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

Grim's nose twitched at the scent of the hanging corpses, left to rot on purpose. He wondered if they had done the same with his father's corpse. Better not ask just in case. The young man from earlier was a trembling wreck. "They're going to kill us, torture us, eat us maybe!" He whispered in fear. "Any specific order on that?" Another survivor muttered, receiving a kick from Grim for his sass. "You will be fine. You have to make sure your will is stronger than your body." Grim told him. Then the wagon came to an abrupt stop. "We stopped!" The young man squeaked in horror. "It's time to check out the merchandize. Be careful on your movements and expressions." Grim warned as the wagon door was opened, having then step out of the wagon and line up for inspection. The way the camp looked at them made him both concerned and annoyed. They've gotten stronger and bigger in numbers. Not a good thing for the survival groups that might encounter eventually. Grim did his best to not look at Miguel.

Miguel walked around the wagon, and glanced at all the ruthless faces around the camp taking interest into what cargo was inside. Miguel took all the captives, and began to lead them to the prison sheds. He'd rather inspect them later, when not as many people are around. Miguel was weary not to look anyone, the prisoners and fellow members of the camp in the eye. He didn't want to say anything, and he didn't want anyone to start some trouble. He knew very well some of the camp members loved to atagonize each other. Once he got the prisoners to the shed, Miguel turned around to command them.

"Here's how it's going to work." Miguel. "You obey anything anyone tells you sí? You stay in here. Try to run away, and you will either be whipped, or killed. You better make yourselves look pretty for inspection. I want two people in each shed." Miguel pointed to the fearful survivor. "You, 'Runt,' go with Grim Reaper over here into that shed." He pointed to the first shed. He divided the rest of the other survivors in the other sheds.

The young man now nicknamed Runt didn't argue, pretty much gluing himself to Grim, who was taller and much more fit than him. They entered the shed and the moment it was closed darkness encircled them. Only a few bits of sunlight through the cracks. "We're going to die. Oh my gosh we're going to die. We were so close, Grim." Runt whispered as he loomed over at Grim, who kept his calm. "Maybe the others will realize we haven't returned and go to the tower." Grim muttered. His sharp eyes suddenly glared at the runt. "I don't care what they do to you. You don't speak a single word about where we came from. Do you understand?" Grim hissed, runt gulping and nodding his head. "Yes sir." He whispered. Grim groaned to himself. "(How am I going to explain this to him without sounding crazy?)"

Miguel leaned against Grim's shed for a moment to make sure everything was alright. He wanted 'Runt' with Grim since Grim seemed to be the only person that could calm him down. He felt pity for the guy. Miguel was somewhat shocked at himself. He was so ruthless and violent before, but as soon as he was reunited with Grim all of that changed; he suddenly felt guilt once again and the desire to help others. It was almost as if Grim was the key to unlocking all the innocent emotions that was locked up so tight in Miguel's heart. Miguel looked around. If he was going to escape this time, he need to develop a plan quick. It's only a matter of time before the other superiors at the camp would have a say at Grim's fate. Miguel decided to walk around and take notice of any possible routes and whatnot. Suddenly he grinned to himself, and looked around for the guard he had pushed into the trench of feeces so many years ago.

Grim stared at the door with a blank expression before backing away and resting against the wall. "Do you think the radio tower will work?" Grim asked. "I hope so. I mean. It should be intact. We just have to be careful when we climb up. We don't have climbing gear, and that fall is a one way road..." Runt muttered as he thought about their quest from earlier. Grim chuckled. "Right. Don't worry. We'll just have to wait for the others to make contact in the tower after they find out what happened to us." Grim said. He felt warm tears form on the ends of his eyes, to which he had to wipe away quickly against his clothing. "Hey, you alright?" Runt asked. "I'm fine." Grim said as he looked away. He couldn't tell if he was scared or happy. Could be both. Happy to be with Miguel again, but scared to lose him again. He didn't know what the superiors would do. Maybe they would be tortured for information, maybe they would be killed, maybe even used in other forms of torture. He really hoped the leaders were bored today and didn't want anything to do with them for at least enough time for a quick escape. "(I'm counting on you, Miguel.)"

As Miguel walked about, looking for the guard that he pushed into the trench the day he was separated from Grim, Miguel thought of a plan. In the middle of the night, perhaps he could cause a distraction. But what? He wanted to possibly find other members of the camp for help, but he couldn't trust anyone. The secret exit was closed off years before as well. With a sigh of frustration, Miguel sat next to one of the sniping towers. He was in deep thought. There was high activity of gloom infected animals nearby. Could he be able to use them to their advantage?

