The Survivors

Night One

1

When Angela stepped from Charlie’s tent, he was waiting for her. She grabbed him for a quick hug that he tolerated with flushed cheeks. “Sorry, boy, but I missed you!”

Charlie felt the same way. He snickered. “Couldn’t tell. Come on.”

The mess lines were short. Most of the tables were empty. Angela only saw twenty or so people eating and staring at her as they arrived. “We’re late?”

“By about fifteen minutes. You’ll get used to the schedule.”

She nodded as they got in line. Charlie sounded older than he was. She wanted to talk to him, to find out how he’d been, but the eyes on them were constant, persistent. For a brief second, she wished Kenn hadn’t found them yet so she could have one more quiet night alone with Marc.

You can! Charlie shoved the words at her. You can leave anytime!

Angela said nothing. Later, when they were alone, they had a lot to discuss.

The sullen boy took two trays, handed her one. He grabbed a pair of green cans from the icy cooler. “Come on. Adrian saved you a seat.”

Whispers followed their progress, then increased in volume when Adrian slid over to clear the place on his right. Again.

Kenn’s even mood vanished.

Angela sat, feeling like a fish in a glass bowl. Don’t they have anyone else to gape at?

“I have to deliver trays.”

Charlie’s tone was agitated. They all sensed it was directed at her.

Angela smiled at him. “See you in a while.”

Charlie sighed. “Yes, you will.”

The men felt some of his anger go away. Neil and Adrian both recognized the words, and understood it was a bond.

“He’s a good kid. He does a lot here.”

Angela smiled again at Adrian’s words. Charlie would have to adjust. She opened her pop. “He’s so grown up now, so responsible.” Angela gave Kenn a warm glance most of them were glad to see. “Thank you. I meant to say that right away. I’d be lost without him.”

“He’s my boy, too.” Kenn managed to sound uncomfortable and arrogant at the same time.

Fire flared in her heart. Angela took a long drink to keep from asking when that had started.

Neil and Adrian noticed her reaction. Both men thought it was too bad she had passed up the perfect opportunity to get free. They respected her for not wanting to cause Kenn embarrassment, but a public breakup was the only kind that would free her. He said-she said, didn’t exist here.

As the men talked, Angela ate and wondered if Marc had been fed yet, if he was okay, if he missed her as much as she missed him. Angela knew her sadness would draw too much attention from these men. She forced herself to pay attention. The sooner she figured out how things worked here, the sooner she would know how to handle the future.

“Jeremy found everything on his list, says he has pictures of an entire town that’s undamaged. Cherry Creek. It’s deserted, but the stores are intact. He figures the whole town evacuated in a neat, orderly fashion.”

Adrian snorted. “Be the first one of those we’ve run across. Okay, that’s it.” He closed his notebook. “You’ll put the dogs out?”

“Yes.” Kenn stored his book. “Chris says Star’s gonna have another litter come May.”

Kyle smiled. He loved animals. “That’s great. We need all the babies we can get.” He glanced at Kenn, speaking before he thought about it. “Didn’t you tell us you had one on the way?”

Angela froze, heart ripping open.

Kenn flushed, turning her way to find out.

Every man at the table scowled. He hadn’t asked yet? They’d been alone in his truck for hours!

My baby! Angela couldn’t hide the awful pain that dug into her chest. “I lost my other son.”

Her voice was like broken glass. No one was surprised when she stood up.

“Excuse me.”

The entire mess came alive with condemning mutters.

Kenn knew they were all thinking he’d been too busy giving her a split lip to ask about their baby. He got up. There it is. The first blow to my ship and she didn’t even fire it. A few more of those and he would go under.

Angela knew Kenn would follow. He’d been waiting all day for the chance to be nasty to her. She chose a public place, heading for the bathroom. Only one woman was in line for the restrooms; the tall brunette went in as Kenn stopped at her side.

Angela braced.

