IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

As the afternoon gets underway, the survivors from the T-Bone have been split up. The helicopter group must land at an airfield halfway to Omaha for refueling. Those still on the surface try desperately to defend the motel, while those trapped underground fight for their lives as they search for a way out.

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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
"I'm glad he rescued you," said Adam.

"Well, he didn't, exactly," said Erica. "He might not have gotten there in time anyway. Gardner didn't get anywhere with me, but not for lack of trying. Even with my hands tied behind my back, I almost kicked him in the nuts, but he blocked my attack. I'm not sure how much longer I would have been able to hold out. He had all the guns, and I didn't have the use of my arms. It was Kathryn who saved me."

"She took him down all by herself? Good for her! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."

"Well, no, she didn't have to set foot in the room. All she had to do was set off the fire alarm, and that diverted his attention. She tried to escape from the tower by running downstairs, but she bumped into Alvarez as he was on his way up. Gardner heard them talking, though, and ordered him to send her up. They couldn't afford to blow his cover, since Gardner didn't know that Alvarez was on our side yet, so she went up and got recaptured."

"And that's when Alvarez got the drop on him?"

"No...I'm afraid nothing worked out as planned."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
"That's where we came in, I think," said Lucy. "I'm Lucy Armstrong, one of the mechanics at the airfield. Dr. Bernard Smith and I rode in the back of Sergeant Diane Ford's cruiser to reach the tower from the hangar area. She and Trooper Rick Brenner were leading the charge. When they entered, they intercepted Alvarez when he was on his way back out. They didn't know he was on our side and held him at gunpoint, making him drop his weapon. He tried to convince them, but Diane wasn't sure if he could be trusted."

"They freed me and Brigetta when they arrived," said Stephanie. "Once I got my gag off I told her that Alvarez was helping us and was on his way to rescue Erica. Then Bo and Bob came in the tower's rear door with Flynn, but the dead were chasing them. The sniper had taken out most of them, but a couple still made it to the tower. Bo and Rick each killed one. Then they and Diane hurried upstairs to save Erica." She sniffled.

"Stephanie, you okay?" asked Adam.

"Yeah, I just...I..."

"It's hard to tell this part," said Erica. "Gardner had taken me and Kathryn up to the roof. He had left her with the sniper and started bringing me down the fire escape. I think he was planning to escape with me and the helicopter, but he heard something on the radio that caused him to double back. Dawkins had let Kathryn escape down the stairs. Gardner didn't know that yet, but I think he suspected. Anyway, the fire alarm suddenly stopped ringing, and he dragged me downstairs. I think he realized she must have gone into the control room, and he captured her again when she returned to the stairwell. He called the elevator and told her to get inside with us. I heard my fellow State Troopers on their way up the stairs - and so did he. Then Kathryn made a break for it. That poor girl would rather risk death than go anywhere with that monster. She dived back into the control room, but he didn't shoot her. Instead, he...he rolled a grenade downstairs, dragged me into the elevator and we started going down...I was so helpless, I couldn't do anything to stop him...the blast killed all three of them."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
"That Gardner is one cold bastard," said Adam. "He killed three cops without batting an eye? I'm just glad you got away from him."

"We almost didn't," said Erica. "After the grenade went off, he took the elevator back up to the top floor. Kathryn could have escaped, but she stayed behind to try to save Diane's life. There was nothing she could do for her, though, and Gardner got her back again. This time she surrendered and he bound and gagged her again. He took us down to the third floor, then sent the empty elevator down to the basement, set off the fire alarm, and baited Flynn and Alvarez who were waiting in the lobby for him to go down. He tricked them into thinking he'd taken us down into the basement and was...assaulting us, so they went down there after him. Once the lobby was clear, he took us down to the lobby and to the front door. With the fire alarm going off, they couldn't hear us. The helicopter was all prepared to take off. Bob was in the pilot's seat and my passengers were all aboard. He could have taken off, he should have taken off. I signalled to him to leave, to get Stephanie and the others safely out of there, but he wouldn't leave me behind, and neither would she."

"Did Bob kill that son of bitch?"

Stephanie's eyes watered again. "No..." she said weakly.

