Three of those things entered the door and attacked the man, clinging onto his face. The man started screaming, clawing at his skin. Several other creatures swarmed in the door, covering the man. Adrian heard the sizzle of acid consuming the man's flesh.
All hell broke loose. The remaining passengers screamed, and an uninterrupted flow of acid entities began to penetrate the open door.
"To the cockpit!" Adrian shouted. The cockpit had a security door hijacker-proof and would keep out whatever that stuff was.
He pushed Samantha forward, and the girl fled to the cockpit. Thomas followed her. Adrian pushed three other people to the cockpit, but many were on the floor covered by acidic creatures. Joanne tried to lift the man who had been attacked first, who had now stopped screaming.
"Joanne, come on!" Adrian cried.
"Our passengers! We can't abandon them!"
"We can't do anything for them, please Joanne!"
Samantha called him from the door of the cockpit.
"Close the door!" Adrian shouted. Then he dodged a swarm of creatures and reached Joanne. "There's nothing you can do for him, Joanne!"
The things were covering the man, consuming his flesh. He was probably dead. From his body, smoke rose with a gloomy sizzle. The smell was terrible.
Other creatures were sticking themselves to the inner surfaces of the aircraft as they flowed from the open door in incredible numbers. They covered the corpses in mass, forming gelatinous mountains. Joanne cried, "Our passengers, our passengers!"
"Follow me! Please, Joanne!"
Joanne finally gave up and Adrian dragged her into the hallway towards the cockpit. Then she began to scream.
Adrian turned. Entities clung to her back.
Joanne cried again, and a mass of jelly creatures covered her face.
"NO!" Adrian shouted.
Joanne let go of his hand and stepped back as the creatures engulfed her. Adrian realized she had wanted to spare him.
"Captain!" Samantha yelled from the cockpit door. She had disobeyed him and hadn't closed the door.
Adrian looked back into the business class. The corridor had turned into a hell of gelatinous creatures that throbbed and formed mountains on the walls and on the corpses. A nightmare. The interior of the plane seemed to have turned into the pulsating belly of a monster that had swallowed them all.
Joanne was no longer in sight.
"Joanne, I'm so sorry…"
"Captain!" Samantha yelled again.
Adrian fled to the cockpit.
Chapter 6
"Oh my god, you have one of those things on your leg!" Samantha screamed.
Adrian wiped his face from the tears. The loss of Joanne had left him shocked and trembling, like the realization Captain Santoro had disappeared. Adrian was now alone.
He looked down at his limb. One of the moth-like creatures stuck to the fabric of his trousers at the side of his thigh. He felt some warmth and nothing else. Perhaps the percentage of synthetic fibers contained in the fabric had slowed down the corrosion. At a guess, the acid consumed organic materials only.
"Don't move, Captain," Thomas said. "Don't touch it."
Adrian didn't move. Thomas pulled out a pen from his pocket. He slipped it under the gelatinous thing, and leveraging, detached it from Adrian's leg.
Samantha sucked her breath at the sight of the wound. It was strange because Adrian hadn't felt any pain, but the first few layers of his skin had already been consumed.
The creature slipped onto the floor and Thomas stabbed it with the pen, nailing it on the carpet. Then he pulled out his shirt and tied it firmly around Adrian's thigh.
"Thanks," Adrian said. "That was brave of you."
"You promised to take care of me and I'll do the same for you, if I can," Thomas said.
They watched the thing slapping the carpet, skewered by Thomas's pen. It wasn't dead. "Better leave it there," Thomas added. "You can't kill them. They're phages."
"Phages?" Adrian wondered.
"Organisms that consume all the unnecessary."
Adrian frowned. "How do you know that?"
"I read a lot of science fiction," the boy said. "My folks always told me to stop reading that nonsense."
Adrian knelt to observe the impaled creature on the carpet of the cockpit. It was struggling, weakly.
"It's not an animal," Thomas said. "It's not a vegetable. It's a phenomenon, like the acid rain. They serve to clean up."
"Why?" Adrian asked.
