“Sir, two of the men, the way they’re fighting, it just doesn’t look…I don’t know,
it doesn’t look natural. It’s too quick. I feel like I’m watching those old time films
where the speed was off and everything was moving faster than it should, especially
the younger of the two. Are we sure we want to pick them up?”
“Scared of a few civilians?” Barnes asked.
“These ones I am,” he said, making sure he was not depressing the send button.
***
I saw it before I heard it. It was a Huey helicopter, something I’d gone for many
a ride in during my Corps days. Were we the subject of the extraction, or were the
men that were shooting around us the chosen few? Although that made no sense, they
could have left on their own volition at any time. Chain-fire erupted from the side
of the Huey as it sought position over us. Between the blades slicing through the
air, and the bullets slicing through the zombies, it was impossible to hear anything.
The rescue sled that was being lowered left little doubt of their intentions though.
“Justin!” I had to scream as loud as my throat was capable. When I realized he had
heard me, I pointed to him then the basket. ‘You first,’ I mouthed. He shook his head
and pointed to BT.
‘You!’ I mouthed and pointed angrily.
There was a good chance that, if I sent BT up there first, they would roll him out
the chopper on the other side once they saw the condition he was in. I needed someone
up there to fight for his safety. Plus, he was looking more and more of a liability
the longer he stayed down here. I was concerned for his safety as well. The basket
took an agonizingly long time to descend. I swear the more they dropped the bucket,
the higher the copter went. Plus, the backwash from the rotors was no easy thing to
contend with. It blew everything into the air and, invariably, the eyes of all of
us.
“Looks like my helicopter!” Trip yelled.
I wanted to tell him ‘No it didn’t, this one was still airborne.’
I looked up in time to see the winch operator. He was making a two with his fingers.
“Justin, grab Stephanie!” I screamed.
She was shaking her head side to side when Justin grabbed her shoulder.
“Get your fucking ass up there!” I screeched. “The longer you delay, the more danger
we’re in!”
She looked at me like I had stomped on a brood of kittens, but at least she went—albeit
reluctantly. I can’t say I blame her. I’m sure that on more than one occasion Trip
had taken her up in his Tonka toy. And now she had a respectful fear of anything that
even remotely resembled it. I think I celebrated another birthday by the time the
basket made it down again.
“BT, you’re up!” I told him.
“Not before Tracy and Travis,” he said as loudly as he could, which wasn’t that voluminous.
“You’re taking my other kid up,” I told him.
This was killing BT, but he dutifully grabbed Henry and got into the basket. Henry
was like a board in BT’s arms, I don’t think the big dog was enjoying the ride. Then,
upon closer inspection, I realized both BT and Henry were petrified. The duo were
peering off into the horizon on some fixed spot, neither looking down at the horrendous
scene below them. I thought it was kind of funny. Not that I’d say anything to BT
about it…ever.
The basket began its third descent. This was where it was going to get interesting.
Everyone that was left now was one less person manning the walls, so to speak.
“Travis, grab your mom!” I yelled, using a middleman as a buffer.
I knew Tracy would agree to this as much as she did that one time I tried to buy a
cow. And not a butchered one, either. Long story short, we never did get Bessie. Hey,
what pseudo prepper doesn’t think about getting some livestock? Her argument was that
we only had a fifteen-by-fifteen foot yard at the time. Always the pragmatist; or
is it realist?
She gave a half-hearted fight, but she was exhausted and knew she was only moments
away from collapsing as it was. I was thrilled when they were halfway up. No matter
what happened now, the majority of my family was safe. It now came down to Gary, Tommy,
Trip, and me to hold down the fort. Maybe not the optimum fighting force, but I was
happy to be alongside them nonetheless.
“When do the tickets come out?” Trip asked, taking a moment to look into the side
cutout in hopes that the prize redeeming coupons would begin to spit through. “I should
be able to get a huge teddy bear after this game!”
“Gary, you and Trip next!” I yelled.
“What about you and Tommy?” he asked breathlessly.
“We’ve got this,” I told him wearily. “Right?” I asked Tommy.
He nodded at me grimly.
