Revealed: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction (9 page)

Bird On The Ground

Christa took off, following the edge line of the hill.

"You don't know what those zombies in the copter are thinking, sir.  If anything happens to her, Colonel, I don't know ..."

"Nothing's going to happen to her.  At least not if you do your job.  She's doing hers, now you go do yours."

As the helicopter search light moved past the drainage ditch and up towards Christa, Alex made his move to the drainage ditch.  He moved to a deeper section, far enough away from the grate Christa would use for hiding from the helicopter.  While Alex waited, he took the opportunity to dig out some dirt from the side to recess himself into.  No doubt the copter would try to find Christa in the ditch first with its light, before landing.  The more he could camouflage himself the better. He pushed himself back into the hollow he'd dug, and spread some of the loose dirt and mud over himself.  Not perfect, but neither was this plan. 
Just do your job,
he thought. 
You know the colonel will do his.

Christa kept moving towards the mark Chaz had set for her.  She kept looking back, not just to see the helicopter, but also for Chaz and Alex.  The copter was slowing, circling back towards her.  Chaz was still visible, looking in her direction, but Alex was out of sight.  Christa's nerves got the better of her, and she started talking aloud to herself.

"He must be in hiding already.  In ambush, to take out whoever comes for me.  Whoever comes to rescue me when I'm running for help.  Pretending to run for help, that is.  I'm setting those soldiers up to be killed.  That's what they want me to do, and it's likely the best way for us to survive.  I do want to survive, and Alex too.  He's been awfully nice, but he's different.  He wants to protect me.  He thinks I'm just a little girl that needs protection, and sometimes I do too.  I want to be a little girl, like I used to be.  Things were simpler back then, with Mom and Dad to take care of me.  But they're not here now, and I'm changing.  Or I have changed, I'm not sure which.  It's hard, but I suppose it's all part of growing up.  I'm not just growing up like the other kids though. I feel ...  Actually, I'm not sure how I feel, or where I fit.  But for today, or at least right now in this moment, I think I will be the little girl Alex believes I am.  I'll do what's been asked of me, and I'll do it for Alex and the grumpy old bastard."

The helicopter was moving quicker now.  Christa had moved a little further down the hill to give Alex more time, and her more space to make her run.  The copter rotors were getting louder, and even though the copter team hadn't spotted Christa, she could see them.  There were four in the copter.  Two seated in the pilot and copilot’s chairs, and two more in the back.  She couldn't make out the two in the back, but the one in the copilot’s seat was a regular zombie.  One of the two in the back ran the search light. 

Christa let the helicopter advance a little bit more, then let out the loudest scream she could muster.  The copter didn't react, so she let loose with another.  Even with the sound of the rotors, Alex made out Christa's scream.  He nearly leapt from his cover and out of the ditch to see what was happening.  If everyone did their job, things would go as planned.  That's what he kept reminding himself.  He took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and waited.  Waited and watched down the ditch for Christa. 

Meanwhile, the copter stopped moving, but its light began to move towards Christa's hiding spot. 

"Just a little bit closer," she whispered.

As the light shone a few feet from her, Christa let loose another scream, then dashed from hiding, through the light and towards the ditch.  She moved as fast as her feet could carry her, but still managed to glance back over her shoulder at the copter.  The search light was on her now, and keeping pace.  There was no way she could lose that light.  They'd see exactly where she was going when she headed into the ditch. 

The voice from the helicopter barked through its loudspeaker, "Stop, halt where you are.  You're trespassing on US military ground.  Stop where you are, or you'll be fired upon."

Without waiting, shots fired from the helicopter just in front of Christa.  The dirt jumped up, and pebbles hit her legs.  Undeterred, and running like she was scared for her life, Christa only slowed for a split second.  Alex heard the shots, and as much as he tried, nothing could keep him where he was.  He scrambled from cover and peered over the top of the ditch.  He could see Christa still running, and making her way to the ditch.

The loudspeaker sounded again.  "Stop this instant.  You can't hide. You're trespassing on US military space.  The next shots will not be warning shots."

