“What are you up to?” asked Gus through the window, startling Carl who had not heard him approach.
“I’m just trying to catch up on the news,” Carl said. He suddenly realized, as never before, how dangerous it was now to let anyone sneak up on you. A damned zombie would have taken a bite out of his arm or neck instead of asking a question.
“The news is that you are a certified hero, Carl,” said Gus. “Your plan worked like a charm. We got a shit load of weapons and gear. We killed hundreds of zombies. None of us got hurt. We learned how to hold off the zombies using nothing more than a high pressure water hose. We even rescued a family surrounded by all those zombies. Shit, Carl, you’re the man! So why are you hanging out here in this zombie killing SUV while the rest of us are throwing a party?”
“I guess I feel safe right here,” Carl answered slowly. “Which is probably not a good thing, because I don’t think anywhere is safe anymore. But that reminds me, when I climbed the fence of this refinery I wanted to get down to the beach. Do you know how to get there from here?”
“Sure,” said Gus agreeably. “Whatever you want, Carl. I think we even have a surfboard or two behind the locker room.”
“I don’t want to go surfing, damn it,” Carl said. “I want to see what’s down at the beach. Isn’t there a power plant there?”
“Yeah,” replied Gus. “Two of them actually, but I think they shut it down a few days ago.”
“What else is down there?” Carl asked.
“Well, there’s the beach. Lots of sand. The ocean. And the RV park.”
“An RV park?” Carl pressed with increased interest.
“Yeah,” Gus confirmed. “It’s not the best one I’ve seen, but it’s got hook-ups right next to the beach. Lots of people with RVs from inland seem to like it.”
“Get in,” Carl told Gus, motioning to the passenger seat. “Show me.”
Chapter 11: Search and Rescue
"When a Marine in Vietnam is wounded, surrounded, hungry, low on ammunition or water, he looks to the sky. He knows the choppers are coming..."
General Leonard F. Chapman, Commandant of the Marine Corps
Scott and Sergeant Major O’Hara spent half an hour interviewing the nine other Marines who had family in the area around Camp Pendleton, including the ones who were not sure where their families were, or if they were safe. Three more Marines asked to speak with them about their girlfriends in Oceanside. Scott was a little surprised that all of these men had remained with their unit, instead of going home to protect their families. But O’Hara set him straight on that score. They were Marines, he said, and they had not been given leave to behave like human beings since the crisis began. But, if Scott said it was okay, they were all dying to rescue their loved ones. So be it.
Scott asked Captain Fisher to slow their speed while they were still off the coast of Camp Pendleton and then called Captain McCloud on the Stratton to inform him of the situation and ask for use of his helicopters again. McCloud was hesitant at first, until Scott explained the situation fully. Within two minutes the orders were issued to prepare all three helicopters for search and rescue missions. Scott went to explain the situation to Mick Williams personally.
“Here’s the deal, Mick,” explained Scott when they were sitting alone in Mick Williams’ stateroom. “These Marines could be our greatest asset. They’ve been ordered to assist us on a mission where we will be rescuing a lot of our own friends and family, but nobody thought to ask about rescuing theirs. If we take a little time, and a little risk, to save their loved ones here, we’ll earn a lot of gratitude and loyalty further down the road. So I want you to fly a few search and rescue sorties to save their families. It will also be good training for working with them on our own rescue missions later. Are you okay with that?”
“Sure, boss,” replied Mick Williams with a smile. “I’ll fly anyone, anywhere, anytime, if you say so. And I can’t wait to see these Marines in action. This sounds like a blast. And it’ll be great if we can rescue their families too. When do we lift off?”
*****
The choppers flew in low over Camp Pendleton, two Coast Guard Dolphins and a slightly larger and older Super Huey. They each carried a small fire team of Marines who were on the most important mission of their lives: to save their loved ones. All three helicopters came down together on their first objective. It was a modest house about a mile outside of the Marine base, set back from the street with a large lawn in front and an open space behind the house large enough for two helicopters to land safely. This was the O’Hara residence. The sergeant major gave Mick a smile and wink as he led the three Marines with him out the side door of the Huey and ran towards the back of the house. Aside from two male bodies lying in front of the house, there were no zombies in sight. The back door opened as the Marines approached and two women stepped out and waved. They held shotguns but pointed them towards the ground. The Sergeant Major lowered his own weapon and ran forward to sweep both women into a hug.
Mrs. O’Hara and her daughter Sara were delighted to be rescued. They said there had been two zombies in the neighborhood a few days ago, but the two women had used the sergeant major’s shotguns to blow their heads off as soon as they came close to the house. The zombie outbreak seemed to be under control in this area, where there was a high percentage of military families. That was probably because everyone was well armed and had the mindset necessary to do what needed doing. “Just do what your father would do,” was the instruction Mrs. O’Hara gave her daughter when they faced the undead menace. With everyone safely aboard, Mick lifted off again towards the next objective.
