Dust to Dust

2

Being in a new house was so... refreshing. There weren't food wrappers piled up in the bedrooms, everything was organized, and it actually smelled like a house instead of body odor and old cat food. Best part, the showers still worked alright. There was a grocery store just a bit away. It was such a perfect spot. The bad part was unpacking. One of Jenny's least favorite activities. Especially since she just walked through the whole day and ended up in a wide open space she didn't recognize. It was a street filled with huge houses, and a giant forest behind all of them. There was a bit of field that led up to a river and more trees, it was a really nice setting.

She never would have thought all this space would have been so nice.

She had brought food along with her, but would need to go for another grocery run sometime soon once it ran out. The stove was still operating, so she figured she could set off her arrival with an actual meal for once.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be no people around whatsoever. Not even on that ten hour walk.

She thought she might have gone insane after walking for that long, but it wasn't a big deal considering she never left the house unless absolutely necessary. The exercise was needed.

And the sun came out for the first time in a while which was nice. She only ever felt it through a window or those few supply runs that she hardly payed attention to.

The house was drafty, but a thousand times better than the old one. Plus there were five bedrooms upstairs. Who could live in a place like this? Now, any normal person would have picked the biggest room. Jenny decided to go with the smaller one because it had creative decor, and big beds were pointless anyway when it was just one person. It was shaped similar to her own, and made her think of when Carrie would sit at the windowsill and just space out like the dope she was. Not having a cat anymore was weird. It felt like there was a piece missing from her life. She had Carrie ever since she was little, and after she died nothing was the same. Of course, losing her family was already a big deal, but once she was gone, there was nothing familiar left, even thought she never even left the house.

Eventually, the day came when another supply run was in need. There was no food left, and she would have to stop at the river by the forest to get fresh water, since the fridge didn't work, and warm water was disgusting. Back at home, she would sometimes come home with cat food, and then remembered. It was always at the back of her mind that Carrie needed some. So now there was a small pile of cat food cans beside her grave.

Once morning came, or afternoon, she didn't know, it was officially time to leave. The only thing she needed was a gun. She wasn't going to take any risk of running into some unstable survivor unarmed, only a moron would go outside without protection.

She threw on a striped sweater and jeans, walking down the stairs with a rifle in hand, strapped over her shoulder. This had become a normal routine. It was ridiculous how she couldn't leave the house without a literal rifle. Though she had never come across anyone since the year before, she needed to be prepared. It was about a twenty minute walk to the grocery store which wasn't a big deal. Keeping a list was also helpful, so she didn't just walk into the store and buy all the crap instead of getting the stuff needed to actually stay alive. Protein, vitamins, anything with those two words was a go-to. However, most of the meat expired and medicine wasn't an easy find.

Jenny wondered how long she would last. Everything had to go bad at some point, right? So either she would need to hunt to survive, or fail miserably and eat garbage until food poisoning killed her. But she couldn't picture that happening, it was a stupid way to die. That couldn't be thought about now. All she needed were some decent groceries and mostly fresh water.