Valyrie: A Resident Evil: VILLAGE OC Fanfiction

To Live and Die

To truly live, something must die. I know it sounds depressing but I truly believe before anyone or anything should get the chance to live again, they must first die and experience what it truly means to face death. I thought of this as I hiked through the forests of some unknown European winter landscape looking around and the mix of decay and growth around me. I even pass by what seems to be a small cemetery with a few tombstones. Maybe it's just nature, but life and death seem to go hand in hand. Maybe you're just morbid. I understand and know that I'm quite a bit different from everyone else. Hell, most of my friends don't even understand a lot of who I am so I'm used to settling for their idea of normality just for their sake. Normal is boring, besides all your friends are weirdos, you just happen to be the biggest, and most confusing one. I pause and sigh, reminding myself that being a weirdo isn't a bad thing. My brain can be pretty cruel to me sometimes, but I have to still learn how to quiet my thoughts and not let then ruin me. Just breathe, and enjoy yourself. I shake my head a bit and silence my intrusive thoughts to focus more on my surroundings. I tread slowly and carefully, examining little things and enjoying the snowfall and winter air. I've always loved winter and nature, and when I was offered the chance to go exploring through some uncharted landscape in January, it sounded almost too good to be true. "C'mon Val, what's taking ya so long!?!", a voice whines irritably. Of course, it was too good to be true since my friend Jackson is here with me. He's the one who invited me to go with him since nobody else would, but he's not here to enjoy this beauty, he's here because of another one of his monster, ghost-hunting gimmicks. Jackson's hobby, (more like obsession) is studying, recording, and catching ghosts, cryptids, and other unknown supernatural beings so that he can become a famously known monster-hunter, or ghost-catcher. It's a silly idea and he constantly gets picked on by the others because of it, hence why I was the only one who agreed to go on this adventure with him. I really don't anticipate us catching anything though and am mostly here to just enjoy myself in the splendid spectacle of snow-covered Europe. I ignore his whining, uninterested in the idea of his ghost-hunting and too immersed with the cool, gorgeous, snow-covered spectacle surrounding us. "VALLL-uh!", Jackson shouts. Having my thoughts shattered once more, I turn to him angrily. He's about 20 steps ahead of me, tapping his foot impatiently. "I'm sorry, am I not allowed to enjoy things?", I scold. He rolls his eyes and says, "Enjoy things on your OWN time, this is MY time right now and quite possibly one of my BIGGEST breaks yet and I can't afford for you to waste my time"! Is he fucking serious?? Trying hard not to lose my cool, I stomp right up to him and growl, "You've never had a break in your life, and you know WHYY, cause every tiny, little, superstitious, nonsense CRAP you claim to catch or prove doesn't exist, WHY IS this, going to be any different"!?! He prods my chest firmly with his finger and exclaims, "Because it DOES exist, there's SOLID PROOF RIGHT HERE, there's bodies, victims of the Beneviento ghost at our target, so just c'mon"! He starts briskly walking away again, pausing only to check his pocket watch. I shake my head in disbelief. "Jackie, you can't be serious!", I yell frantically. "As serious as a heart attack...a quarter til 9...we're almost there, so please just co-operate", he pleads. Unbelievable, just unbelievable. I know that I agreed to come with him knowing he would do this kind of stuff, but he's still being ridiculous. I follow him at his quick pace, tripping and nearly falling over my own feet as I trudge through thick snow and leap over fallen branches. Finally, we stop near the edge of the woods. Jackson is frozen still and holding his hand up cautiously. I stare at him in wild confusion, my eyes darting all around, looking for anything out of the ordinary. "This is it....right here", he whispers. He slowly kneels down and pulls his camera out of his bag. "Great, can I enjoy things now?", I ask. "SHHHH, just be quiet!", he hisses looking around with his camera. Well, that wasn't a no. There's less trees around the area and I see tiny glitters just beyond the trees. Are those lights? I look back towards Jackson to make sure he's not paying any attention to me. He appears to be very focused on a few trees in the absolute opposite direction of where I'm exploring. Good, maybe he won't scream at me for 'disturbing the gHoStS'. I step carefully out into the open space and towards the glittering in the distance. If they are lights, they're a bit far away, and the fog is so thick in the area that I can't see what's causing them or exactly where they're coming from. I squint hard and step closer to the edge. I think that's...is that a house? I thought this area was unknown to man. "Jackson, is there a town or something in the area?", I ask looking even closer. Jackson reluctantly turns away from his camera and towards me. "I don't know...why?", he asks sounding annoyed. I think I can almost see it, just need to get a bit closer. Without watching my footing, I take another step and slip. The rocks under my feet crumble and break apart rapidly as I try to scramble backwards and up.  "VAL, VAL!", Jackson yelps dropping his camera. He lunges over toward me, stumbling over his own feet while hurriedly getting up. I'm slipping and sliding down off this crumbling ledge desperately trying to save myself from a 100% chance of death. I make one final leap back to try to gain solid ground as Jackson rushes to me with open arms, but it's too late. The loose ground gives way and I fall backwards into the fog. Jackson screams out in horror as my body plummets down the cliffside. My entire life flashes before my eyes as I fall and all I can think in this moment is I'm not ready to die. I start to flip and tumble through the air aimlessly as I fall and I have to force myself to at least try to land on my back rather than my head. I feel like I'm getting closer to ground, I need to brace myse- *CRACK, SPLASH* I feel my neck snap forward and my back sting through my clothes as I smash through ice and am swallowed whole into water. I'm not dead...Every noise stops and become drowned out by a piercing ringing. All I can see is a deep red and my head feels like it's on fire. It feels like I've lost total control of my body. Did I speak too soon? I just need to take a few deep breaths, steady myself that's all. I forcefully inhale deeply, then realize I'm still underwater. I start choking immediately. I need to get to the surface, NOW. I swim straight upwards in a blind panic and surprisingly, swim right up through the hole I fell through. Shakily and still choking, I try frantically to pull myself up onto the frozen ice. It's very slippery and I fall back into the water a few times just trying to get a grip. C'mon Val, c'mon! I push hard, leap up out of the water, and flop onto the ice's surface. I look around on the ice and realize there's a  large amount of dark, gooey liquid across the edge of the broken ice and on a large rock next to the ground. Ground, there's ground over there. Though the world still looks a deep dark red, I see the snowy ground just a few feet from the edge of the ice. I crawl rapidly and make it safely onto solid ground. Thank god, I can't believe I survived. My stomach retches violently and I vomit up water, part of my breakfast, and blood, soiling the pristine white snow with my innards. Blood drips off of my face and though I wipe it off with my sleeve, it continues to pour from my nose and mouth. It looks like the same color as the dark ooze on the ice and rock. The ringing in my head gets louder and my face feels like it's melting. I try to stand up but my legs no longer want to function. My hands are trembling so hard that I can't tell how many fingers I have, and my head starts pounding with the deafening ring. I scream to make it all stop. Am I screaming? I must be and yet, there's no sound at all. I feel something grab me off the ground and pull me towards more woods. The world pauses and breaks apart for a moment, and then I'm being dragged into a house. I'm still trying to scream but all I can hear is ringing and pounding. I frantically look around me but I can't move my head. My eyes dart around wildly and catch broken glimpses of a dark-cloaked figure holding me and pulling me around the inside of a house. I see shattered images of dolls, pictures, and simple furniture. The dark red world is getting darker around me with every throb in my head. Surprisingly, there's no pain, I feel completely numb. My thoughts become clouded in darkness as I feel myself being laid down flat on my back. I see the dark-cloaked figure over me now but I can't see any facial features. Is this death? They force some kind of bitter hot liquid down my throat and stab a large needle into my stomach. I try to writhe away and stop them but I can't move anymore. My body is lifeless, there's no strength or feeling left, I can't even close my eyes, and darkness is consuming me quickly. The throbbing and ringing stop and now my mind is silent. A soft, feminine voice whispering, "It's ok, you're going to live", is the last thing I hear before my mind fades into nothing and darkness swallows me whole.