-Fran Delia’s P.O.V.-

I felt a smile, one of the first I’d had in a long time, when Daniel first brought in a bag of herbs, stumbling over himself as he talked to me. It wasn’t the first time someone had seemed obviously interested in me, but he was definitely the goofiest. The man was big, and he was intimidating in a way - or at least, that’s what the other attendants thought - and many avoided him because of that.

Even so, I doubted he had a mean bone in his body.

Now, his friend, Matthew, was another story. I looked at him and I saw someone utterly dispassionate about those around him, his brown hair mostly unkept and his posture, lean and muscled as it was, suggested that he didn’t feel secure around people. That first meeting, Matthew barely even looked at me, but I did find that when he did, he looked me right in the eyes, searching for anything he didn’t like.

That was when I started to realize that Matthew wasn’t uncomfortable with being around people. His posture wasn’t reclusive, it was defensive, ready to respond. He reminded me of a pit viper. Most men would, even these days, look at my body first, and then at my eyes. I’d resolved myself to that, though Daniel also looked at my eyes first, then my body. Not that I particularly blamed people, though it was still rude. Ah, I got off track...

My point is; Matthew assumed the worst in people, and he looked me dead in the eyes and studied me. That was all he did, almost unsettlingly searched my eyes every time, even if it was only for a few moments before he turned and surveyed someone else.

After a few visits, he’d finally spoken to me, a small friendly smile on his face. I’d passed his examinations, apparently.

By then, Daniel and I were flirting outside of work, keeping it quiet in case anyone had a problem with someone working at the warehouse exchange having a romance with a scout. Daniel looked as surprised as I did when Matthew started talking of his own accord. It seemed he’d accepted me, though I still didn’t know what parameters he worked by.

I’d been studying psychology and natural sciences in college, I’d seen them around the campus before, and if it weren’t for the fall, I’d never have had the chance to talk to them.

No, that wasn’t quite accurate, I would never have talked to them. We wouldn’t have been in the same circles at all. It was a shame, because after becoming friends with them, I couldn’t imagine a life without them.

I trusted them with my life, and when the wolves attacked the outer ring of the city, they were the first ones to help me look for my sister. After that incident, Daniel and I had gone from flirting to dating, but we still kept it quiet.

It was more out of reflex then, honestly, I don’t know why I waited.

And I found that I appreciated Matthew’s pessimistic attitude towards other people, though it was for selfish reasons. Daniel was far too trusting, and in spite of the tough front he put on, he was all too willing to help others out, even knowing that they were only using him for their own gain. So, I found myself glad that my love had such a shield guarding him.

I gave Daniel’s heavy hand an appreciative squeeze. He was always gentle when he held me, and he’d only gotten more gentle after he’d found his mech. It was a habit, a good one to have when he might accidentally crush someone’s limbs underfoot when he was otherwise in the exosuit.

Even without it, he was still an imposing man over most people. I chuckled whenever he would glare at someone for watching us a little too closely.

This was one of the first times we’d really gone for a stroll in broad daylight. We could smell food cooking, not the kind that came in cans, but fresh goods. There were stalls set up near the obelisk, and we’d exchanged a handful of M.E. for credits.

“Oh, that smells good,” I pointed to a stall that smelled like fried food.

He grinned, “Let's check it out.”

We walked and talked, I had the first deep fried mozzarella and pizza roll that I’d ever had, as woefully unhealthy as it was.

He pointed out a flower shop, and we talked about wanting to see a garden of them instead of bouquets for the next hour. There was so much to talk about, and at the same time we talked about nothing at all. It was nice, not having to survive.

Oddly enough, he still purchased two roses.

“For me?” I asked.

He grinned, “Yup.” With delicateness, he slipped it in my hair, just above my ear. I quirked an eyebrow.

“Not the first time you’ve done that?” I feigned an accusatory tone.

I loved when he twisted, blushing madly, “W-well, no. But it’s definitely the best one.”

