As the first light of dawn broke over the horizon, I struggled to shake off the restless sleep from the night before. Every muscle in my body ached, and the cold metal of the roof had done no favors to my already stiff limbs. Today had to be different; I couldn't afford another day of inaction. The weight of my situation pressed down on me as heavily as the backpack I had hastily packed during my escape. It was time to make a decision and take action, no matter how desperate it might be.

  I did a meticulous grid pattern, pacing back and forth, up and down, investigating every single sheet of steel, looking for any way I could pry or slip in the knife to find a weak point and lift one of the steel plates. Unfortunately for me, whoever the fucking contractor for this building was did not cut corners. The sheets were industrially glued and self-tapping screwed down every three inches on the edges. I had removed my knife from the end of the walking pole and tried levering up between one of the larger gaps, but it became clear the knife would break before the plate would lift. I needed to find the right tool or spot to get in.

  I poked my head over to get a good look down the backside of the building. The fenced area ironically did not have any doors into the building on that side or the back. Only the front was fully accessible and had three doors. Unfortunately, it also had a horde of zombies. Climbing the fence and entering the fenced area might have been risky, but with no door, no window, and what looked like cinder block construction, I didn't think I had much of a chance of getting in. It wasn't worth the risk. If the zombies got stirred up, they might be able to push the fence over, especially where the gate to the fence was only closed with what looked like a piece of chain and padlock.

  Getting into the building would take time. I noticed what looked like an air vent on the side of the building above the rolling doors, maybe three feet from the roof. But it was also part of the roof that hung over at the largest point, another three feet. Using Pythagoras' theorem, if you think a2+b2=c2a^2 + b^2 = c^2a2+b2=c2, we're looking at about 4.25 feet. That would be quite risky to try to break into.

  Without any other options, I had to make do with what I had, using the two walking poles as tent poles. I lashed the poncho to make an A-frame tent. It was almost impossible as I had no way to tie down the legs and the tarp, but I was able to use the hammer end of my Leatherman to pound the tent pegs into the gap between the two sheets of steel that made up the roof. It was hard going as the aluminum tent pegs weren't as strong as the steel, but with some persistence, I was able to get them to go in about a thumb's width, which, with the downward pressure of the plate pushing on it, made a very tight anchor point. Having to do this six times, two anchors for each tent pole and one anchor for the back, took a good chunk of my afternoon. However, it also gave me an idea on potentially how I could get into the building below.

  The shelter was placed in a way that I could have some sun relief in the afternoon and somewhat shield me from the sun while I worked on getting the plates pried up. What I had noticed when putting in the tent pegs was that if I did it close to the self-tapping bolt, it would pry it up and weaken the connection. If I could do that along the whole plate and dig my knife in to try to dislodge as much glue as I could, I could slowly start peeling off the roofing sheets.

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  My hands ached terribly as I worked on prying up the metal sheets. The socks I had made into makeshift gloves weren't providing enough protection. The metal edges and the pressure required to pry the plates were too much for them to handle. I decided to wrap my hands with duct tape to pad the wounds and provide a bit more cushioning. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing. I also considered using the shirt material to create additional padding but decided to save it for nighttime if needed.

  Despite the makeshift protection, progress was slow and painful. I managed to pry up a few inches of the sheet, but it was exhausting work. The sun was starting to set, casting long shadows over the roof. I knew I had to stop soon and prepare for the night. The few inches of progress I made felt like a small victory, but it was far from what I needed. As night fell, I crawled back to my makeshift shelter, exhausted and frustrated, but determined to keep going the next day.

  I sat in my A-frame shelter and boiled water for some dehydrated mac and cheese. I was extremely hungry, but the only food items I had were pretty sodium-rich, and I was scared of dehydration. I had looked up the sodium content of Mountain House mac and cheese, which was 1590 mg per serving, and noted that trail mix contained 300 mg per 100g. That was like 120% of the daily value for each meal. This knowledge made me wary of consuming too much food, but I needed to eat something. Consuming 100 grams of trail mix would provide 520 calories, and the Mountain House mac and cheese would provide 650 calories.

  With the five meals I had left and the trail mix, at half rations of about 1200 calories a day, I could easily last eight days without any significant ill effects of calorie starvation, especially because of the extra few pounds around my beltline. I believed there were some multivitamins in the miscellaneous pill bottle to help with poor nutrition on the meals. However, water was the priority. After today's use and meal, I was down to about one liter. If I was a bit more disciplined, that might last two days, three at the most.

  I had the urge to urinate earlier in the day and had made my way over to the corner of the roof and squirted out some very concentrated pee. Knowing that I was probably borderline dehydrated, I needed to figure out the water situation soon.

  I had just looked it up that in the summer months, it typically rained about 10 to 12 days each month. That meant I could expect rain roughly every three days or so. With any luck, I could collect rainwater and stretch out my supplies. I needed to prepare for when the rain came, ensuring I had a way to collect and store as much water as possible.

  What I really needed was a good night's sleep and maybe a rain shower for the next day. I went to the miscellaneous drug bottle, but maybe I should explain that. What it is, is a large Tylenol bottle that I poured half of the 500 tablets out of and then added about 250 different other pills I might need. Voila, you have a medicine cabinet you can travel with. The key is to make sure that the medicine you buy has a different look and that you have a pretty good memory of what the pills look like. I would tear the label completely off the bottle and with a small sharpie, write down each medication dose and description of the pill if I used it often. I knew that I had some strong sleeping pills—Zolpidem 10mg—that would keep me asleep most of the night. I knew that tomorrow would be a big day and getting some sleep would be crucial as I needed to either get into the building and hope there's water, wait for it to rain and collect water, or do nothing and conserve water. The pills kicked in quickly. I covered myself, wrapped my extra T-shirt around my head, and fell asleep.