by SD Tanner
“Ceasefire!”
Tilly obediently allowed her weapon to fall silent and quickly flicked on the light by her side of the bed.
The hunter was still on its feet, and it blinked stupidly when the bullets stopped and the light came on. Its eyes seemed to refocus, and it clearly saw Tilly on the bed.
“Down here, motherfucker.”
At the sound of his voice, it looked down as if surprised to see another possible target. Its mouth opened, revealing broken and bloodied teeth. Clearly it had already eaten. Seeing him as the closest target, it leapt at his body. One of the few advantages of only having one limb was its strength. He used it for everything, and his hand, bicep and shoulder were toughened. As the hunter landed on his position, he jammed the gun under its chin and fired repeatedly. At close range, the bullets made a mess of its throat and jaw with the back of its head exploding open. It wasn’t down, only stunned, and it toppled sideways from his chest. Rolling over it in a fluid motion, he pushed the gun into the base of its neck, and fired until he had no bullets left.
It was only then the base shooters burst into the room with their guns drawn.
“Crap! Did you just kill that thing?”
He gave the stunned shooter a dour look. “Well, it didn’t die of old age.”
Hatch stuck his head around the door. “Nicely done, but we’ve got bigger problems. It’s infected almost everyone on this floor, most are them are in a coma, but some of the beds are empty.”
“Do you know where they went?”
“Nope, but this is a closed base, which means unless they can climb a ten foot wall, then they’re here somewhere.”
“How many?”
“Dunno, but it looks like it could be three or four.”
“Get the base lights up and the birds in the air.”
Tilly helped him into his prosthetics and full combat gear. In the past, viewing it as an affront to his independence, he’d never let anyone else help him, but Tilly never made him feel inadequate. She knew when to step up and when to kick his ass.
While she then dressed herself, he said, “We’re gonna need squads to start at one end of the base and work their way down.”
“Shouldn’t we wait until its light?”
“No, we don’t know where they are.”
He found Hatch in the cafeteria organizing the squads and said, “I want all civvies brought to this building and secured on the upper floors. Four squads are to stay here and hold the perimeter. Another six squads need to clear the other buildings. Lock them up once you’re done. I want the rest of the squads to start at the south end and walk their way to the north.” He looked at Hatch. “We need the birds in the air with searchlights. They need to give them light and act as spotters.”
“Roger that.”
“What about the people sleeping in their rooms?” Tilly asked.
He’d checked the sleepers on his way downstairs, but they weren’t really asleep. The ones he’d looked at had been bitten, and they were breathing shallowly with erratic and faint heartbeats. It appeared they were infected, but still alive. He suspected the virus would eventually kill them, and they’d probably wake up as rabid hunters, but he wasn't prepared to kill them until they did.
“They've been bitten and they're infected, but this isn’t how the virus used to work. In the past, people would turn immediately. We need to wait and see what they wake up as. Tie them securely and bring them into the cafeteria.”
Still in radio contact with the shooters, he left the cafeteria and limped to the nearest bird on the runway. His plans was to fly with Hatch and monitor the situation from the air. The soldiers that chose to stay with Hatch were experienced, but they still needed a commander. He could have sat in the cockpit with Hatch, but decided the M240 might be useful.
Climbing onto a bird was a graceless task for him. His prosthetic knees couldn’t really balance his body, and it was easier if he used his good arm to hitch his ass onto the platform first, and then swing his prosthetic legs up.
As his butt hit the platform, something grabbed him around the chin, and he was dragged backwards with his legs flopping uselessly after him. He reached his only hand up, and felt the face of his snarling attacker. Realizing he could be bitten, he snatched his hand back, but it only gave the hunter a chance to pull him closer to its jaws.
Hatch was already in the cockpit and he couldn’t see what was happening. “What the hell is goin’ on back there, Jack?”
He was about to tell Hatch he was screwed when the hunter let go of him, and he toppled backwards into the now empty space. TL’s face appeared behind the lolling head of the man he assumed was the infected hunter. With a grunt, TL pulled his hand out from behind the hunter, and he was holding a dripping knife. The hunter was still moving, but with its brain stem severed, it was uncoordinated. With his hand still around its neck, TL pulled it to the edge of the platform and booted it from the bird.
Holding out his bloodied and gloved hand, he said, “Give you a boost. You should get in the cockpit and direct the operations. I’ll man the M240 and give you a hand.”
He took TL’s offered hand. “Are you trying to be funny? You know, ‘cos I’ve only got one hand.”
TL chuckled and pushed him towards the cockpit. It took hours to clear the base and they only found three hunters. Just as Hatch predicted, they couldn’t climb the fence, and they were easily killed with the combined firepower of the shooters and M240’s from the birds. All it left was the sleepers, and he didn’t know what to do about them.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Gears
No one really wanted to eat, but Mom made sure there was food, and Angel was still helping people with the Water of Life. The adult survivors of the attack were sitting in the lounge and on the stairs. Pop had all the kids in the underground house, and he wasn’t willing to open the trapdoor until the Ranch was secured. Ip was still missing, and even though he’d tried to talk to her telepathically, she’d abruptly told him she was too busy to talk. The relaxation and closeness he’d felt with her on the way to the UK seemed long gone, and after such a terrible night, he wished she’d stayed with him. Like Pop, he was upset about the infected children, and although he would do what needed to be done, he didn’t want to.
