68

I search around near my local junkyard. I’m trying to find different resources to help me.  While I was digging for some scrap, something skinned my leg and when I looked at my scratch, there was where I saw the robot. I checked to see if this thing was still in working condition and to my surprise,it was. Its head turned on with a tainted greenish color for its background and with a giant eye with the same color.It spoke with a robotic tone;I can tell it was broken as it was having trouble speaking proper sentences.’’Where?You?Help me-e.’’ I brought it back to my house for repair to see if the robot could be useful for information. I wanted to study it more closely.I creep inside my house so as not to make a loud sound. My house is thankfully clean as day,nothing much as a wreck compared to the other houses near me. Once I enter my building I feel a sigh of relief knowing that nothing has seen me yet. I was very fortunate in my hometown as there are still survivors in the lasting hell who will survive like me.. However, that doesn't mean that is a good thing;there are those who have suffered with psychological and mental problems during this time. After I had entered my household, I had made the mistake of bringing a robot in when technology like that shouldn’t be that advanced. Well to me, this type of technology seemed out of the ordinary. ‘’What are you exactly?’’

*Cling*Something sharp was heard outside.’’Shit.’’Creatures now roam the world and that sound was coming from one of them.  This one was the most common enemy and also the easiest to kill. It had long black hair that covered its entire body. Its hands were giant silver scissors and its legs were conjoined kitchen knives. These were the most basic creatures that were to appear. We call them grunts, as they are fragile yet still deadly to the inexperienced individual. They provide value as their weapons can be collected as tools of our own. However,these weapons must be collected quickly or they’ll disappear forever until another grunt spawns. In retrospect,carrying giant kitchen knives and scissors sounds pretty ridiculous. I should say that as an inexperienced person myself;I cannot be bothered with handling that type of weaponry, and would rather use basic knives despite everyone saying getting those types of weapons is the ‘’cool’’ thing to do. This is due to it being ridiculous and also being hard to handle in a deadly situation. Across the street is another person who is a well-known blacksmith. She was living a peaceful life like me and as I said;it all went to hell when they came. She is the same age as I am, around 18 or so,but she does not really show up a lot in public areas and only wears a costume to hide her appearance. No one is sure why she does what she does,but she is good at her job as she has helped many of us prepare with sleet and clean weapons to use for our defense.

She is at least sane unlike some of our other ‘’friendly neighbors’’. A girl who lived at the end of the block had locked herself in her room after seeing her mother being decapitated right in front of her. No one is able to talk to her as all attempts lead to violent bursts of rage. A neighbor who lives two houses down is an old man in his late 80’s who sits on a rocking chair while wearing a mask holding a shotgun in his palms. Anyone who tries to approach him will be met with a warning that he’ll shoot em. Many have suffered during this pandemic,and many have turned into an alternate version of their original self. ‘’It’s truly interesting what the mind can accomplish.’’

 Two people are sitting at a table. ‘’A2 to A3’’ A chess piece is placed on the spot that is called. ‘’H7 to H5’’ ‘’Ever find it funny how interesting the human mind is? I always think of it like the puppet master and the human body is the puppet. ‘’That a we-eird way to put it’’ ‘’The human mind is often,and I think it is for the most part,in a state neither pain nor pleasure,which I call a state of indifference.’’

69

 A loud ear piercing scream wakes me up in the morning. A loud growl is heard outside as I quickly grab my knife and run outside to see what’s the trouble. I’m already too late though; the monster had already stabbed the woman in the eye, killing her instantly.’’Shit’’ I whispered under my breath so the monster wouldn’t hear me. The creature had an apple for a head, only it was rotting in a sickly green with a giant darkened hole for an eye and a smile that looked like a human skeleton's lower jaw. Its body was made up of vines, twisted, to form a human-like appearance. They were what we called poison apples;they were uncommon creatures who liked to sneak up on their prey as they had an ability to crawl on all fours and climb any object. They appeared as an ordinary apple at first to trick unsuspecting prey into their trap. They would use their stems as daggers and slash/stab anyone who came into contact with them. The only way to kill them would be to aim for the head as aiming for their limbs is pointless as they can shoot seeds that can regenerate their limbs,but also to spit on the ground which would then wrap vines around someone to make an easy kill. There is also another way,however,it is hard to obtain that being they are highly flammable. Fire does the trick as they will panic, leading to them to slowly die a painful death.Fire is very difficult to get around here especially since flamethrowers, or any flammable objects, are high priced and no one has enough currency to afford. Only main option is to stab them in the head as it's the most efficient way to dispose of them.

