Alliance

Chapter Forty-Four

The tires ate up the miles as we drove three days in a row. Each day we grew closer to Denver and met no one. It felt like we were the last ones on the planet when we stopped for breaks on the dusty, run-down road.

However, there had been signs of people traveling the road. Every now and then there was an old fire pit that people had left behind for the next travelers to use.

During our time on the road, Ben and I decided to not practice defensive fighting. Due to the fact we didn't want to give away how trained we were. Or well really, how trained I was. It was for the best since every night, half an hour before dusk, we sat up camp and by the time we cooked dinner I was too tired to lift a finger, let alone throw a punch.

But staying true to himself, Ben still found ways to give me a lesson. Like how to drive the bike. He and Asher had one hell of a time teaching me the workings of the motorbike last night. I had almost taken Mason out when I finally got the bike started and I went zooming off.

When we woke this morning, Ben had stated that I would be driving for the day. It was early afternoon and my arms were sore along with the rest of my body. Before it was just my bottom that was sore from sitting on a bike, but now my arms were sore from having them raised to reach the handlebars.

There was a silver lining, Ben's hands rested on my hips the majority of the ride. Occasionally we would hit a bumpy patch or make a turn and his hands would slide around my waist to avoid falling off. My heart liked to skip a beat with each touch but I tried to stuff it down inside myself.

We were on a mission. Not a romantic honeymoon.

Before us, Liam stopped the Jeep and the other bikes lined up to his window. The engines all died one at a time. The silent world caved in around us.

"I don't like those dark clouds over there," Liam said, he pointed to the sky to our right. Dark, angry clouds were crawling over the sky. A few bolts of lightning flickered in the cloud.

We had first spotted the cloud during lunch an hour ago. At that point, we thought it was traveling horizontally to us so we would not have to worry about it. But as miles and time ticked by, the cloud grew closer.

Liam turned toward us. "What's the plan?" asked Ben.

For the past three days, it was apparent that Liam was the unwavering leader and no one could dethrone him from the position. Ben had gladly allowed Liam to make the decisions of where to camp, when to leave, when to stop. As long as Liam did nothing to get us killed, Ben was happy to play second fiddle.

"There's a cave down the road, Halo Cave," Liam explained. "It's a natural cave cut into the stone. Many people use it in case of storms. The closer we get to the mountains, we are more prone to radiation thunderstorms."

I looked at where he pointed toward the location of Halo Cave. We were exiting the prairie lands and the old Rocky Mountains were climbing closer. Soon we would be in those mountains and it made me a bit nervous. These mountains were not green and pretty like mountains at my mountain simulation. The ones before us were tall and made of rock. They were a dark mass of cut stone reaching towards the heaven.

I didn't want to ask but, "Radiation thunderstorms?"

"Never lived through a radiation thunderstorm?" Liam turned to me.

Since I was supposed to be a Wastelander, living in the Waste my entire life, I should have known what that was. "We lived near the wall. There's less radiation there."

My white lie worked as Liam nodded. "That's true. A radiation thunderstorm is ugly. The lightning is deadlier and frequent. There is acid rain to deal with too."