It Is Only Beginning

Destruction. All I see around me is destruction- buildings are bare and broken down, trash and glass litters the streets, the dead are seen on the ground like a gum wrapper nobody cared about. Every trace of a rational civilization that we used to call home is nowhere to be seen.

Phones don't work anymore, SARS-CoV-2 took care of all of the workers. The government no longer exists, they gave up before we were forced into hiding. Money no longer has any value due to the economy ceasing to exist. Now it's a barter system- is your pack of fruit rollups worthy of that persons jacket? Everything had new value, and food from before the illness was priceless to many.

Trust is something that is priceless now, and not many are given it. It doesn't matter anymore who you have a crush on, or that petty secret you were keeping from your parents. Now trust means who can you rely on to protect you while sleeping, or who won't take your food and water while you're gathering more supplies. Who can you trust to not steal your shelter from you while you're looking for more survivors? Who can you trust with your weapons and other precious belongings? Trust has become the newest, most precious form of currency.

Upon emerging from our small shelter, there was silence. The small community within my shelter discovered exactly what the five of us had been discussing for months. No hospitals, no other survivors for miles around, and little to no resources in what's left of the local shops. The air reeked of death after months of the bodies being left to decay. The home we had once known was now torn to its bare bones, with no trace of what it had been. The society we had known before the illness no longer existed, and instead left behind a barren land of chaos and despair.

Now it's up to us to rebuild our society that was mercilessly ripped from our grasps. It's up to us to take back our lives from SARS-CoV-2. And today is the day we begin that journey.