Dying to Live

by Roxy De Winter

  “We’ll be coming in to land soon, sir. You may want to strap in now,” Frank warned over the intercom. He could see the airport lights beneath them and he and the co-pilot prepared to bring the plane down. The radio buzzed as though someone below was going to speak to them, but then it went dead.

  “Strange,” stated the co-pilot beside him. Tim was a man of few words. A good pilot, although technically in his retirement years now and the large paunch between him and the controls showed that he was making the most of it. Frank picked up the radio controls and tried to make contact with someone on the ground. The only response he got was the crackling static.

  “It looks like we’re on our own with this one then.” Frank frowned. The equipment was supposed to be perfectly maintained but failures like this were shockingly common.

  As they sunk lower, the two pilots recognized a plane parked haphazardly on the runway they were coming in to land on.

  “Shit!” Tim gasped.

  “Tell me about it,” Frank said. “We’ll have to pull up and circle back.” He waited for Tim to follow his direction, but there was no response. He turned to Tim and his mouth fell open. Tim was slumped, clutching his chest and turning slightly purple.

  “No! No, no, no! Not now! You can’t do this to me!” Frank raged, hitting the steering column.

  By then it was too late to avoid landing. The best thing he could do was try to avoid hitting the other plane, but it would mean veering off of the landing strip.

  “Hold on tight. This is going to be a rough one!” Frank told Bao over the intercom.

  The wheels hit the tarmac with a jolt. The plane that was already on the strip was pulled round slightly. The wing was sticking out awkwardly towards the approaching plane. There was still baggage trolleys parked nearby and the passenger stairs were still pulled up to the plane door. As the plane grew closer, Frank was pulling round desperately on the flight yoke. It was as though the plane was turning in slow motion, the response was not quick enough. As the wheels veered from the strip, the plane rocked precariously and with an ear piercing shriek, the wings collided. The two planes lurched around and Frank wondered just how much damage the plane had suffered. They screeched forwards only a short way more and then ground to a halt.

  After breathing a sigh of relief and saying a silent prayer, Frank turned to Tim. It was much too late; it was obvious that Tim was dead. His arms had dropped and hung at his sides. His chin rested on his chest. The glassy stare and gaping mouth made Frank feel uncomfortable, and being shut in the small cockpit alone with the corpse of his companion unnerved him. He unbuckled and hastily got out of there.

  Dr Yuan was still buckled into his seat and looked a little pale.

  “Sorry about that, sir. We ran into some trouble. I don’t know what’s going on out there but the airport stopped responding. The co-pilot died and there was already a plane on our runway. Looks like a hasty landing to me, and there’s nobody out there but everything’s been left lying around. I just don’t get it...” Frank trailed off and flopped into a passenger seat to collect himself.

  “You... What? The co-pilot died?” Bao asked in bewilderment.

  “Yeah. It looked like a heart attack to me. Shit, I guess we should call for some help. The police or something? I wonder why nobody’s checked on us,” Frank reflected, looking out of one small round window towards the airport.

  Bao was starting to feel panicked about the possible progression of the infection. Everything seemed so wrong and strange. Surely someone should be out there? Frank watched as the old man unbuckled his seatbelt and rose from his seat.

  “I don’t think anyone is coming. We need to get off this plane and find out what’s happening. It could be dangerous, so keep close to me and be ready to run,” Bao instructed him.

  “Dangerous? Why would we need to run?” Frank asked. He was in his thirties but still young at heart. An immature flush of adrenaline ran through him at the prospect of trouble. “You mean the police? Are they after you or something? Wait, we aren’t transporting something we shouldn’t be, are we? Because I told myself I wouldn’t get into that again...”

  “Will you PLEASE stop gibbering? We have no time for this. It’s not the police that we’re avoiding and if you don’t want to die... Well, in a sense at least, then you will just have to do as I say,” Bao sighed. He had made his way to the air locked door and rubbed his forehead. “I suppose we won’t be able to get off this plane in the usual way then?”

