by Maxey, Phil
They had been in the air for thirty minutes and up front, Nelson sat in the left pilot’s seat, with Joel in the right and Copeland seated at the bottom of the stairs to the flight deck. A combination of the Drak’s instructions and Nelson’s limited experience of piloting a few planes from his service days had got them taxiing along the runway past the remains of single engine planes and the approaching humvees and soldiers. With throttle pushed forward and the flaps in the right position, they gained enough velocity and the heavy plane took to the air.
Barry looked at the palettes of boxes and crates which packed the central aisle. “What’s in them?” he said to Anna, seated to his right. Corine and Dalton were seated further away to his left.
“Probably nothing useful,” said the doctor. She looked down at the boy next to her. “You were very brave. It must have been scary.”
He nodded. “I guess. But I knew you, Joel and Dalton would save us.”
She smiled, then leaned her head back, allowing exhaustion to take her.
*****
Anna awoke with something tugging her arm. She looked up at Joel, who leaned in close. “We’re almost at Cancun for refueling. I don’t want to be on the ground for long. We don’t know what’s down there.”
She nodded. “How you feeling?”
He smiled. “Good. You?”
“Relieved.”
He looked along the aisle to Kizzy cradling Amos’s head in her lap. “How’s he doing?”
She shook her head. “He’s unconscious, but there are no external or obvious internal injuries, so it must be something else, something connected to what he did, stopping that son of a bitch.”
“Will he come out of it?”
Her mouth opened but her lack of response gave Joel’s his answer. He nodded and moved towards the entrance to the flight deck, passing Barry sleeping, laying across two seats and the same for Corine who had her head resting on Dalton’s shoulder.
As the engine pitch changed and the plane descended the others woke. Up front Nelson made use of Joel’s eyes to keep lined up with the runway, which was just a thin gray strip amongst dark shadows. They both watched the altimeter as Nelson lowered the flaps. Below, the coastal city was as dark as the sky above.
The plane landed with a bump, and he instantly pulled back on the throttle as they moved along the runway, then applied the brakes and they slowed to a stop.
“You should see a hanger at the end of the runway,” shouted Copeland. “That is where the fuel truck should be.”
“It’s hard to see anything,” replied Joel. “It’s too dark even for me.”
“Go to the end and you will see it.”
A heavy clang of clawed feet was just about audible over the engines, and then a light appeared on the instrument panel.
“One of the side doors is open,” said Nelson.
Joel went to go check, when a shadow moved across the lights of the plane and swept through the air towards the dark blocks of buildings a few hundred yards to their left. “I need to go with him.” Nelson nodded in reply and Joel descended the stairs instantly feeling the cool breeze on his face from the open crew door. He walked into the cargo hold and looked across at Anna. “I’m going outside to make sure the fuel is there. Nelson needs you up top to help him steer. Close the door after I jump out.” She nodded as he dropped to the concrete and sped off into the shadows. She pulled on the cable and closed the door, while Barry appeared by her side.
“Are we getting out here?”
“Not unless we have too.”
Joel jogged across the concrete, the thunderous four engines of the plane being the only sound in any direction as it followed on behind. A few hundred yards to his left sat the black silhouette of the airport, but his target were the curved roofs of the buildings ahead. Near one of of them he sensed the Drak and ran to it, getting to the entrance just as Copeland kicked in the smallest of the doors. He ducked down and moved inside.
Joel switched on his flashlight and followed. Unlike the clean hanger they had found the transport plane in, this one was full of parts of aircraft. Nose cones sat near sections of fuselages, with ladders rising to huge exposed engines hanging from cranes.
“Over here!” said Copeland, his voice filling the space.
Joel moved along narrow avenues, between the forgotten bones of aircrafts until he found the Drak standing near a green truck with a large canister at its back.
“This! This is our fuel!”
Joel swung his light back to the heavy metal refuse covering the path to the hanger main doors and sighed. “It’s going to take a while to clear all this stuff out of the way.”
Copeland walked forward to a tail fin from a passenger plane and leaned on it. “Then we should get started.”
Back on the plane, Anna got the message from Joel and Nelson powered down the engines.
“We should stay on the plane,” said Joel to Dalton who was opening the crew door at the bottom of the stairs from the flight deck.
“Ain’t spending more time in this tin-can. I want some air.” He walked down the steps.
“Don’t go far!”
Corine appeared from the cargo hold with Barry in tow. “We want to go out as well.”
Anna frowned. “Fine, but stay together, and take this.” She descended the stairs and handed Corine the military radio. “Joel’s on the other end. If you run into trouble, let him know.”
She nodded and walked down the metal steps with Barry close behind.
“Stay with Corine!” Anna shouted to him. He nodded over his shoulder with an excited smile. Anna continued into the cargo hold, walking to Kizzy. “If you want to go outside, I can look after him…”
Kizzy shook her head. “I’m staying.”
Anna kneeled and held her finger to Amos’s neck. “His pulse is strong. This must be some kind of healing process his body is going through. I’m sure he’ll wake up.” She went to move away, when an extended hand grabbed hers.
