Thanks to GGgamerXD and Deathwatch 45 for the fav, I hope the story keeps your attention focused on the fic.
The annoying sound of the alarm wakes me up, I look out the window and some rays of sunlight are already coming through the glass. It feels so good in the warm, soft bed that I don't want to go out.
How good I was in my bed comes to mind… Wait, this is not my bed.
This is not the time to be loitering, I am in an indeterminate location in a more or less indeterminate time, I have no time to lose. Not a single second.
But I'm sleepy and there is no coffee…
Oh God, no coffee.
I'm getting up relatively late but if we add to that the physical activity that I did yesterday and the time I ended up going to bed thinking about what I could do today to take advantage of the day, it seems that I did not sleep the estimated eight hours at first.
How am I supposed to wake up until lunchtime? Now that I think about it, I have to eat breakfast first.
I get out of bed, get dressed and go down to the kitchen still yawning.
What do we have for breakfast today?
Ahh yes. Cookies. There is no milk, what a shame.
I still have the cookies, who knows how long they will last me in these conditions or if I will ever see chocolate cookies again.
I take the chair I put there yesterday, the same one I used for dinner, and sit at the kitchen table for breakfast.
I take the packet of cookies and the bottle of water. I deposit part of its content in a glass that I previously cleaned and began to eat breakfast.
Drinking water instead of milk is very sad, I know, but I don't have milk.
Four cookies are enough, I always have four cookies for breakfast so it should be enough.
I drink water to swallow the cookies and that is when I realize that I have secured my food for a couple of days but not the water.
Shit, is it that I can only have problems?
Now with the problem of half-patched food I have the problem of water.
Where the hell do I get water from in a half-destroyed town? It's a town, there should be running water. I do not remember if at that time there was running water in the houses or if you had to go looking for the wells as in the old days.
Anyway I have to explore, I have to find a well or a river.
Some source of water, not stagnant if possible.
I turn when I remember something, there it is. In this kitchen there is a tap, I don't know if it will continue to work but it is worth a try.
I get up from the chair and go to the counter, then turn on the tap.
No drop out. It's normal, to know how long ago they left the town and there shouldn't be enough pressure in the pipes for the water to come out of a tap.
Somewhat disappointed by the discovery, I come to myself, put on my coat and take the backpack.
Now that I think about it, I'm going to need some more containers to carry whatever water I can find.
There were a couple of jars in the basement, they would have to be emptied and cleaned before refilling with whatever water they could find.
I go down the creaking basement stairs to put the three mason jars in my backpack, I climb the steps again, put on my coat, unlock the door, and leave my new house with a new mission.
On the way to the square where the two stores that I visited yesterday were, I feel an upset in my stomach, I rub my belly with some discomfort and resentment; it is not usual to me to have this feeling and even more so at this time of day.
Arriving at the circular plaza yesterday, it continues exactly as I left it, not one more rubble, not one less.
I continue to the area of low houses, if I find a house that is still only partially destroyed, I could find a well or an aquifer to try to draw water and try to survive a few more days.
As I move away from the center of the town, the houses seem to emerge from the ground, apparently the biggest blow was received in the center of the town and the outskirts still have houses standing and in relatively good condition.
I select a house that looks like a country house, although looking around it could well be that way, since I only see the field around me.
The houses here are further apart from each other and it appears that each house has its own set of associated land for the use and enjoyment of its tenants.
The selected house has only one floor and, compared to the house I am staying in, it looks like a bachelor's apartment. I don't know who would live here but I don't get the impression that many people entered it, I don't know if a family with two children could live here.
I walk around the house, it seems that it does not have a well, there is a small wooden hut located near what once must have been the fields that supported the inhabitants.
I will have to try to see inside the shed, the well could be covered or there could be something useful; my new house was cleaned up during the evacuation of the town but people would not have to save the tools of the field and a sickle or a scythe could serve to defend myself against future attacks.
