by Dirk Patton
A little closer and I could see that the ring was only partially inflated, causing the raft to ride very low in the water. Either there had been a problem when it was deployed, or it was leaking air. Regardless, this guy was one lucky bastard. I didn’t think that thing would have floated another eight hours.
Hooking on to a rope that was attached around the perimeter of the ring, I tugged and walked the raft down the side of the boat to the rear. Rachel, Tiffany and Dog all joined me there, the girls helping muscle it onto the platform.
The pilot stirred once we had him out of the water, looking up at Rachel and blinking several times as if trying to focus.
“Hi, beautiful,” he croaked. “I sure hope this isn’t a dream.”
With that, he lapsed back into unconsciousness.
45
The pilot was uninjured, just severely sunburned and dehydrated. I’d carried him into the cabin and deposited him on a bunk with not so clean sheets. Rachel had immediately started a saline IV to begin the rehydration process. That, and some salve on his face and hands, and there wasn’t much more to be done for him.
“He going to be OK?” I asked when Rachel joined me on the bridge.
I’d already pointed us to the north. The plan was to return to the Tahoe and drive back to the US. I was hoping the pilot would recover quickly, and we could make a stop at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix so he could fly us the rest of the way. But I needed to know soon, before we committed on a direction. Once we were up into Arizona, there was no way across the river.
“As far as I can tell. He looks to be in very good physical condition and doesn’t have anything wrong other than severe dehydration and a really nasty sunburn where his flight suit didn’t cover him. Hands and face.”
“How long before he should be up and moving?”
Rachel shrugged her shoulders.
“Could be just a few hours, or could be days. Everyone’s body is different. But, I’m guessing it’ll be pretty quick. He’s young, and like I said, he’s in good shape, so he should bounce back with the IVs.”
“IVs? Plural?” I asked, surprised.
“I hung a second bag of saline. Want to get as many fluids into him as fast as I can. By the way, you were right to keep pushing us. He wouldn’t have lasted another day, exposed to the sun.”
I nodded.
“Anything else you can do to get him on his feet? As soon as we get to the Tahoe, I’ve got to decide if we’re taking the long way around, or can go find a plane.”
“It’s all hydration, at this point,” she said, shaking her head. “I’d expect him to be conscious soon, but he’s going to be weak and feel like he got run over by a truck. I’ll know more in a couple of hours.”
She trailed her hand along my arm, then turned and disappeared into the cabin below. I sat in the darkness, wishing for a cigarette as I piloted the boat. Not wanting to let my thoughts drift to Katie, I considered how incredibly lucky we’d been to find him quickly and easily. But then, I was due for some good luck about now.
It took us a couple of hours to reach Rocky Point. I had us a couple of miles offshore and cut the engines to idle when we were parallel with the marina. Having felt the change, Rachel climbed up to see what was happening.
“Rocky Point,” I said, pointing to the east.
“So how do we get back to the Tahoe?”
“Need to pull the infected into town,” I said. “That’ll open up things to the north, and we can make a run for it. Is our guest going to be able to move under his own power?”
“He’s awake.”
There was something in her voice, and I shoved the night vision goggles up and looked at her.
“What?”
She hesitated, then shook her head.
“He’s just a bit of an ass,” she sighed. “Hasn’t stopped hitting on me since he woke up. Tiffany, too.”
“We have a problem?”
“Noooo.” She stretched out the word as she thought of how to answer. “It’s not like that. He’s keeping his hands to himself. So far. He just reminds me of some of the really arrogant guys that would come into the club when I was dancing. They’ve either got money or do something that would make them noticeable. They could never understand why their very presence didn’t cause me to go weak in the knees and fall all over them.”
“Want me to talk to him?”
I was more than happy to educate the pilot on the error of his ways. It was a shame Martinez wasn’t still around. She’d have had no problems shutting him down in no uncertain terms.
