Loudest Dungeon: Ch.2 - Into The Ruins

Lori Loud awoke with a snort, shaking her head back and forth as she spasmed in her bed. Her eyes shot open and she blinked rapidly, breathing heavily as she gripped the bed sheets tight in her hands. After a few seconds, her grip slacked and a smile of relief slowly spread across her face.

'That was one freaky dream,' she thought to herself, and chuckled a little as it all came back to her. Waking up in a creepy road, Luna almost dying, ending up in a Hamlet owned by some Ancestor she had never heard about, and what was all that about fighting monsters. Lori wiped her brow and snorted, it was all probably because she was playing too many of Lincoln's videogames, had to be.

Lori tried to sit up straight but a sudden weight pulled her back down to the bed. She looked to her right and found her younger sister Leni cuddled up next to her, the sixteen-year-old was snoring lightly with a look of perfect contentment on her face. Despite herself Lori couldn't help but chuckle at her sister's antics and leaned over to give her a kiss on her head. Leni hadn't tried to sleep with her big sister in years, poor thing must've had a nightmare, looks like it had been a rough night for both of them. But there was nothing to worry about now, they were safe here in their queen-sized Victorian bed, complete with ornate carvings in the bark detailing battles of valiant crusaders against piranha-headed fishmen, as the glow from the rising sun peaked through the curtains and Goddammit it wasn't a dream.

Lori shoved off her sister despite her mewls of protest and shot out of bed. As she got up she looked down at herself and saw she was wearing a grey sleeping gown that went down to her feet and lightly trailed against the ground. Lori groaned and massaged her temples, it wasn't a dream, they were actually in some crazy Hamlet in the middle of nowhere, they actually did kill some bandits on the road, Luna did almost die out there. Lori whimpered and held her head in her hands, trying to calm herself while Leni whined and shuffled on the bed, bundling up the covers and rolling into a ball.

"Five more minutes mommy," she murmured, snuggling further into the folds of the admittedly very comfortable bed until she was no longer visible among the blankets.

Lori snorted and stalked over to her slumbering sister. She leaned down to the sleeping angel, and promptly rapped her knuckles against her skull, creating a noise not unlike that of a bongo drum.

"WAKE UP!" Lori shouted into Leni's ears.

The poor girl started thrashing about, her walls of comfort now a stifling prison she had to free herself from. This ruckus lasted a total of thirty seconds until it met its inevitable conclusion with the blankets strewn about the room and Leni on the floor. It was a rare moment of jocularity and Lori indulged herself by grabbing her sides and laughing her ass off while Leni sniffled on the floor.

"Not funny," the girl whined from her position, head-first on the floor and her legs still in the bed. "Why did you wake me up, I was having a dream."

Lori wiped a tear from her eye and tried to give her sister a serious expression. "Sorry to say Leni, but it wasn't a dream."

A wide smile beamed across Leni's face and she turned right-side up. "We got a pony!?"

Lori scowled. "What? No! We're stuck in some crazy fairy-tale peasant village that we own for some reason."

Leni blinked, then her smile slowly turned into a frown. "I already know that Lori. What, did you think I'd forget or something." The ditzy blonde huffed and folded her arms, turning her head from her older sister in a tiff.

Lori was flabbergasted for a second then groaned, slapping her head. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

"Whatever, what are you even doing in here?"

"I got lonely."

Lori sighed but couldn't help but smile at her sister's antics. The two of them had shared a room since they were children and though she would never admit it Lori knew it would be one of the biggest things she'd miss once she left the house. The oldest Loud sibling grunted and walked over to her armor piled up in the corner of the room.

Dressing was a long and tedious affair, Lori had no real idea how to correctly put on armor and she needed Leni to help, and then when she was done she had to help Leni put hers on, the whole process probably took over an hour and Lori wasn't sure whether she was more pissed off at the fact that there were no other clothes around for her to wear, or if there were she'd just have to put this on anyway.

After getting dressed the sisters descended the stairs and found themselves in the foyer where they took a left and entered the dining room. The place was exactly what Lori was expecting, the table was inordinately long with about thirty chairs on either side, though there was no spread laid out, the only food being two plates of meager fried eggs and some kind of mash. Sitting in front of these plates were none other than Lisa and Luna Loud, the two dour sisters both looked like they hadn't slept and were just picking at their food.

"You literally look like death," Lori gently chided, walking over to Luna and running her fingers through her short hair. The young rocker leaned into her older sister's hand and rubbed her eyes with a sigh.

"I feel like it dude. Couldn't get a wink last night, like I had a Fear of Sleep."

"Somniphobia," Leni chirped, helping herself to Luna's untouched breakfast and ignoring the shocked glances of her sisters.

"Er, yesh," Lisa muttered with her trademark lisp, straightening her glasses. "At any rate neither of us shlept much. I spent the whole night in library researching."

"And?" Lori asked.

Lisa sighed and looked down at her plate. "Nothing. The most I discovered was that our so-called Anceshtor and his family line had ruled theshe lands for many years, he himself having only died a decade ago; which really begs the queshtion of whether or not he could be called an Anceshtor-

"Get on with it!"

*Huff* "Well then, at any rate our Anceshtor was certainly not a nice man, sorry Leni, he engaged in many debaucheroush activities and was found of downright vile experiments; I can see that look on your face Lori, I may have made Luan glow in the dark but I never cut her head off and put it on a dog's body. Oh, I'm shorry, was that too graphic for you, becaushe that's the kind of man we're dealing with here."

The three older sisters flinched and glanced at each other. Both Lori and Luna had a feeling that this Ancestor guy wasn't exactly a nice man, he basically admitted to being so in the letter he left them, but from what Lisa was telling them it sounded like the guy was a grade-A psychopath. For Leni it was the final nail in the coffin, the girl always like to assume the best in people but from what she'd seen and heard so far it sounded like her Great Pop-Pop wasn't a nice guy after all, maybe it was a good thing she never met him.

"So," Leni hesitantly began, rubbing her arm sheepishly, "what do we do now?"

Lisa reached into her satchel and started rummaging around until she pulled out a piece of parchment. "Thish lisht our Caretaker so gracshiously provided hash left detailed instructions as to our goalsh."

"Wait, like, are you suggesting we just do whatever that creep says," Lori asked, genuinely confused.

"I'm with Lori on this one," Luna agreed. "The guy's obviously bonkers, he was talking about all sorts of crazy stuff last night. Zombies, fish-people, mutant pigs, and something about a monster, and he wants us to fight it? No way! What we need to do is find a way out of here."

"There ish none."

"What do you mean? Call the U.S. embassy or something, call the police, tell them we've been-

"There are no police, we are not in the United States, I doubt we are even in the same dimenshion, much less North America."

The three older girls stood stock still and absorbed Lisa's words. Lori groaned, feeling another migraine coming on. Her little sister was right, like always. As far as Lori could tell they weren't even on Earth anymore, honestly the way the plot was going it felt more like a videogame. And to beat a videogame you had too...

"Lisa's right," Lori suddenly snapped, banging her fists against the table.

"She is?"

"I am?"

"Yes. Look, I'm not even going to pretend I know what's going on here, and I'm not going to lie to you girls and say I'm not scared, because I am. The only clue we have is that this whole country is screwed up in a major way, and that it's our responsibility, I guess, to fix it. Seems to me that if we do, well I don't know but maybe we'll get to go back home."

Leni swallowed her breakfast and nodded. "Besides, we're all here, so that means the others are too, we can't leave them behind."

'That's another thing,' Lori thought to herself, 'it was easier when I thought it'd just be me, Luna, and Leni, we're the oldest after all, but with Lisa here that must mean the kids are too.

Lori snarled and stood up. "Then it's settled, we need to go out, if anything to find our sisters."

"And Lincoln."

"I said sisters didn't I? Oh, cool your jets Leni it was a joke, I wouldn't forget the twerp alright!"

Lisa snickered at her older sister's antis and inspected the note the Caretaker left for them. "If we're going out then we'll need shome directions from the townshfolk, all the Caretaker wrote down was to got to a place called "The Ruins" and defeat a...necromancer? Lovely."

"Wait, what? No, hold the phone here, you are literally not coming with us." Lori turned to her younger sister and glared down at her. "There are maniacs out there, Luna almost died, there is no way I'm taking you with us."

"Uh, yeah," Luna interjected, "about that whole dying thing, maybe I could sit today out and-

"Get over it you big baby, Leni brought you back."

If Lisa gave one single iota of a shit about Lori's argument she certainly didn't show it. "I undershtand your consherns, but if you expect me to be able to undershtand our posishion here I need fresh data, the library ishn't a shuitable environment," the young girl spat. Her lisp was seriously starting to piss Lori off, maybe she could do something about it.

Lisa jumped out of her chair and shuffled over to Lori. "I need to obsherve the phenomena that's taking place in those ruins, if there ish indeed a necromancer then my fears will prove valid, and we will indeed be in a dimenshion where the natural laws of logic and biology do not apply. Beshides, if what you relayed to me yesterday is true, then Leni ish capable of reviving any of us that might fall, heaven forbid."

Lori glanced to her younger sister and saw Leni had impaled two of her eggs with forks and were making them dance. She looked back at Lisa and pointed over her shoulder at Leni, eyebrows raised.

Lisa puffed a little and straightened her robe out. "While I do not claim to fully undershtand Leni's abilities, I do trust my older sister to keep me safe though."

Lori had no objection to that and she heard Leni squeal in delight behind her at Lisa's words. She glanced at Luna for a little support but the rocker girl looked just as lost as she did. It was a toss-up, on one hand she'd be putting her own baby sister in a dangerous situation, on the other hand Lisa was probably the smartest person on the planet and was easily more mature than she was. Lori didn't like this, not one bit, but she didn't really have a choice. Even if she forbid it Lisa would just sneak out anyway. Lori slowly dragged a hand down her face and groaned.

"Fine. You can come Lisa. But you stay behind us alright, and if anything happens to us you run, got it. You run and don't look back."

Lisa nodded and even reached out to pat her older sister on the knee. It was a probably meant to be a reassuring token of camaraderie, but mostly it was just awkward. Lori decided it was the thought that counted though and gave her little sister a smile.

"So then," Luna sighed, standing up. She looked at her sisters with a weary and resigned grin that did nothing to hide her apprehension. "Where do we start?"
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“What do you mean you don’t know where the Ruins are!” Lori screeched, red faced with irritation and fists clenched so tight on the counter top that the wood splintered.

“I think he means he doesn’t know where they are Lori.” Leni said absentmindedly, keenly observing all the new wonderful, scowling faces around her.

“She’s right on the money,” the bartender snorted, spiting onto the floor as he wiped the inside of a beer mug with a stained rag. He was a massive man, broad shouldered with arms as think as Lori's torso. He wore a green vest over a tattered white shirt and his ears were pierced with silver hoops. He was a somber looking fellow, with a heavy brow, a wide nose, and a magnificent mustache that dropped down to his jawline, his mouth was in a a perpetual frown and his face was covered in worry lines and bags. “You adventurous types are always barging into my tavern and asking how to get places, as if I got a fucking map in my head. I ain’t never left the Hamlet, I haven’t even left this bar since I was twelve, what makes you think I know how to get to some old ruins, I give people beer for Christ’s sake.

Lori deflated a little at the chastisement, the bartender had a point. Why would a tavern owner know where some ancient ruins are? And the more she looked around the more Lori felt like they shouldn't be here. For one they were too young to drink, though she had a feeling if the townsfolk had no qualms about sending children to their deaths on the road they probably wouldn't care about a little drinking. There was also open gambling, i every corner men were throwing dice and cards were being tossed as money exchanged hands. Said money then usually entered the hands of some barely-clothed harlot, and she'd grab her John with the other and they'd abscond to the second floor.

>Strong drink, a game of chance, and companionship. The rush of life.

And there he goes again. Every time she heard his voice echoing in her head it brought another migraine. Lori grit her teeth and growled under her breath, she didn't want to bring any attention to it but it was starting to get painful, she felt like she was losing her mind; and in hindsight she was hearing voices so she probably wasn't that far off. Lori briefly considered seeing a doctor but the only one in town was a maniac, also Lori didn't want her sisters to worry about her. There was also the other reason, the one Lori would never admit to anyone much less herself, that maybe she wasn't worried about her sisters being afraid for her, but of her.

