Sleep didn’t come so easily these days.

The cold woke @avarice. Reluctant to open his eyes, he reached for a comfortable and warm duvet that wasn’t there. Instead his grasping hands found the collar of his rough jacket and he pulled the jacket up over his shoulders. It was no use, he was still cold and rays of sunlight were starting to stream in through the broken windows of the room that he was in.

@avarice opened his eyes. As the veil of sleep receded, he felt the pressure of the cold, hard floor; the sensation of the rough rucksack that was currently his pillow and contained the few possessions that he could claim to own and would help him to survive in the world as it had become. He continued to lie quietly for some time, listening, assessing the current situation - trying to find out what the new day had brought. He could hear the faint scratching of an animal nearby - probably a rodent looking for food he thought to himself. The very thought of food brought to attention his empty stomach. His supplies had run out two days ago and he had come into the now deserted office building in search of supplies.

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When it had first become clear that society had passed the point of no return, the stores had been looted - decent people that had been law abiding all of their lives found that they had no longer had an option; their once sacrosanct laws didn’t make sense anymore and desperation, fear and uncertainty started to occupy their minds more frequently.

Many felt that the end of society had come swiftly, but in reality it had been a slow and steady decline. The warning signs had been there for all those that cared to look more at a global and macroeconomic scale to see. But most people were so focused on their own existence, their own microcosm, that when it stopped becoming an issue for the poor people in a distant, savage land; and started being a very real and pressing issue for them it was all too late.

It started off with small independent businesses and stores closing down - unemployment and the number of people without homes rising. The big corporations had enough money in reserve to weather the storm and the wealthy, privileged and well educated continued to work their office jobs, but grumbled that it was becoming impossible to buy avocados, coffee, spinach, tomatoes and other exotic fruits and vegetables that they had become accustomed to purchasing all year round. As more jobs were lost and food was becoming scarce, crowds of people started milling in the streets - looking for someone to offer guidance and solutions. They then turned to peaceful, but more assertive forms of protest; marching in the streets with banners, chanting - looking for their local government to offer them reassurance that things would go back to normal. Society was starting to fray at the edges and this made people uncomfortable and drug addiction rates skyrocketed.

People found out very quickly that no authority figure was going to offer them help or guidance and that is when the looting and violence started. Society's well-established structures collapsed; it no longer matter who you had been, everyone was now equal. The death toll started to rise across the country as more and more conflict arose. Eventually, the remaining survivors got braver and more desperate and people’s houses and apartments were scoured for food, water and items that could help them survive this new post-apocalyptic world. The once-leaders of the world faded away.

By this point normal amenities like electricity, gas, garbage collections, Internet provision and fresh, clean water were a thing of a past - as were all the power-hungry gadgets that most people had come to rely on so much in so many aspects of their day-to-day lives. A whole generation was experiencing a technology-free existence for the first time; it was an awakening for them as to how much they had come to rely on gadgets and being hyper-connected. Going technology-cold turkey was not pleasant.

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@avarice had been drawn to the office building because it seemed to have been mostly overlooked during the frenzied looting; the convenience stores, super markets and residential properties were more obvious places to find supplies. @avarice had reasoned that most large offices, like this one, had a large canteen and small kitchen areas on each floor - and that it may still be possible to find non-perishable supplies in one of the kitchens. This is where he met @okkiedot, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion about the promise of the office building. @okkiedot and @avarice quickly formed a partnership; and agreed that their best chance at survival was to work together.

They both survived for a while on the non-perishable food and bottled water that they had found scattered throughout the office building, but inevitably the supplies that they had scavenged ran out. @avarice was now hungry and thirsty - and he suspected that @okkiedot felt the same. It was becoming time to move on from the relative safety of the office building in search of sustenance and answers to all of the questions that they had.

@avarice was snapped out of his reverie at the distant sound of automatic gunfire - it had been several days since they had seen any other survivors. Back when they had, had supplies @avarice and @okkiedot would often pass the daylight hours peering out of adjacent windows in an open plan office occasionally swapping stories about what their lives had been like before, recounting and re-allocating the rations or telling stories about the urban myths that they had heard during their travels that supposedly explained how things had come to be the way they were and where salvation could be found. The few small bands of people that they carefully monitored through the broken windows would usually behave in the same way - quietly and carefully they would enter nearby building or abandoned cars in search of supplies, as they headed to the outskirts of the city. But occasionally they would see a large group of people that seemed to be reveling in this new world - yelling, smashing windows and torching cars; these mobs would quickly and chaotically tear through the streets leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. It was clear that @avarice and @okkiedot were taking a risk with ever-diminishing rewards by remaining where they were.

@okkiedot opened the door of the little corner office that @avarice had been sleeping in. @avarice pulled up into a sitting position and indicated that it was okay for @okkiedot to enter. As @okkiedot opened the door they heard a squeak and noticed that a long, sleek, malnourished brown rat was running along the edge of one of the walls of the office. @avarice mouthed the words “should we kill it?” to @okkiedot and drew one index finger across his throat in a sharp gesture. @okkiedot shook his head and put one index finger to his lips indicating that @avarice should be quiet. The rat made a dash for the door and @okkiedot waved for @avarice to follow as he turned in pursuit of the rat. @avarice quickly caught up with @okkiedot and they both jogged a short distance behind the rat as it scurried across the open plan office and squeezed itself under a bathroom door. They pushed open the bathroom door in time to see the rat disappear into an improbably small hole where a pipe from a urinal went into the floor.

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“I was hoping that the rat would lead us to a store of food” @okkiedot said.
“It was worth a shot” @avarice said “as they say: ‘desperate times lead to desperate measure’” he continued.
@okkiedot walked over to one of the bathroom sinks and tried turning on a tap, but nothing came out - “I’m really thirsty he said”.
“So am I” sympathetically smiled @avarice as he also turned on some taps; only to find that no water came out any of the remaining taps.
“You don’t think that there are any remaining bottles of water that we’ve missed somewhere in this building?” said @okkiedot.
“We’ve looked everywhere. Twice.” grumbled @avarice walking over to one of the stalls. He took out his frustration on a door by slamming it open.
“It rained a couple of days ago” @okkiedot calmly said. “Perhaps there are still some clean puddles” he continued.
@avarice was quiet. He had disappeared into one of the stalls. @okkiedot heard what sounded like a heavy stone being dragged along a pavement, followed by jubilant giggling and then a splashing sound.
“Check this out @okkiedot” @avarice shouted.
@okkiedot opened the door to the bathroom stall to find that @avarice had taken the lid off of the lid off of the toilet’s cistern.
“They use fresh water to flush toilets” @okkiedot exclaimed. “We might not die of thirst after all he sad” patting @avarice on the back.

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This story traces and elaborates on the journey of @avarice and @okkiedot as they venture through @papa-pepper's 'Steem-pocalypse' survival horror/adventure. @papa-pepper's first post defining the world and setting the scene can be found here.