by Tim Moon
Once they were past the security measures, the airport itself looked much as it had when they’d arrived, if slightly less busy. People lined up and milled about the same way they would any other day, but it was quieter and the mood was somber. The main difference was the sizable military and police presence.
Ben watched as passengers went through airport security. The line moved wicked fast, because now no one had luggage to slow things down. No stupid bottles of water or sun tan lotion to jam up the line, plus there were only a few flights.
Ty slowly regained some of his earlier enthusiasm. Anuhea was quiet and Charlotte busied herself with Oliver.
“Why are there soldiers here?” Oliver asked.
“It’s like the Quarantine Center. They’re here to protect us from the bad people,” Charlotte said.
“I’m glad we’re getting on an airplane,” the boy said.
“Why do you say that?” Ben asked.
“Because, the infected can’t fly.”
Despite the solemn mood that permeated the air, Ben couldn’t help but chuckle. Everyone else was relatively quiet and obedient, moving robotically through the screening process. TSA officers, reinforced by soldiers holding rifles at the ready, watched as the civilians passed by on their way to the gates and airplanes beyond.
Ben went through security with his friends and followed the directions of the airline staff to their designated gate. A flight attendant opened the gate and led them to their airplane once everyone from their convoy passed through security.
Hawaiian Airlines had a plane ready and waiting for them with a portable staircase leading up to the cabin door. Ben led the way up the stairs. Charlotte and Oliver followed closely. The flight attendant, a short thin lady with tan skin and braided black hair, directed them to their seats.
“It’s first come, first served, so pick wherever you’d like to sit,” she said with a smile.
First class was full, so Ben led them to the exit row. He let Oliver and Charlotte sit down first before taking the aisle seat.
“Hopefully, the exit row will be okay with him,” he said, gesturing to Oliver.
“I’m sure they have more important things to worry about,” Charlotte said.
Ben realized Oliver was watching them. “I can hide,” he said as he slid off his seat.
Before they could respond, he somehow wedged himself halfway under the seat in front of him.
Ben laughed, impressed.
“Oh no! Where’d Oliver go?” Charlotte asked, laughing.
“Right here,” he said, climbing back into his seat. “See, I can hide.”
“That’s great, Oliver. If they say anything, you just hide down there,” Ben joked.
He leaned back and tried to get comfortable. Watching the rest of the passengers board the plane, he wondered what would happen once they left Kona.
“How do you think they are going to deal with the infected?” Ben asked.
Charlotte looked quizzical. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you think they have an extermination plan? We can’t live on Molokai forever, right? Eventually people need to go home.”
“I haven’t really thought that far ahead. But if they’re clearing all of us out of the area…you know, normal people, then I guess the army will take care of the infected,” she said with a shrug.
He nodded. It made sense. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Armed soldiers roaming the streets of America hunting an enemy, who would have thought we’d see something like that? It’s probably the first time since the Civil War.”
She didn’t look too interested in it, so Ben dropped the conversation.
Dread filled his gut at the idea of hunting the infected. Ben thought about Sergeant Riggs and the other men that had found them at the hotel and Specialist Brussels who would also take part in the cleanup. Now more than any other time in his life, he was so grateful for the bravery of the military and law enforcement personnel that would have to deal with this mess. They couldn’t just run home like he wanted to. They had to stay and fight, and die, to make the country safe again.
Beside him, Charlotte, the beautiful young woman he barely knew, and Oliver, an adorable Korean-American boy that he’d rescued at the triathlon massacre, seemed completely at ease with the whole situation.
He sighed.
Ty and Anuhea sat across the aisle from them. The plane was configured with two seats on one side and three on the other. It worked out well for their little group.
Ben adjusted himself in his seat. They’d made it through some real shit together. He was glad that he was with good people, people he could rely on to watch his back... Traveling alone would have been a lot scarier. He realized he felt anxious about the flight. The last time Ben and Ty were on an airplane, they’d witnessed a terrible tragedy. It was their first encounter with the infected, before they even knew what the infected were.
Ben tried to push the thoughts aside, but his brain was already on that mental track and refused to be detoured. Two people seemingly rose from the dead to attack other passengers and a US Air Marshal, who had been bitten during his fight with one of the infected. His cheek tingled where the woman’s blood had splattered and he wiped at it reflexively even though that’d been nearly a week ago. Only later, after his father sent a random and somewhat cryptic text message, had he realized that the bites were deadly. It was how the disease transmitted from person to person. This meant that the marshal was dead and possibly stalking the streets of Kona, trying to attack people.
Ben clenched his fist to release some of the tension that was making his hands shake.
“Are you okay?” Charlotte asked him, concern glistening in her beautiful eyes.
“I’m fine,” Ben said, swallowing hard. “How are you?”
She nodded slightly and smiled. “I’ll be happier when we take off, but I’m okay.”
Ben leaned forward and looked over at Oliver. “You doing okay, kiddo?”
Oliver was staring out of the small oval window, watching the ground crew working on the plane, readying it for takeoff. He glanced back at Ben and nodded.
