Levi's Last Hope

2.

Levi

(then)

        STAFF SERGEANT LEVI JAMES BRACKLEY marched through the air hanger.

        He and his men had not long got back from operation sundown. It was meant to be a simple recon in Poland, but the chopper had barely touched the ground before they'd been ordered back to the UK.

        Classified, his Captain had told him. Don't have clearance to say it on the comms.

        He pushed through a door at the back of the hanger and steered right, into a corridor. A few more turns and he was at his Captain's office. Someone must have just gone in a few seconds before as the door was still swinging closed. Levi pushed it open and stepped inside.

        There was a crowd of people gathered around the table. Levi, being one of the taller guys, could see over their heads. He recognised most of them, had been on operations with a handful and had done some form of training with the rest.

       At the head of the table was Captain Greggory. With greying hair, the man looked older than he was. It went with the job description. If being in the field didn't kill you, the stress of it would slowly drain your life anyway.

        "What's going on?" asked Levi. His voice echoed around the eerily silent room.

       Greggory sighed, placing two hands on the table on either side of the open laptop. He stared at Levi from under his brows. "There's been a terrorist attack on British soil. Two hours ago."

        Sergeant Brackley straightened. The tone of his captain's voice alone was enough to tell him just how serious it was. "Bomb?"

        "No." His jaw ticked. "Biological warfare."

        It grew hazy after that. General Ross got in contact but had little information. They'd discovered three potential ground zeros, but the list grew by the hour. Whatever it was, by the end of day one, it was in every major city.

        "Isle of Wight," the General said ten days later once they'd lost control of most military zones. "We send every remaining soldier we have there. Secure it. It's our only hope."

        By now they'd lost contact with other countries. The UK hadn't been the only one affected. They also hadn't had time to find the culprit before everything fell, or more worryingly, a cure.

       He and Captain Greggory were the last ones on base by the end of week two, everyone else having been sent over to the Isle of Wight. A chopper with its rotor blades spinning waited in the middle of the airfield.

        Levi stopped just as the force of the blades grew close enough to ruffle his uniform. "Captain," he started, raising his voice over the humming of the chopper. Levi paused and then sighed. "I'm staying."

       Greggory blinked at him, turning. "Are you crazy, lad?"

       They'd known each other for ten years now. The Captain knew he wouldn't joke about something like this, so the only other explanation was he was insane enough to mean it.

       "I got a baby out there, mate." When he'd first decided to become a sperm donor, it was Liam Greggory he'd talked it over with. The Captain knew of his situation. "Can't just walk away from 'em."

        "Levi," the grey-haired man said grimly, shifting on his feet. There was a military-grade backpack hanging from his hand, an assault rifle in the other. They'd been prepared to land and jump into the fight within minutes. "They might not even be alive," he continued in his soothing Captain's voice. The one he used on injured or scared soldiers.