Image credit: Twitter Twemoji

I trudged through the mud that had once been a jungle trail. I was hungry, so hungry. But I knew that if I stayed put, I would starve, but if I walked forward I might have a chance to live.

I pushed aside vines, I climbed over roots, but found neither fruit nor nectar to sustain me. All I could see was bark, leaves, more bark and more leaves. The rain drenched my face, my back, anything that wasn’t already covered in mud.

I was hungry, so hungry. I had more water than I could drink in a week, but no food.

I leaned against a tree and panted in exhaustion. My rifle was loaded but there was no bird nor boar, not even a snake for me to shoot. Had the enemy really taken everything? Or was it my allies, who starved and ate and left nothing behind?

I pressed some buttons on my radio. Morse code. SOS. SOS. It was risky, because the enemy might find me. They wouldn’t have food to spare for me.

It was a dog eat dog world.

While my fingered pressed and released and pressed and released, I saw it, finally some good meat! An insect, hiding from the rain under a leaf, a leaf that looked like any other.

I grabbed the critter and stuffed it in my mouth. Its legs crawled against my tongue and its feelers stuck out of my mouth. No, can’t waste any of the protein. I pushed the antenna back into my mouth and could hear the crunch of teeth against exoskeleton.

Notes

This was written in 15 minutes during a Joy of Writing meetup.