The Fourth Phase

TWENTY-SIX

The three NH-90 helicopters sat waiting on the concrete pad. Dee walked towards them, holding Jack’s hand. Part of her thought about the other soldiers smirking at the public display of affection, but she cast these thoughts aside. She glanced up at the split windscreen, grinning to herself. They always reminded her of bug eyes staring at their prey. She could feel the weight of her combat vest, stuffed full of extra magazines, pushing down on her small frame.

Ben stood with Sergeant Hollis next to the nearest NH-90 chopper. He smiled as she and Jack approached, waving them over.

Jack lifted up the metal case Katherine had given to him. “This is for the Colonel. I didn’t want to give it to the Indonesian pilot. In all the confusion yesterday, I forgot about it.”

Ben took it off Jack and shook his head, looking down at it. “All that madness, for what’s in here. It better be bloody worth it.” He turned, handing it to Sergeant Hollis. “Secure this in the bunker.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Dee watched him jog off. Then, looking up at Ben, she smiled. “Do you think we have a chance today, Ben?”

He glanced between her and Jack. “We’ve survived, guys. Against all the odds, we’ve survived this far. All we can do now is try. Try to save the boys, and with the new intel Alice provided about the camp, save them too. We’ll always have a chance.” He paused and grasped Jack’s shoulder. “What was it that Gimli said? ‘Certainty of death. What are we waiting for?’”

Jack grinned at Ben. “Yeah, something like that.”

“We fight on, guys. We survived the lab. Dee, we rescued Jack. Let’s go get the boys and bring them home.”

Dee adjusted the straps on her pack. “Whatever the outcome, if we lie dying and drawing our last breath, promise me something, Ben.”

“Okay. What?”

“That we’ll blow that bastard back to hell.”

Ben tilted his head back, letting out a deep chuckle. “That I can promise!” Then he thumped the side of the chopper. “Let’s go!”

Eric jogged over and jumped into the hold, slamming the door shut after them.

The whine of the engines rose as the blades started to wind up, thumping through the air. Some of the civilians had gathered on the boardwalk to watch them leave. As the chopper lifted off, Dee scanned the hold. Jack sat next to her, still holding her hand. Ben had moved forward and was in the co-pilot’s seat. Eric sat opposite them, alongside a soldier Dee didn’t know. He glanced up at her and gave her a nervous smile before shifting his attention back to the rifle cradled in his arms.

Dee looked down at the villa they called home. Alice and the kids had gathered on the verandah, and waved as the chopper rose up and banked away back over the ocean, back towards the hell the mainland had become. Back to free Boss and George. She had hugged Alice goodbye earlier, both women holding tight. Alice had pulled away, telling Dee to come back. Dee had avoided a movie reference; she’d just wanted to savour the moment with her friend. Even with all of Ben’s confidence, she was scared. Scared of what she would find. Scared of dying.

Dee didn’t know what happened when you died. Did you really go to heaven? Was it just blackness? If she did die and go to heaven, would her father be waiting for her? Dee reached down inside her, brushed away her doubts and questions and drew on the strength that she knew lay within. She had drawn on it, waiting in the basement for Jack. Now she needed it once more. She squeezed Jack’s hand, eager for his touch. She and Jack had had many late-night discussions on topics such as death. She had always admired his measured and considered responses. Jack acted all fun and joked around, but when he dropped the wall surrounding him, he could get very serious, and had an intelligent outlook on life. Dee let out a sigh. Yes, she was scared. Scared of losing it all.

Dee watched the view out the small window on the door as the chopper flew over the grey ocean. It stayed low as it swept over the beaches of Papamoa and continued inland, reaching the thick bush of the Mamaku ranges that surrounded the twin lakes of Rotorua. The blue lakes stood out, gleaming, surrounded by the city. Parts of the city were smoking. Dee didn’t know if it was from fires or from the geothermal vents dotting the land. She grabbed her seat as the chopper rose sharply, rising over the hills. Dee checked her watch: 11:20. She looked around for the Waikato River; it should be snaking its way below them. They rounded another pine-clad hill and the chopper dropped down the other side, keeping close to the ground. Jack squeezed her hand. The chopper banked again, sweeping down so they skimmed over the river.

