Beauty and Dread

by Nicki Huntsman Smith

  “What? The poison-wielding assassin won’t break a promise?”

  “That was a low blow.”

  Dani thought for a moment. “You’re right. Sorry. Still, I’m not letting this slide. I’ve been called a honey badger, and if you know anything about that adorably tenacious creature, you know I won’t give up. You might as well tell us what you know and save yourself a boatload of irritation. If it makes you feel better, we won’t share with the class. Agreed, Pablo?”

  Pablo raised an eyebrow. “I won’t agree to that beforehand. My silence is dependent on the content of Julia’s revelation.”

  “Ugh. Thanks for nothing, Voltaire. Come on, Julia. Just tell us.”

  Julia sighed. Dani could see she was emotionally tapped out. The woman would talk...she could feel it.

  Julia opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get the first words out, the heavy metallic click of a bullet being chambered in a rifle came from behind them.

  “Don’t make any sudden moves,” a man’s voice said. “Arms in the air. Now, before I take the top of your pretty skull off.”

  “Shit,” Dani said under her breath. She moved her hands from where they were placed on her weapons, lifted them skyward, then turned in slow motion to face the threat.

  What she saw made her heart sink. Three men were fanned out across the highway. Each held a firearm, all pointed at them. A quick assessment extinguished any thoughts of a Rambo-style response. All three appeared watchful, grim, and competent.

  She had allowed herself to be distracted and had just committed the worst fuck-up in the history of fuck-ups.

  “Tie ‘em up,” the leader told one of the other men. “The girl first...I can see she’s trouble.”

  If it hadn’t been for the presence of Julia beside her, or if Sam had been on her other side instead of Pablo, she would have taken the chance. But the remarkable brain that could interpret data with the speed of a supercomputer and convert it into battlefield strategies and logistics with ease, knew the odds weren’t good of surviving the situation if she reacted aggressively now. The brain said: wait...bide your time...a better opportunity will present itself when these guys lower their guard...and they will.

  She gritted her teeth as one of the men yanked both arms behind her and expertly wrapped several loops of paracord around her wrists. Then he began plucking all her weapons from their hiding places.

  When he found the K-bar in its calf sheath under her heavyweight cargo pants, she felt the first stirrings of rage. That K-bar had been with her through everything.

  “This little hellcat is armed for bear,” the man said, grudging admiration in his tone.

  The next moment he located the final weapon: a small claw-shaped blade strapped to her triceps. Its bulge barely showed under her clothing, but the pat down had been thorough. He pushed up the sleeve of her jacket and then the underlying layers of tee-shirts to get to it.

  “Captain, you need to see this. I think we caught ourselves a deserter.”

  Chapter 38

  “There’s a run on belladonna these days,” Cate said to the beautiful woman sitting across from her on her grandmother’s sofa.

  “What do you mean?” Natalie asked.

  “Never mind. What do you want it for?”

  “I’m having trouble sleeping. I was on Ambien before Chicxulub and lately I’m lucky to get four hours each night. I find myself waking up and worrying about everything, then I can’t go back to sleep.”

  Cate sighed. The collective ignorance of Liberty’s citizens regarding homeopathic medicine was irritating, but not surprising. Few people had taken the time to learn the old ways...any old ways...whether it was natural remedies, blacksmithing, spinning fiber into yarn then weaving it into cloth, or making serviceable shoes out of animal hides. People had been obsessed with shiny technology and demanded instant gratification in all things. It was funny that someone like herself, whose skill set was anachronistic before, was now in great demand.

  “Your boyfriend is supposedly a former pharmacology major. He should have known belladonna wouldn’t be the best choice for insomnia.”

  Natalie made a dismissive gesture. “Oh, I didn’t mention it to Calvin. He has so much on his mind these days dealing with Steven and everyone else. I didn’t want him to worry about me.” The gray eyes were as guileless as they were beautiful.

  Cate would have been suspicious if she hadn’t been so captivated.

  “So why not just ask me for it at the hospital?”