The same guard from that night suddenly wrapped an arm around Miguel's shoulder. "Heyyyyyyy." The guard said. In the sunlight it was notable that he was around his late 20s, buff, had tattoos covering his skin. His nickname; Easter. Something about a weird hobby with Easter Eggs. "Heard you captured some new survivors today, you even got to beat one up who spoke up yes? Sweet~ I also hear one of them looks like a girl? They said he had some very long hair all girly and all. Maybe he will be popular with the big bosses!" Easter joked as he shook him around playfully. He'd admitted that it was smart of him to push him into the pit years ago. That the very least. "You hoping the bosses let us have fun with these ones? I have some new weapons I want to test!" Easter said rather joyfully. That's when another one joined in, a young man around his early 20s, dark hair and pale skin, eyes almost black. "The boss said we can have some fun with the survivors as long as we don't kill them." He hissed. "Really? You're not lying this time, Hallow?" Easter asked. The young man shook his head. "Awesome!"

Miguel wasn't really expecting Easter to show up. Boy was the guy annoying sometimes. "Oh hola." He said. His eye twitched when Easter mentioned Grim looking like a girl, which first of all wasn't true at all, but Miguel had to play along.

"Sí, sí. Very girly." Then he went off to talk about weapons, and another joined in as well. That's when Miguel began to panic. He couldn't let them get their hands on Grim.

"Hold on," Miguel said. "Have you been drinking? Because you sound completely hammered mi amigo. You better take a break before you do anything because if you're caught the boss is going to have your culo on a platter. That goes for you too Hallow." He ruffled Easters hair a bit, to show some friendly roughousing.

'Mierda... Son of a puta! These pendejos better forget about it!' He thought to himself.

Easter chuckled. "Maybe a bit~" He admitted. Hallow gave a sly smile to Miguel as he stood in front of him. "I already have my permission, father Jack-O-Lantern told me so. Survivors only make good members if they're strong, and they're only worth alive if they can be exchanged for goods. Our little games will rule them out easily~" Hallow hissed, almost like a snake. "Do you want to have fun with me, Diablo? It's always fun to play god...see who lives and who dies, who joins and who leaves." Hallow said as he looked over at Easter. "I want you to join me too. Interrogations are always fun." Hallow said as he offered his hand to Miguel. "Come on, lets go have some fun~" Hallow said with a lighthearted laugh, starting to skip away towards the sheds. "Last one there is a rotten easter egg!" Hallow called. "Hey! No fair!" Easter said, trying to run after him, only to trip and fall face first. These were the fearsome members of the group. Idiots, but idiots with no regrets.

Miguel nodded. He really needed a plan. Fast. If he let these drunken idiots even near Grim or anyone in the sheds, the idiots will probably seriously hurt them or worse. Easter looked like he was going to be down for a while, (the drunk bastard) but Hallow was still left. Miguel suddenly leaped forward, and chased Hallow for a little bit to suddenly tackle him to the ground, and wrestle him. He threw some punches too, but these punches were common whenever someone got drunk out of their minds.

"I am NOT going to embarrass myself, EL DIABLO, by going in there with a pendejo who's smashed!" He said as he threw Hallow into a headlock. That was actually somewhat true. When Miguel used to torture his victims, he always did it in a classy manner.

Hallow groaned loudly. "I'm not smashed, idiot!" Hallow hissed as he reached up to Miguel's head and pulled on his hair. "I'm completely sober you ignorant kid!" Hallow added as he struggled to get out of the headlock. In a moment, Hallow bit down on Miguel's arm and slithered out, before pushing Miguel down and punching him back. "This is for thinking I'm anything near equal to that drunk Easter!" Hallow said as she glared down at Miguel, then smiled, laughing brightly even as bruises were starting to form. "I won't humiliate you. I'm more into humiliating the survivors." Hallow said as he sat up and glanced over at the sheds. "If you let me help you I promise to be all nice and polite and stuff~" Hallow insisted as he tried to apply himself to Miguel's way of torture. Though Hallow's way was more...gory. "But! I want to do the shriveling mess that your boys told me about. The one who's afraid to die. That kid needs to learn what death really is like."

Miguel growled and tackled Hallow once more to the ground.

"Finish this brawl first! Or are you too much of a puta to go against me?" He wrapped his leg around Hallow's ankle, and held his arms back. Some onlookers nearby came around and formed a circle around them, and began to cheer. Some even made some bets on who would win. This was good. Hopefully the fight will distract Hallow enough.

