V.I.R.A.L

The storm was proving to be far too much for the streamers. Their movements had slowed down to a crawl with little progress made due to the blinding storm. Communications had been wholly scrambled, and there was little chance of rescue. But nonetheless, the streamers pushed on, some more motivated than others. Florence was the first to collapse to the sheer force of the frozen wasteland. Gale pulled her up, yelling. "We need to keep moving!"

"But we don't even know which way to go?! I can't see shit." She yelled back.

Zinnia glanced over her shoulder, shivering. "It's this way! I know it is."

"Zinnia… Are you sure? We can't keep wandering aimlessly."

Zinnia stopped for a moment, almost collapsing into the snow. Her sense of direction was riddled and disturbed by the loud whispers she heard. Her head cranked behind her; the sight of the titan just noticeable in the distance. It was taunting her every move, her every decision. She wasn't so sure how much more she could handle. "This… This has to be the way."

"Zinnia, I know you want to take the lead, but if we keep this up, we aren't going to make it," Scarlett warned.

"I understand that, but I just know… I feel it, we need to go this way."

"Is that you speaking? Or the Garden?" She coldly responded. "No offence Zinnia but right now hearing what happened, I'm less sure I can trust you."

"You don't need to trust me… Just listen, instead, will you?" Zinnia whizzed frozen on the spot. Her vision drifted around the empty pocket of endless white to something different. In the no so far-off distance, she saw something. No someone watching. A mixture of emotions was felt at this moment in time. Relief but also a concern. Relief that someone was out there showing a real sign they were heading in the right direction… But the situation in who could be out here in the middle of nowhere. Nonetheless, Zinnia went with her gut feeling and followed the figure. "This way guys…"

Diego sneezed, rubbing his hands together as Emil covered his face groaning. "What happened back there? The last thing we saw was Alice showing up. She quickly teleported us away. Zinnia fought her, you claimed?"

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"That wasn't Zinnia. The brutality and raw power were nothing Zinnia could pull off. Something else threw me off. When Alice was fighting her, she called him Adam."

"Adam?" Emil questioned. "Are you sure? This weather can make you hear shit."

"I'm certain. And if what I believe is to be true… We know Alice is being possessed by the deceased legendary hero Eve Berry. But she had a brother, also a legendary hero, he was called Adam."

"That can't be a coincidence."

"That's what I was thinking. But if that's true. That means Adam became one of the five stages of grief 400 years ago, the question is what pushes someone like that so far to join the Garden? If one of Victoria's famous heroes could fall. Who's to say we can't? More specifically, Zinnia or Alton?"

"Usually, I would argue over this. Might even have picked a fight. But now, I'm not so sure anymore."

Any words cried out. Zinnia was oblivious to. She was too caught up following the person to God knows where. It could be their salvation, a way out of the storm and back home. Or it could have been to their utmost demise. Zinnia was none the wiser on either. The figure she was following felt familiar—a friend or something more. With little options remaining, this was all she had left to resemble a plan. Soon enough, something else was spotted in the distance apart from the figure. The outline of trees, buildings. Civilisation. Zinnia knew this was it. She picked up the pace feeling a second wind flow through as she came across a frozen sign lost to time. Welcome to Sunset Peak. Zinnia's heart dropped. She couldn't believe it; this was the town she heard so much about. She had heard about it from stories and Alton's memories, but here it was the reminder standing in front of her. "Zinnia!" Scarlett screeched. "Is your head still in the game?!"

Zinnia turned to her frozen allies all struggling as she turned back to see the figure now much closer. "We should take shelter from the storm and rest. One of these buildings should barricade us."

"I don't like this. There's a reason Sunset Peak remained under the ice. No one has come back here since the incident. There's probably a reason for that." Florence whimpered.

"The way I see it, nothing in this ghost town can be worse than the blizzards to end all blizzards." Jinx barked.

"Let's just follow Zinnia on this one."

