Hunter's Home: Hunter's Saga Books 1-3

by Art DeForest

  Keisha was about to follow and almost belly crawled through the pool of blood Ciner had left behind. She was concerned for a moment about the evidence they were leaving behind, but she could do little about it. As she crawled behind the others she just hoped that the pool of blood and the smears of it caused by dragging Ciner along the ground would be attributed to a wounded animal dragging itself off to die.

  Alex kept his focus down the street. He had expected invaders to come pouring forth in an attempt to capture the man they’d shot, but nothing moved in the night, much to the puzzlement of everyone. The rest of the troops came across as quickly as they could at that point. No one wanted a split force. Especially not one as tiny as theirs.

  The small unit kept going from building to building, crawling across the open streets as fast as they could while dragging a wounded man. Still, much to everyone's surprise and consternation, no pursuit followed them. Keisha remained glued to Ciner’s side the entire time. she was focused on his pulse and breathing. “We need to get somewhere I can work on him soon. He’s still losing blood” she commanded. Her tone brooked no argument. Alex nodded. “The militia house is across the street now. I can get us in.”

  The local militia headquarters was a warehouse looking affair. There were a couple of garage doors that sheltered troop transports within. All non-functional of course. Alex lead them up to the main entrance quickly producing an old fashioned key from his pocket, he quickly opened the door. Manual locks were standard on most emergency or military buildings on Plentiful. It was deemed impractical to have to break into these buildings during an emergency that might cause a disruption in power. That amazing forethought bore fruit now as Alex led them inside.

  He quickly showed them down to the basement where all the militia’s supplies were kept. Corporal jenkins quickly snatched a mattress of a stack of spares and threw it to the floor. The two privates carrying Ciner lay him on it as gently as they could. The jolting trip to the militia house combined with blood loss had rendered him unconscious at some point. Keisha quickly set to work. Donning a pair of surgical gloves from her kit, she carefully removed the blood soaked trauma pads covering the wounds. Blood flow had slowed to a trickle by this time. Removing a set of trauma shears she quickly, with a little help from Jenkins, removed Ciner’s shirt and set about cleaning the wounds. Alex handed her a bottle of sterile water he had retrieved from the militia’s own medical supplies.

  Keisha inspected the wound closely for a time, trying to judge what internal structures might have been damaged. She sat back after that and applied an antibacterial agent, before once again bandaging the wound. Standing up she looked at the pale concerned face of the lieutenant. “He’s stable for now,” she said gravely. “but there’s not much more that can be done short of a surgical med unit.” Lieutenant Cooper let out a sigh. “Will he live?” she asked as if fearing the answer. “Barring infection I believe he will.” Keisha said in a professional tone. “No internal organs seem to be involved. the bullet hit too high up to compromise the lung. He will need major surgical help if he’s ever to use that shoulder again however. The bullet entered just under the clavicle but the force of the blow seems to have fractured it anyway. It also appears to have broken the scapula as it exited. Fortunately it seems to have missed the major arteries or we would have lost him for sure.” Keisha’s face softened from its professional aspect as she placed a comforting hand on Cooper’s shoulder. “I’ll do everything I can for him Lieutenant. I just hope we get help quickly.”

  Keisha went to the medical supply cabinet and began rummaging around in it as the rest of the troop rearranged the basement to take care of their needs. Alex approached the lieutenant, rifle and camo cover in hand. “I should go up on the roof and keep watch.” Cooper stared at him for a moment. She could see the exhaustion written all over the young man’s face, but the fact was they were all exhausted. “Very well Mister Hunter, but be careful. I’ll send someone up to relieve you in a couple of hours.” Alex shook his head. “Don’t bother sending them up to the roof. It will be dawn by then and we’d be detected visually up there in the light of day. I think a position in the lobby with a view out the doors will be sufficient for now.” Nodding in agreement Lieutenant Cooper waved a dismissal. “Off with you then Mister Hunter.” Alex headed for the stairs, pausing briefly to put a hand on Keisha’s shoulder and mutter something the lieutenant couldn’t hear. Keisha placed her hand on his as she looked up at him and nodded. Cooper could see the shape of the words “Be careful” form on her lips along with a tired smile, before she turned once again to her inventory of the medical cabinet.

  3

  “One of the unmanned guns reports firing at a large moving target on the east end of town sir.” Colonel Sampson’s Tac officer reported “Is that the same gun that killed the invading and ever so dangerous deer two days ago? the colonel replied derisively. “Yes sir, we even put a deer shaped mark on the side of it, confirming the kill” Tac said with a small grin. Sampson’s stern demeanor returned as he considered the report. “Send out squad 2 to check on it at first light. They need something to do other than sitting around moping and plotting revenge for their fallen comrade. “Yes sir, I’ll comm them at first light.”

