by Angela White
Picking it all up, Jeff directed Marc to the warehouse. Despite being in the middle of what used to be a busy town, the location was good. Most of the refugees were camped at the bottom of Safe Haven Hill. There was almost no one in the small town next door.
“Over there, by the black billboard,” Jeff instructed.
All but two of the Eagles hurried to the warehouse–not because they perceived a threat, but because the icy winds overwhelmed them as soon as they stepped out of their vehicles. After the warmth of their vehicles, the nasty difference brought tears to their eyes and snot to their noses.
Kevin hurriedly unlocked the warehouse, waiting for everyone to get in.
As Adrian passed, the former leader kept his chin down and his contemplations to himself.
Wise, Jeff thought, coming in last.
Kevin slid the door shut and Jeff quickly locked it as the men around them flipped on belt lights. The dim sunlight coming through the filthy windows still revealed too many shadows for their liking.
“Sally?” Kevin called.
The first thing the Eagles noticed about the warehouse was the smell.
Jeff and Kevin had been in Safe Haven for a week, but neither of them were surprised by the state of the warehouse. The smell of garbage, urine, and feces was enough to make all of them wish for the icy cold fresh air outside.
Marc gestured the Eagles to put masks on.
Jeff led the way to the rear storage chamber, where he and Kevin had barricaded entrances and exits so that only the front needed to be guarded. It didn’t look as if there had been problems. It also didn’t appear that Sally or the wolves had been outside at all.
Jeff opened the door to find a gun in his face. He quickly smacked it to the ground and then shoved Sally away. “Damn!”
Jeff didn’t bother to introduce anyone. He went over to Dog to make sure the wolf was still alive.
Marc did the same.
That left Adrian and the Eagles to deal with Sally, who was furious to have her den full of descendants. She backed into the dusty corner, retrieving her weapon. “Get out!”
Before the Eagles could make things worse, Adrian hurried over the garbage piles to place himself between her and them. He held out a hand, wishing he’d kept his gloves on while reading the notebook. “Maybe you’d better let me hold that until we’re ready to go.”
Sally wanted to argue, but it was clear they could take it by force. She surrendered the 9mm reluctantly.
Adrian tucked it into his pocket, feeling the light weight. He wasn’t positive that it was loaded. It was something of a relief, that Jeff and Kevin hadn’t given her a loaded weapon. Sally was obviously deranged.
Marc knelt down next to the wolf that was obviously sedated. A quick examination of the wounds explained why. The battle had to have been awful. The wolf was lucky to have survived. Marc looked at Sally. “Thank you.”
Sally didn’t reply. Her face was still squished in that place between murder and terror. It made her appear quite dangerous.
Marc placed a hand on the wolf’s head, noting Dog’s new mate sleeping nearby. He shot a blast of healing energy into his friend.
Dog didn’t wake up.
Marc hadn’t expected him to, but it would’ve been nice to be able to say goodbye to his old friend. Marc had come to understand that keeping the wolf and humans in the same environment was wrong. Dog had never truly been given the chance to return to freedom since they’d come together. After so many years, the animal was probably ready to live a normal lifestyle for him, not to be someone’s pet that was always in danger.
Marc observed the sleeping female. Even in slumber, her nose was against Dog.
“Where will you go?” he asked Sally.
Sally didn’t want to tell, but she needed an escort. “Northwest.” She glanced reluctantly at Jeff. “Will you both take me?”
He agreed curtly, “Yes.” Jeff and Kevin had already discussed it. There was nothing keeping them in Safe Haven.
“The wolves should be ready for travel in about three days,” she told Jeff nervously.
Marc gestured the Eagles to unload the bags they’d brought. “We donated a few things we thought you might need, but there is no radio. After this, there will be no contact with Safe Haven for you.”
Sally understood that meant she wasn’t being invited in. She didn’t mind.
The only thing left was to leave Dog. After more than a decade together, it was hard to do.
