The Survivors: Book One (30 page)

Where had all this damage come from? The nearest ground zero was in California, too far to have caused this and even his sharp, military mind couldn’t come up with another reason. This had to be the edge of a bomb zone, one that had come after communications fell, and he would add it to the map he was keeping.

Lightning flashed in the distance and the vivid reds and golds had his eye, but his mind was on his people and their broken country. How much of his beloved homeland now looked and felt this way? Most? Would they really be forced into the caves to survive, blown back hundreds of years in evolution?

“What new life can there be if we have to live it inside the rotting shell of the old one?” He muttered.

Adrian tensed again, this time at the soft crunch of a boot step, hand dropping to his hip even though he knew no one had gotten past the guards. There were three full shifts of men on the perimeter right now, and he could feel them watching, looking out for him too, even though he wasn’t specifically training them to do that yet. They were following Kenn’s lead.

“Adrian?”

He pushed his dreary thoughts to a back file. They would do what they had to. Maybe the mountains wouldn’t be as bad as he was expecting. They hadn’t voted on a final settling place yet, but he already knew that’s what they’d pick and he had his doubts about being able to make such a place safe for even a month, let alone for the nuclear winter he still feared was coming. The first would be the hardest.

Following the guards’ eyes, Kenn eased down the small, muddy hill and sat down, handing over a mug of hot coffee. Like Adrian, he didn’t notice or care that mud was seeping into his clothes. It didn’t matter anymore, only survival did.

“How are they?” The tone was that of a commander asking about his troops after a hard day.

Kenn’s answer was simple, honest. “Tired and down, same as you.”

Adrian nodded, but didn’t offer any excuses that would only be obvious lies. It was impossible to pretend everything was fine when you were rolling over the unburied bones of your fellow Americans.

“We’ll be better when we’re away from here,” Kenn stated as he took a sheet of paper from his pocket. He’d been thrilled to see
Man on Point
on his schedule this morning, and when the birds had hit them (coincidence or Fate?) he’d come through with full marks. Before the sick flyers, though, there had been surprise from the Eagles. Now, Kenn had more pals than he needed and had chosen to keep these current favorites at arm's length for the moment. Adrian was the only one he really gave a damn about.

“Sitrep whenever you’re ready,” Adrian guided, relighting the joint he’d been ignoring with his worried thoughts.

“Perimeter’s good, no serious injuries, radio’s quiet, everyone’s accounted for. The pictures from Cheyenne Mountain are in your tent.”

Adrian frowned, sure they’d be worse than those from Salt Lake City. “Anything?”

 “No.”

When he didn’t ask for details, Kenn didn’t offer them, thinking their leader was depressed enough already. Adrian didn’t need to hear about the fry-room at NORAD they had forced open, but Kenn was sure he would have recognized the clever way it had been done. Someone among the Slavers had military knowledge and that didn’t bode well. Kenn planned to give Adrian the full in the report he’d been asked to deliver nightly about various camp issues and setups.

“Neil see ‘em yet?”

“No.”

Adrian nodded, unhappy the state trooper hadn’t gotten to go, but it had been Kenn’s mission and he hadn’t intervened. To make it up a bit, Adrian would let the loyal cop see the awful photos before the camp did. They didn’t have access to all the pictures he and the Eagles took, but the big places still gave people hope. He had to show them or they would go off on their own to check and maybe not come back. Some did anyway. Adrian wasn’t offended, only relieved when they returned. He needed them all.

“We have two new arrivals who weren’t with the group that’s following us. Wanted to know if we had any use for a doctor?”

Adrian’s happily surprised eyes swung to his, and Kenn grinned back, loving this feeling of pleasing the blond leader. “I knew you’d like that. John and Anne Harmon are husband and wife of almost forty years, had their own office in Rawlins. They were going to NORAD, but they saw the smoke. Then, they heard Mitch on the CB and chose to come see if we’re good or bad. They’d like to trade their medical skills for a place with us.”

“Damn, that’s great! It’s exactly what we need. Give ’em a couple days to settle in, and then put them to work.”

