“Right behind you, sister!” Yalonda answered.
A deep baritone bellow sounded out from farther down the valley. Dee shuddered. She glanced at Jack; he’d heard it too, and she knew what he was thinking. That bellow belonged to the Alpha they’d called Hellboy after the comic of the same name. It was a massive Variant, easily standing seven feet tall, with one of his arms and hands deformed into an appendage that looked like a club.
They had escaped him once already, with help from Hone and his Maori warriors.
Dee looked around at her comrades. She had fought beside them, bled beside them, slept beside them. Gritting her teeth, she urged her weary leg muscles on. The howls of the Variants grew louder on both sides of the track.
Jack skidded to a stop at the turnoff sign and swivelled, shouldering his rifle.
“C’mon, run! Renegades, give them cover. Let’s show these bastards whose land this is.”
Dee caught up to Boss and one of the Maori warriors. “Boss, take Sophie and Aroha. Run for the top.” She looked back at the SAS soldier, Major Ken Hinds. “Give your spare rifle and some ammo to Ken. You must protect the girls, okay, Boss?” He had picked up Derek’s fallen rifle. Dee had recognised it as Chang’s.
“I will. Hurry.” Boss handed the M4 to Ken, who gratefully accepted it and quickly changed out the magazine for a full one.
Dee watched Boss sprint up the track with the four Maori warriors jogging behind. One of them picked up Sophie and another scooped up Aroha.
She took a couple of deep breaths and nudged Jack on the arm. “I’m down to two magazines.”
“Three.”
Dee glanced back down the mountain path, searching for the beasts she knew were stalking them. The sounds of them bundling through the undergrowth echoed around the four soldiers.
“Major. Any suggestions?” Dee asked, the words coming out in a choke. She was shattered and struggling to keep her emotions in check.
“Just one. Don’t die.”
She spluttered out a laugh as she looked at Ken. His face was devoid of expression. She heard Jack and Yalonda chuckling along with her.
“Combat retreat spacings,” Ken continued. “Jack, take point. Guide us up the mountain. Don’t watch us. We’ll cover your back. And get the captain to give covering fire from the chopper. Yalonda and Dee, take left and right. Keep talking. When they come, don’t hesitate. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the Renegades answered.
Dee glanced up at the cloudy sky. The tell-tale whump of rotor blades reverberated around the mountain. She could hear Jack communicating with Ben on his radio as she carefully backed her way up the track, her AR-15 snug against her shoulder. The familiar presence of her katana digging into her back gave her a sense of comfort.
“…this is Renegade 1, we are on the south side of Mount Karangahake. We have multiple targets approaching. Ben, old buddy, we could really use some .50 cal. covering fire.”
Dee smiled to herself. Jack couldn’t help but slip in a movie quote even during times like this.
Branches snapped to her left as several smudges of black burst through the undergrowth and scrambled onto the track. Dee lined up a Variant and put a single shot into its chest. The creature stumbled and regained its footing. She fired again, this time scoring a perfect headshot. She swung the rifle to the next beast and quickly dropped it. With the vanguard down, the Renegades broke into a jog.
Dee struggled to find purchase on the clay track as she slipped upwards a few metres at a time.
The baritone bellow sounded again over the rugged Kaimais, sending birds shrieking into the sky. High-pitched howls answered it, coming from below and off to both sides of the track. The trees and shrubs shook before separating and spewing out the tsunami of rabid beasts.
Dee groaned at the sheer number of them. Her mind flashed back to the mountain she had escaped from with Jack, Boss, Ben and George all those months ago. A different Alpha now, but the same hunger-fuelled pursuit.
“Run!” screamed Ken.
Dee didn’t need to be told twice. With a quick glance skyward, she prayed for Ben to hurry up, and sprinted.
After a couple hundred metres, she skidded around a corner and squeezed her body through a narrow gap between two huge slabs of granite that towered above her. Jack had stopped on the other side and was grinning at her. Ken and Yalonda jostled through after her.
“Go! What are you waiting for?” yelled Yalonda.
“300,” Jack said, raising his carbine and pointing it at the fast-approaching Variant horde. Dee could clearly see the imposing figure of the Alpha lumbering up towards them.
