Acid

Chapter Eighteen: Hunger And A Secret

IT'S BEEN THREE days since we lost everything, three days since anyone has eaten, three days since everything we've ever known was ripped from right under our feet. Tatum and Lilith lost their friends, Sandy a sister, Doctor Ludwick a work place, my group lost a safe place, a place we called home... Elliot and Oscar lost a roof over there heads. We were slowly decaying away, our bodies were already consuming the fat and muscles left to keep our organs going, a painful process beginning. We'd already been eating less than we should be before and now to go from that to no food at all, it's only natural that all our hope vanished, as we became unhinged and starving. Some decided to stay positive, while others curled into little balls of skin and bones in the back of the van. How were we supposed to believe in a better tomorrow when all we could hear was the sound of our tummies screaming out, begging for food, our throats stiff and dry from lack of water, our bodies severely malnourished. Oh and "Doctor Ludwick" didn't make anything any easier. He'd never been outside the campground walls and all he could do was complain about how cramped it was to sleep. It irritated Darrin and I more than everyone else for the simple reason that we were the ones he'd always complain too. We're all hungry, we're all thirsty, and for god sake's we're all cramping from sleeping arrangements!

We'd been on the road for three days straight, everyone taking shifts driving while others slept. We never got a full rest unfortunately, but at least we had gotten enough to function. To function, sounds funny when I think about it, we're not functioning, we're starving barely coping. Lilith and Rae tried to keep us together but it never worked, after driving past two towns, empty, no supplies in them at all, just the rotting corpses of feral's, they'd come to terms that we were just waiting for a slick ending. Fast and painless. That's what anyone nowadays hoped for, but even though we'd hope for it most people don't go out that way. It's the bite, the infection that kills anyone who's left nowadays. A painful fate awaits us all, it's just a matter of time, it's creeping around the corner, everyone's luck runs out and recently ours has too.

The sun soon started to rise, breaking away from hiding, illuminating the road for all to see. The colors were beautiful, pink, yellow, and orange dashed across the sky, helping the rising sun. I couldn't stop my eyes from staring, even though I was supposed to be looking to the road. It just felt peaceful. I remember this quote my mother used to have hanging in our house back when I was a kid, 'Turn away. From the darkness, the madness, the pain. Open your eyes and look at the light' it had been written by Jennifer Donnelly I think. I always used to think it was stupid but my mother always swore on it, that it kept her going when she had bad days. It's only now I understand what she meant; it was a quote for hope, it was meant to show that even when you're lost in the darkness there is always a light that shines through.

I turned my gaze back to the road and saw another small town in the distance. It's probably empty, so why even bother? I thought about this over and over but what if it wasn't empty? What if it's full of supplies and I just drive right past it. I shifted in the front seat to look in the back of the van. Everyone was curled up in little balls sleeping. I don't want them to lose anymore hope, maybe it's best for me to just drive by. No... I think back to the quote, closing my eyes for a second before re-opening them, I have to believe that there is something there, even if its just a small candy bar. I shifted back to face the front again, the town seemed closer but so far away at the same time. Stepping on the gas, the car accelerated ahead faster than before. We'd only had a little bit of gas left, just enough to get us there.

As the car got closer to the city, a green billboard that said 'welcome', along with the town name and the amount of people, approached. Usually I'd just drive by and not really care but for some odd reason it caught my eye. The number of people had been painted over with a different green paint that looked like an awful color, I would die before I used that in my own opinion, but it wasn't that, that had struck my attention, it was the white painted numbers that were written over it that did. A new number had been written over it. '135'. It was written in bold, and for some reason I found myself scared. Someone had gone out of there way to get rid of the number of people before and replace it with a new one. I found myself paranoid, sitting uncomfortably in the front seat, maybe it was best to just drive by? Soon Rae woke in her sleep, her body bolted up in the passenger seat as she yelled.