by Angela White
Angela gently eased the crayon from the child’s tight, filthy grip. “Eat this.”
The girl grabbed the apple and chomped it into bits that were gobbled as if they were pudding. As she crunched, the pointed ends of her teeth were visible and creepy.
“What’s up with her?” Jennifer asked rudely. She didn’t trust these new people. They were hard to read. She was laboring for every glimpse into their minds.
“She’s been in and out of labs since she was born,” Tara stated painfully, twisting her hand into the corner of the robe that covered clean jeans. “She’s wild. That’s all I ever seem to know.”
“Tell us your story, from start to now,” Angela instructed coolly. I’m already tired of this, she thought.
“I was born in the lab,” Tara answered quickly. “So, I didn’t have parents.”
Before any of her passengers could interrupt with corrections or questions, Angela sent a glare around the vehicle and mouths snapped shut.
“I’m sorry.”
Tara’s meek words drew disapproval and anger, but not from Angela. “Go on.”
Angela settled back to listen, confident Marc had the convoy covered.
And if he doesn’t, we know who’s bringing up the rear, don’t we? the witch remarked snidely. Adrian’s betrayals were an open wound to the demon.
Yes! Angela flung. One in front, one in the rear, and my team in the middle. Now will you please shut up?!
Stung, the witch vanished.
Angela swept the uneasy witnesses in resignation. “It was a long nine days, for all of us.”
Tensions eased a bit, replaced by sympathy. All the fighters in Safe Haven were feeling the effects.
Attention gradually shifted back to Tara, who had clearly picked up a lot of it. Her face stayed red as she explained how she and Missy had come to be here.
“I was created from donors. Descendants created that way don’t have a bond with their biological hosts and are considered not to have parents.”
“In order to break the ethical lines?” Angela confirmed one of Adrian’s endless theories while the others muttered in disapproval.
“Yes. Descendants who have contact with free parents often have to be forced into corruption. Those who have corrupt parents also swing toward the light, but cannot resist the temptations.”
“And those who have both?” Angela asked, knowing if she didn’t, Jennifer would. “One of each?”
Tara’s gaze went to Missy, who was finished with the apple and staring longingly at the hole she’d widened with her crayon. The child was humming softly.
“Most of them go bad,” Tara admitted. “It’s hard not to in the labs, especially if they get them young, but some kids resist. It changes them.”
“And if they were already…damaged?” Angela pushed.
“They become like Missy,” Tara said shamefully. “They hurt her!”
She dissolved into tears and Angela gave her full attention to the child. “I’m Angie. Will you tell me what really happened?”
“They made me do things.” Missy’s young countenance glazed over with hatred and an evil rose to the surface, demonstrating dangerous intelligence. “When I wouldn’t, they hurt my mommy!”
“Are they coming for you?” Angela demanded, leaning forward. “Tell me when!”
Missy arched, power flooding the cabin, and Jennifer grabbed Tara’s arm before she could interfere.
“Let them be,” Jennifer ordered. “She’ll get the truth from your kid.”
Missy’s eyes turned solid black and she took a clawed grip on Angela’s wrist. “A week is all you have. My daddy rides his death train even now.”
Angela’s mind shuddered at the thought of her time on the train, of being below ground and dependent on Donner.
“You killed him,” Missy stated, reading the gruesome scene in her mind.
“Yes.” Angela patted the child’s cold hand. “And I’ll do the same to your demons.”
“For what price?” the child asked angrily, flames twining around her hand to sear Angela’s finger fuzz.
“You must be good!” Angela intoned, using her alpha gift to be certain she got through. The child’s physical magic was weak compared to her own and didn’t hurt. They were the same type of descendant, though. “Corruption isn’t allowed, not even in children.”
“Being good is easy,” Missy agreed. The flames receded until they were gone. “I am good.”
Angela smiled and lifted the little girl onto her lap, where they snuggled for a hug that filled the cabin with relief and serenity. None of them had been sure if Missy was corrupt. Her wild mind was too hard to read. Even Jennifer couldn’t make sense of the images she saw in the girl’s mind.
