The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

  “Neil and Jeremy reported in an hour ago,” Shawn stated, coming up to hand her a mug of tea. “Seth is late.”

  Angela sighed. “He has choices to make, like the rest of us. Leave him alone.”

  Shawn shrugged. He had enough to do anyway without worrying over Seth going rogue.

  “Same here,” Angela lied. “He’ll come through when we need it. What else have you got for me?”

  Shawn began rattling things off and Angela waited until he was gone to record it all in her notebook. Until she got some sleep, she wouldn’t count on remembering.

  Angela’s mind switched to Neil and Jeremy, her communications men for this ring of the battle. Those two and their team would relay messages, provide lookouts for working teams, and kill any soldiers they came across. Angela had several groups already out doing that very thing, and even if Seth took off, his team wouldn’t. They were the adult killers for the area where Becky and Charlie were, though Seth wasn’t supposed to find out where Becky was until she sent an update. She assumed Becky and Seth would stay together after that, had included it in their envelopes, but Angela needed time to get Becky so far into the mission that when Seth told her to go hide in camp, she would refuse. From the mental update Charlie had sent, it seemed like Becky was doing okay so far.

  Angela was pleased. Not that her kids were now out there killing, but that Becky was finally understanding anyone could hold the power if they had the right tools and training. She didn’t have to be terrified when she was alone or keep a man close for protection. In time, Becky would be dangerous, with a limitless supply of rage to fuel it. Then, she would have to be guided the opposite way and taught to respect life again. It was an ongoing process with any army. Learn to kill, remember to live. It made it hard for a soldier to come home when they didn’t have those two lines drawn clearly enough. The teenagers would be no different. After they’d become killers, they would have to be taught to be kids again. One usually smothered the other, but Angela would try to keep that from happening. It was no good to win if your people didn’t have any light left amid all the darkness.

  Chapter Nine

  One Lie or Fifty?

  1

  “Move out!”

  The call echoed down the thousand-man convoy, sending nearby birds into the air in surprise. The rolling wheels and eager shouts also sent foxes and raccoons fleeing down the opposite paths.

  The soldiers took up a lot of room as they traveled, carelessly letting themselves get spaced out. Men shot at windows of cabins as they passed, angry to be on foot in the cold.

  Donner let them vent. Their anger needed a target. He had one for them, but until the battles began, they required loose reins.

  Donner stood with Philips, surveying the battalion of soldiers now marching for the new area that he’d chosen as his base. Those bringing up the rear were headed to other locations, but they would all travel together for half the day. Their recon men had gone out this morning to secure the route and their destinations.

  “It’s all ready, sir,” Philips stated, marking things off the list on his clipboard. He wisely didn’t mention their three missing teams. No one had returned from the ammo missions yet.

  “Tell them to push in one hundred miles every week, starting right now. That’s it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He rushed off to deliver the orders as Donner headed for the waiting jeep that was surrounded by a full squad of protection. His driver had the engine running, a man was there to open his door. Donner slid inside the warm interior with a slight grimace. “Kill that heat.”

  “Yes, sir,” his driver answered, obeying.

  “Sorry, I was cold,” a voice stated from the back seat.

  Donner twisted to look at the two people behind him. One was Louis, a Special Forces man with tattoos running the length of both brawny arms. He had joined their camp this morning and was holding a handgun. The other passenger was the first hostage they’d captured.

  Donner didn’t speak right away. He liked to size up the person before the interrogation. What he saw was a pretty whore about to lie her ass off. He wasn’t picking up anything mentally, though the brick wall flashing in his mind was a bad sign of things to come. The coming lies were in the fidgeting, the averted eyes, and the white knuckles on her handgun.

  “If you fire by accident, we’ll kill you,” Donner finally said, watching for the correct reaction.

  “Not if I kill you first,” Jennifer stated shakily. “I’m pretty good with this thing.”

