Chapter Text
Day 4836
Hello. I made it to the next city today. Not sure what it was called before The Revelation, but that doesn’t really matter. No sign of survivors, only Gapers and crumbling buildings. Hopefully there will be enough supplies here for the next few weeks, food is running out and I don’t have enough to make it to the next city. I will search this place tomorrow since it is getting late. The weather is nice, lovely sunset from up here. I wish you were here, Jacob. You would have loved it.
Eve closed her journal, sighing to herself. She gingerly placed the thick notebook into her over packed backpack and looked back up to the view ahead of her. She was sat on the top floor of a dilapidated office building, towering over the city. A hole in the wall allowed for a full view of the bright orange horizon, burning brightly with the setting sun. At least, she thought it was because of the sun, ever since The Revelation the world worked differently. Days could last mere hours or stretch on for weeks, mountains could slide across the landscape or sink back into the earth at a moment’s notice. The sky would burn or boil or fall in warped chunks, only to be sucked back up minutes later. Bizarre obelisks of black rock would stretch up from the ground, seemingly having no limit to their height. Heatwaves and blizzards coexisted simultaneously, and Eve had heard whispers from the few other humans she had met on her travels that magic was starting to appear.
She was snapped out of this train of thought by a sudden chirp. She glanced over at the crow perched beside her. Franklin, her pet from before The Revelation, had become an invaluable companion in the current times, be that for looking for food or danger or just being something to talk to. Eve was aware prolonged isolation was damaging to a person’s mental state and she was starting to feel the effects, no matter how much she denied it.
“Beautiful, isn’t it Frank?” She turned back to the glowing sky. “Almost makes you forget all this... this struggling. It also makes you forget you are talking to a bird, apparently.” She chuckled softly to herself, casting another glance at her loyal companion. He tilted his head, maybe he did understand her after all.
The glow steadily faded as the common sounds of the night kicked in. Gapers wandering the mottled streets moaned incessantly, like zombies in those old films. Gapers were husks of what used to be humans, now reduced to warm, soft meat that lacked any definite bone structure. They were hairless and had gaping holes in place of their eyes and mouths, hence the name. While they were fairly weak when compared to some of the other monsters roaming the desolate wastelands, they made up for their lack of strength with their numbers. They would often swarm, congregating in groups that could reach the tens of thousands, especially in cities and towns. As Eve watched the small pink figures of the Gapers wander aimlessly far below, she began to wonder aloud once more.
“Am I the only one left? The only human, I mean. I haven’t seen another person since we met that small group back in those mountains. The Lost and Forgotten, they called themselves. Pretty pessimistic if you ask me but whatever. Pessimism is probably the more realistic look on things anyway.” Eve sniffed. “Right, Frank! We got a big day tomorrow, scavenging and such. Best get some shut eye, eh?”
Eve unrolled her sleeping bag and gently set it in the centre of the dusty floor. The night was just as warm as the day before, another quirk the world displayed. The only difference between night and day was the night sky, thick and black and devoid of stars. Franklin fluttered down beside Eve as she entered the bag.
Eve reminisced on the world of before, back when things made sense. Before They showed up. She could remember watching the news with her family when They first appeared, each of Their twisted forms show the entire world moments before the end. They brought the world low instantly, the ground becoming infertile and the plagues with a fatality rate of 90%. Most of the survivors devolved into mindless violence, leaving almost no one behind. She was one of the lucky ones. Jacob, a childhood friend, was at her house when it all happened, and he was one of the billions who died the following day. So did everyone else she knew. They had taken everything from her, but she wasn’t unique. Everyone who still had a mind was suffering just as she was. But what happened to Them?
“Do you think They still roam the world? Looking for people to slaughter? Or maybe They want to rule us? Rounding us up for some mockery of a kingdom? Thoughts? Frank?” Eve turned, only to see her loyal companion had fallen asleep. She decided it was best not to wake him. She drifted off to sleep herself just as the darkness outside swallowed the remnants of dusk.
Eve awoke to Franklin pulling at her hair. She groggily got up and rolled up the sleeping bag as a pale glow started to fill the air. Eve glanced back at the hole in the wall to see the source.
“White sunrise? Haven’t seen one of those in a while. Gonna have to look for supplies today, Frank. But first what should we have for breakfast?” Eve opened her backpack as Franklin landed on her shoulder. After a few moments, Franklin flew into the bag and landed on a bag of assorted nuts. Eve picked the packet up, opened it and peered at the various nuts within. She picked out a hazelnut and tossed it out the hole in the wall. Frank didn’t hesitate and flew straight after it. A few seconds later he flew back up with it held firmly in his beak.
“Good boy...” Eve finished off the packet as Frank happily ate his snack. Eve pocketed a few extra of the nuts, intending to give them to Frank later. He got cranky when he was hungry, and cranky means loud, which Eve could not risk in a Gaper dense location such as this.
