Chapter Three589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJa2HPSPra6
Making Our Flight
An embankment of tangled tree roots rose up in front of them. Just over that, the forest opened to a large clearing. In the middle of that clearing was the airstrip. Using more of the hand gestures that he had taught and reviewed often with the civilians, Gates was able to continue his fluid movement and send the group to hold at the base of the rise. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjVxZWmhGK
The survivors, Patrick admittedly being one of them, found an unspoken feeling of protection under the command of the three rifleman. Not necessarily a feeling of safety, but one of relinquishing control to the more capable military operators. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQcitlzK8o
Patrick knew it was more than their training and experience that led these men to the warrior profession. They were born of a predatory nature, they were wolves among humans.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0kbov1GaZ
Gates and his men moved swiftly up the embankment, dropping to one knee in a tight grouping. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXDETT9QHZ
“Okay,” Gates dragged an open palm down his sweaty face, eyes wide and blinking as his hand wiped over them, “Mike, get in there, get those pre-flight checks done,” Lanier already knew his assignment, but he still acknowledged the order with a downward nod, as would Sheldon, “Terry, you’ll head up with the father and son. I’ll bring Pat and the other guy. Good copy?” 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJgo0V3Lgf
“Yup.”589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTflg0lVJ1
“Got it.” 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdxwz9rw2R
They broke away from each other like a huddled football team, sans the hoorah of three joined hands simultaneously tossing into the air. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrFdc12TYR
From the sky, the large rectangular clearing for the airstrip looked like a single, random, accidental buzz cut into the treetops of the jungle. The thin brown streak of an airstrip ran down the middle of the field, from one end to the other. There was a simple shelter of four wooden posts and a thin roof, just beside the runway. Under the once clear, corrugated plastic roof was a small Cessna 150 airplane.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEi3kNhiNML
That single aircraft was the entire fleet of the airline operating out of this bustling airport, which served both the miners and the town of Malejon. The airstrip had been abandoned by cocaine smugglers in the 1980’s. The son of one smuggler took advantage and became a pilot when All Source showed up to run the mine, and essentially the town. When the miners needed to fly home for the weekend, but didn’t want to miss out on their generous per diem and overstay bonuses, they booked a flight here. And not through Expedia.com.
Mike Lanier held his assault rifle tight to his body as he gilded through the waist high grass. Graying clouds swept across the sky, casting shadows that scrolled over the sunny meadow. Once he reached the plane, he slung the rifle to his back, ducked under the wing, and pulled the silver latch that popped the door open. He high-stepped into the plane, which to him, resembled the interior of any other derelict vehicle that he used to rescue from junkyards around his hometown. There were the familiar sights, layers of leaves carpeting the floor, the glass of each gauge fixture cracked or lodged inside. There was also the exceedingly pleasant aroma of a dead rodent baking in the cockpit. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPrMdfbLh4
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Back in the forest, Patrick let his weight settle his ass into the mud, which cast a nice, welcoming seat. Legs out in front of him, one knee bent upward, steadied by a resting forearm, and the other leg straight out, his Colt 1911 lay patiently on his thigh. Paul sat beside him with both arms hugging his knees to his chest. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw33TwRWBNx
Peering without thought into the forest behind them, only Paul’s eyes were communicating with his mind, and even then, both began to play tricks on him. He started to see figures. Shadows at first, then they started to take shape as they rustled out from the thicket and began staggering in his direction. Paul dipped his chin behind his knees ready to bury his face away. He looked like a soldier hunkering down in his foxhole as bombs fell from the sky. Every time Paul blinked, the creatures were closer, bearing their teeth at him. Then, everything went dark.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BMoVNSKE5
Patrick noticed as Paul’s body language changed. His tense muscles relaxed and his dazed eyes were now oddly calm, like a wave of warmth had washed over him. While Patrick reached to shake him out of it, Paul moved in a flash. He sprang up to one knee, his right hand pushing off the ground to propel himself upward, his left grabbed the forty-five caliber pistol from Patrick’s lap.
