John and I each grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him in. The three of us fell back into the chopper and the Lieutenant took us up. We got to our feet and the man pointed a pistol in my face. I recognized it as mine. He must have grabbed it from my holster when we were on the floor of the chopper.
“What the hell is going on? We just saved your asses,” I yelled over the sound of the rotors.
“You're not killing my little girls,” he shouted back.
I looked at the woman and the two girls. She was sitting on the floor of the chopper holding both of the girls in her arms. I could now see where the girls arms were covered in gauze wrappings blood leaking through the bandages.
“They're burning up with fever,” I heard John say over my headset. “I felt the heat coming off of them when I pulled them in.”
“What's he saying,” the man yelled at me.
I motioned behind him to the headsets hanging on hooks beside his head. He reached over and grabbed one fighting to get it on with one hand while still holding the gun on me with the other.
“What the hell's going on back there?” Lieutenant Price's voice came over my headset.
“The two kids we brought on board are infected. Their dad has a gun and is going to shoot me if we try to kill the girls,” I answered.
“Does everybody have their ears on?” he asked.
“Yes, and he will too in a second.”
“Then get ready. Things are going to get shaky back there. Tell me when.”
With him holding a gun in my face there was nothing I could do to prepare myself for what was about to happen. Lily sat down and gripped the bench. The Sergeant reached out and braced himself on the wall.
Just as the man got the headset situated on his head I said, “Do it.”
The chopper banked hard to the right and the girls' father stumbled back towards the open door. As he went back his arms pinwheeled and the pistol discharged. I felt a round go past my ear as I also fell towards the open door. I grabbed one side of the doorway with both hands and as I was on my way out, he grabbed the other side. He held on with one hand, still holding my pistol in the other, and yelled into the head phone for me to “tell him to stop.” He was in the process of bringing the gun to bear on me again when the chopper banked hard to the left. His free arm, the one that held the pistol, pinwheeled wildly as he tried to maintain his grip on the side of the chopper. The gun went off multiple times fortunately firing outside of the chopper this time.
As the chopper leveled out I was able to get my feet under me. This gave me the opportunity to free one hand from the doorway of the chopper. I punched him in the face with everything I had. His head rocked back and when it snapped back I gave him another. The gun fell from his hand. I grabbed a handful of his hair and threw him to the floor.
“That's enough Lieutenant. We're back in control,” I said into my microphone. “Are we clear of the zombies?”
“Yes sir we're clear.”
“Then put her down. We're going to let these people off.”
“You can't just leave us here,” the woman said. “We'll never make it.”
“Ma'am I'm sorry but we saved your butts back there and for thanks your husband tried to kill me. Your daughters have been bitten. Am I right about that?” She nodded her head. “Then you need to deal with that. I don't have to tell you what's going to happen.”
“Please don't leave us out there on our own,” she begged.
“If you want to stay on this chopper you know what needs to be done.” I felt bad for her. Hell I didn't even blame the man for what he'd tried to do. If it was my family I might have done the same thing. This was my family though and I was going to do whatever it took to protect them.
“Just let us off,” she said.
“We can't go back out there,” the man snarled at her. “You people are in the military. You're supposed to protect us.”
“After what you did you're lucky I don't just throw you out that door right now,” John said.
“We're losing hydraulic pressure,” I heard Lieutenant Price say over the headset. “With all that shooting back there a line must have got hit.”
“Can you get us down?” I asked.
“I think so. Get ready for a rough touch down.”
Lily got up to help the woman get the girls situated.
“Let them do it. I don't want anybody going near them,” I said.
We hurried to get ourselves buckled in. The chopper landed smoothly, a testimony to our pilots ability, and we made to get off of the chopper. I had Lily get a survival kit together for the family and sent them on their way.
“If you even look back at us he's going to shoot you dead,” I said, nodding to the Sergeant. “If I thought I could trust you I'd have given you a gun. Since I know I can't there are two knives in the bag. I suggest you keep them handy. You're going to need them soon. Good luck.”
They started off walking in the direction of Birmingham. I didn't hold out much hope that they'd get that far but even with what their father had done I wished them well. Lieutenant Price found the ruptured hose and Lily helped him fix it while John and I stood guard. We watched the family as they made their way to a row of houses in the distance. They hadn't gone far before the parents had to carry the girls. It wouldn't be long now. The break in the hose was easy to find but hard to fix. We were on the ground for about an hour when Lily came over to John and I telling us we'd be ready to go in a few minutes. Lieutenant Price was topping off the hydraulic fluid then we'd be on our way. Sergeant Adams looked to the row of houses through his scope. Four figures were headed our way.
“They're coming back, looks like the kids got them,” he said.
“Let's get out of here,” I said.
“Do you want me to take them out?”
“Save the ammo.”
