Diruktober Day 11: Macabre

   Diruktober is a DIR EN GREY themed inktober challenge by re_be_ka_f. I chose to use them as writing prompts to join in on the fun. 

Dansk had strung lamps along the crumbling concrete wall so that they could see the way down when coming for a reprieve from what was left of society. Scrounging for scraps and leftovers wasn’t much of a fulfilling job. 

The goods they could carry were dwindling, and they ate half-rotten food in order to try and keep up with the perishables. The earth was still scorched, and despite the group's best efforts in precious daylight hours, nothing grew.

Despite this, their small society of more or less than a few hundred was self-governed. Food hoarding was strictly forbidden, and fornication strictly regulated. It was for survival, as nobody wanted extra mouths to feed. They never talked about it. Nobody really knew what they do when the food ran out in a poisoned wasteland. 

It was Gwendolyn who was the first to be visibly pregnant. The group started to slowly shun her, the few left with sympathy being mostly women. Nobody said it out loud, not in meetings, not in private. Human beings had become beasts who silently shunned the weakest in the pack. The disadvantages already showed when she grew weaker and weaker with hunger while bearing the burden of her baby. She gave her flesh to grow the child, appearing more gaunt as her stomach grew and grew.

It was late in the night when a newborn's screams echoed in the concrete quarters. 

Without a word, when she awoke from a slumber meant to act as a brief recovery, her child was gone. She wept silently as if the guilt were shameful. After all, it was her fault wasn’t it?

Everyone found the stew particularly sweet that night, except for Gwendolyn who found she had no appetite.