Goodbye Sky Harbor

by Mathis, Philip Brian

  “Freeze or I’ll blow your fucking head off kid. I mean it.”

  Kuruk put his hands up while Genesis continued her pleas in a last-ditch effort to force the colonel’s hand at stopping this madness.

  “Creed? Can you hear me? Keep looking at me, okay? Just keep looking in my eyes. Just listen to my voice. You’re going to be fine. I’m going to get you out of this mess, alright? I promise, just stay with me.” Genesis assured.

  Creed faintly nodded. Genesis’ tears poured freely while she tried to comfort her dying friend. By this point, one of the soldiers began cuffing Kuruk as the other kept his rifle steadily pointed towards him. Once they were able to successfully restrain Kuruk, the soldier then grabbed Genesis’ arms away from the glass. Col. Posey had made his way out of the room once he saw the situation outside was being neutralized.

  “No! Please stay here with me. I’m going to get you out of there. Remember Creed? Remember when you said you wanted to run away with me when we first met? You can’t leave me now, do you understand? We have the entire world to see. You can’t leave me here by myself. I can’t do this life without you.”

  “Get them out of here private!” Col. Posey ordered.

  “Yes, sir.” The young private holding onto Genesis began tugging on her arm, pulling her away from the glass. She vehemently pulled away from the soldier and slammed on the glass one more time. The private once again pulled the teenager away and began escorting her away towards the hallway. The whole time Genesis kept her eyes glued on Creed.

  “I’ll be back babe. I have to go talk with these assholes for a minute, but I’m going to get you out of there. Then we’ll go away, we’ll run away; I promise.” Genesis continued.

  “Take them to my office.” The colonel instructed.

  “Sir, yes sir.” The officer responded.

  Col. Posey stood there in the hallway watching as both Genesis and Kuruk were being escorted away. He looked back in the room and saw Sgt. Dominguez continuing to fill up vials of blood, tears falling down her face. By that point in time, they had successfully extracted over a hundred vials of blood from the young kid. The colonel turned and made his way back into the room and put his hand on the sergeant’s shoulder.

  “That’s enough for now.”

  Dominguez enclosed the last vial of blood and put it down on the counter. She sighed and bowed her head momentarily, stretching her back in discomfort. For the first time, Hope looked up at the boy. She had previously refused to look at him throughout the duration of their time together. As Dominguez set the vials in a large pouch on the counter, the young teenager began to flat line. The colonel looked over somberly as Creed’s chest stopped rising. No orders or commands were given by the looming colonel, nor was there any attempt to save his life. Posey eventually gave out a long sigh before turning towards the demolished Dominguez.

  “You are dismissed Sergeant. We’re done here.” Posey said. Hope quickly left the room and proceeded down the hallway, eventually finding her way towards the bathroom. She locked the door immediately after entering and began to cry.

  About half an hour later in the colonel’s office, Kuruk and Genesis sat there impatiently waiting for the colonel’s arrival. They were both handcuffed to the chairs that lay parallel to the desk. One of the MP’s waited silently inside the office while the other waited outside. The colonel finally entered the room and sat down at his desk. He paused for a moment, looking disheveled for the first time probably in his entire life. Genesis stared intently at the colonel with a scornful expression. After a moment, Col. Posey looked up at the two siblings.

  “I’m sorry to have to tell you this. But your friend just passed away.”

  Genesis cried out. Kuruk looked over at her, wanting to reach his hand out and comfort her.

  “How could you? I will make you pay, do you understand me?” Genesis shouted.

  “Look, just like I told your friend –” The colonel started to explain.

  “- No, how dare you. Genesis interrupted. “Fuck you. I promise you will pay, if it is the last thing I do in this wasted world.”

  “Listen young lady; Creed died a hero, and everyone here needs to start realizing that. Because of him, all of us will be able to go home soon, have a nice meal, fall asleep with the certainty that we’ll all be here tomorrow.”

  “You know, I hope his face haunts you every single night for the rest of your life. I hope you are never able to fall asleep peacefully without his ghost haunting you. I hope he comes back and petrifies your dreams. One thing is for certain, you will spend the rest of your days in fear of what’s coming for you?”

