I guess the summary at the top says all. But then again, this is horror. If you can't handle blood; don't read it. Some chapters will be more grotesque than others. For those of you who can handle it, I hope you enjoy the stories! :)
Shinedown- Her Name Is Alice
Plot twist: Zeekes, regret and blame are all devouring Astrids insides, tearing her apart.
DESTRUCTION OF THE ENDURANCE
"He had to think, and think clearly, not let his mind be seized and paralyzed by lurid images of Astrid brought down in some lonely place by coyotes, or zekes, or Drake." -Sam thinking of Astrid in FEAR page 395.
Astrid winced at the sound of another tearing scream. She always did.
Cigar screamed regularly, and even though there was some type of rhythm to it all, she never was prepared to hear any of them. It was pitch black and she couldn't see his mouth open and form into an o, letting another ear-piercing shriek evolve from his throat.
Once again she heard him. This time though, she didn't hear what she had expected. He was talking instead. She sharpened her ears, trying to make out the words, like the darkness hadn't only taken away her vision, but her sense of hearing as well.
She didn't really bother to listen to what he was talking about. He was mad, everything he said would just be his crazy side speaking, right? Still, she was waiting for him to comment something about her brother. Give her something, someone, to hold onto, to help her through the dark. Literally.
But Petey wasn't mentioned. He was complaining about something being in his feet. She thought it was his insane side taking over once again, but the comment wasn't followed up by his freaky laughter. His voice had sounded pleading, like he wanted her to fix his feet.
She was quickly putting the pieces together, but not quickly enough. Her assumption was confirmed as another roar from the mad boy interrupted her from thinking any further.
That, and the fact that she could feel them as well.
'Zekes!' she cried and stumbled back, fell down, jumped up like the ground was electrified, crawled, stood, ran back, back until she tripped once again, fumbling, rolling, sprawling on the ground. Squeal after squeal.
Her own harmonizing with Cigars.
She could feel them tickling her back with a rough touch. She could feel the soft mud being rubbed against her torso violently, making a shiver run up her spine.
She had laid there for a second. Maybe two. And they had already gotten to her.
Her body moved on autopilot as she got up onto her feet, but she couldn't make her legs move. There was nothing wrong with them -yet-, but in the state of shock, she couldn't bring herself to thinking clearly, something which in Astrids case was a pretty rare event.
She dodged forward, not really sure where she was going, just running and hoping to escape the field and not be eaten alive, as her foot connected with something resembling a lot like a body -and the fact that it started laughing sickly as her foot made its impact, verified that it was Cigar, lying there, the thought of escape didn't really seem to enter his mind at any moment.
She fell onto the ground with a lack of elegance as her whole side dug down into the mud with a blow that dislocated her shoulder. This resulted with her lying on the ground, clutching her shoulder, thinking of how she would have done anything to have Lanas power then.
The zeekes where totally forgotten as she stayed on the ground, whimpering about her shoulder.
That was until multiple sharp needles dug into her elbow all at once. Before she even had time to react, the needles where pulled out and then pushed further into her arm. Digging through like a drill which wouldn't be unplugged, it only kept on penetrating her upper arm further.
And that pain. That inconceivable pain, rushing through her body and ripping her apart. Consuming her inside and out, the whole way down to the bone.
She screamed, she howled, she screeched, she shouted, she yelled.
But no help was coming. Only pain. Pain in excessive amounts. Growing stronger and more intense through each second that passed. As more of the unbearable creatures plunged through her veins and arteries, making her internally bleed as her organs were being gorged.
All of this happening within one brief minute.
As she had fallen onto the ground, so had the tiny piece of hope that was left in her. It had dropped onto the ground and shattered into a million pieces. Not making a sound, not a vision of it crumbling into ashes, or of it fading away.
Could you see it on her?
Did she look any different?
Sure, she did. The crimson colored spots didn't used to be there. The spots which turned out to be holes, turned into painful tunnels within the blink of an eye.
Blood kept seeping out from the gaps. That was the only sign on them still being inside of her. That, and the sound of chewing. They were eagerly consuming her, just like the people of the FAYZ would, after they'd gone without food for too long.
She closed her eyes, acceptance of death taking over. She tried to ignore the ill discomfort of it all. The thought of something eating her in the first place made her want to throw up. And the thought of what she would look like after it was over.
What if the light came back? What if someone found her remains; would there even be any remains? Or would they swallow down every piece of her bone? Maybe not, but hopefully they'd rip off enough meat for her to be unrecognizable.
She didn't want Sam to find her there. A piece of him always died with the victims, but if he saw her corpse, she wasn't sure he'd make it. He needed her to be his anchor. Just like she needed him to be her hero.
But this was it. This was the end, and she deserved every second of the agonizing pain.
Because she had killed him.
She had given her little brother up to the bugs. She had let him die, because of her own selfishness. Her own hope for achievements, hope for survival, hope itself was all that kept her going. All that kept anyone going. And now, all they were left with was darkness. The Darkness possessing their minds, darkness surrounding them. Darkness was all she had.
Darkness and the sick laughter of a poor boy, lying a couple of feet away from her.
She raised a cramped hand towards the sound of him. After a while of fumbling in the empty space, more blood poring out of her wounds like a cascade, she found his hand. Her fingers closed around his ice cold palm and hadn't it been for his absurd chuckles, she would have been fully convinced of him being dead.
Sadly, neither of them where that lucky. Both lying there, silently begging for death to come and take their torn souls.
Although the blindness was intimately depressing, she was thankful for the lack of vision. Seeing herself like that was not something she would ever have volunteered for.
Deep black holes, the cause of her dying this crucially. Her skin tone, deadly pale, but not fully exposed as dark shades of red would be lubricated across her dead flesh. Her narrow body; crumpled and wrecked by starvation and by one of the most dangerous mutations of the FAYZ.
You couldn't say that the light faded from her eyes, because there was no light there to begin with. The Darkness had left every FAYZ citizen in total darkness, letting them die in fear. Some more then others. Astrid? She was terrified.
If something as disastrous as this could happen in the real world where God was watching over them, protecting them, what would meet her in the afterlife? Not like she was going to heaven, like she had believed for so long. She was going straight to hell. Belief was one thing, but this was different. This was knowledge. Knowledge of her destiny. She had murdered her little brother. Her only brother.
This was destined to happen to her.
And somehow, with this thought in the back of her mind, the slightest smile was spread across her features as she finally closed her eyes, letting her blood drain freely from her body as it all came to an end.
Yeah, not really the most violent chapter. Some chapters will be worse though, so don't worry! What do you guys think so far? I have quite a few one-shot ideas on moments I thought she should have died, but if you guys have any, then you can send me a PM or review down below! Hope you guys enjoyed, and if you haven't read my other stories, I strongly suggest for you guys to check them out!