Young Writers Society

As the wind blew dust and old scraps of paper around the ruined mini-city, two figures walked through the man street, stepping over large piles of rubble, comprised mostly of stones and wood, and weaving in between dead bodies, which seemed to rot where they lay. The first was a man of about twenty, wearing jeans that looked like they had been dragged over a bed of nails. He was entirely too pale, the white hair shaved much too close to his head, and his face in a small stubble was premature. The large wine stain, mixed with tattoo ink, that covered the upper left side of his face, encircling his eye, and creeping up close to the bridge of his nose had earned him the nickname 'Inky'.
The second was a female, who looked similar to Inky. She was wearing a skirt, a white blouse, and was slightly trailing behind him. "Watch where you step, you moron! If you get another cut, it could get infected!" She yelled, not afraid to attract the attention of the others around them, who looked just as dirty and malnourished. "Can it!" Inky barked back, jumping off a large stone, which seemed to have come from the blasted shell of a building which was to the left of him. He landed on his feet, and rose his arms in the air, like some sort of gymnast.
Rebecca, then young man's sister, rolled her eyes and kept walking, stepping over the body of a teenager. The smell in the air was one of decay, rubble, and urine. When she had first come here, it was enough to make her want to vomit. Glancing quickly over her shoulder, her eyes gleamed at the beauty of a setting sun. "We better find somewhere safe to sleep tonight. I got a little stubbed toe, and a enough blisters for the both of us!" Rebecca said, turning to catch up with Inky, who was sitting down, examining his cut and dirty feet. What she had said was code, stubbed toe meaning food, and blisters meaning water. If she had said what it really was aloud, she could attract unwanted attention, and get the good she had worked so hard getting, stolen from her.
Inky smiled. "Good job." He ducked into a wooden shed that had no roof, and sat on the floor. "Can we stay here? I don't really want to walk anymore." Sighing, the man began picking at the scabs which covered his feet. His hands were in a shape which was almost as bad as his feet, and he only had six fingernails to speak of. Rebecca closed what was left of the door, and pulled out the short rusty knife she always slept with. She sat down on the opposite wall, and leaned against it. Inky watched as the sun set, and thought about home, dozing off slowly.



The sun was just beginning to drift behind a large hill in the distance, which meant it was time to find shelter. A woman, wearing a long and ragged green dress, stepped over the rotting body of a male, and made her way, barefoot, towards a shack in the distance. Her feet were bleeding from between the toes, and she limped on her left side because of a piece of glass stuck under the heel. She was silent, her expression hidden by a thick curtain of damp brown hair.
A young man appeared from behind another destroyed building and seemed to nod to the woman, following her gaze at the old shack, and waiting for her to walk beside him. When she caught up, they moved together in silence, not giving another smile, nod, or any gesture of friendliness. Damaged, lost prisoners watched them pass from broken windows, eying them suspiciously. They carried no food, or anything of value, so they were not given a second glance. Finally, the two were at the doorway to the broken structure. There was no door; there were none in this City, as all the shelters were missing them. As the older woman peered into the shadows from planks of wood that leaned against the walls, she could vaguely make out the silhouettes of two young people. She assumed they were just more starved bodies, and stepped in to remove them.
Her son came in and bent down to scoop up the female. His hands touched her wrist, and for a moment he thought she may be alive. His index finger pressed against her veins, and he waited, silent as he had been on the walk over. His deep, tired voice whispered to the woman, and they both helped carry the sleeping bodies out. Then they placed them several feet away from the shack, and went inside. The woman sat on the dirt floor and closed her eyes, hoping sleep would overcome her soon. The male took four planks of wood and leaned them against the doorway, then slipped through a crack between the planks. He crouched beside the resting people, staring at the woman for a while, before investigating them thoroughly. He slowly reached into their pockets, hoping not to awake them, and had fortunately found a small scrap of meat, feeling quite disappointed that the rest must have been consumed. Anyway, he stepped back inside, and ripped the tiny piece of food into two and shoved one in his mouth, the other in his mother's lap. It would be waiting for her when she awoke.
Rebecca's eyes fluttered open with a start, and she suddenly felt a little bit bewildered. She was outside. Her brother was beside her, sleeping like a log. Sitting up and wiping her eyes, accidentally smearing some dirt on her face, she felt around for her knife, which was still here. Rebecca slowly stood up, looking at the shack they had fallen sleep in, then looking back at her brother, who was murmuring about food in his sleep. "Inky! Get up!" She said sternly, nudging him with her toe. He didn't respond, and she began to grow cross. "Jake, get your ass up! Someone carried us outside or something, unless it was you..." Her anger at the situation leaking into her usually calm and cool voice. Inky looked up at her, opening his eyes, and lifting up his body groggily. "What the fuck?" He asked, then stood up. Rebecca grimaced, and nodded toward the shack. "Looks like we were removed, and I think someone stole the meat that was in my pocket." Glancing at her brother with a frown, then back towards the wooden structure. "We're lucky we weren't eaten. Sleeping out in the open is more than dangerous."
"No shit." Inky said sarcastically, as he ripped off his thumbnail, and popped it in his mouth. Chewing it over, he rolled his shoulders back and entered the shack, removing the boards that blocked the doorway. "Hey, people...um...we were kind of sleeping here...my sister and I...and one of our meat pieces is gone...so I'm going to have to ask that you people in here get out...and give us our meat back, if possible." Inky spoke carefully, with not a single trace of harshness in his tone. Rebecca stormed in, completely dissatisfied with her brother's requests. "Get your asses up. Get out of OUR shack, and give us back OUR meat, or I swear, I'll fuck you both up myself." Unlike Inky, Rebecca said this in a cool, let deadly way. Inky looked at her, smirking. "Wait to be tactful, sis."
The young man's eyes were the first to open. Above him, towered the female he had removed earlier. His arm slowly extended out and nudged his mother's side. Her lids carefully lifted up, and she yawn as she sat up, taking the meat in her lap and chewing it cautiously. "I apologize," The woman's voice said, barely over a whisper. "There were few other places available, where we, my son and I, could spend the night. We had been planning to stay here days previous, and when we arrived we found your bodies fast asleep. At first we assumed you were two starved siblings, until my son discovered that you still had a pulse...we had no choice but to remove you from this place. It was getting dark, and as I stated before, there were few other shelters vacant. Perhaps we could share this place for the rest of the night?"
The man still stayed silent, squinting to see through cracks in the splintered planks in the doorway. Dim light squeezed its way into the tiny shack. He presumed that the four people would not be able to all fit into this one small space, and by the look in the intimidating woman's eyes, they would be staying no longer than another fifteen minutes here. "And I, too, apologize for taking your meat. As you know, there's little food around. I failed in my patrols today...and I am not a skilled hunter. I'll repay you if you wish." The man's eyes could no longer hold on the woman's, and he sheepishly looked away, trying his best to fake a guilty gaze.
Rebecca looked at the man, her eyes hardening. "Do not steal from me. Ever. Next time you do it, death will befall you." She said coolly. Inky only laughed. "Are you fucking off your rocker? There is no way four people could fit in here." He squinted, seeing the cut from the glass in the woman's foot. "Lady, I would try to wash that soon. Just as many people die from infection here, as starvation. A wound like that could mean a death sentence." He added, his voice turning a little bit remorseful. He itched the side of his face, and looked up at the ceiling.
"And, stop trying to fake like you're sorry. Because you obviously aren't." Rebecca said, as she stepped out of the doorway. "Get the fuck out of here. The both of you." She said, flashing her knife in the moonlight. Inky only scowled, then his face turned to it's usual happy demeanor. "Rebecca....don't be so mean." He said, chuckling. "People...um....I apologize for my sister. She's just an over protective, over bearing bitch. Don't take it personal. Don't worry about the meat, we're in pretty good shape as of now, and I'm sure going another day without eating won't be to bad." Glancing between the two uninvited visitor, he flashed them a charming smile. "By the way, my name is Jake. Most people call me Inky." After he introduced himself, Inky extended his hand in a more formal greeting. From the doorway, Rebecca scowled at him and shook her head. "You are so immature."
The man looked up again, this time standing, and shook Inky's hand in response. "I am Niami Deveroux, and this is my mother, Meliva Deveroux. It's a pleasure to meet you," He said, with a hint of scorn, his eyes staring straight into those of the sister. Meliva stepped forward and nodded, also shaking the young brother's hand. "I would appreciate if you didn't think so highly of yourself. " Niami was speaking directly at Rebecca now. "My mother and I are also fighting for survival, and we intend to win this battle. Mel was so generous as to suggest an alliance, and yet you immediately turned it down with such hostility. Now, I wouldn't waste a moment to kill either of you if you decided to put you threats into action. So I suggest you speak to both of us with more respect, ma'am." The male's voice was bitter and cold, as he eyed the siblings.
Meliva took a step back and placed one hand on her son's shoulder, and the other on the handle of the knife that was hanging out of the zipper section of her dress. She had always hid it just barely sticking out of the back of her bra, the only one she owned. It was in an odd, hard to reach place, but with the dress being her only clothing left, the others having been torn up so badly, it was the only sufficient place to put it. It was either there, or in her underwear. Inky looked up, giving a brief smile. "You guys should really chill out. Look, I'm sure we can all get along or...whatever. Don't mind Rebecca, she's just on her special time of month, and is being a total bitch to everyone. Even me. So, uh....yeah. And Niami, if you could please keep the obvious scorn you harbor towards my sister out of your voice, it would be appreciated. Thanks."
Rebecca smacked the back of Inky's shaved head in response, her eyes drilling into his. "Do not give out my personal information like that, you dick with ears!" She yelled. Inky raised an eyebrow, looking at Mel and Niami. "See? No need to get into killing each other, because odds tell me, that most of us will probably be dead before we see next year, from environmental causes. Murdering each other is still wrong, whether we are left in a city to die, or not." Letting his optimistic ways slip for a moment, Jake let his gaze linger between the mother and son. Rebecca looked to her brother, taken aback, as she muttered an apology to Niami and Mel. She began to scale the wall of the shack, and rooted around in the dry wall, until her hand seized upon something. It was a water skin, with no more than a quart of water in it. She took a small sip, and passed it to her brother, who took another slightly larger sip. She snatched it away from him, and replaced it. "That was why I was so apprehensive about people staying here. I worked hard to get clean water, and I didn't want it going down the throats of two people who could very well be cannibals."
Inky looked up. "Sister, you have to learn how to trust people. If these people were cannibals, don't you think they would be a little less skinny? Hmm?" He was getting a little annoyed with the situation, and slid down the wall, sitting on the floor with a thud. Niami quickly shook his hand and wiped it on the side of its pants, as if the siblings had some contagious disease that would kill you if you came in contact with their dirtied hands. His face scrunched up a bit, and he went outside the shack, rubbing his temples as a splitting headache pierced through his skull.
Inside, Meliva took a seat a few feet away from the people, obviously nervous around the hostile sister. "How long have the two of you been around here? I mean, in here? In the City?" As she spoke, she pulled at the shard of glass in her heel, finally managing to cope with the pain and tug it out. Some puss squeezed out of her skin, as well as a fair amount of blood, but she didn't seem to mind. Mel wiped it off with the edge of her dress, and rubbing her growling stomach, still waiting for a reply from the pair across the room. Niami paced around for another five minutes, and slowly started to wander away from the shelter. When he realized he was getting further and further away, he stopped, and made his way back to the doorway. Finally, the headache started to fade, and the male leaned halfway in and listened.
Inky shrugged, and looked up, biting his lip. "Err.....maybe about five months or so? Yeah that sounds about right." He said, as he looked at the pus excreting from the woman's foot. He cracked his neck, and looked up at his sister. Rebecca looked at him. "It seems longer than that though....time sort of goes fuzzy when you are here. It seems like there is only day...and night...and then it repeats. Honestly, I don't even know the day of the week right now. When time slips, it seems like soon your sanity might follow. Yesterday, I saw a man run naked up the street, and rip out his own eyes, screaming that he had some crops to get back to. I had talked to him a little while back, and he said he had grown up in a city. Some crazy shit goes on here, and it seems infectious."
Inky nodded. "Right you are." Yawning, he took out a piece of stale bread from the pocket, and nibbled on it a bit, finishing it. Hunger pinged in his stomach, a constant reminder that he had not eaten a good meal in five months or so. He used to have a good build, but now, his body had destroyed itself, because of hunger. He had given up on escaping months ago, when he witnessed a failed attempt. that ended the lives of six people. His was defeated, but kept up the facade of optimism, so his sister would not worry. Day in and day out, he feared for her sanity, and now, he knew that Rebecca's time amongst the clear minded was almost up.
"We have only been here for several weeks," The man's shadowed face peered in through the gaps in the wall. "You two are quite lucky to still be alive. My mother and I feared that we wouldn't last more than a couple days. The stories we heard about this place...they were much worse then it actually is." He took another glance towards the woman, then at his mother. "If it weren't for the child we met on the first day, things would be different then they are now. Thankfully...I hope I can repay if, if I ever see her again."
Meliva slowly nodded in agreement and exchanged looks of sorrow with her son. Then she turned her head back at the siblings, and forced herself to smile. "Actually, I'm very glad to have found more sane people! Many a time we have tried to form alliances! We even ran across somewhat of a maniac once. But that's a long, harsh story..." She smiled, and gently stroked her left foot. "But, please, do tell us...how did the two of you come to find yourselves here?"



