by Angela White
"Waaa..."
It came from the well, there was no doubt. Confusion was first, then suspicion, and Alexa directed her new men to the center of their group as they began a sweep of the dark homes that surrounded them.
"Waaa..."
The blonde ignored the weakening cry; she needed to be sure they cleared each and every room which might hold an ambush, and the sounds of the baby's distress followed their movements relentlessly.
The houses were all designed the same - simple three bedroom flats with a short attic space. The once colorful decor suggested these families had been South American. Beds were still neatly made, although cabinet doors were gone, revealing fully stocked shelves. With the rail yard so close, starvation hadn't been their enemy. What had?
As if in answer to their thoughts, daylight broke suddenly, the rare sun bright, and the miserable cry cut off.
The silence it left was uncertain, almost hostile with a new energy, and Alexa circled her men back to the exit, waiting. The shadows there were enough to shield them from the sun's glare and from view as they listened tensely for whatever was coming. They didn't have to wonder for long.
A large shadow hit the ground across the courtyard, ominous in the size and the whoosh of its wings. The bird moved like a streak, heading straight for the well as Alexa and her men watched, stunned again by what they were seeing. Had the baby known the bird was coming? Was the sun its alarm?
The vulture was as tall as Alexa and its wingspan was nearly double that. Huge and heavy, its body was unable to fit through the average opening. Angered, the enormous bird dug its claws into the crumbling stone, causing a large chunk to crack off under its powerful talons.
The hungry predator gave a shrill cry of excitement, trying to squeeze its head through again. It was clearly digging its way to the infant. Was its parent down there too? Unlikely. Who could let a baby cry that way and not comfort it? Alone then. But not for long.
The vulture paused suddenly, its long, red beak tilted into the air as if it had smelled something. Had they been scented? The fighters got ready.
The bird let out a furious screech, broad wings unfurling to make an escape, and the rock under its talon crumbled. The piece fell into the well, and the child's startled cry snapped the vulture's attention back. It hesitated, torn.
There was silence from the baby after the one surprised wail, and the mutation turned ugly yellow eyes on the shadowy doorway where they stood. It was as if it knew they were there, but couldn't match their scent, thanks to the dried mud covering them like a shield.
As the bird flexed, turning slightly, each of the fighters saw a gaping wound and understood that not only were body shots useless, but this was the terror that had taken the villagers, leaving no destruction, no signs of a battle. Its nest would be a different thing all together.
"Cry," Alexa muttered so softly, only Edward and Mark heard, and the sound rose obediently from the darkness.
"Waaa..."
Full of hope and fear, the bird could resist no more than the fighters. It turned back to the well, shoving its fat head into the hole to let out an unearthly shriek, and Alexa led her men out of the shadows.
The woman drew as she moved, cold blue eyes now blazing with outrage, and the bird pulled back much too late to avoid her shockingly good aim.
Crack! Crack!
The bird’s eyes vanished into a splatter of gore, and Alexa opened up her Colts.
As she fired, a second big shadow swooped down into the courtyard. This bird wasn't as large, but its smaller size made it fast, and it ran toward her warriors with piercing shrieks of fury.
"Rookies down!"
The two men dropped, and Alexa spun, guns blazing. The bird was hit, but it only slowed. It was Jacob, with his .357, that made it pause.
He fired twice from the hip and the smaller vulture screamed in pain as its eyes became gushing wounds. It struck out in panic, rushing forward, and the preacher fired again, emptying his newly given guns.
The smaller bird staggered, wings flapping in an attempted escape, but Alexa and the others had finished off the first predator and were there to back the preacher up as he reloaded. The vulture took hit after hit, blood spraying the plaza.
A minute later, there was only silence again.
"Injuries?"
There were none, and Alexa nodded, pleased. "Very good."
As she moved toward the well, the smallest vulture chose that moment to strike, using its dying force to lash out at her.
Crack!
From only feet away, Jacob blew half of the bird's head off before it clamped down on her leg. Blood and gore splattered those closest, and the vulture thumped to the ground.
2
"Jacob, Mark get the child. Billy, David, sniper watch."
There was no discussion of the short battle, only duty calling.
Alexa tensed when her men disappeared into the well, but didn't follow or call them back. This is why they were with her. Alone, she had no hopes to help others. With these males, that didn't have to be, and this child would be the first of many.
It was impossible to guess how long the vultures had been coming to this village for food, but the stones on the well were nearly broken through, and it eased her hurting heart to know that their reign of terror was over.
"Coming up."
Alexa kept her eyes on their surroundings, fighting the urge to yank them topside herself. Control was the key, and she governed her face into the impassive mask her father had always worn. She would train them as he had trained her, and in a year's time, there would be little they couldn't handle together.
"It sleeps as though it hasn't in a while."
The preacher gently handed the bundle to Alexa, who immediately uncovered its head.
Swaddled in a black blanket with not even a spot of dust on it, the baby was breathtaking in contrast. Ivory skin with stunning yellow ringlets, its beauty was remarkable, but even more so was its condition.
