by Kyle West
“It’s time they reconciled,” Makara said.
“How do you know if Char is even alive?” I asked.
“He is. I know he is. If Marcus doesn’t know where his brother is, then that tells me Char is probably in Vegas. He would not go to L.A. — the Reapers and the Raiders have always been on bad terms.” She turned back toward the windshield, staring at her potential recruits. “Process of elimination.”
Samuel said nothing. Makara was in control, now — of where we went, who we talked to, and what we did. It was a different, yet not unnatural change. I remembered what Samuel had told me back in Skyhome — if he died, he expected me to lead the crew. How was I supposed to do that if Makara was in charge now?
The potential of me being in charge seemed so unnatural. I felt far more comfortable in a support role, and I wondered if Makara, or even Samuel, were the same way. Maybe leaders were made more out of necessity than necessarily being born that way.
At last the Exiles turned, heading as one toward the ship.
“They’re coming,” Anna said.
It was time to hear their decision.
* * *
“We will ride with you,” Marcus said.
Makara nodded. “Good.”
“On one condition.”
Makara arched an eyebrow.
“We are our own men. At any time we may leave, and never return, if we so choose. At no time am I, or any of the Exiles, to be under your direct authority.” Marcus stared hard at Makara through his sunglasses.
“I understand your reservation,” Makara said. “But I will always be willing to listen to your opinions. In the end, however, I’m the one in charge, and I make the final decision. If you join the New Angels, it’s as a New Angel.” She waved a hand backward, toward us. “It’s the same for them.”
Marcus did not say anything for a long while.
“Your brother as well?” Marcus asked.
Samuel nodded. “Yes.”
“Then we will join you.”
Makara held out her hand. Marcus took it.
“We leave now,” Makara said. “We’ll stay behind at a hover, and if anything enters our sights, we’ll flash our lights.”
“I suppose our bikes will be too heavy for the ship?”
Makara nodded. “Maybe if it was just you guys, but the bikes cannot go on board. I guess we could ferry people back and forth, but I don’t want the group split up for any reason — not with the threat from crawlers.”
“In that case, Vegas is a two days’ journey from here. The land is rough, but it should be passable.”
Makara nodded. “If you have any wounded, we have a clinic aboard Odin.”
“My thanks,” Marcus said, “but as you can see, our wounded died long ago.”
Behind the Exiles, the bodies of three men were laid out, side by side.
“Do you need time to bury them?”
Marcus shook his head. “No. We burn our dead — it is our way.”
“Do what you need to do.” Makara turned aside. “When you leave, we will follow.”
“I’ll go over everything we’ve learned about the xenovirus when we camp tonight,” Samuel said.
Marcus nodded, then turned back to the Exiles. As he began giving orders on what should be done with the dead, we returned to Odin.
* * *
As the bodies caught flame, sending thick plumes of acrid smoke into the air, the Exiles circled the fire and rode west. It was only when we picked up their trail that I realized how amazingly fast Odin went. Going at the Exiles’ pace made the surrounding terrain pass at a crawl. Where we could have made Vegas in an hour, it would take the Exiles two days to make the same journey.
However, it did afford us the opportunity to study the landscape, making sure nothing else jumped out at our newfound allies.
“I have to admit it, Makara,” I said. “You were right.”
Makara smiled. “Have a little faith, Alex. I’m the Chosen One.”
“I’m starting to believe it.”
“This is only the beginning,” Samuel said. “I don’t think you’ll find the Vegas Gangs as accommodating.”
“No,” Makara said. “Probably not.”
The Great Blight spread northward with ethereal beauty. The sunlight had even somewhat broken through the layer of meteor fallout, casting the unearthly colors in a light golden glow.
“I wonder what they’re planning,” I asked, staring at the Great Blight.
Everyone knew what I was talking about. After the xenovirus had revealed the dragons, all of us just had to wonder what was next.
“That giant one, guarding Raider Bluff — I wonder who he is,” Makara said.
“Or she,” Anna said.
I laughed. “Yeah. I could see that thing being a girl.”
Anna raised an eyebrow, while Makara gave me a dangerous look. I shut my mouth.
“I thought at first the xenovirus had access only to genes of Earth origin,” Samuel said. “I’m beginning to think they have genes from other places, too — perhaps from their home world. There’s nothing on Earth that looks like those dragons, or even the crawlers, for that matter.” He sighed. “We’re always running behind. This thing is always one step ahead of us.”
Makara reached for the transceiver. “I’m going to update Ashton.”
The light on the dash blinked while we waited for the doctor to pick up. In the meantime, we continued staring out the windshield, making sure nothing was creeping up on the Exiles.
Ashton’s voice came through. “What’s the update?”
“We found the Exiles,” Makara said. I could hear an “I told you so” tone in her voice that she didn’t bother to mask.
“And?”
“They’ve joined up with us,” Makara said. “We’re all heading north and will reach Vegas in two days.”
“Good work, Makara,” Ashton said. “That’s one group down. Any news of Char?”
“No. I hope to find out more when we reach the city. There’s nothing else to do until then.”
