by Erin R Flynn
Vitor was nodding when I turned around, letting me know that those from his coven knew and he would tell others. I thanked him and finished getting ready.
“That’s a three-hour flight with the chopper,” Darius said as he came in to gear up. “Laredo’s closer and cleared out. Can you pull together a chopper there, we find fuel, and then you do the semi and trailer closer?”
“I think so,” I muttered, shooting him a confused glance.
“Tyson loves him. He thought Chris was gone. I couldn’t wait three hours if it were me, and he was already waiting for you to come back, plus the prep we still have. We can give them the chopper later maybe, since you said no raiding in Texas. Let’s just get him there.”
“Thanks.” I cleared my throat. “I’m glad you agree.”
He gave me a sad smile. “We agree ninety-nine percent of the time. It’s that rare one percent we don’t that spins me out and I don’t mean just what you’re thinking. I get agitated when we don’t. I didn’t realize that at first. It’s another issue for me to work on.”
I nodded, not sure what else to say. He’d never told me that.
Then again, there was probably a lot we hadn’t told each other. We were always deep in shit and not just sitting around chatting. And we hadn’t known each other too long.
I swallowed loudly. Yeah, that made me nervous with this forever thing, and here I was about to do it again with two more men. Maybe I did have a screw or five loose.
5
Cerdic got a group together to help cull bobcats and headed to Laredo with us first. Vitor and I handled the chopper, others finding the fuel at the airport, and were in the air not long after. We blurred over to somewhere closer and pulled out an electric semi and trailer, charging it as well. By that time, there were already lots of bobcats to load.
With their necks snapped. Yup, that was already more than I wanted to know and I made sure not to look.
It took less than an hour until I was landing in the chopper with James, Tyson, and a few of my security, the semi on the way right behind us and not too far out. And they must have heard the chopper coming from a ways out because we had a huge greeting party.
“Why are you back?” someone called out when they saw me and the engine was shutting down. There were several more questions about how we got a chopper and everything, but I focused on the first question.
“We have someone in our camp that knows Chris,” I answered, not sure what else to say. The guy might not want to be outed as gay. I didn’t know how it was before the apocalypse besides what people told me, but the cults were not cool with gays as some believed that was how the corrupted came about.
Sure, yeah, that made sense never.
“Make a hole,” someone barked out from behind the group. A few moments later, Chris appeared with several of his guys I’d seen earlier. “You’re back? Why? You’ve got a chopper?”
“Someone wanted to see you,” I answered, gesturing to my right with my thumb.
Chris’s eyes went wide. “Ty? Is that you?”
“Yeah, I was on the ship with James,” Tyson said, swallowing loudly. “He was talking about how things went better than we’d hoped and the Chris guy was cool and then he said your last name—I had to check if it was you.”
“Thank fuck you’re alive,” Chris whispered. “I thought the worst.”
“Who is this guy?” one of his people asked.
“My best friend,” Chris answered, giving Tyson a look others couldn’t see, sort of an apology, also firm like it wasn’t an insult, but they had to be careful.
“We were stationed together for a while,” Tyson agreed. “Saw some shit and—you know the bond and how it goes.” He cleared his throat and glanced around. “I know no one comes in, but can you come out? I vouched for you with Inez, so she said maybe—”
“Maybe I’d bump you up to an acquaintance without the peaceful neighbor trial,” I cut in. “If Tyson vouches for you we can see, but I’m not just blabbing it all through a fence so people can play telephone and get it wrong. That never goes well and normally I get shot at. Or stabbed. Once, it got me hit over the head and I woke up in handcuffs.”
“Yeah, I can come out,” he agreed after several moments.
“It’s night,” someone argued.
“We’ll be right here.” Chris shot a few of them a look to shut it. “They have a damn chopper and we’re in trouble. It’s a risk I’ll take for the community.”
“What is that noise?” someone else called out.
