Chapter Text
The road ahead was cloudy and dark. Rain spattered heavily against the windshield as the wipers tried desperately to clear them off. It made for perfect nap weather. The image of being cuddled up in some dimly lit bedroom while surrounded by blankets and pillows while listening to the raging weather outside was heavenly.
Much more heavenly than sitting in the car arguing with your boyfriend.
You clenched the steering wheel as you listened to Owen yell and growl at you. Your headache growing with each throbbing pain.
“You didn’t have to fucking come with me!” You snarled.
He let out a forced laugh. “Of course I did! You’re gonna be here for 10 months. 10 fucking months and you’re saying I didn’t have to come with you.” He huffed.
You turned to him momentarily as the weather began to change. Rain turned to sleet, sleet turned to snow. “What the fuck do you think I’m gonna do?! I’m here to study . Do you know how important this is to me? You realise that the Umbrella Corporation leaders wanted me here? Requested me ?” You argued.
“Don’t get pissy with me because we got lost on a trip that only I’m supposed to be on! You insisted on being here for this, don’t fuck it up and blame me-” Before you could finish your frustrated screaming match with the other, he forced your attention back to the snow covered road.
“THERE’S A FUCKING PERS-” He began to scream.
You let out a shriek as your attention turned to the black figure that stood in the middle of the road. Instinctively you yanked the steering wheel to the right to avoid them, letting go of it and whacking your hand into the window with a hard thud and a few cracks, but the snow that had begun to stick on the already wet road made the surface icy and slippery. Which in turn sent your rental car skidding uncontrollably into the safety rail. Smashing through it as if it was soggy paper.
Each and every impact was accounted for. God knows how many times you hit your head against the window. Or caught your fingers under the seat as you tried to pull up the handbrake. You were more than sure that you pulled something in your ankle from trying to press on the brake.
You screamed hard enough to pull your vocal chords, tensing them to the point of silence. You watched as trees and foliage sped past your car while it barrelled down the steep hill at high speeds.
All up until a large tree trunk somewhat appeared in front of you and you smashed into it, forcing your head against the steering wheel, more than hard enough to knock you out.
And that was just it. It knocked you out.
You slowly came around with a loud ringing in your ears. The pain surging through your body was immeasurable. You even struggled to move your fingers, just to make sure that they still worked.
You slowly pulled your eyes open to look around. The faint beeping from the seatbelt warning, repeating over and over as if the car was still in motion.
You took a breath as you tried not to panic. Adrenaline pumping through you as you took in what was actually happening.
Your eyes filled with tears quickly as you tried to take in your surroundings. The only light being available from the one smashed headlight. You stiffly moved your arm down to unclip your seatbelt. Throwing it off of you before you attempted to open your door.
No luck. It wasn’t gonna budge.
You sniffled, feeling the drying blood from your nose clog it a little as you looked over to the passenger seat. That was when you realised he was gone.
Owen was gone.
“Owen?” You called out, hoping that he was around the car.
You looked at his door to realise that it had been practically ripped from its hinges. Wait… No it was crumpled? How the fuck was this roughly 150 lbs steel door crumpled like a piece of paper on the ground next to the vehicle.
You forcefully pulled yourself out from your seat, using your feet against your door to push you out.
You let out a yelp of pain as you put pressure against your left ankle, causing you to crumple much like the door as you hit the ground in a painful heap.
“Fu-uck…” You sobbed as you curled up on the cold snowy ground. Shivering from fear, the freezing temperatures and pain. It was cold enough that the tears streaming down your cheeks burned as the streaks they left froze over before drying out.
All it took was one small event, and everything turned to shit. Everything. You couldn’t help but let your emotions overwhelm you. Forcing you to cry harder into your hoodie.
You couldn’t help but blame Owen… As brutal and selfish as it sounded. He was the reason you weren’t paying attention to the road. Hell, he was the reason you were lost in the first place. You weren’t even supposed to be in the mountains. You were heading South east. You still had a day and a half's worth of travelling to go before you reached your final destination.
You couldn’t stop now. This opportunity was too good to miss out on. Some might say it's too good to be true.
You didn’t study as hard as you have to be stuck in the snowy mountains of Romania. You didn’t become an honor student and graduate highschool early with the highest grade at 93% and an invitation to study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology by the time you were 17 just to give up here. No fucking way was that happening.
You were going to get to the Umbrella Corporation Research Institute. If it was the last thing that you would do.
After a moment of scolding yourself for even thinking that you would just lay here and wait for help, you finally pushed yourself up. Rubbing your freezing cold cheek before looking around. You were in the middle of a forest. A few trees were strewn about but there was a somewhat recognisable path.
