I surveyed the wreckage around me, trying to find a niche or a bolt hole to hide in for the unforeseeable future. Nature had been abused once too often and had retaliated by speeding up the process of degeneration. Colour drained out of the environment, leaving a dull wash that reflected my mood.

The strange depressive creature observed me from a distance, barely tolerating my apathy. I was the last man standing in a soulless wasteland that stretched from here to eternity. Shrieking birds clouded the skies, pillaging the few remaining morsels of food in the broken city.

I searched for a touchstone of normality, a place from the past I could call my own. As though conjuring up my own reality I stumbled upon the remains of a motel, my home away from home. It was gruesome but not much worse than before the devastation.

At least I didn’t have to check in, so I picked my way through the debris looking for room 8. Rats had moved in first but they tolerated my presence, perhaps honoring me as a special guest. I had caught up with the future and it lay smouldering around me.