The beast marched towards Joseph’s shack. Its heavy stomps slightly shaking the flimsy walls. He knew now that he was the monster’s target. Head angled down, it’s glowing red eyes locked to the wooden disaster Joseph called home.

There was no mistaking the beast’s intentions , if there was one thing he knew about these otherworldly animals, it was that they always had a way of sensing people.

He had seen a group of demons in his city break through stone walls to get to humans. Their talons scraping the old cobblestone, the screaming of women and children on the other side. The noise only made the monsters speed up and at the end all Joseph could specifically remember was the gargled screeching of the last victim.

That was why he picked this place. The interstate was vacant now, no one dared ride down a barren road in this day and age. A nice place for someone to be ignored.

Joseph snapped out of his shock, the fear now slowly molding to anger. He cursed watching as the creature sped up.

“ Fu..fuck….you..” he voice still raspy and cracking, the horrid scraping in his throat causing his eyes to slightly tear.But the fire only grew, the anger began to outway the pain.

He shoved open the flimsy door of the shack, shuffling out into the open world, quickly staring down as to not be blinded by the burning fire in the sky. His eyes veered past his large boney feet to see the severely cracked brown dirt on the ground. He noticed strange innerwebbings in between the cracks far too thin to be roots.

( what the hell is that?) He thought, his eyes rising back up to meet the gaze of the beast. Joseph felt the crimson red eyes gaze at the center of his chest. Almost as if the eyes themselves were ripping and tearing their way to his heart.

He felt a sudden immense pressure slam into his torso,but nothing was there . The pain was excruciating. He held his breast, collapsing to his knees as the demon dog approached. Its long dark nails digging into the dried earth as it slowed its pace to a trot. Joseph could tell that it was toying with him, like a cat would a mouse, finding entertainment in his torment. That was all the demons were about.

This was it. Joseph had lived his last four years as a hermit. Doing nothing with his life. Now he has a reason to live, a reason to fight. But here he was, a mere three steps outside of his safety and already at death's door. He felt all of this and more. His eyes began to water,he can think of only one other instance that he felt so helpless, but he'd rather live this moment every night, feel this pain every time he closed his eyes, than see her face another time. He couldn't save her, he couldn't hold her again. Within moments he’d be in the belly of this beast where his only meaning will be to be digested.

As the monster neared,Joseph could now clearly see the true disgust of it. Its teeth jagged and warped,stained brown and yellow. Its skin like that of leather burned over and over again causing a noticeable char, the side of its mouth oozing with repulsive green drool. As it huffed at him the stench overpowered his nose. It smelled like a mixture of vomit, death, and shit. The spikes covered its body all mismatched in size,the color reminding him of sickly bone. The pain in his chest grew more, it felt as though his heart was being slowly ripped apart. But more than the pain grew. His anger towards the monster raged through him,slightly numbing the inner screaming. He threw his head up staring back at the beast. He felt his words force their way out as loud as they could

“ GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!!”

He tasted copper as he ended his scream. Raising his hand to his mouth and wiping away his own blood from his lips.His mind filled with immediate regret.The beast only stared back at him for a moment, then it raised one of its paws and sent it plummeting down at Joseph.

As the spiked paw flew down a sudden force slammed into the face of the monster sending it toppling back.

Joseph felt the pain fade from his heart. He got to one knee staring ahead both thankful, and confused at what just happened. A man was now on top of the beast stabbing it repeatedly in its stomach, dark blood being thrown from the cuts being made by a strange yellow sword.

The man was burly , his head shaved, with a mighty brown beard, now housing flakes of blood.one hand held on to one of the jagged spikes , while the other held the sword that plunged deep into the gullet of the beast. The hound thrashed its body, throwing the man from his belly, and rising back to its feet. The man was on his feet as fast as the beast, rushing back to confront the monster.the muscles on the man's legs tensed as he sprinted. It lashed out with its jagged fang’s intent to rip the stranger's head off his shoulders. But the man was quick , slamming his jagged elbow right into the beast's jaw. A shard of its tooth flew back a mere foot away from Joseph, as he stood in awe watching the fight. This had been the first time he had ever seen a single soul fight any demon much less a larger, more dangerous one. The part that shocked him the most is that the man looked excited. Like he was enjoying it.

