Lily

The end of the world was quiet. You fell asleep after a long night of gaming and woke up alone. No parents to wake you up, you'd over slept for high school. You stood at your stop waiting for a bus to show up, but it never did. No one else showed up to the stop. The story you bought your morning energy drink from was empty, you glanced into the apartments behind your stuff and couldn't see anyone you checked your phone, your data was working, but searching the news and social media showed the latest posts were made several hours ago. You panicked. Maybe there was an emergency alert you missed. You refreshed the internet constantly for anything, anywhere, from anyone, that wasn't 7 hours old. You walked. Local McDonald's empty, Mall empty, school empty, your TV showed channels of static, power died late that night, WiFi the next day. You'd never driven a car before, but you had your dads keys and no repercussions for doing it badly. You drove to stores, and the library, filling up on food, and books on survival. That was 7 years ago.

.

You roam across the world now, the feeling of being watched is no longer there, the fear of something being around the corner is no longer there. You face no threats, but your own boredom. You've nearly forgotten how to speak, it's been that long. You use gas powered generators for any electrical needs, mostly showering and lights. Cities show vegetation, and you come across occasional collapsed buildings, though the most significant still stand tall. You've seen deer, and foxes, and birds of prey walking down what were once the busiest streets in the county. You've forgotten what meat tastes like by now, and basically all fresh food. You could grow some, you suppose, but it takes time, and settling down into the silence feels like a death sentence. Only by mo inf do you stop thinking about the question you first thought about a week after everyone disappeared: "Why do I keep going?" You've still yet to find evidence of a living person, or explanation for where they went, and why you didn't go with them. For all you know it could have been localised to your country, but you've never seen a plane in the sky, or picked up a radio signal. In fact you-

.

Your internal monologue stops. A voice. You've heard voices before, once so clearly you tore apart an entire department store convinced you'd find someone hiding. Your ears perk up, you stop breathing. You gaze around the building you're in. A storage warehouse for a chain grocery store. Just when you think it's another imagining, you turn into a barrel, a gun of some kind pointed at you.? "Are you real...?' it's a girl. She's pretty clean, all things considered. Bloodshot eyes, overgrown hair (that you managed to avoid by using gas to power a generator, then clippers, and then giving yourself a regular buzz cut.) her hair is blonde, but looks weak and a little discoloured. Her sweatshirt is torn, and her hand is shaking, causing the gun to rattle.