Apocalypse (The Wasteland Chronicles, #1) (4 page)

I nodded. “Yeah. A woman was watching from
behind a rock. She ducked away fast, but I’m sure I saw her. I was
the only one to notice. I even drew a picture of her.”

“Can I see it?”

I shook my head. “I tore it up.”

Khloe sighed. “So that’s what’s been
bothering you?”

“You say it like it isn’t a big deal.”

“No, it is.”

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know why I
didn’t say anything to Michael about it…”

My voice trailed off. The words died on the
dark walls. I waited for Khloe to say something.

“I feel like I made a huge mistake.”

“I just wonder who she was,” Khloe finally
said.

“I think it’s possible she killed the man. I
mean, she was in the same area.”

“Maybe. She could have also been a friend. A
family member. A lover. Who knows?”

“I don’t think so. It’s just a feeling I
have.”

“So, why
didn’t
you say anything?”

Nothing in her tone was accusatory. But
still, I was defensive.

“I don’t know. She was young, maybe a little
older than us. But she wasn’t one of us. She was a Wastelander for
sure.”

Khloe was quiet. It made me nervous since she
was always so chatty.

“You can’t tell anyone,” I said. “I know you
won’t, but I just want to be sure. Something bad could happen if
anyone found out.”

“Does your dad know?”

“I told him after dinner. He didn’t have the
chance to give me advice because Chan walked in.”

Khloe winced. “He didn’t hear anything, did
he?”

“I’m sure he didn’t. If he did, I would be
talking to him now instead of you.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“I can’t tell anyone. I can’t.” I shook my
head. “Maybe she killed him. But something tells me there’s more to
it than that. And…I didn’t want her to die. If I had said
something, Michael would have been forced to do something about
it.” I shrugged. “Maybe he noticed, too, but didn’t say anything,
either.”

“Maybe,” Khloe said. “Who knows how many
Wastelanders have slipped through the cracks that way? I know we’re
taught they’re dangerous, but they’re people too, right? The point
is, you shouldn’t feel bad. Something inside you told you to stay
quiet. As far as you know, that’s the right choice. Don’t beat
yourself up about it.”

“Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”

Then again, maybe not. The woman was a
Wastelander, and all Wastelanders have the capacity for violence.
Who was to say she wouldn’t lead anyone else here?

“I can’t help but feel that I’ll be the
reason for the fall of Bunker 108.”

“You can’t keep thinking like that,” Khloe
said. “You have to believe that you did right, or you’ll go
crazy.”

I nodded. Anyone could have explained it to
me using those words, but because it was Khloe, they stuck.

“Thanks,” I said. “You’re right.”

Khloe smiled. “Of course I am. Girls are
always
right.”

“I guess so.”

“What happened with the guy you brought
in?”

“He’s in quarantine.”

“Quarantine? Is he sick?”

“He’s sick with the xenovirus. Not directly,
but there are infected microbes in his bloodstream that are killing
him. My dad thinks he doesn’t have long now.”

Even in the darkness, I saw Khloe’s face go
white. Not many knew about the xenovirus, since technically it was
supposed to be top secret, but I’d told Khloe a little bit about
it.

“The xenovirus isn’t supposed to affect
people, is it?”

“No. Like I said, it’s not affecting him
directly. It’s getting him sick through the microbes, which are
tainted. My dad is hoping to cure him, but I’m not so optimistic.
My dad’s been working on the xenovirus for a long time.”

“Will
you
be alright? You were around
him…”

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t
worried. My dad said as long as I didn’t touch the wounds, I would
be fine. I don’t think I touched anything.”

“
Think?”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t.”

She sighed. “I don’t like that answer.”

“I feel fine,” I said.

“You need to wash up. You probably didn’t
even wash your hands before eating.”

She smiled, and touched my face. My cheeks
burned – I hadn’t expected that.

She pulled her hand back. There was dirt on
it.

“
Told
you.”

Before I had a chance to react, a shadow fell
over us from the still-open doorway to the corridor.

We both got up, and spun around.

