“This is absolutely disgusting….”
While gulping water, I held up the wrapper of the protein bar I had just taken a bite out of.
Milk Chocolate Chip, Caramel Carrot
“Caramel Carrot… What monster eats this,”
Water did not dull the sour aftertaste. A rotten carrot would be a better description of this disgusting thing. I was about to throw the rest away but thought better of it and instead placed it back in my pocket. Throwing away food right now was not wise.
I was growing increasingly hungry, but the worry about what I had been seeing was suppressing the thought of food.
We had been walking and went through some apartments, houses, and other buildings, while we made our way through the city. So many had broken doors or windows; usually, only food was missing from those we entered. Jewelry, TVs, Hi-Fi, and Computers were left untouched.
There were collapsed buildings; some had burned down, and surprisingly, some of the fires had not spread to adjacent structures.
I had just come out of a hardware store, where I had bought, sorry, I meant to say stolen, a few items. They had an excellent deal on batteries, flashlights, a crowbar, some rope, and a few other things small enough to carry. Oh, and when I said deal, I meant free deal.
Standing by the hardware store, I looked at the burnt-down supermarket on the other side of the parking lot. I had seen it before entering the hardware store and was again eyeing it, feeling annoyed at not being able to recover any food from it.
I spotted an older rusty car in the parking lot and thought it might be old enough to hot-wire. But would there be enough gas in it to get far? And would it emit too much noise? Maybe I could find another that was not on its last legs.
Then again, where would I drive to? In what direction was help? I had realized this was not my hometown hours ago, so I had no clue where the police, military, or fire station was. I did not even know what city I was in.
No, driving around in a car would be a bad idea. I started chuckling, the amusement of my situation, the absurdity. So here I was, trying to stay out of sight of a troll, a real, giant, man-hunting troll…
As quickly as my chuckling had started, it stopped, as my morbid situation no longer seemed so funny.
***
The stench here was horrid. I was standing in the middle of a small store, using a flashlight to search canned goods for anything I could eat, and just chucking various canned soups, beans, and types of canned meats into a sports bag, trying to ignore the smell of spoiled meat and whatever else was decomposing on the shelves and refrigerators that were without power.
This was my second time in this store, and I wanted to get as much as possible, so I brought a little garden cart I had liberated from a store down the street.
You might be asking yourself, why was I not using a shopping cart? They are larger and can carry more. Well, a shopping cart has smaller and stiffer wheels, which means that the small wheels will get stuck in every nook and cranny, and when was the last time you pushed a shopping cart on asphalt? Do you remember how much vibration goes through those small hard wheels and rattles the cart? Man, the noise those things can make.
Initially, I wanted enough food for at least a few days, but with this, the cart was almost full, and I might have enough canned goods for over a week.
I stopped at the magazine stand on my way out, trying to spot a newspaper or anything that would give me a hint of what had happened here and where everyone had gone. But all I found was the usual reality trash and celebrity gossip.
I instead grabbed a candy bar, well two… four, OK, I took the box. Are you happy now?
While dragging my brand-new cart, I was munching on a Snickers and stopped at a sign on a bus stop pole.
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Maytown
WILD WEST FEST
225th Anniversary
Rewatch the battle of September 7.1885, with the biggest re-enactment this county has seen in the last decade.
August 15-16
Re-enactment on Friday and Saturday at 4 pm.
Cosplay Judging Saturday, Kids 2 pm, Adults 3 pm
Festival fest 6 pm Saturday
Scan the QR-Code to buy tickets now
----------------------------------------
While walking through the city, I had seen this poster and others a few times. Looking at the Festival feast date on the poster, I smiled and thought, soon I would have a small feast of my own. Then a shiver ran through me when I thought back to eating that milk chocolate chip caramel carrot protein bar the first time I had seen this poster.
The worst part was, ten minutes later, I found a store with a bit of none spoiled food. Which meant I hadn't needed to eat the last of that awful, awful thing. But I quickly looked down at the cart full of food and smiled. Soon I’ll be eating something even better tasting.
After a few steps, I stopped and looked at the poster on the other side of the poll. Again, I had a strange feeling I was missing something.
Have you ever felt that you are missing something obvious, something important, something big, right in front of you? Yeah, well, I was experiencing that feeling again at this very moment.
