Prologue
1
“You guys should pack up. It’s almost time for you to go.”
Comfortable conversations came to a screeching halt at Brian’s words. Everyone looked at him.
Brian straightened from his slouch against the bunkhouse door. “You’re all pretending you don’t know, and I can’t take that. She’s half an hour from finishing a full shift on guard duty. That means she’ll want to get back on the road now that she’s healed.”
Edward set his three aces down but slid a socked foot on them to keep Mark from peeking. It had been three calm days of recovery. They’d enjoyed it, but the need to get moving wasn’t just hitting their leader. The men had been ignoring it in order to deal with it. “Why you breaking our good vibes with your mouth, kid?”
“Yeah. Spit it out or stop farting up the oxygen.”
Jacob laughed at Mark’s improvisation. “Gotta remember that one.”
Brian flushed, coming closer to the circle of men who had insisted on these positions despite the bunkbeds and living room furniture lining the rear walls. “You haven’t talked to me yet!” Brian dropped into a tattered chair by them. “I thought she’d stay longer.”
Edward swiveled around and leaned back on his hands. His fingers kept his cards in place. All of them cheated. “Why can’t you be with your mom?”
Brian’s lips drew up in a sneer. “That’s private!”
“Not for us.” David shoved into the boy’s mind like he’d done with Edward after the sewer fight. Tell them or you get nothing.
Brian perked up. “That’s awesome! I was worried about her going nuts from being alone with normals.”
Daniel’s frown was identical to the others in the group. “Explain.”
“Descendants need to be with their own kind, at least occasionally. Paul might have been why she wasn’t showing signs of it yet.”
Mark shook his head. “We suspected that weeks ago. She has amazing control over herself.”
“Yeah.” Brian’s glance went to his feet. “She’s leaving me here.”
“We know that too. If she were taking you along, we would have gotten orders by now.” Billy was sympathetic to the kid. He almost liked him. Resourceful teenagers were rare. “How did you two get split up?”
“We’ve never been together. I was born in the lab. She didn’t know about me until I was ten.”
Horror flooded the warm, dim room.
“They take babies and never let their parents know?” Jacob fought the urge to scream. “Why?!”
“Because we bond completely, and they can’t corrupt the child.” Alexa stood in the doorway.
Only Edward had heard her come up the rickety steps and open the well-oiled door.
She refused to look at Brian. “Be ready by lunch tomorrow. Stay inside after the next bathroom break–all of you.” Alexa leapt over the rail and slid into the shadows.
“I still don’t understand why he can’t come.” David scanned the group. “He’s like her. I know you feel it too.”
“She won’t risk his life like she does ours.” Billy shrugged at the stunned realization coming over his teammates. “The quest would fall.”
It was an explanation they could understand, even if it was hard to accept. They’d mostly ignored the boy, on Alexa’s orders, but it hadn’t stopped them from making observations. Brian was like seeing Alexa at a young age. It was fascinating.
Brian had already known why. Bitterness twisted his face. “She’d love me, so I can’t go.” He slammed a fist into the chair. “It’s not fair. I just found her!”
All the men held sympathy for the teenager, but they didn’t offer comfort or platitudes. The quest mattered more than a family being ripped apart.
“You think she’ll be okay out there alone?”
Edward snorted at Jacob in the lantern light. “Yes.”
Jacob flushed as the others chuckled. The preacher was still new enough that he hadn’t witnessed what all Alexa could do when angered.
“I raise you…cooking duty. That’s worth your supply evaluation.”
“Not even close.” Edward snickered. “Just fold.”
Mark frowned. “You’re bluffing. Okay… What do you want?”
“That last piece of fudge you’re hoarding.”
“Deal.” Mark dug it out of his cloak and turned over his cards. “Three tens. You lose!”
Edward flipped his cards without turning. He was still watching Brian.
“Trip aces? Are you kidding me?!”
“Why doesn’t she want us outside?” Jacob couldn’t let it go yet.
“She’ll feed.” Brian shoved the door with his foot, shutting it. “And make sure you guys want to continue the quest now that she’s...changed.”
“We won’t leave her.”
“We’re with her until the end, kid.”
Brian sighed miserably. “I’m glad of it You’ll keep her alive.”
“You don’t sound glad.” Daniel handed the smoke on as he gave Brian an intent glare. “Are you a danger now that she confirmed you can’t go?”
Brian shook his head. “Never.”
“Don’t lie, boy!” Mark lunged to his feet as Brian cringed. “We feel your secret. Spit it out so we can make a final decision on your life!”
Brian cowered under Mark’s rage, but he didn’t consider lying. “She’s corrupt now! She has to be put down!”
All the men had wondered about that since she’d been bitten.
“Is that all?” Mark hefted Brian up by his jacket, ignoring the pitiful swings of defense. “We’ve got things covered.” He shoved the shocked boy toward the circle, scattering the cards. “Sit down there and tell us some stories.”
Brian crumbled on the floor, sobbing.
Edward frowned at Mark. “Little rough, weren’t you?”
Mark put a hand up. “He’s stewing over putting a stake in her heart, but I’m too rough?”
Edward sighed. “We’ve all considered the end of the quest. Stop it now.”
Mark grinned. “Okay.” He dropped down next to Brian and patted the boy’s arm. “You need to toughen up. Work on that, will ya?”
Brian gave a jerky nod as he swiped at his eyes.
His rasping breaths made the men feel pity, but not the disgust Paul’s weak moments had encouraged.
“We’re working on something for that problem.” Jacob’s face was stern. “You’re out of it now. Put it from your mind.”
Brian’s gratitude washed over the group with a calming effect that brought smiles and groans.
“Yeah.” Daniel inhaled. “That’s her kid, all right.”
Edward took the smoke and drew. “Before we get to the nostalgia, I want to know the lay of the land we’re heading into.”
“And who’s around.” Billy folded the socks he’d finished mending and placed them into one of the slots that lined all their cloaks. He didn’t play cards very often. He always won and feared angering his teammates.
“What’s the weather like here?”
No one had mentioned it, but all the men were hoping corn fields were behind them. They hated that vegetable now.
Brian took the last question first, still trying to recover. “Dry and windy now. For the last year, there’s been no snow...”
Outside a window, Alexa listened to her men guide Brian into the right frame of mind for the trip. She was certain the child would follow. Her crew was trying to help him survive. They would also glean any details about her that he would share, but there wasn’t much he could give. They barely knew each other.
Alexa shut off her emotions as she scanned the darkness. There were flares of light in the west, all moving north. South was as dark as ever. The east… A bright green glow caught her eye and held it. “The path to the portal!”
Alexa memorized the location, then studied the moon-lit shadows around it. She could see the outline of an RV starting from the top of the hill. “We’re not the only ones hunting this portal.”
Alexa refused to allow a grimace at the pain from her aching ribs and changing body. She stalked into the darkness behind the house, not leaving prints in the dust. Tomorrow, she would be well fed and maybe heartbroken. Her men might decide to spare their lives and take off. If they stayed with her now, they were almost certainly doomed to share her fate. Smart men would leave. She was making sure they had the opportunity.
