Opening my eyes, I slowly allow them to adjust to the surroundings. It looks like I'm in some kind of small structure, with many seats all facing the same direction. Taking a look outside one of the many small windows that lined both of the side walls, I spot a large building in the background with planes nearby.
'So I'm in some kind of airplane? I suppose that makes sense. I should see what I can do to get out of here.'
As I start to move about, my body isn't responding as well as I want it to. My movements seem rather sluggish, but that doesn't bother me as I head to the hatch, opening it up to the drop to the ground.
'That looks like it'd be a pretty painful drop, I'd better check what I can find around here to soften the impact. maybe there's something around here?'
As I search the cabin, I gather up some of the spare clothing I can find, not giving much concern to the condition of them until I spy a red splash on a white shirt. I hold it closer so that I can see it better, and the scent of old, rotten iron hits my nose. Holding it away from myself, I toss all the clothing I gathered out of the plane, making a cushion. Looking down at the pile, I pray that it's not as bad as it looks and I take that first step out of the plane.
As I open my eyes again, I expect my whole body to hurt. examining myself further, it looks like my body's completely intact. Hell, it doesn't even hurt a little bit. Slowly, I push myself to a standing position, looking at the building.
'Maybe there will be a map of the city somewhere around there. Maybe I can find some kind of hint as to what the hell happened here.'
Starting to move, I can't help but notice a slight limp in my step. Looking down at my left leg, it's slightly crooked out of place, like it had been fractured and moved.
'It doesn't hurt, but it'll definitely be a hindrance. I should try and see what I can do about it.'
Limping over to the building, I can't help but notice how eerily silent it is. Almost as if I was the last person around. Even the electrical hum is gone. It's... peaceful.
I don't like it.
As I finally approach the building, I take a gander at the impressive size of it. Pushing open the doors, I step inside to a gruesome scene as corpses littered the place. Blood spattered all across the walls and the floors, it looks like a scene from a b-rated slasher film as the corpses looked mauled, ripped apart, and rotted. The rotten smell didn't even bother me as I stepped around a torso with a huge chunk of flesh ripped out of his throat and his entrails hanging out, sprawled across the floor. Beside it looks like a broken plank split in twain.
After a few frustrating minutes, with much struggle and internal profanity, I finally managed to splint up my leg. Trying it out, I use the counter to pull myself up, putting some of my weight on it, and I smile as I can move a little quicker. Looking around, I find what looks like an information kiosk, and I make my way over there, careful not to disturb the corpses. Looking over the place, I finally find a map of the area. Examining it, I realize something very important.
'Well shit. I can't read...'
After finally finding info, I'm hit with a language barrier. Oh well, at least I can look at the pictures and guess where I am. Looking at the map, I find the spot that looks like it closest resembles the airport. after a few moments, I trace a road towards a small town. Smiling, I fold up the map and put it in my pocket as I grab a bag from near a corpse. Looking in it, I find a handgun, a single extra magazine, some sticks of beef jerky, and oddly, a bottle of vanilla extract..
'I wonder what that's for? Anyway, there's something to eat in here. Food is an absolute must. Speaking of which, maybe it's time for a little snack.'
Pulling out one of the four sticks of beef jerky, I try to open it. frustrated, seeing as how it refuses to open, I start shaking it around, hoping to loosen it up a little bit. Trying to open it again, I'm met with the same resistance. After a few minutes of trying, I give up and bite into it through the wrapper. The plastic breaks, and I use the split to tear it open. Finally, I bite into the beef jerky and smile. I don't remember liking meat this much, but I chalk it up to food tasting better after struggling to get it. After a moment, I look at the other sticks, contemplating on eating them now, but I decide against it.
As I walk out of the place, I look around, seeing the sun as it's about an eighth of the way up, and rising, by my estimation. As I head down the road, I smile, looking over the map, and trying to figure out the language. So far, I've managed to match the words for airport to the place I just left, so using that, I've managed to identify the town as Raptor. At least, that's what was written down. Heading down the road, I sigh mentally.
'This.... could take a while. I might need to find a better way of moving around, but so far, I have nothing.'
