The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

Marc dropped into the seat as he understood. “You can’t break the charm because you’re under it too.”

  Adrian sighed in defeat. “I could have been free of it if she’d died in that rest stop.”

  Marc shared Adrian’s memory, his fear of not being able to save her. The emotions were no longer hidden behind a bond of leadership. Love and terror swirled throughout the memory, marking it genuine.

  “If she knows…” Adrian’s dog tags clinked as he forced his bruised, battered body back into the chair. “then she’s giving you the choice by making sure that you know the truth too.”

  “We don’t need you anymore.” Marc’s heart thumped. “That’s the only way she would let me know this.”

  Adrian shook his head, confirming what Marc had suspected when Angela had only made Adrian the spotter and shield magnifier over the last few days. “No.”

  Marc didn’t want the choice now. Either one he made would destroy his relationship.

  “Only because you can’t share!” Adrian spat at Marc. “Greedy bastard!”

  Marc used a fast movement to slam his gun into Adrian’s face. “Fucking Jody!”

  Guards outside the RV exchanged concerned glances. They didn’t know what to do. The fragile peace had obviously been broken.

  “Leave them alone. They’ll work it out.” Kendle was also observing from the shadows.

  “How do you know?” Conner was worried. “It sounds like they’re tearing each other apart.”

  “I know because there hasn’t been a gunshot yet. Marc will beat on your dad and then they’ll talk.” Kendle motioned the boy toward the tents. “You could use some sleep.”

  Conner refused. “I’ll be right here until this is done.”

  Kendle shrugged. “Suit yourself. There are two hours until dawn. I’ll be snoring.”

  As Kendle left, Conner edged closer to the RV, trying to listen. A sudden silence had fallen in place of the shouts and crashes, scaring the boy.

  “When did you decide to do it?” Marc had sat down, too tired to waste his remaining energy on drawing blood when he still needed information. “What happened? What did I do?”

  “It wasn’t you. It was her.” Adrian sucked in air now that Marc wasn’t hitting him in the face or choking him. His skin slowly returned to black and blue instead of purple. “She would have wasted away as your mate. You wanted her to be a member of the herd. She wanted to be a shepherd. She allows me to live because of that. She knows that if I hadn’t done this to all of us, she would be one of the sheep and she can’t stand that idea because she would have hated you for it by now.”

  Marc gestured for him to keep going. “There’s always more with you. Don’t stop now.”

  Adrian didn’t get up off the floor this time. “What do you want to know, boss?”

  “I want to know what flipped you into destroying our lives.”

  “She doesn’t see it that way.” Adrian rested his head against the floor and let Marc into his memory so the man could understand how powerful the moment had been for him.

  “Jeremy found everything on his list and says he has pictures of an entire town that’s undamaged. Cherry Creek. Says it’s completely deserted, but the stores and malls are still intact. Figures the whole town just evacuated in a neat, orderly fashion.”

  Adrian grinned ruefully. “Be the first one of those we’ve run across. Okay, that’s it.” He closed his notebook. “You’ll put the dogs out?”

  “Yeah. Chris says Star’s gonna have a litter come May.”

  “That’s great. We need all the babies we can get,” Kyle stated. He glanced at Kenn, speaking before he thought about it. “Didn’t you tell us that you had one on the way?”

  Angela froze, heart ripping open, and every man at the table scowled when Kenn flushed and turned questioning, embarrassed eyes her way. He hadn’t asked that yet? They’d been alone in his truck for hours!

  Angela couldn’t hide the hate as the awful pain dug into her chest. My baby! “I lost my other son.”

  Her voice was like broken glass, and no one was surprised when she stood up.

  “Excuse me.”

  “I watched her walk away with her head up and guts spilling out. I had to have her.”

  Marc felt like he was going to be sick. Adrian and Angela were bonded through their horrible grief over dead children. He couldn’t compete with that. Only a crazy man would keep trying.

  “But that’s the problem, don’t you see? Neither of us get her if we remove the other. I have to protect you. We have the same catch-22.”

