Pilots of the End

I couldn't believe my eyes, I saw something moving in the distance, and it didn't look like another animal. Although from this vantage point, it seems to be moving away from me. I am not really searching for anything just moving from place to place as I get lonely. I am a loner from before, so I feel like it shouldn't happen, but it seems once I left my apartment with all my distractions, that is the case.

           On the last day of humanity, I was home, alone as always, and suddenly all was quiet. I mean, the sounds that I usually hear from the streets below stopped. No horns honking, people shouting, or cars driving by. It didn't alarm me at all, I liked my silence after all. It crossed my mind that maybe I put on my noise-canceling headphones without realizing it; it has become so automatic. It lasted for days the quiet outside my apartment. That is when I started to get worried. It has never lasted this long, and of course, I don't sleep in my headphones, so that wasn't the reason I heard nothing. I open my curtains slowly at first and peer between them looking outside. Everything was gone, well, that was a little over-exaggeration. Everyone was gone, the more I looked, the more I saw the birds, dogs, and cats roaming the streets. No cars were moving, they weren't in the middle of the road like you see in apocalypse movies coming out of Hollywood. It looked more like they just pulled over and parked, no matter if it was a proper space or not, and simply got out and walked away. This was so vexing that, for the first time in months, I ventured out of my apartment to investigate.

           As I made my way down the several floors of my building, I decided to at least knock on a few doors and see if anyone answers. The two doors on either side of me belonged to single people, so I didn't really expect a response. Moving down to the next floor, I knocked on all three doors and nothing again. The first floor had two apartments, well technically three, but the one right in the back was the apartment of the building manager. She was mean and rude, so I always avoided her as much as I can. Again no answer on either door. These apartments had children and pets in them, so I expected at least the barking of a dog in one of them. For some reason, I decided to try the knob, and it was unlocked. The door swung open without a sound, and I heard nothing coming from within. I call out, "Hello," into the place as I take one step over the threshold. Calling out again, "Hello anyone home, your door was unlocked." Still, no one answered my calls. I make my way deeper into the apartment, taking care to look into each room and closet searching for the inhabitants. Finding no one, I look around again, nothing was out of place. At least as far as I would think it would be. That wasn't normal; for an apartment with children of any age, it should be wrecked, but it was spotless and organized.

           That sent a shiver down my spine like my subconscious knew exactly what that meant, but my active brain didn't want to acknowledge. I left the apartment, shutting the door behind me. I ventured out to the streets, the air was crisp and fresh, I took a deep breath. It's not that I don't like the outside world; I love nature, in fact. What I don't like are all the people that are usually around messing everything up. Everything is neat and seems like it was put away neatly. Even the trash cans by the curb were clean and upright, which is strange, to say the least. The number of dogs I saw earlier roaming around says that they should be going through the cans looking for food to me. That isn't the case at the moment. As I walked around the corner from my building, a loud clang stops me in my tracks. Looking around, I notice about halfway down the block, a group of dogs had knocked over one of the cans and were now having a feeding frenzy of its contents. I stood watching while they finished everything there was the eat there and moved one down the street, They must have gotten their fill because they didn't knock over any other cans. When the group was nearly on the next block, they were playing with each other. The glint of the can in the meager sunlight drew my attention back to it. All on its own, it stood back up, what contents the dogs left went back in, and the top settled on it. It was as if the raid on it had never happened now. I imagine that I wouldn't know that it was no longer full now only if I removed its top. Frightened, I ran home and locked myself in my apartment.

           Admonishing myself for leaving in the first place, I set about closing all the curtains and locking all that could be secured. I had enough food to last me a few more weeks before I would be forced to leave to find more. That is how I stayed for the next several weeks, taking care to regulate my food intake so that my stock would last longer than average. I played my games, no internet, but that's okay. I didn't play with others very often online anyway. Several months I spent inside my two-bedroom apartment hiding from whatever the world had become.

           My supplies ran out, but I still wasn't ready to leave and venture into the real world, so instead, I raided the other apartments. Starting on the top floor, two floors above me, and moving down to the first floor, two stories below me. I even raided the apartment of the building manager. I kept thinking that everyone would come home and find me in their residence or find that I had been stealing from them. No one ever came, and eventually, the supplies I had taken ran out as well. I was forced to seriously consider going out and shopping. I spent two nights having nightmares about what I would encounter while out there. The trash can fixing itself really did a number on my psyche. Once I made the decision to leave, I prepared all I could. Somehow I felt in my heart that I may not come back to this place once I leave for this supply run. I packed what I needed as if I was going on a long journey, I am glad I did.

           Leaving the apartment, I left the door open, just in case there were others out there that needed what was inside that they could use. This thought made my heart jump a bit. I had not seen anyone else since the quiet descended. To think that there were other people out there still around and in the right mind to go looking for supplies like I did in my neighbor's apartments. As I walked down the sidewalk, it did cross my mind that I could just raid the building around me for what I need, but I decided against that almost instantly. Something in the back of my mind told me I should venture further not just to get supplies but to explore the world and see what I can see. I guess all those adventure games I played were finally showing themselves.

           I went to the closest store to me. Everything was in its place and clean, very not typical. This store was known for the floors being dirty and the products being dusty. I worked there for a couple of months back when I was sixteen (16), and the products are regularly stocked, but the old stuff was not taken off the shelves, and nothing was ever dusted. I went through the walkways, taking what I needed. Just as soon as I would take it off the shelf and another would appear in its place, keeping the store stocked. Unlike the trash cans, the self restocking shelves didn't give me that fear but instead left me in awe. Once I had all I needed, I left the store, and instead of turning towards my home, I turned in the opposite direction and began my journey.

 Before I made my way out of my city, I tried getting some cars to turnover, not just cars but motorcycles as well. Nothing worked, but in my search for transportation, I found instead a bicycle to use. It is a cross country model, so it should be alright. I made sure to gather supplies that I may need to keep it in good working condition at the bike shop where I found it. Finally, I was ready to leave this city. I set off down the highway, no need to rush since I seemed to be the only person around.

 I traveled to my heart's content for a year and a half. I taught myself how to sail a small yacht and how to operate a train. I moved across the landscape of my country, unencumbered by any traffic whatsoever. Across the ocean to other continents and flew, briefly, through the sky. Living the dream of all introverts now that I was able to leave my apartment without having panic attacks. Since there were no people around, I didn't have to take medication for that either, my mind was clearer since it left my system. In all my travels, I would stay in some places for extended periods, but I always somehow got lonely.

When that happened, I moved on, seeking new adventure elsewhere. It was summer again, and I was making my way through the forbidden country of North Korea when I spotted the movement. The human-like movement that seemed to run from me. I still had my bike, so I got on it and pedaled for my life towards the object in the distance. As I got closer I could see it was a human, I could tell that they were walking away from me. I did not call out instead, letting him hear my pedaling as I got closer and closer to him. He turned in surprise as I came to a sudden stop right in front of him. For what felt like hours, we stared at each other. His face showing complete and utter surprise mine, no doubt showing delight. I never thought I would have that feeling before when the world was full of people. Once I had caught my breath, we spoke at the same time, "I thought I was the only one" smiles spreading across our faces.