by SD Tanner
There was still time and she reached into the cupboard. Pulling out a thermos and twisting off the plastic lid, she filled it with the water she’d just boiled. Opening the door to another cupboard, she found rations and packets of health bars, and she quickly stuffed them into an old plastic bag she took from a drawer. As she did these things, she listened to the Infected as they began to work as a single mind to protect the Ranch from the danger. Up until this moment, she hadn’t wanted to be one of them, but as she felt their minds connecting and merging into a single intent, her desire to be part of their world grew.
The entrance to the shelter was in the kitchen where she was told it always had been. It was through a hole in the floor, and she unlatched the lock and flicked on the light. Pop had built a completely self-sufficient shelter under the house, with its own power supply, water and food. She hoped she would only be in there for a few hours, but if needed, she knew how to get the shelter working and could live there for months. Holding her emergency bag of supplies, and using her other hand to balance herself, she carefully made her way down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was another door and she opened it, stepping inside the shelter. Behind that door was a house beneath a house, and she was greeted by a cheerful lounge with a small kitchenette. Dropping her bag of supplies on the coffee table, she picked up a blanket that had been neatly folded and left on the sofa. Shaking out the soft brightly colored blanket, she wrapped it around her shoulders and carefully eased herself onto the sofa.
Closing her eyes, she laid her head back on the sofa and listened inside her mind. The golden star sat center stage and all around it were stars humming calmly and steadily. It’s so peaceful, she thought, and she smiled softly as she finally allowed herself to join the Infected. Within her mind she found Georgia and through her she was standing next to the greenhouse. The sun was shining brightly and she was watching the men and women climbing into trucks.
“What the hell is going on?”
“There’s a convoy on its way.”
“How do they know that?”
“One of the Infected saw it coming.”
“How many?”
“He says seven trucks and they looked loaded.”
Georgia climbed into the truck with the men and they began to drive out of the Ranch to the north. Wanting to see more, she reached again and found another one of the Infected. This one was well outside the Ranch and watching the convoy as it slowly drove towards them. There were seven large trucks, and there were dark shadows of bodies behind the windows. She estimated there were probably ten men in each truck, which meant there were a total of seventy people attacking the Ranch. As the Infected relayed messages between their minds, she became aware of another one who was still at the Ranch. He was unlatching the gates to the fences of the animal pens and telling the other Infected to do the same.
Let them go. Let them live.
With the fences open, men and women ran around the pens, hustling the animals out and shooing them away. The message in her mind was clear. The Infected didn’t believe they would survive the attack, and having seen the enemy force headed towards them, she agreed it wasn’t likely.
Protect the child.
She didn’t know how to talk back to them. In her mind, she tried to say yes, but it didn’t translate into the same way they were communicating with her. Frustrated, she reached out with her hands, but they couldn’t hear her.
Protect the child.
Shaking her head, she found another mind. The trucks had reached the Ranch. Their own men and women were taking positions in the barns and sheds. They were firing at the vehicles as they drew within the perimeter of the Ranch, and the men in the trucks were firing back at them. The mind she shared was standing in a shed, watching their own people crouched beneath windows and firing at the trucks. So far it seemed like a fair match, but it wouldn’t stay that way and she sensed more than saw the hunters running towards them. She couldn’t count how many there were, but she felt their rage and their hunger, and she knew this was what would kill them all.
Sighing, she went with the mind she shared as he ran from the shed towards the hunters that were racing at speed towards him. With no sense of panic he touched them and they fell still to the ground. Moving quickly, he killed hunter after hunter to protect the living now trapped in the shed, but it was a losing battle. The hunters couldn’t kill him, but they could keep dying until he was buried under a mass of heavy dead limbs. The shed was filling with hunters eager to reach their living prey, and as she shared his mind, she felt him finally leave and all that was left was an empty shell. He didn’t die so much as he seemed to sigh, and then his mind was empty. Leaving his now blank mind, she went in search of another.
