Where We Stand

by Angela White

Samantha, full of energy that needed a release, sent her hot gaze down Kenn’s big body. “Yours probably is, though.”

  Kenn flushed, understanding what her problem was. Neil and Jeremy had been gone on a supply run for days, and they were busy when here, teaching and preparing. “They’ll be home soon.”

  “I wasn’t hitting on you,” Sam stated quickly. “I’m mixing energy and the easiest way to draw it from a man is to turn them on.”

  Kenn’s face went scarlet this time. His mouth opened. “Did you get anything?”

  Samantha shook her head, though she was already tasting him. “May I?”

  Kenn gave a tense nod and had to clench his fists to stay still while she drew.

  Samantha let go all at once, unable to stand any more of that strong flavor.

  Kenn took deep breaths to keep from saying anything stupid. All the men were helping the descendants stay refilled so that they could heal the wounded who were coming in every few days, but this was the first time one of them had come to him for it. His own gifts were minor in comparison and didn’t need refilling.

  Samantha gave Kenn a leer, one friendlier than he’d ever gotten from her.

  “You’re not all dark and confused anymore. It makes your energy stronger. Try doing something with your gifts, instead of waiting for them to come to you.”

  Samantha turned away while he was shocked into speculative silence. She probably shouldn’t have told him that, but he was another weapon they could use for the fight.

  “Hey.”

  Samantha turned around, not sure what to expect. “Yes?”

  “What’s the easiest way to take it from a woman?”

  Sam knew what he meant, and flashed a healthy leer. “Piss us off, of course. We live on anger and love. Those are often the only two things that exist for a female.”

  Kenn suddenly didn’t envy Neil and Jeremy any of the three-way fantasies he’d had. If they were able to please this woman for long, he was Superman.

  Kenn quickly caught up with her, waiting to see if she glared or accepted him along for wherever she was going.

  “I was hoping you’d ask,” Samantha admitted. “I need Level Five in Kai. Neither of my men will punch.”

  Kenn tensed, but didn’t deny the request. She’d come to him because she knew he was capable of that and more. “The training tent is empty right now. It’s all packed up for tomorrow.”

  Samantha changed directions and flashed a pointed glare to Jeff, her protection. “I asked for this. Make sure Angela knows.”

  Jeff wasn’t exactly okay with it (he’d also refused), but he didn’t interfere. Adrian and Angela insisted that none of their females would ask for more than they could handle and Jeff had to believe that. After the nights he’d been spending with Crista, the thought of losing her was completely paralyzing.

  They went into the tent to find Kyle and Jennifer doing much what they’d come to do. Both pairs stared at each other in uneasy concern.

  Samantha started to go out, but Kenn put a hand on her arm, which he withdrew as she stopped.

  “This is better,” he explained. “She’ll be able to tell Angela that I’m not hurting you any more than I have to. It will keep the men from hunting me. Your Eagles, you’ll still have to handle.”

  Samantha went toward the curious pair. Neil and Jeremy wouldn’t like this, but a large part of Angela’s plan for the women depended on her and she wouldn’t be able to do it if she couldn’t take a real hit. The soldiers who were coming would follow orders and they wouldn’t go easy because she was female. To do her duty, she had to know what to expect when the battle came to Safe Haven’s gates.

  Kenn stripped his shirt and boots, using Neil’s level five training instructions for the females, and watched Samantha’s expression flood with restless need. The trooper had noted that like with the males, the women were easy to take down when they were distracted by a sexual spark.

  “Control that shit and pay attention!” Kenn snapped, moving toward her.

  Samantha’s anger flared to life and she met him in the middle of the tent, set to work off the ugly feeling of bad days being just over the horizon for all of them.

  3

  “I’ve noticed that you show a lot of attention to some women here–more than you do other females, even those you sleep with.”

  Adrian didn’t pause from shoveling out the livestock trailer, but inside, he cringed. He hadn’t expected this conversation yet. Time to be careful or tell the truth?

  “Some people deserve more attention.”

