by Angela White
Sally spotted Dog dragging the driver, and then the gas flamed up and she threw herself over the passenger she had gotten into the opposite gulley. She stayed covering the man as debris rained over them.
A second explosion sent more flaming pieces of the truck into the sky, and then there was the sound of burning wreckage.
Sally slowly sat up. She saw Dog limping toward her and forced her shaky knees to hold her as she stood.
“Good boy,” she praised, rubbing the wolf’s ears. She’d lost all fear of him during the week they’d been together. “Let’s go get the sled, huh? Neither of us should be trying to transport these men on our own.”
Dog followed the woman to the shed, worried. What if she decided to chop them up and feed them to her pets? Dog hadn’t made up his mind about her yet.
Sally retrieved the passenger first, as he was closest, and she ignored the wolf’s low growl when she headed for the barn. She tugged the sled to the very rear and slid open a wall panel that Dog hadn’t noticed. A panel hid a small room, and she put the man inside, which eased Dog’s concern. He had no issues with her locking Kyle and Whitney up, only with her killing them.
Sally rolled the passenger onto the pallet and clamped a dusty leg iron around his ankle, and then went back outside for the driver. That man was bigger and it took all of Sally’s strength to get him onto the sled.
As she dragged the sled across the smoldering debris, she noticed the myriad of injuries and thought she would end up feeding the animals with this one. He’d already lost a lot of blood and she didn’t have that here.
Sally put the driver by his friend, but didn’t bother to handcuff him. He was too hurt to be a threat. Sally strode to the house for her bag of medical supplies and Dog stayed in the doorway, golden orbs shifting between the Eagles.
I miss Marc, Dog thought, whining lowly. They smell like him.
3
Whitney came alert all at once and held in a scream at the pain in his arm. It was clearly broken.
He found Kyle by his side and obviously badly injured.
Whitney didn’t hear the other men and he struggled to sit up. The chain around his ankle clanked, and then held him in place and Whitney opened his mouth to shout.
“Don’t.”
Kyle sounded bad and Whitney scooted over to him. “You okay?”
“No,” Kyle coughed, spitting blood onto the pallet. “She saved us. Truck exploded.”
Whitney leaned away as Kyle sprayed more red drops. “Where are the others?”
“Dead, I’d guess,” Kyle gasped out. “Truck was full of pipes.”
“What happened?” Whitney asked, his arm throbbing.
“My fault!” Kyle groaned. “Hope I die.”
“Damn,” Whitney swore. “Don’t say that, man.”
Kyle’s eyes rolled backward and he slumped to his side, swallowed by the blackness.
Whitney heard the light steps of a woman and shouted, “Hey! He needs help!”
He heard the cocking of a gun and then a female voice answered, “I’ll do what I can. You stay where you are.”
Whitney slid up against the wall as the woman came into the tiny room, followed by a furry figure that had him gaping. “Dog?”
Dog whined uneasily, but didn’t approach his old teammate. He’d served many shifts with Kyle and Whitney, but his loyalties had changed.
“You know the wolf?” Sally asked, kneeling by Kyle.
“Yeah,” Whitney said, hoping she had medical training. If not, Kyle could die. “He was in our camp for a while.”
Sally frowned as she examined Kyle’s injuries. “Your camp?”
“We’re Eagles, from Safe Haven.”
Sally’s scowl deepened. “Never heard of it.”
Not sure why she’d lied, Whitney asked, “Can you help him?”
Sally found the biggest problem and blew out a breath. “Maybe, but be quiet so I can think. I’ll do your arm after I get this piece of metal out of his stomach.”
Whitney blanched, but said, “How can I help?”
Sally didn’t want to trust him, but she did need the extra hands. “Move over here and hold these towels. It’s gonna bleed a lot.”
Whitney awkwardly got up, but froze when he realized her gun was now aimed at him and she had a finger on the trigger.
“I won’t want to, but I will,” Sally warned. “You be very careful.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Whitney replied instantly. “And thank you.”
