by Angela White
“We’re not like her. We require safe passage.”
“Where’s the body?”
“Right now, with us. We’ll deliver it or leave it, your choice.”
“What do you want in return?”
“To go on unharmed. Most of us still have relatives to find.”
“I’ll talk to the boss and call you back.”
Corbin looked to Rab. “Where are they?”
“About a mile from where they went in.”
Corbin looked at the motionless dot on the tracking screen. It was normal for the juice to keep working even after death. It led them to the bodies that way.
The Commander looked to his flunky. “Do you believe it?”
Rab nodded slowly. “He was only concerned for their lives.”
Corbin wasn’t so sure. “What proof did they offer?”
“Her guns. We just fetched them from the meeting place her man suggested, ran a DNA test on the cells we found. They’re hers.”
At that, it started to become real for Corbin. Alexa wouldn’t leave her weapons behind for anything. “Where do they want to meet?”
Rab gestured at the wall map. “Said you can pick. They just want it to be soon. There’s a storm coming and they don’t want to be caught in it.”
“Agree to their terms. Have two extra squads waiting. When we’ve got the body, grab her men. We’ll bring them to the new complex and run some tests. She’s been with them for months. If a trade of power was possible, maybe they’d know.”
‘Cause you won’t get Safe Haven’s location from them, Rab thought. He’d heard that tone of complete hatred before, and the man who had called was pissed. Corbin wasn’t the only one planning a betrayal, but Rab didn’t tell of his suspicions. It was up to fate now.
Corbin moved back toward his small tent. There was more than a storm coming for her fighters. He wasn’t fooled by their sudden selfishness. They were probably setting their own trap, but it wouldn’t account for everything. There’s no way they could with her dead. She was the light. They were only an energy source.
5
“They’ve agreed.”
Alexa’s men didn’t exchange grins at how easy it had gone. There would be time for celebrating when it was over.
“How many men?”
“Two dozen, which means more like five.”
“Any conditions?”
They’d had to go topside to place the call, and only Daniel and David had heard it all as they escorted Mark. The convict was perfect for dealing with the soldiers. His attitude made it hard to know if he was bluffing or not.
“They want us unarmed, but they already know it won’t happen. We’re supposed to bring her up last. They want to see all of us.”
Billy held up what he’d been working on for the last hour as he stayed close to Alexa’s barely breathing body. “Think it’ll work?”
The other men gave nods of approval, but no praise. There would be time for that later, as well.
“Yes. They’ll take us to the complex and from there, we’ll help her free the other kids they have there.”
“That’s not her plan.”
Edward stopped them, eyes on her pale face. “We go on, to find Safe Haven. Without Adrian, we’ll spend our lives destroying bunkers and still never get them all, never provide a real future.”
“Why’s he so special? What can he do that she can’t?” Jacob demanded.
Edward shook his head. “I don’t know, but it’s what she plans to do, and I trust her.”
The horseman took a minute to change a few things on Billy’s drawing. When he was finished, he passed it to the others for their approval. No one protested after seeing the second blast he’d added. The soldiers wouldn’t know what was coming. All that mattered was getting Alexa’s unconscious body clear of the damage path. She still hadn’t woken, and the worry was becoming tangible.
6
Corbin watched the men climb from the manhole with anxious eyes. He was still holding onto a small hope that they were wrong and a trip to the lab would set her to rights. That hope vanished as the fifth man carefully came out of the hole with her limp body slung over his shoulder. Her knuckles scraped the ground… those stunning eyes were open, but sightless. It was true.
Jacob gave Edward a hand up as Mark moved toward the heavily guarded jeep in the center. No less than twenty vehicles waited, more than four dozen soldiers with rifles aimed at their heads.
“’Lot of hardware for letting us go.”
Corbin stared at her hard-asses with open dislike, changing his plan. These men were not going along for the ride. He looked around. “Only five. Where’s the other one?”
Mark snorted his anger. “The rookie split when she died.”
It clearly wasn’t the response of a close group, and it threw the man off a bit. “Six or none!” Corbin snapped, sure it was a trap, but not seeing it yet.
Mark slid a hand to his gun. “We’ve returned your property. Stand aside and honor your deal….”
The convict’s face went to ugly in an instant. “Unless you never planned to let us go?”
Corbin understood the unspoken threat and felt the first measure of fear for his life. Loyal to her or not, these were dangerous men that she’d gathered.
“I always honor my word,” Corbin stated, suddenly turning reasonable. He motioned toward his vehicle. “Drop her in the backseat and your group may go. She’s all I came for.”
Mark grunted at the obvious lie and shadowed Edward as he headed for the green jeep.
Edward slung her body down, but made sure her head landed on the soft seat. He walked away without showing any of the instant desolation he felt at turning her over to this one-eyed murderer for even a minute.
The second the fighters were back with the others, Corbin began to slide toward the driver’s door. “Open fire in three... two... one…”
“Now!”
Perched atop the first water tower, Billy hit the button at Edward’s shout and scrambled for cover.
Kaabblllammm!
