Kyle West - Apocalypse

“Come on, brat.”

We got up again, and headed in the direction we had been going.

“We have to be careful,” Makara said. “There are only two of us, which makes us prime targets. Raiders go after the guaranteed kills. If I were raiding, my eyes would pop as soon as I saw us two walking across this plain.”

We ascended a hill as we drew close to a narrowing in the valley, about a mile off. It was mid-morning. It seemed brighter than usual, for some reason. The weather had been more placid in the past couple days. Maybe the dying down of the wind affected how much dust stayed in the air.

Makara pointed ahead.

“See there, beyond that ridge of mountains?”

I could barely see them above the hills, but they were very tall.

“Yeah.”

“Oasis is past them. It’s just like it sounds. There’s an oasis there, and a big town grew up around it.”

As the morning went on, I thought of Makara, being a raider. I was traveling with a raider. Someone who had stolen. Someone who had killed.

Maybe someone who had murdered.

I didn’t know why I was not afraid. I also didn’t know why I was so quick to believe her story about Bunker One. Everything seemed to fit, I guess.

“So, why did you really decide to leave that group?” I asked. “It must’ve been pretty bad if you’d rather go with me.”

“It was simple, really. Brux is a bad man, even for a raider. Most raiders kill because they must. Yes, raiding turns them bad. But Brux loves killing. He’ll do it even when there’s no reason to. Raiding is your only choice when you don’t have a home. Most of these settlements won’t take in outsiders. For good reason. Most outsiders are trouble. The settlements learned from their mistakes. Raiders will pretend to be nice, or hurt, or whatever, to get inside settlements and scout them. It takes an amazing feat to be accepted into a settlement these days. Either that, or plenty of batts. In a way, it just makes the problem worse. Good people who could contribute to settlements are turned away. They have to eat, too. So they become raiders.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

Makara was quiet for a moment. “Sort of.”

Suddenly, Makara stopped.

“What?” I asked.

She pushed hard down on my shoulder. Both of us fell to the ground and scurried behind a boulder. She held a finger to her mouth. She poked her head around, and quickly pulled it back. She rolled her eyes.

“I don’t believe it…” she whispered.

“What?”

“Somehow, they got ahead of us.”

A gun went off, sending a spray of chipped rock at my face.

“I thought they were behind us!” I said.

“Same. They probably guessed where we were heading, and went to cut off the only way there.”

“Where are they? I didn’t see anything.”

“There’s an outcrop of rocks maybe a stone’s throw away. I saw one of them behind one.”

A few more bullets fired before a gruff male voice called them down.

It was dead quiet. Even the wind stopped. I could feel my heart beating madly in my chest.

Finally, the same gravelly, slimy voice who had called the shots off yelled out.

“Come out, Makara. We won’t kill you. I promise. I just want the pack back. That’s it.”

Makara gave a savage laugh, loud enough for only me to hear. “Like we’re going to fall for that.”

“How the hell are we going to get out of this?” I asked.

She reached in her bag, and pulled out a canister with a lever.

“This should do the trick.”

“What the…”

“Tear gas,” she said. “I hope it’s enough of a distraction.”

“You hope ?”

“If you got a better idea, I’d like to hear it. After a lob this, we’ll take off for those hills to the east. On the other side, there’s a trail that leads to Oasis.”

I looked at the twisted hills uncertainly, not sure if there would be a way across. But what other choice did we have?

Makara pulled the plug on the tear gas canister, waited a couple seconds, and threw the damn thing over her shoulder. There were shouts of alarm, and then I heard a thud. Shortly after, the canister popped, and spewed gas into the air.

“Now,” she said.

She sprinted from the shelter of the rock toward the hills. I took off after her.

I’d never run so fast in my life. I could hear the tear gas hissing behind us.

A few seconds later, the shots started.

I chanced a look back. There were five of them. Three of them, including Brux, were grabbing at their eyes, wailing in pain. The other two ran after us, rifles in hand.

“Run!” Makara yelled. “Don’t look back!”

From time to time, a shot went off. A bullet whizzed past my ear. If I had been a few inches further to the right, I would have been dead.

After a minute, we slowed from a sprint to a fast run. After a mile at this pace, I was ready to die. I was in decent enough shape…or at least, I thought I was. I was nothing compared to Makara. The only thing that kept me going was sheer necessity.

Despite my lagging behind, we were gaining the lead. The backpack was heavy on me, and I felt it bobbing up and down on my shoulders. God, all this trouble for some batteries. I could hear them tinkle in time with my strides. It was like they were mocking me.

Makara had long slowed to a steady jog now, but I couldn’t go on. I collapsed to the ground.

Makara stopped. “Sometimes, I forget you haven’t walked more than a mile a day in your entire life, much less run one.”

I was breathing too hard to protest. I felt like I was going to puke. Maybe I would have if there had actually been something in my stomach.

She took me by my sweaty palm.

“You need to get up,” Makara said. She had already regained her breath.

I still lay on the ground, my pulse pounding in my brain. Finally, I let Makara pull me up. I walked beside her. She was still setting a fast pace, but I didn’t complain.

We spent the rest of the morning climbing through the line of hills, trying to break out onto the other side. I looked back at the valley, but didn’t see our pursuers.

“Are they going to follow us still?” I asked.

“Yes. If we can make Oasis, we should be safe.”

“Great.”

We found a pass, and worked our way through to the other side. When we made it, my breath caught in my throat. Before us, I could see a vast expanse of red going in all directions. In front of me, miles and miles out, was a sharp, jagged line of mountains. Their crowns were crested with snow. The entire flatland reflected a strange, golden glow.

A long, brown line snaked its way across the plain, close to the foothills. It took me a moment to realize it was the trail Makara spoke of. Along it I could see a long cloud of dust rising from the red earth.

“What is that?”

Makara squinted. “It’s a caravan. Going to Oasis, from the looks of it.”

“Maybe they can take us with them.”

“Yes,” Makara said. “Maybe they can. There is safety in numbers, after all.”

Before I could say anything else, Makara was bounding down the hill. I hurried to catch up.

As we came closer to the dust cloud, I could see shapes moving within it. Then, I saw people, walking among animals laden with goods. The animals had long necks and long, brown hair. Each had a large hump on their backs.

“Are those…camels?”

Makara nodded. “Yeah.”

“Camels…in California? Or was my Bunker actually built halfway across the world?”

“No. There were zoos before…you do know what those are, right?”

“I’m not an idiot.”

Makara smirked, as if she might contend that. “There was a really big zoo in San Diego, which was not too far from here. Anyway, when Meteor crashed down, there was no one to take care of the animals. In the chaos, some escaped. Unlike most other animals, camels are built for harsh, dry environments. They would have thrived here, even while everything else died off. I imagine the dry weather is their cup of tea.” She shrugged. “That’s my theory, anyway.”