Pausing at the mouth of an alleyway, she stares down the darkened path, scanning the debris before her. Trash, rusted metal, an old knife and what looks like some sort of appliance stare back at her. Adjusting the fabric to cover her nose more, trying to blunt the smell in the air, she grimaces. One step, then two, both cautiously made, she begins to enter the city, prepared - in her mind at least - for anything that comes next.

what is left of the city lights flicker, sparking to the wet, cracked concrete she walks across. The atmosphere is silent, except for the slight whistle of the wind between the buildings. She feels a chill down her spine as if someone is watching her. She moves on with caution, occasionally checking over her shoulder as she walks nervously.

Perhaps it was only her imagination, or perhaps something or someone was kicking through the trash behind her. She turns, to find only a few malformed rodents digging through the garbage. All this heat was beginning to drive her insane.

There is someone up ahead.

She senses them before she sees them and she spins back around, dropping into a crouch in a shadow of the nearest wall, eyes scanning the horizon. It's dead out there - literally in many cases - but she knows someone alive is nearby. Her senses had grown after the cataclysm and she'd learned to trust them greatly. Unwilling to move until she knew more, she waited patiently, blinking occasionally and sniffing at the air.