by SD Tanner
“You told me I would and I have. But I need to talk to you.”
He glanced at the wide entrance door to the warehouse. “Okay, but you need to make it quick, ‘cos I got a flight to catch.”
“It’s about the Infected.”
“We don’t have many of ‘em left and the CDC lab is burned out. I dunno when we’ll be able to infect people again, but we do need ‘em.”
“I know. I was there, but there’s a problem. I believe the hunter virus and all its strains kill the host. It means every time you infect someone, you’re killing them.”
Lydia had resisted his orders to infect people. Given the virus sometimes killed or severely damaged them, she was unhappy that he was willing to infect healthy people even if they were volunteers. He remembered they’d argued and he’d won, but it was on Lydia’s terms. Everyone had to be told of the risk, and she’d insisted he was present to observe how much damage the designer virus could do to a perfectly healthy person. There was no way Lydia would have infected anyone if she thought they would become undead like the hunters.
He gave Jacob a disbelieving look. “Why do you think that?”
Jacob leaned forward in his wheelchair. “Because that’s what Ruler told Hull. He said the demons infected the living when they possessed them because the death of their bodies made it possible for the demons to take control of them. It leaves the person trapped inside their dead body and the demons can use them anyway they want.”
He knew Jacob spent months at Ruler’s base and would have known Hull. He’d no doubt he had access to information they didn’t and breathing in deeply, he grunted, “That’s a weird system.”
“The hunter virus is a weird virus.”
It was just another complication in an already difficult environment and he was unhappy with this possible change in the dynamic. “Is that all you wanted to tell me?”
“No. You and your brother’s aren’t ready.”
Now feeling irritated at Jacob for being the bearer of more bad news, he asked abruptly, “For what?”
“To win against Ruler.”
Unable to conceal his irritation, he asked sharply, “And how do you know that?”
Jacob shook his head. “I don’t know, I just know you’re not ready.”
Unless the man knew something he didn’t, he wasn’t interested in vague predictions of doom. “Then that ain’t a useful thing to tell me.” As he prepared to walk away, he heard Ip speak in his mind.
Ip speaks: Stubborn old fool that you are. The man speaks truth so far.
Surprised, he turned to her. “Are you sayin’ he’s right? The Infected are dead.” When she didn’t reply, he sighed. “Yeah and you don’t think we’re ready either.”
Shaking his head in frustration, he looked at Jacob. “As for the Infected. Right now we ain’t even got a hospital, but when we do, it’ll be up to the people to decide what they do based on whatever we know at the time. Lydia insisted on that from the get go and nothin’s changed. And are we ready? Hell no, but we’re doin’ what we can with what we’ve got, but right now, I gotta go.”
Jacob put his arm out as if to reach for him. “Good luck and God speed.”
He nodded in acknowledgement, but decided Jacob had put a dampener on his otherwise great morning. Now in a foul mood, he stalked out into the breaking dawn and headed to his waiting bird. It would take them almost two hours to get to Wolfie’s base. Once he’d briefed Wolfie, the pilot would refuel and take them onto New York. They’d be flying overnight and he wasn’t looking forward to such a long flight. Hatch didn’t like his pilots flying in the dark without satellites for navigation, but he wanted to be in New York to manage operations while they waited for the convoy to arrive. He hadn’t told Pax, but he intended to recon the city again before sending their combat shooters in. In his lifetime, he’d never been responsible for this scale of battle or so many lives. No doubt, he was supposed to sit behind the lines and direct his troops, but it wasn’t his nature and he decided he would do what he thought was right. In his mind, he was trained to fight, so fight he would.
After their two-hour flight, they landed at Wolfie’s base and he briefed him and his team on the current situation. Wolfie was surprised to see him and he was angry when he heard why.
“What the fuck is wrong with this asshole?”
He, Wolfie, Jackson and Kent were sitting in the meeting room next to the cafeteria. He shook his head. “He ain’t an asshole, Wolfie. He’s the goddamn Devil, and I should know, Ip took me on a tour inside his head.”
