Shadow of Nevermore

by Lilly Black

  Put that in General Control Freak's log, Ravi! she thought gleefully as she howled through the trees, knocking down the last of the dead leaves that still clung to their branches even into the start of winter, and though there was a bitter chill in the air, in her current state Dani was beyond its icy grasp.

  She went first to the witch's cabin to find that no one was home. Since it only took her a couple of minutes to get there, she continued looking all over the mountain for the old woman but couldn't find her anywhere. Though frustrated, she realized that a witch who had the ability to give her the gift that allowed her to cover the entire mountain in minutes certainly had similar powers of her own. With no idea where to look, she gave up and went in search of her clothes and guns.

  When she spotted them, the dead that had pursued her earlier remained in the area, wandering around aimlessly, and when she touched down on the ground to try to pick up her things, they were instantly drawn back to her. Dani wondered if perhaps she smelled even stronger to them in this form since she wasn't just a human who's scent was carried on the wind but the wind itself made up of all the molecules of a human...or at least that's how she envisioned herself. She wasn't entirely sure.

  As she tried to pick up her things, they came close, grabbing at her like they did before, but since she knew they couldn't hurt her, she was able to ignore them and focus on the task at hand. Now her problem was that she couldn't get the items off the ground. Some of the clothes would start to float when she really put in effort to make it windy, but the guns and the cell phone would not budge. She also noticed that the more concentrated her efforts became, the more focused the dead were. It gave her an idea.

  She collected herself, pulling her molecules in tight without returning to her human form, and she hovered amid the items, drawing the corpses to them until they were swiping at the guns and clothes. They started picking them up, bringing them to their mouths in their confusion, and Dani found that she could then blow harsh winds against them at just the right angle to encourage them to keep a grip on what they were carrying even when they discovered that it was not the delicious human flesh they were smelling. The most difficult to accomplish was getting them to pick up the cell phone and the hand gun, and even when they did, getting them to hold on was a challenge. It had been easy to wrap the clothing and the strap of the rifle around the corpses, but they were inclined to quickly discard the smaller items. Ultimately, she had to continually swirl tendrils of wind around those items to keep the interest of the dead, and it worked so well, one corpse even put the barrel of the handgun in its mouth because it smelled so strongly of its favorite cuisine. Soon they were all carrying her possessions as she learned she could control separate swarms of molecules just like she would parts of her body when in solid form, and she set off, leading them down the mountain.

  Desperate to get home before Jax returned from the meeting, she maintained an invisible circus act, including hurling branches ahead to draw the attention of her zombie valets until she had lured them to a spot along the wall where she knew they would be noticed. She wanted them to be seen because now that the zombies had served their purpose, she needed them put down. She guided them until the guard patrolling the top of the wall made his way to the spot where he could see them, and as soon as he confirmed that they were dead by observing their behavior, he raised his rifle and began firing. Dani could feel the bullets whizzing through her as they sped to their intended targets, and it was a terrifying sensation even though they caused no damage. Her teeming particles seemed to instinctively blow out of the way of the projectiles with a will of their own until all parts of her hovered over a small pile of dead bodies as the guard scanned the woods for several minutes before requesting the corpse disposal team and continuing on his path.

  Dani had a small window between the time the guard left and the arrival of the clean-up crew to get the items over the wall. She stood beneath the trees for cover and willed her molecules back into order, amazed to find that it worked so easily for her now that she was beginning to understand the powers the witch had given her. She just wished there was some way she could transition without ending up naked and dizzy.

  With no time to waste, Dani got to work hurling her things into the compound. The handgun, phone, and shoes were the easiest, and when she knotted her clothes into tight balls, she managed to get them all on the other side using a little wind power. The assault rifle was a different matter, and when she noticed the crew coming to dispose of the dead, she had to hide it in the woods.

