Bone Dust & Beginnings (Alexa's Travels Book 1) (7 page)

Alexa’s mind was racing. The soldiers would know their quarry was close. There wouldn’t be any running, maybe not even hiding. Alone, she and Edward would win every time, but neither of them could stay ahead of the trucks while carrying Daniel… They would fight.

Alexa looked to her First of Six with blue chips of icy steel. Once the soldiers were out of their vehicles, no mercy would be allowed.

Edward gave her a short nod that said he would be at her side for the fight, and beyond.

Satisfied, Alexa took aim.

5

“I feel her.”

Rab’s words caused a round of cheers from the half a dozen soldiers in the hardback with them.

A harsh glare from Corbin silenced the men.

“Where is she?” he demanded, looking through the binoculars again. The arid mountain terrain was all the Commander could see with only one good eye.

Rab struggled to get a clear read on the woman. Her energy wasn’t as vibrant as he was used to.
She’s tired
, the scientist thought sadly.
We’ve hunted her so much that she hasn’t had time to recharge.

Aware of Corbin waiting for an answer, Rab grunted, “Keep going. It’s getting stronger.”

They’d spent the last weeks chasing her, rounding up those she’d freed, and listening to the tales of their travels from other survivors. Tracking them hadn’t been hard, only tiresome due to her preference for unforgiving terrain.

“Load your darts nice and tight.” Corbin instructed. The big bunker still wanted her dead or recaptured, but Corbin had set this in motion and had no intentions of backing down now. He would get a tracker into her or her fighter and it would be enough to buy a few more weeks to find something he could use to negotiate with the big bunker.

The cliff neared, showing them a small, neatly made camp with three bedrolls.

“There’s her site!”

Of Alexa, there was no sign, but if she’d left everything behind, then they’d surprised her again. It was the second time it had turned out this way, and Rab was sure her luck was used up. They would have her now, and the hope of a Safe Haven would finally vanish entirely - just the way those in charge wanted it. Rab was suddenly glad that Shane hadn’t made it back from base yet. The air here tasted like death.

Corbin studied the area, the cliff. There were no tunnels, no crags to escape inside. She hadn’t gone up. He looked toward the trees that lined the cliff, to the thicket of dead branches that would make a perfect cover…

“There she is!”

Crack!

The windshield shattered into a series of spiral fractures, surprising everyone inside into a harsh flinch. The thick glass was supposed to be able to stop a slug, but thanks to years of chemical rain, everything now had a weakness.

Crack!

The window next to Corbin’s head imploded, glass flying through the truck.

The driver swerved, automatically turning south to keep from being trapped by the cliff wall, and a barrage of gunfire rained on the truck as it turned.

Corbin was very aware of her target as he tied a bandage from his kit around the stinging arm wound she’d just delivered. Blood dripped in thin sheets. She would pay for that!

Alexa fired again, strategically hitting lead vehicles that were sent careening into different directions. The weakened glass had the soldiers looking for a place to use as cover, and the opposite cliff wall was the only other spot for that purpose. It sent the trucks right by her and Edward’s bullets.

She’s herding them now
, Edward thought, firing. His shot took out the rest of the windshield on that lead truck, and he grinned. This
real
life was perfect most days.

Alexa watched the remaining vehicles turn to follow their leader, and saved the rest of the bullets she had in her gun. Waste in any form was destructive to her goals.

Edward’s smile faded as the soldiers pulled behind the huge boulders that lined the opposite cliff. Men began pouring from the trucks like water. So many…

He watched Alexa drop from the tree like it was a single step, and tensed to follow her flight…

Crash!

Alexa had no intentions of running now that the soldiers were out of the protection of their vehicles. Gunfire filled the canyon, echoing off the cliff faces and out into the barren wilderness.

6

“Get down, you idiot!”

Corbin snatched Rab back by his head, and shoved the gifted man behind a boulder.

“We’re no match for her guns!”

“But there are more of us…”

“She’s an Alpha!” Corbin snapped, watching his men get slaughtered. His three Lieutenants were trying to call them back, but these lower-level men had no discipline.

Crack!

Corbin’s eyes narrowed in on the shooters, using a clever mirror to keep from poking his head out for her to aim at. Only Alexa and one man, but there had been three bedrolls. Where was her newest man?

His sharp eye went over their camp again - a fire pit with a small pot simmering over it… wood with gouges, bloody rags. Someone was hurt. And what did you do with an injured party during a fight? You stashed them.

Corbin scanned the area, landed on the deadened branches beside the neat camp… and found a shadow among the dense limbs. The big bunker wanted her recaptured or hit with tracker juice, but one of her crew would be just as good…

“Stay here!”

Rab watched Corbin dart toward the vehicles with concern that had grown into alarm by the time the Commander had slipped around them and out of view. Was he being left?

7

Shielded by the trunk, Alexa fired again, taking down one of the closest soldiers. She and Edward were running through Corbin’s men, but where was their leader?

Edward slapped the clip in place in time to shoot the last two men within an instant of each other. The chaos was complete. Bodies were spread all over the parched floor of the canyon.

Alexa waved a hand. “Make sure they’re all dead, gather supplies.”

Edward nodded. He took a step…

Crack! Crack!

“
AAAhhhh
!”

Daniel.

They’d heard that noise too much to ever mistake it. They both turned toward camp.

Alexa made a fast gesture. “Do as you’ve been told!”

Edward hated the idea of leaving her alone to rescue the biker, but he wouldn’t disobey. He moved toward the bodies with fast steps, hoping to be done and at her side before it was over.

