AnnouncementFor those that haven't, please read this story's description. Also keep in mind that this is a Grimdark meaning that there's some disturbing content in it. Any suggestions in regards of tags are welcome, st but not least, this story has been proof-read but I know for a fact that there are grammar issues. My Grammarly subscription ran out, so there's that. It'd appreciate grammar corrections <3Taking cover behind a slightly rusted abandoned car, it's fuel and valuebles long stripped clean was Rick. His grey eyes scanned over the street in front of him.

  It was mostly clear, safe for a few low tier zombies which honestly didn't bode much good. He gave a soft tap on the shoulder of the guy next to him, who was watching his back. Mike gave him a nod and they moved over the street towards a house that didn't look completely stripped clean yet. Empty streets weren't a good sign, it meant something stronger was feeding on the weaker monsters here. Rick could only hope that whatever it was, was already taken care off by the army. Even though they abandoned the surface and the majority of its popution to hide in massive fallout shelters, designed to ensure humanity's survival after a world wide fallout scenario, they did keep a presence above ground. Gathering resources, keeping important facilities running and taking care of the bigger threat's the normal civilians couldn't handle. They weren't heroes though, they've long since stopped caring for surface dwellers. They did their job and that was it, you shouldn't expect any sympathy from them. If you were lucky they might help you out, if you are unlucky they rob you on the spot. Hard to keep discipline with the higher ups hiding safely in their shelters. The surface has become completely wless. At least Rick wasn't some pretty girl, that gave him one less thing to worry about when running into those guys. Unless he ran into someone that preferred men, he was rather pretty after all. He shuddered thinking about it and quickly moved on, axe in hand. A zombie noticed him and started running towards him at barely the speed of a jog. Rick smashed his axe into it's head, kicking the body as it fell down while simenteniously pulling his axe back in attempt to dislodge the axe from the creatures skull. It could be tricky sometimes, smash to hard and the axe might get stuck, smash to softly and you might not properly penetrate the skull. Dark blood sprayed out, as he pulled his axe back. He was careful to avoid the infectious fluids from hitting his eyes. More then a few people went down that way. The fact the blood was capable of spraying out like that meant the heart was still pumping, which was a scary thought. As much as people called the virus " zombification " since most of the creatures infected tried to spread it thru bites, just like in some science fiction it wasn't the same. Their bodies, although deteriorating, did so extremely slowly. The creatures remained somehow capable of procreation for the first few months after birth or infection, and, the most scary part was that they were capable of evolvement. Some versions even had a form of intelligence which was scary as hell. The only saving grace was that most of them, the various species or even evolution of certain species considered their lessers a potential food source. So it wasn't just humans thinning the herd, even though they remained the favourite snack for these freaks. Rick only looked down at the pale looking corpse for a second, the corpse looked like someone that's just been deceased for a week or so, with the only exception being that the veins were bck instead of blue. He knew this to be untrue though, you could see it at the pupils. They'd became slightly red and grew in size after being infected while slowly turning bck, just like a infected veins. Honestly, they looked more then vampires then zombies as far as he was concerned. Either way, he stepped over it and moved on. At this point he had killed his fair share of them, it no longer caused him to freeze, to feel sympathy or guilt he just felt nothing. As if he cut a branch from a tree. Mike followed slowly behind and as they made their way over to the house they took care of a few more zombies. As they neared the house Mike took care of his back while he tried opening the door, which was locked. Some people could pick those things but he wasn't one of them. He gave mike a tap on his back after which the both of them stepped back. They quickly took a look thru the window for any immediate danger and after they didn't spot anything, Rick brought his axe down onto the lock. One heavy hit, two heavy hits and a third after which he kicked right under the handle, breaking the door open. Mike moved past him taking the left while he quickly stepped in next to him, taking the right. They quickly cleared the living room, there wasn't much of anything. They cleared the ground floor, not finding much more then dust. They ran into a basement door and left it be for the time being. Three locks though? That promises something good. He cleared upstairs first, besides some condoms and some household supplies there wasn't much of value. At least there was still this much around. Condoms always sold, there were freaks out there with monster fetishes and yeah, going in raw was a good way to get yourself turned. Not to mention the prostitute market, although a fair share just took the risk of making their client pull out before blowing their load. There were also some cheaper monster venoms on the market that weren't infectious and were capable of killing unwanted surprises, downside