Chapter 4 - Rotting flesh

It has been few days now since the moon had crashed into the atmosphere. But the sufferings didn't end. There was mass destruction going on around them. Most of the inhabitable building had collapsed. Thankfully, the abandoned building they took shelter in was still intact. Its solid walls held through the crash and minimized the damage to their bodies.

Only a few hundred survived. Luckily, they were some of the few.

Another mystery was that miraculously, her ribs and leg healed in just a day. It made her mother joyful.

But they were not prepared for what was to come after. It was even more gruesome. The city's main drainage system collapsed and gutter ran in the streets. It had polluted the water supply as well. Few water bottles they found were scavenged from those collapsed buildings. Rescue teams worked day and night, saving as much as they can, but they couldn't save all.

Only in a day or two a dreadful stench started spreading near the shelter. It was the stench of rotting flesh. The bodies that were not rescued from under the collapsed buildings started to rot.

"Ew mom, I can't even breath" Mina cried closing her nose with her mouth.

"Here wear this," Reya gave her one of the surgical mask she found in the hospital ruins.

Mina wore it and scrunched her nose. "I can still smell it." She started pulling the elastic straps and letting go; it slapped her cheeks with a snap. Frowning, she just gazed at her nose, cross-eyed.

Reya giggled at her antics and said, "It will be fine in a few days, so until then hold on to this." She pointed to the mask on her face and booped her cute button nose.

"Reya, have you found any food today?" Her mother said with a frown marring her forehead.

She sighed and shook her head.

The city fell into Famine and drought. They were able to sustain for a while with the food they found at the shelter house, but now it is long gone. Her mom and she volunteered to help the rescue teams; they were in charge of food and water. They have been searching for the food inside the ruined building, but without equipment they were not able to forage much.

Thankfully it had rain yesterday, so they made everyone collect it in tins, cans, barrels, anything that can hold water. Few of the teenagers thought it would be funny to collect water in a used condom. She personally did not find it funny though. It was totally irresponsible of them.

But the main problem is food. 'Where can they find more food?' She pondered for a while. There were few supermarkets nearby but all of them are in ruin with huge cracks running on the ground. 'Maybe there are some storage facilities for those markets,' she thought as she ran back to her mom.

"Mom, what about the storage facilities? Are there any nearby?" she said.

"Hmm, the grocery store she worked part time had their storage near that 7/11," she said hesitantly.

"Which 7/11 mom? There is like 5 of it nearby," Reya urged her to continue with her hands.

"Ah, the one near the park!" she exclaimed and ran back to inform the local police's team about the news.

The local police officers or what remains of them helped maintain control over everyone. People were panicking too much, so they needed someone responsible to take care of their needs. That is quite selfish of them but hey, who am she to judge.

"Mrs. Maples, we will be sending some people there immediately to check the condition of that building," she partially heard the police officers conversation with her mom, as she walked pass them.

"Reya, come here," her mother beckoned her. "Say Hi to Mr. Kooper, and likewise this is my daughter Reya and this little one is Mina," she said pointing to each of them.

"Hi Mr. kooperr," her little sister purred with her gappy tooth. Reya just smiled and waved at him.

"As I was saying the complex was found to be safe, we would gladly help with the food collection," her mother, Jade Mapples said nodding her head towards them.

"Yes we would definitely love to help as much as we can," Reya added.

"Good, thank you for doing so much these days. We have been trying to contact our backup team but the reply is yet to arrive," he sighed as he scratched his red hair.

"Yikes, work as a police officer might be tougher than I thought," her mother muttered as she walked away.

Mina giggled and said, "I heard that."

They went back to the shelter house and ate some biscuits and prepared to sleep. They had to sleep on the floor and it was a cold night so they all huddled together like cavemen and slept soundly.

Next few days were not hopeful either because of the bad rotten stench many flies and fleas have gathered around them. But god thing was that they found loads of food in the storage facility. They would be able to survive for the next month or so if they all ration them properly. Presently there were only 200 survivors living near them. A part of the city bustling with thousands of people was tragically reduced to just hundreds in few days.

The next day one of the people got sick. At first they were negligent and thought it was just a coincidence. But 10 more died the day after.

"What is going on? Why is my son throwing up blood?" One of the refugees screamed at the nurses working there.

"Mam, we are trying to find the cause, please be patient." The nurse patiently explained, but the woman was having none of it.

"Her son is sick and you are not treating him. How could you be so negligent? He even has a big bump on his armpit. You B***hes don't even know to treat a person?" she screamed profanity as she pulled the petite nurse by her collar. The federal officers came soon and tried to end their fight. While one of the resident doctors went and checked up on the little kid.

He started sweating and said the dreadful words. "I think he has the Bubonic plague"