"Gardner held us hostage," said Erica. "He told Bob he was going to shoot Kathryn if everyone didn't get out of the chopper, drop their weapons, and move away from it. Bob got out by himself, tried to talk some sense into him. Gardner gave him a deadline, and when Bob didn't budge he just...just shot him in the head. Killed him instantly."

"I thought that was the end," said Stephanie. "None of the rest of us could fly a helicopter. I was lucky I was able to get the engine started. Lucy knows her way around helicopters, but that's different from being able to pilot one. We had no choice but to get out and put our weapons down."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
"Kathryn and I had our hands tied," said Erica. "We both tried to kick Gardner, but he managed to avoid our blows. I think everything would have been lost if Dawkins hadn't made her move just then. She had been climbing down from the roof and swung in through the lobby doors on her rope. He had heard her coming and was ready for her, though. He cut her to ribbons...but her sacrifice bought us time to escape. I also heard Alvarez and Flynn returning back upstairs, no doubt drawn by the gunfire. I figured - correctly - that Gardner wouldn't shoot me since I was the only pilot he had, and I ran for the chopper after nudging Kathryn towards the stairs. I reasoned that she'd be safe if she joined up with Alvarez and Flynn, that they'd protect her. But she ran the wrong way. Instead she went out the tower door and around the side.

"Gardner chased us, but he couldn't catch up to me and I got the helicopter off the ground. Since he couldn't have me, he went after Kathryn. He took the police car that Diane had left parked right outside. The keys were still in the ignition."

"He took her," said Stephanie sorrowfully. "He locked her in the back of the cruiser and sped away to the south. Alvarez and Flynn then had to deal with Dawkins when she rose up, so they couldn't stop him. They're trying to chase him in the flatbed truck from the airfield and rescue her, but...I don't know if they'll be able to do it. He killed all those people...what chance have they got? I wanted us to go back and help them, but we have just enough fuel to get to Omaha and Erica wouldn't take the risk."

"I hate to say it, but she's right," said Adam. "You were lucky enough to get away from him the first time. If he got his hands on you again...Plus, we need you here. Every minute that passes makes things that much worse for the whole world."

"But Kathryn...Gardner is going to rape her. He may have already done it."

"No, Stephanie," said Erica. "The guys will save her. Believe it. And I'm sure Kathryn has a few tricks up her sleeves too. I don't know her that well, but she's very smart and strong-willed. She won't go down without a fight."

"And if she does go down?"

"Whatever happens, she will survive."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
"I never even met her," said Stephanie as she continued typing, "but I feel so bad for her."

"You've done everything you could have," said Adam. "You had to get out of there. The work you and Dr. Hausmann is doing is too important. You'll have to trust that Alvarez and Flynn can get their job done."

"That's what Brigetta said. I understand that, Adam...but I don't have to like it."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
A minute passed in awkward silence. "Uh," said Stephanie at last, "how are things at your end?"

"Well," said Adam, "we're hanging in there - thanks to you."

"Thanks to me?"

"Yup. That electric fence idea of yours was a lifesaver - literally. We wired up the fence and it's worked like a charm so far, but I don't think it's going to hold out much longer. There are more and more of them hitting it, and the lights have started flickering every time they do. Just before you called they even went out for a few seconds. If the juice goes, we're sunk. There are thousands of these things all around us, and they know there's a smorgasbord here."

"Oh..."

"Hey, but other than that things are great! I also cobbled together an EMP generator like you suggested. Don't know if it'll work, as we couldn't test it for obvious reasons. It's our last resort, as it would knock out our own electronics and prevent you from finishing your work."

"I'm not sure if it would work before I finish anyway, but Brigetta and I both think it would be useful afterwards. The chopper's systems would get fried, but without any fuel it's not going anywhere anyway."

"I've rigged it to send out a continuous pulse. Got it up on the roof for maximum range, and it uses some vacuum tubes we scrounged up so that it doesn't fry itself. We'll see how it does when crunch time comes, I guess. If I did something wrong, I'm sure you can coax it."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
"One more thing about EMPs," added Adam Donnelly. "The USAF folks over at the motel used their equipment to do some snooping on the Chinese. They got some data on those nuclear detonations this morning in Asia that I think you'll be interested in. Seems that the first blast knocked out all the ghouls within a wide radius consistent with the area of effect of an EMP."