“I like to fly,” Oliver said, making an engine sound as he piloted his hand through the air like an airplane. “Especially take off. Do you like take off?”
“I do,” Ben said, smiling at him. “Take-off and landing are the best parts.”
Oliver’s mood flipped like a light switch as his little lip quivered. “But I wish my mom was here.”
Ben reached across Charlotte to put a hand on his shoulder. “I know. I’m sure she’d love to be here with you too.”
Oliver wiped his eyes and turned back to the window.
Poor kid, Ben thought.
Charlotte’s eyes twinkled under the overhead light. The two of them had become fast friends and she’d been a huge help in caring for the boy. When it came to Oliver, Ben’s main concern was about his future. He had no idea how they could reunite him with his family? According to Oliver, his parents were both dead. Meaning they would have to seek out his grandparents or someone else in his family. It seemed impossible.
He bumped her shoulder and smiled. “It’ll be okay. He’s tough,” Ben whispered.
“Yeah,” she sighed.
Anuhea asked, “You guys okay over there?”
“We’re all set,” Ben said with a nod. “Just ready to get this over with.”
“I hear ya,” she said.
Ty looked perfectly giddy again. It was like he’d been reborn, full of energy and good humor. A sharp contrast to the days before that when he’d become a moody, nervous wreck.
“Good, good. Everyone’s fine,” Ben said to himself. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and leaned back into his seat. Hawaiian nights were balmy and even with the air nozzle wide open above his head, the airplane felt warm.
Molokai.
Ben sighed again. He thought about what the FEMA guy had said, “Any flights attempting to leave the Hawaiian Islands to travel outs
ide of the state will be met by fighter jets and turned back. Or shot down.” The blunt, honest answer surprised Ben.
A battle raged in his mind as he fought to push aside those thoughts. If he continued worrying about the same thing over and over, it’d drive him nuts.
His thoughts turned to the infection.
The Infection, as if that was its name. What was it? Why had it happened? How had it started? Bio-terrorism? A modern day Black Plague?
No one was entirely clear about how things had spiraled out of control so quickly. By all accounts, the infection originated in China, Russia, or the Middle East. At the QC, one of the nurses said that she overheard the soldiers talking about China as the main suspect. Some photos and video clips made it out of the mainland before the internet shutdown completely. From what Ben saw on TV, things had spread quickly there. Everyone knew that China cracked down hard on dissent, but he doubted even they would resort to bio-terrorism on their own people.
Seriously though, he thought, why would they infect their own people? Ben wasn’t convinced.
One undeniable fact was that the infection spread quickly and unpredictably. Reports of infected people began to spread all around the world, before most nations acknowledged there was even a problem outside of China. Denial, corruption, and secrecy had allowed the initial outbreaks to spread further than it should have, exacerbating the situation. News reports and social media sparked outrage, leading to violent protests, and of course, large, noisy crowds attracted the infected and provided a ready supply of victims.
Then again, Ben knew the Quarantine Center was something of a rumor mill. Hundreds of scared people confined in one place with piecemeal information. Speculation was bound to run rampant.
Out of all the bullshit, only two other indisputable facts had emerged. First, do not get bit. Whatever this “infection” was, it spread through the bite of an infected person. Second, aim for the head. The only sure way to stop the infected was to destroy their brain.
Ben and his friends figured out those two gems the hard way. Ben learned about the last one first hand when he fought Eric in the hotel bathroom.
Ben’s fingers began to ache. He glanced down and realized he was gripping the armrests as if he was hanging onto the edge of a cliff. Some of the things they had seen, some of the things he’d done, still haunted him. He had never considered that he could take someone’s life. Yet he’d done just that, and more than once.
Ben hadn’t had a proper night of sleep since killing Eric. During those restless nights, he wondered if he’d done the wrong thing. Had he made the right decisions? After this was all over, would he get in trouble for killing Eric? Would he go to hell?
Not much comfort in those thoughts.
Ben uncurled his fingers, releasing his death grip on the armrests. He took deep breaths and tried to relax.
The steady stream of people boarding the plane tapered off, everyone took their seats and a calm female voice came over the intercom.
“Please take your seats and buckle your seat belts. We are third in line for take-off and will be departing momentarily,” she said. “Please watch the safety video on the screen located on the seat back in front of you.”
Outside the plane, they could hear the whine of engines spinning to life. Ben grew nervous even though he knew it was silly. Charlotte placed her hand on top of his. Her skin was velvety smooth and reassuring.
He smiled at her as best he could.
“The noise, you know,” Ben said. “They hone in on noise.”
Charlotte leaned in close, her breath warm on his neck. “Soldiers are here and we’ll be gone in just a few minutes.”
“I suppose.” Ben leaned back into his seat and took another deep breath.
21
Several minutes passed before the plane lurched. Ben heard a few passengers gasp in surprise, but they quickly settled down. The whining roar of the engines spinning up grew as the plane began to taxi out toward the runway.