“He couldn’t do it anymore…”
“He lost his abilities?”
“Yes, but he didn’t want anyone to know. That’s why he couldn’t stop the wolves when they attacked. But he knew he was our only chance when that smoke man had Dalton.”
Anna sat. “He’ll wake up Kizzy, and when he does we’ll be in a place where the Corporation aren’t. A place we can start again.”
Corine and Barry walked quickly across the concrete towards the main airport building. A stiff breeze brushed across them both.
“Do you think the candy will still be good in duty free?” he said to her.
“Shit. I’m going to find out!”
They laughed and increased their speed to a jog, soon reaching a nondescript door at the side of the building.
“Agh, I should have brought a flashlight,” said Corine.
“Can’t you see in the dark like the others?”
She shook her head with a frown that Barry could hardly make out. “Nah. Can’t see better, smell better, all that stuff’s the same.” She placed her hand on the handle and turned. The door swung open to blackness.
“Maybe we should go back,” said Barry.
“We’ve been in the air for eight hours with just blood to drink. Which is great, don’t get me wrong, but I need some sugar.” She walked forward. “Just hold on to my belt. We’ll go slow.”
They walked into the stairwell, her hands finding the handrail, and both started ascending.
With Copeland holding the engine, Joel pushed the crane at the bottom across the floor, scratching groves in the previously smooth surface until it crashed up against a row of other pieces of planes and machinery. He took a moment to let out a breath.
“You tire?” said Copeland.
“I’m fine. That looks like it. You got the keys to the truck?”
“Yes, they are kept within the wheel arch…”
Joel could tell the Drak had more to say. “Yeah?”
“My son…”
&nb
sp; “What about him?”
Copeland looked away. “Do you know if he is okay… is he safe?”
“Last I know he would have been on his way to the island with the others.”
Copeland nodded to himself then realized the small hybrid was standing directly below, looking up.
“I don’t know what the fuck you did to him to make him so scared of you. But you should know, if you try and harm him when we get to Puerto Rico…”
Copeland looked away.
Joel frowned, then jogged over to the truck and felt up under the wheel arch not finding anything. He tried the second and a set of keys fell to the floor. He held the radio to his lips. “Anna? We’re ready to do the refueling. Over.” Only static came from the speaker. He looked at the walls of metal around him, then unlocked the driver’s door and climbed up. As he started the engine a clang and screeching of metal rang out, as Copeland heaved and pushed the huge door, spanning twenty feet, upwards. Joel drove the truck forward but stopped when the door couldn’t be pushed any higher, still not being clear of the truck’s roof. The Drak beat his huge wings, taking to the air, but couldn’t budge it the few feet it needed to be lifted. He landed with a frustrated grunt.
Joel nudged the truck up against the door, then pushed the driver’s door open and jumped up on the roof. “Do your flying thing again, when I pull upwards.”
Copeland took to the air once again, his clawed wings beating inches from Joel’s face as they both stressed and strained their scourge enhanced muscles and the door jolted upwards a few more feet. The Drank landed, while Joel slumped to his knees, then quickly slid off the roof to the door seal, climbed into the seat and drove the truck forward, under the door and towards the plane.
At the back of the runway, Dalton slowed to a jog, then a walk. A rich darkness enveloped a forest which ran the full length of his view, which for some reason he had no desire to explore, so he walked towards it, his curiosity being peeked. Decay hung in the air, but this wasn’t the kind he had become used too. He walked into the darkness, his eyes quickly adjusting to the lack of light, and pushed past branches and trunks and a rich undergrowth which swallowed him to his waist when he came to a clearing. A pile of rotting things, almost as tall as the trees around him, sat at its center. Instinctively he started to change form, but kept himself mostly human, and looked around at any possible danger, but couldn’t see any. He walked forward snapping bones as he went until he was just feet away from a wall of skulls, not of people but of vamps. Something had eaten them.
A mile away Corine and Barry walked across a large room with a low ceiling and dark shapes scattered across the floor.
“There are suitcases everywhere,” she said, kicking something which collapsed into pieces. “This must be luggage collection. We just gotta go through here to get to the departure lounge, then its candy heaven.”
Barry gave a nervous laugh, but then wrinkled his nose. “Whys it smell so bad?”
“Pfft, bad food or something, I dunno.”
Moving around a corner, huge multi-planeled windows allowed faint light from the sky to light rows of seats, and across to the right stood racks of chip packets, with seemingly fully stocked shelves just behind.
“We have a winner!” shouted Corine. She took off towards the entrance of the open plan store, Barry’s hand slipping from her belt.
“Hey slow—” A distant noise from behind made him spin around. His head flicked back to Corine who had arrived at the store and was busy opening a packet. The noise happened again, pulling his attention back to the luggage area. He took a step forward. “Hello?” There was no response. An odor wafted across his nose making him put his hand to it and he continued slowly walking to the corner wall which was lit with a hint of light from the windows behind. He peered into the dark of the large room they had transgressed, straining his eyes, trying to decipher one black form from another.
