First Activation

Bernie shook his head.

“Do you have any rope?” Jack shouted up.

“Yes, why?”

“Can you drag these cases up the slide? We’ve some drinks and chocolate for the passengers. Once we get this stuff up, we’ll give you a full debrief,” I shouted.

The captain was about to reply but appeared distracted by something behind us. I turned to see thick black smoke belching into the air from the terminal. So much for remaining inconspicuous.

He looked back down at us, and then shook his head before disappearing back into the cabin for the required rope. The suitcases were dragged up, then Jack, Bernie, and I climbed the slide and stood in the entrance, four people appeared behind the captain.

“We had a terrible time last night. After your flare, we had a stream of visitors. The first one said he had a bus waiting for us at the front of the terminal. We told him to stay at the bottom of the slide. Another man sneaked up on him from nowhere, and stabbed him in the chest before slicing his own throat. Shortly after that, another man turned up, he said he thought he had heard voices coming from the police building and wanted us to help him investigate. When we refused, he started to get angry and threatened to set fire to the plane. He ended up being strangled with a bootlace by a large lady, who then took the knife from the other body and forced it into her own eye,” the captain said.

“Where is everyone?” Jack said.

“There’s only four others left on board now. Most fled at first light after the experiences of last night. That guy, Morgan, led them through the gap you created in the fence, and they headed towards the safety cordon.”

I was looking at Bernie who didn’t seem to be hearing a word the captain said.

“What safety cordon?” I asked.

“The general consensus was that a terrorist attack had taken place. Morgan stirred up the rest of the passengers claiming your flare was a signal that you had reached the safety cordon. He led them all out, despite my protests, and they disappeared along the road towards the city. I wouldn’t leave, as four passengers decided to remain on board. So Lieutenant Marsden accompanied the group.”

The captain’s words chilled me. Bernie had planted the terrorist seed, but I fired the flare that Morgan used to talk most passengers into leaving. Who knows what they were going to find or how many would survive? I knew we weren’t completely to blame for the passengers making a break for it, but I couldn’t help feeling partly responsible.

The four passengers behind the captain were made up of an elderly couple, who couldn’t have travelled very far on foot even if they wanted to, and their adult children. They told us they were from Long Island.

While Jack and I recounted our story, the small audience looked visibly horrified. We told them about the front of the terminal, our encounter with Maureen, finding the man in the cells, and what had just happened inside the terminal.

They were clearly moved by the story of Linda’s death; Bernie kept quiet despite their condolences. The confession in the police building created the most astonishment. It seemed to explain what they had witnessed at the bottom of the slide and overnight.

Once we finished our debrief, I had a few questions of my own for the captain.

“You said you were communicating with other planes in the air, what happened to those?”

“I was the first to land here. When I saw the deserted runways and then the scene by the gate, I advised all the other planes in the vicinity to try another airport.”

“Have you heard from any of them since we left yesterday?”

“Yes, a couple of planes landed at Newark and it sounded like they encountered pretty much the same thing we did.”

The captain still seemed to be holding back.

“Then what?” I probed.

“Most passengers left the planes on foot and tried to find Homeland Security. They all came to the same conclusion we had.”

If the rest of our plane had waited to hear what we managed to discover, at least we could have alerted them to the dangers they might face. I was angry with Morgan for leading them away before our return, but could understand their need to search for safety.

“How far do you think this has spread?” I asked.

The captain looked nervous. “Honestly?”

“There’s no point hiding anything from us. We’ve been out there, we’ve seen what has happened. Tell us. How far do you think this has spread?” Jack replied.

“I honestly don’t know, but I would say it goes a lot further than New York. One of the pilots who landed in Newark managed to connect on the emergency frequency with a plane trying to land at Heathrow. He said they were having similar problems.”

Jack put his head in his hands and said what I was thinking.

“Fuck.”

“Do you think this is global?” the old man asked.

“Why not,” Bernie said, finally joining in, “it could hardly be a coincidence that all of this has happened. We’re all screwed.”