Infected Series (Book 1): Mission: New York (11 page)

"Whisky Tango Zulu Fourteen; there are some survivors in the narrows on a boat. I repeat, Survivors on a boat." he spoke excitedly into his headset. "Send somebody out to try pick them up. They might need medical attention.

Simon watched as the missiles hit the bridge, then he watched as the jet banked sharply to port; coming round again. They heard the exchange been the pilot and the other voice and cheered. Something was being done by the military. Dawson grinned and clapped George and Simon on their backs. Rescue was now almost imminent, they realised, and all smiled. There was more exchanges,  but nobody paid them any heed until Dawson caught the word ‘infected’ and looked at the radio again; paying more attention now.

“Whisky Tango Zulu please assess the boat and see if they are infected and if necessary destroy the boat.” the disembodied voice said impassively.

“Affirmative base, will assess. Over.” said the pilot as they saw the jet zoom lower and slowed down with full flaps; dropping its speed so the pilot could see more clearly. They saw the jet drop rapidly and watched as the pilot flew past with his thumb up; Dawson saluted and Held up her hand with her thumb up; indicating they were okay. Their radio squawked as they watched the jet do a wing waggle; the pilot understood they were safe; and uninfected.

“Base, all clear; no immediate sign of infection. On-site can assess more fully and if necessary quarantine.” the pilot said, “Looks like one is either military or ex-military. She saluted as I did the flypast.”

Simon looked at Dawson, realising that she was crying with those words; her faith in the military restored. He put his arm around her shoulders, and hugged her quickly. She smiled as she wiped away her tears. Sniffing as the tears dried on her cheeks. She turned to look at Simon and nodded, her smile wider than ever before. A short while later they heard a helicopters rotors ‘whup whup whup’ as the blades cut through the air towards their location. The helicopter was an apache and they saw a rappelling rope drop out of the cargo compartment. The pilot hovered above them as the rope made its way near to them. Dawson grabbed it to steady it so someone could slide down to them. A minute later they saw a man clip himself onto the rope; and he started to lower himself slowly down toward them. Reaching the bottom, he dropped and immediately slung his carbine into the low ready position. Dawson put her hands up and spoke clearly to the soldier.

“No infected on board Sergeant,” seeing the insignia on his chest. The Sergeant looked dubiously at her pants leg; the one that had been attacked by the infected initially. “We have been surviving since the first attack, and this gentleman gave us shelter in his shop.” She pointed at Simon and then told the groups tale of survival. She quickly explained about the way they had survived by scavenging for weapons, and the attacks they had fended off from the infected and humans. Their tale was delivered concisely and expertly by Dawson; and she explained that she was ex-military, with her prosthetic leg. Realisation dawned when she explained about the prosthetic, and he smiled at her then. Speaking quickly into his headset, the helicopter banked away trailing the rope. His weapon was slung onto his back, and he reached out his hand toward Dawson. She grinned and told the sergeant her name; and he told her his was Jones. He quickly shook hands with everybody else on-board, and pulled out his canteen to have a quick drink. Watching the helicopter as it sped away over the Narrows Bridge, everybody relaxed visibly.

Chapter Twenty Four

Jones’ radio squawked with shouting voices and he held his hand up to stop everybody; then listened intently to the chatter going on in his radio. He turned and looked at the helicopter now flying above the bridge, and it looked like it was wobbling in the sky. That was when they realised what must have happened to them. One of the infected must have been able to jump onto the rope hanging below the helicopter; then scramble up into the cabin. How no-one had not noticed it was not apparent. They saw the helicopter lurch as it started to drop rapidly; clearly now out of control. They watched as it tumbled out of the sky falling toward the remainder of the bridge. It hit with a resounding bang, and then exploded in a huge fireball. Small pieces rained down on them from the force of the explosion. Jones stood horrified; looking to the receding fireball. Knowing that the rest of his crew was dead; he turned back to the group and swore. They all stood and stared at him, then at the fireball. He slumped visibly, and tried the radio in vain. He quickly looked at their radio, and motioned towards it; asking permission to use it. Twisting the dial, he scanned for the correct frequency to transmit; finally getting it and pressed the talk button.  

