they will meet again and manage to put this issue behind them. If they do, however, and if Kat learns how easily he just abandoned her and gave up on her, how much of a monumental coward he is, well, I hope she honestly punches him in the face, maybe that'll teach him some important stuff about loyalty and friendship. Love or not, they have been together from the very beginning of this, she trusted him and he's the first person she's gotten close to since Nick's death, which, by the way, I bet must still haunt with her. Were their roles reversed, I cannot see her abandoning him, she would have thought of a plan and tried, but Tony's thoughts make it clear that he won't even do that. A heavy punch to the face is just borderline enough for him, but not going to lie, my opinion on him suffered badly. We'll see how well Katrina does now that she's gotta make the decisions. I can see Samael developing this creepy obsession he had with Miyako towards her, paired maybe with this obsession with Tony. The good thing is, he doesn't know that Kat is supposed to be the one person Tony cares the most for, so that might be what gives her some time to develop a plan. If Tony can make it, that massive fucking failure of a leader, then she can do it all the better! Or maybe that is just me trying to prevent myself from a fully blown panic, because honestly, I don't like this, this is terrifying and I honestly think this is the worst situation she's ever been in, counting all the other shit she's been through. At this point, I have no idea how she is supposed to survive this, but to be fair, I had the same thought with Tony and that spineless wussy somehow made it. She's not a coward, she's smart and she knows how to take care of herself, so I bet if Samael ever gets sloppy, then I know she has a chance to escape. The only question is how bad things will get before that, but I hope that Kat at least gets out of there in one piece. But even if she gets through this just fine, she needs a real talk with Tony, because what he just did is horrible and should she ever learn about him not only escaping without her, but also just deciding against trying to rescue her, then oh boy, I honestly hope their relationship can be saved from that fallout.
That being said, there is one thing I really don't like, a faint bit of negative criticism if I may, and it is about Samael. I hate that character. Not just in terms of not liking him, aye, that much is a given, but I really loathe him as a character. Every time he appears on screen, I have to wonder why anyone is following this clearly deranged guy. How did he manage to find that many suicidally stupid people to follow him in the apocalypse on top of that? Considering nothing he does helps his group with surviving and he spends an insane amount of time torturing people he doesn't even know makes him absolutely ineffective, a failure as a leader and the sort of person nobody in their right mind should follow. And he is no leader, because all he ever does is pointing his ghouls at the next target to torture and then personally cutting them to pieces. I know, his followers aren't in their right minds, but still, I can't help but feel that he is too much. I love the tense situations he puts the group in, but that guy is literally not a human being. I'm pretty certain even men like Hitler or Charles Manson were less focussed on constantly being the most evil person alive and I am certain there were people, more often than not horrible people themselves, who still had genuinely positive interactions with them. Samael however has one character trait and it is being evil incarnate, no goals, no visions, no personality beyond that. That, in return, really doesn't make him the sort of villain I'd want another full chapter with. The problem with Samael is, he has no depth, especially when compared to the compelling characters who took the mantle of the big bad before. We had villains such as Ashton or Fredrik, who were at least focussed on a goal beyond torturing and killing innocent people. Sure, they were not above it, they did plenty evil stuff, but they had depth beyond that, they had traits that, while not making them sympathetic in any way, helped with humanizing them. Even Billy, and you know that he's literally my least favourite character in fiction, at least tried to appear as less of a monster and it would have worked if not for him showing his true face when murdering Nick. Samael though, he doesn't even try. And that honestly makes me hope that the first thing Kat will do in the next chapter is to rally the rest of the group to her side and literally bash Samael's head in until nothing remains, not just because I want her to escape like the huge badass she is, but because Samael is the sort of villain where even just a single part focussing on him is too much in terms of spotlight. You know I love your writing, you are an amazing writer and this story has a special place in my heart, but trust me, there is no one who can turn Samael into something even remotely resembling an engaging and entertaining character. The current storyline works because it involves complex characters such as Tony, Kat, Dom and Eric and because their tense struggles are what drives the story forward. This all, the entire last chapter, is honestly nerve-wracking and thrilling to read, but Samael as a character, he just doesn't work. Just kill him, introduce his complex yet wacky second-in-command Azael (or whatever weird fantasy demon names they give each other) and have him take over and I guarantee you, it'd be for the best
Oh, by the way, before I forget it, can you give me an overview of who is still with Kat? We know Alessandra and Kelsi are there and if I see this correctly, Dylan, Deryck, Adam, Santiago and Haya are unaccounted for. It has just been such a long time since they have been all together, that I would love the reminder, you know, to get a better overview how many good people Kat still has around her.
It's finally here, the final part to Chapter 8. Yes, I know I posted the last part in November. That is completely embarrassing. I'm going t… moreo stop promising things now, because it seems like every time I do, things always happen and it's unfair to you guys. Truth is, my life has completely changed since the day I started this story. However, that isn't a bad thing. I think I can confidently say that I will be able to post parts a lot more consistently now, but I'm not gonna put too much stress on it. I'm just gonna do what I have to do, school, work, girlfriend, friends, and write. Since most of my friends are off to college and school starting up again, I am going to have so much more free time to write. Like I said, I don't want to promise anything, but needless to say, I am EXTREMELY excited to write again and be active on here. I really miss it, and I'm really sorry for how long it took for Chapter 8 to progress. I've actually re-read the… [view original content]
It's finally here, the final part to Chapter 8. Yes, I know I posted the last part in November. That is completely embarrassing. I'm going t… moreo stop promising things now, because it seems like every time I do, things always happen and it's unfair to you guys. Truth is, my life has completely changed since the day I started this story. However, that isn't a bad thing. I think I can confidently say that I will be able to post parts a lot more consistently now, but I'm not gonna put too much stress on it. I'm just gonna do what I have to do, school, work, girlfriend, friends, and write. Since most of my friends are off to college and school starting up again, I am going to have so much more free time to write. Like I said, I don't want to promise anything, but needless to say, I am EXTREMELY excited to write again and be active on here. I really miss it, and I'm really sorry for how long it took for Chapter 8 to progress. I've actually re-read the… [view original content]
Omg, this doesn't seem real it's been that long since you posted a part of this amazing story, i've actually been keeping tabs every so often in the hope that you would come back and boy have you ever come back! Wow wow wow ????
Firstly, i'm so glad that at least some of the group have managed to find their way out. I had a feeling that not all of them were going to escape from Samael's clutches and each member of the group that has left the camp has someone still in there they care about. Even though Dom and Tom are together, some of the original group are still there which must be playing on their minds a lot. Poor Tony man, he only just got reunited with Katrina and now they are separated again ? A bit worried about my boy Dylan now ?
It's finally here, the final part to Chapter 8. Yes, I know I posted the last part in November. That is completely embarrassing. I'm going t… moreo stop promising things now, because it seems like every time I do, things always happen and it's unfair to you guys. Truth is, my life has completely changed since the day I started this story. However, that isn't a bad thing. I think I can confidently say that I will be able to post parts a lot more consistently now, but I'm not gonna put too much stress on it. I'm just gonna do what I have to do, school, work, girlfriend, friends, and write. Since most of my friends are off to college and school starting up again, I am going to have so much more free time to write. Like I said, I don't want to promise anything, but needless to say, I am EXTREMELY excited to write again and be active on here. I really miss it, and I'm really sorry for how long it took for Chapter 8 to progress. I've actually re-read the… [view original content]
Thank you UKilledKenny! I’m glad to be back as well, and I was actually hoping you weren’t gone forever! Your kind comments are very much appreciated and I can say we have become friends. This leads me to the following topic: I don’t know if you’re aware of Telltale shutting down, but if you haven’t heard, Telltale is basically bankrupt and laid off 90% of their employees and the forum is assumingly shutting down along with the company. If this happens, I would love to stay in contact with you and still find a place to post this story. I guess this can apply to all of the other readers who are still active as well, but I know that they are aware of the situation and you were the only other seemingly active reader that I was unsure about. Too bad all of this happens when I come back, but oh well, I’m still gonna make it work somehow along with all of the other readers and writers here on the forum
Omg, this doesn't seem real it's been that long since you posted a part of this amazing story, i've actually been keeping tabs every so ofte… moren in the hope that you would come back and boy have you ever come back! Wow wow wow ????
Firstly, i'm so glad that at least some of the group have managed to find their way out. I had a feeling that not all of them were going to escape from Samael's clutches and each member of the group that has left the camp has someone still in there they care about. Even though Dom and Tom are together, some of the original group are still there which must be playing on their minds a lot. Poor Tony man, he only just got reunited with Katrina and now they are separated again ? A bit worried about my boy Dylan now ?
I'm glad you're back man ❤
Thanks so much sagig! It’s great to have you back, I missed you man. Your words mean a lot but looks like we’re all gonna sink down in the ship together.
