Where We Stand

by Angela White

  Pain lanced into his throat and he began choking, hand coming up for protection.

  The blade sliced a second time, deeper, and blood splattered the inside of the truck.

  Lee slumped over, and a second group of men climbed into the cab and bed. They drove straight to the gate that Lee had already checked in with.

  The men in the rear pulled their cloaks over themselves while the driver quickly donned Lee’s wristwatch and glasses.

  As he rolled by the guards, he waved, making sure the clock-face flashed in the firelight.

  The Eagles saw it and motioned him in. The man looked a lot like his victim. It was the reason he’d been chosen to get them inside.

  The impostor pulled toward the clearly marked parking area and then swerved to the left and hit the gas, aiming for the main camp.

  “Breach! We have a breach at the main gate!”

  Radios blared in alarm and the sound was echoed by gun fire as the men in the rear of the truck rose.

  In the main camp, lights flashed on and the louder alarms began to wail.

  Eagles returned fire more accurately than they received it, and the truck crashed into the water camper before it could ram through to the main camp.

  Taking a page from Brady’s book, Zack grabbed the grenade from his belt and made sure there were no survivors to come out of the rear.

  The explosion rocked the camp and the area filled with sheep and shepherds flying toward the QZ.

  9

  Seth stopped suddenly, as if jerked backward by an invisible hand. The voice in his mind was drowning out everything else.

  “You’ve seen this ploy, before the War. It’s a trick to lure us away.”

  Seth slowly rotated to determine which area was the exact opposite of the Qz, the furthest away. He saw the tent where Angela and her team were supposed to be working out and his heart thumped. Not one of them were moving, even though he could see their kneeling shadows. There was no way they hadn’t heard the camp alarms or Zack’s solution for the truck, and that only meant one thing. They couldn’t come.

  Seth grabbed the nearest man’s arm, shaking him to be sure he got through. “Get Adrian and Kenn, and come to the training tent. We’ve got trouble.”

  Shawn paled as he realized Angela was under attack again and took off running for help.

  Seth ran for the training tent, narrowing in on how many larger, taller shadows there were, and where they were standing. As he got closer, his skin crawled and then began to heat up like he was touching the bonfire. How dare anyone do that to her again!

  10

  “Do it.”

  Becky struggled harder, trying to get the man’s hands off of her shirt, her exposed skin. “No!”

  Angela rose off her knees and the first man who’d come into the tent slapped her across the neck, knocking her to the floor.

  “Stay down,” Alex ordered tonelessly. “We need one for bait. She’ll do.”

  Meaning he would let Becky be raped and then toss her out of the tent to show their seriousness. When the Eagles stormed in, all of them would go up in a blaze by the device in his hand.

  Angela glared at Becky’s crying face. “You are the only one who can do this.”

  Becky cringed as the man began to bind her ankles. “I don’t... I can’t.”

  The man jerked Becky close as he stood up and drew his knife. He’d ripped most of her shirt off in the first struggle and the tip of his blade went straight for her nearly exposed nipple.

  “Take it now!” Angela shouted, understanding the man meant to make Becky scream.

  Becky couldn’t refuse the order. She wanted to it too much to keep fighting. She stilled, clenching her lids shut.

  The man jerked, face draining of color. Blood began to trickle from his mouth and he fell to his knees, pulling her down with him.

  Becky rolled out of his grip with her gun her hand and opened fire while on her back. Her aim was incredible.

  “Stop or I’ll... Ugg!”

  Alex hit the button as he slid to his knees, and Becky fired again, popping him an artistically sloppy hole in his forehead.

  The small box broke apart a bit as it bounced against a chair and Angela rolled on top of the device, trying to hit the switch to disarm the homemade trigger with her elbow.

  Becky had no time for that, firing repeatedly, screaming her hatred as she unloaded her gun. Hired killers ducked behind the cover of the bound females, but she knew how to get around that.

  “Left!”

  All of the women rolled as she reloaded, creating the perfect cover, and Becky opened fire again.

  “Right!”

  Eight darkly-dressed men had come into the tent and seven bodies were on the floor when Seth burst inside.

  “Stop!”

  Angela’s shout was the only thing that kept Seth from killing the last man standing.

  “We need information, Rebecca,” Angela directed, rising awkwardly to her knees. “Make sure he’ll tell me anything I want to know.”

  Becky smirked eagerly, walking forward. “You got it, Boss.”

  She fired twice more, emptying her gun into the man’s knees.

  She reloaded a second time without any change in expression as the man shouted in agony and clutched his wounded legs.

  The screams were satisfying to the females, though they worried Seth. He didn’t like the image of Becky as a killer, had been blocking it out, but this wouldn’t ever be forgotten and he doubted it would fade much. She was nearly as lethal as he was. What would she be like fully trained?

  Angela let Shawn untied her, the tent now filling with Eagles tending their women. Even Charlie had come, though Tracy was already free. He lovingly took the wad of duct tape from her and led her from the tent with a glare at his mom.

  “What were you waiting for? Why the bait?”

  The sobbing man didn’t answer, and Becky lunged forward, her gun against his groin. “Answer!”

