Page 53 of Echoes of War

Imagine my surprise when my dad had alerted me to their fully operational Navy. Okay, maybe calling them a Navy was generous, but they were ramping up for war. It was mostly fisherman and general border protection, but still, impressive.

There was a great reason most people didn’t make it out of Covert Province, and the ones who did were too traumatized to speak on what they encountered. The airborne reconnaissance here was lethal. The phrase “word travels fast” was true as the sky was blue. Their Air elementals could track those through the wind in more ways than one, not to mention the way they could influence airflow as a whole.

Air Elementals mixed with the Geokinetic Trackers from Earth elementals, and I found that I’d never leave this place without my dad’s permission even if I did have any regrets. Which I didn’t.

Either way, they’d hunt me down before I made it anywhere near a border. They were the ones who found me and brought me home the moment I crossed it.

Did I feel sorry for the Outsiders? Kinda, but not really. It wasn’t my fault they drew the short end of the stick power-wise. Maybe their kids would luck out and be more powerful than them, or, hell, maybe they’d be granted more than one power. But good luck making their way out of the outskirts of the territory. The cities out there were decimated from either bombs, radiation, the after-effects of the apocalypse, or all of the above.

We’d crossed through some on my way to Richmond, and it wasn’t pretty. That was life though; it couldn’t all be rainbows and flowers.

There was a knock on the door of my apartment. I paused the movie playing on the wall from the projector above my couch. I sighed, walking over to open it, but already knowing who was likely on the other side. Malachai, one of my father’s self-proclaimed “guardians.” He was an ugly fella, in his forties, clearly had it tougher in life in The Before. Wouldn’t be surprised if hard drugs had been part of his daily habit by the craters in his skin.

We didn’t get along, him and I. Hadn’t since the day I arrived. He didn’t trust me, and I found that I didn’t trust him much either. He was such a simpleton, in his secret service ass suit.

“Malachai,” I said, waiting for him to tell me what displeasure brought him to my door.

He placed his hand on his ear piece, the other moving directly in my face, silencing me like he wasn’t the one who disturbedmypeace. I cleared my throat impatiently and he glared, motioning me to follow him.

Rolling my eyes, I slammed the door in his face. Striding across the room to pull my boots on and strap in my weapons. A small smile pulled at my lips and I fought to shake it off. Moe had given one of the pistols to me,blessed it for protectionshe’d claimed. Whatever the hell that meant. Malachai’s fist throttled into the door, shaking the room.

“Chill the fuck out,” I yelled, knowing it would only sour his mood but reveling in the idea of it.

I yanked the door back open, sliding past him without a word. His heavy steps sounded at my rear and he let out a low grumble as if it would make me tremble in my boots. He was at least a foot shorter than me, and he didn’t look like he’d ever fought a day in his life. There was nothing to fear here as far as I was concerned.

He mumbled in between whatever conversation he was listening to in his ear, “Your father would like to see you.”

“Figured you wouldn’t be here bothering me if that weren’t the case.”

I hopped into the passenger seat of the blacked-out SUV; it was still a weird thing for me. They still lived a life of luxury in these parts. Cars, electricity, air conditioning, hell, even smart homes if you were important enough. If I didn’t know any better, I’d never have known bombs went off anywhere in the vicinity of this place.

Malachai grumbled to himself as he pulled off. Ten minutes later, I stood in front of the old capitol building. It looked like a knock off version of the White House. Of course my dad had claimed it as his own.

I smirked—power always belonged to those who took it. Nothing new under the sun.

Dad was gifted, as were Reina and I. Her brains, my brawn, but better. It didn’t take long for him to worm his way to the top of the food chain, especially when he’d begun the experiments. His work with eugenics was all theoretical as far as I knew, but his work on the Pansies … that had brought him some notoriety. His own bite had inspired him when he’d failed to turn. Then people of power around him dropped faster than flies, the only answer as far as the Elite were concerned, was him.

The halls were decorated with classical bullshit. Not exactly my taste, but, hey, it wasn’t my mansion. Reina would love it when she got here though; she’d get to be the little princess she’d always dreamed of being. After this was all over, I’d go back to the outskirts, find myself a ranch to settle down on. Moe would come around eventually. We could be happy there. All we needed was each other—she’d said so herself.

I followed Malachai down the narrow hallway, a chill passing over my body, still not accustomed to the feeling of A/C on my skin again. The door opened to a room full of people surrounding several surveillance screens, maps were pulled up on the smallerones scattered around them. There were red dots littered over a few settlements I recognized, a large X placed over the place I once called home.

Dad glanced up, his freckled weathered face pulled into a grin, and the room cleared out. The men stared me down as they left, measuring me up like I posed a great danger to them all. Insults rolled off their tongues quietly, addressed toward each other but meant for my sensitive ears to hear. And I suppose I could be a threat to them all, if I wanted to. I kept my face hard, not wanting to show any signs of weakness. They would eat that shit up here and toss me out to the dogs.

His head tilted to the side, taking me in as though he still couldn’t believe I was here. He glided across the room gracefully, his rough hands cupping my face gently. “My boy, I’m glad you’re here.”

There was excitement in his voice, but I rolled my eyes in response. “It’s not like I had a choice,” I grumbled, throwing a choice look of disgruntle in Malachai’s direction.

He yanked my face back toward him. “Don’t disrespect your elders, Seth. If you want people’s approval, you’ll have to establish a relationship with those surrounding you,supportingyou. Tell me, are you not up to the task? Arrangements can be made if that’s the case.”

“No, dad,” I replied, making sure my eyes remained on him. “I apologize, no disrespect intended, Malachai.”

Malachai’s only response was a grunt and the click of the door. He hadn’t gone far; I could hear his labored breathing outside the door. My father’s first line of defense indeed. The thing about Malachai was he didn’t appear threatening, but his power was lethal. Nothing Amaia couldn’t take out if it came down to it, but for around here, powerful enough. The best of the best were placed where it mattered, preparing the troops.

“We’re leaving here when arrangements have been finalized,” Dad said, his words interrupting my thoughts. “We’ll be heading west. It appears your sister and her friends have initiated preparation for war and have warned other settlements in the area. Our test squadron was compromised within days. I thought you said Duluth’s military was a mess.”

I cleared my throat. “They are. Or were, but as I already made you aware, Amaia would be focused on training them?—”

“Ah, yes. Made me aware, same way you made me aware of the supposed battle tactics she would use. You were right, for the most part,” he cut me off, moving toward the screen and zooming in a few miles outside of Duluth. “For the most part, Seth, didn’t spare many lives. Lucky for us, they were Outsider grunts attempting to move up with the promise of cross-breeding with more successful members of society. Not a real loss, we learned enough. What I can’t seem to understand is why you didn’t tell me they could improvise against our higher tech.”

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