The Gamma's Apocalypse

He stood on the edge of the woods staring up at the moon. It was full tonight, and although they were on the outskirts of the city things were quiet. Eerily quiet, but that is what it was like now. No more cop sirens, no more backfires, or bustling city noises ripping through the night. Just stillness, a grave reminder that things would never be the same, that world had changed and they would all have to change with it.    "Ok someone else's turn. My hands are done." James and Chase were sitting around a campfire in the woods. A rabbit hung from a spit they had made out of a stick. Chase was twirling it around with his hand.   "I'll take a turn." Zeke turned and smiled, walking over and switching places with him.   "Rabbit and squirrel is getting old. We gotta find some berries or something tomorrow." James shook his head.'   "Agreed we got a little spoiled at the Packhouse ." Zeke laughed.   "It's been days since we've seen anyone else too. Where did everyone go?" James wondered.   "I'm guessing a bunch died in the initial attacks. Then a bunch more in the first couple of months following. Most weren't equipped to deal with this." Chase stated.   "Stores were probably ransacked pretty good in the first few weeks. Then finding food after that. Hell finding even squirrel and rabbit is getting hard, let alone big game." Zeke sighed. "Soon it’s going to be even harder to find animals. I sure hope they had some luck with the cattle."   James and Chase nodded.   "So." Chase changed the subject. "Which direction are we heading tomorrow? I hear all the hot girls are out to the East."   James and Zeke Laughed. "East sound good to me. Maybe we will run into another pack along the way." Zeke pondered. "We can go down into the city, scavenge for supplies, maybe we’ll get lucky. This is done let's eat."   They each ripped off part of the meat and ate their dinner. But they were far from full. All the walking they were doing was taking a lot out of them and the little they had been able to catch wasn't doing much to satisfy them.    Zeke sighed. "We definitely have to find something else tomorrow. We can not survive on rabbit, it’s not enough fat and I need more energy if we're going to keep going. Four weeks of squirrel and rabbit. Freaking apocalypse."   "I wish I would have paid closer attention on that foraging class in tenth grade we took to get out of work." Chase laughed as he laid down on a sleeping bag.   "Yeah what was her name?" James thought. "Oh yes, Mrs. Hawk. Sunshine Hawk." They all laughed. "We would make so much fun of her."   Zeke chuckled. "Wish that old hippy was here now so she could teach us a thing or too."   "I had a huge crush on her." Chase smiled.   "What?" Zeke and James asked in unison.   Chase shrugged. "She didn’t wear a bra. It was hot."   They all burst into laughter. "You are a sick man. She was like thirty. Which is funny because it sure seemed old back then didn’t it?" Zeke chuckled.   "Yeah now I'm 32 and feel young." James agreed.   "This apocalypse though, it’s going to make us all old before our time." Chase yawned. "Someday I feel like I'm sixty. I'm beat I'll see you guys in the morning.   James and Zeke settled into their sleeping bags as they all attempted to sleep.   Zeke laughed to himself as he heard snores coming from Chase and James. He wished he had the ability to fall asleep as quickly as they could. He stared up at the moon. They had been on the road for four weeks and not a glimpse or inkling his mate was around. He sighed as he rested on the back of his hands. Maybe he was destined to be alone, maybe he would never find her, or maybe he would and she didn’t wait. Maybe she picked a mate for herself. 'Moon Goddess.' He said to himself. 'Please help me find her, if she is still out there waiting for me, guide me to her.' He rolled over as he tried to fight his growling belly and wandering mind for sleep. Something that had been eluding him since they left the Pack.   ___________________________________________________________________   Zeke walked over and kicked James. "Get up, we need to get moving."   James sighed. "Just five more minutes dad."   Zeke shook his head. "Haha, hilarious. Seriously though, the suns been up for thirty minutes we need to move."   James climbed out of his sleeping bag and rolled it up. He attached it to the bottom of his pack standing up. "I will never understand how you two can be raring to go first thing in the morning." He yawned.   Chase laughed. "I will never understand how you can be first to sleep but last to wake."   James smirked and ran his hand though his hair. "This face takes lots of beauty rest."   Zeke shook his head as he chuckled. "We should see if we can forage anything along the way. Black raspberries and mulberries should ripening about now. Maybe we'll get lucky and find some black walnuts too."   They nodded. Chase kicked dirt on the coals of the fire making sure they were going out. Zeke and Chase put their packs on, they all three grabbed their AR's propped up against a tree, slinging them over their chests. They started walking towards the city staying alert.   They cautiously made their way into the city, going trough stores searching for anything left. They entered a pharmacy, and could already tell it had been completely ransacked.   "Let's check in the back, just to make sure." Zeke stated. They went into the office and searched through a couple desk's and locker in the break room.   Chase slammed one of the locker doors shut. "Nothing."   "Calm down, it will be alright." James replied.   Chase shook his head. "We have got to find something else to eat.  I can’t believe we didn’t find anything in the woods."   "Let’s just keep looking for a few more hours. Then we'll start venturing deeper into the woods. The deeper we get the better luck we might have to find some berries or something." Zeke expressed.   James and Chase nodded.   "Maybe we should go to the houses more in the suburbs, go house to house versus stores. We are striking out." James thought out loud.   "That's probably a good idea." Zeke agreed.   They worked through the city and into neighbor hoods with homes. They searched home to home finding very little. A couple cans of tuna and a can of dog food. Zeke thought they might be able to use it in a snare to catch something. "Well that was a complete bust!" James sighed.   "Let's head into the woods. Really do some searching for some food to forage." Zeke  affirmed. "I am sure we can find something.   After a couple hours of walking the came upon a stream with a small waterfall. "Finally." James smiled. "I am almost out of water, I was starting to freak out."   Zeke laughed. "I didn’t want to say anything, but I was getting nervous too."   They got their water bottles out of their packs and filled them from the waterfall, gulping half down before refilling it again.   "Guys!" Chase hollered, "LOOK!"   They turned to see what Chase was talking about as they saw a bush full of berries. They ran over. "What is it?" James asked as his mouth started to water looking down at the tiny black and red berries. He felt his stomach growl and laid his hand in it. "Please tell me this is edible."   Zeke grinned wide. "It's black raspberry and they are definitely edible. I can even make us some tea from the leaves. Only eat the black ones though the red ones aren’t ripe they're super sour.   They all started pulling off the sweet berries, popping them into their mouths. "Oh my gosh." Chase groaned. "This might  be the best thing I have ever ate in my life."   James chuckled. "Agree."   Zeke ate a few more berries and then started putting some leave in his pack. "What do you say we set up camp here for the night? I can set a couple snares, see if we catch anything?"   "Berries for breakfast I'm sold." James replied, red juice falling down his chin as he talked with his mouth full.   "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" They heard someone yell. "Hands up, we have you surrounded."   Zeke, James and Chase looked at one another. "Crap!" Zeke shouted ad he slowly turned toward the voice, putting his hands up high in the air. James and Chase followed suit. A man walked out from behind a set of bushes as several other men and women appeared as if out of nowhere from behind bushed and trees.   "Now." The man stated a smirk on his face. "Who the hell are you three and what the hell are you doing on our Parklands?"