The Killin' Fields (Alexa's Travels Book 2) (6 page)

“Aye!”

“Yes.”

Edward and Mark finished serving the meal that neither of them had trusted Paul to deliver, and then did a quick cleanup before eating themselves. When everyone was done, they would wash the dishes and repack the supplies.

“Do you feel like telling a story?”

Alexa was almost shocked that Edward would ask. Her tales came when she chose to tell them, not when her fighters desired one. They were not for entertainment.

Alexa was set to deliver a punishment, but chose to handle it differently than her man was braced for. He would still pay, only in a different form.

“Did you have one in mind?”

Edward knew from her tone that he’d crossed a line, but it didn’t make him back down. If anything, he was now free to push a bit more because he already knew he was going to be punished. “Anything about you. We all crave it.”

Paul opened his mouth and Mark tossed his entire bedroll, dirt and all, into the man’s face. “Shut up!”

Paul coughed, scrambling back, and Alexa took another bite of the deer goulash. It was a very good meal for traveling and she knew the sweetness of it had been done to please her. She couldn’t be softened with little luxuries like they could, but it didn’t stop them from trying.

“So this was planned?”

“We’re curious,” David said, ready to run or duck.

“And you tell us so little about yourself,” Daniel added.

“We only want a little more,” Jacob whined.

Alexa held up a hand and got quiet. This wasn’t the time or place for this, but then honestly, when would that time ever come? It’s not as if she had any plans on taking a break until the quest was finished.

“Fine. I’ll tell you a short story about me every night that we spend in this corn.”

The men tensed, and Edward asked, “The punishment?”

“I’m going to sleep with Paul each of those nights,” Alexa answered coolly.

Paul glowed with happiness and her fighters bristled in anger that they couldn’t express. She’d said sleep. If they pushed her, she might actually accept him into her body and then he’d be one of them.

“That wouldn’t make me one of you,” Paul stated, trying to rub it in that he had gifts like Alexa. “I won’t ever be.”

“No,” Alexa confirmed. “That’s not your fate, is it?”

Paul wouldn’t look at her. “No, it’s not, but I still matter as much as they do!”

Alexa sighed patiently and finished her food. When she was done, she rolled a smoke and kept it to herself, making them use their own supplies if they wanted one. It was another way to let them know she was displeased, but they knew it wasn’t true anger, only annoyance. None of them wanted to find out what she would do if pissed directly at one of them.

Each man got comfortable, anticipating the story to come.

“Remember that you asked for this,” she stated tonelessly.

The fighters were already braced for ugliness. It was Alexa. How could it be pretty and fit her?

“I was born in captivity. My mother died during my birth, so I was told. Our kind don’t reproduce easily, if it all.”

“Your kind?” Paul asked. “Don’t you mean our kind?”

“Female,” Alexa clarified. “Males spread their dna throughout the population at will because it is in their design. Female descendants are fragile in ways. Mixed births take their toll.”

“Why?” Jacob wanted to know.

“Perhaps Paul would like to tell us what Corbin suspected in those areas?”

Flushing a bit, Paul kept his voice down. “It’s because the magic side fights constantly with the human side. There can’t be peace like that, no health.”

“Do you believe that?” she asked.

“No,” Paul confided. “I think a descendant child requires more power, more energy from the mother. Simple.”

Alexa nodded. “That makes sense. I’ve often wondered.”

It was odd to think of Alexa being curious over her origins and she felt their mood, smirked. “Like you own the rights to curiosity.”

She rolled a second smoke, something she rarely did, and they waited silently for her to go on.

“I stayed in the same lab until I was five. Then I was transferred to a testing wing.”

None of them wanted to hear those details, but no one interrupted.

“There were a lot of kids. We could all do things, but we weren’t allowed unless in the lab rooms. If you used your gifts or broke a rule, the punishments were harsh. We obeyed. Most of the time,” she tacked on. “Then there were a few time where we banded together to get something we needed. Like when we had to have medicine for one of the smaller kids. He’d been sneaking outside at night to play in the damp grass and gotten cut. If we’d taken him to the nurse, he’d have been put to sleep.”

