Hello lovely readers, sorry about the slowdown with updates. The office really went and sucker-punched my free time thanks to 10 to 13 hour shifts. But I shall not give up /o/ as promised here is a cute and feelsy chapter. Hopefully, with the holiday coming up I'll be able to post another chapter soon U
Song Suggestion: forest by twenty-one pilots
Disclaimer: I own nothing Resident Evil is owned by CapCom, and I'm just playing with their toys haha
The holiday season was drawing closer. Frosted air made clouds of steam from warm breath as people happily went on their way through the biting cold. Charlotte was having none of that. An annoyed and impatient expression crossed her face as she sat in a pleasantly warm car with heated seats.
"I know I said text me when you're ready, but there was still a scheduled pickup time darn it," She grumbled under her breath while she continued to wait in the parked car not far from a decent size single story building with off-white walls that stood out against the gray scenery.
Charlotte gave a tired sigh and leaned back into her seat in an attempt to relax as she took out her phone and continued to poke at it to find a source of entertainment while she waited. A page sporting various little characters on a grid like a battlefield was in the middle of loading when a banner appeared at the top of the screen announcing a phone call. The woman stared at it unamused since there was a good 90% chance that it was a spam call since she didn't recognize the number, all the same since she was waiting to be contacted by Heisenberg she accepts the call. Maybe his phone died.
"Hello?" Charlotte asks while quietly mouthing out 'we've been trying to reach you regarding your car's extended warranty' To her surprise, that was not the response she received.
"Hello, I'm looking for a Miss Charlotte Wiltse," says a man speaking in Romanian.
"Who is this?" Charlotte asks in return.
"Ah, you speak Romanian, that does make this easier," the man says in return. "My name is Bruce Cross, Private investigator, I've been hired by a group of 9 individuals who've asked me to find and reach out to a miss Charlotte Wiltse. Is that you?"
This was really weird. If it was a scam it was an elaborate one... "I'm afraid you have the wrong number." Charlotte says in return.
The man on the other end was silent for a moment. "I see. Well, if you run into her. Can you let her know that the villagers want to know that she's safe?" He says as he clearly didn't buy her reply. He was good at what he did and the fact the person he called spoke Romanian fluently was enough of a clue to him that she was lying.
You got 10 people out. You've done more than enough.
10 minus Alex, made 9. "Wait!" Charlotte says in terrified panic that the man might hang up the call. "They're okay?" Charlotte asks quietly. "Where are they?"
"I'm afraid it's against my policy to give away the information of my employer like that-" The man tried to explain only to get cut off.
"Fine then I'll pay you to find them and tell me where they are. I need to know they are okay," Charlotte says with mild annoyance, hoping that her loophole would work.
It takes him a moment to reply, to the point that Charlotte was starting to think she was listening to dead air. "... I'll talk to them and see if they're okay with me providing that information." Bruce says after thinking it over. "What is your Email address? If they agree to it, I'll send the information there."
"Thank you," Charlotte says in return as she openly smiled while providing the information. Her village wasn't completely lost. The ones who got out were still alive.
"I'll let them know you're safely back in America," Bruce affirms with a gentle tone. "Have a good night."
It was 2pm. "Same to you." Charlotte says before a small beep let her know the call had ended. She sat in stunned silence while trying to process the information she just received. The ones who got out were alive and well. They were looking for her. Her smile remained, she felt awful that she didn't think to look for them sooner, but she needed to leave and go back to America if she was going to get Karl back and. Wait a second.
"God damn it Karl..." her smile fell as she moved to hold her face. Right. She was still waiting for him to get out of this darn building. "You have 10 more minutes, so help me if I have to go in there and get you." Charlotte mutters to herself as she goes back to poking at her phone, this time her entertainment was to constantly refresh her email.
"So then I said to the guy, Poker? I barely know'er!" Says a familiar elderly veteran with a wheezing laugh as his other buddies at the table gave short sympathy laughs at the rather old joke as they looked over their cards.
"Pretty sure we're playing old maid," Karl points out with an amused smirk.
"All the more reason to leav'er alone," the veteran says with another laugh.
