From The Ashes (Life After War) (12 page)

Adrian grinned at the exhausted woman. “You're my shadow until camp's up.”

Cynthia smiled back, blushing a bit at his open reversal of her outcast status. “Thank you.”

Adrian pushed out a wave of pleasure. “My honor, Cyn. My honor.”

Those around fell quiet at the interaction. She wasn't an outcast anymore! How had that happened?

The tape was playing, coming to the end now, and Adrian stared at Cynthia as the gunshots echoed. He owed her so much. They all did.

Bang!

Bang!

“
She's hit!”

“
He's dead! Cesar's dead!”

“
Who did it? Did Adrian get him?”

“
Other side's pourin', Boss.”

“
No. It was Cynthia.”

The powerful recorder had captured the talk of the Eagles as Adrian fought to save Angela.

“
Cynthia shot him?”

“
Good thing, too.”

“
Yeah, his next shot would have killed Angie.”

“
Pressure!”

“
Damn. Look at that puddle spread. One hit might still be enough.”

Adrian switched the player off. “You have one request from the top two team leaders. Use them wisely.”

The camp understood that she was to be rewarded. They surrounded her next, and Cynthia was forced to pass guard duty to someone else in favor of being accepted back into the herd.

“
Took a call, Boss.” Kenn shouldered his way through the crowd. When he sent a hard glare around, most of the people headed toward the familiar Mess now taking shape behind them. The others fled for bathrooms and showers, all eager to discuss what they'd been through. The center fire would be busy as Safe Haven compared stories and drew conclusions.

“
The mission team had a delay. One of the slaves is pregnant and having trouble. Kyle stayed says he'll catch up with her in a few hours.”

Adrian approved the slow travel, always eager to welcome new children into his flock. “Fine. What about the doctor?”

“
Ambulance should be here anytime.”

Kenn had been glad to hear that Samantha was safe, and shocked to find out Becky wasn't in any of the vehicles he’d sent out. It was a perfect example of his leadership–just not good enough.

The Marine knew it. “I'm sorry.”

Adrian didn't make him feel worse. He'd had to leave Kenn in charge while they handled the Slavers, but he'd known as they left that it wouldn't go well. That rock-and-hard place was gone now.

“
You did the best you could. Make plans for the things that got out of control, so that it's covered next time.”

“
Next time?”

Adrian snorted, low on patience–on everything. “You don't really think the Slavers were our only enemy, do you? We'll have to this again. Get ready for it.”

4

It took a while for Safe Haven to settle down.

The livestock was fed and watered, the dogs were put out, and four common tents surrounded them with the flapping they’d all gotten used to. It sounded like home, and almost felt that way. The perimeter was widened, the flag put at half-staff, and the Mess and bathrooms were growing full of unwinding people that would crash hard tonight in relief. Their shepherd had returned.

Now doing rounds, Adrian watched the sky swirl and fluctuate around the perimeter. The power here was growing. Each challenge they faced sent nourishment into the magic seeds that were planted in his Haven. They'd come through what he had assumed would be the hardest part–surviving the first six months. Now, the future was here, full of possibilities and pain. At the moment, it was exhausting, but even under his weariness, Adrian knew what the next chore was. Magic was about to become a part of his duties–blending it in and training it to protect the sheep instead of itself.

“
It's almost time to form the council,” he slowly decided.
If I'm still leading them after Little Rock, the first Presidential Cabinet of the new world will be chosen. If I'm not...

Adrian's head turned toward the warehouse, but he didn't finish the thought as movement nearby caught his attention.

Ants.

He didn’t understand why the mutations were occurring so fast. The chemicals in the ground wouldn’t cause changes this quickly, and neither would eating from infected corpses. They had to have another contamination source, a powerful one.

It scared the leader, and not only because of the contagion danger. The ants’ determination to survive was as strong as his. If not for the dogs and the wolf running them off, the bold insects would probably be fighting them for space in their tents. As the ants continued to grow larger, these methods would become ineffective. They could only do a basic routine with the dogs, unlike the wolf, who understood them.

Adrian changed directions, blending into the trees as if he were a part of them. “Dog?”

The brush rustled to his right, and the wolf padded to his side with matted fur and a tense demeanor.

Realizing Dog had been close, Adrian frowned. “Where’s Charlie?”

“
At the Mess with his playmate. They’re feeding the refugees.”

“
Serving the trays. Who has guard?”

“
A rookie.”

“
Who made that call?”

“
Kenn.”

Before Adrian could hit the button on his mic, Dog gave a soft growl.
“The pup is safe. Nature outnumbers us. That is our problem.”

To their right, a single-file line of ants was slowly crawling up a moldy tree just outside the perimeter tape. The line stretched into the distance, where cone-hills rose from the ground like pimples on skin. Soldier ants surrounded the line, larger and more aggressive than the rest of the colony. Their hard black eyes returned to Safe Haven's protection repeatedly–the dogs and the people–but it was the wolf that they studied.

“
Be careful out there.”

Dog didn't need to look to know why he was getting the warning.
“Yes. I suggest only pairs for patrols.”

“
I have some ideas, but I need to get the dogs following orders the way you do. Is that possible?”

Adrian moved toward the warehouse while he waited for the mental answer.

“
Not unless I talk to them.”

“
You can?”

Dog snorted heavily, shaking his body to clear some of the scent of man. He missed the wild.
“What message shall I relay?”