  “You know how people talk. I prefer that nobody knows my personal business. I’d like to keep this between us girls.” Natalie smiled, then placed her slender fingers on Cate’s plump hand. “Can we do that?”

  Cate felt flustered suddenly. “Y-yes. I suppose we can. You don’t want belladonna,” she said, forgetting that she had spoken those very words two days earlier. “You want aconite...wolfsbane. It’s a sedative, but be careful with the dosage. Too much and you’ll never wake up.”

  “That sounds perfect.” Natalie removed her fingers and sat back, her dazzling smile framed by delicate crocheted snowflakes.

  Cate’s head was swimming. The woman was stunningly beautiful, but had always been so reserved and cold to her at the hospital. People like Natalie didn’t have anything to do with the likes of her before the plague. But now, sitting in her own living room with this gorgeous creature smiling just for her, she almost felt under her sway. Nobody knew better than she that there was no such thing as a love potion, but good grief this woman’s magnetism...her allure was not to be denied. She wanted to lose herself in those radiant gray eyes and kiss the exquisite lips.

  The expectant look on the lovely face gave Cate an idea.

  “I assume you’ll be wanting the aconite soon?”

  “Well, yes. I’m hoping to get a good night’s sleep tonight. Do you have some ready?”

  It was Cate’s turn to smile. “Perhaps, perhaps. But there’s something you can do for me first.”

  “Oh. I’m happy to trade services or barter goods. I’m the best laundress in town. I can get whites whiter than anyone.” She glanced at Cate’s girth and added, “I have a stash of Ghirardelli chocolate I’ve been saving for a special occasion.”

  Cate stood, then moved to sit beside Natalie on the sofa. She encircled the pale fingers with her own ruddy ones.

  The gray eyes opened wide briefly, surprise evident on the exquisite face. Then it was gone, replaced with a calculating expression that did nothing to diminish the beauty.

  “Oh, I think I understand what you want,” Natalie purred.

  Chapter 39

  “Shouldn’t we go after her?” Jeffrey said to his father. “It’s been three days now.”

  Steven was having similar thoughts, but the logical thing to do was not chase after his sister on her ill-conceived mission, thereby leaving Calvin at Liberty’s helm. Was this a selfish thought? Perhaps. But it was rooted in a valid concern. The preacher could stage a coup in his absence, and if Calvin controlled the town, it would become a mecca for religious zealotry rather than a secular haven for the continuation of civilization.

  “I could go, Dad. You don’t have to come too,” Jeffrey said, reading his father’s mind, as usual. Dark hair was beginning to usurp the peach fuzz on the chin and upper lip of the eager face on the other side of the kitchen table.

  “Not a chance. We need you here,” Steven replied. That was partly true.

  “We could send a couple of other people from the security crew,” Marilyn suggested. “Older, more seasoned folks. Sorry, Jeff,” she added when she saw disappointment on the youthful face.

  “When are you people going to understand that being fifteen these days is different than what it was two years ago?”

  “You’re right about that. Don’t you think I know how grown up you are?”

  “No, I don’t. Come on, Dad. After Logan, I’m the best shot in town.”

  “And that’s why we need you here, son.” />
  “You’re so frustrating! There will come a time when you can’t tell me what to do.”

  Jeffrey pushed his chair back from the table and stormed upstairs.

  Steven sighed. “I didn’t handle that well, did I?”

  “Nope,” Marilyn said. “And he does have a point.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Well, he is the best shot. Who better to go against Logan if Julia doesn’t have him under control?”

  “I don’t think shooting prowess is what will be needed in that situation.”

  “That sounds like a rationalization.”

  “Whose side are you on here?”

  “I’m just playing Devil’s advocate. Don’t get your boxers in a wad.” She stood, walked around the table to Steven and gave him a lingering kiss on the lips. “I need to get going. It’s distribution day and Natalie is helping me out. Should be interesting.”

  “I’ll see you later tonight then?”

  “You shall.”

  There was the transformative smile. Steven realized at that moment that he was as smitten as a lovesick teenager; the notion took him completely by surprise.

