"North," Sarah ordered. "Take us further upstate."

"Fly over New York City," Joelle added.

"You don't want to go to the city, that place is a war zone. I was with a group of good people when those assholes broke in with a biker gang and kidnapped my daughter."

Joelle gasped and touched his arm. "What happened?"

"They knew I was the pilot of this bird and made me fly it so they could gather supplies and women. They told if I didn't, they'd rape and kill her," Harvey choked.

"Where is she?" Joelle asked. "We'll save her, right Sarah?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "What about your own daughter, Joelle? You haven't even mentioned her in weeks."

Joelle lowered her head. "I have a confession to make. My daughter is dead. Graves was going to make her part of the concubine. I begged him not to do it," she cried, "but he wouldn't listen. I couldn't let that happen to her so I . . . I killed her in her sleep with a pillow. I killed my baby!" she wailed, collapsing in her seat in a fit of tears.

Sarah wanted to soothe her, but found that she was so shocked that she was glued to her chair and unable to move.

The helicopter lifted off the ground and rose above the tree line. Joelle's sobs had died down to a soft whimper and she refused to speak to any of them.

Harvey took them out of the wooded area and followed a snow covered road stretching over the land like a white colored licorice stick. They didn't talk over the loud whirring of the blades and were content to stare out of the windows at the zombie infested world below.

The helicopter soared over a group of cars blocking the road, a handful of zombies slowly moving around, and a growing cloud of smoke in the west.

Sarah pointed at the smoke. "Is that toward the city?"

Harvey gave a thumb's up sign. "I'll fly a little close, but that's it," he said.

Sarah nodded; Alex put his arms around her.

As they approached New York City it was apparent that three of the four Burroughs were on fire. Empty cars lined the streets, people were on top of buildings shooting downward at zombies, and a group of men were parading around the landscape on motorcycles.

Alex flinched as he scanned the group below. He couldn't decipher faces from this height, but he knew they were Marauders.

The people on the buildings looked upward at them and a few of them even fired at the helicopter. Harvey rose higher, out of range, and flew away from the city toward the countryside. Within an hour, the city and the smoke was gone from view, and all they could see were snow covered mountains stretching in every direction as far as they could see.

Chapter 28.

Harvey set the helicopter down in an abandoned airfield, parked on a giant square "H", and killed the engine.

"We need to refuel," he said before anyone asked.

"How far away is your daughter?" Joelle questioned, it was the first time she'd spoken since they had set off and her voice was scratchy.

"They're holding her captive in a cabin not far from here," he said, and shook his handcuffs. "Can you free me now?"

Joelle looked toward Sarah. Sarah withdrew a small tension wrench and a lock pick from her jeans. She leaned over the seat and caught Harvey watching Joelle. "Maybe you should do this," she told Joelle, and handed her the lock picking tools.

"I don't know how to do this," she said.

"It's easy, I'll teach you," Sarah winked. "First, get closer to him."

Joelle got on her knees and looked up at Harvey.

"Now, slide that straight bar into the handcuff lock and feel your way around." She watched Joelle fiddle with the locking mechanism and shook her head. "Come on Alex, let's check out this place."

"Don't go far," Joelle warned.

"We won't," Sarah said and pulled Alex out of the side door of the helicopter.

Once outside, Sarah stretched her back and popped her shoulders.

"Do you really think it's a smart move to leave her alone with that guy? We don't even know him that well yet."

"He was chained to the helicopter," Sarah said. "He was a prisoner."

"How do you know he didn't do that when he saw us coming? Maybe he knew that we finished off his buddies," Alex said. "He might not even have a daughter. This entire scenario could just be a trap."

Sarah patted him on the cheek and then kissed his lips. "Fine, you stay here and play babysitter while I go see if there's any food around this hell hole." She drew her pistol and walked toward the control tower of the small independent airport. "Bye."

"Hey, wait a minute. You can't just leave." Alex looked into the helicopter and saw Harvey and Joelle laughing together. Joelle continued to fiddle with the handcuffs and slowly got closer to the pilot. Alex looked toward Sarah and saw her keep walking. "Dammit," he said to himself, and took off after her.

The airport was extremely small, having only two runways and one air traffic control tower connected to a larger building. As they approached the tower, the distinct odor of rot and decay assaulted their nostrils. Crowded around the high fences of the airport were hundreds of zombies. They didn't move, but remained visual in their frozen dead states.

Sarah quickened her pace and Alex followed close behind. They reached the tower and found the door ajar. Inside was a hallway and a staircase; the rest was in total darkness. They clicked on their flashlights and ventured into the unknown.

The floor and walls of the hallway were stained in blood. It looked as though lots of people had been trying to get out through the door but were butchered before they could escape.

They pressed forward, and before they reached the steps they found another door sealed tight.

"Should we try to get in? There might be food inside," Sarah said.

"It's locked for a reason. Let's check it out last."

Sarah nodded in agreement and they both climbed the stairs. The first body they came to was female, naked, and headless. The corpse was a twisted parody of life, lying on the stairs and seeming to claw at them with cracked nails in her final death throes. Careful to avoid stepping on her, they treaded softly and continued to ascend the staircase.

