Hidden Evil: Eden Lost Book One (The Hunter Wars 7)

by SD Tanner

  “They don’t look like much now.”

  “No, but I remember when it was all we had.”

  Walking outside the container, he looked at the bleak emptiness of the base and wondered how he was going to get anyone to come here. Three thousand men and women sounded like a lot, but it wasn’t considering there was an estimated population of three to four million people in Eden. According to Hatch, he thought there were probably around two hundred towns across the country with five to twenty thousand people in each. If ten percent needed combat support, he only had a hundred and fifty soldiers for each town, and that was assuming he could deploy absolutely everyone. For estimation purposes he guessed not, and that meant he could only offer one hundred soldiers to twenty towns at any point in time. It’s too lean, he thought grimly.

  “We’re gonna need to get this place up and runnin’ again.”

  “I don’t have the resources to do that. There’s only about twenty of us here at any one time.” Waving his arms at the containers, he added bluntly, “Compared to what’s out there, this place is a hellhole.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “Because it’s my job.” When he stared back at him in confusion, Cutter added soberly, “I’m here for the same reason Hatch still has the air fleet. Neither of us believe Eden will last. At some point something will fuck up and then we’re gonna need to batten down the hatches again.”

  “Why do ya think that?”

  “The Devil never dies, Gears, and that’s a fact.”

  “We’ve only got three thousand men and women in Axe’s army. If there’s trouble, then it ain’t enough.” Looking at the desolate base, he asked, “How are we gonna attract people to this base?”

  “Why does anyone ever join any army?”

  Eyeing Cutter contemplatively, he replied, “Honor, duty, three hots and a cot.”

  “Nah, Gears, that isn’t why. People wanna be part of something bigger than themselves. Everyone wants a mission, something important to do, to be part of a thing greater than themselves and to make a difference in the world.”

  He supposed that was true, but it’d been a long time since he’d thought of the army that way. That sort of idealistic thinking might have once been his reasoning, then reality had sunk in and it turned into a lot of daily grind while managing the politics.

  “You really don’t get it, do you, Gears? You and your brothers march around the world as if you own it and I guess you kinda do. People will join you again because, if you’re here, then something bad is about to go down. All you have to do is let people know you’re back, and they’ll flock to bases like they always did.”

  “I thought they came here to be safe,” he muttered.

  “They did, Gears, but they also came here to feel confident, to get help and to be part of the solution. I think you’ll find a lot of people feel very lost in Eden. We’re not supposed to live in heaven, it doesn’t suit us not having something to worry about.” Smiling confidently, he added, “As you talk to people out there, make sure you tell them the base is open for business again. You’ll be surprised how many people are gonna rock up here ready to fight any enemy you point them at.”

  “Well, when they do, keep a manifest and get ‘em workin’ on the base.” Frowning and looking worried, he added, “I think I’m gonna need it.”

  TL was the one travelling to the towns, meeting with their leaders and he needed him to direct people to the Marine supply base. When TL left, he said he wouldn’t be back for at least three weeks, and Gerry didn’t have comms working in many places. Damn, he thought, I really need to talk to TL. In theory, he could ask Ip to pass the message on telepathically, but she was unreliable and he couldn’t be sure TL would get any message, much less the right one. Mentally adding comms to the list of things he needed to get done, he and Hatch flew to the Navy submarine base.

  The nuclear missiles at the site were stored in long rows of what looked like oversized graves, but were actually bunkers. When they found the missiles, they checked what they had and then locked them up tight. He didn’t plan to use them, but wanted to know the full extent of his military capability.

  While they flew over the grave shaped mounds, he said to Hatch, “They don’t look like they’ve been touched.”

  “Why would they have been?”

  “Because people are freakin’ idiots.”

  Flying over the port, he saw their transport ships were still docked, and he guessed they probably hadn’t been touched in five years. Even from the air, he could see deep rust stains running down the sides of the boats and it wouldn’t be easy to get them working again. They’d barely been able to maintain them before and now they looked like idle buckets of rust.

