Her eyes adjusting to the faint glow of the monitor's lights, she awoke. Every inch of her skin was cold, but that was to be expected after ten years in thermo freeze. The room was not as she remembered it. Once shiny metal cabinets were now covered with dust; debris littered the floor. She glanced over at the three other thermo tanks in the room, there lights were out. This meant that her companions had already evacuated or more likely that they were dead.

Slowly, she lifted herself off the bed on which she lay, ducking her head to avoid the glass cover which had protected her for the last ten years. She walked stiffly over to the next tank. Commander Barton's body was still inside, while her pulse and respiratory indicators showed her to be dead. The other two tanks, which were reserved for the two men of the crew, also contained bodies with no detectable respiration or heartbeat. She was the only surviving member of her squad.

There were nearly a hundred squads of four in isolated control rooms like this. They were separated by several hundred miles. The rational behind this was that when the bombs started to fall at least one-third of the control rooms were expected to survive. After the nuclear winter had eliminated all human life the chosen ones would emerge from suspended animation and start over; at least those who survived would.

Her name was Jessica Martin, an architect, art historian, construction engineer and most important a fertile female. By her acceptance into the Savior's program, she had agreed to become the mate of one of the members of her squad. He was a loathsome man with a genius level I.Q. This requirement had almost made Jessica reject the program's offer, but she had wanted to survive the holocaust. It was almost a relief that his life support system had failed. Unfortunately, the only two other members of the Saviors program who could help her were also dead.

Fully awake now, Jessica started the preparations necessary for the next day's trip to the rendezvous point. The radiation readings were high, but tolerable. The temperature outside was nearly eighty. This was better than expected for a Spring day in the southwest desert after several hundred cubic miles of dirt had been thrown in the air by nuclear explosions. Actually, it was several hundred cubic kilometers. It had been agreed that the survivors would convert to metric now. Most of the scientists in the group had readily gone along with this since they were all used to the system. Her profession still worked in feet and inches. Adjusting wouldn't be to difficult. If Jessica made a mistake in her conversions, who would care if she went a few kilometers-per-hour over the speed limit? There was no one there to enforce it anyway.

After nearly eight hours of preparation, including a wide variety of tests for biological hazards, latent radiation, and chemical pollutants, she was ready to start her trip. Everything went smoothly. The canned water had not perished, the freeze dried food had not decomposed and the computer had kept the solar car's batteries charged.

The only set back she had, aside from the death of her companions, was that the gun locker was buried under a huge concrete beam. Obviously, some kind of explosion had occurred near by and now she was going to have to enter the world above armed with only a tazer gun.

The tazer gun had been left in the glove compartment of her transportation, a solar car. This was because, like the solar car's batteries, its charge had to be maintained for the ten years she had been in thermo freeze. For projectiles, the tazer fired two darts which struck an adversary and delivered a shock of twenty thousand volts through wires which attached to the gun. It only had a range of around three meters and only worked against one opponent. These limitations did not really intimidate Jessica, since all animal life, including the human race, had been removed from the surface planet by an excessively large number of nuclear explosions. The only real danger would come from the few people, if any, who survived the holocaust by hibernating underground like she did.

She spent her last night on the couch of her thermo tank. This time she kept the lid up and relied on her body's natural cycle of sleep to wake her up rather than the life support computer. The next morning she opened the two levels of outer doors and drove off using the battery power of her solar car. There would be enough light out to recharge the vehicle as she drove.

Although it was not as she expected, the outside world was peaceful. The mountain under which she had been buried was still dry and arid. It had remained nearly unchanged, the only noted difference being that the road north to Arrow Point was in poorer condition than it had been ten years ago. This was to be expected, given the untimely nuclear termination of the local highway department.

In every direction, the desert stretched, broken occasionally by a shriveled tree or cactus. It startled her that, no matter how sparse, plant life had survived even in a desert after a nuclear holocaust. Jessica was taken more aback by the vulture which circled overhead. Obviously, animal life had also survived.

She drove on over the pitted road, heading north. Life seemed in abundance compared to what she had expected. After two hours of driving she nearly ran over a snake sunning itself on the side of the road. After four hours she had seen a several small birds and one rat which reminded her of her now deceased potential mate. Travelling at twenty kilometers-an-hour, she was nearly a hundred kilometers from the control room when she came across the wreck.

It was a four wheel drive vehicle, only a scorched hulk by the side of the road with its two occupants burnt to a crisp inside. From the fresh smell of gasoline, it was obvious that the vehicle had not been there more than a few days. It appeared as though more than vultures, snakes and rats had survived the war.

Just after she passed the wreck she heard the motorcycles behind her. There were three men, all had shaved heads and wore leather jackets. Even at peak speed there was no way that Jessica could out run the bikes. She pulled over to the side of the road and waited for them to hopefully pass. They didn't. Instead, they pulled slowly up behind her with wolfish grins on their faces. Even with her hair tied up, wearing a silver environment jumpsuit, she was obviously a woman.

