by Angela White
Crista held the bag for him to put it in, hating the way it still twitched even after taking quite a few slugs.
“There’s another one,” she pointed out.
Jeff peered at the bank, where a smaller worm was wriggling over the carcass of the snake that the camp would assume the Eagles had killed with their knives. Only those who had been in the water and felt that anger knew differently. Marc’s son was incredibly powerful.
“Carnivores. Dump it in the fire,” he instructed. “Were not contaminating our food source.”
“Surprised you thought about it at all considering how rough you are on using only natural supplies in the lessons.”
Jeff took a minute to explain, “Sometimes things happen for bad reasons, but still give you something you can use. It was just a thought.”
“A good one.”
Jeff heard the invitation and sighed tiredly. “I can’t spend time with you anymore, not if you’re going to date Zack at the same time.”
Crista stayed calm. “Okay.”
When she turned toward the camp, his frustration level hit the bar and Jeff opened his mouth without knowing what he was going to hit her with.
“I want you.”
Crista turned as if in a daze, showered in his heat. “What did you say?”
Jeff flushed, and didn’t repeat it. That wasn’t what he’d meant to say. Was it?
Crista came to him, hands on her hips. “And that’s how you decided to tell me? What the fuck?”
Jeff was startled into a cackle at her words. “Wow. That mouth, lady…”
Crista smiled. “Does that mean we can have a couple’s tent? I get lonely at night.”
Jeff drew in air, body reminding him how long it had been since he’d gone to sleep with someone breathing against him. “Uh, yeah…but Zack…”
“Is a friend. Nothing more.”
Jeff tried to think. “You’re not dating him?”
“Did it look that way?” she teased, snickering. “Oh I’m sorry.”
Jeff laughed as he realized she’d goaded him into the breakfast offer and the attention. “Wait until I get you alone!”
“Why wait?” Crista asked, leaning close. “You can yell at me while I change clothes. I’m all wet.”
Jeff stiffened, gasping at the feel, and then he swept her into his arms and over his shoulder.
Crista’s delighted giggle echoed across the camp.
4
Cynthia slung her gear into the front seat of her assigned truck for the run and found herself searching Kevin’s surprised face.
“What are you doing here?”
They asked the question at the same time.
Cynthia recovered first. “I told you I’m her XO.”
Kevin recalled the conversation as she climbed inside, still wondering about the other things she’d mentioned.
Kevin wondered if Angela had put them together intentionally. He wasn’t sure if she’d done the schedules herself or if this was one of the senior Eagles trying to help.
Cynthia hated the tension, but couldn’t find a way around it. They’d all killed Matt. It wasn’t something she could just forgive and forget.
Kevin left her alone as she checked gear and fidgeted, waiting for Angela’s updates to be over so they could go. But he watched her.
Cynthia huffed in annoyance. “Stop staring.”
Kevin leered. “I’m smelling, too. You did your hair. Nice.”
Cynthia smoothed her newly shagged locks down self-consciously and returned to randomly pulling things from her kit and searching them over. She’d covered this last night, but she had to do something to fill the space where the eager conversation should have been. She still wanted Kevin. She just couldn’t have him.
Kevin picked up the mic, feeling her need for him to be busy, but he didn’t look away. It was the closest they’d been since the 4th of July and he wasn’t missing any of it.
“Do we have everyone?”
“Roger that. Five minutes.”
Kevin got the map out and pretended to survey the area they were going into. It was a short run to a nearby warehouse that housed a maintenance department. They were hoping to find a stock of jet fuel to add to the reserves and for use in battle plans. Some of Angela’s outlines called for a lot of firepower and they were pulling it from any source they could think of.
“At some point, I need you to show me how to use this,” Cynthia informed him, holding up a taser. “Do I just aim and fire?”
“It’s a little more complicated, but that’s the basics,” Kevin stated neutrally.
Cynthia instantly became sarcastic. “Well, that cleared it all up.”
Kevin’s face tightened. “It shoots out darts that send a current. It’s not rocket science.”
Cynthia’s face turned red.
“If it was, you’d be the last one to give instructions for it,” she fired back. “It’s a little more complicated, but that’s the basics,” she mocked, missing his hands tightening on the wheel. “Never mind. I’ll ask someone else.”
“Might as well date someone else, too,” Kevin drawled bitterly. “I don’t think I could have stood the attitude.”
Cynthia gasped in hurt anger and snapped her mouth shut. Fuck you!
Kevin glared. “Right back at ya, toots.”
Cynthia and Kevin both caught it at the same time and gaped. He’d read her thought!
5
“That might not have been a great idea,”
Angela turned to find Kevin and Cynthia trading what she assumed were harsh blows by the way they were wincing and scowling. Their mouths stayed closed though, and Angela shrugged. “We’ll find out.”
Adrian didn’t say anything else. She was following the notebooks to the letter when it came to training and preparations, but everything else was her own.
“Some of the personal things came from your notes,” Angela reluctantly confided, not wanting to talk about love or lust with him.
