by Angela White
Billy laughed, but made sure Paul stayed in front of him. He remembered what had happened to Zale
They made the short trip back to the warehouse in the same hostile crowd, only now there were twice as many people. Word had spread and Alexa quickly got them all inside, releasing the thief.
The thief, glad he hadn’t been left with Roscoe, wisely kept his mouth shut and didn’t remind Alexa of their deal.
Alexa settled onto her bedroll again and spent a few minutes thinking while her men got themselves ready to bed down for the night.
Humiliated, Paul huddled in the corner away from everyone, mind still working on engines and being out here alone. He wasn’t sure now that he could convince Alexa to let him come along, but he wasn’t staying here either. He intended to keep following her on his own and when she found Safe Haven, he would be on her heels.
The other travelers were happy to have Alexa and her men back with them. The muttering of an upset crowd after such isolation was unnerving.
Alexa put two men on watch and gave the others the time off to do as they pleased. They all needed personal time.
The warehouse had a double sink setup with gallons of water under it, and her men took turns cleaning themselves and some of their gear, as well as filling their water bottles and skins. A small room had been set up for a bathroom and the layers of rust in these areas told them this building had been in use for a while for this purpose, but not many people had been here.
Braids delivered cups of soup to the fighters, lingering on Daniel, and there was a peaceful time as they all ate and tried to relax while they could.
Paul accepted a cup of the soup too, but knew the others with them didn’t think of him like they did Alexa and her brutes. He hated them for that. He knew Alexa felt honor bound to help those who couldn’t help themselves, but he also knew she liked doing it and that was the part he didn’t understand. Heroes risked their lives to save people, but they didn’t like the danger, right?
Paul continued to stew long after the meal was over and most of the travelers had gone to sleep. Why was he so different?
Chapter Thirteen
Zones with Old Bones
1
Alexa rose from her bedroll without waking her sleeping companions or any of the other travelers. She pulled on a cloak that Braids had washed out and hung to dry, tugging the hood up.
She padded toward the window silently, and Edward materialized in the gloomy shadows ahead of her. When Mark appeared next to him, Alexa sighed, realizing they’d expected her to slip out.
“Either, I don’t care,” she answered in annoyance that masked respect.
Mark drew his own hood up and Edward faded back into the darkness.
Alexa let Mark boost her up to the window and the pair snuck from their holding cell without drawing attention from the two sleepy townsmen sitting by a fire can in front of the warehouse.
Alexa went straight to the fence behind their building and climbed up a spot where the barbed wire had been worn down. She dropped into the black side of the city and strode toward the tallest building in view. It wasn’t as high as where they’d chosen to meet the other travelers, but it had a clear view of the entire city, minus a corner of the white zone.
As she walked, Alexa took a piece of dried goat from her pocket and chewed contentedly while doing her reconnaissance.
It appeared the residents of Lincoln were using nearby creek water, but they’d devised a system of long hoses to collect the precious liquid instead of going to the bank with buckets. They’d clearly already learned the water was dangerous.
Alexa saw that the hoses ran from the creek to a large cistern-type tank, but not to Roscoe’s main street. Alexa was willing to bet that he had access to clean, pure water left over from before the war.
Mark stayed close, ready, and enjoyed being alone with the boss. He and Edward had discussed it over a smoke, one of the last between them unless they found a new stash, and come up with what they had thought she would do upon waking. It felt good to have the unanimous agreement validated. If they could accurately predict her actions and reactions, it meant they were learning some of what she was trying to teach them. Signs of progress that they could point out to each other were ones they held onto in hard times.
Alexa led them onto a main street and continued toward the shiny building. She didn’t remember what it was called, but was sure it had some ridiculous title. All the tall towers of the old world had been named-another of their problems that led to the fall, in her opinion. Buildings didn’t need names unless they were important in ways that benefitted most people, not a controlling few.
This side of the city was full of structures that had once been museums, art galleries, and high-dollar apartments that would have had a front room view to some of the most cutting-edge entertainment the city had to offer. It was dark and spooky now, but that somehow only enhanced the elegance.
As they reached a main street, Mark moved a pace closer. “We’re being followed.”
“Keep an ear out.”
There was a small group of men behind them and the longer she went without acknowledging them, the louder the group was becoming. He’d picked out no less than eight voices.
“Easy,” Alexa calmed him lowly.
They turned the corner at the next dead intersection and stopped in front of the tall tower with barely visible lights flickering in the upper windows. From a distance, it would look like moon glare or star shine, and they were both impressed with the black netting over the screens. It allowed secrecy and extra protection from determined insects, while still allowing a view and fresh air.
Alexa sat down on the top stair, facing the small group of men following them. The black people weren’t dressed in suits and the fancy hairstyles of those on Roscoe Street. They wore layers of pants and shirts under thick worker’s jackets and woolen stocking caps. They clearly weren’t the type to have an hour to spend on just the right outfit.
The ten males were large, faces curious but not hateful, and Alexa motioned Mark to move from in front of her.
