Hunter Wars Omnibus Edition (Books 1 - 3)

by SD Tanner

  The happy cherub smiled again and said, ‘Oh, we’re reconning the area to see if there are any civilians who need assistance. The Major wants to know if he should send troops to provide humanitarian aid.’

  Hearing the implied threat made him want to punch the smug asshole, but he asked, ‘How long have ya guys been in the army?’

  The tall one answered, ‘We enlisted after the outbreak.’

  It was so obvious they were not in any army he’d ever been part of, he almost laughed aloud and deciding he’d heard enough, he said, ‘Okay, well I gotta head out.’

  The happy cherub stepped forward as if to stop him from leaving and when he frowned at the gesture, the cherub hesitated and then asked, ‘Are you with the civilians who are taking supplies from the Guard depot?’

  The guy was grating on his already frayed nerves and he asked aggressively, ‘What about it?’

  The cherub visibly straightened and said, in what he must have thought was an authoritative tone, ‘That depot belongs to the army. We understand the situation has been difficult of late, so no one will object to you having stolen our supplies.’

  When he continued to stare impassively at the cherub, he got another patronizing smile and the cherub said, ‘But once we get established down here, we will need to restore control over the depot.’

  He briefly considered shooting both clowns in the head, but saw his combat team were watching their conversation from the truck. As satisfying as shooting both idiots would be, it wouldn’t be the best training for his fledgling team and TL would be the first to remind him that negotiation was best not done with a gun. He’d never agreed with his brother on that point, and always said negotiation was faster and more conclusive his way.

  Deciding to close down the discussion before he did something impulsive that he wouldn’t regret later, he said plainly, ‘Gotta go.’

  The tall one raised his hand and clearly trying to sound reasonable, he said, ‘Hey, I understand you don’t know us, and you don’t want to share any information. I totally get that. There’s just one thing that would really help us.’

  Narrowing his eyes at the man, he asked bluntly, ‘What’s that?’

  The tall one asked, ‘Do you know any pilots?’

  He thought that was an odd question, but it piqued his interest and he asked, ‘Why do ya ask?’

  The tall one replied candidly, ‘We need pilots for our helicopters.’

  We could do with some birds, he thought, but he said, ‘I dunno any pilots offhand, but I doan interview everyone I meet either. I’ll keep an eye out for ya.’

  The happy cherub smiled his annoying patronizing smile again and said, ‘It would be good to be able to use the, umm, birds to help move people and supplies.’

  Oh yeah, air supremacy is always a must, he thought. Nodding curtly at the two men, he abruptly turned and headed back to the truck. Mackenzie had everyone, including the rescued woman, loaded into the truck waiting to leave. He snapped open the passenger door and dumped himself roughly into his seat.

  ‘What was that about, boss?’ Mackenzie asked.

  He snorted in disgust and snapped, ‘Bullcrap! It was complete bullcrap.’

  Turning in his chair, he flicked his eyes across the back seat and saw the rescued woman. She was a plain looking woman, white as a sheet and she was staring blankly out the window. He figured she’d detached herself from the moment and he thought that was probably for the best.

  Looking across to Mackenzie, he asked, ‘Anythin’ I need to know about her?’

  Mackenzie threw a sidelong look at the woman and said, ‘She’s not sayin’ much, boss. I think she was lookin’ for meds in there.’

  Turning to face the front again, he said, ‘Alright, let’s get back to the Base. Kat can sort her out.’ While they drove the short distance to the Base, he was painfully aware the woman was sitting in the seat Jimmy had sat in not more than thirty minutes earlier.

  Remembering how Jimmy died, he asked, ‘Did Jimmy have any family on the Base?’

  Max answered, ‘No, I don’t think so, but I’ll check with Kat’

  By the time they got back to the Base, he was in a foul mood. Jimmy was dead and there was clearly shit coming their way. The success of their operation was making them a target, just as he thought it would. He wanted to talk to Gears and TL, but neither of them were at the Base. TL was on a survivor run and Gears was on his way to the Ranch. Unable to express his pent up anger, he fumed to himself. Deciding he needed a little unwind time, he left the team to sort the survivor and Jimmy’s body while he went in search of his Blonde Distraction. He found her in her quarters with another woman.