It was too dark up ahead to see. A pair of violet eyes stood out against a forest green background. In the distance, a couple walked. They were starving, and a ragged bag around the girl's shoulder was sure to hold something on value inside it. Many different faces watched from shattered windows and empty doorways, some rushing out to get their hands on whatever the girl kept at her side. They didn't even seem to notice, as about twenty figures crept behind them in the shadows.
A cry. They all turned. Light reflected of a knife, for a split second, then it flew to the ground, covered in thick red blood. Everyone stood, and watched the young girl fall to the littered ground. Her body added to the rest, and now her bag was in the hands of another female. A boy, about the same age as the girl, stared in horror at the corpse on his left. The remaining scavengers fled, and returned to their shelters.
Slowly, the young teenager bent down and lift the knife up by her waist. She twisted around, and grinned at the boy. In a matter of seconds, his body was beside his friend's. They were still holding hands, naked. The killer walked away from them, their tattered clothing hanging out of the bag which held enough food for two.



Inky only looked a little distant, staring at the corner of the shack in reply to Mel's question. He did not like to remember what had happened. He itched the side of his face, and sucked on his teeth for an instant, looking to his sister to explain.
Rebecca looked at him, then back at the other people in the shack. "Well, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. My brother and I are both lieutenants in the military, and we had started to uncover a scandal of sorts, involving the higher ups. They knew we were digging, and sent us here, so what they were doing would never get out." She finished, hiding all the details, and other facts. There was a short silence after the siblings' response, before Mel lifted her head and sighed. "That's terrible...Injustice seems to be common around these parts...The cities and towns outside this ruin. My son and I..." The woman seemed lost, and unable to finish her sentence. Niami took over. "My mother was accused of killing her brother. He was murdered in his own home, and somehow they found my mother's fingerprints on the body. Neither us know how they got there...As for me, I knew Meliva couldn't survive alone. Someone had to take care of her, and she had no family left. So I admitted to being an accomplice, and was thrown is here as well. "But, I just have one other question. I know you haven't been here very long, but...do you have any idea as to when anyone here will leave?"

A shadowed figure made its way up the small hill, crawling into a tunnel made of scraps of wood, leading into the cramped basement of ruined building. A few bumps and thuds in the dark echoed in the room, until a match was lit. The figure seemed to be a girl, whose curly red hair matched the blood stains on her face. Her thin fingers lowered the match onto a half-melted candle, then lifted the candle onto a cardboard box.
Only a small corner of the basement was lit, and still, it was very dim. The girl emptied a tattered bag, bits of food and clothing falling onto the dirt floor. A waterskin also fell by her legs, and she cautiously took a sip, then poured the rest of the water onto her face and arms. She quickly got cleaned up, then began to examine the goods she stole from the now-dead couple in the streets. The bag was added to a pile of cloth on the opposite side of the room. The clothes seemed to be in fairly good shape, but, the girl mused, she could not wear the boy's trousers. She carefully shredded them with her knife, and threw them into the pile with the bag. She would, perhaps, sew them up later to make a bandage. She would probably need one soon.
The food in the bag was good; enough for two days, and two people. There was also another box of matched inside, and a pocket knife. Altogether, the teenage killer owned ten, but she still kept everything she found. She noticed that she was running out of sewing needles, and would have to find more soon. But tonight, she would sleep. The nights of tired kills wore her out, and today's find proved to be a good one. A makeshift bed was set up beside the cardboard box, with three thin fur blankets, and a worn out pillow. Slowly, the girl lowered herself under the covers and shut her eyes, blowing out the candle.



Inky looked up and looked at Niami with a serious face. "No one gets out, dead or alive. We stay here, until we die, and we rot here." He looked down again, and picked dirt out of his feet. “I have never heard of someone getting out, nor have I heard of anyone escaping. You obviously don't get it. This is not a prison. It is a death sentence. You die here, and there is nothing you can do about it. No one will ever see grass, or trees, or a warm bed again. This is the remainder of our lives, right here." Inky looked back up, at his sister, and wished he hadn't said anything. Rebecca had a look in her eyes that only equated to desperation. She sat down beside him, and traced little circles in the dirt floor, making a pattern that repeated over and over again. "No one gets out. Ever."
"I'm sorry if I dashed any hopes of your's away. But you need to know the truth. There is no escape, and 'Becca and I have seen it tried on at least four different occasions, in which it had been planned meticulously for months. It ended in death every time. For everyone."
Niami's face instantly dropped, and he looked down at his feet, forcing himself not to cry. He hadn't cried since he was a toddler, as he was taught to grow up strong and independent, but none of that mattered now. According to the siblings, it wouldn't help him or his mother in any way. They would die here. "But...but there has to be some way to get out. Maybe...maybe a secret exit no one knows? Or a tunnel...we could build a tunnel to get out!" His voice was quivering now, and his mother got up to comfort him. She was not crying, but her eyes were watery and hopeless as well. She shook her head at Niami, and he couldn't fight his tears any longer.
Silently, he walked out, breathing in deeply, the fresh air. It was fresher than the air inside the shack, which smelled of blood and sweat, but as soon as he got used to it, he could smell the rotting flesh. Even as he breathed through his mouth, he could still taste it. Sooner or later he would have to go back inside and face reality, but he wasn't ready. Tonight, he decided, he would patrol around the fences, to see if there were any weak spots. Inky stood up. "At least now you know. The guards have guns, so someone better go make sure he isn't getting too close to the fence, or else...well he could shot by them. I've seen it happen with my own eyes. There is nothing to dog a tunnel with, nor is there a way to hide your doings from the guards. If there was a secret entrance, I wouldn't be here right now, and neither would my sister. There is nothing to do but wait, and hope your end is not painful."
Rebecca looked at her brother with an appalled face. "Jake! You used to never act like this! You were always the one who was happy, and reassuring! Why?...what happened?" Inky only looked at his sister, and asked "Don't you know a facade when you see one?" And sat back down again. Rebecca looked through the cracks in the ceiling, towards the moon. It might have been the only untainted thing in sight. Terrible dreams tormented her as she slept. Dreams of outside...she would find herself in the sun again, in the land of color and family and family and happiness. Then there would be a fence. The other way, she would turn. Another fence, and another, and another. Finally, her eyes opened, bringing her back into reality.



