John's Story (Part 1)

This is John's Story- A tale of loyalty, grief and revenge. It features John Braveheart and his family.

It was released on 30.08.2019.

(This story will be told from John's point of view)

## Story

My name is John Braveheart. I'm a 22 year-old man that lives in the town of Duskwood with his family: a Mother, Father and Little Brother.

Our story is a simple one- we lived in peace, doing the things that many human beings do- work, do sports and guard our hometown from hostiles.

However, one day something horrible happened. When me and Dad returned from our daily foraging for Herbs, we found out that someone broke into our house and killed Mom. She was lying on the ground, stabbed in the stomach.

At first Dad tried to perform CPR to see if she's still alive and even tried to give her air to breathe in the mouth-to-mouth way, but I quickly pulled him back.

"Why did you pull me back, Son?"- He asked me, confused- "She might be alive! We might be able to save her!"

I shaked my head and pulled Dad back a little bit more. I knew that a few days ago Mom touched a strange herb after falling down on the grass around the forest. Duskwood's Alchemist told me that the spores are called "Death Thistle"- deadly herb which might revive the person who touched/collected it, about 1 minute after their death.

I was suspicious about the "Revival", so I quietly stood back.

Sure enough, the magic of the herb revived Mom. But she looked... strange.

Her skin was green. And she was emitting strange moaning sounds.

"Maria!"- Dad screamed and approached her- "Are you okay?"

She turned to see him. However, when she did so she slowly stumbled towards him. He tried to hug her, but she tried to bite him.

It was at that moment that i shoved two metal cans between her teeth, preventing her from doing so.

"Dad, stay back! Mom's not a human anymore!"- I yelled at that and he ran to the entrance of our house, afraid of what's happening.

It was crystal clear to me. Mom was now a Zombie.

That's right. I read it in a comic once. Zombies have greenish/gray skin, emit moaning sounds and have the irresistible urge to bite/devour you on sight.

However, back then I did not know how to *truly* kill a Zombie. I tried to stab Mom in the chest. She fell down on her knees. Dad cried out in surprise.

But... in a few moments she was back up, shambling towards me. I quickly grabbed another knife from the Kitchen.

She approached me and tried to bite me, but before she could do so... I stabbed her in the head.

She fell to the ground again, this time never to wake up... ever again.

I knew the solution up until now. Yet... I kind of forgot about it. Maybe it's the stress from her sudden reanimation that prevented me from remembering?

"Did-did you kill her?"- Dad asked me.

I nodded, staring at her. There was now a wound in her chest, from my failed attempt to put her down and in the forehead, after I realized that was where I had to hit to do so, along with her old stomach wound.

"We should leave. Duskwood isn't safe anymore."- I told Dad quietly and started packing my things from my bedroom.

"I... agree. I'll get your Brother then."

However, before he could do so, we heard a wail coming from from nearby.

I listened to the sound and said:

"It's coming from the Bathroom."

I opened the door and found my Little Brother, Matty standing in the left corner of the Bathroom, crying.

"There you are! It's all over now, you can come out."- I said and hugged him.

"A-a scary man came into the house and threatened Mom. Asked for you and Dad. We told him that you were on a foraging quest, but he didn't listen. He pulled out a weapon and started stabbing Mom maniacally in the tummy. I was forced to flee into the Bathroom and lock it so he couldn't get in. I heard Mom's cries of pain and a minute later, they stopped. Then I heard banging on the door and the scary man saying "Open the door, squirt!". I told him to go away, but he didn't stop banging. Eventually the guards came to investigate what happened and he ran out."

"When I heard that you and Dad came back, I unlocked the door and peeked out. I saw Mom, but she was... scary, so I decided to stay in the Bathroom, for safety."

"You did well, LIttle Bro. First rule of the Adventurer is to never fully trust anyone, except for your family"- I responded and then, the three of us came out of the house.

There was a whole team of guards positioned in front of it now. One of them approached us.

"Is this your home?"- He asked us.

We nodded.

"So, the woman that was killed over there was... a member of your family?"

"Indeed. She was my Mom."- I responded, careful not to reveal about her sudden reanimation as the guards probably didn't see that, so they wouldn't believe what I am saying.

"You should probably leave for a while. We will investigate the place and see what we can do to help track the murderer. Take what you need first, though!"

We nodded and went back into the house. Only me and Dad, though. Matty stayed outside with the guards for the time being.

We picked up what we could carry- first, a pair of new Travelpacks (We rarely use those, unless the daily quest involves hunting/foraging), as well as a bunch of goods that we put into our Backpacks- some useful food and drinks, a sword from the Living Room as well as a Rifle for Dad (Since he's a remarkable Marksman. Quite a seasoned one.), a Bow for me and a little Shield for Matty.

