The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

  “Angela.”

  It was exactly the right tone and she knelt, opening her bag.

  “Kenn first,” Adrian ordered.

  She stared past him at the unconscious man. Shallow breathing, lids fluttering, a soft moan. Not dead, but definitely hurt. “We can’t get to the other side yet. There’s a car in the way.”

  “The wagon?”

  Angela quickly felt what she could reach of him, checking for broken bones. “Yes. Is your vision blurred?”

  “And then some. You found Kyle?”

  “Yes, they’re with John. Do you feel like anything’s broken?”

  “No.” Adrian answered as she dug through her bag. “How long have we been like this?”

  “Almost an hour. Are you allergic to anything?”

  “No. What’s the plan?”

  Angela wiped his bare arm with an alcohol pad. “Marc wants you stable so they can do a snatch and grab. The truck is anchored now and he’s getting everything set for the pull-out. Be still, this will sting.”

  Adrian grabbed her wrist before she could inject him. “Have Brady stay with us, him and Neil.”

  His words were a hard command that she had no intention of disobeying. “I’ll handle it.”

  Adrian didn’t flinch as the medicine flew through his system, stinging and burning.

  Angela began to wipe his face, instinctively knowing he wouldn’t want to appear too injured in front of the men.

  “Will I pass out?”

  She carefully wrapped a bandage around his head. Stitches needed there for sure. “No, but you won’t have much control. He said fast. If you’re not feeling it, you can’t react. If there’s something internal, well, you still have to come out.”

  “You’ll be close.”

  It wasn’t a question, but she answered it anyway, his fear making her loyalty ring out.

  “Count on it. You’ll come out of this alive and so will your right hand.”

  2

  Fifteen minutes later, Adrian was out and Angela shared her concerns for his protection with Neil as he got her set to go back down. She would only be away from Adrian for a few minutes to tend to Kenn, but that was long enough for someone to finish him off.

  “My life for his.”

  Comforted by Neil’s response, she headed back down.

  Marc watched wordlessly from the top as guards swept the rainy shadows.

  Wiping wet strands from her face, Angela slowly crawled into the muddy, bloody truck. Kenn didn’t stir as she checked him out, breathing rougher than she had hoped for. When he shivered, she tried to hurry.

  He came around as she was binding his broken ribs, chattering teeth giving him away.

  “Good morning, sleepy,” she joked, pulling the wrap tighter.

  “This is your chance.”

  “You’re still needed.” She pulled harder and he moaned.

  “Sorry. It has to be tight so that nothing gets punctured when we pull you out.”

  Kenn felt her cold touch on his hand and tried to squeeze her fingers, but couldn’t be sure if he had. “You should hate me enough to do it any...”

  His voice broke as his ribs flared to life with red-hot pain in waves. The fire increased and he moaned.

  “Yes, I should,” Angela agreed coolly, hoping to distract him. He didn’t need to know how worried she was.

  Kenn felt his arm begin stinging and almost right away, his pain began to recede. Very quickly, all the other noises and miseries were gone, reduced to nothing but the sound of Angela’s voice and the beckoning grayness.

  “Go to sleep now, grunt. When you wake up, you’ll be in camp, where you belong.”

  They were slower, more careful bringing Kenn up and everyone was elated when nothing went wrong.

  Adrian was waiting at the top instead of in the ambulance. Obviously medicated, Angela was impressed with his stamina. He was allowing Doug to keep a big hand on him, but his speech didn’t slur and his steps were steady as Marc continued to run Point over the scene. When he finally went to the ambulance, following Kenn’s stretcher, Neil’s team kept Adrian in a tight circle of protection.

  Adrian spent a moment in low conversation with Seth and then made a motion. “Let’s go home.”

  Angela noticed the tone and veered to Marc, keeping her voice low. “Can you come back and investigate this site after we’ve got them in camp? I don’t want anyone else behind the wheel.”

  “You know it.” Marc was worried, but not panicked as some of Adrian’s men were. The boss looked fine to him.