“Missy’s father is an alpha,” Tara told them nervously in the silence. “He took us from the complex after the war and went to Canada. There were others like us there. Her father wanted us to help lead, but everyone was scared of Missy’s predictions. She told them a big fire was coming. We didn’t realize Major Donner was the one supposed to deliver it. He showed up a few months after we got there. The others were thrilled to be getting help from any government, but I hate soldiers and we didn’t go to the final meeting.”
Tara’s eyes glazed over as she recalled the nightmare. “We almost didn’t escape the flames when Donner’s men came for Missy. I killed them and took a truck. It’s hidden not far from where you found us.”
“How many others escaped?” Angela asked as the child played with the necklace that Marc had given her. The ‘A’ shaped pendant was being twirled and spun, twirled and spun.
“Half a dozen? Her father was with them. We got separated by the river.”
“Did he see you?”
“Yes,” Tara answered fearfully. “He’s not far away. We can feel him.”
“He wants me,” Missy said suddenly. “He has questions.”
“Questions?” Greg parroted. He’d only been observing until now, storing thoughts and information as Angela had mentally instructed.
“He wants to know about death,” the little girl answered gravely, tucking Angela’s necklace inside her Eagle Jacket. “He wants to talk to my angel.”
“The angel of death?” Jennifer asked, horrified. Surely, she was misunderstanding. This child couldn’t communicate with death… Right?
“Why does he want to talk to your angel?” Angela asked.
“I told him his death date and he wants to negotiate,” Missy replied. “He hopes to find a way in.”
“To control the angel?” Jennifer asked, wondering if the matching clothes of the people in this van–jeans and jackets–wasn’t allowed where Tara came from. The woman kept eyeing their patches with tiny frowns.
“He thinks he should be the one who decides life and death for the world. He has stolen more life forces than any other descendant.” Missy regarded Angela reproachfully. “More than you.”
Angela shuddered again. The images Missy was replaying were as bad as the carnage Safe Haven had left in its wake–maybe worse, because the Canadian corpses included elderly and children. Missy’s father appeared evil and capable of killing without remorse. Angela wouldn’t know for sure until the man arrived, but as of right now, the tall, sandy blond man in Missy’s memories was on her new list as a priority target.
“What’s your father’s name?” Angela needed to know.
“Jack, but he gets mad when people call him Jackie,” Missy spilled, ignoring her mother’s flinch. “He likes it when they call him Big Jack Devine.”
There was instant recognition for Angela and Greg, and Jennifer drew the reason from their thoughts. Jack Devine was a name they’d both heard from Adrian. Before Adrian’s banishment, he’d given all the top Eagles a list of people to watch out for. Devine had been at the top of it.
“What about Kranten, Stevens, and Vlad?” Angela asked, easily remembering that the names that had brought a sense of dread to Adrian.
“They’re with him,” Tara muttered. “Alwa
ys. If not, I might have been able to kill him by now. They’re his personal defenders and they’re sick. They actually want to die for him, for the honor.”
Tara stopped talking as coldness permeated the air.
Angela was communicating, walls up to keep the others out, and the temperature in the van continued to drop.
4
“We’re pulling up now. Prepare to stop and slowly make your way into the assigned areas. The map is in the glove box or with your front passenger. I repeat, drive to your assigned place. Vehicles left without drivers will be shoved off the side of this cliff.”
Angela snorted at Kenn’s radio call. He was a bit testy. The com truck was right behind the lead semi and Kenn was scheduled to hand the radio over to Tonya as soon as he parked it in the proper spot. After that, Kenn would stay with Marc and finish his training for these setups. Marc hadn’t dealt with this many people in such a limited space yet, but Kenn had at a bowling alley and a few other locations. Marc needed that knowledge under his belt and Kenn needed a better role model than Adrian, even if it was someone he hated.
“The area is already secured, but it will take a few minutes to get the bathrooms set up. Stay out of the way and it’ll happen faster,” Kenn instructed.
