THE ALPHAS Box Set (10 page)

The Alphas

BETRAYAL

Post Apocalyptic Dystopian Romance

By: A.J. Winter

The trail led north. They followed, as silent as shadows. He had a head start, a huge head start, but he didn’t seem to be moving quickly. They ignored the primitive village and stayed on the trail. It nearly went cold once and they took out their frustrations on the men and women lingering around the remains of a camp. There was no one to notice the death and destruction.

The trail doubled back so they headed south once again.

II.

Everything had changed. The world had been torn apart by war. The United States of America was broken into independent city states and little villages just trying to get by. The refugees from Bismark had found a home amid the ruins of war. But for Matt none of that compared to the horror of returning from a trading trip to find that Violet, the love of his life, had moved into a basement “flat” with Eddie, the lone refugee who had appeared at their gates only two weeks prior.

There had been other changes to Little Bismark in Matt’s absence. The wall had expanded, for one thing. Some of it was still just a fence that wouldn’t protect them from anything, but of the four miles they had to build they had two finished. A water tower had been built and a filtration system installed so that gathered rain water could be used for more than just watering the gardens. A single wind turbine was under construction so they wouldn’t have to rely on a central grid somewhere for power.

All this was good. His home was prospering. But for Matt there was just no reason to get out of bed.

Stan didn’t care one bit about Matt’s depressed state as he banged on the door. Damian wanted everyone with a gun on the wall and as far as he was concerned, that meant Matt too.

“Piss off,” Matt said, pulling the covers over his head.

“Damian called for us, all of us. Someone’s coming.”

Grumbling Matt got out of bed and joined the thirteen other men and women who helped guard the wall. He noted that Eddie was not there and that made him smile.
‘At least they haven’t given him a gun yet, at least they don’t fully trust him yet.’

There were people further up the road. They were moving like a pack of hunters, fanned out, their movements smooth and deliberate. There were seven men and five women, none of them appeared to be out of their thirties and none were younger than twenty. They were all at least six feet tall, even the women, and they held their bodies loose and at the ready, like they were waiting for something sudden to occur and wanted to be ready to react.

Most of them held back, still within range of the rifles but trying to appear as if they weren’t a threat. Only one walked up to the gate.  “Hello there,” the leader called. He wasn’t a young man anymore but he wasn’t middle-aged yet, at least he showed no signs of hair loss or a soft stomach. He was smiling but the men and women behind him were not.

“What do you need, friend?” Damian called back, knowing it was wise to keep the conversation pleasant until he had reason to be nasty, even if these travellers were setting off loud alarm bells in his head.

“We’re looking for someone, a member of our group who got lost some time ago.”

“Everyone here is from Bismark,” Damian said.

“Everyone? We crossed paths with a group from Wyoming …”

“Only one person from that group stayed with us,” Damian replied, “And she’s not lost from anywhere. I don’t think you’ll find what you’re looking for here. We can refill your water for you and you’re welcome to camp on the road here overnight.”

“We will camp just up the road tonight and tomorrow we may take you up on your offer for water before we move on. Strange that our friend did not come through here; have you seen other traders or travellers?”

“No. We’re off the beaten path I’m afraid. I’m sorry that we can’t help you more.”

The man smiled. “At least you did not shoot on sight. Thank-you.”

As the dozen strangers moved away Ryan said, “They’re not carrying any weapons.”

Damian knew he was right; he had seen no rifles or any other obvious weapons but it hadn’t registered in the tension of the moment. “Could be carrying concealed, could have left someone back a ways with the weapons so they wouldn’t appear to be a threat.”

“Oh they were a threat,” Sean said. “Weapons or no weapons they were here to intimidate us. But to what end?”

“Eddie,” Matt said. “They said they were looking for someone. What if they’re looking for Eddie?”

“It’s going to be a long night. Evan, Matt, I know you two just got back late last night but we need everyone right now. We’ll do this in two teams of seven. First team is on from now until sunset, the other team is on overnight. We’ll watch the gate and patrol the entire perimeter. Matt, run to Sue and tell her to keep the kids indoors for the day. I’ll go talk to Eddie.”

Matt stalked off, trying to hide his anger. He’d spent so much time hanging around the orphanage to be near Violet that of course Damian would assume he cared about the kids at least a little. But going down there now was just a reminder of what had been stolen from him.

‘Maybe now Damian will kick Eddie out. I knew he was no good. I knew he’d be trouble. We should never have let him in here.’

III.

Eddie wasn’t hard to find. He was out at the south end of the village working on the fence. As Damian neared the work site he heard a woman laugh. Violet was sitting on a nearby rock with a bottle of water while Eddie told her some story of his childhood.

“I’d complain about the number of breaks you two seem to take but I’m always amazed at the amount of work you get done. With a little luck finding supplies we might just get this wall done after all.”

Eddie smiled. “I’m just trying to help.”

“I know. And there is something you can do to help me. You can tell me honestly if you were travelling with another group before picking up the trail of the former Wyoming group.”

Eddie’s smile dropped off his face. “Something happened, didn’t it?”

“Not yet, and hopefully not at all, but you have some explaining to do.”

