Zombie Theorem: The End Game (30 page)

He gave her that killer smile that made her knees go weak, and then concentrated on the mission at hand. They worked in tandem, bringing the plane up onto its left pylon. She radioed back to the crew, giving Ricky the ability to fly the plane with no distractions.

“Crew, you have weapons release. Give our friends some help down there. Over,” she called out.

M.C. gave his wicked little smile and imagined the damage he was about to deliver. He positioned his first shot from the M102 on one of the tanks in the convoy. “Shot out!” he called out to the crew, and pulled the trigger on his joystick. Within seconds, his video screen showed the hit in stunning detail. After the debris finished falling to the ground, M.C. could not even determine it had been a tank anymore. He lined up his next shot as the rest of the crew let loose with their own deadly fire. The other teams could fire much longer and affect more of a designated area, but the M-102 could only fire three shots a minute, but when it did, it could utterly destroy anything it targeted. M.C. continued to target the tanks and then moved on, looking for more armored vehicles.

On the ground the AC-130’s fire was devastating. It chewed up the ground and destroyed the vehicles easily. Captain Fleet kept the plane on its left side and flew in a slow, large circle, giving the crew in the back time to target and destroy the convoy and enemy troops on the ground. He witnessed a flash out of the corner of his eye and watched as a smoke trail appeared coming at them. Ricky, flipped the plane back level and pushed his throttles up.

“Incoming SAM, crew prepare for impact,” he shouted into his headset.

Alina reached over and hit the flare chaff release. Behind the AC-130, bright burning flares, that imitated individual suns, burst out of the rear and sides of the aircraft, trying to attract the SAM away from the aircraft. Alina helped Ricky pull up and out of the course they had been sitting on. They gained altitude slowly and worked hard to keep from stalling, and falling from the sky.

One of the F-16 pilots saw the SAM and broke formation, arming his cluster bombs on his wings and switching to a ground attack mode. Once lined up, he activated his cannon and hopefully, scaring the men on the ground, keeping them from pointing that SAM at him. When his HUD showed him his target, he flipped the release switch and could feel the three bombs fall from his wings. His plane, now lighter without the bombs’ weight, accelerated and rocketed up and away as the bombs found their target and exploded. They released smaller bombs which peppered the ground exploding themselves and destroying anything within thirty yards of the blast. When he pulled up, he heard someone yell at him to snap to port. He did so and fed more power to his engine. A streak blew by his canopy and he was amazed. Someone else down there had had another SAM. He rocketed up and out of the area dumping fuel into his afterburners and accelerating fast out of the SAM range. The other two Eagles in his flight team stayed with the AC-130, afraid of an air attack.

With the AC-130 quiet and appearing to fly away Ridder regrouped quickly and rushed the facility. Knowing that if they got close to it, the deadly fire from above would go away, not wanting to hit their own people. The Eagle that had been fired upon, rocketed around the valley, trying to draw fire and find other portable SAM launchers. But with the speed he was flying, the ground seemed like a blur, and if he popped his speed brakes to slow down, he would make an easy target. No other SAMs reached out to him so he pulled upward and called for one of the other Eagles to drop their cluster bombs on the rushing troops and vehicles, before they could reach the facility. He found the AC-130 and joined in on formation as one of the others peeled away, dropping toward the valley floor.

Captain Fleet saw what was happening and was angry that he and his crew had not been able to put a stop to the enemy troops. He knew that they at least had been able to stop the heavy tracked vehicles and their bigger weapons. But he wanted one more shot at them. “Crew, damn the SAMs our people down there need us one more time. I’m going to circle around the valley and bring us into position. Do not hit the facility’s main building but let’s put some more fear into these Ridder bastards. You have full control and release on your weapons. Over.”

He stared out his window gauging distances and angles for approach, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over and found Alina smiling at him. “You know this could be dangerous, right?”

“The second we put on our country’s uniforms, we prepared ourselves to do what was right. If it means giving our lives so that our people down there can live, lass, then I think we will have done our jobs. Let us hope we don’t die, though. Do your job and we will celebrate our victory tonight with a proper drink, and then go somewhere quiet and celebrate again.” He winked at her.

She sighed and said something in her own language. He thought he picked up some cuss words and something about him being an idiot. Then she smiled at him and said in English, “Ok my love, let us be the cavalry, riding in on our white horses.” He loved it when she tried to sound American.

