TAZA Prologues

“First time in a helicopter?” the man across from Jasper asked.

Jasper nodded as he continued to tug on his harness somewhat nervously. He’d never been in a small aircraft before.

“Don’t worry about it,” said one of the soldier escorts. “We’ll be in the capitol in no time.”

The flight was nerve wracking of course, but  to say it was the only reason why Jasper was anxious would be a sore mistake. Through the windows, he could see columns of smoke rising to meet them from the city below. Huge groupings of what used to be people mottled the streets, which ran red with old blood. This high in the sky, the undead posed no threat to them, but Jasper had seen with his own eyes before how a mob of undead had rushed a helicopter and pulled it out of the sky as it tried to take flight. 

What made Jasper the most nervous, however, was their cargo.

The soldier followed Jasper’s gaze. “Strange isn’t,” he said casually. The soldier must be much more accustomed to traveling in such close proximity to corpses. “We can barely requisition enough transport to get the live ones out, and the higher ups have us transporting dead ones already.” 

A quartet of body bags took up the latter half of the helicopter’s hold, stacked neatly like four oblong luggages. They must have been important people, or else someone had paid a premium to transport them. With the roads gridlocked and ground transport in flames for miles around, the only way out of the city was by air. Hundreds of thousands of people were trying to get out and it was nearly impossible to secure a spot on these helicopters. 

Though the pilot, a conscripted tourist pilot, had assured all on board that none of the bodies had died of the infection, Jasper could help but be nervous. It was probably just the wind seeping through the cracks in the aircraft but Jasper could have sworn that he’d seen the bags moving.

Like something was waking up inside. 

He tried to push the thoughts down and looked instead at the passengers in the helicopter who were alive. There was a father and son duo sitting across from him. Despite his youth, the boy already had a hollow look in his eyes and moved stiffly like a soldier. The father was holding the boy’s hand and murmuring something to him in Spanish, low and soothing. 

Jasper felt somewhat envious. After the power grid had gone down, the city had been more or less cut off from the outside world. Jasper had no idea what had happened to his sisters (one of which was married and had a kid just a bit younger than this boy) or his parents. 

He closed his eyes for a brief moment. Despite the noise, his anxiety, and the discomfort of the safety harness, Jasper found himself growing drowsy. He was exhausted from the past few weeks of constant danger and barely sleeping a wink, never knowing if this night would be his last. His nerves were shot to hell. 

Despite his apprehension about the body bags just meters away, being hundreds of in the air was the safest Jasper had been in the last week. The sweet abyss of darkness called out to him, and the reverberating, constant hum of the helicopter's powerful turbine felt somehow soothing to him.

As the horrific scenes of the city fell behind them, the day’s light was fading. As the landscape changed to scenic forestry, the sun painted the trees below with golden light as it dropped towards the horizon. It was beautiful. 

Across from him, the father was encouraging his son to look outside. The empty, dark eyes of the son brightened somewhat to see the view. Hope blossomed in Jasper’s chest at the sight. Maybe they would be ok after all. Surely the capitol, where the nation’s best were making the last stand, was holding strong. With all the people being evacuated there, surely humanity would be able to survive there. 

Almost as quickly as hope had taken root, it was crushed underfoot again as one of the black body bags issued a low groan. 

Suddenly everyone on the helicopter was on high alert and staring at the bags fearfully. 

“I thought you said they weren’t infected,” whispered a passenger. Her voice bordered on hysteria. 

“Stay calm,” the soldier said. Despite this, he was reaching for his gun as he too stared down the now ominous black baggage. 

“Could just be escaping gases,” said one passenger hopefully. He had the unfortunate position of being seated closest to the cargo.  “As bodies decompose, gas builds up—“

But gas couldn’t explain the way the bag came completely alive, thrashing and howling. The woman evacuee screamed.

With a violent rip, the body bag gave way against clawed hands imbued with undead strength. The suited body of a well groomed man shot out of the bag. The cabin broke out in panicked screams as all the passengers started struggling with their harnesses. 

Before the man who had been hopeful about gases could get his harness loose, the undead man pounced on him and ripped a chunk of flesh out of the man’s cheek. He howled in agony and the soldier raised his gun—

“Don’t shoot! Don’t fire that gun inside the helicopter!” shouted the pilot, as he cast panicked glances behind him. 

