The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

For the two weeks they’d had power after the bombs, he had worked on it from his laptop. Jeremy still had the notebooks where he recorded the failed attempts, but he wasn’t sure why. That world was gone, and it was time everyone accepted that hard, cold truth. They were on their own.

  13

  “This is the death list.”

  Adrian controlled himself, taking the sheet.

  The Eagles were silent as Adrian read, holding their breath as they waited to see how he would take it. They were prepared to offer distractions.

  Adrian let the paper fall to the table and turned away. He stood there, shoulders hunched, anguish in his heart. Twenty more lives lost.

  Dog came to Adrian’s heel and stared intently. Adrian had a wall up, trying to keep himself together, and Dog had to call to him with a low growl, unable to break through mentally.

  Adrian finally realized Dog wanted to tell him something. Instead of the information or ideas that he’d come to expect from the no-nonsense wolf…

  Will you tell the beast keeper to let me alone? I don’t like the way Star wiggles.

  Adrian stared. “What?”

  She whimpers too much. The timber wolf growled in low annoyance. I scare her.

  Adrian felt a snicker coming and fought it. He wasn’t allowed to be happy in any way when more of his people were dead. I thought you weren’t interested in mutts.

  Dog stamped his paw roughly. Your human wants it, not us! Tell him she’s not my…type.

  Adrian snorted in mild surprise. Where did you hear that?

  Dog leered, tongue lolling. The pup I protect and his friend. They have an intense interest in females.

  Adrian’s smirk almost made it onto his lips. Got you thinking?

  The wolf’s fur bristled. I only sniffed her once!

  “Just once?” Adrian asked innocently, now caught up in the personal moment with the wolf.

  Dog’s head lowered in embarrassment. Okay, twice, but she rubbed against me! What was I supposed to do? In a pack, that means take it!

  Adrian’s chuckle spilled out in a burst of calming energy that spread over the nervous men like a soothing balm. He was okay. They could go about their duties and let him carry the weight.

  Mind the flank!

  Dog’s growl went through those closest as a mental shout as he padded toward the dogs circling the perimeter in a small group. The ants had been absent during the sinkhole and the bat attack, but they were following again, there was no doubt. More than one of the mutated insects was missing a limb from the practices. Adrian and the Eagles were still dropping bait balls into the four-foot anthills, but the dogs laying down their scents around the perimeter and patrolling in packs was keeping them back.

  Very aware of the restless members, Adrian had instructed the Eagles to put thick nets over the camp at night from now on, and to finish the ledge around it. They would also start adding walls, portable ones that could fold up. The use of crimson paint would further convince the camp that the Eagles had built the shield. The men were refusing to say how it worked so that there was no chance of anyone sneaking in and dismantling it while they slept. The camp had accepted that answer, but the effects of the attack had given them all a new level of jumpiness.

  Sighing, Adrian turned to Kevin. “Walk with me on rounds.”

  The level Three Eagle fell right in. “You know it.”

  It was well after dawn before Safe Haven finally settled down, but it wasn’t the calm peacefulness they’d come to expect. It was dropping from exhaustion when their eyes refused to stay open any longer.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Give Me Your Line

  June 10th

  Near Cleveland, Oklahoma

  1

  It was time for the mandatory camp meeting.

  All around the mess, tables and chairs were set up, speakers were in place, and the hundreds of people in these seats exchanged curious, nervous glances when Adrian’s top people showed up alone.

  These feelings of unease were hidden behind welcoming smiles as Adrian came through the crowd, a large plastic tube in one hand and a mug in the other. Marc picked out the bloodshot eyes and immediately suspected the cup held something stronger than coffee.

  Adrian made his way straight to the front without responding to any of the greetings or questions, dropping down on a front table.

  The silence was awkward as everyone found a seat. Those in the quarantine zone were listening on a radio that Kenn had rigged up. Their votes would count, too.

