THE CANNIBAL ISLAND

This is a true life story.

• Year: 1933

• Country: Soviet Union (now Russia) 

• State/Region: Siberia

• Place: Nazino Island

"Where are they going?"

"They can't just leave us here!" 

"STOPPPPP!!

—--------

I wasn't sure just how long I had been unconscious, but the last thing I remembered was the roar of the riverboats engines.. 

… And the soldiers shoving us off onto this godforsaken island.

The soldiers didn't stay long. 

They threw a few sacks of flour onto the ground, and left, holding their rifles up at us so that none of us could try to get back onto the boats.

I remember hearing someone shout 'they can't just leave us here'...

Hehehehe…

They did.

—------------

"Owuww Huauu ooooh…"

People clawed at the ground at first, searching for anything to eat but then someone tried boiling grass in the river water. 

Now the person was currently throwing up. 

Fights had already broken out over the remaining scraps of flour on the second day, so the remaining days, today being the worst…

There was nothing left to eat, the island was barren.

The cold bit through my thin clothes as I sat in the mud, looking for worms to eat and scratched at my showcased ribs.

Around me, hundreds of others lay about in several positions, all with hollow eyes and sunken cheeks.

I looked the same, I knew that —- even though there was no tin or mirrors anywhere.

We were starving.

I jerked on the floor, and jerked again then I realized I wasn't the only one jerking and it wasn't us, it was the ground.

The grassy ground kept thudding spewing sand all over the place, then a massive, tall and huge man— bare chested came into my view.

He stomped forward, quaking the earth more and more with each step he took.

His eyes were bloodshot and he joined his fists together, straining his rippling muscles with his veins bulging along his arms and neck.

Then he roared.

"I. AM. HUNGGGRRY!" 

He lunged at a man sitting near the riverbank.

"What—" the man's question was cut short as the giant grabbed him by the neck and slammed his head into a rock.

The sound of bone cracking rented the air. 

Blood pooled beneath the smaller man's limp body, while the giant man let out a feral growl.

He ripped open the man's skull, scooping out chunks of brain matter with his bare hands and shoving them into his mouth, chewing and swallowing with no care as blood stained his mouth and hands.

People screamed and ran but no one tried to stop him.

I didn't run though, I stayed where I was and watched the giant eat.

Hunger turned us into monsters.

Many got the motivation from the giant man and started attacking eachother, tearing into flesh and blood.

A bald man with broad shoulders beat another prisoner, punching and punching, slamming his fists repeatedly over the other prisoner till he died.

Then he crouched over the body, biting into it with his teeth. 

Blood spattered across his face as he gnawed at the flesh.

It was madness.

There were no rules here. No safety.

Someone jumped on the bald man and snapped his neck before going over to chew on the dead bald man's lips with desperate shaking hands.

Everywhere I looked, it was the same. 

Fights broke out over bodies, over bones even the bare ones. 

Blood smelled, and the screams kept going high.

I didn't want to do it, I wanted to find another way. 

But the hunger… it was unbearable. 

My vision was blurred, my limbs were heavy, and all I could think of was the gnawing, constant pain in my stomach.

Near the riverbank, a scrawny teenager was being attacked by two older men. 

By the time I got there, the boy was already dead, limp and bloodied. 

The men dragged him away to while gurgling on his ears they had ripped off, but they didn't notice a severed arm lying in the mud.

I stared at it, breathing deeply, my chest raising and falling.

It still looked… fresh.

My hands shook when I picked it up. 

The flesh was cold and slimy with blood. 

I brought it to my mouth but my throat bubbled and I took it away from my mouth—- nausea was churning in my gut, I wanted to throw up.

Then I brought up to my lips, twitching my face severely, closed my eyes and bit into it.

The taste was metallic and salty.

The texture was tough on my tongue and sinewy, but I couldn't stop. 

I ate like a man possessed, tears streaming down my face as I chewed.

I was no longer the man I once was. 

None of us were.

There were only a handful of us left now, still chasing the weaker ones.

Lots of dead bodies where being reduced to scraps of meat and bones 

I had finished the arm but my stomach growled with more hunger, more force.

I couldn't see properly, couldn't think properly, it was like I was on auto pilot.

A man ran with four men, and me chasing after him.

He stumbled on something and collapsed near the edge of the clearing, looking up at us with scared, round, wide eyes.

"Please…," he was crying.

"... D… don't—"

But there was no mercy left.

Five of us closed in on him, covering him, trembling and all, with our shadows.

He turned, trying to crawl away, but we grabbed him, holding him down as he screamed.

"No! No!" 

I didn't pause, I didn't hesitate.

I sank my teeth into his stomach, dragging it like a dog, tearing it.

The taste of blood filled my mouth.

The others followed, getting on their hands and knees, scratching and biting into him with savage hunger.

His screams repeated severally in my ears, but I didn't stop.

I laughed, going hysterical as I pulled out a long intestine from his belly and slurped on it, chewing mid way.

Around me, the others growled digging their faces into the man's lap, hand, shoulder, leg and his face while he screamed and shook, very much still alive 

This was who we had become.

This was Nazino Island.