Georgia was protecting a team of the living who’d fallen back to the barn. She heard the shattering of glass as the greenhouse exploded under the rage of endless gunfire. Hunters quickly followed behind the trucks that came to a stop, and men spilled out using the vehicles as cover. Through Georgia she moved with her to intercept the hunters as they raged towards the barn. She saw their faces, twisted with hunger and rage, driven by the super hunter controlling their movement. Through Georgia’s eyes she desperately searched for the super hunter.
Realizing the super hunter must be behind the truck with the shooters, Georgia called to their own shooters, “Cover me!”
Inside the mind of Georgia, she felt her calm resolve. She knew she was going to die, and she was content to die protecting the living. She felt tears falling down her face as she finally understood how much the Infected loved the living. Their desire to protect and keep the living safe was the real bond between the Infected. She travelled with Georgia while she killed hunter after hunter, always moving just a few feet closer to the super hunter behind the truck. As hunters fell away from her, Georgia was left exposed to the shooters behind the truck. Her own shooters desperately tried to give her covering fire, but the hunters were swarming into the barn. Georgia was left alone, fighting foot by foot, to find a target she would never reach.
The shooters behind the truck opened fire, all aiming directly at Georgia, and she saw their faces and their guns pointing at her. As if in slow motion, she felt the bullets as they hit her one after another. She lived in Georgia while her body jerked with the impact of every bullet entering her body and tore through her organs. The pain was immense, and as Georgia drew her last breath, she saw a man in her mind. It was Ted and he was smiling at her. It was a boyish smile she knew well. She was glad Georgia’s last thought was of being loved. As Georgia’s mind became a blank canvas, she reached again and found the mind of another. She recognized her. It was an infected woman called Margaret.
Margaret’s mind embraced hers warmly and through her eyes, she was standing in the lounge of the house. Enemy shooters were parking their trucks, surrounding the house from every angle. Their own shooters were calling to one another to take positions on the first and second floor windows, and she could hear the gunfire between the shooters. She figured few of the seventy shooters she saw driving in the convoy were dead, and now the fight was between the twenty or so people they had left and a fierce and well-equipped army. It was hopeless. The remaining three infected were guarding the shuttered windows and sealed doors to hold the hunters back, but nothing would stop the enemy army from eventually overwhelming their defenses. She knew TL and Pop had left large stores of ammo and weapons in the house, but not enough to repel an attack of this magnitude.
Protect the child.
I will, she thought. Without thinking, she ran her hand protectively over her belly and felt a thrill of delight in Margaret’s mind. You can hear me, she thought, but Margaret didn’t reply.
Margaret was talking to one of the living. “Lydia’s in the basement. She must stay there.”
“Can you talk to the other infected and tell them to let the base know what’s happening here?”
“There’s no infected at the bases,” Margaret replied. “They wer
e here or out looking for Pax and his team.”
“We have to get a message to them.”
“Why can’t we use the radio?”
“It doesn’t always work, and it ain’t workin’ now.”
“We’re screwed.”
“Try Margaret. Just keep trying. Maybe one of them can get a radio message back to the base.”
She sensed Margaret’s peaceful, but firm resolve when she said, “I won’t stop trying.”
Outside it was a standoff, and each side was now hunkered down for a long drawn out battle. They couldn’t win and she wondered if they’d be able to call the bases, or if the Infected would be able to communicate with the other infected before they all died. She hoped so, and it would mean help was coming. If not then they were on their own, and their little piece of heaven had just been invaded by hell.
Leaving Margaret’s mind, she looked into her own mind and saw there were still some stars surrounding the golden star. From what Ip told her she believed they were the minds of the Infected. Several of the stars outshone the others, and one was a brilliant white light that dwarfed even the golden star. She reached inside her mind and tried to touch the brilliant white star, but she didn’t know how. Confused, she frowned and concentrated on seeing the white star, removing all other stars from her focus until only that star remained.
