Collaborative fan fiction - Read, enjoy and contribute!

[upnorth]

Back at the cabin, Emma being the youngest and earliest to fall asleep, woke up next. She had been on a sleepover or two, but she had never started her day in a place like this before. Rubbing her eyes awake, she notice that it was quiet and that everyone else seemed to be sleeping still. But also that Amy and Mocha were gone.

- Mommy, wake up! Amy and Mocha are gone. She tried waking her mom up.

After a couple of attempts, Christine started to move awake.

- Morning honey. What are you saying? She replied with a sleepy voice.

- Amy and Mocha are gone! She said again with a concerned tone.

- Amy is probably just out for a walk with Mocha. But we can have a quick look outside too. Christine replied.

As she got up to stretch and looked around the cabin a bit, she notice a scrap of paper on the bench.

Edited December 18, 2021 by upnorth

[Catlover]

Amy fumbled with the doorknob to the cabin, her fingers frozen from the cold. She had left a trail of blood behind her, though no wolves had followed, fortunately. Finally getting it open, she staggered inside. 

"Got any bandages?" She asked, her voice shaking from the cold, and shock from what had happened. 

"What happened?" Christine asked, getting the bandages. She and Emma were up, and Erik's bed was empty. He was probably out hunting. 

"Wolves happened. I'm lucky there weren't more of them. " Amy admitted. She wrapped the bandage around her wrist, inhaling sharply at the sharp pain. "Where's Erik?" 

"I think he's probably gone hunting or something." Christine shrugged. 

"Hopefully he didn't get caught in the blizzard." Glancing towards the window, she hoped he'd be back soon. Erik was the only one who'd know how to survive in the wilderness. They quite literally needed him to survive.

[Piotross]

Erik ventured further away than he usually did. He wasn't used to spending much time with other people, therefore he felt a need to spend some time alone, face to face with nature. The main reason for his extended trip was far more practical though - he wanted to see if there was an area with less predators presence.

After walking for some time Erik noticed a group of crows flying away. He knew that the weather was about to change and he wouldn't make it home in time. He had to think of a solution quickly.

He had thrown his technical backpack onto the ground and unzipped it, as his right hand searched for a large piece of waterproof cloth. After he had found it he glanced around his surroundings in search of some sticks. A few minutes later he found a bunch of them. He then proceeded to dig up a small hole in the snow, and sticked some tree branches into the snow. Then, he pierced the cloth with the branches sticking out from ground. Finally, Erik secured the branches, as he filled the gaps between the sticks with the snow. In the end, his snow shelter was ready just in time.

The snow began falling heavily, wind picked up on its strenght. Erik quickly crawled backwards into the shelter, keeping his rifle pointed at the enterance, in case any wolves felt like it was time for their dinner.

 

I'm sorry if I made some mistakes of any kind as english isn't a native language of mine. Just tell me where something is wrong and I'll make sure to correct it in the future. Thanks!

 

 

 

[Catlover]

1 hour ago, Piotross said:

I'm sorry if I made some mistakes of any kind as english isn't a native language of mine. Just tell me where something is wrong and I'll make sure to correct it in the future. Thanks!

You did a great job! I'm glad to see someone else has taken an interest in the fanfiction.

I'll post later when I get the time

[upnorth]

2 hours ago, Piotross said:

I'm sorry if I made some mistakes of any kind as english isn't a native language of mine. Just tell me where something is wrong and I'll make sure to correct it in the future. Thanks!

Not my first language either, you did great, didn't notice anything odd. Cool use of the emergency shelter for the story and nicely built on the previous posts as well!

[Catlover]

 The snow started falling thickly again, not quite blizzard conditions but close. 

Emma complained about being cold, though fortunately there was some firewood near a small fireplace in the cabin. 

Amy had matches in her pocket, and they soon had a fire roaring. 

"I hope Erik's okay." The dark-haired girl commented, raising her voice against the howling winds. 

"I'm sure he's fine. He's far better at surviving in the wild than any of us." Christine responded. She didn't look particularly worried, unlike Amy, who was trying to not fear the worst, and failing miserably.