Insomnia had never been as haunting as it had in the past few weeks. Jenny could no longer sleep soundly. Her mouth tasted of dry blood and human meat. Groggily, she rinsed out her throat, and took a piece of jerky from her stash of food. She knew she would not sleep for the rest of the night, so instead she decided to go out. Killing always calmed her.



Niami trudged through thick mud, stepping over the many bodies that littered the ground. They would be looking for him soon. Perhaps they were now; it would not be hard to find him, with his deep footprints in the moist earth. It was just beginning to rain. Thoughts of suicide slowly began to occupy his mind, but he pushed them away. I have to take care of my mother, he thought. But first, he needed to cool off. The next few days, he would spend planning an escape. Deep inside, he knew it was worthless, but he needed to try. He couldn't let the only person he loved starve to death or be killed.
Suddenly, Niami heard a crunch. On his left. No, on his right. silently, he pulled out his small knife, a very insufficient weapon, but the only one he had. He assumed there were many of them, ganging up on him. But as he turned around, looking out into the dark alley across from him, he only saw one. A female. She seemed to be smiling. She was about Niami's age, and she held no weapon. "Hello," the young man called. "Are you okay?" No response. She made her way closer. "I said, are you alright?" Still, silence. Then he saw it. A knife, hidden at her side. "Stay away," he repeated a few times. "I don't want to fight you." She still came closer. He started to run back towards the shack, unaware that he was leading a killer straight to his shelter.
"Meliva, Smith! I just saw a woman! She was holding a knife, and smiling at me. Lean the wood against the door, and stay inside. Keep your weapons with you." Niami panted as he ran inside, taking the wooden planks and setting them against the doorway. His mother stood again and shivered with fear, grasping her knife in both hands.



Fresh kill. Not a very muscular one, but enough meat to keep her full for quite a while. She quickly followed, silently, in his footsteps. Soon she saw a makeshift shack in the distance. Not very far at all. She would arrive there in less than two minutes.
And she did. Now she was facing the right side, where a few pieces of the wood jutted out from the structure. Using those, Jenny climbed onto the roof, making as little noise as possible. If there were more inside, she would be outnumbered. That's why, in this case, surprise was her biggest advantage.
Inky heard the sound of foot steps scampering up the side of the shack through the thin walls. He snatched the long knife from his sister, and grabbed a support beam on the ceiling, easily kicking through the ply wood that made the roof. The roof collapsed downward, bringing a piece of ply wood on them all. It was not heavy enough to leave any wounds, nor were there any sharp edges on it. Throwing the piece of wood out, he put the knife in his hand. "I will kill you. Cannibals will trade for your meat, which is supple and moist, and I will perhaps be able to acquire a pair of shoes." He said to the girl, advancing on her with the knife. "Unless you submit, you will not live another day. I can promise you that, woman." He added.
Rebecca pulled a nail from the wall, threw it at the girl with precision, aiming for her eye. Lifting up a pale hand, the nail sliced into it, stabbing the middle of her palm. Blood dripped down her hand, and she pulled it out, licking up the blood. The familiar taste was good to her, and it comforted her and she lifted up her knife as well. "Greetings. No need to get physical." The girl laughed, wiping some blood from her palm onto her left cheek, then licking up some more. "I was just hoping you would let me borrow some...meat." Almost instantly, the teenager jumped up and sliced at the boy's chest, just barely cutting his skin.
"Oops, I seemed to have tripped over some loose floorboards! Sorry about that, neighbors." She giggled, and kicked at the other woman. "Woops! Hehee!" Jenny grinned, and hopped out through the gap in the boarded up doorway, trotting backwards. "Catch me, catch me if you can! Let's wild! I'll be the predator, and you are the prey!" Inky looked at his bleeding chest, and started swearing. As obscene language poured from his lips, he tramped outside of the shack. "I'll fucking rip out your eyes and skull fuck you, you fucking cannibal! You want my fucking dick shoved one foot up your scrawny little ass?! Huh? Get outa here, and go kill someone else, before I cut off your fucking clit, and feed it to a squirrel! You ugly ass whore! Get out of here, before I make you wish your slutty ass never stepped foot in this hell hole..."
Rebecca looked apologetically at Mel. "I'm sorry, he gets like this when he is mad. That girl is a cannibal, and a killer. Just in case you didn't get the gist." Inky stepped forward, and threw his knife at her head, a dead throw filled with accuracy. He then grabbed more nails, and began flinging them at her with force, like his sister did. He hated cannibals more than anything else, and they were only useful for keeping the population down some, or making trading deals with. He also hated the crazy ones. They were good for nothing. This girl was both, and the hate he harbored for her blotted out everything else, as he continued his stream of swears and obscenities.
The girl's quick reflexes worked to her advantage, as she attempted a side step to avoid the oncoming weapon. This only assisted her partially, as the knife still ripped through the flesh on her shoulder. A cry of pain escaped her lips, and she dropped to the ground, the nails falling at her feet and scratching at her legs. Jennifer muttered a curse and pulled the knife out of her skin, holding it in her free hand. Raising up again, she stumbled forward, raising a hand.
"Hold fire, soldier! We surrender!" Still, the young woman giggled, a few tears running down her cheeks. She slowly dropped the bloody knife, then the other. She was weaponless and weak now, as she limped by the young man's front. Slowly, to her knees the girl dropped, whimpering like a child. "I have food I can give you. Sharing is caring, as they say." She tilted her head slightly to the left. "What's that? Friend? I do not know the meaning of the term. Perhaps it may help me in this sticky situation I have been placed in. Whadda you say, brother? Shall you spare me, unlike the others? They call to me from the grave. They cry every night, but maybe their voices do not reach out to you from their place of rest. Tell me, do you hear the voices of our siblings?"
Slowly, she lifted her head up to the brother. "Eating the same race does not make me a sinner, you know. Food is food. I respect them too. They provide life for me. This is my life. My brothers and sisters share with me, like you are sharing with the others. They are not animals, and I am not evil. I just feel very tired. " The woman began to mutter gibberish, rubbing at her dark eyes. "Maybe it will snow soon. Angels usually come down around twilight time, and they eat the grain Daddy packed for the summer meal..." Inky kicked the girl in the face with such brutality that she fell to the ground. "People have feelings and lives. You do not fucking infringe upon that." He kicked her again, in the head. Looking to make sure his sister had adverted her eyes, he took out his penis, and urinated all over the unconscious girl. It would not be the rainy season for a couple of weeks, and he knew she would have to like with the stench. Suddenly, he dropped his pants, and preceded to defecate all over the girl's head, letting the watery shit of a starving man intertwine with her hair. He ripped off a part of her shirt, and wiped his ass with it, pulled up his pants, and sauntered back to the shack.
"I made quick work of that. I know you people will judge me, but she deserved it." Inky said, dumping a small amount of water on his hands, and rubbing some of the dirt off.
Rebecca sighed. "Jake, you always take everything so far." Inky raised his eyebrows. "Not as far as her, and that's what counts." Jenny lied in the soiled dirt, covered in urine and feces. Meliva glanced down and followed the siblings back into the shack, leaving Niami outside with the unconscious girl. The man looked down at her, and felt pity. She smelled even worse than some of the corpses, and even though he knew she had tried to kill them, Niami slowly bent down and scooped up the silent body. Carefully, he carried her off to the rubble that was once a building, a few yards from the shack.
When they arrived at the ruin, the young man set Jennifer of the dirt floor, and walked back to the shelter. Outside the door, Meliva was waiting, an unreadable expression on her face. Without a word, she led him inside.

