Alone on a narrow bed, Hanna woke with a scream. She calmed down somewhat once she realized that the terrifying heat was gone. Then she remembered the sight of her skin melting and the sickening experience of what was probably her eyes boiling, and had just enough time to pop her head over the edge of the bed before she began heaving. Only some thick bile came up, her stomach all but empty. The effort left her shaky and disoriented, in a way that she hadn’t felt since she first woke up in the valley. Just like that time, she had this burning imperative to eat. Someone was obviously looking after her, a moment of searching netted her a bowl of porridge that was placed on the floor next to the bed. Hanna cursed at its disgusting coldness but was at the same time thankful that it hadn’t been standing a decimetre to the left. Despite the warmth it might offer, a serving of bile wasn’t something she wanted in her breakfast.

Fuck. This was about as shitty as she had ever felt. She was sore to the bones, and everything had some kind of wrongness to it, especially her head. It felt unusually heavy, in a way that a headache couldn’t produce. And it itched like mad. She brought her hand to her head and froze when her fingertips didn’t find the skin she was expecting. Panic caught her as her hands franticly explored her scalp. Starting from her forehead, the cold and hard texture of metal covered her head, all the way back to her neck. The shape of it made it clear to Hanna what had happened: her helmet must have melted in the fire, and now she was stuck with a fucking swimming cap of metal. Great, that would do wonders for her public image.

Hanna longed for a proper mirror. She didn’t think herself vain but being permanently disfigured sort of bothered her. And the lack of hair probably made her look like she was a Nazi, or as if she’d undergone chemotherapy. She would have to figure out how to cover this up, she already stood out way too much in this shithole of a village. Hanna left the room a while later, stepping out into the chill, evening air. The stuffing of her pillow had been left on the floor by the bed, the casing tied up like a bandanna covering her head. It was a bit too cancer-chick for her taste, but beggars can’t be choosers.

The village felt markedly different. It was empty and quiet, and a lot of the houses were burned to the ground. The first person she met was a kid barely in his teens. His eyes turned into saucers when he saw her.

“Your awake!” He proclaimed with amazement.

“Yeah. Is Birgitta around?”

The kid was practically bouncing with excitement. “Yes!” Come with me, I’ll take you to her”, he said with a huge grin, half-running before he even finished his sentence. Hanna had struggled a bit to keep up, still shaky and unsteady. The kid shot constant glances at her and made sure she didn’t lose him. As they travelled through the village, the few people they met stopped what they were doing and gawked in wonder at them. Most also cheered, which was a new experience to Hanna. It got a bit annoying after a while, but she’d take it any day over open resentment. Eventually Hanna realized where they were heading. She ought to, it was her favourite part of the village. The kid threw the door to the alehouse open with a bang and walked in, catching everyone’s attention.

“She’s awake!” He shouted, announcing Hanna’s arrival. As she stepped in through the door she was met with toast and cheers, a far cry from what she usually got as she walked in here.

“How are you feeling?” Karin asked with some concern. She was sitting by a table with Gunnar and Birgitta.

“Like shit”, Hanna replied.

Birgitta smiled. “Who doesn’t? Take a seat lass”, she said and motioned towards the last empty chair at the table.

As Hanna walked towards the chair, she was keenly aware of everyone’s eyes as they followed her in the room. While the village’s attitude towards her seemed to have taken a one-eighty, she was still a bit bothered by their inability to just ignore her. Her buttocks had barely kissed the chair before someone plopped a stacked plate and a filled mug in front of her. Hanna was a bit surprised by the treatment but thanked the young boy that had placed it there. She was still starving.

“Glad to see you up and running”, Gunnar said and patted her on the shoulder.

Hanna drank deeply from the mug. “I wouldn’t say ‘running’ quite yet, but sure.”

“How’s the… you know”, Karin asked, nodding towards her head.

Hanna smiled bitterly. “Great really. No more visits to the haircutter”. Only Birgitta appreciated her sarcasms.

“I want to apologize Hanna, for what happened at the funeral”, Karin said hesitantly.

“Don’t. I was pissed at the time, but I can’t really blame you. Either I left, or we would have to stop the funeral. I won’t take the blame for what happened, but they deserved a dignified ceremony. You gave them that.”

“Fuck off”, Birgitta scowled. “Get off your high ground and accept the damn apology”

Hanna was taken aback for a moment. “Fine. Apology accepted.”

Birgitta nodded approvingly.

“I’ve heard about what you did in the battle. You have my thanks”, Karin continued. “A lot of people fought hard, but everyone is talking about what you did. The way I hear it, we have you to thank for our survival.”

Hanna raised her eyebrows. That was news to her.

Birgitta saw her reaction. “I know, it’s hard to believe. Everyone is talking about it though, especially those archers you placed on the roof. If they are to be believed, you ploughed through the scum like a reaper, nearly clearing a third of them by yourself. Makes me wish I saw it with my own eyes.” She paused for a second, musing over the battle. “That shit you pulled with the log though, that was clever. I think we’d be overrun if you hadn’t”.

