by Aurelia Skye
“Don’t hurt me,” cried the blonde, putting a hand up to block her face as her other hand cupped her suddenly bleeding nose.
“I’d love to spend hours hurting you, but I’m just going to kill you, because that’s all I have time for. It’s what you planned to do to me, Kassandra.”
I looked up as Lori neared, moving from Shane and Jamar’s supportive hold into my arms. I was a familiar face, and practically the only one she would recognize in the group. I rubbed her back and whispered soothing words.
When she lifted her head, she’d clearly compose herself slightly. “We have to find Grace and Maisie. They separated us the first night, and I heard them say something about keeping them for trading stock.”
I pushed strands of dark hair off her brow. “We’ve already gotten them out to safety. You’re next, so let’s get out of here.”
“Not yet,” said Alyssa as she pulled the golden gun she called Miranda from her holster, aiming it at Kassandra.
“You can’t kill me. I’m pregnant.” Kassandra put a hand over her stomach in a protective fashion, though there was no obvious bump.
Alyssa gritted her teeth so hard I could hear her grinding from a few feet away. “You’re lying. You’re just manipulating me, or trying to. What makes you think I won’t kill you even if you are knocked up? I’d be doing the world a favor by preventing you from having offspring.”
Tears flowed down Kassandra’s cheeks, and they looked genuine, but after hearing about her previous exploits, I had a hard time believing their sincerity.
“I’m telling you the truth. If you kill me and our baby, my husbands will track you down and rip you apart with their bare hands.” Kassandra allowed a ghost of a smile. “Of course, they’re going to do that anyway.” The smile was particularly chilling with the blood dripping from her nose to smear on her teeth.
Alyssa shuddered, and I couldn’t hold back a tremble myself, hearing the rich promise in her tone.
“Please, Shane, don’t let her hurt me.”
Alyssa’s hand had lowered slightly until Kassandra spoke again, and now the gun lined up once more. She appeared to have Kassandra’s forehead in her sights, and I held my breath to see what decision she would make.
“Come on, sugar,” said Jamar as his hand went around hers. He didn’t try to take the gun. He just held her hand. “You don’t want to kill an innocent baby.”
“There’s nothing innocent about something that comes from Kassandra, and she’s probably lying about being pregnant.” Jamar and Kassandra both seemed equally startled when Shane spoke the words in a firm tone.
Alyssa just flashed him a smile, and her gun remained upright for another moment until she sighed and lowered it before returning it to her holster. “I know I’m a fool for not taking advantage of the opportunity to shoot you between the eyes, Kassandra, but Jamar’s right. If you actually are pregnant, I don’t want to kill your baby. The poor thing will have enough trouble being raised by you. Not ending you now feels a bit like punishing the baby, to be honest, but I’m not quite cold-blooded enough to kill a pregnant woman—even you.”
Kassandra appeared to still be reeling, and there was wounded betrayal in her expression when she looked at Shane. “You don’t really mean that. What you said hurt me.”
Shane barely looked at her as he shook his head before moving away. “Let’s get out of here before the militia members come back to check on their wives.”
I started to fall in line with them, but froze and turned back to face the women. “If any of you are here against your will, you can come with us now. We’ll get you to safety.”
Most of the women cowered further away from me, their expressions somewhere between scandalized and shocked. However, a petite redhead stood up and immediately moved to our side, kicking at a hand that tried to stop her. “Please get me out of here.”
“That’s a bad idea,” said Chris as we moved from the room. “They’ll want their wife back.”
“She’s clearly not a wife by choice, and they’re going to come after us either way.” I remained firm.
After a moment, Chris nodded. “I’m sure you’re right, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea to take one of theirs back to our armory. If she learns the location of our base, she can tell them where to find us if she escapes.”
I thought our voices had been quiet, but apparently not quiet enough. The redhead turned to face us, glaring at Chris. “I have no intention of betraying anyone. I just want to get away from these freaks. I was married seven weeks ago against my will to three of the generals’ men, and it’s about as much fun as you would imagine it is. If you’ve never been forced to wear someone else’s wedding dress to walk down the aisle, and have the preacher ignore you when you scream no, you won’t take the men, you can’t really relate to what I’ve been through. So I guarantee you I won’t be turning on any of you. If you’re out to destroy these freaks, count me in. Otherwise, I’ll go my own way after I’m away from here. Either way, I’m not on their side.”
With that, the redhead turned from us and resumed marching, quickly catching up with the rest of the group. We followed suit, and Chris fell silent. I guessed she had eased his worries. Maybe I wasn’t cautious enough, but I had never even considered the possibility that she might betray us. She’d seemed too relieved to get away, and there was fragility behind her tough, yet brittle, exterior. I didn’t know what she’d endured, but I imagined it hadn’t been pleasant. Seven weeks of being someone’s forced bride couldn’t be an easy experience, especially when those someones were three men she likely found repulsive.
We encountered some resistance as we made our way back to the exit, but no one else was wounded, and we finally emerged outside a few minutes later. We ran for the cut in the fence, and Grady had left it rolled up for us this time. After that, we moved farther away from the installation and closer to the wooded area that was about a half-mile hike away. Once we were there, we found the other half of our group, and Avi extracted a radio from his belt.
