It had been three long days hiding in this underground bunker alone with a single candle, slowly burning out. Around me was darkness and behind it were the walls of the roughly dug out bunker waiting to collapse. I had had found this bunker just three days ago. No place was safe since the war had started. My only possessions are my tattered clothes that I've been wearing for months now and a small bag of raw chicken. I had found the chicken a few days ago a couple of meters from my bunker. Ever since it has been my sole source of food. I looked up at the trapdoor above. It had a small hole which allowed me to look out at sky in order to roughly judge the time. The sky was a slightly dark shade of blue indicating a time in the evening. It had been almost a year now, since the war had begun. I've been surviving, barely.
The war had been brewing for a long time. As they say war starts in the minds of men. Politicians are on the verge of erasing the human race out of existence just because they don't agree with the opinions of others. Russia was the one that sparked the war when it 'accidentally' launched a nuclear missile that wiped out the whole of Kansas City in USA. US retaliated by declaring a nuclear attack on Russia. Most countries around world picked sides and it soon became a war between the eastern and western countries. It was not a war of soldiers but a war of nuclear weapons which destroyed cities and towns in a few minutes. Everything around the world had been destroyed – economies, infrastructure, food, technology including the internet, families, religions and even humanity. It was complete devastation. The monetary system was long forgotten. There was conflict over all resources especially basic necessities such as food, clothes and shelter. There were no more businesses or manufacturers, people had to survive and fight over the remaining resources until they got exhausted. Families had been forced to split up due to the situation. Everyone's main motive was simply survival. The food wasn't enough. Some starved to death while the inhuman fed on the dead. Cannibalism had become part of many millions of souls without question. The war did a great amount of damage to both the society and human morals. Religion didn't mean anything to anyone as the devil's reign had begun. Luckily I had been getting enough food to keep me alive and away from tasting human flesh. Almost all animals have gone extinct and maybe next.
I looked out of the hole and it was nightfall. My routine over time had become monotonous. I would hide or sleep during the day and scavenge for food at night. This was because chances of attacks are very low at night. I blew out the candle and slowly made my way out of the bunker. The bunker is located on a cornfield on the outskirts of the crumbled city. The farmer had fled and his house vandalized. The cornfield was bare but I still moved in a crouched posture to avoid being spotted. I slowly but stealthily made it to the inner parts of the city. Almost all buildings had collapsed to nothing but rubble. I had to strain my eyes as I walked because the moon was the only source of light. There was no electricity for the public. All technology was either damaged or useless. In a distance I could see people moving around with burning torches in their hands. They were all searching the rubble for food. A city previously lively and colorful at night was now engulfed in darkness and despair. I continued walking.
Suddenly I heard people screaming and running towards me. I heard choruses of the word 'missile' as they swept past me with burning torches in their hands. I quickly looked up at the night sky. After a few seconds of keen observation, I spotted an elongated object with a flame as its tail, falling towards the city. without any extra reaction I turned and ran along with the others to escape the blast zone. The ground was uneven making it harder to run. Some seconds later I heard a huge explosion behind me. In a split second, air, fire and chunks of earth and metal all advanced from behind at blinding speed. I got a blackout even before I felt any pain.
I woke up with my scorched back exploding with pain and my thigh felt as if a sharp object was cutting through it. I opened my eyes just to realise that I had passed out for the whole night. The sun brightly shining upon the damage and destruction. I looked up to my thigh to know the source of the pain and I was horrified on what I saw. A man kneeling with his face right above my thigh as he chewed on my flesh. My vocal cords instantly let out a scream as I raced backwards with my hands. He was shocked to see me alive. He had a tanned face with long unkempt hair. His eyes stared coldly at me as his mouth slowly continued chewing. His beard drenched in my blood and his face showed a sign of satisfaction – maybe hunger, maybe thirst. I yelled at him as he made a run for it. I tried to sit upright but it was futile. My back was in a state of painful paralysis, I tried again. I used enough force to lurch myself forward. I quickly tore of my tattered shirt and tied it around my thigh to stop any more blood loss. I got myself to stand up and I knew I needed the medical attention which no longer existed. I looked around. The blast had cleared away most of the rubble nearby. Quite a number of dead bodies lay around me. Some had been burnt, some had been crushed while others had been fed upon. The war had not only been destroying countries from outside but also from within. Citizens of the same country had turned against each other. It had become a war of survival by any means possible.
I peered out in the distance looking for the bare cornfield with the vandalised house. It took quite some time before I saw the vandalized house popping over the horizon. I started my painfully slow journey towards it. The crumbled city was dead silent. I could only hear sounds of my groans and heavy breathing. No birds in the sky, no dogs on the street, there was no living organism in my vision. The city may have been evacuated after the blast. It took longer than I expected but I managed to reach the bunker. The farm had been well away from the blast zone so it had been left intact. I opened the trap door and picked up my possessions – a small bag of raw chicken and a candle. I decided to live in the vandalised house as chances of attacks were now minimal due to zero population density of the city. I may be able to survive here until the end of the war. I fear that this will be the last war because at the end of it, there may not be anything left to fight for or there may not be any humans left to start another.