Thanks so much Liquid, it’s great to you again and all of the other people here I’m glad you enjoyed this! Although I should clarify, Tony is by no means writing off his friends as dead. I should have worded that differently, but he is not moving on as easily as it may seem. I’ll showcase more in the next part, if this still continues on these forums
As for Samael, yes, he is completely meant to be hated like you hate him, and while I can even agree with you, this is how the character was submitted and I am indeed trying to go all out on making him the biggest psychopath. Character and personality wise, I can agree that is not his strong suit and now that you bring it up, that is a good criticism and I will definitely try to give him more than just a psychopath that wants to kill everyone. However, I do have plans to write stronger villains character-wise, because I know where I am at as a writer now and how much I believe I have improved. This is why I’m so excited to write again, and as mentioned before, it really sucks about the forum shutting down. But we have another place to talk about that, as for now, let’s just try to stay off of it with the time we have left
As for the remaining group members: with Tony, there’s Eric, Dom, Tom, Tina, Fiona, Dan, Ryan, Emi, and Miyako.
Still with Samael is Katrina, Alessandra, Kelsi, Dylan, Mark, Adam, Mina, Deryck, Haya, Santiago, Yoshiro, and Kazuhiko.
Ah, welcome back! This is quite the occasion, I am so glad the story finally gets the continuation it deserves. You know that already, but I… more am definitely still excited for this story, especially as you started with quite a huge and great part here
But let me start at the beginning, this was thrilling and amazing and I have so many thoughts about it. First of all, I am really excited to see Kat as a PoV there. Sure, it is only a short one, but the fact that we're apparently going to see the events at Samael's camp through her eyes make me truly hyped for things to come. At the same time, not going to lie, I am terrified. Samael is pissed and she is his prisoner. Kelsi is there with her, as is Alessandra and there's others we haven't gotten an update on either, so I suppose they are with them as well. But the fact that it is mentioned as an operation room, that is what terrifies me. See, ever since Kat got captured, I had this terrible fea… [view original content]
Thanks so much Liquid, it’s great to you again and all of the other people here I’m glad you enjoyed this! Although I should clarify, Tony is by no means writing off his friends as dead. I should have worded that differently, but he is not moving on as easily as it may seem. I’ll showcase more in the next part, if this still continues on these forums
I am not sure if it'll continue on these forums I mean, we don't know how long the servers will remain up and apparently, the entire team in charge of just maintaining the site is gone already. But at least the story is archived and if not here, then you definitely should continue over in the new forums! I know, I can't wait to read what is in store for the group. When it comes to Tony, well, maybe he is indeed more conflicted than it seems, but that is what he says, it seems he really is writing them off as dead. I don't know what he is going to do about it in the next part, but at least in this part, he is nothing to me but a coward who leaves his girlfriend and half of his group, including a child, to die just to save his own skin and then refuses to do anything to save them. Time will tell if my opinion is wrong, but the way he is right now, he definitely deserves to be punched in the face by Kat, should they ever reunite.
As for Samael, yes, he is completely meant to be hated like you hate him, and while I can even agree with you, this is how the character was submitted and I am indeed trying to go all out on making him the biggest psychopath. Character and personality wise, I can agree that is not his strong suit and now that you bring it up, that is a good criticism and I will definitely try to give him more than just a psychopath that wants to kill everyone. However, I do have plans to write stronger villains character-wise, because I know where I am at as a writer now and how much I believe I have improved. This is why I’m so excited to write again, and as mentioned before, it really sucks about the forum shutting down. But we have another place to talk about that, as for now, let’s just try to stay off of it with the time we have left
Yeah, I got characters like that as well and I am always struggling with finding ways to make them more complex, so I know the problem you face with him. Characters who are pure evil are, well, pure boring. Evil is boring, it is conflict within the character that makes him fun, but with Samael, I just don't see any of it. And well, that is definitely not on you as a writer, because as I said, past villains the group faced have been more complex despite many of them still being clearly evil (Ashton actually being the only one I am not too certain with when it comes to the clearly evil part). My absolute hatred for what he stands for might be partially because he got Kat and half of my favourites in his edgy clutches right now, but I just have zero tolerance for Mr. Look-at-me-I'm-so-evil Samael
And ugh, so Tony left more than half of his group to die? I mean, that is good for Kat, because she's got some seriously capable people with her, especially Dylan and Deryck are always MVP's to have around. But I honestly doubt all of them will make it out alive.
Thanks so much Liquid, it’s great to you again and all of the other people here I’m glad you enjoyed this! Although I should clarify, Tony … moreis by no means writing off his friends as dead. I should have worded that differently, but he is not moving on as easily as it may seem. I’ll showcase more in the next part, if this still continues on these forums
As for Samael, yes, he is completely meant to be hated like you hate him, and while I can even agree with you, this is how the character was submitted and I am indeed trying to go all out on making him the biggest psychopath. Character and personality wise, I can agree that is not his strong suit and now that you bring it up, that is a good criticism and I will definitely try to give him more than just a psychopath that wants to kill everyone. However, I do have plans to write stronger villains character-wise, because I know where I am at as a writer now and how much I believe I have improve… [view original content]
Wow, I haven't posted in a really long time. This is the first time I've logged on in ages, I honestly had no idea the forum returned. I've spent the last two hours just scrolling through so many old stories I've read years ago and seeing all the old users who I became friends with. What good times they were.
Life has just taken me on so many unexpected journeys since my last update. I've gained so many more responsibilities that come along with getting older, and lots of personal obstacles that I've faced. This along with the forum closing, I guess I just.... kind of lost the motivation to continue this story for whatever reason. Another relatively big factor into that was the fact that I've learned so much more about writing and composition and storytelling, etc. which really made me view this one in a different way. Not to say that it's bad, but I feel like I can definitely do much better now. Naturally that would make me just want to start a new story rather than continue this, but...
I still do love this story. It's the first real story I've written and by far the longest, and I have so many good memories with it. Seeing all of the people who would look forward to and read my work and always leave feedback made me really happy. I'm not expecting many people to see this for a while, if any even do at all, but if any old readers see this I want to say thank you for all of the support you have left. I'm sorry I pretty much disappeared without saying anything.
I'm in a weird stage of my life right now where I'm kind of just exploring and have free time sometimes. To continue what I was saying before I've been thinking of potentially writing a story of some sort and really putting effort into it. Not sure where or when I'd post it, but we'll see. I did have lots of ideas for A New Life which I was really eager to write, and like I've always said, I never wanted to just abandon this story and not finish it. I did put three years of work into it (albeit much more spotty at the end) and I know others were invested in it. If there is actually anyone who would want me to continue, I don't think I'd mind making it a bit shorter and wrapping it up in a few chapters. Regardless of if I decide to finish this or not (I probably will) I'm sure I'll begin writing a brand new story of some sort sometime in the near future.
That post was much longer than I intended it to be, whoops. If anyone sees this, thanks for reading and you're awesome. I appreciate everything. Hope you are all doing great!
Hey Partition! Man, it's been a while, it's good to hear from you again I'm still around too, though ever since the Game of Thrones section of the forums got actually closed down (unlike most of the other forum sections it's in read-only and I haven't yet managed to get the FoT thread moved elsewhere) I'm exclusively writing on Creator's Haven, so that's where I spend most of my forum time. I'm not sure how many of the others are still around, but I hope I'm not the only of the old readers who stumble upon your comment.
With that being said, I would love a continuation of A New Life! You know it's always been a favourite of mine and if you wish to continue it here at Telltale, that would definitely motivate me to stick around more often than I currently do ^^ I would need to reread the story to fully remember everything, but that should hardly be an issue.
Wow, I haven't posted in a really long time. This is the first time I've logged on in ages, I honestly had no idea the forum returned. I've … morespent the last two hours just scrolling through so many old stories I've read years ago and seeing all the old users who I became friends with. What good times they were.
Life has just taken me on so many unexpected journeys since my last update. I've gained so many more responsibilities that come along with getting older, and lots of personal obstacles that I've faced. This along with the forum closing, I guess I just.... kind of lost the motivation to continue this story for whatever reason. Another relatively big factor into that was the fact that I've learned so much more about writing and composition and storytelling, etc. which really made me view this one in a different way. Not to say that it's bad, but I feel like I can definitely do much better now. Naturally that would make me just want to s… [view original content]
Wow, hey Liquid! I was wondering if you'd be active on here. It's great to see you as well! I remember I made an account for Creator's Haven, sadly I haven't really been able to be too active on there due to the same reasons I listed before. I imagine it'd take a while for most of the other old readers to see this comment, considering some of them haven't logged on in months if not years. Sad to see, but it's understandable.
