by Alex McHale
“You got it Sir”.
“1-2 this 1-1 you guys ready to hit it?”
CW3 Jim Coffee was chalk two behind us, Jim was one of my most experienced pilots, a test pilot by day and a hippie by night. “Grim Jim” was from out west, up in Seattle Washington, back in Iraq he used to do Tai Chi on top of the Phalanx cannon every morning, and had gotten shot down 3 times as the sole survivor, hence his name. He was flying with WO1 “Buck” Baker, the FNG, fresh out of flight school.
“We are ugghhhhhh redcon 1”
“Fucking new guys…” Jackal sneered and shook his head. “They always suck on the radios”
“RodgO Calling tower” I tapped the radio selector switch on my ICS panel “Stewart tower, Voodoo 41, flight of two on bravo ramp, requesting present position departure to the south.”
“Rodger, Black Magic 41 you are clear for takeoff winds, 220 at 15 knots gusting 21.”
Jackal pulled in some power and we took off flying low over the airfield. The gigantic FEMA camp was packed full of civilians in temporary housing, aka the tent city, it was gruesome, piles of trash lay scattered everywhere while people slogged through the mud and swarmed LMTVs throwing out boxes of MRES, the smell of burning human remains and feces hovered over the camp like a pestilent smog, we cleared out of it and rolled down low over the Hudson River.
Chapter 2
The whole Valley looked dead, except for the columns of smoke rising over the urban areas. We overflew the Academy: West Point. It was in lock down mode, serving as a Tactical Operations Center for ground commanders in the Hudson Valley, fighting a holding action against the millions of zombies and refugees coming out of the City.
A pair of Apaches circled high over the top of Storm King Mountain, like vultures looking for some Zs to swoop down on. “64 traffic over the point this is voodoo 41 flight of two NOE over the river, we got you guys in sight, we’re no factor for you” I called a courtesy “heads up” call to them so they didn’t shoot near us or hit us when they fuck around and crash, as 64 Pilots love to do. “What’s up voodoo, yeah we see you guys, you guys headed down to the city?”
“RodgO fourteenth trip this week” I pushed back.
“Good luck fellas, I hear it’s a mad house down there stay safe”.
“Thanks guys, you too. Good hunting”
Jackal sped up to 150 knots over the water, the brown and grey burbles of the Hudson spit up at us. It was a choppy day, and the ribbons of oil and chemicals were bright and vibrant, reflecting like a rainbow like oil puddles you see in parking lots. We banked hard to the right and Jackal pulled the aircraft into a steep cyclic climb over the Bear Mountain Bridge and then cranked the aircraft over hard on the left and gave her a healthy nose down attitude, BONG BONG BONG! The radar altimeter was going off. Out of the side window I could see the Armored Personnel Carriers parked on either end of the bridge. I could reach out and touch them, almost.
200 feet…
100 feet …
75 feet …
25 feet.
The aircraft lurched back up, I felt the pull and hard sink of 2G’s as he leveled her back out. The Rotors and engines whine happily as they spun up while increasing speed.
“annnnnnnnd level” He said with a smirk, “oh look at that bro 15 feet! New record!”
He was a sick fuck, but he was one hell of warrant officer, my unit instructor pilot. Jackal was a crusty infantry E7 from back in the day; he was in a Long Ranger Reconnaissance Team and was the dude in Iraq with the black patches on his ACUS and a goatee, he had 20 years in the military and had the “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. HE had learned to fly helos after 15 years in the Army, passing the flight exams with ease. He pushed the “I’m a pilot I’ll get away it with” card to the max. He rolled his sleeves up when he flew and rocked his standard issue Oakley half jackets under his flight helmet with a black superman patch on his helmet visor. He was going to get out before the Zs rolled in, he wanted to be a science teacher and move back to Vegas to retire. So much for that plan!
“Alright Lex you have the controls bro, I got the radios.” I took the controls and brought us back up over the mountains; there was a cliff face just adjacent to the Nuclear Power Plant that I loved to fly down.
