Play@YSDC

Z-Day - 2:48 PM Central Time - Airfield 10 miles SW of Kearney, Nebraska
In the helicopter-
Kathryn ran out of the tower's front door a little behind Erica, but instead of running for the chopper, she ran north around the side of the tower to get out of Gardner's line of fire.

Dr. Smith used his scalpel to slice off the duct tape binding Erica's wrists. "Come on!" he yelled, running back to the chopper. Erica peeled off the tape over her mouth as she ran, passing him and leaping into the pilot's seat, then slamming the door behind her. Dr. Smith scooped up the pistol he had dropped and scurried into the rightmost rear seat. Erica had already lifted off a few inches from the ground by the time he was inside. He closed his door as she rose higher still. Gardner was already outside, but he was too late to prevent the helicopter from taking off. Instead, he got behind the wheel of the police cruiser and drove in pursuit of Kathryn, pulling to a stop in front of her and cutting off her escape. Stephanie looked on anxiously as she resumed typing.

In the helicopter-
Stephanie shrank back into the seat and slumped over as she typed on her laptop. "Steph, are you okay?" asked Erica as she strapped herself in while the chopper gained altitude. Her chest was still heaving from her desperate run and narrow escape. "Are you hurt?"

"No," replied Stephanie. "I...I've just never seen anyone killed before. Bob and the sniper...Erica, what about you? Are you...did he...?"

"I'm fine, kiddo. Told you I could take care of myself. Yeah, he tried to put the moves on me, but I held my own. Almost kicked the corporal in the privates, but he blocked me. Then the fire alarm went off before things got out of hand." Erica opened the throttle and the helicopter roared off to the east, past the tower and towards the goal of Omaha. As she looked around, she noticed the police car speeding off southwards along a road leading away from the control tower. Stephanie was too busy with her work to notice, and Dr. Hausmann just missed seeing it. Lucy not only saw it, she could identify the occupants. "There goes Gardner and his girlfriend, driving off in Sergeant Ford's cop car."

"Kathryn is not his girlfriend," said Erica.

"Have a little compassion for her, Lucy," said Stephanie. "Especially when you consider what that monster will do to her."

"Diddle her, no doubt," said Lucy.

"Well, I call it rape and I think we should stop it. What if it were you down there?"

Lucy looked down at her lap and stopped speaking.

"Stephanie, there's nothing we can do," said Erica. "I'm looking at the fuel gauge and we have exactly enough to reach our destination. If we go out of our way even a mile or two, we might not have enough to make it."

"We can't take that chance," said Dr. Hausmann. "The fate of the world is at stake, and we cannot risk it for the sake of one person."

"Alvarez and Flynn will save her. They're on our side, and they want Gardner dead. They can follow them in the truck."

"We promised Alvarez a ride, but we left him behind too," said Stephanie. "Wait - why didn't you mention Bo, and the other cops? Why can't they help save her too?" In her heart, she already knew the answer before Erica said it.

"Oh, Stephanie, I'm so sorry. I don't know how to tell you this. Bo and the other two State Troopers...Gardner killed them with a grenade. There was nothing I could do. He had me bound and gagged." She shook her head and tried unsuccessfully to keep her tears inside. "Kathryn almost escaped then, but she went back to try to save the female sergeant. That's when he caught her again. She sacrificed herself to help, and Bo gave his life to protect you and make sure you get to Omaha. That's more important than anything, and they both knew it. More important than saving Kathryn, more important than getting revenge."



Stephanie nodded, tears welling up in her own eyes, but even her broken heart could not break her spirit too. "Y-you're right, I guess. There were so many things I never got the chance to tell him..."

"That kiss you gave him the last time you saw him said more than any words could," said Dr. Hausmann. "Believe me, he knew. He loved you, Stephanie, and he knew you felt the same way about him."

"You will love again, Stephanie," said Erica. "You'll find someone else who deserves someone as special as you."

In the helicopter-
The airfield vanished in the distance as the chopper headed east towards the more built-up areas closer to Kearney.

"Special?" said Stephanie. "Me?"

"It's true," said Dr. Hausmann, squeezing her hand. "Why do you think I chose you as my assistant? Your compassion is exemplary, but right now we have the whole world to think about."