The new people needed these lessons on procedure and Kenn’s attitude said to pay attention. It would also remind the soldiers of their old world and let them relax a bit. The soldiers who had chosen to stay in Safe Haven were mostly draftees, but they had spent enough time in awful military care to need a firm hand.
Angela made two gestures and immediately received a disbelieving glare. She didn’t change her expectant expression.
Jennifer let out a grunt. “Fine.”
“You’ll tell Kendle?” Angela confirmed.
“Yes,” Jennifer muttered. “You know how much I adore chatting with the survival queen.”
Angela grinned. “Yes, I do.”
“When?”
“Now would be best.”
Jennifer concentrated on the woman she was coming to consider a rival and future enemy. She didn’t like Kendle one bit.
Hey, killer! Boss wants you on the new arrival.
Jennifer braced for a nasty response, but didn’t get one at all. She narrowed in on her prey and found the scarred island woman asleep in a rear passenger vehicle.
Jennifer wondered what Kendle was dreaming about so deeply that she’d missed Kenn’s arrival announcement. She pried, aware of the dangers and possible bonds that could come from such contact. She entered Kendle’s dream carefully.
Oh, God!
Jennifer immediately hit the button on her belt. She had to interrupt that. “Kendle to the boss. Report ASAP!”
“Copy,” Kendle answered groggily a few seconds later. She’d clearly been nudged awake.
Jennifer thought she also detected a note of gratitude and tried to harden her heart. Kendle’s nightmares matched her own and then surpassed them. Cesar had been a cakewalk compared to what Kendle had suffered, but Jennifer didn’t want to feel sympathy for the island woman–mainly because of Adrian. As long as that former leader had a way in, he would always be able to cause problems and Jennifer resented that. Kyle should have received orders to kill him. Jennifer had voted for it and she wasn’t sorry, though she did understand Angela’s reason for not doing it. Adrian was a library of knowledge, but he was also a traitor and they couldn’t forget that, or worse, actually forgive it.
Jennifer peered at her newest duty and found the little girl staring at her fearfully.
“What?” Jennifer snapped, suddenly cold to her bones.
“She lied.”
Jennifer felt her stomach drop. “Excuse me?”
Missy opened her mouth to reveal more, but the van became icy and Missy’s head snapped toward Angela.
“I mean that,” Angela stated evenly. “In time, it’ll be proven, but you have to control yourself. If you’re not sure, ask me.”
Missy’s stubborn expression held for only a moment, and then her head dropped and she returned to picking threads from the hole in the seat.
Angela glared at Tara before Jennifer could form the next logical question. “Why doesn’t she know the rules yet? How can she communicate so easily if she’s wild? What are you lying about?”
“She’s not hiding anything!” Tara insisted. “Her gifts are frightening and she’s never been around people who needed her to act normal. In the labs, they kept her wild to promote her powers.”
“What gift?” Angela demanded, though she knew already. Little Missy was currently predicting the fates of people in this van, and Angela noted each one. Missy had all of the same gifts that she did, and then a few more, it appeared.
“She sees…events.”
“Lots of descendants do. Your group didn’t have a witch?” Greg asked. Like Angela, he was confident there was more to this story than what they were being told.
“Not like Missy,” Tara confided lowly. “She predicts endings, based on shifting choices and changes.”
Tara heard the silence and didn’t think they understood. “She detects your exact death, based on each choice you make.”
Angela gave Jennifer a pointed glance.
Jennifer sighed. “Yes. As soon as we’re set up? Marc won’t like us roaming yet.”
“Now, would be better,” Angela repeated.
Jennifer obediently left the vehicle that was already surrounded by the Eagles on Angela’s protection detail. Kyle’s team appeared tense and Jennifer approved. They were only safe as long as they remembered there was danger everywhere.
The Eagles on duty around the waiting convoy understood Jennifer was on orders from the boss, and didn’t comment. They were all Angela’s rules now, and if she was breaking them, there was a good reason. It did make them nervous, though.