The wood of the walls of the shed was rotten, fragmented and deteriorated by the passage of time without maintenance; it would not be so difficult to access it, but it would be difficult to do so without damaging it excessively.
The same is necessary to throw down an entire wall or make a hole in it.
Luckily when I get to the door I notice that it has a closing mechanism that is complicated enough so that animals cannot access it by accident but easy enough that anyone can do it. It's just a bar latch with a flap to hold the handle.
I open the padlock and pull the door open to see what is left of a wooden shelf, the entire contents of the shelves along with what is left of the wood from the shelves lies in pieces on the floor of the shed.
I pick up a rusty piece of metal that looks like the head of a hoe.
"Heh… I just got a plus five tetanus iron weapon…" I smile at my own joke.
My voice sounds hoarse, I haven't said a word for a few days now, my throat is dry.
Nor is it surprising; there doesn't seem to be anyone for miles around so there is no need to use oral language.
I cough to get rid of the unsuspected phlegm that had formed in my throat, then and although it is somewhat unpleasant, I leave the house and spit it away from there.
When I go back to the shed, I turn on the light on my smartphone, because it doesn't look very good inside the shed.
The light does not illuminate a large scene, they are only the remains of the tools of someone who was dedicated solely to the field but nothing really useful if we remove the buckets; they could well serve me to carry more water in case I find a source of drinking water, but they are also rusty and some are even leaky.
I walk out of the shed and make sure to close the door and leave everything as I left it.
Then I move on to the next house.
There is no shed or external construction of any kind, but it does also have fields, so how would you water them?
I begin to inspect the fields in search of channels or ditches, if I can find them I will only have to follow them until I reach the source of the water.
After a few minutes scrutinizing the now flat fields of cultivation I come to a ditch that is cut at irregular intervals, this could be the ditch that; due to lack of maintenance, it has been covered with mud from the rains and movement of the animals.
I don't know which direction to go, I look at my smartphone to check it, I don't know what time it is. It says 5:47, clearly it is wrong because I look at the sky and the sun, although it is not yet at the zenith, it must lack little.
I decided to follow the direction that takes me away from the town, because if the fountain was in the town I should have seen it by now unless it was well hidden or collapsed.
I start walking following the huge and long ditch, it breaks from time to time but continues straight.
There are several points where you can see ramifications or access locks to other lands and ditches, but it seems there is no end.
After having walked what could be said a couple of kilometers and having crossed a small grove with some green area, I can see that the ditch reaches another small forest or grove of considerable size, I approach.
The closer I get the closer and the more I can hear the sound of the water.
I arrive at the grove, it is a quiet pool of water, surrounded by trees; they appear to be poplars; everything around the pond is green like the meadow I remember from when I was a child.
The pond is full of life, I approach cautiously and I can observe various animals living in the surroundings; many birds, rodents, amphibians and some small mammals that will surely come to the edge of the pond to drink water or hunt.
Trying not to disturb the new inhabitants of this land, I continue until I find where the water comes from.
Apparently the canal was cut at that point and the water simply began to overflow until it found a place to rest and stagnate, after time it must have ended up forming a pond with all that water.
I follow what looks like the mouth of a small river to the source of the water. I am happy or at least happy, I have found a source of water, maybe I have to boil it but I do not think it is harmful to drink.
I continue walking along the bank of the overflowing canal, in some points it is like a real river. However, I do not know how it can continue to be extracted from the earth if people have long since left this earth.
Soon I noticed a construction of strange design in the distance and following the line of the canal.
It's like a bunker, in fact it's almost the same shape but why would there be a bunker here in the middle of nowhere, wouldn't it make more sense to have the bunker closer to the town?
One thing that strikes me is that it seems to be made of a strange and shiny black material, I don't remember the concrete turning black with the passage of time and less with a color so bright that it seems enameled.
It does not seem natural to me, nor does it seem normal to me, I decide not to continue approaching and return to the grove to wash and fill the jars with transparent water from the part of the ditch where the water still runs at a relative flow.
