The Killin' Fields (Alexa's Travels Book 2) Read online

  “Now,” Alexa grunted.

  She didn’t stop and Mark got closer before speaking. “I’m worried. One of our group might be sick.”

  Alexa snorted at the setup. “Get on with it.”

  “If we lose one of our group, what happens to the rest of us?”

  Alexa wasn’t to be humbled or reached by guilt. “What do you want?”

  “To help you.”

  “Then do your job and leave me to do mine.”

  Mark frowned. “That’s only going to work for so long.”

  Alexa spun around to admonish him and found a hard countenance she couldn’t argue with. She stepped around instead. “Mind your words, convict.”

  Mark didn’t even wince. He’d heard worse and this time, he knew she didn’t mean it. Anger was her defense, one she insisted upon hiding behind whenever one of them called her on something and refused to back down. It worked as much as they allowed it to. After this run, it wouldn’t fly at all.

  Alexa knew that, but she couldn’t have them worried over her health and miss important details that might get them killed. She loved these men, wasn’t going to sacrifice them for herself. Only for Adrian would she ever give their lives.

  Mark followed her back to their camp and took up a spot beside Edward, covering the opposite direction.

  “Any luck?” Edward inquired slowly.

  Mark shook his head once.

  Edward sighed. They hadn’t expected her to cooperate, but it still would have been nice.

  As if she picked up the thought, Alexa turned a hard glare on both men.

  “Mark and Edward will cook. Paul will help.”

  Not likely, Mark thought, moving that way without complaint. At least between him and Edward, tonight’s meal would be decent.

  Edward had stiffened at the punishment, but he also sucked it up and went to do as he’d been told. Paul approached him slowly and Edward nearly growled, “Just watch us!”

  Mark directed Paul to help with building their fire, and Edward pulled things from his pack, not speaking to either of them. He was the one sulking now, and the other males understood. If they were unofficial second in command and been reduced to cook and babysitter, they might have gotten upset too.

  Alexa didn’t care for their emotions, only their willingness to follow and she wasn’t worried about Edward recanting his loyalty. He was hers.

  “I’m going to have another look around,” Alexa said firmly. “Alone.”

  Alexa vanished into the corn and all seven men stared after her in concern.

  Alexa didn’t plan to go far, but she had to escape the all-male camp for a moment. She hated to discipline her men. It hurt, but they could never be allowed to see that.

  2

  “Is she okay?”

  Paul’s question drew immediate scorn.

  “She’s fine!”

  “None of your business.”

  “She’s more than okay.”

  Paul flushed at their hostility. It said he had no idea what he was getting into, but they didn’t understand who he’d been. Healing ill descendants was also on his resume.

  “Paul, why are you with us?” Daniel asked evenly. He didn’t plan to waste their time alone with the man. “You don’t fit. Why come?”

  “I do too,” Paul protested loudly. “I’m like her!”

  Standing next to the scientist, Mark roughly slapped his hand over the man’s mouth. “Quiet!”

  Paul cringed down until his face was no longer in contact with Mark’s big hand. “Okay!”

  “What do you mean you’re like her?” Daniel asked. He found it hard to believe.

  “I’m a descendant,” the scientist answered proudly. “I have her blood.”

  “No way,” Edward refuted sarcastically. “You couldn’t be more different.”

  “She had Adrian!” Paul protested. “I had no one.”

  “She has the fire inside, the drive to survive. You don’t,” Jacob pointed out. “Why are you really here?”

  Paul fell silent and the men glared at him.

  “You will tell us,” David stated ominously. “All of it.”

  “We’ll get it from you any way we have to,” Daniel warned.

  “Nothing will ever come between the quest and us,” Edward explained. “You better tell now.”

  Realizing that he was trapped, Paul huffed out a reply they were not expecting.

  “I need the time with her so she’ll mate with me and continue our line.”

