Chapter 32: A Bird in a Cage

“Is there a problem with the party name? It’s either this party or no party at all” The one-eyed man sneered.

“Fine!” I said. “Accept Invite.”

Daria Swann has joined Daria Sucks Ass Party.

The man laughed at me as we created the party. If he wasn’t that strong, I would have strangled him already. I was well aware that I won’t survive for long if I don’t stick with him, but this man kept mocking me since I failed to seduce him. I realized that I shouldn’t have tried seducing him, but I didn’t know that would fail miserably. How else would I know that this man was immune to charm?

“Oh, and by the way, do you have any notebooks?” He asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “What do you need them for?”

“My journal.”

“Journal? Like a diary or something?”

“Yes, like a diary.” He replied as he rolled his eyes in annoyance. I mean, eye. Singular. “Anyway, you should rest. I’ll take the watch for tonight.”

“No, you should go to rest.” I said. “I’ll take the watch.”

“Remind me again. What’s the second rule?” He put his hand behind his ears.

“I will obey you. No questions asked.” I responded.

“Then off you go.” The man said as he sat on the couch. “Besides, I don’t want you dozing off while we’re travelling. I got enough problems of my own.”

“Fine.”

And so I went upstairs and slept in a bed next to Asharra.

Only a while ago, I’ve learned his name: Miguel. Like most Asians, he’s smaller than me; he’s probably a 5’6” and I’m a 6’2”. To put our height difference into a perspective, he stood only up to my chin. Even though he was small, he was a bit stout and his posture was full of confidence. However, he was too ugly for my taste.

His face looked like he would eat a heart raw. Just Imagine the most savage Neanderthal man and that would be him. He had a messed up full beard, an eye patch and burnt half face. Maybe losing some weight and a serious makeover and throw in boat loads of plastic surgery would improve his looks. Even with his terrifying looks, somehow, I felt comfortable around him. For the first time, ever since the beginning of the apocalypse, I felt safe.

One reason why I can tolerate his attitude was that he was basically harmless. He was all talk and his mouth would go off and throw insults without a break. Even so, his words don’t match with his actions. You can easily tell that he was one of the rare people left in this post-apocalyptic Earth; people who would help others without a second thought.

The story I told him was mostly lies. The only true about it was that Jen and I were stuck in a hotel and we encountered a non-human survivor group. I didn’t tell him that I’ve already killed people before we met.

When the blue screens appeared, Erica, my manager, and all of my friends suddenly fell unconscious to the ground. I didn’t get to read most the message because I was in panic. I tried to revive them, but they mysteriously died on the spot. I tried to call for help and dialed 911 and realized that my phone wasn’t working. I came out of my room only to find everyone dead. Except for a handful of guests and hotel employees.

I heard from the other survivors that there were monsters outside the hotel. I didn’t believe at first, but when I saw one of the monsters almost broke down the door, I was scared and we decided to stay at the hotel to wait for the rescue. That was when I met Jenny. She was a receptionist working for the hotel.

Jenny was one of the many who claimed to be a fan. She was a bit annoying. She seemed to be oblivious about what was happening around and kept on talking to me. Most of the hotel employees hated me for some reason, especially the men. I was a mean person and I admit that, but I don’t think I deserve their hatred.

Whenever I watched zombie movies, I refused to believe that society would crumble in an instant and I didn’t believe the people would immediately drop their sense of morality like a hot potato when there are no more laws in place. That’s because people tend to desire order than anarchy and they would want to hold on to what makes them human. At least in the beginning. But then, I was wrong.

Just after two days, most of the male hotel employees decided that they wanted a piece of me. Their reason? There was nobody around who can stop them and there were six of them. There were no police, no phones and by the time, it was over, they would kill us and blame everything to the monsters. They dragged me away by my hair in front of everyone and proceeded to tear off my clothes. Jenny and one of the male guests tried their best to protect me, but the bastards killed the guests and they stripped off Jenny’s clothes too.

Jenny and I were gang raped. One after another, they passed us around like we were living sex toys. They just laughed at us when Jen and I tried to fight back. We were weak and they were much stronger than us and we were outnumbered. They bound us with a rope and lock us in an empty storage room without windows after they finish, so that they can rape us again tomorrow.

