Here's the OMAKE! It's a little late because I had to rewatch the movie and reread parts of the novel while writing it, which ended up taking much longer than I expected. Because of that, I couldn't finish everything as quickly as I'd hoped, so I took a short break.
That said, if you'd like to read the next part of this OMAKE, get 3/7/13 chapters ahead, or simply support my work, you can do so on my (P)(A)(T). If not, I still want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading. It truly means a lot to me. Thank you so much!
Have a great night, everyone, and enjoy the chapter!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori.
[...]---[...]
Title: After Reincarnating in a World Where Various TV Shows and Movies Are Real, I Was Invited to a Dimensional Group Chat, But One of the Other Members Is an Overpowered Protagonist Pretending to Be a Normal Guy for Some Unknown Reason!
POV: Eleonore Blanc Castle
With the motorhome still idling, I got up from the seat and gave Devas the driver's spot.
He took the wheel in silence, opened the glove compartment, tossed the large rusty gate key inside, and shut it.
As he got the vehicle moving, I headed to the back. I set my laptop on the light wooden table and started the movie for the other girls.
The trip would take a while, but it was better to get things in order right away.
The inside of the motorhome was quiet, lit only by the warm, yellow glow of the lamps.
Ashley and Bella were sitting side by side on the L-shaped couch, both stiff and tense. Bella took the initiative, grabbed one of the only two blankets I'd brought, and wrapped herself in it; Ashley pulled part of it over herself.
Come to think of it, it was stupid not to grab some pillows and blankets from the cabins…
Ellie had thrown herself onto the other end of the couch, legs crossed, eyes already glued to the laptop screen, looking half mesmerized.
MaoMao preferred to stand, leaning near the small kitchen counter. I doubted she'd stay there long. She kept looking around in awe, especially when the motorhome picked up speed.
She probably thought that earlier speed was close to the limit—something comparable to a carriage.
Beyond the "magical" situation we were in, the motorhome itself and the laptop—both of which she stared at in amazement when the movie started—were completely magical to her.
Leaving them behind, I returned to the front.
The gray stone road stretched out ahead, quickly swallowed by pale white fog. Twisted trees lined the sides; the forest was vast, and the shapes lurking within looked far more threatening than mere trees.
Or at least, I hoped they were just trees.
God, I hate this fucking place…
I sat down in the passenger seat and crossed my legs.
"What was on that paper back at the gate?" I asked.
Devas ignored the question for a moment. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "Not going to watch with the others?"
"I will," I replied, settling into the seat. "But I don't mind missing the first few minutes."
He gave a small nod, eyes still fixed on the foggy road ahead.
That's when I noticed.
With the dim dashboard light illuminating his profile, I realized the roots of his dark hair were gray. A darker shade, hard to tell at first glance, but noticeable up close.
Premature graying or built-up stress? But it's too uniform… did he dye the roots?… He doesn't seem like the type…
I blinked, snapping back to focus as Devas took one hand off the wheel and slipped it into his pocket.
He pulled out the paper and handed it to me. I unfolded it slowly.
It was a yellowed sheet, aged and rough, decorated along the edges with wavy lines like the kind of stationery old nobility used.
The note read, in elegant, thin lettering:
"For those who come, know that the end does not exist."
"For those who have gone, know that the beginning has been erased."
"For those who are here—ye who enter, abandon all hope."
"For those who leave, close the gate behind you."
"I wish you a pleasant journey and a safe return."
Signed: No one important enough to be remembered.
My stomach twisted, and a cold shiver crawled up my spine.
"Very hospitable," I muttered dryly, crumpling the edge of the note slightly. I had to resist the urge to roll it into a paper tube. "Did you lock the gate properly?"
"Didn't you hear the click earlier?" he asked rhetorically, already continuing, "I locked it. I don't want to finish this mission only to come back and find something hiding under my bed."
I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again.
I decided not to add anything or continue down that line of thought. For the sake of my sanity.
Just the idea that monsters under the bed or in the closet—like in those stories meant to scare children—could actually be real gave me chills.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I shifted the note to my left hand and idly flicked it between my fingers.