“No,” Rachel smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. “At least, not yet. I think I got the message across, and I’m a big girl. I can handle it if he gets too obnoxious. So. How are you planning to draw the infected away from the hotel?”
It was obvious she wanted to change the subject. I smiled at her, lowered the NVGs and looked towards shore.
“Sit tight and watch,” I said.
Accelerating, I angled for a point about half a mile south of the hotel. When we were within a hundred yards of shore, I turned us broadside and cut the engines. Pulling my rifle around, I removed the suppressor and aimed in the general direction of the beach. I wasn’t necessarily trying to hit anything, I just wanted to make a lot of racket.
Pulling and holding the trigger, I ran through a magazine on full auto. The noise, as it always is, was brutally loud, and once my ears had recovered, I could faintly detect the screams of the females on the sand. Motoring half a mile closer to town, I fired again, but only used half of a magazine. Our ammo supply wasn’t infinite.
I kept this up, moving slowly and stopping every half mile to fire the rifle, until reaching the stone jetty that guarded the marina. Floating fifty yards away from it, I stared at the throngs of females that were quickly pressing in to fill every square inch of dry land. The screams were almost deafening.
“Jesus Christ!” A male voice breathed from behind me.
I turned to see the pilot standing in the narrow entrance to the bridge. He held two IV bags in his hand as he stared across the water at the infected. I could see Tiffany behind him, peering over his shoulders. Dog, who was pretending to sleep, despite all the noise I was making, raised his head to look at the man, snorted and rolled over onto my feet.
“First time you’ve seen them in person?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said without taking his eyes off the shore.
“Watch and learn,” I said, firing another half magazine.
This time, I made a token effort at aiming, and several of the females in the front ranks of the throng fell off the seawall. Their bodies splashed into the water below, unmoving.
I kept us sitting where we were for another ten minutes, occasionally picking off individuals. I wasn’t amusing myself, I was giving the females time to keep packing into the town. The occasional shots were simply to ensure I was holding their interest.
“That should be long enough,” I said, feeding in throttle and spinning the wheel.
The boat surged as I pointed us to the southwest. We needed to be north, but we also needed to not drag a whole town full of females along with us. I intended to motor in the wrong direction until I was out of sight and hearing of the females. Probably four miles or so to be safe. Only then would I turn north, staying several miles offshore. When we were well north of the resort, I’d turn for the beach and come in slow and quiet. If we were lucky, all of the females would still be in town, waiting for us to return.
“I’m Major John Chase,” I said to the pilot.
We had time to talk while I navigated our roundabout course.
“Lieutenant Commander Mark Vance,” he said, extending his free hand. “Thank you for coming and getting me.”
I waved off his thanks, noticing Rachel and Tiffany moving away to disappear into the cabin. Seems he had already worn out his welcome with them.
“How are you feeling? Going to be able to walk? We’re going ashore soon.”
His
eyes widened as he stared at me in the darkness.
“Are you kidding? Into that?”
He pointed behind us, and I knew he meant the mass of infected.
“Hopefully not,” I said. “That’s why I was drawing them into the town. Open up a path for us to get to our vehicle.”
“You drove here?” He asked, seemingly shocked at the thought.
“Yep. We were near Las Vegas when I got word from Pearl that you were in the water. Took us a bit, but we made it.”
He stared at me as if I were crazy, then smiled and looked out across the sea.
“Heard about you in Hawaii,” he said after a long pause. “You know. Stories. Rumors. Really crazy shit about some of the things you’ve done. Guess there might be some truth to them, huh?”
I just sat there, staring at him. Uninterested in what stories might or might not be told about me. Being a folk hero was one of the last things I gave a shit about.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I finally said. “You able to walk?”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Don’t feel great, but I can walk.”
“What about fly?”
“You know where we can get a plane?” He turned serious when I mentioned flying, and I was gratified to see his reaction.