“You’re crazy, Jack. I like it!” exclaimed Ken. He spun and fired a burst of 5.56 mm rounds into the screaming beasts.
Screaming out all her anger and frustration, Dee joined in.
The Variants bundled into the gap. They scrambled over each other in their desperation to feed on the human flesh that was just out of reach. The Renegades cut them down in droves. As the bodies piled up in the gap, more scampered over the wall, joints popping as they moved.
Dee’s magazine clicked empty. “Changing!” She reached into her vest and came up empty. “Shit, I’m out!”
She went to pull her Glock from the holster, then remembered she had given it to Ken. Grinning, she unsheathed her katana and sliced the head off the nearest Variant with a satisfying thwack!
“I’m dry!” called out Yalonda as she pulled free her hatchets and likewise hacked into the shoulder of a beast. Black blood spurted out, filling the air with its rotten stench.
Dee ran another through and kicked the deceased monster off her blade. More Variants piled over the wall and tumbled down, only to be picked off by Jack and Ken.
The wall of Variant bodies shook, then bulged out at the bottom as the carcasses of the fallen separated. Dee took several steps back as the Alpha threw aside the last body and screamed at the Renegades, gobbets of spittle flying out from its sucker mouth.
Jack squeezed his trigger, shooting the monster in the head. Unsurprisingly, his bullets had no effect on the giant beast.
“Aim for its eyes!” yelled Ken as he raised his rifle.
The Alpha bounded over and slammed his club appendage into Ken and Jack, knocking them aside like they were sandflies. Dee cried out as her husband tumbled along the ground before crashing into the scrub.
The beast jumped in front of Dee and Yalonda with an almighty leap, shaking the ground beneath their feet as it landed. It then raised its arms over its deformed head and bellowed.
The two women reacted simultaneously. Dee dropped into a crouch and spun. Swinging from her hips, she put all her remaining strength into her strike. The katana cut deep, slicing into the Alpha’s diseased leg, cutting through to the bone. The Alpha howled and slammed her in the chest with such force that she heard a rib break as the wind whooshed from her lungs. She tried to sit up and call out for Yalonda.
Yalonda ducked under a swinging arm and threw her hatchets at the snarling Alpha. One axe sailed harmlessly past its head, landing next to Jack’s prone body. The other scored a direct hit, sinking deep into the monster’s eye.
Dee was struggling to clear her vision as reality fogged around her, time slowing down. She looked over at the unconscious forms of Jack and Ken. Then she felt someone yank her arm and drag her. She thought she heard the brrrroooorrrtttt of .50 cals, but she was having trouble picking out distinct sounds.
Yells, screams and shrieks bounced around her head, but through it all she heard Yalonda shout into her ear, “Hold on, Dee, baby. The cavalry’s here.”
As Yalonda cradled Dee’s ringing head in her arms, blurs of army fatigues and the black and white fur that was Max flashed past her.
Dee looked up and blinked at the long grey beard and brown eyes of Ben, frowning down at her. Dee swore she was dreaming. After wanting to see Jack’s face before she died, Ben’s would be next.
He grasped her arm and Dee smiled in her deli
rium. He was really here.
“Hurry. Get them aboard. The guns won’t hold them off for long,” Ben shouted at Yalonda and someone else Dee couldn’t see.
She grabbed Ben’s hand. “Boss and the girls?”
“We got them, Dee.”
Dee sighed, and felt strong hands lift her up and lay her down on a cold metal floor. Its cooling touch never felt so good. She let her head roll to one side as her mind spun. Jack looked so peaceful, lying a few metres away. She struggled to sit up but hands pushed her back down, and she felt the prick of an injection and cold liquid flood her veins. Max licked her face and whimpered in her ear as her world faded to black.
— 28 —
Spinning…
Jack snapped open his eyes as the chopper’s interior spun around him. His shoulder burned from the throbbing pain where the Alpha had clobbered him. Thankfully his backpack had taken the brunt of the blow, saving him from something worse. He tried to rise up off the floor and focus on what was happening around him, but it made the spinning worse. He shook his head, desperate to clear his mind. Then his ears popped and sounds flooded in.