"Er, you need a drink miss?"

Lori's eyes snapped open and she glanced around to see the barkeep, her sisters, and several patrons all staring at her. The teenage girl chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head.

"Sorry! Sorry about that. Just, uh, headaches. Real bad headaches."

"I got stuff for that."

"I don't want any beer."

"Whiskey?"

"No! I'm not even even 21!"

The barkeep spat on the floor again and put the mug on the counter. He squared his shoulders, put his hands on the counter, and looked Lori straight in her eyes.

"You might be the heir of that manor, you might own this town, you might even own me, but I don't appreciate that tone."

Lori could feel her little sisters crowd around behind her and even she quailed in her iron armor before this mountain of a man before her. He didn't sound angry, just irritated, and maybe a little disappointed and Lori decided she had maybe been a bit too aggressive and perhaps there was such a thing as biting of more than you can chew.

The man behind the bar huffed and straightened his back. "Now listen, you girls seem an alright sort, headstrong and tempestuous sure, but not too bad. At any rate, I doubt you're any worse than your Ancestor was, the blighter. You're even trying to fix his wrongs and help our town, you do that and we'll be square. But until then watch yourself." The man held his even glare with Lori before it softened just a smidgen and he let out a slow breath through his nose. "Go to the Abbey, they know all about the comings and goings of the countryside and they see to the complaints of the farmers. They'll point you on your way."

Lori nodded and even went as far as to give the man a soft smile. “Thank you, sir, we really appreciate the help. And for what it’s worth, we are trying to fix this mess our, um, Ancestor made.” Lori was about to turn around when she remembered something. “Oh, and if you see any other, well kids, running around, any who haven’t meet before that is, could you send them to the manor. I’ve got a few more siblings running around, but, well I lost them.” Lori laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head.

The barkeep snorted but nodded. “Yeah, alright, I’ll do that. Spread the word around too. Now then,” the barkeep paused and bent over behind the counter, disappearing for a few seconds until he came back up with a heavy club in his hands, “you girls are gonna want to leg it. It’s one o’clock, which means it’s bar fight hour.”

“You what mate?”

Lori and her sisters turned to see two large drunkards tackled each other over their table, cards and beer sent flying all around.

“Oi,” another man called, pointing at the cards on the ground. “You cheatin’ swine!” He reached over to punch the man adjacent to him as the two wrestlers backed into a crowd of people, all of whom started swinging their own fists. Soon enough a brawl had erupted among the patrons of the tavern, men were flinging fists and chugging mugs of ale, prostitutes swung brick-laden purses, urchins picked pockets in the confusion, and it was all around chaos. The barkeep straightened his back, spat on the floor, and walked out from behind the bar. With a bellow, he waded into the confusion, his club beating a swath around him as he tried to restore order to his pub. Or maybe he was just having a bit of fun, Lori couldn’t tell. Either way the quartet had unanimously decided that they had overstayed their welcome and that it was probably time to hit that dusty trail, filing out of the dilapidated tavern and into the Hamlet proper, not that outside was much better mind you.

“The End is Nigh!”

Lori glanced over to see the same homeless man from yesterday was still screaming nonsense, sitting cross-legged on a street corner in a puddle of his own piss as he raved about the end of the world and tentacles for whatever reason. Lori briefly pondered why the things that tried to end the world always seemed to have tentacles, but then quickly decided she didn’t care. As the girls meandered down the Hamlet road towards the center of the town Lori scanned the buildings. From what she could remember the Abbey was right next to the Sanitarium…aha! Lori and the girls marched for the Abbey, though the oldest Loud couldn’t help but shoot a fearful glance at the hospital, grasping the handle of her mace tightly.

>A little hope, however desperate, is never without worth.

The Abbey itself might have been the ruins they were searching for as far as Lori was concerned. Like the Sanitarium the Abbey was built on a hill of concrete blocks and required the use of stairs to reach the door, “door” being a strong word seeing as it was a splintered mass of decayed wood. The columns around the sides were crumbling, as was the tower on top of the church that Lori guessed a cross would be. The rest of the roof wasn’t any better off, the rotten thing had a hole in it the size of a car. The ornate stained-glass windows that would no doubt have normally decorated the cathedral had been shattered, the empty frames boarded up with wooden planks. Lori and Luna shared a smirk, this place was even more ragged than the Sanitarium and the Tavern, it’d be a miracle if anyone was still there.

As the girls made their way through the door Lori saw the inside wasn’t much better, the pews were splintered and the altar was cracked from years of neglect and insufficient funding. A stained and faded red carpet stretched from the entrance to the altar at the back of the church. The four girls walked inside the building, gingerly tiptoeing around rusted nails and broken glass; now that they were inside Lori could see the Abbey was a transept, cross-shaped. Luna turned around a circle and whistled loudly, the shrillness of it echoed throughout the condemned building disturbing a nest of bats enough to swarm out of the hole in the roof. Luna, Lori, and Lisa watched this happen with wide eyes and open mouths, then all turned slowly to each other. They held their gazes for about five seconds before Luna snorted and wild laughter pealed out from the three girls.

“Oh man, just look at this place!” Lori wheezed from laughter but mostly from the dust.

“I know right, it’s-

“Beautiful.”

Lori, Luna, and Lisa wheeled around to look at Leni, hearts in her eyes and hands clasped tightly as she slowly spun around and took in the entire dilapidated church with her roving eyes. Every splintered piece of wood, every cracked piece of stone, every rotten bible strewn about, and every shadowy, cobweb infested corner.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, grin so wide it stretched from ear-to-ear and eyes sparkling.

Leni wasn’t stupid, she knew the church was run-down, broken in every sense of the word, and she most certainly understood the looks of confusion, vague sympathy, and bemusement from her sisters, but they didn’t understand. They couldn’t understand. This building was important, the foundation of it, the meaning behind it, its purpose resonated within Leni on a deep fundamental level the girl had never experienced before and it left her scared, exhilarated, and most of all with a sense of purpose and drive. Leni didn’t quite know what to make of it or even what to do with it, but she was going to find out. Leni knew she wasn’t smart, but she knew when things were important, and she knew when to get serious. And this was serious, like when she had to save Luna out on that road.

“It is beautiful, isn’t it? Though I think you’d find the garden in the cloister to be more to your liking, sister.”

The girls all turned to the altar and saw that a man had materialized on the stadium. Like all the inhabitants of the Hamlet he was a dour, foreboding figure, eyes covered by shadow and creases all along his long face that spoke of a lifetime of woe and tragedy, mouth set in a deep frown. He was bald on top, stringy blonde hair coming down from the sides, like a friar, and a goatee. He wore the robes of a pastor, not white but faded burgundy. He wore a long golden chain around his neck, it ended not in a cross but a circle with four half-crosses coming out of it, this same symbol was printed on the cover of the large tome in his hands.

“Oh yes, the place could do with some cleaning up, perhaps with a donation..."

Luna rolled her eyes and snorted. “Yeah, sure, we’ll get right on that.”

Lori shushed her and was about to walk forward and greet the man when Leni surprised everyone by brushing her older sister aside and striding down the aisle and walking towards the pastor. Leni stopped and studied the man before her for a bit, cocking her head and knitting her brows together in deep thought.

“You called me sister just now, but I only have one brother and he’s eleven.”

The man brought a hand up to his mouth and politely chuckled behind his palm, it was the first real smile any of the girls had seen from a single peasant in the Hamlet since they got there.

“Oh sister, you’ll beg my pardon, but such humor has been sorely missed in these dark times. I merely meant your Vestal robes child, you are clearly a member of our convent, and it is a sign to see that such beauty and goodness could be descended from that cursed Ancestor of yours.”

Leni genuinely smiled at that, she didn’t understand what her sisters were so worried about, shuffling around noisily behind her, this man was nice.

“Thank you! Oh, I almost forgot, we’re, like, totes looking for our little sisters and our brother, and we need to check out these old ruins, and this big guy at the Tavern who looked scary but was also nice told us to come here. I though you looked scary at first too, but now I can see you’re also nice, so can you please tell us how to get there?”

The pastor nodded slowly and reached into his robes, producing a piece of parchment. He walked over to the edge of the platform and knelt to give Leni a large piece of paper that when folded open revealed…a map! Leni looked up at the softly smiling pastor and nodded ecstatically.

“Like, thanks so much for your help. I promise I’ll totally help fix this place up for you,” she said, ignoring the way her older sister hissed her name. Seriously, what was their problem? Leni was about to turn when the old man stopped her with a raised palm.

“Before you go, a gift,” he said, and handed his bible out to her. Leni was shocked, not sure whether she should take it and looked him in the shadowy pits where eyes should be, pointing to herself. “Of course,” he gently chided, pressing the book into her hands. “How’s a Vestal to perform her holy duties without a holy text?”

Leni smiled and grasped the book tightly in her hands. “Thank you, sir. Oh! Here, now you get a present!” Leni reached up into her headdress and pulled out her light blue sunglasses and handed them to the pastor who cupped them gently in his leathery palms. “They’re my favorite pair, from Paris and everything.”

The pastor nodded with grave reverence. “A holy relic, a most generous gift. Thank you, sister, it will be treasured for generations to come.” The man staggered to his feet with a groan and gave a short bow, Leni laughed a little and copied his movements before spinning on her heels and walking back to her sisters. She was about to tell them that they were silly for being so suspicious earlier when Lori reached around and put her palm flat against Leni’s back, roughly guiding her forward where Luna wrapped an arm around her shoulder and guided her away.

“Thank you for your help, sir,” Lori said with obviously fake enthusiasm through tightly grit teeth and an overly wide smile. “We’ll be sure to help fix this place up when we, uh, have the funds.”

The pastor nodded politely and simply smiled. “It has been a pleasure, do come back soon. And may The Light guide your way.”

“Uh, yeah,” Lori called out, her back already turned and heading for the exit. “Yours too, I guess.”

Leni was flabbergasted, that man had just helped them why were her sisters acting so rude? She had half a mind to turn around and tell Lori to march right back up to that man and apologize when Luna jostled her and looked her in the eye.

“Hey, look Leni, don’t come back here without one of us, okay? That guy might seem nice, they always do, but before you know it he’s filling your head with lies and ideas like what to do or who’s going to hell and all that. You’re a good girl Leni, and I know you can tell the difference between right and wrong, but well...the last thing any of us want is for you to get mixed up in some bad business, understand?”

Luna gave a little grin and slowly reached for the book the pastor had given Leni but stopped when she saw the outright livid glare her older sister was giving her. Leni was normally sweet but she did have a bit of a temper that could flare up at the most nonsensical of times for a myriad of reasons, but they never lasted long and Leni had never glared at her before with such hostility. Leni sneered at her little sister and roughly shoved her aside when they left the church, she pulled out HER map as she stomped ahead of the group, and she ignored the shocked gasps and looks of her family behind her.

Oh, Leni understood alright. Poor Leni, always too trusting. Poor Leni, always needs her sisters to look out for her, tell her what to do. Poor Leni, too stupid to understand or make her own decisions. Oh, Leni understood exactly what Luna was talking about, though what she couldn’t understand was why, tears running down her cheeks. Leni huffed and angrily wiped her eyes, glaring ahead as the peasants parted in her wake. Why couldn’t Luna see that this was important to her, that Leni was doing this for her.

After all, didn’t Leni pray for her baby sister to come back to her on that forgotten road?
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In the darkness something scrounged, crawling on bleeding hands and leather-clad knees something whined and mewled to itself in the high-pitched voice of child. In the dark, something sniffled and cried out in panic for help, it started out weak and hoarse but its shaky voice quickly grew into a shriek, a caterwaul for someone, anyone, to find it. The high-pitched voice continued in this fashion for a minute or two before it went ragged and the small shape huddled in the dark began violently coughing, curling into a ball she hacked and cried for older sisters and one brother who were nowhere in sight.

