by J. W. Vohs
“I’ll tell you when those choppers pass us next time, moving east to west. If you guys can figure out a way to drive them off for a few minutes, it might create some confusion among the hunters that we can use to get a head start downstream.”
David shared a look with Carter, who nodded in approval as he pointed toward the .50 caliber rifle. “We can definitely try, babe. There are still a few rapids east of the Highway 30 bridge; you won’t be safe till you make it past them.”
“That’s what I figured,” Christy responded. “As soon as you chase off those Blackhawks, turn back to the east and give us some cover at the Bridge. The approaches are elevated on both sides of the river, and there’s a fence with a strand of barbed wire between the fields and the highway. Hopefully, there’ll be snow drifts to slow the hunters as well.”
Another check with Carter showed the experienced soldier pointing at the ground. David nodded before replying to his wife. “We can’t do that from the chopper; we’ll have to set up a defense line to the north and south of the bridge. As soon as you guys pass below, we’ll have Chuck extract us and drop us on the first protected island downstream of you. Got all that?”
“Loud and clear. How many fighters you have up there?”
David frowned before tersely answering, “A dozen.”
He could hear the alarm in Christy’s voice as clearly as if she was sitting in the chopper with him. “You can’t do anything with a dozen people at that bridge; they’ll swarm you in seconds. How soon until the others arrive?”
“We’re all you get for the moment, babe, but you know we’ll hold longer than that. None of that matters right now; you’ve got hundreds of civilians down there counting on us to save them. That’s exactly what we’re gonna do.”
Christy knew David was right about one thing: the lives of hundreds of civilians were at stake. She decided to follow her own advice and trust that David, Jack, and Carter knew what they were doing. “We’ll be ready to pull anchor the second you tell us to, but you guys better have some deadly tricks up your sleeves.”
“Good, now we’re only five minutes out. What’s the status on the enemy Blackhawks?”
The radio went silent for a moment while Christy checked with Deb about the position of the helicopters. “They just headed by us, moving to the east, about three minutes ago. They’re probably headed back this way right now, but they’re not flying very fast. You guys ready to go?”
David saw Carter sliding open the bay door a bit with the heavy rifle in hand. “Yep, we’re ready.”
It wasn’t long before Christy nearly shouted, “We see ‘em! Come in directly toward us and you should be right on their tails.”
Chuck had taken the mike back. “Yeah, Christy, this is Chuck; we have the river in sight and a visual on the enemy birds to our northwest. Suggest you sign off now and get those boats untied. We’ll be coming in low and fast. See you soon.”
Luke opened his eyes and was surprised to see early morning daylight spilling in from the cabin’s windows. Searing pain burned through his limbs, and he wanted to cry out for water, but he was too weak to speak. Gracie was asleep in a chair right next to the bed, close enough that he thought he might be able to reach out and touch her. When he tried to move his arm, his entire body began to violently convulse. In an instant, Gracie’s face was hovering over his, but her image quickly faded into darkness.
“Help me hold him down!” Gracie shouted to Zach. “I don’t want him to fall—”
Zach threw his linebacker’s body on top of Luke, but the force of the spasms was almost too much for him. “Maddy, go get Charlotte,” he yelled over his shoulder. Luke began making strange, guttural noises that only encouraged Maddy to move faster as she flew out the door.
The seizure began to subside, and Luke’s body went limp with the exception of a random twitch every few seconds. Gracie and Zach didn’t speak, but stared at each other with haunted expressions until Gracie burst into tears.
“He has to make it, Zach,” she sobbed. “He has to; I can’t go on without him, and I don’t think this war can either.”
Zach just looked at the ground and mumbled, “He’ll always be a hero, no matter what.”
Charlotte and Maddy burst through the door. Charlotte was mid-sentence in scolding her daughter, “ . . . where I tell you, young lady! I don’t have time for . . .” She stared at Luke for a few seconds, and her voice was gentler when she spoke again, “Lucy, since you’re here you might as well make yourself useful. I’d like some coffee, and make sure you wash your hands before you handle any food.” She walked over to Luke and felt his forehead with the back of her hand; he was so pale and still that she was slightly surprised to find him still hot to the touch.
