Newport lobster shack kitchen

I started renting this house a few weeks ago. It was a nice 2 bedroom bathroom house with a 2 car garage and a sizable driveway. The grass was in very good health and the wooden fence was always painted a very bright and clean shade of white every few weeks. It was like a house from the 50s because it was. There was something charming about it, the wooden paneling, the porch with the backyard deck, the grill, the cozy little shack out back full of tools, and the lawnmower. I was allowed to rent this out for as long as I needed so I could write a report about a murder. One that happened in this very house in fact. All those years ago a couple lived here, they were crazy about each other. And some of the neighbors as well. For over 2 decades they poisoned, stabbed, and shot various other families. It was never clear why they did it or what motives they had.
In the very end, it was chalked up as pure insanity, a pair of psychopaths married together. They had a son and daughter, but the grandparents had taken them out of that household after finding out about the first murder, they kept quiet. This house has been turned into a sort of museum and rental space over the past few years. It was closed off to the public for over 3 decades but recently opened back up for people to look at. Turns out that renting out and giving tours of a haunted house was profitable.
Oh, I forgot to mention that it was haunted by the souls of the couple who killed those families back in the day. This was something I was having a hard time documenting in the report I was writing. I mean, come on, a haunted house? What the hell is this, a horror novel? I was dead wrong about it though. It all started one night when this one song started playing on a phonograph in the living room. It was Put Your Head On My Shoulder by Paul Anka. I can't get it out of my head. It played over and over every night.
The nights would go the same way over and over. I would go to bed at around 10 PM. After that, the house would fall into an odd silence. The lights came on in the living room and that song would start playing itself. The movement of footsteps could be heard as they creaked against the hardwood floors.
"Please, come out and join us. It's quite a fine night.", a female voice would call out.
"Come now, be our guest, and take a seat out here. We'll drink tea and listen to the radio.", a male voice would soon follow up with the woman's voice.
It was not safe to get up and check it out, despite their words of assurance. Doing so could bring unknown results. It may have been safe, but something in my body told me otherwise. I would stay in bed until 6 AM, that's the time everything would fade away and turn to normal. Their little dance and music would go on all night, but I would still be able to sleep. While dozing off it seems like the music would go silent despite still playing. I guess their only goal at first is to draw you out.
It's been a few days of this before things took a step up. I've been hearing...people? It's almost like a party happened during the night hours. Again I find that I cease to hear it once I fall asleep. I guess these little events are mere attempts at giving incentives for me to leave the room rather than to torture me. Although every so often there'll be a knock on the door asking me to come out. It only lasts a second before the person walks away. They're very polite about it though and they don't stick around, merely ask me and then vanish once they don't hear an answer in 5 seconds.
During the daytime, I've been logging this information into my reports. I feel like I'm going insane slightly, these can't be real, right? I must be breathing some sort of hallucinogenic gas being pumped in here. Got the vents checked out, nothing wrong with them. They did need to be cleaned though so at least I had an excuse to get them worked on without looking like a crazy person. I never find a trace of this couple during the day. No shoes, footprints, altered objects, nothing. Not a single thing moved out of place or touched. Hell, things seem slightly cleaner in the morning. It may be the fact that I try to keep things as they are though.
I spend my days walking around the neighborhood. The people living around here are mostly millennials. The ones who either inherited these houses and chose to rent them out or live in them instead of selling them. Or renting them to cut down certain parts of the mortgage. I drive into the city and head to a coffee shop I like for a few hours. I leech off the free wifi so I can get my things done. There's free wifi at the house, but it's a gamble on the speeds and connection. I also like starting my day off with coffee and going about my hours getting cake and a few sandwiches.
It's now week 3 and I'm almost done. I was given 4 weeks before the deadline to make a report on this house so the people I work for can get some info. They're not exactly well informed since most of the people have either died, "killed themselves", or simply walked out after a few days. The only reason I've survived this long is that I read every last bit of data I could from both historical records and the half-assed papers people put together before throwing their badges to the side and working for another newspaper. I'm barely getting anything interesting so far aside from the fever dream of a stay I'm getting from this place.
These days during the third week have been weird. I wake up at the same time only to hear humming. Musical humming, no particular song, just random notes. This is the wife humming while making some sort of breakfast. Her name is Rose, and her husband is Clark. Can't believe I've been referring to them as the husband and the wife all this time. It changes during these days but it ranges from bacon and eggs to cereal and orange juice with toast to a full pancake breakfast. They got bigger and bigger every day. On day one I stayed in my room until the humming stopped. Only lasted for about 15-20 minutes. After that, I would check the kitchen to find a freshly cooked breakfast. Rose wasn't anywhere in sight though.
I was hesitant to eat it at first since I wasn't sure what would happen. But I was hungry that morning and didn't feel like making the drive to the city so early in the morning. The food was good and I didn't feel poisoned or anything. I would set the dishes in the sink and take a shower. Not even 15 minutes later after getting out of the shower and getting dressed, the dishes were washed, dry, and sitting in the cupboards. I'm honestly not sure why people have been dying or quitting this trip. So far I've stayed out of their way and never really messed with anything. I feel like a guest here and act as one which is probably the key here. You can't live here, merely stay for a certain amount of time. I don't know how long that time frame is though.
Week 4, these last 7 days are my final chances to wrap this up before the deadline. I am nowhere closer to finding out how these past journalists died, why this couple did what they did, or anything like that. The best I'm going to do is probably pump out a short guide on how not to die here. This week was the hardest. The haunting extends all day. You see, the morning would start off as normal like last week. Waking up, hearing the humming, waiting for it to stop, eating breakfast, putting the dishes in the sink, etc. The real difference is that they are now visible and active all day and night.
Clark spends his day sitting on an armchair reading a newspaper, funny detail is that the date of the newspaper follows our date, Only the month and day, not the year. He is always dressed in a white dress shirt with the top button left undone. Simple ironed black dress pants with a leather belt neatly wrapped around them. Brown leather shoes, more like loafers actually. The kind of dress shoes you slip on. They were always shined and clean. His right leg is on the floor with his left leg stretched over his right. The newspaper covered his face. The only thing that could be seen from the other side was the occasional cigarette smoke puffing up.
The cigarette never had a scent though, phantom tobacco, funny. Rose would be sitting on the couch most of the time either knitting, reading a magazine, or watching the TV. It was a large black and white tv, the outside made of hardwood, the thick glass of the display, and the antenna sticking out of the top. Can't miss those two large dials on it. There was always something different on TV, one moment it was a cooking show, the news, and even a Western movie. The volume was always able to be heard but sort of faint as well. Kind of like a sort of background noise you barely notice after a while.
It was not a good idea to verbally or physically interact with them in any way. Not even looking at them was an option. I've never seen either of their face outside of photos because I'm always staring at my phone, or laptop, even intentionally staring at the floor. The carpet was very pleasant to look at. They never spoke during the day. Rose would sometimes clean the house. Sometimes dusting, vacuuming, and even washing the dishes. I lied, I've caught small glimpses of their faces from reflections. They are in their young age from the 60s, the prime of their life right before the major kill streak.
I can't even explain any of this. This house could slowly be turning into a self-contained instance of time. But that wouldn't make sense since the wifi here works, my money is up to date, and my tech can be charged. A few of the outlets were swapped out for more modern ones. Only the ones not already connected to appliances or the TV itself. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner would always appear on the table at different times of the day. Breakfast at 6 AM, lunch at noon, and dinner at 6 PM. I would always eat in silence and put the dishes in the sink. I've tried rinsing the dishes before at least but the water never touched them. I don't know how to explain it, but I would turn on the water and it would just phase through the dishware. I gave up after one day.
Well, this is the final day. I'll be scheduling this report to send itself in a few hours. I don't even want to manually do it since I'm rinsing my hands off this worthless paperwork once I leave. There was one thing I wanted to check out though. I'm going to continue this bit on my phone.
I always wanted to check out the basement. I forgot that it even existed this whole time. The door wasn't blocked or locked at all luckily. The door opened just fine, but the lightbulb turned on for about a second before blowing out. It didn't actually explode, but the light sort of just flashed and burned out like a flashbang. The steps are quite loud as they creak. I'm not sure what this smell is, it's like a mixture of gas and...rotten meat?
The door just closed itself, the only light I have down here is from my phone flashlight. There's some kind of red puddle leading to a room down here. I'm not liking it. I'm writing this live so my boss can read this. Yes, I know, hard to believe I'm actually being productive.
This...this is blood. There's a body in here. No wait, multiple bodies down here. I can see dozens or even hundreds of flies just covering these bodies. I think I recognize some of the badges around the necks. All of these bodies smell fresh. Is time frozen down here or something?
...shit. There are footsteps coming down here. I'm squeezed behind a broken-down fridge, perhaps Clark will just give up his search in a few minutes. My 911 alert just failed. This one message will probably be the last thing that'll automatically upload. I think I just made a horrible mistake. I wasn't supposed to come down here. If you're reading this, please call for hel---
*Connection lost*
*Report upload incoming*
I recently got to rent out a home from the 60s. This house is famous because of a couple that used to live here from the 60s to the 80s. They were known for killing people and families during this time period before finally being caught by the police. These were the things I've learned during my stay in this house:
- During the first week there will be dancing. From 10 PM to 6 AM there will be activity in the living room. The couple will appear out there and dance to a song called Put Your Head On My Shoulder along with a few others.
- They will assure you that it's fine to come out and join them. Don't do it. I've never attempted so I don't know if anything happens, but trust your gut.
- During week 2 they will start hosting a "party". The sound of many people will come from the living room as if people have come over for the evening. Every few hours the door will knock as someone on the other end will invite you to join everyone.
- During week 3 the haunting will break into the day. During the morning the wife will be in the kitchen making breakfast, do not leave your room until she is done. You can use the bathroom, just don't look or enter the kitchen. You will hear her humming for about 20 minutes. Once it stops, you can go about your day. The food is perfectly fine to eat and is actually encouraged. Make sure you put your dishes in the sink.
- During week 4, if you've survived this long, they will roam the house 24/7. Do not make eye contact with either of them. They'll mainly stay in the living room. The husband sitting on the armchair reading a newspaper and the wife reading a magazine or knitting. Occasionally she'll clean the house. If you are going to be in the living room, keep your eyes low and do not verbally interact with them.
- If you do...I'm not sure. There have been reports of them killing people during this time. Acting hostile at them or trying to kill them will not end well. Many have rented this place out and almost all of them have died. Some were filled with stab wounds, some were in the tub, drowned, and others were framed as if it were suicide. You may wonder why the government hasn't merely torn the house down. I'm not sure. It seems like the money they make from this place keeps it running longer.
- They will not force themselves into the room during the night. Unless you interact with them, they will not attack or come your way. Any food or snacks prepared is fully safe and encouraged to consume. Make sure you set dishes and silverware in the sink. They'll be cleaned when you're not working. Staying outside of the house is your best chance to live. Follow these rules.

i was just at a self service ShakeShack and when I was at the kiosk they asked for a tip with a little banner that said that the tips go to the kitchen. does that mean that ShakeShack can pay them less like they do for waiters? ie. as long as the pay equals minimum including tip it’s legal

Recap of last episode
Theme Song Plays
Deliberations: The Blue Team, especially Tyrone, are still shocked about Don's elimination. The Red Team are extra motivated after winning service. Akira does a prayer thanking God for her performance. The Blue Team does a "We're Not Worthy!" for Giancarlo for his performance.
Challenge: Chef James calls the chefs downstairs and Gordon reveals the next challenge, but first, with the Blue Team outnumbered 8 to 6, Gordon switches Trish to the Blue Team. The challenge is revealed to be an Attention To Detail Challenge, this time involving lobster. One member from each team will have to properly prepare 10 lobsters, and any lobster that isn't properly prepared will not score. As the Red Team won service the night before, the would go first.
Red Team:
Akira- 7/10
Bella- 6/10
Lauryn - 4/10
Maddie- 10/10
Candace- 3/10
Martina- 9/10
Kelsie- 8/10
Final Score: 47/70
Blue Team:
Giancarlo- 7/10
James- 8/10
Dylan- 5/10
Bryce- 8/10
Glenn- 4/10
Tyrone- 7/10
Trish- 9/10
Final Score: 48/70. Blue Team wins.
Reward: The Blue Team are treated to a day at the spa.
Punishment: The Red Team are forced to clean the dorms and drink lobster smoothies.
Before service: Gordon announces that guests will be dining in the Chef's Tables. Legendary comedian Carol Burnett would be dining in the Red Team's kitchen, while the Blue Team would be serving Jack Nicholson.
During service: The Red Team gets off to a slow start, but no severe mistakes were made, besides burnt scallops from Akira. They made it to entrées 29 minutes in. The Blue Team would serve 0 appetizers for the first 30 minutes, and 10 minutes into entrées, they would get kicked out of the kitchen. The Red Team would struggle as well, with Akira burning fish twice, and Maddie absolutely lost. The Red Team would also get kicked out again. Gordon would apologize to Carol and Jack for the horrendous service. Both teams were declared losers.
Nominations: The Red Team, with Bella as the announcer, chose Maddie for her lack of confidence, lack of teamwork, and how she was lost during service, and Lauryn for being a supposed weak link. The Blue Team, with Glenn as the announcer, nominated Dylan for raw steaks, and Trish for lack of improvement. Gordon calls up Akira for good measure. Gordon calls up Trish, and Lauryn, but sends both back in line. He calls up Bryce, and tells him to give up his jacket, but gives him a red Jacket, switching him to the Red Team. He then calls up Martina, and switches her to the Blue Team to even up the teams again. Nobody is eliminated, but Gordon reminds the chefs not to get excited.

Think I got it close but looking for feedback on what might be out of order or not needs. I'm about to do a clean wipe before installing so be HARSH😅 I've had some crashing issues in the past with the Courage spell for some reason and use to have an issue with Meeko not going to the shack but that have been fixed.
USSEP
USSEP SURVIVAL
CHEATROOM
UGH
KONTOL
FLUTE FINDER
BOOKS GLOW
EXTRAS AT START
TRULY ABSORB DRAGON SOULS
STAY ARROW STAY
HEARTHFIRE 2X GOLD USSEP
UNLIMITED RINGS AND AMULETS
RESTED REBALANCE
STILL ZEROER
LEVEL UP IN SILENCE
PICKPOCKET 100
STONES OF BARENZIAH
THE PAARTHURNAX DILEMMA
JIUBS OPUS AND ARVAKS SKULL
RUNIC DAWNGUARD
ALL THEIVES GUILD JOBS
SEE ENCHANTMENTS
PEACEFUL HEARTHFIRE
ARS METALLICA
OMEN UI
SKYHUD OBLIVION
DEAR DIARY LOCKPICK INTERFACE
FAST BEAST PERKS
STRONGER SPELLS AND MAGIC
50 PCT MORE PERK POINTS
PERKS & MAGIC MEGA BUNDLE
BETTER ADVENTURERS BACKPACKS
GUARDIAN KHAROXIA
PEACEKEEPER ARMOUR M&F
ARMORS OF THE DRAGON CHAMPION
KS SWITCHABLE HAIRSTYLE #1
ECHELON
KATANA CRAFTING
CRAFTABLE EVERYTHING DAWNGUARD
CRAFTABLE EVERYTHING DRAGONBORN
ENHANCED BOUND WEAPONS
ENHANCED BOUND WEAPONS ORDINATOR PATCH
BOUND SHIELD WITH FX
GET BO MORE DEAD MERCHANTS
REMOVE 48HR RESTOCK
CLOAKS OF SKYRIM
PRIVATEEYE'S HEAVY ARMOR
FACTION OVERHAUL-NO CC
SKYRIM UNLEVELED
CLOAKS FACE MASKS BUNDLE
THERE WILL BE BLOOD AND BUBBLES
KIP AHRK BAHLOK FOOD REBALANCE
LEIN'S SKYRIM NPC OVERHAUL
LOVERBOY DEFAULT 1K
CBBE CURVY
KEO'S SKIMPY OUTFIT CBBE CURVY
SERANA TTR
SERANA INFINITE
SDA
EROUS FOLLOWER ABIGAIL
SUPERIOR LORE FRIENDLY HAIR
MARRY ME SERANA
IMPROVED HELGEN STARTER EQUIPMENT
LAKEVIEW AUTO SELLING CHEST
MAINLAND STALHRIM
JK'S INTERIORS AIO
NORTHERN ROADS 1K
JK'S SKYRIM AIO
NR & JKS AIO PATCH
NR & CC SAINTS PATCH
SHEZRUE'S LAKEVIEW HEARTHFIRE KITCHEN
HEARTHFIRE UPGRADE BUNDLE
IA92 ENHANCED LAKEVIEW MANOR
LAKEVIEW GARDEN EXTENDED
BETTER HARVESTING
CARRIAGE STOPS OF SKYRIM
CSS SURVIVAL PATCH
IMMERSIVE HOLD BORDERS IHB CONSISTENCY PATCH
DENSE GRASS
FOS FORESTS OF SKYRIM
ORIGINS OF FOREST 3D GRASS
VEYDOGOLT GRASS AND LAND OVERHAUL
RIVERWOOD RETREAT
DAWN
KNIGHTS OF THE NINE BATTLEMAGE
THE LADY TEMPLAR
INSTANT MASTERY
REYEKS END-DEFINITIVE
WHITERUN MINE
INCREASED MINING RESOURCES X3
VITTORIA VICI'S SECRET
DIVINE CLOAKS
CRUSADERS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
LESHYS MAGIC CART
SRP ARCHITECTURE 1K/512
DAWN WATERS
BIG ULTIMATE KILLS
CINEMATIC DRAGON SOUL ABSORPTION
BIG JUMP 2X
IMPROVED TABLE TRANSITION
XP32
GDB REVENGE
2B MOVEMENT AND IDLE REPLACER
SERANA COMBAT
REAL WILDLIFE SKYRIM SE V1.5 NO FOOD
DIVERSE DRAGONS 1K
DRAGONBORN DLC IS PART OF SKYRIM
MORE WEREWOLVES
REALISTIC CONVERSATIONS
IMMERSIVE CITIZENS
DOG FOLLOWERS ARE HUSKIES IFD LYDIA
AFT
NO MORE STUPID DOG COMMENTS
NR & IC PATCH
UPDATED ELFX NO SMIM
ELFX HARDCORE
ELFX FIXES AIO
LANTERNS OF SKYRIM
CLEFS FORT DAWNGUARD
IC AND ELFX HARDCORE PATCH
JKS INTERIORS AND IC PATCH
SKILL TRAINING EXPANDED
MULTIPLE FLOORS SANDBOXING
GO TO BED
DOUBLE BEDS FOR TWO PPL
DOUBLE BEDS FOR SPOONING
UNDRESS FOR BED
TEMPERS TEMPTATION
MONSTERS SHOUTS BUNDLE
REBALANCED LEVELED LISTS
UNLEVELED ITEMS
HET SERIOUSLY OVERSTOCKED MERCHANTS
QUALITY WORLD MAP VIVID
HEARTHFIRE MULTIPLE ADOPTIONS
MY HOME IS YOUR HOME
JKS INTERIORS ELFX PATCH
JKS INTERIORS ELFX FIXES PATCH
LANDSCAPE FIXES FOR GRASS MODS
NR LANDSCAPE FIXES PATCH
NR AND COMPLEMENTARY GRASS PATCH
NO DISARM
CHARACTER EDITOR

