Storm and Fire Chapter Thirteen, Halfway Finished

Chapter 13, halfway done.
To the Sky

After meeting Silvia and her co-worker Nathan, Paul continued across the bridge to East Wenatchee. Even over the river the air was hot. How could Nathan stand it in that suit of his?! Paul was glad when he got into the shade some taller buildings provided in East Wenatchee.
Strangely enough, East Wenatchee was not as built-up as Wenatchee. It looked like several buildings had burned or collapsed. The entire area seemed rather in disrepair. This was on the main street. The side streets Paul took were much worse. He wondered if a fire had burned the buildings.
He soon made it to the building. It looked small and unimportant, but Paul expected as much. It would be impossible to find a job with his skill level. He walked up to it and went in. The air seemed slightly cooler, but not too much so. A few people were standing around. They looked like businessmen, but it was hard to tell as they were in casual attire. Paul guessed it was only because it was impossible to be comfortable in a suit with the high temperature.
There was a person sitting behind a desk, and it looked like he was sweating quite heavily. Paul walked up to him, not attracting the attention of anyone around. He took the flier out of his pocket and showed it to the man. “I’d like to take the job,” Paul said.
“Great. Can you come back at five?”
“Excuse me, what even is the job?”
“Come back at five and there will be people here to tell you.”
“Ok, fine, I’ll come back at five,” said Paul, irritated at the lack of willingness to tell him.
He turned his back and walked out. He would have liked to not come back because of the unhelpful person at the desk. He decided better of it. He didn’t find any other jobs. Maybe there was a reason for it to be a secret. He cooled his anger down and decided to go to the river. At least it would be quiet there.
A few hours later, Paul heard the town clock strike five times. He was late. He decided to go anyway; at least he might be able to be interviewed. He ran as fast as he could, bursting through the door. This time he did get quite a few stares. He ignored them and walked back up.
“Hello, I’ve come back. Now, what is the job?”
A few people in uniforms walked up to him. “We can tell you,” they said.
“Well, than what is the job?”
“I’m sorry, but that can’t be explained here. There are too many already, we can’t let any more know. It would put strain on our company. You’ll have to go to the Yakima headquarters to get training,” one of the people said. They wore a emblem with a picture of clouds and the earth below them.
“What about the interview?”
“There is no interview; the only interview is how well you do on the test. The test is at the Yakima headquarters. The latest you can be there is the day after tomorrow.”
“But it will take days to get there!” protested Paul, “How can I make it in time?”
“We’ll show you. You’ll have to walk for nearly an hour to get there, though.”
“That’s fine with me.”
Paul followed them out through a back way from the building. They talked between themselves and only looked back occasionally to make sure he hadn’t snuck away. It went on for nearly an hour. The people in uniforms seemed to be nearing their destination, which would be his too, or his destination needed to get to his final destination, Yakima. He wasn’t at all surprised it was there too; if Wenatchee could form its own government, there’s no reason Yakima couldn’t.
They went over sort of a ridge, and then Paul saw what they were heading for. It was amazing. His mouth hung open. The people guiding him looked at him, wondering if he didn’t know what he was seeing, if he was born after the war. Paul saw, lying on pavement strips, airships.