“I’ll help her,” Maddy offered. “Come on, Lucy. Let’s see if we can throw together some breakfast for everybody.”
“He had a really bad seizure,” Zach explained quietly. “And he made some weird noises.”
Gracie drew a quivering breath. “We should sit him up and try to give him some water.”
Charlotte chose her words carefully, “He looks pretty weak; we don’t want to do anything to overtax him. Let’s just prop up his head a bit more and you can spoon water or even some snow into his mouth.” She didn’t think it would do Luke any good, but she believed it might make Gracie feel better.
“That’s smart,” Gracie agreed, regaining full composure. “We don’t want him to choke.”
Zach and Charlotte made eye contact, and it was clear to each that they were thinking the same thing. Charlotte fluffed a couple extra pillows and tried to sound calm, “Zach, will you lift Luke up a bit? Gracie, let’s get these pillows under his shoulders.”
Gracie was quick to help, then she was totally focused on Luke. “I think his fever is down a bit,” she observed as she dribbled cool water in his mouth from a wet rag.
“Uh huh,” Charlotte replied politely. “Zach, I think I saw some extra food at your cabin; will you help me bring some of it over here?”
Zach was exhausted, and didn’t pick up on Charlotte’s intentions right away. “I don’t know what we have over there that you’d want—“ he began. When he saw both Charlotte and Maddy staring at him with expressions that told him he was missing something, he felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. He remembered his promise to Jack, and he needed to let Charlotte know how they would be handling the inevitable.
“Oh, wait, we do have a bunch of stuff over there I forgot about . . .” he mumbled.
Charlotte already had her coat on; she seemed to be in a hurry. Zach knew that she must be expecting Luke to expire any minute. Maddy was keeping Lucy busy in the kitchen while still keeping an eye on Gracie and Luke. Gracie was oblivious to everyone except her husband.
As soon as Zach and Charlotte were out the door, she turned to him and started talking a mile a minute. “I know some trustworthy guys who would be discreet about Luke; I mean, everyone is expecting it, but I think people still are hoping that he can beat this thing. The way Carter and the others tried to bleed him out right after he got bit, well, if anybody could survive a bite it would have been Luke, but I don’t think he’s gonna last much longer. I’ll go tell—“
“Hold up a minute, Charlotte. We’ve got this under control. Maddy and I promised Jack that we’d handle it.” Zach was surprised to hear himself discussing this so calmly. “We don’t want to burden Gracie, and we don’t like deceiving her, but we know what needs to be done. Maddy is going to distract Gracie for me; you might want to get Lucy out of there when it’s time.”
Charlotte blinked a few times, uncharacteristically speechless. Finally, she nodded. “So you guys had all this planned before Jack left?” It was a rhetorical question. “I should have known.”
Zach looked at the ground. “Do you think it will be soon?”
“I’m sorry, honey, but yeah. Are you okay? I mean, I know Jack would understand if you can’t—”
“No, I owe Luke this. And
Jack. They’d do it for me.”
“Has Gracie slept at all? Have any of you?” Charlotte was concerned for their health, but more worried about the possibility of impaired judgment.
Zach reassured her, “We all dozed, off and on.”
“Okay, grab some powdered milk and blankets from your cabin so it looks like we had a reason to leave. I don’t think Gracie is paying much attention to us, but I don’t want to take any chances.” She paused and wiped away a tear. “I don’t think he’ll make it through the morning.”
Far to the north, the uneasy standoff between humans and hunters was about to end as Chuck guided his Blackhawk into position behind the two enemy choppers flying side-by-side along the riverbank. Todd Evans shouted into the bay from the co-pilot’s seat, “Jack, grab my .308!”
“I don’t know if the rounds from your M1A can penetrate that bird,” Jack yelled back.
“Me neither, but you can put some rounds on target; maybe the pilot won’t wait around to learn whether he’s safe or not.”
