Authors: TS Alan
The Romero Strain (46 page)
Piss Pants sat on the examining table buttoning up his shirt. The doctor had checked him over and gave him the inoculation. There was nothing wrong with the prisoner except slight malnourishment. He also reeked like a homeless person who was wearing too many clothes on a hot summer’s day. Since Dick had finished his exam and found him fit, I wished to eject him, but I thought the better of it. He had seen the inside of the facility, some of what it contained and the strength of our little army. It was unwise for me to throw him out so he could report what he found to his cohorts. I would deal with him after everyone was safely on the helicopter.
“I need your help,” he pleaded.
“This is all the help you’re going to get, Piss Pants. I’ll deal with you in the morning. Until then I have a cozy little closet for you.”
“But I need your help. And it’s
Paul
.”
“Listen,
Piss Pants
,” I responded with great irritation in my voice and attitude. “Stop wasting air. If you don’t shut your mouth I’ll crack you.”
He didn’t listen. “But you don—”
I chopped him in the throat, hard enough to take his breath away but not hard enough to do any permanent damage. I was angry about having to stay behind and I was taking my frustration out on the prisoner, but at that moment I didn’t care.
The strike had worked; all he could do was gasp for air. I lead him to an empty room. It wasn’t a closet, but it was a room that I could lock him in.
“Try and escape and you’ll be shot.”
“Hey, what if I have to use a bathroom?” he said, barely able to get the sentence out, still in pain from the strike I gave to him.
“Then you know what to do.”
I closed the door behind him and snapped the padlock shut. He’d have to find the light switch himself.
* * *
We left an hour before dawn, under the cover of darkness to cloak our departure. I let Sam drive since it would probably be the last time he would drive a Cadillac, let alone be inside one. Headlights were not necessary. The onboard thermal imaging system allowed for a nearly clear view of the streets. Marisol was behind the command center computer, Max at her feet, while David was in the back monitoring the rear view screen for anything hostile that could come from behind. I stood up in the gunner’s port looking out into the darkness observing everything around us. Kermit sat as close to the front of the vehicle as he could while Julie and Otter sat near David.
We were heading for the South Street Seaport. It was a place I knew well and a place a chopper could land. I told Sam not to rush. The traffic was light, I jested. Pier 17 was the pickup point and a half hour after dawn was the time. We parked the vehicle facing the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive underpass at South Street, between the yellow colored New York Water Taxi ticket booth and the pea soup colored South Street Seaport Museum Visitors Center. There was more than enough room for a large helicopter to land.
David had reported that he was catching glimpses of something following us, but was unsure what it was. When I turned around and scanned the darkness from where we had come, I saw no threat, just glances of animals scampering and scurrying about, peeking their heads in and out of the shadows that the buildings of Fulton Street cast from the waning moon.
I watched and waited, gazing not at the sky but back across South Street, past the Heartland Brewery, beyond the Fulton Market building, up the plaza toward the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse at Pearl Street. I was watching to see if anything was coming, but the night was motionless.
Dawn was approaching, but for the moment I had time to do one final gesture of friendship for the man who was going to keep my love safe and protected, and that was to give him a birthday present.
I closed the upper hatch as I ducked back into the truck. I picked up a camouflage backpack, turned to David and told him, “Happy birthday, DD,” handing him the bundle.
“Birthday?” he asked, taking the pack from me.
“What? You forget what today is? It’s October 14
th
.”
“Shit. Didn’t even think about what day it was. How did you know?”
“It was Julie. We we’re planning a surprise party for ya, but I guess you won’t be getting any cake this year ’cause it’s back at the armory. Chocolate I think.”
“Double chocolate fudge,” Kermit corrected. “And that would be an incorrect assumption. I packed cake in my duffle bag. You’ve spoiled Julie’s surprise.”
“I suck, don’t I?” I announced. “It would have been nice if someone would have said something,” I retorted with slight irritation, glaring at Kermit.
Julie consoled me. “It’s okay, J.D. I didn’t know about the cake either.”
When light finally broke, I threw out a smoke flare to indicate our position. It was only a few minutes before the distinct sound of a helicopter broke the silence of the dawn. It was an HH-60 Pave Hawk Sam pointed out. I was actually going to miss his rambling lectures and excessive information. The helicopter landed, its side facing us with its manned machine gun protruding out the cabin window. It wasn’t as ominous as I had expected; there was no large caliber machine gun mounted in the cabin door like in
Apocalypse Now
.
The tailgate opened and Kermit and Sam disembarked, taking up defensive positions, as I headed toward the Pave Hawk with the doctor’s pack in hand. Everyone knew the drill. When I signaled, the girls and canines would board first, followed by David, and finally Sam and Kermit.
As I approached the chopper, a sergeant greeted me.
“Master Sergeant William “Swig” McDaniels, United States Air Force, 48
th
Fighter Wing, at your service. Glad to meet you, Sergeant.”
I didn’t salute, I knew not too, but held out my hand in friendship; he reciprocated.
“The 48
th
? I thought the 422
nd
was coming?” I replied, as I climbed aboard.
“We’re here. I’m originally from Liberty Wing out of Lakenheath. The sergeant here is from Croughton, Flight Engineer McCormick is from Alconbury and our pilot and co-pilot are from the 100
th
Air Refueling Wing
,
Midenhall. We’re all 422
nd
ABG now.”
“Lakenheath, that’s James Bond,
Tomorrow Never Dies
, right?”
“That’s correct. Let’s get everyone aboard; we have a long trip home.”
