Interlude

In the dorm room that Claire and Harmonia had chosen as their own, Claire was frantically trying to decorate as best she could. The emptiness of the room was definitely getting to her, but Harmonia could feel that maybe something else was as well.

Claire sat back down on the bed, holding her head in her hands and groaning in frustration.

Harmonia sat next to her, putting a hand on her knee. "What's wrong?" She asked softly, clearly concerned.

Claire sighed. "Okay. Okay, so. How comfortable would you be with me going back to my house and retrieving some stuff." She asked with a vague air of urgency, looking up at Harmonia. Harmonia could slightly notice that Claire's eyes, which were usually a lovely gold color, were now slightly more orange.

"I'd be fine with that- but I'd like to come with you? If that's okay?" Harmonia asked, clearly concerned for her.

"No I wanna go alone," Claire mutters softly, tapping her knee with one of her fingernails. Her nails had ever so slightly grown out, the keratin now visible, only a little, under the deep maroon gel stilettos.

"Why?" Harmonia lifted an eyebrow, taking Claire's hand. "I... I don't think going alone is a good idea right now..."

"There's something at my house that I need," Claire's hand was colder than usual, possibly due to the season, but it was still slightly concerning. Claire bit her lip gently, bouncing her leg. "It wouldn't take long.. Maybe an hour or two."

Harmonia paused, noticing the signs. A memory of her mother surfaced, the way she looked and acted when she came home sometimes... when she'd ask her grandmother for money. "...Claire... you can be real with me, okay?" Harmonia lowered her voice to a whisper. "Are you... are you on something?"

"W..What? No, no, not anymore, just-" Claire shook her head for a second, bringing her free hand up to her mouth and pulling up on her upper lip, revealing her fangs again. "...Y'know.." Claire sighed, wiping her finger off on her jeans. "I kind of wanna keep it on the down low right now... We don't know these people very well and I know there's a lot of... prejudice.. about people like me, so.." She huffed. "I have blood at home in jars in my fridge. I'd just be getting it and coming right back.." Claire, herself, seemed relatively uncertain about this.

Harmonia blushed at being proven so wrong, looking down in embarrassment. "O-oh- of course... I'm sorry..." She said softly, squeezing her hand. "Why don't you want me to come with you though?" She asked softly

"..It's just a little embarrassing, I guess, I dunno..." Claire sighed, rubbing her thumb on Harmonia's hand. "I also don't know how much of it is still good or if my house has been looted at all, so I don't want you to see me disappointed or upset if that were the case, and... It's a lot, I'm sorry."

Harmonia paused, clearly considering something for a moment. "...Claire I... what if you just..." She looked away nervously. "Um... what if you just drank my blood?" She asked quietly, clearly nervous to ask it.

Claire's eyes darted to the door quickly, then back to Harmonia as her pale complexion flushed a deep red. "Um- Well, I mean, that is an option, yeah, true... I don't think, I uh," Claire gently tugged at the collar of her muted-yellow turtleneck.  "I don't know if I ever considered that, ahah.." Claire clearly had. Though, it seemed she was too shy to ask for such a thing.

 Harmonia blushed, clearly a bit embarrassed as well. "Do you um... do you know if it hurts?" She asks softly, moving her hair to the side.

"No.. as-as in, I don't know, but.." Claire's breathing quickened, her nails gently itching at her neck. "If it does, you can, um... You can tell me to stop, if it's too much, okay?" Claire smiled softly, her eyes showing a great appreciation for Harmonia's offer. A mix of desperation and love, clear as day.

Harmonia nodded, blushing more as she met Claire's eyes. "Okay,, I will,," she smiled softly, tilting her head to the side to let Claire get a clear canvas.

Claire moved in with a gentle hesitation, wrapping her arms under Harmonia's arms and grabbing the nape of her neck delicately. Her breath hot on Harmonia's neck, Claire gently pressed her lips against her skin, allowing a few milliliters of saliva to flow onto Harmonia's neck before she leaned closer and pressed her fangs into the soft skin. It took less than a second for the skin to tear.

It hurt a little, only for a moment, like a flu shot. Claire made a soft noise as she tasted the blood that slowly escaped Harmonia's body.

Harmonia let out a whimper as her lover's teeth made purchase, her body involuntarily shivering as she felt the blood leave her body. It was a strange feeling, but not a necessarily unpleasant one. She melted into Claire, closing her eyes and trusting that her vampiric lover would not take too much.

Claire closed her eyes as she swallowed the thick, iron-rich crimson from Harmonia. Harmonia's blood tasted a special kind of sweet to Claire. She'd noticed slight differences in flavors with different blood types, but Harmonia's felt so... different. Special. Sacred. For Claire and Claire only. That's the only way she'd want it. The only way she'd have it.

Claire held tightly onto Harmonia, although her grip was soft. Her body was warm against Harmonia's as she drank, being careful to not indulge too much, no matter how tempting it felt. She'd have to save some for later, after all.

Harmonia melted in Claire's arms. Feeling her life force drain from her was a unique experience, and a somewhat tiring one. 

Jello hopped onto the bed, watching them curiously with a trill.

A soft pop came from Claire's lips as she pulled back after a few vaguely pleasant minutes. She looked up, staring deeply into Harmonia's eyes as she grinned softly, a small bit of blood dripping from her lip and down her chin. She leaned in and softly kissed Harmonia on the lips, just a peck, hugging her close.

"Thank you.." Claire said quietly, embracing her lover with care.

Harmonia kissed her back, sleepily wrapping her arms around Claire. "Of course..." She said softly. "Do you feel better?" She felt a bit fuzzy, clearly exhausted and dizzy, but she didn't mind.

"Ah-huh.." Claire nodded, leaning against Harmonia and nuzzling her, rubbing her back.

"Good..." Harmonia hummed a bit, nuzzling back. "Sleepy..."

Jello pawed at the two, clearly wanting to get between them so he could lay in Harmonia's lap, the grey and white cat looking up at them with gentle eyes. 

"Me too... the weather's making me all tired.." Claire huffed softly, looking down at Jello.

Jello meowed again, wanting Claire to move so he could lay in their laps. 

"Mm... yeah... and fuck- the heat will stop soon, won't it? That'll be bad..." Harmonia groaned. She moved a bit so Jello could climb onto her, loafing in her lap. 

"You owe me a lesson on demonology, remember?"

"That is true..." Claire nodded, sounding a bit drowsy.

"Too sleepy to teach a defenseless girl like me?" She asked, nuzzling Claire's neck and petting Jello.

"Where do you want me to start?" Claire asked, blinking slowly to try and wake herself up. The cold weather was kind of getting to her.

"Um... I dunno... Satan maybe?" Harmonia asked, shrugging. "Or uh- what was that demon at the store?"

"There probably is a Satan. I'm not familiar with them, though." Claire looked up. "As for the one in Walmart, I'm not sure. Some demons are just.. demons. No significance."

"Oh... so who are the significant ones?" Harmonia tilted her head up at Claire, scratching behind Jello's ear as he purred.

"I'd say... the ones we may have to worry about are Abaddon, first and foremost. He's the leader of those crystal-looking ones. Religious. Prince of Violence. Might also have to worry about Lucifer... who's self-explanatory. Not sure about anyone else."

Harmonia nodded, listening carefully. "What do you mean by religious?"

"They seem to worship an idea of control via divinity. It's odd. They want singularity so that they can have full control. That isn't how it works at all, but it's what they want." Claire huffed.

Harmonia just stared at her lover in confusion, what she said clearly going over her head. "I'm confused... what do you mean they want singularity? Like they want to merge together? Or merge with a god?"

"Everything becoming one thing."

"Is that even possible??" Harmonia asked with widened eyes, Jello purred as he headbutted Claire's hand, trying to maximize pets.

"It is. It's happened before. I don't think anything wants it to happen again, though." Claire sighed, scratching Jello's head for him.

"It happened before? When?? How would that even work if everything was like- one thing??" She rested against Claire's chest, listening to her heartbeat as she looked up at her. She was being introduced to an entirely new and confusing world... It was a lot.

"Everything comes from something. Everything eventually returns. It'll happen again and again and again. It shouldn't be happening so early, though. Should've had at least a couple billion more years." Claire seemed very nonchalant about this all. As if she'd been briefed on it time and time again.

"Like the Big Bang or something??" Harmonia asked, looking up into Claire's eyes, trying to read them. "How do you know all of this?"

"I used to know a lot of people who'd talk about it." Claire looked down into Harmonia's eyes. "The Vatican knows."

"The Huh." Harmonia stared at Claire in confusion and shock, unsure how to process this. "So- so they're ending the world to become like- mega god because they think becoming mega god will give them mega god powers??" she asked, trying to grasp all of this.

"Yeah basically."

"Huh. That's uh... weird." Harmonia sighed, adjusting a little as she petted Jello. "You said you were around people who'd talk about it... can you elaborate, maybe?" She asked gently, wanting to know more but not wanting to make Claire uncomfortable.

"..Not right now, I don't know if that's a good idea. You never know who can be listening."

"That's fair..." She sighed. "I don't know what you've been through but... I'm sorry." She whispered, hugging her lover close.

"It's okay." Claire smiled softly, holding Harmonia.

Harmonia yawned, holding onto her lover as Jello purred away in her lap. "Mm... I think it's nap time..."