The man swung his strange sword at the beast, slashing an eye with a slight movement of his wrist and a twist of his hips. The man’s footwork looked like that of an aged ballet dancer, every thrust with purpose, every stab with precision. The battle quickly shifted from fair to bloodthirsty. The man never slowing his strikes. The steaming maroon blood of the beast coating his upper body.

The man suddenly sheathed his weapon on his side turning his back to the whimpering remains of the demon hound, but before he could take his first step away the monster lashed out once more this time throwing its whole body at the man, hoping to crush the enemy. Without turning, the man lept high, narrowly escaping the weight meant to end him, and landing on the spiked back of the beast, quickly pulling his sword and slicing through the throat of the monster, sending the head toppling towards Joseph.

As the gargantuan orb of meat barreled toward him, Joseph noticed the man pick up a rock from the ground and toss it.

(What the hell is he doi…)

Joseph’s thought was interrupted by yet another searing pain catching him in the chest, sending him flying back into the shack as the disembodied head slammed into the rotting wood holding the flimsy home together. The walls quickly collapsed atop Joseph, the splintered pieces stabbing into his legs and the larger piece flying onto his forehead knocking him unconscious.

Joseph woke up in front of a small fire, the flames dancing atop the strangely familiar wood ,almost transparent from his view as the flames matched the color of the sky.

“Are you alright?”

A soothing voice asked above him. It reminded him of how a butler would speak, a small hint of a british accent. He slowly raised his head to see who had spoken to him. It was the stranger that fought the beast. A burly man, wearing only a set of weathered camouflage pants,now that the man had cleaned off the demon blood, Joseph noticed that he was still smiling,right at him…holding his sword.

Joseph jolted up, raising his hands high and lowering his head. “ pl..please.. Don't kill m’...{cough}..me”

He felt the pain shooting up his throat as he begged for his life. The muscular man lowered on his knees extending his sword out above the fire, still smiling at Joseph.

( what is this sick bastard doing? Is he heating up the blade before impaling me with it? What the fuck has happened to humanity?) He thought,worrying that his fate had been merely delayed.

The man places a finger under Joseph's chin raising his eyeline to meet his own. Then quickly reaches behind his back. Joseph flinched sporadically expecting to be stabbed by some sort of knife or dagger

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“ here.. I think you need this” the man said, holding a water skin. Joseph fought his urge to rip it from the man’s grasp. What if the man was up to something? He felt what little saliva he had left reach his lips and make an audible smack. He couldn’t resist. He grabbed the drink and gulped as much as he could, forgetting to breathe and almost drowning himself in the process. When he looked back up at the man he noticed a bowl on the wide part of his blade. Joseph stared at the man a moment, unsure if he should take the bowl. What if this was part of it? What if the man was trying to drug him. The smell of succulent beef and sweet pork overwhelmed his nostrils. He snatched the bowl quickly, drinking the warm delicious stew inside.

The stout man laughed

“ slow down friend, we’ve plenty and from the looks of it you haven’t eaten in quite some time”

Joseph finished chewing the tender strip of meat that slid to his back molars. Belching he patted his stomach and nodded his head to the man

“ Thank you sir, if you don’t mind me asking who you are?”

The man looked at him, one eyebrow cocked in slight surprise.

“You're the first person to ask in quite some time”

he outstretched his massive, callused, right hand to Joseph.

“ Gabe Smith, pleasure to meet you…?”

“ Joseph.”

He stated, grabbing Gabe’s meat hook and shaking .

Gabe sat across the fire from Joseph crossing his legs and placing his elbows on his knees.

“ Well it truly is a pleasure Joseph. Haven’t seen a friendly face much in my journey. Sorry about your legs by the way.”

He sounded quite upset at the end of his sentence.

Joseph felt a pain shoot from his thighs, he looked down noticing a piece of white fabric , with a concerning amount of red growing from the center. He pulled up the cloth realizing where the pain was coming from. His thighs had been severely sliced open revealing bone at the center. He felt the stew now residing in his throat. It was a disgusting sight. He laid the cloth back down leaning back on his palms and looking for his shack some place behind him only, it wasn’t there.he looked back at Gabe

“ Where is my home?”

Gabe starred up, his smile fading ever so slightly.

“ well , in the troubling times we find ourselves in, I thought it necessary to roast the meat before serving it and well… firewood is difficult to come by”

Joseph looked back at him, his eyes growing wide as he was piecing everything together.

“ You destroyed my home….to cook some meat?” Joseph quickly shifted from grateful to irate.