It's awesome that you'd want a continuation! Perhaps I could post it on Creator's Haven, or should I stay here and try to build a new audience? i'm not sure how active this forum currently is, especially the Interactive Story section. But either way I'm glad you'd like to see the story continue, I'm sure I can make something work
Hey Partition! Man, it's been a while, it's good to hear from you again I'm still around too, though ever since the Game of Thrones section… more of the forums got actually closed down (unlike most of the other forum sections it's in read-only and I haven't yet managed to get the FoT thread moved elsewhere) I'm exclusively writing on Creator's Haven, so that's where I spend most of my forum time. I'm not sure how many of the others are still around, but I hope I'm not the only of the old readers who stumble upon your comment.
With that being said, I would love a continuation of A New Life! You know it's always been a favourite of mine and if you wish to continue it here at Telltale, that would definitely motivate me to stick around more often than I currently do ^^ I would need to reread the story to fully remember everything, but that should hardly be an issue.
Comments
[Don’t pull the lever]
Oh fuck... fucking Samael. These mind games are really getting to me, because now I am afraid that he has done something to the group during Tony's absence. Maybe he is just fucking with him, but I cannot know that for sure. The lever most likely means something horrible happening, maybe to Tony, maybe to the group. I could see this as being part of the thing he has planned for Tom, whose whereabouts are still unknown at the moment. And I cannot risk it. I fear this will kill one of my favourites, but at the same time, Samael is so sadistic that I fear he is going to kill them regardless, or that he is doing something else that will end up putting them at harm. Argh, I really wish I would have decided differently last time. Now I don't know just what he did to Kat. Possibly nothing, but hell fucking damn it, he is just going to claim it regardless of wether or not he actually did it, because of what a bastard he is. All I know is, I cannot quite risk the lever, even if I could see this as a mistake. At the same time, maybe Samael expects Tony to think that this is a bad thing, so he has designed it in a way that pulling the lever is a good thing? Or maybe he expects Tony to think exactly that, so he has designed it to be a bad thing, so that Tony will fuck one of his friends over if he pulls it. Argh, why must these choices be so damn hard? This is literally the hardest in this chapter. And I am literally terrified for my dear, dear group.
[Pull the lever]
[Don’t pull the lever]
My thought is, if he pulls the lever something happens, which can be good or bad. If he does not pull the lever, things stay as they are, which at least wont make this any worse. I could be so wrong but I hope this is for the better. I would also change my vote if there will be a vote tie but I think either option could lead to either outcome and I cant say what is better here.
[Don't pull the lever]
... what? you want me to explain my choice? It's 50/50 chance of killing someone. Though I have a sneaky suspicion Samael has rigged it so someone dies no matter what, tormenting Tony further. I hope i'm wrong.
Well, it's finally here. The next part to A New Life. Nearly seven months have passed with no posts at all, and I will admit that it was not right of me to not post any updates or anything during my absence. I apologize for that, but don't expect a delay like this ever again without warning. As some of you may know, I graduated from high school this past June. I spent most of the summer hanging out with friends before they left, working, and setting up for college and such. Now, since I am finally settled in with how everything is going, I can happily say that I will return to be active here on the forums; of course, barring anything bad happens. There are other things I want to talk about very soon, such as a new story and the current state of the forum (seriously, what the hell is this update?). Anyway, I hope you all understand and forgive me for my incompetence. To be honest, I'd be impressed if five people were still here. It's been so long that many readers have probably been unfollowed or simply forgot. As always, thank you so much for your patience. The wait here was extreme, and it's finally over. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 8: Part 12
March 18th, 2017. 7:14 P.M.
[Don’t pull the lever]
“No, I’m not doing it.” I spat at them. Probably wasn’t the best idea, but I couldn’t help myself. “I’m not falling for one of your mind games.”
The man’s face seemed disappointed at first, but he composed himself with a steady smile. His face was creepy as hell. “Great choice. You will find out the consequences…. Soon.”
I knew that no matter what I picked, they would mess with my mind and lead me on to believe anything. But I wasn’t falling for it. Maybe I actually did make the wrong choice, but I know just because they’re making it seem as if I chose poorly doesn’t mean I actually did. In fact, maybe they’re mad that I picked the correct choice and they’re covering up by trying to scare me. Or worst case scenario, my choice didn’t even matter at all and someone was going to die.
“Now get the fuck out of here.” He commanded, aggressively.
I narrowed my eyes out of frustration. “Where am I supposed to go?”
“I don’t know, somewhere that isn’t here.” He turned away from me at this point. “Leave now before I kill you.”
As hard as it was to hold my anger in, I calmly approached the door from which I entered. I didn’t even bother to look back as I opened it and left. I felt like anything I did pissed him off for no reason.
I was outside now. It was starting to get dark, but there was still a decent amount of sun left. The weather was perfect. Not too warm, not too cold; along with a slight breeze. I must say, the sky actually looked beautiful. There was not one cloud in the sky. The orange sun shone its light behind all of the trees, creating a clear, captivating backdrop. It was another one of those moments that made me feel like I wasn’t even living in an apocalypse. Life felt normal, just for this moment.
Trying not to take too much in, I gathered myself and attempted to process what had just happened. Samael was nowhere in sight.
Did I make a mistake by not pulling that lever? It just seemed way too risky to do something like that whilst under Samael’s control. Maybe he knew I would realize that, and made it that not pulling it would actually be bad. Or maybe he didn’t take any of that into consideration at all, and made the choice completely random. Either way, I was filled with anxiety and not the good kind. There was still so much shit going on. Tom was missing. Mark was in bad condition. Adam and Mina, who the fuck knows if they were still in the cellar. Miyako and Emi were probably with Samael right now, who knows what can possibly be going on with them.
It was all too much. The guy in the room didn’t give me any clear instructions, so I might as well go back to the shed. What rule would I be breaking? I was doing exactly what the guy told me: go somewhere that isn’t that room. So I felt comfortable going back to my group.
As I began to make my way there, a concerning thought loomed over my head. What if when I return to the shed, I am treated to something catastrophic? You never know in sick place like this. I wanted to run there as fast as I could, but that would look way too suspicious. I had to walk at a slightly faster pace, one that wasn’t noticeable enough for anyone to catch.
The sound of my footsteps was the only sound that present. It was a pretty eerie feeling, it felt like anyone an ambush me at any moment since I was alone. Walking through a dead amusement park run by psychos was frightening. It was literally out of a horror movie. Just the past of this place was disturbing enough. So many people have died here by the hand of Samael, including John.
I was so tired. Not just physically, mentally too. I just wanted to be in my bed in my home. I wanted to speak to my family. I was never too close or fond of them, but they were still family. I had already come to the self conclusion that they were dead. That killed me, no matter how isolated I may have been from them. All of my childhood friends, the kids I grew up with in high school. The fact that so many people who I have interacted with and had quite a good time too, were probably gone.
But I knew I couldn’t keep thinking like that. It would only make my depressed and mentally unstable. There was no time for that under any circumstances. Maybe I would feel a little better if we were all in a safe place with full supplies. Honestly, I can’t recall the last time I felt legitimately content with our situation. Gericke’s was the closest to that, but that was just temporary. The last time I felt that way was all the way back in Braxton’s cabin. Even Ashton’s community seemed like heaven compared to this. At least I remember having the tiniest amount of fun at the cafeteria there.
I finally reached the fence. I scanned my surroundings one last time before I hopped over, just to make sure nothing was coming. Nope. I climbed the fence and quickly made my way to the shed, which was not a far distance at all.
As I got closer, I made sure to be real quiet to see if I could hear any conversation. I had the biggest sigh of relief when the muffled sounds of arguing confirmed that my group was still in there. At least, I hoped it was my group. Who knows what could have happened when I was gone?
I approached the front door and knocked before entering so that I didn’t startle them. “It’s me, Tony.” I spoke before opening the door, revealing my group was indeed in there.
But not all of it.
I immediately noticed a bunch of missing people. Kelsi, Alessandra, Haya, Santiago, Deryck, Dylan, and Katrina all were not present.
“Tony!” Tina jumped up and hugged me. She was one of the few people there, along with Fiona, Ryan, Dom, Dan, and Eric. “What happened? Where is everybody?”
“Thank Jesus.” Eric sighed in relief. “You’re alright.”
“Where is my brother?” Dom asked with no hesitation.
Everyone had a similar reaction. But I wasn’t really focused on that. I was looking for the answer to the same exact question they were asking me. Where was everybody?
I shook my head before I uttered my first word. “John is dead.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Dom banged his fist against the wall. “You aren’t serious, man. One of our most useful guys too.”
“What the fuck happened?” Ryan asked nervously.
I began to explain everything. “When Samael took me, Tom, Mina, Adam, and John out of here, he put us all into this cellar. It was like a big hallway. It was pitch black, and tons of dead bodies and walkers. It was awful.”
“The worst part, there were walkers attached to the walls. The were locked into chains. Just as we finished exploring the entire place, Samael came down out of nowhere and took Tom. I still have no idea where he is right now.”
