LIfe After War #5-Brady, Brady, Brady

First Sergeant Marcus Brady

Age: 35

Height: 6’

12/13/77

Weight: 225 lbs

Broad shoulders

Loner/slightly bitter

Forced to go into the service

Black feathered hair

Colt .45’s-matching ivory handles

Full, pouty lips

Quote: “It’s okay to be scared, but you have to think too.”

Strengths

-There are few problems he can’t handle if given the time or materials.

-Once his loyalty is given, it is unshakable.

Weaknesses

-Knows how to be a team player but his misery often makes him a loner.

-beyond at having another chance with Angie, he has no other goals, no vision for his future.

FBI notes

-DNA marker came back inconclusive. Subject shows no signs of mental abilities; however, termination has been recommended due to above average strategy skills. Considered Dangerous. Location: New Mexico-See case manager for map.

How does Marc feel about Angie becoming an Eagle? Here’s a clip that should help explain it.

“Can I sit here?”

Angela looked up from her tray with an unguarded smile that made Marc’s heart thump.

“You know it.”

Her response, however, made his anger flare higher. She sounded more like these people every day. “I’d like to talk to you about something that’s bothering me.”

Angela answered distractedly, glad to feel the pill finally starting to calm the heat in her shoulder. “What’s up?”

Marc sat across from her and braced himself, suddenly sure it would go badly. “I don’t think you should be an Eagle.”

A breathless sort of shock slid over her face and Marc dropped his head, but didn’t stop. “I’d like you to resign, find something else. There has to be a safer way for you to help him.”

“I see.” There was only ice now. “And your reasons?”

Marc felt the ambush coming, tried to head it off. “There’s a lot you’re not seeing and it might get you hurt. These people don’t want you to do it, not even the women here. Just you and Adrian.”

There was a sneer in his tone that had her frowning. He still didn’t trust or even like Adrian.

“That’s not true,” she argued, thinking of her shower visit from Hilda and Peggy. “There are a few.”

Marc shook his head. “Trained lapdogs don’t count.” His voice gentled, became almost patronizing to her wounded ears. “And none of them really think you can either. When the first cage match comes and no one hits you, everyone will see the flaw in his plans.”

Angela knew she should be furious with his lack of support, but she’d already noticed those things hadn’t she? Marc’s beef wasn’t the Eagles at the moment, but Adrian. “You’re jealous.”

It was a fact being stated. Marc couldn’t, wouldn’t deny it.

Sadness hit Angela in waves. “Why can’t I have both, Brady?”

“What?” Marc had been bracing for her anger, not a compromise.

“Both. You and the Eagles.”

Marc didn’t know what to say to that and she leaned forward. “I have the room and I’ve been working on it from the moment we got here. I want both.”

Angela’s voice lowered to a plea. “I need both. Please don’t make me pick one or the other.”

Marc hated it that he could feel himself turning into Kenn. “How does that work?”

“You have to let me do what I am meant to. If I get hurt in the process, that’s life now. I’ve been held back for so long!”

She noticed the nearest perimeter guards changing, made contact with the shadows. “And there’s so much I can do, so many ways I can help if I’m an Eagle.”

Angela turned back to him with flecks of steel shimmering. “I will be one of them, in every way, Brady. I’m almost free of the past, but this can’t hang between us. You’ll have to decide if you can let me live my life the way I see fit. If you can, I’ll share it with you, openly.”

Her tone went back to ice. “But that means accepting me as an Eagle.”

“And that’s firm? No room to bend?”

Angela sighed at the stiffness in his voice. “What if I said okay, Marc? I’ll move my stuff into your tent today and resign, go back to just being a doctor. Is that what you want?”

She had tried hard for casual, but the pain clear and Marc shook his head. “Yes.”

Angela’s face tightened. He wouldn’t force her, would he? “I’ll go pack. You tell Adrian.”

Marc’s eyes flashed and she gave him a hard stare, pushing away from the table. “I owe you, right? It’s time to start paying off that debt.”

Was she bluffing? Did it matter? He could never follow through. “I’m leaving soon. Get ready for it.”

