The Corporal took a deep breath. “Two reasons,” he replied, “One, I’m gonna make damn sure he pays off his debts to the men whose lives he squandered.”
“And two?” McCarty raised an eyebrow.
Herrera grinned. “I get to push his ass out of an airplane.”
The Sergeant chuckled, shaking his head. “I look forward to seeing you in action,” he said.
The plane suddenly throttled back, startling most of the men, Herrera included. McCarty checked his watch before changing the channel on his headset to speak with the pilot.
“There’s no way we’re already at the jump zone,” the Sergeant said, turning to face the cockpit. “Why are we slowing down?”
The pilot shook his head. “Engine is running hot, so I gotta dial it back,” he replied. “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to be more than four or five minutes behind the others.”
“Four or five minutes is an eternity in a war zone, son,” McCarty warned.
The pilot sighed. “So is the four or five minutes it takes to crash land when the engine catches fire,” he shot back.
McCarty glared at him for a beat, and saw it returned, so he backed down, knowing that he was right. He nodded in defeat.
“So what you gotta do to get us there safe,” the Sergeant conceded. “We’ll make it work.” He flipped the channel back to the Corporal. “We’re good, just five minutes behind the others. Which means we’re gonna have to haul ass.”
Herrera nodded, and then pulled his headset down, leaning over to the man on his right to tell him the situation right into his ear. That soldier then turned and passed it to the man next to him, and so on. Soon, all the soldiers were nodding, accepting the news.
The plane fell silent of speaking, with the men looking out the window at the moonlit ground, contemplating the task at hand. As they approached the jump zone, downtown Seattle came into view on the horizon, standing up tall. The moon reflected off of the glass of the buildings, as well as the Space Needle.
Herrera noticed the concerned expression on McCarty’s face, and his brow furrowed. He put his headset back on and asked, “You good, Sergeant?”
“Yeah,” McCarty replied, shaking his head. “Just hoping this goes better than that debacle we had in Kansas City.”
The Corporal felt his blood run cold. “You were in K.C.?” he asked.
“I was,” the Sergeant replied. “Along with a lot of other boys who didn’t make it out.”
Herrera swallowed hard. “I’m sorry for your loss, Sergeant.”
McCarty turned his gaze on the Corporal, all hint of concern gone from his stern expression. “Just means we’re gonna have to kick their share of ass, too.”
Herrera nodded firmly, giving him a thumbs up, wisely deciding not to press the issue further. Another few moments ticked by, before the pilot tapped the Sergeant on the shoulder.
“We jump in sixty!” McCarty barked, voice carrying to the men clustered around.
Herrera removed his headset and got the men ready, looking out the window to see the island coming up fast. It was big and dark, with patches of clear field and developments all around it. After a moment, he found the landing zone, an unmistakable dark patch on the southern portion of the island.
The plane throttled back a little more, allowing them a stable departure. McCarty gave the signal, and the Corporal threw open the door to the plane. He stepped to the side, looking back at Gilbert, who bounced from foot to foot, psyching himself up to jump.
Herrera reached out and grabbed his parachute shoulder strap, giving a heave to throw him from the plane, prompting a nod of approval from McCarty.
The other soldiers piled out of the plane in short order, the Corporal and Sergeant jumping last. They plummeted through the air, hurtling rapidly towards the ground. At target altitude, they pulled their rip cords to deploy their chutes, the soldiers floating on the wind.
At the slower descent, gunfire could be heard popping off sporadically on the ground. Herrera’s heart skipped a beat with each shot that went off, worrying about just how bad it was on the ground. What if the woods were infested with ghouls? They could become living pinatas.
Within a second or two, the hypothetical threat became real fear as the wind picked up, strong gusts blowing them off course. He held onto his straps, struggling to control the descent, but it was no use. The wooded landing zone quickly became unreachable, as well as the rally point.
The Corporal looked below to see the soldiers who’d leapt first heading to the high school, careening out of control. At a few hundred yards above the ground, he realized that the majority of the ground was moving.
He pulled as hard as he could on the parachute, trying everything he could to divert course. Two of the soldiers below were able to shift their descent to the right, crashing hard into the pavement of the parking lot. As they did, the dense mass from the field moved in their direction.
Two other soldiers weren’t as fortunate, as the wind had blown them too far off course. Herrera watched helplessly as they landed right in the middle of the field, quickly vanishing under a swarming mass of rotted flesh.
Gunfire on the ground erupted, coming from the two soldiers from the parking lot who’d managed to avoid an instant death. With the ground rapidly approaching, the Corporal struggled to make the turn, getting just enough of it to land on the far edge of the parking lot.
He tumbled forward, landing hard on the pavement, his chute dragging him across the hard surface. Moans came from nearby, too close for comfort, and Herrera looked up to see a swarm dozens strong grasping at the chute, tangling themselves up in it.
He quickly pulled his knife and started hacking at the parachute lines, the horde growing closer and closer to him. Panic set in as they reached ten yards away, and he screamed as he sawed at
