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Sarah peered passed the soldiers at Ryan’s steely expression.
    Ryan stared down at the swaddled child, gently stroking its cheek. He was so engrossed with the child he was oblivious to the roar of the chopper’s engine, the bustling soldiers, and the zombies shambling towards him.
    Sarah’s view was blocked as Cahz grabbed Jennifer and tossed her on board.
    “Soon as you can, get back here and pick us up,” Cahz instructed Idris as he ushered Nathan into the middle seat.
    Idris nodded. “Keep yourselves safe and give me enough space to land.”
    Bates was stooped down, gathering up the last of his kit from the cargo net when Cahz stepped up to him. Bates swallowed down a gulp of saliva to lubricate his throat. He straightened up, but before he could speak Cahz stopped him.
    “Bates, leave that behind,” Cahz instructed.
    For a moment Bates was puzzled. He’d expected to be chewed out by his commanding officer for not volunteering his place. He followed Cahz’s gaze down to the ghetto blaster.
    “How much juice is in those batteries?” Cahz asked.
    “Not much, boss. They’re rechargeable and they’re pre-Zee. If you turn the sound down a bit you might eke out another fifteen, twenty minutes, but I guess about an hour is it.”
    Cahz nodded. “Okay.”
    “Boss!” Cannon bellowed.
    Cahz and Bates looked round.
    “Gettin’ a bit close.” Cannon, standing with his machine gun at his hip, pointed the barrel at a zombie just a few metres away. Clamping the butt of the gun to his side, he fired a thunderous volley of rounds that shredded the approaching zombie and a few behind it unlucky enough to be in the path of the stray bullets.
    “You looking for a decoy?” Bates asked.
    “Yep,” Cahz said.
    Bates smiled and produced a slightly curved, thin green rectangular box from a large pouch on his thigh. Embossed on the inside curve read the words ‘Face towards enemy’.
    “Set a timer on it for—what—five minutes?” Bates asked.
    “Make it twenty,” Cahz replied.
    When Bates looked puzzled, Cahz explained, “It’ll act as a distraction. Maybe pull a few away from us.”
    Bates quickly set the timer on the claymore mine before grabbing his kit and jumping into the chopper.
    “You packin’ any more useful toys?” Cahz asked him through the open door of the helicopter.
    “Yeah, sure.” Bates unclipped his two thigh pouches and tossed out his inventory. “Two more claymores, two flares, a smoke grenade and one MRE.”
    “Ain’t planning on staying long enough to have to eat army rations,” Cahz said, holding the pouches like they were a pair of freshly caught rabbits. “Maybe we can tempt those motherfuckers to eat these instead.”
    Bates gave out a chuckle. “Smear it all over you, then no fucker will want to bite you.”
    “It’s gettin’ tight, boss!” Cannon called out.
    Cahz shut the door and called over to Idris in the pilot seat, “Get these people out of here!”
    Idris gave a solemn nod that was as good as a promise for Cahz.
    “Cahz, it’s at least an eight hour turnaround!” Angel shouted out from her position in the chopper’s front seat.
    “Quicker you go the quicker you get back!” Cahz hollered.
    “Good luck, Cahz,” Angel said as she passed him her sidearm and her last remaining clip of ammo through the small window in her door.
    “Are you sure?” Cahz asked, holding the magazine clip with the Cyrillic writing across it.
    “I want empties back,” Angel warned in a firm tone. “Since Izhmash closed, are bitch to get hold of.”
    Cahz nodded. He turned and tapped Ryan on the shoulder.
    “Okay, we need somewhere high and defendable,” he said as he passed Ryan the pistol. “Which way?”
     
    * * *
     
    In getting comfortable, the soldier beside Nathan pushed him back into the middle rear seat and blocked his view. He couldn’t see which way Ryan had taken the party, only the occasional glimpse of a rotting faces as the zombies pressed closer to the