“You’ve got to be kidding.” Ranger was the one who said it, but Sam could see it on Dodge’s face also.
Even Vienna, who had already guessed their destination, seemed unsure now that they were faced with the high barricaded fence that prevented entry to the contamination zone.
At Jean, the last inhabitable town before the zone, they had turned off the highway, continued north towards Vegas on the old Boulevard until they had reached the fence.
“You scared of a little fallout?” Sam asked, keeping his voice deliberately light. In truth, he too was starting to wonder if this was a good idea, after all.
“It’s a radioactive wasteland,” Ranger said. “A couple of hours in there and you’ll start glowing in the dark.”
“Just put your suit on,” Sam said.
“No way,” Ranger said.
“Okay.” Sam smiled at him. “If you want to go into the zone without a hazmat suit, that’s up to you.”
Ranger stared at him for a moment before taking the proffered suit and mask.
“Masks too?” Vienna asked.
“I think we’re okay for now,” Sam said. “As long as all the vents are shut.”
He got out and walked to the back of the pickup truck, unhooking the tarpaulin that covered the tray, reaching inside and pulling out the electronic sensor device in the leather carry case.
“A Geiger counter,” he said to their raised eyebrows. “We’ll monitor the radiation levels and avoid any areas that seem unsafe.” He turned the device on, which made an occasional clicking sound, and handed it to Dodge. “There’s a manual in the side pocket.”
“Who needs manuals?” Dodge replied with a grin.
“Just read it,” Sam said.
They got past the barrier simply by outflanking it. The fence extended into the distance in both directions but Sam knew the authorities couldn’t cordon off the entire desert and the pickup’s large tyres had rolled effortlessly over the scrubland eastwards.
Signs along the fence, every hundred yards, told of the contamination that lay beyond. They eventually reached the end of the fence and turned north until they connected up again with the old Boulevard.
The Mojave Desert surrounded them with nature’s own desolation: brown, hard-packed sand, corrugated with twisted patterns and decorated with nothing but the occasional clump of brown tussock. In the distance, dark mountains brooded in the early glow of the morning.
A sense of foreboding grew as they drew closer to the scene of the worst disaster in American history.
“Are you absolutely sure this is safe?” Vienna asked nervously at one point. Out of the window to their left they could see a freight train lying on its side in a tangle of carriages.
“The biggest problem here is the dust,” Sam replied. “The fallout from the explosion dropped thousands of tons of radioactive dust over the city. You don’t want that in your lungs or on your skin, but we should be safe in the truck with the vents shut. When we leave the truck, we can use the masks and respirators. The hazmat suits will keep the dust off our skin.”
“Are you sure that Ursula won’t be able to find us here?” Dodge asked.
“I am,” Sam said. “I did a school project on Las Vegas last year. The EMP – electromagnetic pulse – of the blast destroyed all electronic equipment. There are no computers, no cameras, no radios, nothing. In here, Ursula is blind.”
“What about satellites?” Vienna asked.
“Look up.”
The dirty haze above the desert was intensifying even further as they neared the city.
“Oil fires and underground garbage dumps have been burning for years. Las Vegas is in the middle of a big desert bowl, surrounded by mountains. That keeps the smog in one place. Depending on the wind direction, most days there is no satellite coverage at all. We’re in a big electronic, digital hole here and Ursula won’t be able to find us.”
Ahead of them, Sam could already see the ravaged buildings of southern Las Vegas. The Geiger counter seemed to be clicking a little faster, or was that just his imagination? A shudder ran up his spine, prickling the hair on the back of his neck.
“This is mad,” Ranger said. “You’re risking all our lives.”
Nobody listened.
The freeway and the Boulevard ran adjacent to one another as they approached Las Vegas, and at some point Vienna just let the wheels wander across the intervening scrubland to the smoother, faster surface of the freeway.
“Head north,” Sam said as they entered the outskirts of the city.
“Why north?” Vienna asked.
“The fallout from the explosion was blown southwards. On the northern side of the city we might find something.”
“Find what?” Dodge asked.
