it's not like it is in the westerns

It’s not like it is in the westerns. No tumbleweed rolling around, lonesome. No saloon doors shuttering and creaking as they blow forwards and backwards in the wind. No eyes peeking out through old dusty windows. No sounds of spit coming in from bars, and rolling. It’s not like it is in the westerns. Not even the dramatic music.

It is much worse. It’s like… it’s hard to describe. Some patches of road, the streetlights will be bright yellow. Glaring. Others they will be sputtering. Others still, they’ll be off. These will be the worst. Not always. But in these last, you will narrowly avoid running over a mound of dirt on the roads. Just sitting there. Something that could have derailed your car. Sometimes the bright yellow lights will be the worst. They will show you that the streets are empty, devoid of life. Not a soul. With the exception of the men in green standing at the barriers. The sputtering lights, those are fine. Even though those are the ones that sound like they are out of a horror movie, the ones that suddenly start to blink rapidly when the hero enters the picture, those are fine. Because the other two options are terrible. The wind is still, and erratic. Sometimes it will pick up and realize there are no barriers to it racing down roads. No cars, no people, just buildings, but who cares. Smells have died down. Sounds are stifled. You can feel the tension, and the freedom in the air.

It is not like it is in the westerns. Maybe you saw them in the movies, with a bucket of popcorn in your hands. Maybe you saw them at home, a cozy blanket half covering you, bare feet sticking out. But you always knew, even if you tried to imagine yourself in them, that those weren’t real. They weren’t scary. They wouldn’t be scary if they were. But this is real. Not a bad dream. You can’t believe that. Not anymore. It feels like the end of the world. Which, if you’re being honest with yourself, is kind of a relief. The world is too much. It could do with a little end. Mother Nature needs some time off. This simulation didn’t end well, like the thousands of others. Well, maybe next time. It feels like the end of the world. Maybe it is. They took away your running.

It isn’t like it is in the westerns. This is real. Lonesomely so. The one bonus is that the whole army of help that comes to your house on a daily basis has now been stopped. That too, is a relief. You don’t want to wake up, at the end of the world, to the sound of jhaaroos, and chattering. Even though you wake up hours before they come. Hours before most of the world wakes up. But you don't want them here. You never liked them anyways.

This isn’t like it is in the westerns. It is so damn real.