The Day Before Yesterday, Thirty Years From Tomorrow (Entry 1 & Entry 2)

ENTRY 1, LATE SPRING 2044,

EAST TORONTO, AREA FORMERLY KNOWN AS BRIMLEY ROAD AND THE 401 EXPRESSWAY

Today is Tuesday, or is it Wednesday? It could be Friday for all I know. Time, as we once knew it, means nothing any more. I know it is almost summer, as it is getting warmer.

You see, without going into too much boring detail, something strange has happened, and this once vibrant city of over three million, now has a very reduced population of one. I think. At least I have not yet found anyone else. It was some kind of Supervirus, killed a lot of people, and others tried to "escape". Apparently, some scientist found out that anyone who was taking Diamicron, a prescription medication used to control blood-glucose, and "another medicine" together, had somehow built up a resistance to the Supervirus. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. Who would have though that being hypoglycemic would end up keeping me alive? Well anyway, I can't be the only one in this whole city who was taking Diamicron, and this other medicine. Therefore, I had a quest to find more living people.

It was very hot today. Although I was running the generator, so it was cooler in here. After all, this is a shopping center. Yes. I live in a mall. Why not? It has everything I need. Practically a lifetime of supplies, as long as I can keep fuel in the generator, and that is not hard to find. There are a lot of abandoned gas stations around.

I took a shower and shave, then headed down to the food court for lunch. I woke up late, after spending most of the night watching Blu-Rays in the home entertainment department. I may be the last man on earth, but I have to tell you I could not afford a 50-inch screen with surround sound before all this happened!

On the way to the food court, I stopped at the pet store to feed the cats, and take the dogs for a walk. Yeah, I even had all the pets I want. Sometimes I would bring a couple back to Sears with me at night.

At the food court, I needed to choose, Tim Hortons, McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Dominos, A&W, Subway, or Mr. Greek? You know, I never thought how unhealthy this food was, until I was forced to eat it every day. Fortunately, I hit the 'Y' across the street every day, otherwise I'd be a balloon by now.

I prepared a sandwich behind the Subway counter. "Yes, I'll have the combo.", I said to myself, and then grabbed a seven-month old bag of Lays, and a Coke Zero, which was mostly water.

"How much is that?"

"Okay. I'll use debit card today."

I pressed my card into the chip reader, and the display indicated, 'System Error'. Oh, the debit system is down again. Crap, that means the ATMs are not working either. Now what am I going to do for cash today?

Now to sit and think about what to do for the rest of the day.

Darlene was waiting for me at my regular table. She was a sweetheart. Long blond hair, and wearing a nice red dress. Although, she must really like that dress because she never changes it.

"Good afternoon, hon.", I said as I sat down. She didn't reply. Darlene was very quiet. Which is fine. I like quiet women.

"You are not going to believe what happened last night, Dar."

Darlene just sat there staring into space as usual.

"I found a racing bike, still with fuel in it, so I took it to the track to see how fast I could go. Get this, I wiped out on the first turn. I was obviously not meant to race motorcycles."

I quickly finished my lunch.

"Sorry, hon. I have to get to Walmart. They are having an Anniversary Event, and it must be a big anniversary, because they have been having it for six months...Bye."

I took off down the hall to the Walmart.

I spent a few minutes in Walmart and then decided to get the hell out of there. I needed to continue my search for other intelligent life forms. Well, after over six months of being alone, I'd be happy to meet up with a non-intelligent life form.

I walked down what used to be Brimley Road and south to former Lawrence Avenue. I saw no other people, I never see any other people, so I knew I could not stay around here. I needed to move. West. There are probably still some people downtown. I have to start heading to downtown.

For now, I had to get home. I needed to strategically plan this...and the animals. The pet store. I can't just leave them there to die. I had a lot of thinking to do.

On the way back to the mall, I stopped at O'Ryans. An Irish pub located on the edge of the mall's parking lot. Since it was on mall property, I was able to keep it powered up using the mall's generator.

It had been a while since I had been there. I love their wings. I think I will have some. I walked in and Bartender Steve was standing there behind his bar as he always does. "Hi, Steve"

The ceiling fans were going on high, because the cheapskate owner wouldn't put on the A/C. Cheap bastard.

I walked through the kitchen to the walk-in freezer. I opened the huge steel door, and the first thing I noticed was the stale smell, followed quickly by a much stronger smell. The rancid smell of decomposing....chicken wings! Noooooooooooooooooo! My wings! Not my wings! What the hell happened? Sometime since the last time I was here, this damn freezer failed. It freaking failed? How the hell...? Damn it! The last chicken wings on Earth are spoiling right in front of me!

I went back to the Sears. I may as well try to get some sleep. Although I am not tired, I could watch a Sylvester Stallone DVD, and be asleep in no time.

ENTRY 2, LATE SPRING 2044,

EAST TORONTO, AREA FORMERLY KNOWN AS KENNEDY SUBWAY STATION AND THE DANFORTH LINE

I have decided to move on. I had left the comfort of my mall, and decided to start moving west.

I let all of the pets out of their cages, and poured all the pet foods onto the floor. I also left the mall doors open. I figured the pets could come and go as they please. It would be better for them. I could not really take nine dogs and six cats with me on my trek through Toronto.

I took the long, hot walk to the Kennedy subway station. I knew that if I followed the tracks, I would eventually get downtown.

I followed the tracks through the pitch-black tunnel. Trying my best to ignore the rats and "creepy-crawlies" all over the tracks and on the walls.

For a while, the tracks led outside. The sun was very bright, causing me to squint after navigating the dark tunnels.

I approached Victoria Park. The track runs over the street. Below, parked at one of the bus stops, was an abandoned bus. Doors open, ready to pick up passengers, but no passengers would ever come.

I thought about climbing down, and trying to drive that bus to downtown. Then I thought about all the blockages in the streets, and how much easier it would be to just continue walking along the subway. That was until I noticed, not far ahead, an abandoned subway train. Oh, yeah. I forgot about those.

How many of these would I experience during the 12 kilometre walk to downtown? Crap. What a pain in the ass.

Past Victoria Park Avenue, the tracks went underground again. I continued navigating though the tunnels and abandoned trains, through puddles knee-deep, rats, bugs, and some rather awful smells. Some resembling my precious chicken wings, others resembling an outhouse. I could not help thinking that this may have been a mistake, and about how much more comfortable I would be back in my display bed at Sears.

I passed a few more station stops. Some with sunlight peaking through from the mezzanines above. Nature had already started to take over some of the stations, as plant-life started to grow up some of the walls, and out from inside the former fare booths. At one stop, a vine had taken over a turnstile, wrapping itself nicely around the steel arms, as if to say, "This is mine".

There was nothing really exciting at all about this trip, and except for the plants, rodents and insects, absolutely no life. That was until I arrived at Broadview station.

I looked up at the platform, and there was light! Some candles and some portable battery-operated camping lights. I also noticed something odd. The name "Broadview" along the tiles had been changed. The "Broad" had been crossed out, and the word "Woman" written above it all the way along the platform. "Womanview?"

At that instant, a not-so-good-looking "lady" came out from the shadows. She yelled and startled me,"A Man!"

She pointed at me, and five more "ladies" came out from behind her.

At that point, I noticed a memorial on the wall behind them. It was a photograph of Lorena Bobbit.

"Get him!", one of them yelled.

Oh boy, this can't be..........................................