by Angela White
“Because I asked them too.”
Kenn’s stomach dropped. I should have known.
“Yes, you should have. I told you that you’d pay.”
Charlie was leaning against the mess truck in arrogant triumph. It instantly reminded everyone of his absent father.
Kenn waited, bracing to be struck from his place again.
“I don’t want that now,” Charlie stated, openly reading his mind. “But there is something you have to do.”
“What?” Kenn asked warily. He could feel the trap, but couldn’t determine from which direction it was coming.
“I need a running target for my team practices at night. You’re it.”
When Kenn started to protest, Charlie turned from the approving mess with a light warning, “Unless you’d rather keep pissing blue. Did you know you were the one who collected the Methylene? Ironic, huh? We’re gonna start calling you Smurf-balls.”
Kenn heaved a resigned grunt as the laughing resumed. “One running target, check.”
3
“It’s getting worse here. We can’t recover the bodies or try to dig for survivors. They’re attacking at all hours, returning the favor. We’re sleeping in shifts as the fighting continues.”
Marc’s weary voice over Safe Haven’s speakers had all of them in and outside the gate mesmerized with fear and anger. He’d brought every class and activity to a screeching halt as soon as Angela told Kevin to pipe it over the new speakers. Kenn had rigged them up recently for this purpose.
“We’re pinned in, using the deepest areas so they can’t bunker-buster us out. There are only three days ammunition left and then I’ll have to get mean. If you’re close by and can fight, I need you. If you’re close by and trapped, stay down and get out when they take us. Go to Safe Haven. You’ll be free there.”
The static came for a few seconds and then Marc’s voice echoed again.
“If I go to sleep, none of us may wake up. To fill the time, I’m going to tell you a true story. I’m going to tell you what caused the end of our world.”
Aching, Angela tuned it out. She knew what he was going to say, but it would only stir her up when she needed to calm down. Unlike the camp, who needed to know the truth before they would be ready to fight, she needed to un-hear Marc’s desperation. It was killing him that his men were dying. It was what he’d brought them together for and she could feel his sorrow. It matched her own. What good life takers they’d become.
What if he doesn’t come back?
Angela shoved the witch aside and cowered inside her crypt. “You can have it.”
Greedy enough to want full control, but in love with her host, the witch offered another solution.
Let Adrian in.
Angela wouldn’t do that, not willingly.
Just stay where you are and I’ll…
“No.”
The witch roughly yanked Angela’s arm and shoved her forward. Then get out of here and go do your job!
Forced from her mental shelter, Angela drew her armor on tighter and tried to pretend her soul wasn’t darkening faster than the moon could rise.
4
“I want a team put together.”
Angela’s words were met with unrest instead of the support she’d been expecting.
“Marc told us what to do when this moment came,” Kevin told her, not making eye contact. “No team is allowed to leave Safe Haven for any type of rescue attempt.”
“He made it very clear that anyone who left you unprotected would be on the receiving end of his wrath,” Kenn added.
Angela viewed Kenn in a hateful glower. “I know what your plan is, Smurf-balls. Shut up.”
Smirks and pointed leers came at her open defiance of Kenn’s power over her. It was a good moment.
Angela let the men have it, turning her back to the table. She pulled on her falling levels of patience and control, but her voice wasn’t the rock these men were used to hearing.
“Either I’m the leader here or I’m not. Put a team together to go pull our men from that damn base. Do it right now!” she ordered. “Or I’m resigning. Tonight.”
Angela left the mess amid the protests.
“He should have foreseen that coming,” Adrian commented.
Kenn waited until she was out of earshot. “Well?”
Adrian grunted, rising. “I’ll walk before I take over like this. You make your own choices.”
Adrian followed her and those left behind were forced to ignore the possibility of Marc’s displeasure to start making plans. None of them wanted to die or have Marc killed, but it was easier if their current chain of command stayed together. They hadn’t missed that fact.