"Easy now Eddy, don't let Darla hear you talkin' like that" says one of the other 3 veterans at the table.
"Hush your trap, my Darla's still as much a beaut as she was the day I first set eyes on 'er," Eddy says while crossing his arms.
"You're showing your cards," Karl warns which caught Eddy's attention as he quickly shuffles his hand and hides it again.
"Good eye young buck," Eddy says after fixing his hand and then moves to glare at the others. "Buncha no good dirty cheats the lot of you."
Heisenberg shakes his head at that. Young. Sure...
"Speakin' a young things, cute one approaching at 3 o clock, pencil skirt, nice legs,"one of the friends says with a smile.
Oh shit.
"Karl what the actual hell," Charlotte asks as she walks over to the table to stand by him. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" she asks with a slight frown.
"Not a clue," He answers honestly though it just annoys her further.
"Seriously?" She asks to voice her annoyance.
"My phone died," he replied with a shrug.
"Well we need to go, you're already an hour past when you were supposed to meet me outside." Charlotte says as the other at the table, rather intelligently, stayed out of the conversation.
"We're almost done with this hand," Karl says in return causing Eddy to make a slight face as one who realized a mistake had been made.
He rarely ever left the house to see people, and normally, she wouldn't have minded so much but the call from the PI had her anxious and fidgety. She wanted to go home. Now. "Not happening captain, pack it up," she says in English before switching to Romanian. "I just got a call, there are villagers still alive."
That got his attention. "What do you mean they're alive? I thought you said the place was nothing but rubble and ash?" He asks in hushed Romanian.
"uh oh, secret talk," says one of the 3 veterans.
"Best getta move on young buck, It's always good to see you but looks like you should be heading home," Eddy agrees with a nod. Maybe a bit of humble pie would help get him out of trouble. "Thanks as always for letting us borrow him Ma'am, We'll make sure he's taken better track of the clock in the future."
"Not a problem, it's always nice to see him want to be away from the house, he hardly ever leaves," Charlotte admits since she didn't want to seem like she was ignoring the elderly veteran. "I just got a call, someone from the village is looking for us at the least. Someone that knows I helped people leave," Charlotte replies as she returns to speaking in Romanian.
"Deal me out." Heisenberg says in English as he put his hand of cards down on the table and moved to get up and grab his jacket from the back of the chair.
Eddy breathes a sigh of relief. Thank heavens. "See you in a few weeks then."
"Might be awhile," Heisenberg admits in return.
"Ah right, the holidays are coming around, huh? Well, you two have a good time," Eddy says with a nod as he picks up Heisenberg's hand and deals out the cards to the others at the table.
"Thanks," Heisenberg replies before walking with Charlotte out of the building. The two eventually made their way to the car that was already starting to get cold thanks to the fact that Charlotte had to turn it off, so she could go inside to get Karl.
"You know there's a much higher chance that this is a trap right?" He points out now that they were safely alone.
"I know," Charlotte admits in return. "But, part of me still wants to see for myself."
"You're going to get hurt," Karl points out though he knew that arguing was futile when she got stuck on an idea.
"Not if you come with me," Charlotte rebuttals as she turns the car back on and puts it into reverse.
Hearing that caused him to reach over and put the car back into park, "You're joking." He says annoyed.
"You did say we should go back some time to see the stars," Charlotte points out in return as she left the gear shift alone for now, she didn't want to end up breaking the car because of this.
"Not now, it's practically winter," Karl says while pinching the brow of his nose. "If you think it's cold here it's already much worse there."
"There are other ways to stay warm," Charlotte says with a slight smile.
"Oh fuck you," he says as he realized she was just going to use his own words against him until he agreed to go with.
"Well it's me or the toa-"
"NOPE. We're done with the toaster jokes," He warns as he cut her off. "God damn smart mouth clever bitch," He grumbles under his breath before feeling a peck of a kiss on his cheek.
"Oh alright." Charlotte replies while rolling her eyes. "All the same I'm going to be leaving as soon as I know where to go. It's up to you if you're coming with."
