From The Ashes (Life After War) (45 page)

Jeremy forced his mind from the awful memory that he was sure he’d dream about tonight, to the next problem he had to handle. He was about to be cooped-up inside a mountain, with only his ghosts for company.

His mind showed him that other moment again, the one that had ruined his life and sent him to the seedier side of things. That had been the day he’d lost Mira. The ski lift had malfunctioned, sending them both from the seat. They’d lain on the side of the slope for hours before anyone came, hours where he’d watched her die and developed a loathing for the location. Afterwards, even when the Inspector said his fooling around and rocking the seat hadn’t mattered, Jeremy hadn’t been able to go to the cabin for his things. Every time he heard the groan and shift of the stone, he heard that awful snap again, one of rusted metal finally giving way.

He’d ended up with two shattered legs and spent years learning to make them work again between surgeries. Mira had been buried during the first of five operations he’d undergone. None of them had been as awful as his fiancé’s death.

Jeremy had dove into his skills for relief of the guilt, hacking and blackmailing his way out of a MIT scholarship into the criminal underworld. When the War came, he’d been a rich computer geek, living on hacking thrills and bourbon. Surviving the War hadn’t been his idea. Passing out in that subway tunnel the night before had been. He’d hoped to be run over before he sobered up.

Now, he would go inside a mountain to live for months where he would get to hear that heart-wrenching snap not just occasionally, but hundreds or maybe even thousands of times.

“
Why don’t we hook up a computer and try the internet again? There’s got to be a better place.”

“
It was locked down. Have to have the code.”

“
Surely someone has hacked it by now…”

“
That’s crazy! It would tell any government left…”

Mind a blur of despair, Jeremy moved away from the growing argument, ignoring the part of him that wanted to explain to the crowd how many times he himself had tried to break the code.

For the two weeks they’d had power after the bombs, he had worked on it from his laptop. Jeremy still had the notebooks where he recorded the failed attempts, but he wasn’t sure why. That world was gone, and it was time everyone accepted that hard, cold truth. They were on their own.

13

“
This is the death list.”

Adrian controlled himself, taking the sheet.

The Eagles were silent as Adrian read, holding their breath as they waited to see how he would take it. They were prepared to offer distractions.

Adrian let the paper fall to the table and turned away. He stood there, shoulders hunched, anguish in his heart. Twenty more lives lost.

Dog came to Adrian's heel and stared intently. Adrian had a wall up, trying to keep himself together, and Dog had to call to him with a low growl, unable to break through mentally.

Adrian finally realized Dog wanted to tell him something. Instead of the information or idea he’d come to expect from the no-nonsense wolf…

“
Will you tell the beast keeper to let me alone? I don’t like the way Star wiggles.”

Adrian stared. “What?”

The timber wolf growled in low annoyance.
“She whimpers too much. I scare her.”

Adrian felt a snicker coming and fought it. He wasn’t allowed to be happy in any way when more of his people were dead.
“I thought you weren’t interested in mutts.”

Dog stamped his paw roughly.
“Your human wants it, not us! Tell him she’s not my… type.”

Adrian snorted in mild surprise.
“Where did you hear that?”

Dog leered, tongue lolling.
“The pup I protect and his friend. They have an intense interest in females.”

Adrian’s smirk almost made it onto his lips.
“Got you thinking?”

The wolf’s fur bristled.
“I only sniffed her once!”

“
Just once?”
Adrian asked innocently, now caught up in the personal moment with the wolf.

Dog’s head lowered in embarrassment.
“Okay, twice, but she rubbed against me! What was I supposed to do? In a pack, that means take it!”

Adrian’s chuckle spilled out in a burst of calming energy that spread over the nervous men like a soothing balm. He was okay. They could go about their duties and let him carry the weight.

“
Mind the flank!”

Dog’s growl went through those closest as a mental shout as he padded toward the dogs circling the perimeter in a small group.

The ants had been absent during the sinkhole and the bat attack, but they were following again, there was no doubt. More than one of the mutated insects were missing a limb from the practices. He and the Eagles were still dropping bait balls into the four-foot anthills, but it was the dogs laying down their scents around the perimeter and patrolling in packs that were keeping them back.

Very aware of the restless members, Adrian had instructed the Eagles to put thick nets over the camp at night from now on, and to finish the ledge around it. They would also start adding walls–portable ones that could fold up. The use of crimson paint would further convince the camp that they had built the shield. The Eagles were currently refusing to say how it worked so that there was no chance of anyone sneaking in and dismantling it while they slept.

The camp had accepted that answer, but the effects of the attack had given them all a new level of jumpiness.

Sighing, Adrian turned to Kevin. “Walk with me on rounds.”

The Level Three Eagle fell right in. “You know it.”

It was well after dawn before Safe Haven finally settled down, but it wasn’t the calm peacefulness they’d come to expect. It was dropping from exhaustion when their eyes refused to stay open any longer.

Chapter Thirteen

Near Cleveland, Oklahoma

6/10

1

It was time for the mandatory camp meeting.

All around the Mess, tables and chairs were set up, speakers in place, and the hundreds of people in these seats exchanged curious, nervous glances when Adrian’s top people showed up alone.

