Dark of Dawn 4Horsemen: Book one in the Dark of Dawn Series

by Sebastien Woolf

  Zoe shifted her shoulder, swung low and lunged. Followed through with her elbow high.

  “Perfect,” said Siobhan, with a smile.

  Zoe’s face lit up with personal satisfaction. Lowering the sword she took a step forward, kissed her trainer in excitement. She rehearsed the routine again.

  Olivia was troubled. Sitting at the foot of the bed lost in thought, she closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to banish all memories of loss from her mind. It was a futile task. The one clear memory that clung to her constantly and was haunting her, was of what they had left behind.

  “I miss home,” she said, with sadness in her voice.

  “We all do dear,” Jon replied, in a comforting tone.

  “No! I really miss home.”

  “Heeeey, what’s brought this on all of a sudden?”

  “I’m just sick of running.” She blinked slowly. “Aren’t you?”

  “Well yes, but we have to do what we can to stay alive.”

  “Honestly Jon. What are we running from? Where are we running to?” She shrugged her shoulders in despair. “There must be more to life than this, even now.” Her heart beat heavily and her mind was a jumble of thoughts.

  Jon loved his wife dearly, with all his heart. He could feel her pain, agreeing totally with her sentiments. He too wished that they were back home enjoying the simplicities of family life.

  “Things sure are quite messed up aren’t they,” he said, rubbing the stubble on his cheek. “Where did it all go wrong?”

  “Will we never be able to return home?”

  Jon stared back at her.

  “Will this ever be over?”

  “I don’t know.” Jon sighed heavily. “I honestly do not know.”

  It was a beautiful morning, the sun shone brightly in the crystal clear azure sky. Shielding his eyes Josh stared into the distance. At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary. After half an hour of walking his patrol had not seen anything of concern. He as flanked by Tyler and Colin, who were scanning the roadside buildings as they trekked forward.

  Adjusting his eyes to the glare of the sun, something suddenly caught Josh’s attention up ahead. Shapes were moving on the road in their direction. Dropping to his haunches he crouched for a moment hoping they might not see him, but it was too late. Feet scraped on the bitumen as the creatures dragged themselves to him.

  Tyler stood tall and placed a hand on Josh’s shoulder. Fitting the silencer to the end of his rifle, he squinted up the road. Ahead of them a small pack of stray creatures were zeroing in on them, he made out five figures on the road. Moments later a series of muffled shots popped above Josh’s head.

  “You’re getting good kid,” complemented Colin, rubbing his unshaven chin.

  “Yeah, not bad at all,” agreed Josh, getting to his feet.

  Tyler licked his lips. Took a swig from his water bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Rightio then. Let’s carry on shall we?”

  The men had been patrolling a two block perimeter around the motel combing for threats and risks, making it secure. Nothing much had stirred on their circuit aside from the odd pocket of strays such as those they had just encountered.

  Colin searched the corpses, came up empty-handed. The survivors had adopted this ritual some time ago after stumbling across several handguns on one of the undead they had killed. Ever since then they had uncovered weapons, ammunition and an assortment other useful items from many of the creatures they had put to death.

  As the men walked on a cloud of black crows swarmed onto the scene of the carnage behind them. Blood curdling squeaks echoed loudly on the street as the large scavengers pecked at the corpses, feasting on carrion in the heat of the day.

  Under the watchful glare of the blazing sun the men marched on. Stepping forward in a triangular formation they panned around their surroundings. Constantly aware that danger could be lurking in any shadow they remained on high alert.

  Minutes ticked by, they only sound to be heard was that of the tread of their boots on the boiling bitumen. Tyler mulled over many thoughts as he walked. Adjusting his thick black-rimmed glasses he scanned the sidewalk and shopfronts to his right. He cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

  “It’s rather ghostly isn’t it. Spooky even.”

  Josh raised an eyebrow. “What is?”

  “All this.” Tyler gestured towards the abandoned buildings. “The end of the world as we know it.”

