The Killin' Fields (Alexa's Travels Book 2) (16 page)

Alexa was aware of faint still howls coming through the corn, of the battle trying to restart, and when she started speaking, all other conversations ceased. Without Merrik and his men, who thought they now knew the secret and didn’t need to bunk with Alexa, it was almost a peaceful start.

“The first time I saw my father I was ten. I spent a full year being freed of the brainwashing before they would even let me near him. Too many of our kind were traitors for them to trust me, and they were wise. I was angrier than I realized.”

Then

Alexa sat on the stone stairs of the old ruins of the tower, staring down on the tiny town below. She’d spent hours here, staring at the sea, and at the running, laughing islanders. She never wanted to leave.

Footfalls behind her were a reminder of her captors, though she no longer viewed them as such. A year in gentle hands had done well for her.

Alexa stood up, assuming it was time to go inside, but the man standing behind her wasn’t a guard.

“Hello, Lexie.”

The sound of his voice rang in her ears, called to her.

Alexa subtly searched for her protection. She spotted her guard studying their surroundings instead of her and understood this man had permission to be here.

“Do I know you?” she inquired warily.

“You don’t, but you will,” the man promised, smiling at her. “Walk with me.”

Alexa didn’t consider refusing. She knew better than to challenge an Alpha like this one, but she was also curious. She’d only had teachers and tailors since coming to this island. There hadn’t been a new face in the entire year.

They strode toward the beach, toward the playing children there, and Alexa worried even though her guard was following. She wasn’t allowed to have contact with any of the island people. They weren’t even supposed to know she was here, though Alexa thought that ship had already sailed.

The blond man led them straight to the children who were throwing balls through a hoop set in the water. It required a few of them to be in the waves to fetch the ball before the ocean stole it and Alexa observing with longing.

“Do you know how?” the man asked.

She shook her head, but didn’t speak, busy putting pieces into this newest puzzle. Maybe she was entering a new level of retraining. Her spirits dampened further. She’d been perfectly happy surveying from a distance. She didn’t get along with normal kids.

“Today, you’ll learn. If you do well and behave.”

“I always do well,” Alexa stated, tone a bit annoyed at the challenge. “As for behavior, I’ll make my own choices.”

“Why bother?” the man countered. He raised a brow and the familiarity of the gesture made her stammer.

“I… I like it, living here. That’s why I behave.”

Her mind was flying through clues, sorting the end pieces (eyes, hair, height, skin tone) and stacking the centerpieces (expression, stride, reactions of the people they walked by) and came up with a possible answer. “You’re family, right. A cousin or something?”

Before he could answer, the children on the beach spotted them.

“Adrian!”

“It’s Adrian!”

“Over here! Come and play!”

Alexa gaped in shocked silence at her father.

Adrian smiled sadly as the children surrounded them, absently returning their hugs and greetings. “This is my daughter, Alexa. She wants to play with us. Is that okay?”

Before she could refuse, Adrian and the children had tugged her into line and begun teaching her the basic rules. Alexa took her first swim in the ocean a short time later, with her father at her side.

Now

“It was the best day of my life up to that point,” Alexa told the raptly listening travelers. “And only a few since have compared.”

Her audience had forgotten everything but what she was telling them, all wanting more, and Alexa obliged as the rain that began to fall harder.

“We spent the next year together. He took over my retraining, handled it personally. I learned new skills, strategy, new gifts. He was a wonderful teacher.”

Alexa let the power of her voice off its leash as the fresh screams echoed outside (soldiers on patrol against her recommendations), keeping her group together. “I was eleven when he gave me what he said was the root of life and death. For a long time, I simply called it my gun. Now, I understand the difference.”

Then

Alexa handed the target to her father, proud. When she’d first come here she hadn’t known how to clean a gun or reload it correctly, only how to shoot. At that, she’d already been good. Now, she handled a gun with ease and respect.

Adrian held out a small box. “When you master this, you get something more powerful. More useful.”

Alexa opened the box and giggled at the gift. “It’s a derringer, right?”

“Yes. There’s also a shoulder holster. You’re to have it on wherever you go. Wear it at night and you’ll get more sleep.”

Alexa’s startled gaze flew to his, and Adrian ran a loving hand over his daughter’s brow. “The bags you try to cover with makeup. And I know what it’s like to lie awake at night.”

Alexa slowly put on the holster and demonstrated that sharp Mitchell intelligence. “When are they coming?”

Now Adrian was the one a bit startled. When he only stared, Alexa gave him his own words. “The worry in your touch. And I recognize the tones. They’re coming for us. For you.”

“Yes,” Adrian confirmed unhappily. “Our time is limited.”

“I want to stay with you!”

Adrian hugged her tightly. “Find me. We’ll lead together.”

Alexa knew she had to be content with that and conquered the tears. She would hold onto the time they had left.

Six months later the island was raided and Alexa was snuck away as the native residents were captured and tortured for information, killed. She saw her only home burn as she sailed away disguised as a crying old woman.

Now

“It was years before I was with him again.”

Alexa stood up, glad the rain had let up, but sure it wasn’t over yet. “I’m done for now. Perhaps someone else would like to tell a story?”

Her men were disappointed, but understood she wanted out of the spotlight. Her tales of the past were enlightening to her fighters.

“I know one…”

It was the slave owner that all of them were already mentally calling Braids, and Alexa nodded her agreement. “I’d hear.”

