Zombie Theorem (Book 2): The Siege, page 18
We watched as the zombie horde made their presence known. First in twos and fours, then in larger and larger groups. At this point, we had a good one hundred yard cushion to play with. My radio clicked open, “Dan, Brian. It looks like Alpha has completed its mission. They are on their way back, but I can see another horde is about to sidetrack them. I think we should send out Bravo to cover them.”
“Nothing we can do about it. Send them, but let them know about our situation. Have Phillips move the plane like he planned. We will come back on board now. Over.”
“Roger, Boss. Over.”
I stepped onto the ramp and got the others’ attention. They climbed on board, and Diana raised the ramp. Almost instantly after it closed, the plane vibrated and started moving. I almost fell to my knees, except for Harry grabbing onto me, stopping my fall. It took us five minutes before we reached the other side of the runway and the position with nose pointing down.
I thanked Harry, and we made our way over to the drone station. Brian turned and looked back at us. “Bravo, just hooked up with Alpha. Looks like they are fighting a running battle, but are on their way back to the airport.” He swung the drone back toward the airport and showed the large horde approaching the hangars and outbuildings. Brian then cocked his head to the side as he listened to a voice over his headset. He said something into the microphone and turned his head toward us. “Halo 1 reports that another horde is coming in from the west of the airport, and it’s almost the same size as the southern one. We are going to become overwhelmed before Alpha and Bravo can return. Phillips is talking about leaving them behind to meet us somewhere else.”
I thrust my hand out to Brian, and he handed me his headset. I was so upset; I was not going to wast time looking for my own. I slipped it over my ears and adjusted the microphone near my lips, “Phillips, we are not leaving them. I am going to round everyone up and drop the rear ramp. We just need to keep them away from the plane. Alpha and Bravo can blast their own hole to get to us.” I took off the headset and tossed it onto Brian’s lap.
“Diana, drop the ramp. Let’s get outside and protect the plane.” I grabbed my Zomgo pack and my shotgun from the bench I had been sitting at earlier. Julie joined on my side, and we ran down the ramp. We braced ourselves against the air being whipped back by the powerful blades still spinning on the engine. The air felt like a miniature tornado, threatening to knock us off our feet and on our asses. We tilted into the wind and bulled our way forward. We set up in front of the plane and aimed our barrels down the runway.
I felt a presence and looked around, Harry appeared on one side of me. I figured Diana was guarding the ramp and rear of the plane. I looked up hearing a weird buzzing sound. I could make out a small dark dot growing bigger by the minute. I pointed at it, and Harry raised his scope to look at it. He dropped his scope from his eye and rubbed at them.
He looked again and a smile crept across his face, “I think our wayward sons have come home.”
“What?”
I looked forward and watched the dot turn into a small airplane. It came down quick and flared out onto the runway just in front of the horde. It motored down the runway. When it got closer, it turned and stopped before it hit the grass off to the side. The engines stopped running, and the doors popped open. Howser and Helmut climbed out and waved at us. They started pushing the plane off the runway. Harry started firing down the runway, taking out zombies before they could get too close to them.
I clicked on my radio. “Alpha, Bravo, can you guys hear me? Over.”
I closed my eyes and listened intently as the channel opened and a static filled voice came through, “Roger, Charlie, your broadcast is full of static. Over.”
“Howser and Helmut just showed up, came out of the air in a small plane. The airport is becoming thick with zombies. South and west are covered in hordes. You will have to blow a hole through them, but you better hurry. Phillips wants to move soon. Over.” I listened intently again, waiting for an answer.
Two long minutes passed as Howser and Helmut made their way over to us. They would stop and fire down the runway as the zombies continued to move closer. My radio finally came to life as Julie and Harry moved together to meet up with Howser and Helmut. “Roger all, we are moving as fast we can. We need about five minutes. We will pump out metal death when we hit the horde. Keep the engines warm. Over.” Vic’s voice came through the radio. I couldn’t tell if they were successful because the channel was full of static, and I couldn’t make out any inflection in his voice.
