Alexa's Travels: A Prelude by Angela White Read Free Book Online

men.
    She spun around to find the Demons had already resumed their constant vigil near the murky water, swords sheathed. There was only one more thing she needed to know.
    “When did they turn back?”
    Edward answered, noting she didn’t sound winded. Despite being with her so long, he still knew very little. “The second you were out of the tangle brush they stopped. The two with the ruby eyes went a few feet into the weeds and then motioned the others back. They were the last to resume their posts.”
    She waved a hand to the dense thicket of decaying trees that lined the road to their right.
    “We’ll stay here.”
    Further into these scraggy trees, it would become a forest to be hunted in, but her gaze stayed a moment longer on the restlessly rolling black waves. There were jeers in the roar of the ocean, arrogance in its Defenders. No one like her had been here yet, challenged them. Instead of feeling better about having an edge, she turned away with a grim heart. Had no one else survived? Was she now the last of her kind on this soil?
     
    2
    They set up camp two miles to the east, out of the heart of the gusting wind. Deep in a rare thicket of brittle trees, where branches were struggling to grow moldy leaves and the sly sand was inches deep instead of feet. The patch of Petrified Forest was half a click wide and much deeper, the only shelter or cover for miles. Close enough to allow the winds to scrub away some of the ash that had fallen when Yellowstone erupted in 2013, it was also out of sight of the sand guardians still watching for them from the shoreline.
    Finally at the ocean, the view that met these relentless warriors was the same as everywhere else; a drab, dusty landscape with nothing moving but grit and debris. The sky remained clouded over by a thick orange and green haze, the fallout still visible, and the piles of sand glittered brightly with their poisoned layers. They would sleep again on sour ground, as they had been for most of their journey.
    Now about to leave the Country where they’d been born, no emotions were allowed to disrupt the flow of their quest, but they were felt by them all. The group of fighters couldn’t see the endless waters they were about to cross, wouldn’t camp close enough to be in danger as they had in their earlier days, but they could hear its mocking tones. It warned them the coming battle would be fierce.
    Nestled between two thick trunks, Alexa sat outside the flap of their tent, enjoying the warmth of their large bodies around her. “We’ll have a story now.”
    She was aware of their immediate eagerness to listen. Her tales of past battles and triumphs provided glimpses of who she had been and what she had come through. It gave them what they wanted most - her.
    “The War was a constant thing. Ever growing, devouring, even after the government went below and left us to our fate. It snuck up while we looked the other way, and when the fury fell from the sky, few were ready,” her tone grew ominous, “Where we’ll head first, is back. Listen well, my pets. For this is the tale of how we came to be.”
     
    3
    The lone woman limped into the Utah town on a sunless day in July. The tattered American flag flying over one of the tents drew her, and she ignored the other hawkers and vendors rushing to offer precious supplies. She had dust, but give it to these sharks, she would not.
    Despite her limp, the woman was clearly someone to be wary of. When her hand dropped to the dusty Colt on her hip, the merchants quickly moved back in fear. A second more of this ready stance found them banished to their stoops and sheds where they watched her with eager greed; sure she had need of something.
    The blonde was filthy, covered in glowing desert dust, and her fiery blue eyes said she’d been to hell… likely, more than once. She moved with a sure grace despite the injury, and her long hooded cloak and black boots made no noise on the dirt hardpan as she headed for the