“It’s amazing they still have people working,” said Ben. He nodded out the window at a pair of men standing near a large refueling truck, a small sampling of all the people keeping the airport functioning.
“They’re saving lives,” Charlotte said. “It’s brave, but I wonder what they’re doing about their families? To be honest, I wouldn’t go to work.”
Ben smiled. He hoped the staff that stuck around could sense their gratitude, even if they’d been too rushed to thank them personally.
“Right now, I could hug each of them,” he muttered.
What motivated the folks working at the airport? Everyone knew that the army cultivated a strong sense of duty and unity, which compelled the National Guardsmen to service. Was it a similar sense of duty or patriotism? It baffled him. Then a thought struck him that made his heart skip a beat. Did they have anyone left?
“Want me to call over the flight attendant so you can make that happen?” Charlotte raised her hand. Her finger hovered near the red call button.
Ben shook his head. “No, but I’m thankful to be leaving this island of death behind. That’ll have to be good enough.”
Both engines roared louder as the plane began to roll forward again, keeping its position in the line.
“Here we go. It’s really happening,” Ty said. He reached over and slapped Ben on the shoulder.
Engines roared in the distance.
Ty turned away from his window, looked at Ben and said, “The first plane just took off.”
The second plane, directly in front of them, began to move forward as it lined up and prepared to take off. Once it cleared the runway, it would be their turn and they could put the horrors of the last few days behind them for good.
Ben leaned his head back against the headrest and waited for the momentum of the plane to press him into the thin cushion of his seat as the plane charged down the runway.
Instead, he saw a flash outside of the window on Ty and Anuhea’s side of the plane. Ben quickly looked over, concern creasing his forehead.
“What the hell was that?” he asked.
“Looks like a flare,” Anuhea said, glancing back at Ben with a worried scowl.
“Oh no! We’re so close,” Ty groaned, slamming his fist on the armrest. “No, it’s nothing. We’ll be fine. We’re almost to the runway.”
Machine guns opened up, blasting into the night. Ty clenched his eyes shut and pressed back into his seat. Shifting light from the flares swinging above the airport cast eerie shadows on the tarmac, as they parachuted to the ground.
“It’s nothing, huh?” Ben asked.
“Shut up,” Ty shot back.
“Look,” Oliver said, jabbing his little finger at the window.
Ben leaned over, peering out of the tiny window and saw a Humvee speed by their plane. Oliver’s big head was in the way.
“Sit back, I need to see outside,” Ben said, gently pushing Oliver back into his seat.
Oliver looked disappointed. “I want to see too,” he said.
“You can see, but I need know what’s going on.”
“It’s my window,” Oliver grumbled.
Nothing was visible out of their side. With the airplane turned to the south, their window faced the coast and all that was visible was the alternating darkness and light cast by the flares drifting down.
More and more guns began to fire, followed by a series of loud thumping booms. The murmur of voices in the plane grew more panicked. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, the airport went from a peaceful refuge to a battleground.
“Why aren’t we moving?” a woman behind them cried out.
How could this happen? Frustration bubbled up inside of Ben. Didn’t the soldiers know that noise drew in the infected? Why hadn’t they setup a perimeter further back from the airport? Then he paused. Maybe they did and it was overrun? Ben’s heart raced faster than the machine guns firing.
People chattered in the background, punctuated by the occasional scream as they witnessed the
battle raging just outside their windows. Anuhea was looking out of her window, blocking Ben’s view. Ty sat frozen in his seat, staring at the seat back in front of him. A group of people began to yell for the plane to go, but everyone was powerless to do anything.
“They’re through the fence,” Anuhea said, fear thick in her voice. She glanced at Ben. “There’s so many of them…”
Small explosions flashed outside, their blast waves slightly jostling the plane.
Grenades? Those would probably be too small. Mortars? Ben wasn’t sure, but if they were using explosives then it was at least as bad as Anuhea said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m Grant your pilot today. I’ve been informed that the infected have made it through the security fence and onto the runway. The army will attempt to clear the way for us. Please stay seated and prepare for takeoff,” said the pilot. He sounded surprisingly calm and confident. The noise died down as passengers sat in stunned silence.
“Oh, I’m so glad we’re on the plane,” Ben said. “You have no idea how glad I am.”
Ty turned to stare at him.
“What? In here, we’re safe.”
It was true. They would be safe in the plane, out of reach of the infected below them. For a time. But if the plane was blocked from taking off, then the plane’s crew would have to help keep people calm so they wouldn’t get too stir crazy and do something stupid, like the guy that fell out of the deuce.
On Anuhea’s side of the plane a large trucked raced past. Ty turned back to stare straight ahead.
“Anuhea, what’s happening? I can’t see shit,” Ben said.
“A truck went by and is plowing through the infected, just mowing them down like weeds. Soldiers are shooting from the back,” she said.
The plane swerved violently to the left.
As the roar of the engines grew louder, something hit the side of the plane, ripping off the end of the wing outside of Ben’s window. He flinched and his heart stampeded inside his chest.