Torn Apart (28 page)

“
They train for this type of thing
every single day. Over and over. It’s a reflex for these guys. An
automatic response. A skill set they’ve developed through countless
hours of brutal training exercises.”

“
Shut up,” I told the voice in my
head. “Focus.”

I had to stop building these guys up in my head. They
were only human.

Out of nowhere I remembered a quote from the movie
‘Predator’. “If it bleeds we can kill it.”

So yeah, there were two guys to the right of my
position and a whole squad, maybe more to my left, coming over the
bridge.

Mission impossible right?

The crazy thing was these guys were probably
American. Maybe Australian or British.

Last week we were fighting and serving together. And
Now? Now everything was messed up beyond comprehension.

They were following orders and their orders were to
enforce the ‘containment protocol’.

Shoot to kill.

I know this because they used to be my orders.

What a difference a week can make.

Another volley of bullets smashed into the jetty. I
ducked my head and prepared to return fire. The soldiers on the
footbridge were well concealed. The bridge provided excellent
cover. It was about as wide as a main road. And it was at least
twenty feet above the water. If they made it over to my side, they
would eventually overrun my position.

But first things first. I needed to deal with the two
soldiers who had made it across the bridge.

I got to my knees, aimed my rifle. I looked for them
but I couldn’t see them. They had taken cover. They were hidden.
Invisible. They were ghosts. And then from behind a giant slab of
concrete that used to be part of a building, something was lobbed
in a high, looping arc. Something small and black.

A grenade.

It flew through the air in slow motion.

The word ‘grenade’ was shouted over and over, loud
and clear inside my own head. I watched it fly through the air and
I knew at once this was no stun grenade. It was a frag grenade. It
was designed to inflict bodily damage, serious injury. Death.

The men in black knew I was dug in and they knew I
had the ability to shoot. They weren’t messing around any longer.
They had taken the initiative. I guess I should’ve expected
that.

Meanwhile, everything was still happening in slow
motion.

As the grenade hit the peak of its arc, the handle
sprang off, spiraling slowly to the ground. At this point I knew
the fuse had been ignited. I had a few seconds; maybe less before
the damn thing blew up, fragmenting bits of red hot shrapnel in all
directions.

The grenade began falling back to earth.

Coming closer.

It landed on the jetty right next to me, bouncing to
my feet, rolling around in a small semi-circle before coming to a
stop right against my boot.

I was frozen to the spot for second.

One second.

It felt like an eternity.

Everything was still happening in slow motion.

I dived into the nearest boat wreckage. I curled into
a ball, and covered my face. Another second passed.

Another lifetime.

And then it erupted.

There was a blinding flash of light. The shockwave
pressed into me. The noise destroyed my hearing.

The light, the shockwave, the noise.

Everything happened at once.

The red hot shrapnel smashed into the jetty and the
boat. A huge chunk of wood crashed down on top of me.

My world turned dark.

The sound of my own beating heart was the only thing
I could hear, the only thing that told me I was still alive.

Chaos

I couldn’t see and I couldn’t hear. I was in bad shape. I needed
those two senses if I wanted any hope of staying alive. My heart
was still beating like a goddamn jackhammer. Thumping, like the
rotor blades of a helicopter. There was a loud ringing in my ears.
Almost as loud as my beating heart. I threw the piece of wood off
me. Scrambled to my feet. I was so disorientated. I had completely
lost my bearings. I had no idea which way I was facing.

Suddenly another explosion erupted in the harbor. A
much bigger explosion. I turned around in time to see a section of
the footbridge being blown up. Concrete, bitumen and wood flew in
all directions, crashing into the water. I was instantly
confused.

Had they set charges to blow the footbridge? Why
would they do that?

Another explosion erupted way overhead. The side of a
building was partially destroyed. Concrete and glass rained down
into the marina and the harbor. Then I saw what had caused the
explosions. It was the tank. It was over near the casino
building.

Slowly I regained my senses. The bridge had taken a
direct hit from the tank. The tank was completely covered in the
infected. Like ants attacking a larger insect. The driver of the
tank was freaking out. You could tell by the way he was driving.
Forwards. Reverse. Then forwards again. The main gun swiveled
around back and forth. They were trying to shake the infected off
but it wasn’t working.

The men in black were losing their ground
support.

I could hear the two closest soldiers behind the
concrete slab, shouting at each other in confusion. They knew if
they lost the tank they were in big trouble.

“
What the hell is going on?” one of
them shouted. “Where are the goddamn choppers?”

They’re busy elsewhere, I thought. I knew how they
felt. I could see the soldiers hesitate. All of a sudden they
weren’t firing at me. They weren’t targeting me. They weren’t even
looking at me.

The horde.

It was just a few at first.

The tank fired another wayward shot. The shell rocked
into the casino building. More concrete and more glass showered the
street and the harbor. The tank was slowly moving away. The driver
probably had no idea where he was going. It wouldn’t be long until
it crashed into the side of the casino building. Maybe even the
harbor. The driver should stop. Wait for reinforcements to pick off
the infected. He should stay calm.

Easier said than done.

A crowd of infected rushed into the street closest to
the harbor.

The men in black opened fire.

I was no longer a priority.

In the confusion, I made my move. I headed for a
bigger boat. One of the harbor cruise boats. It had suffered a lot
of damage in the missile strike from yesterday and had taken on
water. It was listing to one side. I made my way to one of the
upper floors, climbing the narrow stairwell. I climbed three floors
and crouched under a window so I could keep an eye on everything. I
checked my ammo. I had two magazines left.

Sixty bullets.

