“It’s a map,” she told him before noting there was a destination that was different than the rest of the map, a place that looked like more than rubble and old monuments. She turned over the other papers. They were blueprints or some kind of map of the inside of a complex, one much bigger than Colony 88, and it was entirely above ground. “What in the world?” she asked, and then, at the top, was that same Oasis insignia as before. “It’s a map to the Oasis, whatever that is. It’s huge, if it exists, and isn’t still being built. Look!”
Brenna began to point out various things she recognized from her reading in the Colony. It was one of the few things she could do to occupy her time. She had been one of the few actually interested in reading and was often teased for it, but it looked like it was paying off. “And this, this looks like an electrical pole. This place has electricity somehow. I thought it was all lost with the war. And look, there is a hospital, a place where sick people go to get taken care of by a bunch of medics,” she explained to him, so he knew what she meant. The Batista had no access to the information she had in the colony. They hardly knew the history behind what had happened to begin with.
Brenna’s finger ran across the page in awe as she came across a year, 2136. That was the one thing they had all been able to keep up with. They always knew the year. Maybe it made them all feel human when they were underground and trying to figure out how to live life without all the technology she read that they used to have. “This is the year I was born,” Brenna said. “This place has been around for nineteen years, Atlas, and they still have paperwork on its construction. It means it is real. Oasis is real. What if this could be our home, and we never had to worry about the Colony again?” she said excitedly, and he looked at her strangely. She frowned, knowing what he was probably thinking. He had never lived a life other than this one, living in the elements and fighting for his life. Not that Brenna had ever had any kind of luxuries, but to not have to be on guard all the time and to be in a place that had the kind of safety and communities she had read about in those books would mean so much to her.
“I think it is time to tell the others. We may need to be prepared for the Raiders Raiders to come back for these. Surely, this is valuable information.” Brenna nodded in agreement as they took the papers and got out of the hut, headed to the elders in silence. Guilt wracked her for what she had said, but she would let it go unless she needed to get the Batista to safety quickly because if the Colony made a move they couldn’t survive. She would memorize that map just in case they took the papers away.
The brightness of the orange flames as they rose into the sky still haunted the back of Brenna’s eyelids as she ate her dinner, having come from the group burning down the Raider camp. There had been no one there at the time, but she was sure the elders had been right when they said as soon as the Raiders Raiders thought the coast was clear, they would return to the place. They didn’t need to make it any easier for the Raiders Raiders to spy on and attack the Batista or the Colony. If they went for the Colony and killed anyone, the Batista’s already poor relationship with the Colony would soon deteriorate to nothing, and it would be a war that no one wanted to fight.
It took a moment for the screams to reach Brenna’s ears and to process them. Everything had been peaceful just a moment ago, but now the Batista were on high alert. She sighed as she threw her wasted food to the ground, and grabbed her spear, readying herself for the fight that was coming. She looked around and saw nothing until . . . there was a group of Raiders, bigger than she had seen since becoming a Batista, headed right down the middle of the invisible line between the Colony and the Batista’s land. They were gunning for the farmland instead of taking anyone head-on, and even though it was clearly to bait the Batista to fight, they had no choice but to fall for the trick. They couldn’t survive without that land. They didn’t have that much extra room to grow now that they had been giving land to the Colony for their above-ground build, so they needed the food.
Brenna was ready to go into the fight, but then Atlas came up to her, placing his hand in her path to stop her. “You stay here with the other women just in case they decide to take advantage of us and come to destroy the village. You know what they are like.” Brenna knew he was telling her to stay for more reasons than just that one. The fight was happening far too close to the Colony, and colony members might be coming out to fight as well to make sure their hard work didn’t get destroyed. If she was caught by them, she was as good as dead, and the Raiders Raiders wouldn’t even matter anymore.
Brenna growled in frustration but complied just in case he was right. She hated watching him run into danger like that without her. It was hard for her not knowing, first, if he would survive and, second, because she was itching to be a part of the fight. She enjoyed that feeling of adrenaline, knowing she had to pay close attention to every move of the enemy and continue to beat them at every turn. It was one of the good things she had discovered about being on the surface. She didn’t have to worry about boredom anymore. If she wasn't teaching children, helping with crops, or listening to stories from other Batista, she was fighting enemies or training to fight enemies. Though she didn’t like the constant danger, there was something to be said for the thrill at the moment.
Brenna didn’t have to wait long to wonder what was going to happen. She watched in horror as even more Raiders Raiders appeared. This was in retaliation for what she and Atlas had done. They had underestimated the Raiders Raiders’ strength and their sheer numbers. She had never seen so many together at once before, but they were pissed enough to unite against a common enemy. Batista were going to die tonight and likely Colony citizens as well. She had to make sure it stayed to a minimum.
She wielded her spear as a rare female Raider came into her sights.
It was going to be a bloodbath.
