From The Ashes (Life After War) (20 page)

Charlie didn’t pull the heat back. This man was bad, and the hunger of the demon he’d let come forward was incredible. It rode him in heavy, gut-twisting seduction…

“
Charlie.”

Angela’s voice in his mind was careful, cautious
. “Must you become a killer already?”

The boy groaned. “I can just take…”

“
But should you?”

It was a hard battle.

Adrian waited, wondering if he’d made a mistake by bringing the teenager in so soon.

Charlie slowly pushed the hunger away, barely aware of the trader now trying to cover his tracks as he sensed what was coming.

“
It’s guarded. You won’t get in without me!”

Charlie turned around with a faint tinge of red still lingering around his pupils, set to ask Adrian for what everyone else wanted.

“
Not yet.”

Charlie’s tinted gaze swung to his father’s. “When?”

Marc shrugged, voice set. “A year at least, maybe two, before you make an Eagle team.”

“
And until then?”

None of the rebellion they’d all, except Marc, expected.

“
A few of us will donate time each day, give you layers of training above what your mom received. That fire has to come under your control.”

As he stepped back, Charlie didn’t flinch at the single shot from Adrian’s gun. Knowing he would be an Eagle and fight alongside his parents was all he cared about right now.

Marc trailed the teenager after exchanging a quick look with Angela. The intense dismay in it said he didn’t want Charlie fighting–for her to find a way to slow him down.

Angela understood the feeling, but didn't start searching for another path. Charlie had made his choice, and like her, he had the right to it.

Angela realized she was going to get what Marc had gone through while watching her make a team, and grimaced. She had a feeling she would have more sympathy for her Wolfman afterwards. Charlie was as determined as she was.

“
What would Adrian have done, if I'd killed the trader?” Charlie asked as they left the area.

“
You’d probably be considered a threat and put under guard,” Marc said.

Charlie's voice rose. “But the man was bad!”

“
Two wrongs. That phrase makes sense,” Marc answered, steering them toward the empty training tent so that Charlie could work off some heat. They would start doing this regularly.

“
Not usually to Adrian. He makes his own choices without worrying over the consequences.”

It was clear by Marc’s silence that he didn’t want to defend Adrian to his son, and the Eagles close enough to hear respected him for doing it anyway.

“
Not true, boy. Adrian doesn’t order a single damn thing without planning it out five levels beyond.”

Marc grunted, loading weights onto the smaller bench. “He accounts for everything that can go wrong and makes his choice after he has it all covered.”

“
But he hasn’t had it all covered. Look at what's happened.”

Marc grunted again, bitterly this time. “Believe me, I did, and I was wrong. I hate his methods, but he is one of the good guys. Sometimes things happen that no one can account for.”

“
Adrian calls them fate’s wild cards–Kenn and my mom.”

“
I’ve heard that. Wonder what he calls himself,” Marc mused, flipping power on to the tent.

Charlie’s tenor lowered into adult concern. “Damned.”

Marc didn't know what to say to that. The truth–
“He is, boy. More than anyone I've ever known.”
–seemed out of place.

They fell into the workout after that, listening to the sounds of the camp being put back in order and worrying over what could have been. Marc was concerned about his son getting hurt. His son was afraid he might like hurting other people.

6

Left out because of her injury, Angela had time to study the people–heart trying to regain a normal rhythm. She watched Billy and Kyle drag the lead attacker's body to his own truck and hefted him into the back of it. Kyle didn't speak to his men, and they weren't including him in their looks of victory.

Kyle slid into the truck and followed the others out of camp for the dump and burn. As he drove by, he swept that single knocked-down tent with enough personal torment showing to make Eagles frown at Jennifer.

“
They won't accept her until they have their team leader back. I hope he knows that,” Angela stated, frowning slightly.

Adrian shook his head. “He knows. It just doesn't matter to him right now.”

Angela wasn't okay with the situation, but Adrian seemed to be, so that must mean it was for the good of the camp. Angela planned to watch and see how this newest mystery fit into Adrian's intricate puzzle. She had no doubt that the illegal couple were about to be at the head of a sharp change for Safe Haven.

Hope I get to help,
she thought, stretching her sore shoulder carefully.
Can't take much more of staring at my damn tent.

Adrian looked at Angela, at her ugly but healing stitch-line, and gave a reluctant nod. “Light duty–in here only.”

Angela smiled eagerly. “Finally!”

The recovering doctor immediately moved into the QZ, and Adrian chuckled. He didn't bother to assign her a guard. This was the safest area in Safe Haven right now.

John and Anne were busy tending a camp member, and Angela moved toward Jennifer, mind still half-clenched in a ball of terror. Charlie being in the battle-zone had rattled her so badly that all she could do was smother him in protection. It was what she should have tried to do for herself at the rest stop and then she probably wouldn't have been shot.
But I'm a rookie in ways,
she thought.
It's a mistake well-learned.

“
What should we do?”

Angela's gun was out before she had a chance to think. She hadn't realized Sam and Cynthia were on her flank.

Angela pulled the fire in and re-holstered as the two women moved hastily back.
My Eagles... my first orders.

Sam and Cynthia had reached the QZ at nearly the same time, and hung back. When Angela headed in, they'd shared a stiff look and followed.

Worried heart easing a bit more, Angela began looking around. “Um... John will need his bag... Have a new water truck brought in for the QZ shower so that Kyle's team can get cleaned up after they burn the bodies... Send someone else to deliver trays for Charlie at lunch Mess...”

Angela pulled a few more small things, and the two females awkwardly divided up the list as she went to make sure Jennifer was okay.

