New Birds

Nothing Personal Part 29

Samantha couldn't take her eyes off the helicopter. It was all shiny black metallic with ANSON GENETICS printed boldly along the orange tail. She stood transfixed, her hands on the watchtower's railing, as it came lumbering through the air, like a bird with no grace. Randall's conversation regarding this flying machine suddenly returned to her in a rush. A conversation she should have mentioned the first time Tilly told her how safe they would all remain behind this tall wall. If she had only remembered. But she simply nodded, happy that there was all this smooth steel to hide behind. Happy to be far from Kelly.

Maybe, if her head hadn't felt like it was about to split in two at the time, this information wouldn't have escaped her until now.

Now her omission felt like a tremendous betrayal, and she repeatedly rang the tower's bell, as the aircraft approached. It's loud engine and rotating blades drowning out her bell ringing as it passed over wall and tower and headed over the trees to the farmstead. She scrambled quickly down the ladder, and as soon as she hit the dirt she broke into a run. She was still receiving strength from Kelly. She could feel it as she easily maintained a sprint-like speed all the way up the path with little strain on her lungs or legs. However, her rising panic was another matter. It wanted to slow her down. It wanted her to hide somewhere deep among the trees. But AG was most likely here for her. She was responsible for the ark's breach. Hopefully, she could give herself up before anything happened.

Once clear of the tree's protective covering, she was again faced with her omission. After slowly circling the mountain top, it lowered itself to hovered just above the goat pen. Obnoxiously loud. From its wide side door leaned a man with a bullhorn. He was dressed in sand brown fatigues. He wore a beige helmet and tinted glasses. "May I please have your attention for a moment," he yelled. The still lowering chopper sent debris and bleating goats racing about.

If this was about her, and she hoped it was about her, she would return quietly without a fuss. She would tell Mr. Anson that there would be no more insolence from her, and he would never have to worry about her stepping out of line again. She would gladly fulfill all that was expected from her from this moment forward, if he would be kind enough to leave her new family alone. As she stood there Farling came up beside her. His height a shadow.

Samantha all but pushed him away. She squinted, trying to locate the others through the now rolling dust. Tilly stood on a veranda step. She was trying to look upward, shielding her eyes with her hands, but the dirt kept her turning towards the house, her hair wild about her. Keitin was almost directly under the chopper. He was on his knees, raising his arm, possibly surrendering. His suit jacket was a rippling of cloth at his back.

The man with the bullhorn disappeared into the shadows of the aircraft, reappearing with a woman, pulling her by her loose hair. Samantha knew her from the night of the fires. Allison. The sheriff's sister.

The man now hauled Allison dangerously close to the open door. The Eurocopter ascended to a height to where the trees stopped swaying and the dust settled. Here the man let go of his hold, freeing Allison's hair. It immediately blew up and around her in all directions. It was so long, Samantha feared it might get caught on the rotating shaft. The man might have pushed Allison then, for her arms pivoted wildly and she tried desperately to return to the interior. But the Eurocopter took a sudden dip spilling her into open air like water from a teapot. Allison's long scream and flailing arms ended abruptly as she hit the ground. Samantha's heart felt like it plummeted with her. She turned and buried her face into Farling's side.

When she turned to look again, Tilly was already over the fence of the goat pen, rushing towards Allison. Keitin remained on his knees.

The Eurocopter descended slowly to hover again above the pen. Again, sending debris everywhere. The man who had just pushed Allison to her death held the bullhorn, pointing it down at them. "Open the gate. Comply with this request immediately or we will return with another resident." Something caught his attention then, and he abruptly dropped the bullhorn to his side, turning to give the pilot what looked like hand and arm gestures to go higher, before pulling a handgun from his tactical belt. He pointed it straight out the door. Samantha turned to witness Simon, sailing towards the open door of the craft, without breaking speed. He entered the craft like an arrow. Gun fire erupted. The craft lurched sideways, and then upward again. It moved away in the direction it had come. It's tail up and nose down. It was moving slightly erratic, barely topping Tilly's trees at times. Then it was gone. Simon disappearing with it. The fading sound of its blades and engine telling her it was now over the steel wall. A moment later, came a thunderous clap, from somewhere down the mountainside.

She looked up at Farling, questioning.

"Simon, I believe, brought it down," Farling said.

Tilly was on her feet. The goats now huddled in one corner of the pen, still scared and trying to scamper behind one and other. Keitin went back to sit on the steps. He positioned both hands between his knees. His big face a white sheet. Marshall now came from the direction of the aviary at a run. Louis was still nowhere in sight.

"Go open the gate, Samantha," Tilly shouted, which had the goats scattering and bleating once again to all four corners of their pen. Samantha nodded. She wasn't just going to open the gate; she planned on waiting on the other side of it.

But Farling halted her by placing a large hand on her shoulder. "No. No. We must take a moment to collect ourselves. Think through this before we act for any haste may change the course of our recovery."

Tilly left the pen and strode towards them. "We need to open the damn gate, Farling. He said immediately."

"It's of a greater importance to protect her." Farling smiled down at her. Samantha shivered. Even Lawrence from the facility couldn't have convinced her that this was the proper time to smile, when Allison's broken body lay a few feet away.

"Dammit, I'll do it then," Tilly said, pushing past them.

Farling shifted in his stance, removing his hand from Samantha's shoulder. "It sounded to me like they no longer have an aircraft."

Tilly stopped and put a hand to her forehead. "What difference does that make? If they can't drop them on us, they can still shoot them outside the gate one by one. I'm not letting that happen." Remnants of tears streaked her dusty cheeks.

"My duty, unfortunately, isn't to Smoke Junction. It is to Samantha and Marshall. To keep them safe," he said.

"Over an entire town, Farling? A town where you're their pastor, for heaven's sake. How can you say what you're saying?" Tilly's eyes were wide with disbelief. She glanced at Samantha. "I'm sorry, Sam. I have to."

"I know. I'll go with you." She stepped away from Farling.

At this point Marshall reached them. He was breathing heavy. Eyes wide with worry under his mop of hair.

"Just listen." Farling began flipping through pages of his book, dragging his fingers through passages.

"There is no way I'm listening to scripture right now." Tilly gave him a shove, but he was like a stone wall. She grabbed Samantha's hand and stepped off the path, pushing gently through the wide skirts of the pines until they were around Farling, and headed back down the path towards the gate. Samantha turned to catch Marshall following.

Farling dropped the book to his thigh, gripping it by its now broken and loose spine. "In this, you must trust me on," he said. Tilly paused, keeping a firm grip on Samantha's hand, while looking again over towards the goat pen. She suddenly without indicating, returned to him, pulling Samantha with her. "Take them to the caverns. Hide them there. Louis will show you the way. But I can't promise I won't give them up if we can't find a way out of this."

He straightened as much as his lean would allow and nodded to her. A huge marabou flew high over them, coming from the direction of the aviary.

"Lady Anne," Marshall said.

Louis came to a stop in front of them. "Here's hoping she follows instruction better than Simon."