Angel Fever

9

AS THE WEEKS PASSED, ALEX kept himself and the others as busy as possible. He didn’t know what else to do. Thankfully, there was a lot to occupy his thoughts: the daily running of the base, the continued training of the AKs. Tearing down the old Salt Lake Eden set took several days, and Alex relished the mindless work as he and the others pulled out nails and stacked planks of wood.

The fact that they needed more raw materials for new sets was a relief too. He and some of the other guys went to the ruins of Vegas, where they spent a few days scavenging building supplies. As they sifted through ruins and dragged out salvageable pieces, the autumn sun beat down – sometimes hot enough for them to peel off their shirts. The work was hard and dusty, and Alex buried himself in it, refusing to dwell on the reason why additional training sets were necessary.

Brief excitement came when a trio of angels appeared over the almost-intact Caesar’s Palace, gliding in a triangular hunting pattern. Alex got two, and either Seb or Sam got the other, and everyone cheered, clapping them on the shoulders. And though Alex knew better, for a second he felt a sense of hard satisfaction.

As if three angels out of millions even made a difference.

“Come on,” he said finally, turning away. Quarters crunched under his foot from a shattered slot machine. “Let’s get back to work.”

When they returned to the base, they built a new set: a forest simulation, this time. They all stayed up one night cutting out leaf shapes and painting them in the training room, until it looked like every autumn tree in the world had shed its leaves on the floor.

“Looking good,” Willow said, pressing briefly against him. She wore an old sweatshirt and had a smudge of paint on her nose.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be a realistic set.”

She glanced up at him, started to say something, and broke off. Finally she just squeezed his hand and went back to painting.

He caught Willow watching him sometimes now, and knew that she was worried about him. Apart from when they’d seen the Third Wave arrive, he’d kept silent about his fears, even to her.

What was there to say? The world was screwed.

Alex struggled grimly against that deep-down conviction, against the nagging inner voice that said that if he were any kind of a leader at all, he’d know when to quit – just go start a settlement high up in the mountains somewhere. Jesus, what was wrong with him, that even now he had to keep a war going against the angels? But the stupid thing was, the other AKs still trusted him…and still wanted to fight.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. It was late November, after midnight, and he was in the empty rec room with his laptop and a long-cold mug of coffee. Tiredly, he brought up a Word document filled with his notes. If they were to have anything more than a suicidal chance at this, they had to get camps established all across the country: small teams that recruited and trained people themselves, then splintered off to do the same thing again, over and over, until there were hundreds of sniper groups fighting the angels.

In the base’s office, they’d found details of another facility in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho – smaller than here and too remote to be of much use. The teams would somehow have to source their own shelters, along with food and ammunition, and this current group of eighty-seven would need a lot more training. Not to mention survival skills, if they were to have any hope of existing in the wild.

Alex added these thoughts to his notes, though it felt like a waste of time. Yeah, sending everyone out to set up more AK camps was great in theory…but once Raziel realized the Angel Killers were still around, he’d annihilate them.

Alex stared blindly at his laptop, imagining small inexperienced groups being systematically decimated by the angels. He let out a breath and rested his forehead on his fists. He knew his team; he’d worked with every one of them. How the hell was he supposed to send them off to die?

But how could he just let the angels take over?

Alex looked up as Seb appeared in the rec room doorway. Seb stopped short. “Ah. Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know anyone was here.”

“It’s okay, c’mon in.” Alex pushed the laptop away, glad to stop looking at it.

Seb dropped into a nearby armchair; his feet were bare. Glancing at him, Alex held back a slight smile. “Go ahead and smoke – that’s what you came in for, right?”

Seb quirked an eyebrow but didn’t deny it. He produced a battered red and white pack and dug a lighter from his jeans pocket. “Last pack,” he commented as he tapped out a cigarette.

“So you’ll be quitting again? Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.”

Seb shrugged and settled back, blowing out a stream of smoke. “Meghan hates the smell anyway. She threw me out.”

It was a relief to have something else to think about – even if it was Seb’s love life. “She’s a nice girl,” said Alex.

Seb nodded. “Yes, I think so too.”

They sat in silence, Seb occasionally turning his head to blow smoke over his shoulder. Finally he looked down at his cigarette and cleared his throat. “So, I’ve been thinking…maybe Meghan and I will go away.”

Alex had been trying to rouse himself enough to go to bed; now he straightened. “What – seriously?”