Lola Loud was alone in the dark.

The miniature fashionista bawled until she had no tears left and began crawling again in earnest. Desperation drove her into a frenzy and she stood on quivering legs and tried to run forward. To her credit she made it a good yard or two before face planting onto the cobblestone floor. Lola’s muffled scream echoed through the corridors as she howled into her hands, there were no tears left but her eyes blurred and her head swam. After another few minutes, the pain became a dull throb and she moved her hands away, she could feel the dampness running down her chin her nose was bleeding. She gingerly touched the tip of her nose and immediately flinched as an aching stab shot through her head. Lola Loud just sat there, stewing in her fear and pain and hoping this was all just a bad dream. Yes, that was it, this was just a bad dream, and soon she’d wake up and she’d cry and her big brother would come in, like he always did. Lincoln would sit on her bed and pat her head, she’d snuggle up next to him and he’d listen to her ramble about her nightmare and he’d nod and tell her there was nothing to be afraid of, he was there to protect her. Then he’d give her little a nose to kiss before tucking her, and then he’d stay there until she fell back asleep, because he promised he’d protect her. Lola was out of tears to cry, but her little body shook so violently and she whimpered so pitifully that it didn’t really matter either way. Big brother wasn’t here now, Lincoln wouldn’t be able to chase the monsters away, and this wasn’t a dream.

Something echoed in the darkness.

Lola Loud winced and went still, the only sound the crescendo of her breathing.

Something rattled in the darkness.

Lola Loud shot to her unsteady feet. She needed to get away. The sound was coming from everywhere. She needed to get away. Wherever she was it was like a cave, sound echoed and traveled in strange ways through the stone-walled labyrinthian tunnels and one could never pinpoint the direction from which they emanated. Lola’s breath came in shaky gasps and she started inching her way backwards.

Something moaned in the darkness.

Lola screamed and shot off like a dart into the black, the sound of metal scrapping against stone and the rattling of bones hot on her heels.
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“I think we’re here.”

“Oh, really? What tipped you off Luna, the abandoned ruins?”

“Eh, fuck you too Lori,” Luna snapped at her sister’s snide quip.

The older Loud gave no shits and just snickered as she brushed past her younger sibling, rolling her shoulders and tightening her grip on the traveling pack she had slung over her back. As the quartet was leaving the Hamlet they ran into the Caretaker who told them in no uncertain terms that if they thought they could just go running around without supplies they were idiots. Luckily, he had some for sale and the girls stocked up on medical supplies, food, and torches at the earnest behest of the Caretaker.

> The cost of preparedness – measured now in gold, later in blood.

‘Yeah, whatever Great Pop-Pop,’ Lori thought to herself, trying her hardest to ignore the depressed disembodied voice of her dead ancestor; she also tried to avoid thinking about it because she wasn’t yet ready to admit to herself that she was slowly going insane.

Lori shook her head and marched forward through the scattered walls of cobblestone and stained marble pillars, vines and plant life had reclaimed much of the surface area and animals like hares and foxes scattered at her intrusion. Lori looked down to see Lisa scuttle her way through her open legs and over to some of the ruins.

“Fashinating architecture, Victorian Gothic style of I’m not mishtaken, and I’m not. Look, gargoyles, and over there some statues. Thish musht have once been a grand place, even larger than the manshion in which we currently reshide. No, thish was a castle, but it seems to have sunk into the earth, collapsed by seishmic activity perhaps? I could spend months here studying the landscape-

“Too bad you won’t have the time,” Lori plainly stated, grabbing her baby sister by the head and lifting her so she could look her in the eyes. “We need to get inside and scout it out, but that’s it okay, I don’t want you running off because you saw something cool, got it,” Lori snapped, and punctuated her stance by giving Lisa a little shake. The second youngest Loud affirmed that she did in fact comprehend by gulping and giving a little nod. Lori snorted and slung her little sister over her other shoulder, she wasn’t quite sure when she felt as strong as she did or why it was happening but she chalked it up to the same logic (or lack thereof) that brought them here to begin with. Little sister secured Lori turned to her other siblings and gave them her signature ‘shut-up-I’m-talking’ glare.

“That goes double for all of you, no heroics in there, I just want to scope it out and see what we’re dealing with. We scout the place out then we leave, got it?”

Her little sisters all gave a myriad of murmurs that Lori was forced to assume meant yes. She sighed and turned on her heels, glaring to the open gate in front of her, a wide opening more akin to a cave entrance than a castle. Lori took a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly through her nose. She marched forward into the darkness and her sisters followed her into the gloom.

This little venture lasted approximately thirty seconds before the girls all realized the unfortunate truth that there was no light underground and they should’ve probably lit a torch before walking into what amounted to little more than a cave. Hindsight is 20/20 though and after walking back towards the exit and another ten minutes of arguing and trying to start a fire the torch was lit and the adventure was continued.

> Pace out the halls of your lineage, once familiar, now foreign.

Crossing the threshold once again into the darkness Lori kept her head focused straight ahead, fists clenched tightly around the handles of her mace and shield, creeping slowly with eyes wide as she held the torch aloft and peered into the darkened corridors ahead and around them. Her trepidation was not unwarranted, though the torch was a boon the halls were still dark and the desiccated carcass of this once great palace was built like a labyrinth. Lori pressed on when a gloved hand grabbed her shoulder and turned to see Luna at her side, eyes wide and a finger to her lips. Lori slowly knelt to the ground and Lisa slid off her shoulder and onto the ground, shambling behind Leni who placed herself in front of her baby sister. Nobody made a sound, they stood completely still and just listened. The silence was oppressive, comingled with the darkness to induce anxiety and stress on the oldest Loud, and terror in the younger ones. Lori heard nothing and was about to chastise Luna when the sound of footsteps followed by an odd rattling sound, more like a clacking, cut her off. The girls flinched at the noise and none of them moved for a few seconds until Lori gulped, stood straight, and marched forward, the light of her torch illuminating the outline of a rotting door-frame. Lori looked back at her sisters who all nodded at her, she took a deep breath then kicked open the door-

-and let out a strangled gasp.

The dead were walking.

The dead were standing and they were walking. Two half-rotted corpses, skeletons with strips of muscle and flesh hanging from their bones, tied together by ropes of tendons, the gleaming white of their skulls shining out in the torchlight as they turned their eyeless sockets and empty grins towards the intruder. The fiends wore no armor, mere straps of leather breeches were all that remained of their burial shrouds, in their fleshless talons they clutched heavy clubs. Lori gaped like a fish and took several steps back, her mind desperately trying to process what she was seeing. The dead needed no such confirmation, as one they lurched forward towards the intruder, mouths opened in chilling moans and clubs held high.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?!”

Luna’s scream brought Lori to her sense and she held up her shield to block the descent of the first club, thankfully the Bones were standing in the door frame now so the first to reach her was blocking the seconds from attacking as well. Unfortunately, the dead were not seemingly capable of such advanced notions as tactics and the second shoved his comrade forward into Lori, sending the two of them sprawling to the ground. The impact on the cobblestone made her vision swim, the explosion of Luna’s revolver made her fucking ears ring, though that was nothing compared to the headache of the second skeleton whose skull exploded into fragments. Lori shot to her feet as the second Bone Rabble slowly staggered upwards and she lunged forward to slam her mace downwards into this one’s head, separating it from the torso entirely and smashing it onto the floor below.

>Begone fiend!

Lori’s breath was ragged from fear and adrenaline, that strangely intoxicating combination she felt yesterday under the same circumstances that made her muscles light and brought a sick smile to her face. She could lie to the others about her fears, about the voices, but she couldn’t lie to herself, there was no denying here.

She was having fun.

Luna’s quivering voice brought Lori back. “W-what the hell was that Lori!?”

The older sister turned to her younger one and regarded her shivering body, the tightness of her down-turned mouth, the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Lori wrapped her little sister up in a hug and squeezed her tight as Luna gasped and sobbed into her shoulder.

“I-I thought…it was going to hit you. I saw you hit the ground…and…and-

Lori shushed her sister and squeezed her again. She held Luna out and gave her as best a smile as she could manage.

“I’m alright Luna, we’re all okay. Good shooting there, I’m impressed.”

Luna chuckled and wiped her eyes before flashing Lori a grin. “Another One Bites the Dust, eh luv?”

Lori guffawed despite herself and lightly cuffed her little sister upside the back of her head. She felt something brush against her leg and looked down to see Lisa rush by her and up to the pile of remains the skeleton eft behind. Lori lunged forward and grabbed lisa by the arm and dragged her back.

“And just what do you think you’re doing? That thing could get back up once, who’s to say it couldn’t again.”

“What doesh it look like I’m doing! I’m trying to analyshe thish speshimen. I mean, you jusht saw that, a cadaver capable of movement despite a clear lack of mushculature syshtems. I have to figure this out.”

“We already know what the problem is,” Leni chimed in, and all eyes were on her as she smiled and tapped the side of her head. “Necromancer, remember?”

Lori dropped Lisa (who wasted no time in scrambling back towards the carcass) and groaned. She hated it when Leni was right, first her magic powers now straight up sorcery. Why couldn’t this weird dimension operate under normal rules instead of this stupid videogame Tolkien crap? Lori cast a baleful glare towards the skeleton’s fractured parts and sneered at it. She walked past the corpse, rapping her knuckles against Lisa’s beaked mask for shits and giggles, and walked past the open doorway into the next room. Truth be told it wasn’t all that impressive, what might have once been a dining hall was reduced to rubble, broken columns laid as piles of bricks and stone, the doors were cracked into splinters of decaying timber, while cobwebs big enough for grown man to get caught in stretched across the ceiling and built up in the corners. But what really caught Lori’s eyes was a wooden chest in the middle of the room.

“Oh, hey,” Leni said, walking into the room. Upon seeing the treasure chest Leni grinned and reached up into her veil, pulling out a bobby pin from her luxurious golden tresses. “Here, I totally got thi-

Lori raised her mace up and brought it down on the chest with a crunch as the wood splintered and exploded.

“-Or yeah, that, like, works too, I guess.”

Lori ignored her dejected little sister and sifted through the remains of the chest, rummaging through the lumber until she found several large yellow gemstones on the ground. Lori gasped a little at the beautiful crystals and the way they seemed to glow in the dark, bringing them up and presenting them to her sisters who all gasped and crowded around them. Though they had already found gold the dull color of the metal compared little to the glamour of these gems.

>Finding the stuff is only the first test, now it must be carried home

Lisa straightened her glasses and nodded. “Citrine, a gold quartsh. In the pasht, it was said to be the merchant’s stone for its comparative rarity and revered beauty.”

“I like it, it’s yellow,” Leni chirped, and all her sister scoffed a little and shook their heads at the silly outburst. “The way it glows in the dark reminds me of fading hope surrounded by adversity,” she continued, eyes closed and a serene smile on her face, blissfully unaware of the looks of concern and horror on her sister’s faces.

Nobody said anything after that, preferring to look anywhere but Leni’s direction. Lisa coughed into her hand and pulled her mask back down over her face.

“Er, yesh, quite the astute observashion Leni. Citrine was also believed to have possesshed the shpiritual power to relieve stress, depreshion, and phobias.”

Lori cleared her throat and handed the gemstones to Leni who cooed and put them in the small coin purse around her waist, tucking them in and giving the treasures a little pat for safety. With that taken care of the Lori regarded her sisters and though of their next steps.

“Alright girls, I can already tell things are going to get hairy down here. Now we just found out what we’ll be dealing with, do you all think we should keep going or turn back around for the surface and regroup?”

The rest of the Loud crowd glanced at each other then back to their sister. Luna stepped forward and cleared her throat.

“I think we should keep going for a bit. We just started and none of us are hurt, I think we should go a little deeper and try to find out some other stuff, like maybe where this necromancer guy is and what he’s up to.”