  As they sat, Adrian looked at his people, thinking that despite all he had tried to teach them, they were still sheep who would always need a strong hand to keep them together. It was disappointing. Would it help to keep trying? To try harder?

  “We’re here to pick our choice for the winter. If we wait any longer, we won’t have time to get it ready.”

  Adrian’s deviation from the usual start of the monthly camp meeting drew instant attention and more unease.

  “We’ve been checking places as we travel, and none of them are acceptable.”

  “What places?” an annoyed voice called.

  Adrian rolled his eyes. “The ones you were too busy grazing to see. Kenn, read it.”

  Kenn exchanged a look with the others in command before he opened his notebook, standing. “This is a list of all the places we’ve searched for authority, help, or permanent shelter. These searches were conducted by various combinations of Eagles and camp members.” Kenn took a breath. “Nellis Air Force Base, Hawthorne Army Depot, Nellis Bombing Range, the city of Las Vegas, Santa Clara, the Dugway Proving Ground, Salt Lake City, NORAD, Grand Junction, Boulder, Ft. Collins, Denver, Lander, Casper, Ft. Supply, Ft. Bridger, Rapid City, Cheyenne.”

  Kenn ignored the mutters and groans, turning the page. “The Essex Compound, Rawlins, Cincinnati, Glendale, Tablerock, Roanoke, the Virginia Military Institute, White Sulphur Springs, Ft. Seybert, the city of Oakland, Basset, Ft. Bliss, White Sands, F. E. warren AFB…”

  The list went on for a while, and Adrian waved at Neil to pass around the albums of pictures they’d taken, verifying these places were gone or destroyed.

  Tears and pale faces greeted Adrian when Kenn finally reached the end.

  “We found nothing in any of these places but bodies.”

  “Why was all this done in secret?” Roger demanded.

  A dangerous tension filled the crowd.

  “Because the weight of those disappointments was mine to carry,” Adrian stated. “You don’t tell an injured person that there’s no doctor to help. You do the best you can and handle the weight until they’ve regained their strength.”

  His eyes flashed over their nods and headshakes. “We took the pictures for this moment, for your doubt.”

  Kenn handed out another album, this one containing a single shot from each place they’d searched. The images were of death, fires, rubble, skeletons, and in all of them–that feeling of being over.

  Adrian pulled the cap off the tube and took out the map he’d been working on since right after the war. Kyle stepped up to hold an end and Adrian remained seated, pointing things out.

  “The red is our back trail. Known blast sites are in black, debris and radiation areas in green. Purple is where we’ve searched.”

  It was easy to see he’d put a lot of time into it. There were dates, notes, even the number of people in Safe Haven at each location, and the camp leaned forward eagerly.

  Billy motioned toward the map. On it, Adrian’s Montana base was clearly marked…and sat in the middle of a ground zero.

  Those who understood the implications kept quiet, telling themselves he had found out later, not taken them all that way based on a terrible lie.

  “We might have tried to find one of those underground bunkers in the desert, but I doubted they’d let us in even if we could find one. I also didn’t think any of us wanted to be back under the control of the government.”

  There were more nods at that, and Adrian’s hig
hest people began to relax a little, seeing he was still driving his herd.

  “NORAD might have worked if not for the slavers ruining the water supply there. We haven’t ruled out caves in Kentucky yet, but the reports of mutations in the water in Ohio and Indiana are too close. If the snakes are using the creeks and rivers, being underground with them is the last place we want to try to survive and raise our kids.”

  Women were swaying quickly to Adrian’s view, many of them hugging their charges closer.

  “A safe place to rebuild is the most important choice we’ll make. I’ll tell you what I’ve come up with, and we’ll go from there.”

  Adrian took a drink, stifling a grimace as he swallowed the whiskey-laced coffee. “We can hole-up in the mountains, try to get it ready for the winter that I suspect is coming sooner than we’re used to. Or we can head south, where winter won’t be an issue.”