  “They don’t look good.”

  “Yeah, well, Izzie took off after you guys died. With TL gone, I guess there was nothin’ holdin’ her here.”

  “She’d have been better off stayin’.”

  Sounding surprised, Hatch asked, “Why’s that?”

  “’Cos she might not have been carved up.”

  “What?”

  “Somebody tortured her by removing all her organs and wrapping them up in brown paper with string. Accordin’ to Axe, what was left of her corpse was still strapped to a table. He reckons she was alive while they did it.”

  He felt the bird dip slightly and Hatch barked, “What the fuck!” Quickly regaining control of himself and the bird, he muttered unhappily, “Poor girl. Some fuckin’ Eden this is.”

  Chapter Eighteen: Pax

  It was a boring three weeks. Axe’s army were a bunch of boy scouts, and although he’d found a few talented men and women, most were there for the weapons and perception of safety. Their attitude annoyed him. A weapon was only dangerous in the hands of a trained operator, otherwise it was more lethal to the handler than the enemy. Equally, an army was only as good as its combat skills and, with no training or experience, all he had were a bunch of well-armed civilians. What he’d found at Axe’s base was more akin to a mob than a fighting force.

  When Gears dropped Genevieve back at the refinery town, he’d sorted out an agreement with them and then left to check their old bases. Gears finally came back to Axe’s town and told him he wanted at least fifty troops permanently located at the refinery town. As he rightly pointed out, if they lost the refinery they’d lose the fleet and any other form of sensible transport. Remembering his uncomfortable ride on the beast, he couldn’t agree more.

  Naturally, he complained to Gears, pointing out he didn’t have any troops capable of operating independently. Gears had given him one of his glowering looks and told him to send Greg and Benny with at least thirty of his best soldiers. Tess, Greg and Benny were his only experienced combat leaders and he didn’t want to give them up. After arguing, which escalated into shouting, he agreed to send Greg with twenty people who were least likely to shoot themselves. He hesitated to call anyone from Axe’s army a soldier, it didn’t seem to be the right description.

  Sniffing unhappily, he thought peacetime Gears always sucked. In the absence of an enemy to fight, he became argumentative, bossy and more difficult to live with than usual. With his orders ringing in his ears, he and the team were flying to the refinery town in two birds. Hatch was still playing chauffeur to Gears and he was stuck with pilots he didn’t know. Ted was at Axe’s base setting up the teams, training, briefing the combat leaders and checking everyone could at least use their weapons without killing themselves. Today, the only experienced people he had with him were Greg and Benny. Against Gears advice, he’d brought BD with him. Everyone else was getting on his nerves and she was the only person he was happy to be with.

  Shuffling forward on the floor of the bird, he peered at the ground below and saw something he didn’t expect. A line of five trucks followed by men on horseback was about two miles from the edge of the small town.

  “Do ya see that?”

  “Seen that before,” Benny replied flatly.

  He didn�
��t like the new Benny, the guy was miserable. For all the times he wished Benny was quieter, now he was, it didn’t seem normal. Peering down at the formation, he knew they’d seen this army before when they were flying over South Dakota. They were Crusaders and he was sure they planned to attack the town. Stubborn little fuckers, he thought grimly, but stupid as well.

  The Crusaders were less than two miles from the town and making no attempt to hide their arrival. Bunched together as they were, they made an easy target for a well-placed missile. Almost as if they’d heard him, the trucks began to turn away, leaving one to continue down the road while two turned to the left and another two went right. With the dense forest, it was difficult to see where the side roads led, but he guessed they probably circled the refinery, which sat a mile north of the town center. With the first truck pulling away on the main road, the thirty or so men riding beasts began to spread out. Within less than a minute, he’d lost his tactical advantage and now had four groups of enemy to deal with.

