by SD Tanner
Sneering, the man said fiercely, “That’s my goddamn airfield.”
Chapter Four: TL
Luckily they’d found a pickup, well they didn’t exactly find it, they stole it and he felt a little bad about that. On their way to Jackson, Mississippi where they thought Hatch’s base could be, they passed through half a dozen towns, and in every one they were warmly welcomed and given a bed for the night. People had even supplied them with gas to continue their journey. In this new world, strangers were encouraged to stay and help add to their numbers, but people could come and go as they pleased. Food was plentiful and most towns had power, water and very basic sanitation working. Aside from the sentries posted at the entry points, no one appeared to be armed. In the five years they’d been away, rural settlements had sprung up using the houses and conveniences of the past.
The attack on Hatch’s base was the first sign of hostility they’d seen in over a week. If anything, Pax was getting bored and complaining there was nothing to do. Gears was largely entertained by sharing his mind and body with Ip, and he was wondering whether he might go back and find the attractive Tania. She did seem interested in him, and he figured there had to some reward for digging his way out of his grave.
Well, that’s what he thought until they drove up to Hatch’s airfield. All hell was breaking loose, and Gears and Pax instantly perked up, eager to fight. Idiots, he thought dourly, only they’d want to fight in paradise. He still couldn’t work out where they’d been for five years. In theory, he’d been around since the beginning of time, but he had no memories of his past lives. Gears assured him the Horsemen were a force and they’d lived many times over, but he had no awareness of that.
While Gears and Pax manhandled their prisoner to his feet, he sighed and asked, “Who’s this guy?”
“Dunno,” Pax replied dourly.
Shaking his head, he asked impatiently, “Don’t you think we should ask him?”
“Nah, I don’t give a fuck who he is, let’s take him into the base,” Gears replied off-handedly.
After taking the man’s weapons, they drove their truck to the now ruined gates of the base, and Gears hung out the door shouting, “Friendlies! Lookin’ for Hatch!”
Once they were through the entrance, a woman with platinum hair glowing in the dawn light ran towards the truck shouting, “Pax! Pax!”
Pax was out of the vehicle before he had time to come to a full stop. What is it about those two, he wondered?
“A loyal wife,” Ip said with a smirk.
BD had already died once and come back from the dead to be with Pax, and here she was again. Of the three of them, he thought Pax was the least likely to find any woman willing to be with him, much less one as openly devoted as BD. According to Ip, not that she could be relied upon, BD was Archangel Raphael. Given Pax’s incredibly low standards when it came to women, he was always surprised one of BD’s caliber was so dedicated to his rough and ready brother.
Gears grabbed the man they’d caught and dragged him towards the people advancing with guns. Shaking the man like a rag doll, Gears boomed, “This asshole was hidin’ up on the hill.”
“We know who he is,” a man replied. Looking at Gears imposing presence, the man aimed his gun at him and said sternly, “But I dunno who you are.”
“Relax, dude,” Hatch said, as he pushed his way past the man. “This is Gears.” Striding up to Gears, he grinned in delight and said, “I thought you guys were dead.”
While they briefly hugged, Gears said, “You can’t kill an immortal.”
Hatch’s base was basic, but even with a few smoking holes in the walls, it was still functional. Sitting in their mess hall, Hatch had drinks and plates overflowing with food brought to the table. Pax had disappeared somewhere with BD, and Ip was picking at the plates of food, eating and looking bored. Sitting next to Hatch was a raven-haired woman wearing a short, patterned dress and sandals.
Smiling at him, she said, “I’m Roxy. Hatch’s girl.”
“I didn’t know Hatch could pull so well. I’m TL and…”
“I know who you all are. You look exactly like Hatch described you.”
Clearly not interested in their sociable chatter, Gears interrupted and asked, “What the hell is goin’ on, Hatch?”
Giving Gears a worried look, Hatch replied, “I dunno, Gears, but somethin’s not right.”
Turning his attention to Hatch, he asked, “Why do think that?”
“We’ve got plenty of fuel now and I’ve got a whole warehouse full of parts.” Waving his hand at the room, Hatch added, “I’ve got plenty of engineers and pilots. I kept your fleet for ya. I’ve kinda been expectin’ ya’ll to show up.”
