White Ash on Bone: A Zombie Novel (24 page)

Anderson avoided the question, “I’m afraid I need their services to evacuate some civilians.”

The Major stopped and reached for his holstered side arm, “Shoot them,” he ordered the military police.

Anderson brought his own gun up as he dropped to the ground.  He squeezed the trigger and hit the Major in the stomach, but the Military Police were already firing on him.  Anderson didn’t feel the bullets as they tore through his chest, but their impact knocked him over on the ground.  Anderson’s men had their own weapons firing and both groups shot at each other at point-blank range. 

Anderson thought about the gunfight at the OK corral as he struggled to bring his weapon back up.  Bodies dropped all around Anderson, but two of his men were left standing.

The flight crews had dropped to the ground leaving the other two Military Police to have a clear shot at Anderson’s group.  They raised their guns and rained automatic weapons fire killing his last two men.

A man hobbled out from behind a building behind the last two MP’s.  The man wore the blues of a Pittsburgh City Police officer and he carried a shotgun.  The man also looked badly burned.

The cop pointed the shotgun at the nearest MP and pulled the trigger.  The buckshot tore into the shoulder and face of the MP, killing him instantly.  The other soldier turned and fired at the cop who was in the middle of pumping another round into the chamber.

The cop fell on his back, but managed to raise the weapon again and fired.  The MP fell over and ceased moving.

A flight officer got up and seized an M-16 off the nearest dead MP.

“Grab their weapons,” he ordered.

Anderson opened his mouth to talk, but found he couldn’t breathe right.  His voice gurgled as his lungs filled with blood.

Another of the flight officers ran over to Anderson and ripped his fatigues open.

“Hang in there,” he said, “We knew you were coming and were trying to stall them from shooting us.”

Anderson grabbed his hand and threw it off.

“I’m dead, he managed but each word took more effort.  He took in one last breath, “Fly.” 

Anderson’s head went slack and rolled to the side.

###

Sulla led the group to the end of the next concourse with the dead closing the distance to their right.  The fuel truck sat on the corner of the building in front of the group.

His plan had been to dump the fuel and light it to create a wall of fire to keep the undead back.  The undead were too close to have time to make that work, and more were falling out of the broken windows of the airport terminal in front of them.

If we keep running, he thought, they are going to follow us and some may end up on the runway.  They could have used the helicopter to lead them away but the dead were too close, and its pilot was making a visual pass on the nuclear reactor 10 miles away.

"Shit," Winters said as he listened in on his radio. "The Cap and our team got wasted on the other side, but the planes are ready to go."

"What about the chopper?" asked Sulla.

"Eight minutes away," said the Sergeant.

Winters grabbed his radio and pushed the button to transmit, "We got major problems down here, but the runway is currently clear.  I advise you to dust off like there is no tomorrow."

Sulla ran to the truck and grabbed on to a ladder attached to the back end.

"Get out of here," Sulla shouted while he climbed.  "One of us has to keep them here like the Meal Wagon Guy."

"That’s suicide," Winters said.

"No," Sulla replied, "it’s the life of hundreds of kids back at Butler."  The zombies closed the distance to the fuel truck to 50 yards.

"Then I am staying with you," Rex said, and he reached for the ladder.

"Bullshit," Winters said, "You got a wife asshole; get out of here."

Winters pushed him out of the way and climbed the ladder with Kovalcik and Callen following.

"All of you need to get out of here," yelled Sulla. 

"I'm not going to let a civilian die for me," Winters said.

"Fucking right," agreed Callen.  "Sulla, you should go too, we got this." 

"There’s no time,” Sulla said. "They see me and they’re too close.  Rex," said Sulla, "You got about ten seconds to run like hell before they tear you apart."  Winters pulled his field radio off his belt and tossed it at Rex.   

The deep whine of a C-130 throttling up for takeoff came rumbling down the runway.

Rex could see the shadows of the dead cast on the concrete underneath the fuel truck.  He turned and ran for the corner with everything he had.  Behind him, gunfire erupted from the top of the truck.

"Come and get some," Winters yelled above the staccato.

Rex's feet pounded on the concrete as he raced past a baggage cart.  The first C-130 flew by on his left, its wheels taking off into the air.

Rex looked over his shoulder and saw the shadow of the fuel truck engulfed by the bodies of the undead surrounding it.  One zombie walked out past the corner following the noise and sight of the plane.  A bullet smashed into its head, and it fell forward on the concrete.  Rex turned and kept running. He heard the second plane throttle up while it made its way down the airstrip.

The radio Rex carried crackled,
"This is Major Warren. I’m in-bound over the terminal with the chopper."

Rex brought the radio up to his mouth, "This is Rex.  The rest of my group is sitting on a fuel truck on the runway side of the terminal.  They are holding off a crowd of zombies." 

"
Roger that, I can see them.  I am going to try and hover over them and pick them up."

Rex stopped at the far corner of the end of the concourse; he looked around the corner and didn’t see any movement of zombies.  Behind him, the engines of the helicopter replaced the sounds of gunfire.  Rex moved away from the wall of the terminal and looked up into the sky back in the direction of the fuel truck.  The chopper glided toward the fuel truck from over the terminal.  It lowered in the sky and slowed as it neared the area where the group held off the horde of zombies.

Rex breathed a sigh of relief as the chopper neared Sulla’s position. "They’re going to make-"

He was thrown over, and his ears filled with a roar until the world went silent around him.  A ball of fire reached up into the sky and batted the helicopter like an insect.  The shock wave pushed the craft over and spun its tail like a top.  It twisted in a death spiral that carried it out into the airspace just above the runway.  A C-130 barreled down the runway lifting off the ground just behind the spinning helicopter.  The plane banked to the side to try and avoid a collision, but the helicopter smashed into its wing.  The helicopter was driven straight into the ground from the mass of the heavier vehicle.  The wing of the plane jerked up into the air as its engine caught fire and trailed smoke behind it.