  Walking in, he threw himself down on the bed and said cheerfully, ‘Hey baby! Whatcha doin’?’

  Propped up on his elbows on the bed, he eyed the other woman with interest. She was equally as busty as his Blonde Distraction, only she was a brunette. As he admired both women, he thought maybe the day wasn’t all bad after all.

  Blonde Distraction leaned towards him, giving him a bird’s-eye view of her large fleshy breasts and said flirtatiously, ‘Well, we were gonna have a pillow fight in our underwear.’

  Now in the moment, he grinned happily at her and said, ‘Doan let me stop ya. Jus’ think like I’m not here and carry on.’

  The brunette smiled at him and said cheekily, ‘Oh, so you’re that kinda guy.’

  Tearing his eyes from Blonde Distraction’s ample bust to look the brunette over again, he replied equally as cheekily, ‘All the way baby, and ya each have one hundred percent of my attention.’

  Blonde Distraction giggled and said, ‘Pax, honey. That’s mathematically impossible.’

  He had no idea what she meant, but decided to push his luck and said, ‘Well, it is making me dizzy, so if ya two could just scooch a little closer, I’d be real grateful.’

  The two women walked over and each sat on either side of the bed from him while he beamed up at them and he thought, I can’t possibly be this lucky. Genuinely giving the luscious women all of his attention, he completely forgotten about the worrying events of the day.

  The brunette turned to Blonde Distraction and asked, ‘Do you think we should give this man a heart attack?’

  Blonde Distraction seemed to hesitate, but then she leaned in to kiss her friend while her friend reached across and cupped her breast. They kissed slowly and he sighed happily, still not quite believing that this was going to happen.

  He’d never thought of himself as a lucky man and he wasn’t lucky today either.

  Blonde Distraction pulled away from her friend, jumped up off the bed and turning to him, she said furiously, ‘I was a lawyer before all this happened. I was not some stripper hooker type. I’m sick of this shit. I’d rather die out there than put up with the shit in here.

  Surprised by the abrupt and decidedly negative shift in mood and sounding confused, he asked, ‘What the hell are ya talkin’ about?’

  Blonde Distraction shouted, ‘You! You asshole! You would have actually let me do that.’

  Now even more confused, he said plaintively, ‘But it was your idea.’

  Looking close to tears and with her voice cracking, Blonde Distraction said, ‘You don’t get it do you? You guys own this base and it’s the only safe place there is. We only get to live here by your good graces. We have no power, Pax. You guys own us.’

  ‘Woah!’ He exclaimed. ‘Doan lay that shit on me! Ya doan have to do anythin’ ya doan wanna. Damn woman. What the hell do ya think I am?’

  Blonde Distraction looked at him bitterly and said simply, ‘The boss.’

  Now feeling annoyed, he said angrily, ‘That’s not fair. This arrangement was consensual. I didn’t make ya do anythin’.’

  Both women stood staring at him accusingly, but he couldn’t get his head around what his Blonde Distraction was telling him. He liked her. The sex was great and he didn’t have time for anything more than that. He figured she understood how busy he was and he’d
no idea she was feeling so resentful. Her accusation didn’t make any sense to him and frustrated, he decided he couldn’t deal with her right now. She was angry and he was already exhausted, plus he still had to watch over the new boots on sentry duty that night.

  Sounding as resigned as he felt, he said miserably, ‘Whatever, I ain’t got time for this.’

  As he walked to his quarters planning to grab a nap, he felt something nagging at him. She’d called him the boss and he was the boss of the new boots, but not of her. The new boots were being trained and they needed a boss, but she was part of his private life. It hadn’t occurred to him people might see him as the boss in all ways.

  When he got back to his quarters, he threw himself on his bed and tried to relax. Their quarters had two bunk beds and not much else. In one corner of the room there was an untidy pile of dirty clothes. Weapons and packs were leaning against the foot of the beds and their tactical gear and belts hung off the bed frames. There was a pile of clean clothes on top of one of the bunks, so there were only really three beds, but they were rarely all in the room at the same time and Ip always slept with Gears anyway. Gears didn’t seem to mind and he thought it must be nice to wake up next to woman even if it was completely innocent. As he was dropping off to sleep, he thought briefly about Blonde Distraction and realized he couldn’t remember her real name. As he dozed off he thought, maybe I am an asshole.