  A minute later Marilyn was gone and Steven was left to his own thoughts. Julia and the scouts had been gone for three days, and the scenarios as to what might have befallen them were endless. Maybe they had run into trouble. Maybe Logan had killed Dani before Julia got to them. Maybe everyone was fine and they were just gathering information. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

  He wouldn’t allow fear to dictate his actions. It was too soon to risk sending more people into harm’s way. In the meantime, he had his hands full keeping Sam on task shoring up Liberty’s defenses. All the young man wanted to do was chase after Dani. Steven didn’t have much time left before their de facto head of security would go rogue. Frankly, he was surprised it hadn’t happened already. At the impromptu meeting with Calvin and Sam, Steven had only shared an abbreviated and sanitized version of the news about Logan. Despite playing down the danger, Sam had almost flown out the door then, but Steven had wrangled a promise from him to stay put...for now. Give Julia, who could control Logan, enough time to do so. Otherwise, sending more people after them might further endanger everyone.

  The sound of a vehicle interrupted his reverie. A quick look out the window confirmed the return of the HG crew’s Dodge Ram...the one his sister had stolen. He flew out the front door. By the time he reached the street, Pablo and Julia were getting out of the pickup truck. Her face was a mask of anguish.

  “What happened?” Steven demanded.

  “They have Dani,” Julia said. “They have my daughter!”

  “Who? Who has her? What about Logan?”

  “He’s dead, thankfully,” Pablo said, slamming the driver’s door shut. “Isaiah has Dani. He’s holding her captive as a bargaining chip to get us to do his bidding when he arrives with his army. We are royally fucked.”

  ###

  “Drink this,” Steven said to Julia as he handed her a glass of water.

  “I need to get home and check on Maddie,” Pablo said as he headed for Steven’s front door.

  “Please, Pablo. Just a few more minutes. I want to hear the story from both of you, in detail. I don’t know how coherent or thorough my sister will be in her version. She doesn’t handle this sort of thing well.”

  “This sort of thing?” Pablo spat. “Who the hell has been through something like this before?”

  “I meant traumatic family situations.”

  “I’ll give you five minutes, then I’m gone. I have my own family to worry about.” Pablo stood next to the sofa where Julia sat, his arms crossed, his bearing hostile toward Steven, and protective of Julia.

  Steven wouldn’t have thought his sister would need protecting from her own brother.

  “Let’s start from the beginning,” Steven said.

  Absent was the lively lilt and pleasing cadence Pablo used when telling a story or reciting poetry at one of their gatherings. His tone was terse and his words were clipped as he recounted the details of the past three days.

  “When they saw Dani’s scar, they assumed she was a deserter. Until then, we didn’t know they were a scouting party for Isaiah. They tied us up and made us hike back to their camp which was five miles to the south of our position. From there, we were put on the backs of their motorcycles with our hands still bound behind us. Shortly after we encountered the spear tip of their army...”

  “How many?” Steven interrupted.

  “Perhaps two hundred. That’s an estimate, of course. May I continue?”

  “Yes, sorry.”

  “We were taken to Isaiah. I believe a runner was sent to notify him of our arrival because when we were presented to him, he was mounted on an enormous black horse...posing, it seemed to me. That’s the impression I got.”

  Julia nodded in agreement. “Yes, I think so too. Classic narcissist with delusions of grandeur. Which fits with what we know about the survivors.”

  Steven felt a stab of alarm. “Julia, you didn’t...”

  “Yes, I did,” she said, deadpan. “Of course I did. Keeping that secret is no longer an option. Deal with it.”

  He ignored the challenge. “What happened then?”

  Pablo continued, “We watched him dismount and come toward us. It all felt staged, like he’d choreographed the scene. He wanted to evoke fear in his captives. When he saw Dani, he became apoplectic for a moment, then regained his composure. There was a caustic exchange of words between the two, which Isaiah seemed to enjoy. Dani was her usual belligerent self, and at one point I think she might have gotten to him, but it came to nothing. We were separated then. She was taken off somewhere by herself, and Julia and I were put in a tent and given food and water. He may be a power-hungry psychopath, but he has a distorted sense of honor, for lack of a better word.”

