Fruits and Vegetables are Okay

The walk down the hallway felt like an eternity, but in reality, it took us around fifteen minutes before we found our destination. However, we actually almost walked past the place as we couldn't read Jorzan writing. It must've been fatigue that led to us neglecting the fact that we couldn't understand Jorzan writing, but lucky for us, one of us did. We would've continued wandering aimlessly down the halls if it weren't for Noah who stopped us and told us that we just walked past the kitchen.

We were all taken by surprise by his words, all subjected to varying degrees of shock. We all just stared at him in silence as he pointed innocently at the door with the Jorzan writing on the door plate spelling out "Kitchen". It was Loyd who broke the stalemate as he walked up to the closed door and turned the doorknob. When he shined the light in, the room was, in fact, the kitchen.

"Then does that door say 'Cafeteria'?" Mura asked Noah as she shined her phone's flashlight on the doorplate.

"Yeah," Noah nodded his head.

"You can read Jorzan?" Erith frowned and looked at him in a surprised and yet still doubtful expression on her face.

"I've learned some when I was younger," Noah explained. However, I could tell that he was lying.

"Let's go in and see if there's anything to eat," Zaksus broke the silence and urged us. "I'm hungry."

"Let's go in," Alvelyn forced a smile as she took the lead and followed Loyd into the large kitchen. She waited by the doorway with a hand on the door, waiting for everyone to enter. When we did all enter, she immediately closed the door shut. She looked over at me, met my eye, and nodded.

"Does the light in here work as well?" Irina asked as she looked around while shining her phone's flashlight. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "I think I found a light switch."

"Try it," Mura nodded.

"Let me see..."

Irina walked over to the light switch on the wall and brought her hand to it, flipping it. Right after she had flipped the light switch, the light bulbs overhead flickered, shining and then not shining. This pattern continued for a few seconds before the lights finally stabilized and maintained a constant glow that is accompanied by a soft humming sound.

"It worked!" Irina exclaimed happily.

Although the lights did turn on, it was only two light bulbs situated next to each other near the center of the kitchen. In addition, the illumination wasn't very bright as well, rather dim to be honest. Therefore, there were still a large area of the kitchen covered in the shroud of darkness. But...having a light is tremendous for the morale of the group.

"Let's see if there's anything edible here," Luna whispered as she began opening the cabinets.

"Luna," Erith said with an astonished expression on her face as she looked at her friend with wide eyes. "Are you not scared that somethings gonna jump out at you?"

"What would?" Luna looked over at Erith, tilting her head somewhat in confusion.

"Is it that you don't know or you just don't care?" Noah looked over at Luna and frowned.

"Huh?" Luna appeared quite confused by the others' questioning, but nonetheless, she continued the search for food, opening the closed cabinets one by one.

While the others searched, I walked over to Noah and tapped him on the shoulder. Once he looked over his shoulders at me, I leaned forward and covered my mouth with one hand.

"You could read Jorzan writing?" I whispered into his ear. "I thought you lost your powers."

"Yeah," Noah responded in a similar volume. "I don't need my powers to understand something that I already know. And my powers aren't lost. They're just sealed away."

"Oh..." I slowly backed up from Noah, taking a step back so that I was at a comfortable distance.

"Hey Alevian," Noah then called my name.

"Yeah?" I responded, following his movements with my eyes. I watched as he walked over to a counter that is underneath the cover of darkness.

"Don't you find it weird that there's fruits here?" he said.

"Rotten fruits? No."

"I mean fruits that are perfectly fine." Noah's words surprised me, but maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. I already know there's something else out there with us right now, but...to think that thing would leave food here, in the kitchen? That just means whatever is out there is human.

"Fruits?" Zaksus heard our conversation and walked over. "What the hell?" He exclaimed when he shined his phone's flashlight on the counter. "There's so many!"

Zaksus was right. On the counter, there were plenty of fruits like strawberries and blue berries piled up in a small mountain. Then there were the vegetables. For some reason, there were also some carrots, cabbage, and lettuce.

"This is not normal!" Zaksus exclaimed. "Don't you dare tell me that these things' been here for seventy years."

"They look like they're picked recently..." Muria observed.

"That's cause they are," Mura commented. "Someone's been here recently."

"Another person that's lost?" Irina asked.

"Maybe," Mura nodded her head.

"I wouldn't bet that highly on that," I sighed and said, knowing that there's no point in concealing the entire truth now. "That bridge was still intact when we crossed, so there is a way for that person to head back."

"What if they came in another way?" Muria said. "Another way that we don't know about and got lost."

