In 2132

Chapter 1: Rumors

I walked across the barren wasteland. Through the remains of old city buildings and wreckage, I scoured the ground. Any sort of food will do. After digging trashcan through trashcan, I couldn't find anything. Anything useful, at least. There were some rats and crumbs, and that's it.

I found a bottle of water that was really warm, but water is water. I walked through the street to more trashcans and saw another girl there, searching through them too. I hid my findings and she hid hers. When we made eye contact, she immediately turned to leave. I turned around and looked for more food, and again, found nothing.

I turned back around and saw that the girl collapsed onto the ground, and died. I went over to her body before the cannibals could come and rip her limb by limb. I opened up her hands and saw a handful of crushed rasberries, and a strawberry. I ripped off her clothing soon after because I could hear the light footsteps of the cannibals around me.

Cannibals have become so blood-hungry that they would even kill people who were alive for food. Most only have one arm or one leg because some even resorted to eating themselves. It's scary. I am considered to have decency, because I refuse to kill someone for food. If they die though, I have to steal from them. It's not like they need their shirt, food, shoes, or jewelry anymore. I know that their families would, but this is how survival works. Every man for himself.

I quickly made an attempt at running towards my house, which always failed me. Everyone basically just walks, and that's considered our running. Everyone is all made of sticks and bones. Those who have enough strength and strong muscle like me can still walk, but most people are handicapped. Most people have organs that stick out of their body, and they die because they literally explode, since they have no skin to expand their muscles on.

What I would give to fill out my shirts, that are all size zero. It's a terrible world, and I wonder why people still choose to have children. I realize it soon enough though. People marry the bigger people. They are getting food somehow and if you can get some of their food, you're practically a rich man. If you get pregnant, most of the weight you gain after giving birth stays on your body, and if you starve, your body can just live off of that for a while. It's a depressing true tragedy.

I made my way to my house and entered through the nearly broken down kitchen back door. My entire house consisted of broken windows, boarded up windows, busted down doors, rotting wood, and chipping wallpaper. Gas for the stove and heating is surprisingly relatively easy to get. I'm pretty sure we just use nuclear energy to fuel gas stoves. It's the only luxury we have. Currency isn't really used anymore, so what you find, you keep.

I saw Hunter sitting down at the table giving himself stitches, and badly too. He had my matching colored blonde hair, but he had dark blue eyes and I had dark brown eyes. I sighed and sat down next to him, taking the needle from his hands and began stitching him up myself.

"Thanks," he said.

"I got some berries, rats, and a little bit of water," I said, knowing that what I found for food for the week would have to be good enough to fill up three people.

"I found a rabbit, half of a squirrel, and some lemon and orange peels," he said.

He always found better food than I did. I guess he lived up to his name.

"How did the cut happen?" I asked.

"I got stabbed by a guy for snatching his squirrel. Gave his neck a little twist and I found a ring," he said.

Hunter just killed a father and a husband. He killed what was assumed to be the only source one family had for survival. Maybe his family will have valuable objects we can take when we find their bodies.

"I found a bracelet and a necklace on the girl I got the berries from," I said.

I gave him my findings and he smiled.

"This is good. We can make rat stew and then melt and sell the jewelry. The bracelet is silver, and I hear that that is valuable now at the market. We can get at most three apples for it," he said.

I smiled too. I had an eye for material things. Grayson walked in, smiling wide like always. I loved seeing how happy a little kid always was. Especially Grayson. He's never sad. He had messy dark brown hair and light blue eyes, that nearly looked gray, being the reason why my parents named him Grayson.

"What do we have for lunch?" Grayson asked.

"I'm going to make some stew as soon as Adrienne is finished giving me stitches," Hunter said.

"Well, get cooking good looking," I said to Hunter as soon as I finished giving him his last few stitches.

Hunter was a relatively good looking guy. He looked buff and fit, so he always had a lot of ladies coming over. With some of the girls who had food, he'd sleep with them in exchange for food. He says he was just being friendly and that the girls are being friendly too, but I'm fully aware that my brother is a male prostitute.

I guess I was good looking, but no guys have ever offered me food in exchange for sex. Would I accept? I don't know. All of the rich guys have been killed off since they didn't have to fight for their food. Some big guys would beat them up and then sleep with their sisters for food. The girls considered it to be entertainment. Hunter started cooking and Grayson went upstairs and into his room.

"So Hunter, I was thinking...what if I went to a new place to find food?" I asked.

"You're not going anywhere new. It's dangerous and scary going anywhere besides the junkyard," he said.

"Hunter, let's face it, you're not in your best condition. I am. I can find us food and bring more to the table than grass and jewelry," I said.

"It's not safe, Adrienne," Hunter said.

He had everything in a pot and used his lighter to cook the food.

"What if I told you that the place I was going was completely safe?" I asked.

"Where is this magical place?" Hunter asked.

"Near the river. Chloe told me about it," I said.

"Why would she tell you?" he asked.

Hunter had trust issues. When you have to kill your neighbors in order to survive, I can't blame him.

"Because, we're friends. She wants me to be alive just as much as I want her to be alive," I said.

"Unless she wants to kill you when you get there," Hunter said.

"That's not going to happen. Chloe doesn't even steal from dead people. I doubt she could kill me, and she wouldn't allow anyone in her family to kill me. Anyway, I just have to go through the woods-"

"The woods? There's wild animals in there! Rabid dogs, mutant bears, big toothed rabbits!" Hunter said.

"I'm walking through the woods for five minutes. I'll survive, Hunter," I said.

He was silent for a moment, before he sighed.

"Spend no more than forty minutes at the river. I'll wait here, and I'll even time you. If you're not back on time, I'm going to find you and neither one of us will go the river ever again, ok?" he asked.

Hunter took on the fatherly figure over my family. I would use the whole 'You're not my father' spiel on him, but it would just waste time and energy. He meant well, he really did. I can't imagine what it would be like to be the oldest kid in your family of orphans and have to figure out how you're going to survive.

He deserved a break, and me going to the river would be a huge help for us. He wouldn't have to use all of his energy fighting off other people; He could have more energy to hunt.

"It's a deal. Tomorrow morning i'll go out," I said.

Hunter agreed.

"Just don't get your hopes up. I wouldn't expect to find a field of corn as soon as you see the river," he said.

"I know," I said.

I tried not to get excited, but I felt like this would be a huge help to us.