• They stumbled onward; the smell of sulfur filled their nostrils as it always did these days. No one spoke; no one showed joy or happiness. The red sky loomed overhead as James played with the ring in his pocket and looked over at Catherine. Even with that glow- the gloomy one that surrounded everything- and even as tattered and torn as she appeared, Catherine was still just as beautiful as before the Daemn e Morte rose.They stumbled along the endless wasteland, wandering and hoping for some sort of civilization. James looked back at the man he had entrusted with his secret: his plans to propose to Catherine. The man looked back at him; Bill was his name. Bill nodded to James as they moved behind five others survivors and crossed a field that was overlooked by a church. "The irony... It’s amazing how quickly people turn from their God when this happened... He can't help us now..." James thought to himself as he looked ahead at the road that separated this field from a division of apartments. He glanced over at Catherine and sighed to himself. He, Bill, and Catherine moved to the front of the group and were now ahead. They trudged across the road; it was so dreary with the asphalt full of potholes and the yellow lines long faded. BANG! Everyone jumped and spun quickly hearing a loud gun shot behind them and gasped. One man from the group lay on the ground, gun in his open hand, blood forming around his head. Catherine grabbed James' hand as he looked on grimly and Catherine shed tears as one of the women shrieked and ran over to the man, tears flooding her face. "NO! JOSHUA!" she put her arms around her dead husband and cried into his chest. Before anyone could say anything she lifted the gun, and pressed it to her skull. She thought perversely how pleasantly cold the metal of the gun was as she pulled the trigger, then fell dead onto her husband. Some looked away, some cried, and some watched with grim expressions. There were only six of them total now. They finally all turned away and headed slowly, at first, toward the apartment complex, then everyone’s eyes widened and Catherine gripped James hand tighter as they heard that all too familiar screech from behind them. Though it was miles away they knew they had to get to fortifications and quick; they couldn't outrun those things. Bill screamed to the others running ahead, "THERE ARE FORTIFICATIONS IN THE COMPLEX WITH GUNS!" Everyone ran. They ran as fast as they could to the middle of the complex where there was a bunker and all climbed inside. They had to hurry; the Daemn could be here any moment. Everyone grabbed weapons off the rack in the bunker, ignoring the corpses of the dead, unfortunate ones who tried to make a stand in this bunker and failed. James grabbed a shotgun, a 12-gauge Remington and sat back looking out of the slit of the window waiting... Not even a full minute passed and they saw them on the horizon: the Daemn. They were a swarm, a mass of writhing bodies charging towards the bunker. They looked like something straight out of a child’s nightmare, only they were real, with dark yellowish-red skin; some of them slightly deformed, others enormous. All of them had red eyes. Everyone waited, but didn't have to for long. The bunker filled with the deafening sound of gun shots as they began firing at the Daemn. The beasts fell left and right but they was an enormous number of them. Blood flew as one of the Daemn threw its spike into the bunker and dug itself into one of the men’s eye sockets. James flew to the slit and began firing his shotgun. He heard someone yelling. He looked around realizing with dismay that it was him yelling while he blew away one Daemn after another. He heard someone scream "THE DOOR!" He turned in time to see a Daemn burst through the door and charge at Catherine. He screamed "NO!", but before he knew what he was doing he flung himself in front of Catherine, closed his eyes, and waited for death to come. Nothing. He opened his eyes still hearing gun fire, and a shadow loomed over him. It was Bill, and there was a spike protruding from his chest. He spoke faintly as he faded, "James... ask the girl... now..." James' jaw quivered as Bill fell over dead, and then he blew the Daemn away before it could recover. Blood spattered the wall. He spun around pulling the ring from his jacket hearing screams of terror and tears filled his eyes. "CATHERINE, WILL YOU MAR-" his voice was choked off ,and Catherine screamed in terror as another Daemn gored James from behind and his blood splashed onto her face. Everything was quiet now except that one Daemn and James' death gasp, and then a gunshot as Catherine screamed shooting the Daemn in the head with her pistol. She looked around. Everyone. Dead. She burst into tears and lie on James' body cradling it in her arms as the blood spread from his chest soaking his shirt. Catherine checked her ammo, one round left. She kissed James' cheek and whispered "Yes... I will..." She put the cool metal of the gun to her skull...