by SD Tanner
Desperate to protect the bird and their only means of escape, he roared through his mike, ‘Hatch! Go! Go! Go!’ He knew Hatch would hover nearby and land again when he could.
As he shouted at Hatch, he swung his M4A1 into position and opened fire, cutting down hunters heading in their direction.
Continuing to fire, he shouted, ‘Ip! Isaac! Get behind me!’
Cursing, Pax said, ‘Behind us!’
Without breaking fire, he chanced a glance to his left and saw hunters were coming at them from all directions. He, Pax, Mackenzie, Max and the two combat shooters immediately formed a circle, firing in all directions at once. Nelson and his two shooters joined their circle, adding to their firepower. With so much gunfire, he couldn’t risk Ip and Isaac running around the car park and they stood in the middle of the circle.
Mackenzie was closest to a parked car and he shouted, ‘Gears, we need to get in the cars.’
There were hundreds of hunters converging on their position and he agreed being in a car would be better than standing out in the open. Ip or Isaac killed any hunter that came to close to their circle. They were darting forward between the shooters and touching the hunters before retreating into the circle again. There were so many hunters coming at them from all directions, few were making it through the barrage of fire. As they were shredded by the intensity of gunfire, the car park was filling with greasy black streaked limbs and other unidentified chunks of hunter flesh. As a group, they started moving towards a group of four cars. Nelson and his two shooters climbed in through the window of a Honda Accord. It was a mid-range sedan, but with four shooters, they could at least hold back an onslaught from each side.
Without looking for his brother, he called, ‘Pax! Go with ‘em!’
Pax didn’t answer, but he climbed into the sedan. With the smaller circle, they moved to the next viable car. It was a Ford Fusion. As they moved, Ip and Isaac killed any hunter they could reach and the bodies of dead hunters were piling up between the two cars. Mackenzie and Max gave covering fire to the two combat shooters as they climbed into the car. They in turn, provided covering fire as Mackenzie and Max followed them into the car. He knew they didn’t have enough ammo to hold back the seemingly never-ending deluge of hunters sprinting across the car park. Using the cars as a shield against the hunters was only a temporary defense.
It was broad daylight and he knew the only way the hunters could find them was through the eyes of a super hunter. Ip was right and there was a super hunter somewhere near them. Looking for any sign of the super hunter that was controlling the pack, he scanned the wide shop front. Ip and Isaac were crouching to stay out of the line of fire, but moving around the cars, killing any hunter that made it to the vehicles protecting their people.
Through his mike, he called, ‘Pax! I’m gonna take Ip. Gotta go find the super hunter.’
Pax replied, ‘Go. I’ll deal with this shit.’
Ip appeared at his side and, grabbing his vest, she dragged him towards the Walmart. As hunters approached them, she snarled and angrily slapped them, killing them instantly. With Ip close to him, less hunters approached, but he kept firing at any in their path and they slowly made their way into the Walmart.
***
Scanning the small area around the cars, Pax said calmly, ‘Shoot to disable, people. Head shots or leg shots. If they can’t get up, they can’t do shit.’
Mackenzie called, ‘I’m low on ammo.’
‘Last mag,’ Max said curtly.
They were running out of ammo and they had more magazines in their backpacks, but they’d dropped them during the initial attack. Seeing their packs lying 30 yards away, he cursed himself for not grabbing one before they pulled back to the cars. The hunters attacked with such speed, ferocity and numbers, it was impossible to grab their packs and maintain their rate of fire. Isaac was flitting between the two cars killing any hunter that had reached the cars, but it was a losing battle and the hunters were jumping onto the roofs of their vehicles. Isaac was reaching up and touching them anywhere he could find their bare dried flesh and bodies were beginning to pile up around the cars, but Pax doubted they’d survive long enough to see their cars buried under a mound of dead hunters.
***
He and Ip were making their way through the Walmart and she was leading him towards a set of stairs behind a service desk counter. From outside, the building looked to be a single-story and he hadn’t realized there was a second level. Ip pushed him up the narrow stairs first and killed any hunter that dared to follow them. He could hear their bodies tumbling back down the stairs as they died instantly at her touch.