Jack realized the sniper had a good point, so he accepted the rifle being handed to him and slid the bay door open a few inches on his side. With both shooters now ready to fire, Chuck called over the headsets. “I’m gonna fly right between those two Blackhawks. That’s one word, Carter. I’ll try to slow down once I’m in position, but you guys will just have to pick your spots and let it rip. I doubt that you’ll even have to hit anything to send these jack-asses running.”
Neither Jack nor Carter responded as they watched the tail rotors of the enemy helicopters come into view. Chuck was still flying much faster than the two choppers, but he was obviously trying to slow as much as possible. Both shooters knew that hitting a flying machine with bullets was incredibly difficult, and nailing one while firing from another aircraft was nearly impossible. But they were going to pass right between two Blackhawks separated from one another by less than two hundred meters; putting lead into either bird at that distance could be done with a great deal of skill, and more than a little luck.
Jack could, and regularly did, match Todd shot for shot on the range, but Carter was simply a natural shooter. He didn’t have the patience to master the intricacies of hitting targets half a mile away with the help of technology and a spotter, but as a hunter with a good gun in his hands, he just didn’t miss. Luckily for everyone, Carter considered this a one-shot hunting opportunity. He heard Jack open up with the .308 as they began to slip between the enemy choppers, but he held his fire until Chuck had flown past the targets and the front of the cockpits came into sight. Carter sensed the enemy pilot lifting his aircraft, so he instinctively aimed at the top of the glass and pulled the trigger.
Todd was watching the scene unfold through his field glasses, and later swore that Carter’s round struck true. The enemy Blackhawk didn’t go down, but it wobbled furiously for several seconds before turning to the north and gaining speed as it raced away from the gunfire. Jack had no idea if any of his rounds had been on target, but the helicopter he was aiming at quickly fled south as he emptied the magazine in its direction.
David immediately handed an M4 to Carter, while Jack reloaded the .308 he was using. Chuck sent the chopper into a tight turn, and when he came out of it the Blackhawk was pointed back toward the ragged fleet of small boats and canoes holding their friends and loved ones. Jack and Carter opened up on the hunters still standing along the banks, finding the monsters perfectly silhouetted against the bright, snowy background. The flesh-eaters were already looking confused without the presence of the signaling device used by the enemy helicopters, and the bullets smacking onto them from a direction they couldn’t determine sent many of the creatures searching for shelter. Being afraid of the water, most of the beasts moved away from the river as they scrambled for nearby brush and wood-lines to hide in.
As they flew over the now-floating fleet, David called back down to Christy. “We’re headed out to the highway bridge; Chuck will hover above the river after dropping us off. Everything going as planned down there?”
“We’re good here; I’m trusting you guys to be careful up at that bridge.”
“We always are,” David replied with his tongue firmly in cheek.
“David, I’m not joking around. These hunters are better fighters than what we’re used to seeing around here. If they flank you guys, you’re dead. So yeah, be damn careful.”
“We will, everyone up here has fought the 2.0 version of these monsters, and we’re not taking anything for granted. Just keep your folks moving down there.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon. I love you.”
David handed the mike back to Todd and turned to the rest of the team. He shouted over the rotors, “They’re on the move down there. Time for phase two?”
Jack nodded as he and Carter accepted the five-gallon buckets of cattle-blood handed their way. Chuck flew slowly across the path of the hunters beginning to creep along the southern bank in response to the boats moving eastward. From a hundred feet up, the first containers of blood were poured out in front of the advancing flesh-eaters, the wash of the rotors spraying the dark red fluid across the glistening, white, Indiana landscape. The result was a crimson-splatter over a hundred square meters below the chopper.
“Now that’s purty!” Carter shouted above the engine.
“Looks like a blood-flavored sno-cone,” Jack added.
Before they could see if the hunters accepted their offering, Chuck flew over the bank on the north side of the river and they repeated the process. By this time, the first of the creatures were coming up on the bloody snow, and sure enough, most of them tried scooping some of the mixture into their mouths. More and more of the monsters began to congregate around the red-slop, drawn by the frenzied actions of their pack-mates in addition to the wonderful odor carried on the breeze. Next came step three.