  The man couldn’t get away due to the Eagles surrounding him, and it was clear that Becky wasn’t bluffing. He opened his mouth and started telling them everything they didn’t want to hear.

  When he stopped talking, Angela waved all but the top people from the tent and then faced the man without sympathy.

  “You didn’t make sure I was dead before you started touching her. Mistake.”

  Starving, Angela let the Witch take what she needed.

  The Eagles knew to stay back, but none of them were revolted or scared. They were awed by her abilities, her determination to turn these people into fighters, and of course, they liked justice being served. It was a bonding moment that helped strengthen their loyalty to her and the others who were different. If there had been more of this type of justice before the War, there might not have been one at all.

  11

  “Stay close to her for a bit.”

  Seth agreed with the instruction. “I plan to.”

  “Good. I’ll be around.”

  Seth waited for Angela to leave, then went to Becky. The teenager was digging through her kit like she’d lost something. He wanted to help with that and the almost haunted eyes that wouldn’t meet his for more than a second or two at a time.

  “You feel like doing a workout? We’ll run the gate course.”

  Becky made sure she sounded normal. “Nope. I want to go on the next supply run and I haven’t passed my next Kai lesson yet. I’ll be practicing after I shower.”

  Seth didn’t argue. She sounded okay and appeared steady enough, but there was a sense that things weren’t fine. “I have to go switch shifts. I’ll be right back.”

  That got a cheerful tone. “I’ll be the one searching for a toe-warmer.”

  Seth only searched her face before leaving. Something wasn’t right and it was more than the new bruises or torn clothes.

  Becky shoved the bags and pouches into the bag and took the Advil without bothering to go for a drink. Her head was throbbing.

  Compared to Rick, th
is hadn’t been anything, but the flashes it had given her were awful. She could hear the gunshot, could almost smell his breath on her. Rick was a ghost that wasn’t ever going to leave.

  Becky searched in her kit for a tissue, feeling the tears coming, and found something hard and round. She withdrew it slowly, mind making the connection.

  The small vial still held the powder Rick had given her and Becky stared at it for a long time, lost in her nightmares. Only Seth’s cheerful voice outside the tent woke her and she quickly stuffed the vial into her kit and donned a smile as he came inside. “Want to wash my hair for me again?”

  Seth immediately turned for the showers. As they walked, he could feel her drifting and was suddenly sure it would be a rough night. “Would you like a pill?”

  He’s so perceptive it’s scary, she thought.

  “Not yet. I may not need it.”

  Seth tugged her closer for a quick hug. “I’m proud of you.”

  Becky didn’t ask what for. It didn’t matter. Until she was proud of herself, no one else’s opinion did, and her mind said she still had a long way to go to make up for what she’d done. Rick and the Slavers had been the perfect distraction to keep Adrian from discovering all the spies the government had sent into this camp. More than half of their assassins had been here since South Dakota or before, and that was dangerous. No one knew who to trust, who might turn out to be a traitor. Tempers and suspicions were running at peak. Angela would have to do something to settle them down.

  12

  Angela went to the Mess, where most of the camp was still gathered, talking and observing the cleanup. When she started speaking, they all stopped to listen.

  “One of the intruders gave us information–good news, for a change. Brady and his team are alive and doing damage. They’ve started fighting. He’s gathered over three hundred men.”

  There was a loud cheer, both for the wait being over and for hearing from Brady.

  “It looks like we’ll have another two weeks at least before either group gets here.” Angela waved off the questions, too upset to continue lying. “I don’t have anything else. The man died before he could tell us more. Becky’s shot was nice.”

  She left the crowd at the Mess with something they hadn’t had since learning the government was coming.

  “If he’s doing damage, maybe we do have a chance…”

  “He’s a badass. I knew it the minute I saw him.”

  “Brady will cut them in half. We’ll be able to handle the rest.”

  “And he’ll be here by then, to help.”

  “Yeah!”

  Angela waved Kevin over. “I want you to start doing the ghost broadcasts tonight, giving open updates on anything we learn about Marc’s team.”

  Kevin approved of what his mind came up with. “You’re gonna pull some people back in.”

  “Maybe,” she answered. “But if it only keeps these here from leaving, that’ll be enough.”

  Kevin went straight to the com truck to broadcast what they’d learned, going over the right words to use. He would whip them into a frenzy if he had the information to feed and it wouldn’t be just this camp. The other survivors out there listening, waiting to find out who won, would tune in regularly for news.

  “Maybe we can pull in some more fighters, too” Kevin mused, sliding into the cool truck. “God knows we need them.”

  13

  Unable to calm down enough to sleep, Angela gathered the men she thought best suited and closed the flap on the training tent.

  “I’m going teach you to listen.”

  There were confused looks as Angela settled herself, and she let them stew as she got comfortable.

  “Just like a gun, your mind shoots,” she began, opening her case. “Some people can’t send or receive, we’ve learned that together. What one of you can do, not all of you can.”

  She paused to light a fat joint. “But I’m confident that everyone in this tent can.”

  She inhaled deeply and blew the smoke toward the east. She quickly inhaled again and blew it toward the west this time. Twice more for the remaining directions, then she tossed it to Kyle.

