Right to Rule: Hunter Wars Book Five (The Hunter Wars 5)

by SD Tanner

“He said Ruler is the Devil and he’s got over two thousand demon super hunters.”

  “Woah!” Benny said, sounding both impressed and worried all at once.

  Pax acknowledged Benny with a nod. “And he said he’s got plenty of demons to make more of ‘em. He reckons we’re runnin’ outta time and that Ruler is huntin’ for the child he thinks is the golden star.”

  “Well, then, you didn’t learn anythin’ new,” he said dourly.

  “Nah, not really, but Gray’s had a change of heart. He real regretful and wants to help.” With a thoughtful look, he added, “I didn’t kill him like I thought I would.” Turning to Nelson, he said, “He’s all yours. I think the man is in need of some spiritual stuff.”

  “Stuff?” Nelson echoed, with a look of surprise. “That’s what you call faith in God? Stuff?”

  “Yeah, you know, he needs some God…” Searching for the right word and failing, he shrugged and added, “stuff.”

  Rolling his eyes at his brother, he turned his attention to the group. “So what’s the plan for the UK, Ted?”

  Ip was obviously bored with their discussion, and wriggling free of his embrace, she left the room. Watching her go, he wished he could join her, but Captain Ted boomed loudly. “Pay attention, Gears!”

  He gave Captain Ted a dirty look, but undeterred he continued, “We did a fast recon of the UK and it looks like some of the major distribution centers and warehouses are pretty much untouched. There are hunters there, but less of them and we think we can manage to access the supplies. There does seem to be a hostile force on the ground who call themselves the Krays, but they don’t seem to be organized enough to deal with military-trained combat shooters. I don’t think we should base ourselves from the mainland. Axel took us across to the Isle of Wight, and it looks like we could clear it and use it as a base. It’s good for farming, and it has an infrastructure of power and water that we could get working, but it’s got no manufacturing. Across the water from it there’s a main dock in Southampton filled with thousands of unopened shipping containers. We reckon there’ll be food in some of them. If not, then there’s more ready supplies on the mainland. I think we should move fifteen to twenty thousand people by transport ships and set up there immediately.”

  Kat interrupted and said, “That would go a long way to solving my problems, Ted. If I have fifteen to twenty thousand less people to feed and worry about, that alone would be a great help. We’re still receiving hundreds of people every week and I can’t keep up as it is.”

  “What about medical?” He asked.

  Answering for Captain Ted, Kat said, “We have enough medical people to be able to put together teams to go with them.”

  “Plus there’s a hospital on the island,” Axel added helpfully.

  “Okay,” he said. “But you need to take our best electrical guy, and that’s Jordy.”

  Jordy was the electrician who set up the power for their original base and the ship. In the early days, with his forty years in the electrical trade, Jordy was integral to their survival by getting the power working wherever they needed it. Since then, they’d found more electricians, but he still placed all his faith in Jordy. As far as he was concerned, Jordy was some kind of genius when it came to anything electrical, and any new base set up always needed a genius to get the power working.

  “No problem,” Captain Ted replied. “I’ll sort it out with him. I’m not seeing a huge problem with this. We have the transport ships. We have power and water specialists. The infrastructure is in place. There’s supplies all over the mainland, including the nearby docks, and we can use air support to help us recon supplies and protect the convoys. It all looks very doable to me.”

  “Yeah, but that’s what you thought about Ruler’s camp,” Pax said bluntly.

  At the mention of the near disaster at Ruler’s camp, Captain Ted sighed deeply. “So, tell me what I might be missing.”

  Backing up his brother’s point, he said, “You’ve gotta think defensively, Ted. Split the boats, so you don’t get everyone on one or even two transports. Take extra air power and recon before you dock any boats. Get a ground force in position before any of the untrained survivors get there, so you know the place is clear. And use Logan to clear the land of hunters and be thorough. You know what a single hunter can do to an island. We lost half our people on Haven thanks to one hunter.”

