Subdued sounds.

Shaking ground.

Growls and screams.

Silence.

Sam opened one heavy eyelid. She was lying face down on the dusty road. She managed to turn her head and look around. Her neck was hurting as all hell.

She was lying on the same spot right next to the Aaron. The tornado was gone. The barricade destroyed. There were dead bodies and blood everywhere. Some of the cars and tanks that had exploded before. Now they were just smoking burned ruins.

Her head was spinning so she slowly turned to her back and laid there for a second just to make her mind to set. She looked at Aaron. He looked almost peaceful. He was laying on his back, one hand on his belly, the other one on the ground. She reached and take it into hers. It was cold and stiff but it made her calm. Big hot tears were rolling across her dusted cheeks.

When her vision got back to normal, she blinked and got up. She let Aaron's hand go and it fell back on the ground next to his body with a subdued thump.

The sadness quickly turned into anger.

Where is that fucking Lady?!

***********

She left her friends body in the middle of the war area and started to slowly making her way through the debris of their small city. The clouds were traveling fast towards the center of the city. It seemed that the tornado was slowly loosing its power, because the damage on the buildings was smaller.

Sam's legs were aching. She twisted her ankles many times in small but deep holes in the rubble.

She tried to call Anti. She tried to call Pewds. Then Dark.

She called to anybody, but there was nobody to hear her and if so, they were too scared to answer.

Her eyes were fixed to the path of the traveling clouds in the sky. She was determined to end this fucking woman once and forever! She took her friend's life and what on earth has she done with the others?!

She heard staticky noise and made her way closer. She recognized a shaky voice in all that wheezing and fizzing that was talking from the damaged radio stuck in the middle of a fallen wall and a pillar. It was a reporter with the latest news.

Sam crouched near and tried to tune the radio better.

"All citizen of our cit...*WHEEEZ-SKRRRCH*...lease evacuate or hide somewhere safe. Our trust...*SKRR*..rmy retreated from the battlefield. We are sh...rt on supplies. M...ny wounded. This is emergency ca...ll to all our befriended countries - pl...se send help. This message will now repeat."

Then the radio started to cough and wheeze and then the same message started over.

Sam convinced her legs to stand up and carry her. She was so tired. Not just physically but also mentally. Maybe this is only a bad hallucination and she is sitting in a padded room with a straightjacket on herself. She was feeling kinda crazy right now.

The city looked like after an apocalypse.

She finally got to a big square with straight street leading to a bridge. The equestrian statue of the founder of the city was damaged. The horse head was lying in the rubble and glass of the nearby buildings.

Sam could finally walk better without harming herself on a rubble and broken metal rods because there was less damage in the square centre.

Her palms were bleeding from all those falls on a sharp concrete pieces before. She sat for a minute to rest.

The sun was setting right in front of her just above the bridge. There were taller and much nicer buildings on the other side of the river. They seemed intact. The bridge was full of empty cars left by a fleeting citizen. The sun was big and red, casting warm sunbeams at Sam and she tried to catch as much warmth as she could.

It was an astonishing view except that somebody blocked Sams view on the sunset. She was too disgusted to even look up. She knew who was standing in front of her.

She could recognize those black heels everywhere.

"There you are, my dear," chirped the woman in black happily like she was greeting an old friend on her garden party. "I really thought you have lost your life there and I am very happy you are still with us," she continued.

Sam was determinedly looking at the ground beneath her feet. Another three shadows fell on her and covered the last beams of sunset.

"It is not very nice not to look at someone while they are talking to you!" Lady growled discontentedly.

When she showed no effort to move, an invisible force lifted Sam to her feet and hovered her body just a inch above the ground. She yelped and tried to free herself, but there was nothing to fight with. It felt like a big hand was holding her by her waist like a barbie doll.

Lady in black lifted Sam's head by the chin. Sam was determined so she looked her straight into the eyes. Lady raised one of her eyebrows at her apparently surprised.

"Impressive," mumbled Lady while she was turning Sam's head from left to right scanning her face like a buyer with a new horse. Thank god she didn't wanted to see her teeth. Sam was prepared to bite her fingers off if they will get near.

"You are so ordinary and yet..." she let her face go and recede back to the trio behind her. Guys were silently standing behind her, not showing any emotions.

She slowly came to Anti. He was standing side by side with Pewds and Dark. Except him, those two had their heads straight up and eyes open. They were not blinking. Pewds and Dark were standing like a tin soldiers on a shelf, hands along the body, eyes wide open. Pewd's eyes were shining white while Darks were pure red.

Anti was standing on Darks left, his body straight the same as the others, but his head was bowed and hands dangling. His eyes were closed like he was in a deep sleep.

Lady in black walked past the two and stopped next to Anti "...you managed to gain the trust and friendship of these three bastards..." she growled and violently pulled Anti's head up by his overgrown green hair, "AND you somehow made this motherfucker unable to connect with me properly!" she screamed at the motionless face of Anti.

"What have you done?" she let his head fall back down to his chest and came unpleasantly close to Sam's face. "And more interesting question: HOW?"

"I have no idea what are you talking about," answered Sam, trying so hard to hide her emotions behind a hard mask. What connection was she talking about? Why they are listening to her? Did she casted some kind of a spell on them?

"I have no idea why are you doing all of this, who you are or what I have done to you. But if it means it stopped you from destroying Earth, I am more than glad I did it." Sam slightly smiled at the Lady. It was a small victory, but it was a victory nonetheless.

Lady returned the smile to her "Oh, where are my manners! During all that time I forgot to properly introduce myself!" She made a step back and bowed like a true Lady. "I am Marzanna. Some of you may know me as Keres, Ankou, Banshee, Grim Reaper, Smrt... But you can call me Death.

Nice to meet you."

Sam's eyes widened. She was not a strong believer herself, but she had a really good knowledge about the Bible and the stories around it.

Everything fell into places like a pieces of a puzzle. Sam peeked at her three friends. Lady followed her gaze. She came back to Pewds and put her pale delicate hand on his shoulder and said:

"I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer!" she declaimed and Pewds raised his head even more, like being proud of himself.

Lady looked at Sam just to make sure she is paying an attention to her and moved to Dark who was standing on Pewds left. She put her palm on his shoulder: "And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him." Dark's eyes shined red and his fangs showed under his lips while he smiled. It was not a nice smile.

Then she made her way to Anti, who was still standing next Dark like a half of a rag doll. Lady was circling around him and started to recite:

"I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine." declaimed Lady.

But nothing happened. Anti seemed to not answer to her call.

"SEE?!" yelped Lady at Sam so surprisingly loud that Sam flinched.

"I can't do anything magnificent while Famine is such a dick and don't want to join the party!" she smacked the back of Antis head with a loud flap, sending his head to bow even deeper. "Even if I lure him under my control once, he is able to snap out of it in a matter of hours!" He heels were loudly clicking on the pavement.

Sam realised her own heels were turned into a ballet flats a long time ago when she broke both of her heels on the rubble. Maybe she should buy a new pair. If there will be a chance to do it after all of this.

Lady snapped her out of her thoughts by another sentence "Soooo let me think aloud..." Lady calmed herself rapidly fast and came back to Sam with hands folded under her chin like she was deeply thinking. "...if I kill you, Famine will be free and nothing will stop us from continuing in our little fun here," she smiled. Sam gulped.

Well, at least it will be quick since she is the Death herself.

"Or..." whispered Lady "I can torture you and have some fun right now. You stole my Famines heart. Let's see if we can take it back!"