by SD Tanner
‘I agree,’ Nelson replied. ‘We can’t stay here either. I think we need to set up a stable fully functioning land base like the one you had.’
‘Agreed. And we need to start sellin’ it,’ he added.
Nelson looked puzzled and asked, ‘Selling it, Gears? You don’t strike me as a salesman of any sort.’
Grinning at Nelson, he replied, ‘We need people to join the base, and by sellin’ it I mean we need to let people know through radio, signage and flyovers that the base is there.’
‘I like the way you think,’ Nelson replied with a grin. ‘Question is, where do we set the base up?’
‘I reckon we can use an existing military base, possibly one of the Naval bases,’ he replied. ‘Then we’ll be within easy reach of one another and we can trade supplies. The base will need fresh food, and the islands will need to keep usin’ supplies from the land.’
‘Okay,’ Nelson said. ‘But I have eighty people to move.’
‘We can take ‘em by air providin’ they leave most of their shit behind. Bird takes up to sixteen plus pilot and co-pilot,’ he replied. ‘Plus ya can borrow one of the co-pilots Hatch is trainin’ providin’ ya don’t mind takin’ ya life in ya hands.’
Nelson snorted and said plainly, ‘I do that every day, my friend.’
Leaning back on the bench, Nelson asked, ‘What’s your end game with this one, Gears?’
He leaned back on the bench and said casually, ‘I got a radio call from the UK.’
Nelson sat up abruptly and exclaimed, ‘You could have led with that, Gears!’
Only now realizing it was pretty big news, he replied, ‘Sorry, but it wasn’t the first thing on my mind. The guy’s name was Philip and he told me he already has seven thousand people on the water. We gave him our coordinates and I wouldn’t be surprised if he and his flotilla turn up. It got me thinkin’ about how many more people we might have on water. I need to send that sub out to go find ‘em and fetch ‘em, but we gotta get the islands and the bases up ‘cos we got nowhere to put ‘em.’
‘And the end game, Gears?’ Nelson asked again.
‘Well, if we can get enough fightin’ forces, we’ll go hunt down the super hunters. They’re the main problem now. They make the hunters too effective,’ he replied grimly. ‘Plus we got Ip’s people, and the scientists workin’ on replicatin’ her species.’
Looking surprised, Nelson asked, ‘Ip’s a species now?’
‘Well, she certainly ain’t the same as us, is she?’ He replied honestly.
‘And you’re okay with that?’ Nelson asked. ‘I mean you and Ip are an item right?’
‘Sure, it’s a new form of inter-species relations,’ he replied with a grin. ‘Plus havin’ a woman who never speaks and can read your mind has it good points.’
Nelson laughed and said, ‘Probably saves a lot of arguments.’
Afternoon wore into evening and they both headed into the bank to eat and sleep in the vault for the night. Nelson and his people cleared the vault of all furniture, but it was still a tight fit for eighty people. With his ability to kill hunters with a touch, Isaac didn’t sleep in the vault with his group and Ip clearly decided she wasn’t going to either. He wasn’t happy with that arrangement. Ever since the super hunters targeted Ip at the Ranch he managed to avoid having her sleep on land. He cursed himself for not thinking this trip to Nelson’s base through.
‘Honey. ya need to sleep in the vault with the rest of us,’ he told her sternly.
Ip was never inclined to do anything she didn’t want to and tonight was no exception. She gave him a blank stare with her odd blue eyes, clearly refusing to step foot inside the vault. He realized short of tossing her over his shoulder and physically carrying her down the short flight of stairs, he would not see her in the vault tonight.
Sighing, he eased himself down onto the sleeping bag Isaac had given her and said, ‘Fine. We’ll sleep in the tellers’ room tonight.’
Happy with his choice, she snuggled up to him and he wrapped his arm around her slender shoulders, kissed her hair and thought he was an idiot for giving in to her. He loved Ip in a way he never knew he could, but at times he found his inability to make her do anything frustrating. Never having felt this way about a woman before, he was at a bit of a loss about the line between being protective and being overbearing. His solution was to let her make her own decisions and be prepared to fight to the death for her if she got it wrong. Ip didn’t seem to be even slightly fazed by his dilemma. Her breathing became slow and shallow and he realized she was already asleep.
