He coughed, a deep, racking cough. His head swam. He wasn’t sure if it was from the loss of blood or the bite. His vision blurred and flicked in and out.
Pig cursed, screaming at the top of his lungs and smashed the inside of the cabin with his hands and feet.
So close. I was so close to surviving.
He knew what was happening. He had witnessed the plebs infecting humans for sport. Laughing and mocking anyone they didn’t like or could use in some way.
It felt like his blood was on fire. Pig figured he might as well crash the chopper into the Variant hordes he had seen on the plains, taking out some of the bastards with him.
It was a strange feeling, accepting your death. As an NZSAS officer, he had often contemplated his demise. A quick sniper bullet through the head. Or something else where you didn’t have time to think about everything.
Pig glanced at his wound. Already the skin around it was turning black, tendrils of the poisonous virus working to change his skin after only a few minutes. His heart was beating at a million miles an hour, and he was having trouble focusing on flying. His arms felt like jelly. Turning, he stared out the window, looking for the horde.
The helicopter buzzed over the land as Pig hunted. Up ahead on the road, vehicles raced along at high speed. He flew closer to hover over the convoy. He grimaced at the pain that coursed through his ruined body. As the chopper drew nearer, he laughed. A manic laugh. He recognised those cars and trucks.
Duke!
Major Ken Hind had always believed that God had a plan for him. Seeing Duke tearing down the highway reaffirmed that belief. It was as if God was telling him, “Here you go. Send these ones to hell.”
He wasn’t going to let the virus change him into one of those monsters, and he was definitely not going to let Duke hurt anyone else.
Pig urged the broken chopper higher, then swung it around so it faced Duke and the plebs. Gunfire rattled the chopper, but he ignored it.
He hesitated for a second. He wished he could have done more or escaped sooner. He wished he could have taken Yalonda out. He remembered his time as an NZSAS officer and pride surged through his body.
Righteousness…
Courage…
Compassion…
Respect…
Loyalty… The Five Pillars of the warrior.
Pig smiled. He was confident that he had honoured the virtues and could die with dignity and be judged worthy of heaven.
With one last sigh, one last glance at the battle in the distance, he yanked hard on the joystick and opened the throttle, priming the last of the weapons as he tore down at the convoy.
Pig grinned when he saw the terrified look on Duke’s face for all but a brief fraction of time before his world went black.
— 36 —
The tunnel entrance loomed before her. Formed of clay and rock hastily piled on either side, support struts of timber braced the roof.
Dee stumbled out with the other Renegades, battered, cut and bruised. Covered in ash and sweat. She blinked at the glaring sunlight that shone through the clouds.
Three boats were waiting for them in the river, empty save for a pilot in each.
“Move it!” shouted Ben.
Dee didn’t bother answering. She was too tired. Tired of running. Tired of fighting. Tired of this whole damn war.
She took Jack’s offered hand and joined the others in the centre boat. Once it was full, the pilot revved the engine and pulled out, keeping to the middle of the river. He pointed the craft east, towards the coast and the towns of Waihi and Athenree.
“You okay, baby?” asked Jack.
“Sore, cold, and so tired I could sleep for a week. Hungry and mutated humans are trying to kill me. You?”
“Same.” Jack grinned. “Except, you know, the…”
“Sleep for a week?”
“Yeah. You know me. At least one movie a day.”
Dee raised her eyebrow and smiled at her husband. As exhausted as they were, they could always lift each other’s spirits. Ben had said that was why the Renegades had succeeded where so many others had failed. They had the right balance and ability to keep up morale despite the overwhelming odds they found themselves in.
Dee looked at Jack again and pulled him into a hug, feeling for his comforting heartbeat against her chest. Despite the sun, she felt chilled to the bone. They had lost so many defending the Pa. Her only comfort was that all the children had escaped to safety.
Dee gazed into Jack’s blue eyes and saw the same thoughts mirrored there. She knew a thousand movies would be flashing through his mind from the battle they had just fought.
