“We’s Rocko’s crew!” He tapped his foot a couple of times.
The helicopter had found some smooth air, so the passengers were able to let go of the netting and move through the fuselage. There was little lighting inside the helicopter, and Tammy could only make out four windows in the entire hold. Two near the back and two near the front. Tammy felt the draw and made her way to the front windows. Several others followed in her wake. Tammy managed to get a good spot in front of the window and looked outside.
They had passed over the city limits and were somewhere over the countryside. She watched as they flew over a few small towns and villages, and a bunch of farms. Tammy could see smoke rising from a few houses, the cars haphazardly parked or crashed, and occasionally a figure moving around. She thought she saw a person waving from the roof of a house, but they were travelling so fast that the moment was gone before she was sure. Eventually, the settlements grew less frequent and smaller and the ground started undulating into hills. Then from one moment to the next the farms gave way to forests. Tammy watched in a daze as the green canopy flowed underneath their feet, unbroken except for the occasional creek or glade.
Tammy looked over and saw BB standing nearby. She moved closer to the gaunt figure and tapped him on the arm.
“Willy – I mean BB, what’s ‘Semper Gumby’? And why did Frankie call you ‘Boot’?”
BB grinned. “Nothing bad, Tammy. Boot is just what marines call us army folks. Hey, I was surprised he didn’t call me ‘Doggie’ – that’s short for ‘Dog-face’. Or ‘trench monkey’ – that’s another good one. ... Must mean he likes me or is in a good mood.”
BB laughed at his own comment. A short ‘He-he’ laugh that sounded more like barking than laughter to Tammy.
BB continued. “The Gumby thing – do you remember Gumby, the bendy tv show character?” Tammy nodded uncertainly. “Well the marines are proud of being able to adapt – bend to changing situations – like Gumby.” He barked another quick laugh. “Glad they are or otherwise we’d still be stuck in that building!”
Tammy nodded. “Yeah. We owe these guys our lives.” She agreed.
She looked back out the window and watched the landscape slide by below them. After a few minutes, Tammy turned her attention to the cockpit in front of her. From her angle she could only see one of the pilots. The cockpit looked a lot like an aircraft cockpit
The co-pilot, an African American man, would occasionally speak into the microphone attached to his flight helmet. Only the pilots and the two marine crewmen had these helmets, so she had no idea what was being said.
Several minutes later, and about half an hour after their rescue from the camp, Tammy could see the co-pilot becoming more agitated and speaking into his microphone several times. He turned around to look at the group in the hold behind him. One of his eyebrows rose as he saw Tammy. He checked her out for half a second before remembering his task. He leaned as far as he could out of his chair and had to yell to be heard above the noise of the rotors above them.
“WE ARE THREE MINUTES OUT. HOLD ON FOR LANDING.”
With a nod at each other, Johnny and Frankie herded the passengers towards the back of the helicopter, where the pallets sat.
“Hold on tah these!” Frankie said emphatically, pointing at the netting fastened to the pallets. The group complied, and within a minute they could feel the helicopter descending. The bump when they set down was larger than expected and half the group still lost their balance.
Tammy was one of the lucky ones as she managed to stay on her feet. She could hear Johnny yell several expletives behind her. She heard that ‘emu’ term again. She still wondered what it meant.
People were picking themselves up, and everybody was back on their feet before the rear ramp started lowering to the ground. The noise only increased as the large ramp opened up.
Once the ramp was down, Johnny made his way down to speak to a soldier that had walked up to the helicopter. After a brief exchange, Johnny made his way back up the ramp as the soldier yelled something towards his left.
Johnny signalled and Frankie got the passengers moving.
“Ok folks! End of da ride!” He ushered the group down the ramp where a second soldier was now standing. He beckoned the group to follow him and, a few seconds later, they were far enough away from the huge helicopter to speak without having to yell.
The soldier turned around to face the six newcomers. “Please follow me. I am to take you to our commanding officer first, and then we will get you situated.”
That said, he turned on his heel and started walking. Mike just shrugged and followed the soldier. The rest following suit. Tammy took a moment to look around as she fell in step behind Breanne.
The area she had just come from was wide open. Just a little shack and a garage stood near the crudely painted helipads. A pallet truck sat ready to drive into the helicopter to pick up its first load. Tammy figured that it was waiting for the helicopter to be completely shut down.
Tammy could see a fence in the distance, with forest outside of the fence line. It looked like this fence went all the way around the complex. The area she was walking towards had another fence around it. This was the main camp. A simple dirt road led up to the gate. Tammy scanned down the dirt road and saw the second gate at the far fence. This place was definitely out of the way.
THE COMPLEX ITSELF loomed larger as she approached. Tammy couldn’t see much of it from her angle,
