ALICE

Chapter 79: ESCAPE

Chapter 79: ESCAPE

 The pilot, whose name was Gormon, had exhibited the best flying of his life. He was constantly compensating for the imbalance of weight on the port-side of the helicopter, on top of getting, and winning, several dogfights. Finally, Gormon had escaped, leaving the dogfight behind. A single tear ran from his eye as he thought about all the friends he was abandoning, but he had a mission, carrying the general and the remnants of her team out.

 (BREAK)

 Alice sat beside the hole in the helicopter. The air rushing across her face soothed her. She could only see a few helicopters even remotely close, but they were too slow to be within firing distance now.

 Angel tended to a control panel in the corner of the chopper, trying to get some computers back online to make flying easier on Gormon. Alice was finally peaceful, so relaxed that she almost didn’t care when the guns started sounding off again.

 “We’ve got an armoured helicopter just above us!” Romeo yelled from the cockpit.

 Angel stepped away from the panel and picked up an AK-47 he had laid down beside Redd. He came to the hole in the wall, beside Alice, and pulled the bolt back. Alice’s breathing began to get quick again as she picked up her VoidGun.

 Alice could hear the rotors now, thick and heavy Thwap sounds that made Alice’s ears pop. She leaned out of the helicopter, rifle in hand, and watched as the craft descended.

 Alice ducked back in as the helicopter got on equal height with the Black Smith. The door was closed, but, only jut covered by the sound of the roaring engines, Alice heard the door slide open.

 Inside the helicopter were three people.

 One of them was ZERO.

 The blonde hair flew in the wind, sticking out entirely against the black background she was set on. She was pale, far more pale than before, and her arm was covered with gauze. ZERO wore a black tank-top, with the bottom hanging over the waste of her black fatigues. She had a scowl on her face that could kill a tank, and she seemed to be able to go through on that, as she had the massive Desert Eagle in her remaining hand.

 Alice panicked, and raised the VoidGun. She didn’t even take the time to aim as she pressed down on the trigger. The kick was wild, as Alice didn’t put the stock in her shoulder. She kept the trigger held down as the barrel of the gun went further up. She watched as one of the bullets struck one of the people inside. She hadn’t got ZERO, but the man who was on the minigun was now falling out of the helicopter, his limbs twisting and turning wildly as the body rushed through the wind.

 The shiny barrel of the Desert Eagle levelled on Alice, but she managed to hit the floor of the helicopter before the massive handgun discharged. Alice quickly slid the magazine out of the VoidGun and went to work on reloading it. Angel popped out from cover and made a burst with the AK-47, but he was quickly sent back behind the safety of cover from a few well-placed shots that originated from an M4 rifle by the third man in the chopper. Alice scrambled, getting behind the wall on the other side, and finished reloading the rifle. She snapped the bolt back, and quickly scanned over Redd and Romeo’s zone, making sure neither of them were hit.

 When Alice was ready, she peeked out, and sprayed out to the helicopter next to them. She didn’t think she had hit anything, but all the same she ducked back behind cover and prepared for another burst.

 Romeo was behind Redd’s stretcher, a Beretta in hand, but he was visibly shaken up. He had never seen ZERO before, but surely it was like a US soldier seeing Hitler through the crosshairs of his sniper scope. He raised the gun weakly, and took a single shot before he was reduced to a trembling mess on the floor of the helicopter, an easy target.

 Angel, seeing the danger that Romeo was in, dashed out of cover, grabbed Romeo by the back of his vest, and, with a one-handed burst from the AK-47, he dragged him back to safety.

 Alice was, for the most part, pinned down behind her cover, as any attempt to peak out was greeted by a shower of bullets. Her final hope was the pilot, Gormon.

 Alice looked to him, seeing the back of his head as he struggled to keep the Black Smith level.

 “Gormon! You need to swerve into them!”

 Gormon looked back, and yelled out a response. “No way! We’re barely in the air as is!”

 “We haven’t got another choice! All the guns are gone, and they’ve pinned us down!”

 “I can’t do it!”

 Alice swore as her mind raced to alternatives. She thought about grenades, knives, shooting out the propeller, but there were problems with each. Alice was about to resort back to spraying when Angel placed his AK-47 on the floor, drew out a Glock handgun and a knife, and jumped onto the other helicopter.

 Alice gasped audibly as Angel propelled himself through the air, but he was very sure of what he was doing. When he landed in the other helicopter, the man with the assault rifle tried to shoot Angel, but he pushed the still-firing rifle up and away from him, letting the bullets fly into the ceiling.

 Angel punched the man in the face with the hand that held the gun, and then, in one smooth movement, he plunged a knife into his chest. Without a second thought, he pulled the man out of his chair, and turned him around, with him in front of Angel just in time to block the shot from ZERO’s Desert Eagle. When the fifty calibre bullet was packed in the man’s organs, Angel charged the woman, his gun aimed over the shoulder of the dead man, but by the time he was close, she had launched a boot at him, kicking the corpse, and him, right out of the helicopter.

 Without hesitation, Alice dived to the hole in the wall. Angel was almost out of reach, but with some quick thinking Alice’s hand spat down to his. He grabbed it, the raw-hide palms of their gloves giving a lot of traction. Alice put her other hand on it, and began to pull him up.

 Another shot from the helicopter came, and in response, Angel grabbed his handgun from his houlster. As he worked on pulling himself up, he fired the Glock two or three shots at a time at ZERO. His accuracy with his right, and weak hand, left much to be desired. He was soon back inside the helicopter, and with the help of Alice, he took some better shots, but soon the other helicopter door was closed, and the chance to take ZERO out was lost.