“Put to sleep?” David asked. “Like when they caught you after the war?”

“Killed.”

Alexa’s voice was shakier than they were used to.

“You got one warning and one punishment usually, but being out of the lab unsupervised was the worst crime we could commit.” Alexa looked into the fire. “We were caught, plenty of times. I tried to take the punishments, tried to draw their anger, but I was valuable. I didn’t realize they were using me that way, keeping me there, until I got out.”

“Until Adrian came for you,” Paul supplied. Adrian’s name was said with awe.

“He sent a group of his men to break us all out,” Alexa confirmed. “I was taken to an island. The other kids were sent to relatives and friends, I’ve heard, but I didn’t see any of them again. I was nine then.”

“How long did you stay on the island?” Edward asked after taking a fast look around. The feeling of being stalked had grown.

“Three years. In that time, I learned who I was, who my father was to our future, and the fate of the world. It was a long time ago, but I can still hear my tutor telling me that my father would save the world.”

“He was right,” Daniel observed.

“If we can find him, he can’t stop this mess,” Paul refuted. “We can only stay where he is and enjoy his light.”

“You haven’t met my father. There isn’t anything he can’t do,” Alexa replied coldly.

“When did you leave the island?” Jacob asked.

“When did you meet your dad for the first time?”

“Why did he leave you here after the war?”

Alexa raised a brow. “Pick one of those.”

The fighters exchanged glances and answered together, “Why did he leave you?”

Alexa stood up. “Because he loves his humans more than his only daughter. He would do anything to keep them alive. As would I.”

Alexa dropped down next to Paul in the pleased silence, felt the good mood change to dread and regret.

“Take your coat off.”

Paul hurried to comply.

“And those pants. The shirt as well.”

Paul slid out of his clothes with bright red cheeks and the sounds of the other men grunting and snorting kept him a wreck. How was he supposed to do it with an audience of men who were all bigger and meaner than he was?

“On your side.”

When Paul would have rolled toward her, Alexa shoved him the other way. “Not until you’ve washed. You stink.”

Understanding she’d removed the clothes for the smell, the other males felt better and tried to settle down for sleep.

Paul wasn’t about to miss his chance to accomplish a goal though, and he scooted back into Alexa’s warm embrace. He pushed against her without hesitating. “My back’s comfortable.”

Alexa started to refuse, then sighed. “What the hell.”

She collapsed across his body, soaking up his heat, and Paul moaned in delight.

Six heads popped up in perfect unison.

“You can draw from me.”

Paul’s open offer shamed the others. None of them had found the courage to give her such power over them yet.

“My thanks,” Alexa answered, mouth lowering to his shoulder. “It has been long and long since I took from my own kind.”

Alexa’s hand snaked around his mouth as her fangs drove into his skin.

Paul screamed against her hand and Alexa tightened her grip, drinking.

Paul tried to fight the sensation of heaven and hell hitting at the same time, but he quickly sagged in her grip, lost in her glow.

“Lucky bastard,” Jacob muttered.

Close enough to view what was really happening, Edward shrugged. “If you say so.”

Alexa slowly withdrew her fangs and ran a light finger over the puncture wounds, healing them. “Paul?”

Paul roused himself. “Yes, my love?”

“I’m not satisfied.”

Paul shuddered. “Again, then. I’m ready.”

Alexa drove her teeth into his other shoulder with a brutal lunge that had Paul screaming against her hand again. She drew harder and he arched in her grasp, a slick, fiery heat she could have drown in.

Alexa slowly withdrew, healing the marks again.

“Will that help you? Hold it back for a while?”

Alexa nodded against his skin, shivering as his blood raced through her. “Yes. My thanks, Paul. You’ve bought me time.”

Paul snuggled into her embrace. “Then it was worth it. Thank you for bringing me, even if it was only for the medicine in my blood.”

Alexa laid her cheek on his back. “Close your eyes. Enjoy the time you have left.”