After an hour or two, the snow died down again, and Erik still wasn't back. Amy glanced outside of the window, 

"I'll go look for him." She decided after a moment of deciding. She didn't want to go back out into the wolf-infested lands but wasn't sure what was taking the aloof outdoorsman so long. 

"Are you sure?" Christine shot a look at her bandaged wrist. 

"I won't be gone long. And I'll have Mocha with me." 

Christine looked doubtful but nodded. "Be careful." 

[Piotross]

2 hours ago, upnorth said:

Not my first language either, you did great, didn't notice anything odd. Cool use of the emergency shelter for the story and nicely built on the previous posts as well!

 

3 hours ago, Catlover said:

You did a great job! I'm glad to see someone else has taken an interest in the fanfiction.

I'll post later when I get the time

Thanks for the nice words guys. Appreciate it.

[upnorth]

So we sort of missed a pretty special occasion!

3 days ago we marked 1 year of collaborative fan fiction in The Long Dark universe and in addition got our latest contributor! ☺️

Pretty cool to see the views of the thread tick up over the year as well - I hope everyone find it both entertaining and inspiring for further exploration of the game itself! It's at least more fun to write it knowing there are some readers 😉

Merry Christmas! Looking forward to where we take it next year 😁

Edited December 23, 2021 by upnorth

[Leeanda]

Merry Christmas to you.

[Catlover]

4 hours ago, upnorth said:

So we sort of missed a pretty special occasion!

3 days ago we marked 1 year of collaborative fan fiction in The Long Dark universe and in addition got our latest contributor! ☺️

Pretty cool to see the views of the thread tick up over the year as well - I hope everyone find it both entertaining and inspiring for further exploration of the game itself! It's at least more fun to write it knowing there are some readers 😉

Merry Christmas! Looking forward to where we take it next year 😁

Oh wow, I hadn't noticed! 

And yeah, thank you everyone who has read it. It's been great fun writing it and I hope everyone likes it. 

Merry Christmas! 

[upnorth]

Emma felt a little bad, she hadn't noticed that Erik was gone too. But to be fair, she had mostly been living with Amy and Mocha for a couple of days at least and a lot had been going on recently. Too much. They almost got shot, she had forgotten about that too. Perhaps it's just good to forget about some things?

- Mom, I'm hungry, can we go home and have breakfast? Emma asked.

- I'd like to go home to, but I think we should stay here until everyone are back safely. Perhaps we can make something from Erik's stash for now and replace it later. He does have a lot of canned food. Christine replied.

After a while, Christine got the stove fired up again and cooked some breakfast. Amy and Mocha returned without having found Erik. After the brush with the wolf Amy didn't want to wander too far and get lost, which both Christine and Emma completely understood. They had breakfast while playing with Mocha and waiting for the storm to subside. No one was particularly worried for Erik, they had finally noticed that his backpack was gone so he should be better prepared than any of them outside in this kind of weather after all.

Edited January 8, 2022 by upnorth

[upnorth]

About an hour later, Emma started to become impatient from waiting.

- Mom, can we please go home now! She requested.

- I told you, I want to make sure we are all back safely first, I'm sure Erik will be back soon enough. Christine replied.

Emma pouted but didn't push it. She just needed to relax and have some fun with her paintings again, too much grown up stuff lately.

- You can go home if you want, it seems like the storm has subsided a bit. I can wait here for Erik. Amy suddenly offered.

- Are you sure? You have both been injured recently? Christine replied.

- Yeah. There's plenty of food and easy to get water, and we have some medical supplies left still. But perhaps we should go to the store and resupply fairly soon. Amy replied.

- Well thank you. You know where to find us if you need anything. I will try to reach the authorities on the landline again. Emma, did you hear? We can go home now! Christine replied, while getting up and ready to leave.

- Yay! Thank you Amy! Emma shouted happily.

- No worries kid! Take it easy out there, see you soon ok? Amy replied with a smile.

It was still snowing when Christine and Emma left, but the sight was pretty good. No more footprints though, so Erik would hopefully find his own way back.

[Piotross]

Erik quickly crawled out of a snow shelter, grabbing his rifle. While he had been napping, he heard a roar, followed by a serie of six shots ending with a scream full of pain. He sprinted in the direction of the commotion. 

