llxcifers / izabela presents
AIN'T NO GRAVE

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though they go mad,
they shall be sane,
though they sink through the sea,
they shall rise again;
though lovers be lost,
love shall not;
and death shall have
no dominion.
— dylan thomas ..

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JOURNAL ENTRY — I

          BY GENETIC COMPARISON, humans share nearly fifty percent of their DNA with fungi. To some extent, we were our own downfall.

A gigantic irony was at play when the Cordyceps fungi mutated into a new species that, instead of adhering to its genus' entomopathogenic characteristic, began infecting humans.

It wasn't supposed to happen. It shouldn't have happened really. But it did nonetheless.

Within days, the carnage of the first victims of the Cordyceps Brain Infection silenced civilization into the terrors of a dark age: the radio went out first, then the telecommunications, the electricity was next and finally, the internet had been made inaccessible.

World leaders went radio silent and in a world-wide panic. Borders initially became non-existent, demolishing any national governance, military coalition or even democracy from their very foundation built on communication.

It was every man for themselves in a horrid and unfair run for survival.

Some called it a long-overdue fate. Some scorned conspiracies and threw blame at non-existent scapegoats. As a scientist however, I am bound to call it for what it truly was: a massacre.

And it only got worse.

Within months, it had been approximated that the CBI reduced the world population by 60%.

Whoever didn't turn or die to the virus, was killed in the natural selection powered by hunger and greed amongst a starved population drained of its last strands of humanity. Cruel as it may be, at least a half of the casualties were made in the last large military exercise, nothing but a futile attempt to secure quarantine zones by bombing all surrounding areas.

But the very air was against us.

The spores we inhaled, the insalubrious conditions in which we crammed between craters and ruins, starving and freezing, scared of every cough or scream echoing in the night. Our minds tainted to the constant macabre, our eyes pried on the hideos while our hands were forced to do the unspeakable in order to survive; we lived at the border of the inhumane, where a spine chill was a companion and a stomach twist a friend. Dread has soaked into the earth until it embedded into us that the only way out was death.

But it wasn't. It isn't.

The CBI is not incurable.

If I don't make it —and at this point, the chances are very small that I will— I hope this journals find capable hands and a kind heart.

Follow my instructions.
Make the vaccine.
Cure them.
Cure them all.

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             IN WHICH European Dr. Wendy Larsen goes to spend her holiday in America with her long-distance boyfriend, Pete Russell. As the clock strikes midnight and the final notes of 'happy birthday' fade off between the walls of Pete's room, blowing out her birthday candles mark the second the end of their times begun, officially putting a tremendously painful distance between Wendy and her little sister, left behind in Denmark.

Following an abhorrent survival, several months into the horrific new world they lived in, Wendy establishes contact across the ocean and is informed: her sister is alive, safe and immune.

Assuming her own immunity by relation, Wendy embarks herself on an impossible mission to cross the ocean back to her sister and experimet on her own blood to find a cure in the meantime. Pete's own goal was one of a more simplistic nature, though tortured by immeasurable stress, an aching guilt that he was to blame for the separation he sought to fix and an undeniable terror of losing the last person he loved to the sickening state of the world: protect Wendy, no matter what.

For ten years they've been walking this dreadful, merciless and brutal path, and finally, results are beginning to sprout.

there ain't no grave big enough
to hold all that we would kill
to glimpse at the shores of hope
and see that horizon without guilt.

there ain't no grave better
than the one you dig yourself;
so dig a little deeper, with your nails.
crawl a little faster, even if you can't.

there ain't no grave
for you and me
so please be brave
and we'll be free.

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📻 — MAIN CAST ..

kaya scodelario as
DR. WENDY "WINNIE" LARSEN
' the scientist '

" don't forget our humanity is the only thing
that separates us from those things. "

dylan o'brien as
PETE RUSSELL
' the protector '

" then i'm probably dating
the last human alive. "

pedro pascal as
JOEL MILLER
' the cold '

" that faith of yours is
gonna get you killed. "

bella ramsey as
ELLIE WILLIAMS
' the proof '

" from all the people i met, you're the
first one that actually gives me hope. "

📻 — ADDITIONAL CAST ..

freema agyeman as DR. GENEVIÈVE NYAME
violet mcgraw as (young) MIRIAM LARSEN
india eisley as (older) MIRIAM LARSEN
gabriel luna as TOMMY MILLER
merle dandridge as MARLENE

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📻 — PLAYLIST ..

I.    "ain't no grave" by johnny cash
—     there ain't no grave
can hold my body down

II.    "speak loud" by trills
— you and me after
you and me before

III.    "in the pines" by brian reitzell
— the last words you'll hear me saying
is 'i want you to sing me a song'

IV.    "you want it darker" by leonard cohen
— you want it darker?
we killed the flame.

V.    "the dead don't die" by sturgill simpson
—     after life is over
the afterlife goes on

ETC ..

DISCLAIMER |     I do not own The Last of Us, thus claim no right over their canon characters, events, settings and lore. I only own my own original characters,with afferent backgrounds, and therefore also the entirety of this story's plot with the alterations, modifications and deviations brought to the original material provided by the game franchise and/or the HBO tv show. Please do not steal anything.

COPYRIGHT |    llxcifers / izabela

WARNINGS |    This book is rated Mature for gore, explicit language, descriptive scenes involving torture, manslaughter, cannibalism or sexual themes. Sensitive topics on morality may be brought up. Reader discretion and maturity is advisable.

DEDICATION |     First of all, I will introduce a special dedication to my little sister, Ina, whom I miss dearly through the silence rift that distance has brought upon our relationship. This book is mainly inspired by nightmares I have had about three years ago in which, placed into a day 0 zombie apocalypse timeline, my little sister would be my first and only concern. I miss you so much I had to write a book about it... Love you, little one <3

A second character dedication goes to raichia to whom I dedicate Dr. Geneviève, a fun, but hardworking mom friend <3

Last but not least to the people who have granted me an absolutely overwhelming amount of support regarding this fic !! THANK YOU for making this happen
gracefulinfiniti dunbonnet -firestar devilsxcry -elliptical -voidlegends mxerte sxftgranger dazy_shines youwgrt GirlPotterheadXx florflorflorestella alycialcver -kindredconfetti cloudysky_22 -tzarrion Winter326

NOTE |    This book will be filled with two special content opportunities that make it just a wee bit more interactive and personal overall to read through Winnie and Pete's tale:
• Winnie's journal entries ;
• the morse code messages..

All those dots and lines you will see in this book, even in this chapter, are morse code messages that have been passed amongst the characters separated by an ocean, namely between Winnie and her sister or Winnie and Geneviève who is taking care of Mira. Decipher the codes with a morse code translator. 👀👀

I am so very excited to finally get to writing this story <3 Be on the lookout for the visuals section ( which is really worthwhile this time because i have been doing graphics for a whole week for this book only ) dropping sometime later today and a prologue hopefully before the premire of the first episode on HBO. I want to start the first act with that first episodee !!

started :    11.01.23

closing gif made by Winter326