The helicopter touched down and bobbed up and down for a brief second before settling onto the tarmac. Gunner killed the engine and waited a few seconds for the blades to come to a stop. He motioned for Mikael and Stefan to get out of the helicopter. Mikael, who was in the front with Gunner, opened his door and took a position facing away from their hanger; looking toward the larger hanger next door. Stefan jumped out of the other side and faced their hanger and the increasing zombie presence in front of it.
Gunner motioned for Ludvig to grab the Doctor and get him inside the hanger which he literally did by grabbing his shirt collar and removing him from the helicopter. Stefan was holding his fire as long as he could as some of the infected became aware of their position and began moving toward the helicopter. Mikael noticed movement from within the larger hanger next door; about 75 yards away. Gunner reached into the backseat and retrieved the black bag that Stefan had relieved poor Olaf of. He opened the door and ran around the front of the helicopter and tapped Mikael on the shoulder and pointed to the side door.
As Ludvig and the Doctor reached the hanger entrance they heard shots ring out. Resisting the urge to turn around and look, they headed into the hanger through the side door being held open by Captain Bannon. Mikael followed a few seconds later.
Gunner moved in next to Stefan and helped slay a couple zombies wearing olive green flight suits. Between them they had killed the majority of infected in front of the hanger. They started to move backwards together away from the front and toward the side door. After a few more steps they turned around and bolted for the door, reaching it with no problem. Captain Bannon closed the door tightly behind them and started to turn away when he paused for a second. He quickly turned back to the door and peered out, scanning the immediate area. Then turning back, he stared at the group before him.
The Doctor could tell he was doing a head count.
“We lost Olaf,” Gunner said matter of factly while exchanging a few words with Mikael.
Captain Bannon turned to the Doctor with a quizzical look.
“He was unfortunately bitten,” Dr. Sanderson replied.
“Oh.”
“Are we ready to depart Captian?” Gunner asked as his team was already heading toward the plane to once again remove their armor and stow the weapons in the cargo hold.
“All gassed up and ready to go,” he answered.
“Mikael said there were a large number of infected pouring out of the larger hanger next door and they seemed to be heading this way,” Gunner added.
“Then we should be going,” the Captain replied.
They all moved quickly to the Gulfstream. Gunner’s men had finished and were already moving up the steps into the plane. The rest boarded with the Captain heading to the cockpit and the Doctor strapping himself into the couch and placing his knapsack beside him. Gunner sealed the hatch and joined Dr. Sanderson on the couch.
They felt, and then heard, the Gulfstream’s engines roar to life. It was much louder in the enclosed hanger than it was out in the open air. The Captain had already turned the plane around so that it was facing the sliding doors. It moved slightly forward as he opened the hanger bay doors.
Suddenly, the plane came to a stop and jerked its passengers in their seats. A second later, “Gunner to the cockpit, Gunner to the cockpit,” came blaring over the intercom.
Gunner swiftly removed his seatbelt and ran to the cockpit. When he arrived, he noticed the alarmed look on the Captain’s face. Without saying a word, Bannon simply pointed out the cockpit’s windows toward the sliding bay doors that had by now opened all the way revealing a mass of zombies piling into the hanger.
The infected Mikael had seen indeed had made their way over to Benton’s hanger and were now pouring into the opening. There was no way, given the size of the plane; they would be able to get through the opening without striking quite a few zombies.
“Could we plow through them?” asked Gunner.
“We could,” answered Captain Bannon, “but we would likely damage the plane’s landing gear or the flaps. Maybe even the fuselage or the slats.”
Gunner peered through the cockpit window for a second then turned to Captain Bannon and said, “Can you back her up?”
He thought for a second and said, “I could use the reverse thrusters but that would be dangerous, especially indoors. It would also be difficult to control the speed; I might end up inadvertently creating a back door to the hanger.”
“I just need you to create a little bit of space between the plane and those things out there,” Gunner said.