“I’m sorry. I should have asked.”

She was shocked.

Kenn shrugged bitterly. “Things have changed. I’m not the same man here. It’s not allowed.”

Angela said nothing; her eyes screamed vile profanities.

Kenn reddened further, embarrassed gaze on her split lip. “We can work it out. I’d never do that here.”

Silence.

Kenn blew out a sigh. “We’ll make a new deal.”

Angela lifted a brow, thinking she’d won the second battle before it had started. She chose her answer carefully. “No more deals. If we stay together, it will be because I want to build a future with you.”

Familiar rage came back into Kenn’s expression. “You can’t end it. I won’t let you do that!”

Angela wanted to get away from him, but she knew it would be a mistake to run. Her only option was counting on the sense of fairness and justice she’d felt in this camp. She braced to take a hit. “You don’t own me anymore!”

Kenn came forward, big body blocking most of the camp view.

Angela’s hand slid to her gun. I hope they don’t hang me for this. If they do, please don’t let Charlie see it.

The brunette coming out of the restroom recognized the situation for what it was. She gestured to the nearest guard and got out of the line of fire.

“You belong to me for another five years. Do what you’re told, or your boy will get hurt, come up missing!”

Angela knew he was barely in control of himself. He only needed one little push now to become violent. She tried to step by him.

Kenn grabbed her arm, spinning her around and drawing a lot of attention. Kenn sucked in air…control. “Don’t make me kill you!”

He let go and marched toward the tents, fury on his face for everyone to see.

Kenn felt the displeasure of the Eagles. Some of those men, he’d just shared a meal with. He knew he was causing a lot of unrest. The camp was questioning him about her lip and all he could say was I don’t know. It was an answer the camp never heard from him, but Kenn couldn’t fight the rage of the past. I have five years left to get her power or break her. Either will do.

2

“Coming in with dinner.” Charlie ducked into the dim tent.

Marc saw the boy’s first quick glance went to the wolf. He took the opening. “That’s Dog.”

Charlie set the tray down, keeping his attention on his target. He’d decided to use the techniques he’d witnessed Adrian and Kenn employ on men they weren’t sure about–silence and a cool stare.

Marc waited patiently, impressed when the teenager didn’t fidget. Charlie didn’t resemble the small boy Marc had viewed in the pictures. The male in front of him was approaching maturity.

“Why are you here?”

Marc blinked at the adult tone despite what he’d been thinking, impressed again. “Your mom needs me.”

“You want her.”

When Marc nodded but said nothing else, Charlie’s anger deepened. “Adrian and Kenn will take care of her. You can’t stay here.”

He has his mom’s courage. “Only she can get rid of me.”

“You don’t know these people. If they want you gone, you are.” Charlie waved. “I’ve seen them do it.”

The teen’s smirk was a good copy of Kenn’s. Marc instantly hated it. He shoved brutal truth into the moment. “They’re already trying. I had hoped you would be on my side, but hear me and be clear. Only your mom can get me to go away. Not another person on this planet can do it. They’ll have to kill me.” Hoping it wouldn’t come to that, but not so sure now that they were here, Marc stood up to get his tray.

Charlie cringed.

Marc froze, mind slamming the obvious clue into place. It was the same reaction he’d seen in Angela during the first weeks of their cross-country journey, and sometimes even now, when she was startled. “He hit you too?”

Charlie shoved the tray at him and ran from the tent.

3

Angela flipped the radio off and lit a smoke. She was waiting now, writing in her journal while killing time until Kenn would be on duty. She hated it that Charlie’s tent was next to his. She had her gun resting under her thigh. She planned to sleep with it in reach in case he came for her during the night. She was glad he’d walked away this time, but it wasn’t over.

Voices went by. She identified them as Adrian and Doug. Angela mulled over the fast kinship she felt, worried over what the leader would want from her later…and what he already wanted.

