Page 41 of Following Their Heart

The radio crackles, and I hear Doc’s voice. It’s so staticky I can only make out a few words. “—Can’t hear—fucking birds—Jesus!—”

Fuck! The flock is so thick they’re interfering with our radio signals.

“Goddammit! Base to tank! Base to tank! You hear me, tank?” The chopper is circling around the back of the lodge. Rev should have a clear shot as it comes around to the front again, but I don’t hear the powerful gun fire. “Take a shot if you can, tank! Take down this fucker!”

The radio crackles. Then, “Gun’s jammed, base!” He’s closer than Doc, and the signal is stronger, but still staticky with interference. “—lock on—but—can’t fire!”

Fuck this fucking shit! This is unacceptable!

I grab a grenade launcher from beside Brawn’s window, and I race downstairs and outside. I’ve had enough. Birds be damned, I’m gonna make a dent in that fucking chopper if it kills me.

The front doors of the lodge open onto a wide-plank wood porch that provides me some cover from the multicolored Kamikazes. It’s louder out here. The shrieking of birds is like nails in my ears, but I tune it out. I’m listening for the chopper. There it is. The sound is distant and muffled, telling me it’s making a wide pass behind the lodge.

Now is the time to get in position.

I clear the porch, and just like I expected, feathered carcasses have formed a two-foot-high berm around the structure. I crunch right on over them and stride out to the dirt parking area beside the semicircle drive. Also like I expected, there are fewer carcasses the farther I get from the building. The piles are from birds bouncing off the walls and falling, dead, to the ground—or to the roof over the porch. Beyond bounce-off distance, the ground is clear.

Out in the open lot, I plant my feet and mount the grenade launcher on my shoulder. It’s loaded, and I turn off the safety.

I brace to be struck by Raptor’s minions, but they’re largely flying above me. It’s like being underwater, but the surface over my head is made of living, flying creatures. They seem to be aiming for the second floor, where my gunmen are. I catch a stray in the shoulder and another in the facemask, but they bounce off harmlessly.

That’s good. They won’t affect my aim.

And Iwillbe able to aim. I can actuallyseeout here. It’s not like inside, where the swarm is a curtain, impenetrable by line of sight. Out here, I can look up and see spots of moonlit clouds through the zooming, flapping melee. If I can glimpse the chopper, I have a real shot at doing serious damage.

Whomp-whomp-whomp-whomp-whomp!

The chopper’s getting louder. It’s coming around the lodge toward me, and I can tell it’s flying low, maybe a hundred feet off the ground.

I’d be a sitting duck for it, if not for the birds. I bet Raptor didn’t anticipate one of us would come outside and use his own damn cover against him. If their gunman has heat-seeking tech, he’ll figure out I’m down here, but for now, like the birds, his attention is on the lodge.

I’ve got the element of surprise, and I’m going to make the most of it.

I use my ears to aim at the chopper, and I squint through the bird-cloud, and there it is. I see its lights first as it moves to the front of the lodge, then its military green exterior. It’s close! And, just like I figured, the side door is open, and a gunman is perched there, harnessed and armed with an automatic.

“Got you, fucker!” I launch, and the grenade sails. It punches through the bird-cloud, and it disappears inside the maw of the chopper’s side. It’s in! “Yeah! Fuckin’-A!” I fist pump and wait for the explosion that will kill everyone inside, regardless of armor.

But the explosion doesn’t come.

The fuck?!And now the chopper’s turning behind the lodge again. “Where’s the fuckin’ boom!” I shout.

While the chopper’s out back, I load another grenade. I made the shot once. I can do it again.

The chopper comes back around, and this time, I don’t have the element of surprise. This time, birds divebomb me. Beak-tipped body after body smacks into my armor, and I can’t see shit. Some of the birds are big and almost knock me off my feet, but I lean into them and hold my ground.

Until the bullets start flying.

Shit! I’m under fire.

I hear shots coming from the lodge, and I know Brawn and Shep are giving me what cover they can, but I get hit twice in my chest armor and once in the facemask. I’m knocked on my ass by the force.

The chopper’s gone around back again.

I take stock of my body and realize I’m only bruised. They aren’t using armor-piercing rounds. Probably worried about hurting Cora, so they’re using caution. Of course, we wouldn’t allow her anywhere near the fighting, but these fuckers don’t know that. Since she’s what they want, and they want her alive, they’ll only fire when they know she’s not in the way.

My right pec feels like I’ve been hit with an aluminum baseball bat going after a fastball, but I get up and take aim with the launcher again. “Come and get me, fucker!”

The chopper rounds the lodge again, but it doesn’t swing around front like before. It banks to the right. It’s heading for the big lot, where Rev has hopefully abandoned the tank with the jammed gun and locked himself safely in the other.

---