Dead Alive: Eden Lost Book Two (Hunter Wars 8)

by SD Tanner

  Looking back at the trailer he and Benny had just cleared, he added, “One person at the front, the other at the double doors at the back. The person at the front should enter first and clear the room to their left. The person at the back needs to wait until it’s clear. The rooms are real small, and if you try to clear both rooms as once there’s a good chance you’ll shoot one another. When the room is clear, the person in the lounge does the second room. Understood?”

  The small team of men and women nodded grimly, and he chose the smallest woman to work as his partner. As he left with the short woman with cropped dark hair, Ip ran away from the house and the trailers, heading in the direction of the six-foot high crops. He would have asked her where she was going, but decided she was hunting in her own way.

  Making their way to dark trailer furthest from the main house, he asked, “What’s your name?”

  “Cassie.”

  “Okay, Cassie, you wait around the back until I’m inside and call you in.”

  Standing outside the front door of the trailer, he turned the handle and pushed the door open. There had been more of a fight in this house, furniture was overturned and the curtains at the back were torn from their rail. Cassie was waiting outside as ordered and he flagged her inside. Just as he’d told the others, he opened the bedroom door on his left. Inside the room was a man who immediately raised his hands above his head. “Don’t shoot.”

  “You need to get out of here. We’ve been attacked by hunters.”

  “I…I know. I was just looking for my wife.”

  “Well, get out and arm up. We need to clear the trailers.” Eyeing the man suspiciously, he asked, “You can shoot, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I can.”

  Nervously, the man pushed himself between his bulky frame and the large bed. In the moonlight streaming through the window, he caught sight of the man’s strong, muscular face. He was bald, with a highly trimmed goatee, which only served to make his face look even more severe and sharply angled. The look seemed better suited to city living than the farmer lifestyle at the Ranch.

  “What’s your name?”

  The man was already making his way across the tiny lounge, and as he disappeared through the double doors, he called, “Troy.”

  Whoever Troy was, he disappeared and he turned to Cassie. “We need to clear the next room.”

  Opening the door, he was again confronted by several beds with children’s toys scattered around the floor. Hoping the kids had escaped, his heart sank when he saw two tiny huddled forms under the blankets. Bending slightly, he pulled the covers back revealing the small body of a child no more than maybe eight years old, curled in a fetal position. Touching her soft neck, she still felt warm, but he knew she was bitten.

  “Cassie,” he said quietly. “Cover me while I zip tie them.”

  “I…I can’t,” she replied sadly. “I wouldn’t shoot them even if they turned.”

  He didn’t blame her, and placing his gun at the end of the bed, be pulled the ties from his tactical vest. The child appeared to be sleeping, but when he gently tugged her arm away from where it was wrapped around her knees, his fingers felt a stickiness he presumed was blood. As carefully as he could, he tied her two wrists together. Even he didn’t have the heart to tie her hands behind her back, and he replaced them in the same position he found them in, wrapped securely around her knees.

  “No one’s going to be able to kill them.”

  “I know, but when they turn we may have no choice,” he replied with a sigh.

  He tied the second and even younger child before retrieving his gun and leading Cassie to the next trailer. House after house was the same. Those that had already turned into hunters had left, and all that remained were twenty women, men and children. While they lay deep comas, he and Cassie had securely zip tied each of them. It took another three hours to clear the trailers, and by then dawn was breaking. The cheerful flowerbeds had been trampled until there was nothing left other than mud with the occasional splash of color.

  Joining Ted, Benny, Pop and the other shooters by the side of the main house, they all stood quietly staring at the trailers.

  “How many people did you each zip tie?” He asked flatly.

  Numbers were offered up by each team, and they added to a total of sixty-two people including children. Added to Pop’s total of people in the houses, it meant forty-one people were missing, and he presumed they were hunters.

  “What now?” Pop asked.

  They couldn’t leave the people where they were, and it didn’t seem right to shoot them. Not all of them would reanimate as hostiles, and it was only then the enormity of the new breed of hunter hit him. They couldn’t just kill them. They might be hunters, but some were still sentient enough to know right from wrong. Killing them without knowing what they were would be murder.