Healthy, pristine even, and Mark opened his hand to give a theory on why. "These were all around its basket." They were bones.
"Impossible!"
Daniel spat, as if offended by the very idea, but Mark was shaking his head. "Not if he's something more."
The biker frowned, "And by more, you mean?"
The convict's words were tolerant. "More than human."
Daniel's eyes looked to Alexa as understanding came. Perhaps the child was like their strange, hard leader.
Proving the idea, the baby stirred, yawning, and sunlight glimmered off of moist, white fangs.
Each of the males took a startled step back, but Alexa only curled the child more securely into her grip and turned for the nearest doorway.
"Guard stays the same. Jacob, set us up. We'll leave when it's dark enough to signal for the bridge."
The baby didn't wake at all, and the men noticed how careful their leader was not to let the bright sun burn down onto his skin. They also saw she had the look and feel of a mother now that there was a child to be cared for, but none of them asked if she was. Too many of them had lost people in the War to bring up so painful a subject.
Faced with half a day's wait, the group found useful things to do, such as preparing the fresh supplies they'd gathered. There was sewing, smoking, drying, and through it all, they watched Alexa with the baby, hiding their thoughts from each other as well as from her.
That kind of happy family life had vanished when the first nuclear bomb slammed into their homeland. Not to mention, that was no ordinary woman and child, but a... Thoughts trailed off there. Alexa's origins were as foreign to them as the baby's.
Alexa studied the infant intently, thinking the pall of horror had not lifted with its rescue, and she wondered again, what to do next. They could not bring a child on this quest, and yet, leave him to fend for himself, she would not.
A hand moved carefully around her, holding out a small vial with a thick, reddish liquid. "He'll be hungry when night fa
lls."
Alexa sat the bottle near the basket and waved Mark into the chair. "Tell me."
"Only what I've read and never really believed in," the criminal warned.
She nodded as if to say that was accepted.
"Vampyre."
Alexa scowled, and he drew back, ready for her censure.
"Figures."
The convict was shocked, and the woman shrugged. "They are a type of walking dead, are they not? Our country is plagued with such now. The War cracked the gates, and the night has begun to slip through. I'm only surprised we haven't seen more of it."
Her words were a painful, terrifying trigger back to the War, to where they'd been, and only Alexa's eyes remained focused on the future. They had an infant they now suspected was more than human. The woman used Mark's description with a curl of her lips. More than, indeed. Should they turn him loose, or endanger themselves trying to take him where he belonged? Like the Trolls, the new world's vampires also traveled these roads. How to even begin such a fool's...Her eyes narrowed. Like the Trolls. "Jendon."
All but the new men understood.
"Perfect. He'll know where."
She settled back contentedly at Edward's comment. "Yes. As defenders of the undead called back to service, they will be guarding a hive of their own. Jendon can take the child there."
3
Outside, their clear day faded into a chilly dusk with grim skies and a bite to the wind. It was time to go.
The stinking carcasses were untouched by predators when the fighters slipped through the darkening archway, each of them refreshed from a short sleep.
"Burn it."
Jacob and Mark lit a torch and made a lap of the village, setting fire to the dark and decaying trees on the perimeter. Daniel and Edward ran alongside as guards.
Next to her, David was studying the wind deeply. She knew a little more of him now. He liked to cross his arms over his chest, even when he slept, and in one of his pockets, was a small photo album where he was already keeping scraps of their travels. From Laramie, he was taking the small bones found with the baby.
Alexa met his eye over the flickering fire. “How are things?”
The blacksmith didn’t hesitate. “Under watch.”
Alexa nodded, voice resigned. “I thought maybe we’d picked up more rats, but I’d hoped to be wrong.”
David gave a brutal smile. “We’ll handle it.”
Alexa had no desire to stay and watch the brittle trees blaze. She shifted the pack more firmly onto her shoulders, the sleeping infant inside. "Aye. Let's go."
The flickering shadows of the swampy jungle faded, leaving only the distant glare of the fire, and the night began to settle in around them. As if on cue, the child's eyes opened.
"The bottle now."
Mark quickly placed the sealed vial in the baby's tiny, outstretched hand, and those closest watched in fascination as the child agilely twisted the cap and began to drink.
A minute later, the glass fell to the forest floor, and the baby let out a loud belch, followed by a giggle. Alexa got them moving again as the child played contentedly with her braids.
The other normal needs of a baby never presented themselves, and the group reached a small clearing a short time later. In the distance, clicks and clacks could be heard. Carried on the sharper wind, it was a sound all of them were glad to hear.
Laramie's outskirts hadn't been extremely dangerous, but it was certainly stranger than most of the places they'd come through so far, and the males were glad, for once, that Alexa didn't seem to want to explore. Not all of the city was under water, and the tallest peaks in the shadowy distance were actually vine-and debris-covered buildings.
The clearing was covered with large rocks and boulders, and the blonde got them set with short words. Something didn’t feel right about this and it was more than the child. "Ten minutes, full guard."
