"Take us around, Boss, nice and easy," Dan says in earnest through my earphones.
“Copy that.”
I'm just about to move the Lynx off when something catches my eye; a Rabid in a Fusilier uniform has made it onto the roof of the White Tower through the far-right side turret’s opening. The thing is running towards the Lynx along the roof's side footway. Just before I tell Dan about the new target, I look again and suddenly realise it's not moving like a Rabid.
Through my earphones, Dan's voice bursts excitedly, "We have a friendly on the roof, Boss, a friendly!"
"Yes, Dan, I see him," I return just as excitedly. "I'm moving in."
I hover sideways across from our position, keeping Dan—still firing intermittently at targets—facing towards the Tower. The soldier waves his hands above his head frantically at us, his SA80 rifle hanging across his chest. As soon as he sees we have seen him and are heading towards his position, he turns lifting his rifle to take up a covering position, his rifle pointed towards the opening he has just emerged from.
As we fly across the causeway below towards his position, he flicks his head around from time to time to check our position, and probably to check we are still coming for him. The Lynx eases across. I’m aiming to get the helicopter into the space in between the two corner turrets on the East side of the Tower, giving the rotors both above and to the rear plenty of room away from the turrets. The nose of the Lynx is about level with the end of the arched wall jutting from the Tower on this side. Dan ceases firing and guides me in as we get closer. He’s guiding me to get the hold adjacent to one of the gaps nestled in between the battlements atop the walls of the Tower, so the soldier will be able to climb through it.
“Okay, hold position,” Dan instructs.
As I hold our position, I see movement from my peripheral vision but daren’t look around. My concentration has to be on holding; my flying skills are rusty and the helicopter very close to the Tower with someone about to board.
“She’s on board, Boss; take us up.”
She? I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that. The Lynx rises and I can relax slightly as we move away from the Tower into clear air.
Looking into the hold at our new passenger, the soldier plonks herself down into one of the hold seats facing the front. Her head is down so I can only see the top of her helmet. She stays like that for a few moments as if gathering herself. Eventually, her hands rise to her helmet which she pulls off slowly to reveal short blonde hair. She is visibly panting, getting her breath back, her hands holding her helmet, lower, her elbows pivoting on her knees. Dan puts a hand on her back and leans in, asking her if she is okay?
Her back straightens and she leans back into the hold seat, still panting slightly. Her face is peppered with blood up to the line on her forehead where her helmet sat. Her blue eyes dart around the hold looking at both Dan and me, taking in her new surroundings. Dan rummages into the black holdall and takes out a bottle of water. He twists the top off and hands it to her, and she almost snatches it off him and drinks the water down greedily. Finishing drinking, she leans back into her seat, putting her head back and gulping in a large breath of air. Her head comes down with a big smile on her face. She reaches over for a headset and puts it on.
"Wow, thanks, guys. I don't know where you came from but, boy, am I glad to see you," She is still slightly breathless and there seems to be a hint of an American accent to her voice.
"We just happened to be in the area looking for pretty American women to pick up."
"You will have to excuse Dan's terrible sense of humour," I interject, "I'm Andy, what's your name, soldier?"
"Second Lieutenant Alice Ward, Sir."
"No Sirs here, Alice. Dan and I are civilians and we have been for some time. Are you okay, any injuries we need to know about?" I ask.
"No, I'm fine, tired but fine. I haven't been bitten, don't worry," Alice says quite seriously.
"That's good news, Alice. What can you tell us about what happened with your battalion here; it looks like you've had it bad?" I ask, hungry for information.
"The story is probably the same as everyone else's; we were overrun by the Zombies,” Alice starts fairly casually. “We were tasked with guarding the Tower and the bridges in this area, including London Bridge and Tower Bridge to make sure the Zombies didn’t get across into South London. I was stationed here in the Tower, guarding the walls, but the positions outside the walls were quickly inundated with hundreds of Zombies attacking. Trying to stop them crossing the bridges from this side of the river was madness and our guys outside the wall were getting slaughtered, so the Major ordered all companies to fall back to the Tower and inside the walls.”
“Did they make it back?” I ask quickly.
“No,” Alice says and my heart drops into the pit of my stomach. “The only company that had anyone make it back was the one guarding Tower Bridge; they were close enough for us to lay down covering fire to help them. All the other companies were too far out, we could hear them trying to fight their way back, but none made it.” Alice finishes very sombrely.
“I think we know what happened next. They got over the walls and all hell