I return to the farm field and I begin to feel some heat under the coat and the inclement sun.
I know that without the coat it will undoubtedly be cold but in here with all these layers it is muggy.
I look at the sky and I see that the sun is almost at the zenith, with that I have an idea to try to solve another of my problems. I nail a stick into the soil of the crop field trying to make it as vertical as possible.
When it does not project almost a shadow due to the physical properties of light, it is assumed that it will be 12:00 or an approximate hour.
This will help me get in sync with my new world.
I wait and wait until finally the shadow almost disappears.
I go into the date and time settings on my mobile, save the current time for when I can get home and set the time to 12:00 and go home.
Every day it gets a little colder, but I don't think it will snow, it seems that all the clouds are concentrated in one place in the sky located a few hundred kilometers northeast of here.
It seems as if a stormy hurricane has formed on land, which is not possible; hurricanes form in the sea.
Somehow that huge black and stormy storm reminds me of something but right now I don't have time to invest in trying to remember something that probably won't be of use to me.
When I get home I take off my coat, I'm drenched in sweat, but I can't just take my clothes off or I'll get sick.
I remember that in the basement there was some wood that together with the one that had been piled up next to the fireplace in the living room should allow me to leave a more than decent fire with which to heat the house.
I grab a couple of logs and dry tinder that seems to be ready to start the fire right on the other side of the fireplace, it's a bit hidden by the fire-handling tools but it's not inaccessible either.
After a few tense minutes in which I could not make a fire even with the flint lighter that was among the tools themselves, I managed to light a fire that I could call decent but in the eyes of someone with more experience it would be a shame, I go to the kitchen and take one of the pans. I am selecting which one could serve me better.
I'm thirsty, but since I don't want to use up my last bit of water before making sure the one I picked up is safe to drink, I open the liter bottle of beer and take a big swig.
It does not quench your thirst like water but it will have to do.
I finally take a huge saucepan and wipe it as best I can with a clean cloth, then I take the backpack with the jars and the saucepan and go to the living room.
In the living room I wait in front of the fire for it to become embers, you can't cook directly on the fire, unless you don't mind eating scorched food.
I arrange the iron support on the bricks and let the embers finish forming, while I undress in front of the heat of the fireplace and put the clothes on chairs to let them dry.
It won't be like washing, but right now I don't have water except for my own consumption.
Also to be able to wash my clothes in the pond, for example, I would need to wear spare clothes.
The family did not leave much, there is a dress for the mother, the top of a uniform in the girl's room, I can't find the pants and I have searched on the whole house, there is something of clothes in the children's room, but it is totally small and the father's is only underwear and it is big, quite a lot, so I have to find something to wear in addition to my clothes to consider washing them.
Ahhh ... The joys of modern life, every time I think about it more and more I want other clothes to just try to go to the newly discovered pond to wash the one I already have, then I could dry it in front of the fire as I am doing right now.
I lean my back against the legs of the chair on which my shirt is drying and close my eyes. A dry noise wakes me up, I look at the fire; one of the logs has finally finally broken and is now nothing but embers.
I look at the time on my smartphone, now synchronized. There is little left until it is two in the afternoon and now that I think about it I am hungry.
I go to the kitchen in my underwear and barefoot, as soon as I feel the cold on the sole of my foot, I go back to the soft carpet to get my socks, they are dry; luckily, I put them on and this time I go to the kitchen already protected for something to eat and beer.
I have something that appears to be corned beef and beer and although I am not very hungry and my stomach is a little queasy I finish with the contents of the jar and now I have one more jar for when I return for water tomorrow.
I look at the fire, there are only embers left, he is ready to put the pot and fill it with the water obtained from the ditch.
I empty the contents of the jars into the pot and let it boil, I am vigilant, I don't want it to boil excessively; if half of my precious water evaporates it would be a catastrophe.