Super hunter: So you are the one we cannot kill. You brought your humans to have their fill.
Ip speaks: Why can you not kill me I would like to know?
Super hunter: You are protected while you grow.
Ip speaks: I tire of riddles you addle the facts. Speak truth before the human acts.
Super hunter: You will learn the truth in time. It is not for me to fill your mind.
Looking up, he saw there was a room with a door at the top of the short set of stairs. He realized the building was really a single-story and this must be a set of offices cut into the building so it was not visible to the shoppers in the store. He figured it was probably some sort of security viewing area. The frosted glass door to the office was closed, but he didn’t see any reason to knock. Hoping to kill anything hostile on the other side of the door, he fired a grenade into the glass door from his M4A1.
***
While Gears fired the grenade through the glass door, things had gotten desperate in the cars. They were out of ammo and the hunters were converging. Isaacs’s movements had become frantic as he desperately tried to hold back the waves of hunters now driving towards their position. Pax was losing the battle and a hunter climbed through the window in front of Mackenzie. Mackenzie was out of ammo and he reversed his M4 and hammered at the vibrating face in front of him. Smashing it in the mouth didn’t stop the hunter, and it pulled itself in through the windshield and into his lap. Grabbing the hunter by the throat, he held its snapping teeth back from his face and repeatedly slammed its head into the dashboard. He was so cramped in the car, he was struggling to reach his KA-BAR with his other hand to slit its spinal cord.
Max wasn’t doing any better. She’d fallen into the foot well of the car behind the driver’s seat and was using her legs and arms to hold back the hunter above her. She could smell the vomit and hear its teeth snapping. The shooter who’d been next to her was lost when a hunter snatched him from the car and yanked him into the car park. She assumed he was dead.
Pax was in the other car with Nelson and they were down to their knives. Pax was trying to cover two directions at once, but it was a losing battle. They’d lost one of Nelsons shooters and were down to just three defending the car, but the remaining shooter was still firing his handgun, so at least his side of the car was covered.
Suddenly everything stopped.
The hunter attacking Mackenzie lost focus and its body lost its manic tension. Mackenzie used the opportunity to open the car door and fall to the ground. The hunter remained in the car oblivious to him and appeared confused. Max grunted from the car and he pulled open the door next to her. The hunter, she’d been holding off her body, was now looking around as if it couldn’t work out where it was or why. Pulling Max out of the car by her straps, she fell onto the concrete ground with a solid thump. Looking across to the other car, he saw Pax, Nelson and the shooter also tumbling from the cars. Around them, the hunters were hesitating, their heads no longer vibrating and it was obvious they couldn’t see and they didn’t seem to know where they were.
***
He and Ip emerged from the Walmart and he shoved hunters aside as he walked back to the cars. Pax was covered in black greasy goo and walking up to him, he asked, ‘What the hell?’
Shaking his head, he said, ‘The super hunter was in the security observation room. It a
te my grenade.’
Joining them, Nelson said, ‘Thank you, but that was uncomfortably close, Gears.’
Looking across at the car park, he saw Mackenzie, Max, one of their team and one of Nelsons shooters and asked, ‘We lose two?’
Turning to look at the remaining team, Nelson said, ‘Yes, I lost Marcus.’
Nodding, Pax said grimly, ‘We lost Cody.’
Sniffing unhappily, he said grimly, ‘Take Ip and find ‘em and put ‘em down. Then we’ll deal with the rest of the hunters. I wanna see if Lydia’s counter virus works.’
Picking up one of the backpacks, Pax handed the spare ammo to the team. Pax, Nelson and Ip went to find their people. When they found them, Ip was gentle with her touch and Nelson and Pax brought their unmoving bodies back to the others. They would bury them back at the bunker.
He, Max and Mackenzie were spraying some of the hunters with Lydia’s counter virus. Standing back, he waited to see if there was any effect, but he couldn’t see any change in them. Standing nearby watching them, Pax said dryly, ‘I doan think that shit does a damn thing.’
