by Angela White
Charlie shrugged at Adrian’s disapproval. “I didn’t know what I’d done. When I…evolved this time, I understood because it got stronger.” He grinned. “I’m a lot stronger now.”
Adrian found himself facing a vicious demon that wanted him dead.
Whasup?
Charlie was startled into a laugh.
The demon vanished.
Adrian breathed a sigh of relief. Charlie’s demon was indeed strong. That mental fight would be ugly and in the end, neither of them would have won.
Charlie flipped off the teaming effect.
Adrian blinked as he was shoved out. “That means we can team with people we don’t like.”
“Exactly. Mom wants you and dad teamed for the fight.”
“I should have known she’d push it right away.” Adrian resumed digging. “Tell her I’ll do it. She already knew I would, but tell her anyway.”
“Is there anything she could ask that you and my dad wouldn’t give her?”
Adrian snorted.
Charlie didn’t ask again.
Chapter Twenty
On The Outside
1
“Are we all here?”
Marc handed her a sheet of paper. “That’s every name. All adults and others with passes for this meeting are here now. Like you ordered, all of the children are in the reading room with guards. We also have a dozen sentries patrolling this level.”
Angela surveyed the residents gathered in the TV chamber, her citizens. There were one hundred and sixty-two of them, if she counted the sentries and children. It was cramped. Inhabitants were sitting on the floors with some couples sharing laps, but it wasn’t twitchy or uncomfortable, like it might’ve been with the other folks in this mountain. Everyone here knew they could count on Angela to keep her word.
“I’m beginning with updates. If you have information, I want you to speak up. I’m holding this meeting openly, as will all future council meetings. You can’t understand the choices that we have to make, if we don’t let you in. The secretive plots ended when we came here. I promised you that and I meant it.” Angela took a paper from her pocket and began to read. “We’re dividing the food, water, medical supplies, equipment, and everything else that has been scavenged. The radiation levels are holding steady. We’re leaving the remaining iodine to the citizens who stay in the mountain. I’ve made several choices like that, based on where which group is going. For example, we won’t need the heavy winter gear once we reach the coast. The Runaways are getting out too late in the season to be able to locate these items for themselves, so we’re sending a chunk of it with them. While we’re on the island, we’ll make what we need, but the temperatures rarely fall below 50°, so we won’t have to worry about that for a while.” Angela gestured toward Kenn, aware that the man was asleep on his feet. He hadn’t been to bed yet. “Kenn is in charge of the bugout when we open the tunnel. We expect problems. The best thing you can do is stay where we put you. If you have concerns or special needs, speak to Kenn right away. He also has the travel arrangements. We’ll have to make a trip through the corridors in the winter weather to reach our vehicles. All adults will be assigned a child to take care of during the bug out.” She let the mutters fade before continuing. “There are new rules for descendants. Until we leave here, no one is to use magic in any way and that includes thoughts. We need to settle the situation down. Demonstrations of the things we can do scare people and make it worse.”
Few of the descendants were happy with the order, but they understood she was trying to avoid a fight. They didn’t believe it would succeed, but all of them respected her for trying.
“The cave is ten percent functional, but I decided not to stay and help them with the repairs.” Angela sighed, letting everyone feel her misery. “We all know they’re not going to make it. Right now, our energy has to be put into our survival and the threats that are on the way. I need you to spend the day helping with salvage. We have to have a week of supplies to get us through leaving. We don’t have that yet, but our chances are better than those who are staying. Help us salvage.”
Angela skimmed her paper again and then regarded the uneasy crowd. “Are there any questions or anything that anyone wants to discuss before I start the council meeting?”
There were many things that people wanted to know, but none of them felt important enough to interrupt the boss over.
Angela took a seat next to Marc, handing her paper to him. He would read it and then pass it along. They hadn’t found enough equipment yet to be able to make copies. “Kenn will go first so he can sleep for the rest of the meeting.”
“I’m good.” Kenn yawned. “We had three fights overnight, with minor injuries. Sarah’s body has been stored in the pit tunnel. The guards are all fresh, the water levels are on the sheet in front of you and the mood is worse.” He met Angela’s eye. “I’m tired. I may not be reading that correctly.”
Angela understood. “We’ll do the best we can with attitudes. They don’t like us leaving and they want us to go. It makes it ugly for them because they don’t know how to handle those emotions. I don’t want any of you to argue with them. Tell them to talk to me.” Angela looked at Theo. “Where are we?”
Debra stayed still as everyone turned toward her and Theo. She was sitting with his team, along the wall that was next to the council members.
“I have all the equipment in the right passage and most of the tools. I hope that our scavenging over the next couple of days will give us the rest of what we need, but if it doesn’t, I can improvise.”
“How long will it take you to put it all together?”
“At least two hours with a five-man crew. I can get it done in half that if you could lend me a couple of your upper Marines.”
“I’ll try to arrange it so they’re there during that time, but we’ll plan on a three hour window.”
