Carved in stone, p.1
Carved In Stone, page 1
Carved In Stone
Life After War: Book Eight
A novel
by Angela White
Carved In Stone by Angela White
© 2015 Angela White
Smashwords Edition. All rights reserved
Angela White Life After War © 1991
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Standard Copyright laws apply. Made in the United States.
Table of Contents
We’re Here
Settlement
Dog-Gone Shame
The First Morning
One Bright Afternoon
Flying High
In The Dark
Evening Blues
Watch Your Six!
Team Players
Take the Shot
One of Three
Dangerous Distraction
Healing
Perception
I’m Everywhere
Everything You Expect
Lurking
Are You With Me?
Teams and Schemes
Other Plans
Cold Shoulder
Hot Flashes
Buttons to Push
Population Boom
Panther Piss
Life or Death
Carved in Stone
Closing
...Extras
Settlement
We came to these mountains in search of safety
Desperate for the peace not found below
We chose a place among the trees and cliffs
And coaxed our herd to grow
We carved our holes into the ground
We took our comforts deep
But the earth had little welcome
And her anger, have we reaped!
The brief calm vanished
The wildcard outvoted
Always in our own blood
We end up coated
The walls cry for souls
Again sent out to roam
Longing for a peaceful sun
Among the relentless stone
Chapter One
September 5th
1
In the last vehicle of the miles-long convoy, Samantha’s shoulders stayed tense. The woman and her child were trouble.
Neil shook his head when Jeremy, who had come to stand by her door during the stop, started to tap on the window.
A moment later, Samantha let out a sigh of relief.
“She said no. We’re okay for... Wait.” Samantha paused. “Damn. She scanned the kid and found something.”
“What does that mean?” Neil finally asked, flashing gestures to fill Jeremy in. he also subtly lowered the heat level. Sam was roasting him.
“Angela’s going to ask us to do something,” Samantha answered vaguely. “It’s as hard as what we’ve left behind.”
Samantha regarded him with the determination that he’d come to respect more than her courage. After listening to her tale of facing down Donner, both he and Jeremy had reevaluated their views of her as weaker. Their woman was an Eagle, a hunter, a sniper, and pregnant with twins. It was humbling.
“Is it worth it?” Neil asked.
“Only if you kill them all,” Samantha replied, a bit dazed from the clear connection to the future. Angela was usually the one to experience this and it was terrifying. “If you miss a single target, we’ll be at war again, only with my kind this time.”
“What are you talking about?”
Samantha knew Angela wouldn’t like it if she told all of the truth, so she settled for somewhere between. “It’s a future problem that you’ll either be asked to handle or overlook. I can’t tell which way she’ll go yet.”
“Can you start from the beginning and speak slowly?” Neil asked, not meaning to be snarky. He’d just had enough secret plans to last a lifetime. They’d lost a lot of friends during the war with the government. Thanks to Angela’s plans, they didn’t have any missing members, but everyone was feeling the losses they’d taken–like Crista.
“The woman we picked up has asked for sanctuary with Safe Haven. She also asked Angela to send out descendants to do battle with her former captors, who are chasing them. When these other descendants come, they’ll detect all our power and we’ll end up at war again. Only this time, it’ll be with magic instead of guns. The herd will have to run or they’ll be crushed between the two sides. If the new descendants come here, you have to disobey orders, Neil. Don’t let them go and gather their people. I don’t think we can win against that.”
“They’ve sent a scouting team,” Neil guessed, hating the barren land around them. Where was all the life, the colors?
“Yes, but don’t be fooled. The group Tara is currently describing to the boss is gifted beyond what we have in Safe Haven. Angela can’t stand alone against that type of power.”
“Alone?”
“These are trained fighters, Neil. The rest of us won’t even be able to damage them with magic.”
“If we kill their scouts, won’t they come after us anyway?” he asked reasonably.
“Angela didn’t search that far ahead, so I don’t have an answer.”
“But you’re confident enough to ask me to go against my orders, my training, and my honor?”
Samantha realized she wasn’t giving him enough details and said, “They’ll be too far from their own camp to call out. If you take them quickly, their people may never know we were even involved.”
“We do know how to make it appear like someone else did it...” Neil snapped his mouth shut. He loved Samantha and he trusted her, but he wouldn’t make this choice in mere minutes.
“Jeremy needs to know,” Samantha stated. “I’ll talk to Angela.”
That made Neil feel better and he reached over to hold her hand. He loved having someone to do this with, to share the warm emotions that she’d had woken in him.
Samantha swallowed a moan. She couldn’t get enough physical pleasure right now. Hunger and sleep were second to sex. Sam assumed it was a hormone thing, but she wasn’t about to dig into that. She wanted to enjoy herself. She had earned it.
“Shower?” Neil asked knowingly. The heat in the cabin was intense.
“Yes, please,” Samantha purred.
Neil laughed, gesturing to Jeremy. “I’ll set it up.”
2
“She wants me to stay with you,” Shawn stated in the silent truck.