Suddenly very angry at the world, Marc spun toward Adrian. “So what’s the deal? Are you done?”
Adrian shrugged, still standing by Sally. “I’m not sure. Neither of us would have let her in either.” He meant Angela and himself.
“Well, get done,” Marc ordered tersely. “I want to be gone. It stinks here.”
“Do you want a litter brought in for Dog?” Kyle asked.
“He’s staying,” Marc declared.
Adrian was surprised that the wolfman was leaving his pet behind.
“If he wanted to be with me, he would,” Marc stated stiffly. “Eagles brought him back in a truck. He didn’t come on his own.”
Adrian pushed out the personal drama to try to figure out what he was supposed to do with Sally. He wished Angela had given him more information and then mentally grimaced at the irony. How many times had he done this to others, made them figure it out for themselves so that they learned something from it?
Sally stared at Adrian, aware that he was a descendant. Not only did she hate him, she was scared of him. He was strong, vivid to her.
Adrian was nervous. It was hard for him to perform on demand. He wasn’t the boss anymore and his confidence in himself and his abilities had been shaken. He couldn’t concentrate with two of the men that he hated and respected the most watching, hoping for him to fail.
Sally reluctantly put her hand in Adrian’s when he held his out. It wasn’t as if she had another choice.
Adrian anticipated a revelation as their fingers touched, but there was nothing. He wasn’t sure what to do, beyond wait with her grimy skin against his. He hoped this wasn’t a crazy attempt by Angela to try getting him and Marc to bond or even communicate. They had already said enough to each other.
Everyone waited in tense silence for something to happen. In the quiet, came the rustling sound of an animal.
Marc glanced down to find Dog slowly waking. Not positive what type of reception he would get from the animal that had been living away from him for more than a month, Marc waited.
Dog came to in a good mood as he realized the pain of his injuries was a little less and Marc was here. He sniffed Marc’s boot, tail wagging.
A thick sense of homecoming swept over the room.
Relieved, Marc carefully scratched the wolf’s chin. “Hey, boy.”
Now distracted between two scenes, the Eagles waited for something interesting.
Surprised to discover the strange leader knew the wolf, Sally pulled her hand out of Adrian’s, not sure what he had been doing. “Will you go now?”
“That’s not up to me, but if it were, I would say no,” Adrian answered. “Whatever I was sent here to talk to you about has to be settled first.”
Marc shrugged, happy to spend a few moments with Dog now that he was awake.
Adrian motioned Sally toward the front of the warehouse. “Let’s try it out here.”
Eager to be out of the Eagle-filled rear compartment, Sally followed.
Dog’s injuries were healing, faster now that Marc had helped. He looked over to be certain that his mate was okay, not whimpering from the stitches. Seeing that she was still asleep, Dog twisted to his former owner.
Marc knew without being told that Dog didn’t want to return with him.
“I’m glad you woke up,” Marc said softly. “We get to say goodbye.”
Dog was relieved that Marc understood, but there was also sadness.
Perhaps we shall meet again in the future, Dog offered.
; Understanding Dog had left to avoid a scene like this, Marc didn’t drag things out. He gave his friend one last scratch across the top of his head, sending another beautiful bolt of healing light into the wolf. “You’ve always got a home with me if you want it.”
Tired of the constant pain brought to them by the apocalypse, Marc and the Eagles exited the smelly compartment. As they passed by Adrian, who was conversing with Sally in low murmurs, Marc noticed a knife drawing on the concrete wall. It was very detailed for being gouged out of the wall with a blade tip.
“Did you do this?” Marc asked Sally. He could feel the importance.
“Yes. Why?”
“Did you see it?” Marc asked Adrian, gloating a bit that he’d caught it and the former leader hadn’t.
Shamed, Adrian studied what Sally had carved…magic filled the room.
The warehouse around them disappeared as the picture enlarged, allowing the cold snow to blow over him as if he were being buried in an avalanche. It quickly became hard to breathe.
