Dark red puddles littered the floor, accompanied by multiple foot prints from many different shoes. Various limbs ranging from arms to legs scattered the ground, arranged like random sprinkles among the various decaying bodies that have either been shot relentlessly or stabbed brutally, all from a single BSAA soldier.
Chris, with his hands temporarily vacant, had grabbed ahold of the undead man in front of him, scooping him from the ground and into the air. He threw the body over, causing his victim to collide head first into the ground, hearing the somewhat satisfying crunch of his skull and neck collapsing from the harsh pressure.
While the plaguing worry that these zombies once used to be people left his mind long ago, Chris couldn't be helped to recall it once in a while. The body count had lingered too high, and their was nothing he could do but to bring these innocent corpses peace by releasing them from their puppet flesh eating cages.
He turned fast, seeing his assault rifle jammed into the chest of a lingering undead man. He yanked it out fast, using the weapon itself to slam down against his head like a large hammer, witnessing the splatter of blood and brain matter. From there, Chris quickly reloaded a new magazine into his rifle before firing at the rest of the approaching corpses before they had a chance to touch him.
The loud screeching of tires grabbed your attention, the sound although slightly muffled from your hands over your ears, was a completely random one for sure.
You had been left hiding in the small space for a good few minutes, your hearing quickly succumbing to the relentless piercing echoes of bullets shooting through the walking corpses. It made your ears ring, forcing you to cover them the best you could. Your knees trembled from lingering pains that shot through your body once in a while, having you lean against the wall to relieve the tension, which eventually led to you sliding down slowly to the floor with eyes closed, unable to watch the sight of zombies and splashes of blood any longer.
Once the screeching tires were heard, you were left staring at the dark stained wall in front of you with surprise. You removed your hands slowly, listening closely as the rapid gunfire from the assault rifle was replaced with a more notable fire of a handgun, and a rumbling engine.
Shortly after, the shots stopped, and so did the broken groans of any zombies. You turned your head to stare at the hallway, keeping quiet as you listened for any sound, wondering if it was safe.
"Leon." Chris approached the man as he got off the motorcycle, seeing his handgun still in hand.
"Sorry I'm late," Leon approached the man, gesturing his head slightly behind him where he had arrived, "Had to take the stairs."
An audible clatter caused both men to turn and aim their weapons instinctively, neither of them preparing for the sight they were expecting at all.
From an opening where Chris had suspected the undead had arrived from, he saw a woman on hands and knees in the middle of the hallway floor, immediately suspecting that he had missed one. However, quickly recognizing the woman's features caused him to grow shocked.
With Leon, he recognized you right on the spot, even when you weren't looking at him. His heart began to beat quicker, sounding like heavy drums in his head. He found himself momentarily struggling with his throat constricting, preventing him from calling your name for a moment as his body rode through the wave of shock.
He exhaled slowly through his nose, lowering his gun as he watched you struggle to stand, worrying immediately at the sight of the blood that stained your white shirt, your cheek and temple. He was immediately glad that you were alive, but was concerned if you were wounded.
"(Y/N)." Leon spoke out, taking a step forward at first, only to be stopped when Chris grabbed ahold of his right arm rather hard.
Leon looked back at the man in question, seeing Chris not meeting his gaze at all. His gaze was frozen on you, his eyes stern with shock.
"What?" Leon spat, yanking his arm out of the man's hold. Chris didn't even acknowledge Leon's question, feeling his own heart clench almost painfully at the sight of you.
"Look." He responded, moving his head slowly to show Leon to look at you.
You finally managed to stand onto your two feet again, your hands stained in blood that wasn't your own.
Hearing the second stranger call your name made you almost forget that you had one, but hearing it from him almost sounded comforting, but you couldn't pin point why.
Once you turned, you didn't realize that you had confirmed Chris' suspicions on the scarab on your chest.
"What the hell is that thing?" Leon breathed out, the horror flooding his entire body at the sight of it, from the thick wires that dug underneath your skin, to the amounts of dried blood around it.
"I don't know," Chris admitted, never caring to learn its proper name, "But I've seen it before, and I know what it does."
"What does it do?" Leon asked, unable to take his eyes off of you, all while your attention was on Chris, trying to piece together why he looked so familiar in your mind.
"It's like a mind controlling device," Chris tried to explain, recalling the events of when he had to yank it off of Jill, and how much agony it brought the both of them. "But it's different, it uses a sort of shock therapy."
"Shock therapy??" Leon yelled out, growing more horrified by the description he was giving. "The shit they do to brainwash people?!"
Brainwash? Your breathing got caught in your throat. You brought your attention over to the man who said so, whose voice, despite panicked, brought a strange comfort over your mind and body.
You knew these men, both of them. But for some reason, your attention stuck towards Leon, unsure why you couldn't tear your gaze away.
