Hunger

Ralph was cold. He looked forlornly out of the frosted windows, hoping to see any signs of life. But just like every other day, he was met with an endless nothingness that seemed to stretch forever. Only today, the land had begun to sparkle with a thin blanket of freshly fallen snow. More snowflakes drifted through the crisp air. In no time at all, the once grey wilderness transformed into a landscape of white so bright it was blinding. 

A frenzied rumbling echoed through the empty cabin. Ralph looked down at his stomach pitifully. It had been days since he ate and he was getting desperate. 

He got up and walked weakly to the fridge. Getting on the very tip of his toes, he reached into the top shelf and felt for anything edible, anything at all, despite already knowing all that was left was a bottle of lumpy sour milk, two moldy eggs and leftovers that went bad not long after the backup generator failed. 

He sighed. Ralph’s father never taught him how to use that old radio of his to call for help. There wouldn’t be another human for hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of miles. There was the old family Jeep, but he didn’t know how to drive, and now that snow was piling up quickly it wouldn’t have made a difference if he did. He had water from the tap so he was unlikely to die from dehydration. But boy, was he hungry. He was so hungry that he could eat a- 

Thump. Thump. 

Ralph almost jumped out of his skin. A heavy banging came forth from the front door, loud and forceful. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. There it was again. The hinges of the wooden door shook with each blow. Ralph shivered. He knew about the monsters that came out when the first snow fell, ravenous, scouring high and low for their next meal. His mother said they had a penchant for little children who misbehaved. Particularly little boys. Ralph gulped. Closing the fridge door slowly, he walked tentatively to the front of the cabin, careful not to make any noise that would alert the monster. He sat down at the foot of the rickety stairs and began to contemplate his next move. 

“Hello? Is anyone in there?” A muffled voice suddenly pierced through the silence. Ralph jumped again, this time feeling excitement build inside him. It was a human! He scrambled up as fast as he could and sprinted to the door. Then he paused. Wait. What if it was the monster pretending to be a human? His hand rested on the latch, his heavy breath creating little bursts of icy clouds in the air. 

The door jolted again as the human-slash-monster outside pounded it once more with greater urgency. “Please! I just need somewhere warm to stay until the snow stops, then I’ll be on my way.” 

Ralph pondered this for a moment. Could he risk it? Another angry rumble left his stomach and he clutched at it in pain. There was a moment of silence on the other side of the door, then the maybe-human spoke up. “I have some food here. Yeah, um…” 

Ralph pressed his ear up against the door and listened to the crinkle and crackle of what sounded like plastic wrapping. “Ah. See, I have a sandwich left. It’s beef. It’s a little cold though. You can have it if you want.” 

Hearing this, Ralph’s eyes lit up and he swallowed hard. He was too hungry to think any more of it. He decided to fill his stomach first, then deal with whatever monster there was later. He unlatched the door and it swung open with a whoosh. A gust of snow flew into the already freezing cabin. A tall figure pushed past Ralph’s small frame and stumbled inside, huffing and wheezing in an almost animalistic way. Ralph shrunk back, silently berating himself for not arming himself with a weapon. 

The thing quietened and shook off the remnants of ice and snow on its fur… no, not fur. A fur coat. It turned and rushed to close the door, shielding them both from the wintry assault.

“Are you a monster?” asked Ralph. 

“Oh, my!” The thing spun around to reveal a woman’s face with a shocked expression. Ralph looked up at her, eyes glittering. It was - or at least looked like - a human lady. The woman knelt down to meet Ralph’s eyeline. “I didn’t see you there. Can I speak to mummy or daddy?” 

“They’re not here,” said Ralph. 

The woman’s mouth opened in an ‘O’ of surprise. “You’re out here by yourself? In this weather? Where did your parents go?” 

Ralph did not want to tell her the truth. “They went outside before it started snowing. They’re not back yet,” he lied. He stuck out his lower lip in the endearing way he knew most adults found cute. 

“I see,” said the woman. “How old are you, Ralph?” 

“Ten and a quarter.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a chill zoom through his body, like an electric shock. He swallowed. “How do you know my name?” 

The woman smiled and reached towards him. Ralph held his breath. 

He felt a jabbing on his chest and looked down. The woman tapped on his jumper - the jumper which had the word “RALPH” sewn on haphazardly on the front in big colorful letters. He let out an audible sigh of relief and the woman chuckled. 

“My name is Wendy. My word, it’s freezing.” Wendy rubbed her hands together and looked around the room, spotting the fireplace. “Why didn’t you light the hearth?” 

“Dad said to not play with fire.” 

“Ah, yes. Well. You should listen to him.” She went over and grabbed the box of matches sitting on the mantelpiece, igniting a bunch in one hand and throwing them onto the dry kindling. Flames burst to life, roaring with destructive ferocity and filling the small cabin with an amber glow. Wendy prodded at the bed of twigs and branches with an iron fire poker she found, then crouched down in front of the blaze, relishing the heat. Ralph followed her, standing a safe distance away, watching her every movement intently. She noticed his stare and beckoned him towards her. 