"Maybe." But Claire seemed wide awake. She stared out the window blankly for a second before blinking and looking at Jello.

Harmonia glanced up, looking at the window. "Is something there?" She mumbled

"Nope," Claire said softly, looking at Jello.

"Oh... good..." Harmonia smiled, curling up, and soon falling into a dreamless slumber. 

The Day After (pt. 2)

Harmonia was quiet as they returned to the biting cold, loading the clothes into the back of the van and heading over to her car. She hoped the sudden change in weather didn't mess with it somehow... but it had only been a night so- it was probably fine. 

She looked under the car and under the hood, a bit anxious about any creepy crawlies possibly hiding in it, but when she was certain it was fine she unlocked it and got in, quickly starting the car and turning up the heat to try and help defrost everything. She wanted to bring up how detached Claire seemed to be to the horrors around them but Harmonia was afraid of offending or upsetting her. Maybe it was a coping mechanism? Or maybe she did care, she just didn't show it well? She hadn't known her lover all that long but she didn't want to lose her. Not in a place like this. 

Claire had deposited all her new clothes in her van, nervous about leaving Roxy alone in there for all the wrong reasons. She swiftly got in the car with Harmonia, letting out a soft sigh. 

"Walmart now?" Claire asked with a smile, looking at Harmonia.

Harmonia nodded. "Yeah. Let's do this thing." She moved the car into drive, carefully trying to maneuver around any corpses, making sure Roxy was following as they drove to the Wal-Mart. She kept an eye out for anything suspicious, but soon they arrived without issue. She pulled the car to the door, parked it, and got out. "I should probably have one of the guns, right?"

"Probably!" Claire smiled as she got out and nervously watched Roxy park behind them. "I've got mine on me. Roxy's got some in the van if you need it."

"I um... I have to admit... I have no idea how to use it." Harmonia said, walking over to the van, opening the back, and looking for a handgun before taking one. 

"I can teach you!" Claire exclaimed as she followed her closely, holding her hand.

Harmonia smiled at that. "Id like that... We'd just have to be careful that we don't attract anything to us. Maybe after we get supplies?" 

"Sure!" Claire gave Harmonia a soft grin.

Harmonia grinned back, squeezing her hand as they entered the Wal-Mart. She looked around, holding the gun before heading into the food aisles, loading the cart with canned food and anything that would last a while.

Claire had to hold herself back from the clothes. She wondered for just a second, does Walmart sell wine?, but quickly brushed that thought away as she imagined the awful quality of Walmart wine. The lights flickered slightly.

Harmonia looked up. "What was that?" She asked, clearly on edge despite how small of a disturbance it was.

"I dunno," Claire muttered, taking some chocolates and marshmallows as she breathed heavily. She looked up to Harmonia. "I could really go for some smores when we get home..."

Harmonia smiled. "We could do them on the stove or microwave? I don't think trying to do a fire outside is a good idea right now... smoke signals and stuff. Do you know how to build a fire? I... I don't..."

"I do! I've had to build them before." Claire said softly as one of the overhead lights a few aisles away fell.

"Okay- we need to get some lighter fluid and stuff then too-" Harmonia said softly to herself as the cart started to fill. "Damn... we'll need another one.." She looked up, flinching when the light fell. "Fuck- that scared me..."

"I can gather some of that, yeah!" Claire smiled. "I'm sure finding wood to burn won't be an issue."

There was silence for a brief moment, aside from soft crunching a few aisles away that could be easily explained by an animal or just another person.

Harmonia froze, letting go of the cart. She grabbed her gun, holding the handle as tight as possible as she slowly creeped into the aisle, trying to see what it was, Claire following close behind.

There was something crouched down by the fallen light, facing away from the two. It looked like a person, although their skin was dark grey with red undertones and cracked all over. They had little bits of red crystals poking out of them every now and then, and some drops of a black liquid in some of the cracks on their body.

They had black hair, and what appeared to be cracked red horns. They wore a large jacket and seemed to be trying to use a lighter for... something. They were grumbling. Every flick of the lighter, pieces of their fingers would come off. 

Harmonia tilted her head, watching it for a moment but not trying to disturb it. She figured this had to be a demon... and despite her fear, she was curious. What were they doing? She shifted a bit, only to accidentally bump into a shelf, something falling as a result. Fuck.

The demon turned to look at Harmonia, but just its head. She could see its face now. Vaguely reptilian, open on the left side, like a shattered geode. What would be exposed flesh looked like a beautiful red gemstone, but... it was pulsating. As though it was in pain, trying to heal. It only had one eye, on the uninjured side of its face and its mouth also looked reptilian, curled into a smile against its will. It was open, and it had white teeth that looked razor-sharp, much like an alligator's. 

Its odd appearance mixed with its demeanor gave Harmonia an odd sense of dread as it looked over her in an oddly analytical fashion, mostly focusing on the gun. Its breathing slowed as a soft red mist formed around it, barely noticeable.

Harmonia's eyes widened in fear as she immediately turned around, grabbing Claire's hand, and starting to run. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck-" She muttered, shaking as she ran through the next aisle.

Claire managed to keep pace with Harmonia, seeming really not too perturbed. "We should probably find somewhere to hide.."

The demon slowly stood up, trembling slightly as it turned its full body. It let out a low growl, red mist exhaling from its mouth. Every movement it made was accompanied by a cracking sound and lights flickering. It started its pursuit slowly, but quickly picked up speed.

Harmonia turned into another aisle, hoping to stay out of its line of sight.  "W-where? I don't want to corner us-"

"Maybe... the clothing area? That place is like a maze within a maze." Claire smiled softly, thinking about all the wonderful sales these days... as she did so, the two could hear the monster crashing into shelves, thrashing around. It's clearly registered the two of them as prey. One shelf soon crashed down a few aisles away.

Harmonia quickly nodded, trying to quiet her running as they headed into the clothing aisles, crouching down to try and blend in. Claire joined her in a different clothing rack so that they were not as obvious.

The noise continued for a few moments and then seemed to stop briefly.

Until a loud pop was heard. No, no a pop doesn't sound right, more of a booming noise. Harmonia and Claire both could see flames a few aisles away, ones rising to the top of the ceiling before swiftly dying down to a more manageable level.

The demon could be seen walking out of the flames, covered in a slick silver liquid, which seemed to hold it together better. It slowly turned its head to the clothing.

Claire, upon seeing the liquid, grabs Harmonia and starts booking it for the hardware aisle. "We need to move fast."

Harmonia followed, shaking as they ran, holding her hand close and praying to whoever would listen that they'd survive this.

The two quickly made it to the hardware aisle and Claire grabbed two respirators, quickly unboxing them and putting one on Harmonia and then the other on herself.

"Okay, okay, uhh... do you have your gun? It's okay if you don't, I have mine, uhh..." Claire stumbled over her words as shelves began crashing down and the flames seemed to move closer, the cracking of rocks and squelching of the liquid accompanying them.

Harmonia nodded, shaking as she turned, the demon now in view again as she took aim and tried to pull the trigger- but the safety was still on. Fuck. The demon ran toward them, inching closer as it appeared that death was imminent until-

Bang.

A shot rings out, echoing it's piercing sound throughout the large building.  A bullet flies into the creature's head, the bullet coming from behind it, down at the other end of the aisle.

The head shattered into bits and pieces of rock, much like a geode, causing the thing to fall and break more. The flames had definitely died down, but the mercury continued to leak out as the heated rock failed to cool. In what remained of the head, now scattered across the floor of the aisle, there seemed to have been thin tissue inside, muscle, with blood vessels and the like. The blood poured out and mixed with the mercury, as well as a little bit of a third substance, a sticky black liquid that seemed to be viscous.

Claire breathed heavily in her respirator, not realizing how tight she'd been holding Harmonia's wrist. It didn't hurt too bad, not enough for Harmonia to notice in the rush of adrenaline, but it did definitely hurt.

"C-Claire- my wrist-" Harmonia said shakily, her breaths heavy as well. She stared at the corpse of the creature, both horrified and curious, starting to slowly lead them around the corpse, giving it a decent amount of space to avoid touching any of it and starting to walk toward their savior. 

"H-hello?" She called out, trying to get a good look at them.

Claire loosened her grip as she followed, movements slightly stiff. She wasn't shaking, but she was definitely off. The whole situation seemed to scare her.

Behind the smoldering body stood the barrel of a gun, probably a hunting rifle.  The person wielding it was an older man, hairline far receded and gray.  There were wrinkles ever present on his face from long years of thick furrowed brows and focus.  He saw the two women, and his aim hesitated, before dropping the gun down to his sides.

"What're you two doing out?" His voice was stern, almost as if accosting a child for breaking the rules.

"O-Oh..my god-" A young woman called out from behind the older man, carrying a crowbar as she couldn't help but stare down at the "corpse," not truly believing her eyes "Oh- it's dead, it's dead, oh- okay-" She took a small step back, still giving a sigh as she looked to the women. "Thank goodness you're alright..!!"

A third person followed though he seemed a fair bit grumpier. He looked to be college-aged, a mess of mid-length black hair obscured by a beanie. Square glasses perched on his nose, and he wore a surprisingly bright-colored shirt the crimson incredibly clear. There even seemed to be an unfamiliar insignia on his chest? He stomped forward with boots and a few knives strapped to his belt. He looked down at the body in indifference. “Yeah- you’re lucky it didn’t get you. These fuckers are always a pain-“

"Just trying to get supplies-" Harmonia said quickly, clearly nervous about the man with a gun.  "Um- thank you by the way- we were almost goners for a second there..." She said with a shaky smile. 