Alexa expanded her restless midnight prowling to the edge of the property. The lake was low, though she could hear frogs, but it stank. Brian had to be boiling the water or he would have gotten ill from it. The bunkhouse had survived a fire according to the char lines on the rear and the ashy foundation of a larger building half a mile away. She assumed fencing and sheds were here somewhere too, but years of growth had covered their locations. The fire that had come through here had been massive. It was surprising the bunkhouse had been spared.
Her son was in as good a place as any, but Brian was going to abandon it for an ugly ride on her heels. She’d done the same with her father. She wondered if Adrian had done it intentionally, like she had. Brian was a target now. She had to find a place to stash him and this wasn’t it. Hunters would be here within a week, trying to pick up her trail. Their adventures in Lincoln wouldn’t go overlooked and Brian would be a perfect way to get her to surrender.
The sandy blonde boy was wiry and determined, much like her. His father was unknown, but Alexa assumed he had also been a descendant because Brian’s gifts, though still locked, were strong. He would have made an interesting addition on a quest like this–a complete contrast to the taller, stocky, older men that surrounded her. She had no doubt he would have been an asset, unlike Paul, but nothing would change her mind. She had to be able to risk the lives of all her men. Brian didn’t fit that requirement. On his own, he had a chance. With her, only death was certain.
2
The morning came and went without Alexa’s appearance. As the afternoon sun peaked above a dusty horizon, her men lined up in front of Brian’s den.
Brian was nowhere to be seen. The kit he had been wearing when they met was gone, leading them to believe he was out scavenging. The men assumed he had done it to make things easier. This way, the mother and son didn’t have to say goodbye.
Afternoon shadows began to creep in, making the men exchange uneasy glances. Maybe Alexa had done the same as Brian and cut out without saying goodbye. No one voiced the thought, but it was there.
Seven kits of supplies were lined up on the porch by their boots. Brian had put them together overnight. The lonely pack was a reminder that they were without a leader.
Dusty wind blew over the faint grass struggling to survive. Another shower of grit splashed across their worn boots. They were in Missouri, near the Nebraska border. Between a relentless new Jetstream and bad crop choices, this area was undergoing dustbowl conditions. Instead of the deep-rooted corn that Nebraska hosted, Missouri had tried to grow too much soybean. The plants were too shallow to stay in soil sockets against a constant harsh wind, causing the plants and earth to be scoured and scattered. Farmers replanting the next season’s crop would have solved that, like before, but those men and women were gone. Farmers were extinct in America.
On top of that, herds had moved north years ago and ate it barren as they traveled. Animal skeletons were visible in all directions, though most were graying remnants now. Edward suspected even the faint crabgrass that lined Brian’s den would vanish after just a couple days of walking. They were in another wasteland.
Time passed slowly as they waited for their leader to arrive. Concerns flashed over her safety and illness but returned to the original thought of her giving them a chance to back out of the quest now that the situation had changed so drastically.
Jacob hoped she knew they would track her down. They were just as committed to it as she was.
Alexa stepped from the side of the bunkhouse without crunching the gravel. It drew instant attention.
The men approved of her adaptions to the uniform. The only skin showing was her face, though the hood of her cloak was now tied snugly to her head. They were encouraged. She might be able to continue walking in that garb.
Mark delivered Alexa’s kit as the others took a marching formation around her. None of them spoke, but each of them allowed her to feel their relief and happiness that the quest wasn’t over. For most of them, the lives they’d led before couldn’t compare to these moments with her.
Alexa sighed in misery and triumph. “It’s the same for me. We may go to our deaths, but we’ll go together.”
Each man there echoed her as she led them toward the start of their next adventure.
Brian stepped from the shadows near them, making a last desperate attempt to be allowed along. “Grandpa told me to give you a message. I saw him after the war.”
Alexa spun around, grabbed Brian’s arm. “Tell me!”
Brian didn’t struggle. “He said he’s sorry he couldn’t wait.”
“He left you here?”
Brian shrugged out of her loose grip. “He tried to get me to go with them. Conner was there…”
Pain sank into Alexa. “But you stayed...for me.”
“I stayed because he’s corrupt. It would have bled onto me.” The boy looked away. “And then you wouldn’t have given me anything but a bullet.”
“And what is it you think I can give you now?”
“Time, lessons...a family.”
Alexa grunted. “I want that too. You have to know it won’t happen until I finish this quest. The survival of humanity may very well depend on it.”
“I know. I’m just delivering a message.”
Alexa studied her son, hating the chore. “You can’t come with us. There’s no way we’ll succeed with you along.”
“I know.”
“You can go to ground and wait. You’re strong enough to do that. I see it.”
Brian studied his mother, searching for the love he needed. “You’ll come back for me?”
Her heart broke. “Always.”
Brian walked away. That was all he’d needed to hear. He vanished into the shadows next to the bunkhouse.
Alexa cursed the world governments for the thousandth time as she resumed her walk. He would never stop following her now. Their bond was new, but it was already strong–like the one she had with Adrian. “Let’s go. We’re not stopping again for more than a nap until we reach the state line. This part of the quest will increase our stamina.”
Her men followed her into the darkness, smiling or chuckling. There was no other place they’d rather be.
Chapter One
Multiple Targets
Point Pleasant, TN
October 2016
1
“This will do.”
All six men studied the small log cabin. It was nice here, without a feel of corruption. It instantly reminded them of their old lives.
The cabin was nestled behind a small town that appeared to be empty but wasn’t. Edward was sure survivors existed there. The open view meant they’d witnessed Alexa’s arrival. However, the feeling wasn’t hostile. It was almost as if they were glad to see new faces.
The other men were not as encouraged. They had hoped to remain alone for a while longer. The week-long trip across Missouri had been rough in places. When Alexa had said they weren’t stopping for more than a nap, she hadn’t exaggerated.
“How long are we staying?” Mark dropped his gear near the front porch swing that appeared as though it might hold his weight without collapsing.
“Overnight or for a week.” Alexa shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes.”
The men liked the idea of spending a week resting, of Alexa resting, but they heard the warning as well. Alert-mode kicked in. The crew spread out to clear the perimeter.
The property around the cabin was thick with dying trees and piles of debris. It look like one of the rundown places in a neighborhood where even the drug dealers wouldn’t live. In this situation, it was perfect and beckoned to the men like a guiding light. They hadn’t seen a safe structure since leaving Brian’s den. Missouri had been a dust-ridden quake zone.
Alexa waited in the shade of the porch, skin stinging. Walking in the light hurt, but not worse than her heart each time she’d spied their shadow. She had gone through the same thing with her father. All of her plans now accounted for Brian.
Alexa’s heart swelled. Adrian must have done the same thing for her or she would have been killed during one of his adventures. The realization was a comfort, something she needed. Becoming this new creature was an adjustment that Alexa wasn’t sure she was capable of making. A number of things would have to change, as of today. There would be no more walking in the sun, even in covering clothing, unless she wanted to burst into flames. A week of it had weakened her. They would travel at night and sleep during the light.
“All clear,” echoed from multiple directions.
The males rejoined her on the long porch.
“We’ll get settled, then make some preparations.” Alexa motioned Edward to pry open the door.
The cool, dark interior of the cabin called to Alexa, but she forced herself to wait until it had been cleared. Maintaining routines would be much harder now.