  “We need to move ‘em to a barn and wait for ‘em to wake up. If they’re not killers then we can’t kill ‘em. If they’re capable of makin’ a choice then they’re still human at some level.”

  Ted gave him a worried look. “What if they’re not on our side?”

  “Then we’ll kill ‘em for bein’ our enemy and not because they're hunters.”

  “What about the kids?” Pop asked in horror. “We ain’t shootin’ kids, son, no matter what they are.”

  He felt for his foster father, the man loved children more than he cared for his own life. “You don’t have to shoot ‘em, Pop, but we can’t leave them damaged like this. It’s the lesser of two evils.”

  Ted nodded sagely. “A wise man once told me sometimes you just have to take the least loss.”

  “Don’t quote Pax at me, Ted. I have a bad enough day as it is,” he replied dourly.

  “This is not a time to be funny,” Pop said abruptly. Sighing unhappily, he added, “We should eat and regroup. It’s gonna be hard work moving sixty bodies to the barn.”

  “We’re gonna have to be careful too, they could wake up at any time,” he added, equally as unhappily.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Pax

  Marine supply base

  “Hunters!”

  Instantly alert, he was on his feet before he even realized what someone had shouted. He’d been curled around BD, who was jolted awake by his abrupt movement. Tugging his ACU pants on, he threw on his tactical vest, grabbed his gun and headed for the door. “Lock the windows and doors and don’t come out until I say so.”

  “I’m not useless, Pax. I’m coming with you.”

  He heard her reply, but he didn’t have time to argue with her. Standing on the step outside his container, people were running down the length of the corridor, panic-stricken and screaming. Grabbing a woman as she ran past him, he said, “Calm the fuck down. Get into your containers and seal ‘em up while we sort this out. Pass it on.”

  Stepping down into the corridor, and in a voice like a foghorn, he roared, “Get into your containers! Lock ‘em up!”

  Voices began to echo his words all down the corridor, and the crowd quickly thinned as the two thousand people living in the base disappeared into the containers. Seeing Mackenzie heading towards him, he shouted, “Get the shooters out here.”

  Still unsure what had happened, he and Mackenzie began to bang on the walls of the containers. “Experienced shooters only. Bring all your ammo.”

  Doors slowly opened again, and one or two people cautiously stepped out of each and into the corridor. Once he had about twenty shooters, he called again, “Hold for your orders.” His instructions were passed down the line of corridors as people shouted from their open windows. “Has anyone gotta sitrep?”

  A voice called out. “I do.”

  Moving past his shooters to the open container windows, he looked for the speaker. “Everyone who’s outside keep your backs to the containers and weapons at the ready. Do not shoot one another.” It seemed like an unnecessary order, but they weren’t very experienced and he’d learned to be quite specific.

  A woman’s
head was hanging out of one of the container windows. “There’s hunters on the base. Not many from what I gather.”

  Another head pushed its way past hers. “And some people have been bitten and they’re not moving. I think they’re dead or something, but they didn’t look that injured to me.”

  “Which containers?”

  “The ones near the warehouse.”

  It wasn’t the first time hunters had attacked the base, and being made of metal and fully sealed, the containers were an excellent defense. Before he could answer the woman, the floodlights snapped on and the containers lit up. With solar panels, the base still maintained high levels of battery stored power. It had been built to service tens of thousands of people, and with so few people living there, they had more power than they could use. The controls for the lights were in the warehouse, and he assumed either Cutter or Gerry had the good sense to flick the switch.

  He turned to the woman he could now see clearly. “Okay, stay locked down until I call ya.”

  Striding back to Mackenzie, he watched the narrow breaks between each container warily. If a hunter had infected people then some would be in a coma, and others would have turned immediately. It was still dark and hunters could be hiding anywhere on the base.

  “We’ve got sleepers in the containers. We need to find ‘em, zip tie ‘em and then lock the container down.”

