Hunter Wars Omnibus Edition (Books 1 - 3)

by SD Tanner

  ‘Shaddup Pax,’ he replied bluntly. ‘We’re gonna have to come back before we can decide what we’re gonna do.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY: Reaper at the gate (Hull)

  The bird was full of the living and the dead and he found himself rubbing shoulders with a hunter to his left and right. He didn’t like it much and they stank of vomit and, more recently, of rotting flesh. It never ceased to surprise him that despite their appetite for living flesh, they never seemed to gain any weight regardless of how little or how much of it they ate. Having lived in close quarters with them now, he learned much of what the hunters ate seemed to pass straight through them. They defecated continuously and like dogs, had no consideration for where they were or who they were near. Since Ruler provided him with his own Pretorian Guard, he’d gotten to learn more about the habits of the hunters, and they disgusted him.

  Wrinkling his nose, he pushed around the cramped seats on the helicopter and crouched by the open door, watching the ground pass slowly beneath him. His untidy convoy of a thousand troops in a collection of mismatched vehicles were waiting to advance. The plan was to drop six hunters and two super hunters in both the Marine and Naval base. With each team were six living shooters who would provide protection to the super hunters. He was told by Ruler that the leader of the bases, some guy called Gears, was partial to shooting super hunters in the head and although neither Ruler nor the super hunters cared about that, he did. If the super hunters were not there to control the hunters, then he and his men were as vulnerable to the hunters as their enemies. Mentally pausing, he once again wondered why Gears and his people were his enemy, but dismissing the thought, he prepared for his surprise landing at the bases.

  His helicopter was headed to the Marine base and the other was headed to the Naval base. The surprise twin attack was designed to throw the bases into chaos and his convoy would now be advancing, intending to breach the gates to the bases once the hunters had caused maximum disruption. More super hunters were in the convoy and they would bring further hunters to the fight. The one thing the bases were not prepared for was an attack from the air and there were no surface-to-air missiles headed their way as they flew into the base without any problems. In fact, so lax was their security, they landed on the helipad and not one person even cast a look in their direction.

  ‘Get on with it,’ he shouted at the super hunters.

  On his orders, the hunters launched themselves from the heli and before the people at the base had a chance to react, they infected several more people who immediately joined their new hunter brothers in the attack.

  He called to his men, ‘Move your asses!’

  Using the opposite door to the one the hunters launched from, they leapt from the bird and ran with a second super hunter keeping them protected from the hunters. The hunters were rapidly increasing their ranks by infecting more and more people at the base. Looking over to the maze created by the hundreds of containers, he saw the once living and now newly born hunters attacking their own people. To his right, people were sprinting as a crowd to the docked ships and some were firing back into the crowds, but he also saw others shouting, tugging and pushing shooters into a rough perimeter around the ships. More people were forming teams to guard the entrances and exits to the corridors the containers formed. To his complete surprise, order was already being established from the short burst of chaos he’d created. The people who lived at the base were pulling the situation under control by maintaining their own self-control.

  When he’d scenario planned the attack, he assumed once the hunters ran amok, the base would disintegrate into violence and at least half, if not two thirds of the living would die within the first ten minutes. Watching the shooters calmly form into teams and defending the people still running from the hunters and pulling them into the safety of their perimeter, he realized how badly he underestimated the capabilities of the base and their people. There was still a good chance they could win and he needed to disrupt the perimeters they were creating.

  He jogged back to his helicopter pilot and shouted, ‘Get in the air and fire on the perimeter at the dock.’

  His pilot gave him the thumbs up and took off immediately. Within a minute, the helicopter was strafing the wharf and the shooters holding the perimeter were rapidly cut down. It was a brief victory and multiple hand-held Stinger surface-to-air missiles were fired at the helicopter. Most missed their target, meaning they hadn’t locked on properly, but one hit the mark and while he watched dispassionately, the helicopter exploded and crashed, hitting the edge of the transport ship as it went down. The transport ship was damaged and he suspected it might sink, but he didn’t have time to watch.