  Sergeant Alvarez stared at his comm unit in bleary incomprehension for a moment before it finally occurred to him to answer it. “Alvarez here, go.” he said muzzily into the unit. The stern tone of Lieutenant Commander Flores came over the speaker. “Roust your men sergeant. One of the stationary guns shot something last night. The colonel wants your squad to go check it out.” Alvarez sat up on his cot and swung his bare feet to the floor. “Yes sir we’ll get right on it. Errrr which gun was it?” he asked. “Main street, east side of town.” replied Flores. Alvarez let a sardonic grin pull up his lips. “Got it. Deer killer One gets another mark. We’ll check it out.” Alvarez clicked over to his squad channel and hit the alert tone. “Up and at ‘em boys we gotta go check on the deer killer” The sergeant could hear the groans and grumbling from the barracks room next door. He shrugged his shoulders in resignation. They had been in the mother ship for two days after being recalled from the search for fugitives. He figured it was time to get off their collective asses and get back to business. “It might not be hunting down those murdering sons of bitches that killed Granger.” a cold hard expression coming over his face at the thought, “but at least it's something.”

  ++++

  Alex was set up in the northeast corner of the militia headquarters. He had a good view of town as well as fair vision back the way they had come to get there. As dawn slowly turned the horizon in the east from black to purple, to pink, he started using his scope to do a quick inspection survey before the gathering light forced him from his perch. All seemed quiet as he slowly scanned the town. Empty hover cars were parked neatly along the streets or in parking lots outside of businesses. Here and there one sat in the middle of the road as if abandoned. Dust was starting to gather on them. Mute testament to their lack of recent use. A slight breeze rustled bits of leaves and other detritus around aimlessly. He did notice that off to the west, over the hills outside of town there seemed to be a haze or light cloud of some kind. Putting it on his mental checklist of things to investigate, he panned his scope slowly back around to the east and looked back the way they had come. All seemed clear.

  He stood and started walking south along the east wall glancing down at the street below when something caught his attention. Peering closely in the brightening light of dawn he could just make out the drag marks of their passage with Ciner last night. Cursing in a low voice he headed down to the main level. Private Owens was at a watch post in the lobby. He was a big man with a bald head that was now starting to show a noticeable amount of stubble. Alex hadn’t had a chance to get to know him yet, but he carried himself well and seemed likeable enough. “We left some pretty noticeable tracks belly crawling and dragging Ciner across the streets last night. I’m going to see if I can hide them
before it gets too light.” Owens looked at him steadily for a moment. “Better check with the lieutenant first. She might get upset you just running off like that.” he said. Alex shook his head as he proceeded out the door. “No time. It’s getting light quick out there. With that, he was out the door before Owens could comment further. Owen’s face had a slight grin as he pondered the likely conversation between the lieutenant and the gung ho young man.

  Walking out the door on the east side of the building, Alex couldn’t see any clear drag marks on the path leading up to the door. It seemed that they only became visible in the street where dirt and debris had remained without the constant maintenance that the militia property received. Easing down the front of the building, he slid just enough of his head around the corner to peer west up Bedford street. He didn’t see any movement or any other indication of a military presence on the street. He was still puzzling over who or possibly what had shot Ciner last night.

  The lack of pursuit indicated to him that it may have been a remote gun emplacement of some kind, maybe hooked up to a motion detector. He continued to contemplate this as he pulled the rifle from his shoulder and looked through his scope searching for anything that could be a threat. “If they had a gun hooked to a motion detector, why wasn’t I shot as I belly crawled across the street first?” He thought as he continued to gaze through his scope. A possible answer came to him as an errant piece of paper blew along the ground, down the street a short distance from his position. “I bet they have to raise the detection level of the sensors above street level in order to avoid false positives. The dead brushbuck in the middle of Main street came to mind then. When it was alive it stood two thirds of a meter tall at the shoulder, so somewhere between the height of a person with a pack on his back laying prone and the height of a brushbuck back was the detection threshold.

  Not seeing a sign of guns or even sensors down this particular street, Alex left the cover of the building in a low crouch and headed for the drag marks on the street, pausing just long enough at a decorative tree on the property to break off a leafy branch to use in obliterating signs of their passage. Staying low and working quickly, he manage to clear the drag marks from the next two streets. He searched each one from cover with his optics before venturing out.

  “There it is” thought Alex as he scanned Main street with his scope. Three blocks down, right in the middle of the intersection sat what appeared to be an assault rifle mounted on a tripod. It had some kind of apparatus mounted to the sight rail. He was searching further down the street when the signature rumbling sound of a scout ship spinning up for take off came to his ears. Looking up, he saw the silhouette of a scout ship rise up in front of the cloud off to the west and start heading his direction.

  Alex swore as the ship appeared to grow larger coming towards him. He quickly back tracked to the next street over. Removing the light jacket he had donned the previous night, he quickly tried to simulate the drag marks left by their passage. This time however, he angled them towards the edge of town instead of having them point like an arrow right at their hiding spot. It wasn’t a good effort. He had no way to simulate blood and he just didn’t have time to do it right. Counting on the incompetence of the enemy was bound to bite him in the ass eventually. He had no choice in this instance. He was forced to continued his retreat as the sound of the scout grew louder and louder.

  Staying close to the buildings for what little cover they provided, Alex sprinted back the way he had come, reaching the relative safety of the militia headquarters just as the first rays of the sun were peeking over the hills to the east. Private Owens waved casually at him as he passed by heading back to the basement. Private Owens had a knowing smile on his face that gave Alex a knot in his stomach for some reason.