  Five of the listening men stopped their barely contained chuckles. The other stood up and rushed toward Paul.

  “Wait! Stop! It’s what destiny says has to…”

  Edward jerked Paul up by the font of his coat, lifting the scientist off the ground. He held him there. “You’re not good enough for her! You’ll never get the chance.”

  To their surprise, Paul shoved free and caught himself before he hit the ground. “Slam you, snob!”

  The name took Edward by surprise and he didn’t retaliate. Snob? Me?

  Paul took up a sloppy copy of the fighting stance the other men used during training lessons. “Come on, then!”

  This time, loud laughter rang out.

  The sound of it was one the killin’ fields hardly ever heard and couldn’t stand. It drew immediate attention.

  Alexa felt the rumble and knew it would be upon her men before she could get back to them. A sharp whistle sounded a second later and she returned the call, bringing the threat to her.

  The rumble grew louder and the corn shook, but Alexa didn’t sense an honest threat until she heard the light boots of her men. They were being chased.

  “Here!”

  Edward, with Paul over his shoulder, came into view first and he dropped the scientist at her feet as he drew his gun.

  The other five surrounded her as the roar grew louder, and Alexa joined them in waiting with her gun in hand. Whatever they’d drawn sounded angry.

  Corn moaned and fat black crows with sharp red talons rose noisily into the air as the ground rose in front of them.

  “Jump!”

  Everyone but Paul leapt over the furrow of dirt shifting their way and Edward snatched him off the ground as it collapsed under him.

  “Thanks!”

  The ground roared again at the sound of a human voice and Alexa took off running, again drawing the danger toward herself.

  Her men followed, Paul stumbling along last.

  Alexa stopped suddenly and dropped to her knees. Her knife replaced the gun in her hand and she stabbed the ground mercilessly.

  Her men thought to join her, but it was already over. The ground ran red, but not with her blood the males were happy to see.

  Alexa motioned Edward forward, keeping her knife and good position in case it wasn’t dead.

  Edward used his feet to kick away the dirt. He cleared enough of it for them to determine their attacker was a big mole.

  At first glance, the mole appeared to albino, but Alexa realized it was gray fur where the black should have been. Even the teeth were long and jagged on the ends, like a pair of dentures that had been used for chewing rocks. Larger than a dog, it had only a stub for a tail and claws that gave them all a creepy feeling.

  “That’s a grandmother or something, right?” Daniel noted nervously. “Should we be on the lookout for the family?”

  “I doubt it,” Alexa stated, standing. “It’s ancient by mole years. This is a remnant of the old world, my pets.”

  “And the cleanup crew is already on the way,” Edward observed in concern, pulling Paul back.

  They all looked up to see their company, surprised by the long line of large ants coming towards them from a wide hole in the ground. Centered between two rows, the hole was shaped like a volcano, instead of the tall anthills they’d known from right after the bombs. The ants had almost disappeared within a year of the war and this many of the big mutations in one place was uncommon.

  “I thought they were all gone,�
� Paul said, too loudly. His voice traveled to the ants and the entire line of hungry insects came to a slow stop.

  The ants were the size of a small boot and healthy. They marched along without struggling, going over and around the piles of moldy stalks that covered the ground. Their antennae twitched continuously, scenting the air for trouble, and the fighters stared in fascination. The ants were a new part of the old legend, a part that few of them had believed in.

  The fighters got set to battle, most of them thinking this was a better challenge to their new skills, since the mutated ants were much smaller than a human target.

  “Wait.” Alexa stopped the battle as she spied something familiar. “Look at their formation.”

  The ants had begun spreading out as they stopped and the line of about fifty was now in the same V that Alexa used for fighting.

  “Safe Haven.” Jacob whispered, not wanting to trigger a fight that didn’t have to happen. The preacher actually liked most of the hardy animals that America now offered, and the ants were something new to him. The west hadn’t seen an ant, big or small, in a long time.

