I was there when the world shut down. First came the travel restrictions, then public events were canceled… then entire countries closed. They told us it was temporary… a few weeks, tops. That was 10 years ago… It spread faster than anyone expected, wiped out nearly everyone. Everyone but us… those they used to make fun of… preppers, agoraphobes. Normal folks died and us hermits inherited the earth. We rode out the covid pandemic away from the world but now… supplies are running low. We’ve been forced to venture out further and further to restock. I used my last roll of toilet paper last week. I’ve been surviving using old rags, newspapers, shirts… socks I’ve looted from the dead. There was a time when people strung toilet paper from the homes of their enemies… we were a wasteful species, prime for the coming plague. What I’d do now for a single square of 3 ply Quilted Northern ultra plush.