  He woke up some time later when TL stamped into their quarters, dropped his gear and said loudly, ‘Some people have it easy!’

  Rolling over, he grumbled, ‘I’ve bin out all day, and I got new boots on sentry tonight. I wanna be there in case they screw up. What’s up with ya?’

  Grinning at him, TL said happily, ‘We got a real doctor.’

  ‘About time,’ he replied, as he sat up and swung his feet onto the floor. ‘I’ve been waiting for ya to get back.’

  Sitting on the bed opposite him, TL asked, ‘Why were you looking for me? Did you miss me?’

  Groaning, he said dourly, ‘Ya sound like Gears.’

  TL smirked and said, ‘Now, that’s just hurtful. Where you been sleeping lately anyway.’

  Yawning, he replied casually, ‘Hooked up.’

  ‘So, why you here now,’ TL asked curiously.

  He pulled a sulky face and said bluntly, ‘Got dumped.’

  TL looked unsurprised and remarked dryly, ‘Yeah, well, that’ll happen.’

  He sniffed and said blandly, ‘Apparently I’m not marriage material.’

  Looking unsurprised by that observation, TL changed the subject and said, ‘The doctor’s name is Lydia and she had an interesting story to tell. She heard there was a CDC in Hattiesburg. They ran tests on live human subjects trying to create a virus that would destroy the hunter virus.’

  His face wrinkled in disdain and, thinking of Ip, he asked, ‘Do ya think Ip was one of their subjects?’

  ‘Could be. I think we need to go to that CDC and find out,’ TL replied.

  He was fond of Ip. She helped the scavengers’ clear buildings and he enjoyed watching her hunt. When it came to hunting, he thought she had a fierce no nonsense attitude that he shared. The thought of Ip being held in some medical facility and being treated badly upset him, and he said, ‘That ain’t right. I’ll come with ya and we’ll kill ‘em.’

  TL shook his head and said firmly, ‘No you won’t, Pax.’

  When it came to protecting Ip, he suspected Gears would side with him and he didn’t need to argue about it with TL. Yawning, he said, ‘I met another coupla assholes today who say there’s an on duty army base under a Major Mitch Donohue.’

  They’d yet to run across any organized military since the world had ended and, looking surprised, TL asked, ‘Really?’

  He shrugged and replied, ‘That’s what they say. They’ve set up at Camp Elder Base. Claim they’re under the direction of the National Security Council. Told me they’ve put the local civilian population under their control and they got birds.’

  TL looked even more surprised and declared, ‘No way! If anyone was airborne, we’d have seen or at least heard them.’

  Shaking his head, he replied, ‘They’re not airborne. They got no rotorheads. Asked me if I knew any.’

  ‘What’d you tell them?’ TL asked curiously.

  He snorted in disgust and said, ‘Fuck all! I don’t believe those two were army. They told me they’d been recruited post the shit going down. They were lyin’, but I dunno what they were lyin’ about.’

  Frowning, TL said decisively, ‘If it’s true, then the government and the military aren’t gone. If there’s one base, then there could be a lot more. We gotta go check it out. If they’re army, then we need to report in.’

  He didn’t think much of that idea and asked, ‘What if they’re not army?’

  TL shrugged and said, ‘Guess we’ll find out and act accordingly.’

  Sighing, he shook his head and said unhappily, ‘I knew ya wouldn’t leave this one alone.’

  TL shook his head at him and said firmly, ‘We can’t leave it alone, Pax. We can’t be armed vagrants and we can’t be a renegade army either, and that’s what we’ll be if the army is still standing. I know Gears will agree with me.’

  He rolled onto his bed to go back to sleep and said in a resigned tone, ‘I hate you guys.’

  As he dozed off, he thought about their current set up. Gears and Ip had headed out to check on the Ranch and more importantly, whether their foster parents were still alive. They assumed not, but it was time to be sure. Gears was due back in a few days and they needed to talk. Everything was moving too fast and he wasn’t sure they were ready for what was coming.

