all remaining military get to washington, d.c.
V55 Jet 5,000 feet over Washington, D.C.
Chapter 2
Matthew was in the cockpit of the V55 Gulfstream jet aircraft two thousand feet above Reagan Washington National airport just south of Washington, D.C. He didn’t feel right about the tactical situation he was flying into. The airplane's blue tracker was on showing the air defense units on the rooftops and on the streets of downtown Washington, D.C., that the V55 was a friendly plane and not an attacking foreign assault force. He looked down at his flight computer that displayed the FAA information on Ronald Reagan airport. He tried unsuccessfully to reach the control tower for minutes using the primary and alternative frequencies. Matthew from years of flying knew this was a bad sign when the control tower of a major airport was radio silent. He switched from the airport tower frequency designated for plane pilots to the frequency designated for helicopter pilots but again was unable to get the control tower on the radio. The surviving military force must be focusing on a tight defensive perimeter in downtown Washington, D.C., and see no more value in defending the civilian airport. How did it get this bad, thought Matthew.
Miles to the west Matthew could make out the faint outline of two jets as they were on their bombing run. Seconds later in the distance, he saw four explosions on the ground. Matthew thought, those jets must be deploying from Andrews Air Force Base East of me but the fuel situation will eventually run dry and take the combat airpower out of the defense of the city sooner rather than later. I wonder if the military still has control of the classified strategic jet fuel reserves facility in Baltimore?
As Matthew got closer, he could feel the tension in body intensify. His stomach seems to be tied in knots. He did a visual recon of the airport. His combat experience prepared him for the worst but what he was seeing was worse than even he could have imagined. From the air, he could see runway 1/19 marked in large white letters. There was a military C130 airplane crash on the runway that had been pulled to the side to clear the runway but the pavement was too damaged with holes for any other planes to land. A few dozen feet right where the runway was damaged was the burnt shell of another crashed military C-130 transport. Matthew looked at the last plane to try to crash land and wondered what would make the pilot so desperate to land the plane on a damaged runway with holes.
Matthew flew over the runway marked 15/33 which had nowhere left to land either. Several commercial 737 planes were abandoned on the runways. Every piece of grass between the runways the size of several football fields was packed with commercial aircraft that had been pushed off the runways. There were at least a hundred planes that had been pushed off the east side of the airport right into the Potomac River. The last desperate plane trying to land on the runway had run off to the left to avoid the plane parked in front of it. The 737 aircraft in pieces with its black burnt airframe telling the story of its final failed landing. Matthew knew pilots were trained to only take risky landings during emergencies but that landing was suicidal. Matthew felt slightly sick as he tasted a bit of acid from his stomach. This was bad. No, it was extremely bad. The United States the last surviving country in the world was close to falling. If the United States fell, that would be the end of civilization. There would be no more civilization! No! Matthew thought. It can’t be the end. I’ve got to get them to give me more resources for Arc Light program!
Still feeling upset, Matthew circled the aircraft and could see the final runway marked 4/22 from the air had been converted to a helicopter refueling base of operations and a parking lot for all the planes that had landed but there was no more room in the gate area. The gates had squeezed in four times the airplanes they normally parked there. The parking lots where cars were normally parked had dozens of planes parked there instead. Matthew had never thought they could fit so many planes on the pavement of an airport. The emergency broadcast message for all survivors to make their way to Washington, D.C., must have drawn all the surviving aircraft to the promise of a safe haven. Matthew could see runway 4/22 had no movement down below. He had to look twice to register if what he was seeing was for real. There were hundreds of dead bodies lying on the runway. He was deeply concerned that, there must have been an outbreak in that congested area offloading passengers. I wonder if the airport terminal is hiding hundreds of more undead?
