ALICE

Chapter 82 - RESPECT

Alice turned to Angel as Jodie gently clicked off the EKG, stopping the sound that continuously reminded her as to what just happened.

 Angel just looked… Hollow. Like he had been hurt so badly that he no longer felt anything. Alice opened her mouth to say something, but it soon occurred to her that there wasn’t a lot to say.

 “We…” Alice began, seeming to thinking she was treading on eggshells now for no reason, “We should bury him.”

 Angel shook his head. “He wouldn’t want to be buried. We’ll burn…” He stopped, searching for the word, “Cremate him. He’d prefer that.”

 Alice nodded, seeing that that would indeed be something he’d prefer. They began work on a small pyre that would fit him. Alice used a door that was hanging off of the Black Smith as a base, and, after some digging, Romeo had come back with a few trips worth of bone-dry sticks and branches that they stacked plentifully onto the base, tying them together into bundles that would burn faster. When the sticks were stacked about five bundles high, they gently moved Redd’s stretcher onto it, laying it on carefully. Alice draped a silver-metallic safety blanket over him, and with the help of some fuel that the Black Smith was dumping out in abundance, Angel was soon holding his Zippo to the very bottom of the pyre. He flicked the cover off, quickly spun the wheel and clicked down on the bottom.

 A small flame flew out of the top of the lighter, but it soon caught to the gasoline and as Angel stepped away, the flames climbed up the wood and soon began to burn. The four remaining members of the Resistance watched for a moment, but soon walked away as the fire began to lick the edges of the safety-blanket.

 Jodie looked shattered after failing the surgery, and she sat down on the sand and pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes. She took one out using her lips and accepted Angel’s offer on a light.

 Alice looked around, at a loss as to what to do next.

 Alice looked at Angel, seeing the man’s green eyes stare back.

 “What now?” Alice asked.

 Angel looked away, biting his lower lip as he mulled over their few options.

 “I’ve got it.” He looked to what remained from the helicopter, seeing a large turkey vulture already resting on the rotor. “Have we got water?”

 “Some, I think.” Alice said as she shielded her face from the immense heat coming off the pyre.

 “When R-,” He paused, then motioned towards the pyre, “When he and I were mercs, we had a base not… Not too far from here. I think.”

 “How far?”

 He scanned the horizon, his hand shielding his eyes like a visor. “Maybe… Thirty clicks?”

 Alice sucked her teeth. “We definitely don’t have enough water to do that.”

 Romeo piped up, speaking for the first time in a while. Maybe he was taking his mind off of Redd, “I thought you might say that,” he said as he placed a bucket under the main place the fuel was gushing out of the helicopter. “I think with what’s left of this behemoth, we might be able to make a crude vehicle that can traverse the sand.”

 “What makes you say that?” Angel said as he squinted.

 “Using the parts as an aircraft is pretty much out of the question, but this old model of helicopter uses huge rubber belts to move the rotors. They’re close enough to tracks that we could strap them onto an engine and a couple of seats and we could get there in maybe…” He looked at the state of the helicopter. “Maybe half the time?”

 “Romeo!” Alice said cracking half a smile despite the burning man beside her. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.”

 “Thanks boss.” He motioned to inside the chopper. “Now if you all could help me catch the gasoline that’s the only way we’re going to make it.”

 Alice walked into the hull of the chopper, and quickly found a canvas, water-proof bag. She put it up under a small leak, and when all leaks were accounted for, they sat in the sand again and waited for the fuel tanks to empty.

 As the pyre began to shrink down, the smell of burning safety blanket passed, and soon the pyre was down to smouldering branches. Alice felt a little happier now, maybe Redd was in peace.

 As Romeo began to gut the helicopter, she looked around the desert, but it was an expanse of sand that was truly merciless. There was nothing in any direction, for as far as the eye could see. The sun beat down on Alice’s bare shoulders like a blade, and she could feel herself burning.

 As Alice took a swig of water from a canteen that was clipped to her belt, she watched Jodie offer to help Romeo, and he accepted the assistance gratefully. They began to pull the helicopter engine out of the aircraft, and as much as she knew the help would make things move faster, Alice relented to what she wanted, and went into the hull of the helicopter for a sun-stroke fuelled nap.