The helicopter, a Harbin Z-20 from the PLA Army, looked very similar to a Black Hawk. And as it approached Alvin’s location and hovered above him in the air, the stench of the horde was getting so strong that he could hear the sound of thousands of bodies slamming into each other as they raced in the narrow streets trying to get to the helicopter.
Alvin waved his hand at the pilot as he still kept pressure on the door.
Steven Cheng put his hand out the open window of the helicopter and gave a thumbs up to the man on the roof.
Steven was a deserter or worse a traitor now, along with his copilot Tao. He would get executed by the PLA along with his co-pilot, with whom he stole the helicopter, if they ever get captured by their former employers.
It was madness what Steven had agreed to do with his copilot Tao. His copilot had a connection with a foreign spy agency who agreed to take them in and pay them enough money to set them up for life, in exchange for getting one of their guys safely out of the country with the package he was carrying.
Steven reduced the collective input to bring the altitude of the helicopter down to a hover as close to the roof as possible. He spoke into the microphone of the headset in Cantonese to Tao, “The agent’s still alive. Help him secure the door and get the brief case on to the helicopter.”
“Remember,” Tao said. “We get the hell out of here the moment the briefcase is in the helicopter. They don’t care about the agent, Steven, they want that briefcase no matter what. No briefcase, no money.”
“Go get our golden goose,” Steven said. “He looks like he can’t hold the door any longer.” He aligned the helicopter perfectly to the edge of the roof. He gripped the cyclic tight as he spotted the zombies falling on one other as they crowded into the street below the helicopter.
They had little precious time before the zombie horde crowded upon one another to reach up to the helicopter in a jumbled mass of bodies.
Alvin eyed the steel rod that was seriously bent out of shape. It wouldn’t hold any longer. He would fly away from this hell and forget this nightmare ever happened if the steel rod could hold long enough for him to get on the chopper.
The copilot opened the door to the helicopter and took a rifle. He aimed it in the direction of Alvin as he gave a signal with his other hand to hold the position at the door. He jumped off the helicopter onto the roof and ran towards Alvin.
Alvin thought that the copilot would help him with the door. But when the copilot reached the briefcase fallen on the ground, he picked it up and ran back towards the helicopter without even looking back at Alvin.
His extraction team seemed to be focused more on saving the briefcase rather than saving him. Their main priority was getting the briefcase out of the city, not him. They would leave Alvin to die, to be eaten by the zombies.
He couldn’t hold the door any longer. The zombies pushed on the door with more force and the steel rod was almost at the breaking point.
The moment he stopped holding the door it would break from the pressure exerted by the zombies.
Alvin took the risk.
He let go of the door and sprinted towards the helicopter.
Steven looked through the glass at his feet as the zombies climbed the outer wall of the apartment as they piled upon one another into one mass. They were a few meters away from touching the helicopter’s wheels.
Steven turned his head towards the roof. Tao, with the brief case, and the agent ran towards the helicopter. Behind them the door slammed open, zombies stumbled and fell out of the door. The zombies crawled and came to their feet as they chased the two men on the roof with their bloody mouths, snarling and growling at Tao and the agent.
Steven’s heart raced as he saw those creatures break through the door. He had heard about them. He wanted to increase the collective and get the helicopter up where it was safe from the zombies. But he could not abandon Tao on that roof and condemn him to a fate worse than death, so using all the courage he had, he kept the helicopter in position long enough for them to get on.
Steven heard Tao speak into the microphone, the moment he was in the helicopter. “The package is secured Cheng. Lets go!”
Steven increased the collective and swung the cyclic stick to get the helicopter away from the roof.
Alvin took a deep breath and leaped on to the helicopter as it moved away from the roof.
The copilot cursed in a foreign language when he turned back to Alvin. He raised his rifle up and began shooting at the zombies that tried to get on to the helicopter.
