by Angela White
Alexa observed both boats as best she could, making sure people were there and alive, but her mind narrowed stayed on the glimpse of what she’d discovered as Merrik’s boat spun. They had a large gun set up under an army tarp, with at least one man hiding with it. That would have to be handled, and shortly, as the city of Grand Island was now approaching.
The city implied it was dead from a distance, but as they began to pass small sheds and stores-an Auto Zone, a Radio Shack-but there were shadows and forms that said life might still exist there. The closer they got to Grand Island, the faster the water drew them along and the narrower the banks became.
“This may get ugly,” Alexa warned. “It looks like the bumper is missing.”
Thanks to years of mud and debris piling up, the narrowest part of the river was barely wide enough for these old boats. Merrik’s shot through the gap without touching, but the larger vehicle in the rear was too wide.
Alexa’s barge hit both edges of the debris-widened gap and came to a jarring halt that sent people and animals flying. Wood cracked from the impact, sending out wooden shrapnel, and the entire boat dissolved into planks and water and screams.
“No!”
Merrik’s protest was echoed by the wagon drivers as they watched the other boat vanish beneath the waves. The current was still rushing them away from any survivors and none of the men jumped into the water to help. The soldiers were sorry to lose the bounty, though a few of them had hopes of searching for bodies. The wagon drivers were worried over Alexa and her men. They had already come to care for her, and it made for a quiet load of men who slammed into the next rotting shore bumper and were finally able to exit the crazy ride.
Three rapid explosions tore through the peaceful silence, sending flesh and water into the air, but it wasn’t noticed by the travelers from Alexa’s boat as they fought the swirling water. Thanks to Alexa and her fighters, most of them were saved.
They hauled themselves and their fellow survivors to the bank, shivering at the cold, wet clothes that most of the travelers would have to walk dry. If it had been much colder, that wouldn’t have been possible, but the day was surprisingly warm for this apocalyptic hell.
As they staggered to the bank with the last of the survivors, Alexa noticed a shadow on the bank and proceeded that way, with Mark and Daniel on her heels.
She took the bag the thief held out, not asking how he’d acquired it, and he laughed cruelly, but didn’t speak.
Alexa turned away, thinking she’d be glad to handle him when the time came. The stink of evil was all over his filthy skin.
She took the case to a dry spot and broke the lock with her knife. Her men kept the others away and swept the muddy corn, hoping Merrik had continued far downstream.
Alexa scanned the papers. “2013,” she muttered. “A government order to destroy Lincoln.”
“That makes no sense,” Jacob commented.
“It does if Roscoe wanted weapons because he knew this was coming,” Billy stated.
It made them wonder if they’d been right to kill the men in River City, but Alexa was having none of that.
“Make no rewrites of history, my pets. We’ve only ever eliminated evil from our country. We’re not murderers.”
The words were a comfort. It was something each of them struggled with in their own way and it was a relief to hear her say that it wasn’t a sin.
“I didn’t say there’s no sin,” Alexa answered the thought. “There’s always a cost for killing, make no mistake about it. That’s a stain each of us will carry forever.”
“We’re even,” the thief stated, edging toward the corn. “One message for the bread.”
He didn’t give her a chance to respond. He darted into the corn and quickly vanished.
No order came to chase him down and while her men were glad they didn’t have to go crashing through the nasty stalks again, they didn’t like letting him roam free.
Alexa knew. “We’ll run into him again soon,” she promised. “But before that, we’ll see Merrik and his big gun. Let’s get ready for that.”
2
“Send the wagons on and set us up here,” Merrik called. They were in sight of the only road and the river. “In case.”
“You saw what happened to our guys who tried to cross the creek,” Travis argued angrily as the wagon driver took off. They were all eager to be away from the destruction wrought by the blasts of the messengers blowing their packages. The three men had been conversing near the corn, with no threats in sight and then boom; they’d blown themselves up, taking Merrik’s big gun and two soldiers along for a hot ride. Those who weren’t hit by shrapnel had been lucky. Most of the men here were now bleeding, ears ringing, and ruing the day that Alexa had strode from the corn.
The body of the blond woman wasn’t something to be concern over.
“She’s gone.” Travis insisted. “And we’ve lost half our remaining men in the blasts from the damn messengers! It’s a wonder we still have the wagons.”
“We’ll look!” Merrik ordered sharply.
He wasn’t happy to have lost two of his mission objectives. Brian and Alexa would have paid the best rewards. All he could do now was hope she survived and brought Brian with her. If that had happened, he had another chance. If not, he at least had the wagons. That would be enough to keep Roscoe from killing him. He hoped. Merrik planned to offer up the incompetence of his men as an excuse to provide Roscoe a target for his infamous temper.
“We’ve got company,” Travis called tiredly.
They all turned, hoping to discover Alexa stumbling up the riverbank like a gentle, drowned kitten. The old woman and her two kids were unexpected. Dry from head to toe, the trio looked as if they’d come from a leisurely stroll.
“How did you get here?” Merrik asked, voice choked. Was that blood on the little girl’s hands?
