Project Airborne

by Johnson, Cassandra

  “Lauren is there any physical proof that could be used to prosecute Craig?” Megan had sat up in her seat, holding her phone in her hand. There were far too many cases of sexual assault that went unreported because the victim knew that the cops wouldn’t believe them or because they had no proof of the allegations except for recounting the events.

  “Like what? It’s just his word against mine, the druggy who overdosed. No one is going to believe me.” Lauren said stiffening in her seat.

  “You would be surprised.” Megan told her. Moving from her seat to sit beside her on the couch, allowing the distance between them to be closed but keeping it at the same time. “If could be anything, anything you can think of that could be used against him to prove you are telling the truth.”

  Lauren’s features hardened in concentration as she looked down into her lap for a few seconds. Megan couldn’t even bring herself to think about how hard it had to be for Lauren to go back over those memories without drugs to help her cope, to numb her mind from the mental pain that never ever went away. Physically, the scars could fade –but the memories themselves would always remain.

  “He has a birthmark, on his, you know.” Lauren cleared her throat again slightly. “In a place that I shouldn’t know he has a birthmark. It’s under his pubes, but you could still see the pink shadow of it. It looks like the shape of Texas.” Lauren looked at Megan for the first time where she seemed to have hope in her eyes.

  “That’s more than enough.” Megan nodded quickly, unlocking her phone. “Lauren, as your therapist, everything that we talk about is confidential, so I need your permission to take this to the police. Do I have your permission?” It was surprising the number of cases where Megan had the information that was needed to put one of these predators away, but the patients still feared them, still feared being called a liar and so they went on living their lives as if they had done no wrong at all, not taking any responsibility for the damage that they caused. It was a dangerous power that they held over their victims.

  “Let’s nail that son of a bitch to the wall.” Lauren sucked in a deep breath, her eyes brimmed over with moisture before she collapsed on the floor.

  “Lauren!” Megan dropped to her knees, lifting her body slightly in her arms, she’d had patients faint before, but it was never like this, there was always some sort of precursor that lead up to it. “Lauren, Lauren. Wake up.” Megan touched her face, pushing her hair back from her eyes gently before she heard the screams from the lobby. She had no idea what was happening as she dialed 911 and put the phone to her ear. Whatever was going on, the kids could sometimes get rowdy, but it didn’t sound the same. This wasn’t horse play. Normally, Megan didn’t even see female patients on Tuesday’s, but Lauren requested a session that day if Megan had some free time, it was spur of the moment. Lauren wanted to get this off her chest and they were finally getting to the bottom of it.

  “911 what’s your emergency?” The dispatcher's voice came over the receiver of the phone.

  “Yes, my name is Megan Greenely, I work at the Changes Recovery Center and I have a patient who fainted.” Megan told the operator as calmly as she could. Moving to the door, Megan pulled it open hearing the maddening cacophony of screaming as it grew louder. Tom was in the hall, stooped over a patient who had collapsed in the middle of the lobby and there was blood rushing from the impact wound on his head.

  “Is the individual responsive?” The operator asked. “Ma’am, are you there? Hello?”

  “I –I, no. No, she isn’t responding. I have multiple patients who need care, I—,” Megan was stunned. “Tom, what’s going on?” Megan asked, stepping into the hall. Her office was directly across from the reception desk, Stephen’s chair was still spinning empty as he lay on the floor.

  “Oh my god.” Megan ran around the desk, checking Stephen’s pulse. “They aren’t breathing. Please, send someone now. I don’t understand what is happening.” The words gushed from her lips. “The address is 374 White Street, Changes Recovery Center, floor 4.”

  “What happened?” Megan hung up the phone, checking patients, therapists and co-workers. They were all unresponsive and try as she might, Megan couldn’t find a pulse on any of them.

  “I have no idea.” Tom was lost in the eyes as he tried to help calm those who were still on their feet, Mike took over with Zach, bringing the remaining patients into one of the group therapy rooms and closing the door so that they couldn’t see the bodies.

  Megan fled back into her office where Lauren lay on the floor. She didn’t consider this a crime scene and she couldn’t stand seeing Lauren lying there on the floor like that.

  Tom came in right behind her.

  “Help me get her up, Tommy?” Megan brushed Lauren’s wavy brown hair away from her eyes, she looked like she was just sleeping as Tom stooped down and carefully lifted her up onto the couch.

  “She was just here.” Megan blinked, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. “I was talking to her, she was just here.” Folding onto the sofa, Meg took Lauren’s hand into hers. She was just a little girl, she’d been through so much pain in her short life. This wasn’t fair. What the hell was happening?

  The elevator doors opened and closed in the lobby and voices in the hall told Megan that people were there, but she didn’t hear the recall of radios, so she didn’t think that the paramedics had arrived. She could barely keep herself composed longer than a few seconds to go see who was there, Megan kept looking at Lauren. The young girl looked like she’d gone to sleep, like someone suddenly just hit the off switch and she powered down.

  “Dear God, what’s happening?” Megan wept.