"What do you think it is?" I asked.
"A warning, most likely," Devas replied, his tone as calm as ever. Though I could see the slight furrow in his brow. "From those who came here before us—if anyone did. Or maybe it's something from the Group Chat."
"The part about locking the gate is something I'd have done anyway. But I'll admit, the 'the end does not exist' and 'the beginning has been erased' parts—I have no idea what those mean."
"And the other line is from The Divine Comedy… the phrase on the gates of hell… How lovely…" I muttered, rubbing my free temple. "We're not in a van, but apparently we've got mysteries…"
"If that's the case, I'm Scooby," Devas said with a grin.
I huffed, a little amused.
"Not Fred?" I asked, handing the paper back. He took it and slipped it into his pocket again.
"I don't think I'd make a good Fred. But who knows?" He shrugged, eyes on the road. "What about you? Daphne?"
"Oh, God, no." I waved a hand, uncrossing and recrossing my legs the other way. "I hated that bitch. Velma was my favorite. But if you're Scooby, I'll be Shaggy. How's that?"
"Are we getting Scooby Snacks?"
"There's probably some cheap supermarket pet food. We can munch on that while we wait for man-eating monsters to come get us. Sound good?"
"An excellent plan, my dear friend Shaggy."
"Glad you approve, my dear friend Scooby."
We managed to keep straight faces for about three seconds—which I consider impressive—before bursting out laughing like idiots.
I had to wave back at the girls and reassure them everything was fine when Ellie shouted asking what was going on.
God… not only is he my type, he's got the same dumb sense of humor as me… Fuck it, if it weren't for this shitty situation—and the fact we literally live in different worlds—I'd ask him out and see if I could get somewhere…
As the silence returned after our laughter, I turned my gaze to the window, like I would on any normal trip.
Outside, the scenery alone drained part of my mood.
The pale white fog was getting thicker, and we hadn't even been on the road that long.
It swallowed the gray stone road and the twisted trees like an eraser wiping away a drawing, leaving behind a blank page. Even with the motorhome's high beams on, the light just hit that white wall and scattered.
I could barely see a few meters ahead.
I felt the motorhome slow down. Devas was easing off, driving much more carefully.
"Don't you dare stop this vehicle!" I said quickly, whipping my head toward him, my voice coming out sharper than I intended.
Devas let out a short laugh, eyes still on the windshield. "I won't. I just don't want to crash if something decides to jump onto the road out of nowhere. Easier to react this way."
Fair enough...
I ignored the part of my imagination that pictured a monster leaping out of the forest instead of a random deer.
What if it was a skinwalker in the shape of a deer?…
Fuck!
Stupid brain, stop that. Go smooth like a chicken breast and let me live in ignorance…
As I tried to wipe my mind so clean that anyone looking into my eyes would see nothing behind them, the motorhome kept moving.
I stared blankly at the white void outside for a few more minutes before giving up. If something was going to jump onto the hood, I'd rather not have front-row seats.
I got up from the passenger seat.
"I'm going to sit with the girls and watch the movie," I said, turning away from the dashboard. "If you need anything, just call. Want something to eat or drink? I've got some snacks in my bag."
He shook his head, then lightly tapped his pocket, where he kept that mokeskin pouch. "I've got food here. But thanks."
I pouted slightly. So unfair! I'd kill for a magic bag! A Harry Potter magic bag!
Sighing, I waved at Devas and left the front of the motorhome, heading to the back.
The atmosphere around the girls felt a little lighter than before; they were focused on the movie.
My lips twitched.
If I was Shaggy and Devas was Scooby, then who were they? Ashley and Bella would probably fight over Daphne, MaoMao would be Velma. Ellie was Scooby-Doo Jr., I guess?
But then we'd be missing a Fred… Ashley was the only other blonde besides me, so that made her Fred.
Congrats, Bella—you're Daphne now!
With my dumb thoughts running wild, I walked over to the L-shaped couch and sat in the empty spot, leaning against "Daphne" and pulling a small corner of the blanket over my legs.
I turned my attention back to the laptop screen.
