Revelation Read Online Free PDF Page B

now,” Nathan said. “But at the time, he was not. One night, in the Bounty, Marcus and Char fought. The entire bar was cleared to the edges of the room. They did not hold back – any weapon they found, they used. Then, Marcus won the upper hand, throwing his brother in the fire. Char landed face-first, earning the wounds that will mark him for the rest of his life as a sign of his sin.”
    I watched the fire in front of me, probably not too different from the one that had burned twelve years ago. I wondered what Char’s side of the story was. I wondered, with twelve years of resentment burning, how it would be possible for everyone to work together.
    “What happened after the fight?” I asked.
    Nathan shrugged. “So began our exile. There was fighting in the streets, between Char and Marcus, and those who supported Marcus. But we could not win. I fought for my wife, who had lived in Rivertown before it was flooded. Violence was the new code, those days – and it all changed when the first Alpha took over – a man by the name of Victor.” Nathan paused. “I hear he is dead, now.”
    “This Victor,” Anna said. “You are saying he changed Raider Bluff from a place of peace to a place of violence?”
    Nathan nodded. “This was in 2048. Food was scarce, and some tough decisions had to be made. Victor decided that violence was the best means by which to attain food – from other settlements, mostly. This included Rivertown. This was before the farms, before the slaves.”
    “Now, all of that is gone,” I said.
    “Aye,” Nathan said. “It is. Raider Bluff was an evil place. It only became more corrupt as the years passed. It infects anyone who lives there long enough. You either become a violent barbarian, or you are crushed, subjugated into slavery, or worse.” Nathan sighed, long and tired. “When the dam finally did break, no one in Rivertown was safe. Those who survived had nowhere to go when the waters rose – nowhere to go but Raider Bluff. There, they became slaves, forced to work the farms outside the city.”
    Nathan said nothing about his wife, having already said it earlier. She had died. I didn’t doubt his story. I didn’t like it, though, only because it complicated things. Char was supposed to be our main ally. And yet, he had done something horrible. He had killed innocent people for his own personal gain.
    Somehow, we had to get these two disparate groups working together – Exile and Raider. Only, the Exiles were right. They had been the ones forced to wander for twelve years, eking out an existence in the most desolate part of the Wasteland. The Boundless would have long killed off other men, and it had probably killed off many Exiles over the years. I remember Marcus mentioning working for the Empire, when we had met them on our way to Bunker One. Maybe that was how they got by.
    Though the Exiles were right, the Raiders were more numerous. We needed their help more. More than anything, we needed Char and Marcus to reconcile. But when there was so much hatred, was it even possible?
    I looked at Makara, who now spoke to Marcus in a low voice. It all now rested on the shoulders of this nineteen-year-old girl. It amazed me, what circumstances could do to a person. Makara had stepped into a leadership role seamlessly. If there was anyone who could get the Raiders and the Exiles to start thinking of themselves as New Angels, it was her.
    But first, we had to find Char and the Raiders.
    “Hopefully, the Raiders are in Vegas,” I said.
    From beside me, Harold spoke.
    “If they are, there will be blood.”
    “Why do you say that?” I asked.
    “Did you not hear the story? You are either for us, or for them.” He turned to me. “Who are you with?”
    “We still need to hear Char’s side of things.”
    Harold shook his head, standing up to walk away from the fire. Yeah, I had offended him. But I couldn’t tie my loyalty down to one group over the other. Not until I had heard