Eternity

It was lonely sitting on his balcony that night. It had been some time since he had any serious conversation. He remembered back some time ago when people of all ages scurried about the streets below. Now the noise was considerably less. He liked to think of the days when food was plentiful and easy to obtain.

Of course man in his infinite wisdom had decided to screw things up as usual. Oh sure it was to be a small battle. Nothing but a little skirmish, a conflict contained between two small countries that really only fought for the sake of fighting. They knew no better, no real reason for fighting, only that they had too. Passed on from generation to generation. Only this time it got a little out of hand. Soon other nations had to stick their noses into the fray. Then naturally the various militant groups took up their sides, then the religious zealots and not to be outdone, the classic terrorists factions. Before you know it the whole world was bickering and whining about something. To this day he never did actually find out what it was. But it had to happen, some smart-ass decided to show a little muscle and launched a few too many missiles. That set off a chain reaction and presto-chango, we have ourselves a nice little nuclear fallout on our hands. A self imposed man made winter.

Now the cities didn’t get vacant too soon. There were a lot of survivors. Food was still plentiful at this point in time but not as fresh as it use to be. Law and order was non-existent so it truly was survival of the fittest. He had moved around a lot at this time, mostly following the food. I think he was better suited for the prolonged darkness then the average person. All those long years on the graveyard shift made for an easier adjustment to the lack of sunlight.

So he had wandered until he found a home that would suit his needs best. A lovely 5 story brownstone with a quaint view over a large portion of the city. The iron grate railing surrounded the large balcony which covered the whole front of the building. Nestled on a busy street, he was sure to follow the pace of the remaining people. But tonight, it sure was quiet.

He had lost a lot of weight over the past few months as the food supply became smaller and smaller. Now he sometimes lacked the strength to get up out of bed and forage for some food. It could have been easy enough to skip on down to the local blood bank but after a while, even that doesn’t supply enough nourishment. For a vampire, the blood bank is like a fast food restaurant for humans. You can get filled up but no real nourishment is obtain. No, it looks like another night of fasting, or was it day. So hard to tell with the eternal darkness from the fallout. Sometime eternity can be a bitch.