Yesterday's Flight

by Martyn Ellington

  “You ok, Susan? You look a bit washed out.”

  “I’m ok, Andrea, I am just dreading going back in there, the atmosphere really isn’t nice.”

  “Don’t worry, Susan we will be surgical, we won’t spend anymore time in there than we have to.”

  Susan nodded and followed Andrea out of the office and the tent. Once outside Andrea introduced Susan to the rest of the team, they had commandeered one of the Landcruisers to transport the body back. They climbed in and started the short drive to site charlie. As the truck rolled over the rocky desert floor Susan could see the large blue hangar as they approached it, and she knew what was waiting for them inside, it seemed strange to her now that it didn’t bother her that much last night when they had found him, but now she knew he was there, going back seemed somehow wrong and this troubled her deeply.

  The Landcruiser stopped outside the entrance to the hangar, small plumes of dust swirled around its fat tyres as they came to a stop. The team climbed out and headed inside, the air-conditioned environment offered a respite from the relentless heat of the sun. The plane now stood clearly in the middle of the hangar, illuminated by the large orange lamps placed around it, the cargo bay was now completely empty and the forensic team that had worked on it were cataloguing what they had removed. Susan started to walk over to Mark Watson who was in charge of clearing the plane.

  Susan had worked with Mark on other sites, he was one of the nice guys in his 30s. He lived on his own and as far as Susan knew had no real interests outside of work.

  “Mark!” she shouted over to him. Mark looked up and waved at her, he wasn’t a big man, standing around 5ft 5’, he had a very slim build and short dark brown hair and as usual today he was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a scruffy T-shirt that was clearly too big for him.

  “Hi, Susan how are you?”

  By now Susan had reached him, she extended her hand and shook his firmly.

  “I’m ok, Mark, what have you found so far?”

  “Not much, it looks like whoever had lived here used every resource they could, they had cut some of the luggage in half we think to use as water containers, almost everything else is gone.”

  “Any name tags on the luggage? anything that would give us a clue as who they were?”

  “No nothing, Susan, what personal luggage remained was pretty beaten up and worn out, even the extra pieces that didn’t belong to the passengers had been used and we think then discarded.”

  Susan looked disappointed, she really had hoped that she could have gone back to Bruce with some encouraging news, but it seemed this was to be a dead-end as well.

  Mark moved closer to her and whispered, “What’s the big secret Susan, how come we can’t start on the other zones yet?” Susan was desperate to tell him but she knew she couldn’t. Whilst Bruce was not her boss she knew she couldn’t go against his wishes, even it was out of professional respect. “Sorry Mark, you know I can’t tell you that.” Mark smiled at her; it was a smile that informed Susan he knew she was hiding something.

  “Susan, we’re ready to clear the hangar and start in.”

  Andrea was stood at the rim of the dig ready to descend down towards the bottom of the fuselage.

  “Ok, I’m coming.”

  Susan was glad of the diversion from Mark’s questioning. Andrea pulled the bullhorn towards her mouth, “Would all non-cleared personnel now clear the hangar, thank you.”

  With everyone else, including Mark, out of the hanger it seemed even more eerie than usual. Susan watched as Andrea’s team pulled back the huge flap that made up the main entrance and the Landcruiser was reversed in and up to the edge of the dig. Stopping feet away from where they stood its engine died and with that there was no sound, nothing, no-one spoke, and with the flap fastened back in place not even a breeze disturbed them. “Spooky,” Andrea said with a hint of sarcasm. Susan turned towards her, “You’re not inside yet!” Susan headed down the side of the trench that the plane now stood in and reached the ladder she had climbed the night before. Stretching out her right hand she grabbed it and hauled herself back in to the aircraft. Inside the halogen lights were still lighting up every area of the cargo bay. She guided the team towards the small ladder that would lead them back up to the passenger compartment. Susan pulled the torch off her hip clip and started the short climb. Reaching the hatch, she pushed against it and it jumped out of position. A plume of dust cascaded down over her. She switched the torch on and climbed through the open hatch. One by one the team followed her. Andrea first and then the other four members, the last one passed up the stretcher they had decided would carry the man off the plane and back to Andrea’s site.

  One by one they turned on their torches and again the galley area lit up in a plume of circular patterns. “Follow me,” Susan said, her voice sullen and wobbling as she spoke. The team followed her and soon caught sight of the figure. Susan stepped back and allowed Andrea’s team to do their thing. She really didn’t want to be part of it and was happy to move back away from them. Andrea reached out a nervous hand. Like Susan, she had spent years in the field and like Susan, she was used to dealing with fossils and not only partially decomposed corpses. She took a steady grip on the blanket and slowly started to pull it down. The blanket was crisp from years of dirt and dust and cracked and splintered as she pulled it off the body and clouds of dust fell from it. She got it off the side of the bunk and let it drop to the floor. Andrea’s light now lit up his face, she couldn’t help notice how tranquil the look on his face was, her gaze followed his right arm down his body until she stopped at the hand. It was wrapped in what looked like a handkerchief, she could easily see that is was covered in dry blood, and between the fingers she could see a piece of paper. Carefully she pulled it out and written on it were two words: “Overhead locker.”