Slowly, Seb ground out the cigarette in a saucer someone had left behind. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do now to stop the angels, amigo.”

Hearing his own worst fears put into words, all that came to Alex’s mind was, Yeah, I don’t blame you. But he said nothing.

Seb sat playing with the ground-out cigarette. “If I thought there was any kind of chance, I’d stay for ever. Now, though…” He shrugged.

“What about Willow?” asked Alex finally. Ever since the two half-angels had met, Alex had been forced to accept Seb’s presence in his girlfriend’s life as a given.

Seb’s mouth twisted; he snorted slightly. In a low voice, he said, “I keep thinking it will someday get better, you know. That I’ll get over her and not care so much, but—” He broke off, his expression more vulnerable than Alex had ever seen it. He tossed the cigarette butt back ontothe saucer.

“Anyway, I’m still her brother if she ever needs me,” he said tiredly. “But I want to really try with Meghan. And…here isn’t the best place, not with Willow here too.”

Watching Seb as he looked down at the table, sympathy stirred within Alex. Christ, how had it happened that he and Seb had actually become friends? But somewhere along the line, they had.

“Look, don’t go,” he said finally. “I know what you mean about the angels – I was just sitting here thinking almost the same thing. But even if we don’t have a chance now, you’ve got to keep training people in the aura work – if they’re not proficient in it, they’ll die.”

Seb didn’t answer, but Alex could sense the argument had hit home – Seb had sometimes spent up to twelve hours a day training recruits, with no complaints.

“And come on, this place is big enough that you can avoid Willow, isn’t it?” Alex went on. “What if I changed your teaching schedules, so that you don’t work together any more? You’d hardly ever see each other.”

Seb plucked at a loose thread on his jeans. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “It might help, but…”

“Does Meghan want to go?”

“I haven’t asked her,” Seb admitted. He met Alex’s gaze and smiled slightly. “Why are you arguing for me to stay? If I could take your girlfriend away from you, I’d still do it.”

“Dude, if you could take my girlfriend away from me, you’d have done it a year ago. Let me make the change, okay?” Alex scanned Seb’s face, his voice lowering in intensity. “Come on, man, I need you here – I’ve got to give them all the best chance I can before I send them out there.”

Seb blew out a breath. “All right,” he said. “I’ll stay for now.” After a pause the corner of his mouth lifted. “I didn’t want to leave the hot showers anyway. It’s the real reason I’m staying, you know.”

“Yeah, you see? Massive perks.”

Seb lit another cigarette and smoked it with one foot up on the chair. And as Alex thought about the day to come and all the days after that – while above, humanity became cattle for ever, because of him – for the first time in his life he was tempted to light up too.

He shut down the laptop and rose. “Don’t think too hard,” he said.

Seb gave a small smile. “No. You either.”

Fat chance, thought Alex – and then the pager clipped to his jeans waistband burst into life. “Alex, could you get up here?” said Heather’s worried voice.

He grabbed the pager. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure. There’s a truck coming.”

“What?” Alex and Seb exchanged a startled glance, Seb lurching forward to stub out his cigarette and scrambling to his feet.

They took off at a run, pausing only to duck into the armoury and grab a couple of pistols. When they reached the small room above ground, Heather was hunched over one of the monitors; her gaze flew tensely to theirs.

“It looks like an Eden vehicle,” she said. “The driver’s gotten out and is heading for the gate. There’s only one of them, but they’ve got a gun.”

Doing a quick scan, Alex felt only human energy. With Seb close behind, he bolted for the door and slapped at the switch to turn on the outside light.

“Okay, hold it right there,” he warned as he flung the door open, aiming his pistol. He froze and the blood slowly drained from his face.

Kara stood at the chain-link fence, blinking in the sudden light.

“Alex?” she said hoarsely. The exotic beauty of her face was hidden under purplish swollen bruises. One hand clutched the fence as if holding on for dear life.

“Oh Jesus,” whispered Alex. He started to rush towards the gate, then glanced at Seb. “She’s not—?”

Seb shook his head, staring. “No. She doesn’t have angel burn.”

When Alex threw open the gate, Kara stumbled into his arms; he held her tightly, his thoughts reeling. “Kara, what’s happened?” he said. Her once-toned body felt far too thin, like a fragile bird.

