by Tony Thomas
He ducked into the galley on the way back. The flight attendant looked busy but gave him a smile and said, ‘Can I help you, sir?’
‘Just looking for a snack and maybe a Coke?’ Jeff said.
The flight attendant opened a locker and pulled out a can of Coke. She passed the can and a plastic cup that seemed to appear from nowhere to Jeff and pointed to the bench in the galley. ‘Does any of that take your fancy? Otherwise, I can get you some noodles or a sandwich?’
Jeff was overwhelmed. Last time he had flown to Brazil on an American carrier the attendants had treated service as a chore and not part of their job. He grabbed a candy bar, a bag of nuts, and an apple, smiled at the attendant, and said, ‘No this is great, thank you very much.’
‘No problem,’ the attendant smiled back and went back to the arcane duty she had been performing before he ducked in.
When Jeff came back, Pete was awake. He stood, mumbled something to Jeff, and then stumbled off towards the bathroom. Jeff shuffled across to his window seat and brought it upright before refastening his seatbelt. He opened the tray table and dumped his booty onto it. He slid the window shade up and was almost blinded by daylight streaming in. He quickly shut it—nothing to see yet—and went back to watching the golf, as he munched happily on his apple.
02:00 AEST: Sydney
Dan had driven straight to his local supermarket. There had been virtually no traffic on the road and he had seen no one on the way. He had rubbished the idea of 24-hour grocery stores when they first started to show up, but now he was grateful for it. There were only two other cars in the car park—presumably just staff. He grabbed a cart and started loading it up. After ten minutes, he had grabbed a second cart, and now both were full of preserved foods and bottled water.
As he headed to the checkout, he noticed that were now a few more people filling trolleys. It was time to get out while he still could. The register operator looked a little surprised at two big trolley loads so late at night and asked, ‘Are you going camping or something?’
‘Something like that,’ Dan said, wondering if he should tell the operator what was happening.
‘Looks like enough for a small army,’ the girl said, as she kept pushing cans through the scanner.
‘No, just my family, a couple of weeks away,’ Dan muttered, hoping he didn’t look as guilty as he felt.
It seemed to take forever to ring up and pack the trolley loads, but eventually, the final bag was done.
‘That’s four hundred and twenty-seven fifty, thanks,’ said the operator. Dan swiped his card.
‘Any cash out?’
‘No, thanks,’ said Dan; he just wanted to get out. A queue was starting to form and some of the people were looking agitated and impatient. The girl on the register had noticed the queue forming and was also starting to look a little concerned. Apart from being unusually busy, late-night shoppers were usually pretty mellow. Dan keyed his pin, grabbed his receipt, and started for the car park.
As he approached his car, he noticed the car park was filling up. Before long, it was going to get pretty messy in the store, with only a skeleton staff serving. As he packed the groceries in the car, he wondered whether it was worthwhile heading to the k-mart. If the supermarket was any indication, it was going to get pretty crazy. He thought he would drive past and at least see how full the car park was.
Instead of listening to his iPod in the car, as he normally did, Dan turned on the radio. He scanned until he found a news station, it was filled with news reports of what was happening overseas. No word from the Australian Government yet, apparently, but he knew it couldn’t be long. The incompetent bible basher running the country loved the sound of his own voice and it was inevitable he would hit the airwaves soon.
Dan decided discretion was the better part of valour, reasoning against the nominal value of a baseball bat, which k-mart might not even stock, and headed for home. He couldn’t help but notice the increase in traffic. There were a lot of cars on the road for two in the morning, particularly compared to half an hour earlier. There were even people walking towards the supermarket.
The closer he got to home, the less people he saw. By the time he had travelled the three kilometres to his home, the streets were again empty, much to his relief.
Dan reversed down his driveway, thankful that his carport was right next to his front door. He wanted to get the groceries unpacked and hidden before anyone saw he had a stockpile. Partly that was embarrassment that he might be panicking, but a bigger part was worry that it might make him a target. ‘Too many zombie flicks,’ he thought, trying to shrug off his fears.