Marc swung the big rig gently onto the final road that they needed to take to reach Pigeon Mountain. He understood Angela wanted him to make peace with Shawn (and Greg) for letting her sacrifice herself. Marc was still cold about it, but she had lived and come back to him, so forgiveness was possible. If she had died, the two men would have also.
Marc sighed, tossing his rage into that strong mental cage he’d built for moments like this. He hadn’t used it upon first joining Safe Haven, but it was as necessary now as it had been on missions. Not paying attention was likely to get people killed.
“What’s on her list, besides you and me?” Marc asked finally.
Shawn had known, had been waiting for Marc’s quiet hatred, and he was relieved it wasn’t coming. There hadn’t been another choice. Stopping Angela wasn’t something mortal men could do, and Shawn was glad Marc had recognized that fact. “You have Point, evenings.”
“Already figured that one,” Marc replied stiffly to let the man know that forgiveness hadn’t actually set in yet. “Next?”
“I need to know your preferences for coffee and food, so I can get your trays right,” Shawn told him. “And what time for your wake up calls?”
Marc looked over in wary confusion. “I get my own food and I use my own alarm. What’s going on?”
“They didn’t tell you.” Shawn’s brows drew together “Figures I’d be hazed on my first time. Feel like one of the boys, now.”
“Shawn?” Marc drew patience and Shawn’s attention simultaneously. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh!” Shawn reddened a little. “I’m your new personal assistant. You get one when you’re the leader or XO.”
“Kenn didn’t have one,” Marc reminded him distractedly. I didn’t expect a lackey. I’m forever underestimating her. That has to stop.
“He had Zack,” Shawn answered, readjusting his Colt. “And good thing, cause no one else was going to volunteer.”
Both men snickered. Kenn had regained a lot of the respect he’d lost, but his mistakes would always follow him. Safe Haven gave a second chance, a pass on most sins of the past, but the effects of transgressions committed in camp lasted a long time.
“Black and strong for my coffee,” Marc stated. “The wake up time depends on Angie’s schedules.”
“Cool.” Shawn was relieved that Marc hadn’t argued and quickly wrote it down. He’d thought Marc would pick Jax or Quinn for his Man Friday.
“What else?”
“She wants you to supervise the setup with Kenn,” Shawn informed him. “Said no one else will catch the small details.”
Marc liked that feeling. “Okay.”
“Great. We have a couple more items and then we can get into the Eagle training she wants outlined.”
Marc was realizing that being Angie’s XO would be a lot of work and responsibility and was pleased. After witnessing how gifted she had become, he’d been having doubts about how much she actually needed him. If she had a list this size for him now, that meant there was a lot more waiting.
“We need to gather all the numbers on food, water, fuel, and all the oth
“Security’s already up,” Marc informed him, increasing speed a bit as the dust cleared. “She sent a crew last night.”
Shawn mentally scrolled through the people in their convoy, and came up with, “Kevin’s team?”
“And the ants,” Marc confirmed.
“That’s great!” Shawn exclaimed. “Camp will be up quick.”
“I want mess two hours after we land and lights out by midnight,” Marc instructed, ending Shawn’s thoughts of an easy shift followed by a night of drinking and bullshitting. “All patrols are the dual setup Kenn and I agreed on–half rotating, half stationary.”
“And that was the final thing on her list,” Shawn replied, closing his glossy new notebook. “Sweet.”
Marc went over it a bit mentally, but kept most of his attention on the road. Now that the wind had settled down and the grit wasn’t blowing, the drop-offs and narrow, winding roads were too obvious. He reduced their speed, not wanting the twitchier drivers to fall behind.
“I want breakfast with her as much as you can arrange it,” Marc said evenly, testing. Was Shawn actually his or one of Angie’s endless stooges? “I need to keep track of her eating habits.”
“I’ll try to cover that even when you can’t be there,” Shawn agreed quietly. “But I won’t put it in the book.”
“Good,” Marc approved. Time would tell if Shawn could be his or not, but that was a good start. “I’m used to government food, so give me whatever we have the most of each day. Save the best stuff for the camp.”
“Got it.” Shawn understood Marc didn’t want any preferential treatment and liked that. “All set on her list. We can get into Eagle training now.”
Since claiming best gun in camp, Shawn had been anticipating the next level tests. He had a lot of ideas.
“Actually, I’d like you to talk to Kenn about it first, then come to me,” Marc instructed. “He’ll chop it apart and leave you with what we can use.”
Shawn wasn’t offended. He knew they’d served together before the war and were used to coming up with plans like these. “No problem.”
Marc steered around the decaying top of a tree that had collapsed over part of the lane. He wasn’t spotting signs of people, nothing fresh that said there was human life here, but he felt them and was suddenly anxious to be camped so that he could concentrate on his grid. If he sent it out now, his driving might suffer.
“From now on, I want someone else behind the wheel for me,” Marc said suddenly. “For at least a few months.”
“We’re camping for the winter,” Shawn reminded him. “Why would you have to leave?”
