Dead Alive: Eden Lost Book Two (Hunter Wars 8)

by SD Tanner

  Satisfied with his work, he went outside and refilled his syringes from his patient hunter. When they were done, or he was caught, he would release the hunter to have its fill. In the meantime, this was the easiest way to infect the most number of people without raising alarm in a short space of time. Not all of the infected would conveniently fall into a deep coma, and some would be overwhelmed immediately. When that happened, he would leave them to do whatever their hearts dictated. He would continue to infect people until they killed him. With his orders clear in his mind, he hummed quietly to himself as he filled the syringes again.

  ***

  Refinery town

  His head hurt and he woke up lying on a bed in a room.

  “Time to kill,” a voice called gaily.

  It was Ruler, and he hunted through his mind to remember where he was and why. His first beer hadn’t been his last, and although he’d been assigned a place to live and a job, he had yet to turn up for even one day of work. No one bothered him much, and he’d set up a tab at the bar, assuring the woman he was due to start work any day now.

  The soul he possessed was egging him on to get as drunk as he could every day. He sort of liked the feeling so he went along with it, but now his real master was telling him to do his job. The hunter was on the edges of the town, buried under thick ferns and rotting leaves. As he woke it, it unfurled from its fetal position, eager to do his bidding. It was three in the morning and everyone was asleep. Rummaging through his slightly drunken mind, he tried to remember the layout of the town.

  On the edge of the main road was a dormitory for the refinery workers who didn’t live close enough to the site to commute daily. That was his best bet to infect as many people as possible. He’d been told some would fall asleep and might not wake for days, and others would turn immediately, but not all would choose to kill for them.

  Without stirring from his bed, he summoned his puppy and sent it to the large single story building. Through its eyes, he watched the quiet street below that was brightly lit by the sharp moonlight. The hunter quickly covered the length of the main road, silently and undistracted. It was eager to eat, and nothing derailed it from its single-minded focus.

  Entering the mostly silent room, he could hear the occasional sigh and regular snoring of some of the sleepers. On his orders, the hunter trotted to furthest bed from the door. There were a hundred single beds, lined one after the other on both sides of the room, and each was filled with one occupant. He didn’t want the hunter to kill or eat, only to infect, and he promised it could have its fill once its work was done.

  Standing behind the last bed, the hunter prepared to sprint across each, biting the occupants only the once before moving on to the next. Like an athlete, it flexed its muscles and tensed to spring. Launching onto the first bed, it used its body weight to hold the person down under the covers, and quickly bit their face. Without waiting to savor the taste, it sprung to the next bed in a single pounce. It repeated this action, bed by bed, before anyone had a chance to react.

  He didn’t waste the hunter’s time to check, but already there was fierce movement in the room. Some people were turning instantly. When their stars appeared in his mind, he ordered them to attack, and they launched themselves at the sleepers on the other side of the room. Very quickly the room erupted into a frenzy of activity and a few guns began to fire. It was all too late, and his hunter and the others already awake, ran from the room looking for their next victims.

  Still lying on his cot, he continued to monitor their work, driving them to his next target. He figured now he had more than one hunter, they could successfully attack the outlying properties, and he ordered them to run.

  ***

  Air base

  The missing soldier had caused more fuss than he’d expected. It appeared the man was quite popular, and he’d been forced to hide in one of the large hangars, tucked away in the corner with boxes of supplies. He didn’t need to eat every day, but even he was hungry, and he regretted not partaking in the meal when he had the chance. For several days, the people at the base had gone outside the fence daily, searching through the dense forest for any sign of their friend. His hunter had been thorough and dragged the body two hundred yards from where it attacked him. They never found the body, and it would have disintegrated into the earth once the hunter let it die. All human tissue dissolved in Eden, and they didn’t even find any blood.