Looking into the white star, it sparked like a light shining through a cut diamond. It was more alive than anything she’d ever seen, and she marveled at its ethereal beauty. Now with only the white star in her mind, all the other stars faded and she reached again to touch it. The white star shimmered sending sparks of light into every corner of her mind. As the white star opened she felt a pure energy fill her, and she smiled in delight. The energy was warm and welcoming and it pulsed with the rhythm of a steady and strong heartbeat.
Ip speaks: I feel a presence. It feels me too. Who are you?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: A bond greater than blood (Gears)
Ip had gathered so many filthy, mud-covered hunters around them, the shooters in the towers of the prison couldn’t possibly target them. As he, Logan, TL, Ip, and the four combat shooters walked towards the prison, he said sternly, “Keep eyes on the enemy.”
The ground was slippery and he felt his boots sink into the mud, making a slurping, sucking noise every time he lifted his boot. The hundred or so hunters forming their guard were trudging around them, grumbling and whining as if they too were unhappy with their lot. Whatever good mood he felt on the flight back from the UK was long lost, as he took another sliding step in the slippery mud. He was confident somewhere in the prison he would find Pax, and woe betide Ruler if he’d hurt his brother. TL thought Ruler was the Devil and maybe he was, but he’d kill that little shit no matter who the hell he was. Sighing, he remembered Ip already killed Ruler once, and he wondered how many times they were going to have to kill little shit before he stayed dead.
The high wall surrounding the prison had a main gate leading to the entranceway, and they headed towards it. Ip controlled the hunters to form an even tighter and closer perimeter around them, still making it impossible for the shooters in the towers to target them.
“How are we going to get in?” TL asked again.
“Tricky,” he replied. “We could try and take out the shooters from outside the prison, but we don’t have sniper rifles. Our best bet is to use the hunters as cover, and shoot our way in, head up the towers, and take out the shooters using the hunters as shields.”
On hearing the plan, one of the combat shooters remarked, “Doesn’t pay to be a hunter these days.”
In a tone of disbelief, another combat shooter asked, “When did it ever pay to be a hunter?”
“Shaddup both of ya. We ain’t takin’ a Sunday stroll here.” Turning to TL, he grumbled, “These kids are gettin’ stupider.”
TL gave him a meaningful look. “Not just the kids, Gears.”
Rolling his eyes at his brother, he returned his attention to the prison. They’d made it to the wall and were following it to the main gates. The wall gave them protection from the enemy shooters and they made quick progress to the gate. The gate formed a tall, metal barrier and it was clearly only designed to be opened from the inside.
“How the hell are we supposed to get in?” TL asked.
The gate was starting to show signs of wear, paint was peeling off, and the edges of the gate were rusting. He supposed without regular maintenance, everything would start to fall into disrepair, but even though it was rusty there was no way they could open the gate from the outside.
“We’ll call the bird to blow it open.”
Rolling his eyes, TL said dryly, “Well, of course we will. Anything else would be too subtle.”
Walking around the corner of the wall, he called the pilot to fly over and blow the gate with a HYDRA. Waiting with their backs to the wall, they watched while the pilot and his co-pilot fired at the gate and he heard and felt the explosion. As the sound and dust settled, he heard the shooters in the towers firing and wondered what they were shooting at. They were too far from the bird to reach it and couldn’t see them behind the wall.
“What the fuck are those dumbasses doin’?”
TL peered around the corner of the wall and said, “You’ve answered your own question, Gears. Dumbasses do dumb shit.”
Repeatedly being outwitted by TL was getting on his nerves. “I miss Pax.”
“That’s only because he makes you feel smarter, but being smarter than Pax isn’t saying much.”
“Shaddup, TL.” Waving to the combat shooters to join him, he said, “We need to get in there. Ip can send some hunters in first and we’ll follow ‘em. One team deals with the shooters in the towers, and the other team can head into the prison.”
He was about to elaborate on his plan, when Ip pushed past him and gleefully ran around the corner towards the gate.
