“Turn around. Slowly.” The voice giving me orders was soft and soothing. Way more so than I would have expected out here. Most things that greet you nowadays have four heads and scream bloody murder. I listen to the voice and face my captor. They are covered head to toe in black clothing. The only thing showing is her eyes. They pierce through me like I’m a child. Yellow eyes, glowing like a radioactive wasteland.

“Stop staring, you’re making this weird.” She says breaking eye contact. “Okay, but you’re the one who decided to hold me up.” I respond. The eyes glare at me for a moment. “Got any food or water?” She asks still holding the knife to me. “No, I was coming to look for food before I ran into you.” I tell her. She tsks at me with a disappointed look. She lowers the knife and shakes her head. “I couldn’t find anything in the dumpster. Wanna help me see if there’s anything inside?” She says pointing inside the building. “Is this how you ask everyone for help?” I question. “Of course, you can’t find out someone’s trustworthiness unless you threaten to kill them first.” She shrugs her shoulders. I raise my finger to respond, then realize that’s a pretty good point.

“Yes I’ll help you, but we split what we find.” I extend my hand as a way to seal the deal. She laughs and pushes my hand away. “Kana always keeps her promises.” She then slips inside the building, leaving me alone. I quietly follow behind her, listening for anything out of the ordinary. Entering the kitchen we see pots and pans in utter disarray. Something huge happened here. Large chunks are missing from the countertops and mangled bodies are scattered about. I try to avoid anything that will make sound as I sneak around, opening drawers and cabinets as slowly as I can. Kana searches the counters for anything edible. This place seems picked over as Kana turns to me and shakes her head. We work our way over to the walk in freezer.

I cross my fingers as we slowly make our way to the freezer door. Kana puts her hand on the handle and tugs it as softly as she can. It opens after some resistance and inside is a mess of rotten vegetables and meat. It smells disgusting and it takes everything inside of me to not get sick. Holding my breath I follow Kana and we start tossing aside the rotten food. We search high and low and get to the last shelf. At this point Im exhausted and nauseated from the rotten fumes. Kana sticks her hands into something that once resembled meat. She digs around for a few moments and her eyes suddenly light up.

As she pulls out a tray of canned food, she gloats proudly, displaying the cans above her head. We both very slowly and stupidly start celebrating, gesturing to the sky, the ground to each other. Kana still holding the canned food overhead stops mid celebration as a can rolls off the tray and hits the ground. We both look at each other as we hear a horrifying noise. “AUUUUUHGHOOOFG!!”Loud slamming sounds can be heard a room over and Kana wastes no time dragging me out of there.

We leave through the back door and Kana points to the dumpster urging me to get inside. I shake my head no. She points to the dumpster again and then the back door. The noise that erupted at us is getting closer. I scramble into that dumpster faster than I have ever scrambled before. Kana jumps in after me and closes the lid. Not long after, a giant tentacle slithers out of the back door. An eyeball peers out of the end as it searches quietly. Kana keeps her finger on her lips as she watches it. The body of the creature opens the door with a slam. It’s made up of rotten flesh, chunks falling apart as it moves. Somehow it smells worse than the freezer. I cover my mouth and nose trying not to gag. Kana keeps her cool.

The tentacle searches for us, its body waddling behind it as gobs of rotten flesh slide off the mass of its body. They hit the ground with a wet ‘thop.’ Watching it move was hypnotic and terrifying at the same time. I couldn’t decide if I should run or vomit. Kana kept her free hand on my shoulder, letting me know it would be okay. Her right hand still on her lips. Suddenly a soft ‘choo’ noise comes unexpectedly from Kana. She sneezed, her face turning red as my jaw drops. The one eyed tentacle monster turns quickly to face the dumpster. Even though no ears can be seen anywhere on this thing it can hear quite well it seems.

As the monster approaches the dumpster, Kana takes her hand swiftly from my shoulder and retrieves something from her chest. A small blade glimmers in the dim light. The tentacle is using its eye to open the dumpster lid and Kana has the perfect element of surprise as she jams the blade into the eyeball of the monster. “AHHHHHHHHELOOOOOOOHHHHH!”A screech of pain and anger emits from the body of the creature. Kana grabs my arm as she pulls her blade out of its eye. We fly out of the dumpster as the mass of the wretched beast tries to locate us.

The monster has a hard time keeping up and in the distance as we flee all we can hear are mixed sounds of pain and agony. Kana, with one arm wrapped around mine and the other tightly holding onto the food, follows me to my place. I show her my little assortment of pots, pans, silverware and all sorts of helpful instruments I’ve found littered across the wasteland. Then I pull out my most prized possession, a can opener! Kana’s bright yellow eyes light up again as she brings her hands together in a silent prayer for food that’s edible and not rotten.

I slowly open the first can, holding my breath that it’s those spaghetti loops. I don’t even care what flavor, just anything that’s not beans. A strong tomato sauce smell erupts from the can and I get excited. Inside are big, plump ravioli noodles. My mouth salivates and I throw Kana a spork as we both grab a spoonful. I watch as she puts one of the Raviolis in her mouth. Her eyes light up as she chews it and her eyes roll back into her head. “Wow this may be the best meal I’ve had in months.”She says, tears welling up in her eyes. “Have you had raviolis before?”I ask out of curiosity. “Never.”She said popping another one in her mouth. I smile and she smiles back, beneath her dark hood it’s the best smile I’ve seen in my life.

We almost finished the first can as Kana says, “The last few months I’ve been eating dog food.”My spork drops out of my mouth as she says it. “That sounds terrible.”I respond. “It is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten. I hate not knowing what I’m going to eat day to day.” She grabs her knees and brings them to her chest wrapping her arms around them. Kana slowly rocks back and forth, trying to soothe herself and calm down. I lay my hand gently on her shoulder and say, “let’s stick together and make sure that doesnt happen again.”I give Kana a gentle smile and she gives me one back. “I would like that.”She says softly.

After finishing up our dinner I show Kana a place she can rest. We both need sleep after the day we’ve had and fpf the first time in a long time I fall asleep as soon as I close my eyes.