Hunter Wars Omnibus Edition (Books 1 - 3)

by SD Tanner

  Sighing, he climbed into the clean bed and stretched out, enjoying the comfort of being home. The Infected may have declared the Ranch theirs, but he and his brothers would always consider it their home too. Ip wandered back in from the bathroom and climbed into the bed with him, curling into him and resting her head on his chest. Wrapping his arm around her, he thought, she says I’m like rain, which is her way saying she remembers how she felt about me and, sighing contentedly, he fell asleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Bogus POTUS (Gears)

  After their night at the Ranch, he, Ip, Pax and Captain Ted headed out to recon the refugee camp where Logan told them the POTUS was based. They decided they would go via the base Nelson and TL had set up four months earlier with Wolfie and his biker gang. Wolfie’s base was a series of connected islands inside Lake Lanier where only one road joined them to the mainland. By securing the one road, they had complete control of the islands, including the park. It was a beautiful area, completely unspoiled and once you were on the islands, it was hard to believe there was anything wrong with the world.

  Wolfie was waiting for them when they landed and after the biker man-to-man fist grip, they headed into their mess for dinner and a chat. The base was in good shape. Now well armed and with better training, the bikers were thorough scavengers and able shooters. Before the end of the world, many people feared bikers. With their bad dress sense, tattoos and loud motorcycles, the general public often saw them as dangerous. In his experience, nothing could be further from the truth and a lot of them were ex-military and big supporters of pretty much any good cause and charity. They were the first to do a toy run and at their rallies, they always had the charity buckets prominently displayed at their booths. Their base reflected their culture and as he looked around the room, he saw kids running around, behaving slightly wild and a lot of people laughing. He thought everyone looked well fed and content.

  Punching Wolfie in the arm, Pax said, ‘Lookin’ good, dude. Place has come together real well.’

  Wolfie looked abashed and quick to deflect the compliment, he said, ‘Aww, yeah, people have done us proud.’

  ‘Yeah, you guys just look like you need a fuckin’ good wash,’ Captain Ted added with a grin. ‘But you’re clean as they come.’

  ‘Never judge a book by its cover, man,’ Wolfie said solemnly.

  Over dinner, they discussed the latest state of play and he briefed Wolfie about his concerns about Ruler. If what Logan told them was right and there was a refugee camp, then Wolfie’s base was only three hundred miles from the camp. He figured that if they needed to attack the camp, then they could use his base as a staging area. Being a loyal man, Wolfie assured him that whatever he needed them to do, they would do. It was a good night and he was encouraged by what he saw. He spent so much time worrying about the future, he rarely got the chance to enjoy the present and the last few days at the Ranch and now Wolfie’s base restored his mood and peace of mind.

  The next day they headed out and on the three hundred mile drive to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, it was so quiet it was worrying. There were no signs of life, animal or human. Worse still, there were no signs there’d been any recent activity in the region at all. Usually when they drove to new areas, they saw the leftover rubbish and fire pits that indicated people were recently there, but on this trip they saw nothing at all.

  ‘Is this weird or what?’ Captain Ted asked.

  ‘Yeah, it ain’t right,’ he agreed.

  Pax grunted and said, ‘It’s like everything’s dead here.’

  They weren’t exactly sure where the refugee camp was. Oddly, there were no signs to draw people to the camp, which was also suspicious. When they tried to draw people to their bases, Nelson put signs up everywhere for nearly five hundred miles, but so far, they saw no indication there was a camp anywhere in the region. He assumed the refugee camp had to be at the army base they knew was in the area. That was a large base covering about 100,000 acres and it had plenty of barracks, housing, supplies, weapons and armaments. He couldn’t imagine how they’d secure such a large base, but it was the only place he knew that could house a large number of refugees. He supposed if Ruler and the POTUS were working together, then the base could be secured, but it meant the POTUS was not a POTUS he was prepared to serve.

  ‘It’s not right,’ he commented dourly. ‘No signage and no signs of activity.’