“Yea,” the Captain said, “why not, and I might even knock a few of them on their asses in the process.”
Gunner turned around and quickly moved into the cabin shouting instructions to his crew in Swedish. As he reached the back of the plane he grabbed the black bag that held the restraints. He did not have the time earlier to store it in the cargo hold and was forced to bring it on board.
“Please remain seated, we have encountered some trouble,” he said to Dr, Sanderson.
Captain Bannon had backed the plane up as best he could, buying time for Gunner and his crew to disembark. Gunner instructed the Captain to pull forward as space was created and exit the hanger at the first available opportunity; then wait for them out on the tarmac.
Gunner opened the hatch and he and his crew headed out of the plane. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Captain Bannon lifted the hatch and closed the door. Gunner got down on one knee and unzipped the black bag. He pulled out extra clips for each of his men for their handguns and tossed them each two and kept two for himself. He reached deeper into the bag and pulled out a canvass strap that housed six M67 fragmentation grenades. He closed the bag and slung it around his shoulder.
Getting to his feet he quickly surveyed the situation. The zombies were too many to count and had not fanned out as they entered the hanger but had remained fairly close together. Gunner instructed Mikael to move to the left of the plane and to eliminate the zombies in the front of the pack. Gunner, Ludvig, and Stefan moved to the other side of the plane and attempted to act as bait to draw them off to the side of the hanger.
Mikael began plugging the zombies up front attempting to clear space for the Captain to move the plane forward. He was having some success but he had emptied his original clip and was now working on the first of the spares.
Gunner, meanwhile, had managed to draw several zombies away from the front of the plane without wasting any ammunition. He and his men were standing in front of the office acting as bait and waiting until the last possible minute to move. As they began to draw more and more attention away from the plane and onto themselves, Captain Bannon started to move the plane slowly forward.
Mikael had managed to drop over two dozen zombies but was now on his last clip. He moved under the plane’s left wing and continued to fire upon any zombies that were in the way of the wing. He had his nine inch combat knife sheathed on his belt if needed when he ran out of ammo. Although he was not wearing his armor, and hand to hand combat would be dangerous, he would have little choice but to use the knife if necessary.
The plane had managed to push forward about halfway to the bay doors without any contact. It was the last several feet that would be the trickiest. Especially since bullet riddled zombies littered the hanger floor.
Gunner ordered his men to walk under the other wing, using it as a shield, and eliminate any zombies in the way of the right wing. They had yet to open fire and had the full complement of bullets at their disposal. Gunner would follow from behind.
Mikael had done such a remarkable job clearing the left side of the hanger, Captain Bannon was able to move the plane slightly to the left and then move forward as the bulk of the zombie horde had taken the bait set by Gunner and his group. Mikael had fired his last round just as the Gulfstream’s nose was exiting the hanger.
The setting sun would make it difficult to spot any additional zombies that were still outside
in front of the hanger. Ludvig and Stefan were rapidly depleting their cartridges as well but had managed to clear a modest path for Captain Bannon to guide the plane out of the hanger and onto the tarmac.
Gunner was following the plane out with his head ducked under the tail fighting the heat and noise generated by the aircraft’s engines. The zombies were having trouble maneuvering around the wing and rear landing gear so Gunner was currently well protected. Any that managed to get close were quickly dispatched.
Once clear of the hanger, the Captain accelerated and directed the plane past the helicopter Gunner and the Doctor arrived in and headed toward the nearest runway. Bannon grabbed the walkie and tried to hail Gunner. He was not answering.
As the plane moved out of harm’s way, Gunner instructed his men to follow it and wait for the Captain to stop the plane and get back on board. Not having to be told again, they ran after the plane. They encountered little resistance as most of the remaining zombies had made their way into the hanger.
Gunner turned to face the open hanger doors and grabbed the walkie off his belt. He had heard Captain Bannon calling him but was unable to respond until now.
