The Day The World Fell Silent

Two weeks. It's been two weeks, as far as I can remember. Two weeks since the world fell silent. It had happened overnight. Or had it? Had it happened in a night or a couple days? I couldn't remember. I can't seem to remember anything anymore. I could only remember that I was the only person left on the face of the earth and that something had happened to me at some point in time, but I can't remember what it was that happened. I had forgotten my name, my age, and who my family and friends were. Did I even ever have friends or family? I don't know. All I knew was that I was alone and that I had to survive by myself.

I was outside all day wandering about the neighborhood. It was always quiet, there was very little foot traffic, and there weren't many cars that passed through. But it was different now. It all looked the same, but it just felt like something was missing. I wandered past numerous houses. Most of them still had cars parked in their driveways. I passed by one house with a minivan parked in the driveway. The back hatch was open. There were groceries neatly stacked in the back, ready to be taken out and be put away. There was nobody to take these groceries now, except for me. My stomach rumbled and I felt the wave of hunger that passed over me. I hadn't eaten in.. two days? I couldn't remember, but I needed to eat. I walked over to the back and looked through the bags. Everything looked to be edible still so I took up the bags out of the back. I checked my Ipod for the time and realized that it was nearly six o' clock. So I set off towards home. Home. It sounded so weird to say that now. Home was not so much of home as it is just an empty house. An empty house that used to be my home.

I got back home and set the groceries down on the kitchen counter. Ew, what stank so bad? I looked over towards the kitchen sink and saw what was making the putrid smell. A pile of dishes stood in the sink, some dishes still had moldy bits of food still stuck to them. I guess it had been a while since someone had done the dishes, and I certainly wasn't about to start doing them now. I wonder if the water even turned on anymore. I walked over to the sink and turned the tap on. A steady stream of water poured out and hit the stack of dishes. Why did the water still turn on? Doesn't there have to be someone working at the... the... I had forgot the word. The place where they treated water. Why can't I remember the little things? There was so many words that had slipped my mind completely. Anyways, I shut the tap off and walked over to the groceries. I hadn't really checked what was in the bags so that's what I was going to do.

There was a package of raw chicken, some crackers, a loaf of bread, some carrots in a small bag, and a two-liter of Coke. Amazingly everything was still edible and nothing had gone bad. What, had time froze to? Whatever, I was way to hungry to care. Everything in my house still worked somehow, so I opened the chicken and put two pieces in a pan, then cooked it on the stove. When I was done eating I noticed that it was starting to get dark out. I didn't remember many things, but I did know that once it got dark out, strange things started happening. It was almost as if the people who had suddenly disappeared had come back, but as spirits. I remember distinctly one night I was woken up by a loud crash in the kitchen. I took up my pistol (yes, I looted a pistol from the local Cabela's because I wanted one) and went to the kitchen. I turned the corner and saw that there was a mess of dishes lying on the floor, none were broken, they were just sitting there. I went to go pick them up when out of the corner of my eye I saw a human like figure standing over near the door.

I quickly threw a glance over by the door but didn't see anything. Whatever was there was gone now. I slept with all the lights on after that. This night seemed to drag on forever. I was laying on my bed just staring at the ceiling, not even noticing that my favorite TV show was on. There were too many questions racing through my mind at once. I wanted to know who I was, where everyone had gone, and what happened to me. Suddenly, as if a movie projector started to play in my head, I had a very vivid flashback of something. It was of me. I was walking down the sidewalk. The sidewalk right outside in front of my house. I was carrying my.. back.. sack? No, backpack. I was coming back from.. uhh.. school. Yes! That was the word, school. Where I had gone every morning to learn. I knew that I wouldn't need to use any of that knowledge now. I was almost home. But something wasn't right. I was very on - edge or anxious it seemed. I kept looking around and checking the time on my watch. There were empty vehicles in the street, and I could hear screams. They seemed quiet as if they were coming from a block away. I suddenly started to run. I was about to look behind me but I was knocked forwards by an unseen force. I had lifted my self on my knees and was about to make another run for it, but I was knocked unconscious by the unseen force behind me. Before I had blacked out completely I noticed a shadow behind me. It looked human, but it was way too tall and too skinny to be human. I then blacked out completely.