“Here,” I said, as I handed him a small cooler and a small pack, “That’s for Major Ramsey.”
I signaled to my team; they deployed as discussed. Marisol came first with Max on his leash, then Julie with Otter. We were suddenly interrupted. The half-mutes were coming. The sound of the helicopter had attracted their attention.
“I got unknowns coming in, unknowns coming in,” I heard the gunner sergeant yell. I saw the gun move. I saw the half-mutes running toward us from the plaza. I had only a few moments before they would reach the pier.
David and I quickly got Julie and Otter aboard.
“Half-mutes,” I said aloud, shouting over the propeller noise, which had begun to spin up. “If you shoot you’ll only attract more. My team can handle them. Just get ready to go.”
I jumped out of the helicopter as David climbed aboard.
I quoted him the character Kane’s line from the film
Highlander: The Final Dimension,
about seeing him in hell.
David’s pause was brief; he correctly responded with Connor MacLeod’s line about being the judge of that.
He was good.
I quickly moved away from the chopper for the Stryker. Kermit and Sam were already running toward me. The half-mutes were nearly upon us. I unsheathed my blades.
I couldn’t stop them all. A few ran past. I heard the whirling blades of the chopper grow louder, and then its machine gun. I didn’t have time to look behind; I just hoped Kermit and Sam had made it. I thought I heard Marisol’s cries as the chopper lifted off. Then something struck me. I went down. I had been shot from behind. I saw half-mutes falling, but I saw more coming. I was too far from the safety of the Stryker. I struggled to stand. My thigh flared in intense pain. I tried to work through it, but I wasn’t going to be able to stand very long. I could feel the blood flowing out of both holes the bullet had made when it passed through me.
The rattle of the machine gun stopped, the chopper moved away. I had been left behind even if I had wanted to go. There was nowhere to run. More of them came running toward me. I tried to escape to the water, but it was as equal in distance as was the truck. I would have to make my stand where I stood. It was slice and dice time. I twirled my machetes ready for the onslaught.
I spoke the same final words as the Nexus-6 replicant Roy Batty uttered right before his death in
Blade Runner
. But I left out the part about dying.
“Okay, David!” I shouted out, and then whispered. “This one’s for you!”
Also Available from
John F.D. Taff –
Kill/Off
When David Benning is blackmailed by a shadowy organization known only as The Group he's thrust into a world of guns, payoffs and killing unknown, seemingly ordinary people. As he becomes more enmeshed, he begins to grasp The Group’s true motives, and its secrets––secrets that must never be revealed. David can trust no one… not even the one person he has grown to love.
J.C. Michael -
Discoredia
As the year draws to a close a mysterious stranger makes a proposition to
club owner, Warren Charlton. It’s a deal involving a brand new drug called Pandemonium. The good news: the drug is free. The bad news: it comes at a heavy price, promising much but delivering far more. Euphoria and ecstasy. Death and depravity. All come together, at Discoredia.
James Roy Daley –
Authors & Publishers Must Die!
From the mouth of author/publisher James Roy Daley comes Authors and Publishers Must Die! No punches are pulled in this non-fiction title, which is filled to the rim with straightforward, practical advice
for writers, while exploring what it’s like to be on the other side of the desk. A must read for every author.
Weston Kincade –
A Life of Death
Homicide detective Alex Drummond is confronted with the past through his son’s innocent question. Alex’s tale of his troubled senior year unfolds revealing loss, drunken abuse, and mysterious visions of murder and demonic children. Is he going insane? With the help of his friend, Alex must find the source of his misfortune and ensure his sanity.
Julie Hutchings -
Running Home
Death hovers around Ellie Morgan like the friend nobody wants. She doesn’t belong in snow-swept Ossipee, New Hampshire, at a black tie party––but that is where she is, and where he is: Nicholas French, the man who mystifies her with a feeling of home she’s been missing, and the impossible knowledge of her troubled soul.
John F.D. Taff –
The Bell Witch
A historical horror novel/ghost story based on what is perhaps the most well documented poltergeist case to occur in the United States. The Bell Witch is, at once, a historical novel, a ghost story, a horror story and a love story all rolled into one.
Justin Robinson -
Everyman
Ian Covey is a doppelganger. A mimic. A shapeshifter. He can replace anyone he wants by becoming a perfect copy; taking the victim’s face, his home, his family. His life. No longer a man, but a hungry void, Ian Covey is a monster. Virtue has a veil, a mask, and evil has a thousand faces.
Mark Matthews -
On the Lips of Children
Meet Macon. Tattoo artist. Athlete. Family man. He's planning to run a marathon, but the event becomes something terrible. Macon falls prey to a bizarre man and his wife who dwell in an underground drug-smuggling tunnel. They raise their twin children in a way Macon couldn't imagine: skinning victims for food and money. And Macon, and his family, are next.
Bracken MacLeod -
Mountain Home
Lyn works at an isolated roadside diner. When a retired combat veteran stages an assault there her world is turned upside down. Surviving the sniper’s bullets is only the beginning of Lyn's nightmare. Navigating hostilities, she establishes herself as the disputed leader of a diverse group that are at odds with the situation. Will she - or anyone else - survive the attack?
Gary Brandner -
The Howling
Karyn and her husband Roy had come to the peaceful California village of Drago to escape the savagery of the city. On the surface Drago appeared to be like most small rural towns. But it was not. The village had a most unsavory history. Unexplained disappearances, sudden deaths. People just vanished, never to be found…