“Coffee man! Tune up 770 on your ADF” Jackal said on internal.
“Jackal I swear if It’s more of that right wing Sean Hannity shit I’m gonna fucking kill you.”
“Nah bro check it out.”
I pushed my switch down on the ADF and grinned in approval as “all along the watch tower” came on over the radio. The city skyline started to come into view; it was a warzone. The skyscrapers were crumbling, some were on fire, the Empire State Building’s lights were all Red for what Jim thinks means “stay the FUCK away” the City was a mad house of Reavers, Zs , Looters and freaked the fuck out civilians.
“Alright drop down over the water, let’s mix it up, over the bridges, watch for jumpers, lets head around the lady, down over wall street, around the Harlem River, Yankee stadium and we’ll approach the pier to the east.“
Flying over the city was fraking awesome, but a mad house of helicopter traffic. The Marines had their damned hands in everything ruining it for everyone as usual. They operated the evac of most of Long Island and had set up shop at JFK, flying people out to the ships.
“Kennedy Tower Voodoo 41, flight of two 60’s south bound at the face, requesting a south east bound transition over wall street, to the Harlem.”
The controller came back to in a heavy Brooklyn accent. “Yeahh uh Rodger that 41, approved as requested, report Lady remain below 500 ft. Heavy helicopter traffic in the vicinity of Ft. Hamilton, and the Intrepid.”
“41 copies all” Jackal took was taking some action shots with his iPhone as we came around the Statue of Liberty. “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?” Slim laughed over the radio, I looked over that the Statue of Liberty and was shocked. “Some mother fucker spray painted a fucking mustache on the Statue of Liberty” Thompson was arching over his chair tying to get a good look.
The sound of the secure radio double beep popped on in my helmet “Hey Lex you guys see that, looks like someone tagged up the Lady!”
I replied “haha yeah man, that’s fucking hilarious. but seriously …. What a bunch of dicks.”
“I would have painted a big fat penis on it” Spc Edwards blasted over internal.
“I’ll paint your mom with mine” Jackal shot back over internal “You don’t fuck with ‘Merica!”
“Dude that guy doesn’t get a Black Hawk ride out of NY, what a doucher” I replied.
You could see the fires and Zs in the streets, the ground guys were putting the smack down on the Zs. Burst of .50 cal, the rapid fire of 240s, were lighting up the streets, the body parts, and bright red clouds of mist exploded throughout the horde. Some navy cats in a PT boat were doing a drive by along the Wall Street helipads. I brought us down for a close look.
“Now that’s fucking gangster” Slim said as he held his GoPro camera out this window. The PT boat had the M260 30mm chain gun on it, the same one that’s on the Apache; they were blasting the crap out of the Zs on the piers. They were massing on the pier, running full speed off the docks and falling into the water. Pieces of zombie flew over all over the place; the round exploded upon impact, turning the crowd into a killzone.
“Mind if we join in, Sir?”
“ Hell yeah man! Light those bitches up! ” *CHHHHCHHHHCHHCHHCHHHCHHCHHCHHCHHHHCHHHH
Slim’s 240 rained down 7.62 justice upon the mob of Zs. “Think I can set one of them on fire?” I asked Jackal.
“hahah Idk bro, be careful don’t get too close to that 30mm.”
I sped up and tucked the nose, threw in some pedal and swooped about 30 feet over the mob, Jackal flipped the safety switch and I punched about 10 flares into the crowd. “yyyyyyyyyyyyyyup…” Slim keyed. “Anything?” I keyed back.
“yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyup………….oh yeah BAHAHAH ohhh yeah!!” I could
n’t see as we had already flown past them.
“Are they burning?” I asked Slim again.
“Meh. I think you got the hedges that were next to the mob, maybe you got a couple, I wasn’t really watching”
“hahahah than why did you say yup?”
“Oh, I just saw a huge fat guy get ripped limb from limb by a couple Zs on the subway tracks and then get hit by a train.”
