The offworlders

5 minutes later

"Not like this dammit." Karthas swore. "You can't die like this."

"Karthas, it is not your fault." Kal coughed. "You cannot control everything."

"But I love you. I know it's ridiculous, but I love you dammit."

Kal wasn't sure how to react. Both Umbrir were dying of their respective wounds. Karthas, a gunshot, Kal, a nasty stab wound. She will never forgive me for this. "I love you, too, Karthas." He put a hand on the pale skin of her chest. "I'm so sorry. I love you."

With that he transferred what remained of his life force into Karthas. She felt a cold shock run through her body. "NO. DAMN YOU." She screamed at the lifeless body of her companion. "Dammit." All she could do was weep. She pulled the large scale off his chest, and touched it to hers. She used a tiny bit of that life force to adopt that scale into her own. His were rougher, more gray than her pale white scales, but this would set her apart. "I won't forget you." She wept.

Vekka

Half an hour later

Vekka, the dark scaled Umbrir, appeared among his brethren on Xav. They were in a deep tunnel in the core layer, away from any prying eyes. "I'd like to announce a victory."

"Against?" Vaja, and Kaon said together. "Your mortal leader there has died. The others gave up their swords."

"How can that be?" Vekka asked, it felt like a stake was pounded into his heart.

"They killed him shortly after you left. Where were you this last half hour?" Vaja laughed.

"Drinking on Oran. You are telling me he's dead?"

"Yes, Vekka. You failed." Kaon laughed. "You abandoned us, you shamed our name." Kaon drew a sword. "And you lost a planet. If you had controlled the mortals, we would have gained a planet. An entire planet. Fool."

The last thing Vekka felt was despair, and dropped to his knees.

Hunter and Lainey

Two months later

Spring began, but the walkers didn't seem to notice. Every day they get worse. Hunter had been entrusted with the safety and restoration of Earth. It was a huge task that he knew he wouldn’t live to see fulfilled.

He stabbed one corpse in its eye, using a knife to behead another. On some, the blade went through easy, but others. Others felt like real people, yet they still ate and walked as the others did.

After his day of clearing the shopping mall, he returned to his home. Alaina recieved him, fresh baked bread in hand. He gave her a quick kiss, but was famished from his work. 10 hours of non stop slackjaw killing. "Any news from Judah?"

"Still foraging i'd guess. I hope he finds more batteries. Our solar only does so much with so few batteries to charge."

"Yeah I hope so."

Rhett and Rose

3 months later

Rhett and Rose sat on the ledge of an Aethere chasm shelf. All around the world was green. They didn't have wings, so it was rather hard to traverse, but it was so nice. They had their own small basilisk as a way to teleport here, to their home.

"I'd like to visit Earth again some time. It's been a while." Rose said quietly, as not to disturb the wildlife. Deer below pranced in the woods, wolves in the shadows. Rose decided to ignore that.

"I would as well." Rhett smiled, wrapping an arm around his wife. "I wish the world didn't end sometimes."

"Well, if it didn't end, I wouldn't have you, now would I?"

"That's fair actually. Let me rephrase. I wish Earth wasn't ruined to that point." Rhett smiled, kissing Rose on the top of her head.

Jack and Raven

6 months later

Jack would have preferred to stay and help Hunter and Alaina with the world. Now he sat with the love of his life, alone in a cabin on Terradine. He'd chosen Ravena, a place in the south part of the continent. He'd been to some of the other countries, but Ravena was rather peaceful in comparison.

"Okay so, Jack, I love you."

"Odd way to start a conversation," Jack chuckled. "Go on."

"I stole some stuff from earth before we left. One of those things, was this. I just took it."

Jack took the white plastic item from her, and froze. It had a tiny screen, on it was a single word. Pregnant. I'm gonna have a baby me running around. Oh my gods.

Old man, Corinne, and Arden

9 months later

Old man's joints cracked as he stood. He'd heard the sound of meat sizzling, and ran around the corner to see what he'd heard. FOOD.

Meat sat over the fire, and Crazy Hair had to restrain Old Man from licking it up.

Corinne laughed at Scrap. "Crazy old man."

Arden sat in a chair and smiled, "Come here dufas." Scrap happily trod over and sat his heavy head on her knee. He'd seemingly forgotten about the fire.

Corinne crumpled the poster she'd been reading. She tossed that beneath the steak. In her other hand she held several gold coins. German Marks. Such an odd planet, Oran. It felt much like earth, but most of that was due to the population being made of Germans and old Romans.

"Well, who's next on the list?"

"Letum, bastard son of the Godmaker."