Dom immediately shook his head and closed his eyes. “Fuck…. Fuck….. FUCK!!!!”
Fiona was the first to go to his side and put her hand on his back. “It’s okay, it’s okay…”
Dom angrily swatted her hand away. “No it’s not fucking okay! My brother is dead! He’s gonna be dead!” He yelled.
“Dom, I understand you’re upset but this is what Samael wants. You can’t act like this right now.” Eric warned him.
Dom surprisingly did not yell in response. He just sat down against the wall put his arms around his head and began to sob. This was the first time I have seen Dom completely break down. He really cared for his brother. Despite being swatted away before, Fiona sat down beside him and rubbed his back in hopes of comforting him.
I tried my best to ignore the scene and continue on. “Throughout the hallway there were multiple rooms on the side, all enclosed by wooden pillars. Most of them just had dead bodies, but one of them… Yoshiro was in there. He was alive, but beaten up badly. He revealed to us that Kazu, Emi, and Miyako were also taken by Samael.”
“After he took Tom, the walkers somehow got detached from the chains and started roaming the hallway. Yoshiro and Adam helped destroy a piece of the wood to his room, and they all managed to get in. Since I was on the other side of the hallway at the time, there was no clear path for me to get into the room without getting bitten. So John volunteered to distract them and let me in. It worked, but…”
“He got bit in the ankle. He managed to crawl back into the room but he was bitten. We had nothing to use to cut off his foot, either. I had to stab him in the head and kill him.”
In response, Dan kicked the wall with a strong force. “This is my fucking fault. I just had to create a scene for no fucking reason.”
“Stop blaming yourself. Samael is a psycho and nothing will change that. Everything that has happened so far was gonna happen eventually.”
Dan shook his head. “Whatever you say, Tony. I still feel guilty for Mark and his hand.”
I couldn’t think of a response. Yes, Dan did cause Mark to injure his hand and who knows if he would be in his current condition had he not did what he did. But it was in the past and it was time to forget about it. Not for me, though. I had to keep explaining.
“Samael came down into the cellar and brought me out. Adam, Mina, and Yoshiro might still be down there… he took me to the funhouse. He forced me to go through it, and when I reached the second level, Mark was there. Again, in bad shape. Samael forced a choice upon me… cut off his foot, or his hand. Mark and agreed, albeit reluctantly, his foot….. It was awful. His condition right now, I have no idea…”
Before Dan got really angry, I reiterated myself. “Don’t blame yourself again. This would have happened no matter what. Samael was gonna take Mark either way.” I didn’t know if that was entirely true, but the last thing I needed right now was Dan freaking out.
“After that, he ended up taking me to this weird control room. Emi and Miyako were there, tied up. Samael untied them for some reason, and then left the room for who knows what. I was stuck in there with one of his men. He presented me to a lever and gave me a choice: pull it, or don’t pull it. It was basically a 50/50 choice, and I didn’t pull it. Just way too risky.”
“After I made my choice, the man in the room told me to leave. He didn’t give me any clear direction, so I decided to come here. I was hoping I would see everyone, but…”
“A random guy took them.” Tina revealed. “No idea where they are.”
My friends. Katrina, Santiago; who was a child, all of them. Currently unknown in this hell. I heart dropped when I really realized the reality of the situation. Where could they be? Just…. Where?
“Okay.” I cleared my mind and decided to lay everything out. “Adam, Mina, Yoshiro, Miyako, and Emi were all last seen alive in good to decent condition. Knowing Samael’s effectuation with Miyako and Emi, I don’t think he would displeasure them by killing Yoshiro. Or maybe he would, knowing the suck fuck he is. Kazu is the only person whose status is completely unknown, none of us have any idea where he is. But I would think he would receive the same logic as Yoshiro.”
“I guess we can also add Tom to that list, too… but he’s been missing for three hours at least. Mark is, who even knows. The guy can be fucking dead…” My stomach dropped again. I couldn’t believe this was all happening.
“And lastly…. Everyone here…..” I trailed off.
Dom was still crying, Fiona still comforting him. I didn’t even know if he was paying attention. I know Fiona was.
“I don’t think that was fucking necessary.” Dan growled. “I know, everyone is probably dead. You didn’t have to put salt in the wound.”
“I was just trying to get a grip on everything… so that we aren’t clueless.” I responded.
He didn’t reply, but Eric did. “We have no choice but to think of the ones we care about. I don’t know if I’ve ever been as concerned for somebody’s life since this all started as I am right now.”
“Samael didn’t take us for a reason. Maybe he doesn’t care about us, or he just has something worse planned.” Fiona chimed in, not sugarcoating anything.
“Somebody will probably come and do something.” Ryan muttered. “I’m scared shitless.”
I had nothing more to say. I sat down on the left side of the shed and just sat there. I was in such a bad state that I didn’t even know what to think. Usually I would try and rationalize, but there was nothing to rationalize here. My friends were in serious, serious danger. And there was nothing any of us could do about it. It was eating me up inside.
I sat there, and waited. I was just waiting for something to happen. What else could we do? Talk about how our loved ones were probably dead? No. I would still like to think they were somehow alive and okay, with the ounce of hope that I still had left. There was nothing to talk about, but so much to think about. It was safe to say that while the shed was silent, everyone had thoughts running through their heads. This was easily the worst moment of my life. The worst time. And I had no choice but to soak it all in.
No choice for this part.
Oh yes, hell yes, you are back! Welcome and I am so happy to see the new part
And oh, how I missed the story. One thing I did not miss however, but which is back regardless and in full force is being super afraid for the group
And you even begin this part by placing pretty much giving half of them, including Kat, an unknown status, damn it! This is making me really anxious once anew, I hoped to finally see them all reunited for longer. Alas, I have all kinds of bad thoughts about what Samael has in mind for them. However, perhaps the most logical option is actually that he is putting them through the same situation he is putting the people currently with Tony through. Separating them from their loved ones, making them think they have died, probably psychologically breaking them. From what we have seen so far, he seems to be far more into mind games than ordinary physical torture. Else he probably would have just done that from the very beginning. The fact that he is separating the group could also have practical reasons, because only together can they have a shot at escaping. But ah, I cannot deny that I am terrified for Kat and what this might mean for my dear. Maybe Samael realized how badass she is? He kinda took most of the badass members of the group, like Deryck and Dylan as well, so I assume he indeed means to separate them to have better control. Further evidence to that is that he left some badass people, such as Dom, Dan and Tony himself. From Terminus, we know how it ends when a large group of badass people is imprisoned in the same spot, so if this is indeed his plan, I probably should give Samael more credit than I gave him so far, he might be the single most insane and evil guy they could ever encounter, but he might also not be totally stupid, as deranged as he is.
But argh, that is nonetheless terrifying. Please don't leave this cliffhanger for another seven months
I can only hope many of the others will be here as well, because this part showed once more why the story deserves every reader it can get 
Omg am I seeing things!? I can't believe it's been that long since you added to this story! It's great that you're back dude
I've missed all these characters so much. I know a good number of them are unknown right now but i'm sure we'll know in the next part. I'd almost forgotten how sadistic and scary Samael can be
Anyway, I tentatively look forward to the next part. Here's to some more great story from you my friend
I'm a little late but this new update has been very hard to adjust to, anyway, it's great that you're back! This was a great part and I can't wait to see where the story goes from here!
Are you still working on the fanfiction? I'm super interested on this story, and where can I see it?
Hey, welcome! While I cannot reply for Partition, the author, I think I can answer right away, not knowing when he'll be able to. As far as I know, he has every intention of continuing and eventually finishing this story. Due to real life stuff, he hasn't been all that active on here, but I know he hopes to get back into the writing, so I have high hopes for the story in 2018. I've been in contact with him while he was more inactive here and I know he is not the type to just abandon the story even if his pace of writing might have grown a bit slow compared to the early days.