“Come in, Collier. Packages liberated.”
“Copy. Head home early, and we’ll be right behind you.”
It was another mile or so to hike to where we had left the trucks, but no one complained. Lori seemed to be the most traumatized, and I wasn’t certain if that meant her grooms had anticipated their wedding night, or if she was simply shaken by the whole thing. Whatever the problem, she was the only one who couldn’t seem to focus on walking. With a sigh of impatience, Grady finally picked her up in his arms halfway through, and we made much faster time after that.
We seemed to be in the clear, but it was still a relief to reach the truck and climb in the back. Avi drove quickly, but carefully, as he moved through the night. He didn’t turn on the lights until we were a couple of miles away from where we had parked, and I heard Shane speaking on the radio. From what I could glean, Collier and the others in the first wave had withdrawn and were now retreating carefully so as not to pick up a tail that could reveal our location.
Exhaustion swept over me, and I leaned closer to Chris, putting my arm on his shoulder as Finn moved nearer to my other side, putting a hand on my thigh. Lian sat beside Chris, and I reached out a hand to hold his. I wished I could reach Avi, but he was behind the wheel.
When we arrived back at base, there were several people waiting to greet us. Sofia embraced Grace and Maisie before moving to Lori, who still clung to Grady with her head buried against his shoulder. When Sofia tried to get her to let go, the girl shook her head and held tighter. It wasn’t until Jeff emerged from the crowd that Lori lifted her head, and only because her father started shouting.
“Put down my daughter right this minute.”
Grady immediately complied, taking a step back. Lori seemed to want to hold onto him for a moment, but she let her hand fall away and turned to her father as he came forward to hug her. The tears that had abated during the drive returned, and her frame shook from the force of her crying.
He nodded as he moved closer, and Grace moved to follow him, obviously having overheard my words.
I was annoyed when Jeff brushed them both off and moved Lori out of the room, clearly intent on keeping her away from everyone, or perhaps just reassuring himself that she was all right. I could understand that, because I felt the need to know Grayson was okay. It was the first thing I asked Sofia when she approached. “Where’s Grayson?”
“He’s asleep on my bed. He tried to wait up for you, but he just couldn’t do it.” She grinned as she said the words. Then her grin disappeared. “What happened? Is everyone okay?”
I shrugged. “I think so. The women being held in a cage—”
“A cage?” Sofia asked in shock.
Alyssa spoke up then. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen that setup. I didn’t recognize any of the people we killed tonight, but back in Wyoming, there was a scavenging group moving through, and they had three women in a cage in a trailer on the back of a motorcycle. I’m just guessing, but it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that they ended up part of this militia group. Hell, they could be the founders for all I know.”
“Whoever they are, they’re well-supplied and well-stocked.” Avi came up behind me, putting his arms around me and a hand on my waist. “They’ve probably been planning for such a thing for years. Not HLV specifically, but some kind of disaster.”
“Surely the virus decimated their ranks too,” said Sofia.
Avi nodded. I knew, because I could feel his cheek brush against the back of my head. “I’m sure it did, but people like that have a way of drawing likeminded individuals, so they probably had a fairly easy time bolstering their numbers. All some people need to sell out their ethics is a steady supply of food and a place to sleep.”
“Avi is right,” said Lian as he came over to join us. “My father was a commander in the People’s Republic of China Army, so he saw all kinds of desperation. Some of the things he’s told me over the years still haunt me. The bottom line is people will betray any number of others to protect themselves and their family. So that could be a good thing for us.”
I frowned. “How so?”
“There will be people who just joined for the safety and security, and they might not share the same goals or ideals as the militia as a whole.”
“Or there might be people like me, who have been kidnapped and forcibly forced to join their insanity,” said the redhead softly from nearby. Her tough exterior seemed to crumble, and she looked openly vulnerable for the moment.
“I didn’t catch your name,” said Alyssa with a hint of challenge.
“April Gramercy.” She grimaced. “Though my husbands insisted I take all their names, so they called me April Wells-Smit-Baxter.” She nodded in the direction Lori had disappeared with her father. “Lori was to have the pleasure of being Mrs. Fowler-Gates. Being young, a virgin, and white, she was a real prize.” She grimaced in disgust. “She was reserved for Barnes and Court’s two right-hand men.”
I shivered. “Poor girl. Do you think they did something to her before the wedding?”
April laughed, but it was a harsh sound. “Of course not. These are good, God-fearing, white supremacists. They wouldn’t touch her until the official ceremony was over, and she was declared their wife. Fortunately for her, you guys arrived before they could reach that point, so she was spared that.”
“She’s not even of-age,” said Chris, his expression dark.
April shrugged. “She’s old enough to have babies, and that’s all they care about. They think it’s their destiny to rebuild and repopulate the earth, but this time, only with the right race. White, of course. They were trading anyone who wasn’t white as slave labor or other kinds of labor, including men and children. The women were reserved for barter, and more than once I heard them discussing ways they could sterilize the minorities in their care—their words, not mine—before trading them to prevent them from breeding.”