The others agreed with her and Lori grunted, nodding her head and turning for one of the doors at the end of the dining room. After a quick word to tell her sisters to try and remember where they were going Lori marched forward with her girls hot on her heels. As they traversed the corridors between rooms they meet no resistance aside from a pile of rubble which gave way after a few swings from Lori’s mace, though the incident did leave her sore and tired they pressed on until they reached another closed door. Lori hushed her sisters and pressed an ear against the door, the telltale clacking of bones on the other side confirmed her suspicions, but there was something else, something that made her pause and sent a shiver of pure dread up her spine.

Somebody was whispering on the other side.

Lori took a deep breath and gave a nod back to her sisters, one they all returned as they gripped their collective weapons tightly. A cough and tug on pants leg diverted Lori’s attentions to her littlest sister and Lisa produced a strange flask from her robes.

“Thish elixir sheems to always be on my person, much like your own weapons. After conclusive testing I have determined it’s effects to be beneficial on the human body, drashticaly increasing one’s adrenal shystems.” Noticing her older sister’s blank stare Lisa groaned and smacked her head. “It makes you stronger,” she muttered with a deadpan glare, and pulled off the cork. A green gas swirled up from the opening where it wavered in the air for a few seconds before going right up Lori’s nose seemingly of its own volition.

Lori gasped a little as a tingle went right through her body, electrifying and reinvigorating her muscles. This felt great! Lori laughed a little and rolled her shoulders, a wide grin growing on her face. She felt like she could take on the world. Her grin went wider and her eyes seemed to gleam in the dark, Lori sniggered to herself and gripped her mace tightly.

She felt like she could go for a fight right about now.

With a guttural growl that made her sisters jump back Lori charged for the door and shoulder-checked it, sending it flying off its hinges in a shower of splinters as it practically exploded under the onslaught of her excitement. Lori leapt into the room and screamed in feral fury, banging her mace against her shield and generally making a spectacle of herself.

The two skeletons were not impressed, likely because of the magical process that reanimated them without such human concepts as fear and love, mindless drones that they were. Even in her drug-addled state Lori could tell these skeletons were a step up from the Bone Rabble she had just fought. These Bone Soldiers wore the barest scraps of the armor they were no doubt buried in, but instead of a club they carried a short sword. But there was something else too, hey way they moved and bobbed their heads, slowly fanning out to Lori’s sides, they still had some modicum of their training from life in their skulls, and that’s what really made them dangerous.

The third occupant of the room though, that was another story. She was most decidedly surprised at the sudden intrusion, but apprehension turned to enthusiasm as the woman giggled to herself. She cut a strange figure even amongst the dead, covering her body in blue robes with gold designs and a red sash connected to a golden buckle designed like an eye. Her face was covered by a golden mask designed like a skull, and connected to this mask was five spikes with a metal band connecting them like a semi-circle. It was a strange symbol, an evil one, just looking at it made Lori stressed. The women raised her hand out and Lori could see she was holding a short golden staff, the ugly thing tipped with a strange caged dome with what looked like smoke coming out of it.

The Cultist Acolyte (and Lori wasn’t sure where she was getting these names but she wasn’t about to question it now) pointed her staff at Lori and the Bones charged her. Lori swore and cut her losses, zoning in on the one to her right and charged to meet her foe. Shield met sword in a spectacular show of force, sending sparks flying up as metal collided and scraped against each other. The unnatural thing was fueled by arcane magic but Lori had muscle on her side, plus a little science courtesy of Lisa, and steadily she gained the upper hand. Just as she hoped the skeleton behind her hadn’t the chance to make mincemeat of her exposed back, finding itself far too preoccupied with the holy wrath of a little sister protecting her sibling. Leni screamed in righteous fury as she battered the Bone Soldier with her cudgel, ribs cracked and sternum shattered under her onslaught and when the soldier slashed at her with its sword she expertly ducked under its swing and shoved forward with all her might. Caught unaware, and in the spine, the Bone Soldier fell backwards and collapsed, moaning in its haggard voice before its skull was obliterated under the mighty swing of Leni’s weapon.

Having dispatched this enemy Leni noticed her sister gaining the upper hand against her own enemy when the strange woman raised her staff at Lori! Leni called out to her sister but was too late as a cloud of smog rushed out from the staff and snaked its way forward, enveloping Lori who immediately stopped pressing her advantage. In a show of strength Lori used her shield to shove the Bone Soldier backwards then began to swing her mace around wildly, screaming and cursing about something in her head, telling it to get out, that something hurt. Leni immediately rushed to her sister’s aid and did the only thing she could think of, she pulled her in for a hug, holding her tight despite the thrashing and trying to shush her. From the corner of her eye Leni saw a green bottle go sailing through the air where it collided with the Cultist’s face, a green slime covered the woman’s face and she let out a distorted scream, like something out if a horror movie.

“I’m not sure what this ‘blight’ is exshactly, but it sheems acidic in nature,” Lisa stated, straightening her glasses and pulling out another green globe from her robes. “What I’d really like to know ish how I alwaysh sheem to have more.”

“Like how I never run out of ammo? Don’t question it dude,” Luna called out striding into the room and pointing her gun at the remaining Bone Soldier. The zombie hissed and strode forward only to receive a ball of lead in its legs for its trouble. The bone splintered and the skeleton collapsed, though it still crawled forward swinging its sword haphazardly from its position on the floor. Lisa reared her little arm back and let fly another globe of blight, it hit its mark and Lisa was rewarded with a sizzle and moan from the undead. The same blight that seemed to eat through the armor and flesh of the Cultist made short work of the wounded skeleton, dissolving the bones and reducing it to bubbling sludge. Lisa noted the rapidity of the solution and made a mental note not to experiment on it, some things were just too volatile.

“Good one little dude,” Luna cried, giving her little sister a thumb up. Lisa blushed behind her mask and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

“Oh! Well, thank you shibling. I have to admit it was a rather – OH GOD LUNA LOOK OUT!”

Luna spun on her heel and swung her sword, the clang of metal on metal filled the room as her sword clashed with the staff of the Cultist Acolyte. Even though the woman burned she did not seem slowed down in the slightest, if anything the pain invigorated her as she screamed and brought her staff to blows again and again. Luna was fast but she was inexperienced, the Cultist got the better of the rocker and brought the staff in for a blow to the side. Luna grunted in pain as the wind was knocked out of her and the woman cackled, her celebration was short-lived as it turned out. Luna screamed and swung her sword around, cleaving the Cultist’s stomach and spilling her entrails. The Acolyte howled and tried to stuff her entrails back into her stomach when the acid eating its way through her face spilled onto the exposed guts, eating away at them with a wretched slurping sound. The Acolyte gurgled and went stiff, then she fell to the ground and twitched once, twice, then no more.

>The slow death – unforeseen, unforgiving.

Luna blinked and shook her head, warily she looked around the room and peered into the darkness.

“Uh, did anyone else hear that?”

“Not now Luna, something is wrong with our sibling,” Lisa called, hurrying over to where Leni was hunched over a quivering Lori. Luna cursed and joined her sisters, as she approached she saw Leni had opened that weird bible thing that creepy old pastor had given her and was reading it aloud as she whispered in…was that Latin? Since when did Leni know Latin!?

Leni continued to murmur in the forgotten language, truth be told she didn’t really know what she was saying but she knew she had to help her sister and it felt like the right thing to do, like when she prayed for Luna back on that highway. And it seemed to be working, Lori’s struggles slowly ceased and she strangled out a gasp and took in deep lungsful of air. Leni let her older sister breath, patting her back gently and cooing into her ear until the older sister got her footing and she helped her to her feet.

Lori hacked a little and shivered. What had just happened was easily one of the worst experiences of her entire life. When that smog overtook her it felt like the rest of the world just faded away, leaving nothing but a cold, dark expanse all around her. She felt trapped, alone, scared, and that was before the voice spoke to her. It wasn’t her Ancestor, it was nothing like him, where was dour and foreboding this was merciless, cruel in every sense of the word. It spoke in words she didn’t understand but she could feel the meaning behind them and it was hate. This thing hated her, it hated everything, and if it ever got the chance to act on that hate it would…

Lori took another deep breath and let it out leisurely. Gotta keep it together. Can’t let them see you like this. She looked at her sisters and coughed out a nervous chuckle but the tension was so thick you could cut it with Luna’s sword.

Luna walked forward and patted her older sister on the shoulder. “Should we go back Lori,” she asked, nodding towards the open doorway they came in from. “Get back up, give you a rest, then we can come back down.” Lori thought about it for a moment, but ultimately declined.

“Nah, we should keep going, just a little farther, I want to see what else is down here. If one of us gets really hurt we’ll turn back, okay?”

Luna gave a small smile and nodded but Lori could tell her little sister was anxious and scared. Hell, she was too, but she had a feeling they needed to keep going. Call her crazy, but Lori had a feeling something was down here, something they really needed.

Lori smiled in earnest this time and grabbed her sister’s chin to tilt her face up a bit.

“Trust me Luna, nothing’s going to happen, we’ll all be fine.”
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“Hey, Lori? You ever get sick of being wrong?”

“SHUT THE HELL UP LUNA!”

Luna snorted and swung her sword around in a wide arc, catching the Bone Rabble in the neck and shattering the spine, sending the head to the floor as the rest of the carcass collapsed. Zombies they were technically not, but going for the head seemed to work and Luna was grateful they weren’t putting themselves back together and getting back up. A flash of movement to her left cut off her train of thought and Luna jerked back and fraction too late. The Bone Soldier’s sword missed her neck but the point grazed her shoulder, a crimson splash jettisoned through the air to the backdrop of Luna’s scream and she stumbled further back as the Bone swung again through empty air. The young rocker leaned forward and slashed at the skeleton, her sword cut through the rotten ribbons of flesh and splintered three ribs but otherwise the creature was unperturbed. Sensing an opening the Bone Soldier took two steps towards the wounded teen and raised its sword up, though its bravado was cut short by a howl of fury and the deafening crunch of a cudgel cracking its head open. Leni Loud’s wrath was beautiful and terrible to behold, bludgeoning a swath of destruction around her as she swung her cudgel in wide arcs around her. Where it collided bone crunched under the temper of her blows and the moaning of the skeletons sounded less like death walking and more like the pitiful mewling of the wounded.

Luna groaned and backed up into a pillar, the cool stone holding her up as she rested and checked her shoulder. The wound wasn’t deep, the shoulder had been cut about half an inch deep, the muscle was torn from the rusted sword but the bone was untouched. She was obviously bleeding but it wasn’t a lot, and Luna was suddenly reminded of Lori’s plight from yesterday. The poor girl had been bashed in the chest by a flail and was bleeding for several hours, and Luna was honestly worried her older sister was going to bleed to death before they reached the Hamlet, but no matter how much she complained, or bled, Lori never did bleed to death, she didn’t even seem to be all that much hurt. Luna grunted and rolled her injured shoulder, yeah it stung but honestly, she could see what Lori was talking about. She was bleeding but it seemed almost cosmetic, she wasn’t especially light headed or really in danger of dying it looked like, just sore and hurt.

Luna grunted and considered the battle. The Bones, well they didn’t so much ambush them as they simply milled about in the adjacent rooms and rushed out into the hallway when they…heard? Felt them? They didn’t have eyes, no ears for that matter. Luna hmmmed and cocked her gun, pointing the revolver at the rushing Bone Rabble and popping it in the head, exploding the skull in a shower of bone and rotting gray matter as the revenant fell back and landed with a thud. Deciding that maybe now wasn’t the best time to ponder and started the lengthy process of reloading her pistol.

With Luna distracted the rest of the Loud sisters continued to fight in earnest. Leni Loud continued her rampage, her beautiful face twisted into a vicious snarl, looking all the world like the visage of a wrathful fury as she wreaked her terrible vengeance on the walking dead that so mistakenly roused her ire. It was pretty fucking bad ass really, and judging by the slight glaze in Leni’s eyes Luna assumed she was being empowered by Lisa’s weird smelling salts.

Lisa!

