Sorry about not posting for a while. Been laying low for the most part.
I snooped around a bit and dug up what I could find. The town's called Moore. Moore, Oregon. The name didn't click at first, but I think I passed through here when I was first heading into Redwood. Whole place looks vaguely familiar. To be honest, I was getting pretty paranoid by that point, so I spent a few days holed up in a cheap motel out on the outskirts. Old habits die hard, I suppose.
My phone dying finally dragged my out of my self-imposed isolation, but only as far as a corner store on the road into town. After Redwood, I was uneasy about going inside, but the guy behind the counter didn't seem off or weird at all. Thank god for that. I still had some cash in my wallet, so I bought a charger and some snacks to get me through the week. Credit card wasn't worth shit; I couldn't get into my account or check anything. Whole thing was scrubbed.
Asked the guy if he knew anything about Redwood Falls, and he just shrugged. He couldn't have been much older than me. Mid twenties, scrawny. Yellow trucker cap with the words "Praxis International". That part was definitely weird. I pressed him about it, and he just said that as far as he knew, it was just some backwater town that everyone thought was run by a cult. Said he thought it was bullshit.
I sighed, took my stuff and went for the door. Just before I got outside, though, I had a thought. I asked him if he'd seen a woman recently. Kind of goth-looking, hoodie, that sort of thing.
He said he had. Said she'd come through about two days before, bought a small army's worth of snacks and water, then left. The clerk thought it was weird that she didn't have a car, what with being a decent way's walk from the highway. He didn't know what direction she was going, but I think I can guess.
If she's still alive, she probably came through here either looking for shelter, or trying to find me.
It sounds egotistical, I know, but it's a possibility.
I'm back at the hotel now, living off two slim jims and a gatorade. Checked the news again; nothing on Redwood. There was a bit about a military exercise in the Pacific Northwest, but not much else.
Wait.
Thought I heard someone walking around outside my door. Looked out the peephole but didn't see anything. Grabbed my gun and opened the door, but still nothing. Just as I'm about to go back inside, though, I look up and a pair of helicopters fly past. It was hard to see details in the dark, but they looked military. No markings, though. They passed over the town, then broke off in separate directions.
I feel like that's a bad sign.