  “Oh yeah, what’s coming for me?” The colonel asked.

  “Pain, loneliness, fear, a most terrorizing death.”

  “Go ahead, make your little threats young lady. Who’s going to believe you anyway? You think they’re going to believe some high school girl, especially a native high school girl, or a decorated Colonel that saved everyone’s fucking lives?”

  “No, you didn’t save anyone’s lives. If anyone saved anyone’s lives, it was Creed. His blood is now on your hands and I hope you never get them off, no matter how hard you scrub. And Colonel, how do you think we got these uniforms? That was one of your own, did you even realize that?”

  “Is that right? Are all you Native’s this charming?”

  “You fucking piece of shit –” Kuruk spat on the colonel from his seat. Almost instantaneously the soldier in the room knocked the butt of his rifle into Kuruk’s groin, forcing him to hunch over towards the ground. “Ah shit!” Kuruk yelled out.

  “Stop it.” Genesis cried.

  “Alright that’s enough private.”

  The private moved back towards the wall and stood at ease. Colonel Posey looked back over at Genesis and Kuruk with a timid grin.

  “Regardless of what you guys think you might know, there’s no one out there that’s going to believe you, let alone help you.”

  “Capt. Romano will.”

  Col. Posey looked up at Genesis stunned.

  “Does that name sound familiar? Well, I guess there is someone that would believe us; it kind of looks like not everyone is on your side Colonel.”

  Just then the colonel started to smile. Genesis looked on confused. Why is he smiling? She thought to herself. “Oh, yes. Capt. Romano. That name is familiar to me in fact. Unfortunately, though, she is no longer with us.”

  “We know, she’s actually the one who helped us.”

  “No, I mean, she’s no longer with us.” Posey paused.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “She passed away earlier this evening.”

  Genesis and Kuruk looked at each other in shock. Genesis attempted once again to wiggle her hands out of the cuffs. “You killed her?” She asked.

  “Like I said, who’s going to believe you sweetheart?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  Two years had passed since the events at Sky Harbor and the gruesome death of Creed O’Connor. Just like the colonel had predicted, with Creed’s blood and his special platoon, it was nearly a cake walk before the United States military had the Chinese combative’s running scared. Within weeks, China’s forces were completely backed up to the coastlines. The colonel’s self-created division became heroes in the public eye after they single handedly neutralized the incoming threat. The Chinese president eventually ordered the retreat and in no time, the country was back to a state of peace. As is probably most understanding, President Bai initially didn’t believe any of his General’s dispatches when they first reported flying men unarming their soldiers, and rendering the infantries basically useless. Immediately following the retreat, there were talks about a peace treaty between the two countries being heavily encouraged by the U.N. President Bai however essentially scoffed at the notion. He was quoted as saying that until the U.S. President fully and completely abdicated his position, there would be no reason to sign any type of peace treaty. He added that the world and most imp
ortantly the United States itself, would never know peace as long as ‘that man’ was in power. There were understandably a lot of rumors that the war was not completely over with, and it was only a matter of time before the two countries were thrusted into an all-out war once again.

  Creed’s body, or what was left of it, was disposed of the same night he had passed away. A lot of his blood and body’s remnants had been previously drained through the pipes down through the sewage system at Sky Harbor. Back in Mesa, Genesis had basically shut down completely after she returned home. After the dust and ashes had settled, the Army released some fabricated explanation around the events leading to the death of Creed O’Connor. They relayed a hero type narrative, mentioning that he died assisting the Army in top secret missions, defending his country with pride. The Army never released one document however, and kept most of their work surrounding the events at Sky Harbor locked up tight. Genesis went after the colonel, just as she had promised, going as far as threatening to sue the United States government. As you can imagine, the notion was quickly dismissed and laughed out of almost every legal office in the state of Arizona. Genesis did her best trying to criminalize the colonel in the public’s eye as well, but no one outside of Creed’s family took her seriously. Lawyers wouldn’t touch the accusations without any credible witnesses, or without a shred of evidence. Most of the countries politicians, and even the public circumvented the accusations. Everyone was just happy that in the end, whatever happened, the military was able to drive out the enemy combatants. Most of the American population was just eager to rebuild and try to move past this unfortunate stain in U.S. history. Everyone wanted to move on, and possibly one day forget the war had even started. In a distasteful effort to smooth things over with everyone involved, the U.S. Government secretly tried to pay off Creed’s parents, but they merely sent the money back with a little note saying they ‘could all shove it up their own ass’.