Wooden and metal shrapnel flew through the air as the base of the water tower evaporated. The heavy water crashed to the ground and pounded over the arid dirt under it.
Every head turned toward the billowing sound, and men’s faces widened in horror as the water thundered relentlessly their way.
Kaabllammmm!
The next tower drew Corbin’s stunned attention, and he watched the water roar toward him in a shocked daze. They’d been ambushed!
Mark’s tattooed knuckles smashed into the Commander’s face and drove him to the ground. Around them, the soldiers fled the coming waves with little thought of their leader.
Edward swung Alexa’s body back over his shoulder, but didn’t wait to enjoy the relief of holding her life in his hands again. He spun for the roof they’d agreed on, not looking to see if the others needed help. Right now, Alexa was all he cared for.
The water pounded the last half mile toward them and began sweeping away the vehicles as men fled in panic. Alexa’s fighters darted between these dazed soldiers with little fear of being shot, but when Edward hit the ladder on the building, he was alone and felt it clearly.
He jerked them up the rungs two at a time and swung his feet over the top as the first wave of water collided with the brick building.
Edward staggered at the impact, grip tightening, and David was there to steady him. Instead of watching the destruction, the two men laid Alexa’s limp body down and turned to secure their new perimeter.
The roof was wide, cluttered with years of filth, and the two men stayed at her side, watching alertly. They listened to the roaring of the waves and the screams below with hard hearts. This building was meant to withstand about anything, it was why they’d chosen it, and there was no need to watch the soldiers drown. Thoughts of their own men were near the surface however, and they kept a steady watch on the top of the ladder for anyone else that might have made it.
Bang
!
The sound of Jacob’s gun crashing had Edward waving David to the side for a look. His report came with grim words.
“The rookie’s on top of the transport truck they brought. It washed up against the hillside.” David frowned harshly. “He missed! Corbin got away.”
Edward nodded, bending down to examine Alexa’s breathing. It was one of the downsides of using a tool like water. There was no controlling it, and Corbin was a master of escapes. How else had he avoided the rage of so many angry Descendants for so long?
“What about the others?”
“They went underground.”
The unexpected voice had both men spinning to see a short, blond man huddling behind a stack of crates. He was shivering, soaked, and bleeding from a variety of scrapes.
“Came up the bb…back.” Teeth chattering, Rab looked behind him quickly. “Think your m…mmen are, too.”
There was relief to see the others come from behind the drenched scientist.
Daniel’s grin was wide as he took up a post on the ladder they’d just used. It had been a horrifying, amazing rush to dash through the tunnels, staying steps ahead of the water as they rushed for the manhole cover on the other side of the building. Then, there had been the heart-stopping sight of the water smashing through the hillside to race them for the ladder. It was a thrill-ride to compare with any he’d had before the War.
Edward gave Billy a nod of recognition as the driver stopped next to the cold scientist that he assumed was now their prisoner. “Good plan.”
Billy shrugged, longing to hear those words from their leader. Her continued absence was bothering them all. “What about him?”
Rab started to drop his head, as he automatically had when it was Corbin deciding his fate.
“My mercy… is given.”
Alexa opened her eyes to find freedom, incredibly sweet, waiting, along with the happy faces of her men.
She inhaled deeply of the dank air. Now they understood that she truly needed them, and for more than just their energy.
Alexa slowly pushed up to sit against the filthy chimney, her head throbbing in pain. She closed her eyes, controlling the effects as best she could, and sensed six very anxious males waiting for her reaction to the choices they’d made in her absence.
“Are they dead?”
It was Edward who answered. “Not Corbin.”
Behind them, Rab shivered harder. “A ddd..ozen soldiers mm.. made it, too. They followed him.”
Taking pity on the man’s misery, Billy slid a hand into his pack and came up with a shirt. He tossed it to the captive, seeing the marks of repeated beatings and the scars that decorated his alabaster skin. “Anyone have extra rags to donate?”
Rab quickly changed into the dry clothes that were tossed his way at Billy’s call, exposing his malformed body with no self-consciousness. That had been stripped from him, along with so many other vital parts of humanity that the fighters knew he wouldn’t survive out in this world for long, alone or not.
Instead of questioning his future, each of her men kept quiet and tried to guess how she might handle it. After Jendon and the baby, they were sure she would think of something other than bringing him along. She’d said they were already a full crew, and it felt that way to them as well.
“Come over here, Paul.”
Rab hurried to her side, heart thumping at her use of his given name. Around them, her men took up posts and listened eagerly to the sound of her voice. It was a raspy noise they couldn’t imagine being without now. They’d already risked too much, accomplished too much, to ever forsake the quest or her.
Paul slid to his knees at Alexa’s feet, the time of judgment finally here for him as he faced the Alpha female. “I had no choice!”
Alexa motioned him to her side and he came fast, making her men frown at his unbalanced movements. The rabbit-like behavior said if he were left here, he would go straight back to the compound and report everything that had happened just to be allowed back in. That made him the enemy, didn’t it?
“Who is your father, Paul?”
His face melted into a mask of rage none of them had expected, and he snarled at her.
“You already know!”