Angela stood up, voice scornful as she struck back. “I was ready for it when you found me in Indiana.   Surprised you’ve stuck around this long.”

As you can see, he’s against it and things are getting ugly. What’s his biggest issue with it?

Her getting hurt or killed? Her becoming important in Safe Haven’s chain of command? All the time she’ll spend with the Eagles and not him?

No. He’s really afraid of not being needed. If she can stand on her own, he sees his own value to her as non-existent. Will he be able to adjust? I believe so.

Next week- Kenn-Why wasn’t he banished?

"This is Safe Haven Refugee Camp. Can anyone hear me?

Hello? Is anyone out there?"

The Survivors

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Life After War Wednesday-#4- Adrian + a Sneak Peak



Adrian's Eagles



This week, we’ll have a sneak peak at Adrian’s Eagles, but we’ll also be examining a little of the multi-layered onion that’s Adrian Mitchel. Let’s start with his profile.

Adrian Mitchel

Age: 48

Hair: Blond

Eyes: Blue

Height: 6’

Weight: 230 lb

Birthday: 7/4/64

Holsters on both hips

Sun streaked brows

Light goatee

Adrian has never known love beyond his bond with his mother. He instinctively knows how to be in a relationship, but has never felt the need to try. Until now. From the instant their eyes met, he recognized Angela as a kindred, but the strength of the feelings he has for Brady’s woman came as a surprise.

Sneak Peak: Adrian’s Eagles

April 25th, 2013

Fate just isn’t something you can plan for. Sometimes, all you can do is hold on and steer toward the shallows.

I was expecting all men. My help is only half that and I’m struggling to be careful with them and the camp. Samantha needs time to adjust before I can pull her in openly. Angie has to be trained, taught. The workload has increased but so have the benefits. Not one Seer, but three!

Fate blessed me and cursed me. Somewhere, laughter is spilling on my account, mostly because I can’t complain. I now have what I need. Where to begin! What to push the hardest or even first?

We’re spending the next two days here and I hope to get further in my head and with them. These women need to be accepted and I have total faith that fate will put us in just the right place, at just the right time.

And if one of them flinches, the camp won’t give them a second chance.

Adrian wasn’t entirely sure on that. It would depend on how bad the flinch was and what it cost…

“Got a minute?”

Adrian steadied himself against the vivid feel of her suddenly being in his head. “Sure. What’s up?”

“I need a schedule switch.”

Instantly alert, he closed the newest journal that now held a single entry. He had already filled ten others since the War of 2012.

“You’re having trouble?”

He felt her hesitate.

“Not exactly. Kyle said you changed shifts to mid morning when I came. Please, put them back?”

Adrian’s mind raced. Why would she want to be awake so early? Part of proving herself?

“Mostly to avoid… the morning sets.”

Adrian scowled furiously. Hiding from Kenn. No, he was out of camp with Zack and his team on a Slaver recon right now and usually had point at that time. The level one Eagles trained on that shift. She was avoiding Brady.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks.”

There was a pause where he felt her need for something else but didn’t respond. If it was important, she would ask. Without looking into those expressive eyes, he would only be guessing at her thoughts.

Angela let the connection open further, giving him what he wouldn’t ask for as she moved through tents. Another view of his camp.

The camp glowed with life through her eyes and it made Adrian’s heart fill with pride and satisfaction. These people were happy considering all that had happened, and obviously well cared for. Their leader was a good man.

“Thank you.”

“It’s my honor.”

Adrian closed his eyes, the peace she’d given him allowing for a rare extra few minutes to snooze and think. And what did his mind consider most important right at this very moment?
The woman now on her way to give a final class to two levels of Eagles.

Adrian’s bonding with Angela is both sweet and brutal. Through total freedom and trust, he shows her a life she’s never dreamed of, a way of living that fulfils her need to atone as much as her sense of duty. He made her more than she’s ever been and their time together will not be easy to forgotten. Adrian wants to fight for her but knows she need to figure it out for herself and steps back to let her.

