Hell's Refugees, Vol 1

by PsionicsKnight

After the events in Sotoba, three Shiki-Susumu Yasumori, Miyako Sakutarou, and Shizuka Kirishiki-find themselves in a dark, alien world. As Miyako searches for her friends, and possibly other survivors, the three come across a couple of strange teenagers who might be the key to surviving in this new land.

2. The Reunion

Hello everyone,

Here is the next part of Hell's Refugees, in which we see our heroes' daring rescue of Shizuka. Unfortunately, as with anything in these stories, things don't go as planned.

Hope you all enjoy!

Warning: The following contains implications of violence and SA towards children, graphic scenes of violence, and moments of surreal horror. Viewer discretion is advised.

"Shit! Purgatides!" Twisting around to her side, Aphrodite headed to the hillside with a less sharp incline, walking down.

"Uhh... Aphrodite..." Susumu said as the teenager began her trek down.

"Listen, you two need to stay here," Aphrodite said as she got a hold of the strange metal box, before gesturing to the horde below. "Those things down there; they aren't too dangerous for someone like me. For you guys, they could tear you apart-and that's the best-case scenario!"

"Wait, Aphrodite..." Miyako replied as she held out a hand. "I know this might be hard to believe, but we can help-or at least I can! I've got abilities and-"

Turning around with a loud groan, Aphrodite's icy blue eyes stared into Miyako's all-encompassing black ones. "Look, kid, I don't have time for this! If you want your friend down there to get out in one piece, you need to trust me! I know what those things are, and I know how to fight them!"

"But, Aphrodite, there's so many of them!"

"I've noticed," The blonde deadpanned.

"You couldn't fight them all on your own!"

"I think I could surprise you," Grimacing, the teenager continued, "Listen, you two just wait here. Go hide behind some trees or something. I'm about to do something... really wild, and I don't want you two getting caught up in this. You'll hear some screaming, but I'll be back with your friend in a few minutes."

"Wh-What are you going to do against all of those things?" Susumu squeaked out.

Sighing slightly, almost resignedly, Aphrodite responded, "I don't have time to explain everything, but the short version? I'm gonna sing them a song and put on a show," As Susumu and Miyako stared in confusion and disbelief, respectively, Aphrodite replied, "Look, I'll answer every damn question after I get your friend. Right now..." Grabbing her cowl, she lifted it to cover the top of her head and spun around to her front. For a split second, the two noticed a strange, golden symbol on the back. Looking almost like a cross encompassed in a window or frame of some sort. Whatever it was, it made the two feel a bit more uncomfortable just from the mere sight of it. "Just stay here, out of sight. I'll be back soon," With that, she sprinted down the hill, soon becoming just a speck of color in the distance.

Turning to Miyako, Susumu asked, "Miyako... what should we do? I want to believe Ms. Aphrodite will help Shizuka, but... we can't just leave her!"

"I know, Susumu. I know..." Looking down the hillside, the young Shiki scanned the ravine below. "There's gotta be something... anything where we can do to help... Wait, down there!"

As Miyako pointed, Susumu looked down, and noticed something-a small circle of boulders were by the cliffside, right where Shizuka was about to be cornered by the creatures. To the right of them was the great ravine, where the dark sea of twisted beasts were gathering... while to the left was more of the Blasted Forest, with enough dead foliage for them to easily hid in. "If we get there, we could swoop in and save Shizuka for sure!"

"Isn't it a bit risky, though? What if we get caught?"

