by SD Tanner
The woman was dressed in what looked like a knee length dress with a pair of trousers underneath. Her hair reached to her waist, and he thought she might be in her late twenties.
“Who the hell are you?”
With a smile so wide, he could see it even from a distance, she replied. “I’m Tania. I’m here with my family. Are you hungry?”
Now clean, he trudged through the water towards the woman and said, “I’m Gears.” Flicking his thumb in the direction of his brothers, he added, “The tall one’s TL, and the one that looks like an ape is Pax. The woman’s called Ip, and she don’t talk much.”
Pointing to her left, Tania said, “Our camp is just over there. Come join us when you’re ready.”
Once they were clean, they sat drying themselves and their clothes in the early morning sun. TL asked, “Seriously, Gears, what’s the plan?”
“We dunno what’s happened while we’ve been away.” Waving his hand at the lake. “I mean, it all looks good, but we’re here for a reason and I wanna find out what’s happened. We’re only ever called on to judge mankind”
“But we already did that, Gears. We led man in a battle against the Devil and we won.”
“Did we win, Pax? Are you sure?”
Nodding emphatically, Pax replied, “Yeah, we all saw Ip kill Ruler. The hunters went home to heaven, and our dead troops went with them. The Immortal Army you called from the earth to fight with man went back to the ground. The earth was reborn.” With a wide wave of his arms, he added, “This is heaven on earth, Gears. We did our job.”
Turning to look at Ip, and shaking his head, TL said grimly, “Ip is never wrong. She woke us up for a reason. I agree with Gears. Something’s wrong, or we wouldn’t be here again.”
Nodding, he said decisively, “First we learn and then we’ll decide what we need to do.”
They might be wasting their time, but he supposed they had the time to waste. They were immortal, and when they weren’t walking the earth, they weren’t anywhere. While they slept, only Ip seemed to have stayed connected to the universe. As far as he could tell, Ip didn’t live in the same world they did. Her mind was only ever partly on earth, and most of the time she seemed detached and bored. As the Horseman of Death, he assumed she was never quite alive, nor was she ever entirely dead, and of the four of them, she was the least human. She was supposed to judge man with them, but he didn’t think she ever had. Her role was to do as the Horsemen of War ordered, not that he ever noticed her listen to him, and she generally did as she pleased.
“What if she’s wrong?” Pax asked.
Standing up, he began to pull on his still damp clothes and said firmly, “Then nothin’ lost.”
Leading their beasts in the direction Tania pointed, they walked into an open area with several tents. In the middle of the tents was a small barbeque pit, with meat frying on a metal grill, and next to the pit was a pot boiling gently.
After Tanya introduced them to the four people at the camp, he asked, “What are ya doin’ here?”
Graham was a tall, leanly built man and he asked, “Where have you been? This is the Lake of Life. People come here to be cured.” Touching an older woman on the elbow, he added, “Marla has arthritis, and swimming in the lake cures her pain for at least a year.”
While they sat around the pit, they ate the warm stew of meat and vegetables Tania had handed to each of them.
“So, where are you from?” TL asked.
“We settled in a town called Walnut Ridge in Arkansas,” Graham replied. “We got the electricity working again using solar power, and there’s fresh water everywhere now.”
“How did all this happen?” TL asked. When the group gave him a dubious look, he added, “We’ve been living at sea.”
“Really?” Graham asked. “You’ve been living at sea for five years?”
Shaking his head, he replied, “We visited some islands, but we don’t know what happened on the mainland. Last we saw, the hunters ruled the land and then they all dropped dead.”
“Ah, I see. You should have stayed. The world changed, or least the bit we live in did. Rumor has it, this lake was the scene of a big battle between the hunters and soldiers. The soldiers won, and the lake was created from their lives. It’s why it heals. They laid down their lives to save us all, and they continue to protect us.”
“What happened after the battle?” TL asked.
“Everything changed. When the hunters ruled, the land and everything on it was dying. We were starving and nowhere was safe. There was a bunch of bad guys kidnapping and killing people, and there was a base with soldiers who were determined to get rid of the hunters. They formed a massive army, and they fought until every last hunter died. Some people believe God sent his son to earth to take the hunters away, but that’s just a rumor. After the battle, everything began to grow again. Nothing was the same. There’s new species of animals, all the land is good, there’s fresh water everywhere, and the trees and bushes grow fruit all year long. People have gone back to the towns, repaired houses and got everything working again.”
“How many people are left?”
“No one really knows. There’s no government. Each town runs their own show. I mean, towns do trade. Some grow crops, others have factories making things we need, and others pump and process oil. Every town seems to have its own specialty, but no one counts how many people there are.”
“If you were to guess?”
Tilting his head and looking at the sky, Graham said, “Well, there’s a lot of towns. I mean, I’ve only visited a dozen, but I’ve heard of many more. Each decent size town has five to twenty thousand people, some are even bigger, so I guess there’s got to be a few million people left.”
“And more are being born all the time,” Marla added.
“True, there’s babies born every day now,” Graham agreed. “There’s more food and land than we have people. Life is good.”