The front door opened as he got out of the car. Gen was in her dowdy winter dressing gown and looking unhappy. ‘Where did you go?’ she demanded, as he opened the boot and started to pull out bags of groceries.
‘Have you seen the news?’ he replied.
‘No, what’s going on? Why were you buying groceries?’ Gen asked, almost smiling at the absurdity of the moment, ‘I appreciate you helping out and all but shopping at two in the morning is kind of weird.’
‘Give me a hand with this lot and I’ll explain,’ Dan said, wanting to get out of sight as soon as possible.
Gen smiled her ‘you are such a jerk’ smile and grabbed a couple of bags. Three more trips each saw the car unloaded and the door securely locked.
‘Now will you tell me what’s going on?’ Gen asked.
‘Put on the news,’ Dan said.
‘What do you mean “put on the news”—can’t you just tell me what’s going on?’
‘Gen, you really want to see for yourself, I’m still not sure I believe it.’
‘Believe what? Seriously you’re starting to worry me. What is going on?’
Dan turned on the TV. ‘Just watch for five minutes.’
As soon as the TV was on, madness covered the screen. The footage seemed to be primarily from Western Europe and the United States; however, there were regular crosses to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It didn’t take long before Gen turned to Dan and said, ‘What is this?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Dan. ‘All I could think of was that it was like something out of “28 Days Later” or “Dawn of the Dead”. I figured since it was the middle of the night here most people would still be asleep and it was a good time to stock up on a few things, just in case.’
Gen stared at him.
‘If I’m wrong the worst thing that can happen is that I’ve spent too much on groceries. If I’m right I probably didn’t spend enough.’
Gen kept staring at him.
‘Look, this is real. I’m just trying to protect us.’ Dan had no idea what to say. As usual, his wife was totally confusing him.
Gen looked back at the television. It continued to show scenes of urban violence. Speechless, they watched, as outbreaks were reported in city after city.
02:05 AEST: BA275
Karen had been delighted to receive a free upgrade to business class when she had checked in. Like most sales people in the current economic climate, she normally travelled in economy. She longed for the good old days when they had always travelled in business.
Karen boarded the flight as soon as it opened. She was a little surprised to see the business class was not the ‘Club World’ she had expected, but rather, the old-style forward-facing sky beds. Still, better than nothing. Karen put her travel bag into the window compartment before taking her seat and relaxing. Almost immediately, she was offered a complimentary glass of champagne which she accepted with pleasure, before flicking through the airline magazine.
A few minutes later, a tall dishevelled man who was sweating profusely flopped into the aisle seat next to her. She nodded a polite hello as he got himself settled in.
‘Hi there,’ he said. ‘Sorry I’m so sweaty, I had to run for the flight, my name’s John,’ he said, smiling and offering his hand.
‘Not a problem.’ Karen smiled back, lightly shaking his hand. ‘My name’s Karen.
’
Introductions completed, Karen returned to her magazine. She was pleased that the man was considerate enough to apologise for being sweaty, but hoped he wasn’t one of the chatty types who spent the whole flight talking.
Within a few moments, a flight attendant arrived. ‘Can I offer you a drink, Mr McCormack?’ she asked, proffering a tray with champagne, juice, and water.
John took a glass of juice and glass of water. Karen thought this a little unusual until she saw he was taking some paracetamol. John noticed the look and explained, ‘I have a screaming headache. It’s part of the reason I was late for the flight—I needed to buy some painkillers.’
‘That’s no good,’ Karen said, ‘not the flu or anything, I hope?’
‘I don’t think so,’ John said, as he swallowed the two tablets and washed them down with the water before leaning back.
Karen went back to her magazine. She really hoped John didn’t have the flu. Over the last two years, she had caught numerous coughs and colds on flights. She had started to become paranoid about it. Still, he wasn’t coughing so she assumed it was nothing contagious.
