Alexa's Travels: A Prelude (3 page)

The clerk’s thick face was getting hotter by the minute, telling Alexa she cared about her charges. “No!”

“What are the prices?”

The answer was given in rush of the normal routine. “A thousand per head, or ten gold nuggets.”

Clink!

A quick movement from Alexa placed a heavy pouch on the stage that drew attention from even the dazed males. That was the sound of someone being bought.

“I need two gentle slaves with no thoughts of control, only helping and peace. No addictions or disease.”

Others listening snorted, but the red-faced clerk nodded slowly, understanding that the questions had been a test. Her rough voice now held an edge of respect.
 
“The two on the end, jeans and arms marked with only one line.”

Alexa moved toward the chained men, not missing the weight of the gold. Now that mankind’s numbers were so low, it was more abundant than they were.

Her uneasy fighters followed. Her words said these new men would not be fighters, nor were they so close to death as for her to kill them in mercy. Alexa had never bought a slave. Would they have to endure such from her? Inside, they knew better, but surrounded by the waves of misery coming from the chained males, the worry was hard to ignore.

Alexa knelt down in front of the stiffly sitting men, her words too low for even her own group to pick out. She spoke quickly and the two slaves listened in rapt attention. When she finished, they both stood, slowly, and waited to be unchained from the rest. They were healthy enough, these two the clerk had chosen.

Alexa gave the guard a nod. “My thanks.”

The guard had been just that before the War, helping to keep animals away from innocent people. After the War, the woman had discovered that the animals were safer.

“Go now, and remember my words.”

Both of the bare-chested males gave her looks that said they’d do anything to stay with her, and Alexa shook her head. “She has more need of you than I.”

Disappointed, they reluctantly moved toward the woman with the kids who were no longer crying, but happily eating on the hood of their truck, Alexa turned to observe the other vendors and customers instead of the coming show.

Everyone else in sight watched the two slaves approach the woman carefully, hands held out, and be accepted gratefully as they gift they were meant to be. Alexa had seen the woman’s need, but more, she’d reminded a few of the old way, the ones that hadn’t always been about greed. She’d forced them to face their own selfishness merely by helping a stranger and her children survive a bit longer in this new hell.

Heather and her daughters also observed the moment, but with loathing. They hated the weak, the poor. If womankind was to survive, the breed needed to be pure, and the struggling female that now owned two slaves was head of one of the few remaining families that Heather’s clan hadn’t been able to ferret out yet. The rest were either members of her camp or dead. If you lived around here, in this part of the Georgias, you served the Reaper.

“It seems we’ll have a few stops to make tonight,” the mother stated thoughtfully, mind already planning. If the warrior woman thought those two males were good enough to gift, then they would ease this flaring need. The woman and her kids would be dead before dawn. Finders, keepers, Heather’s Reapers would be by.

The idea that Alexa valued the slaves was a thought had by more than just the Mother, and the slave-clerks stayed busy moving stock for the next half hour.

As they left the caravan behind, Alexa’s words told them the stop had gained more than just what they’d purchased.

“We’ll be providing a guard for the woman and her kids tonight. Two off on a recon.”

Edward waved Jacob and Mark to it, and the males turned to vanish into the dusty landscape. When they returned, they would know where the woman was making camp or hiding.

Not concerned about the family group still watching them, Alexa kept their pace steady, her hands ready. If her men had to kill, they would. Sending only two of them signaled that to those wise enough to understand.

Darkfall found them all together, guarding the careless family from a hillside vantage point. Exchanging shy smiles and information, the new family was already improving from their misery, and it made the six men on duty grateful again that Alexa had chosen them.

2

Heather’s tracker had lost the two hard-asses, but the woman and her kids had been easy to follow. The small group was sitting around an open fire eating the cans of fruit and ignoring the lethal landscape around them.

The mother motioned her team to split up as they neared the edge of the hill providing their cover.

“You shouldn’t do that yet.”

Heather knew who it was, realized her mistake, and gave her girls a slow, angry motion. “Stand down.”

She turned to face the warrior woman, ready to die to defend her daughters, her territory.

Alexa read it all in the older woman’s face and shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Not expecting an attempt at peace, the mother hesitated.

