by Angela White
Dog followed, noting healthy, bored animals in padded cages with food and water. It was indeed a kennel, but much nicer, and Dog gently sat down in the doorway, recognizing excitement in the air.
He surveyed the cages, noticing intelligence and fear. The ferrets were especially alert, heads swiveling from the human to Dog and then back in perfect unison.
“Those are the twins!” a loud voice brayed in his ear.
Dog spun awkwardly to discover a raccoon holding onto the cage bars, nose twitching in excitement. “Oh, yes! Here it comes!” The raccoon’s drool hit the wooden floor near his paw and Dog flinched away in disgust.
Sally drew the sled to a rusty concrete area that had a drain and flipped the bloody body onto it.
The instant it was on the ground, the other animals in the cages peered out, chattering.
“We had another one,” Sally stated, pulling her cleaver and apron from the wall holder. “You guys get meat tonight instead of vegetables. How’s that sound?”
The animals went wild, jumping, banging, chittering eagerly.
Dog retreated to the doorway as the woman began to chop up the body.
Because of his friendship with Marc, Dog tried to feel some anger or even revulsion, but couldn’t. Man was the enemy to every animal here, including the woman.
“It’s good that you helped her.”
Dog found a medium-sized coyote on a short leash inside the barn door.
“She is one of us.”
Dog didn’t doubt that as he watched the woman hack apart an arm to split between two snake cages.
Dog swept the smaller female. “You are almost healed?”
“Yes,” the female simpered. “And my pack is near! I heard them today! I can’t wait to be with my boys. I miss their feel and their weight.”
Dog rolled his eyes. That’s how you got so many pups.
Using her penlight for illumination, Sally finished with both bodies and then used the bleach to scrub away the mess, humming to herself. When she finished and went inside the house to clean up, she paused on the way to rub Dog’s ears. She no longer had to guess about his intentions and he knew she would kill him if she had to.
It should be fine, she thought, and left him loose to monitor the property.
Dog, proud, lingered near the open barn doors to eavesdrop on the chatter of the animals now enjoying their dinner. All of them appeared to be going north, like the others that Dog had met so far, and he listened with growing concern for the humans. The war still wasn’t over.
Chapter Four
The First Morning
1
One of the hardest things to confront after a volcanic eruption is the flood of refugees. Thanks to the war, we won’t be hit as hard, but we will be hit. I have estimated the numbers based on the average total of refugees we’ve taken in per state. Only 1/100th of those hiding ever came out or were found. We averaged eighty contacts or new members a month. Then, I added the organized people and groups that we didn’t pass close enough to or those who were flushed into the Midwest because of the war we had with the government. As many as ten thousand refugees from Yellowstone may make it across the Mississippi and that, you can’t prepare for. You must get the herd out of the way or lose roughly 50% to disease, fighting, and eventual starvation. I pray this never happens, but we know nature loathes humans and what better way to finish destroying us, than to set off a chain of events that will finally lead to our long-dreaded nuclear winter?
Angela let the book shut, slightly stunned. Adrian’s notebooks had all been scary, but most of it, she could do something about. This last notebook, titled ‘Volcanoes’, was horrifying. Ten thousand starving, sick, desperate survivors? Not a chance.
Is he wrong on the numbers? the witch asked from a distance. She was staying back to help Angela conserve energy.
Angela considered it from her own view. Was 1/100 right? That would mean only an average of eight thousand survivors per state, in places where the population had been millions…with no direct bomb damage.
“No,” she moaned, making Marc jump. “It’s too low.”
Angela rose from the mattress, pulling on her guns as she ducked out of the tent.
Marc stretched, hand brushing the book and he felt no guilt about flipping to the last page she’d been on. Lying next to her in the dawn chill, he’d already been catching bits and pieces of information for the last hour.
Marc read the passage without rancor or surprise. After she’d gotten the books from Adrian, his own mind had already come up with this problem, though he hadn’t estimated the numbers as high. He’d been out in those places since the war and Adrian hadn’t.
Then why is she concerned? the demon queried.
Marc ran it again and still didn’t see how there could be so many or how Adrian would have sensed them without Angela’s gift. But she hadn’t known and she’d been searching their surroundings actively after becoming a rookie. What was he missing?
Marc followed a sentry’s direction to discover Angela standing near the new shooting range, staring at the sky to their east. It was cloudy, almost hostile even, but not more so than usual.
“What is it?”
Angela was still scanning and she let Marc into the smallest area of her mind that she could close. It took too much energy to let anyone in all the way right now.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Marc groaned in annoyed frustration.
Angela gently pushed him out and felt her muscles ease. It had only been a few days since she’d been belowground with Donner and the effects of that ordeal were hitting her harder than she had expected.
“What’s the plan for this one?” Marc demanded. “He’s had a plan for everything else.”
“Not for this,” Angela answered distractedly. “He left it for his successor because it was too big for him.”
Marc stared at her worriedly. “You’ve got it covered?”
As much as she wanted to say yes, Angela couldn’t. “This is beyond me as well.”