This one was a little trickier. Corporal Morris and his wife lived off-base in an apartment complex near the beach. This would be another roof top extraction. But the target apartment was two floors down. One of the Coast Guard Dolphins made the insertion, dropping Morris and three other Marines off on the roof and pulling back up into formation. Most of the action was hidden from those waiting in the helicopters overhead, but they could see some of the initial firefight as the Marines fought their way down the stairwell. Five tense minutes passed before the Marines returned to the roof. One of them was carrying a semi-limp form with long dark hair. The Dolphin dropped back down to extract them. Moments later a radio message was received saying that the rescued woman needed medical attention. Dolphin One was returning to the Stratton and would rejoin the rescue mission as soon as possible.
The next rescue was at a low rise apartment building that sprawled over several acres. Dolphin Two landed on the lawn next to the pool and four more Marines jumped out to make the rescue. Private Snow led the way to the apartment where he and his wife lived. More than a dozen zombies converged on them from every direction. At a word the four Marines stopped and formed a square, each taking a different prime direction on the compass. Five seconds later there were fifteen dead zombies lying on the grass with holes in their heads. The Marines ran forward to the target apartment and Private Snow banged on the door as he pulled out his keys. With no answer, he used the keys to unlock the door, pushed it open, and jumped back as a red haired female zombie rushed out to attack him.
Mick Williams and the O’Hara family had a bird’s eye view of the horror show. Private Snow fended off the attack by his zombie wife, but couldn’t bring himself to shoot her. One of his buddies had no such compunction. A rifle barrel was shoved between the couple and a single shot blew out the back of her head. She fell back through the door to the apartment and the three other Marines dragged Private Snow back to the lawn for extraction. Dolphin Two swept in to pick them up. It was obvious that Private Snow wouldn’t be of any use for the rest of the mission. Sergeant Major O’Hara asked Mick to use his radio and told Dolphin Two to return to the Sovereign Spirit to drop off Snow and pick up another Marine to replace him.
The next rescue began as more of a search mission. Private Wilson’s girl wasn’t home. They knew that because her apartment building had burned to the groun
d. But Wilson was sure she would be at her workplace, three blocks away. That turned out to be a blackjack and poker casino next to Interstate 5 where she worked as a blackjack dealer. The parking lot was full of zombies, but there was also a group on the roof who stood up and waved like normal people begging for help. Mick brought the Super Huey in low and Wilson yelled as he identified his girl among the people jumping up and down on the roof. There were eight of them. That would more than max out the seats on the Huey, but Mick felt confident that they could squeeze in and that the big chopper would handle the extra weight. He dropped down onto the roof lightly and informed the Marines that they would have to keep the evacuation orderly.
Three big men pushed through to be first aboard the helicopter, but stopped short at the sight of O’Hara and three other Marines pointing their rifles at them. O’Hara motioned them to stand back while Wilson rushed forward to embrace his girlfriend. The other two Marines made a quick inspection of the four female refugees, looking for signs of zombie bites, then ushered them into the chopper with O’Hara’s family. Wilson brought his girl aboard next.
O’Hara and the other two Marines looked back and forth, between the men they held at gunpoint and the overcrowded helicopter. After a moment O’Hara motioned the terrified men forward. He pushed them into the back row of the chopper and signaled the other Marines to follow and cover them. One climbed in and did so, but the second noticed that there would be no more room for the sergeant major to follow. He climbed back out and started to argue with O’Hara. Mick Williams was already on the radio, confirming that Dolphin One was coming back to join them. He waved O’Hara up to the cockpit window and told him the score. It was decided quickly. The sergeant major and other Marine would wait on the roof of the casino for Dolphin One to pick them up while Mick Williams flew the rest back to the ship.
The sergeant major’s wife and daughter were none too happy to leave him behind, but they had sent him off to war so many times that there was a built-in sense of acceptance when the Huey took off without him. Mick flew as fast as he could to the Sovereign Spirit and swooped down moments after Dolphin Two had cleared the pad. He unloaded his passengers and told one of the ground crew to keep an eye on the three men from the back seat. He didn’t want to make snap judgments, but they were casino thugs. He suggested that they be taken to the casino deck and detained there for questioning. They couldn’t get into too much trouble in a room full of slot machines and gaming tables. It might even make them feel more at home. Scott could deal with them later. Mick took off again as soon as he took a new group of four Marines aboard.
When he got the Huey back to Oceanside he could see Dolphin One sitting on the roof of the casino. Mick took the Huey down in a low and slow pass to confirm that O’Hara and the other Marine were being extracted successfully. Then he circled and waited for Dolphin One and Two to form up for the rest of the rescue mission. The next LZ, or landing zone, would involve all of the choppers. They were going into a military housing complex where four of the Marine’s wives were thought to be holed up in different apartments. Mick was beginning to realize how important Scott’s decision was to these men. If they had continued north without attempting these rescue flights, all of the families of these Marines would have been condemned to at best a slow death of starvation or thirst, at worst becoming a zombie snack. This was their only real chance at survival.
