Evelyn Ford hadn't eaten for a long time. Hunched over, she staggered through one alley after another. The roadsides were littered with people who had either died or fainted from hunger, their bodies swarming with insects. The insects didn't just gnaw on the flesh; they also laid their eggs on the corpses and rotting meat.
Even with her head covered and her nostrils plugged with a scrap of cloth, Evelyn Ford could still smell the nauseating stench.
This was the third year of the apocalypse. The entire planet of Azure had been overrun by insects. All vegetation—trees, flowers, and grass—had been gnawed clean.
Evelyn Ford reached a wall and squatted down, removing a few bricks from its bottom-left corner. She was so famished that the simple act of moving the bricks left her utterly exhausted. After a quick glance back down the alley confirmed no one was following, she carefully squeezed through the hole, then replaced the bricks behind her.
