The Survivors

South Dakota state line

March 26th

1

Danger to the herd!

Adrian woke to the ground beneath his tent grumbling and groaning. He grabbed for his boots as the tremor strengthened. Things fell, broke; people ran, engines started, radios crackled. The silent roar of the quake distorted the sounds, making their ears vibrate.

Adrian pulled his jacket over his bare chest and ducked outside as he zipped it up, scanning the nervous guards. They’d survived tremors, but not as strong. He keyed his mike. “Hold your posts, Eagles.”

Adrian motioned Neil and Kenn over. The two men were roughly the same height.

They came to him quickly, dodging members in robes and slippers who were fleeing–most toward the parking area. He hit his radio again. “Empty a mag, Doug. Turn ’em around!”

The towering, red vested giant didn’t question. He fired into the air above the small mob of thirty.

The gunfire got immediate attention. The panicked people pulled up short and stopped, faces wild with fear.

Doug’s bearded face was full of disapproval as he waved a beefy hand to where Adrian stood.

The crowd turned, distracted at the sight of Kenn and Neil hunkered down to let Adrian stand on their shoulders. The earthquake had stopped, and it was such an unexpected thing that it captured the twitching crowd. Doug assumed Adrian had a plan.

Seth, a quiet shadow ready to protect the boss, had the same thought. He shared an admiring glance with the Eagles.

Everyone was watching Adrian now; the crowd grew as more people came out of their tents.

Adrian tapped the hats below him. “Up.”

The Eagles moved slowly, but with little teamwork. Adrian swayed dangerously, amusingly. His wild arm gestures drew titters from the calming group. Most of those who’d broken quarantine were new refugees from Cheyenne.

Adrian waved as they finally got him up all the way.

The watching people gave a small, uneasy cheer in return.

“We had a tremor. This is how it feels.” Adrian lowered his voice. “Walk, guys, and do it together or I’ll break my friggin’ neck!” He lifted his voice again. “We survived it.” Adrian swayed, almost falling. The tall men grabbed at his legs, pulling more laughter from the people.

“Damn it!” Adrian hauled himself up by sheer will, and struggled to stay there. Hearing calm in the crowd reactions, he gave up the fight, wobbling.

“He’s going to fall!”

“Grab him!”

“Down, guys!” Adrian rolled forward as Neil and Kenn bent, ended up on his feet in front of the crowd that let out a cheer and clapped.

As Adrian waded into the people, they quieted, most realizing they had overreacted and were due a scolding.

Adrian’s men watched, thinking they were lucky Adrian had known how to handle the crisis. Nothing broke panic like laughter.

Nose full of sulfur and smoke, Adrian felt the air shift. He knew by their guilty demeanors they understood. He said nothing, letting the silence stretch out.

When many of them were about to offer apologies, Adrian stopped it with a curt gesture. “During a quake, you get away from anything that can fall on you, then stop. Wait for cracks to open.” He pointed to the jagged, gaping hole in front of Doug that a lot of them would have fallen into. “Like that one. Panic makes us do stupid things. I understand, but sometimes, it also costs your life. I can’t give that back.”

Neil watched in approval with the other Eagles, hands on his narrow hips. Adrian was giving them what Kyle liked to call the lay or how things stood.

“All of you have broken quarantine. You’ll have extra time in it, along with all the members I’m looking at.” Adrian paused to mark them with this sharp gaze. “It’s over now. I want this camp back the way it was, and everyone accounted for.” Adrian let them understand how displeased he actually was by jerking his hand. “Now.”

The commanding tone had them all rushing off.

He gestured to Kenn and Neil as they went by. “Sitrep in five. Check in of the guards first. Gather your team, Neil, and go round up our strays. Kenn, get Mitch on the radio. Have Zack and his guys oversee the cleanup. I heard engines. Try to call them on the radio. Have Doug handle the count, then tell the cook to start chow. It’s almost dawn anyway. Kyle keeps Point. I’ll be around.”

Neil saw Seth’s shadow follow Adrian and was pleased. He and Seth had hit it off. He knew the redhead would cover Adrian’s overloaded back.

Adrian joined people in the mess. The camp was a flurry of activity in the foggy morning. They’d had no serious damage, no injuries.