By the time the bucket was down again, it nearly came down on Trip’s head, he and
Gary had been pushed back that far by the zombies. I cut in front of them, creating
the room they would need to get up into the air.
***
“These guys are phenomenal,” Barnes said, more to himself as he looked through his
binoculars. “No wonder they’re still alive.”
“Keep an eye on the two that are still in the truck, sir,” the corporal said. “If
I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t believe it. He spins that tire iron like it’s on a sprocket,
and when it hits, I swear he goes halfway into the skull. And the older guy, he looks
like he could be prior military because he knows how to use his weapon, but he’s just
too fast. I can’t think of any other way to explain it. He shouldn’t be moving with
that much ease.”
“Definitely interesting.” The Lieutenant watched the two try to keep the converging
zombies at bay. “We got anything that can help them?”
“We’re low on everything, sir. Plus, we’d like to save a little for the ride home
in case we encounter any trouble ourselves.”
“Hate to see them fall now. I can’t imagine they’ll make it, though.” He put down
his glasses as zombies broke over every part of the truck bed. The two men left were
now fighting back to back.
***
“Odds?” I asked when Tommy’s back met mine.
“Odds? As in the chances we’ll make it?”
“Yeah.”
“You want to know what odds I would be giving on whether or not we survive? That’s
kind of inappropriate,” he said.
“Not as much as mirrors on shoes.”
“Please tell me you haven’t done that.”
“No,” I told him. “I could never get the angle right and the glue wouldn’t hold. Plus,
I mean, unless you tack on some good-sized pieces of reflective glass, what are you
really going to be able to see?”
The mounted thirty cal in the helo opened up again, but it was blowing zombies away
too far from us to be of any immediate help. The basket finally made its way down
to us. Unfortunately it was a good five feet and half a dozen zombies from our present
location. It would be a life or death struggle just to get there.
Tommy had a much better weapon for the close-quarter combat we now found ourselves
in, and unlike me, he looked like he had another couple of hours left in him. It was
get
ting to the point where I could barely drive my blade through the skull plate anymore.
It was much more jarring to the arms than one might imagine. I was slogging through
the bodies of two dead zombies by the time I reached the basket. Tommy was inches
from me; the basket began its ascent.
“Going up, lingerie, jewelry, perfume,” I told him, hoping that the levity would break
the spell of despair I was feeling even in the midst of a rescue.
Tommy jumped easily enough, the basket swaying drunkenly. He kicked out a few times,
taking out some of the more rambunctious zombies that appeared to want to go for an
aerial joyride themselves. We were about halfway up; the operator was guiding the
cable onto the winch. I don’t know what it was, but something didn’t seem right, another
crewman kept looking out over at us, but none of my family. I at least expected Trip
to wave or something, or for Tracy to make sure I made it safely on board. I could
only reason that they’d been made to strap themselves in and were telling them about
our progress. I still didn’t see that working on Tracy…or Trip for that matter.
We were three-quarters up as that second crewman peeked out again. Tommy looked over
at me, I shrugged. He didn’t appear to like my response. Hands reached out and grabbed
me just as the basket was coming even with the skids of the helicopter. My eyes immediately
went to BT as I stood and was being helped in. The big man was passed out on a stretcher.
That was not a shock. It was when I panned around and noticed that everyone was passed
out. I instinctively pulled back.
“Michael Talbot?” the man asked.
“Uh…yeah,” I answered, still looking at my entire family.
It was then that the second crewman came up by my side. I felt rather than saw the
prick of a needle going deep into my neck. I reached out and grabbed his windpipe,
slowly constricting his airflow as I applied more pressure.
“What’s going on here?” I asked. Whatever he had hit me with was already beginning
to take effect as his image blurred and multiplied. All three of him were rapidly
turning red as I kept squeezing.
I felt another needle on the side from the man that was working the cable. Tommy and
the basket were just coming even with the opening to the craft. He saw as the second
needle plunged into my neck and I would imagine, the status of everyone. His face
twisted into a mask of anger as he grabbed the man that hit me the second time. He
picked him up and threw him hard against the cockpit wall. The man slumped down. Two
others that looked like Marines trained their weapons on Tommy. Before either of them
could react Tommy hit the release on the basket; cable spun freely as he and the sled
plummeted to the ground.