Kenn was still grinning, sure his next words would also please the boss, and they did. “Too late. He saw Zack’s arm and insisted on cleaning and stitching it right then, along with any other serious injuries. Neil’s setting him up in the corner near the livestock. Right now, they’re looking over the scratches some of the kids got. He says the birds were likely American Gulls.”

“Give them one of the biggest tents and have a red cross painted on it. The doctor's name should be in red, white, and blue - Safe Haven colors.”

Adrian made a mental note to have a talk with the man in the next week. With that eager attitude, he would probably be well-liked. That was one of the reasons Kenn was settling into the camp so fast. People were starting to realize that the Marine’s only goal seemed to be giving whatever was needed, and only those closest to Adrian had any objections.

Not that they’d go against his wishes after the meeting tomorrow night. He intended to make it clear where the Marine belonged, and it would help that Kenn never stole his thunder, didn’t seem to want it. His willingness to be only back-up had earned him respect. Then, there was his quick reaction to the birds. Giving Kenn point had been a great idea at the perfect time, and it had been a good day for the camp.

“You wanna do this later?”

Adrian shook his head, frowning at himself in the windy darkness. “I’m easily distracted tonight. Go on.”

Adrian wondered if the Marine still planned to go back to Ohio. Kenn hadn’t mentioned leaving since that first day, didn’t have much to say about his old life at all (something most people here liked, but not Adrian), and he was very busy carving out a place for himself. Again though, there was the feeling of something being not quite right and it was stronger now than when the Marine had first arrived. Was it because Kenn thought no one had noticed?

“... and both women are on livestock duty, like you wanted. Water's down to three tankers; toilet paper, 12 cases. We changed four flats, two windshields, and exchanged 10 vehicles for others Kyle’s team found. The tires came from the reserve.”

Adrian had known they would be into it this week, and it made his stomach burn with worry. Their transportation was nearly as important as the food, but water was priority one. If they couldn’t keep moving and finding supplies, they would die, and their reserve wasn’t growing.

“What’s the biggest problem?” he asked tiredly, already knowing. Even with the carpool law he insisted on, they used a lot of fuel.

“Gas. We’re down to the reserves on it, too, after we fill up tomorrow.”

The reserves of gas were only a tenth of what was found and would hold them for 2 days travel, at best. They should have more by now, but people were scared to leave camp. Some might not like it, that too was about to change.

“We’ll get farther from here and start draining the tanks on every car, tractor, and lawn mower we can find until we get lucky and find a station with something still in it.”

“We could try 191.”

 Adrian looked over at him curiously. “That’s a highway crammed with dead traffic.”

Kenn was eager to score bonus points to go with the full set of marks he’d earned earlier. “Exactly. Dead vehicles, like box-trucks and semis still full of food and water. Maybe even a fuel tanker or two.”

Adrian grinned, clapped him on the back as the wind gusted again, now carrying a real chill they both felt and ignored. “You’re just full of good shit today.”

Kenn soaked up the praise, ready to volunteer, and stopped himself before he could - waiting to see if it would be offered. He had made good progress with the camp. Not as much as he wanted, but it would always come down to this man’s opinion in the end.

“You’d like to go? Be in charge?”

Kenn nodded just once, trying to be cool about it.

The lightning storm to the west hadn’t died down and they both watched, human souls more afraid than in awe. Things with nature were bad now, wrong. “Sure, when?”

“Head out in the morning, early. Catch up by Mess, day after tomorrow. I’ll make the arrangements, have the Eagles meet you by the trucks. Anything else for me?”

“Nothing but Tonya; she wants to see you in her tent.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen.”

The Marine kept quiet, frowning just a little at the quickly-thrown sarcasm. Tonya insisted, to anyone who would listen, that she and their leader were sleeping together, but Adrian would cut people dead for even hinting it. Most had decided she was lying, still chasing what she couldn't have, but not Kenn. They might not be a legal couple, but he didn’t think their Commander and Chief was refusing that
Pogue bait
13
when no one was looking.

“Kenn.”

He looked up guiltily to see Adrian’s thoughtful eyes on him. “You got a thing for redheads?”

Kenn dropped his own baby-blues, shrugging, “When they look like her, who doesn’t?”

