by Angela White
“You’re not alone this time,” Marc stated, hating her pain. “I’ve got you.”
Those words did make her feel better and Tracy drew in a deep breath, pushed herself up straighter. “Where do you want me?”
In your tent, recovering, Marc thought, but said, “You have duty over Tara and Missy in the evenings. It should be easy, boring.”
Tracy nodded. “I think I could use some boring right now.”
“We all could,” Marc agreed. “Come on. I’m your escort.”
They made the walk to the tent area in silence, each deep in thoughts that had nothing to do with each other except for the need to respect her privacy and not ask if she was okay. If she weren’t, it would soon become clear.
The tent area was mostly empty. Angela had her entire camp laboring again and Marc approved of the alert Eagles in the center of the tents.
Marc led them to a canvas near that guard station and tapped on the flap. “Got a minute, ladies?”
Fresh from the QZ, Tara and Missy had only been in their new tent for a few minutes and Marc caught a quick peek of a tent floor strewn with their goods and the child’s new toys. It appeared normal.
But I know it’s not, Marc thought. Or Kendle and Cynthia wouldn’t have been monitoring them for their first days here. They’re trouble.
“This is Tracy. She’ll be your settling partner at night.”
“Hi! Happy to have you here,” Tracy gushed, trying very hard to remember that person who had been happy and confident. “Welcome to Safe Haven.”
Little Missy liked the words and hugged Tracy’s leg.
“Aww. Aren’t you sweet?” Tracy crooned. “Bet we can find you a stuffed animal that sings or glows or something. Wanna go with me to the trucks and search?”
Missy nodded, still hugging Tracy, and Marc caught Tara’s frown. Assuming she was ready to have her tent settled down for the night, he commented, “Maybe that should wait for morning?”
Tracy realized it was late. “My bad. I can go find her one real quick.”
Marc sighed, realizing Angela had put Tracy here to help her, not to guard. Angie knew being around a child would be distracting.
“I’ll keep Tara company until you two are finished. Go on.”
Tara was scowling now, but Marc and Tracy ignored her displeasure. Tracy held a hand out to Missy. “Are you coming?”
Missy didn’t extend her hand, but jumped into Tracy’s arms like a kangaroo.
Tracy, not ready, fell over and burst into laughter.
“Well, that didn’t go the way I planned,” she said, giggling.
Missy snuggled into her arms, smiling happily, and Marc pulled them both up gently, glad their snipers hadn’t mistaken the action for aggression. He knew the senior men wouldn’t, but the three teenagers on duty with them right now would be eager to fire their first defensive rounds and the guards with them needed to keep them on a short leash.
Marc turned around to discover Tara staring at her tent with longing.
“You can go on if you want,” Marc offered. “I get the feeling you don’t want to talk.”
Tara flushed crimson, but quickly ducked into the canvas and Marc spent the next ten minutes trying to dig into her mind and failing.
Chapter Eight
Evening Blues
1
Sixty miles from Safe Haven, a long, dusty train chugged through the ash and debris on the tracks, moving steadily south. It had come from Pennsylvania and though most of the cars were empty, what cargo it did carry was lethal.
“We’re almost at the station,” Vlad informed his boss eagerly as they lounged in the refitted engine car. “Once we offload the horses, we’ll only be a couple hours from the mountain base.”
“Good,” Jack praised. “We’ve waited a long time for a shot at Mitchel.”
“I thought he would show,” Kranten complained, referring to their last mission. “Canada finally got what was coming to them and he wasn’t there!”
“It looks like Mitchel did some gathering of his own and stayed with them,” Stephens told the others. “These files are all on descendants.”
“Not the last few,” Jack corrected. “They have trained military men in there and one of them is Kenn Harrison. Another is Marcus Brady. Don’t underestimate those two.”
“I’ve heard of them!” Kranten exclaimed, coming over to snatch the paper from Stephens. “They took out that drug lord in South America before the war, right?”
“Among others,” Jack replied. “We also have reports of someone called the Ghost.”
The group of men frowned in unison. Ghost was a commonly used title for one of their kind who had turned against the government.
“Is Mitchel the Ghost?” Kranten asked as he skimmed the paper.
Jack shrugged, not concerned over the fight that was about to happen between Kranten and Stephens, who was slowly pulling his knife. “We’ll find out. For now, check your gear while I go over the plan again. Our boss expects this run to end with nearly four hundred bodies. Let’s not disappoint her.”
2
Angela froze as menace rushed over her. She felt as if giant hands were squeezing her brain, and she concentrated, forcing them away. Someone had reached their area and they were strong.
“Jeremy wants a word with you,” Greg stated, joining her at the rear gate.
“Send him to me,” she answered. “Quietly.”
Greg left and Angela swept her toiling people. Marc was sleeping–all the night shift people were–and Angela hoped the banging that was about to happen wouldn’t wake them up, but it had to be done. If things went wrong, they would need that wall. She already had rookies gathering more supplies from the dumpsites to bring up here. A storm was coming, in more ways than one.
Jeremy, who obviously hadn’t been far away, appeared at her side with his laptop in a bag over his shoulder.
