I figured we’d have to go in, since everyone was under orders to stay indoors. I wasn’t squeamish about most things, but I really didn’t want to look inside this place. Jake nodded towards the door, and away we went. As I went closer, I could hear the crack of a high powered rifle, followed immediately by another. A third and fourth shot followed quickly, and I gave Jake a thumbs up. Julia and Kayla were fine, and with luck just shortened the odds by four.
I pushed on the door, and it slid open, revealing a dark entryway. A foul smell wafted forth, causing me to slip my scarf up over my face. Jake didn’t have a scarf, so I handed him a bandanna from my pack.
I slipped inside the doorway, moving quickly to the side and ducking down in case someone had been watching. No shots or shouts came my way, so I waved Jake in. He did the same and we oriented ourselves with the building. Skylights allowed us to see what was in the room, and after a look around I wished it was dark. A huge table lay in the center of the floor, with rows of hooks coming out of it. An enormous band saw bisected the table, and we could see the floor was dark with bloodstains. Two barrels occupied the far end of the table, and we could see a female arm sticking out of one of them. I had no doubt the rest of her was in there as well, in several pieces for some transgression.
Jake shook his head and we moved forward, stepping around bones and blood. The place smelled heavily of copper and decay, with an underlying scent of pine and cedar. Voices from the other end of the building came through, and we headed in that direction. The voices were coming from behind a door marked ‘OFFICE’, and there sounded like there was two of them. Bits of the conversation came through the door.
“Wonder what those four shots mean?”
“Didn’t sound like hunter guns.”
“Think someone’s fighting back?”
“That won’t last long.”
“Maybe they’ll catch them alive like the last time.”
“That one screamed for a while.”
“Pretty little thing.”
“She was until I cut her face off.”
I had heard enough. I yanked the door open, and with a lunge I was on one of the men. He was a greasy little man with a rat like face, his buckteeth sticking out of his mouth as he opened it I surprise. I cracked the pommel of my knife on the top of his head, knocking him senseless. His friend tried to move, but Jake was already there, slamming a kick into the man’s forehead, knocking him against a wall and rendering him unconscious as well.
“What now? Cut their throats?” Jake asked, eyeing my knife.
“Better idea,” I said. “Grab that one, and follow me.
I dragged the unconscious man back into the cutting room, and using one of the hanging chains that was used to maneuver trees around, I wrapped it around his ankles. Placing the other unconscious man on the first man’s back, I wrapped his feet up as well. Jake helped me wrap the chain around the two men’s torsos, binding them together with chain.
They started to stir when we finished, and began shouting when they woke up. Jake silenced them by showing them his knife.
“What do want?” Rat Face asked, eyeing us.
“Justice,” I said. I wasn’t going to waste time with conversation. They weren’t going to tell me anything of value.
I threw the chain over a beam, and with Jake’s helped hauled the two men up into the air. They yelled and struggled, but chains used to move trees weren’t going to bend for these two.
“Stop! Why are you doing this? Who are you?” Rat face yelled again, swinging himself around.”
I went over to the barrel and looked in. It was filled with body parts and blood. If I had to guess, there were probably two, if not three, people in there. A single eye in a split face looked at me in askance, and I was about to deliver my answer.
I slid the barrel underneath the struggling men, and when they saw what was awaiting them, they began to scream for mercy. I wondered how many screams they had listened to as they killed person after person.
“Shut up,” Jake said, lowering the men. They sank headfirst into the gore, and blood spilled over the top, splashing on the floor. Jake lowered them until their shoulders were drowning in blood. The struggles intensified for a moment, then Rat Face ceased to struggle. His friend held on for a moment longer, then he stopped struggling. Jake secured the chain to one of the hooks and left the two hanging there, drowned in their own victims.
Chapter 59
We went back outside and stayed along the tree line. I wanted to take another look at the house I had passed earlier in the day. We were about one hundred yards away from the sawmill when we heard a weird noise. We stayed in the trees and waited, as it seemed the noise was coming to us.
Jake saw it first. It was a truck used to repair and maintain railroad track lines. Our dad had used one a long time ago when he was first out battling zombies. This one was pulling a small railroad flatcar that had been modified to hold a small tower. On top of the tower was small platform covered with a wooden roof. It was open on all four sides, allowing a full view of the surrounding area. The truck slowed to a stop and one man got out. He was dressed in black, and we could see his face was covered.
A hunter. He pulled a long barreled rifle out of the cab of the truck and walked slowly over to the sawmill. When he went inside, Jake poked me.
“I’ll bet all the gold I’m carrying that railroad goes the entire length of the valley,” he said.
“No bet,” I replied. “That would explain how they can cover a lot of ground and deal with runners, too. Those tracks probably go through all of the towns, and if there was two shooters up top, nothing could get away.”
We quieted when the hunter emerged from the building. He walked without hurry, seemingly unconcerned by the sight that must have greeted him in the sawmill.
I looked at Jake, and he shrugged, guessing like I did that it was going to take more than a couple of bodies in a barrel of bloody human bits to get a rise out of them.