"..." I was at a lost for words as Muria's reasoning was logical and sound. However, since I've already spoken up, it would be rather awkward for me to just stop here. At least, I have to warn them.

"What Alevian is saying is we should still be careful," Alvelyn finished for me after seeing the situation I was in. "We don't know if that person will see us an enemy or not."

"Why would he?" Irina asked.

"Because we don't know," Alvelyn answered. "That's why we should always be careful."

"I guess it doesn't hurt to be cautious," Loyd nodded his head.

"So now that we got food," Noah said out loud as he popped a strawberry into his mouth. "Let's eat."

"We shouldn't eat all of it," Irina said as the others walked up to the counter to grab their share. "That person might need it to survive."

I was going to stop Irina, but Alvelyn beat me to it. With a hand on Irina's shoulder, Alvelyn shook her head. It would appear that Irina understood what Alvelyn meant and quieted down. Her countenance appeared somewhat guilty, but she still walked over to the counter with Alvelyn and began eating.

The fruits and vegetables were all fine to be eaten raw, and since there were plenty, we all had our fair share. But since there were no protein, I was still somewhat hungry after eating. I suppose the situation is the same for the others, but I guess not having to starve is already a blessing.

Zaksus grabbed the flashlight from the counter top and started walking to the opposite end of the kitchen where the lights did not completely illuminate.

"What're you doing?" Loyd asked.

"I'm trying to see if there's something else," Zaksus said. "I'm still kinda hungry. What the hell!"

"What is it?" My body tensed as I turned and looked over in the direction that he had walked off in. In the darkness, I could barely make out the outline of his body with the aid of the flashlight's illumination.

"T-there's meat here," Zaksus said. "On this cutting board. It's still good too!"

"Meat?" Noah jogged over followed by the others as they walked over.

"It's really...meat?" Mura frowned, probably from confusion about the current situation.

"Meat...in this place?" Muria also questioned.

"Maybe the person was hunting animals?" Irina suggested.

"But...that's strange," Erith added.

"Is there a way to start a fire?" Zaksus asked as he looked around. It seemed as if Zaksus's mind has been altered somewhat by hunger. "There's some firewood! Noah, let's start a fire in that furnace over there and see if we can cook this thing."

Suspicious about the whole scenario, I decided that I should go over and check it out as well. Therefore, I started walking in the direction of where the others were huddled around. In the darkness, I saw a flame appear from Noah's lighter that then soon started a small fire in the furnace. There was the smell of wood beginning to burn, but...in the air...I can swear I smelled something unpleasant. It was so faint, almost nonexistent...but I am sure that it is real. I paused in my steps and began sniffing the air in search for the source of the smell.

The smell was a nauseating scent, and the more I focused on it, the stronger it became. Because of this smell, I almost want to throw up. However, I controlled myself since that food I had just eaten must be digested for energy. I did not allow the sudden urge to throw up halt my search for the source of the stench, and finally, I located it. Directly to the left of me and against the wall was a metal door. It would appear that the stench came from the crevices of the door.

I turned away from the group to face the door. Slowly, I walked up to the rusty door and placed my hand on the door handle. After turning it, I began pulling the door open. The door was rather heavy as it seemed to be made of metal, probably to make it airtight. However, that was the least of my concern. The light in the room past this door was on, illuminating the interior for me. Seeing that scene...it made what I ate come back up, but at the last second, I forced it back down my stomach.

"I wouldn't eat that meat if I were you," I said out loud to the others.

"Huh?" Zaksus looked over at me with a bewildered expression on his face. It's almost as if he sees me as crazy... "Why?"

"Don't eat that meat!" I repeated myself in a fierce voice as I shut the door and stomped over to where they were and slapped the meat onto the ground. I then wiped my hands ferociously on the clean parts of the kitchen counter.

"What the hell?" Zaksus looked over at me with a hint of anger in his eyes. "You just wasted perfectly good food."

"I wouldn't call that food..." I muttered.

"Zaksus," Loyd said, stepping between Zaksus and I. "Stop."

"Yeah," Mura also added in as she placed a hand on Zaksus's shoulder to get him to calm down.

That room...that room is where the creature the meat belonged to was butchered. The walls and floor in that room was stained by blood. Lots and lots of blood...What I saw...multiple headless and limbless human torso that is cut open in the stomach hanging from hooks dangling from the ceiling, missing all the guts...Numerous thighs in bathtub like container with the feet sticking up towards the sky... An arm cut in half from the elbow by the bone saw...And...a bucket filled with heads...