These feelings of unease were hidden behind welcoming smiles as Adrian came through the crowd, a large plastic tube in one hand and a mug in the other. Marc picked out the bloodshot eyes and immediately suspected the cup held something stronger than coffee.

Adrian made his way to the front without responding to any of the greetings or questions, dropping down on a front table.

The silence was awkward as everyone found a seat, those in the quarantine zone listening on a radio Kenn had rigged up. Their votes would count, too.

As they sat, Adrian looked at his camp, thinking that despite all he had tried to teach them, they were still sheep that would always need a strong hand to keep them together. It was disappointing. Would it help to keep trying? To try harder?

“
We’re here to pick our choice for the winter. If we wait any longer, we won’t have time to get it ready.”

Adrian’s deviation from the usual start of the monthly camp meeting drew instant attention and more unease.

“
We’ve been checking places as we travel, and none of them are acceptable.”

“
What places?” an annoyed voice called.

Adrian rolled his eyes. “The ones you were too busy grazing to see. Kenn, read it.”

Kenn exchanged a look with the others in command before he opened his notebook, standing up. “This is a list of all the places we’ve searched for authority, help, or permanent shelter. These searches were conducted by various combinations of Eagles and camp members.”

Kenn took a breath and got started. “Nellis Air Force Base, Hawthorne Army Depot, Nellis Bombing Range, the city of Las Vegas, Santa Clara, The Dugway Proving Ground, Salt Lake City, NORAD, Grand Junction, Boulder, Ft. Collins, Denver, Lander, Casper, Ft. Supply, Ft. Bridger, Rapid City, Cheyenne.”

Kenn ignored the mutters and groans, turning the page.

“
The Essex Compound, Rawlins, Cincinnati, Glendale, Tablerock, Roanoke, The Virginia Military Institute, White Sulphur Springs, Ft. Seybert, the city of Oakland, Basset, Ft. Bliss, White Sands, F. E. Warren AFB…”

The list went on for a while, and Adrian waved at Neil to start passing around the albums of pictures they’d taken, verifying these places were gone or destroyed. Tears and pale faces greeted Adrian when Kenn finally reached the end.

“
We found nothing in any of these places but bodies.”

“
Why was all this done in secret?” Roger demanded.

A dangerous tension filled the crowd.

“
Because the weight of all those disappointments was mine to carry,” Adrian stated. “You don’t tell an injured person that there’s no doctor to help. You do the best you can and handle the weight yourself until they’ve regained their strength.”

His eyes flashed over their nods and headshakes. “We took the pictures for this moment, for your doubt.”

Kenn handed out another album, this one containing a single shot from each place they’d searched. Images of death, explosions and fires, rubble, skeletons, and in all of them–that feeling of being over.

Adrian pulled the cap off of the tube and took out the map he’d been working on since right after the War. Kyle stepped up to hold an end and Adrian remained seated, pointing things out.

“
The red is our back trail. Known blast sites are in black, debris and radiation areas in green. Purple is where we’ve searched.”

It was easy to see he’d put a lot of time into it. There were dates, notes, even the number of people in Safe Haven at each location, and the camp leaned forward eagerly.

Billy motioned toward the map. On it, Adrian’s Montana base was clearly marked… and sat in the middle of a ground zero. Those who understood the implications kept quiet, telling themselves he had found out later, not taken them all that way based on a terrible lie.

“
We might have tried to find one of those underground bunkers in the desert, but I doubted they’d let us in even if we could find one. I also didn’t think any of us wanted to be back under the control of the government.”

There were more nods at that, and Adrian’s highest people began to relax a little, seeing he was still driving his herd.

“
NORAD might have worked if not for the gasoline that ruined the water supply there and flooded it with toxic fumes. We haven’t ruled out caves in Kentucky yet, but the reports of mutations in the water in Ohio and Indiana are too close. If the snakes are using the creeks and rivers, being underground with them is the last place we want to try to survive and raise our kids.”

Women were swaying quickly to Adrian’s view, many of them hugging their charges closer.

“
A safe place to rebuild is the most important choice we’ll make. I’ll tell you what I’ve come up with, and we’ll go from there.”

Adrian took a drink, stifling a grimace as he swallowed the whiskey-laced coffee. “We can hole-up in the mountains, try to get it ready for the winter that I suspect is coming sooner than we’re used to. Or we can head south, where winter won’t be an issue.”

The crowd became almost panicked.

“
How far south?”

“
Are you crazy?”

“
What else have you got?”

Angela held her breath, thinking of their dreams. He was telling them–now.

“
This land is going sour. We can hide in the mountains for a while, but at some point, we’re going to have to consider leaving. At least until these chemicals clear out. The mutations, we’ll be dealing with no matter where we go, I think.”

“
Isn’t there any place untouched?”

Adrian shrugged, voice tormented. “Not that I’ve thought of. Except for extreme places, like the Poles or an island somewhere, the entire planet has been or will be, affected by the War.”

“
What about an island?”

“
We could rebuild somewhere else.”

“
I’m not leaving my country!”

Adrian stood up, letting go of the map.

Kyle caught it, rolled it back up, and slid it into the tube.