I woke up face down on the sidewalk. There was a car alarm going off in the distance, begging someone to turn it off. Reluctant to leave the ground, I turned over, wiping the drool from my face. The sky was blue with little clouds to smile back at me. I stumbled to my feet, wondering how I got on that sidewalk. All I could remember was a fire and then something hitting me. I was laying just outside of a Radio Shack. The glass was smashed next to me. Interested, I got up to check it out, wincing from a bad headache. There was a lump on the back of my head ad I gingerly touched it as I looked around. In front of me was the Radio shack, I was on a New York type street. Businesses on either side of the road. About a block away I could see an intersection. There seemed to be a pileup in the middle of it, with thick black smoke coming out of a brown sedan. There was also a Swifty Gas on the far left corner of the intersection. Its sign said "cheapest gas in the city" next to it the unleaded read 8.67. I turned left back to the Radio Shack. Next to it, on the right, there was some kind of pharmacy. It was broken into with glass shattered like the Radio shack. I walked over. It was one of those new type pharmacies, you know, one that was built on borrowed money. I stepped in through the broken window. Saw some candy, and ate breakfast. I checked the prescription section, all of the pain pills were taken, so I settled on three aspirin to get rid of my headache.
I looked around for a little while. Nibbling on my fifth Payday. Then I saw him. There was a man laying on the floor in a pool of blood. I checked his pulse. Nothing. Turning him over I saw that he had been gutted. His eyes were wide open. Face twisted into a terrified grimace. I'll put it this way, I freaked. Dropped my payday. Ran outside and lost breakfast.
It took me nearly an hour before I could move from Where I threw up. I was hunched over, leaning on the wall in between the Radio shack and Pharmacy. When I finally found my strength returning I told myself that I was strong. I had seen worse.
I had stayed behind. When everyone sensible left I stayed with my father. He was sick from cancer and I told him that no matter how bad it gets outside, I wouldn't leave his side. We still had about two weeks left of food piled up in the living room.
For everyone else, the food had run out. People were scared. It was hell. The police were shooting people who had food to feed their own families. Rioting went unchallenged. I guess I never really thought about it, How cities don't really have a source of food to feed everyone. When the government ran out of money to give to the truckers, they stopped moving food see. Cities suddenly found themselves without any way to import their food, and things just went downhill from there.
Sure, plenty of people stood outside demanding that I fed their baby, I knew it was a matter of time before they really got desperate. From there it was fuzzy, but I remember a shotgun in my hands, people in police uniform and a lit of blood. I don't want to talk about it now.
Anyway I decided I needed some water. I started moving down the street. Buildings were all either broken into, on fire or both. I reached the intersection about a block away. The one with the pileup. The smell of tar, gasoline, and burning flesh filled my lungs. Coughing, I hurried towards the Swifty Gas. As I approached the door to the little shelter, I noticed twelve-gauge shotgun shells in the doorway. I knew this wasn't going to be pretty. But having already lost my breakfast, I figured I could take a look. They don't sell twelve-gauge shotguns in the city. The shooter had to be either a policeman, or one of them Mad Max types, stockpiling guns and ammunition for just this occasion. Right then I wished I was one of those guys, I would be safer now if I was.
The first thing I saw when I walked in was a man laying across the cashier counter. His blood was everywhere. I could feel the adrenaline rush and the blood pumping in my ears. My hands were suddenly sweaty and I was nervous. I could tell without investigating that he was shot in the chest. That was a no brainer. Scanning the rest of the room I saw seven other people shot. I didn't want to investigate. I just held my head up and avoided the areas where I stepped on something soft. The place was stripped bare of food, so I looked around more tentatively. Laying in the corner there was a lady. She would have been gorgeous if it hadn't been for the crusted blood all over her shirt and hair. The shooter got her in the arm. Clutched in the other one (the one still attached) There was a large bag of Cheetos. That caught my attention. Working with my adrenaline rush I grabbed it. I took a Pepsi on the ground next to her and was out of there. Once outside I felt my heart pounding and tried to calm myself. "If there is a hell I think I'm in it" I said aloud. I found myself suddenly regretting staying with my dying father.
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