"No! I have nothing! I'm starving...please!" A girl struggled as two men approached her, knives grasped tightly in their fists. One grinning at her, the other only moved slowly closer, raising his weapon high above his head. Swiftly, she kicked, aiming right in between his legs. She hit her target spot, and ran, faster and faster until she was away from what she thought would be the death of her.
Panting, the girl rested at the side of a destroyed apartment, lifting her hood over her head. It hid her face, and the smell of Mother and home was comforting to her. Finally, when the girl thought she was ready to move on, she rose and began walking. She would need to find a place to stay for the night, and she had no food. Liza had only been in this damned city for one week, and she was already weak and starving. That's all it takes, she thought on her third day, to kill a man. One week. That's when she spotted a building, although fairly small, in the distance. There were people inside, but they didn't look like killers. Not that killers looked a certain way, but Liza noticed that every one of them looked...almost similar to each other. Maybe it was just instinct, but it was no longer strange to her.
So Liza stood outside the shack, and built up the confidence to approach the inhabitants. Rebecca smirked. "If he wants to get covered in shit and piss carrying a insane cannibal from an unsafe place to an equally unsafe place, then that's his issue." She sat down, and cracked her shoulders. Wiping the side of her face, she left a smear of ashes, which had stayed on her fingers. "Hey! Ugly!" She said smirking, referring to her brother. "Why don't you go get a rock, and repair this shit hole?"
Inky looked at her, and got up, going outside and grabbing a rock, starting to hammer in nails, and fix up the shack however he could. He noticed the woman, and raised his eyebrows, looking at her. "Hey...woman lady. Erm....are you an insane cannibal?" He asked cautiously, clenching the rock in his dirty fist, and flexing his stringy muscles left in his arm.
Liza stood stiffly, gazing cautiously at the stone in the man's hand. She shifted her weight repeatedly from one leg to another, tightening and loosening her fists. Her chapped lips were pursed now as she parted them to speak. "Um...I don't think I am. Are you?" The woman had no weapon, and felt very anxious to either run, or go inside the broken shack. Inside, Meliva and her son sat down, frowning at the ground. "Rebecca," the older woman said, "I know you may not...have anything...but if you do, would you share some food with my son and I?" Inky looked at her, cocking his head in interest. "I'm not. Err....there's more people in the shack that aren't either...Why are you so...like out of breath? Are you okay?" Inky realized this was a stupid question, because no one in the city was ever okay. But he looked at her, and nailed another board to the side of the shack, covering up a hole.
Rebecca nodded, and sifted through some trash and things in the corner of the shack, until she produced a package of small crackers, a bag of peanuts, and loaf of bread that was going stale. "This is what we have for the next couple of days, until I can get more food." She said, looking at them. "You guys haven't been here long enough to know about the rainy season. We came right at the end of the last one. The seasons go, rainy, dry, rainy, dry. They each last for three months or so. Basically, in about a week or two, it will start pouring rain, and it will not stop for 3 months. The streets will flood, the ground will turn to knee deep mud, and everything will be wet, all the time. This shack is on high ground, and once it is fixed, we should be okay to wait it out here. But, expect a lot less food, and a lot more water. It is nice to be clean though..." Her voice trailed off and she looked at them, tossing Mel the bread, and sitting down.
Liza shifted her weight again, before forcing herself to stop. Slowly, she took two steps forward and pulled off her hood. "I'm okay, I guess. I just saw people and...I don't know. I haven't been here very long. I guess I should learn to be more cautious with people I don't know..." The girl tilted her head slightly, and stood still, awaiting a response. Meliva took the bread and broke it into four pieces. She handed one to her son, who took it and instantly shoved it in his mouth. The other piece she threw to Rebecca, and the second to last she ate. "I'll save one for your brother. And thank you for letting us know about the rainy season." Inky nodded, and went on fixing the shack. "Well, you have no reason to trust me, and every reason not to. But we have food inside, not much, but some stuff that is high in energy and stuff. Nuts, bread and shit like that. I'm not that hungry," He said, covering up the audible growing in his stomach with his voice. "and you look half dead, so why don't do go in and have my share. Then you can decide if you want to stay with us or not." He said, looking at her as he nailed in yet another nail.
Rebecca stuck her piece in a plastic bag, and carried what was left of the roof outside, and went back in. "Well this has been an eventful evening. So I'm going to take a nap. Maybe for a couple hours. Someone should stay awake and keep watch." She said, as she laid down, and went to sleep almost instantly on the dirt floor. Meliva nodded and went outside, paying no attention to the stranger outside with Jake. "I'll stand guard tonight, if you wish." Liza glanced quickly at Mel, then back at Inky, nodding curtly. "Thank you. I hope I'm not a burden..." The girl said, stepping inside the shack. She and Niami stared at each other for a moment, then he handed her the remaining piece of bread, which she ate heartily. Then she leaned against the doorway and looked at Inky. "I don't want to be a bother by asking to stay. I've heard that there is safety in numbers, but I want to leave that up to you, as I'm only a guest right now."
"Do what you wish. Right now I'm rebuilding our stronghold, so we can be a little bit more safe. If you want to stay around here for a while, I don't mind at all. Just make sure to mind my sister's rude attitude, as she doesn't really take well to....people..." His voice trailed off, and he hammered in another nail, then climbed to the top of the structure to start rebuilding the roof. "By the way, my name is Jake. Most people call me Inky....could you toss me a nail?"
Rebecca rolled over, and itched the side of her face in her sleep, murmuring about cinder blocks that needed moving. Niami's eyes moved over to Rebecca, who looked so fragile in her sleep. Her dirty face looked softer and kinder than it did when she was awake, and he felt a sudden urge to touch it. Although, he knew, this would wake her, and that's the last thing any of them wanted. Including the woman herself. Liza nodded and took a nail from inside, carefully throwing it to the man named Jake. "Sure thing. My name's Liza. Most people call me...Liza." The girl smiled and pulled up her hood again, looking out at the rubble in the distance.
Inky gave a small smile, and he nailed the ply wood roof on, after laying beams of wood across the roof so it would not cave again. "So, how long have you been in this shit hole? I've been here for five months, and every time I wake up I'm surprised I'm here." He sighed and looked of into the distance with her, before hammering in another nail with his rock, which was beginning to get a little chipped. Rebecca rolled onto her back, and itched her belly. Liza breathed in deeply through her nose, rubbing her arm with the other. "Sometimes I forget to count the days, but it's been only a week. Surprising, how dreams can last for decades, but when you wake up it's only been seconds. And you're left with the clawing hunger for more, so you can escape the reality you live in." The woman lowered her eyes to the ground, pushing loose strands of hair out of her face.
Niami lied down and rested beside the other woman, staring at her until he finally began to drift off. "Holding on to the hope that this is a dream? I can understand the logic. Although, I assure you, and I know I can't prove this, but I am not a figment of your own imagination. If I was, I bet I would be hotter." Inky laughed, and slipped off the finished roof, and began nailing more things of plywood to the shack. It was now looking like an actual windowless shed, and not a ruin of wood and bent nails. "Besides, you don't feel hungry in dreams. Or tired."
Liza looked back up at him and forced a smile. "Dreams within dreams...I know it's not, but it gives me hope. I need hope, or else I might not survive. I would lose faith, and...Life is hard. No matter where you are it's never easy." The woman shook her head slowly, and looked back out. "If you need any help, just ask. I'm not a good builder, but it doesn't hurt to try…and thank you...for not instantly killing me."
Inky looked at her and cocked it's head. "It's funny how people's mindset changes so much when they are in a different place. Six months ago, all I cared about was buying a house, getting a wife, and having a couple of kids. Now, staying alive is all I think about. The instincts that have been abandoned from years of not having to fight for your life reawaken, and you become almost like an animal again. Hobbies don't exist. I can't even say what I like to do anymore, because everything I do it to stay alive. Thinking you will wake up and not be here sometime is just a coping mechanism." He looked back to his work. "If you had showed the slightest sign of being violently insane, or a cannibal, then I would have knocked you out, shit on you, pissed on you, and left you for dead. You need not thank me for leaving you alive. Thank yourself for not slipping into insanity, or eating one of your own species."
He hammered in more nails, and looked at the shack from about eight feet away. "Building is no work for a woman. Why don't you go inside and get some sleep?" Liza smiled again, and nodded once. "Alright. Thanks. I mean...I'll go inside and sleep. If I can help though, I'm here. I'll probably go out tomorrow...and scavenge for food. Be careful up there." With that, the woman walked inside and fell asleep beside Niami and Rebecca, dreaming of home.
Inky woke up on the roof, where he had curled up to sleep. He was happy that his woodwork had held up. He stretched, ignoring the grumbling in his stomach. Hopping off the roof, and landing on his feet, he looked at his work. The shack now had a door, that was hinged at the stop like a dog door. The walls, which he had reinforced with every scrap out wood he could find, were about six inches thick. The roof was about six inches thick too. The whole thing was not very pretty, as there were random scraps of wood nailed everywhere, but it would easily hold. On the inside, he had cleaned out all of the trash. There was a shelf, where he had put everyone's personal belongings, and a big basin on the roof, where he would catch rain water when the rainy season started. Inside, he had swept out of dirt floor as best as he could, and it was pretty clean. Going inside, and grabs some peanuts, shoving them in his mouth. "Morning people!" He said over his mouthful.
Liza was the first to wake. She sat upright, and groggily rubbed her eyes, nudging the man beside her. He groaned, and refused to get up. The woman's voice was tired, as she stood up and leaned against the wall. "Morning? Uh...Morning. The worst time of the day...maybe even worse than night. Ugh, I hate it. I'll be going out scavenging...and I'll need a partner. Anyone up for it?" While peering around the outside of the shack, Liza saw Meliva standing half-asleep against the side of the structure, and she called to her. "Shifts up. You can sleep now." She led the older woman inside and set her down on the floor. "I'm starving," she was looking at Inky again. "Would you like to come? Or do you need to work on this piece of crap more?" Liza grinned, and leaned in a bit. "I don't think you can fix it up much more."
Inky only pouted. "I was up all night working on it, and you call it a piece of crap? Unforgivable." He said, as he pulled up his jeans a little, because his pale butt crack was showing. "'Becca, get up you cranky bitch. Look it all the stuff I did. Oh yeah, and this is some chic who came over. We're going to scavenge for food, and I'll probably end up nailing her by the end of the week, because of my irresistible charm, and my huge dick." Rebecca moved around, a little and rolled on Niami. Inky looked at Liza and grinned. "So you want to go look for food? Usually my sister has that covered, but I'm sure some extra would be nice, considering we are now a party of 5."
Liza only smirked and turned to walk out the door. "Sure, why not? You'll have to get used to me quick, 'cause I'll be around for a while. I might as well help out." She stepped outside, and turned back around to look at the man. "And you did a nice job. On the house, I mean." With that, she began walking farther away from the shack.