  Having only just lost one of their own, he didn’t think they’d take kindly to a stranger turning up. The people of Eden seemed friendly enough, but the soldier had been quite defensive and untrusting. His master told him to hide so he did, but now he had new orders.

  There were several doors in the fence surrounding the base, and he went to the one furthest from the cluster of buildings the people lived in. Sentries were on duty, but one was asleep and the other was listening to music through his headsets. He and the trapped soul had a good relationship, and he allowed him to take lead. The sentries were sitting in a low tower overlooking the fence, and he quietly climbed the short ladder. As he reached the top, his trapped soul grabbed the head of the sentry and ran a blade across the man’s throat. The headsets fell from his ears, and he could hear the tinny music still playing.

  While the other sentry continued to sleep, with his head resting against one of the struts holding up the roof, he plunged the knife into his neck. Jolting awake the sentry clutched at the wound, but with his throat cut, all he could do was gurgle wetly. His trapped soul stabbed through the man’s hands and into his throat. Licking the dripping blade, he scrambled down the ladder and opened the door.

  Running with his hunter, they quickly made their way back to the buildings. It was three in the morning and no one was awake. Doors were never locked and it was easy to let themselves into the main building. The bottom level was a cafeteria of some sort, and he quickly headed for the stairs. The next level contained a long row of doors, each clearly a bedroom. Opening the first of the doors, he and the hunter silently slipped inside. There was only one large bed and two occupants.

  His hunter launched at the prone bodies, biting each before they had a chance to react. While it made quick work of the sleeping, he saw a baseball bat by the side of the bed and picked it up. They moved to the next room. The hunter launched again, and as the man sat up, he hit him squarely in the face with the bat. He had no chance to rise again before the hunter bit him.

  Room by room, they attacked every person. All were sleeping and none were expecting them. By the time he’d completed ten rooms, he heard movement, but it wasn’t the sound of the living. A crashing and snarling noise echoed down the corridor, and this time it did wake the sleepers. In front of him was another large bed with two occupants. Knowing the man would sit up, he swung the bat squarely where he knew his face would be. Gunfire was echoing along the corridor, and finally people began to scream.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Gears

  Lying awake in his old room, he couldn’t stop running through the argument he’d had with Angel earlier that night. She was adamant that the young Horsemen should stay at the Ranch, and he was equally determined they shouldn’t. In promising Max he would watch over baby Mac, he’d assigned himself a responsibility that wasn’t his to own. Angel and Ted had raised the young Horsemen for the past five years, and they were effectively their foster parents.

  Before they’d been buried he’d come to take his rule for granted. The bases were his and people did what he asked them to do. It wasn’t a role he’d cherished, but he’d certainly got used to giving orders and having them followed. Eden didn’t work that way, and he found himself needing to use persuasion and not force. Convincing people to do what was needed was really more TL’s forte, and not for the first time since he’d got back from the UK, he wondered where his brother was.

  Always steady, TL was the least likely of the three of them to wander off. If it was Pax, he’d assume he’d found a balloon to chase, and it was probably at the bottom of a
bottle of scotch. In the dim light cast by the moon through his window, he smirked at the thought. Pax was a spark that never seemed to die or get any smarter. He both loved and liked his brothers, but it was Pax that always made him laugh even if he was only laughing at him.

  Ip was curled around him, and she stirred as if she was aware he was awake and worrying. He squeezed her gently against his chest. “Go back to sleep.”

  The kind one is safe tonight. Why worry? He has his own might.

  “I know TL can take care of himself. It’s jus’ not like him to clear off. That’s more of a Pax thing to do.”

  The noisy one would never really go. It is his job to annoy earth’s flow.