I looked at the truck and the tower, and I began to get an idea. Jake must have been thinking the same thing, because he drew back his arrow and waited, tracking the man as he walked away from the building. Jake held his breath and let go, the bowstring twanging in the trees.
The hunter ducked and dove out of the way, alerted by the sound of the bowstring. The arrow whistled past where he had stood, sticking into one of the abandoned logs left outside to rot. He rolled up to a crouch and fired in the direction of the arrow’s origin, his gun booming. Above my head, a branch exploded as the bullet blew it to pieces.
I knew it was a lucky shot, since we were still concealed by the lower branches of the trees, but it was still extremely unnerving. Jake drew back another arrow as the hunter calmly walked forward, reloading his gun. From here I could see it was a single shot lever action gun. The sounds of him reloading reached our ears and Jake fired again, sending an arrow into the man’s leg.
All he did was stumble a bit, tear the arrow out of his leg, and continue walking. He fired again, and Jake ducked as the bullet whipped past his ear.
“Screw this,” I said. I pulled my pistol and holding my aim at his head, let fly with three rounds.
I watched the man spin around as a bullet punched into his shoulder, his rifle flying out of his grasp. I was hoping for a head shot, but this would do.
Jake was already moving, trying to cover the eighty yards in a short a time as possible. The man on the ground was recovering quickly, getting to his hands and knees, and going after his rifle. Jake made it there first, kicking the gun out of reach; I reached the man a second later, only to have him lunge at Jake, swinging a large knife. Jake was so surprised he blocked the blade with his bow, only to have it knocked away by the force of the swing.
The man silently moved forward, crouching down and holding his knife in front of himself. Jake reached down and pulled his gun, shooting the man with a hipshot. The hunter grasped at his chest, his life pumping out of him onto the grass. He never made a
sound as he died, and it was a full minute before Jake and I approached him.
“For a second there I thought you were going to take him with a knife,” I said.
“I did consider it,” Jake said. “But this guy already proved he could take pain, and even with a knife in his heart, he would still try to kill me. Too risky.”
I had to agree, and we looked down at our enemy. Jake pulled off the balaclava that hid the man’s face, and we both looked with surprise at a woman.
“I’ll be damned,” I said.
“Tough lady,” Jake replied.
Let’s get what we need and get that train back to where we can do some good with it,” I said.
“Good plan. With the girls up there we should definitely have an advantage.” Jake said. He picked up the hunter’s rifle, a Sharp’s 45-70. He pulled off the cartridge belt from the woman, throwing it over his shoulder. “This should even the odds some, if we need it.”
I was about to reply when there was a chorus of booming sounds, like a barrage from heavy rifles. A crack and another crack told me the girls were still fighting, but the hunters were closing in.
“We gotta go,” I said.
“What are you waiting for?” Jake asked.
We ran to the truck, and I was grateful we didn’t have to go back to the hunter for the keys. Jake climbed in and I followed, holding the rifle. I wondered how many people had died from this gun, and decided I didn’t want to know.
Chapter 60
We drove back on the tracks for a short piece, then left the truck while we went looking for the girls. I slipped into a ditch that I didn’t see, and a bullet cut the air I had just vacated. A booming report sounded a second later, telling me the marksman was a decent distance away. I was about to crawl to Jake when a rifle barrel poked me in the nose.
I looked down the steel tube and through the scope at a big blue eye that winked at me.
“Hi, baby!” Julia whispered as she lowered the gun out of the way.
“Jesus!” I said. “You scared the shit out of me!” I said, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. “What are you doing here?” I asked.
“The hills got too hot so Kayla and I made it to the flat lands. We’ve been trading shots with a couple of hunters we pinned down about three hundred yards from here. They’re damn good shots,” Julia said, showing me a gash on her shoulder that had been caused by a close bullet.
“Dammit!” I cursed, looking at the wound. “Another inch lower, and you’d have been gone.”
Julia smiled and put a hand to my head. “Now we’re even.” We flattened as a rifle nearly on top of us shattered the air.
“Got you!” Kayla’s voice came through the grass. She crawled forward and landed beside Julia. “Jake was kind enough to stick his head up, and when the bastard took aim, I nailed him. Hi, Aaron! Can we use that truck?”
I looked at Jake, who had fallen down beside his wife. “Stuck your head up?” I asked.
Jake held up a balaclava full of grass. He stuck it on the end of his bow and raised it up. From three hundred yards away, it would look like a human. Sort of.
“How many, ladies?” Jake asked.
Kayla answered. “With that one, we got eight.”
Jake nodded. “We got another one, so we pretty much cut their force in half. Chances are pretty good the shots are drawing all the rest here, so we can just wait up in the tower and see what we can see.”
We went back to the truck, and the girls climbed up to the tower. Kayla and Julia immediately scanned the area, using their scopes to full advantage. Kayla fired once, then gave us a thumbs up.
“Ten!” she said happily.
“Let’s get this thing moving, maybe we can meet a few on the way here,” I said.
Jake agreed. “They probably think whoever has this tower is heading back for reinforcements. Maybe we can flush a few out that way.”