Adrian trailed her, but gave plenty of space. She wanted time to think, to figure out what came next. She knew what he’d said, how he longed to be the one who led this mission. Would she send him? He was the only one besides Kenn who might even have a chance at it.
No.
Her broken tone in his mind was proof that she wasn’t allowed to do what she wanted either. “Why not? You don’t need me here.”
Angela stopped at the edge of the perimeter to use a moldy tree for support. “Yes, I do. I don’t want you in the same ways, but I need you. So do they.”
“You won’t risk the herd for him.”
“Never.”
“It hurts to accept what’s honestly inside, to allow yourself to be who you are. You love the sheep more than your mate, as do all the Eagles. Well, maybe not Kyle anymore, but once Jenny…”
Angela left him standing there, not caring about his attempts at distraction or the reality check he felt she needed. The pain in her heart was too heavy to carry. If they didn’t go, she would be on her way come dawn. That was the reason Adrian couldn’t be sent. She wasn’t strong now. She was crumbling by the hour and even if she sent him, she might still break and fly to Marc’s side, leaving Safe Haven without a leader. That couldn’t ever happen.
“It will, though,” Adrian vowed from behind her. “If you leave, I’m duty-bound to protect you. So are the Eagles. If you go, so do we.”
“And so would everyone else.”
“Yes. You’ll lead them to slaughter,” Adrian confirmed.
Angela began silently begging fate to spare Marc. “I want two teams sent instead of one.”
“You’ll stay here while I relay that?”
Angela pulled her gun and headed for the training course, where a large group of camp men were being instructed. “You’ll hear me the whole time you’re gone.”
Adrian still hurried, and he did keep track of her shots echoing furiously across the camp.
5
Another radio report like that and she’ll come to you. We can’t stop her.
Adrian sent the message to Marc as hard as he could, hoping Angela didn’t pick up on it while she was shooting. Those moments were often daze-like, so he had a hope that she wouldn’t. He had his own mental lines to use, but Angela was evolving faster than any descendant he’d known. There was no way to be sure that she couldn’t hear him.
Adrian listened for a return message from Marc, but there was only a tired hatred that didn’t make it far through Safe Haven’s strong boundaries before it was gone.
Adrian sighed. He wouldn’t sleep again tonight. Her misery was his now, and not being able to challenge those bonds like he wanted to made for a surly former leader roaming the camp.
In the QZ parking area, two full teams were preparing for departure. The top Eagles had seen enough by now to understand that Angela had complicated plans to ensure their victory and each of them felt that Marc’s anger was a small price to pay to keep her here and working. Even Adrian hadn’t accomplished as much in this short of time.
That fact was also on Adrian’s mind as he stepped aside for two team members who were carrying heavy crates from the weapons truck. Despite how deeply he cared and how hard he’d tried, Angela was a better leader. Why?
She only lies when she has to, when it serves
the good, his own mental voice spoke up brutally. You commit sins for your own convenience.
Adrian didn’t deny it. Instead, he asked what mattered to him, to the future he could almost taste. How close is she to giving in?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Let’s End This
August 17th
Little Rock AFB
1
“Top floors are finally secure, sir.”
Colonel Hack took the sheet of damages and casualties without glancing at it. “And the bottom?”
“Still the same. As soon as we clear an area and post security, it blows up or collapses. It’s getting hard to find Point men. Same for the roads they used. As they fled, the rebels blew them up or rigged them. We’ve had serious damage to every platoon.”
Hack crumbled the paper and tossed it onto the desk. “How many men do we have left?”
The Sergeant didn’t tell his commanding officer that the stat was on the paper he hadn’t checked. “A hundred and fifty.”
“Damn them!”
Sergeant Davies retreated a bit as the Colonel began pacing. This one wasn’t a fat body sent by command. He was dangerous.
“We started out with over a thousand!”
“Yes, sir. The Ghost has been quiet effective, but we’re here. Base will send reinforcements as soon as we call for them.”
