Words: 75k+
Link: -https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/21640
Where am I?!
I groaned as I slowly sat up, holding my head in my hands. For a moment, the room I woke up in spun and spun like I was stuck in a merry-go-round. I closed my eyes hard and then opened them bit by bit, and the throbbing pain in my head began to slip away.
"The hell happened?" I muttered as I tried to remember the last thing I did, which was coming home late. I was so tired that I didn't even bother trying to reach my bed before crashing on the couch. But seeing how I wasn't on my couch or in a place that resembled my apartment in any way was enough to wake me from my hazy state.
I brushed my fingers over my dark hair, fulling taking in my new surroundings. It was a large office space, and it was completely deserted. Outside, I could hear sirens hollering in the distance, footsteps rushing from one side of the street to the other, screams vanishing as soon as they began.
It seemed like a terrible nightmare, but the pain I felt on my head hurt too badly for this to be just a dream. Of course, as most people would do if they weren't sure if anything were real, I pinched myself. It hurt, and any hope that it might all be a bad dream vanished instantly.
"Shit…"
There was a vague feeling of impending doom filling my chest, and it wasn't just because I had woken up in a strange place after going to bed like any other day. It was because of the sounds in the background, the unnerving cries of panic from outside or at least in the distance and I walked slowly, stealthily toward the nearest window, and I crouched by it, peeking out the broken glass.
My heart was pounding fast in my chest, and I wanted to freak out and let out a loud scream, but I pursed my lips to keep the yelp from escaping my body.
Down below, I began to entirely reasonably lose my shit just a bit when I saw there were some people outside, wearing white and black, bear themed masks and with pipes in their hands. They would fucking hear me If I screamed and that was something I didn't want.
Still, not wanting to grab those fuckers' attention, all I could do at this moment, was to observe my surroundings, suddenly realizing why I had a bad feeling about this place. The red sky, the jerks running around with their faces covered, holding pipes in their fisted hands. A pair of people rushing away from what seemed like a mob, two or three blocks away. Not to mention the destruction of a city, buildings in complete ruins and the various flames across the city.
As much as I tried to tell myself this couldn't be real, that I didn't want to recognize any of this. But the throbbing pain in my head and the slight discomfort still emanating from the spot I had pinched myself made it all too clear this wasn't a strange dream.
"Are fucking kidding me? Are those guys really wearing Monokuma masks?" I whispered to myself, though my brain already knew the answer to my own stupid question.
Panic began to rise from the pit of my stomach, burning my insides as it grew stronger, fiercer. I forced myself back onto the floor, closing my eyes tightly and covering my face with both my hands at the same time.
"No fucking way, no fucking way," I panickily whispered to myself. "T-There's no fucking way, I'm in the middle of the goddam Tragedy…" I told myself, inhaling sharply and holding the air in my lungs until it hurt. Only then did I let the air out, repeating this process several times, until I felt like I could control my own limbs once more.
I wasn't going to lie, I was this close to having a panic attack, but before I could think more about it, I felt a sudden pain on both my cheeks. It took me a few seconds to realize that I instinctively slapped both my cheeks to calm myself down. While the stinging sensation was a bit irritating, I couldn't help but think it was the right thing to do.
I took a deep breath as I began to calm myself down. Knowing that remaining in the panic state would do me no good. As much as I wanted to hide in the corner and stay there to avoid danger, even I knew that would most likely be a death sentence.
"Alright, come on Michael," I muttered to himself. "You've watched plenty of those 'How to Survive Horror Movies' videos on YouTube."
I fell silent, contemplating what to do next. I had to be smart and not afford to make any mistakes. I also had to figure out just where I was exactly, or rather, when. Sliding back up onto my feet, I peeked out the window again. The men wearing those creepy masks were gone and probably a block away now, but I supposed more could arrive soon. If I was going to leave this place, I needed to do it fast.
Giving another glance across the street, nearing the corner, I noticed a fast-food restaurant. "WcDonald's?" I muttered, letting out a small snort of amusement. Despite the name, I knew if I were going to go anywhere, then I needed to get some supplies, or I'd be starving to death soon. My stomach was already rumbling as it was. I wasn't even sure how long I had been unconscious, lying on the floor, after all.
An hour, a minute, a day? Who knew?
I sighed heavily, knowing it was impossible for me to just stay in there, hiding like a little rat just because I was afraid. "Alright then, let's see what I'm working with."
I began digging through my pocket, hoping that whatever brought me here was kind enough to leave me with the things I had in my pocket. I pulled out my phone and couldn't help but frown when I saw that it only had fifty-six percent of battery left.
"What are the odds I can find a charger here?" I muttered to myself before putting my phone away.
