Page 18 of Born Savage

Star was instantly alarmed, every muscle tensing. After the throes of the pandemic, fear had replaced certain death, anyone succumbing to any airborne illnesses either banished from a village or murdered when panic ensued.

“You can’t take her away. She is just a child.” Star’s absolute concern would be touching were it not reckless. At least I knew a little about the plague, more so than I cared to admit. “I have medicine that will help her.”

“She is not stricken. As you said, she is malnourished and whatever medicine you have will not help.” In truth, I suspected the girl’s ability to heal had a brutal back side, her body cradling the effects of whatever malady she cured. For however long, I did not know. But there were people who did. For now, uninterrupted sleep would do the child some good.

“You’re certain?” There was no real reason for Star to trust me, but she had no other choice.

“Yes. Let me take the child. You fare marginally better.”

“He will not hurt her,” Wrath offered. “He only hurts himself.”

Whatever his attempt at humor, at this point it didn’t matter. But perhaps his words provided her with a sense of comfort, even if only long enough to escape the confines of the tunnel. Until then, I had a captive audience.

After that, all bets were off.

She allowed me to gather the girl in my arms, brushing hair from the child’s face and without looking me in the eye, she issued a warning of her own.

“Be careful, Savage. You might think you have me as your captive, but I have more in my bag of tricks than simply weapons. Something for you to keep in mind.”

CHAPTER 4

Rage

An intense howl by some creature rippled through the darkness, the sound echoing through the barren forest. The location had been highlighted on a map, safely hidden with natural rough terrain yet close enough to the exit point of the tunnel to make the location viable.

With the nights growing cold, a fire had been needed, a luxury when out in the open but one worth the risk tonight.

Wrath was keeping a close eye on any activity by measuring anything resonating heat and electricity, his skill with the instrument allowing him to know the difference in creatures who might dare advance. There were no known campsites in the area, most within the Resistance and stragglers fearful of being too close to the Borgata.

The buildings were sparse but remarkably intact even after decades of abandonment. At least they offered refuge from the wind.

I sat on the ground, watching as Vicious led the female from where the little girl and dog were sleeping, the makeshift cot made as comfortable as possible. We certainly hadn’t prepared for having a child with us, but we were used to sleeping on the ground when necessary.

Nights like this were when memories refused to be shoved aside. I’d been seven years old when the world had fallen apart, a young boy with eager dreams of becoming a professional baseball player.

I’d never forget where I was when the alarms had gone off, where I always was even when out of season. In the ballfield with my dad. The park was close to the house, an easy walk that had always included getting ice cream after practice. Even with a chill in the air.

Not that we’d ever walked. We’d always had an escort, a bulletproof SUV to keep us safe. At that point, I’d never known life without protection, always surrounded by bodyguards, but for a boy with no friends, the men had been decent substitutions, including when my father hadn’t been available to take me to practice.

I took a pull on the bottle of vitamin juice, wishing I could have one last double chocolate ice cream cone. I’d just popped a fly when my father’s phone had gone off, not like when he had a phone call, but when a siren regarding a weather event was about to hit.

Only the day had been perfectly sunny, not a cloud in the sky.

After that, memories collided because of the chaos. By the time we’d gotten home, our mother was in a panic. The news on the teleprompter had explained the dire situation. And even though there’d been drills and bunkers built, there were not nearly enough to save everyone.

Not nearly enough.

But we’d been protected, given entrance to one of secured underground facilities because of my father’s job. We’d been one of the lucky ones, or so I’d been reminded hundreds of times.

All to keep me in line.

A crackle of something to my right dragged my attention away from some of the last memories I had of our happy family. After that, everything had changed.

As Star was led past the fire, she pulled away from Vicious long enough to offer another heated stare in my direction. As I’d felt before, there was something unexplainable between us, which at this point had become more annoying than anything.

I was on edge and not from any concern we might be ambushed. Around her, it felt as if the air had been sucked out of me. While I couldn’t figure out why, what I did know was that being near her was toxic.

If only mentally.