Something about him. What is it? I know you, but where have I.. I have seen you. I do know you, do I? I do! You... you.
"You." You spoke, your tone low and cold. Your hand raised your gun immediately, your finger on the trigger as you pointed it towards Leon.
Leon cursed mentally at your response, realizing why you not only pointed a gun at him, but had a murderous look in your eyes. Despite the possible danger, he refused to point his weapon towards you. Chris also refused, but that didn't stop him from keeping his finger on the trigger.
"I'm angry at you," You stated, your finger refusing to leave the trigger despite your struggling confusion behind all of your anger. Just staring at him at this point made your chest burn painfully with rage, even when you didn't want it to. It didn't feel right to be angry at him, but at the same time, it did.
"(Y/N)." Leon spoke slowly, taking a step forward slowly. He raised his free hand slowly, showing he meant no harm. "I'm gonna need you to put the gun down-"
"No," you replied, shaking your head a bit, "No, I'm not. I need you to answer me. I'm angry at you because... You hurt me, why did you hurt me??"
Leon winced slightly, realizing what Chris meant about the shiny scarab on your chest. You must've put up a hell of a fight to be shocked multiple times, which resulted in your mind being broken down and your memories to get scattered, leaving you as the confused remnants of his wife.
"I did hurt you," He slowly admitted with a solemn tone, feeling his own chest ache from the pain he had caused, and he never suspected it would turn out like this. "I did, and I regret it terribly. But right now I need to help you, so put the gun down." He took yet another step forward, staring into your eyes as you continued to aim your gun.
"You can't help me," you replied, exhaling quickly as you shook your head, "You can't. I-I have to go find Rebecca, I have to go help her before it's too late."
"Rebecca??" Chris broke his silence immediately, "Where is she??"
"Chris." Leon looked back at him, seeing the soldier step forward fast.
"Rebecca's running out of time," Chris insisted, ignoring the man's glare to meet your gaze, "(Y/N), we need to find Rebecca fast. Where is she?"
When you've recovered, you will find me. Glenn's words echoed throughout your mind, realizing that you were ignoring what you were supposed to do. For all you knew, he could be watching you right now, preparing another shock to antagonize you with.
And try not to start a fight with anyone else. At this rate, I don't have time for casualties.
You shut your mouth, lowering your gun slowly in a manner that confused both men that stared at you.
Ding!
The sound echoed throughout the hallway, followed by the audible creaks of the second doors opening, letting you know what was coming.
I'm so sorry. You wish you could've said to both strangers.
Various frantic footsteps ran past you, broken croaks turning into horrible screams. Every single undead completely avoided your body, their bent and broken hands reaching out towards both men who quickly aimed their weapons, firing at the closest ones.
You watched Chris dodge and step away, distancing himself from Leon to prevent him from accidentally getting shot. Leon was currently lost in his own swarm of undead, attempting to make a path towards you by shooting every single on in the head, attempting to make it quick.
Seeing them distracted, you immediately took your chance to run, despite Leon's failed attempts to call out towards you, your name lost to the undead screams and various gunfire.
The sunset cast a warm orange glow throughout the various buildings down below, as if the sun was bathing everything it touched in pure hot fire.
The air was occupied with the sounds of endless police sirens, crashing vehicles, and various explosions. The smell of smoke was rather pungent as Arias approached the glass fence slowly, bringing himself to view the city down below.
He brought his hands to rest on the metal rails, viewing the way each tower of smoke had its individual size and length, reaching high into the skies as the pops of explosions and crashes reminded him of fireworks. The chaos was exhilarating and exciting, but Glenn couldn't help but detect a hint of melancholy lingering in his mind.
While in his somewhat blissful yet downcast state, he could detect the slow footsteps of who he suspected to show up behind him. The woman stopped right beside him, her attention frozen on the sight of a chaotic New York City.
"Maybe this is what I've always wanted," Glenn began to speak, feeling like he was speaking to himself, but he was also aware that you were listening.
"A world in flames, where only the dead remain." He concluded slowly, taking in the silence while you were frozen on the sight, unsure what to feel about this.
You've seen chaos before, you knew that. You've ran through it's streets and killed and double crossed all the enemies you were thrown all of your life. However, seeing the view of New York in destruction made your heart ache, feeling like it was crumbling in your chest before falling deep down into the pit of your stomach.
Why? You thought while feeling unable to tear your gaze away. Why.. why do I continue to fight for so many lives, when all that occurs is more people wanting to destroy it?
Why do I always have to watch the world burn?
"(Y/N)," Glenn spoke slowly, getting your attention just enough to tear your gaze away from the view, looking over at him to see him still focused on it.
"Please, tell me what you're thinking."