“Ip, get your ass back here.”
Ip speaks: You may be stupid, but I am not. Deal with our one who must be got. I am Death and it is my role to kill. Do not interfere while I have my fill.
More hunters emerged from the muddy, sodden earth and began to converge on the main gate. In surprise, they all stood watching as more hunters, with their heads vibrating manically, ran towards the prison gates and it was clear she planned to swarm their enemy.
Flattening against the wall, TL asked, “Do you ever feel redundant?”
“Nah,” he replied with a grin. “She jus’ really likes her job.”
The hunters running past them thinned, and they joined the flow of hunters heading swiftly towards the main gate. From inside the prison, they could hear frantic gunfire from multiple locations. Over the noise of the gunfire, the men inside the prison were shouting, clearly panicked by the ferocious assault. Reaching the gate, he stopped and listened intently to the noises coming from inside.
“What are you doing, Gears?” TL asked.
He held his hand up. “Waiting.”
“For what?”
Logan said, “Only fight when you have to.”
“Exactly. Who’s bein’ stupid now, TL?”
“Shaddup, Gears.”
In his mind, he called to Ip and asked her where she was. When he got no reply he thought maybe he needed to find her. Before that thought could fully form, she appeared at the gate, slightly breathless and smiling happily. She held her sword facing downward at a slight angle and blood was still dripping from the tip of the blade.
He smiled back at her and asked, “Been havin’ fun, have you?”
Ip speaks: Hell on earth has hell below. Some have joined their immortal flow.
Still grinning at her, he said, “Let’s go break Pax outta prison.”
Walking through the now destroyed gates to the prison, he was confronted by an army of hunters, all shuffling about aimlessly, snuffling to themselves. A few were streaked with bright red blood, and given hunters only oozed a black greasy goo when injured, he figured they’d rece
ntly eaten. Not feeling any sympathy for an enemy who would have killed him without conscience, he continued to walk towards the building.
While she walked by his side, he asked, “What happened to the super hunters, honey?”
By way of reply she raised her sword above her head, slamming it down in a graceful arc. The sword cut fast and sharp and the air whistled lightly. Turning her head towards him, a wicked smile flashed across her face and he thought, she’s a lethal force.
Reaching the closed door that led into the prison, TL asked, “So, what do you think, should we send the hunters in?”
Worried Pax might be trapped inside, he didn’t want to send hunters in without being sure he could defend himself. “No, this one’s our problem.”
“We finally get to do something,” one of the combat shooters muttered.
Turning to the young man, he said sternly, “Don’t be so eager to die, son. Always use the right weapon for the right job.” Grabbing Ip gently by the arm, he pushed her away from the door and said, “Stay out here.”
He ordered two of the combat shooters to stay with Ip, and before they breached the door, he called the pilot to land the bird inside the prison parking lot for a fast extract.
“Honey, keep the bird safe.” Turning to the team, he added, “Let’s get it done.”
A combat shooter yanked the door open. He and TL stood at the now open door with their guns aimed squarely though it as they waited for a reaction, but there wasn’t one. Signaling to TL to follow, he moved through the door and looked around. It was the visitor entrance to the prison. Inside there was x-ray equipment a desk and another door. TL, Logan, and the other two shooters joined him in the small foyer.
“Guess the only way is forward,” TL remarked casually.
“Yup.”
Leaving the two shooters to monitor the entrance, he, Logan and TL went to the next door. Logan opened it, while he stood aiming his gun at the door. Behind this door was another door of thick metal bars and he could see into the corridor it led to. The door was slightly ajar, but before he could move to open the door fully, three hunters tore down the corridor towards him. He felt himself roughly pushed aside as Logan met the three hunters head on, dropping them instantly. The corridor fell silent again. Stepping over the hunter bodies, and slowly moving forward with their guns at eye level, they watched for any movement. While they walked down the corridor, his footsteps echoed slightly in what appeared to be an empty prison.
