The city didn't look dead.
It looked… paused. Like a breath caught in the throat of a world still trying to decide whether to scream or carry on pretending like everything was normal.
Traffic lights still blinked on corners, useless and ignored for the most part. Some of the cars she could see on the street, still stopped at the red light, the habit so ingrained in them that they couldn't possible not stop.
Storefronts stood intact—clothing mannequins frozen mid-step, advertising smiles turned eerie in the early gray light. Somewhere in the distance, an automatic billboard flashed a banking promotion as if interest rates were still anyone's concern.
For a moment, Sera wondered if people were still going to go there to renew their mortgages or apply for a new credit card. She shook her head, dismissing those types of thoughts. People wanted to maintain their normal life as long as humanly possible.
