Life After

Chapter 9: The Day I Didn't Know I Was Waiting For My Whole Life

When we woke up the next day, we immediately went with our original plan to use a shopping cart to carry all of our items. We grabbed one from the parking lot and loaded all our things into it. AJ used the engine of the truck to warm up a few cans of food and some water that we mixed with instant coffee.

After that, the truck was officially out of gas and we had to get on our way. Doofus stayed noticeably closer to us as we walked down the road. He was likely nervous he was going to be abandoned again and wanted to keep a close eye on us. I felt a lot of guilt that he had to go through that, especially because he had already gone through it once before when the infection first started. Funny how his first owner left him behind because of the infection, but the infection was also what brought us back to him.

As we walked, we exchanged stories about our time in The Community. I told AJ about the schedule and how awful it felt just sitting around, waiting to be used like an item on a shelf. He seemed noticeably relieved when I told him I was never chosen to go upstairs. I also told him about how the food system worked and about all the women and their backgrounds.

AJ described his time in the electric station as boring and tiring. He and a handful of other men were made to push the "wheel" nonstop from around all day long. He said it was a 10 hour shift with a small break once in a while to get water and rest. They were constantly watched over by armed guards who would regularly yell at them and even knock them down on purpose. They were given food twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. They were gathered in one room for 30 minutes to eat and then they traded off shifts.

We stopped after a few hours to rest and drink some water. Doofus got some food and water, as well. I also gave him a few treats, trying to get him to do a few tricks. I was able to get him to sit and lay down, but that was as much as he could do for me.

We continued on talking about random topics, like music and movies we liked before the infection. Our tastes were similar and we agreed that we would expand our horizons with each other's recommendations, once we got to the base.

Time seemed to fly by when we were talking. We only realized how much time had passed and how much we had walked when my stomach growled, very loudly. We both laughed it off and found a place to stop where we could grab some food from our stash.

I sat a bowl of food and water down to Doofus who ate like no tomorrow. We scarfed down some protein bars that tasted awful, but were filling. We took a little time just sitting down and resting in comfortable silence. It had warmed up considerably since we had left that morning and there was a cool breeze that made it the perfect temperature. I loved this kind of weather and it made me feel full of energy.

We continued on with this same pattern of walking and talking, pausing for a break, then continuing on until it was obvious that we wouldn't be able to go much further because it would be dark soon. The air was starting to get chillier and all the energy I had felt earlier in the day was depleted.

We were on the outskirts of a town and were surrounded by various abandoned businesses. Banks, tax offices, restaurants, strip malls, the whole shebang. It was going to be easy to find some kind of shelter.

We started with a motel, trying to get in the doors, but they were sealed tight. We tried kicking in a door and busting off a door handle, but they didn't budge. We tried to go into one of the fast food restaurants, but there were various critters that I didn't feel comfortable sleeping around. We finally came across a bank that seemed like the perfect place to stay.

The door was open so we didn't have to break in. As soon as we walked in, I locked the doors. The lobby was big and white. It was all covered in a layer of dust and some papers were strung around the room. The ceiling was tall and there were some offices behind glass walls. In the center of the room was the counter where the tellers would have been at a circular desk behind bars. The most impressive part of the whole building was the glass ceiling that provided a perfect view of the sky.