The movie was still at the beginning. In the scene, the storm from the previous night had already passed, and the characters were outside the house, looking at the damage caused by the fallen trees.
In the distance, on the other side of the lake, that strange, dense white mist began to descend from the mountains, sliding over the water toward them, completely blocking the view.
The crushing irony of that scene compared to what we had outside didn't go unnoticed.
[...]
Two and a half hours passed quickly.
The feeling of being watched had somewhat faded. I didn't know if it was because we were getting farther from the campsite or if I was just getting used to it…
My laptop screen went dark, giving way to the end credits as the melancholic, unsettling closing music began playing through the small speaker.
A heavy, uncomfortable silence settled in the back of the motorhome.
"That was… awful." Ellie was the first to break it, hugging her knees on the couch. "He shoots his own son and his friends, and two minutes later the army shows up? What kind of shitty ending is that?"
Come to think of it, this was probably the first movie she's ever watched, wasn't it?.. Ugh…
"A pretty realistic one for the kind of world we're living in now," I said, stretching my arms before turning off and closing the laptop with a click.
We had three long days ahead of us, and even though I had a spare battery, it was better not to waste power.
Bella curled up even more under the blanket, her face pale. Ashley was rubbing her back in small circles, but her own expression didn't look much better.
"They gave up too quickly," MaoMao pointed out. She was now sitting in the corner of the couch—small enough to fit there. Her voice was steady, but I doubted she wasn't shaken.
"They should've stayed in the car until the gas actually ran out or tried to escape on foot, quietly." She frowned, looking particularly irritated. "Suicide was an irrational decision. Fight until the end; death was already certain. Try to live. If you fail, well, at least you tried."
… I agreed with her words, but it wasn't that simple.
"Constant fear makes people irrational," I said, sighing as I leaned back into the couch. "And just so we're all clear: we are literally driving down a fog-covered road, heading straight to the exact place from the movie. So please try not to shoot me if we get a flat tire."
Ellie let out a nervous laugh. Ashley, however, looked far more contemplative, her eyes drifting across the motorhome's light wooden floor.
"But… what if that woman was right?" Ashley suddenly asked, her voice quieter than usual.
I frowned. "Who? The crazy fanatic bitch, from the supermarket?"
"Mrs. Carmody," Bella supplied, rubbing her arms over the fabric.
"Yeah, her," Ashley continued, clearly reluctant to say what was on her mind, but pushing through anyway. "Think about it. She spent the entire movie saying the world was ending, that God was angry, and that He demanded a blood sacrifice to make the mist and the monsters go away. And what happens at the end?"
She looked at the three of us.
"The moment David shoots his son and the people in the car… their blood is spilled. And not even five minutes later, the army shows up out of nowhere and the mist starts to disappear. What if she wasn't just crazy? What if she actually did receive some kind of 'divine revelation' in there and was a real prophet?"
I fell silent…
Fuck… No way!
The idea sent a chill down my spine.
It was completely messed up, but it made a terrifying kind of sense. Especially considering we now lived in a universe with supernatural rules, where one person's madness could very well be everyone's reality.
"She was just a fraud!"
Devas's voice rang out loudly from the front of the motorhome, cutting through our conversation like a blade. I actually flinched slightly in my seat.
I turned toward the cabin. He was still focused on the white road ahead, hands steady on the wheel. When I looked at him, his gaze shifted to the rearview mirror above, meeting mine.
His single eye locked onto me.
"A false prophet," he continued, explaining. He let out a scoffing laugh. "Rewind the scene where she's in the supermarket talking about the Bible."
"I already closed the laptop, Devas," I replied, still a bit caught off guard.
He ignored me. "In the apocalypse scene. She says 'apocalypses.' Plural."
He shook his head slightly, looking away again and back to the road.
"The Book of Revelation is singular. There's no plural for it. And that's not all. She makes several other small mistakes and twists verses every time she opens her mouth to quote the Bible and spread panic among those people."
He paused, then added before falling silent: "Fear spreads faster than any disease."
I blinked a few times, processing that.
"And faith is blind," I murmured.