You held onto the car and huffed, avoiding putting too much pressure on your left leg as you pulled your phone out of your pocket. You could already see that it had taken some damage but it wasn’t completely useless. The screen was good. Good enough to check the time and see your lock screen.
The light blinded you momentarily and you let out a huff. “Fucking hell…” You muttered as you turned it away to look around the dark surroundings. You squinted at your action before turning it back to put the torch on.
“Fucking idiot.” You muttered. Your head throbbing with both words. You shone the flashlight around, trying to get a layout but you weren’t getting much. The sun was past setting over the forest at this point. The insides were pitch black.
You attempted to call 112 but nothing. It didn’t even ring through. It was frustrating, however you had no choice but to press on. Try to find someone nearby that could help. There was bound to be at least one person living in this forest right? If it’s the same one just off the highway…
Which it wasn’t actually looking like it.
You shook your head carefully, attempting to shrug off any doubt to a probable concussion and decided to start walking before your body gave out on you. Before the adrenaline wore off and you were nothing but a sitting duck, waiting for the cold to take over.
You regretted deciding not to come in the summer. July or August was prime weather over here. You would have been able to enjoy not only your new beginning of research with a company that intrigued you more than anything. But you would also have been able to chill out. See the sights. Whatever it may be.
The chilling November cold brought you back as it bit at your nose. Shrugging you from your thoughts as you decided to finally descend into the forest.
The snow mixed with dead twigs made for the perfect creepy ambiance. That mixed with the howling of the wind and darkness that seemed to swallow your torch light was *Mwah* horror movie quintessential.
Your feet were just about getting you along, pushing you through the forest as you struggled to stay awake.
That was when you heard it. You couldn’t say what IT was. But it didn’t sound too pleasant. There was a big snap. Not one that a squirrel would make. Not that a squirrel would be making a lot of noise this time of night.
You had done your research about the place, along with having Owen ramble on about the wildlife in the area.
The forests and mountains tended to house some gorgeous creatures. Not ones that you would want to have a face to face interaction with. You were just hoping that the brown bears, wolves and lynx were further away from your location. Or scared away by the noise of your car tumbling down into it at the least.
If it was a fox you could handle it most likely. Or even a deer.
But you didn’t have time to think about that. You picked up the pace. Hoping that hypothermia wouldn’t be the thing to kill you. You’d survived one hell of a car crash after all. You really didn’t want this to be it.
You would have rubbed your hands together to keep you somewhat warm but you were so stiff and in pain that you knew it would only slow you down. So you shoved one of your hands into your pocket while pointing the phone flashlight in different directions, attempting to gain some clarification as to where you were.
After a few seconds you watched as your phone started to dim. The light slowly gave way as you picked up speed.
“No… No… No!” You huffed as you turned the screen on attempting to save it in whatever way you could. But it was useless. The flashlight taunted you as it flashed brighter before dimmer until it finally gave out.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” You mumbled before shoving the device into your pocket. Deciding it was best to follow this makeshift path that had been carved by footprint after footprint trampling through.
Your senses were heightened in a weird way. Like, sure your head was thumping and you were practically at the point of collapse but you could easily pinpoint every sound around you. Well, roughly anyway. It was pure survival instinct pushing you.
It was pure survival instinct telling you to run when a thump sounded behind you, accompanied by a deep, guttural growl. As soon as you heard heavy footsteps you picked up the pace. Ignoring the pain that was shooting through your ankle with each step into a sprint. Until you were limping your way quickly through the forest. You could just about hear the sound of running water over the thumping in your ears. The blood rushing around madly to keep your body moving.
“Fuck! I really wish I could fucking see!” You whimpered, trying to self soothe but to no avail. You let out a yelp as you caught your foot on something, letting it send you forward onto your face.
That might be the thing that killed you. Your heart sank as you realised that you had fallen and were barely staying conscious. With your final bit of strength you flipped yourself over to see what was chasing you.
You grew pale as your eyes adjusted to whatever it was that stood, towering over you. Was it a person? No, It couldn’t be a person. The skin was too greyed, Covered in fur. Well, you assumed it to be fur since the hair would be growing in peculiar places if it was. The thing’s jaw was malformed, showing off the jagged and missing teeth while it took open mouthed breaths in your direction.
Your gaze moved over the being, over down from its face and over the torso. It’s clothes were ripped and ruined, definitely hadn’t been changed in a very long time. The chest was bare while whatever remnants of a shirt was there remained as a thin jacket at most.
Your eyes travelled to it’s hand. Was it wielding a hammer? Just your average household hammer. It was rusted and covered in blood.
Wait.
Covered… In… blood…?
