Chapter 11

Jill Drake

2:52 PM

I couldn't help but cry. The helicopter was coming to save us. It hadn't even been 24 hours since the zombies attacked, but it felt like days to me. Musta felt like days to the other two too, I bet.

The three of us stood idly on the road, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the approaching helicopter. The Maverick began kicking up dust as it came closer and closer to the ground. Then, it stopped. It hovered in place lazily, just as it had done earlier.

"Hey!" Jay yelled. "Come on!"

The helicopter began to shake lightly, as if someone was walking around in there. Suddenly, like an angel of God, the pilot appeared at the door.

"Hello down there!" he called in a booming voice.

The three of us waved.

"I'll be down there in a sec!" he said. Then he disappeared again. He re-emerged carrying what seemed to be a rappelling cord. He anchored one of the ends to a hook on the floor, clipped the rope to his suit, and lowered himself out. He touched down a minute later.

"Howdy, folks." he greeted, in a deep Southern accent.

"Howdy." Eric replied.

"I can't believe y'all are still alive!" he mused. "Me an' my co-pilot, we been searching for survivors all over this place. Not a soul in sight, y'know. Bodies everywhere, buildings burning up all kinds o' hell.

"Yeah, well, we're like cockroaches. Just can't kill us." said Eric, grinning.

"Now that's a theory I mean to test." declared the pilot.

"What?" questioned Eric, as a look of confusion flittered across his face.

"You see, my co-pilot and I aren't here to save you. We're not even really...oh, what's the word..." he muttered.

"Ah. We're not humans."

I stepped forwards.

"I'm sorry. You're not humans?" I asked, not sure if I had heard right. Well of course I hadn't heard right. But his reply said otherwise.

"That's right. Darlin'."

Without warning, he drew a Glock and shot Eric in the chest.

"Goddammit! Mercer!" Jay exclaimed, as Eric toppled backwards to the ground.

The pilot glared at me, with cold, steely eyes as he spoke in his real voice.

"We're zombies. But you knew that, right?"

Utter fear and terror coursed through my body. Not really thinking at all, I pulled my SMG and wildy fired a hail of bullets into the zombie-pilot's stomach.

"Urk! Arrgghh!" he screamed, as the bullets impacted. Then he grinned evilly. "Just kidding!"

Panicking, I fired again, emptying the bullets into the zombie. He just shrugged them off and continued to advance on me.

"But...but..." I sputtered. "I-I don't understand! Why?"

"You see, zombies are sort of like humans. We too, have different stages of life. We have younger zombies, and we have older ones too. We have weak ones and strong ones. Dumb ones and smart ones. Fortunately for you, I just happen to be a smart, strong zombie. Along with the rest of the new breed of zombies that currently being unleashed onto the streets as we speak."

"So, what, you new guys are more protected against bullets?"

"Well, yes. But we can do this, too." Then he picked me up and, with no real effort at all, tossed me towards Jay and Eric.

For about five seconds, as I sailed through the air, my mind went blank. Jay caught me before I landed.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks."

He rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh."

We looked up. The big guy was lumbering towards us. Despite our current situation, I couldn't help but notice that the zombie looked a bit like something out of Scooby-Doo. Acting quickly, Jay reached for his belt, and removed a grenade. He raced up to the zombie, pulled the grenade's pin, and shoved it into the chest cavity that my SMG had created. Snatching up Eric, who still lay unconscious, the three of us took shelter behind a group of trees.

The zombie fumbled for the grenade, but it was too late. He exploded in a hail of blood, guts, organs, and a whole bunch of other gross stuff.

"We're not done yet." said Jay, pointing. Cradling Eric's head in my hands, I followed Jay's finger. The co-pilot zombie had lowered the helicopter to the ground and was now standing next to it, a menacing look in his eyes.

"Oh, shit."

The zombie began to move. Slowly, at first, he came towards us. Jay and I checked our surroundings quickly, trying to find some kind of weapon.

"I've got an idea." said a voice I thought I'd never hear again. Jay and I looked downwards. Eric lay there, and he was alive.

"What?" Jay cried in disbelief.

"Give me the flare gun from my backpack." he ordered me.

I nodded and reached into his pack as he bent forwards. I rummaged around, found the gun, and handed it to him. He nodded and steadied the gun, aiming it at the zombie's midsection.

"Watch this."

He fired. The flare spiraled out of the barrel, catching the zombie in the gut and hurling him backwards. Straight into the helicopter's rotors, which were still spinning. A horrendous shriek spilt the air as the zombie was hacked to pieces.

"And that's the end of that chapter." said Eric.

"But...how..." I sputtered. 'How are you alive?"

Eric lifted up his shirt, revealing a suit of body armor, with a single bullet hole in the center. "Ammu-Nation has everything." he mused.

"Come on." Jay said. "We'll take the helicopter out of here." He stepped up to the helicopter, with its left side was covered in blood.

"Can you fly this?" I asked warily as I followed him into the cockpit.

"Yeah, sure. Did it a few times back home. Nothing to it."

My fears subsided as we lifted gently into the air five minutes later.

3:10 PM

I sat quietly in the back of the helicopter, thinking of what it would be like to be free from these monsters. I could see the Gant Bridge looming in the distance, its red towers stretching into the sky. As we neared the bridge, I began to fall asleep. As my eyes started to close, I noticed a quick flash of light coming from one of the towers. A second later, one of the guys exclaimed, "RPG!" and that's when everything went back to shit.

The rocket smashed into the tail of the helicopter, sending it spinning out of control. As we spiraled over the water, Jay handed me a parachute. I put it on and followed he and Eric out of the smoking soon-to-be-waterlogged wreck. As we floated towards the ground, I heard gunfire. The zombies on the tower were firing on us. Jay tossed me an MP5 (how he manages to magically produce this stuff, I have no idea), and the three of us opened fire on the zombies. We managed to hit a few, but our quick descension wasn't helping my aim very much. As I paused to reload my gun, I caught a glimpse of the zombie with the rocket launcher.

"RPG!" I warned the others as the zombie loaded the tube. I raised my gun and fired a hail of bullets at the RPG zombie, cutting him down. The rocket launcher fell from his hands and rolled off the tower, into the bay. I looked to my left and saw Jay and Eric shooting down the zombies, the shots knocking some of them off the tower. It's a miracle we haven't been hit, I thought to myself.

Suddenly I heard the sound of air escaping, and a second later I could tell from my loss of balance that my parachute had been punctured. One...two...three more shots. My parachute was nothing more than a big useless nylon piece of shit. I tried to grab the others' attention, but they didn't notice me. Then I struck the ground, and everything went dark.