by S. Ganley
Doug confided in Garrett that Emily’s near death experience seemed to have brought about a change in her. Before the apocalypse Doug their marriage was a joke, something that Doug would have done anything to find a way out of short of losing everything he had worked all his life to obtain. Emily had become someone so unbearable that the mere sight of her often turned his stomach. With both of them now completely stripped of all the money, possessions and status that had defined their previous lives, he thought they were now discovering things about themselves that he had never thought possible. With Emily recovering from the bite wound and the transfusion, the two of them had spent countless hours huddled together just talking. He was starting to learn things about her that he never realized before and once again seeing the girl that he originally fell in love with many years earlier. He thought it possible that they had a chance of falling in love all over again and he was willing to let those chips fall where they may.
Food and water were starting to become a pressing issue for all of them. With the stairwell to the lower floors of the hospital almost constantly flooded with a never ending parade of zombies, their ability to scavenge supplies was extremely limited. Garrett estimated that using emergency rationing they had enough for another two or three days at best. He had been spending a great deal of time on the roof working to set up a system to collect rain water and morning dew into lined trash cans and other containers they were able to find. He was also experimenting with the use of crude snares in the hopes of trapping some of the hundreds of birds that routinely made use of the roof during the day. It was a long shot but if they could manage to catch three or four a day, the meat would be able to sustain them for a while longer.
Olivia clambered up the roof stairs and burst through the door at a full spring. Seeing her charging across the roof towards him, Garrett's first reaction was to reach for his pistol with the fear that zombies had finally found a way to infiltrate their refuge. Something about her mannerism told him that something else was going on. She was excitedly waving something in her right hand while wearing the biggest smile on her face that Garrett could ever remember seeing on the pilot.
"Garrett! There coming! Search and rescue!" She shouted while still halfway across the roof from him.
He now recognized the object in her hand, it was the two way radio she had carried with her since ejecting from her plane almost three days earlier. To conserve the limited batter power in both her radio and emergency beacon she had only been turning them on for short periods of time twice each day. Before Garrett could reply, a familiar sound that he never thought he would hear again carried to him from somewhere off to the east. The churning blades of a heavy transport helicopter sent a vibration through the roof that carried down into the floor directly underneath them. Just as Olivia reached his side, Garrett saw several excited faces burst from the access door on the far side of the roof and begin frantically searching the sky all around them. It was Miranda who spotted it first. Dropping from altitude they all saw the massive Sea Stallion search and Rescue helicopter descending towards the roof of the hospital.
Forming a rough semi-circle along the fringes of the roof, everyone watched in awe as the helicopter softly settled down directly in the center of the roof. Garrett couldn’t help but notice that the three door gunners dressed in full chemical warfare gear directed their multi-barreled machine guns towards them as the helicopter settled down. The passenger compartment doors of the helicopter slid open and a half dozen chemical suit wearing soldiers armed with assault rifles fanned out and formed a protective ring around the perimeter of the helicopter. A minute after the soldiers were all in place, three more similarly dressed figures emerged from the back of the helicopter and began walking towards Olivia.
"Garrett. Wait here and don't make any sudden movements. These people will be jumpy and nervous." Olivia said and then turned back towards the soldiers and walked forward to meet them halfway.
Seconds after meeting the greeting party, Garrett was surprised to see Olivia lunge forward and wrap her arms excitedly around one of them in particular. He couldn't hear a word she was saying over the roar of the helicopter, but from the excited look on her face and the mutual hug she had shared with this particular individual he took it as a good sign that they were in friendly hands. After the preliminary greeting was concluded, Olivia directed the visitors to the furthest end of the roof away from the helicopter where they carried on an animated conversation for almost fifteen minutes. On several occasions Olivia turned and gestured towards Garrett and the others who were gathered on the fringes of the roof patiently observing the little meeting. It seemed that she was pleading a case for the rest of them to be included in the rescue effort. Garrett couldn't hear the conversation or see the faces of the others but judging by the unwavering look on Olivia's face it appeared she was refusing to leave unless everyone left together.
