Stardew Valley Zombie AU

SECTION LIST:

Teaser

Introduction: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

The Drifter: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15

Bonus 1 / Bonus 2

The Bandits:

The Alliance:

(ununderlined parts are not posted yet, but planned.)

Owner talk!

The other Denners had varying reactions.

Jodi saw him first. She was reading a book on a couch in the community center, trying to keep Vincent distracted and calm. When she made eye contact with Sam, she screamed, bursting into tears right there. She shook as Vincent just stared until Sam came over to hug them both. Kent ran in, ready to fight since he thought they were in trouble. When he caught sight of Sam, he wordlessly enveloped him in his arms. He didn't cry, but the thousand-yard stare he had while he held Sam said everything. Across the room, after finally getting a second to breathe, Sandy and Emily hugged each other tightly. They both expressed their fears that the other had been killed or turned, and Sandy apologized again and again for not coming back. So did Sam, but no one really minded that fact. The entire town was just so glad they were safe. Sebastian and Abigail unabashedly embraced Sam in a group hug, Abi scolding him for scaring them. Really, though, they were just relieved.

The town lingered in the community center a couple hours more. Even though the danger was gone, they were cautious and nervous, especially after Sam and Sandy explained that the lock on the gate had broken. Clint, along with a couple Iridium bars Sam supplied him, said he’d get working on a new one that very night. No one wanted to risk too long in this vulnerable state.

Once everyone dispersed, Jodi demanded the Denners eat dinner as a family. She didn't take this lightly, either. Pumpkin pie from their rationed vegetables, eggs cooked to perfection, and a salmon Willy had given Eva for some work, which she had, in turn, given to them.The feast laid out before them, Vincent smiling and giggling hysterically at his brother's jokes, Kent subtly wiping away tears of joy, Jodi standing proud over her work and her family, and Sam, heart and tear ducts constantly full, breathing in the feeling of family. And Eva found herself smiling more that night than she had in a long, long time. Now, she felt she had all the reasons in the world to do so.

Sam and Eva slept in the farmhouse that night, with the blue blankets and the end table full of tigereyes, and the guitar with the solar powered tuner. Despite the draft of autumn wind and despite the still unused nursery on the floor above, Eva felt that her home could never feel lonely again.

In the morning they would work side by side, like they always used to, feeding Remy and letting out the chickens, watering the grapes and harvesting from the greenhouse. Sam fed Oatmeal carrots and Eva watched, her back against an oak tree that could wait on being cut down, as her husband jumped their horse over chests and hay bales, before wiping out as a jump went too far. He let himself down next to Eva in the grass, and in an instant she was taken back to a day over a year ago, when they had laid in the grass, just talking about names of all things.

They even made affixing the new lock to the gate a sort of date, strolling through the trees that dropped leaves the same color as Eva’s hair.While Sam clicked the lock shut, pocketing their key, Eva searched around the dying leaves, bits of zombie flesh, and piles of dust for the old lock. That iron could still be repurposed, for a sprinkler or a crab pot. Finally, her hand brushed it, and she picked it out of the debris and into the light.

Her heart froze as she realized that the lock wasn't broken.

It was cut.

Eva stopped short, nearly toppled by the body of the zombie fighting Emily as it tipped backwards. The expression of shock on both of their faces were identical as the moment sank in. No one in Pelican Town had a gun. Clint couldn't make them, and Kent had gotten rid of his before the apocalypse. So who….?

Eva whirled around to face where it must have come from. Crouching with her eye on the sight of a rifle was Sandy herself. She knelt by the entrance to town as she focused her barrel on the rest of the zombies, getting a couple other fighters out of tight spots. And next to her, brandishing a sword and searching the crowd, stood….. Oh, Yoba. It was him. Somehow it was him.

Sam Denner himself stood there. His hair was longer. His skin was more tanned. He had a tension in his eyes like none she’d ever seen. But it was him. She didn't know how he could have survived. This changed everything–every single thought she had for the last eight months was wrong. And she had never been so delighted to be wrong.

Sam scanned the crowd of zombies and humans even as he slashed the head off of the creature in front of him. He didn't care as much about the fight as finding her, somewhere in here. What if she was injured and couldn't fight? What if she didn't know this was happening?

And then he saw her.

She was different. To most anyone else, that would have been disappointing or stressful, but to Sam it was relieving. He had changed, too. And after all, change meant she had lived, and she had fought, and she had learned. She was everything he knew she would become.

Her hair was jaggedly cut shorter than before. Her eyes had dark circles. Her frame was weary, her face scarred. But when she caught sight of him, she had that wonderful sparkle in her eyes and a wonderful lopsided smile across her cheeks. His heart soared as she slashed through two zombies at once, charging through the mass towards him.

Sandy continued picking off particularly dangerous zombies as the fight started to die down. Zombies didn't have emotions, but they could realize they were losing. They started attacking more wildly, as they might when alone. It was a dangerous tactic for both sides–thry were easier to get an opening on, but they were also incredibly fast and violent. Even with the extra help of a gun, this would be anything but easy.

