Extinction NZ (Book 3): The Five Pillars

by Smith, Adrian J.

  Ben was shouting into the radio as she heard the unmistakable sound of military helicopters thumping over the shrieks of the Variants. They had lost one boat at the rail bridge, and half the occupants of the third.

  The river bent sharply to the right. Dee could see the narrow Athenree Gorge ahead, and knew from exploring this area with Jack that the coast was five kilometres beyond that. She stared through her scope at the rabid beasts that lined the cliffs overlooking the Gorge and waited for Ben’s order.

  — 37 —

  Two NH-90 choppers swooped down from the sky, the midday sun glaring behind them as the pilots expertly swung around so the minigun operators could concentrate their rounds on the Variants.

  Jack let out a breath and watched, stunned, as the .50 cal. rounds tore into the mutated humans. Bone, flesh, blood and gore sprayed into the air and on the riverbanks in clouds of death. Within minutes, it was over. He heard a sharp crack as a lone runner was taken down and turned to see Yalonda drop her L96 and smirk.

  “Where do you think you were going?” she muttered.

  Boss let the boat’s speed drop and the craft settled into a smooth chug.

  Jack grinned at Yalonda. “How many is that?”

  “I wish I knew, I lost count back at the Pa. Dee, what’s your count?”

  “Forty-two.”

  He couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips. “You know you guys just did the whole Gimli and Legolas thing, right?”

  Dee nodded and smiled. “It was her idea,” she replied, looking at Yalonda.

  “Nerds,” Jack said, laughing.

  Dee and Yalonda chortled along with him. He enjoyed the ribbing from Yalonda. It made the horrors of the war a little bit more bearable. He glanced over at Ben and Hone. They had their heads down in discussion.

  Ben looked up and stepped over to the Renegades. Jack noted the reluctance in his voice as he began to speak. “I know we are battered and bruised. Exhausted. But we have some fellow soldiers in need of our help.” Ben grasped his shoulder. “First battalion is holed up in Waihi Beach at the surf club. They’ve fortified it as best they can. I don’t like our chances, so I’m going to give each of you the opportunity to opt out of this one. The helicopters are going to take us in.”

  Jack caressed his AR-15 and shifted from foot to foot. He looked at Dee, Yalonda and Boss. Hone was watching him, a twinkle in his eye.

  “I can’t speak for the others, but we started this apocalypse together. Let’s end it together. Are you in, Hone?”

  “I’d be proud to fight with the Renegades again. Let’s rescue these white fellas and go to Tuhua and feast on crayfish.”

  Yalonda raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Tuhua?”

  “Yes, Tuhua. You know it as Mayor Island. Silly Pakeha, renaming everything.” Hone slapped Jack on the back. “Let’s go, Renegades.”

  “Good. It’s decided then,” Ben said. “Boss, take us ashore.”

  Ben turned away from Jack and raised the radio to his lips.

  The helicopters landed and the survivors from the Battle of Waitawheta Pa climbed in. The Renegades, Hone and several Maori warriors filled the hold. Brave soldiers all, ready to kill Variants and once again put their lives in danger. Jack, like all of them, did it for humanity. For freedom. Freedom from the creatures and their disease.

  The Maori had an assortment of weapons. Some had rifles, others just their traditional weapons; the club-like mere and the taiaha spears. Jack had seen both in action now and knew just how deadly they were.

  He cast his eyes around the Renegades, pride swelling within him. He saw courage, persistence, grit and strength. Scared, but focused.

  Dee had the logbook out and was turning it over in her hands. Jack shook his head. That book had cost them so much death and injury. Sighing, he reloaded his AR-15 from the ammo box. All around him, the others were doing the same.

  The NH-90 flew low and fast over the farmland. Off the port side, an identical craft matched their trajectory.

  “ETA five minutes,” called out Ben. “Lock and load.”

  “Let’s give them hell, girls and nerds!” shouted Yalonda. Her call was met by Jack and the others, crying out in unison.

  Jack rubbed his knee, trying to coax a little more use out of it. His body had all but given up after the battering over the last couple of days. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep going at this frenetic pace.