I get sleepy while I watch it boiling, but I have to stay awake.
The upset stomach pain that I have been feeling all day suddenly turns into nausea and I run to the kitchen, I look at the sink and vomit, until the first porridge.
Apparently yesterday's rare fish was not good after all.
For a while I am compiling myself on the kitchen sink which, now without running water, is a mess. Next time I have to go outside or to the basement to vomit.
I hear a gurgling in the distance.
The pot! The water is already boiling. I run into the living room again, almost skidding into the corner of the hallway right at the entrance to the classroom.
I lean out to see if it's really boiling or if I imagined it, it's boiling hot, I have to take it off the heat. The pot has two handles but they are made of iron just like the body, I have to take some rags so as not to burn myself, at this time there is still no plastic.
I go back to the kitchen to get the rags and use them to pick up the pot, now that I realize I have nowhere to leave it, if I just put it down on the floor or the carpet; these will burn.
I sigh and go back to the kitchen to put the pot on the stove in the kitchen.
Now it only remains to wait for it to cool down to be able to drink it.
With a little luck, all the bacteria in the water will have died.
With a little foresight, I go up to the girl's room and under the blanket and pillow, I remove the tea table from the center of the living room and place the blanket on the carpet that, together with the pillow, will become my new bed.
In front of the fire that I will watch so that it does not go out and this area has a good temperature. I look out the window and then at my cell phone, I still have about five hours of light left, I must take the opportunity to find clothes if I want to be able to go wash mine in the pond tomorrow.
I take the already dry clothes from the chairs and get dressed again, the smell is not pleasant but how dry and warm they are and they almost make me forget my own smell. If it wasn't so cold I could take a bath in the pool.
But I would probably freeze to death if I tried and there is only one life.
I put my coat back on and leave the house with another mission on my mind.
This time I am following the path that led me to get the boxes of ammunition that I already have.
On the way I see something that I had not seen before, I do not know if this time I took a different path than the other time but this time I am seeing some remains of weapons of a considerable caliber on both sides of the street, perhaps the other time don't pay attention and that has always been there but I don't know, they seem new to me despite the thick layer of rust, dirt and mud that they have on top.
I get to the area where what was the leftovers of the FLAK 36 was and I follow the trench lines, these usually end in a fort or base of operations; soldiers need somewhere to rest after all.
The trench ends abruptly and forces me to turn around and search in the opposite direction.
The trench meanders in that intricate defense design just after reaching the road, apparently the main defense line was to the north, the failed defense line is full of craters and remnants of tools and what looks like human parts as well.
I quickly look away, it is not pleasant to see this panorama.
There are so many bodies, or rather remains of them, that the sight is bleak.
Why can't you see bodies positioned in other directions?
The normal thing in a defense battle is to see the bodies of both the defenders and the attackers, however here there are only remains of the defenders. So. What were they fighting against?
I find what looks like a machine gun nest and follow the same procedure as yesterday at the roadside nests.
I take out twenty-nine bullets in total and an empty leather belt; I will fill it in at home if I see it necessary.
I also see a solitary helmet.
It doesn't hurt to have a head cover, I pick it up, check its condition and put it on.
It is heavier than I imagined, but it is bearable.
I also glimpse in the distance one of the semi-underground forts that I predicted to find in the line of trenches, I access its interior; it is dark and I have to turn on the light of the mobile to illuminate it, soon I will have to recharge it with the spare battery if I continue to use it like that or pray to find a flashlight of some kind.
Inside the fort there are all kinds of things, including canteens, a field cap, and uniforms in a closet; I doubt they are of my size but less is nothing.
There are also some cylindrical cases one meter long, they seem to be made of metal. I can be curious and I open them.
They contain maps, the current situation is not marked, because I suppose that the officers should know well where they were, but it would have been useful for me.
There are three large and well detailed maps, the case has preserved them well all the "god knows how long" they have been here.
The cases have straps for transport so I put it on my back.