Chapter Seven
Brenna felt disgusting, but worse than that before her laid destruction at a level they had not seen until now. Many Batista and Raiders Raiders lay dead on the sandy ground, blood soaking it and her alike. They even brought fire, trying to burn down the huts and the colony the same way the Batista had burned down their Raider camp nearby. Brenna didn’t understand the big deal other than their fear of the information the Batista now had. They must have seen those papers were gone, and they had been protecting them for someone. But who and why? Raiders had always been attached to themselves and only to each other for convenience. But as soon as they didn't need each other anymore, they would as easily turn on one another as they would the colony and the Batista. This was different. They had to be working for someone or maybe even for the Oasis. Either that or they had killed those involved with the Oasis, which was even more frightening to think about. It would mean there were more Raiders than they could ever hope to fight and no safe haven anywhere on this side of the planet. North America had already been thrown back into the dark ages without population count, government, or communication with the outside world if there was one to communicate with. The Raiders Raiders could be the end of everything if they were allowed to keep destroying pockets of humanity like this.
Brenna pulled at her nose as it burned with the smell of smoke in the air. She began to work her way through the sea of bodies, to see if anyone she cared for had been lost, to see if any children had been lost. Wouldn't that just be her luck to have come to the Batista because she saved a life, only for that life to be taken by Raiders Raiders because of something she had done in a split-second decision?
Luckily, many of the children had stayed out of the fray, huddled together with a couple of the women, one sacrificing herself to save the innocents. Brenna bent down to her and placed a finger on each eye to close them in peace. It was what she deserved now.
Exhaustion began to take hold, but she waited on the men to all come back from the colony, where they had been trying to help protect those bastards that hid behind their walls and behind the tribe of people they thought were lesser than them. It sickened
her that she used to be one of them. Colony 88 should have been left to learn a lesson. It wasn't like they weren't going to punish the Batista anyway if any lives were lost. So, they should have just pointed the Raiders in their direction and let them go. That would be the ultimate peace, but Brenna knew this was not the kind of hate in the hearts of the Batista, even if they did not like Colony 88 or what they stood for.
Terror struck her for the first time as the adrenaline sputtered and left her body as she watched some of the men come back, carrying the dead for a proper send-off. Two of the elders had been lost, and she sighed and shook her head, wandering closer and closer to the border between the Batista and Colony 88, hoping not to find Atlas’s body among those splayed across the ground in even greater numbers than where she had come from.
She began running, looking through the bodies and those dragging around the dead, no longer caring if she got caught by the colony, until her hands ran into a hard chest, arms wrapping around her. “It’s me, Brenna. It’s me,” he said, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she looked up at him, seeing that Atlas was alive. “I am fine. Just a little cut on my leg.”
Brenna looked down to see it was more than a little cut, but she knew it would be okay if it was properly cleaned. “I was just worried. There were so many bodies.”
“I know, but we need to get back for now and help the others clean up. I am sure many are injured, yes?”
Brenna nodded, not ready to voice to him just how bad it truly was. As they got closer to camp with him limping through without any show of him being in pain, Brenna tried not to look at all the bodies a second time as she made sure to go straight for the medic’s supplies. His hut was already full with the injured, so she grabbed the bare minimum of what she needed and brought it back out, taking Atlas to the back edge of the village, where the children were still clustered together in fear, waiting for their parents to come for them if their parents were even alive to come for them.
A small figure flew toward them as they got closer and ran right into Atlas, who barely kept his balance on that leg, but he hugged the little girl who had approached them. It was River, his little sister. She was safe and sound, but tears streamed from her eyes.
“They said you ran into the fight and that some people died,” she told him, and Brenna frowned, not liking how young she was having to deal with this. She was used to the safety of the colony, where children didn’t face that much death. If they did, it was due to old age or disease, and it was often hidden away where they didn’t have to witness it first-hand. That was not the life on the surface. It was harsh and real up here. There was no hiding.
“I did, but I am fine, other than my leg. Brenna’s gonna take care of me, okay?” River nodded and moved away so he could get himself down to the ground, stretching his leg out for Brenna to see it had a deep cut, but it wasn’t to the bone.
“I’ll have to stitch it,” Brenna commented as she poured some cleanser onto it, dabbing at it with the leaves they used in place of gauze after they ran out. It was one of the many things the colony no longer provided for them, but it was probably the least of their worries.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the medic?” he asked, looking nervous for the first time since Brenna had met him. She looked up at him and quirked her mouth on one side.
“Don’t you trust me?”
He smiled back, a little laugh escaping him. “I suppose so. I guess I don’t want to wait in that line anyway,” he said, and she agreed with him before turning her attention back to his leg. She worked on it quietly. To his credit, Atlas stayed incredibly still, even though it had to hurt. River watched the whole time with great interest, a medic in the making herself. She had been scared of losing him but not of the sight of blood.