The boy shrugged. "There must have been some trouble in space-time, I guess. I think our plane of reality has been eliminated. We've been left by mistake."
"You're crazy," Samantha said. "I didn't understand a thing you just said."
Adrian gazed at the boy, interested. "Why has our reality been eliminated, Thomas?"
"I don't know, Captain," Thomas said. "I don't think it's been totally eliminated, otherwise we wouldn't be here talking about it, but it has been heavily damaged. There must have been an enormous event, which has corrupted space-time."
That kid with his head stuffed with science fiction could have also got it right. "Do you believe we have any chance of survival?" Adrian asked.
"So far we have," Thomas said. "If conditions remain steady, and with no more acid rain, we can continue to escape the phages at night and survive. Maybe."
"Yes, maybe," Adrian added.
"Luckily, we have you though, Captain," Samantha said.
"We are still his passengers until he decides otherwise," Thomas explained with pride.
The sense of responsibility overwhelmed Adrian. Since he'd had the chat with Thomas, the kid was like another person, full of courage. In what kind of trouble had Adrian gotten into? Now he'd have to live up the expectations.
Adrian sighed. He sat on the floor, leaning his back against the bulkhead. It was almost dark in the cockpit. From the cracked windscreen, just a little of the cloud phosphorescence leaked in.
His passengers were reduced to two children and four elderly Swedish tourists who huddled themselves against the opposite wall, one of the women whimpered sadly. Joanne had left him alone to take care of them. His eyes filled with tears.
"Are you all right, Captain?" Samantha asked. She snuggled close while Thomas sat on the other side. "Does your leg hurt much?"
"No," Adrian said. "It's just pulsing a bit." He wiped his face. It was no use crying. He had to get a grip for the kids.
"Do you have a wife at home, Captain?" Samantha asked.
"I had a companion."
"Do you miss her?"
"I wonder what happened to him."
"Him?" Samantha said. "He's a man?"
Adrian managed to smile. "Yes, he's a man."
"Then, are you gay?" Samantha insisted.
"Yes, I am."
The girl nodded. "Oh, that's why I like you so much. I love gay men."
"Really?" Adrian asked.
"Gay guys are funny, sensitive, and they love listening to you," Samantha said. "While the straight boys are boring. They only think about football, and they stink."
She gave him a smile, while Thomas groaned in disappointment. "It's true," Samantha insisted. "Straight guys go to the gym and then don't take a shower. Their shoes smell like Indian food."
Thomas clapped a hand over his forehead. "Oh, what bullshit!"
"Calm down," Adrian said. "You're too young to use words like that."
"Sorry," Thomas said. "But she's crazy."
"Look who's talking, you with phages and space-time and all that crap," Samantha commented.
"I said shut up, both of you!" Adrian scolded them.
Strange, but the little quarrel somehow allowed Adrian to land back on earth. "Now, try to get some sleep. I expect a hard day tomorrow."
Samantha sighed and leaned her head on Adrian's shoulder. "I'm just happy I'm still your passenger, because I have no one in the world. You won't leave me, right, Captain?"
"No, I won't leave you."
>
Slowly, even Thomas crawled towards him, and Adrian hugged him, too.
* * * *
Next morning, Adrian was in the galley when Samantha called him. He had decided to gather up some supplies, because with the light of the day he came to the conclusion they'd probably have to leave the Boeing and find a safer refuge before nightfall.
"Captain, I saw men prowling around the aircraft!" Samantha said, appearing at the door.
"Men? Perhaps it's the canoeists?"
"I don't think so."
"They're armed," Thomas added, joining them from business class. "They look like soldiers, but they're wearing orange suits, not green ones."
Adrian frowned. He went to the door and looked down.
His heart skipped a beat.
There was a man at the end of the emergency slide. He was tall and handsome, his hair shaved, and he had ice-blue eyes. He had a gun, but kept it pointed down to the ground. He flinched slightly on seeing Adrian.
Adrian gasped. When the icy eyes looked over him from head to foot, the hairs on his neck and arms stood on end. He stopped breathing, and a shiver ran up his spine like electricity. Suddenly his stomach knotted.
