The Common Cold (Book 2): A Zombie Chronicle-Cabin Fever by David K. Roberts Page B

and so his face was hard to make out.
Mad, staring eyes could be seen, darting from side to side behind the now
rose-tinted visor and his teeth gnashed as if he was chewing on a toffee and
talking at the same time.
    “Zoë,” BB caught her attention. “You pull the door open and
I’ll deal with him. On three.”
    As he counted down Zoë grabbed the handle and pulled. The
creature seemed surprised by the lack of door in front of him and paused for a
moment. Realising it now had access to the breathers outside it crouched down ready
to launch itself. The single shot surprised it, a small hole appearing in the
visor. A spray of blood escaped behind as the round exited the head and helmet
and dug itself into the metal behind. The creature fell forward and lay still.
Without checking his handiwork, BB raced over and checked the cabin for more
hostiles. It had been alone apart from a male corpse with a neat hole drilled
into its forehead, powder burns on the skin betraying the close quarter
execution. The corpse wore the flight suit of the Army Air Force and had once
been a pilot. Between them they dragged the body out and laid it reverently on
the ground.
    “Do your thing, BB,” Zoë instructed. “I’ll keep you covered.”
    Brad leapt into the cabin and unscrewed the same metal covers
under which he had found the problem on the other chopper. It was clean and
uncompromised. Excellent, he thought, as he screwed the plate back down, this bird
might actually fly. He rushed to the cockpit and flicked the master switch. The
gyros spun up and the console sprang to life. The fuel indicators said all
tanks were full.
    “Ha! It works. And it’s fully fuelled. Sweet. It’s like they were waiting for me to drive it out of the showroom. Kim baby,
here I come.” BB felt the adrenaline rush as he thought of his wife, reckoning
her rescue was going to be easier than he’d dared to hope. With this one fully
fuelled he would only have to make three refuelling stops or fewer on the round
trip rather than six. All he had to figure out was where the stops ought to be.
Maybe Mike had emergency info on this stuff.
    Getting out he gave the thumbs up to Mike, indicating his
success. Closing all the doors so they wouldn’t get any unwanted intruders,
they both ran back to the original chopper. Mike had started filling the port
tank.
    “It’s fully fuelled. The poor bastard must have been jumped
as he was about to go out on duty.”
    “You found the pilot,” Mike said, matter-of-factly. “I heard
the shot.”
    “Yeah. He’d turned and was trapped
in the cabin. There was another already dead inside.”
    “Warrant Officer,” Mike asked Zoë, “would you care to accompany
First Officer Bukowski back to the camp in that one?”
    “Sure, why not.” Zoë seemed to have no fear, even when
placing her life in the hands of someone she would normally regard as a rookie
pilot. BB seemed to have that effect on a lot of the fairer sex.
    “Thanks. I’m nearly done here, so get ready to move out. I
don’t think there’s any point trying to report in, I’ve heard squat on the
radio up to now. If there was any sort of organisation left, I’m sure we’d have
heard something. Shame for Bill but I’m sure you can help him. With luck the
damage to his eyesight is just temporary.”
    “My wife’s an emergency doctor,” BB announced. “I’ll bring
her back and she can help treat him, I’m sure. Perhaps we can stop off on the
way back and get proper medical supplies as well.”
    “Oh, man. You kept her skills quiet,” Mike admonished. “Sounds like she’d be a real asset to the group. You can
trust me you know, even if we’d only had the one chopper I’d have helped you go
get her.”
    “Look, it’s not that I don’t trust you, Mike, not really. But
until we found that other helicopter I wasn’t sure you’d let me use this one to
go on a rescue mission. It is a big risk, letting someone you don’t know just
piss off with your