The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

  “You didn’t answer the question.”

  “She means that very few of us will refuse to spread ourselves among you, even if we don’t particularly care for that impersonal fit. We can’t. It’s part of why we’re here.”

  Adrian kept going instead of joining the conversation like he wanted to.

  Kyle continued to torture himself. “Who should she draw from?”

  “Whomever she wants. You don’t get to pick.”

  Kyle barely felt the scold. “Who in camp would help her get back to normal?”

  The witch, tired and lonely, snapped at him through Angela’s lips, “Anyone, but you. Back off.”

  “What if I can’t?” he questioned, voice a rough whisper.

  The witch refused to play games. “She’ll run. She’s already considering it. Being here is hurting her.”

  Those words beat in his brain. Of course! Safe Haven was a constant reminder.

  “Kyle?”

  He didn’t answer Angela’s resigned call.

  She watched him walk away. Adrian had been right. Where Jennifer went, so did Kyle. The only hope they had of her staying was the anger from the way her infant had died. She would want revenge and Angela planned to feed that. By the time the battle came, Jennifer would have hardened a bit and might consider staying.

  “It’s up to fate, now,” Angela muttered, picking out her guards. “And Marc.”

  6

  “Are you going to tell me? I can’t let this go until you do.”

  “No.”

  “Stop being an ass, mom. He’s better than dad was.”

  Peggy and Doug both stared at Becky in surprise.

  The teenager didn’t take it back. “Dad didn’t want her to work. He called her a lot and distracted her intentionally. I’ve always thought it was his fault, not yours.”

  Peggy’s tears were hard to look at, but even harder to feel. She pushed herself up and started to fade into the shadows, wishing Anne were here to talk to.

  “Wait.”

  Doug’s command halted Peggy’s retreat. She didn’t turn around.

  “Do you want to work in the medical areas here or would you rather stay a den mother?”

  “She wants both, and a little more,” Becky supplied, standing up. “I’ll let you guys have a few minutes alone.”

  Doug stayed where he was, willing her to turn around. When she did, he viewed her with curiosity. “What’s the little more?”

  Peggy flushed.

  Doug understood. “Me?”

  “Don’t sound that way!” Peggy snapped. “You’re a good man.”

  Doug grinned. “I’m not a little anything, Darlin’. You know that.”

  Peggy evaluated his big frame with a heat that sent shock into Doug. She wants me!

  Peggy left him standing there. Doug would make his own choices. She wasn’t going to browbeat him or explain away the awful thing she’d done. If he couldn’t accept her without the details, then that was that.

  7

  “How are you handling things?”

  Charlie paused in the daily shoveling that he and the other teens had been doing in the livestock trucks. He was the last one here. He’d sent the others on to have some time alone to think.

  “I feel bad that I didn’t try harder to warn my mom, but that voice inside says it was for the best.”

  Conner understood how guilt and reality often slammed into each other in a person’s mind. “Anything I can do?”

  Charlie started to say no, and then gave, “We used to bunk together, spend those bad hours bullshitting or drinking. I don’t do that part anymore, but if there was someone else in the tent, maybe…”

  “The voices would be quieter?” Conner supplied.

  “Exactly.”

  “You sure you want me as a bunkie? The camp still isn’t sure if I’m an assassin.”

  Charlie’s tone was pointed. “That’s what you get in return for all the talking I’ll do.”

  Conner chuckled. “I’ll clear it with my dad.”

  “You don’t need to.”

  Both boys turned to find Adrian in the shadows.

  “She already said it was a good idea, for me to handle it when you two were ready.”

  Both boys were happy and Adrian left them to plan it out, grateful. He hadn’t been sure if the darkness festering in Conner might remind Charlie of Matt too much to allow those bonds to form.

  “Angie knew better, though,” Adrian murmured. “She knew Charlie would take this moment to make up for Matt and ease his own guilt.”