  The chopper banked out over the Pacific Ocean and turned so it ran parallel to the beach. Pohutukawa and rata trees were dotted amongst the dunes. The coast was home to a jumble of holiday houses. Some new, full of gleaming glass and others older, more ramshackle. Jack loved this beachside community. It had managed to escape being overdeveloped as hordes of Aucklanders flocked to the towns along this coastline over the summer.

  Jack kissed Dee’s neck. “Do you remember that story I told you about the tyre?”

  “Tyre? No, I don’t remember that one.”

  “What did you do, nerd boy?” asked Yalonda.

  “Well, I lived here when I was five, six years old. We lived by the surf club. Behind it is a steep road called Pacific Road. My brother and I found this tyre one day when we should’ve been at school. We took turns dragging it up the street and letting it go. We dared each other to take it to the top. Then it kind of got away from us and flew down the road, getting faster and faster. We watched in horror as it bounced off a parked car, then smashed through the window of the dairy. I’ve never run so fast in my life. We hid in the bush for hours, too terrified to go home.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Yeah, Jack, what happened?”

  He shook his head and smiled. “I had to work in that shop for a year to pay for those damages. Packing bloody pears into bags.”

  “Is that why you don’t eat pears?”

  “Yup.”

  “That’ll teach you, nerd boy,” grinned Yalonda before turning away and looking out at the view.

  Jack nodded and glanced down at the houses whizzing by. Finally the choppers swooped over the main centre and split. The Renegades’ chopper banked right and hovered fifty metres off the ground.

  There were thousands of Variants. They covered every inch of the park that surrounded the lone building, the Waihi Beach Surf Club. It was obvious why the remnants of 1st Battalion had retreated here. Lots of open space to defend against the horde. They had hastily fortified the building using cars, rubbish bins, anything.

  Gunfire rained down on the Variants from the second storey, cutting down swathes of beasts. Jack saw a couple of grenades dropping out before muffled explosions tore limbs and coated the ground in more blood and gore.

  “Hone, you and your men on those miniguns,” Ben ordered, pointing. “Renegades, make every shot count. Let’s bring our people home.”

  The chopper hovered lower, to about ten feet, and Jack lined up a Variant in his crosshairs.

  “I’m sick and tired of these motherforking bugs on this motherforking land!” Dee shouted.

  Jack chuckled at her quote and squeezed his trigger, feeling the carbine buck into his shoulder.

  Around him, the crack of gunfire erupted and the brrrooorrrtttt of the .50 cal. echoed around the hold. Countless Variants fell under the barrage. On the opposite side of the surf club, the other helicopter rained down death on the mutated humans.

  Jack had come to love the sound of the minigun. It had saved his and Dee’s lives on the mountain, and numerous other times.

  He shot a Variant through the head as it climbed up the side of the building.

  “49…50…51!” Dee cried. He dropped another Variant and smiled at his wife.

  “I don’t know…five hundred?” answered Yalonda.

  The horde parted, revealing the Alpha at its centre. The Variant’s back was hunched and it had long, thin arms and legs, giving it a spider-like appearance. Even with its bent stance, it stood above the other creatures by a couple of feet.

  Jack sucked in
a breath. He recognised that Alpha. Before Alice had left with Maggie, she had told him and Dee about the night she had been dragged to a meeting with the four Alphas. The Trophy King and Hellboy were dead. Abezi had killed the third. He peered at the weird-looking beast through his scope. That left the fourth.

  Death…Pestilence…Famine and War. One remains.

  He dropped two Variants to clear some space. “Dee, Yalonda. The last Alpha!”

  “I see it!” Yalonda said. “I can take it if the pilot keeps the bloody chopper still.”

  Jack flicked his eyes back to the Alpha, waiting for Yalonda’s shot, but before she could take it, a loud explosion rocked the aircraft, knocking him to the floor. Where the hell did that come from? The chopper lost altitude, but the pilot managed to halt the descent and stopped a couple of metres above the sand.

  Boss, who was standing next to him, scrambled for a hold but grasped at thin air. Jack lunged for him, but he tumbled out of the chopper and disappeared from view.

  “Dee!”

  Jack met her eyes for a brief second before he hung out of the helicopter, searching for their teenage friend.

