The day no longer mattered.  Seasons, no long discernible.  The smell of fall leaves, the dew in early morning, and the aroma of the air after a fresh rain...gone. 

Mornings now brought with it the wind, and odors of those who had died.  No one knew how many were dead, but most knew how many they had lost.  No one was sure whether the virus itself claimed the most victims, or if it was the steps the government had taken to combat the new infectious and quickly mutating disease.

Most of those who remained did not keep track of the days as mankind once did, marked with calendars, and dates...but simply tracked the rising and setting of the sun.  Although there were rumors of groups of men who had gathered making it their sole purpose to collect the histories of the once great and clean world, recording from the date of the second fall of mankind in which they simply referred to as The Apocalypse.

As the sun rose that morning, he sat up from his makeshift shelter of cardboard and plastic.  The sky was a dark orange, residue of the "cleansing" still hung in the air.  The winds blew a wet stench, with a humid putrid odor.  He thought to himself, wondering how long it would take to get used to the smell that made his throat want to shut.

It was hard to hear anything over the gusts of wind, but some sounds found their way through in the lulls between.

He grabbed his suitcase and a few pieces of cardboard, which almost didn't fit in his ever expanding traveling home he affectionately called Sam, which was short for the factory which manufactured this particular suitcase, and was long since gone, along with every other organized facility.

"First things first.", he thought to himself as his stomach still ache of hunger from the night before.

He hated leaving the safety of the alley with two exits, which was always comforting in case of an attack, but there was nothing to eat or drink there.  It had been two days since he ate, and at least a day since he had anything to drink.

He walked out onto the street where a few dozen people could be seen wandering about.

He walked over to a trash can and begun to dig.  The lid was already removed, so his hopes were not to high for finding anything of value.

Near the bottom of the can he found a fast food cup with almost three swallows in it.  It had been there a while, and no specific taste could be found, but it was wet, and just enough to remove the sand from his throat.

Now if he could just find some food.

Since the fall and end of order, all the supermarkets had been pillaged, and most homes cleared out of any food.  Anything found at this point had to either be hunted down, or purchased from not so honest black market vendors who quickly evolved with the changing times and opened up shops almost the day after the cleansing.

Of course, with these times, money no longer had value.

There were only a few things which still carried any worth as far as the vendors were considered.  Water, food, weapons, ammunition and services, some of which were as simple as finding someone or some thing for the vendor, and other services which were as detestable before the fall as were after.

Slavery had once again became a part of life, only instead of singling out a particular race such as African, Chinese or Indian as was done in the past, people who were weak were often the targets of slave traders.

Mostly women and children, but occasionally men as well.

Most men, even the weak ones put up a fight against slave traders and were often either killed in the capture, or wounded beyond use, so they were rare.

Feeling refreshed from with few swallows, he gathered his senses, looked at the rising sun which gave its warmth, and with the morning winds slowing down, the stench relieved its relentless pungent suffocation, and he decided to look elsewhere for some food.

Because he was on the edge of the city, it was easy to make treks into the outer suburbs to search for things.  It was far too dangerous to travel too deep into the suburbs because of the bandits and psychos.

One of the strange things that came with the fall was the roles that cities and small towns played in humanity.  Cities were once the refuge of violence and disorder along with crimes and gangs, while smaller towns were safe from most of that.  Now, however, most of the living ran to bigger cities looking for help and security of order and government, while small towns turned into gang sanctuaries, where bandits could do as they willed with no recourse from any law which may have remained.

Small towns turned into personal kingdoms to warlords and gangs which easily moved in and took over without much resistance.

There was no "police", no laws, no enforcers...mankind had reverted to a Darwintopia.  Survival of the fittest.  Mankind had been reduced to animal by one swoop of a little known virus.

As he walked toward the suburbs, he stayed on what was left of the main roads, being sure to stay aware of an escape route in case something happened. 

It was hard enough to walk with Sam, but running was almost impossible.  But if he had to, he would leave Sam behind to save himself.

The suburb was only about 2 miles from where he was, and he was sure he could find food and be back to the city before night fall.

The closer the suburb was to a major city, the safer it was.

But as he approached the streets of the small neighborhood, he began to feel a little uneasy.

He hoped to get in and out with a full belly before dark, but he had not anticipated what the day would reveal.

But of course, he was used to that.  Each day brought with it new challenges in this new world.  The challenge to eat, drink, sleep without being mugged...just another day in the hell he called life.