Two weeks. I've been stuck out here in the middle of god only knows where for
two...fucking...weeks
. Two weeks since I was illegally evicted from my apartment so my overweight landlord could try and get some nookie by giving a college girl a free place to live at
my
expense. Two weeks since I dragged two boxes and a duffel bags filled with my few remaining possessions and
two fucking weeks
since the universe decided I hadn't suffered enough and got me jumped by a fucking
gang
!
I don't really know much of the details after they started kicking my ass but eventually I'd woken up by a tree that looked like it had gone ten rounds with lightning and didn't have the good sense to quit. It had been raining, so I dragged my beaten body and my crap to a cave that was inside the hill I woke on top of. I thought I had gotten lucky for a bit, thinking maybe somebody had saved me but whoever had dragged me
here
also took my phone. I had no way to contact anybody, no way to figure out where I was and no choice but to wait where I was and hoping somebody was sent to find me.
Thankfully, one of the boxes had all my old books in it. Including that wilderness survival book my dad got me during the camping and hiking phase of his midlife crisis. I taught myself how to build fires, do some sewing to repair any tears in my clothes and even how to craft some tools so I could chop wood and collect safe drinking water. I ended up even putting my unfinished college education to work, making myself a few pieces of furniture like a bed and a bookshelf. Certainly not how I
imagined
I would be designing homes and furniture, but it did make me oddly happy to be using what I learned in a practical way.
My little victories didn't really last all that long though. There was only so much food that my landlord had put into one of the boxes, and even with rationing I was bound to run out sooner or later. I'd had my last meal of a granola bar and a tiny bag of chips four days ago, and nothing more than a couple of nuts I'd managed to forage from some woods that were about half a day's walk north of me. At least I think it was north. I haven't been able to make a compass and I can't find any of the stars mentioned in the book to navigate by. The whole night sky just seems...off, somehow.
The oddest thing of all has been the complete lack of animals. I'd seen a few bugs here and there, but nothing else. No birds or mice or
anything
. It's like I'm the only living thing for as far as the eye can see, so hunting's off the table until I finally start starving enough to force myself to try and eat the bugs but I'm not even sure there's enough of
those
to keep myself alive for much longer. I wasn't built to be able to survive like this, in a
world
like this, and I feel my mind slipping farther every day. I keep waking up every morning scared that one day there won't be a conscious thought left in my head. Just a mass of instincts that are gonna die before I can find my way back.
I shake my head vigorously to clear my head of that nonsense. Falling into pessimism won't do me any good at this point. I've just got to keep going for as long as I can. After all,
something
has to change. I can only hope that that change will be a good thing. For now though, I'm just
tired
. Too tired to do anything else as I stand at the entrance of the cave I've had to call home, so I watch the night chase the day away and walk myself over to my bed to plop unceremoniously on it. I'm still hungry, but my physical exhaustion outweighs even that as my eyes droop shut and I feel sleep pulling me into peaceful oblivion.
Hungry. Too hungry. Open my eyes, see light pouring into cave. Light enough to go look for food. I roll out of bed and breathe deep. Something feels new. I am so hungry, yet I feel strong. I walk out of cave and breathe deep again. There is power now. Power somewhere
deep
inside me. I breathe again and feel the power. I tug at it, feel it fill my whole body.
I can move now. I am
strong
now. Use strength, go find food. I crouch, and feel the power spark in my legs. I try to think of where food could be. Not woods, not enough food there. Pick another direction. I choose the opposite direction of woods and start running. Legs feel powerful and steps become bounds. My feet don't touch the ground, longer than they should but I don't care. I keep running and feel the wind.
Wind stings a little, but it is not windy. I am fast. Too fast, but that is good. I will find food fast and not sleep hungry again. I look back a moment and can barely see my hill and the tree on top of it. I have run very far, very fast. This is good too. Soon, I will find something new. That should lead me to food. I do not want to be hungry anymore.
My mind empties as I run. I feel happy and free. Hunger reminds me I cannot run forever so I try to run faster. The wind stings more and it is hard to keep my eyes open. If I were not so hungry, I would not run quite so fast. The wind hurts now, but I can see something new of in the distance. Looks like little rocks, but I know they will look bigger. I run towards them, slowing down only enough that the wind no longer hurts.
The rocks are bigger now, but I know that they aren't rocks. I see smoke rising from the group of not-rocks. Smoke means fire, but the fire is not big. This means people and people means food. I get even closer and see that many shapes are moving quickly around the not-rocks. I can hear screaming. The people are afraid but it can't be of me. I'm not close enough yet.
I stop running, ending up in the middle of the not-rocks. I know what these not-rocks are now. They are homes. There are people, but the people are not like me. They scream, but they do not speak my language. They don't have skin like mine, but are furrier. Some of them have things on top of their heads, things that are part of their heads and not clothes. My mind wants to remember what they look like but I am too hungry.
I see other people, also furry but they look nothing like the ones with horns. They are like dog people, with teeth that gnash and tails that wag. They look happy, but the other furry people looked scared. One of the dog people raises his hand and hurts a small horn-person, making them scream in pain. I know that pain. People like the dog people made
me
hurt like that and took me from my home. I
won't
let them do that.
Rage fills my body, but my words are gone. I roar, like an animal, and everyone turns to look at me. The horn people are scared, the dog people are curious. I know who to hurt. I feel the power fill my body and I jump at the dog person who hurt the small horn-person, crashing with them right through one of the homes. I feel no pain but the dog person I tackled isn't moving anymore. I hear more screams and move through the homes to find more dog people.
They are always surprised to see me, but they never expect my power. I make fists with my hands and strike the dog people, either sending them flying or making their heads fly away without the rest of them. The horn-people are scared of me but I don't pay attention to them. Only dog people find themselves fighting me. None of them win. The power fills me, and I cannot lose. I am too strong for them, and soon I see fear in the dog people.