by SD Tanner
He knew the answer to his own question, but he wanted to Captain Ted to think it through himself. “Whatdaya think?”
“It’ll do. Ip can send the hunters in and we can use them as cover, but we need to keep her protected. She’s no good against a bullet.”
“Yep. Gears’ll be pissed if we don’t bring her back in mint condition.”
They pulled the trucks one behind the other against the warehouse wall, and climbed out leaving the drivers with the trucks.
Turning to BD, he said sternly, “Stay with the trucks. I can’t watch you and Ip at the same time, and if I don’t bring her back in one piece, Gears’ll kill me.”
BD gave him a longing kiss. “Okay, but only for Ip’s sake. You’ll have to let me fight some time.”
“You own my ass, so you can talk me into anythin’.”
With a wink, BD said cheekily, “I’ve noticed.”
Admiring her rounded buttocks as she climbed back inside the truck, he felt Captain Ted bat his shoulder. “You do remember what we’re doing here? Enemies, guns, risk of dying and all that.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah.”
Walking to the door, he and Captain Ted stood on one side and the hunters on the other. Nodding to Captain Ted, he twisted the handle and with a sharp jerk of his arm, he pulled the door wide open and the hunters immediately bolted inside. He and Captain Ted followed them with Ip secured behind them, and the four combat shooters followed her. Once inside, he saw an enormous warehouse with rows of racks that reached from the floor to the two story high ceiling.
The hunters were already running down the rows of racks and he said, “Ip, slow the hunters down.”
On his orders, the hunters began to walk and he and the shooters followed them looking for any sign of the enemy.
From somewhere ahead of him, he heard a panicked voice exclaim, “Holy fuck!”
Suddenly the warehouse erupted in gunfire, but none of it was aimed at them. Several hunters ahead of them began to jerk under the barrage of gunfire, and as the bullets repeatedly hit their mark over, splatters of black goo burst from their bodies. Undeterred by the impending demise of their brother hunters, two of Ip’s remaining hunters surged forward towards the source of the gunfire.
There was a metal stairwell to his left that appeared to lead upstairs to a walkway with doors leading from it. The gunfire was coming from the top level, and he and his shooters moved across to the far wall under the metal walkway above them. Watching the racks warily, he worried there might be shooters hiding between the racks or in front of them and he felt exposed. Ip must have heard his thoughts, and the two remaining hunters under her control ran down the length of the racks, and disappeared around the corner. Immediately gunfire erupted from the front of the warehouse, confirming his suspicion there were gunmen on the ground floor as well as the upper level.
Pointing to the front of the warehouse, he ordered, “Go follow the hunters on the ground floor and take out those shooters.”
“Roger that,” Captain Ted replied steadily.
Nodding to his own team, he said, “Let’s go.”
He and his team headed up the stairs behind the hunters, and Captain Ted and his shooters took advantage of the distraction by quickly moved towards the front of the warehouse. As he climbed the stairs, gunfire erupted again from the upper level, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the shooters were firing at them. Once he neared the top of the stairs, he started to fire in the direction of the gunfire, and Ip’s hunters raced forward. Very quickly the gunfire from the upper level stopped, and four newly born hunters stood up, dropped their weapons and stood facing him. Ip’s hunters had clearly made quick work of attacking their enemies and she was peering over the balcony at her hunters below. He knew it wouldn’t be long before all that would be left was a warehouse of supplies and newly born hunters under her control.
“Cease fire! Cease fire!” A man shouted from the front of the warehouse. Once the sound of gunfire stopped, a man called out in a strong British accent, “Call them off!”
Ip looked at him quizzically and he said quietly, “Stand ‘em down, Ip.” Peering over the railing, he shouted, “Drop your weapons and get your asses out here.”
“Hands on your heads!” Captain Ted shouted. Through his headset, he heard him add, “Why do you always forget to tell them that, Pax? You’re the one that taught us this drill.”
Still watching from the top level, eight men slowly walk out from behind a wall of equipment with their hands on their heads. A tall, lean man in his forties looked up at him and shouted, “Hey! I’m the head of this motley lot. Who are you?”
