One man, with a shock of thick black curly-hair and dressed in a dark suit jacket, pulled his family forward at a slightly faster pace than the others. Several times, he turned around to face the slowpokes at his back.
“C’mon people,” the man yelled over. “What’s everyone so worried about? You saw the signal over the city. It’s over. There’s a major relief effort going on in San Antonio right now.”
He clapped his hands together, like he was rounding up a pack of dogs.
“Let’s go! C’mon people.”
A few stragglers, either emboldened or embarrassed by the man, moved forward at a quicker pace. They closed in on the terminal building.
“That’s it,” the curly-haired man said, beckoning them forward. “Let’s go. It’s going to be alright. Now listen up – if anyone’s struggling to carry their bags, let somebody know and we’ll find someone to carry them for you. But we’ve got to keep moving whatever else happens. Chop-chop!”
“What about our guns?” somebody yelled.
The curly-haired man raised a hand in the air.
“The worst is over,” he said. “Nick’s going to grab a couple of guns out of the hold – we won’t need any more than that or they’ll weigh us down. What we need right now is for people to start walking. Movement. As quick as you can. I don’t want to make it all the way into San Antonio only to find that whoever’s setting off that signal is gone.”
The man turned around and steered his family towards the terminal. Others followed, apparently buoyed by his enthusiasm.
“Guess we’d better go,” Cody said, standing at the door of the plane. He took Rachel’s hand in his. Then he paused to let Crazy Diamond walk down the airstairs before him. Nick then gestured for Cody and Rachel to go before him.
“Better grab those guns,” he said.
Cody and Rachel stepped onto the stairs. The air was warm and fresh outside. As they took the first couple of stairs, Cody felt the wind picking up-tempo.
Something landed on his head. Something wet.
Cody flinched, like he’d felt a giant spider crawling up the back of his neck. He touched the top of his head and looked at his fingers.
A drop of oily dark liquid ran down the palm of his hand.
He felt a stabbing dread in his guts.
“That’s black rain,” he said. “See that?”
Rachel tilted her head back and looked up at the dark sky.
“We shouldn’t be out here,” she said. “Dad…”
Cody was about to say something when a noise cut him off. It was a shrill, tearing sound – it sounded like a giant piece of cloth being shredded inside their ears. It was so loud that everyone on the apron, in the midst of their initial shock, was forced to cover their ears and wince in pain.
Everyone was looking around in wide-eyed panic. Some of the passengers turned to the curly-haired man for guidance. But he was frozen to the spot, his earlier assurance obliterated by the sudden noise. Cody saw him screaming in agony – the man’s face was grotesquely contorted, as if the tearing sound was a sharp blade slicing its way down the tip of his skull.
Cody saw something – a flicker of movement on the ground.
“Jesus Christ,” he said. He pointed towards the apron. “Look!”
Hundreds of black shapes shot out of the earth. They were tall, humanoid figures and each one appeared directly in front of a horrified looking passenger. Cody’s jaw dropped. It was as if a multitude of invisible holes had materialized on the ground, out of which a secret phantom army had emerged from.
Cody and the others looked on in horror from the airstairs.
The black ghosts were tall and faceless. There were no features at all – no eyes, nose, mouth or ears – it was as if they’d been built out of black mist to resemble a human shape and nothing else.
The phantoms bolted at the person standing nearest to them. They didn’t walk, they moved at a rapid speed like they had fast-moving wheels attached underneath.
They slid inside the nearest passenger, like keys fitting into a lock.
Cody grabbed Rachel and spun her around. He tried to bury her head in his shirt but to his surprise, Rachel resisted, wriggling free of his grip and turning her head towards the apron.
The passengers convulsed immediately. They were caught in the grip of a violent seizure that took over their bodies and Cody assumed, their minds. He didn’t want to watch but he couldn’t close his eyes or turn away either. It looked like the passengers had received an injection – a ten thousand gigawatt speedball that had turned them into a set of violent human jumping beans. They shook back and forth, possessed people – no longer themselves.
The curly-haired man dropped onto his knees.
Blackness seeped into his eyes.
An overweight, middle-aged man grabbed another man by the hair. He started hitting the other man on the face, using his closed fists like hammers. During the struggle, they both fell to the ground and the other man came out on top. Now it was his turn to throw a barrage of punches from top position, while the older man on bottom put his thumbs to the man’s face and tried to claw his eyeballs out of his head.
It was as if a murderous rage had infested their minds. They were slamming each other’s heads off the ground like they were basketballs. Husbands were strangling their wives and vice-versa. The air was filled with a violent shrieking noise – a sound that would never be forgotten by those who heard it.
Some of the passengers didn’t bother with anyone else. They were slamming their own heads into the ground.
Cody’s stomach lurched and he knew he was going to be sick. If not now, then soon. He looked down and saw three passengers – an old man and a younger couple – who’d been close to the plane, running back towards the airstairs.
“Get back here!” Nick yelled to them. “Quick.”
The horrific scene seemed to last forever. In reality however, it was over quickly – probably less than a minute and a half before there was only one passenger left. A young man, around his late twenties, he dropped to his knees and proceeded to slam his bloody head off the ground.