He leaned against the nearest marble column with deceptive casualness.
Alexa waited for the quieting group to come to her and Mark was aware of footsteps also echoing from inside the building. In a moment, they would be surrounded.
“Do not fire without an order,” Alexa warned him.
The men muttered, and Mark nodded easily. “Never, lady.”
“Aye,” Alexa confirmed. “But if you feel that I’m in danger…”
“I’ll kill them all,” Mark finished her warning, aware that he could do it. He was already planning the order of fire and it would account for those who were now approaching the door from the inside. Alexa wouldn’t be harmed or taken captive, not by anyone here, and she’d made sure they knew it.
“Does anyone have something to discuss with me?” she invited.
The door opened and three of the blackest men Mark had ever seen came to stand in front of her.
“Who are you?” the tallest of them asked softly. “No one comes here anymore.”
“Adrian Mitchel is my father.”
As soon as she said that infamous last name, the mutters and hopeful comments started, but they were drowned out by the fear.
“She can’t be here,” a second man stated, flanking the first. “You know what we were told!”
“It’s against the rules anyway. She’s white!”
“Shhh!”
Alexa waited calmly for them to get by this part. It would have to happen with each group she met, if things were as she suspected. And all of them would want Roscoe killed, would try to hire her or anyone they thought was strong enough to get the job done. Moreover, there was likely nothing she could do for them and deep inside, they knew it.
“What do you want?”
Alexa looked up at the first hostile tone they’d heard so far, her voice a gravely minefield. “Ask and be done with this act.”
&nb
sp; Gregory, who had family in all three zones, responded with resentful anger. “Can you kill him?”
“No one can,” Alexa denied. “He’s not real.”
Scoffs and fearful taunts came, but Alexa ignored them. She waited for the words that mattered.
“Can you kill his master? Will that free us?” Gregory asked slowly.
Alexa stood up and surveyed their pathetic faces without pity. “You’ll have to fight for it.”
Gregory blew out a tired breath. “We’ve got one more in us and after that, we’ll be gone.”
Alexa’s hand dropped to the butts of her guns, making the crowd flinch, and Mark followed her lead, causing those closest to flee.
“We kill. However, violence spreads once unleashed. We’ll not be responsible for innocent lives lost or destroyed.”
“Just kill it!” one of the members called out. “We beg no miracles save that one! End our curse!”
Alexa turned toward the street. “I will.”
She and Mark left much the same way they’d come, only this time the street was lined with the black faces who had hidden from them the first time. Eyes peered from cracks in boarded windows and lifted sewer lids. Light chatter also followed as word spread of the conversation. It increased when Alexa went right at the last intersection, instead of left and back to the warehouse.
Mark hadn’t expected anything else after watching her manipulate them into hiring her for her own ends. It was slick and also a bit irritating. He hated how weak people were.
“As do I, my pet,” Alexa responded to his thought. “We’ll help them where we can, yes?”
“You know it,” Mark agreed firmly. “Whatever you need.’
Alexa pointed toward a chicken-wire style fence running down the street at the next intersection. “I need an half hour in there, but they’ve already heard I’m out. Town sentries are heading toward us.”
Mark thoughtfully observed the debris. “Hasn’t rained much. How about a fire?”
Alexa pointed a finger at a nearby pile of molded papers and boxes that was apart from the other debris. She didn’t want to burn the city down… At least, she didn’t think so. That decision hadn’t been fully made yet.
Mark got the small fire going and then followed Alexa over the short fence with a neat leap that flared out his cloak.
Those watching murmured in appreciation and apprehension. Roscoe wouldn’t like anyone out roaming freely. His dusk curfew had held for years and why not? He had support that couldn’t be argued with.
2
Unlike the black side of the city, the whites weren’t dressed properly. They had thin sweatpants and raincoats, old gym shoes in place of winter boots. It was a glaring difference and Alexa dreaded discovering what passed for clothes in the outcast zone. Other than that, it was identical to the black side. The same debris, depression, and lack of gear were everywhere. The difference so far was between Roscoe Street, which was neat and clean, and the rest of the city he governed.
A clever trap for new visitors, Mark thought, glad his boss wasn’t that type. She couldn’t be fooled by something so awful. She felt the wrongness.
“Stopping it will be hard,” Alexa warned. “I still have a small hope this isn’t what I’m planning for.”
Mark was almost afraid to ask. “What is it?”
Alexa swept the cornfields they could barely discern. They lined the city like a huge trim. Or the walls of a cell.
Mark followed her line of sight and felt his heart beat increase. “The house in the corn.”
“Aye,” Alexa breathed. “She let us go because she knew what we’d discover here.”
“But if she’d killed us, she’d be safer. She had to know we’d return.”
Alexa shrugged. “I don’t know why she let us come here and that worries me more than the thought of going back there.”
“Are we going to?”
“Help!”
The scream startled them both into drawing as they spun to find the threat.
“She’s gone! Help me!”