The bear was massive,  it had a few wooden arrows sticking out of its back. These arrows were in its body for a very long time - the wood they were made of was rotten. The beast's face was covered in scars, its eyes were black, its ears had some chunks of flesh bitten out of them.

- What the..? Shocked Erik mumbled to himself, right after he saw the bear and the unfortunate victim, which was being mauled.

After getting out of the state of shock, he jogged to a tree stump. He crouched, resting his rifle on the cover.

He had grasped his weapon tighter, before he closed his left eye and aimed his weapon at the bear. A bullet hit beast's hind. He pulled the trigger, his right hand almost instantly pulled the bolt backwards, ejecting the shell.

The bear turned towards Erik's position. It stared right into his eyes without letting out a single noise. It seemed to him like the bear was mocking him. Before Erik could place another shot, the bear ran away.

He immediately sprinted towards a person laying on the ground. As he got closer, he saw that the person was a man wearing a Canadian police uniform. Erik kneeled down next to the victim, examining his wounds. Policeman's chest was torn open. With his last strength, cop gave Erik his revolver, two boxes of revolver ammunition and a bloody picture of his 5 year old daughter. He died right after.

Resigned Erik couldn't bury the body of the cop. He simply closed policeman's wide open eyes, while saying:

- Rest in peace, stranger.

He came back to his snowshelter, retrieved his waterproof cloth and headed back to his cabin.

 

ps

if you see any grammar, spelling mistakes just tell me, i'll make sure to fix them in the future.

[Catlover]

Amy couldn't help herself, as she got to work tidying the cabin a little whilst she waited for Erik. Used to being the 'house-wife', depite not being married, it was kind of in her nature to clean up the mess they had caused in the brief time they had stayed over at Erik's. It didn't take long before the place was as spotless as it had been.

Hearing footsteps, the young woman froze, startled, watching the door as it opened. Erik was standing there, holding a revolver, some ammo and some blood-stained picture of a girl she didn't recognise. Erik's daughter? 

"Some guy was getting mauled to death. Gave me these." He explained briefly, his gaze distant as if reliving what had happened. "Anyway, where's everyone gone?" 

"Emma wanted to go home so I offered to stay and wait for you." 

Something flickered briefly in the man's typically hard gaze. Gratefulness, irritation? Amy couldn't help but hope it was the former. 

"You couldn've gone back too, I didn't need you waiting for me." Erik's tone was gruff, as he lay out the picture with care, above the fireplace. 

"Do you want me to go back?" Amy found that it was oddly difficult to get the words out, as if she was subconsciously concerned that she wasn't wanted. 

Erik shrugged, "Do what you like." 

Maybe he does want me around. The thought entered Amy's mind without warning, and it made her feel strangely uncomfortable yet pleased at the same time. 

He was glancing around the cabin now, his brows furrowed. "Looks tidy in here." Erik commented after a moment.

"Well, I didn't have much else to do. Hope you don't mind." 

"All good." Erik turned to look at her properly, "Thanks." 

Amy felt heat rush to her cheeks, on it's own accord, and she tried to hide it by stroking her dog. "It's nothing. I think I'm going to get going now." She stammered a little, getting to her feet and calling Mocha.

Erik made a grunt of acknowledgement, obviously not bothered. 

You have a boyfriend, remember Amy mentally kicked herself as she left, hating the newfound awkwardness she had felt from the moment Erik entered. Maybe it was due to the fact that it was one of the first times they had been alone together, but it felt more than that. Yet it couldn't be, as she was already in a long term relationship and she knew that she would see her boyfriend soon. However, that prospect didn't excite her as much as it should have done. 

Conflicted and greatly irritated, she made her way back to the town, intending on having a look through the store, hoping to find some more supplies for Christine and Emma. The child seemed to have developed an interest in art and Amy hoped there would be some more paints around somewhere for the little artist. Maybe that would help take her mind off of Erik.

[upnorth]

Erik was alone in his cabin again, finally. The past couple of days had been a lot more eventful than what he bargained for, but it might not all be bad. The girls had been pretty resourceful, he liked to have a dog around again too. As he thought about it a tear dropped from his left eye onto his chin. He quickly wiped it.