They were two of the clues we'd been given on the mission sheet.
"The director probably did that on purpose, then," MaoMao commented from her corner, eyes narrowed. "To subtly show that she was nothing more than a megalomaniacal manipulator, making up her own rules—not someone who was actually hearing the voice of God."
MaoMao really was sharp. I made the right call naming her Velma.
"Exactly," Devas agreed, sounding less irritated. "Don't listen to lunatics. No one needed to die; all they had to do was wait without panicking, and everyone would've made it out alive."
A brief silence settled over the back of the motorhome after Devas finished.
Setting him—and the movie theories—aside for a moment, I stood up and clapped once, loud enough to break the tension and get everyone's attention.
"Who's hungry?" I asked, rubbing my hands together. "Because I'm starving. Let's take a snack break."
The reaction was almost immediate, though with varying levels of enthusiasm. Ellie, of course, was the first to respond.
"I'd kill for a burger right now, but I'll take anything that doesn't taste like cardboard," the teenager declared, crossing her arms.
Ashley let out a tired sigh but nodded in strong agreement. Bella just murmured a weak "yeah," still hugging her knees on the couch, while MaoMao gave a silent nod.
I went to my bag, fished out the extra backpack I'd set aside just for food, and carried it over to the light wooden table on the left side of the vehicle.
I unzipped it and started pulling out supplies.
"We've got turkey and cheese sandwiches, protein bars, packs of crackers, and some fruit," I announced, stacking everything in the center of the table.
I'd prepared a bit of everything. It wouldn't last three days, but food shouldn't be a problem, considering we were heading to a market.
Ellie quickly squeezed into the brown cushioned seat, grabbing a sandwich and a pack of crackers before anyone could complain.
Ashley sat across from her, making space for Bella, who timidly settled beside her with an apple. MaoMao only took a protein bar, poking at it with her finger, studying the plastic before slowly opening it and giving it a tentative lick.
Her eyes widened at the taste before she took a bite like she'd just discovered something amazing.
Just like a cat… I really want to squeeze her!
As they started eating and the sounds of chewing and crinkling plastic replaced the heavy atmosphere with something lighter, I grabbed one of the sandwiches and an extra bar.
Even though Devas had said his mokeskin pouch was stocked, it would be rude to leave him driving up front without offering anything.
I walked toward the cabin. As I got closer, I couldn't help but glance outside through the large windshield.
The view hadn't changed at all: the same stone road surrounded by that pale white fog, swallowing the twisted trees in a dense, impenetrable wall.
Ignorance, live in ignorance, brain, I repeated to myself, forcing my eyes away and focusing only on the lit interior of the motorhome.
I sat down in the passenger seat beside him and held out the food. "Here," I offered. "You've been driving for two hours. Eat something."
Devas nodded and accepted, taking the sandwich and opening it with practiced ease using only his right hand, while his left stayed steady on the wheel.
He had a lot of muscle… I glanced at his arm discreetly.
That's when something caught my attention. A scar. It was close to his skin tone, which explained why I hadn't noticed before, but up close the texture was unmistakable.
It was a circular, uneven, thick mark that seemed to wrap all the way around his forearm. It looked like the kind of wound you'd get if thick barbed wire had wrapped around it and torn deep into the flesh, all the way to the bone.
Damn… I thought, swallowing. That was almost an amputation, no question. What the hell tried to rip this guy's arm off? Did he fight a bear?
I obviously didn't ask that out loud. Just like I was curious about his left eye and the bandages on his arm, it wasn't the time. We barely knew each other.
Instead, I took a bite of my sandwich and decided to change the subject to satisfy an earlier curiosity.
"Are you religious?" I asked casually. "Given how strongly you reacted earlier to the Mrs. Carmody discussion, I got curious."
Devas let out a short snort through his nose, something close to amusement.
"Not really," he replied, mouth half full as he chewed and swallowed quickly before continuing. "I just hate people who use religion and faith to spread misinformation and fear. And it pisses me off even more when they lie and use someone else as the target of their madness."
I nodded, completely agreeing.
I took another small bite of my turkey sandwich, and we fell into a comfortable silence, focused only on the food and the foggy road.
