Chapter 25. The family that hunts together
My eyes snapped open, as someone shook me awake. I realized that to my embarrassment, that I'd fallen asleep in the back seat of one of our team's SUVs. I looked up to find my older brother while smiling, looked just as tired as I felt at the moment. Unloading our gear took longer than it felt when we made our way into the armory. But that was also due to the fact that there were 3 Hunter teams in our armory. Dominique's team, Earl Harbinger's, as well as mine. I didn't place my Baretta in my locker, as I always had that gun at my side at all times. I made my way towards the barracks, when my mom caught me in one of those 'thank god you're okay' hugs. It was a while before she let go, but I didn't really care. I almost passed out when I hit collapsed onto my bed, but I heard Clare's voice a second later.
"Hey move over you big lug." I was so surprised she was there, I almost fell off my bed. And despite her looking as exhausted as everyone else, she was still as beautiful as ever. I smiled slightly, and scooted over to make room for her.
"So much for that first date huh?" I asked with a tired grin, as she settled in next to me.
"Actually as far as first dates go, this one wasn't so bad. You really know how to show a girl a good time." I blushed at her response as she flicked the safety on her USP compact on, and slid it under her pillow, and I did the same with my Beretta. We were asleep within a matter of seconds.
My eyes snapped open to complete and total blackness. I couldn't tell whether I was awake or if I was dreaming. I reached for my Beretta, but it wasn't there. Yeah. I'm dreaming alright. I stood up slowly, thinking that any movement could send me tumbling endlessly down through this black void. Although I was surprised to find that the … Well the air under my feet was solid. I took a few steps forward, before a familiar voice made me wheel around.
"Alex?" I was surprised to see Clare was here. Wherever here was.
"Clare? Are you real? Or am I just imagining you?" I asked, and she rolled her eyes.
"If you were imagining me, don't you think my chest would be bigger?" She retorted.
I facepalmed, and sighed. "There's no safe way to answer that?"
"Damn straight." She said with a victorious smirk. "So where are we? Why are we here?"
"That is very simple I brought you here." A voice that seemingly came from all around us said.
We looked all around to see where the voice had come from, and we were answered by the sound of approaching footsteps. A moment later someone came into view. He had on a very expensive suit, carried a cane in his left hand, and had a large ring on his left hand. But his face was probably the most shocking feature. His hair was black, oily, and slicked back. His face was gaunt, his skin was very pale and stretched tight, and his eyes were sunken in their sockets. Almost like a skeleton. "I've been meaning to speak with you for quite some time."
Both of us somehow had our sidearms in our hands, and safeties snapped off. Yet the newcomer just smiled. "There will not be any need for those." His voice was still gentle, but it had a commanding tone to it.
"Well you never answered our question." I told the newcomer, not taking my gun off of him.
"Ah yes how rude of me." He said with a small shake of his head. "I am the last one needed. The final piece of the puzzle needed to be bound to open the cage."
I had heard those words before, just hours before. That psychotic cult leader had said them, which made me think back several months back to what Locke had said about him.
"We believe this man is attempting to bind the Four Horsemen."
"You're the Fourth Horseman." I said lowering my Beretta. "You're Death."
The corner of Death's mouth turned up in the slightest ghost of a smile, and he gave us a slight nod. "Correct Alex. Now we do not have much time to speak, so I will have to make this quick."
Death gestured with his left hand, the one that held the cane, and the blackness all around of us dissolved until we were floating above a large city. One I recognised from the dreams I had when I first became a Hunter. I looked down, and saw that hundreds maybe thousands of Hunters and MCB Agents firing their weapons at the hordes of Zombies, and like the last time I had this dream from the view of that helicopter, the Hunters and Agents were managing to push the Zombies back.
I looked over to Death. "You were the one who gave me those dreams?" Death nodded once again.
"This is inevitable. It cannot change. The attack will happen and hundreds will die. Innocents, Agents, Hunters. Nobody will be safe from this." Death said to the two of us, and for a moment it seemed like he was actually happy about that.
