The Sixth Level (9 page)

"Shut up, Griffin," Smitty said. "So what's the op, Major? Is this gonna be a straight up rescue or shit fight?"

Ramirez punched Smitty in the arm again. "Language."

"Sorry."

"All we know is that the military forces operating in the area have gone dark," Ethan answered. "Complete radio silence. And as you can see, the satellite imagery of the area is still ineffective."

"Wonderful. So we don’t know if there are any military forces in the area at all?" Griffin asked.

"No."

"Do we know how bad the infection is in that area?"

"From the data we have from Perth and from the rescue footage we intercepted, we can assume that Sydney will be extremely hostile."

"Wait a second," Ramirez said.

"Yes?"

"What’s our destination? Where’s our landing point?"

"The transmission that came from Private Kenji Yoshida was traced to the middle of Sydney, near the Sydney Tower. We’ll find a landing point as close to there as possible and attempt to make contact. Intel indicates there are several buildings in the CBD with helipads on their rooftops."

"So explain to me why we aren’t just going in with some heavy machinery?" Griffin asked. "Like a tank, for example."

"We wouldn’t be able to move around the city streets. There are too many abandoned cars, too many obstacles and blockages. If we get trapped, we’re dead. Sticking to the high ground will prove crucial. And as I'm sure you're all aware, we can't proceed on foot. Not on street level. We can assume the streets are completely overrun with the infected. We won't last five seconds."

"I thought the military had spent the past two weeks clearing out the city?" Smitty asked.

Ethan shook his head. "Even though there have been some reports indicating that the military have begun to reclaim certain areas of the city, I’m not prepared to take that into account. The city should be safer than it was two weeks ago, but we all saw what happened to the rescue team and we've all seen the satellite images of Perth."

Ethan then brought up the images of Perth on the whiteboard monitor. It was not pretty. The infected were everywhere. The streets were clogged with the walking dead. It was amazing to think just how fast this virus spreads.

"Whatever, man," Griffin said. "The infected aren't armed. And according to the report they can't even think for themselves. It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel."

Griffin and Smitty high-fived.

I couldn't help myself. I spoke up even though I wasn't sure that was allowed. But these soldiers or mercenaries or whoever they were seemed to underestimate the situation. They didn't understand what they were up against. Even though they had seen footage of it and even though they were just attacked by a pack of ferocious dogs that were in all probability infected.

"Is that what you think?" I asked them. "You think it'll be target practice? This virus managed to overwhelm the combined forces of the Australian and US military. All their containment protocols and extreme measures and believe me, they were extreme, all their tanks and jets and Apache helicopters couldn't stop this thing. The infected; they don't feel pain, they don't stop. Ever. Shooting them full of bullets, unless you shoot them in the head, won't do a damn thing. And do you think you can shoot a thousand violent psychopathic zombies, running at you? Let alone shoot them in the head? Do you think you're that good?"

The soldiers were shocked into silence. Hopefully they were taking in the weight of what I just said. I guess maybe they did know how messed up it was. Maybe acting tough was their way of dealing with their fear.

"She's right, gentleman," Ethan said, breaking the silence. "She's seen firsthand the devastating effects. Believe me when I say we are walking into hell. And believe me when I say we will not last five seconds on the streets. Not with six million infected psychopaths trying to rip us apart."

He picked up a manila folder and threw it on the table so that it landed open. Inside the folder were close up images of the infected. The last images from the doomed rescue mission.

"These are tough hombres," Ethan said. "Do not underestimate this."

Smitty shut the folder and Ramirez crossed herself.

Ethan nodded at me. "Thank you, Rebecca. OK, the plan is to land on top of one of these buildings," Ethan said as he pointed to a map on the white board. "The Sydney Tower shopping complex connects a number of buildings in the Central Business District. This is our starting point."

"What if there’s no landing area near the tower?" Ramirez asked.

"If there is absolutely nowhere to land, we drop in. Hudson will circle back and find a safe place to land and wait for our call."

I did not like that idea at all. Firstly I didn't like the idea of abseiling out of freakin helicopter hundreds of feet above the middle of the city with a million infected below us. And secondly I didn't like the idea of going in without Daniel. He was the only one I knew, the only one I trusted fully. And out here in the absolute middle of nowhere, about to head into a warzone, the feelings I had for him were intensified and magnified.

"Rebecca has informed us that our targets, that her friends would’ve moved further west if given the opportunity. But we can assume they have taken temporary refuge in one of the sky scrapers in the city. Hopefully they will be able to see us before we see them. Hopefully it won’t be that hard to find them."

"What if they’re not there?" Daniel asked.

"Then we search until we find them. We go block by block, building by building. Once we clear the city center we make our way west. We follow the river system. But we will not rest until we find them. I can’t stress the importance of this mission. We find this girl. We can stop the plague."

The soldiers nodded their heads, visualizing the mission in their minds eye.

"Anymore questions?"

"When do we get paid?" Smitty asked.

"Yeah, are we getting overtime for this or what?" Griffin added.

"Knock it off you two. I don't need to remind you guys that this mission is black ops. We screw up. We're on our own."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Major."

"All right team," Ethan said. "I want the Ospreys prepped and ready for takeoff immediately. Weather reports for the east coast indicate the dust storm is still intensifying. But as soon as the storm settles, we're moving out."

