From The Ashes (Life After War) (44 page)

“
Boss?”

Kenn blocked the view of the dead, big body standing in Adrian’s line of sight. It was one thing that their leader would always react to.

Adrian slammed his lids shut, willing the pain back enough to think. The bats weren’t going away, and the camp was currently discovering the shield–already starting to avoid Angela as she helped those who were down. The rumors while under attack from the Slavers had reached enough ears to be a problem now. What had to come first?

Protecting her.

Adrian waved Zack over and pointed toward Angela. “Stay by her, as close as you can until this is over.”

Kenn heard the protective order and started writing as Adrian began giving instructions, frowning. Why did Adrian’s first thoughts always cover her?

Angela spun around at that thought, glaring. “Why not? Yours never did!”

Adrian grinned at the open anger, hitting his radio. “That shield we made won’t hold for long. Camp members to the Mess, Eagles to the bonfire.”

Adrian’s expression said he now had a plan to handle the bat colony circling above the shielded camp.

As he went to the com truck, Billy couldn’t stop from taking quick peeks at it, even though they were supposed to be pretending like they’d known all along, had helped to build it. The Eagle didn’t realize that in a way, they had. It wasn’t just the leaders who created magic, but the people they brought together and the things that came from those connections.

“
What happens when we open it and they swarm down?”

“
We catch them. In these.”

Adrian held up one of the crates. “And then we roast them.”

8

Kyle helped Jennifer up, not liking the ashen color of her skin. He slid a bloody hand around her waist, directing them toward the medical tent.

Jennifer stopped, tugging on his arm. “Hang on.”

“
I can’t. I have to go help, and you need the doctor.”

Jennifer was still concentrating on her breathing. “I’m not in labor. No pain now, just a little upset from lying down under the table.”

Kyle was torn. “Are you sure?”

Jennifer hid her clenched hands. “I’m fine. Go do your job.”

Kyle leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Go to John. Now.” He took off toward the center of the devastated camp.

As soon as he was out of sight, Jen moved toward the semi the vet was still hiding in. “Come out. I need you to tell me something that no one else will.”

The semi door slowly rolled up, and Chris’s surly countenance appeared. “What?”

Jennifer tried to sound like she wouldn’t accept a lie. “How will Kyle honor his end of our deal?”

Chris instantly hated her distress and the man who was causing it. “He'll use one of the whores who know it doesn’t mean anything. That’s what all of them do.”

9

“
All right, watch Kenn and Brady for the setup and brace for a kick. The air-pressurized cans will have a recoil.”

The ten Eagles lined up on the far side of the fire, exchanging nervous, excited glances. This was one of the moments they’d signed up for–to discover if they had the steel to meet this new world and come out on the other side.

Shadows flickered eerily as they waited, the bats above and the roaring of the now triple-sized bonfire the only noise.

“
You ready?”

Samantha nodded, aware that Jeremy still wanted to protest. They had the camp under canvas, the injured dragged inside, and now, they would take out the threat. Because of her time logged on hunting runs, she’d been given the honor of helping to light the nets once the bats were trapped. “Yes.”

Adrian made eye-contact with each of the team before holding up his hand, calming them and steeling nerves. When it dropped, the attack would resume.

“
It is my job.”

Both unaware of the new battle about to begin, Dog followed Charlie’s angry march through the livestock perimeter, still stinging from his father’s laughter at finding the wolf sitting on him. All Marc had said was for him to get to the medical tent and help out. He hadn’t even told the wolf to get up!

“
You’re going the wrong way. The Master said go to the medical man.”

“
Bug off, Dog!”

The wolf snorted angrily.
Pups!
Didn’t he understand the gates were opening? Nature was furious with man’s destruction. If she had her way, nightmares would be reality all the time.

Charlie marched faster, face a red glare that ignored gestures and shouts being thrown at him from crowded tent flaps. He’d spent the entire attack on the ground! They had no right to…

“
Eeeekkkk!”

Charlie looked up in time to see the crimson shield flutter… and then vanish.

Run!

Dog’s order was followed by a hard nudge that got Charlie’s feet moving. It wasn’t over.

The bats swarmed down in a violent rush of angry hunger, and the teenager found himself being smothered by the wolf’s weight once again.

“
Damn it!”

Marc dropped his net and took off after Angela as she dodged the wings and ran for Charlie’s frantic shouts. What the hell was he still doing out in the open?

10

The Eagles hit the ground as the colony came in low and hard, and then jumped to their feet, hoisting guns loaded with nets.

Adrian held his button in. “Wait for it… Hold… Hold…”

The bats hit the empty camp and screeched in fury as they searched for food. Tents collapsed, thuds and bangs spreading as they flew into trucks and trees in the chaos. The colony reemerged on the updraft and circled back for the downward spiral that would drive the Eagles away from the huge bonfire, where they would be easier targets.

“
Hold...”

Lined up behind the fire, ten men tightened their fingers on their triggers.

The bats swarmed toward the center of camp, drawn by the sounds and movements of the waiting team.

“
Hold…”

They neared fifty feet, and Adrian made the call.

“
Fire!”

Nets and alcohol flew out, widening as they went, to catch the brunt of the colony in the first shots. They brought the plunging line to a halt and actually drove the first bunch into those behind them. More nets flew in from the sides, creating a line of captivity.

Heavy bundles of rope fell into the roaring fire that Adrian had made them extend. The smell of roasting wings and fur permeated the air as the alcohol-doused nets (Sam’s very effective spray gun idea) caught fire. The screeching was endless.