You shuffled backwards slowly over the small wooden bridge that led over the stream beneath you. Watching as it took one foot forward. Stalking you. At this point it was playing a cruel game, just to scare you.
You were just about ready to pass out from the mixture of fear and your concussion. But before you could, a piercingly loud gunshot rang through your ears, while shards of a bullet flew over your head and into the beast. There was barely a break when another shot, and another shot rang out.
The crack and squelching of the things head popping like a pimple sounded loudly, if you weren’t ready to pass out you would have vomited from the brain matter and skull splattering over you.
Before your head hit the floor behind you someone scooped under your arms to stop you.
“Woah, woah easy there. Otis give me a hand....” The voice followed it as you slipped into unconsciousness.
~~~~~~
The man looked down at you with a sigh. “Where the hell have ya come from huh?” He questioned softly. Looking over your bloody beaten features.
“Do you think this was the one that Mother Miranda spoke of? A vessel?” Otis, or the one holding the shotgun questioned.
The older of the two looked down at you as he carried you through the dark. The lantern attached to his backpack lit the way dimly. “No. I don’t believe so. Although, if she is then she’s off to a great start. Mother Miranda has a knack for choosing the fighters.” He complimented.
Otis nodded. “C’mere pa. You take the gun, let me carry her.” He suggested. Holding the gun to the older man. Exchanging it for you.
“You think she can be saved?” He asked as he gently brushed some of the bloody hair matted to your face out of the way.
“Everyone can be saved, boy. “ Pa sighed. “Let’s just- Let’s just get ‘er back to the Village and get her some help.” He sighed as they walked past the cabin and up towards the cliff edge.
Otis was careful with you, Each time he was forced through a tighter space he always made sure that he was the one up against the wall or forestry, tucking you tightly against his chest.
“She’s freezing…” He muttered.
“I bet. Poor girl’s taken a hammering.” Pa mumbled as he kept his shotgun up while following the path.
“Wonder where she’s come from…” Otis rambled a little. “Judging by her clothes it’s definitely not here.” He hummed, looking over what he could see of your bloody clothes.
They were silent for the rest of the walk, cutting through West Old town, past the workshop and onto the path of Fallow Plot. The house they were looking for was Luiza’s. Surely she would know what to do with you.
Pa pushed past the large red gates and walked up the front porch steps. He loudly knocked on the large red double doors, knowing that it would have to be loud enough to wake her or her husband up.
After a few moments, shuffled steps came from the other side. “Who’s there?!” A grumpy tired male voice called out.
“It’s Pa and Otis!” Otis called back as he shifted himself to hold you more securely.
“We’ve got a girl here. We need Luiza to take a look at her wounds.” Pa added. After a moment of angered grumbles mixed with a higher pitched argumentative voice the locks on the door began to switch. Maybe three or four of them going before the door creaked open a little, Luiza’s dishevelled night hair waving out as she peaked her head out. At the sight of you she let out a small gasp. Pulling the door open to usher them inside.
“Come in gentlemen. Set her down in the spare room.” She requested as she scuttled quickly to go get her med kit and a cloth.
“You brought a dying girl in here just to-”
“Vasile, cut it out.” Luiza scolded her husband as she came back, watching the blacksmith put you down gently, resting your head against the pillow gently.
“Oh poor girl…” She tutted as she began to clear the blood from you. Looking over any physical wounds. “Was she unconscious when you found her?” She questioned, looking up at the two men.
Pa shook his head. “No, she was runnin’ from one of those monsters. Passed out just as we got to her.”
She nodded. “Bless her soul. She must be frightened out of her mind. Now do me a favour and go get yourselves comfortable in the living room. I won’t be long.” She sighed as they left before moving to stitch up one of the slices that had appeared on your arm. She gently pressed an antiseptic wipe to your knuckles, taking care of the bloody scrapes that were barely visible around the bruising. Before she moved on to the small cut on your skull, deciding it was best to give you soluble stitches.
She wandered out of the room, wiping her hands tiredly as she looked over to the three men. Smiling gently at Vasile as he handed her a cup of tea. “Thank you sweetheart.” She muttered.
“How is she?” Otis questioned curiously.
Luiza nodded. “She’s fine so far. I’m no expert but I’m sure that her left ankle is broken along with some of her knuckles. I’m just wondering how she got into that state?” She questioned, taking a sip of the strong yet relaxing tea.
“What were you two doing outside of the village anyway?” Vasile questioned. His voice became a little stern and aggressive.
Otis was quick to put ease on the others' questions. “One of Pa’s prized sheep was taken. We thought we could track it down before it was too late. The lycan definitely had us running a trail.” He admitted.