  She started to climb in the ambulance and then turned, suddenly feeling that familiar chill of trouble in her gut. “Why didn’t I get called on the radio?”

  “I assume to keep the herd from knowing,” Marc answered. He hated the lies the Eagles told, even to the camp members.

  “None of them work.”

  Jeremy’s voice from the perimeter had them both swiveling.

  “We tried every one of them when it happened. They’re all dead.”

  “Like he was supposed to be,” Angela muttered, climbing into the ambulance. “Get us to Safe Haven, fast. Something’s happening there.”

  Marc didn’t like the sound of that and headed for the driver’s seat.

  3

  Marc knew she was right about the trouble as soon as Kevin came into view. Waiting outside the tape, the Level Two Eagle went straight to Adrian as he left the ambulance under heavy guard.

  “We’re having trouble and I can’t get ahold of it. Posts are short, people not being guarded.”

  “Fires, fights?”

  “Yeah.” Kevin scanned Kenn’s sheet-covered body that was being brought out on a stretcher. “Zack blew his top when he found out Kenn’s dead.”

  “He’s not,” Angela stated, directing the stretcher to John. “Might feel like he is when he wakes up, though.”

  Kevin surprised them with a tight smile. “Good. Maybe that’ll cool things down. They were turning out tents for proof a few minutes ago and accusing members. I sent my team, but we’re not enough to quell it.”

  As they ducked under the tape, Angela was nearly overwhelmed by the difference in the atmosphere of Safe Haven. Even after the earthquake, when they had all been thrown into shock, orders were followed and posts were covered. Now, the waves of fear and unrest rolled over the dim camp like thunder and the golden bubble that usually greeted them was gone.

  “Zack, Lee, Allan.” Angela picked up the worst vibes easily. “They’re at the mess. A dozen camp members, too.”

  “Kenn’s boys,” Kevin confirmed.

  “They think he’s dead,” Angela reminded the men around her. “Be careful.”

  Furious, Adrian didn’t tell her it was the other way around. He walked faster and uneasy Eagles fell in behind them without being called.

  Roughly a dozen men made up the small mob, standing with their hands balled or guns already in their grips. They had Seth’s weary Eagles cornered at the mess table where they’d just settled down for a meal.

  “Who did it?” Lee demanded, leaning on the splintery table.

  “Are you covering for Marc?” Zack interjected, wanting the spotlight. “Did he kill him?”

  Angela tensed at the words, at the dangerous scene in front of her. This is bad.

  All around the mess, camp members were staring at the scene in the same way and Angela realized they were viewing this as Adrian’s failure for trusting Marc over Kenn. From all appearances, the work Adrian had done to bring these people together had been completely destroyed. How can he fix this? Can I help or will I make it worse?

  “Back off or blood is gonna flow, Jeff!” Seth growled. “I won’t take this.”

  Seth’s team was tired, worried, and in no mood to put up with undue shit, even from a teammate.

  “You’re gonna tell us!” Allan shouted. “Who was it?”

  “Who runs this camp?”

  A furious bellow cut through it all, making the mob spin.
<
br />   Frank, one of Zack’s men, raised his gun instinctively and Angela beat Neil to the place between it and Adrian.

  Recognizing them, Frank lowered the weapon and Adrian moved around his guards as if it hadn’t happened.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?”

  His tone was almost casual now, deadly in its peacefulness, and Zack tried to backpedal. “We thought you–”

  “You call this thinking?”

  Zack flushed and his supporters tried to fade away, only to be the ones now cornered as Seth’s team quickly stood up and blocked their retreat.

  “We heard you were near dead and Kenn already was!” Zack tried to defend.

  “Do dead men talk?” Kenn limped under the mess canopy, supported by Alex.

  Adrian’s voice carried in the loud silence that followed.

  “Is this how you would react? Like panicked animals?” His tone went up in tone and down with the weight of his disappointment, his frustration with them. “These are our friends, our family. How dare you!”