  “The containers are designed to be locked from the inside. How are we supposed to lock them?”

  “You can fuckin’ super glue ‘em for all I care. Jus’ make sure no one can get out until we’ve got this under control. We’ve got hunters prowlin’ the base, and I dunno how many there are or where they are. I jus’ don’t need any more of ‘em cuttin’ loose.”

  Mackenzie nodded. “Yeah, okay, I’ll deal with the containers.”

  Eyeing his hastily assembled platoon in the dark, he sighed to himself. “The Water of Life is like acid to the hunters. Use it to blind them. They can’t attack what they can’t see. Some of the hunters aren’t enemy, so if they talk to ya or don’t attack ya, then think twice before ya kill ‘em. If you ain’t sure, then kill ‘em anyway.”

  When no one replied, he continued, “I want ten shooters with me, the rest of you are with Mac. Follow his orders, no screwin’ around. My squad will start combing the base and see if we can lure ‘em out. When we do, we’ll kill ‘em. Aim for the head. We need to sever the brain stem or at least blind ‘em.”

  A short, wiry man stepped forward. “I’m George. You made me a combat leader. I’ll go with Mac and handle one of the squads.”

  The man appeared slightly nervous, but he remembered him from Axe’s base. Batting him on his skinny shoulder, he nodded and pushed him towards Mackenzie. “This guy’s good.”

  Marcus stepped forward and grinned. “I’m with you. I can lead one of the squads.”

  In a few short minutes he’d formed four squads of five, each with a trusted combat leader. It made him feel slightly more optimistic that maybe their training was working, but he dismissed the thought and hoped they’d all still be alive by the end of the night.

  Grinning back at Marcus, he replied with a curt nod, “I hope ya like bein’ bait.”

  With him in lead and Marcus following behind, the two squads slowly walked the length of the corridor. There wasn’t a lot they could do other than wait for the hunters to attack, and it didn’t take long. No longer blinded by the light, the hunters attacked from three directions. While being pushed into position by Marcus, the squad formed a circle and began firing at the hunters running through the narrow gaps between the corridors on either side of them. He wanted to tell them not to fire on the containers, they weren’t exactly bulletproof, but it seemed too much to ask of an inexperienced team. He just hoped the people in the containers had the good sense to lay low.

  The hunter running directly into the front of the squad looked lean, bald and was completely naked. It didn’t just run straight at him, but ducked and weaved, as if it knew it needed to make itself a difficult target. It was taking fire, and although dark red blood was running down its torso, it wasn’t stopping its stride. Falling into a stable position, he took aim and fired repeatedly at its vibrating head. It wasn’t an easy shot, but another two shooters joined in. The hunter increased its pace and manic jerking movement, making it almost impossible to target. With the hunter only thirty yards away, he kept firing, hoping for the blinding bullet. The three guns were firing continuously, but it still kept moving towards them.

  “Fuck this,” he muttered, and he pulled a grenade from his vest. “Fall back!”

  In the few seconds it took to pull the pin and throw the frag, the hunter was less than fifteen yards away. Turning as he finished the throw, he reached across the two shooters, pushing them to the ground with him. The grenade exploded and he felt something rip into his bicep. Figuring his arm would either work or it wouldn’t, he didn’t bother to check his injury. He simply didn't have the time to be injured.

  The other shooters were still firing into the dark alley between the corridors, but the bright floodlights were throwing the alley into deep darkness, and he could barely make out the hunter fighting its way through the continuous gunfire. Finally, the hunter came into view and it was wearing ACU pants and nothing else. Blood was running in thick rivulets down its torso, but it still struggled against the bullets thudding into its body. With a full head of hair, it looked as human as anyone else, but it was snarling like an angry animal. Long, stringy drool hung from its mouth, its head was tilted down, and it glared bitterly at them. Taking aim at the top of its narrow head, he pumped continuous fire into its damaged brain.