Max nuzzled them and walked in circles until he found the right spot to lie across her boots.
Boss sat down next to Dee and Jack, handing them both a protein bar and a bottle of water.
Dee hadn’t realised how thirsty she was until she saw the water. She gulped it down and wiped her mouth. “Thanks, Boss. You should be proud of how you fought back there.” She took off her cap and wiped some of the grime off her forehead. “I saw you save Jack a couple of times too. So thank you.”
“No problem. All I could think of the whole time was that I didn’t want to become like them. Infected and crazed.” Boss turned his head away and adjusted his prosthetic. “Why would anyone create such a virus, Dee?”
“I’ve asked myself that same question. Jack and I have debated that subject for hours. In truth. I don’t know. Why do people do anything. To what end. Power? Greed? Something sinister? Throughout history, people have done some truly horrible things. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Jim Jones. All for what? Now look at the world.” Dee grasped Boss and hugged him. “We’re fighting on. And we have each other. That’s all we need to know. We’re family. Live for that. For Beth. Live for life.”
Boss hugged her back before pulling away. “It’s crazy. All of it.”
Dee watched as he turned and looked at the countryside drifting by. The gorge had given way to flood plains and farmland.
The cliffs echoed with the howls and screeches of the Variants. Ben and Yalonda had rigged the tunnel with C4, sealing it behind them. Dee knew from experience that the creatures never gave up. They would chase them all the way to the coast.
Ben stepped over to them. “We’re not out of the woods yet. Athenree Gorge is up ahead and full of hostiles. Eat something and maintain your weapons. I want full checks and ammo count in ten minutes. Boss, give me that CNR.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dee joined the Renegades in cleaning her battered AR-15. She reached into her pack and replenished her ammo. Finally she unsheathed her katana and wiped off the dried Variant blood and gore. She glanced up at Ben talking into the headset. He had a strange frown on his face. His brown eyes flicked around the boat, not focusing on anything. Dee shrugged it off and sharpened her sword, taking out any nicks and blemishes. Every time she cleaned it, she marvelled at the Japanese craftsmanship. Genius.
Jack began to hum the music to their unofficial national anthem, Slice of Heaven. Dee shook her head. If he wasn’t thinking in movies, he was thinking in music.
Finishing her task, Dee stretched out the kinks from her aching muscles and gasped at the pain from her rib. Remembering the Tramadol, she rummaged around in her pockets. Swallowing down two, she rubbed her rib, trying to ease the pain.
“What’s the plan, Ben?”
Ben was shaking his head and smiling. “They did it!”
“Did what? Who?”
“The Americans. They found a cure. Mahana just informed me.”
“So they bloody should have!” Yalonda whooped.
The news spread quickly around the boats and soon cheers broke out, building into a massive roar. Hone started to sing in a beautiful tenor voice. The other surviving Maori joined him, filling the air with the music of their whakapapa. Dee slumped back into her seat. She felt for Dr Yokoyama’s logbook and pulled it free. Thumbing over the pages, tears welled in her eyes. So many had die
d for this. Simpson, Chang. The prisoners they’d found in the lab. Countless Maori.
Dee wept. She wasn’t sure if it was the song, the lack of sleep or the futile mission. She didn’t care. Dee held Jack, Boss and Max close.
“Give me a bit of nerd love too,” Yalonda laughed, joining the Renegades. Even the normally stoic Ben wrapped his strong arms around them.
When the song of the Maori reached the chorus, she joined in, lifting her voice with the others.
The rail bridge appeared around the bend, and the singing stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Shrieking Variants covered the entire span of the bridge. An Alpha stood in the middle of the pack, a necklace of human arms about its neck. Dee gasped as she shouldered her carbine. Before she could squeeze the trigger, the Alpha was surrounded by smaller beasts, protecting him.
“We never get a bloody break,” exclaimed Jack, rising beside her.
Max started to growl and bark as the cacophony of Variant howls reached a crescendo.
