Author's Note: Hello everyone! It has been forever since I've actually posted anything (if you want to know why you can head to my profile and I'll have a short reason just to keep this AN short). I am alive! This story has been brewing in my mind for some time, but due to circumstances I have been unable to write. But I'm hoping I can get back into the swing of things! Anyway!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit or anything you recognize to be a part of Tolkien's world, the only person I claim is my original character. The cover photo is made by me, but the woman in the photo I do not claim (if anyone recognizes where the photo is from please let me know. I would like to give credit to the photographer or the amazing model. Or if they want it taken down I will). Forgive any grammar errors and enjoy the story!
Warning: This story is rated T, but in the beginning of my story it is rated M due to zombies, a little foul languages, and mentions of suicide. I will make sure to always have a warning here until we start to move away from it.
How long has it been since she's made this building her 'safe' house?
How long has it been since the world around her just...fell apart?
Her life so far has been hectic and stressful that every day she wonders just how long more should she endure it? Every day she tells herself to give up, but a small part of her thinks that tomorrow will be a promising day...only to realize that she was simply holding on to false hope. She is simply too afraid to let go of the life she's living and move on.
Today was different, today she was ready. She decided finally that she couldn't do the same mundane task day in and day out. She's made peace with reality, there is no indication that tomorrow will bring about hope or a miracle...not anymore.
Staring out of the stupid window on the second floor greeted by the same scenery from the day before, her savior...her way out lay beside her. Her hands flexing over the grip as she contemplated the last few minutes of her life.
Her thoughts drifted to the simpler times. Of the laughs she shared with her family, the friends who stood beside her when everything turned to hell on Earth. The good memories and the bad, she remembered every person who's impacted her life...and the guilt of outliving them weighed heavily on her heart.
Moans and Groans coming from outside the house snapped her out of her memories as she took a glance out the window once more only to see there were more of those things had gathered on the outskirts of the gate.
'My fault for not doing some quality control...though there's not as much as yesterday.' She thought before letting out a sigh. 'No...the people after can handle cleaning up this mess. I'm done.'
She took the grip of her savior and lifted it to her head as she stared out the window, taking a deep breath before shutting her eyes.
'I'm sorry it took so long,' She thought as she felt her chest tighten as fear gripped her heart. 'I'll be with you soon…'
And just as she was about to pull the trigger a loud commotion caused her eyes to snap open before she dropped her hands to her side. She stared out the window in shock and what she was seeing before she grit her teeth in irritation.
"Dammit!" She cursed as she hopped off the window sill in alarm before racing down the stairs and out the front door.
"Get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow." Thorin ordered as he watched his men settle down in Beorn's house.
The group had overstayed their welcome, with Azog on their trail and Durin's day soon upon them they couldn't afford to waste anymore time.
"Tomorrow we'll be going through Mirkwood…" Dwalin mumbled as he stared into the fireplace.
"It's the only way." Balin assured. "If we were to double back or try to go around. We would either be hunted down...or miss the last light of Durin's Day…"
"We avoid the elves, stick to the elven path." Bilbo said, reciting what Gandalf had said. "According to Gandalf, it's the safest way."
"Take advantage of this peace. We may never get it after today." Balin advised and those that were still awake nodded in agreement before getting ready to settle down.
Though just before they could drift off to dreamland, the floors below began to shake. It started off as a small rumble, barely noticeable before it started vibrating violently.
Those that were still awake noticed the small quakes, but only when it became intense did the others wake from their slumber. Their vision was shaky, and balance unstable as they attempted to get to their feet.
"What's going on here!" Someone yelled in a panic as they looked around the room for answers.
The door to another room flew open as Gandalf hobbled his way through looking around for the source.
"The world trembles beneath our feet." Balin said as Bilbo kept him balanced, the hobbit being the closest to the elder dwarf.
"The floor beneath us trembles...but the world stays still." Gandalf spoke as he took a glance out the window. "The animals are sleeping peacefully, these shakes are not affecting them."
"Then what's going on here?" Thorin demanded as he reached for Ocrist, the others reaching for their respective weapons as well.
"I-" Gandalf began to say before the world shook once more, more violent than the tremble before. "I cannot say."
The world around them continued to shake as it began to impair their vision causing everyone to close their eyes.
"Hold on!" Dwalin called out as the walls crashed around them and the floor beneath them fell away.
Thorin groaned as he felt his whole body ache. He felt the cold bite of wind graze his cheek and the wet soil under his palm.
When he opened his eyes he saw he was no longer in the safe lodgings of the skin changer, but out in the wild and exposed. Around him lay his kin, many who were just coming out from unconsciousness.
Thorin wasn't the first to wake however as he saw Gandalf run past him to check on the others.
"Gandalf," Thorin said as he steadily got to his feet. "Gandalf, where are we? One second we are in Beorn's lodgings, the next we're in the middle of nowhere!"
"I don't have the answers just yet Thorin," Gandalf replied as he hurried to get the others back on their feet. "there's no landmarks I recognize to indicate where we are…"
"What was that just now?" Fili asked as he looked around, noticing they were on a clear dirt path with trees lining the sides. "Where are we?"
"We're not in Beorn's house? How did we get here?" Ori yelped, his voice cracking just a tiny bit before his older brother Dori scooted over to Ori's side to calm his little brother.
"Everyone," Gandalf said as he looked around to the forest that surrounded them. "on your feet."
The younger dwarves who had already slowly risen to their feet went about to help the older dwarves who needed the assistance while those that had nothing more to do were looking at their surroundings in amazement.
"What...what is that smell…" Nori questioned suddenly as he held up the sleeve of his shirt to his nose. "it's even worse than the troll cave."
