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

by SD Tanner

  “Come with me.”

  Following Ruler, he walked through chambers filled with the dying. Demons of different shapes moved between the chained, torn and bleeding bodies. Their victims were still alive and screaming or whimpering, and he assumed they were condemned souls suffering for their sins on earth.

  “Who are all these people? What did they do wrong?”

  “You don’t have to do anything wrong. There’s no ledge totting up your good and bad deeds.”

  “Then how do you get condemned to hell?”

  “It’s all to do with courage. When you let your weakness rule at the expense of others, you damage your soul. A soul starts as a brilliant bright light, but as it takes on damage, it clouds until it becomes dull and grey.”

  Ruler stopped in front of a man swinging from a chain with loops of his intestines slapping wetly against his knees. “Take this soul for example. He didn’t do anything directly, but he allowed others to suffer without doing anything about it. In hell he’s learning how they felt. It’s teaching him empathy and when he leaves hell, he’ll be a better soul for it.”

  “He gets to leave?”

  “Oh yes, if you learn the error of your ways you can earn your way out of hell.”

  “Where do you go?”

  While pushing the man so he swung harder against his chain, making him groan in pain, Ruler chuckled wickedly. “You get another go on the merry-go-round you call life. There may be billions of souls wanting a go at life, but man has been around for a long time, so you all get more than one turn.”

  “What about heaven? How does that work? Why would anyone want to leave?”

  Continuing to walk, Ruler replied, “You all know one another. You’re not really detached souls wandering around heaven, hell, purgatory or earth. Souls always choose to live again so they can be with the ones they love…or want. It’s a cycle, and man always wants to live on earth. It’s either their chance to escape hell, or to be with the ones they’re bonded to.” He gave him a sideways glance. “A life on earth is what you all strive for. Some of you use it wisely, and some not so much.”

  “So, I get to live again?”

  This time Ruler laughed. “Yes, but the light of your soul is far from bright. It’s a tarnished little thing. You’ll do a lot of time and feel a lot of pain before you’ll learn remorse and regret. Once you do, you’ll have to wait until a child is conceived and you get another go.”

  It sounded like a longwinded process to him and he never did like to wait. The idea of being tortured to learn something he didn’t need to know wasn’t something he wanted to experience. Learning how heaven, hell and earth worked only motivated him to find a way to subvert the system. It was his nature to feel entitled to do whatever he wanted, to always seeking the easy way forward, and he didn’t feel any differently now.

  Ruler had led him to a chamber with four small children in cages. They stared back him sullenly and he asked, “Who are they?”

  “The young Horsemen who live on earth now. You’re going to kidnap them.”

  “Why?”

  Ruler gave him a wide grin, revealing his sharpened fangs. “To bring the others. War promised to protect them and he will. He’s honorable that way. There’s no point killing them, they’ll only be born again…of course, you can kill them if you want, I’ll leave that up to you. If they’re anything like their older selves, you might want to kill them, they’re very annoying.”

  “So, why do you want me to kidnap them?”

  “Because the others will try and rescue them, and they’re the ones you need to kill.”

  Killing was something that came naturally to him, and he was surprised his task to avoid hell was so easy. “That’s it? I just have to do what I’d do anyway. How does that help you?”

  “Oh, a little evil on earth is always helpful.”

  He didn’t think of himself as evil. He was merely someone living a life that didn’t fully align to the middle class, but was it truly evil? “Am I evil?”

  “Not in your mind, but many would say otherwise.” Patting him heavily on the back, Ruler added, “But who cares what the mundane think? When you kidnap the brats the rest will come to you, and when you kill them the Horsemen will change their ruling.” Leaning into him conspiratorially, he added, “That’s where I went wrong last time. I thought I could win in a head-to-head battle, but they have their ways and they undid me. This time man will convince them to change their ruling, and then they’ll do my job for me by condemning man.”

  “So, they can condemn man to hell?”