  Absolutely perfect so far. He couldn’t have been more satisfied with the choice he’d made to place her in control of it all. No one else would have gotten close to this just from following his notes, and she wasn’t doing even that after today. She’d made it through all of his books, gotten it rolling, and was running on instinct now.

  “Damn you,” he swore, cursing fate. “She’s perfect for me. Damn you!”

  All around him, destiny laughed callously at his pain.

  8

  “Damn it!” Angela slung the bag to the ground, pissed. “You can’t keep doing that!”

  Late afternoon found Safe Haven a few miles further down their long road, camped, with classes in full swing.

  Kenn started to handle it, but Tonya waved him off. Angela had been right when she’d said the men didn’t know what she was planning. Crista had to do this right or they were all dead.

  “I’m sorry!” Crista exclaimed huffily. “I can’t keep it straight.”

  Angela jerked a hand at Kenn. “He’s as much a rookie at following my lead as you are, but he’ll get it right. When we’re done, someone, anyone, tell her why he can do it and she can’t.”

  Angela turned her back to Kenn, not the least bit afraid of him anymore, but nearby Eagles still tensed when he neared her. Old habits were hard to break, but the closed aura around Kenn also still made them leery.

  The other females took their places and the busy areas around them slowed a bit as the routine restarted. Angela working her team was fascinating to most of them. For the men, it was a turn-on, but also a lesson in respect. They liked knowing that the women would work as hard as they did.

  Kenn fired the paintball gun at Angela first, as an enemy would, and Becky was there to deflect it with her shield. A bit awkwardly, the teenager used the momentum to spin around and provide cover for the person next to her to reload.

  Jennifer slammed a mag in place and fired a round at Kenn as Becky reloaded.

  Kenn ducked the shot easily, returning fire. He hit Jennifer in the chest, drawing a scowl from the man walking by.

  Jennifer swore, taking herself down. As she fell, she tossed a paint balloon that represented the grenade she would use during the battle.

  Kenn jumped aside, but was unable to avoid the pink splatter. He turned to the right and let his own grenade fly. It coated two of her team, removing them.

  Kenn saw only his arm and side was hit, and decided he should be able to keep fighting until he bled out. He shoved to his feet and opened fire again.

  Angela ducked the blast, waving Tracy and Samantha forward.

  Both females fired together and rolled to avoid the incoming. It was nicely timed and obvious that the women had spent time practicing it on their own.

  As the routine finished, a few people around cheered, but Angela didn’t let her girls join them. “Don’t celebrate until we get it right as a team.” She wiped the sweat from her cheek. “Someone tell Crista why she isn’t remembering which way to turn.”

  Samantha spoke up, hoping to get it over with quickly. “She hasn’t been practicing. When she does, it’ll become almost automatic.”

  “Yes. If you don’t show signs of improvement, you’re off my team.”

  Angela left them standing there, exchanging nervous, unhappy looks. She was hoping Crista would notice on her own, but they also needed to help their weaker members shore themselves up and these training lessons would
accomplish that if they could bond. She’d given them a way to do that. It was up to Crista to make good on it. Right now, she wasn’t pulling her weight.

  Kyle paused to listen when he saw who took up a hard stance in front of Crista.

  “What’s the deal?” Jennifer demanded, breathing roughly. “You saw her plan. What gives?”

  Crista flushed. “I didn’t put in enough hours on it.”

  “Should we get rid of you now?” Jennifer followed up angrily. “The rest of us sweated our asses off last night, working together after mess. Where were you?”

  Crista flushed darker. “Out.”

  “Uh-huh.” Jennifer looked around the team. “Vote now. Stay or go?”

  “Go.”

  “Go.”

  “Go.”

  Only Cynthia said differently and even her voice was reluctant. “Stay, if she’ll start working.”

  “Looks like you’re off the team. Turn in your gear and go get a camp member job from Zack,” Jennifer sneered arrogantly.

