The Odd New World

Chapter 1 - Setting Out

     Now that I have everything that I need, it's time for me to see what awaits me out there in the aftermath of the apocalypse.

I unlock my front door and slowly crept it open, peeking my head out to see if anything was outside the room.
Only dead silence filled the non-lit hallway outside. Despite there being no electricity in the building anymore, there was still a little bit of sunlight that was entering through a large window on the end of the hall.
I took one final look around. Nothing seemed to be in sight.

Since the coast was clear, I exit the apartment room and slowly closed the door behind me.
My room was on the second floor of a four-story apartment complex. If something was wandering around in the other floors, I wouldn't want to attract it by making noise.

Minimizing as much noise as possible, I make my way downstairs to the first floor.
When I looked to my right, I saw something that scared the life out of me.

There was this fairly large, one-eyed bird looking creature standing on the apartment reception table.
The creature noticed my startling. It made a strange chirping sound before it flew away through the open apartment entrance with incredible speed.
Did I also happen to startle it?

Although it looks very bird-like, that creature did not appear to be of this planet. I have never seen anything like it before.
Yet, it did not attack me. How could that be?
Everything I have witnessed up until now were monstrosities eating people alive in various ways.
Do there happen to be some species of these otherworldly creatures that are non-threatening?
Or is it going somewhere to alert other creatures of my location?

I know very little about them, so I couldn't think of any possible answer.

With that one-eyed bird creature leaving the building, the room was empty of any life. And silence filled the room again.
I take a few deep breaths before I proceeded onward.

I peek my head out of the apartment entrance to look around outside.
What I found was quite shocking.
Looking to my left, there was an enourmous, bright, glowing blue tree. It was growing from the ground in the area where the local shopping plaza used to be. It sort of looked like when a tree loses its leaves during fall.
Not only that, but I noticed all these little white, wispy sort of creatures flying all around it. No to mention many other, glowing plants growing all across the city.

What could all of this be?
And would it even be safe to walk out there with strange things like this around?

No matter. I've had to work up a lot of courage to step out here. I'm not going to just run back and cower away in my apartment room again.
There was a convenience store close by that I will attempt to get to, attracting as little attention as possible.

And so, I proceeded. I step away from the apartment entrance and start heading towards the right, where the convenience store is located.
After running my way there, I have made it to the entrance of the store.
I peek in through one of the broken windows. The store was a complete mess from the inside. It still looked to be packed with food and other things, but most of the products and the shelves they laid on were knocked over on the ground.

Then again, I wouldn't have expected people to actually be here to loot the place.
After those creatures came, this city looked to be void of any humans.

I step closer to the front doors, which also had glass that had been shattered. I step through the opening on the glass door, avoiding pricking myself from shards.
I open my bag and start walking around the inside of the store to look for anything that is still good.
Some of the goods were already expired, but I did grab myself some non-expired snacks, some non-perishables, and few other essential items. Such as extra lighters, some over-the-counter pain medication, first aid supplies, and an extra knife from a small display on the counter where you check out.