[h1][center][b][color=red]The Ghoul[/color][/b][/center][/h1]

[i]Walk. Stop. Walk. Grunt. Scream. Walk. Stop. Walk. Grunt. Scream. Walk.[/i] like a mantra 
the words rang in Ashe’s mind. The same ones, on and on. A way to keep herself sane. A way to keep herself safe. 

[i]Follow. Horde. Walk. Stop. Grunt. [/i] and again and again and again and again!

It was easy to lose one’s mind while walking between thousands that lost their minds to the radiation. Follow the horde, guide the horde. One dies, one stands up. Human, synth, mutated creatures…it mattered not. Guns, bombs, swords, stingers or teeth…it mattered not. They all fell in front of the horde. They all get consumed. Death is nature and nature doesn’t stop. Nature doesn’t slow down. Nature is relentless and merciless. Hundred of years ago we tried to kill nature and each other with the bombs. We only managed to anger it. Nature finds a way, nature survives and adapts. The mutated animals are nature’s way of eliminating the human oppressor. 

Yet. Yet, humans endure. Humans adapted too. Some of them at least. Ghouls are humanity’s answer to nature’s attacks. Not smart, not dumb. No feelings, no remorse. Just hunger and hunger is a good motivator. That’s what Ashe felt most of the time, hunger. Food was scarce, [i]they[/i] made sure that not even scraps were left. But true to her nature, Ashe adapted too. Dead or alive, human, ghoul or anything in between, they were food and food kept her going. 

As Ashe guided them or they guided her through the wasteland, she couldn't help but wonder what their lives had been like before they had become feral. This was a game of hers that she played ever since she was a child. Figure out the ghoul.  Had they been like the normal ghouls, still clinging to their humanity despite everything and eventually succumbing to the radiation? Or had they been like her, angry at a world that had betrayed them? Not that it mattered how she felt. They weren’t the problem. 

The other humans. They try to resist the horde. Some run, some join later. Most end up food but they all [color=red]die[sub]die[sub]die[sub]die[sub]die[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/color] eventually. [i]In the face of the horde[/i], [color=red]none can stand[/color]. Not for long anyway. But, even with their numbers and tenacity, some factions of the wasteland would pose a big problem. Too many to be overwhelmed. Too well their locations fortified. [i]Too human, the leader of the horde.[/i] [color=red]Too many feelings.[/color] Too many innocents. [color=red]No one is innocent in the wasteland.No one is [sub]innocent[sub]innocent[sub]innocent[sub]innocent[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub] in the wasteland.[/color] [i]Not for long anyhow. [/i]. 

[i]There![/i] Movement. To the north. The Horde didn’t smell whatever moved yet. It then starts. One lone gunshot. A ghoul falls. One more gunshot. The [color=red]screaming[/color] soon followed. Thousands of ghouls shouting, grunting, screaming. A wall of dust rose as they started running in the direction. More ghouls from the surrounding area would join them. In the end, nothing would remain. No bodies, no traces of past settlements, all would be wiped out under the feet of the horde. 

More gunshots. Rapid succession. One, two, three, four, five…now, two steps to the right, one forward. Dodging bullets when you’ve got a thousand bodies around you was easy. Left-right, duck. Run. Don’t get caught up. Move…[i]there[/i], 4 people. The horde is close to them. They start running. Too late. Too late. More screams now. Human screams. Blood everywhere and then silence. The silence of ghouls eating. 

Forward. Keep moving with the horde. No time to rest. Sleep later, walk now. They don’t tire. They don’t sleep, they just walk. The horde is always moving. A trick Ashe learned in her first days was that ghouls don’t care what they’ve got on them as long as they walk, as such, Ashe created a stretcher of sorts that she tied to four different ghouls. All tied up together. A walking bed. If lucky, Ashe could sleep for hours. If not, she’d fall. 

Not the best life but the only one that Ashe knew. Only one that she cared about it. [I]Again. Movement.[/i]. More screams. More dead. More food. An endless cycle.