Adrian Smith - The Rule of Three - An Extinction Cycle Novella

Flying around another bend, Jack saw the stairs he was looking for, which would take them the last few meters to the lookout platform. Screeches and howls greeted him as he brought the quad bike to a stop. Leaping off the bike, he grabbed George and took the stairs two at a time, his injured leg screaming in pain. Boss bounded up ahead. Jack didn’t blame him for it. The kid was running for his life.

Dee watched Jack, Boss, and George head up the stairs. Checking her rifle, she looked back down the road. Already some of the Variants were charging toward them, their reptilian eyes fixed on her and Ben. Inexplicably, they stopped about a hundred meters away, as if assessing Ben and herself. Dee wondered if they were contemplating which limb to rip off first.

Ben bumped into her as they backed up the stairs. She kept a bead on the massing horde.

Whispering, Ben said, “Aim for the middle of the head. Take the one on the left. Remember, squeeze the trigger, nice and gentle.”

Dee heard a deep, angry bellow. Then the lumbering frame of the Alpha Variant, bones protruding from his shoulders, came into view. She stared horrified at the decapitated heads alongside his own. So that’s what they’re waiting for. We are for him to kill. His meal to devour.

“Run, Dee! Now!” yelled Ben.

Dee reacted. Spinning around, she tore up the stairs toward the lookout. Ahead, the others were already clambering onto the platform. Jack yelled something to her, but she couldn’t hear him. The last few days of running, fighting, and surviving were catching up to her. She was emotionally and physically drained, spent. Willing her body on for one last shot at safety, she reached the ladder to the lookout platform. Jack was reaching down, hand outstretched, his blue eyes willing her on. She grasped his hand. Jack pulled her up and onto the platform. Dee scrambled to her feet and spun, searching for Ben.

Jack watched in horror as the monster leader bounded up the stairs after them. It moved incredibly fast. He had just hauled Dee up onto the platform when he heard the thump thump thump of the chopper. Boss stood in the middle of the platform, waving a flare.

Just a few moments more . Ben reached the ladder, turning and firing over his shoulder as he went. The leader was now only meters away, his minions fanning out behind him.

When Ben reached the top of the ladder, Jack rushed to help haul him over the lip. A ferocious bellow sounded out, and Jack watched in horror as the giant creature leapt ten meters into the air and landed on the ladder behind Ben. He pulled back one of his huge arms and speared Ben with a claw, right in his side.

Ben screamed in agony as Jack tried to pull him to safety. Jack yelled for assistance, his eyes finding Boss’s. The teenager rushed over. Digging his feet against the railing, he tried to help Jack pull Ben onto the platform.

The Alpha swung his other arm at Boss, and a huge claw speared Boss through his calf muscle. With a savage bellow, and an insane glint in his eyes, he ripped off Boss’s lower leg, spraying blood over the poor kid. Warm, red blood arched, hitting Ben and Jack.

Thump, thump, thump.

The chopper hovered above the lookout, the wash of its spinning rotors sweeping over Jack as he hung onto Ben. The blessed sounds of the minigun firing pounded in Jack’s ears. The gunner swept the blazing rounds of hot metal death at the gathering mass of creatures.

Brrrrooooootttttttt.

Jack saw Dee push George toward the lowering chopper, but the little boy looked back frantically, clearly searching for Jack.

“Take the kid and go, Jack!” Ben yelled, in obvious pain.

Jack looked at George, conflicted. He wanted to get to safety, but he didn’t want to leave this man to such a horrible fate. With an angry yell, he let go of Ben’s arm and reached over to pull Boss away from the Alpha. The poor kid was shaking from the shock of his injuries.

Dee screamed as George broke loose from her grip. Pulling the screwdriver he still had in his tool belt, he charged, screaming at the Alpha, and jammed the screwdriver into its eye.

The Alpha let out a deafening bellow and released Ben. Dee ran over and helped to pull him up and toward the chopper.

The minigun operators let loose, firing upon the Alpha, bullets slamming into his tough bark hide. He howled up at the helicopter, swiping his huge claws at it in frustration. The gunner continued to fire. The Alpha howled once more, saliva dripping from its sucker. Then it jumped from the ladder, and retreated into the forest below.

Strong hands grabbed Jack, helping to haul him and Ben into the chopper. Dazed and confused, he sat on the cold metal floor as the chopper lifted away from the platform.

Jack could see monsters covering the road and stairs. They streamed out of the bush, howling up at their escaping prey. The fire they had lit still burned on the airfield, thick black smoke rising into the air.

He was alive. He had found Dee. He had found a little soul. He had found hope amongst the tragedy of the last couple of weeks. Jack looked over to George, and couldn’t help but smile at him. The little kid had saved them all. The smallest of souls can have the greatest of effects.

He looked over at his wife. She leant against the wall of the chopper, cradling the teenager’s head in her lap. One of the minigun operators was attempting to stem the flow of blood from his leg. Their eyes met and they smiled at each other.

Jack found Ben’s eyes; the man with the long wizard beard had risked his life to reunite Dee with Jack. Jack moved over and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, mate. Thanks for coming to get me.”

“No one left behind, mate. You go and be with your family, Jack.”

They exchanged a look of respect, of shared experience. Is this what all soldiers experience?

Jack looked at the medic tending Ben’s wounds. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He’s losing a lot of blood. All I can do is stabilise him until we get back to base.”

Jack patted the medic and slid over to Dee, taking her hand in his. He just stared at her, tears of joy, mixed with sorrow, welling up in his eyes. I made it. I found her.

Dee watched Jack looking at her. No words needed to be said. They knew how lucky they were. They had survived. They had found each other amongst the chaos. Battered, bruised, wrung out, but alive.

Stroking Boss’s head, she tried to reassure the kid it was going to be all right. She was no medical professional, but even she knew he had lost a lot of blood.

She watched as the man in Army fatigues tied a strap around Boss’s torn leg. Without looking at her, he said, “He’s going to need blood, and lots of it. What blood type are you, Ma’am?”

“Umm, O negative, I think,” Dee replied.

“Perfect. Universal donor. I’ll get set up.”

Dee looked into Boss’s eyes. “You hear that, kiddo? You’re going to be fine.”

Boss murmured something. Leaning closer, Dee heard him say, with a smirk, “I’m Samaritan, so don’t bury me in the Jewish section.”

A sobbing laugh escaped Dee’s lips. Even when facing death, the cheeky kid quoted Monty Python.

Jack stood on the cliff top, watching the sun sink below the New Zealand mainland. The cooling salt air brushed against his healing skin.

For two weeks, he had stayed in the makeshift infirmary. When they’d first arrived, the Army medics and surgeon worked tirelessly through the night to save Ben and Boss. Both of them had required long surgeries and liters of blood. Dee had stood vigil next to Boss, refusing to leave his side until he was in the clear. Jack visited Ben as much as the nurses allowed him; the tough old goat was sitting up in no time. Jack discovered he was a fellow WWII enthusiast. Discussions about a familiar subject had helped the healing process for both of them.