“Eh”, Hanna shrugged. “I hardly remember anything of it. I was kind of caught up in the moment until they hit me with the Molotov.”

“You mean that thing they were throwing?” Gunnar cut in with sudden interest. “Do you know anything about it?”

Hanna nodded. “Sure, it’s nothing special. Anyone can make it. You just take something that burn easily and put it in a jug or something that will brake upon impact. Then you just stick a burning cloth or something in it to make sure that it ignites.”

“Ingenious”, Gunnar muttered, already engrossed in thinking about its potential applications.

“Anyways”, Karin interrupted, likely in order to steer the conversation away from further technological discussions. “A big part of the village died in its defence. We held a meeting after the funeral…”

“Hold on”, Hanna broke in. “How long was I out?”

“This is the fourth day since the attack”, Karin said. “That you are even alive is a miracle in its self. When Birgitta found you, you were burned to a crisp.”

Birgitta laughed. “Yeah lass, I nearly crapped my pants when you began moving in my arms. You hadn’t been breathing for at least an hour.”

At first Hanna was chocked to hear that she had more or less come back from the dead. Then she picked up on what Birgitta had said. “Wait, you held me in your arms for over an hour? That’s cute.”

Karin laughed way to loud. Birgitta shifted uncomfortably in her seat and glared at Hanna. “If you say another word about it, I’ll make you wish you were dead”.

“Sure you will”, Hanna said with a smirk and waved her off. “Just so you can hold me in your arms again.”

Karin wiped a tear from her eye after another round of laughter. “As I was saying, we held a meeting. A lot of those that ran this village is dead, the village in it self is halfway to ruin and there is a ton of work to be done. So we decided that it was time for a change around here.” Karin paused and took a few sips of ale. “Gunnar and I are stepping down as elders. Or rather, we are staying, but as councilmembers. From now on, we are head of the council. Except for us, the current list of members are Birgitta and you.”

Hanna wasn’t expecting that. “Me?”

“Birgitta nominated you, and you more or less had the unanimous backing of the rest of the village. If this sounds strange to you, remember that most of the people that resented you are dead now, and the ones that survived know that they have you to thank for it.”

It was more than strange for Hanna. Surreal would be a better word. It was as if she had woken up in an entirely different village. Then again, that was probably exactly what had happened. After this attack, nothing would ever be the same again.

“Okay”, she said. “Is it only going to be just us four?”

“It is for now”, Karin answered. “But we want more to join later, there just wasn’t any more volunteers”.

“Alright, I’m in. What will I need to do?” Hanna asked. She wasn’t looking forward to the extra responsibility, but she had a lot that she wanted to change in the village and being in this council would probably make that easier.

“You get to sit at the table when we make decisions, and that is about it. The rest of the time we expect you to do what you’ve been doing until know, to lead the village in its development.”

Hanna could live with that. “What about money? I’m broke as fuck”

“Don’t worry girl”, Birgitta said. “You earn some from being in the Regulars, I just haven’t gotten around to paying you yet.”

That was a relief to hear. Hanna didn’t like being dependent on others to get her drinks. But that reminded her of something else. What happened to her equipment?

“I’m going to need some new stuff, I think I lost pretty much everything in the fire”, she said.

“No you didn’t”, Gunnar comforted her. “You left your crossbow and spear on the palisade and that part of it survived the fire. Not that it would have affected your spear anyway.”

Hanna was relieved to hear that. “What about my sword? And I wouldn’t mind finally getting some armour.”

“I’ll get it for you”, Birgitta promised. “But you’ll have to wait a bit until we can make some more. We emptied our stocks in preparation for the attack”

The rest of the dinner was spent discussing the work that needed to be done in the short run. The first order of business that they decided on was to start work on a proper wall. Rebuilding houses and securing food was probably a more pressing concern, but the large amount of deaths had at least brought the small benefit of sorting that out. Parallel to the work on the wall, they would be laying the ground work for the future layout of the village, sticking to the plans that Hanna had drawn up with Gunnar before the attack.

A couple of weeks went by filled with busywork. The wall was coming along nicely, even if it was far from done. The village had started a proper quarry inside of the valley. They had been terribly sceptic about spending time in what they considered haunted grounds, but Hanna hadn’t given them any room for protests. As time went by the superstition had begun to die down, and people were starting to see the potential of that huge, untouched area, secure from the dangers of the outside world. In order to make room for the future improvements, they would have to tear down a lot of houses. The fire that had ravaged the village had unexpectedly helped a lot with that work, leaving them with ruins to clear rather than houses to dismantle.

It was a bit disturbing to see kids that was barely in their puberty working in the quarry, but it was them or none at all that was up for offer. Hanna comforted herself with the fact that she had revolutionised their work by introducing the concept of ropes and pullies. Still, the village would probably see a wave of people with bad backs in about ten years or so.