“Clear!” Edward was brushed aside as a blur spun into the coolness and vanished down the steps to the cellar.
Edward exchanged looks with the other men, but none of them commented. They got busy preparing their shelter, mindful of her words about overnight or a week, depending on what happened. They assumed it meant they weren’t safe here.
Billy took up a guard post outside.
Edward went to work securing the doors.
Mark chose the windows.
The others went through the home, but two bedrooms and a large kitchen/dining area greeted them with dusty floors. Unlike the town behind them, this shelter was empty. Daniel didn’t think anyone had been here since the war. Thick cobwebs over the walls and a lack of footprints supported his theory.
The basement door hung a jar, casting dark shadows over the stone table in front of a fireplace with a large hearth. It was obvious that electric hadn’t gone through this place even before the world had ended. Daniel assumed they would find an outhouse somewhere on the property, probably covered by thorny weeds. The crabgrass had indeed vanished as they travel, replaced with the vine-like weed that was taking over every area. This property was no different.
As they worked, conversation drifted down to Alexa.
“Will a week help her?”
“Maybe if we can feed her.”
“I’ve heard…they can go a long time between meals.”
“Not at first.”
“Any idea what we’ll be fighting here?”
“Hard to say. Zombies and soldiers? Ghosts? Take your pick.”
“How about feathers?”
The chuckles sent a nice vibe through the air. Alexa closed her lids against the faint light from the window and cellar door she’d left open. She couldn’t stand to be completely cut off from her men. Their voices soothed some of the terror.
“We could always go back for the rabbit; chop off a part at a time.”
“I think his parts are already being used.”
Snickers and laughter echoed out to Billy, who had climbed the tallest tree on the property. He was perched in the top branches like a parrot. There was movement in every direction and he was keeping a watch on all of it. To the west, Brian had camped in a small cave and erected a barrier over the entrance. The cloth blended perfectly, as did the small pile of debris. If not for coming out in time to see the boy shoot a squirrel with a dart gun and disappear inside, Billy wouldn’t have been able to spot his den.
The other directions held walking dead and lost soldiers. None of those were coming toward the cabin, but Billy wanted to know if that changed. They’d had too many narrow escapes. Pushing their luck wasn’t a good idea.
Jacob hated Alexa being forced to stay below, alone. He took his kit and joined her in the mostly empty concrete basement. He did a security sweep, then settled on the edge of an old table.
Alexa had settled in a corner and was busy taking things from her cloak.
“What made you rescue Mark from that prison? How did you pick him?”
Alexa glanced up. “He hasn’t told you?”
“No.”
Alexa frowned absently. “Mark is a killer. He’s not an assassin or even what Adrian would have called an Eagle. He was an average American they pushed too far.” Alexa glanced at Jacob. “You’ll have to get the full from him, but it came down to the same thing with all my men. You picked yourselves. I just answered the mental calls.”
“Without knowing if we were worth the trouble?”
“Never doubting you were worth it. Fate has provided my needs many times over.”
Pride swept the former preacher. He would be sure to replay the words to the rest of the crew. Men needed to hear they were valued.
Jacob waited for her to speak, not wanting to bother her if she was searching for quiet time. He scanned the basement again, noticing a shadow behind a stack of mildewed boxes.
“Explore if you want. Noise doesn’t bother me.” Alexa could feel his restlessness and need to keep her company warring.
Jacob grinned. He shifted the mess of boxes and found a narrow door. He yanked it open, sending a draft and dust through the dim room.
Jacob vanished into the crevice with a grin, his gun and a flashlight. “Cool!”
Alexa smiled tolerantly at his enthusiasm for exploring an unknown area. She was hoping for an escape route from the new room, but she’d settle for a darker area. Even the light from the single window down here was burning her sensitive skin. Being bitten by the vampire baby had hurt their quest, but she wasn’t going to stop for something as unimportant as pain. Only death would turn her away.
Alexa drifted off with soothing noises from her crew ringing in her sensitive ears.
2
Dusk fell slowly despite the fighters wishing it would hurry so their leader could come up. They’d reinforced the entrances and exits and divided the supplies they’d found. Then there was little to do except force their brains to accept that they were on down time.
“What did you guys do before?” David hated the restlessness whispering there were zombies to kill if he was bored.
“Yeah, you must have had free time before now on this quest.” Jacob was sitting in the wide windowsill, also longing to kill something. He’d fought that desire all his life. Being with Alexa during a fight was freedom from that prison.
Edward and Daniel shared a glance that held a story everyone immediately wanted to hear, but the two men had an unspoken vow about those times. The first month alone with her had been magical.
“We handled things she’s already taught you–personal care and preparations.” Daniel was busy sharpening his knife.
“Then we read.” Edward was cleaning his gun. “She likes men who know things, so we concentrated on that.”
“Does it work?” Jacob asked, fighting the itch.
“If you give it time.” Edward set the brush down and racked the slide. “Someone needs to relieve Billy, or at least do a check-in if he refuses to come in yet. He’ll take it the hardest.”
“Why?” Daniel’s own thirst for deadly adventures should have placed him at the top of that list, as far as he was concerned.
“Billy has a rough past.”
“All of us do.” David had to support Daniel on this one.
“Not like his.” Edward frowned. “And it’s his story to tell, so don’t ask me.”
Silence came for a long moment, where each man considered either what he knew or what he didn’t.
What could be worse that Mark’s beginnings? He’d been a convicted murderer. David wasn’t sure he wanted to know and was the first to pull out of it. “Well, there’s a shelf upstairs with some dusty paperbacks. I’ll bring them down.”
He headed up as the others broke from their ugly contemplations.
“I have socks with holes again.”
“I’ll do the check-in.”
“Bet she’d like a hot shower.”
They fell into caring for their needs and hers as the evening came in peacefully–one of the few they’d had since becoming a full group. Now that Paul was behind them, the magic had returned, but the restlessness hadn’t vanished. Each of them remained on edge while waiting for the call to stay or the call of battle.
3
Alexa emerged from the cellar as darkness settled over the land.
Each of her men glanced up from their activity to extend a warm welcome...and froze at the open hunger in her expression.
Alexa struggled to obey her moral code. She’d never been this hungry.
“Company!” Billy’s excited call betrayed his happiness at having something to do.
The other men responded as though Alexa wasn’t eyeing them like they were food. Eager students ran to the door.
It snapped Alexa from her trance. These were her men. They trusted her, even in this form. She joined them outside with that thought in mind, humbled further when they admitted her to the line as if nothing had changed.
The half dozen walking dead weren’t a large threat, but Billy hadn’t been sure about handling all of them alone. He kept watch on the other areas as the fighters below used their knives.
Edward also kept a watch, letting the newer men release their frustrations. He stood by Alexa and enjoyed the show with her. Jacob’s fast thrusts and Daniel’s neat swipes were good entertainment after hours inside waiting for darkness to fall.
They dragged the corpses away from their shelter, and then headed back toward the house, except Alexa.
She stared into the darkness, able to see farther than she’d ever been able to. There were beating hearts in the darkness–two soldiers who had made a camp to wait for sunrise. The soldiers were around a small fire, eating something they had caught. Alexa didn’t know where they had come from, but their presence was fortuitous for her. She needed a meal and they needed to die. It was a win-win.
