Chapter Text
Something wasn’t right about this town, Marina knew that from her adolescence. But now, when the streets are filled with rotting flesh, the stench of decaying corpses all of the same strange demise, it’s even more apparent.
Shortly after departing from the train, Marina makes her way through the labyrinth that is Prehevil. Of course, she still remembers the town pretty well from her childhood, but with the way that the town is now, it’s difficult to do things normally.
Trying to avoid stepping on deflating carcasses, she finds her way to a small string of outlet shops. Some of them seem to be either completely boarded up, or already raided. She’s almost about to give up keep making her way through the town, when she sees something in her peripheral vision. She stops to inspect her surroundings more carefully. Looking in the direction of the movement, she finds herself staring into the window of what seems to be a restaurant. While it probably isn’t the best idea she’s had, she decides to look into it more. There may be some leftover ingredients inside that she could use, maybe even eat if not spoiled.
Stepping into the restaurant, the floors creak beneath her feet. The stench is only slightly lesser inside than as it was before, but it still feels like it’s staining her lungs. The top floor isn’t too much of interest to her. Mostly way past due food and broken alcohol bottles. Still, she hasn’t seen any movement since she got inside. Delving deeper, she starts to descend into the basement.
There isn’t much to see here either. There’s a small kitchen that looks like it wouldn’t even have much in it if things were normal. A weak sound hits Marinas ears. It almost sounds like a muffled, frustrated sob. Stepping around the counter, she cautiously looks towards the source of the noise. Drawing her dagger, just in case, her eyes meet the source of the noise.
That soldier boy from the train. Marina knew from the moment she saw him, the moment that she sensed something more sinister is going on in the town, that he wouldn’t make it far. Approaching slowly, she takes a moment to observe his odd behavior. His hands are locked together onto the back of his neck, his head tucked between knees. He’s very visibly shaking, possibly from withdrawal. Marinas heard the horror stories of the war, how easy it is to get hooked on things like heroin. Slowly crouching down next to him, she does her best attempt at not scaring him.
“Hello..? Are you alright?”
She speaks as she would when speaking to a scared child. The boy immediately perks up, and Marina finally gets a good look at his face. He’s sweating profusely, bangs stuck to his forehead. His pupils don’t look right at all, not to mention how fast he’s trying to look at everything.
“Y-yeah, I’m alright. I’ll be fine. Sorry.” His voice is shaking just as much as his body. He quickly stands to his feet, attempting to scurry away.
“Hey, wait! You’re the solider from the train, right?” Marina speaks as she jumps up with him, grabbing onto the sleeve of his loose uniform. It almost seems like it was a hand me down, or just too large for him.
The boy turns around when he feels Marina tug on his sleeve, eyes wide. “Um, yes. I am from the train, well- I’m not from there like, um, born. I was born here” his erratic speech catches Marina a little off guard, but she’s glad to have met someone also from this town.
“Oh really! Well, my father, I don’t know if you know him, but he was Father Domek at the-“
The boys eyes get wider than Marina thought they ever could at that name.
“Yes, I know him. I was um, an orphan. At the orphanage” a grimace crosses his face.
“You poor thing. I’m so sorry. I know he did not treat the children there well.” She steps a little closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder now. He flinches for a moment.
“Are you alright? You are awful jittery, no?”
“I’m fine. Please don’t worry. I’ll be alright” He says without missing a beat.
“Huh, okay then. Anyways, what is your name? Mine is Marina”
She introduces herself with a slight curtsy.
“I’m Levi, it’s nice to meet you” he bows his head.