He didn’t know what time he woke up, but he was cold and Ip was gone. Flicking on his flashlight, he saw there were at least twenty hunters standing still and silent in front of him. Being utterly motionless, except for a slight swaying, he was struck by how alien they looked. He wasn’t sure whether he should reach for his gun or remain still himself. Time seemed to be suspended and he was suspended with it. Moving only his eyes, he searched for any sign of Ip or Isaac, but they were not within his limited range of vision. His M4A1 was lying just a foot from his hand and slowly he inched his hand towards it. He wasn’t sure why he was bothering. If the twenty or so hunters attacked him, he would be dead with or without his gun. Making a snap decision that if he were to die tonight then it would be with a gun in his hand, he grabbed his weapon swiftly and pulled it into firing position, clicking the safety off as he did.
To his surprise the hunters did not move. They remained silent and still. Aiming his gun at the nearest hunter, he awkwardly climbed to his feet. He wasn’t sure what to do now. If he fired it might wake them up. If he didn’t fire he was standing in the middle of certain death. If he moved he didn’t know where to go. He didn’t want Nelson to open the doors to the vault and let him in, but if he went outside there would only be more hunters. He felt a small surge of irritation, which surprised him. That didn’t seem like the most appropriate response to his situation. I’m sick of this shit, he thought, that’s why I’m irritated. The rules just keep changing.
Despite being a bulky build, he delicately navigated his way through the stack of hunters towards the door. The door led outside the tellers’ area and into the customer area of the bank. Nelson’s group had boarded up all the windows and he couldn’t see outside, but even if the windows were not blocked, he wouldn’t have been able to see past the hunters in front of him anyway. The entrance to the bank was open, and he stepped outside and saw more hunters. Standing still under the moonlight, they were swaying gently like a field of ripened corn ready to be harvested.
Continuing to walk quietly, he carefully stepped around hunters and looked for any sign of Ip or Isaac. Given neither could drive a car, he assumed they must be nearby. He’d walked about 50 yards towards the edge of the car park attached to the small mall, when he saw blonde hair and he knew that had to be Ip. Drawing closer, he saw both Ip and Isaac were standing in front of a super hunter and they were clearly communicating. Isaac turned and walked towards him and they met about twenty yards from where Ip and the super hunter continued to stare at one another silently.
Quietly, he asked, ‘What’s goin’ on?’
‘Ruler wants Ip,’ Isaac blandly replied.
‘That’s not gonna happen,’ he said bluntly.
‘You die,’ Isaac said.
Shrugging, he said, ‘That might happen.’
He realized the super hunter was horse-trading with Ip. His life for hers. Not an option, he decided. He aimed his gun at the super hunter and, in his mind, told Ip to get out of the fuckin’ way and she did. Knowing the super hunter would be wearing body armor, he shot it through the head and watched it drop dead to the ground. At that moment, whatever control the super hunter held over the hunters was lost and the scene erupted into manic movement from all sides. Ip ran straight towards him killing hunters as she ran.
He felt both Isaac and Ip grab at him, pushing him back towards the bank and he fired around them at the moving hunters.
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Knowing he didn’t want to be cornered, he shouted, ‘Not the bank!’
Pulling away from both of them, he headed for one of Nelson’s trucks. Understanding what he hoped to do, Isaac and Ip moved with him, acting as a shield and killing any hunters that neared him. Reaching the truck, he climbed in and left Ip and Isaac to protect it while he fumbled with his radio to get in contact with Nelson in the vault.
‘Nelson! Can ya hear me?’ He shouted.
Feedback whistled on the radio and assumed Nelson was fumbling to get his earpiece in. Sounding croaky, Nelson asked, ‘What’s going on?’
‘Don’t open the vault. The place is crawlin’ with hundreds of hunters,’ he said quickly. ‘Get on the radio to Pax and tell him to bring heavy weapons asap. I’ve killed one super hunter, but there’s probably more. Go! Do it now!’