  “Hey, it’s not all a dead loss. We’re still here young fella,” said Colin. He gave a miserable attempt at a smile.

  “Do you think we deserve a break then?” Josh asked his brother.

  “Is the Pope a Catholic?” was all Tyler could muster in response.

  “Well, I would think he’s probably one of the undead now, but I know what you mean.”

  “I know what you’re getting at bro. Yeah, I totally think we deserve a break.”

  They marched on in silence, contemplating the topic. Out of nowhere a soft hum suddenly joined them from up the road. Josh signaled with his hand raised in the air bringing the trio to a sudden halt.

  More humming, growing louder.

  “What the hell is that?” asked Tyler, in a whisper.

  Frantically the men spun around in terror, searching for the source of the sound. The saw nothing. Moments later the hum turned into a roar. The unmistakable sound of an engine.

  “Car!” Colin yelled, with a start.

  Caught off guard the men only had seconds to act, they had to hurry. Scrambling as quickly as they could they made a dash for cover, sprinting from the road. In their haste they separated. Josh and and Colin took cover inside a café, they watched as Tyler clambered over a parked car on the other side of the road before he darted into an office building.

  Suddenly, a jeep crested the rise just beyond where the men had taken cover. It maintained a slow and steady pace in the center of the road, following close behind rumbled an army transport carrier. The two vehicles rattled past the men loudly, dust and sand rose from the dry road as the wheels spun by. Colin tasted the dirt on his tongue and spat a globule of gritty saliva at his feet.

  Seated on the rear headrests of the jeep, two armed men held their rifles at the ready. The front passenger had his eyes glued on a map whilst the driver simply appeared focused on his task behind the wheel. All four men wore dark shirts with an unmistakable logo printed on the chest, which caused much consternation amongst the three men in hiding.

  Josh’s sharp eyes spotted it first recognizing the logo immediately. “Four fucking Horsemen!” he exclaimed in a whisper, through gritted teeth.

  Slowing, the vehicle came to a stop further down the road. The black cloud ascended quickly then disappeared into the blue sky as the crows took wing. The man with the map leapt from the jeep and moved to where the fresh corpses lay. He stooped over the carcasses, examining them carefully.

  One of the armed men stepped purposefully onto the road and moved to stand watch. The second man joined him shortly afterwards. They were completely unaware that they had an audience.

  From the shadows the group of three looked on anxiously, doing everything they could to make themselves invisible. Adrenaline ran through Tyler’s body, tickling his skin. His heart pounded and sweat beaded on his forehead. Shifting his feet for better balance he raised his weapon and trained on a target. The man who had the map stood in the middle of his crosshairs.

  Josh frantically waved his arms from across the street, in an attempt to catch Tyler’s attention. When his brother eventually did look Josh motioned for him to lower his weapon. This was not the time for heroics of any kind.

  With forensic precision the man on the road studied the scene. Body position and blood splatter revealed to him roughly where the shooter would have been standing. The scattered belongings indicated the pockets of the deceased had been ransacked, he was onto something. His hardest task was determining precisely when all this had happened.

  He gri
maced as he stood, cursing those who had tampering with the evidence.

  Crows. Damn filthy crows.

  Tyler tilted his head in an attempt hear what the men were saying. Voices were muffled and all he could make out was the odd loud word. The map-wielding man appeared to become quite animated as he discussed his findings with his colleagues, pointed a finger further down the road and shrugged his shoulders. An argument ensued and he began to shout and gesticulate wildly all of a sudden in an obvious attempt to get his own way. He then stormed back to the jeep, the others followed and all three men took their seats agin. Both vehicles then sped off, continuing in the direction they had been heading.

  After a moment of brief silence the men in hiding stepped out from the shadows. The sun was bright on their faces and looking up through the fingers of his hand Josh squinted at the brilliance, adjusting his eyes quickly to the light.

