After the Apocalypse

Catastrophe.

After the sudden catastrophe, the land was devastated and species were mutated.With scarce food, living conditions were harsh. The era was completely destroyed and civilization was wiped out.

In the anarchic district 180 miles to the left of the Ninth District, a twenty-three-year-old young man walked briskly on an unnamed street, with his coat pulling tight around him, head down.

The street was dilapidated and ugly, and the underground sewage system had collapsed completely years ago. Makeshift outdoor toilets, connected to rows of storefronts, emitted a foul stench. The entire area was sparsely lit, and groups of people could be seen standing on the roadside from time to time, mostly women, with fewer men.

The young man walking briskly without looking around was named Alexander James. He stood 5 feet 10 inches tall with a sturdy build. He had lost his job today and was planning to buy an official resident identity of the Ninth District to complete the first step of his plan.

Alexander originally had a handsome and clean-cut appearance and was considered a good-looking guy. But now he looked somewhat sloppy, with an unshaven beard, slightly long hair sticking together, and clothes covered in grease and stains, making him quite inconspicuous in the crowd.

Walking quickly, Alexander looked up at the intersection, preparing to return to his residence from the left side.

"Hey, young man...!"

A crisp voice called out. A woman in a somewhat faded dress, wrapped in a jacket, lightly tugged at Alexander from the roadside.

Alexander paused and looked back. "What's up?"

"Three dollars." The woman held up three slender fingers, glanced back at the dilapidated storefront behind her, and said in a low voice, "We can go there."

"I can't afford it." Alexander smiled and continued walking.

"Wait." The woman reached out and tugged at Alexander again. "How about two dollars?"

Alexander looked the woman up and down, paused for a moment, and continued shaking his head. "I have no money," he said.

"Not interested in me? There are others inside."

"Really, no money." Alexander shrugged his arm. "Let go of me. I'm in a hurry to get home."

The woman bit her red lip, her small hand tightly gripping Alexander. After a long silence, she added softly, "Two bowls of spaghetti would do, but it has to be measured with my bowl."

Alexander frowned. "I said I don't have any. Get lost!"

The woman still didn't let go. Looking back at a group of children around seven years old next to the storefront, she said, "I have three kids. If I don't get any business tonight, I can't feed them. Please, young man, help me once. Even one bowl of spaghetti will do. I'll do anything to repay you."

Alexander looked at the woman and said coldly, "How many years has the world been like this? In such an environment, if you can't feed your kids, why did you have them?"

The woman was stunned.

Alexander forcefully shrugged off her hand, tightened his coat, and continued walking.

The woman stood in place for a while, then quickly ran back to the storefront, gasping for breath as she said, "That guy has food. He has it. When I tugged at him, I saw what he hide something in his coat."

About half an hour later.

Alexander returned to a dilapidated six-story building, climbed the dusty old stairs, and entered his home on the fifth floor.

Only Alexander and his friend Daniel lived in this building. The outer walls had partially collapsed. In the old days, it would have been considered a building on the verge of demolition. But in this era, the meaning of home was limited to where you were, not where you lived. Alexander chose this place because it had no electricity or water, so he didn't have to bear any expensive living costs.

The interior was very simple, with a bed, two broken cabinets, no entertainment facilities, and the only book, a tattered military magazine published in 2019.

After entering the room, Alexander took off his dirty coat, pulled out a shiny canvas bag from his jacket, carefully walked to the bed. Then he picked up a broken bowl and began scooping out enticing spaghetti from the bag, shouting, "Daniel, is the food ready?"

"Not yet, I just got back," A voice responded from the inner room. A young man of similar age to Alexander, with dark skin and a rugged face, walked out.

Just as Alexander was about to talk to Daniel, deafening footsteps suddenly came from downstairs. Alexander paused, immediately hid the bag and bowl in the cabinet. He then walked to the door, which was just a broken wooden board.

In less than ten seconds, seven or eight children under ten, leading dozens of men and women, appeared in the stairwell.

The stairs were outside, with cracked concrete and rusted railings. So many people rushing up together made the dilapidated building seem to shake.

Alexander immediately raised his hand and shouted, "Don't... don't rush up like that. The stairs will collapse."

"Uncle Alexander, I'm hungry."

"Uncle Alexander, I want to eat..."

The children, each holding a small bowl, stood on the stairs, looking at Alexander with dirty faces.

"I'm hungry, too. Have you had dinner at home? If not, let's eat together," Alexander replied with a playful smile.

The children were pure with simple minds, but the adults behind them had torn off their basic human disguises. A burly man with a shaved head was the first to shout, "Give us the food, or you won't get down."

"I don't have any food," Alexander waved his hand and replied. "Really, I don't. We're all starving ghosts in this anarchic disctrict. it's not easy for any of us. If I really had some, I'd give it to you. At least I'd give to these children..."

"Cut the crap. I saw you had food," the burly man continued to shout. "Hurry up, give us half, and we'll leave."

"No." Alexander shook his head.

"Get into his room," the burly man shouted.

"Uncle Alexander, I want to eat. Give me food."

The crowd surged forward, and the stairs hanging outside the building shook again as if they might collapse at any moment.

Alexander looked at the swarming crowd, his eyes reddened instantly. He lifted his right leg and pulled a knife from his dirty pants leg with his right hand. Pointing at the crowd, he shouted, "Bullying me because I'm alone?! In this place, no one is afraid of death. I have food, but you'll have to break this knife to get it."

The crowd paused briefly, and the burly man coldly shouted, "The kids are in front. Go ahead and stab them first."