  Marc considered that, remembering times when Adrian had saved his life. He’d always known it was for Angela, just not how deep that went. “What are your three strongest gifts?’

  Adrian wasn’t expecting the question, but he wouldn’t have lied now anyway. “Charm, magnetism, and alpha control.”

  “The charm is what you used?”

  “I wish. Jennifer probably could have broken that.” Adrian felt shame as he admitted his weakness. “I knew I didn’t have a chance unless it was strong. I waited until I felt things for her and then I combined it into a three way hit of all my big gifts. I’d never done it before. I didn’t need to in the past.”

  “You ruined my life with her.”

  “I gave her a new life–one you were too scared and greedy to provide.” Adrian pointed at him. “You knew what she was capable of and you still tried to keep her from it because you wanted her all to yourself. You hated the idea of her being hurt, but it was always the jealousy that made you react the way you did.”

  “You stirred me up at every turn, making me look bad to her, causing us to fight.”

  “Only by telling her yes, whenever you said no.”

  Marc hadn’t ever thought to feel this much helpless hatred toward any person. What’d he’d felt for Kenn was now dim in comparison.

  Adrian knew. He would feel the same if he was Marc, but he wasn’t. He was a corrupt descendant who had fallen in love and was trying to go straight on the off chance that Angela might need him some day. “I’m pathetic.”

  Marc nodded. “That, you are.” He stared at his enemy, mind flying over moments when he’d suspected Adrian was using magic on Angela. “Tell me why I won’t kill you before I leave this RV. Remind me or I’m going to start beating on you again.”

  “How about I give you some advice that will calm you down after you think about it, but it will also secure your relationship?”

  Marc used his middle finger to gesture. “Sure, why not?”

  “Act a little more like me.”

  Marc was morally offended. “Never.”

  Adrian shrugged. “She’s dark inside. Your constant halo makes her feel like shit and she comes to me for the break. Am I supposed to turn her away when I’d give anything to be with her?”

  “Yes, you are!”

  Adrian fingered his black eye. “Might as well kill me now because I can’t do it.”

  “And I can’t do that or she’ll hate me!”

  Adrian jerked his hand. “Then take my advice and stop being the perfect person all the time. She can’t handle it.”

  Marc paused. “I did a bad thing on the trip.”

  Adrian frowned. “That one bothered her.”

  “I don’t understand the line.”

  “It’ll take a few, but I’ve got the time to explain it if you want to listen.”

  Marc propped his feet on an empty seat, anger fading in place of finding a solution to the mess. “I’m all yours. I will be from now on.”

  Adrian grimaced at the warning. Marc would be in his head all the time now, watching for tricks. “You don’t need to do that. I meant it when I shook on our truce.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “That doesn’t matter to me. I gave my word on something.”

  “You broke it when you promised you wouldn’t go after my woman!”

  “I’d already done it.” Adrian shrugged. “The bunker wanted Safe Haven. I had to act f
ast.”

  Marc’s anger simmered again, but he crossed his arms over his chest to keep from lunging. “I can sleep while we travel. Start explaining.”

  “I’ve been with a lot of women.”

  “Yeah, I got that.”

  “I mean I’ve been with them, as in we’ve bonded. Every time we had contact, I made sure we bonded in some form. You could do that without it being a betrayal. She’d not only approve, she’d love it that you care so much.”

  Intrigued, Marc waved him on. Adrian had been the clever one until now, but Marc had learned a valuable lesson after the quake. He’d already begun to mimic some of Adrian’s actions and tactics. Now, he was doing recon for more and Adrian was helping without knowing. Plus, he’d gotten to hit the man a few times. It was the perfect close to the day.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Be Good Now

  1

  That’s enough. Let that one go.

  Billy paused in the downward swing of his knife, staring at the terrified man whose life had just been saved by the voice. As if asleep, Billy stood up and stepped back. “Be good now.”

