Hungry

You know what growing up in a cage does to you?

Well, for one, it makes you deathly afraid of just about everything. It makes every shadow deeper, every light dimmer. You can't take a step without worrying about one thing or another, whether it be that sign on the corner or that car passing a little too close to the sidewalk or that man over in the doorway of that shop, watching you walk past with a strangely unsettling expression.

For another, you're easily amazed.

I think ordinary things were blasting away at my mind. Ping, ping, ping as I walked down that first street. Huge buildings. Huge vehicles. Huge signs with huge lights. A little paper cup on the ground.

Everything wanted me to look at it. At first I thought it was all spectacular. I'd never seen anything like this world before. There's a tremendous lack of stuff to see when your mind is trapped in a dish of white fog. Now that it was gone, I learned what I'd been missing: everything. Cracks in the pavement. Traffic lights. More trees. These things with two wheels that people rode. Phone booths. Bus stops. Little machines that spit green bills into waiting hands. That guy's bright orange hair. Ash trays. All of it completely amazing. If I hadn't been so completely unnerved by (ahem – cough, cough, my wings) and the fact that any of these people could be looking for me, I would have enjoyed it.

Tons of people on the streets, walking, running, talking into phones. Maybe Lights Off didn't mean anything to them. Maybe they didn't have to go back in their cages when the lights went out. Or maybe they just didn't notice. With all the bright lights everywhere, it was hard to tell it was supposed to be dark…

On the plus side, nobody seemed to notice me much. None of them stared or screamed or tapped me on the shoulder to inform me that I had big honking wings sprouting from my back. Guess I wasn't doing too bad. I pulled the radioactive hoodie closer, wincing at its smell. Not that I really smelled any better myself.

A huge, huge assortment of carts and stands, selling food that smelled like everything I'd never smelled before. Everything good. I walked until I was ready to drop right on my face and die of hunger right there. I needed something to eat. Now. Knees shaking, I sat down on the bench. Okay, okay, focus. You're a big girl now. You can figure out how to feed yourself. Don't need them, do you?

Nope, I didn't. And if I did I'd rather die. Since I'd rather not die I didn't need them. Perfect sense.

There were many stands lining the sidewalks, steam rising from some. Mmmm…I watched how people did it. If I was gonna blend I needed to know how I should be going about it.

It seemed simple enough. Every time I saw them hand over some of the flat green bills and the person by the cart would hand them food. Maybe it was a trade. Green bills for a full stomach. Green bills come from those little machines sitting around every corner. Bingo. I was understanding this stuff.

I found one of the machines. It sat there blankly, little screen surrounded by buttons. No clue how to use it, but the lady before me had gotten some green bills so I knew it was in working order. I talked to it, telling it I was hungry and would it mind giving me enough to buy something?

No response.

It doesn't have to be anything big. Just enough that my stomach will quit eating itself.

The screen glowed mutely.

Okay, something really small. The smallest piece of food I can find.

Nothing.

Please? I'm really really hungry. I can't remember the last time I ate anything. Probably something they gave me. I explained all about the lab and how I needed this so I could eat so I could stay ahead of them. I told it all about how this was my first time out and I promised I'd learn soon.

The machine didn't spit out any green bills. I knew it had them. It'd given some to that lady. I promised it I'd pay it back as soon as I could. Right away. Right after I got something to eat.

When I glanced back the stranger waiting behind me was giving me a funny look. I stared at the ground and moved away quickly.

So maybe this was going to be harder than I thought…