We took our backpacks from the trunk, stuffing them with the remaining provisions and then rounding the building. We looked out to the city beyond, or what we could see of it, anyway, from where we stood. Smoke rose from several spots, whether from fires that had broken out naturally for one reason or another, or from people who’d set them, I had no way to know. A set of pops met our ears and Emily looked at me in alarm. “Gunfire?”

Probably. “Let’s go this way,” I said, leading her in the opposite direction, away from the sounds. A distant human wail rose up, and then a few more.

Emily’s eyes met mine, and my guts cramped. I fucking hated walking her into what I knew very well would be a dangerous landscape, and yet, what choice was there? I couldn’t drive into a scorching wildfire burning out of control, one that, in the absence of water or planes to drop fire retardant, would burn indefinitely. I wouldn’t drive around randomly, either running out of fuel or encountering one roadblock after another until so many popped up that we were trapped.

My choices were to head out into the desert, driving as far as a car could go in terrain like that and scavenge for food and water, hopeful that we’d find enough not to starve. Or we could make our way to my uncle’s house, hopeful that we could stock up on provisions there and—with him—begin the journey on foot to Emily’s parents.

Decisions needed to be made quickly at this point because everything was devolving very rapidly now and what was already bad would only get worse from here.

We walked through an industrial area, many of the buildings burned out, any businesses that had once operated here looted of everything. We stuck our heads in a Dollar General, the shelves utterly barren, and what looked like blood smeared across the floors. Next door, a Department of Motor Vehicles sat vacant, chairs overturned, and counters toppled. I assumed there’d been computers and phones present, but they were gone now and why anyone would take the time to lug those things away considering the circumstances was beyond me. Perhaps, in some cases, it was just human nature to take and that’s what had happened here.

We continued on. This area of town had been completely stripped. Even the cars sitting in the streets here had been emptied, doors, glove boxes, and trunks standing open, and even some of the engines missing. No wonder very few people wandered the streets and the ones that did, averted their gazes and turned quickly away. They knew at this point that information and help wasn’t coming and that other people only represented danger.