Now looking around the office, I began looking over the various desks, taking note of the many office supplies and papers across both the desk and floor. I sighed as I couldn't find much to use as a weapon but when I opened one of the drawers, I found something interesting. A Kidde fire extinguisher, something I had in my apartment. Normally it'd be strange to carry a fire extinguisher around, but remembering a certain Korean horror film, I recalled one of the survivors using a fire extinguisher to push a monster back.
"Better safe than sorry," I said to myself as I grabbed it, only to see something that made me smile a bit. A letter opener! It was almost as large as a switchblade, though regrettably not as sharp.
"Ah, fuck it, it will have to do," I figured, and grabbing it before placing it inside one of my pockets. I made my way to a nearby door that led to the stairwell. Once I opened the door, I found myself hesitating to continue downstairs as the current appearance of the stairwell did not ease my nerves. There were some graffiti of Monokuma on the walls, along with a couple of 'Despair!' written on the walls. Not to mention the lights were flickering a bit.
Once again, I could feel my heart beating fast as I tried to convince my body to move forward, but fear was able to hold my body in place. I won't lie, I'm a coward, I never thought in my life that I would find myself in another world.
Especially ones like Danganronpa and not to mention I was nowhere near where the main story was most likely happening. My chances of survival would at least be a bit better if I were to have woken up in Hope Peak's Academy rather than an abandoned building in the middle of the freaking Tragedy!
A wince escaped from my lips as I pinched myself to snap myself out of my thoughts. I glanced at my free hand and noticed it shaking a bit before clenching it tight. I started to calm myself by taking deep breaths and my heartbeat began to return to a normal pace. I know I can't allow my fear to get the better of me, especially if I wanted to survive.
I cautiously took the first step, before taking another one and soon found myself walking down the stairs. I stopped for a moment to look over the railings, trying to see if there was anyone or anything that might risk my escape. Thankfully, I was lucky as I spotted nothing and resumed my walk downstairs before reaching the door.
Pushing the door open, I saw that I had reached the lobby. The windows in the front were completely shattered, but other than that, the lobby seemed to be relatively normal. I saw the exit to the outside world, and I began to slowly walk toward the door. I took great pains to avoid making even the slightest sound as he opened the front door. My eyes scanned the surroundings to make sure there weren't any hiding spots that someone could use for an ambush, thankfully, there was none. However, the sound of gunfire was enough to send my body on automatic as I quickly ran across the road. I reached the building and pushed the door open as I rushed to enter inside.
I didn't realize that I had been holding my breath until I exhaled sharply inside the fast-food restaurant. My lungs were burning, but now, at least I could breathe calmly. I took a moment to compose myself before exploring the deserted building.
Once I entered the kitchen, I smiled brightly as I rushed to a first-aid kit hanging from a nearby wall. It was one of those kits' employees could rush to in case of an emergency, and boy was this an emergency. I placed the extinguisher on the floor as I unlocked the kit and opened it, eyeing the content and saw that there was a decent amount of stuff inside. However, since this was for a fast-food restaurant, most of the items inside were meant to treat burns.
"Whatever, at least some of this will come in handy," I told myself as I grabbed the bandages, gauze pads and other items. I stuffed them inside my jacket pocket. However, I heard footsteps behind me, though, I realized how quickly I had jumped to the conclusion that there was no one else here.
'Stupid! Why didn't you check if there were others first?!' I thought, as I dug into my pocket, gripping around the letter opener's hilt.
I turned around as I pulled the weapon out, ready to lunge forward if I had to. Anything to survive, even if I loathed the idea of hurting another person… In a world like this, can I really afford to follow that feeling?
Much to my surprise, though, I didn't come face-to-face with one of those strangers armed with pipes and Monokuma masks, but rather a small, silent child that stared my way wide-eyed.
I sighed in relief, feeling my tanned skin recovering its color bit by bit. I had been impossibly pale for a moment, as I had never felt that kind of fear throughout my body before.
"My God, kid, you scared me shitless!" I croaked, but the kid continued to stare towards me silently as a statue. I tensed for a moment before realizing the kid's expression seemed to convey fear rather than any of the creepiness that surrounded us. "Fuck… So kid, are you okay?"
For a few minutes, the kid just stood there. Silent, as if debating whether he should run or stay. Finally, though, not knowing what else to say, I awkwardly scratched the back of my head before mumbling.
"Well, if you're here, I guess that means you're hungry… God knows I'm starving. Do you want to help me get something to eat?"
At that, the kid reacted, finally! I was relieved when he nodded. I offered the child a comforting smile, as comforting as I could manage under the circumstances.
The small, slim boy followed behind, as silent as a shadow, and I couldn't help but feel protective of this new acquaintance. I mean a kid wandering around a place like this by himself. Even I'm not that heartless to leave him alone.
Although, I discovered I was far more alert of my surroundings than when I was all by himself. Odd how the human mind worked.
