I climbed the last stretch and length

of the disturbing mountain of death,

to find myself looking down into a deep hole.

Grandfather said it was dug to burn the bodies,

until the fire couldn't penetrate the density of flesh upon flesh.

Then, the those succumbing to False Hope,

were thrown in here for punishment.

That was decades ago.

And they should be dead.

Yet, at his deathbed,

Grandfather recalled her.

She was alive he knew, and this,

this made a Murderous Thought emerge in his mind.

At his deathbed,

a picture he clutched in pure hatred.

He passed the thought to me

for peace of mind.

So now I hold this Murderous Thought,

for Grandfather. And now I've come,

following my instincts.

In the hole of Howlers,

those half-rotted bodies with glazed eyes,

somehow still with hearts beating and alive,

is a woman with a face exactly from the picture,

the one I had come to find.

"Kill the blood relative, the one with False Hope.

For a Murderous Thought lives in our veins.

Kill her for me.

Kill her."

The woman with yellow flaky skin,

and a mouth full of crooked yellow teeth,

was the only "live" blood-relative

after my grandfather, I meet.

I lift the rifle,

for in my mind,

only Murderous Thoughts I find,

instilled upon me after Grandfather's death.

I must get rid of this upsetting pest.

She is dead in an instant without fight or flee,

and I set down the mountain at top speed,

hearing the sounds of Howlers after my flesh,

as I am a juicy morsel to fill their stomachs.

I tumble and fall, scramble and crawl,

and I run away from my secret deed.

Tears of relief stream down my eyes and I blink them away.

The last Murderous Thought I have ended.

No one will suffer now.

Humanity will finally be free from pain.

No more False Hope will be had either.

Those believing in the superficial and seeking a fantasy,

all but disturbed Humanity.

"Oh! Thinking that Humanity could be saved,

through believing in False Hope,

could not have possibly saved millions from their graves!

It was her own fault and she asked for death.

She chose the wrong path.

Death will save us, my boy.

Death of her will save us all."

But what do I think?

I wonder as I trudge toward my ship in the lake of sludge.

Grandfather's words heavy like each step I take in my boots,

tearing me apart from my own thoughts. But what are my own?

Am I just a mere puppet?

No, no. I am acting on my own,

as my last blood relative, I had come to slay today,

ending the line for Murderous Thoughts.

I didn't have to listen to Grandfather that day.

I start the engine in the ship,

and it doesn't rise.

The sludge has stuck into the engines.

I see the live corpses—Howlers—coming to me.

Their glazed eyes and wide, gaping mouths are horror itself.

They are almost upon me, crawling and drowning in sludge,

but a few are making it through.

I glance down at my rifle.

A Murderous Thought flicks across my mind.

I pick it up,

but instantly conflicted.

I had destroyed the last Murderous Thought,

and the last False Hope.

What are these thoughts in my head?

Although I question and doubt,

my thoughts are true and sure.

Could it be that humanity by nature

thinks in such dark, disturbing ways?

The Howlers who did not drown,

pound on my ship to break the glass.

Their rotting teeth and ominous disease,

instill in me a pang of fear.

The rifle pushes against my head.

A thought:

As a blood relative to myself,

I am sure I am the last Murderous Thought.

The sudden fantasy of a noble death,

charms me.

If I murder myself,

I am saving Humanity, am I not?

And this,

this very thought is a False Hope.

But it's just all me.

Oh! Such an epiphany!

I know what to do now.

Once I die,

everything will be okay.

I grin and press the trigger.

A second too late, a falsity transpires;

I am doing nothing

but saving my dignity from dying under the teeth of Howlers.

It is a pretentious thought as if I am so important.

Such False Hope that my death will save Humanity?

Pathetic.

Death comes for me.

His black hooded face drips with blood.

His sharp, pointed teeth, tear out my heart.

Like anyone would,

I struggle to get away,

but it's too late.

Glass breaks, shattering on my body.

I don't feel the Howlers breaking through my gear.

I don't feel them eating my flesh.

I begin to lose my thoughts...

The last one,

is murderous.

Death smiles at me.