He can hear it, even over the radio. The steady sharp staccato of her gun. He can feel it in the sudden lurches as the weight shifts, but they're finally gaining height.

His lips thin into a tight line and he punches it the second he feels it's light enough. The entire helicopter tilts forward, the blades pressing into the wind as they started rising rapidly. He could still hear the gun going - could still feel the shifts as another body fell, this time several dozen feet to the ground below. They got higher and higher and relief started pouring into his chest as he heard the gun go silent.

"You alright back there?" he yelled over the noise into his mic. "Did we lose all our extra passengers?"