Where is Everybody?

Since I had closed off last night, I went out again, and this time, by the time the day was out, I found three others.

Twenty fifth of May in the evening.  I'm not sure what I should be doing, nor am I certain I am not dreaming.  I hope so.

Shortly as I had finished writing in that, Will said he was going out.  I didn't want to lose one of the three people I had encountered in this mess so quickly, nor did I want him going out alone.  The three of us went with him on foot and looked around.  It was near dusk and there wasn't a single light on save the ones on the lampposts lining the streets.  There weren't any cars whatever on the street yet several in driveways.  No music was playing, no televisions flickered, no light nor sound came from any house we crossed.  And that's considerable as we had all confirmed earlier that day we could see and hear much more than we ever could before.  I hadn't thought we would see anyone else, but I was wrong.

When we traversed the right street, we had crossed paths with a lighted window.  Guess what-- or who-- was in it.  When I went ahead, I had told the other three to stay out there.  I stepped up to the curb and ascended the stoop.  I had pressed an ear to the door and listened intently.  Through solid wood, clear as day, I could hear what I thought sounded like sobbing.  I lifted a hoof and slammed the flat of it against the hardwood.  The sound suddenly stopped for three seconds of dead silence.  Then footsteps.  I turned me head towards the street to see a look of slight terror on their faces.  It was frankly unsettling.  That's when I heard the door open.

I turned my head towards the sound.  I gave a slight gasp when a bipedal figure stood over me like a tower.  Truth be told, I wasn't that short, I just wasn't in my usual posture.  What I saw was a most unusual thing, even less usual than equinn aliens walking around.  A tall, humanoid lizard was at the door with an evening dress on her person and vertical lines crossed her cheeks.  Her face was undoubtedly that of a lizard, her neck, check, her feet clawed.  In her left hand was a broomstick.  On her face and neck and even back of hand, along with what I saw of her ankles were shiny sparkling scales of a brilliant red hue.  Her eyes, a tremendous green, a vertical line crossing through her pupils.

She looked so sad.  "Miss, are you alright? "

"Wwww hho Who are you?!" she asked so frantically.

"Alex Chance Torrez, madam.  You are?"

She said nothing.

"These are Anthony, Will, and Angela at the curb if you don't mind.  I presume no one has been here all day?"

"Yes.  And it's Vinnie, miseur."  Misuer?

I never wanted to make anybody upset, but I did not have any desire nor intent to leave anyone to the wind.  "I have agreed to let those three stay with me till we get this thing figured out.  Are you with me, Vinnie?"

She said yes rather quickly.

As we walked by a multi story apartment, we fund two lighted windows.  Southside I was on, Will heard a sound from the other side as did we all.  I went ahead and came up the stairway of the open building toward where I could remember the window being while Will, who had later confirmed the other was open, lit and blaring music was going with Angie and Anthony to that one.

Truth to say, what we found was even stranger.  On the fourth floor was a dim hallway, yet adequately lit end, where I presumed the room to be.  I had found a single lamp on a desk at the end of it by the window, and it had been covered with dust that  was clearly undisturbed save that of the knob.  The heat from it burned the cobwebs, whose remains could still be seen on the corner of the glass globe around it.  Vinnie knocked on the door and we both stood there waiting patiently.  Almost immediately-- and I kid you not-- a gryphon, and honest to god gryphon emerged from the door and closed it gently.

"Are you guys part of a rescue patrol?"  A chick.  Definitely a chick.  "No, ma'am.  Just a couple of concerned horse people and a lizard who have emerged in a deserted world with few people around.  We have no idea what happened, but everybody has disappeared.  There are three others, possibly four now."

"Samantha?"

"Who?"

"Samantha.  The dog faced woman at the other end of the building.  She came by earlier looking for other residents of this complex.  There is no one else."

When we came downstairs, a humanoid woman was standing there with a long dress on, floor length.  As Pickering suggested, her face looked like that of a dog's.  Like us, she was also still just as capable of human speech.

"Hello, Pick.  You finally came out of that prison cell, did you?"

"I had no idea anyone would show up.  I had hoped this was all a nightmare and I'll wake up.  We all will, and this is a combined dream we are all having."

"Have you ever been able to think that way in a dream before?"

"Not that I can remember.  I had always been awake, very awake when I had thought things like that.  There's a first time for it all, right?"

"I sincerely hope not.  I hope to god not."

Vinnie:"This here's Alex Torrez, and 'e promised to take us to residence, stick together till we find others in great enough numbers.  Do you want to come along?"

Sam looked at Pickering for a second then responded:"Certainly.  I don't want to be here alone, no sir.  Having just one other in this building would be more than enough.  I can't stay here alone."

Angela then whispered, "Excellent."