A resolution seemed to have finally been reached as the group broke apart. Two of the chemical suit clad figures made their way back to towards the soldiers guarding the helicopter while Olivia and the third visitor walked forward to meet with Garrett.
"Garrett. I would like to introduce my squadron leader, Lieutenant Alan Chapman." Olivia offered.
"I have heard some impressive things about you." Lieutenant Chapman said. "It seems we all owe you a debt of gratitude for keeping the young Lieutenant here safe."
Garrett detected a general friendless in the man's voice, even muffled as it was through the filters of his face mask. Olivia had talked about her squadron leader before and had said that if anyone could organize a rescue effort for her that he would be the one to do it. Garrett knew that he would not normally have been included in a rescue and that his presence here showed his genuine support in recovering a pilot under his command. He immediately found a great deal of respect for someone willing to go to those lengths for one his people. "I appreciate the sentiment sir. All of us have just been doing our best to survive. I won’t say it hasn't been without its challenges."
Crusher glanced around the rooftop at the rest of their people standing idly by and quietly observing from a distance, "I can only imagine. It hasn’t been easy for any of us. But, we are now ready to offer you and the rest of your group the opportunity to leave. Lieutenant Frostburg has made it clear that she will not step foot aboard our helicopter until the rest of your group is already loaded. She has also briefed us that one of your numbers has overcome the infection and you have successful tested her blood for use as a cure. I will be honest with you and tell you that this piece of information in no small way has ensured all of you a ride out of here. Our mission is search and rescue of a downed pilot. But our overall goal is finding a solution to the outbreak and it sounds like you may have helped get us closer to that than anyone else."
As they were speaking, Garrett noticed the other two men who had conferred with Olivia now directing several soldiers back to the helicopter. In a moment they reappeared carrying a collapsible stretcher and ran towards the doorway at the other side of the roof.
"Our men have been instructed to help your wounded and assist in anyway needed." Lieutenant Chapman said as he followed Garrett’s gaze and noted his questioning expression.
The rest of the men near the helicopter shouldered their rifles and walked towards Miranda and the others along the edge of the roof. They were ushering them towards the helicopter but Garrett saw that none of them were willing to be the first to move forward and all eyes were turned towards him. Waving his hand towards the helicopter he signaled for them to follow the soldiers and climb on board the craft. Garrett then followed Olivia and Lieutenant Chapman towards the open door of the aircraft where Garrett stopped and waited for the soldiers inside the building to return with Kyle and the others who were still inside. Miranda walked over to him while everyone else was ushered into the crew compartment of the helicopter and offered seats. The helicopter made it impossible to attempt a conversation, but there really wasn't anything t
hat needed to be said between them. She looked up into his eyes and offered him a smile. As they waited for Kyle to be loaded, Garrett reached down and grasped Miranda's hand. While he was elated that they had all made it to this point and the rescue they had dreamed about had finally come, he found his thoughts drifting.
Garrett had never talked to Miranda or anyone else about the dead father behind the wheel of the jeep at the entrance to the park. It was something that never really left his thoughts though. Watching as his rag tag group of survivors piled into the waiting helicopter, his thoughts also turned to the radio transmission they had picked up just a few days earlier. There were still so many other less fortunate souls left fighting for survival without any hope of salvation. He had made a promise to himself to return and help however he could and he intended to follow through on that. His hope was that he could prevent any more fathers from facing the same pain and anguish he had witnessed inside that lonely jeep in the park.
Walking hand and hand with Miranda, Garrett stepped stoically towards the waiting helicopter. While he felt relief that this chapter in their life was finally closing, he also felt an anxious anticipation for the next one to soon begin.
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Also Available on Amazon.com:
The Dead Don’t Bleed Series:
Part 1: The Outbreak
The Infected Series
Part 1: The Infected
Part 2: Gerald’s War
Part 3: Rise of the Zombies
Questions and comments are always welcome.
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