It had openly begun now, her change in status here, but Angela doubted many would recognize it yet. There were too many other things to distract the camp–like Kyle and Jennifer, and even Seth and Becky, who were finally beginning to draw notice by how often they were seen together. Everyone was still adjusting to surviving the Slavers.

7

Pleased with Sam and Cynthia, Adrian turned toward the camp, sure his calming words were needed there. He wasn't upset over the attack, though, not like he would have been a month ago. Their progress was obvious, but since eliminating the Slavers, more and more of the future was becoming clear. The offspring of his army would be incredibly strong–even more so than their sires–and he had the honor of training them. Fate might be a fickle bitch, but when she was pleased, her generosity was staggering.

“
Permission to go to Wichita and search for the kids?”

Adrian shook his head, thinking if they didn't find water there, it could mean trouble. Water was precious and that QZ tanker had been full this morning. “I need you here.”

Neil opened his mouth, then closed it without saying anything. The trooper left with slumped shoulders. Unlike the rest of the teams, who were excited about the coming Level tests, Neil and his weren't taking them and had little to look forward to.

Adrian understood the need to go, but they were only 50 miles from Wichita and already gearing up for a trip into that city. The camp was hoping for a new load of convenience supplies, like batteries and music, but Adrian was hoping to find fuel and water. They would add a search-and-rescue, but Adrian wasn't sending a team out yet.

Neil still hadn't settled down, though it was all over. Finding out about Becky's rape had really screwed with his sense of worth, and he'd been leaving camp every chance he got. Those opportunities were frequent, calls from survivors needing escorts were coming in almost daily. Many of these were minorities–something Adrian's herd was lacking. Now that they’d beaten the Slavers and proved they were capable of defending their members, other races were finally starting to join. It was helpful that anyone considering asking for shelter could see other dark-skinned refugees in camp. It went a long way in calming old fears.

It was also helping Joseph, one of the few black men in Safe Haven, to understand Adrian’s words to him back in Wyoming. Guilty of expecting their leader to fix it all quickly, the professor had also become a convert. He was now regularly seen escorting the nuns as they rotated from area to area. Camp rumor said he had a thing for Missa, who had recovered enough to occasionally join the group on their morning activities. Scuttlebutt also said she wanted nothing to do with Joseph, or any other man. Only time would tell if she might recover in that way.

The kids from the airfield were a mix of races, as well, and fitting in well with the camp’s younger crowd. These college kids liked to have fun, but they were also old enough to want to help with the dream. It wasn’t uncommon for them to show up at the workouts and meetings–hopeful shadows in the background that Adrian would bring into the fold. Mixing multiple races together before the War had been a trial-and-error process that had to accommodate the chains of the past. To fix centuries of such negligence and abuse wasn’t something Adrian expected to achieve in six months or even years, but he was incredibly proud of the progress he’d made so far.

As the women and children from Cesar’s camp were cleared, they'd been put with a small group of females for their day-to-day lives, to help them settle in. That was the way Safe Haven had always handled new arrivals that were abused. The few exceptions to this were either Eagles or Leadership, and it wasn’t missed that Kyle’s camper and tent hadn’t left the QZ, even though he and Jennifer were clear.

The camp members had found out that Jennifer was carrying Cesar’s children, but it was quickly pointed out that several of the new kids were offspring of the enemy. It hadn’t taken long for the majority to accept them for what they were–victims. In the next few months, Jennifer would give birth. If it came sooner, and the babies didn’t make it, that was fate. New life was always welcome in Safe Haven.

Adrian realized he'd misjudged a bit, though, thinking the herd wouldn't be able to handle it, or all the awful things the Eagles did on his command. Part of their acceptance was pride–Safe Haven had come out on top–but the rest was the effects of the former slaves telling stories and convincing people without meaning to. There hadn't been another choice.

The rest stop had been looted when he'd taken the camp by it, but the carnage was clear. For Safe Haven, it was the sight of the sombreros and the bullet-ridden building that finally made the end real. For the Eagles, it was the stains from Angela’s blood near the door. For the former slaves, it was that once golden corvette, now charred and crushed under Adrian’s old semi. These things sank into people’s hearts and opened doors to terror that they were finally able to let go of. It was over, thanks to Adrian.

A few people still viewed him with resentment–Tonya, Mitch, Peggy–but the Eagles and the camp were firmly behind their line-walking leader. He’d brought them through the fire with only a slight burn. If Angela had died, things might have gone differently, but fate had saved them all.

8

“
We're not taking the Level tests this time around.”

It wasn't a surprise, but hearing it from their team leader sent fresh tension through the burning party. Other than curt answers, none of Kyle's team had spoken to him in a week. He hadn't expected their support, but the isolation was nearly intolerable.

“
Let Daryl know what event you want to oversee.”

Daryl, who was smothered in guilt over the way he'd graduated to second in command, said nothing. He thought their team was being unfair to Kyle, but if he spoke out, it would be viewed as sucking up. Right now, they were reluctantly accepting Kyle's decision to have Daryl replace their fallen XO.

“
What event are you covering?” Shawn sneered, implying Kyle wouldn't be there.

Behind them, bodies burned hotly.

“
I'm not.”

Shawn glared. “Got better things to do now, I guess.”

“
I have duty over Angela.” Kyle moved toward the trader's neat truck. “Brady is testing this time around, and doesn't trust anyone else.”

Unaffected, Kyle climbed into the driver's seat and got set to roll back to where his heart now waited.

His men exchanged worried glances. The team leader they knew would have struck back at the open challenge.