was that they could make you sick. Causing your body to burn valuable calories to fight off said sickness. dosaging it all the right way was a tricky business. Looking at it positively, there now was a cure for all types of cancer and a variety of other things previously incurable thru the study of monster materials. Not that they're worth the million if not trillion of lives lost in this mess. If they could've found a cure for this virus itself that'd be great, but sadly it evolved faster then everything ever seen by humanity thus far. At least they found ways to slow aging, not that any of that was avaible to the people outside of the vaults. At least wanted materials could be sold, hunters could make a living that way, not that it was a popur profession. Hunters were usually among the most brave or desperate of people. Searching out evolved beings to kill and harvest materials of value was risky. Especially now that ammunition wasn't widely avaible anymore. The shelters were capable of producing it, which is why they scavenged corresponding materials for it from the surface, even going as far as to keep mining operations on the surface ungoing but the quantity sold to the surface was rather limiting these days, which wasn't surprising. most of what the surface could offer they could get themselves in the vault, plenty of goods were produced there and everything that wasn't was imported thru army established outposts, those that were lucky were allowed to work on a agriculture isnd. The only thing hard to get your hands on in the vault was sex and monster materials. Prostitution wasn't as wide spread in the vault, or so he heard. The quality of life was good enough there that only those doing it for the easy cash would engage in such a act. Needless to say, cutting into their paycheck would be far more expensive then tossing some food to a hungry pretty girl, or a box of ammo to a husband wishing to protect his family. As far as monster materials went, soldiers didn't like to get dirty by cutting into the bodies, not to mention that there was the fear of infection. Of course if you cleaned your hands properly, there was little chance of a bit of dried blood, hidden under your finger nail to get inside your mouth when you were eating. But the fear of it happening was still there. What if you were getting something out of a body and accidentally cut yourself on a piece of broken bone? Or just something sharp inside the body, these creatures evolved after all, so their autonomy wasn't always the same. Last but not least the blood and meat of some monsters and most animals wasn't infectious. If they had blue veins, and no bck substance inside the body it was generally safe for consumption. Researchers haven't been able to find out why the virus wasn't spreadable thru most animals and some monsters even though human bodies were a hot bed for the bacteria. After stuffing the supplies they found into their backpacks they continued on to the basement. Mike remained on overwatch while Rick started brute forcing his way into the basement. This time it was quite a bit more difficult, he had half the wooden door in tatters before the locks finally gave in. They've been worried about the sound but as paranoid as he was, mike assured him nothing was around. He tried flicking the lights off the basement on but it didn't work. Although the army kept the water facilities, nuclear reactors and other essential infrastructure going, they didn't go around repairing things. So it was possible for complete blocks to go without water or electricity because something, somewhere, was broken. He held his hand out to Mike who handed him a glow stick, after he activated it he threw it down. He could've used a fshlight but in narrow spaces like this he preferred a glow stick, he wanted both hands on his Axe and given the situation he preferred it if Mike kept watching his back rather then holding a fshlight. The inside of the basement lit up, not that he could see much since he was at the top of the stairway, the ceiling blocking his sight. He went inside and surprisingly found himself entering a massive basement. Even more surprising, wasn't the serious amount of canned goods lining the wall, but the massive metal cage in the corner. A turned zombie, that was little more then a bag of bones , a metal bracelet forced around her feet, connected to a chain on the wall id there on top of a matrass that has definitely seen better days. It was filled with a variety of stains, most of which the origin wasn't visible anymore, just colored spots of what Rick assumed to have been human waste, that already decayed. A cradle standing next to the matrass, with a perfectly tucked in skeleton baby, a teddy bear pushed between it's arms made for a really fucked up sight. Next to the cradle stood a pair of feeding bowls, both of which were filled with dust. The wall next to the cage was lined with a variety of sex toys and whips, some of which we're quite gruesome. He in particurly noticed a metal chair, with metal bracelets on it's legs and arm rest's, the entire thing was slightly tilted and upheld by a metal structure that " caught " the chair so to say, making whoever sat in it y backwards. There was a watertap next to it, attached to it was a hose, next to the chair id a bundle of cloth. Clearly the chair was made to waterboard people, a technique the army liked to use to interrogate people, although such things " officially " never happened. It made the victim feel like it's conscientiously drowning, even though it was not. He once heard the world record of keeping