The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

  Angela was proud of them, though she didn’t embarrass the couple by pointing it out. Britani had believed Gus’s gift was a type of disability. That made sense, considering that the old world had disapproved of supernatural experiences. Their society had preferred illusions of control and civility over the painful adjustments required after admitting any hard truth.

  “We have water again!”

  The shout echoed through the cave, bringing relief.

  Just making it to the exit, Kenn grinned at Gus.

  Gus chuckled, shrugging. “Dude, I got it like that.”

  Kenn was still laughing as they disappeared into the tunnel.

  Britani noticed the interaction and allowed herself to hope that Gus would fit in. It was impossible not to worry over how other folks would react. They’d been dealing with it all their lives. Most people were great, but those who weren’t had made it hard not to brace for trouble with everyone.

  The room went quiet as two more men appeared.

  Ray went to stand by Jennifer, cheeks red from all the stares.

  Jimmy went to Angela. “All three in one place. Perfect.”

  The doctor sank down next to them and opened his bag. “How are we all today?”

  Jennifer and Samantha laughed, while Angela rolled her eyes. The doctor would put on a great show to encourage some of the Islanders to stay because of his skills. Angela wasn’t mad about it. In fact, it was what she would have done if she’d thought any of his could be converted. All this show meant was that he’d sensed some of her members didn’t trust magic, but they wanted the defense, so they’d chosen the Islanders. He was right, but that didn’t mean his show would succeed, especially not after the blast of her love. When an alpha was happy with you, nothing else in the world could compare to it.

  3

  Kyle went to the mess floor while Jennifer was busy. Those going off on their own were supposed to meet and pick a leader, or decide how to divide their supplies. Kyle had already had reports of fighting there. He wanted to be positive that everyone in that group was willing.

  “I won’t do that.”

  “You’ll do what I tell you. When the freaks are gone, I’ll be the ruler here.”

  Kyle paused at the edge of the debris pile, out of sight. It sounded as if dangerous plans were being made.

  “All you have to do is tell them you’re sick and hang out with their wounded. We’ll need you to let us in.”

  Kyle’s anger was caught in a war with his disgust. He was sick of the plots and schemes, of the betrayals. If not for Angela’s desire to keep the peace, Kyle would have ended the meeting with gunshots. Not certain what she would want him to do, Kyle sent a mental call. Jennifer would pass on the message.

  When he finished, Kyle left the area, joining the mess guard team. There would be trouble on this floor. He needed to be here for it.

  “Tell him.” Angela stood up, walking toward the passage. “All of it.”

  Jennifer began to tell Jimmy what some of the other Mountaineers were planning.

  Angela paused by Ray. “We’ll need to add that to our list of prep for the bugout. They’ll try to grab our gear or vehicles.”

  Ray added it to his list.

  Angela motioned at several people. “I’d like to make rounds. Are you guys up for it?”

  Tracy and Greg nodded, but Charlie frowned. “I’ve been up all night. I may not be much help.”

  “When I let Kenn go, so can you.”

  “Deal.”

  Angela stood up and found Adrian a few feet away.

  Adrian was thrilled at the time with her. “Marc said not to leave you alone.”

  Also pleased, but unable to show it, Angela’s lips thinned into a line.

  Connected, Adrian felt her true emotions and hurt because he couldn’t share it with her. As he realized it would always be that way, Adrian sighed in defeat. And I thought I was an evil bastard. Marc topped me.

  Not far away, Marc began to whistle.

  Ray took up Adrian’s post along the wall to watch over the camp. Despite wanting to go along, Ray was relieved that he hadn’t been chosen. Angela would tour all the levels, including the bottom floor and Ray couldn’t endure that right now. The tremor had sent his mind straight to Dennis’s death and he was positive that it had done the same to Dale. He was the last person his former lover wanted comfort from. In fact, they probably wouldn’t see each other again.

  Ray shuddered. I’ll never be the same.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Digging Deep

  1

  “Where to?” Adrian took the lead, while Charlie brought up the rear.

