Crunch.
I walked into the small gas station, Sal's, that I used to visit when I was a child. Glass was scattered along the ground, crunching under every step of my boots. The 2 sliding doors were ripped clean off. Strolling down the empty isles, a certain serenity filled the room. Light poured in through the shattered windows, and a gentle breeze blew leaves throughout the floors.
The dusty, metal shelves glowed in the afternoon sunlight, dimly lighting the entire front room. Running my gloves along the tops of the shelves, I knocked about an inch of dust off. It was clear that nobody had been in this place for years. I hadn't seen any life in New York City for probably 2 years.
Peeking down at my Geiger counter to make sure I wouldn't die in the next 5 minutes, I began to crawl. Not quite on my hands and knees, so as not to rip my hazmat suit, but more like a chimp, on my hands and feet. I flicked my headlamp on, and slowly peered through every nook and cranny, peering over dead rats, which in most cases would be decent meat, but in this case had been there far too long. My headlamp gleamed off of a lone can of red beans. Jackpot.
I pulled the can out from the shadows. It was dinged up and covered in dust, but it was food, which was a rare enough item. I would have to start a fire first, but this was the start of a great meal.
It surprised me how empty the store was. Usually there would at least be remnants of people being here, but I think at this point I was the last person in all of New York.
I chuckled at the premise. "I have New York City all to myself!" I thought. That chuckle quickly became a string of worried thoughts, though. I was alone, by the very definition of the word.
It was a few hours until dark, but I had to get back to my camp, before the winged ones showed up.
Reaching into my sack, I pulled out a lone 5 dollar bill and slapped it onto the table where the register used to be.
"See ya later, Sal. I miss you."