I peeked out the window. The men in black were
getting overrun. I took aim, fired at the infected. And for a few
minutes the Special Forces team and I were fighting on the same
side. Fighting a common enemy.

I could hear the soldiers screaming though. Confusion
and panic spreading through the team like wildfire.

I could hear them on the radio as well. Calling for
an extraction. Calling for aerial support.

“
Where is the target?” one of the
soldiers asked.

“
Target is secure,” someone
answered.

They were talking about Maria. They came for her. She
was their target.

“
Get to the extraction point.
Now!”

The Special Forces soldiers moved back across the
bridge. They were going to try and get to wherever their extraction
point was. The problem with their plan was the extraction point was
probably crawling with infected.

Suddenly the thumping of rotor blades filled the
sky.

A Blackhawk helicopter flew in low over the
surrounding buildings and set down at the city end of the harbor. A
group of men in black were running for their lives towards it. In
the middle of the group was Maria. She was protected on all sides
by the soldiers.

They carried and hurried her towards the waiting
chopper.

Maria was running hunched over. She was not trying to
escape. The rest of the soldiers provided cover fire and so did I.
If anything was to happen to Maria, I wouldn’t be able to live with
myself. I made the call to leave her. And at that moment I thought
she wasn’t going to make it.

“
She’s not going to make
it.”

They are being chased by hundreds of infected. And
for a second I think to myself there is no way.

It’s all my fault.

They are not going to make it.

There’s too many.

Missiles streaked in from high above the city
skyline, slamming into the road outside of the casino. The warheads
erupted in a wall of fire.

The foundations of the casino building were rocked
again and the whole building was partially destroyed. The whole
building began to sway.

More missiles.

The force of the warheads pressed into my body. The
heat from the explosions burned my face and I had to look away.
When I looked back the tank had been completely blown apart.
Armored steel and iron had been scattered in all directions, all
over the road and the harbor.

The missiles were heavy duty. Tank busting missiles.
Hellfire missiles. Hovering above the sky scrapers, out near the
main harbor were the gunships.

The Apache helicopters.

Two more hellfire missiles streaked towards the horde
of infected, dangerously close to the Blackhawk and Maria. The
missiles cleared out a large number of infected. The gunships
hovered in closer, using their chain guns to pick off the remaining
infected.

The chase was over.

The Apaches fell back in a hurry. They flew up and
out of the harbor. Towards the inner city. Their job was not over.
Nowhere near over.

The men in black carried Maria into the chopper.

They took off immediately.

And I actually let out a cheer.

I looked around for another point of cover. Maybe I
could even make a run for it to one of the skyscrapers in the city,
I thought. Rest up for a few days.

I decided to wait until all of the soldiers had
completely fallen back. I did not want to risk being spotted.

The Blackhawk took off slowly and moved out over the
water. But then once again, everything went straight to hell.

The tail of the Blackhawk swung out violently. The
whole chopper began to spiral. It was out of control like the damn
thing had been hit by an RPG, or one of those hellfire
missiles.

It continued to spiral.

There was no stopping it. The pilot had lost
control.

A split second later the Blackhawk crashed in the
harbor. Right in the water.

Only the strong survive

The rest of the men in black had cleared out. They were either dead
or had retreated, under the impression that their target was
secure.

I was scanning the water, looking for survivors.

All I could see were bodies.

Infected or not. I couldn’t tell.

I fired off a couple of rounds but then realized
there was really no point. Before I even realized what I was doing,
I was up and running for the chopper. I’d left the safety of my
hiding spot, exposed for any sniper or any soldier with a half
decent aim. Exposed to the infected.

I braced myself for a bullet in the back. But the
shot never came.

I kept running.

The voice in my head kept yelling at me. Blaming
me.

“
This is all your fault.”

“
You left her.”

“
You made the call.”

“
If she’s dead now, it’s all on
you.”

“
Her blood. Your head.”

“
No. It was the right thing. We had
to leave her. It was the right thing to do. Maria needs out of
here, out of this city, out of this country. She is special.
Immune. Resistant. She was bitten but she didn’t die.”

My head was a mess. Fear and self-doubt and panic on
the verge of crippling me.

I was finding it hard to breathe.

But I kept running.

The chopper had crashed right next to the footbridge
that cut across this end of the harbor.

If I could make it over there I’d have a much better
chance of helping any survivors. Finding Maria. There had to be
survivors, I thought. The chopper wasn’t that high up when the
pilot lost control.

Up near the casino, I saw a man on fire, stumbling
towards the harbor and the wreckage of the chopper.

I raised my rifle, took careful aim.

Squeezed the trigger.

I nailed him in the chest, knocked him off his
feet.

But he got back up and started running towards
me.

I dropped to one knee. Took aim.

I waited.

And waited.

Focused on my breathing.

In and out.

I waited for the man on fire to get closer.

I drowned out the voice in my head.

Fear.

Self-doubt.

“
If you miss now, he will run you
down. Tackle you. Burn you. He will bite you. Infect
you.”

“
Do not miss.”

I lowered my aim at the last second and took out his
legs. He fell to the ground and skidded to my feet. One more shot
to the head finished him off. I was about to stand up and make my
way to the chopper. But then I saw someone climb on to the jetty on
the opposite side of the harbor.

They climbed up, took a few steps and then
collapsed.

I looked through my scope.

It was a girl.

Not a soldier.

It was Maria.

Hope

I couldn’t believe it.

She was alive.

She was the only one. None of the soldiers had made
it.

I shook my head. I could not believe it. I looked
through my scope just to make sure she was all right. She had
pulled herself up and out of the water, on to the jetty. She was
drenched. She brushed her blonde hair out of her face, wiped the
water out of her eyes.