“I’ll still be going out on supply runs and such,” Marc answered.
There was an awkward silence and Marc realized Shawn was holding something back. “Won’t I?”
“Uh, maybe you’d better talk to the boss,” Shawn stated uneasily.
“Just tell me,” Marc ordered.
Shawn unconsciously leaned away as he said, “She doesn’t want any of the descendants out of camp, but she especially mentioned leadership. The Chain of Command has been grounded.”
3
“We came from Canada,” Tara said. “We were held there before the war.”
“Where are you from?” Angela asked politely, thinking her blue robe appeared very clean for people who’d been on the road with not even a bag of gear. The black gym shoes on the woman’s small feet did have wear-and-tear, however. Angela was betting her skin also looked that way. Gym shoes were not good for hiking.
“Maine,” Missy blurted before her mother could answer. “We’s from Maine.”
Tara was gaping at Missy and Angela pushed harder mentally. Missy seemed almost feral, but with time among her own kind and soft care, she might recover. “Why did you leave?”
Tara was still stunned, but none of Angela’s people were surprised when Missy began answering questions while drawing on the van seat with a red crayon she had taken from the stuffed pocket of her red and blue jumper.
“They took me when the loud bells came. We rode a train!” The little girl dug the crayon into a small tear in the fabric. “They hurt momma.”
Angela gently eased the crayon from the child’s tight, filthy grip. “Eat this.”
The girl grabbed the apple and chomped it into bits that were gobbled as if they were pudding. As she crunched, the pointed ends of her teeth were visible and creepy.
“What’s up with her?” Jennifer asked rudely. She didn’t trust these new people. They were hard to read. She was laboring for every glimpse into their minds.
“She’s been in and out of labs since she was born,” Tara stated painfully, twisting her hand into the corner of the robe that covered clean jeans. “She’s wild. That’s all I ever seem to know.”
“Tell us your story, from start to now,” Angela instructed coolly. I’m already tired of this, she thought.
“I was born in the lab,” Tara answered quickly. “So, I didn’t have parents.”
Before any of her passengers could interrupt with corrections or questions, Angela sent a glare around the vehicle and mouths snapped shut.
“I’m sorry.”
Tara’s meek words drew disapproval and anger, but not from Angela. “Go on.”
Angela settled back to listen, confident Marc had the convoy covered.
And if he doesn’t, we know who’s bringing up the rear, don’t we? the witch remarked snidely. Adrian’s betrayals were an open wound to the demon.
Yes! Angela flung. One in front, one in the rear, and my team in the middle. Now will you please shut up?!
Stung, the witch vanished.
Angela swept the uneasy witnesses in resignation. “It was a long nine days, for all of us.”
Tensions eased a bit, replaced by sympathy. All the fighters in Safe Haven were feeling the effects.
Attention gradually shifted back to Tara, who had clearly picked up a lot of it. Her face stayed red as she explained how she and Missy had come to be here.
“I was created from donors. Descendants created that way don’t have a bond with their biological hosts and are considered not to have parents.”
“In order to break the ethical lines?” Angela confirmed one of Adrian’s endless theories while the others muttered in disapproval.
“Yes. Descendants who have contact with free parents often have to be forced into corruption. Those who have corrupt parents also swing toward the light, but cannot resist the temptations.”
“And those who have both?” Angela asked, knowing if she didn’t, Jennifer would. “One of each?”
Tara’s gaze went to Missy, who was finished with the apple and staring longingly at the hole she’d widened with her crayon. The child was humming softly.
“Most of them go bad,” Tara admitted. “It’s hard not to in the labs, especially if they get them young, but some kids resist. It changes them.”
“And if they were already...damaged?” Angela pushed.
“They become like Missy,” Tara said shamefully. “They hurt her!”
She dissolved into tears and Angela gave her full attention to the child. “I’m Angie. Will you tell me what really happened?”
“They made me do things.” Missy’s young countenance glazed over with hatred and an evil rose to the surface, demonstrating dangerous intelligence. “When I wouldn’t, they hurt my mommy!”
“Are they coming for you?” Angela demanded, leaning forward. “Tell me when!”
Missy arched, power flooding the cabin, and Jennifer grabbed Tara’s arm before she could interfere.
“Let them be,” Jennifer ordered. “She’ll get the truth from your kid.”
Missy’s eyes turned solid black and she took a clawed grip on Angela’s wrist. “A week is all you have. My daddy rides his death train even now.”
Angela’s mind shuddered at the thought of her time on the train, of being below ground and dependent on Donner.
“You killed him,” Missy stated, reading the gruesome scene in her mind.
“Yes.” Angela patted the child’s cold hand. “And I’ll do the same to your demons.”
“For what price?” the child asked angrily, flames twining around her hand to sear Angela’s finger fuzz.
“You must be good!” Angela intoned, using her alpha gift to be certain she got through. The child’s physical magic was weak compared to her own and didn’t hurt. They were the same type of descendant, though. “Corruption isn’t allowed, not even in children.”