“Good answer,” I leaned into his arm, “Everything seems so alive again.”

We searched and scoured the area, finding that everyone had a breath of fresh air. At the same time, though, we saw more extravagance. Some people had made things that were quite beautiful, but I knew that they hadn’t really made them.

The obelisk had, and they’d spend valuable matter energy on them.

As we went, a little bit of my mood dimmed at that.

Daniel looked to me, a knowing look, “It can’t last. Is that what you’re thinking?”

Spot on. “Yes… I don’t want to be a Matthew, but these things… they’re just things. They won’t help anyone.”

“Yeah, but I think if it’s just this much, it’ll be fine,” he beamed, confidence clear in him.

I couldn’t help but warm a bit at that, he sounded certain. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. If you never have fun, you’re not really alive.”

“Damn right,” Daniel chuckled, “Are you ready?”

I nodded, “Let’s go.”

There were few things that attracted us as we moved through the city, and soon there were only stragglers. Even in spite of the access to weapons, I found very few people near to the walls. The walls themselves were less manned than they had been before the obelisk came. A sense of apprehension rose within my chest, I dearly hoped that the people would realize that the danger hadn’t changed at all. It was almost like they’d hit a windfall of hope, and just wanted to enjoy the breeze, instead of sailing with it.

We turned away from the wall, moving along it. Winding through the streets, we steadily moved away from the three and four story tall buildings of the downtown shops and offices. Block after block, businesses, parks, schools, finally broke away to residential areas.

Every step rang in my ears. We were quiet now, very few people lived here in spite of it being behind the wall. Too many had died here when the wolf horde had gone over the wall, no one wanted to be here, not help would be so far away. That’s why downtown was so packed full of people now.

I felt Daniel’s arm close around my shoulders, comforting me against the cold I felt in my bones. No words were said, he knew the way.

We stopped in front of an inconspicuous house, and walked up to the door.

Neither of us put a hand on it. We’d killed wolves and survived more than our fair share of life or death situations, but neither of us dared put a hand on that door. The memory lived on behind it, and we didn’t want, or need, to revisit that memory.

“There was a time when I hated my sister,” the words spilled out of my mouth, “She couldn’t move around very well on her own. She needed help with everything. It was pretty hard on Mom and Dad, but they never seemed upset. I couldn’t understand that.”

Daniel grimaced, “You were a kid, kids are like that.”

“She was my little sister,” I shook my head, “You’re supposed to love your siblings, not hate them. It wasn’t until Mom passed away and Dad shot himself that I really understood that. By then, she already knew I hated her, still thought I did.”

He didn’t say anything as I glared at my reflection in the window, “The life insurance money was putting me through college, and a house nurse took care of her. I still visited, but little bit by little bit, I realized I was disgusted with myself. You never got to meet her, but she was the sweetest girl. She needed a wheelchair, but she wouldn’t be confined. She wanted to enjoy what she could in life before it would end, I guess having limited time in the first place gave her perspective.”

“And she loved dancing; watching it anyways. She often compared them to flowers, the way they grew and twirled and faced the sun. They wanted to touch something they couldn’t have. The sun, or the beauty in form and motion. I remember when we went to our first concert together when I was home on a break from college. She apologized to me that I had to go see it with her, even though I suggested it,” I felt a tear fall from my eye, “She was crying afterwards, she was so happy to have seen the show. She was so happy that I’d taken the time to go see it with her, saying over and over that she was sorry for it. Even when I told her that I wanted to do it, she still said sorry.”

“I don’t think she ever really believed me when I said she was the only family I had left, even when all of this started happening.” I breathed hard, ragged, emotional. “I didn’t want to hear her say that she was sorry, I just wanted to her to laugh.”

Daniel’s arms wrapped around me, and I felt his chin on the top of my head, “It’s okay, let it out.”

And I did. Goddamnit I did. I was supposed to be the strong older sister. Sorry Vivian, your sister’s trying to be strong, but it's so damn hard to do it all the time.