“The semi Inez promised you,” James answered. I’d assumed that was what it was, but I was glad he took the lead. “We did some culling after we talked and they were bringing it over.”
“Wait, they’re armed,” a different guy objected.
“It’s night and we’re not stupid,” I drawled. “We’ve got other things to amuse us besides whatever crazy you’re thinking, I promise.”
“Amen to that,” James snickered. “And you got gelato I heard. You didn’t share?”
I shrugged. “You didn’t come with. We were all over after dinner.” I shut my mouth. It would have taken three hours with the chopper to get there from the castle, but they didn’t know that was where we’d been.
Wow, playing human was harder than when I’d been human with a quirky gift that started electronics. That hadn’t been what was going on, but I thought it had. The semi’s lights appeared in the distance as Chris came out of the last gate, his people locking it behind him. He went right for Tyson, giving him a huge hug that kept it to tight friends who were relieved they weren’t dead.
But it hurt me that they had to.
We moved over by the chopper, but people could still see from different angles, so they were careful.
“I thought you were dead,” Tyson rasped, moving his hand to Chris’s thigh when they sat down.
“Me too,” Chris replied, sounding just as emotional. “I mourned you, Ty. I didn’t know what your assignment was after we both switched, and then we kept hearing carrier groups were taken out—I had no hope at all.”
“Me neither. We heard Texas was pretty much nuclear ash, and I knew you were here for a bit, but then everything went radio silent and I… I’m so glad you’re alive.”
Chris bobbed his head and cleared his throat. “You look good.”
“You too.”
“Yeah, but I look older,” Chris chuckled. “You don’t.”
“No, I don’t,” Tyson muttered, glancing up as the semi slowed near us. “Is that not okay?”
He frowned at Tyson, reaching over and cuffing his head. “I never cared you were, um, different.” He shot me a glance and did a double take when I was smiling. “You too?”
“We’re not friends yet,” I answered, making it clear the answer was what he thought, but I wasn’t going to say it. “Tyson means the world to me and he vouches for you, but six years is a long time for someone to change. You have people to protect and so do I.”
Chris pulled his hand off Tyson’s thigh. “Yeah, six years. It is a long time.”
“We’re not together,” Tyson promised, understanding the change. “She—”
“It’s complicated but we’re not romantic,” I answered, giving Tyson a warning look. “Remember what you promised.”
“I know, I wasn’t going to say what you think,” he assured me. “I’m one of her captains, basically, and I help protect the settlement.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s fine to say,” I agreed. “And I woves you.” I searched Chris’s eyes, seeing only relief Tyson was alive. “So do you know, like know?”
“I know he always hid during the full moon or tried to have someone cover for him if he had some task that day,” Chris answered carefully. “I know he makes interesting noises at certain times.”
“Oh I bet he does,” I teased them. “And he does that cute huff thing in his sleep.”
“Not romantic?” Chris grumbled, glancing between us again.
“Um, n
o, it’s not, I promise,” I whispered, getting annoyed at myself for letting that slip. “I went through something bad and I was scared to be alone. Or they were scared to leave me alone. There were some puppy piles of snuggles.”
“So you are a werewolf,” Chris muttered, bobbing his head. “I thought so.”
“No, he’s a gorgeous and amazing lion shifter,” I corrected, nodding when Chris gave me wide eyes. “His lion is breathtaking.”
Chris snorted, scrubbing his hand over his head. “That explains the purring.”
“No, you’re just that good,” Tyson threw right back, giving Chris a flirty look. Nice.
“We have a problem,” Vitor said as he joined us, wincing when I yelped. “I apologize. I’m trying.”
“I know, but thousands of years of habit aren’t broken in a day just because I’m a baby vampire,” I muttered, repeating what others had told me several times.
“I’m sorry, what?” Chris asked, his eyes going bug wide.
Whoops.
I waved him off and focused on Vitor. “What problem?”
“Corrupted are heading this way. Far out, but closer than they should be.”