"I only met you briefly once before," Dr. Smith told her, "but even that was enough for me to know that you're something special."

Stephanie blushed. "Gosh...you guys...Wait, now that Gardner's left the airfield, isn't it safe for us to go back?"

Erica shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it's definitely not safe. We wouldn't have enough fuel to reach Omaha if we turned back, so we'd have to refuel. The airfield could be overrun while we're doing that. There's nobody left to defend it but Alvarez and Flynn, and they'll need to go after Gardner."

"But there must be something we can do! We have to at least warn them. Wait, that's it! The radio!"

"Yeah, I could patch through to the National Guard frequency," said Erica. "We'll still be in range for a few more minutes, but Gardner will hear anything we say."

"Do it."

Erica nodded and switched on the radio. "Alvarez, Flynn, this is Erica Spears. I managed to get away from Gardner at the last second and escape with the civilians in the helicopter. I tried to get Kathryn to run towards you so you could protect her, but she ran the wrong way and he got her again. He just left the airfield with her in the police car a minute ago heading south. Dawkins could get back up, so keep your distance from her and shoot her in the head to be safe. He killed Bob by shooting him in the head, so he won't be getting back up. He also killed the other three State Troopers with a grenade, so you're the only ones left who can rescue Kathryn. I can't turn back, as I won't have enough fuel left to make Omaha if I do and I need to get my passengers there safely. We'll still be in range to talk for a few more minutes, but keep in mind Gardner can hear everything we say. Over."

In the helicopter-
"How are Alvarez and Flynn even supposed to catch up to Gardner?" asked Stephanie. "That police car can go faster than the truck, and he has a headstart."

"They'll be able to catch him when he stops," said Erica. "And he will have to stop sooner or later."

"But...how will they know which route he's taking, and how will they keep from going right past him if he stops somewhere? And even if they do find him, how are they supposed to defeat him when all the others couldn't? He killed all those people and didn't even have a scratch on him! Poor Kathryn..."

"Nobody feels for that girl more than I do, Stephanie. I've been in her position, I know. I don't understand why Bob didn't just lift off when he had the chance."

"But Gardner would have taken both of you! Bob couldn't allow that to happen."

"Well, it nearly did anyway, and he'd have gotten the rest of us and the chopper to boot. Then the world would be in even worse trouble. If I had gone with Gardner and Kathryn, at least we would have had a chance to turn the tables on him working together. Once Bob went down, though, I was the only one who could fly this bird." She looked at Lucy. "Unless you know how?"

"While I do know my way around a helicopter," said Lucy, "and I've been maintaining and repairing them for years, I've never actually flown one before."

"Well, I can teach you some as we fly. I could always use a good co-pilot."

"Thanks, I'd like that. My name's Lucy Armstrong, by the way."

"Trooper Erica Spears, Nebraska State Police. Welcome aboard." She paused to listen on the radio. "Hmm, still no response from Alvarez or Flynn. If they're going to say anything, they'll have to do it soon."

"I hope they're okay," said Stephanie.

The helicopter had been flying for a couple more minutes now. The suburbs of Kearney were visible below, and Kearney Municipal Airport was not far away.

In the helicopter-
The chopper soared over Kearney, which was still teeming with the living dead, though many of them were also streaming out of the city in every direction.

"Why haven't Alvarez and Flynn replied?" asked Stephanie. "Now I'm really getting worried about them."

"I don't know," said Erica. "We're almost out of radio range. I'll try to reach them one more time." She spoke into the microphone again. "Alvarez or Flynn, do you read me? Please acknowledge. We're going to be out of range soon, so if you have anything to say, do it now."

The municipal airport east of the city now passed by underneath. It too was teeming with zombies. "We can't land there," said Lucy, "that's for sure. Maybe we'll find another field on the way where we can refuel."

"Not gonna happen. If we land and we don't find any fuel, we'll use up too much to be sure of reaching Omaha. Any field we find will either be overrun by the dead already, or will have live people there holding it. Either way, I'm not taking the chance, not again. We're not landing until we get to Omaha, and that's final."