  “I guess not. This will be my first time using the emergency escape slide,” Frank said, not unhappily.

  Upon getting the door of the plane open, the two men stood side by side and peered out. It then became apparent that the landing strip was not completely devoid of people. It was only devoid of LIVING people. A man was laid face down in a large, circular pool of darkening red blood. What remained of his clothing was merely rags and scraps of cloth. From where they stood, neither man could see the grotesque scale of his injuries. The gaping wounds, where chucks of flesh were completely torn away, were thankfully hidden from their view. The dead man was not the only casualty. A couple more bodies lay scattered at the foot of the boarding stairs. Dripped trails of blood indicated that there had been others wounded who had managed to escape.

  “Holy mother...” Frank gasped. “What the heck happened here?”

  Bao did not reply to the question. Instead, he headed back to his seat and collected his briefcase. Gripping it tightly he turned to Frank.

  “Remember, stay close and ready to run.”

  Frank gulped audibly and Bao released the inflatable slide. They both jumped together and as they hurtled quickly towards the ground, they missed the twitching arm of a small girl. She was hiding underneath one of the baggage carrier’s trailers, lying in wait. Their feet touched the concrete and she pounced out, taking them by surprise as she sprinted forwards. The girl came charging towards them with bloody saliva running from her mouth and a guttural howl tearing from deep within her. She was nothing more than a child, with pigtails and a floaty, pink dress. Bao’s reaction was so quick that Frank barely had time to process it. The gun he pulled from under his jacket with lightning speed, was smoking in his hand by the time the shot even registered in Frank’s mind. The bullet struck home right in the child’s chest and flung her small body backwards. It was the most horrific thing Frank had ever witnessed. The girl was no more than eight years old. To their shock, she quickly regained her feet and staggered angrily, before starting towards them again. Bao prayed his aim would be true and released a second and third shot. One bullet tore a hole through the girl’s throat and the other burst through her skull. She collapsed to the ground immediately. After waiting a few moments, it seemed safe to say that she wasn’t going to get up again.

  “Fuuuuuck.” Frank drew out the word, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “It’s not safe here, we need to go. There are things in the hold of the plane that I need first though.” Bao looked at the pilot, who was still staring at the corpse and shaking his head. “Frank, come on. How can I get my equipment off of the plane?”

  “Oh,” Frank looked around. “Well, I suppose that everything we need is here...”

  “Good, well let’s get that sorted and get out of here then.”

  Moving slowly due to shock and the constant paranoia of another attack, Frank worked to move the unloading ramp and get the plane’s luggage hatch open. Bao stood by with the gun, providing cover as he did so. They fortunately, did not encounter any more of the savages during the process and once the few boxes were unloaded they turned their attention to transport. It was obvious that walking was not an option and neither man wanted to travel through the airport and outside into the customer car park in search of a car. Instead, they set their sights on a white van parked on the tarmac behind the airport.

  Having found the keys still in the vans ignition, they loaded their small cargo. Bao decided he was in a better state to drive than Frank. He hadn�
�t heard from Xin yet, but decided that he wanted to be away from the gory scene in front of him before anything else could go wrong. By some stroke of luck, a gate had been left open and they did not run into any more trouble as they left. It was too quiet for Bao’s liking. Where was everyone? And what had happened here? As he contemplated this, his phone rang. He hurriedly flipped it open and checked the caller ID before answering.

  “Xin! Are you Okay?” He questioned her with a note of urgency.

  “I’m fine. We ran into some trouble at the hotel though. Please tell me you’ve landed already?” She sounded out of breath but surprisingly calm, this in turn surprised Bao. He had expected that she would be finding it hard to cope in the ever growing crisis by herself.

  “Yes, I’m just leaving the airport now. Where can we meet?” As he asked this, his mind noted the use of ‘we’ in her previous response. So he added, “Who are you with?”