She didn’t have a watch posted, telling them she didn’t feel the need to waste two men on sleep simply to confirm what they already knew–they were surrounded. They would sleep while they could, and face the enemy when they chose to attack. Alexa could have barricaded them into a dirt row and started the fighting, but she now wanted the herding they were about to get. It would put them with the rest of the travelers faster and allow her to evaluate their chances of actually surviving this trip through Nebraska before attempting it. The killin’ fields hadn’t earned their reputation by being merciful and they’d already revealed their presence here too many times in a single day. Hiding wasn’t their strength.

“I don’t want to die. What should I do?”
Paul’s low, pitiful query was met by a thoughtful pause where all the males tried to imagine making a stand or fighting on the run while trying to keep the Rabbit alive.

“Go back,” Alexa supplied honestly. “The odds are low for you.”

Paul didn’t say anything else, but made no plans to leave. He’d chosen his path and with Alexa drowsing on his back, there was nowhere else on earth he’d rather be except in Safe Haven.

As the others began to snore softly (and Paul, harshly), Edward and Daniel rolled toward each other and held a conversation with their hands. Alexa’s codes were useful in many ways.

She’s softening towards us,
Daniel sent.

Yes, I agree.

We’ll all come through this.

I’m not worried.

I meant Paul too. She’ll protect him now.

You think so?

I’d bet on it.

Edward grinned.
I won’t take odds against you.

They paused for a moment, and then Daniel asked what he’d been worrying about.

Being bit by the baby made her sick, didn’t it?

Edward nodded slowly.
Yes. I think so.

What can we do for her?

Edward hated the answer.
Feed her or try to kill her. Only two choices we have.

We lose Safe Haven if she dies.

More than that
, Edward corrected.
We lose the future Adrian will provide. She has to live and if it takes blood, well, I’ve got plenty.

Daniel didn’t have anything to say to after that.

Neither did Edward.

Hello In The Camp

1

“Hello in the camp!”

Alexa’s men were on their feet in seconds, bleary-eyed, but ready to fight. The dull orange sun was just rising through the haze, barely illuminating the foggy campsite and whining corn. Alexa was nowhere to be seen.

“Hello? Comin’ in!”

Edward quickly traced Alexa’s faint tracks to the cottonwood tree, and discovered furiously waiting Colts. He tried not to smirk as he faced the strangers coming cautiously through the field. There was no doubt about who it was. Even Paul know the government had left them alone too long.

Edward wondered who would be the next of their group to find Alexa. Certainly not the hunters who’d come for her.

Mark’s chuckle echoed, and then the rest of the senior team joined him. David and Jacob relaxed didn’t discover the source of the amusement, but the two rookies wouldn’t have laughed anyway. They were still too green, too nervous to shove those volatile emotions completely like the senior men were able to do. They settled for still and silent, ready to kill. None of them noticed Paul staring at the hunters in recognition and hatred. He’d seen these men, had handled the captives they brought in, and then listened to the awful stories. He was looking forward to watching them die.

“Don’t shoot. We’re no threat.”

Alexa had told them that anyone who claimed they weren’t a threat after surviving in the wastelands of afterworld was a liar, and the sight of their company did nothing to dispel the black mark that had already been given for the lie. The three men wore their gun belts were low, holsters scuffed and cracked from constant exposure, and the half-buttoned white shirts under long coats said they didn’t care much about safety or blending. These men might also be hard-asses.

“What brings you around here, strangers?” Edward drew their attention, thinking the males were probably true killers. It was one way his kind wasn’t enslaved. A man could be free if he had the sand to fight for it repeatedly. The women now took what they wanted and if that meant stalking for months or even years, then they did. Men were slaves, soldiers, or gunfighters, with few exceptions.

“Last time,” Edward warned. “What do you want?”

They carried their guns on the outside of their coats and their hats were slanted low to hide scheming faces. These were bounty hunters and Edward was glad of it. These hired guns usually ran alone, which meant there wouldn’t be a squad of soldiers setting up an ambush. That comes later, Edward thought. He was beginning to filter things like Alexa did, and come up with her answers. It was exhilarating.

Randolph had been relying on Paul’s darts and the fear of his reputation to make descendants cower before him. He respected only his main target, and even that was the barest.

“We’re Visiting.”

The hunters snickered and Edward felt offended. “You’ll die first.”