“Shit, I’m such a fucking beacon,” I growled. “Fuck, from San Antonio?”
“Um, we weren’t giving Chris the full packet yet?” Tyson reminded me.
“Yeah, we’re still not. He can have questions, but clearly he loves you and won’t risk you,” I muttered, rubbing my tired neck.
“Yes, from San Antonio,” Vitor answered. “They probably started the moment the sun was going down having scented you close enough, but they’d still be coming even if you were gone.”
“Shit, good thing we came back,” I worried. “I shouldn’t be this potent.”
“You bleed in a few days and your power is growing,” he argued, shrugging when I gave him a look that it seemed a bit much. “What are your orders?”
“Well, we can’t just bail and risk all these humans,” I said firmly. “We need reinforcements. Someone blur back and get us help. We don’t want them to all show up here, but they can cut through the herd coming here and keep out of sight.”
“Done.” He turned to Tian because, of course, it had to be Tian with us.
And, of course, he sighed when Vitor ordered him not to let me out of his sight. At least Moon and Sisay arrived with the truck too.
“We’ve got the minigun on the chopper, but we need more ammo,” I told them. “And get two more miniguns for on the ground with ammo. We can say we got them from raiding in Laredo and we were bringing them here. I want everyone who was helping cull to get a sharp weapon and thin the packs where the humans can’t see. We’ll get the rest.”
“Understood,” they both said before blurring off.
“They got a jump either moving in daylight or just as it was ending as that was hours ago,” I muttered. “But still, that’s like a two hour drive?” I glanced at Tyson. “The fastest we’ve clocked them is forty miles an hour, right? That’s four hours to get here. Shit.”
“Yeah, shit,” he agreed. “James?”
“You’re up in the air with Inez,” he ordered before looking at Chris. “You good on a mini gun?”
“Yes.”
“Good, you’re on the ground with me. We need sandbags or something to put them on.”
“Shit,” he hissed as he gave a quick look to Tyson before heading back to his people. They were not thrilled to learn corrupted were headed our way.
“You brought them here,” someone shouted at us.
“Maybe,” I accepted, ignoring the shocked looks. “I have a rare blood type and a genetic disorder that is like food in the air to a bear. This is a bit far though, so I don’t know. What I do know is we’ll handle it. We’ve got people flying to San Antonio now to help us on the rear and more.”
“We promised to clear out San Antonio, and after tonight, it mostly will be. Just a change of plan,” James added. “We were nice and raided the National Guard unit in Laredo and were bringing you some gifts. We’ll bring you others. We need them now.”
“Gear up!” Chris bellowed when people started bitching and complaining.
Kristof, Cerdic, Jaxon, and Darius switched with guys who had come on the truck, so they were close to me. They promised there were more than enough helping further down the line out of sight. If we handled the group closing in now, we were all good.
Jaxon came on the chopper with us since he knew how to load the minigun now. Darius did the same for James while Chris had a buddy to help him.
“Not one boo-boo,” I reminded my guys.
“How did they tell people to come?” someone asked, sounding like this had all been a plot or something fishy was up. Yeah, something fishy was up, but it wasn’t bad.
James answered by putting on the headset for the chopper so everyone could see it as I got strapped in. “Trisha, you got the kids?”
“Yeah, we’re good. Have fun, but not too much, or I’ll beat you for ruining Inez’s bachelorette party.”
I burst out laughing. “We’re killing corrupted for my party? Awesome. That’s just fucking awesome. Knowing her, she’s got assault vehicles lined up outside somewhere and leaving us to go nuts.”
“That does sound like my sister,” he agreed. “Not near Houston as we’ve got plans for the bachelor party.” He winked at me when my eyes went wide.
He and probably Tyson were taking Cerdic and Kristof up in fighter jets. Awesome. That was seriously awesome.
I wanted to go too. I was dying to go up but everyone kept giving me excuses. One day, I would wear them down or just be a brat and order it. For now, I knew it was better to let some of their gnawing and horrible fear settle. It was understandable to have it after all.
