Chương 3: Freak of nature

June has always been a little dull; he has always been the type to not care about trends or what other people are up to. He always seemed to be in his little world, and as much as he appreciated conversation, June tended to be the solitary type. June may have had plenty of friends and no real enemies, but he always looked at himself as an eccentric; he was sure that others saw him the same way too. He didn't mind that much, but even then a little part of him that few knew about felt like a glaring oddity to June.

Unlike most people, he was able to dull his senses on command; things like pain, hunger, and even attraction June was able to control. He felt like a freak, especially because in the 20 years he has lived, he has never once fallen head over heels for someone; maybe that's where the notion that something was wrong with him originated from.

That small innate ability of his made him feel like he was in the wrong; it felt that one day he would find out his emotions and personality were some shade of what a normal person has, a pale imitation, or a betrayal of oneself. Even though he had those fears, he knew one thing: he was a hopeless romantic; it's just that he never assumed that he would die before he got a chance to even hold hands with someone he loves.

June sat slumped against a wall surrounded by industrial shelves; he found some bandages in a staff room near the entrance and haphazardly wrapped them around himself. Luckily he had taken a first aid class before twice, actually, and unfortunately only the bare information from those classes was retained in his papier-mâché brain. The good thing was, he wasn't going to bleed out anymore.

The bad thing was, he lost a lot of blood; he couldn't tell if he was going into shock or the blizzard was reaching where he was, or both. The second good thing was he found some iron deficiency gummies, and they were green apple flavored. He was still going to die, though. June was lethargically eating the gummies and a couple of other foods, mainly canned uncooked vegetables. He had once heard that vegetables were good for his iron, and iron is basically blood... right?

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He found it funny that a hapless rat with no real will to live was clinging onto what life was left in a situation where death would be preferable to some. He was half considering just walking into the storm but decided not to on the account that dying meant that he could no longer finish the sweet vitamin gummies.

"How shallow of me." June was weakly beholding the industrial container of 500 mg of natural-flavor iron-deficiency gummies.

"Finding another thing to cling onto, iron deficiency gummies are definitely a great reason to not die." June was not sure of himself; then again, when has he ever been sure of himself? He felt himself falling into another spiral since his condition wasn't as distracting as when blood was pouring from him like a fountain. He really did regret never finding love; then again, he was never in a position to love; he felt a deep melancholy.

A walkie-talkie that he found nearby and was playing with lit up randomly, and the sound startled him enough so that he jumped and nearly reopened a wound. Ignoring the searing pain in his side, he crawled over to the walkie-talkie buried in snacks from brands he has never heard of. The walkie-talkie was just making static, so he slapped it a couple times hoping that it would work. A few seconds of silence passed, but eventually a feminine voice came over the communicator.

The voice was calm and a bit heavy; their words felt like they carried weight.

"Class 4 Storm has ceased. If there are any survivors, please come in." The message repeated a couple times; June was stunned, a little hopeful even.

"Hello? I'm stuck in an apartment building; I'm on the bottom floor." The woman's voice took a minute but replied"Survivor, where are you?" June mustered his mind, but he truly did not know.

"I... I don't know; I woke up a while ago...." June considered his words for a second.

"I think I am in an apartment building; there's a big tear in the entrance of the building... I heard explosions. What's happening?" The feminine voice took a minute to respond once again, longer than last time.

"We have dispatched a team to your location; please wait." June felt hopeful, but even after he woke up, or at least thought he woke up, in this building, he was still a little afraid; there was the possibility of the people he just talked to being hostile. As that thought crossed his mind, he glanced at a handgun he found.