Insomnia

Chapter 1:Adapting

Chapter 1

C'mon, just a little to the left. I thought towards my prey. I adjusted my position as I lay on my stomach on top of a building’s roof. Aiming the sniper rifle on my shoulder in the distance, I had one eye closed and the other open to look and focus at what I was trying to kill. Rummaging through some rubbish was a rabbit. It lifted its small head up and looked around with its bright red eyes, looking for danger. Got ya. I thought triumphantly as I pulled the trigger.

A loud bang echoed through the air as I shot the riffle. The black and white rabbit went down in one hit once the bullet made contact. I smirked to myself as I stood up and slung the sniper on my back. I picked up my large black back-pack and started to make my way to collect my prize.

Looking out for any signs of danger first, I ran to the unmoving body of the rabbit. It was a very big rabbit. About the size of a Pomeranian. Score. I thought. Lifting it by its ears, I inspected where my bullet hit the creature. The bullet got the animal directly in between the eyes. I supressed a shout of happiness, less someone comes along and sees me with my prize and try to take it off me. By force more than likely. I put the rabbit in my bag to hide it.

Stealthily, I started to make my way back to my hide-out. I kicked an empty can that was on the ground. The abandoned city silent, except for the ravens cries in the dark yellow coloured sky as they flew. Ravens were the only other life in the city other than rats or mice. They were all hard to catch and didn't have much meat on them. This rabbit was a surprise because not many creatures survived here. Not since it happened. This kill would keep me going for a week or so.

As I walked, I kept moving my eyes around in case any danger showed itself. Even if this street was abandoned like most of the city was, you could never tell if some douchebag thieves or some cannibals would sneak up on you. With my rabbit in my bag, I was in danger as food was scarce unless you knew how to find it. Anyone nowadays would do anything to get food, anything.

While I was walking, I stopped in front of a school. It was old, rundown, deteriorating and looked like that one light breeze could bring it to the ground. Just like the rest of the buildings in the city. I sighed sadly, probably my only showing of emotion in a while. The memories of this place seemed to try and creep up on me, but I kept them at bay.

Staring at the school, something caught my eye. One of the windows of the school seemed to show some movement. A curtain moved, almost like someone moved it to look outside. I narrowed my gaze at the window, seeing if it would move again. But it stayed still. I grunted to myself. It was probably some wind that got inside. I concluded. Looking at the sky too, I saw it would be night soon. Shit, I better hurry back. I thought to myself. Kicking some of the dirt at my feet, I continued my way to my hide-out.

Running down some old abandoned streets, I found a meadow that had nearly dead trees all around it. The long and uncut yellow grass stood high and made a good hiding spot. I walked in the field, retracing my steps to where I lived. Stepping carefully, I looked for any signs of danger from above, in the distance or on the ground. You would never know a snake was hiding in the tall grass until it was too late. And with civilization collapsing all those years ago, I doubt there are any more cures for snake bites.

Finding a clearing of dead trees, I pushed past them to find my hideout. There was a large cabin standing tall only a few feet away. It was unaffected of what had happened those years ago. Quickly checking that no one had followed me, I moved the trees back to the way they were before, hiding the cabin from sight.

Using the back of my right arm, I wiped some of the sweat that was forming on my forehead. Once I was finished wiping the sweat from my forehead, I put my hand in one of the many pockets of my combat, army-style pants. I pulled out a key. The small brass key was cold in my hands, even though I was wearing black, fingerless motorcycle gloves.