2. Others

He could feel Jack trembling a bit after he spoke. "Me too...." he whispered, somehow he felt sleepy, which was not a good sign. "How deep...." If he would say more, he had the feeling he would vomit again. Jack understood but hesitated. "Buddy, I´m no doctor, so I can't say... how about you rest here, just lean on me and we wait a bit for the ambulance? How about that?"

"Ok." He understood what Jack meant: It's bad.

'Ah, fuck this shit'

But he had to say, he was thankful for not being alone in this situation, he mouthed the word 'Thanks' but his voice didn't come out as he closed his eyes.

When he awoke a second time, Jack wasn't there and he leaned on a rock, it was the spot from before. It was night, and the dust in the air had settled another good amount he assumed, because he could breathe easier. He couldn't see a thing, there were no stars and there was no moon. No electricity like street lights, nothing.

There were no voices like before, no yelling, no crying.

´Don't touch your head` He reminded himself. Then, at the slowest pace possible he tried standing up, it wasn't easy but it wasn't hard either. He asked himself if this was a good sign. He straightened his arms and tried to feel through the night as he took a few steps in a random direction, there was so much sand on the street it was strange. You could feel that there was indeed asphalt but now it was part broken, part overshadowed with sand. He walked and found on his way a few walls, uneven, so he assumed it were bigger rocks. At least bigger than himself and wider than he could reach, so he went in the opposite direction. Another while later he reached a building but it was askew, part of it sunk into the ground as far as he could find out while touching. There was no glass in the windows, maybe they were open? He urgently wanted to enter for a rest, the first floor wasn't that high, but he found there was no way for him climbing up, in his condition and he couldn't find doors. He turned in the direction to his left, there were other buildings, all of them broken or sunken who knows how deep, all without glass in the windows. He didn't enter as the buildings were not continuous walls and didn't feel stable.

Finally he heard a sound, it wasn´t near, but he could hear it clearly, the whimper of a child.

At this moment he noticed why he felt so creeped out the whole time,- the air was still, there was no wind, no breeze, no insects. It just didn't feel right.

He walked towards the crying sound and found himself finally in front of a little less destroyed wall. The door leaned halfway out of the angles. He didn't know what to do so he just knocked. The crying sound abruptly stopped and he heard a "Shh!".

So he did his best and said as clearly as he could "Is anybody here...I mean.... no harm." He heard footsteps and saw light moving towards himself, finally the door moved, a man peeked out with a candle in his hand and showed a shocked expression. Then he moved the door with difficulty so he could enter.

As he entered, he saw clearly that this was a general hallway leading to many apartments. The man helped him to the apartment on the right side at the end of the corridor.

After he entered he saw at least ten people in the big living room, around an old pot with fire, they looked desolate. A woman screamed as she got a good look at him, and the others around her mumbled things like "Holy...", so the metal thing in his head should not look too good.

"Forgot...my....hat" he stammered but nobody laughed.

He didn't care either "Bathroom?"

The man who opened the door for him brought him to the bathroom and left him the candle. He hoped that there was a mirror but there was only the frame. He tried to wash his hands but no water. He saw a door that was next to the bathroom, he opened it and it stank so much that he closed it immediately.

So no water, no toilet flush, the folks here just made do with the toilet bowl.

'There isn't even a mirror, so what did I come to the bathroom for.'