by Angela White
“Run! Run!”
The team made it to the entrance before they heard the first gunshot. As bullets began to ricochet off the cliffs and crags around then, Marc brought up his shield. He was in the rear of the line. As long as none of the slugs got by him, everyone in front would be fine.
Aware that Marc was being shot at, Kyle and Adrian gestured the others to keep moving. They all wanted to be close to the man in case Marc tried to rescue someone or do something else stupid like that. New leaders were notorious for trying to keep all of their citizens alive, but sometimes it wasn’t possible.
The Mexicans came up the hill in an orderly formation that was terrifying. The tank leading the procession was flanked by a big semi with a grinning lunatic behind the windshield that immediately reminded the senior Eagles of the rest stop and Cesar.
Eagles shoved into the tunnels to avoid the continuous shots, all hoping the tank didn’t fire.
“Fuckin’ ghost won’t quit haunting us,” Kyle muttered, rubbing the scar on his hand from Angela’s teeth.
Marc joined them, shield glowing brilliantly. Out of time, he motioned to Kyle. “Do it.”
Everyone else hurried up the corridor as the mobster knelt down to uncover the control box hidden in a crevice in the stone. Thanks to Theo’s setup, everything was ready, but they would all need to be running as the bottom portion of the corridor collapsed.
Kyle set the pack down, finger hovering over the switch. He wanted to do damage with this first blow. Like Angela, he needed the enemy to know how dangerous they were.
As the first group of guerillas reached the top of the rocky entrance hill and started into the tunnel, Kyle flipped the switch. He took off running, but was lifted off his feet in the concussion from the blast and tossed forward with all the other debris.
The explosion wasn’t large. Most of Safe Haven had no idea that there was yet another life or death struggle happening on their doorstep, but for the team in the passage, the noise was deafening and tiresome. They were tired of explosions and rocks falling.
As the lower part of the cavern collapsed, Kyle managed to crawl forward through the shock. It was just enough to be in the camp as the entry sealed behind him.
The explosion triggered a small avalanche from the cliffs above the tunnel, burying the guerillas that had rushed in. It rained down on the tank, doing no harm, but the semi was sprayed with heavy rocks and then slammed sideways by a washing machine sized boulder that flew through the windshield. The semi shuddered, cabin rocked toward the edge of the cliff.
A few vehicles back, the leader of the Mexicans stood up to lean on his jeep frame, staring in disbelief. He’d lost two dozen men and a semi plus the driver. How had that happened?
“I told you we should have let them go,” a snippy voice quipped from the vehicle next to him.
Mikel’s throw was so fast that Marietta didn’t know there was a blade protruding from her throat at first. It was more of a straight razor with a handle than a knife.
Marietta sucked in air around the knife in panic as she realized what was happening, suffocating. Tears rolled down her bronzed cheeks.
Mikel reached out and snatched his knife free, not bothering to wipe it clean as he stowed it in the special sheath on his belt.
The woman, his latest whore, fell off the foot rail where she’d been standing. Marietta had been a good shot, but she’d run off at the mouth one too many times. He was glad to be rid of her.
Mikel slid into the seat and began turning the jeep around. He didn’t order his guys to dig out any fighters who might have survived. He’d brought enough men to spare on moments like this. He’d simply been surprised to view two of his main targets out in the open. Mikel was certain it wouldn’t happen again. The rats would dig in now, hoping their hunters would get bored and depart.
“You don’t know me!” he jeered madly, tittering madly. “I’m not my cousins. When you finally emerge, I’ll be waiting… If I don’t dig a way in to you before the food runs out in that grave.”
2
Disoriented, Kyle didn’t struggle when Adrian hefted him up and over a shoulder, even though he didn’t want anything to do with the man. Right now, he just wanted the ringing in his ears to stop.
The trip up the tunnel seemed longer than it actually took. All of the men were tired. That was the way things were now. No one put in a full eight hours of labor anymore, so when real labor came, bodies weren’t used to it. Adrian had known that was a possible risk, but there had been little choice. People were now undependable in most situations. They needed breaks from the way the world had become ‘eat or be eaten’ so abruptly. Hiding from reality that way made them all a bit unsteady when they came out, but it was a small price to pay for sanity. There was no way that the citizens who had survived such an awful event as the apocalypse could ever be shoved back into 9-to-5 lives. They would have to be nursed into that lifestyle, if they were ever able to do it again at all. The children of this generation might be able to pick up where their parents had left off, but the inhabitants who made up Safe Haven’s everyday life right now were broken. They needed a break.
When they reached the top of the corridor, Zack met them. Marc motioned Adrian and David toward their usual spot. “You guys are in quarantine down here.”
Adrian didn’t protest. He didn’t want to be in the medical bay around Angela. It would already be hard enough to stay away from her knowing how close they were with him in Safe Haven.
Marc gestured to the duty booth where Allan and Howard were on watch. “Drop the food here. They’ll see that it gets to the stock rooms.”