Chef Gordon Ramsay welcomed back his 12 remaining Chefs and said he wanted them all to forget about last nights train wreck of a service as much as he had as it was a disaster. Sabrina was ecstatic to survive last night and said it was time to prove everyone wrong that she didn’t belong here and Van said he needed to get out of Hells Kitchen after being stuck here since the 1st challenge. Chef Ramsay announced that the next challenge would be the pasta challenge where each Chef would create a pasta dish from each team and be marked out of 5 by Ramsay and a guest judge. Giovanni said as an Italian he had to bring it home for the blue team and Nikki said she had been the challenge queen so far and was optimistic for a great challenge today. First up was Giovanni and Elizabeth and Giovanni’s dish was a strong effort scoring 8/10 but Elizabeth’s over complicated dish only scored 4/10 and Elizabeth was furious with herself for over complicating a pasta dish. The blue teams strong start continued with Ed scoring 9 but Van scored a perfect TEN to keep the red team in the competition and Van said killing it in challenges had to see him rewarded eventually. Tara served overcooked pasta to only score 4 and Nikki’s solid score of 7 levelled the scores up at 21 a piece with 3 dishes left. The blue team retook the lead when Sabrina scored 7/10 and Sabrina said she had proven herself yet again and Kashia only scoring 3 saw the red blue team take the lead again. Antonio continued the blue teams momentum with a score of 8 and despite Dannie beating him with 9, the blue team led by 3 going into the last dishes. Kanae though served a very bland dish and only scored 3 and Santos scored 8 to secure a win for the red team! Santos was ecstatic to win the challenge for the red team and Kanae said she was going to have to forget about this whole day. Ramsay congratulated the red team but when he asked if Ed wanted to use his punishment pass, Ed chose to use it and picked Van to take the punishment instead of him which infuriated Van as he had been stuck in Hell Kitchen for over a week. Ed said he’d done it as he viewed Van as his biggest competition and wanted to test him by making him do another punishment.
Ed returned and was pumped for the blue team to finally win a dinner service and told Antonio that they were going to have a perfect night on the meat station. Tara and Kanae on appetisers got off to a strong start initially with Tara’s risottos accepted by Ramsay but Kanae served a bland capellini but quickly fought back to complete the ticket. Giovanni did get off to a good start on the fish station but halfway through appetisers he started to fall behind Tara and Kanae and served a raw lobster tail and Kanae was worried about the oldest Chef running the fish station solo. Giovanni then served scallops badly seared and Ramsay asked Giovanni if his age was catching up to him and Giovanni said no and fought back, saying the old guy could still burn in the kitchen. Appetisers finished strongly and Sabrina on the garnish station said she was going to be calling out the tickets and counting down every 10 seconds to make sure Ramsay hears her as the leader of the team after the disaster of last service. Despite Sabrina annoying Ed by over communicating, Ed served perfect lamb while Antonio served perfect wellingtons to get the blue team off to a great start on entrees. Giovanni was determined to have a better time on entrees after struggling with appetisers and he fought back serving perfect salmon and turbot as the blue team were getting close to finishing their best service yet. Sabrina ended up working well with Antonio, Ed and Giovanni and as the final tickets of seabass, chicken and wellingtons flew out, Ramsay praised the performance of the blue team and said that Antonio and Ed had a perfect night on the meat station as well as praising Giovanni for his fightback with Sabrina feeling short changed on the credit having had a great service herself.
The red team wanted a strong start as well and Nikki on appetisers with Elizabeth said she had to prove that her last service was a fluke and she got off to a great start with carbonaras and Elizabeth’s capellinis came out perfect as well, and both of them worked well together on appetisers to get the first half off to a strong start. Van said he was determined after having issues on the fish station before on Hells Kitchen but his cooking of scallops was praised by Ramsay as Van, Elizabeth and Nikki finished appetisers in great time and Ramsay said this was the best start yet and for the red team to keep it up. Kashia said the key to having a great service on garnish was not getting flustrated and despite Dannie and Santos on meat being confused what Kashia was calling out early on, she slowed down as the first entrees flew out as Van continued to have a great service, serving perfect seabass while Santos first steaks flew out. The meat station did start to struggle halfway through entrees as Dannie dragged on an order of 2 chicken and got annoyed by Kashia saying she needed her to bring it up with Dannie saying she’d rather take an extra 2 minutes than serve raw chicken. Santos said it was time to lead the station but Santos got behind with Van continuing to have a great service and Santos ended up serving a raw steak and Ramsay said he was the weak link so far which annoyed Santos as he felt he was the strongest in the kitchen. Santos then dragged on an order of 2 veal because he was worried about serving raw veal and then had to get Elizabeth to help him bring his wellingtons to the pass but Ramsay was happy he took the extra minutes and the rest of the entrees came out with Ramsay saying it was their best service yet, praising the performance of Van as his best yet in Hells Kitchen.
Ramsay was delighted with the performances of both teams and said he couldn’t name a losing team but said the process must continue and for each team to name 2 chefs for elimination. Despite Sabrina claiming she had the best service, Kanae felt they had to go overall and said Sabrina would be her 1st nominee and Tara her 2nd which Sabrina refuted and said that Kanae and Giovanni should go up for making mistakes in service and that her improvement meant she shouldn’t go up which Kanae angrily said she had made 1 mistake the whole time where as Sabrina had made several. Tara agreed with Sabrina but felt that Giovanni should go up due to his problems early on and Antonio agreed that Giovanni was behind everyone else. Giovanni accepted his nomination and said that hopefully Ramsay would realise he still had the fire of a younger Chef and Ed told Giovanni he thought Sabrina was going anyway so he should be fine. Santos quickly decided for the red team that Kashia and Dannie were the weakest chefs overall but Kashia said that had Dannie and Santos not struggled on the meat station, they would have won service outright. Nikki did agree that Santos should go up for having the worst service overall and this was agreed by Van who said that Santos should be able to hold down a meat station with another person on it. Santos was livid at being nominated and said that the other services and challenges clearly counted for nothing if he was going up. Ramsay agreed with the 4 nominees but after hearing from all 4 he said no one was going home to due to the best service yet but warned the Chefs that he wouldn’t be so generous next time. Tara felt Sabrina should have gone and was annoyed to be working with her again tomorrow and Dannie felt she was on borrowed time as the team were going to nominate her no matter how well she did.
As they got the 6 most votes to eliminate, the 6 Chefs doing Cook for your Life will be Dannie, Sabrina, Kashia, Santos, Giovanni and Antonio with 1 of them going on the next poll.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yZAEyarJoN7y7eVxefqMECZJaQT4frCccvuZ5TdMGvM/edit#gid=0
https://strawpoll.com/polls/w4nWr8kzYyA

Chef Gordon Ramsay welcomed his final 14 back to Hells Kitchen and said it was time to use their brains for the next challenge with both teams using letters from shopping carts to spell out 6 ingredients to create a dish with a Chef from each team using the same ingredients to make their dishes. The new look blue team quickly decided they were going to cook fish and went with salmon as their protein while the red team decided to go with fillet. Each time got a wild card ingredient each and Sabrina said she was excited to cook salmon and be on the blue team as she was sick of working with Kashia and Dannie, and wanted to win this challenge for the blue team. Josh said he was so motivated to make up for his nightmares before when he switched to the red team so it was his challenge to win and Van said he needed to get out of Hells Kitchen so hoped him and Josh didn’t bring the bad vibes to the red team. The teams dishes would be ranked out of 5 and Antonio was 1st up for the blue team and scored 3 points for overcooking rice but Eds dish fought back to score 4, with Ed saying he didn’t want to use his punishment pass yet as he intended on staying a while yet. Tara was keen to impress on her 1st challenge for the blue team and scored a solid 3 which was followed up by Zach channeling the energy of CHEF GRANT BANKS to score 4 out of 5. Sabrina was next up and scored 3 which she was disappointed with but Kanae impressed on her first dish for the blue team with 4 out of 5 and Giovanni said he was psyched to have Kanae on the team. Giovanni then finished off the dishes in style by scoring the first perfect 5 out of 5 for his salmon and the blue team scored a strong 26 out of 35. The red team were confident with Kashia starting as steak was her thing and she got them off to a strong start with 4 out of 5 and Van’s dish was described as perfect, scoring a perfect 5 and Van said he was gonna bring the pain to his old team. Dannie though served overcooked steak and scored 2 which was the lowest score so far and Josh on his debut for the red team said it would be his redemption year but he also only scored 2 out of 5 for watery greens and an undercooked steak. Elizabeth scored a strong 4 out of 5 to leave the red team needing a perfect 10 to win from the last 2 dishes but Santos served a strong dish to score 4 out of 5 and said he had faith in Nikki to score a 5 and Nikki fought back with her dish to score a perfect 5 to tie up 26:26. Chef Ramsay said it was down to the best dish of the day which was between Giovanni, Van and Nikki and it was Giovanni who scored the best dish of the day to give the blue team victory! Giovanni said this was his best day in hells kitchen yet but Ramsay asked if Dannie wanted to use her punishment pass and she said she did and was going to make Sabrina take the punishment which visibly horrified Sabrina who said that Dannie was dead to her for forcing her to do a punishment.
While the blue team and Dannie partied, Sabrina was fuming at having to do a punishment with her old team and complained the entire time which annoyed Kashia and Josh who just wanted Sabrina to get on with it. Sabrina and Josh then had an argument during the punishment with Josh guaranteeing Sabrina would go home before him and Elizabeth said no matter what happened in Hells Kitchen it was drama. Sabrina was on hot appetisers and said she it was her time to shine on the blue team but got behind on the first orders of risottos and served crunchy rice on the 1st ticket with Ramsay telling Sabrina that he gets nervous when service starts like this. Giovanni on cold appetisers led well but despite Sabrina getting her next risottos out, Antonio realised he had only served 2 lobster tails instead of 3 but quickly bounced back after a minute and Ramsay told Antonio to stop sleeping during service. Sabrina then served stewed capellini after dragging on the tickets and Ramsay furiously asked Sabrina if she had given up which Sabrina denied saying she was pissed off at the lack of communication from the blue team which Giovanni found bemusing. Sabrina continued to drag on the next capellinis but eventually with help from Kanae she finished appetisers as the blue team moved onto entrees. Entrees started well as Tara on garnish worked well with Antonio on fish, and Kanae and Zach on meat as the early orders of salmon, veal and wellingtons came out perfect. Tara though served 2 completely overcooked poached eggs for a later ticket and Ramsay asked her if she had a clue how to poach eggs which Tara said she did and wondered how that happened. Zach then got behind and despite guaranteeing a 5 star performance tonight he served raw veal and a livid Ramsay said he would start kicking people out the kitchen who were getting in the way of completing service. Tara then served well done poached eggs again and Chef Jocky came over to inspect and realised that most of the prepped poached eggs were way overcooked, to which Tara said Sabrina had prepped them. A furious Sabrina denied this and said Tara was sabotaging her and Ramsay angrily kicked both of them out the kitchen and ordered Ed from table side to rescue the garnish station. Tara was livid at being kicked out and told Sabrina she had ruined her service but Sabrina said she could have checked them and it wouldn’t have been an issue. Kanae’s first service on the blue team continued to be strong as she served more perfect meat but Zach ended up 2 minutes behind and when he finally brought his lamb to the pass it was still raw so Zach was kicked out of the kitchen as well and Zach angrily blamed Tara and Sabrina for ruining his service. The remaining Chefs finished a dreadful service and Giovanni bemoaned the fact that the blue team still couldn’t have a good service at this point.
The new look red team had 2 of their original members Kashia and Dannie on appetisers but they did not work in sync with each other at all as Dannie brought up her salads and Kashia brought up a carbonara but Ramsay said there was a risotto on order missing and Kashia said she forgot it with Ramsay screaming “RISOTTO ON!” which sent the kitchen back in reverse as Kashia had to start a new risotto which took 6 minutes. Dannie then struggled to get her salads out as she was busy checking a flatbread and ended up somehow behind Kashia and Santos on fish with Santos having to help Dannie bring her salads to the pass with Santos questioning how salads were holding the kitchen up at this point. Kashia then served a salty capellini which Ramsay spat out and Dannie then brought up a tomato salad drenched in oil and Van was wondering how they were struggling to get appetisers out 5 services in. Kashia thought she had bounced back but after serving a mushy risotto on a late ticket, Ramsay had had enough and kicked Kashia out the kitchen, saying these were ridiculous mistakes at this stage. Entrees were not much better as despite a strong start from Nikki and Van on meat, and Santos on fish, Josh on garnish was flustered from the beginning constantly talking to himself and trying to get out of the weeds. Josh then served heavily salted mashed potatoes and was completely flustered as he then brought up the garnish for salmon and chicken when the ticket was lamb and cod, and Ramsay furiously told Elizabeth at tableside to help Josh out as he needed help “BIG TIME” and Josh’s issues on garnish saw Nikki get behind and after dragging a ticket for veal she served raw veal and Ramsay said he didn’t give a fuck who went home at this point. Josh continued to get behind on garnish and Chef Christina pointed out the complete mess of Josh’s station with pans and food everywhere and said someone had to go over to help despite Josh denying he needed any help. Van told Nikki to help as he was fine running the meat station solo but Dannie had already gone over to help and when Josh asked Nikki the next ticket he said it was 2 lamb and 2 halibut and a distraught Ramsay told Josh to have a time out as that was the wrong ticket again. Ramsay then called out the order and both Nikki and Dannie couldn’t repeat back the order and were both kicked out by Ramsay and told to go for a lie down as Nikki wondered how she ended up in that mess. Josh then made his heroic return but he got behind the rest of the kitchen again and managed to burn Brussel sprouts, and at this point Ramsay had had enough. Josh was told “NO MORE, TAKE YOUR JACKET OFF, PACK YOUR BAGS AND GET OUT OF HELLS KITCHEN!!!” And despite Josh begging to stay in Hells Kitchen as his body wouldn’t let him leave, Elizabeth took over his station and Van told Josh to get out as well, as Van, Elizabeth and Santos finished service with a humiliated Josh leaving Hells Kitchen in style again.
Ramsay announced that both teams had lost and despite Josh’s ejection, he said the fat needed to be trimmed and that 2 Chefs from each team had to be put up for elimination and Santos said working with Josh one service was enough as he was a complete train wreck. Ed quickly said it was between 3 who was going up as Sabrina, Zach and Tara all got kicked out the kitchen and Zach was quick to say he was the last chef kicked out the kitchen while Tara and Sabrina can’t poach eggs but Sabrina angrily screamed she had fought back on service while Tara had no quality control and Zach has failed the team twice on the meat station. Tara admitted her fault at not checking the eggs but assumed a Chef could pre poach eggs and Sabrina continued to rant and said she wasn’t going up before Antonio asked Kanae who she’d rather work with, Sabrina or Tara and Kanae said Tara to which Sabrina stormed out and said her team was a joke and Ramsay would laugh off for nomination. Despite Dannie claiming that Kashia and Nikki should go up, Nikki was quick to say this was her 1st bad service and that this was Dannie and Kashia’s 3rd so she shouldn’t go up and Santos agreed that they were the 2 weakest in the red team left. Kashia angrily said she had a great service on the meat station last service and that Dannie should go which led to an argument between Dannie and Kashia as Van wondered if he could ever avoid drama this season. Ramsay heard from all 4 of the chefs nominated and after sending Dannie and Sabrina back in line, he eliminated ZACH for failing twice on the meat station and for failing to impress this time round. Dannie said it was crap she was even up for trying to save the service and Sabrina said she was coming for Tara tomorrow for trying to throw her under the bus.
There will be NO elimination next service and the Chefs with the top 3 votes to eliminate on each team will do Cook For Your Life.
https://strawpoll.com/polls/NPgxE6BxrZ2
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yZAEyarJoN7y7eVxefqMECZJaQT4frCccvuZ5TdMGvM/edit#gid=0