The three men parked their bikes and dismounted a short distance away from where her vehicle was parked. Forming a skirmish line with cross bows leveled, they advanced towards her. She sat quietly in the drivers seat. Maybe she had been speeding. Maybe someone did care. What would she say?, ``Excuse me officer the nuclear holocaust knocked down all the speed limit signs. You know how these solar powered cars are they just drive so fast.'' Unfortunately, solar powered vehicles were about the slowest form of transportation around and besides, these men were obviously not police officers.

As they neared her she released the catch on the window and opened it. The lead man, who looked like a blind date she once had, licked his lips. She smiled, gave a flirtatious wave and shot him with the tazer gun. He let out a howl as twenty thousand volts immobilized him.

Jessica drove off, leaving the other two men staring at her in amazement. If only they stayed that way. In her rear view mirror she could see the lead man stagger to his feet. That wasn't possible, the tazer gun was guaranteed to immobilize an assailant for at least ten minutes. Now was not the time to think about getting a refund.

He screamed to his companions as he ran towards his bike. They caught up to her in no time. Keeping a safe distance the leader easily shot out one of her back tires with a pistol. The car careened out of control and slammed into a dune. Jessica's head struck the windshield. In her daze she saw the three men run up to her vehicle. The drivers side window was smashed with the butt of a rifle and she was dragged out without a fight.

Everything was blurry as she was thrown on her back. One man pinned her arms, the other her legs as the leader straddled her. He ripped open the front of her environment suit. ``No'' she murmured, to dazed from her blow to the head to put up a fight. As the leader's hands worked lower, she saw a fourth man running towards them.

With a terrifying speed, the new arrival struck the man holding her legs with the butt of his rifle. As the leader turned, he received a similar blow to the face and like his companion was put temporarily out of commission. The man holding her arms began to draw a pistol from his belt. Before it left its holster, he was on the ground holding his crotch. Having been given a kick squarely in the genitals, he had no real alternative but to writhe in pain. Jessica's savior was on him before he could recover. There was a slight gurgling noise as the throat of this assailant was cut. Without wasting any time, the throats of the other two men were also slit, this insured that they were both permanently out of commission.

Her knight in shiny armour turned out to be a knight in black leather. Looking up from his knee high boots to his nearly military haircut, she saw he was a veritable arsenal. With a knife strapped to his right leg, a pistol slung low to his hip and a bandoleer of ammunition over one shoulder, he was both handsome and threatening. He was around 5'10'' with sandy blonde hair, broad shoulders and a slim waist. The desert had hardened him; this only added to his good looks and ferocity.

As he eyed her carefully, Jessica realized that her breasts were hanging out of her torn jumpsuit. She pulled it over them and fixed her bra. ``You aren't going to rape me?'' she asked. Walking towards his car, he shook his head. Jessica received conflicting feelings of relief and disappointment as the stranger walked towards his car.

It was a black Rally Sport, Camaro, 1973 if Jessica's guess was right. Before the war she had dated a man obsessed with cars. Actually obsessed was a mild term for his addiction and subsequent boring monologues on such exciting topics as the improved carburetor intake valves in the 73 versus the 74 Camaro. Maybe the nuclear holocaust had been a good thing.

Her savior started his car's engine and drove it next to the bikes. With a piece of plastic hose he started to syphon the fuel from the motorcycle closest to his car. Once the syphonning process was started he walked back towards her.

Jessica stood up, running her fingers through her hair, which now hung loosely about her shoulders, she tried to compose herself. ``I'd like to thank you. My name is Jessica Martin.'' she said extending her hand. He looked up momentarily and began to search the former owners of the motorcycles. He removed a variety of weapons and tools from each of them. Adding to Jessica's opinion that here was a man of fine breeding, he removed the leader's boots which looked to be in better shape than his own. This made Jessica's stomach turn; her hero was nothing more than a grave robber.

After depositing his loot in his car and starting the syphonning process on another motorcycle, he walked towards Jessica's vehicle. With a wrench in one hand, he began sizing up the vehicle. ``Excuse me'' Jessica stammered, ``That's my car and I would like to keep it in one piece.'' At her request he walked back towards his car and began taking selected parts off one motorcycle.

In disgust Jessica walked to her car. It appeared to be hopelessly stuck in the dune. Its motor refused to engage, probably because most of the battery cells had been destroyed when she crashed. She picked up her food and what gear she could carry and walked towards the Camaro. The third motorcycle was now being syphonned and another bike was being stripped of useful parts.

``Excuse me'', she said ``could you possible give me a ride north.''

``No'' was the first word he spoke to her.

``Well, what do you expect me to do?''

``I don't care'' he replied as the flow of liquid began to dwindle from the siphoning hose.

``You bastard. The only reason you saved me was so that you could get more fuel for your car.'' Jessica was angry, she had been used.

``No, the only reason why I saved you was that there are now three less skags in the valley to give me trouble''.

Jessica's anger calmed. ``Take me with you.''

``No''

``Why?''

``I already have one too many mouthes to feed.''

``I have food.''

``Nope.''

In desperation and with a bit of desire, she added, ``I'll sleep with you''.

He stood up, grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her against him. She could feel his leather jacket press against her breast. His kiss was fierce but cold. Despite this it sent shivers through her entire body. One top of the indignity of the forced kiss he added, ``If I wanted to sleep with you I would take you now. You are not my responsibility.'' She was angry, she had been rejected. There was a first time for everything.