“Are we going over specific plans right now?” Neil wasn’t positive about how much Angela wanted to say in front of the camp. Whenever Adrian had done things like this, it had been smoke up asses.
Angela doesn’t do that.
Neil snorted at Adrian, but he didn’t have the energy to do more.
Adrian didn’t push.
“We’re not giving out the supplies until we clear the tunnel so there are no extra guns or ammo floating around except for what folks salvage. Unfortunately, the level that fell held our security area, and as you know, it did have weapons. Everything that gets salvaged goes into community buckets and boxes that Marc will sort between now and the bugout to make sure everyone is allotted their fair share. That doesn’t mean we won’t have thieves. Unless it’s something important, I don’t expect you to confront them. We’re leaving. Most of the items they’ll want, we don’t need anyway.”
The camp didn’t like the idea of anyone getting away with thievery, but again, no one argued.
“What are things like in the mess right now?” Angela looked at Gus.
Put on the spot, the big man stuttered. “Uh, Good.”
Angela waited patiently.
Gus flushed as he realized she expected more, but he didn’t have it. “I can find out.”
“That would be great. I need to know if I should feed everyone up here or if it’s okay for us to come down. That will depend on what the mood is. Adrian will escort you.”
Adrian and Gus were gone a few seconds later.
“What type of weather can we expect for the bugout?”
Also put on the spot, Samantha swallowed her embarrassment. “Cold and windy, but no new snow was far as I can tell. It was sunny.”
Angela wrote that in her notes, as did the other members of the council. “How do you feel about us going? Anything I should know?”
Samantha shook her head. “No, but I’m watching.”
Samantha was sitting next to Neil, with her legs stretched out in front of her and covered in blankets.
Angela looked at Jennifer. “Have you picked up anything new?�
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“There’s something shiny on the hill. I haven’t figured out what that means yet.”
Angela wrote it down. “Anything else I should know about or that we should discuss?”
“Yes. We should make the other groups come with us, rather than leave them here to die.”
Angela had to let the disapproving mutters subside. “Sell me.”
The camp didn’t like it that Angela wasn’t shutting the idea down, but they also wanted to hear Jennifer come up with a reason that they could support. No one liked the idea of leaving their fellow Americans to die this way.
“I can’t give you a reason, other than it will save their lives.”
“Holding citizens against their will is not what we stand for, even if it’s going to cost them their lives. You know that. I’m a little surprised that you’re suggesting this.”
Jennifer was in pain. “I can’t stand the thought of them dying. I love some of these people.”
It was hard, but Angela refused to give in. “As leader of the council, I overrule that suggestion. We will not consider it.”
Jennifer shrugged. “I didn’t expect you to, but I had to ask.”
“I don’t hold that against you. I love them too.” Angela glanced at Neil next. “During your exploration of the corridors with Kenn after the earthquake, did you locate any evidence of structural failures or ant nests?”
Neil considered. “There were several new passages, but all of them dead ended. A couple of those had debris, but I don’t think we saw any ants.”
“I’m trying to verify all the possible entrances in here. We can’t rebuild the cave for them before we go, but we can at least help them with some security.”
“If they want us to.”
Everyone regarded Marc, who shrugged. “It’s ugly right now. They won’t want us to know their security procedures. The best thing we can do is stay away from them, split up the supplies fairly, and go.”
“I agree, but I still want to ask them.”
Marc wrote it down.
“If they say it’s calm in the mess, we’ll eat together. We’ll also escort folks into work areas. Let them pick where they want to be. We have debris piles on every level. If all of them decide to stay up here, that’s okay. As long as they’re working, it will help.”
Angela gestured to Kyle next. “You and Neil have security over the cave. I realize having injured partners will be distracting. I have to remind you that if you fail to do your job, your women will end up getting hurt too. Please don’t slack off. That goes for all of you. Everyone wants out of this cave. We’re all trapped and we’re all scared. You’ve witnessed some of the crazy things that can happen in situations like this, but it could be worse. If you’re asked to do something, do it. Please don’t be the one who brings us down because you forgot to gather gear or load a weapon.”
Angela could feel Neil and Kyle’s displeasure at being singled out. Both of them were honorable and strong. The camp needed them if they could do the job while having a mate. Angela didn’t tell them that their women would be unhappy if they couldn’t. She didn’t need to. Her reminder had also been for the females. If Jennifer and Samantha kept their men too close, they could interfere and ruin the fragile plans.
“As soon as we start digging, everyone in this mountain will twitch. They’ll be able to breathe in the fresh air and taste the snow. For a little while, they won’t be thinking about the UN, the refugees, the illnesses, or any of the other problems. The only thing they will hear in our heavy equipment is possible freedom. That’s when we expect trouble. I’m telling you so that you can watch for it. We will be guarding the passages and equipment, along with our lives. We’ll need you to help with all of that.”
Angela looked at her council and then the tense people. “Does anyone have anything else that we should discuss or any questions?”
Even though it was time for doubts about the plans or approaches, none were spoken. The descendants were satisfied that their alpha had things in hand and the rest of her camp felt the same.