The first time I walked past this poster on this pole, I stared at it, wondering what that feeling was. I had thought the man from the apartment complex basement dressed as a cowboy was the result of this feeling, and given the festival on this poster was Wild West themed, it made sense. But when walking passed it again a few hours ago, that feeling returned, just as it had now.
Five minutes later, I was back at my temporary abode. I went around the back and opened the sliding door, which I had pried open hours before with a crowbar.
I dragged the cart in, went to the bedroom door, and opened it. A second later, I was assaulted by a vicious beast, overjoyed to see me.
“Hi Sam, did you miss me?” I said while trying to pet her. She was moving around me faster than a kid on a sugar high.
I left her here after deciding to go back to the store for more food, the other stores we had been in had essentially been cleared out of food, but a few we had entered still contained some. At a few stores, she had frozen when the smell of spoiled meat and other wares in the store hit us, refusing to go further in.
Then when trying to leave her outside, she tried to pull herself free to follow me. I had not seen her act like that since she was a pup, and I had yet to start dog training with her. So it worried me. The smell inside those stores was terrible, and it scared her enough that she did not want me to go back in alone.
Sam calmed down a few seconds later and sniffed me while her body almost froze.
“Yeah, I know, I stink,” I said.
I returned to the cart and grabbed some new clothing and packets of baby wipes I had strategically acquired from a store.
Going into that last supermarket left a smell not just on my clothes but also my skin. So I put my old clothing in a garbage bag and spent the next while cleaning myself with baby wipes. Yes, I know I could have used a few bottles of water, but I was unsure when I could find more, so I was hesitant to use them to wash myself.
One of the reasons I had chosen this house to stay in was the gas grill on the back porch. I had just used it to warm some beef stroganoff in a can, and sitting on the porch was eating while going through the newspapers I had found.
I had thought about sitting inside so as not to be visible. But it had been over 12 hours since the last time I had heard any sounds in the city. I was curious if there were still people in the city, and I wanted to know where the troll was, so I could go in whatever direction it was not going.
The newspapers did not give any hint as to what had happened. The latest newspaper I could find was from the start of July. I had quickly skimmed through a few of these when I first saw them and was disappointed not to find anything.
Now I was giving them a more detailed look to find any hints, but they contained nothing. It was frustrating not knowing what had happened.
I looked over at the three phones on the table. They still showed different times and dates, and all showed no cellular connection. One of the phones was my own, and the other two I had taken from an electronics store I had broken into.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
When I first broke into the store, I had just taken a random phone and turned it on. But after a while, I had turned on several. I knew that even a phone without a sim card should be able to call 911, but none of them could. I had found some prepaid sim cards and put them in two phones to bring along, hoping one would work.
Even their GPS would not work, nor would the satellite emergency call on the iPhone. I knew the military could disable GPS for public use in case of war. But could they disable the emergency satellite phone connection?
I stared at the half-eaten can of beef stroganoff. I had lost my appetite when going through these newspapers. I wished I had found just a hint of why the city was deserted. Oh, and let’s not forget about that freaking troll running around.
That thought made me move my gaze over to my little notebook. I had taken a small notebook from a store when I found myself walking in a circle.
At first, I tried to draw some streets and a few buildings to map where I was going. But instead, I quickly discarded that idea and started to write down the street names I was walking on, adding a new one each time I changed streets.
I figured that when I found a map, I could use it to track where I had been.
Then, I also started to write down strange things and thoughts about what was happening.
----------------------------------------
—— Questions ——
Did I get hit by lightning?
Not in my town.
What town is this?? Maytown
What day/month is this ?? August, maybe?
Missing four months of memory, what happened?
Am I still lying in that forest? Unconscious, dreaming this?
Or am I in a coma in a hospital bed?
Have I finally gone insane from staring at my computer screen all day, just as my mother warned me about as a kid?
—— City status and strange stuff ——
- Where are all the people?
- Not many vehicles
- Why are most stores not robbed if a riot or something like it happened?
- Only food is usually missing; why?
- Electronics stores are, for the most part, untouched. Why?
- Newspaper shows no sign of what happened
- Many food stores have burned down. Why?
