“Oh, shit,” I said.
“I got him,” Trapper growled. He brought up his gun and took aim at the man running at us. He fired once, and the look on his face was surprise as his shot went high, knocked there by my arm grabbing his rifle. I pulled the man forward and jerked the gun out of his hands, bringing my knee up into his gut. The air blew out of him in a rush, and I cracked his head with the butt of the rifle, taking him out of the fight. I was taking my pistol back when the man from the arena stepped up.
“Can I have my bow back, Aaron?” Jake said.
“Sure. Take the quiver, too, the damn thing pokes me in the side,” I said.
“Thanks.” Jake turned and launched an arrow into the air, watching as it arced over the arena. The Boss was waving his arms and yelling when suddenly he fell to the floor.
“Nice shot,” I said.
“Almost,” Jake said. “I’ll save my best for later. We’re going to need them. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Do you have a plan?” I asked, running alongside him.
“Don’t I always?” Jake said.
“Do I have to answer that?” I asked as alarm klaxons sounded across the town.
Chapter 55
I followed Jake as the alarms kept sounding. They started out as just an alarm, but after a minute, there was a different tone to them. They began to sound out a kind of signal, echoing across the valley.
“What the hell happened?” I asked as we ran. “You were supposed to come and get me out of whatever mess I was in.”
“Change in plans. I’ll explain later but for now we have to get to our ride,” Jake said, running up a side street and towards another truck. A man was standing by the truck, clearly agitated, but he looked relieved when he saw Jake. He looked me over and nodded, obviously having been told about me by Jake.
We climbed into the bed of the truck, which had been turned into a kind of storage rack with numerous shelves. Jake instructed me to get under the racks and he would get me out later. Jake climbed into the cab, and we were off.
The trip was relatively smooth, although there was a lot of dirt and junk that fell through the cracks whenever we hit a bump. The truck moved at a pretty strong clip, and I was very curious as to where we were going and what was going on. I had a hard time believing Jake was actually operating according to a plan, but it was possible he was working someone else’s plan. That made more sense.
After what I figured to be a half hour, we rolled to a stop. I could hear Jake and the man talking, then the truck gate fell, and I slid out from under the racks.
I was very surprised to find myself behind the very veterinary clinic I had seen on my ride into town. I was very curious, since I figured I was going backwards instead of forward, but maybe Jake and this mystery man had some answers.
“Come on, we have to get inside,” Jake said.
Curious, I followed.
Inside I got a surprise as the lobby held several people. All of them were staring at me as I walked in, and I leveled a hostile gaze back until a small blonde woman jumped me and nearly took me to the floor.
“Aaron! You’re back! You’re safe! Jake did it! Oh, thank God!” Julia hugged and kissed me, and I was a little more than slightly embarrassed in front of all these strangers.
“I’m here, I’m fine,” I said, putting her gently on the ground. “What is going on?” I said, looking around again.
Jake spoke up. “We’ve had a change in our plans. We have help, and lots of it.” Jake raised a hand to the assembled group. “These are the people who are going to help us.”
One man stepped forward, an older gentlemen of around fifty. His hair was liberally sprinkled with grey, his face a worn mask of wrinkles and worry.
“Welcome to our valley. I’m Burt Fredrickson, and I hope to God you’re here to help us,” he said simply, holding out his hand.
“Pleasure,” I said, shaking it. It was a firm grip, used to long hours of hard work. “We know a bit about this valley and the Clan. I heard some about the Magistrate on my way to town, but you guys are a mystery to me.”
Jake spoke up. “After you left, we were pretty much sitting around wondering what we were going to do. I left to scout around and literally bumped into Mary here.” A small brown haired woman smiled up at me. Jake continued. “She was making a run for the outside world, after one of the hunters had come back with a nasty cut on its face. A cut you gave it, by the way,” Jake said.
The people assembled actually nodded thanks at me. I was again uncomfortable. “Not really that great,” I said. “A little to the left, and I would have killed it.”
“Better that you hadn’t,” Burt said. “When we saw that a hunter could be hurt, we knew that we stood a better chance if we sent another person out.”
“You’ve been sending these people to their deaths?” I asked. “That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”
Burt held up his hands. “Please don’t mistake me, Mr. Talon. No one forced anyone to do anything. Those people who went volunteered. They knew the risks and were still willing to go.” Mary nodded at me emphatically. “They were still willing to try and get out and find some sort of help.” Burt looked at me with a slight smile. “Even in death they managed to succeed.”
I had to give him that one. If we hadn’t found those bodies and numbers we would never had come this far. But I had a few questions first.
“What has happened here? How did this Clan get so much power?” I asked. “And what the hell is up with those damn sirens?” I said, pointing to the outside.