He pulled the aircraft up and swung around in a tight right-hand turn, starting his figure eight maneuver to bring the left side in for a clear attack on Ridder. In the back, M.C. took charge of his men around him. “Men, we are going to be in a very precarious position. Make sure your shots count and keep these assholes off of our guys. Captain Fleet is proving to us that even them damn Brits have balls of steel. We know there are SAMs down there, yet he is coming in low, slow, and in perfect position. So don’t waste our lives or the lives of the men and women down there. Speech is over, now get to fucking work!” He reached into his breast pocket and removed the Cuban cigar he had put there for after the mission was over. Now, he wasn’t sure they would make it back. So he took out his wooden matches, struck one, and it flamed to life he stoked on the big cigar. Then looked at the young kids around him. “If any of you have a fucking problem with this, the door is back there.” He jerked his thumb to rear exit hatch and snorted a laugh.

Chapter 10

Heaven pushed himself to his knees and dusted the debris off of his shoulders and helmet. He looked to the sky and watched as an AC-130 came into view. Finally, we’re going to deal some payback to these guys, he thought to himself. He then remembered Helmut and Hase and began pulling rocks back, looking for his brothers. After removing a couple of rocks and brushing the debris aside he found Helmut and grabbed him by the shoulder. When he didn’t get a response, he snaked his fingers around to his neck and checked for a pulse. He didn’t find one. Frantically he man handled Helmut’s body away from the hole and rolled him over. Helmut looked bad, his skin was gray and cold. Heaven burst into medic mode, roaming his hands over Helmut’s body looking for damage. It was when he checked his neck again that he found the wound. Helmut had somehow broken his neck. Something had landed on it with enough force to break a vertebrae and possibly ruptured his spinal column. Heaven sat back on his haunches and then reached down, putting his hand on Helmut’s forehead. He said a prayer to God to watch over his brother and allow him into paradise.

He whipped his head around when he heard a round of sputtering coughing. He found Hase trying to crawl out of the hole. He had been at the bottom of. Heaven wiped an eye clear and made his way over to Hase. He extended a hand which Hase took, and he pulled him out of the hole and over by Helmut’s body. Hase favored his left leg and held onto his right arm as it hung by his side, obviously out of socket. Heaven helped ease Hase down to the ground and then searched in one of his numerous pockets before pulling out a bottle of water. He opened it and handed it over, then sat by his side. Hase drank it like he was a man that had been crawling in the desert for the last three days. When he finally stopped to take a breath, he noticed Helmut’s body.

“What happened?” he croaked out in his still dry voice.

“After I threw you in the hole, I threw him over you and covered you both with myself. Unfortunately, something must’ve struck his neck. It’s broken. There was nothing I could do for him.” Heaven dropped his head between his knees and let out a breath.

“There was nothing you could’ve done differently, brother. You did it right. Just another Delta dog to guard the gates of Paradise from those attempting to tear it down.” Hase’s voice sounded stronger.

Heaven raised his head again and looked into Hase’s pain-filled expression. “Looks like you didn’t get out of there without some troubles. Let me help put that arm back in and then let me take a look at your leg.”

Hase finished draining the water and waited for the sharp excruciating pain he was about to experience. He had dislocated this shoulder more than once before. Heaven got down on his knees and placed a hand on the front of his right shoulder and the other on the elbow. He looked into Hase’s eyes, searching for the strength that he knew was there. Hase gave him a slight smile and nodded his agreement. Heaven moved quickly moving the arm forward, then back, and finally up, forcing it back into the socket. He knew he had done it right when Hase just about screamed out loud and then relaxed with a sigh. He slowly moved it around and grimaced a little. Heaven moved onto the left leg and ran his hands from the ankle up to the knee. When Hase reached out and grabbed his shoulder and gritted his teeth, Heaven knew he found the problem. He moved it around a little and checked for anything that shouldn’t be there, like a bone sticking out of the skin. When he didn’t find one he stretched out the leg and moved it at the hinged knee. It moved free, so nothing was broken and the tendons and ligaments seemed still intact.

Heaven sat back and rested on his elbows. “Good news, I don’t think it’s serious. Probably just wrenched it.”