  The man scrambled backwards, not taking his eyes from Billy. He thumped over the curb, smacking his skull on the ground.

  Billy turned away so the rapist would get up and run. He didn’t want to watch it, however. After the way he had spent the last-24 hours, someone running might trigger his instinct to draw and he still had half a magazine of bullets.

  Billy scanned the town, not caring that he stank or that he was coated in drying layers of gore. When he’d come up from the sewer the night before, he had eliminated the civilians above him. He’d planned to depart the city at that point, but more conversation and thoughts had come, requiring him to take action. The woman in his brain had watched in tolerance while he handled the chore, but now, she was urging him west again.

  Billy stepped over a small stack of bodies, noting the familiar bullet holes. Very few refugees had escaped the city once he had come out of hiding. Slipping through the darkness like the Ghost he could remember now, but still couldn’t place with the man he’d pulled a gun on, Billy had slit throats, stabbed people in their sleep, smashed skulls with bricks, and smothered them with their own packs. All the while, his mind had been in the west.

  Billy marched down the middle of the street, hands resting on his guns. Even though one of them was empty, he was comforted by the sensation under his calloused, bloodstained fingers. Behind him, large crows and other winged scavengers were circling the city. Billy was happy to have fed them.

  As the sound of engines came to his sharp ears, Billy slid into an alley, once again having to step over remnants of his night. The girl that the two men had been holding captive had fled east. Billy hadn’t spoken to her after snapping one man’s neck and slamming the other man’s face into the wall. She’d still been screaming when he walked away. When the screams had stopped, he’d heard her running.

  Billy paused for the vehicle to reach him, noting that the travelers were on a parallel road to the city. He wondered how they would cross the river.

  Billy slid out of hiding long enough to get a view of the approaching people.

  The bright yellow hummer glared in a disrespectful reminder of the old world.

  Billy drew his gun.

  Leave them.

  Billy holstered, turning away. He stayed behind the wall, out of sight, and the engine soon faded. Almost disappointed that he hadn’t been allowed to kill again, Billy made his way across the bridge.

  Deep down, he was certain that he’d gone mad. He had many of his memories back now, but it was all distant to him, as if it had been a movie of someone else’s life. All he wanted from the future was to find the woman who kept calling to him. She was a demon in his mind. He had to reach her.

  “Either to rescue or to kill. I don’t know which.”

  Neither do I. Hurry up and we’ll discover that together.

  Billy broke into a jog, and then a run.

  2

  “I felt someone over there.”

  “Too late now.” Becky took the hummer down the muddy embankment, relieved that the water was only going to reach the tires. Neither of them wanted to waste time finding a safer place to cross.

  In a farmhouse near where they’d left Kendle’s team, Becky and Seth had stumbled onto a UN who had snuck off from his fellow invaders. Seth had forced the terrified Polish man to tell them about the UNs dirty secrets in America, and they had discovered a child trafficking ring that had been based fifty miles from Seth’s home city. They were on their way there now, in hopes that his daughter wasn’t lost after all. It was a tiny hope, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. If the little girl had survived the war, her captivity wouldn’t have been easy since then. Becky assumed it was right to hope the child had died in the war and been spared such a fate, but she couldn’t do that. She wanted Seth to have his daughter.

  Seth shrugged, watching the water roll past them with ugly, fresh debris. He didn’t want to know where the feet and hands had come from. This new world was already ugly enough with blurry vision that came from staying up too late and sleeping too late. He didn’t want to view it any clearer than that.

  “Help!”

  Banging on the roof made Becky cringe.

  Seth ignored it, taking another drink. He was going through half a bottle some days, but the guilt over his daughter was eating him alive. The alcohol was the only thing that shut it up for any length of time.

  “Please! Let me in!”

  Becky didn’t need any more guilt to carry. Abandoning Safe Haven had been a mistake, one she couldn’t change because the camp had been destroyed. They’d heard the celebration calls that the mountain was on fire, but they hadn’t heard any of their people responding, implying no survivors. Becky had taken them out of range after that to keep from going back to kill those who were happy about it. All she could think about was her mom dying in there. She’d dreamed about it. She didn’t know what had happened, but everything that had tied her to the old world was gone.

