The Killin' Fields (Alexa's Travels Book 2) (13 page)

“What?” he demanded. “You want a drink or something?”

Brian snorted. “I want my freedom, you big thug.”

Not used to the term, Mark chuckled. “There’s one I haven’t been called.”

Hating to be laughed at, Brian sent flames up his hands that immediately attacked his ropes.

Mark grunted, understanding now why he’d been sent. He quickly leaned over and rapped the struggling soldier on the skull with the butt of his gun.

Brian slumped against the damp concrete, and Mark cut the boy’s ropes. He resumed his place after making sure he was breathing okay. He hadn’t struck that hard.

In only a couple minutes, Brian was groaning, and trying to sit up.

“We’re gonna talk or I’ll make you kill me,” Mark growled as Brian focused on him and tensed.

Brian thought about trying anyway, but he wasn’t strong enough to gather the energy that fast and Mark knew it. He’d been with Alexa long enough to understand that when she expended a large amount of power, she was exhausted afterwards, sometimes for hours, but sometimes for days.

“What do you want?” Brian finally forced out.

“What does Roscoe want you to do?” He’d had a moment to consider it and the conclusion was easy for Mark to make.
Face bruised, clothes wrinkled and dusty, Brian appeared every bit the unwilling hostage, but Mark wasn’t sure that impression was the truth. Had he known Alexa would do this?

“Kill,” Brian confirmed what he was sure the man already knew. Alexa had sent someone who understood how to deal with their kind.

“She won’t keep you,” Mark warned, sensing a lot about the late teenage boy.

“Everyone keeps me,” Brian grumbled.

Mark shut his eyes, body language demonstrating he wasn’t afraid of Brian’s gifts. “Play this hand on her side and be given your freedom as a reward.”

Brian wanted to say yes, but he was tired of running. If he were set free, where would he go? How long would he run before he was caught again?

Mark wasn’t sure what the problem was, but he could feel the indecision and he opened his eyes to find the boy shedding silent tears.

Mark’s heart broke a little, but he pretended he didn’t hear it. Alexa was the healer. Mark only considered himself the delivery system.

10

It was a large relief to hear the calls of mule drivers and the steady clip of boots moving forward calmly instead of in panic, and those who’d made it to the small town came from their chosen places cautiously.

Alexa’s men lined up in front of their barn door, keeping Paul behind them.

Alexa jumped down from the lead wagon and joined her men, not speaking to anyone. In dawn’s grudging light, she was beautiful. Alexa held a wildness that was complimented whenever she was forced to show what she was made of. It sent more pride into her men and more determination into her enemies.

Alexa settled into a corner, happy enough with the pallet they’d made for her from brittle straw and blankets. She was asleep a minute after finding a comfortable position, not talking to them at all. She didn’t have the strength. She’d used up her reserves and needed energy with rest. Her fighters positioned themselves around the door, spreading the word not to disturb her. The males easily found things to occupy themselves and they listened to the late arrivals as they worked. It didn’t take long to discover that she’d saved all of them by going back and with the exception of the soldiers and gunfighters, everyone was grateful. They’d lost two soldiers and one of the sisters in the farming family, and had multiple injuries, but the group was mostly intact.
There had been four sisters to start this trip, but they could still open their market with one less. It was the loss of the food supplies that would hurt them the worst.

“We may have to handle those three before we get through here,” David warned when their lowly spoken conversation came around to the hired killers.

“I agree,” Daniel stated, sewing up a small rip in a sock. “Maybe soon, while they don’t expect it.”

“What about the soldiers?” Paul squeaked from his corner. The others had made it clear that when Alexa was woken, it had better not be by him.

“She’ll decide that,” Daniel told him. “She saved them for a reason.”

“Anyone know what it is?” Billy asked.

No one answered. They only saw benefits in removing those men, especially since the wolves would have done it and not Alexa, who didn’t need the bounty on her to go higher.

In all the time, none of them asked about Mark. They were afraid to curse his mission, whatever it was.

On guard duty, Jacob peered out the half open door, aware of the chill in the air and the ugliness of the sky, but his attention was immediately drawn to the corn and the little girl there.

The corpse child Alexa had shot was standing just outside the ring of civilization.

Their eyes met, locked, and a spark of good and evil clashing exploded, sending out a silent vibration.

The corpse girl bared her fangs at Jacob, hissing in anger.

Jacob reached for his gun.

“What is it?”

“What’s wrong?”

Remembering Alexa’s words, Jacob returned his gun to the holster. “Nothing there.”

As Jacob watched, the child vanished and the preacher gave thanks. Not to a deity, but to his leader, who’d taught him how to face is fears..

11

Alexa woke to calm routines and normal moods and was pleased. She’d been exhausted when she and Merrik had finally gotten his wagons rolling through the mud-like dirt and sharp stalks. By the time this barn had come into view, she’d been running on fumes. The sickness from being bitten had stolen her energy and though Paul’s blood was helping, it wasn’t doing it fast enough.