Adrian accepted the newest oddity with a brief mental lurch. Knowing that an animal they’d always considered inferior, was actually capable of cross-species communication, was humbling. “They have to lay down scents around the camp each time we set up.”

The wolf answered with disgust. Like the Eagles, he was also tired enough to snap at anyone who came too close.
“They’re already doing that. The perimeter reeks of mutt.”

Adrian chuckled lightly. “Chemicals and urine don't detour the ants, but all of the mutations avoid places where you’ve rolled off dead fur.”

“
Yes, that’s good. And smart to have noticed. Perhaps you were a wolf in a previous life?”

Adrian realized the animal was joking with him and shrugged. “Perhaps you were a human.”

The Wolf growled lowly
. “I was cleaner than those here.”

“
We’re rationing, cutting shower times,” Adrian explained, missing the wording in his exhaustion. “Three hundred of us use more water each week than what we're finding.”

Dog looked up in golden-eyed amusement. “
Have you encouraged licking?”

Adrian snickered. “If I did that, our species would die out from lack of mating.”

“
In exchange for being able to lick myself, I've been given a tongue that takes layers of skin with each stroke. Why create such horror?”

The wolf snorted in bitter amusement that almost made Adrian recoil–it was much too human.

“
Maybe that's why pups are so wild. It drives them crazy.”

“
Not pups,”
Dog corrected gently, sensing this leader was ready for guidance outside the realms that he was already familiar with.
“Men. Each life born into the animal kingdom now is a human spirit, paying for its mistakes.”

Adrian's mind shuddered, step pausing as that awful truth locked into place. It fit too perfectly.

“
Nature was gentle in the Garden. When it was Sealed for man's crimes, the world changed.”

“
Because evil was born unto the animals,” Adrian guessed, voice dazed as his mind sorted a batch of puzzle pieces in a back corner. This was an ancient mystery–one mankind was cursed by–and Dog may have just given him a center piece.

“
Yes. They only began killing when the evil of men took control.”

“
And the apple?”

Dog looked up in confusion. He'd forgotten most of the world he came from, the fast vibrant life he'd held before. He remembered his part in it, but only that much.

Adrian rephrased the question. “What was the crime that got man banished from the Garden?”

“
You already know what they did to curse us
,” Dog scolded.
“It's why clean spirits pass on, but evil stays–constantly repeating in both human and animal populations.”

“
They lay down with the beasts,” Adrian muttered the theory he'd held for some time now. “
HE
stepped away for a breather, and they went crazy with their discovering.”

“
And cursed an entire world.”

“
The first births?”

Dog wasn't sure how much the man was ready for now–Adrian's eyes were slightly feverish in the coming light–but he answered.
“Was animal-like. Its sibling was human. When the mistake was understood, the first son was banished to the wilderness, where he watched his brother with jealousy that became hatred. How could he do anything else but kill to reclaim what he'd lost?”

“
So earth...”

“
Is Hell, yes. There is no better place to punish, than where the crime was committed.”

Adrian was aghast. “How do we fix a curse like that?”

“
You cannot change what has been, only what may be.”

“
Meaning?”

“
The War gave one single chance for mankind to repent, to get it right, and you are leading that grueling charge. You have to convert them, rip away the evil, and make them believers.”

“
That's what Safe Haven already does,” Adrian stated. “One ugly step at a time.”

“
The head start is too big. You could convert every survivor on the entire planet, and it would not be enough.”

“
How then?”

STOP!

There were rules, and Dog heard the mental warning clearly–he wasn't allowed to share the answer.

“
I only want human suffering to end. I'd never use anything you tell me to gain power,” Adrian pled.

Dog broke the rule without caring what punishment he might receive. Adrian was the shepherd. He needed this information.

“
If drawn by a bright enough light, lost souls might come, ready to mend old hatreds and be reborn in peace. Such might shift the balance of good and evil to man's favor.”

Adrian tried to estimate a number of lost souls and couldn't. “How do I convert them once called?”

“
The same as you do your living herd–carefully.”

5

“
The Ambulance and escorts are back.”

“
Copy.”

When Adrian got to the QZ, he found Seth waiting for him at the tape. The headache in his temples grew worse as his mind continued to sort through all that Dog had shared.

“
Rick's dead.”

Adrian didn't congratulate Seth, sensing the damage was bad.

“
Samantha has a concussion and a face that looks like she went five rounds with a Heavyweight. She got off easy.”

They both turned as the ambulance door opened, watching John and Anne help Becky into a wheelchair. Even covered in sheets and the haze of drugs, it was clear what she'd suffered.

“
She doesn't want to talk to you or her mom yet–said if you make her, you'll both be sorry.”

“
What did John say?”

Seth's hands clenched. “John wants her under 24-hour suicide watch in the medical tent.”

It was still better than what Adrian had expected upon finding out that Rick had also taken Becky.

“
And Samantha?”

“
I'll live.”

Sam came out of the ambulance slowly, grateful to John for insisting on the pain killers. She felt like shit, and not the normal kind–but a pile that had been rubbed across the sidewalk by dozens of feet.

Adrian immediately went to help her, scowling at her misshapen face and bandaged hands. “I'm sorry.”

Sam shrugged. “I brought him here. You don't owe me that.”

“
Rebecca won't accept it, either.” Seth muttered, shattered inside in a way that he had no idea how to heal. “She hates everyone.”