  This hunter didn’t stop. Even with its body riddled with bullet holes, its knees shot out and the top of its head a gaping hole, it refused to stand down. Shouldering his weapon, he grabbed the largest shooter near him, and together they approached the staggering hunter. Its knees were a bloodied mess, and he kicked the left one sharply, hearing the joint crack. Finally the hunter toppled, but it reached out an arm even as it fell. Using his foot to shove it onto its stomach, he dropped heavily on its back, pulling his KABAR from his belt. Burying the knife deeply into the base of its skull, the hunter was now unable to control its limbs and it howled in fury,

  On the opposite side of the corridor, shooters were continuing to fire down the other alley. Standing up, he planned to enter the corridor, only to feel something heavily crash into his back. The force of the blow was so strong, even with his stocky build he fell to his knees. Quickly rolling to see what had hit him, he came face to face with the snarling mouth of another hunter. It was inches from his eyes and its jaw was wide open. His hand was trapped between his gut and the hunter, and he couldn’t quite get enough leverage to push it away. He heard its teeth snapped and he expected to feel pain, but the weight of the attacking hunter disappeared and so did its face from his.

  Still sitting on his butt, with his legs barely bent in front of him, a female hunter, also dressed in ACUs, had the attacking hunter by the neck. The hunter’s throat was trapped in the crook of her arm, and she was pushing down against its shoulder, clearly trying to break it. The attacking hunter was clawing at her arm, leaving deep bleeding rips in her flesh, but she wouldn't let go. The two hunters threw themselves heavily against the sides of the containers, banging from one wall to the next. Deciding she was an ally of sorts, he leapt his feet and plunged his KABAR deep into the hunter’s gut, following it with an upward motion. The cut opened its abdomen and its internal organs were bulging through the wound.

  He needed to cut the brain stem, but the woman was still gripping the hunter by the throat from behind. She made eye contact with him, and without a word being spoken, he grabbed the hunter by the head and they both slammed it into the container wall. The force was so fierce, the hunter’s head split open as its skull cracked under the impact. The woman allowed the stunned hunter to fall, and he dropped onto its back using his full weight on one knee. He fe
lt its spine crack, but he still plunged the blade deeply into the base of its skull.

  When he looked up to find the female hunter, she was already advancing on the hunter in the opposite corridor. The shooters were pulling away from her and taking aim.

  “No! She’s one of ours.”

  At the sound of his voice, she briefly turned and looked him in the eye, and he was sure she'd understood what he'd just said. Scrambling to his feet, he joined her to fight the hunter still in the corridor, and two more shooters joined him. The female hunter didn’t fear the bite of the hunter, and she attacked it aggressively, allowing it to claw and scratch at her. When she managed to hammer it to the ground, he and the two shooters pinned the hunter down and severed its brain stem.

  Grabbing her by the arm, he dragged her into the bright light in the corridor. “Are there more?”

  She looked him in the eye and didn’t reply. Clearly, she couldn’t talk and he wasn’t telepathic. Frustrated, he let go of her arm and pointed at the corridor. “Show me.”

  Tilting her head as if puzzled, she turned and walked to the front of the row of containers. Ahead of her were Marcus and his squad, and they immediately aimed their guns at the woman. Jogging to catch up with her, he waved at them. “Don’t shoot. She’s one of ours.”

  The door to the container at the front of the corridor was now jammed shut by a heavy concrete block. The female hunter stood outside the door and looked him the eye again. Her face was speckled with the drying blood of the hunters she'd killed, and her hair was a wavy tangle of curls. Being only recently reanimated, she looked like she was still alive, and he noted she'd been a pretty young woman who should have had a full life ahead of her. It wouldn't be long before she was bald, lean and tanned, and would look like any other sexless, ageless hunter.

  Setting aside his frustration at what had happened to the young woman, he said, “Yeah, we know there's people in there and they’re infected.” He pointed to the row of containers again. “Show me.”

  The woman sat down on the step to the container and refused to move. Turning to Marcus, he said, “I’m guessin’ that means we got ‘em. The rest of ‘em must be locked up.”