Adrian detected seven shadowy forms walking towards him in the distance.
“Alexa!” Adrian whispered in yearning.
Marc and the Eagles held silent as they waited for Adrian to finish whatever it was that he was going through. They held more sympathy for Angela and her moments like this than they did for him, but it also hadn’t escaped anyone’s attention that Adrian had now taken Angela’s place in this department. It pissed them off.
A moment later, Adrian snapped out of the vision, breathing in big gasps. “I’m going to need…about twenty minutes…with her,” he told Marc. “I’ll catch up.”
Marc motioned the Eagles toward the exit. “If you’re not there, I’ll blow it anyway. No one gets in or out after us.”
Adrian returned to Sally as the Eagles left, not doubting it. He didn’t know how he would get back, but this was too important to rush. His daughter’s life depended on it.
4
“Don’t take your time getting here,” Marc instructed, pointing to a place on the map. While they gathered food, Adrian could finish his business with the crazy woman and get to the tunnel.
Kyle flipped the heater to high against the icy conditions and rolled them four blocks to the first location on the map. He didn’t comment on leaving Dog or Adrian behind. He wanted to offer Marc comfort on both of those headaches and solicit some much-needed advice but he also needed to stay aware of their surroundings. There would be time for talking when they got to camp, he hoped. For the guidance Kyle required, Marc was the perfect person to ask.
It was clear from first glance that the local sheriff’s office had been cleaned out because there was nothing left of it. It had burnt to the ground. Around it, were the usual signs of doomsday–bodies, clothing and personal items mildewed to the ground from ten months of apocalyptic weather.
“We’ll keep going.” Marc showed Kyle the next place on the map. He had three of them to try.
Kyle and his team didn’t speak or do anything except keep watch for trouble as they traveled through the city. Helen, Georgia was a ghost town. If not for Sally and the refugee tents on the outskirts, it might have been completely deserted.
The ritzy country club a mile away had also been damaged, but the broken doors and windows were associated with the draft. Marc gestured the team in, leaving two Eagles with the vehicles.
The men cleared the building fast, lights flashing over signs of struggles for life and signs of struggles for death. Plush furniture and swanky decor were offset by the heavy scent of recent decomposition.
Marc ordered the Eagles to put their masks back on. They walked down a cold, trophy-filled wall to emerge in a small kitchen that then fed them into a large dining space. The eating area was where the bodies were, but the kitchen was still stocked with enough food for the Eagles around Marc to clap him on the shoulders.
Marc and the others quickly loaded everything they could carry. They would sort through what was still edible after they returned.
While Marc and the Eagles cleaned out the country club, the two guys on duty at their vehicles stayed alert, trying to stay warm as they smothered the uneasy sensation that always came anytime they were out in the open now. Their break from the stone was welcome, but the short hour they’d been out here had already been enough to remind them that outside was the most dangerous place a person could be now.
As if to prove the thought, engines rumbled in the distance.
Billy got on the radio. “Boss, company! We’re getting out of sight.”
Unable to move the vehicles without being noticed, Billy and Jeff hurried into the entranceway of the country club.
The convoy of vehicles in the distance didn’t come directly towards them, but it was close enough for the Eagles to hold their breath as they tried to estimate the enemy numbers. It sounded like the Mexicans had come in force this time.
Marc and the other men, loaded up, joined Billy and Jeff in the entrance, each taking peeks that were quick and careful.
“Where do you think they’re going?” Kyle asked quietly.
“I’d say they’re trying to make sure they have the bottom of the mountain surrounded,” Marc declared. “Once they have that, they’ll climb upward to explore passages and entrances. If that doesn’t succeed, they’ll try to burn us out.”
As the men stared at the convoy that was still rolling past, the number already well over fifty trucks now, Kyle looked at Marc. “I hope she has a plan for this. Adrian didn’t.”
