Three days later:
I made my way to Medford last evening. Turns out the zombies I dealt with a couple nights ago, were the scattered remains of Ashland. Ironically it burned down during a zombie horde making its way from the east to the coast to the west. When the citizens were trying to direct the horde around their city a couple stragglers ended up pulling into the city but it seems they lost a chunk of the undead in the forest. It's my best guess the random rocks, creeks, and various trees preventing anything from walking in a straight line more than eight feet at a time thinned out that grouping and left me with the few I encountered.

While I was acclimating to the city I found some simple work. Turns out when electricity doesn't work unless you're an alchemist, people like having a guard. What was once a major amphitheater, it now is the place for sacrifice for some mysterious benefactor. Food, goods, and most importantly clean water stacked and organized on the stage in the monthly preparation for the greater being to come and take their shares and leave into some kind of otherworldly realm. After getting the job I was introduced to 3 individuals as they were going to be my coworkers for the shift.

Cisco was a Black man four years my Senior making him 30. He had hazel eyes and a head that was shaved smooth and with a bristly, yet trimmed black beard. He stood at 5'10" in a slightly stocky build. His responses are that of a man who seems to be filled with joy.

Abbie was a rancher from Klamath Falls, specializing in the preparation of meals for the people who maintained the ranch, but would regularly fill in for other roles on the farms. She stands at 5'3" wearing a simple black shirt saying security under her denim overalls. Although she is a short blonde, her green eyes bely an intensity and attitude that her more muscular form can back up.

Natasha was pale with an almost green hue coming off of her. She had deep black hair and her eyes were black. No sclera, no nothing. Just black orbs. She spoke rarely but any time she would, it was normally punctuated with a playful jab or some kind of flirt. She was rail thin and barely 5'0" but had a presence that made people uneasy at first glance, myself included.

My first shift was relatively simple. Be trained by Cisco for an hour, and then be bored for the rest of the day until lunch time started. The shift was simple. Trade off with the people who had darkvision as the sun rose, did the rounds, waiting till around noon, and then the guards who actually worked for the bank who would come. They would move and count the tithe we were guarding and would be there for 4 hours allowing us to do whatever really. You could go see family, eat something, take a nap, or hell even get laid. Drinks and drugs were banned of course because anything worth taking would last longer than 4 hours and if the citizens saw anyone boozing it up during lunch, they'd lose confidence that their tithe that keeps whatever vague, yet impending doom, is being delayed for another month.

1 Week Later:

So I've gotten a feel for the city. Not too large but a lot of younger people from Ashland's college. Turns out whatever was going on there mutated them into some fantasy races. It's almost like humans being exposed to magic is almost like instant acting radiation. It's really odd too because it's only humans who are affected which begs the question. Are humans truly devoid of magic? They're the most common race nowadays but I've never seen a Human who had random magical powers shortly before they turn into a Pixie, or Orc.

I also learned that Klamath Falls is about 2-3 days away. And that it was a beautiful town. My heart sank when I heard it. The week after working with Cisco, I am gonna be partnered up with Abbie so who the hell knows if she is gonna have any good news for me.

1 Day Later:

So I start this Tuesday with good news! As good as it could be the very least. I talked to Abbie about Klamath Falls mentioning I had good friends out there when I lived in Susanville before the world blew up. She chuckled at that which was good. At least we can talk about this with a smile at first before it got out there was a death cult being formed for the last year to try and appease the Roman God of Death, Pluto. It turns out they did the ritual wrong and rather than prevent any diseases, the town was cursed to have all new kids be stillborn. The problem was the youngest child in that town was my friend Rebecca's son. She and her husband allegedly took every gun they owned in their truck and drove off shooting anything and everything this cult summoned to try and capture them to right their wrongs in the eyes of death incarnate. That gave me a good laugh. She was always one to talk about fucking up anyone who got in her family's way. I'm glad she was able to back it up.

The job was getting steadier at this point too. We get paid in potable water that's used for barter, we get free room and board, and we get our meals comped unless it's some bizarre price at the last second. Our rooms have a well separated section from our general living quarters dedicated to a well that we have to hold the water we earn. It has etchings on it to show measurements for various payments, each ending up being about a cup each. Want to have your room cleaned and your bed made? 1 cup of water. Want extra rations? 1 cup per ration. Want someone to warm your bed with you and have a little fun? 5 cups of water.