Chapter 56
“First things first,” Burt said. “The sirens are telling us that we need to get inside and stay there until the all clear. That particular sound is telling the hunters that they are loose to find the intruders. Meaning you and your brother.” Burt looked around and made sure the windows were covered. “Hunters will kill anyone that is outside after the sirens stop.” He looked down. “They don’t care if you’re part of the town. They will kill anyone.” He made fists and cursed. “Just like they killed my wife. She was fifteen feet from our home when the shot came. It took her right in the side of the head. She was dead before she hit the ground.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Not your fault. But after that day I started to work to get this place back to the way it was. Back before the Clan,” Burt said.
“I’ve heard a few stories,” I said. “So you don’t have to go into too much detail.”
“Fair enough.” Burt started his story, and by the time he was finished he had pretty much described things like Sheriff Conners had. When I mentioned her, Burt perked up.
“So one of us lived, huh? I don’t blame her for staying away. They took everything from her. Sounds like she has a good life, now.” He said.
Kayla spoke up. “You will, too,” she said with a voice that brooked no argument.
“What goes on at the sawmill?” I asked, the memory sparking the question.
Another man spoke up. “It’s a form of execution. Anyone who is sentenced to die is either hung, hunted, put in the arena, or cut to pieces. I’ve lost friends to the sawmill. I’ve heard they don’t kill you first, they just start slicing off pieces with a the band saw. Fingers, toes, hands. They try to see how long you will last before you die.”
I shook my head. If I had known for sure, I would have killed those two men there. I said as much, and the man shook his head. “They have a call in schedule every hour. Anyone who doesn’t call in gets a full scale response,” he said.
“What about weapons?” I asked. “We have our own, but we certainly don’t have enough to share.”
Burt took that question. “They took all of our weapons years ago, and we haven’t seen them since. Believe me, we’ve tried to figure out where they are, but there isn’t any logical place in town.”
“What about the hunter town?” Jake asked.
Ironically, it was when he asked that question that the sirens
stopped. The quiet was strong, and the group looked at each other fearfully.
“What?” Jake asked.
Burt spoke up. “The hunters are out now. Anything that moves outdoors will be shot.”
“How many are there?” I asked, mulling over an idea in my head.
“There is always twenty of them,” Burt said. “If one becomes injured in training, it is killed, and another takes its place. Always.”
“I have to ask,” I said. “Who in the hell are these hunters? Why do you always refer to them as it?”
Burt shook his head. “In a word, they are death. They train to kill and nothing else. They are required to hit a quarter sized target at hundred yards. If they fail that task, they are killed. If they come back without killing their target, they are killed. They will kill any man, woman, or child without hesitation. We call them ‘it’ because they are always masked. You never know if it’s a man or women who is doing the killing.”
I didn’t like the sound of this, but I wasn’t going to just up and leave now. I had another question, but Jake beat me to it.
“Where are the kids?” he asked.
“At the boarding school. At first we were allowed to have the children stay at home with us, but just in the last few years they were all taken to live at the education center. That’s where they are schooled and trained,” Burt said.
“Trained for what?” Julia asked. She had a funny look in her eye, and I was beginning to get a strange feeling about something we were going to have to talk about, and soon.
Mary answered. “Whatever was needed. The kids take an aptitude test the Magistrate brought with her, and the kids are trained according to skill set. Some become farmers, others become laborers, others are apprenticed to our carpenters, blacksmiths, and other trades. Some get sent to the hunter town.”
“So if we go up against these hunters, we may be killing kids?” I asked.
“They’re not kids anymore. They aren’t even human,” Burt said bitterly.
“All right. So we have two objectives. Find your weapons, and kill the hunters. That shouldn’t be too hard,” I said, shaking my head.
Jake looked at the group. “We get your weapons back, will you fight, or will you surrender once the bullets start flying? Do you have more support than what you’re showing me here?”
Burt drew himself up. “In the arena, did you hear any cheering? Any at all?”
Jake thought a moment. “No, there wasn’t any.”
Burt nodded. “Everyone hates what we have become and hates themselves for letting it happen. Do you have any idea how maddeningly frustrating it is to see yourself as a slave, with no exit except death?”
“I see your point,” Jake said. “All right. We have twenty hunters to deal with and weapons to find.” Jake thought for a second. “Could we find weapons at the hunter town?”
Burt shook his head. “They always have all their weapons on them, and when one is killed they are passed to the next. The only thing we would find there is ammo.”
“Not a bad thing,” I said. “Do they have a lot?”
“I’ve seen a bunch of it used for practice, and there have been other stockpiles of stuff like primers and brass,” Burt said.
I thought about it. “Sounds like they may have standardized their guns and ammo. Julia figured they used a big caliber gun that reached out pretty far to kill.”
Burt nodded. “They all have single shot rifles, I’m not sure of the caliber. But they have shot men over five hundred yards away.”
“All right, then. Well, if there is only twenty of them, it’s time to even the odds a bit,” I said. “We need to get out of here and get to some high ground. I need to see what’s going on, and maybe we can see them coming.”
“Are you crazy? Burt said. “We should wait until night, and then go after them.”