The others showed the rookies where to be, and Alexa gently took the child from her back and laid him against a natural rise in one of the moss-covered boulders.
As she did this, a new sound rose through the blackness behind them - a shriek of unbearable loss. Incredibly loud, it was earsplitting despite the distance, and her men fell into a tighter circle around her and the baby.
"Momma."
A first thought was to mistake the word for the confusion of a lonely, abandoned toddler, but this was no ordinary baby, and Alexa understood instantly. "Your momma. Wonderful."
She evaluated for a split second and then spun a finger. "Fall in line, my pets, and cover those throats. His guardians are coming."
Alexa drew with her left hand, barrel pointed down, and her men did the same, following her one, hard rule - do what I do.
The jungle around them was silent.
Alexa looked away from the child for only a split second, but it was enough. Hungry, starving for fresh blood, the infant lunged for her arm.
His fangs sank deep into her wrist, but to the shock of her men, Alexa only held the baby closer. An instant later, the forest parted.
There were three of them. Ivory skin covered with ragged black cloaks, their beautiful, furious faces were made ugly by glowing red eyes that promised no mercy. A man in front, flanked by two snarling females, Alexa's army waited for it to begin.
Alexa, however, noticed the concern in those evil eyes. These were not killers, only survivors. Not that those long fingers wouldn’t rip out the throats of her men in defense. Still, it was better than an enemy who had no weakness.
It was a long moment as the trio took in her neatly lined-up males and then lingered on the feeding child.
Without wincing, she shifted the baby more firmly into the crook of her arm. "Your family has come, little one."
At her words, the baby's head spun, fangs ripping from her flesh. Alexa used her sleeve to gently wipe her blood from the corner of its perfect mouth.
"Momma!"
The baby strained for the female with the stunningly round face, like a china doll.
Alexa moved forward, "Of course."
She switched him to her other hand as she moved, and it was Edward who thought to come forward with a bandage to cover the wound. He did it while they walked and the horseman stayed on her right as she stepped confidently to the surprised vampires.
The trio of blood-takers flinched backward only half a step at her movement, merciless eyes narrowing in warning. She watched their fangs extend and voiced her thought.
"He's a very interesting baby. Will he stay this way or grow?"
Alexa's question threw them off, breaking the tension a bit, and the doll-faced woman looked to the male.
He didn't respond, and the female's eyes lost some of their fervor as Alexa gently put the struggling infant into her cold arms.
The six fighters watched her linger - so close to death! - to run a steady finger over one rosy cheek.
"We sought only to save him, nothing more."
The mother, her baby back in her arms, nodded slowly, and the man lost some of his menace as well. Maybe this could end peacefully.
The other female however, had been carefully inching closer to the undefended men, the very human men.
Alexa's voice cracked out like a whip. "I'm still close enough to take his life for any of theirs!"
The sneaking female froze, and the male gestured angrily, snarling something none but the vampires understood.
The second woman fell back quickly, and Alexa slowly did the same.
"I could have killed him as soon as I realized what he was. Anyone else would have." She took another step back. "I could have left him to the birds. It wasn't my fight."
That comment drew an agonized cry of denial from the mother. The man put a restraining white hand on her shoulder that she shrugged off.
It was a shock to see such emotions from the Undead, and Alexa’s men tried not to let it sway them against that sense of danger. The Vampyres clearly only wanted the baby right now. What might happen later
?
In the mother's pale grip was now a pouch, her movements so fast, even Alexa hadn't seen it.
"Take."
The blonde did with no sign that it bothered her to touch the cold female, and then the trio of horrors was moving into the forest, leaving a soft giggling echo.
Alexa opened the pouch wide to let her men see. Inside was a small, intricately carved horn with long green tassels. On the side, was a crudely, yet beautifully drawn image of a wolf fighting a woman with long blonde braids. To the sides of these, were six small stick figures, each holding what could have been a gun.
"A Caller," Alexa murmured in appreciation as she stowed the gift. She caught Jacob's confused expression. "Yes?"
He shrugged. "Just don't understand why his mother put him in the well at all. They could have handled those birds as easily as we did."
Alexa grunted. "The father."
The preacher's brow drew together in confusion, and Edward explained. "Half human. His father likely hid him there and hoped she'd find him before the birds broke through the stone."
"Why wouldn't the Ferryman let them cross?"
"And what were those two lights we saw before he came?"
The rookies were banding together to ask their questions, David now willing to split her anger if there was any to be had, and she turned away without responding, knowing the others would answer those questions and more when they finally made camp for a sleep shift. Her moment with the Card Player would be among them.
There was little to say after that, the clicks and clacks of the bridge near enough now to let them see a faint glowing outline. They were almost out of this odd place, and each of them was eager for it.
4
Very near where they were to meet the Ferryman, Alexa tensed, stopping, and her men searched the darkness warily for the danger. Around them, the night stilled into complete silence.
"Up!"
Alexa's order was followed by seven leaps into the nearest trees. "Still!"
They were a small group of motionless shadows, perched firmly in decaying, brittle branches an instant later, and for a long moment, there was nothing.