They were about a hundred yards out when we finally lifted off. By that time the kids were running in our direction while their badly damaged parents hobbled along behind them. Within minutes we were over Birmingham. From the looks of the city things had gone pretty bad here. Most of the city was burned to the ground while the sections still standing were overrun with the undead. We passed over a hospital that we could see had survivors on the roof. After what we'd just been through we decided to keep going. Lieutenant Price pointed out that we were low on fuel and really didn't have time to run a rescue mission. If we changed our minds later we could always come back to look for survivors after refueling. We discussed this but I knew and was sure the others felt the same way. We wouldn't be coming back.
Crossing over the city we finally came within sight of the airport. I could tell it was going to be bad even before the runway came into view. A plane had come in for a landing and crashed into the control tower. A wing must have just clipped it because the tower was lying on the runway in pieces. Parts of the wing lay scattered further down the tarmac. The plane itself had plowed through the fencing surrounding the airport. What was left of the plane burned beyond recognition in the field at the end of the runway.
Besides the section of fencing missing from the plane crash other parts of the perimeter had been breached. Fencing lay on the ground everywhere, pushed over by the thousands of zombies that now roamed the runways. We wouldn't be refueling at this airport.
The Lieutenant looked at me and shook his head, answering the question I had yet to ask.
“Do we have enough fuel to make it to another airport.”
“We don't have enough fuel to make it five miles. Besides the hydraulics are leaking again. The best I could do was a temporary fix. Turned out temporary was just that and a little less. We'll be lucky to make it the whole five miles. The way this pressure's dropping I need to set this big bastard down soon.”
John and Lily joined us in the cock pit. They had heard our conversation and wondered what the situation looked like. We needed to get as far away from the airport as possible. There were too many zombies in the area and right now we h
ad their undivided attention. We were flying low trying to stay under any radar signals that could possibly be trying to track us. As we passed overhead the undead that had previously been wandering aimlessly around the runway were now intent on following us.
“I'm going to take us up a little higher so I can get a better look around. I have to find a place to set down. You all need to get buckled in.”
I took the seat next to him while John and Lily went to the back to strap in. From where we were I could see our options were limited. The Chinook was a large helicopter and with the hydraulics going out hard to maneuver. We would be needing lots of room to set this baby down. Then I saw a golf course just east of us.
“Can we make that golf course?” I asked, pointing out the windshield to my right.
“We' ll have to. Move to the back and buckle in. If things go south get everybody off as fast as possible.”
He didn't have to tell me twice. I quickly got to the back of the chopper. John and Lily had heard our conversation and were in the process of moving closer to the door. They had gear for the four of us piled by the already open door. Lily handed me a loaded backpack then handed me a rifle. We sat together beside the door and got ourselves strapped in. John sat across from us staring at the door. I turned and looked over my shoulder. I could see that we were coming down fast at a sharp angle. A blur of green flew past the door and I could see we were coming down past the trees lining a fairway. I could feel the chopper begin leveling out when everything went to hell.
As the nose of the chopper came up and we started leveling out I felt a shudder run through the chopper. The nose kept coming up, past the point of being leveled out, and we started to roll to port. I glanced out the door and all I could see was sky. Then the tail hit the ground causing us to stop our forward progress as the front of the bird hit the ground hard. All I could do was hold my rifle tightly to my chest and hope for the best. I could feel us go into a roll as the chopper came apart around me. Something crashed into my shoulder. I think it was Lily's head and I watched as the bag we had sitting by the door flew past me toward the front of the rapidly disintegrating aircraft. After several rolls front to back and side to side we came to rest with Lily and I still strapped in looking down at Sergeant Adams. He was covered in the debris that was our equipment and supplies.
“Is everybody okay,” I shouted.
“Yeah, I'm alright,” I heard from beside of me.
“John, can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear ya,” he said, as he fought to get unbuckled. “You two stay there. I'm going to go check on the Lieutenant.”
“Like I can get out of here,” Lily said.
John freed himself and worked his way to the front of the chopper. After a few minutes he crawled back to us.
“Price is dead. The front end of this thing crushed in on him. We need to hurry and get out of here. There's some golfers on their way over but I don't think they want to help us. Looks like they're dead.”
“Any ideas on how we're going to get off this thing?” Lily asked.
“Unbuckle your harness, fall into this pile of shit here, and we'll crawl out through the front. All the glass is gone up there.”
“Take my rifle Sarge,” Lily said.
She handed her rifle down to him and reached up to undo her harness. I reached over and grabbed a handful of her jacket. As soon as the buckle came undone she fell forward. I was able to slow her fall enough for John to catch her, stopping her from falling into the debris below her.
“Now you Tim,” Lily said.
I handed my rifle down and undid my seat buckle with one hand. The other I used to grasp Lily's harness that hung down beside me. I was then able to lower myself to the ground without breaking my neck. John took the lead. Lily followed behind him and I brought up the rear as we worked our way to the front of the chopper. John and Lily crawled out through the broken windshield and I crawled into the cockpit. Lieutenant Price sat buckled to his seat. I looked at his face. Blood leaked from every orifice on his head. The control panel that had once been in front of him was now imbedded in his chest. I felt responsible for another death. If we had only gone with the rest of the men when we bugged out of Fort A. P. Hill Lieutenant Price might still be alive. Then again we could all be dead by now. That got me thinking of the men we had separated from back at the fort. I hoped they were all still alive and on their way to Fort Leonard Wood. We should have found a way to stay in touch with the troops. The way things had gone for us I was sure they hadn't had smooth sailing either.
