She didn’t have to wait long before she heard voices carrying through the silence. That was the thing about the apocalypse; all the ambient noise had disappeared. That background hum that had been a day to day occurrence had been snuffed out. Traffic noise, electricity humming through high-powered lines, lawnmowers, chainsaws… Gone. Sound travelled far these days.
Maggie took a few deep breaths, calming herself. She tensed her muscles, ready to spring her trap. As the voices drew nearer, she caught the tail end of their conversation.
“…lost a lot of men on that island. Jim said they were well-armed; they even blew up that fancy boat I was telling you about.”
“Really? Why did they want to go there?”
“I don’t know, dude? I just follow orders. I don’t want to get eaten.”
“Shit yeah.”
Maggie burst out of her hiding spot like a 100-metre sprinter out of the starting blocks. The two guards’ eyes went wide with shock. Maggie slammed her rifle stock into the nearest one’s head, knocking him unconscious. The other guard took a step back and went to raise the shotgun he was carrying.
“Don’t even try it. I’ll shoot you where you stand.”
Maggie took a better look at the guard. He had sandy blond hair. Hazel eyes stared at her from behind thick glasses. He looked to be about twenty.
Glasses smartly dropped his shotgun onto the ground and held up his hands. “You’re American.”
“Five points for Mr Obvious.”
Glasses stayed silent, watching Maggie warily.
“This can go one of two ways. One. You tell me what I want to know, and you live. Two. You don’t. I knock you out like your friend here, I strip those red coveralls off you, and leave you to the Variants.”
“Variants?”
“Beasts, monsters, whatever you call them.” Maggie nodded her head towards the dam.
Glasses held his hands up higher. “All right, whatever.”
“First thing. How many of you are there?”
Glasses flicked his eyes towards Karapiro village. “I’m not sure, exactly, because a lot died yesterday on the island. Maybe thirty of us now?”
Island? Maggie kept her face devoid of any emotion. She hoped he didn’t mean the island she had sent Alice and the kids to.
“How many of the creatures are in that dam?”
Glasses shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, really, I don’t. A lot, maybe two hundred?”
“What about the kids? What do they do with them?”
Glasses looked down at the ground, and blood rose up his cheeks. When he looked back at Maggie, tears were in his eyes. Hoarsely he replied, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know. They never come out. Sometimes, on still nights, you can hear faint screams.”
Maggie tightened her grip on the rifle. “Last question, asshole. How many guards are inside?”
“None that I know of. I’m always on perimeter patrol, though, so it may have changed.”
Maggie mulled over this new information. She was confident about taking out guards on the outside, sneaking down that ladder and into the building. The Variants were another issue. She had no idea how long her disguise would hold out, if at all. She contemplated leaving, getting back to the island and coming back with an army. The thought of children being eaten spurred her on.
She stood watching Glasses, deciding what to do. As they stood, a distant thumping sound echoed up the river, bouncing off the limestone cliffs. She watched as Glasses frowned, confusion on his young face. Maggie knew that sound. She would never forget it. Hours spent inside the flying tubs of metal, skimming over the hot sandy wastelands of Iraq and Afghanistan, insurgents taking potshots as they landed, dispersing them into hell… What she was confused by was, why was a chopper heading this way? But then again, as her favourite quote from Art of War told her, “In the midst of chaos, there is opportunity.”
She would strike while she could. She spun her rifle around and slammed it into Glasses’s temple. His lanky body slumped to the ground next to his mate. She reached down and grabbed his shotgun. Then she searched the pair for extra shells, and shoved it all into her pack. Spotting the other guard’s shotgun wedged under him, she reached down and yanked it free. With a last look around, Maggie jogged back to the clifftop. The thumping of the chopper was growing louder. Adrenalin surged into her bloodstream at the promise of a battle.
I’m doing this for Izzy, to save the kids from this hell.
She reached the clifftop and looked north, searching for the choppers. Above the thumping came a distant booming sound. She pivoted around, looking south. Explosives. These guys mean business! This was a full-on assault. A cacophony of screeches echoed as dozens of Variants poured out of the dam. They scampered up the walls and disappeared, heading south.
These guys are smart! Classic divide and conquer. We just might have a chance after all.
TWENTY-SIX
The three NH-90 helicopters sat waiting on the concrete pad. Dee walked towards them, holding Jack’s hand. Part of her thought about the other soldiers smirking at the public display of affection, but she cast these thoughts aside. She glanced up at the split windscreen, grinning to herself. They always reminded her of bug eyes staring at their prey. She could feel the weight of her combat vest, stuffed full of extra magazines, pushing down on her small frame.
Ben stood with Sergeant Hollis next to the nearest NH-90 chopper. He smiled as she and Jack approached, waving them over.
Jack lifted up the metal case Katherine had given to him. “This is for the Colonel. I didn’t want to give it to the Indonesian pilot. In all the confusion yesterday, I forgot about it.”
Ben took it off Jack and shook his head, looking down at it. “All that madness, for what’s in here. It better be bloody worth it.” He turned, handing it to Sergeant Hollis. “Secure this in the bunker.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Dee watched him jog off. Then, looking up at Ben, she smiled. “Do you think we have a chance today, Ben?”
He glanced between her and Jack. “We’ve survived, guys. Against all the odds, we’ve survived this far. All we can do now is try. Try to save the boys, and with the new intel Alice provided about the camp, save them too. We’ll always have a chance.” He paused and grasped Jack’s shoulder. “What was it that Gimli said? ‘Certainty of death. What are we waiting for?’”
Jack grinned at Ben. “Yeah, something like that.”
“We fight on, guys. We survived the lab. Dee, we rescued Jack. Let’s go get the boys and bring them home.”
Dee adjusted the straps on her pack. “Whatever the outcome, if we lie dying and drawing our last breath, promise me something, Ben.”
“Okay. What?”
“That we’ll blow that bastard back to hell.”
Ben tilted his head back, letting out a deep chuckle. “That I can promise!” Then he thumped the side of the chopper. “Let’s go!”
Eric jogged over and jumped into the hold, slamming the door shut after them.
The whine of the engines rose as the blades started to wind up, thumping through the air. Some of the civilians had gathered on the boardwalk to watch them leave. As the chopper lifted off, Dee scanned the hold. Jack sat next to her, still holding her hand. Ben had moved forward and was in the co-pilot’s seat. Eric sat opposite them, alongside a soldier Dee didn’t know. He glanced up at her and gave her a nervous smile before shifting his attention back to the rifle cradled in his arms.
Dee looked down at the villa they called home. Alice and the kids had gathered on the verandah, and waved as the chopper rose up and banked away back over the ocean, back towards the hell the mainland had become. Back to free Boss and George. She had hugged Alice goodbye earlier, both women holding tight. Alice had pulled away, telling Dee to come back. Dee had avoided a movie reference; she’d just wanted to savour the moment with her friend. Even with all of Ben’s confidence, she was scared. Scared of what she would find. Scared of dying.