Yay, new chapter is (finally) out! Only took a damn month. Why must May be so busy? At least I've managed to get chapter 9 mostly done as well, so that will be locked and loaded soon. Then I'm hoping to pick up the pace a bit.
Anyways, in this chapter both the snow wolves and Tostig plan their next moves, and the decisions made will affect the Ulstads.
As always, this story can be read up to the current chapter in both fanfiction and AO3 if you'd prefer those sites to reading all the text on reddit.
Fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14198757/8/Land-of-the-North-Wind
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45067345/chapters/119955676
Banishment
Tostig looked out at this city under siege. Part of him felt for his people, but at the same time they could not be allowed to bow to wolves. He would not bow to wolves and their demands. They were lesser, and they were rivals who were only useful for labor and trade in times of peace. And yet, the situation they were in now was not sustainable and everyone knew it. Just then, the door to his chamber was opened and his lead counselor, his right hand, stepped into the room.
“You wished to see me, my lord?”
Tostig took a sip from his wine chalice before turning away from his window and walking over to his desk with slow, deliberate steps. Upon locking eyes with his trusted advisor, the lord gave a small smile.
“Yes. I was hoping you’d have an inventory of our supplies ready to discuss.”
The counselor stepped forward, producing a stack of documents that had been written up by scribes. “Of course, my lord. Here are the inventory lists on the items you requested. Firewood, coal, wine, ale, spirits, bread, and meat are all right here.”
The counselor then placed the lists in his lord’s outstretched hands.
Tostig then got to the point of their meeting, “but all of these lists are to answer a single question. Do we have enough supplies to make it until spring?”
His counselor lowered his head and shook it slowly, “No sir. We’ll be out two months before the first ships can make safe harbor at the coast.”
Tostig sighed. “Then it’ll have to be done.”
“Are you sure, my Lord?”
“What choice do I have? We tried leaving, we tried getting necessary supplies, and even rations won’t carry us through the entire winter.”
“Those poor souls…”
“The keidran, overall, are tough beasts. And if you ask me, some of them played a hand in this whole mess, I just know it.”
“In what way could they be responsible, sir?” The counselor asked, confused.
“You really think every keidran in this town wants to be serving humans in some way or another? Their brethren are outside the walls, likely promising them a place of refuge for themselves and their slave relatives back east if they help the snow wolves kick us out.”
“That seems unlikely, my Lord.”
“Even if I’m wrong about their loyalties, the fact is keidran are more disposable than men. I can do without all these extra servants and menial laborers, but I’m going to need my miners and loggers when the snow clears, and the crown sends the best troops in Mekkan to our aid.”
“Your will is my command, sir. I’ll have Gerrick gather all his guardsmen in the great hall this evening. We’ll need every able-bodied member of the garrison.”
“Very good. Also, please send for the healer. These headaches… that medicine hasn’t been working.”
“Of course, my lord. Right away.”
The sun was setting on another day of the town under siege. The wolves had not made any moves to attack the walls, but why would they? They controlled the land and sea for hundreds of miles in every direction. A counsel of the elders was called in the camp overlooking the settlement. In the middle of the camp was a large, portable lodge made from thick timbers cut in the Snowy Pines. The frame was bound tightly by many hides, proving insulation and blocking the fierce winds that would often sweep across the tundra. Normally, settlements were permanent, but some wolves that had ventured into human territory took notes on how their rivals conducted war, and moveable houses were the answer to navigating across harsh country that was so brutal even the ever-adaptable humans had yet to conquer.
Outside the lodge entrance waited a tall, young snow wolf. Icy-white hair was bound tightly into a knot under a hat of seal fur. Extra layers of fur helped to protect the wolf from the elements, as even in winter the temperatures were colder than any canine could safely withstand. Blue eyes pierced through the growing darkness, a slight glow from his mana crystal necklace giving his face some soft illumination. He was waiting, watching for someone. Others came into the lodge one and two at a time. After a while, the young wolf was beginning to worry. “Where could he be?” The thought.
Just then a lone figure hobbled into view. A snow wolf much like him seemed to materialize out of the blowing snow that cut the visibility down significantly. Now only the glow of Callow could be seen in the distance. The old wolf, walking with a cane, finally found his way to the entrance.
“Grandfather, I was getting worried about you. You know I could help you up the hill, right?”
“Oh, don’t trouble yourself Bjorn. I might be almost as old as the wood holding that lodge together, but I can still find my way around camp. Now, let’s get inside, shall we?”
“Of course grandpa…” Bjorn then held the entrance to the lodge open so his frail kin could make his way inside where it was warm.
Following his grandfather inside, Bjorn was hit immediately with the warmth of a fire, fueled by wood brought in from the forest by sled, most of it cut down courtesy of the logging teams they had chased out a month earlier. The glow from his mana crystals was quickly overtaken by the bright, orange light of the fire. The young wolf removed most of his outer garments, placing them on the ground to use as a seat. He sat down behind where his grandfather had made himself comfortable. As an elder, the old wolf held one of the seats in the clans moot, the council of elders that had assembled to deal with the human problem.
All inside the lodge waited silently as their shaman conjured magical light structures from her crystal necklace in a ceremony to purify the air. The lights were dazzling. Bjorn’s favorite was seeing a replication of the night sky, a spell which was meticulously maintained through the generations showing each visible star as well as the moon. Another spell finished the ceremony, seemingly purging the air from the lodge, the fire reducing to embers, only to roar back to life as new, fresh air came in to fill the vacuum. It was then that the shaman gave a special blessing and prayer to each of the council members before taking her seat in the back as an observer. The five wolves then allowed for a silent pause to pass over all in attendance before beginning.
The designated leader of the council, tasked with mediating the clans moot, broke the silence, “my friends, our actions this winter may ensure the survival of our people and way of life, but one misstep and we will surely suffer greatly for our actions against the humans.”
A graying elder from the clan west of Widow Lake then saw fit to add in his thoughts. “Indeed, Bragi, but I believe our actions so far have been successful. The humans and their keidran servants have been completely cut off from their homeland and their king. No one will be able to help them until the snow leaves.”
Frey, the elder representing the clan at the split between the Widow and Pines rivers then spoke, “My warriors were successful in destroying any attempts by the humans to reach the sea. I’ve seen some of the bodies from their first attempt, and I believe that many of their most capable are dead. We ought to press an attack while we still have an advantage in the snow.”
Garth, Bjorn’s grandfather, and widely held to be one of the wisest elders in the North, urged caution. “It is true, Frey, that your warriors have slain many humans who could defend the walls, but many more are still inside. We’ve all seen the patrols along the top of the wall. Besides that, your warriors let one boat get away in the humans’ first attempt to summon help, didn’t they?”
Frey was forced to admit the mistake. “You are right, Garth, one did manage to slip away in the night. My warriors say they followed a light they thought was a lantern from the boat, but it was something else. It was alive, but they could not get a good look at it, and the light they followed led them into a sand bank. But a large storm hit shortly after. Surely, none survived.”
Garth had a different thought. “I would not so easily discredit these humans. Sure, they lack our fur, but they are adaptable creatures. I’ve seen with my own eyes the mines they’ve built. If they can bring the heart of Mekkan to the surface, their best may be able to survive winter.”
Bragi, always one to listen to a wolf with so much experience, wanted to know how this would affect their plans. “Garth, do you think the humans would bring reinforcements?”
“Assuming they survived, it could happen.”
Frey wasn’t as convinced. “Even if that one crew did manage to make it to the coast, it would still be months before the humans could bring an army to our shores. But that is all the more reason to find a way into the city.”
The last wolf in the council had been silent up until then. He was the youngest, though his offspring were still well into adulthood. He had earned a reputation as one of the best strategists among the snow wolves, having to regularly repel attempts by the forest wolves to gain more territory along the southern border. “An attack on the walls would be a failure. One does not kill a bear by fighting it on its terms. To kill a bear, one must outsmart it, and force the creature to fight in a way it is not used to.”
“So we should do nothing then?” Frey surmised, but the younger wolf shook his head.
“No, the wall is a bear. If we simply run up to it, our warriors will all die. But if we can find a weakness or fight the humans in a way they are not used to, then we will have the advantage.”
Garth then added is trademark advice of caution. “Though we must be patient, my friends. There will be an opportunity before spring arrives. As the weather gets colder and the snow gets deeper, our advantages will grow.”
Bragi then came to a possible plan of action. “I know Tostig. Once desperate enough, he will want an open battle where his trained guards can win, even in the snow. It would be too great of a risk to meet him in such a battle, but we could bait him to it.”
The wolf from Widow Lake then had an idea of his own. “My warriors could conduct raids on the humans’ stashes of firewood and supplies. There are some close enough to the walls that they can be reached. Once the humans start getting cold, they will be forced to either submit or do battle.”
Bragi nodded in agreement. “Do we have a plan then?”
All nodded and prepared to cast their vote when a shout from outside the lodge alerted the gathered snow wolves. A guard rushed in to deliver the news. The Shaman stood up upon this intrusion. “A clans moot is a sacred gathering, outsiders are not permitted unless invited. Child, why have you trespassed?”
The guard was gasping for air after running for a couple of miles to the main camp. “Apologies… humans… outside the wall.”
Perhaps the battle was coming after all? Bragi then stood. “Garth, have your grandson take your best warriors to trap these humans. This may be the beginning of the very battle Tostig would try to arrange.”
Garth then looked behind him at his nephew and nodded. “Go, Bjorn, I’ll find my way back. Be safe.”
Garth bowed his head slightly in respect of the others. “Thank you all for permitting me to the clans moot. I will track down and subdue these humans before they can cause trouble.”
With a wave of Bragi’s hand, Garth then exited the lodge with the guard and ran toward the main camp to find as many warriors as he could at a moment’s notice.
The Ulstads were preparing a dinner of rations in the empty tavern when a knock came from the front door. Anna Marie, who was closest, stopped sweeping to open the door. She was surprised by the evening visitor. “Sam, whatchya doin’ here at such an hour? We’re ya joinin’ fer dinner?”
Sam didn’t answer as he came into the foyer, but the look on his face told everyone that something was wrong. Liz stood up and quickly made her way to Sam, with Shadow and Asher close behind. Ivan leaned his head out from the kitchen. Liz took Sam’s hand in hers and looked him in the eyes. “Sam, what is it? News from Connor?”
Sam just shook his head. “I’m sorry Liz, I wish it was.”
Shadow then asked in a more direct voice. “Then what is it? You look pale.”
“It’s Tostig. He’s… well, he’s given the guard an order.”
“Come on, Sam, out with it?” Shadow said, worry seeping into her words. Sam took a deep breath to collect himself. They needed to know.
“Tostig has ordered every non-human in Callow… he’s banished them from the town.”
A thick, baritone voice boomed from the kitchen. “What?” A look of horror came across Asher’s face. Shadow too was shocked.
“Like Ivan said, ‘what?’” The leopard could hardly believe what she had heard.
“Liz, Miss Marie, you are both allowed to stay. But guards are going door to door right now and rounding up all the keidran. Shadow and Asher, you had better collect what you can before they arrive. I’ll escort you both personally so that neither of you have a hand laid on you.”
Anna wouldn’t have it. “They’s just as much people as us, Sam. Shadow, you and the boy should hide in the cellar. Ivan, get the darn hammer.”
“No Anna.” Shadow replied, letting it sink in. “We can’t just hide in the tavern all winter. Besides, what happens when you get caught?”
Sam had the unfortunate answer to that one. “Tostig has also ordered that anyone caught hiding keidran will be burned at the stake.”
That caused Anna and Liz to recoil at the thought of their own fate. It was more than enough for Shadow to make up her mind. “Come on Asher, we had better put on whatever clothes we can before— “just then, another knock came from the door, this one far more stern than before.
“Shit, they’re here already. I thought there’d be more time. Shadow, you can Asher meet Ivan in the back, I’ll get you three to the eastern gate.” Sam said before going to answer the door with Anna Marie. Asher didn’t quite understand all that was happening. He knew human well enough now, but things were progressing quickly for a seven-year-old. But Shadow quickly grabbed his hand and led them both into the room with Liz close behind. Once inside the room, Liz, locked the door to buy them at least a few more seconds.
Shadow, having been trained by assassins in the guild, wasn’t terribly concerned for herself. But being forced to leave Liz? She hoped that Anna Marie would keep the girl safe. Asher though was in trouble if they were being forced into the tundra. Her first thought then was to make sure the boy had as many warm clothes on as she could find.
“Here Asher, put this on, quickly.”
“I don’t want to leave, Shadow!”
“I don’t either, but we don’t have a choice. Sooner or later we’d be caught and thrown outside the walls anyway. Now bundle up as best you can be—”
Loud knocking came from the bedroom wall. “We know there are keidran in here! Open the door and come with us.”
Liz went up to the door to buy as much time as she could. “Just a minute!”
“Open it now woman!” Was the reply, but that was closely followed by Sam’s voice. “Hey, I’m highest rank here and I happen to know the two you’re after. Let me handle this and you two should continue down the stre—”
“Not a chance Sam, we’ve got orders from your father.”
“Then at least go get Ivan. Shadow and Asher aren’t going to put up a fight.”
Two more guards could be heard struggling to push the big wolf out into the street, and the intensity of the struggle caused the two guards standing near the room door to reconsider pushing their luck with someone who outranks them.
“Very well, they’ve got two minutes. If they aren’t out by then, we’re going to break the door down.”
Sam then moved to the side to let the two guards pass by.
Liz’s muffled voice came from behind the door “Are they gone?”
“Yeah, for the moment.”
A minute later, the door’s latch was undone, and it creaked open. Shadow and Asher had their wool jumpers on, along with whatever clothes they could find. Shadow was even wearing a pair of Connor’s pants. They were a bit tight but provided some extra insulation. Liz then followed the two, closing the door behind them.
“Why is this happening, Sam?” Liz asked.
“Apparently, we don’t have enough supplies to last the winter. So either everyone starves…”
“…Or the keidran freeze to death.” Shadow finished for Sam.
“Basically, yes. But you don’t have to freeze to death, there’s shelter that you can use, as well as food stores.”
“Where?” Shadow interrogated. Asher’s life as well as her own was on the line.”
“You’ll have to slip passed the wolves, but there are food stores and shelters in the new mining district across the river. It’s on the other side of Ditter’s Ridge.”
“Wolves?!” Shadow exclaimed. “How am I and the kid going to slip passed an army of wolves? They’d see us miles away!”
“I don’t know. I suggest hiding until the wind kicks up, the blowing snow will provide you with cover.”
The three stressed faces, Shadow’s looking like she was ready to murder, all stared at Sam.
“Look, this is a bad situation. I wish there was more I could do, but there isn’t. Tostig is Jarl, and his word is the law. If he says you must go, then you must go. If you try to stay, he could have us all executed.”
“Would your father allow that?”
“Tostig would execute my father too if that’s what it took to keep order in this town. I’m sorry, I really am, but—”
“But you’re doing whatever you can…” Liz grabbed and held Sam’s hand. “Is there a path or a tunnel or something that they can use to get around the wolves?”
“No, there isn’t. Look, you’ll have to move as quickly as you can. I’ll send help as soon as I’m able to, but right now this is your best chance of surviving.”
“Fine…” Shadow said, defeated and out of options. “Come on Asher, we had better go.”
The boy had other ideas “I don’t want to leave Liz! I want to wait here for Connor!”
“Connor…” Shadow thought. She tried to put it past her mind, but Liz knelt down in front of the boy.
“Asher, Connor isn’t coming back.” She said, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s been a month, and as much as I wish he’d bust into the tavern right now like he did with both of you back in the spring, it’s not going to happen. You need to leave with Shadow, she’ll keep you safe.”
“What about you?” Asher said, sniffling.
“I’ve got Anna Marie and Sam here to help. But you can’t stay here or Tostig would—”
“Kill us…” Asher said.
“I know we aren’t the closest, but Connor called you his brother, so I do too. Go, while you still can.” She then stood up. Before she could say anything else, Shadow embraced the girl.
“I’m sorry that I won’t be there to keep you safe.” Shadow said.
“It’s okay. But if you two stick together, we’ll all look back at this like a bad memory.”
“One of many bad memories.”
Sam knew time was up. “We better leave before those two assholes return. I’ll show you out a side entrance.”
Shadow and Liz let go of each other, and Shadow grabbed Asher’s hand before they both fled into the back alley behind Sam. The winding pathways between buildings eventually led them to a small door near the east gate. Shadow could see around the side of a building all the keidran being pushed out through the main gate. After looking around to make sure no one was watching, Sam produced a key, which began to glow as he recited an incantation. A hidden door nested into the wall glowed around the seal before opening, revealing a short tunnel to the outside.
“It’s one of the many emergency doorways out of the town. Only the guards have access, and most don’t know about them.”
Shadow, though impressed by the trickery, was hardly thrilled to be forced out of the walls. “If Connor ever comes back…”
“I hope he does, but for right now, you’re better off outside than inside.” Sam finished for Shadow, gesturing outside the wall.”
“Make sure nothing happens to Liz. Or I’ll find my way back,” Shadow lifted Sam off his feet and pinned him to the wall, “and burn this town to the ground with you in it.”
“I’ll protect her with my life if I must. You have my word. Now please, get out of here before someone sees me helping you.”
Shadow dropped Sam back to his feet, took Asher’s hand, and ducked through the hole in the wall. Once through, Sam closed the magic door with his key before slipping through an alley and joining the rest of the guards. Young ones were crying, old ones were being forcefully pushed, and at least one who tried to resist was savagely beaten. The guard was there to maintain order no matter the cost. After several minutes and much effort, the last keidran was shoved past the threshold. As the iron gate lowered from the ceiling, a couple of keidran made an attempt to get back into the town. But just as they were about to get through the inner gate, out of the crowd came several guards with crossbows. Without hesitation, their lieutenant gave the order to fire. In front of both humans and keidran, all those who tried to get through were cut down and left to die in the zwinger between the two gates. Their intentions made clear, the remaining keidran quickly fled from the walls just as guards took their positions along the walkway at the top.
Shadow couldn’t see what happened, but she could certainly hear it. Keeping Asher close, she used her skills at stealth to skirt along the bottom of the wall undetected. Asher at one point tried to say something but she quickly hushed him before continuing. Finding and avenue out in a blind spot from the guards, Shadow quickly moved past the ground torches could illuminate, finding safety in the darkness. Luckily, it was a clear night and Shadow could easily make out where the keidran had stopped. They looked to be in the process of scattering as keidran tended to do. They weren’t a clan or a tribe, instead they were in groups of individuals who knew each other. Shadow a year ago would have left them all to their fate, content to find the shelter she was informed of and waiting until spring. But now… now she could see scared children, elderly who wouldn’t make it two days in the winter snow, and many who were scared and confused, all in need of help.
“What are we going to do?” Asher asked, clutching onto her leg and looking up to her for guidance. He too was quite scared.
Shadow sighed, collecting herself. “We’re going to help them, Asher, and we’re going to survive.”
Just as the keidran were about to venture off in every direction imaginable, Shadow climbed up onto a rock and, illuminated by the moon, called for everyone’s attention. No one really seemed to care, at least until a loud, baritone voice cut through the air. Shadow looked to her side only to find a beaten and bloody Ivan standing near the rock, apparently having seen the pair in the cold. At once, everyone looked back toward the three figures next to and on top of the large glacial boulder.
“Good. Now everyone listen up! I’ve been told that there are stores of food and supplies as well as shelter across the river to the East. If we move now, we can be there by dawn, but we have to stick together, or we’ll all die.”
While some seemed ready to go, others weren’t sure. Arguing began between different individuals. Some wanted to make for the Snowy Pines, mostly the wolves. A few wanted to try and get over the mountain pass and into warmer country. Still others were talking about forcing their way back into Callow. None were, realistically, good options. But before consensus could be reached, or a complete breakdown in the large group of at least four hundred keidran, snow wolves approached from all sides, weapons at the ready. Out from the darkness emerged a big wolf, nearly as big as Ivan, wearing polar bear fur and brandishing a long spear.
Keidran tried to run but were quickly cut off. The group of exiles was completely encircled by several hundred strong warriors from the different clans. Bjorn then noticed something odd in the moonlight. Between all the people that they captured, only a handful had anything more than a knife. Certainly no weapons of war, and plenty were half-naked and freezing.
“Where are your weapons?”
“What do you mean?” A tigress asked. “We have none.”
“Then what is this? Are you all trying to run away or something? You’ll freeze out here.” Bjorn bellowed. A young child then pushed his way to the front. It was Asher, the only basitin in the group. “W-we were kicked out, sir.”
“Kicked out?”
Ivan and Shadow came out from the crowd, quickly finding Asher. Shadow grabbed the boy and held onto him tight in case things went south. Ivan tried to reason with Bjorn, who was a bit intimidated by the wolf that was bigger than even him.
“Da. Jarl Tostig pushed us into the snow.”
“Explain.” Bjorn said, spear tip not lowering even slightly.
“What the big guy is trying to say is that Tostig found out there wasn’t enough supplies for everyone to last the winter, so he decided to get rid of every keidran in Callow. We’re exiles.”
This shocked Bjorn. He didn’t think anyone, not even a human, would do something so cutthroat. “Well, if you were hoping for our help, I’m sorry. But we don’t have supplies for everyone here. I can talk to my grandfather and perhaps the council will—”
“There are supplies across the river, if you’d let us go to Ditter’s Ridge we’ll stay out of the way of your siege. We certainly aren’t going to help Tostig after this.
“The big hill near Widow Lake? I thought that was just a bunch of mines.”
“It is, but apparently there are stores of supplies and shelter there.”
Ditter’s Ridge was still technically snow wolf lands, and the recent mining activity was part of why this whole situation was happening now. But these weren’t humans, clearly weren’t loyal to Tostig, and had no means to defending themselves anyway. After taking in the sight, he knew that they were speaking the truth, and that many wouldn’t make it more than a few days even in thick winter fur.
“Alright. We have no quarrel with you. I and a few others will lead you across the river. There’s a ford at Ridge Gate that’s shallow enough you all can cross without getting wet above the knees. We had better hurry though; another storm is coming.”
Shadow then walked up to Bjorn, noting that she was barely taller than his shoulder. “Thank you.” She said gratefully, extending a hand.
Bjorn looked down and felt his heart skip a beat. In a land of ice and snow, before him was a black-furred leopard, a keidran he had never seen before. He immediately reached out to shake her hand. “I am happy to help. Now, we had better get a move on.”
“Lead the way...” Shadow gestured as she grabbed Asher once again and made sure he walked closely beside her through the snow.
It was tough walking through the drifts. At one point, Shadow broke through a layer of hard snow into soft powder below. She sank up to her chest and was struggling to get out when a pair of snow shoes appeared in front of her. Looking up, she saw Bjorn extending his hand. In one swift motion, he lifted the leopard clean out of the snow and onto his snow shoes.
“Thank you.” Shadow said, stunned at how easy it was for the wolf.
“It was nothing.” He said, smile on his face.
In the early hours of dawn, the group of keidran spotted the Ridge Gate, a pair of towering bluffs the river cut through in order to make it to the sea. Soon, Shadow and Asher were some of the first to reach the shore of the river. Shadow picked up Asher and held him as she tried to cross, but the icy water stung on her skin. Bjorn then offered his help once again.
“Please, allow me.” He said as he picked Asher up and placed the boy on his shoulders. Before Shadow could continue into the river, he picked her up as well and held her under her back and knees.
“Oh... my…” Shadow said, looking up at Bjorn. “You really don’t have to.”
“I assume you aren’t from around these parts, considering the black fur.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Well, the river water is cold enough that you really don’t want to get wet if you can help it. So hold on tight, I’ll walk you across.”
It took a few minutes, but Shadow and Asher found themselves on dry ground. Without a word, Bjorn turned around and waded across the river again. It felt… odd… to be carried like that. But apparently the snow wolves were doing this for many of the keidran, especially the children. It took close to a half an hour before everyone was across, but by then it was a simple matter of climbing the ridge. At the top, Shadow and Asher felt the first rays of sun peaking above the horizon. It would fill the valley below for only a couple of hours before setting again.
“We’re getting close to the equinox.” Bjorn explained. “The sun will only break the horizon for an hour then, and it will get really cold.”
“Thank you again.” Shadow replied. “But I didn’t catch your name.”
“It’s Bjorn, ma’am.”
“Well, thank you Bjorn. I am Shadow and this here is Asher.”
“Glad to know you, Shadow. Now, where are these supplies you were talking about?”
“I’m guessing they are down there.” Shadow said as she pointed at what looked to be an abandoned mining camp. Once at the bottom of the ridge, the state of the camp was sad. Tents were blown down by the wind, a couple of the makeshift shacks were caved in from the heavy snow. But one large structure was locked up tight. Busting in the door with a log for a battering ram, the keidran found the first of many supplies. While the food was mostly for humans, and thus was a lot of flour and coffee, there was plenty of dried and salted meats. It wouldn’t be much, but with some careful rationing they’d all be able to make it through the winter.

