CSE: Chapter 2: August 1.1

AUGUST

Several towns and cities passed but I didn't see any signs of recent human life. Jack and Patch did whuffle at something a few times, but I decided it must be nothing because nothing was heard, and they gave no signs of fear.

I lived out of grocery stores and libraries after the cans ran out. Most of the time I had to break the windows to get in, though the automatic doors still worked far awhile in the larger cities. The days flew by and I lived each of them as they came with a sense of unreality.

Food for the horses wasn't as hard to find as I’d imagined. Hay and grain can be found on the edges of any farming community. They weren’t really working that hard, carrying one young girl and a few quickly dwindling supplies. Grass was their main diet, and that could be found anywhere.

The grass, in fact, was everywhere, waist high. While I wasn't paying attention, the plant life had gone out of control. By the beginning of August, it looked like the buildings had been abandoned for years rather than a couple months. I hadn't noticed how quickly the plants had been growing, just that they were. Mostly I guessed it was because I had been wrapped up in my own misery, but the growth must have been plainly visible for a while.

Vines now covered most cars; some smaller buildings had an almost complete covering of them. Saplings grew out of the sidewalk. The roads were cracked in places from the sheer force of weeds and trees trying to get through, wherever there was the smallest space.

Animals too seemed in an overabundance; rabbits, birds, and other small furry creatures ran across my path almost constantly. I’d never thought about how many wild animals were in one place before, and now they were everywhere.