by SD Tanner
Inwardly he groaned, but still sounding steady, he asked, “What are you packin’?”
“We had four loaded birds, but last I heard Hatch headed out somewhere. Otherwise the armored vehicles are fully loaded. I’m here with Mike and Darren and we’re still good. Cutter is in command of the combat convoy, so he can give you an update.”
Cutter came on the radio. “We’re sitting tight. It’s not pleasant, but we’re okay for the moment. We can’t move without the risk of getting bogged down in hunter corpses. I’m in the lead vehicle, and Nelson is in one of the center vehicles. Isaac is with him.”
Captain Ted asked, “What’s it look like from the air?”
It hadn’t looked good from the air. “You’re pretty much locked in. Cutter, you’ve got a couple of trucks that are half under already, so you need to sit tight. There’s at least a hundred thousand or more hunters out there and they’re packed around you pretty tight.”
“Where the hell were you, Pax?” Captain Ted asked.
“At a prison somewhere in Arkansas. Gears, TL ‘n Ip busted me out.”
“Where’s the rest of your team?” Cutter asked.
“They didn’t make it.”
The situation was not good. He hadn’t seen any evidence of the human army that Ruler was supposed to have, and he wondered where they were. If they showed up it would only make a bad situation worse.
“Have you seen the human army anywhere?”
“Nope. The barracks looked to have held several thousand men, but I don’t think we’ve even seen several hundred since we’ve been here,” Captain Ted replied.
“Then where the hell are they?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t fuckin’ miss ‘em.”
He realized there wasn’t much he could do. They didn’t have enough air support to clear the hunters completely, and he didn’t have Ip to control the hunters so they could kill the super hunters. Plus it was dark and then the hunters were dangerous with or without the super hunters. For the moment his people were secure, and he still had some time to sort it out before it turned into a massacre.
Turning to Logan, he said, “You need to stay with the medical team and keep ‘em secured from the hunters.”
Back on the radio, he said, “I’m gonna send one of the birds back to the base. As soon as they can make radio contact again, they can call for more air support. There ain’t a lot we can do at night, so you’re gonna have to sit tight. Once we’ve got more air support, we can start thinnin’ the herd and getcha out. With any luck, Gears and Ip will be back from the Ranch by then, and she can get some of the hunters under her control.”
“Why are Gears and Ip at the Ranch?” Captain Ted asked.
“It’s been attacked.”
“By who?”
He wasn’t sure, but he could guess. “I’m guessin’ Ruler and his demons.”
“Oh shit. Is Lydia okay?”
He didn’t know the answer to that. “Last I heard from Ip, Lydia was safe in the house.”
“Oh man, I have so fucked up,” Captain Ted moaned unhappily.
Aware that everyone on the radio could hear him, he replied firmly, “Not now, Ted. You did what you thought was right. Sometimes events conspire to screw us up and jus’ lately more is screwin’ us up than not, and I think we all know who the hell is to blame for that. Let’s just deal with one problem at a time, and right now ya’ll secured for the night. I’ll monitor the situation from the air and we’ll just have to wait it out ‘til mornin’.”
“Thanks, Pax.”
“Whatdaya know about the injured guy?”
“Not much, but they were going to kill him and he was ready to die to save us, so we owe him. But we lost Lily and Rich.”
“Sorry to hear that. They were both solid,” he replied, genuinely upset to hear of more losses. Determined not to lose more of his people, he added, “We’ll mourn ‘em later, but right now we gotta stay focused on the livin’.”
“Roger that,” Captain Ted replied.
A stunning, dark haired slender woman who was watching him nervously joined Pauline. He vaguely recognized her and wondered where he’d seen her before. Once he was off the radio, he turned to Pauline and said, “You need to stay secured in the truck. Logan will stay with you to deal with any nosey hunters lookin’ to make trouble. I’m gonna do another sweep by air and keep an eye on what’s goin’ on, but I’ll be back.”
“Okay. By the way, this is Angela. She says you’ve met.”