  “Like my mom?”

  Adrian understood the boy had planned it all. He’d been ambushed. “Yes.”

  Adrian heard the Charlie’s silent frustration when he gave nothing more. The impatience of youth. He barely remembered his own.

  “Why can’t you leave her alone?”

  Adrian stopped, wiping his brow with a sweaty sleeve before pinning the teenager with a cool look. “You don’t know?”

  Charlie flushed under the light scold, but held his ground. “I know the truth, no matter what the camp gets told.”

  Adrian scowled at him, letting the fathering place inside take control. “The truth is only an illusion in any group of people, son. You’ll figure that out. In the meantime, swallow the snotty that can’t wait to fly out of your mouth and ask what you want to know.”

  It was the roughest that he’d ever been with Charlie and most grown men would have withered beneath his tones. The sullen boy only turned a darker shade of red, face saying he didn’t want to keep going, but he was.

  “Why did you train her to take your place?”

  The child’s tone lowered, became pain-filled. “Is it really what was best for the camp… or is it personal?”

  It was demanded with so much genuine pain that Adrian didn’t hesitate to speak it aloud. “Why does it have to be one or the other? Why not both?”

  There was a stunned silence where even the Eagles on duty around them forgot to breathe.

  The noises of the camp rolled on the wind as the two males stared at each other, one in shock and the other in complete control.

  Adrian waited until the boy was about to speak, expression saying it was ugly, and cut him off. “As her blood, it’s natural to question my personal interest in her, but as for your version of the truth, it doesn’t exist. She’s not betraying your dad.”

  Adrian stripped his gloves to fish for a smoke. “Though I wouldn’t fault her if she did and neither would most of the Eagles.”

  Charlie waited silently, stunned to have been given honesty.

  “We have rough roads ahead and not enough warriors.” Adrian stated, never doubting what came next or what his response should be.

  “You still see the timid mouse my right hand man beat on. That woman no longer exists. She is now a leader of men.”

  “And the personal?” Charlie forced out.

  Adrian tossed his butt into one of the empty cans and met the teenager’s wary gaze.

  “She’ll need someone to care for her if your dad doesn’t make it back.”

  Adrian’s blue eyes lit up with a deep hunger that the hormone-filled teenager recognized instantly.

  “And I want that job–like I’ve never wanted another. I’ve searched for her my whole life and I have the ability to make her happier than any of the men who’ve had her light.”

  Adrian went back to shoveling, aware he’d sped his plans up, but wasn’t overly concerned. It was about time everyone knew he wanted her. More changes were coming.

  “If your dad does return, I’ll step aside, like I’ve been doing since she got here.”

  Charlie took it all in as evenly as he could. He hadn’t considered what would happen if Marc died. His mom would fall apart.

  “Does… does she want you?”

  Adrian snorted in bitter amusement. “That, is another matter entirely and I am the wrong one to ask.”

  “She won’t give me an answer.”

  A
drian sighed miserably. “Because it’s hard for her to accept. Yes, she might eventually take my comfort, but she’d never forgive me or herself. If your dad dies, I’ll be there for her, and she’ll pretend I’m him.”

  Charlie opened his mouth to blast out the awful heaviness that thought had brought. And went back to shoveling instead. If he had lost Tracy to the water-snake, he would have done the same thing. He already couldn’t imagine being without her.

  “How do you hold on when that’s all you have to look forward to?”

  Adrian couldn’t refuse to answer now and he found himself giving all of the truth, something he rarely did.

  “I love her. She’ll need me to put her back together. My life means nothing compared to hers.”

  That type of selflessness was something Charlie respected, but didn’t understand except in the smallest terms. He hadn’t been through Adrian’s decades of pain and hell. Hopefully, he never would.

  Adrian returned to shoveling, waiting for the next rounds of questions.

  “Tracy isn’t going to service the Eagles anymore.”

  Adrian smirked at the quick topic change and the new warning. “Have you cleared that with her?”

  Charlie flushed and Adrian pushed. “Her choice, right?”

