Day 1:

I wake under a partially collasped parking garage on the edge of downtown Halston. I do not remember sleeping here. I scan my surroundings.

-Ivy hangs off the crumbling concrete and rusted cars around you, swallowing them whole. The skyline ahead is fractured, long, deep cracks litter its pillers. Glass towers from the old world tower above, shattered and overtaken by nature. Roads are empty aside from long abandoned trash. It's quiet. A pharmacy is two blocks east. Its windows broken and the interior dark. A hanging sign creaks in the breeze. A six story apartment is to the north. Its lower windows broken but accessible. A gas station is a little down south. Its pumps long empty. The convenience store partially burned but not collaped. The morning light shines down on the ruined city.-

I scan the streets one more time before gathering my bag and heading south towards the gas station. I need to find water before the day is over. I stay off the main roads as i walk. After a few blocks, the gas station comes back into view.

-You pass an electronics store on your way. The shattered glass from its windows crunch under your boots. The old TV's still stand in the display, dark and lifeless. You see your reflection in them. A distant but recognizable cough snaps you out of it. A newly infected, likely trapped somewhere in one of the buildings around you. You ignore it and the sound fades as you keep walking. You approach the gas station slowly. The front doors smashed inwards. Inside, the shelves are barren, completely picked over. Anything left behind was already far too rotten to eat. You check behind the counter, finding a few items half hidden under fallen ceiling tiles. However, as you step further inside you notice two sets of bootprints in the dust. Much larger than yours. Heading from the the exit to the back storage room. They are not recent but not old either. A day at most. The storage room door is slightly ajar but inside is far too dark to see.

I grab the drinks and retreat to a nearby clothing store i knew was safe. I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. I slip in the backdoor and barricade it with a small but somewhat heavy shelf like i had done before. The morning sun gave me plenty of light to see through the store. Though the breeze outside was a dreadful reminder of what was to come. I rest for a moment before heading further into the store to look for a coat or jacket. I need to prepare for the cold nights ahead.

-You walk through the dusty store, pushing aside shirt racks and staying out of the front windows view. The barricade will work for now, just enough to slow someone down. The store is somewhat untouched, left behind rather than stripped and scavanged like the gas station. You move further into the store, being careful to not step on any of the fallen clothes. You find a thick, dark green winter jacket hanging on a clearacne rack. A size too large for you but you take it anyway. You do not get to be picky. The sleeves are slightly frayed from age and possible mice but the zipper works after a tug or two. You also find two more items. You change into the jacket quietly, folding your thin hoodie and placing it back in your bag. You feel somewhat heavier now. Outside, the city is filled with the, now common, sounds of metal clinking and distant gunshots. Once you have changed you notice something new. Something you did not place. A small map of Halston is taped to the wall near the front checkout counter. Old. Pre-apocalypse. But useful. Though now it means your only safe space has been found and taken over. Someone has drawn over it in faded red marker. Terrenwood Forest is marked with an X. The mall district is circled twice and labeled empty. Highgate is labled as a settlement. The casino is labeled only with the word "avoid". You hear some steps outside but they fade soon after.-

I wait until the steps have faded and i'm sure the person is gone. I break off half of the protein bar and put the rest back into my bag. The taste is unpleasant and chalky. But, food is food. It was times like this i wished i had a notebook. I reluctantly and very carefully take the map off the wall. Now i couldn't return to this store and would need to find a new safe place. I make sure i have all my stuff and head back out the way i came, slipping out the backdoor and into the alleyway. I still had all day to find more food but could only hope luck would be on my side today. The alleyway was no different than any of the others, faded bricks and trash liitering the ground. A graffitied sigh for the Amber Angel Casino in orange spray paint. I ignore the sight and continue walking. The streets are silent.

to be continued