That hell continued for three days straight. Trust me when I say that it was the most degrading moment of my life. I felt like a crippled bird inside a cage. I was almost broken and I wished they’d just kill me and end my suffering. At that time, I pretty much gave up on myself and accepted it. They would kill me after this and that was my wish. But Jenny, she never lost her will to fight back. Every night, she planned our escape. She told me the hundred ways of how she wanted those monsters be killed. We no longer saw them as people.

Luck seemed to be on our side on the fourth day. While the bastards were fucking us like dogs in the dining area, the monsters broke down the hotel entrance door and killed two of them before they had time to react. The rest of them managed to barricade the door in the dining area and pushed back the monsters. That was their last mistake.

They seemed to forget about us and while they were busy holding out the door, Jenny and I picked up any weapons we could find. She got a knife while I took the fire axe from one of them. When the barricades held, Jenny stabbed one on the back. Using the fire axe I picked up, I chopped the head of one of the rapists. The other one tried to fight back, but thankfully, I killed him too.

The leader of the rapists was the only one left. He was too shocked that his friends died in a matter of seconds and he just froze in a corner like a coward. He fell to his knees and tried to beg us to let him live as I hacked one of his legs. Obviously, Jenny and I weren’t in the forgiving mood. It was far too late for that and there was no point in begging, not after what they did to us.

As much as we wanted him to suffer more, the monsters broke in again and destroyed the barricade. We had no choice, but to leave him to die. We used him as a distraction for the monsters as we ran for our lives. It was a shame really. We planned to castrate him and make him suffer for long, but we never had a satisfying revenge.

One thing that worried us was that the guys who raped us repeatedly could’ve gotten us pregnant. We didn’t have a pregnancy test kit and we kept looking for a drugstore, but we were out of luck. We hoped that we’d have our period. If one of those monkeys managed to put a child inside me, I’ll give birth to it, so that I could drown it.

We looted everything we could use and when we left the hotel, we encountered another group of survivors. They weren’t humans. Those with long pointed ears called themselves Elves while the other who has animal tails and ears were called Beastmen. They were decent people and they were curious about us as much as we were curious about them.

They had women and children with them, so we didn’t worry too much. They said that they didn’t come from Earth and they were starving because they couldn’t find anything to eat in the strange world we were living in, so we helped them loot food and other necessities in the nearby stores. I also learned from them the existence of magic and that all of us had skills.

I learned that I had a skill called [Lullaby] which will make everyone who hears my voice to fall asleep. I was angry at myself because it was too late when I learned about it. [Lullaby] only works on people who are tired or exhausted. The more people listening to my voice, the lower the chance of making them fall asleep.

Jenny led the group and said that we would be safe in a nearby military base in Quezon City. But then, Jenny and I made a promise to each other that we won’t trust anyone, but ourselves and we will do everything to survive. I also made a promise to myself that I will not become helpless and weak. I resolved to be strong.

And so we did everything to survive. We used the group as meat shields against the monsters and slowly but surely, I realized that I turned into a cold monster when we used the children to save ourselves. In the end, Jenny and I were the only survivors when we reached Pasig. We couldn’t sleep at night. I still can’t.

The reason why I broke down in tears when I told Miguel my story was because I was gang raped and I used other people to survive. Telling him the truth wouldn’t help my case and he’ll probably won’t believe me and perhaps, he’ll be disgusted by me. He would think that I was weak and he’ll get an idea and take advantage of me. I just can’t let that happen.

And yes, Jenny and I planned to use Asharra as a distraction when the time comes and if necessary, I would sacrifice Miguel if it means I could save myself. I tried to seduce him because I wanted to gain his trust quickly. In this world, we all did questionable acts to survive. That was my justification for my actions. I was so glad that I convinced him and I will use him, so I can be strong.

The next morning, Miguel told me about his plan to go east, which was the opposite direction of Camp Ah-gee-whatever military base. He planned to see his family who wrote a message on the wall of their house. Apparently, they were still alive. I wasn’t thrilled about his plan, but at least he was willing to share his EXP points with me.