  “I can’t explain right now...” She began. Bao heard what sounded like the phone being dropped. Then a male voice in the background asked if she was alright.

  “Xin?” He waited for a reply.

  “Sorry, I tripped and dropped the phone. Listen, it hasn’t reached total crisis point here yet, but we’re heading out to the compound now before it does. Try to stay out of the densely populated areas and head straight out there to meet us.”

  “Wait, Xin...” She cut him off.

  “There isn’t time. Pete’s hotwiring a car right now and we’re getting out of here. I will explain everything when we see you. I’m sorry, Bao. I’m glad you’re here. Bye.” The line went dead.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Frank asked from the passenger seat.

  “It looks like we’re heading out into the desert,” Bao replied, his mind not in the current conversation. Instead, he was resentfully considering Xin’s new friend ‘Pete’.

  “Why? What’s out there?” Frank asked.

  “Area 51.” The answer was impatient and blunt, but Bao was somewhat hurt that his self-sacrifice had been met with so few answers. He was left with a feeling of inadequacy and under-appreciation.

  Frank sensed that the old man was not in the mood to chat or explain, so the questions nagging the inside of his mind went unanswered. Just yesterday life had been normal and ordinary. So normal in fact, that he had considered it boring. What he would have given to be sitting down to that TV dinner now. Instead of heading seventy five miles out into the middle of nowhere, to a place that was not even meant to exist! His rational mind could not make sense of what he had seen and he felt not so far away from crazy town.

  After a few miles, Frank could take no more.

  “Look, man. I know whatever it is that’s getting you so hot under the collar ain’t anything you want to talk about. But I’m about ready for some answers from you, before I go nuts.” Bao glanced at him and nodded once, expressing that however reluctantly, he would comply. “Okay, so what was up with that girl back there? And the dead people?” This seemed to be the major question and so Frank was disappointed with the response.

  “It’s not what you want to hear, but I do not fully understand it myself. In short, I do not know.”

  “But, the gun? You were expecting them? Or at least expecting trouble?” Frank pushed.

  “A man does not call in favours, in the middle of the night, with unsavoury contacts, in order to book a private plane at such late notice, without there being some kind of trouble.” The ghost of a smirk briefly touched his features. “But yes, I knew that there was a possibility that we could run into this... sickness.”

  “So it’s a sickness?” Frank asked, puzzled.

  “Of sorts, yes. We will discover more when we arrive at the base.”

  “And we’re heading to Area 51 because...?”

  “Because, Mr Burton, that is where it started and hopefully where we can bring about it’s end.” Bao looked at Frank, who was now lost in thought. The answers were not exactly enlightening, but they were enough to pull Frank’s thoughts back from the border of insanity. There was a lot more that he wanted to know but, sensing that the doctor’s mood had not much improved and feeling the wave of tiredness after the long flight, he decided that this could be his last chance to sleep for a while to come. He laid his seat back a little and pulled the peak of his baseball cap down to cover his eyes, before drifting off into a fitful sleep.

  He woke abruptly. The van lurched and skidded to a halt. His eyes snapped open and he saw that they were on a dusty road with nothing but desert surrounding them for miles.

  “Why have we stopped?” Frank asked in a voice that cracked with sleep.

  “Look.” Bao pointed through the windscreen. A woman lay at the side of the road. She had on a white coat that was grazed with dirt and dust, her blonde hair was tangled and limp around her face. There was no sign of blood on or around her. Her eyes were shut and she appeared to be unconscious.

  “Is she sick?” Frank wondered aloud.

  “I would be inclined to say no, but none the less it is a possibility,” Bao countered thoughtfully.

  “What do we do?” The question was barely out of his mouth before a small, blue car appeared on the horizon. It was approaching quickly behind them. Not knowing what to do, they waited. The car slowed as it neared. Eventually, it pulled up beside them. Bao did not recognise the male who wound down the window of the car next to them, but he recognised the woman who peered around him.

