Chapter 58: Failsafe
15 MINUTES UNTIL FAILSAFE
The sky was stained a dark red as the fiery wreckage of the C-130 Hercules blazed.
The cries of the Infected filled the air as they feasted upon remains that, only a few minutes earlier, had been living, breathing men, filled with hope for escape.
It had all been in vain.
Zoey was in shock. This could not be happening. They killed that fucking Tank! She had watched it die. Only for it to emerge from the ruins of the airport and utterly annihilate a squad of highly-trained soldiers. Those poor souls who had died defending them.
She was still reeling from the mind-numbing horror that had struck her when the plane exploded, taking with it their hopes for escape.
Now what were they to do?
Bill curled his fingers around the handle of his SIG-Sauer pistol, feeling absolutely worthless. While everyone around him had fought tooth and nail to defend the runway from the Infected, he had been sitting like an old useless bastard. And he had failed to kill the Tank.
He had fucking failed.
Now, Williams and his men were dead, and his team would be joining them unless they acted quickly. "We got less than fifteen minutes until this entire city is reduced to rubble," he said quietly. "We need a plan to get outta here."
"Could we sneak out across the runway on foot?" Louis suggested in a hushed tone, to which he a received a shake of the head.
"The Infected would spot us before we got ten metres. And I spent enough time in the army to know how serious it is when they resort to levelling a city. They'll also bomb the surrounding areas to at least four or five kilometres to try and kill as many of the Infected as possible."
"Then it's pretty obvious how we're gettin' out of this shit," Francis interjected, jerking a thumb over his shoulder toward a white, blood-splattered van that made up part of the failed barricade. "We use that airport van. The army had to move it to use it for cover, so the keys are probably in the ignition or the driver's cab somewhere."
"Look at all those Infected between you and that van!" the war veteran hissed. "You wouldn't get five paces."
"I know. That's why I need you guys to cover me," the biker replied. "You all up for it?"
"Uh, of course we'll cover you," Zoey started, uncertainty in her tone. This plan was too risky. "But – "
"No time for buts, unless you want to be carpet-bombed back to the stone age," he shot back, lifting the Colt M4 and getting ready to run. "You all need to make sure that nothing gets in my way, and keep them off the van once I get in. I'll bring it back around – "
"Francis," Louis cut in.
"What?!" he hissed irritably.
"Be careful."
After a moment, the burly man nodded in acknowledgement before turning back toward the van. It was only ten to fifteen metres or so, but to him, it looked like a hundred.
Bill stole a glance at his watch to see that it was nearing five-fifty a.m. He was glad he had taken the opportunity to synch his watch with Captain Williams'. At least now his group had an accurate measure of how much time they had left.
The old man set his stopwatch and then nodded silently at Zoey. She rose and drew a bead on the head of the nearest infected man with her Winchester rifle.
The stopwatch ran down the time:
12:30
12:29
12:28
"Go."
The gunshot from Zoey's rifle shattered the stillness of the air.
The rest of the survivors stood up and immediately opened fire, their weapons clattering in their hands as they cut a swath through the crowd toward the van. Coarse growls echoed across the runway as the Infected noticed and swarmed toward them.
10:57
10:56
10:55
"Suck on this, you zombie bastards!" Francis yelled, throwing Bill's last pipe-bomb out into the fray. Many of the Common Infected nearby immediately lost interest in them and ran after the blinking device, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen to them. The combined fire from Zoey's hunting rifle and Louis' M-16 took care of any stragglers left in the way.
Francis took off like hound out of the stocks. Moments later, the pipe-bomb exploded, wiping out a sizeable portion of the Infected in the immediate area.
09:40
09:39
09:38
"Shit, there's too many of 'em!" Louis shouted as he paused to reload his assault rifle. The lull in the covering fire was met with a fierce push from the Infected. Francis was forced to stop momentarily, lift the Colt M4 and blow away the tenacious attackers that came too close to him.
"Over there!" Bill shouted, doing his best to ignore the pain that shot through his body as he pointed toward an immense bulbous figure in the distance. "Shoot that fucker! It'll distract 'em!"
Zoey immediately swung her hunting rifle around and drew a bead on the Boomer.
Blood, guts and bile flew as the bulbous man exploded. Many of the Infected nearby paused, sniffed the air, and then ran in the direction of the Boomer's remains, leaving the way clear for Francis to run to the van.
He wasted no time, and, seconds later, barrelled into the driver's seat. Extremely luckily for him, he found the keys already in the ignition.
"Well ain't that just dandy," he muttered to himself, gunning the engine and throwing the van into reverse gear, running over several attackers behind him.
07:20
07:19
07:18
"Yes, yes..." Zoey whispered as she saw the white van come roaring toward them. She slung her hunting rifle back over her shoulder and whipped up her pistol, as she and Louis focused on keeping the Infected around them at bay. "So far, so good..."
The words froze in her throat when a rumbling roar reverberated throughout the air, and a hulking figure emerged from behind the flaming wreckage of the C-130 Hercules, obviously drawn in by all the noise.
The Tank.
