Chapter III: Rough Landing

Axl awoke with a start, shaking his head as the shock of the crash wore off. He got up and surveyed the helicopter; he was still inside and it was still daylight, which meant he hadn't been out for long. He quickly checked his watch, realizing it hadn't been more than a minute since they went down.

"Those guys must still be out there! Damn it, we gotta get moving!" he shouted, but then examined the body of Jeremiah, who had opened the back of his head against the metal behind his seat and was most certainly dead. He looked at the pilot, who began to groan.

Axl stood up, "Hey, you all right?"

The helicopter pilot nodded weakly and responded, "I thinkI think I'm bleeding"

Axl went over to him and looked down, he didn't look so good. The helicopter had hit nose first and crushed the controls into this poor guy's lower body. Axl figured he couldn't say anything, knowing the pilot wasn't going to make it, but he tried anyway.

"Don't worry, we'll get you a doctor! I just have to secure our position first." The pilot just nodded as he left the wreck and went to lie down a few dozen meters from the crash behind a few isolated rocks on the top of a small hill.

Just as he thought, all six of them were advancing and opened fire on the helicopter.

"By the look and sound of those weapons, those are M4 assault rifles they're using. " Muttered Axl. His statement was quickly followed by the screech of a twin volley of rockets slamming into the cockpit of the helicopter. The wreckage was completely destroyed.

"And two RPG launchers, damn it they've got the latest weapons and most of my equipment could have seen action in the Korean War!" He removed his M-14 from its resting place alongside his sword and shotgun on his back. He leaned on the rocks and quickly adjusted the sights, estimating their distance from the crash site to be between 110-120 yards. Keeping his cool and breathing steadily, he fired repeatedly, gunning down four of them, including the two holding the rocket launchers. The remaining two soldiers got down immediately and answered with a hail of bullet-fire, forcing him down behind the rocks.

He peeked over again and fired several more rounds while the enemy stopped to reload but didn't manage to hit anything. He put his back to the rocks, clutching his rifle tightly. "I've fired seven rounds, I have eight left in this clip. They probably won't advance knowing I'm armed, but they'll fan out and have me cornered soon enough."

He ran through a few options mentally, some involving jump up really fast and shoot' but they didn't seem like the best strategies. He then noticed the bullets were no longer flying, and didn't understand what was happening. Were they already moving to hit him from both sides?

"No, no that wouldn't make sense. They'd keep one to pin me down while the other comes from an angle." He decided to look.

The field before him where the two enemy soldiers once lay was now covered in blood. A pack of dogs stood over the bodies, tearing away ragged pieces of flesh from the corpses, occasionally fighting over parts. The four of them looked deranged and vicious, even from that distance. Axl stood in shock at the display and reached for his side-arm .45 but only gripped the holster.

"What the?! Where's my .45? I must have lost it in the crash!" He checked his supplies quickly, noticing he was missing a number of AK-47 and M-14 magazines, along with his semi automatic. Nothing too tragic, his .357 ammunition was still intact - he had plenty of those along with a box worth of shotgun shells.

The dogs were still eating by the time Axl had finished evaluating himself. Disgusted watching them feast even on enemies, he leveled his rifle, aiming at one's rotting flesh. He fired a clean shot, killing one of the dogs instantly. The others just ran off, not knowing where the shot came from. Axl didn't bother to kill the others and just lowered his weapon, looking now at the helicopter in ruins.

His silent walk to the scraps of metal was unbroken, as the hill had a low incline to the ship and there were no animals to make noise. It was as quiet as a tomb.

"May God rest your souls, your journey in this life has now ended." Axl knelt by the helicopter, closing his eyes as he prayed for the dead.

He could waste no more time here. If he didn't act quickly, more people – more innocent people – would die. He lifted his head and faced the quiet town of Eagle Point, placing his rifle on his back.

"Damn it Ax, you just had to get out of bed."

-

The air hung still as Axl walked over the stretch of field leading to the town, reaching the fallen mercenaries, first running into the two that were shooting at him only minutes before. They were in the worst shape, mauled to a point of being unrecognizable. The most evident wounds lay in their jugulars, which were completely torn out.

Axl squinted his eyes, "No wonder they didn't scream."

The mercenaries were wearing black fatigues with no nametags or insignias to connect them to anything. He decided to check them for any useful supplies.

"Well this is a waste." He sighed as he failed to find anything useful. A few rockets might have helped, or at least some compatible ammunition. But unfortunately, they had used all of their rockets and their weapons took newer types of bullets than his own, and he wasn't about to carry another rifle.

Picking up the pace, he began to jog quickly, leaning forward to keep low in case of any surprise snipers left working for the enemy. There were no monsters in sight as he reached a large wall with the sign Welcome to Eagle Point' in wrought-iron over the top. The fence looked well taken care of, showing that this place hadn't suffered the affects of the virus until only recently. There was an empty guardhouse by the main road leading in.

Axl figured he should check it out, walking over and peering in, crushing the rim of his hat up while he pressed his face to the glass. The only thing noticeable was the broken television on the floor and the scattered newspaper next to a small desk. Axl opened the door and picked it up and realized it was yesterday's paper. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the TV was actually a monitor. He examined under the desk and found a series of video feed wires, leading from several large multiplexers, more specifically digital recorders.

"This thing is way too high-tech for just a simple guard job, you could hook up over eighty cameras and check each with this monitor. Shoot, if this monitor wasn't busted I could see why a rent-a-cop would need such an advanced system to guard something."

Axl left the guardhouse and began to run down the main street into town.