three steps...
She stopped dead.
Something made her freeze in shock. It couldn't be...
The sound of someone gasping for air...
She whirled back around, but the beam from her flashlight was swallowed up by the darkness. Was
she going crazy, had that quiet sound actual y been...?
There it was again. Several agonisingly slow beats passed.
"Somebody, help me, please!"
The sound of his pleading voice was al it took to get everyone rushing back down the tunnel the way
they came. "Corvo!" Samantha cried out in joy, half-afraid that it had al been in her head.
The sound of shal ow, laboured breathing was her response. By the soft light of the flashlights, she
found him, sitting up beside the wall of rubble, looking battered, bewildered and pained, but alive.
She wrapped her arms around the grizzled elderly man and held him tightly, never wanting to let him
go. However, she immediately released him when he screamed in pain. "Oh god, oh god, Corvo, I'm
so sorry!" she blabbed, supporting his weight.
"Where does it hurt?" Markus asked, coming over to him. He was beyond relieved, but everyone
knew that the war veteran was not out of the woods yet. He had almost suffocated, and there could
be internal injuries.
"Down here," Corvo replied slowly, clenching his teeth in pain as he gestured over the right side of his chest. "It feels like I've broken a rib or two."
"They could just be bruised," Markus said hopeful y, rummaging through the first-aid pack for gauze and wrapping.
It took much time and patience, and pain on Corvo's part as he lifted his arms, but eventual y they
had him out of his t-shirt, and his chest wrapped. The old man winced as he was helped back into
his shirt and jacket. The pain had subsided slightly, mostly thanks to the wrapping across his chest,
but it was stil very much there.
Samantha chewed on her lip nervously. "Do you think you can stand?"
He squared his jaw in determination, mental y preparing himself for the pain. After a moment, he
nodded.
"Let's get you on your feet then, you tough old bastard," Jacob replied, looping an arm over his
shoulder while Markus got the other. While Samantha covered them with her pistol, they hoisted him
to his feet as gently as they could, although he still he hissed in pain throughout the ordeal. The sight
caused the former col ege girl distress, but at least it appeared as though Corvo could stand and,
apparently, walk.
"Thank god you're okay," she breathed, smiling softly at him. He tried to return it, only to double forward in a fit of hoarse coughing.
"Whoa, take it easy there, big guy," Markus chimed in, swinging his M-16 assault rifle over his
shoulder and taking some of Corvo's weight onto his own. "We don't want you col apsing on us."
"Yeah, and just when your badass counter passed mine," Jacob said reproachful y. "We can't have you faintin' on us like a little pussy now."
Samantha burst out with a peal of laughter that echoed throughout the darkened place. The four
survivors stood there for a moment in a companionable silence, hardly daring to believe their good
fortune. They were not without their injuries – not that any of them had been expecting to come
through the ordeal unscathed – but it was a straight shot from here to the runway.
The burly biker held the Colt M4 out to Corvo, but the older man waved it away. "You hang onto it,"
he said in a gruff tone. "I'm in no shape to handling an assault rifle right now. My pistol wil do me
fine."
"Alright, then how about you take this back?"
There was complete silence in the tunnel as Jacob held out the crumpled green beret. Final y, the
veteran took it and placed it atop his head.
He flashed him a toothy grin. "Thanks. I think I'm startin' to like you, boy."
"Right back at ya, old man. Lead on."
With that, the team slowly but steadily moved forward down the tunnel, toward salvation. They did
not notice that several loose rocks tumbled down the wal of rubble they left behind them.
Chapter 57
1 HOUR UNTIL FAILSAFE
Beneath the red sky, the ragtag remnants of the Newburg regiment rearguard made their last stand.
With most of the airfield a wasteland of wreckages, debris and corpses, all of their defences were
now concentrated around the only remaining runway which was clear. Thus, it was the only place where there was room for a C-130 Hercules carrier aircraft to land and extract them from this hel .
The regiment had once been a proud and strong unit of seasoned, battle-hardened men, but a solid
week of battle against the Infected and seeing friends die had worn them down. Now, with the
majority of the unit having been successful y extracted, only Captain Wil iams and a handful of weary
soldiers remained, cowering behind makeshift barricades of containers, vans and airport vehicles.
"Infected closing in from the east side of the airfield!" a soldier yel ed.
"All batteries, standby to open fire on my mark," Wil iams ordered into his radio, turning toward a large horde charging across the field toward them. Their angered screams filled the air. "Mark."
As one, the line of M2 machine-gun emplacements unleashed a roaring mass of flame and bullets
that reduced the forerunners to bloody pulps. Heads and limbs flew as bodies were al but torn apart
by the absolutely devastating hail of gunfire.
"We got another group of creepers coming in from the terminal!" a soldier cal ed, peering through the scope of his sniper rifle. "Hang on a minute... Sir! I think they're civilians!"
"What?" The eternal frown that marred Williams' face momentarily faded as a look of pure shock
took its place. Could it be the group from the hotel? He had not been expecting them to make it.
