I Am a Stray (Part 3)

Parts 1 & 2

“What a terrible night.” I mumbled rubbing my eyes. “I really need to get my situation under control today.” I thought. I couldn’t keep going with a consistent lack of supplies and a no place to stay.

The sunlight was creeping in from the cracks in the window that the mattress wasn’t covering. “I should try and get a better grasp of my surroundings now that the sun is out in full force.” I muttered making my way over to the window. My feet crunched on the broken glass from the mirror as I heaved the mattress over a couple inches to get a better view out of the window. I covered my eyes with my arms for a minute as they adjusted to light until I could finally get a clear look at what I was working with.

There was a fissure running down parts of the street as the road split down the middle, and the street was littered with rusted cars, long abandoned by their owners. Telephone poles, street lights, and trees were either lining the street or resting inside of buildings. There’d been no vehicles traveling down these roads for a length of time, so vegetation was starting to grow on the road and up the sides of the buildings. Debris from the broken structures dotted the street from the skyscrapers from which they fell. Hardly any buildings had any windows left as the looters smashed and grabbed everything they could find of any use after the event.

“It doesn’t look like anything of value is left, damn it.” I thought dejectedly. Just as I was about to turn away I saw something round the corner in the direction of the subway. “Oh fuck” I screamed in my head. Darting behind the window sill, I peaked back out the window and saw that it was a man running on the opposite side of the street from where I was with his head hunched over. I wasted no time running to the door. “People mean supplies!” I declared urgently, and I wasn’t going to lose this opportunity. I got to the door and stopped, before running back inside to grab a razor-edged shard of the broken mirror. “Can never be too careful.” I said, quietly trying to convince myself.

Down at the door to the diner, I saw the man running towards the corner on the left side of the street.  The man kept looking back as if checking to make sure he wasn’t being followed. But there was so much debris and cars scattered about the street that it was easy for me to stay out his line of sight. “Damn he’s paranoid.” I complained to myself as he took a right around the corner ahead.

Peering around the corner I saw the man enter into a relatively small building. “Where the hell is this guy going?” I thought as I followed him into the building.

The building would have been pitch black were it not for the sunlight coming in from the outside. “Where did he go?” I wondered, desperately scanning the building. It looked like it used to be a hotel of some sort. Straight ahead there was, what I could only guess, the receptionist desk. Chairs were strewn about the lobby floor from where I couldn’t figure out, and didn’t have time to anyway. There were stairs on either side of the receptionist desk, although only the one on the left was usable as the one on the right was smashed in. Looking at the intact staircase I made out a figure creeping around the corner at the top of the stairs. “There you are!” I shouted in my head as I made my way up the stairs as quietly as I could.

I made my around the corner at the top of the stairs and found myself in a long dark hallway. Doors were spread out evenly down the corridor. “This was definitely some sort of hotel before things all went to hell.” I mused as I saw the man enter the last room on the right all the way at the end of the hall. “I’m not going to be able to get anything with that guy…” my thought was interrupted by the sound of screaming. “WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!” I heard a deep almost animal like voice boom out from the room where the man entered. I ran down the passageway as quietly as I could trying to figure out what was going on, and if it was something I could capitalize on. “Let go of me you beastly freak.” I heard another voice call out, this one though was much less deep and frightening.

“Alright one quick glance and then we’ll figure out what to do.” I told myself trying to settle my serves. The two men were still screaming but there words were no longer making sense to me as I was in my own little world as I stole a glance into the room. “Oh shit, that guy is huge.” I said pulling my head out of the room. The tower beast of a man had the smaller guy that I had been following pinned up against a wall in what looked like a living room. I did manage to pull eyes away from the walking mountain for a few seconds and saw that there was a door immediately to the right of entrance to the apartment. “I have to go in. I need supplies or I will die just like that poor bastard in there is going to.” I said trying to convince myself. “Fuck it.” I screamed in my head as I crept into the room, booking it into the room to the right of entrance.

I found myself in what appeared to be an empty kitchen. “Where the hell is this guy’s food?” I complained. There was a door on the other side of the kitchen that was open. “WERE YOU TRYING TO STEAL FROM ME YOU LITTLE SHIT?” I heard the beast man scream out accompanied by the sound of glass breaking.  “Oh shit, I need to hurry that guy is not going to last much longer.” I whispered urgently making my way into the next room. The door to the living room where the two men were fighting was open, but I could see a stash of food on the other side of the room. “Jackpot!” I thought excitedly making my way over to food. “This must be my lucky day.” I whispered bending down to pick up some of the food. As soon I picked up something up some sort of an alarm started screaming in the room. “Oh no, that’s so far from good.” I squeaked out.

(Note. As with the prior sections I would love all feedback as I continue to write this!)