  Dani quickly became the wind and hurried over the wall where she willed herself whole again. Though she had the same nauseated feeling as before, it wasn't as overwhelming this time, allowing her the endurance to gather up her possessions and dress herself behind a tree. According to her phone, which thankfully made the trip over the wall in one piece, she had already been out nearly an hour, so rather than retrieving the clothes she took off earlier, she ran back down to her cabin and got in bed before Jax came home from the meeting, and she made it just in time, kicking the gun under the bed at the last minute just before he opened the front door calling out to her.

  "Still in bed," she shouted from down the hall as she fought the dizziness swirling in her head, and a few seconds later, he appeared in the doorway.

  "Dani, I have something to tell you, and you're not going to like it," he said.

  Oversight Meeting, Earlier

  Everyone but Dani, Reid, and Amina was present in General Navarro's war room. Alek opened the meeting, but before he began to explain why he had called them together, there was a knock at the door. June answered it to find Reid and Amina standing there, and she looked at Olivia, not knowing what to do.

  "Let them in," she said.

  "What's going on? Who are they?" Aiden demanded.

  "This is Reid Anders, Aiden," she said. "He's my husband." Olivia introduced Reid and Amina to everyone, and she offered them two of the empty seats.

  "I understand why you think your husband should sit on this council," Aiden said, "However, while I mean no disrespect to Miss Vašilić, why do you get to just add people to this council without a vote, Olivia?"

  "Reid is the founder of this place. His vision and his money built it. And Amina is here for the same reason you are."

  "I don't understand," he said, and Olivia sighed. Aiden, of all people, should have understood because he was the one who suggested the rule in the first place. Early on, it had been decided that the significant other of anyone serving should also become a part of the founders board as existing members would surely share their concerns with their spouses or lovers. It was the reason that June wasn't asked to join until after Jobe and Jimbo were both dead, and now it was the reason Amina was there. But Aiden didn't consider that this rule would be related to their current situation because there was something he didn't know.

  "Amina and Reid are together," Olivia said.

  "So, you're divorced?" he asked.

  "I'll explain later," Liana whispered to him.

  "No," Alek said with a heavy sigh. "We may as well just get it out in the open now. Nobody meant for this to happen, but Olivia and I got together because she thought her husband was dead. Meanwhile, he was out there living in fear every minute of every day for two months, and when you're under the kind of stress we've all been under since the goddamned dead started eating the living, you do things you wouldn't have done in a perfect world, so he came home with a lover. So, now we're all going to try to make things work because he's Olivia's husband and Savannah's father. Any questions?" Jax looked as though he might raise his hand, but knowing whatever he wanted to ask would be born of his jealousy, Alek silenced him with a glare. Jax would just have to tell him how he would freak the fuck out later in private.

  "I have a question," June said, meekly raising her hand, and Alek acknowledged her with a nod of his head. "Does this mean that you and Olivia are together and Reid and Amina are together, but Olivia and Reid are separate
d?"

  "No," Alek replied, then offering no further explanation, he moved on while June shrunk down in her chair, becoming withdrawn. "Anyone else? No? Good. Let's talk about why I actually called this meeting. Because there are more important matters than who's fucking who around here."

  "Relax, man," Aiden said because Alek's tone had grown hostile. He was angry, but it wasn't because of Reid. It was because the more he thought about what was going on at the prison, the stronger his need to fix it became, and anything that was getting in his way was pissing him off.

  "Aiden, I can't relax knowing what I know now," he said. "That kid Austin finally opened up to us about the group he came from, and they make the Widowmaker at the solar farm look like a cartoon villain.

  "In a prison about forty miles from here is a gang of former prisoners engaging in the institutionalized rape of women they kidnap, which would have included Dani, Penny, and Kylie if they had been successful here, and we need to deal with them immediately."

  Then Alek proceeded to tell them everything he and Olivia had learned from Austin.

  "They came to the Deadfall specifically for Kylie Vincent," he said as he wrapped up the back story. "Dave had done some work for John and Sharon, and he had a sick, sexual attraction to their teenage daughter even before the apocalypse. They came to the lower ring looking for her, and that's how they found us."

