THE ALPHAS Box Set (4 page)

XIII.

They packed up after the midday meal, deer steaks, and started south across the fields. It was slower going with the full wagons over the rough terrain but a few miles down they found the gravel grid roads. Anne had been right about the house and she took everyone in rotation to use the shower and toss all the spare clothes through the wash. They all felt a lot closer to normal, to human, now and with fresh meat and water the complaining stopped again.

It was only a matter of time, Roxanne knew, before the complaining would not be so easily silenced. They had to find safety, and they had to find it before the group splintered under the stress. She heard Damian shouting orders up at the front of the group as they all clambered up onto the gravel road and she smiled.

‘Let him be in charge,’
she thought.
‘Let him bark orders and silence the arguments. He’s good at it, they respect him. He’ll keep us safe and I’ll keep him safe from himself.’

They followed the grid roads west and south until sunset and all the while Anne was watching the people and the surroundings. An idea was forming in her mind but she had to find the perfect place or it would never work.

The Alphas

New Beginning

Post Apocalyptic Dystopian Romance

By: A.J. Winter

Before the first fighter jet had been armed, before negotiations failed, almost before the president had even uttered the words ‘world war three’, bomb shelters had been constructed in every major city across America. Everyone who lived in the rural municipalities, the in-between areas, the outskirts and the edges, had been invited to the safety, security, and comfort of these shelters to wait out the impending conflict. Not everyone believed war was an unavoidable reality, not everyone had been willing to leave their homes.

War came. The world burned. The ones who didn’t believe turned out to be the lucky ones.

II.

Damian and Roxanne lay side-by-side on a heavy quilt watching the stars come out. It had been nearly two weeks since they’d become lovers and with the exception of the nights that he’d stood watch they’d been passionate every night.

At the last house they’d scavenged he’d caught her celebrating over the discovery of a small cardboard box. He’d given her a puzzled look which she had returned with a slow smile.

“Are you okay taking care of yourself for a week?”

The confusion on his face made her laugh and she showed him the tampon box. When he blushed she laughed even harder.

But the truth was he didn’t mind this time. This woman who had become his partner, both in leadership and in his bed, was a wonder and they didn’t have enough quiet moments to ponder the mysteries of each other. He took her hand and smiled.

III.

Ryan stretched his back and shuffled his legs. He hated second watch. He had no problem staying up late every night for first watch and he didn’t mind rising early to prepare breakfast, even if the cooks ate last, but waking up in the middle of the night, halfway through a good night’s sleep, was the worst by far. He just respected Sean too much to leave the other man the worst shift all the time and no one trusted Matt to stay awake. There were a few others, like that Evan fellow who had shot the deer earlier, who had volunteered but they always got the easy watch because they weren’t used to long nights alone and how to stay awake for them. Ten years as a security officer left Ryan very qualified for this job. The rifle was new but he’d fired one before. He’d kept the side arm that had come with his job and that was the gun he was more likely to need at night when he couldn’t see more than ten feet anyways.

Morning brought with it the same routine of breakfast and tear down. They now had enough tents for the group and everyone who was old enough and wasn’t actively guarding had to pull a wagon loaded with supplies and trade goods.

Breakfast this morning was coffee and tea, and the last of the eggs they had scavenged from the last house, scrambled together with some meat and onion. It could be worse, he hated porridge, and with two dozen adults in the group their coffee supply usually only lasted a day. He sat on one of the overturned wagons next to Sean and dug in.

“Quiet night?” Sean said.

“Quiet enough. I could hear something moving but I couldn’t tell what it was.”

“You know it won’t be long until the coyotes get brave enough to come check us out, sooner rather than later now that we’re on the back roads.”

“Tell it to the boss man,” Ryan said, draining his mug. It was rough but coffee was still coffee and he didn’t know when he’d get another cup, he wasn’t going to waste a drop.

“Boss man?” Matt crouched down in front of them, sneering. “The man’s a fool. And a bully. There’s no army anymore, his rank means nothing.”

“Shut up Matt. We’re not interested in picking sides or starting fights.”

“That just means you’ve picked his side.”

“He hasn’t led us into trouble yet and Anne keeps leading us to water and food.”

“Because that’s so difficult out here. If there’s a road it must lead to a house or a business, you don’t build roads to nowhere. It’s not like we’re out in the middle of the Sahara Desert. What happens when we get into the ranching regions? Miles upon miles of fields and no houses, or showers, or …”

“Great. What is your plan Matt?”

He spluttered.

“Quit running your mouth and go do something useful.”

They watched him storm off and Sean shook his head. “That boy has issues.”

“Yeah. Nothing we can do about it though, except not trust him too far.”

“I wouldn’t trust him at all, but then I’m not in charge and I don’t really want to be.”

“Me either.”

