All of a sudden, he blacked out.
Yang Ming opened his eyes. He'd just had the most interesting dream. In the dream, he had been strong. The rest of the dream was rather fuzzy, already slipping out of his shallow well of memories, but he was sure of that fact. If only he was strong in real life, too.
It was another day of the famine. He was almost able to count his ribs, now.
Sallow skin and yellow eyes were now traits the whole village shared. Hunched over figures and baleful gazes left everyone looking as though they were the villains from a children's book. The world they were in, though, wasn't black and white.
He was hungry.
It was a dark day, yet bright compared to the days to come.
He could hear his parents yelling downstairs, complaining about the food sources.
They'd killed the pet cat the other day, rationing it as jerky. There had been no crops grown, and no other animals could be found. Not even field mice in the wheat stalks, or cockroaches in the alleys. Nobody knew why the village had been cursed with such bad famine, yet they all had to live with it anyways.
The other villagers had started to gain a rather scary look in their eyes. They were mad with hunger. Everyone was mad, here. It was hard to keep sane when you could play music on your rib cage like a xylophone.
He was hungry. So, so hungry.
Hungry.
He wondered why nobody left. Many people had disappeared, but surely they would have left a note? Perhaps they had gone and died in the forest.
Yet, from what? Even that was barren now. The tree bark had been stripped and eaten, the somewhat edible leaves picked clean.
Yang Ming shook his head. He had to keep his mind bright, to at least support his meimei. He was scared of letting her go out alone, now, with the fearsome gazes of the others.
Even his parents seemed rather untrustworthy, now.
The entire place would be too dangerous. There was nothing left here, at all.
He decided resolutely to leave the village.
He had nothing to pack, since there was no food anyways. Their village used no money, only a
system of barter.
"Hey meimei?" He called softly, to the girl who was half asleep on the floor.
She looked up.
"Let's go play outside for a bit, okay?" It was best she didn't know they were leaving. She was too young, and he wanted to shelter her from the harsh rains just for a bit longer. She nodded, but was clearly very tired.
Not even the little children had any energy anymore.
Yang Ming led Yang Niuniu to the door, and shielded her from the not-yet-ravenous gazes of his parents.
"I'm gonna go look for food in the forest!" Yang Ming yelled out at the bottom of the house, once he'd gotten up. He carried his meimei on piggyback, and left for the outside of the village.
Broken stalks of failed wheat brushed against his thighs. They tickled the feet of Niuniu, making the corners of her eyes crinkle. She laughed in delight.
Meimei had constantly asked him where they were going what they were doing. He'd just always replied that the fun place was just a bit further, just in the distance.
She kicked him, saying she wanted to go back.
She asked him where he thought the other girls around her age had gone.
She begged him to go back.
He just walked further.
Trying to lighten up the mood, Yang Ming kept making stupid noises and told bad jokes. Niuniu had laughed at some, smiled at others.
Once they'd gotten rather far, his meimei laughed, and covered his eyes.
"Gege," She giggled. "I can't see if you're good or not if you leave now".
"Gege," She giggled, "It's time to go home."
Yang Niuniu was a fool, he thought. Wanting to go home when it seemed so unsafe? What was
the difference between dying of starvation on the road to freedom and dying of starvation in a
place where their bones would be picked clean, not by crows?
"Gege," Her voice was less cheerful now. He ignored her, and kept walking. SHe was heavy, but
nothing was heavier than the weight of the responsibility of getting her to safety. "Gege, we need
to go back."
"Why?" He finally responded. His voice wavered. "They'll eat you."
Killing a member of the hive is a strange thing to do. It wasn't as if they had a queen to feed-
What was a hive?
Yang Ming shook his head. "I need to keep you safe."
Yang Niuniu almost sounded sad with her next words.
"Gege, I need to know."
?
Yang Ming closed his eyes.