The last time I ever saw Ava alive was a Thursday.
I was hungry that day. I was always hungry. Every week, rations seemed to get a little less. Teacher shouted at us all to finish our food, every last drop, but we would have done so even without him telling us.
There was 97 of us at St Peters at that time. It used to be 100 but some of the other kids went away. There were whispers that some centres had thousands and got the same rations that we did between all of us. I'm glad I wasn't in the City.
Ava talked about wanting to go and play in the ruins. Old stone tunnels, falling apart, made great places to hide. Ollie and Sam wanted to play too. They were older than me, like Ava, and much bigger than me. I was the baby of the group.
Sam tried to make me count first because I was the youngest but Ava said the oldest should count first, which was Ollie. I hid in a small gap under some broken stairs. I saw Ava hiding behind a pillar from where I was crouched. I saw Ava lift a finger to her lips and give me that quick, beautiful smile of innocence. I saw her standing there, still as a statute as Ollie and Sam shouted our names. I saw her scream as Ollie and Sam got taken. I saw her start to run as she realised what Teacher and Cook were doing. I saw her get shot and I saw her die and get slung over Cook's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
I followed her, as I always had, as she was taken back to the centre with Ollie and Sam. I watched as she was taken to the warehouse, a building we were never allowed to go near. There were rumours that the warehouse was haunted. Some of the other kids said they had heard screams from the warehouse late at night when we were meant to be asleep.
It was no warehouse. It was a slaughterhouse. Torsos were hung up like slabs of meat. Pigs squealed in terror amongst the blood and the muck and head butted the corrugated tin walls. Ava was dumped amongst the filth on the floor. Hidden behind large boxes, I saw and I heard.
She wasn't dead. Not yet. It would have been better if she was.
Cook and Teacher dragged in Ollie and Sam too but my eyes were still on Ava.
"That the last of it?" the same, gravely voice that would serve me my rations for the day asked Teacher.
"Yes," Teacher answered. "What with the rations getting smaller, it's taking them longer to turn. We need to up the dosage. Our quotas are bigger than ever, the big wigs in City are having a banquet next week. "
I heard but I didn't register. Not until Ava started changing in front of me. The girl that I knew, that I played with, that I slept next to and cried with and loved no longer existed. Instead, a pig squealing in terror amongst the blood and the muck and head butting the corrugated tin walls. Not for long. A bolt to the head soon stopped the squealing.
The last time I ever saw Ava alive was a Thursday. The first time I realised the truth about where the world was getting its meat from despite the epidemic that had swept the Earth years previously was a Thursday. Thursday was the end for Ava but only the beginning for me.
I have messed up dreams. This was last night's. Kids were being turned into pigs to feed the world. Ben Stiller was in it and provided me with google glasses to save the world. There was also a pharmacy with a kind elderly couple that hid me.