For a brief second, the hope in Miyako's eyes drained as her arm fell pathetically to her side. For a brief moment, she was silent... before she turned to face Susumu, a familiar look in her face: a hard-lined, serious look of determination, of perseverance. The same look she gave when the war between humans and Shiki broke out in Sotoba. "It's the only chance we have of saving Shizuka. I won't blame you if you want to stay here, but I'm gonna-"
"No, no, Shizuka's family. If this is the only way to help... I'm going to," At first, Miyako was taken aback a bit-but soon, she beamed with a grateful smile and a quick nod of thanks, and the two headed down.
"Almost there, Susumu..." Miyako whispered as the two approached the rocks. "Try to be quiet..."
Nodding rapidly, Susumu continued following the young Shiki, tiptoeing across the sands. Funnily enough, for some reason... nothing really seemed to hurt Susumu. He could tell that there was broken glass and rusted metal all around him, but... nothing was different. There was no feeling of glass penetrating his skin, of rock or metal slashing his feet. Wherever he stepped, he always felt his feet pressing down on the scattered items. As if his skin was impenetrable, or his shoes had somehow become protective armor.
He shook his head-Shizuka was in danger! He couldn't waste time worrying about such strange matters! Regaining his resolve, he followed Miyako to the rocks, trying to keep out of sight of the creatures before them.
"...For defiling Chagidiel's sacred temple," A raspy voice spoke out, speaking out the same, strange name that had filled Susumu with so much fear from before. "The punishment shall be severe..."
"But I didn't know!" Shizuka's voice rang out, terror oozing on every word. "Please... I don't get what's going on... I just want to go home..." Her voice cracked, almost as if she was about to break down crying. For a moment, Susumu froze up-he never really heard Shizuka cry before, and hearing her so close to crying was... wrong, somehow. She was usually so strong, so fierce. Hearing her sound so helpless and afraid... He just didn't know how to handle that.
"Susumu! Susumu, what are you doing?!" Miyako's voice rang out, causing the young Shiki to jolt out of his thoughts.
"Huh, what? Oh, sorry, Miyako... I was just thinking..."
"Susumu, we have to focus! If we mess up here, then we- Ah!" Miyako let out a small shriek as she was lifted up by her collar. Before Susumu could do anything, he too felt a tug on his shirt, being effortlessly raised up to face whoever had gotten the two. The small sound of cloth ripping, as well as a feeling of sharp cold on his back, following his capture. "H-Hey, let us go-"
"Quiet..." The raspy voice of their captor spoke out. When Miyako turned to get a better look at him, her look of determination and anger... gave way to fear. As Susumu took a glance over, he soon realized why-the man, if you could call him that, who had captured them was horrifically malformed. The first, and most noticeable thing, was his pallid skin-whiter than bone, it looked to be entirely drained of color. It reminded Susumu of both the Shiki and various corpses they had drank dry, and yet the figure moved with such ease. Susumu was almost about ready to call the figure a Shiki... until he saw that, around the upper arms and on the shoulders, there were patches of red. At first, the young Shiki was confused, but when he saw other cuts around the figure and noticed a few flaps of dead skin, the young boy began to get an upset stomach.
Worse still was some of the figures accessories, such as long, thigh-high metal boots that were so tight around the man's body, they almost appeared to fuse with him. What looked to be the bottom half of a leather apron hung from the man's pelvis, but instead of just being tied at the back, there were various rings that dug into the man's skin, holding it up through his very body. On his right hand, holding Miyako, were three metal bands with large nails, located on his wrist, elbow, and mid-point on his lower arm. All of them had large, blunt metal tops that looked suspiciously like the flat tips of nails. On his left, though, Susumu noticed that instead of a hand, there was a crimson stump wrapped in tight barbed wire. He couldn't quite tell, but Susumu saw something metal come out of the stump and curve upward.
A hook, perhaps?
Even the man's head looked painfully odd and wrong, with a large metal plate combined with his scalp. For some reason though, the metal seemed to... "bleed" into the man's head, like the metal plating either was poured onto his head while it was still liquid, or even that somehow the man had been born and grown with it...
Susumu was taken out of his shock when he heard the man give a huff, then began to walk around to the front of the boulder. "Well, Brothers and Sisters... it appears we have a few more unexpected guests," The man threw the two at the feet of the dark mass.
"Miyako?! Susumu?!" Shizuka cried out as the duo fell down next to her.
Groaning, Miyako slowly came to her feet, jumping at the contact of a couple of small hands... only to sigh in relief when she saw it was Shizuka. "Thanks..." She whispered, flashing a grateful smile, before looking to the crowd around her. Immediately, she could feel bile rising-the entire conglomeration of figures consisted entirely of mutilated figures. Much like the one that had just caught her and Susumu. Sure, there were variations-a woman who had a metal band nailed into her forehead, around her eyes; men with limbs, and even apparently genitalia, surgically removed and the leftover wounds expose for all; people with needles punctured throughout their skin, eyeballs replaced with spiked metal spheres, and ball gags stitched into their cheeks and mouths.
Backing up, the taller Shiki put an arm around Susumu, trying to push him behind her. Shizuka assisted by putting herself between her brother and the grotesque crowd.
"Look, a few more toys for Chagidiel..." A female member wheezed out.
"What a nice surprise..." A male member said. "More acolytes for Chagidiel..." At the name, Susumu hugged Miyako's leg, whimpering slightly. In response, Miyako slowly petted Susumu's head, trying to keep her own fear in check.
"Listen, we don't want any trouble," Miyako squeaked out to the crowd. "We just got lost here, and we don't mean any harm. We can just go, and you won't have to worry about us at all..."
"Lost, you say..." One of the figures, a tall female who was a bit... different from the rest, replied. As a whole, she didn't look too out of place amongst the crowd, with various nails jutting out in a circle around her forehead like a twisted crown or the chains sunk into her neck's flesh and pulled it down to reveal her muscle and vocal cords underneath it all. Even the lacerations around arms or the upper curves of her breasts were fairly standard alongside the rest of the crowd. But what was a bit more noticeable, however, were her robes-long drapes, taking on the color of blood, that reminded Miyako of Seishin's own clothing. It was strange, but that, combined with this... "aura" of sorts, made Miyako feel like this figure was... different from the rest, somehow.
Flashing a false smile, the woman continued with, "Well... I suppose we'll have to figure out how to help you... when we're back at the Patriarch's Citadel..."
"Umm, really, we don't need any help," Miyako replied, trying to hide the nervousness in her grin. "We really can handle ourselves on our own," With the crowd starting to slowly close in on them, the trio backed up as Miyako continued with, "Honest! B-Besides, we would be too dangerous! We're... we're not even really human!"
"Neither am I," The woman replied, causing Miyako's hairs to stand on end. Continuing to walk with her twisted, cruel grin, she continued, "But, I think after you spend some time with us, you'll understand-" Suddenly, the woman was thrown to the side. Falling onto her right arm, Miyako noticed a metal arrow that had gone through her left cheek and out the other side. Despite that, the woman casually got up, a mix of emotions on her face: enmity, incredulity, bewilderment... and, oddly enough, what seemed to some small form of pleasure.
Growling, the woman grabbed the arrow, ripped it out of her mouth, and as vile, spoiled blood dripped down her cheeks, she screamed, "Who dares strike a nepharite of Chagidiel?!"
While the crowd before her tried to look for an attacker, one of the creatures blurted out, "Mistress, there!" All eyes turned to see a familiar face-Aphrodite, perched upon a nearby hill, a metal bow in her hands, scowling down at the crowd. For a brief second, Miyako thought that the teenager had set her dirty look at her and her friends, but she couldn't quite tell. A growl from the woman-creature snapped Miyako out of her and she turned to see her pointing at the blonde. "Bring her to me," She spoke out, and immediately the wave of creatures rushed to girl, who only closed her eyes calmly in response. As if she were surrendering to the horde before her.