“They were ambushed on a hill,” I said. “We barely got there in time.”
“Casualties?”
“Three Exiles,” Samuel said. “They still number two dozen or so.”
“It’s a good start,” Ashton said. “I don’t suppose you’ve let Marcus know about the xenovirus yet?”
“He knows we’ve found the Black Files, and that we have a plan to stop the xenovirus,” Samuel said. “Other than that, no. He knows nothing. I’m going to catch him up when we camp tonight.”
“See that you do.”
“I guess you haven’t left for Bunker Six yet?” I asked.
“No, not yet. Something was holding me up here in Skyhome. We discovered a leak in Delta Quadrant. Probably a holdover from the impact we had a couple weeks ago. It’s taken care of, so I’ll be out of touch for the next couple days until I find those parts.”
“Ashton…” Anna said. “You don’t have to do this. Just send us instead.”
“That’s a negative, Anna. I need all of you focused on recruiting for the Angels. The old man can be relegated to the less important tasks.”
“Getting those wavelength monitors set up is hardly unimportant,” I said.
“Right you are, Alex. This Voice won’t find itself. Luckily, Makara and I have already dropped one off, so I only need the parts for two more. And it’s not even the whole thing, just a homing chip that will help with the tracking and…”
“Ashton,” Anna said.
He chuckled. “Right. Well, you kids be safe. If anything changes, don’t hesitate to call me on Gilgamesh, though I may be out of touch most of that time.”
“Copy that,” Makara said. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, I’ve got something.” I looked at Anna, and smiled. “How do you guys make toothpaste up there?”
There was a long, awkward silence as everyone in the cockpit looked at me blankly, except Anna, who smiled.
; “Um…you know, Alex, I’m not rightly sure of that. I’ll make it my top priority to find out, though.”
Ashton cut out.
“What the heck was that about?” Makara asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “It’s a question that’s really, really been bugging me for the past two days. Toothpaste: where does it come from?”
“Well, if you want a serious answer…” Samuel said. “Baking soda, mint, some other things, maybe…”
“Seriously,” Makara said. “Let’s just focus on following the Exiles and not letting them die.”
I laughed. “A bit wound up, are we?”
“Humph. Maybe so. This leading thing is a little harder than I’d thought.”
Samuel gave a rare smile. “Trust me, it’s only going to get worse.”
“Thanks, Sam,” Makara said.
The day wore on with no further incident. We passed over gnarled desert hills and into a long, low flatland — at the end of which was a giant, jagged chasm. Its interior and sides were coated with xenofungus, and swarms of birds flew in and out of the great rent in the Earth.
“The Grand Canyon,” Anna said. “Never thought I’d get to see it.”
“It’s completely taken over,” Makara said.
“That can’t be good for Vegas,” I said. “Isn’t the Colorado their water supply?”
No one answered. That was a question that had to wait until we actually got there.
The Great Blight had spread further in two months than I would have ever thought possible. The power of the xenovirus was terrifying. It was evolving in ways we could have never predicted. Who could have guessed that dragons were coming? There was so much more going on below the surface, answers that likely could only be found in the Great Blight itself and its alien heart — Ragnarok Crater. Those answers were not going to come anytime soon. We had barely survived our harrowing one-and-only trip into that heart of darkness. That we had lived this long to tell the tale seemed like sheer luck.
The Grand Canyon to the north passed slowly, jagging its way through the bleak landscape. Finally, as the sun ebbed in the sky and as the shadows lengthened, the dust cloud below pulled to a stop between two dunes.
Makara piloted Odin downward, setting the ship down a hundred feet or so from the Exiles.
After unstrapping themselves, both Samuel and Makara left the cockpit. Anna and I followed them outside.
Chapter 4
A few minutes later, we were all basking in the warm glow of a bonfire. I held Anna’s hand, sitting on the ground, as both Makara and Samuel spoke to Marcus.
“It’s going to take them a while to go through everything,” I said.
Anna said nothing, merely watching the fire.
A stout, muscled man sat next to me. He had a scraggly black beard that went down to his chest. His weathered face was pockmarked with scars, and the skin of his hands seemed more like leather than flesh.
Even though the man was a little intimidating, I decided to initiate a conversation.
“What’s your name?”
“Harold,” he said, in a deep, raspy voice.
“How long have you been an Exile?”
“None of us are here because we chose to be. It’s Char that keeps us here.”
Around the fire, other heads nodded.
“So, you all hate Char?”
“He was in the wrong,” another Exile said from across the fire. “He kept us from passing Raider Bluff. Any who tried, he killed.”
“Can you remind me what happened again?” Anna asked. “You said there was a disagreement a long time ago. What was it about?”
The Exile who had just spoken stared at Anna balefully. The fire gave his dark eyes a devilish gleam. All the same, Anna did not look away.
“You’re about to see it, girl. You might not know this, but there was another city, on the opposite shore of the Colorado. Rivertown, they called it. It was a peaceful city. In the old days, Bluff and Rivertown would help each other. Then, the Raiders took over. Bluff became Raider Bluff. The old ones remember those times.”
The man stopped speaking. Everyone was listening now — Makara, Samuel, and Marcus included.
