But at least we had the chance to go down fighting. Like Khloe had.
Anna stood next to me and laid a hand on my shoulder. I wrapped my right arm around her waist. She leaned into me, silent.
“This is it, isn’t it?” she asked.
I nodded. This was it. Or at least that was what I had thought three months ago, when I had left this spot behind and wandered into the Wasteland with nothing but the clothes on my back and a pack filled with a blanket, water, and granola. That had been the beginning of a whole new life — a whole new person. It was a life that, surprisingly, lasted more than a couple of weeks. And now here I was — standing with someone I loved over the grave of someone I had loved.
“Come on,” I said.
We turned from the grave and trod south in the direction of the Bunker door, about a mile distant. Making peace with my past, such as I could, gave me a strength to go on that I had not expected. With Anna by my side, I could handle scouting this Bunker. I could handle anything.
At least, that was my hope.
Chapter 2
“It’s open.”
Anna stared into the dark opening of Bunker 108. That vault door, which Khloe and I had closed so long ago, had swung inward all the way. Either the wind had blown it open, which I found unlikely, or someone, or something, had come out after us on that dreadful night long ago. Or, perhaps, someone had gone in. I didn’t know which prospect was the worst.
If someone had gone inside — a Raider, perhaps, seeking spoils — the odds that they had come back out again were very slim.
And yet, that was what we planned on doing. If the door was open then there was a chance the Howlers had gotten out. Whatever that door being open meant, one thing was clear: neither of us had expected it.
“Should we still go in?” Anna asked.
I hesitated. I wanted to say “no,” but Makara would probably want us to scout this out. You didn’t just turn tail and run when you encountered the unexpected.
“Let me raise her.”
I put the radio to my mouth. “Makara. Got a copy?”
Static sizzled from the speaker as Anna and I waited for what seemed an eternity. Finally, Makara responded.
“Go ahead.”
“We’re here. The door is open. Khloe and I didn’t leave it like this. It means someone has gone in or come out since then.”
I stared into the darkness. I imagined Makara, sitting safe on the deck of Gilgamesh, two hundred miles distant. Was she going to decide to risk our lives?
“Proceed with recon?” I asked.
Finally, Makara answered. “Do you…smell anything?”
It seemed a strange question at first, but I soon realized its significance. Anything infected with the xenovirus carried a trademark rotting odor.
I inhaled deeply, the icy cold air stinging my lungs. I smelled absolutely nothing.
“Negative,” I said.
“We could proceed just partway in,” Anna said. “There’s no way we can find out anything standing here.”
That much was true. And it seemed a huge waste to fly all the way down here just to turn back. Why would Makara send us if she didn’t plan on…
“Go ahead and proceed with the recon,” Makara said. “Odin should be there late afternoon after it drops the last of the food. That gives you guys six hours to find out what you can. And if anything jumps out at you…run away. Don’t fight. Run to that creature and get in the air first thing.”
“Copy that. I’m turning the radio off, but we’ll update you soon. Over and out.”
I clicked the radio off and clipped it to my belt. I set my pack on the ground, fumbling in its largest pocket for my flashlight. I withdrew it and clicked it on, pointing it into the dark Bunker with my left hand. I threw on my pack once more, drawing my Beretta from its holster with my right, all the while pointing the flashlight into the empty rock tunnel. Anna unsheathed her katana, a metallic ring sounding in the cold air.
“Alright,” I said. “Ready?”
Anna shrugged. “As much as I’ll ever be.”
It was the best either of us was going to get. I walked toward the dark entrance and crossed the threshold.
The darkness deepened as we left the open entrance behind. It warmed somewhat out of the wind. I almost wanted to close the door for the sake of warmth, but I knew that this was a bad idea. It was dark enough in here and I didn’t want to compound the problem.
The rock tunnel sloped away from the entrance. Being inside brought on a surreal feeling. On one hand, it felt like coming home — after stripping it of everything that felt like home and replacing it with something hostile and dark. Bunker 108 would be completely empty of human life by now, and filled with something…else.
I didn’t pause in my advance down the tunnel, even when I knew what my first sight would be. Khloe’s parents would be somewhere up ahead, lying dead in the darkness, ripped and torn and likely still rotting from their deaths three months ago
Or, at least, I thought they would be. I scanned my flashlight beam down the tunnel, finding absolutely nothing. It was as if the tunnel had been cleared by someone — or something. Even the remains of Chan’s ruptured corpse were absent.
“There should be bodies here,” I said softly. “Chan. Khloe’s parents. They’re all gone, now.”
“Where do you think they went?”
I didn’t have an answer for her. “I have no idea.”
We reached the end of the tunnel and stopped before the inner vault door. Why or how that was closed, I had, again, no idea. Khloe and I had left it open. Maybe we weren’t the last ones out. I didn’t think Howlers were intelligent enough to close a door. A person had to have done it. Could someone have survived the infection and come out of hiding, escaping the Bunker days after it had been first infected? They would have closed the inner door, and perhaps left the outer one open in their panic to escape.
There was no way we could speculate from this position. We would have to go further into the Bunker.
“What now?” Anna whispered.
I cautiously stepped forward, pressing my ear against the cold metal. I heard nothing but my own pulse thrumming in my ear. I waited a moment longer. Silence.
“Should we go in?” Anna asked.
This was the only way in available, not counting the motor pool entrance. The latch was just inches from my hand. But I made no move to open it. It could lead to both of our deaths just an instant later if something was waiting on the other side.
But that wasn’t all. Something about this place wasn’t adding up. I had expected bodies. I had expected Howlers. But so far, none of these things had appeared. We would know nothing for sure until we opened this door. And I wasn’t sure if we should do even that. So far, there had been no bodies, no threats. For all we knew, Bunker 108 really was safe.
My own intuition, however, said the opposite. If only there were some way to see inside without risking ourselves…
“What’s that?” Anna asked.
She was pointing back toward the entrance. Sitting to the side of the door was a computer station. It was what the guards used to watch outside the Bunker. Maybe it was also connected to the rest of Bunker 108’s security network. If so, we might even be able to see inside the Bunker.
“We could see if it still works,” I said. “The power probably went off months ago.”