  Creed’s father eventually held a little memorial for his son in order to get closure. Everyone from his family, including his Uncle and cousins from New England showed up. Kushala extended her sympathies and even organized a little ceremony of her own, back at the Fort McDowell reservation. It was a sight to see as both Yavapai and Apache nations came to show their unity and respect for the fallen warrior. They celebrated for multiple days and nights, with songs and dancing specifically to honor his life.

  When school had resumed for Genesis, she immediately refused to go back. Paquala allowed her to finish her studies at home, and she eventually got her high school diploma through an on-line course. Kuruk ended up dropping out of college so he could be with his sister. As time went on, it got a little better for Genesis, but not a day would pass that she wasn’t thinking about her friend tied with a heart-wrenching emotion. For a little while, she was ridden with guilt for being unable to bring any justice to her best friend’s senseless death. Even though the United States ended up the victor, she still felt like his death was all in vein. It killed her that she knew the truth behind all the Army’s bullshit and couldn’t do anything about it. That feeling inspired Genesis to enter law school when she turned eighteen and made a vow to fight future injustices all over the country. It would be her own little ode to Creed, a way to honor his death and release some of the guilt she had been living with.

  Kuruk eventually talked her into traveling back to Sky Harbor for her birthday. And this time it was a moment to honor not only their mother, but Creed as well. It was hard for her that night to travel to that airport as she had done those years past without Creed. Genesis was still haunted by the terrors that lied behind those walls. Kuruk’s presence was probably the only reason she was able to overcome the dread of returning to that place. He even attempted to get her to smile during the drive by bringing up memories they had in prior years. They even reminisced about the last trip up there before the war began.

  “Did you want me to pull up and park the truck? Or just drive around?” Kuruk asked.

  “Pull in near the back, like always.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  Kuruk drove around to the back runways and eventually parked near the same place as they had countless times before. As usual, Kuruk jumped out and immediately lit up a joint before walking towards the back and letting the tailgate down. He took a couple of drags and passed it to his sister who quietly nodded her head.

  “No thanks.”

  “Suit yourself.” Kuruk muttered.

  They both laid down on the bed of the truck and looked up at the lustrous stars. At first the siblings laid quietly without saying a word to each other. It wasn’t long before a Boeing 787 Dreamliner was beginning to approach from overhead. It took about twenty minutes for the plane to land and get situated before it grew quiet again. Kuruk turned and noticed his sister’s eyes were tearing. He peered back towards the sky and finally thought of what to say. “Man, you remember the last time we came up here?” He asked.

  “Yeah.” Genesis reached up to wipe her eyes before looking over at her brother.

  “I was freaking out when my tailgate dropped.”

  Almost immediately after those words came out of Kuruk’s mouth, Genesis thought back to her brother’s face when he had broken out into an infantile tirade and couldn’t help but crack up.

  “That was pretty funny. The look on your face. You just couldn’t beat that.”

  “I was so pissed.” Kuruk couldn’t help but begin to chuckle at the sound of his sister’s blatant laughter.

  “You know that third time it dropped,” Genesis continued. “That wasn’t even Creed that time, it was actually your truck. But I just couldn’t calm down enough to tell you.”

  “Yeah, well you guys were being pretty annoying about it anyway, it wouldn’t have mattered.”

  “Shut up. We were not.”

  “Yeah you were.”

  The moment eventually passed as Genesis gazed back up towards the sky and the moon, simply wishing she could hug Creed, just one more time. One more kiss, one more gleaming moment peering into his golden brown eyes; hearing one of his many rants about how irritated it made him when she would run off. Even one more walk to school discussing irrelevant quotes and sharing comical nuances of their teenage lives. For the rest of her life, she knew it was going to be hard to accept the reality of never waking up to see his smile ever again. Genesis knew her pain would never fully heal, regardless of what people would say about time healing all things. It was all bullshit, a self-righteous farce, and she knew it. Only losing a child probably hurt a lot more than this, but even so, all loss hurt like hell.

