Apocalypse (The Wasteland Chronicles, #1) by Kyle West Page B

water –
there would be none until Oasis.
    We never stopped, not even once, as we
plodded north. It no longer felt cold – in fact, I had broken into
a light sweat. I was getting used to the work of walking, though
there was a constant gnawing at my belly. The promise of a hot meal
was all that kept me going.
    We passed a few buildings, hills, rocky
outcrops, and the day never brightened beyond a dull, monotonous
red. As evening came, we crested a rise and came to a valley
covered with sand, surrounded in the distance by a ring of low,
brown mountains. Wooden buildings crowded around a small lake in
the center of the valley, and a circular, wooden wall surrounded
the settlement.
    As we paused before the sight, my heart
swelled with happiness. After everything, we had finally made
it.
    “Oasis,” Makara said. “It is good to see
you.”
    It was thirty minutes before we stood before
the giant wooden gate. Two muscled guards sat in fold-out chairs in
the watchtower connected to it. Each had a rifle propped next to
him. They scowled as we stopped before the entrance.
    “Not looking good, Makara…”
    “Quiet. You’re making me nervous.”
    Neither of the guards said a word. One was
tall and black, and chewed on a cigar, letting the ash fall to his
feet. The other was tan with cropped blond hair. They stared down
at Makara and me from their perch.
    We stood there a while, Makara never breaking
her gaze from the men’s after mine had long fallen to the sand.
    Finally, the black guard spoke. “What do you
want with us, Raider? You know you and your ilk are unwelcome
within these walls.”
    “I am not a Raider,” Makara said, her voice
level. Her calm voice carried as well as a shout would. “Just a
traveler, seeking a place to rest.”
    “Humph,” The guard said. “A likely story.
Then the caravan leader who now rests safely within our walls must
be lying. He saw you with the Raiders yesterday. They made off with
quite a bit of loot. I’m surprised your share wasn’t great enough
to keep you from begging here.”
    “We oughta shoot you on sight,” the blond
guard drawled.
    The black guard smiled at that. I was ready
to turn around. But Makara stood her ground.
    “Let me speak to Elder Ohlan.”
    The black guard’s eyes narrowed. “Elder Ohlan
need not speak with scum such as you. I suggest you turn back. Now.
Before I put a bullet in your head.”
    “Ohlan knows me. And I knew Raine. I am
Makara of the Lost Angels.”
    The guards exchanged curious looks. The blond
guard nodded, and the black guard turned to speak to Makara.
    “Those are not light words you speak, Angel,”
the black guard said, adding a note of skepticism to that word.
“Many would claim allegiance with the Angels. What proof do you
have?”
    “This,” Makara said, lifting her sleeve.
    The blond guard fiddled with something behind
him. A spotlight clicked on, throwing a beam of bright light on us.
I held my hand to my eyes. The light clicked off.
    “Well enough, traveler,” the black guard
said. “If that work is false, then it is well done. I will tell
Ohlan you are here. I will return when I have an answer.”
    The black guard left; the other one stood
watching, holding his gun and looking ready to use it.
    “Don’t say a word,” Makara said softly. “With
luck, Ohlan will remember me. The Lost Angels are still highly
spoken of in the Wastes. And…Ohlan has another reason to let me
in.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Raine. He was not like the other gang lords.
He was good. He helped people. He even helped build Oasis’s walls.
He’s the reason the Raiders don’t own everything up to the border
of L.A.”
    We stood in front of the gate for a while.
The blond guard stood like a statue, paying no heed to our
conversation.
    “How do you know Ohlan, anyway?”
    “I guess I forgot to tell you that part,”
Makara said. “Ohlan is Raine’s brother.”

Chapter 17
     
    We waited a long time. With the night came
the chill, and it