by Angela White
2
Angela swept the vicinity again, spotting Peggy moving through the darkness without Doug. She was avoiding him, not even stabbing the big man anymore. Doug was confused, but Angela wasn’t. If she didn’t want to talk to Doug, she was trying to keep him from discovering her other secret.
In the mess, Kyle and Jennifer were enjoying coffee and cocoa for their end of shift time. If they followed the new pattern Angela had noticed, they would go to the sleeping area next and spend time with three families there. The men that had died in Kyle’s wreck left people behind and Kyle was now caring for them personally. But for his one flaw (a young girl), Kyle would be a perfect man. It could still happen for him, in time, but Jennifer would have to get him over that obsession and Angela wasn’t positive that was even possible. People didn’t get over their obsessions. They learned to avoid them, much like children touching fire. It often took the burn, to learn the lesson.
Behind the mess, the sniper shifts were changing and Angela’s heart clenched as she spotted Charlie climbing down from the perch the Eagles had built. She wanted to keep staring, to give him the chance to acknowledge her, but she knew he was still furious and she turned away so that he couldn’t reject her. Her emotions liked to get out of control and while being pregnant had a little to do with that, it was mostly the stress of knowing what was coming.
In the front parking area, teams were already prepping to leave on new runs, including the men who were picking up Shane’s group. All of those men would be placed into Zone B for testing when they arrived, and so would Marc’s crew. Enforcing the quarantine laws was important, and they’d had contact with multiple strangers. The Eagles were assigned to Zone B, which had been emptied as new people were brought into the inner adjustment zone last night. None of them had been sent on their way and that had emptied both outside zones.
It wouldn’t be that way again while they were in these mountains. Until the snow comes, Angela corrected herself.
Their men would be clear in time to empty the space for Brittani’s group, but still be around when those people arrived–to add comfort.
“Can I talk to you?”
Angela found Cynthia behind her. “What’s up?”
“I’m worried about Samantha. So is Neil. Jeremy hasn’t said so yet, but he’s noticing stuff too.”
“She’s been sick,” Angela answered carefully. She wasn’t sure who all Samantha had told, but it appeared it had been few people and that her methods to keep such an awful secret had succeeded. Much like John and Doug, who had hid their illnesses, Samantha had gotten better at distracting people from the truth.
“She’s also reckless,” Cynthia said, glad Angela already knew there was a problem. “Conner told her not to go in.”
“She didn’t listen to her protection?”
“Protection?” Cynthia gasped. “You sent him down to protect us?”
“Of course,” Angela answered without offense. “He’s a healer and it was a group of women carrying our future. The question is, why didn’t you guys know that?”
“He didn’t tell us,” Cynthia muttered, hating how Angela always managed to twist it around and come out on top. “Was he supposed to?”
“Yes. He’s young. Probably forgot.”
“Well, she wouldn’t have listened anyway,” the reporter stated. “She’s acting odd. Her guys are going to talk to you about it soon.”
“I know.” Angela waited for more and wasn’t surprise when it came.
“I need to interview Adrian for my paper, but I’d like to take a guard along.”
“A witness, you mean,” Angela clarified.
“Yes. I won’t have people thinking I’m like Kendle or worse, Daryl feeling betrayed. I’ll need about an hour, I think, and that’s it.”
“It’s fine,” Angela granted. “You can even take Daryl if you like.”
“Really? Won’t that cause tension?”
Angela glanced over at Cynthia. “Worse than the questions you plan to ask?”
“No, but I…”
“You aren’t going to stay on business,” Angela finished when Cynthia paused. “Take whoever you trust, Cyn. It’s fine.”
Grateful and yet, still resentful, the reporter left, casting long looks over her shoulder. How can I like Angela and dislike Angela, at the same time?
I don’t know, but I do, Cynthia answered herself. There’s something going on with her and I won’t like it when I discover what it is.
No, you won’t, Angela agreed sadly, scanning Cynthia’s thoughts. I can’t let you give birth and you’ve sensed the ticking clock.
That bell was set to go off in a few weeks and Angela didn’t intend to stop it. That baby was worse than dangerous. He was true evil and he already liked to hurt people.
3
“What the hell is wrong with these people?” Samantha whispered in disgust. Adrian had dropped her off at the bottom of the mountain road and she had made her way on foot to be positive she was undetected. She had followed the bike trail from David’s capture location while Marc let the chaos happen, and she’d found the den. On the front, on the porch, were naked men chained to the railings and dying of hunger, dehydration, and exposure. In the side yard of the wide farmhouse, under a giant willow tree, there appeared to be a bone pile. Samantha was afraid to sweep the rear.
A large fire in front of the house glowed brightly, illuminating the filthy tools lying around the sparse grass and the personal effects of victims. Two large people dressed in all black stood on the porch with shotguns, sweeping the darkness, and Samantha stayed down. Marc wanted her to be a surprise and she hadn’t spotted David at all. She was hoping dawn, which was closer now, would help her with that before it exposed her.
One of the chained men slumped over and the two guards on the porch nudged each other in obvious happiness. They didn’t leave their posts, but one of them banged on the front door.