  “We’ll work our way up from the bottom.” Angela ignored Adrian’s disapproval. Until the bugout, she was the queen and every inch of this mountain was her castle.

  Adrian couldn’t help the chuckle. She’d decided to regain control or arrest them all, but she’d brought a handful of support that he doubted she needed anymore. He and the others were here to serve as witnesses.

  “More like my conscience.” Angela didn’t censor her words or lower her voice as she reached the bottom level. “I’ve run out of patience and mercy. If I detect evil, it will be eliminated unless all of you agree they should be spared.”

  Adrian’s amusement fell as he understood Angela had also decided to do a final cleaning of the residents here. Not sure why he was so worried, Adrian led her into the body tunnel, hoping she would calm down. Her anger was boiling.

  “Should I be pleased they’re tearing it all apart?” Angela’s tone was cold, drawing attention from those on the bottom level. The odors were staggering on this floor. The waste was becoming a bigger problem than the bodies.

  “Would you have stood by?”

  Adrian didn’t answer. He wasn’t positive how he would have reacted. He might have ordered a cleaning or he might have tried again to reach those he deemed worthy of saving.

  “My call is to eliminate future threats. If they plan to come here or come for us, they will be arrested.”

  Satisfied that she didn’t intend for him and Charlie to kill them on the spot, Adrian gestured toward a stack of bodies. “Recent losses.”

  Angela scanned the stack, betraying no expression. “Those aren’t losses.”

  She swept the corridors that led to the pit, noting the other bodies had all been removed now.

  “No ants so far, but the spiders and centipedes are all over the clothes. We’re not sure what to do until we can get it cleaned.”

  “That will be a while. We don’t have water to waste on laundry or even cleaning. Shut down all usage that isn’t cooking or drinking. Full ration conditions on all consumables and that includes flashlights. No nightlights. Use your ears.”

  Tonya wrote it down. “We’re almost out of sedative. We didn’t consider having to use so much in a week.”

  Angela sighed. “We can’t fix that until the UN fight. Keep digging for our power gear. We had ten boxes of those useless glow sticks. That would hold us a few days.”

  Angela listened to coughs and nose blows ringing through the tunnels. “We found a bag of those little tissue packs. Hand those out. It won’t hold us for long, but maybe we’ll get lucky and locate the toilet paper boxes today.”

  Tonya wrote it down, thinking of the morning dump she was used to taking. Without a wipe, it wasn’t the same.

  Angela took her time going through the wounded and the camp members who were staying. All she found in them was fear and mistrust. They wanted her to be gone. All of them were convinced she was the evil in disguise.

  Angela went to the ladder with a heavy heart.

  Coming down, Jimmy caught her pain. He tried to ignore it, but the emotion was too vivid. “You’ll gather other sheep.”

  “Yes.” Aware of being studied from cubbyholes and shoddy shelters, Angela said goodbye. “Thank you for being a part of our light. I wish you peace and prosperity.”

  “Will we have it?” Jimmy hadn’t mean
t to ask, but at that moment, he had to know. “Do we survive?”

  Angela sighed, head shaking in slow motion. “Not even one of you.”

  She went up the ladder without trying to convince him. Jimmy had made his choice to be against magic before he ever came to Safe Haven. He wouldn’t change his mind.

  Angela stopped on the crushed level where a dozen souls were laboring on the debris piles. Thanks to finding a survivor alive, the piles had been dented. She noted they were being sorted into blankets and toys, and gave Charlie an approving nod. The bugout would be hard on the kids. Even dirty comforts were still comforts.

  Ivan was enjoying his easy post, happy to see James, Peter, and Booth digging through the rubble with camp members. They’d known each other in the bunker.

  Ivan lingered around the edges, trying not to get in the way. Marc had told him Angie would give him something to do when she realized he was an extra guard that could be working, but Ivan was content to observe. It wasn’t very often that he was in the same area that Angela was and he wanted to know why they were having so many problems with her. From what he could see, she was like any other female.