  Turning to the super hunter with him, he shouted, ‘Make them hunters fight for us. Get them on the offensive and make ‘em charge the perimeter to the containers.’

  When the super hunter didn’t react, and not really wanting to touch the creature, he reached across and pointed it at the perimeters he wanted attacked. Immediately the hunters swarmed to the area and the shooters were firing manically as the hunters’ heads vibrated with the thrill of the attack. He finally saw the crack in the discipline he was hoping for and he urged the super hunter to continue the swarming of hunters into the crack he’d made in their defenses. Confident he was now on the front foot again, he signaled his troopers to move forward with him closer to the actual battle.

  ‘Shoot to kill,’ he said grimly.

  There were no corpses or even injured shooters anywhere. Anyone who fell was instantly infected rather than slaughtered. As he and his troopers moved closer to the containers, they weren’t challenged and even if they had been, they were defended by their obedient hunter pack. Now closer to the containers, he could see they were closed and all windows and doors were shuttered and now sealed. He guessed many of the shooters were now secured inside the containers, but he figured they’d have to come out some time and by the time they did, his convoy would have arrived.

  Looking over at the transport ships, he saw one was pulling away from the dock. The other ship was still attached to the dock and he suspected it was now so damaged by the helicopter crash, it couldn’t move. He estimated there were at least five hundred hunters, all created by the initial six he dumped onto the base. That’s not good, he thought, there’s at least five thousand people here, which means too many were left alive. The attack hadn’t gone as well as he hoped, but all was not lost. The convoy would be with them within thirty minutes and all they had to do was keep the shooters locked up. Between the hunters and the troopers, he still believed he could take the base.

  He radioed to Fletch who was dealing with the Naval base and asked, ‘What’s your status?’

  ‘I got people locked up in containers, but the bulk of ‘em left on a coupla ships,’ Fletch replied. ‘What are we gonna do about that?’

  ‘Nothin’,’ he replied bluntly. ‘Let ‘em go. We’ll sort ‘em later. Where’s your heli?’

  ‘Here,’ Fletch replied. ‘Why?’

  ‘Lost mine takin’ down a defensive line,’ he answered. ‘Send your heli over. I need to control the convoy.’

  ‘Yeah, okay,’ Fletch replied.

  Their radios were not effective over any distance and although he called the convoy, he got no response. He needed to get in the air and see where they were. As the helicopter appeared heading towards them, he turned to Skunk and said, ‘Keep ‘em locked up tight. If anyone sticks their fuckin’ head out, have a hunter tear it off.’

  Skunk nodded and he turned to the super hunter and said, ‘Hey, dopey! Did you understand that?’ The super hunter regarded him blankly and making a slashing movement across his throat with his thumb, he said, ‘Kill…do you get it?’

  They’re fucking dumb as shit, he thought, but by now the helicopter had landed and he walked to it and climbed on board. He figured he still had time to get the convoy through the gates and hoped they were within a few miles of the bases. All things considered, he thought, s
o far it had gone well enough.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: The reaper always wins (Gears)

  They neared Wolfie’s base and ran into a squad of five motorcycles heading towards them. Pulling to the side of the road, the bikers tugged their helmets off and one said, ‘Wolfie sent us to getcha. The Marine base radioed about twenty minutes ago. They’ve been attacked.’

  ‘Yeah, we know,’ he replied. ‘Where’s Hatch?’

  ‘On his way here to get ya,’ the biker replied.

  ‘Get in the truck,’ he ordered. ‘We’ll talk and drive. We gotta get to Hatch and get back to the base.’

  While they drove with the bikers following the truck, he asked, ‘What did the base say?’

  ‘Two helis flew over and dropped hunters and shooters into the Navy and the Marine base,’ the biker replied. ‘That’s all we know.’

  Snorting, Pax said grimly, ‘We know they gotta convoy of a thousand armed assholes headin’ to the bases.’

  ‘Shit!’ The biker replied sounding alarmed. ‘How do ya know that?’