I pointed to Julia and Kayla. “I’ll back those two marksmen over your hunters any day of the week and twice on Sundays,” I said. “Julia, what’s your longest shot on a human sized target?”
Julia smiled. “Best shot was twelve hundred yards, with a decent cross wind.” She patted Kayla on the arm. “Kayla’s best was fourteen hundred, but it was a calm day.”
Burt’s mouth dropped open, but he closed it soon enough. “Maybe. But our guns? Where do you think they are?”
I had a theory. But it was going to require some finesse. “Before we get going, what do these hunters wear? I’ve seen the black uniforms with the colored stripes. Do the hunters wear something else?”
Mary shuddered. “They wear nothing but black. They have vests that hold their gear and backpacks for supplies. They have knives and their guns. All of them wear hoods that cover their faces and dark goggles.”
I suppressed a smile. Except for the backpack color, they were pretty much describing my father and Uncle Charlie.
“All right, then. If it wears black, we’ll kill it,” I said.
Chapter 57
We went into another room to get ready. I put on all of my gear, including my backpack. I didn’t know what I was going to encounter out there, and didn’t want to leave anything behind. Jake did the same, as did Julia and Kayla. While we prepped, we worked out a bit of a plan. Julia and Kayla were going to go find some good high ground and play sniper for a while. With any luck it would draw out some more of the hunters, and Jake and I would get to play. Burt and his people were going to play the hunch I had, and see where it led. If nothing else, they had an escape route if we all died here. I pushed that thought out of my mind, thinking only about the job at hand. I had hunted zombies in the grass before, and this wasn’t going to be much different. Watch where you stepped, and keep your wits about you. And to quote Dad, Think first! Your best weapon is your brain.
Burt told us that there were towers that hunters used for watching over the valley entrance. Since we came in that way and no one shot us, chances were the tower was unmanned at the time. But other than that, the highest points were the mountains.
I shook my head at that. “Chances are good they won’t take to the hills to do more than look around. Shooting downhill is tricky at best. My guess is they will try and scour the area from one end to the other,” I said. “If that happens, then we will be lucky and able to take out three or four at once.”
“How so?” Burt asked.
“I can get a shot off and take another shot before the first one hits a hunter.” Julia said. The sound won’t even reach them before they realize they’ve been shot. I may get a third if I’m lucky.”
Kayla smiled. “And if we time it right, then I can get two or three as well. Depends on how they approach.”
“Surprise is key,” I said. “They aren’t used to being hunted.”
Mary looked at us. “How do you know how to do all this? What kind of childhood did you have?”
I thought about that one. “I’d say it was a pretty damn good one, from where you’re sitting.”
Mary smiled, and I had a feeling it was the first in a long time.
Jake and I headed out the front door and looked around. It was weird knowing that somewhere there was a person out there looking to snipe you for just breaking the rules. We didn’t know where they were, what direction they were approaching, and whether or not they were alone. I took small comfort in the fact that if they did get one of us, we may not be able to return the favor with them being so far away.
“What’s your range on that thing?” I asked Jake as he checked his bow.
“Two hundred yards, but that’s pushing the hell out of it. One hundred to one fifty is doable, although I’d rather be within a hundred,” Jake said.
“Don’t ask how far I can throw a tomahawk,” I said.
“Your pistol shoots farther, don’t forget it’s there,” Jake reminded me.
“I won’t,” I said. I had no problems with shots here. The purpose was to draw the hunters to us, not keep them at a distance.
“Let’s go.” Jake ran off to the south,
heading for the hills. Behind us, Julia and Kayla took off for the high cliffs that ran along the far side of the road. I had my heart in my throat the whole time they were running, and when now booming rifle reports sounded, I figured we were going to be okay.
Jake and I took to a ditch that ran along a road that headed towards the mountains. Part of the plan included Julia and Kayla sniping until dark, and then Jake and I would go out hunting for those that came after us. I had a little job to do first, though, and I doubted Jake would object. We crossed the river again and kept low. I hoped that our presence would go unnoticed, since I really wanted to avoid getting shot.
Jake moved right along with me, keeping low and trying to stay under the tall grass that grew on the side of the road. We were about a half mile into our trek when we heard a booming sound. I took a risk and popped my head up, looking around. I was trying to see where the shot came from, or maybe some telltale smoke. I didn’t see anything, and I kept moving, hoping it wasn’t one of our wives that was getting shot at.
We reached another road, and this one angled back towards the entry to the valley. There was also a railroad track that I hadn’t seen before, but it wasn’t of any consequence now.
My target was in sight and I kept moving, keeping to the trees. The railroad tracks actually provided us with a good bit of cover, and it was well received. We worked our way around to the back of the sawmill, the same place I had been earlier that morning. It seemed like such a long time ago, but was actually only a few hours.
We stepped around the piles of bones and body bits, and Jake was frowning as he saw what it was. He shook his head and pulled his bow off his back, readying an arrow.
Chapter 58
Generation Dead (Book 3): Beyond The Gates Page 20