“Captain, come in.”
“There you are, I have been …” the Captain responded but was immediately cut off.
“Close the hanger doors now Captain,” Gunner said with what he hoped was sufficient urgency.
“Uh, copy that, over,” replied Bannon as he reached for the remote that controlled the hanger doors.
The zombies that remained in the hanger were wondering what had happened to their prey. Some started to figure it out and headed for the bay doors as they began to slowly close. Gunner removed two of the grenades from the canvass belt, pulled the pins and threw them inside; one to the left side and the other to the center of the hanger.
He turned and ran heading for the plane as the last shreds of daylight faded from the sky. Eight seconds later the darkness was briefly again filled with light as the grenades exploded inside the hanger. The explosion was significantly greater than Gunner had anticipated as the ground shook and nearly caused him to lose his footing. He stopped briefly and turned back around to admire his handiwork. The damage caused and the ensuing fireball was impressive but it took Gunner a second to figure out what really happened. His first grenade must have traveled a little farther than he intended and landed under the fuel truck parked inside. Nothing could have … survived that explosion.
Satisfied, he turned back around and continued on to the plane all the while contemplating how he was going to explain the destruction of his hanger to Mr. Worthington.
When he reached the plane, the hatch was open and the stairs were down. Captain Bannon was out on the tarmac inspecting the plane for structural damage. The rest of his crew was already on board.
“What the hell was that?” Bannon asked Gunner.
Ignoring the question Gunner asked, “Did the plane suffer any damage Captain?”
“None that I can see … nice work.”
The Captain made one more pass around the plane as Gunner went up the stairs.
Dr. Sanderson was waiting for him at the top of the stairs.
“I can’t believe we made it out of there,” he exclaimed. “Are you hurt?” He wanted to ask if he had been bitten but did not dare.
“No,” was all Gunner said as he walked past the Doctor heading to the lavatory. His men were already in their seats strapped in ready for takeoff.
Captain Bannon had climbed back aboard and was closing up the hatch. He turned to the Doctor and said, “That was a close one, wouldn’t you say Doctor?”
The Doctor, not sure how much more of this he could take, said nothing.
“Anyway, where to next?”
“Head north,” was the Doctor’s reply.
He turned around and headed back to his familiar seat on the couch. As he was fastening his seatbelt Gunner came out of the lavatory. He had obviously cleaned himself up and looked more like his old self then when he entered the plane.
He stopped for a second to consult his PDA which he had left on the plane during his encounter with the zombies in the hanger.
“No additional contacts Doctor,” he said.
“I told John to head north,” replied the Doctor.
Gunner just nodded and settled back into his seat on the couch as the Gulfstream started to move again.
For the first time Dr. Sanderson sensed something wrong with the usually stoic Swede. It could be the loss of Olaf. Or it could be that this mission was turning out to be more difficult than he planned on; or perhaps something deeper. The Doctor had enough trouble getting a read on Benton Worthington III. Trying to penetrate the mind of this man would likely prove impossible.
Chapter 21
Getting Closer
The sun had fully retreated behind the western horizon as the plane reached its cruising altitude. Gunner remained seated on the couch while Dr. Sanderson returned to his position at the conference table bringing with him his knapsack. He pulled out the folders containing the information on his ten test subjects.
He spread the files out in front of him and pulled out the ones they had already eliminated; test subjects number two, number six, and number nine. That left seven more. Seven more chances to reverse the wrong that had been done.
He admitted to himself that doubt had begun to creep into his mind. Even if they located Number 5, would they be able to get him on the plane and would he be able to learn enough to figure out a cure. Was Number 5’s GPS still generating a signal? Was this nothing but a wild goose chase?
He was lifted out of his doldrums by Gunner as he passed by and took a seat across from him.
“We’re going to have to put down soon,” he said. “Captain Bannon will need to get some sleep and we can’t go hunting those things at night without night vision equipment.”
