There were more houses the closer I got to town. They were empty. And it looked like most had been ransacked. Windows were broken, doors were open and damaged, and many had been damaged by fire. Burned. The weeds were tall where there once were trimmed lawns. Trees had broken branches, and fences were broken. There were some stray dogs and cats cowering in a few of the places. They looked pretty hungry, and not very friendly, so I kept away from them.
Many of the houses in that area had livestock before the Problem, horses, cows, sheep, llamas, or goats. I didn't see any of those at any of the houses or in the field. What I did see was some piles of bones and scraps of hides. There were fire pits near some of the piles, but I didn't see any live animals other than the few dogs and cats.
I didn't see any people, either.
I rode slowly into Foresthill, turning my head in all directions, looking all around. Since it was still early in the morning, you would expect to see some smoke from cooking or heating fires. There was no smoke from the chimneys of any of the houses that I could see. I rode towards the center of town, looking everywhere. It was all the same. Empty houses, most all of them damaged, some burned out. And all empty.
I kept riding towards town. There was the gas station, a burned out shell. The general store was empty, ransacked, as was the Chinese restaurant, the craft store, the video store: every single one empty. All of them ransacked, and all of them empty. And not a person in sight.
I kept on riding through town. I didn't want to stop yet. I needed to look around the entire town.
I rode around all of the streets of Foresthill. It didn't take long; it's not a very big town. It was all the same.
I slowly rode out of town towards Auburn, still looking carefully all around. Then I stopped, and turned around. It was still early in the morning, but late enough that there should have been people stirring. I went back towards the town, slowly going through the streets. I went back to the small grocery store, parking the bike. I turned off the engine, and sat there for a few moments, listening.
The only sound that I heard was the soft ticking of the motorcylce engine as it cooled down, and the distant 'kree' of a hawk flying overhead. I looked all around; there was nothing in the neighborhood. I sat on the bike for about five minutes, looking around carefully, using the binoculars to peer into the burned out buildings and up and down the street. Still nothing.
I got off the bike, and took the rifle out of its holder on the bike. I placed the binoculars in my backpack, and took a small sip of water from my water bottle. I checked the load in the handgun, and loaded a cartridge in the rifle. I made sure the safety was off, and put the handgun gun in my holster.
It was a bit too quiet for me. Sort of spooky.