With a target-rich environment now presented below them, Jack and Carter pulled out the dynamite-bombs John and Tina had put together for the mission. Each stick of explosive was surrounded by tightly wrapped nails and other types of shrapnel. Chuck hovered over the crowd of hunters on the north side of the river while four of the makeshift bombs were tossed out of the bay doors. He then had the chopper halfway to the second gathering before the explosions shook the air.
As soon as the attack on the southern pack was complete, they flew over the scene to assess the results of their efforts. The snowy terrain was now splattered with the blackish-red blood of dozens of dead and injured hunters, in addition to hundreds of pieces of flesh and other body parts. The explosions hadn’t killed as many monsters as had been hoped for, but the violent assault from the air had once again sent the surviving beasts running for cover. The trail of the fleet was now well downstream from the stalled horde, so Jack ordered Chuck to fly to the bridge.
CHAPTER 14
Maddy couldn’t hide the fear etched on her face when Zach and Charlotte returned. “His heart rate is slowing,” she informed them. “He’s dropped to forty beats per minute.”
“I made everyone breakfast,” Lucy declared with pride. “Gracie, come eat some oatmeal and let me sit with Luke.”
Gracie noticed that Charlotte looked alarmed, and she was offended. “Do you think that Luke is a danger to your daughter?” she snapped.
“Of course not,” Charlotte lied. “So you’ll come eat while Lucy sits with him?”
Gracie was still at Luke’s side, holding his right hand close to her face. “I’m not really hungry, but if you’re going to make me eat I’d rather do it from here.”
Lucy skipped over to Gracie with a bowl of steaming oatmeal. “Don’t worry, Gracie. He’s gonna wake up.”
Gracie’s voice cracked as two big tears slid down her puffy cheeks. “He’s not just asleep,” she whispered.
“I know,” the little girl responded, “but he’s just visitin’ – he’ll come back to you.”
Charlotte stared at her daughter, who returned her gaze. “Don’t worry, Momma.
It’s not like with Daddy. That light around Luke is keepin’ him safe from the eaters.”
Gracie looked hopeful. “What light, Lucy?”
“Can’t you see it? He’s glowing, real purty.” She pointed at Luke’s head, “Right there.”
Charlotte pulled her daughter close. “You are a blessing, sweetheart. How’d you end up so smart at nine years old? Can you do a favor for me?”
The little girl nodded.
“Go tell your brother what you just told us. Maybe Maddy can take you—”
“I need to stay here,” Maddy cut in. “I mean, I want to . . .”
“I will be here,” Charlotte said definitively. “I can take care of anything that Gracie or Zach might need. I would really appreciate it if you could get Lucy to her brother. And stay with her.”
Maddy felt a little guilty for the relief that swept over her—she didn’t want to leave Zach, but she was dreading the idea of watching Luke fade away and betraying Gracie’s trust. “Okay,” Maddy agreed. “If Zach doesn’t mind.”
Zach understood exactly how Maddy was feeling. “Go,” he said. “I’ll switch you later. You should get some real sleep in the meantime. Lucy, will you make sure that Maddy goes to bed at your place? She can be really stubborn, but I think she’ll listen to you.”
Lucy felt tremendously important. “Of course, Zach. You can count on me,” she said earnestly.
Maddy tried half-heartedly to sound annoyed, “It’s a good thing I like you, Lucy. We’re gonna have to have a little talk about how us girls need to stick together.”
Less than a minute after Maddy and Lucy left, Luke started to seize again. It wasn’t as violent or long-lasting as the previous one, but Charlotte thought it was devastating.
“You should have seen the last seazure,” Zach explained. “This wasn’t half as bad.”
“That’ a good sign, right?” Gracie looked from Charlotte to Zach. “I think Lucy is tuned in to something that we’re too old to understand. I really think Luke is going to make it.”
