Fiction – Ruth’s Story Part #17 On The Road Again Towards Seattle

As I leave the Humvee behind me and the small crowd of zombies in a cloud of dirt and grass, I look to my left and see the light rail tracks. A three car light rail train sits on the tracks. As I pass the train I notice with macabre fascination that several of the windows are smashed out of the train and the middle car is fire gutted. Pulling abreast of the central car, I see several fire ravaged corpses sitting inside.

The first and last light rail cars are somewhat charred on the side towards the middle car. Other than suffering several broken windows the cars seem to be in decent condition. However, the blood spattered windows tell me that several Kazakh-Central Asian Plague (KCAP) infected persons must have died inside, reanimated and decided to dine on their fellow passengers.

Before the news ceased broadcasting, there were several scattered reports at first and then steadily increasing incidents of human cannibalism. When the food ran out in the cities, many of the city dwellers began to hunt each other for food.

Not sure why that thought crossed my mind now.

Whole groups of survivors were wiped out by their hungry neighbors. The rise of cannibalism within the major metropolitan centers makes me leery to enter the cities. There were also some reports of human trafficking.

The rise of human trafficking, slave markets both for work and sexual services (if the news can be trusted), and cannibalism created a second exodus from the cities. Several people that had once sought to survive within the urban jungle now tried to leave.

Many of these later travelers were more or less better prepared than the earlier panic-driven exodus when the KCAP outbreak started. However, most of these later travelers were wiped out by predatory gangs and others driven to steal by circumstance.

Every time the central government collapses it seems all the scum of the earth come out of the woodwork. I saw it happen several times and have read about it throughout history. When I was a little girl the conflicts in northern Africa, surrounding the countries of Syria, Egypt and Libya caused unrest for many years. Not to mention the constant conflict around Israel and the Middle East.

America was teetering on the brink of total financial collapse before the KCAP outbreak happened. With a financial crises looming, the KCAP outbreak was the last straw that shattered the back of the old US government. I wonder if America will ever rise from the ashes.

Despite my morbid thoughts I have been slowly driving down the road following the signs to I5. I am going to stay off of International Boulevard. The National Guardsmen told me that International Boulevard was a mess, and that looters and gangs had taken control of it.

I wish the Guardsmen who left the Humvee behind me had thought to leave me a nice radio. I have had the little Smart Forfour’s built-in radio turned on and it has been spinning around the FM dial with nothing but static. Maybe I will have more luck on the AM band.

The AM band is also filled with nothing but static. Not even the Highway Advisory Radio System (HARS) is working. I passed a Washington state sign offering traffic news, but I get nothing but steady static.

I wish I had an amateur radio set (commonly called ham radio) so that I might be able to get some communication and hopefully some intelligence. I need to hear some intel before I really decide where I am going to go.

The National Guardsmen told me about their armory in Snohomish. Recently rebuilt brand new and expanded under part of one of the more recent Defense Appropriation Bills, the Snohomish armory is now one of the largest within the state.

From what the Guardsmen were telling me, the new armory is significantly larger than the old one. Apparently there used to be some worthless city park named Ferguson behind the old armory. The city of Snohomish decided to condemn the city park so the government could clear the land and use the former city park for the new armory.

I doubt there is anything at the Snohomish Armory of value but you never know. I am betting the armory has long been looted and gutted of anything of value. However, it might give me some idea of where I want to go.

The Snohomish armory is off the beaten track and near several of the more rural highways here in Washington state. I wonder what the condition is of those highways?

I stop in the center of the road just before the on ramp to I5. Shutting off my little car but leaving the keys in the ignition, I open the driver’s door and look around. It is eerily quiet here in the center of the highway.

I grab my Browning Hi-Power pistol with its AAC suppressor, and push the button on the key fob to open the bonnet.

Getting out of my little car, I quickly walk around to the bonnet and open the hatch and reach inside to grab my Patriot Ordinance Factory (POF) piston-driven AR15 also wearing its AAC suppressor.

Shutting the bonnet on my little car I get back in the car quickly shutting and locking the doors. I start the car and leave it in park while I load my AR15 with one of the six magazines I took from soldier zombie back in the Humvee.

