Chapter 4: A Familiar Face Amongst the Invisible Reapers
Still a mildly injured mess from his last trial, the Doom Slayer let out a heavy sigh, the pain far from dilapidating but a burden nonetheless. Thinking back, he recalled seeing survivors with medical kits, and he decided to scour his new surroundings in search of one. The surroundings looked like an elaborate junkyard with crushed cars and parts stacked all over the place. He removed his pair of Legion knives so that he could maneuver around the map more quickly, finally coming across what appeared to be a chest of some sort. Using his brute strength to tear it up, luck was finally in his favor as a med kit came into view.
Quickly grabbing it he made his way to cover, immediately going to work patching up his injuries. Halfway done a bell suddenly rang to his side, his head snapping to the right to see a killer form from nothing, a crude club and strange rags covering his body. The Doom Slayer was forced to roll out of the way as the Wraith took a swing at him with his club, quickly getting back onto his feet. Pocketing the knives he removed the Doctor's baton, channeling electricity in his hand to try and shock his foe. However, by the time he unleashed the energy, his foe had vanished into thin air, leaving the Doom Slayer in a state of confusion.
Moving away from his previous spot he found another spot to heal up, the sounds of a familiar voice shrieking out with pain in the distance. Fully healing his wounds, the Doom Slayer threw the med kit away, sheathing the club and grabbing the knives, he sped in the direction of the cry, a familiar masked figure running towards him, her arm drenched with blood as she dredged away from her assailant. Coming into view it was Susie, the strange mask giving it away as she ran towards her olld savior.
"It's you, thank God...the Entity must've been displeased with me because there are three killers here that have been trying to kill me!" Susie spat in a panic as she ran past the Doom Slayer, using him like a shield as she caught her breath, her Feral Frenzy recoil hitting her hard.
"Tell me about the killers, I encountered one that could vanish…" the Doom Slayer gruffly asked as he turned to Susie, he gave him a vigorous nod.
"We have to keep moving, but I'll explain while we find a med kit. Although I'm sturdier than your standard survivor, I can only take so many strikes…" Susie huffed, the Doom Slayer snatching her off her feet and putting her over his shoulder to make things easier. Activating Feral Frenzy he sped off, Susie still in shock that he would so easily help her.
"The three killers are all known to be able to disappear. They're called the Wraith, the Spirit, and the Ghost Face. The Wraith vanishes when you hear the tone of a Bell, the Spirit is half ghost, so she can temporarily vanish and reappear in the area and as for Ghost Face...he has to spot you first before he can vanish. Alone, these killers are dangerous enough, but now they've become deadly working together. But...between us both I'm sure we can manage…" Susie breathlessly explained, the Doom Slayer finding another chest to kick open.
No idea as to why such luck had decided to present itself, the Doom Slayer leaned Susie against the wall and handed her the med kit from the chest, keeping her against a wall so he could defend her more easily. He put away the knife and grabbed the baton once again, charging up energy as he heard nearly silent footsteps, clenching his fist to release the charge in proximity in front of him, Ghost Face letting out a sharp shout of pain as his body suddenly appeared in front of them. Turning to see the Doom Slayer charging to swing at him, he immediately took off, running at top speed to get away before the Doom Slayer returned to Susie's side, who had finally finished healing her injuries.
"As I thought...the electrical current was able to connect with them regardless of being invisible…" the Doom Slayer analyzed before removing one of the knives as Susie moved to his side.
"That was really smart thinking, I would've never thought that an electrical current would affect their abilities to cloak. Now I have no doubt we can do this!" Susie said with enthusiasm, preparing herself to accompany the Doom Slayer into the fray.
"I know that eventually you'll have to kill me, but...I'm really glad I met you and you're letting me help you," Susie said, a little hint of sadness in her voice as the Doom Slayer gave her a slight nod.
"Let's move," the Doom Slayer ordered, the two allies dashing into the night in pursuit of their prey. Mid charge, Susie managed to spot movement, the strange mirrored outline of the Wraith's cloaking now following behind them.