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Paul’s finger just kept squeezing the trigger, he felt the slide of the pistol kick with force each time he squeezed hard enough. He stumbled toward the figures in the trees, firing repeatedly. Each shot only chipped away at the foliage, snapping small branches and spitting pieces of bark from tree trunks. The figures began dissolving, like an exhaled breath into the freezing winter cold. Then everything slowed for Paul, a spark of consciousness lit up and pushed electrical currents burning through his body. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGpVvuHcTO
Voluntary function returned to his eyes first, the hallucinations departed, now to his mind, the dream state gave way. But only to a grim realization, that he had just fucked up any chances they had of escaping. He ceased fire and turned his palm up toward himself to look at the pistol. As he did so, he glared at it with no recollection of ever picking it up, and almost looking at it like he blamed it for the shooting. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHkmV2qUJc
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The shrieking began to roll through the forest like a plague. Once the survivors heard the screams, they were paralyzed by the fear. Even the reflexes of their most primal instinct to fight or flight, were stunted by the sound. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6M9y4zvLn
“Tom,” Lanier took a few tentative steps away from the plane as he keyed the mic, “Tom? Terry? What the shit is going on-“589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qA4ebAIS0
“Start the plane!” a distant shout from the woods. Whoever it was had not keyed their radio. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNkjZYz211
Lanier turned and lunged into the Cessna.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4TPw1N32J
He tried to radio his team again.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPztx99Hn0Q
“Terry, man! What’s happening down there?” 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gXCOaqhsc
Nothing. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFN5wEzmqes
Only empty silence that congealed and weighed heavily in the air of the cockpit.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTTZEpfPSVi
Then, a few partial transmissions scratched out from Lanier’s earpiece. The line opened, but all he could hear was a lot of movement and heavy breathing. Then it cut out abruptly. Followed immediately by a single rifle report that cracked over the meadow. After which, a torrent of gunfire opened up, still hidden from Lanier’s view.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HLKaRRgNq
Paul, gangly and uncoordinated, broke out from the forest, running as fast as he could, making a beeline for the plane. One after another, the rest of the survivors followed closely behind. Each of them creasing their own paths through the tall grass. Gates and Sheldon were backpedaling as they emerged from the jungle, now firing in short bursts at something in the trees.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzygRLnDRsf
“Reloading!” each of them would call out over the gunfire that continued to rattle on at a feverish pace. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QGwsFyD49
Seventy yards away, the Cessna’s engine gurgled as Lanier adjusted the air to fuel ratio. He brought the mixture leaner, and the engine sputtered once, twice, then finally, roared to life. The prop quickly worked up to speed and the high rate of RPM’s blurred the propeller.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fGsrsseEg
“Grenades!” Sheldon shouted while he slid two fragmentation grenades from a harness on his chest. One after the other, he pulled the pins and heaved them at tree line. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPT9yJQ30UT
Both detonations rocked the landscape. Their shockwaves blast outward, flattening the nearby grass. Earth and body parts erupted into the air, buying the two men precious seconds. Sheldon had already dropped to his knees and thrust the two prongs of a claymore mine into the shaken soil. Its infamous label etched into the lethal side, 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7wNlwyYpR
FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4w6LABzEd9
Mark was shoved as he tried to climb in through the small door of the aircraft. His weight barreled forward head first into Paul’s face, breaking his nose. Joey continued to cram his son into the rear of the cabin. The plane had pulled forward and began to taxi onto the pockmarked strip of dirt, making the boarding process that much more difficult.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJH2J5oKhO
Like a powerful wave crashing against the rocks, a large mob of infected surged from the tree line with ferocious intensity. They rushed across the field, consumed and driven by disease. Each of them panting and growling in a ravenous fervor.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NJv223QuL
“Fuckin’ run!” Lanier shouted, from the plane, completely drowned out by the engine.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgQj1gx1s5
Patrick had just made it to the airplane door and realized he had been so focused on making it to the plane that he hadn’t thought of the two other soldiers. When he looked back over his shoulder, he saw Gates and Sheldon sprinting for the plane, barely leading the stampede of infected by a few dozen yards.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzP5Gg5wDkg
“Mike! Rifle!” Patrick yelled to Lanier, who quickly twisted around searching for his rifle. He found it and tossed the weapon from the plane.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12JmstGKnR
Once Patrick grasped the metal, he immediately spun and stepped toward the approaching two men. He leveled the M4, pressed his cheek to the stock, and peered through the lenses of the scope. The zoom brought Gates and Sheldon much closer, but it also displayed the sinister, bloodstained faces that were relentlessly pursuing them. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbEN0sJykc
“Let’s go! Pat get the fuck back in here!” Joey’s voice was somehow audible from the plane. Patrick could hear him, but ignored the man and began popping off rounds. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrOSAE2ZLMc
Almost immediately the bolt jammed and the trigger froze. Patrick tossed the rifle back into the plane, and pulled his .45 caliber pistol from his belt. A flick of his thumb expelled the magazine Paul had emptied, and he swiftly loaded the only other one he had left, aware that this one only carried his last four rounds.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bJqGv95qh
Gates and Sheldon were only yards from Patrick. An infected woman in a tattered muumuu was closing in on them, now only steps behind. He steadied the pistol and discharged two double-taps. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjrBLk5GYG
Not one of the four rounds landed. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2B1SJnN8P
“Get in the plane!” Gates roared at Patrick, “Mike hit it!” his second command sent Lanier and the Cessna into high gear. The plane began to roll at a rapidly increasing speed. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaBG36t7xL
Patrick turned to lunge for the aircraft just as two loud bangs exploded from a pistol inside the cockpit. The bullets passed so close to Patrick’s face, that he felt their heat. The rounds hit their mark. The muumuu lady fell limp, hit the ground face first, and slid to a stop. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkB2sK3SvI
Mark sat back quickly from leaning over the front seats and hanging half out the door of the plane. Patrick chased him back to his seat, making more room as he and Gates pilled in. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EBjzAf7Gu
The tall grass had been almost entirely flattened as the mass of infected trampled across the field like a runaway heard of cattle.589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPagGklq6bw
Sheldon clapped twice before he jumped into the plane. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCM3XDkcVMz
Each clap made an unfamiliar, click, clack noise. Which was immediately followed by an immense explosion further out in the field, but still managed to thump like a deep bass in their chests. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlESfUOxdRV
The claymore mine had, at the least, disrupted the charge. However, many only suffered fragmentation wounds. Which had inflicted major trauma to the bodies, but the infected could still function after losing even several extremities or large chunks of flesh. 589Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGUZ6d2lq5
As the wheels of the plane lifted, the tail dipped as the aircraft began its steep ascent. They were airborne. The horde of infected had reoriented themselves and resumed their chase. Even with thousands of feet between them, the tenacity of the feral hunters never faded. Eventually though, the Cessna did. And it
