by SD Tanner
Tired of listening to Gears argue with TL, she got up and wandered down the aisle of the plane looking for something to eat. Finding the galley she began to open the metal lockers, tossing empty boxes, cutlery and anything else that wasn’t edible to the floor.
Gears came up behind her. “Quit bein’ destructive, honey. You’re makin’ a mess and who the hell do ya think is gonna clean up after you? You’re no housewife.”
Trapped against the wall of metal tables, his bulky body blocked her escape. Turning in the tight space, she looked up and glowered at him sulkily.
He grinned, and said in a softer tone, “What the hell is wrong with you today. You’re moody as all hell.”
Ip speaks: Nothing is right, but you and me. I feel a worry I need to set free.
Leaning his body into hers, he asked, “What’s worryin’ you, honey?”
Feeling the comforting warmth of his body, she reached her arms around his neck. Pulling his head down, she slowly kissed him on the mouth, with a deepening passion.
Ip speaks: I do not know. I cannot tell. All I know is something is not well.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Hell has no friends (Captain Ted)
Finding the four-wheel drive surrounded by dried bloodstains genuinely alarmed him. Sure, he’d understood that Pax hadn’t radioed in and that meant he could be in trouble, but over the months he’d concluded Pax and his brothers were an indestructible force. Until now he hadn’t realized how much he relied on that belief, and now Pax was missing his confidence was damaged. If someone as capable as Pax could be captured and possibly killed, was he skilled enough to find and rescue him? Setting the unanswerable question aside, he focused on the job he had to do. Pax and his team were one of their own, and if any were still alive he was determined to get them back. In his mind, it was part of the unspoken covenant, that if you were captured you knew your people would move heaven and earth to bring you home alive.
He’d spoken with Wolfie and the convoy was now on route to several positions fifty miles from the refugee camp. He would like to have joined them to get them ready for the likely confrontation with Ruler and his demon army, but he also needed to recon the refugee camp. Reminding himself that Cutter was a capable man, he adjusted his position on the hard dirt and continued to watch the camp. Being daylight, the hunters weren’t bothering them, and Nelson and Isaac were watching him while he watched the camp. Having reconned the camp four months earlier with Gears and his brothers, he had a rough idea of the layout of the camp and nothing much seemed to have changed.
“What do you think?” Nelson whispered quietly.
Still peering through his binoculars, he replied, “You don’t need to whisper, Nelson. We’re over half a mile away.”
In a louder voice, Nelson replied good-naturedly, “I must have left my soldiering skills in my other pants.”
“That’s a shame. Looks like we might fuckin’ need ‘em. The camp has three main areas. One is a warehouse with hundreds of healthy looking people. The other looks like a refugee camp, and behind those buildings is a barracks, but it looks empty now.”
“So, where are the barracks now?”
Putting his binoculars down, he shook his head. “I dunno. They must have moved it, but we’ll need to find it.”
“Why would they move it?”
“I dunno, but I can’t fuckin’ believe they just got rid of it. We need to keep moving around and see if we can find their new barracks.”
Scooting down the small hill he was lying on, he grabbed his pack and started walking. Avoiding the dark forest areas, and quickly walking a mile along the perimeter of the base, he noticed the barrenness of the earth was extending well beyond the camp. He pondered why the earth seemed to be progressively dying and where this creeping death was leading. The other thing bothering him was the lack of activity around the camp. Their own bases were a hub of energy and action during the day. People came and went to and from the camp, roads were busy and there were sounds of voices, vehicles, and laughter. Walking the perimeter of the camp, he heard nothing. No people, animals or even birds. Occasionally there was a growl or a rustling from the forest areas, but he assumed it was the hunters hiding from the sunlight.
Nelson said grimly, “Hell has come to earth.”
“It hasn’t just come here, Nelson. It’s kicked out all the other occupants, moved in and is fuckin’ wrecking the place.”
“The Devil will do that.”
“Do you think that’s who Ruler is? The Devil?”
“Absolutely,” Nelson replied confidently.
“What does he want?”
“Our peace of mind. The Devil takes our souls by taking our joy, and without it all we have is emptiness and despair. It’s hope that keeps us alive. It’s the source of our power.” Continuing to walk by his side, Nelson asked, “Do you believe in God?”
“How would I know if I did or I didn’t?”
“Have you ever almost died?”
He thought back to a time when he’d been in Afghanistan and was assigned to join three guys from his platoon to take a flight to an FOB. There was nothing exceptional about the mission, they were going to check some equipment, but at the last minute his CO ordered him to stay back. Another guy called Senior Sergeant John B Lacy was assigned instead of him and returning to barracks, he’d given the change of orders no further thought until he was told the flight had crashed. The cause of the crash was never really known, but he remembered thinking he should have been on the flight.
“Sort of. I should have been on a flight that crashed.”
“What did you think when you found out the flight crashed and you’d lived and others hadn’t?”
Casting his mind back to that moment in time, he explored his emotions. “I thought I was lucky.”
“Did you thank anyone?”
Nelson’s question made him smile. “Yes, I did. I thanked God for letting me live, and asked God to take care of my brothers.”
