The Left Series (Book 3): Left On The Brink by Christian Fletcher

all day, just knowing there’s nothing left in this country out there for them but a never ending battle for their lives. At least if we try and get to Scotland it gives us all a little bit of hope. And hope is something we haven’t felt for a long time, Smith.”
    Chief Cole turned and looked Smith straight in the eye. “There are eighteen of the guys from Jackson; there are fifty-one of us in total here. That aircraft is capable of carrying over one-hundred fully equipped men and stores. There’s room onboard if you want to come with us. What do you say?”
    Smith sighed and looked to the floor. “Sheesh …I don’t know, Chief. Jesus, you’ve sprung this one on me.”
    “We could use a guy like you, Smith.” Cole glanced towards the window again. “Anyone who has survived this long is a very resourceful guy.” Cole turned to look at me. “If you’ve survived the last six months, you can survive anything.”
    I bit my bottom lip; an immense emotion of uplifting euphoria engulfed me. “I want to go, Smith,” I blurted. “I think we should all go.” I grabbed Batfish by the biceps and almost physically shook her. “We should go to Scotland, Batfish.” I was blabbering and almost hysterical with elation. “No more running away, no more fighting zombies…we might actually get to sleep in a nice comfortable bed.”
    Smith gave me a sideways glance with his mouth hanging open. He was telling me I was behaving like a dick without having to say a word.
    “Calm the fuck down, Wilde Man.” Smith’s voice was calm and controlled as usual. “We haven’t even lifted off the ground yet.”
    “Well, please make up your mind soon, guys,” Capaldi interrupted. “We’re going to get a few hours shut eye and take off at first light.” He gave us a nod and headed for a doorway to the right of the control room. Remmick and Novak followed Capaldi.
    “Give us a call when you’re ready, Chief,” Remmick called over his shoulder.
    “You got it,” Cole replied.
    We watched the air crew disappear through the double doors.
    “There’s a crew room for the pilots in there,” Cole explained. “They’ve got a long flight ahead of them.”
    “So…are we going with these guys, or what?” I was almost pleading with Smith. The thought of a relatively stress free life in Scotland was more than slightly appealing.
    Smith held his hand to his chin in deep thought, I guessed he was weighing up the pros and cons. He turned to look at Batfish.
    “What do you think?”
    Batfish shrugged. “I’ve never been to Scotland. In fact, I’ve never been out of the States. Oh, wait…I went to Mexico for a weekend once but I can’t remember much about that trip. It was Maria Vizcaya’s bachelorette party and we all got wasted on Tequila the whole time. Maria was crying a lot and saying she was too young to marry.”
    “What do you think about relocating to Scotland?” Smith repeated with a slight tone of irritation.
    “Hell, I don’t know,” she whined. “I can see the positive side but it seems a bit half -assed to me. What if we can’t even refuel in Canada? And if we do get to Scotland, we probably won’t ever be able to come back here. Part of me wants to go but another part of me says leave this situation the hell alone.”
    “What else are we going to do?” I sighed in exasperation. We ha d a free ticket out of the zombie infested quagmire and my companions were dithering with their decision. To me, the opportunity was a no-brainer. “We’re just going to sail around on that fucking boat, getting into all kinds of shitty situations, as we usually do.” My voice rose a few octaves higher. “Then finally, we’ll all probably go one step too far, our luck will run out and we’ll get eaten or bitten and spend the rest of eternity wandering around moaning and trying to eat other people.”
    “You done?” Smith asked me after my rant.
    “We’re all going to die one day, Smith,” I said more quietly. “I