  Tyler emerged, crossing the road briskly. “What the hell was all that?” he said, pointing down the road. There was tension in his voice.

  Josh rubbed the knotted muscles in his neck. He was struggling to comprehend what all this might mean for his band of survivors. “I don’t know exactly.”

  “Never thought I’d see those Four Horsemen bastards again,” exclaimed Colin.

  “Same here,” growled Tyler.

  “Never thought, or hoped?” Josh sighed. “We always knew they would catch up with us again sometime. Come on, we have to go and warn the others.” With that they spun on their heels and set off for the motel. Josh pushed the pace with urgency. They endured the return journey in grim silence.

  Rebecca greeted the men as they arrived back. “So, was it a good hunt?” she said jokingly.

  “You could say that,” replied Tyler. “We have big news.”

  “Oh. What happened?”

  “Sorry sis,” interrupted Josh, “we need to have a meeting. Can you help us get everyone together quickly? Like Tyler said, it is big news that affects us all.”

  “What the heck Josh Armstrong. You can tell me what you…” Thinking better of it, Rebecca let her sentence die. She knew that it was pointless to argue with her older brother. As Josh walked off she turned and gave him a frown.

  Not for the first time that day the bistro bustled with activity. The mood of the group was pensive, no-one had the foggiest idea as to why they had been summoned, with many secretly hoping it was for more food.

  “Alright!” Jon said loudly, shushing the crowd.

  Chatter in the room quickly dissipated.

  “Thanks for coming so quickly.” Pointing at the three men before him who had been on patrol, Jon continued. “You guys have a report to share with all of us I believe?”

  Josh grinned awkwardly at the sea of blank faces before him. “Okay. Thanks, yeah… Well, as you know we have just been out on patrol walking a perimeter. Given that we made the decision to stay here another day, we wanted to ensure it was all safe around us. What we stumbled upon is of grave concern.”

  A hush descended.

  Josh spent the next few minutes giving his account of their encounter with the the 4Horsemen scouting party. Initially the revelation was met with shocked silence as the group digested the news. It was indeed as Josh had prefaced, big news. He paid no heed to the groans that followed and carried on to deliver all the details to the group. Anxiously heads turned as people everywhere stared at each other.

  “What do we do now?” came a voice from the group.

  “Do they know where we are?” came another.

  “Are they still out there?”

  Many more questions were fired in quick succession from the floor. The racket inside the bistro grew louder and louder.

  “Did they follow you?” asked a man from the Oasis group, standing as he spoke. His question brought a murmur from the gathering. Shortly afterwards chaos erupted in the room as people started to panic and fear started to take hold.

  Siobhan rose and moved to Josh’s side. “QUIET!” she yelled, firing an angry look at the crowd.

  Noise levels abated once again.

  “Do you honestly think that these guys would let anything happen to us?” Her question cut like a knife. The man at the front of the room crossed his arms and slid his backside back down into his seat. Mumbled and hung his head.

  “We need to think this through,” Josh said calmly. “As far as we can tell they have no idea where we are, if in fact it is us they are even looking for, it could have just been a random scouting party for all we know. We are quite safe here as long as we don’t go and draw attention to ourselves.”

  Heads nodded in agreement.

  “There is nothing more we can do for now, so just go back to whatever it was you were doing. Remember though to be on your guard and stay as quiet as you can.”

  After a few more questions were answered the crowd dispersed, slowly and very reluctantly leaving the bistro.

  Vincent kept a few people behind from both sides.

  “We need to talk.”

  40

  Dead Zone

  The sun was high in the sky as the meeting of minds continued on. There had been much debate that afternoon at the motel over the future of the two groups and many an idea had been shared in the hope of a resolution. Conversation was lively and spirited, this latest development with the 4Horsemen had changed everything. In a cruel twist of fate, by fleeing the Stadium they had seemingly jumped out from the frying pan only to land right in the heart of the fire.

  Crossing her arms, Olivia sighed. “Shouldn’t we just leave?” she asked.