“Now, I know you’re going to want to help with the bodies, but you will bust these and then be in big trouble. You need to stay off it. I’ll go help, okay? Just stay with River,” she said, standing up as she finished. But he tugged at the bottom of her cover to get her attention, and she turned to see his face somber. There was something he hadn't mentioned, and Brenna’s stomach dropped. Had something happened to his mother? Had the colony already brought down the hammer on them?
“I need to tell you something, Brenna. I didn’t want to interrupt your work on me, but you should know this.”
Brenna crouched back down, trying to steel herself for whatever he had to say. “What is it?”
“When I was over there, we went to check on Colony 88 to see about their losses. The Raiders Raiders were trying to get underground to them and their supplies, to burn it. So, we had to assess how bad they were hit. When I got there, I found out the Raiders came to talk to them first, some of them anyway. They were asking about the Oasis papers you found, Brenna. And it didn’t sound like the colony didn’t know about them. They knew what they were talking about. I heard your mother telling the others that she and your uncle assured the Raiders Raiders they wanted nothing to do with the Oasis and that they stole nothing of theirs.”
Brenna went from shocked to furious in a split second. They had known about this place the whole time? Then why weren't they headed there instead of stealing Batista land? Did they know the project had failed? “Why would they not go build their stupid city there then if they knew about it? They just want to chase the Batista away so the undergrounders can inherit the Earth again. I am so sick of this!” she screamed, getting up with her fists bunched up. Not that the anger did her any good. She could never act on it, but she hoped one day they got what was coming to them.
“Brenna, there’s more. Your uncle, he is dead. The Raiders Raiders killed him because they were convinced he was lying.” Atlas reached out and grabbed her hand like it would affect her. With his good heart, she could understand. It wouldn't matter if his mother betrayed him, he would still love her. But she had left those feelings for her family behind a long time ago. In fact, she had never been that close to her uncle. He had been a harsh man and leader who she didn’t connect with. It didn’t bother her at all. And she had the horrible thought for just a second that she wished her mother had gone with him.
“Well, I am sure he is wherever he belongs now,” was all she said with a shrug. Atlas met her eyes, and he looked like he might scold her, but then he just dropped his head and stayed silent. “Stay off that leg,” she reminded him. “Make sure he does,” she told River, smiling at her, and River gave her a thumbs-up as she walked away to clean up the mess of blood, charred huts, and dead bodies. Then, just maybe she would get to clean herself as well. She could feel how gross she was now, blood and dirt caked on her from the fight.
The plan was simple. One of the remaining elders and two of the young men, including Atlas, would approach Colony 88 without a single weapon in hand. Now that the bodies had all been disposed of and a ceremony held out of respect for the dead, their focus was on future protection from the Raiders as well as getting to the bottom of what they knew about the Oasis papers. Brenna, against Atlas’s wishes, had volunteered to go with a few of the other young women who were good in combat and hide out nearby in case the talks went bad. Brenna was tired of hearing news secondhand and wanted to be there when they were asked about the Oasis.
Brenna crouched behind some of their half-built buildings on the surface as Atlas and the other two men approached the gates into Colony 88. It didn’t take long for Brenna to hear the harsh voice of her mother, clearly annoyed by the presence of Batista on her doorstep. It figured.
“And how can we help you today, gentlemen?” she asked, but her voice was mocking and annoyed.
“We came to discuss some things with you peacefully. As you see, we have no weapons. We wanted to ask for a few more weapons from your excess supply or at least materials to make more. We lost many Batista to the fight with the Raiders, as well as weapons, and I do not think we should be unprepared again. We want to be able to protect both our people and yours if they strike again.”
“I appreciate you
coming in peace to ask, but we too have been shaken up by the Raiders Raiders invasions. We have lost some citizens, including our leader. It would be quite a sacrifice to give up any more supplies or weaponry. I can see your dilemma, so we could strike a deal. Give us more farmland to grow on, and we can give up some more weapons and scraps for supplies to make more. We have some pregnant women, which means new mouths to feed any time now. We could use it.”
Brenna seethed from where she sat at the audacity of them to ask for more land when they had already taken so much. More land would mean that there would be no extra in times of crisis with the crops. Half the Batista could easily starve and die if that happened. It wasn't like Colony 88 would share in a time of famine. She had to hand it to the men for keeping their cool like they did.
“Alright, we will discuss the offer with everyone and let you know. But there was one more thing. We found a small camp the Raiders Raiders had set up not too far from here, burned it down so that they didn’t have anywhere to regroup. But when we did, we saw some odd things and didn’t know if maybe they had stolen them from you at some point. We know they are often trying to get into your supplies. Some of it was papers, like official papers Batista do not use. They said something about Oasis on them. Were they yours?” Atlas asked, and Brenna tried not to snicker at how sneakily he had gotten that in there. He was so smart, he would make a great elder one day. She just hoped they both lived to see that day because the possibility was getting slimmer the longer they stayed there. However, she knew leaving and searching for a new place to build a village would take more of a toll right now than they could afford. If they left, they would need a sure destination.
Thirst (The Oasis Plague Book 1) Page 5