As for where you can see it, new parts are published right here in the thread, where you can also read the entire story so far. You can follow this thread and receive notifications whenever someone comments here (which is usually when a new part gets released) and you do that by going to the very top of this page, where, to the right of the thread title, you find a small white star. If you click on it, it becomes a golden star and you are now following this thread. You can find your followed threads (once you have any) under this link: https://telltale.com/community/discussions/bookmarked
Once that happened, you will be notified when a new part is released, meaning you won't miss any updates. I hope that helped, but if there's any problems with that, feel free to ask and I might be able to help
Hey guys, self-advertisement here. Sorry haha. I've just started a Hunger Games fanfic, an everybody's participation would be great! There's still plenty of character submission slots open!
https://telltale.com/community/discussion/118961/the-hunger-games-character-submission-open#latest
It's finally here, the final part to Chapter 8. Yes, I know I posted the last part in November. That is completely embarrassing. I'm going to stop promising things now, because it seems like every time I do, things always happen and it's unfair to you guys. Truth is, my life has completely changed since the day I started this story. However, that isn't a bad thing. I think I can confidently say that I will be able to post parts a lot more consistently now, but I'm not gonna put too much stress on it. I'm just gonna do what I have to do, school, work, girlfriend, friends, and write. Since most of my friends are off to college and school starting up again, I am going to have so much more free time to write. Like I said, I don't want to promise anything, but needless to say, I am EXTREMELY excited to write again and be active on here. I really miss it, and I'm really sorry for how long it took for Chapter 8 to progress. I've actually re-read the entire story, as I have forgotten a good amount of things and details myself. I know this part won't have the effect is should have because of the long hiatus, but I don't think that will be an issue anymore. Hopefully this new forum format doesn't affect anything, I don't think it will but I really prefer the old one. I've also added a new element at the end that I have been contemplating for a while now, and I really can't wait to expand on it. Don't worry, it won't get overused and used unnecessarily
I was originally going to end this on a choice, but I know most of my readers have either quit the forum or are just uninterested now. That won't stop be now, and I hope you guys are excited and I can't wait to talk to everyone here again. Thank you! 
Chapter 8: Part 13
March 18th, 2017. 8:57 P.M.
It has been at least an hour since I re-entered the shed. Nothing was happening, and no one was talking. The atmosphere could not be any more grim. Dom was in full belief that his brother had been murdered. Dan couldn’t stop blaming himself and felt extremely guilty. Eric wasn’t bright at all. Fiona was trying her best to comfort, but it was to no avail. Ryan and Tina showed no emotion. None of these personalities were surprising. I couldn’t even begin to explain what I was feeling. Knowing that the ones you care for are dead is incredible heartbreak and for the most part is unmatched. But what’s even worse is having no idea what happened to them. Left only to assume and try to deny to yourself that the worst possible outcome has unfolded. But you know in your head, especially in a situation like this, that’s near impossible.
“We need to figure out a way to get out of here. There’s no way we can stay here for any longer. It can’t happen” Dan stated. “I’m fucking serious. If we don’t go all out and do something to escape we’re all gonna die.”
“What are we gonna do? What can we do?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know, just fucking something!” Dan raised his voice.
Fiona shook her head. “We know we have to get out. Do you want us to walk out right now and try to run? You think that’s a good idea?”
“Better than being sitting ducks waiting for our deaths.” He retorted. “If we’re gonna die, we might as well die tryin’.”
I also found myself shaking my head. “I hate that you have a point. I just hope there’s some miracle that happens and we can make it out alive and unscathed.”
“Well, that’s impossible.” Dom scoffed. “If that satanic fuck did anything to my brother, I’m killing him and I don’t care what it takes.”
Ryan shrugged. “I really don’t know, Tony. Honestly there really isn’t anything we can do besides sit back and take whatever he throws at us.”
“But…” I trailed off.
“What exactly is stopping us from running out right now?” Eric asked.
“Samael claims that he has cameras and snipers and men watching every ounce of this park.” Tina answered.
This caused Dan to chuckle. “That was his explanation? Do you really think he has that many guys keeping their eyes open at all times watching every little thing that happens? Let alone having that many guys on his team in general.”
“Well you wanna go and find out?” Fiona responded, annoyed. “Is it worth risking your life?”
“We’re gonna die anyway. How many times do I have to reinforce it?” He replied.
Ryan shrugged once more. “I don’t know man, do you really wanna risk it? You don’t think that there’s any chance of us getting out of her otherwise?”
“Hell no.” Dom stated. “That son of a bitch won’t let us go anytime soon. If I didn’t have a brother that I cared so much about and a few good friends, I’d try and escape.”
This seemed to stump Dan a bit. “I don’t have anyone, so.” He said in a more glum tone. “I don’t want to die either. But since I have no confidence that we’re getting out of here, I might as well risk it.”
“We care about you, Dan.” Tina managed to smile as she spoke.
“Yeah man, you have us.” I chimed in.
Dan didn’t move or speak in response. He just sat there, not really doing anything. “I still can’t get over the fact that I probably got Mark killed.”
“You reacted in the moment, it’s okay. No one saw it coming.” Fiona spoke up. “You can’t think in hindsight in situations like these.”
“Well how can I not? It’s not like we’re living it up at a party where no one gives a fuck. This is a depressing ass, life killing setting. We’re all broken. Samael is fucking with us and playing with our heads to make us go mentally insane. He has us not knowing if our friends are dead or not, and he has us not knowing what’s going to happen to us. I can’t fucking take it.” He began to rant.
The room fell silent. Dan was right and everyone knew it, nobody wanted to admit it. I tried my best to somehow lighten up the situation, but I just couldn’t. There was absolutely zero good to think of right now. I almost wanted to cry just at the thought of living my normal life.
“That’s it. There’s so solution… I might as well get up and run for it.” Dan broke the silence with a chilling statement.
“No man, don’t just-” Ryan tried to stop him but was cut off.
“Shut up, I’ve made my choice. I don’t want to deal with this shit. I might as well try than stay getting tortured and being forced to think ‘what if…’” He raised his voice.
Right as he stood up to make his way to the door, the doorknob started fidgeting. Someone from the other side was coming in.
Dan quickly stumbled back into his original sitting position, as the door flew open. Speak of the devil, literally. Samael.
“I love you guys.” He spoke in his usual, creepy tone. A very wide grin formed on his face, and sent chills down my spine. “You guys are so much fun.”
“Shut the fuck up, man.” Dom growled. “Fuck you.”
Samael bursted out in laughter. “I love how you have a strong dislike for me. It makes all of our rituals much more satisfying. You, Sir, just manage to allow me to spice up what I have planned for us with your attitude. I love it!”
No one responded this time. I could tell how much we all just wanted to pounce on him and beat him to death with our own fists.
“You know what? Speaking of that plan I had, that was actually my reason for stopping by. But I want a show for this one, I would like every single one of you to accompany me for this one. The devil will be so pleased…!”
No movement, no words spoken.
Samael turn his back towards us, and made a slow stride away from the door. “Come on now, what’s the hold up? You guys should be thrilled!”
“We aren’t going.” Dan finally answered him.
This caused him to turn around. He pulled out a crossbow from underneath his robes and pointed it at us. “I will shoot you in your chest and feed you to the devil just like that. Not that I’m not going to later, but you might as well value the time you have left, right?”
I can feel my blood boiling on the inside. God, I never wanted to kill somebody in cold blood more than Samael. He had absolutely no morals. None at all. Not an ounce.
In frustration, Dan was the first to approach him. He dragged his feet across the floor and was putting no effort into his footsteps. The rest of us were forced to do the same and follow Samael to wherever the hell he was leading us to.
Meanwhile, Samael was humming some sort of tune. I have not heard him do this before, but I disregarded it since it wasn’t something far fetched of him to do at all. I began to think, what would happen if I bolted away right now? Would Samael chase me, would I get shot? I had no idea. But that wasn’t something I was willing to risk just yet, not without knowing the status of the people I love and possibly putting them in grief. It wasn’t worth it.
It was nighttime now, the only lighting being the lights from the park. There wasn’t much though, so there were many dark spots. The exception being the main path which used to guide thousands of guests everyday.
“Where are you taking us?” Eric asked in an annoyed tone.
Samael didn’t answer, he only began to hum in a deeper tone than he already was.
“Did you hear me dickhead?” Eric asked once more.
“You’ll see, I can’t wait to see the look on your faces.” Samael stopped humming to finally speak. He did not seemed phased at all by Eric’s comment, in fact he actually seemed pleased. That’s exactly what he wants: us to be at an unhealthy state of mind.
We finally entered the actual park, and I took this opportunity to actually do a thorough scan of the area as we walked. I wanted to see if there really were snipers monitoring us at all times.
I glanced up at attractions, buildings, everything I possibly can. I didn’t see any cameras, as I expected. They can be easily hidden. However, I did not see one gunman. This made me skeptical. Of course, they can easily be hiding themselves as well. And how good of a shot were these supposed snipers? Something just told me we weren’t as held down as we thought we were.
Our silent walk finally reached its end at a familiar location: the wooden roller coaster, the one near that faculty room I was in just nearly two hours ago. The one where I had the decision to pull the lever or not.
“You see… this, this is a beloved method of preparing our meals for the devil.” Samael announced as he spread his arms towards the roller coaster. “I am so, so lucky to have found settlement in such a convenient area. This park is so much fun, and it’s perfect for us.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Dan growled.
“Hehe….. Hehehe…..” Samael let out a creepy giggle as he slowly moved his right arm from the roller coaster, and pointed at me. “You friend, he made an extremely important decision earlier.”
My heart dropped, as he was obviously talking about the lever. It was all adding up. My decision has somehow resulted in whatever is going to happen now. Someone was going to die. I tried my best to hold back tears, and my heart was pounding.
“What the fuck did you do?” Dom sneered at me.
