by SD Tanner
“What is she?”
“The Horsemen aren’t people, they exist to create what they are. They’re a force and not a life. The Horseman of War creates conflict wherever he goes. The Horsemen of Pestilence creates or removes wealth. The Horseman of the Word creates awareness.” Twisting his broken looking mouth into a smile, he leaned closer and whispered, “And Death is always surrounded by the dead. Stay away from her. Don’t add yourself to her pile of corpses.”
Chapter Thirteen: Pax
“So, what are ya playin’ at?” Gears asked sternly.
The subject of his questioning was sitting in the building they’d always used for meetings at the Marine supply base.
Giving Gears an equally aggressive stare, Axe spat angrily, “What rock have you been living under? The country is going to hell. We’re turning into peasants.”
“And jus’ what in the hell has that gotta do with attackin’ my airfield?” Gears demanded.
Suddenly looking nonplussed, Axe asked, “Your airfield?” Glancing at him, and then back at Gears, he added, “I don’t even know who you guys are.”
Snorting in disgust, Gears asked, “And what rock have you been living under?”
Frowning and sounding confused, Axe replied, “I was in Seattle with my wife and four kids when the outbreak happened. We lived in an apartment building. I used to do supply runs and we were safe for a while, but then the gangs showed up, and they started going through blocks like ours and attacking people.” Axe seemed to forget where he was, and looking straight through them, he continued, “A bunch of them busted into our apartment one night, and they took my kids, killed my wife and left me for dead. I searched everywhere for my kids. I figured they wouldn’t have gone far, but I never did find them. There was a rumor of a military base down in Florida, and I thought they might be able to help me. I was making my way down south when the world changed again.”
So many sad stories, he thought, no one walks without scars. Sensing some humanity in the man, he eyed Axe with more interest. He had just gotten over thirty of his men killed in what could only be described as a botched mission. With his short, dumpy stature, thick glasses and wide bald patch, he didn’t cut an impressive figure capable of leading men into battle. That’s unfair, he thought, he looks a bit like that French guy, Napoleon, and he led the French army.
“What did you do before the outbreak?” He asked curiously.
Giving him an embarrassed look, Axe said, “I worked for Human Resources in the Boy Scouts of America.”
Both he and Gears shared a look of utter disbelief, and then burst into guffaws of laughter. Wiping his eyes and still chuckling, Gears said, “Lemme get this straight. You’re a Scout Leader, and you built yourself an army to take control of the country.”
Clearly offended by Gears tone, Axe straightened in his chair and snapped, “Don’t underestimate the Scouts. Our leaders provide valuable guidance to the youth of our country. I have extensive leadership training and experience. I’ve got over three thousand men and women who are armed, trained and willing to follow me into combat.”
I wouldn’t follow you into my own backyard, he thought dourly, you just gave away your strength. Pressing his obvious advantage, Gears asked sarcastically, “Do ya now? And jus’ where do you keep your army?”
With his face growing red with outrage, Axe replied, “We have our own base in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.” Looking out the window at the desolate base around them, he added derisively, “Unlike your base, mine has people in it. It’s a thriving community, not a wasteland.”
He didn’t need to turn around and see how abandoned their once overcrowded base now looked. Even though he knew their surviving people had moved on to a better life, it depressed him too see the place so devoid of energy. These bases were their home for two years, and he missed being part of something bigger than himself.
Axe had just told them the strength of his army and where to find them, and leaning forward at the table, he said casually, “You’re dopey. You jus’ gave away your position and strength.”
Nodding, Gears also leaned forward and said amiably, “Look, I ain’t discountin’ what you’ve achieved. Winning three thousand men and women willin’ to follow you in a world full of better choices is impressive. You’ve clearly got some leadership skills, tho’ I can’t say I’ve seen ‘em yet.”
Looking quickly between him and Gears, Axe leaned forward at the table and said, “Okay, fair point, but I was with you when you took those four kids from that Ranch to somewhere safe. My own kids were under ten, and I had three boys and a little girl. Bad men don’t protect children, so I know you’re decent.”
Despite himself, he was really warming to Axe, the man had a brain and an honesty to him he could respect. Gears was watching Axe intently, and after a brief pause, he said, “You’re not a stupid guy, so why did you jus’ tell us what we wanted to know?”
Sighing, Axe spread his hands on the table and said, “I’m not a soldier, but you guys clearly are. I’m not lying when I say we need central control. I don’t want it so I can do bad things to people, far from it. We need to put structure back in place. Our kids need to be educated, or we’re going to disintegrate into smaller countries within our own country. You know where that’ll lead. Borders and wars. I don’t want that. If someone steps up to the problem now, we have a chance to stay one unified country. If we leave it much longer, we’ll be nothing more than warring tribes.”
When neither he nor Gears said anything, Axe continued, “Look, I get I don’t have the skills to train an army properly, but for the most part, what I’ve got to fight isn’t an army either. I might not have an army in the traditional sense, but I don’t have a militarized enemy, so I don’t need one.”
“So, what’s the problem?” Gears asked.
“There’s something wrong. That’s why I wanted the helicopters. I need to be able do better surveillance.”