Determined to do the right thing, Adrian concentrates on getting his people toward Arkansas, where a dangerous personal reunion waits for him. Have the choices he’s made cost him a son? Even Angela can’t be sure.

 And how does Marc feel about all this?

Next Week: Brady, Brady, Brady!

"This is Safe Haven Refugee Camp. Can anyone hear me?

Hello? Is anyone out there?"

The Survivors

*Free on all retailers

Author’s Website    Diesel   iTunes   Kindle   Kobo   Nook   Smashwords   Sony

 

Mother Sarah (Story Sunday)

Sarah was a puritan healer who worshipped the Goddess Isis and yet, shunned the heathen rituals of her friends and neighbors. Barren since birth from illness, she wore no garlic strands or crosses and feared not to walk in the night, even after the attacks started. She believed she was under the protection of the goddess and could often be seen strolling the main paths, as if to prove her outrageous claim.

And so it was she found him on the side of the dirt road, a bloody pile of charred robes and skeletal hands, and instantly recognized him for the creature he was. Vampyre.

Instead of trying to finish him off, as her fellow townsmen would have no doubt done, she stepped to him lightly and began examining his wounds. Weak, dying maybe, he still tried to grab her, glimmering eyes attempting to seduce but Sara was a sturdy girl of even sturdier determination and she simply shoved a potion down his throat and waited.

When he slept, she painstakingly took him home, to the area she’d prepared, unable to believe her good luck. On her first try, she had gotten what she wanted and it had only taken three lives. She’d expected that number to be much higher.

The emaciated Vampyre came awake all at once and Sarah could feel his sunken black eyes suddenly watching as she took rats from one wire cage and placed them in another. She chose only the plumpest specimens and the last, she kept a hold of, turning to look at her captive.

"Blood for blood."

The weak creature hissed his rage, his denial of her offer, and she shrugged, puritan brown eyes shrewd.

"You will give me what I want or you will never leave here."

He really struggled then, twisting and shouting gibberish threats and curses. His thin body tensed against the chains, testing them but he found no weakness, nor would he. These restraints had been forged with just this purpose in mind.

Sarah moved closer, gentle fingers calming the nervous rodent in her grip.

"Blood for blood!" With a vicious jerk, she snapped the rats neck and kept twisting, pulling hard, and its head came off with a wet, sickening crunch, sending scarlet drops of lifeblood splattering across the Vampyre’s pale face. It gushed against the bars of his cage, close enough to drip, to allow for only a taste and the rest poured onto the dirt floor of his underground cell.

"Nooo!" The Vampyre slammed himself against the chains, head straining to get his forked tongue on the splatters, and Sarah laughed at his obvious desperation.

"I will come back in a few days to ask again." Seconds later, she was climbing the wooden ladder, pulling it up behind her.

His furious struggles ceased to exist as soon as she lowered the earthen plug and the young widow moved toward the well to wash, humming happily. John would be very pleased with how far she had gotten with the research. He had never been able to capture a live specimen to experiment on, had died trying, but Sarah had done it simply by following the notes in his journal.

"Vampyres are solitary and will often attack any of their kind who threaten to expose them."

Sarah had understood this would apply to even rumors and it had been her tools that plunged into those girl's necks, not a Vampyre’s fangs, her own mouth that had removed the coppery blood and dumped it far from the attack. After two deaths, the village people had started hunting and more than one night walker had been staked, burned, and decapitated. Not to mention the innocent villager that had been mistaken for a creature of the night.

The townspeople had been near panic then and all she had to do was watch and wait for whatever black sheep the rest of the Vampyres believed to be guilty. With John's sleep potions in her apron, she had prowled the woods and met with success. Her specimen was weak, likely why the others had thought him guilty in the first place, and she had no doubt he would relent under her torture without the month's long battle of wills that she had prepared for.

Sarah smiled, a hard, glinting grin of triumph. With the Vampyres willing donations, she would have the blessing of Isis and the transformation would heal her barren womb and create a new species of monster. She would be their maker, their Mother.

Her hand rubbed at her empty belly, eyes glittering with insanity. It was the one thing John had not been able to give her. Children of her own.