Around midday they spotted a house off to the east and stopped for their meal bread. Roxanne and the scheduled scavenging party took the empty wagons and the empty water jugs and started off down the road. Ryan brought up the rear, thinking more about the hot shower he was going to take than watching for trouble. There was no trouble but he nearly walked into the back of the man in front of him when the group stopped suddenly. He frowned and pushed through to Roxanne. “What is it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think this house is abandoned. Wait here with them.” She jogged up the driveway and shouted, “Hello! Is anyone in there?”

For a moment it looked like she’d been wrong and then the door opened and an older man stepped out onto the stoop with a rifle in his hand.

“Who are you people?”

“We’re from Bismark. We’ve been walking ever since the city was bombed. There are three dozen of us, most of the group is just behind us a ways down the road. We came looking for water.”

He eyed them for a long time. “The big guy there with the rifle, is he going to be a problem?”

“No sir. Can I ask, why didn’t you go to the shelter? We haven’t come across anyone else.”

“My wife is sick, bedridden. I couldn’t move her and I couldn’t leave her. There is a hose on the side of the house, you can fill up there.”

They were nearly done when he came out again. “Take this,” he said, handing her the rifle. “I have a crate of ammunition on the step, and some other things you can take with you.”

“I don’t want to leave you defenseless here,” Anne said.

“My wife doesn’t have much longer and I’m only here because I can’t leave her alone and helpless like this. When she goes I won’t be far behind. Good luck.”

“Thank-you. Ryan, can you bring around the supplies?”

“Sure thing.”

The crate was at least two-thirds full judging by the weight and there were two boxes of food and other miscellaneous supplies. Everything was loaded into the wagons and they started back to the camp.

“What about our shower?” Matt said.

“We won’t intrude on his privacy,” Anne said. “He gave us more than we asked for, more than he had to.”

“You didn’t even ask.”

Ryan grabbed Matt by the arm. “You get to bring up the rear with me.” He held Matt firm as the rest of the group went on and he waited until there was a fair gap before he started walking again. “What the hell is your problem?” Ryan growled.

“It was our turn for a shower! Anne had no right …”

“You want to talk about rights? What gives you the right to barge into that man’s home and interrupt his grieving for your personal comfort? How old are you Matt?”

Matt’s chin jutted into the air. “I’m twenty-one, so you don’t get to treat me like I’m a kid”

“I’ll treat you how you deserve to be treated and until you start acting like a man I’m going to treat you like a child and so will everyone else.”

“You mean I need to be a fucking sheep and do whatever Damian and his whore tell me to do?”

“If you have something to contribute go right ahead. I haven’t seen Damian or Anne turn down a good suggestion yet.”

“They never listen to me.”

“That’s because all you do is bitch and moan.” They had reached the main camp by this time and Ryan gave Matt a shove towards the fire at the center of camp. “Get food. We’re moving again soon.”

IV.

Two days later Anne halted the group, late afternoon, at an intersection. “I think this is it,” she murmured, staring down the length of gravel. She squinted a moment and nodded. “Yes, this might work. I need Ryan and Sean.”

“You’re making me jealous,” Damian said.

“We’ll need to camp here for the night.”

“What’s going on in that head of yours?”

Anne shook her head. “I don’t want to say anything yet.”

Damian rolled his eyes and went to fetch the other two men.

Ryan was surprised that they had stopped early but as he listened to Anne’s request he started to smile. “A four mile jog with no gear but our rifles? Shouldn’t take us more than an hour, two at most.”

“Good. Don’t stop at any of the houses, just count driveways along the four mile roads and keep track of which side of the road they’re on.”

“Just don’t leave without us,” Sean said, grinning. He clapped Ryan on the shoulder. “Let’s go. Daylight’s wasting.”

They set off at an easy jog, their rifles slung over their shoulders. The landscape had changed in the last two days from wide expanses of fields broken by the occasional house or treeline to a mix of field and trees. Here, Ryan and Sean found six houses on the mile, on lots of various sizes, all different sizes and ages, all standing silent.

Sean pulled out his battered journal and drew a square on the back page. As they walked they put a tick on their make-shift map for each driveway.

“What do you think she’s up to know?” Sean asked.

“Don’t know, but walking is going to get mighty tiring. If I was in charge, and I’m not volunteering for the job, I’d be looking for a safe place to hole up.”

“Villages are all boarded up. We’ve seen that already. No one is going to let in three dozen refugees.”

“Might be we don’t need something ready-made,” Ryan said. “So what’s your story?”

“Me?” Sean paused to put a tick on the paper. “I’m a mechanic, nothing special. My brother had a cabin where we’d go to hunt. I’ll probably never see him again, even if he did survive the bombing.”

“No wife?”

“No, no wife, no kids. You?”

“I worked night security for the last eight years, not a great job for holding onto a girlfriend.”

“Look at us now, two bachelors on a life-changing adventure.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Remind me to hold onto the movie rights.”

“Shit. Were you looking forward to that new cop movie?”

“Yeah. Think we’ll ever get a hold of a copy? I mean, maybe we’ll come across a computer with an illegal download on it.”

“What would be the chances of that?” Sean said and made another tick.