Axe was yet another person worrying about the state of paradise, and frowning slightly, he asked, “Whatdaya think’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.”
“Break it down,” Gears said firmly. “Start with why you think somethin’s wrong.”
Nodding, Axe said, “It’s so subtle, you think maybe it’s all in your imagination. When Eden turned up, everyone began to emerge from wherever they’d been and moved into the small towns. Specialists in water and power were travelling from town to town, helping the towns get services working again. People moved into the towns, they started farming and newcomers were welcomed with open arms. Eventually leaders emerged, and towns were being managed in more or less a peaceable way. Some towns chose to specialize in manufacturing, others in food processing, some pumped oil, others had mechanics. Everyone bartered for what they wanted or needed, and it was working very well.”
“So, what happened?”
“The towns always had issues like any town does, but about three years ago we started to see them close their gates to new people. It was the first step to taking a protective position against the other towns. Shortly after that, we started to hear about gunfights between towns, and eventually that led to declarations of war against one another. About eighteen months ago, Cain showed up with his Crusaders. They started kidnapping people, and we don’t know where they go. It was around then, I spoke to some of the town leaders, and we agreed to form an army. Groups of men and women moved to the town I was leading, and we started amassing weapons, but I needed to get into the air to really see what’s going on. I asked Hatch to join me, or at least help me, and he said he didn’t work for me and his bosses would be along shortly. I didn’t know what he meant, but I guess you’re the bosses he was referring to.”
Giving one another a quick look of understanding, Gears said, “Yeah, they’re my airfields, and Hatch has done a good job holdin’ ‘em together while we’ve been away.”
“You’re the Horsemen, aren’t you?” When they didn’t reply, he added, “A woman called Izzie told me
about three men and a woman who were sent to judge us and decided we should live. She said you led them in a battle against the Devil, and that’s how Eden was created.”
Surprised to hear Izzie’s name, he asked abruptly, “Where is Izzie?”
With a sad shake of his head, he replied, “About two years ago she went missing, and I led a search party to find her.” Sighing at the memory, he added, “We found her in an empty farmhouse about twenty miles from our town. She…she was a mess. Someone had removed all her internal organs and left them wrapped up in brown paper tied with string.” Still clearly horrified with what he’d found, he whispered, “Whoever did it left the parcels lined up around her body. She was such a good woman, she didn’t deserve to die that way.”
“Who the fuck did that?” Gears growled.
“What the fuck…,” he muttered quietly too himself. “Some kinda paradise this is.”
Axe nodded sympathetically and said, “Only the earth is paradise, people didn’t change. There were crazy people before the outbreak, and there still are. It was after I found Izzie’s body that I realized we needed to put controls in place. With a government, we can weed out the lunatics and protect the innocent. There’s a lot of good reasons why we need central control.”
Izzie had clearly died a terrible death, and he wondered what TL would say when he heard the news. He’d never had much to do with Izzie, but TL was her friend, and he knew they were so close they were almost a couple. Looking at Gears, he wondered what his brother would do next. Axe was clearly not a bad man or a stupid one. He’d seen a problem and was trying to fix it, albeit not very competently. He believed Axe had leadership skills, but with no combat experience, he was a danger to any army following him.
Leaning back in his chair, Gears said, “I have another brother you need to meet. He’s a mind to set up a government. I can’t say I entirely agree with him, but it’s his mission, his choice.” Flicking his thumb at himself and then at him, he added, “Me and Pax have a different mission. We wanna set up an army, and with all due respect, that ain’t what you’ve done. Don’t get me wrong, three thousand armed men and women is an achievement in its own right, but judgin’ by your attack on Hatch’s base, you don’t know shit about combat.”
Axe eyed him steadily, then his shoulders slumped slightly, and he said, “I’m not a soldier, and I really don’t want to be one. All I want is to get some central control in place. The country needs leadership, or we won’t have a country at all.”
Nodding, Gears said bluntly, “You can set yourself up to be the goddamn President for all I care.” Leaning forward into the table again, he added intently, “I agree with you, there’s somethin’ wrong in paradise, and my kinda problems usually need an army. Until I know what’s goin’ on, we plan to use ‘em to police the towns.”
“So, you’re asking me to hand my army over?”
Shrugging, he said, “You don’t have an army. We’re askin’ you to hand over your troops, so’s we can make ‘em an army.”
Looking down at his hands, and speaking almost to himself, Axe said, “Izzie told me you were good guys and I trusted her.” Lifting his head to stare at them, he added, “Hell, I might as well be honest, I loved Izzie. She and I had a good thing going, and I couldn’t protect her. I don’t seem to be able to protect anyone I love.”
Having been unable to save BD from being murdered by Major major asshole, and then being lucky enough to find her again, he empathized with Axe and said sincerely, “It ain’t your fault. We live in difficult times, and you’re not the only one who hasn’t been able to keep their shit wired tight enough.”
Nodding decisively and standing, Axe said, “Okay. I’ll tell my men you’re better skilled, and they should follow your orders from now on, but I’m really looking forward to meeting TL.”
Firmly shaking Axe’s hand, Gears asked, “Why’s that?”
