After exiting the building I could see that more and more people were loitering in the streets around the auditorium. Seems that restlessness was starting to spread. Without any news or communication with the outside, people were understandably getting more and more worked up. I was no exception to this. Although my earlier ‘walk’ had helped me think better, I was nowhere near a proper state of mind.

I opened my status window and stared at it. I had been opening and closing it since the emissary thing told us about it. It’s like I needed to remind myself of the veracity of what happened every five minutes.

I moved a few blocks away from the auditorium building and considered my options. Despite their varying shapes and heights there were no distinct features in any of these fucking buildings. The only thing was that they all seemed undisturbed as of yet. I decided to enter the biggest one in my immediate vicinity. If I was going to explore, might as well go for the big one.

I pushed open the entrance door. The building reminded me of a small grocery store. While it wasn't exactly bare inside, it had none of the furniture one would expect of a store. No rows of shelves, no counters, no fridges. Only the same setup as everywhere else in this model city.

I approached the closest piece of furniture I could open. A metal locker randomly placed close to the entrance. Before opening it, I felt a little anxious. Maybe I had been stupid all this time and these things really do have something inside. With a little more drama than necessary, I slowly opened it.

Nothing. I can’t say I am surprised, but I did hope I would have found something. There were still a lot of them on this floor, and a couple other floors to explore. On my fifth attempt I finally found something. A liter of mineral water in a disposable bottle. After a quick sniff to check the contents I drank as much as I could. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until it finally hit my throat. Apparently some of my hunger was also due to the thirst. I felt a bit better now, although I still could do with a snack.

It didn’t take long before I found the second trove. A bag of chips. Now we are talking! I kept opening every furniture that I could, even going as far as checking under the pillows of the couches. You never know what you can find inside those plushy crevices.

When I was done with the first floor I had found another water bottle and a piece of rope. It seemed to be around three meters. Interesting. Seems like it could prove useful. I opened my small leather briefcase. All my important documents were there. Anything I could need in an interview. With a little regret I put the rope inside. Sure, it was a clean rope, but I was still worried it might damage some of the more important ones. It would be a nightmare of bureaucracy to get some of those back.

I moved on to the second floor, the third and finally the fourth. At some point I had found a backpack which was large enough to fit my briefcase and the rest of my haul. I was quite happy when I was able to take the rope out of my briefcase. I spread it all on the floor grouped by what it was. Five cans of assorted proteins, eight bags of snacks, a rope, a jacket, a small hammer and four bottles of water. Actually, three bottles of water and seven snacks. Thank god the cans had an easy pop lid.

The jacket was one size bigger than me, but it seemed more resilient than my battered suit. I removed my suit coat and placed it inside my briefcase after carefully folding it. I probably looked weird wearing an oversized dark green jacket and blue social pants, but whatever. It wasn’t cold yet, but I was starting to feel that the night in this place would be quite chilly. I decided to put the hammer on my waistline, fastened in place by my belt, while everything else went inside the backpack.

Since I had nothing better to do, and it was probably a good idea, I decided to explore all the buildings in the street. It wasn’t too long. It was also kinda off the way from the auditorium, the reason why I chose it in the first place, which made it unlikely that I would be disturbed while searching.

As I crossed the street something on the corner of my eye caught my attention. A small rodent ran along the edge of the road, scurrying from one building to another. I was a bit shocked and before I knew it, I had pulled the small hammer from my waist and held it in my hand. Surprised at my own reaction, I felt silly.

Was I so on edge? I thought I was handling this situation quite nicely.

When I stopped to think I realized it isn’t so weird to find mice in a city-like place. And where there are mice, there could be other small creatures, too. I think I eventually became too biased with my perception of this place being a fake that I kinda went along with it. I need to be more careful on how I go about classifying things and easily dismissing them in the future. That could be dangerous. Hopefully not.

Lost in my own thoughts, I kept searching the buildings and accumulating stuff. By the end of it, six hours had passed. I had eaten two cans of food, drank one more bottle of water and ate two bags of chips from my first haul. It might have seemed like a lot, but it really wasn’t after I had hit the other eleven buildings in the street. Even though none were as big as the first one, and some were even quite small.