Looking at the first round in the 30-round magazine I see a green-tipped standard 5.56 NATO round. Without the can it came from I do not know for sure, but guessing based on the ammo cans I took from the Humvee, I am betting the rounds in these magazines are 62 grain M855 steel core penetrator. I slap the magazine home and release the bolt.

The very familiar clunk of an AR15 going into battery is a comforting feeling. Making sure the safety is on, I lay the AR15 in the passenger seat with the AAC suppressor resting on the floor in front of the passenger seat.

I make sure that the two M67 frag grenades are secure. I remember my IDF army basic instructor teaching the raw recruits how to toss a grenade safely.

I can still hear that old crusty master sergeant’s gravelly voice in my head, “the grenade is one of the most effective and dangerous weapons we give to soldiers; it will kill friend and foe alike. Remember, once you pull the pin and let the spoon fly, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend!”

I lay my pistol back in the passenger seat underneath the butt stock of my AR15 within easy reach. As I am making sure my weapons are within easy reach I notice that the little car is equipped with a GPS navigation system.

How convenient, for me! For now the GPS satellites are still within their orbit but without maintenance and care the satellites will start falling out of their positions. With the demise of the government that maintained the GPS satellites, they are going to be worthless in a few months.

Supposedly a whole bunch of space junk is going to start falling out of the sky as lower satellites and other stuff up there start to reenter the atmosphere.

I turn on the GPS navigation system and look at the menu. Does not look too complicated but how do you spell Snohomish? I am going to take a stab at spelling Snohomish.

Ah I was pretty close. The armory is not on here though but it will get me within the correct area I guess. However the old Ferguson city park is still on here so I head for that. I put the car back in drive and head down the freeway. As I make the merge on to I5 north the freeway is pretty open.

There are a few abandoned cars, but the highway for the most part is barren. I speed along but keep my speed around 50 – 60 miles per hour. I do not want to get going too fast and slam into something.

A couple miles north of where I came onto the highway, I see my first wandering zombie. It is a white male and looks at me as I go by him trying to reach out to me. I am so distracted by the zombie that I do not see the second zombie until I hear the crunch and see it flip over the bonnet.

Out of instinct I slam on the brakes, but then realize the futility of the gesture. Looking in the rear view mirror I can see the zombie that I ran into at nearly 60 miles an hour flopping on the ground his mouth snapping open and closed like a fish out of water.

I have a horrid smear of congealed blood and gore up the passenger side of the car now. I eventually find the windshield washer and try to remove most of the gore from the windshield. It takes several tries and I bet I about emptied the little car’s window washer reservoir getting most of that nasty shit off the windshield.

Nothing seems broken on the car, and I do not feel any sudden vibrations in the wheel. I hope that the zombie did not break my lights on the front of the car.

Zipping along the highway heading north for a little over an hour leads me into downtown. According to the GPS system it is just after 15:00 or 3:00 PM for you that do not understand 24 hour time.

As I come into Seattle proper, I see Boeing Field, or rather what is left of it. Boeing Field looks like a war zone. Several planes are burning both military and civilian. There are wrecked vehicles and planes everywhere. Several large military helicopters are scattered all over the place, some looking like the pilot set them down with care but most are in pieces and in flames; crash and burn on arrival.

The main terminal and several of the buildings are also burning, and all the buildings show damage from fire and weapons. Several of the planes and buildings look like they were strafed from the air, and unless I miss my guess I see several bomb craters along the run ways.

Interspersed with the airplanes and other vehicles are numerous military vehicles. As I slow my little car and watch fascinated from the side of the road, I see a running battle taking place down there. Several military Humvees are chasing and shooting at each other with a variety of weapons. Groups of people in the airport buildings (at least those that are not currently burning) are shooting at the Humvees. What the hell is going on down there?

From up here I cannot see well enough through the smoke to see who exactly is shooting at whom, but it looks like a free for all from up here. I stop the car on the side of the road and watch the gun fight for a minute.

From my vantage point, looking down at the completely clogged I5 southbound lanes I see several zombies trapped in cars as well as several that are loose and looking my way. I realize that they can hear the little Smart Forfour’s engine.

Well, the war at Boeing field is not my concern, and I do not want to sit here much longer. I see the battle is still taking place weaving through the wreckage of planes and burning buildings. I take my foot off the break and ease the car back onto the road gradually building up speed.