The Common Cold (Book 2): A Zombie Chronicle-Cabin Fever (5 page)

“Zoë,” BB caught her attention. “You pull the door open and
I’ll deal with him.
On three.”

As he counted down Zoë grabbed the handle and pulled. The
creature seemed surprised by the lack of door in front of him and paused for a
moment. Realising it now had access to the breathers outside it crouched down ready
to launch itself. The single shot surprised it, a small hole appearing in the
visor. A spray of blood escaped behind as the round exited the head and helmet
and dug itself into the metal behind. The creature fell forward and lay still.
Without checking his handiwork, BB raced over and checked the cabin for more
hostiles. It had been alone apart from a male corpse with a neat hole drilled
into its forehead, powder burns on the skin betraying the close quarter
execution. The corpse wore the flight suit of the Army Air Force and had once
been a pilot. Between them they dragged the body out and laid it reverently on
the ground.

“Do your thing, BB,” Zoë instructed. “I’ll keep you covered.”

Brad leapt into the cabin and unscrewed the same metal covers
under which he had found the problem on the other chopper. It was clean and
uncompromised. Excellent, he thought, as he screwed the plate back down, this bird
might actually fly. He rushed to the cockpit and flicked the master switch. The
gyros spun up and the console sprang to life. The fuel indicators said all
tanks were full.

“Ha! It works. And it’s fully fuelled.
Sweet.
It’s like they were waiting for me to drive it out of the showroom. Kim baby,
here I come.” BB felt the adrenaline rush as he thought of his wife, reckoning
her rescue was going to be easier than he’d dared to hope. With this one fully
fuelled he would only have to make three refuelling stops or fewer on the round
trip rather than six. All he had to figure out was where the stops ought to be.
Maybe Mike had emergency info on this stuff.

Getting out he gave the thumbs up to Mike, indicating his
success. Closing all the doors so they wouldn’t get any unwanted intruders,
they both ran back to the original chopper. Mike had started filling the port
tank.

“It’s fully fuelled. The poor bastard must have been jumped
as he was about to go out on duty.”

“You found the pilot,” Mike said, matter-of-factly. “I heard
the shot.”

“Yeah.
He’d turned and was trapped
in the cabin. There was another already dead inside.”

“Warrant Officer,” Mike asked Zoë, “would you care to accompany
First Officer Bukowski back to the camp in that one?”

“Sure, why not.” Zoë seemed to have no fear, even when
placing her life in the hands of someone she would normally regard as a rookie
pilot. BB seemed to have that effect on a lot of the fairer sex.

“Thanks. I’m nearly done here, so get ready to move out. I
don’t think there’s any point trying to report in, I’ve heard squat on the
radio up to now. If there was any sort of organisation left, I’m sure we’d have
heard something. Shame for Bill but I’m sure you can help him. With luck the
damage to his eyesight is just temporary.”

“My wife’s an emergency doctor,” BB announced. “I’ll bring
her back and she can help treat him, I’m sure. Perhaps we can stop off on the
way back and get proper medical supplies as well.”

“Oh, man. You kept her skills quiet,” Mike admonished.
“Sounds like she’d be a real asset to the group.
You can
trust me you know, even if we’d only had the one chopper I’d have helped you go
get her.”

“Look, it’s not that I don’t trust you, Mike, not really. But
until we found that other helicopter I wasn’t sure you’d let me use this one to
go on a rescue mission. It is a big risk, letting someone you don’t know just
piss off with your only ride.”

“Sure. I understand. Who will you take with you?”

“I don’t know. Cliff or Zoë would be the best - they are
both at home with choppers. That’s if they’re willing, of course. And there’s sure
as hell no substitute for their military training.”

“Amen to that.” Mike pondered for a moment. “Okay, let’s see
if you scare the crap out of the Warrant Officer on the way back. If you don’t
and she’s agreeable, I guess you have your second man.”

“Thanks. Listen, do any of you need to pick up any loved
ones before we go back?” BB enquired.
“Now’s the best time to
make a decision, while we’re here and the paint is still wet on the end of the
world.”

“I was just about to get to that,” Mike replied. “I don’t
but…” He cast a look at Zoë, “do you have someone to collect?”

