Trail of Breadcrumbs

1. "...Emergency broadcast system is shut down, or close enough. The noise still comes across the airwaves, either giving bad info or telling people to stay tuned for further intructions. Those instructions never come. Nobody knows what to do. Rick went out to get supplies and see if anyone has heard anything new. Getting bored waiting for him to come back. No one expected we could get hit this hard without nukes being involved. The system isn't meant to deal with this kind of disaster. When this is all done and over with, these notes should do some good when it comes to coming up with ideas to strengthen our national communications systems. Don't want to commit these thoughts to my computer. No telling how long that will stay on."

2. "...Rick hasn't come back yet. Getting worried. Don't know where he went, or where he might be, so my best bet is to stay put. This building seems pretty secure."

3. "...Utility crews are in no hurry to fix things up. Doesn't look like anybody is going to work anymore. People are going into survival mode. I can hear gunfire now and then. Not a lot of sirens, though. Looks like even the cops are staying home. Can't blame 'em, though.

4. "...I'm one of the lucky ones. Still got power--for now. I can see plenty of neighborhoods out there that have gone black. Sometimes all it takes is one idiot to hit a utility pole and bam...entire city blocks go dark. Wouldn't be so bad if it were Summer. Sun would be up longer, wouldn't be as cold at night. In a city the size of Seattle, I can only imagine thousands might die each night from exposure. This might take care of the bum problem, but then again, maybe not. They might be the best prepared to ride out a situation like this."

5. "...TV is finally out. Landlines are down. Internet is out. Cell is still getting a signal, kind of. I've been able to contact some colleagues. Not all of them. Not Rick. Looks more and more like he's not coming back. The ones I've found can get ahold of others, though. Maybe they know where Rick is."

6. "...Been able to daisy-chain messages. Cell towers must be operating in local-mode only, can't bounce a signal through the networks. Satellite uplinks might be down, or the sats may have been swept in the meteor shower. Going to see if I can find anything on the shortwave. Should be able to get something out of the comm gear in the Lab. Getting there might be tricky. Hopefully the parking garage is still secure."

7. "Now that I've set up shop somewhere new, I hope that Rick can find me if he goes back to his apartment. The notes I've left are not very subtle. Even he should be able to figure things out. Too bad he's prettier than he is smart. I should probably scrap this note, or keep it on my person. Don't want him finding it. Being alone for so long is starting to get to me. It's like this journal is the only person I have to talk to. I can't just talk to myself, though. No one can eventually hear that, and talking to yourself is what crazy people do, right? No, I'll keep this note with the others. People should know the good and the bad."

8. "...The meteors didn't take out all the satellites, that's for sure. Campus has DirecTV. Ran into some students holed up here. Couple of comp-sci majors, one studying communications. Got lucky, there, but I've always been lucky with people. Not so lucky getting them to stick around, though. This group can help me a lot. Hopefully they don't wander off and get lost, too..."

9. "...SPD is nowhere to be seen. No county sheriffs, either. Saw some State Patrol guys nosing around when we were up top, tweaking the dishes and antennas. First uniforms I've seen in days. Almost called out for help, but something stopped me. The way they were moving...they weren't scared at all. Almost like they owned the place, or knew what was really going on. Kept on waving something around; a Geiger counter, maybe? Gave me the creeps. Radiation is scary. Plus, I saw they didn't have their radios with them. Makes me think they're not on the right team anymore. Now, if we can isolate that background noise, we'll be doing all right."

10. "...Glad I trusted my gut about those State Troopers. We got ahold of some other people from the Think Tank, tried to get them over here. Safety in numbers, right? Plus, there's a ton of food in the cafeteria. Guess it's is one of those places people don't think about looting. Went topside again to try and spot our friends and guide them in. Watched them get intercepted by some Troopers. Took them away. Don't know where. But they knew where we were. I don't want to find them the easy way. Gonna get the crew to move, set up some relays topside to a new location, keep an eye on the lab from a distance."

