The chopper thundered through the air a mile north of Fort Pastor.
"Wow."
"Quite."
"You don't suppose this is the line to get into Pastor, do you?"
"In the name of God I hope so..." A lump formed in Jinx's throat at the thought of the alternative. A line of people, thousands upon ten thousands of people, clogging every street and arterial all the way up to the Fort Pastor checkpoint gate.
"It must be at least two miles long..." As they flew further in, they were able to see that the line had, in fact, breached the gate at Pastor. Jinx silently said a prayer that those were just refugees.
"Look," said Mina, pointing. "Gunfire."
"... My God..." whispered Brogan.
"Set us down." Jinx said calmly. "We're needed."
Jinx hopped out of the chopper as it powered down, jogging to meet the soldier who was approaching him.
"Sergeant Jenkins! Good to see you again, sir." Salutes were exchanged.
"Where's the captain?" Jinx yelled, trying to be heard over the din of helicopters and gunshots.
"His position got hit as soon as you dropped in, sir. He's holed up on the other side of this barricade."
"Take me."
The soldier led him down the metal stairs that led to the landing pad and brought him to a balcony that overlooked a courtyard. From the balcony, other soldiers took shots at the mass of writhing death that pulsed and shambled below them. Soldiers on the ground tried to hold their positions, but were being consumed one by one.
"It's across there. He's in that bunker across the yard."
Jinx looked to where the man pointed. A small concrete bunker stood out of the ground like a pencil's eraser poking through a piece of paper. The number of zombies in the courtyard paled in comparison to the amount surrounding the bunker.
"What're we looking at?" asked Mina as she trotted up, gun in hand. Jinx pointed.
"Cap's over there."
"You mean in that gray, zombie-fortified zit?"
"Yeah."
"Is he still alive?"
"Who can tell?"
"So what're we gonna do?"
"We're gonna play on our game boys. You know, our damn game boys, Mina. The ones we always play on instead of rescuing the captain." Mina laughed at Jinx's joke and cocked her gun.
"Let's do this then."
Jinx turned to the soldier that led him there.
"Lieutenant, we are going to attempt to extract Captain Kimsey from that bunker. We're going to need some help."
The lieutenant looked at Jinx as if he had just calmly explained to him that he was going to ride his bicycle to the moon. Finally, he decided Jinx wasn't joking and gave a salute.
"Sir, most all of our units are engaged at the moment, and... I'm uh... Needed here. No offense, sir, but that's a suicide mission."
"Thank you for your assessment of the situation. I never would have been able to discern the danger of the mission without your expert tactical information. Now, I didn't ask for your intel, I asked for some men. If I ever want someone to tell me how suicidal my task is going to be, I'll give you a call, but until that time, the issue still remains: I need some men." The lieutenant looked as if he were about to turn and run.
"Sir!" Both Jinx and the young lieutenant turned to the approaching private. "Sir, they've taken the north gate. All of our units in that sector have been... Er... Neutralized."
"No survivors?"
"No sir."
"Shit. Sergeant, I'm sorry, I have to see to this. You're on your own." The young soldier trotted off with the private. Jinx lit up another cigarette.
"So?" asked Mina.
"So..." Jinx said, exhaling. "I've had worse odds."
"Bullshit." Jinx just smiled.