We pulled back through Wallowa and headed south along the road. Julia fired once, and then again, telling me she had taken down another hunter. It was ironic that the very signal that gave the hunters free reign to kill anything that moved, also served to make them targets as well. If it was black and moving, we put a bullet into it.
Jake pulled up outside of Enterprise. We had pretty much the advantage so far, and we didn’t want to lose it.
“Now what?” I asked. We’ve been up and down this valley, and I don’t think there’s anything south of here. At least, nothing that matters.”
“I guess we wait. We can hunt the hunters more at night, if you want,” I said.
“What’s that?” Jake asked, looking over my shoulder.
I looked and saw a body lying in the street. It looked familiar, and when I went over to it I recognized the patches of green. It was the Trapper that had originally accompanied me to Enterprise. I hoped he wasn’t still out from the knock I gave him, but it looked like he was.
I gave him nudge with my foot, and the body moved, but slipped right back into place. I got my toe under his hip and flipped him over, his arms flopping out wildly.
I stepped back as I saw the man would never trap again. His dead eyes stared at the sky as his throat gaped wide open. His shirt was covered in his blood, and his hands were stained as well, futile in their attempt to staunch the life that had flowed out of him.
I shook my head. They killed anyone out in the open. Even their own clan. It didn’t make any sense. Of course, it made a lot of sense when two hunters stepped out from behind a house, leveling their rifles at me. I instinctively dropped to the ground, and winced as two rounds ripped the air above me. I could hear Julia and Kayla scream, and then I was moving. I had just a few seconds before they could reload, and they weren’t going to miss again. I charged the closest one, swinging my tomahawk in a vicious arc. The hunter raised his rifle in defense, and the axe head bit deep into the wood of the forearm. I twisted the axe away, taking the rifle with it. My other hand snapped the head of the hunter back as my palm slammed into its head. I used my momentum to kick it into his companion, who had reloaded and was bringing his rifle up to bear. The shot went high as the gun was knocked away. The hunter shoved the other one off of him and whipped out a knife. He stepped back, only to fall forward as an arrow shaft shattered his goggles and pierced his right eye. Without a sound, he fell.
The other hunter leaped up and dove towards me, trying to keep me between himself and the arrows. I grabbed his wrist, keeping the knife in that hand away from my throat. My other hand was caught by the hunter, and we moved back and forth on the street, seeking advantage. My knife was held at bay by the hand on my wrist, and his knife was leveraged away from me the same way.
The man was strong, but he was no match for me. I slowly twisted his fist back towards his head and punched him in the face with his own hand. Three more punches, and the man’s hand slipped from my wrist, letting me skewer his throat. He went down gargling blood, and it was the first time I had heard any of these killers make a sound.
“You okay?” Jake asked. He looked around. “This was a neat little trap,” he said.
I nodded. “And I fell for it. But if we hadn’t sprung it, it would have left two of them at our backs, with no warning at all.”
“Well, that makes thirteen. Where do you think the other seven are?” Jake asked.
“Got me, but I think it’s time we paid a visit to the Magistrate,” I said.
“Where might she be?” Jake asked, retrieving his arrow.
“I think I know, and I think we will find our other hunters there,” I replied.
“After you,” Jake said, indicating the truck.
“No, I think we need to walk this time,” I said, helping Julia down from the platform.
“Won’t that make us targets?” Kayla asked.
“Nope.” I said. “If what I saw tells me anything, we’ll find a lot of answers where we’re headed.
Chapter 61
“Think you can do it?”
“I can try.”
/>
“You’ll need to be careful.”
“I can do this.”
“Are you sure?”
“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
“True.”
“Let me work, okay?”
Jake eased out of the cover of the trees and brought his bow up. He was holding three arrows in his right hand and aiming with a fourth. He had tried this before, and was getting better at it, but never before had so much ridden on his ability to get arrows in flight quickly.
We were in a small grove of trees sitting behind the large estate house I had passed early that morning. We had worked our way through the hills to the south, encountering another hunter on the path in the hills. Julia was walking scout for us, and she was the one who dealt with her. We discovered it was a she when we took the mask off.
That made the total we had dealt with to sixteen. Out there on the open ground, several fires burned in small pots. They were scattered in a circular pattern, flowing away from the house and barn. Four hunters stood guard, two facing north, and the other facing north east. If we had tried to come through that we would have been killed for sure. I had banked on the Magistrate not thinking anyone would know of her little escape route, and that was what we had used to get close.
Jake was about to let loose with his arrows when there was a bit of a commotion at the house. On the porch two people were having a very animated discussion, and the lights on the porch allowed me to see it was the Boss, looking very much alive even after Jake had shot at him with an arrow, and a woman dressed completely in white. She was wearing flowing clothing that looked a lot like robes, and every movement of her arms caused a ripple.
“This is all your fault!” the Magistrate said loudly. “You and your hunters must have screwed up somewhere to get this group to come here!”
“We’ll get them. It’s just a matter of time,” the Boss said contritely.
“With who? You’ve lost most of your hunters, apparently two of the group are ten times the marksmen your hunters are.”
Generation Dead (Book 3): Beyond The Gates Page 21