To their horror and shock, no one came to help the woman running down the street, screaming.
“They took her! My baby!”
Alexa put a hand on Mark’s arm when he would have followed. “Always study the people first.”
Those who had come to doors and windows were sad, but they didn’t react as if it was something new.
“It happens often,” Alexa guessed. “Missing kids. Ghosts in the corn. A possessed Mayor. This is an odd town we’ve come to, convict.”
Alexa using that name told Mark she felt the loss of the woman’s child even though she was acting as if she hadn’t. Probably feels all of them, Mark thought. He felt it too, the sense of loss and pain, and he took the liberty of putting his arm around Alexa’s sagging shoulders as the woman’s screams faded. “We’ll shut it down, boss.”
Alexa sighed miserably. “Yes, but not until we’ve experienced it all and taken it so deep into our hearts that we can never forget it.”
She shuddered under his arm and Mark understood. This is who she was. She couldn’t just storm into the corn and blast away. She had to follow traditions and she had to hear it was needed. Killing wasn’t allowed any other way. It was the first of the rules she’d started them on and though her Eagle set was the guidelines they used regularly, that first one meant the most. Murder wasn’t allowed. She said if they crossed that line, they would be unworthy to enter Safe Haven.
Alexa went to the parallel road closest to Roscoe Street, staying to the white side of the line and Mark felt people from both sides staring at them as they cleared the corner.
The next street was cleaner than the rest and Alexa headed for the small community center. There was a small light coming from the first floor window and Alexa knocked sharply on it before Mark could think to ask her if it was wise. Not that he would have asked verbally.
The window opened immediately. The people inside were waiting for her.
“Back door,” someone hissed at her.
Alexa shook her head. “That’s for other than the likes of me. Come out and ask your question so I can end this night’s waste of my time.”
She ignored their protests and planted herself on the top stair of the front porch.
In the other zones, there were nearly two dozen people lining the fences, ignoring each other to stare at Alexa and Mark as if they were aliens.
Mark took up another casual post nearby as the doors opened and a large group of white faces surrounded Alexa. Again, he had little doubt about clearing them from her if trouble started. They were all so thin; he didn’t think they’d had three square meals since the war.
This side is poorer than the black side, Mark thought.
Alexa listened to their fighting on her presence and the trouble it would cause for all of them, patiently remaining silent until Mark wanted to interrupt them just to have quiet for a minute or two. And if he was feeling that way, she had to be also.
“Are we done here, boss?” Mark asked. “Fire’s gonna be out soon.”
Alexa nodded and stood up. “We’ll be on our way since you don’t require anything. Good night.”
As they walked away, the attitudes changed drastically, as they always did.
“No, don’t go!”
“Stop her!”
“Wait! Please, wait!”
Alexa stopped, voice cold. “Ask me.”
Melissa, the elected leader of the white side, stepped forward slowly. “I’m against it, so you know.”
The older woman, with her librarian’s hairdo, pulled her ragged shawl closer. “It’ll only get more of us ejected.”
“Ejected?” Mark asked.
“The troublemakers,” Melissa answered tiredly. “Along with the elderly and the strong men.”
Alexa studied her, noting abusive natures that hadn’t subsided since the war. She was shaking as if she needed a fix and Alexa curled her nose up. “Resign your place. You’re not fit to l
ead them.”
Melissa’s face paled, and then reddened as the chatter around them stopped. It was replaced with shock.
“You’re still using?” someone called from the small crowd.
“She’s drugging again!”
Alexa turned from the woman and faced the residents. “What would you ask of me?”
“Kill him!” came the response, in many forms.
Alexa left them while they were still shouting out the things they wanted done to Roscoe’s body.
Mark wasn’t sure why these people hadn’t needed her to explain that it was really the master of the house in the corn as if she had before, and realized word would spread. She didn’t need to keep repeating all of it.
Mark was glad for that as the last zone came into view. The construction field was fenced and walled, a clear warning not to enter unless you were able to handle whatever might be on the other side.
Alexa climbed the walls and dropped inside with a small leer of anticipation that curled Mark’s stomach. She was pissed. She wanted blood and she would be free to spill it as soon as she received the same expected response from the outcast zone.
“Roscoe’s master doesn’t stand a chance,” Mark stated.
Alexa didn’t answer. She was too furious to make claims or boast, and this last zone would send her over the edge, she was sure. There was no way the outcasts would be better.
3
“Someone started a fire. The townsmen are fighting it.”
Those words caused every head in the underground room to swivel toward the door, as if to see Alexa and her fighters there.
“You saw her?” Robert asked.
“Yes. She has one man with her. She’ll be here next, I’d wager,” Emmerson stated, out of breath from his run.
The room cleared within a minute, except for Robert and Emmerson.
Robert sighed resignedly and pushed himself to his feet with the aid of his cane. He wasn’t old enough to need one, but the wasting sickness had crippled parts of him and weakened the others. Some days were good. This wasn’t one of them.