Her thoughts went to the few members who might have the minds for the problems they were about to face, but she didn’t think there was anything that anyone could do at this point. The reactors were melting down. Even if they had ten trained, equipped teams, they still couldn’t reach all of them. The time for generators and final attempts had all been passed before Safe Haven arrived in these mountains. The remnants of the East Coast were going to be wiped from existence and she didn’t have the energy to call out and warn anyone.
“I led them into a future radiation zone,” Angela stated, voice shaking. “And he let me!”
Marc wasn’t positive that Adrian had known, and didn’t respond to that part. “You can only cover so much. You have to forgive the errors and go on. You know that.”
Marc slid an arm around her shoulders and Angela leaned against his comfort, but she didn’t take the words to heart. Marc would do anything to ease her pain, no matter if she deserved it or not.
“Yes, I would, but you don’t deserve the guilt for this one. There is nowhere else. The west is heavily contaminated where it isn’t destroyed. We barely survived the Midwest and nature’s anger. Now we’re in the last place we can run to and we…”
Angela’s guilt increased at the open pain ripping through Marc. He was quickly reaching the conclusions she had as soon as she realized the numbers didn’t include zones from the north, south, and or the east. Adrian had known, and let them come here anyway.
“How could he do that?!” Marc growled.
“He knew it would push them out instead of staying here for the winter.”
“What’s wrong with wintering here?” Marc questioned angrily. “We all need a break.”
“Because then we’d never leave,” Angela answered gravely. “And that will wipe us out.”
“How? If we make it through the winter, we can survive here. We don’t need to leave.”
“We won’t.”
“Won’t what?” h
e asked.
“Survive the winter. We’ll starve.”
“But we have all those new ideas for–”
“For a year?”
Marc knew she’d never been wrong and now he understood why she was so concerned. “A full year?”
Angela trembled as the wind blew against them. “More by a couple of months. We’ll be reduced to eating our dead. Then, each other.”
“We have to find a new place.”
“Yes, but not here,” she stated, glad most of the ash was gone. “It’s time to go south.”
Marc opened his mouth to deny that and Angela walked away without saying anything else. Marc’s instant need to fight the idea was a common one in Safe Haven. They’d beaten the government and were now at the top of the food chain. Few people understood why they needed to leave and unless she could make them, they wouldn’t budge from US soil.
Marc would have followed her, but his demon brought up another fact.
She isn’t going to tell them yet. She’s taking them into the caves.
Why? Marc asked, confused. If we have to go, why do all this anyway?
Because it’s the only way these sheep will leave, the demon replied sadly. She will have to watch them die by the hundreds before the truth can be accepted.
She can’t take that, Marc protested.
She has to, the demon replied gravely. Our very existence depends on it.
2
“We can’t do it in that time period. You have to make her understand.”
“Right,” Kenn snorted, gathering the equipment for the day’s labors. “‘Cause she values my opinion.”
Kenn was scheduled to mark off tent spaces. Tomorrow, he would get their activities and classes running. The medical bay and Eagle training tents were already open for use. It would be a busy week.
Theo’s brows scrunched together. “I mean it, Kenn. We can’t run the pipes, set up power, and get everyone inside in ten days. No one can.”
Adrian could, Kenn thought and wisely kept that to himself. “Shortest time?”
“A month,” Theo shot back immediately. “We haven’t even been in the cave yet and the clock is already rolling on day one.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Kenn said. “But don’t expect it to matter, is all I’m sayin’. She does as she sees fit. You know that.”
“And normally I respect it, but this time, she’s asking too much for the skills we have here.”
Kenn left the building tent without any of it showing in his expression. He hadn’t thought it was doable either, but Angela was forever surprising him. Maybe she had this covered.
Kenn took a minute to survey the area Angela had led them to last night. It was a relatively flat spot surrounded by trees on two sides. The south was rocky roads and the north was a mountain, right up close and personal. Kenn could discern the bird nests in the crags and the gaping hole their men would soon descend into. It was humbling and haunting. He wasn’t one of the people who were happy about going underground. He didn’t fear the walls closing in. He feared falling.
Kenn spotted the Point man and approved the change from Allan. That man had been switched to radio coverage for the day. Angela had turned the radio over to Kenn and Tonya when they arrived here, saying they needed to search through the Eagles and find at least two more people to cover the airwaves. Kenn liked the idea of being Safe Haven’s mouth, as did Tonya, and they’d stayed up late discussing how to do it. They’d gotten so involved that they’d crashed without having sex. It was a big adjustment that Kenn had never thought he’d be happy with. He liked a knockout at bedtime, but things were shifting rapidly in this new life and he was learning to handle it without the anger.
Kenn spent the next hour traversing the camp to make sure everyone knew where they were supposed to be. At lunch, he would have Allan announce the schedule over the radio in code. It would cover all the shifts, since everyone was here right now.