Hanna was growing accustomed to the metal that encased her head. It still itched, but not nearly as bad as it had the first week. She had spent a lot of time trying to get a good look at it by trying to get a reflection from polished metal and still bodies of water. Her conclusion was that she was ugly as fuck, but with a sort of rugged badassery to her. She was still keeping it covered, but she had swapped her pillow-case-turned-bandanna for an outright silly hat. It was made of leather and looked like a poor man’s helmet, but it was the best she had found and it was honestly an improvement over the cancer-fighting Nazi she had looked like earlier. Right now she was hoping for some good to come out of this. The metal couldn’t possibly be too sturdy since the helm it came from had been quite flimsy. It could maybe deflect an arrow or two though and might give some extra oomph if she headbutted someone.

Hanna was currently in the process of checking all her gear. The stuff that she had lost in the fire had been more than replaced. Gunn had gone from being a surly old bat to her new best bud, eagerly responding to her wildest request. Hanna felt a bit bad about stealing her away from projects that would benefit the whole village but she needed proper gear if they were to enter another battle. Given how she allegedly performed the last time it would probably pay off in the long run. The main thing she got from her was a marvellous piece of armour. Since weight wasn’t really an issue, they had gone wild and bolted a shitload of overlapping plates of metal on top of a standard piece of leather armour, covering up virtually every area of her body that wouldn’t be hindered by being more rigid. Piercing attacks against the gaps between the plates would probably still go through, but slicing attacks was now a thing of the past.

Hanna had also commissioned a bunch of straps and belts, working towards a set-up similar to what Birgitta had. Now she had a hatchet on her right hip, a smaller knife in her boot, a longer knife fitted upside down, military-style on her chest and her crossbow hanging from her back with a small hook, allowing a quick draw with one hand. The bolts for her crossbow were hanging on her lower back, easily reachable with her right hand and with a lid keeping the bolts from spilling out. On her left hip was her new sword. It wasn’t anything special, pretty much identical to her former weapon, but it was sharp and in good condition, and that was what counted. She still hadn’t figured out what to do with her shield, so that was attached to her backpack when she wasn’t using it. With everything on, like she had now, she felt dangerous and ready to deal with whatever shit life might throw at her. It was a good feeling, something she hadn’t felt since she was last in her military gear. Hopefully she was also looking the part, she was dead tired of people fucking with her.

Hanna grabbed her spear and left her room with a feeling of excitement. The time had come for her to head over to the people in the ruins. Birgitta hadn’t been ecstatic when she had suggested that she make the trip alone, but Hanna was a big girl know, a member of the council and all. And they couldn’t really call her defenceless after her performance in the battle. Hanna was looking forward to the trip. While her new status in the village was a welcome change, she really wasn’t a people’s person and there was a whole new world out there, just waiting for her to explore it.

A quick detour to announce her departure and a few sessions of cheers and goodbyes later, Hanna had left the village behind her and was on the road. The journey to the ruins was uneventful, she didn’t even see any of the murderous bulls. A disconcerting thing that Hanna spent a lot of her time thinking about was that Tor was gone. At some point during the battle, he and the other captive had snuck out. For all his cooperation and good attitude, Birgitta still hadn’t trusted him enough to leave him unguarded when he wasn’t helping the village. Despite that, he had somehow gotten out of the cell he slept in. Since the cell wasn’t broken, he either had the skills to pick the lock, or had gotten some outside help. The former wasn’t impossible, Hanna just had a hunch that it wasn’t what had happened. Given her run in with Mud-girl, there really was only one logical conclusion. The fact that the unhinged nutcase still hadn’t been seen since Birgitta talked to her only added to that logic. Birgitta’s daughter must have helped them escape. Why she did it was uncertain, but it was clear that it could do no good for the village.

Eventually the ruins came into view, giving Hanna a slight feeling of disappointment. She longed for adventure, and the journey had given her none of it. Equipped with all this new gear, she wanted to use it, to test her mettle against the challenges of this new world. Hanna had emerged from the last battle as a changed person, and that wasn’t just talking about her shiny new head. It had been a baptism of sorts. Her time spent in the village had been one of education, where she slowly learned the tools needed to thrive in this strange world. Participating in the battle had in a way been a test, confirming that she had graduated and was ready to take on the outside world. But it had also been marker, a waypoint on a road that she hadn’t realized that she was walking on. As she threw morality aside and allowed herself into that frenzy of death and carnage that had possessed her, that had signified something greater.

It was the final goodbye to her old life, the last departure from a set of morals and a way of life that was no longer viable. There was no returning from this. Even if she found a way back to her old world, she would no longer truly be a part of it. Blood splattering your face from a severed jugular made hitting snooze five times in a row something bizarre. Pushing the limp corpse of your enemy aside turned spending hours at the office into a work of fiction. Her old way of life was dead, and Hanna was glad for it. This new world was better, truer in a sense, and so was she. And now she was forever a part of it.