Then he stopped.
A chilling silence swept across the airport.
Cody took a step backwards, almost tripping over his feet. Instinctively, he pulled Rachel towards the door of the plane.
“Get inside,” Cody said to the others. His voice was trembling.
The three survivors on the apron leapt up the stairs and followed the others back inside the cabin.
Nick stood at the door, waiting until everybody was inside. When the old man and the young couple had caught up with them, Nick pulled up the airstairs as fast as he could, folding it below the door. After that, he ran back into the cabin.
“Is that door locked?” Cody yelled to Nick, pointing to the back of the plane. “Is it locked for Christ’s sake?”
“It’s locked,” Nick said, holding his hands up. “It’s locked. Ain’t nothing or no one getting in here Cody.”
The old man dropped onto his knees in the center of the aisle. He crawled into a row of seats and once there, fell onto his stomach and wailed pitifully into the back of his hands like a child.
The young couple who’d made it back with the old man slid down onto the floor outside the rear cabin bathrooms. They were shaking in manic spurts and clutching onto the other’s hand for dear life.
Wide-eyed panic filled their faces.
Cody, Rachel, Nick and Crazy Diamond were standing in the center of the cabin. At first, they were too shocked to speak. All they could do was look at one another.
Eventually it was Nick who broke the silence.
“What the hell was that?” he said. “What just happened out there?”
Cody couldn’t answer. He was thinking about running to the bathroom and being sick when Crazy Diamond made a gagging noise beside him. The young woman turned around and running at full speed, beat Cody to it. She went into the vacant bathroom opposite where the young man
and woman were sitting on the floor, still shaking uncontrollably.
Everyone heard Crazy Diamond retching violently. Cody tightened his grip on both Rachel’s shoulders and the contents of his stomach.
Nick fell back into one of the aisle seats with a crashing thud. His brown, haunted eyes stared into empty space.
“Why did she bring us back?” Nick said.
No one answered.
Chapter Three
Cody looked down the cabin.
Crazy Diamond, after having spent a long time in the bathroom being sick, was now sitting a few rows down from where Cody sat with Rachel perched on his lap. The young woman was hunched over in her seat. Her skin was a ghastly yellow color, like that of a wax doll. She looked like someone trying to quietly endure the worst hangover of their life.
The old man’s muffled sobbing was a constant background noise. He’d said nothing to anyone since getting back on the plane. The young couple hadn’t spoken either – they were still sitting on the floor by the bathroom. They continued to cling onto each other in terror. Their eyes were doll-like, swimming in the fresh horror of recent memories.
“We can’t go back out there,” Cody said. “Not with those things running around.”
Nick was sitting opposite Crazy Diamond. He was staring at the floor, head in hands.
“Those things,” he said. “And what the hell were those things?”
Before Cody could say anything, the couple on the floor jolted in unison. It was a sudden, spasmodic movement that caused almost everyone else to jump in fright. The woman tried to say something to the man but the words appeared to clot on the tip of her tongue. All meaning was lost in the gargled mess that spilled out of her mouth.
Cody looked over at Nick.
“We’ve got to figure this out man,” he said. “We can’t go outside but we can’t stay in here forever.”
There was a distant look in Nick’s eyes.
“This is my fault Cody,” he said, looking up at his friend. “I told those people that I’d get them out of San Antonio. I told them they’d be safe with me – that their families would be safe with me. Their children.”
“Don’t you dare,” Cody said, pointing a finger at Nick. “You’re not going to blame yourself for this, okay? Those people couldn’t get off this plane fast enough.”
Nick closed his eyes. He grimaced slightly.
Cody was about to say something else but a strange noise interrupted him. It was coming from outside the bathrooms again. The two people on the floor were making rattling noises with their teeth – a click-clacking sound – as if their mouths were percussive instruments.
Cody shot them a furious look, wishing they’d shut the hell up. They looked like nice people. College educated, nice sweater, nice blouse, neat and inoffensive haircuts – the type of people you’d see sitting around the dinner table at an upper middle-class dinner party, strutting around the tennis club bar, and driving the latest BMW. The man was skinny and his wife was verging on the plump side.
They weren’t paying any attention to anyone but themselves.
The man’s head fell onto his wife’s shoulder. He was shaking violently and she struggled to keep a hold of him.
“Hey guys,” Cody said, calling over to them. He couldn’t hide the irritation in his voice. He slid Rachel off his lap and she dropped onto the seat. Cody stood up and took a couple of tentative steps down the aisle. He didn’t want to get too close to the couple. He didn’t know why, it was just instinctive.
“You’re safe now,” he said. He wanted to sound firm without seeming callous. “Please just try to calm down. It’s going to be okay – we’re going to figure it out.”
They didn’t even look at him.
“Nice people,” Crazy Diamond said. “I’m so glad they’re here.”
Cody looked at her and shrugged.
“Tell me about it.”
He turned around – perhaps a little too fast. Cody saw flashing images in his mind – lightning fast, vivid and bloody memories of people attacking one another on the apron. The blood in his vision was black.
Cody put a hand on the nearest headrest. He swayed on unsteady feet.
