Two survivors of a post-apocalypse, dystopian event are left to wander through a town in search of supplies.

(At the moment, this story preview does not have any formatting – this means character thoughts aren't differentiated from plain text.)

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What Have We Come To?

I aimlessly trip down the road; the weight on my back gets heavier with each step. I try to take my mind off the pain in my shoulders and neck, now looking around and examining my surroundings. Shops line both sides of the street, all with shattered windows and collapsed doors. Hardly being able to catch a glimpse inside each of them, I only seem to find that the stores have been ransacked. But, I come across one that appears untouched. Without looking, I reach out to my left. Once my hand comes in contact with a thin fabric, I begin to tug on it.
“Look, we can rest in the next house we come across... okay? It shouldn’t be that much longer.” I hear an annoyed voice next to me, it also sounds to match my exhaustion.
But, I disregard the comment; still tugging the fabric. I then abruptly stop walking – not faltering my gaze on the apparently untouched store. The soft – staggered – footsteps next to me immobilise, too.
I raise my arm and point a single finger in the direction of the conditioned store. “Look! It hasn’t been broken into yet. We could find some supplies – maybe even stay for the night.”
I then finally divert my focus, now looking to the man next to me. His lips are brittle and bear a few red cracks; a few patches of dry, flaked skin can be seen on his face – some even going so far as to sport an undertone of red. I can imagine my own appearance to match his; it has been a few days of wandering, searching for provisions; I feel the way he looks. He looks over, past my half- conscious gawk and over to the store my finger revealed. I watch his face as it turns to something that seemed to resemble elation, a pained smile grows across his – now bleeding – lips.
He looks down to me, “Lets go then.” His raspy voice calls through the silent thrill we’re both experiencing, it sounds as pleasant as a rake across concrete.
With a boundless gentleness, he places both his hands on my upper arms; essentially – now – carrying me to the store. I allow myself to go limp in his embrace, letting him assist my advance to the shop. We reach the front entrance. Surprisingly, it’s unlocked; but we still exercise caution, nothing worthwhile ever comes this easy. He arduously parts the doors, creating a large enough gap for me – with my pack – to slip through. Once I’m inside, he follows; sealing the doors after entering. We both look around; one of the aisles seems to have been attacked, as its contents are spread across the floor. But, the others seem mostly untouched – still holding most of their original stock.
I look to my partner, watching as he notices the messy aisle. He reaches behind himself, then returns his hands frontwards; brandishing a revolver. In response to his admonition, I lower my right hand to my hip and draw a pistol. He begins down the left-most aisle – I follow closely behind, watching his back as he clears the aisle. We quickly come to the end of it. Now – at the back of the store – we slowly advance, checking each aisle as we sneak past. Thus far, the

desolated aisle seems to be the only thing breaking the uniformity of the store. We’ve now made our way to the other side of the store, it appears to be clear.
“Good find, Ruth. You stock up on food, and I’ll see if I can’t find anything else that may be useful.” He holsters the revolver in the waistband of his jeans, looking over to me with a spent smile – we need rest.
“How about we just take a breather. We’ve been walking for days, Geoff. Lets just find some food and drink, take our leave for the night and loot the place tomorrow. It’s already late afternoon; I’m tired, I need to rest.” I watch as he ruminates about the idea, weighing up all the risks and considering any other options.
Geoff is definitely the smart one, he’s always calling the shots between us; always making the best decisions for our survival. He’s headstrong – by far the smartest guy I’ve ever met. I don’t know where I’d be without him, and I trust every word that passes between his lips – wherever he goes, I’ll follow. Geoff looks back up to me, a verdict looks to be clear in his mind.
“Only for the night; we leave early tomorrow.” He projects a warm smile at me.
I quickly walk forward and hug him, nearly wanting to collapse onto the ground and fall asleep as soon as I let go. He returns the hug, even going so far as to plant a kiss on the top of my head. After ten long – well waited for – seconds, I reluctantly let go.
He points behind me, accompanying his finger with some dialogue. “I think I saw something you’d like in that aisle, over there...”
I turn in excitement, walking to the aisle I imagine he was pointing to; footsteps trail behind me. I look into each aisle while passing it; cereal, snack food, softdrinks, w-wine? I shift straight into the aisle full of alcohol, certain it was the one he was referencing. I snatch the first bottle of red wine I come across, then spin to face Geoff.
He smiles. “I guess the end of humanity has its perks.”
I scoff, “what?” I quickly turn the bottle and find its price. “I don’t have to pay $50 for this? I’d give anything to enjoy a nice drink with you~”
He hastily exits the aisle, I dash forward to see where he’s going. I make it to the end of the aisle just in time to see him disappear into another one. “What are you doing, Geoff?” I call out.
He returns back to me – just as swiftly as he had left. Both his hands are behind his back, and a goofy smile is painted across his face.
“Wh-what’s this?” He releases a stifled chuckle.