“They pulled in to the station with a light crew,” she stated before he could pull it out or comment. “I need to know when the train comes back.”
Jeremy would have protested and Angela glared at him. “You can help me or get in my way. Pick wisely.”
Jeremy, getting used to Samantha’s moods, asked, “Have you eaten yet?”
Angela was surprised into a snicker. The men here were getting smarter again. When that happened to the women, they would become unstoppable. “No, but I will. Can you track that station and the others around it?”
“Yes, and I will. What else can I do?”
“Watch the north,” she intoned gravely. “If something moves there, I need to know about it.”
“You will,” he promised. “You should go…hey!”
Angela spotted the line of ants and climbed down from the rear wall platform to meet them.
Jeremy observed in fascination. Since Dog left, only Jennifer and Angela were left to communicate with the insects and Jeremy wanted to learn how.
“I use pictures,” Angela said, kneeling down in front of the line. “I send them images and they understand. Jennifer is different. She actually gets how they communicate and can replicate some of it.”
“How do you understand them?” he asked, admiring the way she didn’t flinch from pinchers moving near her hands or beady eyes glaring into her own.
“They send images back to me.”
“Oh,” he choked out, wondering if the end of the world for him had already come. Maybe this was the afterlife, where anything could happen.
“Close,” Angela confirmed. “But you’ll want to sleep later, so we won’t discuss that.”
Jeremy shuddered and left before he could insist on hearing it anyway. There were some things he didn’t need to know.
3
Marc staggered to the flap of the tent, drawn by the non-stop sound of hammering. If it were in the caves, it wouldn’t be as loud, and it had pulled him from slumber by never stopping. Angie had a new project going and Marc needed to know what it was.
He swiped the flap open and foun
d Greg waiting for him.
“She said get a few more hours. You’ll need it.”
Marc grunted unhappily and stumbled out far enough to get a view of the work being done.
Crushingly loud to his tired ears, Marc saw the lines of men passing supplies at both the front and rear of camp and understood she was reinforcing their gates. He approved of the assembly lines and the dozen workers on each site, but he admired the fact that Angie once again had the entire herd toiling. Even the kids were being useful, carting drinks and small pails of nails.
“She has it covered,” Greg pointed out. “She said you’ll need the sleep.”
Marc didn’t respond except to go back to bed, but he didn’t fall into the deep sleep he’d been in. There was trouble coming and it would be here soon, or Angie wouldn’t have them all laboring like dying bees. The pace was almost frantic, despite the mood being calm, and he would stay alert enough to respond if the threat arrived sooner than she had anticipated.
Across the camp, Angela sighed in relief and indicated for the workers to keep going. Storm clouds were gathering and the wind was shoving in, meaning they wouldn’t be able to keep going for much longer. She wanted this finished before the rain forced them under cover.
She scanned the cliffs around them, but couldn’t feel the heat of Adrian’s gaze. She knew he was there, waiting for her to signal him, waiting to carry out any chore she assigned. It was impossible not to miss him. He’d done more for her, for these people, than he ever got credit for. He’d known it would go this way, had planned to sacrifice himself to force his herd off this continent so they would be safe. He didn’t deserve this fate.
“Yes, Angie, he does.”
Angela turned around to discover Jennifer standing behind her.
“I know you love him, and from your view, I guess I can even understand why. What I don’t understand, is how you can be so strong and so smart, and still not recognize him for what he is.”
Angela glanced back toward the cliffs, letting her XO feel her pain for a brief moment. “He was taken from his mother, trained to kill, taught to betray our kind, and yet he still created all of this. Evil can’t build things, Jenny. It never creates. You know that.”
“Half evil, then,” Jennifer conceded. “He would have given us all up, if not for you. You know that.”
Angela nodded. “Yes.”
“Then you do see him for what he is!”
“Yes,” Angela admitted evenly. “I always have.”
“And you followed him anyway, let him train you to…” Jennifer fell silent as she realized Angela had taken power, not been gifted with it, as they’d thought all along.
“It was the only solution I could come up with,” Angela stated quietly. “No one else was going to be able to cover everything. Because I’m a freak, I was the best choice.”
“You’re not–”
“Stop.”
Jennifer did. The revelation didn’t shock her, didn’t change her opinion of Angela, but it did fill in some of the unexplained parts. Falling for Adrian was a side effect of gaining leadership.
“I wanted it from the moment our eyes met,” Angela said, sighing. “I knew he wasn’t worthy. And now that I have it, I hate being responsible for all these lives.”
“You’re good at it,” Jennifer supported.
“Yes, but it comes at a high price. You’ll find that out someday, I think,” Angela informed her mysteriously. “We’ll see what doors open for you in the future. I’m positive you’ll pick wisely.”
Jennifer was distracted by the thought of leading someday, as Angela had known she would be, and the teenager was easy to distract further with more light chores. Angela had let her in enough to start the bonding process and there would be time for more of those, providing things went well over the next month.
“Heading out!” Kyle called, waving.