I just kept flying… “DUDE did you get it on camera!?” Jackal said.
Just then the radio beeped again. “1-1, 1-2 : Did you guys just SEE fat guy get mauled and then hit by a train?” Buck said over internal. Jackal just looked at me and laughed in his usual way, and I keyed the mic shaking my head with a grin and said “As if your day couldn’t get any worse. Oh look there’s my train!”
Chapter 3
We flew low over the east side and over Yankee Stadium. Inside there were the remains of some survivors and what looked like a FEMA camp. Just then some tracer fire came straight up at out windshield from inside the stadium. I banked the aircraft to the left hard “1-1 taking fire from the 12 o’clock, I think it came from inside the stadium.” I felt the “plunk” noise of the aircraft taking hits, “1-1 taking hits”
I did a small cyclic climb and then pushed us over banking right then left, dropping more altitude it was a hailstorm of incoming fire now, not just from around the stadium, but from around the streets, and on top of roof tops. I ducked behind a couple of skyscrapers as an RPG round flew past my nose and impacted the MetLife building next to me, exploding and sending glass flying out in from of me and down towards the streets.
“Get us out of here sir” Jackal said in a cool and collected voice, “you are clear around to the left.” Slim backed me up hanging out the window shooting his 240.
“I’ve got a technical 6 o’clock shooting at chalk 2” Thompson said as his 240 belted out brass onto the canvas seats. “1-1, 1-2 how are you guys looking?” Jim keyed over internal .
“We’re alright man we took a few hits, I’m going to have our crew dogs take a look when we land at the pax terminal, how about you guys?”
“Yeah, we’re alright we took a few his, but our systems are green right now.” Jim sounded as casual as always, coming from a dude who has gotten shot down and shot up more than most pilots I know, it didn’t’ surprise me. “Man and I thought Detroit was bad” I said over the radio.
Jackal smiled and said “When did the City turn in fucking Compton bro?”
“When the Reavers took over Ft. Hamilton, prolly” I said.
“Anybody want some bacon?” Slim held up a greasy plastic bag up over the center console and Jackal and I looked at each other. “Come on… you know you want some… baconbaconbaconbacon.” Jackal looked back at him and said “Where the hell did you get bacon?”
Slim was feeding the greasy strips into his mouth clutching the ends of the meat with his long gangly fingers and replied while chewing. “Well the store got the bacon from a Pig, I got it from the store and then smoked it in the barracks… It’s smokey deliciousness is amazinggggrrrrrr nom nom nom.”
“I’ll have some” Thompson stuck his hand in the greasy bag.
“Take your gloves off first rookie, you’ll get em all fucked up” Slim said while munching on. “Dude that smell delicious! Hook a brother up Slim” Jackal received the greasy bag, handed me a slice.
“awwwwwww yeahhhhhhhh” I said in delight.
We pulled in short final over the water and started our approach to the helipads where the civilian crowd was waiting. “Man look at this place.” I said while putting adjusting my approach angle. The people were rioting, screaming and yelling, pushing each other over and trampling over one another. They were climbing on up on fences and trying to get on helicopters; there were a barges over flowing with people. There were people in business suits, people with bags, children, holding pets, babies, the elderly, homeless, foreigners and tourists alike.
The Staten Island ferry was capsized and on fire, and other boats were so overburdened with people, some people were latched on the rubber bumpers, dangling chest deep in the water. The military had brought in 18 foot T-Walls to make a secure LZ with C-wire on the top of it, they had a pretty extensive and fortified Entry Control Point, and but it looked like they barely had the crowd at bay. “Alright Jim, I’ll take the far right pad closest to the entrance.”
“Rodger that, I’ll come in right behind you”. The crew chiefs , hanging out their windows walked us in, “you’re clear down right”, “and down left sir”. I continued down looking out the left door, and down towards the ground.