“I suppose that’s true,” the Doctor answered.
“I’ll go talk to Bannon and see about finding us an out of the way airstrip somewhere.”
Gunner moved forward through the cabin and entered the cockpit. Dr. Sanderson was considering the probability of getting any sleep while on the ground knowing those things were out there. He was, however, very tired. It had been a long day and the Doctor had seen things today that two weeks ago he could not have imagined.
The sound of the cockpit door closing drew the Doctor’s attention to the front of the plane where Gunner was moving toward his men. He stopped briefly and spoke to them. They nodded. As Gunner continued down the cabin toward the Doctor, Stefan and Ludvig got up from their chairs and followed behind him.
Gunner sat down across from the Doctor again as Stefan made his way to the lavatory and Ludvig headed into the galley.
“We’re heading to Middleton Field. It’s a small municipal airport just outside Evergreen, Alabama. It only has two runways and is fairly isolated. It should be reasonably safe. Captain Bannon said it’s used primarily by the navy for flight training.”
“Sounds reasonable,” the Doctor answered.
“My men will take turns keeping an eye out for any trouble during the night. We’ll get started again at first light,” Gunner said adding, “you can have the couch.”
“How long before we are on the ground?” asked Dr. Sanderson.
“Captain says about twenty minutes.”
The Doctor nodded as Stefan and Ludvig emerged from the galley carrying a couple of sandwiches and two Cokes. He thought briefly about eating and decided he simply did not have much of an appetite at the moment. He started gathering his folders from the table and putting them back in his knapsack.
He figured it was probably around 9:00 pm local time. That would mean that it had been over ten hours since they left Colorado and the comfort of Benton Worthington III’s mountain resort. For the Doctor, it seemed more like ten years ago.
He had already strapped himself in for the landing when Gunner sat next to him and did the same. The touchdown was rougher tha
n usual as Captain Bannon was a little long on his approach and had to use full reverse thrusters and slam on the brakes in order to stop before overshooting the runway. Landing in the dark with no running lights and only the luminosity of the moon and GPS calculations is challenging at best.
Once down, the Captain turned the plane around and assumed takeoff position so that he could depart at a moment’s notice if necessary. Gunner and his men quickly unstrapped themselves and went to the windows to survey the surrounding area. It was too dark even with the full moon to accurately assess their situation.
Captain Bannon opened the cockpit door and said to everyone, “Sorry about that landing gentleman, I overshot it by a hair.”
No one responded so the Doctor felt it necessary to reply, “No problem Captain, I have heard it mentioned by some of your brethren that any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”
“How right you are Doctor.”
Gunner spoke up, “My men and I are going outside to secure the perimeter.”
He opened the hatch and headed down the stairs with his men following close behind. Gunner had the black duffel bag and his sidearm at the ready as he disappeared from sight.
The Captain moved toward the Doctor in the rear of the plane surveying the condition of the cabin like a flight attendant moving down the aisle prior to takeoff. Dr. Sanderson had unfastened his belt and was standing a few feet from the couch. Bannon sat down at the conference table and motioned for the Doctor to join him.
“Hell of a day wouldn’t you say?” he asked as Dr. Sanderson sat down across from him.
The Doctor nodded in agreement and after a moment of silence asked, “How did you come to work for Benton?”
“Well,” he began, “I spent eight years flying fighter jets for the navy; F-18 Super Hornets and then at the end, the new F-20’s.” He leaned back in his chair and continued, “I had enough of navy life so I left and took a job flying commercial jets for American. I don’t know if you remember that accident five years ago just outside Oklahoma City. The airplane stalled at 24,000 feet and the pilot couldn’t restart the engines. Complete mechanical failure. So he had to treat the plane as a glider and try to land with no engines. He managed to land in a large grassy field with no one getting hurt and minimal damage to the plane; a real miracle actually.”
The Zombie Principle Page 19