  Jack spotted him in the sand dunes scrambling away from several Variants. Without thinking, Jack leapt out of the chopper and tucked his body into a roll, landed on the side of the dune with a thump, and grimaced at the pain shooting up his leg from his sudden stop.

  He raised his AR-15 and shot the first beast. He heard a yelp and a thud as Dee and Yalonda joined him. Dee ran past him and cut down the nearest Variant with a swipe of her katana. Over their shoulders, he saw the spider Alpha turn and bellow.

  The Variants turned with him and howled as one demonic chorus, chilling Jack to the bone.

  “Jack! What the hell are you doing?” Ben’s voice shouted over the comms.

  “I’m not leaving Boss behind.”

  He pulled Boss to his feet and could have sworn he heard Ben groan. He shifted his attention to the growing number of Variants thronging towards them.

  Jack thumbed his radio. “Captain. Get those men out. We’ll distract them.”

  “It’s suicide, soldier.”

  Jack glanced up at the horde. He looked to Dee and the other Renegades. “Then we die with honour, sir. Thank you, Ben. You gave us hope and friendship. Tell George and Leela I love them.”

  The NH-90 helicopter whined above him. Ben, Max, Hone and two Maori warriors jumped down onto the dune and jogged over.

  “We do it together, then. Bloody Variants!” Ben shouted before lifting his M4 to his shoulder and firing on the rabid beasts. They shrieked and charged towards them.

  We’ll fight them on the beaches…

  Here on this beach, where Jack had spent his childhood, as dozens of Variants, desperate and hungry for their flesh, headed in their direction. Here Jack fought with every last bit of strength he had. He held his trigger down and swept his rifle from side to side. There was no time to aim. Only to fire.

  Behind the Variants, the doors of the surf club burst open and the remains of 1st Battalion charged out, attacking the beasts from the rear.

  The Variants turned, confused as to which group of humans to attack. The Alpha bellowed and flung his arms out, directing his forces.

  “Now would be a good time, Yalonda!”

  “Clear me some space, nerd boys and girls!”

  Jack killed another Variant flanking the spider Alpha, but two more jumped in front of the beast, shielding it.

  The Variants were beginning to overwhelm the smaller human force. First the Maori warriors fell under the claws, followed by the 1st Battalion soldiers. Jack screamed in frustration. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, fuelling his anger. He gripped his carbine tighter and ran towards the Alpha, firing at any beast. His AR-15 clicked empty.

  Jack pulled his Glock and machete, hacking and shooting his way through the horde. Dee swung her katana by his side, deftly disposing the creatures of limbs and heads.

  Yalonda was shouting out. “Ugly!” Crack. “Bastards!” Crack.

  Max tracked by Jack’s side as always, running, ripping out tendons before darting back.

  Boss and Ben stood side by side, firing their carbines. Hone cried out in te reo as he expertly spun his taiaha, cracking the skulls of any creature in his path.

  As Jack fought, he kept glancing at the soldiers of the 1st Battalion still fighting. He heard the crack of the L96 a fraction before the head of the spider Alpha exploded like a melon. The beasts surrounding it shrieked and scattered.

  Jack stared, fascinated by their sudden panic. Some launched themselves at the humans while others scampered away up the beach. And some stood still, confused as to what to do next.

  He drove his machete into a Variant’s head and pushed the dead creature over.

  Jack and Dee finally reached the last remaining soldiers of 1st Battalion. They were covered in blood and dirt, their eyes wide and staring. Jack wrinkled his nose at the stench of days old sweat. “C’mon. Let’s go. Shower time.”

  A soldier with a baseball cap on backwards gripped his shoulder. “Thank you. Sergeant Joel Fisher.”

  “Sergeant Jack Gee.”

  The Renegades and 1st Battalion stood back to back, firing, loading. Hacking and stabbing towards the waves breaking on the white beach, now soaked in Variant and human blood. Everywhere Jack looked lay bodies.

  His radio hummed to life. “Extraction now!” shouted Ben.

  He cut down another Variant that had leapt at the group. Howls and screams filled the air. The chopper hovered over the survivors and its wash brought the stench of death with it.

