The land was dark and desolate; a barren field with the only evidence of humanity being the rubble and debris of buildings as far as the eye can see. That was all the world was now; just shattered remnants of what once was. Humanity destroyed itself. It all started with the Gloom; it changed humans and made them evil and attack one another. First came the panic. Then the riots. After that the wars broke out and the anarchy until most of the humans were wiped from existence along with everything else which was blown to bits. Now, there's only few humans left who are struggling to survive.

 

A young boy of age five with markings of bones on his body and a sugar skull on his face was searching through the ruins of what once was a two story building. The Gloomified wildlife was too busy trying to kill another poor soul so the boy had time time to search for supplies. He needed some kind of medication for a dying man he called his father. With nothing but tattered pants and a satchel the boy was on his knees searching through the rubble for some kind of item he could give to his father so he could feel better.

"Por favor..." The boy sniffled, wiping away thick tears that ran down his face as he searched. The tears dampened the ends of his scruffy brown colored hair.

"Por favor... Por favor... Mi Papa..."

Edited March 17, 201510 yr by Awuwa7KH

Miguel roused up lazily, whining softly as he stretched out his arms. "Mmmmm! Five more minutes Guadaaaaa..." He opened is eyes to see Krampus right at the edge of his bed.

"Y-You're not Guada!" Miguel exclaimed before he sat right up. He definitely wasn't expecting someone to just sneak into their room. At least it was Krampus and not anyone else. "W-What're you doing in here?" If it was Stiles, then Miguel probably would've attacked him or something.

Krampus couldn't help but to smile a bit. "Guada, is that your nickname for your brother?" Krampus asked. The fact that Grim was snuggling up to Miguel, holding him much like a teddy bear only reassured Krampus that the rumors of how these two were inseparable were true. "Befana called me over to get you. She needs to give you a check up for any signs or side effects to the gloom in your body, and afterwards you're asked to give input on a meeting. It's only for Hounds, but because there's a 50% chance that you might become one, you're welcomed with your brother."

Miguel rubbed his eyes tiredly and nodded. "Sí... Guada is short for Guadaña, my brother's name in Spanish. I was always so terrible at pronouncing his name I decided to just give up and say it in Spanish!" He said with a chuckle, which was then replaced with a whine as soon as Krampus informed him about the check up and meeting.

"No offense..." Miguel began. "But do I have to go to that?" Check ups and meetings. Miguel's two least favorite things most likely. Meetings always involved people he wanted to punch in the face, and check ups always involved people who wanted to... Invade his privacy.

Krampus hummed a bit at Miguel's question. "The meeting is optional...however the check up is mandatory." Krampus insisted, looking down at Miguel with a serious expression. "I must remind you that your sibling has injected pure, unmodified Gloom within your system in order to eliminate the sickness of E.Coli. But in turn we have no idea how you will react to it. Become immune to it, become a ghoul, become one of the mad, die once the side effects kick in...we don't know what will come out of it. For the safety and sake of the rest of the city, it is demanded for you to be checked up. Any resistance would be considered a threat, and I know people who would have no problem in putting you down because of it." Krampus explained. It was just the way of the city. The Gloom was deathly, no less. They had been able to keep it under control and any wild strains out of the city...and they would intent to keep it that way. "Come on. I'll take you to the hospital real quick. We don't even have to wake the kids or your brother up." Krampus sighed. Deep inside, he didn't want for Miguel to end up dying from the gloom...or becoming one of those mad walking corpses that did their best to spread the gloom. It would be devastating.

Miguel was going to protest at first, but as soon as Krampus explained the reason Miguel had to submit. The underlining possibility lingered in his mind. What if he wasn't immune? Grim turned into a hound. The odds are really slim that Miguel would be one too. What if he was going to end up corrupted? He could attack everyone while they're sleeping. Just the thought of it scared Miguel deep down. He didn't want to find out. But he had to. Slowly, Miguel got up and glanced to his brother as well as the two children.

"Fine... It'll have to be quick though. I just want to fight after this." The thought of fighting was the only thing that eased him. It distracted him from whatever worries and fears that he had.