  “And don’t jus’ take the survivors, Ted,” Pax added. “Make sure you’ve got a good proportion of armed scavengers and combat shooters landing first. If anythin’ goes wrong, they’ve gotta better chance of defending themselves.”

  Both Captain Ted and Cutter were writing notes in the small spiral bound pads they always carried with them. Looking up from his notebook, Captain Ted asked, “When are you guys heading out? I wanna run our plans past you before you go.”

  Raising his eyebrows, he looked at Pax and TL quizzically. “Whatdaya think?”

  “Well, I’m sick of sitting around here,” TL replied morosely.

  “Oh well, yeah,” Pax replied sarcastically. “We base all our decisions on keepin’ you amused, TL.”

  Flashing Pax an annoyed look, TL said abruptly, “Fuck off, Pax.”

  With his eyes widening in mock alarm, Pax turned to him and said plaintively, “I don’t wanna go with TL. He’s so fuckin’ pissed right now, he might kill us instead of Ruler.”

  Inwardly agreeing he could think of better things to do than travel anywhere with TL while he was in such foul mood, he sighed. “Shaddup, Pax. You’ve been annoyin’ TL for decades. It’s time you got some payback for bein’ such a pain in the ass.”

  Logan interrupted their bickering. “Fun though it is to listen to you boys piss all over one another, it isn’t getting me out of here any faster. Could you get to the point?”

  Before asking to be infected with the designer virus, Logan was a Colonel in the Army. When Ruler took over the bunker he was in, he’d held Logan’s mind caught in the moment of his daughter’s death for months. Despite reliving the grief of losing his daughter over and over, he recovered and was determined to support him to bring down Ruler. With that intent, he’d requested to be infected with the designer virus. Now Farrington had significantly improved the designer virus, it no longer did as much damage to the host and the new infected people retained many of their original skills. Logan was now able to kill hunters with a touch, but was also still a capable leader and he knew how to handle a gun. He and Logan already discussed whether he could join them on their mission to smoke out Ruler. Although he’d was happy to bring Logan with them, they’d agreed with so few Infected left after the attack on the Ranch, he was needed to help set up the UK base.

  Always aware that Logan was trained to lead in a way he wasn’t, he nodded. “We know Ruler has set up in New York…’

  “What!” Captain Ted exclaimed. “What the hell is he doing there?”

  “Well, I’m guessin’ he’s killing and maiming people like he usually does.”

  “Not jus’ that,” Pax added grimly. “Accordin’ to Gray, people don’t jus’ die now. Somehow Ruler keeps ‘em alive and suffering even when they oughta be dead.”

  Remembering his visit into the mind of Ruler, he knew Pax was right and he’d seen people kept alive after they were physically dead. Ruler was the walking embodiment of hell, and he wondered what man could ever do to make himself deserving of such eternal torment. In his view, mankind could be shabby and careless with one another, but outright evil behavior never prevailed in the long-term.

  “The sooner we get started on the attack the better. We need to swing by Wolfie’s base. He should send all his non-combat trained people to our bases, and they can start shippin’ out to the UK with our survivors. Then we’ll head up to New York. We’re gonna take six combat shooters with us, plus Mackenzie and the four of us. Hatch is gonna work as our pilot for the mission, but we’re gonna need vehicles, so I’m gonna have another eight combat shooters head out on road to meet us up ther
e. Benny is gonna lead the on-road team.”

  “What are you going to do once you’re there?” Cutter asked.

  “We dunno what’s going on in New York. Fagan has pulled all the maps for us and given us a briefing on the layout. Ruler would only have gone there ‘cos there’s people there. We’re guessing the people are probably on the two main islands, Manhattan and Staten Island. It makes sense. If they cleared most of the hunters out, then being islands it would have been safe enough, but they wouldn’t have expected Ruler to roll in. And if Ruler has a lot more super hunters, then he could have just marched in with a million hunters and it would have been game over for anyone who was there.”

  “So, what would he be doing in New York?” Kat asked.

  “You don’t wanna know, Kat,” Captain Ted replied grimly.

