Half the city is dead. The rest live on the outskirts. On top of economic and ecologic disasters, we now have plagues. I've dealt with one bomzom in person. It was horrifying.

Running low on groceries, I bused to the shop at the edge of town, but they were out of everything. A woman there was arguing with the shop owner.

"What am I supposed to do? I need eggs and milk!"
"There's another shop downtown.." The guy behind his counter was unsure.
"Oh yeah, so I can march into a wasteland battlefield? It may as well be in the quarantine zone."
"Miss, I'll go for you, if you pay me." As always, I'm one to make an easy buck off a gambit. She agreed, giving me her number and promising to meet me with cash after I show up with her list fulfilled.

As I waited on the bus- which didn't get within a mile of my new destination- I contemplated how it was ironic the sky was bright and cloudless. Perhaps the foggy quarantined zone absorbed all the moisture.