  “Corbin didn’t believe those stories,” Paul refuted, for once remembering to speak lowly. “I don’t either.”

  Alexa rotated a finger and her men got into the matching formation, leaving Paul to stand by himself.

  “They’re all soldiers,” Edward noted. “Females in the nest?”

  Alexa shrugged. “Or out hunting, fighting. Women are not required to hide in their holes anymore.”

  It was one of those reminders that Alexa didn’t usually give, but her men had to be aware that females across the planet blamed them and every other walking nut-sack for the war. The days of women ruling and men ruing, had arrived.

  The ants were clearly studying them right back and Paul, now alone, had no choice but to recognize that fact when the ants switched their formation in front of him. They became a simple pattern of lines and circles to form a word that all of them were exceedingly familiar with.

  FOOD/

  There was even an attempt to form the question mark at the end and Alexa clapped in praise that surprised her men.

  “That’s so good! We killed this mole. Take it. Be well.” Alexa moved back as she kept talking. “Behind us is a fire. The house by it may survive and hold things for you.”

  The ants were large, with rough pinchers and log antennae that searched the air. The two in the front of the V were connected at the abdomen, causing the soldier ants to appear ominous as they came forward to inspect the carcass.

  “Just old, I think,” Alexa stated, proud of the way her men were holding their positions even though more of the soldier ants were now crawling by their boots. “The corn behind us was moldy. Nothing stays good in afterworld.”

  A low but piercing cry came from the conjoined ants and the rest of their colony hurried toward the dead mole, chattering eagerly.

  Alexa motioned her own group back to the road. The jaws on the ants were large and looked strong. She wasn’t sure if they would have trouble with the insects, but she suspected they’d be forgotten about if they got out of sight quickly. If they had to fight, their guns would be the only solution here and Alexa didn’t want that.

  “That was interesting,” David commented as they got out of sight, thinking it had felt surreal.

  “Yes,” Alexa agreed. “I think we stumbled upon a war that the moles have finally lost. Many fates will be decided over these next years. Mankind’s, as well.”

  “You mean they’ll go extinct?” Paul asked from the rear with Edward.

  “We just saw it,” Daniel said with a sneer. “Your kind have destroyed everything.”

  “I’m not like them!” Paul argued, voice once again carrying.

  “Paul?” Edward’s tone was deceptively kind.

  “What?” Paul snapped.

  “What did you do before the war? Before you became Mr. Stud?”

  Paul flushed, mouth opening, closing, opening.

  “Come on, Paul. What was your civilian job?”

  “I didn’t have one,” he answered self-consciously. “I helped my…father before the war.”

  “Helped with what?” Alexa added to the building wall against him.

  Paul caved under the pressure. “Capture descendants. He liked my toys.”

  “Toys?” Jacob asked, confused.

  “The tracking darts are Paul’s baby,” Alexa told them without a hint of rancor in her voice. “They’ve always been able to knock us out, but being a descendant too, Paul was able to fill in the missing pieces and provide a way to track us after an encounter. It’s quite brilliant.”

  “I thought you handled things like the breeders!” Mark snarled, automatically blaming Paul for that feeling of helplessness he’d gotten when Alexa had been darted and fallen.

  “I told you I worked in several areas,” Paul muttered. “I followed orders.”

  “Oh no, little man,” Edward sneered. “You don’t get to use that excuse. You had the knowledge to help your own kind and you betrayed them!”

  “My father was my kind too!” Paul growled. “You make the choice when you’re eight years old and then come talk to me about picking the correct side.”

  Surprised into silence, Edward found himself considering that scenario and coming up with exactly the ugly person in front of him. It was unsettling.

  “Don’t talk to me,” Edward snarled.

  “Pay attention!” Alexa snapped, tone suddenly wary.

  “Shit!”

  Jacob’s softly muttered expletive was followed by the sound of his gun leaving his holster.

