Cayo Elina 35

“So you didn’t go and investigate when you were that close?” Gus asked Ricardo.

He shook his head, “Nah. You’d think you would want to, right? I understand that. But these guys were hard core, no messing around and no sense of humor.”

“Let me guess, you said something and they booted you out?” Elina said.

“Nothing like that!” Ricardo laughed, “You just think a little differently when something that important is set in front of you. In short, I chickened out.”

“You? No way!” Elina said.

“Bawk-bawk.”

“Wait! Wait just a minute! You said this orgasmic-high had something to do with the bay too? Where does that tie in?” Elina asked.

“It does! Really, I don’t know how it would affect you, but to us it feels….good to be there. The closer you get, the better it feels. The group around the crater don’t really have a name, but I jokingly called them the ‘Order of the Rift Guardians’ and they didn’t object. Well, they didn’t object too much. Anyway the ORGs say that the closer you get to the rift the better it feels.”

“Unless you get too close, then poof! You’re gone!” Gus said.

“I’m not sure, the rift doesn’t take everyone. They don’t know why.”

“I’m still not sold on it being a rift. There has to be some other explanation.”

“Yeah, like maybe we were all smoking too much wacky-weed or drinking out the last of the tequila we found.” Ricardo joked, “I was stone cold sober and it felt nice to be there, incrementally nicer a I got closer to the shore, better in the water. I’ve got no reason to lie to you about it, hell you can go check it out for yourself. I’d like to know if you feel it as you get closer too.”

“One mission at a time, Ricardo.” Elina said.

“It’s not that far away, maybe a day out and back. We could probably see it from the air.”

“Well talk to Sidney, but I don’t think we’ll be here much longer. How are the local zombies?” Elina asked, turning the topic back to the here and now.

“Still restless, I don’t think anyone will try anything. The ones who wanted to already have, so there’s only a few shamblers getting through now.”

“You’re letting them through? I thought you were supposed to be keeping them away!” Elina said.

“Nah. Gotta let the Marines feel like they are useful. If anything big heads this way, I’ll be all over it.” Ricardo said with a wave of his hand.

“Did you see the invisible super in the machine shop?” Gus asked.

“There was an invisible one in the machine shop?”

“Yeah.”

Ricardo shrugged and pointed to the radio on his jacket, “That’s why we have these, so if something funky comes up that I don’t see we can still throw it back. Seriously, there was an invisible super inside the perimeter?”

“This was when we were still doing the clean out, you were a little busy.” Elina said.

“I’d have noticed that sort of power.”

“Would you have been able to do anything about it?” asked Elina.

“Yeah….I’d have told you to deal with it.”

They all had a quiet laugh and Elina asked, “So why can’t you turn invisible?”

“I don’t know, everyone is different. I have a theory though…”

A loud whistle sounded from back where the techs were working, which was out of sight from where they were sitting.

“What the hell does that mean?” Gus asked, jumping to his feet and starting back.

“I’m going back up top.” Ricardo said, pointing towards the roof.

“Does it increase your range?” Elina asked.

“No, but it lets everyone see me better, so they don’t think I’m slacking off on the job.” With that he turned and leaped the thirty feet to the lowest roof. From there he bounded back to the position he had been in when he called down to them.

Hector watched the zombie in wonder, then turned and hurriedly caught up with Elina and Gus. As they rounded the corner they came into view of the helicopters and saw that almost everyone was inside of them and strapping themselves in, from the large cargo helicopter a net had been draped around the part the technicians had been working on.

Elina ran up to Sidney, who gestured at her to get into the copter, she shook her head and asked, “What’s going on?”

“We got what they needed so we’re moving out.”

“Alban said it was going to take them seven or eight hours to pull the parts they needed.”

Sidney shook his head, “It is, I decided that was too long to be on the ground here, I don’t want to give the locals time to come up with anything. It turns out the piece they were scavenging from won’t put either helicopter anywhere near capacity, so I had them wrap it up. We’ll transport it back to the base and they can disassemble it back in Miami.”

“Does this change of plan have anything to do with the Cubans?” Elina asked.

Sidney looked at her for a moment before nodding curtly, “My commander said he could use us and Perry didn’t object.”

