Then the apocalypse happened, like some of us always suspected it would. It wasn't fine - far from it. Sure, we found places to hide out, to get out of the punishing sun and away from the hundred-mile-an-hour gales that threw sand in your face. But we didn't think about the windows. When we went looking for new homes, we couldn't find buildings with glass intact. The walls kept out the sun, but the wind? You need windows to shelter from that.
So we did what we could. We boarded some windows up, or made makeshift shutters. Occasionally we'd duct tape the larger pieces of glass together, but some windows ended up more tape than glass. Mostly we used tarpaulins we hauled out of the vans that didn't run any more, or plastic sheeting we found in skips or abattoirs. Bin bags were especially useful, and they became a weird kind of currency as we hunkered down in our reclaimed homes, squatting in town halls and shopping centres, trying to reboot society with whatever we had to hand.
It's funny, we used to watch the world through television screens. Now we watch it through plastic sheeting.
Original image by beermug. Edits by me.
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12 comments:
You never know what comforts you'll miss until you no longer have them!
Oh that's a scary future! Nicely done Icy.
Icy, I missed your writing during my hiatus. Interesting observation of seeing the world through a new, enforced, lens. And those zombie-infested lawns....perhaps zombies graze them like sheep when we're not looking!
Watching for zombies...
Those apocalypses. They just ruin everything! ;-)
I do always wonder what happens for food once the tinned stuff has been finished in apocalypses
marc nash
A weather-related apocalypse is so much more likely than zombies, aliens or sharknadoes. Good one, Icy.
Sounds about right. The weather itself rises up, and blows out all the windows. (But bin bags won't stand up to that kind of wind, either.)
The dark ages will continue until someone figures out how to make new glass.
I liked this one not just for the immediate details, but the meta level. No glass -- which is relatively low-tech to make, if somewhat tricky -- means no industry. I got the impression the narrator is focusing on the one detail to make the other, unmentioned details go away.
Simple & very truthful...so right about the wind and the windows...
Like the weather detail in this. Someone will start making glass again.
Yeah, this seems like a much more likely scenario for the end.
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