--- The Dream ---
Mia woke up to a noise in the basement she was not sure if she should go or not she was very scared to leave her room she got out of bed and got up and creeped to the door she quitly opened the door and looked out to see if there was anything out in the hallway as she walked to the stairs she seen the light on in the kitchen and she went quitly downstairs mia went and seen that the refrigerator was open there was blood in the refrigerator and intestines hanging from the shelf she was getting scared she didn't know what was happening she herd the noise in the basement as she went to the basement she seen that the light was on and that nobody was there she looked and had found a blood trail to the table in the back near the washer and dryer and she went to the table she seen a clear box on the table as she went and opened the lid to the clear box and she seen that it was filled with blood as she looked in the box she picked up the big wooden spoon next to the clear box and put the spoon in and stired and as she did Mia's head floated to the top as she screamed she turned around and seen a gir with a pumpkin smile she fell backwards and covered her face with her arms.
---- Awake ----
Mia woke up and was drenched in sweat she had a fearfully look on her face and did not know what to do she stayed up for the rest of the night beacuse she was afraid to go back to sleep she got up and went to her desk and turned on the light and got her art pencils and started to draw what she seen in her nightmare

It looked so real that she put it in a frame and Mia turned on the TV and watched M.A.S.H it was one of her favorite TV shows and she was wondering if she was going to see this thing in her dreams agian hopefully she won't be there but she had a bad feeling about it she seen that the sun was coming up it was 5:00 oclock am and her mom came in and seen her up as Mia's mom Dana asked her what is wrong she told her that she had a nightmare it was worse then the one that she usually has and Dana asked what that pic of the girl was Mia seid it was the thing that she seen in her nightmare she was scared and want to go to a therapist.
Dana told Mia that she is worried about her and that she was going to keep her home today and take her to the therapist to see what's wrong she was not sure if she's going to get any sleep tonight because of the nightmares she had she told her mom it felt real to her and she didn't know how to handle it so Dana told her before she gets a therapist she's going to take her to a sleep doctor to find out what's really going on Mia agreed to that so Dana and Mia got in the car with her picture and thay drove off to the clinic thay drove to Rosemont street and then turned left after Dana turned left she then drove down the street to the first 4 way interaction and then turn right thay went and got to the clinic and made a appointment for the doctor and the receptionist gave her a paper to fill out.
So she fill out the form and told thay seid it would be about minutes so Dana went outside and called her school and told and told them she won't be coming in today that she is I'll thay seid ok so she went in and the doctor came out and called mia in and her mom went with her the doctor told her to put the gown on and lay down on the bed to relax and she did as the doctor went into the other room to sit down her mom was there looking at the screen Mia fell asleep.
----Dream realm----
Mia herd a noise from downstairs in the basement agian she woke up and put her feet on the floor and quietly went to the door as she had tears running down her face and had her fingers in her mouth she walked downstairs slowly and quietly as she looked the lights where on in the kitchen again and Mia went into the kitchen to find out the refrigerator door was open again and she seen that there is blood and intestines in the fridge as she looked on the floor there was a blood trail going to the basement agian and this time there was a whole lot of it she backed up fast but she knew she was in the clinic and the doctor could see everything she See's so she went and got the broom handle and went and opened the basement door and slowly went down the stairs and seen that there is a lot of blood on the steps she started to show fear and started to cry.
----Back in the clinic----
Dana omg is this the night she told me about I can see why she is upset and scared.
Doctor I have had a lot of patience's before with nightmares but I never had a patient like this who actually had a nightmare that was gruesome and bloody like this intestines and blood coming from the fridge that's insane.
Dana yes it is she drew a picture of the monster in her dream she had brought it here with her.
Doctor omg this is creepy I don't know what to think of this.
----Back to the Dream realm----
Mia went downstairs in the basement and looked now there was body's hanging up from hooks and she saw that the clear bin was full of blood she back up to the wall and fell to the floor with tears in her eyes she was scared to open the box she knows what is in there and is scared to look again as she got up and went slowly to the box and opened the lid as she got the big wooden spoon she stired it and her head came up as the monster was behind her she turned around and hit it with the broom handle as it fell to the ground she ran to the stairs and went up and closed the door.
----the Awakening----
Doctor omg Mia calm down what was that monster and why was you head in the clear box with the blood in it.
Mia I don't know omg sob sob I don't know I am so scared I refuse to go to sleep I can't go to sleep sob sob.
Doctor oh dear me I have never seen this before I have never experienced something like this.
Dana this is what kept my daughter up and this poor girl is scared shitless of this how do we stop this please doctor.
Mia what if I let the monster get me sob sob it's a dream what if that is the only way to end it sob sob sob sniff.
Dana no don't do that.
Mia mom I can't stay up all night every night I need to rest my body will die if I don't rest.
Doctor she is right what is the harm of it it's a dream.
Dana just please don't die on me please your my baby girl.
Mia I will mom sniff sniff I am sorry mom.
So thay went home and Dana ordered some food as thay waited Mia told her mom that it's going to be hurtful to do this she knew she was scared because she was shacking and in fear of this thing.
5 minutes later
The food got there and Mia and Dana ate after Mia ate she went upstairs and got a bath going for her and she got her clothes and went in the tub she scrubbed herself up good and cleaned her self as she did the dead skin came off and she felt better after she drained her water she stood up and got a towel and dryed off she then went got her clothes on and went to bed.
----The Dream realm----
Mia took a deep breath and thought it was just a dream and that it's going to be ok so she went downstairs and went downstairs to the basement she then went and taken the clear plastic bin and pushed it on the washer and dryer she taken her clothes off and then put and drop her clothes she went and layed down on the table and waited for the monster to come as she waited she herd a noise from behind the hanging carpet and sheets it was the monster of the dreams as she did not look the monster seen Mia laying there.
Monster what are you doing girl.
??? My name is Mia I am sniff sniff offering my body to be eaten by you.
Monster my name is pumpkin Girl and why are you wanting me to eat you.
Mia is that not how this ends pumpkin Girl
Pumpkin Girl no why would I eat myself.
Mia what do you mean eat yourself no your supposed to eat me I am your dinner I am supposed to be eaten by you to end this.
Pumpkin Girl no I can't eat you I will die and you will still be alive I love this look and I don't want to lose it .
Mia so what I not going to be eaten by you so I taken off my Pikachu nitewere just so you will tell me I can't be eaten I came her to be eaten now eat me.
Pumpkin Girl are you fucking crazy.
Mia well I still be alive in the real world if you ate me.
Pumpkin Girl yes .
Mia well you eat me then I won't bug you to do this and you can leave just please so I feel better in the real world.
Pumpkin Girl for heaven sakes fine I will eat you just stop this harping and I will leave after this will that make you happy.
Mia yes very much.
Pumpkin Girl ok fine here we go.
So pumpkin Girl start to eat Mia and she screamed in pain as she died in her dream she was being eaten by herself as she was told and she tore Mia apart.
----The Awakening----
Mia it feels like it's over I think I stopped it sniff omg that is so great I think I can rest easy now so she went downstairs and looked around to find that things felt ok and she finally got the feeling it was going to be ok and not a nightmare she felt a lot of relief from all of that she seen her mom in the kitchen and she went up and gave her a big hug and told her she thinks tit will be ok and she might be able to get some rest she told her mom she wants to go to school tomorrow she asked her if she was sure and Mia seid yes Dana told it was ok she went and told her she is going to lay down for the rest of the day and her mom told her ok she went upstairs and went to her room and laid down and went to sleep till morning.
----Next morning----
Mia got up and got dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen table and she felt good as dana seen that her daughter was feeling good she herd the bus pull up and she taken her breakfast and ate on the bus.