He admired the man’s cheek. Given he was surrounded by heavily armed soldiers and deadly hunters, the man had an attitude. Without answering, he turned and walked down the stairs, and felt rather than saw the hunters and Ip follow him.
Rounding the corner of the long line of racks, he walked up to the lean man. “I’m Pax and I’m lookin’ for the leader of the Krays.”
The lean man laughed cynically. “There’s no Krays. That’s just a bollocks name we were given by people with no bloody sense.”
“I was told you people are violent assholes.”
“There’s a lot of violent assholes these days, but they’re not always with us.” Sighing deeply and sounding tired, the man added, “Look, we’ve had some bad people in our group too, but I’ve got women, children and families to protect. We weed out the bad ones and keep the good ones, but there’s thousands of us and it’s not easy to keep everyone in the group under control.”
He heard the truth in the man’s words. Only someone who was trying to manage thousands of people could appreciate how difficult it was to maintain discipline. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Leighton.”
Nodding, he continued to scrutinize Leighton. “Where are your people?”
“We took over Windsor Castle. It’s got land and we’re able to grow crops securely, or at least we were. That’s why we’re here. We lost all of our animals last week and we need supplies.”
“Whatdaya mean you lost all of your animals?”
Without asking his permission, Leighton lowered his arms and said worriedly, “They were slaughtered overnight and we don’t know how it happened. We went to sleep and woke up the next morning to blood everywhere. I would have blamed the foxes, but they don’t kill sheep and pigs.”
“Must have been your own people…or your enemies,” Captain Ted said suggested.
Looking over at Captain Ted, Leighton shook his head. “It’s not that easy to get into the castle. Our sentries would have spotted anyone breaking in and we would have heard the animals dying. It was like they were all killed at the same time and without warning. No one heard a thing.” Pausing, he eyed them cautiously and then clearly decided to trust them. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but you’ve obviously not been here long, or you’d know something’s going badly wrong.”
With a sinking feeling, he asked, “Whatdaya mean?”
“Well, the UK has always had its weirdness, but lately it’s gotten a lot weirder. If you want to see what I mean, then we need to go to Stonehenge.”
From behind Leighton, and sounding deeply anxious, a man blurted, “I ain’t fuckin’ going there.”
Still watching Leighton, he said, “We’ve got a base down on the Isle of Wight and we need these supplies, but we can share ‘em with ya. We ain’t here to cause a problem. We’re jus’ tryin’ to solve a problem of our own.” Scratching his chin, he added, “What is that you thinks worth seein’ at Stonehenge?”
“Better you see it than I try and explain it,” Leighton replied sincerely.
CHAPTER FOUR: To dream the impossible dream (Mackenzie)
The land was a dry and a wall of brown dust was creeping towards him. What the hell is that, he wondered? Turning slowly, he surveyed the area, and stretching into the distance were tens of thousands of his own people, standing one behind the o
ther in a staggered line, completely still as if frozen in time. Walking the fifty feet to the front of the line, he stood in front of several men dressed in ACUs who looked through him fiercely. The scene wasn’t frozen, but it was like watching a movie playing in slow motion. Looking down the line of shooters, only a few were holding their guns and those that were, held them like clubs. Most of the shooters had machetes or axes and a few had crossbows. Puzzled, he studied their tactical vests and saw most carried little or no additional ammunition. Looking past the long lines of angry looking men and women wearing Kevlar helmets and dressed in standard issue ACUs with armor, he noticed there were no vehicles. Scanning the sky, he tried to find the birds that should have been giving them air cover, but saw none.
It didn’t make sense. Why were they all standing ready for battle armed with only close quarter weapons? He looked back at the wall of dust, and wondering what was causing the cloud, he broke into a quick run, headed toward the cloud. It took him less than ten minutes to reach the source of the dust and it confirmed his worst fear. Stopping ten feet in front of the nearest hunter, there was an army of hundreds of thousands of hunters, clearly heading at full sprint toward his people. Dust and gritty earth was being thrown into the air by the sheer number of hunters intent on their prey. Turning around to look at the row of waiting shooters, he shook his head in confusion. Why would Gears lead them in a battle they couldn’t win? He walked along the uneven line of hunters, and embedded within them were a variety of military vehicles. Standing on top of the trucks, were fully armed super hunters with their guns ready to fire. He knew close quarter weapons were no defense against guns or a million hunters and this battle would be a massacre.
