S. Davis - 900 Miles

I could practically feel the sight from the gun leveling off on my back as I frantically climbed, trying to race to the chopper. It was only a matter of time.

Cha cha cha chang rang out from above us. Looking up, nearly breathless, I saw Mia perched like a goddess at the top of the hill. With the sun shining around her entire body, she glowed as her machine gun rocked up and down in what seemed like slow motion.

Not taking the time to look back, I kept moving.

Another burst of fire echoed through the hills. Bullet casings were raining from above, rolling down the hill all around us. Taking one step forward, my foot slid backwards across one of the casings, causing me to slide back a number of feet. In that moment, a bullet hit the stone just above my head. Crying out in pain, I felt a small fragment of rock slice open the flesh across my cheek.

“ Shit! ” I yelled as another barrage of gunfire rang out above. An inch higher and the stone would have taken out my eye.

“Come on! Keep moving! You’re not dying on this hill!” Mia’s voice rang out before she pulled the trigger once more.

Gripping a root dangling over the edge, I pulled myself up and across the top, rolling sideways to escape the Stripes’ line of sight. I nearly somersaulted into Kyle and Jarvis, who were both on all fours panting like beaten dogs. We stayed crouched and started to slide backwards toward the chopper. Mia was still filling the air with lead as she stepped back, then turned to meet us, pulling on Kyle’s arm to help lift him up.

The side door to the smaller green military chopper was open, allowing the four of us to dive in just as the pilot, who I didn’t recognize at first, yanked on the yoke. With my face hanging slightly over the edge, the wind erupted all around as I pulled the sliding door shut. A few bullets managed to slam into the bottom of the chopper, but we were out of reach in a matter of moments.

Looking out the window, I watched the destroyed airplane and our campfire shrink in size. That little spot had saved our asses. Maybe someone out there was making up for all the poor souls who died before we ever showed up.

I may be a bastard. But I’m not the kind of bastard that would kill a kid.

“I’ll be back by sunset,” Mia said with a hint of sarcasm before pulling Kyle up next to her. Not saying anything, he turned, looking her up and down as if to make sure she was real.

“You forgot to mention you’d be burning down Kentucky on the way back,” she continued with a smile, as a shiny bead of water rolled down around her nose and onto her lips.

The only time I’d ever seen even a hint of a tear hit Kyle’s face was on that chopper as he pulled Mia in close and embraced her tightly. With her head dug deep into his shoulder as he rested his chin on her brow, they both sat there, with their eyes closed, holding one another as if they were on borrowed time.

Twisting my wedding ring, I looked away and dropped my head down to my chest as my thoughts fell to being reunited with Jenn seven months earlier. Before she passed away giving birth to Tyler.

Pain always seems to follow the good moments.

Twisting around to the front of the chopper, I peered into the cockpit. To my surprise, I found that an old friend was busy keeping us in the air and pointed toward Avalon.

Reaching over to grab a headset hanging on a metal hook near my shoulder, I slid it over my ears and blew twice into the microphone to make sure it was connected.

“I should have known you’d be part of this suicide mission.”

Turning around, the pilot smiled and simply replied, “Just like old times, huh, John?”

“Yeah, I guess so, buddy. Thanks for coming after us. We probably owe our lives to you,” I replied, reaching over and patting him on the shoulder.

“Not me. You have Mia to thank for that. She wouldn’t stop harassing me until we were in the air.”

He was a former resident of Fort Gordon, the Augusta Army base we’d found shelter at before heading back to Avalon. His name was Cooper, and we had been through a hell of a time together trying to get from Augusta to Avalon in those first weeks of the apocalypse. The bond forged during that trip left me realizing that I shouldn’t have been surprised that Mia was able to recruit him to come out after us.

“How long until we’re back?” I asked.

“Shouldn’t be more than a few hours. You should get some rest. The whole of Avalon is racing around preparing for the attack.”

He went on to explain that less than a mile from the front gate of Avalon’s outside wall, there was a small army amassing. Filled with trucks, men, and a number of choppers that had airlifted in some sort of huge wooden boxes, the war zone was quickly getting ready to heat up.

“Wooden boxes?” I questioned.

“I haven’t seen it myself, but the radio operator is telling me that there are a number of them. They’re covered up by tarps, so nobody can see them well enough to know what they are… or what they’re for.

I gulped hard, feeling my Adam’s apple move up and down, then thanked Cooper once again and sat back down in the cabin. He was right. We wouldn’t have any time to prep, and I only hoped that Richard, who was still running things back at Avalon, was able to pull all the right moving pieces together. Between the Dead Shed filled with Zs, Kyle’s all-or-nothing last resort—Project BOHICA—and a few other tricks up our sleeves, we’d be able to put up a fight. However, after seeing that hovering gunship tear down the Stripes’ tree fortress, I knew in my heart of hearts that the odds of us pulling a win out of this one were very thin.

Noticing that Mia was looking out the window, I waved at her and pointed to my headset. After she slipped one over her head, I asked, “How are Tyler and Deanna with everything happening?”

“Deanna is her old self, trying to get more information from people than she really needs. Old busybody.”

“And Tyler?”

Her face grew serious, dropping my heart into my stomach. My palms went clammy as an icy shiver went up my spine.

“We need to get back with the meds, John. He’s doing OK, but as of about thirty minutes ago, we got word that he’s starting to have a little trouble breathing.”

Seeing the look on my face, she continued with a forced smile. “Don’t worry, John. Doc says that if we get back soon, he should be just fine.”

Cracking a half-smile, I gripped the backpack straps and pulled them tight.

“Your boy misses you, John. When he heard your voice over the radio speakers yesterday, he sat up and started to crawl toward the radio table,” she said, while imitating a crawl by using her arms.

The little bugger knew my voice and had started to crawl. I shook my head, knowing that missing the first time he crawled was a small price to pay for trying to keep him safe; however, deep down, it still stung.

Looking over at Kyle, who now also had a headset on, and then back toward me, Mia’s eyes narrowed as she let a sly smile grow across her face.

“One other thing. That woman whose child you saved from the cafeteria… Claire? She’s been helping Deanna out with Tyler. Seems like you’ve made quite an impression on that one.”

That shit-eating grin, which I knew all too well, grew across Kyle’s face, but he refrained from saying anything. Thinking back to the drug-induced dream I’d had the day before, I began to twist my wedding ring around my swollen finger.

Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, I looked up from my hand with a slight shrug and said, “I’m sure she’s just returning the favor for saving little Olivia.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what it is,” Kyle chimed in with a bit of a laugh.