I shook my head. “I…. I-” I couldn’t even speak. I knew Dom was blindsided by the thought of his brother possibly being dead, so I didn’t take his anger towards me personal. But I was still shitting bricks.
“That lever you were given the choice to pull, Tony.” He smiled menacingly. “If you had pulled it, you would have powered on this roller coaster. But you didn’t.”
I didn’t know how to answer. Was that good? Was it bad? What the fuck was going to happen?
“I guess when we talk about it now, that was a good decision Tony. Come, take a look.” He spoke in an even creepier tone than usual.
He climbed up on the wooden studs of the roller coaster. The way this roller coaster was designed was very complex. To the right of where Samael was climbing, there was an underpass to allow a path to go underneath. This path led to a different area of the park. But since the roller coaster made a sharp left turn to the right of the path, it allowed plenty of wooden construction to be easily accessed. There were large pieces of wood lying all over the ground, as is expected since no one has tended to the ride in such a long time. It was decaying.
Samael reached the tracks of the roller coaster, and hollered us over. We anxiously and nervously approached the end of the wood.
“Tony, come up here. You can as well… Dom.” He snickered.
Dom let out a loud groan of anger, and without thinking rationally, immediately began climbing the wood. This whole situation just did not sound good.
I followed him, and the rest of our group began to back up towards the construction underneath the underpass.
We both reached the tracks, where Samael was standing proudly with the same grin he had before. Dom and I noticed immediately that Tom was weakly tied to the tracks with his mouth taped and badly bruised. His eyes were wide open, and he squirmed with all his might and screaming through the tape as he saw the three of us.
Samael gave him a hard kick on the side, which shut him up. “Welcome.”
“What the FUCK did you do to him? What are you going to do? ANSWER ME NOW!” Dom yelled and spat in his face. “UNTIE HIM!”
“You should be happy. If Tony had decided differently, your brother would be in three different pieces right now!” He laughed.
Dom was tearing up and didn’t have anything to say. We were both too shocked and unaware of what was going to happen to even react.
“Like I said Tony, it was a good decision when we talked about it before. You made it boring! If you don’t want to have fun, then I might as well do what you couldn’t do and then some. If you had just pulled on the lever, the devil would have been pleased enough for the night. But your refusal made him more hungry.” Samael’s tone went from giggly to serious. “It’ll take a lot more than this bitch to satisfy him.”
Upon finishing that sentence, I heard the roller coaster start up. A single train began to ascend the hill to the top. Tom was tied to the bottom of the first drop.
“NO! NO! NO!” Dom screamed at the top of his lungs, and lost it. He punched Samael in the face, and managed to have the strength to push him off of the roller coaster with ease. “GET THE FUCK DOWN!”
I was frozen in panic. So much was happening at one time. “What the fuck are you doing?!” Dom yelled at me, and then pulled me down to duck with him. I noticed Samael’s crossbow had fallen onto the tracks as well, and I retrieved it.
Dom was frantically trying to untie Tom from the tracks. I ripped the tape off of his mouth.
“Dom! Tony! Please save me! Please!!!” He begged as his face was completely saturated in his own tears.
Then, blades and arrows began to fly towards the roller coaster. I called down to my group. “Find cover! Fuck!” There were no gunshots. Just blades and arrows, a shit ton, began flying above our heads.
I couldn’t see them from my position, but I was confident they heard me. I had no idea where Samael was, and the train was three quarters up the hill. I began to help untie Tom as fast as I could. Never in my life have I ever been so nervous to complete a task.
“I freed his legs! Get his arms!” Dom yelled out amidst the chaos. The arrows were still being fired, and the sound of them hitting the wood above us was loud and caused wood chips to fall and float everywhere.
The train made it up the hill. It was making the turn before the drop. We had no more than ten seconds.
Dom’s face was as red as ever, as we both managed to untie him completely from the tracks.
“JUMP!” Dom pushed me off of the tracks, and Dom followed while holding the injured Tom in his arms. Just as we hit the ground, the train descended the hill and zoomed past right where we were three seconds ago.
I turned around and saw my group barricading themselves in the construction area next to the path. Dom and I sprinted over there as fast as we could, where there was more protection than I thought.
“What the fuck happened?” Tina asked.
“Tom was tied to the tracks, Samael turned on the roller coaster and planned on killing him but Dom went berserk.” I explained as I gasped for air.
“You’re all good bro, I got you!” Dom sat Tom down behind the wood and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Where the hell is Samael?” Ryan looked around.
“No fucking clue.” I replied.
More arrows began to whizz past us and hit the wood. “These are the snipers he was talking about? People armed with fucking crossbows?” Dan almost chuckled. “We can make a run for it!”
“I don’t know, they seem like good shots.” Fiona observed. Blades and knives were also being thrown, and a good amount of them landed directly next to us.
Then, we all started to hear voices of Samael’s men getting closer. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!!” Dom snatched the crossbow from me and peered his head out. “There’s a ton of them coming! They all got crossbows!”
Dom peered out once more, and fired an arrow. “Got one! But there’s too many!”
We all looked at each other, certain that our lives were going to end. But the unexpected happened.
From the direction where Samael led us from originally, I could see figures also armed with crossbows firing arrows towards where the men were. I could hear the grunts and yells from the men coming towards us.
One of them, a woman, made her way closer towards us as she sprinted across extremely swiftly, and dove underneath the roller coaster. I could finally make out who it was, it was Miyako.
She kept firing and firing, and would occasionally pull out a blade from her pocket and throw it. She crawled towards us and reached us with seemingly no problem.
“Miyako? What the fuck?” I exclaimed.
“Don’t ask, I’ll explain later! There’s not much men left!” She crouched beside Dom as they were both firing from behind the wood but in a very safe manner. “Emi is still back there backing us up!”
“How did you-” I began to ask, but Miyako turned towards us and cut me off. “We have to run! Go NOW!”
Miyako sprinted completely away from the roller coaster in the direction of the fence. “Come on!!”
We all looked at each other once more, and got up and began to run towards Miyako. I noticed Emi flanking completely, hiding behind anything she could come across and using them as cover.
I noticed Dom, Ryan, and Tina collect a few knives before taking off. Luckily, the area we were running in was kind of remote, and since the huge roller coaster was behind us, it was difficult for them to hit us with their crossbows.
However, some were catching up. We kept running in irregular patterns until we reached more little buildings. We had to stop and pick them off again.
“Fuck! We can’t die! We gotta run!” Tom cried.
“No shit, we can’t without those fuckers chasing us!” Dom reminded him.
Miyako was an extremely good shot with her crossbow. She hit almost every shot she fired. Even the blades she threw were accurate and hit their target in one way or another.
I was throwing a few knives as well as the rest of my group, but none of them hit. We weren’t skilled with blades like Miyako and Emi were.
Speaking of Emi, she looped around the entire roller coaster and right side of the park completely. She met up with us behind the building without being seen at all since all of the focus were on us, and the nighttime certainly helped.
We were running out of knives and arrows. “We gotta move!” Miyako commanded once more.
We all started to run, with Dom and Tom being the last to get up. I turned around to see an armed man come up right next to Tom, but was shot in the head by Dom. Dom pulled Tom up and they both followed.
We were so close to the exit. It was right there. “AHHHH!” A scream filled the air from behind us.
I turned around to see Tom on the ground, with an arrow in the back of his left shoulder. “Fuck!” Dom yelled and quickly lifted Tom above his right shoulder. I had no idea how he still had all of this strength. He has, without a doubt, been the most beaten and injured member since the beginning. But he was still determined to keep his brother alive at all costs.
There were three men left on our tail, and unsurprisingly at the point, Emi threw three knives, all hitting the three different men. We were there, at the fence. Out of the park. Out from the hell.
We kept moving a bit away from the park, and eventually settled down somewhere in the woods. It was very dark, but we could still make each other out.
“Are you gonna be okay?” Fiona asked, looking at Tom.
“I… I don’t know….” Tom stuttered, still crying. “It hurts so bad.”
“Shut up, you’re fine. I’m not letting you die. It’s just deep in your shoulder.” Dom comforted his brother.
“Miyako… how?” Tina asked, bewildered.
“That dumbass Samael’s obsession over us backfired.” She chuckled. “He left us completely alone in a room and didn’t restrain us.” She referred to herself and Emi. “We heard and saw the chaos going on, and I knew he wouldn't let us die no matter what. It was the perfect chance for us to help, and it was worth the risk.”
“He has knives and crossbows everywhere, that seems to be the main weapon choice of this cult.” Emi chimed in.
“Yeah, I’ve only seen Samael use a gun once.” I responded. “That was in the cellar.”
Then it hit me. All of the adrenaline made me forget that more than half of our group was still in there. “...We have to go back.”
“What?” Dan was understandably confused. “Go back? That’s death! There were still so many men!”