He needed to understand what had happened, but no one could give him a clear picture. It seemed a hunter had broken into their rooms while they were sleeping. Some had woken at the sound of gunfire and run outside with their children, while others had pushed their kids out of the door and told them to run for the main house. He couldn’t work out if one hunter had done this much damage, or if there’d been a pack. It didn’t really matter, with forty of their own people missing there was a pack now, and it was somewhere around the Ranch. At least sixty sleepers were zip tied in their trailers, and once they’d regained their equilibrium, they would begin the arduous task of moving them to the main barn. After that, they’d need take shifts holding vigil, waiting for them to die and reanimate as either friend or enemy. As hard it as it might be, they would need to kill anyone who turned into a vicious, rabid hunter.
“How are we gonna clear the area?” Pop asked worriedly.
With forty hunters roaming the forest, the Ranch was no longer safe. They could try and clear it, but the forest was so dense there was a good chance they’d die attempting to hunt for them. “I dunno. I guess we’ll go hunter huntin’.”
“That used to be fun,” Ted said unhappily.
“I suppose you were right, Gears,” Angel said. “The Ranch isn’t safe.”
“It never has been since the outbreak,” Pop replied solemnly. “All the kids need to be moved.”
“Everyone needs to be moved, Pop. I’ve got eighty towns spread across the country. I don’t have enough trained troops and weapons to defend towns from the Crusaders, much less from the hunters.”
“What are you proposing?” Ted asked.
He wasn’t sure, but shooting from the hip, he replied, “I think we need
to shrink the country, quarantine a smaller segment we can defend.”
“But then everyone’ll have to move.”
He gave Ted a dour look. “I know, but show me another way. If the hunters can attack the Ranch like this then they can bring down any town. We’re pretty savvy about the hunters, but the same can’t be said of all the towns. Eden has made people soft and hunters aren’t for the weak of any sort. If the hunters can take out so many of our people then the towns are screwed.”
“Do you think this is the start of the hunters again?” Angel asked worriedly.
“I honestly don’t know, but it won’t be the same. The people turn slower and they’re not all mindless killers. It makes a big difference to how we deal with the problem.”
“Holy shit!”
The voice came from upstairs and he instinctively reached for his gun. “What?”
“Oh no!”
Pushing past the people on the stairs, he took them three at a time until he finally found himself staring through the window of his old room. The cornfield was only thirty yards away, and in a long line stretching for a hundred yards, hunters were emerging from the tall, packed stalks of the plants. The cornfield was rustling frantically behind them, and he assumed there were more hunters making their way out.
The first emerging hunters walked ten yards from the edge of the field, and more joined them until there were hundreds of lean, mostly naked hunters standing still and facing the house. Hunters never did breathe, and these ones were standing like statues, staring unblinkingly at his window. He could have sworn they were looking at him.
“What are they doing?” Ted asked.
“I dunno.”
A man behind him warned ominously, “We’re fucked. We haven’t got enough ammo and the house isn’t hunter proof.”
Turning abruptly, he stalked down the stairs, ignoring the rising panic around him. People were already grabbing their gear, and some were heading for the hatch, while others were preparing to fight. A rumble of anxious talk and fear had gripped the room, and he pushed past them towards the front door.
From the stairs, Pop called after him, “Where are ya goin’?”
Flicking his hand over his shoulder, he didn’t bother to turn around. “Gotta hunch. Don’t let anyone shoot me.”
Walking out of the front door and down the porch steps, he made his way around the side of the house. Not one of the hunters moved, but they watched him warily. He noticed some still had patches of hair and others were not fully leaned. One woman wore a bloodstained nightdress, and he assumed she was probably one of theirs from the night before. He continued to walk towards them, waiting to see if any would attack him. He had no reason to believe it, but he didn’t think they would. With so many shooters in the house, he suspected they could cut them down if they did, but he’d quite probably be shot as well. The line of hunters continued to stand as if waiting for their orders. Unlike typical hunters near prey, these weren't vibrating, but were calm and quiet. Standing in a long line in front of the cornfield, they formed a silent guard.
He didn’t believe the hunters would be so docile without Ip, and she had to be somewhere nearby controlling them. Following his hunch, he called, “Ip! Where are ya, honey?”
Your army is here.
He heard her musical voice in his mind only a moment before he saw her walking through the row of hunters. Benny was following her wearing a wide grin. He hadn’t even noticed Benny had left and was surprised to see him with Ip.
“What the hell is goin’ on here?” He asked abruptly.
“Ip called them to our side.”
“How?”
“She did it a week ago, but I gather they were in Alaska. It took them a while to make their way down here.”
