To the north it looked like there might have been a rail yard, though it was hard to tell as the few buildings blocking my view were mostly intact and taller than my perch. East and west looked to be even more warehouses. Standing a few buildings to the south was something with the window layout of an apartment building. That looked as good as anywhere to start. First step was to make my way down the mountain of debris with no shoes, my ass hanging out of my oversized shirt, and a power cell that required constant attention, lest I electrocute myself. The trip down took forever and the roadway at the bottom was covered in sharp bits of broken concrete and shattered glass.

It was early summer when I was brought in. Assuming it was still early summer, I must have been in that damn coffin for the full ten years for things to be this degraded, but what happened? The most logical explanation was that the cold war with Anoria escalated to a nuclear holocaust, but it wasn't the only explanation. A large earthquake maybe, but why would the city be abandoned?

My musings were cut short by the sound of something else's footsteps. I wedged myself between the body of a rusted autonomous car and the concrete road wall it had apparently hit. Cursed Gods! There were bodies in the damn thing. I held my breath as another one of those possibly undead things shuffled by. It didn't seem to be paying any attention to its surroundings. It just stared at the ground, its head swaying from side to side. I gave it a good while before sneaking up to the edge of the road. It kept shuffling on, oblivious to anything else. What the hell was it doing? Did those things just wander around aimlessly?

The opposite side was clear so I continued down the road toward the apartment building. It was six stories tall with the lower story being partially below grade. The glass of the entry door was shattered and now performing caltrop duty against my bare feet. The lower floor looked like it had been flooded and the whole building had a musty scent. The stairs creaked as I climbed, but my plan of checking the surroundings from the top floor was thwarted by the ceiling having collapsed in. The building had likely been constructed after they had domed the city. Rain events were light and pre-scheduled, the roof wouldn't have been engineered to handle the snow load resulting from the shattered dome up above, and thus floor six was inaccessible. Floor five looked sketchy and the building's structural integrity was in serious question.

I froze in the fourth floor corridor, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up on end. I couldn't make out why the lump laying against the wall of the dark hallway bothered me, at least not right away. Pulling back in focus, my Tel'ani mind finally grasped the pattern of a spider. A fucking large dog sized spider. That was a whole lot of nope. The thing might have been dead. It didn't move anyway, but fucking nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Level two it was then, as level three was too damn close to level Nope. First thing of note was the large white chalked X on every door. Someone had looted this building already. Hopefully they hadn't gotten everything, though food and water would probably have been the priority for whomever had come through. The door to the apartment opened directly into the kitchen. All cupboard doors and drawers were open and of course they were barren of any stable foodstuffs. The water didn't work either, but I wasn't really expecting it to. The closet just past the refrigerator held several sweatshirts and a few pairs of shoes. They were a little big, but walking around with nothing for the last few hours gave me a new appreciation for basic footwear. The combined dining/living room didn't hold anything of interest.

The soap and toilet paper was missing from the bathroom. I checked the tank behind the toilet, but it was dry. On to the bedroom. What unwritten law says that the top drawer of any dresser is to be dedicated to socks and underwear? I wasn't happy about taking someone else's small clothes and I wasn't going to be taking this lady's. My waist could fit in a single leg hole. It might make me a judgemental ass, but I was willing to bet this lady didn't survive the apocalypse. Her size ment that all the clothes were far too big for me. I did find a simple skirt that might work if I could find a pin or belt or something.

The next apartment had a similar lack of food and appeared to be the home of a fairly good looking young man judging by the few pictures. He wasn't so good looking now. I backed out of the apartment the moment I came across the body. That was probably going to be a thing from now on. He had been there long enough to no longer stink and all that was left of him was dark bones and a blackish smear where he had decayed. Not sure how he died though. He was just laying in his bed, his room fully intact.

Three apartments later and I scored the place of a young couple whose clothing was damn close to my size. I poked my head into the bedroom, afraid to find more bodies. My heart leapt into my throat the moment I saw two golden eyes staring at me. I fell backward with a choked yelp. Pulling my crowbar and gently pushing the door open again, I chuckled to myself. The dark haired woman in the room was my own damn reflection. I just jump scared myself.