Adrian grinned, liking the honest answer, wanting to trust the Marine as much as he obviously wanted to be trusted. “She definitely gets a man’s attention, but she’ll do whatever she has to as long as she thinks it will get her what she wants.”

“What does she want?” Kenn looked at Adrian curiously. He wasn’t sure why he was asking, and was surprised - happy - to receive the same honesty he’d given.

“For me to be her legal mate or out of this camp, so she can put someone else in my place and have power through them. She doesn’t care which, and she’s as much as said so to my face.”

Kenn laughed, despite wanting to do and say all the right things. “She’s got guts, takes care of herself. That kind of woman was rare before the War.”

Adrian didn’t like the tone, but let it go. “Tonya’s strong and we need that, but we’re weaker with her too, because she uses that strength for selfish reasons. She would have to do a world of changing for anyone to really accept her here. It would be a hard sell.”

Kenn nodded at the warning, but didn’t say anything else.

Adrian stood up, eyes scanning the lights, sights, and sounds of his people. A neatly organized camp, fires driving back the darkness, dogs yapping for dinner, echoes of doors closing, calm voices and steady footsteps. Normal as it got now. The Marine had done a good job.

“We’ll need to add safety glass to our lists. I don’t like how easily a flock of birds put us in danger.”

Kenn said what his boss was thinking. “Be too easy for a bullet.”

Adrian was more than pleased. Finally, some of the born help was here. “I’ll do rounds in about an hour. Wanna come along?”

Kenn fished in the oversized pocket of his black jacket for his smokes as he fell in on the right. “You know it.”

3

Adrian headed to his tent, eager to have a little time to himself, and Kenn’s mind stayed on Tonya as he joined the dozen camp members setting up base around the huge bonfire.

Many times his eyes had been drawn to the sullen redhead, and he wondered where she was, who she was with. She was definitely selfish, greedy, a troublemaker, and he saw her streak of meanness, too, but she was also strong, smart, and very determined to have Adrian. The people here hated the idea, but Tonya was openly hostile to anyone who spoke against it, and she had even earned a day of hard labor for a slapping contest with Big Billy, a 300 lb. school teacher from Oregon, winning, hands down. Tonya wasn’t afraid of anything and that had earned Kenn’s respect, something women didn’t get much of from him.

Kenn responded to the greetings and congratulations of those around the flames that the cold wind was teasing, taunting, but stood by himself. He hoped this fuel trip would secure his place in Adrian’s chain of command. Kyle and Neil seemed tied for second, with Doug in third, but to Kenn’s selfish mind, they weren’t Marines, and he didn’t think it would take long to get what he wanted; just more hard work. No one openly held the XO position here and he’d found himself longing for it at night. Then the birds had come and helped him out.

Kenn passed on the bottles and the joints going around the fire as the wind blew a fresh chill over them, noticing the light was out in the tent he shared with Charlie.
Good.
As he grew closer to Adrian, the time he spent around the teenager reminded him more and more of the secrets he was keeping, of how unworthy he was to hold the place at Adrian’s side.

Kenn stared moodily into the dark, unable to see any of the surrounding mountains. His mind returned to Tonya, wondering if a redhead was slipping into a blond man’s tent right now. She wanted Adrian in a way that was almost an obsession, his name always on her pouty lips, and Kenn felt a sharp connection with her because of it. There was just something about the man that silently seduced. Not that it was a sexual thing for Kenn. He wasn’t a closet-case. He just needed to be near Adrian and the authority he represented. Others felt it. Kyle and Neil for sure, and Doug too, but Tonya was the only one to pursue him so shamelessly, and was often humiliated by him and the camp as punishment for it.

Kenn saw a flash of flame red and subtly watched Tonya move through the crowd of slightly drunk and very unfriendly people with an air of haughty contempt that he admired. Everyone moved aside, whispering, staring at her, and she held her head held high, glaring back at some of them when the whispers became too loud.

Each time, the person fell silent, aware that she would back up her words with actions and Kenn felt a bolt of want. Her skintight, black slacks caressed her long legs and her red net top made men consider breaking rules. It caused the women here to hate her for making them feel plain, second best.