Ashes to Ashes (Book 1 of 2) A ZOMBIE FICTION

Big Brothers

I piloted the helicopter to a gas station just out of town to allow us to refuel, but noticed something weird as we approached it.

"What. The fuck. Is that..." I said, causing everyone to look out the front window of the helicopter.

"What does it say?"

I slowed the helicopter as I stared blankly at the four ton bright yellow dump truck, and as we neared it I could finally make out what was painted in pink on the side of it, "Miss Piggy? Really?" I began busting out laughing until I remembered that I was flying.

"Open the doors." Russ ordered, "Shaun, get on the other gun. We wont open fire until they do. Just hover with the front facing the truck."

I obeyed and lowered the helicopter to give them a shot. But when we saw who came out we all got confused. It was a girl, younger than any of us, and when she spotted us she just stood there in shock. In response to this I landed the helicopter to the right of the drum. I left the helicopter running and stepped out of it to greet her.

I pulled the headset down around my neck, "Who are you?"

"Sadie. Wh-how are you flying a helicopter?"

"I've had a little training. This your truck?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'm Alex. Look, if you want to wait around for us to refuel we can give you a sort of 'Big Brother' setup with eyes in the sky."

"Sure! It would be nice to have some friends in this."

"Cool." I ran back to the helicopter and shut everything down, letting everyone out of it; then started the pump and discovered that it was just diesel fuel. With that knowledge we refilled the drum afterwards to the brim with diesel from the station.

Luckily Sadie had become quick friends with everyone and was able to convince some of them to ride with her rather than me. I kept Shaun and Russ because they could use the guns accurately, I also kept Drew as a copilot, AKA company in the pilot seat seeing as I had the full controls.

Soon we were back on schedule and following close above the bright yellow truck. I couldn't help but laugh every time I looked at it. I mean really, Miss Piggy? That's just fucking awesome.

The sun had begun to set and I could see thunderheads moving in to fill the empty sky, any sane pilot would land no matter what due to the turbulence and chance of being dropped from the sky by the weather. But we were traveling straight into the storm and I could already see rotation in the clouds.

"This is fucking crazy! We don't get 'nados out here!" Shaun shouted.

"Yeah, no shit! If that thing touches down and we get sucked in there's no fighting it!" I shot back, "Not only that, but those throw rubble over a mile, and if we get hit in either rotor we're fucked!"

"I've spotted contacts! Why are they stopping?" Russ shouted.

"Lights out! They must be having system failures, fuck! What was that!?" I asked after pulling back on the stick to dodge a giant piece of debris.

"Holy shit! Break off!" Russ ordered, I obeyed and pushed the stick forward and dodged another, "Shaun, keep them covered long enough to get rolling." 

I heard a zip from his head set and turned my head to see, he had begun to  search through the big duffle bag of weapons, then pulled out a sniper rifle.

"Keep her steady as you can! But don't stop moving!" He ordered, this was going to be a bitch.

I fought the turbulence and the wind and continued to take on a 'holding pattern' around the truck providing Shaun with a shot, Russ standing next to him firing round after round. I searched our area, and spotted an almost fully formed tornado.

"Oh, fuck. I need to get out of here!" I shouted.

"No! We keep them covered long enough to get rolling!"

"Look North!" I said after looking at the on board compass and figuring it out.

"I know! Just a little longer! Drake's almost got it!"

"Fuck man. I had to have the only experience.... Fine! But as soon as that bitch gets too close I'm going!"

"Wait! I see another one!" Drew shouted, pointing out towards my side of the helicopter.

It must have been at least an Ef-3, and I was fighting the winds of two contradicting tornadoes to help get a truck moving, while dodging debris that gets thrown at us.... yeah, I might be crazy. 

"Here comes another!" Shaun shouted, thankfully not talking about tornadoes, and I jerk the stick back and watched as a huge piece of asphalt flew in front of the helicopter.

"Where the hell are those coming from?! You know what? I don't care! Russ get back on your gun, let's gun run these assholes!"

"Workin' on it!" He replied, "Alright! Take us in!" 

I could feel the adrenaline in every part of my body, rushing, to no specific destination. I brought the Black hawk in low and slow directly over the truck as it sprang to life and began rolling once again. I looked to my left and spotted a huge infected rip up a piece of asphalt and try to hurl it at us, but he fell to a mini-gun.

"Alright! Get back on them!" Shaun ordered.

"You want me to WHAT!? I'm not flying in between two fucking tornadoes! They weigh close to twenty thousand pounds! Us? Probably an up most of five thousand! We will get tossed aro-"

"I said follow the fucking truck!" He shouted.

"What we do for friends..."

I pushed the helicopter to it's speed limit and barreled towards the storm, keeping as low and far from both tornadoes as possible. I immediately felt the pulling on both sides, then the cross winds and the turbulence. 

"THIS IS INSANE!" I shouted.

"I AWARE! NOW SHUT UP AND FLY!" We were forced to shout due to the increased noise produced by the winds.

Just as we became clear of both tornadoes I lost control of the helicopter, sending us into a spiral towards a heavily protected and abandoned USAF airstrip, we would hit the fences if I couldn't get it under control.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Come on baby! Work for daddy! Come on!" I ordered, talking to the helicopter, as I fought the controls, "Collective isn't working! BRACE!" I shouted as I continued to fight.

I saw Drew in the copilot's seat duck his head down and cover, I could hear the drum scraping across the tree tops. Still, I continued to fight and this came out with a victory. The bird stopped spinning as we faced the interstate.

"This is your pilot speaking. All passengers are asked to barf outside of the vehicle." I said as Drew opened his door and obeyed me.

"Nice fucking flying! Kid, you are the best pilot I've ever met!" Shaun complimented me, slapping my back.

"Yeah no shit! Nice work." Russ agreed.

"Alright, as soon as I can see straight I'll get us back to the truck. Woah... there are two tornadoes over the- oh, right. Alright, all dizziness will subside momentarily." 

I overcame the dizziness and began to fly back to the interstate, I could see that they had stopped again, but to watch us. I could tell from their cheering when they saw us that they thought I'd crashed. Quickly they got back in and started driving, where they were going I still didn't know.

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I'm NOT a helicopter expert, but I do know my fair share. So do not yell at me for any thing that I fucked up in this story, you can correct me, but no yelling in the comments. Thank you.