I made my way up to the team, and we took shots at the zombies. There was no way we could keep that rate of fire up. Either the zombie horde would grow too big and overwhelm us or our ammo would run out and we would be overwhelmed. No matter what, we would be overwhelmed soon. Brian came over the radio at that point. “Get under the plane. Halo 1 and 2 will be rocketing down the runway trying to hopefully pull the horde’s attention away from us for a small amount of time.”
We backed away under the plane, making sure to stay away from the turning props of the engines. We made it to the ramp and stopped waiting. I pulled to the side and watched the two escort jets scream out of the air and down low near the runway. It amazed me how close they got to the ground. Zombies in the horde were thrown to the ground by the blast the jets created.
I could hear the Humvees before I saw them as they rounded a corner near the hangars and plowed through the first rank of zombies before they could get to their feet. The .50 Cal chattered away into the horde before they could fully recover. I got on the radio, “Brian, alert Phillips to be ready to go as soon as the Humvees climb the ramp. Over.”
“You got it, Boss. Over.”
I found myself jumping up and down in frustration. The Humvees made good time through the crowd, but now they were being pressed in on both sides. “Helmut, Howser, Harry, follow me! Julie, get ready to help Diana strap the Humvees down and keep the zombies off the ramp.”
I took off running, not waiting for anyone to voice their opinion or answer me. I pulled the MP5 to my shoulder and fired into the crowd surrounding the Humvees. Shots from behind me erupted, and we started knocking down the dead in front of the lead Humvee. We were just not killing enough to make a difference. Heaven appeared in the rear Humvee’s cupola and, using the MK19, fired into the side of the zombies. As I watched this, something niggled at the back of my brain. I dropped to my knees and swung my Zomgo pack around, zipped it open, and rummaged through it. I came up with the grenades Doc gave me back at Alcatraz. Man, that felt like ages ago. I gave them over to the guys, whose eyes lit up.
I clicked on my radio and called out, “Alpha, Bravo, we are going to try and thin out the horde in front with grenades. Over.” I saw Heaven slide down inside the Humvee out of the cupola, and Senshi copied his movement in the other Humvee.
Three grenades soared out and into the midst of the crowds in front of the lead Humvee. I dropped to the ground and curled into a ball, hoping nothing from the grenades would make it to me. The explosions were mightier than I thought they’d be. Something rained down on me. I stood up and looked around at the detritus of bodies lying around. I heard the Humvees engines rev and the sound grew louder. I looked over and saw that they had finally broken through the horde.
Howser grabbed my hand and pulled me along, dazed, back toward the plane. The other two guys kept up but would turn and fire every other second, trying to keep the horde away from us. I was not doing well. My vision was doubled, and I felt like I was massively drunk. The Humvees caught up to us and Howser pushed me into the backseat. I landed on someone who grabbed me and held on. The Humvee’s engine revved again, and I saw the light dim as we tipped up. I was finally beginning to understand that we had just entered the plane. The backdoor opened and I crawled out, helped by Heaven, whose lap I had been lying in. The ramp was closing, and bedlam had erupted in the bay. The plane was moving. Julie, Diana, and Hase were tying down the Humvees. I also heard screaming. I turned my head and watched Apache preforming CPR on the hood of the lead Humvee. I pushed forward trying to see who it was. As I came closer, I noticed the person was a man, but not a member of our team. I came around the hood of the Humvee and found Vic holding a woman close to his chest.
Thank God!
I assumed she was Sharla, his wife. I turned and examined the man on the hood under Apache. I came closer and that’s when I saw the blood coming from his right bicep from under his shirt. I pulled up the sleeve, making sure my gloves didn’t touch the blood. I saw two half-moons with teeth indentations. I grabbed Apache’s arm and yanked her hard off of the man and onto the floor. I pulled my 1911 and pointed it at the man’s head.