She moved toward them silently.
Edward glanced back in time to see Alexa vanishing into the shadows. He didn’t alert the others. She needed a meal. She would find one.
Edward closed and locked the door.
The group settled into their chosen activities, all of them calmer now that they’d had a bit of action and their boss was out roaming. Nothing would get by her, leaving Billy little reason to stay on watch. He had reluctantly joined his teammates in the cabin.
Billy took a place near the small fire they’d started, wondering if the chimney smoke might draw more walking dead. He was almost sure the zombies could smell, as well as hear. They shouldn’t be able to, but then, they also shouldn’t have been able to run, eat or bleed. In fact, they shouldn’t even exist.
Billy felt the old, rational part of his brain trying to open the cage door and refused to allow it. The gates that he’d been warned about were wide open now. Zombies were the reality. The life he’d led before had prepared him physically for duty with Alexa, but the driver still longed for those he’d known years ago. He’d remembered enough of his life now to understand what he had lost, but even Alexa’s magic had been unable to help him fully recover what had happened.
“Someone tell the rookies a story.” Edward began taking inventory of his gear. They shared everything equally, so it made it easy to keep track of their supplies. If he had a week of rations, so did everyone else in the group. Paul had screwed that up by munching between meals and then begging for scraps while Alexa tried to eat. They’d shut it down when she gave him her dinner, taking his food and water so he couldn’t graze. Now that the rabbit was gone, some of this trek would get easier.
The rookies, Jacob and David, settled back to listen.
The other three men exchanged hesitant glances.
“If I have to pick it, all the little details will come out.” Edward repeated Alexa’s words to him when she wanted him telling a tale.
The men frowned, shifting uncomfortably. All the stories contained failures. They’d been new to Alexa’s way of doing things. Accidents had happened.
“I traveled with Safe Haven.”
Four heads turned to Billy in shock. Edward had already guessed that and kept sorting his gear. He found it soothing.
Billy leaned against the wall and began rolling a smoke. “I was injured in the quake of ’13. Right before that, I had taken a mission to find someone and bring her to her father.”
Now there was complete silence in the cabin. A distant scream outside confirmed Alexa’s location.
“I was told that job would take years and it has. I needed it to.”
“You’re from Safe Haven?” Jacob was stunned. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”
“I told the only person I need to.” Billy didn’t get defensive. “She told me to decide on my own about revealing it.”
“Why now?” Edward was curious about that.
“Because she’s sick.” Billy glanced around as if for confirmation. “She needs us to be together and we can’t if there are secrets this big. I feel bad for keeping it so long. I’m sorry.”
Billy’s humbleness drew a groan from the corner. “I wish you hadn’t said that.”
They all looked to Mark, who shook his head.
“Now I have to mention something too. I, uh…well, I killed a woman. It’s what I was in slam for.”
The door opened. Alexa came in, pale and unruffled in the firelight. She closed it and removed her cloak.
“As you were,” she ordered when the silence stretched out.
Heads went back to Mark–even Billy, who had thought he held the largest of their private torments, their secrets.
David cleared his throat. “Say that again?”
Mark sighed. “I murdered a woman.”
He ignored the surprised mutters and scowls. It was only the second time he had ever spoken the words and liberation was still a new, exciting emotion to be controlled.
“Why?” Jacob asked. Mark was the one he admired the most in this group.
It was what each of them, except for Alexa, wanted to know. The silence hung while he searched for the words.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of it all restarting. At that time, I didn’t think there was any way it could be better, and I was so angry! Then the war came, and the President was gone. Replaced by succession and yet, it wasn’t going to be different. The next puppet was going to stand on the backs of those who came before and keep ruining everything. ...and I had the thought that if there wasn’t a President anymore, then maybe that could change.”
Mark peered at Alexa, who was removing things from the cloak she’d hung up. “I smothered her while she slept.”
“You’re talking about Marsha Binton!” David frowned. “She was next in line for the Presidency when Carter died.”
“Yes. She wanted to make male slavery legal. She said we were a danger to everyone.”
“She wasn’t wrong.”
“No,” Mark admitted to Jacob’s comment, glad when Alexa came over and sat down close to him. “But I’m a man. I couldn’t let that happen. She had to die.”
Alexa joined them, placed her hand on his shoulder. “Murder is wrong. You murdered her. That was very bad.”
Mark’s head dropped. “Yes.”
Alexa squeezed in comfort. “We’re all killers here, of one kind or another. You spent years locked up in payment for that crime. Do you feel like you’ve been punished enough?”
“No.”
Alexa sighed tolerantly. “Then you shall suffer more. No one can forgive you until you forgive yourself.”
“How can I? I murdered her!”
“Yes. Would you do it again?”
Mark shook his head. “She was only a pawn. I would have gone higher and found those in charge of pulling the strings. I would have murdered them.”
“That would have been an act of the bravest kind.” Alexa patted his hand. “Take off the head, my pets. Without a head, the threat is no longer a threat.” Alexa glanced around. “Does it bother you to know this about him?”
All heads shook. Each of them had their own weaknesses, their own failures to atone for. Edward especially understood.
“Good. Murder, like all other things, has a place in the world. If he had removed the head, he would be a hero. Because he cut off a tooth, he was a convict. The line between the two can be that thin, but there is always a line. We will attempt to stay above it, but when we have to, we will abide by our own guidelines. Nothing will keep us from this mission. You were each delivered to me for that purpose.”
Alexa settled back, no longer cold. “Would you hear how Mark was taken from the slam?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, please.”
“Sweet!”
The men got comfortable, but Alexa motioned toward the senior males who’d been with her then. “I believe Edward told you to tell a story. Make it this one.”
Everyone looked to Mark to start the tale.
The convict didn’t mind. He only knew part of the story. Edward and Daniel would have to fill in the rest. “I’d been in that slam for years, enduring their interrogations and trying to stay alive. If not for my peculiar mind, I wouldn’t have lasted a month.” Mark flipped a fresh log into their fire. “I was a part of the resistance, of the rebels who knew war was coming. The government needed us shut down.” His voice thickened. “My family was found dead–murders used to hurt and control me, but they went too far with my sister. I lost the will to live. I was starving to death when Alexa came for me.”
“Did you feel me calling to you?”
“I thought I’d gone crazy finally and welcomed it. There was only one thing I wanted at that point.”
“And now?”
“I still want more blood,” he confessed. “I long to taste vengeance.”
“All you can kill, in this new world.”
“Like the day you took me from the ground.” Mark grinned savagely.
“Yes. Would you tell them of it? They’ve been curious.”
“No.”
“Because of your guilt?” Alexa prodded.
“Because I never wanted it to end!”
Alexa was tolerant. “Do not be shamed by what you’ve become. Without it, you would never be able to do my work.”
“I’m a killer. That’s why you came for me. But I’m also dangerous because I don’t care if I die.”
“Yes, you are,” Alexa confirmed. “Now face those fears and tell us everything that still weighs on your soul, convict.”
Mark opened his mouth... Time seemed to slow as he spoke.
