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Zoey
It had happened so suddenly.
One minute things had been normal, the next, people had been ripped apart by twisted monsters.
Zoey crouched low in the grocery aisle, the click of claws was loud, the demon was one aisle over. She'd wanted to stay in, but had needed to restock on food and water. It hadn't been a spur of the moment decision, not like it had once been.
It had nearly caught her as she'd filled a duffle bag with as much water as she could carry and multiple lots of cup noodles. She'd only heard it because something had caught a bag of chips, making them drop to the floor.
Her hand was pressed hard over her mouth, her eyes squeezed closed as she tried not to make noise and waited for the demon to move one.
Some part of her hindbrain screamed as the sound of clicking got closer, her spine stiffening as she did her best to become a statue.
She wasn't sure what was making the clicking noise but she wished it would stop. Fear curdled painfully in her stomach as the demon didn't seem interested in leaving any time soon.
There was the soft noise of glass being disturbed, Zoey went still, a different form of more rapid clicks filled the convenience store, making Zoey's eyes opened, the world blurry as she was on the verge of tears.
Her eyes were drawn to pink and she couldn't help but blink, her eyes met narrowed brown ones, the other woman was standing stock still, staring back at her.
It was like seeing a ghost. Zoey hadn't seen another person in… months. It had steadily been driving her insane. So much so that she had taken to talking to her plushies to stay sane.
The woman's eyes left hers and Zoey's gaze was brought back to her pink hair. Who on Earth kept dying their hair during the end of the world? She wanted to ask but was brought back to her current predicament by the click of claws coming into view.
She stared at the visible claw, long, purple digits splayed across the ground. The ends were almost black; jagged and gnarled. Zoey could see the darker patterns that moved up the red limb.
Zoey knew she needed to move, needed to sneak away so that the monster couldn't see her. She couldn't move as the beast's head slowly began to round the corner.
Two long horns almost scraped against the ceiling. Long teeth, almost six inches in length, bucked outwards, reminded Zoey of an anglerfish. Zoey froze as bright, burning golden eyes met hers. She didn't see the rest of the demon as it began moving towards her.
She was dead. She was so dead. She knew she was going to die and she couldn't move.
The demon suddenly screeched as a can slammed into the side of its body. Its head snapped around, looking towards where the pink haired woman had been. Zoey's body was suddenly galvanised into action. She slipped the shoulder strap of the duffle bag off and scrambled to get away from the monster.
The demon's head snapped back around to look at her, another screech filling the store as a second demon popped out from the other side of the aisle. Zoey froze as this demon's horns dragged through the soft overhead tiles, ripping through them with ease. It also had more than two, it had a crown of horns and massive fangs.
It was larger and purple in colour, its patterns almost a dark navy as a long hand reached towards Zoey. Zoey was frozen in horror as the long, boney fingers closed around on her leg.
She threw a desperate look to the window, she didn't actually expect to see the pink haired woman, but her eyes met apologetic brown eyes, she could swear she could see tears pooling in them as she was dragged towards the massive demon.
Mira
Mira hadn't seen a single soul in months. Not since the initial chaos and impossibility of demons invading the human world.
She'd needed to head out for supplies and to find a new, safe location, she was running low on essentials, which was mostly food, and demons had started sniffing around her current sleeping area.
The street was a complete ruin, the road cracked from massive, monsterous claws and heavy weights. The surrounding buildings weren't in much better shape. Even the little one's claws could rip through metal with ease. Humanity hadn't really stood a chance.
Mira was having to venture out further and further from her base, there were too many demons around to stay in one place for too long. She felt like she was steadily going insane, she was used to being isolated, but seeing no one for months, not a single human since the first time she'd ventured out.
She froze as she heard something from a shop near her. Her head turned, her eyes focusing on a young woman. She hadn't seen her just yet, her eyes closed and tears streaming down her cheeks.
The woman's expression was startled, almost disbeliving as she made eye contact with her, her eyes widening in surprise.
Mira's eyes caught movement and she froze as the demon rounded the corner, bright red skin; long, twisted limbs came into view as the demon turned the corner. Mira ducked behind the low wall, avoiding the broken glass around them.
She peaked back around, watching the twisted monster continue to move further around the corner, towards the other woman. Mira felt a surge of emotion, instantly reaching into her pack. Her fingers met metal and she grabbed the full can and lobbed it towards the demon.
It screeched as the can hit it, its ugly face turning towards her now. She got to watch as the woman began scrambling up, beginning to move. Mira felt some relief, maybe they could make it, maybe they could escape and the crippling lonliness would no longer be an issue.
Mira's hopes were dashed before they could even fully form as a second screech dashed Mira's hopes. Her head snapped towards a purple demon, she could see both of them, the nobbly spine of the red one stuck out, but the purple one almost looked majestic.
