warehouse into the deepest shadows at its rear. There was a narrow strip of grass then a road running parallel to the perimeter fence. As soon as we came around the corner a chorus of screams from infected females started up from the far side of the fence.
We hesitated as a group for a moment, then I broke into a run, the others following close behind. If we didn’t get away from the fence, fast, someone was going to come to investigate the commotion and find us. Sprinting along the back of the big building I should have slowed when I reached the corner but was in too much of a hurry and was distracted by the screaming females.
An Air Force guard, coming to see what had the infected riled up, stepped around the corner and directly into my path. I ran into him at full speed, both of us tumbling to the ground. He fell one way and I the other and I was just starting to scramble to subdue him when Igor lunged forward and wrapped a thick arm around his neck, dragging him into the dark behind the warehouse.
Igor had him in a sleeper hold, compressing the carotid arteries on either side of his neck. The guard struggled for a moment then quickly lost consciousness. Igor gently lowered him to the ground and stepped back. Martinez moved in, checked his pulse, then pulled some plastic zip ties out of her pack and secured the Airman’s hands and feet. A strip of fabric served as a gag.
Nodding my thanks to Igor I set off at a run for the next building. The females were still screaming and though I couldn’t see them in the dark I could tell they were moving down the fence line, following us. I ran harder, making it past two more buildings before we encountered another curious guard. This one stepped around a corner thirty yards in front of us, looking to his left and right for whatever had the infected worked up.
When he spotted us I saw his eyes go wide, even in the dim light, then he was swinging his rifle up in our direction. I was too far away to do anything to stop him, cursing and raising my own rifle. At twenty yards my weapon was up and ready to go, my finger along the trigger guard as I sighted in. At fifteen yards he realized I had the drop on him, his rifle still not up to his shoulder, and he froze. Thank God!
The Airman looked no more than 18 years old, just a baby to me, and relief flooded through me that he had the sense to not keep bringing his weapon up. I came to a stop five yards from him and motioned him behind the building where Igor and Martinez grabbed and disarmed him. A minute later he was bound and gagged and stashed against the base of the wall.
“That was too fucking close,” I said to the group in general. “I almost had to kill that kid.”
“We need to get away from the infected before a whole squad comes back here to see what’s going on.” Scott said.
I agreed with him, but we either stayed behind the hangars and in view of the infected, or moved to the front in view of the guards. We didn’t have a whole lot of options. There were only three more buildings between us and where Martinez had spotted the lightly guarded Pave Hawks, so I decided our best option was to just keep running and hope for luck.
We covered the remaining distance without any more incidents. I breathed a big sigh of relief when we reached the back corner of the hangar closest to the helicopters. We’d made it without hurting any of the Air Force guards. I knew I would have if I’d been forced to, but not having to carry that load on an already burdened conscience was an almost physical relief.
“Shit,” Martinez muttered. She was leaning around the corner looking at the Pave Hawks through her binoculars. “They’re red tagged.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, afraid I already knew.
“They’re grounded, waiting for repair or maintenance.” She said. “Sorry. I couldn’t see the tags before.”
“Not your fault. Do you think they’re really down, or could one of them fly?” I was grasping at straws.
“As far as we’re concerned, they’re down. If I had time to do a thorough a pre-flight inspection, check the logs and do