Shouting…heavy gunfire…crackling…
“Jack! Get up! We need you.”
He turned his head and looked at the man shouting at him. His eyes focused. Ben was hanging onto the .50 cal. and firing at a black beast outside the helicopter. Incredibly, it was flying. It swooped and dived, dancing around the humans. The beast met Jack’s eyes and emitted a high-pitched wail. The sound rattled the tiny bones in his ears.
“Jack!” Ben shouted, his voice strained. “Get on the other gun.”
Max licked Jack’s face and nuzzled into him, whimpering. He accepted the dog’s assistance and rose to help Ben.
Jack staggered to the other minigun and pulled back the bolt, loading it. His injured shoulder spasmed with the effort. Brushing aside the pain, he glanced around at the other occupants.
Boss had the two girls wedged behind him, using his body as a shield for them as he fired his carbine at the winged monster. Both girls had their heads buried in their hands, blocking out the horror. Jack frantically searched for Dee. She was lying on a stretcher next to a barely conscious Ken, her chest rising and falling. The surviving prisoners were huddled together on the other bench. The sight of his wife renewed his determination.
Yalonda caught his eye. “You going to fire that gun, nerd boy?” She grinned.
Jack growled in response and pulled on the trigger, tracking the winged beast as it twirled and spiralled, always just out of reach. It shrieked again and shot a bluish liquid from its mouth, aiming at the cockpit.
The pilot began screaming as the chopper listed dangerously to port. As it tilted, Jack fired a burst of .50 cal. rounds. They tore through the Variant’s wing. It tucked its wings into its body and plummeted out of sight.
“Great shot, Jack,” Ben said. “Now help me with the pilot. Caro, keep watch for that beast.”
With the creature gone for now, Jack looked into the cockpit. The pilot was slumped in his seat, and beyond him was a gaping hole in the windshield. The same strange stuff he’d seen in the tunnels, the acidic compound, coated the edges of the hole.
The co-pilot managed to bring the chopper under control, but smoke and sparks shot out from the instrument panel.
“What happened?”
“He took a direct hit from the beast. It spews some kind of acidic liquid.”
Jack reached the pilot and could tell he was dead. He gagged at the sight of the melted flesh falling off his face, exposing the tissue, muscles and bone. Part of the man’s lower jaw was exposed, and his tongue hung out of the hole. Just above the left eye, the acid had burned into his brain.
Hell of a way to die.
With nothing to do for the pilot, Jack returned to the hold and checked on his wife. Dee lay peacefully, breathing but unconscious. He pulled aside her shirt to see a dark purple bruise on the right side of her ribs. Jack was no medic, but he was sure some were broken. He kissed her, then sat down next to Boss and the girls.
“You guys all right?”
“We’re good. Is she okay, Jack?”
“She’s alive, but I’m not sure how badly she’s injured.”
“I froze, Jack.” Boss looked away from him and rubbed his hand on his leg. “I froze. I saw Hellboy and did nothing. I didn’t even fire my Glock.”
Jack placed his hand on the teenager’s shoulder. “You protected the girls. That’s what we asked for, and you did it. Don’t beat yourself up. I’m proud of you, Boss.”
“She saved me back in the beginning, and I froze.”
“We’re alive, Boss. That’s what matters. Alive and here, together.”
Boss looked away again and Jack left him to his thoughts. Searching out his pack, he dug through it and found his stash of Whittaker’s chocolate and his water. He handed some of the chocolate to the girls and Boss, who immediately perked up. Jack grinned. Chocolate always brought a smile to the face. It even helped after a dementor attack.
Jack shook his head at his geeky brain.
“Oi! You holding out on me?” Yalonda smirked. “You know my feelings about the sweet gold.”
He chuckled. He liked the feisty brunette. Rising, he handed her a bar and glanced to the east.
The peak of Te Aroha towered above the other mountains and hills that surrounded it, its communication antenna poking through the perpetual clouds. Jack frowned as he saw a black smudge glide into the clouds and land on the mast. Before he could say anything, a bang from the cockpit rattled around the hold and smoke started to pour from the instrument panel. Ben leapt up and grabbed the fire extinguisher, coating the flames in foam. The panel sparked and hissed.
