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Prompt: 042. bushmeat
From WIKIPEDIA: The term bushmeat, also called wildmeat and game meat, refers to meat from non-domesticated mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds hunted for food in tropical forests. Commercial harvesting and the trade of wildlife is considered a threat to biodiversity.
Bushmeat also provides a route for a number of serious tropical diseases to spread to humans from their animal hosts. Bushmeat is used for sustenance in remote areas, while in major towns and cities in bushmeat eating societies it is treated as a delicacy.
1. It had been the canned mystery sitting on the shelf for years: bushmeat. Something leftover from Uncle Andrew’s wild days.
A. It had been the canned mystery sitting on the shelf for years: bushmeat. Something leftover from Uncle Andrew’s wild days. They weren’t even sure if it was some kind of monkey meat or if he’d bought something cut off of a lizard or a bunch of frogs.
If the Old World was still intact and there were grocery stores they could buy food from, they never would have given the can a second look. But since everything had fallen apart and civilization was nothing more than a fond memory, the mystery meat had taken on real significance. Especially as they were only getting hungrier as the days went by and the snow continued to pile up outside.
2. The rumors were that the pandemic had begun with tainted bushmeat smuggled into the country.
A. The rumors were that the pandemic had begun with tainted bushmeat smuggled into the country. Someone with more money than brains had expanded their palate at the expense of the human race. It was infuriating, and not just because of all the deaths it caused.
“Who the hell wants to eat a monkey? That’s like eating a hairy little man. It’s just wrong.”
“We don’t know what really happened. The bushmeat thing is just a rumor. But wherever it came from, the Plague is here now and we have to be smart if we want to survive it.”
3. The chimpanzee screamed one last time before dying. It was with a sense of guilt that he stepped forward with his knife to butcher some of the world’s most illegal and expensive meat for sale.
A. The chimpanzee screamed one last time before dying. It was with a sense of guilt that he stepped forward with his knife to butcher some of the world’s most illegal and expensive meat for sale.
He still couldn’t believe that he’d accepted this job. But money was tight and his wife was ready to give birth at any moment.
The first cut was the hardest, not just because his hand was shaking and guilt was making his eyes water. The animal hadn’t completely stopped moving, and as he tried to slice, the left arm jerked and hit his shoe with an open-handed slap. As though the chimpanzee was admonishing him for its death, or pleading one last time even though it was already dead.
