Thurs Mar 8 2012

Thurs Mar 8 2072 The waters wash over Winters. They never had a chance. There was no warning - no cry raised. Just the sudden invasion of a 30 foot tall wall of water carrying tons of rocks, cars and everything else the water could scrape up as it moved at breakneck speed. Houses shatter and trucks are thrown like toys. One car, a bright red BMW GHT50 sees the water rushing down the main street, caught by a traffic drone on camera as it reverses down the street at full speed. The driver hits the emergency brake, then slides the front end of the car around, shifting to drive and taking off again. Really, it's a very elegant maneuver in spite of the need. Maybe he'll make it, so long as the road holds out for him. The people behind him are not so lucky. The aftermath of the destruction of Monticello Dam is still playing out. Massive flooding strikes a great deal of farmland, destroying crops, ripping up roads and obliterating farms. Loss of human life is high, and in the chaos of the moment, the agents who snuck into Travis Air Force Base melt away into the unfolding disaster. The City of Davis floods, though not with the same power that washed away Winters. While Winters is gone - Davis itself is just heavily damaged. It's to early to put a solid estimation to the loss of life, but it is thought to be at least 10,000. One survivor, caught on camera as 'Red Car Guy', for his frantic bid to outrace the onslaught in Winters in a red sportscar, described seeing bodies, buildings and vehicles churning in the water like toys. The shadow community of California, centered in Redding, San Francisco and Los Angeles, is abuzz. The strike on the dam is quickly dissected and pulled apart, analyzed by people who know the various locations. It reveals underlying weaknesses in the Japanese regime, also highlighting the desperation that the Cal-Free is coming to in it's strikes. One thing everyone agrees upon is 'GoldRush' is not just three hicks with a shotgun and a can of spraypaint. Several runners are unaccounted for following the damage in Winters and Davis, including Napa based fixer 'Longtips'. Specializing in luxury goods and smuggling, Longtips has been a fixture in the California Shadow scene, moving goods between Japanese and Cal-Free zones with ease, as well as between the Tir and Cal-free.