“Base, Jones here, the helicopter has been destroyed; infected got on-board. I repeat; the helicopter is destroyed.” he said flatly; showing no emotion. He repeated the message and then waited. Everyone looked shocked at Jones, and then started talking softly to each other.

“Slight technical hitch,” he joked, “I appear to be stranded. Can I wait for Base to call back?” he asked smiling. Dawson grinned back at the lined face staring at her, and she immediately felt more comfortable. He had a twinkle in his eyes, and he removed his helmet to reveal his dark hair with grey streaks. Her eyebrows shot up, and she realised he was an older sergeant, about her age. He smiled at her, and there was a hint of something; an attraction that was hinted at. The rest of the group was still dazed by the events of the previous few minutes. They could not believe how calmly the sergeant was accepting the loss of the helicopter. Dawson shrugged her shoulders and asked if he wanted anything while he waited.

Jones grinned again, and just shook his head. He was quite content to just wait. Simon finally came back to the moment, and asked the sergeant where they were based. Dawson reddened as she realised as the ex-military person, she should have asked. Looking apologetically at Jones, she grinned. Jones just laughed at her crestfallen expression. Jones spoke to Simon and explained they were based off an aircraft carrier further out, close to the Long Island. They discussed the situation and came to the conclusion that from the information the marine had gathered that the infection had been caused by the outbreak in the UN Headquarters; beyond that he did not have any more information.

Their radio crackled to life, and Jones reached down to grab the receiver. “Go ahead base, Jones here. Read you five by five.” he said calmly.

“Jones, Base here; we have another helicopter but it is currently busy with another rescue. Can you make your way back to the Carrier?” repeat; are you capable of getting back to base.” the voice questioned.

Looking at Dawson then Simon, he got a nod of assent from them and spoke into the radio. “That is affirmative, I repeat Affirmative. I will make my way to the carrier; out.”

He placed the receiver down, and looked at the group questioningly. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s hustle.” he said, “Time is a wasting.”

That was when Judith made her appearance on the lower deck, and she squinted at the new voice she heard from above. Her eyes widened as she realised there was a new person; dressed in military fatigues and he looked down at her with recognition.

“Uncle John? Is it really you? I thought you were still away?” Judith said in surprise, “I mean you should not be back yet. How.. when.. “ her voice trailed off.

“Judith, My god; am I glad to see you honey!” he exclaimed. “Are you with this group? They treating you good?”

Climbing up to where he stood, she quickly went to him and hugged him. She squeezed him tightly and he smiled putting his arms around her and squeezing her back. She sighed and tilted her head to look up into his kind eyes. They stood like that for a minute, just soaking up each other’s closeness. He held her away from himself then and spoke softly to her.

“You look good girl; I hope these guys have been looking after you.” He rumbled, “I think That Simon is sweet on you; the look on his face is so obvious every time he looks at you.”

Judith blushed bright red as she glanced over at Simon, and saw him colour as well.

Nodding, Judith looked back at Jones; “Yes; I know he is, we just need to find time to get our lives sorted out.” she whispered.

Jones looked at the group and said to them; ”Guys, as you might have guessed by now, Judith is my Niece, and she is special to me.” he said seriously, “If she trusts you; then I will gladly help you guys out too. Where are you guys headed off to?” he asked.

Clearing his throat, Simon said; “Well, we heard about an island from a note we found on the wheel of the boat when we found it. There is an Island that the owner was supposed to be heading toward. We commandeered the boat as there was nobody aboard.” he explained, “There is a chance that there will be no infection on the island. Well, hopefully there is no infection.”

“It is safe and so far we have no infected on board. It is a little further away though, and we will need to make a decision which way we need to go.”