Hallow complained, feeling his arm twist back at Miguel’s force. Miguel was younger than him, but he was definitely strong and not a force to be reckon with when angry. He had proven himself as much. But, “You think you can defeat your leader’s son? In your dreams, idiot!” Hallow said as he twisted his body, turning Miguel and himself on their backs onto the ground right as he elbowed Miguel in the face. Hallow quickly grabbed Miguel’s hair and pulled him by it before wrapping around an arm around his neck tightly. His leg wrapped around with Miguel’s just as easily, though to a point to bring pain to both of them. “You usually don’t roughhouse as much as we do, what are you hiding, Diablo?~” Hallow whispered as he suddenly bit down on Miguel's skin hard, drawing blood.

Miguel grunted in the sudden pain, and decided to kick Hallow in the leg with his heel to flip him over to get out of the lock around his neck. His nose started to bleed from the elbow to the face as well as the new bite mark.

"The only thing I'm hiding is the face behind my mask. The mask of the devil." He said as he peered down into Hallow's eyes. His face, as always was hidden behind his paint. This paint over the many years meant many different things. To one person, the loving face of Miguel, son of Death. To some, the disguise of a hero. To others, a mask of horror. Many camp members tried to see Miguel's face, including pouring water while he slept. But even after the fresh paint was washed off, it never revealed his true face for the years and years of wearing this mask permanently stained his face forever with a simple black and white slightly faded skull painting.

Hallow scrambled onto his feet as he felt his leg throb. That would be hurting until tomorrow. "Ah yes. The face of the Devil. You certainly are a strange one, you know that, Miguel?" Hallow said with a laugh as he tilted his head and smiled michiviously. "To be painted on your face forever, plus the scars on your body makes you a very messy guy for your age. I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up going insane when you get older. Ah but that would have to wait, you're still too young for insanity!" Hallow said as his eyes narrowed, his expression hardened as he spoke softly with a sudden change of tone. "Now why don't we stop our fighting over who gets to break the new immates and how about we do it together as a team? We'll have to get along eventually." Hallow said as he walked closer to Miguel, but instead of attacking him he quickly swooped up a bit of Miguel's blood onto his fingers, licking it off without a care. "Ah I love the color of your blood. It's a...passionate red."

Miguel pulled away from Hallow. He listened and realized that stopping him from getting to the shed wasn't a smart idea. He decided the best thing to do was to play along- or play his part, as Grim had said earlier. He looked away once Hallow tasted his blood.

"I think it's too late for insanity." Miguel muttered underneath his breath. He took out his knife, and grabbed Hallow's wrist. "We shouldn't let our 'guests' wait, sí?" Once they got to the sheds, Miguel led Hallow right into the one where Grim and the boy was in. Miguel fought himself to not look Grim in the eye once he entered.

Grim was about to say another word when the shed door opened, showing Miguel and someone else, Hallow. Grim kept himself from smiling as he glance down. Runt was already panicking. "Hello my little survivors~ We are here for interrogation purposes as well as to separate the strong from the weak~" Hallow hummed as Runt gulped. Hallow walked closer to Runt with a smirk. "Look at you! You won't survive a week here! You'll be eaten alive. A little goldfish in a shark infested tank." Hallow teased as he looked over at Grim. "And you...look like a girl!" Hallow said as he picked up Grim's braid. "Miguel did you see this? It's like this guy has never had a haircut. Oh this should make it easy to keep him around, we could simply tie his hair down on something." Hallow laughed as he looked over at the braid. "Who should we start on first?" Hallow asked as he twirled his fingers around Grim's hair, giving Grim the chills.

Miguel grinned as well. He even barked out a laughter when Hallow mentioned Grim's hair.

"Hallow, you more than anyone should know never to judge by appearances sí? Maybe this niño could grow some cojones." He suddenly grabbed Runt by the collar and pulled Runt to his face.

"Which is why we should start with el Niño first." He would have glanced over to Grim, but didn't. He didn't want to get Runt too injured either. He knew how Hallow could get and it wasn't pretty at all.

Edited April 13, 201510 yr by Aqua7KH

"Ah yes. Let us rule out the weak." Hallow said as he let go of Grim and walked around Runt. "Now listen up. We are going to ask some questions and we expect to receive answers. If we don't, bad things would happen. Deal?" Hallow said as he glanced over at Grim. "Interrupt and you can take turns." Hallow turned back around. "Now, it is obvious you guys as a group weren't simply a small group. You're too well taken cared off. Too friendly with each other too. You even had maps...where are the other survivors?" Hallow asked with a purr. Runt quickly spoke up, answering a practiced question. "There aren't any others, just us!" He said. Hallow frowned. "I have a feeling you're lying to us. Liars get killed, you know." He said. "I...am not lying...there aren't any others, just us." Runt said shaking. "Mm...Miguel?~" Hallow asked, wishing to give him a turn in the matter. Grim looked over at Runt with a stern expression, making them remember what they promised before heading to the radio tower about secrecy.