Jenny awoke in a different place. First, she didn't remember what happened. She lay there, covered in feces, urine, and blood, before the memories and pain finally came back to her. Glancing at her shoulder, she let out a small cry, struggling to get up. The pain traveled all through the girl's body, until she finally passed out again.

Liza checked over her shoulder to make sure Jake was following. As she hopped over rotting bodies and trash, the woman began to spin and lightly sway, singing soft words in another language. Occasionally, she would bend over and check the littered ground for food. Inky looked at her. "Ew...I know we're starving, but I do not eat trash food. And neither with my future fuck buddy. No. What you do, is you find places where people hide their food, and you take it from that place, and you run. You don't eat the stuff on the ground, next to rotting bodies. That's going to make you sick." He hopped along, and came to a house, where the door was barricaded, and went in.
"Nope, nothing in there..." He said, itching the side of his face. He sat down on a rock, presumably in thought. As he scanned the area, his eyes lit up. Running over to a small mud puddle, with a body next to it, he snatched something up. "These are awe invoking!" He said, of the pair of bronze goggles in his hands. The lenses were yellow tinted, and they had a leather strap. He put them on his head, above his eyes, and made a heroic stance. "I look fucking awesome."
Liza laughed and skipped over to him, pulling the goggles and snapping them on his face. "Stop being stupid and keep looking! And also, thanks for the tip, 'fuck buddy'." Stepping inside another destroyed house, the woman checked all around, and finally found half a loaf of bread under a pile of rags. "Score! Inky, come look at this! We can probably make something out of the rags, and the food is enough to keep you full for a while." She smiled brightly, and stuffed four scraps in her pocket, the loaf under her arm. "Let's keep looking."



Niami nudged Rebecca lightly, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. "The others left for food." Inky rubbed his forehead, and looked at her. "Now take it before the owner comes back. I need a new pair of jeans. These are falling apart, and my balls don't get any ventilation. The coarse material chafes up my dick. I don't even have any under garments. I'm looking for clothes. You can handle food, right?" He said, as he looked around, rubbing the white stubble on his head and face. "Ew...I need to shave."
Rebecca sat up beside him. "Good, because I'm fucking tired of doing all the work, while Inky explores. He's like a horny little kid." She stood, and looked around the shack. "Well he has seemed to have fixed it up quite a bit. That's good." She began to brush through her longish hair with her fingers. "I hope you don't have lice, because they run rampant around here. I have managed to keep them away, but Jake got a pretty bad case, and he had to shave his head. I don't want to have to do the same."
Liza gave him a weird look and skipped back out into the dead streets, pulling the hood over her tangled mess of brunette hair. "Yeah, I got food covered. You go find yourself some penis-protector, as long as you don't stray too far." The woman smiled and made her way inside the neighboring ruin, searching for any scrap of food. All she found was an almost-empty waterskin and two sticks of beef jerky. The girl couldn't help but grin at her find. "This is perfect." Slowly, she danced her way back to where her scavenging partner was.



Niami sighed, and touched his head lightly. "I don't think I have lice...and you wouldn't look too bad with a shaved head." He smiled at his attempted humor, and rose, looking out from inside the doorway. Rebecca looked at him and smirked. "Yeah well I would look like a bald headed critter, and you would look like a dick with ears. So, let's not get lice. I take pride in my hair." She stood, and grabbed a handful of peanuts, slowly chewing on them, while she ran her other hand through her hair more.
Inky sighed, as he grabbed a pair of boxers off of a rock, and stared at them. His jeans may have been falling apart, uncomfortable, and cheap, but he loved them. They were the jeans he had arrived in. He remembered buying them on a sale. He remembered throwing them on and running downstairs, as the military police banged on his door. That seemed like another world now.
He tightened the safety pin that was acting as a button, and looked at them. There were holes in the knees, and the end of the pant-legs were stained brown with dirt and mud. There were some blood stains in places, and an unidentifiable black splotch on the back of his calf. For some reason, he was attached to the jeans. As he peeled them off and put on the boxers, he promised to wash them as soon as the rainy season came. He wandered around, picking through random things, wondering if someone was wearing the same brand of jeans as he was, and was doing something better.
Liza peered out from inside a house, finding Inky walking around. Quickly, she trotted out behind him and took the boxers. "Ew. They're used...Ah, I guest you use what you find, huh?" She tossed them back to the male and froze as she heard a sound nearby. "Shh! Hear that?" The woman moved over and looked into a doorway, gasping. "There's a woman inside! Hello?"
Jenny awoke again, this time by the pain that sliced through her dreams, and was welcomed by the voice of another female. "Ehhh...where is Mother? I want my mommy..." The girl sobbed, clawing at the ground and at a body beside her. "Mommy?!"



Niami reached over and took some peanuts from the bag, munching on the salty shells. "You and your brother seem to talk about genitals a lot." Rebecca looked at him, and cocked her head. "Well if you haven't gotten the gist yet, which I guess you haven't, Jake was a total sex fiend, and I...well I guess his obsession with genitalia kind of bled to me after we spent so much time together in here."
"Liza get away! No more people. Just get outa here before you get yourself killed, and I am forced to rape your dead body before you go cold. Alright?" Inky said, as he put on his boxers, and he put his jeans over them.
Rebecca looked out into the distance. "We never even talked when we weren't here. Before this, I didn't even know his middle name for sure. He was just that kid who lived with my parents, and occasionally got in trouble for hosting gang bangs at their house. Now I actually know him, and love him, but the fact that I could lose him at any moment always looms over my head. I don’t know. You probably don't want to hear about my thoughts and reservations." She got up, and began fiddling with a nail that was sticking out of the wall.
"Seriously, Liza, don't go in there. It could be that crazy chic I pissed and shat on last night. She was a cannibal, and she cut my chest. It hurt. She also tried to kill Niami, the other guy in our group, who is considerably less handsome than me." Liza sighed and moved back, taking Inky's hand and tugging him over to another destroyed building. "Come in here. This one is big, and it looks like people live here. There might be some good stuff." She had to push open a chipped wooden door to get inside.
Niami nodded a bit and slid to the floor, glancing over at his mother, who was sleeping soundly, but a bit uncomfortably on the dirt floor. "Yeah. Life changed when you're in a place like this...You two have grown closer, and I think me and my mother are growing farther apart. I don't know how to explain it, really. We've stopped talking as much. We rarely even...I don't know...I really don't."
Inky looked at her like she was insane, and pulled her back. "Are you out of your fucking mind? Cannibals are around here, so are people who will kill you for a pair of socks. Let's take what we have and get out of here. These goggles are fucking bad ass. But seriously, my body is so starved and malnourished, I would not be able to protect you or myself from an oncoming group of people. Let's go."
Rebecca look at him. "Par for the course. Things change. Seasons wash away, and start a new. You're just lucky she isn't dead."
Liza sighed again and started walking back, brushing hair away from her face. It was greasy and tangled, and she wished Inky would let her at least look for a brush. "Fine. Let's go..." She paused for a minute, but kept walking. "What do we do anyway? The rest of the day? Just...rest? When I was on my own, I was always moving, always looking for something. I had to keep myself occupied, and I was almost to the point of going insane from no human interaction, other than having to escape mindless zombie-cannibals."



Niami looked down at his mother and nodded again. "I guess. I am glad she's alive. Maybe I just need to approach her more often."
Inky gave her a weird look. "Well that's kind of unnecessary, now that we have a strong hold. We can hang around, and you can let be insert my large and wonderful penis inside you, then we can cuddle and fall asleep on the floor. That's not resting. And most of the cannibals I have met are either very smart, or insane. I have never met a mindless one, and I have dealt with my fare share of cannibals. Unless, you want to get eaten, and leave me alone and without any women to bang. That would make me sad. So, let's go." He said, starting to saunter lazily back to the shack.
"Maybe you need to stop being such a distant little prick, and be nice to your mom." Rebecca said with a small smile.