Disappointed, he replied dourly, ‘Don’t look like it.’
He’d promised to bring Lydia a sprayed hunter and pointing at one, he asked, ‘Honey, can ya kill that one?’
Walking over to the lost looking hunter, with a slight sigh Ip slapped it lightly across the face and it instantly dropped dead to the ground.
Turning to look at him, he smiled at her and said, ‘Thanks, honey.’
Ip returned his smile, but he could see she was tired and he knew how she felt. It had been a very bad afternoon. The emergence of the super hunters upped the ante and he thought it was going to be hard to bring the odds back in their favor.
Walking back to him, Nelson said, ‘Any chance we can kill the hunters in the Walmart. We could do with the supplies.’
Nodding, he replied, ‘Yeah, we can sort that. I need to get the body of the super hunter, or at least what’s left of it.’
Looking confused, Nelson asked, ‘What do you need it for?’
Giving Nelson a tired grin, he replied, ‘Lydia likes to cut ‘em up and dismantle ‘em.’
Isaac and Ip cleared the Walmart of hunters, they locked it up tight and Nelson radioed his team to bring trucks to clear the building of supplies. Once the car park was clear enough of aimless hunters, they called Hatch back down. They loaded the bodies of Marcus and Cody onto the bird along with the badly torn remains of the super hunter and the hunter they’d sprayed.
It was late afternoon when they arrived at Nelson’s bunker. The bunker was a detached building that had originally been a bank next to a small mall complex just outside the town. Inside the building, were a row of teller’s counters behind bulletproof glass. Nelson’s group had heavily boarded up every outside window and door except for one interior door that led to the secure area behind the teller’s glass. Behind the wall of the tellers room were offices, but they’d torn down the partitioning walls and it was now a long, wide open space. Beneath the office area, there was an underground vault they used as their sleeping quarters. He thought it was a reasonable solution, but with 80 people, it was cramped and there were no amenities.
Hatch wanted to be away before it was fully dark. He said flying in pitch black without satellite navigation wasn’t easy, particularly if he wasn’t familiar with the route. They were ready to leave, but sat outside the bank building in the last of the afternoon sun and talked. Nelson’s people were friendly and thanked them for their help. He thought they seemed like a decent group of people and they’d been happy to share what little they had with them. They were now sitting about 30 yards from the bird drinking coffee. Isaac had said he wanted to stay with their group. Given Ip and Isaac talked telepathically, he figured he could talk to Isaac by radio and Isaac could talk to Ip wherever she was. In that way, he could still talk to her through Isaac, even if Isaac was with Nelson.
Ip speaks: Do you see the hunter ruler in front of me?
Isaac speaks: In front of you the earth is bare. What do you see that isn’t there?
Ip speaks: The hunter ruler my man killed today is standing there glaring away.
Isaac speaks: How can that be? Over there its body I see.
Ip speaks: A strange enemy that is true. It does not speak. It has no mind to.
Isaac speaks: Then it is dead, but it soul wanders still. I think these rulers are very ill.
Ip speaks: It eyes glow red. It is angry that it is dead. It should leave. Its future is already read.
Tapping his arm, Isaac said, ‘Your enemy is here.’
Confused, he looked at the bird where the super hunter was lying and said, ‘I know. It’s over there.’
Shaking his head, Isaac said, ‘No. Your enemy is here.’
Frowning, he replied, ‘I don’t understand.’
Standing up, Ip took his face in her hands and moved his head until he was looking at nothing about five feet to his right. Looking up at her, he asked, ‘What am I lookin’ at?’
Isaac said, ‘Your enemy.’
Nelson and Pax looked at the spot Ip was showing him and Nelson asked, ‘Is she saying the dead super hunter is about five feet away from you?’
Looking at Nelson, Isaac smiled and said, ‘Yes. It sees red.’
Pax was completely lost and so was he, but Nelson clearly wasn’t and he said to Isaac, ‘Its eyes are red.’
Smiling at him, Isaac said, ‘Yes. Eyes red.’