Karen took her travel pack from the side pocket of her seat and rummaged through it until she found her hand sanitizer. She didn’t want to offend John, but she had heard there was a risk of infection from colds and flu through skin contact. She quickly cleaned her hands before going back to her magazine.
01:00 SST (03:00 AEST): Singapore
Lincoln looked at his watch before taking a deep breath and arching his back. He slowly looked around the bar. The lights had risen while the band took a break. Lara and Chris were sagging on bar stools at a table with him, looking a little glazed. Mick and Uli were heading over to the pool tables with the girls they had been dancing with. Stefan was at the bar, chatting with a hostess and several other bar girls.
The sales meeting had finished at four that afternoon. Most of the delegates had hurried off to take planes back to their homes in Japan, China, Hong Kong, or Thailand. The Americans and all but two of the Europeans had started their long journeys home. As a 10-year road warrior, Lincoln had insisted that he and his team would take the day flight back to Sydney the next day rather than suffer the short overnight flight that always left him feeling jet lagged.
Lincoln and the three other Australians had joined up with the two Germans who had elected to stay in Singapore for an extra night and gone for dinner at East Coast Seafood. There was nothing like Chilli Crab, Black Pepper Crab, and a few jugs of Tiger to wrap up a sales conference.
When they had finished dinner, they walked to the taxi rank to head back to their hotels. Mick had insisted they should stop off at Duxton Hill for ‘a cleansing ale’. Lincoln knew it was more about the bar girls, but everyone in the group had wanted to go for more drinks so he had gone along with the crowd. This was the third bar they’d tried, it had a Filipino rock band playing some amazing covers that kept Lincoln happy and a pool table and at least a dozen bar girls which made Mick even happier. They had enjoyed three or four rounds before the band had taken a break.
Lincoln finished his beer and decided to call it a night. They had to be up in time to make the 9.25 a.m. flight to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. His reputation as a ‘Midnight Runner’ meant that he could get away with pulling the plug at 1 a.m. without even copping any stick.
‘I think I’m going to bail, guys,’ he said, looking at Chris and Lara.
‘I’m with you,’ Chris said.
‘Me too,’ said Lara.
‘Cool,’ Lincoln said. He walked over to Mick and said, ‘We’re out of here, do you want to share a cab?’
Mick looked down at the girl under his arm and said, ‘Nah, mate, I’m not done yet.’
The girl giggled and hugged him.
Lincoln smiled and said, ‘No worries, it’s your hangover, but I’m gonna close my tab now.’ He walked over to the bar and signed off on the drinks bill, while Chris and Lara gave their farewells. Lincoln gave a brief ‘See you soon’ to Uli and Stefan. Both were due in Australia in a few weeks, so there was no doubt they’d be spending some more time together shortly.
Lincoln, Chris, and Lara walked out to Duxton Road. There were still quite a few people about, although most were going into or out of the many bars along the strip. Lincoln looked around a little bleary eyed as Chris spotted a taxi dropping some people at a bar a few doors down. He trotted over to it, waving for Lara and Lincoln to join him. Chris took the ‘pay the driver’ seat up front as Lara and Lincoln slid into the back.
The ride back to the hotel was only about ten minutes, but within thirty seconds of leaving the bar, Lincoln realised he should have gone to the toilet before they left. By the time they were close to the hotel, he was almost peeing his pants. Lincoln tapped Chris on the shoulder and said, ‘Can you get the cab? I have a pressingly urgent need to get to a bathroom.’
Chris laughed and replied, ‘No worries, Linc, I guess you don’t want a nightcap then?’
As the cab pulled up, he managed to reply, ‘Not tonight, Josephine. See you for brekky about six thirty?’ before opening the door and rushing off without waiting for a reply. Chris was still smiling as he paid the driver.
‘How about you, Lara?’ Chris asked as they left the cab. ‘Nightcap?’
‘I think I’ll call it a night as well, Chris,’ Lara replied with a tired smile. ‘It’s been a long one.’
