I'm still weeping when the survivor alerts me to her waking up by moaning, her eyes slowly flicking beneath her lids. I instantly rise and rush to her side, examining her for signs of shock. I must have been crying for an awful long time if the teenager was able to come out of shock. She opens her eyes and slowly looks around, then asks me, "What happened?". When I explain the situation she allows herself a moment to cry, then asks me, "What are we going to do?". I console her and answer, "I don't know.". I hear her stomach growl and tell her, "I'm going to go get you some food.". I stand and leave the room, but freeze when I hear a rustling. I pull out my gun and run to the kitchen, but once again freeze at the sight before me. Roughly twenty thin coons are in the kitchen. They're in a gigantic group, and they seem to be swarming around something. Suddenly, one raccoon goes back to his business. He begins gnawing at something, and I see the metal can in his paws gleam. Without a second thought I raise the gun in my hands and shoot him. It's as if I've opened a floodgate of furry bodies. I scream and kick a few as they pass me, but most of them escape. I look at where they disappeared. It's only a few inches wide, and I'm surprised the creatures were even able to get through. I block the hole and go examine what they were eating. Damn it. The drug our food supply from its hiding place and destroyed most of it.

We only have five cans left, and all of them are turkey. I suppose I could feed the teen some turkey, but her throat would swell and she would end up dying. So, I have some food I can use to kill the survivor and some raccoon meat. I skin, gut, and clean the animal. Now, how am I going to cook him? I can't start a fire in the house, the balcony is all wood, and the smell of cooking meat outside will attract zombies. I groan and go to tell the teenager our situation. She begins to lightly cry again, but I console her and tell her, "I saw some berry bushes a little ways away. I'll go get some, and we can think of something else later.". She begs me not to go, but in the end I have to. I load my gun, say my prayers, and step outside. Not a single zombie in sight. Thank the nine. I quickly secure the door from the outside. I notice the swelling in my ankle has gone down, so I'm good to go. I slowly walk around the area, snatching berries and shoving them in my bag. I turn to go back to the cabin when I notice a fire in the distance. I consider ignoring it, but it could be fellow survivors that don't know of the zombie horde in the area. The survivor might not appreciate it, but I go to investigate. I quickly go into the forest and creep up on whoever started the fire. I'm quite far away from the cabins, but I'm also a fast runner. I'm pretty safe. Probably.

I make sure to remain unseen, stay unheard, and take in every detail I can. Three men, two women, and nine children are sitting around a gigantic fire, a wild boar roasting above the flames. Where the hell they found a boar I'll never know. One woman stands and begins preaching, "On the seventh day of creation Kynareth said, 'I have made beast in the forest, fish in the seas, and birds in the sky. You may partake of all for they be your bounty, just pray unto me for I have given you their flesh.' The daedra Molag Bal has destroyed the world, and taken our bounty with him. But our gods offer us one way out, and Kynareth has given us her praise to do so. On the twentieth day of the explosion of Red Mountain Kynareth turned to the praying devout and told them, 'The forests are burned, the sea is red, and the sky is black. My bounty for you has died, but I offer you one solution. Those who have sinned and gone against the divines may be treated as beast, for they are little more than such. Partake of their flesh only when you must. When the birds once again fly and the fish swim, then only Namira's followers shall eat the flesh of mortal men.'. Today the forest is empty, the sky is clear, and the sea is red. The day of destruction has come unto us, and Kynareth has given us her blessing to feast upon those who we must.".

She turns, points to the roast pig (I pray it's pig), and yells, "We found a wounded man among our garbage, scrounging for our scraps. I gave him a blessing for his wounds and praised him for surviving so long. But when I went to give him a holy amulet he spat and snarled, 'I have no use for amulets, for my wound is mortal. The gods are deaf.'. I am the ear of the gods, and Kynareth snarled at his condemnation of the divines. I slew him with my holy knife, stripped the sinner's skin, and prepared his unholy flesh for baptizing. His meat is cooked, Kynareth is appeased, and our meal is ready.". She draws a knife, walks over to the cooking man, and hacks off his leg. She gives the leg to the starving children, the savages ripping the cooked human meat apart. I feel vomit in the back of my throat as they all begin digging into their meal. I start to back up, but stop when the priestess turns to me and screams, "Kynareth speaks to me, and she smells another corrupt wolf among her sheep. A disgusting sinner who wishes to take another woman to bed. She is hiding from my divine sight, but I can hear her stained soul yelling out for help from her. Come forth sinner, so that I might lay my divine blessing upon you. Throw your weapon to the ground, abandon your doomed lover, and join our feast!".