“Then I think you know what you believe, Ted.”
Having now arrived on the other side of the camp, he found another low hill and again settled himself to watch the camp. This time he was rewarded with the sight of men in ACUs. In addition to the non-regulation use of the ACUs, many of the men were armed and there were trucks and other combat vehicles lined up outside of a reasonably good-sized barracks.
Relieved to find the enemy, he said with satisfaction, “Fuckin’ pay dirt! They’ve moved their army about a mile down from the warehouse and refugee camp.”
“Why would they keep the two separate?” One of the shooters asked.
“Discipline. The guys in black were guarding the camps. I’m guessing this is the army they use for combat, but it’s all good.”
“How do you figure that?”
Surveying the barracks, he grinned. “It’s a much smaller army than I expected. They’ve had four months to put this shit together, but that barracks can’t house more than a few thousand.”
The shooter whistled. “We got over thirty thousand shooters. They’re screwed!”
His initial burst of confidence was replaced with worry. There was something wrong with what he was seeing. They had four months to put together a sizeable fighting force, so why were there so few of them. Seeing nothing that helped him answer the question, he scooted down the hill a little and sat up still hidden from view.
“We need to get in there. The question is where would they hold prisoners like our guys?” Answering his own question, he said, “They would want to interrogate them, so they’d need to hold them under close guard. The army barracks is possible, but then they’d have them near weapons and vehicles. The refugee camp is possible, but then they’d be surrounded by a lot of other people. I think they’d hold them in that warehouse. They could lock ‘em up, and even if they managed to escape, they’d still be inside the fence line of the warehouse, plus they’d struggle to find a vehicle and weapons.”
Waiting to see if anyone would argue with his
analysis, he sat looking at his small team. When no one spoke, he said firmly, “We need to check that fuckin’ warehouse first.”
They walked back to the area near the warehouse. He unloaded his pack, lightened his vest, and with Isaac in tow, headed towards the warehouse. When they got closer to the camp, he would need to use the forest areas for cover and have Isaac kill any hunters that approached them. Walking through the forest, it was an easy job for Isaac to protect one person, and he killed any hunters that drew too close. Watching their hunter brothers die they began to step out of their way. He could hear the dry and dead forest crunch noisily beneath his feet. Being smaller and lighter, Isaac made much less noise and they kept a steady pace.
The warehouse stood grey and looming in the barren landscape. Once he was fifty yards away, he told Isaac to stay hidden in the forest, and he belly crawled his way to the fence line of the warehouse. Approaching the windowless back of the building, he reached the fence line and silently moved around the perimeter, trying to work out how he could get inside without being seen or heard. The warehouse was so quiet he wondered if it might be empty, and not sure there was anyone in there he decided to risk climbing the fence. Slinging his M4A1 over his shoulder, he reached up and dug his fingers into the holes in the wire using them to lift himself up. Flipping over the top, he dropped to the ground as quietly as he could.
Hugging the walls of the warehouse, he skirted along one wall and peeked around the corner. Seeing no one, he hugged the next wall until he found a door and pushed on it to see if it was open. With the door open no more than a half inch, he peered into the building. Inside it was dimly lit, and to his surprise, he saw a person who was clearly dead hanging from a chain attached to the top of the cage. Pushing the door open a little further, he slid his body through the gap and flattened himself against the wall behind the cage. There was no response to his entrance and he began to quietly edge along the wall, looking into the line of cages just a few feet from him. Each cage contained a small cot, several buckets and chains hanging from the top of the cage. The next cage was empty, but the third one had someone curled up in fetal position on the cot. He was startled when the person moved and looked directly at him.
The woman had raven black hair, stunning blue eyes, and was so pale her lips appeared to be a vivid red. She reminded him of Georgia, but her blue eyes were human and he thought this is what she would have looked like before she was infected.
She reached out a slender, pale hand. “Run.”
Moving closer to her, he crouched on the dirty floor with his head no more than a foot from hers. “Who are you?”
“Angela, but you should go. If they catch you they’ll hurt you.”
The young woman was being held prisoner, and yet she still cared about the safety of a stranger. “Have they hurt you, Angel?”
Angela didn’t answer, instead she pulled the thin blanket up to her chin, and looked at him with beautiful eyes that were both frightened and sad. It was a childlike gesture and an attempt to protect herself from forces that even he didn’t know how to defeat. He couldn’t leave her here, but looking at the cage there was only one way in or out, and it was at the front of the cage.
“I’m gonna get you out. Where are the guards?”
“I don’t know. I’m the only one here and I haven’t seen many guards today.”
“Where are the other prisoners?”
Angela’s eyes filled with tears. “They’re gone now. I’m the last one. They said I was for someone special.”
“What? So, there’s no other prisoners here?”
Angela shook her head.
He edged around the cage and, after checking the warehouse was empty, he reached for the door. It was a simple lock, easy to open from the outside, but impossible from inside the cage. He unclipped the lock and, as quietly as he could, eased the door open. Angela was now sitting up watching him anxiously from the bed. Signaling with his hand, she reached out with hers and he grasped it, pulling her towards him. Together they left the cage. Silently he closed the door and went around the back of the cages to the doorway he used to enter the warehouse. Hugging the outside wall they edged their way to the rear of the warehouse, and he boosted her up the fence before clambering over it.