Curious where their original team might be, he asked, “Do you ever see any birds? You know, helicopters?”
A young man called Stuart nodded enthusiastically and said, “Yeah, yeah, we do. Not often, but sometimes a big chopper flies over our farmland.” Looking disappointed, he added, “We wave at it, but it never lands. We don’t even know where it’s from. I wish they’d land. I’d love to take a ride.”
He and Pax looked at one another and grinned. If the birds were still flying, then Hatch was probably somewhere taking care of their fleet. Their beasts might run fast, but he didn’t fancy covering the whole country riding. It would take forever, and his ass wasn’t big enough to offer much protection against the constant jarring.
“We need to find whoever has those birds, I mean, helicopters,” he said.
“Why do you want to find them?” Tania asked curiously.
“Faster way to travel,” TL replied.
Putting her hand on TL’s arm, Tania asked, “What’s your rush? Life is slow now. It’s peaceful. You should learn to slow down.”
Not wanting TL to be distracted by a pretty woman, he said brusquely, “He’ll have plenty of time to slow down when he’s dead. We should get movin’.”
Smiling warmly at Tania, TL sighed and asked, “Just one more question. Have you heard of any trouble anywhere?”
Seeming confused, Graham asked, “Why would there be any trouble? We live in paradise. There’s food, shelter, a healing water, and nothing to do other than enjoy God’s good grace.”
“Well, there have been rumors, Graham,” Marla said quietly.
“What rumors?”
Waving his hand dismissively, Graham replied, “Oh, there’s been word of disputes between towns, but it’s nothing serious. People don’t always agree, you know how people can be.”
“They have guns,” Marla warned.
Of course they do, he thought, the world had an arsenal of weapons, and God didn’t turn them all into pretty green trees. Riding away from the lake, they all agreed Hatch would probably have set
up a base near his best source of fuel. Last time they checked, Hatch’s favorite base for refueling was the Air National Guard base in Jackson, Mississippi. Even on fast moving beasts, it would take them a week to reach the location. If they were lucky, they could steal a car, and he figured they could collect whatever else they needed along the way.
Chapter Three: Axe
The walls of the base were high, but they already knew that and planned accordingly. Radioing his men, he was aware they were nervous about the fight and called, “Secure the base and then get your fill of the spoils!”
In a world with few needs, he knew they mostly wanted women. He wasn’t interested in the women, but keen to acquire control of the power the group protected so fiercely. He wasn't expecting an easy battle, but if he was to take the next step, he needed control of the air.
It was a tricky location to attack, and the aircraft were deliberately parked across the entire mile by mile site, preventing him from simply bombing and swarming the living areas. If he did that, he ran the risk of destroying the very thing he came for. He also had the problem of keeping the pilots and engineers alive. He needed their cooperation, and he couldn’t simply kill everyone. Although he hadn't told his men, he didn't expect to win today, and all he planned to achieve was to test the strength of the base. It would probably cost him some lives, but he hadn't brought his best, and he didn't plan to put himself at risk while he watched them lose the fight. It’s what a soldier does, he thought with more bravado than he felt.
He wasn't happy sacrificing the lives of fifty trained men, and he'd probably have some regrets later that he’d choose to forget. Despite his reservations, he believed that for as long as their country remained in small enclaves, it would never be great again. If he could unify the people, America could rule the world just as it once did economically, only this time their dominance could be enforced in all ways. He'd always thought the only way for global peace was through a single culture and centralized control. In his mind, the virus that killed most of the world presented an opportunity to get it right, and he wanted to be the one to lead the change the world had long needed.
It was the witching hour of 03:00, and one of his teams was waiting near the main gates to the airfield. Positioned outside the other two gates, were ten of his men hiding in the forest surrounding the mile by mile long wall. It was their job to capture anyone who tried to escape. He was sitting on a motorcycle at the top of a low hill, comfortably shielded by the trees and greenery. Through his night vision goggles, he could see everything, but was sufficiently distanced and protected from the airfield.
“Go Alpha.”
There was an explosion when his men opened the main gates with the help of an RPG. The tall metal gate bucked under the blast, and although still closed, it was clearly compromised. The response was instantaneous. The sentries positioned at two hundred yard points along the walls opened fire on their two trucks, each containing six men, as they followed the RPG blast and burst through the gates. He'd expected the response, and knew the likely fate of the twelve men now firing back at the sentries.
“Go Bravo One. Go Charlie One.”
On his orders, two teams of six heavily armed men drove Loomis armored cars towards the east and west walls. Using grenades, each damaged the walls sufficiently to hammer their armored cars directly into the weakened spot. Again, the sentries opened fire on the trucks, but they continued to drive through the site, heading towards a cluster of low buildings. Now the wall was open on both sides.
“Go Bravo Two. Go Charlie Two.”
Each of the armored cars were followed by a truck with a further six men. Between Alpha, Bravo and Charlie teams, he now had thirty-six men inside the airfield, and they were all driving straight to the main living area of the site. The night lit with tracers and the sound of rapid gunfire, and he listened closely to the voices through his radio.
“This is Charlie One, taking heavy fire.”
“Watch my six, Bravo Two. You nearly had my ass.”
