In the Lone and Level Sands

by David Lovato

  “Katie, run!” Layne said. Katie started down the ramp. It shook violently, then fell, and Katie jumped. Layne caught her and threw them both backward as the ramp landed in a pit of fire and metal. Katie was looking backward at it, like she couldn’t believe she’d made it. Then she looked at Layne beneath her.

  “Thanks,” she said. “Sorry.” She got up, then helped him up.

  “Don’t be. I’m glad you made it.” The two joined the rest of the group.

  “Think we can get this ramp back up?” Dex asked.

  “Why the hell would you want to?” Layne said.

  “To get to the cockpit. Maybe find the black box, play the tape, figure out what went wrong.”

  “You think it’s just a regular tape deck in there?” the young man who had helped carry the injured man said.

  “That’s a job for the authorities,” Layne said. “Right now, what matters is that we get everyone to safety.”

  “Where to, then?” Katie asked.

  “We set up a camp by our section of the plane. I don’t know about all of you, but I’m tired as hell.”

  “Definitely,” the teenaged girl said.

  “If we’re lucky, someone will find us during the night,” Layne said. “If not, we’ll find them in the morning. We just survived a plane crash, so we’re at least lucky enough for that.”

  Layne led the group, with Katie close behind him. He gathered that she had taken leadership on her end of the plane, as he had on his, yet she didn’t seem to mind his suggestions of what to do, and he was glad to have her help. Layne was surprised how well people could get along under horrific circumstances. He looked down at Alex’s bracelet, and his eyes teared up.

  “An old friend give you that?” Katie asked. Layne shook his head.

  “A new one.”

  The survivors mostly tried to save their breath as they followed the trail of wreckage, but now and then someone spoke to distract the others from the bits of plane and people.

  “I’m Dexter,” Dex said as he walked by the teenaged girl. Layne figured they were maybe three years apart, age-wise.

  “Lacie.”

  Layne wondered if Dex could have been any more obvious about hitting on her, but he also wondered if Lacie even noticed; she looked like she was a million miles away. It was like her mind had stayed on the plane, sailing clean, and was now landing in Seattle and wondering where the hell the rest of her was.

  “Her grandmother died in the crash,” Katie whispered.

  “Poor kid,” Layne said.

  The group reached the camp, where the other survivors were gathered around a fire. Several stood up to see the group’s return and to greet and help with the new survivors.

  “You actually found someone!” Jessi said. Layne saw Kara wasn’t with her, and looked to find her sleeping on the emergency slide, near the unconscious woman.

  “Yeah, and we had fun getting them out of there, too.”

  “Why’s that woman tied up?” Katie asked.

  “We had a bit of an incident after landing,” someone said. “She freaked out and bit some guy, who ended up dying because of it. We did that as a precaution.”

  People started talking. Layne wanted to tell them all to relax, that everything would be okay, that the worst was over and they’d be found soon. Instead, he walked over to a clear spot a few yards from the campfire, lay down on the grass, and fell asleep.

  ****

  When Layne woke up the sun was just rising. He was surprised he didn’t sleep for days. Groaning, he sat up and looked around. People were sleeping in various positions across the area, some on luggage or padding, some covered with makeshift blankets. Dex was sitting, wide awake, near the fire. Layne stood up, got dizzy and almost fell down, then collected himself and headed for the campfire. He plunked down next to Dex.

  “You look like a billion bucks, babe,” Dex said.

  “That’s funny,” Layne said, “because you look like shit.”

  Dex laughed. “You fell asleep before telling us what to do last night. We had to figure it out on our own. Isn’t it strange how as soon as things go to shit, people have to be told what to do? We’re like a bunch of sheep, man.”

  “Yeah, well, it looks like you managed.”

  “Yeah. A few of us took shifts keeping an eye out for rescue. Didn’t see anything all night, not even in the sky.” Dex threw a branch onto the fire. “We may have to go looking for them.”