This isn't possible.
He couldn't believe it. Definitely not the right time. But…
As a dreamer, apart from flying, Adrian loved fairy tales. Often, reality was too bland for his taste. He wanted his happy ending. But he didn't feel at ease in the role of Prince Charming. Rather, he wanted a knight in shining armor to rescue him.
Adrian knew when the right man came, he would recognize him at first glance, and he would feel a chill as he felt now. Was the stranger under the airplane the right man for him?
Adrian blinked, confused. He wanted his Prince Charming to be a little rough, hard, and edgy, but also gentle. The stranger under the airplane didn't seem friendly and didn't seem like much of a rescuer. Indeed, Adrian feared the man.
Suddenly, another guy stepped between Adrian and the stranger with eyes like ice. Pale, with hair so light to appear almost white, his eyes slightly crooked, he smiled at Adrian coldly. The white-haired man gave him the creeps, but for a different reason—disgust.
"Hello, Captain. What have you got in that plane?" the white-haired man asked.
Adrian saw other men at the foot of the inflatable slide. Some of them wore orange suits, and above the suits they wore what looked like body armor and riot helmets. They were all armed, except the white-haired man.
"Who are you?" Adrian asked calmly, despite his heart thrumming in his chest.
"We're friends," the man said.
Someone laughed, but Adrian didn't need the laughter to understand the man lied. Adrian had already realized the phages weren't the only danger they'd have to deal with.
"There's nothing that could interest you, here," Adrian said.
"Oh, but you don't know what interests us. Some of us are looking for women. Some, like in my case, are looking for something even rarer, namely children."
"Oh, you're really disgusting," a slim guy beside the white-haired man said.
"Why do you think that bad, Serpent? I just need friends. Do you have children on that plane, Captain?"
What a nightmare. Not only the world had changed, but also the people had undergone a transformation. The man had something so dark and perverse that a part of Adrian wanted only to run away and go hide somewhere.
"They're all dead," Adrian said, something glassy in his voice.
The white-haired man's expression didn't change, as if his face was a mask. "Then you won't mind if we climb to check, right?"
Adrian sought help in the cold eyes of the tall stranger, but couldn't find it. "Almost all of the passengers were killed by the night creatures. There are only a few elderly tourists."
"Elderly tourists?" the white-haired man said, wrinkling his nose. "So it seems the only thing of value in that plane is you, Captain."
Adrian frowned. He didn't understand.
The wicked man's smile widened slowly. "You're a bit old for my taste, but you're surprisingly attractive. Isn't that true, Serpent?"
He drew the thin guy closer, grabbing him by his hair. "What do your developed senses say about the captain of the aircraft, Serpent?"
"He's bright," Serpent said flatly.
"Perfect," the white-haired man said, letting him go. "That's all I need to know. Get him."
Two of the men in riot helmets began to climb over the inflatable slide and Adrian panicked. He leaned down and tried to remove the slide stops fixed to the floor of the fuselage, but they were too tight.
"Captain?" Thomas said, hidden behind the doorframe. "What do we do?"
Adrian couldn't think. He didn't know what to do, but he couldn't let the white-haired man take the children. He tugged Thomas's arm. "Come with me."
He also grabbed a handful of Samantha's shirt and dragged the two kids down the hallway, out of business class to economy. He heard the voices of the men climbing on board. Adrian and the kids ran all the way down to economy class and up to the other galley at the tail of the plane. Adrian entered the area and opened the hidden cupboards usually used for stocking spirits.
"Inside, quick!" Adrian said.
Samantha looked at him, her eyes wide and scared. "We can't all fit in there!"
Adrian shook his head. "I'm not coming with you."
"But I don't want to leave you!" The girl's face twitched and her eyes filled with tears. "No, I won't do it!" Samantha burst out crying.
Adrian took her chin. "Listen to me. Whatever happens, stay inside. I'll distract them and they won't find you."
"What will they do to you, Captain?" Thomas asked.
Adrian preferred not to answer.
"I promise I'll return to you. Maybe it'll take me a few days to escape from them, but you have to remain on the plane. You have food and water, and you'll be all right. Protect yourself at night and wait for me here."