 

Krampus wrapped his arms under Miguel's arms and around his body as he began to carry him out. "Fighting again? Geez. How much you want to bet you got that spunk from your mom?" Krampus asked. Before he could give Miguel a chance to answer, he dropped himself along with Miguel down the balcony, the two free falling to the ground. "Heads up!" Krampus called, just mere feet before landing on the ground, spreading his wings as he flew back up, across the street and into the sky again. "The only awesome thing that came out of this sickness!" Krampus laughed, flying up into the air as he held Miguel somewhat loosely, wanting for him to feel as if he was the one flying on his own. He even let go of Miguel and quickly grabbed him back, only that by the legs. The city was huge. It wasn't big enough to be a country, but considering how the world's population had declined so badly...maybe they could be a country of their own. Inside one of he rooms Befana drank her coffee...for a moment it felt that it would be peaceful, until Krampus busted into the room through the window, dragging Miguel behind. "DAMMIT KRAMPUS-oh you brought him drop him there." Befana murmured, Krampus promptly setting Miguel down on the nearest bed. "Morning, Miguel. Just here for a check up. Experience any side effects?" Befana asked, ready to make this quick.

"I-I don't know may-" Miguel was cut off with his entire heart sinking to the bottom of his stomach. He was just sitting down in bed. Now he was falling. And right after his mind realized the fact that he was falling, he was then flying. And before his mind digested the fact that he was flying, he was sitting on a bed waiting for a check up. The chain of events that just happened left Miguel completely dazed; he just sat there with his eyes wide.

"U-Uh- hola? Uh- No! Sí, I got no side a effects... I'm okay..." He ruffled his hair to try to fix it from all the sudden wind. He loved his hair messy, but not that messy.

 

“Leave us.” Befana ordered Krampus, and he promptly did as told. The moment they were alone, Befana straightened Miguel up and looked at him seriously as she began to check up on him. “Heartbeat normal, blood black...” Befana murmured. She looked up at Miguel seriously. “Miguel. If you show any signs of anything you find odd, you must tell me immediately. Any changes in appetite, anything wrong with your vision or problem with memory.” Befana insisted. As always, there had always been in the past people that lied to avoid getting killed…and in the end they would be killed anyways out of the Gloom in their bodies. "Also, there is a man by the name of Columbus. I need you to stay away from him. No matter what happens, even if he challenges you to a fight. Stay away from that man."

Miguel listened to Befana's words half heartedly. He just wanted to get out of there. The worst thing in the world was stupid check ups. However when she mentioned the name Columbus, it peaked Miguel's curiosity.

"Why?" He asked, looking up at her. Previously he had been looking at his arms, at how the gloom turned his veins black. What if he did experience those symptoms? Would they just shoot him right there?

"What's wrong with him?"

 

Befana shook her head. “As much as he means good. He has a temper, and doesn’t tolerate a lot. He saw you fight too and might end up looking for a fight of his own. Please avoid him if you can.” Befana asked, finishing her check up. “Alright. You’re free to go.” Befana said, frowning slightly as she looked up at Miguel. His worry was notable. Anyone would worry of what would their future would be depending on hpw the Gloom would affect them. “Don’t worry about it too much, alright? You’re a strong person. Surely nothing bad will happen...but I'm serious, please do avoid him.” "Like Befana said, avoid that guy. He's a big butt!" Jack hissed from the door, looking at Miguel worryingly. "He means good, but he takes his doubts against the infected a bit too seriously. He doesn't even trust hounds. He saw you fight, and I don't doubt that he might try to want to fight you if he saw you so be careful."

Miguel crossed his arms and gave Befana a large grin. He didn't want to show his true feelings deep inside.

"I'm not worried at all!" He claimed proudly. "My blood is great blood! Muy bien~! I'll never turn in a million years!" He looked over to Jack and chucked. "And don't worry~ if this pendejo wanna fight me I'll just kick his ass. He sounds like a clown! I bet he looks like one too. A big huge clown~! And eww Columbus. I do not like that name either. It a pendejo's name!"