Overall, nothing else was useful at the point. The herbs were not going to be useful outside of Town and there wasn't much else in general.

We left the house and took Matty with us. The guards entered the house and we proceeded to the now-unguarded exit.

Suddenly, Dad screamed, startled. Me and Matty looked back.

There was a bloody man, holding Dad and pointing a dagger at his neck.

"If you don't give me yer stuff, Braveheart, I'm gonna kill yer Dad, just like I killed yer Mom!"

This was one mystery solved. This was the man who killed Mom, seemingly unnoticed by the guards. They were too far away now, so I could not call for them and innocent bystanders were watching, shocked at what they were looking at and hearing.

"Unhand me, you murderer! My Son still needs me!"- Dad tried to convince the guy to let him go, but he laughed.

"I killed yer Wife and I ain't afraid to kill YOU! Hehehe."

I tried to talk to him, but Matty did so first.

He said: " You're a monster! MONSTER!"

The guy looked at him and smiled.

"Oh, am I now? Well, I'll be more of a monster when I kill your Dad!"

He tried to slit Dad's neck, but before he could do so I screamed: "NO!!!" and shot an arrow I had prepared on my bow just in case at the guy.

**BAM!** It struck him right in the neck.

He started to choke. I started to choke him further as Dad fell from his grasp.

"**YOU MURDERER! WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?! ANSWER ME NOW!**"

"Y-you're never gonna find out, Hero..."- He responded.

I started to choke him even further and while doing so, something fell out of his pocket.

It was a scroll.

I told Matty to pick it up. He did so, opened it and read it out loud.

"This is G. Don't fail your quest to kill the whole Braveheart family, or you'll shame the name of the Darkness of Duskwood gang. We count on you. Don't let us down."

"Darkness of Duskwood, huh?! **YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY MOM, ALL OF YOU!**"

"Ne... ver."- The guy responded, barely breathing because of my tight grip over his throat. "Darkness of Duskwood... will never... die.

Then he succumbed to my tight grip. I threw him to the ground.

"We shall fight them. What happened today will not go unanswered!"- I said.

Dad and Matty nodded.

The residents looked at the man, angry about what was happening.

One of the priests tried to take him to a burial mound. I tried to warn him about the risk of reanimation, but he didn't listen. Suddenly, he reanimated, as to prove my words and sinked his teeth into the Priest's throat.

He stood back, mortally wounded from the bite as the zombified man approached him. We and the residents watched the whole thing happening, too shocked to do anything.

Suddenly, the shell of a man fell to the ground, face-down. I looked at him- a bolt was present at the back of his head.

The bleeding man also fell to the ground, dead with a bolt in the head as well.

It was at that moment that we noticed Captain Wright and his men approaching us.

"Sorry about what happened."- He said to me- "We tried to do what we could, but we couldn't find the killer.

"It's this guy."- I responded, crying- "He killed Mom."

"Really?"- The man said while looking at him. "Well, now he's dead. And Thank Goodness, he could have killed you three as well, if he was given a chance.

"No doubt."- I said- "But... why did you shoot the other man in the head as well? He wasn't a Zombie, unlike this guy!"

"Well, it's complicated, but I'll explain. If you get bitten by one of those things, there is only one way to save yourself- by amputating the bitten part of the body. But it only works with arms and legs- If it's anywhere else- You are Dead Meat."

"And you can die and reanimate from the bite, pretty quickly. So that's why I shot *both* of them. the guy- to put down and the priest- to prevent Reanimation."

I nodded.

"But now it's time for you three to leave. But, before you go... "

The Captain handed me his Handgun and a lot of ammo. Guns were very rare in our hometown and only the Captain and his men were trusted with them.

"But, Captain! This is your weapon!"- Dad exclaimed.

"Heh. Don't you worry, Mr. Braveheart! I got another one right here."- He patted his hip where another Handgun was hanging.

"Now you have weapons, ammo, food (I hope). So, farewell and find a temporary place around the town. We'll contact you soon when the search for more hidden members of the Darkness of Duskwood gang are found and exterminated."

"How do you know that?"- I asked the Captain.

"Well, the fella was suspicious, Very suspicious. Talking about Darkness and stuff like that, so I figured he might be from that gang. It wasn't until now that I was 100% sure of that."

"Well then. Farewell, Captain! Farewell, citizens of Duskwood!"

"Farewell!"- All of them responded as we were leaving.

Well, I guess we had to find a new place to sleep for a few days. Let's see if we can arrange that to happen.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***(Continued in Part 2!)***

## Deaths

* John and Matty's Mom *(Alive, Off-Screen, Zombified)*
* Unnamed Murderer *(Alive and Zombified)*
* Unnamed Priest *(Alive, Before Reanimation)*