"Up to me my ass," he grumbles again. He'd just end up worried the whole time.
'*'*'*'*'
A week had passed since then. Charlotte received the expected email with an address and a list of names. Whoever this was they definitely knew about the village since they correctly listed the names of the people she helped.
"I thought this was supposed to be a vacation why the shit did we wake up at 5 in the morning?" the man asks with a tired grumble as he looked at the car clock that now read 7 am as they pulled into the parking lot of the local international airport.
"Because our flight is at 9 am, It's going to take 20 hours as it is and if we don't arrive 2 hours early the universe will laugh at us and make us late for our flight somehow." Charlotte offers as an answer as she turns off the car. "Luckily, we don't have to worry about checking our bags or anything too annoying." she adds as she packs up her purse and puts that over her shoulder before pressing the trunk release button. "Come on, the longer we wait, the colder the walk will be."
"Yeah sure," He says as he was too tired to argue right now. They both got out of the car and collected their respective carry on bag from the trunk before making sure the car was locked up then made their way to the airport to get into line to go through security.
"Have your passport and boarding pass ready for review" says a recorded announcement as they waited in line. "Once you've made it past the document check, please make sure to take off your shoes, and remove any electronics from your bags and put them into separate containers." The recording says as a few monitors along the way show various slides to go along with the instructions. The two slowly made their way through the line as the presentation continued to drone on "All liquids are limited to 3 ounce containers. Please make sure to check our flying restriction list for a comprehensive list of all items prohibited past this check point."
"Well this place is charming, I wonder if they do parties," Heisenberg mutters as they shuffle along.
"Did you want to spend the next week here then?" Charlotte asks with a sly smile.
"I know you know sarcasm when you hear it," He says with a frown.
"Yeah but it's more fun to pretend I don't sometimes," Charlotte says with a laugh causing the man to nudge her in response.
The two idly chatted while waiting for their turn. Papers were checked, and the two moved on to the next check point for carry on and personal scanning.
"Oh no..." Charlotte Whispers as she realized a slight problem that she overlooked.
"Oh no what..." Karl asks while going through the steps that he heard at least 3 times while waiting in line. Take off shoes put in plastic tub. Put bag in plastic tub. Put electronics in a separate plastic tub. By the end of this he was going to have 5 of these stupid things.
"Metal detector," Charlotte says while eyeing the large cylinder like scanner. One of the people ahead of them walked in, held their hands over their head and the device rotated to scan the person.
"...shit" He says under his breath as he realized the issue. It didn't matter how stripped down he got, he was going to set off the machine. "So, what do we do should I just break it or something?"
"No" Charlotte hissed in return while putting her own items on to the plastic bins on the belt. "Just, try and focus on not being a magnet for 5 seconds."
"That's not how that works" He whispers back before a loud worker called over the chatter of the crowd.
"Next in line!" the security worker announced and the line inched closer.
Shit.
It didn't take long before it was Heisenberg's turn to step into the machine.
"Make sure you're standing on the markers, put your hands over your head like it shows in the diagram in front of you and face forward," the worker says as they provide the memorized instructions.
The machine whirled to life and a loud beeping could be heard. The security workers stared at the display in confused horror as the large machine marked every inch of the guy as covered in metal thanks to his passive magnetic charge.
"Do you have a metal skeleton or something?" the worker asks confused and Karl just gives a nervous laugh in response. "Hey Joe! Get over here, I think this one is busted." the worker says while taping at the display.
The man, assumedly named Joe, jogs over to help out the coworker and checks the settings of the scanner. "Hmm... it looks like it's calibrated correctly... sir can I ask that you step back out of the machine for a moment?" Joe asks and Karl does as he's told. "Ma'am?" the man says while gesturing to Charlotte. "Can you step forward into the machine?" if it was broken then she'd have the same result.
"Sure," Charlotte replies with a nod and enters the machine. The worker from before relays the same instructions before the machine sprung back into action and provided a normal reading.
"See? All you gotta do is call me over, and it will act like nothing was wrong," Joe says with a joking smile as he nudges his co-worker.
