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

throbbed. Footsteps
crunched on the ground near my head.
    “Wake up,” a female voice said.
    I rolled on my back, facing upward. My vision
was hazy, and the cave was dark, so I could not make out what she
looked like. It appeared that she was alone, however.
    “Who are you?” I asked. “Was it you who
attacked me?”
    “ I’m the one asking the questions,
thief.”
    “Thief?”
    “You stole a Raider’s backpack.”
    “He probably stole it first.”
    The girl didn’t say anything for a moment. I
pulled myself up into a sitting position. She merely stood there in
the darkness, watching me. Beyond the cave mouth spread grayish red
sky. It was morning.
    “You’re not going to kill me, are you?” I
asked.
    “No,” she said. “Lucky for you, I’m ready to
split from them. If it had been anyone else who caught you, you’d
be dead.”
    The girl knelt down. As my vision cleared,
and her face got closer, I recognized her instantly. She was the
one who had been watching from behind the rock. Instantly, anger
burned within me.
    “ You …” I said, through gritted
teeth.
    She was the reason the whole Bunker
fell. She had been the one who left that diseased body right
where Michael and I had found it.
    Her eyes went wide with recognition.
“You’re…you’re that Bunker kid. What the hell are you doing out
here?”
    I stood, clenching my fists. “Everyone I know
is dead because of you!”
    She stared. “What are you talking about,
kid?”
    She wasn’t that much older than me – maybe
nineteen or twenty. She had long, black hair, and hazel eyes. Her
skin was a creamy mocha color, and she was very much in shape. She
was very pretty as well, and her looks took me aback for a moment.
Despite her beauty, there was a hardness to her features that this
world had given her, making her appear older than she would have
had she grown up in a Bunker. It was hard to place her ethnicity,
but she seemed Asian.
    “You stabbed that man, and we brought him
back,” I said. “He infected everyone in the Bunker, and now
everyone I know is dead. I should have shot you the minute I saw
you.”
    She just stared at me, my words clearly
having no effect. Why hadn’t I killed her? Why didn’t I tell
Michael on the recon? None of this would have happened. My dad,
Khloe, everyone else…they would all still be alive. Then I realized
that this wasn’t her fault. It was mine. That realization was
almost enough for me to break down, right there.
    “Hey, kid. Calm down. I don’t want to hurt
you.”
    “ Hurt me? I don’t care what you do to
me. I couldn’t care less. I have nothing now because of
you.”
    “First of all, shut the hell up and give me a
chance to explain myself. Alright?”
    Sizing her up, I knew she could probably take
me in a fight. Let’s face it; she was a lot more in shape than me, and she had a pistol holstered at her side.
    I sat down on a large rock and crossed my
arms. I knew I was being childish, but it was hard to keep myself
under control.
    “Alright,” the girl said. “We found the guy
lying on the side of the road. He looked dead. We were going to
pass him up, but he groaned as we walked past him. We stopped. The
guys wanted to kill him, more for sport than anything else. There
was nothing I could do to stop them. I just wanted to keep moving.
But Brux stabbed him, three times in the back. We hauled his body
off the road.”
    “Brux?” I asked.
    “Blond crew cut,” Makara said, a scowl on her
face. “Scar on his nose. Nasty excuse for a human being.” She
sighed. “Then, you guys came, so I hid. I thought you might
have seen me. But I guess you didn’t, because you didn’t say
anything. I was ready to split if anything happened.”
    I should have said something to
Michael, back when I had the chance. Bunker 108 would still be
here, and I’d still have my life. I didn’t tell that to the girl,
though.
    “I had no idea you would take him in,” she
went on. “So did everyone really die?