Except Adrian, Kenn corrected. He was hoping Theo was wrong and that it could be done in ten days, because Kenn planned to ask that Adrian be pardoned. And considering some of the other requests Angela was likely to get for their rewards, Kenn thought his might be the easiest to for her to grant. What Cynthia desired didn’t even seem possible to the Marine, despite all the proof of the magic around him and Kendle wanted time alone with Marc. Kenn mostly expected Angela to welch on the offers, but he wasn’t entirely sure. If it were bad enough, she would give Kendle a night with Marc to save these people.
“You think so?”
Kenn flinched. He hadn’t heard her come over.
Kendle snickered and remained by his side. After waiting a few seconds, she repeated her question.
“Yes,” Kenn answered. “But it would mean something awful is coming for us, so don’t wish for it!”
Kendle stopped, shocked, as Kenn strode off. She wouldn’t wish it anyway, would she?
Of course, you would, that voice inside replied. But you would hate yourself even more afterward.
Kendle veered toward the garden trucks that were in the process of being replanted, soothed with the response. She had enough self-loathing. If she added to that weight, it would have to be for more than one night.
Kendle let her feet take her to the rear, where the gate was open for teams going in and out. No one else was supposed to leave, but Kendle walked through the gate without reporting to any of the frowning guards. They knew where she was going.
Kendle followed the rocky, weed-dotted path that had clearly been here before the war. It appeared that it had been traveled since then, too. She could tell by the beaten weeds growing around rocks instead of over them and how the garbage on the trail wasn’t molded into the ground yet. People had been here recently.
Kendle didn’t speak as she entered Adrian’s small camp. The five soldiers lounging around a small fire regarded her in surprise as she stepped between them, but no one interfered with her progress. Despite her being on their hit list, they all went back to snoozing when Adrian didn’t order her removed or shot. She’d killed patrols and teams by herself and led dozens more into lethal traps. She was enemy number three to these soldiers and it offended her that Angela was above even Marc in that pecking order. Isn’t there anything that bitch is bad at?
“You can’t do that around me.”
Kendle found Adrian in front of the flap of his battered tent, smoking and drinking from a bottle of Wild Turkey.
“Gonna be one of those days, is it?” she asked, keeping her distance. She didn’t like drunks.
“I mean it, Kendle. Stop hating her for her strengths.”
Kendle sighed, taking a seat on an overturned bucket. “What about her weaknesses? Are those fair game?”
Adrian took a long swig, not answering.
Kendle didn’t follow the remark with another snide comment. Instead, she examined the man she was pinning her hopes on. In the light of dawn, he certainly didn’t look like much.
“Good morning to you, as well,” Adrian retorted.
Kendle flushed as she recognized that moment of being too sober to get drunk, unless you wanted to go straight to the pass out stage.
He’s in the early stages, she thought.
“Maybe,” Adrian agreed mildly. “The least of my worries.”
“Will it become one of mine?” Kendle asked, tone accusing.
Adrian gently sat the bottle on the ground. “Unlikely we’ll be together that long.”
Kendle still didn’t feel any sting, except knowing it would be Angela that he went to. “So what’s the agenda here? People are asking and I’ve been told to get that answer.”
“By the sheep, the wolfdogs, or the boss?”
“The first two. Angela hasn’t even mentioned you.”
Adrian didn’t wince. Of course, she wouldn’t mention him to anyone. She had to put distance between them right now.
“And later?” Kendle asked eagerly. “Later, she’ll call for you?”
Adrian’
s gaze swung toward the busy camp that was sending all sorts of noise echoing up the mountain. “Not even if her life depends on it. She’ll never break her vow.”
“Which one is that?” Kendle retorted lowly. “She’s made a lot of them.”
“And delivered,” Adrian pointed out, evading the question. He didn’t want to talk about how strong Angela’s love for Marc would make her. “If you didn’t want her man, what would you think of her?”
Kendle didn’t want to discuss that, and she pointed toward Conner’s tent. “What about him? Where does he fit in while you lurk out here?”
“Lurk?” Adrian questioned coolly. “I’m in plain view.”
Kendle grunted. “Fine. What happens when the winter comes and the snow covers your little area? You guys don’t have a cave to hide in.”
“Don’t need one.”
“Because you’ll be in Safe Haven?” she guessed.
“Conner will,” Adrian replied.
“And where will you be?” she demanded, aware that Conner’s fake snores had stopped.
“Working,” he answered cryptically. “Like you.”
“On what?” she wanted to know, distracted.
“Your former career is about to be used,” Adrian stated, standing up. “Remember your episodes on rappelling and rock climbing?”
Kendle nodded, flashing to scrapes, soreness, and a few heart-stopping moments of adrenaline-laced excitement. “Vividly.”
“Good. Be prepared and you’ll earn points with her.”
“Won’t she know it came from you?”
“Of course. The points come because you were smart enough to follow the advice. She likes anything that helps her goals along. She doesn’t care who they come from.”
Kendle stewed on that as Adrian walked by her, not concerned that he was in his boxers or that he lingered next to her to place a soft kiss on the top of her head.
“Don’t ever call her a bitch around me again. Please.”
Kendle swallowed, nodding nervously. The menace under the request was clear.
Adrian went by her, kicking snoozing soldiers as he passed them. They jerked awake in confusion and annoyance.