Outside the windows of the truck, he could see Ip and Isaac threatening and killing hunters. Nelson’s group always left the keys in their trucks hidden under the car mats. Being a big man, he bent awkwardly and fumbled with the car mat until he found the keys and started the truck. As the truck kicked to life, Ip and Isaac immediately clambered through the passenger doors. He gunned the truck, mowing down hunters in his path, feeling the wheels bump as he ran over their prone bodies.
Over the radio, Nelson said, ‘They’re on their way, but they won’t be here for five hours, Gears. What are you going to do?’
That was a good question. He was stuck outside in the dark with over a hundred hunters and probably another super hunter. On the plus side, he was with two people who could kill hunters, but they couldn’t handle a gun or drive a truck.
‘I dunno yet, Nelson,’ he replied candidly. ‘Right now I’m gonna get clear of the area. Then I’ll sort out what to do next.’
Driving over a mile down the road, he pulled into an open area at the side of the road. Ip was sitting in the passenger seat next to him and he twisted to look at her.
Sounding frustrated, he asked, ‘What the hell, honey? Ya coulda woken me up.’
Replying for her Isaac said, ‘No choice.’
Sighing, he knew Ip always did what she believed she had to and he asked, ‘Now what?’
‘More rulers,’ Isaac replied simply.
Looking at Ip, he asked, ‘There are more super hunters back there?’
Isaac replied, ‘Yes. One.’
That meant there would be no relief from the hunters at dawn and Nelson’s group were trapped. He would need to find and kill the super hunter.
He asked Ip, ‘Do ya know where it is?’
Isaac replied for her again and said, ‘Yes.’
‘Then we need to kill it,’ he said bluntly.
Isaac replied again, ‘Yes.’
‘You’re a fun date, honey,’ he said sarcastically, but then he reached across and kissed her gently on the mouth to take the sting from his words.
None of this was her fault. Sure, she probably should have slept in the vault like he wanted her to, but in a sensible world none of this should be happening. He couldn’t blame her for not wanting to concede to every threat life offered these days. He felt the same resistance she did to being cowed by their circumstances.
It would take Pax five hours to load the bird and bring his hell. It was still dark and at night the hunters ruled even without a super hunter. He decided to wait until Pax arrived before confronting the super hunter. With their heavy weapons, Pax could at least thin the herd of hunters.
Radioing Nelson, he said, ‘I’m about a mile out, but you’ve gotta super hunter back there and dawn won’t save ya. I’m gonna wait until Pax bombs the area and then we’ll go kill the super hunter.’
‘Okay,’ Nelson replied. ‘Let me know when you’re on the move.’
‘Roger that,’ he replied.
Turning to Isaac, he asked, ‘What was she talkin’ to the super hunter about?’
He waited while Isaac spoke to Ip in their strange telepathic way and then Isaac turned to him and said simply, ‘Her.’
‘Why do they want her?’ He asked.
‘Stop you,’ Isaac replied.
That raised a lot of questions in his mind. How did they know what he and his brothers were doing? Whoever or whatever they were, they had tens of millions of hunters under their control. Why did they care what a small group of humans were trying to do? For all their success, he knew it was a drop in the ocean and the odds were well stacked against them. He wasn’t sure they would succeed, but he was willing to fight to the death. He knew when your back is against a wall, you either lay down and die or you come out fighting prepared to die.
‘Why do they care?’ He asked.
‘You could win,’ Isaac replied.
Smiling, he thought, we might win? That was becoming increasingly unlikely the more he learned. Their enemy weren’t supposed to be interested in what they were doing and he’d expected to travel under the wire on this one. Sighing, he thought, this is just another change in the dynamic. Their mindless enemy had a mind and they had them in their sights. He realized that’d probably always been true and there was nothing he could do about it tonight.
Settling himself back into the cushioned seat in the truck, he said, ‘Keep an eye out for the hunters will ya.’
After setting his watch to wake him in four hours he went to sleep knowing he would need to be alert and ready to fight very soon.