“Remember that when I set your arm,” Sally snorted, lowering the weapon so she could help the driver. “It’ll mess up your recovery if I have to add a bullet wound.”
4
“Damn!” Whitney shouted hours later. “That hurt!”
Sally quickly finished setting his arm. “I noticed.”
Whitney wasn’t sure why their host was so hostile, but he didn’t intend to ask.
“Here, slip this around your neck and then put your arm through it. I have to make up the cast strips.”
Whitney watched her mix the plaster, wincing as he put his arm in the sling. The awful throbbing had dropped into a moderate ache that he assumed would flare up shortly to remind him it was broken.
Still better than the others, he thought. Holding Kyle still so the woman could remove the metal and then stitch him up had been ugly. Kyle had screamed repeatedly, for Jennifer and Adrian. It had been haunting and Whitney had been grateful when the woman shot him full of morphine. Listening to Kyle’s ranting was hard. He’d still been confessing his sins when the medicine knocked him out.
“Is he really a killer?” Sally asked suddenly, looking toward the small room where Kyle was. She’d had Whitney come into the barn and sit on a stool for his treatment.
“Aren’t we all at some point?” Whitney answered vaguely.
Sally didn’t want to answer that, but she also didn’t want a killer here. “I shouldn’t have saved him.”
“Yes, you should,” Whitney stated. “He’s a good man.”
“Doesn’t sound like it,” Sally refuted. “He kills people, as a job.”
“Do you think executioners at prisons are killers?” he tried to reason.
“Yes, but even if I didn’t, those people were tried and sentenced to that punishment.”
“So were Kyle’s kills,” Whitney told her. “Safe Haven doesn’t execute innocent people.”
Sally didn’t respond to that. She was happy the apocalypse had come, happy that society had fallen. They’d been marked for destruction and it had happened. Who was Safe Haven to try to reverse that decision?
Whitney examined his watch, but it had broken in the wreck. “Any idea how long we’ve been here?”
Sally frowned. “Why? You got someplace to be?”
“Yes, actually, but it’s rather important that you answer me.”
Sally heard the tone and felt that old hatred rise in response. She clamped down on it as best she could. He wasn’t her father. No beating was coming. “About six hours, I’d think. Sun’s up.”
“Then I guess I should tell you to expect company soon. We were eight hours away from home when I fell asleep, so you may have another hour, but I doubt it.”
“Company?” she questioned angrily. “Who did you call?”
“Not me,” Whitney informed her. “Him. Every scream he let out was heard and Jennifer should be arriving soon.”
Sally relaxed at the female name. “Good. She can care for him. I have stuff to do.”
Sally again considered what it meant to let the Italian leave here, eyes going to the gun that she was keeping close. She could shoot both men, and dispose of their bodies, in much less than an hour.
“I can guess what you’re thinking,” Whitney stated carefully, not making any sudden movements that might trigger the wildness he read in their host. “And I’ll even assume you have good reasons for feeling that way.”
Sally was held by the compassion she read.
“I’m sorry you w
ere treated badly, but not all men are evil. Not all men need to die.”
Sally flushed as Whitney swept the bones in the cages, the animals that were staring at him and drooling. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out what happened to unwanted company.
“I don’t blame you for your reactions. We all survived and it changed us. But Kyle is a good man and when Jennifer gets here, she’ll help him and we’ll go. If he dies before she gets here…” Whitney was unable to voice that. “Please, make sure he doesn’t.”
Sally felt afraid then and she hated that. It allowed her to ask, “Descendant?”
Surprised, Whitney nodded.
“Shoulda killed you both!” Sally snarled. She shoved the pan of plaster toward him, taking up her gun. “Get started wrapping it around. I’ll help with one hand.”
Whitney sighed, relieved and disappointed. “Okay.”
A tense silence filled the next ten minutes, broken by her terse instructions. She didn’t put the gun down, though it wasn’t pointed at him, and Whitney began to realize she had experience with descendants, otherwise she wouldn’t know to be so scared.
