Y/N POV

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Ethan asked the girl in front of us. She stepped aside to reveal an older man, I assumed was her father. I could tell he was badly injured. Looking at us he growled "Stay back."

Image of Elena:

The girl raised her hands and said "Please. Don't hurt us." I reassured her "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you." Ethan added "We're just glad to see normal people at last. Have you seen any other survivors?" The girl responded "No, they're all in Luiza's house. And she's not answering and the gate is locked."

The man rasped out "Quiet girl, they're outsiders." Outside we then heard the roars of the monsters getting closer. Ethan commented "We're sitting ducks in here. Can your old man walk?" The girl looked at her dad and said "No, one of the monsters cut him. He's lost a lot of blood we have to get into Luiza's house!"

I shushed and said "Quiet, there must be a way inside. Stay here, be quiet and don't move until I get those gates open." Turning to Ethan I said "Stay and protect these two. I'll get that gate open."

He nodded and I instantly climbed through a window at the back of the house. Here I found a part of the wall surrounding Luiza's house that had caved in, I climbed on a box to get over that part of the wall. Just like that I was in the property, now it was a literal cakewalk, getting to the gate, lifting the latch and pushing it open signalling "Come on, it's clear."

The door to the tiny shack opened up, the girl came out first, doing her best to support her father. Ethan came out after, handgun at the ready to shoot any approaching creatures. The old man glared at me and spat "Took your damn time."

I sarcastically responded "You're welcome." As the girl came in after she apologized on his behalf "He's not used to relying on other people. I'm sorry." She looked at the gate and asked "We'll be safe in here, won't we?" Ethan said "Safer here than out there, that's for sure."

We all approached the door, I asked the girl "Hey, do you know anything about what's going on around here?" The girl began to panic and exclaimed "It doesn't make any sense! Mother Miranda has always protected us-!"

Her dad turned to us after knocking on the door and said "Nobody's answering come help me." He collapsed to the ground, barely propping himself up on the wall. While the girl looked after her father, me and Ethan both went and knocked on the door he called out "Hello? Anybody home?"

The girl said "Maybe a familiar voice." She went up and knocked as well, calling "Luiza! Open up, it's me Elena!" At this the door slowly opened however the barrel of a shotgun began to peak out, aimed at the girl who I now knew as Elena.

The door opened to reveal a skinny, angry looking man who said "Stop shouting. You'll draw the monsters." Elena raised her hands and said "Iulian calm down-." 'Iulian' noticed us and instantly shifted his aim snapping "Who are these?!" Elena tried to interject, saying "A friend-."

Image of Iulian:

Iulian threatened, "Stay back." His gun still aimed at us." Elena's father hunched over and began coughing. Elena begged "For got sake Iulian, let us in." Iulian didn't budge "No, no, they'll smell the blood, you'll endanger us all." Elena yelled "My father will die out here!" Iulian just responded "That's not my problem."

It was at this point another person emerged from the doorway, an older woman who asked "What's going on?" Lulian explained "These people want to let a dying man into our home." The woman reasoned "Come now, these people are our friends. Go on, go inside. Come now, this way."

She gestured for Elena to lead his father inside. Soon they disappeared from sight leaving us alone with the woman and Iulian. The woman turned back to us and stated "You're both not from this village." 

Ethan replied first "Uh, no I'm Ethan." I added "I'm Y/N." The woman turned to Iulian and instructed "Iulian go make yourself useful and check the grounds." When he didn't move she snapped "I said go!"

With a glare he walked away. The woman who I believe was Luiza said "Well, if Elena trusts you both, then so do I. Come inside Ethan, Y/N." We followed her indoors into a small conservatory. She turned to us and said "Wait here. I'll check on the others."

Image of Luiza:

She disappeared into another room, leaving us just standing there in silence. It's not that we didn't want to speak to one another, we just didn't know what to say. Today had been a complete mess for both of us. First Chris attacks, takes us both captive, there's a crash, next thing we know we're here, hiding from monsters with complete strangers.

Soon Luiza came back and said "This way." She lead us along a corridor until we arrived at a room covered with a curtain. Luiza said "Come inside the others are waiting." She moved the curtain to reveal more people.

One man in particular saw us and exclaimed "What the hell is this?! Outsiders, you're going to get us all killed!" Luiza shut him up, saying "Quiet! Anton! They helped Leonardo and Elena!" Leonardo, Elena's father spat "We were doing fine by ourselves."

