So… A little something I wrote at 3am, because of course my first creative peak in months would come at such an ungodly hour, when I had to wake up early to get lots of stuff done on the following day. -.-

Ranting aside, it's just something that came to mind pretty much out of nowhere for the Survivor Woman in Chapter 3 of The Evil Within 2.
I changed one little thing in her story because I thought it made more sense for her to run from a horde of Lost than to actually stick around with a man who she didn't remember while he had fits of paranoia until he also became a Lost. Don't get me wrong, I think Anima gave a very nice touch to the game's atmosphere, but considering the woman's predicament... I didn't buy that she'd stick around for so long. XP

Now, is this a stand alone or will I actually do something with this? No idea. Only time will tell.
But I do hope you enjoy this… drabble? One-shot? Teaser? Honestly, I don't know what the heck this is. XP

Warning: this was written in 20 minutes at 3am without a beta, and I'm not a native english speaker so errors are bound to happen. I might need to re-write this later… Also: blood and gore. :)

Enjoy!
Kisses,

RedVoid

"Run! I'll hold them back! Just go!"

But she couldn't. Her body was frozen as she stared at the man - he was her husband, he told her, and something was wrong with their friends. they needed to run - with wide eyes that didn't understand what was happening.

They were in a house, locked inside what appeared to be a home office. The man was pushing against the only door there, fighting against... creatures that could not be real. And he was screaming at her, angry and terrified, telling her to-

"-RUN!"

Suddenly the door burst, violently pushing the man to the ground as the creatures finally barged into the room. There were two of them; deformed, gory monsters that were humanoid in shape, but crazed animals at their core. Thirsty for violence and blood.

These homunculi of violence settled their gaze on the man and fell down on him with punches and kicks and teeth, tearing him apart mouthful by mouthful in a spectacle of gore that made bile spurt from her mouth and stream down her neck until it reached the fabric of her sweater. In any other occasion she'd be disgusted with herself, but she was in such a state of shock that she didn't even register the digestive liquid making its way out of her mouth and down her neck.

One of the creatures must've smelled the foul scent though, for it whipped its misshapen head in her direction, fixing its only beady eye on her. The movement caused the blood - the man's blood. maybe her husband's blood - that was cascading down its chin and neck to hit her face. And that, more than bile or vomit ever could, made the woman feel absolute disgust.

That disgust finally ground down the woman to what was happening before her, making her forget the confusion. Who she was? Who was that man? How did they end up here? And how could it be possible for such monsters to exist? None of that mattered at the moment, because as she looked into the monster's opaque, bloodthirsty eye something stronger possessed her being.

Survival instinct. Flight instinct.

Like a last generation robot that had just finished booting for the first time in its existence, she moved with speed and precision. She didn't know exactly what she was doing, it was as if her brain was hard-wired to send the exact sequence of signals to her muscles in order to comply with its primary function: survive.

Without hesitation she turned around and jumped through the window.

She managed to lose the two monsters that killed the man in the backyard of the home, but almost as soon as she could feel relief at finally herself free of them, other creatures appeared in her way. At first they didn't see her and she took her chance to sneak through the streets of this small city that seemed to have been a wonderful place to live in, once upon a time. She didn't know where she was going - or even if there was a place for her to go - but she knew she had to keep moving and so she did. She was doing well, she told herself, she was moving smoothly and that was the best - the only - thing she could be doing right now.

But one misstep was all it took to end her luck.

She was being careful, oh-so careful with her surroundings, staring at anything that moved around her with rapt eyes, that she didn't realize that lying on the pavement in front of her was a bottle of red wine. The glass cylinder didn't break when she stepped on it, but it did make her lose her balance and dive into the floor. She cushioned her fall with her hands and turned her head out of reflex, but still hit her chin on the ground violently enough to make her yell out a curse.

She didn't see as much as she heard the horde of monsters around her twist their necks in her direction, letting out gurgles of attention before sprinting in her general direction.

Without sparing a look behind her or even to the sides, she jumped to her feet and started running as fast as she could. Past streets and backyards she went, ignoring the blood-chilling sounds coming from the monsters running after her, until she found a beacon of light staring at her, coming from a small house's open door, inviting her in with promises of refuge.

She ran to the house without a moment's hesitation and slammed the door with all her strength, pushing against it as she bolted and locked it.

For one second she felt safe, as if she had made it.

But then the door started to shake as one of the monsters slammed its fists on it time and time again, and it made her shake and tremble in fear as she looked all around her for an escape route. She found none; no backdoors or windows.

"What now? This can't be real, it can't. These monsters... They can't exist."

Suddenly, the door stilled and there was silence and once again she felt the deceptive emotion that was relief threaten to bubble in her chest once again. And once again it faltered when the silence was broken.

"It's okay. I took care of them. Please open the door. I need to ask you a few questions."

That voice... She didn't know it, but it was tranquil and reassuring, and it pulled at something inside her chest that urged her to comply with the man's request. He had questions and so did she. Maybe they could help each other?