“So the least amount of bodies.”
“Exactly. Get a few people together and clear the gate. Who knows, we may luck out, the gate may be empty. And I know it’s a lot to ask, especially since you’ll be refueling. But other than me, you know airports.”
“You want me to connect the jet bridge?”
Jeff nodded. “We need that bridge. I don’t want to bring people into the ground level. Do you know how?”
“I have an idea,” Gabe replied. “I’ll do it.” He glanced out, looking at the extended and empty gateways they referred to as jet bridges. “C-Twenty-six? I can see a light.”
“I’ll pull over to there.”
Gabe undid his belt and stood. “I’ll go down through Cargo. Wait until you see me.”
“Absolutely.”
“Give me a few.” Gabe stepped from the cockpit, as he squatted down to lift the cargo door, he saw his father approach.
“You refueling?” Tom asked.
“No, I’m gonna get out, grab the airstairs and work the controls to connect the jet bridge.”
“What is that?’
“The walkway from the plane door to the gate.”
Tom nodded. ‘Do you need some help?”
“No, it’ll be faster alone. But … I will need help once we connect. There’s gonna be bodies, Dad, and we need a few hands to make sure the gate areas are clear.”
“I’ll gather a few people.”
Gabe lifted the hatch. “Make sure one of them is my brother.”
Tom smiled. “You know it.”
Gabe began to descend the ladder. He looked up once more to his father, then finished climbing down.
Taking the route he did the last time they landed, Gabe made his way to the cargo door and opened it. He secured and lowered the roll out ladder, then carefully took each rung until he reached the pavement of the apron.
He didn’t feel quite as rushed as he did the last time. But he still knew there were time constraints. He had to get the stairs, get to the jet bridge and connect it. Clear the bodies, if any, at the gate and not to mention he had to refuel.
As he made his way across the apron, he visually checked for the fueler. It was dark and hard to see. He’d have to find a spotlight to get it down. If Gene was right, he could take his time and wait, but Gabe didn’t want to do that.
There was too much to do.
Even though Gabe needed time to stop, he didn’t want to. Stopping made him think. Think about his girlfriend and most of all his mother.
Twice he tried to call her and it only rang, going to voicemail.
Deep inside, Gabe knew he wasn’t so lucky as to have them survive.
He could hope.
But he wasn’t going to forget them, like a character in some apocalypse movie. The event destroys the world and they just keep going.
Before Gabe could move on, once everything was safe, he would go back to Fort Collins and find his mother and girlfriend. He needed to see them one last time and say goodbye. As hard as it would be emotionally, he would do that.
<><><><>
Before Owen even reached the end of the jet bridge, he could hear them.
The slot machines.
The automatic music programmed to play and draw people in.
In an empty, dead terminal the sound was loud.
For a minute he fantasized that all was fine, that he would emerge to see people playing slots.
They, the ‘body’ crew from Flight 3430 would look like some sort of lost, motley crew. Arriving to normalcy after some sort of sci-fi event. Like the characters in Langoliers.
He thought about that Stephen King book a lot. Especially after landing on the dark runway. The extreme quiet all around was just eerie and frightening.
The only difference was they weren't back in ‘yesterday’ they were in the present and the world wasn’t empty, it was just dead.
He was realistic enough to know, slot machines or not, that was what they were going to face.
Delaney insisted on joining the clean-up team. Tom told her to stay back, but she wanted to go. Stating she had the most experience with the dead.
There were five of them clearing bodies.
Owen, his father, Gabe, Delaney and Gary.
While his brother prepared and connected the jet bridge, the captain made the announcement they had landed and would disembark as soon as the bridge was ready.
He told them they may or may not see things that were disturbing, and to do their best to focus on rest. To take their time to recuperate if they could from the emotional turmoil everyone was experiencing.
They would stay long enough to refuel, re-energize, then they’d leave again, hopefully for a place that would be permanent.
He was honest and transparent. No one knew when the eruptions would end for good.
He stayed behind with the flight crew and passengers. Owen’s father told the captain they’d be as fast as they could, but they didn’t know what was ahead of them.
“Listen,” Delaney squeezed through and stopped the group just before they reached the end of the jet bridge. “What we know is if anyone is in this terminal, at the gates, they passed away at least ten hours ago. They are going to be in active rigor mortis. Despite what you have seen in the movies, they won’t be easy to move. I just want you guys prepared.”
Gabe asked. “Are they gonna smell?”
“They probably will start. It’s pretty warm on this bridge, let’s hope, along with the power the AC is still on.”
Gary nodded. “We need to focus on moving bodies out of the immediate area, and any bathrooms nearby, along with the food places. We'll set a perimeter and clear it.”
“There are others,” Tom added,