Before we took off, he reminded me and Asharra the rules. First, if he runs, I will also run. If one of us fell behind will be left behind. No honor amongst thieves; I get that. Second, we will obey him, no questions asked. Third, don’t take things without his permission.

Like I said before, I would do anything to survive. Even if he ordered me to suck his dick, I would do it and swallow every drop of it without hesitation as long as I stay alive. Of course, I would kill him after he loses his usefulness to me if he does it. Luckily, he was one of the haters that I like the most. He hated me because of my songs and probably because I’m a white American and not because I’m a woman. Well, you know, like many Asians, they hated Americans. He never looked at me with lust and I believed him when he said that he didn’t want to have sex with me.

As we went on the way and found clues to his family’s whereabouts, he was almost killed by a zombie and even though I tried to save him, I couldn’t do much damage because I was still weak. He managed to save himself and thanked me. I think he was beginning to soften up and trust me for a bit. I leveled up multiple times and I put the points I earned to STR and VIT like he suggested.

A few minutes after the incident, something happened that made him snap. He was frantic with worry and screamed ‘Daniel’ over and over again. He ran away from us and killed a group of zombies as he repeatedly crushes them with a huge rock. I knew it was too good to be true. I realized that he was a nutjob.

His screams attracted the zombies around us and he just froze. I slapped him as hard as I could three times before he snapped out of his delusions. I was shocked when he showed his true power. I estimated that there were at least hundreds of zombies charging at us, but he easily burned all the zombies around us into a crisp with his magic. I leveled up twice after he killed most of the monsters.

A huge monster suddenly appeared and chased us, but again, Miguel found a way to kill the seemingly invincible monster with ease. After that, he fell down to the ground and sobbed. I was furious that he almost got me killed, so I put all of my points to STR. When I was about to kill him, he looked at me in the eyes and said sorry. I didn’t know how I restrained myself, but there was something in my mind that tells me that there was something terribly wrong with him.

I let it slide for now and helped him get up. Fortunately, that little accident made us clear most of the zombies. I assisted him because he was too weak to walk after he used too much of his magic. I led him and Asharra to an apartment and stayed there for the night.

“Do you have some food?” I asked as he took two pieces of charred steak and gave it to me.

Usually, I prefer vegetables because I’m a vegetarian. I still eat meat occasionally whenever I craved it, but now that you can’t find food everywhere, anything edible was as good as gold.

“How about you?” I asked.

“I’m not hungry.”

Miguel proved that he was more useful to me alive than dead. So I had to take care of him. I gave one piece of meat to Asharra and I tore mine in half and handed it to him. “You should eat.”

He shook his head. “I have more in my inventory.”

“Did you take your medication?”

I thought he was crazy, so it was a fair question. I’ve seen these kind of people before and the reason they were delusional was because they often forget to drink their medicine.

“I’m not crazy.”

“Of course.”

But then, I remembered something. Miguel mentioned a name when he was hallucinating. I think it was Daniel or something. Who was he?

“Who’s Daniel?” I asked. “Come on, talk to me. I’ll listen.”

“He’s my son.” Miguel sobbed.

“How old was he?”

“Three… Look, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

I realized that he was a broken person like me. Nothing hurts more than to lose your own children. There was a saying that no parent should have to bury their child. He probably saw how his son died with his own eyes. All this time, I acted like I was the only one who suffered in this disaster and became oblivious to others’ suffering. I was raped and those rapists were dead and I already got my revenge. However, Miguel had no one to blame for his son’s death and he probably blamed himself for it.

“I have family back in the states. Now that nothing works, I don’t know if I would see them again. It’s okay. We all lost someone. You should rest.” I said as I tried to console him for his loss.

“I don’t want to sleep.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll take the watch.”

Miguel tried his best to refuse, but he was too weak. I told Asharra to go to the other room because I didn’t want her to be affected by my skill. I used my skill [Lullaby] as he slept with his head in my lap. I let Asharra play with the toys we looted in Miguel’s house for a while before I put her to sleep too. I tried to keep myself awake to make sure that no monsters would attack us while they sleep.

When they woke up the next morning, I realized that I fell asleep too. I thought Miguel would be angry for my carelessness, but his mood seemed to improve and he was nicer to me after a whole night’s sleep. I was thinking that maybe his grumpy and irritable attitude was caused by lack of sleep. He even spoiled Asharra by carrying her on his shoulders and treated her like she was his own daughter. He must’ve really missed Daniel.

