[ WP ] You just survived the apocalypse . Now you 're dealing with some unexpected problems not seen in apocalyptic fiction .

After the black rain stopped I poked my head out. The air still felt thick, like cloying perfume, and the water was probably poisonous enough to kill me many times over, but I still felt fine. It was the end of the world, after all - wouldn ’ t want to miss that, now would we? 
 
 What next? 
 
 “ Is it safe? ” Chris asked me from below me. 
 
 “ I don ’ t think anyone ’ s been around in months, ” I whispered back. “ Whatever life has probably been wiped out by now. ” 
 
 “ So we ’ re the only people left? ” 
 
 “ We ’ re the only people left. ” 
 
 For a long moment I thought I saw pain flash across Chris ’ eyes, but then he shouldered his pack. “ Let ’ s go, ” he said. ” 
 
 I helped Chris climb out of that stone prison. For ten months we had shared the system. In his heart of hearts, I don ’ t think Chris the prepper ever expected to use any of the food he stockpiled. If he did, he wouldn ’ t have stockpiled mountains and mountains of spaghetti and beans. Fucking spag and beans, man - I know the apocalypse ’ s no cakewalk, but he could at least have the decency to pick something else! 
 
 Chris ’ eyes squinted. In the wintry sunshine he shivered. 
 
 “ It ’ s a lot colder than I remembered, ” he whispered. 
 
 When the world was alive, Chris had spent the long winter months keeping his house safe. I ’ d been outside for five minutes, so I didn ’ t feel *that* cold. 
 
 “ Have my coat, ” I said. 
 
 “ No, no, ” he replied, already starting to walk. “ Let ’ s go find food. ” 
 
 All around us there was nothing but the wind and the world. 
 
 -- - 
 
 The food was easy enough to find. Chris had remembered to park his prepper box of treats next to a grocery store, so that was that settled. There had been a cordless phone in there, and more in hope than in vain, I dialed the number for the local police station. Predictably the silence swallowed me whole. 
 
 “ No-one? ” 
 
 “ No-one. ” 
 
 And we kept walking. 
 
 The sun wasn ’ t bright enough to make the snow painful. Nevertheless, it bounced off the white, reflecting shadows everywhere, and more than once Chris had to avoid stumbling into me. 
 
 “ There it is, ” Chris said. “ The highway. ” 
 
 I saw the snow had been wiped off the side by someone. The lines were still visible, coming through the white, but some time had clearly passed since any cars used it. 
 
 “ Let ’ s check that out, ” I said. 
 
 Chris led the way, and pretty soon we were face to face to the cleaned spot. 
 
 And there, in a snow cave, there was the slowly decomposing body of a woman. 
 
 -- - 
 
 I jumped, but Chris calmly dragged her out. Her face had been blued and blackened, and there was no doubt she was dead. 
 
 “ How long had she been here for? ” I asked. 
 
 Chris never replied. Above, the howling winds warned of a storm. 
 
 “ She had a kid, ” I said. There was a fading colour picture tucked in her palm. I couldn ’ t bear to take it from her. “ She had a kid, you now - I wonder if he ’ d be around somewhere. ” 
 
 “ Probably dead too, ” Chris answered. “ Let ’ s go, c ’ mon - there ’ s nothing more to see here. ” 
 
 And so we walked on. 
 
 “ It ’ s so quiet, ” I said, once we were out of range of the dead body. “ There ’ s nothing, nobody... there ’ s nobody to fight for survival. ” 
 
 “ Yeah, ” Chris breathed. 
 
 We walked on a bit more. The highway was now echoingly empty. I remembered once it split the horizon in two, like an arrow going off into the distance... but now Nature had reclaimed it all. There was barely a sign left standing, and the mile markers had long since lost their lustre. 
 
 “ We ’ ve got lots of food, ” Chris said. “ Don ’ t worry, if we don ’ t find anyone, we can make camp here - or turn back for the shelter - ” 
 
 “ Yeah, yeah, ” I said. 
 
 We walked on in silence. The unending silence - the white world - I didn ’ t know what was going to happen. A man can go crazy in this silence, I thought. There was nothing out there but my thoughts. 
 
 Except- 
 
 “ Hey! ” I shouted. “ Hey - you over there! ” 
 
 I sprinted for the shadow. I had to get there. I had to see him, I had to hold his face, kiss his hands, thank God there was another person alive besides us two - 
 
 -but Chris tackled me before I got very far. Punching, kicking, I tried to push him off, but Chris held me into the snow. 
 
 “ There ’ s no-one there! ” he hissed. 
 
 “ What do you mean there ’ s no-one- ” 
 
 “ Look! Look, you idiot! ” 
 
 He thrust my head back up. In the distance I saw a small spate of flurries swarm about. There had been nothing there. 
 
 “ Right, ” I breathed. There was nothing there. There had never been anything there. “ Right, ” I said, getting back to my feet. “ Let ’ s go home, then - we ’ ll need thicker clothes to trek out further. ” 
 
 And so we turned back. There was nothing to do and no-one to see. 
 
 You know, when they tell you about the apocalypse, how to hunt and how to find potable water - no-one ever mentions the sheer, empty loneliness of it all. No-one ever mentions the silence. 
 
 -- - 
 
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