Vasile gave a sympathetic look. “Which one was it? Bess? Nessa?” He questioned the older man curiously.
“Nessa…” Pa sighed, nodding a little in appreciation from the hand on his shoulder. “Instead of finding the old girl, we came across that poor soul tripping over herself on the bridge into the village.”
“Well, good on you for bringing her back.” Luiza praised. “I’ll keep an eye on her until sunrise. Then we can see from there. We’ll likely have to ask upon Mother Miranda for her guidance.”
Otis gulped down the rest of his tea before placing the cup on the coffee table. “Of course.” He agreed, standing up and holding his hand out for Pa to help him up. “Thank you both for helping us.”
“It’s our pleasure.” Luiza smiled tiredly as she walked the two to the doors, saying her goodbyes before closing it up and locking it behind them.
She did her rounds of the house once more to make sure everything was locked up before noticing the door to the spare room was cracked open. She could see Vasile looking over you, confusion over his face as he studied you.
“Dear?” She questioned as she walked in.
She stood next to him and looked down at you. There were still a few blood stains covering you but there was only so much she could get off with an antiseptic wipe. It left the older stuff really stuck to your skin. It also left the tear tracks through it visible. It was obvious to see that you were in pain and that you had been while awake.
“We can give her some herbal tea tomorrow… That’s if she wakes up.”
“What if she doesn't?” He asked.
“She will. I know she will. Mother Miranda won’t let such a young life fade.” She reassured, rubbing his back softly. “We should pray for her.” She suggested. Earning a nod. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it softly. Closing her eyes as Vasile closed his.
“ Great ones, hear our voice, together as one in reverence. We call on thee within the endless dark to deliver us into fate's hands. As the midnight moon rises on black wings, so we make our sacrifice and await the light at the end. In life and in death, we give glory, Mother Miranda. ” They chanted in unison.
The air felt a lot less heavy to them. Their blind faith in Mother Miranda soothed them in this situation.
Now, feeling a lot better about it all they headed off to bed for themselves.
~~~~~~
Your fingers began to twitch gently as you came around. Everything in you was aching and hurting. Yet you somehow felt better. Well, better than before you passed out. It crossed your mind that you could be dead.
You passed out in a painfully cold snow storm while being chased by some, what you assumed, crazed man, and now you were waking up, cozied up and warm. In a pleasantly smelling place with only mild aches in comparison.
You stiffened up when you heard a small sniffle. Not knowing who or what could be doing it. It took you a second to get out of your own head. Telling yourself that you were just over reacting.
You slowly pulled your eyes open. Your lids heavy from exhaustion. You were greeted by a small blonde girl staring at you. Her head resting on her arms as she crossed them against the side of the bed.
As soon as you caught her staring she let out a gasp before thumping backwards onto the floor. She scrambled to her feet and launched herself out of the room. Her footsteps quiet and quick. She was dressed in a straight navy blue dress that was accentuated with a dirty white frilly collar as well as the seams around the bottom being the same colour.
It was something out of the middle ages.
You were more than confused but you didn’t exactly worry about the child. You looked around the room you were currently in. It wasn’t a hospital like you were hoping. It also wasn’t anywhere you recognised.
You lifted yourself to sit up. The pain in your back pulled a quiet groan from you, you knew you were gonna have to get some pain killers into your system as soon as you could but right now you were more concentrated on figuring out where you were.
Carefully you threw the sheets off of you, looking down at your muddy, bloody jeans. The cuts very visible through the slashes in the fabric. Although the bigger ones had been cut around and stitched up.
You pulled your legs over the side of the bed with a quiet thump. Taking a few breaths to force the strength into you to stand. Which eventually you did. You pushed yourself up with as much strength as you could, which was a mistake since the force of it sent you stumbling into the wall opposite.
You hissed in pain as you held your ribs, the sudden movement not doing your body much good.
“You’re fine…” You barely croaked out as you moved towards the door, pushing it open the rest of the way to see a dimly lit hallway. Creepy.
You began shuffling your way towards the quiet but cheerful noise that came from one of the exits. Your legs began to tremble weakly as you grasped the doorway, earning the attention of the people in the room.
You barely looked up when a small gasp came from one of the women who sported a long black, almost gothic dress. It hid her modesty well. A collar that stood straight up her neck, only allowing the white of her undershirt to peek through ever so slightly. Moving down to the bottom half, her skirt wrapped around in a downward spiral until it came back up around the back, giving a nice layered effect to her clothes.
You lost your balance and tumbled forward. You failed to get your bearings in time and put your hands out in front of you to brace yourself. Which you did with a yelp.