The group aimlessly waltzes around the forgotten town. The landmark left untouched since the day it fell. Cars with their doors opened. Food deliveries that never made the cut remain of the population riddled with frostbite. The people of Sunset Peak looked almost like sculptures with how they appeared. Frozen on the spot and sparkling with life. Zinnia stared at one in particular—a mother holding her daughter in the park. No one was quite prepared for what was to come that day. Zinnia kept glancing around for the figure mistaking it for the people of Sunset Peak. That was until she saw a model slowly swaying further down the hill by a large set of houses. Zinnia began to pick up the pace clear to her now the person wanted to show her something. Tumbling down the hill, she quickly spotted the figure standing in the frozen driveway of one house in particular.

Before she had the chance to call out to the figure, they creaked into the house vanishing from sight. Zinnia rushed past, ignoring the mailbox out front, which would give her the critical information into where she was. The others were more entitled to stop reading it, getting the shock of their life. "Brantley… No way, this can't be… This is Alton's house." Scarlett muttered shaking off the chance of this being the most significant coincidence possible. Something else was at play.

Zinnia burst through the doors, crying out. "Hello?" No response but she knew somebody was here. "Hello?! I know you're here!"

"Zinnia. What the hell are you doing?!" Scarlett burst. "This place, we shouldn't be here. It's Alton's home."

Zinnia was slightly taken back by this. She had no idea why the figure brought her here, but she needed answers. Zinnia darted up the stairs, almost falling through one continuing to yell. "Hello? Alton?! Is this you?"

"She's lost her mind…" Jinx whispered.

Gale gave a concerned look. "Let me talk to her." Gale walked up the stairs avoiding the cracks seeing Zinnia standing idly in one room. "Zinnia… I think it's time we give this wild goose chase up?"

Zinnia turned around, holding a small box with made up playing cards. "Alton's been here."

"What?"

"These cards. I made them for him as a Christmas present. They shouldn't be here."

"That's not possible. You heard it from Alice herself. The Child of the Garden has been secured. Alton can't be here."

"I followed someone here Gale, someone wanted me to see this. They wanted me to find Alton's home."

"We should just get out of here."

Zinnia ignored his pleas running around the house. "Alton! Alton! Where are you?!"

Zinnia stopped in her tracks, feeling cold breathing down the back of her neck. She froze, knowing all too well someone was behind her. The person leaned in whispering directly in her ear. "Tell my son, I'm coming for him."

Zinnia took a while but spun around to find no one there. The door to the end of the corridor slammed shut. She rushed over katana at the ready. "Gale… Someone's here."

"For real?"

"I'm serious. They are just behind this door."

"Stand behind me." He ordered cracking his knuckles, moving his hand to the door. The moment he touched it, the door swung open as everyone fell to the ground. The others charged up the stairs as Gale was screaming. "You'll never take me alive!"

Scarlett stared at them lost only to be even more confused. "Iris?!"

Iris lay on the floor in pain whimpering. Zinnia stood up dazed. "But how? Where's? How did you get here?"

Iris rolled around, wiping her eyes staring at an unstable portal. "Did? Alton was captured, I ran and then a portal suddenly… Did I make it?"

"Wait if Iris came from Rhinefield this could be our way back!" Emil argued.

"It's worth a shot…"

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Iris stood up, staring at the unstable portal looking sick. "This is Ali- No. The Gatekeeper's powers. Does that make me…"

Zinnia placed her hand on Iris' shoulder. "You are you, and nobody can take that away from you."

"You're right… My father has Alton we need to hurry before he fully resurrects Salvation."

Everyone began moving through the portal as Morto stopped glancing at Iris. "Just as I expected. You're one of them too."

Iris covered her eye, looking disturbed, standing idly. Zinnia stared at the house feeling anxious she imagined Alton living here, happy with his family. It hurt more to see it the way it was now. As she was about to leave, she saw something in the corner of her eye. A small recorder with a countdown installed on it. Picking it up the countdown was two weeks from now the caption sent chills down her spine. "Two weeks until the death of Alton Brantley…"