You just can’t take it. You can’t stand the thought of spending the day scrounging through the trash, looking for anything resembling food. You make your way to the edge of the city carefully. You don’t want to be interrupted before you even get there.
The border of the city is marked by a wide road with a chain-link fence on either side of it. The fence is no obstacle for you, and you squeeze through the gaps easily. You crouch there for a moment, hidden by a patch of tall grass, looking down into the meadow. You can even see the ocean from here, though it seems so far away.
You’ve been told it’s dangerous outside the city, and you know that’s probably true. But as you race down the hill and through the grass, you don’t regret the choice to leave. You reach the bottom, and find yourself surrounded by flowers and shrubs that seem much bigger up close. You can’t see the ocean anymore. As you squint to see if you can spot the city from here, you hear a shrub rustle nearby.
What is it?
