by SD Tanner
Gears patted him heavily on the shoulder. “You’ve had a shit day. Maybe you should go get some sleep. BD’s waitin’ for you in our quarters.”
At the mention of her name, he smiled and remembered he hadn’t called her Blonde Distraction for no reason. She’d always managed to cheer him up even if they didn’t have sex. He’d always found her unpredictable nature took his mind away from whatever was worrying him, plus he did enjoy looking at her.
Making their way towards the main living area on the base, he nodded. “So, where we at now?”
“The CDC is down, but they’re settin’ up a hospital here. Ted lost a transport ship and a coupla thousand people. He had to sink the ship and take down our own people on the wharf. Ted and TL are sortin’ supplies and troops to be airlifted, plus they’re setting up a convoy. I’m gonna head out with Ip to Wolfie’s base at dawn. I should get his guys en route to New York within the day.”
He was worried Gears might do something stupid before their troops arrived in New York. “Yeah, I heard about the Isle of Wight and the CDC from the crews helpin’ us on the ship, but what’s the plan when you get to New York?”
“I dunno yet. It depends on where the demon super hunters are. If they’re still in Staten Island like BD said they were, then maybe we can jus’ walk in and take the city. If not, I guess it’s gonna come down to a street-by-street fight.”
A feeling of worry washed through him. “How the hell are we gonna win that? They’ve got a million hunters.”
“I know, but whatdaya wanna do, Pax? Do you think we can leave more than fifty thousand people to die?”
He sighed. “No, ‘course not, but I don’t wanna get us all killed either.”
Gears nodded. “Neither do I, but I don’t think we can ignore the situation. We might not be able to save ‘em, but we can at least go up in force and do what we reasonably can. I ain’t gonna sit on my ass in our base knowin’ there’s people bein’ torn apart like that jus’ ‘cos I can’t see an obvious solution right now.”
It seemed both crazy and sane to mobilize battalions of combat shooters to head into a battle they might not be able to have. It was crazy because it wasted valuable resources like fuel and potentially lives, traveling anywhere wasn’t safe these days, but at the same time it was sane. If they sat back and did nothing then Ruler just made them just as bad as he was. He understood his brother’s reasoning and there was no argument from him.
“Yeah, I hear ya. If nothin’ else we gotta try and fail, but if we don’t try at all, we ain’t got no chance of success.”
Gears gave him a hard sidelong look. “You’ve changed, little brother. You’ve finally got some sense about you.”
He snorted. “I always had sense, Gears, I jus’ didn’t see any point in mentioning it. You wouldn’t have listened anyway.”
They’d reached the edge of the living containers. “I gotta go check on the medical teams. You look like hell and you should get some sleep.” Putting his arm around Ip’s shoulders, Gears added, “Tell TL to find somewhere else to bunk for the night. We should give you and BD some time together. You’ve waited long enough to talk to her again, and you really should talk to her before you head back to New York.”
He knew what Gears meant. Taking control of New York could become a full-scale battle and there was a chance he might not make it back. Whatever he had to say to BD, he’d better do it before he left, but he wasn’t sure what to say to a woman who’d chosen to be reborn just to be with him. For all the times he’d wished her back just to tell her how he felt, now she was here, he was dumbstruck.
Ip speaks: Speak your heart, your head is fluffy. She must not be all that fussy.
Giving Ip a mock filthy look, he asked Gears, “How the hell do you put up with her readin’ your mind? It’s kinda rude.”
Glancing down at Ip, Gears smiled. “She loves us for who we really are. It’s all good.” Looking back at him, he added with a nod, “I can live with the mind readin’ thing, but the woman’s gotta helluva mouth on her.”
He laughed and slapping Gears on the shoulder. “I’ll see you in New York, bro’.” Before turning away, he grabbed Gears arm firmly and gave him a hard stare. “Don’t be a hero up there, bro’. You wait for us. Ya hear me.”
Frowning and pulling his arm away, Gears replied, “I’ll do what I do, Pax.” Sniffing derisively, he added, “But I won’t get myself killed. Who’s gonna kick your ass if I ain’t here.”
