The soft white rays of sun shine fall through the windows of the pod. I open my eyes slowly. Realising that what had happened yesterday was real and not a dream, and that I probably could have gotten some extra sleep. I get up and walk to the window. The sun slightly touched the depressing, destroyed streets that is the world that I live in. I wip my head back around and my long ponytail flicks the window. "Toby. You wanna go out for a walk today?" I walk over to him, still in the bed and tap him with my finger. He jolts up with his ears up in alert. "Just me, hero" I state sarcastically. I grab my back pack and collect all the things that the strange soldiers scrambled across the floor. I search for my gun, then realise that they took that too. Lucky the smaller hand gun I had stashed under my bed was still there. I pulled that out and loaded it. Not as comforting as the AK47 but better than nothing. I then eat something canned and gross from the pod's built in kitchen and then brush drink water and set off.
"Ruff"
"Where are we going you ask?" I pretend to understand my dog. "To find that rover" I answered. "I figured if they are humans that they will go somewhere with more humans. Correct?" I walk down the road of a street. Observing the buildings as I go. The windows on all the buildings were smashed and cracked. The sky was cloudy, causing the air to be cold and windy. The sun hiding behind a blanket of clouds. I don't blame him. It's a pretty awful sight down here. A few more minutes of following a road and I smell an awful scent. "Ugh" I groan as I look back to Toby and he is sniffing the air. "What is that smell?" I ask him. He traces his nose from the air to the ground and follows the scent. I follow after. He gradually gets faster and turns a few corners. "Careful. We might get lost" I call out to him about 5 metres in front of me. I try to take in the scenery around us so we know our way back. I catch up to him before he turns another corner. I pick him up and hold him in my arms. We both stop and stare at the run down shack in front of us. It has a ruined sign located on top that reads 'Harvern Market' "Huh, a run down grocery store. Sweet"I put Toby down and then start forward, trying my hardest to put on a brave face. I grip my gun harder. The door has the inner lining of it made of glass, well was made of glass. The glass is smashed and jagged. I step through the hole that the smashed glass had made. "Agh" I wince. I get through the door and check my shoulder. I had accidentally cut my arm on a jagged piece of sharp window glass. "shit" I put pressure on it with my other hand to stop the bleeding. I continue forward. A rusty stair case going to a lower level was situated in the middle of the store. I stop at the top and look down. The lights flickered off and on. Dirt and mud on the floor. That same awful smell wafts back to my scenes. "Smells like death" I tell myself as I turn my head away and walk down another aisle and find a can of beans. I take off my back pack and put it inside. All the other food was either gone or no good. I look back to the stair case.
By now my curiosity was killing me. I look back at the staircase "What could happen?" I ask myself positively. Then I get up and run on down. When I reached the bottom floor, that firmiliar stink filled my nose casuing me to gag. I hold the gun out in front of me, I started forward as confidentally as I can into the flickering darkness, wishing I had some sort of torch. I walk down the aisle in front of me. A few lanes down I see a dark red liquid splattered on the shopping centre floor. My heart jumps up in fear and my hands gripping my gun start to shake. I slowly start towards the red substance. I reach the puddle and it traces all the way down the column, getting thicker and darker. The stench getting stronger and worse. I follow the trail and finally get right to the end. "Oh God!" I scream. I lower my gun as I physically jump back. I turn my head away from the horrible sight laying in front of me. "What the fuck?" I wisper. Placing my hand on my chest, I turn my head back around. A limp dead man lays on the ground, his hands and legs spread out. Blood pouring out of his mouth. Teeth stained red and lips blue and cracked. I crouch down slowly, trying not to inhale the air around him. "Geez, man. What happened?" I poke his side. My finger squished into his half decomposed body. "Ew" I exhale. I wipe my finger on my pants. The man looked about the age of 17. His blonde hair full of dirt and blood, from the weeping bullet hole in his head. His ice blue eyes were blood shot and a open gash along his face. I put down my hand gun, take off one of my gloves and place two fingers on the side of the boy's neck. No pulse. I notice ink close to where my fingers were. I lift up his hair and see ink, like a tattoo branded on his neck. A weird symbol that is even more weirdly familiar.
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As bad as it sounds I search through the dead man's jacket pockets and find a few things: An old musili bar, a key and a phone that seems to be broken. I take them all and stash them in my bag. I then leave the dead body to rot more, as I walk through the lower level of the store before going back up.
As I exit the shop I can't help but notice that the day is already starting to disappear and the air is getting colder. I walk back the way I came. I remember the smashed windows and the dirty road. Finding my pod located behind a row of trees. I start towards the entrance that seems to be still open. "Huh, I could have sworn I closed the door." I whisper to myself. I walk inside the home, but all my stuff is everywhere on the floor. I kick an empty can of beans on the floor. It clangs around making noise through the pod. I then throw my gun onto my unmade bed and take off my boots. Slip my back pack off and sigh heavily. Then a jolt of pain shoots through my back, like electricity. "Aaaaah" I squeal. My knees grow weak and give way. I fall to the ground. My head rebounds off the side of the bed, I look up and see the same two soldiers staring at me through their masks. I lift myself up to sit up and drag my body to rest against the wall. The soldiers haven't moved. "Kill me then you bastards!" I scream at them through panting breathes. Clutching my stomach, the pain had shot right through my torso. The one on the left lifts his weapon and wacks it forcefully across my head. I fall back down with a thud, before my eyes closed, I felt them lift my body and drag me away.