that up was at like 7 minutes? It was completely torture, there was a reason people said drowning was one of the worst ways to go. Worst of all? Or perhaps best of all depending on who you ask, is that it didn't leave any marks making it extremely hard to proof that you've been tortured. Rick could only imagine what the girl must've been thru, her zombified body, the creature, had long shrunk from starvation, allowing him to easily view into the shirt. What was left of her breasts, the small malnourished mounds clearly indicated it had been a girl. Some faint scars were still visible across her backside. Zombies decayed extremely slowly, to the point their reproductive organs were still usable until a few months after infection or well birth, since these creatures were capable of procreation. So for it to have malnourished to the point of death must've meant it had been here for at least a year, likely longer. He knew the surface was fucked up, he knew humans were twisted. But this took it to a whole new level. He had seen plenty of girls being forced into prostitution, he had even seen them being raped. But this, this was just... Was that child once hers? Was she forced to carry it, to birth it? Did she see it starve? The fact the baby was a skeleton and not a zombie indicated that it had died before her or at the very least wasn't infected at the time of dead like she was. Did she herself kill it when she got infected? Saving it from being partly eaten and infected by her? Whatever it was, seeing the broken nails and damaged skin on her fingers, the bloody bruise on her ancle around her bracelet, whatever it was, the girl went slowly and painfully. " Are you alright? " He almost threw his axe into his friends face. He was so out of it that being called out like that startled him. As he moved aside, to ready his axe, he showcased what was behind them. Giving Mike pause for a moment. He snapped out of it far quicker then him though, giving a silent prayer to the Girl after which he continued on. Mike wasn't a bad person, it's just, after all they've seen.... Humans were creatures capable of adapting to almost any circumstances. A lot of people say they wouldn't do something no matter what, but when forced into the situation their true actions just wouldn't be predictable. Rick had seen it, morals held no weight in the face of starvation. People that survived adapted, whether they wanted to or not. There's a reason that back in the day a lot of dictators in third world countries held power by controlling either food or water sources in the region. He had seen husband's forcing their wives or daughters into prostitution, family members abandoning one another for the chance of going to bed with a filled stomach. Friends and families betraying one another. Even he himself has been ditched by his EX girlfriend for the opportunity of entering a vault. Choosing to become a officers sex pet in return for safety, a comfortable home and food. He used to bme her for that, thinking of her as a whore but as he learned how the world truly worked, he started to understand it wasn't her fault. Humans were just weak, twisted creatures. The only one at fault was him for not having enough influence, strength and power to prevent it. It's not like she ditched him at the first opportunity at a better live. They went thru quite a lot together before she ditched him. At the end of the day, she was a coward and the promise of safety appealed far more to her then all the other offered benefits. He didn't bme her, he knew she saw her parents being eaten by those creatures, he knew she was scarred by that. And he couldn't always be there to protect her, not when he actually had to go out to scavenge. So when they didn't have a safezone to take shelter in anymore, when he had to make her hide in a house while he was out, thinking it was safest. She ran into a zombie, she was forced to face her fears, forced to kill it. He wasn't sure whether or not she bmed him for that, or if it was just the fact that she realized the surface was never truly safe. Either way, Rick was convinced it was one of the two. Why else would she suddenly leave him when she could've done so before? It's not like there haven't been other chances, she really was beautiful, there were plenty of other offers before that, but she didn't accept that because she truly loved him. She had promised to always stay by his side. A promise that she eventually broke, because humans are adaptable creatures. Ofcourse not all humans are but those that aren't simply tend to either die or chose the easy way out. Plenty of people have killed themselves because live became to uncomfortable after the army abandoned them. " there's a lot of canned food here. What do you say? Split the actual food and usables while trading the rest? I'm not eating those cans of dog food, they ain't worth much but it'd be happy to sponsor a girl. " Rick was pulled out of his thought by Mike's statement. He knew very well what " sponsoring " a girl meant. Plenty of girls that weren't willing to face the scary outside world opted to selling their bodies to get by. Dogfood wasn't worth much, but to those hungry enough it was. He still wasn't fully sure why he'd hire a cheap whore when he had a pretty girlfriend. He knew they had some agreement of the sort that allowed the both of them to sleep around with others but he wasn't quite sure why they actually did it. He could imagine Samantha accepting a generous offer from someone, after all, she was beautiful and girls that weren't whores and had husband's were popur to certain type of