- Man, what the hell was that police doing there alone without backup? He spoke out loud trying to process his most recent experience.

- And that bear. I was an idiot shooting it I suppose, but I had to do something right? He paused, feeling a little embarrassed. Ma' always had good answers, he started to feel ashamed over how things had ended. He just wasn't the feeling type.

- Well, I better stop talking to myself and get cleaned up. He muttered.

In silence, he felt thankful for the gun and ammunition. He should go back and retrieve the body some day, bury it properly. Christine could perhaps report it to the authorities on the landline as well. If they have people stationed here some help and relief might have reached all the way up to Great Bear already?

He spent the rest of the day going through and repairing his clothes and equipment to relax. The future would have to wait for tomorrow. He fell asleep after taking a quick look at the bloodied photograph. Cute kid, how the hell do you tell a child that their dad got mauled to death by a bear....

Edited January 19, 2022 by upnorth

[upnorth]

Erik woke up with a shocking thought in the middle of the night. The bear! Amy and the others doesn't know about the new apex predator currently roaming their little town and attacking humans!

- Damn. He thought out loud.

- I shouldn't have let Amy go back alone, what was I thinking!? Oh well, been long enough that's there's no point in going out to check the footprints now I guess. They either made it or not... Fuck.

Not being able to sleep again, he got up for a couple of minutes, put some more fuel in the stove and cooked some tea to try to calm down. Eventually he stumbled back into bed and got a few more hours of restless sleep.

Edited January 21, 2022 by upnorth

[upnorth]

Amy being preoccupied with her conflicting thoughts, mostly staring at the ground while navigating to the store from Erik, still did not notice the tracks she crossed. Granted, she was not very outdoorsy as her boyfriend but she might had ran the rest of the way if she had. She finally reached the store front and found a closed door. She wiped snow off some sort of note, and immediately recognized the artist. She read it.

- Damn, I should have known. Oh well, no surprise then, will have to ask for the key first I guess. She muttered.

The rest of the trek back to the house was cold but eventful, just the (now) usual wolf howls in the near distance. She was happily unaware of the large creature slowly making its way after her having picked up on her scent.

Edited January 24, 2022 by upnorth

[Catlover]

Amy trudged back, the snow almost up to her knees in parts. She could handle snow, even liked it, but all of the snowfall was getting a bit old. The weather reminded her of a place she had visited once, with the ironic name of Pleasant Valley. It had been cold, and windy, and neither her or her boyfriend had enjoyed the little road trip.

Lost in her thoughts, Amy was blissfully unaware of the fact that she was not alone, until her dog started growling, staring into the distance, hackles raised. 

"Mocha, what is it?" The young woman followed the dog's gaze but saw nothing. As she was moving forward to comfort the obvious stressed canine, she bolted past in the opposite direction of whatever had been scaring her. 

Amy had stopped leashing Mocha a while ago, but now wished that she had as she chased after the fleeing brown and white shape. A low bellow sounded behind them and the young woman's heart seemed to skip a beat. She knew what it was immediately, having heard bears before, though never this close. Like it was after her. A quick glance behind her was enough to make her wish that she hadn't looked at all. A black bear, large and battle-worn, arrows sticking out of its flank and body that inexplicably hadn't fallen out yet, was charging out from the forest, blood staining its black snout.

It bellowed a second time, the roar carrying along through the town. It wasn't long before she could hear the bear's heavy panting as it came closer, every step taking it closer to almost definitely mauling her to pieces.

A sob caught in her throat and Amy tried to think of a moment where she had been more scared than this. Surprisingly she couldn't think of any. Being chased by a massive bear with arrows sticking out of it had to be top of the list.

She came to Christine's door, relieved beyond words that it was so close to the store. Rattling the door, she cursed aloud. Locked. Why did she even lock it in the first place? She wondered, momentarily confused.

Banging on the door, she shouted for someone to open the door, near hysterical as bear drew closer. It was only perhaps a little more than fifty metres from her and was drawing closer with every second. 

"Christine, open the door for god's sake! Let me in!" 

