The Apocalypse Hoarder
In the end, he picked up a coming-of-age novel and slipped the thick volume into his coat pocket.
A solid book gave a man a strange, comforting sense of civilization. It reminded him that the world had not always been this brutal.
He left the rest of the books where they were. If he took too many, he would probably never open them once he got home.
By the time he returned to the complex, dusk had settled in. As usual, he summoned Kenneth and the others to maintain order, then contacted all the buildings and told them to send people down to collect food.
This time, when Cyrus glanced upward, he noticed something new.