Survive

"Oh, Yu…" Alina took a deep breath. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Yu smiled blandly. "Naa, it's okay. After all, it's just an old story. And I'm used to that kind of life."

"I can't imagine," said Alina with a look full of sympathy for Yu. "The life you've been through must be very hard."

"Yeah," said Yu. "Worse. When I was living as a homeless person at a very young age, I once witnessed a boy my age being sodomized by delinquents."

"Oh, God!"

"That's how we live." Yu gulped his drink. A special drink to neutralize the simulated serum earlier. "That's why people like me prefer to live out of the way, away from urban areas, or other crowded slum places."

"I didn't think so at all," said Alina. "Well, I've heard that life out there is hard and bad, but I didn't expect it to happen. And you have experienced this yourself. Oh my God… I don't know what will happen to humanity?"

"There's no point in you thinking about that, Alina. After all, all the bad things that have happened and will happen out there, all start from the greed of the elite. You should know this already, right?"

Well, Alina does know and is well aware of this. She just didn't think that life out there—which she had never seen with her own eyes—was so terrible, more than she had ever imagined.

Yeah, terrible. That's what is in Alina's head right now to the picture of Yu's life.

Yu was right, Alina thought. The greed of the elites has drastically changed the face of the Earth for a long time. And the effect was that the lives of the commoners had turned bad. A life that may no longer be called life because it is always filled with misery and suffering.

"So, where do you live?" Alina asked after the pitiful feeling in her chest had subsided. "I mean, sorry, after your mom and dad died?"

"Like I said. I live a homeless life. Scavenge for food in the trash. The leftovers of the elites."

Alina couldn't even finish the food on her plate. Just hearing from Yu's mouth, she already felt disgusted and nauseous. What if she experienced such bad things?

"Until the incident happened to a boy my age," said Yu, he sighed which sounded so heavy. "I immediately decided to stay away from that area. For days I walked, along with the arid land of Sumatra. Come to a place where there was once a great war that destroyed the central region of Sumatra."

"Yeah, I've read about that," Alina sighed heavily and long. "The tragedy of humanity that destroyed the area that used to be nicknamed the Land of the Golden Ship."

"Yeah… That how is it," Yu shrugged his shoulders. "Petroleum, natural gas… all were destroyed because of the greed of the elites who also destroyed people's lives, even the land itself."

Alina took another deep breath. From the conversation the two of them had so far, she could sense how much Yu hated elites—well, maybe everyone out there was against elites like him. And she couldn't do anything about all that had happened.

The area described by Yu had turned into barren land. The great war caused by the struggle for oil and gas fields has transformed the area into a vast desert.

The big cities that used to exist in the land have been buried beneath the surface of the ground.

However, Yu didn't seem to show his hatred for Alina. Not all. This is what makes the young doctor think differently about the man in front of her.

Does he have given up on his life, or is there something else that makes him hide it? But Alina wasn't sure about that last point. Because she didn't find any pretense against Yu so far.

"I was lucky enough," said Yu. "At that time…"

It has been a year since Yu has lived as a homeless person since his father and mother were killed by street thugs.

Yu ran even though he was out of breath, sweat dripping down his face and all over his body. A dozen meters behind him, a bunch of thugs seemed to be looking for something, maybe prey for their pleasure. Yu, who already understood the nature and character of the delinquents, preferred to immediately hide.

Behind the rubble of a skyscraper, Yu was hiding. He sits hugging his knees at an angle, untouched by the twilight sun. With a shivering body and a pale face, Yu prayed that the hoodlums wouldn't find him. The horrific image of the boy who was sodomized a year ago still haunts Yu's thoughts and fears.

The yells of the thugs, then the screaming voices of some of the people who were the targets of their pleasure: whether it was just hitting, snatching food and other valuables, or even raping, all of which exacerbated the fear that existed in Yu.

He covered his ears. Yu couldn't bear to hear the screams. Every time he heard a scream, Yu's memory would immediately go back to what had happened to his father and mother.

Yu didn't know how much longer he would hide like that. Time passed as if so slowly as his breathing felt so tight in his chest. Yu felt as if he was in a closed room that was cramped, stuffy, and devoid of light.

Either because he was so scared, or because he was exhausted, Yu fell unconscious in a hidden corner of the rubble.

The morning sun was already at a third of its initial height. Yu frowned with sweat dripping down his forehead. He squirmed in such away. And when he opened his eyes, he quickly sat up and pressed his back against the corner of the narrow room with a gasping breath.

After realizing that he had survived the savagery of the hoodlums last night, Yu let out a long breath of relief.

He peered outside, keeping an eye on his surroundings. Yes, it seems the hoodlums from yesterday were no longer in the area. There were only shabby faces that were very sad that Yu could meet in the rubble area.

The faces are pitiful because maybe last night they had been bullied and abused by street thugs.

Although Yu felt a slight hurt in his stomach because he hadn't been filled with food since yesterday afternoon, he didn't want to stay in that area any longer. Yu thought, maybe the thugs were back there. And Yu didn't want to be a victim to them.

Under the scorching sun, Yu forced his feet to take a step. The vast expanse of sand that buried the urban area made the eight-year-old boy's steps slow.

And now, he felt not only hunger but also intense thirst. Yu's lips were already chapped from dryness. But the boy continued to walk even though he did not know the direction and purpose.

Yu found the carcass of a stray cat. He swallowed. The hunger was so intense that it forced the boy to approach the carcass of a cat in the middle of a barren expanse of sand.

With trembling hands, Yu grabbed the cat carcass. He tried to smell the carcass. And of course, after that, he vomited.

Yu couldn't bear to eat the carcass and threw it away. He got up and quickly continued on his way.