Alexa rounded the edge of the cliff and slowed to a steady pace. Her eyes saw Daniel in Corbin’s tight grip, and then the biker’s newest wounds. Without hands, Daniel couldn’t fight back. Both of his palms were dripping blood.

“I’ll put the next one through his head!” Corbin shouted, dragging the dazed man back further into the shadowy cover of the cliff face and its boulders. “Get out here - where I can see you!”

Alexa stepped into view, Colts in hand.

Corbin’s harsh grin was full of triumph. “Toss them away!”

Alexa did as he instructed, keeping her eyes on Daniel’s. In the biker’s blue gaze, she saw determination to survive, and the belief that if he did get mortally wounded, she would be able to save him again. Good. This way, he would be willing to take risks. He wouldn’t ever be told that there was a limit to what she could do, or that it was forbidden. She would eventfully have to pay for playing the role of God.

“Closer!” Corbin was trying to be meticulous, but being so close to her without the drugs was distracting, worrisome. She radiated a strength that had him tightening his grip on the mostly helpless biker. He’d found the wreckage. From there, it hadn’t been hard to figure out that she’d saved this man. That made him a valuable property.

Corbin waved at his remaining two Lieutenants. “Cuff her, and put her in my truck.”

“Now, Daniel!”

Daniel shoved against his captor, ducking as Alexa did the same.

Her Colts fired and bodies hit the ground.

Corbin, now alone, struggled to keep Daniel in front of as much of his body as he could. He needed her alive. “Get in the truck or I’ll kill him.”

Alexa’s laugh was cold. “And give up your shield? I think not.”

Realizing his bluff was called, the danger he was now facing, Corbin began dragging the man toward the nearest truck. “I’ll take him with me, then.”

“No, you won’t.”

Alexa started to raise her gun, and Corbin’s arm tightened on Daniel’s throat, cutting off air. “If I die, so does
he
!”

Alexa’s voice as like the dead, it was so cold. “He has no value without hands. Keep him.”

There was a shocked silence.

Corbin stared, not sure if she was now the one bluffing. Would she really leave a man behind?

Alexa grinned.
“How about a deal?”

Not expecting it, the Commander sneered, “Deals are for the dead!”

Alexa nodded. “So they are. Would you make one to save your life this day? I will come for it in my own time.”

Corbin slowly nodded. “Perhaps if I knew the terms…”

Alexa didn’t hesitate to bargain with the devil. It was something she expected to do many times before this quest was over. “I will back up, you will do the same. Let him go at the bumper.”

Corbin caught sight of her other fighter stalking steadily toward them from the battlefield…

Corbin let out a defeated sounding grunt. It was working out perfectly.
“Fine!
Start backing up.”

Alexa immediately began moving away, face warning Daniel not to disrupt the plans she had just put into motion.

Corbin loathed her arrogance as she stared at him with icy blue eyes. That would change after she led him to Safe
Haven.When
Adrian was wiped from the face of the planet, Commander Corbin and Alexa might just disappear - along with a lot of drugs to keep her under control. He wanted Adrian dead, needed him so, but the man’s daughter would suffer for years before he finally took her life. The Mitchel family may have forgotten their insult, but Corbin hadn’t.

Alexa knew something wasn’t right, but with Daniel pouring blood, starting to sag in Corbin’s grip, there was little choice but to get him away as quickly as she could. She watched Corbin drag him around the side of the boulders, tripping in his haste.

Both men went down, and Alexa shook her head at Edward. He wanted to rush in and take Corbin out, but that would sign Daniel’s second death warrant and she had no energy left to save him with.

Edward guessed her reason by the restless tap of her fingers on her butt. Those fingers were shriveled, ugly to look at. She was too weak for another confrontation that might end in Daniel being wounded further. Right now, his injuries wouldn’t take his life. If the one-eyed man was pushed, the biker might be lost.

Despite not wanting a new man on the crew, Edward felt better knowing that Alexa cared for her fighter’s enough to delay Corbin’s death. It didn’t occur to him until later that she might have had different motives.

As they fell, Corbin slammed the needle into the biker’s neck and shoved the plunger home. The struggling man dropped like a stone as the medication hit, and Corbin slid the man’s pant leg up. A few seconds saw a new scrape-like wound on his thigh.

Corbin yanked the pants down and shoved the biker’s heavy weight off of him. He moved quickly for the truck, not caring that he was the only survivor.

Corbin yanked the door open to find Rab in the passenger seat.

“I saw what you did.”

Corbin pulled himself up behind the wheel, face a mask of hatred.”Don’t cross me, Rabbit, or we’ll have a fox hunt.”

Rab snapped his mouth shut - already sure the paperwork would state that Alexa was the one he’d implanted. Corbin’s reports to his superiors, and the truth, were never close. The Commander had his own agenda concerning the Descendants.

8

“Why didn’t you kill him?” Edward had seen her shoot. He knew she could have put a bullet in his forehead.

Alexa didn’t answer, instead going to Daniel’s still form.

Edward didn’t repeat the question. He hadn’t been with her long enough to be totally confident, but he had been around her enough to know she hadn’t done it out of kindness or mercy. Those weren’t the reason’s she’d saved Daniel, either. Edward doubted she had much of either emotion. The things that Alexa did, good or harsh, were all for the quest. In some strange way, it must benefit her to leave the one-eyed man alive.

Edward helped her drag Daniel’s unconscious form back toward the bedroll, hoping she would tell him to papoose the biker so they could get on the road. It wasn’t safe to stay here any longer.

Alexa helped lift the biker, hanging him over Edward’s strong shoulder.

“Papoose him.
We need to get underground until his tracker wears off.” She hadn’t seen Corbin do it, but she’d be a fool not to expect it.