“Luke Air Force Base. Near Phoenix. Take us a few hours to get there once we’re in the vehicle. Can you fly something big enough to hold all of us?”
“If its got wings, I can fly it, and if its got a pussy I can pound it!”
The way he trotted this out, I had no doubt it was something he liked to say often. When I was about 19, I might have found it amusing. Cool, even. Now? I think the expression on my face got the message across.
“Hey look, I don’t want to step on your toes,” he said. “I’m betting that tall, hot babe is yours. No worries. The short one’s a looker! A little young, but legal, and I’m not complaining.”
It took all of my willpower not to stand up and knock him on his back. Somehow, I managed to keep my ass planted in the seat.
“Commander,” I said in a low, perfectly calm voice. “If you lay one, single finger on that little girl, I will feed you to the infected, one piece at a time. Be sure you understand me because I will not warn you again.”
Dog, picking up on my mood, sat up and stared at the Navy pilot. He growled softly, curling his upper lip to show his teeth. Vance looked at me, the smile on his face vanishing as he understood I wasn’t kidding. After a long beat, he nodded and disappeared into the cabin without saying anything else. I blew out an irritated sigh and adjusted our course to start heading south.
46
I dropped the boat’s anchor half a mile offshore. We were, what I estimated to be, a mile south of the resort, and I didn’t want to go any closer and risk the engines being heard. Climbing down from the bridge, I made my way to the stern deck and hauled on the line that was tied to the wooden boat.
Standing on the platform, I held it steady as Dog jumped in, followed by Tiffany, Vance then Rachel. The pilot had removed his IVs and seemed none the worse for wear. He also hadn’t spoken to me since our chat and seemed to be making a concerted effort not to look at me.
Once we were aboard, I reminded everyone to stay as silent as possible. Releasing the line, Rachel and I began paddling towards the beach. It didn’t take long as we got some help from the wind, then the surf caught us and propelled the boat forward. At that point, all we could do was use the paddles to try and maintain our course.
I was in the front, and when I felt the keel scrape against sand, I dropped my paddle and jumped over the side. The water was hip deep, but with the waves coming in I got dunked a couple of times as I dragged the boat forward. Rachel joined me in the water, and between the two of us we pulled until the bow was resting on smooth sand.
Dog jumped out, twisting in the air so when he landed he didn’t get his feet wet. He stood there panting, almost as if he was laughing at me, then turned and raised his nose. No growls followed, but the wind was coming in off the water. He wouldn’t be able to smell any infected that were waiting for us in the low dunes.
Vance was the next one out, splashing into knee deep water. He turned to help Tiffany, then caught himself and glanced at me. I guess he had taken my message to heart. I nodded that it was OK for him to help her, then moved a few yards up the beach and scanned with my rifle. Everything looked clear.
A minute later, we were formed up and moving in single file towards the desert. Dog and I were on point with Vance and Tiffany right behind. Rachel brought up the rear. It was a long walk to where I’d left the Tahoe, but we made it in just over 90 minutes without encountering any problems.
Apparently, my distraction had worked. When we came to a point where the resort was upwind, I expected Dog to growl to let us know he smelled infected. But, to my pleasant surprise, he remained quiet.
Reaching the Tahoe, I took a few minutes to replenish my ammo from the stock in the back. While I did this, Rachel put Vance in the back seat and started a fresh IV. He was on his feet, but he was still dehydrated. When Dog jumped in and sat down next to him, he shrank away against the door. Tiffany climbed in on the far side and pulled Dog to her, gently stroking his head.
“I’m driving,” Rachel said when I closed the rear hatch and headed for the driver’s seat. “You’ve expended a lot of energy since we left Nevada. You’ve got to be tired. You need some sleep in case we run into more trouble.”
I stared at her for a long time. Thought about protesting. But, she was right. I was exhausted, and just about every inch of my body hurt. I wasn’t even sure I had the energy to argue with her.
“OK,” I finally said. “You know where we’re going?”