  Zack and the ashamed people cringed at Adrian’s anger and he surveyed the group, fighting with himself over the choices that now had to be made. Despite their flaws, he still needed Kenn’s boys.

  “Clean up my camp. Each one of you who took part. Fix what you broke, apologize to everyone you upset or pissed off. And strip those Eagle jackets. You’re suspended until the moral board votes.”

  There was dead silence for a minute.

  Angela felt them considering a take-over and was glad when each man, Zack included, immediately decided to suffer their punishment instead. They were smart enough to know they couldn’t do what Adrian could. Intelligence was part of why he’d chosen them.

  Needing to be sure everyone understood this wouldn’t be tolerated, Adrian delivered a final threat.

  “Get out of line before I’m ready to take you back and you’ll pack your shit and get out.”

  There was a sudden flurry of activity as the men hurried to do what they were told and the air filled with short, painful conversations.

  Adrian perched stiffly on the corner of his center table, appearing angry to the rest, but Angela didn’t think that was true anymore. It felt like he was hurting. From his injuries or their near betrayal, she wasn’t sure.

  Unlike Kenn, who was proud that people were falling apart at the mere thought of him not being around. She glanced at the Marine. “Should you be here?”

  “No choice.” Kenn kept his profile aimed toward Adrian, revealing none of the pain he was still feeling through John’s shot. “He needed me.”

  Angela stiffened at the ring of truth, past ghosts crying. “He would have gotten them under control.”

  “As fast and as painless?” Kenn insisted.

  Angela sighed. “No, probably not.”

  “User error?” Kenn asked his boss.

  “Yes. Tell them we did something wrong. None of us were tow drivers before the war and we’re learning from our mistakes.”

  Neil had joined Seth’s Eagles and Angela tensed as a small group of “rioters” approached the table. Neither Kenn nor Adrian reacted and she tried to follow their lead.

  Neil held both hands out. “I did it! Arrest me.”

  There was a round of snickers at the contempt-laced tone and Zack flushed.

  “We’re sorry, you know? Got carried away.”

  Seth studied him for a minute, and then shrugged. “Hell, I understand what drove you. We need them.” Seth wasn’t sure that was true of Kenn, but knew better than to say so. “Someone forgot to lock down the tow bar and the weight snapped the rope. It all happened too fast for us to do anything.”

  Zack muttered another apology before quickly leaving and Cynthia came over now that the chaos seemed to be finished.

  “Can I get an interview?”

  Seth didn’t hesitate, beaming at the reporter in surprised pleasure. “We’ll be in your new newspaper?”

  Cynthia preened under the longing tone and squeezed in across from him without waiting to be invited. “That depends on your story. Tell it from the beginning.”

  Angela recognized Adrian’s subtle hand in that and stopped herself from protesting. He’d been expecting this reaction from his people and Seth had known, helped him cover it before it became a problem. Who was she to be giving advice to a man that smart?

  I only knew to set it up because of your warnings. Don’t doubt your place with me, with them.

  Angela followed his eyes around, noting that other than Zack and the suspended men, the Eagles had returned to their posts and duties, leaving her as Adrian’s open guard.

  In their minds, you saved my life…again. Without being able to hear and bringing the rope, that whole hillside would have gone over and taken us with it. They understand you’re meant to be in this spot now.

  Angela dropped her lids to keep anyone from seeing her pleasure, her pride, at his silent words. “So, we’re here for a while?”

  Adrian recognized her use of distraction to stop the spark. “We leave in the morning as scheduled. To do anything different would cause more unrest. We’re back to using apocalypse roads for a while.”

  “And you’ll go out with them again, if we don’t find the clues this time?” Angela asked. “Keep putting your own life at risk.”

  “You saw what it came to and how fast,” Adrian explained. “They aren’t ready.”

  “Our time is about up for getting them ready,” Angela pointed out, ignoring Kenn’s disapproval at her advice. “The slavers are coming soon, and this time they’ll have us all or die trying.”

