Hunter Wars Omnibus Edition (Books 1 - 3)

by SD Tanner

  He didn’t bother to shower, but changed into a clean set of ACUs, slung the pack over his shoulder and picked up his gun. Walking out into the lounge dining area, he saw in the rising dawn the outline of a person standing by the balcony. As he strode quietly to the door to leave the suite, the outline moved and Ip followed him.

  Ip thinks: A drunken night has told me much. Though I really must not drink as such. There was a light that I could see. We all glowed including me. The other man of war glowed as well but it was not the same as we. I could tell. I think we glow for we are one. The game we play is not for fun. There is a reason we are here today. All we do is not for play. I did not know we had a purpose. I think the truth will soon surface. There is more to this than we all know. I think it is we that need to grow.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: Revenge is a dish best served happy (Gears)

  His head hurt and his bladder was so full it was aching. Kicking back the quilt, he swung his legs out of the bed. With both feet planted on the ground, he rubbed his eyes and pushed himself off the bed, yawning. The bathroom light flicked on as he walked in and went over to the toilet where he stood and relieved himself, scratching and continuing to yawn. Somethin’ stinks, he thought sluggishly then lifting one arm, he realized it was him. As his brain slowly began to function, he remembered the hunters on the island, finding Major major asshole on the ship and then getting completely shitfaced with TL and Captain Ted, while Pax and Ip slept. If he remembered rightly, and he suspected he didn’t, they drunk pretty much every drop of alcohol in their suite. As it turned out between them, he and TL kept a considerable stash of booze.

  Finishing, he walked out of the bathroom and into the lounge dining area. Strewn across the room were empty bottles, coffee cups, half-eaten bags of chips and cookies, tactical vests, knives and guns. He vaguely recalled a drunken competition of who could strip and reassemble their gun the fastest. The loser had to drink two fingers of Scotch and they all kept trying to lose. Walking to the balcony, he found his and TL’s M4A1s and their night vision goggles and he sincerely hoped his memory of them shooting at a buoy in the dark was wrong. Walking to the kitchenette, he set up the coffee machine. Pax slept through the entire evening and they left him sleeping in the lounge, but he was gone now and wondering where Ip was, he walked back to their bedroom. The bed was empty, so he went to Pax’s bedroom, but his bed hadn’t been slept in. Confused he went to TL’s bedroom only to be confronted by Captain Ted, who was fully dressed and sprawled on the bed.

  Screwing his face up, he asked, ‘Did ya sleep with, TL?’

  ‘No,’ Captain Ted groaned. ‘He went to see Izzie.’

  ‘And he didn’t come back?’ He asked.

  Captain Ted sat up and said, ‘Nah, he probably got lost.’

  ‘Pax and Ip aren’t here,’ he said. ‘Coffees on.’

  Walking past him, Captain Ted wrinkled his nose in disgust and said rudely, ‘Man, you stink.’

  They both got themselves a coffee and, barely awake, sat down at the table.

  ‘What’s the plan for today?’ Captain Ted asked.

  ‘There’s a thousand downed hunters on the livin’ island,’ he replied grimly. ‘Gotta clear ‘em.’

  Sighing, Captain Ted asked, ‘What do you want me to do?’

  He was not looking forward to disposing of a thousand still moving hunters and said, ‘We gotta work out what we’re gonna do with the bodies.’

  Captain Ted groaned and asked, ‘Burn, bury or dump?’

  Rubbing the scar on his face, he said bluntly, ‘I think askin’ people to burn the hunter bodies of their friends and family would probably scar ‘em for life, and there’s too many to bury on the island.’

  ‘Burial at sea it is then,’ Captain Ted replied morosely. ‘But you’re gonna need a lot of body bags.’

  Captain Ted was right and grimacing, he drawled sarcastically, ‘Lovely.’

  ‘Where’d Pax and Ip go?’ Captain Ted asked.

  He didn’t know, but they often worked together on scavenging runs and he wasn’t worried about either of them. He’d find them later, but right now he needed to clean up and find TL. Handling survivors through a crisis like this was TL’s and Kat’s territory, not his.