“Why?” Gears asked.
Snorting derisively, Hatch replied, “Man ain’t built for paradise. We’re too pissy for all that hippy kinda bullshit. As soon as man got on his feet, I figured it’d all go to hell and you’d be back.”
“Where is everyone?” He asked. “Mom, Pop, Ted, Nelson, Gerry, Kat, you know, the whole gang?”
“Mom, Pop, Ted and Angel are at the Ranch with the babies. Well, they’re not babies anymore, they’re five years old now. Nelson’s still on the main island. Gerry’s here with me and he has comms workin’, but only for our guys. Kat joined another town over in South Carolina. Last I heard, she’s keepin’ ‘em as organized as she did us. Jack is still working with Ted finding the super hunters who escaped the battle. He splits his time between here and the Ranch.”
“What about Wolfie? And Mike in New York?” He asked.
“Wolfie is still on the Lake Lanier Islands. Mike is leading the New Yorkers, but I think they moved outta the city to somewhere with more useable land. Most of the cities are empty now. Ya can’t grow food on concrete. Gerry took up with Candy and they gotta coupla kids.” Smiling proudly, Hatch added, “I’ve got three rugrats myself now. Me and Roxy is kinda married.”
Giving him a stern look, Roxy said with exaggerated patience, “Not kinda married, Hatch. We really are married.” Looking back at him, she said, “Nelson married us.”
Grinning, he said, “Congratulations Hatch. You’re all grown up now.”
Gears snorted and said bluntly, “He was always an adult, TL. He’s jus’ crazy, is all.”
“Oh, that hasn’t changed,” Roxy said fondly.
“You do know I’m sittin’ right here?” Hatch asked in disbelief.
“And you know what we think of ya,” Gears replied dourly. Changing the subject, he asked, “Aside from man bein’ a bunch a dumbasses, why do you think there’s a problem?”
Leaning into the table, Hatch looked serious and said, “My guys do flyovers and we’re seein’ some not so good stuff. Jus’ last week, we saw several towns under attack.”
“By super hunters?” He asked.
Shaking his head, Hatch replied, “Nah, they were human, but heavily armed.”
“Is it the guy we jus’ caught?” Gears asked.
“Nah, that’s a guy called Axe. He’s been buildin’ up an army, but mostly he’s still accruin’ soldiers and weapons, not attackin’.”
“What’s his endgame?” Gears asked.
“He wants a central government and control. He figures it starts with an army, so he’s buildin’ one.”
“Maybe he should try asking people to join him first,” he remarked dourly.
“It don’t work like that, TL,” Hatch replied plainly. “In this world, no one needs anythin’, so people jus’ do as they please. I mean, Axe is probably not wrong longer term, but I think he got pissed off when no one listened to him.”
Harrumphing, Gears said grimly, “We might be needin’ his army.” Looking worried, he asked, “Do you think Ruler’s gone?”
“I ain’t seen any sign of the Devil, and I’ve been watchin’ out for him. We ain’t seen any camps that look like his kinda work.”
Maybe the towns were fighting with one another, but that was to be expected and it didn’t sound like Ruler was
back. Men fight and that’s a fact of men being men. If you put more than one of them in a room, eventually they’ll have an argument. So far, he hadn’t seen anything worth them digging their way out of their cold graves. Studying Ip, he wondered if she’d just gotten bored and wanted to be with Gears again.
Ip eyed him back, and screwing up her face, he heard her speak in his mind. Do not dismiss what you cannot see. You may be foolish, but do not blame me.
“It’s annoying how you do that, Ip. Reading people’s minds leaves no room for privacy,” he replied dourly.
Catching the thread of their argument, Gears said rudely, “Private or not, your thoughts ain’t worth squat.”
Pax walked into the room covered in blood and asked, “What the hell are you guys doin’? Havin’ a fuckin’ picnic while I do all the work. Get off your asses, the base is a fuckin’ mess.”