Keep him safe Ip, he thought, as he continued staring at Gears sternly.
Ip speaks: He will do as War does. In the laws of the universe you must trust.
Once Gears and Ip headed off, he walked through alleyways between the living containers to the far end of the base where the battalions were assembling. Reaching the edge of the living area, he saw thousands of men and women, all dressed in matching ACUs, piling weapons, boxes of ammo and supplies next to a wide range of vehicles. He could hear a voice over a PA system issuing orders and, although to a casual observer it looked chaotic, he could see they were making good progress. The sun had dipped low in the sky, and walking into the noisy chaos, he heard the loud clunk as the stadium lights clicked on and the area suddenly lit up. They were in for a long night to get the convoy ready to depart at dawn. Pushing his way past the crowds of shooters, each busily preparing for their mission, and stepping around crates and boxes, he finally found the man on the PA system standing on top of a Stryker.
TL put the microphone down, crouched down. “Hey, how’s the ship?”
He shrugged. “It’s done.” Looking back over the busy shooters, he asked, “Whatdaya need me to do?”
Captain Ted appeared at his side. “Get some rest. You look like hell.”
“Yeah, you really do, Pax, and you always look pretty bad. And I need you to kick the convoy off in the morning.”
Running his hand through his untidy sandy grey mop of hair, he complained, “Why’s everyone bitchin’ at me for lookin’ like crap.”
“’Cos you look like crap,” Captain Ted replied.
He looked Captain Ted up and down. “You don’t look your best either. Gears told me what happened at the Isle of Wight.”
“Sorry, I fucked up.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about? There’s over eighteen thousand people now settlin’ into a new island who are safe and won’t be goin’ hungry.” Slapping Captain Ted on the back, he said, “You did good and you called it right. Some days you jus’ gotta take the lesser loss.”
TL was staring at him intently and nodding. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard wisdom from you before.”
He rolled his eyes. “You and Gears don’t got no goddamn respect.”
“There’s a good reason for that, Pax.”
Deciding Captain Ted and his brother didn’t need him, he nodded. “I’m gonna go get some sleep. Come bang on my door if you need me.”
Captain Ted nodded. “We should be fine. See ya in the morning.”
He headed back toward the area with the living containers, and on the way he stopped at one of the containers that operated as a kitchen and grabbed several hot meals to go.
As the server handed him two plastic boxes and several bread rolls, he asked, “Is everything okay out there?”
Looking up at the young man in the window of the container, he replied, “Yeah…well, no…I mean there’s no immediate threat to the base no more, but we got some shit to deal with in New York.”
Immediately the other servers, chef and people waiting to be served stopped what they were doing and paid attention to him. Putting down the hot food on the counter, he turned to face them all. “Okay, it’s goin’ a little crazy, so you probably ain’t been briefed yet, but we’re doin’ okay. Yeah, we lost six hundred and thirty-seven people on the ship, but that means the other six hundred of ‘em are okay and we’ll fix the ship up. Yeah, there were some problems on the Isle of Wight, but over eighteen thousand people are doin’ jus’ fine now. Yeah, the C
DC is down, but most of ‘em got out alive, and we’re gonna have the hospital at the base now so that’s gonna work out better.”
Sounding worried, a man asked, “How’d all this happen?”
“We was infiltrated and we’re gonna have to sort out better security, but we’ve got an aggressive and determined enemy.”
A woman wearing ACUs nodded and said loudly, “Live to fight another day!” The people around her nodded and more than a few echoed her sentiment.
Winking at her, he picked up his hot food again. “That’s the spirit.”
Leaving the crowd to spread the word, he walked into the container they used when they were sleeping at the base. BD was sitting on a bunk bed and he walked over and sat on the bed opposite her. She was wearing clean ACU pants and a t-shirt that stretched tight over her large and full breasts. Inwardly he groaned and thought, if she’d picked this body then she’d picked almost too well. With her bright blonde hair, full round face and generous curves, he thought she was possibly even more stunning than before. Admiring her sexy beauty, but trying not to stare, he hoped she remembered him even if she didn’t know who he was.