“Barry!” shouted Corine from the lounge, making him jump. He turned and started to walk towards her when something moved tens of yards behind him. He slowly turned back, daring not to move too quickly and scanned from one side of the dark room to the other, his eyes jumping from shadow to shadow when…
His breath stopped in his chest. One of the shadows had eyes, with a green mist emanating from them, and they were rising, higher and higher, until they stopped just below the ceiling.
He spun around and ran towards the store as something heavy beat against the floor, pushing things out of its way.
Corine heard the commotion and saw the boy running towards her as he reentered the dimly lit area of seats. At first her brain couldn’t make sense of the ten foot high shadow that was almost on top of him, but then she saw the eyes, and the claws and screamed.
Outside, the pipes from the truck were connected to the side of the plane, the truck’s engine powering the pump that was sending the fuel into the tanks.
Joel heard the faint scream at the same time he saw Dalton running towards him.
Dalton skidding to a stop, out of breath. “We got to get the hell out of—”
A roar, so primal in nature it caused both men to become their Alkron versions, was quickly followed by the sound of glass shattering.
“It’s coming from the central airport building,” said Joel. They went to run in that direction when static then Barry’s voice burst his radio.
“Help! Help u—” The signal cut out.
“Hello? Barry? Are you there?”
They sprinted forward, into the dark, towards the three story building.
Anna, Nelson and Kizzy ran down the plane stairs to the concrete as the other two were lost to the gloom. Kizzy went to move off after them, but Anna’s hand flicked across her. “No, stay here.” She looked at Nelson. “Copelands got a crate of guns inside. Grab the largest caliber ones you can find.”
Inside the large building the creature tore and flailed at the row of metal seats which it was entangled within, easily slicing the metal with its two foot long claws. Corine stood at the back of the store, her arms outstretched, directing another set of chairs to slam into the thing she had no conception of. Its form was of a bear, but its skull was more cat-like, and as it slashed at anything metal she could fling through the air at it, she swore it was partly covered in scales like a lizard.
Barry was crouched in terror behind her, and when the woman in front of him started to cough, he was filled with a different kind of fear. He quickly turned and ran out of the store, taking his ability with him, or that was his hope.
Corine coughed again, her chest feeling heavy and she doubled over trying desperately to dislodge the only metal left that she could sense, the girders across the ceiling above her. But it was no good and she collapsed to the tiled floor, her hands popping chip packets, spilling their contents. The creature roared again, but this time its fury was closer.
I’m going to die, she thought as she spluttered, trying to crawl away from the thing lumbering towards her, the ground trembling.
Another roar, this one less in guttural ferocity but just as fear inducing, echoed around the walls, and the thudding of clawed feet stopped. She managed to stand and look out over a counter just as Dalton leaped onto the creature’s back, his size dwarfed by the thing he was wrestling with.
Joel ran into the store. “Are you okay? Where’s Barry?”
The creature clawed at its back trying but just missing the werewolf behind it.
Corine looked into the dark corridor beside her. “Along there, he went that way.”
Joel grabbed her hand and pulled in that direction, while she looked back.
“We can’t leave him!”
Joel pulled harder, almost dragging her into the dark, he coughed slightly as they ran forward, using the stinging in his throat as a guide as to where the boy had gone, and finally found an open door and heard the young heart beat. “Barry! You in here! We have to go, now!”
More roars came from the lounge along the corridor as the patter of f
eet came from outside, and Dalton in his human form, slammed into the doorframe, almost falling to his knees. “We have to go, it won’t be down for long…” he said between breaths, blood seeping from lacerations.
Barry appeared from behind a shelf as distant crashing and crunching echoed around the walls outside.
Joel peeked into the hallway looking towards the lounge, which was now completely silent but he could sense a creature lost to the darkness down there. He swung his light’s beam the other way. Stores sat on both sides of a wide, empty thoroughfare. He waved the others towards him. “We’re going to run,” he said in a low voice. “Find some stairs, then get back to the plane. Lets go.”
At the plane Anna stood with an M4 in her hand, as did Nelson. The truck’s pump continued to push fuel along the pipe and it was the only sound that filled the night. “Come on Joel,” she said under her breath.
Joel and the others descended some stairs they had found as quietly as they could, but with each passing step a stench grew stronger. Dalton recognized the smell. He tried to make an effort to warn those around him but it was taking all his strength to stay upright. With the others he arrived at the ground floor and Joel pushed open the exit.
His flashlight hit upon a wall of broken bodies, stacked or rather thrown into piles, hardly allowing any room to walk between.
“Oh, hell no,” said Corine not wanting to leave the stairwell.
Joel turned to convince her that this was the only way they could go, when a roar reverberated through the walls and she scuttled forward into the corridor, bringing Barry with her.
They moved as quickly as they could, walking across decaying appendages, while Joel shone his flashlight at any signs still readable, and not covered in red stains. One indicated an exit and he eagerly pushed it open. They came out between buildings, each person enjoying the fresher air.