Hack wasn’t ready to do that. If he had to have help, base wouldn’t let him keep command. They’d send out the Butcher.
“Gather them up, fifty per group. Keep them together until...” Hack glanced at his watch. “Last attack was an hour ago…wait three more and then send the entire team into the bottom floors. All remaining men. Flush them out.”
The Sergeant left with doubts. The Ghost and a few of his friends were still inside the base, setting and carrying out traps. Davies thought maybe he would spend the raid time in the commander’s office for protection.
Hack kicked the door closed, hating the closet-sized room, but all the others had been destroyed. Like the damn rebels had sensed it would irritate him and done it on purpose.
The newly appointed Colonel flopped down in the chair, crazy mind spinning. It had been a hell of a fight to get here and he wasn’t going to be pushed out by only one or two men…
“Can you help me?”
Hack looked through the open door to the connecting room and stared in surprise at the half-naked woman leaning against the frame.
He leapt to his feet without a thought, only alarmed for her. “Are you okay?”
Kendle’s face lit with a feverish zeal as she advanced drunkenly. “I will be.”
The Colonel’s screams brought his men running, but it was too late. The ripped out throat wasn’t something they could help with. Nor was the stomach spilling open as he fell.
Davies drew his gun and backed away from the door.
“Shouldn’t we search…” the Private at his side had no idea what was going on, except that instinct said the time for killing each other had come.
Davies turned and quickly left the doomed men. “Captain Gorden has the next highest rank. Command has been passed.”
The Private glanced at the Colonel’s body and then Davies retreating form. Known for hating deserters, the Private fired a shot, but missed when the Sergeant ducked and rolled into a room they hadn’t cleared yet. His words echoed.
“Wait! I give up to the Ghost. Maybe I can help him.”
The Private waved the small group of soldiers toward the door, but the next voice stopped them with the lack of compassion.
“The time for surrender is long over.”
“Ahhhh!”
The Private got to the door first and saw Davies hanging over a file cabinet, blood running down his legs and arms. His sockets were stabbed balls of tissue and gore.
“Ahhh!” Davies began screaming.
The Private lifted his weapon. He couldn’t stand a whiner.
Bang!
2
Marc woke with a gasp of desolation and knew instantly why he was in pain. Something had happened with Angela.
Marc lay down and closed his lids. They were stealing sleep in hour-long snatches and the feeling of isolation was thick as he lay there considering all the possibilities.
He heard Kendle shift toward him.
“No.”
Kendle ignored the order, moving into his warm space. She hugged him close.
Marc didn’t bother to push the crazy woman away. It felt good to have human contact.
“Sleep. We die tomorrow.”
Marc forcefully shut his mind down. After tomorrow’s blast, it wouldn’t matter. The odds they would make it out of the collapse were slim.
“Sleep,” Kendle insisted, hugging him tighter.
Marc grunted in surrender and tossed an arm around her shoulders. “Okay, Kendle. Okay.”
When the alarm vibrated, Marc woke quickly, pushing away the headache. He listened hard after looking over at Kendle, and was a bit uneasy to hear nothing at all. When they’d gone to ground in this duct, soldiers had been stomping and cursing, weapons were being cleaned and loaded, and all of it had echoed straight to him. Now it was silent.
Marc sat up and gave Kendle a gentle nudge. She shot up as if he’d slapped her.
Marc grabbed her, putting his hand over her mouth. Easy, he sent. Just me.
Kendle calmed down and Marc took his hand away, but didn’t shift her off his lap. The need to be close to someone right now was on him in thick waves.
“May I?”
Kendle felt the shaking start. She wasn’t scared of Marc, but she was terrified of herself. What if she reacted badly?
“Shhh…” Marc leaned forward, eyes closing. “Angie.”
Kendle stiffened, but the feel of his kiss wasn’t one to refuse. Her lids fluttered closed and her arms came up to hold him. Luke!