------------------------------------------------------Six-Eights Later----------------------------------------------------------
Finally, after a long journey, I find myself in front of the small town. Though, the place had definitely seen better days, with some buildings crumbled, some with torn out holes in them, glass and rubbish littering the streets, and signs barely hanging on, the place seemed to be at least mostly intact. Based on the condition of this place, I wouldn't say other places are much better off.
Wandering the streets, I spot the figure of a woman standing there. She seemed to just be standing, staring down the road, as if she were waiting for something, anything, in this quiet little ghost town. Approaching her carefully, my mind tells me that it's not a good idea, but something else, call it instincts, tells me that it'll be fine.
"Excuse me, ma'am? Are you from around here? Can you tell me what happened? Where is everyone?"
She doesn't seem to hear me, so I step over to her right side. As I look closer at her, I can tell that she's rather beautiful. With her deep brown eyes, her shoulder length raven black hair, her nice, high cheek bones and full lips, I stare for a moment in awe before I shake my head.
"Excuse me, Miss?"
She turns towards me, revealing that the left side of her face was torn off, her cheek with a gaping hole, revealing yellowed, rotten teeth, and her eye missing.
"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry, I must have zoned out again. May I help you?"
For some reason, the first thing I can think of is Hela, the Nordic Goddess of death. Swallowing back my shock, I look around the place. I start asking her some questions, like what happened here, where everybody was, and why she was out here alone.
"Oh, This place was in this current state long before I got here, so I don't know much about what happened to it or its inhabitants. As for me, I'm waiting here for my husband. He said he would return to me, so now I'm just waiting."
She smiles, returning her gaze down the road into the distance. I look off with her, stealing occasional glances at her beautiful side as she stared longingly down the road.
"How long have you been waiting here?"
"I'd probably say it's been about, what, a month now? Don't worry about me, he'll most definitely come back for me!"
I smiled sadly, staring off in the distance. I didn't have the heart to tell her that he probably wasn't going to come back for her. After waiting for all this time, she still awaited for him. 'Such a loyal and devoted wife, she doesn't deserve this.' I think to myself as my heart grows heavy.
"It's getting pretty late out, I think we should find a place to rest for the night, maybe try and look for him in the morning?"
"Well, I suppose a little bit of sleep would do me some good. I know this good place that's open."
She takes hold of my hand, and the first thought that crosses my mind is that it's cold. Cold, but soft. She leads me down the ways a bit to an old motel looking building with a flickering neon sign in the window. As we approach the place, I look up at the big sign out front, unsure of what it says.
"Welcome to the Raptors No-Tell Motel. Come on, we're in room 204."
I follow along with her, piecing together what she said with the name of this place. Sure enough, the letters that he knew were in the right place, so he guessed as he filled in the rest in his mind. She lead him down a small hill, where a room under the main floor. The door looked like it had been broken down, so they just pushed what little of it was left aside and made their way inside.
The room itself looked clean enough, with beige walls, simple drapes, and a large bed with navy blue bedding that looked like it had never been made before. At least there's no blood or corpses in here. I sit on the edge of the bed and pull off my slip ons, smiling ad she takes a seat to my left.
"So, stranger, you gonna tell me your name, or you gonna leave a girl to wonder? I'm Elloise, by the way."
She smiles warmly as I open my mouth to speak. then I had my second crisis. I didn't even remember my own name. I'm pretty sure it started with a V, but what was it? Victor? Vincent? Vance? I just couldn't remember.
"You can call me V, if it so pleases you, madame."
She smiles warmly as she lays down on the left side of the bed, pulling the blanket up over her. She pats the bed, as if inviting me to lay down with her, and as a gentleman,who am I to refuse a lady's request? I take her up on her offer and lie down next to her, pulling the blanket up over myself.
"So what brings a man such as yourself to a small little town like this?"
"If we're being honest, I didn't have a place else to go. I woke up on a plane this morning and walked until I ended up here."
She smiles and we go on chatting about our different experiences through the night, until eventually, we both succumb to a deep, death-like slumber.