Chapter 2: Desertion

Chapter 2: Desertion (first draft)

The infection spread quickly in Northern Arkansas. Surprisingly enough it hadn’t reached Little Rock yet, but the military was taking no chances. The entire city was cordoned off and all transportation into Little Rock was shut down. Any private or commercial air traffic was bounced by fighter jets often more than 50 miles before reaching the city limits. There had been no incidents as of yet, but each pilot was given the same warning to turn back or risk being shot down. Cody Essex had been with the United States Army for four and a half years, but already he had risen to the rank of Captain. They had realized that he was good enough to be an officer sent him through an officer’s academy. It had only taken him 2 years to rise to through the ranks to become a Captain. Now he was planning on deserting. He wasn’t a coward and besides it was safer to stay here than what he was planning, but he couldn’t stand not knowing if his family and friends were safe.
The soldier already had it all planned out. One of his subordinates had admitted to him that he was planning on doing the same thing. Lucky for both of them, he was a helicopter pilot and he was scheduled to patrol the northern boundary of the defensive perimeter. It had been quite easy to convince the co-pilot to sleep in and allow his superior to go in his place. If all went well they would be well outside radar coverage by the time anyone realized they had gone off mission. Sitting in the cockpit now was strange. He had never once considered deserting, not even during the war in the Middle East.
“You ready to go, sir?” The pilot asked him, settling into the pilot’s seat.
“You won’t have to call me that for very much longer, but yeah I’m ready.” The Captain replied.
“Well then, let’s get this bird off the ground. Don’t want them to get suspicious.”
         They remained in relative silence for most of the flight. Neither of them wanted to talk about what they were doing. To talk about it was to doubt it. They had to be absolutely determined to go through with this plan.
         About twenty miles past Little Rock the pilot, Avery, looked over at him. “Well, Essex, looks like we are deserters.” He said smiling.
         “You think I’ll lose my officer’s pension over this?” Essex said seriously looking over at him.
         The pilot looked back at him incredulously. Essex stared back for a moment before he broke into a smile. Then they were both laughing. “Man, don’t make me laugh! You want me to put this bird into the side of a mountain?” The pilot said barely restraining himself. Chirruping beep started emitting from the console.
         “What does that mean?” Cody asked.
         “It means it’s almost time for us to go our separate ways. We are about 5 miles out of Mountain View. I’m going to set you down outside of the town. No telling what it’s like right in it.” The Pilot said as he nosed the aircraft downward.
         “Hey, thanks for getting me here.” Cody said to the man moving to open the hatch in the transport compartment.
         “No problem.” And then as he set the chopper down. “You be careful out there. Save your wife and that little girl of yours.”
         “I will! I hope you find your family as well!”  Cody shouted over the roar of the turbines.
         Avery looked at him for a moment longer. “Yeah! Now get out of here before the helicopter engine attracts them.” And with that he lifted the helicopter back off of the ground and began to fly North again. Cody looked up with his hand over his eyes as the pilot maneuvered the aircraft over the trees, and then he was out of sight hugging the top of the forest.
         The former Captain looked around trying to get his bearings. Once he knew where he was at he walked to the highway. He remembered walking down this road a lot back in grade school. He always used to visit his friend who lived just outside of town. Then his friend had moved to California. He had remained here. With a nostalgic sigh he shifted the pack on his shoulders and began the walk into town.