“We flew!” the girl giggled, bringing her bloody hand up to tear a fresh bite from whatever she was holding. “It was fun!”
“Never flew before,” the little boy spoke for the first time, blue eyes glowing like sapphires in front of a light. “I was an orphan in my other life.”
Merrik and his men stared in shock, not moving even when the old woman stuck a gnarled hand into her waist pouch.
“What happens to them, Grammie?” the girl asked after a loud swallow. “Can we eat them now?”
The old woman cackled as the men jerked away in fear and repulsion. She tossed the handful of dust into the air, where it hung, suspended, until she blew on them.
Now, the soldiers tried to duck and flee, but the dust dropped the males into deep sleeps with no thought for their resistance. Thuds and squelches of falling bodies echoed, and the old woman chuckled again.
“Ah, to be in the slaving ports. This lot would make us rich!” she cackled again.
“So would mine.”
The old woman scowled angrily at the sound of Alexa’s voice behind her. “Go away, warrior woman. Go on your doomed quest and leave us.”
The children bared their teeth, their fangs, at Alexa and her soaked fighters, but stayed behind the old woman as she turned to face Alexa’s determined countenance.
“You’ve earned passage with your deeds,” Grammie offered. “Go on to your deaths in some other terrible land.”
Alexa’s hands rested lightly on the butts of her Colts, and those tapping fingers sent fresh tension through her men. It meant get ready and none of them were. They didn’t have a clue what was going on.
Alexa sighed heavily, sweeping the unconscious soldiers and animals. “You’re responsible for us waking to the wolves.”
The old woman didn’t answer, but the little girl stuck out her tongue in confirmation.
“We’ve been protecting you,” Jacob stated angrily. “Why would you do that?”
The little boy suddenly reached over and grabbed the remaining piece of bloody meat from the girl’s hand, and took off into the nearest field with it.
; The little girl gave chase, screaming like she was being sliced open, and the fighters recoiled in disgust.
The old woman’s cackle was becoming annoying and Alexa explained just to get her to shut up. “They needed to eat and no one counts bodies during a wolf attack or a shootout.”
Jacob crossed himself, muttering “…will fear no evil.”
“Yes,” Alexa confirmed. “An abomination to be eliminated, nothing more.”
“Abomination,” two of the other fighters muttered at the same time.
The old woman reached for her waist and Alexa pulled the trigger.
She missed.
Or the woman moved.
None of the men was sure, but the old lady seemed to have rolled aside, and then reappeared exactly where she’d been.
Grammie grabbed a handful of dust and tossed it high. “Nighty-night.”
The dust was impossible to fight and all of them fell to the damp ground.
3
The old woman went to where Alexa lay and knelt down long enough to yank a thick yellow curl from her crown. She lingered over those deadly Colts, now lying useless by Alexa’s hand, but didn’t take them.
“Can we eat now?” the girl asked again as she and the boy returned from their game of chase.
“Not these,” the old woman denied. “I won’t give her father a real reason to come here. She provided aid along our trip and we will reward her with their lives. Someone else will rob them of that gift, have no doubt. Eat the soldiers instead.”
“But you said I could have him!” the girl shouted, pointing to Jacob. “I want my preacher!”
“Nooooooo!” the old woman growled, face changing to all teeth and black pits of hell waiting.
The girl fell to the ground, cowering and writhing in agony while the boy screamed for mercy.
The travelers who had survived the boat crash heard that shouted command of death and immediately fled.
Alexa had left them here for their safety, fearing Merrik would have a trap set up for her that might get them caught in the crossfire. Right or wrong, it now appeared there had been worse things waiting ahead and they all chose to give that side of the river a wide berth.
They used a rope and debris piles to run, jump, and fall across, counting on the strong current to wash away predators. It worked and the survivors continued to their destination without Alexa. They were a somber group who’d realized they were lucky to have gotten this far, and that luck had come from Alexa’s light. Now it was gone and the horrors of this hard new world were around them once again. This time, it felt worse.
4
Alexa and her men woke over a slow, nauseating space of ten minutes and each of their reactions were nearly identical.
Jacob’s lids opened and he groaned as he scanned for his crew.
The bodies next to him, half eaten, jerked the fighter to his feet and put his gun in hand.
“Easy,” Alexa murmured, standing a groggy watch nearby. Mark and Edward were next to her, with David and Billy close by, both emptying their guts. Daniel was the only one still unconscious and Jacob stayed close to him, automatically taking over for Alexa. He would assist their final man upon waking, freeing her to help the others. Which meant she had only woken right before him, and Jacob wasn’t comforted by that. It was another confirmation that she was ill. They ate together, slept together, bled and killed together. With the new awareness she’d given them all, if one of them hadn’t noticed it by now, they didn’t belong in this group.
Jacob was studying the mess of tracks around his feet, trying to figure out how long they’d been out, when Daniel jerked awake and into a low crouch an instant later, gun ready and eyes wild.
“Easy,” Jacob muttered, not staring at the carnage. Merrik himself appeared to have only been snacked on lightly.