people. But Mike? Why would mike go for some cheap skank when he clearly had a girlfriend that loved him, Rick also knew for a matter of fact he loved her. Hell, if they weren't childhood friends he was pretty sure he'd stab him in the back right about now and just steal the haul. That's kinda how things went these days, most moral compasses were simply broken or twisted beyond repair. Even he himself, who was still considered one of the more sympathetic guys still engaged in sexual activities with prostitutes that clearly didn't want it. He wouldn't rape anyone but if someone was willing to accept payment for sex, he would take her up on the offer and if it wasn't comfortable for her, he'd try to be gentle, but at the end of the day he'd be taking what he paid for. He did this because getting said food by risking his life wasn't comfortable for him either, life itself wasn't comfortable anymore these days. Of course he could ignore the girl that wasn't comfortable with it and go for a more willing girl, as he often did since there were plenty of them but then the unwilling girl wouldn't have anything to eat would she? Because at the end of the day, the fact was, that the unwilling girl wouldn't be as likely to be taken unless she was pretty or had a client that was into girls that didn't like it, and, those type of clients were usually the more rough ones. Rick wasn't able to give food for free, since the kindness would be taken advantage off, not to mention there were more girls in such situations then he could possible feed. So the moral of this story is, that in Rick twisted mind, taking such girls gently was a act of kindness, which he partook in every now and then rather then taking a more enjoyable, willing girl. That's how far the moral compass, of this otherwise very symphathic guy was twisted. Compare that to Mike, who wasn't a bad guy yet didn't spend more of a few seconds looking at the fucked up scene next to them and you could see how the average survivor in this day and age was. People think humans couldn't turn so twisted but they definitely could and if the current state of the world wasn't enough to proof it then history itself was. " The haul is quite sizable, might be worth it to rent a storage space or make a hidden stash somewhere. Maybe it's best to trade it for something usable, the crusade is known to buy low quality rations to gift to the noncontributing family members of lower ranking crusade members. I might finally be able to upgrade my axe." " Ah, the crazy girl, yes. What was her name again?" Rick briefly mused on it, the girl was in the same scavenging team as him, back when the army hadn't yet pulled out but was pretty close to it. That was about 4 years ago now, they held the surface for about 2 years before abandoning it, so that added up. Not that he was ever close to her, she clearly had a screw loose so at every opportunity he avoided teaming up with her. " I think her name was Judith. " Judith was a girl that awakened not to long after the army pulled out. She was convinced that it was a blessing of god and that it was proof that her mission of purging the devil spawns off this world had gods divine approval. Awakenings were rare, some people think it's magical bullshit while others think it's got something to do with a highly evolved form of human evolution, something developed to counter the threat to humanity. Rick was a believer of the former though, awakeners were super rare, probably one in a thousand and he only ever saw three of them. One was Judith, the second was some bcksmith recruited by the crusade that had some weird bcksmithing ability and the st was some random person he saw walking thru a infested street once, the girl, or guy, he wasn't sure, just walked thru it, the monsters being unable to sense her for some reason. " Her st speech at Gods sanctuary gave me the chills. " " Yeah, I understand. " He remembered that to, the way with which she spoke such cold words with such a warm voice, radiating passion, if he didn't know any better he'd think she was talking about her crush or something of the like. Not about gods mission, how all these monsters were devil spawns and how humanity was like's god's flock. She called everyone attending the speech mbs of the lord and said they should look at this as a trial of god, a way of gaining entrance into heaven. She announced further ration cuts, saying that there sadly weren't enough resources for everyone and that even though they were gods mbs, it was sometimes necessary to send mbs to the sughter. noncontributing family members of lower ranked crusade members were told their fixed rations were going to be cut off. It caused quite some protest, one hot head in particur climbed upon the ptform at which she was giving her speech and was brutally executed, not by the crusader that was intercepting him but by Judith herself who pulled a long mace from under her robe and basked the guys head in, casually continuing her speech afterwards. Rick had seen plenty of cold blooded murder, but he hasn't seen anything like that before. The voice of the girl didn't lose any of his passion or warmth, as if she had simply squashed a mosquito. Mike and him liked to joke about " the poor sod " that would end up becoming her partner, but they all knew, she was unlikely to get one. She had pronounced more then once, that the only thing she needed was the light and warmth of the lord and wasn't interested in pursuing retionship with " any other " guy. " k..i.ll me. " A hoarse groan from the direction of the cage put both Rick and Mike on high alert. MafiaNoble