✽ ✽ ✽
Muller found Kenji and the others waiting inside the building next to the garage; both groups were glad to see that no one was hurt. They both waited to speak until they were all settled in around them.
Kenji spoke first, “We only found one truck that is working, and it has enough fuel to fill up a tank, but it’s loud. I checked to make sure the truck would start, and it did. I shut it off immediately. We thought there was going to be a hoard of zombies on us, but I think I acted quickly enough.”
Tiller chimed in, “I thought I heard something when we were in the hangar, but it sounded little ways off, it was probably that.”
“What about you guys? What did you find?” Nobuto asked shyly.
“The first hangar we came upon was open, and we found mostly just luggage and tools, nothing worth noting really. We found a catwalk that led to a door, which was a connecting walkway between the hangars. So, we tried the doors, and we were jumped by half a dozen infected. After we took care of them, we entered the second hangar…” Muller trailed off, “And, well that’s where we need your help. There was about ten, maybe fifteen, infected inside, but we could also see two helicopters.”
Kenji asked intrigued, “Did they look flyable?”
“We don’t know, we couldn’t get close enough to see,” Muller continued, “The stairs are blocked by several tool benches and anything else they could grab to use to block them off. There wasn’t a way we could get down to the hangar floor without alerting all the infected inside to our presence.”
“So, you want us to help you clear out the infected inside so we can check to see if the helicopters even work,” stated Kenji.
Muller nodded, “Yes, I wanted to grab you guys before we attempted to clear out the infected. I figured six of us would be better than just three.”
“How do you plan on killing them all? It’s going to be dark and hard to see in the hangar,” asked Nobuto.
Muller paused, “Well, we don’t have too much of an option. Only the front door would allow us to get to them. Like I said those stairs were blocked off, they would hear us coming by the time we cleared the stairs. I thought that it might be best to lure them out the front door and with all the space around the hangars, we can take each out one by one. The two of you,” he said pointing at the pilots, “You both I want to stay far back and only help if you think we can't handle it.”
“I hope it's as easy as you made it sound,” stated Kenji with a hint of concern.
✽ ✽ ✽
Muller and Kenji stood on either side of the door, Nobuto and Evans behind them several feet back, and Tiller and Kinders even farther. Muller took the handle of his knife and used it to bust the door handle with two quick strikes. He pushed the door open so the infected could leave the hangar, and for good measure, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.
“HEY...” his voice echoed throughout the hangar sure to grab the attention of everyone inside.
Feeling like he was playing a perilous game of ding-dong ditch, he backed up, leaving Kenji to take out the first infected that tried to come out. At first, they didn't hear anything from inside the hangar, but soon they heard the infected dragging their feet in a death march. After another minute of waiting the first silhouette appeared in the doorway. Kenji was quick to grab the attention of the infected, not wanting them to go back inside. The first infected was a woman in civilian clothes, eyes as black as midnight.
He led the infected woman a few feet away from the door before he planted his foot forward and swung his katana with all his force. The blade cleanly sliced through the infected woman's neck, detaching the head from the body. As the head hit the pavement with a sickening crunch, it bounced and hit the wall of the hangar. At the same time, the body hit the ground, and a second infected appeared in the doorway.
Muller whistled at the infected, this time, a man in military BDU, and several gunshot wounds to his chest. He also led the infected soldier a few feet out before waiting to strike. The infected man lunged, and Muller sidestepped the man who fell face first into the ground. Quickly, Muller knelt above the man, digging his knee into its back. His knife dispatched the infected man in the blink of an eye.
Two more infected emerged from the hangar setting their eyes on Muller and Kenji. Evans stepped up and took Muller's place while he was still pulling his knife out of the infected. She called out to the infected drawing both infected towards her. Kenji used that to his advantage and walked up behind an infected teenage boy, and quickly and precisely removed his head as well. Evans brought the infected that stood before her, an infected man that had a chunk of his throat missing, to the side of where they had been killing the infected. She rushed the slow-moving infected, jamming her knife straight into the eye socket of the infected.
Four infected were down, and they all started to feel better about the situation. However, they were still unsure of how many infected were in the hangar. The rest of the infected came out in pairs of twos and threes; each one of them got a kill; the pilots stepping in when the groups of three came out. After seeing, no more infected for nearly ten minutes, they assumed they had cleared them out. They all took a breath before setting about moving the bodies to the side of the hangar out of the way of the doors.
The door they had busted open was a small door for when the main hangar doors had to be closed due to weather, they would have to open the main hangar doors if one of the helicopters was operational. They already had a fuel truck ready, now it was just down to finding a working helicopter.
Muller brought out his flashlight, turning it on to look through the door. No infected were visible, so they entered the hangar, much as the other hangar there was a little natural light streaming through some small windows towards the top of the hangar. Even in the dark, they could make out the helicopters, and a small office was in the back corner of the hangar.
“Tiller, Kinders, stay close!” Said Muller, beckoning beyond the cusp of the door.