Are they eating them? Samantha wondered, stomach twisting. She didn’t see tools for that, but the rest of the scene fit the part.
The door opened and another black-clad person came out and dragged the collapsed man inside. Samantha wanted to be glad he was out of the cold, but worried that the fate inside the house was worse.
Not sure how she would stay hidden when the sun rose, Samantha hunkered down and tried to keep warm. There was little cover here and the icy wind was relentless as it reformed the landscape into a crystalized quarry.
Come on, Marc. I’ve never done this before and I’m getting nervous.
4
“Ready?”
“Yep,” Adrian replied, hands full of Marc’s ammo. I’ve been reduced to gun boy.
Marc grinned and fired.
The grenade hit the vehicle behind the house and exploded, taking the old wagon with it. There weren’t any people here, not even sentries, and Marc took advantage of it.
“Let’s go.” He took off running, aiming for the side yard and Adrian followed, slamming the grenade home as they went, reloading the launcher. It was another variation of the way he had trained the Eagles to do more damage, and the former leader tried not to grumble.
They reached the side yard as the rear door opened and the yard flooded with activity.
Marc opened fire as soon as they were in range, hitting the giant tree. Shrapnel flew over the yard, bringing screams.
Marc ran for the front porch next, aiming at the door as the chained man shouted for him to stop. Marc had no intentions of firing, but he let Adrian reload it for the appearance. He wanted the house cleared–quickly–and this would do it.
“Get out!” a man shouted as he saw Marc and the launcher in the doorway. “Breach! Get out!”
“Now!” Marc ordered through his belt radio.
Outside, rifle shots lit up the stillness to compliment the screams as Marc and Adrian dropped the launcher and ammo, and opened fire.
Taken by surprise, the eight men and women were quickly killed, but it was too late fo
r the naked man on the floor. They’d already begun to chop him up.
The ninth man ran for the rear of the property and dove into a small hole Marc assumed led to an underground area.
After Samantha came to cover them, Marc and Adrian freed the captives they found and then headed for the hole.
Samantha stayed topside, lurking in the shadows in case anyone had been drawn to the noise.
5
The tunnel was made from sewer piping and once they climbed down, it was tall enough for the two men to stand up. Neither of them flipped on a light that would make them a target in the darkness. Adrian used his night scope and Marc sent out his grid.
Marc spotted half a dozen still-warm bodies and three heartbeats. He’d learned to tell the difference over the years and he went forward with his gun in one hand and knife in the other.
“There!” Adrian called, spotting their prey.
Marc lunged forward through the darkness, and was immediately knocked against a dank wall as a bullet went through his jacket and stopped against the triple plates. Marc staggered around, still coming and his would-be assassin screamed, firing again.
Adrian shoved by Marc to club the man with his own rifle and Marc let him, chest aching. The plates stopped the bullet, but not the force. He felt like he’d been hit by a truck.
“Good to know I’m not alone in that,” Adrian stated wryly. His shoulder and arm hadn’t stopped throbbing, though the trim had clotted on its own.
“Yeah, but you deserve it,” Marc complained lightly. He was feeling good, like always after winning a fight, surviving. “Let’s get our guy and go.”
They found David and another man in the farthest room under the ground and neither of them looked good. Both of them were unconscious. Marc and Adrian each carried one from the cellar.
Samantha hurried to go get their wheels without being told. For all the running around, the house was only a few minutes from the spot where David had been taken. The mall was a trap they’d been using to draw in refugees. Samantha still didn’t know what they’d been doing with them, but the survivors they’d brought out would tell the stories.
Because there had been captives here, Samantha wasn’t feeling as bad about David’s injury.
Until she returned, and found him still unconscious and covered in blood. Then the guilt overwhelmed her and she burst out crying as she stumbled from the van. “I am so sorry!”
Adrian caught her around the waist before she could go to David, rotating her toward the vehicle. “We want to leave now. You drive.”
Too upset to notice who was giving her orders, Samantha climbed into the van and started the engine.
Marc gave Adrian a nod of approval that he didn’t want to deliver, but felt was deserved. David didn’t need her tears. He needed a doctor. The arrow through his leg was ugly enough that Marc wasn’t positive he would walk on it again. Marc also wasn’t sure the leg would be saved and he knew when Sam realized that by the way she opened the van door and vomited.
6
“They’re back!”
Angela met the van at the gate and saw Samantha, Billy, and two injured men. “Where’s Marc?”
Samantha was too busy helping one of the men to reply–Angela assumed it was David–and Billy came over to her after waving for Eagles to help the two injured people to the medical bay. The third man had lived long enough to feel the chains come off, and his body hadn’t been brought in.
“Marc made me stop at the bottom of the road. Said he and Adrian felt like walking.”
“Did they? Feel like walking, I mean?” she asked, instantly worried.
“Adrian didn’t,” Billy said tiredly. “He was looking like I feel.”
Angela motioned him on, saying, “Get a report in by evening mess.”
Billy tiredly vanished toward the showers.