Alvin scrambled to the other side of the aircraft and turned towards the entrance with his Glock-19 aimed at the zombies and fired along with the copilot. The noise of the guns firing deafened his ears to a ringing sound.
The zombies could only truly be stopped by a bullet to the head. The copilot didn’t know that and his bullets seemed to do no damage as they hit the center mass of the zombies.
Only Alvin’s Glock-19 bought down two zombies, killing them as he fired a single shot to both their heads.
But two zombies managed to jump onto the helicopter and they lunged towards the copilot and him.
The helicopter leaned to the right as Steven was startled by two bullets that flew near him hitting the glass and the instrument panels. But he kept the helicopter steady even as it swinged from the extra weight of zombies hanging from the landing gears. He looked back to see Tao struggling to keep a zombie away from him with his rifle.
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Alvin stumbled and fell onto his back as the helicopter leaned abruptly to the right. The zombie bit Alvin’s leg as it lunged on its four limbs towards him. He screamed in pain as it tore the flesh out of his leg. His shots missed into the air through the open door but his fourth shot got in the head.
Alvin scrambled to his feet and pushed the zombie out the door with his leg. He aimed his gun at the zombie trying to get its teeth into the copilot and fired. The bullet entered through the skull and blood splattered all over the pilot and the cockpit.
Steven cursed as blood splattered on his head, neck and his cockpit. “What the fuck is going on back there?!” he shouted in English.
Alarms blared on the panels and the helicopter swayed as he tried to get it under control. “The zombies have latched on to the wheels and are making it difficult for me to control the helicopter. Get them off the wheels before we get crashed.”
Tao looked concussed, so Steven turned to the foreigner and pointed down. “Landing Gear!”
Alvin shook the shocked copilot to bring him out of the stupor but he wouldn’t budge. So he took the rifle from him, holding onto the handle above, he leaned out the door and fired upon the bunch of zombies that held on to the landing gear.
A bullet hit the head of one of the zombie causing it to let go of the wheel. All the zombies fell to the ground along with the one that got shot, as the zombie they held on let go of the helicopter.
Alvin got a birds eye view of the whole city as the helicopter picked up speed and increased its altitude. Fires consumed buildings and vehicles in some places while in other places within the city, the fires had already turned them into ashes. Abandoned vehicles, both civilian and military, lay all over the roads.
But what caught his attention was the mass of zombies that seemed endless, as they ran, following the helicopter. The streets were overfilled with the mass of zombies, like a tide of tsunami, ran over each other trying to follow after the heavy rotor noise that the helicopter created.
Alvin turned his attention back to the inside of the helicopter and noticed the copilot behaving strangely. The copilot turned to Alvin and in Cantonese said, “I am fine. I will be fine. It’s nothing.”
Alvin knew what was happening to the copilot. He would turn into a zombie any moment just like the copilot. That was the greatest danger; not knowing when they would turn. One moment they would be fine, the next they were ready to eat human flesh.
Alvin raised the rifle.
The copilot raised his hands and begged Alvin in Cantonese.
There was enough dosage of the cure in the brief case for the both of them. He was told by his asset, that the cure in the brief case was supposed to cure four people. The cure might stop the Z-Virus if they took it right now.
The Asset had also told that the cure was a prototype and the initial results of experiments was satisfactory... some times.
Steven heard the words Tao spoke and turned to find out what was wrong.
Bang!
The bullet hit Tao’s head.
Steven shouted in anger: “NO!” He scrambled to get his hand gun out of its holster to kill that damn agent.
The point of a gun came into Steven’s view.
“Stop it,” Alvin said, as he pushed the gun at the Pilot’s neck. “Focus on getting us out of here.”
“Why did you do it?” Steven said in English.
“He was dead the moment he was bitten by the zombie,” Alvin said. He could feel his body getting hotter from a fever, radiating intensely from the infected bite area on his leg. He had limited time now to administer the cure to himself. So he bought the gun down and said, “There was no other choice, he was gonna turn into a zombie.”