“
Fire!”

Kenn and Kyle hit the secondary net guns, and another large cluster of bats was brought down, hitting the edge of the flames and bouncing away in squalling protest.

“
Get the ends!” Adrian shouted.

Daryl and Shawn quickly dragged the screeching net into the flames, gloves protecting their skin.

Adrian fired the last net-shell, wishing for a dozen more. After this, they were down to brooms and tennis rackets.

Adrian nodded at Angela, and she brought the shield back up. The shield became solid, the crimson edges already tinted in that green and gold. Bats slammed into it with splatters and satisfying cracks.

Most of the colony had been caught in the first 15’ x 15’ net to fly at them, and nearly all the rest were already in other nets and burning. Less than a hundred were flying around the camp in search of an escape.

Adrian hit his radio. “Take ‘em out!”

Eagles came from the tents with tennis rackets, brooms, torches, and even lighters with cans of hairspray, determined to eliminate their share.

Adrian evaluated his camp.

He found it devastated. Unlike during the sinkhole, when only two small areas had been affected, the entire camp, from one end to the other, was a complete shambles this time. Tents were down, some still smoldering and splattered in bat blood. Animals were running loose, a few down, and the Eagles were walking the camp, killing any bats they found feasting on the downed animals or bodies of people. They had begun to account for everyone, but Tony, the mechanic, and his wife Emily, had been found a few minutes ago outside their charred tent. They had been crushed in the first stampede when the bats attacked. They would join the three men who’d given their lives to protect others, and the five members of his herd who been caught in the crossfire of this newest war.

Samantha stayed in front of Adrian as the Eagles gave a sitrep, not wanting him to stare at the sheet-covered bodies. Ten more lives lost. That he was failing them, was the clearest thought in his head, and she moved closer, determined to use whatever she thought might work to distract him. She didn’t realize that she’d read him like Angela was always doing.

Neither did he.

11

“
Didn’t know they were doing something that big!”

“
Good thing.”

“
Yeah, but doesn’t that mean we’re locked in?”

Camp members were staring at the shield in amazement. The questions and comments would have to be addressed, but the coming of dawn’s light would render it invisible again and buy some time. Until then, Adrian wanted it left up.

“
What happens when they realize they can’t touch it? That they can walk through it?”

Adrian gestured to where that was currently being explored by Zack’s three boys. The trio was placing their palms against it and being stopped.

Sam grunted. “Okay, so we could keep them here, but I don’t understand how it knows not to let the boys through, but it will
us
.”

The man appearing on Adrian's right for a sitrep answered. “Angela controls it now.”

The others gaped at Kenn’s open words, but Adrian’s mind was racing. He would have a lot of shit to shovel to cover this one, but so far, it would work. No one was muttering about Angela or avoiding contact as she and a bloody Brady escorted Charlie to the main tents.

Looks like they had a close call
, Sam thought, then caught sight of Dog limping behind them in pride. The four of them made a striking group moving through camp.

Sam felt Adrian’s breath catch. He looked old in the dim light. All the stress wasn’t being kind to their hard-assed leader. The misery coming from him begged for a solution, and Sam quietly delivered the best advice she could think of. “Stay busy. I know how this sucks.”

Adrian was humbled as she left. These people had been beaten, broken when they arrived here, but that wasn’t the case anymore. He’d done right by them and they’d grown into their destiny. If only he could have the same luck with Conner when they were reunited. That time was weeks away now, finally, and he was terrified of the hate that had to be waiting for him.

Since they’d taken out the Slavers, everything was chaos, and they were all anticipating life settling down. The problem was that they had begun to doubt it was possible with so many secrets out in the open. A few more, and the camp would be too off balance to allow Adrian’s leadership to be effective. He needed a way to bring them together… or to abdicate and let someone else do it. That was an unspoken thought among all his army these days, but it wasn’t Kenn their eyes went to.

The camp had the same opinion, though a different choice. Despite Kenn staying by Adrian’s side, the camp was already showing a liking for Marc choosing to go help his family during the crisis. It was fine to have loyalty, but those who weren’t Eagles wanted men in charge who would put their loved ones first. It was a sense that Adrian took to heart. When they found out he’d left Conner waiting, to care for this camp, it would be the final straw.

The blond leader wiped a hand across his brow, glad the dead had been covered. Maybe him out of command would be a good thing. All he seemed to be able to do right now was get them killed, and Adrian had little doubt that eliminating so many men, so openly, had caused it. He no longer felt like one of the good guys.

12

Jeremy dropped his clothes into the fire. They were covered in bat and human blood.

As he walked through the devastated camp, Jeremy’s mind was on the conversations he’d overheard while protecting Sam. He’d been trying very hard to leave her alone, and found himself paying more attention to the herd than he usually did.

“
Bet this stuff wouldn’t happen in the mountains. Not the sinkholes, not the animals, and we can defend that!”

“
What about the cave-ins?”

“
Smaller risks there than what we’re having now.”

“
We’re a target.”

“
A lot of people think so.”

Like Adrian, Jeremy knew these people would pick the mountains, and it had become real tonight, listening to Adrian lay it out to those who he let draw him into brief conversations. Anything to keep from facing the latest deaths.

They’d lost twice as many as they’d originally thought, most of them from a senior tent that had been unprotected. A large portion of the deflected colony had flown in there and been discovered long after the rest had been burned.