It was Chan.

Chan stood in the doorway, surveying us with
his brown eyes. Khloe and I just stared at him, shocked. After a
long while, he spoke.

“Miss Kline, please return to your family’s
apartment. I must speak with Alex alone.”

Khloe nodded, casting me a worried
glance.

“Mr. Keener. Follow me.”

I followed Officer Chan, my thoughts racing.
What did he know? How could he know anything at all? My dad
wouldn’t have said anything…would he?

We left the chapel, walking through the
corridors in silence until we reached a hallway I rarely frequented
– the Officers’ Wing. Chan’s office was at the far end. A guard
whom I recognized, but whose name I did not know, was posted by the
door. He cast me a suspicious glance but said nothing as Chan and I
entered.

Chan’s office had a desk with a computer and
papers on it. On either side was an identical nondescript wooden
chair. On the far wall hung a large map, detailing Southern
California in the Old World. Red pins were stuck in key places,
though only Chan and perhaps a few others knew their significance.
The office was bare, utilitarian.

“You may sit,” Chan said.

I sat in the near chair; Chan remained
standing, facing away from me. Though short, he appeared tall and
domineering.

“Close the door, Officer Burton.”

The Officer nodded, and shut the door from
outside. The silence that followed was thick.

“How was your first recon, Alex?”

It seemed a strange question, given what had
happened.

“I wish it could have gone more simply.”

Chan wheeled around to face me, hands behind
his back. I heard him crack his knuckles. The corners of his mouth
remained horizontal.

“I have called you in for two reasons. The
first was to inform you that a new strain of the xenovirus has been
discovered.”

I stared at Chan for a moment in mute shock.
It was just thirty minutes ago that I had left the medical bay,
believing that it was only the microbes that were infected.

“What?” I asked.

“I watched your father run another test after
you left. I personally saw him place the man’s DNA under a
microscope, and clearly, whatever it showed was
not
entirely
human. Your father never thought the xenovirus would be advanced
enough to affect a human directly; that’s why he would think to
test only for the microbes to begin with.” Chan smiled grimly. “I’m
glad that I insisted your father do this. I had a very bad feeling
from the beginning.”

I was still so overwhelmed with the
ramifications of a new strain of the xenovirus, one that affected
humans,
no less, that I could not answer. If the man was
infected, it could be communicable.

“I wanted to confirm this result to you in
person first,” Chan said. “Since you help your father with his
research, he will naturally share this breakthrough with you. You
are
not
permitted, however, to share it with anyone else,
under any circumstances. This is the main reason why I brought you
here. You must promise me that this will remain hidden until I say
otherwise. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I said. “Of course. So, the xenovirus
is actually
transforming
the man we found? As it would
plants?”

Chan nodded. “Your father is still in the
medical bay, working hard to understand this new threat. The man –
whoever he is – is beyond saving. We can only watch as his body
deteriorates, and take note of the effects the xenovirus has on
him. Hopefully, we can learn all we can before he expires.”

I remained silent in the pause that
followed.

“Now, Alex…did you tell anyone about the man?
Perhaps you told Miss Kline?”

I was a bit frazzled, so it was all I could
do to look Chan in the eye. “No. We were talking about school, for
the most part. I mentioned that the guy was sick, but nothing
more.”

Chan nodded. “I hope that was all it was,
Alex. Because if this gets out, the consequences could be
severe.”

He said nothing more on that subject, and
neither did I. It was hard to tell if he meant the consequences
could be severe for
everyone
in 108, or severe for me.
Perhaps he meant both.

“Now, I also wanted to know what happened on
the recon. Recount everything, beginning to end, and spare no
detail. Any piece of information could be important, even if you
believe it is trivial. Please, be specific as possible.”

“Alright.”

I told him. He seemed uninterested in what I
said, for the most part, but I saw his eyes, calculating. When I
got to the part where Michael and I found the man, Chan became more
alert.