Will took a glance at her, then started out.  Just as I stepped outside, Samantha paused.  "Wait a minute.  Ain't you got a car?"

I shook my head and told her only Mum has one, and she went with the rest, no doubt in the vehicle when it all went away.  After that, she shrugged and began walking in a direction she (Correctly) presumed we'd be going.  Anthony, Will and I took the lead while Angie began talking Pickering, Vinnie, and Samantha's ears off.

I fell quickly asleep that night.

This morning on the twenty sixth, I oddly don't feel so morose.

It's a new day, and nothing's changed again.  No matter.  As I got back to recording these events after everyp-- everybody disappeared without a trace, and us few reappeared, I thought about how much we use power.  How long would the electricity last?  The water, the gas mains, but worst of all, the cable?  Once that goes out... I don't want to think about it.  Not at all.

Looking back at that paragraph, I realize I nearly wrote something else rather than what I did.  Where did that "P" come from in the stead of "B"?  Odd.  Very queer indeed.

I must find others.  And, if it's not too much trouble, find if the cable company and telephone people are still here.  This stuff will die off if they haven't returned soon.  But I won't think about that now.

As for plumbing...  I think we can agree it'll be an active effort to dispose of waste now with me stuff rearranged.  I woke up this morning and had to go badly.  I had to bite the button off to get my thing out of there.  I was next to the hedge when I made a mess of myself.  Great.

Having woken up early around six as it pleases me, I found one other tends to be an early bird, too.  Samantha was watching me as I descended the stairs and went out to the patio.  I don't want to hog the facilities with this many guests here.  It would not seem to matter in the morning when everyp-- everybody else was in bed, but I wanted to get in the habit of leaving them open for them.  When I came in with soaked legs, she grabbed me by the shoulders and held me in place.  My neck was long and flexible as a swan's, so my eyes met hers on the same level.  She made a suggestion.  When she came back, she had two things in her hands: A plastic funnel and a fishing line.  A funnel that I have had since I was a kid.

When I was eight, we went on a road trip, and I had to pee one time.  We were out in the middle of the desert and it was round dusk, and thus not stopping for anything.  Dado handed me this very funnel and a plastic water bottle to hold beneath my thing and do my business.  The former was to not spill and be sure it all got in, which I couldn't very well do with just the bottle alone.   She helped me by clipping two holes around the rim of it and lacing the line through it.  She then helped me strap it on, which I did with pleasure.  I went outside and removed residuals into the hedge separating out properties.  And did not make a further mess of meself.

I made us all agree to meet back here at the house before dusk, and spread out to cover as much ground as we can.  We wanted to find anybody we could who came back or didn't vanish.  We did.  Who?  Curiously enough, two guys who were both found in a parked car at the side of the road.  I wasn't there, but Anthony and Will were.  They went off together and found a lone car by the highway parked at the side of the road.  Most of the parked vehicles were in the driveways and garages.  When they approached it, Anthony said that there was someone in it for a fact.  They both looked through the windshield and saw two guys in it.  Monica and Sherman Hadley they introduced themselves as.  When we asked them what happened in the past two days, they claimed only the earlier part of today was anything strange.  They must still have been in limbo one day one.  Monica, a strange name for a man, claims to have been a police officer before this happened and was on a three day trip from SF to LA when their car suddenly exploded in size going 65 MPH leaving him with no time to hit the brakes, but his brother Sherman slipped out of the belt and hit it for him.  Monica had to tell Sherman how hard and when to hit the pedal while he steered the column due to the vehicle's increased size.  Eventually, they found the perfect place to get off and rest by the curb.  It was Anthony who found them first, as he, like me, can sense this mysterious raw energy that's all around us, in the atmosphere, in the ground, in the objects, but especially in us.  It's hard to explain, but it's like an extra sense.  All things have it, but animals and plants hoard it in concentrated doses.  And it's not UV, as I can sense that too, and he confirmed he feels it, too.  It led him to the car, and he knew someone was in there.  Monica is the more outspoken one, Sherman's the quiet one.  He doesn't seem to say much.  Perhaps he only speaks when necessary.  Oh well.  Somehow, his brother being named Monica has me scratching my head.  Guys aren't usually named Monica.  But I won't ask about it.

Not only is the policeman outspoken, he has a radio with which we may improve the chances of our search.  Wow.  Our odds of finding what few people there are have been quadrupled.  Now there are nine of us.  We need what we can get.  I never used to like it, but now I'm glad I live in the widest metropolitan area in America.  I always hated the pollution, but now with people gone, there's bound to be less of it, since there's only one functional car to our knowledge.

If you are reading this in the future, I hope you are laughing at this in hindsight, rather than pitying us.  And I hope this isn't permanent.  This may be the marking of a new calendar, like the BC/AD shift.

Yours truly, Alex Chance Torrez.