Many voices started screaming at me to stop. I calmly pointed at his arm. “He has a bite on his bicep.” His body twitched, and he sat straight up and snapped open gray eyes flecked with red. I calmly shifted my aim and fired into his head, blowing out of the other side a pink mist combined with bits of bone and brain. I slid my gun back into its holster and then turned, and abruptly threw up on the ground. I stood hunched over spitting, trying to get rid of the taste in my mouth.
A woman’s scream brought me up short. The woman Vic was holding had flung out her arms and tackled me to the ground. Her fists started to rain down. She got a couple of good hits in, one to my forehead, which threatened to knock me out, flooding my vision with black spots. The other connected with my right cheek. I felt a tooth come loose and tasted the copper of blood. Kuppers had rescued me from any more hits by wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off, carrying her away.
I rolled over to my stomach and managed to make it to my knees. I breathed in and out deeply, trying to not pass out. Apache’s hands appeared in front of my face. I reached up and took them, and she helped me to my feet. She guided me over to a seat near Julie. There, Apache performed some first aid on me. She first opened each eye and swung a light into them. She clucked and shook her head. She handed me some gauze, and I stuck in my mouth to stop the bleeding coming from my missing tooth. Apache then cracked open a bottle of water and handed it to me. I sat back and tried to close my eyes. “Nope. No sleeping for you. Keep your eyes open Dan.” I opened my eyes and stared into Apache’s piercing gray eyes.
“Why did she attack me, and who taught her to hit like that?” I mumbled out through the gauze in my mouth.
“The man you shot was her brother. They had been held up together since day one. He was down when we got there. I thought he had a heart attack, so I had been working on him. No one saw the bite.” Apache covered her face with her hands showing a rare weak moment. I reached out, pulled her into my arms, and hugged her tight. Just like that, the storm passed and she became hard again. She was careful to lock down her emotions.
“Thanks, Dan. Thank you for all you do.” She got up and disappeared back to the Humvee.
I tried to close my eyes again only to find Julie smacking my cheeks lightly. “You really need to stay awake, hun. Not good to go to sleep after a hit in the head like that. She should be glad I wasn’t over there. I’d have kicked her ass for touching my man.” I chuckled slightly and gathered her into my arms. She sighed and nuzzled into my neck.
“If a month ago you told me I’d be planning a military mission, shooting zombies, and being able to hold you again, I would’ve been put into the looney bin with how hard and long I would’ve laughed. Yet here I am, the lost love of my life in my arms.” I kissed her head and watched Vic and Sharla start on their way to us. “Hun, I need you promise that you’ll be good.”
She didn’t have a chance to respond when Vic and Sharla made it over to us. Julie raised her head and tried to keep her face relaxed. I gave a weak smile. “Sharla, please forgive me.”
I trailed off when she cut me off. Her face was puffy from crying, and she looked gaunt from a bad diet. “No, please don’t apologize. I should be the one apologizing. I just saw red and reacted. Vic explained everything to me. I am so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”
I stood up onto shaky feet and gathered her into my arms. She shuddered and started to sob. I held her, letting her cry and getting it all out. I had no words that would help her with the pain she was feeling. Her tears dried up, and she looked up at me. Her bloodshot eyes showed a window to her tattered soul. I pushed back her hair and kissed her forehead. “All is forgiven. I am sorry for all this crap in our new world.”
Sharla gave me a weak smile and patted my armored chest. “I’m glad I didn’t hit you in the chest. I think I would’ve broken my hand.” She sighed and turned to Vic. “I am sorry, my love, for beating up your friend.”
I liked Sharla. She was a strong woman. She was a woman pushed to her limits who had just watched her brother being shot in the head by yours truly. Yet here she was making little jokes. Julie took Sharla’s hands in hers and introduced herself. The two ladies sat together and started to talk and comfort one another. I wandered off with Vic over to the drone station. My head was still pounding, but at least the bleeding had stopped. I took the gauze out and threw it into one of the Humvees. As we came up on the station, I first noticed that Harry was now manning the drone. Brian was leaning against the outer wall of the plane, his eyes closed, his posture relaxed. I took a peek at the monitor and saw trees and water. We must be in Washington by now. Soon we would be turning east on our way to Fairchild Airbase. Then it was a two-hour drive to my dad’s ranch. I could taste his cooking already. I was looking forward to not being scared all the time or looking over my shoulder for Ridder every time I stepped outside.
