“There are only two ways,” Samuel said. “One is the tunnel, but the exit is surrounded by the sleeping spores. There is only one gas mask. And it is not as if that area is safe, either; after all, I had come in that way on my return to Bunker 114, only to be ambushed by Kari. Of the six men, I was the only one who survived.”
“Wouldn’t the elevators be worse, though?” I asked.
“The elevators are our only option. We will have to climb up the shaft and take one of the vehicles out.”
“Vehicles?” Makara asked.
Samuel nodded. “There are several Recons in the motor pool near the top of the mountain. We could use one of those. They run on hydrogen and are all-terrain.”
Bunker 108 had a Recon, but it was hardly ever used because of the attention it would draw.
“Look,” I said, “a Recon sounds fine and all, but it will be of no use if we’re all dead. What about those gas masks your patrol was wearing? I could go out, get them, and bring them back for everyone to use. Wouldn’t it be safer to get into the motor pool from the outside?”
“It is impossible to reach if from outside. Everything is locked tight, and it’s a long way to walk. I wish it were that easy. I have another reason why we need to exit by the elevator.”
“That’s obvious,” Makara said. “Free Recons. If we could each grab one, we’d be rich.”
“I have another purpose in mind,” Samuel said.
“Of course you do,” Makara said, sitting back.
“While researching the xenovirus, I discovered a curious citation in the databanks, by a certain Dr. Cornelius Ashton.”
Makara looked up. “Cornelius Ashton? That name sounds familiar for some reason.”
“Because he lived and researched at Bunker One. He is the author of a research paper called the Black Files.”
My ears perked at that. “The Black Files…I’ve heard my dad talk about them. He’d wanted to get his hands on those for years.”
Samuel nodded. “The Black Files contain a wealth of information about the xenovirus that was lost when Bunker One fell. No one thought to save the data and transport it back west.” Samuel sighed. “To think of all that information…there may even be something about a cure, or how to stop Blights from growing…”
“How do you know if such information might be in the Files?” Makara asked. “Sounds like wishful thinking to me.”
“I don’t know,” Samuel said. “Dr. Luken, and Dr. Keener, both certainly seemed to think they held something. The way Dr. Luken describes it in his notes…” Samuel shook his head. “Though much of our knowledge of the xenovirus comes from the Black Files, no one I know has ever actually
Makara and I looked at each other. I had no idea what any of this meant, and why it meant we had to sneak past Kari, climb up a long elevator shaft in the darkness, and commandeer a Recon.
“Samuel,” Makara said. “What are you saying?”
“Think about it,” Samuel said. “We may finally know the origins of the xenovirus. Where it came from. How to stop it. Answers we cannot find here.”
“Oh no,” Makara said. “Samuel…”
“Don’t tell me…” I said.
Samuel looked at Makara, then me.
“We have to go back,” Samuel said. “We have to find Bunker One.”
Chapter 21
No one said anything for a long while.
Then, Makara spoke. “What do you mean, ‘go back’? You do realize Bunker One is nearly one thousand miles from here? Even with a Recon, that’s a lot of open terrain to cover. And winter is coming on. How do we even find…”
“I’m not pretending to know all the answers,” Samuel said. “I really do believe that the xenovirus could take over the world. The Blights have grown for all our whole lives with no sign of abatement. I fear that it could engulf the entire planet if no one does anything.”
“So,” I said, “we’re the heroes, now?”
“I can’t do this alone, Alex,” Samuel said. “If not us, who will?”
I paused. I just wanted to be in a town with plenty of food and safety. I was tired of this running around. But this xenovirus had already ended both Bunkers in California. We were down to two, now, and I didn’t even know where those were.
How long before entire towns were leveled? And who in the world, besides us, knew about the true threat the xenovirus posed? Both research facilities were gone, now. Maybe they had been the only two left in the world.
“This… could be nothing,” Makara said. “Do you really want to risk our lives traveling one thousand miles across the desert and mountains with winter coming on, especially when there is no guarantee that the Black Files will contain useful information? And, need I remind you, at the time of year when raiders are returning to Bluff?”
“Yes. We have to take that chance, because no one else will.”
Makara folded her arms and scowled. She didn’t like this, and I didn’t blame her. I wasn’t sure I liked it, either. But I could see Samuel’s point. If we could find a cure for this thing, wouldn’t it be worth all that trouble?
Makara cast me a worried look. I wondered what she was thinking.
“Return with us to Oasis, Samuel,” Makara said. “We can wait out the worst of the winter behind walls. Then, when spring comes, we can go.”
Samuel frowned. He did not like that idea.
“That takes too much time,” he said. “Besides, Ohlan is a weasel and I do not trust him.”
“No argument there,” I said.
“So, what do we do?” Makara asked.
“If neither of you can go,” Samuel said, “then you may return to Oasis. I will head to Cheyenne alone.”
Makara shook her head. “No.”
A thousand questions crossed my mind. Was I going to Colorado? How would we find it? Where would we find food? How would we survive the winter? How would we even escape Bunker 114?
“First, let’s talk about getting out of here,” I said. “The rest is details if we end up dying in this place.”
“I agree,” Samuel said. “Sometimes, I think too far ahead.”
Makara leaned forward. “So, how do we get to the motor pool?”
“We have to leave this section of the Bunker,” Samuel said. “Travel the corridors, until we reach the elevators. They’re located in the power plant. Large reactors take up the entire floor, and there’s a bridge we can take over them. Obviously, the elevators won’t work, but we can climb the shaft until we reach the Nest, near the peak of Cold Mountain. The Nest was actually the main entrance to Bunker 114 when the first refugees came in, but the area has been closed off now for a long time. However, the motor pool is there. There is access to a mountain road that, with luck, will not be buried by rock, sand, and snow. Even so, the Recon should handle it.”
“How do we know the Recons still work?” Makara asked.
“They’re too valuable an asset for 114 to have let them fall into disrepair. They will be running fine.”
“I hope so,” Makara said.
“The only part that worries me is getting past Kari,” Samuel said.
I gave a short laugh. “At least you’re just worried. It kind of takes my ‘absolutely terrified’ down a