"I'm Harmonia by the way,," she extended her hand to whoever wanted to take it first.

Claire still seemed vaguely shaky, holding her respirator on tight. Her eyes darted between the three of them as the flames died down.

She said nothing.

The old man narrowed his eyes, keeping the gun up towards the two women.  His stance is firm, and clearly practiced, with no shaking.  He was prepared to kill these two if necessary. "My pleasure. Now I suggest you get out of here. For one, it's dangerous, and along with it, I don't quite fancy strangers wandering around when the world's gone to shit."

"Nonono, wait, please-" The young woman began to start.. she appeared similarly collage-aged, her hair being brown, tainted a faded pink from an old dye. She was shaky, unkempt, with dark circles under her eyes, as she quickly grabbed Harmonia's hand and shook it firmly. "M..my name is Tess. It's nice to meet you, Harmonia, it's so great to actually see more people!"

The younger man’s eyes ended up just darting all over, trying to take in every detail of Claire and Harmonia. One hand remained shoved in his pocket, the other lingering over the knife strapped to his side. He glared at Tess, “Well, we aren’t exactly trying to make a friendship club here. Yeah- I’d suggest you get on your way, run off to some other Walmart or whatever.”

"Seriously??" Harmonia responded, appalled by the way the men were acting. "The worlds gone to shit and you have no compassion for your fellow man? We're just getting supplies so, you know, we don't die??" Harmonia bit back.  "Are you all family or something? What are you here for??" She asked, narrowing her eyes at the man fingering his knife. "Who knows how many people died yesterday, we shouldn't fucking fight each other when we all want to survive." She held Claire's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.

Claire was gently tugging at the straps of her respirator despite wanting to keep it on for her safety. She knew mercury fumes were bad, which is why she put it on in the first place, but it felt so, so bad to have one on again. Sacrilegious, almost.

The older man didn't take much credence to Harmonia, but when he saw Tess step up he sighed, before lowering his rifle. "Tess, we can't just pick up any strays we find.  I swear, if they tag along, they're the last.  And what are we here for?  What are you here for?  Can't be here for much." His voice was gruff and annoyed, but not angry.

Tess couldn't help but flinch, fiddling with her sleeves as the handshake broke apart and the others continued "Okay-.. okay, I promise! They're the last- if they're open to coming along, don't want to force them, of course-" The entire situation was stressful. Even if what Harmonia said wasn't directed at her, it was clear she still held some sort of guilt.

"We're not.. family though, we just really have each other's backs and everything.."

The younger man looked back at Harmonia, eyes narrowed. He didn’t stop holding onto the knife, “I never said I was gonna fight. You got to be prepared, I’m surprised you haven’t learned that-“

He looked back over to Tess and Charles, “You realize more people probably just means more problems?”

Harmonia crossed her arms. "We're just looking for supplies-  Walmart was the first thing I thought of, okay?" She huffed a bit. "Are you all part of a group then? Right now it's just me, Claire," She motioned to her, "And Roxy, who's waiting outside." She paused. "And my cat."

Claire stood rather stiffly, still not saying anything and just tugging at the straps of her respirator.

...She was silent until uttering a soft, "Can we leave?" She pointed to the mercury leaking out of the monster's carcass.

The older man glared at the younger one "I'm dragging you along, aren't I?" He looked down towards the leaking corpse and nodded. "Let's get out of here, yeah.  Safer to talk outside."

Tess made no comment, clearly nervous and sticking to the sidelines now, not wanting to put up any protest to further increase the tensions... "Right- yes. we should make our way out.." She nods, starting to head for the exit herself.

The younger man raised his eyebrow at the elder's comment but didn’t respond. He followed the rest of them out, “Sure, why not. No need to be staring at a corpse-“

Harmonia sighed, taking the lead as they headed back to her cart, grabbing it and moving out of the building. She shivered as she entered the cold winter air, though she was glad for it since she had been sweating from the chase. 

"So- how'd you guys meet?" She asked with a tilt of her head, taking off her respirator. 

As they left the building, Claire finally took off her respirator, rushing to her van and tossing it in the back. A slight yelp could be heard as she did so, but it was overall ignored as Claire returned to the group.

The older man stepped out, clicking the safety on his rifle and slinging it over his shoulder, before offering a rough, worn hand to Harmonia.

“I'm Charles.  Nice to meet you.  We three met while I was doing rounds of the city to assess the situation, and we took shelter on the local campus for the night.”

“Adrian-“ said the younger man, not offering out his own hand. He wasn’t really adding to the conversation, more so just sulking like a loser.

Harmonia takes Charles's hand, shaking it.  "I see- Is there a lot of people there or just you guys?" She asked a bit curiously. If it was a bigger group she didn't mind taking shelter with them a bit... it would likely be easier than being alone.

Claire stayed silent, debating on whether or not it was her turn to talk. She briefly opened her mouth, intending to say something, before realizing Harmonia had just asked Charles a question, so she just said nothing, holding Harmonia's free hand and gently leaning on her.

Charles's eyes wandered some, generally just keeping a strong watch of their surroundings,

"We've got a larger group back at the college, it's where most survivors in the city are holed up, I think.  It's not at all organized, not yet at least."

"Have you had any issues with intruders?" Claire asked, vaguely attempting to cover her mouth as she spoke. Not enough to muffle her, just enough to hide her fairly obvious fangs.

Tess shook her head lightly, messing with her hair just a bit as she loosely follows the conversation 

"Not really-... Not that I heard of."

After what Charles said, Adrian muttered, “Yeah, it’s kind of a clusterfuck.” He listened for a bit saying after Tess, “Not yet- just figuring shit out. Let’s hope it’ll stay that way.”

Harmonia nodded, listening carefully. "I see... um... we could try and help? As much as I love my house I think living with a group is probably more sustainable for the future..." She admitted softly. "I can bring what I can from home? We'd have to be careful though... to avoid more demons." She explained softly, holding Claire's hand.

“There’s certainly enough room there, so that's no issue.  And as long as you bring your own rations, that’s better.  We don’t have an organized supply chain, and won’t for a bit.”

There was a slight raise of an eyebrow, amused by what Harmonia called the creature he shot.

Tess nodded along, staying where she was. "Yeah! We need all the people- and resources- and stuff-... we can get!"

Adrian didn’t seem that excited- but in general it was hard to tell if he could even BE excited. Ever. “As long as you’re not dragging us down, do whatever I guess. It’s your life.”

Harmonia nodded, listening. "I can bring my cat, right? I'm not leaving him behind... but yeah, I tried cooking and preparing the perishable foods while the ovens are still working- but I have some basic ideas for stuff? Like maybe a cafeteria set up for rations? And maybe we could get power through solar panels... but wed need an electrician or something." Harmonia admitted, thinking about it. "You're just at the community college?"

“Slow down there slugger.  I like your ambition but let's find you a room first, introduce you to some people, get you acquainted with the space.  And yes, the community college, really not too far from here.  I assume you both drove?” Charles's eyes wouldn't stop drifting, checking surroundings, shadows, and corners, eyeing it all with suspicion rather than straight vigilance.

“You said you had a cat?” Adrian redirected with a raised eyebrow, “If you deal with the food and stuff… that wouldn’t be bad to have around.”

Harmonia nodded. "Yeah- I can feed him,," she said quietly. "So uh... do we wanna drive over or should we get our stuff to move over there or?" She wasn't exactly sure what to do. She didn't want to leave her house but... it would be safer with others. She could go back to her house to tidy things up too... it'd be fine.

"I think we should go back and get some things, yeah. We already cooked some food, that would be useful to have..." Claire sighed, tapping her foot.

Charles nodded, "I assume you both know where to go to find the college.  If so, we're gonna be off.  Not a good idea to linger around here."

Tess gave a small nod in agreement.

“Yeah- I don’t want to deal with this shit,” Adrian said bluntly, adjusting the backpack on his shoulder and making sure his knife was sheathed well, “Let’s go.”

Harmonia nodded. "Alright. Well go home and get our stuff then meet you there." It probably wouldn't be her only trip home... honestly, she felt terrified to leave it- to move in with strangers but... it would be safer. Much safer than living in her house... but her heart ached at the thought of it laying empty. She got into her car, took a deep breath, and tried to focus. She'd tell Roxy about the situation once they got home... then they'd deal with it from there.

Claire got into the car as well, shaking softly. "Bwuh. I kind of hated that." She looked at Harmonia. "We're really gonna go with them?"

Harmonia sighed. "I... I think its a better idea then being alone?"

"I guess, yeah." Claire huffed softly. She didn't seem very upset, despite her tone. She kind of always sounded like that whenever she wasn't in an actively joyful mood. Resting bitch voice, maybe...

Harmonia took her hand, squeezing it before it returned back to the wheel. "We'll get through this... I promise.."

Claire sighed softly, looking at the rear view mirror and watching as Roxy turned on the van behind them.

Getting home and packing the important items and supplies took some time. It would be a couple hours before Harmonia finally loaded Jello into a carrier and into her car, looking solemnly at the house she grew up in. 