“I was trapped with some people, back in Utah. We escaped from a ruined building together and sort of stuck together for a while. But I don’t belong to them, I didn’t want to be with them, so I left. I used the chaos at Rapid City as cover and slipped away. I didn’t know they would follow me.”

“Are they a gang?”

“Sort of. They’re complicated.”

“I have time.”

“Have you ever heard of the Chernobyl earthworm?”

“Yes, I have. They say the nuclear contamination of the soil affected the growth of the earthworms there.”

“Yeah, that’s what they say; cell-based mutation through exposure to nuclear radiation. Mostly if just causes cancer like they saw in Japan. This time it didn’t.”

“You’re telling me those twelve people out there are genuine mutants? Like X-Men mutants?”

Eddie glanced at Violet then back at Damian. “Yes and no. I’ve never seen any of them do some of the crazier things from the Marvel universe but they have mutated. They are stronger and faster and their senses are more attuned, each one is different of course, but that’s it at its most basic. And they refer to themselves as Alphas. They probably aren’t the only ones since we weren’t the only city hit by the nukes. There were eight when I left them.”

Damian looked at the wall for a long moment. “They?”

“I’m not one of them, okay. Maybe I got hit by a shit load of radiation, but I’m not them. I’ve been here two weeks now, I haven’t hurt anyone, and I haven’t stolen anything.”

“He’s never hurt me, or any of the children,” Violet said. “Please, don’t send him away. He just wants to be safe, just like the rest of us.”

Damian sighed. “I wish you would have told me but I can understand why you didn’t. I’ll tell them you’re not here but you need to lie low. I’ll get some of the others to come work on the wall, you stay near the center of the village. When they’re gone we will talk about this more. And you were right, there must have been more, because there’s at least a dozen of them now.”

“Thank-you. Really, thank-you.”

Damian scowled and stalked off.

Violet smiled. “Hey, it looks like we have a free afternoon and everyone else is going to be busy. Did you want to head home for a siesta?”

He returned her smile but she saw the strain around the edges. “That sounds wonderful.”

IV.

They walked hand-in-hand to the home they now shared with another couple. It wasn’t a large home but they had their own bathroom and being on a separate floor made it feel like they had their own apartment. The other couple, Ron and Shirley, were very nice and Shirley was a marvelous cook, a feat made even more amazing by the lack of variety in their supplies. Ron, Eddie, and Violet took turns with the clean-up, happily leaving Shirley with the cooking.

“Are you scared?” she said as they walked.

“Of course I’m scared. I don’t want to leave but I might have to. These people, they aren’t safe and they aren’t nice. If they won’t leave I’ll have to. I can’t put you and everyone else here in danger.”

“I don’t want you to leave either. You’ll leave me behind though, I know you will.”

He kissed her forehead. “I’ll have to.”

Neither Ron nor Shirley was home at the moment so the young couple didn’t have to wait to get down the stairs before moving from sweetly holding hands to passionately kissing. The coatroom make-out didn’t last long but it was enough to get Violet feeling hot and wet.

Sex with Eddie was always like this, Violet found – passion edged with desperation and tempered with tenderness. His open need drew her in and excited her. There was no reservation here, no holding back, just love and desire and the joy of exploring each other’s bodies. Sometimes he was too tender and she wanted to ask him for a harder touch but she knew how afraid he was of hurting her and held back that one desire.

Everything else she wanted she was given. They’d only been together, officially, for a little more than a week, but they were both eager and excited and adventurous. And he had stamina like she had never seen before. It made blow jobs difficult and her jaw would be sore long before he blew his load, but he didn’t mind them being a part of foreplay.

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her down the stairs to their room where he laid her gently on the bed. She grinned. “I’ll race you.”

She started tearing her clothes off as fast as she could but she was no match for him. He eased off on the self-restraint and was naked before her shirt was over her head. She laughed.

“What’s my prize?”

She sat up and slid to the edge of the bed, reaching for his cock. It was still soft so she took the whole length of him into her mouth. He sighed. “I love it when you do this.”

She massaged him with her tongue until he grew too big to fit in her mouth and she pulled back, letting his now hard cock slide from her mouth. She took a few deep breaths and then started licking and sucking his cock until he wrapped his hand in her hair and groaned.

A banging on the front door interrupted them. She released him reluctantly and reached for her shirt. “I got this. I’ll be right back.”

She jogged up the stairs, still tugging her shirt in place and swung the front door open. Matt barged in. “Where is he?”

“What? Who?”

“Where’s Eddie?”

“What’s going on? Did something happen? Did the Alphas come back?”

“Oh, so you know that there are dangerous strangers threatening our village for that stray?!”

“Leave her alone Matt,” Eddie said from the top of the basement stairs.

Matt whirled around and started shouting. “I knew you were trouble! We should never have let you in!”

“Really? Because you seemed pretty eager to make friends when I first arrived.”

“We had a future here! We had a chance! And letting you in has put that all at risk.”

“We? Do you mean everyone or just you and Violet?”

Matt’s face went red. “I’m going to see to it that Damian throws you out. You just wait and see. You don’t belong here.” He stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him. The slam made Violet jump and then she broke down crying.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Eddie said, wrapping her in a hug. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have used you to attack him like that.”

She nodded and kept crying.

“Come on downstairs. We’ll just curl up together for a while. Okay?”