I spend all of my daylight hours scared and alone in this musty old cellar.
It’s woeful, and I bet it smelled this bad even before everything around here turned to crap. Great. My second sentence and I’ve already resorted to swearing. When I decided I’d start this diary (five minutes ago when I got a tiny sliver of signal) I thought it would be my poetic and deeply-moving goodbye to the world. Maybe I’d write about love and loss, or maybe the splendour of nature. Then, when all is done and dusted, I’d have left something to be remembered by. As well as my corpse, of course.
This was a bad idea.
*
Okay, I’m an idiot. There’s nothing else I can do down here. I’ve rooted through every cardboard box a hundred times, organised and reorganised my supplies, I’ve even built a fort. So, I’m back. Hello. Again. God, this diary is going badly.
But there’s just enough light coming through the boards I nailed over the cellar’s tiny window to type by. So I may as well type. Stops me staring up at the window just waiting for a shadow to pass by.
Maybe I'll just write and not hit Submit. Right, where to start? Well, my name is – actually, I think I’m going to refer to myself as ‘X’. That sounds mysterious. If you’re reading this and want to know my real name, I still carry my purse. My railcard is in there and, if you really want to know who I am, go find me and fish it out. I won’t bite...
So, my name is X. I live in a little English village in the middle of nowhere. Before all this happened, I had a mum, a dad, a sister and there was a boy I liked, his name was Jonah.
*
I couldn’t think of anything else to write so I waited until I came back from my rounds. That’s the stupid name I have for when I go outside at night scrounging for stuff. Drinks are the hardest. I only trust bottles or cans, or did, and I was running out of places to search for them. But I guess that doesn’t matter now.
My leg is doing alright actually; didn’t hold me up at all. I saw Jonah too. He’s looked better, I have to say. It’s strange because this is only the second time I’ve seen him since we came here. Maybe his ears were burning.
Anyway, I found some tinned pineapple in a creepy old caravan I hadn’t searched yet. Had to bust the door open with Old Trusty – which I thought might attract some unwanted attention – but it was fine. I’m actually eating the pineapple right now, tastes good. I also found a radio in there. I already have three down here, but none of them work. Not that the caravan radio works either, all you get is static. It’s just nice to collect something. You know, to have a hobby.
*
I can tell the sun is rising. I managed to sleep for a couple of hours, but I woke up after a bad dream. I know some people can remember their dreams, but I never do. I wake up and grasp at them, but I never manage a hold before they fade away. It’s like trying to pinch the corner of a wisp of smoke; the harder you try, the quicker it fades to nothing. I’m just left with a sensation, a kind of imprint which sums up the most intense part of the dream.
And a cold sweat. That’s new.
*
I’ve been through the box of photo albums I found at the back of the cellar again. I’ve looked through them a few times now, but I always notice something new.
There’s a photo of this little girl playing with a pretend guitar. I can tell it’s pretend because it doesn’t have strings, only brightly-coloured plastic dials. Kind of like My First Guitar Hero or something. The girl has dark hair and she looks a tiny bit like my sister did a million years ago. I don’t have a picture of my sister. I suppose I could go and get one from my old house, but it’s right in the middle of the village. I’m lucky I wasn’t torn to shreds the last time I went back. So, what I’ve done is put this girl’s photo in my back pocket as a substitute.
I guess I should probably write something about my real sister now. But I don’t think that’s a good idea just yet.
*
Daylight is starting to fade and I’m getting ready to go out on my rounds. I always take my satchel with me, packed with useful objects. I have Old Trusty (a crowbar) which sticks out of the top for easy access, a small toolbox, a pair of heavy-duty gloves (there’s a good story about how I got those, I might write that one down later) and a hammer. I carry a penknife I found down here in my pocket, my purse and phone, and a torch in my hand.
I don’t like to use the torch because its battery is running out and there’s always the chance it might attract them. I probably shouldn’t have used it last night when I got back. Maybe I’m starting to enjoy this writing malarkey? I need to be careful with luxuries.
*
Okay, that could have gone better.
Picture the scene: I’m using Old Trusty to try and lever a kitchen window open, when one of them just walks right through the garden hedge. Seriously, straight through it. It’s not the mightiest of hedges but, still, it just appeared like it was walking through one of those Japanese paper walls. My satchel was on the ground, but I legged it anyway. I’m not stupid. I know I can go back for it tomorrow. I felt strangely naked without it on the way back here though.
Like I said before, I need to be careful with the torch so I think I’ll try and get some sleep now.
*
I slept pretty well last night; no nightmares or cold sweats. Maybe a midnight chase was just what I needed to blow away the cobwebs.
I actually woke up wondering about you. If you’re reading this, who are you? If you’re like me, living through this village nightmare, how have you managed to go this long without being killed or whatever? Maybe you’re Army or some such. Maybe you’re just some kid who’s played so many videogames that surviving all of this was already second nature to you. Or maybe you’re like me; living on borrowed time and searching for a good place to die. Maybe Future Me was brave enough to tap Submit on my diary and you're currently reading this on your phone or computer.
Here’s an idea. Maybe you can carry on this diary from wherever I left it at. God, I really hope this isn’t my last entry, although I suppose any entry might be. If you do carry the diary forwards, and I'm a corpse, maybe it will become cursed. Spooky.
*
I’ve been preparing for my next excursion.
If I know I’m going somewhere I’ll likely run into an ugly, I like to take extra precautions. And I want my satchel back. It was a present from my dad, and I know it cost him a lot of money.
So, I’m taking a pair of shears from the shelf of old tools down here. That way, if I lose Old Trusty, I’ll have a backup weapon.
If you are local, I wonder how you like to kill them? Pretty morbid question I know, but everyone around here seems to have their preferred method. The last villager I saw alive carried a pair of mini cricket bats and seemed to have bludgeoning down to an art form. He never saw me though, I was watching from a grove of trees as he killed his way along the main road near the village.
That was before I decided to stay inside during the daylight hours. We can at least see a little bit at night; ambient light and everything. They can’t though. I’ve seen them, they bump into things. It’s pretty funny to be honest. If they hear a noise, they walk in the direction of the sound, never trying to avoid any object in their path. They either bash said object out of the way, or, like that hedge, blunder right through it. Obviously bigger things stop them dead (ha!) though. If that happens, they sort of shuffle backwards and then try again a few times. Eventually – and I’ve seen this too – they just give up and stand there, waiting for something else to attract their attention.
That’s not how it works in the daytime though.
*
I think it’s about an hour before the sun sets so it’s nearly time to head out. I’m going to change my bandage. One minute.
Okay, it didn’t look that bad really. The original scratch wasn’t too deep and now the wound seems to be doing that scabbing thing I remember from normal injuries. It just doesn’t smell very good. A bit like when you walk past a bin that needs emptying.
Anyway, I’ve applied more antiseptic and redressed it. Time to go.
*
That was fun. I’m glad I had those shears with me.
I got my satchel back you’ll be happy to know. And I got inside that house I’d been trying to break into as well. More through necessity than choice in the end, but I’m pleased I did. I found more batteries! That means I can justify writing at night a bit more. In fact, the people who used to live there (I think the husband owned the local garage) were pretty well kitted out. There were a lot of tins in their cupboards, and they’d even left a shotgun. It wasn’t loaded though.
Not that I need a shotgun. I didn’t tell you this before, but I have my grandpa’s old service revolver. He always told me and my sister that it was decommissioned, but my dad apparently knew otherwise. I keep it tucked into the back of my jeans at all times. It had three bullets, one of them is gone, so only two left.
I’ll only be needing the one of course.
*
Morning. I’m feeling pretty low today. I think concentrating on getting my satchel back took my mind off things, but now I feel pretty deflated.
Surely that’s understandable? The village I knew and loved has been replaced with this sodding hell. I miss my family, my friends, TV and hot dinners and Instagram. Before all of this I was a pretty positive person. Sure, I had a bit of trouble getting up in the morning, but, once I was up, that was it. I’d meet the day’s challenges head on, try to enjoy myself as much as I could. Not today though.
Maybe if I write about Jonah I’ll cheer up. Not Jonah as he is now of course, Jonah when he was all smooth-skinned, curly-haired and bright-eyed. Now he’s like the anti-Jonah or something. His face looks like it lost a fight with an angry lobster. No, wait, I’m supposed to be writing about Jonah version one here.
He’s one of those people that I can’t remember meeting. My family has always lived around here and so there are lots of people who have just always been, if you get me. I always thought we would drunkenly get it together at a party – that’s what I’d usually do if there was a boy I liked. Classy.
*
I’ve perked up a bit. Out of sheer frustration I went upstairs (naughty, I know) and looked out of a window. Sure, I saw an ugly, wandering aimlessly as they always do, but I saw that the trees are starting to turn too. That means it’s nearly autumn, and I love autumn!
My sister and I always used to go out and kick leaves at each other in the autumn. I don’t know if it was because of her low centre of gravity, but my sister was amazing at it. She could somehow whip up a blazing whirlwind of golden-yellow and fire-red, surrounding us both in a leaf storm that I couldn’t help but flail my arms madly at. Then we’d both fall backwards into the leaves laughing, me wondering how on earth what had happened was possible. She was that good.
God, I let her down in the end.
*
I think I’ll stay away from the house with the shotgun tonight. It usually takes a day or two for a group of uglies to disperse once they’re all riled up. I could use the rest of that tinned food I suppose, but I’ve got plenty to be getting on with for now.
Instead, I think I’ll swing by another farmhouse I was scoping out before I decided to turn nocturnal. I never met the people who used to live there, but I remember Mum telling me they liked their privacy. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me visiting now though.
Also, there’s a woodland between here and there and I might be able to find some leaves to kick about a bit. I think that would make me feel close to my sister again.
I’ll check back in later.
*
I’m still alive, but only just.
I made it through the woods just fine (only the odd leaf on the forest floor at the moment though, sadly), the trouble started at the farmhouse. I couldn’t get in – the doors and windows were barricaded – so I tried one of the outbuildings. Locked. It had a cat flap though.
My first instinct was to leave it, but then I wondered if there might be something useful inside. Lord knows what thinking about it now. I lifted the cat flap with one hand and shone the torch beam through with my other. That’s when an ugly dived at my pinkies. Luckily, it misjudged its leap and got a mouthful of plastic cat flap instead. As for me, I fell backwards onto my bum.
Next, the damn thing started bashing on the door from the inside. I don’t think it could ever have got out, but the noise attracted more uglies from out of nowhere. I only just managed to outmanoeuvre them and hightail it back into the woods.
That’s not the worst of it though. On the way back my leg started to hurt. A lot.
*
I woke up this morning and I’m walking with a limp. It’s funny, Dad had a limp when he and Mum died. He was nailing planks of wood across our windows and doors because there was no signal (as per bloody usual) and we thought that what was happening here was probably happening everywhere. It's only recently that I realised this was an isolated, local outbreak. Anyway, Dad dropped the hammer onto his toe, he always was useless at DIY. I think it was only a couple of hours after that when he and Mum were taken.
It was like a wave of death. No, not like, that’s exactly what it was. A hoard of uglies swept through the village, probably originating from the secret research facility in the woods we're not supposed to know about. My sister and I wouldn’t have had a prayer if Mum and Dad hadn’t charged down the first few that got into our house. They gave us just enough time to escape, to run away and leave them to die. My sister was screaming all the way and I had to drag her like she was four again.
She wouldn’t speak to me for a few days after that. I didn’t blame her, I hated myself too. But I would have hated myself even more if I hadn’t done what I did next. On my own, I snuck back into our house with the crowbar I found here. Then I dispatched my parents. I can’t bring myself to type it any other way. It wasn’t like in the movies, I didn’t pound their skulls into mush whilst sobbing, ‘Why?’ over and over again. I just found them, or what was left of them, forced the crowbar through each of their eye sockets, and came straight back here.
Then came the crying.
*
I haven’t told you about the heavy-duty gloves yet, have I?
After I got back from our old house, my sister started speaking to me again. A shared, day-long cry will do that for sisters. Once we felt up to it, we decided to explore the parts of the farmhouse we hadn’t searched yet. All the bedrooms were empty, only a few belongings flung about the place (I suspect the previous tenants left in a hurry). The problem came when we investigated the attic. Once we’d opened the ceiling panel in the upstairs hallway, once we’d pulled the compact staircase down, I went up. My sister stood at the top of the hatchway shining the torch beam over my shoulder. And that’s when it touched me. Terrified, I fell to my left, screaming as the thing came crashing down on top of me. I was yelling things like, ‘Shoot it!’ and, ‘Run!’ but my sister was just laughing her head off. I soon realised that my attacker was in fact a shop-window mannequin.
I think the people who previously lived here must have been arty (or into some seriously freaky stuff) because the mannequin was dressed in scarves, bandannas, ties, watches – loads of things. The rest of the attic was pretty empty but at least we got the mannequin’s gloves.
*
I’m not feeling good at the moment. I’ve got a sore throat and I’ve coughed up blood a couple of times. My leg pain is getting worse too.
I don’t think I’ll go out tonight. I have enough tins left and one of them is a Full English In A Can. Sounds pretty disgusting, but intriguing at the same time. I’ve been saving it for near the end. A sort of consolation prize.
*
There are two mattresses down here. Obviously one is mine, and the other one was my sister’s. After she died, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. I don’t have a photo of her, only Guitar Girl’s. Her bed is the only thing of hers I have left. And she didn’t even sleep in it that many times.
*
The tinned Full English was vile! You’ve got to laugh though, what else can you do?
*
I’m crying as I write this. Tears of sorrow, shame and regret.
It happened as we were searching a cottage just off of the main road. We’d used Old Trusty to get inside, and I’d rushed straight into the kitchen to find the food. We’d run out more than a day before and I was famished. My sister followed me into the kitchen, a wide grin on her pretty little face because I was sitting there with an open can of beans. Then one of them came at her from behind. I must have walked right past it on my stupid way to the cupboards. It bit into her neck and blood gushed over the tiles in a torrent. As she yelled out in agony, I leapt up and implanted the crowbar right into the thing’s skull. It crumpled to the floor, but the damage was done.
‘Don’t let me lose myself.’ That was the last thing my sister whispered to me before she passed out. Her wound was much more severe than mine is, and much closer to the brain. That seems to make it quicker. I took grandpa’s revolver from behind my back and blew her brains out.
I buried her in the back garden.
*
After my sister died I went kind of crazy. I took Old Trusty out across the fields and pulverised every ugly I could find. I don’t even remember it that well, it was just, find, kill, find, kill…
We’d only been going out in daylight before then but, in my anger, I carried on through the nights. That’s how I learned about their inability to evade in darkness. Eventually, though, one got me. I found three munching on a dead cow and ran straight at them. Took out the first two easily enough, but the third managed to scratch my leg with a bloody fingernail just before I clobbered it into oblivion. Once I realised its nail had broken the skin, it was like a switch had been flicked inside me. That’s it, I’m dead too. I lost my bloodlust and came back here.
*
If none of this had happened, I think my sister would have eventually gone into medicine. I was doing okay at College but she was top of her class at school. And she had a really kind nature too. She’d never squish any bugs that got trapped in our house; she’d get a glass, scoop the little critter up and seal it inside with a book. Then she’d take it outside and release it, even if it was a wasp.
*
I’ve decided that here’s not the place. I'll hit Submit and then I’m going to do it in those woods I wrote about; consider this diary as my Note. I’ll be able to find a nice spot to sit and look at the trees, some place that's calm and peaceful. I’m going to leave the picture of Guitar Girl in this cellar, she belongs in this house. The tree leaves will remind me of my sister more than any photo ever could anyway.
I guess all that’s left to say is thank you for listening.
I know it’s possible that no one will ever read this, but that’s not really the point is it?
Love,
X

I spend all of my daylight hours scared and alone in this musty old cellar.
It’s woeful, and I bet it smelled this bad even before everything around here turned to crap. Great. My second sentence and I’ve already resorted to swearing. When I decided I’d start this diary (five minutes ago when I got a tiny sliver of signal) I thought it would be my poetic and deeply-moving goodbye to the world. Maybe I’d write about love and loss, or maybe the splendour of nature. Then, when all is done and dusted, I’d have left something to be remembered by. As well as my corpse, of course.
This was a bad idea.
*
Okay, I’m an idiot. There’s nothing else I can do down here. I’ve rooted through every cardboard box a hundred times, organised and reorganised my supplies, I’ve even built a fort. So, I’m back. Hello. Again. God, this diary is going badly.
But there’s just enough light coming through the boards I nailed over the cellar’s tiny window to type by. So I may as well type. Stops me staring up at the window just waiting for a shadow to pass by.
Maybe I'll just write and not hit Submit. Right, where to start? Well, my name is – actually, I think I’m going to refer to myself as ‘X’. That sounds mysterious. If you’re reading this and want to know my real name, I still carry my purse. My railcard is in there and, if you really want to know who I am, go find me and fish it out. I won’t bite...
So, my name is X. I live in a little English village in the middle of nowhere. Before all this happened, I had a mum, a dad, a sister and there was a boy I liked, his name was Jonah.
*
I couldn’t think of anything else to write so I waited until I came back from my rounds. That’s the stupid name I have for when I go outside at night scrounging for stuff. Drinks are the hardest. I only trust bottles or cans, or did, and I was running out of places to search for them. But I guess that doesn’t matter now.
My leg is doing alright actually; didn’t hold me up at all. I saw Jonah too. He’s looked better, I have to say. It’s strange because this is only the second time I’ve seen him since we came here. Maybe his ears were burning.
Anyway, I found some tinned pineapple in a creepy old caravan I hadn’t searched yet. Had to bust the door open with Old Trusty – which I thought might attract some unwanted attention – but it was fine. I’m actually eating the pineapple right now, tastes good. I also found a radio in there. I already have three down here, but none of them work. Not that the caravan radio works either, all you get is static. It’s just nice to collect something. You know, to have a hobby.
*
I can tell the sun is rising. I managed to sleep for a couple of hours, but I woke up after a bad dream. I know some people can remember their dreams, but I never do. I wake up and grasp at them, but I never manage a hold before they fade away. It’s like trying to pinch the corner of a wisp of smoke; the harder you try, the quicker it fades to nothing. I’m just left with a sensation, a kind of imprint which sums up the most intense part of the dream.
And a cold sweat. That’s new.
*
I’ve been through the box of photo albums I found at the back of the cellar again. I’ve looked through them a few times now, but I always notice something new.
There’s a photo of this little girl playing with a pretend guitar. I can tell it’s pretend because it doesn’t have strings, only brightly-coloured plastic dials. Kind of like My First Guitar Hero or something. The girl has dark hair and she looks a tiny bit like my sister did a million years ago. I don’t have a picture of my sister. I suppose I could go and get one from my old house, but it’s right in the middle of the village. I’m lucky I wasn’t torn to shreds the last time I went back. So, what I’ve done is put this girl’s photo in my back pocket as a substitute.
I guess I should probably write something about my real sister now. But I don’t think that’s a good idea just yet.
*
Daylight is starting to fade and I’m getting ready to go out on my rounds. I always take my satchel with me, packed with useful objects. I have Old Trusty (a crowbar) which sticks out of the top for easy access, a small toolbox, a pair of heavy-duty gloves (there’s a good story about how I got those, I might write that one down later) and a hammer. I carry a penknife I found down here in my pocket, my purse and phone, and a torch in my hand.
I don’t like to use the torch because its battery is running out and there’s always the chance it might attract them. I probably shouldn’t have used it last night when I got back. Maybe I’m starting to enjoy this writing malarkey? I need to be careful with luxuries.
*
Okay, that could have gone better.
Picture the scene: I’m using Old Trusty to try and lever a kitchen window open, when one of them just walks right through the garden hedge. Seriously, straight through it. It’s not the mightiest of hedges but, still, it just appeared like it was walking through one of those Japanese paper walls. My satchel was on the ground, but I legged it anyway. I’m not stupid. I know I can go back for it tomorrow. I felt strangely naked without it on the way back here though.
Like I said before, I need to be careful with the torch so I think I’ll try and get some sleep now.
*
I slept pretty well last night; no nightmares or cold sweats. Maybe a midnight chase was just what I needed to blow away the cobwebs.
I actually woke up wondering about you. If you’re reading this, who are you? If you’re like me, living through this village nightmare, how have you managed to go this long without being killed or whatever? Maybe you’re Army or some such. Maybe you’re just some kid who’s played so many videogames that surviving all of this was already second nature to you. Or maybe you’re like me; living on borrowed time and searching for a good place to die. Maybe Future Me was brave enough to tap Submit on my diary and you're currently reading this on your phone or computer.
Here’s an idea. Maybe you can carry on this diary from wherever I left it at. God, I really hope this isn’t my last entry, although I suppose any entry might be. If you do carry the diary forwards, and I'm a corpse, maybe it will become cursed. Spooky.
*
I’ve been preparing for my next excursion.
If I know I’m going somewhere I’ll likely run into an ugly, I like to take extra precautions. And I want my satchel back. It was a present from my dad, and I know it cost him a lot of money.
So, I’m taking a pair of shears from the shelf of old tools down here. That way, if I lose Old Trusty, I’ll have a backup weapon.
If you are local, I wonder how you like to kill them? Pretty morbid question I know, but everyone around here seems to have their preferred method. The last villager I saw alive carried a pair of mini cricket bats and seemed to have bludgeoning down to an art form. He never saw me though, I was watching from a grove of trees as he killed his way along the main road near the village.
That was before I decided to stay inside during the daylight hours. We can at least see a little bit at night; ambient light and everything. They can’t though. I’ve seen them, they bump into things. It’s pretty funny to be honest. If they hear a noise, they walk in the direction of the sound, never trying to avoid any object in their path. They either bash said object out of the way, or, like that hedge, blunder right through it. Obviously bigger things stop them dead (ha!) though. If that happens, they sort of shuffle backwards and then try again a few times. Eventually – and I’ve seen this too – they just give up and stand there, waiting for something else to attract their attention.
That’s not how it works in the daytime though.
*
I think it’s about an hour before the sun sets so it’s nearly time to head out. I’m going to change my bandage. One minute.
Okay, it didn’t look that bad really. The original scratch wasn’t too deep and now the wound seems to be doing that scabbing thing I remember from normal injuries. It just doesn’t smell very good. A bit like when you walk past a bin that needs emptying.
Anyway, I’ve applied more antiseptic and redressed it. Time to go.
*
That was fun. I’m glad I had those shears with me.
I got my satchel back you’ll be happy to know. And I got inside that house I’d been trying to break into as well. More through necessity than choice in the end, but I’m pleased I did. I found more batteries! That means I can justify writing at night a bit more. In fact, the people who used to live there (I think the husband owned the local garage) were pretty well kitted out. There were a lot of tins in their cupboards, and they’d even left a shotgun. It wasn’t loaded though.
Not that I need a shotgun. I didn’t tell you this before, but I have my grandpa’s old service revolver. He always told me and my sister that it was decommissioned, but my dad apparently knew otherwise. I keep it tucked into the back of my jeans at all times. It had three bullets, one of them is gone, so only two left.
I’ll only be needing the one of course.
*
Morning. I’m feeling pretty low today. I think concentrating on getting my satchel back took my mind off things, but now I feel pretty deflated.
Surely that’s understandable? The village I knew and loved has been replaced with this sodding hell. I miss my family, my friends, TV and hot dinners and Instagram. Before all of this I was a pretty positive person. Sure, I had a bit of trouble getting up in the morning, but, once I was up, that was it. I’d meet the day’s challenges head on, try to enjoy myself as much as I could. Not today though.
Maybe if I write about Jonah I’ll cheer up. Not Jonah as he is now of course, Jonah when he was all smooth-skinned, curly-haired and bright-eyed. Now he’s like the anti-Jonah or something. His face looks like it lost a fight with an angry lobster. No, wait, I’m supposed to be writing about Jonah version one here.
He’s one of those people that I can’t remember meeting. My family has always lived around here and so there are lots of people who have just always been, if you get me. I always thought we would drunkenly get it together at a party – that’s what I’d usually do if there was a boy I liked. Classy.
*
I’ve perked up a bit. Out of sheer frustration I went upstairs (naughty, I know) and looked out of a window. Sure, I saw an ugly, wandering aimlessly as they always do, but I saw that the trees are starting to turn too. That means it’s nearly autumn, and I love autumn!
My sister and I always used to go out and kick leaves at each other in the autumn. I don’t know if it was because of her low centre of gravity, but my sister was amazing at it. She could somehow whip up a blazing whirlwind of golden-yellow and fire-red, surrounding us both in a leaf storm that I couldn’t help but flail my arms madly at. Then we’d both fall backwards into the leaves laughing, me wondering how on earth what had happened was possible. She was that good.
God, I let her down in the end.
*
I think I’ll stay away from the house with the shotgun tonight. It usually takes a day or two for a group of uglies to disperse once they’re all riled up. I could use the rest of that tinned food I suppose, but I’ve got plenty to be getting on with for now.
Instead, I think I’ll swing by another farmhouse I was scoping out before I decided to turn nocturnal. I never met the people who used to live there, but I remember Mum telling me they liked their privacy. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me visiting now though.
Also, there’s a woodland between here and there and I might be able to find some leaves to kick about a bit. I think that would make me feel close to my sister again.
I’ll check back in later.
*
I’m still alive, but only just.
I made it through the woods just fine (only the odd leaf on the forest floor at the moment though, sadly), the trouble started at the farmhouse. I couldn’t get in – the doors and windows were barricaded – so I tried one of the outbuildings. Locked. It had a cat flap though.
My first instinct was to leave it, but then I wondered if there might be something useful inside. Lord knows what thinking about it now. I lifted the cat flap with one hand and shone the torch beam through with my other. That’s when an ugly dived at my pinkies. Luckily, it misjudged its leap and got a mouthful of plastic cat flap instead. As for me, I fell backwards onto my bum.
Next, the damn thing started bashing on the door from the inside. I don’t think it could ever have got out, but the noise attracted more uglies from out of nowhere. I only just managed to outmanoeuvre them and hightail it back into the woods.
That’s not the worst of it though. On the way back my leg started to hurt. A lot.
*
I woke up this morning and I’m walking with a limp. It’s funny, Dad had a limp when he and Mum died. He was nailing planks of wood across our windows and doors because there was no signal (as per bloody usual) and we thought that what was happening here was probably happening everywhere. It's only recently that I realised this was an isolated, local outbreak. Anyway, Dad dropped the hammer onto his toe, he always was useless at DIY. I think it was only a couple of hours after that when he and Mum were taken.
It was like a wave of death. No, not like, that’s exactly what it was. A hoard of uglies swept through the village, probably originating from the secret research facility in the woods we're not supposed to know about. My sister and I wouldn’t have had a prayer if Mum and Dad hadn’t charged down the first few that got into our house. They gave us just enough time to escape, to run away and leave them to die. My sister was screaming all the way and I had to drag her like she was four again.
She wouldn’t speak to me for a few days after that. I didn’t blame her, I hated myself too. But I would have hated myself even more if I hadn’t done what I did next. On my own, I snuck back into our house with the crowbar I found here. Then I dispatched my parents. I can’t bring myself to type it any other way. It wasn’t like in the movies, I didn’t pound their skulls into mush whilst sobbing, ‘Why?’ over and over again. I just found them, or what was left of them, forced the crowbar through each of their eye sockets, and came straight back here.
Then came the crying.
*
I haven’t told you about the heavy-duty gloves yet, have I?
After I got back from our old house, my sister started speaking to me again. A shared, day-long cry will do that for sisters. Once we felt up to it, we decided to explore the parts of the farmhouse we hadn’t searched yet. All the bedrooms were empty, only a few belongings flung about the place (I suspect the previous tenants left in a hurry). The problem came when we investigated the attic. Once we’d opened the ceiling panel in the upstairs hallway, once we’d pulled the compact staircase down, I went up. My sister stood at the top of the hatchway shining the torch beam over my shoulder. And that’s when it touched me. Terrified, I fell to my left, screaming as the thing came crashing down on top of me. I was yelling things like, ‘Shoot it!’ and, ‘Run!’ but my sister was just laughing her head off. I soon realised that my attacker was in fact a shop-window mannequin.
I think the people who previously lived here must have been arty (or into some seriously freaky stuff) because the mannequin was dressed in scarves, bandannas, ties, watches – loads of things. The rest of the attic was pretty empty but at least we got the mannequin’s gloves.
*
I’m not feeling good at the moment. I’ve got a sore throat and I’ve coughed up blood a couple of times. My leg pain is getting worse too.
I don’t think I’ll go out tonight. I have enough tins left and one of them is a Full English In A Can. Sounds pretty disgusting, but intriguing at the same time. I’ve been saving it for near the end. A sort of consolation prize.
*
There are two mattresses down here. Obviously one is mine, and the other one was my sister’s. After she died, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. I don’t have a photo of her, only Guitar Girl’s. Her bed is the only thing of hers I have left. And she didn’t even sleep in it that many times.
*
The tinned Full English was vile! You’ve got to laugh though, what else can you do?
*
I’m crying as I write this. Tears of sorrow, shame and regret.
It happened as we were searching a cottage just off of the main road. We’d used Old Trusty to get inside, and I’d rushed straight into the kitchen to find the food. We’d run out more than a day before and I was famished. My sister followed me into the kitchen, a wide grin on her pretty little face because I was sitting there with an open can of beans. Then one of them came at her from behind. I must have walked right past it on my stupid way to the cupboards. It bit into her neck and blood gushed over the tiles in a torrent. As she yelled out in agony, I leapt up and implanted the crowbar right into the thing’s skull. It crumpled to the floor, but the damage was done.
‘Don’t let me lose myself.’ That was the last thing my sister whispered to me before she passed out. Her wound was much more severe than mine is, and much closer to the brain. That seems to make it quicker. I took grandpa’s revolver from behind my back and blew her brains out.
I buried her in the back garden.
*
After my sister died I went kind of crazy. I took Old Trusty out across the fields and pulverised every ugly I could find. I don’t even remember it that well, it was just, find, kill, find, kill…
We’d only been going out in daylight before then but, in my anger, I carried on through the nights. That’s how I learned about their inability to evade in darkness. Eventually, though, one got me. I found three munching on a dead cow and ran straight at them. Took out the first two easily enough, but the third managed to scratch my leg with a bloody fingernail just before I clobbered it into oblivion. Once I realised its nail had broken the skin, it was like a switch had been flicked inside me. That’s it, I’m dead too. I lost my bloodlust and came back here.
*
If none of this had happened, I think my sister would have eventually gone into medicine. I was doing okay at College but she was top of her class at school. And she had a really kind nature too. She’d never squish any bugs that got trapped in our house; she’d get a glass, scoop the little critter up and seal it inside with a book. Then she’d take it outside and release it, even if it was a wasp.
*
I’ve decided that here’s not the place. I'll hit Submit and then I’m going to do it in those woods I wrote about; consider this diary as my Note. I’ll be able to find a nice spot to sit and look at the trees, some place that's calm and peaceful. I’m going to leave the picture of Guitar Girl in this cellar, she belongs in this house. The tree leaves will remind me of my sister more than any photo ever could anyway.
I guess all that’s left to say is thank you for listening.
I know it’s possible that no one will ever read this, but that’s not really the point is it?
Love,
X