  ‘How do ya wanna do this, Gears?’ Pax asked.

  ‘Dunno yet,’ he replied. ‘I didn’t know what we’d find until we got out here.’

  Captain Ted suggested, ‘If Ip keeps the hunters under control, cover of night would be safest.’

  They parked the truck about a mile from the outskirts of the army base and started to hike through the forest towards the base. For this mission they fully kitted themselves with weapons, ammo and night vision gear. They’d gotten used to Ip providing them with an escort of hunters and the ability to move easily around at night was a major advantage. Drawing closer to the old Army base, they noticed that the forest became more trampled and grew muddier and somehow lifeless. It was as if the land was becoming wretched and barren and not even the noise of insects could be heard. The only sound was the endless rustling and growling of the hunters that roamed mindlessly around them. He was starting understand that wherever Ruler and his kind were, the earth died. The hunters may kill all life, but Ruler and his followers seemed to take more than life itself.

  Once they reached the outskirts of the base, they ran out of forest to hide in and picked a concealed area that was slightly elevated and offered them a view of the base. Lying flat on the hard ground, the three of them crawled to the top of a slight incline that was covered in dry, dead two-foot high scrub. Pulling out binoculars, they began to survey the base looking for movement and any hint of what might be going on there. They immediately realized that this was the refugee camp. In the distance, about six hundred yards away, there was a large fenced in warehouse with people moving around. Through his binoculars, he saw the people were under guard. The guards were wearing black pants and shirts, black baseball caps, dark shades and carrying M4’s like gunslingers.

  ‘Whatdaya make of that?’ He asked.

  ‘They look more like prisoners than refugees,’ Captain Ted replied.

  The odd thing was, for prisoners, these people looked really healthy. . These prisoners, if that’s what they were, looked young, fit, healthy and mostly male. There seemed to be nine men for every woman and unlike most people nowadays, they were a healthy body weight. Scanning the area outside the building, he saw there was an outdoor area with workout weights and even picnic tables. It didn’t make sense. These people were living in the equivalent of a post-apocalyptic five star hotel, but were being kept there under armed guard.

  ‘We need to get in closer,’ Pax said. ‘I can’t believe that’s all of the refugees.’

  He agreed there must be more refugees somewhere, but he didn’t understand why these were separated from the others and replied, ‘I agree, but we need to wait until it’s dark. We could go around the perimeter and get another view of it.’

  Staying well concealed in the forested area, they walked the perimeter until they were roughly ninety degrees from their previous position and again found a concealed area to view the base. This time they saw a cluster of barracks that seemed to be heavily occupied. Between them and the barracks, there was a large area of ploughed land and people appeared to be working the land, but he didn’t think it looked like much of a genuine effort. There was no farm equipment and the people seemed to be guarded by the men dressed in the black outfits. Unlike the people in the warehouse, these people looked wretched. Skinny, dressed in dirty clothes with their shoulders slouched, they were making little effort to dig at the land with their small trowels and he wondered why they were bothering. Their guards seemed to have no interest in them and were standing around, smoking and occasionally shouting at one of their prisoners. The scene was depressing, drab and was more tra
gic than it was terrifying.

  The wind shifted slightly and he caught of whiff of something in the air. It was the smell of vomit, blood and human feces. The camp was clearly not clean and he wondered how they could house that many people under these conditions. It would be a question of time before disease would destroy the camp. Straining his ears, in the silence around him, he could vaguely hear the sounds of the voices of the guards and the occasional burst of what sounded like crying children. The sound was too vague for his ears to interpret the noise confidently, but it plucked at his gut and made him feel slightly anxious.

  Scanning the farmed land, he saw a blackened pit much like the one he’d seen at the Ranch and like the one at the Ranch, it had a large metal skewer that stretched over the center of the pit.

  Sounding concerned, Captain Ted asked, ‘Why do they look like they’re prisoners?’

  Shaking his head, he said, ‘I dunno, but they definitely look like they’re bein’ guarded.’

  ‘What’s the point?’ Pax asked curiously. ‘Where would they go if they ran off?’

