The delivery guy could not shake the doubt. If someone had really managed to sneak in and swap the boxes, the food would still be somewhere inside. He pitched his tent close to the building just to watch, and in all that time he had never seen anyone come or go. With a supply that large, no one could clear it out in a single trip, and if there were multiple people involved, it would have been impossible to stay unnoticed in the middle of the Safe Zone where eyes were everywhere.
The others didn't dismiss his suspicion, but their minds were elsewhere. If the basement was empty, then maybe the upper floors still held something worth taking.
They pushed into the stairwell. With no power, the halls were dark, but they had flashlights ready. They went floor by floor, checking each office. Even though the building belonged to a food company, there was nothing meaningful to find. A handful of candies or chocolates left in drawers, but no real stockpiles.
What stood out instead was the mess. It looked like no one had touched the place since the meteors fell. Bags were still under desks, coats hung on chairs, laptops left open as if people had fled mid-task. But the damage was everywhere. Dividers were toppled, chairs scattered, desks split in half. Some hallways were blocked by fallen beams.
One floor stank of mold, where a water dispenser had shattered under debris. The carpet was soaked, papers plastered to the ground in clumps. Mosquitoes buzzed in swarms over the puddles, larvae wriggling in the stagnant water. Rats skittered across the shadows, bold enough to dart between the scavengers' feet, while cockroaches scattered the moment the flashlights hit them. Dust choked the air, cobwebs clung to corners, and every step echoed in the silence.
The higher they climbed, the worse it became. Every floor seemed more wrecked than the last, and they figured it was because they were getting closer to where the meteor had hit.
"Bleahhh, what is that smell?" one looter gagged from the front. The others frowned, confused, until they stepped into the same room.
"Gaaahhh, yuck! What is that?" another shouted, pointing at the ground.
On the carpet lay a pile of old food that had toppled during the tremors. Weeks of rot had turned it into a slimy heap crawling with worms. The stench had been trapped inside the closed room, only released when the looters opened the door. Several of them pulled their shirts over their noses, but the smell lingered in the air.
By the time they swept through the first fourteen floors, their haul was pitiful. A few candies, a couple of snack packs, maybe enough to fill a single backpack if they crammed it all together. The amount was so small it almost felt insulting.
Yet the fact they found anything at all confirmed the building had been untouched since the disaster. That only deepened the delivery driver's doubts. He remembered those food boxes so clearly, but if the place was this untouched, had he been wrong all along?
"This is the fifteenth floor, we might find something here. It's the cafeteria," one of the security guards said as he pushed open the fire exit door.
The group stepped in with high hopes, but the sight stopped them cold. The ceiling had collapsed, crushing almost the entire cafeteria. Debris covered the floor, broken beams and shattered tables making it hard to even walk.
"Hey, there's a sign here!" a looter called out, lifting a piece of cardboard.
It read: No lunch today due to company lunch out party.
"Ahh!" one of the guards shouted, suddenly remembering. On the day the meteors struck, the company had scheduled a lunch out, so the cafeteria had not prepared anything. That explained why the refrigerators were almost empty. What he did not know was that whatever little was left had already been taken by Thomas's group.
They did manage to find a few eggs, but most of the meat and vegetables had already spoiled. The moment they opened the fridge, the foul smell spilled out, forcing them to slam it shut.
The supply room offered nothing either.
When they tried to push further up to the sixteenth floor, the fire exit door was blocked by a wall of debris. From what they could see, the entire hallway above had collapsed under the weight of the seventeenth and higher floors. The fire exit itself had become sealed, the fallen walls forming a new ceiling. The whole place trembled faintly as they tested it, convincing them to end the search and leave.
By the time they stepped out of the building, the delivery driver could only shake his head. The massive supply he had believed was hidden inside, the jackpot he thought would save him, had never been there.
From their window, Thomas and the others watched the looters leave the building almost empty-handed. Thomas glanced at Bryan, and the two of them grinned. This too had been part of their plan.
They didn't just leave the offices looking untouched, they also made them look unlivable to discourage anyone from camping there. Desks and dividers smashed, water dispensers broken and left to rot, food scraps tossed where they would stink after a few days. In the cafeteria, they even planted the cardboard sign about a company lunch out, just in case someone wondered why the place was empty.
The fact that some of the looters had once worked in the building only made the trick more convincing. Thomas and Bryan had looted the cafeteria themselves, but they had deliberately left a few scraps behind so it would all look natural.
"I hope they don't come back," Iris muttered as they watched the crowd drift away.
"Don't worry," Thomas said with a grin. "I already thought of something to discourage them."
Nevin turned his head. "What is it?"
"Dead rats," Thomas replied, laughing. "Just wait until they get a whiff of that."
He could already picture the look on their faces when the stench hit them.
Rats had swarmed the city after the meteor strike, pouring out from underground. For many desperate survivors, they had even become food. People were willing to eat anything to live.
But that didn't apply to Thomas's group. They had prepared too well for the apocalypse. While the people below grew more desperate each day, Thomas was already organizing an event of his own to break the boredom.
A day after the looters had left, Thomas started whispering plans to Iris and Bryan. They agreed right away. The "event" he had been hinting at was Nevin's birthday. Thomas had found his ID earlier and noticed the date.
That afternoon, after hours of hauling debris from the upper floors to ease the strain on the one they lived on, Nevin returned alone. Bryan and Thomas had stayed behind with some excuse, and Nevin didn't question it. He figured they were just working on another plan.
When he opened the door, three voices rang out at once.
"Happy birthday!!"
Nevin froze. His eyes widened as Thomas, Bryan, and Iris stood there grinning. On their heads were makeshift party hats cut and folded from cardboard scraps, and shredded paper fluttered through the air like confetti.
"Ohh!" Nevin let out, stunned by the surprise.
Iris laughed at his expression before hurrying to the bar counter, now converted into their kitchen. From behind it, she carried out what could only be called a cake, though it was really a large piece of bread dressed up with icing, melted chocolate, and bits of candy. A single candle stood in the center, flickering as she set it down in front of him.
It was simple, rough, and improvised in every way, but in that moment it felt like a real birthday party.
"Happy birthday to you… happy birthday to you… happy birthday, happy birthday… happy birthday, Nevin…" the three of them sang, their voices uneven but cheerful.
"Thank you, guys!" Nevin said, nearly in tears as he leaned forward and blew out the small candle. For a moment, he just stared at the cake. The last birthday he could remember celebrating was when he turned seven. After that, there had been nothing. And now, in the middle of the end of the world, he finally had one again.
They carried the cake to the receiving area, placed it in the center, and began slicing pieces. For a short while, the mood felt almost normal, as if they were just friends gathered for a simple party.
Bryan narrowed his eyes at Thomas. "Be honest. You only celebrated Nevin's birthday because you wanted an excuse to eat cake, didn't you?"
Thomas froze mid-bite, mouth wide open, a slice of cake halfway to his tongue.
"Ha… of course not," he stammered, quickly sliding the slice onto Nevin's plate. "Look, this is Nevin's day. Here, eat, eat."
"Hahaha, it's fine," Nevin said, smiling awkwardly. Then his tone shifted. "Honestly… it's not really my birthday."
The three of them stopped.
"What?! What do you mean? It was written on your ID!" Thomas blurted out, confused.
"Yes," Nevin replied calmly, "but that's not my real birthday. Actually… Nevin isn't even my real name."
The room fell silent. The laughter faded, the warmth of the small celebration replaced by uncertainty. None of them knew how to respond to Nevin's sudden revelation.