  ‘Saw their plans at the camp,’ Captain Ted replied.

  If they dropped hunters and shooters onto the bases then no doubt they dropped super hunters as well, otherwise the hunters would kill their own shooters. Their enemy was assuming the hunters would start infecting the living and the base would quickly fall, offering little or no resistance to their incoming convoy. He needed to find out where the convoy was and stop it.

  ‘Aside from Hatch headin’ out to us, do ya know where our birds are?’ He asked the biker.

  ‘Umm…no, I know Wolfie was calling ‘em back to the bases, but I dunno if he found ‘em,’ the biker replied. ‘Wolfie was also calling to the Navy Sub base to tell ‘em to saddle up.’

  Wolfie is a solid man, he thought and he was grateful he’d had the foresight to form an alliance with him and his gang. Before he could continue to question the biker, he heard the familiar sound of the Black Hawk overhead and looking out from his window, he cast his eyes around the skies until he saw the long range bird complete with the Hellfires and HYDRA rockets that Hatch kept loaded at all times. For all his griping, he felt a sense of satisfaction their teams had learned a lot over the past year and he hoped the bases were holding up.

  Turning to the biker, he said, ‘Tell Wolfie to contact the CDC and lock it down. I want all the shooters and Logan to head to the Naval base. I’ll head over to the Marine base with Ip. Between the two teams, we should be able to sort out the hunters at the bases. Once he’s finished sortin’ the Navy Sub base and CDC, tell him to get ya guys on road and bring ya guns, we got some assholes we need to kill.’

  Once Hatch landed the bird, they climbed aboard and he told Hatch to head straight to the bases, but to follow the main roads so they could look for the convoy he knew must be somewhere near them. He watched as the biker and his gang rode off back to Wolfie’s base with their orders.

  Through his headset, he said, ‘Ted, once Hatch has dropped us off at the Marine base, you go to the Naval base and sort it out with Logan. Pax, you go with Hatch and the birds and blow that convoy to hell. I don’t wanna see it able to move, much less get to the base. Use extreme force, Pax.’

  Hatch let out a barking laugh and said, ‘Ya don’t have to tell him that. Ya guys have only ever got the one tactic.’

  ‘There’s no politicians left to negotiate peaceful solutions,’ Captain Ted replied amiably.

  Pax nodded and said, ‘Yep, there’s only us nutters with fuckin’ big guns left.’

  ‘Yeah, well, you’ve jus’ gotta do what ya know is gonna guarantee to get the job done,’ he added pragmatically.

  Hatch laughed and said, ‘Don’t act like ya don’t enjoy yer job, boys. Ya’ll bit psycho, but I don’t judge ya for it.’

  While they continued to spar, he turned to Ip and asked, ‘Honey, do ya understand what’s goin’ on?’

  She turned her impassive blue on blue eyes on him and replied, ‘Hunters attacked your home. You want them dead.’

  He nodded and said, ‘We’re gonna land on the base. There’ll be super hunters there and we need to kill ‘em. I need you to control the hunters so they don’t attack me or our shooters.’

  Frowning at him, she said, ‘I know.’

  Not confident she understood the gravity of the situation, he worried they might have a problem when they landed. He could stop and pick up more shooters from Wolfie’s base, but he thought it was more important they stop the convoy before it reached the bases. Even now, they might be too late and if they were, it wouldn’t matter how many shooters he brought with them because he’d be forced to strafe his own bases.

  While he worried, he felt Ip slip her hand into his and she said, ‘I understand. I will kill for you.’

  Squeezing her hand, he let go of his worry. They were within thirty miles of their bases and he stared intently out of the door, looking for any sign of the convoy. There were only three roads large enough for a convoy and sure enough, he saw the long line of vehicles weaving their way towards their bases. There were two more of their birds on their way and they should be with them within the next fifteen minutes. The convoy was moving slowly and he estimated they had time to be dropped at the bases before the convoy could reach them.

  ‘Hatch, drop us at the base and then you and Pax bring this convoy down,’ he ordered.