Randolph hadn’t bothered to scan the single large tree behind Alexa’s men. No one used them anymore because of the rashes caused by the mold. He spit a wad of nasty juice at Edward’s boots as the other bounty hunters sneered and leered.

“Where’s your leader, little man?”

“Don’t talk to him like that!”

Paul’s order brought snorts from the bounty hunters.

Randolph held up a hand. “I’m sorry, Rabbit. Perhaps you’d like to answer the question?”

Alexa’s men exchanged angry glances. They knew him on sight. Who the hell was this loud scientist she’d allowed along?

“Yes, I will,” Paul responded coldly. “She’s in the tree.”

Alexa’s colts crashed as the three men finally spotted her.

She hit Randolph in the throat, sending him to his knees with hands coming up for futile protection. Her next two shots came so close together that there wasn’t hardly a pause, and neither of Randolph’s men got off a shot. Not coming into the camp with their guns already drawn had hurt them.

“Amazing,” Jacob swore softly as the bodies slid to the ground.

“Agreed,” Edward admired, going to the large cottonwood tree she was still perched in.  Alexa had showed them how to grind the bone dust and make a lotion that they’d only had to aply once. “Good morning.”

Alexa rolled her eyes, scanning her men, the bodies, and then the corn as she reloaded. She also noted Paul’s satisfied face.

“Climb up and snooze. My shots will echo.”

Realizing more threats might be forthcoming; her men quickly gathered their things and cleared the ground of prints so that it would appear they had vanished. Being able to use the trees was an advantage they loved having.

Alexa wasn’t sure if anyone else would come. Those waiting might assume their men had won and expect them to return. If so, they could sleep for a while longer. The last ten days of traveling with Paul had been tiring.

2

An hour later, Alexa had them moving again and the fighters searched expectantly for the next signs of trouble. It was in the clouds that roiled over them, in the stalks that moaned an ominous accompaniment to their boots. Paul was the only one who didn’t notice it, but even he was quieter than usual. Edward knew it was from Alexa taking blood and kept his anger to himself. He didn’t like Paul at all.

The path they were on gradually grew wide enough for three of them side-by-side, and Alexa signaled them into the protection formation, but the random stalks still required the group to keep stepping out of their line. None of them cared for that. The symmetry Alexa had taught them was sinking in, becoming a natural reaction, and they disliked anything that interfered with staying close to their special leader.

Alexa held up a hand. Wait.

Her group stopped, and Edward had to snatch Paul by his coat when he didn’t.

Paul jerked away and went to stand behind Alexa.

All the other men frowned.

Alexa sniffed the air and each man heard her stomach growl. They caught the scent a moment later and grimaced with the memories. It was a Thanksgiving dinner or a bakery or a fresh market-an aroma of the old world. It was in the giant’s blood, the corn stalks, and the grit in the sky. It was heaven and hell.

Alexa told them to pull their bandanas up and each of them did, but not before inhaling deeply of that sweet scent, hoping to carry it with them.

Alexa started moving again, feeling her nerves wake, her senses come alive with need. It wasn’t exactly hunger and it certainly wasn’t sexual, but it tempted just the same. She wanted to remove her bandana and stop, stay here and inhale for hours and hours of that…

Alexa snapped around to find only two of her men in sight, both doing exactly what she’d been daydreaming about.

Alexa whistled loudly and the sound of running boots came. The other five men, Paul over Edward’s shoulder again, ran into view. Mark and Daniel were retying their wetted bandanas in place. It was the proper response, the one they’d been taught.

“Good idea,” Paul commented, clumsily doing his own.

Alexa tried not to be encouraged by him. Paul was a sacrifice and worse, deep down he knew it. His attempts to fit in were for naught.

They traveled steadily east for the next hours and the smell grew stronger. It swirled into their noses through the cloth, still pungent enough to cause stumbles and grumbles.

Alexa wasn’t worried yet. That would come later, when it was needed. Right now, she kept them moving, occasionally making sure they were all still together. Wandering off into this massive cornfield wouldn’t come to any good.

Their lunch stop was dried meat and fruit, and both tasted like dust compared to the smell of the air. None of them ate much.

