P.. PLEASE, HELP ME.

***Planet Gieâ..

***In a rural part of 'Eclipse of the Ocean' called the Outskirts.. 

..

In these disgusting areas, the streets are muddy, filled with filth and without signs of a significant road. The scent in the air is hot and stale and the atmosphere looks inhabitable for life yet despite this..

This inhabitable environment is completely overcrowded.

There are people of different races hanging everywhere. These many persons move at different paces though with a significant aura of lifelessness in their actions as their carry about their usual everyday routine which is – Survive the day.

"Move out of the way!.", A man shouts at some other men while drawing some indifferent attention of the street passer-bys to himself as well as his carts.

Simple wooden carts filled with corpses of both beasts and people can be seen being pulled and pushed through the muddy streets.

The shaky wooden wheels of the cart sends splatters of mud flying everywhere as workers struggle to push and pull the carts unstable wheels past one muddy pothole then into another muddy pothole.

Some of the many persons on the street havr enough energy to utter angry curses of frustration at the cart pullers(due to mud splattering everywhere) while others just keep on moving through the streets without pause despite the splatters.

No matter how lifeless or exhausted many of these people look, they never seem to stop moving in their specific directions.

They seem to be just like work dogs.. hunting for meat.

Taking in a deep breath, a rugged old man who's casually leaning at a side corner of the muddy street hisses as he picks through his half-brown teeth with what seems to be a dried leaf stalk. Resting his back against a mud-wall, the old-man lazily observes his environment.

Everywhere the old-man looks be it front, back, within, below and even at the open skies has their essences completely ridden with three words.. poverty, filth and whatever the name the opposite of order is.

'Guurrrruuuuuggh.'

Hearing the barely noticeable sound of his own protesting stomach, the observing old-man adds one last word in his elderly thoughts..

Hunger.

And by hunger the old man does not just mean the menacing hunger that comes naturally with poverty but rather, his thoughts stray to more interesting varieties of hunger.

Hunger for hope, hunger for inexistent opportunities, Hunger for blood, Hunger for food, Hunger of lust, Hunger for peace, Hunger for life and even, Hunger for.. Death!.

"This place cannot possibly be much worse than hell.", A nearby person says in a hush tone while moving closer to corner position of the observing old man.

Hearing this words, the old man harshly spits out the stalk of leaf hanging on his lips before speaking in response.

"You're wrong. If it exists.. then this is hell.", The old man comments with a hard tone.

Ignoring the biting hunger coming from his own stomach, the old man turns to face the direction of the familiar voice.

Coated in mud from almost head to toe, a young man with an awfully hunched back is seen looking at the streets with muddy pale yet pursed lips.

Various muddy and over-sixed rags have been wrapped around this young man's body to form an outfit. A torn top is placed over a similar pair of dirty torn trousers in order to give the youth some semblance of humane dignity though, observing the young man's current appearance.. the clothings obviously did not do a very good job.

Apart from the already inhumane filth on the young man's clothes, his clothings have added layer of stains of dried crimson blood.

This trail of blood seems to have been flowing from the youth's chest down to his stomach. Another dripping stains of dried crimison by the side of the man's temple tells a story of a recent head injury left unattended to.

Giving a dry chuckle at the old man's dark humour, the battered-up young man opens up a conversation with the old man if for anything but to keep his shaky sanity in this depraved environment!.

"Old Ning, is it a consequence of the hot weather or are you looking especially dry today?.", The young man asks with his tone obviously mocking the old man almost skeletal body. Feeling his own joke, the young man's muddy face squeezes into an even uglier look due to his smiling gesture.

Despite the teasing mockery, the old man keeps his silence for a while as he stares at the ugly mud face of the other party

The old man somehow finds his curiosity about what has put the youth in such a terrible state dying with ever second longer he stares.

Everybody in the outskirts is known to look like SHIT but the young man standing in front of him right now looks like.. SHIT!.

With a soft sigh, the old man internally decides that he will rather not know the reason behind the bloody look as he peels off his gaze for the other guy with a sigh. Clearing his throat, the old man responds to the tease in order to keep his own sanity.

"Are you,.." – Old Ning is about to respond with a tease if his own when..

*BANG!*..*CRASH!*..

"You bastards!."

Now even allowed to complete his sentence, the Old man's speech is cut off by an outburst from one of the corpse carrying carts passing through the muddy roads.

Looking towards the streets, Old Ning cannot help but swallow an unsurprised sigh.

Apparently, a group of thieves wearing bamboo masks and with numbers up to fifteen men strong have somehow managed to throw-off the cart-pullers with the element of surprise.

After throwing off the cart pullers, the most powerful looking ones amongst the bunch of thieves swung whatever dead bodies they can find; be it of a person or a beast onto their backs as they race in different directions with the cart pullers now giving chase.

Observing the disturbing live action, old Ning puts another stalk of leaf between his lips. He wacthes as the cart's workers give chase only to give-up barely before fully starting the pursuit.

Old Ning watches all this with a bored blank expression. The rushed smell of corpse assaults his senses as one of the thieves races past him with a dead beast's body over his back.

In this hell hole, cannibalism seems to be getting more and more common as hunger driven people would eat anything and everything in order to stay alive.

"Atleast I don't have to worry about getting my corpse stolen since there will be nothing to feast on.", The mud covered youth says while trying but failing to get a laugh at his own disheartening joke.

Taking one final glance at the bloody youth, Old Ning shakes his head before walking off.

Staying in this setting is already taking a heavy toll on his mind. With a sigh, the old man looks around the mud streets one last time as he starts to walk away.

Small messy houses are arranged without any specific order at the sides of the muddy paths used as roads. Some houses are nothing but makeshift tents, others are more decently made from clay and a few are made from bricks.

Walking between these houses, old Ning seems to have finally lost the will to live as he maps his way back home with a mental compass pointing the way.

The paths the old man takes are shadowy and crawling with filthy people who have less-than-clean intentions. These people seem to subconsciously realise that the old man has nothing to offer but his life and so they leave him alone as he trails his way uphill and then finally, the old man locates his house.

A humbly square shaped mud house with tattered blue roof sits in a lone corner.

This house has it's windows guarded by thorny branches known for lethality and it's environment is much quieter than most.

The door to Old Nings apartment is made from wood and a complex lock system though standing at the entrance, Old Ning cannot help but frown.

Everything is mostly fine in the surroundings but standing in front of his door, Old Ning finds one major problem. This problem now is that the complex lock system of his door is currently unlocked!.

Seeing this, old Ning's brows furrow lightly while making his facial wrinkles more prominent. He quickly pulls out a small pouch from his tattered clothes and takes out a rusty corporate knife from within.

It is highly likely that whoever the robber is or was has already fled the scene but when you live in a surrounding like this, you live to learn to put precaution before anything else.

Moving silently, Old Ning bursts in through the door with his knife ready to lay waste to whoever has dared to invade his residence though immediately he steps inside, he finds himself shocked by the sight he finds within.

"P-please, help.. help me.".

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