Edge Of Bloodshed (Beyond the Collapse Book 3) Read online

  “You could say that,” he said, smiling as he thought back to his past. He told her about how he had found Peter and the two of them had made it out to the forest, only to come back and run into Diana and Annabelle.

  “It's lucky you ran into them. They seem like good people,” she said.

  “They are, although it wasn't lucky for them...for Diana.”

  “You have to stop that.”

  “What?”

  “Beating yourself up. You're not as bad as you think you are, Adam. In fact, I think you're pretty amazing.”

  “You do?”

  Tara giggled. “I do. Think of all the things you've just told me, and look at the people around you in the camp. How many of them can say the same things? At least you're always fighting, always trying to move forward in this life and not let it crumble.”

  “I didn't think I'd even make it this far after that first night,” Adam agreed.

  “I remember it all too well,” Tara said.

  “My roommate was out when it happened. I woke up. I must have heard something outside. I heard the planes crash and everyone was screaming. I quickly got dressed and ran downstairs, but nobody seemed to know what was happening. Everyone wanted to do something different--”

  “And it was hard to know what to do or who to follow.”

  “Exactly. I ended up with a group, and we went from place to place, but it was so hard to stay in the city with all the looters. Eventually, we came here and things were okay at first.”

  “Was Lisa there from the start?”

  “No, actually, there were just a few of us, but more people found us as time went on, and Lisa was one of them. At first, I thought she was harmless and she seemed quite keen to help. Eventually, she was doing more than helping. She was telling people what to do. I guess everyone was so shell-shocked from what had happened that they were happy someone else was taking the lead, and it just went from there. It was a gradual thing really,” she said, her face creasing as she thought back to those days.

  “I didn't really pay much attention to it myself. I was alone. I knew there was no chance of seeing my family again, and my roommate could have been anywhere in the city.”

  “Didn't you want to go out and find her?”

  “I did, but I was scared. I'm not like you guys. I never learned how to take care of myself in that way. I wouldn't have lasted five minutes in the city. Besides, by that point we had set up the school and I had kids I was teaching, and I actually was happy, if you can believe that. It felt like all the bad stuff was over and I could get back to some semblance of a normal life. I woke up, went to work, then came home and relaxed. I guess that was a delusion. If anyone is to blame for all this, it's me. I turned my eyes away and ignored everything Lisa was doing. I was one of the people who let it get this bad.”

  “No, you can't blame yourself,” he said, and reached out to place a hand on hers. Her flesh was soft and warm, and it felt like their two hands were meant to be together. Adam looked into her eyes and knew there was a real connection there.

  “Is it a bad time to ask you for a kiss?”

  “Considering the circumstances, I don't think there's a better time,” she replied, and they leaned in for a tender kiss.

  They smiled at each other, trying to ignore the fact that in a few hours they both would be executed. But at least they had found a little happiness in the time they had left. They fell into the arms of each other and, finally, sleep came upon them.

  The morning light dawned and the long night was over. In the middle of the morning the four of them were roused and dragged out to a clearing in the middle of the camp. Adam felt a little better for having slept, but his heart was being torn by the fact that he would not get to see the rest of his life. He wanted to know what it was like to be in love, but that chance was going to be denied him. He certainly didn't see how they were going to escape. He'd never been the best planner, and there weren't any obvious escape routes. If he charged at the guards, they only would shoot him. Even if he did manage to wrest away one of the guns, he wouldn't be able to make it far until they hunted him down, and they most likely would take one of the others as a hostage. He was willing to sacrifice himself so the others could live, but he didn't want any of them to make the same sacrifice for him.

  A lot of people had come to witness their execution. Many of them were people he had fought beside the previous night. It was hard to believe that it had been just a few hours ago when he had been lost in the heat of battle and had managed to escape death then, only for it to find him again. When he looked at the people in the crowd they all turned their eyes away. It angered him that nobody would speak up and stop what was going to happen.

  The four of them stood together and Adam tried clinging on to one last bit of hope. “There's no way they're going to kill a child,” he said.

  “There are no innocent people in the world anymore,” Lisa said as she strode in front of them.

  Adam looked at the others. This was it. He nodded at Peter and Annabelle, and smiled at Tara, hoping that she saw the regret in his eyes for everything that they were not going to be able to experience together. There were so many things he regretted in his life, but going to his death was not what he thought it would be. There was a peaceful resignation about him. There was no use fighting. Nothing was going to come of it. Nobody was going to rush in and save him. The only thing in his heart was disappointment because people weren't what he thought them to be. Humanity was being tested, and it was failing miserably. If this was the way the world was going, then perhaps it was better that he wasn't a part of it anyway.

  “I'm going first,” he said, and stepped forward. Lee wore a wolfish grin on his face. It had to be Lee. Of course it did.

  “I respect you for not crying,” Lee said.

