The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

  Marc understood that sentiment as much as anyone could, but he still said, “Stay in camp. Do what the boss says.”

  “Why? Because I don’t value life enough?”

  “Because you’d be along to prove you can handle yourself and this time, it could get you killed. Lurkers are not anyone to play around with.”

  “I’m a good hunter,” she pointed out. “You’ll need me.”

  Marc didn’t tell her he’d been tracking trash for most of his life, but his tone said she should know it already as he stated, “I need you to follow orders. It’s part of the job.”

  Samantha gave in then, saying, “Fine.” When Marc used that tone, everyone knew he was finished being sensitive to the person’s feelings and it bothered Samantha to be on the receiving end of it. She much preferred to be the teacher’s pet.

  “Don’t we all,” Marc muttered, wondering if Angela had known this was coming. She hadn’t acted like it, but that meant little. Still, he didn’t think she would have sent him out blind against someone who was obsessed with killing. That was more like something Adrian would have done.

  “Take us to the gate,” Marc instructed. “When we get there, send a message to Angela. Tell her I said if I’m not home by dawn, to send her pet killer.”

  Everyone knew he meant Adrian and the mood went from sullen to tense. Marc wouldn’t send for Adrian unless he thought there was a chance he could lose whatever fight might be waiting.

  Samantha felt guilt crash down on her shoulders and she clamped her mouth shut against the pleas that wanted to come out. Marc wasn’t the one she needed to beg for permission to go along.

  “No, I’m not,” Marc agreed, adjusting automatically against the force as Billy rushed them up the mountain in the darkness. “And I’m not waiting for you talk her into it. Make it up some other way. You’re off this run.”

  7

  “Can you repeat that last part, please?” Angela asked as shock and anger warred for the top slot in her mind.

  “If he’s not here by dawn, he said for you to send in your pet killer,” Samantha forced out. Angela had met them at the gate, with Greg and Shawn on her heels.

  Angela gestured for them to leave and the group of women dejectedly trudged toward the showers and mess.

  Angela didn’t have time for their emotions as she scanned the doors in her mind. She’d never heard of a lurker and she’d sent the witch out for information as soon as she’d picked it from Samantha’s mind. While the witch and Marc went hunting, she needed to scour the halls and discern what new doors might have opened up.

  Shawn and Greg waited patiently with her, watching the soldiers hurry into Adrian’s site to inform him. The people in Zone A had been viewing the activity with concern after this morning’s attack, but they were settling down now. The other zones were empty.

  Minutes passed and then Adrian appeared at the tree line. He signaled to the guards on the gate and Zack scowled as he glanced at Angela. “Do we give it to him?”

  Angela didn’t answer and Shawn did what he thought was best. “Marc asked for him. I say we do–because Marc needs him.”

  “Damn.” Zack gestured at Greg. “She’ll be searching for a while. Go get him some wheels and one of the girls.”

  “Samantha,” Angela croaked suddenly. “They need Sam.”

  The men around her hurried to do as they’d been told and Angela returned to her searching. She hadn’t predicted Marc and Adrian working together in the dark. If she’d gotten a vote beforehand, she would have guessed that Marc would tell Adrian to cover his own people. Marc had known she would want David rescued if possible, but asking for Adrian in the only manner tolerable to him (snidely) meant there was a chance for the two men to eventually co-exist.

  Dreaming again, the witch warned from a distance. The only thing that might come from this is a murder. Two men have never been more at odds in this universe.

  8

  “So why am I here?”

  Marc let Adrian’s question hang in the air as they settled into the tall weeds to wait. Billy was in the truck below, left to guard their vehicle and now they had to wait and see if their lurker was still lurking. Tracking in the dark was nearly impossible and they would make too much noise. This plan was better for their prey.

  “I realize you needed someone who was used to hunting this way, but there are half a dozen of those in Safe Haven now,” Adrian said. “I know. I helped train them.”