He handed her a plastic container, a spoon and chunk of fresh bread. “How ya doin?”
She took the food from him, and setting aside the bread, she opened the plastic container and breathed in the rich smelling stew. He ripped the lid from his own plastic container, dug his spoon in and began to eat hungrily. It’d been several days since he’d had a meal, much less a hot one.
Mixing the stew with her spoon, she asked, “I’m okay, but what is this place?”
“It’s one of our bases,” he replied, through a mouthful of stew and bread. “We’ve got three islands, three bases and another one led by a guy called Wolfie. Plus there was a ship, but it needs fixin’ up and so does our Ranch.”
She handed him a bottle of water. “You have a lot of places then.”
“Guess so,” he replied, not really interested in talking about their operation. Gulping water from the bottle, he wiped his mouth. “Do you remember me at all?”
She put her plastic container down on the small side table next to the bed. “No, but when you found me I was happy, although I don’t know why, ‘cos I don’t know who you are.”
Pleased she’d been happy to see him, he smiled. “Maybe you do kinda remember me. You came to see me a few times after you died.”
“You seem to think I was alive before. How’s that possible?”
“I dunno, baby. I jus’ know it happens and Ip says she knows ya. She died and came back too, ya know.” Having quickly finished his meal, he put his plastic container on the table next to hers. “What do you remember?”
Looking contemplative, her face creased with a slight frown. “Not much. I woke up in a room and there were hunters everywhere and people were screaming. After a bit it got quiet, so I left. I don’t really know where I was. It kinda looked like a hospital, but it was underground and I had to climb a lot of stairs to get to the street. There was no one around, so I kept walking until I found all the people again and I just kinda joined them, but the hunters won’t come near me.”
With her brilliant blue eyes, she was clearly infected with the designer virus. “That’s ‘cos you can kill ‘em by touchin’ ‘em. You were in a CDC and you were infected with the designer virus. Hunters always stay away from the Infected, ‘cos they know you can kill ‘em.”
BD tilted her head. “What’s the designer virus?”
“They made it in the CDCs to try and counter the hunter virus. It didn’t quite work how they expected. It doesn’t kill the hunter virus, but anyone infected with the designer virus can kill hunters by touchin’ ’em. It also makes ‘em telepathic with one another, which is why you can talk to Ip and other people like you in your head.”
Flicking her head, so her blonde curls bounced, she smiled happily. “Oh, sounds like it’s useful then.”
Her familiar mannerism made him smile. “Oh yeah, it’s useful, baby. We’ve needed the Infected to help us get this far. But do you remember who you were before?”
Frowning, she shook her head and pouting slightly. “I have lots of pictures in my head, but nothing is joined up.” Smiling again, she added brightly, “When I first saw you I remembered an apple and I was really happy about it. Seems a bit silly to be so happy about an apple.”
He’d brought her apples when she’d been spying for them at Major major asshole’s base, and he was sure that’s what she remembered. Suddenly happy himself, he grinned. “I brought you apples the last time we was together. You were real happy that day.”
Her eyes widened. “Why did you bring me apples?”
“Well, we were a couple, you know, like we were datin’ and I wanted to do somethin’ nice for ya.”
“I don’t know what dating is.”
Feeling awkward, he replied, “You know, we were havin’…sex.”
“Oh, it doesn’t sound like we liked one another.”
Confused, he said, “Yeah, we did…that’s why we had sex.”
Screwing up her face, her nose wrinkled in that way he’d always thought was cute. “But it’s not a nice thing to do.”
She stood up abruptly, and peeling off her t-shirt, he saw her heavy breasts were badly bruised. Then she undid her baggy ACU pants and they slipped to the floor. Standing in front of him, wearing just a pair of small panties, he saw she had deep bruises on her upper thighs. Looking at the ugly red and purple marks, he felt his face tighten and knew Hull was a dead man. It was less a feeling of anger as it was a cold confidence that he would hunt him down and kill him. There’d be no chance of redemption for Hull. He decided his life would end so abruptly, he’d never have the time to ask for it.