  “Yes I do, Ted. I deal with the survivors who turn up at our bases in a terrible state. I deal with the tragedy of what happens every day, so don’t pussyfoot around me!”

  Captain Ted looked at Kat apologetically. “Okay, I’m sorry, but what we found at the camp was nothing like I expected. People were being kept in small cages and they were barely human.”

  Shaking his head, Nelson said in his rich baritone voice, “That isn’t true, Ted. You told us they saved you and your men, so they were still human. They still cared enough to make sure you all got out alive even though they didn’t.”

  “I hadn’t looked at it like that. There was an old woman who stopped to talk to me and she told me to live. To let them take on the fight.”

  “Then for all his cruelty, Ruler didn’t win,” Nelson said calmly. “Evil only has the power it takes from others. If it isn’t fed, it can’t sustain. If man stays strong in the face of evil, then evil will always lose.”

  He hoped Nelson was right and that evil had no natural strength, but man was being tested beyond reason. “But man can only take so much, Nelson. It’s time to step on this little shit.”

  With the meeting concluded, he walked out of the building with the others and stood under the eaves watching the rain. It was forming puddles on the battered concrete ground of the base, and he remembered it was drizzling when he walked into the building several hours earlier. Ip seemed delighted by the rain and was looking up with her arms outstretched, allowing the raindrops to wash down her face and drench her hair and body. He shook his head at her simple contentment and then frowned. Staring at her slender frame reminded him of the man and woman he saw when he walked in. It was only now he realized why they struck him as odd. They were both wearing sunglasses, but there was no sun, only rain.

  CHAPTER FIVE: Blood sport (Angel)

  Sitting at a wooden picnic table outside the CDC, she enjoyed the warmth of the sun and reflected on the past two months of her short life. At only twenty-two years of age, she felt like an old woman. With her raven black hair, pale complexion and deep blue eyes, she was considered quite a beauty and men always flocked to her. Despite their attention, she wasn’t interested in men or women. During her studies at college in St. Louis to become a Registered Nurse, she hadn’t dated, she couldn’t afford to. Her mother worked as a cleaner and her father did whatever odd jobs he could find. Mostly he worked as an unskilled laborer, so even when he was working, he didn’t earn much. She’d wanted to be a doctor, but there was no way her parents could afford her education, so she opted for nursing instead. Even paying for her education to become a nurse stretched their meagre resources to the limit and beyond.

  To help fund her education, she worked at night as a stripper. It was horrible job. She didn’t like stripping and the leering male attention embarrassed her. Still a virgin, she was lucky to make friends with an older women, called Jenna, who kept an eye out for her. Jenna was married to Bud, who was also the head of security for the club and he made sure no one got in her way. All in all, considering she was stripping for living, she was well protected, but it put her off men and she’d never fancied women. When the virus erupted, she was at home sleeping after a long nightshift at St. Louis University Hospital. The first she heard about the virus was the gunfire that erupted outside her apartment. Shocked, she’d leapt out of bed, and still hidden behind the curtain, peered through the window at the street below. It had been chaos. At that stage of the virus, infected people turned into the shambling undead and they attacked the living. As she stood transfixed, she watched a woman chased and overwhelmed by a pack of undead, and within moments stand up again even though she was clearly dead.

  Frightened, she’d stayed inside her apartment unsure of what to do next. Then her phone rang and it was Bud from the strip club telling her he was on his way to get her. After he and Jenna rescued her, she found herself with a group of twenty-five survivors and they headed out of the city to the country. The group settled in a remote farm, and were surviving pretty well until the hunters turned up a few months later. They stayed at the farmhouse for another four months before finding supplies became increasingly difficult, as hunters hid from the daylight in the shops and houses. Deciding to leave, the group slowly made their way south. She lived that way for over six months, and watched their group gradually die and dwindle down to a mere handful of people. It was chaotic and they would settle for a week here and a month there, but they always had to keep moving, and between the hunters and the violent gangs, it was a daily struggle to survive. Eventually they fell prey to the Black Army and that was how she ended up in the warehouse where Captain Ted found her. For some reason, although her name was Angela, Captain Ted always called her Angel just as Jenna and Bud did. It struck a chord with her and she’d felt safe with him.