After raiding someone else's dresser, I gave myself a good once over in the mirror. I had a pair of pink running shoes that almost fit perfectly, black leggings with a pair of guys beige cargo shorts. The girl here had some cute outfits, but nothing practical for the world I currently found myself in. The guy was a tall skinny bastard so the shorts fit pretty well and had lots of pocket space. I wrapped the power cell up in plastic to the point I was fairly certain it wouldn't electrocute me. I also replaced my oversized button shirt with a dark grey long sleeve Thrasher shirt. No idea what band Thrasher was, but you know what they say about beggars and choosers. I stuffed a change of clothes, a sweatshirt, and a couple plastic bottles into a reusable shopping bag. There was no point in searching more of the apartments. I needed food and water. Then at some point when I had my basic necessities met, I needed to sit down and have a really good panic attack about the current state of the city. I nodded to myself in the mirror. "Later." I promised myself.

It looked like there was a layer of apartment buildings between the warehouses and a section of over-under single family houses. If you've never seen over-under houses, think of it like a block of single story houses. Instead of roofs there is a thick platform on top of which is astroturf and a more normal, usually two story, house. Generally speaking the wealthier people live on top, but there are some creative things people do to brighten up the under areas. I was looking for something tall that I could use to get a good look around. The single family buildings might be a better place to find food and water, but I was also likely to find more shambling dead things or other horrors. I started creeping down the row of apartment buildings looking for something with a solid upper story. Thank the traveler for good shoes.

The building I found was about seven stories tall. Made entirely of concrete and glass with a few trees sticking out the one side where the windows were almost completely missing. Probably an office building, the lower floor held a large and totally raided convenience store, but I found the main stairwell and started climbing. You know, in every apocalypse movie I've ever seen, never once did a character collapse on a stairwell five stories up. Defeated not by the zombies, but by the burning pain in their legs. That's where I was now, not completely beat, but my legs were going to hurt like hell tomorrow. With a groan, I got up and slowly returned to my ascent. Only two more stories left to climb. Having finally made it to the last floor I opened the door and screamed. I hadn't even gotten the thing a quarter open before a cat sized bee came crawling in. I shoved my body against the metal door while fumbling for the crowbar. A bee screeched as its exoskeleton was crushed between the door and its frame. My bag of supplies fell to the floor with a thud and the giant black and yellow insect buzzed its wings and lifted off the ground. I let out a terrified shriek and swung the crowbar as the bee came straight at me. It hit with a solid thump, sending the bee ping ponging into the wall and back into the air. The damn thing seemed disorientated, but not terribly injured. An angry hum started up from behind the door, the sound of a full pissed off hive. The bee came at me again. This time I hit it with a downward strike causing it to crash onto the floor. As terrifying as the oversized insect was, it really wasn't that hard to hit. I took that moment to release a little pressure on the door and smack the stuck bee back into the room. The door clicked shut and I let out a shout as the bee in the room with me tried to latch on. I fell back, kicking at it until I got my crowbar back up. This time there was an audible crunch as the tool hit, the floor supplying the anvil to my hammer. I sat there panting and exhausted with the room behind the door sounding like an angry swarm. Well shit. Now I'm not sure if leaving the building is a good idea.

I curled up in a ball, grabbed hold of my horns, and had a slight panic attack while I waited for the angry hum to die down. Just because I never liked everything and everyone I've ever known, doesn't mean I wanted them to disappear forever. I felt like I literally when to sleep yesterday where everything sucked, but was normal and woke up today, where everything sucks and is so fucked up to be unrecognizable. What if I can't find food and water? What if I can't find some place safe to stay? Am I the only person alive? Is it worth living if I am? What the fuck is with gaint insects? Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Okay, look at the bright side. I don't have to pay taxes anymore. It took a few more minutes to get myself under control. Then I stood up and made my way to the roof access door. I wasn't afraid of heights, but I would have preferred looking over the city from behind glass.

I put my ear to the door and listened. I then realized the door was locked, because of course it was. The problem with using the crowbar was that the process was loud and the door would be too broken to close if there was something nasty on the other side. Slowly I worked on breaking down the door. The roof was large and flat. Patches of waist high grass covered the area along with a few lanky trees that weren't really getting the purchase they needed. Giant bees were coming and going from the south side of the building, but didn't look to care about me. At least, not at the moment. Warehouses to the north. Apartments and office buildings to the east and west. Other residential zoning to the south. In the distance to the east were the towering buildings of the downtown area. Far to the north rose an archeology, its side looking like chunks had been ripped out of it. There was a river to the north. I could just barely make it out past the buildings. It wasn't far, but no guarantees it would be clean. There was also… movement. I leaned out over the edge squinting down the street. There was a person out there, or maybe it was just one of those undead things. I tried not to let myself get too excited. When I started trying to plot my path to the possible person, my heart leapt up into my throat again, this time in joy. I waved back to the three Tel'ani standing only a block away. I wasn't alone!