"It smells like…" Dwalin cut in, standing tense beside Thorin. "smells like rotting flesh."
"Unknown territory…" Thorin said as he surveyed their surroundings before turning to Gandalf for answers. "what should we do now? I don't recognize anything! We could be far away from Erebor...what magic is this?"
Gandalf simply shook his head as he glanced to his left and his right seeing that both sides of the path stretched on to nothing but forest and the stone path they were on.
"We could pick a side...and hope something familiar pops up?" Bilbo offered as he unintentionally stuck closer to Gandalf.
"Let us go this way." Gandalf suggested pointing left. "And hope we find the answers to our questions."
The company agreed to Gandalf's suggestion and though it felt like they've been walking forever they finally came across signs of life along with a lone house in the distance.
"Hey! I see someone!" Kili said as he rushed forward to the front of the group. "Must be the owners of the house! Hey!"
Kili started to yell for the person before his voice tapered off to silence when he realized the person gave no indication of hearing him.
"Something doesn't feel right…" Thorin said as he came to stand beside his nephew. "don't wander too far from the group."
Kili simply nodded, not wanting to disobey his uncle as the group together ventured toward the figure that stood in their path.
"Good afternoon!" Gandalf called as they halted a good length away from the figure to finally see that something was indeed wrong with the person in front of them.
"My goodness…look at their body..." Fili balked, taking a step back when the smell finally hit his nose. "It looks like they've been mauled by a bear…"
"The smell of rotting flesh…" Kili said as he squinted. "not human. Maybe goblin?"
"The body's not one of a goblin." Thorin said. "More man if anything."
"Excuse me…" Gandalf called once more. "I was hoping you could tell us...where exactly we are? You see we're a bit lost and we would be ever so grateful if you could give us some directions."
The group looked on as the figure swayed from side to side before it turned its body to face the company, moans and groans escaping the person's throat. A few in the group were taken back by the image before them.
The thing had to have been female, at least at some point in its life, the clothes on its body were hanging over their shoulder and chunks of flesh looked to be falling off its bones to a point where they could see part of the ribs. The creature's eyes were milky white, hair thinning on the top of its head, and the left side of the jaw was torn off exposing the back of the teeth. The moment its dead eyes focused on the group it let out a growl before advancing on them, staggering ever so slightly for its foot looked to have been twisted the opposite way.
"What the…!" Dwalin growled before Kili started to panic, tapping the closest dwarves shoulder as he pointed behind them.
"There's more of them!" Kili gasped.
Those that weren't concentrating forward looked behind to see a few more had begun to sneak up on the group, but these looked to have been decaying longer than the one in front of them. They even noticed one was crawling on the ground, half of its body missing as entrails dragged behind the top half.
The one in front of them got close to Gandalf, snapping its jaw as Gandalf attempted to calm the beast in front of them.
"Now, we don't mean any trouble...we're simply looking for a way back to-" Gandalf tried to reason only to have the beast jump at the wizard, but just as the monster was going to snap it's jaws over Gandalf's wrist a loud pop rang out around them.
The monster that was just about to attack dropped at Gandalf's feet, its movement ceased and a person came running past Gandalf, through the company before standing on the opposite side.
"Head to the house." The voice of a female commanded as they kept a strange looking weapon pointed at the few monsters that were wobbling toward them.
"What?" Someone from the company spoke out before another pop sounded and another of those things fell to the ground.
"No time for questions, quickly!" The woman yelled as another pop echoed around them before they turned to run. "Dammit! Unless you want to die then run!"
At the urgency of the woman's voice the company said no more and followed the command.
"Don't look back!" The woman said as the company heard more pops one after another. "Once through the gate we'll be safe!"
Though it seemed some couldn't control their curiosity, Bilbo had looked back and saw that while they were running, so too were the monsters trying to catch up to them.
Bilbo made a mistake, in his fear of the things catching up to them he had accidentally tripped over his own feet.
"Bilbo!" Thorin and a couple more from the company called out before the woman skidded to a stop, cursing as they backtracked to help Bilbo to his feet.
"I got him! Keep moving!" The woman yelled before pushing the hobbit forward. "I said don't look back didn't I?!"
Bilbo wanted to apologize, but the situation didn't seem like the right time so Bilbo made a mental note to do it once they were out of harm's way.
From up front Gandalf, Thorin, Dwalin along with...Bombur made it past what they assumed was the gate the person spoke of.
"Come on hurry!" Thorin called as he made sure all of his company got past the gate before calling out to their mysterious savior. "How does this close!"
"I've got it!" The woman yelled as they passed through. "Back up!"
Everyone did as they were told and the moment the woman got past the gate they turned around and rushed to slide the gate closed.
The woman breathed a sigh of relief before pushing off the gate in a panic to avoid the hands of those monsters that attempted to reach through the gate to get to them.
When everyone realized they were out of trouble (for now) they were able to get a good look at the woman who saved them from the potential danger.
From their physique they could tell the person was female but nothing more considering the outfit she was wearing. It was only when she turned around in a flash with that same weapon pointed at them did they see intense blue and green eyes glaring at them did they have to wonder.
Were they even truly safe behind the gate with this woman?
That is the end of the first chapter! This story is a sort of experimental story just to get me back into writing, if not much readers are interested in this story then I will move on to new and older works. It's been so long since I posted something that I'm so nervous about things (and I still put down my own work...it could be better but I'm still getting back on my feet).
But! If you liked the story then please leave a nice review, a favorite, or a follow just to let me know how I did (be gentle haha). But you do not have to if you don't want to, it's just to let me know if anyone is interested or if I should concentrate on something else. Stay safe out there everyone!
-SO