Blake and Weiss exited the RV in fresh clothes that looked exactly like their old ones, but beggars can't be choosers. They had all their weapons loaded and ready, and began their journey to the next area. As they got out of the RV, Weiss glanced at Blake and said, "Hey, Blake."
Blake turned her head. "Yeah, Weiss?"
"It was night when we went to sleep, right?" Weiss asked, brow furrowing slightly.
"Yes, it was," Blake replied, narrowing her eyes in thought. "I can only imagine we either slept a full 24 hours, or the sun never rose. Must mean this part of the game is supposed to take place at night."
Weiss sighed. "Oh joy."
The two of them made their way through the forest and into the ruined village, heading toward the Wossek. Once inside the Wossek, which looked like a rundown, dust-choked bar with overturned chairs and shattered bottles on the floor, a guy in a white tank top suddenly jumped out with a knife. Blake reacted instantly, flipping him over with a fluid motion and holding him at gunpoint, her amber eyes sharp and unblinking. Weiss immediately drew her gun on the other man.
The first guy, now pinned, blurted out, "Weiss, Blake — it's us, Gabe and Pedro!"
After a second, Blake recognized them from the information she had received when they started the game. She holstered her weapon and let Gabe up. "Sorry about that, but you shouldn't just jump out like that."
Gabe held up his hands. "My bad."
Pedro gave a shaky laugh. "You girls scared me to death."
After exchanging information with Gabe and Pedro, they sat around while Pedro fiddled with the bracelet that had come off Thompson. Suddenly, the Overseer's voice crackled through their bracelets.
"Welcome to the brink of true fear."
Blake groaned. "Oh great, this bitch again."
Weiss shot her a look. "Down, Blake. She's not here — we can't do anything."
The Overseer's tone was dripping with mockery. "I need to throw you at the wall and see who sticks. The wall, in this case, is the virus I injected in you all."
Gabe's eyes widened. "You what?!"
The Overseer continued, "We will all die — there's no question of that — but one of you still has a chance of dying well."
"I'm no lab rat," Gabe snarled. "She can stick it right up her all-seeing ass."
Blake pumped her fist. "Preach."
"You guys, follow me," Gabe said, motioning toward the door.
Weiss and Blake followed him to a big blue metal gate. Once they were on the other side, they spotted a helicopter sitting in the middle of a clearing. As they approached, Gabe muttered, "Man, I hope Fisher's okay."
"Who?" Weiss asked, blinking.
"Our in-game boss," Blake replied flatly.
"Oh, yeah… man, it's hard to keep two sets of memories straight," Weiss said, rubbing her temple.
Once they got closer, Weiss asked, "Do you think you can fly this thing, Gabe?"
"Once I repair it. It needs a new battery and some fuel," Gabe answered.
Blake smirked. "I guess you want us to go find those things, right?"
"Yep," Gabe confirmed.
Weiss sighed. "Let's go, Blake."
They walked back into town to begin their search. After exploring a few ruined houses, Blake tapped Weiss on the shoulder. "You think the one that's lit up might be what we're looking for?"
"Probably," Weiss said.
They tried the house's front door, but it was locked.
Blake groaned. "Why is everything always locked?" She glanced at the barred windows, took the crowbar from Weiss, and with a frustrated growl jammed it between the bars, ripping the whole thing out in one sharp movement. She handed the crowbar back to Weiss, who stared at her with wide eyes.
"You wanna talk about it?" Weiss asked.
"I've read a lot of horror novels, watched a lot of horror movies, and even played some horror games," Blake said, her tone sharp but matter-of-fact. "And through all of them, I've never understood why no one was smart enough to try getting past a locked door through alternative methods instead of going on a locked door–'guess we need a key'–wild goose chase."
Then Blake hopped through the window, spotted the battery, grabbed it, and jumped back out.
As they began searching the town anew, they heard the loud whirring of a power drill. Following the sound to its source, they found Pedro standing in front of a crumbling brick wall with a massive drill slung on his back.
"Pedro, what are you doing?" Weiss asked, tilting her head.
"Oh, hey guys," Pedro said cheerfully. "I found this drill. If you see any weak walls, let me know — I'll take care of them for you."
