Gifted, they called him. Exceedingly bright, and the other children turned to him for guidance. As the eldest among them, he knew everything, didn't he? And he couldn't let them down, even as he witnessed his own parents' deaths and the deaths of so many other parents. Children! Only the children were left behind to deal with the aftermath. A massacre. That's what it was. A massacre of gargantuan proportions and children, the innocents, had watched it all.
Left behind.
But not completely alone.
A secret, hidden from the rest of Thunder Mountain as the Mountain hid from the world. He knew the route by heart. Every twist and turn along the passageways was emblazoned into his memory. He could even rush through it in the dark, as he so often did when they periodically shut the power down to save precious electricity. Left. Right. Through the doorway. Buzz his way through the door. He needed no special clearances. After all, who would deny Markus Alexander anything? Certainly not the lean, hungry recruits assigned to guard the doors. Certainly not Erin or Lee. Both meant well. Both didn't understand it all. Lee wasn't the sentimental sort. Markus could deal with Lee. Lee was all business and didn't put much stock in emotions unless they proved useful to his goals. But Erin? Bless her heart, she tried so very hard to relate, to connect.
Of course, a man had to be blind not to notice how much Erin loved Markus Alexander.
A weary smile played on his lips as he reached the final corridor and its familiar door adorned with warning signs. The containment units lay barren and empty, only watched over by a tiny video camera which didn't transmit a clear picture three-quarters of the time unless you gave it a sharp tap with your fingertips. Markus left the camera alone as he slipped into the room, his reflection on the three-inch thick panes of glass staring back at him. And for a moment, it appeared as if he, Markus Alexander, defender of the New World and leader of the Western Alliance, stood trapped within Meaghan's containment unit.
He pressed his hand up against the glass, watching his reflection do the same and remembering how often Meaghan did the gesture. Connections. Those are at the very core of human behavior. Markus understood that human beings were social creatures. They needed structure, craved it. This is why so many came to Thunder Mountain in the first place. They wanted to help.
Connections.
He didn't even get to touch her.
Not even once.
For fifteen years, she was everything to him: mother, advisor, friend, and lover. And for fifteen years, Markus was her entire world, her link to that small subset of humanity which survived the Big Death.
He should have reached just a bit further along the cliff. He could have caught her before she tumbled.
And then what? If he became infected, Meaghan would never have forgiven herself. She was immune to the plague's effects. Markus was not.
It was all...for the best?
Markus scowled at the phrase. The best? Meaghan saved all of humanity, but she couldn't save herself.
When Smith make him realize he needed to let go, Markus took it to the extreme. He simply stopped thinking about her and concentrated on the fight against Daniel and strengthening the Alliance. And now that Daniel's forces had scattered, it was time to rebuild America.
Which meant...no more secrets. A people needed to trust its government. Too many coups and revolutions happened because those in charge grew complacent with the status quo, with the balance of power. History has value, as Smith so often suggested, and if we don't learn from our past, we would never hope to push ourselves into a positive future.
He lifted the phone up from its cradle.
"Yes, Markus?" The voice on the other end was crackly but servicable.
"Erin, we need to shut down Containment Units A and B. Seems a bit of a waste to keep the area on the grid while we've got recruits stuffed to the rafters up there."
Erin paused for a long while before speaking again. "Sure you want to do that, Markus?"
"Yeah. I don't think we're going to need them anymore."