The sunrise shines on the lean that Ashley built and wakes her up. She looks to her side to see Jimmie still sound asleep and begins to crawl out of the shelter grabbing her pack and weapon, she then scatters the small fire and disassembles the surround area other than the shelter. She then walks over to Jimmie and wakes him up telling him it's time to go. She helps him crawl out of the shelter and grabs his gear then disassembles the shelter quickly to hide their tracks. The sky above them is a very light blue color with white and grey clouds above and a burning sun rise from the East.
"Ready to go Jimmie?" Ashley asks.
"Yeah, ready to go," he responds stretching his body, then grabbing his equipment.
The two set back on the dirt path and begin heading West again toward the factory. The rest of the trip is silent and they spot the lone factory in the distance on the downhill of the path about 800 meters away from them. They see smoke rising above the factory and remain cautious, but do not see any movement on the exterior of the building. As they approach the factory, they can clearly see that the smoke was from a burning car on the other side of the factory and see graffiti on the exterior walls symbolizing some kind of raider gang.
"Thought this place was abandoned..." Jimmie whispers.
The two players ready their weapons and close in on the front entrance of the building. Stacking up on both sides of the doorway, Jimmie kicks the door in with his leg, Ashley then enters quickly followed by Jimmie checking the corners of the room and looking to see if there is any scaffolding or rooms above to worry about. They see nothing but a few conveyer belts that are inoperable and a doorway on the opposing side of the room that is cracked open. The two stay silent and listen for any movement or any activity. They hear nothing but their own breaths. Jimmie fix's his pistol on the door and slowly starts walking over to it,circling around the conveyer belt. Ashley closes the door they came through then joins Jimmie by his side with her rifle fixated on the doorway.
Jimmie pushes the door. In the next room he smells fire and can see light emitting reflecting off the walls. By his judgement, the fire seems to be on the far right of the room; he moves in and sees the fire ablaze in a bonfire. The fire roars largely but doesn't seem to burn anything else as if it is contained and supervised. As Jimmie enters with Ashley at his back, they stay close to the wall and move along side it looking for any potential enemies. Moving along the right side of the room, Jimmie notices two restrooms next to each other, the closest one being the females restroom and the next one being the males. Jimmie and Ashley enter the restroom to see for potential enemies only to find a freshly killed raider with his head spun backwards and eyes gauged out, the tongue hanging out and the clothes ripped but still on; no weapons insight and the body stapled against the wall. Jimmie is disgusted by the sight and covers Ashley's eyes, he grabs a hold of her and guides her back outside of the restroom.
"You don't wanna see that. I promise," he whispers to her.
She nods trusting his judgement. She grabs a hold of Jimmie's jacket and tightly holds on with her rifle in her right hand. Jimmie enters the males restroom and peeks inside to see a blood pool soaking on the ground. The blood drips into the drain and in one of the stalls Jimmie can see a body draped over one of the toilets and blood dripping slowly from the upper part of the body and running down the side of the toilet. Jimmie refuses to investigate further so he backs away from the restroom and moves back into the previous room. Ashley looks over to see the fire illuminating a doorway on the opposite side of the restrooms so she tugs on Jimmie's jacket and motions on the other side of the room. Jimmie sees the doorway, nods to Ashley, and begins to move toward the door staying in the shadows on the edges on the room. As they move along the doorway, they see smaller fires and poles with recently killed raiders pierced on them.
Checking his corners, Jimmie enters the room with Ashley still holding tightly to his jacket. He sees under the bodies a receptionist area and two door ways to the left and right of the desk and a spiral staircase to the second floor behind it. The bottom of the stairs is where the fire and the bodies are located. As Jimmie stays close to the right side of the wall, he watches left before checking the right doorway while Ashley watches the left doorway. He looks down the corridors of the left and right sides to see that the left has barricades and the right side is opened up. He and Ashley slowly move through just before hearing over the intercom.
*tap* *tap* *tap*
"Ahh, hahaha... helloooooo wary wanderers... welcome," the voice is a high pitched crazed female voice.
"Hmmm one male and one female... precious couple indeed," she laughs, "I'm glad you could join me..." the voice continues over the intercom.