Luna gagged and her eyes scanned the battlefield for her little sister. It didn’t take too long; the little genius was heeding her older sister’s words well and was currently hiding behind the impenetrable shield of Lori. The little girl was holding up well, throwing her odd potions of “blight” at the approaching Bones. The acidic substance ate through armor and bones, sizzling upon contact and melting them away as they fell to the ground and shattered on the cobblestone. Those that didn’t and still meandered forward were soon felled by Lori’s mace. The oldest Loud’s face was set into a tight grimace as she swung he spiked weapon around her, the decrepit armor the Bone Rabble wore crumpled easily enough under the sheer force of her blows and their clubs bounced harmlessly off her shield. The only trouble she seemed to have was facing a Bone Soldier, Lori’s heavy armor gave her excellent protection, evidenced by the way the rusted sword shattered when it struck the pauldron on her shoulder, but it did severely slow her down, again, evidenced by the way the skeleton capered around the swing of her mace. Weaponless it might be but the skeleton was far from harmless, it swung its fleshless talons right at Lori’s face, the bone raking against her face as she screamed and brought her hands up.

Luna was already half-way to Lori’s side when Lisa surprised them both by reaching a gloved hand into one of the purses by her side and pulling out a clenched fist. Lisa took two steps towards the skeleton, its fists raised up, Luna and Lori screamed at her to get back. Lisa reared her hand back, wound her arm up, and threw an odd green dust right at the skeleton’s face. A hellish scream emanated from the skeleton, how seeing as it had no lungs Luna didn’t know, as it fell back. The green dust had the same effect the slime did, though it wasn’t as potent it seemed. Slowly, portions of the skull dissolved away and the lower jaw fell from the face and clattered to the floor. The skeleton moaned again and reached out only for its un-life to be quickly extinguished by another swing from Lori’s mace, this time colliding with its neck as the bone was crushed and the collapsing head was sent sailing into the darkness beyond the torchlight. Lori let out a guttural war cry and Luna flinched at the noise, if she didn’t know any better she’d think Lori was enjoying herself. Luna spared a glance to Leni, the girl was laughing as she crushed the skull of another skeleton beneath her boots.

She didn’t know any better.

Luna groaned and rubbed her shoulder as Lori grabbed up Lisa in a crushing hug, shaking her and alternatively thanking and admonishing her for getting involved like that. Lisa pulled out another vial from her robes, this one filled with a reddish fluid that looked thick like medicine. The second-youngest Loud forced the potion to Lori’s mouth and she drank, and before Luna’s own eyes the claw marks that had shorn through Lori’s cheek sealed themselves shut, the blood running down her face was literally sucked back up into the cuts as the flesh sewed itself together.

Luna wasn’t happy about that. Her chest felt tight and something rose from the pit of her stomach and rushed up to her throat, it felt hot and sick and angry and Luna could feel her face set into a tight grimace as her bleeding shoulder throbbed in agony. She felt herself take several steps towards her sisters when a heavy hand grabbed her wounded shoulder, but instead of searing pain she felt only warmth, something alive and loving and not at all unfamiliar to her. Luna smiled and leaned into Leni’s bosom, her older sister hummed and brought her in for a hug, whispering words in another language that Luna couldn’t understand but she felt the intent clear enough and she giggled as the warmth spread from her shoulder to her very core, it felt like an embrace and Luna half-recalled memories of her mother holding her as a baby. The warmth slowly faded and Leni kissed Luna on the forehead, the younger girl scoffed a little but returned her sister’s affection likewise and hugged her back. They stayed like this for a moment before rejoining their two siblings.

The girls stood together and regarded the carnage around them. Nearly a dozen skeletons had fallen between them, most of their ilk the typical rabble strung together with scraps of cloth and grasping clubs of tinder or broken statues for weapons, but about four of their number were the soldiers they had seen before, differentiated by the others by the scraps of actual armor and the rusted, notched swords they carried. Well-equipped in comparison to their compatriots they were by no means a match to armed adventurers, but numbers made them dangerous and as Luna could attest a lucky strike was all it took to turn the tide.

>Seize this momentum – push on to the task’s end.

Luna noticed Lori flinch and rub the side of her head and immediately felt guilty about earlier, her older sister had been through so much on their account and here she was acting jealous and petty. Luna reached out and rubbed Lori’s head, the older girl snorted and took her hand off but gave it a reassuring squeeze anyway.

“I’m fine Luna, you good?”

Luna nodded and gave Lori a small smile. Assurances and words of comfort were passed around the group and the sisters discussed their next course of action.

“I think it’s safe to say that we’ve scouted enough,” Lori said, hands on her hips and eyes closed as she nodded sagely. “We’ll head back up, go back to the manor, get some more supplies and make up a battle plan. Sound good girls?”

A chorus of agreements sounded off and Lori smiled. “Great, now all we have to do is…” Lori’s smile and optimism vanished as she turned around and found herself looking at the business end of a long hallway with about ten doors on each side, each of them leading to their own rooms and halls.

“You don’t remember how we got in, do you?”

Lori turned her head down to Lisa and snarled at her and the littlest Loud present decided that maybe now would be a good time to shut her trap.

“Of course, I remember, it’s right in front of us. Besides, we’re in a castle, it’s not like we can get lost down here, how many rooms can there be.”

The answer to that, of course, would be a lot.

There’s a lot of rooms Lori.

In fact, after the first thirty minutes of backtracking had passed, along with another skeleton encounter, and absolutely no recognizable sign or familiar room had been encountered Lori had begun to suspect that they weren’t in any ordinary underground castle filled with the walking dead given a terrible facsimile of life and ancient cosmic horrors beyond the realm of human understanding.

...Okay, sure, when you say it like that of course it sounds stupid to think you could just walk out but Lori didn’t know that at first, shut up she’s new to this.

>Survival is a tenuous proposition in this sprawling tomb.

You’re not helping.

“Well, tell me what to do then.”

Lori blinked and turned her head to see Luna was looking at her, concern in her eyes. Shit, she said that out loud didn’t she?

Lori’s smile was anything but reassuring, jagged and haggard and showing far too many teeth as it stretched from ear to ear.

“I, er... wasn’t talking to you. Don’t worry about it.”

Luna reared back a little and looked at her sister, confusion clear on her face as she tried to process what Lori just told her. She didn’t get a chance to question it though as Lori spurred onward ahead of the group. Luna didn’t see the way Lori’s smile twisted into a grimace, but she did hear the way she whispered stupid, stupid to herself a few times and she was worried, but she decided to put it out of her head for now.

But she’d be keeping an eye on her.
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The frantic scrambling of skin and cloth on hard cobblestone echoed through the forgotten corridors and decrepit hallways. Forgotten, but not abandoned, though the current occupants were anything but lively however animated they appeared to be. Lola Loud’s ragged panting and shallow breaths rang in her ears as she desperately clawed and stumbled her way through the darkness, the dim light of fading torches scattered throughout the dungeon bequeathed brief respites from the overpowering weight of the blackness around her, but the cost was so high she might’ve honestly preferred not seeing what was around her.

What was chasing her throughout the catacombs.

Rotting faces leering at her from out of the darkness, skeletal arms clutching jagged, rusted swords and axes, reeking bodies with strips of dried flesh hanging off the ribs, skinless claws that raked her skin and pulled at her hair as she ran by open doorways. And the moaning. Oh God the moaning.

Lola was out of tears by now, and at any rate she was far too terrified to cry. Scared into a state of perception she had never experienced before, wide-eyed and running on instinct as she ducked clutching nails, scrabbled around weapons and walking corpses, and fought tooth and nail when they caught her, always escaping just in time.

But for how long?

Time was running out. Her lungs already course from screaming and beleaguered gasping hadn’t the energy to scream again for help. She had tried that already and nobody had come.

She was beginning to realize nobody would.
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“Shit, shit, shit, shit!”

“This looks bad Lori, this looks really bad!”

“I know it looks bad! You think I can’t see it? I can see it Luna! THERE’S A FUCKING HOLE IN HER LEG!”

“Don’t cuss in front of Lisa,” Leni groaned, half irritated and half in pain as she clutched her bleeding leg. Said child genius was currently in the thick of it, tiny hands clutching pitifully at her sister’s wound as she applied a mixture of her healing draught and the medical supplies the girls had brought with them. As Lisa cleaned and dressed the wound for the required stiches Luna rubbed her arm and glanced to her feet and off to the side. Nearby laid an iron spike, still stained red as it rested where it was flung in Leni’s struggle.

>Mind that such missteps are the exception, and not the rule.

It had all happened so quickly, one second they were walking about and the next Leni was screaming and Lisa was screaming and there was blood and then she was screaming. Luna mumbled and drew her jacket tight around her. God, she was useless, guilt tore up her insides and a shiver ran up her spine. A heavy hand clasped her shoulder and she turned to see Lori looking at her, concern evident of on her face as she gazed evenly at her little sister.

“You alright Luna?”

Luna scoffed and gestured to Leni whimpering on the ground.

“Forget about me, what about Leni? I walked right over that trap and nothing happened but then Leni comes up behind me and-

“And nothing. You said it yourself, you didn’t see it. None of us did. Now we know better, now we know to keep our eyes open for more of those booby-traps.” Lori shook Luna a little and gave her a weary smile. “Don’t beat yourself up about it, at least we brought those bandages, right?”

Luna chuckled a little at that but it was off, a little too quick, a little too high-pitched. Her eyes darted to her side and she clutched the hem of her jacket and brought it tight around her body.

“Heh, yeah-
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{Approx. 15 minutes earlier}

“What on Earth am I looking at,” Lori muttered, hand already on her forehead.

“A fountain,” Leni chirped, not noticing the weary glare Lori threw her way as she marched right up to the glowing lawn ornament. And I don’t mean glowing as in an ornately decorated piece of architecture, but glowing in the more nuanced, practical term.

It glowed.

A nice blue to be precise, like the water was neon or one of those radioactive looking sports drinks you see in a gas station, y’know the ones that are a cheap knockoff of Gatorade. Fakeorade.

At any rate, it didn’t look healthy and that wasn’t even getting to the question of what exactly a fountain was doing underground in the first-

“LENI SPIT THAT OUT!”

“Buh I’m thirsy,” Leni warbled as she turned back to Lori, cheeks filled and mouth pursed in a frankly adorable pout.

“I don’t care, it’s probably bad for you. Remember when we went to New Mexico and mom told us not to drink the water, because it would make us sick? Same thing here, so spit it out.”

Leni glared at her older sister, her mouth just faintly quivered.

“Leni, I will give you to the count of three,” Lori growled, fists clenched at her sides and brow furrowed in righteous indignation. Her right hand went up, three fingers extended and they dropped as she counted down.

“One, two, two and a half, two and three quarters, Leni I swear to God-

Leni tilted her head back and Lori heard her swallow. Unfortunately for the wannabee fashionista this little display of teenage rebelliousness immediately bit her in the ass as she choked on the water and sputtered, her glowing cargo was discharged all over the stone floor as she coughed and hacked.

Lori sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, well, that’s what you get. Now what did you learn.”

Leni sniffled and wiped her eyes on the arm of her robe and looked at Lori with squinting eyes brimming with tears.

“It was delicious,” she whined.

*Ahem* “Ash amushing ash this ish I musht inshist we shtop with the tomfoolery,” Lisa huffed. Her little feet went pitter-patter as she scuttled up to the glowing fountain and without further ado produced an empty glass bottle from her robes and filled it with the the glowing water.

“How many bottles do you have in there?” Lori asked.

“Enough,” Lisa simply stated, inspecting the glowing liquid carefully. After a minute of “research” she slowly looked up to Lori, her eyes wide and mouth in a small O-shape. Lori felt her throat hitch and her eyes flickered over to Leni who seemed to have picked up on the tone in the room and was sobering up. Lori’s eyes snapped back to Lisa as she heard her little sister take a deep, shuddering breath.

“It’s harmless.”

Lori let out a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding in and gave an undignified snort, narrowing her eyes at her sniggering little sister but try as she might though she couldn’t hide her own small smile. It wasn’t often that Lisa joked and Lori was honestly happy for the brevity.

Lisa allowed herself this brief respite to indulge in her humor and wiped a stray tear from her eye. It felt good sometimes, to act like the general adolescent homo sapiens on occasion, she could at least admit that to herself. As stoic as she appeared even she required the basic human comforts of companionship and social interaction, jocularity chief among them.