The pilot managed to straighten the wings, but the loss of momentum carried the plane down and over the embankment of the roadway leading into the landside terminal at the far end of the runway.  Out of the sight of Rex, the C-130 crashed into the long-term parking lot of the airport.  Black smoke and red flame rose from its crash.

The smell of charred human flesh and fuel filled Rex's nose and mouth.  He rolled up onto his shoulder facing the runway and felt a wetness running down his face.  His hand reached up to his face and pulled a chunk of glass out of his forehead above his left eye.

The radio lying on the ground next to him crackled,
"This is AF-One-One-Three. Major Warren's chopper just took out One-One-Two.  We are past the point of no return. I think we can make it."

On the runway, the C-130 barreled down strip and punched through the rising smoke of the wrecked helicopter burning on the tarmac.

Rex heard a thump behind him.  He turned back at the noise to see a zombie had fallen out of the shattered windows of the smoking concourse above him.  Flames were rising out of the end of the terminal closest to the blast.

The male zombie wearing a pilot's uniform pushed itself half way up until its leg bowed at an obviously broken point between its foot and knee.  The creature fell back over but after a moment dragged itself in the direction of Rex with its hands and legs.  The bone of the broken leg clubbed out behind it.

Rex went to grab for his AK but the blast had knocked it ten feet away.  He pushed himself into a sitting position slightly straining under the weight of the thousand 7.62 rounds he carried on his chest.

The zombie lunged out to grab his leg, but Rex kicked back and pushed himself out of the way as its hand brushed his boot.

He gritted his teeth and kicked out at the creature.  His foot impacted with the pilot’s jaw, and it crunched backward shattering teeth and bone.   The zombie latched onto his leg before he could pull it away.  It bit down on the leather of Rex's boot.  Its jaw was shattered, but Rex felt its hands tighten on his leg.

The last C-130 roared by behind Rex as it took off into the air.

"
This is AF-two-six-zero we are the last one off the ground and we are all clear."

"Roger that,"
said Cotta. 
"Rex, are you still with me down there?"

Rex tried to kick the creature off his leg, but it held fast and was trying to claw its way up his body.  Rex reached down and grabbed for his holstered .45.  The first round wasn’t chambered, so Rex pulled the weapon back into the air.  The zombie crawled up his body heading for his face.  Rex brought the weapon crashing down on the top of the zombie's head.  The blow cracked against its skull and momentarily the zombie went slack.

He kicked out from underneath it and rolled over onto his feet.  The zombie regained whatever amounted to its senses and reached out for Rex again.  He stepped back and cocked the slide back on his .45; it slammed a round into the chamber on its return.  He lightly squeezed the trigger until the gun erupted in his hand.  The round struck true in the zombie's head and painted a red splash on the tarmac.  Rex scanned the area, but it was clear.  Then he reached down and picked up the radio.

"This is Rex, everyone else is dead."

"Where are you?"
Cotta said.

"I’m at end of the burning section of the terminal," Rex said.  The sound of a small plane’s engine droned over the crackling of fire in the background.

"I’ve got a visual on you,”
Cotta said.
  “Listen, you got more of those things falling out of the broken windows of the next concourse back; you need to get the hell out of there."

Rex walked over to his AK and picked it back up.

"Roger that, I’m headed toward the land-side section of the airport."

"Copy that,”
Cotta said.
“I can land where they park the Regional Jets, but you’d better hurry."

The first zombie rounded the corner behind him and locked onto Rex, several more popped out behind it.

He slung his rifle over his shoulder and took off running in the opposite direction. 

The small plane landed in the distance a half-mile away.  Rex wiped the blood out of his eye and looked over his shoulder to see dozens of the undead following him.  He had the distance on them, but he felt hunted.

Cotta’s plane was in front of him. It slowed and turned sharply to the right in his direction and back the way it landed setting up for takeoff.  Zombies poured out of a glass gate to the regional jet section of the tarmac.

”New plan,
” Cotta said.
“Keep coming toward me, I’m going to try and close the distance to you.  We need to be outta here before my new fan club meets your fan club."

"No, shit," said Rex, "and I don’t do autographs."

Rex pumped his legs harder across a grass section of the airport; his lungs were desperate for more air.  Come on Rex, he thought, push it.  Cotta's plane closed the distance faster than Rex could, but it stopped next to the grass.

"I'm not going to push our luck by getting stuck in the grass,”
Cotta said.
“I suggest you hurry."

Rex was close enough to see someone in the passenger’s seat pop open the side window and take aim at the oncoming undead.  Several shots popped out of the plane by the time Rex rounded its tail.  Rex was surprised to see Donna leaning out the open door with a rifle in her hand. If she had managed to knock any of them out, the mass of undead approaching the plane swallowed the bodies in their wake. Donna jumped out of the plane covering Rex while he scrambled over the final distance.

Donna pulled the rifle up to his shoulder and took aim at the nearest zombie, a woman in a red business suit.  She squeezed the trigger, and the zombie tumbled over.  The body tripped the ghoul behind it creating a cascade of falling zombies.  Donna flipped the safety on the rifle and climbed into the open door of the plane behind Rex.

Jack throttled the plane, and it lurched forward away from death’s reaching hands.  The undead continued to follow the plane, but every second they fell away from their hearts only desire.