Alexa pushed the moment. “Let them die on their own. She’s clearly no challenge to you.”

Heather’s face lit up in denial. “She has something I want!”

Alexa’s tone understood. “Something you
need
.”

The mother flinched, but didn’t deny the truth. “It’s under control.”

The two leaders stared at each other, and their guards got set to fight even as they exchanged long glances full of hot curiosity. Both groups had been with only their own kind for a long time.

Alexa broke the silence. “May it be bought somewhere else?”

Heather snarled. Being so close to these unmarked men was torture to the newly woken fever that was raging. The disease had only crossed their home once, but it had been enough. “There isn’t time to find another trader!”

“You stand before one,” Alexa answered coldly, making her men stiffen, but not with fear or anger.

Heather was shocked, but it didn’t stop her from instantly wanting to agree. She’d had a fleeting thought of slaking the urges with one of these men, but a single glance at their leader had denied even the chance. To find out it might be possible, sent the flames higher.

“The cost?”

Alexa looked at her fighters, seeing all were willing if chosen. “Deal with them. I don’t own slaves.”

Despite her previous statement, her meaning was clear. She approved of the arrangement, but only if her men were willing - and they would be the ones to set the fee.

Heather growled this time… and turned to Edward. “Name your price!”

The Horseman gestured toward the new family still eating, unaware of their fate being decided. “Besides all their lives?”

“Too high!” Heather protested. “My daughters have needs, too!”

“On top of their lives,
we
require the right to give and take pleasure as we see fit.”

Alexa’s men wouldn’t stand for being controlled after the freedom she’d allowed, but Heather heard only one word.

“We?”

Edward was sure of what his mistress had intended… and he was grateful. The ailment these women suffered was inherited, not transmitted, and his hard body was already preparing. “All of us will be at your convenience until the dawn.”

“Done!” Barely stopping herself from lunging forward, Heather turned back to Alexa with confused, greedy eyes. “Why?”

“We are sisters, are we not?”

The mother nodded hesitantly, unable to believe her good fortune. “More so than those I’ve met.”

“Sisters share, spare each other hardships when they can.”

Humbled, Heather wanted to explain how awful the need was, how strong.

Alexa stopped her with almost kind words. “After World has many side effects. I’m no stranger to them.” She turned her back, hands going to the butts of her guns. “When he says dawn, he means it. Don’t waste your time.”

Heather thought to divide them up, but remembered Edward’s price. She answered bravely, not sure if these men would hurt them, but unable to wait any longer to be sure. “Make your pick.”

Edward moved toward the Mother with a quick step, claiming her before the others could. He stopped in front of her, hand going to his belt.

She flinched despite it being her idea, and the Horseman gave an intense promise. “Safe with us!
Her
word on it.”

He unbuckled his gun belt; let the deadly tools slide to the ground. Around them, the others did the same, and Heather let go of the rest of her doubts.

She stepped into his baking heat, and Edward swept her up against his chest eagerly. Being one of Alexa’s fighters never failed to bring some sort of unexpected bonus or benefit, but this one would be remembered for a long time to come.

Left to sort it out amongst themselves, the remaining groups of two and four moved off into the darkness in different directions. When their sounds came, they were full of passion and stunned pleasure, not fear.

Alexa stood guard tolerantly over the new family that still had no idea she’d provided them a future where there hadn’t been one before. It was nice feeling, something she wasn’t used to, but the warrior stopped herself from gloating or even dwelling on it. What fate gaveth away, it could easily take back.

3

An hour before dawn found all of the men dozing contentedly next to warm, naked skin – except for Edward. He was watching Alexa stand guard from the top of the hillside that he and the mother were lying on. Even with the powerful explosion he’d just experienced…
the third
, he amended with a prideful mental chuckle… despite being exhausted, he still wanted Alexa. If she came to him right now, he would have no trouble giving her needs detailed attention.

“Where do you go… her, I mean? Where does she take you?”

Edward thought of how Alexa hadn’t questioned the vendors for information on their quest. She already knew what they would find. “Anywhere … everywhere.”

Understanding that line was forbidden, Heather didn’t waste their last bit of time with words that didn’t matter anyway. “Will you… can you…?”