“Do you know what it is?” Jacob asked.

“Yes,” Alexa answered, tone implying there was danger.

“Well?” Paul insisted, and then cringed down when Edward glowered at him.

“A death-maker is nearby.”

Alexa let out a sound of barely restrained impatience at the stares. “They make the undead. That smell lures people in.”

“You mean the walking dead,” Jacob caught on as he noticed her face growing stern. “And we need to deal with it?”

“Yes. This path goes by one of them and you already know how I feel about going around.”

Her men checked gear, and Alexa lowered her bandana. “Follow the smell.”

“Good,” Edward approved. “I miss hunting something strong enough to be a real challenge.”

“So do I,” Mark teased. “But not the way you mean. I hunt indoors.”

Both men shared leers of excitement and Paul stared at them in fear.

Alexa sent Edward his way and the horseman’s good mood vanished like the dusk.

“You ever hunt anything?”

“No,” Paul admitted, and Edward growled in frustration. He wouldn’t be able to lead the hunt while babysitting Paul. He’d been robbed of another adventure, another moment of proving himself to Alexa, thanks to the Rabbit.

It was a sullen group that began to track their prey, with Paul and Edward in the rear.

3

The pungent odor quickly grew stronger and the men found their thoughts wandering until Alexa had them put their bandanas again on to clear their minds a little. The scent was overpowering, mouth-watering, and it was easy to understand how a starving or weary traveler would be lured in. The smell promised a warm hearth and friendly company.

Alexa put them into a line and carefully made her way through the black brambles that sprang up where none should have been. The thick thorns were designed to draw blood, to weaken, but Alexa and her men were dressed for the road and passed through unharmed. Paul, who’d been given an outfit much like her fighters wore, still managed to scratch his hands.

The fighters reached a small clearing where there were no brambles or corn, and they all knelt down on the perimeter when Alexa motioned them to.

A moment later, a woman shuffled into view.

She was short and gory, a recent convert to undead, and the empty eyes sent chills over Alexa’s men.

Thinking fast, Edward slapped a hand over Paul’s mouth, not giving him the chance to make noise.

The woman slid into the shadows of the corn on the opposite side of the clearing. When the next stiff figure came through and there was no attack order, and then three more zombies behind it, they understood the walking dead wasn’t Alexa’s target.

“Hunting for me?”

They swiveled in time to be hit with a blast of something blue that sent the two front fighters them flying into the corn and knocked the others to the ground.

The wizard had once been a man-perhaps one who’d enjoyed dressing up and going to comic con. His pocket protector and faded fantastic-four shirt were at extreme odds with the hatred and magic coming from dead black eyes. The fighters noted his gray skin was marked with brown spots that appeared to be decaying flesh. He was also becoming undead.

On her ass between rows, Alexa sent her own blur of flames and it knocked the tall, thin man to the ground. He immediately rose and vanished.

“Over here, little toys,” the wizard taunted, reappearing. He was behind them all for a second and then gone when Edward lunged.

Already tired of the game, Alexa quickly estimated where the wizard would reappear and was there to have one of her guns at his temple when he solidified.

The man threw up his wrinkled hands in defense, shocked at her victory, and missed Mark coming up behind him.

Alex met Mark’s gaze for a brief second, gave a curt nod.

Mark reached out, grabbed the wizard’s head, and snapped his neck.

The zombies in the corn moaned in furious rage, drawn their way as the body fell and they tried to rush Alexa’s group for vengeance. A large zombie wearing overalls and only one cowboy boot swung out and snatched Jacob’s arm, mouth opening. The preacher brought his K-bar down on the man’s neck as he jerked himself out of the way, and the corn rained red.

“Level three blades,” Alexa ordered.

Paul watched in awful comprehension as the fighters grinned and pulled out ugly weapons long-stained with use. Each of them had something different. Edward and Alexa had serrated grass whips, while Jacob and Daniel preferred curved-blade clearing axes. The other two had landscape sickles with long handles and sharp edges. The shuffling, moaning zombies didn’t stand a chance of escaping the fight and as expected, they didn’t try.