The whole group moved in, Evans, Nobuto, and Kenji all moved in a trident formation sweeping the outer walls and them the middle of the hangar. Muller went down the middle with Tiller and Kinders to the first helicopter. They looked through the cockpit shining the light into the interior, seeing nothing inside. The ramp was up on this helicopter; they moved on the next one to check it as well.
The ramp was down, and they both stopped short. The group’s flashlights stopped upon a man whose back was against the wall of the interior; his head slumped forward. They both approached the man with caution, moving only a few feet away from him. The man didn't move, but as they had gotten closer, they noticed the long-dried pool of blood around him and the gaping hole in his head. The man sat amongst blood covered luggage that had been abandoned inside the helicopter.
Kinders whispered, “Unlucky bastard.”
The door to the cockpit was closed, and Tiller reached to open it. As the door opened, an infected man fell through, onto Tiller. A yelp of surprise kicked the others into action mode, and they all ran to the back of the helicopter. Kinders kicked the infected man square in the jaw allowing for Tiller to roll out from under the infected man. Kinders swiftly plunged his blade into the infected man's haunting black eyes and watched as the dim light left.
Between breaths, Tiller managed to get out, “Guess we missed one.”
Chapter 51
Almost free
They had looked at both helicopters and had even searched the office to find any notes made by the flight crew about them and were surprised to see them both in working order. They had what they needed: fuel, a helicopter, and the pilots to fly them. Everything was coming together nicely, and now they just had to gather everyone and wait for Carter to show up. It had already been an eventful morning for the search party.
They made their way back to the building where the others were still at, and many of them wanted to get food and take a nap in prep for what they would have to do later that night. Ramirez greeted
them at the door.
“No changes here, what about you guys? Find what we need?” He asked hopefully.
Muller wearily answered him, “Yeah, we found everything we need. Make sure to tell the others to be ready tonight, we leave before dusk. Any sign of Carter?”
“No,” Ramirez shook his head.
“Well, we can still post someone on the roof until we leave just in case he shows up. We wouldn't want him to stumble upon that horde,” said Muller.
Kenji stepped forward, “I'll go up and watch for a bit.”
“Me too. I'll go watch with Kenji for a bit, “said Nobuto.
They both headed down the hall to the stairs, Evans and the pilots joined them to head back to eat, rest, and clean their weapons. Only Muller and Ramirez remained in the lobby.
“How is Knight?”
Ramirez rubbed the back of his neck, “He's not doing better than earlier, but he's not doing worse either. I think since he had antibiotics before the infection set in his system it has drastically slowed down the time it's taking for the infection to take over fully.”
Muller could see that Knight was probably in bad condition judging by the fact that Ramirez wouldn't meet his eyes, “Would it be ok if we went to see him?”
Ramirez took a little while to reply, “He's a little delirious right now from the fever, but otherwise yeah.”
Together they went to the stairs, going up the two flights, walked down the hall to the office where Knight was. Ramirez slowly opened the door attempting not to disturb Knight. He lay on the big oak desk that was in the middle of the room, all the contents of the desk discarded in the corner of the office. Knight's head lay on a rolled-up rain poncho; he was sweaty and clammy, and his arms had black streaks running up and down them where the infection had started to take hold of his body.
“He has been talking which is a good sign. However, I don't know how much longer his body can last. Maybe we could bring him with us, so they can study him and hopefully find a cure,” sighed Ramirez.
Muller thought about the man in front of him how only a day before had been fine, but now he had broken his leg and was infected. It seemed that no matter what he was going to end up dead at some point. It was a sad thing to see, and Muller now understood why Kenji and the others didn't talk much about what they had seen. Horrible things had happened to them and the people they loved.
“Do we want him to suffer? I know I wouldn't want to be kept alive to be studied. And then what if he turns while we are in the helicopter? It's too big of a risk to bring him with us.”
Ramirez left out another heavy sigh, “It just doesn't seem right to leave him here either, I can't leave another friend behind.”
Muller was about to argue Ramirez's point but before he could Knight stirred, “Who are we...leaving behind?”
Ramirez looked at Muller and gave him a look that said to go along with what he said, “No one. We aren't leaving anyone behind. That's what we promised each other. Never leave a man behind.:
Between sharp, shallow breaths, Knight fought to talk, “Get Smith for me...I want him to.... try his radio, to call for command.... the other teams are late...can't leave them...”
With a sad look in his eyes, Ramirez comforted Knight, “Smith is out on patrol right now, but I’ll make sure he checks in with command. You just go back to sleep; you need the rest after such a long day.”
“I don't need...rest. I have to make sure...everything is ok...” Knight trailed off falling back into a fever-fueled dream.
With a worried face, Ramirez turned to Muller, “Promise me that you will at least let me bring him with us, then we can decide what to do with him at the hangar.”
Muller thought hard about it, but knew he owed the man, at least, a little while longer as a man and not an infected, “Alright, but you have to promise that if we have to leave him or put him down, you won't hesitate or try to stop us.”