Eve slung the backpack over her shoulder and Frank few over to her, perching on her shoulder once the backpack was on. Eve carefully made her way through the broken building, ducking under the sagging ceilings and cautiously balancing on exposed crossbeams. It was something she had gotten used to, every building in this godforsaken place was on the brink of collapse. But, alas, it was the only sufficient shelter from the warped creatures outside.
Eve was about halfway down the skyscraper, passing through yet another empty office, when she paused. There was an odd, inhuman groaning sound. Before she could say anything though, the ground beneath let out a loud crack. Eve tried to move but the floor caved in, causing her to fall with the resulting debris. She saw the floor below rush up to meet her, slamming into it with a thud. A large piece of the floor above slammed into the ground next to her and caused a second crack. This floor broke apart also, causing Eve to tumble a few further metres.
When the dust settled, Eve was dazed and pained. She was buried under a pile of debris, with a particularly heavy piece resting painfully on her left leg. She tried to shift the weight, but it was too much for her. She could taste blood and her head was throbbing, but she tried again. It didn’t even budge, and the rubble on her left leg was feeling heavier and heavier.
Eve began to scream for help. It was daytime, so the Gapers were likely sleeping, leaving Eve alone. She yelled and pleaded for someone to help her, but no one responded. Even Franklin, who had dodged most of the rubble and was now perched beside Eve’s head, began to caw loudly. She pushed against the rubble once more and felt it shift. She had a sudden burst of strength thanks to a newfound determination and pushed once more. But just as she tried again, a piece of the floor above dislodged, and fell towards her.
Eve only had time to glance up before the concrete chunk landed on her head, and everything went black.
When Eve awoke, the pressure of the rubble was gone. Her entire body ached, particularly her head and left leg, but the crushing pressure of the debris was absent. She heard a quiet humming, and the crackle of a fire.
Eve abruptly sat up and instantly regretted it. Her vision lagged as she moved, and it felt like her brain was sloshing around inside her head. It was only when she opened her eyes did she realise she could only see out of one of them. She reached up to feel a bandage tightly wrapped around the side of her face, the same side the slab hit her on. She turned to the source of the humming and saw a woman in a dark red raincoat.
She had her back to Eve and was cooking something over the fire. She had shoulder length blonde hair tied with a large red bow. It was... oddly pristine for an apocalypse. Eve’s hair, despite her best efforts to maintain it, was messy and dirty, but that described everything about her and her surroundings. The stranger, though, seemed as if she was just plucked out of a regular life before The Revelation. Her coat was clean, and her hair was well groomed.
Eve looked back at her own state and received quite a shock. She was not nearly as dirty as she was before, her clothes were cleaner and the dust that had clung to her was gone. Several parts of her were wrapped in bandages, and her left leg had a pair of wooden sticks on either side of it, tied together and wrapped in even more bandages. It was a makeshift splint.
Eve turned to the strange woman, who was still unaware of Eve being awake. Eventually, Eve decided to speak.
“W... What’s going on?”
The woman jumped, almost knocking over the pot dangling over the fire. She turned to Eve, staring with wide eyes. She raised her hands in what must have been an attempt to not appear hostile and began to nervously speak.
“Oh! You’re awake! Hi! I uhhh... I’m Magdalene, or Maggy for short. I wasn’t expecting you to wake so soon... This must be an interesting experience for you, waking up at a stranger’s camp after a nasty fall... Oh that doesn’t sound good, does it?” Eve at once decided the woman was not completely sane.
“But anyway! You had quite the nasty fall, and had a lot of stuff on you, y’know? Of course, you know since you were the one trapped... But I found you! You were unconscious so I pulled you out of there and did my best to help you and that bird...”
Maggy pointed to Franklin, who was sleeping on a nearby branch. A wave of relief washed over Eve when she realised that he was unharmed.
“Most of the injuries you had weren’t that bad, y’know? Mostly cuts and bruises, superficial stuff... Even the uhhh... head wound... shouldn’t be that bad. I don’t know if there is any brain damage, but I am not quite qualified to determine that. Don’t worry, I’ve treated worse! There was this one guy who was severely burnt. Lost half of his face, including an eye! Will never see out of it again, heh... The leg though, is a bit worse. Broken, I’m afraid. No running for you, not for a few weeks anyway. But again, same guy with the face burn was worse. Lost his foot, has a metal one just above the ankle... But that shouldn’t be any worse than that, y’know? It shouldn’t hurt too bad, you have quite a few painkillers in your system now... Painkillers that you’ll probably need more of soon. Anyway, what's your name?”
Eve just stared at Maggy as she rambled on with a weird excitement despite the injuries she was describing. Clearly insane. When Maggy’s tirade was over, Eve hesitated in responding. Partially through sheer shock, and partly because she didn’t want to talk about herself to a random stranger, especially one that had took her to their camp and filled her with meds. But then again, this stranger was the first person she had seen in a year.
“I’m Eve” She responded. “Uh, thanks, I guess? Wh-”
“Nice to meet you, Eve!” Maggy cut Eve off. “You are the second new person I’ve seen this month. If you want, we can go see the others! Like that guy I was talking about, with the eye and the foot... Wait... No. The guy without the eye and the foot. Cain. There are a few other people too. Isaac, Judas and Bethany. I don’t know if Laz is still there, but he should be. Can’t survive very long by himself, but then again death doesn’t really hold him down for long... heh.”
