by SD Tanner
“What?” He asked curtly.
“Umm, well, I promised my wife I’d be home by five tonight.” Looking apologetic, the man added, “It’s her night out and she gets really mad if I’m home late.”
Crouching down on the roof of the vehicle, he bit his tongue and said through clenched teeth, “You do know you’re bein’ deployed into combat, don’t ya. That means there’s an enemy on your ass.”
Wincing slightly, the man argued, “But it’s a long way away. I mean, they’re not coming here, are they?”
Breathing deeply, he was about to explain their obligation to their fellow man when a woman approached and said, “If he doesn’t have to go, does that mean some of us can stay? I really don’t want to leave. I mean, if the Crusaders attack us here, that’s one thing, but they’re not coming here, so why do we have to go?”
Deciding he couldn’t be bothered to answer each and every so-called soldier in his army while they asked him the same whiny question, he picked up his PA and stood glaring at the large group of people standing around chatting. As adrenalin released by a surge of anger flooded his body, and his stomach contracted.
A platinum blonde head suddenly popped up from behind the truck, and BD said firmly, “Let ‘em have it, baby.”
Nodding curtly, he turned to face the group again and roared, “Shut the fuck up!”
A few heads turned his way, and then they resumed their conversation with one another. Putting down the PA, he aimed his M4A1 at the crowd. Flicking it to continuous fire, he began shooting above their heads in a wide, and not too careful, sweep of the crowd. Instantly people dropped to the ground with their hands covering their heads.
While he continued to fire, Ted climbed onto the vehicle, and placing his hand on his shoulder, he said loudly, “I think you made your point.”
Shouldering his weapon again, he picked up the PA and said, “The next person who opens their goddamn mouth without my permission will be shot. I’m not an unreasonable man, so it won’t be a head shot, but it will hurt.”
Clearing his throat, he said angrily, “Now, as was I was sayin’, you are bein’ deployed to deal with the Crusader army moving across the south. I don’t give a fuck what your plans were for the next week, as of now, your ass is mine.”
He was about to start issuing orders, but something was bothering him. Without thinking about what he was going to say, he added, “I don’t understand why you people don’t care about anyone other than yourselves. These assholes are wipin’ out every goddamn town and community in their path. They’re killin’ innocent people who’ve done nothin’ wrong. That’s kids, women and men who weren’t doin’ nobody any harm. What the hell is wrong with ya? Do none of you have any sense of what’s right and wrong?”
By now, people had cautiously climbed to their feet and were watching him warily. Feeling deeply disappointed by their attitude, he said, “Wantin’ to keep people safe is the first instinct of any good soldier, and all you’re showin’ me is you’re lousy soldiers. I can teach ya to handle a weapon and shoot back at the enemy, but if you ain’t got the instinct to protect, then you don’t belong in any army. To be honest, ya might as well join the Crusaders ‘cos you’re no good to me.”
As the adrenalin of his anger dissipated, his real feelings finally emerged and he said unhappily, “I’m ashamed to call you my army. You ain’t an army and I can’t make soldiers outta ya.” Staring across the sea of heads, he added, “I’ll tell ya what. This is no longer a mandatory mission. Those of you that got heart, step up and let’s get ourselves rollin’, and those of you that don’t…well, you can fuck off and stop wastin’ my time.”
Leaning into him, Ted whispered, “Did you just fire our army?”
Giving Ted a disgusted look, he replied loudly, “Did ya not hear me? We ain’t got an army, Ted. I jus’ released a bunch of useless assholes back into the wild.”
A hand knocked on the roof of the armored vehicle, and a man called George looked up at him and asked tentatively, “Err, sir? We need our orders.”
Looking across at the large group, he saw some were leaving, but many stood staring at him. Nodding at George, he raised the PA to his mouth and said, “Alright, the Crusaders are makin’ their way along southern Alabama and Mississippi, and we think they’re headin’ for the base in Florida. The troops at the Marine supply base are gonna head west to intercept them, and we’re gonna come down from the north. They’ve got about a thousand heavily armed men, and we’re not too well trained yet.”