  Lifting her head, she heard the doors to the elevator open again and footsteps, they came inside, stopped and then she heard them coming closer. Kaige had stopped in the doorway, Megan didn’t even know how to explain what was happening because it seemed that there was no rhyme or reason for it. She just shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks as she looked at Kaige’s pale face in the doorway.

  “She was just here.” That was all Megan could manage to say as Kaige looked at Lauren, her blue eyes sweeping the room with Tom for a second before she drifted from the doorway as if an apparition had been standing there, Megan wasn’t even sure that Kaige had been there. There had to be something that caused this, some strange coincidence, but what, Megan didn’t know.

  Laying her head down on Tom’s shoulder, Megan sobbed, holding on to Lauren’s hand. That little girl was finally about to get justice for the crimes against her and now this?

  “Guys?”

  Sniffing, Megan lifted her head up, looking at the door. It was Logan, all the color had washed from his face and he was sweating a little bit as he moved into the room.

  “I don’t know what happened.” Megan began, but Logan shook his head quickly, shifting he crouched in front of Megan and Tom, taking a deep breath.

  “No one does, I’ve been trying to get 911 on the phone, but something else is going on. It’s not just the office, it’s all over the street. I don’t know what this is, but it looks like it wasn’t just this area.” Logan explained, pushing his hair back, it looked like he’d already been doing it a lot because it was completely tussled.

  “Oh my God.” Megan took in a sharp breath, swallowing as she began to scramble, getting to her feet as Logan rose as well, Tom following them.

  “We have to get to Tobey.” Tom was already thinking the same as his wife as he ran out of the office to grab his coat and the car keys.

  “Logan can –can you take over for us?” Megan was as white as a sheet as she grabbed her purse out of her desk drawer.

  “No problem, I’ll tell Mike where you went, he’ll understand. Just go.” Logan insisted.

  “Thank you. I was able to get through to 911 earlier, ambulances should be coming, maybe.” Thinking back to what Logan said before, that he couldn’t get through to the 911 dispatcher. Maybe she had called just in time before they had to shut down the lines. Meg
an had heard of things like that happening during a natural disaster, emergency contacts would be being flooded with so many calls that they couldn’t keep up with them all and there were only so many people that could respond. They had to be scrambling right now. Megan only knew that she needed to get to Tobey’s school right now.

  Tom met her at the door and they ignored the elevator, they didn’t have time to wait for it. The kids loved playing with that thing and now, whenever you called for it, it could sometimes take five minutes for it to finally reach the fourth floor.

  Together they ran down the stairs, slamming into the exit door to the outside world. There were people running and screaming through the courtyard, bodies lay strewn on the ground where they had dropped, and Megan could see Lauren in her head all over again, all of the light in her eyes suddenly gone before as Lauren’s eyes slopped close and she fell to the floor at her feet.

  Megan jumped and screamed as the exit door slammed shut behind them. The sudden bang pulled Megan out of her head as she grabbed Tom’s hand and they ran to the parking garage. The entrance was sneakily hidden in the stairwell of the marketplace. The store was in chaos, bodies everywhere as they stepped past them desperately trying not to step on anyone as they got to the stairwell and began to climb the steps two at a time to the third floor where they’re KIA Sorento was parked.

  Megan’s heart was racing as they reached the third floor, there was no traffic, no people, just the sounds of everyone below on the street. There were people screaming, she could hear a child crying somewhere wailing its lungs out. She thought of Tobey in that sea of bodies and her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. Running at full speed towards the car. Tom was scrambling with the keys, hitting the button to unlock the doors as they jumped inside. He didn’t even put his seat belt on as he started the car and reversed out of the parking spot, the tires pealing against the concrete floor as he drove out to the exit ramp going faster than he normally ever would have.

  “Tom, I’m scared.” Megan swallowed, her voice shaking as Tom had to brake suddenly for another car that was coming out in front of them on the second level.

  “It’s going to be ok, babe. Tobey is fine. We’re going to go to his school, get him and go straight home.” Tom’s voice was shaking as well, but he was trying to remain calm, if for no one else than for Megan. He had to keep it together.

  Coming to the exit, the sunshine glaring through the tunnel that led out of the garage, the car that was in front of them had stopped, the driver looking all around.

  “What if we can’t get out, Tom?” Megan was sitting forward in her seat, holding onto the ‘oh shit’ bar overhead watching the car ahead of them just sit there. Megan didn’t know what they saw, but she knew that it couldn’t be good if they weren’t moving.

  “We’ll get out.” Tom said, glancing over at his wife a second. “Put your seat belt on.” A kind of raw determination filtered through his voice. Hearing the ‘click’ of the belt, he hit the gas pedal, surging through the tunnel, up and around the car, leaning forward to look at the street. There were cars stalled everywhere, people laying in the seats, some over their steering wheels, it was difficult to determine who was hurt and who was dead because cars had stopped so suddenly, driving up onto the median or hitting other cars. People were standing on the side of the road, phones in hand.

  Tapping the horn gently, he drove forward slightly and flipped his hazard lights on, letting people know that whether they wanted it or not, his car was going to make it through. As soon as people figured out what was happening, they started moving out of the way, dodging bodies as best as he could and knowing that he did indeed run over some of them, hearing peoples screams as the wheels of the Sorento rolled over them, but he didn’t know what else do to.

