Isolation

Dead Street

I walked down the streets, a bag slung over my shoulders and my steps feeling heavy, but as if it was nothing at the same time. Everything was quiet, there wasn't a soul in sight, no animals, people, any sign of life, really. It was lonely, but this is the life I've come to know. Nothing I can do about it but walk. The houses on the street looked pretty mundane, but at the same time, it was all completely ransacked, like if someone just tore the door down and took whoever and they struggled. I'm not sure why this happened, or why I'm the only one left. I wasn't anyone special before this happened, I didn't have much a social life, and I wasn't all that close to my family. But now that there's nobody around, it makes me realize how much I liked people. How much I actually appreciated the annoying dog next door while I tried to nap off the afternoons.

Lonely. It's the only feeling I feel now, that, and dehydration.

Quickly, I pulled out a small bottle of water from the sack I was carrying, gently twisting the cap off and then taking a long swig of the crystal clear liquid inside. "Refreshing..." I said to no one in particular. Getting by here was kind of hard. I wasn't sure if everyone was actually gone or if this is just some elaborate prank or something of the sort, so I stopped myself from doing anything that would otherwise be unacceptable in normal society. Robbing houses, stores, cars, the like. I tried my best to stop myself from doing that. But, eventually I ran out of money to give to the empty counters, ran out of food back at home. It's strange, but, after a certain point you're just pushed to do something you normally wouldn't do.

I came to a crosswalk, an intersection. Funny, back then it was always busy, not ever was there a silent moment here. But now?

...I let the silence fill my ears, my thoughts for a good minute. I turned my head down and let free a small sigh. "I need to find more food..." I said to myself, looking in my bag. Inside there was around 3 bottles of water, 2 cans of that pre-cooked, unheated pastas and some other foods I couldn't care to mention. "Well, better than nothing." I took a seat on a bench, once belonging to a bus stop. Pulling out one of the cans of pasta and a can opener, I cracked it open and placed it to the side. I dug in my bag again and pulled out a small plastic bag of plastic utensils. Grabbing a spoon and placing the bag back into the much larger, hiking bag. I zipped it back up and placed it to my other side. "Time to dig in." I said before shoving a spoonful of the pasta in my mouth, chewing it and swallowing. Now, it should be worth mentioning that power still does work in this city, but I'm too far from home to go back and eat. Hell, I might faint if I tried to walk back without eating something now. And breaking in to these houses are out of the question, the alarms would probably still be activated.

So, I had to make do with unheated, precooked pasta cans. Ravioli this time around, not bad. Maybe I'll visit a supermarket and pick myself up some more canned foods. Should I try for fruits and such this time? Or maybe more of this stuff, it is pretty good after all. Well, that decision will be made later, not now.

~ ~ ~

It was eerily silent, so silent the noise my steps made were all that filled my ears. There weren't any birds, squirrels, skunks, anything of that sort. As far as I could tell, I was the only one in this city, it was strange, one day it was just as busy as any other day, the next it was suddenly a ghost town. How is that? How is it that in one night, the entire city evacuates? If it was a city-wide evacuation set in by the government, wouldn't I have woken up as well to leave? How could everyone in the entire city leave and not take their vehicles either? That was another mystery that sunken deep into my mind, all the cars, trucks and vans were all in place, as if everyone was home. Even in the roads, it's just like they all vanished in once instant, leaving behind whatever.

After I finished my can of food, I tossed the empty can into a garbage bin and threw my bag over my back and stared at the small area ahead. It was an intersection, one road would eventually lead into the highway, that was the north road, the southern road lead to the mundane neighborhood I was once in. East would take you by some stores and fast-food chains. West would lead to another neighborhood and had two supermarkets stationed there alongside a few convenient stores. It was west I needed to go, I needed to resupply myself then I would continue walking around. I didn't want to stray too far from my home, but at the same time I wanted to venture further away from my home, cause what if, in another side of this city, someone else was going through the same thing I was? This place is pretty big, four general areas in the city. Surely there's at least somebody out there.

With those thoughts fleeting away, I began my trek to one of the nearby supermarkets. The automatic doors were unlocked, for some strange reason, I disregarded it and entered. All the lights were turned off, inactive but for only a few lights, those ones would be on all the time however. It made traversing this empty store a lot easier, as I don't carry a flashlight with me. I didn't have any need to turn the power on, so I ignored the fact that the majority of the lights were dead. I was used to being silent, so out of habit I would walk around the place, trying to be as quiet as I could be. I reached the aisle where all the canned foods were kept, looking at the selection. There was ravioli, spaghetti & meatballs and a variety of other pastas. On the other side of the aisle, there were fruits, vegetables and other healthy items.

It should be a good question to ask why I don't go for the fresher fruits or try and get some actual foodstuffs. Well, the simple answer is that all food eventually goes bad. Even the canned foods, but that won't be for another 4 or 5 years. It's amazing how long food like that lasts, and it's only being contained in an aluminum can. Back to my point, the food that was once available has gone bad, well, most of it anyway. I looked around the place, of course, nobody was around, not one person. I'm still uneasy about taking from places like this, it still feels like stealing, even if no one owned it currently.

I filled my bag with around 10 cans of food and some more water bottles. I thought I'd treat myself and grabbed some Gatorade's and a few snack bars from the back. I habitually went to the counter, waiting a second before realizing that no one would come to my aid. I sighed then began walking to the exit. It was then I heard something fall to the ground somewhere within the store. A cold shiver went up my spine as I slowly turned my head around. "W-What was that...?"