"Zz… Sir, it's not safe for you to be flying over the cities knowing we could encounter enemies."
Dominic, who was mid-flight, responded, "Too late, I'll be fine, and if not, Daniel will know what to do."
"Zz… Understood."
Alicia, who was in front of Dominic, looked at him with a smile and asked, "Are they worried?"
"It's natural. Many think that because I'm important, my duty is to stay in safe places, but it shouldn't be that way. I'm different..." Dominic was accompanied by his past mistakes, so he needed to stay busy.
He, like everyone else, had to live with his mistakes for the rest of his life. There were no shortcuts to forget the pain, especially when every weight of that feeling was caused by oneself.
Dominic would never forgive himself for not saving his girlfriend, but if he wanted to move forward, he had to live with the fact that he had forgotten everything. Alicia had taught him a lot about that, but even so, both were wounded and felt guilty in their own way.
"Are you okay?" Dominic looked at Alicia, who seemed to be deep in thought.
Alicia nodded, smiled a little, and said, "My mother still doesn't understand the intention behind my choices."
"She will understand."
The other soldiers remained silent. Besides Alicia and Dominic, there were two pilots. There was another soldier in the back, but there weren't many since they were only here to watch from above.
But at that moment, an explosion in the rear of the helicopter shook the flight wildly, raising an alert that put everyone on edge.
"What's happening?" Dominic asked directly, sensing something was wrong.
"It's the engine, sir. The helicopter maintenance wasn't adequate, and flying suddenly caused untimely failures." The pilot was anxious, his eyes quickly inspecting the surroundings to make a decision.
"Can we land in a safe place?" Alicia looked to the side as she fastened her seatbelt.
"Yes, I'll do that, and we'll gradually descend!"
Dominic sighed nervously. Today could be the day he dies. He didn't regret having come this far; at least he left strong foundations for people to survive if they were smart.
Without knowing how far he could go, Dominic had left a letter in a room where he stored valuable things that only Tobias knew about. Only a year later should that letter fall into the hands of whoever the next leader was, if it wasn't him.
But Dominic wasn't that pessimistic. He wasn't dead yet, and those were just sudden thoughts in critical moments where he didn't have the results of his safety.
"I'm losing control!"
"Hold on!"
The surroundings seemed to be just forests. Only then did Dominic remember a similar scene where the governor killed the soldiers.
He hoped it wasn't related to these events. It was too early to think about things like that. At least now, that man should be barely surviving the apocalypse.
At that moment, the seconds seemed to slow down in front of Dominic's eyes. Everything he had done so far made him wonder if it was worth it. Are all these people really in danger because of him?
"Don't worry, I'll get you out of this!"
"Don't worry, boss, this is an exciting situation."
"I'll get you out of here, guys; don't worry."
Looking at the smoke coming from the rear of the helicopter, Dominic tightened his grip and breathed, feeling the coldness of the situation. Everyone was fearful of the outcome of this accident.
But at that moment, unexpectedly, the sound of the wind breaking was heard, and an explosion of blood splattered inside the helicopter.
Boom!
That kind of explosive shot went straight through one of the soldiers' chests, killing him instantly, and the blood mixed with pieces of flesh that flew out through the hole caused by the explosion.
The soldier's body shook slightly; he didn't have time to react to the death that had struck him.
"How the hell are they attacking us?"
Suddenly, hearing shots behind them, everyone in front instinctively ducked their heads.
The person closest to the soldier who had just died turned his head to look at his fallen comrade and the bullets still coming through the helicopter cabin. With his pupils full of disbelief, he leaned against the wall and shouted loudly, "Take cover...!"
"Ah!!!"
The shrill screams made everyone in the helicopter tremble.
Dominic, who was the closest, was also surprised by the piercing scream and then slowly recovered. Hearing the unstoppable scream of the man, he felt he had to see where the shots were coming from.
"Damn it!"
The death of another comrade made everyone in the helicopter terrified, and no one knew who screamed after that. There were several soldiers, and many had already been hit by the rain of enemy bullets.
After all, the helicopter was flying very low; anyone with an assault rifle could shoot them and kill them, as an unknown group of people was doing.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Everyone, cover your heads!"
Dominic didn't understand what was happening, so he made sure to take care of Alicia and wait for this thing to land to see who the idiot shooting at them was.
"I don't have control, sir!"
"Prepare for impact!"
Boom!
When they least expected it, the helicopter carrying Dominic and Alicia crashed to the ground, shaking violently. Feeling like the world was becoming blurry, Dominic looked around, and his vision on the right side turned crimson.
"Whoever they are, I'm going to kill them. Everyone will pay with blood for what they've done."
At this very moment, Dominic's face, full of coldness and his eyes literally crimson, focused on his subtlety and the weapons backpack. He could faintly hear the sound of people around them approaching slowly.
"I'm going to kill them all."
Zz... This is Alicia; the A-Q78 helicopter has crashed, and now we are surrounded by walkers and hostile people. Commander Dominic Williams is fine, but I can't say the same for the others."
At that moment, Alicia took the first radio she had at hand and sent a message to the central base: "Zz... If you hear this message, send reinforcements as soon as the commander contacts you."
"Where are we, Alicia?"
Alicia, who had only suffered a few blows to the head, looked around and said, "I can't see anything, just a few houses, and the rest seems to be forest."
"Let's get out of here. Tell the base, we'll report our position when it's the right time." Dominic gave himself first aid while looking at the walkers getting closer and closer to the crash site.
Undoubtedly, things have now become even more dangerous for them.