They all started murmuring; talking amongst themselves; the buzz of conversation slowly escalated until Simon had to call a stop to it. Jones held up his hands and looked over at Simon who spoke to everyone. “Listen, the carrier is safe, but we were lucky to be on exercises just off the coast. The infection caught us on the hop, and we managed to get some planes off after we discovered the infected were spreading.” Jones said, “However we do have a fair bit of food, but not an unlimited amount. If things do not get back under control, then there is a chance we; as the human race will not recover easily. This is the reason we have been blowing the bridges leading out of New York.” he stared intently at them, “We need to find survivors and as much as it pains me to say it, we have not recovered many people so far. Most people have been infected from people biting them. We needed to quarantine New York, and the only way we could do it was to prevent anybody leaving. We sent out helicopters to rescue people, but we saw so many get attacked and almost immediately turned into the infected.”

He stopped talking; and he walked over to the ladder leading down, stopping just before he got there he spoke again. “Anybody got coffee? I am so in need of my fix right now.”

Simon grinned and went over to the ladder. “Let me show you my stash of gold; it is more valuable than money right now. I had a coffee shop. I did bring my stash of coffee with me. Let’s go downstairs and I can introduce you to the finest coffee in New York.” he said; leading the way. Jones looked at Simon questioningly, then shrugged and followed him down to the little galley.  Simon stopped at the water barrel to get some water for the coffee. He then took the water to the coffee machine they had salvaged from the shop. Getting the coffee ready and the machine switched on, the water bubbling as it started to boil. Finally the aroma of coffee wafted out of the galley; Simon expertly made the dark intoxicating liquid and poured a cup for Jones. The first sip was the taste sensation he did not expect. Dark coffee with an amazing taste hit his taste buds; he swayed and had to sit down. His face lit up in pure joy as he savoured the coffee. Sighing; he thoroughly enjoyed the mug in silence. Looking at Simon, he grinned widely and just shook his head; “How the hell did you do that? That has to be the best cup of coffee I have ever tasted.” he said softly. “How rich were you? Before all this happened, I mean? You must have been loaded with coffee like that.”

Simon laughed softly and shook his head; his body slumped forward as he carried on laughing. “Rich? Me? Nah, I am not rich,” Simon said chuckling, “The IRS was chasing me for money, actually.”

“Damn, that is a tragedy. They should leave you alone.” Jones said softly.

Judith popped her head in and looked at the two men then; she walked into the galley and hugged her uncle tightly. Looking up at her uncle, she spoke softly as she looked at Simon.

“Simon has been an amazing person. He has kept us safe and provided so much help for us while this has been going on. His actions have saved us on more than one occasion.”

Simon blushed at the compliment that Judith had just paid him. With his red face he looked at Jones as he smiled at Judith. His raised eyebrow said a lot as he turned to look at the blushing Simon.

“You had a plan? That allowed you to get out of the city?” He questioned, “How much did you have stocked up for this. Did you have any help with the preparation?”

Before Simon could say anything, Judith stepped back from her uncle and grimaced. She pointed a finger at him and said, “Hang on Unc, Simon is just a coffee shop owner. He did not have much stocked and what he did have; he shared willingly with us. He could have just not opened the door to us, but he did. Now we are here thanks to him. HE saved all of us; more than once.”

“Simon, I am sorry, but my niece is special, and I need to be certain that she is with decent folks. Please accept my apology. I am naturally suspicious of anyone having loads of stocks of food.” he said apologetically.

Judith piped up, “So you should be, Is it just so hard for you to believe that people would want to help out of the goodness of their hearts?” she fumed, “We need to stick together now more than ever.” Her arms crossed over her chest, she stood there an impassive look on her face. She looked at her uncle, and Simon grinned; extending his hand out to Jones.

“No hard feelings, Jones, I am sorry but I just wanted to help out this group of people that needed my help. Besides that I think Judith is cute.”Simon said, with a smile on his face as he looked at her and winked.

Chapter Twenty Five