Read Online From The Ashes (Life After War) by Angela White - Free Book Online Page B

minutes.”
    Jennifer felt the hateful glares of the other females. She knew what they were planning–it was hard not to with Lilly rolling up the sleeves on her dress–but the man now staring at her with an open glaze of need was in the chain of command. That was handy information to have.
    “ Please. You have to keep me away from them.”
    Kyle turned to study the small group of muttering females standing across the fire. “They're the threat?”
    Jennifer pulled his attention back with her note of panic. “Yes. I won't make it to your camp.”
    “ Why do you need protection from them?”
    “ I'd rather not say.” Jennifer looked away. “They'll be happy to give it to you in full detail.”
    Kyle saw one of the females start whispering to a nearby Eagle. He would know soon enough, but hearing it from her seemed important.
    “ If you want me to guard you, I have to know.”
    Kyle was unprepared for the glaze of cold calculation that fell over her face.
    “ I kill on command,” Jennifer admitted bitterly. “It's what I did for Cesar in this new world.”
    Kyle's tormented soul fell at her feet, instantly bonded. “Do you, really?”
    She looked at him with eyes that said there wasn't much she wouldn't do to get her way. “As top slave, I played God with all our lives.”
    “ Let's go, everyone,” Jeremy called. “Just squeeze into the trucks.”
    The kids looked to Jennifer, and so did the other women. The adults would wait for her to make the choice and resent her even while benefiting.
    “ I'm going with them,” Jennifer told the kids she'd come to love. “I'd like you to come, too. I'll care for you the same as I always have.”
    The kids moved toward the trucks without needing to hear anything else, but Jennifer didn't follow. The adult females were headed her way, faces set–determined. If only they'd come together like this sooner!
    Jennifer understood their need to see her punished–she hadn't looked out for their best interests. In fact, she'd sacrificed these cowardly women whenever she could.
    Jennifer braced her swollen ankles as Lilly and the others stepped over silently shrieking Mexican corpses to get to her. She looked over the men, finding Kyle, locking eyes with him. She didn't push or pull–just stared.
    Kyle broke into a light sweat, thrown into confusion once again. Her fear was hitting him in waves, demanding that he help, but Kyle didn't understand how one little group of women could be so dangerous to her. It wasn't as if they were going to attack her or anything.
    Jennifer switched her gaze back to the approaching females, hoping the one moment with Kyle would be enough. If not, she and her unborn child might die here.
    Lilly, who'd been Jose's slave, but treated just as cruelly as the others, again led the confrontation. “You're not going!”
    Jennifer got ready, gathering what energy she had to protect her stomach. “Make it official, then. I have no problem with killing you.”
    Lilly hesitated at the tone, but the others didn't pause in their march forward, and she had no choice.
    “ I challenge you for top slave.”
    Jennifer sneered, already knowing. “Alone?”
    Grace, another former rival for top slave, stepped forward. “We've decided to share power. Get her!”
    The slaps, kicks, and fists came from too many directions to defend against.
     
    “ Son of a...”
    Kyle and the Eagles rushed into the mob, shoving swinging women aside to find Jennifer curled into a ball around her stomach. There was too much blood-splatter on her dress and the ground to determine how injured she might be.
    “ Get them loaded!” Kyle ordered, kneeling down. He picked the girl up gently, thick arms tense. Touching her was like standing on the threshold of the greatest dream.
    He cradled her close as he stood, picking out injuries–new and old–and the other women glowered resentfully.
    “ Thank you.”
    Jennifer's weak whisper gave him relief, and reminded him of the nightmare with