“You must be chilled to the bone, poor lamb. Come sit by the fire.” 

Ralph thought about it, then walked over and sank down next to her. The warmth permeated his skin. Wendy yawned and shook the fur coat off her shoulders. 

“So, did you come here on holiday? Unlucky weather, huh?” 

Ralph shook his head. “No, we live here. We moved here two years ago.” 

“Did you move because of their jobs? What do they do?” 

“Dad quit his job so that we could move here. His brother comes every month to deliver food.” 

“Well, I never! Don’t you go to school?” 

“Dad teaches me. Didn’t you say you have food?” 

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Wendy rummaged through her coat pocket and produced a plastic ziplock bag with a sandwich. Ralph could see a thick cut of beef protruding from the two slices of bread and licked his lips hungrily. 

She offered the bag to him. “Here. Eat slowly, it’s probably a little frozen so- “ 

Before she could finish her sentence, Ralph snatched the bag and ripped it open so violently that the contents scattered across the ground. Panting, he scrabbled at the floor frantically until he came upon the meat, then swiftly raised it to his mouth and tore into it in a fervor reminiscent of a rabid animal. Wendy watched with wide eyes as Ralph devoured his meal, grunting and snarling in a voracious display. 

Afterwards, he sat back with a disappointed look on his face. “It’s… not enough,” he mumbled sadly. 

Wendy blinked. “Oh, dear. Poor boy, you must have been starving,” she said. “How long has it been since your parents left?” 

Ralph swiped a sleeve across his face. “A week. Do you have any more?” 

“A week? No wonder!” said Wendy. She got up with a grunt and made her way to the window, peering out. The snow had accumulated steadily, now having piled up to entomb almost half the cabin.

“Well, there’s no way out in this state.” She tutted. 

“How did you get here?” asked Ralph. 

“Why, I walked,” said Wendy. 

“It’s a long way to walk,” said Ralph, “Mum said there’s not another human for miles and miles.” 

“I’m good at walking. A little exercise never hurt anyone.” She eyed the meat stains on Ralph’s face. “Although it does make one hungry.” 

Ralph looked down. “Yeah… I’m still hungry.” 

“That was the only food I had, I’m afraid,” said Wendy, “Now, if only we had something we could use to call for help…” 

“I have something,” said Ralph proudly. He ran up the stairs two at a time and grabbed his father’s radio. He brought it down to Wendy, who looked at it with intrigue. 

“A radio? How do you work these things… I suppose I could give it a shot.” She sat back down in front of the fire and began fiddling around with it. Ralph also dropped back down beside her. He sniffed. 

“You smell good.” 

“Hmm?” Wendy looked up. “Oh, thanks. It’s Chanel,” she winked. “What made your parents decide to move here? Do you know?” 

Ralph shrugged. “They don’t really tell me a lot of things. But I think it’s to do with the incident.” 

“What incident is that?” 

Ralph took a deep breath. “There was a monster.” 

Wendy stopped. “A monster?” 

“Yeah,” Ralph nodded. Hugging his knees, he stared into the burning glow of the fireplace. “It came to my school one day. I was in maths class with my best friend Rodney, we were messing around like we always did when we heard screaming from one of the other classrooms down the hallway. Mr Finch immediately went to see what was happening. I don’t like maths, so I was really excited. Everyone started talking to each other about what they thought it was.” 

Wendy started twiddling with the radio again. 

“Pamela said it must be a mouse, she said she would scream and scream if she saw a mouse. Rodney said he wasn’t afraid of a stupid little mouse, he wasn’t afraid of anything, even though I know he’s afraid of spiders. 

“Five minutes passed since Mr Finch left and the screaming hadn’t stopped - it got louder. There was also a bunch of noise in the hallway, like people were fighting and breaking things. Everyone started getting scared by then. I thought it was an awful lot of fuss to be making over a mouse or a spider. 

“Then suddenly the door opened and Mr Finch came back in. What was left of him anyway.” 

“Was he hurt badly?” asked Wendy. She tapped the radio impatiently. 

“The first thing I noticed was his eyes,” said Ralph quietly, “One of them was dangling out of its socket, it was just hanging there on a fleshy thread. There were big and long scratches all over his chest, so deep that I could see his insides. It was the first time I saw a human’s insides. I could see the different bones and muscles - oh, and the blood! There was so much blood everywhere. The air was filled with the smell of metal. 

“I think his arms and legs were broken. They kind of dangled at weird angles, not the way you’d expect arms and legs to look like, you know? He reached towards us with his funny arm, and let out this gurgle, like he was swimming. He kept making that noise, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.” 

Ralph glanced at Wendy, who was still busy trying to work the radio. “He was trying to tell us to run. But it didn’t matter because it was already too late. I suppose the monster finished with the others, because it came to us.” 

“What did this monster look like?” 