He asked softly, “Hull’s handiwork?”
“He said he owned us all and I had to do whatever he said. The sex didn’t bother me, but it really hurt. He told me that’s what sex was like.” Leaning down closer to his face, she whispered almost conspiratorially, “But if this is what sex is like, I don’t like it. It’s not very nice. Straightening up again, she sighed and said, “But I’ll have sex with you if you want me to.”
Looking up at her bright blue eyes, he shook his head and said gently, “Nah, we don’t gotta do that, baby. What Hull did to you ain’t right and he’s a fuckin’ asshole.” Looking down again at the bruises on her legs that were just inches from his face, he shook his head and said coldly, “And I am gonna kill that sonofabitch for doin’ this.”
Still staring at her bruises, he felt her stroke the top of his head. “You’re very sweet and so protective of me.” Tilting his head up to look at her face, she smiled down at him. “We’ve done this before.”
“Whatdaya mean?”
“You, down there. Me standing in front of you. I’ve seen your face down there before and it made me happy.”
He’d always admired her resilience. BD was complex mix of strength and vulnerability, and her moods and her take on the world always kept him guessing. He knew she could become intensely angry about things he thought unimportant, and offhand about other things he assumed would upset her. Genuinely unpredictable, she’d always held him captivated by being both sexy and just a little wild.
“Oh yeah, baby, we’ve been here before and we both liked that…a whole lot.”
Now happy again, she asked cheekily, “So? What did you do?”
Still looking up at her, he knew BD would follow him wherever he took her, but he wanted to do it right this time. No matter what she remembered, she was still the woman he was so in love with, that even after she died he was unable to move on. Ip called her his wife and he guessed she really was. This was a woman who’d died for them and then chose to be reborn to be with him. It wasn’t something to be taken lightly and he didn’t want to rush anything. For some reason, he’d been given a second chance and he’d wasn’t going to screw it up this time. Standing up, he put his arms around her waist and kissed her on the nose. She pulled
back in his arms and looked at him quizzically.
“There ain’t no rush, baby. We’re gonna do it right this time,” he said softy. Pulling her deeper into his embrace, he felt her wrap her arms around him as she molded into the shape of his body.
CHAPTER THIRTY: Dance with the Devil (Gears)
He heard a knock at the door and Ip tightened her arms around his neck. They were lying on a single bunk in the pilot’s quarters at the warehouse next to the helipad. Although there were four bunk beds, theirs was the only one in use. Hatch had called all the pilots out an hour earlier to get them ready to fly to New York. With the pilots gone, he and Ip decided to take advantage of their privacy, and he didn’t appreciate the interruption.
Turning his face away from Ip, he shouted irritably, “Who is it?”
A woman’s voice replied nervously, “Umm…my name’s Angel and I need to talk to you.”
He looked down at Ip and she looked up at him and sighed unhappily. “If it ain’t urgent, then it’ll have to wait.”
“Okay,” Angel replied timidly. “I’ll just wait out here for you.”
Rolling his eyes in disgust, he growled to Ip, “Fuck, that’s jus’ gonna put me off my game.”
Lying underneath him, Ip giggled and tightening her legs around his back, she pulled his mouth onto hers. Immediately dismissing the woman waiting outside the door, his mind joined with her and their shared sexual pleasures drowned out all other thoughts. By the time he and Ip were ready to leave the pilot’s quarters, he’d completely forgotten about Angel and when they walked out into the open area of the warehouse, he was surprised to find a petite, raven-haired woman with striking blue eyes waiting outside their door. Next to her was a slender man with dark hair who was sitting in a wheelchair. Holding his gun, pack and tactical vest, he was eager to leave and get on with his mission, and sighing inwardly, he stopped and looked them expectantly.
The man in the wheelchair gave him welcoming smile. “Hi, I’m Jacob. I’m the guy you saved from Ruler’s camp.”
Looking at Jacob closely, he remembered talking to him in the bird at Ruler’s camp. “Yeah, I remember you. Glad you made it.”