minutes from the shore.
“…-er, this… gle…inbound to your… significant… heading east. I repeat, significant… east toward your… Do you…”
I pushed the ear bud as far as it would go into my ear as the boat began to catch larger pieces of clear visibility ahead. The hull slammed loudly over a larger wave, and I lost the sentence completely.
“Say again, Iron Eagle, I did not copy.”
In the distance, I could see the murky outlines of a control tower jutting from the mist. Beyond that, I knew that thousands of the undead waited for us.
Static hissed through ear bud, and I cursed loudly.
“Watch yourself, sir,” one of the sailors said as the rocky jetty on the tip of the runway appeared from the mist, and the boat slowed. I hit the transmit key on my collar again and repeated, softer this time.
“Iron Eagle, we did not copy. Please say again. We are at the LZ and prepared for evac in five. Over.”
Static again, and I stared into the unrelenting fog overhead until my eyes burned, hoping to catch a sign of movement ahead. Behind me, the sailor manning the motor bounded forward nimbly, despite the now gentle rocking current of the shallows, and jumped to the large rocks ahead, offering his hand to Kate as she hoisted her pack and her weapon.
I turned toward the back of the boat and gave it one more try, but my finger paused on the transmit button. Behind the small craft, the movement of the water was different, and more erratic. Something briefly emerged from the water and went back under.
More gently rounded protrusions.
Hands broke into the air again, as the water roiled.
Shit.
“Sir…” the sailor in the boat began, but as I turned and sprinted to the front of the craft, I heard Rhodes shout. I didn’t pause. I grabbed the young man with both hands and heaved as hard as I could, tossing him awkwardly onto the rocks ahead and yelling.
“They’re in the goddamned water!”
A blast from Kate’s shotgun split the morning air, and we bolted up the uneven rocks, Rhodes in the rear, the soft spitting of his silenced weapon a quick, airy staccato behind us. As we reached the top of the short incline, and our feet hit the wet gray pavement of the runway, I heard the decoys.
Someone was feeling cute.
The “Ride of the Valkyries” blared from somewhere in the ether ahead, fading and then cutting out, just as another speaker blew repeated bursts of random voices, and yet another the sounds of engines.
It was a cacophony of sound that faded away in shifts, cut out, and then restarted closer to us, and faded away again. They were clearly flying away in shifts.
And it had been working. Only a single corpse was within view, shambling away from us despite the noise of Kate’s shotgun and our rapid footfalls.
But it was also attracting the creatures from the water—a threat from our eastern flank that we hadn’t expected.
We were now between two herds, and could only move one direction.
“How many?” said Rhodes calmly in his microphone.
I just shook my head.
“Too many.”
My ear bud exploded with sound and I swatted at it through my head cover before I remembered it was there.
“Seeker, this is Iron Eagle, please acknowledge.”
Fumbling for the transmit button, I stammered quickly, “Iron Eagle, this is Seeker. We are on the tarmac and ready for extraction. We are plus one, over.”
The voice was quick to reply. “Five-One, be advised, you have a massive group of hostiles inbound from the East. They are at the river and… well, Seeker, they are not stopping. There are thousands of them—possibly tens of thousands. They appear to be in the water. Iron Eagle on final approach, on the ground in three mikes. Suggest you move to the west end of runway three three. Over and out.”
I looked at Kate, and then at Rhodes. The original plan was to rendezvous on this end and take off to the West. Meeting the plane at that end was a huge risk. The noise of the landing airplane would
“…-er, this… gle…inbound to your… significant… heading east. I repeat, significant… east toward your… Do you…”
I pushed the ear bud as far as it would go into my ear as the boat began to catch larger pieces of clear visibility ahead. The hull slammed loudly over a larger wave, and I lost the sentence completely.
“Say again, Iron Eagle, I did not copy.”
In the distance, I could see the murky outlines of a control tower jutting from the mist. Beyond that, I knew that thousands of the undead waited for us.
Static hissed through ear bud, and I cursed loudly.
“Watch yourself, sir,” one of the sailors said as the rocky jetty on the tip of the runway appeared from the mist, and the boat slowed. I hit the transmit key on my collar again and repeated, softer this time.
“Iron Eagle, we did not copy. Please say again. We are at the LZ and prepared for evac in five. Over.”
Static again, and I stared into the unrelenting fog overhead until my eyes burned, hoping to catch a sign of movement ahead. Behind me, the sailor manning the motor bounded forward nimbly, despite the now gentle rocking current of the shallows, and jumped to the large rocks ahead, offering his hand to Kate as she hoisted her pack and her weapon.
I turned toward the back of the boat and gave it one more try, but my finger paused on the transmit button. Behind the small craft, the movement of the water was different, and more erratic. Something briefly emerged from the water and went back under.
More gently rounded protrusions.
Hands broke into the air again, as the water roiled.
Shit.
“Sir…” the sailor in the boat began, but as I turned and sprinted to the front of the craft, I heard Rhodes shout. I didn’t pause. I grabbed the young man with both hands and heaved as hard as I could, tossing him awkwardly onto the rocks ahead and yelling.
“They’re in the goddamned water!”
A blast from Kate’s shotgun split the morning air, and we bolted up the uneven rocks, Rhodes in the rear, the soft spitting of his silenced weapon a quick, airy staccato behind us. As we reached the top of the short incline, and our feet hit the wet gray pavement of the runway, I heard the decoys.
Someone was feeling cute.
The “Ride of the Valkyries” blared from somewhere in the ether ahead, fading and then cutting out, just as another speaker blew repeated bursts of random voices, and yet another the sounds of engines.
It was a cacophony of sound that faded away in shifts, cut out, and then restarted closer to us, and faded away again. They were clearly flying away in shifts.
And it had been working. Only a single corpse was within view, shambling away from us despite the noise of Kate’s shotgun and our rapid footfalls.
But it was also attracting the creatures from the water—a threat from our eastern flank that we hadn’t expected.
We were now between two herds, and could only move one direction.
“How many?” said Rhodes calmly in his microphone.
I just shook my head.
“Too many.”
My ear bud exploded with sound and I swatted at it through my head cover before I remembered it was there.
“Seeker, this is Iron Eagle, please acknowledge.”
Fumbling for the transmit button, I stammered quickly, “Iron Eagle, this is Seeker. We are on the tarmac and ready for extraction. We are plus one, over.”
The voice was quick to reply. “Five-One, be advised, you have a massive group of hostiles inbound from the East. They are at the river and… well, Seeker, they are not stopping. There are thousands of them—possibly tens of thousands. They appear to be in the water. Iron Eagle on final approach, on the ground in three mikes. Suggest you move to the west end of runway three three. Over and out.”
I looked at Kate, and then at Rhodes. The original plan was to rendezvous on this end and take off to the West. Meeting the plane at that end was a huge risk. The noise of the landing airplane would
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