Angela looked at him shyly and said, “I’m glad you’re okay.” He must have looked confused and she added hastily, “I was in the warehouse. You were nice to me and Ted rescued me.”
Only vaguely recalling seeing a woman at the warehouse, he asked, “Oh yeah, I remember you now. You okay?”
Still looking both shy and nervous, Angela nodded as she uncomfortably pulled the long sleeves of her oversized sweater down over her hands. He nodded confidently at her and said, “Don’t worry, Ted’ll be fine. He ain’t the type to die easy.”
Smiling shyly, she said, “Neither are you.”
He called the pilot down and climbing into the bird, he said, “We need to send a bird back to the base. Tell ‘em to make radio contact as soon as they’re able, and send as many fully loaded birds here asap. I want ‘em here by daylight.”
“Roger that,” the pilot replied, and he heard him issuing his orders to another pilot.
He figured the pilot could make it to the base in about three hours, and if they were lucky, he could make radio contact earlier. Air support would take a few hours to get loaded and in the air. He guessed the round trip would take about nine or ten hours and they should arrive at dawn. He would then have the problem of trying to clear the hunters using air support, without damaging their own vehicles. It wasn’t going to be easy even in daylight, and he wondered if there was any way he could try to track down the super hunters overnight.
Ip speaks: Do not be foolish, you are noisy enough. If you move too fast, it will be too tough.
“Hello Ip.”
“What was that, Pax?” The pilot asked, sounding confused.
“Not talkin’ to you.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Blocking the mike to his headset, he said, “You’re makin’ me look crazy, Ip.”
Ip speaks: As if you need help for that. You are foolish enough, that is a fact.
“So what’s happenin’?”
Ip speaks: Heaven is lost, the child is not. But the Devil still has a devious plot.
He shook his head, and thought, she still doesn’t make any goddamn sense.
Ip speaks: Rude as well, and not so smart. The way you annoy is an art. Heaven is lost is plain enough. The child is still not safe for us. War and I will fight for him. But the situation remains grim.
“Well tell Gears to goddamn hurry up,” he said, finally understanding. “We’re screwed here too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Is this star quality? (Gears)
Ip speaks: The noisy one is in danger still. It seems the Devil wants his fill.
Her voice had a musical quality to it and that, combined with the poetry of her thoughts and the calmness of her emotions, made him want to relax, however this was not the time. It was dark and he couldn’t see a damned thing, which was only adding to his increasing anxiety. Once again Ruler had turned their one time home into a battleground, and once again, innocent blood was bleeding into their peaceful land. For Pax, TL and himself, the Ranch was the first and last place they called home. It was where they were placed as foster children, and where they became the brothers they still were today. Together, he and his brothers found their footing under the firm, but loving guidance of Mom and Pop. It was at the Ranch he realized he was in love with Ip and they had their first night together as a couple. They were all good memories that Ruler seemed determined to leave bloodstained.
Ip speaks: It is where the Horsemen rose to be. A piece of Heave
n meant for you and me.
Enjoying the peace her mind offered, he asked, “What does that mean, honey?”
Ip speaks: When our rule is done, Heaven will remain. Until we win, it will die again and again.
He supposed that made some sort of weird sense. Ip always referred to the Ranch as, ‘home where the horses are’. He’d thought she meant it was where Pop kept their horses, but now he realized she was saying it was where he and his brothers were from. Now she was referring to the Ranch as heaven on earth, and he supposed she meant that literally as well. The Ranch was a little piece of heaven on an earth increasingly controlled by hell. If I’m a Horseman, he thought, I ain’t doin’ a very good job.
Ip speaks: The Devil does not agree with you and me. He aims to cheat man from being free. But he is the Devil and that is his game. He is only living up to his name.
He chuckled at her comment, which she’d delivered with a slight shrug. I guess so, he thought, Devil by nature, Devil by name.
Ip speaks: Now you are starting to understand the frame.
This time he laughed outright. Everyone turned to look at him in surprise, and Mackenzie asked, “What are you laughing at?”
“Nothin’.”
