by Angela White
Angela paused as the cry of a newborn baby echoed through the horror. It was the only good sound to the entire mix and she closed her eyes, filled with gratitude that at least some of her friends had been allowed to survive.
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…that saved a wretch like me.”
As Angela began to sing in honor of their dead, others joined in.
2
Outside the cave, the singing echoed over radios. Those who were wearing them had hit the buttons to be certain their tormentors knew they hadn’t been successful. The tunnel invasion had obviously been planned before the quake.
Mikel was furious to hear joyous singing instead of screams for mercy. He started to fill the air with a string of threats, but a new noise caught his attention. He swung around, staring west.
Too many!
This new refugee wave was bigger than the previous few. Thousands of people in vehicles and on bikes streamed over the hill and into Mikel’s camp. They ran over tents and fighters, crushing what little the Mexicans had been able to gather since the quake. Gunshots echoed as the camp was overrun.
Mikel ducked into a crevice in the mountain as another tremor sent stones and snow skidding down into the valley.
Above them, the sky opened, drenching the area with fallout rain.
Mikel huddled in the narrow shelter, watching his remaining men be executed or run over by the panicked refugees who’d heard singing and assumed they had found Safe Haven. The fact that they hadn’t, wasn’t sinking in at all. Cars were stopping and people were getting out in celebration, all ignoring the shaking ground and the ill Mexicans lying all over the snow around them.
Furious but impotent, Mikel began climbing the mountain, vowing vengeance. He didn’t get very far before the weakness in his legs and bowels forced him to stop. While he waited for it to pass, he planned. The witch’s power was hurting him. I have to kill her. If I don’t, her curse will surely kill me.
3
“We’re almost ready to try now.” Theo gestured at the control panel as Marc and Adrian came to the level. Everyone had been laboring for hours. “We’ll have to be ready for fires from connections that we missed or couldn’t reach.”
A small supply of extinguishers that hadn’t been used was lined up outside the mess. Marc instructed their group to grab them and be on standby for areas that began to smoke or flame. He also instructed them to use the flashlights that had battery life to scan around the cave walls while that was going on. If they didn’t go searching for it, a fire could get out of control before they even realized they had one. It was worrisome that none of their smoke detectors had gone off during the mess fire, but Marc stored it as something to figure out later. He had a list of those.
Theo got ready to flip the switch.
Marc stayed there, hoping to be bathed in light if only for a minute. The future had weighed on him the entire time they’d been establishing security.
“You have more luck than me.” Theo switched with Ozzie. “You do it.”
Ozzie flipped the switch.
For a few seconds, there was no response and then the bulbs above them began to glow with a familiar, comforting light that brought a cheer of relief from everybody who noticed it.
“Now we’ve got a chance.” Adrian clapped Marc on the shoulder with his good hand. The bad one was reminding him it had recently been out of place. “Nice!”
Marc couldn’t help but share in the good moment. Without power, they’d been damned, but now there was a chance they might recover. He shoved Adrian toward the door. “Get to work. It’s not over yet.”
Pleased, Adrian did as he was told.
On the level below, a small fire started. It was extinguished by overeager helpers who used half of the valuable canisters. Marc realized they should have cautioned people. Another mistake. How many more can we afford before it’s too much?
4
“Did you hear that?” Angela tilted her head. She was picking up a call that wasn’t mental or oral, but both blurred together. The only time she’d heard anything like it was when she had tried to listen to Donner while she and Adrian were being held captive on the train.
“I’m sorry, no.” Jennifer tried to expand her range, always working on her gifts. She had a daughter and a man to protect.
Angela put a hand on the healthy teenager’s wrist. “Let’s listen.”
Jennifer held still while Angela navigated through mental portals that the girl didn’t have in her own mind. She gazed in wonder at the quick images, at the levels of power hidden behind a row of doors, and then one of them opened. “That’s Za–”
Shhh…
Jennifer watched as rocks flew and guns fired.
“That traitor!”
Angela sighed, letting go of the connection. “I’m taking his place. I’ll handle it.”
Jennifer understood the choice. She would do the same for her man.
As Angela left to handle the newest threat, Adrian came from the corridor behind the rubble pile that the women had been digging through for supplies. He locked eyes with the teenager.
Realizing he wanted to know where Angela was going, Jennifer crossed her arms and lifted her chin.
Adrian grinned, stepping forward. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, little girl.”
Jennifer paled but refused to run. “She has a right to do what she wants.”
Adrian understood Angela was being reckless again. He sent out a wave of misery and need. “Wouldn’t you rather that I took the bullet for her?”
Snared, Jennifer was still able to give the truth. “Yes.”
“Then tell me where she’s going.”
Chapter Seven
The Toll
1
Angela propped her feet up on a boulder and leaned against the wall of the small reading room. Over the last few hours, workers had been up here. They had gathered furniture and tried to clean up some of the garbage, as well as removing the rest of the bodies. She and the others in leadership had decided to use this as a temporary base of operations. Half an hour ago, Angela had called all of them up here for a brief meeting on what to do next.