  “No noise!” Alexa snapped, pulling her longest knives from her belt as the shadow of the newest threat loomed over them. They’d run directly into something skulking towards them.

  “Is that a…”

  Edward sent his elbow into Paul’s jaw as he nodded, knocking the man down and nearly out.

  The giant was disorienting. The feet the size of small sleds and the legs like saplings were intimidating. It was the width of three men and shamelessly shuffled through the corn with a cock that any of her fighters would have killed to possess. Alexa wasn’t impressed, only revolted at the sight.

  The three rookies stood in shock as it charged toward their group.

  Mark snatched his bow from over his shoulder and grabbed for an arrow, but missed. During his second attempt, the giant’s club swung down.

  Mark grunted as Alexa slammed into him, knocking them out of range. “Roll!”

  The kept rolling as the club followed them, thudding violently into the dirt where they’d been. Rows of stalks snapped under the chaos and crows cawed encouragement.

  Alexa shoved Mark aside and ducked the swing. She darted forward as the scarred giant roared angrily and ran between his legs, slicing the backs of both ankles. The giant fell forward, roaring in rage.

  The giant’s agony echoed over the killin’ fields and the cut off abruptly as Edward and Daniel slit its throat from each side. Blood sprayed in a wide geyser, splattering them all.

  Paul opened his mouth to scream, already swiping at the red gore on his chest, and David knocked him to the ground with a rough elbow.

  “Shut up!” David hissed furiously, spinning to see if there was another threat.

  Alexa spent a moment listening, feeling the disappointed wind, and then waved her men into a tightly guarding perimeter. Paul, still on the ground, she ignored.

  Alexa knelt in front of the giant, admiring the beautiful cuts her men had made. The worn collar of slavery that had been around the giant’s thick neck was in pieces at her feet and she took the largest of these, and placed it in a pocket of her cloak.

  Alexa had Daniel kneel down and boost her onto his shoulders for a higher vantage point to look from, but there was only what she expected at this point into their journey-corn.

  She slid down. “If more of those come, we’ll hear it this time. Let’s go.”

  Still not unde
rstanding that his opinion wasn’t wanted, Paul started to protest and Mark slapped a bloody hand over his mouth. “Don’t.”

  Paul nodded hurriedly, and Mark shoved him into the lead. “Take point so we can get away while the other monsters grab you.”

  Paul inched forward, terrified, and Alexa allowed the treatment. Having Paul along was exactly what she’d feared it would be-chaos-and it was much too late to turn back now.

  3

  “She’s here.”

  “Good. I’m tired of waiting to kill her.”

  “Surprised that order came down.”

  “Yeah, well, she did wipe out both of Corbin’s squads. Not exactly a text-book case.”

  The men gathered their things from the wooden platform they’d built in the corn when they’d arrived a week ago.

  “She’s slow right?

  “Yeah. It’s the Rabbit. We timed it right. He slowed her down.”

  “All he ever did to Corbin, either.”

  The three soldiers had been hired guns for so long that they no longer bothered to pretend they were fighting for the government’s right to rule. They’d brought in hundreds of captives for various reasons, but it was still rare to receive a kill on sight order.

  “We’ll track her from here tonight. Even in the corn, there’ll be signs, maybe sounds as they fight the evil shit living in this hell-hole.”

  They hadn’t been sure about hearing her, but not long after the single gunshot, they’d heard the roar of a giant and the upset cried of birds. One more sight or sound would be a confirmation that it was indeed Alexa (no one else would survive repeated attacks in hours and keep going) and also give them a definite location.

  The three men had been sent out on run after run since the war, collecting those wanted by the government. Once they got the needed details, they didn’t even bother reading the rest anymore. Descendants, murderers, rebel leaders-they’d been sent after some of the worst people they’d ever known, but not one of them had been female. Alexa would be the first woman they’d ever taken this way and that challenge, along with the boost in reputation, had been enough to keep them waiting as long as it took.