“Way to motivate, Pax,” Ted muttered.
“What that means is we gotta hit ‘em with more soldiers and more firepower. Between the air support and more boots on the ground, we can expect to throw ‘em outta formation. We ain’t expectin’ to defeat ‘em outright, but we can scatter ‘em well enough so they can’t attack. It does mean we’re gonna be left with a lot of enemy in our territory, and the towns and small communities will be at risk of ongoing insurgent attacks. It means you’re gonna have to stay with the towns in the regions, run patrols and protect ‘em until we clear the enemy out.”
While he was speaking, some of the people who’d been drifting away rejoined the group of volunteers. George raised his hand and asked, “How are you gonna keep us supplied when we’re in the towns?”
“Good question, George, and we’ll be relyin’ on road transports and air. But to be honest, in combat, problems have a knack for changin’ face pretty quick. We’re jus’ gonna focus on the first step, which is gettin’ ourselves in position to support the attack on the enemy convoy.”
Nodding, George asked, “What do we need to do now?”
In front of the vehicle next to him, Ted had already laid out neat lines of weapons, ammo, food, water and other items they needed in every truck. Pointing to the organized rows of supplies, he said, “Do ya see that stuff?”
People craned and stood on their toes to see where he was pointing, and he said, “Every truck in this line needs to be loaded with the same gear. Once that’s done, you’re to get into full combat gear with your packs. Pick a buddy, and check they’ve got everythin’ they’re supposed to have. Once we’re ready, we’ll roll out. It’s gonna take us three days to get where we need to be to support the troops comin’ from the Marine supply base. While we’re travellin’ there, you’ll be briefed on what ya gotta do once we get there.”
Turning away from him, George said confidently, “Okay, we got our orders.” Grabbing the two people next to him, he said, “We need to each pick an item and organize people to get it from the warehouses, and drop the right number in front of each truck…”
Leaving George to start organizing the supplies, he turned to Ted and said, “The letter from Gears said we should check on the refinery town. He’s worried it’s a double bluff. The Crusaders will absorb all our resources into a fight with the convoy, and we’ll leave the refinery at risk.”
“Sounds plausible. What do you wanna do?”
“We can’t get there fast by road, and we don’t have the birds to send enough troops by air to do much good.”
“Then we’ll have to do what we can do.”
Nodding, he said, “It means you need to take a road trip.”
“Okay, but if nothing’s happening over there, I’m gonna kick your ass for making me miss out on all the fun.”
“Be careful what ya wish for, Ted. Gears has a nose for trouble and he’s rarely wrong. Dependin’ on how many volunteers we got, I’m gonna have about fifty trucks. You should take ten of ‘em to the refinery town. We’ve only got one bird here right now, so you take it for air support and I’ll sort my guys on the ground.”
“We’re really too short on combat leaders to split up.”
“I know, but I’ve got BD and that guy George. You’ll have Greg at the other end in the refinery town, and you should take Tess.”
Shaking his head, Ted said worriedly, “Nah, you take Tess. I’ve got a smaller combat team.”
“Don’t ar
gue with me. Greg and Tess work together well, and if they hit the refinery town, it’ll be a more intense battle ‘cos you gotta protect the production.”
“They won’t wanna damage that either.”
“Maybe so, but it’s not worth the risk. If we lose the refinery, we lose transport.”
BD had climbed onto the roof of the truck and she said, “You boys need to stop this powwow. Your troops need you.”
Looking across at the teams of people bringing kit from the warehouse, he realized they didn’t really know what was inside the boxes they were carrying. It was going to be a long day while they hastily assembled supplies to get them combat ready.
“These guys aren’t ready for this,” he said unhappily.
Giving him a steady look, BD replied, “No one’s ever ready to die, baby, but we are where we are.”
Chapter Thirty-One: Faith
“Wait!”
