by Angela White
No. Livestock trucks would have to be heated and covered; water and main supply trucks would have to be brought around front. Warmer clothes and shoes dug out, shovels too. Mind racing, Adrian went back inside and began putting his people to work.
As Adrian got them moving, he noticed Kenn’s boy, Charlie, hanging around. When they were alone for a moment, the leader stepped over to him, thinking Charlie needed to eat more and have some fun.
“You okay?”
The teenager nodded but said nothing, and Adrian lowered his voice. “You sure? I’m all yours right now.”
“No big deal. Just bored.”
Charlie’s expression said differently, though. Dark circles under the teenager’s eyes showed he wasn’t sleeping well, but Adrian was encouraged that he wasn’t constantly standing at attention anymore.
“Sounds like you need a job.”
Charlie agreed right away and Adrian wondered if he should give him make-work or something that mattered.
“Something that matters?” Charlie asked.
“Everything matters now, son. I’ll change your schedule when I do the next set. In the meantime, how about some snow shoveling? We need to keep a clear path to the trucks.”
There was no reluctance in Charlie’s response. “Sure. Now?”
“No. We have to get some supplies first. You can beat me up at a game like your dad will, I’m sure,” Adrian joked. He chose not to openly question the slight grimace that came over the boy’s face.
“Sure. Can I be on your team?”
“Absolutely. Lane 17, in half an hour. Bring coffee.”
Charlie shoved his hands into the deep pockets of the baggy, hooded shirt he wore over dusty jeans and left Adrian alone in the dim hallway outside the main office.
Adrian was almost certain Charlie had wanted to scream something at him. That Kenn wasn’t his dad? Adrian yawned and stepped into the cool darkness. It was yet another sign something wasn’t right with his XO, and it didn’t occur to Adrian until later to replay their conversation and listen to the way Charlie had read his mind.
Adrian moved inside the stale darkness of the office, but before he could flip on the light, a voice with a fake southern drawl mocked him.
“Avoidin’ people is bad for ya image.”
Adrian rotated quickly with an annoyed scowl.
Tonya retreated at his glare of distaste.
“Not if they’re bad news.”
The sexily-dressed redhead gave him a knowing smile. “Wasn’t what ya were sayin’ when ya were between my legs.”
His body was tempted, the office pitch black, but his face was emotionless, and he gave back her mocking tone. “Musta dreamed it. Never happened.”
Tonya gave him a sexy smirk, but her voice was unsure. “We’re alone. Ya can’t deny it ta me.”
Adrian gave her a tight smile and sneered confidently, “Yes, I can. Prove it.”
He gave the door a gentle shove with his boot and couldn’t resist a parting blow, voice full of contempt. “Find someone else to spread those legs for. I’m busy.”
“Maybe I will,” Tonya muttered, accent dying as she returned to her sleeping bag near the basement door. “And maybe you’ll be surprised by who.”
Adrian was more worried about Tonya than he’d let on and was glad no one had heard their short exchange. He knew she was currently searching for a way to pay him back, “hell hath no fury” and all that, but even more, her kind had been a bitch before the war, and that hadn’t changed much. Adrian tensed at the creak of steps outside the barely open door.
“Can I talk to you?”
Adrian flipped the switch, waved him in. The small room had only a chair and a messy desk, a single filing cabinet in the corner, and a layer of dust on the floor that they were leaving tracks in. Good thing he hadn’t taken Tonya up on her offer. Those heeled black boots she wore left unmistakable prints and his Eagles were getting sharper. “What’s on your mind?”
“Kenn.”
Adrian brushed absently at the layer of dust and sat on a corner of the cluttered desk. “As in, how did he know?”
Neil was full of suspicion. “Exactly.”
The leader nodded a second time. He’d already gone down this road with himself. The camp would believe Kenn had heard it on the radio, though, and that was what mattered. They would never hear Kenn’s real answer. “How do you think he knew?”