“Were they successful?” demanded Grace. “Am I suddenly sterilized now because they don’t think I’m worthy of reproducing?”
April shook her head. “As far as I know, they made no real progress. They were hoping to find a doctor, or at least someone with enough medical experience that they would feel comfortable risking letting that person perform sterilization surgeries on the lessers.” She rolled her eyes. “To my knowledge, they hadn’t gained anyone of that caliber yet.”
Grace let out a bitter laugh. “I could have done that, but I’m glad I wasn’t considered good enough for the job.”
April grinned at her. “Honestly, you’re probably one of the luckier ones. They haven’t found many groups worth trading with, and you weren’t given the honor of being someone’s bride.” She shuddered briefly. “You should consider yourself lucky.”
Grace’s expression turned serious. “Believe me, I do.”
“Let’s break it up tonight,” called Collier. “I want everyone up early in the morning for debriefing and strategy. New people, see Sofia or Xander for a room assignment.” He pointed to Sofia before indicating the dark-haired man in the corner with whom I hadn’t yet become acquainted. “Otherwise, disburse and get to bed. Tomorrow will come all too soon, and we have a lot to discuss.”
We parted from everyone and returned to my room, pausing just long enough to retrieve Grayson from Sofia’s. Joshua handed him over, and then we moved to our room down the corridor. We just sort of tumbled into bed and lay where we fell, different parts of our bodies touching. All of their hands were on me in some fashion, but it was simply for comfort and reassurance. None of us felt like making love after the ugliness of the evening that we had just faced, combined with the uncertainty of the future before us.
Chapter Fourteen
Every face around me was grim as we waited silently in the cafeteria for Collier to start speaking. Surely, word had spread through the armory by now, and everyone had a good idea of our situation, but he spent a few moments recapping what had happened to the people who hadn’t gone out to rescue the women, or had never been on a run and experienced firsthand conflict with the militia.
“What are we going to do now?” called out a voice from the crowd.
Collier moved his head the speaker’s direction. “We’re at war. They’ll be absolutely relentless, especially since they’ll probably regard our rescue mission as stealing their property.” As a grumble of protest went up among the crowd, he lifted his hands for silence. “I’m not saying women are property. I’m simply telling you how I think they’ll view it. They’re likely pissed off with our interference, and they know we have a precious commodity here. Again, folks, I’m not calling women commodities. I’m just guessing at their viewpoint. Regardless of how we view such things, they’ve clearly embraced a more primitive ideology.”
“What does that mean for us?” asked another man in the audience. I craned my head to see who it was, but couldn’t tell over the other people in my way.
“It means we have to hide our location. When we go out there, we have to be incredibly careful not to lead them back here. Foraging will be more like strike teams now than a full day’s endeavor. No one goes out alone, and not even just in pairs. I want small, efficient squads that can move quickly and evade the militia.”
“We should just stay here and not go out again,” said a man I didn’t recognize.
Collier shook his head. “That’s impractical. We have a garden starting, and it produced well this year, but not enough to provide for all the extra mouths. It wasn’t even enough to completely provide for the original members of the armory, so we can’t rely fully on that. We need to be completely self-sufficient before we can stop doing runs. Our focus is going to change somewhat, and we’re going to narrow in on the essentials, along with trying to capture some domesticated animals to start our own little farm, if you will.”
&
nbsp; “We should just leave here,” said Jeff.
“That’s an option, but I’d advise against it. You have no idea what you’re going to encounter out there, or who else you might meet up with. If you think the rise of groups like this militia is an unusual event, I think you’ll find you’re mistaken. There is a power vacuum, and all different types will be rising to the challenge to fill it. You might luck out and find another group like ours, or you might stumble across another militia group. For that matter, the New Order Militia might get you and your daughter before you can get out of the territory.”
Jeff was glaring. “I meant we should all leave. If we go as a group, we have protection. We can find a new place to settle.”
I frowned at the thought, finding the thinking flawed.
“Here we have our own area, and if we can maintain our territory, we’re set up pretty well. Taking on a nomadic lifestyle without means of communication or finding out what’s around us is a bad idea. Factor in the vulnerable among us, including the elderly and the young children, and it’s a recipe for disaster.”
“Then we should leave them behind.” Jeff spoke the words in a hard voice. He seemed unbothered by the callousness of them.
Collier gave him a long, cold look. “We’re not leaving anyone behind if we can help it. As a group, we’re staying. Individuals are free to leave anytime they choose. This isn’t a dictatorship, but it isn’t quite a democracy either. Your vote counts for exactly yourself, and you should vote whether or not you choose to leave.”
Jeff stood up, dragging Lori by the arm to her feet. “My vote counts for my daughter and myself. I vote we get the hell out of here.”
I admired the cool way, Collier handled him, not losing any composure.
“If you go out there with your daughter, you’re going to get her killed. As I said before, your vote counts for yourself. In my estimation, Lori is old enough to decide for herself if she wants to stay or leave.”