I had weird dreams of feeling like I had peed myself until I finally woke up to an incredibly wet sensation. My body was soaked, and with how windy it was and the tarp moving, I hadn't realized the rain had started. It was cascading down the roof, and because the tarp had a gap between it and the metal roof, the water was rushing in and saturating my sleeping pad, my sleeping bag, and myself. I was extremely freaked out because I had planned to collect my sleeping bag and air mattress and put them inside my day pack, which had a rain cover for it, so that they would stay dry. If they were wet for tonight, I was in serious trouble of hypothermia. But I would tackle one problem at a time.

  As I didn't want the sleeping mat or sleeping bag to get any wetter, I wrung them out and packed them into the backpack. I checked on the blocked gutter to see how much water was in it, and it was almost full. I walked over to the other side of the building with my cups and containers, ready to collect as much water as possible.

  The rain had been going long enough that it had cleared out any of the dust, smoke, or debris that was on the metal roof plates, and the water looked as fresh as it probably would get. I stuck the Coleman container into the drain pipe and watched it fill within moments. I poured this water into the food packagings that were empty and used the first batch to rinse them out to make sure that the water would be as fresh as it could be. I did this with the 1-liter Nalgene container and my CamelBak as well. The Coleman was the perfect size for the pipe, but the Nalgene was too big. If I put it in the drain pipe, it would fill up halfway by itself. With this and the Coleman, I collected water for the next 45 minutes.

  With all the containers full and a very awkward walk up the hill with the very heavy dry bag, which was definitely not designed for 20 liters of water or weight, I decided that it would be foolish to risk it ripping, and I emptied it to where I think the material could handle the weight, which was about halfway full. While I was filling the containers, I couldn't help but drink. Drink I did, maybe 3 liters. It tasted so cold and so delicious. I was in pure ecstasy.

  While I was drinking the water, it made me realize how easy life was before. Even just a few days back, I could walk to a faucet in the house, turn it on, and have basically as much water as I would ever need for almost no cost, if you considered it per cup. This kind of made me realize the idea of food and grocery stores, of McDonald's and Pizza Hut, or my favorite, fried chicken, would not be on the menu as easily or ever again. It had only been a few days, and I realized that life might not be worth living anymore.

  My mood matched the weather, but the next thing to do would be to wash myself and my clothes. In my bag, I had one of those small soaps they give you in hotels. I pulled this out and started to lather up myself through the clothes to try to wash them as well. After cleaning both shirts, both pairs of underwear, and my pants, I started cleaning the shirt that the zombie was wearing. I had to hang it on a brace of the blocked gutter, and the overflow had already started washing it off. I held my breath and repeatedly used soap, getting it almost to the point where it was no longer disgusting.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I made sure to clean myself and my clothing using the side of the building where the gutter wasn't blocked to avoid contaminating the water I was trying to store. As the water cascaded off the roof in the heavy downpour, the gutter overflowed in multiple places, stirring up the water and allowing for a recycled cleaning that took care of most of the grime I couldn't wash out with just the shirt. With nothing really more to do, I felt a bit more refreshed.

  I sat on the edge of the building, at the crest of the roof, and gazed out at the zombies, who now looked like a thousand drowned rats. Their hair was matted, and the wet clothing clung to their bodies, making some of their white shirts translucent. I knew they might be dead, but I surely was not. I saw Karen, and the rain had washed away any remnants of her prize. I continued watching as it rained, sitting there in my boxers, trying to breathe. I noticed a mob of zombies suddenly attack one within its ranks. It was like a switch had flipped. Half an hour later, the same thing happened again. Even if they were dead or whatever they were, they couldn't break the laws of thermodynamics. If they weren't taking in food, they would run out of energy eventually.

  With all the water I drank, nature did start to call. I stood up to take a leak off the top of the roof peak. But as I stood, I slipped. I mean, I knew it was slippery. I had been mostly doing the Gollum knuckle-walking crawl everywhere I went, trying to keep my center of gravity low so I would not trip. However, standing up quickly with low calories and a slippery floor might have been my ultimate last mistake.

  I fell on my butt and slid down the side of the roof. Lucky for me, the angle was not very steep, and I was able to fish-tail and slow myself down with my fingertips catching on some of the raised screw heads. It wasn't one of those Hollywood endings where I'm hanging on by the gutter, but it sure was effin' scary while I was sliding. My heart raced as I finally managed to stop myself just a few feet from the edge. I took a deep breath and slowly, carefully, made my way back to the peak, grateful that my stupid mistake hadn't cost me more than just a scare.

  With all this inaction out of the few minutes of terror, my body was starting to get cold. Before I had gone up, I had switched out the Coleman canister for one of the green cups that was wrapped in a sock and attempted to try to plug the drain pipe. I thought this water might be useful for washing, even if it wouldn’t last forever. I made myself comfortable in the A-frame, boiled water for a meal, and used extra hot water to drink. I've always wondered why water temperature makes water taste different. I guess without Google, I'm never going to know.