Somebody once told me, the world is gonna roll me, I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed...
I silently mouth the words to the song as the Jeep bounces along the rough desert road, the unforgiving sun beating down on my head, the only reminder that the world isn't as it used to be. Music is one of the few things that helps me to forget. Before the FAYZ came, I was never a big music fan; I've never even owned an iPod. But something about music seems to take my mind away from the horrors of reality, and most importantly, the constant, gnawing hunger in my stomach. I don't even know whose iPod this is, but their tase in music isn't too bad. In fact, some of the songs are actually quite catchy. And besides, it's not as if I can just download the latest songs from the internet any more, is it?
The Jeep pulls to a stop, and Sam leaps out from the vehicle. He's talking with Albert and Edilio about something, but I can't tell what. Instead, I glance over at the field behind them, and my jaw drops. No way. It can't be. The entire field is full of lettuce, something that I would normally turn my nose up at, but after living off of some canned slop for a month, fresh vegetables is a godsend.
"Hey. That looks like lettuce," I tell them, pulling one of my earbuds out. But my hopes are shot down somewhat when it's soon made clear it's just cabbage. But fresh cabbage is still better than canned slop. And just looking at them is driving my stomach crazy. I need to eat something, anything that isn't the same menial slime that we've all been forced to eat.
"Who's going to pick all these?" Sam asks, looking up thoughtfully. This is it; my chance to get some fresh food. Another stab of hunger. It seems my stomach's made up its mind.
"Hey, I'll go grab one of these cabbages right now. I'm starving." It's the honest truth; I've lost so much weight since we ran out of good food. I no longer have any of what Mom always called baby fat; I'm as slim as Sam and the others. Which would be kind of good if we were all still in the normal world, instead of here.
I stick the earbud back in, and hum to myself as I walk through the field of cabbages, searching thoroughly for a truly delicious looking one.
It's a cool place, and they say it gets colder. You're bundled up now, wait 'til you get older...
One misplaced step ends up crushing a cabbage, and I sigh in frustration. It was a pretty good looking cabbage as well. Oh well, there's bound to be another good one out here somewhere.
"Totally just a ballpark guess," I hear Albert say as I continue onwards, the weakness from the hunger evident as my legs begin to ache slightly, "but figure each cabbage weighs a pound and a half, right? I'm thinking we have ourselves maybe thirty thousand pounds of cabbage." Whoa. That's a lot of cabbage.
"I don't even want to think about how many farts this'll translate to," I call back to them, and catch the faintest hint of a smile on Sam's face. Hell yeah, you still got the humorous touch, E.Z.
Somebody once asked, could I spare some change for gas: I need to get myself away from this place...
My legs ache even further, and I look down, hoping to see a half-decent cabbage. My efforts are rewarded with one huge, ripe cabbage. I have to physically restrain myself from drooling as I look over the cabbage.
"This looks like the cabbage for me," I say, looking back at the others.
"How can you tell?" Edilio calls back to me. Or something to that extent; the music kinda makes it hard to hear people.
"I'm tired of walking," I reply bluntly, feeling the strain in my legs. "This must be the right one." And then another question comes into my head. "How do I pick it?"
"Man, I think you need a knife," Edilio says with a shrug, giving me a look that translates to, 'I don't really know, to be honest'. But I doubt that. And even if it is the case, I won't let it get in the way of my cabbage.
"Nah." I call back, and bend down. I grip the cabbage with both hands, and pull upwards. The result is a large leaf in each hand.
"See what I mean," Edilio says, but I shrug it off. I need to get that cabbage, knife or not. My right hand goes to the iPod, and I turn the music up to max volume, before bending down once more, gripping the underside of the cabbage, my stomach lurching with hunger.
So much to do, so much to see, so what's wrong with taking the back streets...
The pain is instantaneous, and so sudden that I fall backwards onto the hard dirt below me.
"Ah!" I scream as another sharp wave of pain hits my right hand.
"Not so easy, is it?" I hear Edilio mock, but I don't care about that. The pain in my hand is too much. I leap to my feet, and look at my right hand. In the corner is a gaping, bloody hole where flesh once was, jagged edges lining the wound as blood spurts from it. Something bit me.
"No, no, no." This isn't good at all. Fear is rising rapidly inside of me as I glare at the injury, something about it setting alarm bells off in my mind, telling me to get out of here as fast as I can.
"What's the matter?" Sam's now noticed me, and I turn to show my hand in response.
"Something bit me!" I scream. "Oh, oh. It hurts. It hurts. It -"
And then something bursts from my left leg; a huge, black snake. It leaps from my flesh, and into the dirt, just before blood begins to leak from the agonising hole in my leg. Incohesive cries of horror come from my mouth as I look at Sam, willing for him to save me. But before any of that happens something, no, many somethings, suddenly rush up at my feet. They tear through my shoes easily, and then they tear into my feet. Into my flesh. The squirming of the worms inside my body makes me squeal in terror. They squirm all throughout my body; my arm starts jerking violently. And still more climb into my feet.
"They're in my feet!" I scream at the others. "Oh god, they're in my feet!"
Hey now, you're a rock star: get the show on, get paid...
The squirming and the agony causes me to loose control of my body as I fall to my knees. I look up at Sam pleadingly as the worms begin to burst from my body. Something explodes from my throat, and I stop screaming as I'm slowly coated in my own blood.
"Help me," I try and say, but my voice is a whisper. "Sam, please..." And then, my vision begins to fade, my body going numb.
And all that glitters is gold, and only shooting stars break the mould.
I slump to the ground, but by the time my face, the worms erupting from it, hits the dirt, I'm gone.
