Dark Washington Part Three

Chapter 3:
Escape?

Note from the author: I am slowly revising Chapter 2, and in it, along with the more detailed description of the town is Paul being stabbed by a bandit in the side. I may have made a mention or two of it, so just notifying you.

Paul could barely see anything besides a swirl of colors, a strong smell of smoke in his nostrils. The river flowed below him. It was dark, later than he intended to sleep. He felt a cold object touching his neck. It slowly dawned on him that there was a bandit next to him, and the object was a gun.
The bandit was a young woman, probably no older than twenty. How could they have found them there, why would they search this hard? The bandit’s voice whispered harshly, “What secrets are you hiding? Why did you choose to hide here when the town was attacked?”
Paul could vaguely recollect what happened in the day. His knife wound seemed to have caused blood loss, and he couldn’t think clearly. He could see spots wave before his eyes, or maybe it was splashes from the river. Reality and hallucination was hard to separate, he wasn’t really sure what was going on other that he was in danger and was helpless.
“I…I’m hiding nothing…I don’t own anything of value…I just escaped…they tried to kill me…”
“Don’t lie to me! You were the one that fooled the North Columbian Gang into following you and then killing thousands! There’s no doubt about it, you look exactly like him. I will kill you now…”
“...I didn’t do any of this! I’ve been unconscious for hours!” said Paul, regaining a bit of strength.
“Liar, you tricked us! You tricked us into burning and destroying this city, and betrayed us! Don’t lie! We won the town, and you lost! Where did you hide our share of the gold? In the river?”
“No! I don’t know about your gold!”
“Look, we’re just trying to survive, and we did better at it than you, so give up and I will lessen the pain of your death!”
The line “we’re just trying to survive” echoed in Paul’s head. Wasn’t this what he was talking to the innkeeper about? This was the difference between just trying to survive, hunting and eating but not sharing the skills; and surviving by helping others, surviving while creating something for the good of people, and for the good of society? This is what separated the bandits from the people of Snohomish: the survival by helping the people. Without this society would never form."
But now the innkeeper was dead and Snohomish was burned. The beacon of light was extinguished. The last light on the map may have faded. The area around was dark. And there the bandit was beside him, holding the gun. “So this gold, you help burn down the city to get it?”
“Yes, and you tricked us, now give it to us and we will let you die without suffering!”
“If fortune is to be gained, is it fine to be done at the expense of people rather than helping society?” Paul said, becoming angrier.
“Society is dead…”
“It is not! At least, not until you destroyed it! Look at what you and the others did, you destroyed one of the last pieces of society left in the world, and the only excuse you can come up with is that society is dead! No, it is not!”
The bandit, taken aback, said, “Maybe you are not who we are looking for.”
“And why do you say that? Who are you?”
“Why do you care? You will die anyway. We don’t want any survivors to tell…”
“To tell what? That the last place that would care about such things, which would fight off thieves and rouges, is gone? No one would do anything! They care more about themselves than anything else! Why would they risk their lives to stop you?
The bandit sighed, “I am Silvia. Perhaps you are right, but what is done is done, and the course is irreversible.”
“I don’t care what you do. But I feel like I haven’t done what I need to. I feel that I need to contribute something. So please, let me leave this place, and I will not tell anyone about you or your bandit friends.”
Silvia stared at him for a while. “Fine,” she said, “I trust you enough to believe you. Not that it matters. I will let you go for now, but it has nothing to do with you or your happy perfect society.”
Paul could tell that it had affected her though; by the way she looked at him now, a look of guilt almost. Or it could just be she didn’t want to kill someone. He didn’t much care, as long as he could escape. Silvia backed away with her gun still pointed at him, but really, he would be too tired to attack someone, especially someone with a gun. She went around the cement wall and was out of sight. Before anyone could see him, he jumped into the river and ran away from the other side, stumbling from weariness.