Well—Devas was focused on the road. I was looking at my legs. They were nice legs. Legs that didn't inspire thoughts about monsters.
It didn't last long. I heard the soft sound of footsteps on the carpet behind us.
MaoMao had left the kitchen counter and walked up front.
She positioned herself right between our seats, resting an arm on the back of mine. The Chinese girl didn't say a word, just fixed her narrow eyes on the pale white fog outside with curiosity.
I turned my head to look at her, chewing slowly, waiting to see what she'd do.
MaoMao, with the most neutral, placid expression possible, slipped her free hand inside the green collar of her hanfu and pulled something out on a thin chain.
It was a small silver monocle.
Without ceremony, she brought it up and placed it over her left eye.
I opened my mouth to ask what the hell that was, but I didn't have time to make a sound.
The motorhome lurched violently—so much that my first thought was that we'd flipped.
The tires screeched harshly against the stone road, and the whole vehicle swerved sharply to the side, nearly veering off.
Devas cursed under his breath, jerking the wheel in pure reflex with both hands.
His sandwich flew into the air, hitting the windshield and dropping onto the dashboard. I was thrown back against the seat, digging my nails into the leather to keep from falling.
He recovered in the next second, fighting the steering and regaining control before stabilizing us back in the center of the road. The motorhome slowed dramatically, crawling at a near walking pace.
Ellie was the first to break the stunned silence, her voice shrill from the back.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Did we hit something?! What?!" Ashley shouted next, bordering on hysteria. The sound of something plastic hitting the floor echoed from the back.
"Monsters?!" Bella asked, her voice crushed by panic.
Up front, Devas let go of the wheel with his right hand and pressed it against the left side of his chest, clutching his shirt. He was breathing hard.
He raised his hand in a shaky gesture toward the rearview mirror so the girls could see.
"Sorry," he said, voice unsteady, before bringing his hand back to his chest. He muttered under his breath, like he was complaining to his own body: "It's the left eye… Fuck... my heart almost exploded again…"
I adjusted myself in the seat, my heart pounding in my throat. I glanced frantically through the side mirrors, trying to see past the fog.
"What was it?!" I demanded, my hand already shooting inside my coat toward my Taurus. "Did you see something on the road? Is something behind us?!"
We hadn't even arrived yet! There were things on this fucking road too?! Step on it!
Devas shook his head quickly—the only thing stopping me from climbing over him, jumping on top of him and sitting on his lap, and hitting the gas myself.
He took a deep breath, exhaling through his mouth, then pointed an almost accusatory finger at MaoMao, who was still holding the monocle to her letf eye, her hair slightly disheveled from having stumbled and fallen.
"There's nothing on the road," he said, calming down. "It's just… when she pulled out that monocle out of nowhere. It's a bit of PTSD."
I blinked. The inside of the vehicle went completely silent.
A bit?! my mind screamed. You almost flipped a five-ton vehicle with six people inside, and that's just a bit of PTSD?!
And who the hell gets PTSD from that?!
"PTSD from monocles?" I asked, my disbelief completely obvious.
"It's an old—well, not even that old, more like recent—story," he replied, his expression sour, eyes fixed on the fog. "Short version: it's the fault of some weird bastard who wears a monocle."
Behind us, I heard Ellie's footsteps as she walked down the aisle to take a look after all the commotion.
"How the hell do you get PTSD from a monocle?" she asked, voicing the exact same question echoing in my head.
Wait… she knew what a monocle was?
"And what the hell is a monocle?!"
Ah. There it is.
MaoMao nodded and showed the monocle to Ellie, who nodded back before turning to Devas, waiting for an answer.
"Trust me, you would too if you ran into that guy," Devas shot back, shaking his head, offering no further explanation.
Dropping the subject, he gradually pressed the accelerator again, bringing the motorhome back up to its previous speed.
He was still being careful, keeping his attention fixed on the limited visibility the cursed road gave us. Then he glanced at the rearview mirror, looking at the Chinese girl who had just gotten back up from the floor.
