by Dirk Patton
“Yeah,” I said, growing tired of the cold, hard analytics of a scientist.
Joe was quiet for so long I had to ask if he was still there.
“I’m here. Sorry, I was thinking. Okay, I can’t answer your question other than to say it can’t be completely ruled out without study and tests. Obviously, that doesn’t help you and I’m sorry, but I just don’t know the answer or anyway to get it. Well, anyway other than wait and see what happens.
“I’ve read up on this nerve agent as part of our research. It is tremendously hard on the human body. People who are unhealthy at the time of exposure will start dying as soon as ten hours. The longest any test subject, and don’t ask me where the US Government found test subjects for this back in the 60s, lived was fifty-two hours. The average was slightly less than forty-eight.”
“So, two days. I was told the same thing in a briefing. I’ve just gotta ride out the storm and see what happens.”
“Sorry, John,” he said, sounding genuinely distressed.
“Not your fault, Joe.”
7
Lucas and Natalie could see the fires from burning aircraft long before they reached the air base near Wagga Wagga. Dog, picking up on the rising tension coming off Lucas, sat between the front seats on full alert. He was no longer interested in being petted.
“Oh, my God,” Natalie breathed as they drew closer.
Lucas didn’t respond. It looked bad. There were five distinct fires burning on the tarmac, and double that many scattered around the countryside from aircraft that had been shot down.
“Are each of those a plane?” Natalie asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene.
“Plane or helicopter,” Lucas said. “Just hope she wasn’t on any of them.”
“What do we do? Where do we start looking?”
“We start at the runway,” Lucas said, shaking his head.
“Are you kidding?” Natalie’s voice rose in disbelief. “For what? She couldn’t have survived that! No one could.”
“It’s not that simple,” Lucas said. “Shit gets crazy in the middle of a battle. If she was on a plane that got shot down, then she almost certainly didn’t survive. But maybe she was able to escape in all the chaos of the attack. We’ve at least gotta look.”
Natalie looked at him with a doubtful expression on her face, but she didn’t argue.
“Besides,” Lucas said as they bounced over a berm and crashed through the air base’s perimeter fence, “our furry friend here will find her. If she’s here.”
With a squeal of brakes, the Rover pulled to a stop on the smooth surface of the runway.
“Stay close to me,” Lucas said to Natalie.
“Ya think?”
Shaking his head, he popped the driver’s door open and stepped out, Dog immediately following. Rifle up, Lucas scanned the area but didn’t see anything moving. Getting out the other side, Natalie hurried around the back of the vehicle to join them.
“See anything?” she whispered.
“Fires.” He bent and put his hand on Dog’s neck. “Find her, boy. Find Rachel.”
Dog whined, but didn’t move other than to slowly look across the horizon.
“Does he know what you want?”
“Don’t know,” Lucas said. “Maybe not. Let’s walk him around. See what happens.”
They headed forward, angling around a burning helicopter. The entire area was lit by flames with black smoke boiling skyward, glowing from within. A bloody pall lent a dull red tinge to everything. As they moved, Natalie crossed her arms across her chest and shivered.
“This is eerie,” she whispered. “It’s like walking through hell.”
“Welcome to war,” Lucas said softly.
His attention was on the rifle scope as he scanned across numerous bodies. Dog stayed tight against his left leg, ears at full mast and nose twitching overtime. He and Lucas both spotted movement at the same instant, a growl rumbling in his chest.
On the far side of the tarmac, in the thick grass of an open field, a figure had risen to its hands and knees. Even with the poor lighting, it was immediately obvious this wasn’t Rachel, but was worth checking out. Hissing at Natalie to stay behind him and remain quiet, Lucas led the way.
Stepping into the grass, Lucas cautiously approached, the rifle steady on the man. Drawing closer, he recognized a Russian uniform, nearly pulling the trigger when the man groaned and collapsed back to the ground. A few more steps and he became aware of their presence. Looking up at them, he stared at Lucas’s rifle in fear and rattled off something in rapid Russian. Lucas muttered a curse of surprise when Natalie translated.
“He’s asking you to not kill him. Says he surrenders.”
“How the hell do you speak Russian?” Lucas asked, not taking his attention off the soldier.
“My mother. Came here from Russia and married an Aussie.”
“Ask him about Rachel,” Lucas said.
She asked the question, the man answering as he curled in on himself, both hands pressed between his legs.
“Tell him to keep his hands where I can see them,” Lucas barked before she could translate the answer to his question.
She did as he asked and the man slowly held them up in a pleading gesture.
“Rachel did this to him,” Natalie said. “They were close to a helicopter when it blew up and she ran. He chased her down, but she fought. He says he thinks his balls are ruptured.”
“Too fuckin’ bad,” Lucas said. “Ask him where she went.”
Natalie had a brief conversation with the soldier before turning back to Lucas.
“He doesn’t know. She knocked him out. He wants to know if we’re going to help him.”
Lucas stared at the Russian soldier for a moment, then pulled the trigger. The man’s head exploded from the heavy bullet at close range. Natalie jumped and squealed in fright, staring at the body in horror.
“Why did you do that?” she shouted. “He surrendered!”