Ramirez held out his hand to Muller, and they both shook their hands, “Agreed.”
✽ ✽ ✽
Kenji and Nobuto had grown close since he had stumbled upon him hiding in his apartment, waiting for his parents to return. Kenji was like an older brother to Nobuto, and he made sure to look out for the kid whenever he could. Nobuto had come out of his shell too, as he openly started conversations with other survivors, attempting to make friends. They sat together on the roof looking out over the street in front of them.
They had both cleaned up their weapons, Kenji making sure to clean his sword as Tadao and Takea had taught them how to do. After some silence, Nobuto spoke, “Do you think things will go back to normal once we leave here?”
Kenji stopped wiping his blade down, “I think once we get out of this hell we can try our hardest to make things normal again.”
Nobuto looked out over the building, “I just don't want to separate from you or Ren. I don't know anyone else, and my parents are probably long dead.”
Kenji put his hand on Nobuto's shoulder, “If they try to split us up just say we are family. I will be there to make sure that doesn't happen, ok?”
“Good!” Nobuto said smiling.
“We will figure everything out, once we leave that will be our only worry. We are almost there. Almost free from this forsaken hell.”
Chapter 52
The last flight out
As the sun moved across the sky moving closer and closer to the time, they all got jittery. They all wanted to get out of the country, out of infection's reach. They had all given up on Carter showing up, counting him amongst the many they had lost. In prep, many of them had moved down the lobby of the building. Muller had gathered all their weapons and included their rifles in the list.
Ramirez and Knight were the only two missing from the group in the lobby; Ramirez had gone to bring Knight down. Muller had each of them check their ammo and their rifles to make sure if they had to use them they were all prepared. After Muller was done checking everyone Ramirez finally had made his way down the stairs with Knight.
Kenji quickly made his way to Muller, “Do you intend to bring him with us? You know what will happen if we do. I would think Ramirez would remember what happened to Smith.”
“I know I figured we could give them a minute before we take off, it's just not easy to leave someone behind,” Muller replied watching Ramirez bring Knight closer.
Kenji nodded, “As long as you make sure it’s taken care of before we leave.”
Evans moved to help Ramirez carry Knight, while the rest of the group headed to the doors. The sun outside had steadily moved across the sky and now painted the sky a mix of red and blue. They opened the door, and a rush of fresh air filled the room; it still held a slight smokiness to it from the fires in the town. Together they slowly emerged and carefully made their way towards the airfield. The full group stopped where the search parties had earlier behind the last car.
“Kenji, you and Nobuto get that fuel truck over to that second hangar, we will open it up then we can drive out the helicopter and start it up. I know that this is all going to be very loud, so speed is key here. I want everyone to be aware of their surroundings at all times. There is a horde just on the other side of the base that will most likely hear us. Once we have the hangar door open use whatever you feel necessary to eliminate any infected you see; just keep them away from us,” Muller looked each one of them in the eyes sternly, “Any questions?”
No one replied, or indicated that they had any, “Ok, let's move out and get the hell out of here.”
Kenji and Nobuto took off silently towards the garage and Muller led the rest of them towards the hangar. Ramirez still helped carry Knight; Evans had stopped now that they were outside but hovered nearby. Halfway across Ramirez dropped Knight to the ground and called for the others to stop, something wasn't right.
✽ ✽ ✽
He felt light now, such a burden had been lifted off him. He couldn't feel any pain and was a freeing experience, like nothing he had experienced before. H
e had so many questions floating around his head, but no answers presented themselves to his problems. Pictures filled his mind familiar, and yet so foreign; it was so hard to remember what he was seeing. Things that he knew had importance but now held no meaning to him.
Just as the images filled his mind, they were just as quickly gone, fragments of a past he did not understand, disappearing into oblivion. He was empty now, yet still, he held onto something. Something basic, instinctual. A need, the fundamental need to feed, something to allow him to replenish himself. This need flared up inside him, bringing him new meaning, a new purpose.
His eyes opened, but he did not tell them to open. He felt as though he was now co-pilot to his being, guided by something else. Even though his eyes were open, he still could barely see; something blocked his vision, making what he could see blurry shapes almost discernable. Two forms moved one barely moving, the other pulling the other.
What he couldn't see was made up for by his hearing. He didn't understand the noises; they were too loud and many. His mind understood that sound could only mean one thing, the food his body now required so desperately. Without needing to move much, he knew the food was close. He used what strength he had to reach out and pull it closer to his mouth.
His hands grasp something soft, and he made sure it didn't leave. His mouth opened and closed on the soft food. Liquid rushed out from the food, only teasing his appetite, he wanted more. His mind told him to get more; make sure he had enough. He pulled back, bringing a full chunk with him. His mind was only satisfied for one moment, telling him that he still needed more.
Before he could take another bite, something shoved him back, and the food escaped. His ears caught a new sound, a very loud one that was continuous. He cared not for distractions and tried to get up again to get more food. His new thirst eternal.
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