  Jon turned to her, “And go where?”

  “Anywhere Jon,” she spluttered in frustration. “I miss home so much.”

  “I know darling.” Wrapping his arms around her shoulders he held her tight and comforted her.

  “Well honestly. I think it is too dangerous to go anywhere just yet,” said Josh.

  “I agree.” Tyler chimed in. “We don’t have a clue where they are, or how many of them are out there. Leaving here is just too risky right now.”

  “Well I have to disagree!” Vincent exclaimed, slapping his hand on the table hard. As he stood his chair toppled over behind him, clattering to the floor.

  Eyes blinked as people stared. Perplexed, they were all taken by surprise by his sudden outburst that was completely out of character.

  “Enough! This is not living,” Vincent said, gesturing with his arms around him.

  Josh opened his mouth to say something, but Vincent immediately took that opportunity away from him. It wasn’t going to be anything important anyway.

  “Day after God-damned day we stare death in the face. Honestly, this new world we live in provides us with nothing but pain and heartache. We are forced to run for our lives, fight for our everyday survival and forage like animals for food. We sleep rough with one eye always open, laying down where we can. How is that living?”

  Heads nodded. Despite his vociferous approach Vincent’s words seemed to resonate loudly with many in the room that afternoon.

  “Sadly,” he continued, slowly shaking his head, “some of us have been forced to kill others in order to protect our families and ourselves. Our lives have been reduced to nothing more than a caveman-like existence.” He drew in a deep breath, looked around at the faces around him and continued. “There is a war coming,” he said solemnly. I can feel it.”

  “A war?” Olivia did not quite follow.

  “Yes, a war. A war to end all wars. We are caught right smack bang in the middle of a conflict that we neither fully comprehend nor wish to be a part of. There are factions out there like the Four Horsemen and tyrants like the Commissioner who conspire to make our lives hell. And if that is not bad enough we have to fend off reanimated versions of friends and loved ones who have come back from the dead. That shit should not ever happen. Ever! All this is about to come to a head. Mark my words.”

  Vincent clearly meant every word. He had thought about this long and hard and he spoke from
the heart. Eyes that were glued to him blinked slowly as thoughts were processed.

  “So when you say it is too dangerous, I say compared to what. Since the world turned we have had to redefine the meaning of the word dangerous. What lies out there is no more or no less dangerous that anything we have faced up until now and we are still here.”

  Color drained from many of the faces in the bistro.

  “Whether it is more or not, it is not up for debate. It is what it is.”

  Vincent righted his seat, slid his backside down next to Lily and took her by the hand. She smiled at him oozing with pride. They made a wonderfully supportive and loving couple.

  “We feel the time is right for us to leave, to carry on,” said Lily. Her voice was soft and soothing in comparison to her husband’s gruff tone. “You are wonderful people and we are so grateful for your friendship and support. The truth is, we have others of our group who we care about too who we still have to find out there. We have talked and have decided that we simply have to go and look for them.”

  “Are you certain of this?” asked a shocked Olivia.

  “Yes we are. We simply have no choice.”

  “How will you know where to find them?”

  “Our people know that if we ever did split up that they were to head for the docks. That is the one place that we all agreed upon as the right place to look for a fresh start.”

  Vincent took over. “Once there, we will look for the boat, then go to the island.”

  Chairs scraped on the hardwood floor as some in the room moved uneasily in their seats.

  “Surely that is just a pipe dream though Vincent,” Jon said. “There is no evidence to prove that it even exists.”

  “Ahh… but it cannot be disproved either.” Raising his finger Vincent smiled. “You need to have faith Jon. Without faith there is nothing. No future, no tomorrow, no hope.”

  “Pfft… it’s still a bit pie in the sky don’t you think?” A mysterious ship. A Utopian island. Paradise on earth.” Jon spoke with some contempt. “Come on Vincent, really?”

  “Surely you, of all people Jon, you want to to believe that there has to be a better life than this?”