Madness. Madness everywhere. The look in their eyes. People, animals, insects, plants. Nothing was sane.
Danger. Danger everywhere. Death at every corner. Doom at every turn. Dust, bones, rocks, ruins. Nowhere was safe.
A wasteland. Wasteland, ruled by the strong, by the smart, and by the resourceful. Not by the sane, the healthy, or the fortunate.
You went outside, you died. You stayed, you died. You fought back, you died... eventually.
He couldn't take it anymore. His mind couldn't take it anymore. No matter if he stayed in this hole with the others, he would still die sooner or later. If he went outside, he'd die even sooner. So he did the best possible thing. Fight back.
His thoughts filled with death, misery and violence. His gun loaded with destruction. His hand shaking. Gunshot. And another.
A fellow man fell. Another joined. So it continued until he was no longer one of them. A murderer, a raider, a madman. None could restrain him. They didn't have the means to do it. He was too fast, despite his exhaustion. He was too smart, despite his insanity. He was too mad... despite his feelings.
No-one else mattered. It was eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed. They were all after him. They had to die, so that he could live.
A familiar face. Like lightning through his heart and mind. A young woman, barely in her twenties, now lying in a pool of blood and tears.
A friend? Relative? ... Lover?
His face twitched. His chest cried with pain. He bowed and examined her face. He had gone beyond insanity. Killed the only thing he ever loved in this playground of hell.
Rose once again with a twisted smile of pure madness. Laughing like the very lord of the underworld surrounded by his minions.
Gunshots. A whole legion of them. No, thousand legions. Tearing his body. Tearing his mind. Tearing his soul. Still laughing despite danger, pain and death.
His motionless body marked with a fiendish smile frozen to his face. Finally...
Peace.