She waited for everyone to be settled, not scanning faces. They were allowing their true emotions to show now that they were with people who could accept it without panicking. Around the herd, leaders tried to remain calm, but around each other, the truth had to be told so that they could have support to bolster their own faith.
“I’d like to start with the dead, dying, and the missing.” Angela steeled herself. This part was going to hurt.
Marc motioned toward Kenn. “I asked him to get a copy of that for us a little while ago.”
Kenn began reading off names of the dead. “Jacks, Hilda, Shane, Dennis, Bobby, Howard, Chauncey, Jeremy, Julia...”
Angela winced each time a familiar name was called.
“Li and his wife both died about an hour ago. We found Doug. Roy and Romeo were okay and we got them out. Cody’s keeping them company. Doug saved them by covering them with his body.”
In agony, Angela signaled him to keep going. She needed this part to be done.
“So far, the death toll stands at 122. We have 228 injuries, with 50 of them being serious. The doctor only expects half of those to survive. We also have 100 minor wounded and roughly 80 of us with scrapes, bruises, and scratches. So far, the list of missing is Allan, Donald, Francis, Pam, Stanley, Lawrence, Wade, and Zack and his sons. We’re also not sure about half a dozen camp members, but some of the bodies are still buried under the residence chambers and under the mess. I’ll have a final list in a few hours on that.”
Angela was glad there weren’t any more names. She moved on to the next part of her list, unable to stop the wave of sadness. “We need to set up a waste area and a food area. We’ll put the waste area over the hole where Adrian was camped. The smell was already awful, so it isn’t going to make that much difference. Anything you can find to sanitize hands need
s to be put there.”
“We gathered all the weapons. They’re under guard now.” Neil’s gaze strayed to the tunnel, worrying over Samantha.
Everyone had been surprised when he joined the meeting.
Neil shrugged miserably. “The least I can do is get her out of here alive. I couldn’t do it for him.”
Everyone winced at the reminder of Jeremy’s awful death.
“We also have to sleep.” Adrian glanced toward the restless camp in the mess. “The quake hit us right as we were settling down for bedtime and it is late afternoon now. People are exhausted.”
“Agreed.” Despite the situation, Marc still resented Adrian being here. He didn’t let it control him, however. Serving with someone he hated had been almost constant when he was in the Marines.
“What are we doing with the bodies?” Jennifer asked.
Everyone went quiet, waiting for Angela’s choice. Marc and Adrian both knew what they would choose. They also accepted that Angela had more compassion than either of them, so neither man was sure what she would pick.
A tear rolled down each of Angela’s cheeks. “We’ll find a place to dump them.”
Everyone understood her choice and the pain. They felt it too. No one wanted to dump a friend or family member down the pit, but between the disease and the constant reminders, it would crush what was left of their fragile camp. The next week would determine if Safe Haven survived at all.
“If we can get things settled enough, we can hold a funeral service. That might help a little.”
Tonya’s suggestion was met with nods, but it was too far away for them to worry about making specific plans.
“I’d like to talk about the problems that are coming.” Angela guided the conversation to where she needed it now that the basics were settled. “We have yet another threat coming to our door. I’m tired of being the one to handle it.” She swept the council she was honored to be a part of, including all of them. “We’ll make this choice together.”
It was a moment of change for Safe Haven. Until now, the person in charge had been the one to make all of the choices like this, whether people agreed with it or not. Adrian had set things up and so far, it had kept them alive. Now their leader was too burdened to keep carrying it alone and everyone else was too corrupt, too young, or not willing to shoulder the weight. That meant everyone had to change again. There would be no more protecting the innocent in their group. They would do whatever it took.
“I had crews laboring the entire time that we were getting ready to come in. I instructed Kenn to design a bug out plan. I had Samantha and her group clear the route out of here. The UN will use that same route to get in here, so our escape is blocked until we deal with them. Does anyone have hope of being able to negotiate?”
Heads shook, but no one spoke. Safe Haven didn’t have any bargaining chips right now, except for the descendants, and they weren’t going to hand them over so that just a few could escape. That wasn’t what they stood for.
“What about fighting?” Angela felt it was a useless question, but she had to make sure these people felt like all the bases were covered. She already knew what had to be done, but she wasn’t willing to carry it alone this time.
“Maybe if we use magic.” Marc contemplated the limited dealings he’d had with the UN during his military career. None of them had gone well. “They’ll come in force and hit us hard.”
“Is there a chance of slipping out somewhere so that we can fight him a different time?”
“No.” Adrian denied Angela’s question. “We shut down all of the tunnels in and out of this mountain except for the two that we were going to use for backups. The Mexicans just breached one of those. The other is full of Mexican bodies.”
“That means we go out the top and face whoever might be there.” Angela scanned the tired group. “Does everyone agree with that?”
“Do you mind if I offer a suggestion?”
The vet was in the doorway, leaning against the dusty frame. His white coat was layered in blood, dirt, and ash.
