The Hunger Bloom

Gender: Your choice. *

• You are 18 years old. You grew up in an orphanage. Your parents died, and since then you rely only on yourself. *

• You leave the orphanage and start an independent life. You buy a small apartment. It is cheap, but cozy. You have enough. *

• Life is simple. You work online. You go grocery shopping yourself. You save. You live paycheck to paycheck. *

• In a few weeks, a new virus appears. Or is it already the apocalypse. Nobody gives it a name. People just call them parasites. *

• They are the size of a palm. The body looks like a swollen, fat larva. The head resembles a rat. Small black eyes. A wet pink nose. They make a low, damp squeak. *

• They eat everything: *

• garbage *

• food scraps *

• carrion *

• corpses *

• of domestic animals *

• If you fight back, they become brutal. They attack in a pack. They are not afraid of light. They are not afraid of noise. They are afraid only of hunger. *

• At night, they climb into houses. They devour people in their sleep. They attack when a person is distracted.
  There are more and more of them. There are almost no animals left. It's good you don't have a pet.
  You're sitting in your apartment. Looking out the window. You see them tearing apart yet another living thing in the yard.