Cisco would commonly trade with people for their water. Do chores, pay off some of their tithe with his own food, give up meals he gets for free and sells them on top of his normal pay of 2 cups of water a day. No matter how he felt he'd not only come in tired or sick he'd offer to work the nights which was double pay, end if someone was sick or just up and left he'd come in with a torch and a smile on his face.

I laughed when I saw him come back from his lunch break. He was walking up with a young black girl, no younger than twenty and he hugged her and kissed her on the forehead. Given the way she was dressed I knew she was a woman whose services were paid. Abbie ended up jamming me in the ribs real bad and shut me up before Cisco could hear us. Turns out the reason Cisco spent so much time hustling for water was, he was hiring his daughter every day to spend time with him and prevent her being used. It also turns out the reason she became a street walker was to pay off a debt for stealing something.

That hit a little too close to home.

The next time I saw Cisco, I threw him a canteen of water. At first he was confused, but I just gave him a nod, and that's the first time I saw a genuine smile. My pay now stipend but my morality at full, I ended up having a newfound respect for the man.

Beginning of December:

Another week, another rotation of the guard and now I'm with Natasha. Almost like clockwork, we'd do a search and clear and she'd offer to search and clear me for any 'stress'. It was obviously noncommittal but man it reminds me how long it's been since the last time I did anything fun like that. After the day shift ended she offered to go get a drink or two. While the creep factor senses were definitely there, I rather have a good working relationship. So we hit the only bar and we start to get our fill. Turns out Natasha only needs a couple of shots before she gets REALLY drunk. And when she gets drunk, she likes to talk. Like talk more in the span of a minute more than we talked in an hour on the shift. Told me about her life, how she grew up outside of Portland, and how her parents warned her about the bigger cities. She ended up moving away at 19 and told me how she moved back in at 20. She talked about her shitty taste in men (amen to that by the by) and ultimately how she got lost in the forest a couple days before our world ended when she went on a hike. She talked about following these faeries that she originally thought were fireflies. They led her to a spring of glowing water. She was telling me about how she felt like she was dying from thirst.

She got quiet. Real quiet. She ended up just kinda shutting down. I felt bad for the girl, I really did. We've all had tough decisions to make. Some of them I didn't feel right writing about. Rather not remember the gang fights through Modesto…

I reached out and put my hand on hers. I kinda regretted it because all of a sudden my mind was pulled to the scene. The bright blue light in the great deep and dark forest surrounds me. The guttural but oddly cheery and small voices chanting as I drink. It's simultaneously icy but my throat burns as I drink more. I recoil, full of energy as I fall back spasming on the ground. I try to scream but my muscles are in a constant state of contraction trapping the air in my lungs. I feel my struggle ceasing, not because I have lost any energy, but there are physical restraints on me. Looking down the roots hold me and pull to the lake as the chanting reaches its height. Slowly It pulls me in the body of water which repeats the cold pinpricks before becoming a lake of lava, alternating back and forth as the pain is so intense, I lose the sensation of what is up and down. As my face is about to be submerged, I hear this sound as something tumbles through the air and a sickening crunch next to me. It's an axe that separated one of the vines as a flurry of arrows begin peppering the small faeries around me. Two tall figures slowly walk out of the forest. Both with fiery orange/red hair. They pull me out and my vision fades.

I wake up simultaneously with Natasha at the bar. A few people chuckle as they probably thought we were in a drunken stupor. Natasha recoiled in embarrassment. She explained that she was an empath and she saw my memories too. She saw Bianca, she saw the reason why i'm heading to Reno, and she felt the fear that I am full of. The fear i mix with my jovialness to keep on going. The fear I try to distract myself from by overanalyzing things. The fear I hide by bearing my soul in this journal to try and make this world make sense as I slowly tredge to what I feel is my final judgement over the Nevada border...

We talked some more, and we decided we'd like to be in private company. She and I ended up staying in my room that night just talking. We didn't do anything people would assume would happen when a drunk man and woman go to one of their rooms, but I didn't mind. We woke up to the guards who protected the housing project letting us know that the sun was about to rise. Natasha and I got ready for work and while normally I'd feel awkward, I guess when you relive someone's memories by basically trading skulls with each other for twenty minutes, there's an odd closeness to it. I'm still getting lingering thoughts and feelings from her too… Natasha just laughed as I wrote that and told me it'll last for the day… She also told me while the idea I just had about us linking once a day while on shift together to keep in contact while we work was a fine idea, she rather not push her luck and stumble on new memories neither of us wanna visit.