I found him in the same position as before — lying on his back with various tubes sticking in his body.
Sitting by his bed was someone I hadn’t expected: Ruth.
She gave an apologetic smile as I entered.
“Sorry,” she said. “I was just covering for Lauren while she got some rest.”
“No need to apologize,” I said. I pulled up a nearby stool, sitting at the end of the bed. “How are things going?”
Ruth shrugged, looking at Samuel. “I don’t know. It’s all very overwhelming. Lauren being here makes things easier.”
I nodded. It was amazing to think that as many as five people had survived Bunker 108 — Michael, Lauren, their daughter Callie, and now both Ruth and I. Just a couple of weeks ago I thought I had been the only survivor.
“We’ve got a small piece of our community here,” I said. “It used to be just me.”
Ruth forced a smile. “Then that makes us the same, then.”
At that moment, Michael and Lauren walked into the clinic. They both watched Ruth and me for a moment, seeming surprised to see us here.
“Well, this is a reunion if I ever saw one,” Lauren said.
From the corridor came the sound of a little girl’s exuberant scream. Like a rocket, Callie ran into Michael’s legs as if trying to knock him down. Michael smiled, taking the brunt of the impact with ease. He grabbed Callie, who squealed as Michael lifted her high into the air, a smile stretched across his face. Both Lauren and Ruth laughed. Even I managed a smile.
At last, Michael set the little girl down. His brown eyes looked warm and happy. Ever since finding him in Vegas, I hadn’t seen him much with his family. I realized he had a lot to balance; being both a soldier and a father. Lauren probably wasn’t happy that Michael would be in harm’s way again, but I knew Michael wanted to do his part, especially since he was such a capable fighter.
“Thanks for saving our lives,” I said to him.
Michael arched an eyebrow. “Which time?”
“The Bunker,” I said. “You left your keycard by the motor pool.”
Michael looked at Lauren. “It was her idea, actually.”
Lauren smiled. “I knew we wouldn’t need it past that point. I guess I just had a feeling about it.”
“Thank you,” I said.
It felt good having everyone together. We had all come a long way since the fall of Bunker 108, and there was always hope for a new beginning now that all of our paths had crossed once again. I wondered if anyone else was out there from 108 that we just didn’t know about. It was certainly possible, especially if some had gone west toward Los Angeles rather than east toward Vegas.
Even still, five people surviving that night seemed a miracle in and of itself. It was something to be grateful for. It was too bad we would all have to be in harm’s way again, especially Michael, who had his family. It wasn’t going to be the last time we risked ourselves, either.
I looked out the open doorway.
“Is it time?” Michael asked.
I nodded. “Probably so.”
Michael lifted his daughter into the air, giving her a fierce hug and planting a kiss on her forehead. Callie, realizing that her dad was leaving yet again, started to cry. Lauren grabbed her, setting her on the ground and holding her back from chasing after her father.”
“Be back soon, Callie-boo-boo.”
Callie sniffled. “You promise?”
Michael nodded. “Promise.”
Next, Michael hugged his wife, kissing her on the lips.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
Lauren looked into his eyes, saying nothing. Maybe she knew there might be a time where he didn’t come back.
“Please don’t do this again,” she said.
Michael nodded. “This should be nothing. After this, I’ll take a break for a while.”
“You said that last time.”
“I mean it, Lauren.”
Lauren sighed, and nodded. “Okay. I’ll let you go. One last time.”
Michael kissed her again. A moment later, he and I left the clinic and headed for Odin.
An hour later, Odin was prepped and ready to fly. We found the warmest clothing we could. We all had thick parkas with more layers beneath. I slipped my Beretta into an inside pocket of my parka and carried my AR in my hands. Besides weapons, we also had plenty of food. We had offloaded most of it for the Exodus to use in case it did take longer than a couple of days to do this. We left enough for the five of us to last for three days, which was far longer than we planned on staying at Bunker 84.
The last of our preparations made, we found our seats on the bridge as Ashton began liftoff. A crowd had gathered below the ship — Makara, Char, Marcus, and even several of the gang lords, including Cain and Rey. Makara held up a single hand in farewell as the gang lords stared on with hollow eyes in the dull light of the Wasteland. It was late morning.
The ship turned north, leaving behind the walls of Pyrite. I was pushed back in my seat as Odin accelerated.
We said very little that first hour. I merely watched the landscape below pass — a ceaseless red and brown of valleys, mountains, and dead trees. The lines of old highways cut through the landscape like cracks, empty now for thirty years. Lifeless cities spread across the flatter areas, buildings crumbling and disintegrating into the surrounding Wasteland.
The land transitioned from the brownish red of the Wasteland to a dull, monochrome gray. Clouds darkened, despite its being midmorning, casting the land below in shadow. The air grew thick with dust.
“It should be getting brighter, not darker…” Julian said.
“The dust is thicker here for some reason,” Ashton said.
“Something to do with Ragnarok?” I asked.
“Perhaps,” Ashton said.
If dust kicked up by the meteor was less prevalent in equatorial regions, then maybe it was more prevalent farther north. We had only gone a couple of hundred miles, so it seemed strange that such a short distance could have such a large effect.
The landscape changed from low valleys, hills, and dead forests into mountains. The dust was so thick that we could barely see the mountains below. Ashton slowed the ship out of concern for safety. It was dark and miserable.
Ashton turned the ship to port, angling us downward.
“We’re almost there,” he said. “Coordinates are showing that we’re almost on top of it.”
There was no way to see anything below, but that didn’t stop me from trying. A hulking mountain rose ahead of us, cold and gray. I wondered: if it was this dim during the day, how dark would it be at night? I imagined that the darkness would be absolute. We had to hurry and get inside the Bunker and then return to the ship before that happened.
We paused in midair at a hover. Ashton angled the ship downward, to get a full view of the mountainside.
He pointed ahead. “Somewhere in there. That’s our target.”
I saw nothing but bare mountainside. It looked cold as hell out there.
“Let’s scan the area,” I said. “Might find something if we’re a bit closer.”
Ashton nodded, edging the ship closer to the mountain. There was nothing but sheer cliffs, long-dead trees, and massive boulders.
“They didn’t want anyone getting in, did they?” Anna asked.
Michael grunted. “Guess not.”
Julian watched ahead intently, saying nothing.
We began our sweep of the mountain. We searched for ten minutes in vain, finding nothing but rock.
“We have to find somewhere flatter,” I said. “They couldn’t have built the Bunker door into sheer cliff.”
Or at least, I didn’t think they could have.
“I think you’re right,” Ashton said.