Jennifer rushed over for a last goodbye and Angela noted the other crews also leaving. Some of them were like Kyle’s group–going out to secure a location and wait for the storm to pass. Others would help crews that were already in place, but none of those would make it home before the storm. They would all hunker down where they were. The QZ of people who would be allowed in had been sent to a cave not far away and a small group of rookie Eagles had gone with them to provide protection. Those in Zone C had been sent to a cave below and none of them had been happy to be assigned to the bottom of the mountain, alone.
The only people Angela hadn’t accounted for were those with Adrian. She didn’t know if they even had cover and it burned at her as the day advanced and the storm did the same.
Needing the distraction, Angela went to supervise the securing of the livestock trailers, thinking she would help with the tents and vehicles next. The sooner everything was in place, the better.
As Kyle and his team rolled down the mountain, he caught a glimpse of a tall, thin man moving through the trees toward the bottom cave where the people from Zone C were resentfully crammed. Kyle hoped it was the new assassin. The refugees from Zone C were trouble and Kyle stewed on them as he drove. Some people had to die and some people had to do the killing. That never changed and thanks to Jennifer, he was beginning to accept his role in that grand scheme.
4
The storm came in loud, powerful waves that made Safe Haven cower.
Lightning cracked brutally, illuminating clouds of rain that swept over and drenched everything. Smaller tents were ripped from their stakes and slammed into larger canvas shelters where nervous people forced chortles and pretended they weren’t scared.
Angela, who hadn’t been to sleep yet, and Marc, who had slept late to make up for her deficit, stayed with their camp. Daryl and Kendle also stayed with the people, both curt with the repeated questions. Neither of them had handled this type of situation before and it was a learning experience.
Thunder rolled through the stone as if a quake was coming for them and Angela concentrated, bringing up the shield over the area. She wasn’t positive how well it would fare against the lightning, but she wanted to try. This storm was a small preview of what they would deal with when winter came. This was only summer and fall saying so long, and while thunderstorms were dangerous, the frozen landscape of snow and ice, combined with winds that could rip trees up, would make for very unpleasant moments. It would feel like they were being buried alive.
Angela lingered near the tied flaps of the tent, hoping the cave workers and those out on runs were okay. Her hair blew wildly from the wind getting through small tears and holes, and Angela enjoyed the feel of nature that she was allowed to have. Going out there with all that flying debris wasn’t a good idea. They had the animals in the trailers next to them, and the clucks and grunts were a constant noise that echoed each time the weather grew louder or slammed something against their shelter.
She was getting sporadic reports from their people who were out on runs, but it didn’t make Angela feel any better. She wouldn’t be able to sleep until the threat was over. Hearing from Jeff and Kevin had been good, though. It had eased some concerns over the two men, but their message of snow hadn’t been received well. Most of the people here now were talking of working double shifts to get inside the caves and Angela knew that was something she would have to fix later. Everything had to stay on schedule.
Nearby, a conversation drew Angela’s attention.
“It’s not safe there.”
“She knows what she’s doing.”
“I’m telling you, she’s gonna get hurt.”
Before Angela could spot the people involved, Kendle was at her arm.
“Can you come away from the flap? Missy won’t quit harping on it.”
Angela allowed Kendle to lead her toward the center, and her usual crowd, clearly in a daze.
Sighing unhappily, Kendle put the boss next to Marc and resumed her post over Tara and Missy. Tara was a reader–always buried in a book–and it left too much time for her daughter to get into things. Like
the bucket of white paint that Kenn had left out, after marking lines to the trucks in case they needed to get these people to the caves in a hurry. The child had grabbed the bucket and tossed it in the air before Kendle had even realized she was going to pick it up. The paint had taken almost an hour to remove from both of them and two full sets of clothes had been tossed into the center fire right before Zack ordered it put out because of the high winds.
“We play now!” Missy shrieked, drawing attention. Hilda and Peggy had most of the kids in a far corner, playing with board games and Legos.
Kendle glared at Tara. “If you don’t do something with this kid, I will.”
Tara flinched, dropping her book, and those around them stared in shocked disapproval.
“Fine,” Kendle grunted. She picked the girl up and swung her around for a piggyback ride. “Let’s go see who we can bug, huh?”
Missy grabbed Kendle’s short spikes and tugged. “Go now, pony!”
Kendle grimaced and hefted the girl into a more comfortable position. “Yes, master Missy.”
The little girl giggled, tugging again and Kendle forced herself to trot across the tent to please the kid. It was obvious that her mom didn’t give a shit.
Across the tent, people were gaping at the scene. Even Marc was staring, dumbfounded, and the feeling slowly turned to awe for his mate. Angela could have hated Kendle, could have hurt her, but instead, she had found a way to bring the crazy island woman into the herd.
Marc leaned over and kissed Angela’s chilly cheek softly. “Love you, baby-cakes.”
Angela melted against him. “Mmm. You should do that more often.”
“What?” Marc asked, rubbing her arms.
“Realize what a perfect genius I am.”
Marc’s laughter was a balm to the nerves of everyone who heard it. He wouldn’t be laughing like that if they were all about to die.
“It’s going to be a long night, baby.” Marc stated. “How about a padded chair, with a blanket and your notebooks?”
Angela wanted to say no, but she did need to go over a few things and now, while she couldn’t do anything else but wait, was an ideal time. “Okay.