“Grab him!” someone shouted.
I thought they were talking about Tommy until I felt hands roughly grasp my arms and
shoulders, dragging me the rest of the way into the helicopter before I rolled out
and down. I was unconscious before I felt the hands leave me.
***
Lieutenant Barnes watched as the basket and the young man fell from the helicopter.
“Dipshit air jockeys,” he said as his heart skipped a beat. It was always difficult
to watch someone die, and the more he saw, the worse it got. “Can’t even pull off
a simple rescue mission without killing someone. Alright, Godson, get everyone on
the same page. We’re out of here.”
“We going to see if the kid is alright?” Godson asked.
“He just fell a hundred feet out of a helicopter into the waiting arms of several
hundred zombies. I’m going to say the outcome is predetermined on this one. Let’s
saddle up and get out of here.”
Barnes’ radio crackled and came to life. “Pounder Four, Pounder Four, this is Wing
Six, standby for orders.”
“Shit, looks like we’re going in after all,” Barnes said.
“Pounder Four, this is Captain Emery. Do you still have an RPG?” he asked.
“Hello, Captain, this is Lieutenant Barnes, we’ve got one round left. You want us
to go in and save the boy?”
“Negative, Lieutenant, I want you to put a round into that truck.”
Barnes didn’t say anything. He couldn’t figure out the reasoning for the action.
“You still there, Lieutenant?”
“Uh…yes, sir, I think our last communication got garbled. I thought you said to light
up the truck.”
“You heard right. Put a round in the truck…now.”
Godson was looking over at Barnes, he mouthed ‘Why?’
“Lieutenant, put a round in that truck now or we will fire on your position.”
“How about I just put the round in your ass,” Barnes shot back. “Be a lot easier for
me to hit a nice easy non-moving target like yourselves with a rocket.”
“We’ll talk when you get back,” the captain said. The helicopter rose a little more
and got to the side of the plow. Thirty caliber machine gun rounds plowed into the
truck, shredding everything in and around it. By the time the gas tank was struck
and ignited, nothing was living in a ten-foot perimeter of the DPW truck.
“Should I shoot him down?” Godson asked. He had grabbed the RPG and had it by his
side.
“Normally I’d say yes, but he has all those civilians onboard. Just because Emery
is an asshole doesn’t mean they deserve to die.”
A plume of flame erupted from the truck. The helicopter turned and the gunner was
now pointing in the lieutenant’s direction.
Godson shoulder mounted the tube and flipped the safety off.
“One damn round comes this way, blow that motherfucker out of the sky,” the lieutenant
said.
“With pleasure, sir.”
Godson centered the helicopter in his sights. The last time he’d had such an easy
flying target had been on the practice range a few years back. The copter would never
be able to maneuver fast enough to get away from the rocket-propelled grenade. He’d
feel slightly bad for the civvies, but they were nameless, faceless people to him
right now. Tough to have nightmares about people you didn’t even know.
The helicopter abruptly veered to the left and made a hasty departure.
“Ought to be a fun night on the base tonight,” Barnes said. “Alright, let’s try this
again, round everyone up and let’s get the hell out of here.”
“I could still take them out,” Godson replied.
Barnes thought about it for a moment. In the fog of war, all sorts of stuff went down
that was never explained, and not too many people would miss Emery.
“As tempting as that sounds, I’d rather break that aristocratic nose of his with my
fist instead.”
Godson put the weapon on safe and quickly put it away without any more thought to
the fact that he had his finger on the trigger of twelve human lives, and more importantly—in
his opinion—one dog.
***
My head was splitting when I awoke. A harsh light from the ceiling shone down and,
of course, directly into my eyes. I sat up slowly knowing to do it any faster would
cause a serious case of vertigo. Sometimes it was alright to be a little older; at
least I knew the limitations of my body.
“Tommy!?” I called out, sitting bolt upright quickly despite t
he pain. Last I had