“Somewhere safe to stay,” Sam replied.
They passed communities of houses, expensive brick dwellings, abandoned and grimy with the dust of the desert. Few windows, if any, had survived.
Cars were scattered like toys across the freeway, on their sides, on their roofs, many burnt out and blackened. A construction crane had toppled over, the crisscrossed metal tower crumpled across the freeway, completely blocking all the lanes. Vehicles were piled up against it in a mound of vehicular garbage. They had to reverse back down the freeway and cross over to the other side to continue.
A huge hotel/casino loomed up to their right, showing no evidence of damage. Strange, Sam thought, for such a large building to have survived the conflagration unscathed.
As they passed it, Vienna looked back and gasped.
Sam turned as well. The southern facade might have been intact, but the northern side was a bombsite. A blackened mess of broken glass and shattered concrete. Torn fabric, perhaps curtains or bedsheets hung raggedly from the devastated rooms. Smashed and charred furniture littered the ground around the hotel.
The tenements and houses north of the hotel were still standing, but only just. Brickwork was cracked and roofs were birds’ nests of twisted timber.
A few blocks further north the devastation was much worse. The houses were completely gone, flattened into a pulp of crushed wood and crumbled bricks. The freeway was clear of cars here, wiped clean by the blast, but the tarmac was red with the dust of bricks from the demolished houses.
The occasional clicking of the Geiger counter had become a steady rhythm.
“Still okay,” Dodge said, although no one had asked. “Well within safe limits. Inside the pickup, at least. We’re fine. No problems.”
As they neared the freeway interchange, it became clear that they would have to find another route. The cloverleaf junction of ramps and bridges had collapsed into pile of contorted girders and concrete chunks, charred beyond recognition as a roadway.
“The blast was centred at the airport,” Sam said, as Vienna manoeuvred the big truck off the freeway and onto a side road. “Completely levelled The Strip. We’ll have to skirt around it.”
They wound their way through rubble-filled streets, heading west, and north, avoiding the centre of town. The hypocentre of the blast.
No one spoke as they travelled through the ruined city. There was nothing to say. No words that could adequately express the horror they felt.
Even Ranger just watched mutely, unable to draw his eyes away from the wreckage outside the windows of the truck.
The radiation levels were rising steadily and Dodge caught Sam’s eye, giving him a worried look, but saying nothing out loud.
They found the house almost by accident, or perhaps by some kind of intuition from Vienna.
In the north of Vegas the devastation of the blast seemed random. Buildings with scarcely a mark on them stood next to rubble. An RV park was a jumble of vehicles in the far corner of the lot, as if a child’s toy box had been emptied in a pile.
A huge copper conical-shaped dome that had been part of a roof of a building sat on top of it all, like a giant evil witch’s hat.
A fire had started in one block of buildings and it had burnt itself out, now just a gutted shell, while next to it a perfectly intact small white building shaped like an old-fashioned church offered the most romantic thirty-minute weddings in Vegas.
In front of the chapel a yellow school bus lay on its roof, every window shattered.
There was a sudden grip on his wrist and Sam looked down to see Vienna’s hand clutching his arm tightly. Her eyes were on the bus, and she did not seem to be aware of what she was doing.
He rested his other hand on top of hers, and held it gently through the slick material of the hazmat suits.
After a moment she glanced down, snatched her arm away, and did not look at Sam for the rest of the trip.
They meandered through the streets, not really certain what it was they were looking for. Everywhere lay desolation. Everywhere lay dust.
Occasionally, Sam had the uncomfortable feeling that they were being watched, but dismissed it as just a case of the jitters. Ursula could not see them. Not now. Not in here.
On impulse Vienna turned through the partially open gates of a high chain wire fence into a park of some kind, protected by a large earthen mound that ran along the fenceline. A narrow road wound through richly foliated trees, still green despite the season. More than a park, it appeared to be a forest, full of pines, maples, willows and other trees that Sam didn’t recognise. It was a strange oasis in the middle of a ruined city, in the heart of a desert.