  The crowd became almost panicked.

  “South?”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “What else have you got?”

  Angela held her breath, thinking of their dreams. He was telling them–now!

  “This land is going sour. We can hide in the mountains for a while, but at some point, we’re going to have to consider leaving. At least until these chemicals clear out. The mutations, we’ll be dealing with no matter where we go, I think.”

  “Isn’t there any place untouched?” someone called.

  Adrian shrugged, tormented. “Not that I’ve thought of. Except for extreme places, like the poles or an island somewhere, the entire planet has been or will be, affected by the war.”

  “What about an island?”

  “We could rebuild somewhere else.”

  “I’m not leaving my country!”

  Adrian stood up, letting go of the map.

  Kyle caught it, rolled it up, and slid it into the tube.

  Adrian lit a smoke, letting them vent.

  “We’re not leaving the U.S.!”

  “I would, if there were no place else.”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “Look at all the pictures!”

  “We haven’t tried the mountains yet, and he’s already said we could reinforce a set of caves and survive there.”

  “I’m not going.”

  Adrian held up a hand. “There are small groups of ten and twenty all over this broken country, surviving in their basements, subway tunnels, and small bomb shelters. They’re using hardware stores and lumberyards, taking over shopping malls and schools.”

  Adrian paused as the crowd quieted, listening. “How many of those people will survive a winter that lasts six months? Do you think they’ve even considered it?”

  Adrian shrugged at the worried mutters. “It could be longer than that. The skygrit from the war held heat for a while, but we’ve all noticed the chill at night, the sleet in the fog, and it’s only June.”

  Adrian firmed his jaw. “The thought of living under the ground or inside a mountain is horrifying to me. I want to see the sun, feel the grass, and taste the rain. None of that will be possible here for decades, and I can’t wait that long. I’m voting that we check the mountains for more survivors and then head to the coast to look for a ship that survived the war.”

  Adrian held up a hand again to calm the noisy crowd, and went on without responding to any of the words that had been thrown at him. “Many southern islands have an average temperature of 74 degrees and are out of the main jetstream, meaning they don’t get hit by most of the hurricanes and tropical storms.”

  Adrian went on with his reasoning, but already knew it was a waste of effort. For the first time, the vote would go against him. They would choose to set up a winter camp in the mountains and he wouldn’t be leading then.

  He nodded at Kenn to pass out the ballots. “We’re leaving tomorrow at noon.”

  “Wait.” Roger Sawyer, who had served as head of the moral board for Leon’s trial, stood up with a hard expression. “There’s something else we need you to handle.”

  Adrian sighed inwardly, and gave a glare of his own. “Freedom, Mr. Sawyer, includes love, race, and any number of other things. We will not start that old shit up again.”

  “But these situations are wrong!”

  “The freedom to make your own future is never wrong.” Adrian motioned to Kenn to go ahead and pass out the ballots. “It’s what Safe Haven stands for. A smart guy like you should have figured that out already.”

  Adrian moved on before the ex-detective could respond. “We’ve gone through a lot of changes together since the war. More are coming, starting with our kids. Official adoption procedures are being drafted. I’m also gathering a camp council to help me keep things together and allow my time to be spent leading.”

  Now, he had their attention and his top people exchanged glances of respect, and still, there was a slight wariness. Right now, Adrian wasn’t hitting on all eight, as Kyle might have said, and his closest men and women knew it.

  “You’re going to hear more training and see it, too, probably as we advance through the levels. You know what the Eagles do–they make sure you wake up every day–and they’re just as needed now as they were before the slavers. When you see and hear these sessions, stay back or get hurt. We play hard.”

  “So it’s okay to come and watch?”

  Adrian nodded at Matt’s eager question, using the smaller ammunition to provide a much-needed distraction. “Yes. In addition, non-Eagles may now take the advanced self-defense and gun classes, providing they work up from the beginning like everyone else.”