In the helicopter-
Alvarez replied over the radio: "Erica, we hear you. We were in the tower lobby right after you took off and we were trying to shoot Dawkins in the head to keep her from becoming a zombie but we both missed twice. She has risen and we are trying to make it to the truck nearby and once there we will hunt down and kill Gardner and rescue the civilian. We plan to also shoot Gardner in the head to keep him from rising and coming back. I am glad you made it out and only wish I was on that copter too. But wish us luck and maybe we can meet up with you somewhere along the way."

"Oh, thank God!" said Stephanie. "Tell Alvarez I said hi, and good luck."

"Yes, from me as well," said Dr. Hausmann. "It was Stephanie who told him what that fiend was going to do to you and convinced him to go in and rescue you."

"Then I owe you both one," said Erica. She spoke into the microphone again. "I wish you'd made it out, too, but I'm glad you're in a position to help Kathryn. I nearly ended up as Gardner's latest conquest, and I heard it's partly thanks to you that I didn't. Best of luck, both of you. Stephanie's really worried about Kathryn, but I know you can rescue her. She says hi and good luck, by the way, and so does Dr. Hausmann. I hope after you're done you can join us in Omaha."

Lucy motioned for the microphone, and Erica handed it to her. "This is Lucy Armstrong," she said. "I'm one of the mechanics. I wish you luck too. Also, there's an old broken-down crop duster in Hangar 1 that we started fixing. The doors are locked and I've still got the keys on me, so you'd need to break in, but after you save Kathryn maybe you could finish the repairs. It would take a while, though. And please...tell Kathryn I'm sorry I misjudged her. I feel terrible about what she's going through."

In the helicopter-
"So, you already knew Stephanie and Dr. Hausmann?" Erica asked Bernard.

"Yes, that's right," he said. "I only met them once, at a recent medical conference in Cheyenne. I'm Dr. Bernard Smith by the way. I got out of Cheyenne very early this morning, on one of the last commercial flights to Omaha. Funnily enough, I was on my way to help out at the Crisis Response Center, so it's kind of fitting that I'm going to end up there anyhow. They turned us away from the airports in Omaha because they were under attack, and my flight ended up getting diverted to the field we just left. Then those mosquito things attacked. Most of the people took the aircraft and ground vehicles and got out - the ones that didn't get killed, that is. I was one of the ones who took shelter in the tower."

"You saw the alien mosquitos?" asked Stephanie.

"Yeah, those things were freaky. They stung everyone they could, and almost everyone went down with just one sting, though I remember this one guy who didn't go down. Those skeeters just ripped the poor fellow to pieces."

"That sounds a lot like the other accounts I'd heard of them. Never saw any myself, though."

"Well, count yourself lucky. Most people who see them don't live to tell about it."

In the helicopter-
"I know," said Stephanie as she typed. "I met one of them, Michael Walters. He only barely survived, and he saw six people get slaughteered out on the road. At least they seem to die off within a few hours of emerging from the meteorites."

"Well, they sure do a lot of damage during that time," said Lucy. She looked at the flight jacket and helmet that had been left below her seat, then turned to Erica. "You want to put these back on? And I think this rifle belongs to you too."

"Yeah, thanks," she said. Now that the helicopter was flying a straight and steady course, she could relax a little and put them back on.

"Oh, and I've got your Kevlar vest on," said Stephanie. "You should have it back too. I also have your Grease gun and Beretta."

"Those you can hold onto. If I have my rifle back, I don't absolutely need a pistol. I don't really know how to use the Grease gun anyway."

"Thank you, but I don't either. I know, I can give the Grease gun to Lucy! If she's giving up the rifle, she ought to have another gun. I don't really need the vest either. It's bulky and hot, and nobody's going to be trying to shoot me in Omaha. Of course, Gardner wouldn't have shot me. He had other plans...oh, poor Kathryn..."

"Stephanie, listen to me. Kathryn is one tough cookie. I didn't know her well, but I could tell during the time we were held hostage together that she can endure anything. I gave in to despair for a while there, but she never did. Even when everyone around her was dying, she remained steadfast. She's got the second-strongest will of anyone I've ever met."

"Who has the strongest?"

"Why, you, of course."

In the helicopter-
Stephanie slipped off her lab coat and removed her vest, passing it up to Erica, who donned it and then the rest of her flight suit. Lucy handed the M-16 to Erica and took the Grease gun from Stephanie, who continued typing.