“Brian isn’t here,” Daniel stated slowly. “And Merrik’s face is half gone.”
Must taste bad, Jacob thought, noting the other bodies had bites and gouges all over them.
The men observed Alexa kneel down by Merrik’s body and begin removing objects.
“You’ve given me something I needed,” she told the very dead Captain. “We’re even now.”
She tucked the items into her pockets and then stood at the edge of the corn, away from the death and insects. Her men followed, after striping the rest of the soldiers of their guns and ammo.
Alexa stared at the corn and the foggy landscape behind it, not speaking. They could detect the edge of a house through the next massive field and none of her men wanted to go in there.
“Neither do I, my pets,” Alexa admitted lightly. “And right now, we have no reason to. Let’s go.”
Alexa turned them toward Lincoln, keeping to the bank of the river, and her fighters were relieved. They’d had as much of the corn and its secrets that they could tolerate. Another two days in the fields and some of their sanity would be missing.
Alexa understood. She also knew they could take much more than what they’d been given so far. The going hadn’t really gotten tough yet.
Alexa led them straight toward Lincoln, not bothering to go back and search for the other travelers. It was the wagons she mourned, but if luck led them quickly enough, they might still be a part of the trade. Why they needed to, she still wasn’t sure, but instinct said whoever got the wagons and the boy to Roscoe first held a needed advantage, and Alexa wanted it. She didn’t know what was going on it Lincoln, but if it were as populated as the rumors implied, then the secrets being kept there could be important. Not to their quest, but to the future of their country. If Roscoe was dealing openly against the government, then the government had already reared its head, as her father had predicted so long ago.
Alexa flashed to that conversation.
“They’ll be a space of time where the government isn’t heard from for a while and people believe they’re gone. Don’t fall for it. They’re regrouping and planning how to come out in a way that returns control over us. When that happens, get people together and fight.”
“Fight the government?”
“Yes, as hard as you can, with every breath you have. If they come up and reassert their control unopposed, we’ve lost it all again.”
Alexa thought about how fast the world had collapsed, and the growing number of soldiers they’d been running in to. It appeared that the time was nearing to help their fellow Americans make a stand. The problem was that Alexa didn’t think there were enough true patriots left to handle such a battle, and even if there were, Adrian was the only one who could bring enough people together to win. Without him, everyone else was doomed.
5
“We’re being followed. Again.”
David’s observation was met with resigned sighs.
“It’s the thief,” Paul commented.
Paul had been the second one to wake up. When he joined Mark on the watch without talking, the convict had been surprised and glad. Mark didn’t like Paul and didn’t want him along, but when he’d woken to discover all the bodies and blood around him, he’d been eager for any of their group to wake, even the rabbit.
“Should I collect him?” Billy offered. “I’ll be gentle.”
Alexa waved him on and Billy darted into the weeds alongside their faint dirt path and disappeared.
Edward scanned and found no one watching him. He quickly scraped off the bug goop the girl had smeared on and was astounded to find the deep slice almost healed.
“Wow.”
“Yeah, the old world would have charge for that. Here, it’s free.”
Edward hadn’t heard Jacob come up behind him and he controlled the flinch that came from being sucker punched twice by the same fist in one trip.
Less than five minutes later, Billy reappeared with his prize, bound and gagged. The thief had picked up a black robe and boots that gave him the appearance of a monk when he was set on his feet.
Alexa motioned for the gag to be removed, but kept them rolling forward. She wan
ted to be in Lincoln ASAP.
“Why are you following us?”
The thief beamed happily. “Got what you want. Need protection.”
Alexa’s voice lowered into coolness. “You’d change the terms of our deal now?”
The thief shook his head, tongue shooting out to run across his cracked lips. “You can’t give me to Roscoe.”
Alexa raised a brow. “No?”
“Please, he’ll kill me and I didn’t do none of it!”
The loudness of his protest drew an immediate reaction from Mark. He replaced the gag.
Alexa didn’t stop, mind working on the newest choice, and her men made sure the thief stayed in the center where he was protected and also under tight scrutiny. If Alexa decided to accept his terms, they would be doing it anyway.
Paul was scowling thickly at the new guy and the thief made a face at him as if to say, “What are you lookin’ at?”
Paul spat towards the thief, wiping away the sloppy grin, and the thief muttered through his gag. Impossible to tell what he was saying, all of them quickly tuned him out.
“Why weren’t we killed too?”
Paul’s question was one all of the men were wondering about and they waited for Alexa to answer instead of shushing the scientist.
“Did we have some sort of protection…because of you?”
Alexa sighed. She’d done more talking on this trip than she’d done in years. “Partly because of my father, but mostly because of the unspoken rules. We protected them, fed them. A debt isn’t something to leave unpaid these days.”
“It felt like more than that,” Paul insisted. “Like we were protected.”
“The wagon drivers weren’t killed,” Billy reminded them of the tracks they’d found at Merrik’s slaughter. “They didn’t help the old woman.”
“Our guy paid a fee,” Edward stated tonelessly, now realizing what it had meant. “A couple of us saw him give them a pouch. I thought he was being generous.”
