<a class="username" data-user-id="718" data-username="@Hiraeth" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/718/">@Hiraeth</a><br/><br/>All the world was filled with a roaring violence and everywhere he looked, he saw death. Blood was splashed across walls and sidewalks and car doors. Buildings were burning. Great towering columns of smoke climbed into the sky and formed a layer of darkness that reflected the fires below. Everywhere he looked people were screaming and dying.<br/><br/><br/>A doctor strangled a woman with his stethoscope. A mother leaned into the backseat of her minivan and a child’s anguished cries were cut short. A man swung a baseball bat and cracked the skull of an elderly woman. Death and blood and violence. The world had gone mad....<br/><br/><br/><div style="text-align: center">----- 1 hour Earlier -----​</div><br/><br/>“... an unseasonably warm day for the Manchester area. Temperatures are going to continue to-” The voice of the weatherman on the radio cut off as Robert shut off the Jeep. Unseasonably warm. That was an understatement. For the first time, he seriously regretted his choice of vehicle. The freedom and the feel of the wind in your hair that a jeep provided was little consolation when you couldn’t roll up the windows and turn on the air conditioner.<br/><br/><br/>Heat waves radiated up off the pavement in the parking lot of the Hannaford Supermarket. Robert climbed out of the jeep and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket to check his list again. Everything but the kitchen sink. Supplies were severely low at his cabin, and he intended to buy enough to keep him away from the city and the bustle of humans for as long as possible.<br/><br/><br/>There was a liquor store across the parking lot, but Robert forced his eyes ahead as he walked. Four months. He’d been sober for four months. The buzzing itch was still there, but he refused to scratch it. It was bad enough he’d indulged himself for as long as he had after Mary and the girls and the accident-<i>Stop it. Off limits.</i><br/><br/><br/>It was this damn place. The cars and the buildings and the noise and the people. He needed trees. He needed cool breezes and lonely trails and the sky above. Robert wanted nothing from this world anymore. This world was dead to him.<br/><br/><br/>The glare of artificial lighting and inoffensive easy listening music swallowed him as he entered the supermarket.