She sighed. Two questions had been answered, at least. It was just Kenn she feared, not all men, and it wasn’t just Marc she could respond to. Both Adrian and Seth had drawn reactions.

Angela let out another sound of frustration. It was good here. She had found things she could help with, but Kenn was high up, with serious responsibilities. He was different from the man who’d kept her so upset during her pregnancy that she had been having pains long before the war. Even now, he still hadn’t cared enough to ask what had happened. She knew it was a side of him these people didn’t often witness, but that would change; it was already starting. Kenn had been normal all day, then morphed into a nasty SOB while they were in plain view of everyone. Was he really fighting old demons, or was he putting on the act of a lifetime?

Marc’s worried words came to her.

He’s headed your way. He’s upset. Sorry.

Angela tensed, lifting her gun.

She was relieved when her son came in and not Kenn. She slid the weapon back under her leg before Charlie saw it. “You okay?”

“No! Why did you bring him here? This will get you in big trouble!” Charlie was crying.

She went to him, held him as much as he would allow. “I have some things to tell you.” It would still be a censored version of the truth. There couldn’t be more until she made her final choice.

“About…my dad?”

“Yes, and about you.”

4

Adrian studied Kenn’s approach through the open tent flap; awkwardness invaded the cool night air. He thinks she told me everything.

Adrian chose to encourage that idea while staying as neutral as he could. He needed Kenn. Angela didn’t.

Kenn put the envelopes on the table and dropped into the empty chair with a grunt. He didn’t meet Adrian’s eyes as he got right to business. “We’re short on–”

“We have something else to discuss.” Adrian’s voice was like stone.

Kenn wasn’t sure if he would lie when Adrian asked if he had put his hands on Angela. He wasn’t sure that he could.

“Are you mine or hers?”

Kenn’s head flew up, mouth opening, hesitating. “Sir?”

Adrian pointed. “You can’t serve two masters. You were the first one here, the first member of my command, and you have the most active part in everything I do. You’re my right hand. What happens to a man if you cut that off?”

“He’ll bleed to death.”

Adrian nodded at Kenn’s mutter. “He, and all his dreams. The death of Safe Haven alone would be unforgivable, but worse, what else would we lose?”

Kenn’s reason warred with his anger. He struggled to find the right words. “Our last chance. Our way of life… America.” Kenn felt genuine regret.

Adrian was satisfied for the moment. He studied Kenn before speaking, no longer staring at his even-tempered XO, but the short-fused, mean mouthed, second-in-command that people were already starting to avoid after just one day. He needed to get this under control if he could. Adrian suspected it had already gone too far. Kenn didn’t believe Angela and Marc were just friends either. “Because she asked me not to, unless someone comes to me, we won’t discuss this after tonight. So long as it never, ever happens again.”

Kenn was shocked…stunned that Adrian would protect him. It went against everything they were trying to build here. Kenn was filled with guilty gratitude.

Adrian, however, was furious. “The war changed life for every living thing on this planet, including her. She has the right to pick her own future. You will back off.”

Kenn was humiliated. Adrian knew who he was now. He no longer had a reason to lie. “We were happy. She’ll settle back in with me.”

“No! She doesn’t want that, and the rules here are for everyone. She knows it now.”

“She and that boy are all I’ve got left.” Kenn gestured in frustration. “I can’t just let him have them.”

“Give me a yes to this question and you’ll have my support.” Adrian laid the trap. “Ready?”

Kenn already knew, but he nodded anyway.

“It’s easy to see that Marc would do about anything for her, maybe even die. Would you? Do you love her enough to give your life for hers?”

Kenn didn’t respond.

Adrian frowned. “Then let her go.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“You have to. We all know you gave her up for dead. That gives her the right to end things. And so what? You have a good life, a good place here. You’re admired, treated well, and a certain redhead is sniffing around, giving out samples. That’s always fun.”

Adrian’s words worried Kenn. He hadn’t thought the boss knew about his trysts with Tonya.

