“That was probably Mount Lassen,” Rachel said. “It’s a volcano. It must’ve been going into an active phase. Did you see Shasta? It would be farther north.”
He shrugged. “I remember a town called Mount Shasta. That was past Redding. All the towns along there were in ruins. But after that I ran into patches of forest, and it was easier going. At least, there was more water. I went through two more big bums going into the Siskyou Mountains, but when I finally got to the Oregon line, I was in green forest, and dear Lord, it was beautiful. Just over the line, I camped at a place called the Siskyou Summit. There was still a sign there. I made another beacon fire. I was so tired, so discouraged, but I figured since there was live forest here, this would be a good place to find people. And I did. I mean, they found me.”
Mary felt her heart take a double beat; she leaned toward Luke as if by getting closer she could have his answer sooner. “Who found you?”
In the strained set of his jaw was something on the edge of hatred, and when he spoke, it echoed coldly in his voice. “It was Amos hee-hawing that woke me up, and when I looked around, I saw maybe ten men, all carrying rifles or shotguns. They had beards and wore clothes with a funny pattern—different shades of green blotches.”
Mary said absently, “Camouflage suits.”
“Survivalists,” Rachel added.
Luke sighed, his anger waning. “I never did find out what they called themselves. I guess one of them hit me on the head. When I woke up, I was in a little room that was mostly underground with nothing in it but a cot and a chamber pot and one small window high up. All I could see was a bare yard and a metal fence with barbed wire on top. People walked by once in a while, and I hollered at them, but they just went on like they didn’t hear, except one old man. He squatted down by my window and talked to me. Told me there were a thousand people in the settlement—he called it a compound—but the next thing he said was they had ten tanks fueled up and ready to roll. There couldn’t have been that many people in what I saw of the place later, and I sure never saw a tank. They had a lot of guns, though. I asked him if he believed in God and Jesus Christ, and he got mad, said he did, but he knew I didn’t. Then he asked why I spoke American if I was a Russian. About then, two men came in and took me out into a big room. There was a table there with a man sitting behind it and an empty chair in front of it. That’s where they made me sit. The man at the table was in charge. Tall man with white hair and a long beard. Looked like a prophet. The others called him sir, but none of them used names. He said I was a spy, and he wanted to know where I came from. Well, I wasn’t about to tell him. I figured he’d likely as not send men with guns—or tanks, for all I knew then—over to Canaan Valley. He kept asking me questions, but I wouldn’t answer, and finally the other men… they started trying to beat the answers out of me.”
Mary winced. “Is that how you got the scars on your back?”
“The scars…” He seemed surprised, then his eyes flicked down. “I… got a few scars from that place. Well, they put me back in my room, and I saw they’d boarded up the window. That was before the door closed. After that, I couldn’t see anything. I don’t know how many days I was there or how many times they brought me out to ask me questions. The only other thing that happened was now and then somebody came in with food and water.”
His tone was flat, emotionless, yet Mary felt an intangible electric link spanning the small distance between them, felt her mind opened, if only briefly, to his mind and to endless hours of dark terror. She said, “I don’t know how you kept your sanity.”
Luke looked at her and caught his breath. Then he turned away. “Well, I prayed a lot. Talked to Jesus like He was right there in the room with me. Maybe He was. Finally one day the head man came in. I called him Prophet Lucifer….” Luke stopped, frowning. “You know, the funny thing is, he looked a lot like the Doctor. Anyway, he said he’d decided maybe I wasn’t a spy after all, and he was going to let me go. He led me outside, and that was the only chance I had to see the settlement. There were five big buildings, all half-underground, built of cement blocks. This was in a valley, and in the distance I could see barns and fields. Maybe thirty people were gathered, even a few women and a couple of children, and there were two or three big dogs. They looked kind of like Aggie.”
Mary stroked Agate’s shaggy back. “German shepherds, probably.”
“I guess so. Then the prophet gave me my rifle and pointed to a backpack, said my things were in there, along with some pemmican and jerky. I asked about Amos, but he said, ‘We need the mule.’ I didn’t argue. I just hope they took care of ol’ Amos. The prophet led me to the main gate. There was a road leading up out of the valley, and I took off at a trot. I must’ve been a mile away before it came to me why he let me go. He figured I’d head for home, and he could track me and find out where I came from. I climbed a hill above the road, and sure enough, after a while I saw two men and a dog coming my way. I headed north into the woods, trying to figure out how to get free of them. About sundown, I made camp. Once, I heard the dog bark in the distance. The next day I kept going till evening, when I came to a little lake. Well, that’s what I’d been looking for, that or a river. The dog couldn’t track me into water. Late that night I swam across the lake. Used a log to float my pack. Cold!” He laughed ruefully. “Dear Lord, that water was cold. When I left the lake, I walked up a creek maybe a quarter of a mile so the dog couldn’t pick up my scent where I came out of the lake, then I climbed up on the bank and rested till sunup. When I had enough light, I set off through the woods till I came to a highway and headed east on it. Must’ve been three days later when I came on another lake, and I was so tired and hungry by then, I had to stop. Caught some fish and lit a fire to cook them. First fire I made since I left that settlement. I found a limb for a new walking stick—the prophet kept my old one— and I cut my first notch in it. I wonder what happened to it. Must’ve dropped it while I was sick. Anyway, I guess I outfoxed those men. Never saw them or the dog again.”
Mary sighed, looking at Luke in amazement. Then she realized that Rachel was watching her, and Mary found her knowing regard unnerving. She asked Luke, “Where were you by then?”
He took a swallow of mead. “I didn’t find out till a couple of days later when I came to a junction with some road signs. I was on the west side of Upper Klamath Lake, according to my map. Most of the lake had dried up, but there was still some water and fish. I built my first beacon fire since I was captured, but I slept a good ways from it. Well, I knew if I was going over to the east side of the Cascades, I had to do it then. I didn’t know how much time I’d lost, but the vine maples had turned, and it was cold at night.
So, I went north to Crater Lake. It was a wonderful, strange place. The color of the water… I couldn’t describe it.”
Rachel nodded. “You don’t have to. I’ve been there. Crater Lake is one of the sacred places of the Earth. Was it… changed?”
“Well, I don’t see how it could change.”
Rachel smiled at that. “Where did you go from there?”
“East till I came down out of the Cascades, then north toward Bend.” Again, his eyes were haunted by disquieting memories. “It was another desert. I guess it always was dry over there, but this was blowing dust and dead pine trees sticking up out of the dunes, and I nearly died for lack of water before I reached Bend. The town was burned out, but there was a river there. I stayed for a while to lay in food, and every night I burned a beacon fire, but I never saw any smoke. Didn’t expect to, really. Finally I decided I’d better get back across the mountains before winter set in, so I headed west and came to what was left of a town called Sisters. There’d been forest fires through there and to the north, so I took the south fork of the road west of town. The ground was already covered with snow, but the weather stayed good, and I got over the pass. The highway followed a river, so I had fish and water for a while, but after a couple of days I ran into another burn. I never got out of it till after I left Eugene.”