“Driver. Full speed!” shouted Ben.
Dee steadied herself as the boat lurched forwards. She picked out an ugly beast and fired, blowing a hole through its deformed skull. The rifles of the Renegades cracked all around her.
“Go close to the bank!” instructed Ben, and the pilot swerved the boat.
Dozens of Variants jumped into the river, a couple making it onto the boat.
Dee’s mind drifted back to Karapiro Dam and Jack’s rescue. More beasts thumped onto the fleeing boat, slashing at the passengers as they landed.
Dee slung her AR-15 and drew her katana. A Variant scrambled over the prow of the boat, hissing at her. She grimaced with the effort and removed its head, scowling as the body slid back into the river.
A large beast leapt off the bridge and slammed into the driver. The pilot screamed as the Variant dragged him off the boat and into the water. Dee barely had time to look at what was happening before several Variants landed in the craft. She used her katana and knife to block swinging claws, and caught a glimpse of Jack and Boss hacking at the beasts.
With the pilot gone, the boat was drifting with the current, back the way they’d come. Back towards the bridge and rabid monsters.
“Boss! Drive!” she shouted.
Dee stepped closer to Boss and impaled the Variant he was fighting. It shrieked at her before she thrust her knife into its eye, silencing it.
“Dee! On your back,” Yalonda shouted in warning. Dee pivoted and dropped to one knee. The charging creature shifted course and slammed into her side, knocking her against the gunwale. Her broken rib sent new ripples of pain up her side.
Dee brought her katana in front of her, holding off the Variant’s sucker mouth. She shut her eyes and tried to centre her breathing, trying to ignore the throb from her injured rib. Ten seconds passed, then twenty. Her arms began to quiver from the exertion of holding that lethal mouth at bay. Finally the pain subsided enough for her to continue. She brought her legs under the beast and kicked out at it, trying to dislodge it. It clung to her, raking its claws down her forearms. Max snarled and latched himself to the Variant’s ankle. He tugged, but the creature was not giving up.
Dee groaned in frustration. The boat surged forwards again and gained speed. The willow trees that populated the banks whipped overhead, giving her an idea.
Before she could act on it, Boss screamed, “Everyone get down!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Dee saw the Renegades and Hone drop to the deck. Confused, the Variants remained standing. Boss steered the boat under the low branches. As he did so, Dee shoved up with all her remaining strength, lifting the beast off the deck. A branch caught it and it somersaulted into the air and away. The other Variants were knocked out of the boat too, splashing into the river.
Dee winced and looked after the flailing creatures. They couldn’t swim, and already several were going under. She felt no pity or sorrow for them as they began to drown. She only felt relief that it wasn’t her or any of her friends.
Jack raced to her side and looked down. Concern swept across his face as he frowned at her holding her side. “Are you bitten?”
Dee shook her head and grimaced. “Bastard just broke another rib, I think.”
He knelt down beside her and lifted her shirt.
“How bad is it, Jack?”
“Bruised and swollen. Can you lift your arm?”
Dee raised her right arm. It hurt, but she fought through it. “I’ll be okay. Tramadol should kick in soon.”
Jack kissed her forehead and lowered his voice. “Every time one of us gets hurt, I think our luck is going to run out. Promise me something, baby.”
“What?”
He turned away from her and looked over at the Variants that swarmed on the riverbanks, howling and shrieking at their food that was drifting away. They never gave up. Always chasing. Only death stopped them.
“If I get bitten, you have to give me mercy. I don’t want to end up like that,” Jack said.
Dee linked her fingers through her husband’s. “I don’t know if I can promise that. But I’ll try. You must do the same.”
“If I can, I will. The thought of either of us like that…” Jack blinked. “Until the end.”
“Until the end.”
With Jack’s help, she eased herself up and spread her feet wider to get her balance. She unslung her AR-15 and pulled the magazine free. She was down to only a few rounds.
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 wit
h 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.
Extinction New Zealand Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 61