"Hold your fire, goddamn it!" he growled to several of his troops who had the motley crew lined up in their sights. "They're friendlies!"
Corvo gasped with exertion as he limped across the runway, helped along by Jacob and Markus.
Gunshots rang out as Samantha trained her pistol on anything that came too close to them for
comfort. She froze in horror when a crowd of people emerged from behind the shell of a crashed
plane.
However, a line of lights flashed in the distance, and the air was fil ed with whistling and
meaty THWACKS as bul ets slammed into their attackers, felling them all in an instant.
"There's the army!" Markus exclaimed, fil ed with euphoria. " Ha ha! We made it!"
The ever-encroaching lines of the Infected continued to appear al over the runway, but fortunately,
with help from the soldiers in the distance, Samantha was able to keep them at bay as they made
their way across no-man's land.
"Holy shit!" a hoarse voice cal ed out. "I never expected you people to make it!"
"You have no idea what we went through to get here," Jacob grunted at the soldier who had come
over to greet them as they helped Corvo over to the far side of the barricades to the airport terminal.
Dark trees stood in the distance at the edge of the runway.
"I got some notion," he replied briskly. "I'm Captain Wil iams."
"I'm glad your boys were able to hold the line," Corvo gasped, pain shooting through his body as his compatriots gently lowered him into a seated position on one of the metal containers that made up
the barricades.
"Wel , it hasn't been easy, and it's only getting harder," Wil iams replied as he gestured to the wasteland around them. "We were pushed right back, and the Infected
have been trying to storm this
place for the past day or so. We've been able to hold them off so far, but we're running low on
ammo, and the gunshots are only drawin' in more of the bastards." He took a closer look at the older
man and noticed the bandages wrapped across his chest under his blue shirt. "You alright?"
"He got buried in some rubble a little while ago, but we got him out quickly," Markus answered.
"Some of his ribs are busted up – either bruised or broken."
"Shit," the soldier breathed, motioning the company's medic over. "Crush syndrome is what you
ought to be worried about. Those bindings around his chest are tight?" When he received a ginger
nod in response, he turned to the medic. "Grab some saline packs and get some fluids into him,
pronto."
"Is he going to be okay?" Samantha asked, barely keeping her voice calm.
"Wel , the fact that you removed the pressure quickly is good," the medic replied as he rummaged
around in his field pack. "And a lack of numbness is a good sign. For now, the best we can do is to
keep the pressure on his chest and replace his fluids – several litres per day would be ideal, but this
seems to be a fairly mild case."
"Tell that to my fuckin' body," Corvo grumbled, wincing in pain as the medical officer washed away
some of the blood on his face. He was then handed a canteen of water and a smal bag filled with
the little plastic bottles.
"Once the water's gone, you'l have to drink all of these over the next few hours."
For his part, Markus was stocking up on ammunition from the garrison and reloading his M-16 rifle.
"We'll stay here and keep an eye on our man," he said to Wil iams, who nodded in agreement.
"Keep him out of the way. The Infected are coming in mostly from the airport and the direction of the
city. You three watch our six and make sure nothing sneaks up on us. I'll bring the rearguard forward
to help us cover the front." He made his way toward the frontlines, but, as an afterthought, turned
back toward the group. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you folk made it."
Markus nodded in acknowledgement, and the soldier turned and made his way back to his men.
Jacob whistled as he hoisted the Colt M4 carbine.
"Wel , ladies, in a little bit, we're gonna be flyin' First Class to the nearest Safe Zone. They'd better serve alcohol on this flight."
Samantha spared a glance down at the slumped form of Corvo sitting on the crate before gripping
her pistol tighter. "We can't relax. Not yet. We have to watch the back and protect the soldiers while
they protect us. We're al in this together now."
30 MINUTES UNTIL FAILSAFE
The thunder of the soldiers' guns could be heard from all ends of the runway, firing constantly as the
Infected emerged from the shadows and flowed like a wave. The soldiers grit their teeth, gunfire
crackling across the air as they sought to hold back the ever-increasing horde of kil ers coming for them. With no purpose but to end their very existence.
The M2 emplacements spat flame and empty casings, fil ing the air with smoke and blood. Al
around, men drew beads on the Infected and brought them down with expert precision. As one fired,
another reloaded. Their numbers were small and ever-diminishing, but the Newburg rearguard was a
well-oiled machine of death dealing, their skil s honed by a week-long battle in hel .
On their side of the battlefield, Jacob, Markus and Samantha held back the Common Infected that
threatened to flank the barricades. Despite the situation, the hardened young woman would pause
occasional y to check on Corvo.
"I'm fine, goddamn it, now keep on shooting!" he growled in response.
The attackers continued to fal in droves, but more were fast approaching, bearing down on the
desperate survivors' defences. Something had to give. They would not hold out forever, and unless
they were evacuated soon, they would surely be overwhelmed.