Newport Beach, Fountain Valley, Irvine, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Tustin, Garden Grove, or anyone living within a 30-mile radius of Costa Mesa California.
I'm checking to see if anyone plans on remodeling any time soon. To give everyone an idea of what we can help with we do.......kitchen -( cabinets and flooring and paint cabinets)-Flooring: Laminate, hardwood, glue-down, any type of tile flooring.-Full detail remodel the entire house. Meaning: paint, flooring, plumbing, electrical, as well as remodeling shower stalls. To schedule an in-person appointment for a free quote...let me know. [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Thanks.

I remember buying a good haul of lobsters there 3 or 4 years ago, but I can't recall when they actually operate. Does anyone know when the right time to get lobster down there is? Both what time of year, and their rough daily/weekly hours?

Company Name	Title	City
BayMark Health Services	Part Time Addiction Physician	Berkeley Springs
BHE GT&S	Sr Accountant	Bridgeport
BHE GT&S	Program Mgr, Safety Compliance	Bridgeport
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Regional Jet	Structures Technician	Bridgeport
Pickering Associates	Registered Architect	Charleston
AM Communications LTD	Clerk	Charleston
AM Communications LTD	Office Clerk	Charleston
BHE GT&S	Sr Accountant	Fairmont
BayMark Health Services	Full Time Master Level Counselor	Fairmont
Freyssinet, Inc	Construction Laborers	Follansbee
National Radio Astronomy Observatory	Software Engineer II - IV (4852)	Green Bank
AMS Group, Inc	Shipping Specialist	KEARNEYSVILLE
AMS Group, Inc	Warehouse Shipping & Receiving Specialist	KEARNEYSVILLE
BayMark Health Services	Addictionologist	Martinsburg
AMS Group, Inc	Warehouse Shipping & Receiving Specialist	Martinsburg
BayMark Health Services	Addiction Medicine Physician	Martinsburg
Pickering Associates	Structural Engineer	Parkersburg
Pickering Associates	Electrical Engineer	Parkersburg
BayMark Health Services	Full Time Addiction Counselor	Point Pleasant
BayMark Health Services	Full Time Substance Abuse Counselor	Point Pleasant
BayMark Health Services	Full Time Registered Nurse (Night Shift)	Point Pleasant
AM Communications LTD	Office Administrator - Charleston, WV	Saint Albans
Newport Hospitality Group, Inc.	Kitchen Supervisor-Marriott Charleston, WV	Saint Albans
Freyssinet, Inc	Groundhand	Weirton
Freyssinet, Inc	Construction Laborers	Weirton

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings , feel free to comment here if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

https://teesdesk-us.com/limited-edition-3364

After years of listening to ReddX, I've decided to throw my story out there for the internet cringe-connoisseurs to feast upon. Cast lists aren't necessary, TLDR is at the end. Let's just get this show on the road.
Tinder is hell. That hasn't stopped me from bludgeoning myself against the towering wall of losers that people swear Prince Charming is hiding among. I do realize that Tinder probably isn't the ideal place to find a real relationship, but I remain optimistic for a reason that I can't fully explain. Maybe it's just for a lack of anything better to do. Perhaps it's fear of dying alone. The people and experiences have ranged from lackluster to outright horrifying, and to start this series off... I will chronicle one of the deepest mental scars for the edu-tainment of any and all internet strangers. Given hindsight, the signs were all there... I should've bailed, but I tried to power through. And I came away with a true tale of terror.
It all started with the swipe, as these things often do. The profile was fairly non-descript as I recall. A bio that was clearly copy/pasted from Tinder and 3 or 4 photos that made it seem like he was someone who knew how to have some fun. He was smiling despite his teeth looking a bit worse for the wear. He was a bit chunky but seemed comfortable with himself. Those are both things that go a very long way for me. I didn't give the swipe very much thought beyond that, but we did match and he slid directly into the messages. His first message was a play on my first name. He said he wanted to wake up to the crack of Dawn or something like that. Not the first time I've heard it. Won't be the last. He might be a fuckboy, but maybe he was just taking a risk to break the ice... I wanted answers, so I decided to dig in and see what he was really all about.
He introduced himself as Dean. The conversation was largely uninteresting, until I mentioned that I'm a baker for work. This led into a long diatribe about how he was a trad alpha male that was looking for a woman who was worth the effort to take care of. He claimed that I'd be a great mother because of my ability to cook, and then went on to describe how cute our kids would look. I stopped responding and let him continue to spin his wheels for a while. He did continue on for much longer than would normally be socially acceptable, but I thought maybe he was just nervous. Eventually he caught the hint that I was starting to disengage completely. Honestly? I should've followed through with the ghosting. But he showed contrition and apologized, so I let the interaction continue.
He managed to keep his human-mask firmly affixed after the almost-ghosting. He was remarkably good at acting like a genuine person. We talked about our life and experiences for around a full month before deciding that we probably should meet up at some point. During that month he wasn't pushy or weird. Dean had taken the unspoken hint and remained on his best behavior. Once a possible date was agreed on, he jumped at the chance to take the lead in deciding where we were going, but then mentioned that he didn't have a car and needed to be picked up. I sighed. It may be that trad alpha males have better things to do than driving a car. They have people for that sort of thing. Barefoot, pregnant people. When he decides to let her out of the kitchen, that is. Obviously that's all hyperbole. I think.
So yes. I should've run. I know I should've run... but remember what I said about hindsight? Stupid me agreed to pick him up. I asked where we were going and he insisted that I was in for a surprise because we were headed to his favorite restaurant. I shrugged and decided to go with the flow. I spent a good few hours getting ready on the day of our date. I wasn't particularly eager to impress Dean, but it had been a little while since I was able to have a night out on the town and I decided to make the most of it. I showed up about 15 minutes early to the date, which is something that I do often. I take that time to decompress and relax and maybe even second-guess myself... Lord how I wish I would've second-guessed myself a little bit harder on this day.
The 15 minutes flies by, and I finally decided to roll up in front of the ramshackle house that he occupies. It looked like a flop-house. The yard was dead where it wasn't completely overgrown, the roof was missing more tiles than not, and there was a curious amount of children's toys strewn around. Dean hadn't mentioned any kids. Regardless of the red-flag parade that was marching before my eyes, I figured that I was already here. I might as well give the guy a chance. So I leaned on the horn to summon Dean. There was no response. Maybe I have the wrong house? Maybe I've been catfished? Maybe I should just go home? ...Yes, I should've just gone home. I didn't though. Instead, I got out of the car to go knock on the peeling paint of that front door, while saying a small prayer that I wasn't kidnapped and sold off into white slavery.
As I slowly crept up the cracked walkway, the weeds reached up from every crevice. They were trying to hold me back from that door, but I persisted in my quest for dating mediocrity. I could hear the screams of children inside. Were they the ghosts of the future I was dooming myself to? Feasibly. Regardless, I reached the door and knocked. A large Armenian woman answered the door. She was built like a refrigerator and about the hairiest woman you can imagine. She raised her upper lip in a sneer, her mustache bunching up enough to tickle the frontal cortex of any lesser being.
"Barev?" she grunted, a few decibels too loud. Our town has a large Armenian population, so I knew that meant hello.
"Hello ma'am. I'm looking for Dean. We're supposed to go on a date tonight." I meekly explained.
She grunted again, spun on her heels and bellowed something that I won't even try to decipher. Presumably she was calling Dean. I wasn't aware that he lived with his parents. As mama legbeard disappeared into the house, she had left the door open. I realized that a small crowd had gathered near the doorway. At least 5 dead-eyed children drinking a dark-colored liquid from bottles that they were clearly too old for were muttering amongst themselves. I waved a greeting but they only retreated further into the darkness of the hovel. I wasn't sure what to do at this point, so I closed the door and walked back to my car.
Part of me wanted to gun it down the street and make a break for it, seeking the comfort of my own relative normalcy... But I didn't. I sat and waited. I doomscrolled on my phone for around 30 minutes before debating if I should knock again. I didn't want to knock. So I leaned on the horn instead. I was giving him 5 more minutes. If he wasn't here at that point, I'd take myself out for a nice meal. That probably would've been the more enjoyable option anyways.
Five minutes passed, and I turned the key in the ignition. What a waste of time, what a bunch of bullshit. I shifted the car into gear, cranked the wheel to pull off of the sidewalk when suddenly... Dean flung the front door open and waddled toward my vehicle. I didn't feel any relief at this. He was at least 50 pounds heavier than he was in his Tinder photos. If it looked like he put any effort into actually getting ready, I might be more understanding about the situation, but it looked like this dude had just rocked up out of bed. It wasn't just his hair that was disheveled. He wore striped pajama pants, stained and threadbare My Hero Academia t-shirt, and the rattiest pair of slip-on Vans I've ever seen.
Again, should've hit the gas. Should've driven myself right into a telephone pole. Any EMT that came to pick me up would be a better alternative, even if our date was just to the emergency room. Instead I stared in shock as this pigman wandered towards my vehicle and let himself in. The car lurched to the passenger side as he plopped down, clearly out of breath from the short trip down his walkway. His heavy breathing carried distinct notes of halitosis, and that fetid breath only combined with the scent of unwashed rotting ballsack as the air he displaced from the seat started swimming around the car. I was speechless. This was not the date that I had signed up for. My stare continued as Dean began his rambling introduction.
"Hey Dawn! Sorry to make you wait. I had a pretty crazy night last night with my gaming crew. I set an alarm for our date, but I usually don't wake up until my mom starts yelling at me. It's good to make a woman wait anyways. They do it to us, so why shouldn't guys do it right back?" he chortled.
Words were still unable to escape my lips. Instead, the only sound that came out was similar to that girl from The Grudge. Seeing that I wasn't going to engage with that, Dean shifted topics.
"Oh, my bad. I probably shouldn't reveal all of my dating secrets. Tonight I will reveal a big one to you though..." he paused pointedly, and I shifted my eyes to stare at the steering wheel instead. He continued "The big secret is the place I take all the girls on our first date. It's my favorite seafood restaurant!"
I didn't really want to eat seafood. I didn't really want to be seen with Dean or even to continue existing near him in any capacity... But sometimes the social contract twists your arm about this kind of thing, particularly if you're a woman who was raised to behave a certain way. All I had to say was "Get the hell out of my car, you absolute wreck of a human being." It could've all been over if I said that. But I didn't. Instead I asked him to put on his seatbelt. He whined, saying that seatbelts were "for little beta bitches." But I refused to be ticketed over an ego so fragile that a seatbelt could bruise it. I told him he could buckle it or get out. Unfortunately, he did decide to buckle up... And the cringe-train rolled onward.
Dean barked out instructions while regaling me with all types of insider knowledge about "what women actually want, and how they don't know what they want, and how it takes a strong man to lead them to water and force them to drink. For their own good, you see?" All I could manage was a series of disinterested "oh" and "okay" and "jesus christ". He did not get the hint. I wanted to just melt away. Why was I in this situation? Why was I letting it continue? How could someone seem so normal and even perceptive online and then reveal themselves as a complete mess in person
I should've questioned him but didn't have much to add to his monologue, since my own inner-thoughts were spiraling out of control... and I couldn't get a word in edgewise anyways. Maybe he could turn it around and we'd have a nice conversation when we got to the restaurant. He's probably just looking for someone to help him become the best version of himself. If this didn't go well, I told myself a thousand times that I'd never find myself in another situation like this again... Isn't it funny how we lie to ourselves?
Anyways, eventually Dean screeched for me to stop and find a place to park. I complied. I didn't have the energy to argue. It might be because of the lack of oxygen. Throughout this 10 minute trip my car had become inundated with Dean's stench. Imagine rotten sour cream wrapped in a piece of moldy Havarti cheese, sprinkled with sweat from a mountain troll. Little did I know, that wasn't the worst of the night though. Not by a long shot.
Finally snapping out of my daze, I looked around to see the secret seafood restaurant that had only been talked about in hushed whispers. I'll give you a moment to guess for yourself what the place was. Not some well-kept secret as he had implied. It wasn't a quaint hole-in-the-wall, it wasn't even a Red fucking Lobster. We had just pulled up into the parking lot... of a Long John Silver's. Have you ever been to a Long John Silver's? Maybe. Have you ever been to a Long John Silver's by choice? Ew. It's fastfood seafood and it is just... The worst "food" that you could possibly put into your mouth. This can't be real life. We have just lost cabin pressure. We are headed directly into freefall. Finally I found my voice. "What the fuck is this?"
Dean unabashedly said "Long John Silver's, duh. It's the best seafood in town by a long shot, the pricing is also pretty good so you can eat as much as you want." He continued barreling through, extolling the virtues of Long John Silver's as I reluctantly followed him inside. He didn't bother holding the door open. It isn't necessary, but it can be a nice gesture. Instead he bounced up to the counter and started rattling off his order to the worker drone stationed at the register. It was a long order. He ordered enough to feed 5 or 6 people. I thought maybe he was ordering for both of us, until he turned and asked "Did you want anything?" I choked out a number representing one of their combo meals, and tried to hand him $10.
He made a great show of refusing the ten dollars, proclaiming that a lady should never have to pay for her own meal. The worker drone stared on, looking about as vacant as I felt. I think Dean expected the restaurant to start clapping at his chivalrous gesture. Instead the drone went back to scrolling on his phone, and I found a place to sit. When Dean flopped into the seat next to me, I asked if he could please sit across from me instead. He ignored that request, extending a flabby arm across my shoulders, rubbing his putrid armpit on the shoulder of a blouse that I really liked, but later had to burn...
"It's a first date. We should get close, y'know. Get to know each other?" he drawled.
"Go and sit over there Dean, or I'm leaving." I finally insisted. "I have no idea how the date got this far. You don't even look like your picture!"
His ego was hurt now. He rambled on about how "the picture was actually him, he just Photoshopped it a little, and girls do it too. Why do these bitches on dating apps have to be so shallow? Probably just looking for a Chad to take them home and rearrange their guts. Women should be submissive and that means not being choosy. They should feel honored that any man would deign to take them on as a responsibility."
Eventually, all I heard was a high-pitched whining in my ears as I had a Vietnam flashback to all the niceguys and neckbeards that I had run across in high-school. It was the same speech they all seem to end up giving, verbatim. I sat with my head in my hands and he didn't stop this auditory assault until our number was called. He fetched his food, came back to the table, made another trip, and then a third... Until finally he flopped down across from me and said "Yours is still up there, if you want it."
I was ready to boil. "I don't want it Dean. I wanted to have a nice date, but instead I ended up at a fucking Long John Silver's with a big FAT fucking catfish." I expected him to come right back at me with all the rage and fury of an incel scorned, but instead he just walked up to the counter. Brought the tray back, and began to ravage the meal that I had ordered. It sounded like rhinoceros crap being sucked down a bathtub plug hole that had been severely clogged with pubic hair that had been matted together by decades of cum spent on myriad anime waifus. I covered my ears. I fumed. I wanted to cry, but I would not allow this creature to break my will.
I hadn't said more than 20 words during this entire date, and I wasn't about to start talking now. Besides, Dean seemed perfectly happy to just hoover up every speck of greasy fried seafood in relative silence. All I could do was sit and glare. My stare had turned into a glare, and there is a subtle difference... But I don't think Dean was equipped enough to detect that shift. For minutes on end I simply watched the spectacle unfolding before me. He chomped and glorped and gobbled until he had decimated everything that lay before him. Then he sat back and unbuckled his belt while patting his engorged stomach. Disgusting.
"Seems like you really enjoyed that." I said sarcastically as I got up and started heading to the car. He jiggled after me outside like a very overfed and very stupid puppy. Again, I said nothing. I got in and started the car. Right as I was going to peel out and let him walk off that greasy feast he had consumed, Dean wrenched the door open and buttslammed into the seat. As he did, he let out a rather large fart and started giggling like a child. "Good thing I didn't let that one rip in the restaurant!" he chuckled. I was not amused. Yeah. Just let it rip in my fucking car instead you abomination. My patience had been stretched to its breaking point, but I didn't say so. I was simply ready to get this dumpster fire over with. Surely the worst of our interaction was over now, right? We could just part ways and never speak again, right? I never expected that my poor car would be left with one more souvenir that fateful night. Something far more disgusting than Dean's stench.
We pulled out and bounced down the road. The windows were promptly rolled down, which I suppose Dean took as an invitation to continue his butt-orchestra. He'd fart and laugh every couple of minutes. I can't begin to fathom the reason. Either he's given up like I have, or he's trying to rebuild bridges in the worst way possible... Either way, I sped down the streets. Freedom was calling my name and I wanted to get this guy out of my car so I could disinfect, sanitize, deodorize, and cleanse not just my car... But myself as well.
We were in the home stretch. Another minute or two and we'd be rid of each other. Then I noticed that Dean had gotten very quiet. His face turning a strange shade of green. I thought he was going to throw up, but it was even worse than that. As we headed down his street, I hit a speedbump. The jolt must have stirred something in Dean, because he let out another fart... This one sounded different than the others however... It was low and wet. It sounded like a choked blast from a tuba that had been stuffed to the brim with congealed mayonnaise.
Dean did not chuckle like before. Instead, his face shifted from green to a blushing red. I slowly looked over at him and the smell hit me. Rancid greasy sick people poop. The kind of poop that comes out of a sick and dying person right before they kick the bucket... My eyes widened as realization dawned on me. I started to scream all of the frustration that had built up over the night right into Dean's stupid fat face. What I said wasn't really words, it was pure emotion. A screech of incredulity, pain, confusion, and of course the disappointment that I'm sure his mother felt every single day of her life.
We were still down the street from his house. Maybe another 50 yards away... But instead I mashed the brakes and continued slamming him with a nonsensical torrent of emotion. Dean wasn't going to sit around for that. He fumbled with the door, let himself out of the car, leaned back in to tell me he had a lovely time before I gave him one more resounding, hate-fueled "FUCK OFF!" And so he did. I watched him waddle his way back home, the greasy brown stain on the back of his pants only growing with each step. I looked down at the passenger seat. It would never be the same again. I hate to go into any more disgusting detail, but suffice it to say... There was splashback. The diarrhea fountain had stained not just the bucket, but it had spurted up the back of the seat as well.
I cried. Sitting there in that disgusting car, I had a long ugly cry with the windows still fully down. I considered approaching Dean's mother for money to get my car reupholstered, but given the state of the house? I'm not sure she had much to give on behalf of her son, even if by some miracle she was willing to do so... No. This was my problem to deal with now. I finished crying. I drove home. I spent weeks having to stare at that stain, but eventually I was able to buy a completely "new" seat from the junkyard. No more ghost-Dean sitting passenger and laughing at his own honking asshole.
I'm still amazed at how this specimen managed to lure me into a date. While I was far too passive, I'm going to mark that down as inexperience. I'd be much more bold in the future. I did tell myself that I'd never get on Tinder again after this experience. It's by far the worst interaction that I've had with another human being. Ever. But eventually the allure of online dating called me back, and I do have even more stories to tell... But those are tales for another day... Thanks to ReddX if he reads this. Please subscribe to him on YouTube if ya haven't. I'll see you again next time my little Tinderlings.
-Dawn
TL;DR After a terrible date, trad alpha male Tinder guy pooped in my car.

