Sir William fell asleep after Gwen went to wash herself and Damion went to check on the girl. He had a surreal, nightmarish, dream that involved him being chased by the abominations through the empty ghost town. He saw everyone he once knew and loved be taken by the beasts as they marched towards him mercilessly. His fears enveloped him as the monsters cornered him and made their way for the kill. He awoke quickly as soon as the darkness had fully taken him.

Drenched in sweat, and being the first one to awaken, he looked over at his armor that he had haphazardly thrown in the corner of the small room. He decided to wear a light tunic and leather armor instead of his cumbersome steel. He still carried his sword and kite shield with him though. He said not a word to anyone as he left to find the place in his dreams. He knew that some dark secret was revealed to him through them, at least he thought so anyway.

So, pushing open the doors and breathing in the light air and bright sun, he made his way through the town. He walked through the square into the housing district and stopped outside the home he had left aflame late last night. His heart grew heavy with sadness as he looked upon the smoldering embers of his beloved home. Knowing that the women he had left was not the same women when he returned killed him on the inside. He walked away slowly as his mind continued to fill his head with thoughts of her.

He walked a little further to his neighbors’ home, which had been nearly untouched by the flames, and knocked heavily on the door. There was no answer from inside, just the light breeze in the air. He tried to open the door but came to find that it had been locked quite securely. He had no idea whether it was to keep something locked up, or to keep someone out.

Knocking again, he heard a rustling around from inside. A slide on the door shot open and he was looking into the light eyes of a scared female. He did not recognize this lady but knew that his neighbors had a young daughter when he left for the war. He assumed it was her as she looked deeply into his eyes, seeming to not trust anyone or anything.

“Are your parents here, Madame? It’s William, from next door. I wanted to be sure you all were safe. I’m trying to find survivors to maybe take refuge at the church.” William said this, but knew he had more in store for his adventure out in the streets.

“William? Yes, I remember you. I’m Isabella, if you don’t remember.” said the young lady, now revealing her name to William.

William then spoke with kindness saying, “Ah, yes. Isabella, it is nice to see you are safe. May I speak to one of your parents? I need to know what happened here.”

Isabella grew pale with further mentioning of her parents and then coldly said, “When they went to find Marry… Well, in your home… They… They never came back.”

William’s heart further filled with sadness for Isabella at the loss of her parents. He looked deeply into her eyes with compassion for her loss and told her to go to the church for protection, and that he would meet her there later in the day. He hoped she would agree to go, but she refused to leave her home. William knew what she was going through and said that he’d make sure she was safe and supplied every day.

William further went down the road to each consecutive home, only to find them broken into, or abandoned. He knew that entire families had been in each home and could only imagine how many infected were about, running through the shadows and whatnot. So, he went deeper into the small town, looking for the hidden entrance to the catacombs. He knew he would find answers down there.

He neared the edge of the graveyard and looked on in horror at the amount of graves that were dug before the plague took full effect. He saw mounds of decaying corpses littering the now abandoned field, and make his way through the awful mess, towards the entrance he desired to find. The smell of the rotting carcasses was almost unbearable, but he pushed through it. The sight of dead bodies was nothing new to him, but it still made him feel uneasy and sick.

In the middle of the graveyard, he found a small mausoleum jutting out of the ground in a true medieval sense. It was disturbingly old fashioned and almost eerie to view up close. He opened to heavy door as it creaked loudly. He noticed that the door had been opened recently and felt it weird that someone would lurk in the city of the dead beneath their feet. He hoped that whatever was down there wouldn’t be too much for a knight such as himself to handle.

As he slowly closed the door, he was only warmth by the light of a recently lit candle pathway. He knew that the light wouldn’t be enough to deter the abominations from hiding inside, but might be able to buy him some time if he’s caught in a struggle. The visibility inside the catacombs grew to only be feet as William furthered himself down into the long forgotten tunnels that were dug to house the dead in his ancient hometown. He hoped that the others wouldn’t find their way to this ancient dark place, because he knew that the journey ahead would be perilous, if anything.

Damion cringed when he saw her back. He had not seen wounds these bad since he was a squire. He had gotten beaten when he screwed up with his masters tasks. Though he made sure they were far and in between. One time he put a dent in his masters armor on accident and he was beaten within an inch of his life. Though Damion justified this beating by convincing himself that it was his fault and he deserved it. "Now this is gonna hurt," Damion said wringing out the rag from the bucket. He pressed the rag against the cuts. When the blood was wiped away he got up and said, "I'm gonna go get some clean bandages and some wine. A fellow priest praised about how wine helps heal wounds, says wine really is Gods blood." He didn't believe that wine was Gods' blood but, the results were like a miracle.