End of Free Sample
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1
“You guys should pack up. It’s almost time for you to go.”
Comfortable conversations came to a screeching halt at Brian’s words. Everyone looked at him.
Brian straightened from his slouch against the bunkhouse door. “You’re all pretending you don’t know, and I can’t take that. She’s half an hour from finishing a full shift on guard duty. That means she’ll want to get back on the road now that she’s healed.”
Edward set his three aces down but slid a socked foot on them to keep Mark from peeking. It had been three calm days of recovery. They’d enjoyed it, but the need to get moving wasn’t just hitting their leader. The men had been ignoring it in order to deal with it. “Why you breaking our good vibes with your mouth, kid?”
“Yeah. Spit it out or stop farting up the oxygen.”
Jacob laughed at Mark’s improvisation. “Gotta remember that one.”
Brian flushed, coming closer to the circle of men who had insisted on these positions despite the bunkbeds and living room furniture lining the rear walls. “You haven’t talked to me yet!” Brian dropped into a tattered chair by them. “I thought she’d stay longer.”
Edward swiveled around and leaned back on his hands. His fingers kept his cards in place. All of them cheated. “Why can’t you be with your mom?”
Brian’s lips drew up in a sneer. “That’s private!”
“Not for us.” David shoved into the boy’s mind like he’d done with Edward after the sewer fight. Tell them or you get nothing.
Brian perked up. “That’s awesome! I was worried about her going nuts from being alone with normals.”
Daniel’s frown was identical to the others in the group. “Explain.”
“Descendants need to be with their own kind, at least occasionally. Paul might have been why she wasn’t showing signs of it yet.”
Mark shook his head. “We suspected that weeks ago. She has amazing control over herself.”
“Yeah.” Brian’s glance went to his feet. “She’s leaving me here.”
“We know that too. If she were taking you along, we would have gotten orders by now.” Billy was sympathetic to the kid. He almost liked him. Resourceful teenagers were rare. “How did you two get split up?”
“We’ve never been together. I was born in the lab. She didn’t know about me until I was ten.”
Horror flooded the warm, dim room.
“They take babies and never let their parents know?” Jacob fought the urge to scream. “Why?!”
“Because we bond completely, and they can’t corrupt the child.” Alexa stood in the doorway.
Only Edward had heard her come up the rickety steps and open the well-oiled door.
She refused to look at Brian. “Be ready by lunch tomorrow. Stay inside after the next bathroom break–all of you.” Alexa leapt over the rail and slid into the shadows.
“I still don’t understand why he can’t come.” David scanned the group. “He’s like her. I know you feel it too.”
“She won’t risk his life like she does ours.” Billy shrugged at the stunned realization coming over his teammates. “The quest would fall.”
It was an explanation they could understand, even if it was hard to accept. They’d mostly ignored the boy, on Alexa’s orders, but it hadn’t stopped them from making observations. Brian was like seeing Alexa at a young age. It was fascinating.
Brian had already known why. Bitterness twisted his face. “She’d love me, so I can’t go.” He slammed a fist into the chair. “It’s not fair. I just found her!”
All the men held sympathy for the teenager, but they didn’t offer comfort or platitudes. The quest mattered more than a family being ripped apart.
“You think she’ll be okay out there alone?”
Edward snorted at Jacob in the lantern light. “Yes.”
Jacob flushed as the others chuckled. The preacher was still new enough that he hadn’t witnessed what all Alexa could do when angered.
“I raise you…cooking duty. That’s worth your supply evaluation.”
“Not even close.” Edward snickered. “Just fold.”
Mark frowned. “You’re bluffing. Okay… What do you want?”
“That last piece of fudge you’re hoarding.”
“Deal.” Mark dug it out of his cloak and turned over his cards. “Three tens. You lose!”
Edward flipped his cards without turning. He was still watching Brian.
“Trip aces? Are you kidding me?!”
“Why doesn’t she want us outside?” Jacob couldn’t let it go yet.
“She’ll feed.” Brian shoved the door with his foot, shutting it. “And make sure you guys want to continue the quest now that she’s...changed.”
“We won’t leave her.”
“We’re with her until the end, kid.”
Brian sighed miserably. “I’m glad of it You’ll keep her alive.”
“You don’t sound glad.” Daniel handed the smoke on as he gave Brian an intent glare. “Are you a danger now that she confirmed you can’t go?”
Brian shook his head. “Never.”
“Don’t lie, boy!” Mark lunged to his feet as Brian cringed. “We feel your secret. Spit it out so we can make a final decision on your life!”
Brian cowered under Mark’s rage, but he didn’t consider lying. “She’s corrupt now! She has to be put down!”
All the men had wondered about that since she’d been bitten.
“Is that all?” Mark hefted Brian up by his jacket, ignoring the pitiful swings of defense. “We’ve got things covered.” He shoved the shocked boy toward the circle, scattering the cards. “Sit down there and tell us some stories.”
Brian crumbled on the floor, sobbing.
Edward frowned at Mark. “Little rough, weren’t you?”
Mark put a hand up. “He’s stewing over putting a stake in her heart, but I’m too rough?”
Edward sighed. “We’ve all considered the end of the quest. Stop it now.”
Mark grinned. “Okay.” He dropped down next to Brian and patted the boy’s arm. “You need to toughen up. Work on that, will ya?”
Brian gave a jerky nod as he swiped at his eyes.
His rasping breaths made the men feel pity, but not the disgust Paul’s weak moments had encouraged.
“We’re working on something for that problem.” Jacob’s face was stern. “You’re out of it now. Put it from your mind.”
Brian’s gratitude washed over the group with a calming effect that brought smiles and groans.
“Yeah.” Daniel inhaled. “That’s her kid, all right.”
Edward took the smoke and drew. “Before we get to the nostalgia, I want to know the lay of the land we’re heading into.”
“And who’s around.” Billy folded the socks he’d finished mending and placed them into one of the slots that lined all their cloaks. He didn’t play cards very often. He always won and feared angering his teammates.
“What’s the weather like here?”
No one had mentioned it, but all the men were hoping corn fields were behind them. They hated that vegetable now.
Brian took the last question first, still trying to recover. “Dry and windy now. For the last year, there’s been no snow...”
Outside a window, Alexa listened to her men guide Brian into the right frame of mind for the trip. She was certain the child would follow. Her crew was trying to help him survive. They would also glean any details about her that he would share, but there wasn’t much he could give. They barely knew each other.
Alexa shut off her emotions as she scanned the darkness. There were flares of light in the west, all moving north. South was as dark as ever. The east… A bright green glow caught her eye and held it. “The path to the portal!”
Alexa memorized the location, then studied the moon-lit shadows around it. She could see the outline of an RV starting from the top of the hill. “We’re not the only ones hunting this portal.”
Alexa refused to allow a grimace at the pain from her aching ribs and changing body. She stalked into the darkness behind the house, not leaving prints in the dust. Tomorrow, she would be well fed and maybe heartbroken. Her men might decide to spare their lives and take off. If they stayed with her now, they were almost certainly doomed to share her fate. Smart men would leave. She was making sure they had the opportunity.