Jennifer smiled at Kyle as she passed by him and got a leer in return. She blushed and continued, aware of the snickering and approving murmurs. The camp had flipped completely since Angela’s rescue. Jennifer suspected her request for another son had traveled throughout the herd, but mostly, it was Kyle and Autumn who were changing minds. Watching him care for a newborn was enough to soften anyone.
Jennifer tapped on the door before entering the noisy living area for the youngest kids. She spent a moment with the happy children, but didn’t linger to help Peggy get the gum out of the hair of two of them. Both of those kids were sporting vivid red orbs as they sat with their coloring books, and Jennifer wondered if Angela had this issue covered yet. Descendant kids were powerful.
Stepping over toys and pieces of food that the kids had scattered, Jennifer made her way to the rear of the camper, where Cynthia was on duty.
“Hey.”
The reporter’s shirt was stained, short, dark hair wild, and posture defeated. She didn’t respond.
Jennifer slid into the sticky booth across from Cynthia, wiping her hand down her jeans. “You okay?”
Cynthia’s attention was on Hilda, who was trying to change a diaper on a squirming mass of hands and hair. “Earlier, we hit a bump while she was doing that and a pile of shit actually floated through the air.” Cynthia glanced down. “I caught it with my hands. Ever had a shit shower? It’s lovely.”
That explains the smell, Jennifer thought, frowning. “You don’t sound okay.”
“I’m not.” Cynthia’s tone sharpened. “What does the boss want this time?”
“Babysitting,” Jennifer answered, noting the tone that said Cynthia had been pushed over the line and then a bit further.
“I’m doing that,” Cynthia replied tonelessly. “Did you know that kids this age never shut up? I swear, the one in the red sweater doesn’t even breathe between babbles.”
Jennifer didn’t snicker. She had great sympathy for Cynthia, and didn’t want to make things worse, even accidentally.
“Who is it?” Cynthia asked suddenly. She had hoped to work on the outline for the first edition of her newspaper, but that i
dea had been given up hours ago. “And why me?”
“New people we picked up on the way. Mother and daughter,” Jennifer informed her. “You have duty over the daughter.”
“Great,” Cynthia cracked sarcastically. “Who has the mother?”
Jennifer’s voice lowered. “Kendle.”
“Must be trouble.” Cynthia’s face darkened as she swept the kids. “Thank God. Let’s go.”
“I was summoned?”
Kendle was near the door as Cynthia and Jennifer came from the noisy camper.
“Boss wants you on the new arrival,” Jennifer stated, refusing to stare at Kendle’s scars. She now knew the source of them and thought Kendle was incredibly strong to have survived. It didn’t make her like the island woman, however. It would take more than pity to accomplish that.
“They must be special,” Kendle tried to confirm subtly. She couldn’t find many other reasons for Angela assigning her to monitor someone. She was dangerous. So must her ward be.
“Her and the daughter are descendants,” Jennifer revealed. “Cyn here, has the kid.”
“Sweet,” Kendle smirked. She felt no sympathy for the reporter’s pregnancy problems. “Where are they?”
“With the boss.” Jennifer led the way. “She doesn’t believe most of their story. Store details, both of you. She’ll ask for them later.”
It should have felt odd to be taking orders from someone so young, but Jennifer had proven herself deadly and it showed, even in her stride. She was no longer scared of the world or those in it. Only the people she loved could be used against her now and she guarded them fiercely.
“Got a short note here, folks. Some good news,” Kenn’s voice echoed across the stopped convoy. “The Eagles need new rookies. Everyone who fought in the last month is eligible! The signup sheet is at the com truck. Stop by at any point today, after we’re set up.”
The van door slid open as the trio of women arrived and the little girl barreled out of Angela’s arms with a wild shout. She leapt straight at Kendle, who was forced to catch the sweaty child or fall.
Kendle staggered, but kept them upright, and Missy cackled happily at the juggling. “Like you! Fun!”