Free Crucifixion - 02 by Dirk Patton Page A

started
running, leading the way towards the idling jet.
    We were several hundred yards from the Globemaster and I
couldn’t count the number of infected that were in our way.  The only good news
here is that the military is predominantly male so there were very few fast
moving females to deal with.  A couple of them noticed our small group and
broke away from the main body that was collapsing in on the plane and sprinted
directly for us.  Dropping to a knee I brought down one of them while she was
still over 100 yards out, missed the second one with my follow on shot then
split her head open when I fired again.
    The group had stopped behind me when I went to my knee but
they stayed close with me when I rose and started running again.  Males were
shambling towards us on our flanks and rifle fire started up behind me as we
ran.  I was glad to hear single shots, not full magazines being emptied in a
couple of seconds.  I slowed our run to a fast trot to help us aim better and started
engaging targets directly to our front as the converging males took notice of
us and started turning to attack.  I burned through my first magazine, did a
quick change and started firing again.  My accuracy was suffering due to
running while I was shooting, often taking two or three shots for each
infected.  Slowing down to a walk was not an attractive option though as time
was not on our side.  We still had at least 300 yards to go to reach the plane.
    “Anderson,” I called on my comm unit.
    “Go for Anderson.”  The response was immediate.
    “We need some air support down here.  Too many infected in
the way.  We’re not going to make our ride.”
    “Stand by, Major.”  A few seconds later he was back, “Major,
turn on your strobe.”
    I reached up to my shoulder and flipped the switch on a
small infrared strobe light attached to my vest.  Light in the IR spectrum
can’t be seen by the human eye but it would be very visible to Mayo through his
NVGs and would let him keep us spotted and hopefully not hose us down with the
minigun.
    “Got you,” Mayo’s voice came over my earpiece.
    A few moments later the Pave Hawk roared into a low hover a
hundred feet over our heads and the minigun started chewing up the infected in
front of us.  A red tracer was placed in the ammo belt at a ratio of one for
every 100 rounds, but the rate of fire of the minigun is so high that it looked
like a solid stream of red reaching down and destroying the shamblers to our
front.  Mayo used very controlled bursts to both conserve ammo as well as more
effectively keep the weapon on target.  Quickly a nice wide path opened up in
front of us and I took down the half dozen infected that had been too close to
us for Mayo to engage.
    When the last infected in front of me dropped I noticed
there were no sounds of firing behind me.  Glancing back I saw the two MPs just
standing there watching the light show from the minigun.  Infected were closing
on our flanks and they weren’t paying any attention.  Spinning I fired twice at
the right flank, each round finding its target and dropping an approaching
infected.  Rachel turned with me, saw the danger and started firing at the left
flank, killing an infected moments before it would have wrapped up the MP on
that side in a deathly bear hug.  I ran back to the left flank and smacked the
MP hard on the side of his helmet before getting in his face.
    “You dumb motherfucker,” I shouted, my nose an inch from
his.  “If you want to die, let me know and I’ll drop you myself.  You will pay
attention and you will keep these people safe.  Am I fucking clear?!”
    “Yes, Sir!” he shouted back, eyes wide with fear.
    I held his eyes for half a second, looked over at the other
MP to make sure he’d gotten the message then glanced back at Roach, who wasn’t
there.  Shit.  I scanned the tarmac behind us but couldn’t tell which of the
multiple bodies might be his.  Grabbing the MP I’d just