“Only the cat and by now she’s probably out on the tiles
doing her thing. My parents are over in Florida on holiday. At least I hope so.
I’ve no idea where exactly; they’re in a motor home. And I know they don’t like
mobile phones, when they’re gone, they’re gone.”

“Okay. Sorry to hear that, Zoë.”

“Don’t worry. If my dad has any say in it they’ll be just
fine,” she said with less certainty than she intended. The look on her face was
concealed by the visor she had kept in place.

“What about Cliff and Bill?”

“
Dunno
, I’ll go
ask.”
Trotting off to the other side of the helicopter, she was just in
time to see the sergeant put a round in the head of a zombie running straight
at him. It seemed to have come from a parked car some four hundred yards away.
It slithered to a halt raising a dust cloud as it flopped to the ground. “What
was that, three hundred yards?” she asked, impressed by the shot.

“About three twenty,” he replied, smiling at his own
accomplishment.

“Captain wants to know, do you have anyone you want to fetch
to safety?”

Cliff stood up at the question and looked straight at her,
no expression discernable on his features.
“My wife and kids.
They’re in Aurora.”

“Not so far away from here. I’ll tell the captain.” Zoë made
her way over to Bill Mitchum who was sitting patiently in the helicopter.

“Hey, Bill.
Looks like we don’t have
anyone to report into.
We haven’t been able to contact HQ and we seem to
be surrounded by those things - they’re a ways off right now, so don’t worry.”

“Yeah, I heard the sergeant shoot something. I can hear what
sounds like groaning out there as well. And what is that smell?”

“Don’t worry, you’re other senses aren’t yet compensating
for not being able to see, the stink isn’t exactly subtle. It’s them I reckon,
they’re warming up in the sun. The groaning is them too,” she stated, her lip
curling at the thought of rotting corpses wandering around. “Do you have anyone
within chopper range we can go and pick up?”

Bill thought for a moment. “Nah, my old lady left me some
time ago so I’m a free agent right now.” He gave her what he hoped was a
lascivious grin. It almost worked; at least it made Zoë smile at him for the
first time ever.

Patting him on the knee reassuringly she got out and
reported back to the captain. Hearing the sergeant’s needs Mike gave the thumbs
up to Cliff who now appeared happy for the first time since they’d been
stranded in the mountains.

“I have to say I’m relieved, I thought the guy was a robot,”
Captain Simms said. “This is the first time I’ve discovered he has a human
side. BB, we’ll leave the second helo here while we get Cliff’s family. We’ll
come back here and refuel and then get back to the mountains. You okay with
that?”

Reluctant to leave a perfectly good vehicle behind, he
nodded his head. It made more sense than him tagging along like a love-struck
puppy.

“I’ll let you do the flying; it’ll be good to get some
practice in under my tutelage.”

“That works,” BB replied. He caught the captain’s sleeve and
looked him in the eyes. “Thanks.”

“No problem, Brad. I reckon we have to help each other more
now than ever before. It may be we only have each other for the foreseeable
future. Now let’s get this thing cranked up and let’s go, Cliff is waiting.”

The pilots boarded and began the brief pre-flight sequences.
The engines began their familiar whine as they increased revs to their steady
idle roar. Finished their guard duty, Zoë and Cliff jumped on board, unstrapped
the woman’s body and gently lifted her up and deposited her remains by the
bodies of the pilots they had found in the other chopper. Racing back on board,
they slammed the waist door and in moments the helicopter was a thousand feet
above the ground.

“Shit, will ya look at
that!
” Zoë
shouted in amazement. Looking down they could see at least a thousand zombie
people converging on the fuel dump. Most were about half a mile away but some
had crept in closer without being seen. “Fuck me,” she whispered under her
breath. “Sneaky bastards,” she said more loudly so Cliff could hear; he nodded
in acknowledgement as he just stared out of the window, clearly preoccupied
with what awaited him when he got to his house. As the helicopter rose the crew
could almost sense the feeling of disappointment wafting up from the ground as
the realisation hit the throng that their prey had moved out of reach.