Ashley tightens her grip even more on Jimmie's jacket. Jimmie cautiously continues to move, checking the various doorways down the hallway to see many conveyer belts and pressure for the factory.
"Hahahahaha... now tell me, is it love? Or fate? As to why you two are together. I've killed many..." the female voice asks them, "they all scream in the end... watch each other being ripped apart one by one... don't worry I'll steal your heart... hehehe yes I will..." the voice creepily continues.
Jimmie pushes forward to see bulletproof glass at the end of the hallway. A feminine figure appears with a damaged bunny mask and a fashioned 1920s dress. Blood covering her body and holding bloodied scissors. The figure tilts her head in amusement of the two and stares at them, she laughs and gets down on fours and crawls away. Jimmie is creeped out by this. The end has a door to the left which opens up by itself moments after the encounter. He and Ashley cautiously push forward.
*static*
"Hohoho... ohhh darling... you have no idea how that girl is attached to you.. makes me wonder..." the voice speaks to them again, "you are a very handsome maaaan, I gotta say... I'd fall in love as well... however I don't bid well with competition..." the voice tells Jimmie.
Jimmie and Ashley enter a showcase of the factory where the factory shows off it's products to investors and politicians and many high society members.
"Ohhhh don't tell me darling... you haven't had the slightest clue? That girl, she's in love... yeeessss, yes she is..." the female continues.
Ashley screams out. "No I'm not! Leave us alone you bitch!"
"Oh, feisty one... you and I will have our fun. Darling, you see how she grabs onto you? She's in love..." the voice informs Jimmie.
Jimmie and Ashley move down the right side isle before lights turn on the stage and the same woman reveals herself out from the curtains.
"Hello darling... my you're attractive... may- may I have you for myself?" She asks Jimmie, "my name is Scarlett. You might be?" She speaks out.
"Not for you!" Ashley says sternly.
"Squirm it, doll. I'm talking to the one with a choice here... you on the other hand will die here..." Scarlett snaps at Ashley.
Jimmie notices that Scarlett is an event NPC and is one of the many psychopathic murderers that frequently interact with the players of the game giving them chilling and memorable experiences. Though being stuck in the game makes it way more chilling.
"My friend here is right... not for you, Scarlett," Jimmie responds.
"Hmmm fine then, I just wanted love, but you pick the brat... be my guest," Scarlett remarks.
Scarlett pulls out her bloody scissors and leaps off the stage and starts sprinting at Jimmie. Jimmie begins firing at Scarlett. Ashley then moves to his left side and shoots at Scarlett with her rifle. Scarlett ducks and dodges the bullets effectively maneuvering in and around the chairs. She jumps on the chair and throws a scissor at Ashley but only missing by a few inches past her head. She then takes a bullet from Jimmie to the chest and moves to cover.
"Hahaha, your heart will be mine darling, all mine!" Scarlett yells out.
Scarlett come out of cover and charges again at the two and gets her scissors ready. She runs through the bullet rain and takes two bullets from Ashley's rifle but stays standing. She closes in on Ashley and stabs into Ashley's left arm causing it to bleed. She then takes her other scissor and cuts Ashley's right leg open. Ashley screams in pain and Scarlett rips her scissors out and whispers to Ashley.
"He's all mine doll."
"No I'm not."
Jimmie presses his barrel into the side of Scarlett's head and then pulls the trigger effectively killing the love crazed murderer. Blood sprays against the seats and brain chunks scatter all over. Ashley falls to her knees in pain, dropping her rifle and holding onto her arm. She begins to cry and looks up to Jimmie.
"You alright? I'll bandage you up," Jimmie grabs bandages from Ashley's pack and begins applying it to her.
"...so is it true?" He asks her.
"True?"
"Is it true you love me?" He asks.
Her face goes red and is no longer focused on her pain. She looks down, ashamed, then gives a soft smile and reaches up to Jimmie and hugs him for a long period of time before letting go.
"Thank you for being by my side," she says to Jimmie.
Jimmie searches the body of Scarlett and finds a chip from the factory and hands it to Ashley. He turns to pick up her rifle and slings it across his body, then carefully picking up Ashley and carrying her out of the factory. Ashley closes her eyes and rests in his arms holding on the the chip she was assigned to retrieve.