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.”
“We can’t stay here any longer,” I said. “If the flare last night attracted quite a few killers, then imagine what the tower of smoke from the terminal will do. We know there are a few hundred people from the plane wandering around the New York area; I say we make our way into the city. That way, we’ll be close to supplies and have a few places to hide if the killers come after us.”
“Killers? Is that what they are called?” The old man from Long Island asked.
“I don’t think they have a specific name, but I can’t think of a better description. Can you? Besides, ‘they’, are just people who happened to be on the ground when it all went wrong.”
The four remaining passengers talked quietly between themselves for a moment.
“We don’t want to go into the city,” the younger man said. “We’re going to take our parents home.”
The old couple probably didn’t want to be ducking around the streets and scavenging for supplies. They probably just wanted to get back to a familiar environment. Who could blame them?
“Can you drive?” I asked, thinking about the abandoned cars on the road to the terminal.
“I’ll drive them to Long Island,” the captain said. “I need to get home and find my family, too.”
As much as I feared for their safety, I was relieved that we didn’t have to bring them all along with us, smaller groups would be much more mobile and easier to manage. I had actually been hoping that Bernie would drive them to Long Island. We hadn’t had a proper conversation since Linda died, and I could feel that things were awkward between us.
Jack was also keen to get things moving. “Let’s get out of here now. The longer we hang around discussing our options, the more likely it is that a killer will turn up.”
“So, it’s just the three of us then?” Bernie asked.
“We’ll be alright, Bernie. Zero tolerance, remember?” Jack nodded.
The eight of us jumped down the slide and made our way to the gap in the fence. I could feel the heat from the terminal building, as we got closer.
A shot rang out and the captain was propelled backwards, I dived for cover and pushed the other passengers down. Jack nudged me and pointed to a silver car on the other side of the fence. Behind it was a bearded man in a lumberjack shirt, holding what appeared to be a bolt-action rifle. He started to reload.
I looked across at the captain who was breathing heavily.
“Where have you been hit?” I asked.
“I don’t think I am. The shot just knocked off my epaulette and the force threw me back.”
“Pretend you’re dead.”
“What?”
“Pretend you’re dead, now,” I said.
He closed his eyes and let his head loll sideways.
I didn’t want this killer taking any more pot shots at us with his rifle. I moved over to the captain slowly, and pretended to take his pulse, expecting a shot to be fired at any moment.
“Stay down. I am going to try something,” I whispered to the group.
I sprang up, ran over to the fence and shouted, “You’ve fucking killed him. You’ve killed him. What are you doing?”
The man behind the car watched my antics for a few seconds before placing the rifle muzzle in his mouth. He strained to reach the trigger with his fingertips, then gagged as he forced the barrel further down his throat. There was no hesitation once he could reach the trigger, and he fired down his throat, wobbled for two seconds with his arms outstretched, and then crumpled to the ground.
I grabbed the fence to keep myself steady.
“Right, everyone, let’s go,” Jack stood and waved the group along.
We all crawled through the hole in the fence and made for the cars on the road.
“How did you know he was going to do that?” Bernie asked, as he came alongside me.
“I thought it might work, but I didn’t know. They seem to need confirmation that their victim is dead before they can kill themselves. I tried to give him that. Anyway, if we didn’t do something, he could have taken us all out from that range. Our pistols would have been useless.”
Jack went over to our assailant and took the rifle and a pouch of ammunition. He opened the car door next to the body, climbed in, and started the engine.
“This one’s a runner,” Jack said as he jumped out of the car.
“You five take it,” Bernie said to the captain and family.
They didn’t need to be convinced, and quickly got into the car and shut the doors. The captain rolled the driver side window down, as I approached.
“Good luck. Hopefully, we’ll meet again,” he said.
I couldn’t let them leave without some form of defence, and held the Sig out to him by the barrel.
“Take this. You might need it.”
“Thanks,” the captain nodded.
I gave him a quick lesson on how to use the Sig through the open window, and then said my farewells. Jack and Bernie did the same.
The car moved off, weaving through the stationary traffic away from the airport. I was glad the captain had some protection but as they disappeared into the distance, I thought it might not be enough.
“That was generous of you, especially after we just acquired a rifle,” Jack said. “Well done for fooling that killer, by the way. Here, take the Glock.”