“I thought Perry was your commander?”

“Ultimately, yes. There are ranks of Marines above my grade. Are we through chatting? I’d like to go…”

“I don’t suppose you could send Gus, Hector and I in the small bird with a pilot to check something out?”

Sidney hesitated, the smaller helicopter, which had carried a squad in, was sitting empty on the field waiting for the pickets to pull back. “Why?”

“Ricardo said he had word that there was a horde of zombies moving down from the north, I’d like to see what’s heading our way.”

“We could send the Cessna after we get back…” Sidney began.

Elina cut him off, “I’m talking a wide loop here, fifteen or twenty minutes out of the way; it’s less fuel for us to go now than to send the plane all the way from Miami.”

Sidney thought about this for about half a second, then nodded approval, “Okay, don’t make me regret this, Elina.”

“That was easier than I thought it would be.” Elina yelled at him over the sound of the helicopters.

“Perry sent word down that you might want to look around, my commander left it up to me to give final approval. Take two of the marines with you, and Ricardo. I’ll make sure you have ammo.”

“We’re not engaging anyone, we’re just looking around!” Elina protested.

“Right. Take care of my men.” Sidney hustled away from the helicopter and Elina heard him yelling, asking for volunteers to go with the small helicopter on a scouting mission. As one the Marines raised their hands, offering to go. Sidney picked two out of the crowd, one was missing his helmet and had a blood streaked bandage wrapped around his head, but he was carrying a nasty looking shotgun and moved with the silky smoothness of an enhanced human. The other was a scrawny kid with a sunburned face who was carrying a rifle, who darted over to the other helicopter to grab a medical kit before joining them.

The pilot had a brief conversation with Sidney, and in moments they were in the air. With the seven of them the small helicopter still seemed roomy, there were enough radios for everyone and the pilot indicated Elina should put hers on.

“Where are we going mame?” He asked her once she had the headphones on.

“We’re heading due north, along the coast, looking for the spot where a bunch of zeds are gathering. They should be near a harbor of some sort. Ricardo knows better than I do.” Elina said, casting a pointed look at the other man.

Ricardo nodded and belatedly spoke up, “Yeah, just follow the coast, can’t be more than ten minutes from here as fast as this thing flies.”

“Will do. We have to wait here and circle until Sidney and his troops are away. Then I’ll get right on it.”

They circled for another five minutes waiting for the other aircraft to get aloft, then the pilot started them on a heading north along the coast.

Elina looked at the two marines assigned to them and asked, “So, what are your names?”

The skinny guy deferred to his shotgun toting companion, who said, “Lance Corporal Levi Wogsner ma’am and this is PFC Justin Greenbriar.”

Elina introduced her companions and Levi nodded, “Yes, ma’am, we know who you are.”

“That’s a nice shotgun you got there, Lance Corporal.”

“Call me Levi, ma’am, that will save time.” Levi held out his gun for her inspection, “This is an M1014 combat shotgun. It is a reliable weapon, well suited to destroying the enemy.”

“Automatic?” Elina asked, eyeing the gun.

Levi hesitated, “Not in the traditional sense, it is what you would call ‘semi-automatic’, ma’am, every trigger pull delivers a shell.”

“Five shots?”

“Six in the magazine, plus one in the chamber. It is a 12 gauge ma’am. Fires doubt ought buckshot, I can get a range out to seventy five meters, depending on how I have the choke set. It is a very effective weapon.”

“I don’t think you would be carrying it if it weren’t, Levi. So Justin is a medic too?” She asked.

Levi shook his massive square head, “No, ma’am, he’s cross training and better than nothing, but not a full on corpsman yet.”

“Well we shouldn’t have any problems requiring his services today, we’re just going to be doing a fly by.”

“That sounds wonderful, ma’am.” Levi answered.

They rode in silent for a few minutes more before Ricardo pointed down to the coast below them, “There! See it?”

Elina and the others looked down to see an almost perfect half circle of ocean about half a kilometer across. “I thought it would be a full circle.”

Ricardo shook his head, “No, it blew close to the coast. Another few years and I bet the coast will collapse and make it blend in more. See there?” He pointed down, but at what Elina could not quiet see. “Right near the middle. Look close.”