  "But the solar farm is gone now. There's no reason for them to come to Pipestem anymore," Aiden said.

  "So?" Alek demanded.

  "So, it's forty miles away, Alek. What do you want us to do?"

  "I want us to drive up there, liberate those women and girls, and kill the motherfuckers who've been raping them."

  "Why is it always capital punishment with you?"

  "What the fuck else are we going to do with them?" Alek demanded. "It's not like we can put them in jail."

  "I don't know," Aiden said. "But why is it up to us to take care of this? Do you know how many other groups of dangerous assholes there probably are between here and a prison that's forty fucking miles away? We'd be risking our lives to take out a group of men who will probably never affect us again when I guarantee you if we went out looking for trouble, we could find it right here in our own neighborhood! We need to take care of more immediate threats first, then maybe..."

  "Maybe you didn't hear me, Aiden. We're talking about women and girls, girls as young as Savannah, who are being held in filthy cells with no medical attention, not enough food, and no hope of rescue while they are murdered. Literally. Raped. To. Death. So, yeah, we do have to be the ones to save them because we're the ones who know about them! We're all they have, and as long as I draw breath, I will never turn a blind eye to people suffering."

  "Yeah, and maybe the kid realizes that about you! Did you ever think of that? Maybe he's making the whole thing up just so he can get us to take him there where an ambush could be waiting for us. Don't forget, he was one of those people in that group until you shot his partners."

  "Goddamn it, Aiden!" Alek shouted, furiously slamming his fist down on the table, and Olivia stood up to calm him.

  "It's not like that, Aiden," she insisted. "I believe Austin is telling the truth, and I don't think he has any desire to return to the life he left behind there. He's terrified of those men."

  "Okay, so maybe he's exaggerating the rape angle to get us to go after his enemies, then. I don't fucking know what his motivations are, but my point is that you don't either!"

  "Then let's go find out," Alek said. "You and me. We'll go down there, stake them out, and see for ourselves."

  "I agree that we need to do recon," Olivia said, "but I don't want to risk your lives to do it. The men Austin described are brutal."

  "We could use drones," Liana suggested. "Someone would still need to go to the prison, but we could hide in the surrounding area and send in the drones to look through the windows, maybe even plant some bugs..."

  "I could accept that," Aiden said.

  "Me, too," Alek concurred. "I'll talk to Rena..."

  "No, I'll talk to Rena," Liana said. "This is my department, and if there's going to be a recon mission, I'm going to be the one to lead it."

  "No!" Alek and Aiden both shouted at the same time.

  "Liana, I love you, and you are the most capable soldier we have, but I won't let you or any other woman within twenty miles of that place in case what the kid said was true. If I were to get caught, it would be one thing, but if you got caught, I can't stand the thought of what they would do to you."

  "Then I won't get caught," she said.

  "No," Olivia interjected. "Aiden's right."

  "Fuck that!" Liana scoffed. "This is my area of expertise around here, and if I say I'm going on the mission, I'm going on the damn mission!"

  "Let's put it to a vote," Aiden said. "All in favor of Liana going on this mission."

  Only Liana raised her hand, and as she looked around the room, she gave everyone a scowl for not voting her way.

  "Please, Liana," Olivia said. "Just let Aiden and Alek handle this one, and I promise that once they have proof of what's going on in that place, you can lead the invasion."

  "Fine," she grumbled. "But we're going to need more than just Alek and Aiden for the recon. I need at least four men to coordinate what I have in mind."

  "I'll go," Jax volunteered.

  "Me, too," Reid said.

  "No!" Amina cried.

  "I'm inclined to agree with her, Reid," Olivia said. "You and Alek can't go on missions together."

  "Oh, goddamn it, Olivia. I'm a grown man. I'm not going to jeopardize the mission to take out your boyfriend!"

  "That's not what I meant, asshole," she said, laughing. "I was thinking of Savannah. She needs more protection than I can give her alone, so I can't have both of you at risk at the same time."