- City evacuated when? From the amount of food spoilage, it must be weeks.
—— Stranger stuff ——
- Everything I have experienced is strange……..
- Troll
- Troll
- FREAKING TROLL
- Cowboy, man?? Wild West reenactment
- Buildings fires. Fires stopped before they should not have. How?
- Dead people. Why has no one taken care of their bodies?
—— Things to steal Strategically acquired ——
Underwear
Clothing
Hard water bottles
Water cleansing stuff
Food
Cart
New Backpack
Radio that runs on batteries, AM if possible?
Compass
----------------------------------------
I had found bodies here and there, but fewer than I would have expected if a disaster had happened. I also expected a lot more looting from stores. However, people appeared to have left quickly and only looted food and basic supplies.
I was also confused about the burned buildings. Most looked to have been supermarkets, restaurants, and other places that might contain food.
That was not the strangest part. The fires had stopped too soon, not taking more buildings or even burning whole buildings in a few cases. I could understand if the fire department stopped the fires, that could have prevented the fire from spreading. But I have yet to see a single firetruck or police cruiser, or many other types of vehicles.
If people drove themselves out of the city, why? And to where?
What could cause a mass evacuation of a city? A flood or disaster? But what disaster could cause this? I repeated to myself. It looked like the city had been evacuated weeks ago.
Wait… a documentary I had seen flashed through my mind. What were those names?
Fukushima and Chernobyl.
CRAP!!!! I thought. Could this be a mass evacuation? Is this city close to a nuclear plant? If something went wrong, they would evacuate a large area, like 10,20, maybe 50 kilometers around it.
‘That could explain everything,’ I thought and smiled, thinking I had solved the mystery.
Wait… the troll. I forgot about the troll. My hands hit my face in self-embarrassment. How would radiation cause a troll? This was not a Marvel comic where a bit of radiation creates monsters.
“HA,” I blurted out. I just thought of a brilliant name for it.
Trollzilla
I have to write that down before I forget it.
After a few minutes, I threw the notebook back on the table and looked at the time.
22.55
Another three and a half hours, I thought while glancing up at the sun. Time to find something fun to do while I wait.
The house was devoid of none digital entertainment. They had a room with three computers, but with no power, I could not turn them on. I searched the kid’s room, thinking he must have some comics or something else to read, and “BINGO.”
Well, it has been a few years since I have seen one of these. The kid had Donal Duck comics. I went back outside and saw Sam sleeping next to the seat I had been sitting in. So I sat down again next to her, put my legs up, and began reading something I had not read since I was a kid.
A while later, after I had read a few comics, I got stuck on a page. I was getting that strange feeling again, like I was missing something, and was looking over the pages wondering why. The page I was looking at had Donald driving a bus while arguing with his uncle Scrooge. They were arguing about…
“I am so bloody stupid,” I said out loud.
I shot out of the chair, ran inside, and got a screwdriver and pocket knife. I then hurried back outside.
“Sam, come on, we are going for a run, “ I told her.
She looked groggily at me, not seeming very interested in what I had to say.
“Walk, “ I said. “We are going for a walk,”
That pepped her up. She shot up with her tail wagging and walked over to me. I hurried to the front of the house and set off toward the supermarket.
A few minutes later, I stopped at that wild west sign that had given me that strange feeling earlier. I looked down the pole and saw the cylinder I was after.
It took me a minute, but I managed to pry the container open and pull out a piece of paper. I was the bus schedule for this bus stop.
“Let’s see,” I said while examining the schedule.
“There you are,” I said, smiling.
I counted the stops, seventeen. I was just seventeen stops away from Maytown’s station. There had to be a map there showing me the city’s layout. That meant if I was lucky, I might be able to find a police station tomorrow.
I glanced up at the sun. “Tomorrow…” I said uneasily.
I folded the schedule, put it in my pocket, and looked at Sam.
“Come on, “ I said and started to walk back.
We had just stepped on the driveway to our little house. When I heard a loud noise from the back. I froze, then looked at the garage shed. I moved over quickly and grabbed the large garden fork.
I slowly looked around the corner of the back. I could not see anything, so I took a few more steps, then heard a loud THUNK.