Through sobs that I couldn’t control, I squeaked out, “I’m sorry for this.”

“That’s not what you should say,” Daniel said.

I looked up at him through tears. He was smiling.

I smiled, more a grimace, “Thank you.”

“That’s better.”

The floodgates opened. It was analog to what I wanted my sister to say. I just didn’t know how. She always waited for me to come home, to help her around the house, to help her to survive even in this world. If it were me, I might have killed myself. I was weak compared to her, she smiled, she told me what everyone in the area was up too. It was just another day for her, and she spent it doing whatever she wanted to do, not regretting a single moment.

Why were you so strong? If I was there that day, would you still be there, waiting on the other side of this door?

Would you be anything but what you are now?

Minutes later we were sitting on the porch. I was red from the effort of crying, and halway through Daniel started crying too. It was contagious, and when I looked up at him, he smeared the snot and tears out of his face.

“Shit, why am I crying? Fuck.”

I spluttered in laughter, and he laughed too. He laughed more when I used his shirt to dry my face, though I had to search for dry spots.

I murmured low, “I love you.”

“What was that?” Daniel blinked, and I felt my face redden as I comfortably sat my head to his shoulder.

“You said it before, the ‘I love you so much’ stuff when I was killing those things. So, I figured I should return the favor.” I pulled him against the door to more easily rest against him.

“I-is that what you said? You should repeat it, I don’t think I heard you.” Daniel coughed conspicuously.

I smiled, and reached up, bringing him level to me. He moved without resistance, “I said, I love you, you big lug.”

His smile beamed massively, “I love you, too.”

We kissed gently, a few times tentatively, and then more wholesomely. It was electric, and we simmered like that.

Then we rested more, so drained that we just enjoyed the togetherness more than anything.

“Should we…?” I murmured, glancing up to him, afraid to ruin the moment.

He nodded, “We came this far.”

We got up, moving to the side of the house and opening the side gate. Large flat stones led the way on a straight path, all the way to the middle of the backyard. A broad stone, roughly chiseled by Daniel’s hands, bore a name. ‘Vivian Delia.’

“Look at that…” Daniel’s breathlessness emphasized what I felt.

All around the backyard were a wide assortment of flowers. They grew wildly, leaving just the steps clear of them. Yellow, pink, red, blue, purple, so many colors and aromas that I could barely believe that it was real.

“What is all of this?” He walked forward, pulling me with him. We immersed in the flowers, some going to our waists.

“She… she must have thrown the seeds out into the yard? I… I don’t know.” overwhelmed, I could only step forward with Daniel. We stopped in front of the headstone that we’d left for her.

“Maybe… she wanted to show you something, to enjoy something with you.”

Daniel’s soft gaze and hand sat on the dirt of the tombstone. He gently sat the rose down, the one he carried. My heart ached, and I found a glad smile on my face.

I set a music box on the dirt beside the rose, “Thanks, Sis. It’s beautiful.”

In a rare moment of serenity that I would treasure for the rest of my life, we lay beside the grave and in the middle of a field of flowers that shouldn’t have been.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours had passed when we napped in the sun. We were shaded at least partly from the flowers, so I was glad not to have a particularly awful sunburn. Still riding the feelings of this outing, we rose from the ground.

“Thanks for this.” I patted Daniel’s chest.

“Anytime,” He smiled, leaning down. We nearly kissed.

The sound of a door closing stopped us both cold. I put a hand to my coat, feeling the gun holstered there. I’d gotten handy enough with a pistol to be able to use it in a pinch.

Daniel likewise put a hand on a pistol, looking to my house.

“You heard it?” I murmured, to which he nodded. We carefully walked to the back steps, watching for any movement. Hopefully, it was just a rodent and nothing more.

I gestured to the second step, skipping the first entirely. Daniel shrugged, assuming I had my reasons. The first was loose and would creak madly if someone stepped on it, I doubt the apocalypse had changed that.

