Thursday, April 16, 2009

Dominick, 18

The countdown had begun. Dominick waited anxiously at the boarding gate. The plane that was to take him and his friends to Cancun for their senior trip had arrived, and its passengers emptied the plane quickly, weary-eyed. He glanced across the aisle to see if his travelling partners were as amped as he was: everyone wore a smug smile at the thought of the debaucheries that awaited them in Mexico. “Underage drinking here we come” was Dominick’s only thought. He noticed Linda, the beauty of the group, had an anxious look on her face. She was dressed the part: flip flops, Bermuda shorts, red tank top, and sunglasses, but she was obviously distracted. “That fucker, Jason, better not miss this flight,” she said to no one.

“Available marshals please report to Gate 15. Available marshals please report to Gate 15,” boomed the overhead speaker. Dominick looked at his own gate, number 17. His gate was at the end of the cul de sac, and he had a great vantage point of the plane that had just arrived at 17. He could see the passengers shuffling back and forth in the plane ways, not too odd, but then he thought he saw a window streaked with what may have been blood. “Guys! Check this out.” He pulled his friends closer to the window. A number of plainclothes marshals ran down the hallway, towards the gate awaiting the opening of the plane door. “Oh shit!” Linda mumbled. Dominick saw the pilots empty the cockpit through a trap door and run down the tarmac. “What the fuck is happening?” An impulse to run grabbed Dominick but a group had gathered around him, pinning him to the glass. “Airport security’s on it. They can handle what’s going on”

Then came the panic. A flight attendant, hair and blouse disheveled, ran out of Gate 17. A look of wild terror flashed through her eyes. She screamed three words “EVERYONE FUCKING RUN!” before collapsing. No one moved. Gunfire erupted from gate hallway. Everyone fucking ran. Screams of panic filled the terminal as everyone raced away from the gate. Dominick reacted quicker than most, and he was catching his stride at Gate 5, when he ran into a brick wall, Jason. “Where is she?” He screamed. “Linda, where is she?” He looked back towards the window at Gate 17 and could make out a red tank top lying motionless at the window. “Oh shit.” Without a thought, he and Jason sprinted back.

As they approached, Gate 6, the fire marshalls fell back into the hallway, each shooting at will.

At Gate 8 the marshals formed a semicircle. One yelled for more backup.

Gate 9: “Officer down. Officer down. These things are hostile, and the entire plane’s full of them.”

Gate 13: “I’m out.” “I’m out” “Fall back. Fall back.”

Gate 14: Dominick saw it. Someone, something stepped out of that hallway, and there were a shitload more behind it. It made a lunge for their nearest marshal, took a shot to the chest, stood dazed, and kept coming. A uniformed detail shouted “Shoot them in the head!”

Gate 15: More things spilled out. Dominick paused, and cut left making damn sure to keep out of the cross fire. Jason didn’t. A snap pierced the air, and Dominick noticed his running partner was no longer running. “Jason? JASON!” Dominick snapped his head back and was stopped in his tracks at the sight of Jason’s body seizing. He didn’t hear the marshals shout, “Fall back. Fall back. Everyone get the fuck out.” Bloody flesh and shattered bone replaced what had been his face. Dominick walked over and knelt down by his friend. He’d never seen blood before, and Jason was unrecognizable. Tears sprang from nowhere, and Dominick was sure this wasn’t happening. “Dominick.” A guttural noise escaped from the hole that was Jason’s cheek. “Dominick.”

Dominick could see Jason’s tongue move as he spoke. “Yeah, Jason.”

“Dominick, behind you.”

No comments:

Post a Comment