Kara was shivering, as if overwhelmed by cold. Finally she drew back, and Alex’s stomach knotted with helpless anger – her face was even worse than he’d thought. One eye was puffed closed, her lip bloodied and swollen, her perfect nose broken.

“It…it wasn’t the easiest journey, getting here,” she mumbled. “I…” She trailed off, swaying on her feet.

“Explain later.” Alex put his arm around her; she sagged against him. “Where are your keys?” He took them from her unresisting hand and tossed them to Seb. “Get her truck in here, okay?”

Seb looked down at the keys; his mouth twisted wryly. “Ah – I can’t drive, amigo.”

“What? Fine, tell Heather to call someone up. And come down to the infirmary with us; I need you to read her hand and see what you can get.” Now that the first shock of seeing Kara alive was over, Alex’s main concern was whether whoever had beaten her up was still coming after her, about to discover their base.

They’d almost reached the door; Kara stiffened and stopped short. “No,” she said. “No readings. Just – no more, all right?”

Her voice shook, and unease stirred through Alex – what the hell had happened to her? He glanced at Seb and could see the half-angel scanning her aura more thoroughly, picking up who knew what from it.

“Okay, don’t worry,” Alex said. He got Kara inside and punched the button for the elevator. “Just tell me, is anyone following you?”

Kara had slumped against his shoulder again; blearily, she shook her head. Her short black hair, always so sleek against her scalp, was longer now, unkempt. And her nails… Alex’s chest tightened as he saw that they were ragged and broken, with no sign of the jaunty pink polish she used to wear.

They got her down to the medical bay. In response to Alex’s page, Claudia arrived; she looked at Kara in surprise. “Who…?” she started to say.

“She’s an AK from the Mexico City group,” Alex said tersely. “I’ll explain later.”

“All right, let me clean up her face and see what I can do for her nose,” said Claudia. “Any other injuries?”

“I think I’ve got a broken rib,” Kara murmured. She was lying on the examination table, her good eye closed. In her jeans and old T-shirt, she looked almost skeletal.

As Claudia started to work, Seb took Alex’s arm and drew him aside. “She’s been around angels,” he said. “I can feel their energy in her aura – not angel burn, but they’ve been near to her. For a long time, I think.”

Somehow Alex wasn’t surprised. He gazed at Kara. “I can’t believe she’s still alive,” he said softly. “It’s been almost a year; what’s been going on?”

It didn’t seem likely he’d find out anytime soon. Though sitting up now, Kara looked dead to the world as Claudia dabbed at her face – hardly even reacting when the paramedic adjusted her broken nose with a quick motion and then set it with tape.

They didn’t have an X-ray machine. As Claudia gently examined Kara’s ribs, Alex winced to see how sharply each was outlined beneath Kara’s mocha skin. Not to mention the bruising – it looked like someone had used her for a punching bag.

“Think it’s just a fracture…at least there shouldn’t be any danger of it puncturing the lung there,” Claudia muttered. “I hope.” Finally she nodded. “Okay, I think that’s it – you look really dehydrated, though. Let’s get you into bed and onto a drip.”

She brought out a green hospital gown. “Here,” she said, placing it on Kara’s lap. “There’s a bathroom just there, if you want to get changed.”

The gown slithered to the floor as Kara eased herself off the table, clutching its edge for support. “No, I’ll keep my own clothes.”

Claudia blinked. “But you need to rest. You won’t be very comfortable if—”

“I said no.”

Claudia looked at Alex; he shrugged. “Forget it. Let’s just get her into bed.”

There were three hospital beds in an adjacent room. Claudia drew back the covers of one, and Alex helped Kara into it; she sank against the pillows. Then as Claudia readied an IV drip, Kara’s good eye flew to Alex’s in alarm.

“It’s just to get you hydrated again; it’s all right,” he said. Kara swallowed and nodded. She made no protest as Claudia eased the needle into her forearm and taped it into place.

“Okay,” said Claudia, holding a hypodermic up to the light as she filled it. She reached for Kara’s arm again. “I’ve got something here that will help you sleep—”

Kara’s thin hand shot out and grabbed her wrist; Claudia gave a startled squeak. “Touch me with that thing, and I’ll stab you in the neck with it,” said Kara in a low voice.

Alex had lunged at her first movement; he gripped Kara’s wrist hard. Finger by finger, she let go of Claudia. “Trust me, you don’t even want to try it,” he said. “Do not threaten my team, now or ever again. Claudia, you’d better go. Thanks for your help – I’ll call you if we need you.”