  Some streets weren’t as bad as theirs, obviously it was downtown and there was a lot of foot traffic, but once they were away from all of that, some of the traffic was moving, weaving around wrecks and cars that were just sitting there with the driver leaned over the steering wheel. Megan closed her eyes when she saw one car with a child’s car seat in the back, the baby wasn’t moving, and neither was the driver and she prayed, Megan prayed that Tobey was ok. He had to be.

  Megan didn’t know what she would do if he was another victim of this event, whatever it was.

  Weaving around the traffic they were a block away from Tobey’s school, the neighborhood was half commercial and half residential. On one side there were houses and parks for children and dogs, bus stops and mixed in where small corner stores, usually family owned, a couple of restaurants and if you went a few blocks over it was all business. Grocery stores, gas stations, the Indian Hill Mall was five minutes away. One of the reasons why Tom and Megan picked this school for Tobey was because it was so close to their house, he only had to ride the bus for one stop and then he could get off and walk up the street to their house on those days when Megan was running late or stuck in traffic. She hated those days, but today, it was mayhem. Cars were lined up in the drop off zone, there were police cruisers blocking off the rest of the block to keep people who didn’t need to be there out of the way. Megan counted four ambulances parked on the side of the road or pulled up as close as they could get to other cars without blocking the flow of traffic. Catching a glimpse of the playground she could see them.

  “Oh God, Tom. Oh God. Our baby.” Megan was pulling her seat belt off, those little bodies lying there as paramedics worked as quickly as they could, gurneys were coming out, white sheets covering them while at the front of the school teachers were crying, huddled in the center of children, holding them close to them.

  One teacher would run to a vehicle, the window would roll down and they would speak for a second before the teacher ran back, calling out a name. Blessedly a little blonde girl stepped forward, her face red and streaked with tears. Her sun kissed hair streaking as she ran towards the car of her parents and the vehicle pulled away. Megan wanted to be that parent right now, to have her baby in her arms.

  They were at the back of the line, watching the teacher running to and from vehicles, ushering children into the cars until one car didn’t have a kid. There was yelling as the teacher told them that they needed to pull up and come inside, the police were there as well. The car swerved up and stopped again, the door opening before a police woman ran up and directed the man in the car where to park, there was yelling for a few seconds before the man closed the door and pulled around the side of the school and out of sight. Megan watched as tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “W-why didn’t his kid come to the car?” Her voice was shaking.

  “I don’t know, maybe they’re inside.” Tom said, but that wasn’t what he really thought. That driver’s child was somewhere out on that playground and he didn’t want to think about what he was doing to do if that woman told him he had to pull up and park.

  Megan covered her mouth with her hand as the next car pulled up and the same process took place, the teacher took several minutes before the little boy at the back of the group was found. He was crying so hard that the teacher had to pick him up. Cradling his body close to hers as she took him to the car, when he saw his parent, he started scrambling to get into the car door.

  Rolling her window down, Megan recognized the teacher now, she was Tobey’s. Mrs. North. Before she could even say his name, Megan saw him.

  Tobey broke away from the group, running towards the car, his backpack bouncing. There was dirt on his shirt and a Band-Aid on his knee where a little bit of blood was still trying to seep out.

  “Mommy! Mommy!” His legs pumping as he ran up to the car.

  Throwing her door open, Megan pulled him up into her lap and slammed the door shut, her tears suddenly spilling so rapidly she couldn’t control them as she held him close to her, touching his hair, kissing his face. Looking him over for any other place he might be hurt. Tom leaned over the seat, grabbing him and holding him, Tobey’s body practically laid over the arm rest of the c
ar as they both took a second to just feel their son in their arms.

  “You’re okay,” Megan breathed out as Tobey sat back into her lap and Tom drove out of the line, flipping his blinker on before he pulled out, driving down the middle of the street because that was the only space left to drive through.

  “Mommy, Casey fell down and she didn’t get back up and Jordan went to sleep on the ground, then everyone started screaming.” Tobey was crying as he latched onto her neck, his fear and confusion the pain in his voice as he wailed into Megan’s ear was heartbreaking as they drove home. Megan thought of all the parents who weren’t going home with their children tonight and she held onto her son even harder, rubbing his back to help calm him down. His little friends had died right in front of him and there was absolutely no explanation for it, but it was happening everywhere. Megan didn’t know how far spread it was. If it was just this area, the whole town? Was it all over the state? Megan didn’t know, and she was afraid to find out.

  8.

  Kaige was only half awake when she heard something moving around, slowly creeping. Her thought process told her to lay still, somehow one of them had gotten into the house, she didn’t know how, but the dead were walking. Maybe one of the basement windows? No, they were all boarded up from the inside, but wouldn’t the banging noise have woken her immediately? Kaige swallowed as footsteps crept closer, creaking over the hardwood floor. If she just lay still and quiet, it would think she was already dead.

  Zombies didn’t eat dead people, did they? Briefly, her brain tried to recall if she had ever seen one of them turn on each other and eat dead flesh, but she couldn’t conjure that horrifying imagine into the forefront of her mind. Not right now.