  “Our choice.”

  Adrian didn’t react. “You’d better clear that one with your mom, then. It’s still a couple months shy of your birthday.”

  Charlie waved a frustrated hand at the preparations going on around the camp. “We may not have months!”

  Adrian found it harder to pretend than he usually did. “Still, rules are important, even when it seems grim.”

  Adrian glanced up. “If you do it, she has to let the others here who’ve been waiting to be legal couples. You’ll throw off all the balance we’ve made. You’re her son. If she makes an exception for you, she loses respect. Be sure it won’t hurt the camp first.”

  Charlie took the advice to heart and then continued on to his next issue. He’d asked to be put with Adrian and Kyle hadn’t argued. He’d known what was coming and it was a series of conversations that the Eagles didn’t have the right to. As her son, Charlie did and they were eager to know the results.

  “Conner’s hiding something.”

  Adrian grunted. “Yeah. But what?”

  Charlie was glad to find out that Adrian had also noticed. “He blocks too well. You’ll have to have my mom do it.”

  “Why not tell her yourself?”

  Charlie shrugged. “I don’t want her to think I’m jealous or anything. I like Conner and it worries me. He’s not happy here.”

  “No, he’s not,” Adrian agreed. He didn’t tell Charlie that Conner wanted the same as what he had when his mom had first come–to be alone with his parents and for everyone else to go away. Conner also didn’t like it that his father wasn’t in charge of the herd. It wasn’t how he remembered things.

  “I got all that, but there’s something else,” Charlie pointed out lowly. “He has a dark spot.”

  Adrian knew. “I’ll handle it.”

  “Good.”

  Adrian looked over. “What else?”

  Charlie laughed, feeling better now. “I know what Becky’s gift is.”

  “What?”

  “She’s a tracker. She has a mental grid like my dad’s. She can tell us where the enemy is, if he’s close enough.”

  New plans began spinning, new threads twining around the complex ball that already existed, and Adrian leaned the shovel against the truck. “Guess I’ll be talkin’ to your mom now after all.”

  Charlie watched him go, noting the proud look around the camp, and realized the mood swing had come from knowing he would spend a few minutes around Angela.

  “I won’t go through this with you, Tracy. Please don’t try to put me through the same shit,” Charlie muttered in annoyed resignation. “I’ll walk.”

  4

  Angela had listened to Samantha’s weather report without any change in expression, but in her heart, she’d placed the warning with that sense of doom coming. That was why Adrian had them planning to leave the country, instead of holing-up. He knew Yellowstone was going to blow, had probably seen it in his dreams. It was yet another foresight on his part that might save them all. The temperature drop was already making both of Safe Haven’s leaders nervous. How soon would winter be on them at this rate?

  With the trips and extra stops she had planned, water and fuel wouldn’t be a problem. They were almost full-up now. The camp had voted for Lookout Mountain and she would take them, but not before gathering what they would need to live on and fight with. Adrian had taught her well.

  Angela forced her thoughts from that man’s actions, instead considering how happy it had to make him that they now had so many children. There were more than any of them had found in one place since the War, and it was impossible not to like them. Thanks to the den mothers and Eagles, these children filled areas of camp with laughter that was sorely needed to remind these people of what they were about to be fighting for. More than thirty kids now called Safe Haven home, leading to longer, more luxurious RVs to hold them all. There were now five of these shiny, old world reminders and double the security.

  Not that it mattered. Daryl’s team was always near them now, though not only to protect the kids from outsiders. The new age limit had given these men insights that the others didn’t have and Daryl still had them observing one of their own for a possible violation.

  After handing out punishments to Seth and Kyle, Daryl’s team had become the camp enforcers and one of them–Billy–had found a girl he liked too much while they’d been doing duty over the kids in camp. His team had noticed.

