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Billie nodded "That’s to be expected after a long period of unconsciousness I’s will start to coht," said Peter "Let’s let the patient get some rest" He directed his voice to Hollis "Olson said he’d take us out to the fields to look around See how they do things"

"Who’s Olson?" Michael asked

"Olson Hand He’s in charge around here I’m sure you’llreat"

With that, everyone rose to leave Michael had resigned hie new circumstances, when at the last instant Sara darted back to his bedside Jude was observing her fro hold of Michael’s hand, she kissed him quickly on the forehead-the first tilad you’re okay," she said "Just focus on getting your strength back, okay? That’s e’re all waiting for"

Michael listened closely for their departure Footsteps, then the sound of a heavy door, opening and closing again He waited another minute, to be certain he was alone Then he opened his hand to examine the folded slip of paper Sara had secreted there

Tell the

Chapter FORTY-EIGHT

The party Peter had spoken of had been held the previous evening, the third night after their arrival This had been their one chance to see everyone, the whole of the Haven, in one place And what they saw did not ring true

Nothing did, beginning with Olson’s claim that there were no virals Just two hundred kilo; they had traveled at least that far froh similar terrain, and the virals had followed them the whole way The stink of that herd, Alicia pointed out, would travel far doind as well And yet the only perimeter appeared to be a ainst an attack Except for the flamethrowers on the vans, Olson had confessed, they had no useful weapons at all The shotguns were just for show, all their ao

"So you see," he had told them, "our existence here is an entirely peaceful one"

Olson Hand: Peter had never met anybody like him, so apparently at ease with his own authority Apart from Billie and the man known as Jude, who seemed to function as his aides, and the driver of the truck that had brought theineer, in charge of what they termed "the physical plant"-Peter could detect no other structures of coe And yet he wore this entle, even apologetic manner Tall and silver-haired-likeponytail, while the women and children were all closely shorn-with a stooped frae juether when he spoke, he seeure than someone responsible for the lives of three hundred souls

It was Olson who had told them the history of the Haven This had transpired within the first hours of their arrival They were in the infirhter, Mira-an ethereal, slender-limbed adolescent with close-cropped hair so pale and fine it was alard them with a nervous awe After they had been carried from the van, the seven of thes confiscated; all would be returned, Olson had assured them, except for their weapons If they chose to move on-and here Olson had paused to note, with his customary mildness, that he hoped they would elect to stay-their weapons would be returned to theuns and blades would remain locked away

As for the Haven: A lot was si evolved and changed over tier clear what the truth really was But a few points were generally agreed on The first settlers had been a group of refugees froas who had come there in the last days of the war Whether they had co that the prison, with its bars and walls and fences, ht offer some safety, or had simply stopped here on the way to someplace else, no one could know But once they realized there were no virals, the surrounding wilderness being too inhospitable-for, in fact, a kind of natural barrier-they had chosen to remain and eke out an existence from the desert landscape The prison complex was in fact made up of two separate facilities: Desert Wells State Penitentiary, where the first settlers had housed thericultural work camp for juvenile offenders That here all the inhabitants now lived The spring froation, as well as a steady strea the infirht down to the orange jued from the towns to the south It was not an easy existence, and there were s they lacked, but here at least they were free to live their lives without the threat of the virals For many years they had sent out search parties to hunt forto lead them to safety They had found so since given up hope of ever finding any nly, "your being here is nothing less than a miracle" His eyes actually misted over "All of you A ht in the infirmary with Michael and were moved the next day to a pair of adjacent cinder-block huts on the outskirts of the work ca a dusty plaza with a pile of tires in the center, the edges lined by fire barrels This here they would spend the next three days in isolation, a mandatory quarantine On the far side were more huts, which appeared to be unoccupied Their quarters were spartan, each of the two huts with just a table and chairs and a room in the back with cots; the air was hot and dense, and the floor crunched underfoot with grit

Hollis had left with Billie in thevehicles were in short supply, Olson had said, and if they had survived the explosion, they would be worth the hazards of such a trip Whether Olson intended to keep them for his own use or return theuous, and Peter had elected not to press After their experience in the van, the seven of them nearly cooked to death in the heat, and with Michael still unconscious, the wisest course seemed to be to say as little as they could Olson had questioned them about the Colony and the purpose of their journey, and there was no avoiding offering some explanation But Peter had volunteered only that they had co for survivors He told Olson nothing about the bunker, his silence suggesting that the place they caht, when he would probably have to tell Olson the truth, or at least more of it But that time had not arrived yet, and Olson had appeared to accept the caginess of his explanation

For the next two days they received only fleeting glirowing fields, with long irrigation pipes radiating from a central pumphouse, and beyond that the herd, several hundred head kept in large, shaded pens Fro dust of a vehicle ainst the distant fence line But apart froures in the fields, they detected virtually no one Where were the other people? The doors to their huts were not locked, but always across the ee juht them their meals, usually in the company of Billie or Olson, who reported on Michael’s condition Michael appeared to have lapsed into a deep sleep-not a co like one They had seen it before, they said, the effects of the heat But his fever was down, a good sign

Then, theof the third day, Sara was returned to them

She possessed no memory of what had happened to her This part of the story that they related to Michael, when he awakened the following day, was not a lie, nor was Hollis’s tale of how he had found her They were very happy and very relieved-Sara seemed fine, if a little slow to come around to the news of their new circumstances-but it was also true that both her capture and her return were deeply puzzling Like the absence of lights and walls, it simply made no sense

By this ti another human settlement had been replaced by a deep unease Still they had seen almost no one, apart froe-suited men atched then of life was a group of four Littles in raggy clothing who appeared each evening to play on the tires in the square, though, strangely, no adults ever appeared to claiauarded? If they were, why all the pretense? Where was everyone? What rong with Michael, as he still unconscious? Their packs, as Olson had promised, had been returned to them; the contents had obviously been examined, and a number of items, such as the scalpel in Sara’s med kit, had been taken But the maps, which Caleb had tucked into an inner compartment, had apparently been overlooked The prison itself was not on the Nevada as on Highway 95 It was bordered to the east by a vast gray region, no roads or town in it at all, marked with the words NELLIS AIR FORCE TEST RANGE COMPLEX Situated at the western edge of this region, just a few kilometers from the town of Desert Wells, was a small red square and the name YUCCA MOUNTAIN NATIONAL REPOSITORY If Peter was correct about where they were, they could see this structure plainly, a hu a barricade to the north Hollis’s drive south with Billie and Gus had given him the chance to scout out more of the landscape The fence line, Hollis reported, was e steel, roughly ten meters apart, topped with concertina wire Hollis had seen only two exits One stood to the south, at the far edge of the fields-this seemed to connect to a roadway that encircled the coate, which connected the cohway This was flanked by a pair of concrete toith observation posts-e-suited round level; it was he who had opened the gate for Hollis and Billie to pass