by Rae Agatha
“How is that possible?”
“How are gigantic wasps possible, Dan?” Rick asked and finished his wine.
“We’re thinking of going to get some water once the day comes back.” Anna said.
“Where are you going to find water?”
“The stream in the forest, the one we drank from before getting here.”
“Oh, right. Yeah, sure. Good idea. So, we’re staying here?”
“Where else would we go? It’s safe here.”
“Yes, but we can’t possibly be here, like, forever, right?” Dan said and looked at Rick.
“Hey, do you know that Michael Jackson’s dead?” Rick asked.
“What?!”
“In 2008?” He asked Anna.
“2009.”
“There, 2009,” Rick said and pointed at her.
“How? Why?”
“Some medicine thing,” he started but Anna raised her hand.
“What?”
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Rick asked and sat straight on the chair.
Dan turned toward the door, “I heard that, too.”
“What?!”
“Listen,” Anna said.
There was knocking on the windows at the back of the plane. Someone, something was throwing small rocks, pebbles, at them.
“What the hell,“ Dan said. Rick got up from his chair and they all crept silently toward the windows. The sound was moving toward them; the rocks were now hitting the windows in the middle of the plane.
“They’re coming!” Anna squeaked in panic.
“They’re banging only on one side of the plane, there can’t be a lot of them,” Rick said, and stopped once a small rock hit the doors.
“What do we do? Do we pretend we’re not in here?” Dan asked.
For a second, Anna thought it was actually a brilliant idea.
“Nonsense,” Rick said. “They know we’re here, why else would they throw the stones?”
“They? You keep saying that, what do you mean “they”? Anna squeaked.
“I don’t know, you’re the one who said it first.”
“Shut up!” Dan hissed. “It stopped.”
They all went quiet and it was true – no more rocks hit the windows and there was complete silence.
“Is it – are they – gone?” Anna asked.
“Guess so,“ Rick replied and at this very moment they heard a strange sound near the door. A heavy thud. It appeared twice.
“What is it?” Rick asked.
“I have no,” Dan began, when they all realized that they could hear someone, something, walking up.
“The ladder!” Dan said terrified and they all looked at each other in horror. “Something’s coming up!”
“Quick!” Rick said, “Find yourselves something, anything that might help you get ready for whatever is coming!”
All three of them began frantically looking around the plane, trying to locate anything to help them defend themselves. The steps, slow, careful, were becoming more distinct. Anna got herself the flashlight which had helped her to get rid of the insects. She checked it and it still wasn’t working, so she started shaking it, praying it would become useful again. At the same time, Dan ran toward the end of the plane and got the flight attendant cart. He was now pushing it down the aisle, and finally put it in front of the door. Once it was fixed in place, he picked up a fire extinguisher and held it up, ready to strike anyone or anything that was about to try and enter the plane.
“The door opens outwards, Dan!” Anna said.
“I know, but maybe this will at least break some legs, or twist some ankles,” he replied. “Where’s Rick?”
“I don’t know! Rick!”
“I’m here!” he shouted from the cockpit as he was kicking one of the seats, breaking it and pulling two steel pipes from its structure. They were quite heavy, more than enough to hit and wound whatever was coming at them. Rick jumped out of the cockpit and gave one of the pipes to Dan, who put the extinguisher aside. All of them were breathing fast and heavy, Dan could feel sweat dripping into his eyes, irritating them, he wiped his forehead with his sleeve. Anna, frustrated with the flashlight not working, threw it on the floor. At which point it exploded with a very intense light. Dan and Rick immediately looked back at her as Anna began pointing the stream of brightness on the door and she began to scream!
“Jesus Christ, someone’s there!”
“Oh my God,” Dan said.
In the small, round window of the plane door, they saw a woman’s face. She was looking right inside, covering her forehead with her hands to see everything better. When Anna’s flashlight awoke, the woman outside immediately covered her eyes for a moment, but was now looking straight ahead again.
“Let me in!” She shouted slapping the windowpane with an open hand.
Dan looked at Rick. “What do we do?”
“We’re letting her in,” Rick said while putting the pipe away.
“I’m not sure if it’s safe,” Dan said.
“What exactly means safe, Dan?” Anna replied.
“I don’t know, come on!” Dan shouted.
“Let me in!” The girl kept on banging her hand at the door and the
window. “Please!”
Rick dried his forehead rubbing it with his shoulder and walked toward the door. “Keep the light on her,” he told Anna.
Dan’s head swiveled from Rick’s face and the face outside. “Rick, are you sure? I mean, she could be surrounded by the insects, I mean-“
“Or running away from them, just as we did some hours ago. Dan, don’t tell me you would be able to look at her and keep the door closed,” Rick said. “She might need help.”
Dan looked at him frightened and confused.
“I’m not putting the pipe down, whatever happens, it’s all on you, man,” he finally said.