At some point I had found three more backpacks. They were slightly different in color and design, but the internal space seemed to be the same overall. Out of all those buildings I had found a total of twenty one cans of food, nine bottles of water, fifteen snacks, two ropes, three jackets, two thick denim pants, another small hammer, and more importantly a sledge hammer and a combat knife. The knife’s blade wasn’t too long, around twenty to twenty five centimeters, but it was sharp as hell. I almost cut myself while testing the edge. Luckily, it came in a sheath. I hoped I wouldn’t need to use it, but better to need and have it than not. I placed it where my small hammer was and put the hammer with the rest of the stuff.

The sledge hammer I didn’t know what to think of it. I am sure it had its uses, but… It was just too clunky to carry it around. I had decided to wear the first denim pants when I found them. I probably looked less weird now, but it's not like the clothes were a fashion statement. Fuck it. I should be more worried about preserving my suit than worrying about my looks. I don’t know how long we will stay here or what will happen when that clock runs out.

I suddenly stopped what I was doing, realization struck me like a hammer in a bell.

Preserving my suit? What was I thinking? That we would all be rescued and go back to our lives? After all I had seen? I can’t possibly be this deluded. Right?

I sighed aloud. It was harder coming to terms with reality than I had imagined.

I invoked my status screen once again as if pinching my skin to try and wake up from a dream. It was a good reminder of the new norm. But could I really blame myself for subconsciously denying what was happening? It had only been eight hours goddammit. I would have to be a protagonist of a poorly written novel to already be up and about thinking of slaying monsters and protecting myself from others. Although the former was hard to imagine the latter was probably something I should really start worrying about.

I don’t know how things had changed in the auditorium in the last six hours, but if they hadn’t found anything or even not enough, I couldn’t arrive there with all this. I would instantly become a target. Although I had enough self confidence to handle myself in most conflict situations I wasn’t exactly a professional MMA fighter. Plus, they would have a monstrous number advantage against me. Even if it didn't come to blows, how could I argue about hoarding food for myself when there were elderly people and a pregnant woman?

Elderly people. Suddenly I remembered Mrs Aya and Mr Kando. Although the husband wasn’t exactly best friend material, his wife had been very polite and thoughtful enough to wake me up in this situation. If anything, I owed them my gratitude.

I decided to hide all the stuff I found in the building that I was currently in. I also changed back into my suit. It would probably raise a lot of suspicion if I suddenly showed up in different clothes and denied having found anything else. Especially if they had explored the buildings and knew the ratio of things. I chose a couch on the top floor to hide everything. With the knife I cut it open and put the backpacks inside. It was a tight fit, but in the end it worked. With the cushion on top you couldn’t tell what was inside. Unless you decided to remove the cushion, then it was quite obvious. Hopefully no one would be as thorough as I had been.

I grabbed my slightly bulging briefcase. I had put one bottle of water and two cans of food inside. I was planning on giving those to Mrs Aya and Mr Kando if they needed. On my way to the auditorium, I checked the clock in the orange tinged sky.

13:57:43

13:57:42

13:57:41

Almost half the time was gone now. Somehow a growing feeling of anxiety started to form at the pit of my stomach. The slowly ticking clock and its mysterious significance was terrifying if you thought about it long enough. I decided not to. I am not sure what was going to happen, but I would try to be prepared. Just in case.

As I got close to the auditorium I saw a number of people going in and out of the buildings. They had finally realized there was stuff to be found inside. Good for them. That means the people in the auditorium might have enough to be taken care of. I might even pitch in and donate some of my findings. I wasn’t so cruel as to ignore the less fortunate and let others carry all the responsibility alone. I just didn’t want to have all my six or so hours of work be taken from me without my say so.

It was also unwise to invite the eyes of jealousy in a place like this. Things might be peaceful now, but for how long? As if waiting for my cue, I started hearing some angry shouts from one of the buildings. I couldn’t exactly understand what they were saying, but it seemed like a fight. Probably over who found what or which one should have what. I was not surprised.

Making my way to the auditorium I passed by a few more people looting, but also a lot of buildings that seemed to have been already looted. As I got closer to my destination I realized they obviously had made their way outwards from the auditorium. It wasn’t a bad idea to have chosen a distant location to do some looting of my own. I would probably have to start going further away soon. Speaking of further away, another bizarre thing about this place is that there weren't any cars. At all. I hadn’t seen a single vehicle. I guess I wasn’t expecting to find any, that was why it didn’t cross my mind until now. I would just have to resign myself to walking. Not like that was a problem, I was used to running and jogging. Although most of it I had done on a treadmill.

I was somewhat eager to see how things were inside the auditorium. I was worried about Mrs Aya and Mr Kando, but also curious to see how Johann’s group was faring.