  Chuckling at her, he replied, “Eh, you can piss on him all ya like, but ya love that big idiot.” Running his hands down her back, he twisted his body until her neck was under the crook of his arm. “But seein’ as we’re both awake now…”

  Even in the dim glow of the moon, he could see her naughty smile, and she encouraged him by pulling his hips closer to hers. In the distance, he vaguely heard the sound of people shouting, and he wondered what could be happening at three in the morning. Ted ran a tight ship, and sometimes the workers started early, particularly around the harvest season. Lifting his head, he looked through the window above them, but couldn’t see anything outside other than the forest and the gently swaying crops. Although Ip was pulling his head to hers, he was distracted now and wanted to know what was going on.

  Rolling from the bed, he tugged on his ACU pants and slipped on his boots without bothering to lace them. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Out of habit, he picked up his M4A1 as he walked out of the door. He shouldn’t need a gun at the Ranch, and it was a reflex action more than a deliberate one.

  Trotting down the stairs, he heard Ted whisper, “What’s going on?”

  “I thought you’d know.”

  “Nope. I think it’s coming from the trailers.”

  Benny was following Ted. “Yeah, sounds like it.”

  Pop was already sitting at the kitchen table, lacing his boots. As they all quietly walked down the stairs, he asked, “What the hell is happenin’ out there?”

  His question was answered by the sound of gunfire from the trailers, and all four men broke into a run.

  “Ted, Pop, go around the front. Benny, you’re with me. We’ll exit through the garage. Ted, give us cover.”

  Making it through the kitchen and into the attached garage, he peered through the window trying to make out what was happening. Tracers were lighting up inside the row of trailers and shapes of bodies were running wildly between the houses. The Ranch always did have about two hundred people living there and Ted said most had chosen to stay. With a small school and babies born every year, it had turned into a small community much like the towns. Life was good and few saw any reason to leave, and he could understand Angel’s reluctance to relocate to the barren wasteland of the military bases.

  It was unusual the gunfire wasn't directed at them, and it made him wonder what the hell they were all shooting at. “Benny, we need to get closer and see what’s happening in there.”

  Neither of them were wearing any armor, and he hadn’t even bothered to put on a shirt. Benny caught his arm before he stepped out of the door. “You’re not dressed for this and I’m a hunter. I’ll go first.”

  Nodding, he allowed Benny to take lead and followed behind him. The closer he got to the row of houses, the more it became obvious the fight was largely confined to inside the trailers. Several small figures ran towards him. “Hold ya fire!”

  Allowing the tiny bodies to sweep past him, he saw they were two children, no more than five years old. Wearing gaily-printed pajamas and holding hands, they streaked past him howling in fear. More tiny figures were running towards the house from further down the trailers. “Don’t shoot! The kids are heading for the house!”

  The lights inside the main house lit up, throwing brightness into the dark. It interfered with his night vision and he roared, “Turn the fuckin’ lights off! We can’t see a damned thing.”

  Someone must have relayed his complaint and the house went dark again. Benny thrust his KABAR at him. “Take this.”

  “Why?”

  “I think they’re hunters and I don’t need a knife. It’ll only slow me down.”

  Pocketing the blade, he replied, “We need to get into one of the trailers and see what’s going on.” As he spoke, a trailer about ten houses down lit with tracer fire. “That one’ll do.”

  While they ran towards the house in a slight crouch, trampling the flowerbeds in their path, the children continued to scramble past them. With no radio mike, he couldn’t check if Pop was getting them inside the main house, but assumed he was. The gunfire had stopped and by the time they reached the trailer, it was silent and dark. Trailer houses were small two bedroom properties, about double the size of a large RV. With two small bedrooms sharing an even tinier bathroom, the combined lounge and kitchen meant there was little room for people to move around easily. There were only two exits from the trailer, one was the front door that led straight into the lounge and the other was a sliding door against the opposite wall. Being only six yards wide, the two bedrooms sat on either side of the small lounge.

  “Whatdaya think?”

  Benny shrugged. “There’s nowhere to hide and only two ways in or out.”

