Page 47

“Negative. We are keeping comms open to in hope he communicates with us. Now, as far as we can determine, this virus has made it across the country and to other parts of the world. It’s a Goddamn pandemic.”

“Do we know what their end game is?” Webb asked.

“Well, from the communications we intercepted, they want to bring their caliphate to fruition as is always their goal. Initially, their intent was to have everyone succumb to their religion and if not, they wanted to reign over us infidels as their slaves. When they discovered how the mutated virus turned people into mindless murdering machines, they unleashed it on the world.”

“That’s stupid, they would kill themselves in the process,” Neville chimed in.

Harwell nodded, “Their thinking is that they would be isolated from the virus in their home countries. Killing anyone who attempts to come into the country who isn’t Muslim, they just assumed we infidels would kill each other. I guess that...” Just then, a Private burst into the room. “What the hell?” Harwell yelled.

“Sorry Sir, but we have MSGT Priest on the radio.”

CHAPTER 22

Bodies were lying all over the place. On the seats, on the floor and anywhere else there was open space. The E-One was not designed to seat that many people in the cab, but they made due and weren’t leaving anyone behind.

They rode in silence for a good while before Dana spoke up, “The one that was still alive, did you kill him?”

Priest turned around to look at her, “Do you really want to know?”

“I do.” Dana replied.

“No, he was still alive when we left,” Priest said, then added, “technically.” Dana seemed upset with this answer.

“You left him alive? What if he sets the roadblock back up and kidnaps some other girls? I would not have allowed him to live to do this to someone else.”

“That will not happen.” Priest turned back around to stare out the windshield.

“How do you know?”

Priest took a deep breath, “Because his back is broke and he can’t walk, I broke both his wrists and cut each of his eyes out. The shithead is blind, helpless and will never know when death is coming for him, but he will die… scared and alone.”

“Oh my God,” Dana covered her mouth with her hands.

Priest turned around, “I told you, you didn’t want…”

She interrupted him, “That was awesome, thank you so much,” she said.

“Huh?” Priest said, a little baffled.

“Are you kidding me? After what that piece of shit did to us, I wanted to rip his fucking nuts off myself.”

Priest’s eyes widened, and he just turned back around in his seat. Shaw glanced over at him, but Priest didn’t even look over at him and just shook his head.

After a stretch of silence, Priest asked the girls what their plans may be for the future. It turned out that they still wanted to go to Louisville and check on Dana’s parents. Priest didn’t have the heart to tell them he thought her parents were probably dead and that their trip would be futile. He explained to the team that they will visit Himsel Air Force Base first and try to gain another helicopter.

After that they would take Dana and her friends to Dana’s parent’s house and on to Fort Campbell from there. Doug admitted had flown into Himsel a few times, but wasn’t completely familiar with the layout or aircraft storage there.

“Ok, Shaw, when we get there, it’s all about hauling ass. We blast right through until we get to the airfield. I am really tired of dealing with ambushes, infected hordes, and roadblocks. Just keep the fucking hammer down until we reach our destination. Priest turned to the back seat, “Tug, Doc, you guys load up and be ready to take out anything that moves. Girls, stay down and hold on.”

About 20 minutes later, Shaw called out, “Approaching front gate, Sarge.”

Priest had his binos out already. “Stop right here and let me get an initial assessment first.” He looked down the road to Himsel AFB. “Well, the gate is wide open and I don’t see anyone in the guardhouse. I’m scanning farther and it looks like a roadblock on the main road. Don’t know if it is just a car pile-up that happened during the mass evacuation or an intended ambush or roadblock point. Either way, we need to get through there. You ready, Shaw?”

“Damn straight!”

Priest took in a deep breath and then exhaled. “Ok, shit and git!”

Shaw whooped and slammed forward, “Here we go people, hold on to your butts!”