Liza followed him inside, and plopped down on the floor, emptying out her pockets. "Jerky, rags, bread. Pretty good, huh? By the way, I'm Liza. Nice to meet you all. Glad you'd let me stay." The woman said, smiling brightly, as she gave Inky a secret kind of look.
Niami nodded and smiled in return, before turning his gaze to the other girl. "That's great. You did a good job today...Just, please speak a little quieter. Mel needs sleep, and I don't want her woken up. Thanks."
Liza frowned and looked down. "Sorry. I can get loud at times. I'll make sure to be quiet." She looked up again. "What now?" Inky looked at her, and raised his eyebrows. "Now, we have sex in the back of the shack." He said, putting the goggles over his eyes, and striking a manly pose. Rebecca look at him and laughed quietly. "You look like some sort of steam train technician."
Inky looked at her. "Who's to say I'm not? And it totally covers up one-eighth of the giant smudge that has taken up one-fifth of my face, so you can suck it!" He whispered, flipping her off, and then making a pelvic thrust motion. Rebecca rolled her eyes, and looked at her brother. "You are so... I don't even know how to describe your brand of....you're like a twelve year old boy who just figured out he could get an erection."
Inky looked at her with a grin, and shrugged his shoulders. "And you're like an old cunt, who lures small boys into her home, to molest them." He said, gesturing to Niami. Rebecca looked at him, and shook her head. "You're a real dick, Jake. A real dick." Inky smiled. "Thanks. Now, Liza, sexy time please and thank you." Liza raised an eyebrow and smirked, shrugging off her hood. "I just met you. I'm not a doorknob, where everyone gets a turn...But I guess, a kiss wouldn't hurt." The woman grinned and stood up, twirling outside the shack and disappearing behind the back.
Niami smiled a little and looked up at Jake. "Good luck getting laid." He shook his head slowly and looked back at Rebecca. "Unbelievable. It's like we have to keep him from raping every living being out here."
"We used to come home sometimes, and it would be him, twelve girls, and a bunch of mud. In our living room. He wants to enter every vagina on the planet, and he loves every second of it. I think it's him sub-consciously making up for the fact that he is fucking ugly." She said, producing a small bottle of clear liquid, and downing it.
"But...I want a sex time!" Inky whined. "I haven't banged anything in five months! I want to have sex with you! Because you're pretty, and you have a vagina I can stick my dick in! So....let me have sex with you. I'll do all the work...you can just sit there..." He made a puppy dog face, and removed his goggles, placing them above his eyes.
"One time, when we all took a vacation, and he was supposed to watch the house, we came back, and there was Jake, and two of his friends, having sex with maybe seven different women. He was sixteen. I don't know what his obsession is with it. But whatever." Niami chuckled a bit and rolled his eyes. "Everyone is different, huh? He might...might get out of it. Perhaps its just a phase? Maybe, maybe not...Ah, well. Probably can't help it anyway..."
Liza grinned and leaned up against him, kissing him tenderly on the lips. "Perhaps. Let me consider it..." She got up on her tip-toes again and rubbed one hand through his hair, pecking his lips. Inky moved his face away. "Ew, I hate kissing. It's so nasty. Mouths are for eating and blow jobs. Not pushing them together. Eh. Now, get undressed, and lay down on your back, so I can have sex with you. I have a hard on, and I don't want it to go away. If you say no, then I'm going to leave, and stick it inside some other woman who is willing." He said, looking at her.
Rebecca laughed. "It's not a phase. He's just a sex fiend." She got up, and walked over to the other side of the room, and grabbed a piece of Jerky, breaking it in half, and gnawing on the half. She handed the other piece to Niami. "Here."
Liza's face was angry now, and she slapped Inky hard across the face. "I am not some temporary sex toy! I thought, maybe, I could flirt or have a relationship! You can't use women for their genitals...We have feelings too! And to tell you the truth, I'm still a virgin. That's why I'm not willing to...unless I know it's with someone who cares about me. Alright?!" A tear had made its way down the woman's face, but she quickly wiped it away. "So go ahead and find some other worthless slutty scumbag to rape." With that, she stomped off inside the house.
Niami took the jerky and gnawed on it, nodding in thanks to Rebecca. Once he saw Liza stomp in, plopping down in a corner and pouting, he took the jerky out of his mouth to speak. He reached out and ripped off a piece for the girl. "I'm assuming it didn't go too well?" Liza just shook her head and took his offering, slowly nomming on the tough meat.
Inky shrugged and wandered off into the city, standing by a bent light post, like he usually did. He stuck his hands in his pocket, and whistled a little bit, until a tall woman walked by. He looked at her, and they both ventured into an alley way, where they had brutal rough sex, to completion. When Inky came back to the shake, he was sweaty, and had a weary smile on his face.
"Well, that was nice. I never said I didn't care about you Liza, I just hate the idea of kissing. Such a turn off. I would rather cuddle, and have oral sex. And I never have raped anyone. All of my sex is consensual. I know women have feelings, and I know they are people. But in here, where I could die from a small infection, I want to have as much sex as possible. So, there. You obviously do not want to start a relationship with me. I will just use prostitutes, and hopefully I won't get any diseases of the genitals. I am going to sleep, and will you guys kindly keep Liza, henceforth referred to as Virgin Bitch Lady, away from me." Inky said, putting his goggles over his eyes and sitting down in a corner, his legs outstretched and crossed, and his arms crossed over his chest. Rebecca stifled a laugh as she gnawed on her beef jerky.
Liza ground her teeth together and got up, spitting on Inky. "Do what you want, fucking ugly bitch. I'm out. Go get some helpless whore pregnant." With that, the woman stomped out, and took everything she had found with her. Niami stared for a moment, and sighed, stretching out on the ground. "I was kind of hoping she could stay. Unpleasant at times, but a good scavenger..." Inky grinned, and got up, wiping the spit off of him. "I'm infertile you dumb cunt, or else I wouldn't be having so much sex! I shoot blanks!" He shouted after her, and sat back down in the corner.
Rebecca looked at Niami. "I can do better. Because I know how the black market around here works. Scavenging is what you do if you want to get killed. Actual trading is what you do if you want to survive almost comfortably around here." Inky looked up. "Black market?" Rebecca nodded, and looked at him. "Where else did you think I got all that food and stuff? Inky looked at her earnestly. "I had no fucking idea."
Rebecca laughed.

The woman had to half-drag herself to the shack she once slept in, with a family she had once thought welcoming and kind. She had left because of a horny younger brother, and now she needed their help once again. Liza limped with a bloody leg to the door. "Please...Inky...Niami...Mel?" She rasped, supporting herself with a sturdy branch. The girl's lip was bleeding, as well as her right arm and left leg. She was much skinnier than when she had last been to the shack, and her face was caked with dirt and blood. Her bright eyes seemed dimmer as she called out names.
Inky slept on the floor, with his goggles rested firmly on his head. Some of his hair was growing back, and he had about a days worth of stubble on his face. He did not stir, and breathed in deeply.
Rebecca got up, rubbing her eyes against the early morning sun. "Liza? Eh? What happened? You look like shit!" Rebecca said, as she rubbed her eyes, and yawned, stretching her arms out in front of her. "Damn. Looks like you've been having tough times. Sit down. Here's some bread and wall nuts." Rebecca said handing her some bread, nuts, and an old can full of water.
Inky rolled over, and stretched like a cat, and sat up, removing his goggles from his eyes, and resting them on his forehead. "Liza? I thought you hated me....what happened? Are you okay?" He asked, with concern evident in his still groggy voice.
Liza came inside and sat down, wincing in pain every time her leg or arm moved. "Not good...animals. Real animals...like punishment. The guards killed a guy...for selling animal pelts. Or something. Confusing...But I had my hood, and they wanted it. For animal pelts. And they attacked me, and there was a cannibal -aaaaoowww - t-too...Ah..." The woman scrunched up her face in pain and chewed on the walnuts, then opened one eye and looked at Inky.
"No. Not hate. Hate is powerful...it wants death...I dislike you. Because of your 'obsession'. Please...ow...Take care of me?"
Inky looked at her, and cocked his head. "So, you dislike me, yet you come into my shack, and ask for help? Do you understand how idiotic that is? I could leave you outside, and let you starve to death, in your own blood, and you would be just another body rotting in the streets. But I'm not going to do that, because you haven't done anything wrong to me or anyone else that warrants death."
He went back to his corner, and sat down, pulling the goggles over his face. "You can stay in my house, and eat our food. When you are all better, you can get the fuck out, because I don't like people that hate me for almost no reason. So what if I like to have sex? I can't get anyone pregnant, and no harm is done. You're just being a prick about it for whatever reason. But I don't care. You can stay, just don't bleed all over my floor."
Rebecca looked at her. "What's broken? Do you know the extent of your injuries?" Liza stared at Inky in dismay, and looked down, her voice monotone. "No. I'm no doctor...I don't know. But my arm is bleeding, and my leg hurts when I walk on it, so I use this stick." Niami sighed, and moved over beside the woman. "Don't mind him. Don't let him bother you, alright? Need anything, you can ask. Get better." He smiled, and moved back to his spot, lying down.
Rebecca nodded. "Probably broken. The leg. Niami, get a fire started, and put a dagger into it. Liza, we need to seal up where ever you are bleeding. Infection is prevalent here, and if the cut goes deeper than 1/8 of an inch, then we are going to have to seal up your skin by melting it together with the hot knife. You'll be okay. Then I'll set your leg, and you will have to rest for a couple of weeks." She said, knowledgeably.
Inky got up. "My fucking house being turned into an infirmary. Fuck that." He said as he stepped outside, and walked around the city a little bit.
Liza sighed, tensing up a bit, but she nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry..being so needy. When I left, I guess it was for...eh...a dumb reason? I don’t know. Was it a dumb reason, Becca? You are a girl, hm? You understand?" The woman clutched the bread and squeezed it tight like a stress ball as she watched Niami start a fire outside the shack door. He dipped the blade into the licking flame, and brought it to Rebecca. "You...understand..."
Niami winced sympathetically and he looked at Liza's leg, taking her hand and reassuring her. "It won't hurt so much." He winced even more as she squeezed his hand. Meliva’s chest slowly rose and fell, her breathing very slight. No one payed attention. "I hate burns..." the girl whispered to herself.
Inky came back in, looking sweaty and tired. He was wearing a long overcoat, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He threw some bandages and alcohol on the table. "Rub the alcohol on the cuts, then tightly bandage them and let them heal. Can't let a pretty girl like you get covered in burns." He lowered his goggles, and sat down cross legged in the corner, nibbling on a piece of bread indifferently.
Rebecca gawked at the quality of the bandages, and the alcohol. "Where did you get these? How...?" Inky only looked up at her and stared for a bit, before saying, "You'd be surprised the price one will pay for sex with a man who cannot make children." He said, laid down, facing the wall.
Liza, and Niami, looked almost relieved that Inky had returned. The woman even had to force herself not to smile a bit. Niami scooted closer to Rebecca as he reached over and took the alcohol and poured it on a rag, gently wiping over the cuts and gashes. The girl cringed at the contact of the rag and her raw flesh, but she lived through it. After her injuries had been wrapped, Liza looked up with tired eyes. "Thank you...Inky. Jake. You saved me a lot of pain..." She starting eating more nuts, and the bread on her lap.
Inky only grunted in response, staring at the wall. "If this jacket wasn't in the deal, I would probably not have done it. The lady was ugly, and fat, and not very clean at all. I feel fucking disgusting, and my morale is a little low right now. Please refrain from talking to me until I recover emotionally from this ordeal." Rebecca looked at her brother, and nodded. "Liza, why don't you lie down. The broken leg needs to be kept still, and we cannot have you really moving about a lot. Rainy season should be here next week. I can't wait to finally wash up and be nice and fresh!" Rebecca said, making conversation.
Liza ignored her attempt at small talk, and did as she suggested, stretching out on the opposite side of the shack from Jake Smith. She felt angry, guilty, and tired. The girl didn't quite understand why she was angry. Maybe at herself? As her thoughts changed from subject to subject, her mind slowly drifted off... Niami laid down beside her and closed his eyes as well, staying far enough away not to accidentally kick her injured leg. The floor wasn't very comfortable, but he made do. "Me either...Hopefully we get warm rain."