 

Befana facepalmed as Jack could only laugh in agreement. “It does sound like that kind of name, huh?!” Jack laughed. “Guys he’s not the type of guy that you should just mess around with. He’s serious and not the most likeable guy but he’s also helped a lot on the founding of this place. Just try to avoid him ok?” Befana asked. Jack rolled his eyes and turned to Miguel. “Miguel, follow me, I know where he is at this hour. If I’m right he should be with Father Time and some other Hounds. I know where the place is at!” Jack insisted. “Jack no!” Befana complained. “Jack yes!”

 

...

 

“…and any other missions should require at least one none Hound in case something happens. Any questions?” Father Time asked to the room of Hounds and certain number of soldiers. May raised her hand. “Can I have another partner besides my dad?” May asked. “Well if you would stop fighting with them maybe.” Father Time teased. May groaned and rolled her eyes. She looked around. “Oi, we have a Hound missing?” “Oh yes, the new one. I don’t think he will be in any missions any time soon unless he is personally requested to attend. He has two little children to watch over with his brother.” Father Time said with a smile. “Now if there isn’t anything else, I think we can dismiss this for today.” Krampus nudged at May. “The kids are cute though.” He said. “They are.” May agreed.

 

Miguel nodded immediately. He really wanted to show this 'Columbus' a piece of his mind. With a small grin and a proud fist, he was already at the door.

"Come on! Vamanos!" Miguel called to Jack.

 

Meanwhile, Columbus aggravatedly sat at his chair in the meeting. He felt that every single meeting they always wasted 25% of the time on nothing but silly little conversation and complaining. He utterly despised how May always spoke out of turn instead of shutting up and listening to orders. And this new Hound...

"He cannot expect to waste our food and water and not doing anything. Everyone here has a purpose. Am I the only one who sees this? He has to go on missions. I don't give a damn of he has children or not."

 

Father Time frowned softly at Columbus. “He will go on missions soon surely. He already went on one with May and Ded to find some medicines in an old facility. We also don’t want to end up sending him to a mission he’s not prepared for. He almost lost his brother too. Besides, so far we don’t need that many hands on missions right now. When we need him we’ll ask him. Don’t worry too much about it, Columbus.” Father Time assured. He then clapped his hands. “Everyone dismissed.” With that, Father Time walked off. May jumped down and looked over at Columbus. “Don’t underestimate the new guy! He and his brother are as tough as nails!” May smiled, walking off with Krampus. “Come on old man, we have to check on the maps again.” May teased, the two walking out of the classroom that the small meeting had been held. The rest of the school was under renovation in hopes of having the children of the place return to a school environment and at least learn the basics. Jack led Miguel off for trouble, leading him into the school while almost giggling like a school girl. Though Columbus was respected, he was also rather mean. He snuck Miguel around and finally reached the classroom, managing to catch Columbus before he walked off. “Hey Columbus, remember him?” Jack asked, now throwing Miguel under the bus as he pushed Miguel forward.

Columbus was going to make a remark on how undisciplined May was, but couldn't since she left with Krampus. He was about to go bark at some other poor soul until Jack went right inside the classroom and practically thew Miguel at him. Coumbus' eye twitched.

"Why yes, it's the youth who could possibly turn. I still think it's amazing that you're not quarantined but then again I'm not shocked with how Befana is."

Miguel wasn't expecting to be thrown right in, but whatever. He crossed his arms and grinned at the elder.

"I just got checked out and I'm good to go! But... I think YOU'RE the one who needs a checkup because it looks to me that you have a pole stuck up your ass."

Columbus only growled and went to leave. He bumped shoulders with both Miguel and Jack.

"I have better things to do than go through with your foolishness." He muttered.