“Cut it out, Gears,” TL said tersely. Turning to Ip, he added, “You too Ip. This isn’t funny. Lydia and the baby could die. We may already be too late.”
Realizing his brother didn’t have the benefit of talking to Ip telepathically, he said, “She’s still fine, TL. Ip would know if anything had happened to her or the baby.”
TL’s face relaxed a little, but he remained tense. “So what’s the plan?”
“They’re trapped in the house, so we need to bomb the hell outta ‘em to get into the house. It ain’t the best solution, but we don’t have enough people to do it any other way.”
“I don’t think that’ll work, Gears. Think again.”
Ip could distract the super hunters long enough for them to get into the house. If she created enough of a fight between the hunters, they could get in and get Lydia and the others out. Having dropped Logan and Pax off, Hatch should be on his way back from the camp and he would come to the Ranch. That meant he would have two birds, but if there were more than fifteen people left alive then he had a problem. There was no way they could win the battle, and he had limited capacity to airlift people out. Anyone who stayed would die, simple as that. Plus he had Gray on board, but as far as he was concerned, he would shoot the man rather than hand him back to Ruler, or have him take up a needed seat on the bird.
Ip speaks: Waste of a soul that I know.
You’re bloodthirsty and it’s growing on me, he replied.
If they dropped her down first, she could draw a hunter army around her and keep Ruler busy, while TL and the shooters got into the house. They could kill the super hunters, giving TL and Mackenzie time to get Lydia and their people out of the house. If there was more than fifteen people, they could try to steal one of the enemy vehicles and bug out.
There were too many unknowns in the plan for his liking, but it was the best he could do with such limited resources. As for Gray, for as much as he might be useful for intelligence, the man was dead the moment he caused any sort of a problem. Glancing over at him, the skinny man was still zip tied and cuffed to a bar on the bird. He looked withdrawn, shaky and decidedly miserable. He didn’t know what Gray had or hadn’t done, but he was pretty sure anyone who made it to the top echelons of Ruler’s world was an asshole, and his discomfort was of no concern to him.
“We’re gonna drop Ip down first to pull together a hunter army. I’ll go with her and one combat shooter and we’ll aim to kill the super hunters. TL, you and Mac go in with three combat shooters and pull Lydia and the survivors out. If we ain’t got enough capacity on the bird, I’ll see if I can steal us some transport and bug out, but hang about and give us air cover while we do that.” With a flick of his head at Gray and a disgusted expression on his face, he added, “And shoot that asshole if we need his seat.”
TL frowned. “Who’s where on extract?”
“You go with Lydia. Get her and the baby somewhere safe.”
Looking relieved, TL said, “Roger that.”
It was pitch black as they flew over the Ranch, and he could hear nothing over the sound of the rotors. The pilot switched on the searchlights and the area around the house lit up in the darkness. The situation was grim. Surrounding the house were half a dozen trucks, each with a cluster of men with guns behind it, but that was the least of his concerns. At least twenty thousand hunters surrounded the entire Ranch, densely packed around the house.
Over the radio crackled a voice he recognized as Hatch. “Whoooeeee! That’s a freakin’ party down there!”
“What’s happenin’ at the camp?”
“Nothin, Gears. They’re waitin’ for dawn and they’ve sent a bird back for more air support. I dropped Pax and Logan off and headed straight over to ya at top speed. I’m gonna need to refuel soon. I ain’t got enough fuel to get back to the base.”
“Then that ain’t a problem right now.”
Hatch laughed. “No siree, it ain’t. We’ve got enough problems as it is.”
“Ya don’t say.”
Still looking down at the hunters and enemy shooters surrounding the house, he tried to work out where Ruler and the super hunters might be. It wasn’t obvious, but given they hadn’t taken the house yet, he assumed they were probably waiting for Ruler to arrive. There were so many hunters, the super hunters could be hiding anywhere. In the bright searchlight, the hunters stood out starkly against the darkness. With their heads vibrating, faces upturned and watching the bird, some were reaching their arms towards them as if they could snatch their prey even from this distance. He could almost feel their rage and frustration. The shooters behind the trucks were also looking up at them. They were the faces of men he thought should know better. Right now they were shielding their eyes from the glare of the lights, and jabbering at one another.