“Yesh, yesh, comedy ish the spish of life, I supposh. At any rate, thish water ish not merely harmless, if anything it sheems to be beneficial, possesshing many of the shame medicinal qualities of my own elixshirs.” Lisa took one look at Lori’s face and huffed. “Pretty water makes booboos go bye-bye.” She handed out the glass of holy water to Lori who begrudgingly accepted it with a withering glare at her little sister for that smart-assed comment just now.

“Where’s Luna?”

Lori and Lisa both stared at each other for a few seconds before turning to face Leni who was kneeling in front of the Holy Fountain with her hands held up in prayer, but her eyes were wide and scanning with room with sudden alertness. Lori and Lisa glanced back at each other, back to Lori, scanned the room…

The sudden crack of a gunshot echoed through the ruins and through the ringing in her ears Lori could faintly hear a scream behind her.

“Oh shit,” Lori muttered, and took off sprinting down the hallway. She didn’t have to go far, down the hall three doors down to her left Lori heard the din of battle and barged into the room. Another scream echoed through Lori’s skull and she drowned it out with a war cry of her own.

Lori was already mad, but when she saw her little sister backed up against a pillar, tears running down her red face and shaking from head to toe as those unholy, rotting fucks creeped up to her, her eyes went red and she gnashed her teeth. Her deranged entry put the two corpses to a stop and they turned to face the intruder.

Both were clearly of a higher pedigree than the rabble they had been contending themselves with up till now. One of them wore an iron cuirass and conquistadors helmet, and dull red Elizabethan clothing under, tattered and full of holes. A quiver of arrows was slung over its back and in its bony claws it clutched a large and all together methodically menacing crossbow.

Its companion was of similar stock, sturdy and solid it too wore an iron cuirass with metal boots and heavy gauntlets and a chainmail helmet covered its head and ran down its neck. While its comrade in arms appeared to be of the long-ranged persuasion this one was distinctly more personal in its methods of murder. In one hand, it clutched a notched and stained axe, rusted and worn from years of disuse it was an instrument of death nevertheless and the skeleton seemed as proficient with it in death as it was no doubt in life. In its other hand, it held a round wooden shield, the upper right corner looked chipped and Lori guessed that is where Luna’s gunshot from earlier had struck.

The arbalest was closest to Lori and so, naturally, bore the brunt of her ire, a strategic move on Lori’s part however unknowingly it was committed. The skeleton brought up the crossbow and aimed it at the teenaged girl in front of it when her mace lashed out and splintered not only the weapon but dashed its own arms to pieces as well. The skeleton seemed perturbed about this, or at least as perturbed as a skeleton can get, and looked down at the crippled stumps that were left. It looked up at Lori and its jaw hung down comically for a few seconds until its head was crushed on the return swing of her weapon.

Breathing raw and ragged Lori laughed and felt the energy, the thrill of it all run from her arms and down her spine. Her arms ached from the constant strain and exercise but it was a welcome pain, it gave her something to focus on as her vision went red and hazy. Her eyes locked with the empty sockets of the skull in front of her as the Bone Defender seemed to regard her. It seemed the higher up in chain of command they got the more these revenants retained of their skill, their soldier’s instincts.

Good. Keep them coming. Lori needed the challenge.

Lori let out a cry and banged her mace against her shield and lunged forward. Merely a feint but it did the trick, however intelligent it seemed the creature was a slave to the impulses that reanimated it and so it was compelled to seek out the warmth of living flesh and dispose of it. The creature lurched forward just as Lori leapt back and she brought her mace down in an overhead swing. A fraction too late though as the skeleton brought its own shield up to brace the blow as it continued its charge and slammed into Lori. The tackle left her winded but not stunned and Lori brought her own shield around and returned the favor. The skeleton backed off at that and took a few steps back, regarding her silently as Lori took the chance to regain her breath. The skeleton gripped its axe tighter and marched towards the girl, hacking at her just as she brought up her shield. The onslaught continued, blows so powerful they rattled Lori’s arms as the creature continued to stride forward, Lori chanced a glance behind her shoulder and saw that the zombie was trying to back her up into the wall.

Renewed vigor flowing through her veins Lori redoubled her efforts and ducked under the Bone Defender’s arm as it brought its axe up for another swing. Lashing out with her left arm she caught the creature’s side with her shield and sent it stumbling away. Now it was on the defense, its own rotted wooden shield proved little match for the ferocity of Lori’s blows and her iron mace sent splinters flying with every strike. The two traded blows like this for what felt like forever but couldn’t have been more than a minute, axe and mace singing through the air before they struck with dull thuds on iron and wood, the grunts and unearthly moans, the clanking of metal and clacking of bone. More than once Lori felt the axe cleave the air near her face, she had to put such things out of her mind though, the monster in front of her had no fear, no second thoughts. She swung her mace out and in a lucky strike managed to crush the hand that was holding the axe, sending the weapon flying. Lori let out a shout of triumph but her preemptive celebration was cut short by a shield to the face. Head ringing and nose bleeding Lori screamed and her leg shot up, armored boot toe connecting with a crack into the skeleton’s pelvis. The bone splintered and the skeleton knelt, a dull groan somehow emanating from his open jaw which it turned up just in time to see Lori bring her shield down. The sharp edges of her heater shield caved through the skull, separating the lower jaw and severing the spine right at the shoulder blades.

>Another abomination, cleansed from our lands!

The skeleton fell apart and Lori took a deep breath, wiping the blood running down her nose she turned to the other side of the room. Luna stood there, looking all the world like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar, kicking at the dust aimlessly, hand behind her back, and eyes cast down. Lori let out a deep breath somewhere in the back of her throat and marched right up to her little sister who desperately tried to make herself smaller when she felt the shadow of her oldest sister encompass her.

“I want an explanation,” Lori stated, trying to keep her voice even and doing a terrible job at it.

Luna gulped and slowly nodded her head over to the rightmost corner of the room, still refusing to make eye contact and face flushed red.

Lori turned her head and absolutely steamed when she saw an open treasure chest tucked into the corner. Her face went scarlet and she grit her teeth, but she didn’t yell, she stammered and groaned but she didn’t yell. Instead she grabbed her teary-eyed little sister and pressed her close against her.

“Don’t ever do that again.” Lori grunted, the red haze in her eyes fading though her vision was still swimming from her own tears. “I’m not losing you again.”

Luna murmured something and nodded her head, putting her own arms around Lori for a tight hug. This lasted for a few seconds until Lori seemed to have enough and disentangled herself from the embrace. She dusted herself off and gave Luna a glare then reached over and thumped the side of her head.

“Dumbass,” Lori chastised, and turned to leave the room, giving Leni and Lisa who had been watching from the doorway a half-assed rant about how they were no help whatsoever. Luna wasn’t really listening, her eyes focusing on the emptied treasure chest. It had seemed so inviting earlier, just a quick nip in and out and she’d be back with the group. Took a little longer than usual to pry open though, and when she saw what was inside. . . she didn’t notice the skeleton’s until they were on top of her. If Lori hadn’t have come when she did-

Luna shivered and glanced over to her sisters, when she saw they were still arguing she slowly opened her jacket and peeked inside.

“Luna, hurry up! You stay where I can see you!”

Luna jumped a little and shuffled her jacket around as she quickly walked up to the group. Lori greeted her with another thump to the head but Leni rescued her with a hug, glaring at Lori as she carted her little sister off down the corridors.

Luna tried to relax into Leni’s arms but she was on edge, always straightening out her jacket and pulling it close to her, her eyes rapidly shifting from the slight bulge in her coat to her sister.
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-good thing we had those bandages, eh Lori?”

“Sure is, plus the literal holy water we got. Add Lisa’s potions and Leni’s light show and I think we’ll be just fine. I’ll need to buy some more of that medicine though, plus bandages for next time, can’t be too careful.”

Luna pulled her coat shut and tucked the hem into her pants. “Yeah, we’ll definitely need more. Don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

Lori blinked and looked at her little sister. 15 years she’s lived with Luna Loud, and though the young rocker would never know Lori knew her little sister like the back of her hand, she knew them all. Their interests, their habits, and most importantly when they were bullshitting her. Luna was easy, she acted tough and pretended nothing was wrong but she wouldn’t look you in the eye, she’d lick her lips and nod too much, and most importantly she wouldn’t slip into her accent. Lori didn’t know what was going on exactly, but she had a hunch.

She was scared. Scared of getting hurt, scared of dying. She had been since the first incident with the bandits, and now all this shit with skeletons and necromancers and cultists, she had every right to be scared, for fuck’s sake it wasn’t like Lori wasn’t.

Lori sighed and reached over to drag her little sister in for a side hug. “Hey, I get it, you’re scared, it’s okay. I’m scared too. I was scared when I first woke up, when I didn’t know where you guys were, if you were safe, when I had to fight that bandit. When I thought I lost you.” Lori sighed again and kissed Luna on the forehead. “I thought I lost you again then. I can’t lose you, any of you. You’re all I have. I love you girls, and I’m going to get you home if it’s the last thing I do. So, cheer up, okay? Big sister is here.”

Luna gave a light chuckle at that and looked up at her big sister. “I love you too Lori. I am scared, but I’ll try and get better, for you luv.” Lori smiled at that and turned to her other little sister, walking over to Leni and helping the injured girl up to her feet. Luna watched her go with a sad smile but didn’t join her. Her smile slowly faded and her eyes shifted to each sister, when she was sure none of them were watching she opened her jacket up and risked a peek inside.

Bandages and stitches, medicinal herbs, healing draughts, a plethora of medical supplies all pilfered from the treasure chest earlier. Luna exhaled and tucked her coat back in. Lori was right, she was scared, she wasn’t going to be ashamed of that, who wouldn’t be in her situation? Getting shot wasn’t fun, she saw her sisters brave wounds and shrug of injuries that would level a soldier, she saw the way Lori justified what she had to do. There was no need, Luna saw that now, there was only survival. Lori said she got it but none of them really knew what it was like, they hadn’t been through what she had, hadn’t felt it.

They didn’t die.

Luna shivered and let out a shaky breath. Only she knew what was on the other side, only she knew how much it hurt, only she knew how cold and dark it really was. Luna breathed deep and steeled her gaze, jostling the contents of her jacket as she walked towards her sisters.

Let them think whatever they want, Luna Loud was never going to die again.
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Lola Loud’s haggard gasps reverberated in the gloom as she hugged the wall and cautiously made her way through the stone halls, eyes peering into the darkness and head darting around at every little sound.

How long had she been down here? How long had she been scrawling around in the black, jumping at every shadow, every sound, terrified out of her mind and sure she was going to die any second.

The dead were chasing her. That thought kept running through her head. The dead were chasing her, their rotten skin glistening in the barest specks of light and the sloshing of their rotten innards spilling out of their ribcages onto the floor following them. The worst was their groaning, the sound alone was going to give her nightmares.

Lola gave a nervous titter at that thought. Nightmares, heh, that was implying she was going to make it out of here. At the tender age of six-and-a-half Lola did not expect to suddenly become aware of her own mortality, certainly not in so violent a manner, yet here she was. Life’s funny like that.

Lola’s hand groped out into the darkness and latched onto something warm and hairy, the rat squeaked and squirmed in her grasp and Lola screamed, flinging her hand and sending the vermin careening into the opposite wall where it hit with a wet smack and slide down to the ground. Lola moaned and whimpered, shivering as she stared at the stain and the rat’s unmoving body.

“I’m sorry,” she sniveled, unsure who she was apologizing too but legitimately sorry nonetheless. She allowed herself a few seconds to recollect herself before forcing herself forward, she hadn’t heard the skeletons for a while now and was beginning to hope she had lost them but she couldn’t risk them finding her again. She had to keep moving, it was her only chance.

Lola crawled on the ground and for the first time in her life she was glad she wasn’t wearing her usual pink dress. She couldn’t see what outfit was she was wearing now and she was sure it was something she wouldn’t normally be caught dead in, but whatever it was had leather pads on her knees and the thick gloves were also appreciated. There was also something sharp and metal dangling on her belt but she wasn’t going to look at it because she had a feeling she knew what it was and if it was then Mom and Dad wouldn’t want her to touch it and she didn’t want to get in trouble.