Lucas looked at her and she involuntarily took a step away when she saw his face.
“Millions of Australians are either dead or dying at the moment. He’s the enemy.”
Natalie stared at him, her mouth set hard as she thought about his words. She turned her head to look at the man Lucas had just killed, then around at the burning aircraft. After a long moment, she nodded her head.
“Sorry. I’ve just never seen…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lucas said. “Just know, we come across any more live Russians, they won’t survive the encounter. Now, if you were Rachel and you just turned this guy into a eunuch, what would you do? Where would you go?”
He turned a slow circle, then stepped forward and leaned over the body. Noted that his vest and rifle were missing.
“And she’s armed, too.”
“That way,” Natalie said, pointing into the darkness to the south. “That’s where I’d go.”
“Why?” Lucas asked, standing to stare in the indicated direction.
“It’s empty. Go any other direction, there’s buildings and stuff. If the Russians were still here when she got away, which I guess they were,” she waved at the corpse, “then that would feel like the safest direction.”
Lucas stood for a moment, looking around the area, then nodded agreement.
“C’mon,” he said, striding back to the tarmac. “Let’s take the Rover. She can’t have gotten too far on foot.”
8
Rachel was being escorted across the tarmac to a massive Russian transport plane when a sudden explosion from behind lit up the night. A moment later, she and the two soldiers assigned to get her aboard the aircraft were knocked flat by the shockwave from the Hind helicopter that had just been destroyed. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for, but didn’t think was going to present itself.
Rolling, she ripped off the stiletto heels, continuing the motion until she came to her feet and immediately broke into a sprint. Men were shouting as more explosi
ons rent the night, some on the ground and some in the air. She kept her head down and ran for all she was worth. Ahead was a broad field and she angled for it.
Pulling the leather dress up to her hips freed the restriction on her legs and she lengthened her stride, knowing this was her one chance to escape. All she had to do was get away while the Russians were occupied with whoever was attacking them. Everything after that would work itself out, as long as she wasn’t forced onto one of the planes and taken God knew where.
Jet engines screamed overhead as the battle continued. Her impulse was to look over her shoulder to check for pursuit, but she resisted. It would not only slow her down, but taking her attention away from the ground directly to her front could end up causing her to stumble and fall. Leaping a shallow drainage ditch at the edge of the tarmac, Rachel adjusted her direction toward the darkest area of the field.
She slowed slightly now that she no longer ran on a perfectly smooth surface, then cried out in surprise when she was tackled from behind. Tumbling to the ground, she twisted and began launching kicks at one of the soldiers who had been escorting her. She didn’t see the second one, but didn’t have time to look.
The man had a grip on her arm, trying to pull her toward him where he’d have the advantage. Lashing out, her foot connected solidly with his stomach and sank deep, whooshing all the air out of his lungs. Thinking she had the advantage, Rachel tried to jerk her arm free of his grasp, but his hand was like iron as he pressed in against her.
Fear of being taken by the Russians fueled her struggles. Instead of continuing to try to escape, she attacked with a fury that caught the soldier by surprise. Pounding his face, she raised a knee into his balls with enough force to lift him off the ground. With a strangled groan, he rolled to the side, dragging her arm until she was on top of him.
This time, she managed to rip free of his grasp, rolling over his body to a kneeling position. The man’s hands were protectively clutching his groin, leaving his head exposed. Without hesitation, Rachel slammed a knee directly into his face, feeling cartilage and teeth break from the force of the blow. Scrambling away, she got her feet beneath her, ready to run or fight as she looked for the second man.
After a few moments of seeing no additional pursuit, she took a breath and looked at the runway. The Hind was still burning and the sounds of an aerial dogfight were loud. She looked at the far end of the tarmac when she heard the roar of big engines and tracked one of the huge transports as it swiftly gained speed and lifted into the air. Three more followed and not believing her good fortune, Rachel slowly straightened and let out a shuddering breath of relief.
A groan from the ground at her feet drew her attention back to the soldier. He was barely conscious, unable to do anything other than hold himself. His face was shattered, slicked with blood from a broken nose. Two teeth, lying in the grass, dully reflected the light of the burning helicopter.
Rachel took another look around, then knelt by the man and struggled with his rifle sling until it released. She settled it around her shoulders and looked at the weapon. It was a Russian made AKM and it took her a moment to figure out how it worked. If not for living with an American M4 as an almost constant companion for nearly a year, she would have been completely lost, but was soon confident she could operate the rifle.
Reaching for the soldier’s spare magazines, she stopped and looked down at herself. She was still wearing the skin-tight leather dress and there was absolutely nowhere to carry anything. Struggling with the Russian’s weight, she rolled his body over and worked his combat vest free, standing and shrugging into it. He wasn’t much larger than she was and it was only a matter of seconds until it was adjusted for her frame.
Standing, she gripped the rifle and turned a slow circle. In the distance were two brightly burning fires which she suspected were aircraft that had been shot down. All the Russians had evacuated on the transports and, other than the injured man at her feet, she was alone. Pride surged as she realized she’d successfully escaped on her own. Without John’s help.