Alexa stretched slowly, relishing the feel. She took the coffee Edward handed her and the smoke that David tossed over, and spent a few minutes bringing herself to alertness without a rush or someone to kill. It was nice.

“Watch rotation?”

“One more hour,” Jacob stated from his post on the door. He hadn’t seen the little girl again, but he could feel something out there watching.

Alexa registered the nerves in her rookie’s answer and raised a brow at Edward.

The horseman shrugged. “Been quiet so far. Even the soldiers. They’re all still sleeping, except for a rotating patrol.”

“Yeah,” Billy stated. “A very cheap patrol. They’re only doing the farmhouse Merrik chose and the immediate property. The other travelers are clustered around us.”

“Good,” Alexa said lightly. “And the wagons?”

“In the barn next to it, with the men he didn’t want in the house with him.” David looked away. “Both whores are in there this time. We heard a fight over…order.”

Alexa’s face was blank instead of the anger they expected. “Anything else I should know?”

“The two kids with the old woman are sneaking around again. Almost been shot twice,” Jacob told her.

He didn’t say one of those had been him when he’d first noticed them. They were too similar in height and weight to the corpse girl, and he’d nearly pulled his gun again without having a reason to.
I’ll get better at it
, he vowed silently.
I’ll learn more control.

Alexa settled into her pallet with a bowl of the soup Billy had made. Thick with more than his share of the goods, Alexa gave him a look that said not to do it again.

Billy wasn’t one to encourage her praise the way the other five were, but he did tend to mother her more than she was sometimes comfortable with. In this case, the healthy meal would help her recover faster.

“He’s not back?”

No one spoke and Alexa felt the calm slip from her shoulders.

“I’ll be out for a bit,” she said as she stood up, putting the steaming food aside.

They assumed she needed a few minutes to herself to use the corn and she wasn’t physically trailed.

Jacob saw her hit the stalks for the moment of privacy, but upon emerging, she proceeded to a different building. The preacher started to tell the others.

Alexa gave a curt hand signal.
No!

She didn’t want company right now.

Jacob stayed quiet, frowning.

Alexa strolled by the tent with the slavers and then the gunfighters on the porch of the next lot. She waked around the farmhouse, where a patrol of soldiers only gaped and gawked. They’d been warned to avoid her.
Good
.

Alexa went to the old woman and two kids who had chosen a shed right behind the barn. She dropped a pouch of supplies outside the door and resumed her rounds.

The small family she’d sent Billy to help was next and she received smiles and greetings from them. She found out their horse had been lost in the fight with the wolves and though she might have offered to help with that under other circumstances, she didn’t this time. She didn’t like their abusive natures any more than her men did. Now, they would either buy a new mount from one of the other travelers or carry their possessions themselves.

When the couple asked her inside the quaint farmhouse for a meal, she declined reluctantly; sure it would be wonderful food despite the limited conditions. The family was indeed going to what they’d heard was a more civilized area, but they’d been out here long enough to know how to pull solid meals from the land.

Alexa finished her rounds, marking where everyone was, and by the time she made it back around, the gunfighters were snoozing. She strolled to the small cell wagon, staying out of sight of the porch, but not caring about anyone else who might witness.

The man inside the wooden cell was thin and raggedy, but his skin was clean, his teeth were all there, and the bruises on his wrists were fresh. It didn’t appear that he’d lived a life of crime, but rather, had been caught in a moment of such.

“Who are they taking you to?”

The man stared at her for a long moment and she spotted the sly insanity glaring out.

“Roscoe.”

Alexa was already tired of hearing that name. It made her tone sharp. “For what? Speak up.”

The man eased away from her quick reach before answering. “Rape.”

“Are you guilty?” she inquired casually.

“No!” he cried too loudly. “Roscoe wants me because I’m the best. He lied to get me when I refused the job.”

Alexa didn’t respond. The gunfighters were already moving from their places to check on their prisoner and she vanished into the corn as they came into view.

Still observing from the barn door, Jacob blew out a sigh of relief.

“Something wrong?” Edward asked from behind him.

Jacob grinned. “None. Boss has it covered and then some.”

Haunted

1

“Merrik and his merry men are coming,” Daniel sneered from his post by the open door.
He spotted the small tattoo on Merrik’s arm, a purple triangle with old symbols, and wondered if he was the son of someone important. Mark couldn’t think of any other reason that Alexa hadn’t killed the man yet.

Alexa stood up, but kept eating. It was too good to waste. David had shoved the second bowl into her hands as soon as she’d returned.

Alexa calmly having a meal took the soldiers off-guard. Even Peters, in the lead, stood in silence, gaping.