  He was standing about fifty paces away from Adam, near the crowd. Adam stared at the gun and wondered what his last thought would be. Then there was a blur in the crowd and, just as Lee pulled the trigger, someone ran in front of him and took the bullet for Adam. A loud gasp ran through the crowd. Adam leaned forward to see who it was. Lee looked down and turned the body over. It was Joanna. The bullet had caught her straight in the chest. She coughed up blood and then her head lolled to the side. Another pair of dead eyes stared at Adam. She finally had done something selfless after all.

  Lee scowled and shook his head. It seemed to be a futile gesture as it didn't change anything. Lee began to raise his weapon again and a shot rang out, but it wasn't from his gun. Everyone looked around, confused.

  “Attack! We're being attacked!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Diana had been afraid when Stan and Matthew had emerged from the church. She thought they were going to refuse her idea, but it seemed that Stan had persuaded Matthew to send a small force with her. It wasn't exactly the all-out assault she had wanted, but at least she would get there to rescue Annabelle and the others. Then she would be able to bring them back, and they could plan how to get their revenge upon Lisa once and for all.

  When they approached the camp Diana had mixed feelings, but she was confused when she saw how quiet the camp was. It was startling to see how clean and safe this camp appeared compared to the one she just had left, and it made her feel even guiltier that she had ruined the homes of Matthew's people, when it appeared they were the innocent party. On the way to the camp she had stayed closed to Stan since the others looked at her with suspicion. She couldn't blame them, really. Matthew had warned her before she left that if this was a trap she would pay dearly, and Stan had warned her of the same thing. She never would have played on his feelings for Annabelle like that, though. As they walked through the city the two of them talked about Annabelle. Stan was happy to share stories from when Annabelle was younger, and Diana updated him on some of the things that Annabelle had done in the time that they had known each other.

  When Diana first had met Stan she was afraid, of course, because that was the image he projected
. Yet, after spending some more time with him she saw that he was a caring person, and it was refreshing to see a father who cared so much for his daughter. She had been afraid, of course, that Annabelle had suffered the same fate as her, but she was thankful to see that that wasn't the case. Sometimes it was hard to remember that not every child had the same upbringing as she did, or the same abusive father. It warmed her heart to see how Stan grew emotional when talking about his past, and for Diana it was rare to see such warm, genuine emotion.

  Being an actress in her old life, she almost had forgotten what it was like to have genuine emotions. She had lived in a false world for too long, and it was on purpose because she had buried her own feelings deep down inside of her. For her, the past was something better left far away, in the cold recesses of the arctic parts of her soul, unlike Stan, who glowed with the warmth of his memories. Diana wished she could have had a father like Stan, someone who took care of her and protected her and did all the things a father should have. Not like her own father, who broke the rules.

  She and Stan had a natural rapport, and although they mostly bonded over Annabelle, the two of them were talking the whole way, and she was looking forward to reuniting them. Both he and Annabelle had suffered so much, and she couldn't wait to see their faces when they saw each other again. There was so little happiness in the world that anything good had to be seized, and after all the devastation that Diana had seen last night she wanted to see something good. She always had considered herself a decent person, not quite good, and there had been many things of which she was ashamed. Although none of them compared to the events of the previous night. She hoped she was on the way to make up for that. She remembered her sister, and how she wanted to live in a way that her sister would be proud of her.

  However, when she came upon the camp she wasn't sure how things were going to go. The morning light had dawned, so they did not have the welcome cover of darkness. Diana hoped the surprise would make up for that, but they soon found they did not have to move that stealthily through the camp. She knew that most people still would be sleeping after the efforts of the previous night, but she hadn't expected it to be this empty. Then she saw the crowd massed in the middle of the camp and her mouth dropped open in horror. Stan tensed beside her as he saw Annabelle, and quickly realized what was happening. Diana saw Joanna jump in front of Lee, and then Stan fired off a shot. Everyone panicked as they tried to see where the shooter was, as in their minds it was a retaliatory attack. They scattered and Lisa fled for cover. Stan and Diana ran forward while the others laid down covering fire.

  Diana pushed past everyone and ran toward Annabelle, who saw her first. The young girl screamed with delight and flung her arms around Diana. Peter, Adam, and Tara stared at her, dumbfounded.

  “I thought you were--” Adam began.

  “There's time to talk about that later,” Diana said, with a huge grin.

  She pulled Adam close to her in a big hug and was more glad to see him than she thought she would have been. Bullets flew around them, and they ran for cover, back to safety. Diana bent down to Annabelle and told her there was someone she wanted her to meet. Then Diana stepped away and Stan was there. He fell to his knees. Annabelle stopped in her tracks.

  “Daddy?” she gasped, tears filling her eyes.

  Stan wept too as he wrapped his hand around Annabelle and pulled her in, holding her so tightly that the young girl barely could breathe. The reunion was sweet, but hurried. Stan stood up and held Annabelle up in his strong arms, and they sprinted back to their allies. The battle was more of a skirmish.

  Adam heard Lee in the background shouting for people to arm themselves. He had no idea where Lisa had disappeared to. As he twisted his head, he looked at Joanna's dead body lying on the ground. In her last act she finally had done something selfless. After her betrayal she had given her life so that Adam could live for a few moments longer, and had ended up saving his life. For so long he had hated her for everything she had done to Clark and for all she had given up, but now his feelings were mixed. Perhaps it was best that her story had ended in that manner. At least now she had some semblance of peace and maybe she and Clark had been reunited in a better world.

