I pick up the crumpled can, observe its worthlessness, and throw it over my shoulder.
The gray suffocated sky opens up for a second before closing their doors again. Its sad to think about the world we use to live in compared to the life we live in now. What use to be filled with green fields, and happy Americans, is now littered with burnt houses, and year old newspapers. I scuff down the glass shattered, dirt road to nowhere. I’ve been alone now for a full year I’m guessing. I can’t exactly say what the date is, or the time, but what I can say is that I’ve survived one more day here in this abandoned purgatory. There are not many of us left here, most days I wish I wouldn’t have been spared but instead taken away by the bomb that permanently maimed our society.
Ever since the revelation I only have seen 2 other people, when I approached this couple, I was relieved until I learned that there were some people left behind, that had stooped so low, that they would do anything for food. They were the cannibals. I am lucky I had escaped that trap I was set into. From then on I was cautious about my every move, and when I sensed strangers I vanished in an instant. While I scooted along, pondering on my minor thoughts, I was interrupted by the sound of an anonymous conversation close by. My heart started to panic and beat faster as I started to plan my escape route. But as I listened more to the voices it seemed that someone was trying to persuade another stranger into leaving. That’s weird I thought. My curiosity got hold of me and drew my foot steps closer to the source of the sounds. When I came close enough to decipher the words, I paused and stood carefully behind a charred house wall. There were two people I knew that for sure and one was a male and the other female. The girl was in trouble, her words were tenderly spoken and pleading, but this eerie stranger did not want to leave her alone it seemed. My concern for the situation made me peak out from behind the wall just to get a glimpse of the argument. As a discreet bystander, I noticed that this female was not just a female but a very pretty brunette, young, probably in her teens, her clothes were torn and smudged with dirt and there was evidence of a hard life painted on her face. I kept watching as she pleaded
“Please, just leave me alone, I have done nothing to you”.
The eerie creepers’ expression turned up into a grim smile as he pulled out his fork and knife from his back pocket ”where’s the seasoning?” he asks sarcastically as he moves in on the fresh meat, he’s about to devour. He approaches her with a grim smile. The girl quickly pivoted and started to run in the opposite direction but she was unsuccessful as she ran into another hidden man, who caught her by the arms and held her forcefully in her spot. That is when I turned around; my back pressed up against the rotten wood, I knew what was about to happen but it was inevitable; I wouldn’t be able to save her. Her lashing screams and tortured cries for help seared my ears as the muffled laughs and jeers of the men collaborated until her screams finally hushed. I run, because I’m a coward and everyone is alone in this new developed world.