The World Outside

There was a convenience store next to the building I lived in. It was not that much crowded and apparently new in business, and they had a great amount of groceries and other necessities as well. Before the lockdown started, I gathered all my necessities from there, enough to last me through my two-year-shut-in life. The foods were supplied by military in exchange of money. Although they had started their services for free, they were unable to continue their operations due to the economic downturn and food shortage. Because of snowfall, the weather was making the soil unable to grow any type of crops. It was clear that soon we would face a famine, leaving us no choice but to venture outside our homes to survive. And so I decided to go out but the danger lurking outside was not something I could ignore at all. 

But what could I do? I might be stronger now, but not enough to save myself from those beasts. And there was that harsh weather that would freeze my insides and outs.

"I guess I can manage with some clothes," I could hear myself thinking aloud as I searched for a way to secure myself. "But weapons? Only if... if I could have a gun or something."

Grumble... grumble...

"Ahh, totally forgot about lunch."

As I rushed to the kitchen, something clicked my mind.

 "Well, I do have weapons, after all," I mumbled to myself, my hand instinctively reaching for the kitchen knife. "But it won't be enough for sure. Time for an upgrade!"

Ideas were flowing inside me. Maybe it could work. As fast as I could, I finished my lunch and rushed to the garage. The neighbour who was the victim of her own dog had a car. And that would mean a car battery for me.

"Where is the battery now? Man, I miss Farabi. I bet he would get it right away."

Fortunately, I didn't have to search that much. It was right beside the engine under the front hood. And I got the car manual just inside the car. My luck could not be any better. 

"Okay...it says...err...locate the positive and negative terminals...huh...unbolt the cables...okay then...remove the battery hold-down clamp and take it out...and done."

After half an hour, I could successfully obtain the battery. Then I took the battery to my room, grabbed a knife, and took a steel rod from the curtains, along with the curtains themselves.

"Heh heh, I'm about to create a masterpiece." I thought, feeling pretty proud of myself, despite the lingering uncertainty about whether I could pull it off or not.

It took me four hours to finish, and the product was the sloppiest I had ever seen. Actually, my plan was to use the knife as a conductor of electricity and for this, I took out the knife's handle and used the steel rod to place the knife on the top, the hardest task was to firm it in that place, added a plastic handle to save myself from the shock...of course the handle was also borrowed from a broom. So that I could fight with it from a little far. 

"Okay it must work. Let's try it out."

Feeling quite confident in myself, I went outside wearing my jacket and gloves. 

"Man, I feel like a genius. It looks sloppy but a good thing to have." I just thought.

It was hard to move in the snows. Legs would not want to move. After a few blocks, I could see a beast. It was not that big like the dog beast. It looked like a mutated rat. Its fur was thicker than the normal one and had long front teeths and height of at least a cat. A little bit disgusting to see but I think I can manage.

"Maybe I can try it out on this", as soon as I said, I attacked it from behind but was utterly defeated by my own foolishness.

"It does not work? EHHHH!???"

But it was too late to back off now. The beast was agitated by the sudden attack. 

"Damn it!!!! I shouldn't have come like a fool! "

 I could only blame myself. There was no way I could pull it off. Genius and me? I was just a fool, a total idiot. But there was no time to mourn. 

Throwing my bag which contained the car battery, I tried to fend it off with my modified knife but it was too fast. 

"I am dying....fuck! Nah I am not dying like this. I can't die yet. Not yet. Not because of this, at least!!!"

My head was hurting too much. I felt like fainting but I was not. It felt like a dream. A dream where I was not feeling myself but I was in my best. I felt like I could win. I felt like I was telling myself ,"Yes, Ref. You can win. Just do it. " and my hands targeted the knife towards the monster standing in front of me.

The headache seemed to disappear. And something came out of my hands and sliced through the cold air and the beast. There was a sickening thud, a sound like thunder and slicing but I could not see what it was as it was too vague. And I did not even know how it happened but I could see the beast dead before me.

Closing my eyes, I sank into the oblivion in the middle of snows. Snow covered my eyes and I saw a dream. A dream where I found myself in a dark tunnel and on the other side, there was a light, and I found myself moving towards it. As if I was searching for that light, for the whole time. My existence echoed and let me know that I was not what I had been before. When I reached at the end of the light, I saw a stone floating in the air. I approached the stone slowly and my hands felt like I was eager to touch it. Extending my hands to the stone, I touched it. But as soon as I did, it vanished and the wind started swirling around me while whispering into my ears, "Succeed" .