"I'll be back... I promise..." She said softly, holding that promise close to her heart. It would be her home again, once it was safe. She glanced at Claire and Roxy, before getting into the driver's seat, looking at Claire. "I guess this is it, huh? This is the apocalypse?"

"Well, I wouldn't say this is it. Ever read the bible? It's gonna come in stages." Claire looked out the window at the cloudy red sky. "May take a bit. But that does give us a chance to do something about it."

Harmonia sighed, her hands shaking as she gripped the wheel, following Claire's gaze. "Do you think we can actually stop it somehow?: 

"Probably. It's happened before. It'll happen again." Claire looked back to Harmonia. "It's not that hard to stop. Shouldn't be, at least. I mean, can't say I didn't see it coming. The signs were all there. War. Plague. Global warming. Too blinded by distractions to see the planet dying, too worried about the wrong things... humanity never changes."

Harmonia stares at the horizon, her breath shaky.  "You said it's happened before? When?" She wondered how Claire knew all this... and if she was right. She didn't want to doubt her but- she had no idea how this woman would know all this information that most people wouldn't. Still, she put her faith in the one person she hoped she could trust.

"A long, long time ago." Claire sighed, tapping her knees with her index fingers. "Do you believe the book of Revelation is a retelling of events or a prediction of what's to come?"

"Uh..." Harmonia looked at Claire, confused. "I guess neither? I never thought about it before... or really read the Bible, honestly..."

"It's both." Claire gazed out the window. It had started to lightly snow again. The cloudy, red sky fell into an ashy pink haze.

"Oh..." Harmonia frowned. "But someone stopped it once... so we just have to do it again?"

"It's not that they stopped it. They cut it short. Delayed it. Adapted to the changes.." Claire huffed. "Seems like those on the other side of the coin did the same. Adapted, I mean." 

"Oh." Harmonia swallowed, shaking a bit as she gripped the steering wheel, as if it could save her from the truth. "So... just got to do what's never been done before and save the world." She took a shaky breath in, the frigid air stinging her throat. "Sounds simple enough," she commented bitterly.

"It's complicated. There's a lot of moving parts. I want to figure things out first before making any moves." Claire looked up to the sky as the college came closer into view. "I wonder who's at the front."

"The Devil?" Harmonia half-guessed, half-joked. "I mean.. who else?"

Claire smirked and looked at Harmonia. "So they really don't teach demonology in schools?"

Harmonia glanced at her, blushing and looking away. "If they do, I didn't take that class..."

"It's okay!" Claire gently tapped Harmonia's nose. "I've got time to teach you."

Harmonia blushed harder, giggling a little. "Alright, missy... I'll be waiting."

The Day After (pt. 1)

First, I want to apologize for my absence- for anyone reading this in real-time. My first trimester has been kicking my ass and the Playwright isn't exactly someone I can just text to ask it to make a post. In any case, I checked my drafts and saw this long ass post so I'm dividing it in two. For those interested in my story, thank you. It... it feels good to be seen by someone, even if they're a stranger. If you want to talk to me I made a Tumblr account. There's not going to be any story there, it's just a personal account for me to ask questions or share things with whoever's listening.  Without further ado, here's the next installment in my story. 

---

Harmonia and Claire had fallen asleep together on the couch. Harmonia was curled up in the fetal position as Claire held her, leaning her head on her girlfriend's. As Harmonia slowly awoke, she noticed it was much chillier than the previous day, almost freezing, which was very odd for August. Though Claire was doing a good job keeping her warm so, naturally, she didn't want to get up. That was when the doorknob began jiggling and the homeowner knew she had to check... another loss for her. Harmonia regretfully peeled herself away from Claire, shivering as she went to the door, carefully looking through the curtain to see who or what was there.

Upon peering through the cloth that shielded them from onlookers, she immediately noticed the large amount of snow that had fallen and was still falling. It was much lighter now, but there was at least a foot and a half of snow coating her neighborhood for the foreseeable distance. As for what was at her door, it was Roxy, shivering and trying to get in.

Harmonia quickly opened the door for her, moving aside to let her in. "Fuck- it's snowing?" She shivered, heading over to the thermostat to turn on the heat. "I hope the electricity still works..."

"It's fucking freezing dude, it's been snowing since like yesterday-" Roxy stumbled inside, brushing the snow off of her hoodie and promptly taking it off as Harmonia turned the heat on. 

"It should work," she said, muffled as she removed her hoodie, "At least for a little while longer." Roxy set her hoodie down on the arm of the recliner. She wore an almost formal-looking, form-complimenting white button-up with a smiley face pin on it. She promptly took off the pin and shoved it into the hoodie.

"Sleepy as usual," Roxy sighed, looking towards Claire.

"So how did it go? Did she have any information?" Harmonia asked, looking at Claire and wrapping her in a blanket, before putting one over herself.

"Oh man, okay, uhhh." Roxy messed with her bangs for a second, setting them straight. "It went... probably better than it could've gone! Um. So, right, the church on the other end of town was full of people and she's actively welcoming them in, as the person running the church, so that's a little concerning all things considered, but uhhh... I did manage to talk to her for a bit!" She smiled awkwardly, sitting down in the recliner. "Uh, okay, so, she seemed very happy about this turn of events, for better or worse, and ummm... I dunno, she was talking about some demon talking to her through radio frequencies or something?" Roxy put a hand to her chin. "Something about the reawakening of an ancient god?" She looked to Claire for a second, before turning back to Harmonia. "I dunno. I dunno! It's weird. She was weird about it." Roxy sighed, leaning back in the recliner.

"I see... um... why is that concerning all things considered?" Harmonia asked, tilting her head. "And what did the demon say? What god?" She seemed to have more questions than answers now, sitting on the edge of her seat as she stared intently at the younger woman.

"So, like, she's lowkey a manipulative cult leader who's probably gonna drug the fuck out of everyone there. So." Roxy shrugged uncomfortably. "If I could help there I would. I have a gun but she's like... a dreamwalker so it kinda wouldn't be too effective. As for the demon, I dunno she didn't tell me. As for the god... if I had to give a guess, it'd be something similar to L'tradactil'lin."

Harmonia had heard of dreamwalkers, or "dromen", which were one of the more common types of monsters. And the name Roxy said seemed familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd heard it before. Maybe some rumors from back when she was in school? She really couldn't recall. 

"Oh... that's not good.." Harmonia stated, though she was suddenly glad that Claire ensured Harmonia didn't meet this "Lucy". "L'tradactil'lin? What's that? I... I've heard the name but I can't place it..." She admitted, fidgeting nervously. Jello had jumped onto Claire's lap in Harmonia's absence, taking advantage of her heat. 

"It's this fucked up godthing that's really only worshipped by small cults nowadays. And it's like... real. There's government documents on it and stuff. Vatican documents, mostly..." Roxy looked up, "I sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist right now but I promise I'm kind of normal." 

"I see... No- no- I'll take anything right now..." Harmonia hummed softly. "Um....so you didn't learn a lot then..." Her tone was a bit sheepish, clearly worried about offending Roxy.

"Not really, no, but I'm gonna have to talk to Claire about Lucy's little drug cult when she wakes up," Roxy sighed, sinking into the recliner. 

"I see... um... can I listen?" Harmonia asked, tilting her head a bit to the side curiously. 

"Yeah, better to know than to not. It's good to know who's dangerous and should be avoided, I think.." Roxy took off her shoes and curled up, reclining the recliner. 

Harmonia nodded. "Yeah, I think so too." She pauses. "Are you hungry?"

"Not very. Lucy's... a good baker, kinda. I ate good." Roxy chuckled nervously.

"Gotcha... I'll make Claire and me food then- utilize the oven while we can."

"That's a good idea... If you need help just let me know!" Roxy smiled. "Should probably make enough for at least a week, just in case."

"Yeah... good idea." Harmonia sighed, heading to the kitchen to try and prepare as much perishable food as she could.

---

At some point, Claire woke up and started cleaning the living room. Roxy had fallen asleep in the recliner, presumably from a long night of partying at the church, but Claire shook her awake.

"Hey."

"Bwaah!!!" Roxy yawned. "Oh, yeah, I need to like.. tell you stuff.." she stirred. "Harmonia wanted to listen I think. Harmonia!!" Roxy called.

Harmonia rushed into the living room, eyes wide and holding a kitchen knife. "Is something wrong? Are we under attack?"

"N,, No you wanted to listen to us talk about, uhh..." Roxy leaned forward as Claire sat down on the couch. "The... church stuff, yeah."

"Oh right- yeah." She nodded, calming down. "One moment, I have to turn the stove off." Harmonia glanced at the knife. "And put this away. " She then headed to the kitchen, finishing her immediate task and returning, sitting next to Claire.

Claire folded her hands in her lap as Harmonia sat beside her, awaiting Roxy's words.

"Okay, so, uh. Lucy's got a fuckload of survivors in her church and she's totally gonna R053 'em! So. That's not very good." Roxy shrugs.

"What do you think we should do?" Claire asked simply. 

"...???? I dunno??? Nothing??? Maybe???"

"What's uh... R053?" Harmonia asked, tilting her head.

"Umm..! It's, uhhh-" Roxy was quickly interrupted by Claire.

"It's a drug that heavily damages the user's psyche permanently." Claire sighed. "The effects have never been shown to wear off."