Adrian knew she meant the way to help match make, but her methods were more obvious than his.
“I can get away with it. I’m a woman. It’s expected, up to a point.”
“Fair enough, but there are other things they expect, too, that you aren’t doing.”
Angela waved Zack over as he came through the camp with an open notebook, jotting ideas down.
“Like what?”
“Hope.”
Angela was instantly flashed to her problem of bringing them together. Instead of the anger spewing forth, she tried something new. “What would you do bring them together, that I haven’t already done or read?”
“Give them a cause, something…someone, to care about.”
“They have you.”
“No!” Adrian’s sharp tone drew attention and made the nearby Eagles tense. “They have to have a common cause. The freedom of everyone is not enough to hold them. It has to be personal.” Adrian pushed out energy, was strong enough to force it over her. “Tell me what we need. Do it now.”
There was no refusing such a command from the Alpha. The witch opened the farthest door in the halls of their manipulations.
Inside the door was a beach of golden sands and tall, green cliffs. Playing in the surf, was a small child with violet eyes and black hair.
Angela whimpered, filled with the urge to touch her daughter, the one who was yet to come.
Adrian stared not at the child, but at the happy couple watching the toddler play. It wasn’t Marc standing by Angela’s side, though that was clearly his daughter.
The door slammed shut.
Angela’s happiness over the run was destroyed and she ripped them both apart with her pain as she repeated, “That won’t happen!”
It was what Adrian’s heart had been saying all along, but he’d seen the vision. The future wasn’t always set, but that moment in time was.
Adrian got up from the table with one parting piece of advice. “They love him. He’s the camp’s martyr. Use it or
lose them.”
Angela didn’t want to use Marc’s absence and possible death in any way, but she couldn’t deny that it was the answer she needed. If the camp knew what Marc and his team were doing, if they were getting updates instead of cold silence, they might have hope. It was easier for the Eagles to have faith–they’d witnessed Marc in action–but the camp had been extremely sheltered under Adrian’s rule.
“And there’s no need for it anymore,” she realized. “Even me, and the others. We can be ourselves now. There’s no longer a threat of them leaving because they already are anyway.”
Angela viewed Kyle. “I’ll have some things for you to do later. Stop by my tent after the camp’s settled down.”
The mobster wrote it in his book. “You got it. Updates now or wait until you get back?”
Angela sighed resignedly. Shirking duty wasn’t allowed. “Now.”
“We have you set up to work with your team tonight during evening mess, and with the Jr. Eagles tomorrow night. Zack’s boys have asked to do third shift coffee duty for the next week–Zack’s working them hard now–and we got a great new supply idea from the woman Kenn brought from the medical center. Docks. Many boats run on gasoline. We might find some stocks of it or diesel.”
“That is a great idea. What’s the story on her and the boy?”
Kyle’s tone hardened. “She isn’t talking much yet. Says she wants the boss.”
“She’ll get me,” Angela muttered. “When will she be out of the QZ?”
The mobster’s face darkened. “I don’t think the doctor wants her out in the general population. She can’t stop her eyes from flashing.”
Angela thought of her newest addition to the plan and got it rolling. “Let her out and tell the Eagles to leave her alone unless she’s breaking a rule. I want the camp to know that she’s different.”
“What about Ty?”
“They’ll know he’s different. Don’t worry over it. He has his mother and the Eagles will be watching,” Angela assured.
“You don’t think the camp will run harder?” Kyle had to ask.
“Just the opposite,” Angela stated. “I’ve been hiding long enough and so has everyone else. If they won’t accept our magic by now, they’re not going to and we’ll fight alone.”
Like their leaders, it bothered Kyle to hear they were short people every morning, but he was often the one to tell them, as well, and the frustration and personal agony on their faces was nearly intolerable. How had Kenn stood this job?
“You said you guys would split up,” he reminded.
“Some of them will, but not me, not Samantha or Kenn,” Angela answered angrily. “We’re in this until we’re dead.”
Filled with new ideas, Angela slid into the rear of Kevin’s ride, and caught the end of their conversation.
Stop now. She can hear us.
Later?
Cynthia glanced over at Kevin, wanting to keep the hate and misery alive, but the thrill of their new discovery won.
Yes.
Angela dug out her notebook and began working on the newest plans. When she didn’t say anything, their mental conversation slowly resumed. She tried not to pay them too much attention as she worked, but she needed the distraction from the pain of what she was about to put herself through daily.
…not sure.
Never?
No, but I wondered about a few things.
Me, too.
For the herd, right?
Yes. Everything is for them.
It should be, right?
Cynthia sighed, looking out the window as they were cleared and began rolling through the gates. Maybe. Right now, I’d say yes. Later, when there are more of us, maybe not. I’m not sure that type of leadership will work.
“It won’t in a large population,” Angela stated, unable to keep quiet. “If you base even a single part of a new society on lies, the future is doomed to repeat our mistakes.”