At first, Miyako geared up to use her powers on this new foe in order to save Aphrodite, but then something happened-she could hear music. It was faint, and she didn't know the source, but she could hear what seemed to be some operatic drone. It was so sudden and... well, out of place, that Miyako barely registered when Aphrodite herself began singing.
"Tavo lavotu hikah iras... Immediately, all in the area stopped as they heard the words-more from simple shock than anything else. Of course, it could also be confusing, since Miyako did not understand why Aphrodite was suddenly singing, nor did she know what the lyrics meant. The teenager seemed to be speaking in some foreign tongue the young Shiki did not recognizie, and from the looks of it neither did her companions or the creatures around her. But there was also a sort of "chant" to her words. A coarse, rough hymn, from how she almost seemed to be regurgitating every word.
"Othru vevas ni fie snivah eh so viva a heeta hiyah..." Shaking their heads clear of the distraction, the creatures around her began to close in, now undeterred by the sounds the teenager was making. Just as they were about to pounce upon her though, her head immediately snapped back down to forward to glare again at the crowd.
With pitch-black eyes that contained seven red pupils, a single large one surrounded by six smaller ones. Each flared with intense rage.
"TAVO LAVOTU HIKAH IRAS!" Aphrodite shouted the lyrics again, this time with a more guttural, bestial voice. As if it took all of her strength to force the words out of her mouth. What sounded to be the wild, harsh beating of war drums also flared up in the background, adding on to the ferocity of her appearance and voice. What was more frightening, however, was that upon the recitation of the lyrics, a flood of humanoid beasts rushed from behind her. Monstrous abominations that only appeared like strange humans in some cases, while others were only humanoid in body form. All of them rushing from behind Aphrodite, to a now-screaming crowd of mutilated monsters as they began to butcher them.
At first, all Miyako could do was stand still and watch the carnage before her. Of what she could see, she could make out a man to her left, runic symbols carved into his flesh, as with a flick of his hand, one of the fleeing mutilated creatures was bisected down the middle, putrid blood starting to pour down. She quickly turned away, not wanting to see what would remain of the creature, before witnessing a four-armed giant hold down a female creature and tear open what appeared to be her stomach. All the while, Aphrodite continued her infernal chant: "OTHRU VEVAS NI FIE SNIVAH EH SO VIVA A HEETA HIYAH!"
"Miyako, come on!" Looking down, she saw Shizuka, gripping her hand and pulling her. "We gotta go! Before it's too late!'
"Uh, r-right!" Miyako said as she began to run, Shizuka and Susumu right by her. The trio twisted and swerved throughout the bloodbath, trying their best to ignore the sight of blood and body parts flying; the sound of horrified, barely human cries and of bones snapping like twigs; the smell of decayed blood spilling onto the black sands. And worst of all, was that song. That horrible, eldritch song that could not-would not-go away as the trio rushed through the battle before them. Looking back for a quick second, Miyako could see Aphrodite's face contorting into various expressions of rage and hatred, continuing her hellsong of, "TAVO LAVOTU HIKAH IRAS, OTHRU VEVAS NI FIE SNIVAH EH SO VIVA A HEETA HIYAH!
As they were going, Susumu himself tripped and fell close by the unmoving body of one of the mutilated creatures. "Susumu, get up!" Shizuka yelled over the screams and Aphrodite's continuous chants, rushing to him and picking him up. Miyako moved to help but froze when she saw that Susumu had tripped over the twitching, shivering form of the robed figure that seemed to be leading the horde. As Shizuka was able to get Susumu up, she glared at Miyako and snorted, "Thanks for the help..." as she took off towards the forest. Snapping out of her trance at seeing the woman, Miyako rushed to join with her compatriots.
Eventually, the trio was able to find their way to the dead forest's edge, a minute or two seeming like eons for the trio. Just as they were leaving, they could hear one last recitation of that dreaded song. "TAVO LAVOTU HIKAH IRAS, OTHRU VEVAS NI FIE SNIVAH EH SO VIVA A HEETA HIYAH..." As soon as they were in the woods, they rushed far away from the massacre behind them, going as fast as they could-praying nothing was in pursuit.
"Okay..." Miyako panted as the trio had finally slowed down, having gotten so far away from the ravine was no longer in sight. More importantly, that infernal song from Aphrodite was no longer ringing in their ears. Looking over to Shizuka and Susumu, remembering what happened with the young boy, Miyako walked up, her head cast down and her right arm holding her left. "Hey, Shizuka... I'm sorry, about Susumu. I just saw one of-" She was cut off guard when she felt tiny hands wrap around her body. Looking down, she could see Shizuka had pulled her into a crushing hug and whimpering softly.
"Hey, Shizuka..." Susumu asked as he approached the Shiki Loli, a hand outstretched. "Are you al-" When he got close enough, Shizuka pulled him a hug as well, tears going down her face.
"I... I just..." Sniffing, Shizuka croaked out. "I just was so scared... I thought... I thought you guys were hurt... that... that they'd get you..."
A few tears welled up in Miyako and Susumu's eyes as they hug Shizuka, letting the mass amount of emotions they felt-fear from what they saw, relief from the escape, and joy at seeing Shizuka-overcome them.

