With a pained expression, Quagmire forced his aching body to move forward. Unfortunately, as the effects of adrenaline were now running out, his once-clear vision had now once again turned blurry.
"No.." Quagmire exclaimed with a raspy voice.
He was now getting desperate; as his breathing got heavier and irregular, his wounds that had not ached much a while ago began to beat as if it's part of a heart. The pain was reaching an all-time high.
Not only that, he was now near the river. What kind of twist of fate is that? He cannot fall now, however, just like the intricacies of human relationships. His eyes blurred to the point of darkness, during which he fell to the ground, head first, and lost consciousness, entering the sea of darkness once again.
He lost consciousness just a mere meter from the river—a twist of irony.
Deep within his mind, memories flash by, memories of a long-forgotten past. Memories of friends, lovers, families, and subordinates. He misses them all, unfortunately; he was a soldier, a high ranking of that; he has a duty to defend and serve the motherland in which he perished.
What would they think when they received the letter of his death and his medals of honor? Would they have been proud of him or resent him for leaving them so soon? Unfortunately, he no longer lives in that world, so he would never know the answer to that question, and he'd be damned to know the answer.
After looking through the sea of memories, he felt satisfied; he could now move on and start this new life before him and accomplish the task he had set out to do and had been set out for him. So he stood up and left through the door, leaving behind his former life and starting anew.
"!!!" Quagmire, silently groaned as he opened his eyes. However, upon opening it, he was greeted with a message in front of his eyes.
[Darkness Has Now Dawned Into The World]
[Twilight Of The Red Moon, Looks Over The Crimson Night]
[Bogies Has Now Been Increased Four Times Their Standard State]
[Beware! The Crimson Night Has Descended!]
Upon reading the few messages that appeared before him, Quagmire was gripped with anxiety in his very heart. It was now once again beating loudly, as loud as the war drums that come with the soldiers of the Middle Ages.
As if he had forgotten the pain all over his body, it suddenly started to throb once again; he could not help but wince in pain as he soaked himself in agony and despair. Fortunately, he did not let it get to himself that much so.
Yet, with so much pain, he forced himself to get up; he glanced around. It was now dark, but a crimson light illuminated the surroundings. Confused at first, but then he remembered what he read earlier, and it started to make sense to him; glancing from left to right. It was all the same.
Curious, like a cat, he looked over the sky and saw the red moon. Shockingly, the moon was red; he thought it was just like an event in the world.
Looking over his aching body, he felt something was off; he looked over again, from side to side, then to his arms, then to his hands. It was empty.
"!!!" Quagmire was baffled.
He looked again, but then he decided to scour his memories for information; he could not lose the only means to defend himself and the only means for offensive and to kill something or someone. It was then that he remembered that he lost consciousness, and so he scanned the ground.
He scoured the ground, but to no avail, he could not find it. So, he resorted to the age-old method. He stared at the darkness until his eyes got properly adjusted to it and let the illumination of the moon help him more.
It did not take long before he was able to locate the military knife; it flew quite a long way, as he found it just a few inches of falling into the river. He was really lucky that it did not fall into the river, as he might not be able to ever find it again, and that means losing the means of retaliation and defense.
Unfortunately, he has now come face to face with a problem. He is now in a very unfortunate situation, in an apocalyptic world, that is currently basked in darkness. Now, right in front of him, is a potable water supply. However, he does not know if he can soak in it, as he does not even know how deep the river is.
Not only that, he does not know if there are animals that could be infected, and if the undead could live under the water, that would be even riskier, and the fact that it is so dark that he cannot see that well.
It is also to be considered that if he decided to clean his wounds now, which is highly advised to be against as if he survived this day, he would be fully recovered, so what is even the point of cleaning his wounds, it might get infected sure, there might be some pain, sure, but there is only half a day left.
Faced with such a tough situation, he just chose the most rational choice for now; instead of comfort, he chose pain. He could resist it, but death cannot be resisted.
So, instead, he decided to just quench his thirst, which could be done, as he did not need to submerge much; he just had to lower his canteen from the support equipment, and so he did; he lowered it and waited for it to get filled up.
After it was filled, he immediately drank it. It was the most refreshing drink Quagmire had ever drank in his life, and so after finishing the entire thing, he filled it again and decided to find a place to camp until sunrise.