"By the way, what is that?" he asked MaoMao. "You didn't use it at any point before, so I'm guessing it's not something related to vision."
MaoMao didn't answer right away.
She held the silver monocle in front of her left eye and slowly spun it between her fingers. The glass faintly reflected the pale light of the fog before she finally tucked it back inside her clothes.
"It's the item I received from the Group Chat," she explained in her calm voice. "It lets me see things better and uncover things. I wanted to check if there was anything hidden in the fog, but I didn't see anything."
She didn't go into detail about how it worked, keeping her cards close to her chest. Devas simply nodded in understanding.
Seems like a pretty useful item, I thought to myself. Mine is too, but in a completely different way. Same with Devas's… We've got a good combination here…
Deciding to take the initiative and keep things cooperative, I slipped a hand into my pocket and pulled mine out. I turned around, kneeling on the passenger seat with my ass toward the dashboard and windshield, looking over the seat.
"Since we're showing," I said, drawing their attention as I opened my palm to reveal the coin the Chat had given me. "This is mine. A Seer Coin."
"It lets me make up to three yes-or-no divinations," I explained, looking down at the engraving on the metal. "If we hit a dead end or need to make a survival decision, I ask a question, flip the coin, and it points me to the safest option."
As much as I would've preferred to keep it secret, I also knew that would be the wrong call. Not out of morality, but because I had a feeling our chances of surviving only existed if we cooperated.
If it turned into every person for themselves, I couldn't see a future where this motorhome made it back to camp.
My openness broke the others' hesitation, prompting the girls to follow suit.
Ashley reached under her hoodie and pulled out a necklace with a small charm attached.
"I already explained it in the Group Chat, but mine's an amulet," Ashley said, holding it between her fingers. "It increases my resistance to all viruses. I just don't know if it'll help against the poison from those giant insects…"
Bella hesitated for a second on the couch before reaching into her backpack and pulling out something long, pointed, and white.
"Mine's a stake," Bella murmured, holding the wooden stake with both hands. "A vampire-killing stake. I thought it was a prank when it showed up on my desk, but… well, given everything, it probably really does kill vampires. I don't know if it'll work on the monsters out there…"
I opened my mouth to speak, but someone beat me to it.
"It might," Devas said first. "If the stake kills vampires because they're evil creatures or something along those lines, it'll probably work. Either way, in a desperate situation, it's still something sharp—and not many things survive a stake through the heart."
"What he said." I thumbed toward Devas.
"Something survives a stake through the heart?…" I heard Ashley murmur.
I chose not to answer—not because I didn't know, but because the list was long… Hopefully we wouldn't run into any of those in the next missions.
There weren't any like that in this one; count your small blessings!
Ellie quickly joined in.
She hesitated for a second before going to the corner where she'd tossed her bag, reaching inside, then returning with a large glass jar wrapped in thick cloth, filled with a kind of pink ointment.
"This is mine," the teenager said, holding up the jar. "It's a healing salve. It makes scars disappear and helps injuries heal. You just apply it to the wound."
She paused, as if deciding something, then nodded to herself.
"If anyone gets hurt, come to me."
Nice of her—especially considering the kind of world she came from…
MaoMao seemed quite interested in the salve but didn't say anything.
We fell into silence for a moment, until all eyes naturally shifted to the front of the vehicle. Devas was the last one left.
Without taking his eyes off the dense white road ahead for even a fraction of a second, he reached his right hand down to his side. He pulled out the small, rustic, scale-like pouch he had shown me before and casually held it up.
"A mokeskin pouch," he said, the material rustling lightly in his hand. "The name kind of sucks, but it's pretty great. Basically, it's way bigger on the inside than it looks. I can store whatever supplies and equipment we need in here."
I noticed Bella's eyes widen slightly when she heard the name and what the mokeskin pouch did. Did she know Harry Potter? Was that even a thing in Twilight?
Meanwhile, Ellie turned to Ashley.
"Wait, so your amulet protects us if we catch something here?" Ellie asked Ashley, looking noticeably relieved by the revelations.