  ‘Maybe it’s just to intimidate them,’ Captain Ted suggested.

  He agreed and said, ‘Ruler was killin’ people at the Ranch. I don’t think that asshole changed his MO jus’ ‘cos he got reborn. Whatdaya make of that pit?’

  ‘Looks like fuckin’ big barbeque pit,’ Captain Ted replied. ‘There was one like it at the Ranch.’

  ‘At the Ranch there was a body dump as well,’ he said dourly. ‘I’m guessin’ if we keep lookin’ we’ll find one here too.’

  ‘This is some bad shit,’ Captain Ted said grimly.

  Looking to his left, Pax asked, ‘Wanna walk up another bit and see if we can get more of a view?’

  Rolling off his stomach and onto his back, he said, ‘Yep, let’s keep movin’.’

  Further along the perimeter, they again settled down to observe and they saw there were even more barracks, but the people here were all armed and mostly wearing ACUs, and there didn’t appear to be any prisoners. Amongst the armed men were hunters that were wandering about looking ugly, but relaxed. Having learned how Ip could control the hunters, he assumed there were super hunters at the camp. The large building they were moving around appeared to contain a barracks that could easily house several thousand people, but there were barely fifty people moving about outside and he wondered where the rest of their army was. Behind the barracks was a large building that looked like a warehouse and he assumed it probably contained armaments. Scanning further, he saw no sign of helis or vehicles other than half a dozen cars.

  ‘We gotta be careful here, Gears,’ Pax commented. ‘We are deep, deep, deep inside enemy territory and if we get caught, we ain’t gettin’ out alive.’

  That was definitely true. With the combined enemies of a lot of assholes with guns and a hunter army, it’d only be a question of which of their enemies managed to kill them first.

  ‘Okay, let’s pull back,’ he said. ‘We need to plan how we’re gonna get closer under the cover of darkness.’

  Having retreated back to the forest and sitting in a small clearing well back from the camp, he pulled out water and a snack bar from his pack and handing both to Ip, he asked, ‘Do ya know how many super hunters are in the base?’

  Opening the snack bar, Ip replied, ‘No. Why would I know that?’

  Captain Ted rolled his eyes at her and said, ‘As helpful as ever, Ip.’

  They waited until nightfall and debated when might be the best time to approach the camp. After much discussion, they decided the witching of oh three hundred hours would offer the quietest and least active time of the day. At the agreed time, they moved towards the camp and were joined by a small guard of hunters under the control of Ip. They quietly made their way into the camp and other hunters roaming the area showed no interest in them. The land beneath their feet became increasingly muddier and stank of vomit and blood. Through his night vision goggles, he could see the earth was badly churned and he slipped and slid as tried to move silently towards the army barracks.

  Reaching the walls of the barracks, all was silent and there were no lights. It seemed almost empty and he wondered where the soldiers were. Echoing his thoughts, Pax whispered, ‘Where is everyone?’

  ‘Maybe they don’t have many troops?’ Captain Ted whispered.

  He didn’t believe that for a moment. He knew his enemy and Ruler was a “go big or go home” kinda guy. Judging by the number of people under guard, there were more than enough candidates to form a decent sized army and he figured they had to be somewhere, even if they weren’t here.

  ‘I wanna check out the warehouse,’ he whispered hoarsely. ‘See what they’re packin’.’

  Moving swiftly, they ran from the barracks to the side of the largest warehouse. Standing dark and silent, they walked the wall until they found a door. Pax quietly opened the door as Captain Ted aimed his gun, but there was no movement from inside. Stepping through the door, it appeared the warehouse was not guarded at night. Inside the warehouse were racks of military supplies, food, clothing, weapons, ammo and survival gear. There was nothing exceptional about the supplies, other than they were reasonably well stocked.

  Before leaving, he decided to take a look at the offices at the back of the warehouse and he climbed the stairs. At the top of the stairs were two rooms, both with walls half filled with glass and the room to the left had a window that overlooked the other barracks. There was a blind over the window and he whispered, ‘Pax, close the blind.’

