Ruth’s eyes became distant, and she sighed.
“My husband was a good man. Mark protected me, right to the end. I don’t know where he is now, but I didn’t have to kill him, thank God. I couldn’t have handled that.”
“He would have wanted you to get out of here,” Anna said. “You have that chance now.”
Ruth nodded. “We just have to go out the way we came in. It’s the easiest way out. It’s worth a try before we go the other way.” She sighed. “But let’s try to get some rest first.”
By “the other way,” I knew Ruth was referring to the motor pool. It was on the main level, but it was quite the jaunt to get there. We’d have to walk to the opposite side of the Bunker using the main corridor. We were almost sure to run afoul of some sort of trouble.
As Ruth curled up for sleep, I found that I could use a bit of rest as well. Checking my watch, it was 12:30 already — midday, but the mission had been so eventful and I’d gotten so little sleep the night before that a nap did not sound like a bad proposition. Besides, Ruth was right. We had to give time for the Howlers to go away before we could chance the rock tunnel again.
So, I laid down, and Anna put her back to mine, facing the direction of the door. My last sensation before falling immediately asleep was the green of the plants and the buzz of the grow lights.
We awoke sometime later. I checked my watch.
5:00.
“Damn,” I said.
Anna and Ruth were still sleeping. It had been four and a half hours, probably enough time for the Howlers to have cleared out.
I stood, feeling a bit drowsy. I walked over to Ruth and knelt down.
“Hey,” I said.
Ruth started, her entire body doing a little jump. From her eyes it was clear she didn’t know who I was. It lasted half a second before recognition dawned.
“Sorry,” I said quietly. “It’s been over four hours. Maybe we should get going.”
Now alert, Ruth nodded. From behind, Anna stirred.
It didn’t take long to gather our things. We filled my pack with food — apples, oranges, anything that would travel well. We also packed the rest of the walnuts. We refilled our canteens from one of the irrigation lines. It was slow going, so while the girls filled up our canteens, I decided to try and find a better spot for reception to reach Makara.
“I’ll be back,” I said, holding up the radio.
The women nodded as I walked off. This attempt at communication was somewhat pointless, but it was worth a shot. Makara would be worried sick not hearing from us for this long. She might feel forced to come after us unless she realized we had a shot of getting out on our own.
“Makara, you have a copy?”
I walked a few steps more. I left the grow lights behind, entering a shadowy area of the Hydroponics Lab. Thick foliage covered the lane I walked on, reducing Anna’s and Ruth’s voices to nothing. There was nothing but the buzz of lights, the clack of my boots on metal, the hissing of static. On my left rose the one living walnut tree in Bunker 108, its upper roots bathed in translucent hydroponic fluid. The nuts in their thick husks carpeted the floor thickly along with fallen leaves, so much so that as I walked, my boots crunched over them.
I listened intently to my radio, but no voice came through — as expected. I sighed, stopping on the other side of the lab. I was far from both Anna and Ruth. If I couldn’t pick up Makara here, then I couldn’t pick her up anywhere.
I had raised the radio to my mouth once more when…
“…Hello, Alex.”
A male voice I didn’t recognize garbled through the radio. I stared at it, wondering if I’d misheard.
“Who is this?” I asked.
Silence. My heart raced. Finally, the man answered.
“You let him in, three months ago,” the voice rasped. “Now, you’ll have to let him out.”
I let him in? It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about: the infected man from Bunker 114.
“I asked you a question,” I said. “Who is this?”
The man didn’t respond for a long time. When he finally did, his voice sent chills down my spine.
“You have to let him out.”
“What do you mean, him? No one’s in here.”
I had no idea who or what this crazy man was talking about. I thought of what Ruth told me about Old Darcy. Could this really be…?
“Darcy?”
There was silence for a moment.
“Yes,” Darcy said. “Good to know I’m not forgotten.”
“Everyone knows about you. I didn’t think you were alive.”
Darcy gave a sigh, long and tired.
“I never got enough credit,” Darcy said. “No one believed me about Bunker One. They were hiding it from us. There’s a lesson for you, Alex. You tell the truth and they lock you up.”
“What truth was that?”
“They let it in there. Just like you let it in here.” The man sighed. “It was only a matter of time.”
“Is that why you killed them, then?”
Darcy went quiet. “You know nothing. I loved my family. It had to be done. They were infected.”
“Or maybe you were just paranoid.”
“Lies,” Darcy said, with a snarl. “We will all fall, one day. I had to stop it while there was a chance to. Something you should have done, Alex. Sacrifices must be made.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I heard your girlfriend talking to you. Makara, was it? She’s got a pretty fancy toy. Not every day you hear Odin mentioned.”
“How do you know about that?”
Darcy laughed. “I know more than you think, Alex. Much more.”
I realized that Darcy knowing about Odin probably wasn’t too Earth-shattering. He had been a colonel, after all, and could have been privy to that information.
“But let’s get back to you,” Darcy said. “Maybe I should thank you for letting him in. When you did, they let me out.”
“Why?” I asked.
Darcy chuckled. “Why? Because I told them what they wanted to hear. And they believed me. People will believe anything they want to be true, Alex. Never forget that.”
“Who let you out?”
“Officer Burton did personally. Put a gun in my hand himself. Maybe they all died, in the end. I survived. And that’s what matters.”
“Where are you?”
Darcy sighed, disappointed. “Alex, I’m not going to tell you that. That would be no fun.”
“What do you want from us?”
“I want out of here. I want the open air and freedom and…” Darcy sighed. “I don’t know what I want, to be honest, Alex. I thought I wanted the girl for a while. Elusive, that one. I’m very lonely, you see. I’ve been living in the dark too long.”
I said nothing for a moment. I wondered if I was being too loud — if my voice was only serving to draw the Howlers back to me.
“I’m tired of this,” I said. “Goodbye.”
I paused, waiting for a response. But nothing came.
That was when I heard a metal door slam open from somewhere beyond the lab. All doors to the lab itself were shut and barricaded. Still, I heard the cries of Howlers from outside the door nearest me, maybe twenty feet away. Suddenly, that door was getting slammed, rattling the furniture gathered in front of it.
And judging by the way the furniture was being scooted back along the floor, that barricade wasn’t going to last long.