Torn Apart (30 page)

“
Who are you?”

“
You mean, who was I?”

“
Whatever.”

“
I’m nobody. I’m a
ghost.”

“
What?”

“
Exactly. No one knows about us. We
don’t exist. I’m only telling you because, well, you’ll be dead
soon anyways. Dead men tell no tales, right?”

“
What were you doing here? What was
your objective?”

“
You already know. Our primary
target was Doctor West. Secondary target was the girl. Maria Marsh.
Approximately sixteen years of age. Caucasian. Blonde hair. Blue
eyes. Apparently she’s immune. No one believed Doctor West when he
called it in. We figured he just wanted to be rescued. But he was
adamant. Command sent us in because Doctor West was in charge of
the research. He knows everything. If anyone can save us, it's
Doctor West. That's why he was our priority.”

I shook my head. "You should’ve left that guy to die.
And trust me, Maria is immune. She was bitten. She was dying. But
her body, her immune system fought the virus. And won. You need to
get back on the airways. Tell your people to send reinforcements.
You need to get Maria out of here. She is special. She can put a
stop to this madness."

“
Don’t you think I’ve already tried
calling for a goddamn extraction. There was no
response.”

I remembered back to that night in the unofficial
immigration center. The slum in the outback.

Drake calling for an extraction. Over and over.

No response.

We had been left for dead.

The man, the corpse chuckled. “You already know,
don’t you?”

“
Know what?”

“
You already know they’ve left.
There is no extraction. Command is not responding. They’re falling
back. They’re pulling out. You already know. And you already know
what comes next.”

“
An airstrike,” I
whispered.

“
Yeah. That’s right. They’re gonna
burn this city. They’re gonna burn it to the ground.” He pointed
with his one good arm to a spare ammo mag. “You might wanna save
the last one.”

I made my way back to Maria, trying desperately to
focus.

Come on Kenji. Switch on.

This is no time to check out.

You need to protect Maria at all costs.

Get it together.

We’re gonna need a bigger boat

I made it back to the boat. Maria was waiting for me. She was
anxious.

“
What the hell is going on in
there?” she said, asking about the city and the noise, the fire
fight and the explosions.

“
The military are falling back,” I
said. “They’re trying to take out as many infected as
possible.”

“
So what do we do? We can’t just
stay here. We’re too exposed.”

“
I’m not sure. I’d say the infected
are chasing the military. And this might actually work in our
favor. It could give us a chance to find a new hiding spot. A new
building. One of the sky scrapers would be ideal. We could get up
nice and high. Make sure it’s secure.”

The gunfire continued to intensify. I concentrated on
the different noises. The different weapons.

M4. M60.

50cal.

Mortar rounds.

RPG’s .

Apache attack helicopters. Firing every last one of
their hellfire missiles.

Hydra rocket pods.

It was an impressive display of firepower. And it was
about to get a whole lot more impressive. In the distance, we could
hear the all too familiar sound of jet engines. The soldiers on the
ground were getting even more aerial support. Maybe getting to a
skyscraper was pointless, I thought to myself. If they kept up this
rate of fire, they would reduce this city to rubble.

“
Kenji, are you even listening to
me?” Maria said.

“
Huh? What?”

“
I asked you a question. Where
should we go?”

“
Sorry. I was just…” I trailed off
as I looked up to the sky. It took me a few seconds but I finally
saw them. Three F22 raptors. And two A10 bombers. They were flying
in perfect formation. Circling the city. They appeared to be in a
holding pattern.

“
Well?”

“
I don’t know,” I finally
said.

“
What do you mean? You’re the
soldier! You need to make a decision. I can’t do this. I can’t. I
don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t know why or how I’m even
still alive.”

She broke down then. I can’t blame her. She had been
through a lot.

“
Maria, listen to me.”

She kept crying.

I grabbed her by the shoulders. “Listen to me.”

But she kept crying. And in the distance the shelling
intensified. The military were tearing this city apart.

I hugged her. And at that moment I felt like we were
in some sort of storm, the eye of a hurricane. It was weird and
terrifying and surreal.

We were alone in this huge city. Home to millions of
people. It was now a warzone. And all those people were dead. Or
soon to be. This picturesque, iconic harbor was supposed to be a
tourist hot spot for crying out loud. Maria was breaking down right
in front of me. She was falling apart. And I wasn’t sure if I had
the strength to keep her together. I wasn’t even sure if I had the
strength to keep myself together.

High above us I saw the Raptors and the A10’s follow
the main harbor back out to sea.

“
Listen to me,” I whispered. “We
have to be honest with each other, OK? It’s the only way we’re
going to survive this. We have to talk to each other. We have to
keep each other sane. I’m being honest with you when I say; I don’t
know what to do. Because honestly, I have no freakin idea what to
do. There’s a huge force of soldiers and tanks and choppers only a
few blocks away. They’re being chased by an even bigger horde of
infected. We need to avoid that. At all costs.”

She nodded her head and whispered something that I
think was an agreement.

“
This could work in our favor,” I
said. “Actually, I know it will. Those poor soldiers in
there…”

I choked up as I remembered the soldiers that were
left behind in the temporary immigration center. They were
sacrificed and used as a distraction. “Those men,” I continued.
“They’re keeping the infected occupied while the rest of the
military make their escape. While this is happening we need to make
our escape as well. Or at least find a suitable hiding spot. The
only problem is if they decide to send in another airstrike. If
those jets come back. They could level this city. And no matter
where we hide we won’t survive.”

I thought hearing this piece of news would upset her
even further. But it didn’t. She actually stopped crying.

She lowered her head. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” she
said, wiping the tears away from her face. “We need to stick
together. We can do this.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Outside more explosions rocked the city. We could
feel the force from the blast waves. More smoke billowed up into
the sky, high above the buildings.

Maria looked out the window. “Well not if they nuke
the joint,” she added. “But we can’t control that. What we can
control is finding a hiding spot. Getting to high ground,
fortifying our position.”

I was speechless for a few seconds. “Wow. You sound
like a real soldier, a master strategist.”

“
Hey, I’m a fast
learner.”

“
I’m impressed,” I said, smiling.
“And you’re absolutely right. But the timing is crucial. We should
wait it out. At least until the bombing dies down. At least until
those jets bug out. There’s no point in finding a good spot to hide
if all they’re going to do is blow it up.”

I just hope they don’t destroy this city, I thought
to myself. If that happened it was game over for everyone.

Timing is everything

Two of the longest hours of my life passed.

The gunfire and the bombing had been steady during
the whole time. And the worst part? We were now seeing more and
more infected on the other side of the harbor, back towards the
casino which was now leaning at even more of an angle.

Our time was up. We had to make a move.

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Copyright © 2012 by
James Harden

This book is a work of
fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products
of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are
not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or
dead, actual events locales or organisations is entirely
coincidental.

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