Lola put such thoughts out of her mind and focused on the task at hand. She’d been wandering around in the dark for hours now, or at least it had to be hours, she wasn’t sure but it felt like forever so it probably was. At any rate she was exhausted, her muscles ached and screamed out in abuse as sheer adrenaline and fear forced her onwards and she gasped out in pain, her legs on fire and pins-and-needles in her fingers, eyes aching from hours spent crying and nose itching from dust.

That she was thoroughly miserable is the motif meant to be recognized her.

Stumbling over her own two feet Lola turned a corner and squealed, closing her eyes shut as a sudden brightness overcame her sense. In reality, the dimming torchlight could hardly qualify as bright but to a little girl who had just spent the last two days underground it was positively incandescent. Slowly Lola’s face laxed and she opened her eyes ever so slightly, soaking up the light she had been denied for so long and curling up under the torch hanging from the wall. How it got there was a question her young mind didn’t even process, that it simply was there was more than sufficient for her and she took a few precious minutes to bask.

Then another rat skittered into view and she was back on her feet.

Lola shivered from cold and fear and glanced about the halls around her. The torchlight didn’t extend very far but from she could glean there were no skeletons hanging about nearby, nor any normal people for that matter.

A thud rang out in the distance, followed by some muffled whispers, and Lola’s head snapped to her left. There, just barely out of sight, the outline of a door faintly illuminated by yet more light leaking out from the sides and bottom of the cracked wood. Lola cautiously moved forward, staying on her toes and not making a sound. She hoped there were people on the other side, but Dad’s words not to talk to strangers or trust them rang out in her mind and she was nervous, ready to run at the first sign.

Lola crept up the door and slowly pushed it, flinching as the ancient wood creaked and ready to run. There wasn’t a sound on the other side, no words or whispers or any acknowledgement of the noise, much less an indication that there was anybody in the room. Lola scratched her head a little at that and narrowed her eyes, she was sure she heard somebody earlier, had she imagined it?

Caution gave way to curiosity and Lola pushed the door open far enough to peek her head inside the room. The warm glow of several candles placed about greeted her and Lola glanced around what looked to be a library. A very rundown library at that, books were strewn over the floor and rotten bookshelves, long-collapsed from age, lay tied together by cobwebs big enough for her to get caught in. Seeing nobody inside, Lola slowly crept into the room and peered in further. Something shuffled around in the far corner to the right and Lola ducked back out of the doorway where she stayed for several seconds before peeking back into the room. Whatever it was didn’t seem to notice her, still rummaging about near one of the broken bookshelves all she saw was a broad, dark figure hunched over. Without even realizing it Lola left the safety of the doorway, creeping closer and closer to the figure, just trying to get a look. Somewhere in the back of her head Lola was aware and was screaming about what a stupid idea this was, that she needs to turn around, that she needs to run. There was still time, all the time in the world, she just had to see-

A loud slam broke Lola out of her reverie and Lola spun on her heels with a squeak. The door was closed, her only exit barred by heavy wood and a new figure. A woman, clad in a black robe with gold plating, a golden skull musk covered her face. The woman walked forward and smacked a scepter into her open palm, clicking her teeth and slowly shaking her head.

“Well now,” the woman whispered, voice low and dry, “what do we have here?”

The something behind her shifted and Lola heard the scraping of sharp metal on stone.

Lola’s scream echoed through the forgotten corridors of the Ruins.
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Lori, Leni, Luna, and Lisa all sat around a little campfire, Lisa tending to her second oldest sister’s wounds while Lori massaged her temples and Luna looked everywhere except at her sister, fidgeting in her seat and keeping her cloak wrapped tightly around her. Meanwhile Leni hummed to herself, wincing at her sister’s treatment and face scrunched in obvious pain but trying her best not to acknowledge it; whether for her sister’s sake or her own Lori couldn’t say but she appreciated the effort all the same.

Now if only Luna could take a page from her book.

Lori groaned and massaged her temples, immediately feeling guilty. Luna had every right to be fidgety, scared, angry even, but God damn it didn’t make things easy. Lori took in a deep breath and wiped her eyes, she couldn’t let it get to her. It was one thing for Luna, but she couldn’t break, not her. She had to be the oldest, the strongest, had to protect them. Not that she really could, not from this. Lori wasn’t broken, but she was cracked and she wasn’t sure how long she could keep this up. Lori chuckled a little and spared a glance and smile for each little sister present, she already knew the answer to that thought.

As long as she was needed.

Leni mumbled something or other to herself and took her leg away from Lisa as soon as the little genius was finished dressing her wound.

“Like, thanks Lisa. I’m feeling better already,” the fashionista lied through her clenched teeth as she gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

It wasn’t of course but Lisa wasn’t about to shoot Leni down after such an earnest display, that she might be genuinely concerned for her older sister’s physical and mental health following such a traumatic event went without saying, or at least Lisa thought so. Truth be told (and it normally wouldn’t if Lisa had anything to say about it) the second youngest Loud had always felt a certain connection with the least intellectual mind in the house surprisingly enough. Oh, they had their arguments, and yes Lisa would quickly grow irritated with Leni’s antics, but nonetheless Lisa enjoyed her sisters company to an extent and she did love her. Recently though, Lisa had begun to feel something else for her older, dimwitted sibling, something almost protective, and in a strange way it did make sense, as the smartest was it not her responsibility to take care of her less “gifted” siblings? It was a curiosity to say the least, and Lisa decided that should she be fortunate enough to survive the little undertaking of theirs she resolved to take some time from her less pressing experiments to study this phenomenon a little more closely.

Leni sighed and rubbed the bandages on her legs. They really hurt, and Leni knew she said really lots of times but this time she meant it. In fact, she’d go as far as to say that this was the worst pain she’d ever felt in her life, and she’s stubbed her toe before. But, better her than any of them Leni thought, and unlike most people who say that to feel better about their shitty situation Leni meant that. She hated to see other people get hurt, especially her sisters (and Lincoln!) if she could help it. That’s not to say she went out looking for trouble, by all accounts she simply wished trouble would shove off and leave her and her siblings well enough alone. As the three other girls started talking to each other about the weird underground castle they were stuck in and how to get out with all the walking Halloween decorations trying to hurt them Leni picked at her bandages and mumbled to herself. Her leg was killing her and she hoped she could still walk on it. A lightbulb suddenly went off over her head and Leni reached into her habit and pulled out her special church book the nice priest gave her. The book that made all the ouchies better like mom’s kisses when you were little and scared, it was like feeling safe and warm all over. Could she do it now? Probably, but Lisa had gone to all that trouble making her medicine and band-aids, she’d hate to see it all go to waste.

“You, uh, doing a little reading there Leni?”

Leni’s eyes shot up from her book and over to Luna who was leaning on the edge of large slab of stone across from her on the other side of the campfire. Leni smiled and was about to reply when something happened. IT was a thought, just a little trifle really, but the way it stuck in her mind like a burr on a sweater and demanded her attention made her think. Luna’s question in and of itself wasn’t odd, but wasn’t there something there? The way she said it, the overly sweet way her parents and teachers and doctors had always talked to her ever since she was small. She always liked it but now it seemed. . . fake. Leni’s smile faded and her brow furrowed as she realized Luna talked to her like this back at the chapel, it was all sugar and spice but it wasn’t nice, not one bit. It was the same voice people put on when they were tired of explaining things to her, when they assumed (sometimes incorrectly) that she didn’t understand. Leni’s face set into a scowl as she regarded her little sister who had now begun to fidget in her seat and frown herself.

“Does that surprise you?” Leni asked.

“Um. . . what?” Luna replied.

“That I can read. Did you think I couldn’t?”

The conversation between Lori and Lisa hung suspended in the air as Leni’s none-too-subtle accusation enforced a new reign of awkward silence over the campfire. The oldest and youngest of the group were gob smacked, Leni could have a bit of a temper but never had she said anything, well, so snide before. It was disconcerting, like going outside and seeing a bird swimming or a cow climbing a tree, the very fabric of what was considered acceptable had been strung up and left to its own devices and neither of them had any idea what to do. Luna herself was quickly growing beside herself, frazzled nerves and a guilty conscience ate away at her core and now this sudden attack from the sweetest of her sisters left her bewildered, vulnerable, and honestly quite sad. Normally Luna wasn’t up for taking gruff from anyone but from Leni of all people? For heaven’s sakes, her eyes were starting to tear up.

“Leni, c’mon luv, you gotta know I didn’t mean it like tha-

A shrill scream the likes of which to put a banshee to shame echoed through the corridors and all sisters jumped out of their seats. For three seconds, the girls stood stock still before Lori’s face went pale and she took off down the halls towards the sound.

Lori knew that scream, she’s heard it so many times over the last 6 years, though never quite so scared. The closest she could come to was hearing her scream from a horror movie, though normally it was paired with another, near identical shriek. Not so this time.

The din of metal on stone echoed in the empty corridors and Lori homed in on the sound, if she even heard her other sisters behind her calling out for her to stop she didn’t seem to care as she raced ahead. Beads of sweat ran down her brow and Lori’s breath grew shallow and frantic as she shoulder-checked the wooden door that barred her way. The rotten wood gave way easily, perhaps a bit too easily for someone her size though Lori certainly didn’t notice at the time, and time seemed to slow down.

It was horrific really, granted everything that had happened to them in the last 48 hours or so had been but seeing your baby sister backed into a corner with a large man looming over her, her small body cowering in a ball as he raised his hands up, the glint of something sharp and metal…

The scream that tore its way out of Lori’s throat was less a howl of fury so much as it was the absence of everything civilized, it was fear and hate in equal measure, primal in its essence, a scrawling noise torn from the throat of an animal. Lori’s vision went red and everything seemed to sound distant, almost like she was underwater, as she tore across the ruined library. The cultist acolyte that had the clear misfortune of standing between Lori and the cultist brawler harassing the little girl was slammed into with the equivalent force of a small rhinoceros and subsequently was sent sailing into the wall on the opposite end of the room where head meet stone with a crack.

By all accounts, of the two cultists in that room, she would experience the least painful death.

The demolishment of the cultist brawler, a massive slab of muscle in its own right and garbed in the same robes of his female counterpart but swapping the magic staff for a pair of golden clawed gauntlets, was meticulous in its slaughter. Due to height difference Lori slammed into the man squarely in his ribs, two of which immediately fractured under the pressure of her steel armor and another three were bruised. The skin around the area was also torn which might have hurt quite a bit had the brawler not more pressing concerns when Lori grappled him and piledrived his head into the stone floor. From there Lori set about her gristly task, starting with the application of an iron boot to the man’s skull no less than seven times. Reasonably assured he wasn’t moving anywhere, Lori firmly placed her foot on the crook of his left shoulder, grabbed the arm, and didn’t so much tug as she wrenched the arm out of its socket, the maneuver was then followed by a knee to the elbow. The sundering of flesh as bone tore free from ligaments and greeted the stale air of the catacombs in a shower of blood and torn muscle was a sound to behold.

>Slowly, gently, this is how a life is taken.

This maneuver was repeated on the other arm as the man garbled out screams through his broken jaw. Like a surgeon Lori repeated herself another two times on the victim’s legs, if she was even aware of what she was doing was another matter entirely for her face was a mask of barred teeth and tightly-knit brows. Appendages thoroughly mangled Lori turned her attention to the man’s abdominal area. Lori knelt to the ground and hefted up her mace, momentarily abandoned in the earlier onslaught the weapon would now see some proper action. The first strike caved in an intact rib, the second completely shattered an already fractured one and drove the splintered fragments into the spleen, the third tore the skin of the belly in a burst of blood. Lori worked her craft slowly, methodically, all outside influence forgotten as she focused on the task at hand. By the eighteenth strike the once-imposing man had been neatly reducing to a mewling, quivering mass of meat. For a few scant seconds Lori observed her work dispassionately before dropping to her knees, one on each side of the man’s head, and dug her fingers into his eyes. A shiver traveled up Lori’s spine as the cultist gargled out a scream and a smile slowly scrawled across her face.

