Earth's Revolution

~19~

-Abandoned house, South of Hamburg-

I walked out of the base around ten, and sure enough, the sun was setting. It was time for us to go. I alerted the group, and within the next ten minutes we were all packed up and ready to go, snack bars in our hands. We approached the barn we had left the car in but halted in surprise. The door was ajar, and yet I could have sworn we had bolted it shut earlier today. The car was gone. The barn was just an empty space with hay bales at the back. In my mind, I wondered if somehow the rogue person had anything to do with this, but he had seemed in no state to drive or even get the car to start without keys.
"It must have been that bloody rogue," exclaimed Max, and frankly, I couldn't see who else it could have been.
"Damn, looks like we'll be walking tonight then. I hope y'all are ready for a long night of hiking."
Alan lead us out onto the main street and took off Southwest, keeping a lighthearted chatter to distract our thoughts from the dismay we felt. We had saved time by car, and now it would take us nine days non stop to get to the Alpes, but we can't walk in the daytime so it would take double-if not more- time. Still, eighteen days is better than a whole month, and we had extra supplies now, as we had originally planned for longer.
Above us, the night sky and the entire galaxy were visible, and despite it being the new normal, I couldn't get enough of it. At least one good thing had come out of this whole mess. I walked, eyes on the sky as much as possible, until I accidentally walked into a body.
"Hmmpf, sorry," I muttered, and we carried on our way without issues.

                                       ***

It had been a few uneventful days of hiking and camping when we arrived in Frankfurt just in time for sunrise. We headed over to the nearest house we could find and, surprisingly, the door was already unlocked.
"Perfect, lets go in before the sun comes up," instructed Alan, walking straight to what looked like a basement door. He opened it, only to see it was a cupboard full of supplies. Water bottles, tablets, and energy bars were stacked alongside matches and other useful utensils.
"Maybe someone is living here still," suggested Maria, looking around. It was possible, but the floor was dusty and cobwebs hung in all the corners of the room and furniture said otherwise.
"Maybe someone was here and they left before taking their stuff, or alternatively they died."
"Gruesome much, but maybe you're right. It's not uncommon with the current situation."
"Maybe we should check around the house before we take any stuff?"

We explored all the rooms, finding nothing, until we got to the last unopened door. Pushing it open, we saw a large, well lit, bedroom. On the bed, someone was laying down, chest rising and falling. They looked asleep, an adult man in his twenties or so.
"We shouldn't disturb him, let's change houses," whispered Cornelia.
"Or just stay here and keep out of his way," retorted Jacopo.
"No, she's right. If he's still here and alive we are trespassing on his property right now," hissed Alan, "Let's go next door."
We crept out, closing the door behind us, the man still asleep in his bedroom.
The next door house was clearly empty, no furniture, and a lot of dust. The basement door was found easily and we set up our camp for the day.
"I didn't realise there were survivors in some houses," remarked Maria, "You'd think everyone would be in a bunker by now."
"He's probably one of the better prepared rogues. The kind who ransacked the supermarkets and stocked up on supplies."
With a roll of her eyes, Maria turned around and then stiffened, "Can you hear that?"
Above us came the sound of footsteps walking around the ground floor. They stopped in front of the basement door; we readied our weapons, just in case, but the stranger walked away and the sound of their footsteps faded out.
"What was that about?"
We cautiously opened the door and peaked out.
"Look out!"
There was a trail of lighter fluid going all around the ground floor. Oh shit.
We hurriedly packed as fast as we could, leaving the tents, but by the time we resurfaced, the trail was slowly starting to catch fire, blocking off the way out.
"This way!" I heard someone yell. Panicking, I tried to follow the sound of the voice but smoke was starting to spread and blur my vision. Blindly, I dropped down and crawled toward where I had seen a window earlier. Touching a wall, I looked up. Sure enough, it was a window, and quickly I threw it open and jumped outside. There was no one else. Scared that the fire would spread to the garden I was in, I ran towards the edge of the city and turned back. From uphill, I could see people running through the houses, but I couldn't see who they were. I was on my own for now, and I had to find shelter from this sweltering heat. Now.