Roman
There was an insistent tug in my chest. The kind of deep-seated, gut feeling that told me I didn’t belong out here.
Inside the vehicle, it was hotter than normal with the humidity from the rain. Sweat dripped onto the mating mark under my uniform, the sting a sharp reminder that Meg was here in the human city I was ordered to patrol tonight.
My jaw ached from how hard I was clenching it, and I’d never been more hyper-aware of my situation.
I’d come back for my men, but I was starting to think that maybe they’d be better off without me.
I wasn’t one of them anymore, and with my father gone, what reason did I have to wear this collar device?
There’d once been grand ideas of glory and fame—of the stories I could tell of my own life as I climbed through the ranks.
But now, moving through the darkened city, a different threat lingered on the horizon that made me question what I was doing. This was only the beginning. A few days from now… A week or two as supplies dwindled. It’d be a much harder patrol than it was tonight.
“It’s too quiet,” Marcus whispered, sweeping the next street with the headlights.
Corporal Jacques groaned from the back seat. “Don’t jinx us like that, Staff Sergeant.”
“I don’t care about your superstitions,” he muttered.
But he did. Or at least the Marcus I knew did. I looked back at Corporal Jacques and Corporal Yemen, seeing the two younger men huddled together much like Marcus and I had once been on a ride along like this.
“Are you okay, man?” I asked, purposefully not addressing him by rank.
Tight-lipped, he nodded.
I nodded too.
The silence stretched between us again.
“I couldn’t have told you,” Marcus whispered. “I didn’t want to risk getting anyone else in trouble.”
I laughed silently at that, knowing I’d have done the same thing. “When this is over…”
Marcus’s gaze cut to me. “This isn’t going to be over anytime soon, is it?”
Everyone in the vehicle listened in, hanging on my every word. As their leader, it would be best for me to lie to them. To spare their worries for another day and give them hope for a future to fight for.
But something had changed in the last few weeks, even before the power had been cut and we’d started to drown in this never-ending rain.
I thought about what Meg would do.
“No. It’s not.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m not sure what their plan is, but I know that once this shift is over, you should set your families up somewhere safe.”
“Where is somewhere safe?” Sgt. Stone’s question hung in the stale air of the vehicle.
There’d be no going back from what I said next, yet I said it anyway, needing to protect them if it was the last thing I did.
“Anywhere but Ethica or any of the other cities if things are the same everywhere. There are only enough supplies on hand to last the population about two weeks. Longer than that, and it’ll be complete anarchy. ”
“Staff Sergeant?” Yemen swallowed hard, fear making his face pale. “Is it going to be longer than two weeks?”
“Don’t worry,” Staff Sgt. Marcus told him. “We stick together as a unit no matter what happens, right, LT?”
All the men looked at me, and I felt the weight settle hard on my shoulders. I wasn’t the man to protect them, not after this, but I knew how easily morale could break down. If they needed me a little longer, I’d be here.
“Right.” I nodded. “We’ll figure something out.”
There was a hiss of relief as the men started talking over one another, making plans in the back of the vehicle for an unsure future.
Marcus eyed me again, keeping his voice low. “You couldn’t have dropped that bomb a little softer? At least lubed it up first?”
“I’ve never been great with words.” Not like my dad was, or how Meg could say exactly what was on her mind and coax the demons out of mine.
I needed to get back to her.
“You’re a good lieutenant, even if you’re an asshole sometimes.” Marcus grinned at me, lighter than I’d seen him all night. “What’s the plan for your family?”
That question squeezed a fist around my heart when I thought of my dad’s empty hospital bed.
“I mean your girl,” Marcus said gently. “I assume you’ll want to get her out of here too. I know you only came back for me.”
“That’s not—”
“Don’t deny it.” He sighed. “You’ve always been a terrible liar, LT. I think that’s what surprised me the most when you left us for officer candidate school. You were never like them.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t answer. But that tug in my chest grew stronger and I rubbed it absent-mindedly, feeling the burn of the skin healing around Meg’s bite.
“Do you know who is on patrol for the government district tonight?” I asked.
Marcus wisely didn’t comment on the change of topic. “Gonzalez, why?”
“No reason.” I stared straight ahead as the rain beat down on the windshield and the road. The tug in my chest grew tighter. “Lutten, get Gonzalez on the radio.”
“Roger that, LT.” He pulled up the comms.
After the fourth call with no response, the air in the vehicle thickened.
