Read Online Reset: A Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Fantasy (Contaminant Series Book 1) by Eli Frost Duham - Free Book Online

bird.  It didn’t take much.  The man fell backwards out of the helicopter, but at the last minute, doubled over and grabbed the floor, hanging on.  Jenna and the other tag-along had kicked two more people out while Michael was bent over, pulling up the fingers of the one man hanging on. 
    The helicopter was surrounded with people and it was all that John could do to hover, turning around in circles, knocking over some people.  Michael looked back at Anna who gave him a stern look.  The same one she first gave Peter about him .  She turned quickly to Peter as did Michael.  He lay slumped against the wall of the helicopter, a red stain growing on his dingy shirt.  Peter only looked at the fingers, nodding his head.  Michael gave a resigned sigh, but when he went back to those fingers, he stomped them until they disappeared.
    John zigzagged with his helicopter as he hovered, eventually lifting further off the ground, climbing into the sky.   Anna stripped off her belt and demanded Michael’s shirt.  He took it off without question, balled it up and stuffed it where the blood was on Peter.  They could hear shooting start up again.  The second helicopter couldn’t get off the ground before it swarmed with desperate people. 
    Peter groaned as Michael pressed hard against his wound.  Anna wrapped her belt around Peter and the shirt and turned the buckle to the middle of his chest.  She pulled hard enough to cause Peter to sputter before forcing a new hole to lock the belt in place. 
    The unfamiliar woman had given up her over-shirt to the man who had been shot in the hand, wrapping it for him and tying it tight.  He was straining to not cry and his spittle was dribbling down his chin.
    John flew a few minutes before signaling for someone to put on the headset.  Michael reached for the one by his seat.
    John’s voice came through like a transmission, “We’re carrying a lot of weight, and I still need to return to where I gotta go.  Where do you want me to drop you?”
    Michael said, “Just a minute, can you give us some time to-to… figure that out?”
    John voice crackled over the headset, “You got five minutes.”
     

Chapter Eight
    It was a little over two and half hours before the helicopter landed on the lawn of a mansion in Missouri.  They lucked out that the pilot was headed that way and could spare the fuel, even though he didn’t want to.  He was going to leave them only a few miles outside of Omaha but Michael haggled with him mercilessly, pointing to the scientists as the last source of hope. 
    As soon as the helicopter touched down, Anna was out of the helicopter dragging Peter with her.  She commanded someone, anyone, to grab his legs as she struggled to rush him toward the entrance. 
    The only other woman to make it out of Omaha, besides Anna and Jenna, was Tessa.  She was a homely, handsome woman, not even forty years of age.  She had strong arms and hands, but not rough like someone who worked in construction.  They were more like gardener’s hands.  Michael had gotten a brief introduction on the plane.  She was actually a veterinarian.  She took up Anna’s cause helping to get Peter to the entrance.
    Bruce was the man who had been shot in the hand while trying to stay out of harm’s way.  He didn’t say much for the duration of the ride, but instead, held his hurt hand like something too precious and too delicate, periodically bursting into silently sobs.  He had finally stopped crying by the time they landed.  
    Michael looked at John, “Thank you.” He stuck his hand out for a shake.  He was met with a squared jaw and ice cold stare before John lifted off and climbed into the sky.
    Michael shook his head as the bird departed.
    The mansion door was locked, so an entrance was made of the window.  Everyone had expected an alarm loud enough to bring more trouble.  But there was none.  James was the only other man besides Michael who wasn’t hurt, so he