"So, you felt that others were out there, too?" Susumu asked Shizuka, the latter of whom scanned the surrounding area.
"Yeah, but I didn't see anyone..." Shizuka responded as she scanned the surrounding area. "I mean... I have this big feeling that they're out there, somewhere. But, I can't say where exactly..."
"Me too... Do you... Do you think Mommy is out there,"
Turning back to him, a frown of uncertainty on her face, Shizuka replied, "I'm not sure... I mean, it's possible, but I... I'm kind of scared to think about what it could mean..."
Putting a hand on Shizuka's shoulder, Miyako replied, "Hey, don't worry... I mean, we still don't know much about this place! Maybe... maybe, if Nao is here, maybe she's just looking for us. Maybe... nothing bad happened to her,"
Sighing, Shizuka replied, "I hope so, Miyako... I really hope so, considering what happened before I, well... you know..."
"Hey, I think the three of us were the same," Miyako gave a sad smile, before brushing her hand through her brown locks, sighing sadly. "I'd hate to admit it, but I doubt what's been going on in Sotoba ended well for anyone. Things just got out of hand too much, and well... a part of me can't help but have this bad feeling everything went wrong, you know?"
"Like... that all the Shiki died?" Susumu popped up, tears starting to well up in his eyes. "Like Mommy?"
"More like almost everyone did..." Shaking her head, she continued, "It's just... I dunno; I feel like things went really, really bad for Sotoba. I don't know why or how, but... it just... feels like, in the end, there really weren't any winners. Only survivors,"
Frowning, Shizuka went up to Miyako and replied, "Well... at least we're here. And not in that... void..." Sighing and running a hand through her hair, "I think the first thing we should do is try to find some shelter. Perhaps we could find the others along here... somewhere,"
"Like Mommy?" Susumu asked.
Grinning, Shizuka replied, "Yeah, like Mommy! First though, we should just get out of here,"
"Yeah, Shizuka's right," Miyako replied. "I don't know if any of those... things from before will be after us, and I don't want to stick around to find out."
Nodding, Susumu replied, "Okay then..." As they began their trek, he turned to Miyako and asked, "Hey, Miyako... do you think we'll see Aphrodite again?"
Sighing, Miyako looked down at the young Shiki and replied, "I don't know... and a part of me doesn't know if I want to,"

"I'd say forget about her," Shizuka replied as she led the party. "Whatever she is, we're better off without her,"

Looking down, Susumu whispered, "She still helped us..." With that, the young Shiki fell silent as they continued down the dead woods.
Unbeknownst to the three, though, someone else was watching. From the surrounding bushes, he watched the three carefully and, as they made their way through the terrain, he followed on silent feet...