Once the World Ends

Chapter Three

I hurriedly made my way out of the apartment complex into the moist night air. Somehow, though I knew what had happened to the world, the state of things surprised me. A street that had once been achingly familiar now resembled a scene straight out of your darkest nightmare. The building across from me was wildly on fire, the streets littered with trash, debris, and God-knows-what else. I spotted at least three people lying far too still, and strange noises flickered through the night, hysterical laughter followed abruptly by heart-wrenching sobs. The fire cast menacing shadows over everything, and I swear I could see people darting in and out of the cover of buildings. Then again, the fire roared so ferociously that every shadow appeared to dance.

At this point I was mentally beating myself up for deciding to come out at night, all the while subconsciously backing toward the only safe place I knew. Then I stopped myself. There was no safety in a place that would allow me to starve slowly to death, that is if thirst and dehydration didn't take me first. That’s pretty much the first rule of survival.

Let’s go kick some psycho butt.

I decided to head to a nearby supermarket, hoping to find food, and more importantly, water. It’s not like anyone would try and stop me, and besides, what were my other options? To steal from a shop whose owner is probably dead or beyond reason anyway, or to die myself, without anyone I cared about ever knowing what had become of me? That kind of answers itself, doesn't it?

The automatic glass doors had been smashed inwards, scattering jagged bits of broken glass everywhere. The floor was also stained with what was definitely blood, splotches seeming newer leading further inside. I decided to take my chances.

Gripping my new best friend, the iron poker, so tightly my knuckles turned white, I shoved out the remaining pieces of broken glass from the door. They looked all too much like jagged teeth in some monstrous mouth, just waiting for its next human meal.

I rapidly collected several bottled waters, some more canned food and ducked out of the store, not wanting a confrontation with the something that was definitely lurking in the shadows at the back of the shop.

I chose an apartment building randomly, picked the lock, and pushed into a studio apartment that had apparently been abandoned. I didn't want to know what had become of the owners. I did a quick check of the tiny space, a living room and kitchen squished together, a bathroom, and a single bedroom. The walls were painted a blinding shade of white, making me look all the more ghoulish against the sharp contrast of my clothes. My legs began shaking from pure exhaustion, though I'm not entirely sure what had drained me so. Wedging a sturdy looking metal chair by the door and reasoning that nothing could possibly be hiding in an apartment this small, I crashed on the comfy L-shaped couch in the corner. I was asleep in seconds.

So far, so good.