Hatch hadn’t seemed too worried about the attack, and he assumed people were cleaning up the mess, but he supposed Pax had a point. Standing up, he walked out with Gears, Hatch and Pax to survey the damage to the base. It didn’t look too bad. A few holes in the walls and the enemy were all dead. They hadn’t been good shots, and although they’d made it into the base, it was all for nothing. Hatch’s air support and sentries killed them before they managed to get into any of the buildings. Their bodies had been moved to the side of a building, and with over thirty men dead, it was going to be a large grave.
Sighing and turning to Hatch, he said, “You’ve got some digging to do.”
Snorting, Hatch replied, “You’ve gotta lot to learn. Anythin’ that dies is absorbed back into the earth. We don’t bury anythin’ anymore. No point. If you dig ‘em up even a day later, all you got left is clothes.”
Looking around the now bright airfield, and seeing the birds and aircraft parked on the landing strips, he asked, “Is this even earth?”
Hatch followed his gaze and said solemnly, “A lot’s changed since you were last here, dude.”
Chapter Five: Gears
They shored up the defenses at the airfield, and Hatch was flying them back to the Ranch. He’d spoken to Axe and decided he was an angry man, but nonetheless a man on a mission. He agreed with Hatch, Axe might be firing early, but eventually the country would need to be unified. For everything he’d learned so far, nothing indicated there was any trouble that needed them to judge or defend anything. Despite enjoying his time with Ip, he felt a familiar and growing sense of frustration. There was no enemy for him here. Maybe Hatch had a small problem with Axe, but he thought any army that could be beaten by Hatch wasn’t a force to be reckoned with, and the guy was playing at being a soldier. It seemed Axe put the basics of a military outfit together, but his men weren’t real killers. He decided he needed a serious talk with the man, so Axe was sitting in the bird with them.
He still didn’t know why he was back on earth, and furthermore he didn’t recognize the land. Looking out the door of the Black Hawk, all he saw was an endless forest with the occasional break for small towns and farming land. It was a big country, and with probably only a few million left alive, it was largely empty. Small herds of animals he didn’t recognize roamed free, and according to Hatch, they were easily caught and slaughtered. All the animals he’d seen looked similar to their predecessors, but man had no predators in this idyllic world. In the past week, he’d seen oversized lions, a creature that looked like a version of a rhinoceros, and even something he thought might have been a pterodactyl. All these creatures would eat one another, but never attacked people.
When he asked Hatch why no one was injured in the attack on his base, he handed him a vial of water. It was from the Lake of Life, and any injury would be instantly healed by drinking or absorbing the glittering fluid. The water was some sort of magic elixir and it annoyed him. The rules of the world had changed, and it didn’t seem right.
Tapping TL on the arm, he asked, “You know, we never thought man deserved to be in hell, but did you think he deserved to live in heaven?”
“I never thought about it.” Shrugging dismissively, TL added, “To be honest, I didn’t know it was an option.”
“Nah, man don’t deserve all this,” Pax said bluntly. “He ain’t that good.”
For once, he didn’t disagree with Pax. Something about the hippy, love life, be happy, flowers and shit routine didn’t sit well with him. He didn’t think this was how man was meant to live. Man did his best when there was something to overcome and strive for. An easy life tended to give any man way too much time to cause trouble.
“You’re both just miserable assholes,” TL said abruptly.
Flying over the Ranch, he was able to see how far Pop had come. Wide fields of corn and vegetables were flourishing. Next to the rows of vegetables were trees heavy with fruits he didn’t recognize. He couldn’t see any animal pens, but if meat was so readily available, he suspected they hunted for what they needed. Pop had several vehicles parked near the house, and the beasts they stole had brought themselves home, and were grazing outside the stables.
Landing in a clear area next to the house, he climbed down from the bird and caught Ip as she landed next to him. Pax climbed out and then helped BD clamber from the platform. TL dragged Axe down with him, and continued to hold onto the man as they began to walk towards the house.
Looking craggy and lean, Pop appeared from the side of the house and called, “Wondered when ya’ll were gonna show your faces!”
Striding across the grassy area to Pop, he hugged him and said, “Guess you knew we left.”