"Seriously this happens every time this stupid thing acts up. I swear I'm not crazy... okay ma'am you can come on through." the worker says and Charlotte exits the machine to go collect her things while cautiously watching and waiting to see what would happen to Karl. "Sorry about that sir, why don't you try again."
Once more Heisenberg walks into the machine. Think nonmagnetic thoughts, Think nonmagnetic thoughts.
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
The machine alerted once more and again the chart showed a full red figure. The two guards looked at the reading then each other as they started to realize this may not be a machine error, and it could be a genuine threat.
"Sir I'm going to need you to step over here, keep your hands over your head." the worker says as they watch him with more suspicion.
"Oh no..." Charlotte says under her breath as she watches the two workers pat down Karl in an attempt to find anything.
"I don't feel anything on the guy," Joe says before getting a hand held scanner that was blaring a consistent and even whining pitch alerting that something was setting it off.
"We're going to need you to come with us," the worker says now very concerned because none of this was making sense.
Charlotte winced as she heard this as a third worker approached her. "Ma'am are you two traveling together?" they asked with a slight frown.
"Yep," She reluctantly admits.
"We're going to need you to come with us as well," The third worker says causing her to heave a tired sigh but nod all the same.
The next hour and a half was nerve wracking, one wrong step, one wrong exam, and they'd find out about Karl's Cadou. Then they'd be sent off to some lab in the middle of nowhere to get poked and prodded. Probably Area 51 because aliens are probably real too if giant vampires and zombies exist. Luckily, since the security staff didn't find anything of note on them or in their bags they were sent on their way only to sprint the whole way through the airport to get to the right gate in time.
"So, you still want to travel and see the world?" Charlotte asks as they dodge through annoyed travelers.
"Fuck you, I didn't even want to go on this trip," Karl replies while trying to keep up with Charlotte who was using her smaller stature to her advantage to easily slip past people Karl could not.
With only a minute or two to spare the two boarded the flight and settled in for a 20-hour flight across the Atlantic.
"Arrived at gate 14, international flight 43-712 from JFK International Airport to Henri Conada International Airport." the loudspeakers announced as another spoke at the same time.
"Welcome to Henri Conada International Airport, it is currently 11:30 AM on Saturday, December 17th." the competing announcement said over a fuzzy intercom.
"Good lord, and we still have to do another 20 hour flight back," Heisenberg grumbles with a yawn as they walked down the halls of the airport.
"Red-eye flights are cheaper," Charlotte replies with a shrug to adjust the bag on her shoulder.
"Red-eye? That's a bit more than a red-eye," He says while stretching out his back that was sore and aching from the cramped flight.
"Well we can always take a 7-day boat trip back," Charlotte points out "Which would be preceded by a multiple day bus ride."
"Fuck off," Heisenberg replies with a frown as he adamantly rejected the offer. He'd take the 20-hour flight.
"Hey that's what I had to do before, and I carried you the whole way," Charlotte says with an amused smirk.
"Let's just stick to the planes," Karl says in return before noticing a few arches ahead of them. "Oh no... not again."
Charlotte follows his line of sight to see a few metal detectors by the exit to the main hub of the airport. "Well... those aren't as heavy duty as the ones we went through back in the US," she says with a slight wince. "These look more like what you'd see in a department store, I doubt that it will cause too much trouble. I don't think I've seen you set one of those off... You should go first though."
"Your confidence is very reassuring," He says with a deadpan expression.
"Just, better safe than sorry. If I go through first, and you do set it off, they won't let me back through" the woman points out with a wincing smile.
"Fine," Karl grumbles before staring at the exit a bit longer. A deep breath passed his lips before walking through only to be met with sweet glorious silence.
"Oh thank god," they both quietly say under their breath unaware that the other had said the same thing.
"See, I told you it would be fine," Charlotte says as she heads through as well.
"Sure," He replies with a slight frown. "So when are we meeting up with the village folks?"
"Not until 5, so we have a few hours to get to the hotel and unpack," Charlotte replies while poking at her phone to schedule a taxi ride to the hotel they were staying at.
"And sleep," Karl says relieved.
