Back in the cavern Longinus climbed over the lip of the crevice. His eyes had gone red again and his skin white. He stood with his chest rising and falling heavily and then with an animal roar he bounded ape like towards the cut in the rocks.
Outside Deano and Smithy heard the shouts from the people and heard the animal roars and began running towards the danger.
“No!” Tosh roared at them, “Cut those pilots free! Get that fucking plane in the air now!“
They rushed to obey his commands.
Running flat out Katja lost one of her shoes and she tried to stop to go back for it.
“No! Keep moving,” Dennis yelled at her, “We need to get on that plane.”
Dennis pushed them on and turned and dropped to one knee and killed another creature with the Kalashnikov. He heard a loud animal roar and looked back at the entrance to the subterranean levels and saw Longinus burst out into the afternoon sun. The creature stopped and roared as the bright sunshine hurt his red eyes. Then he shook his head, snorted, saw Dennis and roaring with rage set off at a fast run straight for the journalist.
Deano and Smithy cut the pilots loose and pushed them to the plane. Creatures were running straight for them and the two SAS men took them out with precise shots. Tosh was running as fast as Von Werner could allow. He had his hand on the German’s neck pushing him on towards the Hercules. Running hard with the two women Dennis was suddenly aware that something was about to flank him. He glanced right and saw it was Longinus. The creature so much bigger and stronger.
A Bell Huey helicopter banked from the moutains and swung in low. Tosh made it to Deano and snatched the younger man’s headset off his head and held it to his ear and mouth.
“Base. This is delta echo. Delta echo. Are you receiving?”
“Delta echo. This is base. Major Cochoran receiving you.”
“Base there is an inbound helicopter. Is it one of ours. We request immediate evac. Repeat immediate evac.”
“Delta echo we have you on screen. Inbound chopper is not one of ours. Repeat not one of ours. Helicopter is unfriendly. Treat as hostile.”
“Fuck!” Tosh let the headset go.
Dennis saw the Bell Huey coming in to land. It hovered just feet above the ground and Dennis saw the Gau 17a minigun mounted in the doorway. The north Korean Kim Li Choi at the gun.
“Everyone down,” Dennis yelled pushing Natalie and Katja behind a pallet of cargo before diving behind it himself. He put his arms around the pair of them as they covered their ears with their hands. The Gau sprayed the ground kicking up sand and stones. Where the pallets and crates were hit splinters erupted off them and showered the air. Dennis saw one of the creatures out of the corner of his eye. It stopped near them and was literally cut in half by the deadly fire. Choi stopped firing to allow the rotating barrels to cool. Dennis looked up as the firing stopped. The creature at his feet wasn’t Longinus and he searched for him knowing he couldn’t be far.
“Peter!” Natalie shouted.
Dennis turned. Katja was running for the Huey. One of the creatures that was running flat out parrallel to them suddenly changed direction and bounded after Katja. The minigun had cooled sufficiently but Choi now couldn’t fire without the risk of hitting the redhead. He drew a handgun and fired shots at the monster, hitting it in the shoulder, which only angered it and didn’t slow it. Dennis aimed down the sights of his AK-74M and shot the creature in the back of the head. It crashed to the desert floor and was still. The helicopter touched down briefly as Katja got to it and Choi grabbed her hand and pulled her in. She threw herself into a seat and put the lap belt around her waist. As the Huey lifted off again Choi gave Dennis a mocking salute. Katja smiled at him and then the helicopter was banking away and climbing, gaining height and speed.
‘Fuck! She’s hot’ Dennis said to himself.
“Pete! Natalie! Come on!” Hutchinson shouted. He was now on the loading ramp of the Hercules. The ramp was six inches off the ground and the plane was moving slowly and turning. Tosh bundled Von Werner into the back of the plane as Deano and Smithy gave covering fire. Dennis grabbed Natalie’s hand and together they sprinted for the Hercules. There were still a few of Von Werner’s men on the ground shooting at anything that moved. Suddenly Smithy was hit by a stray bullet and went down clutching his throat. Deano called out and ran to his aid as one of the creatures side swiped him knocking him down. As Deano tried to get back to his feet he was swamped by two more of the creatures and he went down under them. Dennis and Natalie jumped onto the ramp of the Hercules that was now gaining speed fast for take off.
Tosh put his hand on the button to close the back up when Hutchinson said.
“Captain. Your men.”
Tosh looked out and saw the creatures that had killed Deano bound away. Smithy was unmoving on the desert floor. The sand soaking up his blood.
“They’re gone,” Tosh said.
He smacked the button and the ramp began to close.
The pilots levelled the Hercules out at 1000ft. Natalie was tending to the deep scratches on Tosh’s head and back of his neck while the SAS Captain kept the handgun trained on the billionaire Count. Inside the Hercules was a pallet of munitions and a Mercedes Benz G class open top 4x4 on skis.
Von Werner still had the spear of destiny in his hands and had it clutched to his chest lovingly. The shaft had been snapped off and now only a few inches of wood jutted from the spear head.
The pilot turned around and shouted back into the hold.
“Sir the Israeli military have scrambled fighter jets. ETA five minutes. Our instructions are to follow them and land and surrender ourselves into custody.”
“Ignore this!” Von werner said, “Change our heading for Gaza.”
“No!” Tosh shouted, “Tell them that we are a british red cross mission and will proceed to Shaheed Mwaffaq air base in Jordan where we will land. We have british nationals on board and will seek the help of the Jordanian government,” Tosh turned back to Von Werner, “you no longer give the orders here Count.”
The pilot relayed the new message.
“The Israelis are refusing,” he shouted back, “They have re-issued their warning to us. We are to follow them to Tel Nof air force base. Our refusal to follow these instructions will result in military intervention. I think they mean to shoot us out of the sky.”
“Repeat my message to them,” Tosh shouted. He turned to everyone in the aircraft, “Does anyone have a cell phone?”
Hutchinson shook his head.
“His lot took them. Remember,” the American said nodding at Von Werner.
“I have mine.”
The German Count took his phone from his trouser pocket. Tosh opened the screen up.
“No service. That’s just bloody brilliant. Without comms I can’t get help from my unit.”
Tosh turned his attention back to Von Werner.
“And now my dear Count It’s time to hand that over,” he extended his hand for the spear.
Von Werner didn’t move so Tosh waved the pistol at him.
“Now!”
“Tosh look out!” Dennis yelled as Natalie screamed.
Tosh spun around at the sound of snarling. Longinus had risen up behind him. Tosh stared into the white face with red eyes. The long sharp teeth were bared. He attempted to bring the gun up but Longinus was too quick. The creature rushed forward and sank its jaws into the trapezius muscle at the side of the SAS Captain’s neck and ripped them free. Tosh slumped to the floor of the plane, his blood pumped out thickly and he tried to speak but only managed to cough up blood. Longinus spat the large lump of flesh out and then with his jaws dripping it focused on the spear again. He reached Von Werner in two steps and snatched the spear from him. Von Werner shrank away and as all watched Longinus’ face and eyes returned to human again.