Predator. It fires over six thousand rounds per minute, one hundred rounds per second. You can take out an entire army with just one of those. We got M4 carbines with pump action grenade launchers and infra red scopes. My main man Smitty over here is packing a mini-me M249 machine gun. That baby's got a two hundred round ammo pouch, just in case you got a whole lot of bad guys to kill. We got javelin missile launchers. We got automatic shot guns for close encounters. And let’s not forget the cult classic, the iconic, Desert Eagle," he said as he slid a handgun out of the holster on his leg. "This is one of the largest hand guns in the world. Practically a hand held cannon."
"Don't forget the suits," Smitty reminded Griffin from his seat. He was obviously enjoying Griffin’s little show.
"How could I forget the next generation NBC suits? I mean, we’re practically invincible in these bad boys. Ironman can eat his heart out. We're the real deal."
He started banging his chest like a gorilla. "And when you put us all together you get what's called a fire team. Because we're hot. And we're here to save the day. Gonna take the villains down to zero."
At that point he started to perform an adlibbed version of the 'Captain Planet' theme song. If I didn't know any better, if I didn’t know we were all on a razor's edge and fuelled with adrenalin, I would've sworn he was on crack.
"OK, that’s enough, Griffin," Smitty said. "You're scaring the girl."
"It's fine," I said. "I’m cool."
"Don't worry. You'll be staying out of harm's way for the most part," Smitty reassured me.
And in a weird way I knew Griffin was just doing his whole performance routine thing to lighten the mood, to calm everyone down, including himself. Actually, mainly himself. To remind himself, that he was a total badass, that he was the best. That he was trained and strong enough to deal with whatever we faced. Despite what we'd already seen, despite what we'd already been through.
About twenty-five minutes later we flew in closer to the shore line and dropped in altitude. The familiar sinking feeling in my stomach returned. My ears popped as the pressure changed. We were following the beaches and the cliffs. It felt like we were so low we were skimming the waves. The sun was peeking over the horizon, turning the ocean and the sky a bright pinkish orange.
We banked to the left and headed inland.
"We should be flying over the coastline now," Daniel said over the PA system. "Bondi beach should be directly below us."
I turned awkwardly in my seat and craned my neck to take a look out the small window. We should've been able to see Bondi beach below us but we couldn't see anything because of the red dust. It seemed to spew out into the ocean.
"Hang on guys, we're in for some rough turbulence," Daniel warned. He told Griffin to buckle up. I guess there was a camera back here or something.
Griffin took his seat and buckled his belt just as the Osprey started to bounce around. Ethan was still asleep.
"I'm coming up on the middle of the city," Daniel announced. "The Central Business District. I can just make out the buildings. I'm going to circle around for a closer look."
The tops of buildings were barely visible. I could only see a few of the taller ones. The Sydney Tower stood above the rest, swaying in the strong winds. The lower section of the tower was completely obscured by the dust, giving it the appearance that the upper section, the distinctive golden turret, was floating in the red sky.
"I can't see a landing point in this dust," Daniel said. "And it’s too windy for a drop. I’m going to circle back around and find a suitable place to touch down. Maybe somewhere near the outskirts. Or even on the beach."
As Daniel turned around I tried to catch a glimpse of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, or what was left of it. But the dust was too thick, I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t even see Darling Harbor or the casino. And they
"Don't forget the suits," Smitty reminded Griffin from his seat. He was obviously enjoying Griffin’s little show.
"How could I forget the next generation NBC suits? I mean, we’re practically invincible in these bad boys. Ironman can eat his heart out. We're the real deal."
He started banging his chest like a gorilla. "And when you put us all together you get what's called a fire team. Because we're hot. And we're here to save the day. Gonna take the villains down to zero."
At that point he started to perform an adlibbed version of the 'Captain Planet' theme song. If I didn't know any better, if I didn’t know we were all on a razor's edge and fuelled with adrenalin, I would've sworn he was on crack.
"OK, that’s enough, Griffin," Smitty said. "You're scaring the girl."
"It's fine," I said. "I’m cool."
"Don't worry. You'll be staying out of harm's way for the most part," Smitty reassured me.
And in a weird way I knew Griffin was just doing his whole performance routine thing to lighten the mood, to calm everyone down, including himself. Actually, mainly himself. To remind himself, that he was a total badass, that he was the best. That he was trained and strong enough to deal with whatever we faced. Despite what we'd already seen, despite what we'd already been through.
About twenty-five minutes later we flew in closer to the shore line and dropped in altitude. The familiar sinking feeling in my stomach returned. My ears popped as the pressure changed. We were following the beaches and the cliffs. It felt like we were so low we were skimming the waves. The sun was peeking over the horizon, turning the ocean and the sky a bright pinkish orange.
We banked to the left and headed inland.
"We should be flying over the coastline now," Daniel said over the PA system. "Bondi beach should be directly below us."
I turned awkwardly in my seat and craned my neck to take a look out the small window. We should've been able to see Bondi beach below us but we couldn't see anything because of the red dust. It seemed to spew out into the ocean.
"Hang on guys, we're in for some rough turbulence," Daniel warned. He told Griffin to buckle up. I guess there was a camera back here or something.
Griffin took his seat and buckled his belt just as the Osprey started to bounce around. Ethan was still asleep.
"I'm coming up on the middle of the city," Daniel announced. "The Central Business District. I can just make out the buildings. I'm going to circle around for a closer look."
The tops of buildings were barely visible. I could only see a few of the taller ones. The Sydney Tower stood above the rest, swaying in the strong winds. The lower section of the tower was completely obscured by the dust, giving it the appearance that the upper section, the distinctive golden turret, was floating in the red sky.
"I can't see a landing point in this dust," Daniel said. "And it’s too windy for a drop. I’m going to circle back around and find a suitable place to touch down. Maybe somewhere near the outskirts. Or even on the beach."
As Daniel turned around I tried to catch a glimpse of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, or what was left of it. But the dust was too thick, I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t even see Darling Harbor or the casino. And they
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