He opened his eyes to the darkness. The air was cool on his skin but the memories of his injuries made him reel back in fear.

(I want some chips.)

He touched around as he raised himself from what felt like a couch.

The window threw off an almost invisible shine of moonlight on the floor, as the clouding of the sun affected the gracious glow of the moon the most. He used this as a guiding light in the darkness. Tired as he may be, he still moved where he thought the van's door would be, avoiding waking up his companions. He found the latch of the van and slid it open.

The sound of the sliding door was harsh on his ears and he knew that there was no chance for him to go out without waking up one of the girls in the car. "I'm going out for a bit," he whispered and slowly closed the door.

He looked around.

The surroundings were slightly glowing. The stone they were made of was almost alive, with a light glow flowing through the broken buildings like old veins. The van was in between two large buildings. In between what seemed to be two apartment complexes made of brick and stone.

The windows of the apartments were broken, but no one was inside, as he noticed the buildings looked as if they had been abandoned for years.

The pavement was a charcoal black, as he walked out of the open alley and quickly reached the exit. The open road was beautiful. Flowers and vines glowing yellow ran down across the buildings but never strayed too far from the blue veins.

(I have to find Leila. If I could just know where I'm, I could make these girl help me find her.)

He searched for a sign of where they were, and just below bright vines; draped down the branch of a tree he could see a sign.

|Goel Rd 5015|

It looked like this was the middle point of the eighth sector. He had mapped this place a few months ago and tried to memorize it before this...apocalypse…he knew he was probably near the famous restaurant of Chonis. He was sure their famous tarts were half spoiled but that didn't mean their goods were.

They could probably pass by and install a few refriges. If they could just get someone else in this group, apart from these two, he could probably raid the place and leave with the restaurant's great bake bell.

He would tell them in the morning and maybe taste some delicious tarts. (If the recipe was locked somewhere inside of course) He imagined the face of Leila in glee and tasting some tarts with him.

"Lovely isn't it?"

He knew the sweet voice.

"For all the injuries you have…I believe you should be dead or something...I don't know. I can't remember much, but what I do remember is that when men bleed as much as you have...they are 6 feet in the ground." She stepped next to him. She looked so beautiful with her brown hair flowing down her shoulders.

Her hand held tightly onto a metal baseball…

(Of course she still would kill him if he got out of line.)

"I...to be honest. I don't even know what I'm anymore. Were they knives?

"Yes." She responded.

"and yet...I'm alive. I just hope my intestines are alright and my other organs." (Oh, shit! When was the last time he had gone to the bathroom?) He tought as he imagined puntured organs.

…

"I guess I'm unkillable." He boasted but he knew that he had a nasty infection coming in a few hours or a day. Multiple knives had pierced his back and who knows where they had been before they were deep inside him. (That sounded wrong.)

That was not even counting the exposure to open, dirty air; the reason hospitals and sanitized rooms, in which doctors would do their work, had been constructed.

"Now, do go stroking that ego too much. Who knows what the first aid kit had. Maybe, that is why you are alive." He looked at her, confused. (So, they did forget everything?)

"So, you guys did forget everything…?

She nodded.

He continued. "Those little flasks in the box were alcohol and if you knew what you had...you would have given me a few shots of ketamine or etomidate that were below the needle and string compartment." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"The syringes of both chemicals would have numbed me of pain. You would have not needed a cloth for me to bite on, or your sister holding me down if you had numbed me first." He didn't have the energy to flinch away as she touched his injuries.

"Did we do a good job?" She asked.

(Oh, here we go. Gatta flex hem skills.)

"Well, you didn't need to wrap me in tape. If you wanted to bandage me you should have used the gauze rolls. You shouldn't have stabbed with the needle too much. If I'm correct, you made too many stitches and you can barely see my injuries because of the string; a few well-separated stitches should have done the trick."

He noticed the bat was completely gone like if it had disappeared in thin air, now she was writing on a little notebook.

He followed up. "Your sister didn't need to pour the alcohol in my open wounds as you closed the injuries. We don't have more and need to collect extra, but yeah, even with your medical memories gone, you did a good job."

"Tell me more." She said.

"But I'm tired, do you guys have a bathroom?" He said.

"Please puppy, and I will lead you to the bathroom." She said caringly, and he was too tired to get mad and so he obliged

He told her all about infections and medical procedures he had to know before he had quit his job. He told her about germs and chemical reactions, about oxygen and free radicals. The more he told her, the more she wanted to know. He told her as much as he could before he could not stay standing anymore.