"That's wonderful news!" said Stephanie.

"I'm afraid it gets worse. Subsequent detonations had no effect on them unless they were directly destroyed by the blast. Further, the ones that were put out of commission by the first nuke later got back up."

"Hmm. Then maybe my theory was right. The aliens must have done something to reactivate all the corpses that were shut down when they detected the first nuke. They could also be sending out some kind of continuous signal to counter the effects of future EMPs. However, if I can complete my work and we can send our own signal out, a pulse should be effective again after that."

"See, I knew you'd come up with something clever."

"Wait, aliens?!" said Dr. Smith in disbelief.

"Yup. Those meteorites didn't drop themselves." She looked at Dr. Hausmann. "That's not really a secret any more, Brigetta. I figured out about the aliens before you confirmed it, and I had already told others about it. I'll keep my mouth shut about the other things."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
"Well, those meteorites with the killer bugs did come from outer space," said Dr. Smith, "but...aliens? Really?!"

"Really," said Stephanie, not letting up for a second with her typing. "Do you really think we're alone in the universe, Dr. Smith? Especially after everything you've seen today?"

"Well...it just seems so incredible."

"There is intelligent life out there. Some of it, for whatever reason, wants us all dead. I'm hoping there are others out there who would be willing to help us. So, Adam, how is Javier Ramirez doing?" Her worry started to rise when he didn't reply for a few seconds.

"The truth is, we don't know," said Adam Donnelly at last. "The last contact we had with him was shortly before 2:00 our time. That would have been an hour earlier back there. Everything seemed all right at the time, but he never contacted us again. Nobody there did. We tried calling back, but at first the connection was busy, which we took as a good sign. After that we just couldn't get through to anyone. The connection opened all right, we just didn't get any response. We keep trying to call back every so often. The lights are on, but nobody's home. I hate to say it, but it doesn't look good, Steph."

"But he can't be dead! We owe everything to him. We wouldn't have been able to bring the computer with us if it hadn't been for him. Maybe...maybe there's just some kind of technical glitch that keeps them from transmitting?"

"It's possible, I guess."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
Dr. Smith shook his head in wonder, his mind racing with what Stephanie had told him. "It just doesn't make any sense," he said. "If there are aliens, why wait until now to try to wipe out humanity? Why not do it a hundred years ago, or a thousand, when we wouldn't have stood a chance of fighting back?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I'm not sure," she said. "Maybe they only recently became aware of us, or only decided that we were a threat in modern times with our incredible advances in technology. They are out there, though. Do you have an alternative explanation for what's happening?"

"Well, no," he said, "but I'm still not buying it."

"Our ETA to Omaha is 45 minutes," announced Erica Spears.

"I should be done my work in a little over an hour," added Stephanie.

"That's good to hear," replied Adam Donnelly. "Dr. Hausmann, how are you holding up? You haven't said much of anything."
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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In the helicopter-
Stephanie glanced over to Dr. Hausmann, who had nodded off. "She's fallen asleep," she said as she kept typing. "She must be exhausted. I know how she feels, but I have to finish this."

"I'll let you get to it," said Adam. "I'll see you in about 45 minutes, then. Good luck!"

"Thanks, Adam, you too."

"We'll call you back when we get close to Omaha," said Erica. "Over and out." She disconnected the call and sighed. "We're about halfway to Omaha from the airfield now. Everyone rest up while you can. I have a feeling we won't get much of a chance once we arrive."

(Chapter 3 is now concluded. The thread will remain unlocked during the break between chapters so Dr. Hausmann can converse with the other characters if she wishes. She is free to "wake up" at any time; I just decided that she was asleep to explain why she hasn't said anything.)
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Re: IC-OVER-Destination Omaha(Helicopter group/Dr. Smith/Lucy)

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OOC,This thread is now locked. The story continues in Chapter 4, in the Omaha section on the following link:
Wing and a Prayer
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