The soldier shot him an exasperated look, but put the gun aside as told, drawing a tactical knife inside. 

“You ugly fucking bastard, come on then,” he growled. 

Jasper had managed to undo his harness and he tumbled out of his seat. His heart was threatening to pound out of his chest. Hundreds of feet in the air, trapped in a cabin with the undead… what hell is this?!

The soldier lifted Jasper by the back of his shirt like he was a damn puppy, and just about threw him out of the way. The other passengers were freeing themselves now to flee towards the front of the helicopter.

“Stop! Stop! You’ll throw off the weight distribution—“

No one paid the pilot any heed; no one wanted to be near the scene of the undead man tearing away at his screaming victim, who was stuck in a back and forth of trying to push the zombie off of him and freeing himself from the harness. 

The soldier forced his way through the panic passengers and grabbed the zombie. The zombie immediately redirected and whipped around with superhuman strength to grapple the soldier. It tore at his uniform and snapped at his face, forcing the soldier to grab it by the neck to try to keep it from biting him as he tried to line up his tactical knife to pierce its skull at a weak point. 

There was a second rip and a second body came bursting out like a grisly Jack in the box. It sank its teeth into the soldier’s shoulder, but fortunately for the soldier, its teeth bit down on his tact vest, and wasn’t able to break through the Kevlar.

“Stay in the front, Mateo!” shouted the father over the panicked screams and shouting of all the passengers struggling to press themselves against the front of the helicopter.

“Dad! No!”

The helicopter was churning like a ship in a storm as the helicopter pilot was struggling to keep the helicopter steady. The soldier went down with both of the zombies clawing at him. Jasper lost his balance and fell onto Mateo as he reached out for his father. 

His father rushed stumbling down to where the soldier was fighting for his life now. He managed to grab one of the zombies and threw it aside. As it tried to get back up, he aimed a kick at it. There was a solid crunch as his boot met its jaw, then the zombie’s jaw hung slack. That didn’t deter it at all as it rushed forward into the father. 

The soldier managed to roll himself atop the other and after a brief scrabble, he gave out a war-like yell and stabbed down with his tactical knife. The zombie screeched inhumanly, convulsed horribly for a few seconds, then went still. 

The father ducked the zombie’s clumsy grasp and spun around behind the zombie. He put the zombie in a chokehold. “I’ve got him, I’ve got him, stab him!”

The soldier tried to comply but a lurch of the helicopter threw all three of them to the ground. 

“Dad,” sobbed Mateo. He struggled to get free but Jasper grabbed onto him. 

“He wants you to stay out of danger!” Jasper gasped. “Stay with us!”

“Please, you have to move away from the front of the helicopter,” the pilot begged. Flashing red lights and beeping had joined into the chaos of the passengers screaming, sobbing, and clawing for a hold as the turbulence of the helicopter threw them around like popcorn. The man who had been attacked groaned weakly as he hung limply like a bloody doll in his half undone harness.

Jasper had no idea what happened next, but there was a sudden huge gust and sucking pressure as one of the helicopter doors popped open and was immediately ripped off. The hysterical woman was sucked out almost instantly. She screamed for but a second before there was a horrible sound like a blender catching, and a red mist splashed along the side of the helicopter. 

The rear rotor of the helicopter exploded, throwing everyone to the ground once again as it started to plummet. “Mayday, mayday,” the pilot shouted into some comms system Jasper couldn’t see. “The corpses we were transporting were infected. We’ve lost the rear rotor!”

The soldier and the father had subdued the second undead, and they came stumbling back to the group who were clinging onto whatever they could to avoid being thrown out like the woman before. 

Jasper released Mateo into his father’s arms as he came stumbling up and grasped some netting to brace himself. Mateo buried his face into his father’s chest as his father wrapped an arm around him securely. 

“It’s alright, mi hijo,” he said, giving Jasper a nod of thanks. “Dad’s got you.”

“Put this on!” the soldier shouted at Jasper, thrusting a parachute pack at him. Jasper was too terrified to let go of his grip, but the soldier spun him around easily and buckled him into it. 