"Oh god..." Harmonia's eyes widened. "We- we have to try and stop her, right???"

"That's... dangerous!" Roxy said as Claire nodded in reply.

"I'd rather not put us in the direct line of fire." Claire looked to Harmonia, rapping her fingers on the arm of the couch.

"I... I can't just... let her hurt people?? I mean- are we just supposed to stand to the side?" Harmonia asked incredulously, fidgeting with her sweater, resting the urge to pull at a loose thread. 

"She will literally kill us, dude." Roxy said, her eyes wide as she shrugged, "If you wanna deal with that, be my guest."

Harmonia shrunk at that. "I... that's... um... that's a good point... I don't want to die..."

Claire nodded. "Yeah... so, like... I dunno. We have guns, but she has numbers." Roxy said as she leaned back with a sigh.

"Yeah... that's fair..." Harmonia said softly. "Fuck... I just... is there any way to warn them?"

"Don't think so. Even if we did, they'd just give in due to desperation.." Roxy explained with a frown.

"Fair enough..." Harmonia said softly.

"So what do you think we should do?" Claire asked, looking back to Roxy, who just shrugged and looked to Harmonia.

"Um... well... maybe get supplies? Weapons especially... all I have are kitchen knives..." Harmonia answered softly.

"That's true. Any hardware stores around?" Roxy asked, looking specifically at Harmonia.

Harmonia nodded. "Yeah, there's a Home Depot and Lowes I think."

"Do those have guns?..."

"...no... I don't know where to get guns actually.." Harmonia admitted nervously.

"Well. We have all the guns we need anyways, ammunition is an issue though." Roxy sighed.

"How many guns do you have?" Harmonia asked, a confused and concerned expression on her face. "I thought you only had a hunting rifle?"

"You mean the one I gave you?" Roxy raised an eyebrow. "I also haaaave..." She picked up her bag and started pulling out various handguns. Around 3 or 4. "These. Dunno what make or model any of them are but I know how to use them! Claire's also got a knack for guns but I know she prefers much more personal, romantic combat."

Claire's face turned slightly red at that comment.

"Jesus..." Harmonia glanced from the guns to Roxy, to Claire. "What does that mean exactly?"

"Are you two still just talking or have you like kissed before. Relevant question." Roxy asked as Claire hid her face in Harmonia's shoulder.

Harmonia blushed, patting Claire's head. "...we've kissed..."

"Have you felt her fangs when you're touching tongues?" Roxy chuckled softly. "Seriously though, those things can bite hard and she knows how to utilize it. Y'know the human bite can be lethal, even without fangs like hers?"

Harmonia stared at Roxy in disbelief. "What are you saying? She just as sharp canines-"

Roxy smirked. "Yeah. And they can kill a bitch if needed."

"I don't like doing it though it tastes gross..." Claire whined softly, muffled by Harmonia's shoulder.

"Says the girlie who'll drink a pint of blood if offered." Roxy teased.

"OKAY." Claire removed herself from Harmonia's shoulder, blushing profusely and pointing at Roxy. "That was ONE time, and blood itself, CLEAN OF GUTS AND STUFF, tastes FINE and I LIKE IT and it TASTES LIKE OLIVES SOMETIMES AND I LIKE THAT IS THAT SUCH A CRIME!!!"

She didn't yell or anything, but Harmonia could tell she was speaking in all caps.

Harmonia's eyes widened as she stared at Claire, her pupils metaphorically turning into hearts. "Fuck... you're hot.." She murmured, staring at her lover. 

"..you think so...?" Claire whined, pushing her face back into Harmonia's shoulder, yet somehow keeping her eyes locked with Harmonia's.

"Shoulda known anyone who falls for this dweeb likes vampires," Roxy giggled.

Harmonia giggled, nodding. "Yeah, you're adorable." She said softly, kissing her forehead.

"Back on topic. We have all the weapons we need for now, I'd say. Food'll definitely end up being an issue, though." Roxy sighed, "Even with all the stuff we're cooking, we'll probably be out of it in a month or two, and then what?"

"Yeah..." Harmonia scrunched up her face in thought. "Maybe we should try and find some other survivors?"

"That'd definitely be beneficial," Roxy looked up for a moment, before turning her attention back to the guns. "My main thing is that we don't know who we're gonna be meeting. People are gonna get desperate to eat. Desperate to survive. People become dangerous when their survival and hunger are threatened."

"Yeah... true... but it's only been a day- I'm sure they'll be reasonable!" Harmonia reasoned, giving the younger woman a smile. 

"You'd be surprised," Claire sighed, taking a gun and ensuring it was loaded.

Harmonia fidgeted a bit nervously. "Fair enough... um... do we wanna look anyways?"

"Ummm... Do you want to?" Claire asked. Roxy looked at Harmonia as well, awaiting her answer.

Harmonia nodded. "I think it could be good... I want to save people if we can..."

"The van's still outside. We'll have to drive through a fuckton of snow but we'll manage." Roxy sighed, getting up and picking up her bag.

"Is driving the best idea? Won't it be harder to hide? Plus there's bodies..." Harmonia said softly, horror on her face.

"Would you rather be completely exposed from all angles or in a machine that can speed up and hit things?" Roxy asked.

".... okay fair point." Harmonia sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Um... let me get changed." She left the room, heading back to her own and changing into a warmer outfit that would work better for the weather, equipping herself with a baton and mace. She'd had those before the apocalypse, just in case she needed them... and well, now seemed to be the time. She tied her hair into a ponytail and returned to the living room, putting on a hat, fingerless gloves, and a scarf. She had a backpack on her which she had put a first aid kit in, but was empty to hold the rest of their supplies. 

"I'm ready. If we go by the mall I could possibly retrieve my car as well... since I left it there when everything started." 

"We probably should, just in case." Claire stood up, taking her keys out of her pocket. "Shall we be on our way, then?" Roxy was already out the door and heading into the van. 

 "Yeah." Harmonia put on a brave smile, giving Jello a kiss before heading out as well, getting into the passenger seat.  "So... supplies, other survivors, and my car." She takes a deep breath. "We can do this."

Claire sat in the driver's seat and started the van. Some of the trinkets on the dashboard wiggled or bounced, little bobbleheads and whatnot. The van smelled floral, nice. It was definitely a good change of pace from the smell of rot in the air. Soon, they started driving towards the mall.

Harmonia was tense in her seat, gripping her baton as they drove, keeping an eye out for any moving figures, trying not to explode from fear.  "So um... this... this is the apocalypse, huh?"

"Not as graceful as I imagined it, but yeah." Claire sighed, looking out at the snowy highway. At a certain point, the snow started to get scarcely placed, and there were more plants. Lots of roots and flowers grew through the roads, making it nearly impossible to tell where the roads used to be. They eventually arrived at the mall, parking in front of the Kohl's. "Think we could hitch your car up to the van? Is that a thing we can do?"

Harmonia shrugged. "Maybe? We can try? I don't have any supplies to do that though..." She admitted softly, tilting her head a bit.

"I don't either... I mean, there's other stores around here, so we can probably get some supplies." Claire suggested, unbuckling her seat belt. "...Any stores around here good for that?"

"Um... there's a Home Depot on Franklin?" Harmonia offered, unbuckling as well.  "There's also a Walmart close by, we could head there?" She clearly wasn't sure of herself, her hands shaking as she reached for the door handle. "So... um...do you think demons will be here?"

Claire smiled softly. "Probably! I doubt there'll be many, though. First come first serve and all. Probably not enough food for them now." 

Harmonia shivered, clearly disturbed by the idea of humans being food for them. "Oh... so... do they need to eat humans?"

"They don't need to." Claire opened the door and hopped out of the van, inspecting the scene.

"So they just... did it for fun?" Harmonia asked, exiting the van and glancing around, trying to see if the corpses were visible... corpses of her coworkers. She saw multiple strewn about the parking lot, most barren of flesh or petrified into solid stone.

"Ah-huh!" Claire walked over to Harmonia's car, checking to see how she could hitch it to the van.

Harmonia was caught, staring at the corpses of those she considered friends. Why did she survive when they didn't? What would happen now? How could she live in a world where she was only food for demons? She didn't even realize she was crying until she felt her tears begin to freeze, causing her to quickly wipe them away. She looked to Claire, recalling the task at hand. "Oh um- I can just go get my keys from inside? My car should work to just drive..."

"I mean... I'd want to come with you. I'm not sure how much I trust Roxy with driving my van, though.." Claire sighed, looking up at Harmonia. "It's up to you."

"I can just drive behind you- but yeah, please come into the store with me..." Harmonia asked, giving Claire a sheepish smile and extending her hand.

"I'd want to be in the car with you though, I dunno, uhh. Yeah, let's go inside." Claire took Harmonia's hand gently, meeting her gaze, and started walking. 

---

The two made it into Kohl's swiftly and found it mostly untouched, surprisingly.

"Should be able to find some stuff we need here," Claire commented. 

"Hopefully..." Harmonia glanced at the corpses, carefully moving past them as she journeyed to the back room, collecting her bag and keys, and taking a deep breath. 

"There's not going to be much supplies here other than clothes and shoes. Anything you want to grab or should we just try and head to a Wal-Mart or something?" She asked, her hands still shaking despite it all. They needed to stock up on everything... but it all felt so overwhelming.