Alexa expanded her restless midnight prowling to the edge of the property. The lake was low, though she could hear frogs, but it stank. Brian had to be boiling the water or he would have gotten ill from it. The bunkhouse had survived a fire according to the char lines on the rear and the ashy foundation of a larger building half a mile away. She assumed fencing and sheds were here somewhere too, but years of growth had covered their locations. The fire that had come through here had been massive. It was surprising the bunkhouse had been spared.
Her son was in as good a place as any, but Brian was going to abandon it for an ugly ride on her heels. She’d done the same with her father. She wondered if Adrian had done it intentionally, like she had. Brian was a target now. She had to find a place to stash him and this wasn’t it. Hunters would be here within a week, trying to pick up her trail. Their adventures in Lincoln wouldn’t go overlooked and Brian would be a perfect way to get her to surrender.
The sandy blonde boy was wiry and determined, much like her. His father was unknown, but Alexa assumed he had also been a descendant because Brian’s gifts, though still locked, were strong. He would have made an interesting addition on a quest like this–a complete contrast to the taller, stocky, older men that surrounded her. She had no doubt he would have been an asset, unlike Paul, but nothing would change her mind. She had to be able to risk the lives of all her men. Brian didn’t fit that requirement. On his own, he had a chance. With her, only death was certain.
2
The morning came and went without Alexa’s appearance. As the afternoon sun peaked above a dusty horizon, her men lined up in front of Brian’s den.
Brian was nowhere to be seen. The kit he had been wearing when they met was gone, leading them to believe he was out scavenging. The men assumed he had done it to make things easier. This way, the mother and son didn’t have to say goodbye.
Afternoon shadows began to creep in, making the men exchange uneasy glances. Maybe Alexa had done the same as Brian and cut out without saying goodbye. No one voiced the thought, but it was there.
Seven kits of supplies were lined up on the porch by their boots. Brian had put them together overnight. The lonely pack was a reminder that they were without a leader.
Dusty wind blew over the faint grass struggling to survive. Another shower of grit splashed across their worn boots. They were in Missouri, near the Nebraska border. Between a relentless new Jetstream and bad crop choices, this area was undergoing dustbowl conditions. Instead of the deep-rooted corn that Nebraska hosted, Missouri had tried to grow too much soybean. The plants were too shallow to stay in soil sockets against a constant harsh wind, causing the plants and earth to be scoured and scattered. Farmers replanting the next season’s crop would have solved that, like before, but those men and women were gone. Farmers were extinct in America.
On top of that, herds had moved north years ago and ate it barren as they traveled. Animal skeletons were visible in all directions, though most were graying remnants now. Edward suspected even the faint crabgrass that lined Brian’s den would vanish after just a couple days of walking. They were in another wasteland.
Time passed slowly as they waited for their leader to arrive. Concerns flashed over her safety and illness but returned to the original thought of her giving them a chance to back out of the quest now that the situation had changed so drastically.
Jacob hoped she knew they would track her down. They were just as committed to it as she was.
Alexa stepped from the side of the bunkhouse without crunching the gravel. It drew instant attention.
The men approved of her adaptions to the uniform. The only skin showing was her face, though the hood of her cloak was now tied snugly to her head. They were encouraged. She might be able to continue walking in that garb.
Mark delivered Alexa’s kit as the others took a marching formation around her. None of them spoke, but each of them allowed her to feel their relief and happiness that the quest wasn’t over. For most of them, the lives they’d led before couldn’t compare to these moments with her.
Alexa sighed in misery and triumph. “It’s the same for me. We may go to our deaths, but we’ll go together.”
Each man there echoed her as she led them toward the start of their next adventure.
Brian stepped from the shadows near them, making a last desperate attempt to be allowed along. “Grandpa told me to give you a message. I saw him after the war.”
Alexa spun around, grabbed Brian’s arm. “Tell me!”
Brian didn’t struggle. “He said he’s sorry he couldn’t wait.”
“He left you here?”
Brian shrugged out of her loose grip. “He tried to get me to go with them. Conner was there…”
Pain sank into Alexa. “But you stayed...for me.”
“I stayed because he’s corrupt. It would have bled onto me.” The boy looked away. “And then you wouldn’t have given me anything but a bullet.”
“And what is it you think I can give you now?”
“Time, lessons...a family.”
Alexa grunted. “I want that too. You have to know it won’t happen until I finish this quest. The survival of humanity may very well depend on it.”
“I know. I’m just delivering a message.”
Alexa studied her son, hating the chore. “You can’t come with us. There’s no way we’ll succeed with you along.”
“I know.”
“You can go to ground and wait. You’re strong enough to do that. I see it.”
Brian studied his mother, searching for the love he needed. “You’ll come back for me?”
Her heart broke. “Always.”
Brian walked away. That was all he’d needed to hear. He vanished into the shadows next to the bunkhouse.
Alexa cursed the world governments for the thousandth time as she resumed her walk. He would never stop following her now. Their bond was new, but it was already strong–like the one she had with Adrian. “Let’s go. We’re not stopping again for more than a nap until we reach the state line. This part of the quest will increase our stamina.”
Her men followed her into the darkness, smiling or chuckling. There was no other place they’d rather be.
Chapter One
Multiple Targets
Point Pleasant, TN
October 2016
1
“This will do.”
All six men studied the small log cabin. It was nice here, without a feel of corruption. It instantly reminded them of their old lives.
The cabin was nestled behind a small town that appeared to be empty but wasn’t. Edward was sure survivors existed there. The open view meant they’d witnessed Alexa’s arrival. However, the feeling wasn’t hostile. It was almost as if they were glad to see new faces.
The other men were not as encouraged. They had hoped to remain alone for a while longer. The week-long trip across Missouri had been rough in places. When Alexa had said they weren’t stopping for more than a nap, she hadn’t exaggerated.
“How long are we staying?” Mark dropped his gear near the front porch swing that appeared as though it might hold his weight without collapsing.
“Overnight or for a week.” Alexa shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes.”
The men liked the idea of spending a week resting, of Alexa resting, but they heard the warning as well. Alert-mode kicked in. The crew spread out to clear the perimeter.
The property around the cabin was thick with dying trees and piles of debris. It look like one of the rundown places in a neighborhood where even the drug dealers wouldn’t live. In this situation, it was perfect and beckoned to the men like a guiding light. They hadn’t seen a safe structure since leaving Brian’s den. Missouri had been a dust-ridden quake zone.
Alexa waited in the shade of the porch, skin stinging. Walking in the light hurt, but not worse than her heart each time she’d spied their shadow. She had gone through the same thing with her father. All of her plans now accounted for Brian.
Alexa’s heart swelled. Adrian must have done the same thing for her or she would have been killed during one of his adventures. The realization was a comfort, something she needed. Becoming this new creature was an adjustment that Alexa wasn’t sure she was capable of making. A number of things would have to change, as of today. There would be no more walking in the sun, even in covering clothing, unless she wanted to burst into flames. A week of it had weakened her. They would travel at night and sleep during the light.
“All clear,” echoed from multiple directions.
The males rejoined her on the long porch.
“We’ll get settled, then make some preparations.” Alexa motioned Edward to pry open the door.
The cool, dark interior of the cabin called to Alexa, but she forced herself to wait until it had been cleared. Maintaining routines would be much harder now.