The co-pilot turned around in his seat. “I have to put her down. If we catch fire, we’re toast.”
Jack met Ben’s eyes before focusing on his surroundings. They were just south of Mount Karangahake, and the town of Paeroa where this crazy mission had begun was just to the north.
“Waitawheta Pa?”
It was the logical choice to him, as it was only two kilometres away. Ben nodded and spoke into the co-pilot’s ear, pointing south west. Jack felt the chopper bank and turn. He looked at Dee and grimaced.
Hang on, baby. We’ll get you fixed up.
Jack tipped some water into his hand and let Max lap it up. It was gone in seconds. Realising the poor dog hadn’t eaten for over twenty-four hours, he squeezed some jellymeat from one of the pouches he carried into his billy. Max gobbled it down as the chopper flew on.
The chopper tilted up as it rose over the cliffs that surrounded three sides of the Pa.
He gasped at the sight below him.
Boss and Yalonda followed his gaze. The teenager let out a low whistle. “What the hell is that?”
Jack stood and grabbed the handle above the minigun.
“Hold your fire, Jack. That’s not going to do much.”
Waitawheta Pa was situated high up on a hill, the north, east and west sides protected by steep andesite cliffs. To the south, the land fell away gently towards the river of the same name, which cut its way through the valley. Jack couldn’t see the valley floor. Thousands of Variants were filing out of the thick vegetation that covered the mountains and marching on the Pa. He shook his head at the sight; he had never seen so many in one place.
“Looks like we’re leaping out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
“Boss. Radio this in. The chopper’s radio is out. Give them a SITREP,” Ben ordered. “Jack, Caro. I want the M2s unloaded. We’re going to need them. As soon as we land, take care of Dee and Ken. Then unload all the ammo. We stocked up before we left.” Ben look up at Jack. “Get Dee on her feet. We’re going to need every able body to fight.”
The chopper sparked and sputtered as it descended, then thumped onto the ground. Hone strode over to meet them, his tattooed muscles rippling in the morning light. Jack caught Yalonda gawking and shook his head.
“Good to see that you made it. Sorry we didn’t make it back, but as you can see, you white fellas chose a great time to visit.”
Ben shook Hone’s hand and Jack reached out. Hone feinted a shake, then pulled him into a hug. “I’m glad you’re here though.”
“Good to see you too, mate. I was wondering what happened to you and Tama after the winery.”
Hone’s eyes darkened and Jack felt his heart thump against his chest. “Is Tama safe?”
“He’s alive, but in a bad way. Only a few of my whanau made it back. The Rewera were everywhere. Someone has stirred up a wasp nest.” Hone glanced into the chopper at Dee and Ken. “Is my other wife okay?”
Jack smiled. He knew Hone was kidding. “I hope so, Hone. She was given a small sedative to rest.”
“Take them to the kaumatua and then meet me on the wall. We’ve made some improvements since you were here last.” Hone whacked Ben on the shoulder. “Thanks to your suggestions, old fella.”
“I had a feeling this day would come. They were going to run out of food and come hunting eventually. But I never expected it to be on this scale,” Ben replied.
Jack gritted his teeth. “Something is running the show, so to speak. Organising them.”
Hone nodded and gestured to the wall. “We’ll fight the devils until our last breath.” He winked at Jack. “Maori and Pakeha fighting side by side, eh?”
Jack grimaced. Like any New Zealander, he knew the troubled history between the two races. Despite the Treaty of Waitangi, land had been confiscated from the Maori by the hectare. Before the Variant apocalypse, the government had brokered several settlement claims, but many tribes still felt aggrieved and let down by successive governments.
“My ancestors fought yours, Hone. I could think of no one better to fight alongside than you and the children of the mist.”
“And I too, Jack. The Renegades are always welcome here. Take care of Dee, then come and join Ben and me up there.” He pointed at a fortified tower over the main gate.
Jack lifted one end of Dee’s stretcher as Boss lifted the other. Aroha and Sophie ran over and took a side each. With Max leading the way, they shuffled over to the infirmary. Two Maori teenagers lifted Ken with ease, following the battered and exhausted group.
Extinction NZ (Book 3): The Five Pillars Page 17