Speaking of odd, I just realized something. Danganronpa takes place in Japan, and my knowledge in Japanese is a few words at most. But I could have sworn that I was speaking English to the kid, and yet, he was able to understand what I said. Maybe I got lucky and found a kid that can understand English but even I doubt that, as the odds of that happening were extremely low.
My thoughts on the subject came to a halt as we arrived at the tall, massive metal door that clearly led into the walk-in fridge, it was locked. I sighed heavily, looking around for something else to eat, but everything had seemed to go bad already.
"We need to find a way in there," I told the kid, who only stared up at me with those wide, silent eyes. It would all come down to me, I guess. "Do you want to come explore with me a bit more or stay here and wait for me to come back?"
The kid didn't reply, but followed behind when I moved, so I guessed that was an answer after all.
It didn't take long for me to find a wooden door that read: Manager. It was printed in golden letters across the smooth material, and I could imagine a smug, little man had once sat inside. Now, it was not only certainly deserted, but unfortunately, also locked shut.
However, seeing how the door was wooden, I figured maybe I could break the door. I ready myself as I slammed my shoulder against the door, only to grunt as I felt bolts of pain spreading across my shoulder. I was lucky. It only hurt like hell, but at least I hadn't dislocated it. I had to be more careful.
This time, I pressed my arm against the door hard, trying to find the best position before slamming it once more. It caved but didn't open fully. A third, softer push managed to get the job done. My arm was hurting and pulsating, but it was the kind of hallow pain that wouldn't last long.
Looking around the office -which indeed was deserted-, I found exactly what he had come in here for. A wad of keys, all different shapes, and sizes. They were on the desk, just lying there, waiting to be taken.
"Alright! Let's see if this work!" I told the kid excitedly, who for the first time showed another reaction other than that soft, quiet nod. It wasn't quite a smile, but the corners of his lips curled up lightly.
It was something… baby steps, right?
Standing in front of the fridge's door, I had to try three different keys before I finally managed to get it open! A smirk appeared across my lips, nodding to myself as we stepped into the fridge.
It was cold and filled with all kinds of fresh products. Who knew how much longer the fridge would continue to work, but for now, it offered us everything we needed to fight against our hunger.
The kid helped me gather a few bags with fruit slices and a bottle of milk, and the two of us sat on the kitchen's counter, munching on our little treasure.
Now with food in his belly, it seemed the kid was ready to open himself up, at least a bit.
"Thank you… " He mumbled, and I smiled, patting the kid's shoulder.
"No problem, I'm glad there's enough food for the both of us. My name is Michael Diaz, nice to meet you."
The child smiled at last. "I'm Yuma." He replied.
"That's a great name," I said, biting into the apple slice, wondering what a kid so young was doing out there all alone. I felt like I couldn't ask Yuma about it without at least sharing a bit about myself first. "I'm not from around here, you know… In fact, I don't even know how I got here, to begin with. I'm… A bit lost, not going to lie."
Yuma couldn't help but giggle. A small, almost sweet chuckle.
"I could tell. You're clearly not from this city… or this country! I've never seen anyone so different before." We both laughed together for a few seconds, though it wasn't that funny. Perhaps it was just nice to be able to laugh at all when everything that surrounded us was so terrifying. "Where are you from?"
"Ah, well I'm from the USA," I replied, and Yuma simply stared my way blankly. Yuma didn't seem to know what I was talking about, so I just carried on talking. "I don't know why I'm here… but I know what's going on. This is the Tragedy, am I right?"
Yuma seemed surprised, but he nodded in agreement.
"Yes… Yes, you're right." He paused, and repeated, as if it were something he didn't quite understand fully but had heard it uttered so many times before. "The biggest, most awful, most tragic event…"
"In human history," I finished Yuma's sentence, looking in deep thought.
"Yeah…" Yuma mumbled, "It's been about a month since it started… since everyone started acting crazy. They destroyed everything. They attack everyone and really hurt them… it's awful…"
I took note of Yuma's description of what had been going on, I also noticed how he said the Tragedy has only been going on for a month, a useful piece of information. But I had to put that thought away as I had something important to focus on.
"Yuma… I…" I rubbed the back of my head, clearly not eager to ask this question, but I had to do it. He was so young, and all alone, after all. "Why are you here, all by yourself?"
Yuma looked away, falling silent for a moment.
"I was just trying to help… but I'm so scared…" The child's voice broke, and tears threatened to roll down his cheeks. He whipped his tears off rapidly, looking sheepish and worried at the same time. "Big sis is keeping everyone safe in the hideout, but we don't have much food left… She didn't want to leave us alone, or else the mean men will come after us. B-But I wanted to help, so I sneaked out and promised the other kids that I would come back with food and whatever else I could find. I just wanted to help big sis."