Matthew looked out of the cockpit windows to the west wondering why was Washington, D.C., was chosen as a defensive position. The river to the west was a natural defensive barrier but it was surrounded by the states of Maryland and Virginia packed with the undead. Maybe the military planners saw Washington, D.C., as the final defensive perimeter that was close enough to the Atlantic ocean and had the advantage of not being as congested as the east coast cities with infected yet these small benefits didn't outweigh other better locations to make a last stand. There must have been some deeper reason or maybe mistake why the military planners were holding Washington, D.C. Matthew did not have all the pieces in place yet so he cleared his mind off the issue for now.
Matthew did not like having to land at that airport but he had no choice, he needed the fuel. He really needed the fuel or he would have to set down somewhere and walk. Was it worth risking his life? Yes, he needed the fuel to link-up with the rest of the Arc Light team members on the west coast. Normally he would have a minimum of six other people with him on board the aircraft that could secure the landing area from a substantial force with all their equipment onboard but the extreme personnel losses on the Arc Light program left him flying this mission alone. Looking at the clogged runways, he was at least grateful in this dangerous situation that his jet aircraft did not need to land like a normal aircraft because of the jet’s vertical landing and takeoff capabilities like a helicopter. He also felt a touch of luck when he saw the parking lot for fuel trucks had an area to land the jet next to the fuel tanks at the lower southwest section of the airport.
Matthew looked down at the flight computer screen and double checked the classified top secret status on Reagan Washington National airport. It showed there were twenty four thousand gallons of jet A-1 fuel left in a classified storage system not known by any of the normal airport operations personnel or normal military units. This fuel was critical because his top secret information on the Reagan airport showed there was no other Jet fuel left in the airport’s normal storage tanks. The screen also showed the there was no normal or top secret jet fuel left at Andrews Airforce Base eight miles to the east. Matthew thought, Andrews military flights are probably down to emergency fuel bladders and fuel trucks. Maybe I could land there and force a few thousand gallons with my classified credentials but then I would be stealing critical fuel away from the defense of the city and all the civilians depending on us. That is not an option.
Matthew landed the jet in the parking lot used by the refueling facilities company for the airport. He double checked that his blue force tracker was turned on so friendly forces with the right equipment would know there was a friendly force in the area in order to not get shot or have artillery shells dropped on his location. He cautiously lowered the steps with his FN SCAR-H 7.62 caliber assault rifle aimed out of the door. Seeing no movement he walked down the stairs pulling a large four foot by four foot black hard-shell case on wheels.
He raised his rifle and quietly stood there listening and turning a full slow circle looking around the perimeter of the plane waiting to see if his loud landing attracted any undead or living attention. There was an intense odor of fuel from small jet fuel spills around the area. Matthew heard light gunfire to the north. After a minute he was satisfied the immediate area was clear so he turned his attention to opening the hard case using a four digit manual combination code built into the handle. There were six one foot long by one foot wide remote control compact cars each with a GPS tracker, dual communication antennas, front and back thermal video camera, two advanced lithium batteries, all terrain wheels that could go upstairs, and two and a half pound
s of C-4 explosives with a combination steel penetrator shape charge and anti-personnel configuration with six hundred steel ball bearings. He took all six out of the case and inserted a large metal key into the safety locks of each checking to see the red light blink four times to show the explosive component was now armed.
Matthew brought up his left arm that had an advanced satellite secure smartphone made by a classified manufacturing team at Lockheed Martin. It looked fifty percent thicker than a smartphone but cost $200,000 more. He pressed the communication verification button on the phone and watched as green lights lit up on all six of the remote control cars and the phone cycled through all six camera feeds from the car’s cameras. He marked out a one hundred meter circle from his current position and pressed the deploy button and watched all six cars get into place. One of the cars using its built-in visual recognition software avoided the landing wheel of an abandoned plane. As he watched that last car get in place he felt vulnerable fueling the plane in such tight quarters of this airport. The last thing he wanted was to be swarmed by any undead in the airport that would be making their way to the sound of his landing.
