Revelation

thought of all we had been through, and how much had changed. We had been through a lot in the last three months, and our journey to Bunker One had changed everything — had given us new purpose in our lives.

The thought didn’t have more time to develop, because Makara now stood before me. Even though she was playing it cool, I could tell that she was glad to see me. I could see it in her eyes.

“You’re back,” she said.

“It was inevitable.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Quit being cryptic. Where did you go? Thought you would have been inside a dragon’s stomach by now.”

“That dragon is actually pretty nice,” I said. “His name is Askal.”

Makara stared at me. “Askal?”

“Turns out all of you guys are right,” I said. “I’m infected, but it’s something different. There are two different kinds of the xenovirus.” I forced a smile. “Turns out I have the good kind.”

“Alex…” Makara said. “We have a lot to talk about.”

“Where’s everyone else? Anna? Samuel?”

Makara looked away, shaking her head. “Ashton and Michael left in Gilgamesh yesterday, not too long after you left. They’re going to New America, trying to find recruits.”

So I had been gone two days rather than one. I was starting to lose my hold on time.

Something in Makara’s face told me that there was something else. Something she didn’t look forward to telling me.

“Where’s Anna?”

I knew the news was not good.

“Samuel and Marcus are off looking for her,” Makara said. “An hour after that dragon took you, she ran off, that way.”

Makara pointed to the east. The direction of the xenoswarm. The direction of the Great Blight.

“And you let her go?”

“Of course I didn’t,” Makara said. “You think my opinion would have stopped her? It was an hour before anyone realized she was gone. Marcus found one of his bikes missing.” Makara looked at me. “Not hard to figure out what happened. He and Samuel went after her, but they haven’t found anything yet.”

“It’s been two days,” I said. “You should have found her by now.”

Makara nodded. “I know. Either she doesn’t want to be found, or…”

Makara didn’t finish, but she didn’t have to.

“What about Ashton? Michael?” My voice was becoming more emotional. “They could find her with their ship.”

“They’re on their way back, and I just got off the comm with them,” Makara said. “They’re bringing Julian and some new recruits from New America; that’ll add more to the search. As for me and Char, we need to stay here and keep an eye on things.”

My next question was why Anna had run off. I didn’t want to believe that she had done it because of me. That was a bit difficult to comprehend. I didn’t see why anyone would want to do that.

“I’m going after her,” I said, turning around.

“I guess there’s nothing I can say to convince you otherwise.”

“No. I’ll find her before the day is out. I promise you that.”

“You sound very confident of that.”

“I have every reason to be. I’ve got something no one else has.”

I ran from the camp, and Makara stood there on the hill, watching me go. I didn’t truly believe I had every reason to be confident. I just wanted to prove to Makara that I was right.

And hopefully, I was.

* * *

I ran down the hill, past tents and startled people, past the fires and into the cold afternoon. My boots churned the bare, rocky ground as I set out across the Wasteland. The mile pretty much ran itself, and within minutes I was circling the mesa, only to find Askal was not where I had left him.

I slid to a stop, throwing up a cloud of dust. I was crestfallen that he had flown off. I hadn’t counted on that.

It was then that I heard a mighty roar that shook my bones. I stared upward at the mesa’s side. The dragon was roosting on a thin ledge, his long neck snaking around to the mesa’s side, where he sniffed at a small patch of xenofungus. He then noticed me below, staring at him. With a flap of wings, he glided to the desert floor, his light pink body catching the sun’s rays and glowing golden. He settled onto the dirt in front of me.

“About time,” I said, rushing to climb on his back. I held onto the ridge in front of me, preparing for flight.

“We have to find Anna.”

What happened?

He read my thoughts about Anna. My worry about finding her had now become his. Askal charged forward, nearly sending me careening rearward off his back. He flapped his wings mightily, pushing off the ground. We were once again in the air, each new beating of wings carrying us farther above the crimson desert.

Where is she? Askal asked.

“She’s somewhere east of here,” I said. “She left yesterday, to go after me.”

I had no idea what Anna thought she was doing. She was strong, but she wasn’t invincible. If she ran into the crawler army, then she wasn’t going to survive. All I could do was find her before that happened. If it hadn’t already.

Your mate? Askal asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Sort of.”

Askal was confused by my answer, but did not respond directly. Clearly, relationships among the Askala were far less complex. Instead, I focused on scanning the ground for signs of motion.

An hour passed in this way. We took the same route as we had on our way to the Great Blight. If Anna was heading there, then we should find her on that path. Neither Samuel nor Marcus knew exactly where she had been going, so they might have gotten off-course.

We had been flying an hour when Askal veered for the ground.

“You found something?” I asked, teeth chattering.

I believe that is her.

I gazed in the direction we were descending. I saw a solitary female figure, katana in hand. She had long black hair, blown by the wind, and held a blade in her right hand. It was definitely Anna. She turned, gazing up into the sky at us. I wondered what she would be thinking, seeing a dragon flying down at her. She placed herself in a ready stance, her katana held in both hands in front.

Askal swooped down, landing a good distance away. He landed face out, I guess to let Anna know that he wasn’t a threat.

I hopped down and ran toward her, keeping my face turned until I felt my eyes return to normal. When I turned to face Anna, her eyes were wide with disbelief. She sheathed her katana, and started walking my direction.

Suddenly, she was in my arms. I held her tight.

“Don’t do that again,” I said.

“I could say the same for you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I found you and that’s what counts.”

She looked at me with tearful eyes. “I should have trusted you. I thought, if I hurried…I might be able to find you. To say I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” I said. “None of that matters now. You were doing what you thought was right. I would have done the same.”

She pulled back, looking me in the face. It was hard to read those green eyes.

“You really just took off after me?” I asked.

She gave a small smile. “I knew you were in the Great Blight, somewhere. An hour after you left, I tried to