With, Without, Within

Dear Diary,

It's kind of sad how you're my best friend. It's even more sad how I'm talking to you, when you can't talk back... or at least I think you can't...

Okay. Now I'm starting to freak myself out.

Today I was seriously thinking about going to Broadway and risking the gangs. I mean, there's actual food there, and I was really hungry. If the gang leaders don't like you, though, you get killed, but maybe, just maybe, they would like me. I hoped.

So I was going toward Broadway, thinking that maybe, just maybe, I would be able to get out alive, when I hear something in the bushes. It really freaked me out, because there's lions running around everywhere and also people infected with an incurable disease that's so deadly that everyone who catches it dies, and it's also extremely contagious. Then I see a tan nose poke out of the bushes, and then a tan-and-black head, followed by the rest of the dog. It was a German Shepard, maybe a year old, and so adorable he took my breath away. I named him Firecracker.

(Yes, i know that i named the dog in my Black Sun series Firecracker, too)

It turns out that the only food wasn't on Broadway. After scrounging through a few grocery stores with Firecracker following me, I had found a box of Hamburger Helper, a few handfuls of dog food, an almost empty box of Captain Crunch cereal, and a few bottles of water that were just a little bit dirty. I ate the Hamburger Helper raw, drank two of the bottles of water, gave Firecracker some of the dog food, and stuffed the Captain Crunch and the other water bottles into my backpack for tomorrow. Fire and I slept in an old gas station.
-Direen