‘Righty-o’ Chris said with a disappointed smile, as they headed for the lifts.
03:15 AEST: BA275
The flight attendant tapped Karen lightly on the shoulder. Karen looked up, startled. She had been absorbed in her movie, and hadn’t looked up since the drink service half an hour earlier.
The attendant asked, ‘Have you looked at the menu, Ms Gould?’
Karen drew the menu from the seat back and had a quick second look at it before answering. ‘I’d like the prawn cocktail and the chicken please.’
The attendant then asked, ‘Did Mr McCormick mention that he didn’t want to be disturbed? He hasn’t placed the sign.’
‘Sorry, no. He fell asleep before we took off.’
‘Ok, thanks,’ said the attendant. Since passenger McCormick hadn’t reclined his seat or placed the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign she gently shook John by the arm. He didn’t stir, so she left him to sleep.
Karen went back to her Michael Cera movie. Amazing how someone who was so dorky could become such a heart-throb. Her almost-grown kids loved him so she felt obliged to watch his movies when she could, and she was actually enjoying this one.
After what only seemed a moment or two, the attendant returned with a table cloth. Karen opened her tray table and leaned back as the attendant placed the white cloth, and laid out condiments and silverware. After a moment or two, she returned with the prawn cocktail and asked Karen, ‘Would you like a glass of wine?’
Karen hesitated before replying, ‘Would you have a Merlot by any chance?’
The attendant smiled as she poured the wine and said, ‘Enjoy’, before moving on to the next passenger.
03:30 AEST: Sydney
Gen had taken almost an hour to come to terms with what she was seeing on TV. The journalists and news stations had started to analyse as well as report the spread of the violence. CNN suggested that the recent turmoil in the Middle East may have been the start. The ongoing riots in Iran had been put down to rebellion against Islamic rule. Later, trouble in Iraq was assumed to be as the result of continuing insurgency.
A flood of refugees had spread in all directions. This may have triggered the upheaval in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the return to violence in Syria. The Arab states followed as the unrest flowed into Northern Africa. There had been many riots in Eastern European cities as well.
Reports continued to come in throughout the world. Gen and Dan had taken a holiday in Europe the previous year and had loved how peaceful the cities were. Now they were shocked to see street violence in Paris, Zurich, and Munich.
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There were reports from the UK and Ireland. Somehow, it had so far missed the Scandinavian countries; at least there were no reports from those areas yet. It had crossed the Atlantic and was widely reported in the US, Mexico, and Canada. The world map displayed by the news programme had hundreds of red dots indicating points where outbreaks had occurred. South America looked like it was breaking out in hives.
Gen had finally broken her silence, ‘Do you think it will come here?’ she whispered, looking imploringly at Dan, hoping he had a better idea of what was happening than she did.
Dan had no answer. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Let’s just keep watching. I’ll make us a coffee.’
Making coffee was a welcome distraction. They didn’t need it to keep awake, but it was comforting to go through the routine.
Just before 3.45 a.m., there was an announcement that there would be a statement from the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition, followed by a press conference. Gen and Dan looked at each other, ‘It can’t be happening here yet, can it?’ Gen said, sounding a little panicky.
‘I doubt it. It’s about time the PM worked out something was going on,’ he said. ‘Even a klutz like him should see that we need to react to what’s happening.’ As he spoke he realised that he had not been as reassuring as Gen may have wanted him to be, but the current prime minister did not inspire. Hopefully his cabinet would have some useful ideas, although of late they had only managed to come up with brutal divisive policies on just about everything from immigration to education and tax reform.
‘That wasn’t exactly comforting you know,’ Gen said, with the faint vestige of a smile. Dan smiled back and was about to answer when the PM came on the TV.
‘My fellow Australians’, he said, sounding slightly ridiculous to Dan, ‘if you are watching this message you are no doubt aware of the serious situation that appears to be encompassing the globe.’