 

Jack glared and walked over to Miguel. “See why Befana doesn’t want you to fight him? As much as I want to see his @$$ get kicked, he’s a lost cause. Nothing makes him happy, apparently.” Jack shrugged. He smiled and rested an arm on Miguel’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about what anyone says. Especially what he says. You aren’t going to be locked up. You’ll get better. Heck. I wouldn’t be surprised if you became fully immune and became the ‘cure’ to the whole situation.” Jack joked, though there was some worry in his voice when he spoke. "Hey, you hungry? Bet Jacko can sneak us some dessert before actual breakfast!" Jack suggested, hoping it would help him get his mind off Columbus. He thought for a moment and paused, looking at Miguel. "If Columbus tries to hurt you. Be careful. He carries weapons."

Miguel gave a small nod as he watched Columbus walk off. Never would he have imagined a man like Columbus. Honestly Columbus was so nasty and dull Miguel speculated that he was born an adult and was never a child.

"Hell yeah I can see why..." He said with a frown. "And weapons? Figured for a pendejo like him. He's not worth anything so I'd rather enjoy eating Jacko's deserts than think of him~"

 

Jack walked with Miguel to the dining hall, where Jacko was too busy with something else to watch over his tray of cookies. Jack snuck in with Miguel and began to take cookies from the tray. They were chocolate chip. “Now maybe a bit of sugar…what the, where did these cookies go?!” Jacko screamed. He blinked, looking under the table to see Miguel and Jack. “You two are little kids in grown up bodies I hope you realize that.” Jacko groaned, but instead of taking them away, he offered them more from the tray. “Better than you eat them than Columbus though. How it went by the way?” Jacko asked. “Bitter as always.” Jack scoffed. “Well, speaking of which, Mother Nature was looking for Miguel, actually. Something about a request she wants from him.” Jacko explained. Jack turned to Miguel. “What did you do?”

 

“Don’t tell me he went to look for a fight?” Grim asked at Befana, Ash playing with one of the stethoscopes to check on Nicholas’ heartbeat. “I don’t know if he got into a fight or not but if he knows what’s good for him he won’t. Otherwise you can tell him I will refuse to treat his sorry little bones.” Befana scoffed. Grim chuckled. “If he makes war then I’ll make peace. We’ve always coexisted this way.”

 

Miguel shrugged as he continued to stuff his face with cookies. No matter what, Miguel always ate. Luckily when he had to be had actual manners... When he is eating with his friends not so much. His mouth was covered in crumbs and his cheeks were stuffed with the cookies almost like a squirrel with nuts before he replied.

"I dunno." He asked with his mouth full. "All I did was tell that culo he had a ten foot pole up his... Culo. I don't think she'd want me because of that."

 

Nicholas looked down as Ash was checking his heartbeat. Although he wasn't a very active child, preferring to just lay down and cuddle, he loved to play Doctor and with other toys.

"Why am I always the patient...?" He asked tiredly with a small whine. Ash always did whatever she wanted, and Nicholas always did whatever she wanted him to do.

 

Jacko shook his head. “Nah. It can’t be that. She doesn’t get into that kind of things.” Jacko said. “Hm, that’s true. Where did you last saw her?” Jack asked. “She said she was going to head over to the Agricultural district.” Jacko said. “We can totally go look for her. What do you say, Miguel? It’s actually pretty close by. Might as well see what she has to say. Maybe she wants to congratulate you?” Jack chuckled.

 

“Because I want to be the doctor!” Ash said rather proudly, only then to proceed to wrap Nicholas’ foot with some bandages. “I’m going to make you a mummy!” Ash squealed. “Come on Ash, share stuff with Nicholas.” Grim asked, taking the stethoscope away from her and handing it to Nicholas. “Oh doctor Nicholas, can you check my heartbeat?~” Grim cooed, hoping to play a bit with him.

 

Miguel smiled and proudly pointed to himself. "Well, it wouldn't be very shocking if she wanted to congratulate me~" he said with a chuckle. Mother Nature was a very good woman to Miguel so far, so he imagined whatever she wanted it couldn't be bad at all. "Let's go look for her."

 

Meanwhile Nicholas took the stethoscope from Grim with shaky hands. Him as a doctor? But what if he hurt somebody by accident. A part of him didn't mind Ash wrapping him up either. It'll be like walking around with a little blanket attached to him.

