by Angela White
“Yes.” Marc didn’t tell Neil that Angela had pissed fate off by interfering. She was the number one target again. He would figure it out. “Fate is very angry with all of us for not dying, but three of her main targets escaped.”
“Samantha and Doug?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Marc glanced toward the crushed level this time. “The man they pulled from the rubble. David shouldn’t be alive either, but he is.”
“Wasn’t he Donner’s helper?”
Neil’s question implied that he believed the man shouldn’t have been spared after that fight. It was another hard truth about the trooper revealed. He’d done his job before, but also hadn’t liked serving with soldiers after the battle.
“Should I like eating and showering with soldiers who should be dead? I hate Adrian for what he’s done, but he was right about that. Mercy for survivors always bites us in the ass.”
Marc wanted to argue the point so they wouldn’t have to return to all the fighting after the bugout, but couldn’t. He agreed.
Twitching, Neil rotated toward Samantha’s location. “Meeting in the morning?”
“Bright and early.” Marc went to join Angela in bed, replaying the conversation. He’d almost told Neil that there had been four targets, but Marc hadn’t wanted to discuss it. Charlie had been on the top floor. He and his small group had been the only survivors out of seventy-five. The boy had been marked. Fate knew the easiest way to hurt Angela now. She could be stabbed, shot, punched, strangled, raped and only came back stronger. Take away a child and her strength broke. Take away enough kids and she could be crushed into dust on the wind.
Marc slid a hand around her warm body, placing it over her stomach. Daddy misses you.
2
“I want you to switch to the top floor.” Kenn sat next to Tonya on the dusty ground outside the tarp.
“Why?” Tonya held on tight to the squirming cat as she tried to examine it. She hadn’t seen the tabby in days.
“Just do it, okay?”
Tonya glanced over to find him leaning against the stone, eyes shut. “Getting bad?”
“On the edge right now. After a full night’s sleep, it might settle down a little.”
“But?”
“When the tunnel opens, we’re expecting problems. I want you with the other mates and wives.”
Tonya huffed, releasing the cat so she could record the results on the paper she’d scavenged from the medical debris pile.
Indignant, the cat sprang around the tarp and darted into the nearest debris pile.
“I mean it. No women’s lib shit right now, okay?”
Tonya understood Kenn was worried and smothered the part of her that wanted to say she could take care of herself. The truth was, she couldn’t yet and she knew it. “Okay.”
Kenn slid a hand onto her leg. “Thank you.”
Tonya leaned against his shoulder. “When are you off duty?”
“I’m off now, but I volunteered for duty over the morning council meeting. I need to stay up or I won’t get up in time.”
“I’ll keep you company and then we can sleep together.”
“That’ll work.” Kenn put his arm around her shoulder. “How are you?”
“Not bad.” Tonya smiled as he rubbed her back. The heat from his big hands was wonderful. “Staying thirsty, but Jimmy said that’s normal for a descendant pregnancy.”
Kenn stilled. “How would he know?”
“Jimmy’s been studying us since the war. He’s put together a folder of information on our different health issues.”
Kenn lowered his voice, aware of their audience. “Anything we should get rid of?”
Tonya also made sure her words didn’t carry to the dozens of residents on this level. “That depends on what he plans to do with it. Until I heard he wasn’t going with us, I assumed he was collecting medical files on everyone.”
“And now?”
“He’ll know how to kill us, hurt us. Jimmy is a coward, so it won’t be him. He hides it with a nasty attitude to prevent anyone from getting close enough to discover his secrets. Maybe one of his sons would do it, but they’re both his students, so I doubt it.”
“How can a coward lead?” Kenn already knew the answer, but he was curious to know if Tonya had it too.
“He won?”
“Oh, yeah. Simon’s actions sealed the deal, but folks already respected Jimmy for his help during the crisis, while Simon spent the time dumping bodies of their loved ones.”
“That’s not fair. Someone had to do it.”
“Agreed, but that doesn’t change people’s minds. The last time they saw their cherished friend or family, Simon was dragging them toward a mass grave. They would have picked anyone over him.”
Kenn was impressed with her intelligence and disappointed by the camp members who would view things that way. “They aren’t going to make it. Jimmy or Simon, this mountain is cursed.”
“Yeah.” Tonya shivered. “Who got the vote for the Runaways?”
“They’ve refused to pick one. They all want to be leader of the Runaways.” Kenn sighed. “I hate that name.”
“Because you think we should too?” Tonya snuggled tighter to his neck, not minding the smell of man sweat. It was a lot better than having a man who smelled good, but couldn’t be counted on to get a job done.
“Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn’t matter now. We decided to stay with our kind, remember?”
“Your kind.”
Kenn held Tonya back and found her frowning. “What’s the problem?”
“I worry over it sometimes.” She dropped her head. “I’m not like you now.”
Kenn tugged her around and into his arms until she was straddling him. “Listen, okay?”
Tonya crossed her arms in defense.
“I’m locking it away.”
Tonya gaped. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. I’ve thought about it and I can’t be like them after everything that’s happened. I don’t deserve it.”
Kenn’s demon cringed at the news. No! Please, master!