"I might wanna see some clothes... good sales these days," Claire said in a strangely non-joking tone as she left the back room and headed out to analyze the clothing.

Harmonia chuckled a little but... it was more of a nervous laugh than a genuine one. "I um... okay.."

As Harmonia looked out at the store she could see Claire practically clearing the hangers of pretty dresses, turtlenecks, and mom jeans. She seemed to be muttering something incoherent as she did so. This is the woman you love, Harmonia? I mean, I can't judge, I get it, but...

Harmonia's gaze drifted from Claire to the corpse of the woman she watched die. It felt so wrong to leave them here to rot but... if they tried to bury them all, how long would that take? What if it caused them to be killed in the process? Still... She went to where she knew were some bed sheets, gathered them, and started to place them on the corpses and wrap them around them if she could. It wasn't much but... it was something.

As Harmonia wrapped the bodies, some were mildly disturbed in their "slumber". Harmonia accidentally brushed loose skin aside, revealing rough gemstones underneath. Sometimes she'd even break a rock or two. It was odd how these people died, all seemingly having their insides petrified and undergoing centuries of compression and development in just a few seconds...

Harmonia didn't want to think about it. She couldn't think about it. If she did then she was afraid she'd throw up... it was just too much. Once that was done she looked back to Claire. 

"Are you ready to leave?"

Claire seemed to be holding an absolutely absurd amount of clothes. She was still grabbing stuff off the hangers when she heard Harmonia's voice and turned,

"Oh, yeah, gimme a sec..." She grabbed three more pairs of jeans before she waddled up to Harmonia with an eager grin.

"Ready!"

Harmonia smiled warmly, taking some of the clothes for her. "I don't know how you're still in such high spirits..."

"Good sales these days!" Claire said with sincerity, starting to head for the door.

The End of the World

"Hi, how are you?" Harmonia asks the next customer in line as she starts to scan their items, a programmed customer service voice and smile on her face shining through the monotony of working retail. They replied with something unimportant and she responded with something equally unimportant. It was a day like any other, more or less... except for some weird recent events. The sky had been turning red for small periods, which was... obviously concerning. The government had written it off as some sort of scientific phenomenon but there was still a large group of conspiracy theorists who believed the world was about to end, the rapture impending. Harmonia wasn't one such theorist, which she would soon come to regret.

As the customer took their bag, they stopped momentarily and looked at the monitor that hung from the ceiling, the one that would show the customers being recorded as they came and went. The customer looked almost irritated.

"Um, miss, excuse me but is it supposed to-" The customer stopped speaking suddenly. Their left eye drifted off, looking at nothing. As Harmonia looked on, confused and more than a little concerned, something shiny and jagged tore through the customer's face, as though it was coming out of their skull.  Some sort of red crystal had shoved its way out of the customer's body, sticking out as the customer fell to the ground. In Harmonia's shock, she hardly noticed the color of the sky.

Red. 

Instantly, more screams rang throughout the store, as the monitor up above turned to static and the screen began leaking thick black sludge. The speakers throughout the store began playing nonsense, words that made no sense, music that didn't work, and some sounding distorted or backward. Just a mishmash of random radio stations, it seemed. 

Terror flooded Harmonia's body as she stared at the dead woman, a scream forming and erupting from her throat as she stared at the corpse, shaking like a leaf. She looked around in horror, frozen, unsure what to do as she took out her phone. She had to call 911- she had to call the police- t-they had to be able to help, right???

As Harmonia clicked to call, someone immediately answered! Or, well, something.

"Harmonia? Hello? Are you coming home?" The voice on the other end was that of Harmonia's grandmother.

But it wasn't a perfect imitation. Monsters that mimic voices were common, Harmonia was taught that in grade school, but that knowledge didn't lessen the impact.

What the fuck. What The Fuck. Bile rose in her throat as she heard what sounded like her grandmother's voice, her hands shaking as she tried to hang up, looking around to make sure she could get a clear way to the exit. What was attacking?? Something... something was attacking, right?? Monsters??

As Harmonia stumbled over the woman's corpse (which seemed to have hardened into stone in the short time it'd been there), she managed to find her way to the exit of the store. 

Outside was cold. Unusually cold, even for October. Snow fell lightly from the oddly colored sky as chaos ran rampant in the large parking lot. Corpses with crystals sticking out of them, and what seemed to be large, jagged, geometric-looking humanoid creatures with multiple limbs and demonic-looking wings feeding on said corpses.

As Harmonia looked down, she saw half of her co-worker tugging on her pant leg. The girl had been split right down the middle, jagged green rocks poking out where there should be gore, appearing almost like teeth. The girl cried and sobbed, but she couldn't make out any words to ask Harmonia for help as she took her final breaths.

Tears fell from Harmonia's eyes and she covered her mouth, shaking like a leaf as she bent down, gently trying to close her coworker's eyes, her heart beating out of her chest. This... this couldn't be real- this had to be a dream, right?? What did she even do now?? She stumbled away, into the street, starting to run as fast as she could home.

Running through the streets, Harmonia could see cars swerving off the road or crashing into each other. The farther she ran, the fewer crystals she saw, and rather, she began seeing corpses covered in mushrooms or swarming with bugs. Oftentimes both, actually! But the bugs seemed to overtake whatever they were on. The sound of the buzzing was getting to Harmonia, mixed with the screams and other sounds, and the pressure of everything happening all at once. 

She hardly noticed her phone buzzing softly over all the noise.

Was... was the world really ending??? She had no idea... she just had to run. She kept running despite how terrifying it all was, adrenaline carrying her through the miles of terror and corpses. It hurt so fucking bad, her legs ached and her lungs begged her to stop but she couldn't. Not if she wanted to survive. Harmonia eventually made it to her suburb. Things looked... Yeah, yeah, okay, things looked relatively normal, thank god. 

She found time to slow down, just for a little, to catch her breath. The only immediate danger she noticed was some vines crawling up one of the buildings a little too quickly for her comfort, but she started walking down the road fast enough to get far away from it in little time. 

And, she finally noticed her phone buzzing.

Harmonia pulled her phone out of her pocket, her hands shaking as she tried to see what it was... hoping it was not another horrible thing for her to witness.

rainraincomeagain: hey

rainraincomeagain: Harmonia hey um

rainraincomeagain: How r u holding up? ^^"

rainraincomeagain: Ummmmm

rainraincomeagain: Ur taking a bit to respond and its scary

rainraincomeagain: Ok Im coming over

rainraincomeagain: You dont mind if I bring my emotional support ginger do you

rainraincomeagain: .........

rainraincomeagain: You didnt say no but if you end up saying no I can leave her in the car she knows how to defend herself

rainraincomeagain: I think

rainraincomeagain: Idk probably

rainraincomeagain: Anyways ill be there shortly xoxoxo

Fuck. Fuck this was fine- right??? Fuck. Shit shit shit- she started jogging again, trying to quickly get back to her house. How was Claire so calm?? She felt like she was going to piss her pants- holy fuck how was this real??

Upon returning to her house, Harmonia immediately noticed the hippie stoner van parked outside of it. It was painted a muted orange, with sunflower decals plastered on it. Harmonia could make out some cute cottagecore decorations on the dashboard and windshield, but she was quickly distracted by Claire coming out and waving at her.

"Heeeey!!! You had me worried sick!" Claire said, running up to Harmonia and hugging her.

Harmonia hugged back, her entire body trembling. "C-Claire- I don't... I don't know whats happening- s-so many people are dead-" She said through sobs, tears falling down her face as she clung to the other woman for dear life. "Oh god- oh god- we're all going to die-"

"Nooo we're not, a lot of other people will yeah, but I don't think we will!" Claire smiled, petting Harmonia gently as a crash is heard a few blocks away, followed by a loud bang. "Have you ever used a gun before?"

Harmonia shook her head. "N-no- C-Claire do you- do you know whats happening?" She asked, the tears still flowing. She was so early calm... it put Harmonia even more on edge... but she needed to trust her.

"I'm honestly unsure," Claire sighed, "But I have a vague idea?" She chuckled softly, leading Harmonia to the back of the van and opening it.

Inside the van was a young woman with ginger hair and glasses, wearing a hoodie and jeans. She coughed softly and looked Harmonia over.

"Wooooow, good catch, Claire," the girl chuckled, picking up a hunting rifle and stepping out of the van, handing the rifle to Claire.

"Be nice," Claire smiled gently, taking the rifle and looking up at Harmonia as the snow started falling heavier. "Should we head inside?"

"Not opposed to that!" The girl smiled, picking up a backpack and heading over to Harmonia's house, leaving Claire and Harmonia on the street together. She struggled for a moment with the doorknob before realizing it was locked, and gave up.

Harmonia blushed and shakily nodded. "I um... okay... yeah-" She walked up to her house, unlocking the door and letting them inside. Once they're inside, she quickly locked the door and went to the kitchen, pouring herself some water. 

"W-what do we do now? D-do we board up the house?" She asked, still shaking as Jello, a grey and white cat, walked up to her and rubbed on her leg, hungry for his dinner and unaware of the horrors outside.

"I don't think so, necessarily. Just close the curtains, lock the windows, lock the doors, turn off the lights... should be good! I don't think they'll be breaking into houses when there's plenty of food on the streets," Claire sighed, closing the curtains and locking the windows, "Oh. And that's Roxy. Ignore her she's young, 17, so like don't punch her."