Jackson looked at him in surprise. “It’s weird how she can do that kinda stuff.”
“Weirdly useful if it means we can find him,” Kent added sagely.
“It was useful, but he won’t talk to her no more,” he replied, and it was true. Ever since Ip tricked Ruler, he’d refused to engage with her. It seemed Ruler was becoming less confident and a lot cagier and he wondered why. Perhaps, despite recent events, they were gaining more ground than he thought.
Looking at Wolfie, he asked, “So, when can you marshal your troops and get ‘em headed up to New York?”
Wolfie sounded worried. “Well, you’ve only been gone just over a week, so we haven’t had time to get ‘em prepared…’
Jackson interrupted. “We’re bikers, man, we can already handle ourselves.”
Wolfie waved his hand in acknowledgement. “Yeah, I know, but we ain’t an army.” Looking back at him, he added, “We’ll head up to New York at first light, but it’ll take us a coupla days to get there. My crew will do what they have to do. You don’t have to worry about that.”
It was good enough and he had confidence in Wolfie’s people. He’d not fought with his crew since the time they’d brought down the hunters outside the mall in Atlanta, but he had confidence in the man and no doubt they’d pull their weight. Wolfie could bring a thousand armed men and women and thirty armored vehicles to the battle, plus his own fleet of five armed helicopters. After their meeting they had an early dinner, and once their own bird was refueled, he and Ip got back on board and took the long flight to New York. Dawn was breaking when they arrived, and he was pleased to see the first of their air convoys were there and already unloading supplies.
Walking into the building where he’d last left the survivors, he noticed a row of dead bodies wrapped in plastic sheets against the far wall of the entrance. Assuming some of the survivors hadn’t made it, he sighed deeply. If they were dying under these conditions, he could only imagine how many were dying while they were still being held prisoner. Time wasn’t on his side, and one way or another, he needed to bring the situation to a rapid conclusion. Inside the main room, the medical team were triaging the survivors and people were now hungrily eating and drinking.
While he stood surveying the activity, he heard a voice behind him. “You weren’t kidding when you said you had an army.”
Turning, he saw Mark standing behind him. “What’s been goin’ on here?”
Mark beamed. “Some people died, everyone struggled, and just when we thought you were a figment of our imagination, twelve helicopters appeared out of thin air and dumped a manna from heaven on us.” Practically jumping with joy, he added, “You have no idea how fucking happy I am to know you weren’t lying.”
He rasied his eyebrows in surprise. “Why would you think I was lying?”
As if explaining the obvious, Mark replied, “’Cos it’s the end of the fucking world, dude. There’s nothing left.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “It ain’t the end of shit until we say it is.”
Looking around the room, he saw Mike with one of their medics, hovering over a person lying flat on the floor. Mike had clearly seen him walk in and as they made eye contact, he nodded to him and walked across the crowded room to meet him.
“I need to talk to you.”
Mike stood up and together they picked their way around the people lying and sitting around the room and headed outside. He saw Ip
sitting on a wall opposite the building looking bored, and both he and Mike walked over to her.
“How are ya doin now?”
Smirking slightly, Mike replied steadily, “I’m guessing you aren’t really inquiring about my health, so what do you need?”
He liked Mike. The man was a Marine through and through and he knew which way was up and kept his shit wired. Smirking back at Mike, he said, “Yeah, I ain’t the sociable type, but I do need your help. I wanna recon the city again before my shooters get here.”
Mike gave him a narrow-eyed stare. “Hmm, I’m guessing you’re the leader of this army and you really shouldn’t put yourself in danger that way. Your troops need you to stay alive, but I’m also guessing you’re not the type that gives a shit about that, so I’ll save my breath. I’m good to go when you are.”
Amused by Mike’s astute summary of his attitude, he chuckled. “No time like the present.”
Rather than walk, he decided to drive to the Lincoln Tunnel. He could have flown into the city, but he didn’t want to put any of their birds at risk. They needed them to help the survivors and move supplies and shooters, plus he’d been cooped up on a bird all night and he wanted to stretch his legs and his mind.