  Between the two birds, he had twenty-four soldiers including himself, but only three of them knew what they were doing. Quickly assessing the situation, he figured he, Greg and Benny could each lead a team of roughly six or seven shooters. After they fired on the truck driving the main road, Greg and Benny could use the birds to bomb the trucks on the side roads. Judging by the size of the trucks, he couldn’t imagine there were more than ten men in each truck. If they bombed the trucks from the air, they could reduce the number of enemy shooters. The birds could then continue to give Greg and Benny’s squads air support while they hunted for the surviving enemy on foot. His fight would be messier. Although he could bomb the truck and fire on the twenty men on beasts, he had no chance of getting all of them from the air. He’d need to hunt for the remaining enemy shooters in the forest, and that wouldn’t be easy.

  Before he could issue orders, Greg said through his headset, “Who are those guys?”

  “Trouble. We’re gonna do a sweep with the M240s to cut down some of the riders and stop the truck heading into the town. I’ll take six shooters with me on the ground and we’ll sort the riders. You and Benny each get a bird. Find the trucks on the side roads and blow ‘em from the air, then I want you down on the ground clearing the stragglers.”

  “Err, why?” Greg asked.

  “’Cos they’re the Crusaders you’re here to stop.”

  “Gotcha.”

  With him and Benny manning the M240s on their bird, and Greg and a soldier manning the ones on the other bird, they fired on the men riding the beasts. Remembering they were fast, he left Greg to shoot the ones still on the road while they caught the ones trying to ride through the dense forest. Despite the thick blanket of greenery, he thought the terrain played in their favor and slowed the riders down. Guessing he’d at least halved the number of men on beasts, he had the pilot fire a Hydra rocket at the truck now accelerating down the road. The pilot was a bad shot and he missed the first time, and only clipped the truck with his second rocket. Knowing he had to stop the other trucks on the side roads, he called off the attack, and each bird followed the routes of the trucks that had turned off the main road.

  Trying to give orders to both pilots, he said, “Target and fire until you get ‘em.”

  The forest beneath them exploded into dust and debris around the shattering trees. With leaves and bark being thrown into the air, he thought it looked like there’d been a sudden gust of wind. While the pilots repeatedly fired at anything that didn’t look like it belonged under the green canopy, the forest below them continued to burst. Finally, he saw what he was looking for. Flames were erupting from somewhere under the trees and he knew that could only be caused by an exploding truck. He couldn’t guess how many enemy were in the truck, but he knew anyone who survived was now on foot.

  Calling to the pilots, he said, “Land on the main road. Fast drop, swap and extract.” Having no real idea of the strength of his shooters, he randomly pointed and said, “You, you, you and you, you’re with me. Greg, when we land, send Benny three of your shooters.” Pointing to the remaining five men and women, he said, “Ya’ll with Benny and do as you’re told.” Pointing to the four men he’d randomly chosen and BD, he said, “Get your asses out and head for cover.” Tapping his ear, he added, “Make sure your radios work.”

  Both birds touched down on the road between the downed riders and the blown truck. While his team dropped out the door to the ground, three shooters ran between the birds and climbed in the other side. He had four shooters plus BD and himself. Each bird had eight shooters plus their combat leader. He really needed more shooters, but he preferred to give Greg and Benny greater firepower. They might not be good shooters, he thought, but they’re better than nothing.

  Quickly running in a low crouch to the bushes by the road, he watched the birds lift into the air. Once they flew in the direction of the side roads, he said, “We’re gonna move through this forest usin’ the trees and bushes for cover. I’m guessin’ we got at least ten enemy left. Don’t get fancy, jus’ shoot to kill.”

  While they were testing Axe’s army, he’d made BD go through basic weapons training again. To his surprise, not only had she maintained her skills, she’d improved. When he asked her about it, she said there hadn’t been much to do while he was gone. Since returning he could have asked her if she’d found someone else while he was away, but considering everyone thought he was dead, it didn’t seem like a fair question. BD could have any man she wanted, but if she hadn’t had much to do, he assumed she’d waited for him to return home. He had to admit he’d been more than a little pleased to know she stayed faithful to him.

