Consumption

By JD FitzRoy

An experimental micro-short in a horrifying post-apocalypse wasteland. Taken from the book published on Kindle (link below), ‘CONSUMPTION: A SHORT STORY COLLECTION’.

>

Running from that burnt black beast,

an unstoppable pyroclastic monster.

It rolls over itself, glued to the land;

a malignant sticky nebulous cancer.

>>

Legs burning acid, heart trying to burst.

Oxygen rubbing sandpaper through raw throat.

>>>

You explode into the tower’s lobby,

turn and slam the heavy door,

Hope beyond hope it cannot follow.

>>>>

A hollow space in a dead forest,

Life’s debris fused to rot and fungus,

an echo of the world outside.

Ignore the pain, head for the stairs. 

>>>>>

Careless footsteps slam against concrete,

rebounding hard from joyless angles.

Exhaustion almost overwhelms you.

Blood jack-hammers at your temples.

Cold stale air sends daggers into your lungs.

>>>>>>

Floor twelve, light filters into the corridor,

from doors flung open or shattered.

Chaos mirrored a thousand times below.

>>>>>>>

Small concrete shells punched by smaller

half-packed cardboard boxes.

Intermodal containers for economy-stimulating consumers.

And their economy-stimulating consumption.

>>>>>>>>

Colours lost under thick grey skin.

Only ghosts and echoes remain.

>>>>>>>>>

New residents have moved in,

musty smells invade flared nostrils.

Finger peninsulas growing from damp cracks around seals.

Outside, through shattered blinds, a uniform slate-grey.

Not the dense black of nothing,

but a peppery patchwork teasing at the eye’s corner.

>>>>>>>>>>

A crash far below.

The stairwell’s base vanishes into sticky black.

You thrust against desperately resisting muscles.

>>>>>>>>>>>

On twenty-two, you look once more.

A void swallows the tower one floor at a time.

Around, daylight fills the corridor. And sounds.

Movement coming from apartments.

You approach with fizzing fear.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Explosion of squawks and shatter of wings,

a tsunami of feathers and dust.

Gulls launch through broken windows.

Bigger apartments up here;

gym equipment and luxury goods smeared

in archipelagos of shit.

Metal and plastic branches and cliffs.

Frozen moments consumed by their own malignancy.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The monster will not let you go.

Above, bright orange beams puncture desiccated bones.

The setting sun will soon depart,

engulfing the world by night.

If you can but just get to the top…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Fewer apartments on each new floor.

And more space. And more light.

All museum time-capsules imperfectly sealed,

steadily decaying.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A single penthouse dominates floor fifty-five.

The stairwell opens to a foyer and a thick steel door;

sealed in fortified isolation.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You force the door,

a burst of radiance almost blinds.

The red ball hovers over the formless beast,

infusing sickness with fire.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Far from the rooted egg boxes, 

Or the ascendant desires,

No further can you go.

Nothing to fear here.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You discern the tower’s extensive footprint.

More space than several homes below.

Twinkling marble encloses desiccated water-fountain.

All the weight carried aloft.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Once happy parties among vulgar statues,

glowering upon patrons with vacant smiles.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

All for this. Every ascendant battle,

argument, conflict, misinformation, deflection.

Every acquisition, every theft and hoarding.

To defy gravity with debauchery.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yet the monster consumed one and all.

It began at the bottom, it grew,

nothing could satiate its hunger.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For faraway cloud-folk,

all so inconsequential.

Always more bovine for the grinder.

Until there wasn’t.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Essential support weakened,

it didn’t take long,

for the great collapse.

Then all ran for higher ground.

Ran until muscles burnt acid.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And the great black machine kept pounding,

hungry for infinite growth on a finite world.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ravenous for balance, the world fought back,

to eliminate the progenitor of pain.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

To every horizon, nebulous bile bleeds blood-red.

Glass-steel monoliths puncture black waters.

Once defiant fists rising against nature,

now tombstones to cognitive dissonance.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Upon the world’s new global ocean,

you absorb the last of the golden sun’s gift.

Tomorrow, you know, might never come.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FIND CONSUMPTION