However, his mood didn’t last for long. Miguel ordered me to kill the zombies by my own while he and Asharra continued to talk. I voiced out my complaint, but he told me that if I wanted to be stronger, I shouldn’t depend only on stats and level and I should have battle experience or whatever. At least he promised to help me when necessary. I was a bit irritated when he was casually asking question about elves.

A couple of hours later since we passed a bridge, Miguel ordered us to stop as he scanned our surroundings.

“What is it?” I asked as we hid behind a truck.

“Too many zombies.” Miguel said as he pointed at the horde.

There were at least a couple of hundreds of zombies walking aimlessly along the road. Behind them was Home Depot, a hardware store. Miguel pointed out that it was strange that the zombies gathered near the building and they seemed drawn to it.

“So- should we kill them?” I asked.

I didn’t mind getting my hands dirty. More EXP points, the better. I was confident that we could finish all of those zombies with ease since Miguel was a wizard. He’ll be able to kill most of them and besides, he can cure me of the zombie virus if I ever get bitten.

“Hey.” I slightly tapped him on the back. “Are you okay?”

Miguel stood up and stared at the horde. He was doing it again. Like they said, you shouldn’t trust your life with crazies because you’ll end up in a shallow grave. I was afraid that he was going to be delusional again as I tried to call his attention. I pulled his arm and tried to get him to come down.

“Papa…” Asharra went closer to Miguel and held his hand. “I love you, Papa.”

“Papa?” I was confused. I get that Miguel spoiled her a little bit, but Asharra only met him yesterday and now, she calls him ‘Papa’.

“I love you too, Danielle.” Miguel replied as he smiled.

“We’re home.” Asharra let out a grin.

“Come on, Mama’s waiting for us.” Miguel said as the two of them walked towards the horde.

“Wait!” I shouted. “What are you doing?”

I tried to stop them and pulled them away from the horde. Suddenly, I felt a chill that ran down in my spine. I looked at Asharra and she was glaring at me while flashing a vicious grin. I didn’t understand why, but I was frozen in fear. I felt like I shouldn’t interfere and Asharra would kill me in an instant If I did.

“Leave Party.” She said.

Asharra left Daria Sucks Ass Party.

There was something in her that I couldn’t explain. Something sinister. Ever since Jenny and I found her, I was doubtful of her. We passed an area full of slimes, monsters made out of acidic liquid that can melt anything it touch. Jenny and I managed to survive by walking slowly and as quiet as possible. When we found Asharra crying over her supposedly mother’s corpse, Jenny decided that we take her with us.

I should have doubted her more. We were convinced by Asharra’s story that a ‘bad person’ killed her mother and ran away. And that they were slaves in their world. We’ve seen how the slimes took out their prey and they leave nothing behind. Not even a drop of blood or a piece of bone. There were no corpses in the area and yet, Asharra’s mother still had a corpse. Even more so, Asharra made it out alive. When we took her, I looked back and noticed that the body was gone. I dismissed my suspicion, thinking that maybe the slimes finally ate her body. But now, I didn’t think that Asharra’s mother even existed in the first place.

With their hands held together, they walked towards the building. I stood there watching the whole thing as my body was still paralyzed in fear. The zombies already noticed them, but they were unharmed. However, the zombies suddenly turned their heads towards me. I felt that I could move my body again, so I did what a sane person would do. I ran away.

“Leave Party” I muttered.

Of course, the zombies chased me, but on my first eight levels, I put all my points in AGI, so I easily outran them. It was strange that they stopped chasing me and, presumably, they ran back towards the hardware store. No matter. At least I made it out alive. I didn’t really care about what happened to Miguel after I ran away. All I cared about was my own life. I was content and I already felt stronger when I killed the zombies on the way with ease. Even though our meeting was cut short, I won’t miss Miguel and he served his purpose.

You left Daria Sucks Ass Party. Daria Sucks Ass Party was disbanded.

