When the overwhelming emotions had already settled, other emotions came along in the form of loneliness and boredom, he was no stranger to them but they were harsher than usual.

For the past few days to occupy his mind and avoid the turmoil, he had been learning to drive his dad's car which he wouldn't have been allowed to normally, no one stopped him now.

'At least the roads are somewhat empty, except for these trashed cars.'

'Not like those zombie movies where everyone heads over to the highway and ends up leaving their cars once the horde arrives.'

Ralph thought about life as he crashed the slow-moving car every once in a while, good thing he was wearing a seatbelt then.

What was sad though was that the airbags stopped caring about his safety after the first collision.

He had also built a fort of books and garbage in the local library and was using the library computer to look up the things that would be needed for long-term survival and generally making backups of large amounts of information and entertainment(all those YouTube videos and anime he had saved for watching later) for when the servers stopped working altogether.

He had determined that power wouldn't last longer than a few months without human intervention. He could only use the houses that were solar-powered then or he could proactively learn how to set up the solar power plant from books and the internet.

He chomped on the cookies that he abducted from Mr. Harrison's bakery as he held a big book.

"Alright, I probably have the basics down, I think I might be a genius. Let's install those solar plates then".

Half a month later, Ralph breathed out a sigh of relief as he looked at the various crooked screws that stuck out of the roof like a sore thumb and a slightly misaligned solar panel in the middle of it all.

"It ain't much, but it's honest work." At that moment Ralph forgot all about the parts he technically stole from the hardware store and what a waste of resources it had been. The first solar plate was directly dropped to the ground after he put it down on the roof.

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'On second thought, was it really necessary to put it on the roof?'

' Well, as long as it works I'll be good even if the power cuts off tomorrow. I might as well learn cooking, now that I'm learning new skills because the food that I'm borrowing from others will sooner or later run out."

"I should also take a long drive around the town now that I can drive without crashing, the two cars that broke down in this process were definitely worth it."

He took out the keys to a car that he had borrowed and walked towards it.

'I saved this car from my wrath when I was learning because it looked too good to be ruined by a learner, but now I can try it all I want.'

He drove at a reasonable speed, still in fear after the numerous crashes that took place. As he left the town he came across the old sign that read [NOW LEAVING QUINTONVILLE].

He only ever left this place when his family went on summer vacations, or when they visited his grandparents at their farm. The feeling that he got from the long trips, even when the destination wasn't to his liking, was something he always cherished from a young age. However, something felt amiss now that he was in the driver's seat.

He was reminiscing about happy memories when out of the corner of his eyes he saw a blurred human figure walking onto the roads as it came out of the treeline. He hit the brakes hard and the car came to an abrupt stop. He ran to the spot where he saw the figure. Although, when he arrived he saw no one.

His face crumpled to a tired look after he got no response to his call. There were no indications of another person, his were the only footprints in the surrounding area.

He screamed in frustration "Am I finally going insane! Why is this happening to me? "

He walked back to the car and sat down on the seat, his hands covered his face, and he latched on to any hope he could.

'I can't lose hope yet, even if it works like a poison spreading through my mind. I must atleast search the entire country before I give up hope.'

He smiled, "I haven't tried my best yet, I won't give up this easily".

That night he cooked a burnt chicken, some of which he grudgingly ate to insist in his way to no one in particular that his food was atleast edible. Maybe he was just a little too ambitious as a first-time cook.

'All that prep work for nothing, I'm gonna unsubscribe from Gregeats, Not like he would care but I still have to spite him in some way.'

Rambling to himself, Ralph fell asleep on his bed after a long day.