Chapter
1 – Nightmares
Andi dreamed about the last few weeks as she slept:
The bank she worked at closed in the middle of the day. She was
glad she'd taken her coat and purse to lunch with her since they
weren't letting anyone into the building and they were escorting
those inside out.
A day or two later the restaurants just didn't open one morning.
The grocery stores followed suit two days later.
Her boyfriend left for work one morning and she never saw or
heard from again. When she started looking for him she found that he
never showed up at work. No-one had any idea where he was or what had
happened to him.
At the end of the month, when she tried write a check for rent,
her landlord told her.
“Cash only. The damn banks aren't open to cash a check at.”
She went back to her parents' house and stayed with them for a
while. With no job and no apartment, she had nowhere else to go, so
she moved back in with her parents. She just stayed there in her
parents' house all the time; at least until the food ran out after
the first two weeks. She and her parents were the lucky ones. The
neighbors ran out much sooner. After her parents ran out of food
she'd spent some time out of the house, looking for food to no avail.
As if the previous dreams weren't bad enough they continued on
into the more recent past.
She relived her parents' house burning down in the middle of the
day. No firefighters or police responded to the flames. She still
didn't know if her parents made it out of the fire or not. The entire
neighborhood had gone up in flames just because someone was stupid
about how they tried to stay warm. She tried to find her parents but
there were so many people running and screaming that she couldn't.
When the crowd started turning ugly and violent she'd left and begun
walking.
She admitted it to herself once she was out of town. She was
running in terror. She was not one of those people that was willing
to do violence at the drop of a hat. She would much rather simply
leave, since she didn't think there was anything at all worth doing
violence over.
She left the suburbs and headed out towards the more rural areas.
Lots of people did the same and most of them did so much sooner than
her. After five days of looking for anyone that needed help of any
sort, she'd had no luck.
The electricity had gone out everywhere after her second day of
walking so the nights were truly dark now. There were no tiny little
beacons of light from people's houses, no streetlights, and no hum
when you passed under the power lines. Once again the night sky was
ruled by the moon and stars.
She was lucky while she was searching for work. A couple of people
were kind enough to give her a meal, but that was all. They didn't
need any more help. The two households that gave her food were
already swollen by the addition of extra people, refugees from the
city. She continued walking and on the far side of the rural
community that she made her way through while looking for work, she'd
met Patrick.
Patrick had scrounged some food and he'd shared with her. They'd
talked and, if he asked, she probably would have slept with him. But
he didn't ask. He was just happy to have someone for company and no
longer be alone.
Patrick's food lasted for a week. They holed up in an abandoned
house and used his little camping stove to cook it. The fuel ran out
before the food so they ate the last couple of cans cold. Then they
set out again, together now, looking for anything that might help
them survive.
She and Patrick had spent several days with no food, getting their
water from streams and ponds. Eventually they found another abandoned
house to break into. Down in the basement she found a small stash of
home-canned food. They stayed in the house for a few days eating
their prize and resting, but this time they decided to start moving
before the food ran out.
When the food was gone it was a week before they found more. They
were down to trying to eat some of
1 – Nightmares
Andi dreamed about the last few weeks as she slept:
The bank she worked at closed in the middle of the day. She was
glad she'd taken her coat and purse to lunch with her since they
weren't letting anyone into the building and they were escorting
those inside out.
A day or two later the restaurants just didn't open one morning.
The grocery stores followed suit two days later.
Her boyfriend left for work one morning and she never saw or
heard from again. When she started looking for him she found that he
never showed up at work. No-one had any idea where he was or what had
happened to him.
At the end of the month, when she tried write a check for rent,
her landlord told her.
“Cash only. The damn banks aren't open to cash a check at.”
She went back to her parents' house and stayed with them for a
while. With no job and no apartment, she had nowhere else to go, so
she moved back in with her parents. She just stayed there in her
parents' house all the time; at least until the food ran out after
the first two weeks. She and her parents were the lucky ones. The
neighbors ran out much sooner. After her parents ran out of food
she'd spent some time out of the house, looking for food to no avail.
As if the previous dreams weren't bad enough they continued on
into the more recent past.
She relived her parents' house burning down in the middle of the
day. No firefighters or police responded to the flames. She still
didn't know if her parents made it out of the fire or not. The entire
neighborhood had gone up in flames just because someone was stupid
about how they tried to stay warm. She tried to find her parents but
there were so many people running and screaming that she couldn't.
When the crowd started turning ugly and violent she'd left and begun
walking.
She admitted it to herself once she was out of town. She was
running in terror. She was not one of those people that was willing
to do violence at the drop of a hat. She would much rather simply
leave, since she didn't think there was anything at all worth doing
violence over.
She left the suburbs and headed out towards the more rural areas.
Lots of people did the same and most of them did so much sooner than
her. After five days of looking for anyone that needed help of any
sort, she'd had no luck.
The electricity had gone out everywhere after her second day of
walking so the nights were truly dark now. There were no tiny little
beacons of light from people's houses, no streetlights, and no hum
when you passed under the power lines. Once again the night sky was
ruled by the moon and stars.
She was lucky while she was searching for work. A couple of people
were kind enough to give her a meal, but that was all. They didn't
need any more help. The two households that gave her food were
already swollen by the addition of extra people, refugees from the
city. She continued walking and on the far side of the rural
community that she made her way through while looking for work, she'd
met Patrick.
Patrick had scrounged some food and he'd shared with her. They'd
talked and, if he asked, she probably would have slept with him. But
he didn't ask. He was just happy to have someone for company and no
longer be alone.
Patrick's food lasted for a week. They holed up in an abandoned
house and used his little camping stove to cook it. The fuel ran out
before the food so they ate the last couple of cans cold. Then they
set out again, together now, looking for anything that might help
them survive.
She and Patrick had spent several days with no food, getting their
water from streams and ponds. Eventually they found another abandoned
house to break into. Down in the basement she found a small stash of
home-canned food. They stayed in the house for a few days eating
their prize and resting, but this time they decided to start moving
before the food ran out.
When the food was gone it was a week before they found more. They
were down to trying to eat some of
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