  “Do what I do.”

  She took a second joint out and did the same thing before passing it to him again. “It’s a type of magic we do, be it in here with our minds or out there with our guns.”

  She got a third rolled smoke going and her eyes took on that high glow they’d all come to associate with someone being very stoned. Except she didn’t stumble or slur, and it added to the respect these twenty men held for her. Two full teams, plus Adrian, were here.

  “We all feel it and we love it. With my help, maybe we can share something more from it.”

  Angela’s face tightened suddenly and she took a fourth joint from the pack and lit it in the same manner as the others. She pitched it toward the nervous man lurking restlessly near the door.

  “Get stoned, will ya? You’re wrecking our vibes.”

  The men laughed and Adrian had to grin at the scold. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Another round of amusement came as he sat down and fired it up.

  “You keep that one. Everyone else; hit and pass. When those are gone, we’ll find out if we can reach a new level of teamwork.”

  There was a companionable quiet broken by an occasional voice or movement, and Angela took a moment to try and make herself fully relax. She was determined that this lesson would be successful.

  “We are a team. We eat, breathe, and live together, and yet, we don’t know our fellow men. The War caused people to erect barriers of many types, but fear is always the hardest to get through. For us to conquer that last wall, we have to be open with each other. To do that, we’ll spend one minute talking to the Eagle on our right and the same for the left. I want you to tell them a secret, something you can’t talk about with the camp.”

  Angela glanced at her watch. “Start now.”

  She turned to Kyle, brow raised and he smirked. “Ladies first.”

  “Everyone one of us who’ve been cursed this way have been outcasts. Being here with Adrian makes some of that pain go away, but I wish I’d never had to hide who… what I am.”

  Kyle’s voice was sympathetic. “Adrian knew.”

  “Yes, and I still trust him as much as you do. That gives us another common ground, yes?”

  Kyle grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She gestured. “Your turn.”

  The mobster hesitated, not sure what to reveal. “I...want to make Jenny my legal mate and give her a son to replace the one she lost.”

  “How does she feel about that?”

  Kyle grunted. “She’s still planning on leaving, I think. Doesn’t say much, but she stares at the mountains.”

  “She doesn’t want to go.”

  “No,” Kyle confirmed. “She wants to be able to stay in camp, but the memories are hurting her.”

  “And you think if she had a son, it would ease that.”

  Kyle sighed heavily. “I don’t know. She’s in pain and I have no idea how else to comfort her.”

  “Have you... offered?”

  Kyle chuckled. “No.”

  “Why not? It’s been long enough medically, and there’s no camp trouble in your way now. Why delay?”

  Kyle’s face was twisted with hunger and control. “She’s not ready for that side of me.”

  Angela picked up the images, but didn’t scold like her first instinct said to. “Maybe you should talk to her about it, find out where she stands on things. If you two are going to be alone together, that’s good information to have.

  Kyle agreed. He just didn’t know how to bring it up.”

  “Time. Switch sides if you haven’t already.”

  The air inside the tent was thick with smoke and Adrian watched her methods work. It was a light touch he wasn’t allowed to use on them, but she could. They were bonding deeper and when she called time again, he saw many conversations he suspected would be continued later. S
he was bringing them together in ways he had no access to and he would show his gratitude.

  “Start listening for me. When I give you a number, remember it.”

  Her lack of action after those words confused them until they heard her voice in their minds and realized she was already working.

  “Okay, everyone got a number?” she asked a few minutes later.

  “I don’t,” Adrian stated.

  “Eagles, tell Adrian what his number is,” Angela instructed.

  “One!”

  It was a loud chorus and she went on. “Last number was twenty. Stand up in reverse order and pay attention. I’m the only one allowed to talk.”

  She observed them with a bit of pride and a lot of warmth, and could feel many of them wanting her to stand up for the number two spot. She placed Kyle there instead and stayed sitting.

  As Adrian stood, she looked up at them.

  “Imagine this type of communication during an attack or mission. It’s an advantage that no other army has ever had. We are the first.”

  She gave them a moment to consider and then waved a hand. “You’re determination will decide if you can do this without my help. I can show you how to do it, but that won’t be enough. You have to want it.”

  She checked her watch, and then gestured at the floor. “Get comfortable, gentlemen. We’re going to make some magic.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Colorado

  8/1

  1

  Thud!

  The noise woke the soldiers closest to it and they glanced around in confusion, trying to find the source.

  Thud!

  Smack!

  Hiss…

  The center of the platoon scrambled way from that sound. Snakes were a common way to die in the Utah bunker.

  Thud!

  Waking up now, the men were rising, grabbing for weapons, and the noises grew closer together.

  Thud! Slam! Whap!

  Bags and boxes were raining on them, tubs and bowls, and in each of them, a snake or scorpion.

  “Get under cover! Find cover!”

  The order echoed off the walls of the canyon, but the command hadn’t ordered canopies up and the soldiers had nowhere to go as the dangerous animals fell into their campsite. With the darkness only broken by their torches and campfires, it was impossible to determine who was sending them down.