As I gaze across this once vibrant land now desolate and defiled, I find myself again wondering where Mankind went wrong. Was it greed that brought us all down? Was it how we ignored the world around us and sought more and more power? Or was it simply Fate that had lead us down this vile path?<br/><br/>My eyes look to the horizon before me. Daybreak. My favorite time. I so love to watch the sun rise in the morn, a promise of things born anew and refreshed for a new chance at life.<br/><br/>Oh, what an empty promise that is. The only thing the sun provided now was the promise that those monstrosities would be rarely seen. I do not know why they hated the sunlight so, but thank the Heavens they did. I am getting a little ahead of myself, though, so allow me to start somewhere near the beginning.<br/><br/>*************************<br/><br/>I awoke that morning gasping aloud "Father!" There was movement beside me, then a gentle hand caressed my shoulder. "Marcus? That dream again?" her soft voice sounded in my ear, her breath tickling the hairs on my neck. I nodded, taking a moment. Then I turned and took Rose into my arms, both to comfort her and myself. "Don't worry, love, I'm quite alright." I replied, smiling and planting a kiss on the top of her head. She got up before me, pulling her robe on and heading down to start breakfast. I followed a few minutes later.<i>Christ, I'm becoming a head case</i>, I thought as I shook my head wearily. The doctors, shrinks rather, said it would take a long time to get over what happened. I never thought it would be this long and still I would not be fine.<br/><br/>We met downstairs again, kissing a good morning to each other properly, and I surveyed the kitchen. It wasn't really a kitchen anymore. Or, rather, it was, it had simply taking a wrong turn somewhere and ended up between kitchen and bathroom. Not that anyone could blame us, given the state of things, but the proper lavatory had been demolished as part of the building next to this one collapsed. Luckily, it perfectly sealed that section of the condo off, giving us adequate protection on that boundary.<br/><br/>Breakfast was served, such as it was, and we made short work of it. We had learned that being quick and efficient was the best way to go in these times. I sighed as I once again remembered how Richmond used to be. Rose turned to look at me, wiping some of her meal from her gloriously pouty lips. She always seemed to have this almost petulant, sassy smile lurking on those lips of hers. God how I love them. "What is it? What's bothering you?" she was asking as I brought myself back from my wonderfully distracting thoughts. I knew she was concerned about me, as I was about her. I shook my head. "Nothing." I said, trying to leave it at that. However the look in her eyes told me she was being stubborn today, so I relented. "Just thinking, reminiscing really. About, well, everything." Our eyes met and she nodded, standing briefly before slipping onto my lap. With her leaning against me, her warm arms encircling me, things felt almost normal. That's usually when things go to shit in the movies, and reality did not serve to disappoint me.<br/><br/>The wall beside us unexpectedly came crashing down. Not the whole wall, of course, but a large area of it. On the other side were those sad, wretched beings. We counted five at first, until several more surged forward. We fought, using anything we could get our hands on. The back of my mind suddenly registered the fact that it was daylight.<i>They aren't supposed to be active during the day!!</i>the logical portion of my mind screamed at the world. I got separated from Rose, watching her brandish a cast iron pan. I desperately fought my way back towards her. As my mind screamed it's rage at the universe for changing the rules so suddenly, I screamed in fury as I beat beast after beast out of my way. "Marcus!" she shouted over the din even as the pan connected with another one of their heads. For a brief second our eyes met, and then they swarmed over her.<br/><br/><br/>I jerked awake with a shudder, bathed in cold sweat. My hand passed over my face as I squeezed my eyes shut again. Another would likely have reached out to check the place next to where they lay, to reassure themselves that their loved one was still there. That it had been all a stupid dream.<br/><br/>I did not.<br/><br/>I knew she was gone, if not in the exact way I had dreamed. My rage broke again, as it had so many other times after my dreams of late. Always a different way each night I watched her die. It never got easier, and I do not think it ever will. Not after how much we had shared together. I looked up as the wooden chair that had been next to me smashed against the brick wall, collapsing to the ground in several pieces. I hadn't even realized I had hurled it.<br/><br/><i>Christ, I'm becoming a head case</i>, I thought, mirroring the thought from my dream. Still seething I punched the mattress I laid upon. Rose had been dead for weeks, overcome by the near-dead.<br/><br/>Near-dead.<br/><br/>The word brought another fresh pang of pain to my heart. That was the word Rose had invented for them. They weren't human, not anymore. They were not dead, obviously. But they were not those undead zombies, either. So she dubbed them near-dead, which seemed apt. Rose had always been good with words. One of the things I had loved so much about her. She was practically perfect, everything just seemed so right about her. She had been the reason I had stayed sane for so long. I wished to God she was still with me, even given the constant dangers of the world as it was now. My only comfort, sick as it was, was that she hadn't become one of those things. There hadn't been much left when they were done....<br/><br/>I was moving down the sewer again now, moving quickly away from the locked storage room I had found on one of my many excursions. I had found that the near-dead did not venture into the underground sewer tunnels even given their hatred of the sunlight. I found it odd, very odd actually, but I was not going to give out on a potential boon. So once a week I traveled via the sewer system under the city, day and night, sleeping in various locked rooms I had found and prepared. My destination: the various military depots around Greensboro. Richmond seemed so far in the past, it was hard to believe it had only been weeks since I had been there.... with Rose.<br/><br/>The trips were to prepare. Not the depots, it would be foolish to try and defend one with just one person even given the improvement of automated defenses. I had stores of weapons hidden around the city and in the underground, fortified as well from my various field trips to Fort Bragg. Greensboro was my home for now, and I would be damned if I was going to just hide as the near-dead roamed the streets. It was also fortunate that they could not operate machinery or guns and the sort. The sewers did not lead directly to all of them, of course, that would have been idiotic of them to plan out. I glanced over and read the scrawl on the brick wall: 1000 ft. I sighed, glad that I could be getting out of here soon. At the end of that distance was a sewer cover that I used to pop back out above ground.<br/><br/>A sudden itch attacked my skin, odd because it seemed to run along the base of my skull. I was idly scratching the base of my neck when I froze. Something had moved behind me. I continued forward, listening intently for another noise. There it was again, it sounded like a shuffled footstep. Sure, it could be anything down here, but I was all to aware of what it was most likely to be. I sprinted forward several feet and spun, eyes searching the corridor that was dimly lit by the lights I had painstakingly rigged up. I muttered a curse as I saw the light washing over two of the ravenous creatures that had sieged the night. As they lurched forward I took flight, though I knew I could kill them. Where there was two there would be more. I took a quick left, deviating from my course, and I could hear them approaching fast.<br/><br/>I leapt up and grabbed the short ladder that lead to the sewer cover above me. With a grunt I shoved it up and to the side, tossed my bag up into the daylight, and hoisted myself through it as the creatures below howled in rage. Breathing a sigh of relief I pushed the cover back over the hole. "Damnit" I muttered as I stood, then turned to look back in the direction of the city. "Shit!" I half shouted as I came face to face with a gruesome, mangled corpse. Shaking my head, I chuckled. Looking back, it may not have been my best idea ever, but around the outskirts of the city I had staked up the corpses of the near-dead I had killed. Like some silly omen to ward them off.<br/><br/>I laughed, it felt good. Getting my bearings back I headed back in the direction of the current goal. I vaguely wondered what anyone would think when they saw the rather disgusting display of bodies. Hah. Like anyone is going to be coming my way.