"Me?" said Stephanie.

"That's right," said Erica. "Nobody can match your courage. You were prepared to offer yourself up to Gardner in order to save the world. He wouldn't have taken you to Omaha, of course. He just wanted to take advantage of you."

"Yeah, I know, but he wasn't going to leave me any choice in the matter."

"That's why I stepped in. You're too important, and I knew I could give him one hell of a fight if he tried anything with me. It's a shame that creep took my spare ammo."

"He stole mine too, along with the gun Mr. Foo gave me."

"Well, at least that's all he stole from us." She paused and glanced back at Stephanie, who said nothing. "Don't worry, I'm sure Alvarez and Flynn will rescue Kathryn."

"I sure hope so."

"There's two of them against one," said Lucy. "Three if Kathryn can assist them in any way. If they work together, they can't fail."

Erica did not speak, but concentrated on flying instead. She didn't want to point out how easily Gardner had killed three people working together with a single grenade.

"Yeah, I think we have enough to worry about ourselves," said Dr. Smith. "Look, I've got a couple of extra 9mm magazines that Diane gave me along with her pistol. If anyone wants one, you're welcome to it."

"I guess I can use one," said Stephanie. "Thanks!" She slipped the magazine into her pocket.

Dr. Smith watched her type. "I'm not much good with computers, I'm afraid. I leave that sort of thing to you young folk. What exactly are you working on that's going to save the world?"

"Well..." Stephanie hesitated. "Brigetta, we can tell them, right? If they're going to help us, they ought to know the whole story."

Dr. Haussman sighed heavily. "It is best that we don't. Such knowledge will hardly help them." She was thinking about how heavily such knowledge weighed on her own shoulders. She didn't want to pass it on to anyone else's. Much better they focus on the short-term, close-range encounters, rather than the larger issues at hand. Besides, she had grown so used to keeping her silence, she wasn't sure how she could just open up to people who lacked the proper authorizations and clearances. Perhaps the government was rubbing off on her...

In the helicopter-
"Yeah, I suppose you know best, Brigetta," said Stephanie as she busily typed on the computer. She looked at Dr. Smith apologetically. "I'm sorry we can't tell you. You're probably better off not knowing anyway."

In the helicopter-
"Well, I'm still dying of curiosity," said Dr. Smith, "but that sure beats dying for real. I'll just have to trust you ladies, then. I know you're both bright enough to pull off whatever it is you're working on."

"They sure are," said Erica. "We've got a smooth flight the rest of the way to Omaha, so rest up while you can. I'm sure we'll be busy once we arrive, which should be in about an hour and fifteen minutes."

In the helicopter-
Nobody spoke for a few minutes. Stephanie continued typing away on the computer's keyboard, while Erica showed Lucy some of the helicopter's systems and explained how they worked.

"The radio will be useful too as we get closer to Omaha," said Erica. "In about ten minutes we should be only an hour away, which is close enough for me to try to raise them."

In the helicopter-
After ten minutes, Erica got on the radio using the frequency that Stephanie had given her. "This is Trooper Erica Spears of the Nebraska State Police in NSP Seven-Eight-Romeo calling the CDC Crisis Response Center in Omaha," she said. "Do you copy?"

After a short pause, a man's voice came from the speaker: "This is Adam Donnelly of the CDC. I read you. What's up?"

"I'm about one hour west of your position, and I've got a couple of passengers you've been waiting for: Dr. Brigetta Hausmann and Stephanie Bridges."

"Yeah!" A few more cheers echoed after his. "You don't know how happy we are to hear that. We had just about given up hope until we got word from a guy named Javier Ramirez a couple of hours ago that they'd made it off the ground. By the way, he said that Lereux isn't going to be a problem any more. We can hold out until you get here, but not much longer. How are you fixed for fuel?"

"We've got just enough to get to your location, but we won't be able to take off again after that, I'm sorry to say."

"Well, then, this plan of ours had better work. This is one hell of a gamble."

"I've also got a Dr. Bernard Smith along who knows the ladies from Cheyenne, and a mechanic named Lucy Armstrong. They had been at the airfield where we landed to refuel. We lost some good people there. Let me put this on speakerphone so you can hear everyone else." She flicked a switch.