At the sound of her voice, the three men turned to look at her as she ran up to meet them on the helipad. She was wearing her usual long flowing dress, tightly secured to her body by a laced bodice. Her breasts bounced and heaved as she continued to jog towards them.
Stopping just a few feet away, with her face flushed, she smiled and said, “TL said I should go with you.”
Looking her up and down, a soldier dressed in full combat gear asked, “Why? This is a recon mission to see if we can find Cain.”
“I know what he looks like.”
“Really? You’ve met him?”
“Does it matter how I know?” She asked defiantly.
After holding her gaze for a few moments, the soldier shrugged and said, “Guess not, but you’re not dressed right for this.”
Holding out her hand for him to help her onto the bird, she said confidently, “I’ll be fine.”
It would take two days for them to reach Cain’s territory, so she settled into the back of the helicopter and watched the men and women in front of her. As soon as TL told her they were sending a recon team to look for Cain, she saw it as her opportunity to finally meet the man who so interested her. There were four men and three women onboard, plus the pilot and co-pilot. A total of nine men and women more capable of killing her than she was of killing them. Deciding to deal with one problem at a time, she reached for the headsets and listened to their conversation.
“Do we even know where to start looking for this guy?”
“Not really. All we know is he’s using prisons as bases.”
“Then how are we gonna find him?”
“If his army is a decent size, then we’ll see signs of them on the roads.”
“What are gonna do when we get there?”
“We won’t know what we can do until we’re there. We might not even land. All Gears asked us to do was find out where he’s likely to be. If we get a chance to kill him then we should, but if not, then we’re to head back with any intel we get.”
She fully intended to meet Cain and to do that she needed them to land, a flyover would not do at all. Once she got on the ground, she would work her way through whatever situation she found to find him. If he had a hunter who could infect the living and turn them into hunters, then she had the super hunters that could control them. Between them, they could build an undefeatable army.
“We can’t be too obvious, my dear.”
Not at all surprised by the sound of Ruler’s voice, she knew he wouldn’t reveal himself in front of witnesses unless he was prepared to kill them. Pulling her headsets from her ears, she whispered, “Why?”
“If I raise an army of the undead, Gears will unleash his Immortal Army again.”
“So, why do we need hunters?”
“Ah, I was unsubtle last time. I used millions of hunters under the control of my demons. It gave Gears an obvious target to fight. This time I need to let man fight man.”
“Why didn’t you do that last time?”
“The Horsemen didn’t know their true purpose or what they could do. TL and Pax still don’t. I thought I could win the fight before they became aware, but it didn’t work out that way. That cursed little imp woke War to his real self, and it was all downhill from there.”
“She’s a nuisance. We should kill her.”
“It wouldn’t get rid of her. She’ll just be born again like she was after Mackenzie killed her.”
The problem with Ruler was he always wanted conclusive solutions. She was less concerned about solving problems permanently. In her opinion, a problem delayed was a problem deferred. Ip not staying dead wasn’t much of an issue if she kept killing her.
Chuckling almost affectionately, Ruler said, “You’re a wicked little thing. I hadn’t thought of that.”
They landed at an airfield near Waco, Texas where the pilots knew they could refuel. Buried under the encroaching forest, there was barely enough clear space to land, and they elected to sleep on the bird. Tired of sitting on the hard platform, she disembarked and wandered into the surrounding forest, looking for somewhere she could wash herself. Being dark, she carried a flashlight with her and was startled when she saw the beam of another light.
It was one of the soldiers and he said, “You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
Shining the beam over his face and body, she admired his broad shoulders and handsome face. Setting the flashlight on a cluster of rocks, so it lit the way to a narrow creek, she said, “I’ll be fine. This is Eden and nothing here will do me any harm.” More’s the pity, she thought, while she smiled warmly at the man.
Sliding out of her leather shoes, she began to unlace the bodice of her gown. The thing she liked about wearing long frocks was she never had to wear anything else. Once she freed her torso, she let the gown slide to the grassy ground. Picking out soap and a washcloth from her bag, she turned and walked into the shallow water, knowing the soldier was watching her every move. Men, she thought with contempt, they’re so predictable.