“What do you mean?”
Maggy paused, confused. “Huh? What do I mean about what?”
“Laz? Death doesn’t hold him down?”
“Oh... yeah... Lazarus doesn’t really stay dead. Magic is a thing now, y’know? I mean, look around, nothing is normal compared to the world before. Lazarus just kinda comes back to life each time he dies. Resurrective immortality is kinda useful here, eh? Not the only magical one either. Beth has this book. Virtues. Book of Virtues. Has some fun spells in it. Apparently, it is not the strongest form of magic out there, dark magic is stronger, naturally. But it doesn’t have the uhhh... wasting... effects of said dark magic. Risk free!”
Eve, once again, waited for the woman to finish. “So, magic is real after all... I mean, I thought it was all bullshit. Fanatics spouting nonsense and all that. Do you know any magic?”
Maggy scratched the back of her head. “Eh, kinda? Not something I can really control. Doesn’t mean I’m not magic, though.”
“What do you mean?” Maggy pointed to Eve’s broken leg before responding.
“That’ll heal much quicker than it should. Normally you should be like that for months, but thanks to me, it’ll be a matter of weeks, if that. The Revelation awaked something in everyone, I think. I certainly wasn’t magic before, nor Beth or Laz...”
“I don’t feel magic, nor have I since everything fell apart.” Eve said. If Maggy was right, surely Eve should feel something, anything, that she didn’t before. Then again, Maggy might just be wrong. She didn’t seem to be in the best mental state.
“Well... it might not be the same for everyone. Cain, for example. He doesn’t cast spells, or resurrect, or treat wounds much faster than normal. But I have never seen him lose any sort of game of chance. Maybe your thingy is more passive? Or maybe you haven’t uhhh... been in the right situation for it to appear?” Maggy paused. “Then again, maybe you might not want to find out. Could cause more harm than good, y’know?”
Eve was about to question this, but before she could the smell of burning drifted over to her. Maggy noticed this too, suddenly spinning around. She quietly cursed to herself as she fumbled with the pot of beans, which was starting to burn.
“Hungry?” Maggy called over, as she tried to get the pot away from the fire, burning her hand in the process.
“Not really? Is it just... beans?” Eve knew better to refuse the offer of free food, since Maggy seemed trustworthy enough no matter how manic she was. She also knew that she couldn’t afford to be picky in this world, but beans? Seriously?
“I... Yeah? You don’t like? Hmm... well you need to eat something...” Maggy turned to rummage around in one of her bags. “Aha! Peaches!” She pulled out a tin, as well as a can opener. “How about this?”
“I mean, sure-”
“Perfect! Here!” Maggy moved over to Eve and handed her the tin and can opener. She then slid back over and poured the beans into a bowl.
“Okay, so, the plan for tomorrow...” Maggy passed Eve a spoon while the latter attempted to open the can, which was more difficult than it should have been thanks to her bandaged hands. “We can start the journey to meet with the others, but you’ll probably need some support... I could hack up a doorframe for you or something, a makeshift crutch or cane or whatever, y’know?”
Eve swallowed her mouthful before objecting. “Wait, what? I never said I’d go with you.” Eve was thankful of the help of this odd woman, but trekking to a camp full of presumably equally crazy people didn’t seem to be that good of an idea. Besides, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. What were the chances of her being found by someone else, specifically someone trained to help her situation? And how had Maggy lifted all the rubble?
“Well, I suppose I can’t really force you... Well, I could, but that would be wrong. But you have a broken leg, Hun. You won’t really get all that far by yourself, so I think it would be wisest if you stuck with me, y’know?”
“So... you are basically forcing me to stick with you?” Eve deadpanned. Stick with the crazy woman or die. Sounds like a wonderful choice.
“Depends on how you look at it. Anyway, I’m sure the others would love to meet you! It’ll take a day or two to get there, especially with your leg. Gapers shouldn’t be too much of a problem if we move during the day, but then again...”
“Knights?” Knights were a pain. A rare, mutated form of Gaper. Gapers were usually made of soft flesh with little bone structure. They were also nocturnal. Knights, however, were the opposite. Their skin had calcified into thick, bony plates. And although they had a soft, exposed brain at the back of their head, it was the only vulnerable part of them. They also didn’t mind wandering around during the daytime. There were several other Gaper mutants, but they were not common in cities.
“Yup. But hey, they don’t fare well against groups. So, we should have that covered. But that’s then, now, you should get some rest.” Maggy finished the bowl, setting it aside.
“...” Eve discarded the tin, before handing the spoon and can opener back to Maggy. “... Fine.”
“Coolio. I’ll make sure everything is ready for tomorrow!”
Eve laid back and did her best to sleep despite the pain and the unease she felt. However, it didn’t prove to be too difficult. She was worn out and thoroughly tired after the ordeal, and she eventually succumbed to sleep.