In the forest the dust thinned out quickly then disappeared altogether; the trees seemed to act as a natural filter. As the dust disappeared, so did the clicking from the Geiger counter.
They passed creeks, small lakes, and even a waterfall amidst the gentle tree-covered slopes. It was not until Sam noticed a flag, little more than a torn and faded cloth rag, attached to a narrow pole in a clearing that he realised where they were.
“It’s a golf course,” he murmured. The fairways and greens were now overgrown shag piles of long grass and weeds, but still lusciously green, thanks to some built-in irrigation system.
They followed the road deep into the forest and up a small rise, eventually arriving at a large two-storey house nestled into the trees and completely unscathed by the blast.
It was magnificent and opulent, although the encroaching forest had extended green feelers across the marbled entranceway, and up the walls of the house, slowly reclaiming the land for itself.
The house seemed to have been built as a circle, although the circle was not closed. One segment had been left open to create an entranceway.
They entered a round courtyard, with a large dry fountain at its centre, and stopped by the main doors of the house.
Sam looked around, nodding with approval. The very shape of the house would help protect it from any dust that did make its way through the surrounding forest.
“Mask up,” Sam said. “Just in case.”
They checked each other’s masks, including Ranger’s.
Dodge got out first, examining the surroundings with the Geiger counter, and only when he was satisfied did he wave the others out.
The doors and windows of the house were shut, and the front door was locked, but no match for Vienna and a tyre iron.
The entrance hall was a large oval-shaped room with cream carpeting and a few dead plants in ornate pots. Artwork hanging in gold-edged frames seemed vaguely familiar – it was probably famous and incredibly expensive, Sam thought. At least six heavy wooden doors led off in a variety of directions.
A thin layer of dust lay on a semicircular table against one wall. Vienna crossed to it and wiped a line across the table with her gloved finger, holding it up for the others to see.
“Just house dust,” Sam said thickly through the rubber of the respirator mask. “It looks much finer than the stuff outside.”
Dodge quickly checked it, and nodded his approval when the clicking of the Geiger counter did not change.
They moved through into a kitchen. Vienna tried one of the taps and was surprised to see running water.
Sam was less surprised. “The water supply in Las Vegas comes in from the east through underground pipes. That explains why everything here is so green. The golf course’s irrigation systems must still be working.”
“Is it safe to drink?” Vienna asked.
“I don’t know,” Sam said. “Maybe we should run the tap for a few minutes to flush out any water in the pipes, then test it.”
Dodge moved around the house for a few minutes, testing different rooms, while the others waited nervously in the kitchen. It took less than ten minutes before he arrived back. He took off his mask, and the others followed, including, after a moment, Ranger.
“It’s pretty clean inside,” Dodge said. “Even lower than outside, but both are within safety levels. The water seems fine. This place seems perfect.”
He looked at Sam for approval. Sam looked at Vienna and realised that she also was waiting for his response.
“I agree,” Sam said. “We wait for things to calm down, then make a run for Cheyenne.”
“The hole’s getting deeper by the second,” Ranger said, “but you guys just keep digging.”
“Shut up, Ranger,” Vienna said.
“Just ignore him,” Sam said.
“Give up – it’s your only option,” Ranger said.
“Ranger, I’m getting sick of the sound of your voice,” Vienna said. “Any more out of you and I’m going to take you downtown and rip your mask off. You can tell it to the dust. Are we clear?”
There was no power on in the house, but Vienna found an emergency generator in a shed at the rear and coaxed it into life with a swift kick and a few strong words.
Sam took a long, slow shower in a bathroom adjoining one of the bedrooms, as much to wash away the stress, as the grime and sweat, of the last few days.
He yawned in the shower, and yawned again, wide gaping, uncontrollable painful yawns that only stopped as he shut off the water and dried himself off.
The drawers in the bedroom were full of clothes. Not his taste, and not his size, but they were at least clean. He selected a pair of sweatpants and a sweater that didn’t fit too badly and joined the others downstairs.
