The president spoke again with a really sad and depressed voice. I thought the guy was a corrupt bastard with no emotion, but of course that was in a different world.

“… so I urge you to stay inside. This is for your own safety. Even I can’t go out and even I can only meet like five people a day. You might think that this is not fair and all that. But it isn’t. This is a global catastrophe, an epidemic! But do not panic as we will see an end to this, though we need time. In the meantime, we will help you. Food and daily supplies will be distributed. Thank you, and be safe.”

“Do you really think they’ll see an end to this?”

No.
“Of course, Ash. It’s not the end of the world, okay? We’ll be alright.”

“You’re just saying those things to entertain me. Tell me what you really think, Ti!”

But her eyes... they were red as heck. Because of her, I almost wept, and I didn’t answer her question and went to sleep.

“Goodnight, Ash.”

Three weeks had passed and we still hadn't gotten our supplies they promised. Helicopters passed almost at every hour, but it was useless since they did nothing but fly around braggingly. The government didn’t act. They left us on starvation and boredom, and mostly confusion.

At night from six to six again in the morning, electricity in every part of every city was shut down. They called this the ‘Lights Out’, a program to conserve energy as so few people were maintaining everything.

My supplies for both of us were thinning every day. In a week, we wouldn’t have a thing left for our bellies.

“Goodnight, Ti.”

“Night, Ash.”

And ten minutes into our sleep, I heard her crying behind me. She sobbed silently, and she pressed her face to the bedcover we were sharing. It would be logical for a girl like her to be scared of something like this.

Then, a far, distinctive sound hauled from the street and entered our apartment.

I jumped to my feet and opened the curtain to see what happened. Ashley still sobbed, but she looked petrified by everything that happened on the street.

See, we were on the ninth floor of a tall apartment building, so the view below us would be quite a spectacle to see. People burned tired, cars, smashing glasses, throwing rocks everywhere. Police officers handled the situation pretty badly. Riot had occured and at this point, it was inevitable.

Three hours into the night, the crowds multiplied five times. It was now a large mass surrounding every corner of every street, and the most crowded place being the minimarket just not a block away from my apartment. People looted it, getting in and out with trolleys and bags, smashing the windows of the place, and even tumbling to each other to escape as quickly as possible. The event occurred by their eyes.

“I’m going down there.”

“What? Why?”

“We need supplies, Ash. I can loot some stuff from that Seven-Eleven. I need to hurry ‘fore nothing was left.”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

I suddenly stopped my movement and shot my sister with an angry look. “There is no way in freaking hell you’re going down there.”

“I can help.”

“No!” And my shouting shocked her back a bit. “Sorry, but I can do this myself. I need you to stay safe up here, and do not go out!”

She didn’t say anything.

“Do you understand?”

She grumbled and looked down.

“Ashley, for Christ sake. Please answer!”

“Okay.” Her voice was as low as ever, but she nodded to reassure me.

So I grabbed a backpack from Ashley’s bedroom and marched toward the door. My feet were somehow trembling, and my hands turned to be so cold. Every cell in my body tried to hesitate.

I pressed my palm and swung the door open. The stuffy air of our room bristled outside, but my face was also pushed back by the fresh hallway atmosphere. My body grew cold really fast, but I knew what I had to do, so I gripped both my fists and started walking after I closed the door behind me.

I crept from the stairs, as no electricity was there to power a lift, to the sliding door at the front part of the apartment building. People were throwing molotov toward federal officers. They were rioting on my right, near the intersection just a couple hundreds of feet away from the apartment. I was still standing in the darkness, but everything outside seemed to be too bright for me to slip here and there unnoticed. I didn’t want people to rob me or anything.

When the coast turned clear I stepped outside with a new fear banging my skull. The riot sounded clearer outside.

I ran silently toward an abandoned police truck in the middle of the street to catch my breath. Thank God the Seven-Eleven lay in the other direction of the riot. Maybe those people were blocking those officers to reach the store while their kids and wives swept everything in it.

I have to be faster. Those supplies are precious and I need them. We need them.

My feet brought me to another position behind a BMW, but then I saw no point of hiding since everyone was too busy looting stuff. 

So I decided to just fuck it and paced away toward the almost empty minimarket. When I got there, people were fighting inside, pulling packs of foods and punched each other in a really messed up way. Someone even brought a pipe and smashed a woman’s skull when she tried to take his cans of beans.

Some even bit each other over a pack of chips, and some others for a slice of bread lying on the ground.

Overall, every shelf had been emptied just minutes before I arrived, so there was no point in looking anymore. Dozens of people were fighting over a bunch of stuff which weren’t even worth it.

Fuck. What do I do?

And I remembered a Walmart just a block away. That place must have tons of stuff, so I didn’t waste more time and ran there. I ran, though everything was dim, I ran, though people with scary masks and baseball bats passed all around me and could kill me if they wanted to. I just ran.