Angela motioned him in, hoping no one else was in the corridor listening to them. “What have you got?”
The vet sank down on the ground near her feet, knowing not to touch her or even look up with Marc, Adrian, and Kenn glaring at him.
“We should dig a new hole and come around to hit them. They’ll be trapped.”
While the others grumbled and shot down the idea, Angela, Adrian, Kyle and Marc considered it. At this point, all options were on the table.
“How would that work?” Marc gestured. “We’d be lucky to locate shovels right now.”
The vet pointed toward a stack of weapons boxes that had been brought in for the council members to rearm themselves. “We have a lot of small weapons and explosives. If we can reach the level where we had our heavy equipment stored up, we might have a chance to use the bulldozers.”
Marc stared at the vet. “How do you know about that?”
Chris shrugged, yawning. “I hear things.”
“From slinking around like the dog you are?”
The vet didn’t flinch at Marc’s growl. “That’s exactly what we are–her dogs.”
People continued to grumble about the idea, but the main trio exchanged knowing glances. They had suspected they might get trapped down here from one problem or another. They had brought boxed heavy equipment. It would be a simple matter to reassemble it, if they could find a passage or starting point with enough space and of course, enough manpower.
Angela glanced at Marc with the hint of a smile playing along her lips. “They’re all expecting us to come out the top or bottom.”
Marc was relieved that they had another option. “We don’t need a tunnel if we dig a hole.”
“Exactly.” Chris curled into a ball. When he closed his eyes and let out a deep rumble of weary exhaustion, Angela refused to answer any of the mental questions that came. She had a list of reasons for keeping the deranged killer around. Saving all their lives was the title on that page.
“We done?” Marc’s tone exposed his own weary anger. He hated the vet despite the good things Chris had done. The man was a threat.
On the floor, the vet lifted his head to glare at Marc.
Before a fight could start, Kyle stood up. “Let’s get this done and get a sleeping shift set up. All of us need to curl up somewhere.”
“I’ll be right here for a bit.” Angela yawned. “Alone.”
Except for her pet, everyone exited the chamber with glares.
Angela leaned back and shut her eyes.
“How long?” The vet knew there was a lot of work still waiting for both of them.
“Half hour.” Angela was already dozing.
The vet set his internal alarm and joined her in sleep, but his ears twitched at loud noises–like a dog.
“How are we handling him?” Kenn asked as they got out of earshot.
“You aren’t.” Adrian motioned toward the body Logan was dragging down to the bottom level. “She said there were eight assassins and we’ve only accounted for six. Let him be.”
“For now.” Marc was too tired to argue with Adrian over giving orders. “I’ll be in the mess, handling things there. Everyone pick a floor or a chore and get on it. Report to the boss in an hour.”
As the rest of the council went to work, Jennifer came to Marc. She didn’t say it or think it, and Marc didn’t ask, but she still nodded. “I’ll handle it when the time comes. I’ve never been a threat.”
Marc didn’t doubt her. The vet would have to be eliminated, but he would be expecting it. The teen would be a surprise that might keep the vet from hurting Angie. Marc had no doubt it would come to that ending. Obsessions always did.
2
Neil found the doctor with Samantha. The man’s expression said to leave him alone and Neil did. He took Sam’s hand, seeing how uneven her breathing was, how waxy her skin had become. “I’m sorry, Sammi.”
Neil slid down against
her arm and let sleep carry him away for whatever amount of peace was allowed.
The doctor kept working. He had two more bags of her type of blood, but he couldn’t come back and do this later when she was stronger. It was now or nothing.
“Can I help?” Tonya knelt down and took a cloth from his bag. The man was sweating so hard she was surprised he could see to operate.
She patted his forehead like she’d watched nurses do on television, trying to keep the edges up so she didn’t block his view.
“Get a suture ready.” Realizing it wasn’t a student, the doctor added more information. “They’re in little baggies at the bottom of the bag.”
Tonya found them and read the red markered instructions on the front. Doing it wasn’t as easy however. It was a long time before she was able to say, “It’s ready.”
The doctor took it. “Keep them coming until I tell you to stop.”
Tonya hurried. She was glad to be able to help, but also to be distracted from whatever was going on in the upper levels of Safe Haven. They’d heard screams and gunshots from up there over the last hour, though no one other than Neil had come down yet. She’d been hoping to ask if things were under control now, but the Trooper had crashed before she could find the words.
Around the gruesome scene, the camp was in mourning. They’d put all their hopes into this mountain and it had crushed them. The few non-Eagles who were functional were helping, though most had curled up in a corner to sleep. Everyone had been awake for twenty-four hours. Tonya didn’t think it would be long before all of the survivors were sleeping, but she doubted that calm would hold. If leadership didn’t get down here and calm things, there would be a riot and in these conditions, that would be lethal.
Tonya glanced over at the new mom and baby who were sheltered under the ledge and snoozing. The baby was fine, but Mandy wasn’t. The students couldn’t help her and the doctor was busy.