"No!" Samantha said, clinging to him. "Don't leave me, please! You said you'd never leave me!"
Adrian's heart broke. "I'm not giving you up, I'll do my best to come back, I promise," he said, hoping with all his heart he could live up to his word. He looked Samantha in the eye. "You do believe me, right?"
Despite her tears, Samantha nodded.
"Thomas?"
Thomas bowed his head quickly, his eyes shining.
"Do as I've told you. And don't get out until there's silence for quite some time."
"Good luck, Captain," Thomas said.
Both kids hugged him hard, crying, and Adrian's eyes filled with tears, too.
He absolutely had to survive and get back to them.
Chapter 7
Adrian waited for the intruders halfway down the corridor of the economy class. As they entered, he tried to divert them from the tail of the plane fleeing towards the lavatories. They seized him, handcuffed him, and dragged him back to business class, where their leader was waiting for him.
His attackers pushed him in front of the white-haired man.
Definitely, the man had something wrong. Not just the crooked look and cold smile. Physically, he looked like an ordinary type, thin, not too tall, a bulbous nose that seemed to have been broken in the past, more or less Adrian's same age. But a deep disgusting feeling made Adrian's skin crawl at the guy's mere proximity. Something crept around the man. Literally. Some mysterious cold whispers that scared Adrian to death.
The man stared at him with that smile that looked like a mask. "Look, Serpent, he's quite nice. What do you think?"
"Yes, he is," the guy called Serpent said. He looked as scared as Adrian. "What are you going to do to him, Ghost?"
"I'll take him to the headquarters, and for now he'll be my slave, just like you, Serpent. What's your name, Captain?"
Adrian didn't want the man to know how much he terrified him.
He straightened his shoulders. "I'm Adrian Mesler."
"Well, usually I play with those much smaller, Adria
n, but it looks like I'll have to be content with what I can get."
Ghost took his chin and Adrian drew back. The touch of Ghost's hand disgusted him. He couldn't imagine how he would put up with whatever else awaited him. But he had to be strong and hold on for the sake of the kids.
The man with eyes like ice stood near the door. He looked at him, without intervening. Adrian hated him for that. He began to feel a kind of sympathy for the one they called 'Serpent'.
Other men in riot armor pushed the four Swedish tourists who were hiding in the cockpit out into the hallway.
"We looked around the plane, Ghost," one of them said, raising the visor of his riot helmet. "We only found these four whining oldies."
"Okay," Ghost said, still looking at Adrian in the eyes. "We can leave."
"What do we do with these old people?"
Irritated, Ghost raised his hand as if to chase away a fly. "Kill them."
"No!" Adrian shouted, but Ghost held him back.
The men, however vile, hesitated, looking uncertainly at the poor tourists in tears.
Ghost put an arm around Adrian's shoulders as if they were friends. Instead, his grip was steel and his hand so cold through the fabric of Adrian's shirt that all his blood seemed to freeze.
"What are you waiting for?" Ghost said to his men.
"You don't need to shoot those poor souls, Ghost," someone said.
It was the man with tall man near the door. Finally, he intervened. "They're already dead if you take away their captain."
Ghost's smile widened slowly. "Do you know? You're right, Mendoza. You're a genius. Come on, and let the old ones live. It'll be just a slower death."
* * * *
Their headquarters were on the plains, not far from the landed Boeing. As they travelled in an armored bus with a prison emblem on its side, a huge factory, maybe a cement plant, came into view. The complex had collapsed during the earthquake. The gigantic smokestacks lay on the ground, split into sections, abandoned and gray like massive, dead dinosaurs.
The vehicle crept through the remains of the huge chimneys and reached a squat secondary building, still intact.
Ghost had his arm around Adrian's shoulders for the entire ride. As the vehicle stopped, Ghost pushed Adrian down the ramp exit. They entered the building. Adrian found himself in a kind of dirty canteen a considerable quantity of rotten food on the tables and empty bottles of spirits scattered around.
The Landing (Apocalypse) Page 4