Kuppers came down from the cockpit and waved over for Vic and I to come to him. We obliged and picked up Hase on our way. I rubbed the side of my head, trying to calm the ache and pounding inside. Kuppers held out his hand to me. I opened mine and he dropped two white pills into it. I hunched my shoulders, not really caring to ask what they were. I tossed them into my mouth and dry swallowed.
“Those should take the edge off the aches.” He looked me over and shook his head, “Sucks when you do the right thing and still get your ass kicked. Someone needs to teach you how to fight, or at least defend yourself.” He smiled, but it didn’t make it all the way to his eyes. I knew something was up and not something good. “After I drop you off, the team needs to leave right away. Seems to be a problem back in California, and they need us. So I have been ordered to drop whoever wants to leave at the airport and take off. The rest will have to be done on your own.”
I felt the gut punch of his words and meanings. We would never be able to make it to my dad’s without help from the rest of the team. Hase and Vic looked like they wanted to punch something.
I sighed and stuck my hand out to Kuppers. He took it, and we shook firmly. “You have to do what you have to do. It has been an honor fighting alongside you. Thank you for your kind words, instruction, but, most of all, your friendship.” I let go of his hand and took two steps before a powerful hand gripped my shoulder.
“Oh hell, boy, the reason I left the military is because I have a problem with orders. Shouldn’t take us more than two hours to escort you and your family. We need to leave a small force behind to fuel up the plane and provide security. We started this whole damn thing as a family. We will end it as a full team. Vic and Hase, load up supplies and ammo in the Humvees. Have someone clean the .50 and reload the MK-19. I need to go and tell Phillips we are ignoring the General’s orders.” He squeezed my shoulder once and disappeared back to the cockpit.
Hase and Vic barked orders to the team, getting their asses moving and performing their tasks. I had an idea and made my way over to Harry. “Hey, Harry, I need a favor. Send the drone ahead and start recon on Fairchild Airbase and Spokane city proper. We need eyes on target before we get there.” He nodded at my orders and went to work tasking the drone’s flightpath.
I found my headset and put it on, “Phillips, you on this thing?”
“Yeah, Dan, what’s up?” He did not sound happy, maybe perturbed at what Kuppers just told him.
“Halo flight has left us, who is now acting as escorts?”
“That would be Hellcat 1 and 2. They are a flight of two F15’s with fuel drop tanks. Almost same ordinance load-out as the F22s. Why, what’s on your mind?”
“Just asking. I like to have all the data.”
“I am sure you do. You know with your little trick down there, we could’ve lost the plane and all, right?” He sounded pissed.
“Phillips, I am not in the business of losing friends. If it meant you and your precious plane were overrun by zombies in order for us to just try and save the team, I would’ve sacrificed everything, even my own life. I know you think that what I did was foolish, and maybe it was, but I don’t leave people behind. I lost too many friends in the tower I was trapped in. That is not happening again.” I pulled the cord out of the jack before he could respond.
Harry looked back at me. He had heard the entire conversation. He gave me one of those giant shit-eating grins and a thumbs up. I waved him off and walked away. Those pills were starting to kick in, but the edge was exactly what they were able to help with. I still had a pounding and ache in my head. Instead of feeling like someone was using a jackhammer on my brain, it now felt like the person switched out for a sledgehammer. I sat down away from everyone and tried to relax without closing my eyes and falling asleep.
As I sat there, little Angel popped up from her hiding spot by one of the Humvees. She climbed up on my lap and cuddled against me. Somehow this little girl knew when I was hurting and in need of comfort. I stroked her hair and sat in that moment, ignoring everything around us. It was then she turned and looked up at me with those eyes. “Dan, thank you for following through on your promise and protecting me. I was so scared before you entered my life and carried me to safety. You are like a second daddy to me. I wish you, Julie, and I could be a family.”