He drilled through the wall in front of him, and when he was done, he gestured toward the opening. "See if there's anything useful inside."
Weiss and Blake stepped inside, finding nothing but a corpse sitting next to a bed. Weiss spotted a machine pistol lying beside the body, picked it up, checked it over, and said, "I'll take this one, Blake."
"I don't mind," Blake said with a shrug. "I'll just grab something similar at the next rest stop."
After more searching, they found another weak wall.
"This is the place," Blake said.
"How can you tell?" Weiss asked.
Blake pointed upward. "The symbol for flammable is literally right there."
"Oh…" Weiss muttered. "Let's go find Pedro."
"Why didn't we just take the drill from him?" Blake asked as they walked.
"I don't know… now that you mention it," Weiss admitted.
After making their way back to Pedro, they explained and guided him to the wall. As he began drilling, the noise drew in the Afflicted. Weiss and Blake stood behind Pedro, fighting them off — mostly with knives to conserve ammo. Blake drove her blade into the final Afflicted's head just as Pedro finished drilling.
Inside the opening, Weiss found a can of fuel. They returned to Gabe, handing him the items.
"Good work. Now it's my turn to work some magic — greasy chopper-repairing voodoo magic," Gabe said with a grin.
Immediately after he spoke, a siren blared from the Wossek.
"It's gonna draw in more of those things — go shut it off!" Gabe shouted.
Blake, Weiss, and Pedro took off running.
"Why did we listen?" Blake complained. "Those things are going to go to the bar, not the chopper! Why didn't we stay behind the big gate and pick off the ones that got close?"
"I think becoming protagonists in a horror game has lowered our intelligence a bit," Weiss admitted, deadpan.
Once inside the bar, Pedro slammed and barred the door, panting. Weiss sprinted upstairs, shut off the siren, and joined Blake in killing the Afflicted trying to break through the windows. They took out several with precise headshots or by stabbing through the bars.
Pedro's panic escalated. "We're all gonna die!" His bracelet turned red — something Blake noticed, and though she didn't know why, her instincts screamed that it was bad.
After a few more kills, the Afflicted were gone.
Pedro stepped toward the door. "I think we're safe—"
Several arms burst through, grabbing him. Blake and Weiss yanked him free, but he ran to the bar and began violently thrashing.
Weiss kept fending off attackers, but Blake's eyes stayed locked on Pedro, instincts tightening in her chest.
The Overseer's voice returned. "Fear triggers the virus."
On cue, Pedro groaned in pain.
"See how his bracelet change—" the Overseer began, but was cut off when Blake leveled her shotgun at Pedro's head and fired, the blast erupting in a spray of blood and brain matter.
"Wow, you cold bitch," the Overseer said, audibly shocked. "You didn't hesitate. I thought he was your friend."
"Meh," Blake said casually. "I barely knew him, and it was him or me — and Weiss and I like me and Weiss more."
"Love you too, Blake," Weiss shouted over the noise. "Now help me kill the living dead!"
Blake rejoined the fight, and before long, the two had taken down the remaining enemies.
After fending off the afflicted for a while, they heard a voice shout from above, "Blake! Weiss! Over here!" On top of the bar, they saw a guy kick down a ladder and say, "Come on, we can escape through here!"
Weiss glanced up, frowning. "Hey, it's that guy that's supposed to be our boss. Then she said.I can't believe the lady I took the place of finds him attractive."
Blake glanced at her and said. "Yeah… and the girl I replaced finds him suspicious as hell. And I kind of do too."
They followed Neil across the rooftop and shimmied along a narrow rock path until they reached a spot just above a gate.
"I'll jump over and unlock it from the other side," Neil offered.
But Blake and Weiss didn't wait. They both sprinted forward and somersaulted over Neil and the gate, landing in crouches on the other side.
"Or you can both one-up me, that's cool too," Neil said with a half-grin.
After walking through tall grass, they came across a tunnel blocked by a crumbling brick wall. It wasn't anchored to the ground.
"We need to lift it up and go through one at a time," Neil said.
Weiss walked forward, crowbar in hand, wedged it between the brick and the tunnel entrance, and pulled back until the wall came crashing to the ground. "Why was the hardest option your solution?" she said, shaking her head.