“Oh dear!” The woman in black gasped as she rushed over quickly, being accompanied by a man in a dark woolly coat.
You didn’t bother to fight the help you received as the two pulled you up. Moving you to sit on the old wooden based couch that looked like it could have been from the 90’s. You coughed gently and held your ribs, obviously not used to the smoke that was being puffed out into the thick warm air of the fire.
“I’ll go get her something to drink. Keep an eye on her” The woman said as she stood up, brushing down her dress before beginning to walk away.
“But Luiza what if-”
“I can assure you she’s of no harm. She can barely walk.” She hissed before sending a sympathetic look your way.
Okay, so her name was Luiza.
You turned your head to the blonde girl that was crouched by the side of the couch, looking over the arm of it at you.
“Minerva. Don’t stare.” A woman with a strong voice called over to her. Moving to grab the child’s arm before pulling her up and away from the couch. She gave you a soft smile before shoving the child to a man, who was presumably the father. “I’m sorry for her. She’s just curious to see a new face.”
You blinked slowly at her and nodded with some understanding.
“If… you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?” She questioned.
You thought about it for a second, as if it was a chore to search your mind for the answer.
“Y/n… L/n…” You muttered, moving to rub the bridge of your nose gently, hissing as a bruise pulled pain that you didn’t know was there, from you.
She nodded. “Well, It's a pleasure to meet you under the circumstances Miss L/n.” She politely replied as Luiza shuffled back in quickly.
“Her name is Y/n L/n.” The blonde woman passed on the information.
Luiza gave her a smile. “Thank you Meredith.” She nodded as she kneeled in front of you, setting out a cup of tea on your lap. “You can call me Luiza.” She introduced.
You weakly grabbed at the tea, thankful for anything soothing your throat. “Thank you…” You muttered before bringing the hot beverage to your lips, carefully feeling it out with your top lip since you had the worry of not being able to feel it through your frostbitten fingers against the cup.
It had a minty taste to it. You could clearly taste that, and a hint of berry? You weren’t sure what kind but it was obviously used to sweeten the beverage up.
After the initial sip you began to guzzle it. Ignoring the burning it caused at the back of your throat, you were yearning for heat and to be full of at least something.
“So!” An older man spoke up. “Where you from stranger?” He questioned with a voice you briefly recognised.
“Lord, Pa give her a moment to come round.” A younger man sighed.
Your gaze wandered over to him curiously. Noticing that he was big. Buildwise. Covered in what seemed to be soot? He was wearing a dirty white linen shirt that was rolled to his forearms by the sleeves, paired with black baggy, very clearly worn down pants and leather boots.
Not that now was the time to be taking it in but he was rather handsome too.
“I… Saw you yesterday?” You muttered, confused as to if you really did or not. Your answer was confirmed by the big friendly smile he gave in return.
“Sure did. Lucky we stumbled upon ya when we did or you would’ve been Lycan fodder.” He told you, a look of concern plastering his smile. “Name’s Otis. That’s Pa.” He introduced, pointing at him with his muscly arm.
Pa waved a little and sat closer. “So! You didn’t answer! Where you from?” He questioned once more, ignoring Luiza as she looked around for something warmer to get you into.
You rubbed your head gently as you put the cup down. “Uh… I… Not from here. I can tell you that.” You sighed, not exactly wanting to give that information out. You smiled thankfully at Luiza as she sat you up enough to wrap a blanket around you, tucking you into it securely.
He glanced at the others in the room to see if they would raise any problem with your brief answer before settling back.
“I like your shirt.” The small girl spoke up, popping out once more from the side of the couch.
You jumped out of your skin and hissed in pain. Holding your side as you did so. “Th-anks…” You muttered, looking down to the blood covered ‘The Last of Us’ shirt.
“What’s that from?” She asked, pointing at the younger character on it.
You decided that you’d indulge in the conversation, hoping that it would take the mind off of your pain. “A video game.” You sniffled. “Her name is Ellie.” You explained, raising an eyebrow when she stared back at you with confusion.
“Video game?” She repeated, nothing in her voice telling you that she knew what you were talking about.
“Yeah? Y’know, a game you play on the TV? Or with a console?” You asked, trying to help her ‘remember’ with each word you added.
“Have you never played a video game before?” You questioned.
As soon as she went to answer the door flung open, inviting in a harsh cold breeze from down near the front door which pushed you to cover yourself more with the blanket, now obstructing the view of your shirt.
Everyone looked at the door before gasp after gasp ran through each person. They all moved to the sides and out of the way while Luiza hurried over to the large silhouette.
You watched as heads dipped in respect, hands were clutched as this unknown person walked into the room. A deafening silence falling over everything.