Now that I knew where the military base was, I planned to go west and I would try to find a map along the way. It was already getting dark and I needed to find shelter for the night. I was hungry from all the running and killing zombies. Sadly, I couldn’t find any food on the way and all of the stores and houses I passed were already looted. I didn’t eat that night.

I thought it was going to be easier, now that I was level 16. When I left Miguel, I noticed that I was getting lower EXP points per kill. Not to mention that he was my source of food and I was starving. He was also my source of clean water, which was a necessity for survival. I felt dumb when I realized that I still needed him and I didn’t even try to snap him out of his delusion like I did the first time, but then, I remembered the fear I felt when Asharra stared at me. Whatever she was, I knew in my mind that I did the right thing.

I was getting weak from starvation. Two days have already passed since I last ate. I put fresh rotten blood on my cloak to avoid the zombies. I was also thirsty and I couldn’t find clean water. I saw a gas station from a distance. My adrenaline immediately kicked in for a promise of food and water.

I was disappointed when I saw that it was already looted. The only thing that was left was a bag of spicy chips, but at least I found a water container on the restroom filled with water. I didn’t know if it was safe to drink, but I didn’t care. I was thirsty and I needed to eat the spicy chips to survive. I decided to stay at the gas station for the night. There were a few zombies outside and fortunately, they weren’t bothering me.

Suddenly, I heard a thud. I took a peek from the glass window to see what it was. The zombies fell down to the ground one by one as they were shot with arrows in their head. I didn’t know who it was and I couldn’t see him. I quickly hid and hoped that he wouldn’t find me.

I heard the sound of a bell as the unknown person entered the gas station. I looked at the door, but there was no one. I looked around to make sure I was alone as I gripped my fire axe tightly. I slowly crawled towards the door and closed it.

“Drop your axe.” A voice said as she drew her bow. “Turn around slowly.”

I sighed in relief as I learned that it was a girl’s voice. At least I won’t get raped again. I dropped my axe and turned around to face her. It was too dark and I couldn’t see her face clearly. “Daria Swann?”

“Yes?”

The little girl lowered her bow and stored her arrow back into her quiver. She offered me a hand and helped me stand up.

“Oh my god! I can’t believe it! You really are Daria Swann, aren’t you?” The girl said with excitement.

“Yes, I’m Daria.” I nodded. “And you?”

“Dianne.” She said as she shook my hand. “I’m a huge fan!”

One thing I hated more than haters were those who claim to be my huge fans. They’re obnoxious and they love to give you annoying and useless garbage as ‘gifts’. If you stand in the middle of them, they will rip you apart limb from limb because they ‘love’ you so much. Sometimes, I envy Randy Blythe for getting away after he killed one of his fans. [1] I HATE my fans. I hope they all fucking die.

I used [Observe] on her as I picked up my axe. I was planning to kill her and I hoped that she had food in her inventory after I looted her corpse.

Player: Dianne

Race: Human

Level: 23

Party: Boston Tea Party

Faction: N/A

I didn’t know if I could kill her with her level, but I wanted to try. I was only level 16 at that time and I was weak from starvation and desperate. When she turned her back from me, I raised my axe and…

“Oh, wait a minute. I’ll call the others.” Dianne said.

Shit! There were others? Fuck!

I immediately lowered my axe as I heard footsteps outside. Her party had torches with them and had the same zombie guts cloak as I had. They must be a strong group because I never knew anyone who had the balls to travel at night. That or they’re incredibly stupid. When I used [Observe] on each and every one of them, I realized that it was the former. They were a strong group. They even had a pet wolf that was larger than a horse.

“Goddammit, Dianne. Don’t do that again! Who is it anyway?” The girl in steel armor scolded her.

The girl in steel armor seemed to be the one in charge which was impressive. Though she was small, her posture was radiating confidence and her strange glowing eyes inspired fear to everyone she stared at. From the first impression she made, I already liked her.

The others, they looked pathetic. Can you imagine a bunch of midget Asians in a renaissance fair? Yeah, they were wearing armor like knights or something and it looked stupid on them. Oh, and one of them was a real midget, dwarf, imp whatever. Judging from his outfit and staff, he was a mage like Miguel.

“Sorry.” Dianne apologized and turned her head to me. “Look! She’s Daria Swann!”

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Blythe_manslaughter_case