Edward sent his eyes over Alexa’s pat stance, remembering hot, magical moments, and felt his body start to wake. “Aye, Lady.”

He looked down at her, aware of how similar in nature she was to his leader. “Would you take or be taken?”

He had allowed her the lead so far despite his rules, and Heather swallowed her sudden fear to ride the wind. “Taken!”

When dawn came - a reluctant light with no warmth - Alexa moved toward the cliffs now in reach. Within minutes, each of her men fell into their places.

Leaving the new family and Heather’s Reapers to their constant struggles, the small group of fighters settled into one of the first caves they came upon. After barricading it, they slept.

1

They walked for the next three days, taking only short naps before heading out again, and it wasn’t just the unclean ground that had them so restless. They were close, and the need to hurry was undeniable.

Dusk approached as they found the next long-abandoned campsite, the next sign that what they had been searching for, for so long, had indeed come this way.

Occasional tent poles were still standing, small graveyards of cars and trucks and parts, most buried, smothered with mud. Overturned port-o-lets peered at them from the dust, and rickety crosses waved in the breeze as they went by… too many of those. People had been dying by the time Safe Haven had gotten this far.

The remains stretched for over a mile, impossibly big to the seven fighters, who had not seen enough people together to fill even twenty tents, let alone hundreds. Reminders of the old world were everywhere they turned; moldy books, stacks of wood, rope, cruddy jewelry, and ceramic mugs winking in the dim light, lumps of mildewed trash that used to be clothes: signs of the life that once existed here.

There were none now. Not even the bugs could live here, and the group stared at the message together.

8-13

St Mt

God help the USA!

The nearest mountain ridge was another day’s walk, and the group kept moving even as darkness fell. This was poison ground. If they made camp here, they might stay forever.

2

Before the grudging daylight, they found survivors… of a sort.

The cool morning breeze billowed their cloaks, cooling sweaty skin, and the though the gritty sky was barely beginning to lighten, their sharp eyes picked out details on the cliff they were passing.

“Caves.” Jacob muttered lowly, hand caressing the butt of his .357.

The doorways were set high into the stone, dark and ominous. When Alexa unfastened holsters, her men did the same. Danger was closer now.

The group moved steadily past the first doorway. As they neared the second cave, Alexa slowed her steps, got ready. This was a lookout zone. One of Safe Haven’s? If so, there was no hope. The eyes watching them were full of madness.

“Something moved behind us,” Jacob stated softly.

Edward, her second in command, echoed it, “In front as well.”

“How many?”

It was the normally silent member of their group who answered.

“Too many for being on the ground.”

David’s tone was pointed, and the woman nodded, seeing his worried gaze keep returning to the dark cave doorway they hadn’t reached yet. David was part magician, though he had yet to recognize it, and she never ignored him.

“What was it King said in his book?” Alexa intoned, falling into battle mode with a smooth transition the others admired and sometimes feared.

“Trouble. And it’s in our road.”

She was glad to hear the rookie’s voice – it was set, deadly. “Shall we go around?”

“No.” Mark’s tone was firm.

“Shall we flee?”

“Never!” Edward growled.

“Shall we barter for passage? Beg our way through?”

“No!”

“Never!”

“What then, shall we do?”

“Fight!”

“Fight!”

 
And as if on cue, it started.

Inhuman shapes emerged swiftly from the caves, their red, insane faces bulging with hatred and infection. They leapt from rock to cliff ledge with strange, clever movements, huge legs and naked, hairy bodies grotesquely distorted from the constant contamination in which they ate, slept, and bred. Unlike Heather and her daughters, these were true dangers and the fighters stopped to face them like they always did. Gunfire filled the air in a ceaseless succession of sharp cracks and vivid blasts that rang for miles.

The males dropped back into a tighter circle around their leader, weapons barking death as the woman spun continuously in their protection, deadly Colts picking off the horrors about to drop in on them from the ledge above.

The woman ducked a flying shape meant to grab her and break their circle, firing into the back of the creature’s head as it went over. Blood sprayed.

It was salty copper in the stale air, and the smell of it sent the cold haze of battle into her hands. She fired at everything that moved outside their ring and didn’t miss. The Walking dead fell from the cliffs around them, blown out of dark doorways and off of jagged rocks as Alexa unleashed that hard part of herself that had brought them this far.