A police car crashed right in front of me. Two seconds later, dozens of men surrounded the vehicle and beat the crap out of the armored policeman.

With a throbbing heart, I continued my pace to the Walmart. The situation there turned out to be more messed up than I thought it would be. The second I stepped foot on the parking lot, a body fell down from the second floor with packs of dog foods in his arms. He crashed head first and I didn’t bother to look as he bled out and died. People suddenly surrounded the guy and stole food packs from his dead body.

Inside, supplies were still available, though not many. I immediately snatched instant noodles and ramen, yoghurts and sauces, frozen fries and chocolate bars. Almost all canned foods were not there anymore, but I took the liberty of grabbing beans and sardines from the top shelves.

I bumped more than fifteen people trying to snatch items. Everything happened in such a rush that they didn’t notice they bumped me.

My bag was full within two minutes of looting, so I grabbed the only shopping cart left in the whole building and started tossing stuff inside without even looking. I probably even took cat foods for all I know.

When I felt like I took too much, I fled from the Walmart into the parking lot. People still tried to hustle in, thus I fastened my steps so they don’t see me running around with a cart full of food.

The street was hectic dark, and I couldn’t see a thing. I still rushed though, and almost bumped so many people in the process.

At the end, I did ram someone who turned out to be a child (probably a seven year old or so, it was dark so I couldn’t really see) with the cart. The kid fell to the ground and two figures appeared consequently afterwards, approaching the crying son. The mother quickly picked up her kid, and the father who brought a staff approached me. As dark as it might seemed, I still could tell that the guy was really pissed. He also saw me with a cart full of supplies.

Shit.

As he charged slowly to me, I backed up real slow, pulling the cart steadily with me.

“Sir, I can explain.”

The man roughly grabbed the cart and pulled it to his side. I was too disoriented that I didn’t pull it back on reflex, so I almost stumbled down when suddenly the cart was moved.

He then raised the metal staff. I saw it flew toward me with both my eyes. The metal staff hit my stomach faster than I thought it would. Blood spurt out from my mouth as the impact shocked my brain. I flung down and bashed the rough asphalt with my body.

“Don’t fucking touch my kid again.”

And the man quickly hauled the cart and ran away with his family, leaving me all bloody alone on a street full of darkness.

What did I feel when that happened? Pain.

Only pain.

I was on the ground, weak, helpless. I tried to get up, but my body surrendered even before I tried. I coughed blood from my mouth and spurt blood from my nose. 

I felt delirious.

But then, I remembered Ashley… waiting for me inside our apartment with worries on her face. I couldn’t surrender now. She needed me, especially in this dark time.

I urged myself to stand, but failed again and again. I grabbed a car to weigh my body toward it, but pain registered from my stomach every second. I hold it tightly, squirming and screaming loudly.

When I finally returned on my feet, I felt a stream of blood falling from my belly. The impact from that metal staff must be really severe. It probably wrecked me more than I thought it did.

I screamed every second. One of my hands was continuously grabbing something to hold me up, and the other was on my stomach, clenching it as it hurt like hell.

I literally dragged my feet to my apartment.

The only good news would probably be the fact that I still had a backpack full of goods with me. At least the angry man didn't steal my bag too.

I fell to the lobby of my apartment, crashing down the floor thanks to gravity. My uncontrollable breathing worsened the feeling, and my stomach ached even more. Blood blanketed my face as it came from my nose and my mouth. I cried but I struggled to the stairs. 

How the hell can I climb this?

My vision blurred intensely, merging together with the insane darkness.

I tried to climb the first stair with my hands, but they gave in and my chin bashed the tiles below me.

And then my body gave in. I stayed there in silence and darkness. I lied on the floor with no more energy inside me, no more adrenaline to push me. I could feel blood dripping from somewhere, and I could feel death coming in closer than ever.

“Oh my God, Ti?”

The voice belonged to a girl. She came down hurryingly after seeing me crashing near the stairs.

“As− ashkk… are− rnt supphosed to be ou−”

“Just relax, Ti. I’m carrying you up.”

I coughed more blood. Ashley strapped me on her shoulder. She carried me up, and the sting on my body emerged again like an old friend. She helped me to climb the stairs, stopping almost every ten seconds as I kept sliding down.

It took her almost an hour to get us up. Magically, no neighbor or anybody came to our rescue. Maybe my neighbors were all out there, trampling police officers’ heads like trash on the streets.

When we finally succeeded climbing those stairs, she led me to our room and locked the door behind us. She carefully layed me down on the bed.

That was the last memory I had of the day. I lost consciousness after that.

Everything turned black. Darkness swallowed me.

Silence altered my body and my mind to a complete still.

I relaxed, but everywhere around me didn’t.

They rioted. They destroyed. They clashed.

Chaos.

---------

Picture from : Taco Cruz, Pinterest