  ‘Can ya head back to the base and send combat teams to support the clean-up of the island, and bring us a transport ship to move the hunter bodies?’ He asked.

  ‘Can do,’ Captain Ted replied.

  Both men looked at one another unhappily. It was going to be a long miserable day securing the downed hunters, loading them to the ship and then disposing of them.

  Sighing deeply, he said, ‘See ya at the island. Stay in touch.’

  ‘Yep,’ Captain Ted replied. As he got up to leave, he said bluntly. ‘You should shower. You really fuckin’ stink.’

  Showered and dressed in clean ACUs, he found his gear and he was about to head out to find TL when TL walked out of his bedroom as if he’d been there all night and he asked, ‘Where ya been?’

  Glancing at him, TL replied nonchalantly, ‘With Izzie.’

  ‘Didn’t ya just spend the night with Lydia?’ He asked.

  TL said, ‘Yep.’

  Chuckling, he said, ‘People talk around here, ya know. Izzie might shoot ya and Lydia’s a dab hand at vivisection.’

  Shrugging, TL smirked and said, ‘I can’t help being loveable.’

  The bulk of the island survivors were offshore on a transport ship for the night. The more vulnerable were taken to either the ship or the base. He and TL organized the combat shooters to be airlifted straight to the island and after a quick breakfast in the restaurant, they headed over to the island. Kat, Pop, Max, Benny, Isaac and six combat shooters came with them. Landing back on the island, they could see downed hunters everywhere, but most were still moving. They were thorough the day before and he didn’t expect to find any able hunters left.

  Survivors were already returning to the islands in small boats from the transport ship and he figured there would be a lot of hands to get the job done. Isaac already set himself to work and was touching the still moving hunters resulting in instant death of the hunter. He and Ip were the only way to stop a downed hunter from moving. While Isaac worked, he briefly wondered what Pax and Ip were doing that was so important she wasn’t here helping them sort out the island.

  It was a logistics problem and people started picking up bodies and lining them up along the beach front. It was the only area big enough to hold so many bodies and the sea air on the beach was now becoming unpleasantly intermingled with the stench of vomit. Body bags were delivered from the base and they started loading the bodies into bags. Kat was walking amongst the bodies and where she could identify people, she was recording their loss on her manifest. No one talked or laughed and the work was done silently and respectfully. They may have been dealing with hunter corpses, but everyone knew these were not faceless and nameless bodies. Just a day earlier they were their friends and in many cases, adopted families.

  He felt the weight of their grief and on reflection, he was glad Ip wasn’t with him. She could read people’s minds and he thought perhaps Pax was right to take her away for the day. It was slow and sad work and he noticed the bodies of the children were separated from the adult hunter corpses. Walking over to his father, he asked, ‘Why are the little ones set apart, Pop?’

  ‘I’m ain’t throwin’ ‘em in the sea, son,’ Pop replied firmly. ‘We’ll bury ‘em on the farmin’ island.’

  Knowing Mom and Pop had a special place in their hearts for children, he nodded in agreement. He and his brothers had been the lucky recipients of that love, a fact he’d been grateful for every day of his life since he’d met them.

  As the day wore on, more survivors returned to the island and as promised Captain Ted arrived with a mobile landing transport ship. They started to ferry the bodies to his ship and lay them out on the deck. A thousand bodies is a lot of people and it was hard work. They were laid out on the deck side-by-side, hea
d to toe and row on row, it was an overwhelming sight and he understood why they were so despairing the night before. Finally, by late afternoon, all the bagged bodies were on the transport ship and they headed out to sea.

  Finding Pop, he said, ‘Ya need to say somethin’, Pop.’

  ‘No, son,’ Pop replied steadily. ‘You need to say somethin’. This is your mission and these are your people.’

  ‘I dunno what to say,’ he replied honestly.

  ‘Say what ya believe,’ Pop advised. ‘When times go bad, people need to hear honesty from their leaders and you’re their leader.’

