The Arklay Outbreak

Chapter Seventeen

“Bravo team!” Enrico roared. “We got a call! Let’s move!”

In the office room, Ken Sullivan and Forest Speyer were stretched out in front of a television, watching an advanced police training video. Rebecca was at her desk, diligently typing up some reports on her computer. Her head snapped up when Enrico called, and she jumped from her chair and grabbed her gear.

She already wore her work uniform. S.T.A.R.S. members did not wear matching uniforms, but they all had the S.T.A.R.S. logo on their clothing, so people would recognize them as police officers. Rebecca wore a green jumpsuit with white shoes, white belt, and a white kevlar vest. Medical pouches marked with a red cross hung from her belt and the word MEDIC was stamped in red on her back. Her badge hung from her belt by a velcro strap. She slung her supply belt over her shoulder and grabbed her holstered pistol off her desk. Like the other officers in the S.T.A.R.S. teams, and most police officers in general, Rebecca carried a standard nine-millimeter Glock handgun with a 15-round clip.

Enrico grabbed Ken by the arm. “Go to the armory and get Richard. Ed’s already at the chopper. We’ll meet you there.”

“Right on,” Ken said, and headed for the stairs.

Enrico, Forest, and Rebecca got into the central elevator and headed up to the roof. On the roof of the police station were two large helicopters, one for Alpha team and one for Bravo. One helicopter was already started, its rotating blades slowly picking up speed.

Rebecca followed Forest into the helicopter and strapped herself in. Enrico got in after her and put on a radio helmet so he could communicate with Edward Dewey, their pilot. “We got an emergency call from out in the mountains,” Enrico said, buckling himself in. “It’s a passenger train. They hit something on the tracks and the engineer called a mayday. We called back but they aren’t answering. We’ll be the first on the scene.”

“Are there injuries?” Rebecca asked.

“I believe so.”

“What did they hit?” Forest asked, fastening his belt. “Are we talking about a train derailment?”

“We’ll find out when we get there.”

Ken and their communications officer, Richard Aiken, arrived and boarded the helicopter. As soon as they strapped themselves in, Enrico slid the door shut and the chopper lifted into the air.

Rebecca took a deep breath and rested her head against the back of the seat. She closed her eyes and gripped her seat belt as the chopper banked and headed south.

“Listen up,” Enrico said, his loud voice overcoming the roar of the chopper blades. “We got a search and rescue, situation unknown. We got the location of the train and we’re headed straight there. I want a clean run. We lost contact with the train, and we don’t know what to expect.”

He touched the side of his helmet; Edward was talking to him. “Okay, we’re almost there. Ed, land us a hundred yards off. Remember, situation unknown. Keep your eyes open and be ready for anything.”

Rebecca opened her eyes. This was her first real mission, her first test. It was still her first week on the team. So far, she had only participated in routine calls and training sessions for the past few days, getting to know the other members and learning common procedures. But this was her first real call, the first actual mission she would experience. She looked out the window and watched as dark trees whipped by below. She felt calm, she felt ready.

Suddenly, there was a dull thud above them and the chopper shuddered, trembling around them. Rebecca clapped her hands over her ears as an ear-piercing screech came from the spinning blades. They all grabbed onto something as the chopper quaked and headed for the ground.

Enrico grabbed a hand hold and yelled into his microphone, “What’s happening?”

Rebecca heard Edward screaming from the cockpit, “Engine failure! We’re going down! Get ready for an emergency landing!”

“Hold on!” Enrico bellowed.

The helicopter rushed toward the trees and spun wildly, the tail swinging around and clipping tree branches. Rebecca felt her whole body lurch to the side as the chopper swung around like an off-center top, tilting to the side as it spun for solid ground. Enrico groaned, trying to hold on. The chopper spun out of control and the tail smacked into a branch, shaking the whole chopper. It dipped down and hit the ground, throwing them all forward with a tremendous crash. The blades struck the ground and blew up a tidal wave of dirt, stopping with the high-pitched squeal of bending metal. And then, incredibly, everything was still and quiet. Dirt rained down on the ground and a flurry of leaves drifted down around the downed helicopter.

Enrico rubbed the back of his head. “Roll call,” he grumbled, twisting in his seat.

“I’m good,” Ken said.

“Me too,” Forest chimed in.

Rebecca’s hips felt sore from where the seat belt gripped her, but she was otherwise okay. “I’m fine,” she said.

Enrico bumped the front wall with his elbow. “You boys all right?”

“We’re okay,” Richard called out. “Just a little banged up.”

“Fine. Let’s get out of this wreck.”