Alexa’s tone was leading. “And when he finally recognized the genius his experiments had caused?”
Paul’s face was ashen, and he leaned back, no longer angry, but hurt beyond any describable measure. “He put me with the others to be experimented on!”
The fighters muttered at such evil, and Alexa gave them a sharp look before turning back. “Tell me.”
The Rabbit’s mouth opened and horror spilled out. “They’re mating with us, trying to get stronger babies that can survive out here, but he… Corbin… he wants to be stronger. When a successful breeding gives a healthy baby, he kills it or deforms it so they never get what they need, and he has endless time to figure out how to be like us.”
Paul looked at her with devoted, terrified eyes. “It’s Safe Haven that Corbin’s after. He thinks Adrian will make him like us… especially if he holds you hostage.”
Alexa’s tone was sheets of ice laid with hair-trigger mines. “Will they stop for the night?”
7
The small camp of soldiers was an easy light to follow in the darkness.
The desolate Commander had them set camp out in the open, not worried about Alexa’s fighters coming. Let them. What did he have to live for now?
His shoulder throbbed mercilessly from the bullet that had slammed through the back window as he fled, and Corbin swallowed the last of his drink with a bitter grimace. The fighters had gotten away with any knowledge they might have had, and Alexa was dead. Tomorrow, they would go back and try to collect the body, but Corbin was only going through the motions now. Any chance he’d had of finding Safe Haven, of controlling Adrian, had died with Alexa.
His future looked bleak, and the soldiers around him were aware of it. They were protecting him and following orders, but each of them knew his execution would be ordered in punishment for this awful failure.
Corbin’s hand fingered the gun on his hip as he considered ending it all. Without Safe Haven’s magic, he would wither and die out here the same as the other refugees. At the bunker, he would be shot for gross negligence of duty. What was left?
“Should have died too,” he muttered drunkenly.
“I agree.”
Alexa’s voice from the darkness was fiery… alive!
Corbin stumbled to his feet, choked at the sight of her standing just behind his chair. Death swarmed closer.
Alexa whistled, and all around them, gunfire rang out as her loyal men opened fire.
Corbin’s men were caught off guard - the dozen soldiers no match for the fury of Alexa’s Eagles.
“Stay back.” Corbin fumbled for the dart gun on his belt, still refusing to kill her even though instinct said she wouldn’t be as forgiving.
“Uh-uh!” Alexa warned, memories assaulting her.
That voice! had forced her to do unspeakable things for the discovery of information she never possessed. This weakling had broken her down into a begging mass of emotion, again and again… and she’d let him, because of her humanity. Her conscience had kept her behind their walls, and now, thanks to him, she no longer had one.
Being careful not to trim her, the six fighters moved her way as they picked off the few remaining soldiers dumb enough to pop their heads out from behind doors and bumpers. They moved in that efficient V she’d taught them, mowing down anything that moved.
Alexa snarled when Corbin pointed the dart gun at her.
He was very aware she didn’t hold him in the same tender regard he did her, but what mattered was that she followed the ways of her father... Maybe this wasn’t over yet.
Around them, the soldiers lay dead and her fighters stood in a tight circle, ready to defend her if it was needed.
“I let you go.” Corbin lowered the gun.
Alexa stopped her lunge
, finally getting the answer for the ease of her escape.
Her face changed into an unreadable mask, and Corbin continued, not trying to save his life, but still desperate to follow her. “I watched out for you, tried to keep the other guards away from you.”
Corbin’s face softened. “If not for Regan finding your hole-up in the desert, they still wouldn’t know where you are. You owe me mercy.”
Alexa wanted to kill him anyway. Her soul certainly needed it, but he’d gifted her with the most awful thing he could have - freedom.
In return, she motioned to the man still lurking in the shadows. “Show him my mercy, Paul.”
The Rabbit stepped from the darkness with a nightmarish grin and a familiar gun that Corbin stumbled back from.
“What? No…”
“Hello, Father!”
“Wait, Rab...”
“My name is Paul! I’m your son!”
“No! Don’t do…”
Bang!
“Burn it all.” Alexa turned away in guilty satisfaction. Now that they had Rab, they didn’t need Corbin for the locations of the other bunkers. Rab knew where many of them were, but also how to hack into the government’s remaining technology… and he was loyal to her quest. All she had to do was stash him somewhere while she and her fighters brought Adrian back. It had worked out even better than she’d hoped.
Thirteen
1
Twelve days later, the dusty fighters stared at the message carved into the stone of the Black Hills.
Finding Safe Haven’s old campsite had been harder here, where nature seemed almost normal, but the message in the cliffs would have been impossible to miss. Jendon had gotten it word for word as it was carved, but Alexa's sharp eyes picked out an added line along the ground, like something hurriedly placed there when no one else was around.
"I'll wait as long as I can."
Despite being sure it would take a month or more for the big government bunker to learn of Corbin’s defeat, they’d stayed on the move and made good time. Alexa could still be tracked for weeks, according to Paul, but thanks to his smashing the control screen, those who picked through the wreckage wouldn’t be able to follow easily.