Jacob cleared his throat. “Can we help you?”

Peters had the bushiest eyebrows the fighters had seen on a man and it was hard not to stare.

Alexa’s men were all tense and ready. Peters became aware of it and kept his hands away from his guns. “We want to make a deal.”

Alexa swallowed. “I believe we already have one. Or didn’t you tell your men?”

Merrik slowly pulled a pouch from his pocket and tossed it toward Alexa’s boots. His jacket creaked in the quiet and earned him glares, but he didn’t remove the noisy piece of clothing.
Merrik’s sunglasses had been lost in the battle with the wolves and his jacket was now sporting several long gashes that appeared to be from sharp claws.

“There’s enough in there to disappear.”

“Why would you want my help enough to pay for it?”

He reddened. “I can’t get these wagons through.”

Alexa sat her bowl on a moldy bale of hay. “No.”

Merrik’s hand crept toward his gun. “Why not?”

“Partly because I’ve already been hired, but mostly because it’s you asking.”

“You’re lying,” Peters accused, and then cringed as each of Alexa’s fighters turned their hard glowers on him.

“Behind you,” Daniel directed, grinning despite trying to be cool and calm.

Just outside the door were the other surviving travelers. The slavers were there with the remaining powder protectors, the family she’d helped, and even the gunfighters stood in a half-circle around the open door. They didn’t offer threats, only glowers that said everyone could die here if the soldiers played this wrong.

Pissed, Merrik glared for a minute longer, considering trying to force her to protect his men and property first. Evil thoughts flashed and he abruptly shoved his way through the crowd. His squad trailed him in confusion

“Most of this is your fault, Paul,” Alexa blamed coldly, narrowing in on the cornered scientist. “When we reach Lincoln, you’ll stay there. I’ve made my choice.”

Paul wanted to argue and she denied him again. “No. You’re clumsy, prone to anger, and you don’t pull your own weight. All of that I could have overlooked and retrained you out of, but when you shot someone in the back over an insult, you chose our own fate. I have no room for you.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Paul warned, skin fading to red on pale again. “You need me.”

Alexa sighed. “No, rabbit. I don’t need the bait trail. We’ll never make it to Safe Haven pulling your stink.”

Alexa was pissed that he had shot Zale and all of her men agreed. They were relieved that it was settled now. Paul would remain in Lincoln and they would continue their quest.

With Alexa’s choice to be shed of Paul, the feeling of family, of the time for another story, fell over them and Alexa complied to keep them from worrying over Mark.

“I had to be retrained after my years in the lab. The truth was hard for me to accept. I resented my father for leaving me there. If he was so important, so powerful, why couldn’t I be with him? There were few answers I accepted those first months.”

Alexa settled into the stone chair, rough fingers tracing the sharp edges of freshly chiseled arm grooves. “We were told the government was the protector, the good. We were shown films of our kind, films where we killed innocent people. It was why we had to be locked up. We weren’t safe to be around anyone except soldiers or our own kind and even then, things could go wrong.”

“Like what?” Daniel asked quietly, sensing Paul already had that answer playing in his mind in vivid detail.

“Everyone wants to be marked as an Alpha. It meant more privileges and more care, but more importantly it meant trips to other labs and places. It meant getting out, being free for a while. We craved that above all else. And when a real Alpha came along and had to exert their power over the others, fights happened. Betas were sure if they could kill an Alpha, they’d get a jump and become a top dog themselves. It was…ugly.”

“Surely you mean older teenagers? Not kids?” Jacob asked.

Alexa’s voice was as hard as the stone she was sitting on. “Children of any age have short tempers and almost no control over themselves. Give those kids powers and the tantrum becomes flames, or a shouting match that ends in a small storm. I’ve witnessed both.”

“Can you do those things?” Jacob wanted to know, impressed.

“That and more,” she answered tonelessly. “You can understand how it set me apart from the others, even as it bonded them to me.”

“They had no choice,” Paul confirmed. “We have to obey the Alpha. There’s actual pain if we don’t.”

“What if the Alpha is bad?”

“I’ve never known it to make a difference,” Paul said. “Only a stronger Alpha can take over.”

“No one’s stronger than Alexa,” Daniel argued. “She’ll always be the lead.”

Alexa didn’t correct him. If they never found her father, it would be true. She was Adrian’s only daughter and her gifts were beyond what most descendants had. She was unique.

As if to prove that point, Alexa ran a rough hand over Paul’s face and healed his injuries.

There were gasps and confusion, mostly because her men didn’t understand why she would waste her energy on Paul.

Alexa shrugged, settling back with a groan as her spine popped. “I got tired of looking at his face. It was creeping me out.”

Men snickered and Paul flushed darker.

2

“Someone’s coming.”

Billy’s warning got his fellow fighters in their positions.

Footfalls came through the dimness, careless and noisy. A knob creaking, a push open, and then shadows filled the doorway.