"O-Okay..." He uttered softly with a yawn, reaching out the stethoscope to check Grim's heartbeat. Once he did, Nicholas jumped in suprisement. "It's so strong!" He said.

 

“Right.” Jack said, taking off with Miguel, leaving Jacko to meditate over his missing cookies. Reaching the agriculture district was almost like entering into another world. It began with entering a building that used to be a mall. Walls were fixed to keep the structure from falling over, the inside renovated to become somewhat of an indoor garden specifically for medical herbs and other delicate ingredients that needed special conditions to grow. The glass ceiling of the entire building provided the perfect amount of sunlight. The rest of the district had cement and buildings torn and ripped off to make way for dirt that now were grounds for cultivating necessary food, both fruits and vegetables of all kinds.

 

“There you are, Miguel!” Mother Nature said, welcoming the two into the building.

 

“Good morning.” Jack said with some courtesy.

 

“Good morning to you. Miguel, I’m glad I found you, I actually wanted to ask you something.” Mother Nature went on, having the two follow as she walked over to the nearest balcony, looking down at the plants. “You were injected with the Gloom, yes? So far you look to be handling it extremely well. I am glad. You’ve also shown great amount of strength and skill…I wanted to ask you a favor.” Mother Nature began. “As you know, we do expeditions across the place in hopes of finding things and people to help this place be better. However just early in the morning one of our teams came back with a discovery. A delivery of vaccines that some scientists have been created are ready to be shipped here. Now, we would usually send over a helicopter to pick it up, but they live in a location too deep for our helicopters to reach. The team will be dropped at the destination point, then travel by foot to a higher marked location for an helicopter to pick them up and bring them home. I was wondering if you would like to join the team that will be sent to pick up the vaccines?” Mother Nature explained. She looked rather worried. “Usually we would make the vaccines on our own…but children who have not been born with gloom in their system have become burnable and these vaccines will help us keep from an outbreak happening. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to…but because you are already infected, if you encounter any trouble, you won’t have to worry about being infected.”

 

Miguel's eyes widened once he stepped foot in the district. Never has he seen such beauty before. It was the biggest garden he ever saw. The idea of it was nice too... Instead of relying on hunting for prey that might be far, you could always fall back on crops that could regrow. Perhaps he could do that in the farm once they go back. Once Mother Nature greeted them and told Miguel of her request, Miguel rubbed the back of his head. He really didn't know.

"Well..." Miguel said hesitantly. "I don't want to be away from mi hermano and los niños again... I already went on the trip with Stiles and the others. I think he's great with medicine too. He could help you with making good vaccines... But..." He didn't want to appear weak or lazy by not going, but he didn't want to leave again.

 

Jack looked over at Miguel. He could agree with him. Ash and Nicholas had become attached to Miguel and Grim too much for them to be separated. They were practically their adoptive parents. But he also knew that everyone had to do their part one way or another, and that Miguel was a talented one when it came to fighting. To put his talents into something else like gardening wouldn’t be pushing him into his potential. “I understand. No worries. I was just asking. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I was just trying to add some points to the records. I know you want to leave and start out a farm of your own in the outside? We were hoping you could help us out a little bit more before you guys leave. It’s not often we find infected that are immune. Hounds are scarce, and the ones born with Gloom are all children.” Mother Nature explained. Jack crossed his arms. “I can go in his stead, Mother Nature.” Jack offered. “If you want to.” Jack smiled over at Miguel. “How about it? You’ll just owe me a favor afterwards.”

Miguel slowly shook his head. No matter what he couldn't let Jack go either. Especially due to the danger. If something were to happen to Jack... It'd be all Miguel's fault. There was also a possibility Columbus would go too. With a soft sigh and a small frown, Miguel replied.

"No..." Miguel said to Jack. He couldn't let Jack go for him. "I can't let you do that." He then looked over to Mother Nature. "I just need a little more time to think about it... I'll most likely go alright? Just let me think more on it."