Roxy had already made her way to the kitchen and had come back to the living room, eating cold cut salami. Harmonia instantly picked up on the cigarette smell coming from Roxy's clothes. "I'm awesome."

"R-right-" Harmonia was too frazzled to really process Roxy's rudeness, shaking as she drank her water, before picking up Jello, petting him softly. 

"So um... are you two sisters? And you said you had a vague idea, right?? What's that??"

Roxy laughed for a moment, sitting back in the recliner. "Yeah, sisters. Something like that. A little bit?" She giggled. "Trauma-bonded."

Claire sat herself down next to Harmonia with a sigh. "I grew up alongside her, kind of. As for the vague idea, are you at all religious? Or- Just to clarify, you were taught about monsters and stuff in school, right?"

"Right... I um..." Harmonia shook her head. "My grandma was Christian but I don't- I'm not really religious... but yeah I was taught about monsters- why??"

"They don't teach about demons and stuff in public schools, do they?" Claire sighed, reaching for Roxy's bag. Roxy tossed it to Claire, and she pulled out a small notebook and started flipping through it.

"D-demons? N-no I... I thought they didnt exist- are you saying they're real???" Harmonia asked, eyes wide as she petted Jello, trying to calm down despite how much she felt like screaming.

"Harmonia... There's a town in Massachusetts that was overtaken by a reality-warping clown monster. Are you really that surprised that demons exist?" Claire chuckled softly, handing Harmonia the notebook turned to a page about 'Violence Demons', with a little doodle showing off the anatomy of those weird rock monsters and vague information on them. 

They were made of minerals and appear as gargoyles and reptilian humanoids, with features closely resembling those found in depictions of dragons from varying cultures. As the layer they hail from implies, they were described as incredibly violent and dangerous.

At the bottom of the page, it says their current prince was named Abaddon, whatever that meant.

Harmonias hands shook as she stared at the page, reading it over. 

"I... I guess not I just.." She couldn't stop shaking, her heart was beating a thousand miles a minute, panic clear on her face. 

"I don't understand- why- why are they attacking now? What changed? What about the mushrooms and the bugs???" She asked, her voice wavering with her fear.

"Gluttony demons!" Roxy called out. "Didn't think they still existed, honestly."

"Mhm. As for why they're attacking now, I actually don't know." Claire shrugged. "It's definitely a little confusing."

"Oh, yeah, no definitely," Roxy smiled, glancing at Claire, "No clue whatsoever."

Roxy leaned forward in the recliner, folding her hands.

"We- I had a pal, a buddy, named Jessica a couple years back. People online called her a prophet or whatever because she was talking about the world ending sometime in the 2020s because the Mayan calendar was wrong or whatever, I dunno it was stupid and basically a stupid online doomsday cult. She'd talk about it constantly, and I was real close to her for one reason or another.."  Roxy looked down briefly, before glancing at Claire, who was watching her closely. "Anyways- You hear about the kid born in Nevada in 2004? The virgin birth? Her theory had to do with that kid, and..." 

Roxy looked up at Claire again. "Well. Looks like her theories were true." A smile cracked on Roxy's face as she looked to Harmonia. "Though, anyone close to her could've guessed as much, all things considered."

Harmonia shook her head again, trembling. "I don't- I thought that was disproven?? Are... are you saying that kid is the antichrist or some shit???" She asked, her tears drying up, the adrenaline rush finally dying down.

Roxy stifled a laugh, looking at Claire, who seems a little confused. 

"No, no, not the antichrist, but the second coming, kinda. Either way, we're being Book of Revelation'd. So... do with that what you will!~" Roxy smiled, leaning back in the recliner.

"Can't say I'm too enthused by this turn of events, honestly." Claire sighed. "Taking up drinking is very tempting right now."

"T-this cannot be happening- this can't be real- the world can't be fucking ending-" Harmonia stammered, standing up. "This isn't happening." She headed to the bathroom, her hands still shaking as she tried to get the thought of the corpses out of her head but... she couldn't. She took a shower and changed, getting the blood off her... which helped a little bit. Upon returning she stared at the girls in her living room, unsure what to do now.

Claire flicked through the TV channels, trying to see if any signals were uncorrupted, but there weren't any. Just a load of hellish nonsense clogging each channel. She sighed and turned off the TV before any goo could start pouring out of it.

"So... what should we do?"

"I... I don't know..." Harmonia said shakily. "What can we do??? Wait to die???"

"Well no that won't help," Claire tilted her head. "We can sit and wait, sure, but it won't get us very far at all."

"We could try seeking out Lucy," Roxy looks up from her phone and at Claire, "It's not ideal but she'd definitely know something."

The second those words left Roxy's mouth, Claire shot her a look. "If you wanna do that, go ahead, but I really don't want Harmonia anywhere near her." She seemed to be gripping the arm of the sofa kind of tight.

"W-who's Lucy? D-do you guys have family? We could focus on trying to find them?" Harmonia offered as Jello walked up to Claire, rubbing against her leg.

Claire and Roxy looked between each other for a moment.

"I don't think either of us have any family we'd like to see." Claire muttered.

Roxy got up out of the chair, picking up your bag. "Suit yourself! I'm off to see if Lucy can offer me some free advice, like she's Logan Paul and I'm that poor scared child in the song. Laterz." Roxy walked out the front door, taking care to make sure it's locked behind her.

Claire sighed. "Lucy is a dreamwalker we used to be acquainted with, a while ago. You know that church that opened up recently, in Biloxi? That's her doing." Claire picked up Jello, placing him on her lap and petting him. "She also runs that chatroom we're in, for the web art project."

"Fair enough..." Harmonia said softly, watching Roxy leave. "Is it... really best to let her go alone?" She asked, looking back to Claire.  "Oh... I see. Huh. Couldn't we just try and text her then?"

"She can handle herself.." Claire sighed. "We could, but the demons are probably in the internet as well by now. They got the TVs, the radios, I'm sure they can get in through WiFi as well. She's not stupid, she wouldn't divulge information where things like that can see."

"That makes sense I guess... can... can they hear through them??" Harmonia asked, looking down at her phone.

"Not unless the microphone is on." Claire smiled. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. They'll probably stop occupying regular waves like that in a few days."

"O-oh..." Harmonia paused for a moment. "What do you think they'll do now? What's their plan?"

"...Well. I don't know. I really do wish I could tell you." Claire shrugged, holding Harmonia's hand gently.

Harmonia sat down next to her, sighing and putting her head on her shoulder. 

"I hope Lucy knows something... then we can figure out where to go from here... right?"

"I hope so..." Claire held Harmonia gently, massaging her back softly with her pointly nails. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah... h-how long do we wait until we assume shes... shes um..." She didn't want to say it. She didn't want to admit how horrible the situation was.

"She can handle herself." Claire sighed reassuringly, holding Harmonia close. "Trust me."

"I will..." Harmonia whispered, closing her eyes. "I... I dont want to fall asleep... I think I'll see it all again..."

"You can sleep. I'll watch over you and protect you. I promise you'll have sweet dreams." Claire said calmly, brushing Harmonia's hair out of her face. "I'll be here when you wake up. I promise."

Harmonia smiled, curling up against her girlfriend. "Thank you... your words are so kind..."

"I hope that one day the universe treats you with the same kindness," Claire whispered. And as Harmonia fell asleep, both of Claire's promises were kept.

August 25, 2021

TW: Suicidal ideation, nearly attempted suicide, discussion of depression

Harmonia's mind swam as she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of the home that was once her grandmother's. It was the same ceiling, the same house, but it was empty. The cold was palpable, digging into her unstable mind, which had already begun to spiral. She had no one now... her grandma was all she had left. Her old friends from high school had moved away... but her? She could never leave... not when Iris's health was failing. Thoughts buzzed in her head like angry wasps, berating her for being so useless, for not going to college, for not saving her family, for driving everyone away. She felt numb as she got out of bed, her legs carrying her to the bathroom. Tears fell down her face as she stared at the medicine cabinet, the promise of relief in front of her. 

She didn't want to die... not really. She just wanted to stop hurting. She wanted it all to just stop- and there was no other way. Harmonia took a bottle, her hand shaking as she stared down at it.

Buzz, buzz.

The sound of her phone vibrating startled her from her thoughts. Harmonia shakily took her phone out of her pocket, opening it to see what it was. 

Claire had sent Harmonia a message. It was a meme, kind of dated, but it made Harmonia laugh. She had been seeing this girl on occasion, ever since she joined a chatroom for some weird internet art project and learned they lived close to one another. It was one of the good things in Harmonia's life. Something that kept her distracted from everything else.

rainraincomeagain: Harmonia look at this meme I found

rainraincomeagain: Look it's really funny XD

rainraincomeagain: [A simple meme, one that says "Me in my profile pic vs me in the zoom meeting", one side showing an elegant looking cartoon fox and the other showing a disheveled looking taxidermy fox.]

It made Harmonia laugh a little, seeing the girl on the other side of the screen send her a meme that wasn't relevant anymore. Seeing such innocence in a moment like this made her smile. She looked at the bottle, before putting it down and taking a seat on the closed toilet. She put a hand up to her eyes, wiping her tears and taking a deep breath. 

harmonia: It's cute... um.. could I talk to you about something sort of serious?