  "It's just a recon mission," Reid said. "And besides, I have more experience out there than any of you."

  "Yes, but..." Olivia started to argue, then Alek interrupted her.

  "He's right, baby," he said, calling her that in front of her husband without even thinking because it has become second nature to him. The hair on the back of Reid's neck stood up as he clenched his jaw, but once Alek continued talking, he was able to calm down enough to not make an ass of himself. "He does have more experience, and with the prison being so far away, that's more valuable than what I could add to this mission. I'll stay behind."

  "Thank you," Reid said, trying not to let his emotional state show through, but Amina was not as adept.

  "Thanks for nothing," she grumbled at Alek.

  "I promise I'll bring him back in one piece," Aiden said.

  "I'll see if Ravi can go in my stead," Alek added.

  "Ravi can't go!" June blurted out. She had been sitting quietly, her anger at Olivia's current romantic arrangement consuming her until she heard his name, then when all eyes were suddenly on her, she realized she had alluded to something she didn't want anyone knowing about. "I mean, he's just a kid. Take Gary or John. John would be good for this mission."

  "John's not a bad idea," Alek said, and June breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Plus, he's a hell of a sniper if you need one."

  "Excellent. I'll speak with Rena and start laying the plans," Liana said.

  The meeting was adjourned, and several people shot out the door in a hurry. Reid didn't want to face Alek any longer than he had to, Amina wanted to get Reid alone to chastise him for going on the mission when he'd only just arrived, and June had to get the hell away from Olivia. She wasn't sure if she was more angry or jealous, but she was overwhelmed by it.

  June's Journal

  Day 50

  It's not fair! When Olivia's husband came back, she was supposed to let Alek go, not keep both of them! It could have been so perfect. He would have been crushed and needed someone to pick up the pieces, then I would have reminded him of when he came to my house on her command. I would have looked up at him with innocent eyes an
d asked if he would finish what he started that night, and he would have said yes, even if it was only to punish Olivia. Then once he was with me, he would have stayed. I know it. Men like virgins, and maybe I did have sex with my husband, but he was never capable of (or interested in) pleasing me. It would have made Alek feel so masculine to be the first man to give me an orgasm that he would have wanted to stay with me because with Olivia, he always had to worry about being better than Reid.

  But now? Now, she gets to have sex with her husband and Alek while I'm stuck with a 24-year-old kid who is probably all talk. At least there's a little silver lining. Ravi has a body like Alek's, and I've wanted to touch a man with perfect, firm muscles all my life. Jimbo had a gut, and I don't know about Jobe because I never got my hands on him before Alek came in and beat him up to defend me. I'm excited to know what it's like to lie in bed and feel those tight pecks and abs against me. If I close my eyes and he keeps his mouth shut, I could pretend Ravi is Alek.

  Is that wrong? It's not like Ravi is in love with me. He's just horny, and he knows I want to learn to have an orgasm, so he sees me as an opportunity to have sex. That's all it is, so it doesn't matter if I'm picturing Alek in my head.

  God, Alek is so perfect! He heard that there were women in distress forty miles away, and he's ready to run off and rescue them. Complete strangers, and he puts their safety above his own. It's like what he did for Olivia in Pittsburgh the night we first met him. Mr. Kemp could have had his goons beat Alek half to death for that, but he didn't care. He jumped right in and made Kemp apologize for the way he treated her. He's such a good man. How can someone like that prefer Olivia to me? She's not a good girlfriend. She only cares about herself. Otherwise, she'd set him free now that her husband is back. If he was mine, I'd put his needs first. I'd do anything for Alek, but it looks like I'm going to have to play the long game. Eventually, he'll get sick of just being a part of her harem, then maybe he'll see that what he really needed was right in front of him all along. And by that time, even if it's too late for him to give me my first orgasm, at least I'll be experienced so I can compete with her. I'm going to try everything with Ravi - everything Alek could possibly ever want, and I'm going to become so good at it that one night with me will be all it takes to make him fall in love with me forever.