[i] The eerie hum of a light buzzed overhead, the silence of the air filled ears to the brim while a gentle wind brushed dust and small paper pieces across the ground. The world seemed still and nothing moved save for the smatterings of the ground against nature. However the silence was quickly broken as a women screamed out. Her voice rang across the room and into the nearby rooms. Her ear-shattering howl sent them into shock, they all screeched and squalled at her noise. They were terrified, but not alone. A deep voice spoke from across the room. 

"They are here! You must hide!" He threw his hands up and out as if to throw a blanket over someone. "They are coming! We can't hold them off!" The voice now evidently more elderly than previously. His voice was shaky with fear, but it held together the leadership role for now. 

"We can't hide! We have to run! We must go! Oh what will happen!? Oh lord!" The woman cried out into the heavens with her voice echoing through the rooms. She screamed and hollered louder and louder.

"Hush woman! You must silence yourself! The Little Ones must be taken to safety! Now go!" The Elderly man commanded to her while shaking a fist. 

The kids in the room screamed out in tears. Their fear had them frozen for a time but the shock and sadness finally sat in. They cried and balled, squalled and called for parents. They were utterly helpless! Their panic also set the woman into a crippled fetal position of surrender.

"Have no fear, Children! Madam! I am here to save you from the feral monsters!" The voice came from behind the children, a stoic voice deep and young. A man clad in armor made of steel and rust with a mighty blade polished to the nines stepped from the shadows. "I shall seek justice and protect ye! Now have at ye feral beings!" The man said with great gusto as a series of grotesque creatures came jumping through a hole in a wall.

"Maaaargh! KILL HIM!" The one screeched to the two beside it. They quickly flung themselves at the armored man, wielding make-shift club like weapons. They tussled and fought, and the beasts wreak havoc against the male, but he began to overcome their fighting, and finally slayed them! Their leader growled in protest and ran like the coward he was back through the wall. 

"Aye! Now we are all safe!" The man said in great joy to the kids and the woman and the old man.

"Yaaaaay!" The kids rejoiced and jumped and danced!

"My hero!" The woman said as she swooned and fell against the armored man with her left leg kicking back and her eyes closing.

"You did it, Lad. You saved us all once again. Whatever would we do, without our Hero."
[/i]

"That my Children, is the tale of the great Knight. The people were safe, and they all lived happily ever after." Daniel spoke to the kids as he sat in a chair. The dingy metal chair was barely a comfy seat for him, but he had nothing else but the floor. The three kids sat on the large paletted bed that had been made for them. Many layers of cloth and fluff and stuffing packed up on a few wooden palettes to provide them a good bed, each with their pillow. They were all extremely young, no more than four for the oldest. "It is time to sleep now, everyone. Let's lay our heads down to rest, and think of the Knight. For what is to come?"

"The shining sun of 'Morrow, and the great giff of life." They all said in unison, albeit a little off or with a young lisp to each their own way of speaking.

They slowly crawled into bed, all getting snuggled up in their nests of cloth and blankets, curling up and nestling against one another while beginning to snore off to sleep. The bleak reality of the world was shut out in Daniel's eyes as he watched over them a moment. However it quickly returned as he stood up and turned to look out though the window of the room. He looked over Rochester and it's current state, the desolation, the dust-filled air. The stale grey of the world soaked into every corner that wasn't already rust-brown and covered in filth. The air sang with little noise, ticks and bumps of the aging structures, wild creatures fighting off in the distance echoing across the ruins of toppled and standing skyscrapers. Darkness sank through the sky and the night flew swiftly. The sun kissed the heaven's goodbye and sank below the earth. Night had fallen, and now Daniel was left with the Rochester crew, looking after these kids, and one another.

He had seen several newcomers arrive as of the past few months, the numbers they once had gone, and these new numbers were only minute compared to the original crew. However Daniel knew numbers were best, despite his unease towards, he felt it was better to trust them temporarily than dismiss them all for good. So he sat in the main room, the most protected room, where everyone generally gathered, keeping an eye on these children.