I put my hand to the door knob, listening for movement. There was, deeper in the house, but not in the room adjacent. I grit my teeth, turning the knob quickly and leveraging my weight against the door, trying to pull it upwards as I went. If it had gotten rusted, it would squeal no matter what kind of pressure I put on it, but that might help.

It did make noise, and I made it stop after opening it sharply. The movement in the back of the house slowed, it sounded like someone had been walking around.

Daniel walked beside me, trying his best to make little noise. To be fair, he was succeeding, making only as much as I was.

After the kitchen, we entered the living room. It hurt being here again, there were so many memories here.

“Good picture.” I heard a feminine voice speak aloud, down the hall and into the bedroom. “That’ll do, thank you.”

I frowned, who was she talking too?

A floorboard squeaking under my foot, I froze.

All noise stopped for a few seconds, the intensity of the sudden stillness astounding.

I heard a something like a drawstring go taught, and a buzz of energy. “Whoever is out there, I’m armed, but I don’t want a fight.”

“Step out, then.” I spoke levely.

“Scavenging isn’t wrong,” the voice called out, “If you’re looking too, I have no problem with that.”

A reviled anger rose in my throat. Daniel put a hand on my shoulder, a look in his eyes that immediately made me hold my vicious retort. I breathed aloud a few times, steadying my nerves.

“You’re in my house. Step out, weapon down. I’ll do the same.” A calm tone somehow came out of my mouth, in spite of the anger I felt. Daniel and I had our weapons down, and waited.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Finally, just when I thought we might have to go in after them, the buzzing sound vanished. “Alright, I’m stepping out. I’m armed with some unusual hardware, please remain calm.”

I rolled my eyes, “We’re familiar with ‘unusual hardware,’ believe me.”

Another moment passed before I could practically feel the sigh of disbelief coming from the lady in the other room. Finally, she stepped out.

I’ll admit, it took me by surprise. She was about the same age as me, thin, lean, and her petite frame looked out of place with the equipment she wore. Her well toned arms were braced in some kind of elegant, airy light green metal, bracing the outside of her joints in brackets. They met in some kind of ring at the elbows, and then continued to her hands, down the tips of her fingers. The brackets swung around and connected to a spot on her back, and a thing line like spider silk ran between them.

This exoskeleton-like extension extended down her legs on the outsides, bracing them and connected to the joints with soft, flexible bands. They light, thin metal moved its parts with her body seamlessly, and I could see that her feet bore a greater bulk than what I expected to see form the setup. What looked like very flexible metal was folded up behind her heels, what their normal use was I couldn’t say at the moment. And, what looked to be a helmet, or visor, was folded up in front of her chin. Short wavy green dyed hair the color of leaves attracted as much attention as her suit.

She held a strange bow in her hand, one that looked far more high tech than I’d envisioned a bow could ever be.

Almost disappointed in our lack of any distinct excitement, she spoke, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know this home was lived in. You definitely look like her.”

I frowned, seeing a picture frame in her free hand. “What do you have there?”

She cringed, “Uh, it’s your picture. I can put it back.”

Warily, I stepped forward. I could tell she felt awkward right now, and Daniel had even put away his pistol. With a sigh, I did the same.

“Before I feel somehow violated, would you be so kind as to tell me why you were taking a picture from my house?” An authoritative tone rose from me. My sister had always said it was cute, in a scary sort of way. It was like what Mom always did when she was being stern.

“U-uhh, yeah, I can. It’s gonna maybe seem a little… melodramatic though.” She cringed, “It might be easier to just show you?”

I looked to Daniel, who shrugged. We didn’t have anywhere we needed to be, and I was fairly certain at this point that she meant us no harm.

“Sure, lead the way?” I gestured to the living room, and took the picture from her.

“Really? Uh, okay, yeah.” Her cringe deepened, “Well then just follow me, it’s not far.”

