Hey Yo! NerdRyuu here and here it is! the tenth chapter of The Last Loud!
last chapter Lincoln and Lynn ventured outside for the first time and found the bones of their parents! and in the future, the Loud agreed on letting the two people they helped to tag along with them!
Let's get to the questions I received this week!
Dimitri Gomez: Are the other Louds going to find out what happened to their parents?
Yes, they will, but not on this chapter or on the next either.
phil34metro: Who is Last Loud does she or he have a name or will it be revealed sometime soon?
The Last Loud does has a name already, I already know who it is (I had that person on mind since the beginning), but it won't be anytime soon, The reveal of the Last Loud will be a elimination process, when certain person dies, you can cross them out of the chart of who can be them.
Before beginning, I just want to say that I'm Considering posting a extra chapter every other wednesday, when I'm off job. I'm still not sure, but maybe you can expect a surprise this wednesday ;)
As we ascended the stairs, I had the fear that the old wooden steps would break below our feet and we would fall through it. I held the handrail firmly, although it also wasn't very secure in the wall either.
We arrived at the second floor, and immediately flashback came to my mind looking at that hallway. I remembered when I raced the others for the bathroom, or I would have to wait in a line, just to have to shower with cold water.
My eyes filled with tears. In my memories that hallway wasn't in the greatest shape, but this? Part of the roof had collapsed, along with the attic, the yellow sky could be seen from there. The red carpet had green patches of mold and some of the floorboards looked like a hazard. Some of the doors had been broken a, others were fairly intact.
"Lincoln, are you alright?" Lynn asked me. I cleaned my eyes with the sleeve of the suit. I don't know exactly why, but being there was very emotional. These memories. They were so precious for me… And that hallway was in almost all of them.
"I'm fine." I just said. "You want to see your room first?" She simply nodded and walked forward to the rotten wooden door of her and Lucy's old room. She twisted the doorknob just for the while door fall backwards, making a loud bang, leaving Lynn with just the doorknob in hands.
I looked at her and she looked at me. And we immediately burst into laughter as we entered the room, stepping over the door.
Man that really brought some memories. The room was still perfectly split down the middle, on the right side, Lynn's dusty and moldy red sheets and curtain, and the other the creepy old fashioned bed of Lucy, made even more creepier by the dust, decay and mold.
On the ground, the broken remains of Lucy's bust of Edwin, the vampire that she had a crush when she was 8.
Lynn walked up to her bed and sat on it, the bed made a loud squeak, but fortunately didn't broke down with her weight. Yet.
"I wonder if…" Lynn said, before launching her torso forward and head down to look what was on the floor under the bed. She gasped and pulled a old baseball bat, that miraculously looked perfect, maybe being under the bed protected it from time? Who knows. "Oh my god! My bat is still here! In the place I put on the morning of Day Zero before we got to go to the bunker!"
She swung the bat left and right. "Yeah, it's still fine for use, nice… wait." She looked under the bed again, and pulled from there a baseball glove and ball. "Now, that's lucky! Hey Stinkin, wanna play a little?" She said passing the ball from hand to hand. I smiled, I don't remember the last time I saw her with so much enthusiasm.
"Of course sis."
"So where're we going?" The mother said, she was holding the Loud from behind on the back seat of the bike, Cassie was sitting on the Loud's lap, holding their arms.
They were in movement, Cassie was laughing with the wind on her face.
"I'm going back to what I was doing before meeting you two, lady." The Last aloud said simply.
"Oh… And what was it? And my name is Maria." The woman said, introducing herself.
"I'm going to Michigan, there, I'll be able to find myself a Geiger counter." The Last Loud Explained.
"A Geiger counter? Isn't this that device that measures radiation?" Maria asked.
"Yes it is." The Last Loud confirmed.
"But why do you want one anyway?" Maria asked.
"The counter will be useful to identify objects, things or places that are irradiated. It'll make my work scavenging more easy and safe." The Last Loud explained.
"Oh, I see your point… but why are you going to cross almost the entire country just for a Geiger counter?" Maria asked again.
"I know a place there that has a Geiger counter for sure." The Loud omitting the fact that they grew there.
"You know a lot of places, you're around for who long?" Maria asked. The Loud didn't responded. "Oh, it's a personal question, okay."
"For a long time. I was around when Day Zero happened." The Last Loud responded finally.
"Oh, I see, so you're not too young right?" The Last Loud made a single nod.
"Not much." They strengthened their answer.
"Yeah… Cassie was born just 8 months after Day Zero." Maria said, looking at her daughter that continued to laugh with the wind.
"We survived in a bunker that my great grandfather built back in the 60s, with the fear of a nuclear war. Me and my boyfriend were just engaged when Day Zero happened, but he didn't made it. The last thing I heard of him was a phone call. He insisted for us to lock the bunker without him, as he wouldn't be there on time… He was right." Maria sighed and looked at the Loud, expecting a signal that they were listening. And it came as a nod from the helmeted person.
"I gave birth to her there. All alone… Thanks God that my great grandpa had packed supplies for a very long time… Water was the worst to be honest… it had rudimentary filter and a pipe system that collected rain water… I don't even know if that water was fit for consumption, but hey, we're here and healthy… I think."
"A pipe system?" The Last Loud repeated. "Clever."
"Yeah… I made my best to raise and educate Cassie… It was hard."
"I imagine." The Loud said, looking at Cassie laughing.
"We ventured outside when our food supplies got low… our plan was to find food and return to the bunker but… Things didn't go the way we imagined… Cassie was 14, just a few months ago… I don't want to talk about it."
"You don't need to." The Loud said. "If you're not comfortable, you don't need to."
"Thanks… we dwelled for a few months here on the surface, scavenging what we could, but well, some Slavers appeared and kidnapped Cassie while other assaulted me and the rest is history." Maria hugged the Loud. "I thank you so deeply for helping us… we were just two strangers… You didn't had to help us… but you did."
"You don't need to. I just wanted a excuse to beat some Slavers." The Loud said coldly Maria smiled.
"It doesn't matter. It's what you did." She said kindly.
"Thank you."
Although they would never admit, on the inside, The Last Loud was glad that they had a mask that covered their whole face, because they didn't wanted them seeing their blushing face.
The Last Loud had thought that helping those two and allowing them to tag along was a bad idea and a death sentence. But now… The Last Loud didn't regret that decision.
Not at all.
N/A: In this chapter we discovered the mother's name, Maria and the backstory for them! I said in a previous question that the age of a character would reveal how long has been since Day Zero. It's been roughly 14 to 15 years since Day Zero and 9 to 10 years after the current events in the past storyline.
And if you didn't understood yet, Cassie and Maria are going to stay around as part of the main cast for the future storyline.
My first plan for Maria was for to die right after the Loud saved her, and as her dying wish, Loud would take Cassie under their wing, but I decided to keep her alive to flash her out more along with making dynamic between the three of them that I think it'll be fun.
If you have a question, go ahead and comment! if you want to talk to me personally, I'm open in DM, if you liked the fic, please consider favorite the story or follow it.
I think this is all, we'll meet again sooner than you think!
Bye.