  “Xin,” He said with relief, after getting the vans window to creak slowly down. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  “Yes, me too. I’m glad you made it here safely,” she smiled at him.

  “I don’t want to interrupt the reunion, but who’s our friend?” Asked the guy that Bao could only presume, was Pete. Pete was pointing at the girl by the road.

  “We were just wondering the same,” Frank said, leaning forward to nod greetings.

  “Is she infected?” Pete asked.

  “We don’t know,” said Bao. “It didn’t seem wise to ask.”

  The slight barb in this comment did not escape Pete’s notice, but he wasn’t about to let it bother him. People had taken a disliking to him before, but that was their concern not his.

  “Well, it doesn’t seem wise to stay parked up here all day waiting to find out either,” Pete responded with a friendly smile. “I’ll go and see shall I?” He asked rhetorically, but Xin put a hand on his shoulder as he reached for the door handle.

  “Pete, are you mad? What if she is infected?” The concern in her voice caused an unreasonable sensation of envy to flush through Bao’s mind.

  “It’s okay, I will check.” Bao pulled the gun from his pocket and opened the door to the van before Pete, Xin, or even Frank, could say or do anything else. Pete got out of the car also, and pulled an aluminium bat out from behind his seat. He followed Bao into the road.

  “Hey, Miss?” Pete called. She did not stir at all and he glanced back at Xin. “S’cuse me?” He tried again. Bao had stopped a meter or so away from her.

  “She’s breathing,” He stated calmly.

  “Is she hurt?” Frank called.

  “She doesn’t appear to be,” Bao retorted.

  Slowly and deliberately, Pete approached her. He held the bat in a none-threatening way, but in front of him and ready to use, just in case. He crouched beside her and gently nudged her arm with the tip of the bat.

  “C’mon. If you can hear me you need to wake up.”

  She still didn’t respond. Pete leaned his head back and looked up into the clear, blue sky and sizzling desert sunshine.

  “Please, God. Don’t let her be infected.” He sighed, before dropping the bat and placing his hands on her shoulders. He rolled her carefully over onto her back and asked her again to wake up. When she still didn’t respond, Pete turned and called to Xin.

  “I don’t think she’s infected. There are no marks on her and she has a pulse,” he added, as his hands checked her wrist. “I think we need to risk it an
d bring her with us. We can’t leave her here and in all likelihood, she’s just unconscious from walking around all the way out here.”

  Xin looked unsure. She wanted to bring the woman with them, but if they were wrong then the consequences were big.

  “Alright,” She began reluctantly, “Put her in the back. But you’ll have to keep an eye on her.”

  “Are you out of your minds?” Bao raged. “If she is sick then we are all going to pay the price!”

  “So what do you suggest?” Pete asked earnestly. The honest compassion on his face made Bao feel like the bad guy, but he would not take unnecessary risks.

  “I suggest that if she MUST come with us, then she goes in the back of the van. That way everyone is marginally safe in the case that she wakes up and starts going berserk.”

  Pete nodded sagely. “Okay, but if she wakes up in the back of a strange van all alone, wont she go berserk anyway?”

  “No worries,” Frank piped up, hopping out of the van. He was fed up of Bao’s attitude anyway, and had a growing respect for Pete’s calm, practical and reasonable approach. “I don’t mind sitting in the back with her. As long as I’ve got something to defend myself with, should the need arise.”

  “Good man,” Pete said approvingly.

  Bao shook his head disapprovingly and headed back to the driver side of the van. Pete slid an arm behind the woman’s neck and another beneath her knees and picked her up easily. Frank headed around to the back of the van and opened the doors. He jumped in and moved the boxes back to make some room, before helping Pete get her carefully into the van.

  “Here, take this.” Pete handed Frank the bat. “I doubt you will need to use it, but if you do, don’t hesitate.” He waited for Frank to nod before he released his grip on the bat. With a last nod, he shut the doors to the van and re-joined Xin in the car.