The purple one grabbed the young woman and Mira knew there was nothing she could do to save the other woman. She wanted to close her eyes, not see her being ripped apart. She swallowed as she forced herself to look, meeting terrified brown eyes.
Mira felt helpless rage swell in her chest, her eyes stinging as she did her best to keep the tears at bay.
The red demon screeched, lunging towards the captured woman. Mira expected blood, the sickening crunch of bones.
What she didn't expect was for the purple demon to yank the woman out of the way of the red demon's jaws and step over her. A reptilian like tail cracking across the red demon's face. Mira's jaw dropped in disbelief as for the first time ever, a demon defended a human.
The purple demon snarled loudly, long, wicked looking talons swiped at the red demon, forcing it back.
Mira wasn't sure what to make of the situation as the two demons fought. There had been no reported cases of such things, but there hadn't been much time to really investigate demon habits.
As Mira continued to watch, the purple demon rammed its head into the red one, black claws digging into muscle, ripping and clawing. Demons didn't bleed, they usually turned into ash.
The young woman had curled up, her hands over her head as the demon stood over her. Mira hesitated for a moment before she began moving. This could be one of the last humans in Korea and Mira didn't want to see her dead.
She jumped over the window, beginning to move towards the woman and the demon looming over her. She narrowly missed being wiped out by the purple demon's tail.
Rumi
The world was wrong. It was far too silent, too still. The streets, once teeming with life was empty.
She didn't like it. Didn't like the scrambling footsteps when unseen people ran away. Her gaze was sharp and she could usually tell what kind of person it was.
She had been wandering the streets for months, fighting the demon menace that had rent the world apart. She could smell one close, could smell the small humans too. Without a second thought she moved towards a convience store.
She watched as a pink haired woman threw a can of green beans at a demon, watched the demon screech. She was amazed at the two souls before her, they burned brightly, pure. More pure than any human she had seen since the world ended.
She grabbed the smaller woman, dragging her in close as she engaged the red demon. It was simple, kill the intruder, save the pure souls, move on.
She had to be careful, the small human was still beneath her feet and she didn't want to step on her, didn't want to hurt her. Movement drew her attention and she swung her tail, narrowly missing the taller human that was skidding beneath her to grab the small one. Good, that meant she didn't have to worry about stepping on her.
She lunged forward as the two humans scrambled for cover. Rumi's jaws wrapped around one of the demon's horns and wrenched its head to the side, snapping its neck in a well practised motion.
She watched it began starting to turn to ash faster. Pride swelled in her chest and she felt her crown of horns growing in size. She turned slowly, watching the two humans freeze in terror.
She paused slightly, unsure how to break the ice. They hadn't completely fled so there was that at least. She hesitated, considering how best to show that she was friend and not foe.
Her tail lightly thumped against the shelf behind her and realised quickly what they needed. She turned, noting the discarded duffle bag and reached towards it. The smaller human that she'd protected squeaked as Rumi carefully hooked a claw over the bag, slowly beginning to drag it towards them.
She could hear them talking, whispering in rapid, hushed tones. She watched the small one carefully move forward. Rumi's eye closed as she basked in the brilliance of the souls before her.
There was something about them, something that soothed her mind. Rumi's head slowly lowered towards the smaller human. Rumi flinched as a hand softly touched one of her horns, her eyes opening in surprise as the small human jerked back like she'd been burned.
Zoey
Zoey was sure she was dead, sure she was going to die a gruesome and horrific death. What she didn't expect was the two to start fighting. She wanted to cry harder, of course the two demons would fight over who got to eat her.
She curled up tightly, praying that the demon didn't step on her, but it seemed rather sure footed as it forced the red demon back.
She was even more surprised when a strong hand wrapped around her arm and physically dragged her from under the demon. Her eyes flew open as she looked into the narrowed eyes of the pink haired woman.
Zoey, in that moment, wordlessly swore her life to defending this woman that was daring to reach into the jaws of death and yank her out of them. The red demon screeched as they stumbled away from the pair of them.
A sickening crunch met Zoey's ears and she felt her saviour freeze. The sound of something heavy hitting the ground followed a second later and they turned, watching the purple demon turn towards them.
Zoey's heart began hammering in her chest as she stared at the massive monster. It was watching them, the crown of horns hid its right eye, but the burning gold of the left one was focused solely on them.
With sinking dread, Zoey realised that her savour had done nothing but make herself a target for the massive monster. Zoey felt a lance of genuine pain in her chest, because of her, her saviour was going to die too. If Zoey had just been faster maybe they could have survived together, now it seemed like they would both die together.
Instead, she watched as the demon turned and began cautiously almost picking at her duffle bag, dragging it over and then pushing it towards them. Zoey hesitated as she began to step forward and felt the other woman's grip tighten on her arm.
“What are you doing?” The voice was rough, harsh from disuse.
