“Yeah. Her, Kit, and the docs headed out to find that plane.”
“Did you see them off?” Ada asked. “Was Cass wearing the emergency belt I gave her?”
“I did. And she was. Thank you,” Eb said. “Anyhow, I know all of us were searching the web, social media, you name it, for survivors. It’s especially crucial now that the… what did you call it, mean green is looming.”
“If the two bonehead Harvardites are right,” Ada replied.
“You don’t think they are?” Eb asked.
Ada shrugged. “They could be. Doesn’t mean we’re doomed. It just means if it’s coming we need to kick into action to stop it.”
“Can we?” Eb asked.
“Hell yes. What’s coming is natural, we just need nature to beat it. That’s all,” Ada said.
“The reason I’m here,” Eb said, “is because we need to find people before the mean green takes over.”
“Stop. Wait.” Lena held up her hand. “The mean green. Is that what you’re calling the green stuff growing on bodies and the deer.”
“It’s gonna grow on everything,” Eb explained. “Art and Niles told us that it’s gonna cover and break down anything not alive. Kind of like speeding up the biodegradable process. So anyhow, when we had a signal, I had Kat go on social media, like Lena, and start looking. But I just told him to print it up, instead of wasting time reading all the posts and feeds. He was looking through and he found one not far away.” He handed Ada the papers. “I highlighted the conversation.”
Ada looked down and read, “Anyone driving to Flag…” Her eyes lifted, then she continued. “Flagstaff. No planes. Stuck in Vegas.”
Trixie exhaled a loud sigh. “Oh, I was stuck in Vegas once. Not exactly stuck there, but we missed our connecting flight because two Romanian senior citizens got confused and wouldn’t leave the plane. The woman started crying and sobbing. We ended up in Boise, talk about nothing to do.”
Ada shot her a glance. “Talk about having nothing to do with what is going on here,” she said sarcastically.
“It kind of does.” Trixie shrugged.
“Anyhow”—Eb pointed at the paper—“you can see two people offered him a ride to other places, but they stopped responding.”
“He posted four more times to the post ‘Anyone out there,’” said Ada. “Last one said he was going to the underground.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t figure that out,” Eb said. “The underground what?”
“You know Vegas,” Ada replied. “Heck you go there all the time for those fights. Is there a train… the underground what?”
Trixie spoke up. “The Underground.”
Both Eb and Ada looked at her.
“You don’t know?” Trixie asked Eb. “You go to the fights at the same resort. It’s underground, has a few eating places, game room, comedy club…”
Eb sung out a long ‘oh’ and nodded. “Okay. I know where it is. It is underground.” He looked at Ada. “Food. Probably thinks it’s safer there.”
“What are you gonna do?” Ada asked.
“Go. We can be there by four at the latest, we can make it back by dark or stay. Which brings me to my point of coming here,” he said to Ada. “Feel like going?”
Ada only hesitated for a second before smiling. “Hot damn, give me fifteen minutes to gear up.”
Eb agreed. Knowing Ada it would be interesting to see what she considered ‘gear’ for the trip, but she was by far the best person to take.
Willow Springs, AZ
“Oh, brother,” were Kit’s first words when they reached the plane.
Not ‘oh, shit’ or even ‘damn’ but a G-rated, boy scout, ‘oh, brother.’ Upon hearing it, Cass raised an eyebrow and turned her head to him. She wanted to make fun of him for his less than enthusiastic or alarmed reaction. After all he was pretty snide to her about her Ada-made utility belt. Instead, she snickered. “Really?”
“What?” Kit asked.
“That’s your reaction ‘oh, brother’?”
“Yeah.”
Cass could have thought of a hundred other reactions to seeing the plane. The aircraft had been perfectly landed on the deserted highway. Cass supposed the pilot had truly wanted to keep his passengers safe, telling them to stay inside.
But the plane was not how they expected.
Most of it and the road around it was covered with the fungus. Primarily green in color with spots of aqua blue and emerald green throughout. It wound up from the road like a vine, reaching the plane and spreading across it like mold. Only spots and segments of the windows could be seen.
Cass looked to Art then Niles. “Neither of you have anything to say?”
“I didn’t expect this,” Niles said. “This is fast.”
“I’m gonna”—Art pointed backwards—“move the church van back away from this stuff. You may want to move your squad car.”
“Why?” asked Kit.
“Just… just in case it grows faster than we think,” Art replied.
“Good lord,” Kit said. “We’re parked a couple hundred feet away. How fast is this thing gonna grow? Obviously not that fast.”
“You never know. I never know,” Art said as he walked backwards. “At one point it covered the world. Right here is a breeding ground. We can see that.”
“Where did it come from?” Cass asked.
Art stopped walking. “What?”
“Where did it come from? I mean the plane is on the middle of the highway. How did it reach the plane?”
Art turned and walked to the car.
“What did I say?” Cass asked. “I thought it was a good question.”
Kit slightly shook his head confused. “Cass, didn’t you pay attention on the ride here?”
“Yeah.”
“No. We saw this stuff the entire way here. What do you think all the green was on the side of the road?”
“Grass and shrubs.”
“When’s the last time you drove up this far north?”
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes, well, this place has been shades of brown for a long time,” said Kit. He looked down. “My guess an animal was out there, it died, and the flies carried it.”
“Or people,” Niles said. “I mean, there’s a chance they got off the plane and were sick, exposed and died out here.”
“No,” Cass stated. “They never left that plane. Why would they close the doors again? They’re on there.”
“Then they have to be dead,” Kit said. “Look at it. It’s not running. Even if the pilot fired up the engines every so often to circulate the air, it’s not running now. It’s ninety degrees.”
“What if he was able to conserve,” Cass said. “And we just so happen to be in that moment where he has it off.”
“Cass.”
“What if they found a way to let air in? I mean, if they waited the twenty-four hours, they’d be safe,” Cass said.
“We all appreciate your optimism,” Niles said. “Chances are they have passed. The temperature in there is deadly. They can’t open the doors.”
“Sure they can,” Cass said.
“No.” Nile shook his head. “They cannot.”
“It’s just fungus.”
Art was returning and responded on his way back to the plane. “Just fungus. What exactly does that statement mean?”
“Don’t be mean to her,” Kit warned.
“I’m not,” Art replied. “I’m just asking.”
“Fungus. I mean like soft,” Cass replied.
“Look down,” Art directed. “Feel what you’re standing on. Does it feel soft?” He walked close to the plane and touched it. “The surface is soft and pliable, but underneath it’s hard. It adheres to the surface like cement. It’s not coming off. When this fungus was discovered, they thought it was a prehistoric tree. That is how big and firm it grew.”