  Both of Donner’s men snorted. The trembling hands kept the barrel of her 9mm jumping all over the place. She obviously had no idea how to kill someone with a gun, not like they did.

  Donner held out a hand. “Give it here. Keep the two in your belt and the knife in your other hand.”

  Jennifer swore furiously, bringing laughter from all three of the men. She clumsily gave Donner the gun and slid back against the door. “I told her I couldn’t do this.”

  Aware of the game beginning, Donner motioned for his driver to get them rolling as he stashed the 9mm in the kit at his feet. He would examine it later for clues.

  Jennifer didn’t try to hide her fear at being surrounded by these evil men, knowing it would help with her mission. She and Conner had ridden the waiting dirt bike all night to get here.

  “Who sent you to spy on us?”

  “You know who. I’m supposed to kill you or bring you in.” Jennifer slammed her hand against the seat. “I hate being a decoy.”

  Donner already wasn’t sure which part was a lie and which was truth. He didn’t rise to the bait. He watched her frown in the mirror, but she didn’t say it again or try a different line, and Donner was impressed. He had no doubt she was working from a script. He would let her go through it all before rewriting the lines.

  “Where are we going?”

  “For a drive,” Donner responded. “You were found on the edge of this campsite with a gun. You’ve said you were sent here to kill me. You’re a prisoner of war.”

  Jennifer shuddered. “I’ve been that since it happened.”

  Donner heard the truth there and immediately understood how he was being played. She wouldn’t have been sent in alone.

  “Pull over.”

  The driver brought them to a fast halt.

  Donner got out. He jerked open Jennifer’s door and grabbed her by the arm, ignoring her attempts to get to one of her other weapons.

  Louis slammed his hands across her arms, bringing a satisfying cry, and they hauled her roughly to the side of the road.

  Donner shoved her to her knees, then again, onto her back. His man put a boot on her neck to keep her there, grinding enough to get her attention.

  Donner unzipped his trousers as the cheers of the men rolling by echoed over them.

  “Tell your guard to come out,” Donner ordered as he knelt down

  Struggling to breathe, Jennifer was helpless as he forced his body on top of hers.

  “Call for help,” he ordered as very real tears oozed down her cheeks. He put a hand on her jeans, tone deepening into need. “Once these come off, you’re mine in every way.”

  Jennifer screamed.

  Donner nodded at Louis, who assumed a sentry position.

  “Again, girl!” Donner insisted, sliding that hand up her shirt to rip the front of her bra apart.

  “Kyle! Kyle! Kyleee!”

  Donner squeezed greedily, thrusting forward. “Later, we’ll get back to this position.”

  He rose in a quick move, fastening his pants to be ready for her to run, but Jennifer only sobbed as she rolled over.

  “Put out word on anyone named Kyle. Sweep the troops with a surprise roll call,” Donner ordered. “Get her secured.”

  Louis grabbed Jennifer roughly, yanking her to her feet. As she veered toward the jeep, Donner came around and punched her in the temple.

  The Special Forces man caught her as she fell and hefted her over his shoulder as Donner duc
ked into the jeep.

  Louis tied her hands after he dumped her into the seat, lingering on her soft hair before he shut the door. His late girlfriend had been a brunette and about this size. Maybe after Donner was finished, he would pass this one around, like the women in Canada.

  2

  “Shhh!”

  Charlie and Becky stayed silent and still as they woke. The male voices were loud, close.

  Charlie eased toward the curtain he’d hung and slowly peeled open a corner. He quickly shut it, moving to where Becky was clutching her gun as if they were about to have a shootout.

  “A small group, five of them. Probably scouting,” Charlie told her.

  “What should we do?” Becky whispered.

  “Wait until they go, I think,” Charlie said, quietly gathering up their things. “Let’s be ready to run if we have to.”

  “Wait.”

  “What?”

  “We’re searching for them anyway, aren’t we? Kinda?”

  Charlie got her point and spent a moment considering it. “We are supposed to be hunting… You sure?”