  Andrea turned and held it up to Susan.

  “Have you seen this?”

  Susan shook her head and started across the middle row of seats towards her.

  “No, we didn’t disturb anything.”

  She carefully took the paper from Andrea. Susan knew that even in its unnaturally good condition the paper could be very brittle. She read the words on it and looked at Andrea.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think we need to look in the locker, Susan.”

  Susan stepped past Andrea and stood next to the body, its stench reaching the back of her throat, the thick air she struggled with last night now stuck to her; it felt like the air itself had a grip around her and it felt uncomfortable. She reached over the body to the overhead locker and unclipped the catch. Instantly the fragile plastic lock exploded and sent pieces everywhere, the door shifted and a waterfall of dust floated gently down from it, covering the plastic tumbler next to the body along with his left arm and the book it rested on.

  Susan put her hand in the locker and started to search round. Andrea watched as Susan’s arm stopped dead. Susan turned to her and bit her bottom lip, her eyes looked focused and slowly she pulled her arm out of the locker and the team watched as she pulled something out. Andrea fixed the beam of her torch on her hand and they could see it was a small brown leather book, sealed in an air-tight plastic wrapper, the type that would be used to wrap up a sandwich and written on the front cover it simply said: “My diary of a life in hell.”

  Susan looked at Andrea. They shone their torches directly at the book, the intense beams of light cut through the thick dark air and illuminated it.

  “Do you know what this could mean, Susan?” Andrea asked Susan with a bleak tone to her voice. But Susan did not answer.

  Chapter Five

  William and David had reached the edge of the clearing, before they breached the shrub line. They both took one last look at the plane, its bright bodywork contrasting against the dark grey sky and without a word to each other they faced forward again and stepped in to the forest.

  The ground beneath their feet felt soft; it was covered in thick moss. The trees we
re huge; they had looked large from the aircraft but now they were in amongst them they could see just how big they were compared to the trees they had left at home just yesterday, even the foliage seemed out of proportion. The leaves of the ferns were thick and had a massive circumference; the stems were fat and bulky and looked immensely strong. They pushed their way through thick undergrowth until it started to clear a little. The shrubs that had encased them started to thin out and they found themselves on what seemed to be a trail path but there was still no sign of Lynsey or any shred of evidence that she had been brought through this way.

  David and William pushed on. Reaching inside his jacket William pulled out his mobile phone and flicked open the cover that doubled as the microphone.

  “You don’t think that’ll work do you?” came a sarcastic comment from David. William just smiled to himself as the signal strength indicator read nothing.

  “Worth a try, though,” William replied, he closed it and pushed it back into his jacket pocket. The thick undergrowth finally came to an end and in front of them was large slow moving river. “Well, we know where the fresh water is at least,” William said as he started to walk closer to it.

  “Hold on!” David had a concerned tone to his voice.

  “What?”

  “Have you never seen a wildlife film? Never seen an unsuspecting animal be taken while it’s having a drink?” William stopped and headed back towards David.

  “Fair point, what do you suggest?”

  David stood looking around for a while, “Let’s circle further round, follow it downstream a little round that bend and see what’s there.”

  The two men skirted the thick brush that ran alongside the bank of the river, following its course but keeping themselves camouflaged as best they could with what clothes they had on.

  As the bend in the river started to straighten both men stopped in their tracks. On the opposite bank stood a large animal drinking from the river. It was a pale brown colour with large reptilian scales covering its body; its size somewhere between a hippopotamus and an African elephant, but it was neither of these two. On its head it had a large bony crest that had red flashes running up it and two long sharp horns at the top and a third that came out from its beak.

  David took hold of William’s arm. “You seeing this?”

  William nodded, “Do you know what that is?” as William asked the question the huge head lifted from the water and looked directly at the two strange objects that were watching it.

  “Shit, what do we do now?” William’s voice had a tremble in it.

  “Stand still,” David’s reply was sure and confident and only because of this William did as he was told. The animal snorted and went back to taking huge gulps of water out of the river. Both men physically relaxed, their shoulders slumped and they both breathed a heavy sigh of relief almost in unison. “What did I tell you? he’s not bothered about us, William.”

  Just as William turned and started to form a smile on his face a huge air-shattering roar came from deeper in the trees on the other side of the bank. Immediately the large animal that had ignored them with a dismissive snort lifted its huge head and spun round on its hind quarters, and within a split second it had disappeared into the tree line. The roar came again deafening and terrifying at the same time a cold chill ran down both their backs. William’s almost completed smile had turned to a look of sheer panic. “What the fuck was that?” David looked straight in the direction of where the noise came from. He had a look of tremendous concentration on his face.

  “David, for fuck’s sake.” David turned to William, “Quick, come with me.” David took hold of William’s arm and pulled him back away from the edge of the river and down into the thick brush that surrounded them. Both men lay flat on their stomachs. The roar came again louder, they could feel the air vibrate around them but this time the ground did too.