Marc didn’t feel any sting. It wasn’t Kendle in his arms, it was Angie and in that one kiss, he gave her his goodbye.
Kendle was crying when he pulled back. She swiped at the tears. “Can we go kill something now?”
Marc chuckled, helping her up. “Yes. Let’s go end this.”
“Fire!”
The walls exploded around them.
Marc jerked Kendle into the narrowest vent and shoved her ahead of him.
“Get them!”
Major Gorden waved the men up and inside, and they went without argument. Finding out that their Ghost was only a tired Marine and his woman had given them new faith. None of them had actually seen the Ghost before now.
Kendle scrambled along the duct, wiggling to get her shoulders through the hole as Marc shoved on her.
Gunfire ripped into the ceiling and duct around them. Marc had his shield over them both, and Kendle knew to hold onto. Without a direct connection, he would only be able to protect himself from the rapid fire.
As footsteps came down the hall, they fled to a connecting room that had no obvious exit. This was the bowels of the base. They wouldn’t get out from here. Neither of them flinched at the thought. They’d said their goodbyes. Now they would bring this base down.
“Hit it!” Marc shouted, bolting the door and dropping the wooden beam into the metal braces they’d installed. In their nervous sweeps, the soldiers hadn’t noticed many of their modifications and it would cost them.
Kendle flipped the switch and ran into Marc’s arms as the base began to blow up over top of them.
3
“The North wall is down! We’ve been hit!”
“Clear out of there!”
Those listening to the radio calls were horrified at not only the panic in the voices, but also the awful background noises of bombs exploding and men screaming.
“Get her out! Do it now!”
Angela tensed, despite knowing what was coming next.
“I won’t leave Adrian!”
At Angela’s panicked voice, the men around her looked to her face and then to the radio in confusion.
“I gave him sound clips before he left,” Angela explained, choked.
“Get down! Get those men down!”
The explosion came through the radio as if they were there and Adrian’s voice roared out next.
“Here they come! No mercy!”
Not sure how much was real, they all turned to Angela as the transmission stopped.
Angela’s strained face wasn’t easy to look at as she explained, “Marc wanted to be sure they thought the chain of command was all there. He knows the soldiers wouldn’t come this way until they search every inch of the base. It buys us more time.”
“But the battle right now?” Shawn asked.
“Is real. Little Rock Air Force Base has been taken by the enemy.”
Silence greeted her words. When Adrian put a consoling arm around her shoulders, Angela leaned against him, struggling not to cry.
“Hey,” Zack called. “They’re pulling out!”
Angela and Adrian turned to find lights and horses moving around their gates. It appeared like half of the groups that had come, were fleeing.
“They’re leaving us!” Ray cried.
“Getting away ahead of the soldiers,” Kenn offered. “Can’t blame them. If that base is gone, we’re in trouble.”
“They’re going to Marc,” Angela moaned. Only Adrian’s strength, his warnings in her mind, kept her from joining them.
“They’ll meet up with our teams and get them out,” Shawn tried to comfort, but figured it was a waste of time. That call was final.
Angela spun away from the men, going to sing to the herd who also thought they were being abandoned.
“They’ve gone to bring our Ghost home.”
Angela’s words spread quickly and gave the camp members something to hope for, but she was dying. She knew the truth. None of the men coming to Marc’s aid would get there in time.
4
The camp was a wreck. Physically, they were stronger than they’d ever been. Emotionally, they were broken. Waiting for word on Marc and the others had only just begun and the grieving was everywhere. Underneath it was violent rage.
The descendants absorbed it instead of the sorrow, and tossed it back out in waves of discontent and pain that the camp hated. The sight of Angela almost in tears and Adrian snarling at people told them they’d taken a harsh blow. Even Kenn and Tonya weren’t happy and their lack of gloating was the final push for many inside Safe Haven’s gates. Marc’s death wouldn’t be forgotten. None of their losses would.