In the helicopter-
"Adam!" called Stephanie excitedly as she typed. "It's good to hear your voice. I'm so glad you survived."

"Heya, Steph!" replied Adam Donnelly over the radio. "I'm even happier to hear yours. I was afraid we'd lost you for a while. So...how's tricks?"

"Oh, you know me: work work work, busy busy busy. I figure I'll be done in an hour fifteen, an hour twenty tops."

"Wait, you're doing it? What happened to Dr. Hausmann?"

"Brigetta's got a broken arm, so she can't type as fast. It's okay, she explained everything to me, and I picked up what I need to do easily enough."

"How did her arm get broken? Was it one of those walking eating machines?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, it didn't bite her or anything."

In the helicopter-
"Good to hear!" said Adam. "What else happened back there? Sounds like you ran into a bit of trouble."

"You might say that," said Stephanie. "A couple hundred of the walking dead showed up at about the same time as some heavily armed neo-Nazis. I got up on the motel roof with one of the guests, a lab assistant named Jenny Cooper. It's a shame we didn't have room to bring her, she's really smart. Mr. Foo stayed hidden on the balcony to keep watch on the skinheads when they went after the diner. Ellen Cody, the maid, was too afraid to climb the ladder to the roof, and that's when half a dozen of the fast ones came out of the tall grass at the back of the motel. At the same time, the skinhead leader tossed a satchel charge under a truck in the parking lot and started retreating with his men."

"Geez, Stephanie! How did you survive?"

"It wasn't easy, but I managed."

"She's being modest," said Erica. "She's a hero! She totally saved the day. Tell him, Steph."

"Well, Mr. Foo was the one who took out the skinhead leader with his MP-5, but another of them returned fire with a grenade launcher. Luckily, he was only stunned and lightly wounded. One of those ghouls was ahead of the others and went right for Ellen, and I shot it with Mr. Foo's pistol. I hit it right between the eyes and it went down. Didn't even know I had it in me."

"Yeah, Stephanie!" said Adam. "You go, girl!"

In the helicopter-
Stephanie blushed, still unused to all this adoration. "Anyway," she continued, "I shot the next one in the head twice, but that one kept on coming. It was slowed down, though. Then I started missing some shots, but I was able to wound another and down another. I bought enough time for Ellen to get up onto the balcony and help Mr. Foo up. They had to retreat to a motel room and block themselves in, but one of the guys on the roof of the diner across the street took down two more with his rifle while they were breaking in the door. Mr. Foo was able to finish off the last two, but it was a close one."

"Sounds like they wouldn't have made it without your help, then," said Adam. "You really are amazing!"

"Oh, come on."

"It's true," said Erica. "I keep trying to tell her."

"I wouldn't have had a chance if it hadn't been for Mr. Foo. He's the real hero."

"Let's just say you're both heroes and leave it at that," said Adam. "I'm real glad he took out the skinheads' leader. You could have been hurt if he hadn't, and he stopped that satchel charge from going off."

"But it did go off anyway. The dead swarmed all over the diner and into it, and some of them chased the skinheads away. Their leader had been holding a remote detonator when he died, but he hadn't been able to finish activating it. One of the ghouls stepped on it and it triggered the bomb. Almost all of them were destroyed in the blast, but several people standing on the wrong part of the roof died in the explosion, and the diner had massive structural damage. It was a few minutes after this happened when the Air Force helicopters showed up. I had asked Major Andrews at Warren AFB for help earlier when we had seen the animated corpses coming from a distance, and he must have arranged for them to come out."

"Well, it's a good thing the cavalry came, even if it was a bit late."

"That's what I had thought at the time, but actually they almost got us all killed."

In the helicopter-
"They screwed up, huh?" said Adam.

"it was worse than that," replied Erica. "Their commander, Captain Lereux, tried to take my helicopter."

"Of all the boneheaded things to do! Didn't he know what was at stake?"

"I tried to explain things to him," said Stephanie, "but he wouldn't listen, even to me. He wanted to take my computer too, but Javier Ramirez came up with the idea to switch the laptop for another one to trick him and helped me pull it off."