“You okay?” Nick asked.
Cody nodded but didn’t talk.
“You want to sit down?” Nick said.
“I’m good,” Cody said, as the feeling passed. “Look, we need a plan. I think we should stay here at least for now. There’s food, water – there’s a bathroom. We’re okay I think as long as we just keep ourselves inside the plane. If nothing else, it’ll give us some time to think.”
Crazy Diamond nodded. “Yeah. I got nothing better.”
“Yeah,” Nick said.
Crazy Diamond stood up slowly. She looked at the old man a few rows along and walked over there. The man was sprawled out on his front. He was sobbing into the back of his hands.
There was a look of curiosity intermingled with concern on Crazy Diamond’s face. She kneeled down at the edge of the aisle. The soles of the man’s stylish brown shoes were just inches from her face. His head was pushed tight against the side of the fuselage, like he was trying to bury it inside the plane.
“Sir,” Crazy Diamond said. “Excuse me sir. Is there anything I can do? Bring you a glass of water? Something stronger? I’m sure there’s some whiskey around here somewhere.”
The old man didn’t respond.
Crazy Diamond stood back up and walked down the aisle. She unzipped her bag and pulled out a small bottle of water. Then she went back to the old man, unscrewing the lid as she walked. She took a sip and then offered it to him.
“Some water?” she said. “Sir?”
The old man didn’t answer but Crazy Diamond wasn’t deterred. She stayed beside him and although it took her asking several times, eventually he turned around, picked himself up and sat up straight in the seat. Cody looked at him and guessed he was about seventy years old. He had an impressive head of hedge-like white hair and a large, matching beard that covered most of his face. He was wearing a gray tweed blazer and sweater, with a pale shirt collar poking out at the neck. Cody thought the old man looked like a history professor who’d wandered far from the campus grounds onto the set of a horror movie.
The old man looked at Crazy Diamond with bloodshot eyes. Cody knew that look well. He’d seen it in the mirror plenty of times.
“Marianne,” the old man said. His voice was deep and quiet.
Crazy Diamond offered him the bottle of water. The old man looked at it and shook his head.
“No thank you.”
“Your wife?” Crazy Diamond said. “Is that Marianne?”
He nodded. “She was out there. She’s still out there.”
“I’m so sorry,” Crazy Diamond said.
She sat down on the floor and crossed her legs.
“What’s your name sir?” Crazy Diamond said. “What do we call you?”
The old man looked puzzled by the question. Like it didn’t matter.
“Richards,” he said. “John Richards.”
“Nice to meet you John,” Crazy Diamond said. “I’m Winona, but they call me Crazy Diamond.”
“I’d prefer it if you called me Richards,” he said. “If you don’t mind.”
She smiled. “Sure.”
Richards looked at the bottle on the floor. A trembling hand reached for it and Crazy Diamond handed it to him quickly. Richards unscrewed the lid and took a long drink, letting some of the water spill down the side of his mouth and soak into his massive beard.
“Thank you,” he said, wiping a hand across his lips.
“You’re welcome,” Crazy Diamond said.
Richards leaned his head back against the seat.
“She walked ahead of me,” he said. “She was always walking ahead of me and I was always dragging my heels behind her. Everywhere we went it was the same. Oh Marianne, she wouldn’t take her time, not for anything. Not even me. When those things came out of the ground…I heard
her scream. I couldn’t see her – it was too dark but I heard her over everyone else. Screaming my name. I was supposed to help her but what did I do?”
Crazy Diamond shook her head. But Cody knew the answer and he had a feeling she did too.
“I ran,” Richards said. He spat the words out like they were phlegm clinging to the back of his throat. “Like a coward. I didn’t even stop to think about what I was doing.”
Crazy Diamond put her hand on the man’s arm.
“You were scared,” she said.
He shook his head.
“But I heard her,” he said. “Yes of course I was petrified but I was in my right mind. And if I was in my right mind that means I abandoned her.”
“If you’d turned around,” Cody said. “You’d be dead too.”
Richards looked at Cody. There was a hint of surprise in his eyes like he’d forgotten there were other people in the plane.
“And would that be any worse than this?” Richards said.
Cody looked at the floor. It was a damn good question.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m a coward,” Richards said. He took another half-hearted sip of water and then handed the bottle back to Crazy Diamond.
“It’s very kind of you to try and comfort me young lady,” he said. “But there’s none to be found.”
A long silence lingered in the cabin.
“Dad.”
It was Rachel’s voice, coming from further down the aisle.
Cody turned around. “What is it honey?”
Rachel was pointing towards the bathroom.
“Those people are acting weird,” she said.
Cody looked at the couple sitting on the floor. They were both shaking violently. It was something else now – something other than fear. It was as if they were badly ill and caught in the grip of a disease-ridden fit. Their arms were wrapped around one another. Their faces were pressed up tight, their noses touching.
“Oh for God’s sake,” Cody said. He couldn’t hide the anger in his voice anymore. “Think you can cool it a little over there? You’re scaring my…”
Cody’s blood ran cold. This time they both looked at him.
Their eyes were black.
Black Fever: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (The Black Storm Trilogy Book 2) Page 3
