Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Book 4): Walking In The Shadow Of Death Read Online Free Page A

do much to keep them warm outside.
    Brad saw more of the heavy blankets
they had managed to gather from the cargo bay. They were made of a heavy
material and normally used to put over and protect cargo, but they would work.
Brad grabbed a stack of them and turned to the Villegases and Parker. “Let’s
cut these into squares. We can turn them into ponchos, then wrap the rest
around our legs and tape them in place.”
    Joseph shook his head. “Oh, so
because we’re Mexicans, you assume we want to wear ponchos and shit?”
    Brad looked at Joseph, confused.
“Okay, suit yourself,” he said, handing a blanket to Parker.
    Daniel pushed his brother out of
the way. “Man, ignore this fool, I love ponchos,” he said, pulling a large
Ka-Bar knife and using it to start cutting away on the heavy cargo blankets.
    Quickly the four of them broke down
the pallets into shards of boards and splinters. They loaded these into their
now empty sea bags. They draped the cargo blanket ponchos over their bodies,
tying them at the waist. Their legs were bundled and taped so that they looked
like hockey goalies from the bulky insulation. After gathering their bags and
gear, they stood in the door of the aircraft. The Villegas brothers lowered
themselves down and back into the dark night. Brad and Parker quickly followed
them out the door.
    Once on the ground, Brad led the
way into the darkness. Daniel had spotted a piece of the tail on the far side
of the aircraft and in an outcropping of rocks. The team had already decided
that would make the best place to build a shelter. Their primary concern was
getting clear of the jet fuel-soaked snow. Brad moved in close to the broken
tail section of the AN-12. It was nothing more than twisted sheet metal wrapped
between the large stones, but it would work.
    Brad moved towards a dead space in
the boulders and dumped the wooden contents of his sea bag. He made a loose
stack of the broken pallet parts, then used his knife to cut a long sliver from
the nearly frozen block of C4. When the shard was free of the block, he
carefully pushed it against a portion of the wood and, using his hands to
shield the wind, ignited the plastic explosive. It lit quickly and began
burning with a bright yellow flame. Brad added additional wood to the small
flame until the dried bits of pallet began to take hold.
    Soon they had a large fire going.
The men dug away the snow and used the metal from the tail to build a wind
screen and also to reflect the heat of the fire back towards the rocks. 
With the fire going strong, Brad positioned one of the sea bags filled with
blankets as near the fire as he dared. The flames were just out of reach of the
bag and Brad saw steam rising off the edges of the green fabric. As soon as the
bag and its contents were hot to the touch, Parker quickly ran the bag back to
the aircraft’s door and tossed it up to Brooks. Brooks removed the heated
blankets and laid them out over Kelli, then tossed the sea bag back down, now
filled with replacement blankets to be heated by the fire.
    All through the night the men took
turns standing watch, maintaining the fire and running the heated blankets back
to the plane.  As their supply of wood ran short they began burning parts
of the aircraft and down wood from the tree line, using anything to keep their
heat source going. They were surprised that they didn’t see any signs of
primals. They were even beginning to hope that they had crashed in an area
where the infection might not have spread. Eventually Sean, Gunner, Hahn, and
Chelsea found themselves down by the fire, while Brooks and Nelson took turns
keeping vigil over Kelli.
    The daylight came to the men as a
dull gray. Slowly spreading over the tops of the high ridges, the cloud cover
blocked out the sun, and the thick snowflakes dropping on the ground covered
any sounds of nature. Brad had stayed awake all night helping to increase the
watch. He stood now and searched the horizon as far out as he