“Clear!” Edward was brushed aside as a blur spun into the coolness and vanished down the steps to the cellar.
Edward exchanged looks with the other men, but none of them commented. They got busy preparing their shelter, mindful of her words about overnight or a week, depending on what happened. They assumed it meant they weren’t safe here.
Billy took up a guard post outside.
Edward went to work securing the doors.
Mark chose the windows.
The others went through the home, but two bedrooms and a large kitchen/dining area greeted them with dusty floors. Unlike the town behind them, this shelter was empty. Daniel didn’t think anyone had been here since the war. Thick cobwebs over the walls and a lack of footprints supported his theory.
The basement door hung a jar, casting dark shadows over the stone table in front of a fireplace with a large hearth. It was obvious that electric hadn’t gone through this place even before the world had ended. Daniel assumed they would find an outhouse somewhere on the property, probably covered by thorny weeds. The crabgrass had indeed vanished as they travel, replaced with the vine-like weed that was taking over every area. This property was no different.
As they worked, conversation drifted down to Alexa.
“Will a week help her?”
“Maybe if we can feed her.”
“I’ve heard…they can go a long time between meals.”
“Not at first.”
“Any idea what we’ll be fighting here?”
“Hard to say. Zombies and soldiers? Ghosts? Take your pick.”
“How about feathers?”
The chuckles sent a nice vibe through the air. Alexa closed her lids against the faint light from the window and cellar door she’d left open. She couldn’t stand to be completely cut off from her men. Their voices soothed some of the terror.
“We could always go back for the rabbit; chop off a part at a time.”
“I think his parts are already being used.”
Snickers and laughter echoed out to Billy, who had climbed the tallest tree on the property. He was perched in the top branches like a parrot. There was movement in every direction and he was keeping a watch on all of it. To the west, Brian had camped in a small cave and erected a barrier over the entrance. The cloth blended perfectly, as did the small pile of debris. If not for coming out in time to see the boy shoot a squirrel with a dart gun and disappear inside, Billy wouldn’t have been able to spot his den.
The other directions held walking dead and lost soldiers. None of those were coming toward the cabin, but Billy wanted to know if that changed. They’d had too many narrow escapes. Pushing their luck wasn’t a good idea.
Jacob hated Alexa being forced to stay below, alone. He took his kit and joined her in the mostly empty concrete basement. He did a security sweep, then settled on the edge of an old table.
Alexa had settled in a corner and was busy taking things from her cloak.
“What made you rescue Mark from that prison? How did you pick him?”
Alexa glanced up. “He hasn’t told you?”
“No.”
Alexa frowned absently. “Mark is a killer. He’s not an assassin or even what Adrian would have called an Eagle. He was an average American they pushed too far.” Alexa glanced at Jacob. “You’ll have to get the full from him, but it came down to the same thing with all my men. You picked yourselves. I just answered the mental calls.”
“Without knowing if we were worth the trouble?”
“Never doubting you were worth it. Fate has provided my needs many times over.”
Pride swept the former preacher. He would be sure to replay the words to the rest of the crew. Men needed to hear they were valued.
Jacob waited for her to speak, not wanting to bother her if she was searching for quiet time. He scanned the basement again, noticing a shadow behind a stack of mildewed boxes.
“Explore if you want. Noise doesn’t bother me.” Alexa could feel his restlessness and need to keep her company warring.
Jacob grinned. He shifted the mess of boxes and found a narrow door. He yanked it open, sending a draft and dust through the dim room.
Jacob vanished into the crevice with a grin, his gun and a flashlight. “Cool!”
Alexa smiled tolerantly at his enthusiasm for exploring an unknown area. She was hoping for an escape route from the new room, but she’d settle for a darker area. Even the light from the single window down here was burning her sensitive skin. Being bitten by the vampire baby had hurt their quest, but she wasn’t going to stop for something as unimportant as pain. Only death would turn her away.
Alexa drifted off with soothing noises from her crew ringing in her sensitive ears.
2
Dusk fell slowly despite the fighters wishing it would hurry so their leader could come up. They’d reinforced the entrances and exits and divided the supplies they’d found. Then there was little to do except force their brains to accept that they were on down time.
“What did you guys do before?” David hated the restlessness whispering there were zombies to kill if he was bored.
“Yeah, you must have had free time before now on this quest.” Jacob was sitting in the wide windowsill, also longing to kill something. He’d fought that desire all his life. Being with Alexa during a fight was freedom from that prison.
Edward and Daniel shared a glance that held a story everyone immediately wanted to hear, but the two men had an unspoken vow about those times. The first month alone with her had been magical.
“We handled things she’s already taught you–personal care and preparations.” Daniel was busy sharpening his knife.
“Then we read.” Edward was cleaning his gun. “She likes men who know things, so we concentrated on that.”
“Does it work?” Jacob asked, fighting the itch.
“If you give it time.” Edward set the brush down and racked the slide. “Someone needs to relieve Billy, or at least do a check-in if he refuses to come in yet. He’ll take it the hardest.”
“Why?” Daniel’s own thirst for deadly adventures should have placed him at the top of that list, as far as he was concerned.
“Billy has a rough past.”
“All of us do.” David had to support Daniel on this one.
“Not like his.” Edward frowned. “And it’s his story to tell, so don’t ask me.”
Silence came for a long moment, where each man considered either what he knew or what he didn’t.
What could be worse that Mark’s beginnings? He’d been a convicted murderer. David wasn’t sure he wanted to know and was the first to pull out of it. “Well, there’s a shelf upstairs with some dusty paperbacks. I’ll bring them down.”
He headed up as the others broke from their ugly contemplations.
“I have socks with holes again.”
“I’ll do the check-in.”
“Bet she’d like a hot shower.”
They fell into caring for their needs and hers as the evening came in peacefully–one of the few they’d had since becoming a full group. Now that Paul was behind them, the magic had returned, but the restlessness hadn’t vanished. Each of them remained on edge while waiting for the call to stay or the call of battle.
3
Alexa emerged from the cellar as darkness settled over the land.
Each of her men glanced up from their activity to extend a warm welcome...and froze at the open hunger in her expression.
Alexa struggled to obey her moral code. She’d never been this hungry.
“Company!” Billy’s excited call betrayed his happiness at having something to do.
The other men responded as though Alexa wasn’t eyeing them like they were food. Eager students ran to the door.
It snapped Alexa from her trance. These were her men. They trusted her, even in this form. She joined them outside with that thought in mind, humbled further when they admitted her to the line as if nothing had changed.
The half dozen walking dead weren’t a large threat, but Billy hadn’t been sure about handling all of them alone. He kept watch on the other areas as the fighters below used their knives.
Edward also kept a watch, letting the newer men release their frustrations. He stood by Alexa and enjoyed the show with her. Jacob’s fast thrusts and Daniel’s neat swipes were good entertainment after hours inside waiting for darkness to fall.
They dragged the corpses away from their shelter, and then headed back toward the house, except Alexa.
She stared into the darkness, able to see farther than she’d ever been able to. There were beating hearts in the darkness–two soldiers who had made a camp to wait for sunrise. The soldiers were around a small fire, eating something they had caught. Alexa didn’t know where they had come from, but their presence was fortuitous for her. She needed a meal and they needed to die. It was a win-win.
