Chapter Two - A Night Without Night

They were reaching the truck when the man who had been lying outside lunged at Mara and grabbed her arm. "Take me with you," he rasped. "I know the emergency cache's backup entrance." "Why didn't you say that sooner?" Mara asked, stunned. "Because they were looking for me." He lifted his face. His lips were split and bleeding. "Name's Nad Jafari. I handle intake at the storage site." Carl raised the revolver at once. It was not military, just an old weapon that looked dragged up from some private past he refused to discuss. "You lead us?" Carl said with a cold laugh. "Or you sell us to the riders?" Nad looked close to collapsing. "I altered the ration list. Held back a batch of filters.