Torn Apart

by James Harden

  I shook my head. "You should’ve left that guy to die. And trust me, Maria is immune. She was bitten. She was dying. But her body, her immune system fought the virus. And won. You need to get back on the airways. Tell your people to send reinforcements. You need to get Maria out of here. She is special. She can put a stop to this madness."

  “Don’t you think I’ve already tried calling for a goddamn extraction. There was no response.”

  I remembered back to that night in the unofficial immigration center. The slum in the outback.

  Drake calling for an extraction. Over and over.

  No response.

  We had been left for dead.

  The man, the corpse chuckled. “You already know, don’t you?”

  “Know what?”

  “You already know they’ve left. There is no extraction. Command is not responding. They’re falling back. They’re pulling out. You already know. And you already know what comes next.”

  “An airstrike,” I whispered.

  “Yeah. That’s right. They’re gonna burn this city. They’re gonna burn it to the ground.” He pointed with his one good arm to a spare ammo mag. “You might wanna save the last one.”

  I made my way back to Maria, trying desperately to focus.

  Come on Kenji. Switch on.

  This is no time to check out.

  You need to protect Maria at all costs.

  Get it together.

  We’re gonna need a bigger boat

  I made it back to the boat. Maria was waiting for me. She was anxious.

  “What the hell is going on in there?” she said, asking about the city and the noise, the fire fight and the explosions.

  “The military are falling back,” I said. “They’re trying to take out as many infected as possible.”

  “So what do we do? We can’t just stay here. We’re too exposed.”

  “I’m not sure. I’d say the infected are chasing the military. And this might actually work in our favor. It could give us a chance to find a new hiding spot. A new building. One of the sky scrapers would be ideal. We could get up nice and high. Make sure it’s secure.”

  The gunfire continued to intensify. I concentrated on the different noises. The different weapons.

  M4. M60.

  50cal.

  Mortar rounds.

  RPG’s .

  Apache attack helicopters. Firing every last one of their hellfire missiles.

  Hydra rocket pods.

  It was an impressive display of firepower. And it was about to get a whole lot more impressive. In the distance, we could hear the all too familiar sound of jet engines. The soldiers on the ground were getting even more aerial support. Maybe getting to a skyscraper was pointless, I thought to myself. If they kept up this rate of fire, they would reduce this city to rubble.

  “Kenji, are you even listening to me?” Maria said.

  “Huh? What?”

  “I asked you a question. Where should we go?”

  “Sorry. I was just…” I trailed off as I looked up to the sky. It took me a few seconds but I finally saw them. Three F22 raptors. And two A10 bombers. They were flying in perfect formation. Circling the city. They appeared to be in a holding pattern.

  “Well?”

  “I don’t know,” I finally said.

  “What do you mean? You’re the soldier! You need to make a decision. I can’t do this. I can’t. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t know why or how I’m even still alive.”

  She broke down then. I can’t blame her. She had been through a lot.

  “Maria, listen to me.”

  She kept crying.

  I grabbed her by the shoulders. “Listen to me.”

  But she kept crying. And in the distance the shelling intensified. The military were tearing this city apart.

  I hugged her. And at that moment I felt like we were in some sort of storm, the eye of a hurricane. It was weird and terrifying and surreal.

  We were alone in this huge city. Home to millions of people. It was now a warzone. And all those people were dead. Or soon to be. This picturesque, iconic harbor was supposed to be a tourist hot spot for crying out loud. Maria was breaking down right in front of me. She was falling apart. And I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to keep her together. I wasn’t even sure if I had the strength to keep myself together.

  High above us I saw the Raptors and the A10’s follow the main harbor back out to sea.

  “Listen to me,” I whispered. “We have to be honest with each other, OK? It’s the only way we’re going to survive this. We have to talk to each other. We have to keep each other sane. I’m being honest with you when I say; I don’t know what to do. Because honestly, I have no freakin idea what to do. There’s a huge force of soldiers and tanks and choppers only a few blocks away. They’re being chased by an even bigger horde of infected. We need to avoid that. At all costs.”

  She nodded her head and whispered something that I think was an agreement.

  “This could work in our favor,” I said. “Actually, I know it will. Those poor soldiers in there…”

  I choked up as I remembered the soldiers that were left behind in the temporary immigration center. They were sacrificed and used as a distraction. “Those men,” I continued. “They’re keeping the infected occupied while the rest of the military make their escape. While this is happening we need to make our escape as well. Or at least find a suitable hiding spot. The only problem is if they decide to send in another airstrike. If those jets come back. They could level this city. And no matter where we hide we won’t survive.”

  I thought hearing this piece of news would upset her even further. But it didn’t. She actually stopped crying.

  She lowered her head. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” she said, wiping the tears away from her face. “We need to stick together. We can do this.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  Outside more explosions rocked the city. We could feel the force from the blast waves. More smoke billowed up into the sky, high above the buildings.

  Maria looked out the window. “Well not if they nuke the joint,” she added. “But we can’t control that. What we can control is finding a hiding spot. Getting to high ground, fortifying our position.”

  I was speechless for a few seconds. “Wow. You sound like a real soldier, a master strategist.”

  “Hey, I’m a fast learner.”

  “I’m impressed,” I said, smiling. “And you’re absolutely right. But the timing is crucial. We should wait it out. At least until the bombing dies down. At least until those jets bug out. There’s no point in finding a good spot to hide if all they’re going to do is blow it up.”

  I just hope they don’t destroy this city, I thought to myself. If that happened it was game over for everyone.

  Timing is everything

  Two of the longest hours of my life passed.

  The gunfire and the bombing had been steady during the whole time. And the worst part? We were now seeing more and more infected on the other side of the harbor, back towards the casino which was now leaning at even more of an angle.

  Our time was up. We had to make a move.

  Enjoyed the sample for The Lost Journal Part 2?

  http://jamesharden.blogspot.com/

  Copyright © 2012 by James Harden

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events locales or organisations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author.

 

 

 
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