Chp.3 Even a warrior is once a victim

Adrianna May 12 2025

I came to at a terrible time. I'm not sure how long I was out for but it was enough to make my head spin. I slowly open my eyes and look around. Everything looks upside down, why does it look upside down? I look down and see the reason is because I'm currently sticking through the bottom of my floor, and what's below me is my basement. I remember the accident. Someone had gotten attacked on the road and their car careened into the house. I'm not sure where everyone was, or hell if they were safe. The lower half of my body is caught between the floorboards and a wooden beam. I try wiggling myself out to no avail, I struggle long and hard trying to free myself but no matter what I do I can't seem to shake free. My body lay suspended above the flooded basement, the car must've broken some piping on the way in. The water slowly but surely was filling up and the level was rising. I desperately look around and see that the stairs are still intact. If I could just shake out of here then the water could break my fall and I could escape up the stairs. Escape from this place seemed so close yet so far. Desperately hoping that mom and dad are okay, Eliza was closest to the window and I fear the worst for her.

Tired from my struggling I look down into the pooling water and see a familiar figure, or rather a group of figures. Three bodies lay just barely being covered by the water. Their size, their hair, their unique features and slight inflections, all of them I know too well. Just a few feet below me was the resting place of my family. I felt the anger well up inside me, why did this happen to us, why did everything turn so wrong so fast. I grab the beam and push it with all my might, pouring every ounce of strength I have left into moving this restraint away from me. I keep pushing and pushing but it wont move. I've been trapped in this hole stuck five feet from my family's corpses. Surely the firefighters or paramedics would be here soon right? There's no way no one reported a disaster like this. Rescue was on the way right? Surely someone out there saw this and called for help. They were still alive right? They were just asleep, still unconscious, the water should get into their lungs and wake them up right?

"Please," I whimper, "wake up. Please." 

Their lifeless bodies remain still with no reaction to my pleas. The water continues to rise and covers their bodies completely. My family is dead, my home is gone, help isn't coming, and soon I'll join them. The despair begins to set in and I do nothing because I can do nothing. I simply wait for the blood to rush to my head and knock me out and then hopefully kill me. I can only hope that I'll go peacefully and join them. Memories of better days flood through my mind. Walks in the park, camping underneath the stars, the days I spent with Kevin. No bad memories come to my mind, at this moment I can truly say that my life has been wonderful and that I can accept death with open arms. I relax my whole body and wait for the reaper to harvest my soul. It's peaceful really, accepting death in earnest. The cold acceptance that there is nothing left for me to do except give in and fall by the blade. In every movie I saw, the hero would always struggle desperately against the odds even knowing they couldn't win. They'd always be saved by someone else, but there was no side kick to come save me from this hell. 

I could see the water began flowing like a river, my family's bodies going downstream. Looking around I saw that the basement had changed to a scene of hellfire and death. Demons flew around the caverns and dragged humans in their claws. Below me I saw the corpses pile down the river Styx. It truly was hell now. With no way out, and no one to save me. I relaxed once more, waiting to slip free and dive into the river and float away to the world of sin. I guess I sinned more than I had thought if God had decided to send me here of all places, and if my mother and father were here as well then I guess none of us were all that good afterall. But there was someone waiting for me. Just on the shore of the river was a girl dressed all in black. Her face, her hair, the unique details, it was Eliza. But I saw her body, how was she alive?

"E-Eliza?" I ask the figure.

"You still have work left on earth dear Adrianna." it said to me

Her voice was just like hers, but the way she spoke was not that of a child. I knew my sister and that was not her. It may have taken her appearance and her voice but that was not her. I want to kill this imposter for making the last thing I see a false image of her. I want to rips its body limb from limb and make them pay. I would not have my last memory of my sister by a fake.

"Hehe, that rage is good," said the figure, "now fight."

The vision fades as I jolt back awake in the basement. My breath ran ragged as I suck in the air. The water had risen significantly while I was out. Footsteps creaked on the floor above me. Someone had come to save me!

