Hiraeth: Cities To Embers

3.6 - Abandonment

Liam gathered everyone, with the exceptions being Lucy, Paul, Josephine and Soraya who were still yet to arrive.

He stood in front of the passengers, "okay! I've spoken to Johnathan here... and I've spoken to my co-pilot Sophia! We've decided to fly west! This disaster... whatever it is... they're saying it's circling around the planet. So if we go east back to Europe, we'll hit it... whatever it is."
Sophia nodded, "so if we go west-"
Stephanie scoffed, "are you kidding? You want us to stay on that plane?"
Liam sighed, "it's the only plan we have. This disaster apparently causes... planes to fall from the sky. If we fly through it, we will crash."

"Then we just stay here... right?"
"No! No we cannot stay here. There is countless planes attempting to land here. We need to fly west and find safety, maybe the evacuation point all these planes have been heading to. We have no idea what the situation in England is... but - if we can - we will try to safely return to Heathrow airport tomorrow morning."

Sophia nodded, "we've also learned that a hurricane is heading up the Eastern seaboard, it's gonna hit this area in maybe six or seven hours. So either we leave now, or we get stranded here with maybe twenty other planes."

Liam gestured to the stairs leading up to the plane, "now, we need everybody to board the plane. We have a lot in the tank and can get around maybe three to five thousand nautical miles."

Amber shouted, "they're coming! Hurry the fuck up!"
Liam ran up to the cockpit, as did Sophia. The passengers began to rush up the stairs in panic.

Liam began to hyperventilate, "Jesus... they're- they're all trying to land on top of us."
Sophia turned a lever silently.
Amber yelled out, "we can't take off! There's still others out there!"
Sophia sighed, "we cannot wait any longer. If we stay here, multiple planes will crash into us... we will die. That other plane - the one minutes from touching down - it has over three hundred passengers! We cannot let several hundred people die for a few people who can just get on with them!"
Liam nodded, "yeah. Anyway - after this whole disaster blows over - they can get picked up. I'm sorry, Liam. We don't have time. You need to take a seat, miss."

Amber glanced outside, sighing, "fine. Whatever."
Sophia spoke calmly, "Amber."
"Huh?"
"Her name is Amber."

The plane began to accelerate, prompting all the passengers on board to fasten seatbelts, call out for companions and glance out the windows.

Liam shook his head, "why does her name matter?"
"Just incase."
"Just incase what?"
"I mean... I- I dunno, I just mean that maybe a little extra compassion wouldn't hurt. We're all stressing here."

Adam tugged on Johnathan's arm, "uncle John, w-where's my mom?"
Johnathan glanced around, "Lucy? Lucy?!"
Kirsty stood up, "Paul! Can anyone see Paul?! My husband!"

Rose walked up and down the cabin, "S-Soraya? Soraya, where are you?"
Johnathan stood up, "Soraya isn't here either?!"
Rose looked at him, "no? Wh- are they still outside?!"

Adam began to cry, "I want my mom! I-I want my mom!"
Johnathan hugged him, "we're not taking off. Don't worry, they're just moving the plane."

Liam's voice echoed over the speakers, "everybody please sit down, we are about to take off."
Jonathan attempted to stand up, the rapid acceleration of the plane forcing him to fall back.

Adam tried to pull himself up, "mom! My mom is out there!"
Johnathan held him down, "I'll deal with it. Fasten your seatbelt, Adam."

The plane lifted off the ground, speeding ahead and slowly rising.
The plane tipped abruptly to the left, throwing everyone to the side.

Stephanie grabbed Lauren's hand, "holy hell. Are you okay Lauren?"
Lauren nodded, "yeah... I-I just hit my h-"

A loud flash, followed by a loud rumbling and then immediately the plane tipped again, to the other side this time.

Claire looked out the window, seeing a heap of metal, an enormous smokestack emanating from the debris.
It became faint as the plane began to ascend, speeding away from the airport.

Nobody could speak as everybody silently stared at the bright glowing behind the plane.

The plane began to stabilise.

Johnathan stood up abruptly, shoving aside the emergency oxygen mask hanging in front of him, "Adam... stay there. Stay right there."
He stood up, walking towards the cockpit, as did a few others.

Stephanie followed him, as did Rose and as did the seemingly suspicious lady, her deep brown eyes racing around the cabin as she walked forward.

Sophia looked out at the cold, barren Canadian mountains with a look of dismay.
Liam scoffed, "they've been knocking for like half an hour now..."

Sophia looked at Liam, "what do we tell them...?"
Liam shrugged, "the truth."
"Should we do that?"
"Not like we have any other choice. Everyone will find out soon..."
Sophia felt chills again, "still no WiFi... still can't hear from my sister."
"She should be fine... would she not have hidden somewhere?"
"Hopefully," Sophia blinked with an empty expression on her face, "maybe it's not real. Maybe nobody died."
"If that were true, why is nobody saying that? Nobody anywhere is saying it didn't happen. We just picked up the call from Toronto... they didn't cancel the evacs, they haven't contacted any other country. We need to land somewhere..."

Sophia looked down at the interactive map next to her, "how far can we go?"
Liam shrugged, "Seattle or Vancouver maybe... they'll be flooded with evacuees... if we take a real risk, we could probably land all the way in Japan."
"Should we land near Tokyo?"
"Too risky. Too many people, too many planes... maybe somewhere on Hokkaido..."

"We might just have to land in Alaska if anything happens."
"Yeah. Could we try that?"
"It's the only option now I guess... let's just hope it's safe there?"
"Has Alaska been hit yet?"
"I only heard about California, Hawaii and Japan. If it's circling around, then maybe... maybe Alaska is okay."
"Yeah, that's a big maybe."

Sophia looked out the window, "god help us."