He unbuckled himself and crawled over to the door, shoving it open with his shoulder. It was bent and the plastic window was cracked, but it slid open when he pushed it. One by one they exited the chopper and gathered outside the wreckage.

The rotors were gone, smashed to pieces when they hit the ground. Rebecca stepped over a huge gash in the ground, almost two feet deep, the wet ground churned up like it had been blown up with a stick of dynamite. She stared in awe at the remains of the helicopter. The entire tail was gone, ripped apart in the landing. The main body was dented and crushed, covered in dirt and lying on its side. She felt a delayed sense of fear, realizing that it was a miracle that they were all alive and unhurt. And she wasn’t the only one.

“What happened, Ed?” Enrico asked in shock, surveying the damage.

Edward rubbed his arm, grimacing in pain. “I don’t know, boss. Everything was fine and then something broke in the rotor engine. Blew the whole works.”

“When was the last time it was serviced?”

“Two days ago. Me and Brad checked everything.”

“We have to call base and let them know what happened.”

“Sorry, boss,” Edward said. “Radio’s smashed.”

“Cell phones?”

Ken already had his in his hand, and he frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t have any bars out here, boss.”

“Me neither,” Richard said.

Enrico put his hands on his hips and looked around, frowning in frustration. They were in a heavily wooded area, surrounded by trees on all sides. In the clear twilight, it was fairly easy to see, but soon it would be too dark to see anything. Clouds gathered menacingly in the sky. It had been raining on an off for the past few hours and looked like it was going to start back up any minute.

“All right. First things first. Where are we?”

“Don’t know,” Richard said. “We were coming up on the train, but I lost track of what direction we were facing when the copter started spinning. We can’t be that far away from it.”

“Anyone got a compass?”

They all answered negative. Enrico sighed and shook his head. “Figures.”

“Somebody must have seen the helicopter go down,” Ken said, looking around the trees. “Or heard it crash. They have to know we’re here. Maybe they’ll come to us.”

“Okay,” Enrico said, rubbing his mustache. “The train is our first priority. We have walkie-talkies, so everyone keep in constant contact. Spread out, wide pattern, and find that train. Use the chopper as our point of reference. Ed, you stay here, just in case somebody does come looking for us. Let’s get moving, folks.”

They split up, heading out in different directions. Rebecca stood still for a moment, switching on her flashlight and sending the beam of light into the growing darkness. Enrico came up beside her and gently touched her shoulder.

“Relax,” he said. “You’ll be fine.”

Rebecca sighed and looked out into the trees. “If they can handle it, I can handle it,” she said confidently. She gave Enrico a thumbs up and smiled, heading off into the trees.

“Call if there’s a problem,” he said.

Rebecca held her pistol in one hand and her flashlight in the other, holding her wrists together to aim the beam of light wherever she pointed her gun. All she heard her own soft footsteps on the damp ground and the annoying sound of rattling branches all around her. Even with the flashlight, it was almost impossible to see anything. Each rustling bush, each wavering shadow looked like something coming out of the darkness, and before she was fifty paces from the chopper, she felt completely lost. The wind made everything move, and she was constantly spinning around at the sound of a twig snapping or something moving in the underbrush.

She stepped out from the trees and found herself somehow on a dirt road. Knee-high plants sprouted in the center of the road, signaling how rarely it was used, but when she shined her light down, she saw clear tracks on the wet dirt. A vehicle had drive by here, and fairly recently.

“This is Rebecca,” she said into her walkie-talkie. “I found a road. Straight left from the helicopter, maybe two hundred yards.”

“An old hunting road,” Richard’s voice said. “I bet it runs parallel to the train tracks.”

Enrico’s voice this time. “Cross the road, Rebecca. We’ll catch up with you. Call us if you find the railroad tracks.”

“Okay,” she said, and stuck the walkie-talkie back onto her belt. She looked up and down the abandoned road, sending her beam of light in each direction.

And she saw a flash of something. She aimed her flashlight down the road and saw a red glint in the distance, like a bicycle reflector. Cautiously, she walked along the road, casting her light forward until she could see what was there. When she made out the shape of a vehicle lying upside down by the side of the road, she broke into a jog and then a run. She had her medical pack out before she even got there, and skidded to a stop in front of the vehicle, a large gray truck.

She slipped in the mud and fell down, dropping her flashlight. It rolled away from her and cast its light directly into through the windshield of the truck. Rebecca covered her mouth with her hands, repressing the urge to scream.

Hands shaking, she picked up her walkie-talkie and pressed the button. She tried to keep her voice steady. “This is Rebecca. I’ve found something terrible. There’s been some kind of accident here.”

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