"You practically slept the whole way here," Charlotte points out with an amused smile.
"And sleep," He repeats with squinting disapproval. He was on a plane for 20 hours, what sleep he did get wasn't great, and his ears hurt like hell. He wanted to lay down for a bit darn it.
Charlotte Chuckles a bit at the insistence but doesn't push any further. "Okay well the cab will be waiting for us outside of terminal 5, so we should get moving."
"We could always just pick through a scrapyard for old times sake," Karl says with a snickering smirk.
"Would you rather do that instead of take a nap then?" Charlotte rebuttals.
"Nope," he says shortly as he picks up his pace to make it to the cab waiting at terminal more Charlotte laughs at his antics.
It took about 20 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel, and it was difficult for the man to not fall asleep in the back of the car, but somehow he managed to keep his tired eye open through that and Charlotte checking the two into their room. when the door opened to show a neat but small bedroom he smiled as he dropped his bag by the door.
"Now that's a sight for sore eyes," he says as kicked his shoes off while walking over and flops face first onto the bed. This was officially the single most comfortable thing he'd ever had the fortune to lay on, and he was never moving again.
"Someone's being dramatic," Charlotte says though her smile remained as she closed the door and carried her bag over to the dresser to start unpacking. She heard a few inaudible grumbles in response with the shuffling of sheets which just amused her further. Once her bag was unpacked she looked over to check on the sleeping metal lord only to find he had settled in with his glasses still on. a concerned frown started to form as she walked over and moved to take them off his face. The second she did, strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close and onto the bed as well.
He slept better when she was by his side.
'*'*'*'*'
5 o'clock eventually arrived, and the two found themselves standing outside of a decent size multifamily home.
"They all live here?" Karl asks a bit surprised. over all the place wasn't too much bigger than Charlotte's home.
"Not sure... the Private investigator listed everyone by name but only gave the one address," Charlotte admits with some confusion as well. That didn't last long as a welcoming face peaked out from the doorway.
"Miss Charlotte?" the woman says curiously before smiling as recognition set in. "It is you, Everyone, come quick she's he-" the woman's statement cut short as she processed the additional person standing next to Charlotte. "L-Lord Heisenberg?!" They shouted in horror more than asked. the few people who did hurry over could be seen quickly turning back around to hide. "You survived? Please have mercy."
panicked sounds of crashing could be heard from inside as Karl openly laughed, he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss this sort of reaction to his presence.
Hearing the panic that Karl's existence brought, caused Charlotte to wince while quickly motioning for the others to stop. "It's okay, he's not going to hurt anyone. He's one of us." kinda.
Slowly but surely the panicking stopped and a few more curious faces slowly peeked past the woman at the door to try and get a look. It was odd seeing the metal lord without his trusty oversized hammer, between its absence and his notably modern clothes they barely recognized him.
"So are you going to invite us in or are we all going to just stand here staring at each other till the sun sets," Karl asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes sir, sorry sir," the woman says more so out of habit while repeatedly bowing. "Please come in, Dinner is almost ready," the woman adds as the others back up to clear a path.
"All nine of you live here?" Charlotte asks while looking around the cramped home.
"All ten of us actually," says another woman with a smile as she steps forward holding a small bundle. "Would you like to hold him?"
Charlotte hesitates for a second but seeing the woman smile at her expectantly caused her to nod in return. The small bundle was handed over and a soft quiet whining could be heard from the infant. Charlotte gently rocked the child while making a quiet hushing noise to try and console the baby.
As she did this Karl looked over her shoulder with confused indifference at the child. for the last hundred years or so he didn't see people as, well, people. they were resources to be used for experiments and parts for inventions. He rarely if ever worked with a child since Miranda would hog those but, even then he didn't really see this child as any different from the ones that were tested on by the sick mother. Maybe that's why he was so indifferent to the idea of having one of his own? He didn't feel any sort of connection to the idea since they were all inevitably taken apart and put back together but worse.