Adrian finished his cold coffee with a grimace as the stench of rot wafted through the loud, crowded mess. A large herd of bison had died about three miles southwest of their location. John was testing the bodies since there wasn’t an obvious cause of death. The big ants Adrian sometimes thought might be following them were also here, along with a burgeoning population of field mice. This area was all nature as far as they could see, with no signs that humanity had ever been here. Adrian dreaded dropping south into the Badlands, but he would if John said fallout had killed the bison. That strange, eerie landscape would be better than sickness, but it didn’t have anything they needed. They wouldn’t stay long–only a week instead of the three they usually spent in each state. There wouldn’t be tours of Mount Rushmore or the Wild West sites that had featured Annie Oakley and Wild Bill Hickok shows. That world was gone.

2

“Is everyone accounted for?”

Neil opened his book as he joined Adrian. “Almost. We had five cars leave. All but one is on the way back. We contacted the supply team. Chris said he hasn’t been able to reach the fifth car yet.”

“They were together?”

Neil nodded, continued his report. “One of the guards swears there were two people in her convertible. They’ll probably show up at dawn.”

Adrian glanced to his XO.

Kenn waved a hand for Kyle to join them from his post on the mess. He’d been expecting it. “Get your team and do a recon for Tonya and the reporter. Half hour check ins.”

Kyle swallowed his dislike. The orders actually came from Adrian. Kenn didn’t like Cynthia. Few of them did, and though he was screwing Tonya, Kyle didn’t think he cared for her either. Women are just possessions to Kenn, Kyle thought, calling in his relief early. He pitied the female who had shared Kenn’s bed before the war, when there had been no Adrian to keep him in line.

Kenn waited until Kyle was out of earshot, noting the body language indicating the mobster’s displeasure, but even that didn’t ease the thumping of his heart as he spoke to Adrian. “Mitch took a call. I may have missed someone in Cheyenne.”

Adrian had recognized the edge of fear in Kenn’s tone. “Could you have?”

Kenn was miserable. “Yes.”

Adrian knew more was coming. He waited unhappily when Kenn scanned the black hills surrounding their camp instead of maintaining eye contact.

“I need to leave for a while. I’m feeling...smothered.” Kenn shrugged at Adrian’s lifting brow, but didn’t offer more details. “Charlie’s stayin’ here. I’ll recheck Cheyenne first and bring the woman back if she’s there.”

His tone implied he doubted she would be. Adrian hid his grimace as his heart skipped, sending pain into his arm. He couldn’t keep it from his eyes.

Kenn mistook it. “I’ll be back. Soon.”

Chest easing, Adrian gave him a hard stare, mind and body already dreading the Marine’s absence. Kenn had been more help than he knew. Fresh out of the quarantine zone, he had only been back from Cheyenne for half a day. “When?”

Kenn still didn’t look at him. “Now.”

Adrian sighed, hoping it really was restless urges and not devious tactics taking the Marine out of camp. “I told you everyone here is free to go any time they please. If you have something to do, somewhere to go, come home when you’re ready. Just don’t forget about us, and watch your six. We need you.”

Kenn nodded, beard covering his guilty flush in the windy darkness. “I hear that.”

Adrian frowned. It had been his experience that when someone said that, the opposite was true.

“I’m comin’ back.” Kenn addressed the uniformed shadow who had given himself away by a quick breath at the news. “Hold my place.”

Adrian forced a chuckle. “You know it.”

Kenn hadn’t been sure how to bring up the subject. He didn’t want to give details, but in his heart, he was sure the lone female had been Angela. Static had kept Mitch from hearing the name clearly. It’s time to go set her straight.

3

As dawn broke, Tonya and Cynthia rolled in, flanked by Kyle’s team.

Kenn waited nearby, lingering in dawn’s last shadows.

A few minutes later, Tonya’s tent flap opened, revealing a dim, smoky interior. A small red glow winked on and off.

Kenn went to her openly. If she and Adrian had been an item, that was over now. Kenn entered the pungent tent, inhaling from the thick joint she slid between his lips.

The flap shut them in darkness as her hands opened his jeans.

Tonya had figured out something was happening with Adrian’s right-hand man. She’d seen Kenn’s loaded Bronco. She wanted to be sure her place with him was secure before he left. Kenn was her only ticket to power here. Tonya gave him an amazing effort, trying to dig her hooks in deeper.

For a little while, the future was forgotten by them both.