Miguel sighed softly and walked around Runt. "Oh niño... Don't lie. I really don't like liars." He suddenly smacked Runt across the face and grabbed his collar once more.

"So if you know what's good for you, then you will tell the truth, sí? Secrets don't make friends~ and believe me amigo, you're going to definitely want US as your friends... Because everyone who goes against us gets squashed like a bug. Un cucaracha... You don't want to be a cucaracha." Miguel took his knife and trailed it against Runt's neck, letting the blade cut lightly on his skin and causing thin trails of blood drip down his neck. "If you insist on being a cucaracha... We could find some and make you swallow them alive."

Runt shook widely as tears started to form at the edge of his eyes. Grim was impressed, shocked, but impressed. He never saw Miguel as the evil type, the torturing type, anything bad. However seeing him in this situation, it slightly worried him. "(How long did you suffer...to have changed you?)" Grim thought as he kept his gaze low. He knew that this was an act for the sake of not being able to get detected, but he was...a bit too good at it. Runt shook his head slightly. "...we...were planning on contacting the military!" Runt squeaked out in fear. Grim couldn't help his curse. "************!" "The military has been contacting through radio waves and signals, we were heading to the radio tower to contact them! That's all we were going to do!" Grim sighed. Well, he wasn't lying. If anything he was glad he confessed to that than to anything else. "(That's it. Don't tell them about the base. Anything but from where we came from.)" Grim thought. "Ah see?~ that wasn't so hard wasn't it?" Hallow chuckled. "This one was a bit too easy, though." Hallow complained, as he slowly turned to Grim. "I wonder if you'll pose more of a challenge." Hallow purred.

Miguel grinned down at Runt, feeling thoroughly satisfied at Runt's confession.

"Bien. Good niño." He patted Runt's head. He then turned to Grim, and felt nervous for a second. He feared he may have to inflict harm on him. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. He kneeled down to Grim.

"Oh this one is a challenge." Miguel said, all while keeping his grin, although it disappeared for a moment when he made eye contact with Grim.

"He was talking back to me when I first caught him and his little amigo over here." he squeezed Grim's cheeks with his right hand.

Runt slid down and shook in his place. He gulped, muttering sorry to Grim. Grim didn't make a sound or said a word. Hallow smiled gently. "It is your turn, darling. Tell us, what were you doing contacting the military? Surely not just for a small group as yours?" Hallow asked. Grim looked away. Obviously this guy knew something was missing from the story. "We just wanted to contact for help." "You know the military won't help a mere group like you. Stop with the b.s. and tell us why really...are there others?" Grim paused. "...no." Hallow snickered. "Ah I love that answer." Suddenly Hallow grabbed Grim by the hair and slammed his head straight into the shed wall, the wall cracking due to the force and Grim gasping. "You're lying." Hallow hissed. Grim glared. "We just wanted help." "For who else?" Silence. "Hmmm...Miguel...can you do your thing to have him confess?~ I know your techniques work lovely on people like him...unless you want me to do it, of course, you know how I can get carried away with it." Hallow purred as he wrapped his other hand around Grim's hips, a sharp look on his eyes.

Miguel's eye twitched. Suddenly he just wanted to tear Hallow to shreds instead. Despite that, Miguel kept his cool, and he grabbed Grim by the collar. He knelt down to whisper in his ear. To most of the people in the camp, this was known as the Devil's Whisper, however, in this situation it was much different. Instead of whispering a threat, Miguel whispered this right into Grim's ear:

"Run." Miguel suddenly turned around, and threw his knife right at Hallow. He didn't even give Hallow time to react before Miguel charged at him, and tackled him to the ground. Miguel didn't care where the knife hit, if it hit at all. All he knew what that he needed to silence Hallow before he could do anything to call for help or make and kind of noise that could alert anyone nearby. Miguel wrapped his arm around Hallow's neck, trying to choke him.

Hallow barely dodged the knife as he was tackled down by Miguel, tell b choked. Hallow struggled for breath as he gritted his teeth. "You...son of a..." Hallow gasped as he dug his nails into his skin. "Miguel!" Grim tore appear the already weak rope from his hands and turned to Miguel almost frozen. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to leave him but he had to run as told. Before he could say anything else, however, there was a notable gushing sound. Grim looked down to see Runt had picked up the knife and stabbed it right through Hallow's throat, cutting through the jugular vein, which killed him as blood covered the ground. He let go of the knife and looked over at Miguel, still frightened, but more confident. "My name's Cupid." He said, finally revealing his name. Grim grabbed Miguel and Cupid by the arms, dragging them out as they ran. Grim turned to Miguel. "You idiot. Have you any idea what could've happened were that guy to escape to the others?"