Her hands shook as she wiped her eyes again, terrified for the woman's response. What if she said no? What if she didn't want to talk to her ever again?

rainraincomeagain: Ya whats up :p

harmonia: I um... I've just... been going through stuff I guess... I just need someone to talk to... Sorry if this is weird.

rainraincomeagain: Nono its not weird!!

rainraincomeagain: Pls feel free to tell me anything <3 What kind of stuff r u going thru?

harmonia: So I was raised by my grandma and she... she died really recently. It's just... I don't have anyone and I don't know what to do. Every day I can barely get myself out of bed... let alone get myself to eat or do much. I just want the pain to stop.

Claire takes a moment to reply. This... definitely doesn't help Harmonia's mood at all. But when she does reply...

rainraincomeagain: Hunny Im so sorry :( Loss like that can b so rough I understand a lot... Im sure shes at peace now and is happy..

rainraincomeagain: Its such a hard thing to deal with and im sorry u have to go thru it :(

rainraincomeagain: Is there anyway I can help?? R u ok to go out today? We can get u something special from that cafe u like and u can talk to me for hours

Harmonia chews on the inside of her lip, smiling as she reads Claire's kind words, wiping her eyes again. 

harmonia: I'd like that a lot... I really hope she's at peace. She believed in heaven and stuff... so hopefully that means she got there. But I'd really like to meet up,, I'm just going to get dressed. Thank you, really, this has helped a lot already,,

rainraincomeagain: We all find peace eventually. And if she hasnt she will soon i promise <3

rainraincomeagain: Ill be over in 5 doll ok see u then xoxo

harmonia: See you in a minute!

Harmonia's face flushed red as she set her phone down, glancing at the pill bottle and putting it away before splashing her face with some water. She took a deep breath, before changing into some clean clothes and grabbing herself a drink of water, waiting for that telltale knock.

After a few minutes, she heard what she was waiting for, a perfect three, knock, knock, knock, each one on a different part of the door in a small triangle.

Harmonia went to the door and quickly opened it. She smiled at Claire, wiping her eyes. "Sorry, I'm such a mess..."

Claire was well dressed as usual, wearing a pastel yellow sundress and a honeycomb-patterned cardigan. She has on a headband with a yellow azalea poking out as well, and she was holding out a pink azalea to Harmonia.

"Shush, you look beautiful." Her deep red lips opened into a smile, her sharp canines seeming to sparkle in the sunlight, as with her big, beady red eyes. 

Harmonia blushed, taking the azalea and tucking it behind her ear. She looked pretty plain, only wearing a sweatshirt and leggings, her pale skin standing out against her long black hair. Her eyes were brown, bags etched under them from various sleepless nights. 

"Thank you... you look amazing... I mean- you always do,,"

Claire ruffled Harmonia's hair gently, running her fingers through it. "You're so kind, Harmonia." She smiles softly, closing her eyes. "Well, ready to go?"

Harmonia blushed again, nodding. "Y-yeah,, thank you, Claire,," She said softly, melting into the gentle touch, gently taking the other woman's hand.

"Anytime! It's always good to get out of the house." Claire leaned into Harmonia gently as the two walked down the street, headed towards the nearby cafe.

Harmonia leaned against Claire a bit as well, smiling softly as the birds chirped in the warm August air. "So um- how've you been?" 

"I've been okay! Been decorating around the house a little more and collecting more things. I'm like a little crow, I love my trinkets and little things."  Claire chirped.

"I also like collecting trinkets...." Harmonia said with a smile. "You'll have to give me a trinket tour, I'd love to see everything you've collected!"

"I have a lot of stuff from over the years. I need more stuff and things. I go thrifting sometimes." Claire sighed warmly. "I'll give you a tour someday."

Harmonia nodded. "I'd like that a lot,, I love thrifting... we should go together sometime," She said with that bright smile, putting her head against Claires.

"We should, I'd like that." 

They arrived at the cafe and walked inside. It was homey with walls made of brick and large windows that the sunlight fed into. Potted plants decorated the doorway, and some hydroponic plants framed on the wall. Indie music played from the speakers, and the general vibe of the café was very warm and friendly. 

Harmonia ordered herself a croissant and a cup of coffee, taking a seat at a table that was against one of the windows. "So- how's work been?"

"It's been a little slow lately, but I prefer that, honestly." Claire smiled, holding the large hot chocolate she ordered and taking a sip. She had been working at a local bookstore for a bit, not too far from the cafe. "How's work been for you?"

Harmonia shrugged a bit, blowing on her coffee to cool it down before taking a hesitant sip.  "It's been... retail... so you know..." She shrugged. "People haven't been especially horrible lately so, that's a win? I guess?"

"That's good! Any interesting customers?" Claire liked hearing about people who'd show up to stores wearing odd things or acting in strange ways. It always made her laugh.

Harmonia nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, actually- this really strange woman came in... her demeanor was just... weird? Like I try not to judge people but her movements were sort of... doll-like? And she smelled really sweet... kept calling me nicknames- but she was really pretty..." She sighed. "She was buying enough food to feed like- god, I don't even know... it was just a lot."

Claire bit her lip gently. "That is weird, yeah." She shrugged and took another sip of her hot chocolate. "Some people are just kind of like that, though. I think I've met a few people like that. Heavy perfume, acting a little weird."

"Yeah... I'm sure it's nothing really... just someone with different tastes." Harmonia shrugged a bit. "I try not to judge too much... you never know what someone's going through..."

"Mhm!" Claire smiled. "It is fun to hear about them, though!" She booped Harmonia's nose gently with a soft chirp.

Harmonia giggled, reaching over and booping her nose as well. "You're adorable..." She said softly, tilting her head.

"Aww, you're more adorabler!!!" Claire closed her eyes and leaned forwards, before opening them again. Her eyes were, as said prior, big and beady. Definitely proving Harmonia's adorable comment right. "I'm glad I was able to cheer you up."

Harmonia giggled, leaning her head on her hand. "Thank you for cheering me up,," She said softly, echoing Claire's statement. "I might talk to my doctor about trying antidepressants... could help?" She said with a shrug.

"That might be a good idea! Be careful with pills, though. Stuff like that can get dangerous quick..." Claire sighed, sipping her drink, not knowing what Harmonia had just experienced before they came here.

Harmonia tensed at that, her hand shaking. "Y-yeah..." She said softly, her voice barely a whisper. There was a pause before she spoke again. "I um... I kind of want a cat..."

Claire put a hand on Harmonia's. Claire's skin was oddly soft, oddly cold. "Harmonia. You're a lesbian, I know you want a cat." She giggled softly, her black lips curling into a wide smile as she blushed.

Harmonia blushed as well, taking Claire's hand. She giggled a little at that, tilting her head. "What if we went to get a cat right now?"

"That sounds like fun." Claire leaned forward, lifting Harmonia's hand and kissing it gently. "Shall we be off, then?"

Harmonia nodded, smiling. "Sounds good to me,"

A Human Life

I guess I should start from the beginning, right? 

Well- your grandparents are Brian Thompson and Heather Reeds. You had an aunt- well... have. Her name was Calliope Reeds, and she was two when I was born. Your grandparents were never married but loved each other dearly. It seemed like everything would be okay until one fateful day, where your grandpa swerved off the highway. My sister didn't survive. 

Your grandpa left, thinking it would be safer for the rest of us, and your grandma fell into addiction. I was left to my grandmother, your great grandmother, to be raised by her. She was the best caregiver I could ask for. She was always there for me, even when she was dealing with her own grief. I'm sure she'll be there for you like she was for me. 

We didn't have much, but we had each other. My mom visited from time to time but she never really saw me for who I was... just the daughter she lost. 

My grandma died in November of 2020. I was barely 18, and it hit me hard. Everything got worse before it eventually got better, and by the time the sky went red, I had been doing better. I suppose that's what I should focus on next... Get this story moving along in a way.

For My Daughter

Hi! Um... I'm going to be honest, I'm not really sure how to start this. I guess introducing myself? I've rewritten this introduction at least ten times by now... but um. 

I'm Harmonia, your mom. Fuck, that feels weird to say... um... I made this just in case something happens to me- in case you don't get to know me... I don't really know what we'll name you- if you'll be a girl or a boy... but know this, no matter what happens, I love you. 

I'm sorry if this is disjointed, my thoughts are everywhere but I want to write this for you. A memoir of sorts, telling you about my life, about your family, about well... everything. Today is April 4, 2024. You're only a month along... and I love you already. 

I'm not sure what you'll call us- if you'll have different names for me and your other mom... probably. That would make sense I think... Honestly, if someone had told me a couple years ago that I'd be where I am now, I would've called them crazy.

I should mention that I'm not writing this alone. This is mostly for you, my love, but I suppose this can also serve as a sort of historical document? Detailing the apocalypse and stuff... The Playwright is going to be helping, writing down events exactly as they happened, since my memory isn't the most reliable. 

You're going to be the first of your kind, my little jellybean. I'm not sure if that nickname will stick but... I hope you don't mind it. You'll be the first child ever born in Metamorphosis. I hope you won't be lonely... I'll try my best to make sure you have friends your age. I wonder if you'll be a moth like me... and what moth you'll be. 

Well, I'm going to sign off for the moment. I love you, jellybean.
My Love