by Angela White
Adrian nodded at Angela, and she brought the shield back up. The shield became solid, the crimson edges already tinted in that green and gold. Bats slammed into it with splatters and satisfying cracks.
Most of the colony had been caught in the first 15’ x 15’ net to fly at them, and nearly all the rest were in other nets and burning. Less than a hundred were flying around the camp in search of an escape.
Adrian hit his radio. “Take ‘em out!”
Eagles came from the tents with tennis rackets, brooms, torches, and even lighters with cans of hairspray, determined to eliminate their share.
?
As things wound down, Adrian evaluated his camp and found it devastated.
Unlike during the sinkhole, when only two small areas had been affected, the entire camp, from one end to the other, was now a complete shambles. Tents were down, some smoldering and splattered in bat blood. Animals were running loose, a few down, and the Eagles were walking the camp, killing any bats they found feasting on the animals or bodies.
They had begun to count for everyone, but the mechanic and his wife had been found a few minutes ago outside their charred tent. They had been crushed in the first stampede when the bats attacked. They would join the three men who’d given their lives to protect others, and the five members of his herd who been caught in the crossfire of this newest war.
Samantha stayed in front of Adrian as the Eagles gave a sitrep, not wanting him to stare at the sheet-covered bodies. Ten more lives lost. That he was failing them, was the clearest thought in his head, and she moved closer, determined to use whatever she thought might work to distract him.
Samantha didn’t realize that she’d read him, like Angela was always doing.
Neither did he.
“Didn’t know they were doing something that big!”
“Good thing.”
“Yeah, but doesn’t that mean we’re locked in?”
Camp members were staring at the shield in amazement. The questions and comments would have to be addressed, but the coming of dawn’s light wasn’t far off and Adrian wanted it left up until then.
“What happens when they realize they can’t touch it?” Samantha asked. “They can walk through it.”
Adrian gestured to where that was currently being explored by Zack’s three boys. The trio was placing their palms against it and being stopped.
Sam grunted. “Okay, so we could keep them here, but I don’t understand how it knows not to let the boys through, but it will let us.”
The man appearing on Adrian’s right for a sitrep answered, “Because Angela controls it. She makes it solid or transparent. She also feeds from it.”
The others gaped at Kenn’s open words, but Adrian’s mind was racing. He would have a lot of shit to shovel to cover this one, but so far, it would work. No one was muttering about Angela or avoiding contact as she and a bloody Brady escorted Charlie to the main tents.
Looks like they had a close call, Samantha thought as she caught sight of Dog limping behind them in pride. The four of them made a striking group moving through camp.
Sam felt Adrian’s breath catch. He looked old in the dim light. All the stress wasn’t being kind to their hard-assed leader. The misery coming from him begged for a solution, and Sam quietly delivered the best advice she could think of. “Stay busy. I know how this sucks.”
Adrian was humbled as she went to help Cynthia. These people had been beaten, broken when they arrived here, but that wasn’t the case anymore. He’d done right by them and they’d grown into their destiny. If only he could have the same luck with Conner when they were reunited. That time was weeks away now, finally, and Adrian was terrified of the hate that had to be waiting for him.
Since they’d taken out the slavers, everything was chaos, and people were anticipating life settling down. The problem was that they had also begun to doubt that it was possible with so many secrets out in the open. A few more, and the camp would be too off balance to allow Adrian’s leadership to be effective. He needed a way to bring them together…or to abdicate and let someone else do it. That was an unspoken thought among all his army these days, but it wasn’t Kenn that their eyes went to.
The camp had the same opinion, though a different choice. Despite Kenn staying by Adrian’s side, the camp was already showing a liking for Marc choosing to go help his family during the crisis. It was fine to have loyalty, but those who weren’t Eagles wanted men in charge who would put their loved ones first. It was a sense that Adrian took to heart. When they found out he’d left Conner waiting, to care for this camp instead, it would be the final straw.
The blond leader wiped a hand across his brow, glad the dead had been covered. Maybe being out of command would be a good thing. All he seemed to be able to do right now was get people killed, and Adrian had little doubt that eliminating so many men, so openly, had caused it. He no longer felt like one of the good guys.
12
Jeremy dropped his clothes into the fire. They were covered in blood–human and other.
As he walked through the devastated camp, Jeremy’s mind was on the conversations that he’d overheard while protecting Samantha. He’d been trying very hard to leave her alone, and found himself paying more attention to the herd than he usually did.
“Bet this stuff wouldn’t happen in the mountains. Not the sinkholes, not the animals, and we can defend that!”
“What about the cave-ins?”
“Smaller risks there than what we’re having now.”
“We’re a target.”
“A lot of people think so.”
Like Adrian, Jeremy knew these people would pick the mountains and it had become real tonight, listening to Adrian lay it out to those who he let draw him into brief conversations. Anything to keep from facing the latest deaths.
They’d lost twice as many as they’d originally thought, most of them from a senior tent that had been unprotected. A large portion of the deflected colony had flown in there and been discovered long after the rest had been burned.
