Amity

The doors in the castle were strange. Unlike the parking garage, they didn't lead straight into other buildings they led into short hallways at the end of which is another door. In each of these hallways, something was written on the wall and that I could actually read but I couldn't understand. I saw the following...

Ken, Abidance, Doughtiness, Letting, Demur, Troth, Amity

Those are the ones I could open anyway. Most of the other doors I tried were locked or something.

What do they mean though? The words. I wish I had a dictionary on me but that wasn't exactly on my list of survival gear.

I'm pretty sure I understand "Letting" and "Amity". Well, in the case of "Letting" I'm not certain of the context. Could mean a lot of things. Pretty sure "Amity" means friendship or something.

As for the others, no sweet clue. I'd have looked it up on the internet already if I had my phone. If it even worked.

Taking a shot in the dark, I decided to try the door at the end of the Letting hallway. It wouldn't open. I pulled at it, shot at it, kicked it, wasn't opening. Zip.

So I tried the Amity door instead. Friendship couldn't be a bad thing?

The door opened into complete darkness and I almost instinctively moved to close it but I realized there wasn't any screaming so I looked around. Right next to me just on the other side was a light switch.

I flicked it on.

And I almost took an axe to the face.

How it missed me I don't know. Maybe it was because I fell on my side when my legs gave out the moment I saw it coming at me.

I blinked and levelled my shotgun at his right shin. After I pulled the trigger he wasn't standing anymore. He fell on his back and started making a whole lot of noise.

I got up and moved in to finish the job. He held his hands up in surrender and pleaded for me not to do it. I glanced around quickly and saw that I was in some kind of basement.

I heard heavy breathing, but it wasn't coming from the guy in front of me. Whoever it was they were pissed. I did a double-take in the direction of the breathing and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Crammed into a cage meant for a dog, I saw the kid. The kid that pulled the alarm that nearly got me killed. He didn't look hurt and there was food and water in there with him. He gnashed his teeth at me and tried to get out of the cage.

Mister axeman tried to grab my leg. I pulled the trigger.

The kid howled, reaching through the cage at the corpse. Staring at me with eyes that made no attempt to hide the hatred. I'm not sure what the relationship was between him and the dead guy but from the way he was behaving and the way he was living, something wasn't right.

"Kill you..."

The kid said. Over and over. Saliva dribbling from his mouth and pooling on the floor.

"Kill you..."

Up the stairs I heard the sound of footsteps. Careful ones. I dropped to a knee and shouldered my shotgun but lowered it when I saw what looked like a young woman dressed in an old school nightgown.

She looked at me and then looked at my handiwork. Then back to me again, smiling, crying.

"He's dead?"

I didn't say anything. Just nodded my head. She started to laugh, wiping away tears but she seemed unable to process what she was trying to feel. The kid seemed to draw his attention away from me and toward her, whimpering. She knelt down next to the cage and patted his head.

She told me she was the dead guy's "wife" but the way she said it had all the connotations of an unhappy pairing. The kid was not hers nor his. Found him as an infant and the dead guy raised him like a pet, a tool. Sending him out to retrieve things. Food, water, anything.

I asked her if there was anyone else. She said there wasn't. I asked her if she wanted to come with me. She said she wouldn't without the kid and that the kid hated strangers. I tried to tell her we could take the kid with us. She flat out told me he'd rip my throat out in my sleep.

She told me I could stay though. I could be her new husband. I seemed "nicer" than her last one. The kid could stay in the cage. He liked it in there anyway. Maybe he could learn to love me too.

I told her no. That I had to keep moving and she said that I should go. I left behind some food and water for them. And then I went back to the castle.

The words in the hallways are misleading. I think so anyways. What kind of friendship begins with violence? What kind of friendship ends with abandonment? I wish them the best. The only thing I can hope is that by getting rid of the guy who tried to end me I made their lives a little more tolerable. Or maybe I doomed them.

I don't know anymore.

I'm going to try the other doors but right now I'm just going to rest. I keep thinking about Maricel. I keep wondering if I should've stayed with her. Where is she? Is she ok?

Did I doom her too?

Emily. I just realized in all this mess... I've completely forgotten about her.

When she comes over, is she going to find the house? Like...is it gone?

Or is it the world that's gone?

Every time I feel like I've figured something out. I feel just as helpless and dumb as when I started.

Just a dumb fool wandering aimlessly...

...once again.