  Moving through the forest as quietly as they could, he had his five shooters fan out. After the noise of the Hydras and bird, the heavy foliage in the forest dampened the sound around them and it was eerily quiet. Slowly he became aware of the chattering of insects and faint rustling.

  “Listen for anythin’ that don’t sound like an animal. Men step regular-like, animals hesitate.”

  He would have preferred to cover both sides of the road, but he didn’t have enough combat leads. Combat in jungle conditions was always a tricky fight, and he’d be lucky if half his shooters came out alive. Under the canopy of trees, the forest was gloomy and visibility was poor. Plants he didn’t recognize were clustered together, and the ground beneath his boots was mossy and damp, making it slippery and difficult to walk. Nothing seemed dry and the cloying smell of moist leaves and dirt filled his nostrils. To his left, he heard a rustling that didn’t stop. Peeking above the bushes, he thought he saw the red of the Crusader emblem.

  Before he fired, he said softly into his radio, “Hold your fire. I got him. After I shoot, I’m gonna move real quick, or they’ll target my position.”

  If he was with his brothers, he wouldn’t have needed to tell them that, but he figured they were here to learn and live combat was a fast teacher. Today, they would either learn or die. Taking aim at the sound more than the movement, he fired three rapid shots, targeting where he thought the man’s midsection was likely to be. Immediately, he dropped, rolled and then launched back onto his feet, running in a crouch to take cover behind another tree.

  The sound of his shots attracted return fire, and the bushes he’d been behind split and fell as round after round was fired. Ignoring the noise, he could see faint tracer fire in the gloom and said, “Target the tracers with me, then move.”

  Ducking around the tree, he opened rapid fire at the far end of the tracers and heard the sound of other guns joining in. Dropping to a crouch, he ran beneath the line of the bushy ferns to the next large tree trunk and stopped. Now he could hear men shouting, and at least one had the piercing howl of the injured.

  Needing to press his advantage, he said, “Follow me, but stay behind.”

  Quickly and quietly moving through the forest, he followed the sound of voices until he could see three men. One was lying on the ground howling, the other was clutching his arm, an
d another was looking confused, clearly unsure what to do next. Too bad for him, he thought, and taking aim, he shot the man in the right arm that was holding his gun. The man instantly dropped his weapon and clutched at the wound. Without hesitation, he shot the man in both legs.

  When BD looked at him in surprise, he said, “Gears’ll want ‘em alive. Ya know, for intel.” BD raised her eyebrows and he added, “I ain’t shootin’ some dumbass in the head jus’ so ya know I’m a mean motherfucker.”

  Pulling zip ties from a large pocket in his ACUs, he said tiredly, “Tie ‘em up and keep ‘em covered. You, you and you stay with ‘em…and feel free to shoot ‘em, but we really do need the intel.”

  Smirking at him, BD turned to her two shooters and said firmly, “We need a perimeter.”

  Leaving BD and the shooters with their prisoners, his team moved towards the road, listening for more movement. Putting his fingers to his lips, he indicated they should stay silent. Half-closing his eyes, he began to separate the sounds playing through his ears. The sound of explosions and gunfire rumbled in the distance. On the road, he could hear the clopping noise of a beast moving, but it was too slow and relaxed to have a rider, so he guessed it was free of its burden. To his left, he could hear something shifting in a regular pattern, as if it were breathing in and out.

  Turning the nose of his M4A1 to the left, he said softly, “Gotcha. You can either put your weapon down and stand up or I’ll shoot. I might miss, but I might not too. How do ya wanna play it?”

  Through the small bright rays of sunlight shining through the high canopy, he stared intently into the gloomy forest. About twenty feet in front of him a man stood up, his eyes wide with fear.

  “Hands up.”

  The young man was wearing the black outfit with the crest, and he could see his raised hands were trembling. What kinda bullshit is this, he wondered?

  “Walk towards me, nice and slow.”

  The young man began to navigate cautiously between the ferns and bushes, slipping slightly on the mossy earth.