  “I’m sorry! I won’t try anything! I’m frozen!”

  “Should we bring him in?”

  Seth belched, blowing scotch fumes through the cabin. “He has the strength to bang, so he’s a threat to you.”

  “It’s raining out here!”

  “Can’t we at least give him clothes?” She could imagine how ugly the ride was for the man. Seth had used two full rolls of duct tape. He wasn’t getting off there unless someone cut him free.

  “No. We found him naked with a goat. He can stay that way.”

  3

  “How far behind are we?”

  Allan held up the map. “They were last seen here, going southwest. At twenty-five miles a day, they could be in Oklahoma by now.”

  Doug fell silent, studying the landscape as Jeff drove without speaking. They would be lucky to find them at all. This was a suicide run, but Doug didn’t change his mind. He owed it to Peggy to make sure that Becky was cared for. He would do his duty and hope for the best. In the end, that was all anyone could do.

  Predawn wasn’t still or silent around them. Screams and gunshots echoed randomly, along with glares of fires and lights. Jeff avoided it all, going through yards and alleys when he needed to. He’d gotten good at discovering an alternate path where bandits weren’t lurking in search of weary travelers.

  Jeff thought of the radio calls they’d listened to and forced himself to examine the implications later. Driving through the apocalypse was bad enough, but he was responsible for lives of two little boys and that was important to Jeff.

  He wondered if Doug knew how useless this trip might be and decided the big man did. Doug and Allan had just needed a break from all the light and safety, Jeff assumed. He understood that and didn’t resent them for getting him right back out here. In fact, they were a convenient way to avoid facing his issues. It might be months before he saw another eastern mountain range and like everyone who had been
in that hellhole, he was grateful.

  Allan had no idea why he was here. It could have been a side effect of almost dying in the tunnel shootout, or maybe he couldn’t take any more death, but whatever it was, he felt the weight of the world slip from his shoulders as they continued to roll away from Safe Haven. He’d been carrying it for so long that his shoulders were hunched and pain radiated through his spine. Free of the stress, his body didn’t know how to handle it. Allan settled for stretching and a nap. The future could hold anything. He wanted to be ready for it.

  Doug helped the boys remove their coats as the vehicle warmed, stewing on them a little. He’d half-expected Angela to insist that the boys remain with her. Because she hadn’t, he was worried that it meant they wouldn’t have been safe in camp.

  “Did you consider that they’re going south, with Mexican children whose families recently died trying to take them?”

  Doug stiffened. “She got them out of reach.”

  Jeff shrugged. “We’re going west. The boys were last spotted in the east. There’s an excellent chance she’s trying to protect them while the Eagles load the boat. If anyone comes for them, she’ll handle it and knock out another threat before they sail for the island.”

  Doug was impressed and relieved to be leaving Angela’s path of destruction.

  Jeff swallowed a sharp comment there, trying to come to terms with his own bitterness at Angela. He’d almost reminded Doug that he’d lost his woman because of Angela’s grand plans.

  Doug seemed to know and shook his head. “I’ve never blamed her.” The big man locked eyes with Jeff in the mirror. “And that’s why you’re here–because you do. Time around me and Allan will help you.”

  “What if it doesn’t?”

  Doug grinned at the little boys who were listening. “I’ll have to sic the kids on you.”

  Jeff groaned. “Oh, I am so screwed.”

  4

  David observed the jeep rolling by without reacting. He had traveled steadily since leaving the mountain, only stopping to avoid people and to sleep. He had the proper gear for the weather, thanks to Adrian, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he had been naked. The woman who had started coming to him in his dreams was now speaking during the daytime too. She had informed him that a small family near here needed help. Then she’d told him to keep them alive as long as he could or he wasn’t welcome with her. David hadn’t hesitated to obey.