The scarab didn't glow, which in turn surprised you a little. You brought your gaze down to your bloodied hands on the rails, wondering what you could even say. Your thoughts were scattered, your body still ached with pain, and your ears were agonizingly taking in all the sounds of explosions and police sirens.
Rebecca. Her name popped into your head.
She was still here, but she wasn't with Arias. She was here somewhere, and something was happening to her. You struggled to piece together an idea, any idea really, to get Rebecca out of her situation and get her saved and away from Arias' clutches completely.
If it would save Rebecca from the pain of what Arias planned to do, you convinced yourself that you would do anything to save Rebecca, and make sure she would survive.
Even if it meant taking her place.
"I was thinking.. of earlier, back in the wedding room." You slowly started talking, folding your hands together slowly as you traced the crooked and blotchy blood patterns all over your fingers, allowing your strange natural form of acting to commence.
Glenn was silent, waiting for you to speak more as he grew a bit curious. You exhaled slowly, lowering your head more as you bit your lip for a moment while in thought of what to say next.
"And?" He asked slowly.
"And," you repeated, trying to remember what to say, "Just.. what you had told me back there, it hasn't left my mind since. Despite all that's happened."
Glenn turned his head to look at you, taking your avoidance of eye contact as a sign of shyness, and nervousness if he may add. He found himself recalling what he said to you when you were decorating the guest tables, the way you looked at him with your broken eyes, seeing them slowly mending and flooding with hope as he told you his honest words that came from the heart.
"I see," he said, looking down to your folded bloodied hands, recalling when he pointed out your missing wedding ring.
"Do you believe what I said to be true, (Y/N)?" He asked slowly.
"I did." You replied in a soft tone. You let out a small huff, shaking your head a little. "At first... I refused to believe you were being serious."
"You shouldn't have," Glenn spoke, looking back at you, "I was being serious. Every word."
You head slowly lifted, meeting his gaze as his met yours. The light from the sunset grew more concentrated, reflecting against your hair and turning your eyes into a brilliant shining copper color. He couldn't bring himself to look away from them, making him distracted enough from the burning world that he created.
"You were?" You asked softly, Glenn detecting the hopeful tone in your voice he found himself liking.
His hands left the railings, standing proper as he approached you. His actions forced you to copy him, facing him fully as he looked down at you.
"I find it incredibly hard to lie to someone to doesn't deserve to be lied to," he explained, "In this case, every single word I said to you was true (Y/N). If I was your husband, I would never abandon you, I would never lie to you."
He found himself bringing his right hand to your cheek, his gloved thumb gently caressing the line of your cheek bone. If only he wasn't wearing gloves, he would feel the true warmth of your skin, to enjoy the softness of it underneath his calloused thumb.
"Did you mean it when you said I deserved the world?" You whispered, looking into his eyes with glimmers of hope in them. Your hand raised up to hold onto his hand, slipping your fingertips to hold onto it.
The corner of his lip curved slightly to show his smile, feeling his heart swell in a way he hasn't felt in a very long time.
"Of course I did." He replied slowly, seeing a smile beginning to spread across your face.
Glenn slowly leaned closer, seeing your smile slowly disappear and your eyes cloud with curiosity. He didn't care for that at the moment, but what he did care for the slow, gentle contact of his lips against your own. His heart throbbed wonderfully at the feeling of how soft your lips were, like kissing the most softest, silkiest rose petals.
He felt your hand gently squeeze his, your lips slowly melding with his in the process. It was enough to forget about the burning world right beside them, to forget the pain he had been in for so long while waiting for his ultimate revenge.
He found himself indulging into the kiss a little quickly, his other hand slowly finding itself around you, pressing you gently against his form.
And while Glenn had finally succeeded in achieving what he had truly always wanted with the world, their was a brand new idea that popped into his head, one that was enough for him to slowly pull away from the kiss, slowly resting his forehead against yours as he slowly exhaled, feeling your hand continue to squeeze his gently.
In the end, he knew he would never get Sarah back into his life, regardless of many countless experiments he would do with what's left of her to achieve so. If he were to successfully secure her arm to a new woman, it would only remind him of how small and soft her touch was, but it would never bring back her smile or her laugh. The more time that had passed, the more he had forgotten what it was like to wake up next to her every morning and be greeted with her lovely smile.
Now, with his success pungent in the air, he felt like he was gifted something incredible from his late wife, which he believed was you.
Your personality reminded him of Sarah. Your determination, your ambition, your hope for a better world and ways to help it, even your smile reminded him of her, in better ways than Rebecca ever could, despite their similar features.
He felt like this was a sign from Sarah herself, to not only seek someone new, but to clarify that she would always watch over him and be by his side, even in the form of someone new yet someone so similar.
And that person in his eyes, was you.
"Marry me." He murmured softly, feeling his hand cradling your cheek get squeezed almost a bit hard.