The thought of John dampened her enthusiasm for self-congratulation. She had last seen him being held at gunpoint by four Russian soldiers as she was escorted to Barinov’s helicopter. Had they killed him? Had they learned who he was and brought him along? For that matter, what the hell had happened? She quickly shook her head, knowing she’d never get those answers in the middle of a field. More importantly, where the hell was she? Still in Australia was about the only thing she was certain of.
Looking down at the soldier, she briefly considered doing what John would have done. Put a bullet in the man’s head. But that thought was dismissed almost as soon as she had it. Instead, she leaned over and ran her hands over his clothing, looking for anything she could use. Nothing.
Standing, she turned another circle. Looking for someplace to go. Far in the distance were dim lights from what appeared to be a small city. She immediately dismissed that option. The Russians had turned on a radio, listening to a local broadcast from Sydney as they flew across the dark countryside. She knew that Barinov had released the nerve gas. She didn’t want to go anywhere near a population center.
The roar of an approaching plane caught her attention and she looked up at the dark sky. Couldn’t spot it, then remembered it would be operating without anti-collision or landing lights. Could it be another Russian aircraft? She didn’t want to wait and find out. Turning in a direction opposite the lights of the town, Rachel sprinted off into the night.
9
There wasn’t an obvious control panel for the generator in the security office. I hadn’t really expected there to be, but wasn’t going to assume anything and fail to check. I looked at one of the computers, but didn’t even try to use it when I saw the keyboard was in Cyrillic. Deciding to leave well enough alone and just be happy I had lights and air conditioning, I headed back to the lobby.
Before I rounded the corner, I once again paused and peeked around to check the windows. I fully expected to see a throng of females staring in through the glass and was surprised when I didn’t. Why weren’t they responding to the heavy thrum of the generator?
Deciding to not question my luck, I quickly moved around the space, shutting off lights. Whatever the reason was that the infected weren’t being drawn in, I didn’t see a need to keep the place lit up like Christmas morning. There had been too many occasions when I’d seen females drawn to lights. Maybe I was being overly cautious, but in this new world I wasn’t so sure there was such a thing.
With the first floor in darkness, I donned a set of Russian night vision goggles I’d found in the armory. They were surprisingly good, and if I wasn’t intimately familiar with American units I’m not sure I would have noticed their very few shortcomings. Apparently, the Russians had come a long way with their low light technology.
Killing the lights in the stairwell, I climbed carefully. I was dealing with two distinct disadvantages. First, depth perception is for shit when you’re wearing NVGs. Sure, it’s leaps and bounds ahead of where it was even ten years ago, but it’s still a deficit you’d better pay attention to or you wind up falling on your face. Secondly, I only had one functioning eye. As a result, I moved slow and cautious.
As I climbed, I reminded myself of the problems this would cause if I found myself fighting the infected. I’d survived this long because of either having others around me who could fight, or being able to see with both eyes. On my own, I could quickly run into more trouble than I could get myself out of.
But being aware of one’s limitations is the first step in overcoming them. Recognizing this, I moved to the side until my left shoulder was brushing the wall as I climbed the stairs. My peripheral vision to the right was restricted by the NVGs, but at least I had some. Not so to the left. Without that eye functioning, I was completely blind to any threat coming in from that direction.
Reaching Barinov’s penthouse, I pulled the chair to the side that I’d used to prop open the door and a
llowed it to close. Locking me in. Shoving the NVGs off my face, I walked around and turned off lights, leaving only a few that were very dim still lit. They were all well removed from any windows and I was comfortable my location wouldn’t draw attention.
At the wall of glass, I slowly surveyed Sydney. Huge swaths of the city were dark and as I watched, another giant chunk lost power. Fires were burning everywhere, but I was comforted to see none of them anywhere close to the building where I’d taken refuge.
That didn’t mean there couldn’t be a problem over the next few days, but there also wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. If fire did threaten me, I’d deal with the situation when it arose.
Turning away from the view, I went to a massive sofa and sat down after removing my vest and weapons. I piled the gear on a highly polished coffee table, removed my boots and stretched out. There wasn’t anything I could do other than wait, so I needed to take advantage of the down time and be sure I was well rested once I could leave.
Lying in the dark, I stared at the ceiling. Closed my eyes, but couldn’t stop worrying about Rachel. Why the hell had Barinov taken her? Where had he taken her? Was she okay? Was there a chance in hell Lucas would be able to get her back?
None of those were questions I could answer at the moment, but I couldn’t put them out of my mind. Neither could I set aside the crushing guilt I felt for the situation she was in. She’d wanted us to leave with Lucas. To go to the outback, settle down and build our house. But I was obsessed. All I could focus on was vengeance for Katie, and that had gotten in the way.
After almost an hour of these thoughts swirling through my head, I sighed in frustration and sat up. I was tired, but sleep wasn’t coming. There was a private bar in the penthouse and I briefly considered finding something that would help me sleep, but decided it was a better idea to keep a clear head.
With a muttered curse, I stood and walked to the telescope. Bent and peered through at the apartment where the female infected had been devouring some poor soul. But the power was out in that building and I couldn’t see anything other than a blank window.