“I really need that bag.” Zoey whispered back, her eyes flicking up to meet the other woman's.
They both watched as the demon finished pushing the bag towards them and seemed to just bask in their presence. “It's weird…” The woman whispered back and Zoey couldn't help the brief flicker of a smile on her face.
“As long as it's not eating us, it can be as weird as it wants.” She moved forward, watching the demon slowly lower its head. Zoey knew many things, thank you late night documentary marathons, animal body language was one of them.
She reached out, her hand lightly pressing on the most protruding horn of the horn crown. The demon started in surprise as her hand brushed against it and Zoey instantly scrambled back to the pink hair woman.
“I thought you were getting your bag!” The woman hissed at her, hand closing around her arm.
Zoey felt a little sheepish as she turned towards her. “Well, technically we're still alive.”
The glare she recieved was withering.
They both turned in surprise as they heard a deep rumble, looking back at the demon. It looked like it was laughing at them, massive shoulders shaking as its head bobbed.
“Is that thing laughing at us?” The woman asked in disbelief and Zoey stared at the laughing demon. They both watched as it pushed the duffle bag closer towards them.
Zoey moved forward again, a small smile on her face. “Ah, thank you for saving us.” She watched the demon focus on her, head lowering as it leaned closer towards her, a deep rumble issuing from its chest.
Zoey's heart was beginning to pound out of her chest as she watched the demon get closer. She didn't reach out to touch this time.
“Yooooou'rrrrrrre wellllcoooome.” The fine hair of the back of Zoey's neck stood on end as the tritoned voice filled the entire shop.
It took her a moment to turn to check to see if the pink haired woman had heard what she just had. She saw her wide eyes, the pair needing a moment to process what was even going on.
Zoey turned back as she heard the deep rumble again. The demon laughing at them again.
“Are we dead?” Zoey asks, getting everyone's attention. The demon shook its head rumbling, sounding too pleased with itself.
Mira
Since when did demons talk?
Mira was pretty sure that she and the doe eyed woman were dead, it was just too weird to believe. She moved forward, the demon focusing on her as she reached down and grabbed the duffle bag, lifting it with ease. It was more heavy than she'd expected but nothing she couldn't handle.
“So, what's the plan here?” She asked after a moment, standing beside the smaller woman.
She started and looked up at her, hesitating before she looked back at the demon. The demon was still close enough to touch, Mira watched in disbelief as the little dare devil reached out and touched the demon again!
Mira almost expected the demon to bite her arm off, instead, she watched as the demon leaned into the touch. The smaller woman instantly cooed as she began rubbing more of the demon's horns and face.
Mira sucked in a deep breath, of course the one living person she'd ever met was insane. The lonliness must have gotten to her, or maybe the stress of being one of the last people alive. Either way, the woman was petting a demon.
Maybe Mira had gone insane and this was all a delusion of hers. She couldn't really tell, what she could tell was that she had a building stress headache.
“Awww, your purrs are so cute. Wanna come home with us?”
Mira was sure she was about to have an aneurysm as the now bubble woman invited a demon back to where she was staying. Even the demon looked surprised by the offer.
Mira was kind of glad when the demon looked as thrown for a loop as she was. The demon was looking at her, Mira's entire body stiffened before it rumbled loudly, actively considering the offer.
It turned slightly, looking at the shelf behind it before looking back at them. The woman gasped and instantly moved past the demon to begin grabbing ramyun cups.
Mira felt her headache spike as she moved over to stop the girl from just grabbing cup noodles. She went, checking dates as she pulled other things off the shelves to give some variety for them to eat. The fresh and frozen food were long gone, but there was plenty of vacuum and long life shelf products.
She could hear the woman talking excitedly to the demon and grabbed some painkillers while she was at it. If she was going to spend time with these two, she would probably need them.
“My name's Zoey.” Mira felt a small smile curl her lips as she sounded so excited.
Mira was walking back around the corner when she spoke. “Mira.” Zoey jumped so hard away from her that she crashed into the demon's leg. Mira watched the demon steady Zoey with its knuckles.
“Rrrrrrrrrrumiiiiiii.” The r rolled smoothly off its long tongue and Mira had to fight a shudder.
“Did you get the shrimp chips, Mira?” Zoey asked excitedly and Mira was met with a megawatt smile. Maybe it was simply because of the isolation but something in Mira twisted tightly, something she refused to name.
“Go get them and we'll get out of here.” Mira was eager to leave the store and possibly never come back, but she couldn't say no to that hopeful, bright expression.
This was so insane and she knew that this was hardly the end to all this insanity. Her eyes moved to Rumi, the demon watching them move about the store now, tail flicking lazily and looking rather content.
Mira was surprised to feel herself softening towards the demon, which just confirmed that she was now clinically insane.
At least now she wasn't alone though.