She nodded and smiled at me.
“When we get close to those little border towns, I was planning on cutting through the desert and circling around, so we didn’t have to push through the infected.”
“I can do that,” she said, taking my arm to escort me to the passenger seat. “If I have a problem, I’ll wake you up.”
We paused outside the door, and she held onto my arm, looking into my eyes. When I didn’t look away, she leaned in and kissed me. Soft and gentle. Pulling away, she opened the passenger door and flapped her hand. With a tired smile, I got in and wiggled on the leather upholstery until I was comfortable. Apologizing to Tiffany in advance, I reclined the seat back, and already had my eyes closed by the time Rachel was behind the wheel.
I opened my eyes when Rachel shook my shoulder and called my name. Brilliant sunlight made me squint and raise a hand to shade my face.
“Where the hell are we?” I asked, my mouth gummy from sleep.
“I think we’re about half an hour from the air base,” Rachel answered.
Blinking, I looked around and recognized the stretch of Interstate 10 we were driving on.
“Where do I turn?” Rachel asked.
I told her which freeway to take, then raised my seat and looked into the back, coming face to face with Dog. He gave me a lick before sneezing on me. Well, that’s one way to wake up.
Vance was dozing with a half empty IV bag still dripping into his arm. Tiffany was in her own little world, staring out the side window. I turned back to the front and opened a bottle of water. It was warm, but I didn’t care. After drinking most of it, I was able to wash Dog snot off my face with the remainder.
“Think we’ll have a problem with the guy we ran into on the way down?” Rachel asked.
“Don’t think so,” I said. “He didn’t seem crazy or stupid. Just didn’t know what he was doing. I think he’s got his family hiding out somewhere on the base and now that he knows we don’t mean him any harm, will just steer clear. If he even sees us.”
Rachel nodded and turned onto the new freeway. We covered the last few miles quickly, despite the number of abandoned cars that created an impromptu slalom course. I pointed out the proper exit and Rachel turned onto it, making a left at the bottom of the ramp.
“We’re going straight to the flight line,” I said as we progressed down the street that ran past the main gate.
Turning around, I made sure Tiffany was alert and woke the pilot, telling him it was time to go to work. He nodded and quickly removed the IV needle from his arm. His eyes were much clearer than the last time I’d seen them, and he no longer looked as haggard. Filthy, sunburned and in need of a shave, but then I wasn’t any better.
Rachel slowed and drove through the gate, the Tahoe slightly bouncing as it rolled over the tops of the bollards that Tiffany had retracted on our previous visit. I had my rifle up and ready as we progressed, but didn’t see anything to be worried about, even after scanning all of the rooftops.
After a wrong turn, Rachel retraced some of our path, then we were approaching the gate that protected the flight line. It was still closed and locked, just like last time.
“Ram it,” I said when Rachel started to slow.
I’m sure there was a time when she would have been hesitant to do what I’d just told her. Those days were long gone. The big SUV surged forward, and the gate tore apart from the impact. A grinding noise started up from behind, and I looked into the side mirror. We were dragging a section of chain link. Oh well.
“Commander, take your pick,” I said, waving my hand at the parked aircraft in front of us.
“How far are we going?” He asked, leaning forward for a better look.
“Groom Lake.”
“Area 51? Really?” He asked in surprise. “OK, let’s take an Osprey. That’s the only thing I see that will carry all of us.”
By now, Rachel knew what the aircraft looked like. She drove another few hundred yards, then came to a stop beside four of the V22s that sat gleaming in the sun.
“What do you need us to do to be ready to go?” I asked as we all climbed out onto the tarmac.
“Nothing,” he said, striding for the closest plane. “As long as its got fuel and isn’t red-tagged for a maintenance issue, we’re good to go.”
Following behind, Rachel and I scanned our surroundings as we walked. Dog trotted to the Osprey’s landing gear and relieved himself on a tire. I hoped that would bring us good luck.