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The Weekend

The gentle, cool September breeze swirls its way through intersections, openings, and crevices among the shadows of towering formations as they absorb the Sun's rays, which reflect undisturbed as it sweeps through the silent city of Atlanta, where dominant human life form once struggled in order to survive as their soul-purpose of existence. Our current time has never been harder for the living. Yet human survival has never ceased to fail in all the years that humans have walked this Earth. Through plagues, wars, and natural catastrophes, our little planet has literally been through hell and back, taking us along with it.

Martial Law is no longer in effect, since there basically is no more law. The world leaders have caved in to the menace that's annihilating our planet. They have abandoned their duties in order to survive. Can anyone blame them?

Only silence can be heard throughout Atlanta. The eerie stillness lingering around displays lifelessness that cannot be silenced by the Avenger. Instead, an endurance suppressed by many begins to stir from its cavity. An endurance that springs back to life once the mechanism is ignited. While many mechanisms are prompted to activate instantaneously, there are many mechanisms that are unable to begin, but instead surrender to defeat. The latter won't make it to Monday, if not by the end of the day. The only game being played now is "each person for oneself." Survive or die are the only two choices left for everyone.

The wanderers of Atlanta stagger about waiting for death to abduct what little life lingers within them. The eyes of many are soulless, completely blank, unknowing of their fate, and unknowing as to when they will stumble upon anything that's edible.

A small group of three stands in front of Wyler's. No longer open for business, the small group peers through the windows to see if there's anything left in the store to eat. The shelves are completely empty. The only movement in the store is mice and rats scurrying about to see what meagerly bits they can seize. Disappointed and hungry, the three slowly make their way down to the next store to see if there's anything for them to obtain any type of nourishment. Again, empty shelves are the store's only contents. Cold and hungry, the three continue to walk the streets of Atlanta, hoping to find something to satisfy their hunger before death conquers.

Abandoned military vehicles clutter the streets. Many of the vehicles still have keys in the ignition, yet no one takes any of them. There's no place to drive to that can be helpful to anyone. The planet's starving and its inhabitants are dying, not only because of the plague, but also to the lack of food in any form. Starvation is now a menace to be reckoned with.

Desperate to locate food is more important than the fear of catching the plague. Every living soul seeks diligently to find something to eat to suppress the ravenous hunger raiding their total existence. There is not one garbage container that has not been thoroughly ravaged. Even so, there are still many who continue to rummage through whatever refuse they encounter, just in case a morsel awaits them for a momentary relief of appeasement.

Children, who've lost their parents, or other family members, gather together in hopes that as adults walk by, that they will show pity and share their food with them; they are mistaken. The children stretch out their hands, begging, desperately hoping that someone will be kind enough to drop a crumb in their small, cold bare hands. There is no pity or mercy to be demonstrated by anyone.

A squirrel barks repeatedly as it is being hunted by a hungry mob. The squirrel's built-in alarm draws attention to those standing around mindlessly, who tentatively watch the mob chase a creature whose energy excels theirs. Most of the people running have a good chance of dying from a stroke, or collapsing from sheer exhaustion due to hunger.

Other than some mild looting, violence in the city is dormant. No one is out to harm anyone. With a starving populace, one would think cannibalism would be implemented, but it's not. With no cure for the prevailing plague, there's no one who wishes to consume the virus voluntarily. Eating the dead is not on the agenda of survival; not in this time of human history.