Inky was the first to rise, and it was early morning. He got up, and stepped over everyone, to get outside. After getting outside, he went down the hill, and into a destroyed building. He peed, and took a dump, ripping a shirt off a dead body to wipe himself. He washed his hands with a water skin he had found, and ventured back to the shack, his long dark overcoat trailing behind him. Rebecca was sleeping, leaning up against the shelf, and started as Inky walked in.
"Morning people!" He said brightly, as he helped himself to some bread. Rebecca got up, and picked at the few Wall nuts that were left. She ran her fingers through her hair, and sighed slightly. She was craving chocolate, but even outside the City of Damnation, chocolate was rather rare in these parts. She then thought of her parents. Where they thinking of her? Had they moved on? All questions she would never be able to answer. She shelled another wall nut, and popped it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully in a rather rhythmic pattern.
Niami yawned and helped himself to some rather bland water and...nothing. There was no more food left. The young man stood up and yawned again, nodding to Inky and Rebecca. "Morning. Rebecca...where is this black market? I'd like to know more about it, so perhaps I can go there, and do some trade myself." The young man glanced towards his mother and frowned slightly, putting a hand up to her forehead. Liza, remembering the pain in her left leg and arm, whined a little and tried to sit up. She managed to lean partially against the wall, supporting herself with her uninjured arm. "Morning..." Her voice was tired and somewhat monotone.
Rebecca laughed. "If I told you, I would have to kill you. What do you need?" Inky sat cross legged and removed his goggles, resting them on his forehead. He stared at Liza, with his chin in his hand, and his arm propped up on his leg by his elbow. His eyes were scanning, as he looked her up and down, and eventually met her eyes. He didn't know why he was even bothering with her, but for some reason he was content to just sit there and look at her.
Niami chuckled sheepishly, pulling his hand back. "I just thought it might be easier than to go out and risk being killed and eaten to find scraps of food...I'm hungry, and you ate all the walnuts." He smiled a bit, his eyes still on the elder woman as he fiddled with his chipped fingernails. Liza stared at Inky as well, narrowing her eyes a bit at him. She studied his face, which looked almost smug. He bothered her sometimes, and she couldn't quite understand what it was he was doing. "Yes? Need anything?"
Rebecca nodded, and looked at him. "I'll be back with food aplenty in 20 minutes. Everyone hold down the fort." She said, as she pushed open the door, and went outside, blinking in the sunlight, and rubbing her eyes. She ventured down the hill, and out of site of the people in the shack, becoming just a moving dot in the horizon. Inky chewed on the side of his tongue and shook his head, still keeping eye contact wit her. He was studying her face, and looking into her eyes, as if they would give him more information about his past, or they would unlock the secrets of her personality.
Liza's eyes locked firmly with the man's, and she tried desperately not to blink. Although, she didn't want to tear up, but she wanted to look intimidating, so she straightened her posture. Suddenly, her broken leg cramped up, and she whimpered in pain, rubbing her hipbone to try to ease the burning sensation. The woman sighed as the cramp finally began to fade, and looked away from Inky at last, waiting for Rebecca to arrive with the food. Inky gave a faint smile, and still stared at her. "So, Liza, do you forgive me for be horny?" He asked, cautiously, his voice slightly quiet. He looked at her, and put his goggles over his eyes, as if they would protect him from her answer.
Rebecca came back toward the house, some items in tow, just as Liza lifted her head up and pursed her lips at Inky, raising her eyebrows slightly. "Perhaps...Yes. I forgive you. I understand it...sort of. Just...Whatever. I guess I owe you." She smiled a bit to herself, and muttered, "I'm probably going to regret saying that."
Niami grinned and rushed outside to help carry what was in her arms. "You're a good buyer, huh? Get good deals?" Rebecca smiled. "Yes. I got two loafs of bread, a pound of jerky, a sack of walnuts and peanuts, and a little meat." She said as she handed the things to Niami. "And a top hat for my brother." With that, Rebecca went inside to present to Inky his new gift. "Jake! I got you something!"
Inky jumped up and started jumping around. "Ohhh a surprise! Lemme see thanks! Lemme see!" He said excitedly. Rebecca showed him the top hat. Inky grinned, and put it on his head, along with his goggles. "Thanks Becca!" He said, squeezing the shit out of her. "No problem. But all of that food has to last us all about a week." She said sternly. Inky sat back down, and looked at Liza. "You don't owe me anything." He said.
The woman nodded and smirked a little, almost sheepishly. "You look good in that hat. Pretty nice thing for your sister to do. I wish I had a sibling...or a family." She shrugged and leaned her head against a wall, shutting her heavy eyelids.
Niami grinned and set some things down on the table. "This is great, Becca! This is just...wow. I was thinking I would go out earlier...but it seems there's just enough where you go. Wow." He grinned, and felt the urge to hug her, but it would just be awkward, seeming as they were hardly friends. Rebecca laughed. "So eat and stuff. Make sure it lasts."
Inky looked up. "Thanks. I wish that I wasn't here. Because then I could be clean and more happy, and I would have a wife, who would always want to have sex, and my hair wouldn't be all shaved off, it would be long like it was before, and I would have a shirt, and I wouldn't be wearing someone else's boxers, and I would have a job being a gunsmith and stuff." He said distantly, as he stood. Walking over, he grabbed a slice of bread and some jerky. He ate it, chewing it thoughtfully, and sighed. Niami sat down in a corner, and nibbled the bread, smiling up at Rebecca thankfully.
"If I weren't here, I would be...a florist. I love flowers...And I would be married, clean, and maybe with a few kids of my own. They would never have to know life like this..." Liza said, moving around a bit to get comfortable. "We can only wish, I guess. and that'll still only make the hunger for normality worse. I like to think about flowers to keep my mind off subjects like those."
Inky removed his goggles and finished his slice of bread. Suddenly, he stood and sniffed at the air, like a dog. "Rain....You guys it's going to start pouring rain, and not stop for months. You better hoe this roof is good." Just as he finished talking, thunder cracked, and lightning flew across the sky in erotic patterns. As if the entire world stood still at that moment, there was silence. Suddenly, if began pouring. The roof had no leaks. Inky only grinned, took of his coat, hat, goggles, and pants, and ran outside, rubbing the warm rainwater all over his grimy skin.
Rebecca blinked. "That's more of Jake than I need to see. Ever." She said, following him outside. Liza made a noise that sounded like an animal grieving, as she desperately wished she, too, could go outside and feel the rain drip down her face. But her leg hurt too much, and she would only have one hand to wash with. Niami followed them out and grinned raising up his arms so the rain would get on his sweaty armpits. He was so happy, he started jumping up and down in joy, washing his feet and face and arms.
As the grime slipped away from Inky's body, you could see how pale he actually was. His skin was the lightest possible for a human being, and it was so soft and flawless. His armpit hair was white, and so was every other bit of hair on his body. He took off his boxers, and laid them on the ground, and carefully washed what he had struggled to keep clean for five months. He then went into the shack, and got his jeans and coat, and washed those with the warm rain water. When he set them back on the shelf to dry, he looked at Liza.
"I can draw you a warm bath later, once the basin on the roof catches enough water. Your bandages cab probably come off, and I can rub some alcohol on your gashes and what not, and rewrap them." He said, looking at her with his gray eyes, and bolting out of the shack again. Rebecca was sitting on a rock, braiding her now clean hair. She had gotten naked and washed up, and now her saturated clothes hung off her body. She was not as pale as Inky, and the tone of her skin was pretty normal. Unlike Inky's natural white hair, her's was dyed, and the dye was now washing out, along with the grease. Blonde hair showed through.
The only thing that made the two look like siblings were they're gray eyes, similar noses, and mouths. Inky looked so much different from Rebecca, because the same gene that made him infertile, also made him albino. Rebecca ventured back inside the shack, humming and braiding more of her hair. She felt clean, and suddenly had the urge to sleep. Looking at the dirt floor, she wrinkled her nose. She knew she would have to get sleeping pads at some point.
Inky frolicked in the rain, rubbing it on his head and face, cleaning his feet, jumping in mud puddles and cleaning the mud off, and was generally having a good time. When he got close to the shack, he put on his boxers, and went it. "Whoa, Becca your dye washed out. Nice." He said, as he rubbed a little alcohol on the cuts on his feet. He looked at his hands, which were now devoid of fingernails, and sighed, before putting on his now damp jeans. Rebecca smiled. "Now I don't look like a Q-tip, like you." She said. Inky only gave her a slightly hurt look, and went on the roof to check the basin, which was almost overflowing.
"Liza, you ready for a bath?" He asked. Niami tried hard not to stare at Rebecca's nude body, as he rubbed back his dark hair, and washed out his private area. He felt renewed, and wanted to roll around in the mud just so he could keep washing. Finally, he decided to go inside, and did so.
Liza nodded slowly and lifted her good arm up, using her uninjured leg as support for her body. When Niami walked in, she grabbed hold of him and pushed herself up, and grasped Inky's shoulder. "How am I supposed to get up there by the way? Unless it's..." The woman trailed off as she started to limp out.
Inky looked at her. "I'm doing to bring it down, and Rebecca can heat it with the fire. Don't be a mongoloid." He said as he walked past her, climbed on the roof, got the basin, and brought it down to the front of the shack. He put his hand in it, and shrugged. "Seems like it doesn't need to be heated to me. Pretty warm. Why don't you hop in, and I can masturbate with my now clean dick to you bathing?" He said, gesturing to the full tub. Rebecca looked at him, and cocked her head. Her hair was now completely blonde, and it matched her eyebrows. She looked much prettier, and knew so.
Liza felt utterly violated, but if she protested, she knew he would most likely have her thrown out again. The problem was, she could get undressed. "Inky...I need help. My arm is sprained, and I can't..."She paused, coughing loudly. "I can't take my clothes off. Um, Rebecca?" She limped to the basin and sighed. Niami awkwardly moved to the other side of the shack and nudged his mother awake. "Meliva. It is rainy still. Why don't you go outside and get all cleaned up?" The woman didn't awaken at first, but merely lied there, breathing shallowly. Finally, her son gave up, and with a sad expression, sat down beside her inside the shack.
Rebecca poked her head out of the shack, and looked at Liza. "I do not wash people. No. I am not a nurse, or a career of the elderly or some shit. You can either wash yourself, and stop being such a needy bitch, or I get my brother out here, and he can whack off with one hand, and wash you with the other." Rebecca said, poking her head back in, and sitting down on the floor. Inky looked up. "You guys know that it will not stop raining once for three months, right? It will not stop. She has all the time in the world to get clean." He said as he put on his goggles, and an a hand through his hair, which was ever so slowly growing back.
Liza looked down at herself, covered in dirt and nastiness, and looked into the shack again. "I don't need to be washed. I just need two hands to get these damn clothes off. Whatever. I would help you if you needed it." Frustrated, she dunked her whole body into the water with her clothing still on. The bandages were still wrapped around her injuries, and the water started to sting them. She whimpered in pain occasionally, and tried moving her bloody, dirty arm to get the clothing off. "Ahh...Ugh. Ugh!" She finally managed to take her shirt off herself, but she was afraid her leg would hurt if she tried the skirt. Finally, she got it off and started washing under her arms, but without removing the bandages.
Niami glanced at Rebecca sighed, silently looking away again. "I wish there were books to read." Rebecca sat on the sack of nuts, and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. "Damn. Yeah. We're going to stuck inside doing not much of anything for the nest few months. That's going to suck. Then, after that, when the warm dry season starts, Jake can't even go outside in the day time without getting sun burned really badly. Sucks to be you Inky!" She said.
Inky looked at her. "Shut up woman!" He went outside, and looked at Liza, lowering his goggles and smirking. "Mind if I watch, or do you want me to help? I won't do anything, if you don't want. You really look like you're struggling and in pain there." He said slowly, and quietly. Liza slowly narrowed her eyes and covered herself with her bandaged arms, sitting up a bit. "You can wash my hair." She stretched out her legs and winced, rubbing her sprained arm with the other. The girl had an urge to sing, as she always did when she washed in private, but she felt self-conscious with Rebecca so close nearby. She knew the woman cared, but she could be critical at times. "Is it bad to use soap in your hair?"
Niami grinned and looked around the inside of the shack. "Have you tried keeping a diary? You don't seem like one that might, but at least it's something to do...But there's no paper. Never mind." The young was leaned back against the wall and fiddled with whatever was on the floor near him.
Inky shook his head. "It'll help get the grease out and stuff. Lemme get what's left of my chunk. Then I'll take off your bandages, if you'll let me. I can take of your skirt, and leave if you want, so you can wash in private." He walked into the shack, got some soap, and got her hair wet, rubbing the soap on her hair carefully, then rinsing it out, being careful not to get it in her eyes. His fingernail-less hands were soft, and he was being careful, as to not hurt or irritate her.
"Let me take and clean these bandages..." He said, as he unwrapped the bandages, and started to walk away. "Do you want me to take off your skirt, so you can wash down there? I won't look if you don't want me to..." He said carefully. Liza bit her lip and sat up more, touching her clean hair. It felt smooth, and good. She wasn't sure whether she trusted him...but he was being kind to her, for the first time. No, not the first. He had let her into his home and fed and took care of her. Liza felt like she owed him. She would make him a gift later. "Yes, please...Just look away if you can. Thank you." She stared down at the gash in her leg, cringing at the site of it.
Inky put the bandages on the ground, and walked over, awkwardly taking off the skirt without looking and putting it in her pile of clothes. "I'm going to wash this along with the bandages." He said as he walked away, to the back of the shack, and started scrubbing the clothes with a rare liquid soap, until they were clean. He walked back over, averted his gaze, and put the clothes on a rock, without saying anything. "Call me if you need me." He said simply, and walked back into the shack to escape the onslaught of torrential rain.
Liza sighed once he was gone, and began to really wash herself. Her face felt good as she rubbed behind the ears, and down by her legs. She washed out her armpits and inside her ears. She was surprised at how dirty she had really been. Finally, the woman got out and picked up her clothes, wringing them out and putting them on. She had trouble with the skirt, but the shirt took little effort. Her arm hurt less, but her leg still stung. Liza wrapped the bandages back around her wounds, and limped to the house, using her walking stick for support. Before she stepped inside, the girl ripped the bottom part of the skirt off, as it was torn and tattered, and it bothered her. Then, she limped back inside, and lowered herself to the floor. "I feel much better now...At first, the water stings, but it gets better. Thanks, Inky. But I have a question." Her voice was quiet for some reason, like she didn't want to wake something. "Is the water safe to drink?"
"The rainwater? Sure, if you can find a clean container to catch it in." He said, as he polished his goggles with one of the rags she had found last week. He seemed indifferent, as he laid down on his back, listening to the patter of the rain on the ceiling. He crossed his arms over his thin chest, and only sighed. Rebecca was digging grime out from under her chipped toenails.



