The Plague

Ok people, here's something I wrote yesterday, its part one of a short story set in a post-apocalyptic setting. Will post next page or two later on, perhaps day after tomorrow. Enjoy the read and leave feedback in the comments section below.

The soggy newspaper was blown onto a sleeping mans face, newspaper that for better or worse served him as a foolproof blanket when he had to sleep in an alley. The headline stated, in bold letters, "CHT-17 pandemic growing larger!", the date printed in the upper right corner, 13th October 2016. To the sleeping scavenger it was old news, he'd seen it and lived it. Miraculously he survived the outbreak and the social apocalypse that followed suit.

Lucas woke up with a loud, tired, groan from sleeping on the cold ground. He was on his way back to his home town all the way from Warsaw. In his journey he saw very few survivors, if there were any they were probably holed up in houses and apartments.

I hate mondays. - He said as he got up and stretched, his vertebrae popping into place, a sound that annoyed most of his friends, something he never again had to think about.

Lucas sighed and grabbed his backpack and marched out of the alley, crossing over garbage bags.
He spat onto the street and looked at a ruined grocery store. The display window was boarded shut but the door was completely gone. He still had some reserve food in his backpack but definitely not enough to last the whole way home. The man held his double barreled shotgun and slowly walked towards the shop. In his mind he recounted all the tv shows and movies he watched in his life that had a virus outbreak as the leading theme.

Least there are no zombies... or mutants... or killer birds. - Lucas chuckled lightly and walked through the doorway.

Inside it was he suspected, dark, cold, dirty and clearly raided way before he got here. But he wasn't going to quit after all this time, after all he survived a virus that killed an estimated 99.5% of humanity at least if he were to believe in what they wrote in the papers. With such high death rate, finding supplies was not as difficult as the old movies presented, people died too fast to eat the food they looted. Lucas kept on scavenging what he could from apartments, stores and gas stations.
Right now he was searching for something to eat, light peering through the wooden boards was his only help. Luck would have it, the storage room door was still there and more than that, it was closed, seemingly untouched.

Lucas held the doorknob down, slowly opening the door, the barrel of his gun moving through the opening. He didn't even hear a peep and soon he was inside a lightly stocked supply closet, that was the end of his good fortune for the morning. Most if not all of them food items were already past their expiration date, especially vegetables and fruits. Lucas knew he can't be picky so anything that was up to a week over its expiration date was still quite fine to him.

His breakfast consisted of a bag of salt sticks, smoked cheese, half a loaf of bread as hard as the ground he slept on. He flushed it down with a small can of energy drink and a bottle of lukewarm water. Compared to what some survivors might eat in 'The Wild' it was quite a luxurious breakfast. Lucas stuffed a couple of instant noodle soups as well as old canned dog food into his backpack and then glanced at a small six-pack of canned beer. Be it for personal use or trading good, he couldn't pass up on this opportunity so he put it inside his backpack as well.

Alright, this should do me just fine before I reach the next town and hell, beer is always nice, even if its old. - He stated as he grabbed one last remaining candy bar and gave the empty supply room one last glance. - Never know when you need to bribe someone with a sweet tooth.