  Laughter echoed from multiple directions.

  Ivan flushed as he realized every descendant within mental range was snickering at his thoughts. He studied Angela harder. What am I missing?

  Wearing dirty jeans and an even dirtier Eagle jacket, her long braid was in wild disarray and had begun to show her age. Though well shaped, with a nice face, Ivan didn’t understand the attraction. Shrugging, he studied the other laborers. After his decision about her, Ivan was surprised to find half the males staring at her in admiration and desire. Frustrated that he couldn’t see what they could, Ivan put his back to all of them, trying to work it out. He’d heard the stories. He’d helped Marc track her down, but that wasn’t why he had come. He couldn’t care less about Angela or whatever an alpha was. He was here to serve Marc.

  “He knows that. That’s why you were given duty over me.”

  Ivan felt a chill. So what? Any woman’s voice can do that to me. I stay hard.

  Angela refused to rise to the challenge. Ivan was hoping she would prove that she was worthy of the attention she was getting, but Angela didn’t want yet another dog panting after her. In fact, she liked Ivan because he wasn’t interested.

  Angela faced her crew. “I’m ready for the other updates.”

  Adrian switched places with Tracy. “We had no survivors from the animal population except for that damn cat and a few honeybees. The hive was destroyed, but the vet managed to stick pieces of it in a coffee can for their survivors. They might make it. We found food on this level, but a lot of it was already ruined. Kenn and I oversaw it. We salvaged as much as we could. Two weeks’ worth.”

  Angela counted quickly. “That’s less than four days per group.”

  “Yes, but we’re still digging. We had months of nonperishable items. We have to locate them.”

  Angela scanned the debris piles, unable to get a read on anything specific. Her abilities were wonky today, but she didn’t have time to stress over it. “Let’s concentrate our efforts on this pile here. When we get to the top level, we’ll spend some time with the kids, doing a private lesson. By the time that’s finished, we’ll need to start on lunch for everyone. I want you to tell Marc to divvy up the supplies now. If we do it later, we’ll lose some of it during the transfer.”

  “I’ll make sure he knows. What about the water and the weapons?”

  “We’re leaving most of the water for Jimmy’s group. We’re taking the weapons. The citizens who are going out on their own are already acting desperate. If there’s a single incident after this, I’m going to order the Eagles to disarm them of what they already have. It would be foolish to give them more so that they can use it against us.”

  “Dad’s handling some of that now.” Charlie glanced upward. “We’ll hear it in a minute.”

  Angela wasn’t worried about Marc getting hurt or about the camp being triggered into a stampede at this point. Things had already gotten so far out of hand that if they didn’t clamp down on the worst of the offenders, everyone would stop obeying the rules. “We’ll skip that level.” Angela walked around Ivan, who was standing near the exit with his back to everyone. “The kids should be eating right now. They’re no threat to me. I want the sentries on that level working instead of babysitting.”

  As she went by, Ivan shivered at an unexpected wave of loneliness. He knew what had triggered it and crossed his arms over his chest. That doesn’t mean anything. She’s just another walking, talking piece of ass.

  Angela stopped.

  She turned and locked eyes with Ivan, unable to walk away from that. She connected them mentally, doing a deep scan while she was there. Marc trusted him, but Angela had no dealings with Ivan other than what was happening right now.

  Around them, everyone stilled, waiting for Angela to determine the man’s fate.

  Ivan understood that if she found anything bad in his mind, he was likely to be killed, but it didn’t matter. The feel of her was indescribable. There wasn’t anything she could ask him for that he wouldn’t try to deliver now and that was from a mere impersonal mental scan. What would it be like to have her smile?

  Angela studied the man, not breaking the connection. “Perhaps you should try to find out...”

  She let another second of communication flow between them and then rotated toward the corridor. “Put him on my detail while I sleep.”

  Adrian frowned. “What?”