Feeling a cold tingle travel up his spine, he asked Isaac, ‘Can it speak?’
Shaking his head, Isaac said, ‘No. Its mind is away.’
He knew Ip could see other minds in her own mind, but it’d never occurred to him her eyes could see things they couldn’t see. Ip always lived in a different reality to theirs, but it was becoming clear just how different her reality was. She’d just told him something he couldn’t see was watching him. He thought it had probably always been true, but if all it could do was watch him, then was there a problem?
Turning to Nelson and Pax, he said, ‘Somethin’ must be standin’ over there, but if Ip can’t see its mind, then I’m guessin’ the super hunter can’t see hers either.’
Looking appalled, Pax said unhappily, ‘Maybe not, but Ip can see it standin’ next to ya. Doncha find that kinda creepy, Gears?’
Looking back at the spot where Isaac said the super hunter was standing, he said, ‘Nah, it can stare at me all day and all night long for all I care. Unless it’s gonna do somethin’ hostile, I can’t be worryin’ about it.’
He felt Ip’s hand on his face and she turned his head to hers and beamed happily at him. He guessed she understood how unworried he was about a ghostly super hunter and it amused her. If she was smiling, he assumed the ghostly super hunter was no threat.
Grinning at him, Pax said, ‘Fair point, bro’.’ Looking serious, Pax asked, ‘But if they’re able to hang about with scary red eyes even after we’ve killed ‘em, then what are they?’
Nelson replied solemnly, ‘The bible calls them demons.’
Frowning, Pax asked, ‘Do you know how to kill demons, Gears?’
Shrugging, he replied casually, ‘Usual tactic. Fuckin’ big gun.’
Chuckling, Nelson said, ‘If they’re demons, I think it might get a bit harder than that.’
He didn’t believe in demons, hobgoblins or ghosts. He always thought it was unlikely the dead walked the earth, but he’d seen some odd things over the years. They’d once lived in a house that behaved oddly. Sometimes they would come home and find the back doors wide open, a sealed room in the house always had hundreds of dead flies in it and they often heard a rumble of voices as if there was party going on somewhere. One day, they watched a picture fly off the wall and a cold breeze with the stench of the grave whispered through the room. After they moved to another house, all the weird happenings stopped and they agreed their previous home hadn’t been quite right. Despite that experience, it still didn’t prove there was
any such thing as ghosts or demons.
Puzzled, he asked Nelson, ‘Do ya know what a demon is?’
Nelson replied, ‘Not really, but there are theories. They’re supposed to be malevolent beings, an evil spirit or a fallen angel. Demons are unclean spirits. They exist in all cultures in all times, but I am most familiar with the Christian view. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus cast out demons and bad angels. Some believe that demons were expelled from heaven to earth to persecute humans. Jesus taught us that, when cast out from humans, the demons and angels became disembodied spirits. Some people believe demons attack humans regularly and they can only be expelled from a human by exorcism. Revelations foretell there will be a battle between God’s army and Satan’s followers who are demons.’
Looking impressed, Pax asked, ‘How do ya know all this, Nelson?’
One of Nelsons group answered for him and she said, ‘Nelson was a preacher before all this happened.’
Finding Nelson a steady and calming influence, he wasn’t surprised to learn the man was a preacher and he asked, ‘Are ya still a preacher, Nelson?’
Smiling, Nelson said, ‘I never lost my calling, so I guess so, but I have to admit my Sunday service is not quite what it used to be.’
Curious about the demon Ip believed was watching them, he asked, ‘What else do ya know about demons?’
Leaning forward, Nelson said seriously, ‘In 1613 Michaelis classified demons and believed they were all male. He claims he was told the classifications while he was exorcising a nun. Some people still believe demons walk the earth looking for humans to possess.’
Clearly fascinated, Pax asked, ‘Is that possible? The super hunters are demons possessin’ the bodies of hunters?’
Thinking about Pax’s question, he said, ‘But that would mean the super hunters are not an evolution of the hunters, but are demons that have possessed the bodies of hunters.’