I quickly snapped out of the flashback and found my self lying face down on the ground. I thought that was strange, but I had most likely rolled off my bed while having the flashback. I lifted my body off the ground and sat down on my bed. I reached around to the back of my head and felt that there was a large bump where I had been hit in the flashback. So was that what had happened to me? I had been viciously knocked unconscious by an unseen force and left on the sidewalk? Why hadn't I disappeared like the others, was I here for a reason? I glanced over at my alarm clock and noticed that it was nearly Midnight. I thought I should get some shut-eye because tomorrow I would go scavenging.

I slept in very late. I woke up and saw that it was nearly two o' clock P.M. I had to go out and do some scavenger work in order to survive. So I threw on my clothes, holstered my pistol to my side, and grabbed the keys to my neighbor's truck. Now you might be wondering why I need my pistol. Yes, I was the only one left on the face of the earth, but animals somehow were still thriving. And now that the humans had left, packs of wolves and coyotes had moved into town and they were very vicious. Wait.. if animals were still alive, oh my god! I ran downstairs and opened the door to the guest room. There they were. All three of my cats. Oh how I missed them. Now I wasn't alone in this house anymore! They quickly scurried out of the room and upstairs. I ran upstairs after them and fed them, making sure that they got some extra because they were probably starving. After they had eaten I threw my shoes on and walked out the back door. There sitting in front of my house was the sky blue GMC Suburban that my neighbor owned. I had remembered that I had really wanted one of these ever since my neighbor had brought it home. It was the 1978 model, the one I really liked. I hopped in, put the key in the ignition, and started it up. The engine roared to life and I quickly set off down the road towards town.

The road was littered with vehicles, but I managed to get past most of them. Others I would have to get out for and push them out of the way (I put them in Neutral first). I reached the local grocery store and parked the truck just in front of the entrance. Nobody was around to tell me what to do, I could do whatever I wanted! It seemed that the whole city still had power since the automatic doors and the lights inside of the store still worked. I walked through the door and grabbed a shopping cart. They were all still lined up neatly inside the door, sitting there waiting to be used. I wheeled the cart into the actual store and started off down the long stretch of aisles. I immediately thought of the cats and went down the pet food aisle. I grabbed as many cases of cat food as I could and a couple of bags of treats for them then went to go get myself some food. It felt so strange walking down all the empty aisles and grabbing whatever I felt like grabbing, knowing that I wouldn't have to pay a dime for any of this stuff. I grabbed all of my favorite foods like beef jerky, pastas, really anything that had meat in it and wasn't expired, and candy, lots of it to. I always did have a sweet tooth, and thank god It didn't get me any fillings or cavities. I went and dropped the first load into the truck and went back for a second trip. I grabbed lots of canned food because I knew that most of this food that wasn't canned wouldn't last too long. I was on my way back to the candy aisle when I heard a rustling noise in the aisle just beside it. I parked the cart near the checkouts and drew my pistol. I wasn't really worried about wolves or coyotes because the pistol, or revolver actually, that I had was very strong and I am a great shot with a gun.

I approached the aisle and peeked around the corner. There were two coyotes sniffing around the beef jerky and other foods that lined the shelves. One had grabbed a can of SPAM with it's mouth and was tearing it up, trying to reach the contents inside of it. I didn't want to kill them since they weren't threatening me, so I aimed the revolver up at the ceiling and fired a warning shot. The sound rang out through out the whole store, and it also scared the coyotes. I heard one of them whimpering as they ran off through the doors of the store. I hoped that I hadn't hit something metal and had the bullet ricochet towards the coyote. I looked over towards where they were standing and looked for a blood trail. Thankfully there was no blood. I hadn't hit the coyote, I just scared it shitless. I went back and grabbed the cart then set off down the candy aisle. I grabbed what I wanted then set off towards the truck. I was done loading everything in, but there was one more thing I had always wanted to do. I walked over to one of the cash registers and unlocked it with the key that was sitting off to the side. I plunged my hand in greedily and came up with Hundreds, Twenties, Tens, Fives, and assorted dollar coins. I stuffed it all into my pocket and walked off towards the truck. I know that cash had no value anymore but I just liked the feeling of having large amounts of cash, I mean if you were me you probably would have done the same thing.