“Hold your fire, mistress.”

The old woman’s voice was followed by two young mutters.

“Cold, Grammie!”

“Hungry.”

“Enter,” Alexa allowed.

The old woman had both children with her and she leaned on the eldest as she made her way to the far corner of the wide room. As she sat down on a stone bench, she motioned toward the hearth.
A bit wide, but not excessively so, the old woman looked the part she was playing, but there more to a role than just clothes and makeup, but wild white hair piled atop her head and spilled over her face, concealing most of it from a scan.

“No lights, no noise,” Alexa denied. “And keep them quiet or I will.”

The old woman gathered the kids and tried to feed them from her pockets. After a minute of watching her pull crumbs and moldy cookies from deep pockets, Alexa rolled her eyes. “Daniel.”

Daniel handed the old woman a pouch with a two-day meal kit, and the kids rifled through it furiously for anything they could eat cold.

The kids ruined some of it, and the old woman ignored them as the fighters expressed their disapproval.

“Why are you out here with these kids?” Jacob demanded, tossing his last two biscuits toward the filthy urchins. “You clearly can’t take care of them.”

Grammie only said, “Their mother took off. Been gone for years. Got a letter last month saying she was in Lincoln and wanted ‘em.”

A dependable mother would have come for them herself once she had a new life built
, David thought.

Alexa raised a brow and the blacksmith shook his head. “Nothing wrong, being judgmental.”

“Would you care to share your opinion with the rest of us?”

David didn’t pull any punches. “They’ll all be dead long before Lincoln.”

“Agreed.”

The old woman didn’t respond. It appeared she’d already fallen asleep.

The kids crawled into a corner with the food and wolfed it down before falling into a pile of bruised limbs and huge yawns. Their snores filled the room. The old woman never budged.

3

“More coming this way,” Daniel commented a few minutes later. He was already weary of other people, though they’d only recently made contact.

Everyone waited again as the door opened.

Merrik paused in the doorframe. “Comin’ in.”

“Nice and easy.”

Alexa’s voice was a surprise to the Captain and his men, but to their credit, no one fired. They were all hoping she’d already gone on ahead or been killed.

“Light us up.”

Edward quickly lit the stove so the two groups could stare at each other. Alexa’s men were spread out, guns in hand. Merrik’s men were clustered in the doorway, perfect targets.

“Can we help you?” Alexa asked evenly.

Merrik took a step into the room, trying to act like he hadn’t been caught off guard. “Thought you’d be long gone.”

Alexa’s tone was cold. “Not until I get what I came for.”

“And what is that?”

“You, of course,” she answered promptly. “The rebellion still whispers of you in loathing for your crimes at the refugee site.”

Alexa recognized the guilt in Merrik’s silence and on his face, and pushed harder. “I see you recall that day as well. The price on your head is entry to Port City.”

Merrik’s men muttered over the reward. Port City was a small haven on the east coast where almost normal life continued, and getting in as a resident was nearly impossible.

The silence spoke volumes.

“Do you hear that?” Alexa taunted. “It’s the sound of your men wondering if they can find a way to collect that bounty.”

“My men are loyal, those still alive,” Merrik refuted after a pause. “We’re just clearing the buildings out. We didn’t come for you.”

Alexa didn’t put her gun away. “I can’t say the same, but this den is obviously taken.”

Merrik continued to backtrack. “I get that.”

“Then get gone.”

Merrik glared at Paul as he exited. “Your payment will come for Zale. The government will hunt you down.”

Paul surprised them all by responding harshly, “They already have been, you bunker baby. Get a clue.”

“First impressions aren’t always right,” Mark commented as Merrik stopped to argue. “Upon first sigh, I thought you were a man to beware of, but you’re really just a yapper humping our ankles.”

Merrik flushed, face flashing violence, and Mark grinned coldly. “Oh, yeah. Do it. Please.”

Merrik abruptly left during the snickers, taking his men with him.

“They’re not done,” David warned.

“Yes.” Alexa stood by the fire. “And when the rains come, he’ll miss the men we’re going to kill.”

“When will Mark get here?” Paul asked the question none of the other men wanted to hear. They already knew it.

“When he completes his chore.”

“What is he doing?”

“Giving us the advantage,” Alexa answered.

Merrik and ten of his men gathered on the far side of the outpost, plotting. When they thought they were ready, Merrik led them back to their deaths.

“Around the rear,” Merrik instructed, pointing to people. “You, cover the window. You two, front door!”

Three soldiers dashed around the back as two kicked the wooden door open.

“Come out or we’ll shoot!”

“Behind you!” Alexa taunted.

They spun to find Alexa in the corn behind them. A few men darted for cover. One panicked soldier raised his gun.

Lined up three on each side, Alexa’s men didn’t hesitate to fire.