“I saw the man, and he had several wounds in
his back. I watched Michael as he radioed back for help. We moved
him…”

Chan stopped me there. “You saw nothing else?
No one else? Obviously this man could not stab
himself
in
the back. There had to have been someone else there.”

My face twitched. I hoped it escaped Chan’s
notice. I’m sure it probably didn’t.

“No. Just the man.”

“It seems strange that a man with stab wounds
would be alive like that. It suggests the wounds were rather
recent. The person who inflicted the wounds would still be nearby,
by necessity. You saw nothing – no form, no footprints, no clues,
as to whether there had been someone else present?”

“No. If I saw footprints or anything I would
have told Michael. I guess he didn’t see anything, either.”

Chan just stared at me, willing more
information out. Finally, he nodded slowly, as if I had just
confirmed something he suspected.

“When the Bunkers were first established,
there were one hundred and forty-four – as you are well aware from
your schooling. Now how many are there?”

“Four.”

“Four.” He paused, to let it sink in. “You
are too young to know this, Alex, being only sixteen. But since
that day in 2030, when the Bunkers were filled, there was hope. The
Bunkers would arise and rebuild the nation Ragnarok had destroyed.
But the Bunkers failed, one by one. Most were wiped out by
Wastelanders. The commanders of the Bunkers were lax in security,
too generous in charity. They allowed survivors in, gave away food.
They didn’t keep their locations secret. They could not bring
themselves to shoot those who wandered by.

“And some…some Bunkers disappeared into the
night – here one day, gone the next, with no rhyme or reason why.
The situation has worsened as communication satellites have fallen
into disrepair, making contact with any Bunker
near-impossible.”

Chan paused, his eyes narrowing.

“Do you know why we are still alive, Alex? Do
you know why we have not fallen, just four left, still functioning,
out of one hundred and forty-four Bunkers?”

“Because no one knows we’re here.”

“That is correct. No one knows we are here.
So why go on recons at all? Well, we only send recons out in pairs,
except in extreme circumstances, once every week. The senior is
taught to look for things the junior is not privy to. Needless to
say, it is a very important task, well worth the risk of being
discovered. Very few wander near here, because they have learned to
avoid this area. But the Wasteland is a fluid place – things
change, and if we can’t keep tabs on our environment, we cannot
adapt to ever shifting situations, and may find ourselves
eliminated in that way.

“I am the Chief Security Officer. It is my
job to maintain the security and well-being of all Bunker
residents. I am entrusted by the government of the United States of
America with running this facility, and have been given license to
do whatever is necessary to ensure that. Whatever the cost.”

He stared at me a while longer. Almost, he
broke me with that will. But at last, he relented.

“If you remember anything about your recon,
you can talk to me personally. Remember what I said about the
xenovirus. Not a word.” He paused. “That is all.”

Just like that, the interrogation was over.
Chan turned his attention to some papers, and seemed to have
forgotten me in quick order.

But I had to ask one question before I opened
the door to go.

“Officer Chan…why was that man coming to our
Bunker, anyway?”

Chan looked up, trying to decipher what I
knew. Finally, he spoke.

“It is a matter of governmental security that
I cannot relay to you,” he said. “How he came to be infected in the
first place…” Chan frowned, lost in thought. “That is all I have to
say on that subject.”

“Yes, Officer Chan.”

I left Chan to his work, and closed the door
behind me.

Questions raced through my mind as I walked
home. By the time I returned to my father’s and my apartment, it
was 21:00. Only then did I allow myself to relax. As soon as I shut
the door, I heaved a huge sigh. Chan was the one person whose bad
side I didn’t want to be on. Up until now, I had done well in not
drawing attention to myself. Chan would forever remember this, and
it might make things difficult.

At least I had my dad to help with things.
Tomorrow, after class, I would speak with him. He would know what
to do.

I closed my eyes, trying to find peace. When
I opened them, I looked at my familiar surroundings. Our apartment
was two rooms – a bedroom, and a small living room. The living room
contained a couch, several bookshelves filled to overflowing, and a
large desk littered with papers and yet more books, where I did my
homework and my sketches.