Only another ten feet to the ditch.  Christa's brain computed for a half second to just give up, but that wasn't the plan. 
Just stick to the plan,
she thought
.  That's what the old bastard said.  He said we'd get out of this if we just followed the plan.
  Christa's brain hesitated for a second, but not long enough for her feet to stop moving.  She looked once again over her shoulder, pointed backwards, and screamed.  While the men in the copter couldn't hear her over the rotors, her actions caused them to hesitate.  The hesitated just long enough to wonder what she could be pointing at.  Long enough for Christa to make the last few feet, and slide into the ditch feet first, rolling and tumbling to a stop.  There was a barred door leading into the sewer tunnel at the end of the ditch.  She scrambled to it and flung it open.  Christa worked her way far enough into the tunnel so the copter could no longer see her. 
There
, she thought
.  If they want me, they're going to have to come in after me.  All according to plan.

The copter hovered above the drainage ditch, with its light scanning the length of the ditch.  After watching Christa slide into the ditch, Alex did his best to camouflage himself again.  Fortunately for him, the helicopter was focusing on the end of the ditch where it had last seen Christa.  The light scanned only a few feet from where he hid.

The loudspeaker from the copter boomed out again.  "We know where you are.  You can't hide there for long.  Make yourself visible and surrender yourself."

No one moved.  Christa shivered within the tunnel, while Alex clenched and unclenched his fists. 

Fighting For Your Flight

The helicopter landed twenty feet from where Christa had disappeared into the ditch.  With the engine still running, two soldiers jumped out, and proceeded towards the ditch.  As they approached the ditch, Chaz made his move, unnoticed, to the far side of the helicopter.  As he got closer, Chaz dropped to a belly crawl, and inched forward.  Chaz could see the faces of both the pilot and the copilot now, as he reached for the rear-door handle.  Even with the noise of the rotors outside, one of them was bound to notice the door sliding open.  He grabbed the latch, pulled the door hard backwards, and jumped into the rear seat.  As the pilot turned, Chaz pushed his gun up against the back of the captain’s seat, and pumped three bullets through.  The captain slouched over as blood oozed from his chest.

The zombie was slower, but not slow enough for Chaz's liking. At first, it flailed at Chaz, straining on its safety belts.  What it lacked in mobility, it made up for in random aggression.  Somehow, its flailing arms managed to knock the gun out of Chaz's hands, sending it bouncing under the rear seats.  Frantically, the zombie continued flailing and reaching for Chaz.  Chaz pushed back into the seat, out of harm’s way, and scooted down to the floor to retrieve his weapon.  Keeping one eye on the zombie, he groped under the seat for his weapon.  The zombie, realizing he couldn't reach his intended meal, began pounding and pulling on his safety harness.  Chaz's couldn't quite locate his handgun, so he risked taking his eyes of the zombie for a second to look under the seats.  It was wedged into a crevice back and to the left.  He just had to slide a little more behind the zombie’s seat, and stretch out his arm.  As Chaz looked away and stretched for his weapon, the zombie pounded and pulled his harness enough to hit the release button.  He was loose, and Chaz took a split second to realize it.

The zombie was on Chaz in a flash.  Crouched down on the floor and stretched under the seat, Chaz was left vulnerable.  The zombie’s weight pinned Chaz to the floor.  His gun became a secondary concern.  Chaz pulled his arm back from under the seat, and tried heaving the zombie off by pushing it up and pulling himself backwards.  The zombie had other ideas; he opened his mouth, and lunged for the back of Chaz's neck.  Chaz, unable to heave the zombie off, dodged and squirmed to keep his neck from being slashed open.  The zombie momentarily lost balance, giving Chaz leverage to push him to the other side of the copter.  Undeterred, the zombie bounced back, and lunged for Chaz as he frantically unbutton his knife sheath.  There was no room for dodging, which would have been Chaz's first choice.  Instead, he went for the block with his left arm, catching the zombie just under the chin, squarely in the throat.  That temporarily held him back, but did little to curb the freak’s enthusiasm.  The zombie pushed harder, straining for Chaz's throat.  Holding the zombie’s throat with his left hand, Chaz managed to plunge his knife into the chest of the zombie with a twisting motion.  The zombie slowed, and flailed at the blade, but didn't relent.  Chaz pulled the blade back, and this time made an awkward but fatal blow to the zombie’s skull.  The corpse slumped into a heap on top of him.  Chaz pushed the zombie to the side, pulled his blade from its skull, and crawled into the copilot’s seat.  Catching his breath as the adrenaline rush started to fade, Chaz felt a searing pain through his right hand.  He looked at his hand and saw that his palm had a deep slice running across it.  Thoughts of infection raced through his mind as he tore a strip of material off the dead pilot’s shirt and bandaged his palm to stem the bleeding.  That bleeding slowed, but he found it painful to make a fist.