As soon as the soldier let go of him, Jasper returned to his death grip on the bar and the soldier continued passing out parachute packs hurriedly. It wasn’t a death drop, but the tree line seemed to be rushing upwards at them at a terrifying speed. The soldier returned, now wearing his own parachute. 

“You’ll have to jump now, before we drop any lower!” The soldier shouted at Jasper before over the whipping winds and blaring alarms.

He tried to drag Jasper towards the open door but Jasper absolutely refused to let go of his hold this time. “Are you insane?” shrieked Jasper. The panic drew his voice into a high note that would have embarrassed him to death had he not already been facing it down. “I’m not parachuting out of a helicopter!”

“There’s no time!” bellowed the soldier. “You have to jump NOW!l

“What?!” shouted the pilot in surprise. “No! Don’t!! We’re dropping too fast! Stay in the chopper, it’s safer!”

“I’m going to listen to him,” said Jasper palely.

“If he won’t go I will,” interrupted a man. His tie was whipping around his face cartoonishly, contesting the stricken expression he wore.

“Wait until you’re clear of the chopper before you— NO!!”

The man jumped and immediately opened his parachute. He was instantly sucked upwards, and there was a horrible metallic grinding sound. The man screamed a scream of mortal fear as his paracord wrapped around the helicopter's main rotor and he went whipping around at a frightening speed. There was a shuddering crack and the entire helicopter jerked and bucked like a horse. A huge groan of straining metal added to the absolute panic that now gripped everyone in the vehicle as the roof of the helicopter warped and ripped apart. 

As things weren’t bad enough, the last two bags were now also growling and shaking. 

“They were all infected!” screamed someone. “You bastards! You’ve killed us all!” 

As the helicopter went into full freefall, the undead tore their way out of the body bags. One the zombies locked eyes with Jasper and it howled like an animal as it pulled itself towards Jasper bit by bit.

The helicopter was disintegrating violently, with chunks of metal tearing off with massive rumbles. Sparks sprayed Jasper, covering him and his clothes in tiny burns. The other door exploded off its hinges, sucking someone out with it. Jasper could only spare a momentary glance of horror towards his form as it violently hurtled away. The zombie was still, somehow advancing. 

God, thought Jasper in utter despair. If this is your way of punishing me for my sinful life choices, isn’t this too fucking much?! 

The soldier gritted his teeth as he pulled himself towards Jasper.

“Stop! No!” 

The undead launched itself at him but the soldier threw himself in front of Jasper in a last ditch attempt to stop it. There was some explosion and the body of the aircraft  blew apart into two pieces, sending the three of them flying. The zombie was tearing away at the soldier’s clothes, and the soldier's knife went flying past them in some crazy trajectory. Jasper couldn’t tell what was up or down anymore, spinning in freefall. 

The soldier was holding onto Jasper now as they were free falling outside of the aircraft. Jasper watched in horror as the zombie clinging to the soldier’s back sank its teeth into his neck and tore out a chunk of flesh and caused a huge splurge of blood to blow out like a geyser, its spray spinning like an unsecured hose. 

The soldier choked and blood came bubbling out his mouth. He managed to find what he was fumbling for and pulled the release chute on Jasper’s parachute. 

Jasper didn’t even have the breath to scream as he was jerked upwards like God himself had grabbed him. He shot out of the soldier's grip. But they were falling too fast, they were too low to the tree line, and Jasper was only momentarily slowed before he went crashing into the treetops some seconds after the other two had been violently swallowed into the canopy.

As Jasper tumbled through branches and leaves that whipped and slashed at him, he lost consciousness at long last. 

He came to again only a few moments later when a massive explosion shook the ground and everything around with its shockwaves. 

Jasper looked up and saw dirt. What? He suddenly realized he was hanging upside down still strapped into the parachute. His leg was completely tangled in the paracord, while the main chute had been caught in the branches above. He swayed but a couple feet above the ground. 

He patted himself with a gasp, though he was sore and bruised all over from his fall through the canopy, nothing felt painful enough to be broken. It was miraculous. 