“Our group… they’re still in there. We can’t go on without them! Katrina…” I choked up.
“He’s right man, what the fuck are we gonna do?” Eric agreed with me.
Silence filled the area for a good ten seconds, until it was broken by Miyako. “I’m really sorry… but unless you wanna die, we aren’t going back.” She began to cry. “My friends are still in there, too.”
“I can’t go back, I’m sorry.” Dom coughed. “No way in hell I’m leaving my brother like this. We’re dead men walking if we go back, Samael probably has so many more people.”
“Did you see Samael after we were all taking cover?” I asked Miyako and Emi.
“Yeah, he was limping away somewhere. No idea where, but he just let his men do the work.” Miyako answered.
The trees rustling in the wind was the only noise that can be heard. We were all gonna die if we went back. This was most likely our only chance of escaping. The reason why we made it out the way we did was because of the situation we happened to be in, which I doubt we would ever be in again. I was just so worried, I knew no one was gonna go back. It was death. Might as well write our friends off as dead at this point… I had small hope for Katrina, because it seemed like Samael had a preference for women. But everyone else… I really had no idea. Dom was in bad shape, Tom was in even worse. I knew Tina and Fiona weren’t too close with anyone besides Mark and Kelsi, and it wasn’t worth it for them. If Miyako and Emi insist that it was too dangerous to back despite their loved ones being there as well, it was a lost cause.
We relaxed as much as we could by sitting and leaning against the trees. Miyako and Emi were on the lookout, and I knew they would do a good job at protecting us. There was only thing for me to do. For us to do, it was to pray that everything would somehow get better. Just somehow.
Katrina Coulson
March 18th, 2017. 10:04 P.M.
I remain trapped inside of a mysterious building, which seems like some sort of operation room. Kelsi sat with her hand on her head, while Alessandra was observing her surroundings. We’ve been in here for a few hours with nothing to do, not knowing what’s going to happen.
Out of nowhere, the door slammed open. Samael entered and closed the door, and had a noticeable limp on his right leg. He wasn’t smiling nor showing any emotion. What was stopping me from beating him to a pulp right now? Honestly, what was?
I was actually highly considering it, but before I can thoroughly process my thoughts, he spoke. “Boy, do I have news for you.”
END OF CHAPTER 8
I hope you guys enjoyed! I decided to exclude the usual end of chapter questions because the intervals have been so long, but if you still want to leave feedback as such then you can.
Ah, welcome back! This is quite the occasion, I am so glad the story finally gets the continuation it deserves. You know that already, but I am definitely still excited for this story, especially as you started with quite a huge and great part here
But let me start at the beginning, this was thrilling and amazing and I have so many thoughts about it. First of all, I am really excited to see Kat as a PoV there. Sure, it is only a short one, but the fact that we're apparently going to see the events at Samael's camp through her eyes make me truly hyped for things to come. At the same time, not going to lie, I am terrified. Samael is pissed and she is his prisoner. Kelsi is there with her, as is Alessandra and there's others we haven't gotten an update on either, so I suppose they are with them as well. But the fact that it is mentioned as an operation room, that is what terrifies me. See, ever since Kat got captured, I had this terrible fear that whatever Samael is going to do to her will end up so bad that all Tony can do is to give her a mercy kill if they ever get reunited. However, I must admit this fear has gotten marginally less lately, because the way Samael is, he does have a special obsession with both, women and these leader types such as Tony, which I think Kat is going to be for the remaining group. So, what I fear is that he is going to put her through the same situations he did with Tony, where he wants to suffer her through the loss of her friends, only that this time, I bet he'll make it especially gruesome and basically impossible to escape. But no, I refuse to believe that this is where she'll die. I mean, I just had to think of how much she survived. There were Ashton and Dexter, the latter of which tried to outright rape her. She got shot and survived, she lost her brother and survived, she survived Samael so far. Tony himself seems somewhat confident she has a chance and yes, I believe she can do it. She can survive what this guy is throwing at her. There's few characters who have constantly pulled off feats as badass as she did on a regular basis. Samael has the most dangerous member of the group cornered there and he likely underestimates her as just another pretty girl without survival skills, which might be what saves her life. But at the same time, I am legitimately terrified what he is going to try to do to her and the others. God damn it, you knew just how you could make me hyped for the next chapter, eh? From the very beginning, Katrina has been the one I wanted to see through this the most and she has arguably been through worse shit than the absolute majority of the cast. The only group member who went through a similar amount of pain is Dom and he at least still has his brother. So, that really makes me determined to do my best to see her through this new shitty situation as well. She hasn't been through worse than that yet, but she has been through plenty and it hardened her to the point where she should be able to survive this. But yeah, I am hyped, terrified and anxious, so please don't keep me on the edge for too long
However, while I greatly enjoyed the way Tony and co. escaped from Samael's camp, I must admit, his thoughts after escaping have made me lose every bit of respect and sympathy for him. Literally, what the fuck is wrong with him? He escaped, good for him, but he had to leave half of his group, including, you know, the girl he supposedly loves. I know they haven't been together for long and haven't gotten much of a chance to explore their relationship yet, so it does seem more like mutual feelings than truly deep love, but still, the way he just left her is cold and honestly, borderline unforgivable. He escaped, Kat didn't, so he just writes her off as dead. Sure, he hopes she's got a chance and honestly, I actually think if she acts decisive and does the smart thing, she can outwit Samael. He is not particularly smart and he is letting his emotions get the better of him more than once, so if she uses that against him, she can survive. However, that won't be thanks to Tony. In fact, I fear he just made things harder for her by pissing the bad guy off and leaving her behind to pay for his actions. I can already barely forgive him for leaving them, but whatever happens to Kat, to the rest of the group, that is 100% on him. Don't get me wrong, I do love Kat, I used to like Tony and want to do so again and I definitely still love their relationship, so I greatly hope they will meet again and manage to put this issue behind them. If they do, however, and if Kat learns how easily he just abandoned her and gave up on her, how much of a monumental coward he is, well, I hope she honestly punches him in the face, maybe that'll teach him some important stuff about loyalty and friendship. Love or not, they have been together from the very beginning of this, she trusted him and he's the first person she's gotten close to since Nick's death, which, by the way, I bet must still haunt with her. Were their roles reversed, I cannot see her abandoning him, she would have thought of a plan and tried, but Tony's thoughts make it clear that he won't even do that. A heavy punch to the face is just borderline enough for him, but not going to lie, my opinion on him suffered badly. We'll see how well Katrina does now that she's gotta make the decisions. I can see Samael developing this creepy obsession he had with Miyako towards her, paired maybe with this obsession with Tony. The good thing is, he doesn't know that Kat is supposed to be the one person Tony cares the most for, so that might be what gives her some time to develop a plan. If Tony can make it, that massive fucking failure of a leader, then she can do it all the better! Or maybe that is just me trying to prevent myself from a fully blown panic, because honestly, I don't like this, this is terrifying and I honestly think this is the worst situation she's ever been in, counting all the other shit she's been through. At this point, I have no idea how she is supposed to survive this, but to be fair, I had the same thought with Tony and that spineless wussy somehow made it. She's not a coward, she's smart and she knows how to take care of herself, so I bet if Samael ever gets sloppy, then I know she has a chance to escape. The only question is how bad things will get before that, but I hope that Kat at least gets out of there in one piece. But even if she gets through this just fine, she needs a real talk with Tony, because what he just did is horrible and should she ever learn about him not only escaping without her, but also just deciding against trying to rescue her, then oh boy, I honestly hope their relationship can be saved from that fallout.