I tried to avenge her by stabbing it in a fit of rage. Rage is a dangerous weapon in this game of life,you only use it efficiently,or be infantile. I managed to jam it in its skull,however,it only staggered a little bit before pulling it out and lunging at me. I swiftly doged its attack and countered-attacked by using its own weapons against it. It screeched as it fell on the ground and disintegrated into dust.’’Fucking bastard.’’ I scavenged the body to see if she was carrying any supplies. It sounds dickish and cruel,but this is the common way of life now. It's a kill or be killed world. Of course I felt bad when she died,but that won’t stop me from finding useful supplies. She carried some pills which were nice and all,though it wasn’t enough as I thought. It’s still better than nothing as you’re lucky if someone is at least carrying something on them. I visited the girl across the street to see if she could sharpen my knife. I had some money with me,usually to get any weapon sharpened cost at least 60-80$ which might not sound like a lot in the short-term,but it's very hard to obtain such wealth and you would need to work for someone to achieve that. Even though she is somewhat introverted in nature as well as spawning  a costume, she is quite the conversationalist.’’Greetings!’’ ‘’How have you been Melody.’’ ‘’Can’t say for sure,but i do know that i’m improving my mental health every day.’’ ‘’That’s good,I’ve been trying to do that as well, surprised you are managing your mental stability that well. Others would love that kind of mentality.’’ ‘’There sure as hell would. So you must’ve brought a weapon with you for me to sharpen?” ‘’Ah yes,my bad; I have a common kitchen knife today. I’m hoping you can make it much better.’’ ‘’So you don’t have the big toys that everyone is carrying around. Honestly kinda shocked coming from you,especially since I feel you’re the type of person who would require them when you live alone.’’ ‘’Hmm well, I actually am not anymore as I found a new friend near the local waste area. It’s a robot that I named Skip and it’s in need of some repairs. I know you wouldn’t be the person for that, so every night i’m searching parts for it so maybe i can fix it to fruition.’’ ‘’I hope you can get the thing you need. If you ever finish it make sure to drop by and show me,ok?’’ ‘’Well i’ll make sure to drop by when i can.’’ ‘’I’ll have your knife ready in a jiffy. Make sure to stop by later to pick it up.’’ ‘’Thanks again!.’’

70

 ‘’B1 to C3’’. ‘’G7 to G6.’’ ‘’This game has quite an interesting history. It’s a common simple game that can be complicated with the best of knowledge one can have when playing. Almost like life itself. A common simple thing that can be complicated without the skills to master it.’’ ‘’You sure have a way to put a game together into something else entirely.’’ ‘’I think it's in my nature to have such a way of thinking. So many things are left undiscovered which leads to many more discoveries. One path is another path open. ‘’I suppose that’s true.’’ ‘’ Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen,few in pursuit of the goal.’’ 

   I feel a bit sick today. It probably must be due to being under the weather and also seeing someone killed right in front of me yesterday. After taking my meds,I gather up my clothes and take a stroll around the neighborhood. Most would say walking alone is suicide,but i consider it more of a peaceful relaxing time to take a deep breath, and get my mind out of the gutter. Some sounds like the rustling of leaves and the drips of water leave me feeling in a paradise. The agony of being alone as much as it is my greatest fear,is not my cause of concern at this moment. Believe me when I say this feeling,it can not be replicated. People have the covetous eyes for that sort of smile on someone's face in this hellscape. I feel as if I'm adding more filler to my words than I need to. I just needed to get this off my chest and express how happy this feeling makes me. Unfortunately that state of ecstasies didn’t last very long as the sound of grunting just happened to appear only a foot away from me. I did realize that the fluorescent light on the street lamp was increasing in volume. I didn’t have much time to think about it as giant teeth arose from the ground nearly inches away from my feet. I jumped back in shock as the creature fully emerged itself to see. This creature was one that was so easy to avoid yet I was stupid to come near its way.Lampshades as well call them, disguises itself as a regular-old street-lamp. This is used to trick those who don’t think twice about it. Underneath is a large mass of rock and dirt with a wide open mouth that has human teeth and a long tongue. The tongue yanked my foot and pulled me closer to its gaping maw. I remembered I had my knife on me and stabbed its tongue, leading it to let go of me and quickly escape back to my house. I slammed the door shut making sure it hadn’t followed me. I assumed I was safe as they don’t tend to chase.

*Sigh* Can’t believe how stupid I was to walk under them. I guess I was so in my mojo that I didn't bother to look at my surroundings. I feel like a complete idiot,but I'm very thankful that I'm still alive. We had many street lamps destroyed and instead,outed candles for light to make the Lampshades stand out more. A loud bang was heard down the street where I live. I know this was a bad idea,but what if it was someone in trouble. Or…..’’Shit, he didn’t do what I think he did.’’ I realized it had to be from the old man two houses down from me. Can’t believe he actually killed someone. Although I guess the person who provoked first was the more stupid one. I know I should mind my own business,but I had to see what exactly happened. I unlocked the door and ran to the old man’s house. However,there was no old man in the yard,or a dead body on the ground like I figured there was. I stopped at his house and noticed his door was open. I knew I shouldn’t have gone in; but what if there was a creature in there and he was trying to fend it off? My gut told me I should at least see what had happened inside. I slowly pepped inside to see if I noticed anything or anyone. I tiptoed to a room that had its door closed. I felt a sense of dread creep up my spine;this was a bad idea I kept telling myself. Feeling the courage to do so, I creaked the door open slightly. What I saw in there made me sick to my stomach. The old man had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. On the walls were the words Kill Me written all over in red. On the table was a note that said: 

I    am       Sin.

I must be a sacrifice. He will be gratified.

‘’A foolish soul.’’ A voice echoed in the distance. ‘’Who’s there!?’’ No one answered back. The voice seemed somewhat familiar,yet I have never heard of this person before until now. There was no one else inside the house so I felt like I was going a bit insane. Maybe it was due to seeing something like that or perhaps it was me not taking my meds in a while. I needed to sleep,I couldn’t handle what had happened today. I headed home to hopefully do something. I feel like vomiting on the ground right now,I can't really sleep at all after what I saw today. Nothing can keep my mind off it and I know it will be something that haunts me for a while. Eventually my body goes into a state of slumber, as my eyes begin to shut.