It was a comfort to know that their leaders had been thinking on it, and they both studied her for the solution.
Angela turned the page. “We’re working on it. He has been all along and I’m adding to it. We need time.”
Angela held her notebook out toward the reporter. “I want you two on this project together.”
Cynthia only needed a quick minute to skim. She held it toward Kevin excitedly. “She has thought about it–just the way you described, but oh, man the details she added!”
Angela was satisfied. The Runners that Adrian had collected were unmatched in history. Angela suddenly hoped that other countries now had the same hope growing inside their destruction. All it took was survivors. Most of those grieved for the families and lives, but how could they not also mourn the loss of those they’d depended on? Not having a doctor or police when you needed it changed everything. It had touched parts of the world they might never have contact with again.
Angela didn’t think that was good, either. Despite the years of peace they might have, it would also give those countries time to do the same building and growing. As long as those people didn’t plan to recreate evil around the world, she wanted to stay out of it.
And if there’s an invasion? the witch asked.
Angela snorted, making her companions jump. There already was. Several, in fact, and we’ve won them all. The only way to exterminate Americans is to breed us out and with no contact between nations, that can’t happen.
But you have plans for contact, the witch pointed out. Won’t that show them how weak we are?
Angela noted the use of the word ‘we’. It was likely the first time the witch had ever felt like she belonged somewhere. Centuries of hosts and being reborn with only the basic knowledge of your past life had to be lonely.
They’ve known how weak we are for a long time. The same way we know how weak they are. We have to reach out to the descendants in other nations. As long as each country has their own guardians, we’ll have peace.
There was no argument from the witch, but Angela couldn’t afford to assume. Tell me what you see.
The witch slowly padded to a door that Angela had wondered about, but not enough to ask over. The amount of exits in her brain was endless. She could get lost for years.
The letters on the door, ICD, meant nothing to Angela.
The International Council of Descendants, the witch explained. This is what you will help bring to the world by your sacrifices and belief.
The door swung open.
Angela stared in delight at a huge, round table filled with more descendants than she could quickly count. The red orbs as they debated were unmistakable, but the protective shield over them rippling with green and gold told her they had someone controlling, making sure things didn’t get out of hand.
The room is silent, she realized. Mental meetings!
Angela wasn’t evolved enough to tap into the future conversations, but she scanned the sheets of parchment in front of them, wondering where the technology was.
Russian League of Descendants. Australian League of Descendants. American. China. Mexico. As she went around the long, oval table, it appeared all the countries that’d had survivors were represented.
In the front of this room, was a single flag. It was solid white, with one red word: Truth.
Angela was distracted briefly by the representatives themselves. Their clothes and gear was so much alike that it was startling. It was almost as if every country had adopted the same basic foundations. How would that be possible?
Her heart sank. Had one of her generations invaded another country? That wasn’t what their new world was supposed to become.
Angela went to the windows, no longer as eager to view what she’d asked for.
The first sight convinced her she was mistaken. That calm blue bubble over the city was a relief. No violent society could create such a strong barrier together. Before the war, those shields had been full of holes, but this dome vibrated happily over its hosts. Something that size would take mil
lions of happy people. They’d recovered, rebuilt.
Angela picked out the flags along the fence in front of the building, and saw they were the same as the one inside–that red and white demand for honesty–but under that, was each country’s old flag. United in common goals, and still true to their origins, there was no sense of oppression or greed from the city. It was stunning.
Angela stared at the symbols of hope. She wanted this future. Could she create it?
You already are, the witch soothed, gently closing the door. Things will get harder now. Hold onto that knowledge.
6
“Shoot it with your thoughts,” Angela instructed the straining women hours later. She’d enjoyed being out of camp, but hadn’t left the vehicle, too busy writing down notes. Cynthia had enjoyed leading the other Eagles.
“Envision it, and then fire.”
The tent came alive with grunts of effort.
Angela gave her approval. “Good. We’ll do it again in a few minutes. Let yourself rest between attempts. This is stressful work and it takes a lot of energy. Make sure you have a snack before you hit your tents tonight.”
Angela waited patiently for the images to leave the front of her mind. Her team was improving on mental skills faster than physical ones. The pictures they covered her with were vivid. The ones of Marc especially and Angela held onto each of them like she was drowning.
“This time, you keep your wall up while I shoot.”
Each of their faces tightened in concentration as Angela blasted them with the horrid nightmare of Safe Haven in flames. It was one she’d seen too many nights now.
Their gasps and moans were ignored.
“This is the future as it stands right now.” Angela let the image fade, but only after each woman had time to find her loved ones in the chaos. Most were dead. “You’re rookies, we all are, but we are also the most powerful people in this camp. Not because of what we can do, but because we’ll do it together. During the chaos, you’ll be able to feed me and I’ll do the same for you. The others will help us, but it will be mostly information. We’ll be the eyes and ears. We’ll coordinate, deliver order changes, and monitor every member of our front line.”
