Escape from the Damned (APEX Predator Book 2) (26 page)

Suddenly she lunged at the girl, slapping her in the face.  Theresa was stunned.  She stared at the older woman for a brief second, unbelievingly.  Finally, she sprung into action.  She grabbed the older woman by her hair and jerked down hard.  Ms. Hebert grabbed Theresa’s shirt as she was being pulled downwards.  This caused both women to tumble into the water on the downstream side of the tree.

By the time the two came up for air, SSgt Brown realized they were in big trouble.  Not only had they escaped the boundary of the tree branches, but they had separated.  He watched for a second as the two women drifted, not only apart, but away from him.  Shit!  He dove in.

He reached Theresa first.  She was trying to swim against the current.  He pointed her towards the bank and yelled at her to swim that way.  He then began swimming for Ms. Hebert.  She had drifted further into the river and therefore into the stronger current.

It took him several minutes to catch up with her.  When he did, he realized that she had also drifted near several floating zombies.  He navigated around them before reaching her.  She coughed and sputtered as he wrapped his left arm around her chest.  She began to fight.  He yelled at her to stop.  It was obvious she was panicking.

When he was in high school, he’d been a lifeguard at the local pool.  He remembered what you were supposed to do when a swimmer panics and threatens to pull you under.  He shifted his weight and turned her head under the water.  After several seconds she stopped grabbing him and began to try to save herself.  He rolled her back, kicking towards the bank as he did.

He could not see the bank and didn’t know how close he was to it when he heard the first shot.  He recognized it as a .45 caliber pistol.  That must be Theresa.  Shit!  He craned his neck around.  The girl was on the bank, running to catch up with the two adults as they were pushed downstream by the current.  He watched as she stopped suddenly a few feet from a zombie and shot it in the face from point blank range.  It fell, unmoving.

She continued to run as he kicked his way back to the shore.  A minute later, he was dragging Ms. Hebert up onto the bank.  She coughed twice, spitting up river water as she did.  Standing, the panic began to fade.

“Are you two finished?” SSgt Brown yelled.  The girls looked at the ground dejectedly.  “You two are fucking ridiculous.  I should make you hug it out or something stupid like that.  Look around!”

His ears caught the low hum of diesel engines as he finished.  He cocked his head left then right.  South, it was coming from down river.  He began moving in that direction, shooting two zombies as he did so.  The girls followed.

His spirits were lifted as the craft came closer. It was a barge of some kind.  There was something odd about the craft, but he couldn’t figure it out from so far away.

It was a helicopter.  The barge had a CH-47 Chinook on its deck.  It was the same helicopter he had seen before.  The note was right.  As if on cue, the helicopter lifted from the deck of the barge and flew directly for the trio.

The pilot brought the bird to a hover thirty feet away from the group with the back of his craft just over dry land.  Six soldiers rushed down the ramp and formed a small semi-circle. The trio ran towards the open rear ramp of the helicopter.  The soldier standing on the back deck caused SSgt Brown to stop dead in his tracks.  In place of a helmet, the young black soldier wore a white bandage and big grin.  The young trooper embraced his squad leader like a long lost brother; tears flowed freely down both men’s cheeks.

The squad of soldiers charged back up the ramp as the pilot added power to the engines.  The helicopter gained a few feet of altitude for the short flight back to its mother ship and safety.