"Behind us!" Susie shouted, quickly turning and slashing at the outline, connecting with a satisfying slicing noise. The Wraith, refusing to unclean then ran off, a trail of blood following behind that made him easy to track. After following the trail for a few meters a strange, double layered screech came from their blind side, a long, crudely tattered katana swinging in and catching Susie in the side. She let out a sharp scream of pain as she began to recoil from Feral Frenzy, the Doom Slayer dashing between them to clash against a second swing with the Doctor's baton.
"Go after the Wraith!" The Doom Slayer ordered, Susie giving him and exauhsted nod before taking off, the eerie, glitching mess that was the Spirit appearing in full before the Doom Slayer, her ethereal appearance and wild long hair made her intimidation levels rise up. The Doom Slayer went to swing in with the baton, the strike phasing right through the Spirit before it returned with a swing of it own, the Doom Slayer swinging at it hard with his knife.
He clenched his teeth with annoyance as the katana broke the knife's blade in half, effectively destroying its ability to do anything. Tossing it to the ground, he put the club back in his belt and slung his chainsaw into his hands, hopping back to avoid another strong horizontal swing. Reving up the chainsaw, he stared her down, carefully analyzing her to find the right time to strike. Having never tried to attack a being stronger than herself, she carelessly swung down on the Doom Slayer from above her head, the Doom Slayer taking a quick step back before driving his chainsaw through both of the Spirit's wrists, cleaving them clean off to effectively disarm her.
The Spirit let out a surprised shriek, but recovered, a new pair of hands regenerating in place of the ones she lost. Foolishly she tried to retrieve her katana, phasing out through a chainsaw swing but missed the handle by an inch. As she tried to retreat, the Doom Slayer snagged the remainder of the broken knufe from the ground, throwing it as hard as he could at the retreating fiend. Another shriek escaped her as it inbedded itself into her back, causing a blood trail to form much like the Wraith.
Chasing the Wraith down proved difficult, Susie's new injury making it difficulty to run at top speed without being writtled with immense pain. Feral Frenzy had become even more of a double edged sword now, with its effects removing the pain but making it much worse upon recoil. Ringing his bell, the Wraith returned to view, turning to confront Susie head on. Taking a swing at Susie, she quickly dodged to the right quickly planting two stabs into his side before hopping back, breathing heavily as she composed herself. The Wraith gave a tilt of his, standing still for a moment before hitting his bell.
"Stop running you bastard!" Susie barked, but before she could get her legs moving, a gloved hand suddenly reached over her mouth, a screaming becoming muffled as a knife drove into her back numerous times, forcing her onto her knees as she was released. Crying out with unbridaled pain amd frustration, Ghost Face dragged her along the ground by her leg towards a nearby hook.
"This is what you get for being a traitorous bitch," Ghost Face hissed, picking her up by the scruff of her shirt before slamming her back onto the hook with great strength. Susie had never felt so much pain in her life as the hook pieced through her body like a hot knife through butter, splatters of blood shooting out as she unleash and otherworldly shriek. Ghost Face couldn't help but to cackle at her agony, continually slashing into her as she hung helplessly, her teeth clenching as she tried to fight the urge to scream further, not wanting to give this bastard the satisfaction.
Suddenly, a shock of electricity crawled from the ground crawling up into Ghost Face's body violently. He let out a garish yell of agony, covering his ears as the effects of sanity had final began to catch up to him. Running away once more, the Doom Slayer quickly came to Susie's aid, swiftly yanking her from the hook, causing her let out a relieved grunt of pain.
"Thanks...I thought I was done for…sorry for veing such a burden..." Susie huffed and sighed, standing back on her feet as she held her side and caught her breath.
"Keep going, we need to finish this," the Doom Slayer commanded, Susie clenching her teeth and giving him a nod as they chased after Ghost Face, the Doom Slayer taking the lead as they ran in a uniform line. Ghost Face came into the view quickly, seemingky distracted by copies of the Doom Slayer since he was relentlessly swinging at the air like a lunatic.
"What's happening to me?!" Ghost Face shouted out loud, holding his ears and crouching to try and snap out of his madness that the Doom Slayer had forced upon him.