“Think on it, but understand me, Kenn. You can’t make it work. You can try, and you can destroy a lot of lives, but you cannot have this position and that woman. I’ve met her. No man could balance the two.” Adrian ignored the male heart insisting that he could. “Let her go, Marine. I need you so much more than she does.”

Kenn desperately wanted this conversation to be finished. “I’ll try to do what’s right. I will.”

“Good. Let’s move on. Schedules first. Put her with John; add her to Neil’s class. Can she use the .357 on her hip?”

Kenn nodded reluctantly, humiliated mind flashing to the ride here. “Probably the least of what he taught her.”

Adrian ignored the bitter tone, but he responded to the impression that Kenn knew Marc. He set another trap. “Tell me about him.”

Kenn lit a smoke, thoughts chaotic. I can’t tell the truth without giving all of it, can I? “We served together. Same platoon for a few years. He’s a good Marine. I don’t know him personally.”

Adrian lifted a brow, waiting for the details he knew were there. The anger at Kenn for withholding that information until now was stored for later examination.

Kenn couldn’t refuse Adrian’s need to hear the observations he had stored over the years. It was part of the job, and he knew Marc better than he knew any of the people he’d reported on since getting this position. “He’s quiet, likes to work alone. He’s a stickler for the rules during regular business hours, but I’ve seen him get drunk and beat the hell out of men off base. He wasn’t close to any of us that I know of. He usually wanted a corner table alone, but he always supported us in brawls. When we lost two members of our team in Iraq, he retrieved both bodies, then helped the widows financially out of his own pocket.” Kenn let out a sigh, hating the truth. Damn Boy Scout! “He’s one of the good guys.”

Adrian reached into the cooler. “So are you. The past is dead. Try to leave it there.”

The Marine nodded, but Adrian was sure he had wasted his breath as he handed Kenn a beer from the cooler. “You have things for me?”

Grateful, Kenn opened his notebook. By all rights, he should be on the way to a dark road where one of Kyle’s bullets waited for his brain.

When Kenn left Adrian’s tent, he was calmer, but the ball of anger remained, waiting to be reignited. It flared to life once again when he got to his tent and found it empty. Did Angela break our truce and sneak out to Marc?

No. He could hear the soft murmur of voices nearby. She was in Charlie’s tent, and he couldn’t just jerk her out of there by her long hair like the rage was demanding. What to do?

Find a release.

5

Tonya moaned, wrapping her arms around Danny’s narrow shoulders as he pushed her against the boxes. Images of her night with Adrian flashed through her mind, increasing the heat.

Danny thrust against her, shoving her into the corner. “Yeah…ohh…yeah!”

Danny’s bare hips flashed in the dim lantern light.

Tonya arched up to meet his wild thrusts, already knowing he was going to blow before she could. What a waste of time.

The man dipped his mouth to her ample chest, nearing the edge.

Tonya froze as a menacing shadow stepped up into the semi and closed the door.

“What?…uhhh!”

A cold draft hit Danny’s twitching flesh as he was spun around. Milky white splatters sprayed the truck floor, boxes, and Kenn’s boots.

Danny, caught in the moment of climax, didn’t even try to avoid the meaty fist that flew toward him. He hit the metal floor with a loud thud, fading.

Tonya cowered in the corner.

Kenn stepped over Danny’s limp body toward her. “I see you found someone to do in my short absence.”

Tonya kept her mouth shut. When his big hands slid to the buckle of his jeans, heat and relief flooded her.

Kenn grabbed her arm and shoved her over the boxes she’d been leaning on.

Tonya, unsure about him at this moment, felt a tremor of fear and an earthquake of lust. She had written him off after seeing his woman. She knew her limits, but apparently, things weren’t peachy in their world.

The angry Marine kept a hand on her arm, holding her as he nudged her thighs open. When he rocked forward, sinking deep, Tonya pushed back against him in pleasure, body clenching around his. This was what she’d wanted when she’d found Danny alone by the fire.