I turned my head to look over at the corner of the porch. There was a large raccoon, no, wait… its tail is hairless and… That is a rat, a bloody big rat… With its head stuck in my can of beef…
‘That thief,’ I thought.
I stiffened when I heard Sam growling next to me. The rat froze. Sam barked.
With its head still stuck in the can, the rat took off directly into a wall. It made a loud THUNK noise again.
Sam took a few steps forward, and my mind raced. I was afraid she and the rat would start fighting and her getting hurt.
Just a second later, I was already moving toward the rat.
The rat was walking backwards while trying to claw off the can, stuck to its head. Barely two seconds later, I was spearing the garden fork into the side of the rat.
The rat freaked out, and its movement caused me to lose my grip on the fork.
It screamed. Then ran straight into the wall again. It rolled over, causing the handle of the garden fork to hit the ground with a bang. It righted itself, heaving heavy breaths, and walked forward toward me. I looked to my side and grabbed Sam’s collar, pulling her back with me.
I could hear the rat breathing heavily inside the can. Pulling Sam back with me, I contemplated what to do. I considered retrieving something pointy from the shed to stick into the rat.
Sam barked, and the rat took off in the opposite direction, stopping first when it slammed into the garden fence.
Writhing in pain, the rat finally stopped moving after about a minute. I was still holding onto Sam. I looked down at her.
“Stay,” I said to her as I let go of her collar.
I slowly walked over to the rat. The garden fork’s handle was still firmly stuck in the side of the rat. I kicked the end of the handle, expecting the rat to move.
I stood still for a few seconds, watching the rat for any movement. Then I bent down, put my hand around the end of the fork’s handle, and started to lift it. The rat still did not move. Grabbing hold of the handle with both hands, I leaned forward, pressing the fork deeper into the rat, then finally using a foot to push it even deeper.
After staring at it for a minute, I turned back to Sam. She was still standing, waiting for me to release her from her command.
Grabbing her collar, I led her into the bedroom and closed the door. Then went back outside, into the shed, put on some gloves, and took out the wheelbarrow.
Standing over the rat, I wondered how to get it into the wheel barrel. This thing was larger than a cat, maybe the size of a beagle.
After some lifting, I managed to get it on the wheel barrel. I think this rat weighed more than Sam. Its tail was still sticking out of the wheel barrel. It must be at least a meter long.
I looked at the rat’s head. It was bigger than my fist. I was unable to see its whole head, as the front of it, just passed its eyes, was still stuck in the can. The can… It could smell the food.
I walked back to the porch table, examined it, then looked under and around the table to see if the rat had pushed anything down. I only found an empty Snickers wrapper from earlier.
I went back inside, took the trash bag with the smelly clothe and baby wipes, and then retrieved the garbage bag from the kitchen. Then walked back outside and dumped everything on the wheel barrel.
I then started rolling the thing out in front of the house and continued down the street. Ten minutes later, I stopped at the back of another house and left the wheel barrel with everything there.
Just as I got back to the house, it started to rain. I looked up but could not see any clouds. I grabbed the newspapers, comics, and my notebook from the porch table and had just managed to walk into the house when it began to pour.
I opened the bedroom so Sam could come out and walked back to the living room with her following close behind me.
The rain was pouring down, and it looked like the grass lawn was drowning already. It had barely been a minute since it started.
Thirty minutes later, the rain stopped. With a bit of apprehension, I went outside and glanced up, then took out the pocket watch I had found almost a day ago. I had adjusted its time to be the same as my phone.
I thought about tomorrow. I would hopefully reach the town station tomorrow, find a map and then maybe find a police station. Perhaps even find people. I glanced up again.
I heard vibrating inside.
Walking back inside, I looked at my phone, wishing it was another notification, then turned off its alarm and reset it.
2.30
I had now been awake for over 24 hours. I was tired and wanted to sleep.
Taking a knife from the kitchen and returning to the living room, I closed the sliding door, jammed the knife into the bottom of the door’s back, and double-checked it locked the door in place.
I walked over to a table, took out my notebook, and added the following.
----------------------------------------
- Giant rats with tails over a meter long
- Learn to reload and use the gun
- Follow the bus schedule to the station
- The sun…..
----------------------------------------
I stared at the last note.
The sun had not moved for 24 hours.