The ground moved and an explosion tore the air asunder, making both men drop and cover their heads. Then, all hell broke loose as the AC-130 that Heaven had witnessed earlier opened up on the enemy troops and convoy with all of their weapons. Heaven gained his feet and helped Hase up. They needed to get to the top of their hill, so they could see what was going on. Heaven stayed by Hase’s side and offered help, but Hase waved him away and gritted through the pain. After a couple of minutes, they made the crest and looked over and out into the valley. They first saw that the tanks that had been lined up near the convoy were all smoking craters now. It looked like the AC-130 had gone after the armored vehicles first and had decimated the convoy in the process. They looked up and watched the plane come around again when a SAM leapt into the air and chased after it. Heaven felt a cold dread crawl up into his stomach as he watched the missile eat up the distance slowly. The flares scattered from the rear and side of the AC 130 lighting up the ground and sky. They looked like mini suns coming to life and then burning out quickly. He breathed a sigh of release as the big plane pulled higher into the sky and banked away from the missile. It would live, and that was what they needed, since it was singlehandedly keeping them alive and the much bigger force of Ridder at bay. The F-16 appeared next and dropped its cluster of bombs on the hill where he’d seen the SAM fire from. But then, another missile ignited and shot through the sky, aiming for it. Another narrow miss. Heaven didn’t know how much longer their air cover could stay on station for, but he hoped they could try one more time.

He watched the F-16 rocket through the valley and then pull up and form back on his flight. Then one of the other F-16s broke formation and dived downward. It was able to drop its load of bombs on the rear end of the convoy when a SAM reached up quickly and hit the fighter on the fuselage just behind the cockpit. A fireball erupted in the sky as the million-dollar jet broke into many pieces and plummeted to the ground. Heaven left Hase where he was and ran back to Helmut. He took the man’s .50 caliber Browning sniper rifle. Helmut had always carried with him, but had yet to ever need to use it. Heaven knew exactly what he was going to do with it now. He also took Helmut’s pack, knowing that he’d kept extra rounds for the weapon. He tried running back up the hill, but was now loaded down with double his pack’s weight and the heavy sniper rifle. He pushed his body and made it to the top faster than he had thought he could. He dropped the pack next to Hase and extended the tripod under the rifle, laying down with it. He checked its magazine and charged the weapon. He molded his cheek to the stock and looked through the scope, feeling that he was becoming one with the deadly weapon. He zoomed in on the area where he had seen the SAM fire from and within a minute, found a man kneeling down and holding a Man-Portable Air-Defense System, or known as a manpads launcher loaded with a Stinger. The man was waiting for the AC-130 as it circled overhead coming in for another pass. He set the cross hairs just above the man’s right shoulder and slowly squeezed the trigger. The rifle shot backwards with its heavy recoil. But Heaven had fired the weapon before and was prepared. He took it in stride and moved his scope looking for his next target, assured the man would already be dead. Hase had his glasses out and watched the man’s body literally explode. He was sure though that Heaven had hit the manpads launcher as it had exploded into the man. Hase was always amazed at the power of the rifle. He moved quickly, watching as Ridder forces ran for the safety of the facility. They knew the air cover would stop, since they would not fire on their own people.

“Look toward the facility’s door. We have a heavy weapons team and it looks like they have two M 240s,” Hase informed Heaven.

Heaven moved his aim till he saw the men that Hase had pointed out. He aimed at the ammo carrier first and fired. The man’s head and upper torso exploded into a red mist, painting his two friends standing nearby. Before they could react, Heaven fired two more shots and ended their lives. Hase reached into Helmut’s bag and took out five more magazines he’d found inside. That gave Heaven twenty-five more shots, twenty-six, if you counted the round he had just fired from his magazine. He quickly removed the empty magazine and slammed home a new one, hitting the charging handle. By the time he was back on scope, Hase was calling out more targets. He had found two more men holding manpads and loading their Stingers. Heaven ended them quickly and then moved on to the troops who were now trying to aim at him. They had figured out the direction, after hearing the shots and working the angles. He was running low on rounds and had the last magazine loaded when the AC-130 reappeared and opened up, using the Bofors and Bushmaster. Men caught out in the open died a fast, messy death. One second they were there, and the next, only body parts and sometimes just a stain on the ground marked their passing.