It’s Memorial Day 2023 and at my job sitting in my office as the store manager of a retail box chain. The couple deployments in the big green uniform during the mid 2000’s cross my mind only once or twice and I cant decide how I feel about that. With the old big 40th birthday not but but a couple years around the corner, the southern beach town where i live and spent most of my childhood hasn't quite woken up yet. But here i am feeling something I hadn't felt in a long time. I feel surreal. That or I’m in shock.
I confronted my narc over her lack of commitment last weekend, after another game of midnight twister. Twister never was a issue with us, probably some of the best games ever played. Yall get it.
We have been in this long slow death spiral for over a year now but this feels like the end. I demanded to know why I was good enough to fuck but not good enough to be in a relationship. She spouted off about some lie she made up that i told. Then last Thursday, she again ask me to come over. I stand my ground and say no, that if I’m not good enough to tell your ex fiancé that i exist then I’m not having sex with you. Friday I look on Facebook and she hadn’t blocked me again but here’s she’s posting a picture of her packed truck headed where? You guess it……the northern state where “ex-fiancé” lives. You gotta be shitting me what’s wrong with this lady ? How long had that been planned and she left without saying a word. By now I’ve gotten to be an expert detective among other things. She's from a northern state The fiancé had lived with her down here a few years before moving back. Evidently She always went to enormous lengths to keep me away from the rest of her life. Now the whole house of cards is falling down. I basically call her a liar that there is nothing on between them. She went up there to help a relative move a few weeks back didn’t answer a single call or text all weekend. Completely ignored me. He was there with them the whole time. I asked why did the engagement end years back? Her answer left me utterly astonished. “I just didn’t love him like i I should have.” What the fuck does that mean? Whys he still around? Tell me all the whole truth. That was Friday and communication ended immediately and haven’t heard from her since. She hadn’t blocked me yet but will not respond. .Just silence as I slowly realized that every single thing she told me was all a lie. All the crazy accusations out of now where, all the lies she’s told her family about me were all in fact things she’d done to others or was doing to me. I learned early on in this what "projection" meant and the first time I told her I think she was doing it , she counter punched like she been holding a UNO reverse card up her sleeve. As the full weight of who this person actually was hit me, everything spiraled for me into the worst feeling of betrayal and despair I’d ever felt. This woman that i loved more than I’ve ever loved the one who promised me so many bullshit promises. The one who claimed to my friend and would never leave , had finally evolved into something i didn’t recognize. Something that was evil and dangerous. Boy i was so naive.
Let me tell you how this all began. We were both employed at the same outlet mall. I am in my mid late 30’s , she’s a bit older than me. Early mid 50’s. Blonde. Not a lot but enough tattoos and piercings to make you look twice. She was no super model but her body always had kinda driven me crazy.Right curves in all th right places. But the age difference could raise a eye nethertheless, I had always kinda had a crush on this lady but never really made a move. Just couldn’t draw up a play. Life went by and I eventually found my self living in what looking back was my PARADISE. My parents divorced in my early teens and my little brother and sister and I kinda never gained a sense of direction for many years. I found mine on a bus to to Fort Benning. If I was going to be in the Army, I couldn't tall the future grandkids i had that i changed the oil on humvees. It was Infantry for me and with 2 years of hugging my mom bye I found my self in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. It was every thing you imagined it could be and more and i still sometimes kind of think to myself you went through some shit over there in the valley that 98% of people would never even dream of doing. And made it out relativity unscathed . Couple busted lips and a good old TBI to take with you but soldier on. My career really started trending upward after the first tour ended and I began dating a girl from near my hometown. Not too long after that we get married on the courhouse steps out of fear the next phone call could be a mission. 5 months later my convoy is just stepping outside the wire when the Red Cross Message comes in. Car Crash. Your wife. Her brother. Drunk driver crossed center line. Hit them head one while they were stopped at rural stop sign. No survivors. That's the first time my soul detached from my body.

The army at the time was big on taking these resiliency classes and preaching resiliency and over the years it kinda became my mantra. Life went on and seemed like I had made something out of myself I became engaged to beautiful woman who had been through thick and thin with me the past few years. She was what we call "good people " down here. She absolutely adored me and was totally out of my league. Grew up in the Florida Keys, ACC Division 1 Athlete, she made life look easy. We had a 2 story house at the end of the cul de sac. We had a large group of friends. She was the Coach of the church dance squad, I willed that softball team to 2 consecutive "playoff" appearances. Life was good.
Then about 5 or 6 months before our wedding date her first, my second chance, and that's when this our story here really kicks off. By the way huge southern wedding. It was amazing even though i was becoming stressed about all the constant planning, I had finally been promoted to management and was becoming burnt out. This lady,who would become my narc, these blonde hair woman with a free spirit who I'd known for some years ,one day she just, she just looked different. I can't describe it but there was something drawing me in that I felt powerless to stop. I remember the first time we locked eyes, we just held the stare for what seemed like forever until we were both out of breath and then looked at each like "WTF was that" I felt like electricity flowing through my body. A few weeks go by and we starting to find ways to be closer to each other until one day our hands actually grazed and it felt like every nerve in my body exploded. Life as I knew it at least, effectively ended that day. She had her hooks in. Didn't take me long find my self sneaking out the house in the middle of the night into her bedroom. The passion, the intensity was so great that I thought there's no way that cant be real. It was the most intense thing I'd ever experienced. I was totally wrapped before too long. As the wedding date loomed and my fiance became more and more suspicious, the narc would start planting these fantasies of how we could be together. Oh yea she was totally aware I was taken. We could buy a camper go out west raise goats. Runaway together...it sounded good. We spent our days fantasizing about running away together and staring into each others eyes. In the back of my head I already felt like this was my person. What do I do? Looking back those were that last days of innocence. I had no idea what was to become. My narc had all but flat out said if you want me you know what you have to do. The wedding comes and it the best day of my life. I do a pretty good job of not thinking about the narc. We actually go a whole week without seeing each or speaking. I almost thought to myself , " Well you' ve done a really shitty thing but your married to a really good woman so lets move on as best we can.
I lasted 3 weeks.
My narc tells me that as long as I am living under a roof with my wife, she will have nothing to do with me. Next thing you know I'm standing in our kitchen with my bags in my hands and the stupidest look on my face. I still cant explain why but the draw to this narc woman had me powerless. My poor wife lets me go she still doesnt know for sure whats going on and I tell her I just need some time I'm staying with a friend. I shack up with the narc and for the next week things are good. all things considered. This is around the time where I start to blow through red flags like I'm in a stolen Ferrari on Miami Blvd. The narc has family coming down from up north, a baby shower for one of the narcs daughters. The fact that narc is a grandma never bothered me. this is the first time hear abut the ex. Hes not the father of her daughters but he "raised them" and they consider him pops. I was very shocked and didnt have a clue what to say when I was told I needed to find a place to stay for the next 2 weeks, not enough room for everyone. I landed on a friends couch utterly confused and when i heard her daughters and her screaming because my employee name tag had been found in narcs bed, somebody might see it , I should have run far and fast then. I eventually made my way home, walked in the door and broke down in tears confessing it all to my wife. She told me we can work through this we will go to counseling whatever it takes. The one thing that was non negotioable was i was to leave my job immeditaly. I felt helpless- I wanted my wife I was already missing my old life by then. But I was making more money than I'd ever imagined I would and I come up from square 1 seven years ago, how could I tell the man who hired me the GM who would become mentocoach figure to me? I just couldn't. Narc catches wind I'm back home and one morning I'm out in the middle of this mall and she comes beelining towards me and right into front of EVERYONE delivers a left jab, right hook combo that would have made Teddy Atlas proud. I didn't flinch or wince I simply dropped my head in shame, saying I deserved that while she runs off making this strange guttural crying/screaming noise. What was I supposed to do I had no where else to go? Knowing what I know now, I was witnessing r my first narc rage. Things eventually calm down over the next 3 weeks but my wife had grown tired of waiting. I was around this narc everyday. been She moved back to Florida, giving me a month to find a place to live. I haven't seen her or spoken to her since AND that's not my choice. I think about her almost everyday and honestly I'll never forgive myself for breaking her heart the way I did. She was innocent and never deserved this.
I cannot understate how woefully unprepared for this I was. I was extremely naive, I had no clue what narcissism meant, I thought it meant you liked to look at yourself in a mirror.I never realized the dangling of the carrot or the manipulation and the complete total inability to admit wrong or have any form of accountably all were tied together , at least until much later .Now my narc starts saying we can only be together if I have my own place. Next thing you know I've found one and moved in. Man these carrots are actually quite tasty. Now begins a looong 4 5 months where she would accuse me of cheating or lying or some reason for us to not be officially a couple. But she would keep a trove of men she flirted with on social media , go out with with i don't think she slept around but definitely wasn't right.The double standard from hell. Life became a constant cycle of hot cold hot cold to the point where at any given time I had zero idea of whether so considered us to be together at that time or single. One of her go to plays was to dare me to walk away, but by then my entire network of family and friends had really zero desire to have anything to do with me because they had all been at this very expensive wedding not even a few months ago. I found a place to rent further inland , a little place out in the country. She had isolated me now, I just didn't know it, and honestly by this point I was becoming more desperate and desperate to make us work. I've sacrificed everything because i truly truely believed in her and us. I would have done anything she asked and i many times I did. Midway into last fall, I started noticing things that I dunno made me notice things. Something wasn't right.

1. She never once not one time ever said those 3 words. I love you I said them every time we got off the phone. To this day I've never heard her say it
   
2. Every holiday, every single one she would find a reason where I wasnt allowed to come over and be with her and her family. LIttle did I know the smear campaign was starting to fire on all cylinders.
   
3. The accusations of lying and or doing something I wasn't supposed to were becoming more frequent yet even when I would prove to her I was telling the truth, she never once has has said I'm sorry , I was wrong.
   

Red flags are more like advisories right?
Things progressed to the point where I start going to counseling/therapy because she has me so convinced I'm bad person. She accuses me of not going to appointments even when I Facetime her sitting beside the doctor. It amazes me to this day that no one could see her true colors. She is so good its downright dangerous.
I spent Christmas this year completely alone. She had her family and the usual flock of buzzards, hang arounds. By now I was getting the stretches of silent treatment. I was at my lowest of lows, Isolated, alone, lonely .......going down a dark road real fast. Same pattern of discard bring you back discard. I didn't even know who i was anymore by this point i was losing weight. I could hear the people whispering. She was killing me from the inside.
One thing finally happened that I'll never forget as long as I live. Her birthday had come aroud and since my narc conviently found a reasson as to why I couldn't come I begged for her to take the presents I had gottten with her. She put them in her car and drove away. I didnt think about it again until a week /later, I walking out the back door at work and here she is, at the dumpsters throwing the still wrapped birthday presents. I ask her what the hell? you didnt give them to her? What the hell ? WTF?? The answer I got as she looked me dead in the eyes sent a cold chill down my spine.
"I didn't give her the presents because I figured you would try to take em back just to hurt her." Stunned I muttered with what I am now sure was a face full of shock and disgust..."Honey she is 5 years old." I truly shocked me that a human would think of such a horrible scenario.
​
I didnt speak to my narc for a couple days after that. Another week, another brand new hot shot therapist looking for save the world. I have never been comfortable with the idea of therapy, I have too much man macho I guess. Its just always kinda been taboo. Nevertheless I finshed jabbering and she immediatly reaches in her desk and passed me a little pamplet. "Read this" she says. I look down -"What is a narcissist and are you in a relationship with one? By the time i finshed reading it, I was straight ugly crying on her floor. It felt like a MAC truck hit me square in the sternum. I was devestated. Literllaly every single bullet point I could point at and say yes. Its like hamy narc had this pamplet memorized and was running it like a well oiled machine. It finally was all making sense. Maybe Im not a horrible person after all?
I began to distance myself from her at this point and she went the tried and true method of total discard which inevidebly turned into full blown lovebombing which would lead to a steamy night together which she would then sabatoge. Rinse, wash repeat. The first trip back home she took I never could get a answer as to why i was ignored all weekend, she made me ignore her how dare you ask forget it happened. Same ol bs. Whch brings us back to today where this story began. I finally concluded that this is how every relanship my narc has ever had has been like this. Alll family turmoil ....it all made even more sense. Her lies have become near constant and I realized the first thing she ever said to me was a lie. Not only do I think I'm begginning understand what she is and what I became to her, I think she could be one of most dangerous kinds of these individuals the world has ever seen. She is still somewhat popular, nobody around her would ever have a clue. But I can see through it now. And she will never change because I have finally accepted the fact that she psychsilly cannot change. Her brain cant evem acklowdge things like being wrong. It breaks my heart that i feel so in love with someone who is incabple of love and thats when I realized I have to walk away.
This ended up being way more than I expected but once i started typing it just kept flowing out. I guess her spidey sense must have gone off because within the last hour she has began sending me messages on social media. Not her phone no but social media.
I replied simply are you going to ignore the elephant sitting over there?
​
​
She replies "What are you talking about?"
-
She cannot change.
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I think I will struggle with this past year and a half for the rest of my life. This was something I was totally unprepared for. I think I can see light glimmering on the horizon and I feel grateful to understand what actually happened and I could have very easily given up, succumbed in, but I survived it.
It is what people like us do. We pick up the pieces, dust the dirt off and keep going.
Yesterday was yesterday
Tomorrow is a brand new sun.
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Also one last thing.....if your ever feeling down or sorry for yourself give u/StickFigure a listen. I don't think I'd be here if weren't for his music. He literally saved me life.
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Ramble over good night