Angela also left, not wanting to be near the gate when the two men made it up the hill. The witch’s warning came to mind, but Angela was worried about more than a possible fight or death attempt. She had secrets and both men had clues. It wouldn’t take much to put them together. Both of her men were incredibly smart.
Calling them your men, now, the witch observed. Interesting.
I don’t mean it the way you took it, Angela tried to defend.
The witch, refusing to accept any excuse for Adrian’s betrayal, stormed from her mind and rattled doors all the way down the hall.
Angela went to the medical tent to ask if the doctor needed any help, and found Samantha with her knife against the doctor’s throat.
“Well, this is a new one.”
Samantha slowly eased away from the cowering physician. “We had a difference of opinion on David’s treatment.”
David was still unconscious and the arrow was still through his leg, with light blood drips trailing across the floor and onto the cot. In the lantern light, David looked bad.
Angela gaped at the doctor. “You chose not to even try saving the leg?”
“It’ll be awful,” the doctor snapped guiltily, reddening. “Blood and screams, and sweating and it won’t work.”
“You lazy little–”
“Samantha.”
Angela’s tone said to Get Out.
Samantha shook her head. “I owe him. He isn’t losing his leg because of me.”
“It doesn’t look good, Sam. You know that.”
“Are you siding with him?” Samantha asked incredulously, hovering in front of David’s prone form.
“No, I’m not. He’s going to try or I’m going to relieve him for dereliction of duty. But you have to be prepared to face the truth. Without intervention, the leg might not be savable.”
Angela scanned the other man, who was slumped in a chair in the tent and awake, but not alert.
“Marc had us give them both a sedative from the medic kits you’ve got us all carrying now. He, uh…” Billy gave the rest silently. He started screaming while Samantha went for our vehicle. Marc said she didn’t need to hear it, that she would torture herself enough over it.
“Agreed,” Angela said, going to check on the man. She gave the doctor a harsh glower and the man forced himself to go to David. Samantha, busy removing David’s gear and pants, didn’t react.
Angela helped the man in the suit onto a cot. He needed a complete workup, but it would have to wait until the leg had been handled.
“I need help,” the doctor stated, still studying the arrow as if it was the plague. “And send someone who can hold him down.”
“You are not cutting off his leg!” Samantha growled.
“Lady, I have to shove that arrow through the rest of the way. Drugged or not, he’s gonna fight and scream. You can’t hold him.”
“I’m staying,” Samantha stated stubbornly for lack of a better answer.
“You can hand me things. All the other medical assistants are on cave shifts or sleeping. I wasn’t expecting new arrivals.”
“New arrivals,” the gate guard called over their radios.
The doctor jumped and Angela sighed, wondering if the newest people had passed two brawling men on their way up the mountain.
7
“Can you be bought?” Marc asked as they reached the halfway point. They’d let the small truck of refugees pass them without being detected, but now, they were striding up the middle of the cracked road again.
Adrian was surprised by the question and not sure how it was meant. “Can you?”
“Everyone has a price,” Marc answered, enjoying the walk in the dark. He didn’t get this much privacy very often.
“What’s yours?”
“Angie and the kids,” Marc replied immediately. “Your turn.”
Adrian realized he’d been led into an oral trap, and sighed at his blindness. I am getting old.
“Yes,” Marc agreed cheerfully. “You are.”
Adrian didn’t take the bait this time. Instead, he answered the question with one of his own. “What would you give me to tell her I have
to go away and then do it? Because I am capable of that.”
Marc didn’t doubt it. If Adrian got some of what he wanted out of this humiliation, he would flee and never look back.
“You think highly of me,” Adrian commented bitterly.
“With good reason,” Marc reminded. “Now answer the question.”
“What would I be paid to do?”
“Leave the state and forget she exists.”
Adrian studied Marc in the darkness, trying to figure out where this was going. “You can’t give me what I want.”
“We both know that’s not true,” Marc denied. “She’d do anything to erase the guilt she feels.”
“You’d do that to her?”
“To get you out of our lives forever?” Marc shrugged. “Maybe. Is that your price?”
“I’d have to think about it,” Adrian stalled, decision already made.
“Fine. We’ll be at the gate in about ten minutes.”
Adrian grunted at the time limit, but didn’t protest. “She needs time out of those gates.”
“Not safe out here,” Marc denied.
“My site is safe as it can be,” Adrian hinted. “And you could send Eagles along.”
While Marc was enjoying some of Adrian’s eager groveling, the fact that it was time with Angie they were bargaining for made him put an end to it. “It won’t happen unless we make a deal, and even then, I’ll need time to consider your request.”
“Requests,” Adrian corrected. “If I’m being sent away, you have to take responsibility for my son.”
“No,” Marc denied. “Conner goes with you.”
“Safe Haven needs him!” Adrian insisted anxiously. “Angela needs him.”
Marc didn’t respond. None of this was up to him anyway and they both knew it. Angela would make the final choice and they would all try to live with it.
“Why can’t you share her?” Adrian asked suddenly. “Others are adjusting to the idea. Can’t you even consider it?”