“I can live with that,” Rick replied and started removing the cart and some seconds later he was standing right next to the door, looking at the woman.
“It opens outside,” he said loudly, “take a few steps down so I can open it,” he added and made a gesture showing her she needed to get down a bit. She understood him, nodded and walked down.
“Rick,” Anna said. He looked at her but she didn’t say anything, instead she looked at Dan. Dan nodded his head. “It’ll be okay.”
Rick slowly opened the door, making sure that there were no insects around it. Anna stood right behind him, lightning the area outside, just to make sure no gigantic wasp, or anything else for that matter, appeared.
“Shit!” Rick shouted.
“What is it?!” Dan appeared right behind them the pipe raised and ready, Anna lit the part of the plane to the left from the door. There was a huge, dead wasp, dangling from its gigantic stinger, the one that had tried to pierce the plane as they got on board. It didn’t move, but it still looked frightening and ominous.
“It’s dead,” Rick said sighing deeply.
“I thought wasps could sting many times and not die,” Dan said.
“Maybe not here, maybe here it’s only once.”
“Maybe it’s not a wasp? Maybe it’s a bee?” Anna asked.
“Hey! Maybe it doesn’t really matter right now? Let me in!” The girl said. Rick opened the door wider and Anna cast the light on the woman. She was standing on the ladder, which she put upside down, so that the broken steps were now near the ground.
“Come on up,” Rick said and moved back giving her space to walk inside the plane. The girl started climbing again, steadily, carefully, stopping every time she heard the steps creaking. Finally she walked into the plane, leaned the ladder on the fuselage and Dan closed the door.
The four of them were now looking at each other, all of them a bit frightened, but relieved to see more people.
“It is a wasp. Bees are fluffy, this one isn’t. Besides, bees leave you in peace, wasps are mean as fuck, and this one clearly was. And yes, it shouldn’t have
died after stinging once, but I guess it’s not the only abnormality around, is it?” The girl said. She spoke with a discernable Eastern-European accent. Nobody responded to her question, everyone just looked at her.
“Okay, what – what are you all doing here?” She asked.
“We – we just woke up,” Anna said.
“What, in the forest or on the plane?”
“Both. In the forest first and now on the plane,” Dan replied.
“When?”
“Depending on your sense of time, but according to this – almost one and a half day ago,” Anna replied showing her wristwatch.
“Who are you?” Rick asked.
“I’m Matylda. I woke up in the forest, too.”
Chapter 8
Matylda was a young woman, not older than twenty-one, perhaps twenty-two years old. She was wearing an army-like thick jacket, black shirt with lots of bigger and smaller pockets, a green t-shirt underneath it, khaki cargo pants and heavy trekking shoes. Her dyed red hair was tied up, creating a long, thick pony tail. She was wearing a backpack and a headlamp which she took off her forehead and was now holding in her hand.
She was walking around the plane, looking at things. Anna and Dan sat on the seats opposite each other, Rick was standing near the cockpit.
“I can see you’re all feeling quite cozy here,” Matylda said looking at the pillows and blankets left by all of them on the seats, “on my plane,” she said while putting the headlamp into one of her cargo pockets.
“What do you mean your plane?” Dan asked.
“I mean I was here first, so this is, like, my territory,” Matylda answered and took off the backpack she was carrying on her shoulders.
“I don’t see your name written on anything here,” Rick said.
“But you found the ladder, didn’t you think it was near the plane for a reason?”
“For the purpose of entering the plane and this was what it was used for,” he replied.
“We used the opportunity it gave us to escape the gigantic insects,” Anna said. “The ladder most probably saved our lives.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen them, the insects. I hid from them in the forest.”
“Why were you throwing the rocks?”
“I had no idea who or what was in here, I wanted to see if there’s anyone or anything awake and if so, to make it look through the window so I could see –“
“Where were you walking back from?” Dan interrupted her.
“A hut I’ve found.”
“A hut? You mean a house?” Rick asked.
“That’s what it means, doesn’t it?” Matylda replied.
“You mean there are more people in this place?” Anna said.
“Well, there’s four of us, I haven’t seen anyone else, but since you’re here, who knows, it’s possible. The hut is empty, though. I was walking back here to take my supplies with me, but the night surprised me and then I had to look out for the insects and other things... The hut is a much better place to stay than the plane.”
“Supplies?” Dan asked.
Matylda did not reply, only walked toward the back of the plane and opened an overhead locker situated right above the very last seats. She stepped on the seats opposite to it to easily reach up inside and took out a bundle made of a long-sleeved shirt. Matylda put it on the seat, opened it and took out a small bag with dozens of hazelnuts inside, still a bit green, covered with their characteristic green coating.
“I got it in the forest,” she said.
“Oh,” Anna said.
“This – I found it in the fields,” Matylda continued.
“Wheat?” Dan asked.
