Downed Pilot Savior--World War Z by Brooks

In the novel, World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War, Max Brook uses a documentary format to tell some great stories about the fictional Zombie War.  Survivors they their stories.

One very interesting story was from a Air Force Pilot, Colonel Christina Eliopolis.  A mid-air accident lead to her ejecting and parachuting into a zombie-infested area.

To support downed pilots, a network of Skywatchers existed.  Over the course of two days, Col. Eliopolis was supported by a Skywatcher in a nearby cabin with the call sign "Mets Fan."

Interviewer:  They never found your Skywatcher.

Eliopolis:  No

Or her cabin.

No

And the Government never had a record of a Skywatcher with the call sign Mets Fan.

You've done your homework.

I . . . 

You probably also read my after-action report, right?

Yes.

And the psych evaluation they racked on after my official debriefing.

Well . . . 

Well, it's bullshit, okay?  So what if everything she told me was information I'd already been briefed on; so what if the psych team "claim" my radio was knocked out before I hit the mud, and so the f*** what if Mets is short for Metis, the mother of Athena, the Greek goddess with the stormy gray eyes.  Oh, the shrinks had a ball with that one, especially when they "discovered" that my mother grew up in the Bronx.

And that remark she made about your mother?

Who the hell doesn't have mother issues?  If Mets was a pilot, she was a natural gambler.  She knew she had a good chance of scoring a hit with "mom."  She knew the risk, took her shot . . . Look, if they thought I'd cracked up, why didn't I lose my flight status?  Why did they let me have this job? Mybe she wasn't a pilot herself, maybe she was married to one, maybe she'd wanted to be one but never made it as far as I did.  Maybe she was just a scared, lonely voice that did what she could to help another scared lonely voice from ending up like her.  Who cares who she was, or is?  She was there when I needed her, and for the rest of my life, she'll always be with me.


Max Brook, World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War (New York, Broadway Paperbacks, 2006),pp 227-230.