I keep searching the fort but can't find anything that can be used as a weapon.
They cleaned it up just as well as my new house.
I leave the fort and look at my smartphone; I still have a little more than two hours of light left.
I keep looking for other forts. None, it seems that this was the central command, it is in the very center of the trench complex so it must be.
Luckily, or unfortunately, I find what remains of a supply truck like the one on the access road, but it appears to be intact.
I don't think it is, if it had been, it wouldn't have been abandoned, it must have a problem or maybe they didn't have fuel for it and leaving it here turned out to be the best option.
I don't think there is much inside, because if it was something they were going to abandon on the way, I would have tried to save everything possible.
It's dark inside the truck, but I'm getting tired of using the flashlight of my smartphone, so I just unpin the truck's cover and let the afternoon sunlight shine on the previously dark interior.
There are boxes, not lots of them, but three or four and of different sizes.
Everything written on the surface of the boxes is in German; great…
They are closed with nails so trying to open them will require either brute force or a lever, I do not have either.
There must be one around here or something I can use to open them, I search among the remains of nearby artillery until I find a rusty iron bar that ends in a spike, I do not know the function of this piece but it will help me to try to open the boxes.
I climb back into the back of the truck and use the heavy bar to try and open the first box. A rectangular box only four to four inches high.
Everything indicates that it contains weapons, but you never know, if it contains canned food it saves my life anyway.
After struggling for a while, I manage to insert the pointed end between the lid and the rest of the box, then swing the bar to pry and push it inside.
I swing the bar once more and the lid of the box comes loose.
Satisfied, I set the bar on the floor of the trailer and took the lid off the box.
They were like canteens but they were not canteens, they were these items that the troops used to transport food and eat. I take one and put the lid back on top of the box, then repeat the procedure with the other boxes.
I managed to find a set of straps to carry the load, an additional backpack, the equipment for food and what I was most excited about; field pants.
Obviously they weren't my size but having the coat and a shirt from the family head of my new house, I could go to the pond to wash my clothes without getting cold.
I took two pants, put them in the new backpack and went back to the fort for the uniforms, also the backpack. I hung the new ammo boxes from the straps.
Then I came back home.
At home I unloaded all the loot in the living room and I got ready to add more fuel to the fire, since it would be a total misfortune, and fixed the issue of fire.
I continued with the inspection of the loot obtained.
I rushed to try on wearing my pants, let's see they were not gigantic but they didn't fit me tightly and they were quite comfortable, I continued with the uniform I recovered from the fort, the inside part was missing; tomorrow he would have to continue wearing the same shirt or take one of the shirts of the previous man in the house.
Also inspect the straps, they were like a tactical vest but without the vest part.
Well, technically speaking German belts were the historical predecessors of tactical vests so it was perfectly normal to find similarities between them.
The pseudo canteen took me a little longer and gave me a good surprise, apparently it contained some cutlery and two small plates, if I also find a canteen I can go camping.
What a joke, this situation is already like a camping trip.
I leave all the loot in the living room and go to the kitchen to get the water that I boiled, which must be cold by now and take some with the deep plate from the campaign kit that I just got and the bottle is almost empty along with a couple of tin cans of surprise ones; because I don't know what will be inside.
Since apparently the content of the jars does not seem to be in the best possible state.
I sit in front of the fire and start to eat, the first can contains fish, uff ...
I hope this is fine condition and it doesn't make me vomit like yesterday's meal, although I no longer know if it was the fault of the fish yesterday night or the today's meat in the meal.
I continue with the second can that, surprise; it contained fruit in syrup.
It turned out to be a good dinner after all, and if I don't get up in the middle of the night to throw up it would be great.
I finish the contents of the water bottle and start the water from the campaign kit dish, it has a peculiar taste but I suppose it is because it is not treated water.
After such a "feast" I crawl into my new makeshift bed and close my eyes hoping that tomorrow is better than today.
The last thing I see out of the window is that it has started to snow.