“We’re set,” Chris called a bit later.
“Coming over the horizon,” one of his guys bellowed. I turned and saw him standing on a watch tower behind the third line of fencing, waving binoculars at us.
“Game time,” Ty said as he jumped in the chopper and started it up. “We take out the front line and circle back, different than before. Let them feast on their own, and the ground support can cover us while we come back around. Each pass will be slower than we did last time. They can’t fire back, so this is the smarter play.”
I slid on the headset and checked it was good. “Got it. Ready.”
“Ready,” Jaxon echoed. We lifted off and Jaxon already had me loaded.
We were already green light since we were the only chopper involved this time I opened fire the moment I saw corrupted. They were not messing around.
I had a moment to wonder if that wasn’t so much my power or the strength of my blood, but desperation on Erebus’s part. If I was Aether’s champion and we were turning the tide so the world didn’t actually end with the apocalypse, maybe Erebus’s minions were amping up to try and turn the tide?
And then I wanted to smack myself in the head. I would never know for sure, and playing the grand scheme game would just give me a headache. It was happening. The why didn’t always matter so much as what to do about it. If there was a real why answer, a concrete one, sure, tell me. It helped so we don’t have the problem again. But no one would ever be sure when it came to beliefs.
They were sort of mutually exclusive. You were either sure of a fact or you believed in a path or purpose. That was why cults annoyed me so much. They weren’t talking facts, but beliefs. Not the same thing.
And even the facts were second million hand stories. We had problems now.
And that was a fact.
The second pass was slower and I fired the minigun in a “W” pattern to do the most damage. After the third pass, I wasn’t worried. They were slowing down, and I had a feeling the super ancients were enjoying the hunt and blowing off some steam.
I know I was.
We did one last pass and then landed.
“Good?” James called over when the engines were powering down.
“Yeah, we’re down
to a trickle,” Tyson answered. “No reason to waste fuel. You good?”
“We’re good,” he promised, Chris saying the same. “So what trouble are you guys in?”
“That might not be a conversation with the masses,” I muttered, nodding to the very large group gathered. Most looked ready to help, but I wasn’t stupid enough to buy that. I glanced at Chris. “It’s your call if you want to go down the rabbit hole, but we’re not offering you everything we have. Maybe help. That’s it. I was clear how I feel about certain ways settlements act.”
“What does that mean?” someone said from behind the fences.
I didn’t shy away from the question. “I’m not into the rise of these cults. Your beliefs are yours, not for you to preach to everyone. None of us are special because we survived, we just survived. And I’m really not a fan of this shit that women are below men and saved to pop out babies.
“I’m not against people coming with us, but there are rules and they have to be of use. There’s no free pass and we’re not all inclusive, so you need to prove you’d fit. We have enough generals and cooks in the kitchen but if you want to help, and get help in return, we can talk about it. Maybe. You’d have to convince us.”
“Wow, so do as you say and work hard. That sounds great,” a guy drawled.
“It’s hysterical you take that attitude when many of you were for merit-based immigration and denying refugees,” Darius drawled. “Funny how you’re annoyed now that the shoe is on the other foot. It’s our settlement and our resources so yeah, it’s our rules. You don’t like it, stay here, go anywhere, but that’s fair if we take a risk on you. There’s no US left, so you want a chance with us, you have to earn it.”
“We have a large group of sick and elderly,” Chris cut in before things got nasty.
I nodded. “We’re not against helping. We can get some hotels running we can use as nursing homes. Hospitals too. We can’t handle it all though. If you have people who would work there and qualified as—”
“We have some doctors and medics, but not many,” James said for me. “We need to get back. It’s your call if you come with us for the night and check it out. You’ll want to sniff our butt as much as we’ll sniff yours. The difference is all of you won’t sniff our butts or question us. You want our help or to join us where we have more than you do, that’s the way it works.”