Neil shrugged, restless hands twisting his hat. “I don’t have a clue, and that bothers me. He saved our ass, that’s for sure, and now these people love him, but…” Neil paused before pushing on carefully. “Something isn’t right about Kenn.”
Adrian lit a smoke, waiting, and Neil stared at the man he respected more than anyone he’d ever known, hoping he wasn’t about to make a big mistake. “I know he’s your choice, and you have my complete support, but him, I plan to keep track of. You should know that.”
“Good.”
Neil blinked. “What?”
Adrian stood up to clap him on the shoulder. “Didn’t expect that, did you?”
The trooper’s normally stern face was confused. “No. I thought I’d be in trouble.”
“I expected no less. I want to be told about the smallest thing that catches your attention, Eagle. The smallest thing.”
“You know it.”
“He knows what?”
Neither man flinched, but both were caught off guard and turned with nearly identical frowns. What was it with women and lurking in doorways?
“You need something?” Adrian demanded.
Cynthia’s shrewd brown eyes lost some of their eagerness at his bark, and she agreed quickly. “Yes. Sorry. The door was open.”
Adrian flipped from pissed to bored in seconds. He stared at the Asian American reporter with a cold smile. “Yes, it was. What can I do for you, Ms. Quest?”
Cynthia thought better of asking Neil to get the hell out. “I have some questions.”
“There’s a surprise,” came Adrian’s response.
The dry tone made the normally unshakable reporter flush and hesitate, unsure if she should go on. He was a hard man to read.
“What, Cynthia? Tell me your deepest desires.”
The words hung in the dusty room, and now she was the one caught off guard, unable to give him anything except the honesty his tone insisted on. The truth flew out of her mouth like a bullet.
“You. What kind of monster were you before? What are you atoning for?”
Cynthia missed Adrian’s flinch, horrified to hear those private words spoken, the ones she wanted known the least, but Neil noticed it, felt the change in the man at his side.
Neil scowled darkly, automatically protecting his boss. “None of that old shit matters anymore, in case you haven’t noticed. Only our survival does. You should wake up before you piss off the wrong person and find yourself on the outs. See ya later, boss.”
Cynthia flinched aside as the angry trooper shoved by her, and there was a tense silence where Adrian let her squirm for a long moment.
“You have questions?” he asked finally.
Glad he was willing to pretend she hadn’t crossed the line when they both knew she had, Cynthia took a small step inside the dusty office. “Yes. I’d like to volunteer to teach a class when you get them going.”
Adrian’s cool eyes never left hers, and she could feel his pull, woman’s body softening under his gaze. “Maybe a teacher’s aide or something?”
Adrian opened his notebook and wrote it down, and Cynthia stood there stiffly. She was hard too, an old dirt-digger, but she wasn’t immune to his spell any more than Kenn or Neil. Just like them, she wanted to be by Adrian, wanted to be useful.
“What class?”
The reporter controlled herself tightly, itching to ask, demand, trick, trap, and badger until he broke, but she knew he wouldn’t, even if she didn’t care about being banished, which she did. He wasn’t like the others, wasn’t part of before, as far as she knew, and trea
ting him as if he was wouldn’t work. “I’m quick at basic math and I have a Pulitzer Prize for my writing. That should be worth something, right? My contribution to your New America.”
Instead of correcting her wording as he might have done with nearly anyone else, Adrian used the moment to pay back a little of what she’d given him. “And what do you get out of it? How are you benefited?” he mimicked her accusing tone perfectly.
She flushed. “The chance to teach a journalism class once we get settled somewhere.”
“You realize that’s a public vote because of the material?”
Cynthia bitterly shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “Why do you think I came to you? With your support, they’d agree to almost anything.”
He didn’t confirm or deny but was pleased she knew it. Cynthia had been a White House reporter before the war, a dangerously good one, and while she had only been here a few weeks, she already understood how things worked. Then, there was Tonya. She’d been with him since Nevada and still had no clue how to legally get what she wanted.
“Deal. And maybe I’ll have things that are more important for you later. If you’re interested?”
