ATLAS 776

11

Marx and Victoria stopped to catch their breath. Marx felt the heat of the cramped confines of the toilet cubicle. Two people being in the same cubicle did not help the situation either. Marx locked his arms and palms on the door to support his body. He was gasping.

Several screams were heard outside.

"Midnight." Victoria said calmly. She looked up to the ceiling, and started to climb on the sink.

Marx heard the shrieks and screams of the people, or whatever they were. The screams pierced his ears, with deafening sounds. Women, men, children. Marx felt a sudden rush of fear take him over again.

"What the fuck is going on out there?" Marx asked.

"It's the cycle. Midnight. The last cabin was two so-called hours earlier than your cabin. It's their turn to get harvested now." Victoria said, as she held herself up on the sink, one foot on it, and the other foot pressed against the toilet wall. Her left hand was pushing against a wall, while her right hand reached for the ceiling. Victoria clenched her right fist and knocked several times on the ceiling tile. Knock. Knock. Knock.

The ceiling tile pushed up in force, and Victoria slid it backwards to reveal an upper compartment. Victoria grabbed the ledges above with both hands, and pulled herself up with a grunt. She turned around, peeking down at Marx. "Come on. Climb up." She gestured.

Marx followed suit, but he found difficulty in accomplishing the task. The screams outside were getting worse. Wails and screams resounding torture and death echoed. Marx's muscles felt weak and shaky.

"It's okay, I was like you on my first cycle here as well." Victoria said, as she shone her torchlight down on Marx's face. "Cheer up. I found batteries." She added.

Marx climbed up onto the ledge, and made a louder grunt. He dropped his body on the floor once he was up in tired motion. Marx tilted his head to Victoria, who was in the midst of covering the tile back in its original spot. "Where... Where are we..." Marx wheezed. "Ventilation. Ahead of us on the left is the suites cabin. A huge man with an axe awaits us. Instead, we want to go through the side tunnel." Victoria pointed at the end of the low compartment that the pair was in. She shined her torch towards a small hole all the way to the other end. "It's large enough for us to squeeze through."

"Wait... You said you have been through many cycles..." Marx posed as he started to push his body weight back up to prop himself up. "If you are stuck in this loop-"

"You might be the key for me to get out of here." Victoria interrupted as she shone her blinding torch at Marx's face. He lifted his left arm to cover his eyes, providing refuge from the light. Victoria continued, speaking with pauses due to a dry throat. "When we reach the end you will know what I mean."

"The end? The end of what..." Marx said quickly.

The screams and wails from the cabins below could be heard, though muffled by the thick walls and floors.

"You will know. Right now our main focus is to get through that hole. We will turn up at the front of the fuselage. We drop into stairwell, and make our way to the cockpit." Victoria explained.

 Marx took a hard breath. "Wait... What do we do when we get there?"

Victoria started to crawl forward, her torchlight in her mouth. She stopped for a moment to take the torchlight out to speak. "We change the flight's course."

Marx crawled after her, hands pain from the friction of rubbing against the metallic floor. "Didn't you try that before?"

"Nope, could not get there. I have never made it that far." Victoria answered.

Marx immediately stopped crawling. He felt the sweat dripping from his hair. "Wait... What?"

Victoria looked back at Marx. "Ahead of us is an infinite room. It's dark, and long. I never made it out. I just keep waking up back in Economy. Your appearance was the first break in the loop."

"Then how the fuck do you propose we get out? And how did you get out and find me?" Marx felt uneasy, and his doubt raised higher against Victoria. "You have a wife, don't you?" Victoria suddenly asked. "Yes!" Marx answered, quick to respond to a cue that someone else knows the existence of his partner.

Victoria shone her flashlight on Marx's face again, stunning him momentarily. "Don't think about her. Not even once. The room takes your image of her and uses it against you." Victoria said. "You need to stop thinking about her. If you can erase her for that moment, you might be able to make it out of there."

"Why have you not made it out then?" Marx asked.

"Because I can't get over my ex." Victoria answered. Marx proceeded on. "How do you know what to do? Or how this works?"

"There is a pattern to everything. I have spent enough cycles observing the patterns. The harvest starts first in Economy. Suites gets an executor-style attack. First Class... I don't know. Never been there." Victoria added, crawling with her torchlight in her hoodie pocket. "I've seen demonic creatures and malformed beings. This place... It's evil."

Marx felt even more terrified. He pondered the situation over, believing he had been sent to some sort of hell dimension. Marx started to tear up. "I just want to get back to my wife, and home..." His tears rolled down his cheeks, and he started to cough as he cried. He was sweaty and tired, and he never felt more terrified for his life than he had ever been.

Victoria stopped for a moment, and looked back at Marx. "We will get out of here. I promise."