  The window to one of the bedrooms was an open panel that angled outward, leaving a wide gap at the bottom. He shuffled across the wall until he was directly under it. Popping his gun and his head up into the gap, he checked for any movement. With big flowers painted on the walls and two small and empty beds, he assumed the room belonged to several children. They’d probably scrambled out of the open window and headed for the main house.

  “Clear,” he whispered hoarsely. “You head around the back. I’ll go in through the front entrance and check the other bedroom.”

  While Benny disappeared around the side of the tiny trailer, he gently twisted the handle on the front door. It wasn’t locked, but it wouldn’t be, they lived in a trusted community of only two hundred people. Quietly pushing the door open, Benny made a light clicking sound with his tongue. The double doors to the lounge were wide open, and the soft sheer curtains were drifting idly in the light night breeze.

  With the lounge and kitchen being empty, that only left the other bedroom, and he cursed himself for not bringing a flashlight. Unlike the bedroom to his right, the door to the bedroom on his left was slightly ajar, and he cautiously poked the end of his gun into the room. There was no reaction, and yet he could hear someone groaning inside the room.

  “Are you okay?” He called.

  There was no reply, and he shoved the door open with his foot, while aiming his gun into the room. Through the torn curtains, the light of the moon highlighted a body lying on the crumpled bed. In the darkest corner was a bundle of what he assumed was bedding until it moved. The body launched with the speed of a hunter, and without thinking he opened fire. Typical of a hunter, it didn’t stop, but crashed on top of him. Being much lighter than he was, he jammed his forearm under its chin, and flipped his body over, pinning the hunter to the ground. He was still holding his gun, only now the muzzle was up against the hunters jaw and he pulled the trigger. The sound combined with the explosion of the top of the man’s head was blinding and deafening all at once.

  Worried about who was on the bed, he pushed himself to his feet and pointed his gun at the prone body. It was a woman, and she was completely naked, lying on her stomach with her legs and arms splayed awkwardly.

  Benny appeared behind him. “Is she dead?”

  Reaching for her neck, he could feel an erratic pulse. “No, but she ain’t well. She was probably bitten.” Rummaging around the floor, he looked for anything that might be a backpack.

  “What are you doing?”

  “We need flashlights, ammo and zip ties.”

  “What for?”

  “We
need to tie her up. When she dies and reanimates, we dunno which side she’ll be on.”

  Before they had time to deal with the woman, more gunfire was erupting around the trailers. “Gotta go.” With his gun aimed, he stepped out of the front door and shouted, “Ted! Leave Pop to sort the kids headin’ into the house. Bring ammo and zip ties.”

  Benny shouted, “And a tactical vest for Gears.”

  “Roger that. What’s happened?”

  “Hunters. We’re gonna have to go trailer by trailer.”

  Standing about ten yards from the trailer, he called, “Anyone left alive, get out now. Head to the main house. Bring the kids with ya. We’ll give you cover.”

  People began to emerge from some of the trailers, clutching small children or dragging them with them. While he watched them run past him, Ted appeared with a backpack and a vest. Ip arrived with him, fully dressed and holding her sword. “Stay outta the line of fire, honey.”

  He estimated about sixty people had headed to the main house which left over a hundred of them either as hunters or in a coma.

  While he put on his vest and loaded it with more ammo, Ted said, “Pop is gonna manage the team at the house just in case any hunters make it past us. He’s sent the kids to the basement.”

  “This is gonna be messy, Ted. It’s dark and some of them are still in a coma, but they could die and reanimate at any time.”

  “Judging by what people have said, I'm estimating about seventy people are in those trailers and some of them are kids. There must be about forty feral hunters out there.”

  While he talked to Ted, ten men and women walked towards them from the main house, all carrying weapons. He turned to the small group. “You need to be in teams of two. Benny, Ted and I will each team up with one of you, the rest of you pair up. We’ll take the trailers furthest along the road. Once you clear a trailer, seal the doors. If you find anyone alive and in a coma, zip tie them securely. We’ll sort out who’s who later.”