  Marc scanned the darkness around the truck, thinking Billy might have nerves of steel by the time winter came. As he’d done with a few men over the years, Marc had taken Billy under his wing. The man didn’t know it yet, but he was being trained by the Ghost. Billy had a big future ahead of him and he would need the guidance.

  “You want to talk about Angie.”

  “I hate it when you call her that,” Marc immediately responded, not pausing in his scans. “You haven’t earned the right to be so familiar.”

  “Bullshit,” Adrian denied. “You hate it because you can’t avoid feeling how much I care for her when it comes out sounding that way.”

  Marc let it go in favor of the silence he knew Adrian didn’t handle well. The blond had gotten used to people jumping when he spoke, not the other way around.

  “Is it because she took those lives?”

  Marc winced.

  “Surprised me, too,” Adrian admitted when Marc didn’t respond, yet again. “She wants the baby enough to risk corruption.”

  “Risk?” Marc asked. “It doesn’t mean she already is?”

  “No. She chose bad people. No different than the variety of killers she’s got laboring for her now.”

  “Variety?” Marc knew of two.

  “She has five active right now, with three in reserve while they recover or age. As long as everyone sticks to their assigned chores, it could create a beautiful environment when enough of the assholes are gone.”

  “And if even one of those people goes off-grid?”

  “It’s not her killers that we have to watch out for,” Adrian stated gravely. “They’ve just gotten a taste of that freedom and they won’t risk it yet.”

  “But Angie might, right?” Marc guessed.

  “Yes. Taking a life force is different from taking a life. It corrupts the soul to take a pure force.”

  “And the consuming thing she told me about?”

  “That’s a myth,” Adrian informed him promptly. “Jack and his crew were animals who enjoyed acting that way. They also liked using the stories of their cannibalism to scare their targets. Made them easier to corner.”

  Adrian’s words matched what Marc’s demon had told him, and he continued with the questions that worried voice hadn’t had any answers to. “Did you predict all of this? Is that what’s in your notebooks?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’ve seen a lot more, all the way to the island and back?”

  “Not back,” Adrian stated wistfully.

  “Are you with us on the island?”

  Adrian didn’t want to answer that and said, “It’s up to you, in the end.”

  “Obviously I agree. Why?”

  Adrian sighed. “Do you really want to do this now?”

  “No, but it’s too late to shoot Kendle before she can heal you,” Marc growled, barely remembering to do it quietly. “Tell me.”

  “Because what I told you was the truth. She needs more than you can give her. I’ve saved her life. So have you. And it’s not over, Marc, not by a long shot. It’ll take both of us to keep her alive.”

  “Did it heal her enough to have the baby?”

  “It healed her completely,” Adrian answered, adjusting the scope on his rifle to narrow in on Billy, who appeared to have fallen asleep while waiting for them to return. “Your daughter will be more beautiful than her mother.”

  Marc didn’t like the feeling of bonding that was coming, but before he could break that mood with a snide remark, Adrian cleared his throat.

&
nbsp; “David is a good man. Thank you for this, even though it was a cover.”

  “Don’t confuse me with yourself,” Marc said. “I thought he and his men should have been allowed in and I know she refused them so you wouldn’t be alone.”

  “Yes. She has hopes of reforming me.”

  “Impossible!” Marc spat.

  Adrian didn’t take the bait. Reform was easy. Following through on it was much harder. He would have to have a damn good reason to change and the one thing that could bring it about was forbidden to him and always would be.

  “Not when I die,” Marc ground out, unable to leave it alone. Not knowing when and how was eating at him.

  “I won’t do it when the time comes,” Adrian spouted angrily. “So tell her to make other plans. I’d kill you as fast as you would me.”

  Marc didn’t know what they’d seen and it was frustrating, but he was forced to let it go as a shadow below them moved.

  “Here we go,” Adrian whispered, aiming.

  “Take him alive,” Marc ordered. “I at least want David’s body to take back if we’re too late to save him.”

  “No worries,” Adrian bragged lightly. “The flea’s ass is in my crosshairs.”