  ‘Roger that,’ Hatch replied amiably. ‘Gonna get to shoot me some Hellfires!’

  ‘Yer fuckin’ obsessed with firin’ them damn things,’ Pax grumbled. ‘And ya call us psycho.’

  ‘Don’t be jealous, Pax,’ Hatch replied. ‘It’s unbecomin’ in a southern gentleman like yerself.’

  ‘Shaddup Hatch,’ Pax replied rudely.

  He could see one transport ship was down and the other was pulled out from the dock. No one was visible on board and he assumed they’d been taking fire from the ground. The containers were all closed and there were about five hundred hunters, all once their own people, standing guard around the containers. The super hunters controlling the packs could be anywhere. There were plenty of places for them to hide and still be able to see most of the base. He figured his best chance to be out of the line of sight of a super hunter was to the far east of the base, where it was filled with the single story containers. He directed Hatch to drop them there and without fully landing, he jumped from the bird, turned and caught Ip as she leapt after him.

  Once on the ground, Ip immediately ran to the first container and with an agility he didn’t know she had, she quickly climbed to the top and started to run along the roof of the container, jumping the short distance from one to the next. As she ran, hunters that were guarding the container doors ran with her and he realized she was sweeping them under her control on both side of the container. Taking advantage of the temporary absence of the hunters, he ran to the containers and banging on the doors, called the shooters out. Now he had his army and it was time to kill.

  ***

  On the Naval base, outside the row of containers cutting the spit of land from the mainland, Captain Ted waited for Logan and the shooters to show up. It was daylight and the wall of containers had one sitting to the side, allowing access in and out of the spit of land. If hunters came for him, he figured he would jump into the harbor, but in the meantime, he would sit tight waiting for the team to arrive. He wasn’t waiting long before Logan and the shooters arrived in a truck.

  Logan immediately leapt out of the truck with his M4 in hand and said, ‘I can kill hunters and I still know how to use a gun.’

  ‘Some habits die hard, Colonel,’ Captain Ted replied.

  ‘Don’t call me that,’ Logan replied dourly. ‘I’m infected now.’

  Captain Ted shrugged and said, ‘Don’t see how that changes anything.’

  Logan ignored the comment and looking at the base, he said, ‘We need to get our shooters out of the containers and back on the offensive. I’ll run the alley in between the containers and kill hunters. You get them
out of the containers and back into fighting position.’

  ‘Roger that,’ Captain Ted replied. ‘What about the super hunters?’

  ‘You deal with the hunters and I’ll find the super hunters and kill them,’ Logan replied confidently.

  While they were talking, he could hear the sound of explosions in the distance and figured Pax and Hatch were raining hell down on the convoy. It was good to know there would be no enemy coming up behind them.

  Nodding to Logan, he and the shooters headed through the gap in the container wall and he watched as Logan snarled and broke into a fast run, heading straight for the clusters of hunters. Hunters began to drop as Logan killed them and without pausing and with impressive speed, Logan moved to his next target. As the space around the containers cleared of moving hunters, he and the shooters ran, leaping over the corpses and shouting to the shooters in the containers to come out.

  ***

  Pax had three birds now targeting the still moving convoy. It was obvious the convoy had no surface-to-air missiles and all they could do was fire their guns uselessly at the birds. Gears told him to use extreme force and he did. Hatch and his pilots unleashed everything they had and within ten minutes, the convoy was in tatters, with many of their shooters dead and whoever was left running for their lives. For as much as he didn’t like shooting a running man in the back, he did anyway. These men would continue to be a danger to their own combat shooters and scavengers and he had no intention of losing anymore of his people to them. He’d seen how many hunters were at the bases and he knew they were mostly his people. Allowing his anger to lead, he took aim and continued to shoot anything that moved below him.

  ***

  Gears now had several hundred shooters out of the containers and they formed a line of fire, slowly moving forward through the corridors of the containers, killing anything in their path. As each container was brought within their moving perimeter, more shooters piled out of the containers, bringing more ammo and weapons to join their fellow shooters clearing the base.