“Did you fart?” grumbled the old man wrinkling his nose and pulling his jacket over his face, trying to isolate his nose from the assaulting stench.
“Not me” replied his companion, also screwing up his nose.
They both looked around the dusty room that had served as home for the last week trying to locate the source of the smell.
This place had been offices once. Enterprising people had turned up here every day, steaming cups of coffee in their hands, earnestly trying to make life better for themselves. They played by the rules these people. Paid their taxes, raised their kids, obeyed the law. It seemed to be working well for them right up until the elites played their trump card and turned off the power.
Suddenly bereft of everything that made life worth living and all the support networks they had come to rely on, those good people died in their thousands. Many died violently as law and order broke down. Still more died of hunger and disease, unable to forage for food, because they didn’t know what was edible and what was not.
If it didn’t come pre-packaged and shrink wrapped the good people of the offices were at a loss as to what it was, so conditioned were they to expecting food to be ‘grown’ at the supermarket.
All that was left of their lives, their businesses and their enterprise was empty buildings crammed with useless gadgets and bits of technology that no-one had any use for now. Mice were plentiful, but you couldn’t eat them.
Furtive movement caught the younger man’s eye, and he froze in place, staring at the spot where he was sure something had moved. It could be food, it could be… anything.
A stack of papers, beginning to yellow already as the damp got into them, slipped a little and out from behind it a little brown face peeked, nose twitching. As far as rats went it was very unimpressive. They had heard reports of super large rats in other parts of the city. These frightening creatures were getting bolder by the day as the number of humans dwindled. It was not long until they decided that humans were food.
This little rat was not in their league however, and as the young man watched it burrow through the paper, he considered which recipe to use and how to invite the rat to dinner.
The rat stumbled across the paper, a little unsure of its footing, placing a thin leg out in front and sliding the rest of the way down. It would be a meal, not a good one, but at least it would be protein.
The young man turned and indicated the fresh food to his father. The old man peered out from behind his jacket and scowled, shaking his head.
“We might be able to catch and cook it, but it doesn’t look well. I’m hungry but not hungry enough to eat messed up rat.”
The son turned back and watch the rat struggling across the floor, and decided he had to agree with the old man. The messed up rat would live to fight another day.
The crackly of automatic gunfire, closer than before, had the men staring fearfully at the windows. The battle was getting closer. The time had come to leave.
Ignoring the rat, who seemed to not notice the two men at all, the pair struggled to their feet and picked up their gear. Both men had backpacks with a range of supplies that would keep them warm and dry in the outdoors. The one thing they lacked however was food.
With tight stomachs and nervous glances they exited the building out onto the abandoned street. It was littered with burned out cars, wind-blown rubbish, and weirdly, a slowly rotting zebra carcass lying next to an overturned truck.
The men skirted around the carcass, staying upwind and away from the cloud of flies celebrating good times, and headed towards the edge of the city, away from the gunfire.
What lay ahead, they didn’t know. But they did know what lay behind. Losing home was the hardest thing. The place that was always there, always safe. Now all they had was each other, their wits and a collection of questionable survival gear brought cheap off the internet.
What could go wrong?
Stories in this series
STEEM-POCALYPSE SURVIVAL GAME CONTEST - Day 1 Round 1 - the Kiwi's story
STEEM-POCALYPSE SURVIVAL GAME CONTEST - Day 1 Round 2 - the Kiwi's story
STEEM-POCALYPSE SURVIVAL GAME CONTEST - Day 2 Round 1 - the Kiwi's story
STEEM-POCALYPSE SURVIVAL GAME CONTEST - Day 2 Round 2 - the Kiwi's story
STEEM-POCALYPSE SURVIVAL GAME CONTEST - Day 3 Round 1 - the Kiwi's story
Check out my stories here on Steemit
Running Deer
Running Deer - part 1
Running Deer - How legends are born
Charlie Rabbit
Meet Charlie Rabbit
Charlie tides up
Charlie Rabbit and Margery Mouse
Little Peppers Adventures
Runaway Rabbit and the hungry fox
Maybe and the land of purple rainbows – A Little Peppers adventure
How Pappa Pepper and Monster Truck the Pepper got their wild hogs - a Little Peppers Adeventure
Dark Angel Regiment of the Space Marines - Mission Files
First Squad Sniper Elite - Zaresith mission
Other stories
Also don't forget to check out my Dad's blog
Who else can tell you stories about impersonating an officer, stealing a military aircraft to go on a booze run, or steal military aircraft and go on an unsanctioned bombing run - and that's all before he turned 18!
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