  Remembering the past year and a half made her want to cry. Jenna and Bud treated her like a kid sister before the outbreak, and after it they continued to protect her as if she were their own child. She’d never understood their attachment to her, but Jenna had always fiercely protected her innocence, and she missed them almost as much as she missed her real parents. Sitting on the bench feeling lonely, she couldn’t even begin to think about what happened in the months she’d been held prisoner in the warehouse at the camp. Her time there was a blur she chose to bring into sharp focus. The warehouse was used as the holding area for people to be possessed by demons, and she’d seen hundreds of young, fit and always attractive men and women being possessed. Even in the warmth of the sun, she shuddered at the memories she preferred to suppress. As far as she knew, she was the sole survivor of the warehouse, and she would always be indebted to Captain Ted for saving her.

  “There you are,” a voice said from behind her.

  Half-turning, she saw it was one of the doctors from the CDC. His name was Terry and he’d been the one to examine her when she first arrived from the camp with Captain Ted. Watching him warily, she was relieved when he chose to sit on the opposite side of the wooden picnic table. Having been imprisoned for months and handled roughly, she still didn’t like anyone touching her or even being too close to her.

  Smiling, Terry said, “I’ve spoken to Kat and she says she’ll come by when she can to check you in, but we need nurses here, so she’s hoping you’ll agree to stay at the CDC.” When she looked unconvinced, he added, “It’s perfectly safe here. The place is underground, so you don’t need to worry about hunters.”

  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, but she was exhausted, and even now she could feel adrenalin buzzing through her veins. She hoped they might let her live on one of the islands for at least a month to help settle her nerves.

  “I…I don’t know.”

  Terry smiled warmly at her. “Why don’t I give you a full tour of the place, then you can decide what you want to do. Don’t worry, Kat won’t ask you to do anything you don’t want to do. She’s not like that.” Tilting his head at her, he asked, “Can’t hurt to look around now, can it?”

  She guessed not and together they walked back into the CDC. The CDC was an ugly square building that sat in the middle of a field surrounded by more fields. Under the squat buildi
ng were several levels and she’d only ever seen the first of these. The first level was a hospital with two operating theatres and thirty or so beds for inpatients. The doctors treated simpler cases at the bases, so only people needing more complex care were brought to the CDC. Thirty or so beds was far from enough for the burgeoning population at the bases, but from the little she’d gathered, their numbers had been growing very rapidly.

  Leading her down a flight of stairs, Terry opened the door to the second level, which was a secured area. Despite her anxiety, she was curious to see what lay beneath the hospital and she looked around with interest. Facing her was a long corridor, and on each side were about ten or more doors leading into more rooms. Some of the rooms had large glass viewing windows, so a person could see inside. There were a few people wearing white medical coats quietly walking in and out of some of the rooms.

  “What’s in here?”

  “This is where we infect the living to create the Infected. Anyone who chooses to become infected is brought here, and we usually infect them in groups of ten to twelve people. There’s a failure rate and those that don’t make it are kept here to be cared for until they die.”

  She didn’t know people could die from being infected by the designer virus and she asked, “How many die?”

  “Less now that Farrington improved the designer virus, but we can lose twenty percent of the people we infect.”

  “That’s awful. Why do people volunteer?” Before Terry could answer, she shook her head and answered her own question, “I’ve seen what Ruler and his demons do. Anything to stop them, I suppose.”

  “What was it like at the camp?”

  She shuddered. “I don’t want to think about that.”

  “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, but if you ever need to talk, I’m here for you.” As if to break the moment, he clapped his hands and said with pride, “Let me show you the heart of the CDC!”

  Terry led her into one of the rooms, and she saw there were six hospital beds and each had a person sitting in it. Not one of them looked sick and she wondered why they were there.