I felt cold all over. This child was so young, so brave. Risking his own life just to bring food back to his own siblings. I was about to say something, about to place my hand on Yuma's shoulder encouragingly, when a sudden, terrifying noise rushed toward where we sat.
"Upupupupu…"
It was a sort of demonic mechanical laughter, a strange gurgling sound that froze both the kid and I in terror. As we looked behind us, I noticed three people wearing Monokuma masks, gripping at long, threatening-looking pipes rushed into the kitchen. Somehow, they had found us, and I knew this couldn't end nicely.
I jumped to my feet, tensing all over. I took note of the extinguisher I placed on the floor earlier, 'A distraction!' I thought to myself but even I realized the odds of two people escaping using that to block the remnants' vision were exceptionally low. However, if I were to use it for myself, then my odds of escape would be higher, and I would be able to survive for another day. Of course, I wanted to run, I wanted it so badly, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
I knew all too well that Yuma, who was now cowering behind me, wouldn't run as fast, and these freaks would get to him.
I was terrified and wanted to survive so badly… but not at the expense of this kid.
So, gritting my teeth and gathering every ounce of courage I could muster, I whispered to Yuma.
"Yuma… I want you to run away while I distract them."
Yuma tensed noticeably behind me, and I was certain the child was about to protest, but I didn't give him the time to do anything of the sort. I had made up my mind. I was going to protect this kid one way or another.
And so, I rushed towards the fire extinguisher and pulled the safety pin out. I aimed the nozzle towards the creepy masked men and fired. The blast from it was enough to block the remnants' vision as it caused them to raise their arms to cover themselves while taking a few steps back. I looked behind me, seeing Yuma was standing there, still, somewhere between shock and disbelief.
"Yuma! You gotta run! You can't help your family if you're dead, so run!" I roared. That seemed to snap him out of his trance as he quickly ran out of the restaurant. I watched with a mix of relief and dread as Yuma escaped. 'At least I helped someone survive in this cruel world… But my odds of walking out of this alive is pretty much shit.'
At that moment, the fire extinguisher seems to finally reach its limit before finally running dry. I looked at the three remnants and while they looked ridiculously covered in foam, the pipes in their hands were still as dangerous. I tossed the extinguisher aside and pulled out the letter opener and held it as I readied myself for a fight. In most situations, I would rather run than fight, and yet here I was, standing up for what was right.
It felt good, I can't lie… but I was also terrified of the consequences of my actions.
There was a standoff between the four of us, but I had to buy as much time as I could to give Yuma so he could reach for safety. Hopefully, I'll be able to survive this encounter.
I then charged towards one of them and tried to swipe the letter opener against them, but they dodged it and countered with their own attack. I was surprised by my own quick reflexes as I managed to dodge an attack. One of the other remnants was swinging his pipe directly onto my head. I just pulled back and felt the metal cylinder move so close to the tip of my nose that it almost tickled me.
I then brought my leg back before hitting one of the remnants between the legs and prompting him to come crashing down. It was an unfair move, but then again, these were three armed men that tried to gang up against a kid and me. Screw fighting fair!
I gasped and dodged a large, mean-looking pipe coming right at my head. Jumping back, I won't lie as I was a bit desperate to survive. I started grabbing every single kitchen item I could throw against these creeps.
But they didn't do much damage wise as all it did was annoy the remnants. Soon, my luck began to slim further and further, and one of the mask-wearing men managed to land a blow between my ribs, causing the me to cry out in pain, holding onto my side.
"Fuck!" I cried out loud as the pain spread across my body. One of the remnants managed to strike me a second time, and it was worse than the first. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes as they threated to leak, this was the most pain I ever felt in my life, and it hurt so fucking much! Still, as much as I wanted to give up, I couldn't just let myself lose like this. All my heroes kept fighting until the very end, while they won or survived due to plot armor, at least I should try to go down fighting.
Somehow, I willed through the pain and lunged forward, grabbing my attacker by the arm as hard as I could.
I still held the letter opener in my other hand, and my lips trembled as I shoved it into the remnant's side. This caused the figure to wince from the pain. A smirk of satisfaction came across my face as I managed to hurt one of them.
But before I could attack a second time, though, the other two masked men finally managed to get the best of me. One of them landed a blow against my back, and the other struck me right across the face.
That was it. I fell to the ground, dazzled at first, barely able to focus my gaze on anything at all. The room seemed to be spinning before it all began turning black.
I couldn't move, could hardly comprehend what was going on. My grip on reality was fading away quickly. All I could do was watch hopelessly as the three figures loomed threateningly over me.
'This is it… I'm going to die… they want to kill me, and I can't move,' I thought direly, trying so hard to roll away, to crawl toward the exit, the tears escaping my eyes. But I felt too weak to do anything but closed my eyes, losing consciousness at long last, completely at the strangers' mercy.