Ed Strum

Cascadia Ed Strum

It was the coldest of times. It was the wettest of times. The winds blew incessantly across the desolate land. There was no sign of living human life and yet life continued. Wild animals survived and increased in number, preying on unprepared domestic ones. Mice and rats and foxes increased. It was the beginning of a new world, or some would say it was the return to an old world, a very old world. Powerful diseases developed in biological labs were unleashed and spread across the landscape, devouring most of mankind, creating a dystopian lawless world. But a few scattered humans managed to escape the ravishes of the Plague, as it soon became to be known. Five years passed from the beginning of the plague, and four particular humans eventually found each other and bonded together to survive: A wild young woman surviving almost as a wild animal. She feels like a feral animal, wanting her own nest. She flees the dangers of the south, only to find danger as she travels north. A former teacher and aspiring writer. All she wants is a home and a family, and to write about the history of the plague. She sails south from her island home only to encounter a ravished and hostile environment, and nearly perishes. A man of many talents, formerly radio operator and navigator on a ship and trained in the growing of food under various conditions. His skills are valuable in an emerging new world. His main desire is to raise food to support himself and others. A revolutionary living by his wits and always on the edge of danger. Initially he seeks a guerilla group to help fight the invading enemy. However, he soon finds such a group no longer exists and leads this small group in defending themselves. This group is joined by two others, who have survived the plague and whose skills complement those of the other four. They find a place of shelter, safety, sustenance and survival, and a focus of fertility. They have their own individual goals, roles, and desires, and coexist with feelings of isolation, hopelessness, and helplessness. When threatened from outside, they come together to confront the dangers. As their inevitable launching into the outside world approaches, they prepare to leave as a team with common goals and plans, and with joy, hope, love and humor. They sail away, seeking a land of plenty, a safe haven, to pursue a utopian existence, to form a new world in an old land, they call Cascadia.