For the moment that he spent looking over Charlotte shoulder he allowed himself the time to try and consider what that would even be like. in an attempt to imagine it instead he just saw his prickly adolescent bearded face attached to the small body of a child. The mental image caused him to shutter. Nope. back into the vault with that and may it never reemerge because that image was more terrifying than anything he ever created.
"What's his name?" Charlotte asks once the infant calmed down.
"I hope you won't think poorly of us for it, had they been a girl, we wanted to name them after you but, well... we decided to name him Alexandru, after the man that lead us here, seems only fitting considering the name's meaning..." the mother explained with a sympathetic expression. It wasn't exactly a secret among the survivors that the two had been close since they were working together on this operation.
Charlotte bit the inside of her lip and nods for a second before replying. "Protector of Men... It's a good name," she says while offering the child back.
A tired sigh crosses' Heisenberg's lips. Great she was going to get all worked up again...
The mother accepts the bundled up child and slowly starts to rock to keep the child quiet. Instead, the husband spoke up.
"Hopefully, you can forgive us for not having Mr. Cross let you know. We were so excited to hear that you wanted to see us too, but, we figured if he provided a name you didn't recognize that you might be scared off from contacting us." He explains.
"You were right to do so, It likely would have spooked me enough not to reach out," Charlotte admits.
"Dinner is ready" says another voice from a small separated kitchen. "Gabriel, could you help me carry everything to the table?"
One of the men hurried off to the kitchen to help. A decent size ham had been carved and placed on the table alongside other various sides. Miss matched plates cups and silverware sat waiting at each seat which was an equally unusual assortment of styles shapes and sizes.
This was no way for them to live. It was so much worse than the village... at least there they had space and land to do what they pleased. Charlotte and Heisenberg sat at the seats offered to them, and they were given each dish first to serve themselves.
Heisenberg watched with mild curiosity and noticed the rather small portions that Charlotte was taking. He rolled his eye at this and took a healthy serving of each dish earning him a hard stare in return.
They didn't have much, there was more than plenty at the table, but This couldn't have been cheap to put together... "How do you manage with 10 people." While the question was a bit rude, it was well-intentioned.
"Well, there are 3 floors if you include the basement, and six bedrooms over all. more than enough space for all of us. and two kitchens too. Isn't that the strangest thing? who would think to put more than one kitchen in a home," one of the villagers explained as the dishes were passed around.
Charlotte nods in acceptance of the answer. the place was a bit bigger than she initially thought, that was good at least. "This is still a bit cramped. if you're going to grow and have families you'll need more space than this. I'm better off now than I was then. I could help get you another home like this, so you're not packed in here like this."
The villagers chuckle in response before another pipes up. "It's kind of you to offer but, we're already doing so much better than before. We're not cold during the winters and when we're sick, we can get proper help. Our clothes our clean and our food is plentiful. We have much to be thankful for as it is,"
"It's true... and there's something comforting about being together like this. I don't think any of us are ready to be separated just yet," another adds and earns a few nods and statements of agreement in response.
"I have to admit, I never dreamed I'd be breaking bread with a village lord let alone Lord Heisenberg," one of the men add in an attempt to change the subject.
"Truly, had I known I would have made a nicer meal," The woman from before adds with a slight laugh.
"It's fine how it is," Heisenberg says while avoiding eye contact. This was still strange to him. he wasn't used to seeing villagers as people. he always made an effort not to. it made things easier back then. Lowering that guard was not easy.
The gathering of survivors continued to chat well into the night. Food was enjoyed, glasses were filled and stories were shared of what had happened after being separated.
"I know this is probably a bit much to ask, but, do you know anyone that would be able to take us back to see the village? for old times sake," Charlotte hesitantly requests. It wasn't going to be easy to get a cab to just drop them off on the side of the road, and it would be even more difficult to find one that would pick them up after. If they were going to go back, the villagers where their best bet.
the group remained silent for a few moments before one of the older men speak up. "I'd be willing to drop you off when the sun is up, I can't say I'd be too interested in going much further than the road." The man admits with a slight frown. it was beyond him why anyone would want to go back there... "When you're ready to leave I can make my way back and pick you up at the same place."
"Thank you," Charlotte says in response with an appreciative smile.