Almost as if on cue, hope fil ed everyone's hearts as one of the soldiers sighted the lights of an
incoming aircraft in the dark smoke-filled sky. The C-130 Hercules touched down on the far side of
the runway that they had managed to keep (mostly) clear, roaring toward them.
"Get ready to move!" Jacob shouted over the deafening gunfire. He could already see several
soldiers breaking position and moving toward the place where the aircraft was slowing and preparing
to lower its rear ramp.
At that moment, an ear-splitting roar resonated through the air. Samantha looked back, and her
blood ran cold.
There, standing at the far end of the airport terminal, was a gargantuan figure, covered in blood. It
was all too familiar, and just as terrifying, despite the injuries it had sustained.
The Thug was not dead.
It had survived the rock fal . And now, it had come for them.
"Look out!" she cried, waving her arms as she ran toward the plane in a vain effort to get the
soldiers' attention.
The majority of them were getting into position near the carrier aircraft to cover each other as they
boarded the rear ramp when it came down. The former col ege girl rushed forward past the
barricades, but was stopped short when she felt someone grab her arm. She looked to see Jacob
shaking his head at her.
"Stay away from that plane, Samantha," he said, his voice toneless. "The noise those propel ers are makin', they might as wel be ringin' a damn dinner bell."
"But we have to do something!" she cried, sparing a glance back at the Thug. "That thing's going to destroy them!"
Before anything more could be said, however, another bellowing roar echoed across the tarmac.
Bul ets whistled through the air as several soldiers near the plane began to fire at the monster and
the surrounding Infected, but hardly a dent was made in their ranks.
Then, to everyone's absolute horror, the gargantuan figure lifted up a huge boulder from the rubble
and hurled it at the aircraft. Time seemed to slow as the rock flew through the air. The C-130
Hercules caved as the boulder smashed right through its midsection, crumpling like a tin can.
A moment later, a huge firebal lit up the sky. A deafening roar echoed across the runway as the
plane exploded. The shriek of rending metal pierced everyone's ears, and the very ground seemed
to shake.
"Holy shit! "
Flaming wreckage was blasted out across the runway, leaving trails of fire in their wake. The Infected
howled in unison as they closed in, with the Thug leading the charge. The monster trampled its
lesser brethren or hurled them unceremoniously aside in its rampage.
A number of surviving soldiers taking cover behind the remaining barricades opened fire on the
behemoth as it charged, but nothing seemed to even slow it down. It ploughed through their ranks
like a battering ram, and their screams soon fil ed the air. Like a dark tide, the figures of the Infected
swept through the shattered defences, and it was not long before all gunfire had ceased.
The four other survivors looked on, absolutely powerless to do anything to help.
In the end, Corvo urged them to get down low, before the Infected in the distance spotted them.
Samantha's breaths came out in ragged gasps as bile rose up in her throat at the shock of seeing al
those men slaughtered like cattle.
The terrifying reality of the situation hit her a moment later.
All of their al ies were dead.
They were completely
surrounded by the Infected.
Trapped in a city, which, in less than fifteen minutes, was going to explode.
Chapter 58
15 MINUTES UNTIL FAILSAFE
The sky was stained a dark red as the fiery wreckage of the C-130 Hercules blazed.
The cries of the Infected filled the air as they feasted upon remains that, only a few minutes earlier,
had been living, breathing men, filled with hope for escape.
It had all been in vain.
Samantha was in shock. This could not be happening. They kil ed that fucking Thug! She had watched it die. Only for it to emerge from the ruins of the airport and utterly annihilate a squad of
highly-trained soldiers. Those poor souls who had died defending them.
She was stil reeling from the mind-numbing horror that had struck her when the plane exploded,
taking with it their hopes for escape.
Now what were they to do?
Corvo curled his fingers around the handle of his SIG-Sauer pistol, feeling absolutely worthless.
While everyone around him had fought tooth and nail to defend the runway from the Infected, he had
been sitting like an old useless bastard. And he had failed to kil the Thug.
He had fucking failed.
Now, Wil iams and his men were dead, and his team would be joining them unless they acted
quickly. "We got less than fifteen minutes until this entire city is reduced to rubble," he said quietly.
"We need a plan to get outta here."
"Could we sneak out across the runway on foot?" Markus suggested in a hushed tone, to which he a
received a shake of the head.
"The Infected would spot us before we got ten metres. And I spent enough time in the army to know
how serious it is when they resort to levelling a city. They'll also bomb the surrounding areas to at
least four or five kilometres to try and kil as many of the Infected as possible."
"Then it's pretty obvious how we're gettin' out of this shit," Jacob interjected, jerking a thumb over his shoulder toward a white, blood-splattered van that made up part of the failed barricade. "We use that
airport van. The army had to move it to use it for cover, so the keys are probably in the ignition or the
driver's cab somewhere."
"Look at all those Infected between you and that van!" the war veteran hissed. "You wouldn't get five paces."
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