Makara looked at Samuel as if he was a ghost. She didn’t say a word.
Samuel went to her, grabbed both her hands, and helped her out of bed. All the time, Makara never looked away, not believing.
There was still no discernible reaction on Makara’s face. Then, slowly, her eyes filled with tears, and her shoulders shook.
Samuel embraced her. Makara let out a suppressed sob.
“I can’t believe this,” she said. “It is too good to be true.”
“It is true,” Samuel said. “I am here. Believe it.”
They parted.
“First,” Makara said. “What about those raiders? Did they follow us in?”
Samuel shook his head. “I saw no raiders. I guess they did not follow you in. Though I would not have been surprised if they had, given the contents of Alex’s pack.”
“They might still be out there,” I said.
“Maybe,” Samuel said. “But it’s been two days now. Unless there was another reason, they would have long given up the chase by now.”
“They probably took all the supplies we left at the front of the cave,” Makara said.
She looked at Samuel as if she still could not believe her eyes.
“And in either case,” Samuel said, “there is another way out. It is harder, and it comes out near the top of Cold Mountain. There is an elevator shaft, but to get there we would have to go through the thickest part of the Bunker. The part that is not secure.”
“Can’t we just go out the way we came in?” I asked. “You have breathing masks, don’t you?”
“Just the one,” Samuel said. “I have turned this section of the Bunker up and down looking for more since you’ve been sleeping, but have found nothing. We’d have to search the main part of the Bunker – at which point we might as well just leave through the elevator shaft. We haven’t the time or the resources to secure the whole thing.”
“Are we leaving now?” I asked.
“No,” Samuel said. “You and Makara need rest. We can catch up in the meantime.”
“Not before we have something to eat, Sam,” Makara said.
“Yes,” Samuel said. “I’d forgotten that. The kitchen is just across the hall. There is still plenty of frozen food. The microwave still works.”
We went there, and had a meal of chicken, vegetables, and bread, which had all been frozen in the deep freeze. I hadn’t had meat since Bunker 108, and it tasted amazing. By the time we finished, I was ready to sleep again. But Samuel instead led us down the hall, and into a small break room with some sofas, a television, and a pool table.
“We can speak here. First things first - what happened to you after Los Angeles, Makara?”
Up to this point, I had not heard the full story. I was listening almost as eagerly as Samuel.
She began.
“It was two years ago.” Makara smiled grimly. “The day Raine was assassinated. It was my last hour in Los Angeles. It was a warm day. You might remember that, Samuel. I was on the roof of the Lost Angels Headquarters, the main base of operations for the gang. It used to be a thirteen story bank just west of downtown. Now, I suppose it is still only rubble.
“I was watching the sunset from the rooftop when the streets came alive. Hundreds of Black Reapers surrounded the tower. You ran to the roof, screaming for me. You told me Raine was dead, and that we had to leave. You ended up staying, however.” She sighed. “I still haven’t forgiven you for that.
“You pushed me out the back door, with a pack and a gun. Then, a few mortars flew through the air, whistling as they passed. The explosions rocked everything, and all I saw was darkness and fire. Acrid smoke filled my lungs, stung my eyes, choked my breath. My hearing faded, and then there was nothing – I felt nothing, saw nothing, knew nothing as the rubble crashed down.”
She said nothing for a while. Samuel and I waited for her to go on.
“The entire building was a ruin behind me. It was only as the gunshots faded, as the Reapers’ bikes tore through the streets and surrounded the building, that I ran. I ran as far as I could, though I had nowhere to run to. I ran east through the streets, through decaying buildings, through toppled fences and broken walls. I looked back, and the tower was gone in a smoking ruin, along with my entire life. I thought you had died.
“I wandered for weeks. Some nights I found food. Some nights I didn’t. Winter was coming.
“It was the next day when I fell in with a group of raiders. At first, one of the men wanted to use me and keep me as his. But I shot him. I didn’t care what they did to me. The leader – a man named Char – smiled. He fed me, and put clothes on my back.
“I was in.
“We raided all through autumn. We killed, we stole, and the men did worse. But never once would they touch me. I was one of them.
“I was aware that I was becoming less and less of a person. But I felt less than nothing. By October, we headed west out of the valley along I-10, into the Mojave. We traveled for weeks, until we reached Raider Bluff. I had never seen anything like it. The city is huge, built on a giant, three-tiered mesa. The city has three levels, including the fortified Alpha’s Compound at the top. We came, laden with camels of goods. We were treated like kings. I allowed myself a smile, then. With my share of the loot, I was able to trade for guns, for food, for clothes, and batts. It was all mine.
“Everyone in town wanted to know who I was – the woman raider. The women in Raider Bluff are little more than slaves for the men. There are exceptions – like my friend Lisa, who runs a bar called the Bounty, who I became friends with. When winter came on, I hardly stepped outside from that place. It was cold, but I stayed in there, where I rented a room. I drank much. I hardly remember the winter of 2058.
“When the storms ended, raid leaders searched for new recruits. Dozens approached me, but I turned them all down. I intended to stay there and drink myself to death.
“And then, I realized my batts were running thin. Without the batts, I could not eat, and more importantly, I could not drink. I decided to continue living. I don’t know why. I didn’t have anyone. Everyone in my family was dead. I knew nothing of friendship.
“I entered onto a raid with the next leader who approached me. His name was Brux.”
Makara paused to drink from a glass of water. She looked at me, and gave a tired smile.
“Brux was especially cruel, even for a raider. His specialty was slaves. Women, mostly. I did not know this at the time. Lisa warned me against him, but I did not care. I knew he brought back the loot, and I wanted that.
“That year, I saw the most terrible things. I will not repeat them here. I felt myself die more and more each passing day. I was afforded no respect among the raid group, and the only way I could get it was by killing one of them who tried to rape me. Finally, they learned, and kept away from me. Many times, I flew into rages and threatened to take my share back to Bluff. Brux would not hear of it.
“I became aware of it, slowly. Brux would watch me on those cold nights, when he thought I was sleeping. Countless times he tried to have his way with me. I learned to both sleep and be aware of the danger. But he never let me be, no matter what I tried. I could not kill him – that would be mutiny, a crime punishable by crucifixion. I had seen a death like that, in the winter. The crows had feasted well all the next day.
“I thought the year would never end. It was a good year, though, if good could be used as a word. Twenty slaves, one hundred camels, and plenty of loot. I collected four times the batts with Brux than I did under Char.
“How could I do this, you ask? I don’t know. I had no conscience, then. I didn’t care about anything.”
Makara had stopped talking. Samuel had become distant – grieved, in a way. I felt like I had to say something, to make her go on.
“What caused you to care?” I asked.
“That did not happen until the next season. There are two seasons in Raider Bluff – winter, and summer. In the summer, you raid. In the winter, you hide inside and try not to freeze to death. That winter, the end of 2059, I told Lisa I was done. But I could not be done. We both knew this. Raiding, once chosen, can never be abandoned. One, because no settlement will take you. And two, once abandoned, even raiders won’t have you. You either raid,