Niami’s eyes opened slowly, groggily, at the sound of rushing air. His mother’s eyes were rolled back in her head, and her breathing had become harsh and rapid. The boy rushed up closer to her, suddenly wide awake. “Momma! Oh my god, Mel!” Sprinting for a rag and soaking it in the rain outside, Niami brought it up to the woman’s burning forehead with panic gleaming in his eyes. One leg reached out and kicked Rebecca right in the ribs, jolting her awake instantly.
“What the hell are you doing, you jackass?! At four in the morning, at least?” She was obviously still too deep in sleep to see or hear correctly, but in a couple seconds she was focused again. Her eyes went from irritated to completely serious, her hands working too quickly for Niami to see. She took and grabbed and snatched things from every corner of the room, drenching another cloth in water and wiping down her arms and legs.
Inky was still fast asleep in his little corner, his hands down his pants from the previous night. Niami shuddered at the memory. Liza was sleeping as well, her breathing shallow and silent.
After about twenty minutes of wiping, soaking, and shoving different things down Mel’s throat, the military medic went silent. The old woman’s son just stared, watching his mother’s breathing become slower and slower, quieter and quieter, until it stopped. Becca was silent. She slowly reached out her hand and grasped the boy’s arm tightly.
What have I done?

First of all, welcome to YWS!! Your story is pretty good so far, and there's only a few errors that I saw, so good job! Second, I see absolutely no indenting! You must indent with every new paragraph, or else your work look like a huge block of words no one would want to read! It's okay for now, but make sure to fix that next time. Indenting, well to me, makes the piece look more organized and transitional. Thirdly,.. it makes me sad to see even just a little bit of plagiarism. I'm really hoping you made it up on your own, and didn't take this title from The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafron. I know how great it sounds though, and was actually pretty tempted to use this title myself, but well, I would be plagiarizing then. Overall good work, but plagiarism is a HUGE problem in the literary world, so make sure to be careful of that!

Two more thing! If you put all the chapters together at once, it's seems WAY too long and clustered. Instead, make this into a novel and create its own page for it. All of the chapters will be together, and you wouldn't have to put it all in a reply. Oh! And you should only post a couple of works, or for your case, chapters, a day. That way, reviewing your work will be a lot easier for other people.