When he returned he knelt back beside the bed and uncorked the bottle. He ripped another piece of cloth from his robe and dampened the rag with the wine. When he was done, he took a long gulp from it. "One for the patient, one for the priest." He said as he pressed the rag against her back. She made a visible cringe and made a hissing noise as the rag touched her back. He started rubbing the cloth up and down her back making sure he got all the cuts. When he was done Damion said, "I need you to sit up so I can wrap the bandages." He smiled to show, he meant nothing besides just tending to her wounds.

Letting Damion clean her wounds, Johanne bowed her head. The kindness of the priest nearly shocked her. That, and the pain of her wounds. The burns didn't usually bleed out, unless she underwent vigorous activity. She thought; today could be considered vigorous. She hadn't ran that far in years.

Johanne sat up straight, positioning her hands behind her head. She turned her head and began to mumble, refusing to make eye contact with the priest. She had never felt more grateful. Or embarrassed. She was so damn helpless, it hurt. "Thank you so much, sir." she said, gulping. "Any way I could possible repay you, please, don't hesitate to ask." Johanne wanted to reimburse the man. She wanted to reimburse the strangers she met today. She felt obligated to. They've helped her so much within the few hours she knew them. "I thank you so much, sir."

"There is no need to repay me. I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart." Damion said getting up. He looked down at his robe and saw that there was visible damage to it. He sighed and pulled it off. Underneath his robe was his faded green shirt and his brown trousers. He knew priests that were completely naked underneath their robe, Damion thought it was morally wrong and just had commoner clothes on. "Now let us see what we can do for clothes. The former priest had an adopted daughter and they left their things behind when they left. Her clothes look like they would fit you." Damion walked over to the wardrobe and opened it. He searched through many things until he found a plain dress that looked about her size.

"This is the best I could do, I'm sorry that there isn't anything better. If you want tomorrow we can go explore the town and find you something a little more fitting." Damion said walking up to her. He needed to change the bedding on his cot. Damion wouldn't allow somebody to sleep in soiled bedding. "Now if you can stand, I wish to make you more comfortable by changing the bedding."

Moving down the lowly lit areas of the catacombs, William saw that many of the coffins had been desecrated and torn open. The skeletons of the dead had been removed. William was starting to think that there was evil lingering in the depths below as well, something that might keep the abominations out. He at least felt safe knowing he wasn’t going to be forced to change into one of those beasts.

Find the hidden entrance he was looking for, he pushed a sliding rock out of the way which revealed a doorway. He opened the doorway and walked into the dark room. He grabbed a candle from the wall outside for light and then used it to see around the room. He heard a light creaking from behind and slowly began to turn himself around.

To his back he saw a mummified body staring back at him. It was standing eye to him and showed all the signs of an anciently decayed corpse. The mummy unsheathed an ancient looking sword and pointed it in William’s direction. Jumping back a step, William unsheathed his sword in defense.

The mummy growls and charged William fiercely, but it was no match for William’s advanced military training and tactics. He managed to break through the mummies guard and stabbed it in the chest. The ancient dead’s eye sockets glared back at him as the beast pulled him close and the mummy’s sword stabbed into Williams left side, cutting him open. Filled with adrenaline now, William pushed the beast away and hacked through its neck and chopped its head off.

He walked over to the coffin, whilst keeping pressure on his side, and grabbed an ancient book from out of it. He tucked the book away into his other belongings and made his way back to the surface with haste. He knew he didn’t want to come into contact with other creatures that might have been raised from the dead. Finally, he saw the crypt door and pushed his way back out through it.

With blood covering his hands and soaking his clothes, he moved toward the church as quickly as he could. He saw that it was still very early in the day and didn’t know if anyone would be awake yet. He began feeling incredibly weak as he opened up the heavy doors to the church. He walked down the aisles slowly and suddenly collapsed on the floor. He looked under the pews and saw a young women staring back at him.

William weakly said, “Help me, my wound is pretty bad. Please, I need assistance ma’am. If there is anything you can do. Just help me…” William began drifting off between each sentenced he uttered, until he passed out from the immense pain.