Fay looked around, his blue eyes reflecting a world on the brink of destruction.
Above him stretched an endless dark sky, and beneath it, a ruined city that had once teemed with human activity.
The only solace for the twelve-year-old boy—and the reason he still struggled to keep going—stood right beside him: his adorable four-year-old sister, probably the only other human within miles.
The two had been cast out of a man-made shelter not even a month ago, forced to fend for themselves.
After their parents died, they simply couldn't afford the shelter's high fees. There was no way their feeble, frail bodies could endure the harsh labor required to earn their keep.
And so, only death awaited them.
But Fay refused to give in.
He had kept his sister alive and healthy throughout the month.
To do that, he had done the near impossible, from scouring every corner of the city for old canned pet food buried under abandoned stores to learning to hunt and roast anything edible, be it insect or the strange new moving plants, just to give Mira the nutrients she needed to keep growing.
He looked down at the small hand gripping his own, the girl beside him, so similar in appearance and spirit to their mother.
She wore her light brown hair in two short ponytails, a style she adored and made Fay help with every day.
Perched atop her small head was a worn-out hat shaped like a yellow rodent mascot from a children's show that had been popular about fifty years ago.
She also wore a faded pink dress and a pair of plastic fairy wings; wings she never removed, not even for baths.
Fay had found piles of clothes she could change into, but she refused to wear anything else.
The only thing keeping them alive in this crumbling world was trash, piles of it scattered everywhere.
Trash they could turn into weapons, makeshift clothes… and even food, at times.
"Fayfay… what will we eat today?"
As he stared into her cute, almond-round eyes, a soft voice, quiet and withdrawn, reached him.
It had been like that ever since their parents' death.
"Don't worry, Mira. We'll find something soon, sis. Just try to keep up, alright? We just need to leave mole territory before sunrise."
Fay recalled a stockpile of food he had hidden nearby, saved for emergencies, and decided he might need to open those cans today.
Still, he held onto a little hope that the trap he'd set would catch something. He was heading there now to check.
Winter was coming, and he'd need the cans once the cold set in; that was when wild creatures became scarce.
As he gently pulled his sister along, even rocking their hands back and forth to coax a smile from her, they entered the old abandoned center square.
It had once been a beautiful garden, but now most of the trees and plants had withered from the near-constant darkness left behind by the grey sky.
But that same ruined garden had become home to a few hardy creatures; beasts that had survived and adapted to the weak sunlight that pierced the polluted sky for only a few hours each day.
That lingering greenery had started to attract rodents, massive rats, and other strange creatures searching for food.
By now, Fay had enough experience to build traps easily.
He hoped one of the smaller rodents had wandered into one by now. Maybe the trap he set yesterday had already done its job.
"We'll eat a lot today. Just wait… we will. Don't you worry."
Fay forced a smile as he gently picked up his sister, twirled her once in the air, then hoisted her onto his back.
It was a struggle for a twelve-year-old, but he was growing stronger by the day.
He had to.
There was no one else left to rely on.
As soon as they reached deep into the garden, Fay began searching for a signboard, a marker he had taken note of previously.
It was an old, rusted metal sign he had scribbled over. It now read Paradise, written by Fay himself with a marker.
It was the only place within a ten-kilometer radius that still had green leaves and living plants.
But these weren't ordinary plants.
Somehow, they were alive, or rather, plants that were able to move after mutating. They simply waited for a nearby creature to come close… so they could latch on and slowly devour it.
Still, there was plenty of prey here.
Many creatures fought over this small patch of green life: rabbits, rats, moles, beavers, squirrels, even capybaras, you name it.
Strangely, rodents had become one of the dominant creatures in this new world; so dangerous in face that now that even dogs and cats tried to avoid them.
None of the creatures that managed to live here were easy to kill.
The least threatening of the bunch were the rats. Somehow, they hadn't mutated as drastically as the others.
Rabbits, for example, had grown to the size of horses. They were deadly, chomping down on anything that moved.
They could even cross a city block in six or seven hops.
Fay had only escaped one of those monsters by sheer luck not long ago.
Still clinging to hope, he kept moving forward, nearing the trap he had set the day before.
Every step was careful and precise, that was also why he kept Mira on his back.
Then he heard it.
A faint sound, something scurrying nearby, made Fay freeze in his tracks.
Instinctively, he placed Mira down and hid behind a tree.
"Shhh, let's be quiet, okay? We need to see if the one making that noise is in our trap." Fay placed a finger over his lips.
His sister, terribly hungry, only nodded.
Her expression was tired but hopeful.
"If we manage to catch something, I promise that after eating, you'll get to sleep and relax for the rest of the day, alright?"
He gently patted her head, then motioned for her to stay put.
Fay gripped his makeshift spear, crafted from a rusted iron pipe he had kept near the trap for days.
It was crude, but sturdy enough to kill small to medium-sized creatures.
Carefully, he crept forward toward the source of the noise, checking each step so he wouldn't trip or make a sound.
He had set a simple rope trap the day before; one he'd learned how to make from an old book salvaged from an abandoned library.
Fay inched closer until he could see the scene clearly.
One large rat dangled from the snare. That alone would have been a great—
But the rat was suspended midair and squirming in panic.
Below it there was three large capybaras, each nearly a meter tall.
They were circling the helpless creature, grunting and snapping as it swung from side to side, narrowly avoiding their jaws.
The three thick, barrel-shaped animals were slow, but they were getting smarter, beginning to predict the rat's movements.
They were no longer the gentle herbivores their species had once been.
Now, they were predators, eager to claim an easy meal at any cost.
Fay gripped his spear tighter and swallowed hard, eyes locked on the snarling creatures ahead.
He knew they were slow, just like tanks, but that also meant piercing their thick hides would be difficult.
Fay glanced down at his spear, trying to calculate whether he could take one down if he aimed just right.
It was possible… but three of them? That was a real hurdle.
Should I wait it out… or attack?
If he could keep his sister safe, he was confident he could take them one by one. He had fought worse.
But Mira wasn't safely hidden.
She was crouched behind an old stone fence—one barely tall enough to shield her tiny body.
If the capybaras noticed her… he didn't want to think about it.
His heart pounded.
The rat gave another shrill squeal as one of the capybaras jumped and bit its tail, yanking it downward.
Fay narrowed his eyes.
I can't wait. If they get it, we go hungry again.
He took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the pipe spear, and prepared to strike.