“Nathan was there from the beginning,” Harold said.
Nathan, the man who had been telling the story, nodded. “Aye, I was there. My wife lived in Rivertown. She died, that day, twelve years ago.”
“When the dam broke?”
Nathan scowled. “It didn’t break on its own, kid. Your friend Char broke it. Marcus was the only one with the guts to stand up to him.” Nathan shook his head. “Even when we backed up Marcus, Char wouldn’t listen. He was hungry for power, and he did not care who died in order to get it.”
“That’s not the Char I know,” Anna said.
Nathan stared hard at Anna. “You are still a child. You are too young to know anything.”
Anna’s face burned. She was about to speak again, but I held her arm. She kept her mouth shut.
“Maybe Char is different, now,” Nathan said. “But at the time, he was not. One night, in the Bounty, Marcus and Char fought. The entire bar was cleared to the edges of the room. They did not hold back — any weapon they found, they used. Then, Marcus won the upper hand, throwing his brother in the fire. Char landed face-first, earning the wounds that will mark him for the rest of his life as a sign of his sin.”
I watched the fire in front of me, probably not too different from the one that had burned twelve years ago. I wondered what Char’s side of the story was. I wondered, with twelve years of resentment burning, how it would be possible for everyone to work together.
“What happened after the fight?” I asked.
Nathan shrugged. “So began our exile. There was fighting in the streets, between Char and Marcus, and those who supported Marcus. But we could not win. I fought for my wife, who had lived in Rivertown before it was flooded. Violence was the new code, those days — and it all changed when the first Alpha took over — a man by the name of Victor.” Nathan paused. “I hear he is dead, now.”
“This Victor,” Anna said. “You are saying he changed Raider Bluff from a place of peace to a place of violence?”
Nathan nodded. “This was in 2048. Food was scarce, and some tough decisions had to be made. Victor decided that violence was the best means by which to attain food — from other settlements, mostly. This included Rivertown. This was before the farms, before the slaves.”
“Now, all of that is gone,” I said.
“Aye,” Nathan said. “It is. Raider Bluff was an evil place. It only became more corrupt as the years passed. It infects anyone who lives there long enough. You either become a violent barbarian, or you are crushed, subjugated into slavery, or worse.” Nathan sighed, long and tired. “When the dam finally did break, no one in Rivertown was safe. Those who survived had nowhere to go when the waters rose — nowhere to go but Raider Bluff. There, they became slaves, forced to work the farms outside the city.”
Nathan said nothing about his wife, having already said it earlier. She had died. I didn’t doubt his story. I didn’t like it, though, only because it complicated things. Char was supposed to be our main ally. And yet, he had done something horrible. He had killed innocent people for his own personal gain.
Somehow, we had to get these two disparate groups working together — Exile and Raider. Only, the Exiles were right. They had been the ones forced to wander for twelve years, eking out an existence in the most desolate part of the Wasteland. The Boundless would have long killed off other men, and it had probably killed off many Exiles over the years. I remember Marcus mentioning working for the Empire, when we had met them on our way to Bunker One. Maybe that was how they got by.
Though the Exiles were right, the Raiders were more numerous. We needed their help more. More than anything, we needed Char and Marcus to reconcile. But when there was so much hatred, was it even possible?
I looked at Makara, who now spoke to Marcus in a low voice. It all now reste
d on the shoulders of this nineteen-year-old girl. It amazed me, what circumstances could do to a person. Makara had stepped into a leadership role seamlessly. If there was anyone who could get the Raiders and the Exiles to start thinking of themselves as New Angels, it was her.
But first, we had to find Char and the Raiders.
“Hopefully, the Raiders are in Vegas,” I said.
From beside me, Harold spoke.
“If they are, there will be blood.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Did you not hear the story? You are either for us, or for them.” He turned to me. “Who are you with?”
“We still need to hear Char’s side of things.”
Harold shook his head, standing up to walk away from the fire. Yeah, I had offended him. But I couldn’t tie my loyalty down to one group over the other. Not until I had heard everything.
Marcus stood, along with Makara and Samuel. I focused my attention on their conversation.
“I will speak with Char, but no more than that,” Marcus said. “He did something unforgivable. I will never let him go free from his crimes.”
“Even if it means the survival of the Wasteland?” Makara asked.
“Kid, there is something you must learn about being a leader,” Marcus said. “You can’t just do whatever you want. You have to have a moral compass. If you compromise with my brother — if you let him off the hook for what he has done — you place yourself in the same category he is in.”
Makara said nothing, merely staring hard into Marcus’s eyes. It was rare to see Makara rendered speechless, but it was clear that Marcus’s words had affected her.
“Char is like a father to me,” she said. “To think he would have done something like that is almost unthinkable, even if it was twelve years ago. Of course, I have heard of Rivertown before. Every Raider has. I just didn’t know all the details. I will have to talk to him about it.”
Marcus nodded. “See that you do. You must be unyielding. Don’t give him any slack because you think of him as a father. In fact, demand even more of him. If he is worthy of the name of father, then he might think twice about what he has done.”