Dodge was rummaging through the cupboards, looking for food, while Ranger was handcuffed to a chair, and scowled at Sam as he entered.
Vienna was nowhere to be seen, but appeared a little while later, wearing a luxurious white cotton dressing-gown, drying her hair with a towel.
By that stage Dodge had prepared an exquisite feast consisting of tinned tomatoes and fruit.
“What an amazing place,” she said.
“Must have belonged to some millionaire,” Sam agreed.
“Who’s hungry?” Dodge asked, and from the sudden interest in their eyes, it was clear that they all were.
They freed one of Ranger’s hands so he could eat, cuffing the other to the table leg.
Sam looked up at Vienna between mouthfuls of cold, syrupy peaches, and saw her looking thoughtfully at Ranger.
“I’ve been thinking about Ranger,” she said after a while.
Sam stopped eating and looked at her.
“Ranger really thinks he remembers you attacking Swamp Witch,” she said.
“The memory seems real to him,” Dodge agreed.
“It is real,” Ranger said tiredly. He was struggling a little, Sam thought. Desperate to maintain his sanity, the sanctity of his mind.
“But I think that if Ranger examines those memories closely, he may find things that don’t quite add up,” Vienna said. “Something that doesn’t ring true.”
“Like what?” Sam asked.
“Like facts that don’t fit with other memories. If I clearly remembered being in Hawaii this morning, but I know I never left Las Vegas, I would know that one of the memories is incorrect.”
“That makes sense,” Dodge said.
“It would be like one of those dreams that seems real, but you know it can’t have happened because it just isn’t possible,” Sam said.
Vienna nodded. “Or maybe it’s emotions. Memories often carry with them powerful emotions. You know how you smell something that reminds you of when you were little, and suddenly all these feelings that you thought you had forgotten come flooding back.”
“You’re wasting your time,” Ranger said.
Vienna ignored him. “But maybe if a memory was artificially implanted into your brain, it might not have the associated emotions.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked.
Vienna looked at him. “What’s something that affects you, emotionally, every time you think about it?”
Sam was silent for a moment. A dark breeze rustled the leaves of the trees outside the window.
“I don’t know, I …”
“You never felt anything in your whole freaking life?” Vienna rolled her eyes.
“Give him a moment,” Dodge said.
Finally, Sam said, “I guess … I had a friend. My best buddy since high school.”
“That Derek guy?” Dodge asked.
“Fargas.” Sam stared at the table. “Nobody called him Derek.”
“What happened?” Vienna probed.
“He got into gaming. And I got him a neuro-set. I didn’t realise what would happen. Then I got recruited by CDD and I kind of deserted him. I kept meaning to find time for him – he was my best mate, after all – but I never did.”
Dodge was staring at him. Sam looked away.
“It just sucked him right in,” Sam said, “like a big black hole. He …”
“He what?” Vienna asked.
“Just plugged in one day and played the game till he … took him a week. Never ate. Never unplugged.”
“A lot of people die playing the games,” Dodge said.
“I guess he just thought he’d start over,” Sam said.
“And when you remember him, how do you feel?” Vienna asked.
“Guilty,” Sam said after a while. He looked up to find her staring intently at him. She glanced away quickly, but there had been something different about her expression, something he hadn’t ever seen before.
She said, “You may be able to implant an image, even a taste or a smell, but I don’t think you can implant the feelings that went with the experience that created the memory.”
Sam nodded, and blinked to hide a slight dampness that had appeared in his eyes.
Vienna turned to Ranger. “So, Ranger, how did you feel when you saw Dodge and Sam coming out of the swamp? You’ve known Dodge a long time. You must have felt surprised? Angry? Disappointed?”
Ranger said nothing but he was clearly thinking about it.
“Well?” Vienna asked.
Ranger just glared at her.
They ate in silence for a while.
“I wonder what’s going on?” Sam said eventually.
“Out there?” Dodge asked.
“In the world.” Sam nodded. “Since we left. Did people get the warning? Did they take notice? How did they react?”
“What worries me,” Vienna said, “is how Ursula is going to react.”