  Becky nodded shakily. “Yes. It’s us or them.”

  “Okay. Let’s slip out the back first and come around,” Charlie instructed wisely. “I want this cave to run to if we need it.”

  “We’ll leave the curtain up and no one will find it for at least twenty years,” she praised nervously.

  Charlie understood, as much as he could. “My mom said you don’t have to do this.”

  “I know,” she responded. “But I’m good now. Let’s go give ‘em hell.”

  “You know it.”

  The pair slipped down through the rear of the cave, where the narrow opening would prevent all but the thinnest of adults from getting through this direction, and emerged into the dim, cold daylight.

  It took a few minutes to circle around, but it would have been hard to miss the loud male voices comparing life underground to life on top. They weren’t being quiet or careful, clearly not expecting to run into anyone this far away from Lookout Mountain.

  Charlie waved Becky behind him as they came into view and the five soldiers tensed. Hands went to holsters, faces cruel.

  Charlie felt Becky tense behind him.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’ll do it. You just keep it together.”

  “Okay,” Becky sniffled nervously, almost unable to believe they were here, doing this.

  Charlie held up his hands, grinning. “Hey! Maybe you guys can help us!”

  The soldiers were ignoring him in favor of leering at Becky and Charlie put his hands down. “We’ve been alone for a while. My sister needs help.”

  “Oh, we’ll help her, kid,” the closest man leered. “Come on over here, baby.”

  Becky took a step and Charlie yanked his gun from the pocket of his hoodie and began firing.

  Charlie’s first shot hit the farthest man in the chest, knocking him to the ground. The second quick pull of the trigger dropped the Corporal next to him with a trim through the throat. Blood gushed as he began to suffocate.

  The three remaining men started to raise their weapons, finally reacting, but a grenade finished the short battle. The soldiers dove to avoid the explosion and Charlie managed to shoot all three of them in the chaos.

  “Down!” Becky shouted. She had remembered to count.

  They hit the dirt as the grenade exploded.

  As the debris settled, Charlie made sure the men were all dead with extra rounds.

  Becky watched without reacting. She didn’t fear death or pain, only being raped.

  Charlie grimaced as he used blood to write the message on the jeep seats, as he’d been instructed. “You can do the next one.”

  “Okay.” Becky agreed. It would be easier now that she’d seen how it was supposed to go. She’d been terrified that the soldiers wouldn’t be distracted enough, that she was too ugly to keep their attention while Charlie killed them, but Angela’s outfit had certainly done the trick. The bathing suit top and blue jean shorts made her feel almost naked. She quickly donned her long coat while Charlie gathered the guns, ammo, and a few other items on their list of things to never leave behind. Angela knew they would need these supplies later, but it was also to make sure the enemy couldn’t come through and resupply themselves. Without reinforcements and ammunition runs, the soldiers would be at Angela’s mercy and she didn’t have any. Neither did her teenage son.

  Charlie and Becky returned to their little cave long enough to erase their tracks and signs, then continued down the mountain. They were both happy with their first test of adapting to a new situation.

  “I’ll let him know, if you want,” Becky offered, using her grid to make sure they were in the correct place. “We should run into them shortly.”

  “I’ll let him know now and give him time to blow off steam before we meet up.”

  “Okay.” High on getting justice in any form, Becky giggled. “Good idea.”

  The soldiers were the enemy, the same as Rick had been. It felt good to kill them.

  Charlie frowned a bit, picking up her thoughts, but he didn’t say anything. Killing wasn’t supposed to be fun… Was it?

  3

  “Get on there, you son of a bitch!”

  Samantha had been fighting with her blind for an hour, but still didn’t have it the way she wanted. The sun was getting higher in the sky, a time when she needed to be under cover, and yet here she was, fighting with a straw curtain.

  Sam sighed, correcting herself. She was doing fine with the blind. It was her mental state that wasn’t so hot. She hated waking up alone and hadn’t shaken off the morning fog yet.