A couple soldiers in full kit ran up to the crew chief and yelled into their mic boom “WE’VE GOT 22 PEOPLE FOR YOU TODAY!”
“Okay, Thompson tell him to send them out, we’re at 1000 pounds of gas on the money” . The grunt signaled to with a wave of his arm, and the people started running out towards the aircraft. There were 11 people coming towards my aircraft, 4 young women that looked terrified as hell, and looked to be around my age in their mid twenties, there were three men in business suits, one of them with a briefcase and 7 other men of different ages and appearances, one of the dudes had a Marlboro cigarette hat on, an oil stained blue shirt and a had a mangled looking beard, he looked like a mechanic as his hands were covered in grease and looked oil stained. That and the motherfucker had a grease rag in his pocket. I thought the dope was going to have his hat blown off his head, but he took it off, hunched down and came into the rotor system, and buckled in on the front couch in a split second. That’s odd… must be a vet or something… back In Nam maybe, I thought to myself I turned back to look at him, and he gave me a hang loose sign and a toothless smile.
“Yo you check out that old joker in the back?” I looked at jackal, who was packing another lip. He stomped on the floor mic and said “Yeah man, he’s totally outa of the nam.” “Jim how many Pax you got man?” “11, we’re full up.” Okay, winds look straight down the pipe, we’ll come straight up, fly down the street here and climb out over central park.” “RodgO” he said. “Okay man I’m coming up and out.”
“Alright man, you have the controls, take us home.” I looked over at jackal, he readjusted and sat up in his chair and put his feet on the pedals, I made the radio call to JFK tower and let them know what we were doing and we started to take off. “Shit man look at that crowd down there, that’s insane….” It must have been 5000 plus people, helicopters were all over the place, picking up people and dropping them off, split between Floyd Bennet airfield which was controlled by the Navy, and Governors Island, where FEMA and the CDC had set up shop.
Jackal pulled in some more power and dipped the nose to gain some airspeed, there were Zs fucking everywhere, the streets were jammed with taxis, buses and cars, some of them were on fire. I looked down and saw a family running from some Zs. The woman fell and dropped her child and they were just about to get over run by the Zs.
“SLIM DO SEE THE FAMILY BELOW US AT OUR 9” I blurted out. “Slow back man” Jackal pulled back and decel’d us, “I GOT EM!” Slim shouted!
“Open fire on the Zs man, see if you can cover them.”
“On the GO!” Jackal came down in altitude, “2, 1 one, we’re going to try to cover this family of civilians making a run for the Safe Zone, maneuver to facilitate their movement watch your fire”.
“ 40 feet, no lower Jackal, scan for wires Thompson, keep us clear and back get the ones of the right.”
“rodg.” I reached back and grabbed the M4 in the center console rack; we were at a very slow however and did something that was really stupid but I didn’t care.
“what the fuck are you doing Lex?” “Helping out Slim” I racked a round in the M4, stuck my foot in the door arm Lock and started shooting at Zs. I caught one of them with a 3 round burst in a dead sprint, he stumbled and splattered over the hood of Car. “Reloading!” Slim said over the ICS. POP POP POP POP! I hit one in the shoulder tearing off its arm, and blew off
its left knee cap.
The terrified family, looked up at us, they continued to flee down the sidewalk. We helped them out for another block where the made it to a ground patrol helping civilians towards the safe area. “Hey it’s cool and all that we tried to help them out but that was really fucking stupid and risky Lex” Jim said over the radio.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way” Jackal spoke up over the radio. He looked at me and said “ I got kids man, 9 and 14, you bet you fucking ass I would have done the same thing. It was a risky fucking call but sometimes it pays off.“
“Appreciate that, hey bro we’re almost bingo, we need to roll NOW.”
“hey 2, 1 we’re almost bingo man, let’s hit it.”
“RodgO”!
Jackal nosed over and flew us down a street towards central park. Jackal looked over to me and said “Hey man, Im gonna take us up a little higher out of the buildings, this is Reaverl territo—“