The alarm on his watch had a persistent buzz that grew louder and he woke up not realizing he’d even been asleep. For the second time that night he woke up alone, but outside the window he saw Ip and Isaac were sitting on the hood of the truck. While he looked at the back of her head, Ip turned and smiled at him. It was morning, and feeling stiff he climbed out of the truck and looked around at the flat scrubby land where he parked the truck. There were no supplies in the truck and, although he was thirsty, there was nothing to be had. Walking across to the edge of the road, he relieved his bladder and while he did he thought about what he needed to do next.
Zipping himself up, he radioed Nelson, ‘Mornin’ Nelson. Have ya heard from Pax?’
Nelson must have been waiting for his call and answering immediately, he said, ‘Yes. He should be here in about thirty minutes. What’s your plan?’
‘Get Pax to thin the herd. Then we’ll take out the super hunter,’ he replied evenly.
Driving the truck to about four hundred yards from the bank, he watched as the Black Hawk circled the site. The side door on the Black Hawk was open and Pax unloaded dozens of grenades from a MK 19 Grenade Launcher into the car park around the bank. Even from where he sat, he saw dust clouds burst out of the car park. Pax was making a mess of the place. The bird circled back and he drove into the now ruined car park. Navigating around the rubble of broken concrete, pieces of cars and tangles of dead hunters, Isaac guided him to the mall itself and he pulled up near the once glass main doors. Thanks to Pax, there was almost no glass intact left anywhere. Climbing out of the truck, he crunched through broken shards and walked into the mall.
It was a small mall, clearly never updated to modern standards and it must have looked tired even before the end of the world. Sitting in the front entrance was a central coffee cart with a now dusty red banner advertising a brand of coffee he didn’t recognize. To his left was a woman’s clothing store with clothes still hanging neatly in rows on the metal rails. Next to it was a stationary store with cards and small gifts. To his right was a brightly colored mobile phone store, which looked oddly out of place amongst the drabness of the mall. Next to the mobile phone store was a donut shop, but there was nothing left other than dried colored lumps that were once donuts. Obviously the mall hadn’t been touched since the day the virus erupted. It was a dusty sad looking piece of the past, and the lack of natural light gave it a gloominess that only added to its dreary feel.
Hunters had made the mall their home and it reeked of vomit. Walking in, hunters prowled and growled around him, but were not willing to draw close while Ip an
d Isaac protected him from both sides. To make her point Ip occasionally snarled, but the hunters were already wary. She led him to the mobile phone shop. Peering inside, he saw it had a glass frontage to the car park of the mall. There was a super hunter standing at the window watching the car park. It didn’t acknowledge his presence, but continued to stare out of the window. Trying to understand what it was looking at, he checked outside the window and could see nothing other than the now destroyed car park. Looking beyond the mall car park, he saw what the super hunter was really doing. A hundred more hunters were converging onto the bank from all directions.
Bringing his gun up, he asked angrily, ‘Are ya fuckin’ stupid or what?’
Without waiting for an answer, he shot the super hunter through the head at point blank range. The super hunter collapsed to the floor and he felt rather than heard the whump whump as Hellfire missiles were fired from the bird. The glass window exploded inward, spraying into his face and body. He put his arm up to block the glass and twisted his body, throwing himself to the ground and taking Ip with him and crashed face down. Isaac was already behind him, and he dropped to the ground with him as if they were connected by wire. Tasting blood in his mouth, he assumed some of the glass found its mark and he promised himself he would smack Pax in the head when he saw him. The missile fire stopped and he could hear gunfire. Grabbing Ip and Isaac, he hauled them both to their feet. Looking out to the car park, he saw Nelsons group were killing the now leaderless hunters. Wiping the blood from his face and probing his mouth with his tongue to find where he’d been cut, he waited while they cleared the area. Once cleared, he walked out of the mall into the car park now filled with hunter body parts, black goo and the rubble of the cars and buildings caught in the battle between humans and hunters.
Seeing Pax, he roared, ‘Pax! What the fuck were ya doin’.’
Pax called back happily, ‘Calvary is here!’