Immediately upon stepping into the main cabin, he saw his brother to his right.
Owen was seated on the floor by the first row and by Lance.
“Hey,” Gabe said. “You alright?”
“I’m fine. Just watching our patient,” Owen replied. “I’m proud of you brother, good job.”
“Not good enough,” Gabe said, “Apparently, Dad said we lost seven.”
“We did. Mainly toward the back. The fire guy was making his way down the aisle getting people in their masks correctly. But you know, it happened so fast, there was nothing he could do by the time he got to the middle.”
Gabe looked down the aisle, Gary was making his way up from the back. He was hard to recognize without his fire gear. As he grew closer, Gabe could see two of the flight attendants standing, almost blocking the back area where the bathrooms were.
“Good job, young man,” Gary extended his hand. “You did well.”
“I heard you tried to help.”
Gary puckered a small, defeated smile. “I tried. I just moved them to the back row until we decide what to do with them.”
“The captain wants them below,” Gabe said.
“Miss Delaney thinks that’s best, too,” Gary stated.
“Is it though?” Gabe asked. “It seems so impersonal. I mean, we’re all on this flight together. I’m sure some have family on board now.”
“They do. I think they’ll be fine with moving them below. The bodies are slightly disturbing,” Gary commented. “For now, I have them in the last row. We covered them with what we could.”
Gabe leaned to the side to see the last row. Sure enough, where the flight attendants stood, the last row contained people. It looked as if they had been covered in those thin airline blankets, the shape of their heads clearly distinguishable. “I see only six. Are they over lapped? Please don’t tell me one was a child.”
“No. No. All adults,” Gary said. “And there are only six.”
“Where’s the seventh?”
Gary gave a look of ‘where do you think’ and he pointed backwards.
Gabe made his way there.
Delaney had her back toward Gabe, when the flight attendants parted like the red sea. As soon as he hit the back row, there was a weird bad smell that didn’t get any better when he stepped into the rear area. Delaney was on her knees, her rear resting on her foot as she leaned over the body of a man lying prone in the back of the plane on the floor in the larger open area of the rear galley.
Gabe cleared his throat.
Delaney set down her phone and looked over her shoulder.
“What … what are you doing?” Gabe asked.
“I’m examining the body,” Delaney replied.
“You’re not cutting him open, are you?”
She shook her head. “If I could, I would. I can’t, so it has to be a visual assessment.”
Gabe glanced down at the body. A male, older, maybe in his sixties. His eyes and mouth were closed, he looked peaceful. “Why?”
“For a couple of reasons,” Delaney said. “I highly doubt that anyone will be doing autopsies on those that died.”
“We know what killed them,” Gabe said. “No oxygen, and methane gas.”
“Yes. Yes, we do. But do we know what they went through?”
“You can tell all that by a visual assessment?”
“No, I can guess. Cutting into him would tell me more.”
“That’s cold.”
“It’s science, and his wife gave me permission to examine him. Because she wanted to know what he felt, what he went through, how long it took him to die.”
“Wasn’t she sitting right next to him?”
“In the craziness of the moment, she didn’t pay too much attention. No one did. It happened so fast. She said she turned her head and when she looked back, he was gone. She tried to put the oxygen on him. Now … the woman in twenty-two B, she fought it. Lasted longer than him.”
“How do you know? Did you examine her, too?”
“Just when we moved her. Her hand was clutching the seat, back arched, head to the side. It looked like a struggle. But we need to know for sure,” Delaney said.
“Is it important?”
“It is. To those of us who lost people or worry. I want to know if my kids suffered.”
“You don’t know that anything happened to them,” Gabe said. “You really don’t.”
“I don’t. Not for sure, but I know I can’t get ahold of anyone I know in Cleveland. No one. It’s not like the phones are down, they ring and ring. I even tried to call my office … nothing.”
“Don’t give up hope.”
“I won’t. But I am realistic and I want to be prepared.”
“Examining some dead guy will do that?”
“Raymond, his name is Raymond,” she said. “And he tells me a lot.”
“Like?”
“If you’re not timid …” she patted the spot next to her.
As soon as Gabe lowered to the floor, he released a slight huff. “What’s that smell?”
“The body sometimes releases what remains in the bowels and bladder. Ray here, released. You’ll get used to it.”
“I doubt it. Is that the reason you want to move all the bodies down below?”
“Not really. Think of the people on board. We are faced with a really unique and deadly situation, they don’t want to die, but knowing they can turn their heads and be reminded of death constantly, is a lot. Plus … in another three hours, these people will be impossible to move below. Ray is absent of rigor mortis, but a couple of the others are not.”
“Okay so … has Ray told you anything?”
“Yes. I can guess, but not for positive, age and preexisting conditions play a big factor into how long it takes you to die and how it affects you.