The rest of the team went up to the medical bay to be tested. On the way, Marc sent runners to the senior guys on duty to let them know that things were fine. It wasn’t necessarily true, but they were a little bit safer than they had been before the trip out of the mountain. Other than that top entrance, now there were two tunnels open and one of them had Adrian camped at the entrance. The other was hidden so well that not even Safe Haven’s citizens had found it until a few days ago. The Mexicans weren’t getting in. Safe Haven also wasn’t getting out. According to Angela, that was the only way that they would survive. Marc wasn’t looking forward to viewing the proof of her words. As far as he was concerned, if they survived the radiation, they should stay down here until winter was over and deal with everything else come spring.
Adrian shook his head, picking up the thought. Marc still didn’t understand how important it was for the herd to be off American soil as soon as possible. “But Angela does. She’ll make sure it happens. That’s why I gave her leadership. She won’t let me down.”
3
Neil was perched on the edge of the security post as the dusty team emerged from the bottom levels. He was no longer on duty over Angela, but he had stayed with her anyway when she’d wandered down to wait for the team to return. Her official sentry, Brandon, was in the shadows, trying to blend in and impress everyone.
“Anything I can do?”
“Not that I can think of,” Marc answered tiredly as he slid the kit off his shoulders and began stripping gear. He waved the others to continue. “We already had the top levels mostly closed off. All we have to do now is stay in and keep things tight.”
“Sounds like easy duty,” Neil joked.
Angela tensed.
Marc and Neil exchanged concerned glances as a chill swept through the tunnels.
“The kids!” a cry echoed down the cavern.
Heavy steps rushed their way.
“You’ll be in the medical bay?” Marc asked her, spotting Hilda and Ray coming toward them.
“I will. Be careful,” Angela murmured, moving aside so he could go. Life as Safe Haven’s boss was never easy.
Neil still stayed with Angela, but they’d barely gotten out of sight when more steps sounded from the opposite direction.
Millie hurried to them with a horrified expression. “Becky’s gone! She left a note.”
&
nbsp; “Becky ran away?” Neil questioned in shock. “Why? When?”
Millie grabbed his arm, dragging him toward the living quarters. “Come on. Peggy found the note. She wants Doug to chase after the idiot girl.”
Breaking the rule without even thinking about it, Neil went with her, gesturing to Brandon. “Tell Marc.”
Brandon took off down the tunnel at a fast jog. He would relay the message to the first guard he found and then resume his post.
Angela was forgotten.
Glad of it, she carefully climbed the level ladder that emerged near the brig. She was never happy about chaos in camp, but one thing always lead to another. Those two events would bring about more of the changes Safe Haven desperately needed. All they had to do was the same thing they’d been doing–survive it long enough to learn from it.
The detention center, which was one bare step above the brig in comfort, was shoved into a rear cave and had wider cells with the same steel bars. Theo and Kenn had toiled together on that one to keep it quiet. They had a more modern system than the camp would care for. Thanks to water hoses and drain cracks, prisoners didn’t even have to be let out for baths. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was the safest way.
Chauncey was in the farthest cell, where he would be trapped or crushed in a collapse. His cavity dipped down sharply in the rear, still preventing room for exercise.
“I’d like to switch you to a better place,” Angela offered, slowly sitting down on the stool by his barred gate.
The guards, Barry and Whitney came closer to protect her, but they didn’t alert anyone. Both of those men considered Angela their leader and as such, she had every right to be here alone.
Chauncey stood up, came over to the bars. He looked rough, but Angela suspected much of it was an act for sympathy.
“Extra food portions?” she guessed.
Caught, Chauncey grinned. “Good grub here.”
“I’ll give the cook your compliments,” Angela sent. “You’ll miss our food when we go.”
“To the island?”
“Yes. You’ll be here. I’ve seen it.”
“But I gave that girl the information,” he protested. “You’ve read it!”
“So?”
Chauncey regarded her in horror. “You don’t want them to know about my gift.”
“I don’t think I can keep them from killing you,” Angela admitted, leaning against the wall. “When the others like me find out that you were the reason the government was able to keep track of us, someone will shove you down the stairs and claim it was an accident or gut you in the shower. I can’t protect you.”
Flipping into sullen, the man tossed himself down onto the cot. “I want to go with you.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared.
“Convince me it’s worth the trouble of extra guards and drama,” Angela ordered. “Give me at least two great reasons why you should be forgiven and embraced as one of us.”
Chauncey studied the options and came up with one–telling the truth. “I came here for Safe Haven’s light. In any way that I could.”
“I knew that and still let you torment me.”
“Because it was also the truth,” he pointed out. “I was told to come here.”
“By Donner.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been screwing with me because you can or because there’s more to the plan that hasn’t happened yet?”
“Because I hate you!” Chauncey shouted, face turning purple. “I hate you and all our kind. We’re evil.”
The guards came to stand next to Angela. Whitney’s cast glinted with signatures in the lantern light.
“You can track and record,” she guessed. “You have no true value to anyone.”
Broken, Chauncey dropped his chin. “Yes.”
“Now that we have the truth, the leader of Safe Haven will decide your fate.”
“I want to touch the ocean,” Chauncey whispered sadly. “I never have.”