'*'*'*'*'
The two returned to their hotel room and slept through the night with little issue thanks to the heavy and filling meal. By morning's arrival the two were awake and started preparing for the second half of their trip. a quick taxi ride into town allowed them to get some cheap rental camping gear which was, luckily, clean yet again.
More taxis and more driving. by Noon the volunteered Villager had provided the two passages to a familiar break in the road. Nature had reclaimed any tire tracks that were once there from their trips, but the path was hard to forget. with gear in hand the two hiked their way through the unusually quiet remains of burnt trees that had slowly begun to heal. There was no growling or shuffling brush or snapping branches aside from the ones that crackled under their own steps. Any signs that lycans once roamed this area had been completely and unequivocally erased.
While the silence was hardly unusual to Charlotte who spent more time away from the village than in it, to Karl it was unsettling. There had always been lycans. there had always been a force he could control. His eyes and ears away from his factory and all of that was gone... He'd seen the more of the village's downfall but for some reason it didn't really register until now that all of it was gone. Even the parts he actually kinda was okay with.
He walked alongside Charlotte all the same until they made their way to a large level clearing that was now a lumpy grassy field. small sprigs of trees were starting to grow as well as nature began reclaiming the village as it had the old path to the road.
"It's hard to believe this is the same place," Karl says quietly while looking around.
"Yeah... It's good to see that life is coming back though," Charlotte says as she makes sure to avoid stepping on any of the saplings.
"means we should be careful about wildlife," Karl points out. might not be as dangerous as a lycan, but a threat was a threat.
he could still tell vaguely where things used to be. the supersized bitch's castle used to be over there. there was a fence off that way that blocked the path to the Psycho doll's place and the reservoir would be impossible to completely get rid of as a large natural source of water. Once he was ready, he started to walk again to check more of the area, and as he did so Charlotte was not far behind.
Charlotte stared with confused curiosity as they made their way closer to the initial blast sight. growing where there should still be nothing but rubble was a strong and healthy tree, it was far too large to call a sapling as it was slightly taller than Heisenberg.
"Kinda strange to think anything survived this far in." Karl says while walking around the tree to get a better look at it. bare, dark brown branches were plentiful and reaching for the heavens. it was hard to say what the leaves would have looked like thanks to the season.
"That, wasn't there when I left..." Charlotte hesitantly admits while keeping a healthy distance from the tree.
"Oh... Oh fuck that shit?" Karl asks as he looks back to Charlotte who adamantly nods.
"Fuck that shit" She says in agreement. given the location of this particular plant and what used to be here. she was kinda rethinking their night under the stars. While it could just be a 'miracle of nature' it was hard to overlook the blood soaked history of this place. nothing good ever came from the village. Even now...
Oh hey what a perfectly normal and lovely place to end this chapter ovo I'm going to go ahead and admit that the tree is probably not going to be a huge plot point yet. I kinda need to wait for more info from Capcom, hopefully in the DLC, before I really push forward with the idea, but I wanted to set it up so I have it in my deck of cards to work with since they were already in Romania. I have a few options I could go with for it, but I kinda want to wait a bit because I have a feeling we're going to be getting at least a tid-bit of information soon.
Review Responses:
nadillaandlaprasthefireandice - lol nope he's a pretty consistent guy x'D It's definitely something. That will show up again in the not too distant future.
Charadrius - Deerog is a good... boy? Idonno what it is, but it's a good lil critter. x'D so glad you enjoyed the camping scene u it was a lot of fun to write their ups and downs make them interesting to storyboard for since pretty much anything is on the table XD
ScaryBerry - aw thank you ovq writing stuff like that gets me worried that it will end up too cheesy and out of character so hearing that you liked it makes me happy. The arrangement with duke will probably be a secret for a while longer as far as this story goes, but it will probably come up by the end of the spin-off story once I finish writing that. hopefully over the holiday I can get another part out.
oh, gracious. good to know, do not write while sick I was pretty out of it during chapter 30, and it shows oAo that's a lot more errors than usual. Thanks so much for taking the time to catch them for me.