Why was she taking so long! It felt like ages, though it was probably a few moments, but she soon heard footsteps coming closer to the door, but she could hear the bear coming too and didn't dare to look behind her. This was it, either the door opened to relative safety just in time, or it opened a little too late and the bear got to here first. She, quite obviously, really hoped that wouldn't be the case.

[Piotross]

Christine and Emma got back home after a short walk from Erik's cabin. Emma had taken off her winter jacket and ran into the kitchen, where she got to drawing the interior of Erik's cabin. Christine's old habit made her lock the doors. Then, she walked around the house, making sure that no one broke in while they were away.

- I'll light the fire and make us some tea, okay sweetie? - Christine spoke loudly.

- Yay! Tea! - Christine heard an excited voice in response.

Christine smiled. After spending some time in the Erik's place, she was glad to be back home. Knowing that Emma wouldn't get used to spending time in a confined space, she had decided to start taking Emma out of the house more often. 

"If Amy decides to catch up to us, I will practice with my rifle and make sure that the town is safe. When I'll do that I'm going to start taking Emma out for short walks." She thought to herself, whilst sitting on a sofa and examining her father's rifle she left back at home.

- Looks good for me. - Christine mumbled, as she pulled back a rifle bolt's handle. Then, she opened a box of ammunition and slowly loaded five rifle's bullets one by one. After that she pushed the rifle bolt's forward, closing the bolt and making the round stay in the chamber.

Suddenly, she heard a scream at her doorway.

- Mum, what's happening?! - Emma yelled, panic heard in her voice.

- Hide behind something! - Christine replied, as she grabbed the rifle and run towards the doors.

She saw the doorknob move in frantically, someone was very eager on getting inside. She held the rifle in her right hand, rifle's barrel pointed at the doorway. Her left hand unlocked the door's in seconds, which she then opened. 

The doors swung inward. As a result, Amy who was resting her hands on the doors fell on top of Christine, before the bear got a chance to maul her. Because of her friend falling onto her, Christine accidentally pulled the trigger. A bullet flew right past the bear's head, which made the bear panic and it quickly retreated back into the town.

Christine, while being on adrenaline, quickly pushed Amy of her, before running up to the doors, locking them shut. Finally she looked at Amy, whom still paralyzed from fear, was laying on the floor.

Edited January 26, 2022 by Piotross

[Catlover]

Amy got up, still shaking from the fear and adrenaline, and looked at Christine with clear gratitude. 

"Thank you. I really thought that was it, back there." She admitted, keeping her voice low in case Emma was around.

She glanced to her side, feeling a little lost without her dog beside her. Mocha had run off when the bear charged, but hopefully she'd find her way back. Amy made a mental note to go search for her companion the next day. 

Christine gave a brief smile, "It's fine. I think we ought to tell Erik that there is a bear roaming around. Quite a big one too." 

Reminded of what had happened earlier, Amy paused, thinking. Erik had walked in obviously pale, holding a bloody photo and some bullets. She still did not know how he got them, but the bear must have been involved. "I think he probably knows about it." 

Christine looked at her, quizzically, "What do you mean?" 

Amy shrugged, "Just a feeling." She didn't explain what Erik had been carrying, feeling like that was something he would have wanted to keep quiet. 

The thought of their awkward exchange caused a tremor of anxiety to run through her, as she expected Christine wanted her to go warn him. Right now, despite her complicated feelings, Erik was the last person she wanted to see. 

So, she changed the subject before Christine could probe further. "Do you have any tea? I'm freezing" 

"Actually, I was just about to make some" Christine smiled and lead her through, the bear attack forgotten for the moment, though both expected that it was not yet over

Edited January 26, 2022 by Catlover

[upnorth]

Christine finished making all of them tea and a small snack. After having Amy check that all the windows and doors were locked they sat down at the table, there was no sign of the bear or any other immediate danger. Emma had stopped drawing and sat close to her mom to feel more safe.

- Ok, we got lucky there... We will have to be even more careful traveling from the house in the future. Christine noted.

- I will try to reach the authorities to hopefully get some news and report what's been happening here as well. You can always try to reach your boyfriend again too if you want to Amy. Christine continued.

- But honestly I don't really know what to do long term. Unless the authorities get the power grids back up and things go back to normal, including wildlife, survival is going to get difficult fast. Christine suddenly regretted being so honest when she looked down and saw Emma's worried eyes look up at her. But she had to get it off her chest too.

