Dark Washington Part Five

Chapter 5:
Looking for a New Home

Paul decided by noon that he should set out again toward any civilized areas. He began to scour the cabin for any items he would need. It ended up fairly successful, as he found a large backpack to hold his supplies; a shotgun and ammunition; enough food to last for nearly a week; a few lithium batteries with miniature solar panels to charge them, and a flashlight to go with them; a few maps of the area, which could end up very useful; but the best find of all had to be the graphing calculator.
It was a TI-176 Gold, one of the best models you could get. It could store data and to almost any math problem one could think up. The main thing that was great about this was that it came with the capability to connect to internet as well. It was said a few communities still had servers that could transmit data, and the calculator had a browser. It could run on the lithium batteries as well.
Putting the items in his backpack and checking the map – which was highly outdated, being from 2010, and some of the towns may not be there anymore. What was most amusing to Paul was the word “Seattle” in large letters, and showed it covering a large area. There was no Seattle anymore. The Chinese bombed it in 2012, at the very beginning of the war. It was the first to go.
Still, to the east was a town called Monroe. It seemed small enough to be ignored by the Chinese, and big enough to keep the people safe from rouges and hoarders. Paul decided to set off that way. Looking up at the old farmhouse that had saved his life he thought, “Someday, I’m sure, I will see this land cultivated, and the farmhouse lived in.” With that he turned east and headed to Monroe. Route 2, a road to eastern Washington passed through it. Maybe in the east things would be better and they could restore peace. Paul Roberts shook his head. He doubted it.


Silvia took a bridge over the Snohomish River. She kept her guard up, as without the symbol of the North Columbia Bandits, she doubted she would be let through security. She realized something she hadn’t before: without her badge, she doubted even the people she called her friends would let her pass. Thinking about it, she realized they wouldn’t hesitate to rob and kill her. What kind of organization had she gotten into? At least she was out now out of it. Would she be able to survive?
Route 2 was to the south. It would only take less than an hour to get there. It was known to be fairly intact, and should provide easy transportation by foot. Maybe she would even find the strange man who was under the bridge. She would have liked to talk to him as person rather than a prisoner. He seemed like an interesting person. But the chance of finding a person in the ruined world seemed unlikely. It wasn’t as if you could get their phone number. The space war wiped out all communications satellites, and there were no phone lines. Everyone knew in the Third World War the strategy was to destroy the infrastructure. Without factories and roads, an army couldn’t function. It caused more devastation to the world than the first two world wars combined.
Even though it was a low chance, she still wanted to make a new life in some kind of society. She could vaguely spot the stripe through the trees that was Route 2, once a major highway. Everything will be fine, she assured herself.


Paul was walking parallel to Route 2. He was sure that it was unsafe to walk on it. He always kept low and behind the bushes and trees that had sprouted up in the farms. His shotgun he kept strapped to his back. If there were bandits in the town, more were sure to come and leave by the road. He checked his graphing calculator internet for information about Monroe. There didn’t seem to be much except a Wikipedia entry. Wikipedia had successfully hidden it’s servers at the start of the war, and had a secret way of transmitting the signals that made it impossible to find them.
He looked at the Wikipedia entry. “Monroe: a small town in the former US state of Washington. The US army was successful in defending this city from the Chinese army. After the collapse of the US government in 2017 a group of citizens helped unite the people in an effort to keep the city alive. The city’s new government was attacked by bandits several times. With the stockpiling of weapons the bandits were defeated each time without much damage to the city. This effort continues to today [citation needed]. It is on one side of the only remaining pass through Washington, Stevens Pass, on Route 2.”

The fact it was uncertain if the city was still thriving made it sound as if no one was sure what was going on. Paul had a good feeling, though, and closed down his graphing calculator. He checked to see if anyone was around. “Damn,” he said, “It’s that thief from before! Probably sent after looking for me.” Despite his dislike of violence, he would have to deal with her. He took his shotgun in hand and readied it. It probably wouldn’t kill her, but at least it would give him the time to escape. The blood loss, though, would be dangerous. He aimed it and fired. She screamed once before falling to the ground. Anyone nearby would have heard. Any bandits travelling with her in a group will have found me, thought Paul. He turned and sprinted away.