I had a couple of places that I wanted to hit up today so I figured I should get a move on. I hopped in the truck and started it up. I noticed that I was sitting below half a tank of gas, so before I went to the next place I drove over to the gas station. I pulled up to the pump and hoped to god that they still worked, I was not about to walk anywhere. I opened the flap and put the pump in. I squeezed the trigger and out it came. Thank god. I gave it a full tank and then pulled the pump out. I was about to get back in the truck when I thought that I could still gather some stuff from the store. So I walked over to the store and opened the door. I collected everything from packs of gum to microwave popcorn and put it all into plastic bags. As soon as I was done, I took out two hundred dollar bills and left it on the counter as a joke. I walked out the door and said 'have a good day!' then laughed to myself as I piled the food into the back of the truck. It was packed full now. I would have to start using the back seats now.

Next on the list: EB games. Why? Because the electricity still worked and I needed some new games for my.. uhhm.. what was it called? I knew that it was a game station. Station. A .. Play Station! That's the word, or PS3 as EB games called it. So I headed over to the other end of the city where the EB games was. I rolled up to the front and got out of the truck. I walked over to the front door and tugged at it. Of course it was locked. EB games was always closed at about 6:00 P.M. So everyone must have disappeared after that, well know I knew a small percentage of what had happened. I had a great idea. I drew my revolver and shot out the main window with two shots, no problem. I wasn't surprised it fell after only two shots, after all it was a .357 Magnum that had fired those shots. I hopped into the shop and straight into a pile of broken glass. Good thing I was wearing work boots, otherwise the next stop would have been the hospital to find stitches. I walked over to the end of the room and flicked the light switch on. The bright fluorescent lights flickered on and I could finally see where I was going. There near the front doors was the PS3 section. I grabbed two bags from behind the counter and walked over to it. I filled one up with PS store cards and the other one with games I really wanted like, Call Of Duty Ghosts, Fallout: New Vegas, etc. I then noticed that up on a shelf behind the counter was a special edition, frost white PS4. I had to take that with me. I looked around for a stepladder or something that I could use to climb up, but I couldn't find anything. I looked at the shelves below it and thought that I could probably climb those to get at it. So I walked over to the counter and placed my foot on the bottom shelf.

It seemed sturdy enough so I placed my other foot on it and started to climb up. I finally was within reach of the PS4 and I made a grab for it. I managed to get it with just my thumb and forefinger, then dragged it off the shelf and into my one free arm. I was about to climb down when I heard a large crack and felt the shelf beneath me give way. I clutched the PS4 to my chest as I fell backwards. Most of the fall was absorbed by the box I landed on, but it didn't help that it was full of game cases. I was about to get up when I noticed that right behind the counter was a wolf, sitting up and staring right at me. I hadn't noticed it there before, he must have been lying down. I was frozen. It bared it's teeth at me and growled. I was still frozen in fear, PS4 still clutched to my chest. It looked as if it was about to make a move. I suddenly remembered the Magnum still holstered to my side. I quickly pried it from it's holster and checked how many bullets I had left in it. Three. Three was enough to take down the wolf, in fact one should do the trick. I closed the cylinder and chambered a round in. The wolf charged at me and I pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang and a flash. The wolf flew back and landed where it was sitting. There was a huge streak of blood on the wall and a puddle of it where the wolf lay. I sat there on the crushed box and just stared at the wolf for a bit. Eventually I got up, picked everything I got up, and ran to the truck. I threw the stuff into the back seat, got into the front and sped away. I did not want to stay there any longer. I loved guns and shooting things but this felt different. I never actually shot something living.

I looked at my list and picked one more place to go to today; Cabela's. I needed more ammo for my revolver and I could possibly pick up some other guns. But first I had to go back home and unload my haul, I needed lots of room if I were to loot guns from Cabela's. I took the side road that led back to home. I arrived back at the house and backed the truck into the driveway, making sure that I was as close as I could get to the back door. One by one I unloaded the bags and boxes of food and games that I had. About thirty minutes later I had finished unloading everything so I ran into the house to do a few things before I left again. After all, it was only 2:30. I ran into my room and grabbed my Ipod, my Aux cable, two boxes of shells for my Magnum, and my hat. Before I left I fed the cats and gave them some water and treats. I bid them goodbye (was I going insane?) and then stepped out the back door. I plugged the Aux cord into the stereo and plugged the other end into my Ipod. I needed to hear music again, I just couldn't live without it. Or at least I think I couldn't. Cabela's was just a little ways out of town so I had to use the highway to get there. Surprisingly, there wan't many cars on the highway. If there were some I could easily swerve right out of their way.