Cynthia agreed right away, surprised, suspicious, and he smiled at her, one of his genuinely beautiful moments that made her heart thump. There wasn’t a man in camp who could compare.
“Anything else?”
“Yes. I’d like to go to the mall across the street. I’m out of supplies.”
“Alone?”
Cynthia hesitated again, not wanting to tell him she hadn’t made any friends yet. She did have the eye of one of his sentries, Jeremy, but she said nothing. Jeremy was on duty outside. He would never leave his post.
“No one wants to walk in a blizzard for notebooks and pens,” he guessed aloud. Then he surprised her again. “It’s nasty out there. I might be able to find you an escort.”
Adrian watched her quickly hide the relief, and was glad to know the Ice Queen could feel fear too. They had found her sleeping in a school bus, and she hadn’t hesitated to speak her mind even then, alone, with only one bullet left in the gun that she clearly hadn’t known how to use.
“That would be great. I’ll be ready when they are.”
He glanced at his wrist, thinking she wore too much perfume. The room now reeked of flowers that she’d probably never smelled in reality. “The truck leaves in ten minutes. Kenn and the Eagles are going out to collect our reserves. You’ll be expected to help and do what you’re told.”
“No problem. Thank you.”
“Anything else?”
“No. See you later.”
Cynthia left quickly, glad she’d heard good words about her future here, but disappointed that she hadn’t gotten anything new. She still had no clue about who he had been before and that question ate at her some nights. If it were the last thing she did, she would find out.
Adrian made a mental note to reward Neil for the unknowing distraction, but she wasn’t going to give up because of a warning or even a mysterious possible offer somewhere down the line. Cynthia was going to keep digging and he would have to be careful, because that female was smart enough to figure out his puzzle if given enough pieces.
Hearing footsteps near the door again, Adrian glanced up with a frown. One of the new men, Seth Daniels, appeared.
“We think something’s happening outside. It sounds wrong.”
Adrian immediately got up, reaching for his jacket.
Seth shifted aside to let him through. “I guess you know I was an undercover cop, before. I’d make a good Eagle.”
“I’ll get back to you on that,” Adrian answered as they went up the dim hall.
Seth nodded and dropped back to allow him the lead. “I’ll be here.”
As they neared the front glass doors of the alley, Adrian stopped, listening to the noises growing louder, closer.
Crunch. Snap!
Recognizing the sound, he groaned and waved to Kenn and Kyle. “Get them all in the hall, bring the heaters! Perimeter men too!”
The next three minutes were total panic and chaos as a hundred people ran for the cover of the windowless hallway. Adrian herded them, hoping the generators wouldn’t freeze, but there wasn’t time to bring them inside.
Heavy tree limbs snapped off, slamming into banks of ashy, black snow, and when the windows in the mall across the street shattered, the din of fear increased. Adrian shifted the Eagles to the front and rear of the terrified crowd, keeping his camp together.
Not as severe as in other places, the wave of freeze didn’t take out all of the bowling alley’s glass. Layers of plastic and mats were quickly sealed over drafty doorways, and the temperature inside continued to climb despite the below zero winds that forced the guards to do their duty from the few trucks that hadn’t frozen. Because of Kenn and Adrian, more than a hundred people were saved. Instead of fleeing, they continued to enjoy the light and heat when Adrian led them out.
6
The noise in the thirty-four lane alley was almost deafening, awful, and totally beautiful to those making it. Pins fell, balls thumped and rolled, voices talked, laughed, argued. Arcades dinged wildly, music blared from the speakers, and outside, snow fell in heavy sheets, blanketing everything. Other than the sentries now doing duty from snow-covered trucks and the plastic hanging all over the inside of the alley, it was as if the crisis hadn’t happened. Adrian was pleased that they had handled it so well.
Chris, Daryl, and Jeremy were the only Eagles on guard outside, all Level Two and uneasy as they kept the rest of those on duty alert. The noise was loud even through the muffling effect of the snowstorm, and the lights glared out in the darkness. If anyone was around here, they were hearing and viewing it too.