  “No, but they can curse the earth and make it nowhere man would ever want to be. It’s what Famine does. It’s his role. War fights to bring peace or death, Conquest seeks the truth to bring understanding, Death makes or breaks life, and Famine creates or destroys the things man needs to live.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: Greg

  Refinery Town

  The hunters were carrying the corpses to a small clearing inside the forest. Earth absorbed bodies within twenty-four hours and they’d all be gone by morning. It hadn’t been a good day. Pax had arrived with six hunters, and after explaining they were ‘friendlies’, they’d gone into the oil worker’s dormitory and waited for them to wake up. What happened next didn’t bear thinking about, but the townspeople had stood in the main road listening to the angry growls and howling hunters, until after an hour or less, the surviving hunters had reemerged into the daylight. Still dressed in their pajamas or boxer shorts, they now stood at the other end of the street staring back at the townspeople.

  Every single living person on the road was armed. Worried the townspeople might get trigger-happy, Pax had him and his shooters line up between them and the hunters, but he wasn't entirely confident they wouldn't shoot through them just to kill the hunters. His squads were holding their guns in their slings with their fingers on the trigger, and it would take less than a second to swing them into a firing position. Guns weren't raised by either side yet, but it would only take one person to open fire, and they'd have a good old-fashioned gunslinger shoot-out on their hands.

  Despite the temperate weather, sweat was trickling down his spine and pooling in the middle of his back. Luckily he was wearing full armor, and he hoped no one would notice his growing anxiety. He knew these townspeople and he’d been willing to die for them. He didn't want to believe they'd shoot through him to kill the hunters he'd been ordered to protect.

  Remembering his job as a combat leader was to lead his troops, he said quietly, “Hold steady.” The calmness of his tone didn't betray how nervous he really felt, and not for the first time he hoped Pax knew what he was doing.

  Pax was standing between his shooters and the townspeople, and he raised his voice so he could be heard down the main road. “They’re friendly hunters and some of them will stay to guard your town.”

  Pushing his way through the silent and still crowd, Harry walked between the townspeople and the hunters, joining Pax in the middle of the road. In an equally loud voice, he called, “The folks behind me are our friends and family.”

  “You mean they were our friends and family,” A man shouted scornfully.

  His concern was echoed by the crowded street, and he tightened his grip on his gun, ready to fire if he had to. He hated killing the living, even the Crusaders. It didn’t seem right to kill anyone lucky enough to be left alive. The angry noise of the mob, which was what it was rapidly becoming, grew louder and he felt more than saw the tension in his shooters. “Hold steady.”

  Over the growing rumble of complaints, a woman’s voice rang out across the group. “They’re still our friends.” Pushing her way to the front, she pointed at one of the hunters. “That’s Eric…and the woman next to him is Jasmine.” Finding her stride, she continued to name every one of the fifty hunters until she finally pointed to a bald, lean hunter. “I don’t know that one.”

  Turning to look at the mute hunter, Pax replied, “I brought him with us. He came from
the Ranch and we don’t know who he was.”

  She nodded and turned to the group. “I run the bar, so I know all of you. Every single one of these so-called hunters are people I remember well. They were all hardworking and decent, and it doesn’t surprise me they’re friendly as hunters. These people are as good dead as they were alive, and that makes sense to me.” Pausing for moment, she added, “But I must admit, some of the ones who didn’t join us aren’t a surprise either.”

  Harry touched her shoulder gently. “Do you have a point, Pam?”

  “Oh yeah, my point is, if they’re only going to help us and not harm us, then why are we worried? They’re still a part of our town, and we’ve no more reason to fear them now than we did before. I’m just saying, let’s not blow this outta proportion. And we should look on the positive side, at least some of them don’t talk now.”

  There was a snigger from the group and a man called out, “Where are they gonna live?”

  “What if more turn up and they’re not friendly? How will we know one from the other?” Another man shouted.

