Today, Natalie Miller had to resist the urge to peek out the window before leaving the house. It was a habit that she had first developed when she moved into town almost a full year prior - for the sake of avoiding any social interaction that she wasn't ready for. These days it was just that. A habit. Her once bustling residential street had quieted down significantly since the riots; having just caught the outer waves of it. Although they hadn't nearly caught the word of it, a lot of the neighborhood was in rough shape. Garbage, vandalism,even a handful of broken windows. Nat had been at work when it happened, but not having been present for it did little to smooth the shock. She had just gotten used to the sights and smells of her block, and now it was foreign all over again. It made her restless. the descent into madness passed fairly slowly for her, as the lives around her changed and crumbled, and her stayed relatively the same. She worked at a small radio station in the city that turned out to be operated by those with compromised immune systems, or who lived with those with compromised immune systems. Except, of course, her. She had been working by herself long before the outage, so now that the stations were down, it didn't feel much different. She had already been talking to herself for awhile.

Regardless of the fact that there was no point, Nat needed to go to work. She needed some kind of routine to keep her brain working properly. Though there were few, all the spots she used to frequent had closed, leaving few options for ways to keep busy. Especially safe ones. It could be argued that commuting to and from work needlessly posed its' own threats, but she was beyond that at this point. Again, Natalie was a creature of habit. A creature of bad habit when she didn't exercise good ones. 

Before she knew it, she was out on the sidewalk and headed farther into the city, dodging litter as she went. The woman shoved her hands into the pockets of her faded bluejeans as she did her best to take in the new sights. Despite the fact that there weren't many cars on the road these days, she still found herself looking both ways before crossing the street. As she got to the other side, she noticed a charred minivan - yet another casualty of the riots. Furrowing her eyebrows and shaking her head at it, she pushed forward, skipping right over her favorite coffee shop with the creamer bar that had 42 different flavors. They were mostly the same few flavors with different variations, but it was a marvel nonetheless. It was quiet today. Strangely quiet - and she was starting to hate it.