A memory will last longer than a lifetime of disappointment,

And disappointment will outlast God’s eternity;

When the rooster crows in the morning

It wakes both humans and snakes;

Eden in Hell-5

 

     Looking back and recalling the great cause of the collapse of mankind and Earth's decomposition was religion. Huck despised all religions, he truly thought by the year 2050 with every ample tool available that man could assimilate some reasoning and thought to relinquish all religions as pretentious laughable folklore. Instead, religion itself destroyed mankind almost to extinction and left Earth a wobbled dying planet. Dante’s “All hope abandon, ye who enter here.” Earth was an Eden once and is now a decrepified and dying Hell. 

     Huck carried no amulet of hope around his neck, he laughed at hope and looked at death’s powerful reign every day. Where is your God? He smirked at every passing graveyard, futility lies in all who bought into the grifters who served no feigning God but themselves that took billions from the uneducated mass of low-level lotus-eaters who lived a life of deceit and failed redemption, for no God saved your pathetic lives. Religion will never rise above this carnage and desolation. 

     Dwayne was staring at something when Huck glanced over at him. “What are you looking at?” 

     “I saw an old catfish.” Dwayne said with elation, looking around for a stick to prod it. 

     “A catfish? I thought every fish died, are you certain?” 

     “Look, I used to fish for catfish when I was a kid, I know what I saw.” Dwayne didn't like or appreciate the questioning of the status of his senses. He may be a bit dehydrated but not illusive. 

     “ Here, I found a stick with three prongs, let me sharpen it.” Dwayne pulled out his knife and made a nice trident, and handed it to Dwayne. 

     Dwayne took a sacrifice and jumped into the infected water but noticed there were several underground springs running into this stream. He used a term called noodling to manipulate the catfish into an opening and managed a nice stab at this massive elusive fish. They both ate well that night and found the waterways to those underwater springs and filled their canteens up. 

     

                                                         5

Fuck God

Where was God when my Mom’s best friend’s son was killed in Vietnam? 

God had 4 million children starve to death that morning in January, 

He had no time for rescuing some soldier in a foreign land,

Now, his 21-year-old bones lie under a stark cross in a forgotten cemetery. 

Where was God when my dad took his own life?  

Oh, He was too busy burning down someone’s abode

And, left only some hypocritical Bible standing in the aftermath, 

While my dad went to eternal sleep in that descending zipcode. 

Where was God when he stole my best friend in my youth? 

Oh, He captured the Lombardi Trophy for the Raiders,

With a last-minute drive and touchdown, 

Left my buddy to die as a consequential crusader. 

Where was God when he killed my other friend in a car wreck?

A decent man who had three small children,

Left a widowed wife in lonely despair, 

And his parents were guilt-ridden. 

Where was God when my mom suffered a horrible death? 

As she lay in agonizing misery for six months,

Went blind and lost all hope, 

No God answered her dying grunts. 

Where was your God when Hitler torched the Hebes? 

The monster who overshadowed Satan himself with pride,

Sieg Heil to the newborn king,

A proud nation wilts to regicide. 

Where is your God when you need him the most?

Nowhere, my good friend,

Because he's a delusion that you've chased

To the end of the world and will never comprehend. 

Eden in Hell-4

 

     The heat wore down their attempt to get past ten miles a day because finding food supplies and water was of grave interest daily. Finding or scavaging every home for food and water was quite an adventure in itself, once they entered a booby-trapped home, a very sophisticated and elaborate home, and they later found out it belonged to a wealthy physician, and after nearly getting their heads blown off by shear luck because they both slipped and fell when the gun went off, they just left that house as it is, and they mostly just entered old vacant and decaying supermarkets, convenient stores, and drugstores. Huck kept his makeshift and trusty Geiger counter, virus tests, and water tests with him, and when they found any ramshackle drugstore that wasn't pilfered or purloined Huck would upgrade his tests because most vandals would just steal the drugs and canned food and leave whatever tests there. Huck and Dwayne never ate anything contaminated, they knew the danger of viral infections. 

     Dwayne found a picture in one of those fancy cases that showcased various oddities that most drugstores displayed at the checkout register. He picked it up, and it reminded him of his youngest child, Lily, who was his baby girl. Tears rolled down his face and Huck glanced over and rescued him from further melancholy and said, “Will be that check or cash?” 

     “Do you take credit?” Dwayne was laughing so hard returning the rescuing favor.

     “Let’s get the Hell out of here!” Huck had enough of that drugstore, it was empty except for those tests and a few other knick-knacks. 

     Dwayne led the way out of that town and knew those who were infected would soon surface at night because the heat only exacerbated their sickly condition. The lifespan of those infected was less than a week but those infected always wanted a cure and would seek out anyone for help. Nighttime was best spent deeply in the forest and far from cities and rural towns. 

     “Did you find any food?” Huck said knowing it looked dismal. 

     “Not a damn thing, Huck!” Dwayne blurted out and kicked up the dust at his feet in disgust. 

                                                          4

     

Eden in Hell-3

     Huck’s background in engineering helped him solve everyday problems. He cleverly Jerry-rigged a transistor radio from maroon scattered debris of various equipment they found along their journey. One morning Dwayne stumbled upon an old CD player that was over 70 years old with an odd assortment of musical discs from various dead and forgotten Artists. He carried with him a portable solar-panel electrical adapter that had several plug-ins. He fired up that old CD player and it blared out an old song from Pink Floyd, Shine On You Crazy Diamond; Dwayne immediately went back to his old university, and reminiscences soon plunder his ageless mind, and the time he met his wife, who turned him on to the old and forgotten musicians. He almost broke down in tears.

     Huck shouted out, “Damn, I loved that song!” He too was a musical lover of the decadence where arenas were once filled with bands and love before the wave of death viruses hit. 

     “I know, ain't it sublime?” Dwayne said with complete sadness because that world and time are no longer in existence. 

     “We better head toward the woods.”  Huck saw clouds of smoke coming from some vacant part of the city which meant infected humans. 

    Dwayne turned down the CD player, picked up and dusted off the twenty or so CDs and tucked them all in his backpack, and headed toward the wooded horizon. 

     Huck noticed the slightly compartmentalized tone of Dwayne’s voice and knew there was no time for weakness, they had an agenda and there was no time for mistakes. Death was always millimeters away. Nighttime was approaching and they had no food or provisions to nourish themselves. 

     Dwayne looked at Huck and said, “I guess it's Alice’s empty kitchen tonight, isn't it?”

      Both in unison cuckolded out a laugh heard for miles. When you're weak and hungry the body makes reparations to ward off the shock. These were trying times that no institute can train you to adjust to or survive from the retributions of death. 

                                                                    3 

The Gambles

 

I turn to God,

He laughed and turned me away,

I turned to the Devil, and He

said let's play.

For forty years I hid from the sun 

and cavorted into the night.

This macabre of black magic won 

over the righteous fight. 

But one day, I became old

and