[ WP ] A woman stops in a dark alley to pet a cat , but the cat runs away , scared , as a man approaches the woman . After a brief confrontation the man runs away too , screaming .

( First post. My wife got me interested in Reddit, and then this section, and I thought, hell. Why not. ) 
 
 Hot. Too hot to be out on the street, too hot to be indoors. Too hot to be alive, but she was. She could feel it in the way her old bones resisted the new gravity, hear it in the way they ground together when she walked. It was miles yet till she reached her final destination. Maybe if her luck - she laughed, a dry sound like sand rubbing down glass - was in she might avoid the patrols, though their tender flesh tended to stay inside on days like these. When molten light burned away the weak. 
 
 It had been a decade. A decade? Yes, a decade, she thought. Ten years since those fools had finally broken the earth and created this bold new world - a sneer, if it could be called that, on lips so desiccated they were little more than paper mache dried over a skull. A new race to go with the new world, and she was one of them. Not quite dead, no. Not really. Inside her mind she was still 36, a professional, working the revived real estate market. She was alive though, she was, she could feel it in the minutes that her heart beat, taste it in the bitter dust that slipped through the cracks in her face onto her tongue. 
 
 No, no one would be out today. She would make it to the compound, the one she was still supposed to be in. A slow shuffle kept her moving onward, like a dry glacier taking back its own. A dark space appeared in her vision ( they still were n't sure how her kind saw, they thought perhaps it was something to do with the force that still animated them ) and she recognized it for an alley way. 
 
 Surely, a moment to stand in the shade would n't hurt. No one would be out today, no one. It was almost high noon, and though a city bustled beneath her feet no one would be troubling the ruined earth she trod. Ten feet, six feet, three. There, she was in the cracks now that sheltered from the Almighty Sun. Oh, but the shade. It was n't that it was a lessening of the heat, oh no, not that, not in this new age, but it was a least surcease from the light that seemed to plague the topworld, now. She slid down the brick wall and stared at nothing, enjoying this tiny respite when she heard a mewling sound. When she turned her head, a sand cat appeared from behind a tiny dune, bright silver eyes questioning. 
 
 She was struck for a moment, surprise she had not felt in years making her sockets widen. The animal life after the calamity had adapted rather better than humanity, cats best of all. They seemed to thrive off the climate, rather than be crushed by it. Perhaps, most fortunately, they did not fear her, either. `` Hello, little survivor.'' She offered, the sound of her voice chalk breaking. She used to have such a beautiful speaking voice, the sound made her wince inside. The cat, however, did not seemed to mind as its regal stride brought it closer. 
 
 Luck indeed! The creatures seldom approached her kind, and it was considered a good omen for one to allow you to pet it. She did reach for it then, pleased that this small journey was working out, when the sand cat bristled like an old bottle brush and hissed bounding down the alley. 
 
 If she could still frown, she would have, turning to see what had offended it. Once she saw through the glare light made, she sighed. What looked like an astronaut suit of old was lumbering toward the alley. She should have been more wary, should have known shade was like a watering hold in the Savannah. 
 
 As it came ever closer, she rallied herself and stood. A silhouette of Halloweens gone by. She knew that this Patroler would n't fear her. She knew that he was wrong. 
 
 `` You are unauthorized.'' It intoned from a loud speaker on its chest. Unauthorized, the man said. Like this state was a decision, a rebellion. `` You will be terminated.'' He should have been wary when she did n't run, he should have called for back up. She simply shook her head, and waited until he was within range. 
 
 `` You will be termin-...'' The authoritative tone cut off, as she pulled back what was left of her face. The Patroler stumbled backward, and fell, a high pitched whine replacing his previous surety, which built to a scream as he scrambled backward, turning to run awkwardly in his suit. Inside, she did n't even smile. Inside, she sighed wind through an old pine forest so far gone as her humanity. He would tell others. They would all have to die.