  “What then?”

  “Nothing. Guards were posted outside. We were still bound. Escape was not an option. The next morning, we were given more food and water, then brought before Isaiah. I’ve tried to remember his speech verbatim because it was fascinating, despite the circumstances. He has a gift for language and his grasp of alliteration is remarkable.”

  Steven fought the urge to roll his eyes. Of course this young poet would be interested in language, but these details weren’t the type he needed.

  “He said he had plans for our town. That he’d seen it in a vision and it would be his Rome in the Great Plains.”

  “So his plan is to invade or conquer?”

  “Interesting that you perceive the difference,” Pablo replied.

  Steven ignored what he hoped was an unintentional insult.

  “He said, ‘Like a tsunami, we will roll over your town, claiming every square inch of real estate. You decide whether the tide is tumultuous and terrible, or temperate and tranquil.’ So he’s offering us a choice.”

  “And he’ll use Dani as leverage,” Julia said. “So help me god, Steven, you will not dismiss her as collateral damage.”

  Steven raised an eyebrow. At some point, he may need to reassess his reputation. “What else, Pablo?”

  “He said he expected his army to arrive at his Rome in the Great Plains within a fortnight. Yes, he used that word. Then he said that when he arrives we will have two choices: ‘we can simply and serenely hand over the keys to the kingdom and there will be no superfluous bloodshed, or we can resist, thereby incurring abhorrent acrimonious annihilation.’ That was it. If he weren’t such a psychopath, I would enjoy having a conversation with him. He’s charming when he’s not terrifying. After that, we were placed on the motorcycles again and taken to the truck that Julia had abandoned earlier. The rest you know.”

  Steven rubbed his temples, already working on the logistics of defending his town.

  “I’ll leave you to it then,” Pablo said, heading for the door. “Just so you know, I intend to make sure everyone is aware of what they’re facing. No positive spin will be put on the situ
ation in hopes of getting people to stay. And I will tell you this too: if Maddie is physically able, we’re leaving. Staying here isn’t worth jeopardizing our lives.”

  “Pablo, it’s not just about that,” Julia said as she stood. “There’s Dani to consider too. And transporting a pregnant woman in a weakened state is risky.”

  “Exactly,” Steven said quickly. “Pablo, just promise me you won’t make any decisions until I’ve had time to think this through. Please.”

  Pablo was at the front door. He paused. “I’ll give you twenty-four hours. After that, I’m going to get my family the hell out of town.”

  “What, on foot?” Steven said before he thought better of it.

  Pablo turned slowly to face Steven. “No, of course not on foot. I will use a vehicle. Probably the one we arrived in.”

  Steven hesitated, then decided to finish. Pablo had pushed him into a corner.

  “You’ll need gasoline to run that vehicle, Pablo. As mayor, gas allocations are under my jurisdiction.”

  “You would do that? Keep people here, endangering lives, just to preserve your little utopia? Good god, I had no idea you were so coldblooded.”

  Steven blew out a measured breath, choosing his words carefully.

  “I agree. That sounded harsh. Just give me some time to work this all out. Please.”

  The golden eyes studied Steven for a long moment.

  “Twenty-four hours. That’s it. And by the way, I’m going to find Sam. I want him to hear the unsterilized version of what happened to Dani.”

  Chapter 40

  Dani refused to give Isaiah the satisfaction of letting him know she was scared. Of course she was scared. Only an idiot wouldn’t be.

  “Lily, what do you think of our guest? Does she look like the bogeyman you imagined her to be?”

  Isaiah’s rich voice flowed over her like poisoned honey. She was terribly uncomfortable with her hands tied behind her back, but she wouldn’t squirm. The cold was seeping up from the earth into her bones, chilling her bottom as well as the legs that were crossed in front of her. From that vantage, she was forced to look up at the man who intended to kill her...if she didn’t kill him first.