Survivalist Plot: All That Scarcity Promotes is Desperate Men and Tyrants

[meat_mooks]

Day 3 and 4

The remaining hours of the night are tense and ugly, marred by the smell of blood and the complete distrust sewn by Bridge's death. When the sun finally rises, it feels as if the night's been far too long and yet their chance to rest was cruelly short.

The sun peeks over the horizon and onto the parched desert. In the bright sky, if one squints, it's possible to make out that lights are still flashing on the radio tower. The rest of the town is dead, as usual.

Comments

[theboywhodied]

"Blood?"

Cedric pales, unable to resist asking another stupid (rhetorical) question. What are they now, vampires? He thinks about asking that before looking at Howard again. He's serious...and alive, right? There are signs that the others have been drinking blood, and they're alive. Obviously the side effects aren't terrible yet either.

With that in mind, he swallows his morals, then the blood, somehow managing to choke an entire mouthful down. Hell. It hurts like hell.

And now there's food, too? It's not all that different from the meat-making process, he supposes. He's just never been this close to it before. Taking a bite of that is slightly easier, but it's still slow going.

"Have any of you turned into bats?" Cedric tries to joke, pressing a hand against his mouth immediately afterward. Got to keep steady somehow.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard laughs and runs a hand over his face. "Not yet, but I wouldn't put it past Diana to chomp on someone's neck for the hell of it. This is nothing, though. I tried to eat a candle once back home. Turns out candles aren't edible."

He drinks some more from his bottle. From the way Cedric's looking, the other group probably hasn't found much water either. Howard reaches over and gently touches Cedric's wrist, to see if the skin there is as dry as his.

"But we haven't found any other sources of water yet. We can't be picky. Just think of it as really flavorful stew or au jus or something. And don't you dare puke it up." Howard wags a finger. "We don't waste calories like that here."

[theboywhodied]

Cedric's smile withers. The reference to a candle would've been funny elsewhere, and he's almost laughed at similar things before, but it's finally hitting Cedric. All of this is real, it's serious, and they're in trouble unless he follows their advice.

He really doesn't like it, but Howard's touch draws attention to just how much his body is withering from dehydration. He sucks it up and swallows another small mouthful, eyes fixed firmly on the floorboards until most of the foul substance is absorbed. That aftertaste will be permanent.

"When's my shift?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Shift?" Howard perks up for a moment, then he looks around and peeks through the crack of the bathroom door to make sure Diana's still sleeping. Just in case, he starts leading Cedric back to the other room, which for some reason smells like burning wood. "You mean you're staying with us?"

Not that it isn't dangerous or has its own drawbacks, but Howard will rest approximately ten percent easier knowing he can keep an eye on Cedric. He's kept certain ill-equipped people alive before, and at least Cedric isn't both drunk and an idiot.

He's about to say something further when he starts coughing, and a dark plume of smoke seeps in under the door as he pieces together exactly why the room smells like burning.