  The view of the airport behind them made it seem like nothing had even happened there. Looking through the windows at the people effortlessly walking by, you couldn’t even tell that this was ground zero for Arizonians just a couple years ago. There weren’t any lingering implications that any type of governmental occupation ever held position there. Even the area where the lone missile had dropped near the airfield was filled in. All the loose rubble had been removed and cement lain upon the cracks had been smoothed to near perfection.

  Meanwhile, out near the back of Sky Harbor’s north concourse laid the main drainage pipe. The pipe was regularly emptied into a small ditch that lead south towards the Salt River. About a mile down the long ditch laid a couple of Amorphophallus titanum plants with their spathes interlocked together appearing to make one large plant. The inflorescence of both plants reached just less than three meters with the large hollow spadix pointed towards the sky, resembling what looked like a large loaf of French bread. The inside of the spathe was a dark purple, while the outside looked more like a green-beige discoloration. The stench of the plant had attracted swarms of flies and even caught the nose of a certain Australian Shepherd stray, whom had been wandering around the ditch all day. The Shepherd had instantly become curious, immediately stopping and sniffing around the funny looking plant. Eventually the dog’s tail began frivolously wagging as his no
se was leading him to a more peculiar smell coming from within. The canine was anxiously attempting to pinpoint the origin of the smell just as the plant’s spathe started to open. Just then, the dog caught a glimpse of something moving inside and started barking garishly. He backed away from the plant as the barking grew even louder. On the other end of the spathe, the Shepherd could visibly see a human foot dangling from inside the large plant. Just then the spathe opened even more, and the foot began to move. The stray stopped barking and cautiously walked up to the large petal and peered inside. There he found Creed’s nude body which was being mysteriously incubated by the large flowering titanum plant. The barking had awoken Creed and within a drop of a hat, his eye’s opened and peered over towards the dog, now whimpering outside of the spathe. He quickly looked around the inside of the plant, trying to get a feel for his surroundings. Before he could even attempt a formidable thought, the spathe completely opened, and Creed was left with holding on to whatever he could grab to thwart a painful fall from the plants mouth. The Australian Shepherd, who was helplessly surveying the unique scene unfold, eventually trotted up towards Creed and started to lick at his legs.

  “Hey boy.” Creed called out. He reached out his hand and started rubbing the dog’s fur for a few seconds before looking around. Creed noticed the airport way in the background and the highway off in the distance. It took him a minute to fully grasp what had just taken place. He stood up and peered back inside of the large plant he had just been erected from. He vehemently tried to remember anything he possibly could, but everything was mostly a daze at that very moment. After a few minutes of contemplating, Creed took off towards the highway; the Australian Shepherd following close behind.

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  Ronald Little had lived most of his life in the Phoenix area. Known to his family and close friends as ‘Little;’ Ron however, was anything but. He set out to live a very quiet and uneventful life and would keep mostly to himself his entire adolescence. It wasn’t as if Ronald was reticent or that he didn’t like people. Little simply enjoyed the tranquility he felt when spending that quality time by himself. It was his time to think and reminisce. That momentarily changed during high school when his coaches first laid eyes on his towering stature. They successfully talked the reluctant freshman into joining the basketball and football teams. During his athletic career, Ronald failed to achieve the type of success his coach’s set out for him. He ended up having a more mediocre career simply based on his refusal to become more aggressive. It was just not his style and would never be his style. After high school, Ronald attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona and graduated with an engineering degree. Soon after college, he was hired by the airlines as an electrical engineer, working at Sky Harbor for the next thirty years. He spent most of his professional career the same as he spent most of his life; under the radar and in the shadows. Just the way he liked it. The year proceeding the war, Ronald had retired and made himself busy fixing up old radios and other various electrical equipment. He would hardly budge from his small little home on Fillmore Street during retirement.