Looking out the window, he could make out one of the soldiers on the edge of the ditch.  The other wasn't in sight.  Ignoring the pain in his hand, Chaz worked his way to the back of the copter again.  He pushed the zombie’s corpse out the door he had entered, and managed to retrieve his gun from under the seat.  Then, Chaz reached over the dead pilot, opened his door, released his harness and pushed him out.  He considered taking out the soldier by the ditch, but resolved to stick to the plan.  He wouldn't be happy if the others deviated, so he started looking for the navigation-lights control switch.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chaz saw the soldier start running the length of the ditch.  He was yelling something, and frantically waving his arms.  Chaz couldn't make out what he was saying, but he was clearly agitated about something.  The soldier raised his automatic weapon, and flipped off the safety.  Chaz started to move.  The soldier fired shots into the air, and yelled again into the ditch.  Then, he pointed his weapon directly into the ditch.  Chaz couldn't tell who or what he was pointing it at, but instinctively leapt from the copter and hit the ground running.  The soldier fired off several rounds into the ditch.  Chaz never broke stride.  He hit the soldier full force with a Heisman-worthy football tackle, and they both rolled down into the ditch. Tumbling over each other, they eventually came to a stop with Chaz on the bottom.  The soldier lost his automatic weapon during the tackle, but was now reaching for his combat knife.  With a single movement he had the knife out of its sheath and plunging towards Chaz's chest.  With no time to roll out of the way, all Chaz could do was raised both hands to block the weapon.  The knife pierced his right forearm.  With the knife still lodged in his arm, Chaz tried to roll, but the soldier had too much leverage on top.  He raised his knife again for another strike, and this time pierced Chaz's right side.  Suddenly, a shot rang out, and the soldier’s head snapped forward, then back.  A trickle of blood rolled down his forehead as his body slumped to the right.

"Colonel, dammit, what are you doing here?  You're supposed to be at the chopper."  Alex pulled the soldier’s corpse off the colonel.  "Who's at the chopper?  I can still hear it running; did you take out the men in the chopper?"

"Yes, it's done.  I saw this guy firing into the ditch.  Looked like you needed help, so I came over.  I was sure you'd both be dead when I got here."

"We're in better shape than you right now.  You look like hell." Christa watched from behind Alex as he pulled out a med kit from his pack.

"We don't have time for that, boy. We've got to get that copter in the air.  Time is running out."

"Yes it is, but having you bleed to death en route is not part of the plan.  I've got to at least stop the bleeding before we go.  Give me a minute."  Alex pulled back the colonel’s sleeve, dumped a bunch of antiseptic on the wound and wrapped it tightly.  He then wrapped and bandaged Chaz's side.

"That should hold.  Can you get out of this ditch on your own?"

Getting to his feet, Chaz noticed the second soldier’s body near the sewer tunnel.

"I'm not an invalid, kid, I can climb."

With much boosting and pushing from Alex, Chaz was able to make it out of the ditch.  Next came Christa, and finally Alex climbed out on his own.  They headed straight for the copter, moving as fast as they could in the dark.  Alex directed Christa into the rear of the copter. 

"Get in, and buckle up.  This could be a rough ride."