Ben’s voice crackled over the headset. “ETA five minutes. Eric, get the explosives ready. Jack. Alan. Man the guns. Give them hell, people.”

Dee looked over at the soldier she didn’t know. Alan, apparently. He secured his rifle next to him and moved over to one of the 50 cal guns at the door.

Well, you’re not wearing a red shirt.

Eric moved over to her and handed her a couple of green brick shapes. Timers stuck into them read 2.00 minutes. Eric reached down and plugged two wires hanging loose into the tops of the bricks. “Press the red button before you chuck it out. That starts the timer.”

She nodded. Turning, she watched as Arapuni Dam came into view.

Ben’s voice crackled over the headset. “Drop the explosives on the roof of the turbine building. Jack, Alan, when the Variants come out, kill as many as you can.”

Dee looked up at Jack, meeting his gaze. It was time; time to end this.

The pilot banked around the dam, and the chopper descended down the concrete face. Steep limestone cliffs, with bushes clinging to every available nook, plunged down into the swirling river. Dee waited until the flat roof of the largest building came within view. She pushed down the red button and, checking to see the timer had started, hurled the explosive out, watching as it tumbled through the air and bounced along the roof, stopping against a large vent.

Variants started to pour out of the building, their shrieks just audible above the thumping of the chopper. Dee hated that sound. She pressed the button on her second explosive and tossed it out. It too flipped through the air and bounced off the lip of the vent, falling down inside. She grinned, satisfied.

The chopper lifted and banked away from the dam. Jack and Alan started firing the 50 cals, peppering the emerging Variants with leaded death. Dee watched, mesmerised, as the rounds tore into them, shredding their diseased flesh from their bones. They may be tough, but not enough for these guns. The brroootttt of the guns echoed around the cabin as the pilot pulled back, raising the chopper higher above the dam and the screeching Variants. Jack stopped firing his 50 cal and held on. The chopper hovered 100 metres above the river, downstream from the dam. A succession of explosions thundered out, first two close together, then two more quickly followed. The chopper rocked wildly as concrete, wood, steel, glass, and hunks of Variants flew out in a huge kaboom! Dee smiled as a blue metal shape flew out of the destroyed building, splashing down into the river.

Jack walked over and sat back down next to her. Touching her shoulder, he was grinning from ear to ear. “Did you see that? That blue thing was one of the turbines!”

“Is that what it was?”

“Yeah, it looked like it.”

“Your friend in Ohio would have loved that explosion.”

Jack cast his eyes downward before looking back at her. “Yeah, he would have. I hope he made it out.”

Dee reached out, taking Jack’s hand in hers. “I’m sure he has, Jack. Let’s hope the world gets back to normal and we can go visit all our friends one day.”

“I never thought I would live to see such times, Dee.”

“Me neither. I guess no one did. Do you remember that guy we met, who had spent his childhood in bomb shelters?”

“Yeah. He loved movies as much as I do.”

Dee kissed Jack on the cheek. “That’s right. I remember you two talking for hours, ignoring us girls. His girlfriend was so boring.”

Jack laughed, his laughter sounding weird as it echoed off the metal walls.

“I remember him telling us about that, Jack. He said he hoped he would never see such times again.”

Jack nodded his head, lost in thought.

Dee turned away and looked back out the window.

The chopper whined as it banked around Maungatautari Mountain. Dee’s thoughts drifted back a few weeks to that terrifying flight up the mountain, away from the Trophy King. She reached for her rifle and checked it was locked and loaded. She drew her Katana out from her pack, admiring how it felt in her hands. She slid it back into the webbing and watched as Lake Karapiro stretched out in a long thin shape. She could just make out the rowing club and the dam in the distance.

Ben’s voice came over her headset. “Lock and load, Renegades. ETA two minutes. Whatever happens today, thank you for making this old soldier proud. Proud to call you fellow soldiers. Proud to call you friends. Let’s go kill these bastards!”

Dee glanced up at Ben. His long grey beard hung over his combat vest. She nodded.

Let’s kill these bastards!