  Harry gave Pax a questioningly look and he nodded. “Uniforms. Make ‘em wear ACUs like any army does. That way you'll know which ones you can trust.”

  “Will they agree to wear them?” Harry asked.

  “If we get Ip or Benny to explain the problem, then I don’t see why they wouldn’t. We can’t have them running around naked, that’d be weird.”

  Turning around to survey the pajama-clad hunters, Harry replied dourly, “Nothing about this isn't weird.”

  People were holding their guns lower and slowly moving forward, watching the hunters with a mixture of fear and curiosity. One woman brushed past him, and she gently took the hand of one of the hunters. He couldn't see her face, but it was obvious she was crying. Less than a day earlier, he was probably her husband or son, or even just a friend, and now he was one of the living dead. More people were breaking through their hastily assembled line and cautiously approaching the hunters. The living were dismayed, but the hunters appeared impassive. It made him wonder just how much of the original person was left, but he guessed they were aware enough to know they didn't want to harm the people approaching them.

  Slowly people were realizing the hunters were not going to do anything to them and it unleashed their grief. More than the one person was crying now and he sighed unhappily. Pax had said four sites were attacked concurrently, and it couldn't have been a coincidence. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want the hunters back. Quite aside from the danger, every hunter represented a life lost. If anyone had failed to realize the hunters were people, then they’d just been taught a harsh lesson. Some of the townspeople were finally hugging the hunters, but they remained unresponsive.

  Pax had joined the people moving around the hunters, and was explaining what he understood about them. “The new version of the virus infects slower, which means less of their brain dies. They might not be able to talk to you, but believe me they’re in there. It’s possible more of their brain might work later. We’ve got at least one hunter who can talk jus’ like we do. Don’t lose hope, they might be able to communicate with you later, even if it’s only a little bit.”

  “But they’re dead, right?” A woman asked unhappily.

  With a deep sigh, Pax nodded. “Yeah, they’re dead, but death ain’t what it used to be.”

  While he continued to feel the grief flowing around him, Rodrigo tugged his sleeve. When he looked at him, he flicked his head to indicate they should move away.

  Walking with Rodrigo to the edge of the road, he looked at him quizzically. “What is it?”

  “I don’t think this was random. Pax says four sites were hit concurrently.”

  “We know it wasn’t an accident, so what’s your point?”

  “It was the Crusaders.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because it’s what I would do. Weapons are becoming scarce, and if I wanted to disrupt the towns and stop Gears, then I’d send in the hunters.”

  “Where did they even get a hunter to start with? They’ve been gone for years.”

  “It doesn’t matter how they did it, the fact is they did.”

  He studied Rodrigo’s naturally tanned face and wondered what he was driving at. “So, what do you wanna do about it?”

  Rodrigo screwed up his face and stared at the blue sky, then sniffing derisively he looked back at him. “If the refinery town is guarded by hunters then it’ll be pretty secure. Even the Crusaders will think twice about attacking a town full of hunters.”

  He looked back at the people with the hunters, and they were trying to talk to them through Ip. He didn't know Ip well, but she didn't talk much and was difficult to understand. He doubted trying to talk to the hunters through her was going to help much.

  Catching his eye, Rodrigo said intently, “I wasn’t a good man before the outbreak, but after it I learned to be a better one. I like this town and I like Eden. I don’t want to lose it to some asshole with a chip on his shoulder.”

  “You mean Cain?”

  “It doesn’t matter what he calls himself. He’s just another nutter with an axe to grind. I met his type in prison. They’re fucking losers with a problem, and they dump it on everyone else.”

  “So, what do you wanna do? Kill him?”

  Rodrigo laughed cynically. “Oh no, cowards are too busy covering their ass with the asses of others. Nah, trying to kill him is too big of a step.” He leaned into him and said softly, “But every pack has a hierarchy of smaller dogs. Kill the command structure and you break the commander.”