Dipping her washcloth into the cool, moving creek, she began to run it over her body and asked, “What’s your name?”
Just as she expected, the young man was sitting on the rocks next to the creek, watching her intently.
“David.”
“What’s your story?”
“Same as everyone else’s. Lost pretty much anyone I ever knew during the outbreak, been living at the Marine supply base ever since.”
“Why do you live there? It’s horrible.”
“Maybe it is now, but it was the best place on earth before Eden showed up.”
Sensually soaping between her legs, even in the shadowy light she could see he was licking his lips with interest. She didn’t really want him, but it amused her to tease. He wasn’t really her type, and that led her to think about the men who were. She liked rough men, the ones who took what they wanted and pushed her to her limits. This one wouldn’t do that anymore than TL would, and another night with a less than satisfactory outcome didn’t really interest her.
Squeezing the water from her washcloth, she walked back to the rocks, enjoying the cool night air against her wet skin. Still dripping with water, she sat on the rocks opposite him, and spreading her knees widely, she asked, “So, do you have a wife?”
“No.”
“A girlfriend.”
“Not really.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t like getting attached to people these days. They die too easily.”
Yes, they do, she thought, but that’s what makes them so much fun to play with. Eyeing him with no real interest, she knew she couldn’t kill him. If she did, the others would want to know what happened to him, and that would be a waste of her time. Preferring to kill women, she was ambivalent about whether this man lived or died.
“Aren’t you with TL?”
“It’s not a serious thing. It’s more friends with benefits, but I must admit it’s not that great.”
Leaning forward and running his hand up her still wet thigh, he asked, “Maybe I can help?”
Whilst th
e man with a name she couldn’t remember grunted and rhythmically thrust himself into her body, she looked over his shoulder and watched Ruler while he studied them.
“Bored are we?” He said in a voice only she could hear.
She was bored, and had been for a long time, even before the outbreak. In life, she had yet to meet her match. Ruler was the only one who understood her well enough to truly pleasure her, but no living man knew what he was doing well enough for that.
“Maybe you should try women?”
Women were for killing and not for sex. While her body automatically responded to the man’s movement inside her, she thought about the last woman she’d killed. Although she was subservient to men, she was most definitely dominant with women, preferring to kill them with poisons that she would slowly administer, breaking them down until there was nowhere left to go but death.
With a final rapid thrusting motion, the man finished his efforts with a satisfied grunt, and pulled himself out of her. Having lost interest in him before he even started, she patted him dismissively on the cheek and said, “That was wonderful.”
“You’re a very weird woman, but thanks.”
The final leg of their journey had them flying low over California looking for prisons. Eventually they found a large brown building surrounded by a long and tall wall, with towers facing the prison. There were stationary vehicles, men dressed in black walking the grounds, and the main gates were wide open. It was obviously being used as a base.
That’ll do nicely, she thought.
“Yes it will,” Ruler replied.
The seven soldiers were sitting around each of the doors to the bird, watching the ground intently. One of them was holding a small camera phone, filming the prison as they slowly flew over it. Seeing the man she had bad sex with was balanced precariously on the edge of the platform, she lifted her skirt and booted him. Completely unprepared for her sudden attack, he almost fell from the bird and turned to her in surprise.
Before he could react, Ruler appeared, bent over in the low cabin. Reaching out a clawed hand, he slashed at the men and women in front of him. While the three people pulled back in surprise, one of them fell out of the bird to the ground below. Not content to kill slowly, Ruler’s long, muscular tail stabbed at the soldiers at the door behind him, causing another to fall to the ground. One of the men managed to get his weapon into a firing position, and he shoot at Ruler, but his bullets passed through him, hitting the pilot. The bird began to spin, rapidly losing altitude, and she felt herself begin to float as it plummeted towards the ground. Without bothering to try to save herself, she flew out the door and the forest raced towards her.
