Domain of the Dead Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked up at the office block in cold silence. The last of the lemming-like zombies had plunged to their doom and Angel was painfully making her way to the ground before he realised he’d been holding his breath. He knew there was nothing he could have done to help Angel; the cadre sniper always acted alone and away from the team.
    That didn’t diminish his responsibility or his concern for his comrade. In the few seconds since Angel’s radio call, Cahz had been torn between watching out for her and scanning for the survivors lost in the throng of cadavers.
    He took in a lungful of rancid air, which peaked his own sense of danger. None of the three men had emerged from the crowd and the mob of undead were now only a few shambling footsteps from his position. He breathed out the rank air, his decision made. Three more casualties among the billions.
    “Okay people, time to bug out. Everyone back to the bird.”
    As he turned to run back to the chopper, Cahz noticed that Angel had stopped one floor from the ground. Below her were half a dozen necrotic arms outstretched, waiting for her.
    Before he could order one of his men to help, Angel had unholstered her pistol and dispatched the group. Her shots looked clumsy compared to what Cahz had come to expect. A couple of shots had missed their target before he realised what was wrong. For some reason Angel was firing right handed.
    “Cahz, we’ve a problem,” Idris’ voice crackled over the radio from the chopper.
    Cahz turned round and slapped his buddy, the hulk of a soldier everyone called Cannon, on the shoulder. He nodded and both men jogged back to the chopper.
    Around the chopper stood the group of dishevelled survivors. Idris was obviously shouting through the window from the pilot’s seat at Bates, but from here the sound of the blades and the music from the ghetto blaster drowned out the conversation. Looking back at the office block, Cahz could see that Angel was down and hobbling towards the landing zone.
    “Cannon, go give Angel a hand.” Cahz gestured in the sharpshooter’s direction.
    “You got it.” The big man sprinted off with an agility and speed not generally associated with most men his size, let alone for someone carrying a heavy machine gun and a thousand rounds of ammo.
    “What’s the problem?” Cahz asked as he drew level with the helicopter’s open window.
    The survivors were in a tight knot around the chopper. The two ragged young men looking anxiously around. The skinny young woman with dirty blond hair bent double and retching, a young girl diligently rubbing her back, and an older woman who was trying unsuccessfully to shush the baby in her arms.
    “Are you counting heads?!” Idris shouted above the noise of the engine and the sound of the baby’ crying.
    Cahz looked at the survivors and then back at the seats in the chopper. “Ah, shit!”
     
    * * *
     
    Sarah stepped in front of the man who was obviously in charge. Through raw breaths, cheeks flushed, she panted, “Where are the others?”
    “I’m sorry, ma’am. I waited as long as I could,” Cahz said in way of an answer.
    Sarah knew what he meant. She looked back along the street she and her companions had ran down. There were hundreds of zombies, all walking towards the chopper, but no sign of her missing companions.
    Cahz rapped his fingers against the side of the chopper as he thought aloud, “Could we get everyone onboard and try to find somewhere safe to set down?”
    “Where?” Idris asked. “Look, we couldn’t get airborne with the extra weight even if you could cram everyone in. And if we could take off, where would we get the extra fuel we’d need to get back to Ishtar?”
    “What’s the problem?” Sarah asked, overhearing part of the discussion.
    “Ma’am, the chopper only seats five, maybe six at a squeeze,” Cahz explained.
    “And there are ten of us,” Sarah said, still trying to compose herself.
    “Don’t suppose the girl and the baby will be