Nice job setting a scene and a generally quiet/lonely feeling in the midst of chaos. Loved the last line as well, a bit of rationalization in the midst of it all. Also liked that the cause for the riots is left out of it.

Is this based on the Birmingham riots? I live here and it really wasn’t that exciting. Great ficly though =)
Abby x

“Inspired” by the riots last year (staying up watching the news come in from places I used to live…), bouncing off Doris Lessing’s “Memoirs of a Survivor”. It’s an unspecified collapse; I seem to be seeing those a lot just now… :-/

Haha, great ending. It pops the fear which you built up through the rest of the story very nicely.