Luiza said "Please, boys take a seat." We did just that, sitting down.  We were there for what felt like an eternity. The man from before 'Anton' got up and made a scene in a drunken state, Luiza tried to calm him down before explaining to us what had happened.

In her words, one minute they were a quiet, devout village and the next, those monsters had attacked. They'd just kept coming and coming. It seems those in this room were all that were left. The rest were all killed, like that old man we'd met after arriving.

Elena asked Luiza about her husband, from how it sounded, he was yet another victim of what had unfolded here, yet Luiza held hope, or just deluded herself into thinking he'd gone to get help. A woman in the corner suggested "Let us pray, for him. All of us."

Luiza nodded and said "Good idea. Come. Gather."  We all formed a circle around the table. The village residents all held hands, Luiza reached out for Ethan's while Elena did the same for me, they began chanting. I didn't fully understand it, but I did my best to follow along.

"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 can sacrifice and await the light at the end. In life and in death, we give glory, Mother Miranda."

With that, the prayer was done. Luiza said "Now, the tea should be ready. Come help me  Elena please." I noticed something familiar about the prayer. Ethan pointed this out "That prayer, I've heard it before. There was an old woman, near the graveyard."

Leonardo laughed "You mean the hag? Dumb bitch is crazy as a bag of rats." Luiza said "There is wisdom in her devotion though. And I hope it protected her, as it shall protect us." Leonardo continued laughing as he slowly stood up.

Suddenly he let out a distorted groan, followed by a wail. He lashed out, striking a lantern that knocked it to the ground. It burst and I noticed the carpet set on fire. Luiza asked "Leonardo, what's wrong, are you ok?" 

What happened next caught me off guard, he revealed a machete and swung it down, stabbing Luiza right through the chest! He leapt up and clung to the ceiling just like one of those monsters, snarling aggressively at us.

Elena yelled "Father!" I warned "No, Elena stay back!" Ethan began pushing her down the corridor as she said "NO! Let me go!" Turning around, we saw him violently slaughtering all the others in the room. Ethan said "Oh god no, he'll kill all three of us! We have to go!"

We tried running however Leonardo sprung forward, tackling Ethan to the ground and trying to attack him. I was about to reach for my handgun however I was caught off guard when Elena picked up Ethan's shotgun and instructed "Let him go!"

She didn't hesitate to open fire, shooting her feral father in the head, causing him to fall onto his back. Ethan gasped in shock "Elena?" Leonardo sprung back up and roared however Elena yelled "I said NO!" She opened fire again causing him to be blasted back.

As Ethan got to his feet, Elena just stood, unmoving in shock as she muttered "Oh my god, I'm so sorry father." I tried to reassure her by putting a hand on her shoulder saying "Hey, hey, that wasn't your father anymore. You did the right thing. I'm sorry that happened to you."

The fire in the room continued to spread, beginning to come into the hallway, bits of wood slowly fell on Leonardo, I could tell Elena wanted to go save him however Ethan held her back warning "Elena, no. There's nothing you can do. This entire place is collapsing!" I also said "Come on, we've got to get out of here NOW!"

We ran down the corridor, finding ourselves now in a garage. Elena was panicked by this whole ordeal, I wanted to comfort her more but now wasn't the time for that. Slamming the door shut we managed to delay the fire's spread.

Elena clung to a rusted truck, Ethan approached and said "You couldn't save him. He was already gone." Elena wailed "Leave me alone!" I placed a hand on her back and said "No, we're getting out of here, together."

I turned my attention to the truck and commented "You know, if we had the key we'd probably be able to get this working." Ethan nodded "Okay, find the key, got it." We began our search heading through another door into the house.

Fires had spread to here as well but luckily it wasn't overrun, we could still make our way through. After searching another area of the house, we came across a kitchen. Sure enough it was only a quick search that lead us to find exactly what we were looking for.

In one of the draws we found the key which I assumed was meant for the truck. Holding it up I called over the fire "Key!" That wasn't all though, I noticed something concealed inside the keyring, clicking it open I found a screwdriver.

Image of the truck key:

With both items in hand we rushed back into the garage. I instantly hopped into the truck, placed the key in the ignition and gave it a twist. Elena asked "What are you thinking?!" I explained "Step back. We can bust out with this."

The engine started to roar, I muttered under my breath and said "Okay, lets get this going." Full-speed, I drove forward, smashing the truck right into the wall! At first it didn't do much damage, so I reversed and tried again, impacting the brick full-force.