  CHAPTER SEVEN: With truth comes the future (Gears)

  The knot in his gut grew tighter the closer they drew to the Ranch and he thought, I guess I like being in control and able to save the ones I love. They’d definitely delayed the trip to the Ranch for long enough, but they didn’t want to confirm Mom and Pop were dead. It would make it real and he wasn’t sure they wanted to deal with the truth. Before they met at the Ranch when they were 10 years old, they’d each been moved from one temporary home to the next. He remembered the first time he met his foster brothers at the Ranch. He’d thought Pax was reckless, mouthy and full of shit, but TL was intelligent, serious and persuasive and he’d liked him from the get go.

  Their new foster parents, Mom and Pop, were warm, hardworking, good-natured people who their liked their guns. Pop wasn’t exactly a survivalist, but he took pride in being self-sufficient. He kept horses, ran cattle and lived off the land. After living in the city, they’d each found their feet in life by caring for the stock and working as ranch hands. Having arrived at the Ranch bristling with city attitude, under the firm guidance of Mom and Pop, they’d left as hardworking, confident young men.

  Anna interrupted his thoughts and asked, ‘Do you think we’ll make the Ranch by nightfall?’

  He glanced at Anna, who was at the wheel of one of their Ford F150 trucks. Ip was curled up sleeping on the back seat behind Anna. Dave was driving the other truck behind them with Jay, and both trucks were loaded with all the supplies Anna, Dave and Jay would need to start setting up the Ranch as a civilian camp.

  Disinterested in talking, he replied offhandedly, ‘Should do, providin’ we don’t run into trouble.’

  Anna flicked her hair and said, ‘It’s been a pretty quiet trip so far.’

  Wishing Anna would shut up and hoping to deflect any further chatter, he said abruptly, ‘Yep.’

  Anna was a school administrator before the world ended and turned up at the camp several weeks ago with a few other survivors. She was in her mid-30s with mousy brown hair, and was busty and short. He supposed she was trim and pretty in an understated way. It was Pax who suggested she would make a good camp coordinator and, given the camp would be home to families with children, he and TL had agreed. Anna told them she was also keen to get a school started at the Ranch. Continuing to watch the r
oad, Anna occasionally snuck a sideways glance at him. She was clearly very interested in the man sitting next to her, but he wasn’t paying attention to her.

  Tucking her hair behind her right ear, she asked, ‘How long has it been since you’ve been to the Ranch?’

  The set-up of the Base and now the camps was absorbing all of his energy and Anna’s prattling was giving him a headache. Sighing, he replied abruptly, ‘Last Thanksgiving.’

  Anna seemed determined to keep talking and asked brightly, ‘Oh, did you visit your family often?’

  ‘Umm, I guess so. Few times a year,’ he replied absently, while mentally ticking off the list of things he needed get sorted for the Ranch.

  ‘You, Pax and TL are so close. It must be nice,’ Anna said wistfully. ‘I had a mother in Baltimore, but I’m not sure if she’s still alive.’

  Glancing at Anna,, he thought he and his brothers were lucky, but that thought reminded him about Mom and Pop and, feeling a surge of anxiety, he said genuinely, ‘Sorry to hear that.’

  Anna smiled at him and said, ‘My story is the same as pretty much everyone else. Guess you and your brothers are lucky.’

  ‘Yeah we are,’ he said, slightly more kindly.

  Seeming encouraged to talk even more, Anna asked, ‘How did you guys meet Ip?’

  He didn’t want to talk about Ip with Anna, but replied, ‘Umm. Out in Meridian.’

  Anna pursed her lips and said, ‘She seems a little…umm…different. Her eyes are kind of unusual.’

  He thought Ip was none of Anna’s business and, feeling annoyed with her intrusion into his affairs, he replied bluntly, ‘She’s fine.’

  Realizing she’d overstepped, Anna tried to recover the moment and babbled, ‘Oh, I didn’t mean she was different in a bad way. I’ve noticed she doesn’t talk. I did Special Needs Ed in College. I was just interested in her case.’

  Looking at Anna as if she’d gone mad, he said in slow clipped words, ‘Ip is not a case and she is not mentally challenged.’