Not good, he thought, we may not get outta this alive.
Ip speaks: A battle to be won, that is for sure. It is time we go to make some gore.
Nodding to her, he thought, no time like the present, have at it, woman! He called the pilot to take them close to the house, and get ready to drop them into the pit of angry hunters and lethal enemy shooters. Into hell we go, he thought grimly. The pilot hovered about fifteen feet from the ground, and TL and Mackenzie opened fire with the M240 machine guns to give Ip cover from the enemy shooters. With the nimbleness her hunter blood gave her, she dropped gracefully from the bird with her sword drawn, and hunters immediately began to form a circle around her. The pilot brought the bird down to about three feet above the ground, and he, and the combat shooter gracelessly scrambled out next to her. Behind him, he knew TL, Mackenzie and the shooters were heading into the house.
Surrounded by the hunter pack, he moved with Ip while all hell broke loose around them. Hunters were tearing into hunters. Ip was shrieking happily, using her army to attack enemy hunters time and again. He stayed close to her watching for enemy shooters, and keeping himself safe from the extreme violence he was witnessing. Next to him a hunter snarled as it tore the throat out of the hunter next to it. Black fluid spiraled crazily into the air, and their victorious hunter moved to its next victim with literally no thought. He knew the bird was still above them, providing him with much needed light, but he couldn’t even hear the rotors for the riot of snarling and howling around him. I’m in hell, he thought.
Desperately wanting to get away from the increasing pandemonium that seemed to press closer with each step, he hollered to Ip, “Find the goddamn super hunters!”
Even with his extensive combat experience, he was struggling to cope with the claustrophobia of the battle. The stench, the roar of the primal, and the constant ripping and wrenching of hunter flesh was overwhelming. He felt bodies slamming into him while hunters raged around him. Only Ip knew which hunters were hers.
As he travelled by her side, he watched her repeatedly hammering her sword home, slashing hunters apart as the three of them moved slowly forward. A head split open, the face spread wide, and holding her sword with both hands, she cleaved open the head of another hunter with a downward arc. He flicked his head away to avoid the spray of black goo, and felt the splatter down his neck. Disgusted, he resumed aiming his weapon, watching for anything that might threaten them.
Finally he saw they were heading towards one of the trucks and he readied to fire. A man popped his head above the roof and without thinking, he fired and watched the man’s head jerk back sharply and disappear. Ip began to take control of more hunters in front of them, and they turned on the men hiding behind the truck. Another man appeared above the hood of the truck and he fired again, satisfied when the man fell onto the hood. Within a moment, the man was dragged away by a hunter who began to feed on the corpse. Lovely, he thought, no time like the present for a snack of the newly dead.
“I want that truck,” he shouted to Ip.
Between his shooting and Ip’s hunters, he got his wish and found himself climbing in through the driver’s door. The combat shooter followed him in, getting into the driver seat and starting the truck. As he began to drive towards the next truck, Ip clambered onto the roof and lay flat so she had good visibility of the hunters she was controlling.
While the combat shooter tried to navigate his way through the densely packed hunters, he said steadily, “Clear the goddamn road, honey.”
He shot the windshield out and with his boot, kicked away the shattered glass so he could aim his gun forward. “Goddamn safety glass,” he muttered, as he awkwardly yanked and pulled at the shattered, but still intact glass. Unable to pull the shattered window completely off the frame, he settled for crushing it down with his gloved fist, and positioned himself so he was now able to shoot from a forward position. Ahead of him, the searchlights of the bird picked up the next vehicle and he watched closely for the enemy shooters. Again, a shooter’s head briefly appeared and he opened fire. Around him, the hunters continued to rage at one another, and the enemy shooter dropped and didn’t reappear. Grunting, he muttered to himself, “Fuck off, asshole.”