"I'll finish off this idiot...get the other two," Susie called out, the Doom Slayer nodding as he broke off their run path, spotting a blood trail on the ground. Finally pulling it together, Ghost face stood up, only to find a furious Susie in his face. He tried to quickly swipe at her, but she swiftly slashed at his wrist, his hand flying off to the side before finding Susie's hand around his throat. Pinning him down, Susie lost control, activating Feral Frenzy as she began planting stabs into Ghost Face's body. Bloody splattered all over Susie as she ruthlessly stabbed every vital on Ghost Face, growling like a beast as her blade finally found his face, silencing his gutteral shouts of agony as they were planted into his nose then between his eyes.
"Fuck you…you sadistic prick..." Susie huffed, slowly rising up from the blood bath she had drawn. She found herself staring up into the dark abyss, closing her eyes to try and keep from passing out as her wounds compiled agony throughout her body.
Finally catching up with the Spirit, the Doom Slayer activated Feral Frenzy with the knife in his left hand, his right still equipped with the Doctor's baton. The Spirit phased through a vault point, which the Doom Slayer was able to easily clear with a quick leap and a ground roll. Desperately trying to shake the Doom Slayer, the Spirit had finally ran herself into a corner, her ability to vanish spent as she back up again the corner of the crushed car pile she found herself in. Bringing it down hard, the Doom Slayer cracked the electrified baton against the Spirits head, causing her to go limpand hit the ground. The Doom Slayer then proceeded to take a few more brutal swings to her head to secure the skill, its contents oozing out onto the ground as her body finally stopped twitching. A bell rang right behind him, prompting to whirl around to find that the Wraith had cornered him, using the Spirit as bait.
"You're trapped now…" the Wraith grumbled, swinging at the Doom Slayer. Colliding with his chest, the Doom Slayer was knocked back to the wall, vausing him to trip over the Spirit's corpse and hit the ground. As the Wraith went to attempt and beat down the Doom Slayer, Susie came charging from behind him, leaping onto his back and stabbing him in his shoulder over and over again until the Wraith was forced to turn away, giving the Doom Slayer an opening.
The Wraith shook Susie off, swing down hard on her to knock her to the ground as the loud reving noise of the chainsaw spooledbehind him. Before he had a chance to turn around, the Wraith felt the chainsaw severe his spine as he drove through his body in a visceral, bloody mess. With one strong uppward pull, the chainsaw cleaved the Wraith's upper body in half all the way through his head, Susie now completely covered in blood and gore as his corpse crumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Laid out on the ground, Susie's breath seeped out from her mask as the air grew chilled, her body heavy and hurt as she caught her breath. Awaiting the dark fog to take him away, the Doom Slayer found himself sighing, now knowing what had to be done. Walking over to Susie, he lowered down to a kneel, Susie's head turning to look him dead in the eyes.
"I need to die...don't I…?" Susie inquired, her voice with a mixture of acceptance and sadness. The Doom Slayer gave her a somber nod, Susie handing him her knife.
"It's alright, my life was on a timer the very moment I was spared by you...do me a favor...can you, hold my hand why you do it? I've always feared dying alone," Susie weakly pleaded, the Doom Slayer firmly holding his hand out to her. Soft sobs left the young killer's lips as she grasped his hand tightly, turning her head and giving him a nod.
"Thank you…" Susie sighed as the Doom Slayer raised her knife to her throat. Grasping his hand as tightly as she could, Susie braced herself for death, the knife slowly pushing into her throat. She began stiffen up and shake violently the further it went in, the Doom Slayer keeping a firm grasp on her hand. Finally, in one strong push, the knife pierced out the other side of her neck, cracking through her spine.
The last thing Susie saw as flashes from her past flew by, was her and the others all of them enjoying a night in their old clubhouse. A smile managed it sneak its way onto Susie's lips as she took her last breath, her body going limp as her hand fell from the Doom Slayer's. The Doom Slayer let out a gruff sigh as he pocketed her knife, then turning to the gory mess that was the Wraith, picking up his blood drenched bell and club, attaching them both to his belt as the dark fog consumed them, sending the Doom Slayer to his next battlefield.