"Help me.' I say as loud as I can

The footsteps begin approaching and a wave of relief washes over me. It really was like the movies. Against it all someone does come to save them in the end. I see my savior come into view and something isn't right. Their face looks wrong, lifeless… dead. The person just groans softly and looks me dead in the eyes. Another one approaches with a similar look, these men weren't going to save me, they were going to finish me. They leaned down and began grabbing my legs. They began forcefully pulling me out. But the beam on top of me kept my torso in place. It felt like they were going to rip my legs off. I kicked against them as hard as I could trying to shake them off, but their grip was as strong as a vice. They only barely struggled against my resistance and held tighter. The pain became unbearable and it felt as if my skin began ripping at the seams. The floor began to creak uncontrollably as the struggling continued. Eventually the floor gave way and we tumbled down into the water below. The two men were crushed by the car, one of their hands still fiercely dripping my ankle. I immediately started swimming for the stairs. I wasn't risking dying alongside my family.

The house had been torn to shreds. The whole front of the house and the living room had been torn to shreds by the crash. Outside was littered with more of those strange people. Slowly walking around the street, it was like a scene straight out of a zombie flick. I ran up to my room and flopped under the covers. My eyes started to blur and the tears came pouring. My life had nearly ended and I was ready to depart. But at the last minute I abandoned the thought and held on to life. Why? Everyone I love is dead, what's left for me here, why did I hold on to this life. Why am I still alive? Why do I deserve to live while they lay buried beneath the waves? My mind fell apart at that moment all centered around one idea. I don't deserve to live. What have I done with my life that warrants my living over anyone else. I'm just going to die alone in this hellscape. What reason is there to go on at this point? Maybe that should be my plan. I'll climb up to the roof and leap off, it'll make everything quicker.

But something snapped within me once more. The words that the visage of Eliza said to me 'now fight'. I'd been given another lease on life, a chance to try again. To keep going. But how can I do that, I have nothing left to fight for. I was going to live because I had to survive, but why would I do that when I could just lay down and accept my fate. I was going to find other people and get out of this mess, but what happens if there isn't anyone left. This wasn't the time to roll over and die, it was the time to act. I was going to pack up what I can find and walk out the front door.

I went back downstairs and began grabbing any supplies I could and stuffed them into my bag. But supplies would mean nothing if I had no means of defence, I needed a weapon. My dad had an old sword that he hung above his bed. My uncle got it from an ancient Scottish burial ground years ago and gave it to him as a present. It still hung there to this day. It was quite large, almost as long as myself. Picking it off the wall I realized that it was also much heavier than I thought, maybe twenty or twenty five pounds. But the weight didn't matter, survival was all that mattered. I'd fight whatever came my way, carrying my family with me. I found my fathers favorite tie and wrapped it around the handle, my mothers pearls and put it around the hilt. Lastly was Eliza's bow, fixed to the pommel. It might not mean shit, just a bunch of sentimental mumbo jumbo. But it eased my mind. I felt as though they were still with me in some spiritual way.

Outside was nothing but Them, aimlessly wandering the streets. I proudly stepped out to meet them. Some of them noticed and began walking towards me. I readied the sword and charged them. Despite its age, the blade was still strong as all hell. It didn't cut through them easily, it felt more like I was pushing it through them rather than guiding it. The cut was messy and blood sprayed everywhere from its insides. The blade kept going and clanged off the concrete, the noise attracting more of them. The first one hit the ground, still wriggling around. I drove the blade through its head and the body finally stopped. The others around me continued to approach, it seemed as though they had no concept of fear, but I'd drive it into them. Each one that came I sliced through more effortlessly than the last. The blade became easier and easier to swing with every corpse added to its name. 

They kept coming like an endless wave of monsters. I felt like I was becoming some kind of demon slayer, killing the devils who continuously tried to harass the world of man. They'd taken everything that I held dear, and now I would take the only thing they had left. I would survive this nightmare, I would find other survivors and we would fight back against this scourge. There would be little rest until then. This was my new life now. Surviving without any reason other than to live, fighting without any reason but to live, moving forward without any reason to live.

"Thou who art in heaven, heed my prayers," I say to no one, "my name is Adrianna Davis, and I will survive."