  “We can’t all travel, not like this,” Layne said. He was still tired, and he couldn’t remember what it felt like to not be sore.

  “You wanna know what’s weird?” Dex said. “What’s really bugging me?”

  “What’s that?”

  “The news loves plane crashes. Their choppers should be all over this place, but there’s nothing. Nobody. With today’s technology, I’d think the plane had a GPS, an emergency signal, something to let people know it went down. Even if not, wouldn’t Seattle freak out when the plane never showed up? They should’ve found us hours ago.”

  Layne hadn’t thought too much about it. They were in the middle of nowhere, but they had to be along the West Coast, probably somewhere in northern California, maybe even Oregon. People couldn’t have been too far off.

  “It gets weirder,” Dex said. “A few of us have cell phones. They were off for the flight, but we checked a few times since our wonderful landing. They aren’t working. It’s like the signals are all shut down.” Layne thought for a while.

  “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for it all,” he finally said.

  Dex faked a laugh. “Thank you very much, Agent Scully.”

  Layne spent the rest of the morning trying to decide which way he and his party should head to find some help as the rest of the survivors woke up one by one.

  One of the first to rise was Katie. She wasted no time approaching Layne, and sat down next to him.

  “That guy who broke his legs isn’t doing too well,” she said. “If we don’t do something soon, he’s not going to make it.” Layne looked over at the makeshift stretcher. The man had been made comfortable, and Layne was surprised to see that the others had even set his legs, but blood had soaked through the clothing wrapped around his puncture wound.

  “I’ll try to set out as early as I can, then,” Layne said. He had hoped to rest before hiking in search of rescue, but that was a dream that died quickly.

  More survivors woke up, and Layne figured that waiting for more was just wasting time. He gathered the ones who were awake into a group.

  “I’m going to head out and look for someone. We have to let them know we went down, and get someone out here to help us.” As much of a pain in his ass it all was, he was still thanking God they hadn’t crashed on an island. “Who all wants to come with—”

  A loud scream tore through the air, disrupted the conversation, and woke everyone who hadn’t already. All heads turned to the source and saw that the woman who had freaked out on the plane was awake. She started thrashing about, trying to pry her hands free from the cord. Jessi quickly took Kara from the woman’s reach. As she did, the woman noticed her and lunged, trying to bite at both of them. She instead tripped on the slide, rolled to the ground, and then sat up and tried to gnaw her way through the cord on her wrists.

  “What the hell is wrong with this lady?” Dex asked. “She’s completely fucking lost it!”

  “I don’t know,” Layne said.

  The woman was still trying to gnaw her way through the cord. Nobody wanted to get close to her. She stopped chewing and looked at the crowd staring at her. Then, she stood up and let out another of those screams. She didn’t sound hurt or angry, but like she couldn’t figure out how her vocal cords worked, and a scream was all she could shove out of her throat. She returned to the cord binding her hands. After a few more chews it snapped, and her hands were free. She immediately hobbled toward the crowd of people. Two of them dove to get out of her way.

  “Layne, look out!” Jes
si said. The woman headed for him, arms outstretched. Layne grabbed her by the underarms as they fell backward, the woman snapping at him the whole time. When he landed, Layne rolled his legs upward and kicked the woman over him. She somersaulted, and then sat up.

  As Layne got to his feet, the woman dove, grabbed one of the survivors, and sank her teeth into his leg. He screamed and beat his fists against her head. She slowly tore a chunk of flesh from his leg. Another survivor approached, wielding a bar to strike her with. The woman turned and lunged, bit his throat, and started tearing at it. He only gurgled as he fell to the ground.

  “Someone take her out!” Katie said. Layne ran toward the woman, who was shambling toward another survivor.

  “Hey!” Layne said. The woman turned and saw him, lost interest in the other man, and started her strange shamble toward him.

  “Layne!” Dex said.