“They must have heard or smelled us from a hell of a long
way away. Damn,” Cliff said with feeling. “When we get back remind me to put on
some aftershave.”

*

“You’re handling her well,” Simms said to BB, pleased that
the airline pilot really had a feel and fine handling capability needed for
helicopters. Some sort of natural flyer, he thought, pleased at having some
back up for the future.

“Thanks, it feels easy and very stable. I have to say I’ve
never flown one with so much power.” The speed with which they climbed from the
fuel depot almost frightened BB; it certainly took him by surprise. Even at
Denver’s height above sea level, its performance was awesome; he’d never flown
anything that could move as quickly and it was positively exhilarating.

As they crossed over the more built up areas of the city
they could see the streets were full of wandering crowds of the dead, stumbling
randomly around as if they had nothing better to do. Many looked injured,
accounting for their infection, but many appeared simply to have turned. They
must have succumbed to the original infection. No vehicles moved and there were
plenty of smouldering rows of fire-darkened timber; what was left of neat
little houses and apartment blocks. Even with a deep personal knowledge of the
area that Cliff had, the destruction was disorienting and without the compass
and moving map, finding the area called Aurora would have been a significant
challenge. Cliff offered hints as to visual landmarks along the way, not that
many of them remained particularly identifiable now, fire and other massive destruction
having sullied the clearly defined streets.

Now the once well organised, functional and broad street
matrices were blocked by crashed cars, and overturned trucks, that spilled
their loads across the flat tarmac. At these points there were signs of
significant looting as the number of bodies was greater, implying the people had
focused on their hoard rather than the danger that lurked all around them,
succumbing to the fast cheetah attacks they so did not expect or anticipate.
Perhaps desperation drove them in this fashion, becoming tunnel-
visioned
, their brains shutting down to avoid thinking
about their bigger plight and impending doom. The corpses littering the streets
appeared to have been eviscerated, limbs removed and skulls cracked open for
their contents; bloody rivers ran everywhere, some of it splashed leaving
bloody footprints that told a story of fear and desperation until they finally
succumbed and resisted no longer.

It was like the devil’s charnel house, the demons were the
revived Infected, walking from corpse to corpse looking for dregs of meat that
could still be consumed. Their lazy wandering almost implied that eating wasn’t
of great importance, perhaps only secondary actually to finding the meal.

“At least we know where the people are,” Zoë commented.
“Let’s hope we never have to land among them,” a sentiment that was silently echoed
by all aboard as they peered down at the stomach-clenching sight.

Every time they passed by a shopping centre of any size they
saw even larger crowds milling around like there was a sale going on that
no-one had told the helicopter crew about.

“What the fuck are they doing?” BB muttered. “Are they
working from some sort of residual memory?”

“Damn good question,” Mike replied, staring out of the
cockpit in awe. “It’s like everyone’s chosen to indulge in some serious retail
therapy all at the same time.”

As they passed over Cherry Creek Shopping
Center
, they saw messages painted on the roof of one of the
larger parts of the complex, announcing that some living were in there and
needed rescuing.

“Should we go have a look-see?” BB asked.

“We’ll drop in on our way back,” Mike stated. “Cliff’s
family have priority as far as I’m concerned.”

“Not a problem with me,” BB replied. He liked this Simms
fella, he had the right attitude about most things, it seemed.

“Zoë or Cliff, will you fire a green flare towards the
shopping mall, let them know they’ve been seen?”

“Sure thing Captain,” Cliff replied. Moments later a green
flare sailed towards the building complex, leaving a white trail of smoke in
its wake. They were too far away to see if anyone responded.

A few minutes later they were arriving overhead Aurora.

“So, Cliff, where do we go?” BB called back over the
intercom.

“Hover over the shopping mall and I’ll direct you from
there.” There was an edge to Cliff’s voice now, anticipating the worst yet
hoping that his family had survived somehow. It was a mess below and row after
row of houses had burnt down, and many were still ablaze. Out on the streets smaller
numbers of dispossessed people milled aimlessly around; the crew assumed they
were all infected, it would be safer to make that assumption. BB maintained
their thousand feet height, making sure they didn’t behave like the Pied Piper,
drawing zombies in their wake as they had done at the fuel dump.