On the levels below them, bits and pieces of the meeting floated down to remind those who were staying of what they were giving up. Now that they had chosen to remain in this mountain or flee, they weren’t part of the real Safe Haven. They didn’t get to join the meetings or have a vote. They were staying in, but they had ended up on the outs.
2
Everyone quieted as Gus returned, nudging Britani ahead of him. Following them was the surviving members of Li’s family. All of the cooks were peering over their shoulders.
“You didn’t need to do that.” Britani pulled away from him and went to stand along the wall by her mother and father. “I had it.”
Gus snorted. “Threatening to poison everybody’s food is handling it?”
Britani shrugged. “It would handle the problem.” She didn’t care that camp members were hearing her. She would never do it, but she was frustrated at how stupid people were being.
“What happened?” Angela had a good idea already, but she wanted everyone else to know.
“They came in and tried to take the rest of the food. They said what Marc was giving them wasn’t enough. So Britani told them they could have it as soon as she finished poisoning the rest of it, but she couldn’t remember which ones she already dosed. It got their attention.”
Angela shared a glance with Marc. “They may not want the food from us now.”
Marc shrugged. “They won’t need it anyway.”
It was a reminder that the Mountaineers weren’t going to survive. That allowed the anger to fade and sadness to replace it.
Sensing the perfect time to end the meeting, Angela stood up. “Eagles will collect breakfast for everyone now. Adjourned.”
Angela didn’t go toward the corridor. She could feel Marc tensing for the fight, but she had no intentions of it. The citizens on this floor were nervous enough.
Angela went to Samantha and Jennifer. “Want some company?”
Marc waited for Angela to get settled and then began pointing at men. He took those who could fight and think. He was hoping to avoid an issue, but at this point, the mess would’ve already been looted as soon as Gus and Britani had left. There might even be a fight to get back in.
Adrian came in and took up a post not far away from the three chatting women. He gave Marc a nod and then began searching for trouble.
Satisfied for reasons he chose not to explore, Marc and his team left.
Angela reached over and pulled the blanket up over Samantha’s bandaged leg. “We don’t want to get that dusty.”
Both women frowned. They didn’t have to wonder long.
The cave around them began to shake, sending showers of dust and drawing cries from below.
Angela gathered energy to calm her camp, but she didn’t need it. Her people were scared, but waiting for her to give them instructions.
Angela smiled, sending out an unchecked wave of happiness. “You honor me. I will return that.”
The tremor around them faded without notice from most of the top level, but a new distraction took its place, distracting folks from the mass hypnosis that she’d accidentally slammed them with.
The sounds of fighting echoed, along with harsh shouts and clangs from items being knocked over. It brought quiet to the rest of the cave system as inhabitants listened to determine if this was the free-for-all that everyone expected at some point.
When the noises stopped, residents resumed what they’d been doing, relieved. Most of those who wanted out of this mountain didn’t want it to be a violent escape. That wouldn’t prevent them from attacking sentries however, and Angela knew it. Despite the civilized veneer, these folks were wild survivors who would do anything to stay alive. It was the thing that she admired the most about each one of them.
Marc and his team returned with food. The rebels in the mess hadn’t put up much of a fight when they’d discovered who Angela had sent to quell their disobedience. Two pu
nches had been thrown–both from himself. “Dylan was chosen to lead the outsiders. He’s on the floor in the mess, recovering from his gratitude.”
Angela smirked. “Got elected and thought he’d claim an extra share of the food?”
“And the people.” Marc turned toward the doorway. “You’re welcome, even if you’re just staying with us long enough to get out of here.”
Angela motioned the small group into the room. “All survivors are welcome.”
Relieved, some of the Runaways joined the Islanders with heads down in shame for their choices.
Angela didn’t expect that or want them to apologize. She hoped they would change their minds and remain with her. If they didn’t, she would content herself that they’d known who they could come to for protection and who they needed to be protected from.
Marc set the food bags and pouches near Britani’s feet. “You got this?”
Britani smiled up at Marc. “Anything for you.”
Marc grinned at the innocent remark.
Angela glowered.
Kenn and Adrian laughed.
Unaware of the drama, Britani got up and began digging through bags.
Content the woman would get them all fed, Marc gathered his team. “We have guard duty shifts open and we need every hand we can get for salvage. Make a careful round of the other levels and find out if anyone is interested in earning extra rations. Put them to work on the crushed level if you get any takers. Meet in the mess in fifteen minutes.” Marc lifted a brow toward Angela.
She smiled. “I’m good.”
Marc exited the room. Yep.
Blushing, Angela directed Britani and Li’s family toward the front of the chamber. “Work there. We’ll all stay here and drool.”
Before Britani could ask Gus to help, Angela motioned the big man toward Kenn. “He’s fuzzy. Watch him for me?”
Gus straightened proudly. “You know it.”
Britani’s scowl took up most of her face, but she didn’t protest. She understood Gus was needed. She also knew this was what he wanted for his future and she had no right to interfere.