Marc grimaced. “She does. That’s the last of them. Let’s roll. We have to get to our road before they do.”
The Eagles hurried into their vehicles, where Kyle and Daryl slowly drove them out of sight. When no one chased them and bullets didn’t slam into their windows, everyone relaxed a little. Kyle knew how to get them back into the mountain. They would be there before the Mexicans. No one knew if the team would have enough time to exit the vehicle and get into the tunnel before being spotted, but it wouldn’t matter at that point. The wired explosives would be enough to be certain that the Mexicans wouldn’t follow and provide protection for the team if it didn’t trigger a collapse of the entire corridor. Either way, the enemy wouldn’t get in. Neither would Adrian, unless he rolled out right now.
Marc refused to send the warning.
Chapter Twenty
Walking a Tightrope
1
Adrian stepped out of the warehouse to find David sitting there with the passenger door of his beater open. “Thought you might need a lift.”
Adrian hurriedly climbed in, grateful. His business with Sally hadn’t taken long, but it had been illuminating. It had also been directly connected to the man now pulling the beater down the alley toward home. David showing up now was another sign.
“There’s trouble.” David informed him of the Mexican army’s arrival. He had tried to estimate their numbers but failed to get an accurate count. “There are a lot. High hundreds, if not a thousand.”
Adrian grunted, but didn’t respond otherwise. After all the bad dealings between Safe Haven and the Mexicans, Adrian would have been surprised if the enemy had come light. The guerillas were prepared for war, but they weren’t prepared for Angela.
“There’s Marc,” David pointed.
Adrian motioned him to follow. “Keep up.”
The Eagle vehicles were traveling at a rate of speed that made Adrian think their entrance into the mountain was going to be quick. He didn’t know if they had been spotted or if Marc was just being careful, but Adrian felt the tension in the air. However, he was relieved that the man wasn’t going to stay out here and try to forage while the enemy surrounded their base. Adrian knew that he was underestimating Marc’s ability to lead, but it was hard not to, considering how bitter he was.
Adrian and David fell in behind Marc and his team, exchanging waves when they were recognized. The three vehicles flew toward the only road to the mountain that was still open to traffic on wheels.
“How did you know where I was?” Adrian asked.
“I saw them leave without you,” David hedged, not wanting Adrian to know that he was following the former administrator everywhere to absorb lessons in secret. “I figured he had left your body.”
Adrian chuckled. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” David motioned toward the glove compartment. “I found smokes.”
Adrian broke into the name brand carton, lighting one for himself and the driver. As the nicotine glazed their minds, the rumbling engines grew louder.
“Wow. That’s a problem,” David commented as the enemy came into view. He hit the gas to stay on the bumper of the truck in front of them, Winston hanging comfortably from his lips.
“Here we go,” Adrian called, blowing out smoke. “We couldn’t get three hours of peace.”
David sped up. The Mexicans had spotted them, were turning in this direction. It would be a mad dash to the tunnels. There was no chance that Adrian hadn’t planned for this problem, as far as David was concerned. His mentor might not be liked by many people, but when it came to predicting the moves of the enemy, Adrian was the boss. David was confident that the man had something planned.
“It’s going to get a little bumpy up here,” Kyle shouted as he drove the truck by their hiding place and up onto the larger rocks that lined the exit. He had to get them close enough that their lined up vehicles would provide cover while they ran for the entrance. If they left their trucks at the flat hiding place, they would be easy targets.
Kyle tried to get all the way up to the entrance, but twenty yards away was the best he could do due to the huge boulders and steep drop-offs of stone and slushy ice. As he steered away from the edge, the truck’s engine stalled, running out of fuel. He’d cut this one too short with his gas estimate.
Kyle slammed it into park and leapt from the protesting truck to get to Marc.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Out and running toward the tunnel, Marc made sure everyone went ahead of him, including Adrian. He wanted to blow the entrance now. If the Mexicans got into Safe Haven, they would slaughter almost everyone.
