Bud had met up with the raiders shortly after and they'd welcomed him. Initially, he'd been bothered by the violence the raiders used against others, but over time Bud had become desensitized to it, and it seldom concerned him anymore.

Most of the raiders were in their late teens or twenties, the offspring of parents who had originally been in shelters. Some had been born to parents who'd survived the radiation, due to luck, skill and more than a little ingenuity. Numerous stories had circulated about those few who survived, even though they took no precautions and made no effort to avoid the deadly radiation. There were no answers as to why they'd survived when so many others had not, but the simple fact was that somehow, they had made it.

Today the raiders had selected twenty-five of their best fighters and set out for the mountain. Their leader had agreed that any caves in the mountain couldn't possibly hold more than a couple of dozen men. Since they were sneaking up under cover of darkness, the element of surprise would be on their side. The raiders had the advantage, and they could quickly overtake a few dozen men. They'd formed up into two squads and Bud led one, while a young raider named Owen led the second. Bud was in overall command.

The longer he waited, the more his concern for Tam had increased. The fact that there were twenty-three other raiders all around them did nothing to ease his fears.

His team had left their motorcycles about a mile back and crept to this point on foot. As soon as Tam reached them with a report, they would sneak in as close as possible and attack without warning.

Bud's concern only increased when he noticed the storm was subsiding and the additional cover it had provided would soon disappear.

It took another ten minutes, but he finally saw a lone figure, crouched down and running out of the darkness. He brought his old M-16 assault rifle up and centered the sight on the chest of the individual. Bud knew there would be over twenty other weapons trained on the runner and until positive identification was made, they would remain pointed and ready to fire.

When Tam was only ten feet away, her young face became visible and Bud's right arm shot up into the air, signaling the others that her identity was confirmed.

As a group, they retreated about twenty yards back and concealed themselves behind a large collection of rocks.

“What did you see?” Bud demanded.

“Yeah, how close did you get?” another voice called.