That being said, there is one thing I really don't like, a faint bit of negative criticism if I may, and it is about Samael. I hate that character. Not just in terms of not liking him, aye, that much is a given, but I really loathe him as a character. Every time he appears on screen, I have to wonder why anyone is following this clearly deranged guy. How did he manage to find that many suicidally stupid people to follow him in the apocalypse on top of that? Considering nothing he does helps his group with surviving and he spends an insane amount of time torturing people he doesn't even know makes him absolutely ineffective, a failure as a leader and the sort of person nobody in their right mind should follow. And he is no leader, because all he ever does is pointing his ghouls at the next target to torture and then personally cutting them to pieces. I know, his followers aren't in their right minds, but still, I can't help but feel that he is too much. I love the tense situations he puts the group in, but that guy is literally not a human being. I'm pretty certain even men like Hitler or Charles Manson were less focussed on constantly being the most evil person alive and I am certain there were people, more often than not horrible people themselves, who still had genuinely positive interactions with them. Samael however has one character trait and it is being evil incarnate, no goals, no visions, no personality beyond that. That, in return, really doesn't make him the sort of villain I'd want another full chapter with. The problem with Samael is, he has no depth, especially when compared to the compelling characters who took the mantle of the big bad before. We had villains such as Ashton or Fredrik, who were at least focussed on a goal beyond torturing and killing innocent people. Sure, they were not above it, they did plenty evil stuff, but they had depth beyond that, they had traits that, while not making them sympathetic in any way, helped with humanizing them. Even Billy, and you know that he's literally my least favourite character in fiction, at least tried to appear as less of a monster and it would have worked if not for him showing his true face when murdering Nick. Samael though, he doesn't even try. And that honestly makes me hope that the first thing Kat will do in the next chapter is to rally the rest of the group to her side and literally bash Samael's head in until nothing remains, not just because I want her to escape like the huge badass she is, but because Samael is the sort of villain where even just a single part focussing on him is too much in terms of spotlight. You know I love your writing, you are an amazing writer and this story has a special place in my heart, but trust me, there is no one who can turn Samael into something even remotely resembling an engaging and entertaining character. The current storyline works because it involves complex characters such as Tony, Kat, Dom and Eric and because their tense struggles are what drives the story forward. This all, the entire last chapter, is honestly nerve-wracking and thrilling to read, but Samael as a character, he just doesn't work. Just kill him, introduce his complex yet wacky second-in-command Azael (or whatever weird fantasy demon names they give each other) and have him take over and I guarantee you, it'd be for the best
Oh, by the way, before I forget it, can you give me an overview of who is still with Kat? We know Alessandra and Kelsi are there and if I see this correctly, Dylan, Deryck, Adam, Santiago and Haya are unaccounted for. It has just been such a long time since they have been all together, that I would love the reminder, you know, to get a better overview how many good people Kat still has around her.
Wow, i didnt know it would take so long to read..
This is such a good work. I expect you can keep it up, because it is good!
Omg, this doesn't seem real it's been that long since you posted a part of this amazing story, i've actually been keeping tabs every so often in the hope that you would come back and boy have you ever come back! Wow wow wow ????
Firstly, i'm so glad that at least some of the group have managed to find their way out. I had a feeling that not all of them were going to escape from Samael's clutches and each member of the group that has left the camp has someone still in there they care about. Even though Dom and Tom are together, some of the original group are still there which must be playing on their minds a lot. Poor Tony man, he only just got reunited with Katrina and now they are separated again ? A bit worried about my boy Dylan now ?
I'm glad you're back man ❤
Thank you UKilledKenny! I’m glad to be back as well, and I was actually hoping you weren’t gone forever! Your kind comments are very much appreciated and I can say we have become friends. This leads me to the following topic: I don’t know if you’re aware of Telltale shutting down, but if you haven’t heard, Telltale is basically bankrupt and laid off 90% of their employees and the forum is assumingly shutting down along with the company. If this happens, I would love to stay in contact with you and still find a place to post this story. I guess this can apply to all of the other readers who are still active as well, but I know that they are aware of the situation and you were the only other seemingly active reader that I was unsure about. Too bad all of this happens when I come back, but oh well, I’m still gonna make it work somehow along with all of the other readers and writers here on the forum
Thanks so much sagig! It’s great to have you back, I missed you man. Your words mean a lot
but looks like we’re all gonna sink down in the ship together.
Thanks so much Liquid, it’s great to you again and all of the other people here
I’m glad you enjoyed this! Although I should clarify, Tony is by no means writing off his friends as dead. I should have worded that differently, but he is not moving on as easily as it may seem. I’ll showcase more in the next part, if this still continues on these forums 
As for Samael, yes, he is completely meant to be hated like you hate him, and while I can even agree with you, this is how the character was submitted and I am indeed trying to go all out on making him the biggest psychopath. Character and personality wise, I can agree that is not his strong suit and now that you bring it up, that is a good criticism and I will definitely try to give him more than just a psychopath that wants to kill everyone. However, I do have plans to write stronger villains character-wise, because I know where I am at as a writer now and how much I believe I have improved. This is why I’m so excited to write again, and as mentioned before, it really sucks about the forum shutting down. But we have another place to talk about that, as for now, let’s just try to stay off of it with the time we have left
As for the remaining group members: with Tony, there’s Eric, Dom, Tom, Tina, Fiona, Dan, Ryan, Emi, and Miyako.
Still with Samael is Katrina, Alessandra, Kelsi, Dylan, Mark, Adam, Mina, Deryck, Haya, Santiago, Yoshiro, and Kazuhiko.
I am not sure if it'll continue on these forums
I mean, we don't know how long the servers will remain up and apparently, the entire team in charge of just maintaining the site is gone already. But at least the story is archived and if not here, then you definitely should continue over in the new forums! I know, I can't wait to read what is in store for the group. When it comes to Tony, well, maybe he is indeed more conflicted than it seems, but that is what he says, it seems he really is writing them off as dead. I don't know what he is going to do about it in the next part, but at least in this part, he is nothing to me but a coward who leaves his girlfriend and half of his group, including a child, to die just to save his own skin and then refuses to do anything to save them. Time will tell if my opinion is wrong, but the way he is right now, he definitely deserves to be punched in the face by Kat, should they ever reunite.
Yeah, I got characters like that as well and I am always struggling with finding ways to make them more complex, so I know the problem you face with him. Characters who are pure evil are, well, pure boring. Evil is boring, it is conflict within the character that makes him fun, but with Samael, I just don't see any of it. And well, that is definitely not on you as a writer, because as I said, past villains the group faced have been more complex despite many of them still being clearly evil (Ashton actually being the only one I am not too certain with when it comes to the clearly evil part). My absolute hatred for what he stands for might be partially because he got Kat and half of my favourites in his edgy clutches right now, but I just have zero tolerance for Mr. Look-at-me-I'm-so-evil Samael
And ugh, so Tony left more than half of his group to die? I mean, that is good for Kat, because she's got some seriously capable people with her, especially Dylan and Deryck are always MVP's to have around. But I honestly doubt all of them will make it out alive.
Wow, I haven't posted in a really long time. This is the first time I've logged on in ages, I honestly had no idea the forum returned. I've spent the last two hours just scrolling through so many old stories I've read years ago and seeing all the old users who I became friends with. What good times they were.
Life has just taken me on so many unexpected journeys since my last update. I've gained so many more responsibilities that come along with getting older, and lots of personal obstacles that I've faced. This along with the forum closing, I guess I just.... kind of lost the motivation to continue this story for whatever reason. Another relatively big factor into that was the fact that I've learned so much more about writing and composition and storytelling, etc. which really made me view this one in a different way. Not to say that it's bad, but I feel like I can definitely do much better now. Naturally that would make me just want to start a new story rather than continue this, but...
I still do love this story. It's the first real story I've written and by far the longest, and I have so many good memories with it. Seeing all of the people who would look forward to and read my work and always leave feedback made me really happy. I'm not expecting many people to see this for a while, if any even do at all, but if any old readers see this I want to say thank you for all of the support you have left. I'm sorry I pretty much disappeared without saying anything.
I'm in a weird stage of my life right now where I'm kind of just exploring and have free time sometimes. To continue what I was saying before I've been thinking of potentially writing a story of some sort and really putting effort into it. Not sure where or when I'd post it, but we'll see. I did have lots of ideas for A New Life which I was really eager to write, and like I've always said, I never wanted to just abandon this story and not finish it. I did put three years of work into it (albeit much more spotty at the end) and I know others were invested in it. If there is actually anyone who would want me to continue, I don't think I'd mind making it a bit shorter and wrapping it up in a few chapters. Regardless of if I decide to finish this or not (I probably will) I'm sure I'll begin writing a brand new story of some sort sometime in the near future.
That post was much longer than I intended it to be, whoops. If anyone sees this, thanks for reading and you're awesome. I appreciate everything. Hope you are all doing great!
Hey Partition! Man, it's been a while, it's good to hear from you again
I'm still around too, though ever since the Game of Thrones section of the forums got actually closed down (unlike most of the other forum sections it's in read-only and I haven't yet managed to get the FoT thread moved elsewhere) I'm exclusively writing on Creator's Haven, so that's where I spend most of my forum time. I'm not sure how many of the others are still around, but I hope I'm not the only of the old readers who stumble upon your comment.
With that being said, I would love a continuation of A New Life! You know it's always been a favourite of mine and if you wish to continue it here at Telltale, that would definitely motivate me to stick around more often than I currently do ^^ I would need to reread the story to fully remember everything, but that should hardly be an issue.
Wow, hey Liquid! I was wondering if you'd be active on here. It's great to see you as well! I remember I made an account for Creator's Haven, sadly I haven't really been able to be too active on there due to the same reasons I listed before. I imagine it'd take a while for most of the other old readers to see this comment, considering some of them haven't logged on in months if not years. Sad to see, but it's understandable.
It's awesome that you'd want a continuation! Perhaps I could post it on Creator's Haven, or should I stay here and try to build a new audience? i'm not sure how active this forum currently is, especially the Interactive Story section. But either way I'm glad you'd like to see the story continue, I'm sure I can make something work