Jeremy forced his mind from the awful memory that he was sure he would dream about tonight, to the next problem he had to handle. He was about to be cooped-up inside a mountain, with only ghosts for company.
His mind showed him that other moment again, the one that had ruined his life and sent him to the seedier side of things. That had been the day he’d lost Mira.
The ski lift had malfunctioned, sending them both from the seat. They’d lain on the side of the slope for hours before anyone came, hours where he’d watched her die and developed a loathing for the location. Afterwards, even when the Inspector said his fooling around and rocking the seat hadn’t mattered, Jeremy hadn’t been able to go to the cabin for his things. Every time he heard the groan and shift of the stone, he heard that awful snap again, one of rusted metal finally giving way.
He’d ended up with two shattered legs and spent years learning to make them work again between surgeries. Mira had been buried during the first of five operations he’d undergone. None of them had been as awful as his fiancé’s death.
Jeremy had dove into his skills for relief of the guilt, hacking and blackmailing his way out of a MIT scholarship into the criminal underworld. When the war came, he’d been a rich computer geek, living on hacking thrills and bourbon. Surviving the war hadn’t been his idea. Passing out in that subway tunnel the night before had been. He’d hoped to be run over before he sobered up.
Now, he would go inside a mountain to live for months where he would get to hear that heart-wrenching snap not just occasionally, but hundreds or maybe even thousands of times.
“Why don’t we hook up a computer and try the internet again? There’s got to be a better place.”
“It was locked down. Have to have the code.”
“Surely someone has hacked it by now?”
“That’s crazy! It would tell any government left where we…”
Mind a blur of despair, Jeremy moved away fro
m the growing argument, ignoring the part of him that wanted to explain to the crowd how many times he himself had tried to break the code.
For the two weeks they’d had power after the bombs, he had worked on it from his laptop. Jeremy still had the notebooks where he recorded the failed attempts, but he wasn’t sure why. That world was gone, and it was time everyone accepted that hard, cold truth. They were on their own.
13
“This is the death list.”
Adrian controlled himself, taking the sheet.
The Eagles were silent as Adrian read, holding their breath as they waited to see how he would take it. They were prepared to offer distractions.
Adrian let the paper fall to the table and turned away. He stood there, shoulders hunched, anguish in his heart. Twenty more lives lost.
Dog came to Adrian’s heel and stared intently. Adrian had a wall up, trying to keep himself together, and Dog had to call to him with a low growl, unable to break through mentally.
Adrian finally realized Dog wanted to tell him something. Instead of the information or ideas that he’d come to expect from the no-nonsense wolf…
Will you tell the beast keeper to let me alone? I don’t like the way Star wiggles.
Adrian stared. “What?”
She whimpers too much. The timber wolf growled in low annoyance. I scare her.
Adrian felt a snicker coming and fought it. He wasn’t allowed to be happy in any way when more of his people were dead. I thought you weren’t interested in mutts.
Dog stamped his paw roughly. Your human wants it, not us! Tell him she’s not my…type.
Adrian snorted in mild surprise. Where did you hear that?
Dog leered, tongue lolling. The pup I protect and his friend. They have an intense interest in females.
Adrian’s smirk almost made it onto his lips. Got you thinking?
The wolf’s fur bristled. I only sniffed her once!
“Just once?” Adrian asked innocently, now caught up in the personal moment with the wolf.
Dog’s head lowered in embarrassment. Okay, twice, but she rubbed against me! What was I supposed to do? In a pack, that means take it!
Adrian’s chuckle spilled out in a burst of calming energy that spread over the nervous men like a soothing balm. He was okay. They could go about their duties and let him carry the weight.
Mind the flank!
Dog’s growl went through those closest as a mental shout as he padded toward the dogs circling the perimeter in a small group. The ants had been absent during the sinkhole and the bat attack, but they were following again, there was no doubt. More than one of the mutated insects was missing a limb from the practices. Adrian and the Eagles were still dropping bait balls into the four-foot anthills, but the dogs laying down their scents around the perimeter and patrolling in packs was keeping them back.
Very aware of the restless members, Adrian had instructed the Eagles to put thick nets over the camp at night from now on, and to finish the ledge around it. They would also start adding walls, portable ones that could fold up. The use of crimson paint would further convince the camp that the Eagles had built the shield. The men were refusing to say how it worked so that there was no chance of anyone sneaking in and dismantling it while they slept. The camp had accepted that answer, but the effects of the attack had given them all a new level of jumpiness.
Sighing, Adrian turned to Kevin. “Walk with me on rounds.”
The level Three Eagle fell right in. “You know it.”
It was well after dawn before Safe Haven finally settled down, but it wasn’t the calm peacefulness they’d come to expect. It was dropping from exhaustion when their eyes refused to stay open any longer.
Chapter Thirteen
Near Cleveland, Oklahoma
June 10th
1
It was time for the mandatory camp meeting.
All around the mess, tables and chairs were set up, speakers were in place, and the hundreds of people in these seats exchanged curious, nervous glances when Adrian’s top people showed up alone.