Looking close was something Elina could and did do. What she saw looked like a colorful blob floating on the water close to dead center of the artificial bay. “Is that…it looks like a light there, floating on the water.”

The pilot asked, “Should I circle or do a fly by?”

“Circle please.” Elina responded.

He banked the helicopter into a bank that tilted Elina’s side down slightly closer to the bay.

“Perfect. Thanks.”

“It’s not on the water. C’mon Elina, look with your real eyes.” Ricardo said.

“I can’t see Jack Shit.” Gus said.

Hector described what he was seeing on another channel, Gus didn’t look thrilled to have to rely on someone else to tell him what was going on and accepted the aid with ill grace.

Elina, after concentrating a little bit longer, “It’s not a reflection; I think you’re right. It’s glowing.”

“It’s a rift. A gate between worlds. You want to go explore it?” Ricardo asked her.

Shrugging her shoulder Elina said, “I think I do.” She held up a hand to forestall Ricardo’s surprise, “Just not right now. Maybe when we’ve got this Miami situation under control we can come back here.”

Ricardo laughed, “Not likely, chica, haven’t you seen the shore?”

Elina hadn’t really paid any attention to it, now she spared it a glance and was horrified at the mob down below. The zombies were crowded onto every square meter of ground, standing shoulder to shoulder, some of them in the water, most on dry ground. They extended back a kilometer or more in all directions, a teeming mass of undead.

“Geez, maybe Perry will loan us a helicopter to investigate with.” Elina said, “I don’t suppose you could hold them back?”

“Wouldn’t even try. Last time I was here the ORGs were pretty against zombies controlling each other. They had more than a few badasses among them.”

“So that means we don’t have anything to worry about from the people moving down from up north.” Elina said.

Ricardo nodded.

“Why?” Gus asked, Elina hadn’t known he was back on their channel.

She answered him before Ricardo could, “The ORGs would stop the other supers from driving the lessor zombies onward.”

“Yep.” Ricardo confirmed.

“So you just wanted us to see this. Why?” Elina asked.

“I couldn’t bring myself to go through it last time I was here.” He paused to let that sink in a moment and then added, “Alone.”

Elina’s laughter filled the headsets, “He wants us to go with him!”

“Why not?” Ricardo asked. “The ORGs said some of the things that came out were alive, that they got away and into the surrounding area or the ocean. So likely you could breathe on the other side.”

“Why us? You hardly even know us.” Elina said.

“You’re good people.” Ricardo said.

“Liar.” Gus interjected.

Shaking his head Ricardo said, “I felt it from the second I saw you, way down in Key West. Even before I knew you two were the badasses from the Cay. I just knew you were the ones to do this with me.”

“Something just ‘clicked’ did it?” Gus asked, rubbing his hand across his rough shaven chin.

Nodding eagerly Ricardo said, “Exactly! It just feels right. Doesn’t it feel right to you too?”

“Well, it doesn’t feel wrong, other than getting through all those zeds.” Elina said.

“I’ll go.” Hector put in.

Ricardo glanced at him, “Thanks, man. Now help me get these two onboard.”

“Why would you want to go Hector?” Gus asked.

“There’s a chance there aren’t any zombies on the other side, that would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?”

“What if what’s over there is worse?”

“Worse than soul eating zombies? What’ can be worse than that?” Hector asked.

“Vampires. Or maybe a race of Sasquatches.” Gus said.

“Sasquatch? What’s that?”

“Bigfoot.” Gus clarified.

“I’ll take bigfoot over brain eater any day of the week. I’m in.”

“I’m not against it.” Gus said, “Maybe …I end up there.”

Elina caught his eye and nodded, “Okay, fine, but after this current mess. We should be almost finished with it anyway.”

“Look!” The pilot said, pointed towards the south as they came around in another circle of the bay. A plume of dark smoke was barely visible on the horizon.

It took the others a moment to realize what he meant. Hector put their suspicions into words, by asking, “Is that…could that be from the transport helicopter?”

“Get us over there!” Elina said, “We’ll get back to this later, Ricardo I promise you that.”

The pilot brought the helicopter out of its turn and accelerated towards the distant smoke plume.