Smiling for the first time, Axe replied warmly, “Izzie told me all about him.”
Chapter Fourteen: Jack
“Do we even know how to set up a government?” He asked bluntly. “I mean, are there any senior government people left?”
“I don’t wanna set up the same damned government we had before,” the man next to him replied.
“We can set up whatever we want,” TL replied steadily.
After leaving the kids, Mom, Pop and Angel with Nelson, they’d gone to Alaska, and in his opinion they’d travelled a long way to learn what he already knew. There were no super hunters in Alaska. Gears and Pax were taking control of Axe’s army to make something real of it, and TL was determined to unite the towns, but neither idea seemed like a good plan to him. Gears might have had control of his world before the battle with Ruler, but time had moved on, and he didn’t believe anyone would allow him to police their towns. He also thought a central government to manage the needs of the population might be a good idea, but he couldn’t see why anyone would put them in charge.
He thought Gears was just filling time while he couldn’t work out who he should be fighting. He would have preferred to help them build the army, but having only one good arm, they stuck him with a soft job like they always did. If he was honest, he had to admit his prosthetic legs were becoming increasingly painful to use. Without the medical specialists to monitor his injuries, he knew his bones were forming spurs, and his substitute limbs were no longer a perfect match. If it wasn’t for the Lake of Life, he doubted he could cope with the pain, but a swim gave him relief for at least a few months.
“Just how are we gonna do this?” He asked, for what seemed like the umpteenth time.
TL had some notion he could just walk in and talk to the town leaders, and they’d give him a hearing, but he didn’t see why they would. Each of them had been running their own show for years, and few knew or cared who the Horsemen were.
“We’ll talk to them,” TL replied confidently.
The first town they chose to approach was Charleston in South Carolina. He’d dealt with them last year when he and Ted were tracking a super hunter. The head of the twenty thousand strong town was a gruff man called Leo, and he was the kind of guy who made it his business to know everyone. Ted thought he’d be the best person to guide them through the process of talking to the other towns. Agreeing with Ted, he thought the real issue was whether they could win Leo’s support. His town were into manufacturing, and although he wasn’t entirely sure what they made, they were able to process wheat into flour and made soaps and other chemical products. Leo told them that before the outbreak, he was a manufacturing expert who specialized in making Fast Moving Consumer Goods factories more efficient.
They were being flown by one of Hatch’s other pilots, and preferring to fly with Hatch, he winced as the bird hit the ground with a sharp jerk. Townspeople began to walk towards them, and although they carried handguns in their holsters, no one thought to draw their weapons. He guessed that after helping them kill the super hunter, they’d developed a degree of trust. The bird landed only half a mile from the town center, and they walked without comment to meet Leo in his office. Every step sent a sharp pain up his thigh, and he wished he’d taken a swim in the Lake of Life before leaving.
Leo was a big, burly man with too much body hair. It erupted from the collar of his shirt, and although it was barely lunchtime, he had more than a five o’clock shadow. His beard ran into his chest hair, and he was the kind of guy who had to decide where to stop shaving.
“Good to see you again, Jack,” he boomed.
After shaking Leo’s hairy knuckled hands, he introduced the rest of the group and he, TL, Ip, Leo and his man, Jeff, sat at the large table.
“We want to set up central control for the things all the towns need,” TL said.
“Like what?” Leo asked abruptly.
“Education, railroads, census, medical services, trade.”
“Sounds okay, but where are you heading with it?”
“The idea is we can make education, medical and transp
ortation available to all the towns. It’ll help with trade and fine tune what some of the towns do.”
Giving Leo a doubtful look, Jeff said, “We seem to be doing fine without central control.”
“Are you? What’s going to happen in five or ten years when your kids can’t read? What happens to all the knowledge?”
Leo shrugged, and with a disinterested look, he said, “I dunno. We live a simpler life now. Why do they need to know how to read? I don’t want us to come under the control of any sort of central group, and we can teach our kids.”
“Aren’t you concerned the country will fall apart? At some point, we need to unify the towns or they’ll disintegrate into tribes,” TL said earnestly
“Who cares?” Leo replied dismissively. “The country is different now. There’s no problem with food, water, power or hunters. There’s nothing much to worry about. It’s all opportunity these days, and not a lot of problems.” Grinning widely, he added, “It’s a great time to be alive.”
“What about what happened? Don’t you worry it could happen again?”
“Nah, not really. I’ve got plenty of weapons and a factory making ammo. If anyone bothers us, we can take care of ourselves.”
“That’s the sort of tribe mentality that worries me. Not only are you at risk of war, you’re actively making sure you’re ready for it,” TL said.
“That’s just good planning,” Jeff interjected.
“What about Ruler and the demon super hunters?” He asked. “You know they’re still around.”
“And thanks to you we know how to kill them,” Leo replied. Shaking his head decisively, he added, “I get where you’re coming from, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and nothing’s broken.”
Ip was watching the men closely, and when she huffed at Leo’s comment, TL asked, “Do you have something to say, Ip?”
Without looking at TL, Ip replied with a slight sneer, “Stupid.”
“Is she calling me stupid?” Leo asked in surprise.