Needing her to know who was boss, Kenn pulled out of her hot heat and pushed into the next opening, wrapping a hand around her mouth to stop the scream from following the surprised breath she’d sucked in.

Tonya moaned against his hand, sounding a lot like the man coming to at their feet.

Kenn pushed deeper, her gasp swelling him, and then he pulled out, spinning. He hissed in satisfaction, seed falling on Danny’s bruising cheek.

Kenn delivered a nasty kick to the moaning man’s ribs. “Find your own whore!”

He glowered at Tonya as he fastened his jeans. “Get this shit cleaned up and get back to your tent. We’re not done.”

Tonya giggled. “You got it.”

6

By 10pm, most people were inside. Safe Haven was quiet.

Angela slipped out, eager to get a shower without standing in line and being stared at. She scanned, finding Adrian and a group of guards at the center mess table. His words of knowing everything that went on rolled through her mind. He was a man to take at face value for sure, but there were wells in him deep enough to get lost in.

Angela was thrilled to have the shower camper to herself. She chose the farthest stall.

Gun in reach, Angela quickly got in and let the hot water beat on her. She hadn’t had a real shower in hot water since December, and it hadn’t felt this good. She soaped her hair twice, humming as some of the stink from her journey washed off and went down the drain. I made it. I’m really here.

Angela was frowning by the time she flipped off the water, wondering if Marc had gotten a shower yet. She hated being away from him, but she didn’t call out like she wanted to. They would have to be careful or leave, but every time Angela thought of that, of being alone with just Marc and their son, the witch whispered of death. She knew better than to ignore the warning. She had Charlie, and some of her freedom. Plus, there was that sense of being in the right place. It all made her want to stay. She would unless Kenn forced her hand.

As Angela left the camper, she lingered on the dusty top step, gentle breeze cooling her skin. She swept the camp. Safe Haven. Is it really? “Show me.”

The flickering flames in the nearest can fire formed movies, revealing dangerous rescues, defenses, and…secrets, lies. It made her frown as she swept the mostly darkened tents again. Black clad shadows patrolled the well-lit group of weary travelers, but they were surrounded by a violent, unknown world.

He’ll protect them with all he has. The witch rattled doors in her mind–forbidden, locked doors to the future. We could open them with his help. The future waits.

As if called, Angela turned around to find the object of her thoughts nearby.

Adrian joined her, trying not to stare. He gave her a polite glance, the scent of vanilla thickening in his nose. “You have everything you need?”

Her heart went straight to spending the night without Marc.

Adrian stored her wild need. “I’ll rephrase. Do you have everything you need that I can give you?”

“Everything’s fine.” Angela was sorry she wasn’t hiding it better.

Adrian grunted. “So, have you chosen to stay and help me?”

Angela shrugged. “Kenn will get in the way of anything I try to build here. My dreams don’t mean shit to him.”

Adrian’s tone deepened. “But, he does believe in mine. He’ll see the benefits of having you here.”

“Only if you send away my protection.”

Her voice held a desperate plea in that last word, a cry for reassurance. Adrian gave it firmly. “Never. Marc belongs here too. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Neither do I.”

“You will. Give it time; give me time.”

Angela sighed, looking over the peacefully settled people. “I’ll need to keep busy.”

Adrian kept control of his triumph. “I have work for you.”

Angela’s heart leapt at the offer, needing something to replace her time with Marc. If she waited, if she thought about all the trouble it would cause, she’d never do it. But right now, with Adrian’s patient attention on her, she felt this was her chance, her place in time to change the world. She wouldn’t get another. “Yes, I’ll stay, but give me real work, something that matters.” She unknowingly mirrored her son’s words to him. “I don’t want smoke blown up my ass, but if you can make me feel needed, wanted, then maybe I too can follow where you lead.”