The air became thick as it turned black. Kris coughed and tried to keep his head down. He covered his mouth with a rag, but that didn't keep him from coughing as ash had already filled his lungs. Fire raged around him, encircling him, and drawing ever closer. Kris could hear only the cackles of the flames, and his own coughs. He wanted so desperately to call out, but opening his mouth only made his lungs burn more along with his throat. How had this happened? He had no clue. Kris had been sleeping peacefully until his bed overturned and threw him against the wall. Now he laid beneath the bed, trapped, because the roof had collapsed on top of it. As he feared that these would be his last moments, many faces flashed through his mind.

The woman he had loved, his parents, his brothers, he saw all of them. It was Christmas. Everyone was smiling, laughing, and drinking. They were happy sitting by a warm, cozy fire. It was snowing outside, and they had all been out throwing snowballs. They were just trying to warm up. Yes, that's all he was doing now. He'd wake up any moment now realizing he'd fell asleep too close to the fireplace. It would still be Christmas. Everyone would still be there. They would all be happy. Kris wanted to keep that memory alive, and let it die with him.

He woke up the next day covered in ash and dust. Kris could barely see anything with all the rubble in the way, but managed to wiggle out from underneath the bed frame that had pinned him last night. When he stood he coughed violently, but eventually he got that under control. He rubbed his eyes a bit to get dust out of them, then fell to his knees from where he had stood, because of what he saw. The village was gone.

Every house was just a pile of charred wood and ash. It looked as if the whole village had been fed into God's firepit. Kris rushed to his feet again when a cry broke through the agony of silence. "H-Hello?!", he called out, choking on the words with a voice that was hoarse. The crying continued softly. It sounded far away, so he climbed over mountains of rubble to get through. When Kris found the source of the crying a few tears ran down his cheeks as well. A baby coughed and cried as it struggled to breathe. A dead man and woman were holding the baby close, shielding it. All the debris had fallen on them, but the baby was untouched. Kris used all the strength he had left to clear the debris. He picked up the baby and made sure he was okay. The baby boy stopped crying soon after Kris scooped him up. A woman that had lived in the house next door slowly arose from the rubble as she fought her way out from under it. Kris let her hold the baby while he helped the few other survivors that there were.

By the end of the day only four adults, two children, and that one baby boy had survived. At night, the surviving adults built a campfire and cooked what food they managed to scavenge from the wreck. A decent amount of supplies had survived, and there was a stream nearby, so they should be safe for a little while until help came for them. However, none of the comunications were wroking, and the next village or town over was at least a day's journey by foot to get there, another day to get back. Everyone silently stared at the flames as they ate. It wasn't hard to tell that all of them were finding it difficult to come to terms with the situation.

"What caused this...?", a woman spoke up eventually, then burst into tears and held a tiny blanket tightly around herself. The blanket looked like the fire had eaten half of it. It was amazing such a thing could still survive, as it was amazing that these people could survive too.

"We'll find out when someone comes for us...", an old man answered calmly. It seemed he was trying to keep the tension and hysteria down.

"How will they know to come?! We can't get a message out to them!", the woman cried out in a panic.

"They probably saw the fire. There's no way a whole village can be lit up like this and nobody notice. They'll be here within a couple days I'm sure", the old man assured her.

"Hush now, you're scaring the children...", a second woman whispered angrily to the first. Kris stayed quiet, because he had no real interest in the others. All he cared about was the baby in his arms, the baby that clung to him so tightly as if it was his last chance to live. He did his best to keep the boy calm and well fed for the next few days, but then those days became weeks. Even as the color of health drained from all the others, Kris included, he fought the other survivors to keep the baby fed and healthy. The woman who had panicked so much the first night had gone insane within two weeks of them not being found. She wanted to kill the children and the old man, so that the young adults could live. Kris kept away from her. After the first week everyone had made their own little area, and stuck to themselves. Kris had made sure to stay as far away as he could from them all.

The little boy had become the only hope he had left. Every time the child smiled at him, Kris smiled back sincerely from the bottom of his heart. He knew that if this child could make it, then he could make it. So, he wouldn't let anyone go near the kid. He took it upon himself to be the boy's guardian. When that crazy woman had tried to kill the boy, Kris beat a woman for the first time in his life. He didn't want to, but he did what he must. The woman had made him so upset that she could attempt such a thing that he'd wanted to kill her, but he just couldn't. The army killed people all the time. He knew that very well, but he just couldn't bring himself to do that. Instead, the rest of the surviving party ended up killing her.

When the third week came around one of the children had gotten sick, a ten year-old girl. The second woman who had been caring for the two children all this time stayed by her side. The other child, a six year-old boy, helped take care of the sick girl. They did all the could, but there were no doctors around, and the water they drank was not the most sanitary. The girl grew more and more sick by the hour, until eventually she changed.

One morning the sick girl was no more. She had fallen asleep in the second woman's arms, but was not there in the morning. Everyone recoiled away in fear from the beast that had taken the girl's place. The girl's skin had turned green, any her eyes a deep violet. They steered clear of the girl now, afraid they might catch whatever horrid disease it is that she must have. The little girl no longer ached all over anymore. It only ached in her heart now as she was forced to be all alone. She cried every night and shivered, because there was no one around to hold her to keep her warm. For a couple nights, Kris silently watched over her. He scared off coyotes whenever they scared her. The coyotes came every night now to pick apart the dead woman's remains.

Kris couldn't do anything more for her though. He could not risk allowing anything harmful near the baby boy, and food supplies were dwindling down now. So, he just watched her from afar. Each day he protected her, but also watched her grow weaker. They all grew weaker and began to fade as each second ticked away closer to their end. Kris had made sure from the start to ration out what food he managed to find, so him and the baby outlasted the others.

Eight weeks in Kris felt himself to be on the brink of death again. He laid on a tattered blanket and held the baby boy close to him, keeping him safe in his jacket. For the longest time he tried to keep his eyes open. He couldn't let them close. He couldn't give up on the boy. Kris pushed through with all the willpower in the world, but his eyes eventually fell shut. The little boy's cries grew evermore distant as the world faded away. He became swallowed by the darkness, never thought again to see the light. Kris wouldn't awake to the faces of his loved ones ever again. He wouldn't ever even wake again. For all eternity, the darkness would own him. He lived amongst the nightmares.

"Why do you love me, Kris?"

"..."

"Do you even love me?"

"Yes."

"Then why?"

"..."

"Why???"

"..."

"He's yours you know."

"No..."