Chapter 8

Ramirez told me they have a saying. "One is none. Two is one."

Having a back up and a contingency plan was crucial. I could not have agreed more.

Daniel let me know I had my own footlocker, so I could store my bag. I decided to keep the letter from Kenji there as well. I didn’t want to risk losing it or ruining the ink or whatever. I promised myself I would read it when we got back. No matter what.

Daniel was worried about leaving the X-wing outside the perimeter while we were gone. So he parked it inside. The noise was amazingly loud when he fired up the engines. I wonder how much fuel he used up just to move it that short distance.

Once it was safely parked inside, the guys started checking their weapons and their packs, making sure they had enough ammo and enough supplies for the mission. It was nearly time to go. We were about to leave and I was getting nervous. My hands were sweating profusely and my heart was beating like a drum.

But then Ramirez informed us that the dust storm over Sydney had intensified so we had to wait some more.

The waiting was hard. It was mentally and emotionally draining. Having our adrenalin levels so high was exhausting. Minutes turned into hours. But we still had to wait for the all clear.

I remember once I had a fight with Kenji. Back before I moved to Sydney, back before everything went to hell. It was our first ever fight. I can't even remember what it was over. I think it was something stupid about how I didn't want to spend the night at his place because it might make things more complicated. After the fight I was just so exhausted. I was mentally and emotionally drained and tired. All I wanted to do was sleep. And I didn’t care if it was in his bed or mine.

I wish I could have a fight like that now. It was such a normal thing. And I’m quickly realizing just how much I miss normal.

I remember we had just finished watching a movie. ‘The Dark Knight’. I think it was the third movie in a row we had watched. We were talking about how it didn’t win the Oscar award for best picture. Kenji was of the opinion it was one of the best movies ever made. And definitely the best comic book movie ever made.

"Really?" I asked. "What about Spiderman?"

"No way," Kenji said. "Sure, Spiderman was good. But the Dark Knight is great. And Heath Ledger is brilliant. The best ever Batman villain ever."

"So you're not a fan of Jack's version of the joker?"

"Jack was good. I mean really good. But they’re such different interpretations. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. It shouldn’t be done. But Heath was brilliant. The dude was on another level of insane awesomeness. The movie was robbed at the Oscars."

"What won best picture that year?" I asked.

"Slumdog Millionaire."

"That’s a pretty damn good movie," I said.

"Yeah but again, nowhere near as good as The Dark Knight."

"Sounds like you've got the hots for Christian Bale."

"Yeah, maybe I do."

At this point I figured there was no point in arguing with Kenji about this so I started putting my shoes on and getting ready to go back to my place.

"Where are you going?" Kenji asked.

"Home."

"I thought you were sleeping over?"

"I can't."

"Come on you always spend the night."

"Not tonight."

"Why not?"

 
I’d finished putting on my shoes but I pretended I was still tying my laces so I didn't have to make eye contact with him. "I just don't think it's a good idea for me to sleep over anymore, you know? And besides you're dad absolutely hates me."

Kenji sat up and turned the TV off. "He doesn't hate you. And you've slept over plenty of times before. It's Saturday night. It's not like you've got an early start tomorrow or anything. And your mom is working the night shift."

"Maybe I do have an early start. Maybe things have changed"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Sleeping in the same bed and camping out in your backyard was fine before. But I'm fifteen now."

"Yeah."

"And you’re seventeen."

"Yeah, so?"

"Do the math."

"What?"

"Don't play dumb. Freshmen don’t go out with Juniors."

"I'm not playing dumb. And I don’t even go to your school. I'm just genuinely confused as to what the hell you're talking about."

"Throbbing biological urges." I blurted out, trying to explain myself. I quickly realized how stupid it must’ve sounded.

Kenji laughed, "Throbbing? Like, right now?"

I could feel my face turn bright red. "I gotta go."

"Wait a second. I'm gonna need an explanation. One that makes sense."

I could feel my palms begin to sweat so I rubbed them on my jeans. "I just think our age and spending some much time together may possibly get in the way of this friendship. And I don't want that to happen."

"You afraid you can't control your throbbing biological urges?" Kenji said with a smile on his face.

"No. I'm just saying you're the boy next door and I'm the girl next door. It's the oldest cliché in the book."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is; I don't want to gamble on our friendship. I don’t want to risk our friendship. If I lose you as a friend I could lose you for good."

"I don’t want to risk our friendship either. I don’t ever want to lose you. But right now you sound like you have a superhero complex."

"A what?"

"A super hero complex. You know, it’s like how the hero can never be with the one they love because they’re afraid of hurting them. Like Spiderman and Mary Jane."

"This isn't some stupid movie or comic book romantic subplot."

"Spiderman is not stupid. He's one of the most introspective and thoughtful and sensitive superheroes of all time. He loves Mary Jane but he doesn’t want to hurt her. So he makes a sacrifice. With great power comes great responsibility."

"Now you're being stupid. This is serious. And who said anything about love."

Now it was Kenji’s turn to blush. He hesitated, unsure of himself. He’d let the ‘L word’ slip out and he hadn’t meant to.

"I... I was talking about Spiderman," he said trying to recover. "But I'm being totally serious. We can remain friends, and we can stay up late and watch movies and camp out and nothing has to change. Our friendship is not in any danger. We’re not gambling with it. We’re not risking anything."