Night Stalkers
Chapter 1
My Co-Pilot
The helicopters blades spun round and round as we hovered a couple thousand feet above Phoenix, Arizona, high enough for the airborne virus not to reach us.
"I can't see anybody! Can you?" Yelled my co pilot over the sound of the rotor blades. I shook my head in the negative. This city like so many others was completely dead. Not a single survivor. News reports came in daily, warning the world of which cities had been infected, and how many people had died since the outbreak. The number always at least doubled with each passing day. The last report that came in had hit the two billion mark, the next report it sure to be at least four billion.
Although it was expected that this next report wouldn't be made at all, all channel networks but one had given up or had been infected. The Last Days News Channel is expected to go out with in the next 12 hours if they're not already dead. They had been attacked last night and the infected now knew where they were, nobody knows if they have moved or even if they're still alive.
"We better drop off the supplies soon! I don't want to get caught in this storm!" I yelled to my co-pilot who nodded and flipped some switches. I took a look around at the empty city. Not a single body left. You would think that bodies would be littering the streets, but it wasn't so. The infected had made sure to clear away every ounce of flesh.
"All systems ready!" yelled my co-pilot, Brian.
"Drop it!" I couldn't hear anything over the sound of the spinning blades, but suddenly the helicopter became much lighter and easier to maneuver as the package dropped a couple thousand feet to the ground.
"Package dropped!" I barely even heard him, something was moving out there.
"Humans at 9 O'clock!" I couldn't keep the enthusiasm out of my voice. There was life on top of a Bank of America building, the tallest building around. A father carrying a little boy and a teenage boy leading a little girl by the hand up the stairs. The father raised one hand in the air and waved towards us. The teenage boy did the same, the little girl watched the two older men and then started waving enthusiastically also. They wanted us to come and save them. My heart sank beneath my stomach.
"I wish we could…I'm sorry." Though it sounds selfish, I couldn't risk bringing them on the helicopter. If they were infected, then Brian and I would get infected, and then we could possibly kill off our whole base when we got back, which might be the last military base left on earth that is still active…or even alive. There are no chances taken when it comes to Area 51. It has been, and always will be until its last day, be known as the base that only lets a select few personal in.
"Its almost sundown. They're most likely taking up residence in that building, probably a cellar, maybe even the vault itself. The man looks like he's wearing a Bank Of America uniform." Brian looked at me for confirmation that it was, in fact the right color for the uniform, I nodded. "They won't make it to the package before sundown. We have to bring it to them." It was against all rules and regulations, but he was right. I looked at him to make sure it was still Brian speaking, the 'stick to the rules' Brian that I had known for the past 2 weeks since the virus first struck. His eyes had sunk in and there was little hope left in him. It must be getting to him, the death toll was higher than anyone in the world could have predicted, and fast too. The whole world could be dead soon. He was grasping on to any hope that he can find, and it wasn't much. I felt the same loss of hope as he did. It was getting to us all.
"How high does the air borne infection rise?"
"Five hundred feet. Give or take."
I pressed a button on the dashboard of the helicopter and gasmasks fell from the ceiling. We both put them on with out a word. "Lowering helicopter!" I yelled though the mask and over the sound of the blades. My co-pilot pushed two buttons on the dashboard and then looked at me. I nodded. The helicopter started to lower and Brian unbuckled himself and moved to the back of the helicopter. At about a hundred feet the helicopter stopped lowering and I waited.
"Right ten feet!" Brian yelled through his gasmask. I maneuvered the helicopter ten feet to the right. "Down a foot...a little more! Contact!" He yelled. The helicopter started to spin as we hovered our way upwards.
I heard Brian yell something, not sure what he said, I stopped the helicopter, hoping the line hadn't snapped.
"Repeat pilot!" There was no answer. "Repeat Pilot!" Still no answer. "Brian!" I looked behind me. There sat my co-pilot in the corner, frantically trying to avoid the sunlight that came in through the open door of the helicopter. I stared in amazement and then cursed out loud.
"Damn you Brian!" He had been infected. I unbuckled myself and stood up. Slowly a line of darkness moved across the helicopter. I looked out the window, to the west a dark cloud slowly started covering the sun. I cursed again and took out my pistol. Keeping one hand on the controls I focused a shaking pistol on the writhing shape in the back of the helicopter. Rain started pelting the helicopter.
"Damn you…" Thunder echoed around us and the pistol fell out of my shaking sweaty hand and bounced towards the middle of the floor. An unearthly scream came out of a decaying corpse who was now standing erect and tearing its gasmask off his face. I tore mine off too, it won't help anymore.
I let go off the controls and ran for the pistol, the creature jumped at me. We collided in midair; I wasn't even close to the pistol. The creature screamed again and wrapped its decaying arms around my back, I shoved my arms out in front of me as we hit the ground rolling, my fingers dug into its cheeks as my index finger dug into its eye, it screeched in pain. It let go of me as his hands tore at my back leaving giant wounds. I screamed out in pain as it then rolled away and hit the control panel sending sparks everywhere. The helicopter started to spin dangerously. Rain slowly started to pour into the open door of the helicopter. Then promptly stopped as the helicopter continued its spinning.
I jumped for the pistol and tore it off the ground. I put my finger on the trigger and aimed at the creatures back. I shot once and missed. I pulled the trigger again, it left a gaping wound in its backside. The creature screeched in pain. Again and again I shot, each one hitting its target in the back leaving the creature writhing on the floor. It stopped moving, I shot it again to make sure it was dead. It didn't move. The rain started to pour into the helicopter again.
I jumped to my feet and ran towards the control panel. We were still spinning but not fast enough that I had no control over the helicopter. I looked out the window, the helicopter was heading straight for the Bank Of America building, I could see the blurry shapes of the family through the wet glass. They were running back into the building to get away from the wayward helicopter
I looked at the control panel; the creature had smashed it in. Not to mention there was a bullet hole from the one shot I missed, which was shooting out sparks every couple of seconds. I grasped the controls and started pulling the helicopter away from the building.
The helicopter didn't respond.
The water started to gather on one side, and the weight started to tilt the whole helicopter towards the left. The water poured in faster with each passing second.
Again I pulled at the controls, but still no response. I yelled out a curse and ran up the tilting floor towards the back of the helicopter and jumped. Rain pelted my face from everywhere at once. Thunder echoed around me and the sound of the helicopter blades thumped in my ears. I pulled a string and my chute came out. I hoped to high god it wouldn't get caught in the blades.
As the chute opened up pulling me away from the blades, the helicopter completely tilted on its side and the blades hit the building, sending shattered glass everywhere. Most of it was sent my way.
Glass splintered into my already scarred face as I screamed. A piece of glass cut a string that connected me to the chute and I dropped down a foot, another string snapped and I dropped another. My weight would certainly snap some of the remaining strings if I hung for too long.
The wind suddenly changed direction as I drifted too close to the building and it shot me up towards the top of the building, lifting me another 15 feet as I hit and rolled against the glass and then was sent away again. I couldn't see where I was going as the whole world started to spin. I couldn't tell if I was falling or if it was from lack of blood, either of which would certainly kill me. I whispered to somebody I couldn't see that I'd rather die by falling then by those creatures that were once human. That was my last thought as darkness enveloped me, and the world below.
AN: I have a weird tense thing. I just can't figure it out. I apologize for this, maybe one day I'll get it right. Please RR.