Her hands were clasped behind her back as he could feel her otherwise hash tone raise to a warm one. "Thank you. Come on, get inside. The tape is bleeding a little. Want me to take the tape off and put the gauze on?"

"No please, don't do that." He said to the enthusiastic Cass. "You would probably open my wounds and the tape would pull the knots. I don't want to hurt more…" he tried to walk towards her but he lost his footing. She quickly helped him walk again.

"Let me help you." She held his arm over her shoulder, and he had begun to visibly lose strength in the legs. "You still want to go to the bathroom?"

His surroundings blurred and cleared as he tried to keep himself awake.

--------------------

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH" The fog. Oh, the black fog! They were screeching as all of them were dragged deeper and deeper inside the fog. "You are nothing. You deserve this. Let me drag your bones and eat your soul" The voice whispered, unceasingly; calmly, and desperately. "Kill them all! KILL THEM ALL!" The darkness shouted like bubbling in his ears and twisted him and crumpled him like paper. He felt small and weak, as the ever insidious voices flooded his mind. "Killthem,torture them.leavenoonealive." They ate at his mind, as they tried to escape and gush out of his head.

Like a tempest, they played with his memories and inflated his skull. He saw himself eat his family and skin his niece alive. "Hehehehhehhehehkillandscrapetheirbones."

He suffered. He suffered. He suffered. He suffered…

--------------------

"Wake up!" He heard someone scream. He opened his eyes and saw the shape of Henny shaking his shoulder. "Henny? He tried to say but it came out as a whisper. "You scared me! I thought you were dying on me," she whispered and lifted a plate as well as a bottle from the floor. "I made some food, here, eat up."

"Thank you." He said. Slowly, she pulled him to the wall and gave him a bottle of water with cooked eggs, ham, and a bit of chicken. "I don't know what to say…" he said. she smiled at him. "You don't need to. Eat up. It is the least we can do for you after all that."

"I don't deserve this kindness. Thank you for the food." He pulled his hands together and bowed slightly. "Ow, ow." He moaned as the pain from his ribs was aggravated by his movement.

"Be careful." She cautioned as she helped him sit upright. "Tell me when you are finished. She came closer and whispered in his ear.

"Sis wants to talk to you." She walked away

He looked around the van, as he enjoyed his sunny side up. There were sparsely separated wooden cabinets and counters on the wall, with fur on the floor and a big enough walkway where two people could walk comfortably shoulder to shoulder. He was in between two couches, with pillows on his back and below him.

(It is comfortable here.) He felt, as he took his last bite and finished his fried chicken.

"Henny. I'm finished. Thank you for the food." She hurried over with a grin on her face as she took the dish. "Good right!?" She said excitedly as she took the plate.

"Delicious." He said as he returned her smile.

"Cass. The man finished his food." Said Henny as she walked out of sight. "Right over." he heard Cass say from the front of the van. Her head unexpectedly popped from the side of the couch.

(Well, that was fast.)

She was smiling. It was the first time he saw her smile. He smiled too and saw her take a seat on the floor, on the other side of the van. She was now dressed in a red shirt, accentuating her breast's, with a blue leather jacket and tight blue shorts

"Do you feel alright?" She asked.

"Tired." He responded. "But feeling stronger than before. If I survive, I should feel fine in a few months or more. if I rest properly...in a month. What's up?" He asked curiously at the smiling Cass.

"Well, let me cut to the chase. You fucking bastard!" He furrowed his brow. "What did I do?" He asked quietly as he looked around anxiously. Had he accidentally woken up in his sleep and used one of them as a pillow?

He knew he tended to sleepwalk and end up in different beds. There had been plenty of cases where he had woken up hugging family members that left their door open or let him in.

It had caused many problems in college. Many guys had drawn dicks on his face and left him outside or girls that used the opportunity to drag him over half the city, only to end up waking up in some kind of party or...something more sinister. He didn't even know how many cults existed before his little problem began.

His head was pulled out of memory lane, as the woman shifted over to him until she was at arm's reach. She leaned forwards and touched him on his left shoulder with her index finger.

Suddenly, he felt his sore muscles disappear and then a tingling sensation passed through his fingers until he felt no arm.

"Did you just…"

"Hell yeah! I call it: numb fingers." She declared, as she shifted closer and touched his back. Her eyes closed. Their foreheads met. His paining injuries faded away. His muscles evaporated and so did his whole back. The pain in his ribs died along with his stomach ache.

"Twath io dmmm aswhom." He tried to say, barely able to move his body as he felt like a noodle. "Hahahah." Her laugh was faint and soft like daylight.

The darkness overtook his vision and then...

Like thunder falling from the skies, he heard a weak and distant roar.