Shaking his head again, he turned and jogged back to his own line looking for Gears and his brothers. Once he reached the line, he walked through the still barely moving shooters as if they weren’t there, and quickly found Gears and his brothers. Each was sitting on top of beautifully kept horse, and Ip was riding with Gears with her sword drawn, clearly ready for battle. With an angry and determined glint in his eye, Gears was intently watching the approaching horde of hunters. Pax had his mouth wide open and he was clearly shouting something. TL was on the other side of Pax, and although he looked calmer, he wore an angry sneer. The people in front of the horses were moving out of their way, and he assumed Gears, Pax, TL and Ip were about to lead them into battle.
He returned to the front of the line and he’d walked through Jacob, who was seated in his metal and leather wheelchair. Tilting his head in confusion, he studied Jacob’s face closely and he looked calm and reassured. Why would the man who couldn’t walk and who should be dead be at the front of the battle? That didn’t make sense to him either. In fact, nothing he was looking at made any sense at all.
Feeling something touch his arm, his vision dissolved and he abruptly returned to reality. Startled and disoriented, he heard Mom say softly, “He’s here.”
Looking around, he remembered he was sitting on the porch at the Ranch and Max was giving birth to their child. His mind fully returned to the real world, but he still felt deeply anxious about the vision. It foretold of their death, and not only the death of Gears and his brothers, but of everyone. Still worried, he couldn’t understand why Gears would lead them into a battle they couldn’t win.
Seeing Mom’s quizzical expression, he nodded and said distractedly, “I’m coming.”
“Are you alright? You haven’t asked about Max or the baby. They’re both fine by the way.”
Standing, he put his hand up as if to apologize. “Uh, yeah…I saw something that…umm…’
She put her hand on his arm to steady him. “Did you have a vision?”
Unable to articulate what he’d seen, he nodded dumbly at her.
“It’s upset you. What did you see?”
It wouldn’t help to tell her, so he didn’t. “Nothing that made sense.”
Following Mom inside the house, they went upstairs together and she said brightly, “You have a healthy boy and it all went very well.”
Walking into the bedroom, Max was sitting up cradling a small bundle and smiling broadly at her, she returned his smile with a small and tired one of her own.
Reaching the bed, he leaned down and kissed her slightly damp forehead. “You okay?”
Max nodded and said anxiously, “He’s perfect, but there’s something you need to see.”
He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and looking intently at her distressed face, he said, “It’ll be fine, whatever it is.”
Gently unwrapping the baby from the light blue blanket it was coddled in, she revealed his tiny naked body and he saw why she was so anxious. Across the baby’s small torso was a network of faint blue black lines that formed a tiny pattern he recognized. Ip, Pax and another infant called Ant shared the same pattern, and he knew TL was also developing the same strange tattoo like markings.
Carefully taking his son from her arms, he smiled. “Well he’s in good company. Ip, TL and Pax have the same markings, and so does baby Ant.”
“I know, but what does it mean, Mac? Is something bad going to happen to him?”
Still looking down at the tiny boy, he cradled his son’s head gently. “No, why would it mean that?” Unable to resist pulling a silly face at his son, he chuckled. “Maybe it means he’s going to be extra lucky in life. Pax and TL sure as hell are. Those guys should be dead.”
His son waved his arms and formed tiny little fists with his hands, while he blew bubbles from his mouth. Suddenly, he stretched and yawned and he could tell he was already content with his new life. Looking at Max, he said, “This one’s very quiet and naturally happy. I think it must be TL.”
With an expression of disbelief, Max replied archly, “Why on earth would you say that?”