“Do you think they’re all right?” Jacques whispered, as if speaking out loud would cause the worst to come true.
“Maybe they’re on foot?” Yemen whispered back.
“Without a radio?” Stone hissed at him.
My mating mark was on fire now, and my gut twisted in knots. Anything could happen on a night like tonight. We’d been lucky to be in the quiet part of town with no real disruptions, but there was always someone angry enough to cause problems, even on the best of days.
The rioters from the grocery store that had attacked Katrina were still at large. And the man we’d encountered earlier wasn’t the only one who’d figure out that we were on borrowed time.
My men trusted me to lead them, but I was still a part of this city—for however much longer—and it was my job to make sure we all got home.
“Turn left up here.” I made the executive decision to break our patrol route, knowing half the reason had nothing to do with this uniform.
“We should call this in.” Lutten held up the radio, looking to me for permission.
They all waited with bated breath to see what I would do, ready to disobey orders if I said, and I realized they’d follow me into hell if I asked them to.
That knowledge terrified me.
But not worse than the burning of the mating scar on my chest.
“Call it in, Sergeant,” I barked at him, turning to Marcus. “Staff Sergeant, I know you can drive faster than this.”
*
Everything was quiet as we careened into the government district, coming to a stop at the guard gates. The posh homes sat dark in the drizzle of steady rain. Flashlight beams swept over the inside of the vehicle as I spoke to the security guard through the window.
“Where is the patrol team assigned to this district?” I asked, putting enough authority in my voice that the guard stopped checking my men’s pupils with his flashlight.
He snapped to attention. “There hasn’t been anyone in or out since the council came in earlier this afternoon, sir.”
I kept my expression neutral even though fear raced through me at his words, but it was best not to cause a panic. “We’ll run a lap around the perimeter to check things out.”
“Whatever you boys need to do.” The guard stepped back, waving us forward as they pulled away the tire strips manually.
“What the fuck?” Marcus whispered, even though they couldn’t hear us. “Where is Gonzalez? And if the council is here, there should be more military presence, not less.”
“Just drive,” I told him.
The burning of my mark grew stronger as the tug in my chest tightened. I needed out of this vehicle.
I forced myself to remain steady.
“Can you believe they live like this?” Jacques whistled as we drove past a mansion with darkened windows and marble fountain out front.
“I wouldn’t be too jealous,” Stone said. “If what LT says is true, this place will be the first under attack in the coming weeks.”
I hadn’t thought about it like that, but the sergeant was right. I never should’ve left Meg here alone. Money only bought safety when credits meant something. Who knew how long that would last?
“There!” I pointed at the next street over where the camouflaged vehicle was parked on the road. It was far enough away from Helen’s house that I could only see the outline of dim lights in the downstairs windows, but close enough to make my skin crawl with sparks of anxiety.
“Curse science,” Marcus mumbled under his breath, continuing to swear as he came to a stop behind the military vehicle.
My heart pounded in my chest as I inhaled to keep steady.
“Open the back hatch,” I commanded. “Jacques and Lutten with me. Stone on the gun. Yemen, be ready to radio for support.”
I slipped the night vision visor over my head as my boots hit the pavement. Crouched low and in formation, we rushed the tank, clearing the sides and immediate area as the two soldiers watched my back.
I had to force myself to focus on the mission, to not look over at the councilwoman’s house and search the windows for any sign of her.
“There’s no one else out here, LT,” Lutten said.
I nodded, moving to the cover of the other Humvee and reaching for the door.
Please, I sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening as I wrenched it open, preparing for the scent to hit, and was met with…
“Are they snoring?” Jacques’s confused face appeared in the window opposite from me.
I grabbed Staff Sergeant Gonzalez by the shoulder, shaking him. “Wake up.”
He snored again.
I shook him harder, ready to chew his ass out, when lightning flashed across the sky and thunder rattled the windows of the vehicle.
All of the unit inside were in some sort of deep, unnatural sleep.
I dropped Gonzalez as if he were poisoned, taking a step away.
“Get back to the vehicle,” I told my men.
“LT?” Jacques whispered, looking up.
Dark clouds swirled and spun across the sky, dancing to a brewing tempest, and causing the hair on my neck to stand on end.
The mark on my chest burned white hot.
In the distance, I heard her scream.
Then I was running, outracing the rapid beat of my heart as my boots smacked the pavement.
“Lieutenant, wait!” Marcus called out.
“Get them back. Keep them safe,” was all I could say as I abandoned my post to find my mate.