Looking at the almost fully developed hunters, he could still see the remnants of their previous selves. Their features weren’t completely skull like, their eyes were different colors, and they didn’t all have leathery skin. Unlike the previous hunters, these ones still looked vaguely human, and their eyes didn’t hold a murderous intent. “Who were they?”
“Dunno. Maybe they came from the town Faith was living in.”
He turned to Ip and frowned at her. “Way to keep me informed, honey.” As if blissfully ignorant of his frustration, she walked towards the trailer and fifty of the hunters followed her. Her calmness filled his mind and she wasn’t worried about anything, least of all his irritation with her. As was often the case, her steadiness helped him find his own. The grimness of the night began to fade and his resolve returned.
Benny walked past him following Ip and he caught his arm. “Where are they goin’?”
“To take care of their own,” Benny replied matter-of-factly.
He didn't agree with letting the hunters kill their people. They might not reanimate as their enemies, and they deserved the chance to prove what they would become. “They can’t kill ‘em. They’re people until proven otherwise.”
Benny laughed. “Relax, Gears, nobody will kill anyone who belongs with us. They’ll kill the crazy ones that want to kill humans, but the rest will join us.”
“Us?”
“Yeah, the hunters are an ‘us’ now. We’re our own species, and the ones that want to kill humans are our enemy too.” Although he clearly wanted to leave and help his brother hunters, he paused and added, “We’re all sentient to varying degrees. Those that are badly damaged or carry anger towards the living are the ones that want to kill, but we’re not all like that.”
“I know that, but how will you know the difference?”
He tapped his head and winked. “Because we’re all dead and we can share our minds. There’s no way to lie to one another.”
It made sense, but he was still unhappy and asked worriedly, “What about the kids?”
“Kids don’t want to kill anyone, they’re innocent. They’ll be fine, but they belong with us. We’ll take care of them.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand. Where will you live? You can’t have hunter kids runnin’ wild. People will kill them.”
“We’ll live here. That’s why Ip called them to the Ranch and not to the bases.”
He supposed that made sense as well. The people they’d infected with the counter virus made the Ranch their home until Ruler destroyed it. These new hunters were another army of the weird and the Ranch would become their home. There was no way he could defend the towns and the Ranch, so they might as well make it their own, but it implied they would become their own community much like the original army of the weird.
Before Benny could turned away and follow the hunters to the trailers, he asked, “What are they?”
“We’re people, Gears. The hunters were always people.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: Gears
Marine Supply Base
The Marine supply base looked like it was under siege. Squads had formed a perimeter around ten of the containers at the front of the row, and he couldn’t work out what was going on. Landing on the helipad, he climbed out and stalked across the concrete, and Ip followed him with the six hunters she’d brought with her. Benny had stayed with the hundreds of hunters making themselves a home at the Ranch, and he'd returned with the young Horsemen, Angel, Ted and their new baby. After the hunter attack, Angel had conceded to moving the children without any further argument. They’d left the other survivors there, but he assumed they'd move them once they found a way to secure the bases. For the moment the Ranch was safe, and providing the young Horsemen weren’t there, he suspected no one would attack it again.
He spotted Pax standing with the shooters, and they both turned as another bird landed at the helipad. This time TL climbed out and he appeared to be alone. The three of them began to walk towards one another, while Ip and her hunters continued heading to the containers. TL didn't look any worse for wear for his solitary expedition and he was relieved to see him. He hadn't voiced his concerns, but he always worried whenever one of them went AWOL. It was usual
ly Pax who would disappear, and he was doubly concerned when the usually predictable and reliable TL had gone missing.
“Where the hell have you been?” He asked loudly once TL was within earshot.
“The air base. There was a hunter attack.”
He wanted to know where TL was before that, but the news of another attack distracted him. “When?”
“Jack says it started at three this morning.”
Pax had caught up to them. “Started here around then too. Gerry got a message from the refinery town. They were hit.”
“The Ranch was attacked as well.”
“What? There were four concurrent attacks?” TL asked in disbelief. “That’s no coincidence.”
He nodded. “We need to talk. Let’s go to the warehouse.”
Pax shook his head adamantly. “Can no do right now. I’ve got hunters tied up in the containers. We’re gonna move ‘em into the warehouse.”
“Don’t worry about it, Pax. Ip and her hunters will sort ‘em out.”
“Whatdaya mean?”
Frowning at Pax, he gave him sharp glare. “Like I jus’ said, we need to talk.”
Pax looked back at the containers where Ip and her hunters were already opening doors and climbing in. “What are they doin’? There’s killers in there.”
He sighed. “They’re not all killers, Pax. The hunters know their own and they’ll sort ‘em.”
“That’s good to know,” TL said. “We’ve got about forty of them at the air base. They look like they’re sleeping, but I think they’re dying.”
He nodded at TL. “They are. Some will reanimate as hostiles and others will be friendlies. The hunters know one from the other, and any enemy of ours is an enemy of theirs.”
Batting his shoulder, Pax walked towards the warehouse. “Let’s go to the warehouse. We need to talk.”