"If this can't be stopped, why show us then?" Clare asked the Horseman, who rested his right hand on top of his left.
"I'm telling you this, because it is there that I will be summoned and bound to that madman. He will take my ring hand have the final piece of what he needs to open the Devil's Cage."
"But you said it's inevitable." I said, and Death nodded again. "So if you being bound is inevitable, why did you give me these dreams? What made the dream change from me being blown into pieces, to getting off that roof and into that elevator shaft."
The city dissolved once again, and came back into focus to where I could see me helping Clare up from over the edge of that building that had somehow had its upper floors sliced off by something. Moments later our helicopter pulled back being set upon by the 3 Gargoyles I saw the last time I had the dream. We were both back on our feet, and the undead horde was upon us.
"You're referring to this correct?" The Horseman asked. "You were supposed to die up there on that roof, yet when I learned of what was planned for me, I decided to alter your fate."
"But why Alex?" Clare asked.
"What do you mean Clare?" Death asked unblinkingly.
"You know damn well what I mean!" She yelled at the Horseman. I saw tears beginning to form in her eyes.
If I thought Death was going to raise his voice, it surprised the hell out of me when he raised his right hand, and wagged his long pale index finger tutting softly. "If I had allowed Alex to die on that roof, the two of you would not be together as is the case now. I changed Alex's fate the day I found out what was going to happen, as I knew it was your team that was going to be sent after the man who wanted my power."
It was quiet for several minutes after Death spoke, and that gave me time to think. So originally I was supposed to die on the roof whenever this attack took place. But Death for whatever reason, decided to change change my fate and allow me to survive.
"Well if you decided that I should survive." I began slowly. "Does that mean you have something else planned for me?"
Death nodded once more. "Indeed I do Alex." He slowly took the ring off of his left hand. He slowly strode forward, and took my left hand in his right before placing his ring in my palm. "When I am summoned, and I will be summoned. I will not have this. I will not give him the power he desires. However, this ring will still come to him. You will be the one to … Shall we say deliver it."
"But that means that that lunatic will still get his hands on the ring, and summon the Devil!" Clare yelled, but Death simply smiled.
"Not entirely." Death said very calmly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The two of us asked as Death picked that particular moment to be cryptic.
"I cannot say too much about the future as some things can change once they are revealed. The future is no set in stone, and too much information can sometimes be a bad thing." Death explained in a calm tone.
"Can you tell us at least where and possibly when this attack takes place?" I asked, and the Horseman paused for a moment.
"Hmmm perhaps a little more information will not hurt, but I cannot tell you. However I can show you." The scene dissolved once more, and we were above the city once more. Clare and I looked around once again, and it all became so clear why I saw thousands of Hunters and Agents within the city. Why Death was going to be summoned during this event, he needed a massive amount of lives lost to be summoned. And New York City was the perfect place to do it.
"You now know where." Death said snapping us out of our surprised shock.
"What about the 'when'?" Clare asked.
Death shook his head. "Remember what I said about too much information about the future."
I sighed softly. "Can we at least get a hint then?"
"Within the next six months, and that is a very big hint. Now go and tell Earl about this, as the two of you are about to wake up." Death and the cityscape of New York dissolved in a blinding white light, as my eyes snapped open again.
I was back in my room in the barracks of MHIs Syracuse compound. I was lying in my bed, and Clare was lying next to me, with her right arm draped over my chest. It was a moment before Clare's eyes snapped open, and she raised herself onto her left arm.
"How'd you sleep?" I asked, and my question was answered as her right palm lightly smacked the center of my forehead.
"You know exactly how I slept." She chided gently. "We had the same dream. Check out what's in your left hand."
I looked down at my left hand and slowly opened it. Sure enough, Death's ring was in the center of my palm. So that wasn't just another messed up dream, we had really been in contact with the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse. We heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and our hands plunged under our pillows, and we drew our sidearms snapping the safeties off. Although it was a slight surprise when I had Clare's compact USP, and Clare had my Beretta.