With a wink, Pop replied, “It was either that, or someone stole your bodies, and I didn’t think that was likely.” After hugging TL and Pax, Pop said, “Come on in. Mom’s been lookin’ forward to seein’ ya’ll again.”
Entering the Ranch, he was pleased it hadn’t changed. The large, scarred wooden table was still there, surrounded by mismatched chairs. The lounge, with its open fireplace, still looked welcoming and comfortable. Despite being destroyed by Ruler more than a few times, Pop rebuilt the Ranch every time to look exactly the same.
With her white hair pulled into a loose bun, Mom practically ran from the kitchen, and catching him in a fierce hug, she scolded, “Why did you leave without seeing me?”
Pulling away from her hug, he replied, “Sorry, Mom, but we didn’t know who was livin’ here.”
“It was Gears’s fault, he made us do a recon,” Pax complained. With his ape-like face spreading in a wide grin, he added smugly, “I was gonna come and see ya.”
“No, you weren’t, Pax. You were jus’ hungry,” he retorted.
A heavily pregnant woman with raven black hair and deep blue eyes walked into the lounge. Her name was Angel, and he knew she and Ted were raising the replacement Horsemen.
“Oh good,” Angel said sarcastically. “You’re all back.”
Looking pointedly at Angel’s protruding belly, Pax asked bluntly, “Is that Ted’s?”
Mom swatted his head and said sternly, “Don’t be rude, Pax. And yes, Ted and Angel are having a baby.”
Standing next to him, Pop swatted his head and said, “And don’t rustle my horses again.”
Pretending to wince, and giving Pax a mischievous look, he said, “Good to be home, ain’t it.”
“Where are the babies?” TL asked.
In answer to his question, three young boys burst into the room shouting. All were dressed in jeans and t-shirts, and they looked like they’d been rolling about in the dirt. Energetic and seeming slightly wild, the noisy trio came to an abrupt halt when they saw their three counterparts standing in the lounge.
“Who’s here?”
“Can we go for a ride in the bird?”
Suddenly silent, breathlessly the three boys stood and stared at them with open mouths. The tallest of the three asked curtly, “Who are you?”
“I’m Gears. Which one are you?”
The five-year-old seemed to size him up and then said, “I’m Ant…but I don’t li
ke my name.”
Ant was his replacement and smirking, he replied dourly, “Don’t blame ya. It’s not a name.”
“Sure, it is,” Pax declared confidently. “It stands for Antoinette, his mother’s name.” Winking at Ant, he added, “But it’s a girl’s name, dude.”
“Shaddup, Pax. Are you tryin’ to give me a complex?”
“You’re too crazy to get a complex, Gears. Gotta start out sane for that.”
According to Ip, Ant was his human self who would one day grow up to become the Horseman of War. The child called Bob was really Pax. The tall, quiet boy called Mac was TL’s human self. Looking past the boys, he couldn’t see the young girl who they nicknamed baby Ip, but he didn’t doubt she was nearby. Eyeing them somberly, he realized they couldn’t be told who they were, and what they were destined to become. If they knew, then they’d never learn what it was to be human, and wouldn’t be able to judge man.
Turning to Mom, and nodding his head at the children, he said, “We shouldn’t be talkin’ about any of this.”
Understanding his point, Mom said kindly, “Go outside and play. This is adult time.”
Giving him a final hard stare, Ant ran out the door with Bob and Mac. Trying to walk through the door as the children dodged past them, Ted and Jack stepped aside to let them pass.
Seeing them standing in the lounge, Ted grinned widely and said happily, “Been waiting for you guys to show up. Where’d you go?”
Ted was still the tall, blue eyed, well-built Marine he always had been. He’d been on a submarine in Puerto Rico when the outbreak happened, and eventually he and the crew found their way back to Florida Keys. They met Ted when their cruise ship came under attack from the thousands of people living on boats to escape the hunters on the land. He couldn’t remember Ted’s real name, but he was nicknamed Captain Ted by his crew for swearing like a well-known, foul-mouthed teddy bear. Pax and Ted had worked together to build the army that ultimately defeated Ruler, and he was pleased to see him looking so well.