She moved toward them silently.
Edward glanced back in time to see Alexa vanishing into the shadows. He didn’t alert the others. She needed a meal. She would find one.
Edward closed and locked the door.
The group settled into their chosen activities, all of them calmer now that they’d had a bit of action and their boss was out roaming. Nothing would get by her, leaving Billy little reason to stay on watch. He had reluctantly joined his teammates in the cabin.
Billy took a place near the small fire they’d started, wondering if the chimney smoke might draw more walking dead. He was almost sure the zombies could smell, as well as hear. They shouldn’t be able to, but then, they also shouldn’t have been able to run, eat or bleed. In fact, they shouldn’t even exist.
Billy felt the old, rational part of his brain trying to open the cage door and refused to allow it. The gates that he’d been warned about were wide open now. Zombies were the reality. The life he’d led before had prepared him physically for duty with Alexa, but the driver still longed for those he’d known years ago. He’d remembered enough of his life now to understand what he had lost, but even Alexa’s magic had been unable to help him fully recover what had happened.
“Someone tell the rookies a story.” Edward began taking inventory of his gear. They shared everything equally, so it made it easy to keep track of their supplies. If he had a week of rations, so did everyone else in the group. Paul had screwed that up by munching between meals and then begging for scraps while Alexa tried to eat. They’d shut it down when she gave him her dinner, taking his food and water so he couldn’t graze. Now that the rabbit was gone, some of this trek would get easier.
The rookies, Jacob and David, settled back to listen.
The other three men exchanged hesitant glances.
“If I have to pick it, all the little details will come out.” Edward repeated Alexa’s words to him when she wanted him telling a tale.
The men frowned, shifting uncomfortably. All the stories contained failures. They’d been new to Alexa’s way of doing things. Accidents had happened.
“I traveled with Safe Haven.”
Four heads turned to Billy in shock. Edward had already guessed that and kept sorting his gear. He found it soothing.
Billy leaned against the wall and began rolling a smoke. “I was injured in the quake of ’13. Right before that, I had taken a mission to find someone and bring her to her father.”
Now there was complete silence in the cabin. A distant scream outside confirmed Alexa’s location.
“I was told that job would take years and it has. I needed it to.”
“You’re from Safe Haven?” Jacob was stunned. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”
“I told the only person I need to.” Billy didn’t get defensive. “She told me to decide on my own about revealing it.”
“Why now?” Edward was curious about that.
“Because she’s sick.” Billy glanced around as if for confirmation. “She needs us to be together and we can’t if there are secrets this big. I feel bad for keeping it so long. I’m sorry.”
Billy’s humbleness drew a groan from the corner. “I wish you hadn’t said that.”
They all looked to Mark, who shook his head.
“Now I have to mention something too. I, uh…well, I killed a woman. It’s what I was in slam for.”
The door opened. Alexa came in, pale and unruffled in the firelight. She closed it and removed her cloak.
“As you were,” she ordered when the silence stretched out.
Heads went back to Mark–even Billy, who had thought he held the largest of their private torments, their secrets.
David cleared his throat. “Say that again?”
Mark sighed. “I murdered a woman.”
He ignored the surprised mutters and scowls. It was only the second time he had ever spoken the words and liberation was still a new, exciting emotion to be controlled.
“Why?” Jacob asked. Mark was the one he admired the most in this group.
It was what each of them, except for Alexa, wanted to know. The silence hung while he searched for the words.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of it all restarting. At that time, I didn’t think there was any way it could be better, and I was so angry! Then the war came, and the President was gone. Replaced by succession and yet, it wasn’t going to be different. The next puppet was going to stand on the backs of those who came before and keep ruining everything. ...and I had the thought that if there wasn’t a President anymore, then maybe that could change.”
Mark peered at Alexa, who was removing things from the cloak she’d hung up. “I smothered her while she slept.”
“You’re talking about Marsha Binton!” David frowned. “She was next in line for the Presidency when Carter died.”
“Yes. She wanted to make male slavery legal. She said we were a danger to everyone.”
“She wasn’t wrong.”
“No,” Mark admitted to Jacob’s comment, glad when Alexa came over and sat down close to him. “But I’m a man. I couldn’t let that happen. She had to die.”
Alexa joined them, placed her hand on his shoulder. “Murder is wrong. You murdered her. That was very bad.”
Mark’s head dropped. “Yes.”
Alexa squeezed in comfort. “We’re all killers here, of one kind or another. You spent years locked up in payment for that crime. Do you feel like you’ve been punished enough?”
“No.”
Alexa sighed tolerantly. “Then you shall suffer more. No one can forgive you until you forgive yourself.”
“How can I? I murdered her!”
“Yes. Would you do it again?”
Mark shook his head. “She was only a pawn. I would have gone higher and found those in charge of pulling the strings. I would have murdered them.”
“That would have been an act of the bravest kind.” Alexa patted his hand. “Take off the head, my pets. Without a head, the threat is no longer a threat.” Alexa glanced around. “Does it bother you to know this about him?”
All heads shook. Each of them had their own weaknesses, their own failures to atone for. Edward especially understood.
“Good. Murder, like all other things, has a place in the world. If he had removed the head, he would be a hero. Because he cut off a tooth, he was a convict. The line between the two can be that thin, but there is always a line. We will attempt to stay above it, but when we have to, we will abide by our own guidelines. Nothing will keep us from this mission. You were each delivered to me for that purpose.”
Alexa settled back, no longer cold. “Would you hear how Mark was taken from the slam?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, please.”
“Sweet!”
The men got comfortable, but Alexa motioned toward the senior males who’d been with her then. “I believe Edward told you to tell a story. Make it this one.”
Everyone looked to Mark to start the tale.
The convict didn’t mind. He only knew part of the story. Edward and Daniel would have to fill in the rest. “I’d been in that slam for years, enduring their interrogations and trying to stay alive. If not for my peculiar mind, I wouldn’t have lasted a month.” Mark flipped a fresh log into their fire. “I was a part of the resistance, of the rebels who knew war was coming. The government needed us shut down.” His voice thickened. “My family was found dead–murders used to hurt and control me, but they went too far with my sister. I lost the will to live. I was starving to death when Alexa came for me.”
“Did you feel me calling to you?”
“I thought I’d gone crazy finally and welcomed it. There was only one thing I wanted at that point.”
“And now?”
“I still want more blood,” he confessed. “I long to taste vengeance.”
“All you can kill, in this new world.”
“Like the day you took me from the ground.” Mark grinned savagely.
“Yes. Would you tell them of it? They’ve been curious.”
“No.”
“Because of your guilt?” Alexa prodded.
“Because I never wanted it to end!”
Alexa was tolerant. “Do not be shamed by what you’ve become. Without it, you would never be able to do my work.”
“I’m a killer. That’s why you came for me. But I’m also dangerous because I don’t care if I die.”
“Yes, you are,” Alexa confirmed. “Now face those fears and tell us everything that still weighs on your soul, convict.”
Mark opened his mouth... Time seemed to slow as he spoke.
End of Free Sample
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