The Rains (still not sure on the title)

Short Story 3

                       

                    A/N:  Another story I had to write for ELA, it has a surprise ending!     

                      I was flying my private jet through the Mojave desert on my way back from a huge business trip in Los Angeles when I spotted a huge black mass of smoke in the distance. I squinted my eyes to see if I could find the source, but the smog was too thick to see anything. Wondering if anyone was down there, I landed my plane near an oasis about a mile away from the smoke and took out a canteen of water from my cargo. I didn't want to die of heat stroke in the 102 degree heat after all. As I began my mile long trek towards the source of the smoke, I soon realized that the huge black cloud was coming from the mangled body of a small charter plane that appeared to have crash landed there. When I approached it, ten people stood staring at me. One of them appeared to be a military veteran with no right arm, another looked to be in his sixties or seventies, and yet another was dressed in designer clothing; someone who looked vaguely familiar. I noticed a young boy of about nine years of age who I assumed was flying by himself. There was a pregnant woman lying on the ground with a man who appeared to be her husband hovering over her. Two very important looking men in fancy suits were speaking in hushed voices with each other and a man with a briefcase and glasses was busy digging through his stuff, seemingly to check if everything was still there. The last person I noticed was some weird guy who was looking around with a look of pure terror on his face. He was tucked into the plane with only his head peeking out, his eyes darting everywhere. I knew these people had to be saved, or else they wouldn't survive much longer. Finally, one of the important looking men turned and asked me who I was. I told them I was here to save them and everyone cheered. The husband of the pregnant woman called for help, so I ran over and gave his wife some water from my canteen. Together, he and I helped her to her feet and we all walked in the direction of my plane. As we approached, I stopped in my tracks. I could feel my face go white as it dawned on me; I could only take four extra people in my jet. Even if I removed all the stuff from the back, only four people could fit. In a panic, I rushed up to the front of the group and instructed everyone to sit under the shade of the palm tree that I had landed next to. They happily obliged, and I ran to my plane to find some fresh water. When I returned, some people were making conversation while others sat cowering in the bushes. Nobody seemed to notice me until I set down the case of water bottles in front of them. Thanking me, they grabbed a few bottles each and went back to whatever they were doing before. I just stood there trying to figure out a way to tell them that six people would have to stay behind as I flew four others to safety. I decided to find out what everyone was doing here before I made a decision on who should come with me. First, I found out the veteran looking person was in fact, a U.S. veteran returning from serving four years in Afghanistan. The old guy was just some priest of a large congregation down in Atlanta. Check him off the list. The woman dressed in designer clothing was a famous movie star heading for auditions in New York and the young boy was just crossing the country to visit his grandparents. I found that the pregnant lady was due to have twins and the man who was helping her earlier was indeed her husband. One of the fancy men was the leader of Venezuela here for diplomatic reasons and the other was the CEO of a huge world renown company on his way home from an important business trip. The man I'd seen digging through his briefcase was a scientist who claimed he was close to finding the cure to cancer. The sketchy guy cowering under the palm tree wouldn't even tell me why he was here, so I just assumed he was in some kind of trouble. After making a mental checklist of who should be saved, I broke the news to everyone. They all stared at me with looks of pure terror. Then, I told them I would be taking the military veteran, the young boy, the pregnant woman, and the scientist. The pregnant woman looked relieved that she would be saved, but a look of worry spread across her features when she realized her husband wasn't coming with her. The military veteran and the boy put on huge smiles, while the scientist stood up and started towards the plane. Meanwhile, everyone else looked either worried or terrified; while others looked like they wanted to murder me in my sleep. In an attempt to reassure them, I left another package of bottled water and some cans of soup for those who had to stay in the desert. I also promised that I'd land in the nearest airport and get help as fast as possible. When I finished talking, I started towards my jet and stepped inside, making sure that everyone was in there. I counted four people and started the plane. We sped off into the air with everyone safe inside.

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                  About an hour later, I found an airport and landed. I told everyone to stay inside while I went to get help. I sprinted all the way to the help center inside of the airport and breathlessly explained that I had four people in my private jet who needed immediate care and how there were still six other people stranded in the middle of the Mojave desert. When I was done speaking, the attendant asked me to repeat myself because she couldn't understand a word I had said. I told her again, more slowly this time, and she dialed for help. I was invited to ride in one of the helicopters for the search and rescue mission so I could point out where I had left the survivors. When we got into the air, I glanced out the window at the shrinking ground beneath me. I watched miles of landscapes fly by and before long, we were in the Mojave. I frantically searched the ground and directed the pilot to where I believed the survivors to be. When we spotted them, the helicopter landed about 100 feet away and everyone climbed out. Another helicopter landed behind us as we approached the oasis where I had left the six people. I screamed when I saw what was there. Five dead bodies lay in the sand. I did a quick recount of who was there; the priest, the husband of the pregnant lady, the CEO, the leader of Venezuela, and the movie star. The question was, who could be missing? I clamped my hand over my mouth and felt my eyes widen as the answer came on like a light bulb inside of my head. It was the sketchy guy who wouldn't speak to me. He was the one that was missing. I turned to tell the crew that we should leave, but when I looked around, everyone was gone. I felt my heartbeat get faster and faster as fear rose inside of my chest. My head started to pound and my hands began to shake. I couldn't move. I felt a scream erupt from my throat as a bag went over my head and hands dragged me to the ground. I never saw the light of day again.