- Hopefully we can get a hold of the authorities and get some good news! She quickly added.

- Anyone up for peaches for dessert? She continued, hoping to increase the morale a bit.

- Yeah, that would be nice. Amy smiled having warmed up a bit again.

Emma said nothing, just daydreamed of her up until recently normal life, now leaning up against her mom.

[Catlover]

Night fell fast and though Amy wasn't incredibly concerned about her missing dog, her anxieties had started to grow, especially with the howling winds outside. Though Mocha was made for the cold, she wasn't fluffy enough to survive a blizzard. 

Part of her wanted to rush out into the night and search, though the more rational part of her had reluctantly decided to wait until the morning. Hopefully she'd be fine. It often felt like her dog was her only companion, and the grief she would feel if her dog didn't come back would be undescribable. 

Christine was tidying, Emma having been sent to bed a while ago, and she looked up as the house rattled ominously against gale-force winds that had become a regular occurrence. 

"Hopefully Erik's alright, I'm surprised his cabin has been able to last all of this." 

Amy nodded, managing to seem casual despite the fact that she felt anything but at the mention of his name. Not wishing to talk about him, or much else, she stood suddenly. "I think I'll go to bed now." She stammered slightly, her lie blatantly obvious. Though if Christine didn't believe her, she didn't mention it as Amy headed towards what had become her own room, that now felt painfully empty without her furry companion.

[piddy3825]

Meanwhile, James continued to follow the road in his misguided attempt to follow his mates out to the coast on foot.
A fog was starting to form and he was cold, tired and hungry as he cinched his belt another notch tighter on his illfitting stolen snowpants.  He felt paranoid that someone, no, something was following him and in his rising fear, he knew it meant him harm!

"You're just imaging it." he thought to himself as he furitively looked over his shoulder, glancing first to his left and then quickly to the right as if expecting to see what was following him thru the thickening mist.   

From somewhere in forest nearby, he heard the sharp "snap" of a snow laden branch breaking and the thunderous sound of it all falling to the ground startled him with such a fright that he set off running down the frozen highway as if the Devil himself was chasing him!  

As his legs began to falter from running over the uneven frozen roadway the highway turned abruptly to the left leading down a steep incline into the valley below.  As his frenzied pace slowed, his steps became more deliberate and measured.  His panic now somewhat subsided from his strenuous run caused him to stop and listen.  
The silence was deafening. 
Nothing but the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears.

He started to laugh, softly at first but then louder and louder as his fear began to subside.  
"Nothing like scaring yourself half to death," he said out load to no one in particular.  And with that note he set out  following the road down into the valley below.    With his confidence slowly returning he continued walking along the road way as the mist gradually started to clear up. 

It wasn't long before he saw a beat up rickety roadway sign that read:
Coastal Highway Scenic Route 
25 Kilometers
Speed Limit
50 KPH

For the first time since he had left the rusty old logging trailer, James felt a glimmer of hope.  
His feelings of hope however, were soon replaced with that all too familiar feeling of dread when 
he came across the wreckage.  Wreckage that blocked his path.  James wasn't going anywhere any time soon...

"No, no, no, Noooooo!" He wailed in dispair.  

 

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by piddy3825
spelling

[piddy3825]

Hey all,
hope you don't me joining in...  I just spent the better part of the day reading from start to finish and I got so involved I just got too excited to introduce myself before adding on this outstanding fan fiction thread. I'm curious as to where this story is going to go, so many subplots brewing. 

Kudos@upnorthI think you started something pretty cool.

[upnorth]

10 hours ago, piddy3825 said:

Hey all,
hope you don't me joining in...  I just spent the better part of the day reading from start to finish and I got so involved I just got too excited to introduce myself before adding on this outstanding fan fiction thread. I'm curious as to where this story is going to go, so many subplots brewing. 

Kudos@upnorthI think you started something pretty cool.

Well thank you kindly! I agree that we have something pretty cool going on here. It's been a slow progress from time to time and a few side-quests to keep track of, but I'm very impressed with how on point the writing have been from everyone so far tbh