With the motion detection sensor network in place with the remote cars, Matthew ran to the back of the plane and released a panel that had a built in fuel hose with several adapters to fit fuel systems around the world. He quickly pulled the hose out and connected it to the airport's fuel feed line. The V55 Jet aircraft had a built in fuel pump of six hundred gallons per minute that would fill up his six thousand six hundred gallon internal fuel tanks and the two four hundred and fifty gallon external fuel tanks on the wings.
Matthew from his secure smartphone initiated the classified fueling computer uplink. The smartphone display showed the existing fuel being a third full and an estimated seven and a half minutes for refueling. Matthew looked at every gallon of fuel he could get as mission critical because he did not know the next time he could refuel. This could be his last source of available jet fuel.
Matthew scanned the area with his rifle scope as he tried to radio the current Secretary of Defense of the United States, Jack Welsh on his secure channel. No one was answering. Matthew wondered if the Secretary’s staff was too thin to spare a person to monitor the radio transmission.
Instead of wasting any more time trying to contact the Secretary of Defense, Matthew shifted focus to expanding his situational awareness of the battlespace of Washington, D.C. He pulled up the radio scanner on his smartphone and added the secure Washington, D.C., airspace command and control radio frequency. He wanted to hear the radio traffic of what was going on with air reconnaissance operations over the city.
Matthew didn’t like the humming sound of the fuel pump which was like a homing beacon for the next six minutes of refueling to any undead around. To improve his defensive position he walked a one hundred meter perimeter around the plane looking for any undead. His eyes moved from hiding places behind parked aircraft wheels to hiding places behind parked cars. The stillness around him was not a good sign. He turned suddenly. Was that movement? Yes about one hundred meters ahead of him. No! damn it! It is just a rag flapping in the wind. Matthew took a deep breath and quickly did another sweep of area. He could sense the airport was dangerous for the military forces to have abandoned it all together. Matthew realized the airport was in no man’s land outside the city's defensive perimeter.
As Matthew scanned his perimeter for movement his radio earpiece picked up radio traffic from the airspace command and control frequency.
A pilot’s voice transmitted on the radio, “Eagle Five this is Viper Eight Five. Undead concentrations of approximately one hundred and fifty thousand in a herd fifty miles west of Washington, D.C. There are fifteen civilian survivors on foot running two minutes ahead. They are carrying what appears to be four children, grid coordinance 99430828, over.”
Combat air control replied, “Viper Eight Five this is Eagle Five we have no rescue assets available at this time. Proceed to northwest defense sector for recon sweep for threats, out.”
The pilot’s voice transmitted on the radio, “Eagle Five I have been watching this for a few minutes to estimate a count of the undead, those children couldn’t keep up the pace so now they are being carried. That sea of undead is catching up to them. Reroute a Goddamn helicopter or they are dead, over.”
Combat air control replied, “Viper Eight Five this is Eagle Five we have no rescue capabilities. Stay on mission to protect the city. Proceed to northwest defense sector for recon sweep for threats, out.”
Matthew didn’t want to believe the reply that no help for those children was coming. He purposely focused on his breathing, ignoring the smell of aircraft fuel. He wanted to calm his feelings. He felt the air enter his lungs and flow out of his mouth but his emotions were pulling him to get in his aircraft and rescue those children scared to death as they were being carried by adults that were most likely exhausted from running ahead of a concentration of undead. He could imagine the innocence of the children living in a world of despair wanted to find a safe place by closing their eyes but the horrors of the undead would still fill their ears not allowing them to hide from the brutality of survival. It was bad enough abandoning helpless civilians but leaving behind children was a sign the United States military was becoming combat ineffective.