“She won’t hurt you,” Whitney said as they finished and the woman hastily retreated to a better position to view the open barn doors where a lantern hung. “She’ll be grateful.”
“I’m going in the house now. I’m not coming out until you’re gone.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Whitney let her flee, feeling a coldness coming through the doors that had little to do with the weather.
Jennifer was here.
Sally fastened the door to her home and ran to the window as the bike screeched to a halt in the middle of her yard. Mud flew against the house and Sally held still as a small figure dropped the bike and ran into the barn. She couldn’t discern anything else and though she kept listening, there wasn’t any noise.
After half an hour of the same tense silence, Sally forced herself to clean up and settle in her bed with her gun. If they come in here, I’ll shoot. I don’t want anything from those freaks!
5
“He can’t be moved.”
“I figured that, but our host isn’t going to like it.”
Jennifer continued to send energy into Kyle’s feverish body and grunted,” I’ll handle her.”
She’d gotten a good sense of the woman in the small house as soon as she’d arrived, but out here in the barn, where the animals were unhappily chittering, it was clear what the woman was.
Kyle began to thrash around and Jennifer dug through her kit for the medicine that Angela had shoved into her hands. They’d both been woken by Kyle’s screams.
Jennifer injected Kyle’s arm and then his hip, not letting her mind go to bad places. Angela had told her he would survive and Jennifer planned to hang onto that promise.
“You gonna live?” she asked, thinking it was a wonder any of them had. The wreckage out front was stunning.
“I think so. Broken in a couple places, light concussion.” Whitney studied the doors. “I’ll clean up the road later.”
“Good. We’ll say something over them.”
Whitney had thought to take the bodies home, but didn’t argue. A long ride home with corpses wouldn’t be pleasant.
“Not much left to stink,” Jennifer informed him. “Hell of a fire.”
Whitney winced. He hadn’t been that close to the three men–they’d been chosen from the members list–but he had liked each of them. “I’ll handle it.”
Jennifer sat back, almost panting from the effort. She’d given him all she could spare. Now, she needed to sleep.
Whitney watched her lean her head against the wooden wall and fall asleep. She did love him. It was hard to miss.
Whitney slowly got up and moved to the barn, giving them privacy and getting some fresh air to clear his mind. He didn’t know exactly what had happened to cause the accident, but he was certain it hadn’t all been Kyle’s fault. “I should have stayed awake and helped him navigate.”
Dog appeared at his side, Kyle’s blood still in his muzzle fur. Whitney carefully rubbed the wolf’s ears. “Hi.”
Dog didn’t linger or answer. He padded toward the house, where he curled up under the woman’s rocker and laid his head down.
“Guess you aren’t ready to leave yet, either,” Whitney observed. He scanned the small farm, approving of the setup. “Can’t say I blame ya. Safe Haven is all toil some days.”
Whitney stared at the house, wondering if the woman was doing the same at her barn. He also wondered how she would react to finding them still here come evening. Jennifer wasn’t going to transport Kyle until he could survive it and if that meant taking the woman captive, Whitney was positive that Jennifer would.
“If she doesn’t kill you,” he muttered. “Do us all a favor and make the right choice.”
6
Jennifer spent the next six hours at Kyle’s side, medicating and comforting him. The drugs had a positive effect right away and by the time evening came, she felt confident enough of his recovery to leave him alone. She exited the barn as the woman came from her house.
The two females stared at each other–one in dislike, the other in gratitude. The moment was broken by Dog whining.
Sally glanced down and realized the cast had broken off. “Poor baby. Let me get you a painkiller and we’ll get a new one on.”
Jennifer watched the woman tend to the wolf. She seemed to have forgotten her human company and Jennifer moved closer. She’d planned to leave Sally alone, but the need to say thank you was too strong.
“Stay back!”
