She thought it more than a little eerie that no matter how things had changed, be it their society, the economy, their lifestyles, their behaviours and even the people themselves, that everything in her life still looked the same as it did before all the changes had happened. Though, if asked to pinpoint when those changes happened; and replied seriously, instead of some stupid meme or pun reference, she could not tell you.
Picking up the last dented can of tomatoes, she pondered, wandering down the aisle and avoiding the other shambling people around her. It hadn't been all that long, had it? Since things went so drastically bad? Well, not for her specifically. In general, for the entire world, everything had been flipped repeatedly on its head for quite a while.
Having gathered her groceries, she bagged them into the old squeaky trolley and left the supermarket. Slowly heads turned to the squeaking trolley.
“Hmm. Probably should have done something about that,” she said before shrugging carelessly. Not really a problem, the famine struck weren't really a challenge to out-walk.
“The more things change, they stay the same, right?”
She blamed human fallacy. Even provided with the information of the entire world at their fingertips, the ability to prove or disprove provided evidences, and the widespread nature of critical thinking, somehow people still managed to believe all sorts of crazy, misguided theories.
Or perhaps it was merely human hubris?
Pride?
No matter. She shook her head, dark curls flicking in and out of her view. It wasn't something she could change now. She refocussed on slowly making her way down the embankment to the long deserted railway tracks. Checking left, right and left again, keeping an unneeded ear out for the half-remembered sound of the rails vibrating, she heaved the trolley over the sleepers and rails alike before hauling the trolley up the opposing embankment.
Arriving at the cracked dusty road, she avoided looking at the, once full to overflowing with people, house on the corner; trash piled and children's toys scattered over the extremely overgrown lawn like there were still people living there, rather than the chilling remains of children she had seen in passing and had never spoken to.
She no longer held misgivings of the empty street, as she once did. She pulled the trolley to the front door of her home, not that far from the corner, but before the quiet desolate cul-de-sac that the now tiny community inhabited.
There wasn't that many of them now.
How had it come to this?