I rolled up to the store about 20 minutes later and backed the rear end towards the doors. Hey, some guns are heavy and I didn't want to carry guns an extra foot or two towards the truck. I opened the doors and took in the place. I could feel a faint memory being pushed towards the front of my brain. I had been here before this whole ordeal had begun. My.. Grand..Father? Yes. My grandfather had taken me here numerous times when I was about 14, we both shared a love for guns. Although we never bought any, we came here to look around and hold the ones they had out on display. The memory felt so real. Like today he had brought me here, I wasn't alone, my grandfather brought me here and we are going to look at guns. For a moment I actually believed my own fantasy. No, I was alone. Everyone is gone, except for you, get it through your thick skull. I walked into the store and grabbed a cart that was lying about. I saw the display case that I had smashed open a couple days previous, inside lay more guns just like mine. I went over there and smashed the rest of the display open. I pulled out one gun after the other. I came across a bunch of pistols that I knew very well. The M1911. There were about ten different kinds, one was even silver plated. These were my favorite pistol because not only did they look cool, they were pretty good guns. I also knew that they were the starting gun in Call Of Duty Zombies. I grabbed five of them and then headed over to the ammunition aisles.

I looked over every box until I found the ones I was looking for, the .45's. I grabbed all of the boxes and piled them into the cart. I went back over to the guns and looked through the rifles and shotguns. No freaking way! There in a military themed display case was an ACR assault rifle. Without hesitation I smashed open the glass and put it into the cart. The ammo for that gun was hard to find since it is chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO. Your average hunting store doesn't carry that ammunition, but I managed to find a few boxes of the bullets in the ammunition aisle. I carried on down the rows of guns and pulled out some pump and over-under shotguns, a few semi-auto and bolt action rifles, and a very special .50 caliber scoped rifle. I made one last sweep down the ammunition aisle and grabbed all the ammo I needed. I took my Ipod out of my pocket and checked the time. Oh shit, it was already six o' clock. I ran as fast as I could with the cart back towards the truck and threw everything I got into the back hatch. I jumped into the driver's seat and turned the key. The engine roared to life and I floored it right out of the parking lot. I did not want to get stuck in the dark.

Too late. The other side of the highway was congested and took nearly two hours to get through. I finally navigated through the maze of cars and got back onto the road that leads into town. It was dark out by then. All around me I saw what I had seen in my house that one night. All around me were blank, faceless, spirits. They were very tall and looked very skinny. Just like the shadow I had seen in my flashback. I tried to concentrate on the road but everywhere I looked they were there. I was scared out of my mind. I rolled down my window and grabbed a M1911. I fired several shots at the figures, but what good would that have done? They are fucking spirits, how is a solid bullet going to effect something that isn't a solid form? I eventually pulled into my crescent. They were everywhere.. On the street, on the sidewalk, in empty cars, and even staring out at me from empty houses that lined the street. I started to speed up until my house was in sight. I quickly pulled in to the driveway and grabbed the ACR from the back. I jumped out of the front seat and yelled at the apparitions 'Stay back!'. Like that that seemed threatening to them. They all stood there silently, looking at me with their blank white faces. One or two them started advancing towards me and I ran to the back door. I burst through the door and quickly shut it and locked it. I ran over to the front window and closed the curtains. Then I ran to my room and shut the door. I sat down in my chair and pointed the ACR right at the door, not moving an inch. I stayed like that for a good half hour when I decided to get up and look out the window. There was nothing there. I breathed a sigh of relief and set my gun down against my desk. I sat there and stared at the floor. Then I started to laugh, a sort of maniacal laugh. It was all just my imagination. There wan't really anything out there. I started to laugh harder thinking about how stupid I was. I was about to settle down and go to bed.. when there was a knock at the door.

"The last man on earth sat alone in a room, suddenly there was a knock at the door."

~KingoftheUnderground669