Chef Gordon Ramsay said that he had had nightmares following last nights service and said he hoped that today would be a better day and that they were going back to basics with the teams breaking down crabs and rolling out pasta to make the crab capellini appetisers with the first team to make 10 dishes the winners. The blue team got off to a good start thanks to the teams of Van and Drew, and Ed and Brad but the teams of Giovanni and Zach as well as the 3 man team of Andrew, Josh and Antonio got them behind on the challenge with Andrew making a complete mess of breaking down the crab. The red team’s only weak link was the team of Tara and Kashia who got into an argument when breaking down the crab and then managed to mangle cooking the capellini but the rest of the red team performed strongly with the team of Kanae and Nikki bringing up 4 dishes while the team of Santos and Sabrina brought up 3 dishes and Dannie and Elizabeth having 2 dishes accepted which meant the 1 dish by Keisha and Tara was enough to bring the red team the victory 10:7 despite Van and Drew, Ed and Brad bringing up 3 dishes each with the 3 man team not bringing up a single acceptable dish thanks to Andrew butchering the crab. The red team went off to party and Kanae said it was time for a winning streak for the red team and Tara said she was happy to win but did not want to work with Keisha again.
While the red team partied, Brad asked Antonio what the hell happened with the team having 0 dishes accepted and Antonio said they screwed up breaking down the crab but Josh butted in to say it was Andrew that messed it up and it was his fault. Andrew and Josh then had an argument over the mangling of the crab and Ed said it was over now and time for service to prove themselves as great Chefs. Zach and Van got off to a strong start on appetisers with Van proving himself as a strong leader with his communication with Giovanni and Drew on fish but Drew was annoyed at Van for over communicating as he doesn’t need to be reminded every 10 seconds how long they have to cook. Zach’s early risottos and capellini were accepted but Giovanni tried serving a mushy lobster tail and Drew annoyed him by trying to take it up early on the re-fire. Zach then scrambled the eggs on his next carbonara and then dragged on the next risottos due to needing an extra 2 minutes which saw Brad have to redo his tableside clams which Brad then got behind on and had to explain to Ramsay that he was behind 2 tables with Ramsay furiously telling Brad to stop moving like a zombie and Brad was upset as he felt this was Zachs fault for getting behind in the first place. Zach and Van did finish appetisers and Antonio on the garnish station with Josh said he had to put up a good performance after being nominated last service. Antonio and Josh worked well together to bring their garnishes up to the pass and Ed’s first lamb and pork was praised by Ramsay as perfection and Ed said as long as Andrew can cook chicken and wellingtons the service was gonna be great. Andrew though served 2 wellingtons that were overcooked and after initially bouncing back, he thought he needed 2 minutes on the next wellingtons but then called an extra 2 minutes due to them still being raw. With Drew and Giovannis fish waiting, Andrew was still checking his wellingtons with Ramsay furiously screaming at him to move his arse! Ed confirmed that Andrew needed at least another 2 minutes and Josh and Antonio had to redo the garnish which annoyed Josh as he had to redo the same garnish 3 times. After Ed got the meat station back in order, Drew managed to break a salmon fillet and said he needed another 5 minutes as it had fallen apart and Ramsay screamed that the blue team were on the verge of being kicked out again. Giovanni tried getting the fish station together but a miscommunication between him and the meat station saw Andrew call for another 3 minutes on chicken despite saying he was ready and when they brought the food up to the pass, Giovanni’s monkfish was overcooked and Andrew served raw chicken! A furious Ramsay kicked the entire blue team out again and asked for 3 idiots to be put up for elimination.
The red team were led by Kanae on hot appetisers who got them off to a flying start with her first risottos and Elizabeth on cold appetisers supported well to with Elizabeth determined to fight back after her awful service last time. Nikki was on the fish station with Tara and said she was confident they would have a great service with Tara saying she’s cooked 1000 scallops. Tara though served boiled anaemic scallops on a ticket and when she attempted to fight back she served burnt scallops with Ramsay saying it’s not hard to cook scallops! Tara lost confidence and got Nikki to help her on the next order of scallops which were accepted by Ramsay and the rest of the appetisers were finished without any further problems. Santos on the garnish station said he was going to lead the ladies to victory and despite annoying Dannie by over communicating, the 1st half of entrees came out with no problems with Kashia steaks and chicken flying out with Nikki’s salmon and cod also praised by Ramsay. Entrees continued to fly out with Ramsay telling the red team to “keep it up!” and everything seemed to be going well until Dannie brought up lamb which was raw. Dannie said she couldn’t believe it and this got the team behind with Dannie then dragging on the lamb but she finally got the food out to bounce back. Santos, Nikki and Kashia communicated well to finish a solid service for the red team with Ramsay praising all 3 of their services and congratulating them on finishing service.
The blue team were fuming with Josh quickly saying that Andrew and Drew needed to go up for the problems in entrees but Drew said this was nonsense as he was the best Chef on the team and he had a better service than Brad or Zach but Brad said he only got behind thanks to Zach. Antonio and Ed agreed that Zach should go up for starting the problems in the kitchen and a furious Zach called his team cowards for nominating him and said that Giovanni and Drew sunk the fish station so they should go up, telling his team to piss off. Andrew attempted to claim that the only reason he had problems on the meat station was thanks to appetisers but Josh quickly told him he was the 1st nomination. Van took over and said he thought Drew and Brad should be the other 2 nominees as he saw more fire in Zach and Giovanni and Brad said this was ridiculous but he had to accept going up as Giovanni also agreed that Brad should go up. Both Brad and Drew gave passionate pleas to stay but before Andrew could speak, Ramsay quickly stated “Andrew since you’ve been here there’s been a terrible signature dish, awful halibut dish, fucked scallops, raw salmon, ruined wellingtons and raw chicken!” and told ANDREW to take his jacket off and leave Hells Kitchen. Brad was livid about being nominated but said tomorrow was another day and Drew said he couldn’t be seen as a weak link in his team so was going to fight back tomorrow.
https://strawpoll.com/polls/3RnYl3bdzye
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yZAEyarJoN7y7eVxefqMECZJaQT4frCccvuZ5TdMGvM/edit#gid=0

See, here's the situation. I have roommates, and they're very, very attentive to any detail they might see as "unclean". A single hair in the bathtub, a drop of water on the kitchen counter, a piece of paper on the floor... They take pictures of these things and send it to a chat group saying things like "there's only gross, unclean people in this apartment", "don't use the bathroom/kitchen/anything if you're too lazy to clean up" and the like. Whenever I'm certain it was me, I apologize and make sure I don't leave anything behind, but now I feel like my roommates despise me and think that I'm "playing crazy", and always put the blame on me. I have the attention span of a lobster and tend to overlook things like that, and even though I'm trying my best to not make them uncomfortable, I feel like it's never enough for them. How can I get better?

I work as a night audit for a semi-reputable hotel. There are bigger hotels out there, but I am happy where I am. As a night audit, other shifts tend to leave many tasks for you to perform because they are overwhelmed checking guests in and fielding numerous calls for reservations. The management allows me to do my job without being micro-managed all the time, which is something that can be very common in this industry. My co-workers do their job and show up on time. If something comes up, they always call me to let me know they will be a few hours late. When they call out sick every few days, the General Manager encourages me to fill in so that I have the opportunity for extra hours. I do not feel as if I am being taken advantage of because the opportunity for more responsibilities occurs every shift. I am just happy to be working at a place that appreciates you. Though, my life sometimes feels as if something is missing. I am not sure if it is love that I am seeking or some other form of excitement.
Due to the stress of this job, I often find myself stopping by the liquor store on my way home or hanging out at a bar on the two or three nights off I get during the month. One night I stopped by a local bar to have a few drinks and to not have to worry about the stress that comes with my job. The cold amber colored liquid is something that can instantly remove the stress from my mind. As I was leaving, I felt as if something was behind me. Maybe I was being watched. Maybe I was being followed. I could not accurately place that feeling that was going on in the back of my mind. I have never felt something like this before. As I turned around to observe my surroundings, nothing was ever out of place.
Usually, I would stop at the store to grab a bottle of Kettle One, but I had some left over from a few weeks ago. Just the thought of having a nice glass or two of smooth Vodka made my mouth water. I wouldn’t say I am an alcoholic but without having many friends there is not much else that I look forward to in my life than something that allows me to not think about the little things that always happen.
I walk into my two-bedroom apartment on the first floor and get settled in. Grabbing a glass and one cube of ice before I flop down in my recliner to read. I found a new sub-reddit that allows my mind to wonder with the many stories of unusual experiences. Many seem far-fetched but you can never truly know what is real and what is exaggerated. This allows me to appreciate my life a little better knowing that things could be worse. There are so many situations that are written that I could never fathom, and it makes me happy that my life is simple. I have a job, a place to live, and some extra money to spend from time to time.
Just as I found a great title to read, I hear a noise that sounds like a door or cabinet slowly creaking open. As my curiosity gets the best of me, I walk back into my kitchen. My mind begins to anticipate every single outcome that could explain what the noise was. As expected, it was nothing other than the cabinet to my whiskey glasses slowly closing. A thought comes across my mind that I am almost certain that I closed the cabinet, but I regress and start to move back to the living room. Due to my mind staying stuck on this subject, I do not notice that my front door is no longer closed.
I suddenly have the urge to use the bathroom and expel some of the beer I had earlier. As I walk into the bathroom and turn on the light, I look into the mirror and see him behind me. A dark figure that is easily identified as a man in a mask. He reaches for my shoulder and turns me around. My eyes contacted his. I could see that something was off. It appeared as if these eyes had a thirst. A thirst that could only be quenched with blood. Caught by the surprise I did not know what to do. It is as if during my fight or flight response, my body just shut down. The man then pulled out a knife and began to thrust it towards by abdomen. This is when my brain finally decided to regroup and allow me to have control over my legs. I slowly moved to my left side, straddling the vanity in front of my toilet. This caused the man to unexpectedly stumble forward due to the anticipation he had of the knife entering my body to stop his forward movement. His knees buckled as they collided with the bathtub and caused him to drop the knife as he rolled into it. A loud crack sound occurred as the tile tub surround abruptly stopped him. He grunted and put one hand on his head, removing the mask from his face. This showed blood slowly trickling down his forehead. The thirst in his eyes was so focused on me that he was not aware that he was no longer holding the weapon in his hands.
I moved forward and picked up the knife. This is when he finally had the realization that he was no longer in control, but that did not stop him. His body arched over as he grabbed for my sweater to pull me closer as I began to stand up. Without a second thought I knew it was him or me. He was not going to stop. He was not going to retreat to where he came from. So, I had no choice and plunged the knife deep into his neck. The viscous crimson red blood slung from the wound right across my mouth, on the wall, and the floor. It seemed as if it would not stop even though it had only been a matter of seconds. Everything that happened appeared to slow to a point as if time ceased to exist. The intruder immediately collapsed inside of the tub at this point, ripping my shower curtain with him. Each rung of the shower curtain made an audible snap as it slowly raveled down.
Once his movement was no more, my mind recollected what was going on and I ran out of the room to call the police. I felt relieved when they arrived in a matter of minutes. I have always read these stories about the police taking a long amount of time in emergencies. When the police responded I was in front of my apartment in shambles. My heart was beating a mile a minute at this point, and nothing made sense. I could not comprehend what had just happened. Who was this man and why did he choose me. How did he enter my home and why was he trying to kill me. The police officers had to repeat each question a thousand times for me to realize that something was said. A paramedic then wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. The warmth of the blanket allowed me to realize that it was over and that I needed to breathe to regain my composure.
After giving my statement to the police and EMS removing, the now deceased man from my apartment, I walked into the bathroom for a sense of understanding what just happened. That was when I saw it. An antique gold necklace with a dark royal purple amethyst stone. The stone appeared to slightly glow, but it must have been the reflection of the bathroom light and was just waiting for it to be held. The sight of this stone caused me to become mesmerized as I held it in my hands. I do not understand what was coming over me at this time. Before I knew it, I was clasping the lobster claw around my neck. As soon as it was locked into place, something felt different. Everything that just happened felt… Everything felt right. I tried to compel myself that this entire situation was not normal, and no one should experience what I just did. A normal person should not have to know how it feels to take someone’s life. A normal person should not feel the thrill that I am currently experiencing from the way the knife felt as it plunged into the soft tissue of his neck. Slowly nicking his trachea. Causing his blood to be expelled from his body and across my face. The soothing warmth. The salty copper taste across the top of my tongue.
A realization that my life would no longer be mundane and that this thrill was not going to be a once in a lifetime experience. Well… At least not for me.

Hi bowhunters, in my last post I went over 3 core food buffs I always run that are easy to manage and make, this time we will dive a little bit deeper adding agility max ap and xp buffs.
To maximize these foods I run herbivore and strange in numbers, if your food states a lower buff it is either because you are not herbivore or none of your teammates are mutated.
Let's start with my favorite, steeped melon blossom chai for +5 AGI lasting 1 hour!: agility is your bread and butter as a bowhunter, more agility gives: more max ap and better stealth. We craft melon blossom chai with: boiled water, melon blossom, mutated fern flower and spices. - I hope by now you are camping near a body of water - melon blossoms are rare but I only visit 2 locations: the generals steakhouse has 6 aaronhold homestead has 10 (walk straigt from spawn point theyre in between the junk pile and the shack in the field hard to see, one of them is weirdly called something else but if it looks like a melon blossom pick it up it will give melon blossom) we will visit aaronhold for another buff on this list - spices cannot be farmed or crafted like salt and pepper it is something you find while looting if you are following since last post you have saved up some, there is also a great list going around our discord and reddit where alot of you guys have already contributed locations. - mutated ferns grow in a lot of places and I dont actively seek them out, there is ferns at: queen fight near trees, westtek, the general steakhouse and alot more places I already commonly visit if you do want a one stop shop for your mutated ferns over 100 can be gathered between grafton steel yard and the location of a swarm of suitors to the west.
Even though the steeped melon blossom chai boosts our max ap by increasing our ap it doesnt overwrite a foodbuff that only gives max ap so we can add another tea boosting our max ap. For the best buff we make infused soot flower tea giving +50 to our max ap for 1 hour. To craft it we need: boiled water, soot flower, starlight berries and pepper. - I pray your water situation is okay by now - soot flowers grow everywhere in the forest especially around the vault. - we already have a good starlight berry location in the deep but if you want more there is a ton between the slocums joe near wayward the 3 houses on to the south and then follow the railway back north past slocums to gauley mine exit. For another batch of starlight berries. - pepper like spices cant be crafted however they are usually found near spices or instead of spices, a good chef always has ample amounts of salt, pepper and spices on hand.
Wow so now we have a buff increasing our ap regen our max ap and our agility! This means for a lot of us that we either completely remove the action boy perk or use it only at level one leaving us with more room in our build for those sweet food perks I mentioned in level one of the guide, all we need is to grind some levels to buy the perks luckily the next 2 buffs will massively increase our xp gains.
Let's start with the easy one, cranberry relish gives +25% xp for 1 hour! That's like a fifth lunchbox?! And you can craft them??!! All we need is: boiled water, cranberries, gourds and sugar. - do a rain dance and pray for some boiled water if you still don't have a spot near water - cranberries can be found at aaronhold homestead only guarded by some insects or in sunrise field in the cranberry bog if you like mirelurk queens (correct me if im wrong on the spot I dont like mirelurks haha I still go to the noob spot) or the sparse sundew grove which is a very beautiful location in the cranberry bog with almost no enemies. - gourd can be planted at your camp do a quick search on YouTube for the single wild gourd spawn and replant it at your camp - unlike spices salt and pepper sugar can just be crafted dont forget! Run along your favorite river.
Plant some gourds at your camp keep your sugar up occasionally grab cranberries and never run out again.
But wait there's more we can increase our xp gains even more with brain bombs boosting intelligence by 7,5 for 90 minutes, to craft it we need: brain fungus, mothman eggs, !purified! water and irradiated sugar bombs

• you have a water purifier
• brain fungus can be found at the whitesprings service entrance by all the dumpsters, at emmett mountain dispocal (rad rumble location) if you go right instead of down from spawn over 30 can safely be collected i do it everytime after the event when I'm there anyways. and the swamps near berkley springs station (once you spawn locate the tall cable tower thing and head that direction) only one of the locations is necessary as we don't need alot.
• mothman eggs can be grabbed from the altars at cultist locations, more than we will ever need are at point pleasant.
• irradiated sugar bombs are the real problem we need 3 per craft and they cant be crafted or farmed. Luckily the super awesome people of our reddit and discord also have sugar bomb routes! I only visit one location called mosstown in the large house overlooking the shanty town a skeleton can be found in the bathtub with 2-5 sugar bombs, the house also has a wild company tea spawn, company tea is an incredibly hard to craft tea that boosts ap regen more than fever blossom tea.

Having foods you cant farm yourself or ingredients you can't bulk farm might seem annoying but I can assure you that if you are actively playing and exploring the map has plenty of salt pepper spices and irradiated sugar bombs and I never run out of it, another thing I do is check every vendor bot their food section for any ingredients or colas. I can also argue that its not stupid but incredibly fun to be exploring a random place seeing a house and raiding the kitchen cabinets, the dopamine spike is massive everytime I randomly run across spices or sugar bombs and it keeps the game interesting for me.
Another fun one to keep an eye out for is melon bloom sounds a lot like melon blossom but sadly cant be found anywhere except for randomly in small blue coolers, with it you can craft a tea just as strong as the infused soot flower tea but they cant be stacked. Checking every blue cooler is advised because they can also contain sugar bombs and colas.
Another big tip is you can respawn all world spawns such as the 5 sugar bombs in the bath or the wild plants by using the world respawn method which is really easy. I advise you to look it up but the short version is. The game remembers the last 250 ish things you grabbed and respawns the other stuff after you server hop so grab desired stuff then grab 300 books in the weird book house in summerville server hop grab your desired thing again, to make a full loop you can grab a bunch of carrot flowers at palace of the winding path with green thumb then server hop and both the books and desired items are back. (Hot take this is the easier company tea farm)
It is important to never forget to equip super duper for 30% chance at doubling your crafted foods.
If you run out of wood because you are crafting so much food remember caps are worth nothing to a smart forager and wood is sold in bulk for cheap by robots. If you find yourself in need of caps make mentats from carrot flower, brain fungus and firecap and craft berry mentats with mentat firecracker berry and starlight berry. Use chemist to make 2 mentats and those into 4 berry mentats also use super duper for 30% bonus. They sell fast at 50 medium at 60 slow at 70 caps and you make 300 of them in like 15 minutes if you know the route. This is not a mentat guide but if you combine all your knowledge with the resources on discord you can figure it out.
Next time we are looking at even more buffs most of which are more situational like defensive buffs and a +5 strength for the carry weight or the melee sidearm. We will also have a brief overview of the chems I recommend.
My tip for next week is that almost every other plant can be used in some way so keep a mental note of any firecaps, silt beans, aster, gourd blossom and ofcourse all of the already stated ingredients.
And ofcourse I want to know from you! What is your go to location for one of the above stated ingredients or what recipe is absolutely missing from this list or required for the next one let me know. What perks are you no longer using because a food buff took over its role and what is your tip for juggling all these buffs for an apprentice chef?