  Layne turned to see Dex toss him a metal bar. Layne caught it and spun, swinging the bar. It struck the woman in the side of the head just as she was upon him. She was knocked to the side, where she rolled down a small hill and stopped moving. Layne was breathing deeply, and he could see blood on the end of the bar.

  “Thanks, Dex—”

  There was a loud moan, and Layne saw the man whose leg had been bitten now hobbling toward him. The man whose throat was torn was crawling, scraping his way along the ground. He stopped halfway to Layne, dead from his wound, but the other man kept his relatively fast-paced stumble.

  “I don’t want to have to—” Layne couldn’t even finish. He swung and gave the man the same fate as the woman.

  Layne looked around, breathing heavily, adrenaline pumping through his veins. He looked at the bloody bar, then threw it to the ground in disgust.

  “What… Just what the fuck is happening?”

  People were staring. Until then, Layne hadn’t shown any sign of losing it. He realized this, but he couldn’t seem to hold it together anymore. The stares of the other survivors weren’t helping.

  “I’m a person, too,” he said.

  “I forgive you for that,” Dex said. If that didn’t break the tension, the man with the broken legs crying out in pain did. All eyes went to him as he started writhing on his stretcher.

  “Someone, please, help me,” he said.

  Layne headed over to him. “I’m going to take a group of people to go find help.”

  “We can’t do that,” Katie said. Layne looked at her. She looked pale.

  “Why not?”

  “He has an infection. He won’t live that long.”

  The group exchanged glances.

  “How do you know?”

  “Look at his leg. I’m no doctor, but anything that looks like that can’t be good.” She pointed. There was swelling around the wound, and red lines were working their way across his skin.

  “You’re right,” Layne said. “We have to take him with us.”

  “Then maybe we should all go,” Jessi said. “There’s no use in the uninjured ones staying back here. A town can’t be too far away.”

  “All right,” Layne said. “Everyone, pack up. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

  Layne walked over to the group’s pile of salvaged luggage and looked for anything that might be of use to them. A few other survivors joined in. They found a few bottles of water, a flashlight, and some crackers. Dex joined shortly after.

  “You know what I’ve been thinking, man?” he said.

  “What’s that?” Layne said, trying to focus on his search.

  “These people, they start freaking out every time they get bitten. It’s almost like they’re… I don’t know, zombies, or something.”

  “Your video game logic isn’t going to help any of us,” Lacie said from not far off. Dex looked hurt.

  “Well, how else do we explain it? Two perfectly rational people just died—”

  “Dex, enough,” Layne said.

  Dex looked at him. “All right, but I for one would like an explanation for what’s going on here. I want to know why we crashed, I want to know why nobody found us, and I really want to know why people are starting to eat each other!”

  “I don’t know, Dex. I don’t have any answers for you. All I know is that we have a man with two broken legs, and he’s going to die if we don’t get him some help, and soon.”

  Layne left Dex and brought some water to the injured man.

  “Thank you,” the man said, carefully drinking. It wasn’t hot out, but he was sweating.

  “What’s your name?” Layne asked.

  “Scott.”

  “Scott, try to relax. Just hang in there. We’re going to carry you to safety.”

  Everyone gathered their things, and then they were off. Layne worked out a system for carrying Scott, rotating the most able-bodied people two at a time.

  “How do we know where we’re going?” Dex asked, carrying Scott on the makeshift gurney.

  “We’re going north,” Layne said from the other end. He faced forward, carrying Scott behind him.

  “Why north?”

  “Because we were headed for Seattle, which is north.”

  Dex laughed. “You’re basing our direction on that? We could be walking away from the nearest town for all we know!”

  “You’re right, Dex. We could be. Do you have a better idea?”

  “Lead the way, Cap’n.”

  The group stayed quiet, for the most part. The rough metal that served as handles for the stretcher was digging into Layne’s hands. Suddenly, Paul stopped up ahead. Jessi walked close to him, carrying Kara, and she stopped as well.

  “We have to keep moving,” Layne said.

