It was tiny, but that was only because it was still far away. The only reason he could even hear it at all was due to the stillness of the world around him. Sound traveled these days, especially the very odd, foreign noise of helicopter rotor blades whipping across the air.
“Holy shit,” Blaine said. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It is,” Will said.
“Is it the same one from last time?” Maddie asked.
“Maybe,” Will said. “Gaby, what do you see?”
“Helicopter,” Gaby said.
“But what do you see?”
“Looking.” Then a few seconds later, “White.” He could hear frustration in her voice. “That’s all I got, Will, sorry. It’s still too far away.”
“Okay. Keep your finger on the trigger.”
“Will do.”
Will slung the Remington and pulled the M4A1 free. Blaine did the same thing with his M4.
There were no doubts about it; the helicopter was moving in their direction. If it was armed and had hostile intentions, they were pretty much out of luck, even if they could make the Jeep.
The helicopter began to slow down as it neared them, its tail turning slightly as the pilot eased up on the controls. It was close enough now that Will could see it was a civilian chopper. Best of all, there were no signs of a shooter leaning out of the open side door.
“What should we do?” Maddie asked.
“Don’t shoot unless it shoots first,” Will said.
He walked past the Jeep and watched the helicopter hovering for a moment, as if the pilot was trying to gauge the reaction to its presence. Eventually, it started lowering itself to the ground forty meters from him.
“That’s a good sign, right?” Blaine shouted after him.
Hope for the best…
Will covered his eyes at the swirling storm of dust and dirt biting into his exposed face and neck. “Stay here!” he shouted back at Maddie and Blaine.
They took up positions behind the Jeep, shielding their eyes from the debris.
Will waited for the helicopter to fully touch down, its landing pads rocking slightly as they settled on the uneven earth.
A click in Will’s right ear, then Danny’s voice: “Nice ride. You gonna bring it over so we can all go for a spin, too?”
“Looks pretty friendly.”
“I can’t see anything but a white bird. A big-ass white bird.”
“It’s civilian, and no armaments as far as I can see.”
“That’s a good sign.”
“But just in case, stay frosty.”
“I’m so frosty, Gaby’s catching a cold over here.”
“Oh my God,” Gaby said. “I don’t know what Carly sees in you.”
“I go places where other guys don’t dare, or can.”
“I think I just threw up in my mouth,” Gaby said.
Will tuned them out and walked toward the helicopter. He saw only one person inside the cockpit, a ponytail whipping behind her as she pulled off her helmet and climbed out of her seat.
The helicopter had blue stripes and sported a big, round number 3 inside a red circle, along with the letters KTBC. The Bell 407, a popular helicopter brand with news channels, looked weathered from time and the elements.
The woman climbed out wearing khaki cargo pants and a sweat-stained white T-shirt. She moved across the flat land toward him, careful to keep her hands at her sides, just far enough away from a holstered sidearm — and the black pistol inside it — but still close enough to go for it if everything went to shit.
“Don’t shoot,” she called. “I come in peace.”
Now that she was closer, he guessed she was in her early thirties, with an athletic five-eight frame. He slung his rifle and saw her let out a noticeable sigh of relief.
Will met her halfway and stuck out his hand.
“Jen,” she said, shaking his hand.
“Will.” He pointed back at the Jeep. “Blaine and Maddie.”
“They’re not gonna shoot, are they?”
“Hopefully not. You took a risk coming down like this, alone.”
“Yeah, well, end of the world and everything, what’s a little risk, right? Besides, you folks are the first moving things on two feet I’ve seen in days.”
“Can you use that thing?” he asked, nodding at her holstered sidearm.
“Haven’t had any reasons to use it yet.”
“You’ve been lucky, then.”
“Really lucky, yeah.” She looked past Will, across the lake, and at the Tower. “You folks from the island?”
“We are. Why didn’t you go straight there?”
“I didn’t see any safe landing zones when I made my passes three months ago. Overgrown grass, lampposts, and palm trees everywhere. There was a beach, but that’s always risky. Plus, I saw a lot of people with guns outside a house farther down the shoreline. What happened to that house, anyway?”
“I burned it down.”
“Ah.” She waited for him to continue, and when he didn’t, “Got a reason, right?”
“Yes.”
He got something back that looked halfway between an amused smirk and a grin.
“A man of few words; I can dig it,” she said. “By the way, where did you people get palm trees in Louisiana?”
“I have no idea. We found the place like that.”
A click and he heard Lara’s excited voice: “Danny said the helicopter came back?”
Will let Jen know he was keying his radio. She nodded and waited, as he said, “I’m speaking to the pilot now.”
“What does he want?”
“She. And I haven’t asked her what she wants yet.”
“Maybe we can do some kind of a trade,” Jen said. “I don’t have much inside the helicopter, but if you need medicine, or medical equipment, I have a hospital.”
“How much of the hospital?” he asked.
She grinned. “How’d you know?”
“Hospitals are big places. You’d need an army to hold all of it. Do you have an army?”
“No army, and we only have the top floor.”
“Maybe we can work something out. We happen to be running a little low on medical supplies these days.”
“Should I ask why?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Does it have anything to do with that house you burned down?”
Will smiled. “Maybe.”
CHAPTER 2
LARA
Lara watched the helicopter swoop over the island, with Maddie peering out from the cockpit passenger seat, before angling toward a makeshift landing zone Will, Danny, and Blaine had carved out of the hotel grounds. It had taken about an hour to chop down three trees and saw two lampposts within the 100x100 feet square box in front of the two pear-shaped swimming pools.
The kids — Elise, Vera, and Jenny — stood next to Carly and Lara on the raised, open patio outside the front doors of the Kilbrew Hotel and Resorts. She couldn’t blame them for being excited. It wasn’t every day you saw a helicopter at the end of the world. As the helicopter landed, its rotor blades threw around a healthy chunk of grass and dirt, some landing on the roof of the unfinished hotel behind them.
Jen, the pilot, climbed out with Maddie.
“Oh, great,” Carly said. “She’s blonde, hotter, and taller than us, too.”
“Hey, I’m blonde, too,” Lara said.
“But she’s taller.”
“Don’t worry, you’re safe. Danny likes ’em young.”
“Well, I’m good for a few more years, then.”
Danny had gone back to pull overwatch in the Tower, on the eastern side of the island behind the hotel. That left Will and Blaine to greet Jen and walk her over to the patio.
“Time to put on the hostess hat,” Carly said. She adjusted her bright red hair a bit, then jogged over to meet the group.