Hunger

It was dark. Why was it always dark?

That was another one of those questions that didn’t matter. It would be more important to ask, “Where am I going to get food?” or “How will I stay alive?” But no. My curiosity of unimportant things was going to get me killed one of these days.

“Pay attention.”

I looked up from my daze. She stared at me disapprovingly, and walked on. I followed. That’s all we did anymore. Walked. Searched. We rarely ever found anything. I suppose that was why we had to keep searching.

“Get down!”

Another one of our daily activities. I quickly found a nice, thick bush, and slid under its protective branches. The ground was warm; somebody else had also used this bush to his advantage.

“Quiet!”

All was silent. You couldn’t hear them coming; you never could. They were blessed with the ability to sneak up on their prey.

Perhaps “blessed” wasn’t the right word.

“I smell them.”

They also could smell clean victims a mile away. We spend an hour each day to cover up our scent, but if they get close enough, there’s no hiding it.

“What are you talking about, Eron? I don’t smell a thing.”

“You’ve lost your touch.”

“I doubt that. I smell a perfectly good group further ahead.”

A pause.

“Ah, yes. I smell it.”

“Let us go that way,” A third voice said.

We waited for ten minutes. Once we heard the screams we knew it was safe.

CHAPTER 1

“Don’t eat too much.” She said.

“Alright, alright. You never let me enjoy myself.”

“I do it because I care.”

“I’ve never heard that one before.” I replied sarcastically.

She smiled and scooped another peach out of the can. Her hair was long lost to the days of being straight and beautiful and clean. Now it could be mistaken for brown or even black because of the dirt that tinged her once-blonde hair. Her face remained bright, though.

I never could understand it.

As for her clothes, they were a mess of oversized, plaid items and, of course, covered in dirt. Every little speck helped us stay hidden.

“Can we get out of here? It’s dark,” my brother said.

“Alright.”


“I want a smoke,” she said.

“You know you cant!” I replied.

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t mean I don’t want one…”

I smiled and we continued walking. All of the doors and windows were boarded up, and a lot of it had graffiti on it. “THEY ARE COMING.” “GOT BLOOD?” “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…” Funny, right? I tried to entertain myself with the writing, but humor and impending doom don’t mix well.


So now you get a bit of the picture of what we did. Everyday we found food, and escaped death. We didn’t know how we got there. From what we observed, a virus was spreading when humanity collapsed. We didn’t know any details, any people, or anything. And we were supposed to live in this world that we knew nothing about. It wasn’t fair, but there was nothing we could do.

We found a temporary home where we had enough food to last a week. There was a TV, and my brother was hopeful that he would be able to take a break from reality.

It didn’t even turn on.

“Maybe people are out there. People who sit at home and watch TV and have supper with their family and-“

“Stop. Just stop,” I couldn't listen to that kind of talk. He didn’t even know what he was talking about, “You can’t be so hopeful.”

He looked downward and shuffled his feet. My sister wasn’t so silent.

“Hey! What makes you think that being pessimistic is any better?”

“No disappointment,” I muttered. She just stared at me with a disgusting look on her face. Once I felt disappointed I realized the irony.