Angela refused his plea, returning to the medical bay after ordering the guards to tell Marc everything. Another loose end would be cleaned up once people knew. Chauncey was a traitor, sent in by Donner to mess with descendant minds. Absolution could never come from one such as him.
Angela entered the medical bay in time to observe Doug awkwardly placing Peggy’s large form onto one of the cots. She’d obviously fainted at Doug refusing to go after the wild girl. The doctor and his students were gathered around the pair, quacking in concern.
Not wanting the stress, Angela quietly left. She would pick a quiet place to curl up for a while. Being in these passages was a constant reminder of her missing child.
Hoots and cackles from children in the game area floated down, taunting her.
Angela found an empty storage compartment and curled up on the floor, tears flowing.
4
“The kids have to be in that hidden tunnel,” Billy told Marc an hour later, joining him in the living quarters where the camp had needed to be calmed down again after hearing that some of their kids had run away. “We also have two women missing who were slaves in Cesar’s camp.”
It was understandable that the former slaves and children who had been held by the Mexicans would be scared and fear caused people to do crazy things. Once Marc explained it that way, citizens would settle down and then he would be free to investigate how it had happened. He’d already discovered that the night post on the kids’ quarters had been empty for fifteen minutes while the duo snuck off for a few minutes alone in a stock room. Both of those Eagles were now in the brig for dereliction of duty, but the damage had been done. They had eleven missing dwellers, counting Becky. Marc didn’t have her on his grid. He also didn’t have the kids, implying they were being shielded. As far as he knew, Becky didn’t have that type of gift and neither did any of the children. He had told Kyle to assume they’d been taken. He hadn’t told Jennifer anything. He didn’t need to. She was currently digging through the people who had access to anything the kids needed or wanted in case they’d been lured out. When she got out of range of the main cave, Jennifer would redirect her focus to breaking through whatever shield was over them. No one kept her out. Marc refused to contemplate the other implication of neither of them having the people on their grid.
“Is there anything you’d like me to do?” Billy asked.
“Yes, I need…” Marc paused as Kenn appeared to flash a subtle hand signal.
Marc sighed. “I need you to stay here and keep working with people the way we talked about in our first lesson. Be careful, but don’t lie.”
Billy swallowed nervously as he took Marc’s seat next to the security post.
Marc went to the radio cavity, mind racing. “This shit always comes in three or more. Put Tonya on the radio and find Samantha. I need to know what the weather is doing and I’d like Jeremy on the laptop. I also want a current fallout level.”
Kenn vanished, eager to be in the mix now that chaos was visiting them again.
Marc closed the door to the radio cubby and sat down in the warm chair. This should be fun, he reflected. Nothing like walking a tightrope with weights on one ankle.
“Safe Haven, here,” Marc radioed, hoping he was wrong about what this was. He hadn’t known Angela had planned to piss off the Mexicans, but after the narrow escape that had killed people; he should have expected a kidnapping. He just didn’t know how they’d gotten in.
That’s what I get for treating her differently, he complained silently. From now on, Angela will have the same instructions as everyone else.
“Where is the woman who spoke so rudely earlier?” a Mexican voice demanded.
“Resting. I’m in charge of this camp,” Marc informed the man. “You were told to leave our country. Why are you still here?”
“We are at the base of your mountain. We have surrounded it. Until we get what we came for, we will not leave.”
“What did you come for?” Marc asked, thinking it was revenge for Sebastian and Ce
sar since there hadn’t been an immediate ransom demand for their missing kids.
“My family. I believe their names are Royan and Romero.”
Marc leaned back, stunned. He’d never imagined the Mexicans would want Cesar’s sons or that Cesar still had relatives to haunt them. This added a completely new layer of trouble to the situation.
Marc keyed the mike. “Roy and Romeo are members of this camp,” he declared, using the version of the names the boys had chosen to be called. “They will not be handed over to anyone. Leave now before things get uglier.”
Chilly amusement came through the radio.
“My men were right about you and the woman being dangerous, but it will not matter. We defeated the patrols of soldiers who came south during your war. We do not fear the cold or the magic flames. We will not leave until our family has been released. Would you not do the same, if we held relatives of yours?”
“Yes, because they would be slaves if they were with you. These boys were rescued by Safe Haven. They have become full members, with all our protections. We will not hand them over.”
“We will not leave,” Mikel stated firmly. “After a month, when your citizens are hungry, we will still be here. After three months, when your people are dead and dying, we will still be here. Perhaps you wish to consult with the woman who runs things?”
Marc didn’t reply. He’d already given his answer.
“Couldn’t give them to you even if I wanted to,” Marc muttered, thinking of their coming run. At least he knew that the kids had run and not been taken. They’d known they would be a part of the fight.
Marc went to the brig to get a fresh vest and other gear. After that, he and the Special Forces teams would hunt for their missing inhabitants. Their morning hadn’t ended yet.
5
“The numbers haven’t changed down here in the cave yet,” Jeremy told Marc, arriving at the brig to deliver the update as the boss donned his gear. “Nothing is moving on the satellite, except for refugees still coming in from the west.”