These feelings of unease were hidden behind welcoming smiles as Adrian came through the crowd, a large plastic tube in one hand and a mug in the other. Marc picked out the bloodshot eyes and immediately suspected the cup held something stronger than coffee.
Adrian made his way straight to the front without responding to any of the greetings or questions, dropping down on a front table.
The silence was awkward as everyone found a seat. Those in the quarantine zone were listening on a radio that Kenn had rigged up. Their votes would count, too.
As they sat, Adrian looked at his people, thinking that despite all he had tried to teach them, they were still sheep who would always need a strong hand to keep them together. It was disappointing. Would it help to keep trying? To try harder?
“We’re here to pick our choice for the winter. If we wait any longer, we won’t have time to get it ready.”
Adrian’s deviation from the usual start of the monthly camp meeting drew instant attention and more unease.
“We’ve been checking places as we travel, and none of them are acceptable.”
“What places?” an annoyed voice called.
Adrian rolled his eyes. “The ones you were too busy grazing to see. Kenn, read it.”
Kenn exchanged a look with the others in command before he opened his notebook, standing. “This is a list of all the places we’ve searched for authority, help, or permanent shelter. These searches were conducted by various combinations of Eagles and camp members.” Kenn took a breath. “Nellis Air Force Base, Hawthorne Army Depot, Nellis Bombing Range, the city of Las Vegas, Santa Clara, the Dugway Proving Ground, Salt Lake City, NORAD, Grand Junction, Boulder, Ft. Collins, Denver, Lander, Casper, Ft. Supply, Ft. Bridger, Rapid City, Cheyenne.”
Kenn ignored the mutters and groans, turning the page. “The Essex Compound, Rawlins, Cincinnati, Glendale, Tablerock, Roanoke, the Virginia Military Institute, White Sulphur Springs, Ft. Seybert, the city of Oakland, Basset, Ft. Bliss, White Sands, F. E. warren AFB…”
The list went on for a while, and Adrian waved at Neil to pass around the albums of pictures they’d taken, verifying these places were gone or destroyed.
Tears and pale faces greeted Adrian when Kenn finally reached the end.
“We found nothing in any of these places but bodies.”
“Why was all this done in secret?” Roger demanded.
A dangerous tension filled the crowd.
“Because the weight of those disappointments was mine to carry,” Adrian stated. “You don’t tell an injured person that there’s no doctor to help. You do the best you can and handle the weight until they’ve regained their strength.”
His eyes flashed over their nods and headshakes. “We took the pictures for this moment, for your doubt.”
Kenn handed out another album, this one containing a single shot from each place they’d searched. The images were of death, fires, rubble, skeletons, and in all of them–that feeling of being over.
Adrian pulled the cap off the tube and took out the map he’d been working on since right after the war. Kyle stepped up to hold an end and Adrian remained seated, pointing things out.
“The red is our back trail. Known blast sites are in black, debris and radiation areas in green. Purple is where we’ve searched.”
It was easy to see he’d put a lot of time into it. There were dates, notes, even the number of people in Safe Haven at each location, and the camp leaned forward eagerly.
Billy motioned toward the map. On it, Adrian’s Montana base was clearly marked…and sat in the middle of a ground zero.
Those who understood the implications kept quiet, telling themselves he had found out later, not taken them all that way based on a terrible lie.
“We might have tried to find one of those underground bunkers in the desert, but I doubted they’d let us in even if we could find one. I also didn’t think any of us wan
ted to be back under the control of the government.”
There were more nods at that, and Adrian’s highest people began to relax a little, seeing he was still driving his herd.
“NORAD might have worked if not for the slavers ruining the water supply there. We haven’t ruled out caves in Kentucky yet, but the reports of mutations in the water in Ohio and Indiana are too close. If the snakes are using the creeks and rivers, being underground with them is the last place we want to try to survive and raise our kids.”
Women were swaying quickly to Adrian’s view, many of them hugging their charges closer.
“A safe place to rebuild is the most important choice we’ll make. I’ll tell you what I’ve come up with, and we’ll go from there.”
Adrian took a drink, stifling a grimace as he swallowed the whiskey-laced coffee. “We can hole-up in the mountains, try to get it ready for the winter that I suspect is coming sooner than we’re used to. Or we can head south, where winter won’t be an issue.”
The crowd became almost panicked.
“South?”
“Are you crazy?”
“What else have you got?”
Angela held her breath, thinking of their dreams. He was telling them–now!
“This land is going sour. We can hide in the mountains for a while, but at some point, we’re going to have to consider leaving. At least until these chemicals clear out. The mutations, we’ll be dealing with no matter where we go, I think.”
“Isn’t there any place untouched?” someone called.
Adrian shrugged, tormented. “Not that I’ve thought of. Except for extreme places, like the poles or an island somewhere, the entire planet has been or will be, affected by the war.”
“What about an island?”
“We could rebuild somewhere else.”
“I’m not leaving my country!”
Adrian stood up, letting go of the map.
Kyle caught it, rolled it up, and slid it into the tube.