“It’s the evil in me.”
Tonya leaned down, bracing her hands on his wide shoulders. “I understand that. I really do. Now, you listen, okay?”
Kenn nodded, ready to bask in her praise.
“You can’t give up your gift!” She slapped him, hard. “You have a baby to defend. Snap out of it!”
Kenn was almost shocked. “I thought you’d be happy I’m continuing to demonstrate that I’ve changed.”
“Your precious Angie is the one you did that for.” Tonya climbed off him and stood up. “I fell in love with a ruthless bastard who would do anything to keep his family together. Don’t fail me now that I’m a convert!”
Kenn chuckled. “Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t look at it that way.”
“Protecting our baby?”
“Yeah. I was trying to protect you and what we have together. I forgot the kid might have a gift.”
“Oh, there’s a gift all right.” Tonya grinned. “Can we find a quiet place for an hour?”
Before Kenn could answer, an arm snaked around Tonya’s throat and dragged her out of view.
Help on the bottom level! Kenn sent the mental call as he leapt up and drew his gun. There was no noise coming from around the tarp. Kenn rushed out, ready to shoot.
Tonya held up a hand as Kenn came around the corner of the tarp. She pointed to where Mandy and Sister Sarah were locked in a death embrace. “She saved me!”
Mandy shoved the knife deeper, grunting at the pain and the familiarity. The man who had raped her had died the same way.
Sarah staggered, taking the knife. It stuck out of her stomach like a horror scene in a movie, then clattered to the ground.
Holding her pouring gut, Sarah staggered toward Tonya, glazing eyes fixing on her. “Kill it.”
Kenn scanned for more problems and found none. The woman had acted alone.
> “Just to kill my baby? You weren’t after me?” Tonya spat at the dying woman. “Hypocrite!”
“Devil!” Sarah’s lips ran red as she fell.
Tonya let Kenn hold her while he told the guards what had happened, but inside, she changed. The woman had wanted to kill her baby. Kenn had a real reason to want her up top with the other Islanders. Tonya shrugged out of his protection and went to gather her things.
Around the awful scene, residents who had been torn about their choice finished making it. Many of them followed Tonya’s lead and began to pack up what meager belongings they’d gathered from the wreckage. Others ducked into their quickly-constructed holes to wait for the magic users to be gone. Many of them were disappointed that Sarah had failed in her mission.
“Stay with her.” Kenn gestured Greg after Tonya. “Sarah tried to kill the baby.”
Greg went without argument, glad the rest of the Islanders were going to be on the same level. It would make duty a lot easier.
Kenn went to Mandy, who was also telling sentries what had happened. He swept the area behind her and saw the baby sleeping under the ledge where she’d been born.
Kenn collected the infant, marveling at how small little Sandy was in his big hands. He took the baby to its mother, wanting Mandy to understand that he owed her a debt.
Mandy was still shaking as she took the baby. She hugged the child, almost crying. “When does it end?”
Kenn refused to give her the answer that anyone else would have gotten from him. He nudged her toward the ladder as he spotted Tonya, carrying her cat, heading for the same spot. ‘Let’s get you settled upstairs. I’ll come down for anything you want.”
Mandy went, grateful. The mood on this level was ugly now that everyone had declared loyalties. The Runaways were getting desperate because they were so small in number. They weren’t going to get much in the way of supplies and they weren’t going to be able to protect themselves. The Mountaineers were trying to hold out until both the Islanders and the Runaways were gone, but Mandy knew the Islanders were the ones with a chance at survival. They were ruthless enough to handle what came, but loyal. Mandy knew where she wanted to be during the tunnel opening and it wasn’t down here.
Kenn waved Greg after the females. Feeling as though he’d missed something important, Kenn decided to do a round of this level before abandoning it. He started where Mandy and her baby had been living on cardboard and laundry piles, then went into the body corridor.
The pit was filled in and the smell was almost gone, but the vibe was still creepy. Kenn didn’t linger, but he also didn’t shirk his duty or ask his demon for help. Like Marc, he would do this on his own until he couldn’t anymore.
Kenn walked the floor, noting all the rabbits waiting to inherit the cave. He didn’t speak to them. They’d made their choices. He didn’t expect to see any of them again.
Kenn departed the bottom floor with something nagging. I checked the body pit. I hit the bathrooms and the storage area. The water chamber … “Only had one guard, Greg, and I can’t relocate that to the top floor.”
Kenn descended and went to stand watch over their remaining water while Greg escorted the women to the top floor. Sleep would come later.
3
Outside the boss’s door, the sentries felt it when the powerful couple drifted off. The temperature dropped, the draft increased, the mood nosedived into fear of the groaning mountain around them, and dangerous thoughts began to play in people’s minds.
“This will get bad.” Quinn was glad to be on duty, but he was missing the use of his left hand. He’d been impaled by a piece of the mess floor as he fell with it. Jimmy said he was lucky to have survived at all. With the ugly healing wounds across his wrist glaring in the dim lantern light and throbbing in time to his pulse, Quinn agreed. He felt lucky to be alive.