"Yeah, well—at least it protects me," Ashley corrected with a nervous smile, rubbing the back of her neck. "But it should work for anyone who wears it. That, combined with your ointment, should be really useful."
"A stake and storage space… his is cooler…" Bella murmured, glancing from her own white wooden stake to the pouch in Devas's hand. "This makes us look like a really weird RPG party."
"And Miss Eleonore's coin serves as a last resort if we can't figure out what to do," MaoMao added. She turned to Ellie. "May I study that ointment later? I'd like to see if I can replicate it, even if only to a lesser degree."
Ellie shrugged.
"As long as you don't use too much, I guess…" She narrowed her eyes. "But if you replicate it, I want a supply. For free."
MaoMao didn't hesitate to agree.
I smiled to myself. Good job, Eleonore!
I gave myself a mental pat on the back while doing a little celebratory dance in my head. I'd managed to bring the group closer together!
With morale visibly improved and the ice broken, I turned back around and sat properly in the passenger seat again, crossing my legs. That's when I noticed Devas glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
"What?" I asked.
He shook his head, his lips curling in faint amusement.
"Nothing."
I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes at him. "Focus on the road, driver."
He let out a quiet huff of laughter and turned his attention back to the thick fog ahead, then reached out, grabbed the sandwich that had fallen onto the dashboard, and went back to eating it as a comfortable silence settled over the cabin again.
Wait… I wasn't actually swaying in real life too, was I? Not just in my head?…
I felt my face heat up. Especially since Devas still had that amused smile. I turned my face away from him, hiding it.
Ugh… how embarrassing…
[...]
After about five hours, we finally arrived.
I'd left the passenger seat and gone to the back to sit on the couch. I offered to switch with Devas and drive, but he refused, saying he didn't mind.
I didn't push it; I wasn't that fond of driving anyway.
The change when we arrived was abrupt—and unsettling.
One moment, we were on that endless straight road, surrounded by fog so thick it felt like a white purgatory.
The next, civilization reappeared out of nowhere. I felt a slight chill at the sudden transition; the fog had vanished from the road, and the sky opened up again, returning to blue.
Even the feeling of being watched disappeared completely in an instant.
Devas slowed down, smoothly steering the large Fleetwood into the parking lot of a small-town supermarket.
Food House Supermarket—almost identical to the one from the movie.
The place was busy.
Cars and pickup trucks filled nearly every space, and people walked around with shopping carts.
Wet asphalt, puddles, and fallen branches on the sidewalks pointed to the heavy storm from the night before.
The setting was perfectly mundane—the classic post-storm small-town atmosphere. Honestly, it was calm, almost welcoming. If I didn't know the kind of shit that was about to happen, I could've actually enjoyed it.
The white mist that gave the story its name hadn't shown up yet…
With the vehicle parked—taking up a double space near the far right side of the supermarket, close enough to the entrance but still somewhat out of sight—I noticed Devas turn toward us without turning off the engine.
"Last chance. You want to go through with this?" he asked, his casual tone masking the weight of the choice.
Before any of us could question whether we even had another option, he continued, "I'm pretty sure there's an alternate side mission where we just keep driving, get away from the supermarket, and leave before the mist arrives. I can turn around and we head back to the road."
Ashley, beside me, widened her eyes, her whole body leaning forward. Ellie, sitting at the table seats, bit her lower lip, clearly tempted by the idea of escaping the danger zone, while Bella looked about a millisecond away from shouting "yes!" at the top of her lungs.
I widened my eyes slightly too. I hadn't even considered that.
But… there was no way it was that easy...
The Chat system wouldn't let us off that easily, would it?…
I wanted to hope, but I couldn't.
"The mist moves really fast in the movie," I said, pouring cold water on the idea, remembering how terrifyingly quickly the white wall descended from the mountains in the original.
MaoMao immediately added her pragmatic take, "And we don't know its range. It's never stated how much ground it covers; we might not even make it far on open roads before it reaches us."
Ashley, Ellie, and Bella's expressions quickly fell. With the hope of an easy escape route crushed, Devas nodded and turned off the engine.
The rumble of the Fleetwood died.
He slipped the key into his pocket and stretched as he got up.
