I still seemed to be in a residential neighborhood although not as fancy as the rich estates. The buildings were made of bricks for the most part and much smaller. Very few were more than one story tall. There weren’t as many trees but I was wary of the many dark alley entrances on either side of the road. Shadow was sticking to the middle of the street with me but ran ahead every now and then.

It appeared the houses had been brightly colored at one time but little of the paint was left. Skeletal remains and broken carts littered the street. The remains of a few unidentifiable draft animals were mixed in with the debris. They didn’t look like horses or oxen to me so probably some fantasy creature. I didn’t bother going into any of the houses as it would be too dangerous and take up too much time plus I doubted I would find much.

As we got closer to the ocean, the bird activity greatly increased. The houses and streets were covered in bird poop and the birds lined the roof tops. Most looked like a type of sea gull but more colorful jungle birds were also present. Luckily none of them looked dangerous and they left me alone although every now and then one of them would dive bomb Shadow.

I could tell she was getting annoyed at not being able to catch any of them. So, the next one that dived down I was ready and swung the walking stick like a bat, knocking it out of the air in a cloud of feathers. Shadow was quick to pounce on it in triumph. The other birds made a ruckus but stopped dive bombing after that. I was kind of amazed I was able to hit it but like the ape they seemed to be going in slow motion compared to my movements.

The houses started to look worse and worse as we neared the ocean. They turned from being mostly brick into exclusively wood and had all collapsed in on themselves. I caught glimpses of rats that were the same size as Shadow climbing through the rubble. Worse yet was the sight of giant roaches the size of my shoes skittering in the dark spaces. Shadow seemed big for a cat, but I was glad she stayed in the street and didn’t try chasing after any of them. If she got hurt, there wasn’t much I would be able to do for her.

The street we were following connected to a wide street that ran parallel to the docks. Large warehouses were scattered around but the majority had collapsed. The ones still intact had been made of brick instead of wood. I had stopped and was surveying the area when I saw motion in the distance as something stepped out into the street. It was followed by more somethings. When one of them howled I knew we were in trouble. I stayed frozen as the pack of creatures ran across the road toward a huge brown crab that I hadn’t noticed.

I couldn’t tell how big any of the creatures were from this distance, but the crab was easily twice the size of the wolf like creatures. I believed the green furred creatures were the Jungle Wolves I had read about in the field guide. The wolves harried the crab but didn’t seem to be able to break through its armored shell. I heard a yipping noise as a wolf must have been caught by one of the crab’s pinchers.

While they were fighting, I slowly backed up and hid behind the partially collapsed wall of a nearby house. The wolves didn’t seem to notice me thankfully and I let out a sigh of relief. Shadow had hid behind me when she heard the howling and was now on my shoulder with her tail poofed out and her claws sunk into me. I gently petted her to calm her down and retraced my steps back up the street. I didn’t think I was ready to fight a pack of wolves yet, especially not out in the open.

After taking some distance, I sat down on a stone bench beside the road to work on plan B. I grabbed my phone and studied the pictures I had taken of the city. Plan A had been to catch some fish to eat and Plan B was to find the shopping district and scavenge armor, weapons, and whatever else I could find. I wanted to leave the residential area behind so looked at the pictures for areas where the buildings changed. After studying it for a while I thought I knew where to go.

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We backtracked some more and went down a different street that ran toward the center of the city. The residential structures eventually turned into what I was looking for. Unfortunately very few of the signs denoting what the shops had been were still attached or legible. “This is going to be harder than I thought.” I sighed to myself. I had wanted to go into as few structures as possible to avoid any creepy crawlers but it looked like that wouldn’t be possible.

The shops themselves were also made of brick and were relatively intact so I was hopeful that I would find something useful. My hopes were quickly dashed as the first few I entered looked as if they had been ransacked. I was greeted with empty shelves and broken items strewn across the floor. I searched a few more and killed a couple rats and stomped a disgusting cockroach but had still not found anything worthy of hauling back.

The shops were all two stories with the first floor being the shop area and the second floor being either a living area or a workshop. Some had a cellar, but I wasn’t brave enough to venture underground yet. One of the shops caught my eye since the door was still shut and the windows were boarded up. I tried the door but it was definitely locked and my walking stick wasn’t up to the task of prying it open. It had an actual key lock and I foolishly tried picking it with my pocket knife but had no idea what I was doing and gave up pretty quickly.

Next, I tried prying loose the boards over one of the windows and had much better luck. They were partially rotted already and came off with little effort. I used the light on my phone to shine around the interior but didn’t see any threats so climbed through. Shadow jumped in after me and started prowling around. I couldn’t believe my luck, it was a weapon shop with a forge in the back and plenty of weapons and armor on display. There were a few empty spaces here and there but the majority was still present.

As I looked around in excitement the first thing I noticed was that none of the weapons were as finely crafted as the sword I had found in the mansion. Everything looked pretty basic. There was a rack of spears in the corner, so I eagerly went to take a look. They all seemed identical, so I just grabbed one at random and set it by the open window. There was some metal armor, but I figured it would be too noisy and hard to move around in so looked around for something lighter. I found a stack of leather armor but thought that might not offer enough protection.

Then I noticed another shelf with sets of leather armor with metal pieces sown in and thought that would work. I also saw some pieces of chainmail and put on a chainmail shirt. I put the reinforced leather armor over the top of the chainmail. The chainmail shirt was a little long and hung past my waist, but I thought that would be all right. It took some fumbling about to get the straps of the armor secured without any help. Now I wished there was a mirror to see how I looked. I would need new shoes to complete the look, however.

I had found some leg guards that went from my ankle to my knees but unfortunately the store didn’t have any boots. I kind of wanted a mace as well but didn’t think I could carry everything back. Maybe if I found a backpack or something in one of the other stores but I would leave it for now. The weapon store had some bows and arrows too but since I had never used a bow it wouldn’t do me any good. I looked behind the counter and there seemed to be a few empty display racks, so the most expensive items had probably been taken by the owner. On my second look at the shelves, I decided to grab a pair of leather gloves and some armor that went from my wrist to my elbow. I took a quick look at the forge in the back but I was no medieval blacksmith so it wasn’t like I could make anything.

I briefly looked upstairs, but it was just a living area and there was nothing of interest. I had noticed there were various helmets but in this heat I didn’t want to wear one. The armor I had put on was hot enough. After taking a short break and drinking some water, I was ready to head back home. I wanted to get back before it got dark. I left my crude walking stick, grabbed the spear, and crawled out the window. Shadow jumped out to follow me home.

We made it back just as the sun was setting without encountering any other creatures. I decided to bar the gate to the wealthy section as we went through. Since it was already late, I couldn’t make a fire so couldn’t use any candles. Instead, I just ate a meal using the rest of the bread and some more of the not pickles. I wanted to read but didn’t want to waste any more of my cell phone battery. Sighing, I stared out at the dead city for a while before going to bed.