Asia hugged herself for warmth, in the early morning darkness, as she huddled beside her tiny fire. She stared in revulsion at what lay transfixed on a stick over her tiny blaze. How had it come to this?
Once she had dined out on the most expensive and finest cuisine the world could offer, but now she was reduced down to this impoverished and disgusting act of making a meal out of a rat. One by one her safe spots had fallen all over the city and with them her catches of food. She'd made the mistake of trusting too many people.
They weren't bad people, as they were just looking out for their own good, but the betrayal hurt. What hurt worse was the fate of those who hadn't betrayed her. In some ways she wished they had betrayed her. What had happened to them was beyond horrible.
In some ways it seemed like everyone had gone mad with the need to survive and that she alone had been left sane of the whole bunch. Yes she was fighting hard to survive, perhaps even harder than anyone else left in the city, but it wasn't just so she could go on living one more day. She had to survive to break the Code!
Armed with that reaffirmation of purpose she picked up the stick and bit into the rat. It really wasn't bad tasting, but the reality of what she was doing proved too overwhelming and she fell over to the side retching out what little was left in her stomach. She curled up in a ball on the rooftop crying.
"I can't do this daddy! It's too much!" She whispered out, as bitter tears fell down the sides of her face.
She had to though, as there was no one else. She sat back up stiffly. Weakened by lack of food and exposure to the elements she could feel herself growing sick. How was she to continue on surviving? She was hunted all day and night without stop.
She had heard the planes and then saw the evidence of their offspring the next day in the form of Code people shipped in to organize the city in its hunt for her. She hugged her knees to herself, as she tried to stifle a cough. She succeeded in that, but she couldn't stop shivering. Forlornly her gaze fell onto the half eaten rat. She picked the stick up again.
"You have no idea how glad I am to see you eating that in place of something else, but please try this bear meat I have here, in place of our departed little friend there. I think you'll like it better."