  Angela didn’t think there was anything to worry about, unlike when they’d been watching Crone. In fact, she thought it was proof of what Adrian had told her after the last camp meeting. The Eagles would become protectors of their females and age wouldn’t make a difference. Their little girls would live happy lives and then be eased into breeding by caring, strong men who could care for them. Billy was likely to be the first one to fall that way. Others would follow, and all of them would be monitored. It had to be handled carefully, case-by-case, but it had to happen. They needed babies more than even bullets. Safe Haven’s first birth had resulted in a child, one of two, but another woman had lost hers since then. They were down to four coming births, with no new pregnancies that they knew of. It was forcing the camp to accept that every little girl born now might help them continue to exist later.

  Angela looked to where Jennifer was enjoying a few minutes of peace. The other college kids from her first pickup were helping with weapons and classes where they could, as were many of the people who’d had time to settle in. Even the Nuns were assisting, learning how to load weapons, though they’d refused to take the defense or gun classes themselves. Cesar’s former slaves, on the other hand, were excelling in those two areas. And causing trouble.

  Lilly and Grace hadn’t forgiven Jennifer anything and having them in a tent together for a class was a tense affair. There was more to come between those three, Angela was sure. To counter the danger, she’d placed Beth, the pregnant nun, under Jennifer’s care. That meant all of the pregnant females came around, because Beth had made friends. It wasn’t uncommon for the breeders in camp to do everything together, even eat. It gave Jennifer friends and protection when the Eagles couldn’t stay close to her, and allowed the mothers-to-be to get a view of what they were in for.

  “New arrivals in the QZ.”

  “Copy.” Angela pushed up from the table. It was her day to sweep the new people. Tomorrow, Jennifer and Charlie would cover it.

  Wincing slightly as she curled her newest ingrown toenail into flesh, Angela glanced over the smoke detectors on the fences, then the patches on the guards walking those areas–making sure they didn’t have any wolves in sheep’s clothing again. It’s clear, the Witch reported, and Angela went back to her thoughts and observations.
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br />   She was keeping them camped close to water for the fire safety, but also because so far they hadn’t found a sinkhole near a water mass. It also allowed her to keep up the sanitary conditions despite the new influx of people. When Adrian had said it would call fighters to them, he’d been right. The ranks were slowly filling out and giving their short-numbered men hope. They now had one hundred Eagles, though a third were rookies. It would be a while before she felt like they had enough manpower.

  “Good evening, Safe Haven.”

  Kevin’s calm tones started the official settling of the camp for the night, and Angela listened to him for a minute, pausing on her way to the QZ gate. She wasn’t picking up anything bad about the new arrivals. She hadn’t told anyone yet that she didn’t have to be around or even talk to the people anymore. All she had to do was tell the Witch to show her their secrets. Right now, she could do it from across half the camp. It was a defense she was working on expanding every day.

  “We’ve gotten news that Brady’s team has engaged the enemy. They took out a full platoon and two tanks!”

  A loud cheer rose across the camp, but not from those who knew what that battle must have been like.

  Angela steeled her emotions and was glad when Kevin said there was nothing else and got soothing music rolling through the tents and campers. She was having them keep the camp updated about the good news, but sometimes the bad slipped in and she had to spend hours getting them under control again. Kevin was getting much better about letting them hear what they needed, but whenever new people made it out of the QZ, not all of them kept quiet.

  Angela didn’t think it would matter for much longer. Once the fighting reached the AFB, it would sink in for everyone that the soldiers were really coming. She planned to have them in the mountains by them, or at least as close to it as she could get.

  Kenn and Kyle had indeed become her point men in battle plans, but they had also become her go-to guys for supply runs and planning traps. Once she tossed an idea out, those two ran with it and came up with deadly results. Once the camp got to Lookout Mountain, they would start setting up and assembling those weapons and defenses.

  Across the camp, laughter spilled out. Angela was fairly sure she knew where it was coming from. The campfire group now had more than thirty members who could be found around the fire at any time from dusk to dawn. Sometimes the group was quiet, reminiscing or planning, but mostly, they were laughing and living, and Angela was grateful. It was another sound that Safe Haven was shy on now.