  Crista couldn’t do that. She wanted this. “You can’t get rid of me!”

  Her shout had the team stopping, turning around.

  “And why not?” Jennifer asked, raising her goggles to reveal glowing orbs. “We don’t need you if you won’t work. There are a lot of women here who want these slots.”

  “I will work on it. I’ll put my other…activities on hold.”

  Jennifer wasn’t convinced, but it didn’t matter. Angela was annoyed and that did.

  “You’d better,” Jennifer warned, sounding exactly like she should for the position she’d been gifted with. “As your team members, this is the only warning we’ll give you. Get your shit together or get out.”

  9

  Angela stomped through the perimeter shadows, trying to decide if she needed to reorder her team. Adrian had told her a while ago that the first set of names likely wouldn’t all stay. It was the nature of the job, but Angela needed each of these women for her plan. Crista might not have been working on it very much, but her aim was still spot-on.

  “Maybe a break,” she mused, rounding the corner of the vet area.

  Whoosh!

  “I can give that to you, Angela White.”

  The dart hit her in the neck and brought her to her knees before the latest assassin.

  Angela sent out a weak call for help, but it was too late.

  “That was my brother you hurt in Little Rock,” the child sneered coldly. “That you killed.”

  Angela couldn’t answer, couldn’t use her gifts, her body. The drugs felt the same as what the Major had used in that doomed city.

  Angela slumped to the ground.

  The child was ten at most, with bright, blue eyes full of malice. “They said to do the same to you, but I need to hear the screams first.”

  The boy came forward eagerly with his knife out as Angela felt the drugs overwhelm her. You’re not gonna get it, kid, she thought, surrendering to the grayness.

  “Quick! Pick her up!”

  The two children struggled to move her body on their own without alerting anyone. All they had to do was hide her and keep her drugged. The men that were on the way would do the rest, but Clifford couldn’t stop the need to make her pay. He sliced at random as the others dragged her under the tree cover and out of the perimeter.

  The men on the area, Wade and Max, wouldn’t be getting up. Angela was the only one they were supposed to leave alive if caught.

  10

  “Did you hear that?”

  “Nothing,” Becky answered, finally starting to like her new life just a bit.

  She took in Seth’s tense posture and waved a hand. “Go on. I’ll find Angela for a check-in.”

  Seth was extremely uneasy. The voice in his mind had only shouted one word and he hadn’t been able to make it out clearly. Had it been a call for help?

  Seth thought so and began a round of the camp, searching for problems.

  Becky disappeared into the medical tent, but came out seconds later, with a pale man behind her. They’d all thought Angela was with Adrian.

  Adrian wasn’t worried about spooking the herd, only finding his lost lamb. He hit the radio. “Raven location?”

  Silence.

  “Raven, check in.”

  More thick silence.

  “Damn it!”

  Adrian went to do his own searching and Becky stayed with him, gun in hand. Too worried to think about anything else, Becky didn’t realize the honor she was being given by the other Eagles who let her guard their idol. They’d knew how serious she was now, how dangerous she could be. She’d been noticed.

  “Angela?”

  The calls began to float through camp, waking people who joined the search. It wasn’t long before the entire camp was roused, but the person they all wanted to see come from a camper or tent didn’t appear.

  Seth made it to the outer perimeter, not noticing anything out of place until he actually got to the tape. Behind the yellow banner was a section of their new fencing. It had been cut.

  Seth raised the alarm with worry burning brightly in his gut.

  11

  “Stop playing around and kill her!”

  Clifford reluctantly positioned his bloody blade at her throat. None of the wounds was deep so far. He wanted her to suffer first, but the drugs made that impossible.

  “Her hand’s showing!” the other child hissed. “Grab it.”

  Clifford snatched her wrist and jerked it under as the area flooded with people and light. All three of them were aboveground, only hidden by a cleverly painted tarp. They’d planned to stay down, drugging her until they could take her out of camp.