  He hadn’t made a speech since their first base and that was very different. Or was it, he wondered. Back then he asked people to trust him and was it any different today? Once they were half way between the mainland and the island, the ship dropped anchor and there were over eight hundred people assembled on the deck standing around the thousand body bags. He stood on a low platform on the deck with a PA and, as before, he didn’t know what he would say, but he would say what he believed. Legs planted, straight backed with his head up, he began to speak.

  “I’ve seen a lot of death, but it’s not somethin’ that gets any easier with experience. Death is merciless. There ain’t no goin’ back. There’s no do-overs. It’s final. I dunno what happens to people after they die, but I do know the livin’ hafta pick up the pieces and find a way to move forward. And we do, but it can be like walkin’ in sand. Every step is hard and ya don’t think it’s ever gonna get any easier.

  My real name isn’t Gears. This name was given to me by a young soldier who thought it was funny. After he died, callin’ me Gears became our way of rememberin’ him. ‘Cos of my name, that young man lives on every day in my life. I will never forget him.

  And that’s what we hafta to do now. Find a way to remember our people, our friends and our family, so they live on every day in our lives. They’re only gone when we forget ‘em and if we never do that, they’re with us jus’ a little bit every day.

  The way forward is to live twice as hard and be doubly good to one another. I know it don’t sound like the right solution, but the happier we can be, the more we honor those that have fallen.

  We will go forward from here ‘cos forward’s all we got. It’ll be hard, but be kind to one another and it’ll get easier.

  Time doesn’t really heal all wounds, but over time, we all learn to live with our injuries.”

  He stepped down and stood while Pop and others led them in prayer.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: Life is for the living (Pax)

  After he left their suite he took Major major asshole from the combat shooters guarding him overnight and brought him to the Naval base. It was early and Isaac was still sleeping. Deciding to make use of the time, he checked the survivors from the island had what they needed, selected and briefed the combat shooters to work on the island and arranged for body bags to be brought from the Marine supply base.

  Captain Ted caught up with him outside the dusty building they used for meetings and said, ‘I just spoke with the shooters and the warehouse and you’ve been busy, Pax!’

  ‘Wanted to get it done before I go,’ he answered. ‘And I bin waitin’ for Isaac.’

  ‘Why are you waiting for Isaac?’ Captain Ted asked curiously.

  ‘I need to ask Ip a question,’ he replied cryptically.

  ‘Where’s Isaac?’ Captain Ted asked.

  ‘I got here a few hours ago,’ he replied. ‘He wasn’t up, but he’ll be here in a minute.’

  While they talked, Isaac walked up with Ip and the four of them walked into the meeting room. Sitting with his hands zip tied behind his back and his left eye swollen shut, Major major asshole was slumped with dried blood around his mouth.

  ‘What happened to him?’ Captain Ted asked.

  ‘I punched him for bein’ an asshole,’ he replied honestly. Turning to Isaac, he said, ‘Ask Ip if this man is lyin’ about who killed BD.’

  Isaac speaks: Sister dear he wants to know if this man lies or no?

  Ip speaks: The noisy one wants to know if this man stopped his loves life flow. I can see he does not know the man lies for he is low.

  Isaac speaks: So this man took a life?

  Ip speaks: He took this life of the noisy ones wife. And now he lies and causes strife.

  Isaac speaks: I understand sister dear. The noisy one will have justice I do not fear.

  Isaac replied, ‘He lies. He killed your wife.’

  A drunken, but good night’s sleep cleared his head and instinctively he already knew Major major asshole lied, but he wanted to be sure before he took a man’s life. He knew his plan for the asshole bordered on cruel, but such was his anger, he was well short on empathy.

  ‘Now what?’ Captain Ted asked bluntly. ‘Are you gonna shoot him?’

  Looking panicked, the Major shouted, ‘What the fuck?’ Glaring at Isaac, he asked angrily, ‘Who the hell is this kid to judge me?’

  ‘No one’s judgin’ ya, asshole,’ he said grimly. Pointing his thumb towards Ip, he said bluntly, ‘She can read yer mind and she knows yer lyin’.’

  ‘That’s bullshit,’ the Major shouted. ‘No one can do that!’

  ‘There’s a lotta shit people can do now they couldn’t do before,’ he replied bluntly. ‘Yer screwed.’