All three helicopters dropped down towards a large apartment complex near the base. Dolphin One set down on the roof of the central building and O’Hara led a total of five Marines out to do battle. Two of them went to the parapets and began to take well aimed head shots at the crowd of zombies below. The rest moved to the stairway and began blasting their way down inside the building. Mick waited for the snipers on the roof to dispatch most of the zombies in the parking lot behind the building, then settled down to insert the four Marines he was carrying. Dolphin Two dropped in on the other side of the building by the pool. There were now fourteen Marines on the ground, almost half of the platoon that had joined the Sovereign Spirit. They were facing well over a hundred zombies with more arriving from the surrounding area every minute. It would be a heavy blow to lose these Marines now. Mick knew that he had to wait for their extraction, but his skin crawled as the zombies closed in.
This rescue took a total of about five minutes, but it seemed like hours to Mick Williams. Dolphin Two took-off first, rising above the building with Marines leaning out to fire down on targets below. Mick couldn’t tell if they had been successful with their rescue mission or not, but at least they were airborne again. The two Marines who had stayed in the parking lot to secure Mick’s LZ were burning through ammo at a rapid rate. Zombies were falling with head shots all across the parking lot, many of them hit from the snipers still on the roof. But more zombies were running towards the firefight than even the Marine marksmen could keep up with. Mick turned to his copilot, Sam, and said, “This is fucking crazy!” Sam nodded mutely.
Mick pulled his .45 caliber automatic handgun out off his shoulder holster and chambered a round. Sam nodded and pulled out his own .44 magnum revolver. They exchanged nervous glances and turned to cover the approaches to their respective sides of the helicopter. Mick saw a zombie make it through the Marines’ gunfire and took aim at its head. He fired at a distance of twenty feet and was gratified that his bullet entered its left eye and blew brains out the back of its head. But many more were coming on fast.
Moments later the door from the building to the parking lot opened and five Marines emerged with half a dozen women and children in tow. These were not just the Marines that Mick had dropped off; they were also the ones who came down from the roof. Sergeant Major O’Hara was leading the group. He took in the situation quickly and deployed three of his men to help cut down the zombies swarming across the parking lot towards them. Then he and the other Marine escorted the civilians to Mick’s helicopter. As soon as they were aboard the rest of the Marines in the parking lot fell back to the chopper, firing steadily. Their massed firepower was sufficient to stop the advance of the zombies, especially when Dolphin Two dropped into a hover and the Marines aboard leaned out to add their own fire to that of the Marines on the roof. The seats in Mick’s chopper filled up fast. The last two Marines simply sat on the door sill and put their feet on the skids, still firing into the crowded parking lot. Mick pulled in full collective and the big helicopter rose ponderously into the air.
Dolphin One picked up the snipers from the roof and all three helicopters headed back towards the ships. Mick Williams felt cold sweat running down his back. The rescue missions had been exciting, but horrifying too. It was a lot different seeing these ghouls running towards you face to face than it was to look down on them from the security of an aircraft. Mick had almost wet his pants down there, but the Marines had faced down the onslaught with the cool professionalism of trained killers. His respect for these Marines was now complete.
*****
George Hammer and his little flotilla had caught up to the Sovereign Spirit off the coast of Oceanside due to the time it took the ship to load the Marines and AAVs, as well as conduct rescue missions for the Marines’ families. George was pleased to hear that Scott had decided there was no longer a threat of airborne transmission of the disease and that everyone on the boats of the flotilla who had not developed symptoms could be considered free of infection. That meant that he and his daughter and grandsons could go aboard the Sovereign Spirit now, if they wanted to. But Scott had asked if George would remain on the smaller yacht to lead the flotilla up the coast, since he had become the de facto leader of the little flotilla when they left the harbor in Cabo. Scott said that George’s wife could join them on the Expiscator and he would also send over a junior officer to act as skipper. That suited George just fine. He had come to love Scott’s Hatteras fishing yacht. It was a luxurious boat and he was getting used to handling it, but it would be nice to have a real sailor at the helm.
George was more th
an a little nervous about the reunion with his wife, considering the transgressions he had pursued with Carla on the trip north from Cabo. He knew that he needed to get Carla off the yacht, so he called her up to the Sky Lounge to discuss their options. He poured her a drink of vodka and cranberry to break the ice. She accepted it with a sly grin and moved closer, as if to kiss him, but he extended his arm to hold her off.
“This has to stop, now, Carla,” said George firmly. “My wife will be coming aboard shortly and I’m going to direct all of my love and affection to her and the rest of my family. They need me and I need them.”
“But I need you too, George,” Carla protested as tears welled in her eyes.
“No, Carla, you don’t,” George said with conviction. “Maybe you did right after we rescued you. Hell, maybe I needed you too. I thought you were right about it being the end of the world and nothing mattering anymore, but that’s not true anymore. I know what I have to do and I have an idea about what you should do too.”
“What?” asked Carla through trembling lips.
“You need to pack some things and go over to the Sovereign Spirit on the boat that brings my wife here.”
“You just want to get rid of me,” said Carla with a trace of anger in reaction to the unaccustomed experience of rejection. George was fully aware that she was beautiful and had a sexual appetite that made her a prize for any red-blooded man, but he also knew where his loyalties lay.
Voyage of the Dead - Book One Sovereign Spirit Saga Page 25