  The shadow approached the truck with a crossbow in one hand and a large knife in the other.

  “Take the shot.”

  Adrian fired.

  The loud report echoed across the mountains and the shadow by Billy’s window dropped to the ground. Billy, following orders, remained in the truck.

  “You’re up,” Marc told Adrian. “Go take one for the team.”

  Adrian grimaced. “You got it, Mary.”

  Marc recognized the nervous response. Adrian hadn’t been the one doing the dirty work for a long time.

  Adrian approached the vehicle carefully and quickly, hoping Marc was covering his back and not aiming at it. He hurried to the fallen man and used his foot to roll him over.

  He gestured to Billy, who flipped on the headlights for illumination. As the lights came on, another shot fired.

  Adrian slumped against the hood, gasping at the pain. A double vest had stopped the slug from entering his shoulder, but the impact was still enough to stun him. He let the sensation take him to his knees and then to then ground, listening as he tried to forget that he’d been shot.

  The body next to him immediately rose up, coming over to take his weapon and point it at Billy. Marc had been right to suspect this.

  “I know you can hear me,” the man declared emotionlessly. “Stand up.”

  Adrian did, not needing to fake the reaction. The blood wasn’t there, though, and the lurker realized it too late. Adrian swung with full strength and knocked him out with a hit to the temple before he could spin the gun and fire.

  Another bullet slammed into Adrian, hitting flesh this time and he fell to the ground, rolling under the truck for protection.

  Silence fell and the Eagles waited with ragged breathing for their shooter to come closer.

  Inside the truck, Billy stayed down, listening in amazement as Adrian and Marc handled a pair of serial killers.

  Marc waited patiently for the second man to show, very surprised there were two of them. It was rare.

  The sound of a bike came and then Marc had it in his sight. He pulled the trigger gently and hit the rear tire of the Yamaha.

  The bike skidded sideways and then slammed into the ground, flipping the rider into the air. It came down in a bed of weeds, not hard enough to have killed the rider, and Marc hurried down the hill as he unslung his rifle and drew his Colt.

  The rider struggled to stand as Marc neared, and he stopped so they couldn’t reach him with a lunge. “Take the helmet off.”

  The rider faced Marc and slowly pulled off the protective gear. “You won’t find them.”

  Long brown hair streamed down and Marc realized this was more than rare. It was unheard of. “Husband and wife?”

  The woman glanced at the still form on the ground near where Adrian was crawling out from under the truck. “Acquaintance, with common goals.”

  “And what would that be?” Marc asked, scanning for weapons and not lowering his.

  “To get you out here,” the woman answered, smiling insanely. “Hello, Der Ghost. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  “There are more?” Billy asked from the window he’d lowered. Marc had told him not to leave the truck, at all, and he wasn’t going to.

  The sound of bikes echoed and Marc said, “Three more. You’re not lurkers.”

  The woman flashed black teeth and madness. “No. We’re from Benjamin.”

  “He died in the bunker,” Marc stated, going cold at the memories. “Nice try.”

  “We were sent before your bitch infiltrated the bunker,” the woman revealed as the bikes came down the same hill where Marc and Adrian had been hiding. “She succeeded, but so will we.”

  “Why?” Adrian asked, wrapping a bandana around his bleeding arm. “There’s no one left alive to reward you.”

  “Oh, we’ll have a reward,” the woman replied, motioning to her team with no fear of Marc’s guns. “We captured the Ghost and a Mitchel. All the rebels you’ve denied entrance will flock to us. In a few months, we’ll also take over your Safe Haven.”

  “You think it’s that easy, huh? We’re gonna go quietly?” Marc asked coolly at the bravado.

  “You will or I’ll tell them to kill the man I’ve got stashed.”

  Billy’s weapon appeared in the window. “Now?”

  “Fire!” Marc shouted, diving toward the woman.