And we did follow her. Several blocks. At one point, Daniel had to pat my shoulder to keep me from glaring at her too hard. I was pretty sure she could tell that I didn’t think that this counted as ‘not far’ and considering that she tried to pick up the pace a little. She never tried to get out of sight of us, and managed to make small talk with us.

“It’s been a little rough lately, so I needed to find something like a hobby. Something to keep my mind off of things, maybe remind me of what I’m doing, y’know?” She chatted us up.

“Is your hobby collecting pictures of other people, then?” I tilted my head, wondering at such a strange sounding hobby.

“It… really does sound quite odd when you say it that way. But, yes, sometimes. I collect other things too. We’re here, so I’ll show you.” She walked up to an apartment complex, one that was clearly abandoned. “My name’s Alice DeLeone by the way, nice to meet you.”

“Daniel Drake, and same.” He spoke, voice rumbling in my ear.

“Fran Delia,” I nodded, to which Alice smiled and continued.

“Watch your step, I, uh, never really expected company, so I didn’t clean up after everyone ran away.” She explained, gesturing to a clutter of a few hastily put together luggage sacks and the like that were abandoned when the wolves came. It was one of the last places the wolves had gotten too before being pushed back.

“Why did you stay?” I asked, seeing the empty halls and open doors, feeling eerie for a place that should have been full of people.

Her mood went somber, “I have nowhere else to go here, so why leave?”

We followed her quietly after that, for the next few minutes. She brought us to the second floor and to a large apartment. “Alright, this is my place. Try to have an open mind?”

That was an interesting request.

And when she opened the door and we walked in, hit all at once by the sight, I had to say that she’d prefaced it rather astutely.

Dozens of pictures were on the walls, as were several autographed ones from actors. Many of them were of simple looking people, usually multiples. Objects like collectors items sat on various shelves. A bed sat in the middle of the room, unmade. It wasn’t messy, but it did look lived in. One thing I could see was that everyone in these pictures was smiling, and they were always with families.

“I’m keeping an open mind, but finding it hard to not be creeped out,” Daniel’s eyebrow shot up high as he turned his discerning gaze to Alice.

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, “W-well, it helps me sleep, thinking about the good times that everyone had before all of this. It’s like my ward against the darkness, to borrow gaming terms.”

“Care to explain more?” I prompted, now feeling the last wisps of my anger fade away. “We can listen, if you just need someone to talk too, right?”

I gently elbowed Daniel, “Yeah, totally. I just wish Matthew was here, he’d have a kick out of this.”

“Why, is this funny?” Alice looked a little annoyed, and I sighed at my dearest’s lack of finesse.

“Matthew is a bit of a special kind of analytic cynic, he’d be very perplexed by this. Not like he doesn’t think with emotion, but anyways, don’t mind Daniel.” She seemed to not understand, but assumed positive intent. The opposite to Matthew. I shook my head mentally at that.

“Right… well, I’ve been going out killing wolves for months now, I was keeping track of how many on that wall, because I wanted to show myself my progress.” She explained.

“How’d you do that?” Daniel asked, looking at the wall.

“This,” she started to take pictures off the wall. Check marks were there, starting from the left wall fifteen feet away going past where the picture was.

“Damn… How many?” He gaped, and I found myself thoroughly impressed.

“I stopped counting after… eighty? I think? Well, that goes to show that it wasn’t a great motivator. They never stopped, and eventually I just gave up.”

“Why did you even start?” A thoughtful expression on my face.

The visage of a kind hearted, even a little naive, girl melted, “I want to see my family again.”

Daniel looked around, swallowing hard, “Are they… gone?”

She shook her head, “No, not gone. I know I should be happy about that, but they’re in a city hundreds of miles from here. I moved here with my boyfriend a few years ago but… that didn’t work out. So, I started living here, but I always visited. They’re alive out there, I know that, their city wasn’t hit. But if things didn’t go as well there as they did here, then I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”

She shook a little bit, and I thought she might cry before she inhaled sharply, purging the breath in the next moment. All of a sudden, she was the cheery, naive girl again, “So, I started killing wolves with a bow and arrow, it was pretty hard though.”

