Survivor's Guilt

Chapter 1 - The Trip

Carly was never really a morning person. If anything, she hated having to wake up in the mornings especially for work but this was even earlier than the time she'd usually get up at. She rummaged around in her dresser, throwing items of clothing down onto the floor as she did so. Her phone was non stop pinging with text messages from Reece

[1 new message from 'adoptive father']
'Hurry up.'

[1 new message from 'adoptive father']
'Carly, I'm serious we're going to miss the flight.'

Carly grumbled at the constant pinging of her phone, instantly knowing exactly who it was. She eventually found the T-shirt she was so desperately trying to find before stuffing it into one of her suitcases, soon fumbling for her phone. It wasn't long before she was heading downstairs with all of her bags and suitcases, kissing her mom goodbye and going out to Reece's car which was parked outside.

"About time. Go on, I'll sort all of this out for you."

He took all of Carly's stuff for her, putting it into the boot of his car.

"How gentleman-like of you!"

Carly rolled her eyes playfully and got into the back, smiling widely as soon as she saw Marjorie who was sat in the passenger side. Carly flapped her hands excitedly, unable to contain herself. She'd never been to America before, even if it was just a business trip, she was still super excited.

"Y'alright Carly? Exciting stuff, isn't it? Reece doesn't like to admit it but he's just as excited as you are."

Marjorie laughed softly as Reece got back into the driver's seat once everything was loaded up. He seemed unamused at Marjorie's comment but everyone knew she wasn't lying.

"Right, because a certain someone decided to take her time, we don't have long to get to the airport. Dad will leave without us if we're late."

Reece started up the car and started to drive in the direction of the airport.

"He'd leave his own son behind??"

Carly couldn't seem to believe that but after all, there was a lot she didn't know about The Knights. Even with the amount of eavesdropping she did on the daily, she still didn't know everything. It didn't take them that long to get to the airport and soon met up with the rest of the group at the gate. Carly went over to chat with Charlotte and Winter whilst Reece and Marjorie headed in Autumn's direction. Clearly, Autumn wasn't much of a morning person either which Reece pretty much already knew.

"You took your time."

Autumn spoke in her usual monotone voice, not as excited as everybody else seemed to be about the trip.

"We're here now, aren't we?"

Reece turned his attention towards the others who were already starting to board the plane. It really was a close call, wasn't it? The group headed towards their assigned seats, shoving their bags and other belongings into the overhead compartments above. Most got to pick their own seating arrangements,

Apart from Siobhan, of course...

Marjorie and Reece
Siobhan and Roger
Autumn and Winter
Charlotte and Mia
Carly and Eric
Sorscha and Agatha
Deliah and Jodie

About half an hour into the flight, they started to experience some pretty severe turbulence which shook them around. Carly was very loudly screaming from the back of the plane

"WHY ARE WE SHAKING??!"

She yelled, gripping tightly onto Eric who was sat next to her. He was trying his very best to calm her down.

"Carly, it's just turbulence."

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

Everyone collectively rolled their eyes at Carly's extremely dramatic reaction. That was until the plane suddenly jolted again. Marjorie glanced out of the window, where she had a clear view of one of the jets under the plane's wings.

"Oh my god..??"

She squinted her eyes slightly, trying to get a better look, that was when Reece turned towards her in slight confusion

"Are you okay?"

There seemed to be blood trickling down from the jet and the Plane violently jolted once again

"Did we just hit a bird??"

Marjorie tightly gripped the edge of her seat. She couldn't quite believe what was actually happening, maybe Carly wasn't being dramatic after all. Suddenly, the intercom went off as the Captain made an announcement regarding the 'turbulence.'

"Um- Good morning, everyone! This is your Captain Vivian speaking. It seems we've hit quite a bit of turbulence, please stay calm, stay in your seats and buckle your seatbelts. Thank you!"

Marjorie shook her head slightly at the announcement. This wasn't just turbulence, a whole bird had just flown into one of the jets. The plane jolted harder this time before it completely fell forward, it's nose plunging downwards through the air. The next few minutes were of complete horror. Marjorie held Reece back as he tried to get to Carly and Eric who were sat at the very back. They had to stay seated and brace for impact. Autumn and Winter tightly held each other's hands, this was the first time that Winter had seen his wife legitimately scared..

"My sweet, I don't want to die.."

She squeezed Winter's hand even tighter, if she was going to die today, at least her final moments would be with her one true love.

"I know, my love... come here, it'll be alright."

He pulled her gently into his arms, running a hand through her hair to try and comfort her. Those few minutes of chaos felt like hours to most, the aircraft soon crashing into the trees below. Carly had passed out at some point during the fall, waking up to Eric desperately shaking her as smoke and flames started to fill the cabin.

"Carly! Carly, wake up!"

She opened her eyes, the panic soon setting in as she realised they had crashed to the ground.

"Oh my god.. OH MY GOD!"

She started to uncontrollably sob as Eric pulled her up to her feet, holding her hand firmly and led her through the cabin to try and get out through one of the exits. Winter was already at the nearest exit, trying to push open the door as hard as he possibly could. Autumn stood not too far behind him, trying to see through the smoke. Soon, Marjorie and Reece emerged from the front of the cabin, helping Winter to push open the exit door.

Meanwhile, Siobhan had woken up with what seemed like a broken leg, she couldn't move it without yelping in extreme pain.

She was stuck.

"Roger!"

She yelled out but he ignored her, taking one look at his girlfriend's broken leg before standing up and heading towards the exit. He just left her to die.

"ROGER DON'T YOU FUCKING LEAVE ME HERE!"

She screamed after him through sobs, trying her best to breathe through the excruciating pain she was feeling. The others had managed to escape and stagger outside.

The only known and confirmed Survivors at this time...

Roger, Autumn, Winter, Reece, Marjorie, Carly and Eric.

They all watched as flames engulfed the plane, hoping that more would soon emerge.

How was this happening?