  “I hear something,” Paul replied. Layne listened. For a minute, he didn’t hear anything over his own breath, but then he heard it, too. There was a very low buzz, and it was getting louder. “Choppers!” Paul said. “Those are choppers! They found us!”

  “Run ahead, get to a clearing,” Layne said. Paul and the others started jogging to get out of the trees. Layne and Dex picked up their pace, but tried to be as careful as possible.

  The trees parted into a clearing, and then Layne saw them: Three choppers, flying low. The survivors jumped up and down, waving their arms and shouting. Two of the choppers continued on while one slowed, circled, and hovered above the clearing.

  “Hey! Over here!” Paul said. “We could use a hand!”

  There was a loud crackle as the helicopter’s megaphone clicked on. “Clear a space so we can set down.”

  The other two choppers returned and circled the area. The group moved out of the way, and the first chopper landed, but kept running. Layne carefully put Scott down and headed to the chopper to talk to the pilot.

  “We were in a plane crash!”

  “We’ve been picking people up all over the area, and we saw the wreckage about two miles away,” the pilot said.

  “Think you can fit us all?” Layne asked. Dex joined Layne and the pilot.

  “Or at least take our injured and point us toward a town.”

  “You guys were heading right toward Astoria. Maybe six miles away.”

  “I thought Astoria was in New York,” Dex said.

  “Oregon, but close. Put the injured guy on here, and we’ll see how many more we can fit.”

  “Who are you guys?” Layne asked. “You haven’t picked up any strange people, have you?”

  “We left the Air Force base yesterday. Our orders were to pick people up, but radio communication went out shortly after we took off. We were told to look for survivors, but we weren’t told what was going on, and we haven’t been in contact with base. You guys are some of the first people we’ve found, besides a small group out in the ocean this morning.”

  A voice broke in over another chopper’s megaphone.

  “Oh my God! We’re going to go dow—”

  Layne looked up and saw one of the choppers spiraling to the ground.

  “What the hell?” the pilot said.

  The chopper hi
t the ground sideways atop a hill. The propellers snapped, cutting deep gashes into the earth, and something on the bottom of the chopper caught fire. The body of the chopper rolled down the hill, toward the survivors. People scrambled.

  Layne could hardly bear to watch. It hit at least four people, crushing three and sending one flying through the air. He could only imagine surviving a plane wreck only to be crushed by a helicopter crash. The flaming metal body came to rest against a group of trees.

  “Check on everyone!” Layne said.

  The four it had hit were dead, and there was no one left alive inside the chopper. Layne and the survivors regrouped.

  “What the hell just happened?” the pilot asked.

  “Something is going on,” Layne said. “I don’t know what it is. Some people are just… They’re turning crazy. Then they attack people, and sometimes those people turn crazy, too.”

  “Jesus Christ. Are any of you going nuts?”

  “No, not since this morning,” Layne said. The pilot looked at him.

  “Why the hell should I lift any of you out of here? You could freak out and kill us all at any minute!” The pilot started flipping switches.

  “Wait, wait!”

  “We’re heading back to base.”

  “Bullshit!” Dex said.

  “Look! We have someone injured!” Layne said. “For God’s sake, at least take Scott! He’s infected, he’s going to die if you don’t! His legs are broken, if he flips out, he won’t be able to get to you anyway! God damn it, be reasonable! We’re human beings!”

  The pilot sat still for a moment.

  “There’s a case of water in the back. You can take that with you. I’ll take this guy back to base, and we’ll treat him there. The rest of you, keep heading northwest, and you can reach Astoria by mid-afternoon. I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you,” Layne said. He helped Dex load Scott into the back of the helicopter, across a row of seats.

  “Thank you so much,” Scott said.

  “Don’t worry. You’re going to be all right. Just take care, okay? We’ll be fine. We’re going to get to Astoria, and we’ll sort this whole thing out.”

  The choppers left, and Layne had about a half-dozen people to whom he had to explain why they’d be hoofing it to the nearest town.