At the entrance to the tunnel, he turned to his four combat shooters. “I’m takin’ two of you through. Once Ip clears the tunnel of hunters, I want you to keep it clear. We need to keep a safe passage in and outta the city.”
The lead shooter nodded. “Roger that.”
Strangely there were less hunters in the tunnel than during their previous trips, but when they neared the end of the tunnel, he could hear the sound of revving engines. Walking out of the tunnel, the sound grew louder and it was obvious many vehicles were moving through the city.
“What do you think that is?” Mike asked.
“I dunno, but it ain’t our guys.”
Leaving the two shooters to guard the opening to the tunnel, Ip brought the twenty or so hunters she now controlled with them. Walking past the long brown brick wall, they made their way to the main road and stopped. Crouching behind a truck, he saw a stream of vehicles driving north along 10th Avenue. Running alongside the trucks were thousands of hunters, some still looked human, and others were the lean bald creatures they were used to seeing. It looked to him like there was a mass exodus of the city. Studying the vehicles, he tried to assess if any were large enough to be moving prisoners and decided it was possible, but if they were, then they weren’t moving many.
Mike obviously came to the same conclusion. “I don’t think they’re taking our people with them.”
“No, it doesn’t look like it.”
Watching the trucks slowly grinding their way through the street congested with abandoned cars, and the rumbling and growling hunters that easily kept up with them, he pondered this new situation. Ip released control of her hunter guard and they quickly ran to join the ones jogging next to the moving trucks.
“If they’re leavin’ the city, then they’re gonna have to cross one of the bridges.”
“Yeah, they will,” Mike replied. “There’s no other way out of the city from here.”
Nodding thoughtfully, he said with a slight smirk, “Then they jus’ made a serious tactical error.” Swatting Mike on the shoulder, he said, “Let’s get back to the tunnel.”
Moving low, they withdrew from the street and quickly walked back to the entrance of the tunnel where he met the combat shooters. Turning to the combat lead, he said, “They’re pullin’ outta the city, which means they gotta cross one of the bridges. We need to wait until the last vehicles are crossin’, and then bomb the bridge and the entire line of vehicles that have already crossed over.”
The combat shooter’s face split into a huge grin. “Hell yeah!”
“Take Mike back with you and brief the head of the fleet. Tell ‘em they gotta wait until the last of the trucks is on the bridge, and then bring it down. I don’t want any enemy left on the city side of the bridge. We’re gonna have to bring our shooters in to rescue people, and we ain’t got time to deal with no pissant firefights while we do it.” Turning to Mike, he added, “Go with ‘em and help the pilots navigate.”
Mike nodded. “Roger that, but where are you going?”
Looking back in the direction of the city, he said, “I’m gonna stay in the city. I wanna check somethin’ out, but I’ll meet the shooters at the buildings with the prisoners. Just make sure they bring plenty of medics and supplies. The people ain’t gonna be in good shape.”
“Watch your back.”
He nodded and after watching Mike and the two shooters head back through the tunnel, he turned to Ip. “We gotta go back to Ruler’s hotel.”
Ip speaks: What do you seek to find there still? Your enemy is leaving, they have had their fill.
Feeling a sense of urgency, he broke into a jog and he headed toward the city. While he ran, he thought, I dunno, honey, but I gotta hunch. With Ip able to control any stray hunters, it was easy to stay out of sight of the moving vehicles and navigate their way back to the hotel. The hotel lobby was as empty as it had been before and luckily the elevators were still working. He still wasn’t really sure what he was looking for, but he was following his gut and headed to Ruler’s suite.