  The reason became abundantly clear immediately upon entering the basement. “MISTER HUNTER! Came the strident voice of Lieutenant Cooper as he closed the basement door. The lieutenant came striding across the room, fire blazing in her eyes. She did at least manage to moderate her tone in deference to those trying to rest as she came within arm’s reach of the young man. “What the HELL do you think you were doing?” She hissed. Alex drew back in shock. It looked like she would rather be beating him than shouting at him in his estimation. “I...I was trying to hide our tracks be...before it got light out.” he stammered. “As you’ve stated previously Mr. Hunter, you have received training through the Militia Youth Program. Have you not?” Her steel grey eyes tried to shoot lasers through him. “Yes ma’am.” he replied, puzzled at what that had to do with anything. “Did it not occur to you then, that seeking permission from a superior officer might be appropriate before setting out on such a risky venture?” her voice started to rise once more as she reached the end of her sentence.

  Alex was taken aback by her accusation. It hadn’t even occurred to him to seek permission. As embarrassment started to tinge his face red, anger started to make it’s presence felt and further flush out his face to a deep crimson. “I’m not one of your soldiers lieutenant.” he ground out, fists clenched at his side. “I did what was necessary to conceal our position.” he found it oddly hard to meet her eyes as he attempted to defend his actions. Lieutenant Cooper’s eyes became even harder as she seemed to loom over him. A neat trick to pull off since she was a few centimeters shorter than his rangey 1.7 meters. She managed it masterfully though. “Conceal our position?” she said in derision. “You could have given our position away at any moment!” she spat out. “Did it occur to you that they could have had forward observers on any number of buildings? Observers who would have noticed you in a heartbeat in the early light.” Alex’s face drained of color as he considered the fact that he hadn’t checked the tops of even one building for observers as he made his way.

  Straightening his shoulders he tried to rally. “I had to get rid of those tracks. They led right to us.” He said, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. “I do not condemn your wanting to improve our situation.” Said the lieutenant, her voice dropping a little. “What I condemn is your impulsive action. You are not alone in this Mr. Hunter and your actions have consequences for everyone involved. Not just you.” Alex reluctantly considered her words for a moment. “I was just trying to do what I could to help.” Lieutenant Cooper sighed, letting go of most of her anger. “I understand that son, but you need to consider your actions and the consequences of them on the people around you.” Putting her hand on his shoulder she looked him in the eyes. “We have a town to save and we only have a chance if we act as a team.” Eyes downcast, Alex nodded. “Yes ma’am.” was all he said.

  Lieutenant Cooper stood straight then. “Very well, we will call the matter closed. Go get some rest.

  ++++

  Sergeant Alvarez was crouched down staring at some marks that headed off into the brush. It didn’t look right to him. He wasn’t some country boy from the back of beyond, but he’d been given a hard education over the last week or so. “There’s no blood.” He commented to corporal Adams. If an animal had been wounded by the gun emplacement, wouldn’t there be blood along with the marks as it dragged itself off? There was certainly plenty at the spot where it was shot.” he said speculatively. Corporal Adams shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know sarge, maybe it just stopped.” he said. “Hmmphf,” grunted Alvarez. Things don’t just stop bleeding when they’ve had a high velocity slug put through ‘em.” Standing up, he reached for his communicator.

  “Alvarez to Flores” he said into the mic. “Flores here. What do you have to report.” he replied. “There is only the one dead carcass from the other day here Sir. There was a pool of blood nearby, but whatever was shot appears to have dragged itself or been dragged away into the bush.” said Alvarez. “You believe something else dragged off whatever was shot?” asked Flores astutely. “I’m not certain sir” said the sergeant. “It’s just that it wouldn’t be the first time someone has tried to wipe out or manipulate tracks. The last time was when Private Granger was kill
ed.” Alvarez’s eyes became bleak at the thought. “We have witnesses that reported the fugitives leaving the area sergeant.” replied Flores. “Yes sir, but my gut is telling me something strange is going on here. With your permission, I’d like to have Scout 2 do a search of the area while my men and I do a walking patrol.” After a brief pause Flores replied. “Very well sergeant, I will inform the colonel of your findings and followup actions. Flores out.”

  As the scout ship lifted off to begin its search, Sergeant Alvarez split his squad. He sent half of them one block to the north and then started his patrol heading west, looking through windows and peering into dumpsters along the way. A few blocks down they came to a larger well kept building. The sign out front proclaimed it to be the Carlson Springs Militia Headquarters.

  4

  Alex tossed and turned on a mattress in the corner of the basement before giving up on sleep for the present. He wandered over to where Keisha sat on the floor beside private Ciner, her back against a wall. “How’s he doing?” Alex asked as he sat down beside her. “Stable” she said. “I found an analgesic in the supply closet that helped his pain enough to let him sleep. He needs a surgical unit soon if he’s ever going to use that shoulder again though.” She said with a sigh. “How are you doing?” she asked, looking into his face. “Okay, tired but can’t sleep.” he responded.