Oh, shit. They had to hurry.
"Francis better make this quick!" Louis shouted between the thunder of his M-16.
The biker in question made sure to run over as many Infected between him and his team as possible on the way back, to make sure that they would not cause problems for them. Eventually, he skidded to a stop in front of his friends.
"Come on, get in!" he yelled from the open driver's window.
06:50
06:49
06:48
Zoey threw open the back door and helped Bill into one of the seats in the rear compartment of the van, while Louis laid down a barrage a cover-fire from next to the vehicle. Bullets sparked the runway and the Infected howled as they swarmed toward them.
What was even more frightening was the huge shadowy mass of muscle that was thundering toward them from the crashed plane.
"Get in, you fuckin' black bastard!" Francis shouted.
Louis complied and grabbed hold of a hand-bar overhead. There was no time for him to scramble into the front passenger seat, or to even close the back doors of the van. "Just go!" he shouted.
Tyres squealed and rubber burned as the van took off, smashing through a group of Infected that had assembled directly in front of it. The still-open back doors of the van swung wildly as it swerved toward a road. Enraged shouts and screams were all around them. Zoey gripped her seat tightly, while Bill never took his eyes off the stopwatch.
06:00
05:59
05:58
"We gotta move fast!" he shouted, as the airport vehicle tore out of the airfield. "We need to get at least five k's out, or this van's gonna be toast when the airforce arrives!"
"Uh, we got a more immediate problem than that!" Louis cried nervously, looking through the opening in the back of the van to see the Tank approaching rapidly from behind. "Man, this guy is fast!"
One kilometre.
04:35
04:34
04:33
"Hold it steady, Francis!" Louis yelled from the back as he let go of the hand-bar and raised his M-16. "I'm gonna try slow this asshole down!"
The burly biker grunted in affirmative as he raced down a highway away from the town. Were they headed north? West? Who knew anymore?
Louis opened fire straight through the opening between the swinging rear doors, his rounds sizzling through the air. Most of them missed, but several hit home, the bullets tearing into the Tank's flesh. Injured as it was, the beast still ploughed on relentlessly. He was starting to think it was hopeless, but, eventually, the monster began to slow down.
Two kilometres.
03:20
03:19
03:18
Zoey's fingers dug into the cushion of her seat. She had never been an overly-religious person, but she found herself praying.
Three kilmometres…
02:00
01:59
01:58
"Jesus, drive faster!" Bill yelled.
"I've got the pedal to the fucking floor!" Francis roared back.
The war veteran groaned as his body ached. He did not care what it took, but they were going to get out of this alive.
They had to.
Four kilometres…
01:00
00:59
00:58
Francis ground his teeth in as he glared through the windshield at the road in concentration. The van's engine roared as it was gunned to the absolute limit.
Louis watched in fascination as the Tank still continued to pursue them! However, it was starting to fall behind.
00:30
00:29
00:28
A sudden shrieking in the sky overhead caught everyone's attention.
"What was that?" Zoey shouted.
00:10
00:09
00:08
The biker spared a glance up to see lights tearing through the sky, right overhead. He could just make out the twin flames of what looked to be ten to fifteen jets, each one roaring as it shot overhead.
00:02
00:01
00:00
The F-16 fighters approached the town of Newburg from the north, soaring toward the rise of buildings at Mach 2. The city lay dark and silent beneath them.
Moments later, flashes and booms could be heard below as bombs began to rain down from above. The city lit up like the fourth of July. Fires roared and buildings crumbled.
Angered shouts that filled the air were soon silenced as the flames consumed anything or anyone at ground level.
Francis tore the van down the highway, swerving to avoid wrecked cars littered across the road. He could hear the explosions behind them. Were they far enough out?
Louis looked on in shock as explosions rocked the countryside behind them. The pursuing Tank was caught in a wave of flame, and, shockingly, caught fire! Its rampage slowed considerably as the flames ravaged its body.
"Haha! Watch that fucker burn!" Louis whooped, unable to tear his eyes away as the flaming mass of Tank eventually collapsed to the ground in the distance.
The survivors sat in silence for a moment as the van continued north along the highway. Eventually, Francis and Louis laughed, euphoria filling them at the prospect of their narrow brush with death.
"I told you guys we'd make it!" he cried, reaching over and pulling the back doors of the van finally shut. He then crawled up past Zoey and Bill and collapsed into the front passenger seat, where he exchanged a high-five with the driver.
Bill just sank back into his seat and closed his eyes, the wrinkles on his face becoming more pronounced as he smiled. It had been one hell of a ride.
As the others celebrated around her, Zoey sat in a stunned silence as she allowed the horrifying situation to sink in. An entire city had been wiped out by the Infection, right before her very eyes.
One city of many.
Countless dead. How many more would follow?
The blood-splattered white van roared north along the highway to nowhere in particular.
Behind it, the sky flashed as the bombs fell and the city of Newburg burned.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Thank you to everyone for the reviews and suggestions. Please keep them coming!
Sorry for the delay, but, with this chapter, the Dead Air campaign is finally concluded. It's been the longest one yet.