  The group inched their way back to the helicopter.

  Jack turned, checking its location. Pain exploded up his arm, stabbing into the cortex of his brain. He screamed and looked down at the creature latched onto his arm. He feebly thrust at it with his machete, but it held on tight.

  “Jack! No!” screamed Dee.

  He felt a sudden lightness on his left side and the Variant fell back, sucker mouth still attached to his lower arm. A blur of black and white dashed past, snapping at the beast’s leg.

  Jack swayed on his feet. Dee pivoted in front of him and thrust her katana through the monster’s throat.

  Jack stumbled again and frowned.

  Why can’t I stand?

  — 38 —

  Dee pulled the tourniquet as tight as she could. Jack’s blood coated her hands. They had lifted him into the helicopter and were speeding towards Mayor Island, ten minutes flight time. Boss was crouched down on his other side, holding the IV bag aloft.

  “Is he going to make it, Dee?”

  She glanced at Boss. Tears were dripping down his cheeks. She shook her head. “I just don’t know, Boss. I’ve stopped the bleeding. But the virus?”

  “Isn’t there a cure now?”

  “In America, yes. It will be months before we get it.”

  “I can’t believe you cut his arm off.”

  Ben crouched down next to Boss. “Best thing she could’ve done, Boss.”

  He looked up at Dee. She had never seen such a look of concern on his face, his forehead creased in deep lines. She looked away and wrapped the bandage around the stump of Jack’s left arm. Her katana had slashed through his limb, just below the elbow, the sharp blade cutting clean.

  Dee didn’t voice her concerns, but she was worried about the Variant blood that had coated her blade.

  “Can’t this heap of crap fly any faster!”

  Ben reached out and grasped her shoulder. She fell into his outstretched arm and sobbed into his chest. She let it all out. All the worry from the last few months. It all came out. No one said anything and Ben held her, warming her with his embrace.

  Dee cast her eyes down to her husband and forced the sob back down her throat.

  Kia Kaha. Stay strong for a little longer.

  She checked his pulse. Despite his injuries, it was weak but regular.

  Dee brushed aside his brown hair. Jack. The m
an who had met her on top of a waterfall. He had come into her life at just the right moment. When they had each needed it most. They had clicked straight away. Jack and his movies. The wilderness. The dam. The mountain flight. Rescuing the boys. It all flooded back.

  “Hang in there, baby. Our story hasn’t finished yet.”

  The helicopter containing the battle-worn survivors of the Renegades, Maori and 1st Battalion thundered out of the afternoon sky. It banked around and descended next to the old hotel. Dee let out a breath and unzipped her combat vest as the chopper touched to the ground.

  The Doc and two nurses ducked under the wash of the rotor blades.

  Dee jumped out with Boss, Hone and Yalonda. Together they lifted Jack onto the waiting gurney. As she ran with them to the infirmary, she spotted George and Beth running down the path. Tears streamed down George’s face.

  The Doc turned to her at the surgery doors. “I’m sorry, Dee. I can’t let you in.”

  “Out of the way, Doc. I’m not leaving his side.”

  “Dee.” The Doc took her hand. “Let us do our job. I swear that I’ll do everything I can to save him. I promise.”

  She grimaced. He was right. She stared after Jack as he was pushed through the double swinging doors. Her mind flashing back to the hospital when they had wheeled her father away for the last time.

  Turning, she found the Renegades and Hone standing behind her. George ran into her arms and she lifted him up.

  “What happened to Jack? Did a monster get him?”

  Dee nodded. “Yes, they did, darling.”

  George looked up at her, his eye blinking rapidly. He had taken to wearing a pirate’s patch over his empty socket. “Is he going to be all right?”

  “I don’t know. I just don’t know. But he’s in good hands.”

  Dee let him down to the ground and sank into one of the chairs. Someone brought her a cup of green tea and a plate of food. Both of which she devoured. As she sat there waiting, her exhausted mind flicked from one subject to the next, never settling on anything. Boss sat silently with Beth, holding her as she held him. Ben and Hone left, then came in and out, checking for any progress. Leela sat with her for a while, but soon grew bored and ran off to play with the other children.