"Well then, let's go," he said, taking the lead toward the motorhome door.
We filed out in order. Devas went first, followed by MaoMao, Bella, Ashley, Ellie—and I was the last one out, making sure we weren't leaving anything behind.
Everyone had a backpack. I carried the one with medical supplies and Taurus ammo; I handed the food and clothing bag to Devas, who stored it in his mokeskin pouch along with whatever else he had in there.
I want that pouch so badly!
Outside, the air hit me with a sense of nostalgia. It had that countryside smell, but not too far removed from urban areas.
Clean air—and I loved the scent after rain.
I looked around. A few people passing by with groceries gave us curious glances—probably wondering who the outsiders were stepping out of a massive motorhome—especially since our group was a bit unusual, but they quickly lost interest.
Devas waited patiently until all of us were on the ground.
The moment the motorhome door shut behind me, he pressed the alarm. The sharp click of the lock echoed through the parking lot in an almost ominous way.
It felt like the world had just pressed a start button.
The air suddenly seemed colder. I turned my head toward where the chill came from.
In the distance, above the tree line, it was impossible to miss. The four girls, me—and soon other people in the parking lot—stopped what we were doing to look.
A dense white mist was descending from the mountains.
It moved fast, like a massive white avalanche.
It advanced steadily, swallowing trees like the gaping maw of a monster, spreading across the land. As it came, it covered everything—the far background first, then closer and closer—until it formed a thick wall that completely blocked out sight, heading straight toward us.
My legs trembled, and cold sweat broke out across my back.
My body nearly froze at the terrifying sight of that massive white wall advancing toward us—especially because I knew what was inside it.
Still, I forced myself to move.
"Inside, now!" I growled, forcing my voice not to come out as a weak whimper. "Move, fuck, move!"
At my shout, the other girls seemed to snap out of it and started running toward the supermarket. Ellie went first, followed by MaoMao, then Ashley and Bella behind them.
I stayed behind—not because I was the slowest. I was sure I could catch up to Ellie and MaoMao's short legs if I wanted to.
I stayed behind because Devas hadn't moved.
I'd only taken a few steps before skidding to a stop, my boots scraping against the pavement, realizing he hadn't moved a single muscle.
He was just standing there, staring at the approaching white wall in the distance.
I didn't waste time analyzing why. I grabbed his right hand with my left.
"Devas, snap out of it!" I shouted, starting to pull him.
I realized he might as well have been made of stone, because he didn't budge at all—like a statue glued to the ground, even when I put real force into pulling him.
What the hell was this guy made of?!
Still, my actions and shouting must've snapped him out of it, because he blinked and turned, looking at me before jerking his chin forward.
"Go ahead."
I didn't hesitate. I let go of his hand and started running, his footsteps right behind me.
Moments after we reached and rushed into the Food House Supermarket—with Ellie snarling at a man trying to shut the door, stopping him and threatening him with her pocketknife—the mist reached the parking lot.
A heavy, damp smell flooded the air instantly, like wet earth mixed with something old and rotten that made my stomach churn.
The glass doors slammed shut behind us.
The next moment, everything outside was white.
[...]---[...]
And here we are at last—the first mission begins, and I have to rewatch the damn movie to make sure what I planned actually holds up.
Either way, I really like this character lineup.
MaoMao is great—I genuinely enjoy her character. Ellie's the foul-mouthed brat who's basically the group's mini guard dog. I like Ashley too, especially her version in the RE4 Remake. Though I'll admit, she got lucky I released the OMAKE before RE9 came out—otherwise she'd be Grace. Bella's the one I like the least, but she was kind of a request from a friend of mine. She really wanted Bella in the story, so I added her.
As for Eleonore, I genuinely like her—and I'm the one writing this thing. The way her mind works, that almost autistic way she thinks and acts, is fun as hell to write.
And finally, our regular, Devas. He revealed a few things in this chapter. Every one of these OMAKE chapters will have small, scattered "mini-spoilers" with no context—nothing that'll hurt your experience later, so don't worry.
Anyway, have a good night, everyone, and enjoy the read!