Temperatures hovered in the low teens as full darkness settled over the slick, ashy, gray town, and the supply trucks couldn’t be spotted after only crossing the street. When they returned promptly, it wasn’t just Adrian who was relieved.
The Eagles came in quickly, loaded with warmer clothes and boots and with boxes of extras, like books and music, all of the crew now eager for the warmth and comfort of their camp. This town, like so many others they had come through, was full of the dead and empty of signs of life.
The sentries changed shifts at dinnertime and their fresh gazes swept the blowing darkness, as uneasy as the last men had been, but inside there was confidence. Kenn would get the credit for the good day, but it was Adrian who had listened, Adrian who had made the right choice, and once again, Safe Haven had survived because of it.
7
Kemmerer appeared to be empty, but it wasn’t. The noise of Adrian’s group was a reminder of happier, lost times, and it rang through the small town, drawing the attention of the thirty or so people hiding there. They existed mostly in basements and schools now, connected by walkie-talkies.
By ten o’clock that night, a small group of these survivors had gathered and agreed to beg for help. Their town was dead around them, and while they were hoping the Alley people were from the government, they knew it wasn’t likely. They were willing to settle for normal survivors who could offer them a little hope for the future.
“Strike! Beat that, kid!”
Adrian sat down to record his score as Charlie took his place on the sparkling, confetti-covered lane, and the leader was glad he’d had Zack cut the confetti down before dinner. He hadn’t wanted his people trying to eat while the party decorations had hung over them like a neon sign that read “Your world is dead, you’ll never get this back.” All the other reminders had already been put in bags and tossed in the dumpster.
Adrian hid a wince as the pins fell again. He had a terrible migraine and longed to spend some time in his silent semi, but it pleased him that everyone happy and he wouldn’t tell them to tone it down for a while. They needed this, and right now, he was trying not to be skunked by a fourteen-year-old with the arm of a pro. The boy was better than Kenn.
That thought made
Adrian scan the crowd, and he was a bit surprised not to see the Marine. Kenn liked to be the life of the party, and when he wasn’t, he was laboring on things they needed. Was he still in the basement?
Suddenly anxious, Adrian stood up, meaning to send someone for him. That ripple of unease grew as heavy footsteps echoed over the noise of the din.
“Adrian! Headlights!”
Jeremy and Seth were running toward him, people moving out of the way, and everyone stopped to witness the problem. Strikes and cups fell unnoticed as men drew their guns, his herd watching nervously to determine if they should stampede.
Adrian found Neil and Kyle in the twitchy crowd. When he motioned, the men rushed to the front doors, and both of their teams fell in behind them without being called. This was their job.
Adrian pulled the plug on the music and swept his scared camp, the silence almost a relief. “If you’ve passed the gun class, form a line inside the door. Do not draw your weapon. Get behind the guards. Everyone else, stay behind them.”
Aware of Seth on his heels, Adrian pulled on his jacket as he went out and opened his holsters, taking the safety off both guns. Just in case. He was hoping for survivors, but the odds were high they had drawn a threat instead, and he would die defending his herd if he had to.
8
Down in the basement of the alley, where many of the bulbs were burnt out, Kenn was checking cords and connections. He was glad to see nothing overheating. He had heard the music stop and assumed Adrian had tired of the noise. He also noticed the lack of balls and pins falling, but didn’t understand what it meant.
“All by your lonesome?”
Kenn’s spin was fast, gun in hand, and Tonya held up a hand, smile saying she liked it that he was dangerous.
“Easy there, big boy. It’s just the one ya been watchin’ when ya thought no one was lookin’.”
Responding to the sexy accent, Kenn holstered his gun, gaze crawling up slender ankles to creamy thighs. “The party’s upstairs. And I’m no boy.”
Tonya slowly sauntered toward him, hoping Kenn would be at least half as good as their fearless leader had been. “I’ve noticed.”