Steven knew he was right and watched silently as the agent threw Tao and the zombie out the door. He noticed the sluggishness of the agent and the way his leg limped as he picked up the briefcase.
As the agent’s attention was off him, Steven took his gun and aimed at the Agent. “You are infected too. You should die alongside him.”
“Do it and I will chuck the briefcase out the door,” Alvin said. “Good luck trying to get anything from the agency after that.”
“It’s better than getting eaten by you when you get turned into one of those creatures.” Steven increased the pressure on the trigger.
“I won’t turn into a zombie. I have the cure with me. If you get me to my destination safely, I will ensure that you are rewarded properly by the agency. You do not know how the agency operates. If you are not careful and fail to take the proper precautions, the agency might decide that they would prefer not to have a loose connection and try to double cross you.”
“I want the money owed to my partner Tao too.”
“I will see what I can do.”
“No, you will get Tao’s money for me.”
“Fine, put the gun down. I need to inject the cure before I get turned.”
Steven put his gun down and turned his attention back to flying the helicopter. “You could have saved Tao too with the cure.”
Alvin closed the door, sat onto one of the seats and opened the briefcase. “There was only dosage for a single person.”
He looked at the contents of the brief case. There was two sets of ten 20 ml GC vials and two syringes. One set of the vials was colored red and the other blue. He took one of the blue vials, the cure, out of the foam padding that kept it safe from breaking. Filled a syringe with it and administered it to the infected area in his bitten leg.
He refilled the syringes and administered them to himself until all the vials of cure were empty.
Alvin took a long sigh of relief. He wouldn’t turn into a zombie. He would live. His lips turned up at that feeling. But his smile faltered as he was not out of the woods yet. The pilot spoke into his microphone. Anger and frustration marring his words.
Alvin closed the briefcase. Secured it under the seat and jumped into the copilot’s seat, and wore a spare helmet.
“Where are we heading?” he asked the Pilot.
“Somewhere safe hopefully, I was given coordinates to get to after we picked you up by the agency. We will reach there in three hours, that is if we manage to get out of here safely without getting blown up by a missile from the PLA.” Steven tried again and spoke into the radio, tried to convince the PLA radio operator he was talking to, that he was given a top secret mission to distract the PLA long enough for them to disappear.
Steven listened to the chatter on the radio as he changed frequencies. “We were lucky. They are bombing the whole city into ashes and dust. The bombers must be above the city by now. There!” He pointed at the sky.
Countless projectiles fell from the massive group of bombers, upon the city. Alvin and Steven watched as the bombs blew up, releasing fiery explosions on the city. Only ashes would remain in place of the city after that fire dies. No living creature in the city would be able to survive an onslaught of explosives such as that.
They could not speak with each other for an hour after that. But Steven needed answers.
“My name is Steven Cheng.”
“You can call me Alvin.”
“The cure. You used it all up right?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“I was told by my copilot that the agency wanted the brief case and its contents intact. Will they try some trick to avoid paying me when they learn that you used it up.”
“Why are you worrying about that? I told you. I will take care of it.”
“Because I just upended my whole life when I deserted the army and stole one of their aircrafts. When they learn about it, they will send men after me. And how will I be able to survive, when I am broke as hell when your agency back stabs me for what you did.”
“Something tells me that both our respective organizations will be worried more about the zombies and Compound-Z than they will care about money.”
“What is Compound-Z?” Steven asked.
“Compound-Z is the bioweapon that caused all the shit back in that city. Whoever holds Compound-Z, they could threaten the whole world for their own gain. And I have the only sample of Compound-Z left if they didn’t have it in any other facility. Something tells me that they would value the weapon more than the cure, that is the way of things in a world like this.
“So don’t you worry about this, Steven. I will squeeze every single penny out of them in return for handing them the Compound-Z. I will get my retirement early and we will be richer than we ever dreamed.”