Daniel found a seat to sit in as he put hands to his face. I sat next to him.

“Pretty hard, huh? That’s incredible. I had to use a spear.” Daniel shook his head, “I can’t imagine using a bow and arrow on them.”

“You actually went in melee with them?” She blanched, “That’s scary as hell.”

“Matthew was with him,” I answered, “He’s an ace shot with a rifle.”

“Oh, wait a minute…” She put a finger to her chin, “You guys are those scouts, right?”

“Uhm, yeah? We were kinda well known, I guess?” Daniel looked to me, not quite sure.

“Yeah, I bumped into you way back, I think I met that Matthew guy. Or, err, I saw him. He stole my kill,” she laughed, “He was trying to extract blood from one, it was kinda crazy.”

“Sounds like him.” Dryly, I nodded.

“When did you start actually collecting these?” Daniel asked, gesturing around him.

She had a far off look in her eyes, “Only a day. I had to get that thing out of my head. This was all I could do.”

I frowned, “What do you mean? What thing?”

“After the obelisks came down, I figured I’d try to collect some of that matter energy stuff,” the look in her eyes solidified a bit more, less like she was looking into some horrible abyss and more like she was back in the room with us. “I couldn’t buy anything because of the barricade, so I just used my bow and arrow.”

“I went to some familiar hunting ground over in the eastern highway area, since I’d have to go that way to get through Damond on my way home. I got a lot of them, and I even broke most of my arrows, but I saved up, like, 300 M.E. total. So, I felt pretty good.” She smiled, a tremor in her lip.

“You did good, that’s a lot,” Daniel’s voice was low, gentle, he could tell whatever happened had happened on the way back.

She knew he was trying to comfort her, “Yeah… thanks. Anyways, I don’t wanna freak you guys out, but… as soon as I got back I armed up, because I realized that me getting home probably wasn’t going to happen.”

“Why’s that?” I put a hand on her shoulder, stilling her as I realized she was shaking.

“What I saw out there was awful. The wolves are one thing, but that… that demon was something worse. I felt like it was going to come after me and eat me, or worse.” She shook.

What could be worse than getting eaten?

“Take it easy, you don’t have to say it if you can’t, alright?” I put another hand on her other shoulder, looking into her eyes. They looked like what my Dad’s had when Mom was dying. That look of harrowed terror was something that reached down to the roots of a person.

She shook her head, “If you’re those scouts, maybe you could do something about it? I-I could try to help.”

“You don’t have to force yourself to.” Daniel spoke, “We can handle it.”

“No.” She shook her head, “You don’t understand, I don’t think I can sleep again if I don’t see it die myself. It was big, it looked like someone had woven the guts of dozens of wolves together. I can’t sleep without being surrounded by this,” she gestured at the pieces of happiness around her, “When it moved, the wolves groaned and wept. I tried to kill a few of them from far away, arrows to the head. They didn’t die, the arrows would just get pulled out by the other wolves nearby and they’d continue. It searched for me, but it couldn’t find me.”

“It found another wolf in the meantime, and ran it down. They added it to the… thing.” She went pale.

I found a certain level of primal disgust in the core of my being.

Daniel uttered, “Jesus Christ… what the actual fuck?”

“It needs to die,” she continued, “I’ll do what I can to help. I was going to go back out there after… gathering myself again.”

I pulled her close, feeling like she was just one step away from falling apart. It felt like what I went through, and my sister pulled me out of it.

“We’ll go through it together.” I pet her head as she shook, eventually sitting down on the bed with her there. “It’s okay, don’t think about that. Just rest.”

I looked to Daniel.

His expression told me all I needed to know.

We needed to go on another bounty hunt. This thing needed to die.