  Adrian turned a page and took a quick swallow, too aware of Angela’s approval over the way he handled his herd. She didn’t know that he’d been doing it all his life, but it wouldn’t matter to her anyway. She followed him for the here-and-now, not for the back-then. “Safe Haven has so many couples and families starting that we’re adding a third section to the sleeping area. Couples will now have their own place, effective tomorrow night.”

  The crowd murmured their approval and waited to see how far Adrian planned to go tonight on that topic.

  “Repopulation has to happen.”

  Instant silence as the Eagles realized he meant to go all the way.

  “But it will always be willing, or the offender will be banished. Those are Safe Haven codes of conduct. Nowhere does it say close friendships between willing partners is forbidden because of age. As long as the female is protected, we need her to help us repopulate.”

  Before any of them could shout, Adrian’s expression darkened. “On the other side of that, there has to be a limit, an age or a line that we use to determine what’s needed for survival and what’s taking advantage of youth. So what’s the line?”

  The camp had quick answers.

  “Sixteen, like it always has been!”

  “Fifteen.”

  “Why not just do away with an age line and judge them by each situation?” Tucker asked, earning frowns from the other rookies. Even they knew the Eagles were supposed to be seen and not heard during moments like this.

  “Size,” Adrian shot back promptly, as though he’d been expecting it. “Right now, when there are two hundred and eighty-four of us, we can do that. What about years from now, when there are thousands of us again? Or hundreds of thousands?”

  Tucker scoffed uneasily. “Worry about it then, I guess.”

  “And that’s why you’re not leading this camp,” Adrian stated mildly. “Sit down.”

  Tucker did with a red face.

  “If we use the same attitude our predecessors did, we’ll get the same results. I will not leave it for someone else to fix. It’s part of our duty.” Adrian waved a hand. “So what’s your line?”

  Now there was an uneasy silence from the camp, most of them afraid to volunteer a number. They didn’t understand it had been Adrian delivering a small punishment to Tucker for forgetting his place.

  “Anyone?”

  Lee stood up. ”Another part of tha
t camp standard is justice for the victim. They pick what will help them heal. If we trust them to know what they need at a time like that, then shouldn’t we consider their wants as well, when they’re happy?”

  “Absolutely. But what if a ten-year-old likes it?”

  Adrian’s bluntness made people cringe and mutter, but Angela admired the guts it took to handle this in such an open manner.

  “Okay, we’ve decided that ten is too young. How about twelve?”

  Another large round of protests, and Adrian kept leading them. “Okay, then, fourteen is next. Who objects to fourteen?”

  There were still a larger number of complaints at that, especially since Jennifer was that age.

  “So we’re saying that sixteen is where we draw the line, even though we need babies.” Adrian gestured at the back table, where he’d had Hilda gather all the girls at the rear tables. “Look at them. Count them. In six months, that’s all. Twenty-five females, to give us the next generation.” Adrian motioned again. “Now look at those who are already pregnant.”

  That was a single table, and it caused concern as people began to understand.

  Adrian pointed at a last part of the mess, pleased with the quiet way Peggy and Hilda had arranged it all. “Now count how many women we have from eighteen to fifty.”

  Shock rippled through the mess. When they were seated wherever they wanted, it was harder to spot, but now that it had been mentioned, it was hard to miss. All of them fit at three tables.

  Adrian continued, “The number of men here is four times that of the women. Watch what happens when you take the age line to sixteen.”

  Hilda pointed, sending those of age to the adult female table. It only added three.

  “Thirty-eight females total, with six more once the births come. That means only one in four men will even get the chance to reproduce.”

  “Lower, actually,” John spoke up. “Ten of those women can’t have kids, thanks to injuries from the war.”

  The mess exploded with panic, the tide turning.

  “Make it eleven!”

  “We need a law that says they have to have kids!”

  “No way! We’ll do a lottery draw!”