Matthew breathed in focusing on the flow of the air entering and leaving his body. In trying to clear his mind and emotions he was becoming more aware of his feelings he had been keeping at arm's length. The emotional weight of his leadership responsibilities was trying to choke off his feelings of wanting to help protect those children. He had the power to save them where no one could stop his decision except himself. He possessed an aircraft full of advanced weapons, decades of elite combat experience, and one of the most advanced aircraft in the world but that power came at an extreme price to his humanity. He felt the burden of knowing he could not spend his power to save those vulnerable children without putting the Arc Light mission at stake which could mean the end of world.
Now he realized why the Arc Light trainers went through so many hundreds of hours of training him in meditation techniques. His world along with everyone else's was now a deadly horror of the weak being consumed as the powerful that still had compassion in them watched with a feeling of helpless. There was not enough bullets, fuel, and manpower to save all the survivors left in the United States. The powerful had to choose which few would be rescued. He was one of those powerful people and the burden of who he chose troubled him. He could feel a survivor’s guilt that he was safe but also helpless to save his family. He breathed and focused on the meditation technique of accepting versus resisting the reality of all those that would die just like he was trained to do in his advanced combat stress classes the Arc Light program gave him. He breathed in feeling grateful for the air that was abundant, always there for him, the lifeblood that kept him alive. He focused on feeling grateful for those lives he could save. That gratitude of such a gift to save just one life was an overwhelming feeling of thanks. As he breathed in, a realization of gratitude formed for the safety of his military training and equipment that was giving him the power to help humanity fight back their extinction. Yet this only made him more aware that part of his humanity was dying as he faced the reality he was not going to save those children. He felt this was only the beginning of many similar moments of loss he would face for the rest of his life however long that would be before death caught up with him.
He breathed in to calm his emotions and finally reached what he was needing, the realization of gratitude that he and the people under his command still had the power to help ensure humanity lived. He accepted the horror happening to innocent survivors versus resisting it. He didn’t want it to happen but resisting the tragic losses would only make him weak by cutting himself off from his power to make a difference. He breathed in remembering what they taught him. He thought, when I am at peace even when facing horrible loss I am in my power to make a differ
ence for the living. Matthew would take any advantage he could get emotional and mentally so he put his faith in accepting what was taking place. As he walked the perimeter of the plane, he vowed to help find a cure.
***
Two minutes later Matthew on his security patrol route rounded a corner of the fueling facility building and looked up and saw movement inside a 737 aircraft parked two hundred meters to his north. He raised up his rifle scope and saw the plane was full of undead passengers violently pounding against the windows. His landing must have caught their attention. The plane was on the runway so the door was closed but the plane was swaying from the violent turmoil inside the plane of the undead trying to break free. There were four crashed trucks slammed into the wheels of the plane in a successful attempt to stop the plane from getting closer to the airport. The pilot must have still been alive in the cockpit with the undead talking over his flight. Matthew looked in the cockpit with his scope but could not see the fate of the pilot. Matthew thought, I wonder if he killed himself or tried to fight his way out of the plane?
Then Matthew detected movement near the airport terminal. He looked through his scope to see at least a hundred undead in military uniforms and bloody civilian clothes coming towards the plane with all the undead trapped in it. Then an undead female soldier with a broken bloody jaw looked towards Matthew’s aircraft. Matthew thought, she can hear the fuel pump.
She started to stumble towards the plane and like a cascade effect, a dozen more started to follow her. Matthew took in a deep breath to give him a second to verify what his military mind had already instinctively known to do. He let out his breath and decided to attack.
Matthew instantly dropped to a prone position on the ground to better steady his scoped FN SCAR-H 7.62 caliber assault rifle, aimed at the undead female soldiers head with the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. Before he knew if the shot hit, he moved his scope to the next head and squeezed the trigger in less than a second. He breathed in and slightly moved the scope to shoot at the next head in the sea of undead. All he focused on was one head and one trigger pull a second ignoring everything else he saw in the scope. Seconds later the rifle bolt locked back on an empty twenty round magazine and he saw appropriately eighteen undead laying still on the ground.
Forces of Destiny Page 2