“Well, it’s logical. They all have the same tattoos. Pax, TL, Ant and our boy are connected in some way, and we know it’s gotta be weird ‘cos Ip has the same tattoos, and so does her sword. Lydia’s baby…’
“Baby Bob,” Mom corrected him. “People have got to start calling that child by his real name.”
Glancing across at Mom, who was sitting in a rocking chair next the bed, he shrugged gently so as not to disturb his son. “Baby Bob…well, he’s so noisy he reminds me of Pax. And baby Ant…’
Correcting him again, Mom said firmly, “Anton. He’s called Anton after his mother. Her first name was Antoinette.”
“Nobody knows what her full name was,” Max said with a frown. “You’d think Wolfie would have thought to ask.”
“Why?” Mom asked. “No one knew she would die, and by the time they thought she might it, it was probably the least of their concerns. Besides, surnames aren’t very important anymore.”
Deciding the gossiping women were missing his point, he interrupted. “Anton, which by way the way is terrible name, is clearly Gears. That’s probably why baby Bob and Anton are always fighting.”
Mom gave him a disbelieving look. “They’re infants, Mac. They don’t fight.”
“They’re infants that whale on one another whenever they’re awake. I think these little guys are our guys.” Smiling down at his newborn son, he added, “And this one’s TL.” Looking back at Max, he said, “We should call him Tommy.”
With her eyes widening in surprise, Mom asked, “Why would you do that? Even if he is TL, which makes no sense, he hates the name Tommy Lee. Why would you curse him across two lifetimes with a name he hates?”
“I’m not calling him Tommy,” Max replied firmly. Reaching out her arms for her son, she took the baby from him. “His name is Mac.”
He felt a twitch of pride at her choice of name and asked mischievously, “So, do you think these babies are our guys? According to Ip, they’re the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, so why would normal rules of life apply to them?”
Max slipped the strap of her gown down, and nestling baby Mac against her breast, she began to tease his mouth with her swollen nipple. He watche
d slightly in awe and completely mesmerized as his son latched onto her breast and began to feed. Max stroked the back of the baby’s head while he suckled her breast and smiled happily.
Looking back at him, Max said softly, “I dunno, Mac. Anything’s possible, but I don’t know how they could still be alive and also be babies at the same time.”
Mom was watching the baby feed with a happy smile of her own. “Exactly. How can they be reborn as these babies if they’re not dead? It doesn’t make sense. It would mean they’re on earth twice and I don’t see how that’s possible.”
Neither did he, but somehow it was. Still watching his tiny son suckling contentedly, he was convinced the three babies were here for a reason. It wasn’t coincidence they were all born within a few months of one another. Just like Pax and TL, two had the strange markings that matched Ip’s and those on her sword. Just like Gears, Pax and TL once were, the babies were under the care of Mom and Pop at the Ranch. Even their temperaments seem to match the men he believed they were. If what Ip said was true, then the Horsemen were always present, but who was to say they couldn’t be present in more than one form. The only question he had was why the Horsemen would be here twice. Was it possible that Ruler was now so powerful they would need more than one set of Horsemen to defeat him? Even if that were true, what use would the babies be? If anything they were vulnerable and needed to be protected while they grew into the men they would need to become.
Max interrupted his rambling thoughts. “Even if you’re right, Mac, where’s Ip? She’s supposedly a Horseman as well, so we’re a baby short.”
CHAPTER FIVE: Unexpected allies (Annie)
She woke with the sound of a deep rumbling voice in her ear.
“I’m waiting for you.”
Sitting up with a start, she looked around the room, but it was cast in gloom and tentatively reaching out her arm, she tried to find the owner of the voice. Finding nothing, she looked down at the outline of her husband Ron, but all she could see was an unmoving mound under the covers next to her and clearly he hadn’t spoken. Realizing it must have been a dream, she carefully eased back the cover and slipped from the bed, trying not to wake him. Next to her side of the bed were their four-year-old twins, curled up together on a small mattress and sleeping soundly. In the grey light, she stroked their soft blonde hair, and then slipped on her shoes and walked into the kitchen and lounge they shared with two other couples.