Chapter 39
For two hours, Brad tried unsuccessfully to remain awake. Occasionally, he thought he heard noises coming from the dark forest below, but could not be sure if they were his imagination. Or maybe they were just animals making noise.
And then there was a huge, deafening boom and, a bright, fiery explosion lit up the entire forest in an orange halo. Brad immediately started the chopper, almost too shocked to think straight. He cranked the engine and the rotor blades became a blur above the cockpit. He lifted the helicopter into the air and flew straight for the huge inferno now burning almost two miles away. He prayed that the explosion was meant as a signal of some kind, but he feared he would arrive to discover that he was already too late.
As he approached the fire, he saw that there was a small clearing with few small buildings around a large landing area. His heart jumped when he saw figures moving around, lit by the huge fire. He tilted the chopper down and lowered it to the ground.
“I’m sorry!” he screamed as the figures came running at him. He didn’t even know what to say to them. Would an apology ever make it go away? Would they ever trust him again after what he’d done?
Honestly, he didn’t even care. All that mattered was that they were alive. He found them again, and now he was here to take them back to safety. He was going to do his job, and he could only pray that they could forgive him for what he had already done.
“I was scared! I’m so sorry!”
“Brad!” the first person screamed, her voice carrying over the roar of the spinning rotors. Brad recognized Jill’s face in the firelight and felt relief wash over him. Jill was his friend, if no one else forgave him, maybe she would. Maybe she would understand.
“We need weapons!” she shouted as she got to the chopper. “Open the weapon compartment!”
“What do you mean? Just get inside and we can get out of here!”
“We need to destroy that thing!” she screamed, pointing in the direction of the other figures moving around on the concrete landing pad. Brad didn’t look at them closely at first, but now he saw that they weren’t members of the team at all.
Suddenly, Chris was at the side of the chopper. He reached in through the small window and grabbed Brad’s arm, pulling him forward.
“Open the goddamn weapons hold!” he roared.
Brad fumbled at the control panel to his right and flipped the unlock switches. Chris let go and hurried around to the back of the chopper. He popped open the hatch and hurriedly pulled out a couple of assault rifles and combat shotguns, letting them clatter to the ground at his feet. He found the plain black case he was looking for and slammed the hatch shut, leaving the other weapons where they lay.
He ran back around to the front of the chopper and opened the black case, dropping it on the ground. Inside was a long silver tube with a small handle and a flimsy flip sight. He pressed one of the switches on the side and slid the tube extension out so that it was almost three feet long. He flipped up the sight and rested the tube on his shoulder, taking a wide stance.
The woman in chains was still wrestling with the Tyrant. Chris readied himself to just fire the rocket and blow them both up, but Jill stopped him.
“Not yet!” She ran forward and screamed at the woman, “Get out of the way!”
The woman looked up at Jill and then saw Chris with the rocket launcher. She jerked her head in what might have been a nod of understanding, and then placed her feet on the Tyrant’s shoulder and leaped up into the air, landing solidly on the ground twenty yards away. The Tyrant staggered for a moment and then took a step toward Jill. Clear white ooze dripped from its battered and beaten face, and large gray splotches like bruises dotted its shoulders and chest from the woman’s relentless attack.
Chris took aim and squeezed the trigger. The rocket launcher barely even recoiled as a flash of fire shot from the barrel and smoke burst from the back end. The tiny rocket whistled forward like an ordinary bottle rocket.
The Tyrant turned its head, but did not even react when the rocket struck it right in the center of the chest. There was a solid whump, and then a grisly explosion of black smoke and charred flesh. The Tyrant’s body fell over like a downed tree, missing its head and most of the right side of its torso and arm. Bits of flesh rained down around it.
Chris threw the used launcher to the ground and ran to retrieve Rebecca. Jill helped carry her to the chopper and they both climbed inside. Brad tried to babble apologies mixed with terrified questions, but Chris cut him off.
“Just get us the hell out of here!” he shouted.
The helicopter lifted off the ground and slowly rose into the air.