11. "...Now I feel less like I'm leaving journal notes to keep sane and more like I'm leaving breadcrumbs. If you're reading these, you're on the right track, and if you're on the right track, I hope you're here to help us. I can't make my clues too obvious, though. If you've come all this way looking for us, you can probably understand why. Made contact with some ham radio guy named Brother Weez. We talked a bit. It was like my first dance. Awkward, uncomfortable, and pretty sure I wasn't getting anywhere with this guy. Fortunately--unlike that dance--I did score. He put me in contact with someone calling himself 'X-ray Tango Marauder.' Whatever that means. Supposedly he's some big wheel at RRN. Don't know what that is, either. We've been getting sidetracked by the background noise issue so much we've almost entirely forgotten why we got on the radio in the first place. Oh, BTW, the Troopers raided our old lab. Left them a surprise on the way out. Hopefully that didn't gross you out."

12. "...RRN is Resistance Radio Network. XT Marauder says the military folded overnight. He's still trying to figure that one out. He confirms the WSP are collaborators--but with who? Says there is a big underground movement to fight back, and soon enough they will need people like us. Might explain that creepy repeater signal we found just before we bailed out of the lab. Marauder says he'll try and get the word out through his broadcasts so the cavalry can find us."

13. "...Saw some guys in tactical gear skulking around. They came out of the UW medical center across the quad. WSP has been keeping an eye on this place ever since we set that trap for them. The commandos weren't with the WSP; Troopers ambushed them out on the quad on Montlake. Things were going bad for the guys in black until they fell back into the construction site near the stadium. Some kind of artillery came in from the top of the Columbia Center. Took those Troopers right out. Commandos policed up their dead and popped off white phosphorous grenades to burn them before they moved on. Went over to Husky Stadium, then a VTOL craft lifted up off the field. Saw it land on top of the Westin Tower. Now I don't know who I'm more afraid of..."

14. "...Finally became a murderer today. Found a crossbow in some student's dorm room. Was down in the west wing looking for Sveta. She'd gone over to Mueller Hall to raid their vending machines. Found her on the ground floor getting chewed on. Shot her attacker out of fear more than anything else. Thought it was an animal hunched over her. Turns out it was just a kid, but...not quite human anymore. We had all the doors locked. Sveta didn't secure the entrance on her way back in. Maybe she was being chased. Doesn't matter. She's dead, now. Took care of her mistake, then locked them both in a supply closet in case there was some kind of pathogen involved. XT Marauder says I did the right thing. Says the kid was a mutant. Now we all had to hear about that layer of horror piled on top of all the other shit we've been through. Evac can't come soon enough."

15. "...Finally isolated the background noise. Got a clean sample. It's definitely not random, even though the encryption is pretty good. XT Marauder says he knows how to help us break it, using old Cold War crypto stuff. Says he's directing some other people he's been in contact with to meet up with us. I can't say where we're going, but if you listen to RRN, maybe you can figure it out."

16. "...Got a call from someone named Vickers. Almost sounds like he's been listening in on me and XT Marauder, which is kind of creepy. He's kind of an asshole. Claimed he was the Cavalry, but I don't know if I trust him. Which is kind of a shame. After being cooped up with the rabble around here, he sounds kind of (The next line is heavily scored over with a black sharpie). Must be going crazy. Gotta watch what I commit to paper.

17. "...Redmond campus wants us on board real bad. Wants their Think Tank boys back. That's all well and good, but we're on to something here, and have a way to see it through to the end. Gates and Allen and Ballmer may have headed up some secret cabal in preparation for the collapse, but they've never heard of Vickers. Redmond campus sounds like a safe bet, but what will happen to us if we join their group? Vickers at least sounds like he endorses independence. Don't know who to trust anymore..."

18. "...Gonna have to pick a side real soon. Everything has gone to hell. We used to hear gunfire sometimes, now all we hear are screams echoing from out of the dark streets of the city. Never knew how far a blood-curdling shriek will carry when all the background city noise is dead. Might have waited too long to move. Might not even make it to the rally point. Time to move. Wish I had something better than a crossbow, now...Signing off. Hope we see you soon."

Lucille Anabelle Kristoff, Ph.D.

2/13/2014