Snippet #1598839

The bony hands of Augustus wound up a pocket watch, and checked the time. There was something about knowing the time which left a lingering feeling of the old days, providing a sense of hope and control. After the disaster, nobody was bothered to keep the time or the day; life had become just an endless parade of uncounted seconds. He replaced the pocket watch into his trouser pocket, and moved slowly towards the windowsill. The window was long since boarded-up to keep out the desperate world, but a peppering of bullet holes in the wood allowed him to see through to the outside. He squinted in the bright daylight, which was a stark contrast to his unlit home. It really wasn’t much of a home, at all; he just inhabited a tiny two-floor apartment building. The previous owners didn’t seem to mind, the dead simply catered to the living at this point.
Gus had promised a rendezvous with a young lady with whom he had talked earlier in the week. She shared his vision of Roma, and wanted to let him cross-check his research with her own. The problem was that she was currently somewhere in South Brisbane; her journey would be a long and tiring one.
He looked out across the Victoria Bridge to see if the lady had arrived. No such luck- he would now stand at a diligent watch until she entered his line of sight. Gus crossed his arms and admitted to himself that he was worried for her safety, especially with the gangs and thieves wandering the streets. Giving a cheerless glance back to the charcoal drawing of his wife, he regretted not being the one to make the journey.
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On the other side of Brisbane, a petite redhead rushed along past the Terminus hotel. She clutched a stack of papers in her arms with a death-grip; to anyone else these papers would be fire tinder, but to her, these were her most valuable possessions. In the oppression of the mid-day sun, she felt exhausted from her journey, the fact that she was wearing a sleek rubber jacket to keep away the UV light was only making her travels more miserable. She wanted nothing more than a bubble bath and a hearty meal, two things she knew she would never enjoy again, considering the current state of the world. Even though it was just a fantasy, she kept those thoughts in her mind; they urged her on and fought against the heat stroke waiting to take her down.
The walls of faded advertisements surrounding her on every side seemed like a haunted fortress, and the unused vehicles seemed like a hostile ghost army. The litter on the road whipped around in the mild breeze with an unnerving crackle. Her eyes flashed wildly about to assess the possible threats, and to avoid any undesirable encounters. Paranoia crept in, and she doubted that she would make the entire journey without being assailed, especially now that there were so many rooftops and corners to hide in.
She stalled when she reached the park, partly because she was unfamiliar with the area, and partly because she felt like she couldn’t feasibly travel another step in this heat. Adelaide slumped under a tree, fanning herself with her papers, and craving some toasted bread.