  A hard male voice cracked over the radio. “Lock us down! We have a breach in the north wall!”

  Three minutes after Seth’s call, Adrian and Becky had followed Angela’s light, but well known tracks to the animal area. A dozen men surrounded them as they searched.

  Seth ran through the camp, doing a fast search, and found himself in the animal area as if being called to it. Adrian and Kenn were busy scouring the ground nearby for tracks, but Seth didn’t join them. He could almost feel her, almost smell her. What the hell? Was she hiding from them?

  Seth’s eyes widened as he made the connection, and motioned to Adrian.

  Adrian snorted angrily as the pieces fell into place. “We have a sleeper, gentlemen. Start kicking and slicing the trees and ground. If you hit a vein, let them bleed.”

  No one said Angela might be hit, but many of them were thinking it.

  “She’s here,” Seth declared suddenly. “I’m close.”

  Before he could kick the area in front of him, a dart sailed out and plunged into his thigh.

  “Seth!”

  Becky was at his side as he fell, ignoring the warnings from the men around them.

  Another dart flew out of nowhere and hit her in the neck.

  “There!”

  Adrian and Kenn tackled the tarp-covered forms that sprang up and tried to run.

  “There she is!”

  Eagles surrounded Angela’s bloody body, glad to find her breathing. Each time this happened, the feeling that they would only recover a body became stronger.

  It was quickly clear that the assassins weren’t adults to be handled in the usual way. Kenn made the discovery after knocking Clifford unconscious through the tarp.

  The boy fell out of cover and Kenn leaned back in revulsion. “Who the hell sends kids to do their wet work?”

  Adrian shoved the other boy, struggling, into Kyle’s angry arms. “Our enemy. Dump them outside the fence and get the hole patched up.”

  “You can’t win. Surely you know that.”

  The matter-of-fact tone of the second child chilled the blood of the men listening. What had this child been through that he held no compassion?

  Adrian waved Kenn on.

  The Marine hefted the unconscious child over his shoulder, and then pointed. “Start walking or I’ll knock you
out.”

  The sullen boy did as he was told, throwing glowers over his shoulder at Adrian.

  “I’ll get the doctor,” Cynthia offered.

  “I’m here.”

  They peered up to find Jennifer pulling the bleary new man through the trees. She didn’t let go until he was at Angela’s feet.

  Everyone was quiet as the doctor examined Angela’s wounds, then started binding them.

  “Well?” Becky asked snottily. “Your mouth work?”

  Dr. Brooke frowned up at the girl. “As well as yours. You got a question? Ask it.”

  Becky flushed angrily. “Is she okay?”

  He tied off a bandage. “All shallow, only a few stitches needed, breathing’s good. Help me get her to the medical tent.”

  Kenn and Kyle unloaded their burdens at the fence after taking their darts.

  “Go on. Get lost.”

  The older boy immediately turned west and began walking.

  “Hey!” Kyle called. “Take him with you!”

  The boy didn’t slow down or even glare at them.

  “He was supposed to kill her, not slice her up. He’s your problem now.”

  Kenn and Kyle stared after him in shock, both thinking a quiet bullet right now would be the best solution for both intruders.

  They turned away reluctantly. Assassins or not, these were only brainwashed kids who should be with their mothers, not roaming the wastelands on murder missions. It was yet another heinous crime that their enemy would pay for.

  12

  “Where was her shadow?”

  Adrian looked around in fury. “Who had duty?”

  Zack pointed to the two bodies in the shadows. “Wade and Max.”

  Adrian swore under his breath. The enemy knew kids wouldn’t be suspected. He’d almost lost her again. It was time to implement the second part of Marc’s plan. Angela wouldn’t like it, but she couldn’t argue now.

  Adrian spotted Charlie and Conner near the QZ gate, and joined them in their observations of the unconscious boy.

  “Do you know him?”

  Conner’s voice was cold. “Clifford and his brother were in charge of the others. They like pain.”