Boom!
There it went again. That horrific noise of a life ending in the distance. I felt the back of my shirt sticking to my back and smelt the horrible odor of my own body. I hadn't had a shower in about three weeks if you consider bathing in a dirty pond as a shower. It was the end of the world, who had time to shower? Not me. All I had time for was foraging for what food was left, which usually involved digging around in old dumpsters. I would take what I could get. I hopped my way into a dumpster hidden down an alleyway and to the left. I rummaged around for a bit, groaning in disgust at the feeling of rotting meat touching my bare hands. I had no idea what kind of meat it could be, but it had the consistency of ground beef. It was almost enough to cause me to vomit, but I had to push forward. I dug around for another twenty minutes when I finally found an unopened can of peaches. I was absolutely ecstatic. I hadn't eaten in the past three days and I was more than excited to have something fill the emptiness inside of me.
I suddenly heard a scoff behind me followed by a laugh. "The hell are you doing, Golem? Have you resorted to rummaging around in the graves now?" I turned around, meeting eyes with a boy who was only a year and a half older than me. He was doing surprisingly well since his dad was one of those crazy people that had a fully stocked zombie bunker. The zombies never happened, but I guess it was useful in some way. I suddenly paused, finally taking in what the other had said. I finally understood what kind of meat was covering my body. I gagged.
The voice only laughed more, "You're filthy," he chuckled. I stepped out of the dumpster with the opposite of grace and clutched that can of peaches with every ounce of life I still had left in my being. I heard the meat squelch under my grip but I still didn't let go. "Oh! Looks like you actually found something this time. It would be a shame if I told some of my starving friends that you're gonna hoard that all for yourself."
"Shut the fuck up and get out of my way, Mars. You and your friends will take this can out of my cold dead hands," I hated that guy. Mars was the type of guy to bully kids in school and then pretend to be the victim to get away with it, and boy was he good at acting.
"Oh ho ho! Well, maybe we will. I'll see you tonight, Golem. Watch your back if you want to eat tonight," he spit at me and turned to walk away. I recoiled in disgust.
Once he was gone, I enjoyed talking shit about him to myself. "That's why you had to pay some girl to be your girlfriend last year. That's why you're built like someone named Dylan. That's why I fucked your mom." I kicked an empty soda can across the barren street in annoyance. I tried not to focus on the wet and uncomfortable feeling of human bits and pieces covering me, but it was extremely difficult to ignore. I decided to visit a little, flowing creek to wash off. It was a small walk, but by the time I got there, I was not only covered in blood and meat but also tears. I mean, how would you react if you were covered in the remains of a once living and happy person? It feels like shit. Not only is it disgusting but it's depressing.
I laid in the shallow creek and washed my hands and feet off in the dirty water. The cold water felt refreshing on my sweaty skin. I smothered myself in it, washing not only myself but my food for the week. I washed the outside of the can from the rotten meat and took a good look at it. The expiration wasn't for another few months, not like that would stop me anyway. I took a look at the picture on the front, stained with blood; however, the picture of the peaches made my mouth water. I needed to eat those peaches, but there was only one problem. Where was I gonna get a can opener? Shit. I didn't think of that. In desperation, I searched the muddy water looking for some kind of sharp object I could use to open the can. For a while, all I could find were rocks and a few crawdads. The crawdads, I thought, I would definitely have to come back for later and have a mini lobster meal. Right now; however, I could focus on the sweet, juicy peaches. I began to get frantic, throwing my hands around in the water until I felt something jab me. I removed my hand from the water and saw a small cut on the palm of my right hand. Whatever that is should do. I reached in carefully and pulled out a piece of glass. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it would have to do. I grabbed the glass and a small rock. I put the can between my legs and positioned the glass on top of the lid. I tried using the rock and glass as some sort of chisel. It worked a tiny bit and when I got that first little hole in that can I had felt true happiness. I put the can to my lips and drank every last drop of the peach juice I could reach. It was heaven on Earth.
I worked on opening this can for another hour and eventually moved to sit on the bank of the creek so I could dry off a bit. As I was about a quarter of the way done, a heard the shaking of some leaves. I left it alone since I had assumed it was just the wind, but I was soon corrected. I heard the high-pitched sound of an animal, a cat to be exact. I jumped, swiftly hiding the can behind my back. The feline was sat next to me, looking up at me as if he was begging. "Hell no. Get your own food, Mittens. I can't even afford to feed myself."
The cat was mostly white but with light brown splotches. He was a pretty normal-looking cat, probably a calico if I had to guess. He wore a red collar that looked a little bit big on him. It had a bone-shaped dog tag that had a name previously engraved onto it, but had since been written over with a permanent marker. The marker wrote the word "DUCK" which I assumed was his name. A stupid name for a cat. Duck cried once again, rubbing his face on my arm. I sighed. "Where's your human? Is he dead?" Duck had absolutely no expression on his tiny little face. Of course he didn't, he's a cat. He obviously had no idea how to speak English or understand it at that. Animals only understand tone. I put on my meanest voice I could and said "Listen! You're cute but I can't give you the life you deserve! Please go somewhere else." The cat seemed to flinch and then speed-walk away, his little legs trotting against the foliage.
I felt bad, but feeling but wasn't going to get me anywhere. It was time to get back to my peaches. I turn around to grab the peaches that I had subtly placed on the ground behind my back, but they were gone.