  He thought he knew where Rodrigo was leading. “Executions squads? What is with you and execution squads?”

  Giving him a knowing look, he shook his head solemnly. “You don’t need to know, but I have things I need to atone for.”

  “Maybe we should talk to Pax about it.”

  He nodded. “He’s a good man and you have a history, but I don’t need his permission. I’m going to hit the source of the problem whether he agrees or not.”

  The hunters and the townspeople were now muddled together in an untidy group. The division they’d had between them was lost, and some small groups were already beginning to move away from the street. The crisis had passed, and he guessed that from now on they’d learn to live with the hunters amongst them.

  Finding Pax surrounded by people, he reached through a gap and squeezed his forearm. Pax looked in his direction and he flicked his head to indicate they needed to talk.

  Once they were a short distance away from the crowd, Pax asked, “What?”

  He grabbed Rodrigo by the arm and pushed him forward. “This is Rodrigo. Don’t mind his prison tattoos, he did some time.”

  “I don’t care what a man was before, it’s who he is now that matters,” Pax replied firmly.

  Rodrigo nodded. “I…I have a history, and I think Cain learned from the cartels in Mexico.”

  “Why do ya say that?”

  “He’s distributed his soldiers to keep them separated. It makes it hard for anyone to attack him and for them to band against him. He has a hierarchy of command, like an army, and he keeps them busy and rewards them with women and the spoils of the towns. He uses insurgency tactics. He infiltrated you using a weapon he knows you have no defense against.”

  Pax gave him a skeptical look. “Half the people who turned have joined us. He gave us a hunter army.”

  With a knowing nod, Rodrigo snorted. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to do that. He probably didn’t know you could communicate with them, but he managed to kill over four hundred people. If only half of them joined our side, then we still lost two hundred.”

  He didn't look happy, but Pax acknowledged Rodrigo’s point with a curt nod. “What are ya tryin’ to say?”

  “I think we need to use their tactics against them.”

  Pursing his mouth, but clearly interested, Pax asked, “How?”

  “We infiltrate them the same w
ay they have us. We can kill their commanders and we could kill Cain if we can find him.” Rodrigo leaned closer to Pax. “You should also know the cartels used spies. They were either people they paid off or ones they planted. You should check your people.”

  Pax narrowed his eyes. “We can plant spies and I was gonna talk to Gears about that, but what do you have in mind?”

  “Execution squads. We infiltrate, kill and extract.”

  With a shake of his head, Pax replied, “We don’t have anyone trained to do that.”

  “I’ll take the squad I used when the Crusaders attacked. They’re partly trained by me already, and I’ll teach them the rest as we work.”

  Giving him a worried look, Pax said bluntly, “I don’t want ya gettin’ ‘em killed if they don’t need to die.”

  Rodrigo nodded. “You’re a good leader, but so am I and I’ll teach them well. I don’t like to lose men either.”

  Looking around the road at the slowly departing crowd, Pax clearly came to a decision. “You’ll need to communicate with us. Take a coupla hunters. They’ll keep you protected, and Benny, Mac and Ip can talk to ‘em. That way we can keep track of ya and come getcha if there’s a problem.”

  Surprised Pax had agreed so quickly, he asked, “That’s it? We can go?”

  Pax gave a sharp laugh and slapped his shoulder hard. “I ain’t married to ya, dude, but Rodrigo is right, we need to do more than defend.” Still chuckling, he added, “But you better check with Tess. She might not be too happy about you goin’, but if she says yes, then the mission is yours.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: Gears

  The meeting room at Axe’s base was filled with eighty town leaders, all talking loudly, drinking coffee and taking full advantage of the food. This was only the fourth meeting of the town leaders, and they appeared to be getting along in a way he hadn’t expected and it was good to see. He needed them to understand the nature of the problem and unsure how to explain it, he’d brought Benny, Lucie, Luke and Ip with him. They were waiting outside the meeting room until he’d warned the leaders about the new type of hunters.