  Billy aimed his weapon at the coming bikes and the three men didn’t have a chance to do the same as blood splattered and bikes crashed into each other from a carefully taken shot through the tire of the lead rider.

  Marc held the woman, glad he didn’t sense any power in her. “It’s over. You lose.”

  Instead of the anger or begging he’d expected, the woman cackled wildly.

  “You gave the code with that action. Your man will be dead in half an hour.”

  “Fuck!” Adrian grunted. “How many of these assholes are there?”

  “More than a dozen,” the woman cackled. “You screwed up!”

  Marc punched her in the face, knocking her out. He hadn’t counted on that many people hunting together.

  “Get her home,” Marc ordered, dragging her heavy body to the truck. “Adrian and I have things to do and people to kill.”

  Adrian immediately checked his weapon and waited for orders.

  Marc stared around them, not hearing or seeing anything. He flipped on his gun light and headed in the most likely direction. He hadn’t planned to hunt in the dark, but maybe it was better this way. Innocent people would be in their dens right now, and wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.

  Marc gestured for Adrian to cover him, and then studied the ground as they walked. Tracking in the dark was hard, but he’d done it enough to have faith he would discover a trail. This was about more than their missing man now. It was a necessary thing that had to happen or Safe Haven would be under attack yet again.

  “Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen,” Adrian stated, loading a fresh mag into his 9mm.

  “You know it,” Marc replied coldly, not letting anger at Adrian distract him. For this run, Mitchel was probably the best support he could have.

  Unless he gets a shot at me in the dark, Marc thought. One of us could die tonight.

  Adrian grinned, but didn’t reply. He liked that Marc thought he was dangerous enough to worry over. Because I am. Watch your six with me. Despite my many appearances, I truly have no mercy.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Are You with Me?

  1

  “Drive her straight to the brig,” Angela ordered tiredly, signaling for the evening gate sentries to open them wide.

  “Traitor!”

  “Killer!”

  The people of Safe Haven were not happy to have been woken with the news that someone had
tried to hurt Marc.

  “Hope you get a bullet!”

  “Die, you traitor!”

  Angela didn’t like the ugliness, but her people needed to vent a little and the woman in the van needed to be scared for her life. It was definitely in danger here.

  The van threw dust over the small crowd of angry people and Angela hid a smirk. Billy didn’t like their hang ‘em high attitudes either and as an Eagle, his disapproval was as powerful as hers was.

  She sent a hard look over the crowd that had come at Billy’s radio call, and they sullenly left. That instinct to hurt anything that might disturb their lives was one that Adrian had encouraged, even though it had seemed the opposite from outward appearance. Angela hoped to calm those fears in time, but as long as they had people hunting them, it was impossible to do it now.

  “What type of security do you want on her?” Zack asked.

  “Just you,” Angela stated, sweeping the waking camp. Dawn had come two hours early. “Handle it like Adrian would have.”

  Zack’s brows furrowed, but he didn’t protest. He hated Adrian, and the fact that their routines and plans came from such trash rankled Zack.

  He left her side and Angela waited for the locks to click on the gate. The future hadn’t been revealed to her, again, and Angela suspected it was because of what she’d done. Her guilt wouldn’t let her make plans to do it again, even if it was needed. Only for Marc or Charlie’s life would she ever murder and that made her tension worse. She knew trouble was coming. Marc’s demon hadn’t been wrong. She will have to let them die by the hundreds before the truth can be accepted.

  You could try again, the witch suggested, meaning to convince everyone to flee south now.

  I will, Angela answered, making eye contact with each of the relaxing men on the gate. “And some of them will listen.”

  The ones who matter, will save themselves, the witch tossed out a platitude.

  They all matter! Angela snapped. Every life matters to the Creator, and to me, so don’t forget that!

  I did not mean to–

  Stop. Angela sighed, calming down while also finding it troublesome that she was arguing with herself again. Life is the only thing that truly has value. Evil, good, in the middle–all of them. Some deaths serve a purpose and some are needed, but don’t mock their sacrifices. They all matter.