Maple Falls English Version

Wyoming

Chapter 17

                                                                     WYOMING

                                                                     Wyomung, November 2040

Max arrived in Wyoming the day after the conversation with Alec. She knew he had to hide somewhere near the old Manticore barracks from which she had fled with her siblings. Lydecker. She hadn't thought much about him since his car was found abandoned in the water. Only later, when Mole claimed to have seen him during the failed rescue operation, did she think of him again and tried to locate him. However, she didn't know exactly why she was looking for him, because until now she had never even tried to talk to Alec again about the kidnapping and so she didn't know anything about the files.

That might have increased her motivation to find him, but there had been a few days over the last few years when she had taken care of it. She had traveled a lot in search of her own mother and had observed or visited many of the friends and other siblings scattered throughout the country. Zac could only watch her from a distance so as not to provoke a relapse. He had been her closest confidant before Alec. Alec and she had sat together every now and then and had a beer. They had told each other so much, why had this one topic never come up again? He devoted himself to the education of the two children but she had never been surprised, but thought he was carrying out some kind of legacy and Logan's last request. Now it was lingering in her head that he had lied to her, or that he had fooled himself, or whatever it was, it meant Ben might have emerged from that captivity. She tried to push this thought aside and concentrate on finding documents with which she could turn all of this speculation into truth. She now knew her way around Wyoming well because she had been drawn here again and again since she was found disoriented in the forest. Alec hadn't even told her that he was the one who saved everyone. He was such a show-off otherwise. Was he ashamed of what had happened? If it had happened. She couldn't let it get to her yet, she kept seeing Logan's face in her mind, how disappointed he had looked when she and Alec had pretended to be a couple to protect him from the virus. And now she realized that she might actually have cheated on him. Again she pushed the thought aside and knocked on the door to which she had gone, lost in thought. An old woman opened the door. Sarah, the woman who took Max with her in the car when she escaped. At some point over the last few years she had plucked up the courage and gone to her. They only talked briefly at the time and Sarah knew who she was the first time she looked into Max's eyes. She had never forgotten packing the little girl into her car, even afraid of being caught by the bad people of Manticore and conflicted about having to report it. But she had been so happy that Max and some of her siblings had made it. She resigned shortly afterwards and traveled a lot, but as she got older she was drawn back to her homeland. Here stood the girl from back then and she was happy that at least now, after many years, she could once again contribute a small part to a good cause.

“Max, good to see you,” she said in a warm, now somewhat shaky voice.

Max came in and hugged the old woman. It was a hug almost as if Max was returning home to her mother, deeply and with a lot of longing for a family.

“Do you have a lead again?”

Max shook his head.

“No, this time I’m not looking for her. This time I'm looking for Lydecker.“

Sarah looked at her in horror. She knew the relentless man well enough to know that there was nothing good that would make anyone seek him out.

They sat down in the room and Sarah brought Max tea and cookies. It was already late in the afternoon and Sarah knew that Max needed to rest a little if she had set herself such a goal. She also brought her tryptophan and Max looked at her gratefully. Since then, Sarah has always stored a few helpful things because it wasn't the first time that Max had shown up at her house completely exhausted. This time it seemed to be not just physical exhaustion but also mental exhaustion. Max began to talk slowly. She talked until late in the evening and Sarah continued to interject in order to better understand this confusing situation.