James Axler – Watersleep

“About freakin’ time,” the Armorer griped.

ON THE OTHER SIDE of the forced-open elevator doors were the remains of the ransacked redoubt. During the group’s first pass through this complex many months earlier, the rooms on the upper floor had of­fered a safe haven with food, clothing, weaponry and ammunition. This time there was nothing for the trav­elers but utter devastation. The walls of the compact redoubt were cracked and blackened with soot and bullet holes from random firings or disagreements such as the one glimpsed between the four dead men below. Evidence of cooking fires could be seen on the floor, ashes mixed with dirty water that stood on the floor in shallow puddles.

In the sleeping areas, the dormitories were ran­sacked. All bedding had been stolen or ruined. Only a few skeletal bed frames remained. The dining area and kitchens were in the same condition, and all of the supply larders were empty, their steel shelves bar­ren of any cans or boxes. The freezers were also clean, each of them offering nothing but a few inches of foul-smelling water in the bottom catch pans and long-emptied steel cans and paper boxes.

Although the failing power supply would probably have ruined any unused frozen edibles, everyone’s stomachs still ached for the loss. No tinned ham or recon eggs or cans of beans and self-heat blueberry muffins this time around. Nor would there be fresh clothing or new weapons and ammunition. This re­doubt’s treasures had been plundered, removed, squandered.

No dry clothing or toiletry supplies was one thing. An absence of a decent haven to lie down and rest one’s weary head and body was another. But the ab­sence of food was the most disappointing of all.

“No grub,” Jak said. He added as an afterthought, “Shit.”

“Well said, my friend, well said,” Doc whispered bitterly.

“Damn. I’m starved, Dad,” Dean piped up.

“We all are, son.”

“This place was swept clean,” J.B. said, walking back from the empty redoubt armory and shooting range. “There isn’t anything left worth taking. Which leads to the obvious question…”

“Why were there guards posted in an empty re­doubt?” Krysty finished as she slammed closed one of the large steel freezer doors. “Who knows? Pride? An overinflated sense of security?”

“Or maybe this Rollins boss the kid told me about expected visitors from down below, and that’s why the elevator was sabotaged,” Ryan said. “Blow out the steps, and there isn’t any other way into the lower levels of the redoubt except for where they had a guard at the top of the shaft, and in through the back door by using the mat-trans unit.”

“You think Rollins knew about the mat-trans chamber?” J.B. asked.

“Hell, J.B., these gateways aren’t the great secret they used to be,” Ryan answered. “Even back when we first hooked up with Trader, he knew about the redoubts, and there were always rumors floating around about some kind of magic superscientific transportation devices hidden inside.”

“However, there was no way they could have entered the mat-trans control room without the access codes,” Mildred said. “But all the warning signs and other sec bullshit stationed around the door would have been a tip-off that there was something big in there.”

It was a sobering thought.

“Maybe word about the redoubts is starting to spread among the general population, lover,” Krysty said. “Once a secret like this starts to travel…” She let her voice trail off.

“Right. Next thing you know, we’re walking out of gateway chambers and into the waiting ambushes of scavengers,” Ryan finished.

“There’s nothing here worth taking, so let’s get out,” J.B. declared, wiping sweat from his brow. The heat was becoming stifling.

The walk to the main access door of the redoubt took only seconds. Ryan and the others saw that the blond youth had spoken the truth. A big hole replaced the vanadium-steel-reinforced sec door, which had been capable of withstanding a direct hit from a nuke.

“Dark night,” J.B. whispered. He ran a hand along the jagged edges of the remains of the reinforced door frame.

“I’d say whoever came through here last didn’t bother to knock,” Mildred said.

Chapter Five

The friends stood together in front of the remains of the sec door and stared out through the gaping hole into the green of the world. Waves of warm, damp air wafted out over them. Even with his long jacket and weighted white scarf off, Ryan felt a new patch of sweat start to spread across his lower back. They’d all be smelling ripe soon enough in this climate.