Ronnie sprinted back to the chopper. He dodged a leaping stalker and vaulted into the main cabin like a man who was outrunning death. The Blackhawk bucked as Nadia forced it off the ground. The nose rose, the tail dipped, and it hung there for a fraction of a second before defying gravity and lifting off. Ronnie was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when THUD….. A stalker made an eight-foot-high leap into the cabin. She clawed at the door frame and tumbled into the cabin. Ronnie rolled, grabbing for anything not bolted down. The stalker pounced.

In a flurry of limbs, blood, and muscle, Ronnie took a gash to his forearm. He retaliated with a solid headbutt and a savage knee to the woman's abdomen. She rose to sit on her knees, then hissed with a mouthful of broken, jagged teeth. “Sorry lady!” He grunted and shifted his weight. “This is a one-way flight!” He twisted and kicked with everything he had. The heel of his boot slammed into her face. The stalker shrieked as it sailed out the door. The now fifty-foot vertical fall ended in a bone-shattering splat. Breathing raggedly, Ronnie collapsed against the cabin wall. Blood was trickling from the gash on his forehead and from his arm. He looked over his shoulder into the cockpit to see Nadia looking back at him. She tapped her ear and pointed at a headset. He grabbed it and slid it over his ears, then adjusted the boom mic. “Next time, tell your girlfriend we don’t do carry on!”