Daniel stayed up that night to do his job of keeping watch more properly. He felt so frustrated with himself for falling asleep while he was supposed to guard them and then that mistake almost cost them their lives.
But for the time he was asleep he did not have a single nightmare. He did not see his father leaving him, nor his mother being engulfed in flames. He just slept a deep, comforting slumber.
His gaze traveled to the small girl lying next to him. Could Ramielle have something to do with the fact that he did not have any nightmares? Or was it just because he had someone around and was not alone anymore?
The image of her driving her glass-hilted dagger into the vampire's chest earlier played over in his mind. He still cannot believe how she did it. She had such good reflexes and speed... It was weird. Why was this girl so skilled? Was she also a monster hunter like him before she lost her memories? That could also have been a good explanation for the enormous scratches on her back.
At daybreak Ramielle woke up and they shared a can of fermented fruit before setting off and continuing their journey.
The road they followed was dry and cracked. It must have been a dirt road surrounded by green grass and trees at some point, but now it was surrounded by bare, dead trees and sand.
"You seem deep in thought," Ramielle observed as she struggled keeping pace with Daniel. He glanced back at her for a second then returned his gaze to the dry ground ahead, "I was just thinking about last night and when I first met you... Do you really not know where you learned to fight like that?"
Ramielle thought for a while, perhaps trying her best to regain lost memories. Then a sigh of defeat left her lips, "No, I do not know. I have no memories of my past." Daniel wished he could lose all his memories like she did. That was the only way he would forget what happened to his mother and his dirt bag of a father.
"But..." she suddenly said. Daniel stopped and turned to her. "The voice I heard in my dream last night sounded awfully familiar." Daniel recalled her telling him that a warning from her dream woke her. It was really weird that a dream had warned her of danger. Never since birth had Daniel heard of that.
"You're so annoying," he said and continued walking. Ramielle flipped through the pages of the leather bound book that they had found in Danica Swiss's room. Since they left their camping place, Ramielle started to read through the book. It was still a mystery to Daniel that Ramielle could read but not even dress herself.
Daniel already read through the book while he kept watch the previous night. In the book was hand written notes explaining why the world ended up the way it was and how creatures like vampires came into existence. It also had a roughly drawn map as to where Daniel and Ramielle needed to go to find the people mentioned in the note - Hector and Danica.
"Daniel... May I ask you a question?" Ramielle asked like a kid at school. "No," Daniel answered with no emotion.
"Please? It is about monsters... You seem like you know a considerable amount about them..."
Daniel felt his ears grow red. He didn't get compliments often and the sudden praise from Ramielle caught him off guard. "Uh... Fine. Ask away."
She smiled, "Thank you. So the thing that attacked us last night and the thing that I killed in the village were both... vampires?" Daniel nodded. "And the other thing that ran toward me was... a demon?" she continued. Daniel shook his head, "No. That was a Corpse - or zombie I guess. That's what happens to you if you die." Ramielle thought it over and then asked, "Really? Something tells me that when we die we go to... some place."
Daniel laughed and it sounded a bit harsh even to his own ears. But what Ramielle said was absolute nonsense. There was no such place. "Ramielle, sweet, innocent Ramielle. I hate to tell you that Santa doesn't exist but he doesn't. Neither does this 'place' you speak of. There is no heaven. No underworld. No afterlife. This world is what we're stuck with. If you die, you become a Corpse and if you get a bullet through your head after that, you return to dust."
Ramielle looked genuinely sad and Daniel suddenly regretted telling her. But he had to learn the hard way and what she is learning now is not half as bad. At twelve years of age Daniel had to shoot his elderly neighbour who was eating his own wife to who he was married for 49 years. The same neighbour who saved Daniel when he was stuck in a tree, who's wife bandaged Daniel's wounds from playing too rough, and gave him cookies and milk since he was able to walk.
Ramielle looked up and her eyes bore into his, "You are wrong. There is a place where everyone can find peace. Even if Evil turned the world into what it is now, peace and happiness will prevail again. I know it."
Something told Daniel that he could believe her and that he can trust her.
Daniel noticed that they have were a short distance from another village. He used this to steer the conversation, "Hey, look. We made it to the first village on the map." Ramielle looked at the map in the book and her face lit up, "You are right! We made it!"
The two of them cautiously walked through the village. It looked a lot like the previous one - destroyed buildings, dead bodies lying everywhere and the stench of old blood hovering in the air.
Ramielle stayed close to Daniel. At every sound she would jerk and cling to him. He would then shrug her off and tell her to stop being so clingy, "If you were my girlfriend I would have dumped you a long time ago. I hate girls who cower." She only asked him if she wasn't his friend already and why he would toss her into the garbage.
They searched through the village for supplies. They only found a few cans of canned food and some flasks with ale.
As they were ready to leave the village, a voice came from inside a broken down house, "Help me! Please help me!" It sounded like a child. They entered the house and saw a little boy standing in the middle of the ruins. A cruel sneer started to form on his lips, but Ramielle didn't see it. She already dashed to his aid before Daniel shouted, "No! It's a demon!"
According to Danica's book, demons invaded the world after the Great War: the last war between Good and Evil. Evil turned out the victor of this war and Good locked themselves in Heaven, unable to do anything to help the humans as the demons spilled from their world into the human world.
The demon changed from its current form as a little boy into its true form, an enormous thing that looked like a praying mantis.
Some demons, such as the mantis-like ones, could shape shift. They could take the form of children or women to lure their victims to them and then they would capture them and suck out and devour their souls.
Ramielle screamed as the demon swooped her up in its arms and it kicked toward Daniel with one of its hind legs.
Daniel ducked its attack and pulled out his katanas, attempting to sever the leg. He missed and moved to try and attack it from a nearer angle.
The demon jumped out of the house through a giant hole in the roof. "My master will be so pleased," he said with a dark chuckle.
Daniel rushed outside, now with his guns in hand.
The demon landed on the roof of another building. Ramielle was struggling against its grip, trying to free her arms. Daniel shot towards it, but the demon was too fast, "Damn it! Let her go you son of a ---!"
The demon dashed from rooftop to rooftop, Daniel following close behind it.