“No, don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied and took out a small cabbage, some potatoes and a plastic bag with strawberries from the bundle.
“Oh my God,” Rick said and came closer.
“I haven’t seen any wheat, only fields full of this.”
“And you also came from the woods?” Rick asked looking at the things Matylda had taken out.
“Yes. What, haven’t you seen the fields of vegetables?”
“No, we’ve only seen fields with wheat, we must have come from a different direction,” Dan said.
“So you left the plane without your supplies?” Rick asked.
“I took some hazelnuts, strawberries and water with me, I wanted to look around, search for other people, I thought I’d be back soon, but then the night fell so quickly, I did not manage to get back, I’ve been wandering around trying to find my way back to the plane.”
“Where did you get the water from?”
“The river, it was close to the fields I found. I found some bottles of wine here on the plane, I re-used the bottles and filled them with water.”
“When did you come here?” Anna asked.
“It must have been almost two days now.”
“How big is the hut?” Rick asked.
“It’s pretty big. It’s old, there are some parts of it that are literally falling apart, but I think it’ll be okay for four people. I mean I assume you’re coming with me, right?”
“If it’s not hut, then I think we are,” Dan replied.
“Look, I’m sorry if I seemed rude at first, okay? I think we’re all facing quite a lot of stress here, all right? I got very nervous when I discovered the ladder was gone, but then I saw that the blinds were down and I knew I didn’t leave them looking like that. I think we need to stick together, that’s the only way for us to—”
“To what?” Rick asked.
“To survive,” Matylda said quietly.
“What else were you hiding from, apart from the insects?” Anna asked and she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to know.
Matylda looked at her with the expression being a mixture of fear and anxiety, but said nothing. Rick came closer and looked at her.
“Is it coming after you?” He asked tensely, bracing himself for something anything that was about to happen.
Dan and Anna got up immediately.
“What is happening, Matylda?! What’s coming?” Dan asked nervously.
At that point they heard a thump on the roof; something heavy was outside, moving toward the front of the plane.
“What was that?!” Anna shouted.
“Snakes! Snakes were after me when I was walking in the grass when I came across them. Once they spotted me, they started following me. I mean, I escaped, but apparently they really want to get me,” Matylda said terrified.
“Snakes?! Since when do snakes make such loud sounds when they move that you can hear them through thick metal walls?!” Dan shouted.
“Well, the insects weren’t normal size, were they,” Matylda said quietly.
“Jesus Christ,” Rick whispered. They all froze and were listening. Something was gliding on the roof, stopping every few seconds. At the same time they heard the ladder falling down to the ground. Dan ran toward the fire extinguisher, unblocked it, ready to either spray or hit anything that was coming. Rick got the two seat-pipes and passed one to Anna. Matylda took a Swiss Army Knife and the small headlamp from the cargo pockets.
“You look really ready for all this,” Dan said looking at her.
“I always carry these with me, you never know when such things may be needed. It’s light, it’s useful,” Matylda said. “But this I found on the plane,” she added and showed him a distress flare gun. She ran toward the back of the plane and took the first aid kit that Dan had found when he was looking for Band-Aids for Anna. Matylda put it into the backpack, together with the flare gun and zipped it and put it on her shoulders.
“Matylda, just what exactly are we about to face? What came here after you!?” Rick shouted. All of them were now at the front of the plane. The slithering sound had changed direction and it seemed it was no longer directly above them, it was moving to the left side of the plane. Dan thought, relieved, it hadn’t moved toward the door.
“Like I said, there were snakes in the grass, I wouldn’t
have spotted them if it wasn’t for the flashlight I had with me. They were big, really aggressive, moving fairly fast, so I ran here. I thought having a small time advantage would make them give up. But now I know they were after me.”
“Do you think that’s the one on the roof?” Dan asked.
“It’s possible. I’m not sure how many of them there were exactly, I think I saw three or four, one of them was gigantic, it looked like a goddamn anaconda on steroids, others seemed big only,” she replied.
“That’s comforting,” Dan said.
“Son of a bitch!” Rick shouted and pointed toward one of the windows. There was a huge snake head glued to it at first, in such way they were all able to see the esophagus, and a long, forked tongue which was rhythmically folding and unfolding.
“It can smell us,” Anna said terrified. The moment she said it, the tongue stopped and the snake’s head, bigger than the circle window, came unstuck, it was now swinging from the plane’s body, turned directly at them.
“It just did,” Rick whispered. “Stay away from the window!”
The snake was now looking at them. It opened its mouth and they saw two sharp fangs, long as sabers. Matylda came to Rick, put her hand on his mouth whispering angrily, “Don’t say anything that loud!” and turned around to the others.
“Snakes can sense their victims by detecting even the slightest air and sound vibrations. If this one is so big, it might be particularly sensitive toward even the faintest ones,” Matylda looked at all of them and put her index finger on her lips in silencing gesture.