The she began to squeeze.

Lori never considered herself and especially imposing physical specimen. For a typical 17-year-old girl she might have veered towards the tougher end of the spectrum but not by much. All in all, it could be said that Lori Loud possesses no greater capabilities of physical prowess than to be expected of someone of her age and gender.

Within one minute of continuous pressure the brawler’s head cracked under the strain of her hands. It was like an egg really, it happened so fast Lori didn’t even have time to notice or react until her hands were soaked in blood and grey matter as the jagged edges of crushed skull pierced the head and the fluids jettisoned out.

For a second Lori just sat on her knees and stared at the carcass in front of her. It was a disgusting thing, a wretched mass of broken bones and torn flesh, a sack of meat really. Lori’s breath came in ragged gasps and her vison went hazy as something warm and wet crawled down her face. She stuck out her tongue and caught a droplet of liquid, giving it an experimental taste.

Salty.

Lori choked out something like a sob and a chuckle. She was going to be sick. She was already sick.

“Lori?”

The eldest Loud shook the tears streaming from her eyes as best as she could and slowly turned her head. She had to squint through the fog to see but she could just make out her sisters near the doorway, the crumpled heap of the cultist acolyte lying near the wall, a blood splatter roughly head high above her.

Lisa and Luna were huddled near each other, the third oldest Loud sister had pushed the little genius behind her leg and was holding something in her arms, it mewled and shivered in her grasp and Lori realized it was her baby sister, Lola, the one she heard screaming. How did she get over there? And why was Lisa crying?

Why was Luna looking at her like that?

Something moved and Lori shifted her eyes to see Leni slowly walking towards her, arms outraised and palms upturned, like she was walking towards a crazy person, or an animal. Unlike Luna whose mouth was set into a tight grimace Leni was trying her best to smile and that just made it all so much worse because Leni shouldn’t have to pretend to smile, she shouldn’t have to pretend she was alright when she wasn’t. She shouldn’t be crying.

A shudder ran through Lori’s body and it wouldn’t stop and the shivers turned to tremors and everything was shaking and the world was crashing down on her and she was a million miles away and she couldn’t feel Leni grab her and hold her tight and she couldn’t hear her little sister whisper it wasn’t her fault it wasn’t her fault it wasn’t her fault-

Wet and hot came rushing up Lori’s throat and her sick cascaded around her onto the floor and the meat and the smell was the worst, piss and shit and blood and sick and too much too much too much too much too much too much-

“We need to go Lori,” Leni mewled and tugged on her sister’s arm, trying to get her to her feet, trying to get her to run. Something cricked in the darkness and the moans once faint grew loud and rushed in and it would only be a matter of time before the dead things followed. The girls were too scared to run, too scared to go near Lori but they wouldn’t leave their sister but nobody wanted to go near her. They needed to leave. They ALL needed to leave. Come on Lori we need you I know you’re scared but we need you so get up GOD-FUCKING-DAMNIT GET UP NOW!

Lori swiveled her head up to Leni and her jaw dropped and Leni dimly realized she had said all that out loud. Lori swallowed and nodded her head and tried to get up to her feet, once, twice, three times she tried to stand but just couldn’t seem to manage.

“I think,” Lori began, chuckling to herself and shivering as the sounds in the dark grew louder. “I think I’m stuck. I...I can’t get up. I think I’m-

Lori moaned and shook her head as she gazed down at the meat and sick.

“I’m broken.”

Leni snorted and tugged on her sister’s arm again. “Not yet you aren’t. You remember when we were small and I didn’t know any better and I broke a vase because I thought it’d make a pretty sound, and you took the blame for it Lori, you remember that? Mom and dad weren’t too angry because the vase wasn’t really all that broken, just cracked a little. You’re the vase Lori, you’re just cracked, and when we get back I’ll get some glue and fix you up, because I don’t even know how many times you’ve fixed me and you’re my big sister and I love you and WE need you to get up right. Fucking. NOW!”

At that last shout Leni yanked Lori up to her feet, put Lori’s right arm around her shoulder, and dragged the dazed teen out the doorway to her shocked siblings.

“We’re leaving,” Leni brusquely stated and all the girls turned on their heels and took off down the tunnels as the dead rushed into the library.

>Turn off the light, and darkness rushes in to fill the void.

Lori shambled as best she could until terror found her feet and she shoved Lori off her and forward into the group, herding her little sisters through empty doorways and forgotten corridors, all the while shades of the dead lurched into view and barred their rotten teeth at the trespassers, grabbing at them from the shadows and snapping at their heels always and forever. How long they rushed through the ruins none could say, only that they ran until their legs were sore and their lungs were ragged with the stale air and the claustrophobia ate at their minds as the darkness enveloped them when the torches went out.

That was awful, hearing and feeling the wrongness of it all so close but out of sight, surrounding you, grabbing you, crushing you.

The ran for miles, they ran for years, and then Leni cried out to the Light and Lori remembered the preacher man and prayed for all the good it'd do her. And at first Lori thought the light was a trick of her mind, but as they neared it she could see it, feel it, smell it and it was real (or at least as real as she needed) and she pushed and shoved and kicked her panicked little ones to the light and they rushed like panicked little lambs into the sweet oblivion.

Fresh air greeted their lungs and the girls collapsed into little heaps as they tripped onto the grass and dirt and they cried and took deep, shuddering breaths of clean fresh air. A fresh torrent of nausea discharged from Lori’s bowels and she cried out from the abuse of it all. Once finished she turned back to the ruins entrance and gaped silently.

From just beyond the gloom IT lurked and IT watched and IT was awful and IT was evil and IT hated and was hated and that made IT laugh because IT didn’t care. Red as blood and claws and tentacles IT watched without a face and in that one second IT knew everything about her, IT had judged the entire weight of her existence and found her wanting.

IT was gone just as soon as she noticed it, melting back into the darkness and leaving Lori wondering if it even happened at all. Boots churning dirt and grass caught her attention and she turned to see Leni once again slowly approaching her. The second oldest Loud girl opened her mouth but Lori cut her off with an open palm.

“Stop. Not here. Not now. Lola?”

Leni nodded and pointed over to Luna who was holding the two youngest members of the group as they sat on the ground, both her and Lisa were trying to get a reaction out of Lola who simply held onto her older sister and shivered, making no sign if she felt the hugs and kisses and kind words her sisters gave her. Did she even realize she was safe?

Lori’s body moved on its own accord and she walked over to the huddle, arms held wide to join the hug. Then Luna’s head shot up and Lori stopped dead.

Her eyes, oh God her eyes. Wide and red and scared like a rabbit’s, her lips trembling and legs kicking out as she scooted away from her oldest sister in pure abject terror. Lisa shouted out something intelligible and buried her face in the crook of Luna’s neck. Something in Lori’s chest cracked and everything went dull.

They were afraid of her.

The dim memories she had of the library fight played through her head. It was distant, like she wasn’t doing it, more like she was watching it on a screen and it was awful. Lori didn’t even know she was capable of something like the, she had killed people before (something she was still coming to terms with) but this wasn’t just self-defense, this was torture plain and simple. And she smiled while doing it, she liked doing it.

Her sisters were afraid of her.

They had every right to be.

As the distraught teen began to suffer the early onset of an emotional breakdown Leni watched the scene unfold, unnoticed by everyone and beyond their sight, their reproach, and their understanding. Her fists clenched and jaw set she looked past her older sister and down at Luna and she seethed.

The neighing of a horse cut all the girls out of their respective reveries and each of them scrambled about for their weapons and turned to see a carriage being pulled by some brutish looking horses sitting on the side of the road by the ruins. And sitting on the coach was the unmistakable haggard wretch they had all come to now and loathe.

“Oi,” the Caretaker called out, his grey skin pulled so tight it looked fit to tear as he smiled at the girls. “Looks to me like you girls could use a lift. That’s up to you of course. Personally, I think they ugly one could do with a bit more exercise.”

>The poor Caretaker, I fear his long-standing duties here have...affected him.

Each one of the Louds glanced to each other and sighed. Lori marched over to the wagon in a miserable slump and Leni followed, shooting her younger sisters one last withering glare and she passed them. Luna and Lisa both flinched under Leni’s onslaught and the guilt could be easily read on their faces as they hauled themselves to their feet and walked, Lola still in Luna’s arms, over to the carriage.

Luna was the last to walk up to the carriage and as she passed the Caretaker he leaned down from his seat and gave the teen a wide grin of yellow teeth and rot breath.

“So, how’d you enjoy your first little adventure? Make some memories, get any souvenirs?”

Luna gave him the bird but the man just cackled and she filed into the wagon as she shushed her now sleeping baby sister. Poor thing was exhausted. So was she now to think about it. Exhaustion caught up to her and the last thing she saw before the darkness claimed her was Lori curled in a ball at the furthest corner of the carriage.
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The ride back to the mansion was uneventful, and that in and of itself was a blessing. The mission, in a sense, was a success. They knew what was down there, and the rescued Lola. While this was good news it was also troubling, as it confirmed Lori’s fears that other were here, Lori now had to assume all her little siblings were present.

Oh God, what about Lily?

Lori bit her lips and screamed into her mouth as she doubled over, trying her damnedest not to think about it. It was just a shitshow wasn’t it, just a big fucking mess and she didn’t even know where to begin to salvage it. Her carefully crafted mask had been abandoned down there, torn aside in one brief moment and she was exposed now. Maybe she deserved it, trying to pretend she had any idea what to do when she was just as scared and lost as the rest of them.

There was a knock on the door and Lori wiped her eyes and tried to straighten her hair.

“Y-yeah?”

The door opened with a creak and Leni peeked her head in.

“Hi Lori.”

“H-hi Leni. Um, look I know you don’t want to sleep alone but I need some space tonight so if you could-

“It’s not your fault.”

Lori’s words died on her tongue and she scrunched her face up.

“I’m a monster.”

“No, you’re not Lori. He was going to hurt Lola, just like that other guy from earlier hurt Luna. You were protecting them. Besides, monsters have sharp teeth and claws and are all hairy with a bad attitude. You have a bad attitude but none of the other stuff and that’s just because you’re stressed, like mom when she needs to get Lynn to soccer practice and Lola to her pageant on the same day.”

Lori snorted and chuckled despite herself but kept her eyes on the floor all the same. Leni strode forward and wrapped her arms around her sister and the two shared a hug.

“They hate me,” Lori mewled through her reemerging tears.

“No, they don’t. They’re just scared. They don’t understand. They think it’s one way when it’s another or maybe not either way and it get them, like, totes confused but they’ll get over it. You’ve kept them safe so far. They’ll need to get over it.”

The two shared their hug for some time, leaning into each other and sharing in the familiarity of the other’s presence before Lori’s tears stopped and she sniffled, breaking the hug to wipe her eyes.

“Thanks Leni, I can always count on you.”

“I wouldn’t, I’m totes bad at math. Anyway, I can’t sleep, I think I’m going to see what’s in the fridge. Oh! Maybe I can make a smoothie! You want one~”

Lori genuinely smiled but shook her head. “No thanks Leni. I’m gonna hit the hay. Goodnight sis, see you in the morning.”

Leni gave her sis a sad smile and nodded. “Goodnight Lori. I love you.”

Lori blushed and rubbed the back of her head as her little sister turned on her heels and walked out the door, shutting it softly behind her.

As the darkness filled the room Lori’s smile faded. The weight in her heart was still there, no longer crushing her but weighing her down all the same. She was lost, she was cracked, she was scared, but she wasn’t alone. Taking comfort in that at least Lori meandered over to the bed and crawled under the covers. Fatigue wore heavily on her bones and the tiredness creeped in as she settled.

Suddenly Lori’s eyes shot open and she gasped as the most terrible realization fell upon her.

She couldn’t talk to her Bobby-Boo-Boo-Bear!

Lori reached over and grabbed a pillow, stuffed it into her face, and screamed.

{End Chapter}