When they reached the top of the tower it was much brighter due to the large plate glass windows, but they weren't thankful for the extra light at all as the scene unfolding before them was one of nightmares.

Countless headless bodies were strung about the tower, all naked, and horribly chopped apart. Each one of the corpses was missing their arms, and a large blackened pile of limbs lay in the center of the room.

Sarah covered her mouth, gagging at the terrible smell.

The place was buzzing with flies feasting on a banquet of human remains.

As they circled the room in search of answers, one of the corpses stirred. It was an armless blond haired man wearing only jeans, and it gnashed its teeth at them.

Alex slammed the shotgun butt into the zombie's face, cracking its skull. The corpse fell backwards and remained still.

"We should go," Sarah instructed. "There's nothing for us here." She stepped over a headless child and then descended the stairs.

"What do you think happened to them?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. Someone was alive in here though. Keep an eye out," she said.

As they were leaving the control tower they passed by the sealed door again, and stopped when a loud BANG sounded from the other side.

They paused and listened as the sound began to repeat itself again and again.

Sarah aimed at the door and waited. "Open it," she ordered Alex.

"Are you sure? There could be tons of them behind here. We'd be outnumbered, and it would jeopardize the others outside."

"We need supplies and I got a feeling they're stored back there," Sarah said, and then added, "and I've got plenty of ammunition. Now open the door."

Alex sighed and withdrew his machete from its sheath. The chain holding the door in place rattled, but held firm, as whatever was on the other side struggled to get out. He chopped and hacked at the chain, making sparks fly until it broke free.

The door immediately swung open, revealing a room full of hungry zombies, clamoring for their next meal.

Alex didn't have time to back out of the way as the swarm of living dead enveloped him. He swung his machete, cleaving two skulls in the process, before he was overwhelmed.

Sarah fired into the crowd, cracking skulls with ease and deadliness. She emptied her clip into the zombies surrounding Alex and then snatched him off the floor.

"Come on, we need to draw them out," she said.

Alex backed away once he was back on his feet, and slid his sniping rifle off his shoulder. He began shooting, bringing down the zombies one by one. The zombie horde were being decimated quickly, but one, a woman missing her left arm, latched onto Alex's thigh and bit down hard.

"Alex!" Sarah cried. She launched forward and shoved her .357 into its head and fired. A red mist appeared behind the zombie's head. She yanked Alex back and continued to fire.

Two clips and some fifteen zombies later the tower was quiet. Alex leaned against the wall gripping his rifle. After he was bitten, he managed to shoot a few of the undead but mostly hung back and let Sarah finish them off. He gripped his thigh and tried to give her a confident look.

Sarah couldn't see any blood on his leg but pointed her gun at his head.

"Did she break through the skin?"

"I don't know," Alex said. "I'm not sure."

"Pull your pants down and let's see."

Alex stood up straight. "I'm fine. Let's go check out that room now."

Sarah pulled back the hammer of her pistol.

"Fine," Alex said, and put his rifle aside. He unbuttoned his pants and dropped them around his ankles. Where he'd been bitten there was a purple mouth-shaped bruise but the zombie had failed to break the skin.

Sarah lowered her gun. "You can pull your pants up now."

"Are you sure?" he asked, leering at her.

Sarah rolled her eyes.

He pulled his pants up and grabbed his rifle. Together, they walked into the dark hallway. Sarah paused and a shudder went through her.

"What is it?" Alex asked.

She spun around and beat on his chest with her fist. "Don't ever do that again, you know better than to get that close to them."

Alex wrapped his arms around her and held her in the dark. Outside, a chill wind blew, clawing to get inside.

Joelle stared through the helicopter's windows and at the air traffic control tower.

"Alex and Sarah have been gone a long time," she said, "we should check on them."

Harvey rubbed his wrists where the cuffs had been. "Let's stay here. They seem resourceful. If they're not back within fifteen minutes we'll fly around and see if we can spot them."

"Or just fly away altogether?" Joelle snapped.

"I'm not that kind of guy," he said, and fiddled with some of the gauges. "Right now we have enough gas to get to the cabin but not enough to leave. If we're lucky we won't run into any trouble."

"Tell me about your daughter," Joelle said. "Is she pretty?"

"She's beautiful. Her name is Abigail but I call her Abbey. She likes to sing all the time. Her favorite song is I'll Fly Away. I don't know who wrote it. I don't think she really understands what it means, but she knows all the lyrics. The last time I saw her she waved to me as the helicopter lifted and I could've sworn I could hear her singing that song."

Joelle put her hand over his. "We'll get her back, I promise. Who are the men keeping her?"

"I don't know their names. They wear motorcycle jackets and have long hair. The leader has a tattoo of a crow gripping a skull on his neck."

Joelle tensed. It was exactly what she'd feared. She backed away from Harvey and turned to face the window.

"Did I say something wrong? Do you know these people?" When Joelle didn't answer he squeezed her shoulder. "Please tell me what you know. I need to save my daughter."

Joelle crossed her arms. "I don't know if I can help you. They aren't strangers."

Harvey shook her. His eyes burned like fire. "What do you mean they aren't strangers? Who's keeping my daughter a prisoner? Answer me!"

"They're Marauders," Joelle said, it came out in an exasperated breath, like she'd been holding it in for way too long.