Still, Sandy smiled as she worked, for multiple reasons. She was proud of the skills she had built up. She was happy to have more familiar company. And most of all she was glad that Emily and Eva were alive. While she certainly wasn't as close with her as Sam was, Eva was a great friend before the apocalypse. She had of course known Emily for years longer, and she had been quietly anxious about her this whole time. She wasn't as dramatic as Sam, but she had never really relaxed for the past year, and just seeing her allowed her to at least lose some tension.

Eva killed the last zombie, all her might and anger infused into her strike. She wasn't about to let herself take that pent up frustration on anyone except the ones that kept her from her husband. Another version of her would be angry with Sam himself, maybe back when the wound was more raw. But now all she could be was overjoyed.

As she stood over the corpses, she again looked up at Sam, who had joined the fight and stood across the square. For a split second she just took him in, handsome face, loving eyes, fierce heart, calloused hands…. And then she began to cry. She let herself cry as she had over his grave, with that same complicated mix of sadness and wonder. This time, however, it was more joy than anything.

He ran over to her with the sound of bodies beneath his feet, tossing his galaxy sword to the side as he embraced her. Tears fell from his eyes, too, and he kissed Eva about a thousand times all over her face. Eva just cried, like floodgates opened, hugging him with all the strength of a warrior, a farmer, and a wife. It had been so long, far, far too long since she felt she could do this, to be open, to feel relief, to feel love this deeply.

It hurt, it healed, it broke, it fixed. The feeling of missing something they had both been tormented by, the straining they had felt they needed to do in order to make it whole, it all collapsed into one whole as they were meant to be.

The whole of Stardew Valley breathed a sigh of relief as the piece it had lost finally returned. It was like the world rippled as it snapped back into place, better and brighter even in the worst.

What should have been a relatively “normal” day in Pelican Town was ruined when Eva decided to leave her house.

She had already watered the crops and done her home chores, and she actually felt like she was going to have an easy day. Because Yoba seemed to hate her though, it was anything but that. And so, when she stepped out for her farm, she was met with the sight of a horde of shuffling zombies.

At first they were just milling about in the bus stop area, aimless, but when they noticed her they suddenly focused, snarling and lurching. The feeling of all those broken eyes turning towards her made her skin crawl.

Crap. She needed help. She couldn't fight them on her own–could anyone? How could they have gotten in? Did the gate break? It was strong! How could they possibly win this? This was just like last time, but this time it would be her that died!She drew her sword and sprinted towards town. How could she keep everyone safe? She hadn't counted on this many ever coming, did they have enough fighters?

She came across Haley first, wandering up to the fountain. “HALEY! RING THE BELL!” Eva gestured wildly and Haley took off towards the community center as Eva swung at the zombies that followed her.

Abigail was at her side in an instant, seeing the commotion from her front window. Then, once the bell rang through the town, they were joined by the rest of the fighting squad. Sebastian, Robin, Emily, Kent, Alex, Marlon, Gunther, Leah, Shane, and a couple of refugees named Leon and Maya. They were a motley crew, and they hadn't fought this many before, but they’d have to be enough.They fought to push the zombies back towards the entrance, away from the other townspeople rushing to the fortified community center. As Marnie ran by, Eva could hear Jas crying. Shane, blocking a zombie’s reaching hand just a couple feet away, grimaced with worry.

It was a losing fight from the start. They couldn't get rid of these things if they were always playing the defensive to not get hurt. In a stalemate, the zombies would win. The fighters would tire out eventually, and then what good would they be? Their main hope for survival had been the gate, ensuring they never got close at all.

Eva partly blamed herself. She had thought that gate would last, and her laxness would get them all killed.At last, she found herself backed into a corner, practically leaning on a bush nearby the cliff stairs. She could see Emily and Alex in a similar position, up against the side of the clinic. She couldn't catch a glimpse of anyone else, they were all too lost in the crowd of groaning corpses. She heard shouts but not screams, which told her they were probably alive for now. She could only hope they could somehow come back from this hopeless position.

Emily was at the end of her rope. Her talents had never been in swordfighting, but she had known they needed more fighters when she signed up. She just didn't think it would go this far.

Alex had a shield, which was their advantage in this situation. It would buy them time, even if he couldn't cover both of them well. She was basically just swinging her sword at this point, occasionally hitting or incapacitating one of the dozens of monsters.

She tried to think on the bright side: she wasn't dead yet, and the rest of the town was perfectly fine! But in times like this, sometimes thinking of the good could hurt. Why couldn't she be fine?These thoughts made her lower her guard for a fraction of a second, and a zombie in front of her lunges forward as Alex used his shield to push another back. It had a clear shot, its slobbering, broken jaw growing ever closer.

Until its head was blasted off by a rifle.