"Who's there?" I shouted. Suddenly, a hand emerged breaking the wooden floor, sending tremors throughout the already wrecked house.

I fell back in horror, while that hand with large nails, flesh falling off constantly and making those chiseled bones almost visible, rose from underneath. The howling cries from the basement grew louder each second.

I took the dagger lying beside me and sliced that piece of the arm from its elbow, which obviously was of no use as that was a zombie's arm. I threw some of my dead brother's ribs into that hole created by that hand.

Those tremendous howls burst my earbuds as those piece of bones dropped onto the basement floor.

Something had to be done as bones scared those zombies and maybe even paralyze them for some time, but didn't completely kill them.

Meanwhile, I covered the hole with a heavy trunk, which I thought would hold those zombies inside for the time being, while I come up with a permanent plan.

The atmosphere within the house was getting toxic day by day and time had come to view the dystopian wasteland outside, yet again to survive.

First, I decided to open a window and give a glance before eventually stepping out of the house.

I slowly lifted the windowpane, as my other hand clung onto one of my brother's bones.

I could hear my heartbeats as I saw this doomed-outside world after weeks, which felt like years.

Our neighboring houses were also as silent as ever.

To my relief, those zombie creatures weren't roaming about like other days. Wherever they were, who cared?

I took this as a perfect opportunity to sneak out and gather some useful stuff from the nearby deserted grocery stores.

As I was thinking all these, a crow came flying and sat on the open windowpane. I looked at it. It looked at me. Both of us stared at each other. In this stare was an expansion of cold emptiness, a complete disregard of the opposite's wellbeing that one never knew was in the other.

Something felt weird about it. But who cared?

I had to survive and for that somehow I had to get hold of it, which I did with my bare hands.

I don't know how I did it, but the greed inside me forced me to do it.

I twisted the bird's neck and chopped it off, keeping the rest of the body, somewhere safe.

I decided to go outside and eat it after returning.

There were no zombies out there, so it didn't hesitate me to open the door with ease.

"What the!!!" I freaked out as I saw an unexpected old lady stand in front of me, at that moment.

"Oh, you... huh!" I calmed myself as I realized that the old lady was the grandma, who lived next door.

"Didn't expect you'd survive you know?" I said. "No worries, I pretty managed just like you son."

"Umm...can I please share the house with you cuz my ones no more livable" she expressed her grief which was visible by her words.

"Ye....aah sure...come in," I hesitated, but eventually had to agree as if I had any choice.

"Huh huh... it's so nice of yuh son," she touched my cheeks with her rough palms as she entered my house.

I told her to stay alone for some time as I had already planned to go to the nearby stores, when I also found out that even she had come, requesting to take shelter as there were no zombies today.

I walked slowly towards the nearby grocery store amidst this gloomy and silent dystopian town.

On my way, I stumbled upon an axe that I thought would be useful in the future, so I carried it along with me.

Suddenly, a weird thought struck me, "Did I just leave that crow open on that table?"

"Shit... What if... nooo... I won't let it happen..." the thought of that old woman eating something mine made me bristle with rage.

At that moment, I rushed towards my house, swinging the axe in my left arm.

I banged open the door and to my state of an art expectation, that grandma was just about to feast on my prey, that I swung the axe on her head straight, splitting it into two!

"You old lousy bitch!" I said as I wiped out the splashed blood from my eyes.

I stood there, with a broad chest, as if I had accomplished a big achievement by not sharing food with a hungry person in this time of distress.

"This is mine," I said and ate that crow's body, along with its black feathers. I gobbled that piece of raw flesh, nonetheless like those creatures from whom I was surviving.

Things were steady now, but I wasn't feeling alright. My body started to shiver. Slowly the skin from my whole body started to fall off. My bones started to crack and weird transformations appeared throughout my body.

What the fuck was happening to me? I literally had no idea.

Was it because of the crow I just ate?

No... wait... shit... fuck! It can't be so. I took that crow's chopped head on my ruddy palm. I checked the crow's eyeballs. Horrendously, the pupils were missing!

I dissected the head ruggedly to see the crow's brain.

As I had already guessed by now, it was rotten, and I had just done something I never should have.

I ate a zombie crow!

I did so much. I fucking did so much to survive!

Not only that, but I prioritized my greed over my very own humanity, yet it didn't help me survive.

Wait... no, I will just turn into a zombie, but eventually, I'll survive and will not die or at least this body of mine will survive.

Well, I am afraid that if after a few days, I start to think "Did I really SURVIVE?"

...

" Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction."

- Erich Fromm 

...

THE END