The Taken

18

A child lied still and cold on its front, missing masses of flesh on the torso and all four of its sprawled limbs. The body was at this point a skeleton.

Next to it was a beige backpack, it seemed untouched except for obvious blood splatters, but other than that it was still intact and unopened.

Janice was shocked and depressed at the sight. What was the kid's name? Who were they? Were they a boy or girl? You couldn't really tell due to the body's state.

With a hand over her mouth and the other around her abdomen, she gazed at the backpack. She gave a sniff and bent down. Immediately her nose and eyes burned from the stench. Her nose wrinkled and she swiped the backpack.

She held it up to neck height by the handle loop and searched for the zippers. The pack was quite heavy, making her more eager to open it. Once she found the zippers she set the pack on the ground a ways from the body and tugged at them.

Cans of food and bottles of water met her eyes, telling her to smile.

"Holy shit," she gasped and chuckled.

She gripped a bottle tightly and quickly uncapped it. Her lips greeted the rim with thirst for survival. The water was gone in one glug. After taking a breath, she hollered to her group. She got so caught up with the treasure she almost forgot to tell them about it.

They all ran up with all the haste they had left, all but one. Carter. He simply turned his head and walked, slumped and saddened.

"What is it?" Jake asked.

"See for yourself, man!"

Once Carter arrived Ramona had already stabbed the top of a can of peaches with her knife, fishing out the slices of fruit with her hands. After she finished eating, she drained the remaining juice into her gob.

"Oh. My. God," she said with all the taste settling in her mouth.

Clarence gave a sigh of satisfaction as he poured a little water on the top of his head and into his throat.

Jake and Veronica shared a can of refried beans in delight.

"Thanks Janice," Veronica said with a laugh, finally feeling a little satiated.

Janice just smiled and sat happily. Carter now decided to sit with the rest of them.

"You want anything, Carter?" Janice asked.

"No," he said with a huff, lowering his head and eyes.

"Your loss," Janice said, continuing to dig for more food.

"I'm gonna go look some more. You don't need to save any of that for me, we'll find more." Carter mumbled.

"Okay. We'll be up in a minute to help then."

Carter nodded and stood. He was scattered. He was scared. He was lost. Why did she leave?

"Maria?" He whimpered after walking a distance from the group. His voice lacked every bit of hope.

Just when he was losing his will he heard a harsh shriek from a nearby house.

Instantly he ran in the direction of the noise. He passed the tall grass and a littered, dirtied sidewalk. He landed his feet in front of a quadriplex apartment. There had been two upper and lower levels of the home. The top you needed to take stairs upwards and the other two were halfway underground.

There was another, more frightened scream.

It came from the lower right apartment he estimated. He took the short set of stairs down to the dwelling, gripping hard onto the rusted railing. He reached for the doorknob and twisted.