I'm completely shaken, but I slowly prepare my gun. The priestess laughs and screams at the sky, "Forgive her mother, for she knows not what she does.". Then, her chest explodes in a spray of blood as my bullet enters her body. The followers are instantly up and ready for a fight, but I take all of the adults out before I can even think about it. I move out of hiding, but realize I've left all the children alive. I clear my throat to say something (I'm not sure what), but before I can even get a syllable out the children are charging. In an instant I'm in my protection mode. The children are savage, their teeth are stained red, and I know they eat people. I haven't shot this fast or reloaded this quick since President Hillary was almost assassinated. When all of them are dead I crouch down, hot vomit spewing from my mouth. I've just killed nine children. Nine children. What kind of monster am I? I haven't seen a mirror in years, but I can tell I must look different than what I use to. The beautiful, confident woman that left Washington D.C. is long gone. A scarred, battered middle aged woman is left in her place. One who's committed things I wouldn't even tell my closest friend. I straighten up, a wonderful aroma catching my attention. My mouth waters and I look at the source of the scent, the poor roasting man still burning. How zombies aren't swarming the area I have no clue.

I turn to leave, but the smell is getting to me. I walk over to the corpse, tear off a chunk, quickly decide I'm a horrible human being, and shove the meat into my mouth. After decades of eating canned meat, berries, and plants this is a feast. It's fresh, delicious, and there's an abundant supply of it. I eat until I'm full. I make sure to be careful, I don't want my stomach to burst. Suddenly, I realize the teenager needs something to eat. I have berries, but those won't let a growing teenager survive. I shove some meat into my pack, then I have a brilliant idea. The children are small, and I can easily carry two or three. I grab as many as I can and begin stumbling back to the cabin, praying no zombies finds me. I somehow manage to make it back, open the door, and fall through. I throw the bleeding bodies to the side, clean myself up, and enter the survivor's room. She smiles when she sees me, and gasps when I show her the meat. Before she can say anything, I go over and forcibly feed the teenager some. When she's fed the teenager asks me, "What was that?". I easily lie, "Raccoon.". She nods and suddenly asks, "Can I ask you a question?". I hold back the urge to say a sarcastic response, and tell her, "Yes.". The teen asks me out of the middle of nowhere, "Are we the good guys?".

We just ate a person, so I guess not. But I still ask the woman, "Why do you ask that?". She sighs and explains, "We stole the car, and we don't live in a society.". I shrug and tell her, "I don't think there are any 'good' or 'bad' guys. I think there are just people. We do what we have to do to survive. You haven't harmed an innocent person. So, if you still want to use titles, then I guess you're a good guy.". She mulls over my words, then tells me, "I suppose you're right. But if nobody is good or bad, how do we tell what's right and wrong?". I shrug and tell her, "I think it's all in the eye of the beholder. What's wrong in someone else's eyes might be right in ours. If you want to know what's 'good', then just ask yourself one simple question. Would I want what I'm about to do done to me? If the answer is 'no', then I suppose you shouldn't do it. But then there's another problem. If someone tries to hurt you, take advantage of you, or if the situation is desperate, then I think that question flies out the window. Do you agree with me?". When she nods I feel a weight lift off my shoulder. She didn't know she just ate human meat, but at least she won't hate me if she finds out. I smile and relax, for once I'm relatively safe.

Note: Hey, quick little note here. Voting is officially over (I went ahead and deleted the poll off my profile to avoid confusion). I originally intended to leave the poll open a little longer, but I wanted to get started on the sequel before I went back to doing stuff. On a related note, updates may have a little more time in between them. I only update my stories when all of them are ready to get a new chapter, so don't worry about Love getting updated one day and Survivors another. Now, to tell you the winner. I'm surprised (but none the less pleased) that The March will get to keep going (I'm not going to lie, for a little bit I was afraid The Ends of the Earth and Back was going to win. I love the story, but I'd have no idea what to do with a sequel, and in the end it would destroy the original). I was expecting The Queen and Her Cat to win, but I'm still pumped to get to revisit Rikke and her Khajiit. Now, I'll flat out say I'm planning on continuing The Queen and Her Cat when Survivors and Love are over. Survivors is coming along nicely, but it'll probably end very soon. If you know how Thirst ended, then you better prepare yourselves for Survivors to end kind of like that. That's it. Favorites liked, reviews wanted, and every reader loved.

-KhajiitWarriorSam