"Easy kids." My grandpa said smiling. "You two have been out for a while, I was coming to wake you up."
We flicked the safeties on our sidearms back on, and handed them back to one another sharing a look.
"Actually grandpa." I began. "There's something we need to talk to you about. Is Earl still here?"
"Yeah he is." Grandpa responded. "He's on the second floor with the rest of his team. I'll meet you up there."
The two of us stretched, as we got out of bed. I was sore in places I didn't think I had, and I'm sure that Clare felt the same way. We secured our sidearms to our belts, and made our way to the second floor of the compound. We found Earl talking to my dad and my little brother Thom when we got to the second level. My guess was Earl was talking about recruitment to the two, and somehow I knew that was going to happen as I mentioned to Thom that he should join MHI due to how well he handled himself last night. I didn't expect dad to want to join, but I guess something like that was inevitable. Dad had a good service run with the US Army Rangers, and had even made it to the rank of Captain. But his term of service ended when I was born, and the DOD said he couldn't come out of retirement. But the Department of Defense never said anything about re-enlistment.
"How're ya feelin' kid?" Earl asked as Thom and I high-fived.
"Well you know those dreams I had a few months ago?" I asked, which earned some strange looks from dad and Thom, and a nod from Earl. "Well I had another one, and so did Clare."
I then proceeded to show everyone Death's ring, and Clare and I explained every detail of the dream we had. The inevitable attack on New York City, the allotted time frame, the reason Death had told us all of this. All the while Earl and everyone else was listening intently until we stopped speaking.
"Well that gives us six months." Earl said seemingly accepting this completely. "At least we'll have an advantage going into this whole thing." He had Death's ring in his hands, and was rolling it between his fingers.
"So we just keep hunting and prepare for this whole thing?" Owen asked.
"We got six months to do it Owen." Earl replied, as he handed me back Death's ring. "He trusted you with it kid, so you should hold onto it."
I closed my fingers around the ring, as Earl stood up, before handing two envelopes to my dad and little brother which I knew were there PUFF bounties. "We're heading back down to Cazador today. I'll see you down there hopefully." Earl made his way out of the rec room followed by the rest of his team.
"Well I guess the family that hunts together right?" Clare asked my dad as he opened his envelope, with his eyes widening.
"Are you serious!?" Thom exclaimed, with his eyes bulging as he stared at his PUFF bounty.
"Belle was right. That doesn't get old." I smirked at Clare. "Come on Thom let's see what you got." Thom placed the PUFF check in my hand almost seeming to be in another place. I gave an appreciative whistle as I looked at the $700,600 bounty. "Told you the pay was good."
"You weren't kidding!" Thom said giddily as I handed him back his check. "So you think the bank is open?"
I looked to the large flatscreen at the other end of the room that was showing the news. From what the news anchor was saying, the official story that the MCB no doubt provided was that there was a massive riot, after the Syracuse football team won again, which incited Duke fans. I shrugged as no college football fan especially 'Cuse or Duke would ever riot. However the news anchor said that despite the riot, police had contained the situation, and today should go about as business as usual.
"Come on Thom, I'll take you myself." I said I went to grab my keys.
"Can I ride shotgun?"
"Keep dreaming 'little brother'." Clare said as she headed to the garage.
"But you can drive." I smirked tossing him the keys to my Cobra. I couldn't help but smile as my little brother's eyes lit up like a kid getting exactly what he wanted on Christmas.
Just like everyone else's PUFF check they get when they're first visited by an MHI Hunter, Thom's check cleared without incident. I was driving once again, but I had an idea, and instead of making our way to Brian's gun store, I drove us down to Romano Ford. Of course Thom was confused as to what we were doing here.
"Dude you're not going down to Cazador with dad in that Hummer of his. You're riding down in style." I said smirking.
"But do you really think I can afford one of these? Even with that huge check clearing?" My little brother asked.
"Dude whoever said that you were buying?" I said with a wink. "Consider this a job well done for last night." Thom's eyes got even brighter, and I swear he was about to cry he was so happy. "But this counts as your birthday and this year's Christmas preasent."