"That's two I owe him then. I spoke to Ramirez earlier, and he's a real stand up guy."

"I had suspected Lereux was up to something when I was flying in from Brownson," continued Erica. "That's why I landed a mile north of the T-Bone and hitched a ride with the truck that was on its way back and being chased by more of those things. The Air Force managed to defeat them with help from the surviving civilians. I had planned to use the truck to haul the fuel back to where I had landed and then have my passengers brought out there, but one of the truckers talked me into bringing the chopper to the truck stop. Big mistake."

"Wait, what happened to the other helicopter, the one that Dr. Hausmann arrived in?"

"It got wrecked when the bomb went off," said Stephanie. "If it weren't for Erica, we'd still be stuck there."

In the helicopter-
"So, how did you get your chopper back?" asked Adam.

"I had gone into the garage to use the can while it was refuelling," said Erica, "and I was just finishing up when Bob and my passengers came up from below. Apparently there's this underground complex beneath the T-Bone that dates back to the Cold War, some kind of secret prison. Anyway, when we went outside we found that they had commandeered the helicopter. Bob held Ramirez, Lt. Blanco and one of the troopers at gunpoint when they wouldn't budge, and Stephanie convinced them to cooperate, but the troopers across the road at the motel got wind of what was happening and there was a standoff that almost ended in everyone getting killed. Lereux ordered his snipers to shoot whoever tried to get in the pilot's seat, and that was me.

"Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and Lereux was relieved of command, enabling us to get off the ground. During our flight we tried contacting airfields since I knew we'd need to land somewhere to refuel. The only one that was within range that responded was about halfway to Omaha. We spoke to the air traffic controller there, Kathryn McCoy, as well as a National Guardsman, Corporal Anthony Gardner. They promised us there'd be fuel for us when we landed, but Gardner had other plans."

"Let me guess, he tried to take the chopper too?"

"You got it, but that's not all he wanted. Gardner makes Lereux seem downright nice by comparison." Erica couldn't help shivering.

In the helicopter-
"What happened?" asked Adam, his voice filled with concern.

"It was horrible," said Stephanie. "At first we thought everything would be okay. A pilot named Harry Flynn and a National Guard medic named Julio Alvarez came out of the tower to meet us. Bo Richards, one of the Nebraska State Troopers, and Bob Larkin went with them to get the fuel. While they were away, Corporal Gardner himself came outside and talked to us. While he was doing that, his men were trying to lock Bo and Bob up in the warehouse."

"That's when I got a warning message from the tower," added Erica. "It must have been Kathryn who sent it. Gardner had kidnapped her and forced her to lure us to the airfield so he could get his hands on the chopper. God only knows what he did to her to get her to play along. She managed to escape when he had to leave her in order to go outside. The only other person he had working for him was a sniper, Simone Dawkins, but she was up on the roof keeping an eye out. Once I got the signal, I tried to start up the engine and take off, but it was too late. Gardner held us at gunpoint and made me shut down the chopper. Then he got us all outside, disarmed us, and searched us. Searched us much too thoroughly, if you know what I mean."

Stephanie swallowed as she continued. "We were so helpless. He was going to get what he wanted and there was nothing we could do to stop him. He duct taped our arms behind our backs. I pleaded with him, tried to explain why it was so important that we get to Omaha. I told him he could come with us, but he wouldn't listen. He insisted on taking the helicopter so he and his people could get to Warren AFB. I begged him and told him I'd do anything. He told me to come upstairs to, um, 'discuss it with him' - and he wasn't going to take no for an answer."

"Oh, God," said Adam. "Stephanie..."

"No, I'm all right! He didn't...Erica stepped in and convinced him to take her upstairs instead. Alvarez came back with a flatbed truck and a barrel of fuel. Gardner handed off me and Brigetta to him and told him to lock us up in one of the warehouses. Then he took Erica inside the tower. I thought it was all over."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what happened next, but obviously you got out of it somehow, so there must be a happy ending to all this."

"Well...partly happy. It turns out Bo and Bob convinced Alvarez and Flynn to help us. Bo even gave up his seat on the chopper for Alvarez. I persuaded Alvarez to try to save Erica before it was too late."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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.)

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

Wing and a Prayer