He tried to free himself from the parachute backpack but he was completely tangled in the paracord and remained hanging. With a groan, he tried to reach his leg but was unable to pull himself free.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jasper cursed. His efforts had spun him around somewhat, and now he could see an approaching figure. Jasper felt a spark of hope as he realized it was the soldier. Somehow he was alive! He’d managed to survive the fall too! 

But then Jasper remembered the blood spurting out of his neck. Jasper knew that had been a carotid arterial spray. Judging by the volume of that initial spray, he would have bled to death in under a minute. There was no way he could have—

With dread, Jasper saw now that the soldier was dragging himself forward despite an obviously broken leg that made a horrific crunching and grinding sound as broken bone rubbed against itself. His eyes were filmed over, and his arms hung slackly as he groaned. He’d been infected. 

Jasper redoubled his efforts to free himself. He was completely and utterly helpless dangling like this, without any sort of weapon he could wield. 

He wondered if he should call for help or if that would just drive the undead soldier into a feeding frenzy. Clearly Jasper’s thrashing around was interesting to it, but it hadn’t started running yet. Maybe with that broken leg, it couldn’t.

Jasper decided to chance it. It would increase his chances of survival even if the zombie was just going to attack him faster. “Help! Somebody! I need some help over here!” Jasper shouted.

The zombie snarled and started shuffling forward, faster and faster. Jasper could only watch in horror as it dragged itself towards him with great limping strides. 

But moments before it could get to Jasper, there was a crashing of foliage as someone rushed to intercept. It was the father from the airplane. He didn’t have much other than a large branch, but he rammed it into the zombified soldier, bowling him over. Jasper watched in horrified awe as the man bashed in the zombies head as it struggled to rise, beating it over and over until the branch was splattered and tipped with red.

Finally, panting, he sank to the ground. The zombie laid still in a bloody pulpy mess. Jasper swallowed, feeling quite conflicted at seeing the man who had tried so hard to keep him alive now reduced to a gorey mess. 

“I’ll help you down, my friend,” said the man. “Just give me a moment to catch my breath. Mateo, come out. It’s ok now.”

Mateo, smeared with ash and blood, peered out of the bushes.

“Your boy,” Jasper said breathlessly. “He’s ok?”

“He is, thank dios. Though I fear his arm might be broken.” The man searched the soldier’s body and found a multi-use knife. He came over and carefully cut Jasper down. Jasper fell with an undignified thump, but he was grateful to be alive and for the most part, unharmed. His ankle hurt to put weight on, but he could tell it wasn’t broken, just badly sprained. 

“You saved my life, “Jasper gasped. He looked at Mateo, who was awkwardly hugging his injured arm to his core. “I’m a doctor. Let me check your son’s arm. With everything here, we can make a makeshift splint for it if needed.”

The man’s eyes shined with gratitude. “Thank you.” He gently urged his son towards Jasper. 

The arm wasn’t broken. “But it is dislocated,” Jasper said grimly. “I can set it, but it will be very painful.” 

“Be brave, Mateo,” his father said. Mateo squeezed his eyes shut. Jasper pressed in and there was a sharp crack. Mateo cried out. 

“That’s it. It’s over now. You did good,” Jasper said soothingly. They cut a makeshift sling out of a scrap of the parachute to support the arm. 

The three of them soon found themselves slumped on the ground, mentally and physically recuperating from their ordeal. After so many moments of sheer panic and helplessness, the tranquility of their current situation, though dire, felt odd. The helicopter’s remains burned in the background, sending a giant black signal up into the sky.

“Have you seen any other survivors?” Jasper asked. 

“No.” Jasper could see the exhaustion in the man’s face. “I’m Luiz Garcia, by the way. This is my son, Mateo.”

“Jasper Shi, neurosurgeon-in-training.” Jasper winced. It was so automatic, his introduction. There was no society anymore, no weight to his title anymore. 

“Brain doctor, eh? Mateo, looks like we lucked out,” Luiz said. The cheerful way he said it despite their situation was uplifting to Jasper’s battered spirit. 

They stared at the burning corpse of the helicopter. They were miles out from the city, without any roads in sight. They had no supplies, no weapons, and no shelter. 

“Well…. What do we do now?” Jasper asked.

Luiz sighed and gave Jasper a determined look. “We can only rely on each other now.”