Free Bone Dust & Beginnings (Alexa's Travels Book 1) by Angela White Page B

enough to delay Corbin’s death. It didn’t occur to him until later that she might have had different motives.
    As they fell, Corbin slammed the needle into the biker’s neck and shoved the plunger home. The struggling man dropped like a stone as the medication hit, and Corbin slid the man’s pant leg up. A few seconds saw a new scrape-like wound on his thigh.
    Corbin yanked the pants down and shoved the biker’s heavy weight off of him. He moved quickly for the truck, not caring that he was the only survivor.
    Corbin yanked the door open to find Rab in the passenger seat.
    “I saw what you did.”
    Corbin pulled himself up behind the wheel, face a mask of hatred.”Don’t cross me, Rabbit, or we’ll have a fox hunt.”
    Rab snapped his mouth shut - already sure the paperwork would state that Alexa was the one he’d implanted. Corbin’s reports to his superiors, and the truth, were never close. The Commander had his own agenda concerning the Descendants.
     
     
    8
    “Why didn’t you kill him?” Edward had seen her shoot. He knew she could have put a bullet in his forehead.
    Alexa didn’t answer, instead going to Daniel’s still form.
    Edward didn’t repeat the question. He hadn’t been with her long enough to be totally confident, but he had been around her enough to know she hadn’t done it out of kindness or mercy. Those weren’t the reason’s she’d saved Daniel, either. Edward doubted she had much of either emotion. The things that Alexa did, good or harsh, were all for the quest. In some strange way, it must benefit her to leave the one-eyed man alive.
    Edward helped her drag Daniel’s unconscious form back toward the bedroll, hoping she would tell him to papoose the biker so they could get on the road. It wasn’t safe to stay here any longer.
    Alexa helped lift the biker, hanging him over Edward’s strong shoulder.
    “Papoose him. We need to get underground until his tracker wears off.” She hadn’t seen Corbin do it, but she’d be a fool not to expect it.
    Satisfied, the horseman moved off to do as he was told. It was a hard new life, but one he already wouldn’t trade for anything.
    Alexa looked over the battle scene, calculating how long it would be before the rats would be back. Even considering Corbin’s previous pattern of behavior, it was still hard to guess. The Commander wasn’t as lethal as her, but he was clever, and it was those people who often managed to come out on top in the end.
    “I won’t let that happen.” Alexa’s voice was like a wave of fire cutting through ice. “My father and I know what to do with the likes of you!”
    Alexa reholstered her Colts, and went to help Edward prep their new man for his first day of travel. They had a long road ahead.

Five

     
    August, 2016
     
     
    1
    When they reached the bend of the Little River, the sight of the small outpost gave no comfort that what Alexa had come for was here.
    River City hadn't existed before the War. Set near the back hatch of NORAD, the town had begun as a refugee camp that was wiped out by foreign invaders and then rebuilt. A few months later, it was destroyed again by the emerging government, who'd also come searching for what was left. River City had been rebuilt a second time, after the volcanic eruption of 2013 that had coated everything with ash, trapping refugees inside for weeks at a time. The population had taken another large hit, but the town had remained.
    It now boasted seven businesses inside real wooden frames and nearly twice as many slanted, prone-to-collapse homes made from scavenged debris. The people had adjusted, but it was not a place of prosperity. Few groups of people remained this far west.
    The thought of finding what she needed was distant in her mind as Alexa and her small army moved toward the dusty town that had no chemical barrier. There was no pull this time, no sense of being drawn, but with the one she’d come for, there wouldn’t be. Calculated guessing was all that