Crawling through the mud and dirt they headed back to where he’d left Isaac. The entire trip had taken no more than an hour, and Isaac was patiently waiting where he’d left him. Without speaking, he grabbed Angela’s hand, and they silently and swiftly made their way back to where Nelson and the shooters were waiting.
Walking up to them with Angela, one of the shooters observed dryly, “That’s not Pax.”
“Well, d’uh. This is Angel and she was the only person in the warehouse.”
Nelson looked down at Angela, and smiling warmly, he said, “Hello Angel. You’re safe with us.”
“Is this real or am I dreaming?”
Taking her small and fragile hand in his, Nelson squeezed it gently and said, “This is real.”
Angela began to tremble. “We should go. It’s not safe here.”
She was obviously starting to panic and trying to calm her, he put his arm around her shaking shoulders and held her tightly. Steadying herself, she said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Angel, but I need to ask you some questions. We’re looking for some people we believe Ruler captured. Did you see any…unusual prisoners while you were in there?”
“You mean the soldier.”
He cast Nelson a meaningful glance. “What did he look like?”
“He was a big guy. Older and he had short, sandy brown hair. He was in a uniform like Hull’s men wear, but he wasn’t one of his people. I think he was here a few days ago, but I’ve lost track of time.”
Sure this was Pax, he asked, “Were there others in uniform like him?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Did you speak to the soldier?”
“No, he whistled to me, but I was scared.”
That sounded like something Pax would do. “Do you know what happened to him?”
“No, he was taken away by Ruler.” At the mention of the Ruler’s name she began to tremble again, and whispered, “I think he was going to take me.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s what they do. They possess you.”
Not understanding what she meant, he asked, “Who does?”
“The demons,” she replied with a shudder. “I’ve watched them do it. They take over your body while you’re still alive and they possess you.”
“Did you see that happen a lot, Angel?” Nelson asked grimly.
“Yes, it happens every day.”
There were no other prisoners in the warehouse and he asked, “But where were all the prisoners today? You were the only one there.”
With tears starting to fall at the memory of the past few days, she replied, “The cages were full a few days ago, but they possessed everyone they had. They told me I was special and I had to wait until Ruler got back. That’s why I think I was for him.”
That twisted sonofabitch, he thought. He could imagine Ruler would be amused by the irony of the Devil living inside the body of a beautiful, young and fragile woman. It sounded like something he would find very funny.
Still worried about Pax and his team, he asked, “Was there anyone with the soldier.”
“No.”
“And Ruler took him away, but you don’t know where he went?”
“No, I don’t know where they took him.”
Looking over Angela’s head at Nelson, he said angrily, “Ruler isn’t here or he would have possessed Angel. He’s taken Pax somewhere else, and the rest of his team are in the refugee camp or they’re all dead.”
“There was a lot of blood near their truck and I think Ruler only wanted Pax. I suspect the rest of the team are dead.”
Unfortunately Nelson’s assessment was more likely right than not. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach he looked d
own at Angela. “Do you know what the other camp is for?”
Angela’s eyes widened even further and she replied in a soft voice, “They told us they feed on them and if we didn’t do what they said they would send us there.”
“Feed on them? What does that mean?”
“They hurt them and then they feed them to the hunters. We would hear them screaming at night.”
“Why do they do that?” One of the shooters asked in horror.
“I think it’s how they feed. They want the fear. It makes them…happy.”
“How do you know all this?” Nelson asked gently.
“They showed us. They said we could be food or we could be vessels. They said if we’re food then we’re food for eternity, but if we’re vessels then we’d die only once.” Shaking her head sadly, she said, “None of us chose to be food.”
“How many of you became vessels?”
“I don’t know. There were maybe a hundred people since I’ve been there, but I don’t know how long I was there. A month maybe.”
How many super hunters had Ruler created? He was convinced Ruler had Pax, but he didn’t think he was at the camp anymore. Ruler had taken him somewhere else. He had six hundred combat shooters on their way and he could either leave or fight. ‘What would Gears do’, he wondered? Gears would fight. His six hundred trained men versus their less than two thousand untrained men. With four birds, loaded with heavy weapons, and Hull’s army separated from the refugee camp, he thought this might be the time they could win the fight once and for all.
Turning to Nelson, he said sternly, “We break this bitch now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Where angels fear to tread (Gears)
Finally landing at the Navy submarine base, he stamped down the metal stairs to the dusty tarmac below. All the bases had three base leads working in shifts, and there was someone monitoring the site at all times. The on-duty base lead would have seen their flight landing, and a four-wheel drive drove across the airstrip and parked. Glad to be home and on the ground, he breathed a sigh of relief and strode across the tarmac towards the vehicle. Izzie was climbing out of the four-wheel drive and he waved to her. He was feeling pretty good. On the flight back he finally reconnected with Ip and was looking forward to where that was leading.