Jennifer stopped at the near panic in the woman’s voice. “Sorry. I wanted to thank you for helping them.”
Sally didn’t answer. The sense of evil was all over the teenager.
“I’m also sorry you feel that way about us,” Jennifer stated, going to the barn. “We’ll leave as soon as he’s able.”
“Good.” Sally wasn’t going to demand they leave yet. She wanted to, but after viewing the girl, feeling her, she’d chosen to keep her mouth shut and do what she could to get them to go. “There’s food in the freezer. Use what you need.”
“We will,” Jennifer answered. “We’ll also feed your animals so you don’t have to come in here.”
“They all get the same bags,” Sally said.
“I’ll see what I can chop up,” Jennifer tossed over her shoulder.
Sally blanched, but didn’t rise to the bait. She knew what she was, but she also knew pure evil when she was faced with it. The sooner these killers were off her property, the better.
Jennifer was careful not be bitten or scratched as she fed the variety of animals in the barn. Each one had an injury that had been lovingly tended and the teenager tried not to resent their care. So the woman didn’t like people. Many of them sucked. It was understandable.
After she finished with the feeding, Jennifer watered them from the barrel in the corner, but that was it. The animals didn’t like her, snapping and hissing, and she left the cage cleaning for their sullen host.
Jennifer spent a few minutes removing the signs of humans being in the barn, including a finger that had rolled off the chopping area. She quickly tossed it into the garbage can, unable to deliver it to any of the angry animals. She’d bathed in the blood of the soldiers and enjoyed it, but that had been in the heat of war. This felt like a personal vendetta and Jennifer wanted no part of it.
Jennifer gazed out the window and noticed a garden along the barn’s rear wall. It was surrounded by chicken wire and appeared well tended. Curious, she went outside and did a slow walk of the property. What else did the woman have? Was there some way to help her? It was obvious that the woman wouldn’t be going to Safe Haven with them, and the need to repay the debt before they left was one that Jennifer wanted to satisfy.
As she studied the property, Jennifer quickly became convinced that the best thing she could do was leave the woman alone. From the generator and well, to the multi
ple garden patches, the woman was covered indefinitely.
She was also insane.
7
Jennifer ducked into the small rear area where both men were sleeping. Whitney was comfortable, breathing evenly, but Kyle was still tossing, and occasionally gasping at some mental pain. If not for Angela’s words, Jennifer knew she would be panicking.
“Time for your meds, baby,” Jennifer crooned, kneeling next to Kyle. “And maybe a little more morphine so you can rest.”
“He should be able take it. He’s a large man.”
Jennifer spun around to find their host in the narrow doorway.
Sally was staring at Kyle as if he were about to lunge and Jennifer let out a sound of annoyance that drew her attention.
“You’re making a judgment without knowing him,” Jennifer pointed out, injecting Kyle’s thigh. “It’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair,” Sally responded.
“No argument from me on that one,” Jennifer said. “I spent the first half of the war in a Mexican camp. Kyle saved me.”
Jennifer ran a tender hand over his hot brow and Sally frowned. “You two are a couple?”
Already tired of the woman, Jennifer rested her head on Kyle’s uninjured arm. “He loves me. He would do anything for me. And I feel the same.”
“Stockholm,” Sally muttered.
“Love,” Jennifer insisted. “Kyle isn’t my captor. He’s my hero.”
Sally frowned, leaving the barn. So far, she didn’t like anything about the man she had saved.
“She’s been hurt or something,” Whitney stated from his pallet. “I tried a little, but she’s twitchy.”
“She’s dangerous.” Jennifer carefully lay down next to Kyle and wrapped her arm around him. “I’m surprised she helped you guys.”
“Me too,” Whitney agreed. “We need to get out of here before she flips on us.”
Jennifer stretched out gently, lending Kyle her warmth. “I’m already listening for it. If she attacks, kill her. That comes from the boss. Angela doesn’t like the idea of leaving the woman out here alone to decide life and death. She wants those people gone or in her army.”