“Tim you need to get out here,” Lily said. “We need to try and stay ahead of this horde.”
I crawled through the ruined cockpit and got to my feet. I could see what Lily meant now. There was a group of around fifty zombies headed our way. I reached for my holster to grab my pistol then realized it was gone. I had lost it in the scuffle with soon to be zombie girls daddy.
“It's in your bag sir,” John said. “I found it on the floor of the chopper while we were getting ready to land.”
“Thanks John. That was my dad's gun. I thought it was gone.” I took the bag off of my back and dug through it to get the pistol. Checking to see that it was fully loaded I re-slung my bag and the three of us moved out. “We flew over the club house on our way in. Let's head back that way and see if we can find some wheels.”
Even though it seemed like every zombie in the area was moving in our direction we had to try and keep the noise to a minimum as we fought our way out of here. If we started shooting these bastards all we'd do is draw more in. I ran with my pistol in one hand and knife in the other. We ran past a golf cart with two sets of clubs in the back. John and Lily stopped and went through the clubs. They each grabbed an iron while I tried the cart to see if it had any power. Of course the battery was dead but what the hell. I had a feeling we were going to be doing a lot of walking from here on out. Why not ride when you can?
“I got me a one iron here,” John said, smiling.
“What's the big deal. Mine's better, it's a W,” Lily said
“The one iron is a rare commodity these days. Nobody carries them anymore,”John said, dodging around a zombie.
Lily broke stride and hit the zombie in the forehead with the wedge knocking it to the ground. She stopped and hit it again splitting it's skull. Lily crouched down and started going through the now fully dead zombies pockets.
I stood over her and took up a defensive stance. “What the hell are you doing?”
“He's wearing golfing clothes,” she replied. “If he was here playing golf then maybe his car is here.” She pulled her hand from his pocket and shook his keys.
She was right. He wore shorts, spikes, and his hat said Callaway. “Good thinking Corporal. Hear that Sarge?”
“Yeah, good job kid. Now how about a little help,”he yelled to us.
I looked up and saw John surrounded by four zombies about thirty feet from us. He was swinging his club at them but they stayed back avoiding being hit. They were intent on him and unaware of Lily and me. We ran up behind two of them. I buried my knife in the back of one's head while Lily hit the other from behind with her golf club. This time she was able to bust it's skull open with one blow but the head of the club got stuck in the side of it's head and was pulled from her grasp as it went down. The other two zombies saw us and it seemed they became a little careless at the prospect of all this food presenting itself to them. John was able to hit one with a blow directly on top of it's head driving it to the ground. Then he stepped up to the other planted his foot in it's chest and used it to push it to the ground. Then he began hitting it in the head. I finally had to grab him by the arm to make him stop.
“That's overkill Sarge,” I said. “You can get in serious trouble for that.”
Being caught up in the moment John just glared at me. Finally his face relaxed and he smiled. “Sorry sir. Did you see that? They stood back and avoided getting hit. That's something new.”
“You're
right. These things aren't all the same.”
“I found two more sets of keys. This one wasn't dressed for golf though,” Lily said, holding up one set of keys.
“Let's get to the club house, try those keys, and get the hell out of here,” John said, looking back. “They're gaining on us.”
He was right. Most of the horde was back far enough that I wasn't worried about them catching us. A few were running out ahead of the others and would be on us in a few seconds if we stood here much longer. We resumed running and passed the third tee box. Two more holes to go and we would be to the club house. Rounding an elevated earthen dam I could see the club house with it's parking lot just on the other side. As we ran Lily passed each of us a set of keys. All of them had electronic lock releases and as we got closer I began frantically pushing the button on mine. The horde behind us had gotten larger and the number of those running to catch us had grown significantly. Even though the three of us were in the military, which required us to be in top physical shape, I was running out of steam. Lily looked like she could keep this pace up forever and the Sergeant still seemed to be going strong. I on the other hand was lagging behind; too many years sitting behind a desk.
The club house sat behind the first tee and of course the first tee was elevated. Lily and John reached the top of the rise and stopped to wait for me. Pushing myself harder to get to the top of the hill I shouted,”Keep moving.”
As I finally crested the hill I could see two sets of headlights flashing. One was a Kia Sportage, the other was a convertible that looked to be a Mercedes. The Kia was closer and a more suitable choice so I headed for it. John and Lily were already at the SUV and the two of them were busy bashing in the skulls of the three zombies that had made their way over to greet them. As I joined them Lily climbed into the driver's seat and John took shotgun. I was delegated to the backseat just like I always had been during my high school years. I opened the door, tossed my rucksack in, and climbed in the back.
Dead Life (Book 4) Page 6
