The world before me... never thought it could look so dark.

All the lights are o ut, not car running in sight... plenty of them are sitting around though, alread y checked most of them for keys, and supplies... slim pickings, no keys. Wish th at I could find just one working vehicle. Would definitely save me some walking. Where was I going again? I think I was heading towards New York last... Where w as that? Where am I again? Let's start at the beginning, it happened about 3 months ago... Right? Not sure, been so long. Let's say 3 months, I was sitting on my couch, watching TV... "...The latest economic downturn is nothing to be worried about stated the Presi dent at the press conference this afternoon. It is simply another bump on the ro de that will soon be forgotten as the stocks start going back up." I don't like the news woman... too uptight, just sitting there reading the telep rompter... "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" gah, what the heck?! Some sort of alarm? I place my hands ov er me ears as the tv goes to some sort of warning screen, without warning it tur ns to a new guy, never seen him befor. "Hello, I am sorry to say that am delivering very grave news, it has just been d iscovered that a large spike in the Sun's coronal activity has sent a large EMP wave towards earth, the effects of which are not yet specifically known, but the re is little doubt that it will be world wide, and I have been told to expect it to be devastating..." I turn off the TV, it's just another false alarm. We've had enough of them, peop le saying the world is ending, global warming, blah blah blah. They can keep tal king their heads off for all I care. I get up and head to the bathroom, since I' m not gonna be watching TV, might as well head out, and I need to clean myself u p a little bit. I get into the bathroom, look at myself in the mirror. I'm not half bad looking if I do say so myself, slightly spiked black hair, just the right amount of faci al hair, dark brown eyes, a nice muscular, but not bulging form. Not bad at all, just a few things to clean off before going out, put a little more gel in my ha ir... ...I never got that far, I remember now... it felt like the whole world stopped, the lights went out. Then I was floored, I can't remember what caused it... may be it was that EMP wave the guy on the TV was talking about... maybe it was some thing else entirely, didn't much matter, I blacked out not long afterwards. Now I'm here. I'm just outside my apartment, looking out across my neighborhood, not a soul in sight, and I was looking through cars. Did I really deteriorate t hat fast? Damn, I need a reality check, this ain't no movie. Why does it have to be that everyone's gone? Just cause I haven't heard anyone, the TV wouldn't tur n on, neither did any of the lights... NO! The world is still intact, there aren 't any signs of destruction, there is just noone around... maybe I'm still uncon cious, still dreaming or something. I try and pinch myself... That doesn't work, then again, why would it? I don't w ant to really hurt myself, in case this is real... but how do I check if it's re al then? I look around, for something, anything to figure out what is going on h ere. I'll start by going to my usual places. So I start walking. As I walk, I wonder how long I was unconcious, if I woke up at all... do I remem ber waking up? Vaguely, obviously I remember trying to turn the lights and TV on , I remember going downstairs, and I remember searching through those cars. I lo

ok around, I'm downtown already... I don't remember the trip being this quick... how long have I been walking? Why is my memory so fuzzy? None of this makes sen se, maybe I am just dreaming... it just seems the most possible right now. I look around at the places I most often visit, I'm really starting to hope and wish this is a dream, more so than simply believe, cause if this is real, I don' t know if I can handle it. There is noone anywhere, no in bars, not in clubs, no where I can see where people would be, are there any people, even the shops and stores around, are empty... it's almost eery. I can't help but feel unnerved by the sheer emptiness. The creepiest part though, is how I seem to get from one pl ace to the next, without out recalling actually walking to them, it's almost as though, I think of the next place I'm going, and I'm there. I'm starting to feel looking around isn't going to help... I need to find a way to see as far as possible... where is the highest place? Oh god... how did I get up here? Where is here? A water tower? We have a water t ower? Great, now I'm going to places I don't even know. I thought I lived in a c ity, what am I doing on a water tower in the country? Ugh, my memory is falling to pieces. I live in a city, I was just looking around the city for people, I th ought about going to a high place, and I end up here? This has to be a dream... but if it's a dream, how can I be thinking this through so much? Aren't you supp osed to not know when you're in a dream, until after the dream is over? I have a headache, that is not good. You're not supposed to get a headache in a dream. I look around since I'm up here anyways. I'm not sure what good it will d o me, it looks like I'm in the middle of countryside, even if there were people, I wouldn't see them in the countryside. Except, wait... is that someone of ther e, I can't tell... if it is, they're too far away... I'm surprised I'm not sudde nly in front of them. Not surprising... looking up and, yes, I'm at the bottom of the water tower now, I'm starting to wonder if it's my memory or something else... ugh, it's not imp ortant right now, I have to see if that was a person over there... and for some reason I'm not just appearing next to them. I finally remember walking for the first time this day. Eventually I crest a hil l and see the possible person in the distance. How my day is going, I'm not goin g to be surprised if they stay just that far away as I try to get near them, wou ld make about as much sense as anything else this day... ...I have no idea how long I've been walking, but I'm right, the person isn't ge tting any closer, if it's because they're walking themselves, or they're just an other figment of my imagination, I'm not entirely sure. I try to run, jog someti mes, but they stay just far enough away that I can't quite make out any details.