  Her fingers slipped the tied wire over the stick frame and she exclaimed happily as the rest of it fell into place the way it had in classes. Her time with Kenn had been a huge help, though he still didn’t know why she’d asked for lessons on it. When she’d dug the sniper training out of him, he’d assumed she wanted it for one of her boyfriends, not for herself.

  The trees here were a mix of healthy and dying, many with mold growing up the trunks, but Samantha didn’t mind. Her gear was thick overalls and sturdy gloves that allowed her to scale the trunks without concern. Her only worry up here was hitting wet leaves and falling while trying to get her blind in place. The foliage was busy getting set for the change of season as well and crunching would be an easy alert that someone was nearby.

  Samantha finished setting her cover and got on the next part of her instructions. The escape plan was something she would definitely need. She took her time choosing the correct path through the cliffs.

  It was rocky and rough here, hard to walk, let alone run up or down, and Sam kept low as she traveled. There was no way to know who might be in this area with her, theirs or her own, and she stayed hidden, as she’d done during her time after the war. Only now, she had weapons and knew how to use them. Sam also kept an ear out for engines. According to her instructions, the supplies she needed would be delivered in the next few hours. She didn’t want to miss that. Those long crates were critical.

  On the cliffs above Samantha, her protection was sweeping their surroundings alertly. If Sam wasn’t able to get under cover in time, he had instructions to delay whoever was about to discover her. Billy had already decided he would do that by Sam’s side if there were more than she could handle. He’d witnessed her using the equipment that was coming. Angela was right to worry over the success here. This side of the mountain would see a lot of action. Samantha was good and she would have the element of surprise, but she also had common sense. If they were overwhelmed, she would welcome an extra hand.

  Billy used his binoculars to view the land around her, spotting animals, but no people. He then checked the area around himself, hoping for the same. A faint flash of sunlight off someone’s rifle glinted and Billy’s heart stopped before he realized he recognized the shadow keeping to the trees that lined the cliffs to the left.

  The Eagle waved, then motione
d.

  Billy grinned in relief. He gestured and then pointed to where Samantha was now carefully marking her escape route with natural forage items. Then Billy curled up to grab a few hours of sleep. He’d been wondering how he was supposed to stay awake all the time, but Angela had that covered too.

  Jax stared down at the blonde placing a thick rock by a fork in the path before kicking leaves and dirt over it. She knelt down and blew odd patterns in the sand that would seem natural, then swept away her tracks with a crooked branch. After tossing a few handfuls of dirt and leaves onto the path, Sam relieved herself and then settled into the blind. She appeared to be fine, under control, but Jax couldn’t help the concern. He had no idea what she was supposed to be doing, but if she got into trouble, he was breaking his instructions of no contact and damn the price. No female under his watch could ever be killed. It was his single biggest goal as an Eagle now. There was no way he could live with all that guilt, not after what losing Leslie had done to him. He didn’t think he’d ever feel normal again and she’d only been a lover! He hadn’t had enough time to discover if it had actually been love. The robbed feeling was a sharp blade that continued to slice him open months after her death. Had she been the one?

  4

  Answer me!

  The mental shout was so strong that it felt like someone had fired a gun inside a closed space.

  Adrian drove faster, hoping their next stop would cool Marc off, though he did understand the wolfman’s outrage. They had listened to Charlie’s mental message with horror and anger.

  We took out five of them. They stumbled across us while we were sleeping. Tell her we’re good and rolling.

  “She’s using kids as killers!” Marc bellowed, making everyone in the truck jump.

  “Yeah, we got that,” Kenn sneered. “Now shut up. We need to think.”

  Marc controlled himself by a hair. “She didn’t tell me that he was going in!”

  Adrian and Kenn both enjoyed that.

  “She probably assumed you would try to interfere,” Kenn said. “So cool down and do what you keep telling the rest of us: follow your instructions,” he sneered.