“This is Bravo One. We’re at the main building. Engaging with enemy.”
“Alpha, get round the back of the building.”
“This Alpha, say again, which building?”
“The big one, you idiot.”
From his vantage point, he could see which building they were talking about. In the middle of the airfield were six main buildings around a large three-story with a small footprint. It was probably once the office, but was now used as a living quarters. During their recon of the area, they saw women and children around the building, and lines of clothing drying in the warmth. Set about three hundred yards from the large building, were several huge hangars he presumed were used to repair and maintain aircraft. Another looming building near the hangars looked like a warehouse, and the remaining two single story buildings were located next to the three-story building. At this time of day, he assumed pretty much everyone would be in the main building.
“Don’t fire on the main building, warehouse or hangars,” he cautioned his teams.
He wasn’t concerned about destroying the living quarters, but he needed the pilots and engineers alive. Based on his estimate, there were about four hundred people living on the site, and half of them were women and children. If by some lucky chance they managed to take control of the airfield, he would happily hand over the women to his men. He planned to hold them hostage to guarantee the compliance of the engineers and pilots, but the children were not to be harmed.
“This is Charlie Two, we’re pinned behind a building. We can’t reach the main building.”
“This is Bravo Two, our vehicle is compromised, proceeding on foot.”
“Alpha, where the fuck are you?”
“This is Alpha. We’re behind the fucking building like you asked.”
He became aware of the sound of rotors in the air, and looking across their airfield, at least five birds were lifting off the ground, and then their searchlights came on. Three of the birds fanned out and were heading to the perimeter of the base. Another two birds moved low across the skyline towards the main buildings.
“Fuck! Taking fire from above. We’re down, we’re down. Need emergency evac!”
“Alpha pulling back.”
“This is Charlie One, pulling back.”
‘Just where the fuck are we gonna go?”
The sharp, bright lights of the bird’s beams were scanning the edges of the perimeter, and then working their way out to where he had twelve men guarding the other two exits from the site. Although he couldn’t be sure, he was reasonably confident they wouldn’t spot his men hiding in the dense greenery surrounding the base. He was proven wrong when the gunners inside the birds opened rapid fire into the forest on both sides of the site.
“Delta One taking fire, pull back, pull back.”
He shook his head and wondered where his men thought they would go. Even if they made it to their vehicles a mile away, the birds would follow and easily cut them down. Ignoring the complaints from the Delta team hiding in the forest, he focused his attention back on the fight still taking place inside the base. Tracer fire continued to light up the night, but now he heard the sound of explosions. To his annoyance, he saw his men were firing heavy armaments at the buildings, including the main building. Sighing to himself, he knew they were lost. There was only so much damage any of them could do before they would conclusively lose the battle.
“Axe, Axe, where are you?”
“We need help, we’re pinned down and taking heavy fire.”
“What the fuck do we do now?”
“Axe, we need help!”
With no answer to give his men, he remained silent and continued to listen to their frantic calls asking for extract, orders and support. He wasn’t sure what they could do to save themselves other than surrender. Despite all the people at the base wearing ACUs, the airfield wasn’t supposed to have any military capability. Obviously not only were they able to fly and maintain the aircraft, they c
ould use their weapons and were successfully defending themselves. He guessed it was a legacy skill, and not their primary focus.
Five years ago, when the hunters were destroyed and Eden was born, the base was founded to maintain the ability to fly and nothing more. As far as he knew, they had no other mandate, but fiercely defended their right to the air. He tried to negotiate with the people in command of the base to join his military cause, but every time he spoke to them, he was rebuffed and told they saw no reason for war. Despite their simple view of life, Eden had gotten more complex, and whether they liked it or not, their hobby was now a much needed tactical advantage.
In his few meetings with them, he’d never quite worked out just how capable they were of defending themselves, but listening to fifty of his men being cornered and dying, he guessed they were capable enough. While he watched, the sound of gunfire diminished, and so did the voices of his men. Slowly silence began to fall, and all he could hear was the distant sound of rotors, while the birds continued to scan the area under their searchlights. The battle was over, and just as he predicted, he’d lost.
Waiting patiently, he wouldn’t leave until the birds broke off their search of the area. When the time was right, he would wheel his motorcycle back down the low hill, and quietly make his way back to his base. Clearly some of his men would be captured, and he expected them to sing like birds. It didn’t matter if they did, he learned everything he needed to know about the base, and now he knew, he wouldn’t lose the next fight. Next time, he’d bring more men and be better armed. They’d storm the main building, take the children and then see how willing they were to negotiate, not that he would ever hurt the children. Sighing to himself, he pulled deeper into the scented fernery around him, and prepared to rest while he waited for silence to reign once more.
“Stand up asshole,” a gruff voice commanded.
Still buried inside the dense ferns, he pointed his gun in the direction of the voice.
Behind him, the leaves rustled abruptly, and he felt someone carefully sliding a blade across his throat. Dropping his weapon to the ground, and feeling himself hauled to his feet, he looked up at the huge man standing in front of him. Even in the moonlight, he could see the ragged scar down the man’s face.