  The trees on the other side of the river shook and swayed back and forth. The crashing sound came again and then again and both men realised with a sense of terror that what they were hearing were footsteps. William turned his head toward David, keeping his profile as low as possible. “What is that, David?” “Shush! don’t move, don’t say a word!” William turned his head back and put his face flat to the ground. His nose pressed against the mud; too terrified to look up, the ground under them shook with each foot step then came another roar. The air in William’s ears seemed to split; he pulled his hands up over his ears and dared himself to look ahead. Just as he did it stepped out of the brush line and on to the river bank directly opposite them.

  It was massive, standing on two huge thick back legs, the sun that now streamed through the breaking cloud highlighted the huge muscles that supported its colossal frame. David moved his gaze up the animal’s body. He saw the tiny arms, no more than small stumps that stuck out of the immense chest but it was when he got to its head he felt a fear grip him, nothing had made him feel like this, nothing in life could have: not even combat situations in the RAF could compare to this. At least then it was almost even and you were in a machine you had some protection but out here they had nothing, all they had was the thick ferns they now hid in and David knew if this thing saw them it would all be over. Its head was colossal, perched on its substantial neck. Its huge teeth jutted out of both its top and bottom lips, massive nostrils smelt the air and snorted as it took huge gulps of water, its small intense eyes scanning in every direction while it drank. With one last mouthful it lifted its head. It stood about 25-30 feet high, water cascaded back down from the opening in its jaws where the huge teeth prevented its lips from forming a watertight seal. It raised its head high and sniffed the air, tilting it from left to right it pulled its neck back and let out another roar. William clenched his hands over his ears again. David watched as it slowly turned and with huge strides it disappeared from where it had come, the vibrations and noise from the footsteps easing as it headed further away from them.

  William and David hauled themselves back to their feet. David brushed the dirt from his uniform while William stood staring at the river bank. “That was a Tyrannosaurs Rex, wasn’t it?” David stood up straight and nodded to William, “Yes, I’ve seen enough documentaries and books to know that was a T Rex and I am not hanging around here to see if it comes back.”

  William breathed in deeply and let it out through puffed-up lips. “I think you’re right, I assume you were close to Lynsey, being a work colleague and all, but from what we have seen I think we both know what happened to her…..don’t we?”

  David nodded but William could tell it was a reluctant one but David knew Lynsey was gone; he had known that when he had first seem the blood and found her shoe but the least he could do was to look for her.

  “Ok, William, let’s head back, we’ll keep to the denser stuff. That way we shouldn’t come across anything that big again.” The two of them started back towards the general direction of the clearing and the aircraft, they knew once there that not even a T Rex that big would pose much of a danger to them.

  “David?” William broke the silence that had accompanied them since they started the return journey.

  “What is it?”

  “Exactly how much fresh water is on the plane?”

  David smiled as he walked along, he had already thought of this inevitable problem but had hoped he could have delayed dealing with it for a least a little while longer.

  “The short answer, William, is not much. Water weighs a lot, more than people realise, and it takes a lot of fuel to carry an unlimited amount around on a flight.”

  “Ok, what’s the long answer, David? I think we need to know, because if we are where we both think we are at some point we’re going to run out and then we’re going to need to come back here.”

  David stopped and William pulled up alongside him.

  “Ok we carry about 30 gallons, less what we’ve already used for the in-flight drinks and anybody who has washed their hands, et cetera, so honestly your g
uess as to how much is left is as good as mine.”

  David set off walking again, pushing his way through the ferns that littered the floor. The sun, ever-brighter after burning off the morning’s grey sky, burned its way through the tree canopy covering the floor with dapples of light that changed and moved as the trees did. They came back on to the trail and they knew they weren’t far from the clearing. Walking in silence again, both of them were already thinking about reaching the plane and both had stopped concentrating on where they where.

  Without any notice or warning the roar came back, they both stopped dead, standing in the middle of the trail, they were both out in the open. William’s heart rate increased and it thumped inside his chest. He felt as if his heart would burst from his chest which was getting tighter and tighter, the adrenaline was flowing around his body, saturating his muscles and respiratory system, making him ready for what he had to do.

  The roar came again and then the ground shook. Both men turned in circles where they stood, “Where the fuck is that coming from, David?” “Shut up, listen!” David’s reply was short and abrupt but it needed to be; this was no time for manners and etiquette.

  Again the roar, again the air split in their ears. William pushed his hands hard against his ears again but he couldn’t prevent the sound from penetrating deep inside his head. All his primeval senses and fears exploded to life; everything we had long forgotten since living in safe locked homes without the need to hunt and fend for ourselves since we became domesticated, his system became overrun, his legs felt like lead weights, his arms felt heavy and useless, the ground shook again and directly ahead of them, 500-yards or so, the Tyrannosaur burst though the tree line and looked straight at them. David clenched his teeth and whispered to William, “Keep still, don’t fucking move an inch!”