Kyle nodded at Quinn’s comment, but didn’t add to it as a cluster of magic supporters came up the ladder. Kyle was eager to check on Jennifer, but Kenn hadn’t come up yet. He needed the Marine to be here before closing down this level. Marc hadn’t ordered it, but Kyle was.
That’s why he gave you point here. Adrian joined the men on guard. “Go find out what’s holding him up. I’ve got your post.”
Kyle went without caring that it was Adrian. He had one of those feelings in his gut that implied the night’s activities weren’t over.
Adrian caught the thought and sent a mental call on a private line.
A minute later, Charlie and the warriors headed down to patrol the bottom level until everyone had been brought up. After that, the Mountaineers were on their own for protection.
“You okay in here?” Kyle shined his light on Kenn, who was wrestling with a large boulder.
“We have a leak.”
Kyle came over to help, light bobbing off a small debris pile and cleared floors covered in a thin layer of water.
“The tank cracked.”
Kyle saw Kenn was trying to get the rock under the bent edge of the tank. If they could tilt it, the remaining water would be below the crack that had opened up. Kyle and Kenn muscled the stone into place and then tried to shift the tank, but it was too heavy for them.
“Let me help.” Gus and his family had been staying on the mess level to help with the cooking. When he’d witnessed Adrian carrying women to the top, Gus had ordered his brothers to help while he came down to ask if they needed anything else carried or even an extra sentry.
Gus was able to shift the tank so that Kenn and Kyle could get the rock under it far enough to keep the container tilted. As they finished, Kenn scanned the low water level, groaning. “That’s not good. We don’t have water flowing.”
“Is it frozen?”
Kenn wiped his hands down his grimy pants. “It’s hard to tell unless we go topside again.”
“And there are refugees up there now.”
“Yes.”
“Then this would be a good time for another tremor.”
Kenn frowned at the man who was his size and then a bit more. “We need another earthquake?”
Gus smiled a little. “Just a tremor. They’re weaker and shake less. It might clear the clog.”
Kenn grunted. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. Should we ask Angela to arrange it?”
Gus laughed. “At least she’d be nice about saying hell no. My woman’s gonna flip when she finds out that I switched all of us to the top without permission.”
Kenn understood Gus was asking if that would be okay with everyone. He slapped the man on his huge shoulder. “Welcome to Angela’s army.”
4
“Is it midnight yet?”
Adrian paused shifting through the rubble to glance at his watch. “Quarter after.” Kenn and Kyle had resumed their posts on the top floor, freeing Adrian to rejoin Charlie. They hadn’t spoken for a while, just labored.
“Good. Mom wants a relocation handled. She wanted me to wait until after midnight to tell you.”
Adrian matched the news to his sense of something coming. “Who, where, what, when, why, and how?”
Charlie laughed. “Okay. Who, is the Runaways. Where, is to the mess level, anywhere on that floor. What, is ants and packs of honey when they’re asleep.” Charlie paused. “Which they are now. Why, is so we control that passage and how, is without making any noise or waking them up.”
Adrian found no fault with the plan except for the supplies. “I can filch the honey packs from mess bags, but we haven’t observed ants in here since right after the quake.”
“They had a nest somewhere around Shane’s Cavity.”
Adrian liked the name. It sounded painful, like the man’s death had been. “Half an hour, meet me there.”
“She said to tell you three is good, four is enough, and five will ruin it.”
“Ants?”
Charlie shrugged. “She was sleepy when she sent the message. It made me yawn.”
And that’s where my exhaustion came from even though I got sleep. A
drian was still matching up the effects of their bond and being surprised by the depth each time.
Adrian tensed as steps creaked. They spun around, but didn’t locate anyone or any thoughts.
Charlie went back to work, but Adrian felt like they were being observed and stayed alert. Invisibles were able to get close to everyone because their gifts were dormant. Descendants couldn’t detect them as one of their own kind. But we can root them out with the same methods that have always worked. “I’m going to the top for a while. Yell if you need me.”
“You know it.”
Adrian didn’t move, listening.
The sound of hasty footsteps faded down the tunnels.
“What should we do about that?”
“Report it and finish the chore we were given.” Adrian also resumed digging, not about to leave the boy alone in this situation. Charlie was a badass like his father, but he was also young and that wouldn’t keep him alive. Wisdom needed time to grow. That’s where guards came in.
“She said something else. Actually, she was thinking it.” Charlie shrugged. “She didn’t know I caught it.”
“Don’t betray her, in any way.”
“I won’t.”
Adrian waited for more, frowning at the sounds of restless citizens and an angry mountain. “Well?”
“You said not to tell you.”
Adrian grunted. “After this, don’t betray her.”
Charlie smirked. “She thinks you and my dad can team.”
“We have teamed.”
“She was thinking about magic.”
“Ah.” Adrian considered it. “Very few souls are that compatible.”
“That’s what my dad told her when he caught the thought.”
“He’s been scroll-diving.”
“Yes, but he’s wrong about the teaming.”
“How do you know?”
“You and I are teamed right now and I can’t stand you.”
Adrian hadn’t noticed. His first thought was to worry over the boy reading his private fantasies and then he realized that had been the case for a while. If Charlie was revealing it now, he’d been using it before.