The men ducked to give her a clear line of fire, and their low aim kept back the zombies that had made it to the ground. Their shots took a toll, too, but it was the twin Colts that were making the real difference.

When Alexa knelt, reloading, her men stood straight, determined to do their share. Bodies fell, the no-longer-human people refusing to give up, or perhaps not recognizing that unarmed, they could not win. Nature’s hatred was in them, fueling their attack. When the men had to reload, Alexa was there to keep the death toll rising.

Shots echoed continuously as the walking dead also advanced in their awful, stumbling run. The pile of corpses around the travelers grew higher.

“Down!”

Her shout had them all on the ground as a group of four flesh eaters tried to jump into the circle together.

Bang… Bang… Bang… Bang!

In rapid succession, the four zombies stumbled to the ground in sickening thumps and splatters.

Thud!

A fifth zombie dropped into the circle behind Alexa.

Jacob fired from the hip, nailing the slobbering monster in the head. Its huge hand gripped at her shirt as it fell, ripping the material, but the woman paid no attention as she continued to shoot at threats coming from the caves.
How many were there?

Three dozen… No, Four. And more eyes leered at them from the dark doorways. Their only advantage was in how long it was taking the zombies to reach a ledge on the steep cliffs close enough to lunge from.

“What the hell is that?”

Edward’s tone was awful to hear, and Alexa followed his line of sight to where the sky was darkening rather than getting lighter.

“A storm?”

She shook her head, turned and fired at another furious zombie about to jump at her from a gory cliff ledge, “Worse - birds.”

“And rats.”

The hungry rodents had gathered around the fight while they were distracted, and now the warriors were surrounded by dozens of the plague-carrying predators. Their circle would not hold against so many.

Alexa dug in her kit as the rest of nature’s army neared, watching her men stave off the remaining two dozen flesh-eaters with beautiful shots she would admire later. Bracing herself, Alexa pulled what she needed from the pouch and began to spin it.

She twirled the Caller in a high, tight arc, using a powerful arm to wind it up, and the immediate sound echoed through the area like a bomb blast.

“Whhooooooooooo…!”

It went on and on, growing in pitch, and her men were relieved to see it having the same effect on these angry soldiers as it had in Nebraska.

“Whheeeeeeeeeee…!”

There was no end to it, to how high it kept going, the ear-splitting tones bouncing off the bloody cliffs in piercing waves of communication.

The battle had frozen with the noise, all of their attackers stopping, listening with their heads cocked. Time seemed to slow as the Caller spun in an unwatchable blur, holding them all, even the circling birds.

“Whhhiiiiiiiiii….!”

Alexa’s arm forced it to stop - the Caller wasn’t exactly inanimate - and she slung it to the ground at her feet.

“Whhoooo… thud!”

The spell held a bit longer, and she threw her hands out, orange flames now dancing on their tips.

“Would you kill me before I can teach them?”

She spun around, the fire making a ribbon of heat that wound around her as she turned. The faster she went, the bigger the flames became. Then she stopped and even her own men shrank back from the sight of her fury.

“I would return the favor if so!”

The flames didn’t just surround her, they emerged from her, twining in and out of her body like a serpent, and her solid red eyes blazed.

“I am Eve! Stand aside!”

She threw her arms open, and a wall of flames slammed into the enemies closest to them, knocking the rats and birds into the cliffs, where they immediately began to burn. Fire hands stretched out from the demon woman, reaching for the cave doorways, and the rocks crumbled under the pressure, collapsing.

“No more!”

The Demon caved-in each of the doorways, flames caressing her body, and when she tuned to face the rest, there was a flurry of movement as Nature’s soldiers fled in terror.

Faced with a true look at their leader, most survivors would have run as well. Alexa’s men had been culled from the dwindling herd of mankind for their strength, and all of them held their formation, waiting.

After only another few seconds, she looked as if nothing had happened - even the torn shirt was mended - and Alexa glanced at each of them with an expressionless face that held no trace of the Demon lurking inside.

“I go on.”

Edward spoke for them all, in awe of her, “As do we.”