  Pax closed the blind and asked quizzically, ‘What are ya doin?’

  Pulling out his flashlight, he lifted his night goggles to the top of his head and shone the light around the room. The room had a largish table, a dozen dirty, beaten up chairs and a low cabinet along the wall. At the far end against the wall, was a whiteboard and it was heavily drawn on using markers of different colors. Big A3 sheets of paper were scattered across the table and he could see coffee cups still pinning the paper down to stop the edges from curling. Playing his flashlight back on the whiteboard, he could now see he was reading a manifest. The manifest listed guns, ammo and transport vehicles, and seemed to be allocating supplies to trucks along with people.

  ‘That’s a lot of fuckin’ people and supplies,’ Captain Ted commented.

  He was right. There were enough vehicles to move a thousand people and supplies to feed and arm them. It explained why the barracks were empty. Obviously, the people had moved out, but he didn’t understand why.

  Sounding worried, Pax said, ‘Gears, check this shit out.’

  Pax was looking at the A3 sheets of paper. They were maps covering this region and their own, with circles around towns between the camp and their bases. If he were a paranoid man, and he was, he might believe their enemies were armed to hell and headed to their bases.

  Obviously, Captain Ted drew the same conclusion and he asked, ‘When do you think they left?’

  He understood the question Captain Ted was asking. How much time did they have before the convoy made it their bases? Forewarned is forearmed, he thought. They needed to get back to Wolfie’s base and make radio contact with the bases to warn them there was an army on its way. The bases were well defended and between the four bases, they had a combined fighting force of fifteen thousand. That said, Ruler was underhanded and for the moment still had the element of surprise in his favor. They needed to get back urgently and a detailed recon of the camp would have to wait, but personally, he thought he’d seen all he needed to see. This was one of Ruler’s camps, albeit with the new spin of having his own human army, but still the same MO.

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said quietly.

  It was now nearly five o’clock in the morning, dawn would soon be breaking and people would be moving. They silently left the warehouse and moved back across the muddy, sludgy ground towards the forest. Again, he thought he could hear the sound of children crying, but again the sound was so soft and vague he couldn’t be sure. Whatever the
noise on the wind was, it disturbed him at some fundamental level and again his gut contracted with anxiety.

  Moving swiftly through the forest and back towards the truck, they felt they could talk again and he said, ‘Ruler is running that shithole.’

  ‘Hell, yeah,’ Pax replied dourly. ‘Sonofabitch has his habits.’

  Needing to get back to Wolfie’s base as quickly as they could, they were jogging and their hunter escort was effortlessly running with them. Ip and the hunters were lean and built to run, but loaded down with his pack and gear, he was panting slightly and said, ‘It’s gotta go.’

  ‘Scorched earth?’ Captain Ted puffed. ‘Again?’

  ‘I dunno, Gears,’ Pax said, also breathing hard. ‘There’s a lotta innocents there.’

  That was true. It looked like there were thousands of people at the camp and judging by the guards, they weren’t there willingly as they had been at the Ranch. He didn’t think he could simply bomb the place back to hell as he’d done at the Ranch. Now he had a different problem, where he needed to rescue the innocents and then kill Ruler and his followers. Mentally sighing, he thought, I’ll add it to the problem of working out how to keep feeding and supplying 30,000 people. He decided solving his problems only ever seemed to lead to bigger problems.

  Panting, he said, ‘Yeah, I know. We’re gonna have to do somethin’…more refined.’

  Despite breathing hard, Pax laughed and spluttered, ‘I doan think ya know how to do refined, Gears.’

  He wasn’t sure he knew how to either. Fight fire with fire and hit it harder than it hit you had been his motto since he was a kid. Asking him to learn to be clever and cunning was like trying to teach an elephant to tap dance. He needed more information. Cutting their recon short meant they still hadn’t seen the so-called POTUS, but he was confident the man, whoever he really was, was not any President he needed to recognize.