“What gave you the right? Do you have any idea how long it took me to make that place?”

Gabe looked back at Joseph a slight twinkle in his eye

“ Well from the way it looked, at least an hour.”

he said mockingly.

“ Once again, I do apologize, but as I said the meat needed to be roasted, if left uncooked it would have certainly spoiled.”

“ Where did you get this meat from anyways? We don't exactly have many cattle left in the state, much less the city.”

Joseph asked, perplexed.

“ Aaahhh well you see, as has always been stated. To the victor go the spoils.”

Gabe slowly rotated his arm pointing behind himself to the boney remains of the beast he slayed.

Joseph went pale. He had been eating demon meat! Why? How? His brain rattled with questions as his stomach began to turn. He tried to throw up the disgusting muscle from his gullet but couldn't. He grabbed at the water skin downing the rest of the reserve, while cursing at Gabe.

“ What the fuck is wrong with you!? How the hell could you feed a complete stranger something like that!? How do we know that it isn't poisonous!?”

Joseph had thrown the water skin to the side and began wiping his tongue with his hand.

“ I assure you it is not poisonous, for if it were I would have surely perished long ago, so relax my new friend, there is much of the world you haven't quite understood yet. Aren't you concerned even the slightest about those nasty cuts you've gathered?”

Joseph looked back at Gabe unimpressed.

“ Didn't take me long to realize that dying isn't easy to come by nowadays. The bleeding has already slowed. Come tomorrow it'll be nothing but a fresh scar, then the next day it'll be completely gone.”

Joseph sat back staring into the fire as Gabe spoke

“ What about the pain? Surely it's immense.” He asked Joseph

Joseph didn't even look away from the fire

“ I've had my fair share of pain,compared to the past, it's nothin more than a paper cut”

They both sit staring into the fire for some time before Gabe askes Joseph a question.

“ Why have you chosen this as your home? This land is barren and as far as i can tell there is no food or water. So why?”

Joseph grabs one of the burnt pieces of his old door frame poking the embers of the fire and looks at Gabe.

“ Like you said, no food, no water. Means no people, a place where someone can go to be left alone.”

Gabe chuckled a little

“ So what? You mean to starve yourself and wither away? Hardly a life worth living if you ask me.”

Joseph glared at Gabe

“ What? You think I didn't try to end it? That's the saddest thing of all about the world we live in now, a man can have his world destroyed, everything taken away from him. But fuck me if i wanna kill myself!”

“ All you need is one reason, one reason to stay,one reason to fight, that's all dear Joseph.”

Gabes words were comforting,Joseph now had a reason to fight, if only he had the strength but he had a thought

“ Gabe?”

“ Yes Joseph?”

“ Could you teach me?”

“ Pardon?”

“ Teach me to fight.. The demons”

Gabe sat posed in a thinker position, as a small amount of time passed Joseph began to worry he'd asked too quickly. He knew very little about this man and he could very well say no and leave. Joseph's brow began to sweat. If he couldn't learn how to stand against a demon he surely had no hope of rescuing May.

“I'll tell you what Joseph, answer three questions of mine honestly and I will.”

Gabe looked sternly at him while he asked the first question

“ Do you believe in God?”

Joseph thought for a moment. It was a hard question to answer for him. After everything that happened to him and this world, for someone to believe in a higher being was difficult.

“ Now that's tough for me to say cus I…” Gabe cut Joseph off before he could finish

“ A simple yes or no Joseph”

Joseph bit his lip nervously

“ No”

Gabe ran his fingers through his beard contemplating

“ Very well..”

“ Have you ever believed in God?”

“ Yes”

Gabes expression gleamed more at that answer

“ And final question, have you ever been baptized?”

“ No”

“ Splendid”

Gabe stood up and turned his back to Joseph beginning to walk away.Joseph's head fell between his legs. What did he do wrong? He answered honestly. How would he ever get to Las vegas? How would he save her?

“ Well come on!” Gabe yelled now no more than ten yards away.

“ I've got places to be and you've got things to do before you're ready.”

Joseph picked himself up hastily walking to Gabe as his brawny shoulders waited in patience.For the first time in a long time, Joseph felt hope. He looked up at Gabe

“ Where are we going by the way?”

Gabe stared up at the flaming gateway in the sky

“ We are embarking on an epic of our own, a journey to the end, we march for the heart of this evil! Las Vegas!”