“Ruth... Grayson. Would you like to drink alcoholic liquids out of a cup with me?” He brings his hands forward to reveal two plastic cups, one orange and the other purple.
I start laughing and give him a light shove. After a second of guffawing at his stupidry, I hastily collect myself. Managing a half-intelligible sentence between my suppressed giggles. “Geoff... Knox. I... would love to drink alcoholic liquids... from a cup with you. You big dummy-”
We both discharge our repressed laughs; I use all the strength I can muster in my weak arms to twist the cap off the bottle, then pour the wine into the cups held by Geoff. I walk over to the wall, slowly sitting down and leaning against it; gently placing the bottle to my left. Geoff promptly sits down to my right, extending his left hand once he’s set. I take the cup, eagerly having a greedy sip from it. The liquid is far from cold, but it still tastes better than dry blood and dead skin. Although, the wine stings my lips; the sudden contact with moisture disrupts their sensitive surface. I look over to Geoff, it seems he’s being met with the same painful sensation – I can tell by the look on his face.
“Been a while since I’ve had something that tastes this good...” He says, holding the cup in front of his face then looking to me.
“Yea, I missed the late nights... out with friends... doing whatever the hell we wanted.” I sigh, it has been long since I’ve thought about my life before – and before wasn’t even that long ago.
“What happened, Ruth? We all had lives, we had systems and laws – we had humanity. Then, what? A few people say the government is bad, and everyone starts shooting each other? Now look at us. I was a college student, you remember that? And now; I’m in a store, drinking wine I didn’t pay for. I have a backpack full of items I’ve stolen, I have a damn gun. What happened to us?” Geoff sits his cup down and hangs his head lowly, I can spot a small build-up of perspiration in his eyes.
“Hey, hey-- Don’t talk like that. At least we’re still alive; there are millions, maybe billions, of people who can’t say the same. We got lucky--”
“Lucky how, Ruth? We’re stuck here, surviving in a broken world. Everyone we come across is trying to kill us, we’ve been endlessly walking. When will it get better? I can’t see a future for--” He quickly looks back to me, I almost begin crying from seeing the raw pain radiate from his eyes; his head stoops again. “Sorry, I-I shouldn't have cut you off. I just... Ruth, I love you.”
He suddenly leans over to kiss me, I instinctively close my eyes. But, once his lips make contact, something cold runs down my shirt. I quickly open my eyes and pull away, finding that I’ve managed to spill the wine on myself. “Shit.” I curse in a hushed tone, instantly pulling my shirt away from my body. The coolness of the afternoon causes the liquid only to get colder in the open air; I stand up, still holding the shirt.

“S-sorry I didn’t mean to-”
“It... it’s fine. I’m just going to go wash the shirt off in the bathroom – I’ll be back in a minute.” I try to reassure him with a smile, dropping my bag from my shoulders as I walk past.
I reach the other side of the store, finding a door labelled toilets. As I pass through it, I hear Geoff curse himself. I can’t help but feel bad for him, he probably thinks I’m upset or angry – worked up from his little speech. And, going out with a bang, he causes me to spill my wine on myself. Even in the end of the world, there’s no shortage of awkward moments.
I walk over to the female toilets, raising a single hand to push open the door. But, it won’t budge. A few more shoves confirm my suspicions of the door being locked. I turn to face the male toilets. “Well, no one else would be using them.” With a shrug, I attempt to open the next door; this time I’m met with success. I slowly thrust the door; breathing an exhausted sigh, which is quickly followed by a hasty inhale. Warm and stale air fills my nostrils, I’m immediately met with the urge to throw up. Against my better judgement, I cover my nose and continue further into the bathroom. A shriek quickly escapes my lips as I’m met with a terrible sight, I hear a commotion from inside the store; it quickly makes its way behind me.
“Ruth?! What happened?” I turn to find Geoff behind me, his revolver drawn and a hand over his nose.
I silently point to the corpse in the corner of the bathroom, returning my attention to it. It has to be a few days old. There’s a mass of flies surrounding it, the flesh looks to be in an almost liquid state. Two backpack straps are fused in its shoulders, a bloodied journal lays between its arms. “What do you think happened?” I ask quietly, not expecting an answer.
“Looks like they got shot...” Geoff leans over to the corpse, attempting to retrieve the journal; but is met with no attainment. “I guess we’ll never know.”
“Lets just... go and get some sleep. You want to be up early tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah... yep. Lets go,” he places his hand on my shoulder and guides me out of the bathroom.
The image is forever engraved into my mind, this is what we’ve come to.