“It looked like a man,” replied Ralph. Wendy perked up. “It could have passed for a normal human, only it had yellow eyes. There was blood on its mouth, and when it smiled I could see bits of flesh stuck between its jagged teeth. It smiled really wide, and sunk its teeth into Mr Finch’s neck. 

“It took Mr Finch a long time to die. He kept making that gurgling sound.” 

“Poor fellow,” said Wendy, “Dammit, the snowstorm must be interfering with the signal. Maybe we need to go higher. Can we go upstairs?” 

Ralph and Wendy climbed the stairs to the bedroom, the wood squeaking under their weight. Wendy sat down on the double bed. “What happened to the kids?” 

“The monster ate them. Obviously.” 

Wendy raised an eyebrow. “But it didn’t eat you. Why is that?” 

“I guess it was full when it got to me.” 

“How convenient,” Wendy scoffed. “You’re telling me your parents moved you out to the middle of nowhere because of that?” 

“No, there’s more. Because afterwards, more people began to die in horrible ways. Everyone suspected it was wild animals. But we knew the truth.” 

“The monster came back,” said Wendy. Static suddenly emitted from the radio. Wendy pounced. “Hello? Hello!” 

After a few moments, a crackly voice spoke up. “Go ahead.” 

“Hi! Oh my god,” exclaimed Wendy. Ralph watched her closely as she spoke excitedly to whoever was on the other side of the radio, detailing their location as best as she could. Once she was done, she turned to him with relief on her face. “They’re sending help. Might take some time though.” 

Ralph smiled.

Wendy plopped back down on the bed with a sigh and patted the space beside her. “Finish your story. What happened when the monster came back?” 

Ralph once again took his place next to her. “The monster didn’t come back. It died that day, when the people in black armour came to the school and killed it.” 

“So who was killing all those new people?” 

Ralph’s stomach rumbled. “After the monster died, I got sick. I had a constant fever and couldn’t keep down any food. Mum and Dad brought a lot of doctors home but they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. They thought it was extreme PTSD. Whatever that means.” 

There was a sudden thud. Wendy looked up with a start. “What was that?” 

“One day, my cousin Wes came to visit me,” Ralph continued, ignoring Wendy, “I didn’t like him. He would always come up to my room and start playing with my toys without my permission, I told Mum but she said I had to share. This time he started to mess with my new figurine and broke it. I got so angry.” 

Another thud. Wendy jumped to her feet and looked for the source of the noise. 

“At this point it had been days since I ate. Suddenly, Wes looked… good.” Ralph licked his lips. “Tasty.” 

Wendy stopped in her tracks. “What did you-“ A thud sounded again, heavier this time. She noticed a door in the corner of the room. Slowly, Wendy walked over to it. Ralph stood up and watched her. 

“I don’t know what came over me but I couldn’t help myself. He smelled delicious. So when his back was turned, I took one of my trains and hit him on the back of his head as hard as I could. I can still remember his expression after he fell down… honestly I didn’t feel bad at all, he was a real jerk. But he tasted divine.” 

Wendy opened the door. Whatever was beating against the door fell abruptly at her feet - she let out a shriek and jumped back. Then the stench hit her like a punch in the face. Thick and nauseating, she heaved and retched. Little by little her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the small room. 

There, sprawled on the floor, lay two bodies, their forms grotesquely twisted. Some limbs had been cut off sloppily, others had chunks bitten off. The floor and walls were covered in dried and congealed blood. The body furthest away from Wendy was still; she could see maggots nestling where its throat had been ripped out. The one that fell on Wendy twitched erratically. It desperately reached a rotting arm towards her. Gurgle. Gurgle. It was trying to say something. Wendy leaned in, trying to decipher the sounds. Gurgle. Gurgle. 

“I think she’s trying to say ‘run’.” Wendy spun around so fast she lost her balance and fell to the floor. Ralph stood over her with the sharp fire poker in his hand. His eyes glowed a deep yellow in the dim light. “It’s funny, they all make that noise before they die.” 

“Ralph.” Wendy struggled to catch her breath. “Ralph, wait. We can talk about this.” 

“You see, I think the monster passed it to me. Maybe it knew it was going to die and this is its way of living on.” Ralph sighed. “I couldn’t stop. So Mum and Dad brought me here, away from other humans. They tried their best. Dad even learned to hunt deer for me… but it just wasn’t the same. It’s not enough.” 

“Ralph. I- I can help you.” 

“I’m sorry, Wendy,” said Ralph, “I’m just so hungry.” 

~~~

Ralph pressed his face against the window. On the distant horizon through the seamless sheet of white, a tiny dot emerged, barely visible under the onslaught of snow. His eyes widened as the dot grew larger, gradually taking shape and transforming into the sturdy frame of a snowplough. 

Ralph carefully wiped any remaining blood from the corners of his mouth with a napkin and draped Wendy’s fur coat over himself. 

He listened as the hum of the approaching vehicle grew louder, and smiled.