"Nice work, Weiss. Now we can move forward," Blake said with a small smile.
They made their way through the dark cavern and exited through a door at the end. Stepping out, they found themselves at the entrance to a ruined city. Blake's eyes landed on a massive tower looming in the distance.
"That's probably where we need to go," Blake said.
As they reached a boarded-up door, Weiss was about to start prying the boards loose when they heard howling. She spotted several grotesque, monstrous hounds charging toward them. Weiss looked at Blake and saw her ears flatten against her head while she trembled slightly.
Weiss tossed her the crowbar. "Blake—door now. I'll handle the dogs."
"Yep, doing it now," Blake said, sprinting to the door and prying the boards off as fast as she could.
As Weiss and Neil fought the hounds off, Blake finished removing the boards, the splintered wood crashing to the ground like a broken shield. Then the trio didn't waste time— they swiftly darted through the door and plunged deeper into the ruined city. Broken rooftops loomed overhead, and empty, shattered storefronts lined their path, each echo a taunt of decay.
They pressed on until their only path forward was blocked by a heavy iron gate. Beyond it, a writhing mass of Afflicted snarled and pressed against the steel, eager to burst through.
Blake's sharp eyes caught sight of a rickety balcony two stories up. Without hesitation, she steadied herself, then reached down and let Weiss use her cupped hands as a foot hold and hoisted her upward, muscles straining. Weiss hoisted Blake up in return with a grunt .
They were about to pull Neil up as well when the Afflicted slammed the gate open with a grotesque clang, bodies pouring through.
Neil shouted, voice cutting through the chaos, "Go on—I'll find another way!" He slipped through a narrow gap in the crumbling wall that they hadn't noticed before, disappearing into the shadows with snarling hounds close behind.
Blake frowned, eyes narrowing with mistrust. "I don't trust that guy."
Weiss crossed her arms, expression cool but concerned. "Me either. He seems too eager to get away from us when there was plenty of time to pull him up... Well, whatever. Let's go."
They didn't look back. As they navigated shattered marble floors and fallen beams, they soon triggered another defender—an Ironhead. The hulking brute lumbered forward, metal helmet clanking, swinging with brutal force.
Blake held her ground—her body tense and ready—drawing the Ironhead's attention with a deliberate stance, every movement quiet but purposeful.
From a safe distance, Weiss took precise shots—her aim crisp, each bullet finding weak points between the metal plates. She repositioned herself with cold efficiency, retreating just enough to maintain cover but close enough to deliver lethal accuracy .
The Ironhead staggered under the barrage, leaving it vulnerable.
Blake moved in, jammed her shotgun barrel in the gap between his flesh and helmet, and pulled the trigger. Blood and viscera poured out of the helmet, and the iron head toppled over,lifeless.
Then Blake and Weiss made their way through an abandoned building. Once they reached the bottom floor of what looked like a ruined store then as they moved forward part of the ceiling gave way, and through the resulting hole fell a very large creature. It looked like a very fat, masked man carrying a bag and a torch.
Weiss paused, taking in the absurd sight with a raised brow. "What is that thing?" she said.
Blake's eyes narrowed. "I don't know but shoot it."
As Blake and Weiss opened fire, shells and dust scattering, the creature shoved the torch into the bag. The inside of the bag lit up and began to smoke, glowing ominously.
Blake blinked, voice tight. "Oh… that doesn't look good."
Weiss dove sideways while Blake followed suit. They rolled out of the way just in time for a massive fireball to erupt where the creature had stood.
Weiss dusted herself off , and dryly said. "Oh wonderful, it can shoot fireballs." She pulled out her machine pistol and unloaded into the creature's left knee. Sparks flew; the creature toppled, kneeling.
Blake, seeing an opening sprinted forward. She leaped onto its back,and blasted the back of its head with her shotgun. The blow finished it off.
They approached the exit exhaustion settling in. Blake didn't bother seeing if the door was unlocked; she shot the door handles, blowing a hole through the lock, then threw the door open.
Outside, they found another RV waiting. Blake said . "I'm going straight to bed. I'll worry about the points tomorrow."
Weiss simply nodded. "Same."
They both tumbled into bed and passed out on the spot.