She nodded, still pale. Seb stood leaning against the doorway; she brushed against him as she hurried out.

“I should go too,” Seb said, straightening.

There was a chair beside Kara’s bedside; Alex dropped into it. Kara had collapsed back against the bedding, her good eye closed again. “I’d better sit with her for a while,” said Alex, rubbing a hand over his face. “But, yeah, you go on to bed.”

Seb shook his head as he glanced at Kara. “It’s not that. She doesn’t want me here. Goodnight, amigo.”

Before Alex could respond, Seb had slipped out, silent as a ghost. Alex looked at Kara with a frown. Since arriving she’d hardly acknowledged Seb’s presence, but now he saw her relax a little. At the sound of the outer door closing, she turned her head to look at him, twisting at the sheet’s hem with a fretful hand.

“Willow’s here too, isn’t she?” she asked. “Alex, how can you bear to have them around? How?”

Alex’s jaw tightened. He seriously thought the question of whether half-angels could be trusted should have been settled a year ago, when Willow and Seb had almost died trying to halt the attack on the Seraphic Council. His instant anger faded slightly as he took in Kara’s bruises again.

“Look, I don’t know what you’ve been through, but you’re way off base,” he said. “I’d trust Seb with my life, and Willow… Christ, Willow is my life.”

Alarmingly, Kara seemed close to tears. “The whole time he was standing there… Oh god, his energy is so similar to theirs that it makes me sick. And for you to actually be with one of them – for you to—” She broke off, her thin frame shuddering.

Alex started to reply, then stopped short. This so wasn’t about Willow and Seb. He reached for her hand, held it between both of his. “What’s happened, Kara?”

She swallowed. “I’ve been in an Eden.”

Alex’s spine stiffened – he should have guessed. “Where’s Brendan?” he asked after a pause. “Is he alive too?”

Kara was staring up at the ceiling; as she shook her head, a single tear ran down her swollen cheek. “No. When we were trying to get out of Mexico City, the quake hit. The van crashed, and he was injured – really badly – internal stuff. I managed to steal another car, and we got out. I kept telling him to hold on, kept thinking he might make it… Finally we got into Texas, and there was a makeshift hospital set up for people who’d been injured in the Houston quake. He died there. He hadn’t even been conscious most of the trip.”

Alex let out a long breath, remembering Brendan – his shock of reddish hair; his wiry body and incessant talking. Incongruously, he thought how weird it must have been, to have travelled so many miles with Brendan without hearing him talk the whole time.

Kara wiped her cheek. “Then before I could leave the hospital, some soldiers came and said they were taking everyone to a refugee camp. I didn’t want to attract attention by saying no; I thought I could escape on the way. But I couldn’t. They took my gun, and once we were at the camp, we were watched every second.” She gave a bitter laugh. “The others were just happy to be someplace with food and electricity. They couldn’t see all the angels – all the feeding that was going on, day and night. After three months, almost everyone in the place had angel burn.”

Alex’s veins chilled. “How did you avoid it?”

Kara looked haunted. “I don’t know. They tried. They kept coming down to – to choose me, and I’d see them looking so beautiful and feel their minds linking with mine…” She gave a convulsive shudder.

“And then what?” Alex asked intensely. “They just gave up and flew away again?”

“Yeah.” Kara let out a strangled laugh. “Maybe I don’t taste so good.”

Alex’s thoughts were whirling. It sounded as if Kara had been marshalled – something an angel named Nate had told him about. Before the Seraphic Council had executed them all, there’d been a group of angels sympathetic to humans. They’d been trying to marshal as many people as they could: place a small bit of resistance in human auras, making them unpalatable to angels.

But Kara would have realized. It wasn’t something an angel could do without being noticed.

His attention snapped back as Kara started talking again, her voice thick and halting: “Anyway, I kept trying to escape – never managed it. Then they moved us all into Austin Eden.”

She let out a shuddering breath. “Things were kind of chaotic in the refugee camp, but once we got to the Eden… Alex, you wouldn’t believe how organized that place is. It’s the same in all of them, I guess. They’ve got different sectors, and the one you’re assigned to determines how often you’re allowed to be fed from. Because, like, if you’ve got a skill the angels need – say you’re an electrician or something – then they don’t want you to get too weak, so they keep track…”

She went into a sudden coughing fit, and Alex rose hastily to get her a glass of water. She drank it with his arm around her, holding her up. The news about the sectors was something they’d long suspected, from reading between the lines of shortwave news broadcasts. He wished to hell they’d been wrong.