  “They’re already here, picking the right moment,” Angela stated quietly. “I can feel their hatred.”

  Adrian nodded, hand resting lightly on his gun. “Let them come. After all the hell they’ve caused, my army can’t wait to make them pay.”

  “And when the camp finds out?”

  “It will be too late for them to run. They’ll have no choice, but to stand and fight.”

  Adrian waited for her to protest what might have been a mass murder, but Angela couldn’t. A future without Adrian would be as dark. Without society, these families would be picked off, one by one, until America was nothing but a graveyard. Better to make a stand together and die trying, than to perish alone in cowardice.

  Satisfied that she was on the same page, Adrian asked Kenn, “You good for fifteen and a slow round?”

  “Drugs are workin’ now, Boss,” Kenn answered cheerfully. “Probably okay for twice that.”

  “Stubborn-assed men,” Angela muttered.

  Kenn motioned at her, carefully. “Yeah, like we’re the only ones.”

  Angela gaped, surprised.

  Adrian realized their easy banter was having a calming effect already and gestured at Angela. “Come along?”

  “You know it,” she agreed right away. The invite made it easier, but she would have trailed him anyway. Adrian’s attacker was still at large and catching them had become a priority.

  4

  “I’m sorry. I don’t remember anything after starting my shift,” Daryl said.

  Kyle’s head weighed so much it took a real effort to lift and look over at his teammate. “Same here. None of us do.”

  Chosen to be the guards on the cleared area, all of them had gone on duty at three a.m., but never made it out of camp.

  “I remember packing for the trip because we were set to be there all morning, but it’s like swimming through the fog. I’m missing details.” Morgan was green.

  “I knew something was wrong and tried to go report it, but I felt so bad! I couldn’t find my set.” Billy remembered not to groan when his stomach cramped, but couldn’t stop the grimace.

  Kyle snorted, tan skin much paler than any of them were used to. “At least they found you guys in your tents. I thought a shower would help. God knows how long the cold water was beating on me.”

  “What was it?” Greg asked carefully.

  “Yeah, do we hav
e something?” Billy questioned. “I don’t feel so funny now, just like I have a hangover.”

  “You were drugged.” Adrian entered the second medical tent, followed by Kenn and Angela.

  Angela immediately became a doctor again and started to check them over, even though John had already declared them out of danger. They were her teammates.

  “We have some questions,” Adrian started.

  “I’m sorry, boss,” Kyle declared in frustration. “None of us remember.”

  “We need to know where each of you were before going on duty,” Kenn stated.

  His bandages and wary glances at people going by outside allowed them to answer. Clearly, they’d missed some action.

  “The mess.”

  “Bonfire... Mess before that.”

  “Same here.”

  “We always hit the mess first and then spend a couple hours by the bonfire before we go out on third shift duty,” Daryl stated and couldn’t stop a flinch as pain shot through his brain. No more talking. Okay.

  Adrian gestured to Kenn, who opened his notebook with fingers that weren’t quite steady.

  “Hilda on second, until midnight. Maria on third shift. Assistants were Mike and Timmy on second and Cynthia on third.”

  “None of them are the type,” Angela said. “Or that smart, frankly. Whoever it was, they did this as a test to determine if it would succeed or even be noticed.”

  “They, is exactly right,” Adrian informed them. “One person doesn’t do all this on their own. We’re searching for at least two moles, maybe even three.”

  “Then maybe it’s time we dug them out,” Marc stated as he ducked into the tent. He wasn’t surprised by all the shaking heads.

  “How about a new plan, then?” Marc asked bitterly. “Because this one isn’t working.”

  “But, it’s your plan, grunt,” Adrian exposed.

  “It’s too dangerous now.” Marc met his eye, finally allowed to admit how much behind-the-scenes labor he’d been doing. “None of it went the way we needed it to.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Adrian corrected, enjoying Kenn’s reactions of shock and then realization.

  Marc raised a brow. “You thought this would happen?”