  He pushed Isaac and Ip from the room and said to Captain Ted, ‘I ain’t shootin’ this piece of crap. I gotta betta plan for this sack of shit.’

  Looking unworried about the Major’s welfare, Captain Ted asked, ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Farrington wants test subjects and now he’s got one,’ he said grimly. ‘I’ll drop him off on my way outta here.’

  Captain Ted nodded and asked, ‘Where you going?’

  Without offering an explanation, he replied, ‘Alabama.’

  Struggling in his chair, the Major asked, ‘Where the hell are you taking me?’

  He didn’t answer the Major and nor did he want to listen to him complaining for the next few hours while he drove him to the CDC in Yulee. Pulling off a strip from the roll of duct tape he brought with him, he gagged the Major. It took over an hour to drive to Yulee and after briefly explaining the story, he handed the Major to Lydia. Lydia wasn’t too keen, but Farrington was. He knew Farrington was good at keeping prisoners and he couldn’t think of a more fitting future for the Major. When the Major complained he told him bluntly it was either this or a bullet in the head and that shut him up. Now it was late afternoon and they were driving out towards a town called Folkston where he planned to spend the night.

  Not for the first time, he asked, ‘Why are ya followin’ me, Ip? Ya know I can take care of myself.’

  Ip speaks: Brother sweet can you hear? I am sorry I cannot be near.

  Isaac speaks: Sister sweet there is only sadness here to greet. Best you stay wherever you be. We have no need of you to see.

  Ip speaks: I am with the noisy one still. He grieves badly. His heart is ill.

  Isaac speaks: Stay with the one who needs you most. This place here is full of ghosts.

  Ip speaks: I have ghosts enough in my world here. Stay safe and well my brother dear.

  Ip ignored him and continued to stare out of the window. BD told him her son was last seen in Montgomery Alabama and it was three hundred miles as the crow flies, but four hundred miles by road. He wasn’t worried about being able to get there, but he wasn’t sure what he was going to do once he did. He did ask Kat to look through BD’s belongings after she died, but oddly there were no pictures of anyone and he wondered whether perhaps she had his picture with her and maybe he buried her with it.

  They hadn’t managed to travel far and already the night was coming. He was only sixty miles from the Naval base and he needed to find somewhere to stay for the night. He doubted Gears would be too happy if he dragged Ip all the way to Montgomery and was expecting to hear from the angry gorilla, telling him to bring his girlfriend back. They were driving through a small town called F
olkston in Georgia and on the main street there was a quaint wooden blue house advertising itself as an Inn. Having Ip with him, he didn’t need to worry about the hunters and pulling up outside the house, he chose comfort over safety.

  Scanning the area from the truck, he couldn’t see any sign of life and he turned to Ip and asked, ‘Whatdaya think, Ip? Good enough for the night?’

  By way of reply, Ip climbed out of the truck and walked into the blue house. He waited for ten minutes until she reappeared at the front door and while he got out of the truck, she went and sat sulkily on the swing chair on the porch of the house. Grabbing his gun and both their packs, he walked up to the porch and sat on the swing chair next to her.

  Looking at her sideways, he asked, ‘What’s the matter?’

  She looked back at him balefully and he thought maybe she was missing Gears. They did tend to live in one another’s pockets.

  Putting his arm around her lean shoulders, he said, ‘I’ll make us a nice supper. I expect Gears will be hasslin’ me to bring ya back home by the mornin’. I’m surprised he ain’t kickin’ my ass already.’

  Ip sighed, got up and walked into the blue house. The rooms in the Inn were very nice in an old worldly kind of way. Wrought iron beds with a lot of lace and he noted some rooms even had Jacuzzis. Shame the water isn’t running, he thought. He made them both a supper of meatballs with marina sauce from his MREs and they ate in silence while night fell around them. It felt good to be away from the endless people at the bases, the ship and the island. Pulling off his boots, he lay on the bed wearing just his t-shirt, ACU pants and socks. Putting his hands under his head, he dozed comfortably, enjoying the peace of the moment. Ip was across the room looking out the window, but being silent and calm, he never found her company intrusive.