  He gripped Tara's hand and ran with her, following Diana. Seeing Diana again still was something that he was processing as he had believed she was dead, and she had found Annabelle's father as well! This was a sharp turn of events, but he was frustrated that Lisa, Lee, and the others had escaped justice yet again. Still, at least he was alive and had another chance to take them all down. The bullets were flying all around them, and once again he was in the middle of a war zone. From the looks on the people with Stan and Diana, they were not too happy to see him, and part of him recognized a couple of them as people he had fought the previous night. It was strange to think how quickly things could change in such a short amount of time. Most of all, he was glad Diana was alive. As long as they all were together they would be able to keep on fighting, and work to rebel against Lisa's evil regime.

  He looked at Tara as well and remembered the kiss they had shared before they slept. It had been a kiss of two people condemned to death, but he was sure there was something else there. He wanted to kiss her again, wanted to be close to her again. It felt natural to hold her hand and be by her side, and as Lee had aimed the gun at Adam he had been surprised with what his final thought actually had been. He thought it would have been something to do with the things he had loved throughout his life, perhaps remembering Spock's death in The Wrath of Khan, or the final redemption of Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, but instead he had thought about Tara, and all the things he wanted to do with her, the life he wanted to build.

  There had been so much he had missed out on in his old life, and now he realized how empty it had all been. Tara had opened up new possibilities. He only hoped she felt the same way, and that she too thought there was something substantial between them and that their attraction was not just some last attempt to feel companionship in the last throes of their lives.

  Adam looked behind him, and he could hear people shouting angrily. It wouldn't be long before they went to the armory and all had weapons, and would come back in force. There were so many questions that he wanted to ask of Diana and this Stan fellow. However, they barely had time as they had to sprint as quickly as they could, ducking into the wreckage of the city to hide from the pursuing forces. Adam didn't think they would be pursued all the way, though, as the camp had endured too much fighting. But Lisa would be angry that they had escaped. She already had signed their death warrants and she would be coming back to fulfill her demand. But Adam was going to fight her again. He and the others were going to stand against her and Lee and all the others who stood with her.

  There still was hope, he knew that now. He had stared death in the face again, and he still was breathing. There was hope, and there still were people willing to fight for what was right. He only hoped that these people were the ones who could give him what he wanted; a sanctuary, a home, a place where he felt safe and actually could rebuild the world with the values that he held most dear. Yet, he was afraid too that he would be lurching into another dangerous situation, another brush with death. Would there ever be a time when he could settle down and find a home that delivered upon its promise, where goodness lay beyond the veil of tranquility? All he could do was keep moving. That really was all any of them could do.

  Annabelle clung to her father. Tears stained her eyes, and she wasn't quite sure how she should feel. He didn't look the same as he used to. He'd lost a hand and an eye, but he was the same man. He even smelled the same. She buried her face into his neck and breathed in deeply, remembering so many times when he used to pick her up and carry her, saving her from monsters. He was saving her from monsters again. She'd given up hope. In the first days of her being alone she had prayed and wished and dreamed to find her parents again, but as the days went by she had given up that hope and had had to force herself to face the tr
uth. The last thing she had seen was her parents being dragged away, howling to her to run as fast as she could, and as their screams had faded into the distance and her breath had burned in her lungs she felt sure she had seen the last of them. But somehow her father had lived, and perhaps her mother had as well. Maybe she was waiting for them!

  And yet there was so much left unspoken between them. So much had happened to Annabelle, and even though she was right there with him, it was difficult to believe he actually was alive. She wondered if he would be proud of her for everything she had done.

  Back in the camp, when she and the others had been taken out in front of everyone else, Annabelle really had not been cognizant of what was happening. She knew it was something bad, and there was talk of execution, but she never really believed that it would happen. Sometimes the things people believed were false anyway. Adam had told her that Diana had died, and then she had strode through the camp and saved them all. Annabelle smiled at that. Diana was the best friend she ever could have. In fact, she was more like the sister she never had...and if her mother wasn't around, well, Diana could be that too, maybe, in the future. She loved Diana with all her heart and she was glad that Diana still would be around to help her. She hoped that her daddy would get along well with all her friends, but first they had to get to safety. They ran as quickly as they could and people barely spoke to each other. Tara was there too, and Annabelle was glad to see that the teacher was there. She knew she would need to apologize to her at some point, but that could wait.

  Ahead of her a new camp crested. Another new place to live. The buildings were charred and burned, and she wondered if this was where Adam, Peter, and Diana had been the previous night. It made her hate Lisa all the more because it meant that her father had been in danger. Annabelle already had seen him be attacked once. She never was going to leave him again. While it would take a little getting used to having him back in her life, she was so glad he was there with her. A part of her was almost afraid this was some terrible dream, and that when she awoke she would be alone again.