This time, the truck smashed right through it! The truck came to a stop and almost tipped on its side, it was just about able to stabilise itself. I could barely hear Ethan calling "Y/N!" Along with Elena asking "Are you alright?" 

They both ran over to the truck to check up on me, I raised my hand and said "Yeah, I'm good." Looking around I noticed that the truck had landed at an angle that it perfectly connected with a broken staircase. Ethan noticed this as well and said "Nowhere to go but up."

I climbed through the front windshield of the truck onto its bonnet. I extended my hand to Elena and said "Come on, climb up." She did just that with Ethan climbing up after her. At this point, the smoke was getting thick as well, I found myself coughing every now and then.

We ascended to a higher level I said to them both "Try not to breathe in the smoke if you can." Elena nodded "I know, thank you. You're both kind." We found a way that may have reached a broken loft-space.

It was here we finally spotted a window at the far-end. Ethan pointed and said "There! That's our way out." I replied "Sounds good to me." Elena sighed "Thank god." She turned to us though with a sad expression "But what then? The village is still full of monsters. We can't fight them there's too many!"

I placed my hands on her shoulders to calm her down, saying "Hey! Don't talk like that." Ethan added "We'll find a safe house to put you in until I can find my daughter. My hunch is she's in that old castle."

Elena's eyes widened "No! That place is full of nothing but blood and death! And I don't want to be alone while you're both-." She cut herself off when she exclaimed "FATHER?!" Turning around my eyes widened as we saw Leonardo slowly approaching us.

Ethan warned "Elena no! That's not him, not anymore!" Leonardo just about managed to growl out "Elena..." That was enough for Elena to ignore our warnings. She cried out "He said my name! Father!"

She ran to him however the floorboards began breaking out around her, she couldn't get back to us. I ordered "Stay there!" I tried to reach out for her and said "Grab my hand, hurry!" Elena stared at it for a moment, looking at her father and finally saying "Both of you go! Save your daughter!"

That's when the wood beneath her broke away, with a scream she fell into the fires below. For a moment I just stayed there, my hand still extended before reality kicked in and I yelled "Elena! God damnit!"

Behind me Ethan yelled "Why is everyone dying on me?! This is just too much." I got back to my feet, saying "Come on, or we'll both be next." Without another word, we make a break for it towards the window.

Before leaping we turned to look at the fire behind us. Ethan muttered "This place has gone mad." In anger he smacked his hand against the wall and yelled "Fuck! Why is this happening again?!"

I just growled to myself before we both finally leapt out the window onto a balcony and from there we managed to leap down back to ground level. Naturally, our aim was to head back to the gate and escape however before doing so Ethan said "Hey, look at this."

Turning around, I saw that next to the gate was a small booth of sorts, I don't know what it was for but inside I saw something which caught my attention. Ethan said "Question is, how do we get to it."

That's when I remembered the screwdriver I found in the truck keys. Holding it up I said "With this." I placed the screwdriver into the metal seal holding the booth shut and managed to release one of the bolts. With that the seal fell down and allowed us to open the booth up to retrieve the item.

The second crest! Presumably to unlock the way into the castle. This one had the face of a demon printed on it. I held it up and said "Here we go. That should be it." Ethan just replied "Lets hope so."

Image of the Demon Crest:

My head suddenly spun around at the sound of a shotgun firing! It sounded like it was coming from right beyond the gate. Another one followed shortly after then I could just hear gurgling as if someone was being choked.

Me and Ethan nodded and ran towards the gate, as we were pushing it open we heard the voice of Iulian screaming "Stop! MOTHER MIRANDA!" As we pushed the gate open we saw a strange figure, clearly not one of those monsters, their hand clasped tightly around Iulian's throat.

Ethan called out "Hey!" There was a loud crack and the figure dropped Iulian's lifeless body to the floor. With a clearly female laugh the figure turned and walked away. I was about to pursue however it seemed they suddenly vanished into the tall grass.

Ethan asked "Who was- what was that?" I replied "I don't know." I changed the subject, "We have what we need now." Ethan stated "Right. Let's go to the castle." We both turned to look at it as I heard Ethan say quietly under his breath "I'm coming Rose."

Little did we know, the true hell, was waiting for us there...

Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter and I think I've hit a new record for chapter length with this one. Next up is the one I was looking forward to so I hope you enjoy it. I also hope you liked this one and as always, thank you for reading.