Darkness consumes them all.
Mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters.
It devours them like a starved animal, showing no mercy.
It shrouds them in endless night, every last innocent victim.
None can escape the suffering, the constant grief and fear.
It eats away at them, slowly eroding their will to live.
What was it like to have a family?
To sleep in a warm bed at night?
To be untouched by the pain of hunger?
They can no longer recall.
Their tears have been spent, their humanity stolen.
Skeletal shells are all that remain,
The bestial ghosts of people who once were.
No longer do they fear Death; he is a familiar acquaintance,
A chance to escape the unbearable agony.
Some embrace him, others have no choice.
In an instant they are swept away, willing or not.
Their lives snuffed out, unnoticed by the world.
They are broken-winged birds, caged behind barbed wire.
No hope of flying in the blood-red sky,
Tinged with smoke and fire.