It was twenty minutes later, that a black, and dark blue Shelby Cobra pulled into the parking lot after several detours of Intimidator Armory. Brian was still behind the counter acting as if nothing had happened.
"Jeez guys, not twenty four hours after what happened, and you're here to buy more guns?" Brian laughed, and he was able to get away with what he just said, as there wasn't anyone else but Clare, Thom, and myself in the store.
"You're really asking that question?" I said with a smirk of my own.
"No I'm not. So who wants what?"
I nudged Thom forward. "Go on bro."
"I could use a good shotgun. You got any suggestions?" Thom asked.
"Sure, what are you in the mood for?" Brian asked.
"Pump sounds good to me."
Brian nodded a few times. "Alright, what are you in the mood for? We have a few Remmington's, Benelli's, I got another Spas like your brother uses minus the paint job."
"Is that a Striker?" Thom asked pointing to the shortest shotgun on the display case.
"Yeah it is. Wanna check it out?" Brian asked.
"Sure." Thom said before Brian handed him the weapon. "Seven round rotating cylinder, fourteen inch barrel length, folded stock, and modified to mount optics. I'll take it." He said laying on the counter.
"Alright." Brian said clearly impressed as Thom assessed the riot control shotgun at first touch. "Anything else?"
"What do you sell for battle rifles? I mean I have a World War Two M1 Grand rifle, but I'm thinking of upgrading."
"You know I think I have just the thing for you. I'll be right back." Brian headed into the back room of the shop, and a moment later came out carrying a sibling of Thoms M1. "This is the Mk.14 EBR. This bad boy has an eighteen inch Badger Ordnance barrel fitted with a Smith Enterprise muzzle break to tame recoil, collapsible stock by Ace Custom, twenty round magazine, SAW-style pistol grip, custom trigger job, and a Trijicon one-to-four power Accupoint scope."
"Damn!" The three of us said at the same time.
"It's priced at four and a half grand too." Brian said frowning slightly.
"Wait what? That doesn't sound right." Thom chimed in with a frown of his own. "That gun looks like it's a custom job. The rifle alone should be worth at least three. Add all the customizations, we're looking at seven maybe eight grand!"
"Normally yeah, except for the fact that it's used."
"What!?" I asked. "What's wrong with it!?"
"Not a damn thing, the guy who ordered it said he didn't like the recoil and returned it after running one mag through it." Brian explained.
"Just one mag? What was he using?" Thom asked.
"Guys a pussy. He ran a real light load through it. Hundred-ten grain Hornady if I remember."
"That guy is a pussy." Thom agreed.
"Thing is though, guy also had a custom FAL rifle built, and did the same thing. Ran the same load through that gun, and proceeded to return it after waiting over a year for that gun to be built."
"Well just out of curiosity, where did he order that FAL from?" I asked as I had a feeling that was the very same FAL used by Steeve Cooper.
"Some place in Philly called On-Point." Brian said, confirming my thought.
"I'll take it." Thom said.
"You got it. Anything else?"
"Um yeah. I'm gonna need some ammo."
"Not a problem. Want anything special?" Brian asked.
"Not for the EBR, but can I get regular, and breacher for the Striker?" Thom responded.
"Yeah man no sweat."
"Oh and one more thing." Thom said before Brian went to retrieve the ammo from the back of the store.
"Sure what is it?" He asked.
"Do you sell quadrangle buckshot?" Thom asked.
Brian scoffed. "Do I sell- One minute."
A moment later, he was carrying several boxes of ammunition, and a long rectangular gun case. "Alex man almost forgot to give this to you."
I furrowed my brow and tilted my head slightly. "What is it?" I asked.
"Trust me and open it." He said with a grin on his face.
The three of us crowded around the gun case, and I undid the clasps, and opened the case. I swear my jaw hit the glass display case, when I saw there was a matte black painted H&K XM8 with a drum magazine and the words MK. II painted in silver on the side.