“Thanks,” Kara mumbled, dropping back against the pillows. “Of course, they don’t say all that – but if you don’t have angel burn and can see what’s going on, it’s obvious.” She gave a humourless laugh. “They put me in A1. Guess I should have been flattered – only the young, good-looking people with fresh, pretty auras went there. I mean, we were popular with the angels. Not that anyone ever stayed in A1 very long…” Kara’s throat moved, her brown eyes lost in that other time.

“So yeah, it didn’t take them long to notice that none of the angels could feed from me. I guess I piqued their interest a little. I spent the last seven months in Austin locked in a hospital room while the angels tried to figure me out.”

“What – you mean examining you?” Cold crept across Alex’s scalp. His eyes flew to Kara’s left shirtsleeve – underneath, there lay an AK tattoo identical to his own. Once, the angels might not have known what the letters stood for; they sure as hell did now.

“Don’t worry, I got rid of it before I even got to Austin,” Kara said wearily. She lifted the sleeve of her faded T-shirt, and Alex winced – where her tattoo had been was now a series of long, jagged scars.

“Oh Christ, Kara…” He couldn’t say any more.

She dropped the sleeve. “I had to. People know who the AKs are now, after what happened in Mexico City – they hate all of us. I did it with a piece of metal I found and managed to keep it hidden until it healed a little. Not that it made any difference once they put me in the hospital. Raziel knew it was me.”

“Raziel?”

Her mouth was a bitter line. “Yeah. Your girlfriend’s father. He kept coming all the way down from Denver to poke and prod at me himself.” She shuddered. “Alex, how you can even stand touching her, when—”

“Shut it,” he said sharply. “She’s nothing like them, and you know it.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Kara wiped her eyes. “So, yeah, ol’ Raz was pretty interested in what makes me tick…because I guess it’s more than me just not being tasty to them. They can’t – they can’t seem to read me.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“They couldn’t read me. It drove them crazy. Drove him crazy, especially. For weeks – months – if it wasn’t him, it was one of the others. They strapped me down so I couldn’t struggle and they’d hold my hand, and I could feel their minds creeping into mine – so cold and slimy – over and over…” She choked to a stop.

Oh Jesus. Alex rubbed a fist against his forehead. He guessed he couldn’t blame her for hating anything that reminded her of the angels.

“They were trying to find out about us, weren’t they?” he said. “Whether Willow’s still alive or not.”

“Yeah.” Kara swallowed hard. “I told them you were all dead, killed in the Mexico City quake. It was true, for all I knew – I just didn’t want them to get anything about the base here, no matter what. Finally they started on more…physical methods.”

Alex’s fist was still tight. With his other hand, he gently touched Kara’s bruised cheek. “This?”

Without the dramatic make-up she used to wear, her beaten face looked young and exposed. “No, that was after I escaped – there was a bandit I stole the truck from. He didn’t want to give it up, but I was pretty desperate – believe me, I gave as good as I got. The angels are…subtler than that. You don’t want to know, okay?”

Taking in the slight quiver of her mouth, Alex knew she was probably right. With a bitter anger, he longed to destroy every angel who’d touched her.

“Anyway, they’ll be pissed off that I escaped,” Kara said, triumph clear in her tone. “Since they couldn’t get anything from me, they were going to use me at the Salt Lake Eden founding celebration. Like, look who we caught! What do you think we should do with her, oh noble Salt Lake Eden people?”

Alex could just imagine: it would have been like a scene from ancient Rome, with them tossing Kara to the Church of Angels’ lions. A silence stretched out between them. From the clock on the wall, Alex saw that it was after two in the morning.

“How did you get away?” he asked.

She shook her head; he could see how exhausted she was. “It doesn’t matter – it was while they were transporting me to Salt Lake Eden. But, Alex, listen: there’s something I haven’t told you.” She groped for his hand again; he enfolded hers in his own.

“What?” he urged.

Kara shut her good eye for a moment; finally she opened it again. “Before they put me in the hospital, I managed to get out of A1 a few times and tried to escape – once I made it as far as the lowest sector in the city, where they keep people who are in really bad shape. And, Alex – Cully was there. I was with him when he died. He knew something.”