On the top level where they’d found Ruler, all the doors to the suites were flung open and he walked into his suite. The room was unchanged. The light green sofa was still torn open from their gunfire, the bodies of the hunter and the super hunters were where they’d left them. The heavy glass and metal coffee table was shattered and bent from the grenade blasts. Nothing had changed, but with the bullet riddled and decaying corpses, the room stank like road kill, and a thick layer of dust had settled on the once glossy dining table. It was a grim tableau of death with a stench to match. The view from the room was still spectacular and he could see the city and sea laid out before him. The day had ebbed away, the sun was sinking, and he knew it would soon be dark. Once his teams arrived, the dark would make it difficult for them to land the birds with medics and supplies and it would slow them down. He felt the situation for the prisoners was so critical, that with Ip controlling the hunters, they could at least make a start. Better to do a little than nothing at all, he thought.
Walking through the lounge, past the long dining table, and through the open double doors of the master bedroom, he could see Ruler’s body was still lying on the California king-size bed. His blood had dried to a dirty splash of brown, and he was slumped against the pillows, just the way they’d left him. He stood in the doorway of the bedroom looking at the corpse and wondered, why am I here?
As if in answer to his unspoken question, he heard Ruler speak. “Hello War.”
Spinning around, he dropped into a slight crouch, and then puzzled by what he saw, he stood up straight again. Sitting on a chair at the dining table, with the outline of the city and sea behind him, was Ruler. Instinctively he turned his head to check Ruler’s corpse was still lying dead on the bed and it was.
Looking back at him, he growled disgustedly, “What the fuck are ya playin’ at now?”
Ip speaks: He is not here and he is not there. It is in your mind that he plays and dares.
Clearly Ruler was just screwing with his head and relaxing his shoulders, he allowed his gun to hang down from his hand. “Whatdaya want, ya little shit? You really outdid yourself this time.”
Although Ruler outwardly chuckled, he knew from his tour of his mind he wasn’t really laughing. All he’d found in Ruler’s head was a cruel insanity and an endless rage, and he waited impatiently for him to explain his presence.
“I do so enjoy our little trysts, War. You never cease to entertain.” When he didn’t reply, he added amiably, “Oh do sit down, old man. I’d offer you refreshments, but you didn’t like my last tea party. You were really quite ungrateful.”
Ruler was referring to the first time they’d met at the Ranch. “As I recall, Ip tore your throat out. Guess she can’t oblig
e you this time, seein’ as you ain’t really here.”
With his eyes narrowed in anger, Ruler looked over at Ip, who was standing at the door watching him. “Death and I go way back. We seem to have conflict of interest, or rather we have the same interest.”
Ip speaks: Quiet your noise and state your game. The essence of you completely insane.
“She has a point. You’re fuckin’ nuts. Whatdaya want now?”
Leaning forward, Ruler rested his elbows on the dusty table and with his hands facing upward, he said, “It’s time we cut a deal.”
He was surprised something as arrogant as Ruler was stooping to negotiation. So far, he’d been overconfident and outright precocious. It seemed odd he would be interested in cutting a deal when just a few weeks earlier, he’d been convinced he was in control.
“Go on.”
“The lines are drawn, War. You have your warriors and I have mine.” Waving his hand vaguely around him, he added, “And we’re fighting to save the people still alive in these buildings.”
The casual reference to the horrific suffering he’d witnessed angered him. “You mean the innocents you took prisoner and were torturing in these buildings.”
Casting his eyes upward, Ruler said dismissively, “Yes, yes, that lot.” Muttering almost to himself, he added, “No need to make such big deal over it.” Looking back at him, he said confidently, “So, at least we agree on the terms. You can have these people.”
Ip speaks: Careful my love, he aims to deceive. He is the Devil and a plot he will weave.
I know that, honey, he thought. “We ain’t agreed on shit. What the hell do you want from me to hand ‘em over?”
“You take the people you’ve got to that nice little island you’ve found and leave this land to me.”
He looked at him in disbelief. “Why the hell would I do that?” Flicking his head at the window, he said, “I know there’s gotta be at least a few million people left alive in this country, and even more in the world. Why the fuck would I hand ‘em all over to you, jus’ to save some?” Glaring at him and snorting contemptuously, he aded, “No fuckin’ deal, ya little shit.”