  Charlie laughed.

  As they went up the ladder, a tense silence filled the cave. Few of the Runaways or Mountaineers understood, but the Eagles knew a call was coming through. During their time in the mountain, they had learned to identify some of the common noises. That tense pause where it felt as though the mountain had frozen around them always preceded a radio transmission.

  “This is Kevin. Come in, Safe Haven.”

  Angela paused this time. She wanted to answer that call. Jennifer’s vision had included both Kevin and Jeff, but there was no way for her to communicate that. She was positive their enemy was listening for responses 24-hours a day. She wanted the UN caught off-guard, but more than that, she needed the time between now and their arrival to be sure the refugees outside were too sick to fight. Deep down, as much as it bothered her, she hoped they were all dead. She hadn’t ordered the laptop switched on yet today, but that was on her list of things to check after the meeting with the descendant children. Despite the constant chaos, that young band of magic users had to be brought under control before they hurt someone.

  “Come in, Safe Haven. This is Kevin. Hello? Can anyone hear me?”

  The call echoed through weak radios on each floor.

  Forced, Angela sent a command that reached every person in the cave. We are on radio silence. Do not answer or use your radios. If caught, the penalty is immediate death.

  “Is there any way we can confiscate the radios?”

  After her threat, Angela didn’t scold Tracy for the mutter. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but I did make a plan. It will depend on our cook’s willingness to add a special sauce to tonight’s meal.”

  It was unlikely that Britani would agree to drug an entire cave of inhabitants based on a request from any of them. She wasn’t an Eagle yet. She wouldn’t understand the need for radio silence.

  “I’ll speak to her.” Tracy was behind Angela on the ladder, eager to be useful. She’d settled most of her demons.

  “I’ll assign you to help with the meal. If she won’t do it, will you?”

  “Yes.” Tracy wasn’t bothered by the chore. She was terrified of being captured by the UN, however. If putting the camp to sleep a couple hours early saved all their lives, she would do it and be glad.

  Charlie looked at Adrian for help.

  Adrian shook his head. “I’m not the one you have to talk to. I’m not running this show anymore.”

&nbs
p; Angela didn’t respond. Tracy wanted to serve and she needed things done. “Let’s hit the top floor now. The kids are getting restless and that’s not good.”

  2

  “That’s my gun!” Dylan lunged toward Marc.

  Marc shoved the man against the wall, letting his demon bleed through. It had returned in a burst of anger and defense as the camp member swung on him.

  “Sit down and cool off!” Marc studied his crew and saw Eagles ready to shoot. “Dylan is under arrest. Cuff him.” He regarded the group of scared, tired survivors Dylan had been forcing to stay. “If you’re staying in the mountain, get to the bottom level. If you’re going with us, get to the top level.”

  “What if we’re not doing either of those?”

  Marc located the owner of the defiant question. The man was tall and thin, with grungy clothes and wounded hands. “The mess has sentries. You can stay there until we open the passage.”

  Instead of gratitude, the man frowned. “Why do we have guards?”

  Marc scowled back. “Really? We’ve had guards the entire time you’ve been here. Why would this be different?”

  Oliver scowled. “We aren’t in your camp anymore. We don’t have your rules.”

  “But that’s where you’re wrong, my friend.” Marc was hot. “You’re enjoying our hospitality and being fed from our stocks. You’ll behave or you’ll be arrested.”

  “On what charges?”

  Marc grunted in annoyance. “Dylan is being charged with holding people against their will, threatening lives, causing panic, and assault. Would you like to join him? You are his partner.”

  Oliver held up a hand. “Those were his plans, not mine.”

  “You didn’t stop him or tell anyone he was planning to attack.”

  “I figured we’d get out there and he’d forget about it.”

  “He’s lying.” Dylan was on the ground, dazed from Marc’s shove into the wall. “He said he could get by the sentry on the water room because they’re friends.”

  Marc scanned Oliver and gestured. “Arrest him.”