The woman smiled at the attention. “Right after the war I was with a group of survivors who had formed a convoy store to trade as we traveled west. We’d heard there was safety there. We were in Oklahoma when we topped a hill and found a sea of tents inside fenced walls. It was your Safe Haven, only a woman was the boss. We traded and then kept going when we found out the soldiers were coming for them. We listened to our radios and heard the updates, some of the battles. It was an awful time.”

“For everyone,” Alexa sympathized. “Go on if you have more.”

“I was ill after that,” the woman said. “I don’t know what happened to my group or Safe Haven. I was in a deep sleep for a long time. Woke up with a tribe of snake women who didn’t have radios. I stayed with them until I earned enough cash to buy my first slave. Been with this lot since, but I never forgot that fenced camp. The people there were…special.”

She looked over at Daniel. “I’m Carol. Used to work security at a rink. You ever skate?”

“Only on thin ice,” he sent back jokingly.

Carol didn’t laugh. “That’s all life is now. Black ice and bottomless sinkholes.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” he agreed, seeing her braids had been freshly cared for. It looked good.

Alexa sighed, interrupting the moment. “Anyone else?”

The night passed as stories of Adrian and Safe Haven were told and it held the horrors away from them. The rest of the travelers who had returned to the buildings around them were not as fortunate. Their screams echoed like bait meant to snag prey.

Alexa felt every nasty jerk, but resisted. If she went running out there, she would get her men killed. She was an Alpha. She would act like it. Her will was rewarded by
those who survived being outside joining her for a second night of living, bloody faces not hiding their terror. She was sorry to see Merrik among them, but didn’t turn him away.

As soon as the rain stopped and the threat was over, Alexa collapsed in a heap, asleep almost instantly. Her men exchanged looks that said she wouldn’t be disturbed this time.

5

“Don’t do that.”

Merrik’s man stopped at the ugly tone. He’d seen the corpse girl in the corn, frozen for a second, and then drawn his gun.
He’d been about to open the door and go out, but Alexa had only been resting for a few hours and the noise was sure to wake her.

“You’re not the boss man,” the soldier argued. Merrik was still sleeping it off.

Mark flashed an ugly glower. “I am until she’s up. Don’t push me.”

Private Peters, who had threatened to starve himself when they’d been ordered to leave the shelter of base and then hadn’t been strong enough to follow through, caved immediately. He was used to following orders.

Mark turned back to the corn to find the corpse girl now standing at his side in the doorway of the barn. This time,
he
drew his gun.

Private Richards reacted accordingly and it was the deep echo of a gunshot in tight quarters that woke Alexa and everyone else.

Mark knocked the gun from the private’s hand, grimacing as the force of Alexa’s disapproval smacked him from behind.

Instead of delaying, Mark turned around to look at her. He replayed the entire scene in his mind for her to witness, hoping it would ease her ire. He wasn’t worried over whatever punishment she would give, only her disappointment in him.

Alexa sighed as people yelled, soldiers panicked, and Merrick shouted for someone to cover the goddamn door.

“It’s clearly time to go.”

Mark angrily shoved the private out of his way.

Richards banged into the barn door and slid to the ground at the blow.

Alexa motioned Daniel to cook and indicated Edward to watch after Paul and Brian. “Keep them alive.”

Edward resented the tone-he hadn’t screwed up-but understood she needed to be an asshole to get everyone to follow her now. Merrik would argue with every sentence that came out of her mouth if he thought he could get away with it.

Alexa took up a spot outside the door and everyone gave her clear berth as they got ready to leave. Jacob and David packed their things, and Billy delivered a bowl to Alexa where she stood. No words were exchanged. They knew to do their chores and get ready, but they also knew she wasn’t nearly upset as the other travelers thought she was. Alexa understood they were all rookies.

Twenty minutes after waking, Alexa’s group was ready to go. The others, not so much. Unless she wanted to take over each camp, she had no choice but to wait for them to get ready. An hour into the morning, the wagon train still hadn’t left and Alexa went back into the storeroom. Her fighters followed. They’d already caused this punishment and knew what to expect.

“Where’s she going?” Merrik complained. “We’re set to go.”

Alexa settled into her spot and unloaded her gear. When she leaned back, preparing to sleep, the mutters increased. A few of the travelers gathered around her, waiting for an explanation.

When she was satisfied with the number of people waiting, her unflinching gaze swept the entire group before she spoke.

“We’ll leave right after dawn. Myself and my men. If you expect our protection, be ready before the sun hits the sky. I will leave you behind and so will they. Don’t doubt it.”

A few of them protested lightly, but Alexa wasn’t having any of it. She crossed her arms over her chest, and the seven males got set to spend a day catching up on things like sewing and washing and scavenging for small, needed items. Until evening fell.

The other travelers reluctantly also got set to stay. Except for the soldiers. Merrick ordered them and the wagons to roll out. Alexa’s men shared smirks as the wagon drivers refused to make the run with so few people for protection. Merrick tried to insist, but was told to drive it himself if he wanted to go so badly.

Unable to make them leave, Merrick was forced to stay. He chose a far building at first, but when the black-eyed, filthy blond headed private Richards reminded him of the previous evening, the soldiers all settled sullenly into the building next to Alexa.

When Alexa fell into another deep sleep, her men assumed she would need her strength later. So far, that had been the pattern, though this time she did seem to be recovering much slower. By now, she was usually bright and chipper.

She hasn’t fed in a while
, was a common thought among the six of them. Paul, who wasn’t very observant unless it concerned his own needs, hadn’t noticed much yet. When he did, they all expected him to make a fuss. They also weren’t anticipating the actual leaving of Paul. They expected him to cry and argue until Alexa was forced to be cruel.