Free Mortal: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse by Shawn Chesser Page B

dusty airstrip between here and the Canadian border.
Colonel, the country has gone dark. And adding to that, as you already know, we’re
a little hamstrung in the satellite department. So until the Hercules and or
the KC-135 closes the distance to Pierre, which was where we last had radio
contact with the aircrew, we are also in the dark.”
    Realizing he was in the petite major’s domain, and though he
was her superior in rank and tenure, Shrill merely winked at his old friend and
colleague. Lady’s got it all figured out , he thought to himself. Then,
maintaining his silence, he about-faced and stalked the room in search of a
chair in which he intended to get comfortable, sit quietly, and watch the drama
unfold.
     
     

Chapter 14
    Draper, South Dakota
    Six minutes prior to Cade returning with Jasper’s truck.
     
    After overhearing the men in the cabin say that Cade was on
the ground and on the move toward Jasper’s truck, Ari opened his eyes and watched
with glee as the Zs lost all interest in him and ambled lockstep away from the
helicopter and out of sight.
    But he wasn’t saved yet. A handful of feet away, Durant had
just turned, and was reaching and swiping at him.
    In order to keep his numb left arm from dangling near the Zs
snapping teeth, Ari tucked his hand under his safety harness, and with only one
hand to work with cinched it down as tight as he could.
    Hurry the eff up, Delta , he thought as he fought
tooth-and-nail to remain still and play the role of a dead man.
    ***
    Several long minutes battling gravity and trying to tune out
the snarling one-armed mess strapped into the copilot’s chair was beginning to
take a toll on Ari’s sanity. To pass the time until the Delta captain returned
with the vehicle, he did his best to remember what Durant had been like in
life. He’d known the man since they’d attended flight school together at Fort
Rucker. Nestled among rolling and wooded hills in Southeast Alabama, the
sprawling base had been almost too small to contain the two. They were placed in
the same training squadron and their careers followed similar paths, but for
reasons unknown, Ari had always been given command of whatever ship they’d both
been assigned to. And that was how it had been since Omega dealt the nation a
death blow—him on the stick and Durant his copilot. But there had been no
animosity on Durant’s part, and this trait was what Ari had most appreciated
about the man. He was humble until the very end, and now that trait was causing
Ari a great deal of pain. For it was his fault Durant was dead, and it was on
him to make it right. To end his friend’s suffering.
    Ari shot a sidelong glance at the pale cadaver that used to
be a living, breathing man. He reminisced over the countless hours he’d passed
shooting the breeze with Durant in the cockpit. A tear formed as he thought
about all of the scrapes they’d gotten into and out of all over the world.
Then, grasping the buckles holding him in place, he uttered a short prayer. He
figured when he released himself and succumbed to the pull of gravity, one of
two things would happen. Either he’d fall into the undead creature and get bit
and join him for a time in whatever purgatory the undead endured. Or he’d fall,
and somehow succeed in avoiding the creature’s snapping maw. Then he figured
he’d flip up the smoked visor and plunge the locked blade of his Leatherman
multi-tool into the Z’s eye socket.
    Seconds away from punching free of the four-point harness and
letting fate run its course, he saw Lopez sprint in front of the helicopter.
Moving from right to left in a low crouch, holding a black tanto-style blade in
his right fist, the stocky operator was focused laser-like on something near
the fence line.
    What the hell , thought Ari as he watched Lopez weave and
bob through the gravestones and bodies until he was out of sight. Then, after a
few seconds or minutes had ticked by (Ari’s perception of time having